Tim Austin, yes, “The Cincinnati Kid” who used to cradle the bantamweight division with power punching and a charming southpaw stance disappeared at one point and time in his career. Bring out the boxing gloves, because Austin has a fight on his hands come September 3. Rafael Marquez found a way to beat Austin in TKO fashion and that was in 2003. What happened to the boxer-puncher who had a record of 24-0, 22 knockouts until he entered the ring with Marquez, who hails from a distinctive boxing pedigree family? Outside the ring, problems would create reasons for Austin to walk away from the ring. Another factor would be Austin's sudden loss. Now, it is common knowledge to know that Austin's solid focus and preparation for the Marquez fight and he accepted the fight with serious concentration. The aftermath is the true meaning of defining a true champion. It takes more than a belt to douse respect and acclaim for a great fighter. Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, and Muhammad Ali, all had highs and lows, but it is their overall edge of returning with heart inspired ambitions that override any of their set backs. More...

“When you been in the game long enough, you know that speed kills. Raheem is going to be too fast. He is going to be ready, Morales can't catch Zahir, he's too fast.”-Don House is preparing Zahir Raheem to challenge Mexican legend Erik Morales.

Don House is a trainer with a traditionalist attitude, he believes in boxing fundamentals being the basis of becoming a world champion. With over twenty-years of boxing experience and being the trainer of past champions such as Freddie Norwood and is currently the trainer for the dangerous Joan Guzman, up-and-coming Steven Luevano, attentive boxer “Kid Diamond,” and the speedy Zahir Raheem who has his hands full with Erik Morales come September 10. House also trains a female boxer with three titles, Jessica Rakoczy. Enjoy a lesson from one of the most successful trainers in the boxing world today. It was an honor for him to take time out of his busy schedule to share some thoughts with me.

Don’t miss this exclusive interview with trainer Don House as SaddoBoxing begins its build-up towards the September 10 doubleheader featuring Morales-Raheem and Pacquiao-Velazquez. More...

Manny Pacquiao (39-3, 31 KOs) is a man who seems to love boxing with such a dedicated passion. Even though he does not enunciate English as his first language, you can read Pacquiao excitement from partaking in a sport that depends on teamwork combined with hard training, and individuality come fight time. Bernard Hopkins, Antonio

Tarver, Mike Tyson and a host of other boxers hold cold, indocile facial expressions during their walk to the ring. At press conferences, boxers will taunt one another, disrespect one another and plainly destroy any olive branch of communication. It's boxing and many need such behaviors. However, in Pacquiao’s defense, it seems as if he loves to fight and cares less to use antics to promote his fights. Pacquiao loves the attention, every single aspect of it, in a positive way of course. The usage of his smiles could make one think, "Why is he so happy before a fight?" Add in the muscle flexing during several weigh-ins and you have a scene of amusement and intrigue. More...

Joan Guzman will start his journey into the featherweight division against Terdsak Jandaeng, on August 26. This move up to featherweight from junior featherweight is a combination of elevating his boxing legacy and a clever test to see if he is prepared to enter the reality of a wealthy division of well trained boxers. How will it help his legacy?

Click for larger image © Team Guzman

Guzman is optimistic about his new weight class, which could put him into the peak of making a lasting impression in a division, and this is the motivation needed when you are raising your legacy. It is a test, because he is entering into a fight that could start the building blocks for championship fights in a division that has so much to offer to the boxing world. More...

The heavyweight division is still fighting with intentions on becoming a respectable and trend setting weight class. The stars of this division are the major belt holders, Vitali Klitschko (WBC), Chris Byrd (IBF), John Ruiz (WBA) and Lamon Brewster (WBO). All are consumed with being "the" heavyweight and for most of it's history, the division

has been the home of one solid concrete champion after another with labels such as "The Greatest" to "The Baddest Man On The Planet". The form of explaining why the heavyweight division is split into four champions is a topic not worth mentioning but years have passed and we have heard Don King's plea of unifying the titles and having one world champion.

Heavyweight boxers have evolved into writers, sending out eloquent letters to the media in hopes of landing a title fight. Vitali Klitschko has made fight dates, walked away, made new fight dates, canceled and in the end, made another fight date. Clearly part of the redesign of the heavyweight division, the Klitschko brothers have left a gap there that is more apparent now. Ruiz, the king of sleeping pill matches, has successfully defended his titles and beat some of the qualified challengers out there. More...

Bernard Hopkins is one of the most persistent boxers, both in and out of the ring. It has been a month and two days since the wave of surprise that was his last fight landed on the boxing public. The camera shot of Jermain Taylor being crowned the new world middleweight champion still plays over and over in my mind.

Click for larger image © Sergio Martinez

The shocking headlines of this new birth, in Taylor eyes and boxing injustice, in Hopkins eyes, has decreased. Some people are telling Hopkins to let it go, others are trying to inspire him and are determined to support the push to gain another rematch as soon as possible. The WBC is in favor of Hopkins' protest and they are pushing for an immediate rematch with Taylor. The controversial decision that resulted from the Taylor - Hopkins fight could help define one of the greatest middleweight showdowns to take place in a very long time. The first Hopkins - Taylor fight had the potential, but it fell short of high expectations, in regards to age verses youth, new verses veteran and old school style battling new school style. More...

Hasim Rahman is in the middle of a heavyweight division that can either improve a lot or disprove a little. The past glamour, brilliant fighting skills and celebrity status that Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis offered to the division haunts the once powerful weight class. We have invited a ghost of sorts for the current crop of heavyweights to follow and with this list: names such as Vitali Klitschko (WBC), John Ruiz (WBA), Chris Byrd (IBF), Lamon Brewster (WBO) are the definition of champions in this division. Rahman is carefree and confident when he speaks of any of the current champions. He would like to fight them all and if he had it his way, he would do it in the manner in which I listed the champions. Rahman’s career is not complex, but from another perspective, it is not practical either. He has a commanding boxing style, functional footwork and calculable power. At times, he can induce people into thinking he is not serious about boxing, but in contrast, that is a clever tactic to fool his opponent into believing the peoples hype. More...

“I would like to fight Scott Harrison and Juan Manuel Marquez; he has two world championship belts. I want the big fights and wherever the big fighters go up in weight, I will follow."-Joan Guzman intends to take over the featherweight division.

Click for larger image © Team Guzman

Let’s face it, the foundation of boxing resides on the lower weight classes. The bantamweights and featherweights are the basement in the mass media, when it comes to boxing. While the heavyweights bicker over who’s their champion, the bantamweights and featherweights settle kingship contentions with heart wrenching battles. Joan Guzman (23-0, 17 KOs) is rare in the sport of boxing

with his amazing power. Call him "El Pequeno" or "Tyson"; he is on a conquest to show the world why he is the best in his division. After making his power punches a trademark in the super bantamweight division, the former WBO super bantamweight champion, Guzman is making his entrance into the featherweight division this August 26, in White Plains, New York, with a concrete opponent in Terdsak Jandaeng, an undefeated southpaw. It's wonderful to see a boxer love his sport with so much passion, and with a new public relations captain in Ricardo Lois and learning old-school boxing methods from the creditable Dan House. The path of Guzman making a power punch in the featherweight division is prospering. It's also Guzman's dream to make the division more recognizable and a bigger picture in the boxing world’s eyes. After sharing an interview with him, there is no need for him to ever wake up: he means business and dreams are the mental ring for boxers. More...

Robin Reid’s reasons for landing this nationally televised fight against the promising Jeff Lacy could be attributed to two motives. One, he is Lacy's IBF mandatory, or two, he is a stepping-stone for Lacy and a strong chance for Lacy earning his twentieth win. As I look at the antics of the Lacy camp, I am leaning towards reason two. A fighter can find numerous ways to grasp self-improvement and apply that new eagerness towards his

Click for larger image © Tom Casino/Showtime

current opposition and in Reid's case, a current champion. Reid turned professional on February 27, 1993, in his home country of England. Lacy was fifteen-years-old and still applying the basics of the sport of boxing; a sport he would glide up through with accurate success. Reid has never fought a professional fight in the United States and in his past, he captured several major and minor titles while fighting mainly in Europe. Now he is entering into a fight with perhaps the most dangerous super middleweight in the sport today. More...

Jeff Lacy’s nickname is a testament to his power and presence. Having a menacing left hook without it being your boxing nickname can push opponents away from you. When it's a part of your name, as in Lacy's case, it can have a psychological impact on your opponent. At one point in time, when the Bernard Hopkins versus Jermain Taylor fight was almost a no go, due to financial

Jeff Lacy this week Click for larger image © Tom Casino/Showtime

contentions, Lacy stepped up eagerly and offered his services to the then champion Bernard Hopkins. Despite Lacy being a full-fledged super middleweight, he was willing to shed a few pounds to enter into a fight with one of the best. Lacy, the IBF super middleweight champion is on a path to prove his abilities and define the reason why he is one of the best in all of the sport today. More...

Roy Jones Jr. is a name that will always have its discussion time in any debate on or about the great sport of boxing. He is a flashy, loud supporter of his own bragging rights. You can like him or dislike him; regardless of your personal opinion on the richly talented boxer, you know his name. It may be the business of boxing or the calling of boxing

fans but Roy Jones Jr. and Antonio Tarver are planning a third and hopefully the final chapter to their competitive rivalry. I would not bet on seeing Jones and Tarver eating lunch together, sharing laughter and discussing past great fighters in the sport they coincide. Yet, the respect level is there, even if the two tend to ignore that idea. The last memories we share of Jones are not pleasant and acceptable. Tarver eagerly grasped the crown of being the top light heavyweight, but the shadow of Jones has always been in the background. More...

If you are anti-Hopkins, this was the fight for you; if you are a hardcore Hopkins fan, then this fight left you yelling at the television screen. Now, if you are a boxing fan who loves the sport for the overall content of warriors battling until the end, you can use the option of walking away with a smile. Champions are supposed to lose their belts in a fitting fashion: giving it their all, releasing every bit of technique and arsenal they have inside their boxing bodies. Taylor granted us a good match, but Hopkins proved to us that his amount of dedication, high self-confidence and ring comfort defies any age restrictions. Hopkins was visibly in tremendous physical shape. After round one, I started to put together Hopkins’ plan. Its basis centered on making Taylor tired. Hopkins, the well-known slow starter, is a boxer who develops as each second in the round eclipses the last. The plan was going accordingly, but, you would have expected a boxing veteran, such as Hopkins to know the rule of not placing the fate of your fight into the judges hands, something Oscar de la Hoya and Antonio Tarver can attest to if Hopkins needed validation. More...

The definition of the middleweight division will happen tomorrow and the outcome could be shocking and surprising, as all conflict of who is the ruler of this division will finally settle. Bernard Hopkins versus Jermain Taylor is more than a middleweight showdown of experience versus youth. It is a match-up that will signal the making or breaking of a division that has a core of talent but has little impact on the overall mass appeal of the boxing world. The middleweight division is a relaxing division for boxers. Usually, a boxer will come up to the middleweights, pause, fight a few times and move on up to a higher, and at times, a more profitable weight class. Hopkins’ demonstration of being the deadlock to one weight class is a model of commitment unseen in many divisions. A boxer may have numerous aspirations to push him into wanting to test the other weight class waters, from profit gain to the winning of many belts aspect, yet one has to contemplate the satisfaction and bliss a boxer must condone in order to fix his mind and body on one weight class.

SaddoBoxing is live on the scene in Las Vegas for the Hopkins-Taylor event so enjoy this preview article and do not miss our exclusive coverage coming up throughout this big fight weekend. More...

He's too old. The man has only half of his former boxing skills; his boxing style is far from comely. These are all statements, the middleweight ring king Bernard Hopkins had to endure and listen to since his by the book destruction of the powerful Felix "Tito" Trinidad. The admiration we have for youth can clearly

replace our common sense on understanding experience. Hopkins is a physically in-shape forty-year-old man and I am a twenty-seven-year-old man, and I consider Hopkins to be forty-years young. It is logical to realize as time evolves, we lose our speed, our eagerness, and our appreciation for simple things in life. For Hopkins, he is trying to change the hands on a clock called boxing and he has a fighting chance to make it happen. More...

It's astounding to see a fighter earn fifty wins, and Oscar Larios is five wins over the fifty-win milestone. The WBC super bantamweight champion since 2001 is right back at it, displaying a champion's heart by entering a rematch title fight with a tougher than average fighter in Wayne McCullough. Bundle up the promotional problems, make the business of boxing fair and you have the Zapopan, Mexico native ready to acquire more wins and add more power to his boxing legacy. The lighter divisions have always been in the background of the heavyweight divisions. You are not going to see too many bantamweight fights on your pay-per-view, cable or even local television. This lack of advertising is a major push towards not seeing a well-rounded fighter such as Larios. In an attempt to change that, perhaps Golden Boy Promotions and Oscar de la Hoya’s influence, can help the smaller weight divisions finally receive their due. More...