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Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Mayorga, Harrison Arrested
Two boxers arrested in one day? Impossible…
Former WBC Junior Middleweight Champion Ricardo Mayorga was arrested on Tuesday in Nicaragua on charges of fraud.
Mayorga was picked up by police while he was boarding a plane that was headed for the United States.
He was arrested for apparently failing to pay back Ramiro Sandino, a popular used car salesman in the country, $56,000 for four cars Mayorga has purchased in December 2005. Mayorga had promised to pay the full amount for the vehicles right after his fight with Oscar De La Hoya on May 6th of last year. However months went by and Mayorga never gave Sandino the payment.
Guess who else was arrested? That’s right, former WBO Featherweight Champ Scott Harrison was arrested AGAIN on drug charges in Scotland.
Harrison has a busy week ahead of him - He will have to appear in court tomorrow to deal with his newly acquired drug charges and on Friday again in Spain for charges of grand theft auto.
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Thursday, January 18, 2007
Tapia Announces Final Bout Against Julio
Johnny Tapia announced at a news conference yesterday that he would be returning to his home state of New Mexico for one last final fight…
The former five-time champion in three different weight classes will be facing Ilido Julio on February 3rd in what will be his last fight as he is retiring after the fight.
“I guarantee you, this will be my last fight. It’s time for me to hang up the gloves, but I want to go out with a win and to be on top,” said Tapia, who won titles at junior bantamweight, bantamweight and featherweight. “I will give my hometown one last fight. I really want to outbox Ilido, but you know once he hits me, and I taste blood, it’s on. It’s time for me to pass the torch to the younger guys and give them the opportunity.”
Even though he is retiring, Tapia plans to stay involved in boxing as a trainer. He will be training his son, Johnny Tapia Jr. especially. His son is set to make his amateur debut some time next month…
Cuban Great, Kid Chocolate
He was born Eligio Sardinias Montalbo on January 6, 1910 in Cerro, Havana, Cuba. He launched his professional boxing career in 1927 and would participate in over 150 bouts in a career that ended in 1938.
He was nicknamed the “Cuban Bon Bon” and during the 1930’s he was one of the best drawing cards in New York. His flashy personality and even flashier style in the ring made him a real crowd pleaser.
After racking up a series of victories in his native Cuba, “The Kid” invaded the US in 1928 knocking out Eddie Enos in three rounds in Mineola, N.Y. He would go on to fight at all the popular New York spots like Ridgewood Grove and the St. Nicolas Arena.
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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Vincente Saldivar - A Mexican Legend
The 1960’s spawned many great fighters. Dick Tiger, Jose Torres, Emile Griffith, Luis Rodriguiz and Carlos Ortiz just to name a few. One of the best of this era was a 5’ 3” southpaw from Mexico City named Vincente Saldivar. He ruled the featherweight division for three years and then retired. He decided to come back and two and a half years after he gave up his crown, he re-claimed it.
This boxing legend was born on March 5, 1943. He started his professional career in 1961 and quickly showed that he was a budding star. Saldivar won his first sixteen fights and scored thirteen knockouts. He suffered his first loss in December of 1962 when he was disqualified in a bout against Baby Luis.
The year 1963 saw Saldivar make great strides in the rankings. He halted the respected Dwight Hawkins in five rounds. He avenged his loss by stopping Baby Luis in eight rounds. There was also an impressive one round win over Eloy Sanchez.
On February 8, 1964 Saldivar captured the Mexican featherweight title by knocking out Juan Rameriz in two rounds. He defended the title with a twelve round points win over tough Eduardo “Lalo” Guerrero. Then on June 1st Vincente won a very important bout against future lightweight champion Ismael Laguna. Saldivar outscored the clever Laguna in ten rounds.
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Friday, January 12, 2007
The Barrera-Pacquiao Fiasco Continues
Well while I was gone, Top Rank and Golden Boy apparently sued the shit out of each other…
Anyone want an update?
Well even though there is a lawsuit currently between the two sides, they still tried to come to some kind of agreement to have Marco Antonio Barrera and Manny Pacquiao. That didn’t work out.
Yesterday Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer announced that they have come to terms on a fight between Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez that will take place on March 17th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
So what about Pac-Man?
The WBC is stating that Pacquiao most likely will take on Jin Chi, who is moving up from featherweight to super featherweight, in Macau on April 28th.
The WBC has also decided not to get in the middle of things between Top Rank and Golden Boy since they could run into litigation problems. The expectations after the two fight is that talks will start up again attempting to pair Pacquiao and Barrera together again.
WBC President Jose Sulaiman breaks it down for us:
Sulaiman said he will allow “both fighters to have the opportunity to have one fight.” He said that once those fights are done the WBC will “immediately proceed with free negotiations, purse offers and all of that” setting a three-week deadline for a purse offer should negotiations fall through even in the midst of the legal battle between contending promoters Golden Boy and Top Rank.
Sulaiman also added that the fighters are eventually going to have to fight or else there will be consequences. What kind of consequences?
If Barrera is victorious over Marquez and decides that he no longer wants to fight Pacquiao, he will be stripped of his title. If Pacquiao no longer wants to fight Barrera, he will no longer be the mandatory challenger for Barrera’s belt.
I’m glad to see the WBC taking action and making things a bit clearer among all of this mess. Hopefully things can be settled quickly in court between De La Hoya and Arum’s promoting monsters…
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Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Lopez-Vargas, Ortiz-Cordova Fight Jan 19
Four talented, promising prospects with a combined record of 57-2-1 with 41 KO’s and a 95 percent winning percentage will be featured on an excellent “ShoBox: The New Generation” doubleheader on Friday, Jan. 19, 2007, on Showtime (11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast).
In the 12-round main event, undefeated, 23-year-old, hard-hitting southpaw junior featherweight Juan Manuel Lopez (14-0, 12 KOs) of Caguas, Puerto Rico, gets what could be the toughest test of his career when he faces once-beaten, 22-year-old Cuauhtemoc Vargas (15-1-1, 10 KOs) of Albuquerque, N.M., by way of Mexico City.
In the 10-round co-feature, once-beaten, 19-year-old left-hander Victor Ortiz (16-1, 11 KOs) of Oxnard, Calif., will be opposed by undefeated 21-year-old Marvin Cordova Jr. (12-0, 8 KOs) of LaJunta, Colo., in a super lightweight encounter.
Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc, will promote the twinbill at The Dodge Theater in Phoenix, Arizona.
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Friday, December 08, 2006
Warren Drops Harrison as Client
Boxing Promoter Frank Warren has dropped troubled former WBO Featherweight Champion Scott Harrison as his client one day after Harrison failed to make weight for his Saturday night fight against Nicky Cook and was forced to vacate his title.
“Scott Harrison is gone as far as I am concerned,” Warren said Thursday. “You cannot deal with things when people are not telling you the truth and you are not getting the information. I had no knowledge at all that Scott was pulling out of the fight and it is all pretty dreadful.”
Warren is currently looking for an alternative opponent for Cook in the main event. For now, he has made the IBF Intercontinental Light-Welterweight Title bout between Amir Khan and Rachid Drilzane the co-main event.
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Thursday, December 07, 2006
Harrison Pulls Out of Fight vs Cook; Vacates Title
Scott Harrison pulled out of his scheduled Saturday night bout vs Nicky Cook in London yesterday after he was unable to get under the 133 lb limit for the pre-fight weigh-ins. Harrison has also vacated his WBO Featherweight Championship, a title that he has held for the past four years.
While Frank Warren will announce a new main event at some point today, it is unclear whether or not Cook will be included on the card…
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Nino, Salido Suspended After Testing Positive
The Nevada State Athletic Commission just took out two birds with one stone in another case where banned substances are still being used…
WBC Light-Flyweight Champion Omar Nino was suspended yesterday after testing positive for methamphetamine right after his bout against Brian Viloria last month. Nino will not be permitted to fight until after a hearing takes place in January.
Nino has denied using the drug or any banned substances at all…
IBF Featherweight Champion Orlando Salido was also suspended yesterday after it was found that he tested positive for the banned steroid Nandrolone shortly after winning the belt from Robert Guerrero.
There are many different things that could happen to both fighters if both are found guilty. Some of the consequences would be facing possible suspension, having their boxing license revoked, be fined, having their last victories overturned, and losing their belts.
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Saturday, December 02, 2006
Santiago Stops Garcia, Bradley Beats Rangel
SANTA YNEZ, Calif. – Although Mario Santiago hails from Puerto Rico, the Golden State and “ShoBox” are fast becoming the undefeated fighter’s homes away from home. For the third time in his last five fights, the 28 year old recorded a knockout in California on America’s No. 1 boxing network by stopping Salvador Garcia in the seventh round Friday on “ShoBox: The New Generation.”
In the junior welterweight co-feature from the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, Calif., Timothy Bradley remained undefeated by scoring an eighth-round unanimous technical decision over Jaime Rangel. Showtime televised the Gary Shaw Productions, LLC, doubleheader.
Santiago (17-0, 12 KOs), of Ponce, Puerto Rico, ran his knockout streak to six when Garcia’s corner threw in the towel in the middle of the seventh round. Referee Jon Schorle stopped the one-sided contest at 1:51. The pride of Ponce was too quick and powerful in his fifth Chumash and third “ShoBox” appearances. From the outset, Santiago set up the left to Garcia’s head with a dominant right jab.
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