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Friday, December 14, 2007
HBO to Replay Best Fights of 2007
It’s a holiday treat for HBO Boxing fans. For five consecutive nights during the holidays, HBO Sports will replay five of the most memorable, most significant, most compelling bouts of 2007 that were broadcast on the HBO service.
The lineup includes:
Tuesday, Dec. 25 at 11:00 p.m. - Jermain Taylor vs. Kelly Pavlik
Wednesday, Dec. 26 at 11:00 p.m. - Joe Calzaghe vs. Mikkel Kessler
Thursday, Dec. 27 at 11:00 p.m. - Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather
Friday, Dec. 28 at 11:00 p.m. - Miguel Cotto vs. Shane Mosley
Saturday, Dec. 29 at 12 midnight - Floyd Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton
All times are ET/PT.
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Wednesday, October 31, 2007
De La Hoya-Mayweather Numbers Show Boxing is Back
LOS ANGELES — For a sport that has taken more than its share of slings and arrows over the last few years, boxing has proven to be as resilient as its greatest champions, rising from the canvas in 2007 to again take its place among the most popular and relevant sports in the world.
The latest sign that boxing is back came this week, when HBO revealed that the record-shattering May 5th super fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather did even better than initially thought, with final numbers now clocking in at 2.4 million pay-per-view buys and $134.4 million in domestic revenue.
These numbers have established De La Hoya as the all-time leader in pay-per-view sales with 12.8 million buys. Not only did his fight with Mayweather shatter existing records for most PPV buys for a non-heavyweight fight, it sailed past the previous leader for overall PPV buys (1.9 million, which was set by the rematch between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson in 1997).
“This is amazing news and the strongest possible sign that boxing is not only alive, but that it is thriving,” said De La Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions, the promoters of De La Hoya-Mayweather. “There is no proof like cold, hard facts, and the response of fight fans to these events has given me hope that this sport will soon be back on the front pages of daily newspapers and in the mainstream’s consciousness like it was in its heyday.”
“I’m happy that my fight with Oscar did so well, but I’m not surprised because this is what happens when you give the people what they want,” said Mayweather, who fights Ricky Hatton on December 8. “I am going to keep bringing that to the people and that’s what they will see when I fight Hatton. Plus, being a competitive person, I want to go past 2.4 million buys and show the world what boxing is all about.”
What’s even more impressive is that in this record-breaking overall year for the boxing business, there are still two PPV super fights left – the November 10th battle between Sugar Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto, and the grand pay-per-view finale December 8th between Mayweather and Hatton.
Added Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, “I’ve always said that if you brought great fights and great fighters to the people and promoted it properly that every fight fan would respond, and the success we’ve had this year proves it. This is the dawning of a new age for boxing, and we are proud to be part of its renaissance.”
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Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Golden Boy Purchases Ring Magazine
LOS ANGELES - Sports and Entertainment Publications, LLC, is extremely pleased to announce the acquisition of the following titles from Kappa Publishing Group, Inc.: The Ring magazine, KO, World Boxing and Pro Wrestling Illustrated, which are the leading periodicals in the boxing and wrestling industry. Sports and Entertainment Publications, LLC, is an autonomous member of Golden Boy Enterprises family of companies.
The Ring was founded in 1922 and is known in the industry as “The Bible of Boxing.” It pioneered the concept of boxing rankings and has been awarding the prestigious Ring championship belt to genuine world champions since then-heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey was the first recipient. Pro Wrestling Illustrated was launched in 1979 by Stanley Weston and is acknowledged as the number one independently published pro wrestling magazine in the world.
“We have a very skilled and capable team at The Ring, headed by Publisher Stu Saks and Editor-in-Chief Nigel Collins, and I have all the confidence that these magazines will not only continue to prosper, but in fact grow globally,” said Oscar de la Hoya, president of Golden Boy Enterprises. “These magazines will be held in an editorial trust where they will be operating totally independent of any influence from me or others from the Golden Boy Companies as it relates to editorial direction or content.”
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Wednesday, September 05, 2007
De La Hoya, Leonard Make Friendly Bet
LOS ANGELES - Famed pugilists Oscar De La Hoya and Sugar Ray Leonard have made a “friendly” bet on two bouts between fighters from their respective camps, making the September 15 “Fireworks” boxing event, featuring Juan Manuel Marquez against Rocky Juarez in the main event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and live on pay-per-view, that much more explosive.
In the first bout, and opening the pay-per-view telecast that evening, Francisco “Panchito” Bojado will represent De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. His opponent Steve Forbes, will represent the Leonard-hosted ‘The Contender’ Series, as runner-up from Contender Season Two. In the other bout, Golden Boy pugilist and former junior middleweight champion Kassim “The Dream” Ouma will battle Contender first season winner Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora. The winners of the bouts will decide the winner of the bet between De La Hoya and Leonard with both decorated fighters agreeing that the loser will provide ring card girl duties between the first and second round of the main event. If it’s a draw with one bout a piece for each side, De La Hoya and Leonard will share ring card duties.
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Saturday, September 01, 2007
De La Hoya Wants to Return at Welterweight
In a recent interview with ESPN’s Dan Rafael, Oscar De La Hoya has stated that he plans on returning to the ring next May, at welterweight:
But De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs), who has won 10 world title belts in six divisions, has no immediate plans to stop fighting and is thinking about his ring return, targeted for May 3, 2008.
And when he does return, De La Hoya said that he will be back in the welterweight division he once dominated before moving up to junior middleweight and taking a two-fight stab at middleweight.
“Nothing is set in stone about who I’m going to fight,” De La Hoya told ESPN.com in a recent interview. “Right now, I’m plotting these fights [that Golden Boy is promoting], keeping myself busy and spending time with my family. I won’t decide who I am going to fight until I see how things unfold [in the fall], but I will be back at welterweight, that’s for sure.”
Oscar back at 147 lbs? Just imagine the possible matchups: Mayweather, Mosley, Hatton, Williams, Cintron and Margarito are all potential opponents at this point.
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Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Golden Boy Signs Joel Casamayor
LOS ANGELES – Two-division World Champion Joel Casamayor has fought and beaten the best from his days as one of the greatest amateur boxers to his stellar stay in the professional ranks. Now, the current WBC Lightweight Champion wants the big fights to cement his legacy and has enlisted Golden Boy Promotions to help him reach those heights in the coming years.
“Joel Casamayor is a brilliant boxer and one of the most underrated champions of the last 25 years,” said Oscar de la Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions. “We are honored to have him on our team and with his talent and our promotional ability, we will get Joel the big fights he deserves and let the world see just how good he is.”
“Oscar and his company know what I can do in the ring and I know what they can do for me outside of it to get me to where I want to be in this sport,” said Casamayor. “I want to fight the best and be in the biggest events possible and I trust Golden Boy to get me there.”
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007
De La Hoya to Attend Chagaev-Ibragimov
LOS ANGELES - Golden Boy Promotions’ President Oscar De La Hoya and CEO Richard Schaefer will be in attendance when Golden Boy co-promoted WBO World Heavyweight Champion Sultan Ibragimov and WBA Heavyweight Champion Ruslan Chagaev square off to unify their titles on October 13th in Moscow.
De La Hoya and Schaefer are extremely excited about the opportunity to witness what looks to be the beginning of a resurgence of the heavyweight division first hand, as both Heavyweight Champions seek to become the first Unified Heavyweight Champion of the 21st century. Ibragimov and Chagaev will battle to become the first heavyweight to unify the title since November of 1999, when Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield by unanimous decision. The fight also marks the first time in boxing history that two champions will be attempting to unify in the first defenses of their titles.
“This is going to be a big night for the entire sport of boxing and I am thrilled to travel to Moscow to be a part of it,” said ten-time World Champion and President of Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya. “For the first time in nearly a decade, we are finally getting closer to seeing who the true king of the heavyweight division is.”
De La Hoya continued, “I would like to thank Sultan Ibragimov’s sponsor, Nafta Moskva, for their commitment to Sultan and for making this historic event possible.”
Making the trip with De La Hoya will be Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer who noted “Never before has a fighter attempted to unify belts in his first title defense, and in this case both fighters are trying to earn that honor,” noted Schaefer. “This is a monumental event that Oscar and I can’t wait to witness first hand.”
The Ibragimov-Chagaev World Heavyweight Championship Unification is presented by Nafta Moskva and is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Seminole Warriors Boxing, Golden Grain Promotions and Sampson Lewkowicz in association with Universum Box-Promotion.
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Thursday, May 24, 2007
EEC - May 24, 2007
Just to let everyone know, this me blogging and not my father…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Zab Judah is a sly fox…
Judah fooled promoters and media alike yesterday when he allowed his father, Yoel, to replace him on a scheduled conference call. Moments after the 30 minute session was over, multiple writers contacted Top Rank’s Lee Samuels and said that they didn’t think it was Zab on the phone.
“We don’t promote Zab, we promote Cotto,” Samuels said. “So I immediately checked with Judah’s camp and they said it was his father on the conference call.”
“Mea culpa,” Samuels said. “I called Zab’s number 10 minutes ahead to make sure he would be ready and I assumed the person I was talking to was Zab. I’ve been doing conference calls for Top Rank since 1982 and I’ve never been snookered like this before. I would have made a lousy contestant on the game show ‘To Tell The Truth.’ But I do apologize to the media for this.”
Samuels said that he will attempt to schedule a new conference call with Zab before the fight…
- Former WBA Light Middleweight and Middleweight Champion Julian Jackson will be presented with a permanent Middleweight Title on June 18th by the WBC.
- According to a recent interview ITV did with Bob Arum, Kelly Pavlik is going to be bigger than Oscar De La Hoya:
“It is hard for you to envision now, but he will be much bigger than Oscar De La Hoya ever was. I’m telling you. That is my goal,’’ Arum said.
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
De La Hoya Picks Ibragimov Over Briggs
LOS ANGELES – Sultan Ibragimov is ready to put his unbeaten record up for grabs against the WBO Heavyweight Champion, Shannon Briggs, on Saturday, June 2nd at Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, NJ.
The high-impact 12-round showdown is presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Seminole Warriors Boxing Promotions in association with Caesar’s Atlantic City, Nafta Moskya, Golden Grain, CSI Sports, Global Advertising and Main Events. The fight will be shown on Pay-Per-View and begins at 9:00 pm ET/ 6:00 pm PT.
Ibragimov is one of the hottest talents in the heavyweight division, and experts as well as his Russian supporters believe he has the ability to beat the current champion in this long-awaited match up. The championship fight was originally scheduled for March 10, but was postponed after Briggs suffered from an pneumonia.
“We’re confident that Sultan Ibragimov is the next heavyweight champion of the world, and we’re eager to see him beat Shannon Briggs and put the championship belt around his waist,” said Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya.
“He dominated Javier Mora with a quick 46-second knockout in the first round of his last fight, and we know he is ready for his fight against Briggs,” continued De La Hoya.
A 2000 Olympic Silver medalist for Russia, Sultan Ibragamov (20-0-1, 17 KO’s) turned pro in 2002 with a first round knockout of Tracy Williams - in fact, his first four fights ended in opening round victories. He won the WBO Asia-Pacific title in October of 2004 with a third-round knockout against Najee Shaheed. He defended that crown six times.
He has also defeated former world champion Al Cole and contenders Lance Whitaker and Zuri Lawrence.
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Sunday, May 06, 2007
Mayweather Wins Split Decision Over De La Hoya
Photo: Naoki Fukuda
Results just in, scoring looks like this:
115-113 De La Hoya
116-112 Mayweather
115-113 Mayweather
More to come…
Quick update:
Live blog from SI.com: De La Hoya-Mayweather Superfight
ESPN: De La Hoya-Mayweather: Round-by-round
AP: Mayweather wins split decision over De La Hoya
Another update:
FoxSports.com: Photos
AP: Good fight gives boxing a big boost
AP: Rematch could be big deal for Mayweather
BoxingScene.com: Mayweather’s accuracy, speed prove too much
ESPN: Mayweather: ‘I am the best fighter of this era’
USA Today: Mayweather beats De La Hoya by split decision
BBC: De la Hoya-Mayweather as it happened
BBC: Mayweather v De la Hoya photos
ESPN Motion:
Mayweather Wins Split Decision
Mayweather Comments on Victory
Dan Rafael on Floyd Mayweather’s Win
Update May 8 1245am: Adding a few more links:
BBC: Mayweather ‘not likely to retire’
BBC: ‘Super fight’ fails to match hype
AP: HBO gets De La Hoya-Mayweather bout removed from YouTube