Boxing News

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

This Saturday on August 22, Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz will return to the ring to face Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi at the Toyota Center in his hometown of Houston, Texas. The bout will be at a catch-weight of 138.5 pounds and for some is being considered a cross-roads fight for the two fighters.

Malignaggi 26-2 (5) is one fight removed from a one-sided TKO loss to Ricky Hatton which was stopped by his trainer Buddy McGirt. After a unanimous decision against lightly regarded Christopher Fernandez in April the “Magic Man” was scheduled to face Mike Alvarado who pulled out of their proposed show down. With limited options available, Malignaggi accepted an offer to fight Diaz at a catch-weight of 138.5 which is the first time he has fought under the junior welterweight limit for some time.

Diaz 34-2 (17) is coming off the second loss in his career when he was stopped last February by pound-for-pound champion Juan Manuel Marquez. The “Baby Bull” was applying pressure well and winning the early rounds of the Marquez showdown until he was cut badly in the eighth round and later knocked down twice in round nine, where the fight was waved off by the referee.

Saddoboxing had the privilege of speaking to Diaz in an exclusive interview to discuss his upcoming bout with Malignaggi. More...

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

Upon hearing the tragic news about Arturo Gatti’s death, like many, I was devastated. As the details began to unravel in the days that followed, disbelief was replaced with reality in what a senseless death it was.

Unlike many fans of the sport, I became a Gatti fan later in his career. I didn’t jump on the bandwagon per se, I was just not aware of him until becoming a more avid boxing fan.

I have been a casual fan of boxing for as long as I can remember. I would watch what people consider the “big fights” and knew most of the mainstream fighters. 2003 is when I truly became a serious fan, courtesy of Arturo Gatti. More...

© Mark De Mori

The heavyweights were once the glamour division of boxing but in recent years has come under harsh criticism for lack of talent, excitement and a true unified champion. Eastern European heavyweights currently dominate the division and the U.S. are pushing their best candidates forward with Eddie Chambers and Chris Arreola hoping they can get a piece of the alphabet titles.

The heavyweight division is in desperate need of new talent, a young fighter that can come up the ranks and be entertaining to watch. Enter Mark “The Dominator” De Mori from Perth , Australia . He’s a 27 years old orthodox fighter, 6’2”, 233 lbs and at first glance looks more like a body builder than a boxer, but don’t let his muscles fool you because in addition to his dominating right he can box well and is able to get very low as he bobs and weaves his way forward.

Admittedly De Mori was a one dimensional fighter early in the pro ranks, dominating his opponents most by knockout, but after suffering a knockout loss he took some time off to become a more complete fighter. The time off and on the job training has worked well for “The Dominator” as he improved his record to 15-1-2 (13).

SaddoBoxing had the privilege to get an exclusive interview with De Mori to get a closer look at this up and coming heavyweight. More...

Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade Miguel Cotto proved that he has the heart of a champion retaining his WBO Welterweight title with a hard fought split decision victory over Joshua Clottey in front of nearly 18,000 fans.

In a fight that could have gone to either fighter the judges scored in favor of Cotto by scores of 116-111 and 115-112 while the score for Clottey was 114-113. Although many rounds could have been awarded to either fighter I felt Cotto had won a close decision by a score of 115-112.

The first round was one of the previously mentioned that could have gone to either fighter until Cotto 34-1 (27) delivered a jab near the end of the round that dropped Clottey 35-3 (21). It appeared to be a flash knock-down from a well-timed jab that caught Clottey as he was unbalanced.

After some back and forth action Cotto suffered a severe cut over his left eye from an accidental head-butt at the end of round three, which would bother him for the rest of the fight. In the post fight interview Cotto would later say that he could not see Clottey’s right coming for the last five rounds of the fight.

The fifth round was all Clottey as he took advantage of Cotto who was obviously bothered by the cut landing several accurate punches as Cotto pawed at the blood streaming from his eye. Clottey’s momentum in the round was interrupted when he came in on Cotto getting hung up on his shoulder and fell face first into the canvas as Cotto shrugged him off. More...

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

At the lobby of the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Top Rank held a final press conference to promote the Welterweight Championship fight between undefeated WBO titlist Miguel Cotto, 33-1 (27), and Joshua Clottey, 35-2 (21).

The bout will be televised live on HBO this Saturday, June 13 at Madison Square Garden, New York, NY.

Promoter Bob Arum not only spoke about the upcoming title fight, but also took time to speak about Cotto’s involvement in the Wounded Warriors Project. “It’s great when one of our champions takes on a cause from the bottom of his heart. Miguel Cotto has taken on the cause of the United States Wounded Warriors.” More...

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

DiBella Entertainment and Winters Boxing brought the fights back to Long Island and the Westbury Music Fair, now the Capital One Bank Theater at Westbury, NY.

The action packed card was headlined by Pawel Wolak, whose pressure style of fighting earned him a unanimous decision against Contender alum Vinroy Barrett.

The history of the Music Fair goes much beyond boxing and was originally a tent that was raised with the hope of bringing Broadway to Long Island.

The first performance on June 18, 1956, starred Charles Korvin and Constance Carpenter in “The King and I” and nearly ten years later, the tent was replaced with a round fully enclosed theater. More...

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© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

K2 Promotions made the last stop of their press tour at BB Kings Blues Club in New York City yesterday to announce the upcoming title bout between IBF, IBO and WBO Heavyweight Champion Dr. Wladimir “Steelhammer” Klitschko 52-3 (46) against David “The Hayemaker” Haye 22-1 (21), set for June 20th at Veltins-Arena Stadium in Schalke, Germany.

The trash-talking Haye was not at a loss for words or t-shirts as he spoke to the media sporting a black t-shirt which had an image of Haye holding the decapitated heads of both Wladimir and his brother WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko over their lifeless bloody bodies.

During the press conference Haye later changed into a makeshift I Love NY t-shirt that he had modified. “I had to change my t-shirt this time around”, said Haye “here you go, I love KLIT.” More...

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© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

Yesterday at the famous Gallagher’s Steakhouse in New York City, DiBella Entertainment held a final press conference to promote “Continents Collide” the Super Middleweight Championship fight between undefeated WBC titlist Carl Froch 24-0 (19) and Jermain Taylor 28-2-1 (17).

The bout will be televised live on Showtime this Saturday, April 25 at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT.

“It’s good to be back in the limelight, almost in the number one position”, said Taylor . “I’ve been here before and it’s a great feeling.

"In my last fight with Jeff Lacy I don’t think I saw any of you reporters there, only a couple of cameras and they were throw aways. I missed this, I missed being in the number one position and I have to go through Carl Froch to get it.” More...

Main Event Boxing Series will host their latest installment on Friday, April 24 live from The Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey with middleweight contender “Ireland’s” John Duddy, 26-0 (17), stepping into the ring against Billy Lyell, 18-7 (3).

Although the doors open at 8:00 PM, the fans will be treated to a multi-ethnic festival that begins at 6:00 PM at Entry Plaza, at the corner of Mulberry and Edison Streets. The Fan Festival will include Irish music and dancers, food and access to meet some of the fighters. The entertainment will continue throughout the night with the Irish bagpipe band "The Shots" performing throughout the evening.

SaddoBoxing had the opportunity to speak with John Duddy in an exclusive phone interview to discuss his upcoming bout.

SaddoBoxing: This Friday you will be stepping into the ring at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ against Billy Lyell; how was your training camp in preparation for the fight?

John Duddy: “Training camp went great; I had a short time between camps. Me and Patrick started where we left off after our last fight, we have been working hard on a lot of things leading up to this fight and we are just looking forward to fighting.” More...

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City Miguel Cotto regained the WBO Welterweight Title by sending Michael Jennings to the canvas three times before the referee stopped the bout at 2:36 of round five.

After his loss to Margarito last year, Cotto 33-1 (27) was looking to regain not only his confidence but also a world title. Mentally, the confidence may have been the bigger challenge; coming back after a brutal loss, having HBO pass on broadcasting your fight and entering the ring at Madison Square Garden to a crowd of 11,120 fans instead of the sell-out crowds that you have grown accustomed.

Regardless of the challenge Cotto was ready and proved to himself and his fans that he is still a dominant force in the welterweight division.

In a tactical opening round Jennings back peddled while Cotto primarily used his jab throwing only a few combinations. More...

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© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

Yesterday at Madison Square Garden’s WaMu Theater in New York City, Top Rank hosted their final press conference for their “Two World Title Fights – One Night” Pay-Per-View event which will take place this Saturday, February 21 hosted from two locations.

The evening will begin at the “Mecca of Boxing” Madison Square Garden in New York City where Two-Time World Champion Miguel Cotto 32-1 (26) will face Michael Jennings 34-1 (16) for the vacant WBO Welterweight Title. The broadcast location will then shift to Youngstown, OH where WBC & WBO Middleweight Champion Kelly Pavlik 34-1 (30) will face number one rated Marco Antonio Rubio 43-4-1 (38).

Cotto will not only look to regain the welterweight title but also come back from the first loss of his career last July to Antonio Margarito. More...

This past weekend, SaddoBoxing had the opportunity to speak with Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz in an exclusive interview as he completes his preparation to face the Ring Lightweight Champion Juan Manuel Marquez on February 28 at the Toyota Center in his hometown of Houston, Texas.

In 2008, Diaz, 34-1 (17), suffered his first loss, losing the WBA, WBO and IBF Lightweight titles via split decision to Nate Campbell. Consequently in his first title defense, Cambell lost the belts this past weekend, not in the ring but on the scales, unable to make the 135 pound weight limit.

The bout with Campbell was the Houston native’s last contractual fight with promoter Don King, who also promoted Nate Campbell.

After signing with Golden Boy Promotions, the "Baby Bull" charged back from his first loss refusing to take an “easy” comeback fight, winning a split decision victory against hard-hitting Michael Katsidis last September.

Although Diaz’s upcoming fight with Ring Lightweight Champion Marquez, 49-4-1 (36), is against the biggest name he has faced in his career, Diaz doesn’t seem to be phased. He is able to work harder than ever before, still take his college courses and is scheduled to graduate in May. More...

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

On Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Joe Calzaghe kept his undefeated record intact by putting on a dominating performance against Roy Jones Jr.

Calzaghe, 46-0 (32), rose from the canvas in the first round and not only recovered but won every other round against Jones, 52-5 (38), in front of 14,000 fans by scores of 118-109 on all three of the judge's scorecards.

Before getting into the fight, I would like to paint an atmosphere picture for the readers to get an idea of the British presence in New York City. As I approached Madison Square Garden, walking down 33rd street and passing by a string of a few different bars and pubs, I could see that not only were most of them filled, but also people spilling into the streets, laughing, having fun and talking about how Calzaghe was going to win a victory against Jones. More...

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

Tonight at Madison Square Garden, Brooklyn favorite Dmitriy Salita, 28-0-1 (16), will face Derrick Campos, 17-5 (10), for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Light Welterweight title on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones, Jr.

It is a night that Salita hoped he would be fighting for the WBA Light Welterweight title but unfortunately for him it’s something that he has only been “close to signing” on a couple of occasions, but has never come to fruition.

Salita is ranked number three by the WBA; looking back a little over a year ago he was hoping to line up a title match against then champion Gavin Rees. Rees lost the title to the WBA number one ranked Andriy Kotelnik in March of this year.

Kotelnik went on to win a voluntary defense of the title in September and was close to signing a contract to face Salita but withdrew due to an apparent rib injury. After hearing of the news, Salita issued an open letter to Kotelnik, “Last week it was your rib, and this week it's the money, make up your mind which excuse will be used not to take the fight. It is obvious to me that you don't want to fight me.”

Forced to find another opponent, Salita remains upbeat and is focused on the task at hand knowing that he needs to keep winning regardless of the opponent to get his title shot. More...

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

This Saturday night Emanuel Augustus will step into the ring at Madison Square Garden for the first time in his career to fight on the undercard of Joe Calzaghe and Roy Jones, Jr. He will face local New York favorite Francisco Figueroa 19-2 (13) as a late replacement for Figueroa’s original opponent Gavin Rees who pulled out of the fight last week due to a broken nose.

Augustus 38-29-6 (23) has one of the most deceiving records in the sport of boxing and has made a career out of taking fights on short notice. He has had his share of being on the wrong side of bad decisions and losing close battles, but win, lose or draw he is always entertaining. Floyd Mayweather was quoted as saying, “Augustus was the toughest opponent that he has faced in his career.”

In 2001 Augustus received the honor of Ring magazine’s “Fight of the Year” for his battle with Micky Ward in which over 2000 punches were thrown during the fight in back and forth action. Although the fight was very close Ward received a unanimous decision.

The most heinous decision he received in his career was his 2004 split decision loss to Courtney Burton. In the fourth round Augustus landed two solid body shots that put Burton on his knees which the referee ruled a low blow and provided Burton with five minutes to recover. More...

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

On Saturday, November 8, 2008, two of boxing’s best will step into the ring at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the “Mecca of Boxing”, in an HBO PPV event dubbed “Battle of the Superpowers”.

Undefeated Light Heavyweight Champion Joe “Super” Calzaghe, 45-0 (32), will face eight-time world champion “Superman” Roy Jones Jr., 52-4 (38), in the twelve round main event for the Ring Light Heavyweight Championship.

In addition to the 24/7 coverage that has been running on HBO, the fighters had a busy week with a media workout on Monday and a final press conference at BB King’s Blues Club in New York City yesterday, where many of the attendees were still buzzing over the victory of President-elect Barack Obama.

Jones’ trainer Alton Merkerson said, “I would like to say that I think everyone is pleased that the campaign for the Commander in Chief is over. It was a long campaign. It is time to try to bring this nation back to where it is supposed to be. More...

Click for larger image © Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

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Undefeated Light Heavyweight Champion Joe Calzaghe and eight-time world champion, Roy Jones, Jr., held a media workout at Kingsway Boxing Gym in New York City in preparation for their “ Battle of the Superpowers” boxing card which will take place at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Calzaghe, 45-0 (32), was upbeat and in a bit of a jovial mood as he arrived to the gym. After answering some brief questions as he wrapped his hands, he joked with the media about wanting to be sure his hair was in place.

After loosening up in a ring surrounded by photographers, Calzaghe put on an impressive display of speed, accuracy and power as he worked the hand mitts with his father Enzo. After two rounds of working the mitts, he did some shadowboxing, slipping and moving well as he spent time peering into media cameras smiling and posing. More...

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© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

On Saturday October 18, 2008 one of boxing’s legends will step into the ring at Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, NJ to face one of the hardest hitting young champions in the sport today. The same city where he lost his professional debut twenty years ago could very well be where his career comes full circle and end by being knocked out, which would be the first time in his long career.

Bernard Hopkins 48-5-1 (32) has accomplished more in his career than most fighters can dream. He became the middleweight champion in 1994 and defended his title a record twenty times through 2005 before finally losing to Jermain Taylor in two controversial decisions. The forty-three year old veteran is 2-3 in his last five fights; after facing Taylor he won unanimous decision victories over Antonio Tarver and Winky Wright and most recently a split decision loss to Joe Calzaghe earlier this year.

Enter Kelly Pavlik 34-0 (30) who is the biggest puncher Hopkins has faced since defeating Felix Trinidad in 2001. With a knockout percentage of 88% Pavlik packs a bigger punch than any opponent he has ever faced.

During this week’s final press conference at BB King’s Blues Club in New York City Hopkins attempted to goad Pavlik into a wager about the possibility of him getting knocked out. More...

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© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

“Manny! Manny! Manny!” shouted the Filipino fans as Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao kicked off their six-city press tour at Liberty Island Wednesday afternoon in New York City. Although both the Filipino and Latino fans came out to support their fighters it was the Filipinos that drowned out much of the press conference with their cheers for the #1 pound for pound champion, Pacquiao.

The two fighters will meet in “The Dream Match” on December 6th at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada in a bout that sold out in a matter of hours with a gross gate of almost $17 million, making it the second largest gate in boxing history.

Pacquiao 47-3-2 (35) is considered by most to be the best pound for pound fighter in the sport today. In his last bout he moved up to lightweight to defeat David Diaz for the WBC title and will be moving up two additional weight classes to welterweight where he will face De La Hoya

“I know you are excited to see me on December 6 in Las Vegas,” said Pacquiao. “I assure you I’m more excited than you! Some people are criticizing me; some are saying I’m taking this fight for the money. I will prove all the critics wrong, it will be a great boxing match.” More...