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Friday, April 20, 2007
EEC - April 20, 2007
Weekend Fights:
Friday -
Mike Arnaoutis vs Kendall Holt - Atlantic City, NJ - WBO Junior Welterweight Eliminator (Showtime)
Mike Marrone vs Malachy Farrell - Atlantic City, NJ - Heavyweight (Showtime)
Malcolm Klaasen vs Mzonke Fana - Khayelitsha, South Africa - IBF Junior Lightweight Title
Some Good Reads:
Boxing Scene: Larry brought substance, eloquence and honesty
Eastside Boxing: Dream Fight Article - Foreman vs. Tyson: If They’d Met In 1990!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
EEC - April 19, 2007
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Former heavyweight champion Chris Byrd made his return to the ring last night and defeated Paul Marinaccio by TKO in the 7th round…
- According to various reports coming from the UK, newly crowned WBA Heavyweight Champion Ruslan Chagaev may possibly make his first title defense this summer against the winner of the May 26th bout between Matt Skelton and Michael Sprott in London.
Chagaev actually took on Sprott in June of 2006 and knocked him out in the 8th round…
- Mark Vester of Boxing Scene is reporting that WBA Cruiserweight Champion Virgil Hill is demanding a third bout against Henry Maske…
- Joe Frazier has filed a lawsuit against his daughter that seeks the return of various contracts, product endorsements, business papers, and various other documents that his daughter has reportedly has in her possession. Frazier’s daughter served as his lawyer and business advisor from 1989-2004.
- Who is Shane Mosley picking to win on May 5th? Oscar De La Hoya by KO…
- Paul Williams has told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he plans on brawling with Antonio Margarito when their scheduled bout goes down this summer:
“If you have the attitude that you won’t accept losing and you’re going to refuse to lose, it makes a difference,” said Williams. “The easy thing would have been to take the money and fight the other guy. But he stepped up like a man. I’m going to be in there and I’ll bang with him. I don’t think he’s going to be used to that. I’m a harder puncher than he’s seen.”
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Tuesday, April 17, 2007
EEC - April 17, 2007
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- According to a recent interview with BBC Sport, Jermain Taylor has turned down promoter Frank Warren’s latest offer of $4 million in order to fight Joe Calzaghe in London later this summer.
Warren has apparently been trying extremely hard to land Taylor as Calzaghe’s 21st title defense in July. However Taylor is now saying that he wants more than double the amount in order to lace up the gloves with Calzaghe.
“If Joe and Frank want me that much, make me an offer for $10 million and I will show up and bring him a gift to his front door,” Taylor told BBC Sport.
Taylor will take on Cory Spinks first on May 19th. He also says that he has no problem at all traveling overseas to Calzaghe’s home turf to fight him…
“No atmosphere is intimidating because, once you start fighting, your focus is on the man in front of you,” Taylor added.
If Taylor and Warren are unable to come to terms on a deal than Calzaghe may have to settle for a mandatory title defense against Dennis Irkin.
- Joan Guzman has fired Don House as his head trainer and replaced him with Floyd Mayweather Sr…
- Lovemore Ndou is certain that he can “whip Ricky Hatton’s ass”...
“Why do you think he chose to hand over the title rather than let me fight him for it? He knows he would get his ass whipped, simple as that. Instead he chose to fight Castillo who, just like him, is on the slide, Ndou said. “Fatton’s people know that I’m capable of doing more damage to that beer-belly than Castillo would at this time of his career. And truth is, if the Castillo that fought Corrales shows up that night, he is capable of punching Fatton through the ropes.”
Some Good Reads:
Eastside Boxing: Rating The Heavyweights - After Saturday’s Shake-Up, Today’s Top-Ten
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Thursday, April 12, 2007
EEC - April 12, 2007
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Look for the April KO Corner World Rankings to be released at some point this weekend…
- Andrey Tsurkan stopped Sam Sparkman in the ninth round of their bout last night in New York City and successfully defending his NABF Junior Middleweight Title. Tsurkan connected with a left hook in the early stages of the ninth round and put Sparkman right to sleep. It was Tsurkan’s 16th career KO…
- On the undercard of the Tsurkan-Sparkman fight, Raymond Joval won a unanimous decision victory over Willie Gibbs…
- According to members of Jameson Bostic’s training camp, Robert Allen, Bostic’s opponent for a bout scheduled for next weekend has officially pulled out. Allen cited a lack of interest in fighting Bostic as the main reason.
However Bostic’s camp sees it another way:
“My manager Bob Cerbe received a phone call from Team Allen, saying he was no longer interested in fighting me. Apparently, the fact that I’m 6’4” and training with Buddy McGirt scared them off.”
“That man has the nerve to call himself Armed and Dangerous? That scared punk looks more like ‘Armed and Shameless’ if you ask me.”
Robert Allen’s training camp. The former world title challenger abruptly withdrew from next week’s scheduled showdown with Jameson “Jamie Kang” Bostic
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Thursday, April 05, 2007
EEC - April 5, 2007
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Last Friday I reminded everyone about the strong possibility of Roy Jones Jr. pulling out of his rumored bout with Tony Hanshaw because of past occurences. Guess what happened?
The fight has been scrapped according to ESPN’s Dan Rafael because of Jones unwillingness to agree to terms on a contract. Jones reportedly gave promoter Lou DiBella the go ahead to create a contract and then dodged DiBella when contacted. Days passed until DiBella received a text message from Jones saying that he would not agree to the fight unless he received triple the original amount of money that was already agreed for the fight.
Let’s just say that DiBella didn’t say yes…
- If Joe Calzaghe wants to fight Bernard Hopkins, he has to come to the USA:
“I’m not going to give Joe Calzaghe a forum to promote himself off Bernard Hopkins’ back,” Hopkins said. “I’m not about to say, ‘I want him.’ Legends don’t call out other fighters. I’m not being big-headed. That’s just how it is. And I wouldn’t go across the water to fight Calzaghe in any case. If he wants superstardom in America, let him come here. They got TVs in England. The money’s in pay-per-view, anyway.
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Monday, April 02, 2007
EEC - April 2, 2007
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- The UK Daily Record has reported that Amir Khan was forced to flee an amateur boxing tournament in Liverpool, England after being threatened by a group of fans over the weekend. Khan was apparently at the tournament to watch his younger brother compete. After his brother lost to James Deakin, about 20 fans walked over to Khan and started verbally assaulting him with racial slurs and threats. It was then that Khan was forced to quickly leave the building.
Khan’s manager Asif Vali gave an account of what happened:
“It was horrible and in my mind somewhat racist. Apart from the horrible insults, they were goading him saying things like, ‘Come on, have a go with us’ and ‘Come on if you fancy yourself’. It was very intimidating. I had specifically decided that we shouldn’t take any security with us because, after all, it was an amateur event,” Vali said. “Thankfully, we escaped without being hurt. Who knows what could have happened if they had attacked us?”
- Don King has reportedly gone into the baby product industry along with Mike Tyson and Zab Judah. God help us…
- HBO Boxing After Dark play-by-play announcer Fran Charles has stepped down from his position in order to focus on his other broadcasting job with the NFL Network.
Weekend Results
- Jhonny Gonzalez retained his WBO bantamweight title on Friday, defeating Irene Pacheco by TKO. The fight was stopped in the ninth round when a flurry of punches sent a visibly hurt Pacheco nearly through the ropes and out of the ring. After the fight Pacheco announced his retirement.
- Eddie Sanchez won a unanimous decision over Carlos Bojorquez on Friday, moving him up the rankings ladder at junior middleweight. The judges’ scorecards only had Bojorquez winning two rounds of the entire fight.
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Saturday, March 31, 2007
Rumor: Briggs-Ibragimov Moving to USA
We reported last month that Shannon Briggs would finally get a chance to defend his WBO Heavyweight Title against Sultan Ibragimov on June 2nd in Russia. The two will still fight on June 2nd but the fight may now be taking place in the USA according to Ibragimov’s promoters, Golden Grain Promotions.
The reason for the change is that Vitali Klitchko and Oleg Maskaev are set to clash on the same date in Russia thus creating a problem for those involved in setting up the Briggs-Ibragimov bout who would have to now deal with another fight on the same date in the same country that will most likely be the bigger draw.
Golden Grain Promotions released this statement concerning the possible move of the bout to the United States:
“Regarding all the boxing achievements of the current WBC Champion Oleg Maskaev and taking under consideration that it’s hardly possible to stage two great boxing events on the same day in Moscow, we decided to take Ibragimov-Briggs fight to the USA”.
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Friday, March 30, 2007
Rumor: Jones Jr May Face Hanshaw on Showtime
Roy Jones Jr’s promoter, Lou DiBella, has told ESPN that his fighter has reached a verbal agreement with Showtime to fight Tony Hanshaw in a light heavyweight bout on June 9th.
“Roy has given me a verbal ‘OK.’ It’s basically done,” DiBella told ESPN.com, though he admitted he won’t believe it until Jones signs. “I think it’s an interesting fight. I’m more interested in seeing an older guy fight a young, hungry guy than in seeing two older guys fight.”
No site for the potential bout has been determined yet.
Showtime boss Ken Hershman knows for a fact that nothing is set in stone. Jones has been known for pulling out of things and changing his mind at the last minute, most recently his proposed December fight against Manuel Siaca in Philadelphia which I was going to go and cover for KO Corner myself.
“I go by what Lou tells me, so we are drafting the contract as we speak,” Hershman said. “I’m thrilled. I think it’s great. It’s nice to see another graduate of ‘ShoBox’ get a big fight and fulfill the mission of that [prospect-oriented] show. We’ll see what Roy has left in his arsenal.
I’ll have more news on this when it becomes available…
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EEC - March 30, 2007
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- The legal battle over the almost fight between Antonio Margarito and Paul Williams was finally settled in court yesterday.
What happens now? The results via ESPN:
Under the terms of the settlement, Goossen will promote the fight, which he won the right to Jan. 30 with a purse bid of $1,506,250, of which Margarito is entitled to 80 percent, or a career-high payday of $1.205 million. He will also receive an additional $395,000 that Goossen promised to pay him on top of the winning bid amount.
Although Top Rank won’t be involved in promoting Margarito-Williams, Arum said part of the settlement included Margarito signing a one-year extension to his promotional agreement with Top Rank, which will take him through at least 2008 with the company.
Also, if Margarito defeats Williams and Cotto defeats Zab Judah—who replaced Margarito in the June 9 fight—Margarito and Cotto will meet in the fall on HBO PPV.
- The Albuquerque Tribune is reporting that Johnny Tapia will not be charged by police with possession of cocaine for the time being.
Tapia was originally taken into custody on March 12 after he was hospitalized for a drug overdose.
Weekend Fights:
Friday -
Joel Julio vs Thomas Davis - Detroit, MI - Junior Middleweight (ESPN 2)
Jhonny Gonazalez vs Irene Pacheco - Tucson, AZ - WBO Bantamweight Title
Alfonso Gomez vs Martin Concepcion - Newcastle, England - Junior Middleweight
Freddy Curiel vs Ross Minter - Newcastle, England - Welterweight
Walter Wright vs Anthony Small - Newcastle, England - Junior Middleweight
Jesse Brinkley vs Robin Reid - Newcastle, England - Light Heavyweight
Cornelius Bundrage vs Colin McNeil - Newcastle, England - Junior Middleweight
Jerson Ravelo vs Paul Buchanan - Newcastle, England - Super Middleweight
Michael Clark vs Nigel Wright - Newcastle, England - Welterweight
Jonathan Reid vs Paul Smith - Newcastle, England - Middleweight
Saturday -
Virgil Hill vs Henry Maske - Munich, Germany - Cruiserweight (PPV)
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Monday, March 26, 2007
Rumor: Holyfield’s Next Fight in Calgary?
Rumors are swirling that not only will Evander Holyfield’s next fight not be in Texas, the state where he has fought the last three fights of his comeback, but that it won’t even be in the USA…
Holyfield is expected to return to action at some point in June. His promotional company, Main Events is said to be attempting to bring Holyfield’s next bout to Calgary, Alberta, Canada against an opponent that has yet to be named.
Be sure to stay here for any updates on this…