Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

Miguel Cotto Refuses To Submit To Top Rank's Pressure

By Mark Vester

Former two-division champion Miguel Cotto is refusing to submit to the pressure of Top Rank's Bob Arum, who gave the Puerto Rican superstar a Wednesday deadline to made a decision on a potential fight on February 21 with Michael Jenning of the UK. The vacant WBO welterweight title will be at stake and should take place at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The fight will be part of a split-feed pay-per-view doubleheader, along with the other co-main event - Kelly Pavlik defending his middleweight titles in Ohio against Marco Antonio Rubio.

Cotto says that he always takes his time when making a decision on a fight, and refuses to rush a final decision on Jennings.

"I am not anxious to know when I will fight again. I look at things calmly and think them out. I am going to continue doing things that way. I don't have the slightest idea of what's being talked about. My team takes care of that. They will give me the final decision and right now I'm waiting," Cotto said to Primera Hora.

Arum told the paper on Tuesday that he issued an ultimatum to Cotto's legal advisor, Gabriel Penagaricano, with the deadline of Wednesday, and also said that if Cotto did not take the deal, he had no idea when Cotto would be back in the ring - other than the rematch with Antonio Margarito that is scheduled for next June.

Penagaricano says talks are ongoing with Top Rank with the issue being - the amount of money Cotto is getting for the Jennings fight, and a few other things related to the pay-per-view. He also says that if the two sides can't reach a deal soon, Cotto's return may get pushed back to March or April. As reported by Robert Morales on BoxingScene.com, Top Rank has a backup plan to place Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in Cotto's slot on the pay-per-view.

"There is no kind of ultimatum on the part of Top Rank. We are still negotiating some considerations aside from the money. The offer the presented to is us good, but we understand that it can improve," Penagaricano said. "If we don't reach and agreement to do a fight in February, then it will happen in March or April

 

[heyzel]

Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao Are Ready For Battle

By Mark Vester

Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao continue to circle each other. Hatton is expected to fight the winner of Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao, which takes place on December 6. Hatton's trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. would prefer Pacquiao over the much bigger De La Hoya. Hatton would fight either, but also prefers to face Pacquiao. Win or lose, Pacquiao plans to move to junior welterweight and his first target is Hatton.

"Whether it's the winner or the loser, it's a great fight but you would want it to be against the winner. I would like it to be Pacquiao, he's the best pound for pound fighter in the world. If Pacquiao beats Oscar I will get my dream of becoming the best pound for pound fighter in the world. I failed against Floyd but a fight against Pacquiao would be at light-welterweight," Hatton said.

Pacquiao saw Hatton's win from last weekend against Paulie Malignaggi and thought it was a good performance. When asked about the fight, Pacquiao said he was ready to fight Hatton, but his focus right now is on De La Hoya.

"I watched the (Hatton-Malignaggi) fight happen, it was a good fight. I'm ready to fight him. I'm willing to fight Hatton but right now I'm just focused on this coming fight (against De La Hoya). And I don't want discuss something that can affect my concentration for that fight," Pacquiao said.

 

[surcaliman]

Boxer Arreola will fulfill his promise to a slain friend

Many people wear their emotions on their sleeve. Heavyweight boxer Chris Arreola wears his a bit higher.

It is a quiet weekday afternoon, the slightly overcast kind that Vin Scully calls a "soft day." Arreola, an imposing man of muscle and width and tattoos, sits in the backyard of his Riverside home and looks out on treeless hills and dirt paths carved out by various off-road vehicles.

"A lot of days, that's where I run," he says. "Good place to do tough roadwork."

Arreola, 25, is only days from entering the ring for the 26th fight of a professional career that has been inching its way, since September 2003, toward a level of prominence that could make him famous and wealthy. He will fight once-beaten Florida heavyweight Travis Walker on the first-ever boxing card at the new Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario on Saturday night. His bout will be the semi-main event to Paul Williams versus Verno Phillips at junior middleweight (154 pounds).

There is plenty of boxing going on these days, but this card is attractive enough to be the HBO "Boxing After Dark" show.

Arreola knows he is on the doorstep of something big, that fighting Walker is not like slugging it out with some of the bloated bags he has faced while building a reputation with 22 knockouts on the way to a 25-0 record. He knows this is serious business, that his dream of being in boxing's big time -- "I want it in Staples Center, September 2009, a title fight maybe against one of the Klitschko brothers" -- is closer with success in Ontario.

But for the moment, he is lost in thought elsewhere. Asked the innocuous question of how this boxing stuff got to be serious, he gazes into the distance and appears to choke up. After a pause, he tells the story of Alex Carranza.

"He was my best friend. We were like brothers," Arreola says. "When I was a kid, my dad started me boxing, and, from the time I was 7 years old, until I was maybe 16, that's all I did. Go to school, go to the gym, come home, do homework, go to bed. Every weekend, all over L.A., they'd have boxing shows and I'd be there."

By the time he was 16, he was boxed out, he says. His parents divorced, his mother moved him to Riverside, and one day, at a barbecue, he met Carranza.

"He was this huge dude, maybe 6-5," Arreola says. "Right from the start, we hit it off. Pretty soon, everybody just expected us to be with each other. It was kind of like, here come the two big Mexicans."

Arreola says it was Carranza who got him back into boxing.

"It was seven or eight years ago," he says. "We're sitting around, watching boxing on TV, and I see these guys fighting who are just terrible. And I'm saying how I could whip all these guys. So Alex says to me -- he had this squeaky little voice that was funny on a big guy -- 'OK, if you're so bad, stop talking and go do it.' "

So Arreola did, winning the National Golden Gloves title in Reno in 2001 at 178 pounds and, with a slight pause for the birth of his daughter, Danae, 6, never looking back.

Carranza drove him to Reno for the Golden Gloves and was at almost all his other fights, except when his job as a truck driver kept him away.

"He never wanted anything," Arreola says. "He was just my friend. . . . He always said all he wanted from me was to take him to the good parties and to let him get up in the ring one time with me after a fight."

On Oct. 27, 2007, Arreola took Carranza, 25, to what he thought would be a good party. It was just a few miles down the road from where he lives, he says.

"I went to get some beer," he says, speaking more slowly now. "I came back and there were people running around in a panic. They said, 'Alex has been shot.' I went into the backyard and people told me he had just fainted.

"I bent over him and tried to lift him. There was no blood. Then my finger went into the bullet hole in his back and I knew it was bad."

There had been a dispute, several men with guns started shooting, Carranza had shielded a woman and a bullet entered his lower back and had done serious internal damage without exiting. Carranza died, the woman was wounded in the leg and another man, shot five times, survived.

According to Arreola, the shooters left the party and were never apprehended. He says he doesn't care. "I'm not an eye-for-an-eye kind of guy," he says. "Besides, it wouldn't bring Alex back."

Scheduled to fight in St. Lucia in November 2007, Arreola canceled.

"I went to his funeral," he says. "It was an open casket. There was this huge dude in this wooden box. I couldn't take it. I still feel him with me."

Arreola has a regret. He never brought his friend up into the ring with him, as Carranza had asked. He was waiting for bigger fights, bigger moments.

But he has done the best he can to fix that. Since his last fight, he added to his extensive collection of tattoos. High on his left arm is a picture of Carranza. Underneath is written: "The Good Die Young."

"Saturday night will be his first time in the ring with me," Arreola says.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

damn, williams looks huge

Williams, Phillips make weight
Paul Williams 153.5 vs Verno Phillips 154

 

[T-Rip]

^^^ lol, thats not even fair. he needs to at least be in the 160's weight class. i swear the boxing commission is gonna start being more picky about weight classes just cuz of him. De La Hoya is fighting a way smaller opponent also so i wouldnt be surprised if something changes soon

 

[naner12]

^^^ lol, thats not even fair. he needs to at least be in the 160's weight class. i swear the boxing commission is gonna start being more picky about weight classes just cuz of him. De La Hoya is fighting a way smaller opponent also so i wouldnt be surprised if something changes soon

They both made weight and Verno has the title at that weight class (even though it's from a shit decision) .. what restrictions can they possibly put? Some sanctioning bodies already that you can't gain more than 10lbs from the weigh in to the day of the fight and there's not much more they can do besides that. People might not think it's fair but Paul steps on the scales just like everyone else .. DLH/Pacman is no comparison to this.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

yeah I agree. Paul williams makes the weight and he is skinny. Shit, this is nothing new. Think Tommy Hearns who was like 6'1 at welterweight, and there are much better examples then that too.

oscar/pacquiao is totally different cuz they are in two completely different weight classes. Paul Williams fights at 147, he's fighting phillips at 154.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Still not impressed by Arreola.
I'm going to write this win off....

He might as well have not even stepped into the ring, displaying that type of skill. Overweight, sloppy, slow, andI don't see his punches bieng crisp at all. Poor defensive skills.

If David Tua was an A, give Arreola a C.

 

[REdRUM]

Not going to post round by round, bc this beer is calling...but I gave Verno the first 2 rounds.

 

[surcaliman]

lol@ MAX KELLERMAN.''nice straight hand by williams against a much smaller man''...no fuckin shit.

i dont understand how ppl give williams props for beating much smaller fighters but are quick to talk shit for dlh fighting packie.fuck if the weight is the same,what about the leverage advantage.

 

[caff]

im dissapointed with the arreola fight. a win is a win but he will be destroyed soon.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Because the only way they can market this guy is to have the entire boxing media back him up, and it still isn't working. He isn't the most feared man in boxing, that stoppage was a joke, and no one wants to fight him because if they win the fight against William's people still don't care and it wont give you a bigger payday. If Williams were to head a PPV card I would be surprised if it got more than 100K buys.

You are much better off having a name like Baldomir or Judah in your win column. Sad but true...

 

[surcaliman]

^^true..the only reason ppl know about williams is becouse of 2-0-XX's nutriding.lol

 

[REdRUM]

Lederman is probably still on Paul's dick this morning.

 

[MOREBASS]

lol@ MAX KELLERMAN.''nice straight hand by williams against a much smaller man''...no fuckin shit.

i dont understand how ppl give williams props for beating much smaller fighters but are quick to talk shit for dlh fighting packie.fuck if the weight is the same,what about the leverage advantage.

De La Hoya is a natural Jr. Middleweight (154lbs), and fighting Pacquiao who is a natural featherweight (130lbs).

Paul moved up two weight classes to middleweight for this fight against Verno. He's moved up and down between welterweight and middleweight throughout his career, but his success has mostly been @ 147.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

^^true..the only reason ppl know about williams is becouse of 2-0-XX's nutriding.lol

nutriding?? wtf? he aint my favorite fighter.

But with that said, if you cant see he's one of the best fighters at 147, 154 and 160, you're probably just a hater. And yeah, he's big. So what? He's skinny as fuck. Plus you see how he fought phillips, he didn't even use his height advantage, he fought inside all night.

He beat margarito at 147 who's viewed as the best welterweight.
He beat phillips just now. Who else is at 154? Vernon Forrest. And some prospects like James Kirkland. Williams is better then all of them.

At 160 there is kelly pavlik and abraham. The rest of teh division is horrible. Williams could compete with them two.

Easy conclusion here. Williams is the best at welterweight, the best at jr. middle, and one of the best at 160.

And the stoppage against Phillips came after phillips head was down in the corner, breathing extremely hard and you could tell he didn't want to continue. that's why the fight was stopped.

Anyways, most of the williams haters I found out are margarito nutthuggers.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Because the only way they can market this guy is to have the entire boxing media back him up, and it still isn't working. He isn't the most feared man in boxing, that stoppage was a joke, and no one wants to fight him because if they win the fight against William's people still don't care and it wont give you a bigger payday. If Williams were to head a PPV card I would be surprised if it got more than 100K buys.

no money to fight williams huh? then why did margarito turn down $4 million for the rematch and fought shane mosley for $2 million (non-ppv) instead?????

Riddle me that batman.

Maybe because Margarito knows there is a real good chance he could LOSE the fight and fuck up the chance of a cotto rematch.

We all know margarito aint really shit against opponents his own size or bigger.

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

I think he dominates at 147, top 3 at 154, and loses to the top 5 at 160.

Ya he beat Margarito, and I'm a huge Margarito fan but I don't think he is the best. I just love his style of boxing and think he is a good person.

I just don't like Paul Williams, I think he is a B+/A- fighter AT BEST, and blown up to be this most feared A+ assassin who everyone ducks and he can run through people, when that is far from the case.

Each to their own though. People don't understand why I enjoy boxers like Spadafora, Chris Byrd, etc. So if you back William's its all good. Just saying, dont bet the house on him...

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Exactly, yes because he could lose and it will mess up his rematch with Cotto. I'm not denying that. I would take 2 + whatever he will get for fighting Cotto, rather than 4 to fight Williams.

It's like someone saying I will gaurantee you 4 million OR more than 4 million. Pretty easy.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

I think he dominates at 147, top 3 at 154, and loses to the top 5 at 160.

Who is the top 3 at 154, who is the top 5 at 160??

Ya he beat Margarito, and I'm a huge Margarito fan but I don't think he is the best. I just love his style of boxing and think he is a good person.

At 147, who is better then Williams? There is margartio, cotto, and clottey. The only person who has a shot at beating williams is margarito.

I just don't like Paul Williams, I think he is a B+/A- fighter AT BEST, and blown up to be this most feared A+ assassin who everyone ducks and he can run through people, when that is far from the case.

"The most feared man in boxing" is a stupid term, it's annoying as fuck. So I understand that. But remember Margarito had that term applied to him until he lost to Williams.

And I agree williams is a B+/A-, he does have flaws. But I think you gotta respect/love what he's doing. He's fighting in three weight classes, calling everyone out and he fights nearly every month! That's boxing and I could only wish other fighters had that mentality.

Each to their own though. People don't understand why I enjoy boxers like Spadafora, Chris Byrd, etc. So if you back William's its all good. Just saying, dont bet the house on him...

I wouldn't bet on him. Just like watching him.