Saturday, January 29, 2011
Super Fight: Bradley vs. Alexander Photos Final Presser
Biofile interview with Trainer Kevin Cunningham
WSB ? Paris United Defeated
Boxing fans get mini-tournaments this weekend on HBO and Showtime
These are the kind of weekends that can bring boxing back. Putting on quality fights and avoiding gaps on the schedule is huge. HBO is going to focus on the 140 pounders while Showtime has the smaller guys down at 118. Four greats fights and no pay-per-view!
The Showtime bantamweight card (9 p.m. ET/PT) should produce fireworks in Tacoma, Wash., and it features fighters with a combined record of 102-4-3.
Abnes Mares battles Vic Darchinyan while Joseph Agbeko will try to grab Yonny Perez's IBF title. The winners will face off in 2011.
Darchinyan's promoter almost wishes he could just be a fan for the night.
"Thanks to the fighters. Thanks to Showtime. Actually they should be thanking us for bringing them two great fights and four great fighters," Shaw said. "The television crowd will be rewarded on Saturday. I wish I didn't have any fighters in the ring so I could just watch on my couch and enjoy."
The Amir Khan-Marcos Maidana fight headlines the HBO card (9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT), with the strong possibility the victor will face the winner of the undercard fight, Victor Ortiz versus Lamont Peterson. Loser vs. loser would be great too.
But unlike the Showtime set up, this isn't officially tournament.
Tim Smith of the N.Y. Daily News says the junior welterweight division could be the future of boxing:
For much of this year everybody in boxing has been transfixed on the two boxers at the top of the sport – Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Bubbling underneath the surface has been the action in the 140-pound division – the most competitive and talent-laden in the sport.
With Khan and Maidana fighting on Saturday night and Bradley and Alexander, the two best in the division, fighting a month later, the 140-pound pot is about to reach a boil. And the sport of boxing will be better for it.
Bradley and Alexander square off in Detroit on Jan. 29. Golden Boy Promotion has to be rooting hard for Khan, but he's far from a lock to win the fight. The power-punching Maidana (29-1, 27 KOs) is super confident.
"This is a very important fight for my career," Maidana said through a translator. "But not the hardest."
Khan gives Maidana respect, but thinks people are sleeping on his power.
"Maidana is a big threat in the division and I only want to fight the best," Khan said. "When they put this together, it was said to be a ‘boxer’ vs a ‘fighter’… But I really think that I come into this fight as a puncher. People are taking my power away saying that Maidana is the bigger puncher. We’ll let everyone think that."
Solis ? Klitschko
'Pac-Man' fight is an unrealistic goal for winner of Williams-Martinez
Everyone wants a piece of the Manny Pacquiao business. Even if that means pitching a fight that by size standards is kind of ridiculous. The winner of Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez tonight in Atlantic City (HBO 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT) wants "Pac-Man" next.
Williams (39-1, 27 KOs) is 6-foot-2 with the same reach as Wladimir Klitschko while Martinez (45-2-2, 24 KOs) is a guy who walks around between fights at around 180 pounds. Pacquiao is 5-6 and maxes out at 150.
Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole says the two middleweights need to concentrate on building their own legacy between 154 and 160 pounds.
There's been plenty of backslapping going down in Atlantic City. The suits with HBO and promoters are in self-congratulatory mode over making this Williams-Martinez rematch.
"Ross (Greenburg) and Kery (Davis) weren't going to accept anything less than this fight," said Lou DiBella, Martinez's promoter and a former HBO Sports executive. "They got what they fought for and they got it for boxing fans."
That's where we are now in boxing. The networks make a fight that the fans want to see and we're supposed bow at their feet. Williams and Martinez are clearly the best in the weight range. Maybe they should fight a third and fourth time too.
Isn't this the way a business is supposed to be run? Why wouldn't you put forth the best product possible?
Talk of Klitschko-Haye in Las Vegas is silly
Rumors continue to swirl around a possible Wladimir Klitschko fight against David Haye. The fight hasn't come together yet, nor has a site. There's buzz about Golden Boy Promotion wanting to bring Haye to the U.S. Sunday, ABS-CBNNews in the Philippines was reporting that Las Vegas is still a possible destination.
Talks between Haye and Klitschko's promoters were held this month in Las Vegas and the fight looks likely to be held Stateside.
Yahoo! Sports' lead boxing writer Kevin Iole says the fight makes sense, but holding it anywhere in the U.S. really doesn't.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Showtime & CBS Join Top Rank for Pacquiao vs. Mosley Pay Per View
Pacquiao tears apart a very game Margarito
Manny Pacquaio and Freddie Roach were right about speed beating size. Antonio Margarito could've weighed a 50 pounds more than the pound-for-pound king and it wouldn't have helped. Pacquiao was brilliant over 12 rounds firing off five and six punch combinations and then scooting away before Margarito knew what hit him. "The Tijuana Tornado" had a badly swollen welt under his right eye by the end of the fourth and routinely ate over 60 percent of Pacquiao's power punches the rest of way. It all added up to another easy win via unanimous decision, 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110, for the Filipino at Cowboys Stadium.
Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) has now won 13 straight, including six in a row over bigger opponents. He battered Margarito with 401 punches landed on his head. The balance of those shots - 117 lefts, 136 rights and 148 down the middle - was amazing. By the end of the fight, Margarito could barely see out of either eye.
Now we're right back where we were after "Pac-Man" toyed with Joshua Clottey. The only fight at welterweight that most fans want to see is Pacquiao against Floyd Mayweather. In the past, Drug testing and ego issues have gotten in the way of making the fight. Now Mayweather is also dealing with a multiple felony domestic violence charges in Las Vegas for an incident over the summer.
It may be time for Pacquiao to look back down at 140 pounds where up-and-comers like Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana and Timothy Bradley reside. Don't forget his rival Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao won the first two closely contested meetings.
Battling a big strong guy like Margarito for 12 rounds may convince Pacquiao that his future should be filled with opponent closer to his size. He admitted that Margarito's height and mass (165 pounds to Pacquiao's 148) took its toll and made him tough to knock him out.
"It’s hard. I really did my best to win the fight. He's strong and he's a very tough fighter and I can't believe (that he went the distance). I never expected that," said Pacquiao, almost sounding disappointed.
Margarito (38-7, 27 KOs) had a few good moments in the fight. Pacquiao chose to brawl a bit in rounds 6-8. He ate a few big shots but never blinked. He did admit after the fight that Margarito stung him a few times to the body and head.
Did Margarito come out the fight a winner? That's up to observer. He's not very skilled against the highest level welterweights and junior middleweights but he is tough and never quits. His best round tonight may have been the eighth when he landed 34 punches. That was the most anybody has ever landed on Pacquiao in a single round. One problem, Pacman landed 42 that round.
In total, Pacquiao outlanded Margarito 474-229 at a connect rate of 44 percent. The Mexican probably shouldn't have come out for the final round, but he refused to quit. Pacquiao showed a little compassion admitting that played it safe in the final round and felt bad looking at Margarito's bloodied face.
Shane Mosley on Manny Pacquiao: 'I Can Knock Him Out'
Filed under: WBC, WBO, Boxing Video, Boxing Rumors, Showtime, FanHouse Exclusive, Top Rank Promotions
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos. Three-division, five-time champion, Shane Mosley (46-6-1, 39 knockouts) acknowledges that eight-division titlist Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs) throws punches from angles that can give him trouble, even as he believes that he can knock out the WBO welterweight (147 pounds) and WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) titlist if he lands a flush punch.
Pacquiao will defend his WBO belt against Mosley in a May 7, Showtime pay per view televised bout that is being promoted by Top Rank Promotions.
Shane Mosley 'Excited' to Fight Manny Pacquiao on CBS-Showtime
Filed under: WBC, WBO, Boxing Video, Boxing Rumors, HBO, Showtime, FanHouse Exclusive, Top Rank Promotions
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos. FanHouse first reported that eight-division titlist and WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) king Manny Pacquiao will make a CBS-Showtime televised, May 7 defense of his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) belt against three-division, five-time titlist Shane Mosley, this, being Pacquiao's first time departing from rival network HBO.
The adviser of Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts), Michael Koncz, said that Pacquiao will be pursuing his 14th straight victory and his ninth knockout during that run against Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs), with CBS being Showtime's parent company.
Mosley spoke to FanHouse about the move, which will include a big advantage presented by Showtime's ability to televise a multi-part series that is equivalent to HBO's 24/7 -- on CBS. There is also CBS's ability to reach 115 million homes compared to HBO's nearly 30 million homes.