RSSTop Rank
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Guzman-Soto Press Conference Quotes
After nearly one year of inactivity, WBO junior lightweight champion Joan Guzman (27-0, 17 KOs) makes his highly anticipated return to the ring when he battles the veteran Humberto Soto (43-5-2, 27 KOs) on Saturday, Nov. 17 at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, N.J., on HBO “Boxing After Dark” at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.
The 12-round championship bout is for Guzman’s WBO junior lightweight title.
The fight is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Sycuan Ringside Promotions and Top Rank.
Guzman and Soto addressed the media in the promotions’ final press conference, Wednesday, Nov. 14 at the Old Homestead Restaurant in New York City.
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Friday, August 24, 2007
Berto Meets Estrada in September
NEW YORK - Unbeaten welterweight Andre Berto (19-0, 16 KOs) will get a chance to prove why the critics are raving about him when he faces world title challenger David Estrada on September 29 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Berto has been rated by nearly every major boxing publication and web site as one of the game’s top talents under 25 years old. Berto, 23, is that rare combination of speed and power, of finesse and brute strength. A member of the 2004 Haitian Olympic boxing team, Berto has been so dominant that 12 of his 16 knockouts have been in three rounds or less.
The Florida resident is thrilled to appear in his biggest fight in the co-featured bout to the middleweight championship between Jermain Taylor (27-0-1, 17 KOs) and Kelly Pavlik (31-0, 28 KOs), which is being promoted by DiBella Entertainment in association with Top Rank Inc.
“It’s going to be an action packed, throwback night of boxing. I am honored to be the co-feature on the Taylor/Pavlik fight card. As always, I will train my hardest and put on the best possible performance for my fans,” said Andre Berto. Berto is coming off a unanimous 10-round decision over durable veteran Cosme Rivera on July 27. It was the first time he had gone the distance in 15 bouts, since a Feb. 24, 2005 four-round decision over David Neal. He had 14 consecutive knockouts after the Neal bout.
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Huerta Returns Against Hinojosa on Versus
STAMFORD – A night of lightweight action headlined by a 12-round showdown between Miguel Huerta (24-8, 17 Kos) and Efren Hinojosa (29-3-1, 17 KOs) for the vacant NABF Lightweight title will be featured on the next edition of Fight Night on VERSUS in collaboration with Top Rank Boxing, Thursday, August 30 at 9 p.m. ET from the Grand Plaza in Houston, Texas.
Huerta, a Mexico City native lost a controversial split decision to Kid Diamond in his last fight which was televised June 14 on VERSUS. Huerta took the action to Diamond and knocked him down in the 11th round with a left cross but came up short in the decision. He is currently ranked #12 by the WBC. The bout against Diamond was his only fight of 2007, but he stopped Antonio Ramirez via a sixth-round TKO in his previous fight on December 22, 2006. Hinojosa, originally from Mexico but now fighting out of Lakeside, California, last fought in December 2006, losing a unanimous 12-round decision to Nugaev Rustam in Russia.
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Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Cotto Defends Against Mosley on November 10
NEW YORK – “Fast & Furious” is the only way to describe this epic rumble between two of boxing’s top pound for pound superstars—undefeated WBA world welterweight champion Miguel Cotto and four-time world champion “Sugar” Shane Mosley. Promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank, in association with Madison Square Garden, “Fast & Furious” will take place Saturday, November 10, at the “Mecca of Boxing,” Madison Square Garden. The 12-round world welterweight title fight will be produced and distributed live on HBO Pay-Per-View, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.
Cotto (30-0, 25 KOs), of Caguas, Puerto Rico, has headlined at the ‘Mecca of Boxing’ on the eve of New York’s annual National Puerto Rican Day Parade the last three years. On June 9, in front of a capacity crowd of over 20,500, Cotto, 26, knocked out two-division world champion Zab Judah to retain his title and improve his Garden record to 3-0.
“I am very excited to be returning to Madison Square Garden and I will be completely prepared for the biggest fight of my career,” said Cotto. “Shane is a great fighter but he will not be the better fighter on November 10. I will be leaving the ring the same way I will be entering it – undefeated and still world champion.”
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Friday, June 08, 2007
Nick Charles to Call Rahman-Sykes
Nick Charles, one of boxing’s finest and most recognizable blow-by-blow announcers has joined Versus and will make his network debut on the next Fight Night on Versus in collaboration with Top Rank Boxing, Thursday, June 14 at 9 p.m. ET from the Main Street Armory in Rochester, New York.
Charles, the blow-by-blow voice of Showtime’s Shobox since 2001, replaces Bob Papa and will join Wallace Matthews to form the Versus Fight Night announce team. One of the original members of CNN, Charles began his career in the mid-70’s in Washington D.C. where he served as an anchor for CNN Sports for 21 years and won two Cable Ace Awards. The first fight he covered was the 1976 heavyweight championship bout between Muhammad Ali and Jimmy Young.
“We’re delighted to have someone with the reputation and experience of Nick Charles join our Versus Fight Night team,” said Marc Fein, Senior Vice President of Programming and Production for Versus. “Nick has been a ringside fixture at major boxing events and his professionalism and knowledge will provide our fans with great boxing insight during each Fight Night telecast.”
Versus’ June 14 Fight Night will be headlined by a 10-round heavyweight bout pitting former two-time WBC heavyweight champion Hasim “The Rock” Rahman (41-6-2, 33 KOs) against former NABA champion Taurus Sykes (25-3-1, 7 KOs). Rahman first emerged as a heavyweight champion when he knocked out Lennox Lewis in the fifth round of their first clash in 2001; but Lennox took the title back in their rematch.
Also featured will be Kid Diamond (24-1-1, 14 KOs), of Las Vegas in the NABF Lightweight Championship against Mexico City’s Miguel Angel Huerta (24-7-1, 17 KOs). Diamond, whose real name is Almzabek Raiymkulov, is a native of Kyrgystan. In his last fight, September 14, 2006 in Las Vegas, which was televised by Versus, Diamond scored a 7th round TKO against Jairo Ramirez.
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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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Friday, March 30, 2007
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
Morrison Out Until May With Rib Injury
Tommy Morrison will be out of action until at least May with injured ribs stemming from his February victory over John Castle according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.
Morrison’s promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, was planning to have him fight on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Jorge Solis PPV on April 14th but was then informed that Morrison would not be ready to fight until May.
“He’s not ready to go,” Arum said. “His ribs were hurting. We expect him to be ready to go in May.”
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Tuesday, February 20, 2007
EEC - February 20, 2007
Many new things to report this morning…
News, Notes, and Rumors:
- Raul Frank has appealed to the New York State Athletic Commission to reinstate his victory over Terrance Cauthen. There will be a public hearing held at the officies of the NYSA tomorrow…
- IBF and IBO Flyweight Champion Vic Darchinyan has stated that he wants the winner of Rafael-Marquez-Israel Vazquez as a setup bout that would eventually get him in line for a shot at Manny Pacquiao.
“I will challenge both Marquez and Vazquez,” Darchinyan said. “I am looking forward. I just don’t want to stay in my weight division. I want to unify the flyweight division, but if the other champions won’t fight me, I want to move up and fight for more world titles. I want to become more popular. I want to become pound for pound No.1.”
- The Plain Dealer Reporter is reporting ironically that HBO would like Kelly Pavik to fight on the same card as Jermain Taylor-Sergio Mora on April 14th.
Pavlik told the paper that Top Rank is trying to set up a fight between himself and Edison Miranda in June instead with the winner getting a shot at Taylor in September…
- A biography on Roberto Duran written by Christian Giudice and titled “Hands of Stone, The Life and Legend of Roberto Duran” will start going on sale on Friday, March 2…
Some Good Reads:
ESPN: ‘Koncrete’ meets ‘Ding-A-Ling Man’ on FNF
FOX Sports: Malignaggi earns a win with a measured approach
Boxing Scene: Hopkins thinks Winky is the “Wright” Opponent
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Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Cotto-Judah Tenatively Set for June 9th
Now that his fight with Antonio Margarito is officially off, ESPN is reporting that WBA Welterweight Champion Miguel Cotto will defend his title against former champion Zab Judah on June 9th, provided that the two both win their tune-up fights in March and April respectively.
Cotto will defend his title first against mandatory challenger Oktay Urkal on March 3rd in Puerto Rico; Judah will face an opponent yet to be named shortly after April 8th. Judah was originally signed to face Israel Cardona on April 27th but because the fight with Cotto has now been agreed on, Judah says he can’t wait three weeks after the date to fight since it would only leave him one month to train for Cotto.
Judah can’t fight before April 8th because that is the date he will finally be eligible to once again apply for a boxing license within the Nevada State Athletic Commission after his suspension as a result of the Mayweather brawl is up.
So if both fighters win - June 9th at Madison Square Garden on HBO PPV…
Never at a loss for words, Bob Arum was sure to give his take on the fight:
“Hopefully, everything will be signed and I look forward to the fight, assuming Cotto wins against Urkal on March 3 and Zab wins his fight,” Cotto promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank told ESPN.com. “Then we will have one of the really great events in Madison Square Garden history. There will be a lot of interest in the fight. A lot of people say the Judah fight is a bigger fight than the Margarito fight.
“I’m not going to go crazy with the prices for the tickets either. I’ll price it the same as if Cotto was fighting Margarito, and I think it will be a huge sell, $500 tickets down to $50, none of these crazy prices. I think most seats will be $100 and less.”
Judah also made it known that he is very excited to get his boxing career started back up again…
“It was a big strain, but you know I stuck it out. I’m just cool,” said Judah, also a former two-time junior welterweight titlist. “I just want to look to the future. I’m very happy about this fight. It’s a blessing for me, a blessing and the answer to a prayer. I am the comeback kid. I feel like I’m a cat with nine lives and I’m back. I cannot wait.”
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