Boxing News

Fighter of the Year: Manny Pacquiao

While it was another entertaining year of boxing, there wasn’t one fighter that truly stood out after Carlos Baldomir took the loss against Floyd. But if I had to pick one, I am going with the PacMan who basically ended the career of legendary yet fading Erik Morales over two fights and in between put a severe beating on Oscar Larios in the Philippines.

The promotional free agent was thought to have signed with Golden Boy but at the zero hour changed his mind and went with Top Rank so that might put a damper on a rematch in 2007 against Marco Antonio Barrera. If that fight doesn’t shape up how about a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez or giving Joan Guzman a shot? What ever comes about, you can always count on Pacquaio to give a crowd pleasing performance.

Runner up: tie between Carlos Baldomir and Miguel Cotto

Carlos Baldomir had a run for the ages in 2006 by coming out of nowhere to beat two of the welterweight division best on their home turf. Wins over Zab Judah and Arturo Gatti earned his a shot at the number 1 pound for pound in the world Floyd Mayweather, and like many others before him found himself in the losers bracket. Boxing is a cold sport and one loss usually drops you from consideration for anything but I think Tata still can offer a lot and pull more upsets. If anything he can provide a solid test for any up and comer shooting through the ranks. What Baldomir did in 2006 should not go unnoticed and hopefully he stays around a while longer.

Miguel Cotto finished 2005 strong and built on that momentum in 2006 winning three times against fighters with a combined record of 80 – 1. His latest victory, an impressive 4th round TKO of previously undefeated Carlos Quintana, has catapulted his name into the upper echelon of the sport and puts him in prime position to gain a money fight against the best in the business. Cotto is another crowd pleaser who gives it his all every time out and before long I wouldn’t be surprised to see him recognized as the undisputed welterweight champ. More...

Click for larger image © Mike McGuigan / Saddo Boxing

Little known Aaron Lyons came to Philadelphia PA from Gulfport, MS and extinguished the flame of red hot heavyweight prospect Joey Abell, scoring a shocking knockout at 1:07 of the first round at the Blue Horizon, this past Friday night.

It was supposed to be a cakewalk for Abell, who came into the bout winning all nine of his professional contests via early knockout. Once the action started, Lyons got inside early and laid the wood to the big lumberjack. A big right hand sent Abell, 9-1 (9), into the corner and Lyons followed up with more power punches causing referee Hurley McCall to step in and stop the contest. More...

Harry Yorgey suffers three knock downs and a broken nose but Jeremy Yelton is the one who leaves in an ambulance!

Click for larger image © Keith McMenamin / Saddo Boxing

In the record books it will say that on November 30, 2006 light middleweight Harry Yorgey defeated Jeremy Yelton by unanimous decision. That stat alone does not do justice for what went down at the Valley Forge Convention Center on Thursday night. I am here to tell you that this was not only by far the best fight of the year in Philadelphia, it was one fight fans tune into the TV hoping to see every week. More...

This past October 14th, Fingerspoon Promotions made their promotional debut with a card titled “Redemption” featuring some of the best fighters in Philadelphia. In the co-main event, Max Alexander, 12-0-1, was scheduled to face off against Marty Lindquist, 12-4, in a fight that most thought would be a showcase of Alexander’s skills.

That was not to be as Lindquist charged and landed a right hand as the opening bell sounded on a seemingly unsuspecting Alexander who was still in his corner. The punch landed square on the temple leaving Alexander in the ring unconscious for over five full minutes and putting the first blemish on an otherwise perfect professional record. The official time of the contest was: 10.

This caused an outrage within the Alexander camp and with the local media as well but blame for this sticky and near deadly incident was spread all around. Some suggest that Alexander wasn’t given time to take off his gear after the traditional touching of the gloves, others say Alexander was busy being a showboat. More...

Over the years, Philadelphia has produced many men that have made great contributions to the sport of boxing both inside and out of the ring. From Bernard Hopkins and his improbable title run, to George Benton molding champion after champion, to Russell Peltz setting the bar on how to promote a show, this city has been a consistent producer of boxing history. As of right now, our commission is one of the best in the business, our fans base is among the strongest and the local scene is one of the most active in the world.

While we here in Philadelphia hold all of these outstanding credentials, something is missing and that is the fact that we have no world champion to call our own.

With that being said, there is a long list of young talent coming through the ranks, all of whom either hail from the City of Brotherly Love or earned their stripes in the fight game boxing at venues such as the Blue Horizon, New Alhambra or the National Guard Armory. More...

Click for larger image © Jeff Bera

Two separate cards went down in Philly this past weekend and a lot of the unexpected happened. Don Elbaum put together a card at the Blue Horizon but on the next night Fingerspoon Promotions, co-owned by former heavyweight champion of the world, "Terrible" Tim Witherspoon, made their promotional debut with a wild night of knockouts, upsets and controversy at the National Guard Armory. More...

On the undercard of the Sam Peter vs. James Toney bout, Eric Aiken, 16-4 (12), is set to make the first defense of his newly acquired IBF Featherweight title against Roberto Guerrero, 18-1-1 (11). Back in May, Aiken pulled off a highly unlikely upset victory over Valdemir Pereira to win the strap. While this accomplishment might pale in comparison to Buster Douglas beating Tyson or George Forman capping off a 10 year hiatus by winning the heavyweight title, most people like when the underdog pulls it out. So in the spirit of JJ Braddock and Iran Barkley, I give to you my 10 biggest and most unlikely upsets over the past 15 years of boxing.

10.) Eddie Sanchez over J.C. Candelo: It was hot August night back in 2004 and it looked like the fight fans were in for a treat as the undefeated prospected Joachim Alcine was set to take on J.C. Candelo, at that time the #5 ranked middleweight by the IBF. Candelo was fresh off of losses to Winky Wright and Kassim Ouma and needed a big performance to stay in the mix. Everything chanced quickly as Alcine failed his medical exam and was not allowed to fight. It looked like the fans were robbed of a good night of boxing. More...

When Mark Burnett came up with idea of bringing 16 professional boxers to a national audience, they sold the package as an inside look at the lives of potential world champions. The suits at NBC bought into it and before long, a product that was a cross between a boxing telecast and reality TV quickly captured the public’s imagination. Over a three month span it became a must see for die hard and fair weather fans alike. In the process, it also brought instant recognition to a group on hungry, yet still developing fighters who quite possibly would not have achieved this level of fame if not for the show.

While the sweet science experiment was a success in moving boxing back towards the main stream audience, the admission paying jury is still in deliberation on the verdicts of the young middleweights featured in the first season. There is more than meets the eye in this great sport and truth be told, The Contender editors can do enough film cutting to make a John Ruiz fight look like a barnburner.

As you know, Sergio Mora defeated Peter Manfredo Jr. in the final round to take the million bucks and earn status as a “contender”. While none of the original cast has made a big splash on the scene just yet, some are on their way to bigger and better things while others are being exposed as pretenders. More...

What Difference A Week Makes

Just last week, J. Russell Peltz, promoter of former Light Middleweight Champion Kassim Ouma, came out blazing to the boxing press about how his man can't get a big money fight and how the business is in shambles because of how everyone in boxing is working on the old buddy system. How, in his own words says "It does not seem to matter if fighter B is better than fighter A so long as Fighter A’s management has a better working relationship with the ratings organizations or with the television networks". He also went on to complain about how old names are recycled and no fresh blood is given the opportunity to be seen on national TV. Read the entire article

Now, Peltz airs the dirty laundry and all of a sudden there is serious discussion of Ouma challenging Jermain Taylor for the middleweight crown. While I am very happy that Ouma is on the verge of getting a shot and firmly believe he poses a serious threat to the title, the situation does raise a few eyebrows and a few questions. More...

Click for larger image © Jay McGuigan / Saddo Boxing

The Blue Horizon was open for bloody business once again, this time featuring young hopefuls on a card consisting of five – four rounders and a six round main event. Joey Abell was promoted to headliner and was ready to give hell again. This time found himself mixed up in a good ol’ fashioned rumble with Mark "Oaktree" Brown. Fight game newbies Jamie Morales and Chris Plebani went the distance in a 4 round barn burner that exemplified what the Blue Horizon is all about. More...

Click for larger image © Natasha Chornesky / Saddo Boxing

I have to give HBO credit for trying something new so I will let them slide for the boring segment of Boxing after Dark this weekend. Getting undefeated prospects to fight each other is virtually impossible these days and they managed to get two fights like this. In theory it was a very good idea because everyone loves a prospect and two of the fighters on the card were building some serious buzz in the business. Unfortunately in boxing when you get your hopes up you are usually disappointed. The fireworks that were sold turned out to be duds, there weren't any explosive moments in either fight and on top of that, we were forced to once again put up with Fran Charles and his horrible commentary. More...

The much anticipated season two of ESPN’s The Contender is set to begin on Tuesday, July 18th and the names of the combatants have finally been released. This season, 16 hopefuls in the Welterweight Division will square off in elimination style battle with the winner moving closer to the grand prize of $1,000,000. The season finale will be held at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on September 26. Once again Sugar Ray Leonard and Sylvester Stallone will host the show. The trainers will be Tommy Gallagher and Jeremy Williams. Here is the list of fighters who hope to become this years Sergio Mora. This season features no “real” prospects or undefeated fighters, yet a collection of crowd pleasers and rugged road warrior types. The early favorite has to be Ebo Elder, who is 22 – 2 (14) with a kayo victory over up and comer Oscar Diaz.

Nick Acevedo (15-1, 9 KOs) – 31 year old from New York hasn’t fought since March of 2002 when he lost a unanimous decision to “Cool” Vince Phillips. Hasn’t scored a KO victory since 2000. Known as a counter puncher and has an effective hook after the jab. More...

Click for larger image © Mike McGuigan / Saddo Boxing

It was one of the most anticipated fights in the past 10 years of boxing and all the ballers made the trip to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City this past Saturday. Vince Carter, Edgerrine James, Javon Kearse, Floyd Mayweather, A.I, even Jordan himself showed up. For the past few months, every time boxing was mentioned on ESPN or in the magazines, somewhere in there was Antonio Tarver flapping his lips and selling those wolf tickets. "I get no respect, I beat up [an old] Roy Jones, I'm the legend killer, the new Rocky is coming out, I guarantee knockout....blah blah blah".

Then on the other hand, you had Bernard Hopkins, one of the biggest names in the game. B-Hop was on a quest; he wanted to do what no prize fighter has ever pulled off, jump up from middleweight to light heavy and take the belt. He was intent on doing that and then walking away... for good. His track record speaks for itself. An all time record 20 consecutive middleweight title defenses, unified the titles in the tournament of champions and destroyed Trinidad and De La Hoya. More...

Duva Boxing and ESPN collaborated for Friday Night Fights at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City, NJ, last Friday night in what turned out to be a real snoozer. Headlining the card was undefeated heavyweight Brian Minto, who went on to take a ten round decision from Danny Batchelder. While a heavyweight match is supposed to be the one that excites the fans, this one had the majority of the crowd with the palm on the chin. The fight was even through the first six rounds and both fighters occasionally traded punches and wanted to work the body.

Minto was able to land more often in the later rounds although none of his shots ever did much damage. Batchelder, who normally fights at cruiserweight, showed that he is a tough customer and was willing to exchange with the bigger man. Minto, even with this lackluster performance, could now be in line for a fight against a name heavyweight. Minto improves to 25-1 (14) while Batchelder falls to 24-2 (11). More...

The who’s who of the boxing and entertainment world flocked to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City last night to bid farewell to Bernard Hopkins, and the Philadelphia legend did not disappoint as he dismantled the heavily favored Antonio Tarver and took his IBO Light Heavyweight title in the process. It was the Bernard Hopkins of old as he consistently beat Tarver to the punch and displayed his typical frustrating defense which made Tarver look down right bad at times. Hopkins scored a knockdown early in the bout with a crisp right hand, and was in the driver’s seat all night long, winning the fight by unanimous decision. Antonio Tarver showed that his lips are much faster than his hands and had the misfortune of becoming the stepping stone that B-Hop used to cement his legacy as one of the best pound for pound fighters of his era. At the post fight press conference ,Hopkins reassured everyone that this was in fact his final fight because of what he claims “there is nothing left to accomplish”.

Complete round by round coverage and press photos to come soon!

**Lot of Ringside Boxing Photos**

Click for larger image © Mike McGuigan / Saddo Boxing

The Blue Horizon was back in business this past Friday as promoter Veronca Michaels and Don Elbaum put together one of the best cards in recent memory at Philly's legendary fight house. The six bout card was led by up and comer Max Alexander who made the jump to co-main event status and turned in a performance that tosses his name into the debate of the best light heavyweight on the Philly circuit. Headliner Terrance Cauthen took a slight step up in competition against the hard hitting Joshua Onyango and flashed the speed that makes him one of the toughest men in the business to catch on camera. More...

Click for larger image © Curtis Christensen Saddo Boxing

The stakes were high for everyone involved. Hasim Rahman was on a quest to once again become the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, James Toney had the chance to become a five weight class champion, promoter Bob Arum and Top Rank laid the foundation to begin reconstruction of a muddled Heavyweight Division,

a move that would undoubtedly make him a player in the division again. The WBC Heavyweight Title was on the line, and the pieces were in place for the prevailing fighter to take on the winner of the upcoming Wladimir Klitschko vs. Chris Byrd match up to bring some sense of sanity to this crazy division. Instead, this fight turned out to contradict all expectations. While many thought this would turn out to be a snoozer, it had many exciting moments and will garner a reasonably high demand for a rematch. Many favored Toney going into the fight, but most fans left Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall in disbelief that the ringside judges scored this bout a draw, saying it was obvious that Rahman was the winner. More...

Rewind back to 2002 and Jerson Ravelo was one of the hottest Super Middleweight prospects in the game. His amateur credentials come equip with numerous awards, highlighted by winning the 1998 Golden Gloves Championship and a earning a spot on the 2000 Dominican Republic Olympic boxing team. He turned pro in 2001 and started his career by winning 13 straight, most notably an impressive victory over George Walton on Shobox in 2002

which earned Jerson a top 10 ranking in the division. Then injuries crept their ugly face into the phenoms career. Ravelo missed all of 2003 after back surgery. He briefly returned in 2004 only to suffer an upset loss on Friday Night Fights and then brake his hand soon after which required! 2 more surgeries. Fast forward to 2006, not many people are talking about Jerson Ravelo but hopefully he is going to change that real soon. The hand is healed, the back is in good shape and he says he is ready to make a major splash on the boxing scene. Saddo boxing recently caught up with the 14 - 1 (9) Ravelo who restarts his journey of becoming a champion this Thursday in Manhattan on a DiBella Entertainment card.
 
SaddoBoxing: Jerson, Thanks for taking the time to speak with us today.
 
Jerson Ravelo: No Problem Keith, thanks for calling More...

Promoter Veronca Michaels and matchmaker Don Elbaum opened the gates to The Legendary Blue Horizon for the first time in the 2006 season and SaddoBoxing.com was firmly planted ringside at Philly's top boxing venue. There were bigger names on the card, but it was up and coming prospect Max Alexander and tougher than spit Moses Matovu who stole the show during their six round clash of styles. Minnesota heavyweight

Click for larger image © Mike McGuigan Saddo Boxing

Joey Abell came to seek refuge from Jesse Ventura?s oppression of pro boxing in his home state, and the 6'4" former defensive end exerci! sed his God given right to put the bull rush on the jaw of his undefeated opponent Dan Jambon. The junior welterweight matchup of Steve Upshur Chambers and Damon Antoine had all the makings of a classic and many fight fans took the hour drive from Trenton, NJ to watch 1996 Olympic Bronze medal winner Terrance Cauthan box the socks off of former title contender Vincent Thompson. In the main event, top fifty heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers stopped by for a tune up in preparati! on for bigger and better things against hand picked Louisiana peach An drew Greeley. There was plenty of action and the Philly crowd was rockin? as usual. To read the blow by blow report click here for more. More...

By Keith McMenamin and Jeff Imbrogno

Philly Fighters Win "War"

Shuler Boxing was back at the First District Plaza in Philadelphia for a night dubbed the "War at the District" featuring local fighters against out of state competition. The war turned into a massacre for the Percy Custas stable as Simon "One Punch" Carr, Jamaal "Tyson" Davis and USBA Super Middleweight and USBA Light Heavyweight Champion Yusef Mack all won with impressive knockouts. Some of the Philly heavyweights outside of the ring also checked in for a night at the fights. Sly Stallone stopped by after completing the final scenes for the upcoming Rocky VI, former heavyweight champion Smokin' Joe Frazier was on hand for a book signing. Between fights, fans were also treated to two performances by rapper and Philly native Freeway and comedian, Buckwild. More...