Vargas takes out Sarmiento in first round

LOS ANGELES -- Pablo Sarmiento picked the wrong guy to fight after a six-year layoff.Jessie Vargas, an excellent prospect from Las Vegas who is trained by Roger Mayweather, hurt the 39-year-old veteran from Argentina with a left jab and then stopped him with a vicious barrage of punches only 1:31 into a scheduled eight-round welterweight fight on the <i>Fight Night Club</i> card Thursday at Club Nokia.Sarmiento (34-14-2, 16 knockouts) has a respectable resume, having once challenged for a fringe world title. And he had a star in his corner, fellow Argentine and middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, with whom he has been working in Oxnard, Calif.The problem was that he hadn't been in the ring since 2004, which is a lifetime for a fighter. Stepping through the ropes to face a ferocious young warrior like Vargas was borderline suicide.Sarmiento looked competent at the opening bell, presenting an awkward style that Vargas had a hard time figuring out initially. And he did hurt Vargas momentarily -- albeit accidentally -- when his head collided with Vargas' nose.However, the first solid punch that found the old man's face - the left jab - was the beginning of the end.Vargas (12-0, 7 KOs) pounced on his vulnerable prey in one corner and must've landed a dozen hard punches that ultimately put a dazed Sarmiento on his pants, where he stayed. The referee waved off the fight without counting."He moved real awkwardly," Vargas said. "I couldn't hit him with straight punches. And I didn't want to get caught coming in. The first time I caught him, though, I knew he felt it. Then I knew I had him."Sarmiento might never fight again. Vargas, 21, is just getting started.The young fighter was asked whether he would've preferred to fight a few more rounds."What I want is to fight Top-10 fighters, guys like Marcos Maidana and Devon Alexander," he said. "I know I'm an eight-round fighter. I'm anxious to fight these guys, though. I know I have to be patient. I have to do what my promoter wants me to do."In earlier bouts, Jamie Kavanagh, the former Irish amateur star who is trained by Freddie Roach, outclassed Ricardo Malfavon of Santa Ana, Calif., en route to a one-sided four-round decision.Kavanagh (3-0, 1 KO) landed a number of hard body shots and mixed up his other punches to befuddle his persistent but overmatched opponent. Malfavon (0-3) was never hurt, which raises questions about Kavanagh's power, but he landed few punches.The only flaw in Kavanagh's performance was that he seemed to run out of gas in the closing moments of the fight, which he blamed on sinus problems for which he has taken medication.Roach wasn't in Kavanagh's corner because he's in the Philippines training Manny Pacquiao."I'm happy with my performance," Kavanagh said. "It's hard without Freddie here, though. My amateur coach has made the transition to the pros but it's still hard. He's in the Philippines training the best fighter in the world pound-for-pound. The timing is just bad."You learn something every time, though. So I'm happy."Another prospect, Anthony Martinez (6-0, 5 KOs) of Las Vegas, ended his fight with Ronnie Peterson (2-4, 2 KOs) of St. Paul, Minn., with a single left hook to the body 52 seconds into a scheduled four-round welterweight bout.Peterson, in terrible pain, took a knee and was counted out. Martinez was disappointed in one regard."I was hoping he'd get up. I need the work," he said.Marcus Robinson of Lancaster, Calif., making his pro debut, defeated Salvador Rios of Santa Ana (1-1) by a split decision in a four-round welterweight fight. Rios is the older brother of prospect Ronny Rios.And Ramon Valadez (2-1, 1 KO) of Los Angeles stopped Carlos Hernandez of San Fernando, Calif. at 2:15 of the first round of a scheduled four-round lightweight bout.

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Dougie&#039;s Friday mailbag

<b>WILLIAMS-MARTINEZ II</b>Hey Dougie,It's great that we all finally will get the chance to see possibly the most eagerly awaited rematch in boxing at the moment with Sergio Martinez expected to put his middleweight titles on the line against Paul Williams on November 20th. What I was wondering is, how much different is this fight going to be than the one last December? The reason I ask this is because both fighters actually have the chance to go through the entire training camps preparing for each other, rather than when Williams was preparing for Kelly Pavlik. I think it's such a tough one to call, I give Martinez the edge in technique and craft, however Williams has the edge in stamina, athletic ability, and hell be on top of Martinez the whole fight throwing 80 to 100 punches a round. I'm gonna go for Williams, partially because I love his style, by knockout in the championship rounds. What you think D?Much Respect. -- Eoin Casey, Dublin<b>I'm not sure I have a favorite in this fan-friendly matchup. I agree that Williams knows what to expect from Martinez this time and will try his best to be more prepared for the newly minted middleweight champ, but a possibility to consider is that 'the Punisher' may be one of those fighters who are always troubled by southpaws (which I know sounds strange given that he's a lefty himself).I think I'm feeling Martinez in this rematch. I scored the first fight a draw but if I had to pick a winner I would have gone with the gutsy Argentine because I thought he landed the harder, more damaging punches. I don't think Williams has the edge in athletic ability and I believe Martinez will be physically stronger for this fight than he was for the first bout, which was his first one above 154 pounds (against a world-class opponent). I think Martinez put on some lean, functional muscle during his camp for the Kelly fight and by the time the Williams fight comes around he will have had six months to further acclimate to the heavier weight (even at a 157-pound catch weight). So, my guess is that Martinez might be punching harder in this rematch than he was in December. We'll see. I'm expecting another good tussle because you can never count out the fighting heart of Williams.</b><b>UNFAIR TO MOSLEY?</b>Hey Doug,Long time reader, first time writer. I just wanted to say that I am somewhat baffled by the lack of agreement on the outcome of the Mosley-Mora fight. I didn't score it round by round, but to me (and the HBO broadcasters apparently) it looked like Mosley was winning comfortably. The CompuBox numbers kinda support that. Mosley outlanded Mora by 70 to 80 shots and was the aggressor for the entire fight... And I know, CompuBox numbers and work rate don't necessarily always determine the winner, but if one were to claim that Mora won on the basis that the fewer shots that he landed were more effective, then I don't know how that same person could also claim that Devon Alexander won his fight against Andreas Kotelnik. That fight to me was a far greater example of effective punching triumphing over work rate, but people were somehow OK with Alexander getting the nod... And now the same people won't give Sugar props for winning in the same way (more convincingly to me), and are calling for him to hang it up? Seems unfair. Your thoughts? (P.S. - And when I say "people" I am not talking about you specifically, it seems like this sentiment is somewhat common among journalists and forum posters) -- Nick, Austin, TX<b>For the record, I thought Kotelnik beat Alexander by a score of 116-112, and I seem to recall getting a lot of angry emails from fans who thought the Ukrainian veteran was robbed.I didn't see the fight that Lederman saw that night in St. Louis and I didn't see the fight the HBO crew saw this past Saturday in Los Angeles.What fight did I see? I think I saw the same thing that Naazim Richardson and Jack Mosley saw. I saw a listless, frustrated fighter go through the motions for nine rounds against a constantly moving but sharper-punching opponent.Because if "it looked like Mosley was winning comfortably" as you and others claim then why was there so much concern in Mosley's corner? If a fighter is "outlanding" his opponent "by 70 to 80 shots" and is "the aggressor for the entire fight" shouldn't that fighter's corner be happy -- or at the very least content -- with his work?Why was Richardson constantly pleading with his fighter to follow their basic strategy and then going over alternative plans if his guy was winning comfortably? Why would Richardson have to remind Mosley that he was in shape and try to convince him that he wasn't gassed out if everything was going his fighter's way? Why did Mosley's father get out of his seat, run halfway around the ring, position himself behind his son's corner and shout instructions over Richardson's shoulder? What were Richardson and Jack Mosley yelling about if everything was going well for Shane?Maybe I'm wrong -- and I seriously doubt either man will admit it now that the fight is over -- but I don't believe that Richardson and Mosley's father thought Shane was as effective as HBO's broadcast team and the majority of the ringside media did.Having said that, I have no problem with anyone who thinks Mosley won the fight. In fact, I'm fine with people who think Mosley won nine or 10 rounds. If there's someone out there who thinks Mosley won all 12 rounds easily and believes that Mora should be banned from boxing for life for the manner in which he fought, I'm happy for you. Folks, sometimes we get fights like this in boxing. De La Hoya-Mosley II, Forrest-Mayorga II, and many of Paulie Ayala's fights (most notably the first Bones Adams fight and the rematch with Johnny Tapia) come to mind. As for the calls for Mosley's retirement, I think it has more to do with his age and his many years in the sport than it does with his performance on Saturday. The way he looked as he fought Mora is part of the reason there are calls for Mosley to hand up the gloves but if he was Alexander's age I think most would jut chalk it up to him having a bad night.</b> <b>STEPPING STONE?</b>You know you are my man, I read you think that Cotto and Shane would be stepping stones for Alvarez and Chavez? Are you f___ing kidding me? Now, I must say, I did not see Chavez's last fight or watch the Alvarez fight (got in late watched the DVR of all fights but Alvarez, but did watch the KO).I've not paid attention to more and more fights as the kid count mounts and been tired as hell and not paid close attention to fights. But groggily I saw Shane beating Mora, but you had it 117-111 for Mora, wow. Anyway, do you think Alvarez and Chavez are that much the goods or that Cotto and Mosley are just that shot?Speaking of shot, Harris makes RJJ look like Jake f___ing Lamotta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Laughing my ass off. -- JB<b>I wasn't saying that I, personally, think Mosley and Cotto would be stepping stones in those matchups. I believe that's the role the promoters of the two veterans would see for them if those bouts were to be made (Cotto vs. Chavez Jr., which Top Rank was trying to make for December of this year, and Mosley vs. Alvarez, which I'm sure Golden Boy has in mind for the not-so-distant future). If those fights were made this year I'd pick Cotto over Chavez and I'd make Mosley a slight favorite over Canelo. (I'm not going to get overexcited about Alvarez's performance against the shopworn Baldomir. If Mosley fought "Boulder-head" he would looked like the 29-year-old version of Sugar Shane.)However, I won't be mad at Bob Arum or Richard Schaefer if they view Cotto and Mosley as eventual stepping stones for the younger fighters in their promotional companies. A good promoter is always looking at the future and what promoter <I>doesn't</I> want a young Mexican superstar on his roster?Regarding my scorecard for the Mosley-Mora bout, hey, it's not like I didn't <i>want</i> to score any of those close early rounds for the "old man." Shane's the first major boxer I ever wrote about. He'll always be a sentimental favorite of mine. However, despite his willingness to fight (I'd call it "aggression," but Mosley had about the same intensity he has when he spars with his son in those opening rounds), he did absolutely NO damage to Mora over the first half of the bout. I looked at it like this -- and by the way, I <I>wasn't</I> groggy; I had a few cups of coffee in me and I was seated right by the ring (same table as the official time keepers and HBO's crew) -- if Mosley, the stronger man and the harder puncher, was <I>truly</I> being effective in those early rounds that many observers (including the official judges) scored for him, Mora would have been beat f___ up. In my opinion, if Mosley was really doing all the work people are giving him credit for, Mora would have been a battered mess by the sixth round. He would have been knocked out or his corner would have thrown in the towel to spare him any more punishment by the eighth round if Mosley was <I>really</I> doing his thing.But he wasn't. He didn't hurt Mora at all.Mora didn't do any damage either, but he NEVER does damage! He can't punch. What I thought he did for the first nine rounds of the bout was absolutely contain a veteran fighter who had more experience and power than he did; and he did the best way he knew how -- with feints and footwork. I wish you could get a copy of the international broadcast, because Dave Bontempo noted on air during the fight that when a fighter has to rely purely on ring generalship to compete in a fight he seldom gets credit. I agreed with him and stated that without a hard consistent jab (like we see from the sport's best pure boxers of the past 10 years Floyd Mayweather Jr., Winky Wright and Ivan Calderon) it's difficult to rack up points while shutting down their opponent's offense. See B-hop's fights with Jermain Taylor for a high-profile example of this theory.Even with a consistent jab, a defensive fighter with almost no power is seldom going to be appreciated by all three official judges in a bout where he technically outboxes his opponent. See Taylor's title defense against Cory Spinks for a good example of this. Jim Lamply stated on air immediately after that fight that the one judge who scored it 117-111 for Spinks should have been banned from the sport, but I thought that judge's scorecard was the closest thing to what really occurred in the ring that night. I had it 116-112 for Spinks. Oh well. Like I stated earlier in the bag, fights like Mosley-Mora are part of boxing. If the fight in question wasn't compelling in some way we should all move on to discussing bouts that we <I>know</I> will deliver excitement, like this one:</b> <b>WILLIAMS-MARTINEZ II</b>Dear Doug,Glad it's signed. I'll go with Sergio Martinez to get his revenge by close decision. If it's as good as #1, we've got the 2010 FOTY. And no, I could care less about the "catch-weight" issue, though I will say that those who've complained about Pacquiao's having fought at catch-weights should be infinitely more upset about this. They claim that "title" fights should be fought not at catch-weights. Well, Sergio Martinez is THE middleweight champion of the world. Paul Williams isn't, say, fighting Pirog or Sturm--unlike Pacquiao, who fought beltholder Cotto and is now fighting MargaCheato for a vacant belt. (Why Marg's got that shot is beyond me; more WBC stupidity.)Most writers have vociferously praised Williams as the avoided guy who just wants to fight anybody in that weight range. I (in the interest of intellectual honesty) hope that they're just as vociferous in their criticism of him as they have been of Pacquiao. Again, I could care less, as I'm generally a freedom of contract guy. Martinez agreed to it, and he'd have every right to do it on his own, so I see no reason why he can't contract to weigh in at 157. (P.S. I'll go with Maidana in a rematch with Ortiz. You don't grow heart. Chino has it. Ortiz proved to me that he doesn't.) Take care. -- Patrick<b>I think Ortiz does have heart. He got it beat out of him last June because his mind wasn't right, but I believe he's matured since that setback and he will have his head screwed on straight for a Maidana rematch. Being the more technically sound boxer and the better athlete, I think Ortiz will have his revenge.I'm also leaning towards Martinez to gain some "get-back" in November. I don't think 157-pound catchweight will detract from his performance. Who knows? The lighter weight might make him lighter on his feet will which will help him outmaneuver Williams and set up his power shots. Does Pacquiao really get that much criticism? I'm not that aware of any serious anti-Pacquiao sentiment that may be out there. I guess I need to make time for message boards so I can keep up on this kind of s___. But seriously, are fans that bored? Are they really getting up in arms about a guy who fought at 130 pounds in early 2008 asking Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito to shed a few extra pounds before their fights?Whatever. If Cotto, Margarito and Martinez are OK with the catch-weight bouts, so am I.</b>

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Juan Manuel Lopez to Defend Against Orlando Salido on April 16

Filed under: WBA, IBF, WBO, Boxing Rumors, HBO, Showtime, Top Rank Promotions

Southpaw WBO featherweight (126 pounds) champion Juan Manuel Lopez will defend his belt against former IBF titlist Orlando Salido on April 16 in a Showtime televised bout from Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum, in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, in accordance with an announcement by Top Rank Promotions.

Top Rank Promotions CEO, Bob Arum, originally informed FanHouse of news on Jan. 21.

Salido (34-11-2, 22 knockouts) was dethroned by unanimous decision in September following a loss to Cuban-born WBA and IBF belt-holder, Yuriorkis Gamboa (19-0, 15 KOs), who will next face WBA interim super featherweight (130 pounds) champ Jorge Solis (40-2-2, 29 KOs) of Mexico on March 26 in an HBO televised bout.
.

 

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Pacquiao Plays Hoops, Mosley Talks Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin

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.

In a May 7, Top Rank Promotions, Showtime pay per view televised bout, eight-division king and WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) titlist Manny Pacquiao (53-2-1, 38 KOs) will defend his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) belt against three-division, five-time champion Shane Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs).

Besides boxing, however, Pacquiao and Mosley share a love for basketball, which Mosley discusses in this FanHouse interview.

 

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Post Fight Timothy Bradley Media Release

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD! Timothy Bradley Once Again Unifies WBO and WBC 140-Pound Titles With Victory Over Devon Alexander! PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. (January 31, 2011) ? Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, the Klitschko brothers ? line ?em up — undefeated 140-Pound World Champion TIMOTHY ?Desert Storm? BRADLEY (27-0, [...]

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Scoop Mailbox: What else does Scoop Judah know?

�Scoop what do you think about Zab Judahs conversation with Floyd? I read these lines: I had seen Floyd yesterday and asked, Are you going to get back in there? Mayweather told me he?s finished. He said he was just going to chill. He?s thinking about taking a two year break?? I read it as [...]

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Latest Boxing News in Brief

Latest Boxing news in Brief ? Thursday 3rd February for: Amir Khan?s opponent, Andre Dirrell, Cotto vs. Mayorga, Foreman vs Wolak, Hugo Centeno, Marquez injured, Quillen vs Sharpe, Sergio Mora vs. Bryan Vera, Toks Owoh, World title tripleheader Japan

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Haye, Bute Training at Miami?s 5th Street Gym

WBA Heavyweight champ David Haye and WBC Super Middleweight titlist Lucien Bute are both training regularly at the newly reopened�5th Street Gym in Miami Beach, just two blocks around the corner from South Beach, informs the gym manager Dino Spencer. Spencer says Bute is in the gym every morning and recently has sparred with James [...]

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Dereck Chisora gets second chance as Wladimir Klitschko bout rearranged

? Chisora to face world heavyweight champion on 30 April
? Original bout was called off due to Klitschko's injury

Dereck Chisora will face the world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko on 30 April after last month's bout was called off.

Klitschko, the IBF, WBO and Ring magazine champion, had been due to defend his belts against the untested Londoner on 11 December in Germany until a stomach injury forced him to pull out at the last minute.

Chisora, the British and Commonwealth champion, was always hopeful he would still get his chance and it was confirmed today that they will meet in the spring, with Germany still hosting the bout.

The news leaves the future of David Haye, the WBA champion, unclear. Haye has been in protracted negotiations with Klitschko over a unification bout and they had looked like meeting in April or May until today's announcement.

"This news is a fantastic late Christmas present," Chisora said. "I always believed that I would fight Klitschko, and my faith has been repaid. I was a bit worried that he might try and fight an easier touch, but I think I've earned my opportunity.

"I was gutted when Wladimir pulled out of our fight just a couple of days beforehand, but now I've got another chance to take his titles away. He's a great world champion, but his time at the top is well and truly up.

"My promoter Frank Warren has done a great job in getting me this opportunity because there was no guarantee Wladimir would fight me again after he got injured."

• Wladimir Klitschko
• Boxing

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RING Theory: Audio show

RING Theory, a regular feature at RingTV.com, is an audio boxing talk show featuring columnists Eric Raskin and Bill Dettloff. They review recent events, look forward to coming fights and discuss the quirky side of the sport. The show appears twice a month.<a href="http://ringtheory.podbean.com/">Ring Theory</a>

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Big Week for Thompson Boxing: Bradley, Diaz & Lopez Win Big

Thompson Boxing Stablemates, Timothy Bradley, Josesito Lopez & Julio Diaz Score Big Wins:

Thompson Boxing Promotions is pleased to congratulate WBC/WBO Junior Welterweight Champion Timothy Bradley, NABF Light Welterweight Champion Josesito Lopez and Julio Diaz on their hard earned victories. The three stablemates from Thompson Boxing all had important bouts in their career in the past week, and all emerged victorious.
On January 29 Palm Spring's Undefeated WBC/WBO Junior Welterweight Champion Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley and then WBC Super Lightweight Champion Devon Alexander "The Great" met in ...

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HBO video: Alexander fighting for jailed brother and deceased father

Boxing heats up big time at the end of the month in Detroit as Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander square off at the Silverdome. Alexander's career is off to a great start at 21-0, but his story away the ring is even better.

The 23-year-old survived a tough upbringing, his father dying and his older brother Vaughn going to jail, to put himself on the verge of superstardom.

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Archie Ray Marquez Officially Off Shobox Card Friday Night

Franco-Miranda, Kayode-Iannuzzi Fights Still On For Friday, Feb. 4th:

Undefeated lightweight prospect Archie Ray Marquez suffered an injury during training and was forced to pull out of his scheduled bout against Marvin Quintero on this Friday?s ShoBox: The New� Generation on Showtime. It had been rumored for several days that Marquez would be off the card, and today it was made official that it would be so.
The scheduled main event and co-feature remain intact. The telecast begins at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).� The Marquez-Quintero bout will ...

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Promoting Failure: How Gary Shaw, Don King And HBO Have Bungled The Timothy Bradley - Devon Alexander Fight

On September 29, 2007, undefeated middleweight champion Jermain Taylor and undefeated challenger Kelly Pavlik battled in a memorable slugfest at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Although Taylor, from Little Rock, Arkansas, was the champion, promoters Lou DiBella (Taylor) and Bob Arum (Pavlik) chose to stage the fight in Atlantic City, a historically strong fight town also accessible to Pavlik?s devoted Youngstown, Ohio fan base. And to help fuel interest, they put together one of the more inspired, eye-catching fight posters you will see.


The resulting fight, aired on HBO World Championship Boxing, was a middleweight clash for the ages, with Pavlik down and nearly out early only to roar back with a thrilling come-from-behind knockout victory to secure the title. As I can attest from being in attendance, the raucous crowd had a tangible impact on the electric atmosphere that night. It?s unlikely they made much impact on Pavlik?s mid-fight resurrection, but they certainly made the night more memorable.

When the dust settled, Pavlik was a new star and Taylor, despite the loss, actually improved his standing amongst fight fans after yawn-inducing performances against Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks in previous bouts. A great fight was staged, a new champion was crowned, and the fans were entertained and uplifted. Everybody left the arena satisfied.

This Saturday, January 29, two more undefeated Americans will square off for divisional supremacy, as Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander battle to see who the best 140-pound fighter in the world (Amir Khan notwithstanding; he will very likely have his opportunity to face the victor later this year to establish the undisputed champion of the division). It is the most anticipated, important, high-level fight between two undefeated Americans since Pavlik-Taylor I; unfortunately, it has been treated by its promoters like it?s just another fight.

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Can new 5th Street Gym rekindle excitement of years past?

<font size="1" color="#000000">The new 5th Street Gym is at 555 Washington Avenue in Miami Beach, Fla. <a href="http://5thstgym.com/index.html">Visit the official website</a> to learn more about the gym. Photo / Rachel Charles</font>To get an idea of what the 5th Street Gym was like during its heyday all one need do is visit the Wild Card Boxing Club.The 5th Street Gym, which first opened its doors in Miami Beach 60 years ago, was much like Freddie Roach's busy boxing club in Hollywood, Calif. It was the hub of boxing in southern Florida, a hot spot that attracted the best fighters of the day, curious celebrities, and of course, fight fans from all over. And for more than a decade it was home to one of boxing's most sought-after trainers and the sport's brightest star.If you've been to the Wild Card in recent years, you might be able to imagine what the 5th Street Gym was like in the 1960s. Replace Roach and Manny Pacquiao with Angelo Dundee and Muhammad Ali. Substitute Amir Khan and all the fighters from the Philippines and Europe that populate the Wild Card with Luis Rodriguez and the cadre of talented Cuban boxers who flocked to the 5th Street Gym after Fidel Castro's communist regime took control of the island. And as for the frequent celebrity guests, switch out Mickey Rourke, Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg and members of KISS with Jackie Gleason, Sean Connery, Frank Sinatra and The Beatles.Even if you've never stepped foot in the Wild Card, you get the picture. The 5th Street Gym was the place to be. "Joe Namath came by before the New York Jets won the Super Bowl," said Dundee, whose older brother Chris founded the gym in 1951. "The 5th Street Gym attracted everybody from every walk of life. It was a happy place, a constant social gathering."The happy times lasted many decades but the legendary gym closed its doors 17 years ago."In 1993, the guy who owned the building wanted $2 million to keep it open and I didn't want to have to rob a bank to do that," Dundee told RingTV.com. "It broke my heart to see it close."However, thanks to Tom Tsatas and a group of investors, the storied gym has reopened with the blessing and involvement of Dundee.Tsatas, a Chicago-based boxing manager and restaurant owner, teamed up with Dundee prot g Matt Baiamonte and noted conditioning coach Dino Spencer to build a modern version of the 5th Street Gym. The new facility, which hosted a gala opening on Thursday that included an appearance from Ali, will house a traditional boxing gym overseen by Dundee. But it will also keep up with the times by offering fitness classes in cardio kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, MMA and Krav Maga that are geared to novices and children. Few gyms can survive by catering only to amateur and professional fighters. Of all New York City's famous boxing clubs only Gleason's is still around, and the Brooklyn-based gym had to expand to include general fitness equipment and white-collar boxing to survive. Even Detroit's famed Kronk Gym closed its doors a few years ago. Despite the feel-good publicity of the gym's reopening, it's hard to imagine that the new 5th Street Gym will be as busy as the original was. Boxing isn't as popular as it was with the general public in the 1950s and '60s, and there aren't as many fighters and shows in the southern Florida area as there were during the gym's heyday.Dundee recalls that it didn't take long for the 5th Street Gym to become <I>the</I> boxing spot in Miami Beach after it opened. "We used to travel to Cuba every week to work the corners of professional fighters there before the gym opened up," the 89-year-old trainer said. "So when Castro closed the door, all the kids we worked with came to Miami and trained at 5th Street. Luis Rodriguez made it his home. Jose Napoles and Sugar Ramos trained there when they visited from Mexico. "Don't forget, my brother promoted cards in the area every Tuesday, so the gym filled up with fighters pretty quickly. And before we knew it, the champions of the world would train there if they had a fight in the Miami area. Willie Pep, Carmen Basilo, Rocky Marciano, Ray Robinson all came through. The guys from North Florida trained there in the winter. Ralph Dupas and Willie Pastrano practically grew up there. They'd come in from New Orleans and stay with us over the summers while they were still in high school. Ali learned a lot from guys like Rodriguez, Dupas and Pastrano when he started training there."Is it even remotely possible that the new gym could again house so much professional boxing talent? Dundee, ever the optimist, won't rule it out."There seems to be a lot of amateur stars defecting from Cuba lately," he said. "Miami is the place for Cuban fighters, there's a market here for them, and if they fight here, they'll train at the new 5th Street. I believe in time, we'll attract the best from around the world and that includes America. Yes, I think we still have great boxing talent here in the United States. We just need to give the kids a place to train. "I think the new 5th Street is going to be alright. It's got the label, the brand. It was always in the limelight, and it will be again once it's up and running."

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With first round KO, Berto states his case for fight with one of the big boys

LAS VEGAS _ It hasn't been an easy year for Andre Berto. Because of the tragic earthquake in his homeland of Haiti, Berto missed out on a chance at a signature win at the start of 2010. Now he can enter 2011 with an exclamation point after crushing Freddy Hernandez in just over two minutes.

The fight was just heating up when Berto (27-0, 21 KOs) landed a perfect right hook on Hernandez's chin. The Mexican crumbled to the mat. He got to his feet, but he was out of it and the fight was waved off at 2:07 of the first.

Berto remains unbeaten and retained his WBC welterweight title. He's now defended it successfully five times. Berto's in the mix for some big fights but realistically has zero shot at the division's current king Manny Pacquiao. He knows that's the case and is seeking a fight against Shane Mosley or Miguel Cotto. 

Compubox told the story of an abbreviated fight. Berto was 9-of-26 while Hernandez landed just 3-of-26.

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Ward-Dirrell, Froch-Abraham rescheduled for Nov. 27

The postponed Super Six World Boxing Classic matchups between Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell and Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham have been rescheduled for November 27, it was announced by Showtime, the U.S. cable network that created the innovative but troubled 168-pound tournament.Ward-Dirrell was supposed to take place on Saturday but was held up for reasons undisclosed by the network as well as the management and promoters of the fighters. It is rumored that the former 2004 U.S. Olympic teammates, who are friends, wanted more money than the network could offer to face each other on September 25.Froch-Abraham was to take place on October 2 but had to be pushed to a later date when Froch injured his back in training.Ward-Dirrell, which has yet to secure a venue, will headline the Nov. 27 Showtime telecast, live at 9 p.m. ET/PT, and will be contested for Ward's WBA title and the newly vacated WBC belt. On the same night, Froch will face Abraham at Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland, in a bout that may or may not be televised by Showtime on a tape-delay basis depending on what the promoters of the fighters can work out with the venue.The vacant title up for grabs in the Ward-Dirrell fight was held by Mikkel Kessler, who won the belt in a heated 12-round decision over Froch in April. The bout, which took place in Kessler's home country of Denmark was part of the Super Six tournament. However, the Danish star had to withdraw from the tournament and abdicate his title when he revealed that he suffered from vision problems that need time to heal.Kessler's withdraw cut the Super Six down to five participants (Ward, Froch, Dirrell, Abraham and Allan Green, who replaced Jermain Taylor when the former middleweight champ withdrew following a brutal KO loss to Abraham in Group Stage 1 of the tournament) and left Green without an opponent for Group Stage 3.Fans and media speculated that Showtime would solve the dilemma by dropping Green, who was dominated by Ward in his only bout of the tournament, and moving directly to the four-man single-elimination semifinals. However, the network is proceeding with Group Stage 3, which Froch-Abraham and Ward-Dirrell are part of.A decision on Green's Group Stage 3 bout is expected in the coming days, according to Showtime.The third and final Group Stage will complete the round-robin portion of the tournament and determine the four fighters who will advance to the semifinals. Through the first two Stages, Ward is the only fighter to have secured a berth in the Semis. No fighter has been eliminated from contention creating a virtual win-or-go-home scenario for each of the men.

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New commercial! Manny Pacquiao is the champion of ... everything

This is a nice score for a California casino. Bet you it cost a pretty penny.

Manny Pacquiao puts his stamp of approval on this gaming establishment. Below is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the commercial where there ladies put their stamp of approval on Manny.

Tip via TerezOwens

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Brosch and Vargas Set to Battle for Canadian Welterweight Supremacy

On February 19th, titles, bragging rights, and careers will be on the line at Mississauga?s Hershey Centre, in a card being called one of the most important in recent Canadian boxing history.
And in an evening packed with significant fights, including the first title defense

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Chris Arreola Knocks Out Joey Abell In The 1st Round Video(Goossen Tutor)

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Saul Alvarez vs. Matthew Hatton Preview & Prediction

Hatton vs. Alvarez: Mexico vs. England Welterweight Up and Comers:


On Saturday, March 5, European Welterweight Champion Matthew Hatton will take on the talented, undefeated and thus far unchallenged, young Mexican fighter Saul Alvarez at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Styles will collide on this evening as Hatton, a fundamentally sound boxer, goes up against Alvarez, a highly touted slugger who specializes in putting his opponents on the canvas.
Buy Alvarez vs. Hatton Tickets online
Matthew ?Magic" Hatton

European Welterweight Champion
Manchester, United Kingdom
41-4-2 (16 KO?s)
Last 5 Fights: Hatton has been victorious in ...

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Green wins back Aussie fans by cruising past Flores

Danny Green took on villain status for something that was beyond his control. Australia was in an uproar back in July after Green took out Paul Briggs in just 29 seconds. Briggs appeared to give zero effort and went down for the count after getting grazed on the head. Fans alleged the fix and the fight warranted a full-scale investigation. Briggs was eventually fined $75,000.

Green did his part today to erase the memories of that debacle by taking out American B.J. Flores. Green retained his IBO cruiserweight title via unanimous decision, 118-111, 118-110 and 117-112, at Challenge Stadium in Mt. Claremont, Western Australia. 

"This one's for all of you," Green (31-3, 27 KOs) told the 5000-strong crowd after the fight. "Every person that's given me a pat on the back after the last affair I can't thank you enough. You don't know how much it means to me. I love all of you guys."

Before the fight, there was still plenty of doubt swirling around Green. Sports books actually limited betting options for the fight. 

Flores, who also serves as an analyst on ESPN's boxing coverage, is a decent name but isn't very respected in the rankings.

He was only ranked by two-of-four major sanctioning bodies and FightNews.com didn't have Flores (24-1-1, KOs) in its top 16 at cruiserweight. Green is No. 3 on that list. Now it's time for the 37-year-old Aussie to take on some top notch competition.

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Weigh-ins: Day-before vs. same-day

Brandon Rios and Anthony Peterson both made the 135-pound limit for their lightweight matchup on Sept. 11 in Las Vegas. On fight night, they weighed 151 and 139, respectively, meaning a junior middleweight fought a junior welterweight.Rios overwhelmed Peterson and won by a seventh-round disqualification, which might've occurred even if the weights were reversed. We don't know. However, we must ask the question: Did Rios have an unfair advantage over Peterson? If so, that leads us to a question that has been asked untold times over the years: Are day-before weigh-ins preferable to weighing in on the day of the fight?The reality is that there is no easy answer.Some are convinced the best option is the day-before weigh-in, ostensibly instituted in the 1980s to minimize dehydration by allowing fighters drained of liquids and other nutrients time to replenish. The problem is that the participants often fight at vastly different weights, as Rios-Peterson illustrates.Others prefer same-day weigh-ins, which don't allow as much time for replenishment but send two fighters of roughly equal weight into the ring."This is a question that has always been asked in boxing and will continue to be," said Greg Sirb, executive director of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission.Sirb and his counterpart in Nevada, Keith Kizer, don't see eye to eye on the issue.Pennsylvania uses same-day weigh-ins except in title fights, for which fighters are weighed both the day before and day of and are not allowed to gain more than 10 pounds from the first weigh-in to the second.Sirb hasn't seen a significant problem with dehydration in regard to the same-day weigh-ins. He said those who fight in Pennsylvania know what the rules are and adjust, which he believes all fighters would do if they had to.He plans to propose to all boxing organizations that the following system be universally employed: a weigh-in seven days before the fight in which a fighter must be within a designated number of pounds of the contracted weight, the official weigh-in the day before the fight and a final weigh-in the day of the fight which limits the amount of weight a fighter may gain."A lot of them say they can't make (weight) the day of," Sirb said. "Then they have no alternative but to move up. They'll change their mind set. I might think differently if we had the old eight weight divisions. Now, though, we have so many weight classes. It's nothing to move up one division. That way the fighters can focus less on making weight and more on honing their skills."... The gaining of so much weight is almost ridiculous. Why have weight limits if you don't know what anybody is going to weigh for the fight."Dr. Margaret Goodman, former Medical Advisory Board Chairman and Chief Ringside Physician for the Nevada State Athletic Commission, leans toward same-day weigh-ins but acknowledges the complexity of the issue.She said dehydration, in the cases it is a factor, probably wouldn't raise the danger of brain damage unless it was acute but <i>would</i> affect reflexes and balance. She said "it would slow everything down," which obviously would be a problem for a fighter about to engage in battle.The principal issue in day-before weigh-ins, she said, is that fighters sometimes do whatever it takes to get down to weight -- sometimes abusing the body by starving or by using diuretics -- because they think they'll gain a competitive edge by fighting below their natural weight.That can either harm that fighter or give him an unfair advantage over an opponent who might be in his natural weight class, as stated earlier."It's a very complicated issue," Goodman said. "I think we should have uniformity instead of one state doing one thing and another state doing another. The best thing might be to do what they do in Pennsylvania, allowing fighters to gain only so much weight after the (day-before) weigh-in."At least that would be a huge start. At least then the fighters couldn't put on so much weight and wouldn't be dehydrated to begin with."Kizer would prefer to err on the side of caution, pointing out that no fool-proof means of determining whether a fighter is overly dehydrated exists.Thus, if a fighter's reflexes and balance are affected by dehydration, the last thing he should do is get into the ring.And the fighters <i>will</i> have incentive to dehydrate themselves and/or use diuretics in certain circumstances. If a fighter can make $1 million against a star at 147 pounds or $100,000 fighting a journeyman at his natural weight of 154, for example, which do you think he would choose?Kizer isn't even convinced that fighters who add more weight than their opponents during the time between the weigh-in and fight have an advantage. He cited an informal study in the 1990s that demonstrated that the heavier fighter won only 50 percent of the time.A concrete example: Orlando Salido was stripped of his featherweight belt before his fight against Yuriorkis Gamboa on the Rios-Peterson card because he gained more than 10 pounds between the weigh-in and the fight, which violated an IBF regulation. "Rios won his fight handily," Kizer said, "but Yuriorkis Gamboa weighed less than Orlando Salido and it didn't put him at a disadvantage. Gamboa won the fight."Kizer also is uneasy about Sirb's proposal.He fears some fighters will take extreme measures to make weight each time they weigh in. For example, a fighter might dry out to make weight at the week-before weigh-in, gain several pounds back, and then dry out again for the official weigh-in the day before the fight.That, Kizer suggested, could be more harmful than having to make weight one time."I just don't know if reality would mirror (Sirb's) theory," he said. "... That said, there's a very good reason we have weight classes. We do want to have reasonable disparity of weights in our fights. We don't want it to be great. We're dealing with competitive advantages and health issues, too."... It's something in the front of our minds. We post information on our Web site about how to properly cut weight, how to rehydrate. We want fighters and trainers to make the right decisions."That could be the ultimate solution.Trainer Freddie Roach can't understand why fighters torture themselves to make weight in a lower division when they can fight more comfortably at their natural weight. His prize pupil, Manny Pacquiao, is an example of someone who fights slightly above his natural weight class. Weight is never an issue and the results are obvious.The health issues and competitive advantages central to the timing of weigh-ins wouldn't be nearly as pressing if fighters would just fight at their natural weights."That would be the solution," Goodman said. "Trainers and fighters need to understand what the dangers are and do the smart thing. We need people like Freddie Roach to speak up about such things as this. People will listen to him."<a href="mailto:ringtveditor@yahoo.com">Michael Rosenthal can be reached at RingTVeditor@yahoo.com</a>

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With first round KO, Berto states his case for fight with one of the big boys

LAS VEGAS _ It hasn't been an easy year for Andre Berto. Because of the tragic earthquake in his homeland of Haiti, Berto missed out on a chance at a signature win at the start of 2010. Now he can enter 2011 with an exclamation point after crushing Freddy Hernandez in just over two minutes.

The fight was just heating up when Berto (27-0, 21 KOs) landed a perfect right hook on Hernandez's chin. The Mexican crumbled to the mat. He got to his feet, but he was out of it and the fight was waved off at 2:07 of the first.

Berto remains unbeaten and retained his WBC welterweight title. He's now defended it successfully five times. Berto's in the mix for some big fights but realistically has zero shot at the division's current king Manny Pacquiao. He knows that's the case and is seeking a fight against Shane Mosley or Miguel Cotto. 

Compubox told the story of an abbreviated fight. Berto was 9-of-26 while Hernandez landed just 3-of-26.

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Bradley vs. Alexander Weigh-In Results

After weeks and weeks of buildup, the Timothy Bradley vs. Devon Alexander fight is finally upon us, Saturday evening January 28th, live on HBO at 10 pm Eastern. The Bradley vs. Alexander weigh-in was held this afternoon in preparation for the bout. Check out the weigh-in results, the weights and a few photos from the event.
Bradley vs. Alexander Weights

Timothy Bradley: 139.5 lbs
Devon Alexander: 140 lbs

Both fighters looked to be in extremely good condition for the fight, and the weigh-in was a pretty spirited event, with both fighters having plenty to ...

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Mayweather flips out again on community's security guard

Things are getting ugly between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his guard-gated neighborhood in Las Vegas. TMZ got hold of a video this week where the boxer is seen yelling at security outside the Southern Highlands community.

Is Floyd the victim in this case? Keep in mind, he is less than a week removed from being arrested for an alleged poking incident involving one of the guards in the community.

This video makes it seem like someone at the community has it out for him. Even if you believe he's at fault in this incident, how did TMZ get a hold of the video? Someone got a nice payday for trying to embarass the boxer.

Opinions were split in Las Vegas. We did an hour on the topic on ESPNRadio1100, complete with phone calls and textline responses. Listen here. 

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Morales and Marquez will fight on 4 / 9 in Las Vegas

According to Golden Boy Promotions the fight between these two great Mexican boxers will be held in Las Vegas (USA) on April 9 and will be broadcast by HBO.

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Undefeated Michael Perez Returns February 4th Plus More Unbeaten Prospects

A hit in his first fight in Puerto Rico last December, unbeaten lightweight prospect Michael "The Artist" P�rez returns to the island on Friday, February 4, to square off against Colorado's Marcos Herrera in the eight round main event of TeleFutura's "S�lo Boxeo Tecate" at the Coliseo F�lix M�ndez Acevedo in his father's hometown of Lares. In the co-featured bout, Juncos, Puerto Rico's Jayson "La Maravilla" V�lez will face Mexico's Juan Jos� Beltr�n in an eight round junior featherweight showdown.� Also in action will ...

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For whom the bell tolls: Boxing on film

There have been many great boxing movies over the years, but most of them are about white champs ? and there aren't many of those in the real world

The ratio of good films about boxers to bad films about boxers is extraordinarily high. That may be because there is something inherently thrilling about the manly art, but it may also be because Hollywood doesn't make a movie about boxers every week, whereas it does make a movie about young men who treat women badly 52 times a year. It may also be because the great movies about boxers become lodged in the public's memory, while the bad ones (The Main Event, a woeful 1979 outing starring Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal immediately comes to mind) simply vapourise. It may also be because so many movies about boxers have been directed by talented directors (Martin Scorsese, John Huston, Michael Mann, Martin Ritt, Jim Sheridan, David O Russell, Clint Eastwood), whereas movies about young men who mistreat women get directed by clowns. For whatever the reason, we are lucky to have as many great boxing movies as we do. You certainly can't say that about rugby.

Boxing films have been much in the air recently because of Russell's stirring new release, The Fighter. With Christian Bale giving the performance of a lifetime as a washed-up welterweight contender whose younger half-brother (Mark Wahlberg) has also entered the family business, The Fighter combines numerous narrative threads and has a great deal to say about family, class, drugs, romance and holding on to one's dreams. Bale's performance is so stunning that it seems like a new, emotionally re-engineered Christian Bale has replaced the limp, overmatched actor who got upstaged by his co-stars in 3.10 to Yuma (Russell Crowe), Public Enemies (Johnny Depp) and The Dark Knight (Heath Ledger). The same is true of Amy Adams, who played a lovable nitwit in Junebug, a lovable nitwit in Doubt and a perky nitwit in Julie and Julia, but who here takes a sharp turn from her apparent career path as the second coming of Meg Ryan by playing a tough, savvy, determined townie who, to all appearances, would dearly love to get out of town.

Even before The Fighter started making waves ? it also features a juicy performance by Melissa Leo as the boys' acid-tongued mother ? there was a good deal of chatter about the boxing film genre in general. In December, the character Rocky Balboa from the six Rocky films was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame, the first time a fictional entity had been accorded this high honour. Shortly after that, the industry celebrated the 30th anniversary of the release of Scorsese's brilliant Raging Bull, conveniently forgetting that the film did not do all that well at the box office when it first saw the light of day. Given that it has only been seven years since Eastwood's offbeat Million Dollar Baby won the Oscar for best picture, and just six years since Ron Howard's rousing, if somewhat less successful Cinderella Man premiered, it is safe to say that the past decade has been very good for the boxing movie genre indeed.

These films all have two things in common: they are basically rags-to-riches stories about underdogs who came out of nowhere to achieve greatness, and they are all about white people. A white person myself, I have nothing against films revolving around white people ? I loved Bringing Up Baby, Psycho and Jaws ? nor do I think that there is anything sinister about the preponderance of motion pictures dealing with white boxers. Fat City was great, The Boxer was superb, and classics like Requiem for a Heavyweight, Kid Galahad and The Champ are all burned into my psyche. But white people are pretty rare inside the ring, certainly at the highest levels (the recent ascendance of all those giant brawlers from the post-Soviet states to the various versions of the world heavyweight title notwithstanding).

There's certainly no rule that motion pictures have to be faithful to reality; everything from King of Kings to King Kong to The Last King of Scotland to The King's Speech take liberties with the facts. Still, if virtually every motion picture about jazz, basketball or the civil rights movement focused on the exploits of intrepid, charismatic white people, to the exclusion of the black people who actually dominate these milieus in real life, somebody might start to notice.

That is the situation we are in today. The last high-profile motion picture to deal with a black boxer was Mann's Ali (2001) co-written by Stephen Rivele, a college classmate of mine who introduced me to my future wife and then never spoke to me again. It was a good, though certainly not a great film, hampered by the fact that Will Smith lacked the vivaciousness and charm of Muhammad Ali. The genius of Ali was better captured in When We Were Kings, a 1996 film about Ali's epic 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" with reigning champion George Foreman in Zaire. But When We Were Kings is a documentary, and the general public rarely sees documentaries. Moreover, documentaries rarely enter the world of mythology the way dramatic films like Rocky and Raging Bull do. That's just the way it is.

In 1999, Denzel Washington played Rubin "Hurricane" Carter in The Hurricane, a film about a middleweight contender who spent 20 years in a New Jersey prison for allegedly participating in a triple murder. The subject of a memorable Bob Dylan song, Carter's case became a cause celebre among liberals in the United States, who claimed the boxer had been railroaded by the police and the government. Carter was eventually released from prison, though detractors never stopped insisting he was guilty. One thing cannot be contested: The Hurricane, a flawed, self-congratulatory film that is less about boxing than about racism, does not fall into the heartwarming, inspirational mode of Cinderella Man and Rocky and The Fighter. Like so many of his films, it was lifted above mediocrity almost entirely by Washington's talents. But in the end, it was lifted only slightly above mediocrity.

Since Ali, with the exception of a few negligible, low-budget releases, there have been no films of any consequence featuring black boxers. Hmm. I once suggested in print that the Rocky films might have a mildly racist subtext ? inadvertent, to be sure! ? in that the white public, rankled that they could never have a white champion in the real world, simply retreated into the realm of fantasy, where they could. It was thereupon pointed out to me that Rocky is a fairytale, and that fairytales are absurd, and the most absurd fairytale of all is the idea that a short white man could become heavyweight champion of the world. By this reasoning, everyone who watches Rocky already knows that it is a fairytale, and thus racial issues have nothing to do with it. I would suggest that proponents of this view do not know much about white people, and even less about Philadelphia.

Moreover, once Rocky scored big, its fairytale aura faded away. In the original Rocky, the converted South Philly goon gives Apollo Creed, Sylvester Stallone's crude Ali stand-in, more than he can handle, but does not actually win the fight. In Rocky II, he does. This is where the fairytale becomes preposterous; when Rocky II was made, in 1979, it had been 19 years since a white man ? the Swede Ingemar Johansson ? had been world heavyweight champion. In the 20 subsequent years, until Vitali Klitschko began the eastern invasion of the division, there were two white heavyweight title holders across the four different boxing federations, against 28 black ones. And one of those two, Francesco Damiani, barely counts because no one was interested in the belt he won while Mike Tyson held the other three.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Fighter, I thought Million Dollar Baby was kind of sweet, and I admired Russell Crowe's performance in Cinderella Man, even though the film itself was oddly inanimate. Still, I wouldn't mind occasionally seeing a good movie about a fantastic black boxer. It's not like there haven't been plenty to choose from: Mike Tyson, Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, Floyd Patterson, Sonny Liston, and Tommy Hearns, just to name a few. Louis, for example, knocked out Hitler's favorite son, Max Schmeling, in a famous 1938 bout at Yankee Stadium after losing to him two years earlier; it was probably the most important fight in the history of the world. That would make an interesting film. So why no takers? How come these things only get made for television?

I don't think I'm asking for the moon here. It's not as if I'm suggesting that Hollywood start making films with names like Eskimo TKO, to make up for decades of callously overlooking the vast pugilistic prowess of Inuit flyweights. It's not as if I'm asking Hollywood to start making movies about hermaphrodite boxers or blind Macedonian boxers or boxers who slug it out from wheelchairs or boxers who can cite Arthur Rimbaud in the original French. I'm only asking Hollywood to occasionally make a film that more closely reflects the reality of the boxing world as we know it. If you can have six Rockys, why do we only have one Ali? If we have movies about a so-so white middleweight and a scrappy white welterweight and a couple of pint-sized heavyweights, why can't we have a movie about Mike Tyson, whose rise and fall is as tragic a story as the boxing world has ever known?

So yes, my request is modest. Every once in a while, perhaps every seven years or so, somebody should make a motion picture that lionises a black man, a film that depicts an overmatched wretch from the wrong side of the tracks who comes out of nowhere, ignores the seemingly insuperable odds, and becomes heavyweight champion of the world. This, in fact, is the Mike Tyson story. And the Leon Spinks story. And the Jersey Joe Walcott story. And ? but I digress.

One final plea to Hollywood: When you're done with the African-American project, you might try making a movie about Hispanics. I seem to remember reading somewhere that there were a couple of good Latino boxers out there.

The Fighter is released on 2 February.

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David Haye calls Wladimir Klitschko a coward for not fighting him

? Klitschko will fight Dereck Chisora not Haye
? 'He is scared of getting knocked out,' says Haye

David Haye believes Wladimir Klitschko is running scared and has called his heavyweight rival "a coward" but hopes the pair might still set up a fight this summer.

Haye, the WBA champion, has been engaged in protracted negotiations with Klitschko, who holds the IBF and WBO titles and is regarded as the world's best heavyweight as holder of the respected 'Ring' belt, to get a showdown set for this summer.

However, it was announced yesterday that Klitschko will honour his agreement to fight Haye's fellow Londoner Dereck Chisora on 30 April after a stomach injury forced the champion to pull out of their proposed clash last month, which in turns means Haye will instead take on the mandatory challenger Ruslan Chagaev of Uzbekistan.

Haye was left less than impressed by the whole situation, not pulling any punches in his rhetoric. However, the British heavyweight, who maintains he will stick to his pledge to retire when he turns 31 in October, insists even now he would be open to a unification bout.

"Fight fans just want to see the best against the best ? if only it was that simple," Haye said. "For this fight, I thought we had gotten over all of the obstacles. I even renegotiated my own current promoters' contract to allow the Klitschkos to get what they wanted out of the fight.

"They wanted to fight in Germany, I said 'OK'. We made sure our mandatory challenger could be put on the backburner, had agreements from all the TV networks. Very rarely in boxing do you get a situation where you have all the pieces of the puzzle, all the politics have been smoothed over.

"He wanted to come in second, to have his name first on the promotion posters ? we said 'OK, let's just make this super-fight happen which everyone wants to see'.

"Then all of sudden he announces he is fighting [Chisora], knowing I have to then fight Chagaev. To then fight me after is impossible ? it is a shame he has now shown his true colours."

Haye added: "He is scared of getting knocked out and does not want to lose, fighting people on a good run. What is wrong with now? Nothing. It does not make sense, especially after all the public campaign to get me in the ring.

"This would be a once in a lifetime fight. Once I retire, people will always ask him 'why did you not fight David Haye?' and he will have to live with that.

"If it does not happen now, it never will. Hopefully he is getting some serious stick, will read what the world is saying about him and think 'OK, maybe I will just cancel this fight and do the fight everyone wants to see'.

"Nobody will hold it against him if he cancels the fight with Dereck Chisora ? the public aren't interested in that fight, nobody knows who he is.

"It is pretty sad but shows the mindset of Wladimir Klitschko and why he will go down in history as a heavyweight who just fought the worst possible people out there."

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Bradley Defeats Alexander, but Head Butts Mar a Super End to The ?Super Fight?

BY: Nick Bellafatto
This event dubbed the "Super Fight", concludes as a result of a head butt leaving North Palm Springs, California native Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley a unified division champion holding multiple titles as the premier fighter atop the super lightweight division, while Devon Alexander "The Great", fighting out of Saint Louis, Missouri, suffers the first

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New to Boxing Hall: Tyson, Chavez ... and Rocky?

Two of boxing's biggest stars of the 1990s are going into the Boxing Hall of Fame. It was no surprise that Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez, who combined for 157 wins, got the nod. Tyson was the undisputed heavyweight champ while Chavez was a title winner in three divisions.

The day's shocker, though, was that the name Sylvester Stallone appeared alongside the boxing legends.

That's right, Stallone is going into the BHOF for his contributions to the sport through film. Stallone gained worldwide fame between 1976-2006, playing the fictional character "Rocky Balboa" in six movies.

[Photos: More of Stallone's greatest 'Rambo' moments]

Some critics like Larry Brown Sports are upset over Stallone's inclusion:

Stallone is an actor. He played a boxer in a fictitious movie. Sure, he played in a series of movies, and they were great, but none of it was actually real. It’s an insult to guys like Tyson, Chavez, and [Kostya] Tsyzu who all actually were beat up on the ring and administered beatings, that someone who did nothing gets in.

Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Labrecque called Stallone's Oscar-winning movie "Rocky" and the lead character "great ambassadors for the sport."

I have to ask, What took them so long? Rocky Balboa has been an American hero since he went the distance with Apollo Creed in 1976; he went on to win the Cold War in 1985 when he chopped down the big Russian, Ivan Drago. Do you really think the stogie-wielding Boxing Writers Association of America voters were on the fence about Stallone until the fifth Rocky sequel pushed him over the top?

Inductees were voted on by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

[Video: Stallone recruits athletes for movie roles]

Also going into the Hall, which is located in Canastota, N.Y., are Tszyu, trainer Ignacio "Nacho" Berastain and referee Joe Cortez.  

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Froch's girlfriend likes her men tall, wants the 'Midget King' KO'd

Let's pull for the little guy is taking on new meaning after Carl Froch's gal pal dumped all over Arthur Abraham. Rachael Cordingley, a British model and Froch's girlfriend, said she wants a knockout when then the two fighters meet in Helsinki on Saturday.

"Carl's always confident and he knows he can bring the WBA championship belt back to its rightful place," Cordingley said. "Abraham is only a midget — Carl's going to dethrone the Midget King!"

Froch is 6-foot-1. Apparently, the 5-10 Abraham is sort of stumpy. His girlfriend isn't the one stepping in with the guy who's scored 25 knockouts in 32 fights, so Froch is showing shorty a little more respect.

"Abraham and I are fighting for a world title and we both believe we're going to win," Froch said. "Nothing will be left outside the ring and everything will be thrown inside it. I've got to stick and move — keep out of his way and out-box him. But you know what I'm like, there will come a stage when I decide to have a good old scrap on the cobbles instead!"

Froch and Abraham have already secured their spots in the Super Six semifinals. The WBA 168-pound strap is the motivator along with a chance to avoid tourney favorite Andre Ward until the finals.

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Chris Arreola Talks About his First-Round KO

Filed under: WBC, Boxing Video, Boxing Rumors, FanHouse Exclusive

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (30-2) of Riverside, Calif., came up with his second straight win and his 26th career knockout with Friday night's first-round stoppage of hard-hitting Joey Abell (27-5, 26 KOs) of Coon Rapids, Mich., at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, Calif.

Arreola's last loss was April's majority decision to former light heavyweight (175 pounds) and cruiser weight (200 pounds) champion Tomasz Adamek (43-1, 28 knockouts).

Stopped, himself, by Vitali Klitschko (41-2, 38 KOs) during the 10th round of his failed bid to earn the WBC belt in September of 2009, Arreola was coming off of August's unanimous decision over Goossen Tutor Promotions' stablemate Manuel Quezada.

Abell's came into the fight riding a seven-fight winning streak, all of which were had come by knockout.

FanHouse spoke to Arreola concerning his victory.

 

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Catch-weight nonsense continues with Williams-Martinez fight

Two of the major 160-pound titles are up for grabs this weekend when Sergio Martinez defends against Paul Williams. There's one little hitch. Neither fighter will be allowed to actually weigh 160 when they step on the scale in Atlantic City today at 5 p.m. ET.

The same ridiculousness went down last week before Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito waged war for a 154-title. Margarito was not allowed to weigh above 150.

Are fighters legitimately winning titles in multiple weight classes when these stipulations are put on the title fights? It's a hot button issue for some fans around boxing, but Williams says it's bunch of bunk.

"All this talk about the catch-weight really doesn't matter," Williams said. "We wanted the catch-weight because I didn't want to bloat myself (by putting on too many pounds). But both of us will be weighing more than 160 on Saturday night, anyway. When we get into the ring, all that other stuff doesn't matter."

Williams didn't have to bloat himself at all. Why couldn't he just come in at 158 if he wants to and allow the middleweight champ to come in at the limit? Martinez isn't happy but without Williams there wasn't a major fight on the horizon.

"It's ridiculous," said Martinez. "I had to accept it for this one or otherwise there wouldn't have been a fight. But I don't believe in it."

Martinez wouldn't feel comfortable asking the champ for the special conditions.

"Personally, I'd be ashamed to ask for a catchweight. I would never do it. If you want to challenge someone for their title, be a man and fight at the right weight."

Whether you like it or not, two of the middleweight strap will be up for grabs in this 158-pound fight. We can do our own mini-protest by refusing to speak of the belt as anything significant. Can you really brag about winning titles in multiple weight classes and set records under these circumstances?

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Wladimir Klitschko sets Chisora date sparking row with David Haye camp

? Haye may never fight Klitschko, says manager Bernd Boente
? 'Wladimir didn't want this fight' says Haye's agent

David Haye may never fight Wladimir Klitschko after the Ukrainian's manager, Bernd Boente, claimed the WBA heavyweight champion is refusing to meet his client, who holds four versions of the title, on 2 July.

Haye and Klitschko were in negotiations to clash early in 2011 but the 34-year-old announced he will now fight Dereck Chisora on 30 April, a rearrangement of the match-up the Ukrainian pulled out of before Christmas due to a pulled stomach muscle.

While this caused Haye's manager, Adam Booth, to say "Wladimir should feel ashamed of himself", Boente claimed that negotiations had broken down due to a clash over television dates.

"[German TV] RTL and Sky could not find a date as Sky did not want a second pay-per-view date in April because they already have the Amir Khan fight then. Wladimir was not prepared to wait nine months [he last fought in September] until a fight in July so he [meets] Dereck Chisora. Our door is open for David Haye to fight Wladimir on 2 July. But from what I hear Adam Booth is not accepting that Wladimir will have a fight before then and so at the moment it will not happen."

While a Sky spokesman declined to comment and Booth could not be contacted, he did say earlier in the day: "There were lots of people that know Wladimir really didn't want this fight yet. It's a shame. It's embarrassing for boxing that the unification fight isn't going to happen now because David's bent over backwards. We've conceded to every single ridiculous demand they made.

"From the start they said 50-50. David said fine, even though potentially we're putting in the pot three or four times more than they're putting into the pot because of pay-per-view Sky Box Office. David still said: 'Let's get the fight done 50-50.'

"They said the fight had to be on their German broadcaster even though our German broadcaster was prepared to pay more. We said fine. They said: 'We're not coming to England for the fight.' David said: 'Fine, I'll go to Germany.' They said: 'Wladimir has to be in the red corner, Wladimir has to come in second, Wladimir's name has to be first on the poster,' and all these other ridiculous, egotistical things. And David said: 'Fine, have it, just get him in the ring with me.'

"The last thing was, here is the date we now have, we said yes, Sky have approved that date and they turn round and said: 'We're now doing Chisora.'"

Haye claimed last night that he will not now share a ring with either of the Klitschkos though given the confused history of his attempts to fight them it remains moot what will occur.

"If the fight doesn't happen now, it never will. I'm done with the Klitschkos. I know I can retire later this year with my head held high, knowing I did everything in my power to make these fights happen. I've had defining fights and beaten the best in the world as a cruiserweight but without me Wladimir can never say he's done the same as a heavyweight.

"He claims he'll fight both me and Chisora but it's nonsense. Are we expected to believe that a fighter who competed only once in the whole of 2009 and twice in 2010 is now going to box twice in a matter of nine weeks?"

• David Haye
• Wladimir Klitschko
• Boxing

Jamie Jackson

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Tim Bradley Wins 10-Round, Technical Decison Over Devon Alexander

Filed under: WBC, WBO, Boxing Rumors, HBO, FanHouse Exclusive

DETROIT -- WBO king, Tim Bradley, won an anti-climactic, 10-round technical decision over WBC champ, Devon Alexander, in Saturday night's HBO televised, junior welterweight (140 pounds) championship bout when referee Frank Garza, acting on the advice of ringside doctor, Peter Samet, stopped the fight as a result of Alexander's complaining that he could not see out of a bleeding right eye as the result of an accidental head butt.

Nevada's Duane Ford 97-93, Mexico's Omar Mintun 98-93, and Ohio's Tim Miller, 96-95, all for Bradley. FanHouse had it for Bradley, 98-93 in a bout that was contested at the Pontiac Silverdome, in Pontiac Mich.

The bout was stopped at 10:59 of the 10th.

"I ruled them as accidental head butts," said Garza. "The second one was a completely different head-butt than the previous one in the fight. I stopped the match after consultation with the ringside physician."

Alexander was initially butted and cut over his right eye in the third round, and bled from the cut throughout, even as the 27-year-old Bradley continued to pressure and land right hands to the heads and body that held his 23-year-old rival at bay.

 

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Boxing proves a hit for French sociologist

The experience of being a novice boxer in a gym in Chicago encouraged a French sociologist to punch out a book

Loic Wacquant, perhaps the only French sociologist who spent at least three years in the Woodlawn Gym in Chicago, Illinois, boxing with both amateurs and professionals, emerged from the experience strong, spry and of a mind to punch out some books and papers.

Wacquant is now a researcher at the Centre de Sociologie Europ�enne in Paris, and a professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley.

His book, Body Soul: Notebooks of an Apprentice Boxer, published in 2003 by Oxford University Press, serves up more than 200 pages of detail. Wacquant writes that, prior to entering "a boxing gym in a neighbourhood of Chicago's black ghetto, I had never practised that sport or even considered trying it. I thus found myself in the situation of the perfect novice". That was in 1988.

Three to six sessions a week he trained ? shadowboxing, working the speed bag, sparring ? and eventually fought in a Golden Gloves tournament. "I even thought for a while of aborting my academic career to 'turn pro'," he writes, "and thereby remain with my friends from the gym and its coach, DeeDee Armour, who had become a second father for me."

The book grew in part from a paper Wacquant scribbled during his first summer there, "when getting my nose broken during a sparring session had forced me into a period of inactivity propicious to a reflexive return on my novitiate in progress".

We get analysis, but best of all we get a fist/hand account of the action: "Jabs from me, blocked by his fists, versus jabs from him, blocked by my nose. I'm better able to see his punches coming, but I still don't move fast enough. He lands another punch on my face, a right that makes my headgear turn sideways. DeeDee growls 'Move yo' head, Louie!' I'm trying!"

A second book, to be called The Passion of the Pugilist, will, Wacquant says, address "the dialectic of desire and domination in the social genesis of the boxer's vocation", "the work of the trainer as virile mothering", "confrontation in the ring as a homoerotic ritual of masculinisation", and other topics that did not fit or had not matured in time to go into Body Soul.

But one needn't entirely wait. Waquant has published monographs galore. The titles, like the text, are sweaty admixtures of sociologicalese and pulp non-fiction. Among his more hard-hitting papers one finds A Fleshpeddler at Work: Power, Pain, and Profit in the Prizefighting Economy and Pugs at Work: Bodily Capital and Bodily Labour Among Professional Boxers.

A paper called Whores, Slaves, And Stallions ? Languages Of Exploitation And Accommodation Among Prizefighters, in the journal Body and Society, hard-boils down to this:

"The boxer's experience of corporeal exploitation is expressed in three kindred idioms ... The first likens the fighter-manager combo to the prostitute-pimp duet; the second depicts the ring as a plantation and promoters as latter-day slave masters; the third intimates that boxers are used in the manner of livestock".

? Marc Abrahams is editor of the bimonthly Annals of Improbable Research and organiser of the Ig Nobel prize
? The original picture used to illustrate this article was removed on 12 January as it had been captioned wrongly and was not relevant.

• Sociology
• Boxing
• Higher education

Marc Abrahams

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