Hopkins defeats Cloud; Thurman decisions Zaveck

hop11 By Bill Phanco: 48-year-old Bernard Hopkins defeated IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud by a 12 round unanimous decision to capture his IBF title at the at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. The final judges’ scores were 116-112, 117-111, 116-112.

Undefeated welterweight Keith Thurman (20-0, 18 KO’s) put in an impressive power punching display in pounding out a nice 12 round unanimous decision on against #1 WBO Jan Zaveck (32-2, 18 KO’s) in an WBO title eliminator bout. The victory locks Thurman in as the mandatory challenger for WBO 147 lb. champion Tim Bradley.

The judges scored the fight 120-108, 120-108, 120-108. Thurman kept a constant flow of power shots raining down ont he shorter Zaveck through the full 12 rounds.

Barker stops Rotolo; Groves defeats Balmaceda

By Jeff Sorby: Super middleweight contender George Groves (17-0, 13 KO’s) made easy work of Dario Balmaceda (11-7-2, 7 KO’s) in stopping him in the 3rd round in a two knockdown performance on Saturday night in the 24-year-old Groves’ first fight with Matchroom Sport at the Wembley Arena in London, UK. Grove put the lanky Balmaceda down with a short right hand to the body in the 2nd.

The Biggest Bernard Hopkins Fight That Never Happened

hop11 Bernard Hopkins is fighting tomorrow, March 8, 2013, possibly for the last time, depending on the outcome of the fight. The Bernard Hopkins-Tavoris Cloud fight is a win-win situation for Bernard, because if he wins the fight, he sets a record for being the the oldest man to ever win a major world title in boxing and breaks the standing record, which he holds right now, and he continues to make money as a boxer and a promoter.

If he loses his fight tomorrow, he still gets respect and praise for taking on a young, undefeated champion who is in the prime of his life, and he can devote all of his time to being a boxing promoter, instead of splitting his time training for fights and maintaining his weight.

Bernard Hopkins could get another age-related injury tomorrow night and have to quit fighting for health reasons. He says his surgically-repaired shoulder is 100 percent healed now, but it wasn’t fully healed in his last fight – the Chad Dawson rematch. If Bernard Hopkins last fight is not tomorrow, but he decides to have one last fight after this one, what well-known opponent could he fight to maximize his last boxing purse?

Bernard Hopkins and Cloud: A Battle of Old Versus New

By Jack Scales: Age and time eventually catching up with us are two inevitabilities we are faced with in this life. However, one man who has continued to evade this fact, is none other than Philadelphia’s treasured son, Bernard ‘The Executioner’ Hopkins. For years, critics, fighters and trainers alike, have predicted his fall from the upper echelons of the sport, but as every boxing fan knows he has constantly proven his doubters wrong, whilst simultaneously defying common trends in human biology.

Throughout his 40s, he has systematically broken down a vast number of much younger fighters who were touted to finally put an end to his illustrious career. Despite the best efforts of these young pretenders, at 48, B-Hop remains a major force in the Light Heavyweight division, and on Saturday night he will again challenge for a world title. This time, it will be against the IBF belt holder, Tavoris Cloud. Judging on Bernard’s performance against Chad Dawson, perhaps father time is finally catching up on the slick veteran, but as history has shown us, his opponents should count him out at their own peril.

Unbeaten Heavyweight Giant Lucas Browne: Will He Be The First Man To Stop James Toney?

By James Slater: James “Lights Out” Toney has been somewhat quiet as of late; the 44-year-old living legend not having fought since his April 2012 stoppage win over Bobby Gunn. Aside from calling out British heavyweight giant Tyson Fury late last year (a fight that failed to materialize and perhaps would not be sanctioned in the U.K anyway), Toney has made no headlines.

But now, the word is the former middleweight, super-middleweight and cruiserweight world champ could be facing another unbeaten big man in a fight this spring. Australian man mountain, Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne has been quoted in an article on Boxing News Magazine’s web site as saying a fight between he and Toney is “80 to 90-percent going to happen.”

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez: Share the Suffering

By Marc Livitz – Call it a set of brass ones or just impenetrable will.

Maybe it’s a bit of both; or worse yet, it could be the incessant voices in either ear of one Saul “Canelo” Alvarez which led him to draw an indelible line in the pugilistic dirt. The admissions last week from Canelo’s side of the negotiating table ultimately meant that he’d be removing his name, likeness and participation from the highly anticipated (maybe that’s a bit of a stretch) fight card which was (and still is) set to take place in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 4.

Capitalism, free will, best interests, or perhaps a case of borderline Narcissism? Allow us to take a quick look at what has transpired.

Interview: Billy Dib on the rise despite defeat

569 Exclusive interview by Adam Santarossa: Billy Dib returned to Australia days ago light on luggage after losing his world title and a pint or two short of blood following the ten staples that were needed for a cut to the back of his head and the fourteen stitches that were needed to seal the wound above his right eye.

I spoke with the former IBF Featherweight World Champion in an exclusive interview just days after his defeat and Dib says it’s only physical wounds he carries after his split decision point’s defeat to Evgeny Gradovich.

“The wounds that are healing are the actual wounds that I suffered in the fight. I suffered a few cuts on the eye and two cuts on the head that I’m recovering from. But other than that everything is good. My health is good and in due time I’ll be back in the ring getting ready for the next one.

Commey and Bilal ready to rock Accra Friday

By Prince Dornu-Leiku: The countdown is almost over and the much awaited bout in Ghana featuring Richard Commey against Bilal Mohammed will go ahead on Friday despite the postponement of the main bill they were anticipating to fight on.

The two Ghanaian boxers who have been training very hard for this rumble meet for the IBF Continental Africa Lightweight Crown this Friday, March 8 in Accra amid the expected presence of IBF Africa President, Onesmo Ngowi on the fight night now christened ‘moment of truth’ barely 48 hours after the country’s independence day celebrations.

Hitherto scheduled to be an undercard of Fresh King Entertainment’s promotion of former world champion, Joseph King Kong Agbeko’s IBO Bantamweight title fight against Luis Melendez of Colombia, the Commey-Bilal showdown has to be re-organised by Michael Amoo-Bediako Sr’s UK based Streetwise Management following the postponement of Agbeko’s fight to March 22.