Boxing News Thread

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May 13, 2002
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yep, he's a hater and so very negative for a commentator. Atlas doesn't even rank Hopkins in his top 10 MW's of all time, which is disgraceful. Greb, Hagler, & Monzon can be ranked higher, but Hopkins certainly deserves to be top 5 at least.

I remember he used to hate on Roy Jones all the time when he was on top. And now he hates on Pacquiao. Seems like he for whatever reason he just dislikes the best.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Marquez: I asked for the Pacquiao fight to be at 143, but they didn’t want to

By Chris Williams: WBA/WBC lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (52-5-1, 38 KO’s), who fights at 135 pounds, says he tried to get his November fight against Manny Pacquiao to take place at 143 rather than the 144 pound catchweight that they finally agreed upon but they said no. Marquez knew better than to have Pacquiao meet him half way between lightweight and welterweight at 140, and didn’t bother asking Pacquiao to meet him at the half way point.

In an article at Alos Golpes at ESPN, Marquez said “I asked the fight at 143 and they didn’t want to. Imagine. Then the limit is going to be at 144 pounds. If I had asked the fight at 140, take for granted that they wouldn’t have done it.”

Incredible. So what Marquez is saying is that they wouldn’t meet him 143, one whole pound away 144. Gosh, that’s disappointing, because Pacquiao has been coming into his fights recently weighing 145 and by asking him to come in two pounds lower than that to accommodate Marquez doesn’t seem to be asking a lot. Marquez has shown that he can’t fight well over 140, and by sticking the fight limit at 144, it’s going to make it hard for Marquez to even compete. Why couldn’t Pacquiao fight Marquez at 140 or 143? Wouldn’t that theoretically make things more even so that Pacquiao could finally after three long years have a competitive fight? What’s wrong with that?

Marquez is going to put on weight with medical help, saying “We will make a special preparation. Now I’ll do it under medical guidance and by people who will support us to gain weight without losing speed. So now it will be different.”

Marquez shouldn’t put too much faith in doctors. They’re human and they can certainly design a good diet for putting on weight, but that doesn’t mean that they can come up with a plan where Marquez won’t lose speed. That’s giving doctor’s special powers that they just don’t have. I can see Marquez being just as slow as he was for the Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight in 2009 regardless of whether Marquez puts the weight on slowly or quickly. The problem is that when you put on weight, it slows you down. Look at Pacquiao. He doesn’t look as fast on his feet as he used to be and doesn’t jump around anymore. Pacquiao is more of a plodder now and you have to look at his weight as the issue for his slowing down.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Hopkins vs. Dawson is basically done, says Shaw

By Dan Ambrose: Former IBF/WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (30-1, 17 KO’s) is finally getting a crack at 46-year-old WBC light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32 KO’s), as the two fighters are reportedly close to having a fight put together between them. ESPN is reporting that Gary Shaw, the promoter for Dawson, met with Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer to put together a fight between the two top light heavyweights and things are looking good.

There still isn’t a venue selected but they want to find a location where the fight will make the most money. Hopkins recently defeated Jean Pascal to capture the World Boxing Council title. Now Hopkins will be making his first defense of the belt. If he can beat Dawson, Hopkins wants to go after Lucian Bute.

Dawson fought on the undercard of the Hopkins vs. Pascal fight, beating Adrian Diaconu by a 12 round unanimous and looking good. Most people will probably be picking Hopkins to beat Dawson. However, this may turn out to be a huge upset with Dawson taking it because he’s got all the qualities that Hopkins has struggled with in recent years – speed, power and defensive ability. Hopkins barely beat Pascal, and that’s not a sign sign going into a fight against Dawson. It doesn’t matter that Dawson lost recently to Pascal by an 11th round technical decision. Dawson has improved under new trainer Emanuel Steward and he could be more than what Hopkins is ready for. Dawson is a superb boxers and he does well against fighters that come up him the way that Hopkins likely will.

Shaw said this at ESPN: “Richard [Schaefer] called me and said he wanted to discuss making the fight and I was excited because we were on the same page. We talked about places we could do the fight, but we want to do the fight whereever we can make the most money. He agreed.”
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Judah & Khan battle it out on twitter

By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan and IBF champion Zab Judah battled it out on twitter earlier today trading various insults related to their past losses and their proposed July 23 fight. Khan wants the Judah fight but wants Judah to accept a 60-40 deal.

Judah, the more experienced fighter and the more accomplished pro, wants nothing less than a 50-50 deal. Judah believes that with his past titles won in both the light welterweight and the welterweight division, along with his better known name in the United States, it puts him on even ground with Khan.

Here is what Judah had to say about Khan earlier today:

“@AmirKingKhan clown 50/50 or keep ducking. now you f***ing wit the best!!! After me you will never win a world title ever again sign the contract and I will show you award winning dancing! I’m so glad you responded now sign up boy and watch you will hide under ya bed after the way I’m going to knock ya a$$ out!!! You think Prescott ko’ed ya punk a$$ watch wit I do to you mama!! ok princess let’s fight!! Sign up Boy.”

Khan responded with his own insults, saying “@superjudah by the way change ur name ur no super, it shud b @dancingJudah. Haha. Speak soon everyone. I got best fight of the year, but @superjudah holds the best dance of the year haha. I’m gona put a video up tonight for all u fans, why @superzab want picked for dancing with the stars. @superjudah is known as a guy who was knocked down 3 times with 1 punch. Anyone know who that was??? Yo @superjudah aint worth no 50/50, take what I offered you 60/40 and vegas for the Venue.”
As you can see, there’s no love lost between these two guys.

Hopefully they can agree to a purse split to make this fight happen because it would be tragic to see Khan face a lesser guy that Judah. What we don’t need is Khan facing someone like Paul McCloskey again for another easy title defense. It’s time that Khan step it up a couple levels by facing Judah.
 

Joey

Sicc OG
Jul 2, 2002
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i think it's safe to say atlas is piece of shit!!!
From what i read of his biography...Is he came up in a wealthy household his pops was a doctor...but for some reason he started acting a ass and started getting in trouble....

One of the fighters he use to train..didnt want to train with Atlas anymore so atlas went to the fighters house with a gun with intentions to kill him but didnt...It also said Teddy was violent to family and friends....

Atlas put a gun to Mike Tysons ear becuase Tyson was fucking with a underage relative of his (cant really blame him for that one though)...

Teddy wasnt that good of a boxer himself...before his injury...

Atlas's brother shot his own grandma and beat his sister up..

Teddy Atlas is a lunatic LOL...
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Edison Miranda Back As A Light-Heavyweight On Saturday, “Pantera” Still Believes!

By James Slater: This coming Saturday, on the under-card of the Carl Froch-Glen Johnson “Super-Six” semi-final, exiting warrior Edison Miranda will return as a light-heavyweight. The powerful Colombian who has fallen short at world level - losing to Kelly Pavlik, Arthur Abraham, Andre Ward and Lucian Bute, being stopped by all apart from Ward - has a new trainer and his manager believes his fighter can still win a world title.

The 30-year-old with the 33-5(29) record will face journeyman Rayco Saunders over a scheduled eight-rounds. 36-year-old Saunders has a so-so record at 20-13-2(8), but he is tough and durable, having been stopped just once. Miranda, who has not fought since Bute halted him inside three-rounds last April, will likely get some good, rust-removing rounds under his belt on Saturday.

Miranda has fought as a light-heavyweight before (winning a couple of bouts at the weight in 2009, one in 2005), and he and his team now believe he can work his way up to a shot at one of the belt-holders at 175.

Miranda’s manager, Steve Benbasat, told Fightnews.com how the plan is for “Pantera” to get past Rayco and then “go for the gusto. Whoever is big at 175 at the time. Maybe Jean Pascal or Tavoris Cloud.”

Now being trained by Noel Carbajal, Miranda is reported to have been learning new things, such as improving his defence. Very much promising a new-look Miranda, Benbasat rightly pointed out that his fighter has only ever lost to the very best. Always exciting win or lose, Miranda could possibly liven things up at 175-pounds.

The fighters Benbasat mentioned, in Pascal and Cloud, would sure make interesting opponents for Miranda. Pascal now needs a good comeback win; maybe he will look Miranda’s way. Cloud, as all-action as Miranda, wants the big names himself, but if he cannot get the fights he wants with the likes of Hopkins, Dawson and others, maybe he will opt to defend his IBF belt against the Colombian. And what a thrilling fire-fight that one would be!

As vulnerable as he has looked in losing, Miranda will almost always have the fans tuning in to see him due to his kill-or-be-killed style. Assuming he gets the win on Saturday (the fight with Rayco will be an off-TV bout unfortunately), Miranda will surely get at least one more big chance.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Two Promising American Heavyweights: Arreola and Thompson

By John Gabriel Thompson: Less than two weeks after knocking out Nagy Aguilera the third round, Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola (32-2, 28 KO’s) was back in the ring knocking out heavyweights, this time stopping Kendrick "The Apostle" Releford (22-15-2, 10 KO’s) in the seventh. Also in action at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada Tony “The Tiger” Thompson (36-2, 24 KO’s) stopped Maurice “Mo Bettah” Harris (24-15-2, 10 KO’s) in the third round on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights series.

Harris had also beat Nagy Aguilera, actually in his last fight (one of four straight wins), though the most impressive names on his resume (Larry Holmes, Fres Oquendo, and Chris Byrd) were all losses. The D.C. native Thompson also has four straight wins (all by stoppage) since his eleventh round knockout loss at the hands of Wladamir Klitschko for a slew of heavyweight titles back in 2008. The two actually have some history, as Thompson lost to Harris in an unofficial heavyweight tournament for a reported prize of $100,000 back in 2002.

The action was not overwhelming, but Thompson took control of the “rematch” in the second round, backing up Harris and landing constant shots to his head. Thompson’s punches did not look very quick or ferocious, but powerful, and Harris went down once in the second, more from the accumulation of punches than any single blow. In the third, the left-handed Thompson landed a good overhand right to the chin and Harris went down again. Harris got up quickly, but Thompson continued with his slow-motion haymakers. Harris tried to hold on and fell as Thompson stepped back. It looked as though Referee Vic Drakulich waved off the fight, but instead he ruled it a slip and let the action continue. The bout did not go for another ten seconds though, as Thompson landed some more hard shots to the head and Drakulich mercifully stepped in to stop the fight. This win sets up a showdown for Thompson with fellow American heavyweight Eddie Champers, and the winner of that match will get a shot at the heavyweight title against one of the Klitschko’s. Based on what I saw tonight, the fast hands of Eddie Chambers should favor him considerably over the slower hands of Tony Thompson.

From Riverside, California Chris Arreola is down to 236 pounds (having dropped about 30) and looks much trimmer for someone 6’4” than he had in recent bouts. Though to be fair to Arreola, a lot of the discussion of his weight seems more superficial than anything else; his bouts with Manuel Quezada, Tomasz Adamek, and Vitali Klitschko showed that Arreola had the stamina to go the distance (even if his corner threw in the towel against Klitschko). Arreola has won three straight (two by knockout) since his majority decision loss to Tomasz Adamek in April of last year. The former Fort Worth, Texas Golden Gloves champ Kendrick Releford had less than thirteen days notice and was coming off a loss last August to a fighter with a record of 2-0.

Arreola started patiently in the first round, only throwing bombs after he had backed Releford to a corner. Releford, to his credit, found a consistent home for his jab on Arreola’s chin through the first two or three rounds, though Arreola controlled the action with the harder, cleaner and more effective punches. Arreola never seemed rushed as he went upstairs and down. In the third round Arreola started landing with the right uppercut – some hard ones that spoke well of Releford’s chin. With twenty seconds left in the fifth round, Arreola split Releford’s guard with a powerful straight right. Arreola continued to throw bombs as Releford covered up. Ringside commentator Joe Tessitore said, “Releford is in a bit of trouble right now, trying to survive this round.”

The sixth round was all Arreola. As he landed a combination including a hard left uppercut, Releford looked hurt and took a couple steps back into a corner, then wisely took a knee to avoid further punishment and give himself a breather. Releford was up at the count of five, breathing heavily. Arreola landed another huge right uppercut, but Releford made it through the sixth. Arreola dominated the seventh as well, and with about twenty five seconds left in the round Arreola landed a left hook which seemed to hurt Releford. Releford covered up against the ropes and Referee Russell Mora did what Releford’s corner should have done in the sixth and stopped the bout.

In another televised undercard, Norwalk, CA native and 2008 Olympic competitor Javier Molina (7-0, 4 KO’s) also fought for the second time in just thirteen days – just like Arreola. Molina controlled the action from the start against David Lopez (3-6-3, 0 KO’s), putting Lopez down once in the first courtesy of a straight right, though their feet may have also been tangled. Molina dominated the action, though Lopez seemed to get some confidence by the fourth and there were some good exchanges in that round and the fifth. Molina won a unanimous decision with scores of 60-53, 59-54, and 59-54.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Khan-Judah looks like it will happen with a 55-45 purse split in Khan’s favor

By Eric Thomas: The much talked about fight between WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan and IBF champion Zab Judah looks like it’s going to happen, according to boxing news from Dan Rafael on his twitter page. Rafael said “Both sides tell me they’d take 55-45 in Khan’s favor.” This sounds good, because Judah had been holding out for a 50-50 deal in order to take the fight. But accepting a 55-45 deal isn’t that bad, and Judah can certainly make the most of it by knocking Khan out and taking his WBA belt off of him.

A big knockout win for Judah against Khan would almost certainly put Judah in the express lane for a future fight against big money fighter Manny Pacquiao as long as Judah can continue winning for one or two more fights while he waits for Pacquiao’s schedule to clear up. Rafael says the issue that Judah and Khan are going over right now is the venue for their fight. Judah wants Atlantic City, New Jersey in order to be close to his Brooklyn, New York roots, while Richard Schaefer, the CEO Of Golden Boy Promotions, wants his fighter Khan to fight in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Khan was hoping to get a fight against WBC/WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, but he’s not ready to take the fight with Khan just yet. With Bradley off the table, Judah is the next best available fighter for Khan in terms of popularity. They might have been able to match against lightweight Roberto Guerrero, but he doesn’t bring in the same interest as Judah and he might be a problem for Khan because unlike Judah, Guerrero likes to throw a lot of punches and he could turn out to be a nightmare. Judah is dangerous for Khan in another way. With Judah’s power, he’s more likely to win by knockout rather than outworking Khan for a decision. With Judah, there will be a constant danger that he could catch Khan with a big shot and knock him cold.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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By Eric Thomas: The much talked about fight between WBA light welterweight champion A

By Chris Williams: For curious fans wanting to know about whether the November fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao will have Olympic style testing for performance enhancing drugs (PEDS), the answer is no. According to Ricardo Lois at examiner.com, there won’t be any extra testing for Peds by the Nevada Athletic Commission.

Marquez said this about the testing: “I don’t know if he uses them [speaking about Peds] or not. If he did use them, he should feel bad for each victory he had an unfair advantage in…I am not asking for any additional drug tests.”

It’s good that Marquez doesn’t want to rock the boat by attempting to ask for extra testing because he might end up flushing the fight down the toilet if he pushes hard for this. Floyd Mayweather Jr. tried to get extra testing and he saw his negotiations with Pacquiao quickly fall apart with Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum moving on to fight one of the Top Rank stable fighters Joshua Clottey instead. That was the last and best chance for a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather. It would be sad if Marquez were to push for a drug testing for the November Pacquiao fight and end up out in the cold without a fight. This bout is looking to be equivalent of a gold retirement watch for Marquez because he’s simply too old and too light for him to compete at welterweight at this late stage in his career.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Dirrell: If Froch fights me again, he loses hands down! He don’t want it!

By Scott Gilfoid: Unhappy with some of the comments that WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (27-1, 20 KO’s) recently made about him being “easy work,” Dirrell fired back on his twitter page saying Froch is haunted about their previous fight. Froch won a very questionable 12 round split decision over Dirrell back in 2009. The fight took place in Froch’s home city of Nottingham, England, and to put it mildly, Froch looked wretched. It a terrible performance from him, as he was barely able to land a glove on Dirrell the entire fight.

Recently, Froch said this about the Dirrell fight: “I made easy work of Andre Dirrell. I’ve done more damage shaving than what Andre Dirrell did.”

This didn’t escape the talented Dirrell’s attention, however, because he fired back at Froch on his twitter page, saying “Yeah, the fight was easy work four Carl Froch. The judges told him if he gets to a decision with me, no work required. LOL. I’m not surprised at the statement he made. He’s a cocky fighter who has to live up to his rep, but it obviously haunts him [his previous fight with Dirrell] everyday. Carl Froch fights me again, he loses hands down! He don’t want it with the Matrix no more. I’m the last fight he’ll want to meet. LOL!”

I totally agree with Mr. Dirrell. Froch doesn’t want any part of this talented, un-hittable star in the making. Froch was throwing and missing all night long against Dirrell, and looking totally clueless. In the 10th, Dirrell turned up the heat and staggered Froch with a beautiful left to the head.

I just wonder why Froch is saying the Dirrell fight was easy work when he was totally getting dominated by Dirrell. I guess it really bugs him how easily Dirrell was handling him.
 
May 6, 2002
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Khan vs Judah is going to be a good one. they are both really quick but Khan has the height and reach and I don't see Judah being able to bully his way in. He will be working off angles and foot movement. I think Judah has an edge in that.

Khan for the win though.
 
May 13, 2002
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yeah he really dominated froch, that's why he lost, lmao lets be real here guys
Dirrell made that comment because froch said he had "easy work" with dirrell, which obviously wasn't true. It was a highly disputed decision, a lot of people thought it was a home town decision in favor of froch. I personally scored it for Dirrell. Dirrell did a lot of running in that fight, but in the process he made froch look like absolute shit and dirrell landed the cleaner, harder shots, especially in the later rounds.

but dirrell shouldn't really be saying anything until he fights again, he's been out for a long time due to injury or more likely a fake injury.
 
Feb 3, 2006
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Real talk fuck Teddy for down playing B-Hop's master performance against the younger champion in his home town. Judah vs Kahn is made to order for Kahn to knock out Judah out in 9 rounds. With that said Judah has a punchers chance. Cloud will run over Pascal. Dirrell needs to shut up and fight already.
 
May 13, 2002
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cloud vs pascal is probably the most exciting fight that can be made at 175. pascal should give cloud some problems with his movement and even though pascal does have stamina issues, cloud tends to take long breaks in-between flurries himself. Should be nonstop action. And if they put that on the undercard of hopkins-dawson that could be an awesome card in Canada.

And if Hopkins beats Dawson he's Fighter of the Year without question.
 
May 13, 2002
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damn did anybody see roy jones get knocked out by that russian dude?

he gets cold knocked out with 12 seconds left... holy shit dude just about punched his brains out, LOL



i dont follow boxing or know the rules but shouldnt that guy have gotten penalized somehow for punching roy jones again after the ref started to break them up? he wound back and rocked him in the skull one last time when he was 100% defenseless
Check out this Steve Smoger (the ref) interview. He explains what happened from his point of view. And for anyone else after he talks about Jones and Bernard Hopkins, kinda coo....


By Doveed Linder


DL: Give me a breakdown of the Denis Lebedev-Roy Jones, Jr. fight from your standpoint.

Steve Smoger: First of all, it was a pleasure to work in that atmosphere. 4,000, close to 4,500 people were there at the weigh-in, which was at a very fine modern mall. You would not think you were in Moscow. You would think you were in America. Five story affair, spiral staircases, Starbucks… But it’s what boxing was back in the day. There was no title at stake, but it had a very, very big time atmosphere. They billed it “Clash of the Empires”. Now, Mr. Lebedev is essentially undefeated. Most people feel he won that fight with Marco Huck, so he could be considered one of the top cruiserweights in the division. So I immediately gave a lot of credit to Roy for involving himself with this type of event against such a formidable opponent at this stage of his career.

Now, the fight itself… Packed house. 7,000 people. They were chagrined that they didn’t get a bigger stadium, because they could have sold more tickets. This was a very, very nice arena sold to capacity. Now, when they took off their robes for instruction… The physique of Lebedev… It was incredible. I didn’t pay much attention at the weigh-in. But he seemed to be a much bigger 200 pounds than Roy was at 197. Very, very thick upper body. And Roy looked terrific. He looked in great shape, verbally sharp. No problems. We fought under ABC, so all the rules were the same. The only difference is that the Russian rules require an immediate replacement of mouthpieces, which can sometimes disrupt the flow if there’s a fighter who’s advancing and you have to break the action to reinsert. But there was no loss of mouthpieces. That was just my concern as the referee.

Roy boxed. Good combinations and he stunned Lebedev on several occasions. But in my view, they (Team Jones) underestimated Lebedev’s jab. He jabbed very, very well. If Roy stopped for a second, Lebedev was right on him with an assault. And from what I saw, everything that he threw hurt Roy in some capacity. And Roy got the hell out of there. Now, on two occasions, Roy lowered his head with his fists up by his ears and then he would come back and stun Lebedev with a left or right hook. He would surprise him with right hands while dancing. Lebedev was only hurt once and it was momentary. Maybe twice. But Roy was hit with a lot of shots that he never would have been hit with in his youth. No question.

Now, the difficult part… Towards the end of the last round, Roy is circling and he circles into a neutral corner. I position myself to the side and he seems to be parrying the punches and then there’s a very significant flurry by Lebedev. Roy is down in a semi-crouch and he gets hit with a right uppercut. Now, I want you to grasp this. This is not Pavlik-Taylor I where I could see that he’s out. He was in a defensive posture. His hands were never down, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. His senses were such that he could still keep his hands up. I saw the delivery of a significant shot. It was a short right hook. And after the delivery of that punch I jumped in.

People have asked me, why the last shot? Why didn’t you go in? But see, there are two sides to the coin. Imagine if I had stopped it and he was just playing possum. There would have been a firestorm! This wasn’t Chavez-Taylor, because I didn’t have eye contact with him. I couldn’t see his face. And up until that point, it’s a competitive round. He was in a defensive posture and I was on his left. And when Lebedev delivered that last shot, I stepped in. He was out from the uppercut, but I couldn’t see it. His hands were up. He’s on his feet. The ropes weren’t holding him up. And that’s the same posture he was in when he landed his two best punches of the fight. Hands up with the rabbit ears, and he fires out of it, surprising everyone.

After the fight, Roy came up to me and said, “Steve, can you believe he got me with one second to go?” And I didn’t say anything. I just smiled, because I was relieved that he was up and walking again. His team thanked me afterward. Lebedev did as well. He was very gracious afterwards. His promoter thanked me too. And that’s the story in Moscow. But I want it to be noted that I give Roy tremendous credit for taking this kind of fight. In February of this year, I worked the Steve Herelius-Yoan Pablo Hernandez fight. Steve Cunningham was on the card as well. It was the night of the cruiserweights. Herelius was the WBA cruiserweight champion and Hernandez knocked him out in the 7th round. Point being, that having worked with some of the top cruiserweights and having seen Steve Cunningham, I think Lebedev is right up there with them. He’s a tough, strong guy and I give Roy all the credit in the world for taking the fight at this point in his career. And when he was younger, I think he would have destroyed him.

DL: Another fighter who happens to be in his 40’s fought that very same night you worked the Roy Jones fight. And of course, that’s Bernard Hopkins, who made history by becoming the oldest man ever to win a world title by defeating Jean Pascal for his light heavyweight title. And it’s funny, because you were the referee of the first fight between Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins back in 1993. Could you ever have imagined that almost twenty years later that these two would still be fighting?

SS: No, I could not. And Roy and I discussed our history. The Roy Jones-Bernard Hopkins fight was May 20, 1993 on the 50 yard line on what was then known as RFK Stadium. Everyone thought it was going to be the fight of the decade. Bernard was once-beaten and Roy was unbeaten and it was for the IBF middleweight championship of the world. It was tagged as the show-stealer with the feature being Riddick Bowe vs Jesse Ferguson. And I think Riddick stopped Jesse in the 2nd round. So all eyes were pointed at my fight. And in my view, it was somewhat of a letdown in that I believe Bernard caught Roy early with a significant shot. It seemed Roy decided that instead of engaging, he’ll just box. He beat Bernard by a decision, but it never had the fireworks that the press and the boxing media thought would occur. Roy and I discussed that fight and it turns out that this fight (Jones-Lebedev) was originally scheduled for May 20th, which means it would have been eighteen years to the day. And that was the last time I worked with him. So I said to him before the fight, “It took me eighteen years to get you in the ring, Mr. Jones!” And he laughed and hugged me. I had given him instructions before the fight and I signed his wraps and we had a laugh.