Official 2012 Boxing Thread: JMM/Manny IV - FOTY.

At first I didn't even catch this, but Haye straight broke his beer bottle off on Chisora's head. At first I thought he was saying Haye scratched him with a broken bottle at the bottom of the pile or something. Straight smashed his head with a bottle. 
 
Damn Haye cracked a bottle off his head this is some crazy shh. Haye deserves some type of punishment too.

Gotta admit this is quite entertaining.
 
i had a feeling campillo was gonna get robbed
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. when the announcer made that trinidad-de la hoya reference in the 12th, i wus like "yea, they going to rob this dude."

judge who scored it 115-110 needs to get dismissed asap.
 
The Cloud decision was garbage but he was clearly exposed as a one-dimensional fighter.  As far as Paul goes, he just is what he is going to be.  I don't think changing trainers will help him.
 
Just saw the latest episode of freddy roach on HBO and in the end, m. Konz telling Freddie that manny was mad @ Alex ariza. Did u guys see that? Is Konz starting drama?
 
I just watched that Cloud, Campillo fight. I had it 114-112 Campillo.
It's funny, it feels like Campillo dominated that fight because there were rounds were he straight outclassed dude. But there were some close rounds and that two knockdowns in the first killed Campillo. I thought rounds 4, 6 and the last two rounds were pretty close. Out of those 4 rounds, I gave Campillo just one (the 12th. And I almost gave that round to Cloud because Campillo was pulling a De la Hoya. But Campillo finished strong in the last minute or so.)
So I wouldn't be mad at a tie or maybe--A BIG MAYBE--a one point win for Cloud. Anything else is a joke, however. And that 115-110 card is criminal.
I also found it funny that Showtime's ringside judge was getting on the judges about their decision, but he's the same guy that had Chavez winning over Meldrick Taylor when that fight was stopped.
As for Paul Williams, I thought he looked good. It's funny how boxing works sometimes: if HBO approves Williams vs Ishida back in July, Paul wins that fight and he never gets worked by Lara, plus he never gets that "faded" label placed on him.
I'm not sure where Paul goes from here. I would like to see him fight Canelo, but I think Paul looked good enough that GB won't let that happen. Maybe Kirkland? Who knows.
Sidenote: that was a %%* @*% move David Haye did. Like, dude, you're a fighter. There's no reason why you should be using any kind of weapon in a physical altercation.
 
Weekend wrap-up.

Spoiler [+]
Saturday at Munich, Germany

Vitali Klitschko W12 Dereck Chisora
Heavyweight
Retains a heavyweight title
Scores: 119-111, 118-110 (twice)
Records: Klitschko (44-2, 40 KOs); Chisora (15-3, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: We already knew that Klitschko, even at 40, was a dominant heavyweight champion and one of the best big men in history. Now we know he can also win a fight with one arm. Making the eighth defense of his third title reign, Ukraine's Klitschko won a rough, physical fight against England's hard-charging, but much smaller, Chisora, and he did it essentially using only his right hand. That is because Klitschko suffered a torn ligament in his left shoulder in the third round. The injury will not require surgery, but will likely keep Klitschko out of action until the fall, meaning he will miss a planned summer bout. The injury also left him unable to use his best weapon -- the jab -- with any serious impact. Instead, Klitschko took Chisora apart with right hand after right hand in a fight televised in the United States on Epix.

Klitschko threw straight rights, overhand rights and rights to the body throughout the fight and connected with a ton of them. At one point between rounds, Chisora was spitting pure blood into the bucket in his corner. For the fight, Klitschko landed 211 of 605 blows (35 percent) while Chisora was limited to landing only 163 of 359 blows (45 percent). Chisora, who showed zero class by slapping Klitschko hard across the face during the staredown after the weigh-in, took a lot of heavy shots and deserves credit for his chin and big heart. He also dished out some punishment to Klitschko, who has taken so little over the years. From the outset, Klitschko went to work with his right hand while Chisora missed wildly with a lot of shots. But between the injury and Chisora's constant pressure, Klitschko did slow down some in the middle rounds even though he never appeared in any serious danger. Chisora had predicted an eighth-round knockout, but that round came and went with little concern for Klitschko.

Even though Klitschko -- who, along with George Foreman, is the only heavyweight champion to defend the title past age 40 -- has cruised through his title reign virtually unchallenged and having won nearly every round, this was probably the toughest (and most crowd-pleasing) fight he has had since he won a vacant heavyweight title to begin his second reign against Corrie Sanders in 2004.

Although Chisora lost his second fight in a row and for the third time in four bouts, he is a lot better than that record looks. For an inexplicable reason, Chisora was out of shape at a career-heavy 261 pounds for his competitive points loss to Tyson Fury last July for his first loss. In December, Chisora was outright robbed in a horrible hometown decision in Helsinki, Finland, to Finland's Robert Helenius. But it was a good enough performance to earn him a shot at Klitschko.

After the fight, Chisora had his second fight of the night when he confronted loudmouthed former titlist David Haye, also of England. Haye had crashed the post-fight news conference to call out Klitschko and wound up in a well-publicized brawl with Chisora, who confronted him. It was a mess and a disgrace. Klitschko, the regal and classy champion that he is, watched in bemusement.



Saturday at Corpus Christi, Texas

Paul Williams W12 Nobuhiro Ishida
Junior middleweight
Scores: 120-108 (three times)
Records: Williams (41-2, 27 KOs); Ishida (24-7-2, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: For a few years, Williams, 30, of Augusta, Ga., was widely considered one of the best fighters in the world (and most exciting), not to mention a guy who many viewed as boxing's most avoided fighter. But then came a nightmarish two-fight stretch. In November 2010, middleweight champion Sergio Martinez scored the knockout of the year against Williams, a monster second-round knockout in their rematch that was as devastating a knockout as has ever happened in boxing history. Williams returned in July and faced Erislandy Lara, but even though Lara landed left hands nearly at will and seemed to clearly win the fight, Williams, who looked terrible, was awarded a majority decision that was so blatantly horrendous that New Jersey officials suspended the three judges.

Williams made his return in this Showtime event and the question was what he had left. After facing Ishida, 36, of Japan, it's hard to say because Ishida was not a top-level opponent. He is a decent fighter who made a name for himself two fights ago when he shockingly scored three knockdowns and stopped James Kirkland in the first round in the biggest upset of 2011. While he did not look overly impressive against Ishida, he was certainly good enough to pitch a shutout against a fighter he was supposed to handle with relative ease. Although Williams dominated it was a somewhat entertaining bout even though there was no doubt who was going to win.

Williams is a volume puncher and he was basically able to overwhelm Ishida with an activity level he could not match. According to the punch statistics, Williams landed 248 of 934 punches (27 percent) while Ishida landed 147 of 671 punches (22 percent). Combine Williams' far greater output, more punches landed and higher percentage of connects with the fact he was clearly the heavier hitter and you can see why this was a wipeout decision. Although there were good things about Williams' performance -- he seemed to move his head a bit more and was not so wild with his punches -- he also got hit cleanly more times than he should have and it was hard not to think about what it would have been like had he been hit by a good puncher, because Ishida is a below-average puncher. But Williams has the win and can certainly continue on in some bigger fights. It would be nice to see him face Lara again, but Williams and his team want no part of it. At least he is in a good weight class where there are several interesting possibilities. What Williams really does have left probably falls in between the two extremes: He probably won't ever return to the lofty perch he once occupied in the top five on the pound-for-pound list, but he is not as shot as some people think he is after his tough stretch.

Tavoris Cloud W12 Gabriel Campillo
Light heavyweight
Retains a light heavyweight title
Scores: 116-110, 114-112 Cloud, 115-111 Campillo
Records: Cloud (24-0, 19 KOs); Campillo (21-4-1, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: If you smell something disgusting it must be two of those scorecards in Texas, where there have been some highly questionable calls in recent years. But this one ranks right up there as former titleholder Campillo became the victim of the early front-runner for robbery of the year. Campillo, 33, of Spain, unfortunately must be pretty used to this. In his previous fight, he was hosed in a split draw in Germany against Karo Murat in a title elimination bout. In January 2010, Campillo, a southpaw with good movement and boxing ability, was badly robbed of his world title in Las Vegas, where he lost a split decision to Beibut Shumenov in a fight that absurdly was given to Shumenov in his adopted hometown. Once again, Campillo got a raw deal as heavy hitter Cloud, 30, of Tallahassee, Fla., retained his belt for the fourth time.

Campillo got off to a horrid start when Cloud dropped him twice in the first round. First it was a hard straight right hand that dumped him to his rear end and he was down again after an onslaught moments later when referee Mark Nelson properly ruled that Campillo had been held up by the ropes. Despite the early hole, Campillo kept his composure and rebounded very strongly. Campillo opened a cut over Cloud's left eye in the fourth round, took control of the fight and was very nicely outboxing Cloud. There were several rounds in which Campillo was simply the dominant fighter, although he inexplicably pretty much gave away the 12th round. But he still should have been ahead on all three scorecards when it was over.

While judge Dennis Nelson got it right with his 115-111 card for Campillo, judges Joel Elizondo (114-112) and David Robertson (116-110) stunningly had it for Cloud. Robertson's card is unfathomable and one of the most rancid you will ever see. Showtime's announcing crew was befuddled by the decision. The crowd in the American Bank Center booed loudly. Ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. tweeted that it was "one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to announce." Campillo's camp will protest the result to the IBF, which has a good history of ordering rematches in controversial fights. Robertson and Elizondo need to be called in to explain their scorecards to Texas officials.

The punch statistics, usually a solid guide to a fight, favor Campillo in a major way. Cloud landed 147 of 712 punches (21 percent) while Campillo landed 187 of 670 punches (28 percent). Those stats are fairly close, but in power connects -- meaning non-jabs -- Campillo dominated. He landed 148 of 444 punches (33 percent), more than doubling the landed power shots of Cloud, who landed 71 of 368 punches (19 percent). Campillo landed more power shots in nine of the 12 rounds. This was a darn good fight with a terrible ending.

Cristobal Arreola KO1 Eric Molina
Heavyweight
Records: Arreola (35-2, 30 KOs); Molina (18-2, 14 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Well that was fun wasn't it? The fight did not last long -- just 2 minutes, 30 seconds -- but it was action packed. Arreola, 30, of Riverside, Calif., who fought five times in 2011 as boxing's most active heavyweight contender, kicked off 2012 in powerful fashion. Fighting Molina, 29, of Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Arreola was facing a blown up cruiserweight. But Molina can apparently crack because, with about a minute left in the opening round, he nailed Arreola with a right hand. Arreola was clearly hurt and his legs were a bit wobbly, but he quickly regained his bearings and went to work. He bulled Molina into a corner and they were both swinging away, but Arreola creamed him with a flush overhand right. Molina, trained by former heavyweight titleholder Oliver McCall, slithered down the ropes to his backside and was done as referee Jon Schorle counted him out. It was quick and exciting. The fight was televised on Showtime Extreme, one of the network's multiplex stations which will regularly show undercard action from Showtime cards the same night. This was the first time the network did it and it got off to a rousing start. Arreola, who was stopped in the 10th round of a title shot against Vitali Klitschko in 2009, likely will get another title shot against brother Wladimir Klitschko at some point this year provided he keeps winning and Klitschko retains his title on March 3. The win was Arreola's seventh in a row since a majority decision loss to Tomasz Adamek in April 2010.

Malik Scott W8 Kendrick Releford
Heavyweight
Scores: 80-72 (twice), 79-73
Records: Scott (33-0, 11 KOs); Releford (22-16-2, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: A decade ago, Scott was considered a rising prospect, one of America's top young heavyweights to watch. But then most realized he was unwatchable because he put everyone to sleep with one boring decision after another against overmatched opponents he should have been getting rid of. After more eight-round decisions than anyone cared to remember, he earned the nickname "80-72" because he had so much talent that he won virtually each bout by a shutout decision. Nobody ever questioned Scott's talent. It was his desire to actually fight that was in doubt. After another 80-72 win against no-chin journeyman Raphael Butler in December 2008, Scott, 31, of Philadelphia, stopped fighting. He ballooned up in weight and more or less disappeared. Now he claims he is dedicated again to fighting and returned to face Releford, 30, a professional opponent from Fort Worth, Texas. In fact, in 2006, Scott outpointed Releford -- you guessed it -- 80-72 on one scorecard (and 79-73 on the other two). In the rematch, Scott once again outpointed Releford by his favorite score, sending Releford to his third consecutive defeat. However, Scott was not his usual boring self. He actually tried to make it a fight. He threw punches in combination and worked well to the body. He's probably never going to be a thrilling fighter to watch, but this showing was certainly a positive.



Saturday at Mexicali, Mexico

Jorge Arce KO5 Lorenzo Parra
Junior featherweight
Records: Arce (60-6-2, 46 KOs); Parra (31-4-1, 18 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Congratulations to Arce, one of boxing's lovable action fighters, for reaching his milestone 60th professional victory, a number not too many fighters reach these days. Arce did it in good style as he dismantled former flyweight titlist Parra, 33, of Venezuela, in the main event of a card televised on Azteca America in the United States. Arce, 32, of Mexico, and Parra were meeting in a rematch of their September 2010 first battle when they fought to a split draw in a junior featherweight title eliminator. With this dominant performance, Arce has won five fights in a row since, including all three of his bouts in a big 2011 during which he won a junior featherweight title from Wilfredo Vazquez on a 12th-round knockout upset and a vacant bantamweight belt via lopsided decision against Angky Angkota two fights later. But Arce is going to vacate his bantamweight belt and took this fight with Parra at junior featherweight knowing that a victory would probably set him up for a challenge against junior featherweight titlist Nonito Donaire -- who won the belt Arce vacated earlier this month -- later in the year. Arce had problems with Parra in their first fight, but not this time. He tore into him and rolled over him. Arce dropped him four times overall. He scored a knockdown in the third round when he landed a flush straight right hand that sent Parra bouncing off the ropes and down. In the fourth round, Arce scored two more knockdowns as he dug left hooks to the body. And in the fifth round, Arce continued to pound Parra's body. He landed series of left hooks to his flanks to drop him again. Parra was done. He pulled out his mouthpiece and took the full count from referee Juan Jose Ramirez, who reached 10 at 1 minute, 2 seconds. While another big fight looms for Arce against Donaire, Parra lost his second in a row and is 0-2-1 in his past three fights, the draw being the first fight with Arce.



Saturday at Montreal

Adonis Stevenson KO1 Jesus Gonzalez
Super middleweight
Title eliminator
Records: Stevenson (17-1, 14 KOs); Gonzalez (27-2, 14 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Boom! It's only February, but we have our first knockout of the year candidate as Stevenson simply erased Gonzalez with a thunderous left hand to move one fight closer to a mandatory shot with 168-pound titleholder Lucian Bute of Montreal. Working with Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward for the first time, Stevenson looked very good. He needed just 99 seconds to destroy Gonzalez, 27, of Phoenix, a one-time top prospect. In his previous fight, in July, Gonzalez won a unanimous decision in a brutal ESPN2 fight with Francisco Sierra. Gonzalez withstood many tremendous shots and although he got knocked down, he still won the fight. Against Stevenson, 34, a native of Haiti living in Quebec, he never knew what hit him. Stevenson, a southpaw, missed with a sweeping right jab and then slammed him with a full force, fight-ending left hand to the face. Gonzalez went down hard and smacked his head on the canvas as referee Marlon Wright immediately called off the fight at 1 minute, 39 seconds. It was a frightening scene as Gonzalez was on his back, his hands were outstretched in the air and his legs were slightly off the canvas, literally twitching. Just a sick, sick knockout. Stevenson won his fourth consecutive fight -- each coming by knockout -- against decent opposition. It is time to see some of him on American television.



Saturday at Copenhagen, Denmark

Brian Magee KO5 Rudy Markussen
Super middleweight
Records: Magee (36-4-1, 25 KOs); Markussen (37-3, 24 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In March 2011, Magee, 36, of Northern Ireland, got a shot at super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute. Magee put up a brave performance but was knocked out in the 10th round. In his next fight, Magee was given a shot at one of the WBA's pointless interim titles and won the vacant belt in July. The belt is of particular irrelevance at super middleweight since the real titleholder is unified champion Andre Ward, who is the class of the 168-pound weight class, not to mention that the wretched WBA also has a "regular" titleholder in Karoly Balzsay, meaning Magee is the third of three beltholders the organization recognizes. Magee is a pretty good fighter with a real fighting spirit. For his first defense, he went to the hometown of Markussen, 34, who was retired from 2006 to 2010. After coming back, Markussen won four fights in a row to set up his shot against Magee. They fought basically on even terms through the first four rounds but Magee, a southpaw, ended it suddenly. Magee smashed Markussen in the ribs with a left that sent him down to his knees and Markussen was counted out at 2 minutes, 35 seconds by referee Stanley Christodoulou as he was trying to get to his feet.



Friday at Santa Ynez, Calif.

Thomas Dulorme KO1 Aris Ambriz
Welterweight
Records: Dulorme (14-0, 11 KOs); Ambriz (16-3-1, 8 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Simply put, Dulorme, 22, of Puerto Rico, is one of the most exciting prospects in boxing and he did nothing to dampen any enthusiasm with the way he drilled Ambriz in the main event of Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation." Granted, Ambriz, 26, of Azusa, Calif., was not a top opponent. In fact, he was a late substitute for Jose Reynoso, who bowed out two weeks before the fight with a hip injury. But Dulorme has beaten some solid opponents already, including in his past two bouts -- former junior welterweight titleholder/gatekeeper DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley and former welterweight title challenger Charlie Jose Navarro. And even though Ambriz, who is 3-3 in his past six fights and was in his first scheduled 10-round fight, was a relatively soft touch, the way Dulorme disposed of him is the way a fighter makes fans -- with an energetic style and a big knockdown. Dulorme rocked Ambriz with a right hand and then dropped him with a powerful left hook. Ambriz was a bit wobbly when he made it to his feet and Dulorme was all over him. He nailed him with a few shots and then blasted him with a right hand. Ambriz went down on his back by the ropes and referee David Mendoza immediately called off the fight at 2 minutes, 12 seconds. Dulorme has star potential.

Jonathan Gonzalez W10 Billy Lyell
Junior middleweight
Scores: 98-92, 97-93 (twice)
Records: Gonzalez (15-0, 13 KOs); Lyell (24-11-2, 5 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Gonzalez, 22, was a top amateur and 2008 Olympian for Puerto Rico. Now he is one of the finest prospects in boxing. He is moving rather quickly, too. In his previous fight he dominated former welterweight contender Richard Gutierrez for a near-shutout decision in June and now he has a solid victory against Lyell, 27, of Youngstown, Ohio. Gonzalez worked hard for the victory against the experienced Lyell, who fought Sebastian Sylvester for a middleweight title in 2010 and has also faced Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (who went on to win a middleweight belt) and beaten John Duddy. This was the kind of win in which Gonzalez did not look spectacular and it won't go down as a memorable action fight (although it was a pretty good scrap). But it was a tremendous learning fight for Gonzalez. He got in quality rounds against an experienced veteran in Lyell, whose Youngstown compatriot, former middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik, watched from ringside. Gonzalez got the better of the action most of the time. He just seemed a bit bigger and stronger than Lyell, who suffered a cut over his left eye in the final minute of the fight.



Friday at Arlington, Texas

Mike Dallas Jr. W10 Miguel Gonzalez
Junior welterweight
Scores: 100-89, 100-90 (twice)
Records: Dallas Jr. (18-2-1, 7 KOs); Gonzalez (20-3, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Dallas, 26, of Bakersfield, Calif., was a rising prospect whose career skidded off the mark in 2011. He fought twice on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" and lost both fights, getting knocked out by Josesito Lopez in the seventh round in January and then dropping a majority decision to Mauricio Herrera in June. But Dallas kicked off 2012 in strong fashion as he returned to the series as the headliner and rolled past Gonzalez, 26, of Cleveland. Dallas pitched a shutout in a fight that he totally dominated despite suffering a cut over his left in the second round as a result of an accidental head-butt. Dallas was quicker to the punch than Gonzalez, peppering him with quick combinations to rack up points throughout the fight. Dallas recently switched trainers. He now works with 2011 trainer of the year Virgil Hunter, who guides super middleweight champion Andre Ward, and the union obviously paid off against Gonzalez, a southpaw who came into the bout with the health of his left hand in question. It had been in a cast just two weeks before the fight.

Shawn Estrada W8 Terrance Woods
Cruiserweight
Scores: 80-72 (twice), 78-74
Records: Estrada (14-0, 12 KOs); Woods (9-4, 6 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: For such a bad fight there sure was a lot of drama. It is just too bad that it had nothing to do with the action in the ring. Instead it all centered on Estrada's shocking weight. Estrada, 26, of East Los Angeles, signed a contract to face Woods, 32, of Bay City, Texas, at 172 pounds. A week before the fight Estrada's management called Woods' management to renegotiate the weight, which they did to 173 pounds. The morning of Thursday's weigh-in, the Woods camp was informed that Estrada, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, was not going to make weight, but no more details were given. Promoter Dan Goossen's team also asked that Woods come in at 175 or heavier. Incredibly, Estrada weighed in at 196 pounds, a whopping 24 over the original contract weight. That makes chronic weight blowers Jose Luis Castillo and Joan Guzman look like true professionals. In order for the fight to be allowed to go on, Estrada did shed four pounds after the weigh-in, Woods put on weight to get up to 177 pounds and the contract was renegotiated. It meant that they were officially separated by 15 pounds, which is the maximum allowed under Texas rules. With the obvious manipulation of the rule, this fight probably should not have been allowed to go on. But it did and it was not remotely competitive, despite the horrendous 78-74 scorecard turned in by Erwin Sparks. As ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas asked after the scores were read, "Was he taking punches?" Estrada manhandled Woods for most of the fight. He hammered him so badly in the second and seventh rounds that they could have easily been scored 10-8 rounds even though there were no knockdowns. This was just a bad fight under bad circumstances. It's a good thing Woods did not get seriously hurt even though he took enormous punishment. All credit to the heart he displayed. Estrada needs to think long and hard about whether he wants to be a professional fighter. If he does, he will need to act like it.
 
Originally Posted by Beermann2

Just saw the latest episode of freddy roach on HBO and in the end, m. Konz telling Freddie that manny was mad @ Alex ariza. Did u guys see that? Is Konz starting drama?
Click to expand...

I didn't see the episode...  But Koncz and Ariza have had beef for the past few years now and Koncz has been wanting Ariza fired for a long time... especially since Ariza put hands on him in the PI
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New York, Nevada, and the 6:1 T/E Ratio problem in Boxing

--

By Gabriel Montoya

On February 7 of this year, I wrote a story called “Texas Stumbles into the Drug Testing Era.â€
 
Missed posting up some news but a couple good fights got made:

Spoiler [+]
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer and his staff are busy as ever with an array of fights in the works.

Besides the major HBO and HBO PPV fights already scheduled -- including Saturday's Devon Alexander-Marcos Maidana card, a March 24 show featuring Erik Morales against Danny Garcia, the May 5 mega pay-per-view fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto and the May 19 Lamont Peterson-Amir Khan rematch -- Schaefer is working on a whole bunch of other attractive events, which he outlined for ESPN.com.

The welterweight rematch between former titleholders Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto -- their April 2011 slugfest was one of the year's most exciting fights -- had been scheduled for Feb. 11 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. But Berto (28-1, 22 KOs) suffered a left biceps injury, and the Showtime card was postponed.

Initially, it looked as though it would be rescheduled for June 30 at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay (an MGM sister casino). However, Schaefer said the fight will be rescheduled for June 23 on Showtime, and he is attempting to move it from Las Vegas to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KOs), who won the first fight, has a solid fan base.

Schaefer said he has meetings planned with executives from AEG, the parent company of the Staples Center, to talk about the move.

"The fight will be June 23, for sure, although it could still be in Vegas," Schaefer said. "But I am working on Staples Center. There are a lot of fights in Vegas coming up and it's OK to spread it around, and it's important for the sport to have fights outside of Las Vegas. You look at a place like Los Angeles or Washington, D.C., or New York or places in Texas like El Paso or San Antonio or Houston. I think it's important to have fights in these towns on a regular basis. I think it helps the sport and the [television] ratings as well.

"When you look at the TV ratings on all platforms, they're all up year over year, and I think that's an encouraging sign. Good fights are being made. If there is an appetite for boxing and you see these ratings from across the nation, we as promoters have a responsibility to feed the fans and take some of the fights to towns across the United States. Las Vegas is and always will be the fight capital of the world, and the MGM and Mandalay Bay have a tremendous infrastructure to host these big events. But we have May 5 and May 19 there, and there are also shows on April 19 (Brandon Rios-Yuriorkis Gamboa) and June 9 (Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley Jr.), so we're talking about a lot of boxing there in a span of two months."



Tom Hogan/Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions
The only losses for Lucas Matthysse were split decisions against Zab Judah, right, and Devon Alexander.
Whether Ortiz-Berto is shifted to Los Angeles or not, Schaefer said he is moving the junior welterweight showdown between Lucas Matthysse (30-2, 28 KOs) of Argentina and former lightweight titlist Humberto Soto (57-7-2, 34 KOs) of Mexico to the card. It will open the Showtime broadcast, he said. Originally, Matthysse-Soto was scheduled for the Peterson-Khan II undercard on HBO, but Golden Boy got more money to go to Showtime with the fight.

"Ortiz and Berto is pretty darn good, but Soto-Matthysse on that card is like a cherry on top," Schaefer said. "You have a great matchup and a big-name Mexican on the card in Los Angeles."

Other shows Schaefer is working on include the following:

• A June 30 card at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., that would be on either HBO or Showtime. Golden Boy promotes top heavyweight prospect Seth Mitchell (24-0-1, 18 KOs) and featherweight Gary Russell (19-0, 11 KOs), the 2011 ESPN.com prospect of the year. Both are from the Washington, D.C., area and would appear on the card, although both have interim fights. Mitchell will be on the Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson II HBO undercard on April 28. Russell's next fight is not set but likely will be in April. He was supposed to be on the Ortiz-Berto II undercard before it was postponed.



AP Photo/Isaac Brekken
Robert Guerrero, right, has not fought since beating Michael Katsidis last April.
• Schaefer has the HP Pavilion -- better known as the "Shark Tank" -- in San Jose, Calif., on hold for a July 28 Showtime card that will feature Robert Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KOs), who is from nearby Gilroy, Calif., in his return from recent shoulder surgery. Guerrero, who has won titles at featherweight and junior lightweight and interim belts at lightweight, will skip over the junior welterweight class, moving up to welterweight to face 147-pound contender Selcuk Aydin (23-0, 17 KOs) of Turkey.

"Just because people in the U.S. haven't really seen him, Aydin is a very strong guy," Schaefer said. "He reminds me a little of Marcos Maidana. He will certainly be the biggest test Robert has had. But as well as quality of opponent, he is definitely, physically, the biggest test for Robert. He wants a real test. Beating Aydin would clearly establish Robert at 147 and open the doors to big fights with a win."

Guerrero was supposed to fight Maidana in August but withdrew a few days before the fight after suffering a rotator cuff injury that has kept him out since. Schaefer said he has reached an agreement with Guerrero on the bout as well as with Aydin's promoter, Ahmet Oner.

"I have to wrap everything up on paper, but everything has been agreed to," Schaefer said.

• Schaefer said Abner Mares (23-0-1, 13 KOs), who recently gave up his bantamweight title to move up to junior featherweight, will face former flyweight titleholder Eric Morel (46-2, 23 KOs) on April 21 on Showtime. Schaefer said the fight will be either in Cancun, Mexico, or Texas. In December, Mares outpointed Joseph Agbeko in their rematch to retain his title, and Morel won on the undercard.

Bantamweight titlist Anselmo Moreno (32-1-1, 11 KOs) would defend his belt against Mexico's David De La Mora (24-1, 17 KOs) on the televised undercard, Schaefer said. Mora's only loss came to Koki Kameda via close decision in an August bantamweight title fight. It will be Moreno's second fight in a row in a Showtime co-feature on a Mares undercard. In his first fight with Golden Boy, Moreno outpointed Vic Darchinyan to keep his belt on the Mares-Agbeko II card.

• Schaefer is also working to finalize the Mayweather-Cotto HBO PPV undercard on May 5. It already includes junior middleweight titlist Saul "Canelo" Alvarez against Shane Mosley. Schaefer said if welterweight Jessie Vargas, one of Mayweather's fighters, wins Friday night, he will be in the opening pay-per-view bout. There has been talk of a middleweight fight on the card between former undisputed junior middleweight champ Winky Wright and Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin, but Schaefer said even if he can finalize that fight, it probably will wind up on another date and not on the May 5 PPV.


Pascal-Sillakh falls apart

At the WBC's annual convention this past August, light heavyweight contenders Ismayl Sillakh and Jean Pascal, the former world champion, were ordered to meet in an elimination bout with the winner to earn a title shot against the winner of the Bernard Hopkins-Chad Dawson rematch, which will be April 28.

Pascal, who lost the title to Hopkins in May, and Sillakh both accepted the fight, and their camps were negotiating. However, Pascal and promoter Yvon Michel have ended talks. Michel said their promise to do the fight was contingent on an American television network agreeing to buy the fight, and because none has committed to it, they are moving on.



Rogerio Barbosa/AFP/Getty Images
Jean Pascal is vying for another shot at Bernard Hopkins, against whom he lost a unanimous decision.
"We agreed to do the title eliminator if we can sell the fight with Sillakh," Michel told ESPN.com. "I sat with [Sillakh promoter] John Wirt and said, 'Can you make me an offer?' We got no offer. We were waiting. [Sillakh] has no market, no fan base, no TV. So to fight him, it has to be meaningful TV and money."

Michel said becoming No. 1 contender is not important to Pascal (26-2-1, 16 KOs) because, with his fan base in Montreal and the money he generates, he can lure one of the titleholders there without being a mandatory challenger.

"If there would have been HBO or Showtime willing to buy Pascal-Sillakh, we would have done it in a minute," Michel said.

Michel also had talks with promoter Lou DiBella about a Pascal fight with former titlist Zsolt Erdei, but those talks also have fallen through.

"Jean will be back in the ring in April or May at the latest," Michel said.

He said Pascal will fight in Montreal against somebody even if it means facing a lesser-known opponent without American television.

Wirt, CEO of Square Ring, had a different view of the Pascal-Sillakh talks.

"I thought that the negotiations for the fight were going good. Yvon told me that they were going to do it and Showtime was interested," he said. "But I got a call from Yvon that Pascal has decided not to fight Sillakh, basically that Sillakh was just too young and too dangerous. That's the second time that Pascal has pulled out of agreed-to elimination bouts."

Originally, the WBC had ordered a four-man tournament to decide the mandatory challenger. Sillakh (17-0, 14 KOs) accepted, but Pascal, former titlist Erdei and Chris Henry declined to participate.

Sillakh, 27, who moved from Ukraine to Southern California, just wants to fight. He had even agreed to fight Pascal in his hometown of Montreal.

"I don't care who they put in front of me," Sillakh said. "I'm starting to feel a little lonely here. I know my promoters asked for a purse bid, but Pascal pulled out rather than face me. I hope the WBC will consider naming me the mandatory [challenger] because all of the other contenders abandoned their opportunity."


Viloria can avenge loss to Nino

Flyweight titlist Brian Viloria, a Filipino-American from Hawaii who has developed a following in the Philippines, where he has fought several times, will be there again for his second defense. He'll faces Mexico's Omar Nino in Pasig City, outside of Manila, on April 1 (March 31 in the United States).

For Viloria (30-3, 17 KOs), it will be a third chance to finally score a win against Nino after two previous fights in Las Vegas.



AP Photo/Isaac Brekken
Brian Viloria, right, has waited six years for a third chance to defeat Omar Nino.
In 2006, Viloria lost his junior flyweight title via lopsided decision to Nino. Their rematch later in 2006 was declared a draw but then changed to a no-decision because Nino (30-4-2, 12 KOs) tested positive for a banned substance and was stripped of the title.

"The fight is made, but we are tying up some of the loose ends that always go into these fights," Gary Gittelsohn, Viloria's manager, told ESPN.com. "Brian wants this fight badly, and I imagine Nino does, too. I think it's a fight that benefits both guys. Brian has a chance to avenge a loss, and Nino has a chance to win another title."

Viloria-Nino likely will be available in the U.S. on Integrated Sports pay-per-view, as was Viloria's exciting eight-round knockout of former junior flyweight champ Giovani Segura in December.

Integrated Sports PPV is also likely to carry the April 29 fight between welterweight titlist Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-0, 21 KOs) and former junior welterweight titlist Paulie Malignaggi (30-4, 6 KOs) from Ukraine.


Quick hits


• Denver junior welterweight contender Mike Alvarado is penciled in to open the April 14 HBO card from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. HBO hoped Alvarado (32-0, 23 KOs), who suffered brutal cuts in a comeback 10th-round TKO of Breidis Prescott in November on the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez III undercard, would face Ruslan Provodnikov of Russia, who has been a regular in action-packed fights on ESPN2. However, Top Rank wanted another opponent, so HBO has accepted Mauricio Herrera (18-1, 7 KOs), who handed Provodnikov his first loss in a close decision in January 2011 on ESPN2. Brandon Rios and Yuriorkis Gamboa square off in a much-anticipated lightweight showdown in the main event.

• Golden Boy Promotions announced ticket availability for the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Miguel Cotto fight on May 5 (HBO PPV) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Tickets go on sale Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET via Ticketmaster and the MGM Grand. The prices are: $1,500, $1,250, $600, $300 and $200 (excluding applicable service charges). Tickets are limited to 12 per person, only two of which can be in the $200 category. Welterweight titleholder Mayweather, who fought once before at junior middleweight and outpointed Oscar De La Hoya to win a title, is moving up in weight to challenge Cotto for his belt.

• Top Rank is putting plans together for the next middleweight title defense of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. He has no opponent yet, but he is likely to fight on June 2 or June 16 on HBO in Southern California, manager Billy Keane told ESPN.com. Those are the Saturdays on either side of Manny Pacquiao's June 9 fight with Timothy Bradley Jr. The reason for those dates and location is so trainer Freddie Roach, who trains Pacquiao and Chavez, can accommodate both training camps and fights in his schedule. Chavez also faces a March 16 hearing in Los Angeles on his Jan. 22 drunken-driving arrest.

• Former light heavyweight titlist Zsolt Erdei (33-0, 18 KOs) withdrew from a Dec. 31 title shot against Tavoris Cloud, citing a hand injury. His next fight could wind up as a title opportunity, although not against Cloud. Lou DiBella, who promotes Erdei, told ESPN.com that he is talking with promoter Don Chargin, who works with titleholder Beibut Shumenov (12-1, 8 KOs), about matching Shumenov with Erdei.

"We're discussing it. Erdei is interested, and Shumenov is interested," DiBella said. "We have to find a TV home for it, but I think there are some possibilities." DiBella said if they can work out the details they would like to put the fight on "as early as April or May." There had been discussion about Erdei going to Montreal to face former champ Jean Pascal, but those talks fell through when Erdei decided he did not want to pursue that fight, DiBella said.




Tom Casino/SHOWTIME
Jermain Taylor lost four of his previous five bouts before his TKO of Jessie Nicklow.

• DiBella also said he is talking with Showtime about an April 13 or 14 date for the return of former middleweight champ Jermain Taylor (29-4-1, 18 KOs), who ended a nearly two-year layoff after a brain injury on Dec. 30 when he knocked out Jessie Nicklow. DiBella is interested in matching Taylor with former junior middleweight titlist Joachim Alcine (33-2-1, 19 KOs), whom he also promotes. Alcine's career had been in decline, but he scored a major upset on Dec. 10 when he won a majority decision against Montreal rival David Lemieux.

Showtime is trying to figure out what it is doing with April 14, a date on which it originally planned to have super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute. But Showtime and Bute, who is under contract to the network for one more fight, are at odds over an opponent, and there may be a lawsuit brought by Bute promoter InterBox to get out of the Showtime contract, according to sources.

Showtime also has an obligation to show the postponed super middleweight title bout between Robert Stieglitz and former titlist Mikkel Kessler from Denmark. April 14 is the tentative date that it has been rescheduled for.

• The party thrown Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in celebration of Muhammad Ali's 70th birthday was taped and will air as a two-hour special on Saturday (ABC, 4 p.m. ET) with a replay on ESPN2 (10 p.m. ET). Ali was feted at the star-studded affair, which was thrown in part to raise money for brain research. Included were performances and tributes from some of the world's top entertainers and sports icons. Boxers Sugar Ray Leonard, Evander Holyfield, Leon Spinks, Thomas Hearns, Manny Pacquiao and Chuck Wepner, among others, were on hand. The list of performers and celebrity supporters included Lenny Kravitz, Stevie Wonder, Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J, John Legend, Cee Lo Green, Slash and Joe Perry.



• The critically acclaimed series "On Freddie Roach" ends its first season on Friday. The sixth episode of the series, which follows the life of the recently elected International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer as he battles Parkinson's disease while also training some of the best fighters in the world (including Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan, both of whom have been featured on the show), airs on HBO at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT. It centers on Pacquiao's third fight with Juan Manuel Marquez in November in Las Vegas.

• HBO formally announced that there will be a "24/7" series to follow the build-up to the June 9 HBO PPV fight between Pacquiao and Bradley. The four-episode series debuts on May 19 (9:45 p.m. ET). "We are really looking forward to presenting this all-new edition of '24/7' in a style that only '24/7' can deliver," HBO Sports president Ken Hershman said. "Manny and Tim have contrasting backstories, and we will spotlight these two compelling characters against the backdrop of a major title fight." Episode 2 debuts May 26, Episode 3 is June 2 and the finale airs June 8, the eve of the fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.


Marty Rosengarten for Ringsidephotos.com
Deandre Latimore has won his past two bouts since losing to Sechew Powell in March 2010.

• There has been a last-minute change of opponents for junior middleweight Deandre Latimore (22-3, 17 KOs) -- who lost a decision to Cory Spinks in a 2009 world title bout -- on the undercard of Friday night's "ShoBox" card on Showtime (11 ET/PT). Latimore was supposed to face Ryan Davis, but he dropped out after failing an eye exam and was replaced on Monday by Colombia's Milton Nunez (23-3-1, 21 KOs), whose three losses have each come by first-round knockout. In the main event, 22-year-old prospect Jessie Vargas (17-0, 9 KOs), a Floyd Mayweather Jr. protÃ[emoji]169[/emoji]gÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] who is moving from junior welterweight up to welterweight, faces 36-year-old Lanardo Tyner (25-6-2, 15 KOs), who is 1-3-2 in his past six fights.



• Puerto Rican junior featherweight contender Jonathan Oquendo (22-0, 15 KOs) suffered minor injuries, including one to his right elbow, in an ATV accident and has been scratched from his fight against Jose Nieves on the undercard of the rematch between featherweight titleholder Orlando Salido (37-11-2, 25 KOs) and Juan Manuel Lopez (31-1, 28 KOs) on May 10 (Showtime) in San Juan. Added to the card in his place was 2008 Puerto Rican Olympian and former world amateur champion McWilliams Arroyo (10-1, 9 KOs), who will face an opponent to be determined in a scheduled eight-round flyweight bout. While Salido-Lopez II and a featherweight bout between contender Miguel Angel "Mikey" Garcia (27-0, 23 KOs) and Bernabe Concepcion (34-4-1, 17 KOs) will air on Showtime, undercard bouts will air earlier in the evening on Showtime Extreme.



• Two of Golden Boy's top prospects -- junior welterweight Sharif Bogere (21-0, 13 KOs) and 2008 U.S. Olympic bronze medal-winning heavyweight Deontay Wilder (20-0, 20 KOs) -- return to action Saturday night at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on the untelevised undercard of the Devon Alexander-Marcos Maidana welterweight fight, which headlines an HBO "Boxing After Dark" card. Bogere, 23, a native of Uganda living in Las Vegas, faces Mexico's Sergio Rivera (25-8-2, 16 KOs). Wilder, who has a big right hand, faces Marlon Hayes. Also on the card is New York junior middleweight prospect Eddie Gomez (7-0, 6 KOs) facing Jose Ortiz (4-6-1, 1 KO) in a six-rounder.



• HBO debuts the next installment of "Ring Life" on March 2 (9:45 p.m. ET/PT)) with the 12-minute show featuring middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, who turned 37 on Feb. 21 and defends his crown on HBO against top contender Matthew Macklin at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York on March 17. "Ring Life" chronicles the lives of fighters as they define the spirit of boxing, balancing work, family life, training, expectations and the pursuit of their dreams. Martinez, who is from Argentina, has made Oxnard, Calif., his home base in America and has been outspoken about various social issues, including trying to bring an end to child bullying.



Quotable



Roach


"I'm just glad Manny is fighting an undefeated fighter who is more concerned about winning than he is about protecting his record."
-- Freddie Roach, welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao's trainer, comparing junior welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley Jr., Pacquiao's June 9 opponent, at this week's kickoff news conference to Floyd Mayweather Jr., with whom they could not come to terms.



"This is not figure skating. You don't just say, 'get them next time' when you get a bad decision in boxing. These men are risking their lives. They spend hundreds of hours preparing for a fight and when a fighter like Gabriel comes to a foreign country against a well-respected champion and puts on the kind of performance he did, he deserves to win fairly. These judges need to be removed so that they cannot ruin any more fights and tarnish boxing with their incompetence." -- Sampson Lewkowicz, who co-promotes former light heavyweight titlist Gabriel Campillo, on Campillo's extremely controversial split-decision loss to titleholder Tavoris Cloud on Feb. 18 on Showtime.



"Maybe when I'm 50 years old or have to use a cane to walk they'll think I'm a good opponent. When I could not throw punches or could not move anymore." -- middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, on when Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and trainer Freddie Roach will allow middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to face him.
 
Originally Posted by freakydestroyer

Originally Posted by Marvin Hagler

I can't believe Huck lost...

Huck just made me a HUGE fan today.
Click to expand...

Was Poventin the favorite?? What were the betting odds?
Click to expand...
I don't know the betting odds. But I do know Povetkin was the favorite since Huck was the one moving up from Cruiser to Heavy. 
How a judge could have it 8-4 for Povetkin BAFFLES me....
 
Originally Posted by freakydestroyer

Oh I see. How do you guys see Alexander vs Maidana? It think Alexander wins by decision.
Click to expand...

Im hoping for Maidana  to win by KO. But Alexander prolly gonna get another hometown decision.
30t6p3b.gif
 
Originally Posted by sdsolecollector23

Originally Posted by freakydestroyer

Oh I see. How do you guys see Alexander vs Maidana? It think Alexander wins by decision.
Click to expand...

Im hoping for Maidana  to win by KO. But Alexander prolly gonna get another hometown decision.
30t6p3b.gif
Click to expand...
I think Alexander is going to win more convincingly this time than his last few fights. Maidana is more predictable. Classic Boxer vs Brawler.
 
prediction: Maidana by 10th round knockout. Should be a good fight.
Thanks i thought it was a 12 round fight.
 
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