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Jul 24, 2005
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Mayweather - Mosley: A Throwback to the Rich History of American Fights and the Welte

LOS ANGELES (April 21)…Check your almanac: On the night of September 16, 1981, time stopped for one hour while welterweight champions Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns traded punches in Las Vegas. That’s how big a fight it was. On May 1, welterweights Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Sugar Shane Mosley will clash in the biggest bout of 2010. The mega-matchup of multi-division champions, pound-for-pound kings and future Hall of Famers summons memories not only of Leonard-Hearns, but also of the rich history of American welterweights.

In recent years, boxing’s headlines have been made largely by foreign-born fighters like Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, Ricky Hatton, Manny Pacquiao, Joe Calzaghe and Juan Manuel Marquez. At welterweight or otherwise, there have been precious-few all-American matchups. In that sense, Mayweather-Mosley is a throwback fight..

In the boxing-rich 1980s, the majority of super-fights were contested between Americans. Among the memorable matchups were Leonard-Hearns, Leonard-Marvin Hagler, Hagler-Hearns, Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney, Holmes-Muhammad Ali, Michael Spinks-Holmes and Mike Tyson-Spinks.

The same can be said for many of the major fights of the 1990s, including Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe, Holyfield-Tyson, Holyfield-George Foreman, Michael Moorer-George Foreman Roy Jones-Bernard Hopkins, Jones-James Toney and Pernell Whitaker-Oscar De La Hoya.

The first decade of the new century has seen a shift. There have been big fights involving Americans (De La Hoya-Mayweather, De La Hoya- Hopkins, Mosley-De La Hoya I and II), but nowhere near as many as in previous years. Perhaps Mayweather-Mosley represents the beginning of a shift back to the way it used to be.

No one is quite sure of the origin of the word “welterweight,” but boxing historians are certain that the 147-pound division’s first world champion was Boston’s Paddy Duffy, who was crowned in 1888. In the 122 years since, the division has been dominated by Americans.

Consider the following:

*In 1939, St. Louis’ Henry Armstrong, who is usually ranked below only Sugar Ray Robinson on all-time pound-for-pound lists, defended his welterweight title an incredible 11 times. This feat took place only a year after Armstrong defeated Chicago’s Barney Ross, an all-time great himself, to win the title.

*New York City’s Sugar Ray Robinson is remembered primarily as a middleweight, but was at his fighting best as a welterweight. He defended his title five times and was beaten only once, by a middleweight…Jake LaMotta.

*A handful of the fighters who have held the mythical pound-for-pound title did so as welterweights, including Whitaker (Norfolk, Virginia), Leonard (Palmer Park, Maryland), Mayweather (Grand Rapids, Michigan), Mosley (Pomona, California), De La Hoya (Los Angeles) and Donald Curry (Fort Worth, Texas).

*Other legends who held the welterweight title before jumping to middleweight include Mickey Walker (Elizabeth, New Jersey) and Carmen Basilio (Canastota, New York).

*Four of Ring Magazine’s 10 best welterweight fights of all time were all-American affairs: Basilio-Tony DeMarco II, Leonard-Hearns I, Simon Brown-Maurice Blocker and De La Hoya-Mosley I.

American athletes have historically been bigger than their foreign counterparts. Scan boxing’s various divisions and you’ll see that while the vast majority of heavyweight champions have been American, the United States has produced very few notable flyweights and bantamweights.

With a limit of 147 pounds, the welterweight division lies somewhere near the middle of boxing’s eight original weight classes. One might say it is the average or median of all weight classes and as a result, there have been great fighters from all over the world competing in the division. Pacquiao hails from the Philippines; Miguel Cotto, Felix Trinidad, and Wilfred Benitez from Puerto Rico; Ike Quartey from Ghana; Ted “Kid” Lewis from England; Joe Walcott from Barbados; Jimmy McLarnin from Ireland; Pipino Cuevas from Mexico; Roberto Duran from Panama and Jose Napoles and Kid Gavilan from Cuba.

Still, Ring Magazine lists Americans as the four best fighters in the history of the division (Armstrong, Robinson, Leonard, and Ross). Until the recent influx of titlists from the former Soviet Union and elsewhere, Americans dominated at heavyweight, and their excellence was best explained by genetics. Not so at welterweight, where the fighters have always battled on an even playing field.

Mayweather-Mosley serves as a reminder not only that Americans remain among the world’s best fighters, but also that the welterweight division is still red, white and blue.
 
May 13, 2002
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Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
wow, so david haye needs a rest? He fought ONCE in 2009 and once so far in 2010. Yeah, I can totally see how he needs to rest, all that fighting errr shit talkin must be draining.

seriously, haye is lookin real bad right now. That is a clear duck. All that talk about wanting klitschko so badly, klitschko offers him a fight and he's talkin about taking a rest??
 
May 13, 2002
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I don't know if anyone still wants to trade boxing DVD's (naner?) but I just put up a partial list on my website you can check out - http://buyboxingdvds.com/

I haven't updated my list I also have Evander Holyfield Career set, Marvin Haglar Career Set, JM Marquez career set, Nigel Been career set, Lennox Lewis career set and a bunch of random individual fights I need to update.
 

Tony

Sicc OG
May 15, 2002
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Get that damn Holyfield career set. He's the greatest heavyweight of all time pound for pound. Just ask Holmes, Foreman, Bowe, Tyson, Moorer, Mercer....
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Mayweather: "I Did Not Want To Fight For The WBA Title

By Mark Vester

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is sticking true to his infamous statement - "all belts do is collect dust." BoxingScene.com reported on Tuesday that Mayweather's bout with WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley, on May 1 in Las Vegas, will be a non-title fight. Mosley wanted to defend his title. Mayweather had no interest in the title. When asked as to why, Mayweather didn't mention the sanctioning fee.

"I did not want to fight for the WBA title. At this point, it's all about enhancing my legacy," Mayweather said.

"I've done a lot of things in this sport, things that a lot of fighters weren't able to do in the sport and didn't do in the sport. This fight with Shane Mosley will enhance my legacy."

Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's adviser and CEO of Mayweather Promotions, issued similar comments.

"At this level it's not about belts. It's about building his legacy, and money," Ellerbe said. "Floyd is already the best fighter in the world. Why does he need to fight for a belt to prove that
 
Jul 24, 2005
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The World According To Naazim Richardson

By Thomas Gerbasi

Naazim Richardson saw something. As he followed his son Bear up the steps into the ring before a Junior Olympic bout he eyed the young man shadowboxing in the opposite corner. He and his son had a rock-solid gameplan, one he made sure was going to be followed to the letter.

“We’re gonna box this entire tournament, we’re not gonna fight,” Richardson told his son. Dogs can fight, roosters can fight – only man can box.”

Bear Richardson was on board with this strategy, but in the time it took to walk up four steps, everything changed.

“I saw the other kid in the corner do something,” said the elder Richardson. “So I said ‘Bear, you remember what we talked about? I need you to step right to him, double the jab, step over, right hand – we’re gonna get him out of there.’”

He laughs at the memory.

“He (Bear) looked at me like ‘man, you just beat me to death for two days about this, and now you tell me to go out and fight.’ But I’ve always informed him that sometimes in a boxing match, a fight breaks out. So at any moment, it can get funky.”

The son did as the father instructed, and as usual, the father was right.

“He stepped to the guy, hit him with the right hand, and what I thought I saw turned out to be accurate. He hit him with the right hand and sat him down. The kid got up and he pretty much never recovered from that first shot.”

A lot of people can toss a towel over their shoulder and call themselves trainers. Few can really perform the duties necessary to not only work a corner, but to plot strategy, figure out the intricacies of a complex game, and also be a mix of psychologist, father, best friend, and drill sergeant in the space of the 60 seconds between each round. And that’s not counting the details – the small things that can be the difference between raising your fighter’s hand in victory and waking him up from a ten second nap.

Brother Naazim Richardson has all his bases covered when it comes to the above requirements – and he has for a while now. But it’s only in the last year or so that the international fight community has picked up on what east coasters have known for years – that the Philadelphia product is one of the game’s best trainers, as well as one of its most knowledgeable and compelling figures. Talk to him for any length of time and it’s almost like he’s too good for boxing, that there must be some loftier purpose for him beyond the ring. But then upon further reflection, you realize that making an impact on the lives of those inside the sport is admirable in and of itself.

And again, it all comes down to the details, something made crystal clear when he discovered Antonio Margarito’s tainted handwraps before the January 2009 fight between the Mexican standout and Richardson’s fighter, Shane Mosley. It was this incident that put Richardson at the forefront in the boxing world, helping him join Freddie Roach as the sweet science’s Trainer du Jour. But what was forgotten by many is that Richardson had also been the one to detect irregularities in the wrapping of Felix Trinidad’s handwraps before his 2001 fight with Bernard Hopkins. But there would be no reams of copy extolling the virtues of Richardson after that one; he would have to wait for his time to shine, which was just fine with him.

“I never fell into an area where I thought I was being underappreciated or not being recognized,” he said. “I just did the job. My family was really upset when the situation came out with Trinidad’s handwraps. They were watching other people do interviews who weren’t even in the room. My family was like ‘why aren’t you saying something? Why are you letting them give the credit to Bouie?’ (Hopkins’ former trainer) Bouie Fisher was one of my mentors, and I said, ‘well the credit is due to Bouie.’ Why is that? ‘Well, because Bouie had enough sense to hire me. The credit is his. If I ask you to redecorate my home, I know you’re not gonna do the work yourself; but I know you’re gonna hire good people, so I’ll still give you the credit.”

He pauses briefly, maybe to reflect on life on the road less traveled in the fight game, where he has basically raised his sons (Rock and Tiger), along with an array of family members.

“We take the steps we have to take, and I tell everybody, ‘do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do.’

Now he’s doing precisely that, and the world is watching him do it.

“It’s great to be acknowledged and good to recognized for your work, but I think I always have been – maybe not by the public – but by my athletes, and being acknowledged and respected by them is good enough for me.”

So it’s safe to say that he isn’t basking in the spotlight or changing what he’s been doing all these years in Philadelphia gyms. Its business as usual as he readies Mosley for his May 1st SuperFight with Floyd Mayweather Jr., and that means an intense attention to detail, something he admits to struggling with. It’s a startling admission considering what he’s done thus far in the fight game, but when his focus wavers, he refers back to the simplest of instincts.

“To be totally honest with you, I critique myself more so on the fact of needing to pay more attention to detail,” he said. “But I raised a lot of my family in boxing. I have several cousins and nephews, and my sons, and I think when you watch, from a parental point of view, we have a tendency to watch for detail. I once told my sons, ‘if you want to know something about you, ask me. Because I watch you more than you watch you.’ (Laughs) And it’s true – what parent doesn’t pay attention? So there are t’s we have to cross and I’s we have to dot, and I just try to do my best at it.”

Not that it’s easy when you’re dealing with the modern athlete. Guys like Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley are few and far between when it comes to old-school dedication and professionalism. Today, many young fighters are more concerned with their next paycheck than with doing the work to get that check. Richardson calls it “the microwave era,” and as usual, he’s right on target with that description.

“Some guys today are spoiled through their own talent,” he said. “They have talent and they get so spoiled on it because they think they can call on it whenever they want to. But they’re not diligent. And those guys with talent don’t realize that they’re supposed to be all-time greats. The determination has to be there. We can push them, but a lot of young people, some of them don’t actually pick up the understanding of what it takes to be great in what they do. I can articulate it to them the best that I can, but all I can do after that is put a prayer to the side and hope for the best.”

Being in an age where training camp isn’t a place to get away from the outside world anymore is a problem as well.

“There’s too many distractions,” said Richardson. “I can’t blame one particular vice, but between the cell phones, and the MySpace, and Facebook, they’re too distracted. Think about when guys went to camp back in the day. You lay in that bed and thought about the fight. Today, a guy can’t even think about his job – the phone rings and he’s right back home. They’ve got the laptops where they can actually look through the camera and see each other. These guys just aren’t the same anymore.”

So have cell phones been banned at Camp Mosley in Big Bear, California?

“They’ll find me buried somewhere here in Big Bear if I tried to take the cell phones away from these kids,” he chuckles. “Sometimes it becomes a problem with some of these young guys. They don’t want to hear it – they just chalk it up to ‘you’re old and we’re young.’ This is all they know, and some of these kids can’t imagine not being on a cell phone. There’s good to it and bad to it, but I see the distraction in it.”

Richardson won’t let it deter him from the task at hand. Blessed with a new lease on life after recovering from a stroke in March of 2007, he looks at life through a different lens now, but some things remain unchanged. One is that you won’t see him getting into any off-color antics in the lead-up to Mosley vs Mayweather; it’s just his style, he’s not about to alter it for anyone, and it’s in the blood.

“I have parents too,” he said. “And there are still people around who knew my parents and knew how they raised me. So for me to get out of character, some of those old people that still know my family, they’ll check me. My mother cussed me out one time because she said I cussed Bernard out in the corner. (Laughs) She said ‘Bernard was doing the best he could and you didn’t have to cuss him out like that. Where did you get all that language from?’ You know good and well where I got that language from.”

That’s not to say that Richardson isn’t amused by the antics of Team Mayweather on HBO’s 24/7 series and in the media over the last few weeks. He is, but it’s the amusement of an old pro who has seen it all more than once.

“The dog and pony show that is the Mayweather television show has kinda had its run,” he said. “Like any great show, everybody huddled around the television when ‘The Jeffersons’ first came out. But after a while, some reruns start coming on, and you weren’t that interested anymore, and the show gets cancelled. It’s the same thing with the Floyd Mayweather show – when it came out, it was interesting, everybody loved the way him and (trainer and uncle) Roger (Mayweather) worked the pads, but now it becomes – okay, we’ve seen it. Yes, we heard you were the greatest; yes, we heard you have more money than God. It’s all been done.”

“Buffoonery is always gonna sell,” Richardson continues. “You put the ‘Three Stooges’ on right now and you’re gonna get some people who are gonna stop and watch. But it’s starting to run its course now. And then he’s coming up on solid professionals who have prepared for that kind of nonsense. Floyd says he’s the greatest of all-time; I say ‘well, I agree.’ Am I doing this for my own personal gain? Wouldn’t any coach like to have trained the greatest fighter of all-time? Well, Floyd says he’s the greatest fighter of all-time and my fighter knocks him off, hey, hey, hey. (Laughs) I can do this and still stay humble.”

It’s almost as if Richardson is enjoying this whole process, like he knows something that we don’t, that on fight night, his fighter is going to upset Mayweather’s apple cart and pin the first loss on his perfect record. Well, it’s safe to say that Richardson knows more than 99.5% of us when it comes to boxing. As for the rest, that will have to wait for May 1st. But until then, Richardson is confident about what’s going to happen in Las Vegas that night.

“Mayweather’s an exceptional athlete,” said he said. “People call me and say ‘I’ve got a kid who boxes like Mayweather.’ No, you don’t. If you did, the kid would be somewhere defending his title. So all we can do is get Shane in the best shape possible, and from there, we’ll orchestrate the plan – it’s gonna be about a lot of changes and a lot of adversity, and we’ll look for the success in it, which I think we’re capable of doing with this guy.”

No trash talk, no insults, no questioning of Mayweather’s style, opposition, or heritage. It’s the polar opposite from the tact taken by Pretty Boy Floyd’s squad, and it’s refreshing. Then again, Naazim Richardson has made it a point to shatter stereotypes in the fight game for years. It’s only now that the rest of the world is starting to catch on.

“I’m not gonna reduce myself to what they’re doing – I have to answer to something higher and greater than that,” he said. “I was raised right. I did some wrong things, but I was raised right. And at the highest point of attention is the time you have to show you were raised right. I stand in front of that camera now and I represent all those young boys in the street that I mentor to and I talk to. I represent my children, who I told to do the right thing and to carry themselves the right way. I represent my gym, James Shuler’s Gym, I represent the Concrete Jungle, and I represent a lot more than just the trainer on 24/7. It ain’t just about me. I’d like to fire back, and the thing is, the Mayweathers give you so much to fire back at. It’s like they alley-oop the ball and you can’t help but slam dunk it. But you’ve got to restrain yourself. If he alley-oops the ball and I slam dunk it, it’s like I’m on his team."
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Mayweather: "Mosley Talking Trash, We Baited Him In"

By Mark Vester

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is not bothered by the recent trash talk from WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley. The May 1 battle has yet to happen - but Mayweather feels he's already mentally broken Mosley down. During a recent radio interview with ESPN, Mosley fired off a few verbal shots of his own at Mayweather.

"He wants to talk about my suit. You know? He's talking about the curls in my hair, and if I'm getting a nose job, I mean, is he funny? Is he gay or something? You know, all of these different things about my personal stuff, and I'm like, 'Wow, he's reading into it that much?' So, I mean, you've got to watch out. There's different things that don't sound right. You know?" - Mosley said.

During the last few weeks, Mayweather has been going off about Mosley's divorce, Mosley's financial issues, and questioned Mosley's partnership status with Golden Boy Promotions. Mayweather used all of those items to bait Mosley to engage him in a war of words. Mayweather feels he already has the upper-hand going into the fight.

"Shane's trainer said he's not going to get involved in a back and forth debate. Well once again we baited him in. He's going back and forth and that's something that he said he wasn't going to do. He wasn't going to be trash talking. He wasn't going to back and forth. He wasn't going to get baited in to doing that. I guess we up 1, because we baited him in to talking trash because that's something he said he wouldn't do. He said he wouldn't stoop that low. Obviously it's not that low if he stooped to that level," Mayweather said.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Sergio Martinez: 'Next Time I'm Knocking Kelly Pavlik Out'

By Rick Reeno

Last Saturday night in Atlantic City, Sergio Martinez finally caught a break with a unanimous twelve round decision over Kelly Pavlik to capture the WBC/WBO middleweight titles. For several years, well-known boxing agent Sampson "Picasso" Lewkowicz was telling me Martinez would one day become a major player in the sport. I admit, I had my doubts. But Lewkowicz knew all along Martinez would rise to the occasion if a big opportunity was presented.

Becoming a major player was a real struggle. Things were not always pleasant for Martinez and his luck hit rock-bottom in 2009.

For most of 2008, and a good portion of 2009, Martinez was doing everything in his power to make a fight with the late Vernon Forrest. Martinez became the mandatory to the WBC junior middleweight title in 2007 and won the WBC's interim title in October of 2008. Last February he fought to a controversial draw with Kermit Cintron. In reality, he knocked Cintron out in the seventh round.

In one of the strangest scenes in the history of boxing, Cintron was knocked down by a clean punch, and counted out, but somehow he was able to convince the referee that he went down from a clash of heads. The referee, Frank Santore Jr., actually bought the story and restarted the fight. In what seemed to be a clear win for Martinez, was somehow ruled a majority draw. The fight with Cintron was viewed as one of the worst decisions of the year.

After years of hunting, Martinez secured a tentative agreement to fight Forrest in the fall of 2009. He thought his dream of landing a major fight was finally achieved, but then tragedy struck when Forrest was murdered on July 25. Martinez was mentally crushed by Forrest's murder. The WBC would later elevate Martinez to the status of full champion - but within a few months the entire junior middleweight division fell apart. Hot prospect James Kirkland was sent to prison on a gun charge. Another hot prospect Alfredo Angulo was upset by Cintron, and WBO champion Sergei Dzinziruk was in limbo with promotional issues.

With his options exhausted at 154-pounds, Martinez moved up to middleweight to answer the call of Paul Williams in December. In a fight-of-the-year-battle, Martinez and Williams traded knockdowns and plenty of punches in a twelve round war. Williams won a close majority decision. In 2010, Martinez's luck began to change. After Pavlik and Paul Williams were unable to see eye to eye on the financial terms, Pavlik and his team turned their full attention on making a fight with Martinez.

After a good start and some shaky moments in the middle rounds, Martinez overwhelmed Pavlik with a high quantity of punches in the championship rounds. Pavlik was bloody mess from two serious cuts on both sides of his face, and Martinez stepped on the gas when he saw an uncontrollable river of red.

After a career filled with struggles, Martinez has a lot of options on the table. The first is a potential rematch with Pavlik, who does have a rematch clause. Following the fight, Pavlik told BoxingScene that he plans to remain at middleweight to fight Martinez again.

Martinez believes Pavlik took a lot of punishment in the late rounds of the fight. Now that he is familiar with Pavlik's style, he feels confident the rematch will not go the distance. He thinks Pavlik, because of his style, will always have issues with fighters who present a lot of movement.

"It would really be a pleasure to fight Pavlik again. If he wants the rematch, I will give him the rematch and this time I believe that I will knock him out. I'm very happy that he wants the fight. I really thought in the tenth round his corner would stop the fight, but Pavlik will never be the same after this beating and for that reason I predict a knockout the next time around," Martinez told BoxingScene.com.

"If he wants to fight me again, it has to be at 160, but nothing will change. There is nothing he can do to avoid the movement and the punishment he will receive the next time. It will be exactly the same. And whether it's 160 or 168, if he fights anybody who moves he won't be able to handle it. He's too mechanical. However, he was a great champion and it will be a pleasure to fight him again."

The other option would be the winner of the upcoming fight between Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron, scheduled for May 8. Martinez doesn't exactly hide the fact that he would rather fight Williams.

"I feel I beat both of them, but Cintron he's meaningless because I knocked him out. I won by KO so, it doesn't excite me as much. I prefer Paul Williams, where a rematch is well deserved. If Cintron beats Williams, I will be happy to knock him out again, but this time with right referee who knows how to count him out," Martinez said.

Martinez gives Cintron a puncher's chance to pull off the upset. Though, he expects Williams to close the show after eight.

"There is possibility [of an upset] because Cintron can really punch. But for me, I see Paul Williams being victorious. Cintron, he punches harder than Williams, but Williams throws a much higher quantity of punches. They may have less power but he throws a much higher quantity of punches. I think after eight, Williams will be victorious by knockout," Martinez said.

For now, Martinez is relaxing and waiting for the next war to come along.

"I'm just waiting for my promoter and HBO to tell me when I'm fighting. I want to thank you and all of the fans for all of the good things they wrote about me on BoxingScene. In the next fight, I promise to give 110% of myself to please the fans. I want to give them a great fight," Martinez said.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Shane Mosley: "Mayweather, is He Gay or Something?"

By Mark Vester

The heat is on. WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley has fired back at Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s recent verbal attacks. During a recent appearance on ESPN Radio, Mosley took aim at Mayweather's constant comments about his physical appearance. Mosley faces Mayweather on May 1 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"He wants to talk about my suit. You know? He's talking about the curls in my hair, and if I'm getting a nose job, I mean, is he funny? Is he gay or something? You know, all of these different things about my personal stuff, and I'm like, 'Wow, he's reading into it that much?' So, I mean, you've got to watch out. There's different things that don't sound right. You know?" - Mosley said.

Mosley is also tired of Mayweather always bringing up his past use of performance enhancing drugs. Prior to the 2003 rematch with Oscar De La Hoya, Mosley was using drugs from the BALCO Lab. Mosley has always claimed that Victor Conte, the BALCO Lab Founder, misinformed him about the dangerous and illegal nature of the drugs.

Shane has turned the tables on Mayweather, throwing some steroid fire back at Floyd and his beefed-up security team.

"What's weird to me is that everybody on his whole team, all of his security guards, they look like they're on steroids. They all look like they're on 'roids, and I don't understand it. I mean, why does he [Mayweather] keep saying, 'Steroids, steroids, steroids,'" said Mosley.

"And, you know, I notice that Floyd always shaves his head, all of the time. His head is shaved. His head is starting to look a little bigger. You know? Maybe, I mean, he has all of these people around him that's on steroids, maybe he dibbles and dabbles a little bit. The guy that keeps talking. You know, the guys that usually talk about it all of the time, 'Oh, steroids, steroids, steroids, oh, oh.' They're usually the ones on it."

"I'm not accusing him, I said, 'Usually.' I didn't accuse anybody of anything. Like I said, the guys are going in the gym, and they're doing weights and all of that, they look like they're on roids, for real. You've got that type of company around you all the time, then nine times out of 10, you're doing something."
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Froch more interested in capturing the titles than winning the Super Six tourney

By Scott Gilfoid: WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch wants to unify the super middleweight titles and he can’t wait to get his hands on the WBA title, which currently is being held by Andre Ward. Froch was upset when Mikkel Kessler lost the WBA title to Ward, because Froch was hoping the World Boxing Association super middleweight title would be on the line this Saturday night when they meet in their stage 2 Super Six tourney bout in Herning, Denmark.


It’s hard to understand why Froch wouldn’t be more impressed with winning the Super Six tournament and beating the top fighters in the division rather than collecting alphabet titles. Boxing fans are more interested in who the fighters face rather than seeing them collecting straps over obscure opponents. For example, the WBO super middleweight title is currently being held by Robert Stieglitz of Germany, who few people have heard about in the United States and probably even fewer in the UK.

If Froch was to beat Stieglitz, few fans would really care about it unless I miss my guess. They don’t know the guy. Therefore, Froch would have strap that would have little meaning to casual boxing fans that have never heard or seen Stieglitz fight. In an article at Thisislondon, Froch says “I really wanted it to be a unification fight [speaking of his fight with Kessler this Saturday], so that was disappointing to say the least. The WBA belt is still tied up in the tournament though.

So it’s not all doom and gloom.” Unfortunately, the WBA belt is held by Ward and I think Froch would have little chance of beating Ward. In fact, I think Froch will get beaten worse than Kessler did against Ward. This is why I think Froch shouldn’t worry his head over the thought of collecting titles, because I don’t see him capable of beating Ward.

Maybe Froch can beat Stieglitz after the tourney is over and win that title. However, by then, I expect Froch to have lost his WBC title in the Super Six tourney, likely to Kessler this Saturday. What Froch should be thinking is how can he survive the tournament without getting badly outclassed. He’s facing some skilled fighters starting with Kessler and after that it gets arguably tougher with Arthur Abraham. I think Froch already should have lost his first fight against Andre Dirrell, but he pulled that fight out while fighting at home in Nottingham. Froch didn’t look like the kind of material that will eventually win the Super Six tournament.

Froch says “I’m not so much concentrating on the Super Six as much as I’m concentrating on getting these fights won one at a time.” That sounds more like it. Froch should forget about thinking about winning the Super Six tourney. Instead, he should focus on one fight at a time and think survival. I see Froch as a leaky boat going out in the middle of a perfect storm, getting battered by one huge wave after another and eventually getting sunk.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Angulo vs. Julio: Alfredo wants to “take his [Joel] head off” on Saturday

By Jim Dower: On Saturday night, WBO light middleweight champion Alfredo Angulo (17-1, 14 KO’s) wants to continue with his recent bit of success by hopefully stopping Joel Julio (35-3, 31 KO’s) as quick as possible when they meet at the Citizens Business Bank Arena, in Ontario, California. Angulo, 27, has won two consecutive fights since being beaten by Kermit Cintron by a 12 round decision loss last year in May.

Angulo reportedly wasn’t feeling at his best before the Cintron fight and looked like it, appearing slow and getting beaten to the punch all night long. Angulo has turned things around since then, winning the World Boxing Organization interim light middleweight title in his last fight, a 3rd round TKO win over Harry Joe Yorgey in November. In an article at Yahoo Sports, Angulo says “I’m going to go out and take his head off and I think he’s going to try to do the same thing to me.”


Angulo has looked much better in his last two fights compared to the Cintron fight, and one has to wonder whether the loss to Cintron was just a fluke thing. We won’t know for sure until Angulo meets up with Cintron again or at the minimum a fighter that has the equivalent skills. Julio doesn’t have the same boxing skills that Cinron does, but he does have perhaps equal power.

Punching is the one that thing Julio does do well, when he’s fighting hard and throwing a lot of shots. However, Julio has looked lethargic in defeats to James Kirkland and Sergiy Dzinziruk. He appears to have stamina problems. In the Kirland fight, Julio held back a lot and seemed to be conserving his strength for some reason. He ended up getting stopped in the 6th round by Kirland. In hindsight, Julio would have been better off going for broke in that fight and giving it his all to try and get a stoppage win. At least he would have had a small chance of winning the bout by letting his power shots go instead of fighting passively through much of it.

On paper, this Saturday fight between Angulo and Julio looks to be an exciting affair with two sluggers going toe-to-toe for 12 rounds, wining big shots. I’m not so sure about that, though. If the same Julio comes into this fight that lost to Kirkland and Dzinziruk, then I expect for Angulo to win this fight by default. Julio has to fight really hard if he wants to beat Angulo because the Mexican fighter will be all over him from the opening bell and not giving him any rest breaks. It will be pure pressure from Angulo 100% of the time. If Julio can move for 12 rounds, he could survive like Cintron.

But Julio doesn’t move well and tires out quickly. He’ll be better off if he tries to match Angulo shot for shot and possibly hurting him and getting him out of there with one big punch. Julio, 25, is younger than the 27-year-old Angulo and should in theory be able to fight a little harder without running out of gas. Julio just has to get out of the way of Angulo’s big right hands and time him so that he can connect with some big counter shots that might put Angulo down.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Arreola talks Adamek, Haye and Hopkins – News

be fighting Tomasz Adamek (40-1, 27 KO’s) this Saturday at the Citizens Business Bank Arena, in Ontario, California. Arreola, 29, thinks that Adamek will run from his this Saturday. In an interview at Livepuncher.com, Arreola says “He’s [Adamek] a run type of fighter.” There’s no question that Adamek will be running from Arreola and trying hard to limit the amount of exchanges between them.


Although the 6’1” Adamek may actually be the taller fighter, he doesn’t have as big a heavyweight frame or the same kind of punching power that the hard-hitting Adamek has. Adamek also has a tendency to bruise and cut easily. If Arreola is able to land some of his big shots, he could have Adamek bloodied and bruised before long.

Arreola says this about David Haye “At first I had no respect for him cause he got a title shot. He got the title shot without fighting nobody. He just got my respect by beating John Ruiz. I thought he should have beaten Ruiz before he fought Valuev to prove himself.” This is the same argument that other boxing fans have with Haye. He didn’t do much, other than his cruiserweight experience, to get an instant shot at the heavyweight title. The reason why contenders like Arreola don’t think it’s fair is because he had to work hard for six years as a pro before he was given a shot at the heavyweight title. In comparison, Haye only fought for one year, beating two opponents before getting his shot at the title.

Speaking of the prospects of 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins moving up to heavyweight, Arreola says, “I’ll smack him around. You just can’t come up to the heavyweight division. There’s no way. It’s not like he’s a fast fighter, cause he’s not fast.” Arreola has a point. Hopkins would be taking a huge step by moving up two divisions to try and compete at heavyweight. I doubt he will ever do this, because he would need one of the top heavyweights to agree to fight him like David Haye. Thus far, Haye says he’s not interested in fighting Hopkins. It would likely be a huge mismatch, though, as Hopkins has a small frame, isn’t a big puncher, not particularly fast and only stands 6’1”.