RSSRicky Hatton
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
EEC - January 30, 2007
It’s a beautiful day in the KO Corner neighborhood…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Lou DiBella announced yesterday that he reached a tenative agreement with Roy Jones Jr. to become his promoter along with Jones’ own promotional force, Square ring.
“Roy Jones Jr. is not only one of the legendary fighters of this generation, but one of the greatest boxers in the history of the game,” DiBella said in a statement. “I am excited about the opportunity to promote him with Square Ring.”
- Apparently Kostya Tszyu didn’t unoffically retire after going back to school after all…
Tszyu has told the Australian Daily Telegraph that he would be interested in coming back to fight for a world title.
“A big name would be interesting,” Tszyu told Australia’s Daily Telegraph, “but I would need to see the offer first.” But, the former champion said, “It has to be a real offer. They know I’m available—that’s why I have not announced my retirement.
“I’m just waiting for an offer to come up and then I’ll consider it. How it will come, I don’t know. If I decide to do it, I can’t concentrate on my business.
- Teddy Atlas had some interesting comments for Sports Illustrated on the situation involving Vitali Klitschko, Oleg Maskaev, and Samuel Peter…
“It’s a disgrace,” says Atlas. “Every one of these organizations is corrupt. It’s a joke. Peter has been mandated the number one contender, twice in fact. Now all of a sudden, because of money, it’s OK for the mandated guy to be pushed aside and to give the fight to a guy who has been away for two years? These organizations have rules that say that at anytime they can forego all other rules and do whatever they want. There is actually a rule that says that. It’s nuts.”
- The IBF announced late last night that Ricky Hatton will be stripped of his title if he decides to go along with his scheduled bout against Jose Luis Castillo in June and ignore his mandatory title defense against the winner of Naoufel Ben Rabah and Lovemore Ndou this weekend.
Some Good Reads:
Bosing Scene: Does “No” to Floyd Meayweather Sr., Mean “Yes” To Victory for Oscar De La Hoya?
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Friday, January 26, 2007
EEC - January 26, 2007
It might be the weekend but it’s certainly a slow one in terms of boxing…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Muhammad Ali and his wife have bought a $1.8 million dollar home in Louisvlle, Kentucky…
While the reason for the move has not yet been established one of the main reasons was given by the president of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Mike Fox, who stated that the Ali family tries to come visit the center every other month but the length of the travel is becoming more and more difficult each time for Muhammad.
Ali also owns residences in Berrien Springs, Michigan and Phoenix, Arizona.
- Ulises Solis successfully defended his IBF Junior Flyweight Title last night when his opponent, Will Grigby, failed to answer the bell and get up from his stool when summoned just before the 9th round was to begin.
- Evander Holyfield has dropped M&M Sports as his promoter and signed on with Main Events, the promotion he originally started his career with.
The main reason for Holyfield leaving?
Because the pay-per-view lost so much money due to the poor buyrate and live gate figures, most of the undercard fighters, and Fres Oquendo, were initially stiffed or received checks that bounced. Lou DiBella, who promoted Oquendo at the time of the fight, was close to filing suit against Muhammad.There was a rumor that even Holyfield received a check that bounced, but it was never confirmed. Ironically, while fighters were being stiffed, Muhammad was offering IBF champ Wladimir Klitschko $20 million dollars to face Holyfield.
The New Jersey Herald-News is reporting that Holyfield’s first fight with the promotion will come this spring.
- Joe Calzaghe believes he is the best fighter from the UK, not Ricky Hatton…
“I saw the Hatton fight and it makes me think I could do better,” said Calzaghe. “Hatton looked good for the first four or five rounds, but, for whatever reason, he tired a bit. He won the fight comfortably, but it wasn’t a great fight to watch. I believe I’m the No 1 fighter in the country - and I want to prove myself over there (in America).”
Weekend Fights:
Friday -
Richard Gutierrez vs Teddy Reid - Uncasville, Connecticut - Junior Middleweight
Saturday -
Kelly Pavlik vs Jose Luis Zertuche - Anaheim, California - Middleweight (HBO)
Jorge Arce vs Julio Roque Ler - Anaheim, California, Junior Bantamweight (HBO)
Victor Oganov vs Richard Grant - Anaheim, California - Super Middleweight (HBO)
Zsolt Erdei vs Danny Santiago - Dusseldorf, Germany - WBO Light-Heavyweight Title
Some Good Reads:
Eastside Boxing: What if George Foreman had beaten Jimmy Young?
MaxBoxing: Barrera vs. Marquez: Better Late than Never
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Tuesday, January 23, 2007
EEC - January 23, 2007
More on the whole Mayweather-De La Hoya training situation and what the recently victorious Valuev may be up to next…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Freddie Roach has come up as a strong possibility to be De La Hoya’s trainer for his fight against Mayweather Jr.
We all know that Mayweather Sr. wants $2 Million in order to train Oscar to defeat his son and De La Hoya’s camp isn’t prepared to give him anything close to that. Apparently De La Hoya offered Mayweather Sr. $500,000 to train him and another $500,000 if they won last year but Mayweather Sr. rejected the offer.
Roach has informed The Boston Herald that he has been approached by De La Hoya to train him for this fight. He didn’t sound very confident that he would be training him however…
“Oscar did approach me about training him for the Mayweather fight,” Roach said. “But then he’s spoken to me about training him for his last three fights before that, too, and nothing ever came of it.”
Roach then went on to blast Mayweather Sr. for his recent behavior:
“Exactly who did he ever train?” Roach asked. “Oscar was already a finished product when Floyd got him, and the whole time Floyd Jr. was developing as a boxer, his uncle Roger (Mayweather) trained him because Floyd was in jail.”
- Mikkel Kessler’s WBC and WBA Super Middleweight title defenses against Librado Andrade on March 24th may actually have to be rescheduled in the coming weeks. Denmark, where the fight is supposed to be held, plays Spain in a soccer game that same night on live TV. Officials are speculating that because of this the bout may be pushed back…
- It is almost certain that WBA Heavyweight Champion Nikolai Valuev will have to make his mandatory defense against Ruslan Chagaev in his next fight.
Some Good Reads:
FOX Sports: Hatton, Castillo revive 140, Hatton figures to have a tougher time in next Vegas visit
The Sweet Science: Very Superstitious…..
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Sunday, January 21, 2007
Hatton, Castillo Win in Lackluster Fashion
Both Ricky Hatton and Jose Luis Castillo were victorious on Saturday night but they both backed into their wins, showing rust and a lack of drive on their way towards victory. Despite their sub-par performances, the two will most likely meet each other in a June showdown.
Hatton was easily on all three scorecards to win back the belt he vacated last year when he decided to move up to welterweight for a fight against Luis Collazo. He won in a controversial decision in that fight and wasn’t impressive in this bout. Are people now going to be calling Hatton a fluke?
Hatton did say his performance was his own fault…
“The first six rounds felt too comfortable, maybe I took my foot off the gas,” Hatton said.
How about a little ESPN blow-by-blow action?
Hatton won the fight with one punch, a lead right hand he landed all night. Hatton often followed that by going into a clinch with Urango, then repeating the same scenario when the two were separated.
While Hatton failed most of the time to back up the lead right with any combinations, Urango did even less himself.
There were no knockdowns and neither fighter was in any trouble, but the rounds had such a sameness to them that there was little singing among the normally boisterous British contingent who followed Hatton here for the fight.
Urango apparently thought he was doing better than the judges did, raising his arms in triumph at the end of each round as he went back to his corner. But the rounds went to Hatton, mostly because he was quicker getting off.
Ringside punch stats showed Hatton landing 258 of 755 punches to 153 of 570 for Urango.
Castillo didn’t win his fight as handily, barely escaping with a close split decision over Herman Ngoudjo.
The crowd was obviously for Ngoudjo who booed for almost five minutes straight after the decision was announced. Despite losing, Ngoudjo raised his arms in victory as the bout was obviously at least a moral victory for himself.
“I thought I outworked him on the outside and I roughed him up on the inside,” Ngoudjo said. “I thought I won this fight by four rounds.”
It was obvious that Castilloo hadn’t fought in a while - the ring rust was at an all-time high.
“I did the best I could,” Castillo (55-7-1) said. “I’ve been away from the ring for a long time. It wasn’t one of my greatest performances.”
Permalink
Saturday, January 20, 2007
EEC - January 20, 2007
Vlad Klitschko and Ray Austin are going to clash on March 10th. Is this fight the beginning of the next wave of heavyweight bout signings? We will find out next week…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Is Junior Witter going to stop talking? Honestly, he hasn’t stopped once this week. I normally would go ahead and post away with the gossip but it’s different with Witter. See it’s just like he’s come out of nowhere, trying to steal the spotlight from the other three big fights this weekend.
He’s not even on the same level as the names he is throwing out there and the best thing about this - He has a fight tomorrow night. With his mind elsewhere I hope Witter loses and then cries like a little girl, serves him right for going Hollywood and not focusing on his opponent…
- Joe Frazier’s left hook is still just as fast, I promise…
Smokin’ Joe is still quick with a counterpunch.
Asked if he had any birthday wishes for Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier came right back.
“Whose birthday?” he said.
Never mind that Frazier was appearing at Madison Square Garden to help promote a documentary about the 50 greatest moments in Madison Square Garden history and that his first fight with Ali on March 8, 1971, was listed among the top five.
After good-naturedly pointing out that he also deserved birthday greetings for having turned 63 last Friday, Frazier wished Ali, “Happy birthday.”
- It’s offical: Manny Pacquiao will face Injin Chi of South Korea on April 28…
- Reports are saying that the price for the De La Hoya-Mayweather PPV on May 5th may be as much as $54.95.
- Anyone wondering what Hasim Rahman is up to? Here’s the latest…
Former two-time heavyweight champ Hasim Rahman (41-6-2, 33 KOs) will fight once-formidable contender Ray Mercer (34-6-1, 25 KOs) on Feb. 22 (Versus) at Mountaineer Race Track in West Virginia in his first fight since losing his belt via 12th-round knockout to Oleg Maskaev in August. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said Rahman was going to fight Mercer rather than go to Germany in March for a proposed bout with former title challenger Luan Krasniqi. Arum said the fight in Germany might be made for late spring if Rahman beats Mercer, who hasn’t fought since Shannon Briggs knocked him out in the seventh round in August 2005.
Some Good Reads:
TSS: Is Boxing More Dangerous Than Football?
FOX Sports: Hatton’s Vegas tango with Urango
MaxBoxing: Compubox Analysis - Hatton vs Urango
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Friday, January 19, 2007
EEC - January 19, 2007
Not much news at all yesterday so today’s post will be a little shorter than usual if you don’t mind…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- As we reported yesterday, Don King has found a home in Florida for his February 3rd ‘Super Saturday’ card that will be broadcast on Showtime…
- Ricky Hatton was actually asked to be on the reality show Big Brother this past year but he promptly declined:
“It took me three seconds to turn down Big Brother. I could not stand being in a house for a month with people saying, ‘Ricky, your cup is not on the coaster or you’ve not done the washing up’. Those people are just faking it to get votes and that’s not me.”
- Rumors circulated yesterday that Acelino Freitas was not fighting Joel Casamayor and that he was instead taking on David Diaz in April. Freitas quickly took it upon himself to clear things up announcing that will be fighting Casamayor, making the fight all but official instead close to being done.
- Lou Savarese defeated Travis Fulton last night in the fourth round when the referee was forced to stop the fight and save Fulton from a further beating. Savarese dropped Fulton three times in the second round and twice more in the fourth before the referee decided that Fulton had enough.
- I wasn’t able to find anything on the results of Ricco Rodriguez’s bout but when I do I’ll be sure to make note of it on here…
Weekend Fights:
Friday -
Randall Bailey vs Michael Warrick - Key West, Florida - Junior Welterweight
Juan Manuel Lopez vs Cuahtemoc Vargas - Phoenix, Arizona - Junior Featherweight (Showtime)
Saturday -
Ricky Hatton vs Juan Urango - Las Vegas, Nevada - IBF Junior Welterweight Title
Jose Luis Castillo vs Herman Ngoudjo - Las Vegas, Nevada - WBC Junior Welterweight Eliminator
Nikolai Valuev vs Jameel McCline - Basel, Switzerland - WBA Heavyweight Title
Junior Witter vs Arturo Morua - London, England - WBC Junior Welterweight Title
Sunday -
Danny Green vs Paul Murdoch - Melbourne, Australia - Light-Heavyweight
Some Good Reads:
ESPN: Hatton’s at the weight where he feels great
TSS: This Day in History (January 19, 1991)
MaxBoxing: ‘The British are Coming, the British are Coming - For Ricky Hatton!!!
Permalink
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Urango Means Business in Vegas
On the strip the high rollers are rolling, the tourists are checking out the sights, and fight fans are taking in the big event atmosphere that no other sport can compare to. But for IBF junior welterweight champion Juan Urango, this isn’t a time for partying; it’s time for work as he readies for his first title defense this Saturday night against British superstar Ricky Hatton at the Paris Hotel and Casino.
“I’m here for business,” said Urango (17-0-1, 13 KOs). “The time for relaxing is after the fight. Now, the only thing on my mind is defending my title and beating Ricky Hatton.”
Continue reading "Urango Means Business in Vegas"
EEC - January 17, 2007
I can’t believe it’s only Wednesday. This is the slowest week ever, probably because I’m looking forward to this weekend’s heavyweight title bout. Oh wait, it’s not televised I forgot, rat bastards…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Despite his recent arrest that we all know about, HBO has announced that Jim Lampley will be one of the broadcasters for the network’s showing of the Hatton-Urango bout this weekend.
HBO had actually considered taking Lampley off of the show but reconsidered once the media coverage of his arrest died down quite a bit. Lampley didn’t say much to the media about the charges but he did express his excitement about being able to help call the fight on Saturday…
“I am pleased that HBO recognizes there is no reason for me not to be working this weekend,” Lampley said. “This is my job, this is what I do. This is business as usual. I am really looking forward to covering Ricky Hatton’s first fight in Las Vegas and a fight at the Paris for the first time. I feel like even though it’s only been five weeks since I’ve called a fight, it feels like it’s been a long time. It will feel good to be back at ringside calling the fights.”
- The Philippines-Mexico World Cup of Boxing has been postponed to later this year according to promotor Sammy Gello-ani. Gello-ani said that the event was postponed because agreements with the managers of Daniel Ponce De Leon and Johnny Gonzales were unable to reached in time for the original date of March 4th.
The postponement will also allow Oscar De La Hoya to help promote the event since it will not fall during his traning for his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
- Danny Williams will take on British Heavyweight Champion Scott Gammer on March 2nd in very well might be the last bout of his professional career.
Gammer actually turned down an offer to fight Audley Harrison who recently defeated Williams. Gammer rejected the offer because he is hoping to take on the winner of a possible bout between Harrison and Matt Skelton should he defeat Williams in March.
- Calvin Brock unveiled his new online travel agency today.
Seriously, is boxing not paying anymore? Brock starts his own travel agency, Foreman travels around the world to sell his grills, Tyson is willing to do anything in this world to make money, Klitschko ran for mayor… There’s so many things. I’m not taking boredom after retirement as an excuse anymore either. We need to get to the bottom of this…
Anyway Brock said that he learned about the business through a friend and soon decided that it would be an interesting venture for him to start.
“The online travel industry is growing fast,” said Brock. “More people are comfortable booking their own travel and getting cheaper prices than using a traditional travel agency.”
I guess we will find out over the next year how fast the travel industry is growing won’t we Calvin?
- Tomorrow is Muhammad Ali’s 65th Birthday and I’ll be sure to gather up all of the articles and various things being thrown out there in a post tomorrow morning…
Some Good Reads:
ESPN: At 32, Bailey goes back to basics of sweet science
Doghouse Boxing: Is the end drawing near for Urango?
Seconds Out: Ricky Hatton - The Hard Sell
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Tuesday, January 16, 2007
EEC - January 16, 2007
On the heels of Tommy Morrison testing negative, we have Mayweather and Hopkins speaking up, George Foreman traveling, the return of a former heavyweight champion, the pro boxing debut of a former UFC heavyweight champ, a major fight announcement and much more…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- What is it about English fighters that people find so intriguing? I mean really, if you followed this site over the summer, you would see how much media coverage both Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe got. They were always calling out the big names, always changing their minds about who they wanted to fight.
These days it’s the exact opposite with the elite American fighters wanting a piece of them.
Bernard Hopkins has shown interest in Calzaghe, hoping that he will move up a weight-class and fight him later this year:
“After Jones I hope he’ll come up to light-heavyweight to challenge me.” said Hopkins.
Calzaghe also met with Sylvester Stallone this past weekend at a boxing gala event as Stallone was making a trip over to the UK and Calzaghe was one of the people he wanted to meet the most.
Calzaghe said of the meeting with the famed Movie star:,“Sly was great. He’s just a normal guy. He turned up for the dinner by himself. There was no entourage. He said he wanted to meet me after seeing my recent win against Jeff Lacy. He said he was a fan of mine and had seen me fight many times but I told him I had seen him fight a lot more in the movies.”
Calzaghe added: “I value Sly’s opinion. He’s in great nick for a man of 60. He has the body of a 30-year-old. It was great to hear him tell us about Hollywood.”
Apparently calling out Floyd Mayweather Jr. 1000 times is going to pay off for Hatton as Pretty Boy Floyd will be ringside for his fight this weekend against Juan Urango. Even better, he’s going there because of him…
“I’m looking forward to getting an up close and personal look at Hatton so that I can make my mind up on whether I might want to fight him.” explained Mayweather.
- Former heavyweight champion Lou Savarese will continue his comeback this Thursday when he takes on MMA veteran Travis Fulton in an event promoted by himself and his business partner Cameron Park.
- On the same card as Savarese and Fulton, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez will be makig his pro boxing debut.
- DRL Promotions has announced that WBC Lightweight Champion Joel Casamayor will defend his title in a rematch against Acelino Freitas. Freitas won the first fight between the two in 2002 by a close split decision in a fight that Casamayor would have won if he didn’t have two points deducted during the fight for illegal blows.
There is no date set for the fight as of yet but it is expected to be televised on HBO…
- George Foreman is reportedly traveling to the Middle East to promote his famous George Foreman Grill machines. He will be visiting the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai to do an expo on his product.
Some Good Reads:
The Sweet Science: Looking Forward To More In The New Year: Part II; Brooklyn southpaw Luis Collazo is ready for Pomona’s Sugar Shane
Eastside Boxing: Big Name Heavyweights James Toney Could Still Defeat
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Sunday, January 14, 2007
EEC - January 14, 2007
Early Eight Count - It’s catchy isn’t it?
Basically this is going to be a daily morning post focusing on a variety of boxing news, gossip, articles, videos, and whatever interesting things myself or David will be able to find.
I’m going to try my best to post it every morning at 8:00 AM, genius I know… However if you don’t see it up one day for some reason, please don’t uppercut me too hard.
We’re doing something similar over on our sister site, MMA on Tap as well.
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Ricky Hatton seems to be taking Floyd Mayweather Jr. off of his radar screen because of Mayweather’s future plans for this year which include a superfight with Oscar De La Hoya in May and possible retirement right after the bout. That didn’t stop Hatton from discussing alternate plans for this year however…
“I have no problem with fighting up at welterweight again. But the only fight I’ll probably look at that might tempt to me to welterweight would be certainly Floyd Mayweather, maybe Miguel Cotto. I’m not soon to be back on the welterweight division even though I’ve made back down to junior welterweight. I have got to put on an exciting performance against Juan Urango. Hopefully win my title back which I’m confident that I can do, and hopefully lead to a fight against José Castillo and then if Floyd is still fighting, if he chooses not to retire then that would another fight I’d love.”
I’m sure that Hatton won’t be the only one voicing their displeasure about Floyd opting to retire soon, crushing the hopes of many welterweights out there that wanted a crack at him.
- Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer will be traveling to Florida next week to visit with Roy Jones Jr. and attempt to get him to sign a contract that will allow him to fight Bernard Hopkins in July. According to Hopkins, he is already signed for the fight and it is now up to Jones Jr. to make the fight happen.
- Just like I reported yesterday, Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent will most likely be Jin Chi as Top Rank’s Bob Arum is supposed to be finalizing the contract for the fight at some point this week.
One thing I’m considering is moving the usual ‘Weekend Fights’ and ‘Weekend Results’ posts to the EEC post for that day. I think it will work out a lot better and allow more time for news and events that occur which deserve more coverage. As always, feel free to leave a comment or contact us with your opinion about this decision or anything else that your little heart desires…
Weekend Results:
- Travis Simms won the WBA Super Welterweight Title on Saturday night, stopping Jose Antonio Rivera in the 9th round. Simms was in control for the entire fight, dominating Rivera in every aspect until the referee halted the bout in the middle of the 9th round after Rivera was knocked to the canvas for a second time.
Simms actually held the WBA Super Welterweight belt from December 2003 until June 2005 when he was stripped of the belt due to inactivity. Simms was holding out because he wanted a fight with Winky Wright who obviously had other plans. However Simms now guarantees that his mind is set on defending his title:
“I’m coming back, and I’m looking to get back in the mix with the top champions in the divison,” Simms said. “I cannot be denied. I stayed in the gym, stayed diligent, stayed focused.”
Don’t believe in newspapers? Don’t worry, I have you covered…
Some Good Reads:
ESPN: Dan Rafael’s January Division Rankings
I actually plan on starting some rankings of our own by next month possibly so stay tuned…
FOX Sports: Unified heavyweight title can save boxing
MaxBoxing: When to Hold and When to Fold: Toney’s March Memorable, but Uphill from Here
The Sweet Science: Looking For More In The New Year
Last but not least, Jim Amato (neverlast on this site) will have a new piece being posted at some point this afternoon for those of you looking to check back in later on for new material…