Boxing News

Boxing Preview: Miguel Cotto vs. Manny Pacquiao

By Goran Dragosavac November 14th, 2009 All Boxing Previews

Miguel Cotto defends his WBO welterweight title tonight against challenger Manny Pacquiao in a hotly anticipated clash at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV.

Pacquiao, 49-3-2 (37), comes into the bout riding a four year, 10 bout win streak at super feather, lightweight and light welter with the most recent victory coming against Ricky Hatton for the IBO 140 lb crown in May.

Cotto, 34-1 (27), a former WBO light welter and WBA welter champ, has bounced back from his sole career defeat to Antonio Margarito last year to win the vacant WBO welter crown against Michael Jennings and then defend in a difficult contest against Joshua Clottey in June.

If Cotto is to win this clash he will have to come into the ring as a fundamentally different fighter than he has shown himself to be in the past, and that is not likely to happen.

The difference between the two combatants in this bout will be Pacquiao’s movement and ring generalship, backed up with his incredible stamina and power in both hands.

Cotto’s fundamentals as a fighter are strong, however, he needs to be set to order to punch and when forced on the back foot he is vulnerable. He comes to opponents in a straight line, bobbing and weaving, and against a constantly moving target such as Pacquiao, the Puerto Rican star could be exposed the same way Oscar De la Hoya was in his fight against "Pac Man". More...

Boxing Result: Shane Mosley Shocks Antonio Margarito In Los Angeles

By Goran Dragosavac January 25th, 2009 All Boxing Results

© Hoganphotos / Golden Boy Promotions

Last night's fight between "Sugar" Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito will not be easily forgotten.

Mosley entered ring as the 4-1 underdog and almost no one believed he could pull off the upset. His only real chance of winning was to use his speed and boxing skills to outbox his opponent and neutralize WBA Welterweight Champion Margarito's constant punching output.

Perhaps the biggest reason as to why Mosley was the underdog was because he had lost against Miguel Cotto, whom Margarito made quit last year.

But this logic didn’t apply because Mosley came in a ring with a wining strategy while Cotto didn’t. More...

Boxing Perspective: Where Did It Go Wrong For Miguel Cotto?

By Goran Dragosavac July 29th, 2008 All Boxing Articles

Although everyone knew that last weekend's bout with Antonio Margarito would be very dangerous fight for Miguel Cotto, I was of opinion that Cotto’s boxing skills would prevail against the one-dimensional Margarito.

However, when i saw weight-in I was stunned to see how much Margarito appeared to be the bigger man. He was taller, with longer reach and with much bigger torso.

To me, they didn’t appear to be same weight class – even though on scales they both weighted same.

During the first six rounds of the fight, Cotto was outboxing Margarito through his lateral movements, some brilliant defensive moves, and with quick and sharp counterpunching.

In a second part of the fight, two factors that would cause Cotto’s loss, became obvious. Firstly, all the movements, and circle-running started to take its toll on Cotto’s energy levels.

Secondly, none of the punches that he threw on Margarito had much impact. Well, if you can’t hurt your opponent - you are still in fight – provided you have enough energy for all defensive and counter-punching moves to last you entire fight.

But, if you cannot neither hurt, nor outrun your opponent – at some point you will get caught, and that will be “it”. More...

Can Ricky Hatton Pull Off The Boxing Upset?

By Goran Dragosavac December 6th, 2007 All Boxing Articles

Click for larger image © Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing

Can Ricky Hatton pull off the upset against Floyd Mayweather this Saturday night in Las Vegas? According to many, no, but Hatton is used to having odds against him, and it seems that his best performances have come when the odds were stacked against him.

So, what is that he needs to do in order to win this fight? As many have said it – key in Hatton’s fight strategy must be intelligent aggression. He also needs to somehow neutralize Mayweather’s defense patterns.

And to do that he must abandon head hunting, at least in early rounds, and go for systematic body attack. Every delivered shot to the body is dollar in a Hatton’s “bank account”, and every shot missed is two dollars out – because not only that he will expand his energy quicker, he will also get mercilessly countered. More...

Boxing Perspective: Can Mosley Lose Against Cotto?

By Goran Dragosavac November 8th, 2007 All Boxing Articles

Click for larger image © Teddy Blackburn / Golden Boy Promotions

Forgive me for being bluntly open in my prediction of the outcome of this Saturday's Mosley vs. Cotto WBA Welterweight title fight at Madison Square Garden, but I just don’t see Cotto winning this one.

The way I see it, the only clear advantage that Cotto has in this fight is his age. In most of other departments, Mosley wins hands down. Whatever Cotto does in a ring, he does well, but the problem is, he doesn’t do it fast enough for a boxer of Mosley’s caliber. I am afraid that Mosley’s strength, speed, punching power and his dazzling combinations will give him the clear edge.

In a several fights against much smaller opponents, Cotto was hurt. He looked ordinary against Oktay Urkal, and in opening rounds against Zab Judah, he had no answer for Judah's speed and movement, being hit almost at will. More...

Boxing Viewpoint: Where De La Hoya Went Wrong Against Mayweather

By Goran Dragosavac May 8th, 2007 All Boxing Articles

The fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Oscar De La Hoya was truly a classic clash that will be remembered for many years to come.

I thought the fight was much closer than official stats have shown, and I could understand Oscar De La Hoya's disappointment when the decision was announced. It seems that Oscar was genuinely convinced that his advantage in power and physique would bring this fight solidly in his favor.

His strategy of being aggressive and and keeping his talented opponent on the back foot with his stiff jab before unleashing his dazzling combinations was working just fine. Unfortunately for Oscar, he didn't stick to it.

As rounds progressed, he continued to force the fight from inside, but then all of a sudden he would just stop throwing punches.

I am not sure whether this idea of abandoning the aggression and giving away the fight initiative was designed to bring Mayweather out of his defensive shell, to make him throw the punches and in doing so, to open himself to counterattack? More...

Boxing Perspective: Is Carlos Baldomir’s 15 Minutes Of Fame Coming To A Close?

By Goran Dragosavac November 3rd, 2006 All Boxing Articles

Come Saturday evening, we will know the answer to the question of whether or not Carlos Baldomir's 15 minutes of fame is coming to an end or not . The match between the Argentine WBC Champion and four weight former world champion Floyd Mayweather has been highly anticipated by boxing public, and in my view, things are not as clear cut as betting odds may suggest.

On paper, it seems that this match can go only one way and that is Mayweather's way. So far, the best "pound-for-pound" boxer seems unstoppable in his quest for greatness, and even though he is in his toughest fight to date by challenging the true and legitimate linear welterweight champion, that doesn't seem to faze anyone into giving Floyd much chance of losing against Baldomir.

And, it seems that the only person who believes that Baldomir can actually win the fight is Carlos Baldomir himself. Well, not exactly the only person as there are few writers out there who think that Baldomir's chance of wining are much bigger than bookmakers suggest, and I am certainly one of them. More...

Boxing Analysis: Can Zab Judah Pull Off An Upset Against Floyd Mayweather?

By Goran Dragosavac April 8th, 2006 All Boxing Previews

A lot has been written about this coming matchup between Floyd Mayweather and Zab Judah, and anticipation is certainly running high among the boxing public even though Judah's loss against Carlos Baldomir has somewhat deflated interest for this bout. As result of that loss, by and large many boxing pundits think that Judah's chances of pulling an upset are so small that many view this fight as a

formality for Mayweather before he moves on to greater things in his career.

When Bob Arum said that Judah performs best when "his back is against the wall", I could not agree more with this statement. Both fighters in a past had a habit of showing disrespect to their opponents but the difference was that it seems in Judah's case this overconfidence (called arrogance by some) often translated into a loss of focus not only during the preparation for the fight, but during the fight as well. I doubt this will happen against Mayweather, and therefore I believe that boxing fans will get much more competitive match then they really expect. More...

Boxing Preview: Zahir Raheem - Acelino Freitas

By Goran Dragosavac February 17th, 2006 All Boxing Previews

Can "Z-Man" Defeat "Popo"?

As announced, Acelino Freitas and Zahir Raheem will cross their gloves at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut on April 29. It is certainly an interesting matchup and I am glad that it is taking place. For Zahir Raheem, this is a great opportunity to prove to the boxing public that his win against Morales was by no means a fluke. For Freitas, this is a redemption fight. After fighting just single round in 2005, against an overmatched opponent, this is Popo's chance to make a real comeback.

Both fighters have had loses recently, Raheem a somewhat controversial decision against Rocky Juarez three bouts ago, while Freitas has his WBO Lightweight title to Diego Corrales. Much has been made of the Brazilian's loss in a media, and that was very unfortunate. He had a big lead when he ran out of energy, dropped his defense and ended up getting knocked down three times before quitting. More...

Boxing Profile: What Is Going On With Acelino Freitas?

By Goran Dragosavac December 29th, 2005 All Boxing Articles

There is old saying that goes, “It is not what happens to you that counts, it is how you react to it!" It seems that Acelino Freitas’s negative mental reaction to his loss to Diego Corrales last August has created far more damage then the mere loss of a fight regardless how brutal that loss might have been. After winning almost all the rounds against Corrales up until the eighth and ninth frames, Freitas ran out of the gas and got knocked down twice before the quitting. The majority of the boxing public scorned him for quitting while a few of us were saying that quitting in circumstances when a fighter knows that he cannot turn the fight around is a wise decision as it allows him to come back and fight another day.

Well, the boxing public is still waiting for Freitas to come and fight another day. After having couple of bouts with opponents ranked below the top hundred, Freitas seems to be drifting away further and further from the boxing limelight. I wonder how can a single loss destroy fighter’s confidence so much? The answer to that lies solely in psychology and not so much in boxing. Freitas was treated in his native Brazil like a demigod. What Naseem Hamed was to his fans in Sheffield, England, Acelino was to millions of his fans in Brazil. More...