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Jul 24, 2005
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Pacquiao: I Don't Really Need The Mayweather Fight

By Mark Vester

WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao sat down with USA Today to discuss the failed negotiations to make a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pacquiao will fight Antonio Margarito on November 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Texas. Pacquiao doesn't feel that he needs the fight with Mayweather to secure his legacy. The achievements in his career, like winning titles in seven weight divisions, are what Pacquiao looks to for his lasting legacy.

"The people really want to see that fight, but for me, I don't really need that fight because what I achieved in boxing - I'm happy and I'm satisfied. But the people in boxing, the fans, they want to see that fight," Pacquiao said.

Pacquiao doesn't know what to think about Mayweather's refusal to take a year off instead of making their fight.

"I really don't know what's the reason why he won't take that fight," Pacquiao said
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Green still wants to fight in the Super Six tournament

By Eric Thomas: Despite suffering a humiliating one-sided 12 round unanimous decision loss to Andre Ward in June and then seeing his next opponent Mikkel Kessler drop out of the Super Six tournament because of an eye injury, the 30-year-old Green still wants to stay in the tourney and fight on. That’s not likely going to happen, as the word is that there won’t be a replacement for Kessler and that Green will be dropped from the tourney for lack of an opponent. Green is supposed to be given a fight on Showtime outside of the tournament instead. In an article at Boxingtalk.com, Green says “I still want to fight for that belt [the WBC super middleweight title]. I just want what Andre Dirrell and Mikkel Kessler had; the chance to redeem myself in this tournament and advance to the semi-finals.”


The chances of that happening are probably not good unless Showtime can come up with a replacement or some other way of satisfying Green. I suppose they could have Green fight the winner of either Dirrell-Ward or Arthur Abraham vs. Carl Froch, but that wouldn’t be fair because one of those fighters would have to be taking an extra fight that the other one didn’t have to take. Green probably isn’t too happy with his one fight in the Super Six tournament being the one against Ward, because he looked horrible in that bout and didn’t make a good showing of himself.

He looked weight drained going in, but when he tried to talk about that after the fight, boxing fans saw it as Green making an excuse. But Green really did look weight drained. His face was thin and didn’t look well. He needed to take the weight off in the months before the Super Six tournament started not at the last moment through draining himself of water, and muscle weight.

It would be great if Showtime could showcase a Green fight against someone good like Sakio Bika, John Paul Mendy or Edison Miranda. However, I’m not counting on Green being matched up with someone too good. It’s probably going to be a B level fighter that has some name value but not necessarily a top tier fighter.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Dirrell vs. Ward: Look for this to be the best fight of the Super Six tourney

By Scott Gilfoid: We might not have a date for the Super Six semifinal bout between Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) and Andre Ward (22-1, 13 KO’s), but the fight will be taking place, either on September 25th or later in October. This fight will happen, and it’s going to produce the eventual Super Six tournament winner.


There’s too much talent in this fight for it not to produce the tournament winner. This is basically the all-star fight of the entire tourney and it’s going to be interesting to see who comes out on top. Ward has looked superb in defeating Mikkel Kessler and Allan Green in the his first two fights of the Super Six tournament, and Dirrell has looked almost as good in splitting his two fights.

I’m not the only one who believes that Dirrell should be unbeaten in the tournament, because he looked dominating in his controversial 12 round loss to Carl Froch last year in October. Dirrell was rarely hit at all in the fight. The only time that Froch was able to land anything at all was when he was holding onto Dirrell and clubbing him with shots.

The referee didn’t seem to have a clue with how to manage the fight and it got really sloppy as the bout progressed. But Dirrell bounced back from the loss to Froch by beating Arthur Abraham in his next fight. That was Dirrell beating the fighter that a lot of boxing fans felt was the guy that would win the entire Super Six tournament.

And yet Dirrell made Abraham look amateurish for most of the fight until was fouled by Abraham in the 11th.

I expect Ward to be attacking Dirrell much like he’s done in his fights against Kessler and Green. The difference here is that Dirrell won’t just stand there in a small box like Kessler and Green did. Ward and his trainer had already noticed that Kessler fights in a small square in his bouts and doesn’t seem to move much beyond a little patch in the ring.

All Ward had to do was make Kessler move his feet and then take him apart with spearing attacks. They also noticed that Kessler couldn’t fight on the inside. It was easy then for Ward to come in, land some hard combinations in close and then get away before Kessler could do anything at all.

With Green, all Ward had to do was bull him to the ropes and then lean and pound away to the body and head. Green didn’t have the strength or the presence of mind to realize that it was suicide to stay trapped on the ropes and try to fight Ward that way. Dirrell isn’t a fighter that falls into those same categories. He doesn’t just stay in one square when fighting.

Indeed, Dirrell moves all around the ring, moving more than Ward even. He also doesn’t let his opponents come inside and fight him the way that Ward did with Green and Kessler. Instead, Dirrell will move away when his opponents try to get him to fight on the inside.

In his fight with Froch, it was a different matter. Froch held onto Dirrell and clubbed him with his free hand. The referee should have caught that and stopped Froch from throwing rabbit punches and hitting holding. But the referee seemed to have a leave it alone approach to the fight and let the fighters just go at it.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Chavez vs. Cotto: Is Julio going to get ripped apart by Miguel?

By Jason Kim: For some reason, Bob Arum has made up his mind that he wants to throw unbeaten Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) in with WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (3502, 28 KO’s) in a title bout on December 4th at Madison Square Garden, in New York.

While the 24-year-old Chavez’s trainer Freddie Roach has been talking about how he really thinks Chavez can beat Cotto, I’m not in the least convinced that he in fact can. Forgetting all those easy setup fights that Chavez Jr. has been in during his seven year pro career, I think he looked to be a level below Cotto in his recent performance against John Duddy in June.


Sure, Chavez got the win, but he also got staggered by the light-hitting Duddy in that fight and was hit like clockwork by Duddy throughout the 12 round fight on June 26th. Based on what I saw of Chavez, he looked like a good B level fighter going up against another B level guy.

But rather than easing Chavez into the top tier gradually, which is what Arum probably should be doing, he’s skipping all the intermediate-level top contenders and throwing him in with the very best.

I think that’s a nice recipe for a slaughter if I ever saw one. It kind of goes against the normal boxing wisdom about bringing your fighters up gradually before putting them in with the really good opposition.

The problem for Chavez Jr. is that he’s been stuck at one level for so long without any movement up that he’s wasted a lot of time. And now Arum is going to throw him in with Cotto, which I guess is because the fight will make a lot of money.

But I think Chavez is probably going to get ripped to shreds by Cotto unless Roach really is a genius and can work wonders with Chavez in a short period of time. Roach has done a good job with some of his fighters in the past, but he’s always started out with guys that were really talented.

I don’t see Chavez Jr. as a fighter that is naturally gifted enough for Roach to turn him into someone that won’t get wiped out by Cotto. If Chavez was a little lighter on his feet, then I could see him maybe running for 12 rounds to survive a beating by Cotto, but he’s not.

Chavez is a fighter that doesn’t move a lot and still tires out late in his fights. He doesn’t have much choice against Cotto. Roach is going to have to train Chavez to actually fight Cotto and then hope for the best. I think it’s a hopeless situation for Chavez Jr.

Maybe you can call it a good experience for Chavez to get destroyed by Cotto, if you want to put a positive spin on it. But I think it’s a stupid fight from Chavez’s perspective. Here they didn’t want to put Chavez in with Kelly Pavlik, and yet by putting him in with Cotto the end result will be essentially the same with Chavez getting drilled into the canvas inside the distance.

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Nov 7, 2005
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Philosophizing with Naazim Richardson

Mayweather is proven but Pacquiao is the greatest of this era.


If ever there was a trainer in recent times who has studied Floyd Mayweather Jr. from top to bottom it very well could be Philadelphia’s Naazim Richardson. After all it was Richardson who guided Shane Mosley into his May 1st bout with Mayweather and despite the duo coming up short against Floyd in Las Vegas it seems strikingly clear that Naazim has an accurate gauge on the superstar once one hears him speak about the Grand Rapids fighter.

Recently Mayweather took the boxing world by storm in a very unfortunate manner with his Ustream tirade against Manny Pacquiao as he insulted the fighter’s culture as well as his skills as a fighter. The backlash from Mayweather’s remarks has been like wildfire but during a recent conversation with the Examiner, Richardson chose not to jump into the topic and instead seemed to hope for the fighter to wake up from the dream he seems to be living in.

“I can’t comment,” Richardson said, seeming to take the high road. “Mayweather has proven himself time and time again so pretty much all we can do is sit back and hope that he does something soon in the ring. The world wants to see him and Manny Pacquiao from what I hear, time and time again, but I don’t think that will become an issue until they both need it. And Pacquiao doesn’t need it.”

At the moment Pacquiao is scheduled for a November 13th clash with Antonio Margarito, a fight that is one of the year’s biggest events despite the initial disappointment in the contest, and the Filipino icon himself has said that he doesn’t need Mayweather. Richardson elaborates that if the two men’s paths never cross that Pacquiao will be fine and at a level higher than Floyd in many regards.

“Pacquiao is in a position where the whole country is behind him and he is sitting at the top of the perch now,” Richardson said with conviction. “He doesn’t have to agree to any testing and he doesn’t have to agree to anything. The kind of money he has made and the kind of performances he puts on right now, if neither one of them fight each other, they are still going to consider Pacquiao the greatest of this era.”

Almost ironic because for years Mayweather has been boasting that he is not only the best fighter of this generation, but also of all time. While Floyd has faced many challenges in his day Richardson claims that he simply hasn’t tested himself quite enough to equal up to the accolades he has bestowed upon himself.

“What it is, when you say in boxing ‘I’m better than Robinson, I’m better than Ali and I’m better than these guys’, well we’ve seen these guys put their ass on the line,” Richardson continued. “Pacquiao puts his ass on the line and that’s what makes him the exciting fighter that he is. Floyd has the great ability where he can fight fights and not have to take tremendous gambles. The biggest one to this day has been against Shane and he came out on top but Pacquiao has a number of fights where he gambled like this. If you measure it up at the end most likely Pacquiao is going to come out on top.”

Richardson went on to explain that he doesn’t feel that he isn’t fully sure Pacquiao would defeat Mayweather because Floyd is the kind of fighter who should already have been down by this point but his record is still unblemished. And while there are some who feel that Mayweather simply has a fear of facing Pacquiao in the ring, Richardson believes that there is more to it than that.

“I wouldn’t’ say it was fear. Like I say, I don’t underestimate any athlete, especially those who have reached this particular plateau in boxing. I wouldn’t call it fear. There is a concern because Pacquiao has done some things that are hard to define or hard to explain. So naturally people will look at him with a certain perspective. Myself, I just think that he is an exceptional athlete. I think the same of Floyd but I don’t think he is necessarily afraid of him. Mayweather’ ability is to the point where he doesn’t have to fear another athlete.”
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana Dec. 11

By Tom Bailey: WBA Light-Welterweight champion Amir Khan has agreed to fight World Boxing Association interim mandatory Marcos Maidana. The fight is signed according to the Bolton man’s Twitter account and the purse issue is over and all left is for a selected revenue which will be the U.S most likely Detroit as it has a large Muslim community, Vegas is also being considered a venue. Khan himself preferred fighting in the UK in front of his fans but promoters have pushed the fight in the US as has HBO.


My prediction for this fight would be Khan would box Maidana’s ears off. He has tremendous reach and height and a very long jab, his power is enough to keep Maidana at bay but the real question that hans over this fight is whether Khan can take a good shot. I think under the hands of trainer Freddie Roach and strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, he has rapidly improved. His defence has been tightened up, his jab, footwork have all been improved but also Ariza has built Khan’s legs and re-balanced the constitution of his body.

Back then when Khan was 21, he had very weak legs which played a big part in making him wobbly most of the time. His upper-body was huge and his body wasn’t balanced. So maybe with all these improvements will Khan prove his critics wrong and take a shot? The shots Prescott threw had enormous power and at the time his KO% was 90%. Marcos Maidana also has a 90% KO but hits harder. This will be a fight between h hard hitting slugger and a boxer/puncher. December 11th is the day Khan can Prove himself.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Kessler made “Champion emeritus” by the WBC

By Jason Kim: The World Boxing Council named super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler WBC “Champion emeritus” on Monday, meaning that he no longer is the WBC super middleweight champion but that he can challenge for the title as soon as his injured eye heals. Kessler dropped out of the Super Six tournament recently because of a problem affecting the muscles of his left eye. The doctors have advised him to stay away from fighting for nine months, and presumably the condition should be healed by then.


At that point, Kessler should be able to challenge the winner of the Super Six tournament. In the mean time, his former WBC title will be fought over by Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell in their semifinal Super Six tourney bout, which no one knows when it will take place. In boxing news from Dan Rafael of ESPN, he reports that both Dirrell and Ward’s promoters have been served legal letters by Showtime, letting them know that they expect the Dirrell-Ward fight to be taking place in the near future.

If they fail to make the fight happen, they can be found in breach of contract and Showtime could then sue. Dirrell’s promoter Gary Shaw says “I don’t know, but as far as I know the fight will go off. I don’t know what date. And I do know that Goosen [Ward’s promoter] and me have been put on notice [talking about from Showtime] that the fight has to go on or we would be in breach.” This fight has to happen otherwise the entire Super Six tourney will sink into the dust and be finished.

You have to wonder whether Kessler will be able to have a tune-up fight before taking on the winner of the Super Six in nine months. It wouldn’t be good for him to go from a long rest of no fights against a battle sharpened Super Six winner. I can’t see that turning out well for Kessler. I think Kessler would be better off declining that fight and going after easier opponents until he’s sure that his eye can hold up from a serious pounding.

As for Green, there’s still no official word about what’s going to happen with him. He’s supposed to be given a fight outside of the Super Six tourney by Showtime to make up for him losing out and being eliminated from the tourney due to Kessler dropping out. It would be nice if Green could stay in the Super Six tournament but that’s probably not an option at this point.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Team Alexander accepts offer from King to fight Bradley on 1/29

By Jim Dower: A unification fight between IBF/WBC light welterweight champion Devon Alexander (21-0, 13 KO’s) and WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (26-0, 11 KO’s) just came one step closer to becoming reality, as Team Alexander accepted an offer from promoter Don King for the unification bout with Bradley for January 29th, 2011. Team Alexander is now waiting for a bout agreement. Hopefully, this can be taken care of soon, because this is so boring and not interesting to see the two sides haggling forever.


I want to see the fight already. It may be a little early for both of them, but this probably the only way that Bradley and Alexander can become bigger stars. Without a huge star like Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Manny Pacquiao helping them out by fighting them, they’re just going to have to become big stars on their own by fighting each other and hopefully guys like WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana.

Khan says he wants to fight the winner of the Alexander-Bradley fight, but I’ll believe that when I see it. The winner of the Bradley vs. Alexander fight can really help themselves if they can clear out Khan and/or Maidana. We’re still not sure if Khan will get by Maidana in December, but whoever emerges victorious from that fight, they need to be knocked off by the Alexander-Bradley winner.

Bradley, 27, has beaten Lamont Peterson and welterweight Luis Carlos Abregu in his last two fights. Bradley moved up to take on Abregu so that he could get his feet wet in the welterweight division, where he’s hoping to get a chance to fight either Mayweather or Pacquiao at some point in the future. Alexander is coming off of a disappointing 12 round decision over former WBA light welterweight champion Andriy Kotelnik in August.

Alexander was hit a lot in that fight and didn’t look at all good. It was a step up fight for Alexander and he looked like he wasn’t ready for that big of a step. Alexander has got to look better than that if he hopes to have any chance of beating Bradley next year. Bradley’s a lot faster than Kotelnik, harder to hit and throws a lot sharper punches.

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Jul 24, 2005
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Haye to retire by October 13th next year

By Dan Ambrose: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) says he plans on retiring on his 30th birthday next year on October 13th. This is some kind of vow that he made as a 17-year-old and he plans on keeping this promise that he made to himself, even if it means walking away from countless millions that he could make in big fights against the Klitschko brothers and other fighters in the heavyweight dvision. It seems that Haye has a big fear of ending up like a lot of heavyweights that stick around the sport too long and end up taking punishment in the last part of their careers.


Haye doesn’t want that to happen to him, and by retiring at 30, he’s almost guaranteed to avoid taking punishment. Haye can help himself even more if he avoids fighting the Klitschko brothers, because those two guys, Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, are Haye’s main competition, although there are a number of other heavyweights in the division that can give Haye some problems because of their power and youth.

In an article at ESPN, Haye says “I’ve said when I turned pro, I’ll retire when I’m 30. So far that gives me until October 13 next year.” With Haye, you don’t know if he’s serious or not. This could be just a cry for attention by Haye and a way to get boxing fans to turn their attention away from the fights that he’s failed to make with the Klitschko brothers. Haye is expected to announce his upcoming November 13th fight against 39-year-old Audley Harrison on Tuesday.

This is a fight that few boxing fans want to see outside of the UK. However, it’s a fight that will likely be wildly popular in England because Harrison is a minor celebrity and Haye is a huge star over there. With Haye seemingly wasting fights on guys like Harrison, he’s going to have very little time left in his career to fight the Klitschko brothers by next year in October.

It’s certainly possible, but Haye hasn’t been easy to negotiate with and he’s taking so much time off between fights now that he’s moved up to the heavyweight division. It’s almost like Haye has become the Floyd Mayweather Jr. of the heavyweight division, especially with his inability to agree to fights against the Klitschkos. Those are the only heavyweights that boxing fans want to see Haye against, and Wladimir recently reportedly offered Haye a 50-50 deal but that wasn’t good enough to get a fight with him.

Haye has much less experience at heavyweight compared to Wladimir and his brother. Most of Haye’s experience at that level has been limited to older fighters nearing 40. Harrison is yet another one of the many older fighters that Haye has been going after at heavyweight. With only a year to go in his career before retiring, it’s going to be interesting to see if Haye starts stepping it up after the Harrison fight is through.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Danny Green to fight BJ Flores on November 17th

By Dan Ambrose: IBO cruiserweight champion Danny Green (30-3, 27 KO”s) is finally going to be facing a live opponent in unbeaten American cruiserweight contender BJ Flores (24-0-1, 15 KO’s) on November 17th in Sydney, Australia. Green, 37, a one-time WBA light heavyweight champion, has taken on a number lesser and older fighters since making his comeback from two-year retirement in 2009.


In his last fight, Green won a 1st round knockout win over Paul Briggs in July, in a fight where Briggs went down from a jab that appeared to gently brush across the top of his head. Briggs stayed down and was counted out.

There was a huge uproar about the fight with many boxing fans feeling that Briggs had thrown the fight. Green wasn’t happy about it either and the whole thing looked really bad. Now Green wants to take on one of the top contenders in the cruiserweight division in 31-year-old Flores, who is still largely unproven at this point.

Boxing fans have been waiting to see how Flores would do against the very best in the division but he’s taken things very slowly with his career and hasn’t jumped in to take on the very top guys yet. This fight amounts to be a huge leap up in competition for Flores.

Before this fight, Flores has beaten fighters like Darnell Wilson, Jose Luis Herrera and Epifanio Mendoza. Those are the best fighters that Flores has been in with, oddly enough. In his fight with Wilson, Flores built up a lead in the first half of the fight and then ran through the remaining rounds as Wilson attempted to rally.

That fight was shown on cable it didn’t endear Flores with many boxing fans, as they wanted to see him mix it up more with the 35-year-old Wilson.

Since making his comeback in 2009, Green has beaten the following opponents: Anthony Van Niekerk, Julio Cesar Dominquez, Roy Jones Jr., Manny Siaca and Briggs. Some boxing fans feel like Green is just looking to fight winnable fights rather than taking on the top guys in the division like Marco Huck, Steve Cunningham, Krzystof Wlodarczyk, Ola Afolabi, Denis Lebedev, Victor Ramirez, Steve Herelius, Alexander Frenkel, Yoan Pablo Hernandez and Enzo Maccarinelli.

There has been speculation lately about whether Green would be invited or would being taking part in the cruiserweight Super Six tournament if invited. But there is still no indication that Green will be invited.

In an article at wwos.ninemsn.com.au, Green said “He [Flores] is an undefeated fighter, what more could you ask for. We are giving Australian fans what they want to see. With his size, speed and power, it’s definitely going to be a big test. I’ve never faced anyone inside a boxing ring that big.”

Flores, 6’2”, is only one inch taller than the 6’1” Green, and he’s not a big puncher. Flores is a guy that likes to hit and run and use the ring. He’s not like Lebedev and Huck. Those guys are really dangerous and that would be a fight that Green would be in big danger in because of the youth and power of those guys. Flores is more of a runner. This isn’t the kind of fight where Green would be in the same kind of danger as he would if he stepped it up and fought Cunningham, Huck and Lebedev. Those would be very tough fights for Green to try and win at this point in his career. If he couldn’t knock them out early, he might find himself in a real fight and he could be the one getting knocked out.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Dirrell-Ward to fight for WBC title, not Froch-Abraham

By Scott Gilfoid: The World Boxing Council voted today on what should happen with Mikkel Kessler’s WBC super-middleweight title, and instead of making the October 2nd fight between former WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch vs. Arthur Abraham, the WBC voted to have the WBC title on the line for the scheduled September 25th bout between the talented Americans Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) and Andre Ward (22-0, 13 KO’s).


It doesn’t matter if the Ward-Dirrell fight doesn’t place on September 25th, the WBC title will still be up for grabs when they do fight in October. This is probably going to boil Froch’s kettle because he was hoping that he could fight for his old WBC title in the Abraham bout on October 2nd, but now it looks like the WBC title is going to winner of the Dirrell vs. Ward bout.

I can’t really figure out the reasons why the WBC voted this way, other than maybe they saw the Dirrell and Ward as the guys that are looking good right now. Ward has dominated both of his opponents in the Super Six, and Dirrell beat Abraham in his last fight in the tourney on March 27th. Dirrell did lose to Froch, but that was controversial decision that many people disagreed with. The fight took place in Froch’s home city of Nottingham, England.

The WBC says that the Froch-Abraham fight will be “sanctioned as the final eliminator bout” with the winner to face the winner of the Dirrell-Ward fight for the WBC super middleweight crown. It’s not such big deal, though, because the winner of the Froch-Abraham fight is already going to be fighting the winner of the Dirrell-Ward fight, so this is kind of a symbolic gesture on the WBC’s part.
In the meantime, Kessler has been given the title of “Champion Emeritus and Ambassador of Good Will” due to his eye injury that’s going to keep him out of action for nine months. Kessler will then be permitted to fight for the WBC title at some point in the future when his eye heals, if it heals.

This is kind of nice though. Ward already has the WBA super middleweight title, and now with the WBC title being up for grabs, it’s two titles instead of one. This will further validate the Dirrell-Ward winner as the main guy in the division. To be sure, they’ll still have one fight left in the Super Six tournament against the Froch-Abraham winner, but this victory will have Dirrell or Ward looking good as they go into the finals of the Super Six tourney.

I can’t blame the WBC for wanting to put the WBC title up for the Dirrell vs. Ward fight rather than the Froch vs. Abraham bout. Both Froch and Abraham are coming off of losses, and both of them looked horrible. Dirrell and Ward have won their last fights in the tourney.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Warren thinks Haye is avoiding the Klitschko brothers

Scott Gilfoid: Promoter Frank Warren believes that WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) is avoiding taking on the Klitschko brothers, according to boxing news from Skysports. Haye, 29, is expected to be making an announcement for his next fight on Tuesdays and most boxing experts feel that it’s going to be 38-year-old Audley Harrison (27-4, 20 KO’s) who gets the opportunity. This is really bad. I never thought I would see the day that Haye would try and milk his title.


When he moved up to the heavyweight division in 2008, Haye said he wanted to fight both of the Klitschko brothers. But instead of fighting them, Haye has gone after arguably much easier targets like Monte Barrett, Nikolay Valuev and John Ruiz. If Haye does end up fighting Harrison, that would be yet another soft opponent for Haye.

Warren says “Haye’s taken the easy option by fighting Harrison for the pay day and it’s not what he said he was going to do.”

Warren is correct. Haye said he was going to take on both the Klitschko brothers, unify the heavyweight titles and clean up the division. Thus far, Haye has been cleaning up on the older heavyweights in the division and doing an admirable job at it. None of his three opponents he’s faced at heavyweight have been younger than 36.

“Without a doubt he’s avoiding the Klitschkos. He signed a contract to fight one of them and didn’t carry it through, then pulled out against the other one. The reason he’s not fighting one of them is because he wouldn’t do a straight 50-50 split. Haye said he would fight them both. It’s not good saying you’ll do these things and then don’t because you’re looking to cash in.”

I totally agree with what Mr. Warren is saying. Haye had his chance to fight both of them and instead has taken the easier path. The thing is Haye would make a ton of money fighting them. It’s not like he would go home poor after being destroyed by them. He would be set for life even if things were to turn out bad for him, which they likely would if he ever fought them. Fighting Harrison and the softer targets in the heavyweight division isn’t going to endear Haye to the boxing public.

I’m not sure if it was Haye’s brilliant idea to take on Harrison, but Haye is going to continue to take a lot of heat about this fight for a long time to come. Haye should have just stood up and fought one of the Klitschkos
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Team Khan: Maidana Has Not Agreed, Asking For Big Bucks

Team Khan: Maidana Has Not Agreed, Asking For Big Bucks
Posted by: Mark Vester on 09-07-2010.




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>>>Click Here For Tons of More Breaking Boxing News, Articles and Insider Information<<<


By Mark Vester

Veteran scribe Dave Anderson of The Mirror was advised by Amir Khan's camp that Marcos Maidana has not yet agreed to the financial terms of their proposed junior welterweight contest for December 11, confirming our earlier report. Khan's camp is sending a message that Maidana is requesting too much money for the fight. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told BoxingScene.com last week that Maidana is not going to take "short money" for a clash with Khan.

It's expected that a deal will be reached. In the event the negotiations fall apart, Victor Ortiz has been named as a secondary option for Khan's next defense of the WBA title. To keep his name in the running, Ortiz will have to beat former champion Vivian Harris on September 18 at Staples Center
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Roach Will Not Be Training Chad Dawson, Says Muhammad

By Michael Marley

Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, trainer of light heavyweight Chad Dawson, discounted Freddie Roach's assertion that he's been asked to take over training Dawson.

Muhammad's near term agenda includes handling former world heavyweight champions Hasim Rahman and Shannon Briggs, aspiring heavyweight Travis Kauffman and former world champion Zab Judah.

The trainer suffered rare back to back losses recently as Bad Chad Dawson got beaten by Jean Pascal in Montreal and heavyweight Michael Grant ran second to Tomasz Adamek.

“Chad took my family out to breakfast the other day when I was not in town,” Muhammad said. “Chad was about to knock that guy (Pascal) out in Montreal when the guy butted him. Chad was on his way to a knockout. Chad will come back strong which, as I've told him, is the mark of a real champion.”
 
May 13, 2002
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This is pretty good. Only a true boxing fan will think this is funny

By Dan Rafael ESPN


Monday was Labor Day. Did you have a barbecue? My wife, Jenn, and I threw a mythical one in our backyard, filled with folks from the boxing world. With an assist from the Fight Freaks during a recent off-the-wall chat, here's how it all went down:



Just as the barbecue was about to begin, Larry Merchant closed his eyes and said slowly, "With all the pre-barbecue marinating, will this go down as a sizzling cookout, or will the flames of expectation be extinguished due to an empty propane tank?"



At first, Floyd Mayweather Jr. said he wasn't going to come because he wasn't even thinking about a barbecue. But then he showed up with chicken salad, sushi and rice. I think I saw Don King chasing after him across the yard.



Manny Pacquiao, of course, entertained everyone by singing. He wanted to do a duet with Mayweather, but Mayweather refused to get on stage. I was glad, though, that Pacquiao decided to come on short notice, because originally he said he'd only show up if he knew about the party 14 days ahead of time.

The members of the California State Athletic Commission voted 5-1 not to come. Texas officials were surprised. They showed up without even asking for directions.



Sergio Martinez was so thankful to be invited that he didn't care what we were serving. But he wasn't happy when he sat down to eat and Paul Williams tried to grab more than half of his meal.



David Haye, of course, didn't show up, even though he promised he would. He was supposed be in charge of our Duck, Duck, Goose game.



Antonio Margarito brought a piñata filled with candy, but when nobody could crack it open, we discovered it was made out of wood. Margarito said he was surprised and claimed he didn't make it. He said he had only just picked it up at Javier Capetillo's house.



Although he had nowhere else to go, Alfredo Angulo passed on an invitation. He said he wanted lobster, steak and Dom Perignon, but we were only serving burgers, dogs and beer. (I only serve Tecate.)



Ricky Hatton brought 10 cases of beer, but he wouldn't share it with anyone.



Joan Guzman said he'd bring two pounds of macaroni salad, but he's a helluva guy: He showed up with four.



It was great to see George Foreman, who brought a few extra grills with him. It's a good thing we had extras, too, because the guests from Top Rank and Golden Boy insisted that their food be cooked separately.



Evander Holyfield showed up, too. He said he plans to keep coming every year until I bar him. He even brought corn on the cob -- but only half an ear.



I asked Lennox Lewis if he was having fun. "Absolutely. Definitely," he said.



Mike Tyson kept a low profile. He was off by himself feeding pigeons. He didn't threaten to eat anyone's children this year.



Juan Manuel Marquez showed up with what he said was lemonade, but we couldn't be sure.



Shoot, meant to invite Roy Jones. We all must've forgotten. When Jones didn't show up, Antonio Tarver came over and asked me, "Did he have any excuses tonight?"



Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora set up a lemonade stand in the driveway and tried to convince everyone to buy a glass even though it wasn't very tasty.



WBC president for life Jose Sulaiman swung by and brought a special diamond spatula to flip the burgers with -- for a small sanctioning fee, of course. He said the decision to bring the special diamond spatula was made in a unanimous vote of his puppet board of governors.



Oscar De La Hoya and Richard Schaefer enjoyed themselves so much that they offered to make me president of Golden Boy Virginia, as long as I promised to give them control of most of my BBQ dates next year.



I don't know who the hell invited Panama Lewis, but he crashed the party and took over bartending duties. He would only serve from the bottle he mixed.



Sid Brumback was only supposed to bring one thing -- napkins -- but he forgot, so Kelly Pavlik escorted him out.



Bob Arum gave me the finger when I said I didn't like his contribution to the potluck. Besides, he said, he was hoping the BBQ would be in Macau.



Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa made it, but Arum refused to let them sit at the same table. He said he might allow it next year.



Andre Berto didn't want to bring anything, but he expected to be let in anyway. I refused to do that, but Kery Davis covered him by bringing an extra dish.



Nobody wanted to sit with Celestino Caballero.

Ken Hershman was impressed that I could throw such a good party with a budget so much smaller than my neighbor's.



John Ruiz was there, too. He's a great guy. Gave everybody a hug.



When Vic Darchinyan found out that Nonito Donaire was coming, he changed his plans.



One scary moment came only 29 seconds after the festivities began when Paul Briggs fell down. I think he felt a slight breeze.



Another scary moment happened when James Toney, exactly 3 minutes, 19 seconds after finishing his lunch, started choking and slapping the picnic table.



Kimbo Slice had never been to a BBQ before, but he decided to give it a try.



Lou DiBella was having fun, but he suddenly erupted in anger when his hot dog got slightly burned. He railed about how terrible the BBQ business model was for about an hour, but then he was fine.



I asked Dan Goossen what he wanted for lunch, but he said he wasn't sure because he had to ask Al Haymon first.



Gary Shaw must not have realized it was going to be such a hot day, because he was wearing a sweat suit.



Artie Pelullo brought cigars for everyone, but he insisted on owning 50 percent of the next BBQ.



Andre Ward, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham and Allan Green were supposed to carpool together, but guys just kept bailing left and right, and they weren't sure if they'd make it all the way to the house.



Tavoris Cloud wanted to come, but his boss only lets him go to one BBQ per year and he was just at one last month.



Jim Lampley couldn't help himself. He offered a blow-by-blow of my cooking: "Dan squints his eyes and looks at me through the smoke billowing off the red-hot grill as if to say, 'THOSE! BURGERS! ARE! DONE!'"



Gus Johnson didn't want to be outdone, so when I brought over a platter of food to his table, he shrieked, "DAN!!! THIS BARBEQUE IS UNBELIEVABLE!!!"



Joe Cortez was very specific with his lunch order: "Remember," he said, "I want my burger rare but firm."



Alexander Povetkin wanted to come, but Teddy Atlas talked him out of it. He said they weren't ready to attend a BBQ and that maybe they'd come next year.



Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko entered our watermelon eating contest, but they backed out when they realized they'd have to eat against each other.



Floyd Mayweather Sr. arrived a little late, but he brought Taco Bell takeout. Roger Mayweather was with him and had a jug of Gatorade.



I think I saw Cameron Dunkin sitting at the Golden Boy table instead of Top Rank's.



I saw Kevin Johnson, but all he did was stand in the corner not doing anything.



When Sergei Dzinziruk arrived, I heard one of the HBO guys say, "Who's that?"

Kermit Cintron left as soon as he found out we didn't have a diving board for the swimming pool.

Chad Dawson brought some terrific wine made from sour grapes.

Bernard Hopkins refused to talk to Dawson, but he partied all day with Jean Pascal.

Amir Khan didn't look happy. I think it's because we were using plastic spoons instead of the silver ones he's used to.



Paulie Malignaggi missed the party because Gale Van Hoy was driving. He couldn't see the street signs.



Ivan Calderon always used to win our games of tag, but this year Giovanni Segura caught him.



Devon Alexander and Tim Bradley agreed to come -- so long as the BBQ wasn't held in St. Louis or Southern California.



Jermain Taylor was having a blast until just a few seconds before the party ended.



Joshua Clottey didn't seem to have any fun at all, but he hung around until it was over.



My wife wasn't feeling well, so I decided to call off the last hour of the BBQ. But Arthur Mercante Jr. wouldn't accept that, even after I threw in the apron.



Lucian Bute sent his apologies for not attending. He was busy hosting a party for 20,000 in Montreal.



I invited James Kirkland, but he told me he was tied up for a couple of weeks.



Tomasz Adamek and Kathy Duva appreciated the invitation and said they'd have come even if the HBO people hadn't.

The party was too long for Andrew Golota, so he quit eating and went home.



Max Kellerman declared it the best BBQ since Pernell Whitaker's.



Chris John left early after getting poison ivy.



The WBA sent me a letter declaring my gathering the official WBA Labor Day BBQ. But then I found out that it sent the same letter to a guy in Nicaragua whom I'd never heard of.



Winky Wright couldn't make it. Too busy processing new applications for his business school.



The only reason Miguel Cotto came is because his uncle, Evangelista Cotto, wasn't invited.



Luis Collazo didn't show up. He said he hadn't been to a BBQ in a long time and needed a tune-up BBQ first.



That was one helluva party. Bert Sugar ranked it the 23rd-best BBQ of the last 100 years and the third-best BBQ in Virginia history.

In the end, it was a great party, even though Leonard Ellerbe denied that it ever happened. Thankfully, Ross Greenburg assured everyone that it had
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Alexander's Manager: Devon Did His Part, Bradley's Turn

By Ryan Burton

Manager/trainer Kevin Cunningham reached out to BoxingScene.com to make the following statement about the upcoming junior welterweight unification between his fighter IBF/WBC champion Devon Alexander and WBO champion Timothy Bradley - "Devon Alexander has done his part to make Alexander versus Bradley a reality. The money offered by his promoter wasn't what he wanted but but Devon stepped up to do his part to make the fight the fans want to see. Now its time for Bradley to step up to the plate."

HBO has been holding January 29th open for the fight. Alexander's promoter Don King and Bradley's promoter Gary Shaw came to an agreement on the license fee being offered by HBO and also to split all revenue 50-50.

Team Bradley has remained quiet in recent weeks and we should have a comment from them soon. Shaw has indicated that his attorney Leon Margules, and Bradley's attorney Michael Miller, are very close to reaching a deal.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Shane Mosley's List: &quot;I Want Pacquiao, Cotto, Margarito&quot;

By Lem Satterfield

Former three division champion, Shane Mosley, is still looking to secure a few more career-defining fights at age 39. Mosley (46-6, 39 KOs) returns on September 18 against former junior middleweight champion Sergio Mora (22-1-1, 6 KOs) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

In May, Mosley was dominated for the better part of his twelve round contest with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Looking back at the fight, Mosley attributes the poor performance to several factors, which include inactivity, bad strategy and an issue with his neck.

"I think that part of it was a little bit of bad strategy. Part of it was that my neck was tightening up. My neck tightening up, I couldn't throw punches the way I wanted to. But it wasn't age. You know. I hit him the hardest that anybody has ever hit him in his entire life. I had him hurt like nobody has," Mosley said.

"What it comes down to is that it was just a case of an off night. It was an off night. My last fight was the Antonio Margarito fight, and there was some time off away from the ring between that fight and the Floyd Mayweather fight. I mean, I didn't fight for over a year."

If Mosley defeats Mora, he has a potential fights on his wish list - and that includes a clash with the winner of November's battle between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito, and a rematch with Mayweather.

"Well, there are four or five more fights out there that I want. Manny Pacquiao, Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto. And of course Floyd Mayweather has a win over me, and I want to avenge that," Mosley said.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Maidana wants Khan to keep stay out of his negotiations

By William Mackay: WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s) isn’t happy with WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) making comments in the media about Maidana asking for too much for their December 11th fight. Maidana’s team sent an e-mail to Fightnews.com, saying that they want Khan to stay out of Maidana’s negotiations with Golden Boy Promotions.


Maidana said that he’s no over pricing himself for his bout with Khan, but he also doesn’t want to end up with the short money for the fight. Maidana isn’t happy with Khan for a number of reason, taking about how he couldn’t fight him for a year, and says Khan wants to control where the fight will take place and on what date the bout will be fought.

And now with Khan talking about Maidana’s negotiations, it’s not made Maidana happy. This is a fight that could determine the future for both of these fighters. It’s a fight where the loser could end up being passed by the other top light welterweights.

Many people think that Khan will win the fight, but he’s been matched selectively since being knocked out by a hard puncher two years ago. Since suffering a crushing 1st round knockout at the hands of Breidis Prescott in 2008, Khan has been put in with fighters that don’t have huge punching power.

Maidana may not be the hardest hitter in the division, but he’s probably the equal to Prescott in punching power, and if Khan gets hit by Maidana he could go. We just won’t know until Khan starts getting tagged. He’s probably not going to knock Maidana out in the 1st round, meaning that he’s going to have to absorb some punishment if he wants to win the fight.

If Maidana is able to stick around the whole fight, then it could be a bad thing for Khan because it would mean that his chin would be tested countless times by Maidana in their fight. Since Khan has been staggered by fighters like Marco Antonio Barrera, a small lightweight, and hurt by other fighters like Michael Gomez.

It’s difficult seeing Khan escape without getting knocked out. He basically needs to knock Maidana out of he’s going to get knocked out. That’s just seems the way it is. He’s no DeMarcus Corley, and he probably won’t be able to absorb punishment from Maidana all fight long without being knocked out. We could be seeing the end of Khan in this fight.
 
Jul 24, 2005
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Haye says he’s going to “Violate” Harrison and have him “Slither” back to L.A

By Sean McDaniel: As many people expected he would, World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) announced his fight earlier today against 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist Audley Harrison (27-4, 20 KO’s) for a bout that will be taking place on November 13th, the same day at the Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito clash. In an article at Morningstaronline.co.uk, Haye said “You’re [Harrison] going to get violated in that ring. I am going to close the curtain on the joke that is the Audley Harrison show.”


Haye had the option to fight IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko if he had wanted to. However, Haye instead opted to go after the much safer fight against 38-year-old Harrison, who has done little to deserve the shot at the title other than beating British journeyman Michael Sprott.

Despite turning pro with a lot of expectations in 2001, Harrison has done remarkably little with his once promising career until recently when he was able to win the Prizefighter tournament in the UK facing 2nd tier opposition. Harrison has been beaten by Martin Rogan, Sprott, Dominick Guinn and Danny Williams during his career.

Of his best wins, you would have to point to his stoppage of Williams in their rematch and the Sprott victory. That’s pretty much it. Harrison has fought exclusively 2nd tier opposition during his nine-year pro career and mostly against fighters from the UK.

Haye says “I don’t think he deserves to fight me,” said Haye. “I don’t think he’s done enough in his career, but I’m happy to do my duty for the British people. The public want to see one final high-profile destruction of Audley Harrison, and I can assure them this will be the last time they ever see him in a boxing ring. Once I’ve cleaned up the mess, Audley’s going to slither back to Los Angeles.”

Haye’s right about Harrison not deserving to fight him, but Haye’s the one that chose him. The public didn’t ask for this fight. They want to see Haye fight the Klitschko brothers but he seems reluctant to do that for some reason. Recently, Haye has been talking about retiring by October of next year on his birthday.

Harrison had this to say about Haye: “If David Haye thinks I’ve taken this fight strictly for a payday, he is in for a rude awakening.”

Harrison has the power to stop Haye if he fights aggressively, but Harrison has always been somewhat of a timid fighter unless he was facing really soft opposition. Harrison has to come out fast throwing bombs if he wants to beat Haye, because if he doesn’t get Haye’s respect early on then he’s going to get taken out by one of Haye’s looping pot shots that he likes to