Boxing News Thread
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Lomachenko vs. Walters Headed to Garden's Big Room, June 11
Updated at 10:35 PM EST, Mon Mar 7, 2016 Read More By :
By Steve Kim
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum has told BoxingScene.com that while Vasyl Lomachenko (5-1, 3KOs) and Nicholas Walters (26-0-1, 21KOs) are still on a collision course it will not be on April 30th as originally planned.
Walters was last in action on December 19th, when he went to a controversial twelve majority draw with Jason Sosa in an HBO televised bout. Lomachenko retained his WBO featherweight championship last November with a tenth round knockout of Romulo Koasicha as part of the Tim Bradley-Brandon Rios card in Las Vegas.
"We're doing that fight, we're looking to do it in New York on June 11th," said Arum, who has intimated that young Puerto Rican star, Felix Verdejo would be fighting this weekend as it's the day before the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade.
[​IMG]
Last year, Verdejo headlined at the Theater of MSG against Ivan Najera on this weekend.
But this time around he could be fighting in front of many more fans.
"We're going to go to the big room of the Garden,"stated Arum, who's company has a hold on that date.
Verdejo is coming off a ten round decision over William Silva on February 27th at the Garden. He is now scheduled to fight on April 16th back in Puerto Rico on a card that will be televised by UniMas.
Updated at 10:35 PM EST, Mon Mar 7, 2016 Read More By :
By Steve Kim
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum has told BoxingScene.com that while Vasyl Lomachenko (5-1, 3KOs) and Nicholas Walters (26-0-1, 21KOs) are still on a collision course it will not be on April 30th as originally planned.
Walters was last in action on December 19th, when he went to a controversial twelve majority draw with Jason Sosa in an HBO televised bout. Lomachenko retained his WBO featherweight championship last November with a tenth round knockout of Romulo Koasicha as part of the Tim Bradley-Brandon Rios card in Las Vegas.
"We're doing that fight, we're looking to do it in New York on June 11th," said Arum, who has intimated that young Puerto Rican star, Felix Verdejo would be fighting this weekend as it's the day before the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade.
[​IMG]
Last year, Verdejo headlined at the Theater of MSG against Ivan Najera on this weekend.
But this time around he could be fighting in front of many more fans.
"We're going to go to the big room of the Garden,"stated Arum, who's company has a hold on that date.
Verdejo is coming off a ten round decision over William Silva on February 27th at the Garden. He is now scheduled to fight on April 16th back in Puerto Rico on a card that will be televised by UniMas.
Rigo's camp is such garbage man. Why the fuck did they travel to Russia to train and then try an obtain a Visa there? This fight was announced with plenty of time and with Rigo having fought in Japan, Ireland etc they should know the process of getting a fucking Visa.
Props:
2-0-Sixx and 2-0-Sixx
I know man, it's such a shame Rigondeaux is with such an incompetent group of people. Wasting so much time that he can't afford to lose.
Props:
heyzel and heyzel
Shawn Porter will hold a 12-round unofficial bout against Lanardo Tyner, and live stream it for free on Facebook this Saturday
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjNXuRICnRQ&feature=youtu.be[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjNXuRICnRQ&feature=youtu.be[/ame]
Props:
CZAR and CZAR
Caveat Emptor: Timothy Bradley, Boxing and The NFL
Updated at 05:21 AM EST, Wed Mar 9, 2016 Read More By :
By Bill Dwyre
Over the years, as a sports columnist for The Los Angeles Times, I received no fewer than 200 emails that asked a version of the same question: How can you write so favorably and passionately about boxing when you keep ripping the NFL and its concussions. Isn’t that two-faced, unfair? Aren’t boxers concussed as much as football players?
The emails added up to 200 guilt trips. When you have a quick and logical answer for a reader, you fire off an explanatory response and feel fine. When 200 readers seem to have a point, you squirm.
I don’t deny that I like boxing, nor that I am fascinated by its people and its never-ending story lines.
The NFL? Not so much. I always despised its control-freak approach to everything, its holier-than-thou attitude. I covered enough Super Bowls to learn how to join the media crowd, click my heels and say “Moo, Moo.”
Still, disliking a sport because of its arrogance, not to mention the pile of lies it told the City of Los Angeles for those 20 years until it let the Rams come back, is not a good enough reason to be less than open-minded.
Two recent boxing situations prompted deeper thought, and a search for my own answers.
First, there was a conversation with Monica Bradley. She is the wife and manager of Tim Bradley, who will fight Manny Pacquiao April 9, in a widely anticipated match at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
[IMG]
Among the selling points of this fight are the announced last-fight retirement of Pacquiao and the newfound attractiveness of Bradley as a boxer. Part of that comes from his blood-and-guts show and victory in the 2013 Fight of the Year against Russian mayhem-maker Ruslan Provodnikov. Fans love brawls and now have the expectation that Bradley can give them one against Pacquiao, who can also brawl with the best of them on occasion.
Monica Bradley said that, because of the Provodnikov fight, she had taken her husband to several neurological clinics around the country to be sure he was all right. She also was instrumental in hiring Teddy Atlas as Bradley’s new trainer. Atlas came with the expressed intention of teaching Bradley how to get hit less. When Bradley beat Brandon Rios in his most recent fight, and his first for Atlas, that’s exactly what took place.
The concern of the Bradley camp led to more thought.
Then came the announcement that, running counter to all logic and common sense, the people who run amateur boxing in the world will put on their Olympic tournament in Rio de Janeiro this summer with its amateur fighters competing without headgear. My colleague at the Associated Press, Greg Beacham, wrote a comprehensive story about this from the team trials at Reno, as the headgear question was still being discussed. The story was about 600 words, but only three were needed in way of explanation -- “more TV friendly.”
The international boxing federation (AIBA) and its president, Wu-Ching Kuo, have now officially sold out. More cut up and woozy amateurs will certainly boost the ratings. Blood sells.
Which brings us back to the pro fight game, where there is always enough blood to go around.
I pondered all this, and concluded that the only defense I have for treating it as a lesser evil than pro football is that it still is.
Of course, it is not croquet or rhythmic gymnastics. Of course it is violent and coarse. But at least it is honest in that. I have never heard a boxer say he had no idea he might get a head injury by doing this. The blood and guts and cuts and KOs and future slurring are not treated as a surprise, only an inevitability.
There is always hope, of course. Floyd Mayweather Jr., won 49 fights and probably took no more than seven or eight damaging shots over that entire period. George Foreman was heavyweight champion of the world over two different eras, which involved many punches taken and a knockout by Muhammad Ali. Yet, you cannot find a sharper, more lucid human.
Still, the norm is not pretty. I once interviewed the widow of boxer Mike Quarry days after this death. She told stories of changing his diapers and chasing him around the neighborhood when he wandered off.
In a recent article on the website The News Outlet, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons calculated that 90% of boxers end up with some sort of brain injury. That runs neck and neck statistically with the recent work on NFL brain injuries, where the Boston University Center for the Study of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) recently announced that, of the 91 brains it has studied, 87 had CTE.
I worry about Bradley because his wife does.
I worry about Pacquiao, because he has already taken a huge knockout shot from Juan Manuel Marquez and because, if he can overcome his silly recent statement about gays and lesbians, he may become a Philippine senator, where they will need a man with all his faculties.
I worry about Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, who is a great guy and former boxer turned world-class trainer, but whose limp seems to worsen and speech seems increasingly blurred.
But they all knew. They signed on for the shot at glory with full knowledge that it might bring them only brain damage. Boxing is brutal and they all knew that going in.
Football is the same. Brutal. But until recent years, when science simply forced itself on the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil NFL, football players did not enter battle pondering the possibility of lifetime scars.
They didn’t know. Jon Arnett didn’t know. Nor did Conrad Dobler, Tony Dorsett, Todd Marinovich, Bob Lilly or Alex Karras. Nor did my Notre Dame classmate, the late Pete Duranko. They played with illusions of grandeur and visions of sugar plums, while the NFL led them along, like lambs to the slaughter.
A Texas law firm hoping to represent many of the thousands involved in ongoing litigation against the NFL for all of the above and thousands more, O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath, lays out the case of action in the simplest of ways:
“Although the medical community was informed by evidence from other sports like boxing and had understood that repeated impact to the head can cause long-term brain damage for decades, the National Football League ignored the medical risks and sent players back onto the field, often in the same game.”
Both sports are violent. But boxing’s participants were always aware of that and chose it with full knowledge. Until recently, NFL’s participants were conned into risking life and limb. Their career decisions were made without knowing everything about their career.
It’s not all right if a sport is mostly violent, but it is less odorous if it never hides that.
The NFL, in the category of brain injuries, has left a stink for years to come.
That’s my rationale. Write me an email and that’s how I will respond.
Updated at 05:21 AM EST, Wed Mar 9, 2016 Read More By :
By Bill Dwyre
Over the years, as a sports columnist for The Los Angeles Times, I received no fewer than 200 emails that asked a version of the same question: How can you write so favorably and passionately about boxing when you keep ripping the NFL and its concussions. Isn’t that two-faced, unfair? Aren’t boxers concussed as much as football players?
The emails added up to 200 guilt trips. When you have a quick and logical answer for a reader, you fire off an explanatory response and feel fine. When 200 readers seem to have a point, you squirm.
I don’t deny that I like boxing, nor that I am fascinated by its people and its never-ending story lines.
The NFL? Not so much. I always despised its control-freak approach to everything, its holier-than-thou attitude. I covered enough Super Bowls to learn how to join the media crowd, click my heels and say “Moo, Moo.”
Still, disliking a sport because of its arrogance, not to mention the pile of lies it told the City of Los Angeles for those 20 years until it let the Rams come back, is not a good enough reason to be less than open-minded.
Two recent boxing situations prompted deeper thought, and a search for my own answers.
First, there was a conversation with Monica Bradley. She is the wife and manager of Tim Bradley, who will fight Manny Pacquiao April 9, in a widely anticipated match at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
[IMG]
Among the selling points of this fight are the announced last-fight retirement of Pacquiao and the newfound attractiveness of Bradley as a boxer. Part of that comes from his blood-and-guts show and victory in the 2013 Fight of the Year against Russian mayhem-maker Ruslan Provodnikov. Fans love brawls and now have the expectation that Bradley can give them one against Pacquiao, who can also brawl with the best of them on occasion.
Monica Bradley said that, because of the Provodnikov fight, she had taken her husband to several neurological clinics around the country to be sure he was all right. She also was instrumental in hiring Teddy Atlas as Bradley’s new trainer. Atlas came with the expressed intention of teaching Bradley how to get hit less. When Bradley beat Brandon Rios in his most recent fight, and his first for Atlas, that’s exactly what took place.
The concern of the Bradley camp led to more thought.
Then came the announcement that, running counter to all logic and common sense, the people who run amateur boxing in the world will put on their Olympic tournament in Rio de Janeiro this summer with its amateur fighters competing without headgear. My colleague at the Associated Press, Greg Beacham, wrote a comprehensive story about this from the team trials at Reno, as the headgear question was still being discussed. The story was about 600 words, but only three were needed in way of explanation -- “more TV friendly.”
The international boxing federation (AIBA) and its president, Wu-Ching Kuo, have now officially sold out. More cut up and woozy amateurs will certainly boost the ratings. Blood sells.
Which brings us back to the pro fight game, where there is always enough blood to go around.
I pondered all this, and concluded that the only defense I have for treating it as a lesser evil than pro football is that it still is.
Of course, it is not croquet or rhythmic gymnastics. Of course it is violent and coarse. But at least it is honest in that. I have never heard a boxer say he had no idea he might get a head injury by doing this. The blood and guts and cuts and KOs and future slurring are not treated as a surprise, only an inevitability.
There is always hope, of course. Floyd Mayweather Jr., won 49 fights and probably took no more than seven or eight damaging shots over that entire period. George Foreman was heavyweight champion of the world over two different eras, which involved many punches taken and a knockout by Muhammad Ali. Yet, you cannot find a sharper, more lucid human.
Still, the norm is not pretty. I once interviewed the widow of boxer Mike Quarry days after this death. She told stories of changing his diapers and chasing him around the neighborhood when he wandered off.
In a recent article on the website The News Outlet, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons calculated that 90% of boxers end up with some sort of brain injury. That runs neck and neck statistically with the recent work on NFL brain injuries, where the Boston University Center for the Study of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) recently announced that, of the 91 brains it has studied, 87 had CTE.
I worry about Bradley because his wife does.
I worry about Pacquiao, because he has already taken a huge knockout shot from Juan Manuel Marquez and because, if he can overcome his silly recent statement about gays and lesbians, he may become a Philippine senator, where they will need a man with all his faculties.
I worry about Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, who is a great guy and former boxer turned world-class trainer, but whose limp seems to worsen and speech seems increasingly blurred.
But they all knew. They signed on for the shot at glory with full knowledge that it might bring them only brain damage. Boxing is brutal and they all knew that going in.
Football is the same. Brutal. But until recent years, when science simply forced itself on the see-no-evil, hear-no-evil NFL, football players did not enter battle pondering the possibility of lifetime scars.
They didn’t know. Jon Arnett didn’t know. Nor did Conrad Dobler, Tony Dorsett, Todd Marinovich, Bob Lilly or Alex Karras. Nor did my Notre Dame classmate, the late Pete Duranko. They played with illusions of grandeur and visions of sugar plums, while the NFL led them along, like lambs to the slaughter.
A Texas law firm hoping to represent many of the thousands involved in ongoing litigation against the NFL for all of the above and thousands more, O’Hanlon, McCollom & Demerath, lays out the case of action in the simplest of ways:
“Although the medical community was informed by evidence from other sports like boxing and had understood that repeated impact to the head can cause long-term brain damage for decades, the National Football League ignored the medical risks and sent players back onto the field, often in the same game.”
Both sports are violent. But boxing’s participants were always aware of that and chose it with full knowledge. Until recently, NFL’s participants were conned into risking life and limb. Their career decisions were made without knowing everything about their career.
It’s not all right if a sport is mostly violent, but it is less odorous if it never hides that.
The NFL, in the category of brain injuries, has left a stink for years to come.
That’s my rationale. Write me an email and that’s how I will respond.
Word on the streets is Miguel Cotto vs James Kirkland is in play.
I guess it's not the worst fight considering Cotto is coming off a loss but if Kirkland isn't with Ann Wolfe then I just can't take him seriously and he's going to get stretched. But if he's with Wolfe again, then maybe he can really put up a fight. Unlikely though as I'm pretty sure Kirkland burnt that bridge one too many times.
I guess it's not the worst fight considering Cotto is coming off a loss but if Kirkland isn't with Ann Wolfe then I just can't take him seriously and he's going to get stretched. But if he's with Wolfe again, then maybe he can really put up a fight. Unlikely though as I'm pretty sure Kirkland burnt that bridge one too many times.
Props:
heyzel and heyzel
Celestin Caballero Arrested, Alleged To Have 10 Kilos of Cocaine
Celestino Caballero Arrested, Alleged To Have 10 Kilos of Cocaine - Boxing News
Celestino Caballero Arrested, Alleged To Have 10 Kilos of Cocaine - Boxing News
D.C. Commission investigating judge for Luis Ortiz-Tony Thompson bout - Ring TV
The DC Boxing and Wrestling Commission is conducting an investigation into a bizarre scorecard turned in by judge Lloyd Scaife following Saturday’s heavyweight bout between Luis Ortiz and Tony Thompson at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C., RingTV.com has learned.
The bout was stopped at 2:29 of the sixth round when Ortiz clipped Thompson’s right ear, knocking him down for the third time. For the highly-touted Ortiz (25-0, 22 knockouts), it was the latest highlight in his march to a possible title shot as Thompson, a D.C. product, may have fought for the last time. But it was Scaife’s peculiar scoring of the previous five rounds in a nationally-televised bout on HBO that has caused concern at the commission, a source said.
Scaife, a local judge from the D.C. area, gave new meaning to the term “hometown judging” with his tallies. Among his peculiar findings, he scored the third round 10-9 for Thompson even though it was a round in which Ortiz knocked Thompson down. The other two judges, Tammye Jenkins and Paul Wallace both scored the third round 10-8 for Ortiz.
Scaife scored the first round 10-9 in favor of Ortiz even though Ortiz knocked Thompson down and otherwise dominated his opponent in the round. Jenkins and Wallace both scored the first round 10-8 for Ortiz. Scaife also scored the fifth round 10-9 for Thompson, even though both Jenkins and Wallace scored the round 10-9 for Ortiz, who seemed to clearly win the round. At the time of the stoppage, Jenkins and Wallace both had Ortiz ahead 50-43, while Scaife had Ortiz leading Thompson by just a point, 48-47.
The commission will likely release a statement on Friday describing its findings and whether Scaife will be disciplined. “Everyone is trying to figure out just what happened,” the source said.
The unusual scoring darkened an otherwise cheery mood for Ortiz’s camp, who studied a copy of Scaife’s scorecard early Sunday morning at a restaurant in their hotel with bewilderment. “Good thing it didn’t have to go to the scorecards,” said Jay Jimenez, Ortiz’s manager.
The DC Boxing and Wrestling Commission is conducting an investigation into a bizarre scorecard turned in by judge Lloyd Scaife following Saturday’s heavyweight bout between Luis Ortiz and Tony Thompson at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C., RingTV.com has learned.
The bout was stopped at 2:29 of the sixth round when Ortiz clipped Thompson’s right ear, knocking him down for the third time. For the highly-touted Ortiz (25-0, 22 knockouts), it was the latest highlight in his march to a possible title shot as Thompson, a D.C. product, may have fought for the last time. But it was Scaife’s peculiar scoring of the previous five rounds in a nationally-televised bout on HBO that has caused concern at the commission, a source said.
Scaife, a local judge from the D.C. area, gave new meaning to the term “hometown judging” with his tallies. Among his peculiar findings, he scored the third round 10-9 for Thompson even though it was a round in which Ortiz knocked Thompson down. The other two judges, Tammye Jenkins and Paul Wallace both scored the third round 10-8 for Ortiz.
Scaife scored the first round 10-9 in favor of Ortiz even though Ortiz knocked Thompson down and otherwise dominated his opponent in the round. Jenkins and Wallace both scored the first round 10-8 for Ortiz. Scaife also scored the fifth round 10-9 for Thompson, even though both Jenkins and Wallace scored the round 10-9 for Ortiz, who seemed to clearly win the round. At the time of the stoppage, Jenkins and Wallace both had Ortiz ahead 50-43, while Scaife had Ortiz leading Thompson by just a point, 48-47.
The commission will likely release a statement on Friday describing its findings and whether Scaife will be disciplined. “Everyone is trying to figure out just what happened,” the source said.
The unusual scoring darkened an otherwise cheery mood for Ortiz’s camp, who studied a copy of Scaife’s scorecard early Sunday morning at a restaurant in their hotel with bewilderment. “Good thing it didn’t have to go to the scorecards,” said Jay Jimenez, Ortiz’s manager.
Props:
2-0-Sixx and 2-0-Sixx
BoxingScene.com ‎@boxingscene
Celestino Caballero Arrested, Alleged To Have 10 Kilos of Cocaine Celestino Caballero Arrested, Alleged To Have 10 Kilos of Cocaine - Boxing News #boxing
Celestino Caballero Arrested, Alleged To Have 10 Kilos of Cocaine Celestino Caballero Arrested, Alleged To Have 10 Kilos of Cocaine - Boxing News #boxing
Props:
WYNO707X4 and WYNO707X4
Chris Algieri rejects gatekeeper label, says Errol Spence is not on his level
Mitch Abramson
March 10, 2016
[​IMG]
The “Pride of Huntington” really does have a lot of pride.
Chris Algieri still thinks of himself as a world champion in waiting. So when it was suggested to Algieri that he is assuming a gatekeeper role for his welterweight fight with uber-prospect Errol Spence Jr. April 16 at Barclays Center, Algieri responded with not anger because Algieri is nothing if not composed. But he was not pleased with the question.
“Excuse me one second, I’m just going to shoot this down really fast,” he said as the question lingered in the air for a few moments. And he did, predicting a win against a boxer who Algieri doesn’t think is in the same class as him. The bout will headline a Premier Boxing Champions on NBC primetime tripleheader (8:30 p.m. ET) in Brooklyn.
“I think it’s completely unwarranted because Spence hasn’t fought anyone,” Algieri said of the caretaker role following a press conference on Wednesday to hype the fight. “I don’t think he’s fought a guy who’s actually tried to win yet. So to put me as a gatekeeper versus someone who is untested in a real fight- I think it’s not even worth talking about.”
Algieri, a former junior welterweight titleholder, was just warming up to the subject. The 28-year-old took aim at Spence’s resume and the caliber of fighters he’s faced so far. Spence turned pro in 2012 after participating for the U.S. Olympic team in London, where he reached the quarterfinals. Though Spence (19-0, 16 knockouts) is highly regarded, he has yet to face any of the top welterweights. Meanwhile, Algieri (21-2, 8 KOs) has names like Amir Khan (close loss), Manny Pacquiao (loss) and Ruslan Provodnikov (close win) on his resume- experience that he says will serve him well against Spence.
“Technically the kid is sound but he’s done it against guys who were tailor-made to sit right in front of him and get beat up,” Algieri said. “He hasn’t fought a guy with footwork. He hasn’ fought a guy who can box yet. He hasn’t fought a guy who can punch yet. He hasn’t fought a guy with experience yet. Like I said, he hasn’t fought many guys that were even in there to win. So it’s going to be a really eye-opening experience for him and for I think a lot of people on April 16.”
Quiet and polite, Spence, 26, was respectful of Algieri’s resume, but he also predicted the type of performance that could vault him toward a title shot.
“I don’t think he’s a gatekeeper at all because he’s still in his prime,” Spence said. “But he’s definitely a guy that I can make my name off of because I’m new in the game. I only turned pro three years ago and I’m looking to make a name for myself and he has a bigger name than me as far as the boxing world. He’s fought the bigger names. So I’m just looking to beat him and hopefully this will take me to a fight for a world title.”
One of the more discerning and intuitive boxers in the sport, Algieri further detailed some of the challenges that await Spence in their fight- the added media responsibilities, the higher expectations, managing the emotions as a boxer makes his way to the ring. Algieri even noted that Spence looked nervous as he spoke during the press conference on Wednesday in what seemed like a well-timed attempt to unnerve his opponent.
“I know what it’s like to walk to the ring for a big fight,” Algieri said. “I know what it’s like sitting around and doing those interviews and going up there- you’re going to tell me he wasn’t nervous up there (talking during the press conference)? No, he’s never done this before. I’ve been there, too. I know exactly where he’s been. When I fought Ruslan Provodnikov, I was going from ESPN to an HBO main event. Yeah, I’ve been there. What happens when those lights are on you, you’re under a microscope. I’ve been there. I know how I perform. He doesn’t know that. So that doubt is going to be there no matter what. Whether he steps up to the plate and performs great or crumbles, only time will tell.”
Spence seemed confident he will be able to handle it all. “The is the perfect fight for me at this point in my career,” he said. “I know it’s going to be a tough fight but I can’t wait to show everyone what I can do on April 16.”
Mitch Abramson
March 10, 2016
[​IMG]
The “Pride of Huntington” really does have a lot of pride.
Chris Algieri still thinks of himself as a world champion in waiting. So when it was suggested to Algieri that he is assuming a gatekeeper role for his welterweight fight with uber-prospect Errol Spence Jr. April 16 at Barclays Center, Algieri responded with not anger because Algieri is nothing if not composed. But he was not pleased with the question.
“Excuse me one second, I’m just going to shoot this down really fast,” he said as the question lingered in the air for a few moments. And he did, predicting a win against a boxer who Algieri doesn’t think is in the same class as him. The bout will headline a Premier Boxing Champions on NBC primetime tripleheader (8:30 p.m. ET) in Brooklyn.
“I think it’s completely unwarranted because Spence hasn’t fought anyone,” Algieri said of the caretaker role following a press conference on Wednesday to hype the fight. “I don’t think he’s fought a guy who’s actually tried to win yet. So to put me as a gatekeeper versus someone who is untested in a real fight- I think it’s not even worth talking about.”
Algieri, a former junior welterweight titleholder, was just warming up to the subject. The 28-year-old took aim at Spence’s resume and the caliber of fighters he’s faced so far. Spence turned pro in 2012 after participating for the U.S. Olympic team in London, where he reached the quarterfinals. Though Spence (19-0, 16 knockouts) is highly regarded, he has yet to face any of the top welterweights. Meanwhile, Algieri (21-2, 8 KOs) has names like Amir Khan (close loss), Manny Pacquiao (loss) and Ruslan Provodnikov (close win) on his resume- experience that he says will serve him well against Spence.
“Technically the kid is sound but he’s done it against guys who were tailor-made to sit right in front of him and get beat up,” Algieri said. “He hasn’t fought a guy with footwork. He hasn’ fought a guy who can box yet. He hasn’t fought a guy who can punch yet. He hasn’t fought a guy with experience yet. Like I said, he hasn’t fought many guys that were even in there to win. So it’s going to be a really eye-opening experience for him and for I think a lot of people on April 16.”
Quiet and polite, Spence, 26, was respectful of Algieri’s resume, but he also predicted the type of performance that could vault him toward a title shot.
“I don’t think he’s a gatekeeper at all because he’s still in his prime,” Spence said. “But he’s definitely a guy that I can make my name off of because I’m new in the game. I only turned pro three years ago and I’m looking to make a name for myself and he has a bigger name than me as far as the boxing world. He’s fought the bigger names. So I’m just looking to beat him and hopefully this will take me to a fight for a world title.”
One of the more discerning and intuitive boxers in the sport, Algieri further detailed some of the challenges that await Spence in their fight- the added media responsibilities, the higher expectations, managing the emotions as a boxer makes his way to the ring. Algieri even noted that Spence looked nervous as he spoke during the press conference on Wednesday in what seemed like a well-timed attempt to unnerve his opponent.
“I know what it’s like to walk to the ring for a big fight,” Algieri said. “I know what it’s like sitting around and doing those interviews and going up there- you’re going to tell me he wasn’t nervous up there (talking during the press conference)? No, he’s never done this before. I’ve been there, too. I know exactly where he’s been. When I fought Ruslan Provodnikov, I was going from ESPN to an HBO main event. Yeah, I’ve been there. What happens when those lights are on you, you’re under a microscope. I’ve been there. I know how I perform. He doesn’t know that. So that doubt is going to be there no matter what. Whether he steps up to the plate and performs great or crumbles, only time will tell.”
Spence seemed confident he will be able to handle it all. “The is the perfect fight for me at this point in my career,” he said. “I know it’s going to be a tough fight but I can’t wait to show everyone what I can do on April 16.”
Javier Gorbea ‎@javiguani
been told that now that Gaby is not working with Cotto anymore a posible Cotto Top Rank Reunion is posible after cotto RN contract runs out
3:03 AM - 15 Mar 2016
3 3 Retweets
2
Javier Gorbea ‎@javiguani
if that the case I been Told if very posible they do the Cotto vs Marquez in December at 150 but cotto cannot be more that 153 on fight day
3:05 AM - 15 Mar 2016
3 3 Retweets
4
been told that now that Gaby is not working with Cotto anymore a posible Cotto Top Rank Reunion is posible after cotto RN contract runs out
3:03 AM - 15 Mar 2016
3 3 Retweets
2
Javier Gorbea ‎@javiguani
if that the case I been Told if very posible they do the Cotto vs Marquez in December at 150 but cotto cannot be more that 153 on fight day
3:05 AM - 15 Mar 2016
3 3 Retweets
4
Forgot to mention, BERTO vs ORTIZ II was added to the Spence card.
Sure, it's not a relevant fight in 2016 but fuck it, the original fight was a classic. If Ortiz doesn't pull a quit job early then maybe this will be another banger. If not, something hilarious will go down!
Sure, it's not a relevant fight in 2016 but fuck it, the original fight was a classic. If Ortiz doesn't pull a quit job early then maybe this will be another banger. If not, something hilarious will go down!
Props:
CZAR and CZAR