Boxing News

*HBO have pencilled in tentative dates for both the Vitali Klitschko/Chris Arreola and the Kelly Pavlik/Paul Williams bouts despite an agreement being reached for neither fight. September 26th would see Klitschko and Arreola clash for the WBC heavyweight title whilst Pavlik would defend his middleweight crown against Williams on the 3rd of October.

*After his impressive shut out of Andreas Kotelnik, Amir Khan has been ordered by the WBA to face off against his undefeated mandatory Dimitry Salita. According to Salita, his promoters, Square Ring, have begun negotiations with Frank Warren already.

*Speaking of Amir Khan, Ricky Hatton has vowed no fight will take place between himself and the WBA junior welter weight champion as long as Khan is promoted by Frank Warren. Hatton and Warren have had problems in the past with the two facing off in the courts and Hatton refuses to work with him under any circumstance.

Darchinyan Vacates IBF Title

Vic Darchinyan has today vacated his IBF super fly weight title. The Armenian, who still holds the WBA and WBC titles, informed the IBF by letter today.
The IBF had ordered Darchinyan to face mandatory Simphiwe Nongqayi but now Jorge Arce may be in line to face Nongqayi for the vacated belt.

Vernon Forrest Shot Dead

Former Olympian and junior middleweight world champion Vernon Forrest was last night shot dead in an attempted car jacking in Mechanicsville, Atlanta.
Forrest was inflating his car's tyres when two men attempted to steal the Jaguar. Forrest who was also in possession of a firearm confronted the men, a brief chase ensued and shots were fired.
Speaking to WSB Radio in Atlanta, Lt. Keith Meadows said

"The victim and suspects became involved in a brief foot chase, at some point, gunfire was exchanged between the two of them. The victim was shot at least once in the head."

Forrest, 38, was fatally wounded by two semi-automatic weapons, according to police.

Forrest who had vacated his WBC junior middle weight title with a rib injury in May was due to face Sergio Martinez on August 1st. He had a record of 41 wins, 29 by way of kayo and 3 losses, two of these wins famously coming against Sugar Shane Mosley.

Haye Forgets The Klitschkos And Targets Valuev

After having to pull out of his June 20th Heavyweight bout with Wladimir Klitschko with a back injury and then failing to reach an agreement with Wladimir's brother Vitali, David Haye has moved onto WBA heavyweight Nikolai Valuev.
The two will square off on November 7th for Valuev's WBA title with the location as yet confirmed.
Haye has already begun his own unique style of promotion likening the fight to David(Haye) VS Goliath claiming,

“David only needed a slingshot and a stone to flatten Goliath and I’m convinced my right hand generates more power than a stone. I’m going to prove that size doesn’t matter. Mark my words: I will be the first man to knock Nikolai Valuev out.”

This will be no easy task as Haye will be giving away 8 stone in weight and 9 inches in height against the 7 foot tall Valuev, who is yet to be stopped or floored in 50 professional fights.

In reference to the Klitschkos, Haye claims he felt 'disrespected' by the contract negotiations and thus had to go down an alternative route,

"The level of disrespect they have shown me throughout has left me feeling insulted. I will not be a slave fighter,”

DAVID VS. GOLIATH’, will be shown exclusively in the UK on Sky Box Office.

First Round Of Super Six Tournmanent Dates Announced

The first round of the 'Super Six' super middleweight tournament finally has confirmed dates. The first two bouts will take place on October 17th whilst the third and final bout of round one will be on November 21st. All three bouts will take place on Showtime in the USA.

On October 17th, undefeated WBC champion, Carl 'The Cobra' Froch will take on unbeaten Olympian Andre 'The Matrix' Direll. On the same night former IBF middleweight champion 'King' Arthur Abraham takes on former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain 'Bad Intentions' Taylor.

As Mikel 'Viking Warrior' Kessler will be facing WBA mandatory, Gusmyl Perdomo on September 12th he will take the November 21st date against Andre 'S.O.G' Ward.

After this round of fights, the tournament will have two more in 2010 and then the semi-finals and finals will take place in 2011.

Cotto/Pacquiao Confirmed By Top Rank

An agreement has been reached between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto to fight on November 14th, according to Top Rank.
The reigning pound for pound king, Pacquiao will face three time world champion Cotto in Las Vegas on Saturday 14th November. The fight will be aired on HBO and Bob Arum who promotes both fighters confirmed,

Top Rank is working on a major media tour to start right after Labor Day. Further details will be announced as we get closer to kicking off the tour.

This comes just days after 'Sugar' Shane Mosley declared he was willing to drop to 140 pounds and take a 40% share to Pacquiao's 60% in order to face the Filipino.

King Khan Crowned

Billed as ‘The Man Who Would Be King’, Amir Khan last night ascended to the throne in quite remarkable fashion.
10 months after his devastating kayo at the hands of Breidis Prescott (who coincidentally had lost his first fight on Friday night) Khan returned to the Manchester MEN Arena and totally erased the memory with a shut out of WBA junior welter weight champion Andreas Kotelnik.
Khan, fighting for the first time at junior welterweight, started strongly and it was immediately apparent that his speed of foot and hand would trouble Kotelnik as he seemed to beat the defending champion to the punch and escape before Kotelnik could reply.
Kotelnik, a slick counter puncher, always seemed a step behind as Khan effectively used his jab to not only create openings but to keep the stalking Kotelnik at bay. In the second round alarm bells rang as the previously weak chinned Khan was caught with a right hand after a succession of hooks to the body but Khan showed no ill affect and immediately fired back. It appeared moving up in weight had helped with his punch resistance.
The fight placed both men in unfamiliar scenarios as Kotelnik worked aggressively at a high rate, whereas Khan was fighting going back and very often on the back foot. But Khan was too elusive, always moving working behind a high tight guard and it became evident he was frustrating the champion. Khan began to pick Kotelnik off with shots, threw lighting fast combinations and backed Kotelnik’s up with flurries.
In the 8th round we saw a moment of brilliance from Khan, as Kotelnik trapped him on the ropes. Kotelnik came in aggressively looking to slow the young Olympian down but Khan was too fast as he bobbed, weaved and escaped firing back his own shots against the Ukrainian with whom he had switched positions.
Kotelnik himself kept a tight, high guard and was able to catch many of Khan’s head punches on his arms thus Khan dug hooks to the body as the Kotelnik continued to hunt him.
In the 10th round the action slowed as Khan appeared to lose some energy. Khan had only been the distance once whereas Kotelnik is used to going 12 rounds. Sensing Khan tiring, Kotelnik stepped up his attack in the 11th catching Khan with a right hand to which Khan stood firm. Kotelnik really let his hands go but Khan was able to cover up as well as fire back his own counters.
Coming into the 12th Kotelnik appeared to have more spring in his step than Khan and went looking for the knockout. Khan stood and traded with Kotelnik throwing counter combinations but also coasted content with allowing Kotelnik to chase him. As the final bell went both men raised their arms but there was only one winner as the judges had it 120-108, 118-111 and 118-111 in favour of Khan as the 22 year old was crowned the new WBA junior welter weight champion.

Amir Khan VS Andreas Kotelnik Preview

Being billed in the UK as 'The Man Who Would Be King', Amir Khan faces Andreas Kotelnik for the WBA junior welter weight title at the Manchester MEN Arena on Saturday night.

Khan, making his first appearance at the weight, hopes that after four years of plying his trade as a pro with a record of 20 victories from 21 fights he can erase the memories of his crushing defeat at the hands of heavy hitting Colombian Breidis Prescott and take the title.
The Olympic silver medalist won't be in for an easy time as Kotelnik is an experienced fighter with a record of 31 wins from 34 fights. Kotelnik possess sound boxing skills and although he only has 13 kayos in his 31 fights can hit reasonably hard, which will be worrying for Khan who has been rocked numerous times.

Khan faced the wily old legend Marco Antonio Barrera in his last fight and despite clearly being in control, the 5th round technical decision victory was marred by a clash of heads that caused blood to stream into Barrera's eyes and left him effectively fighting blind. The referre called a halt to the action as Barrera clearly could not continue and the fight thus went to the score cards where Khan had racked up a convincing lead.
Kotelnik on the other hand won a split decision against his mandatory Marcos Maidana in a 12 round duel in Rostock, Germany. What is important about this is, is that Maidana, a heavy handed Argentine, recently stopped hot prospect 'Vicious' Victor Ortiz in six rounds. The fact that Kotelnik was able to go 12 rounds with Maidana who effectively broke Ortiz' spirit and forced him to quit, speaks volumes of Kotelnik's pedigree.

The immediate questions to ask are, how will Khan operate in the 140 pound division? Will moving up in weight improve Khan's punch resistance? Has the masterful Freddie Roach come up with a game plan that can ensure victory for the young man from Bolton?

Khan will have to be on his A game to secure the win here, he will have to box masterfully and use his hand speed advantage. Although he may not be able to stop Kotelnik, he may be able to overwhelm him with the volume of punches he can throw. He will also have to make sure that his defence is tight, he employed a tight high guard against Barrera in order to protect his chin and he will have to ensure that he does not allow his guard to drop.
Kotelnik on the other hand will know that timing off sets speed so he will have to be precise with his timing to counter the fast hands of Khan. Despite Khan's seemingly weak chin, Kotelnik should not go head hunting as he will be leaving himself open to Khan's shots.

The fight promises to be an intriguing battle between the two junior welter weights, and by Sunday morning either a new king will have been crowned, or a young pretender will have fallen attempting to take the thrown.

Boxing News 17/7/2009

*Ricky Hatton remains in hospital with a mystery illness after being admitted two days ago with complaints of chest pains and vomiting. Swine flu has been ruled out. This severely dents any hopes of a ring return.

*The Vitali Klitschko/David Haye fight appears to have found a home, in Frankfurt's 'World Cup' Stadium which can hold over 50,000 people. The September 12th heavyweight bout will be announced officially in the coming days, being broadcast in the US on HBO and on Sky Sports in the UK

*After last weeks victory over Vic Darchinyan, Joseph Agbeko has become a marked man. WBO bantam weight champion Fernando Montiel is now ready to hold off a mandatory defence against Eric Morel in order to face Agbeko in September or October.

Caballero Is Not Impressed Wit JuanMa Lopez

After JuanMa Lopez turned down a fight with Celestino Caballero due to the heavy sanctioning fees the fight for their three belts would incur, Caballero has reacted angrily.
Whilst Lopez is actively seeking a fight with either Rafael Marquez or Israel Vasquez, the two would prefer to face each other and add to their now classic trilogy and thus Lopez is left to facing his mandatory, Rogers Mtagwa.

But Caballero would prefer to see himself in Mtagwa's shoes as the gangly Panamanian told BoxingScene,

“Why take a chance where you can lose to a nobody? If he loses to me, then he loses to the best. He doesn’t have to worry; I will pay for all of the sanctioning fees. Don’t be a maricón in front of your own people. It’s shameful the way he is acting in front of his own people by fighting nobodies. Mtagwa does not bring any greatness to him. The best fight with the best,”

With Caballero offering to pay for the sanctioning fees as well as calling Lopez a 'maricón' I find it hard to believe Lopez will not respond to this as he should, in the ring with his fists!

The Mexican 300

This is actually a very entertaining advert

Pavlik Vents on Showtime & The Super Six Tournament

Middleweight champion of the world Kelly Pavlik has spoke out against Showtime and their Super Six tournament today. Speaking to Joe Scalzo of The Youngstown Vindicator , Pavlik quite angrily exclaimed:

“Why would I be in that tournament when I’m a middleweight? They never asked me and I never wanted to join. Let them beat each other up. Let them ruin their careers for peanuts."

"Those guys are fighting for peanuts. They’re going to burn their whole career and for what? Nobody watches Showtime. Trust me, when the winner of that tournament fights his next fight, it’ll be on HBO. I like HBO. I will fight for HBO. All the big-time fighters like Floyd Mayweather, [Manny] Pacquiao, [Miguel] Cotto, Shane Mosley, the Klitschkos — they all fight on HBO.”

Whoever ends up being the tournament winner, Pavlik told Scalzo that he would be more than happy to move up to fight them.

“Whoever the winner is,” Pavlik said, “I’ll kick his [butt].”

Pavlik has not had much success above 160 pounds as he looked out of sorts in a victorious rematch with Jermain Taylor at 166 pounds and was completely broken down in an 170 pound catch weight fight with Bernard Hopkins, so it would be interesting to see him move up and face any of the potential winners of the tournament.

Manny Has Some Powerful Enemies

In a recent conference call for the September 19th bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Juan Manuel Marquez, it appeared that Manny Pacquiao was the topic of discussion rather than the actual fight. Floyd, then promoter Oscar De La Hoya and then Marquez took turns to pour scorn on Manny Pacquiao and his current 'Pound for Pound' status.

Mayweather began pleasantly but then his true feelings came out

"Pacquiao is a good fighter. I don't take nothing from him," Mayweather said. "He hasn't done nothing I haven't done. Where was he when I was dominating in the '90s? He hasn't called me out. I'm not hard to find. I ain't worried about him. With or without him, I'm comfortable. I'm happy. He don't make me (nothing). I don't chase opponents. Opponents chase me. The biggest fight in boxing is Mayweather versus anybody."

Having previously been promoted by Bob Arum and Top Rank, Mayweather then went on to ridicule Pacquiao's current deal,

"Manny Pacquiao has the worst contract in boxing with Bob Arum right now - 27 percent," Mayweather said. "I keep 100 percent of my money. Are you serious - 27 percent? Arum tells Manny Pacquiao the same bull he used to tell me."

Mayweather then talked up his September 19th opponent, Marquez, claiming,

"I would have to rate him over Manny. For a guy to knock him down three times in the first round and he comes back to get a draw, we know who lost,"

Next it was Oscar De La Hoya's turn, having been stopped by Pacquiao last December one would think he would be rather respectful of Paquiao's abilities but instead he claims he 'felt more skill coming from Floyd' in their match than he did from Pacquiao in theirs. He also claimed that if Floyd and Pacquiao were to ever meet, Floyd should definitely get the lion share. He also said,

The winner between Mayweather and Marquez is the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. The fans are the ones who speak and we all know Marquez beat Pacquiao."

Marquez also joined in the 'Manny bashing', claiming that he beat Pacquiao both times they fought,

"Mayweather is the best. He retired undefeated. When I fought Manny I thought I beat him both times,"

Its nice to see them all so friendly now, hopefully the love in comes to an end and they both make a fight of it as I know they can.
And although I don't feel Pacquiao is the pound 4 pound king (Marquez is), they should not all be so quick to poke him because as Oscar found out he is a live wire!

Official Showtime Trailer For The Super Six Tournament

Funny how they didnt use any footage of Froch-Taylor.
Would kind of been a knock to the tournament's legitimacy (I'm in the class that feels Taylor should not be there, Green or Bute could have taken his place!)

Footage From The Super Six Photoshoot

I hope this friendliness goes out of the window once the bell goes

Cotto/Pac In The Balance

It appears the Cotto/Pacquiao fight slated for November 14th is not as certain to go ahead as though Philistar.com is reporting that Pacquiao maybe looking at Mosley at 143 pounds as he refuses to go to 145 pounds to face the naturally bigger Cotto.

Manny Pacquiao’s lawyer, Franklin Gacal, yesterday said if Miguel Cotto insists on the catchweight of 145 lb, the Filipino boxing icon might be forced to consider Mosley as his next opponent.

“We will not agree to 145 pounds. And if Cotto insists, we’ll go for Mosley,” said Gacal from Davao City.

Top Rank president Bob Arum wants Pacquiao to face Cotto, the reigning WBO welterweight (147 lb) champion from Puerto Rico, on Nov. 14 in Las Vegas. But no deal has been forged yet, not on the date, weight or purse.

“No definite date yet or any other details have been agreed upon,” said Pacquiao the other day.

Pacquiao, 30, said he wants to fight on Oct. 17 but Arum explained that it wouldn’t be a good date because of the Major League World Series, and that it would be hard to compete with the mother of all baseball games.

“Regarding the date, maybe we can give in to what Bob Arum wants although Manny really wants to fight in October. But there’s the baseball thing so maybe we can agree on November,” said Gacal.

Both Pacquiao and Cotto are under Top Rank, and it should have been easier for Arum to seal the deal. But again, the weight issue, Gacal added, is turning out to be a real weighty issue.

“Manny will be giving up too much if he agrees to fight Cotto at 145. We want him at 143 and if he insists otherwise, then we’ll look at Mosley if Mosley is still available,” said the Filipino lawyer.

“Cotto is an inch taller than Manny and definitely he’s heavier. He’s got a bigger body, too. I think Manny will be short-changed if he agrees to 145. And it should be us dictating the terms, not Cotto,” said Gacal.

Mosley, the WBA welterweight champion, was so eager to face Pacquiao he said he’d fight at 144 lb, and settle for 40 percent of the purse. But the native of Pomona, California, had given up on the fight when it seemed all’s well for a Pacquiao-Cotto fight.

“Mosley said he’s willing to fight Manny at 144. Maybe we can drag him down to 143. So if Cotto insists on 145, we’ll got for Mosley,” Gacal added.

At 5’9” Mosley is easily two inches taller than Pacquiao, but the American champion will be 39 by September. Cotto will turn 29 in October.

Mosley is under Golden Boy Promotions, whose president, Oscar dela Hoya, recently played a round of golf with Cotto at the Bahia Beach Resort and Golf Club in Puerto Rico.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=486629&publicationSubCategoryId=69

Super Middleweight Tournament Rules and Information

SUPER SIX WORLD BOXING CLASSIC
– The Super Middleweights –

TOURNAMENT FORMAT

ENTRANTS
Arthur Abraham Berlin, Germany (30-0, 24 KOs)
Andre Dirrell Flint, Mich. (18-0, 13 KOs)
Carl Froch Nottingham, England (25-0, 20 KOs) WBC 168-lbs Champion
Mikkel Kessler Copenhagen, Denmark (41-1, 31 KOs) WBA 168-lbs Champion
Jermain Taylor Little Rock, Ark. (28-3-1, 17 KOs)
Andre Ward Oakland, Calif. (19-0, 12 KOs)

FORMAT
• All bouts will be contested under the unified rules of boxing;
• All bouts scheduled for 12 rounds;
• Both the World Boxing Council (WBC) and the World Boxing Association (WBA) titles will be on the line at the outset of tournament competition;

• Each boxer will fight three bouts against different opponents in the Group Stage—
round-robin, points-based competition;
• Points will be awarded after each bout. Scoring is as follows:
Win – 2 points (with a 1-point KO/TKO bonus)
Draw – 1 point
Loss – 0 points

• Following the Group Stage, the top four point scorers qualify for the Semi-Finals with the bottom two eliminated (In the event of a tie on points, a tie-break mechanism is in place);
• Semi-Finals will match the point leader against the fourth place fighter and the second versus the third in single-elimination bouts (In the event of a draw in the Semi-Final bouts, a tie-break mechanism is in place);
• The winners of the Semi-Final bouts advance to the Final.

DATES and VENUES
• Fights will be contested on both American and European continents. Dates and venues will be announced in the coming weeks.

GROUP STAGE MATCHUPS
GROUP STAGE 1
CARL FROCH vs. ANDRE DIRRELL (for WBC World Championship)
JERMAIN TAYLOR vs. ARTHUR ABRAHAM
MIKKEL KESSLER vs. ANDRE WARD (for WBA World Championship)

• Matchups in Group Stages 2 and 3 will be announced in the coming weeks.

Abraham: I want to destroy Kessler

Well that picture posted earlier must have been two other guys because Arthur Abraham told German newspaper, BILD:

I cannot sleep at night. I'm only thinking about Mikkel Kessler. I don't give a shit that he's my colleague on Team Sauerland. I want to destroy him. Defeat him!

The Europeans Have Arrive

Abraham and Kessler in NYC ahead of tomorrow's super middle weight tournament announcement

Agbeko Decisions Darchinyan

With scores of 116-111, 114-113, 114-113, IBF bantam weight champion King Kong 'Joseph' Agbeko defeated WBC/IBF/WBA super flyweight champion Vic 'The Raging Bull' Darchinyan last night in Florida.
The two traded power punches in the first 3 rounds with Darchinyan attempting to over power the bigger Agbeko. Agbeko opened a small cut near Darchinyan's left eye and he thus appeared to slow down in the four.

In the fifth round Agbeko worked Darchinyan's body and busted his nose. Darchinyan improved in the sixth but could do nothing to stop Agbeko's right hand from his southpaw stance. In the seventh, an error on the behalf of the timekeeper meant the round went for a full four minutes in which Agbeko worked well, swelling Darchinyan's face only to have this ruined by a wrongly judged knock down, after Darchinyan pushed Agbeko to the floor.

In the eighth Agbeko rocked Darchinyan only to be rocked himself in the final seconds of the round. But in the ninth Darchinyan successfully began using his right jab to set up his powerful left hand.

In the tenth a clash of heads opened a nasty cut above Darchinyan's right eye as the two fighters brawled. This brawling set the trend for the next two rounds as both sought knock outs. In the twelfth they swung to the final bell with Vic looking the more tired of the two.