|
Join Our Busy Boxing Message Board Today
Where the boxing fans have a voice
Boxing Talk | Ask the Trainer | UK Boxing | Off Topic | MMA
All Boxing Articles’ Articles
 | |  | | |
By Al Bernstein September 16th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
 Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a little like the National Basketball Association. That seems a strange analogy, but it’s really not.
In recent years the off-season of the NBA has been really entertaining. There are blockbuster trades, player feuds, always more than our share of police blotter stories involving players, and at least a half a dozen paternity suits to spice things up.
Then the season begins and all that sizzle becomes a staid 82 game schedule with a style of play that must give all the players of the 70’s and 80’s heartburn.
Fast break opportunities are ignored to instead see guards walk the ball up the court, dump it into the low post and while everyone stands around that low post player goes one on one with not always sensational low post moves.
The product on the court somehow does not live up to our expectations.
And, that describes Mayweather Jr. to a tee. Outside the ring everything about him leading up to a fight is entertaining. His family is boxing’s version of the Osbournes. The break-ups and reconciliation’s come at a dizzying pace.
Most family members are soundbite machines that fuel the media with juicy stuff. And, add to that the inevitable legal entanglements that seem to find Floyd Jr. as often as cameras find Paris Hilton.
And, with HBO’s new penchant for making reality shows now before Mayweather fights, well, it’s all just too entertaining…much like the NBA. More...
| |  |  |  |
| | | | |
By Curtis McCormick September 15th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing
Promoter Frank Maloney unexpectedly found star super middleweight prospect Darren Sutherland dead yesterday in Sutherland's home in Bromley, England.
Maloney, who also managed Sutherland, went to pick the boxer up for a news conference but found that Sutherland looked to have committed suicide by hanging. The 55 year old was subsequently taken to hospital for a suspected heart attack.
Sutherland had won a Bronze Medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and had won all four of his professional contests to date in dominating fashion.
The 27 year old originally from Dublin was well-liked outside the boxing ring, tremendously talented in it and expected to eventually contend for a world title.
The SaddoBoxing community extends its deepest sympathies to Darren Sutherland's family.
Leave comments here
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Al Bernstein September 11th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
The boxing schedule for the last quarter of the year is ridiculously good. Big matches abound, starting with next week’s Floyd Mayweather Jr’s comeback fight with Juan Manuel Marquez.
There is another mega fight in Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto, then three great matches in the Super Six World Boxing Classic and Paul Williams vs. Kelly Pavlik. Throw in Glen Johnson vs. Chad Dawson and you have an amazing schedule.
By the time we get to December, it would be understandable to see a dip in the boxing product. But, it is in that month that we may find two gems - two fights that might get a little less universal hype, but have almost can’t miss tags on them.
The first is December 5th when WBO Light Welter Champ Tim Bradley defends his title against Lamont Peterson. Between the two of them, they have not one single loss. They are both young and both in their primes. They are also both extraordinary boxers.
I have had the pleasure of announcing Bradley’s last several match-ups sand have seen his development as a young champion. Peterson, who survived a torturous childhood on the streets of Washington DC, is as skilled a fighter as you would ever see.
And reportedly, he recently gave Mayweather all he could handle in a now legendary sparring session in Las Vegas. This is an even match and having a real conviction on who will win is not an easy thing to do.
This fight has 12 rounds of really good action written all over it. I am not sure either man can knock the other out, and they they both have such good offense that they will throw a lot of punches and land a lot. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Jose Espinoza September 10th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
There are few boxers in the business who have the charisma and ability that Jean Pascal demonstrates. The 26 year-old fighter from Montreal is living the life and enjoying every minute of his well deserved fame.
No one will forget Pascal’s form against Carl Froch in a WBC super middleweight title contest that is still being talked about as one of England’s best fights of the year.
Unfortunately for Pascal, he lost the fight but won the respect of many boxing fans and established a name for himself as a fearless fighter.
During the summer, Pascal won the WBC light heavyweight belt from an undefeated Adrian Diaconu by unanimous decision.
On September 25, 2009, Jean Pascal will face Italy’s Silvio Branco at the Bell Centre in Montreal. This will be Pascal’s first title defence and he is looking in great physical form, with lighting fast movement and a good hard punch. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Daxx Kahn September 9th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
Over 35 years now I have either been a devout fan of boxing or involved with the sport one way or another. I have met boxing royalty, trained fighters, owned a gym and ignored every other sport there is because of my love of boxing.
It is almost unexplainable the grasp boxing can have over a person, be it a fighter, trainer, promoter and even the writers who sit down day after day in front of their computers typing out article after article pertaining to the sport.
You learn about what drives these warriors to put their bodies and health on the line, year after year, mostly for minimal reward considering the sacrifices they make and it brings you to a whole new level of admiration.
Growing up, my parents taught me that in life, no matter how passionate you are about something, there will be good and bad to go along with it. They taught me that if you have a true passion, you must accept the bad but in no way does that mean you have to condone it and if the day comes that you turn a blind eye to it, you're doing nothing more than an injustice to not only yourself but all those involved.
Even if you don’t have the power to change things, make sure you voice your opinion, even if it is for nothing more then self satisfaction.
I have defended the sport time and again during controversy, bogus rankings, second rate main events and everything in-between. I make great efforts not to express my dissatisfaction with this sport at times; I usually go out of my way to only write about the good side of boxing and its associates.
As a writer, for one reason or another, I feel it is my duty to only focus on the positive, but there comes a time when the negative needs to be addressed, though this is the first time I HAVE to address it. If for nothing more then my own personal piece of mind and strangely enough, its because of a wrong doing to a fighter that more often then not, I look forward to him getting a good punch in the mouth. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Jane Warburton September 7th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
**With Slideshow**
© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing
Saturday night, at the Eaton Hotel in Edgbaston, England, the Midlands Area Council for the British Boxing Board of Control hosted their Annual Boxing Awards Dinner.
The event has been running for 20 years but the Midlands are still the only region to host such an occasion.
Guests stood for the traditional ten-bell tribute in honour of three losses to the boxing community: Willie Wilson (Nottingham), Chris Elliott (Leicester) and the ’Voice’ of boxing - Reg Gutteridge.
This was followed by a lovely three course meal.
I shared a table with Bob Plant and female boxer Lyndsey Scragg of the Wednesbury Boxing Academy, her family and PC Andrew Whitehall and his wife. I think I was on the best table because I laughed quite a lot!
Once the meal was over, there was an auction of boxing memorabilia before it was time for the presentation of awards. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Nick Chamberlain September 4th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
Sat on the canvas straight after eight hard fought rounds for the Commonwealth Featherweight belt on January 16 of this year, John Simpson and Paul Truscott were conducting an interview for Sky Sports and had agreed
that a rematch should be put into place, after the referee had stopped the fight due to cuts suffered by Truscott.
The rematch is due for tonight and after the first fight, we should have a good scrap on our hands with these two.
Simpson 19-6 (7), and is a tough little pressure fighter, and has fought some good opposition like Derry Matthews and Paul Appleby, albeit both of which he lost, but the experience is good to have under his belt.
Paul Truscott 13-1 (1), is a fast, flashy boxer who is good on the counter and can give some opponents trouble but looking at his record, it's plain to see where the experience lies in this rematch
In the first fight, just as it was stopped, the contest seemed to have turned a corner and was going into Simpson territory, Truscott having only been the full 12 rounds once in his career.
Of course, we never got to see that as there was some bad swelling under, and not a massive cut but a cut all the same, over Truscott's right eye, leading the referee to the doctor, who confirmed the stoppage.
The first bout was a good fight, with Truscott controlling a lot of the pace with his jab and catching Simpson coming in with quick straight rights, flashy hooks and uppercuts. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Al Bernstein September 1st, 2009 All Boxing Articles
I can count on one hand the times in my 30 year career that I have expressed disagreement with any of my broadcasting colleagues in a public forum.
Mind you, I have often disagreed, but seldom if ever have I spoken out. My style as a communicator is not built on argument or confrontation and I don’t really understand “media feuds.” And, I am certainly not trying to ignite one here.
All that having been said, I feel called upon to strongly disagree with some of the opinions expressed by ESPN commentator Teddy Atlas in a recent interview I read on the internet.
I’ll further qualify this (how much qualifying can one man do?) by saying that Teddy and I have never had any issue with each other on a personal basis, and we have many mutual friends.
So, this column is really a reaction to his comments and there is nothing else behind it.
In this recent interview, Teddy makes some all inclusive comments about the internet that I think are very unfair and inaccurate. In the process, he diminishes one of the strengths of the sport, in much the same way uninformed members of the mainstream media have been doing in recent years.
First, even though the interview he did was with an internet writer and was dispensed on the internet, he completely dismisses the internet as a means of providing accurate or meaningful information.
Here is some of what he said:
“I don’t read any boxing internet articles unless someone sends me something or faxes me something, which I really don’t care to read in the first place. There is just so many boxing websites that I wonder how they survive. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Nick Chamberlain August 24th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
When Oscar De La Hoya walked away from the sport of boxing in April, 2009, he only walked away as a fighter, and in doing so left his own individual legacy he had forged over 17 years.
17 world champions had fallen before him, he had won 10 world titles in six different weight classes and had earned a huge - and I mean astronomical - amount of money; pay per view alone figures are reportedly estimated around $696 million.
Yes, it is safe to say that Oscar did all right for himself; in fact, it is fair to say he has probably generated more money than any other boxer in the history of the sport.
With the Golden Boy name still ringing out after all these years, we still think of Oscar whenever we hear it.
When you hear it now though, it could be because you are watching one of the fighters Golden Boy owns, from the super famous and well respected i.e. Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez; to the up and coming prospects i.e. Victor Ortiz, Danny Garcia or Erislandy Lara.
It could be because you are sat at a MMA event that Golden Boy collaborated on, or an article you might be reading in The Ring magazine or one of the many publications that Golden Boy own.
What Oscar has done has transcended way beyond the realms of boxer turned promoter. At one point, he was boxer and promoter, for his own fights, which always stuck me as humorous as no one stepped forward during the Oscar vs. Manny Pacquiao fight to stop it…well, that was everyone's boss in there…would you have wanted to? More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Lee Bellfield August 19th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
72 years ago this month, the world championship career of arguably the greatest heavyweight in history began.
The "Brown Bomber", Joe Louis, aged 23, had just defeated James J Braddock and had become the first black man since Jack Johnson thirty years previously to win the richest prize in sport.
Joe's first defence would come just two months after his title win when he would face a gritty British challenger in Tommy Farr.
Farr from Tonypandy, Wales, was one year younger than Louis and had been a pro since 1926. Initially a light heavyweight, Farr would go on and challenge for domestic honours in his native Wales, winning the Welsh Title in 1933. He would also repeat this feat in the heavyweight division, winning both the Welsh and British titles.
At the start of 1937, the World Heavyweight Champion was James J Braddock. As an underdog in 1935, "The Cinderella Man" had outsmarted the heavy betting favourite Max Baer over 15 rounds to become the surprise champion. That same Baer later in 1935 would also be dismantled in four rounds by an up and coming Joe Louis.
Baer in 1937 was still anxious to get another shot at the World title held by Braddock and in April that year, agreed to fight Farr. Baer, like he did against Braddock, took this chance lightly and slipped to a points defeat.
Louis in 1937 had suffered just the one defeat to German Max Schmeling and many thought Braddock would defend the title against Schmeling. However, in the tense political climate Braddock would sidestep Schmeling to a bigger money matchup against Louis. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Al Bernstein August 18th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
This weekend, I hosted a pay per view telecast headlined by the WBA Interim Super Flyweight title match, featuring Nonito Donaire vs. Rafael Concepcion.
Everything that happened in the days before the match and in the first round suggested that Donaire, a rising star and potential superstar, was going to provide a dominant win that would further market himself.
Concepcion was rumored to be having terrible making weight, and, in fact came in a whopping 4 ½ pounds over the 115 pound limit. That did not bode well for his conditioning for the fight and it made an already motivated Donaire more angry and he vowed to beat Concepcion no matter what his weight.
Concepcion was fined part of his purse and Donaire received half that fine—but the Donaire camp did not demand that Concepcion try hard to make the 115 pounds. They were worried about a replay of the Joan Guzman-Nate Campbell fight of last year, when Guzman came in over the weight and tried to lose the weight, but was too weak to fight.
This pay per view had been set up a star vehicle for Donaire and Nonito and his management did not want his fight canceled.
The fight went on and true to his word, Donaire came out smoking. He was so dominant in the first two minutes that it looked like a monstrous mismatch. Conception had lost the year before to Jorge Arce in a war and Arce at that point had somewhat diminished skills.
If Donaire fought Arce he would be a prohibitive favorite. So, common sense told us that Concepcion was not in Donaire’s league—and round one was proving the point. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Nick Chamberlain August 12th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
Heavyweight prospect Tyson Fury and his management team have secured a shot at the English title against ‘Big Bad’ John McDermott on September 15.
Fury, standing 6ft 9, has been making quite the name for himself since stepping out into the pro scene in December, namely by stopping all of his opponents thus far, and he seems very accustomed to ‘talking the talk’.
Of course, being unbeaten and touted by many, Fury is a cocky guy but the kind of heavyweight that we all love; He’s big, brash, loud, has a load of charisma, solid boxing skills, and can certainly bang.
He does command a good turn out when he fights and has been trying to secure any kind of title shot he could get his hands on since his pro debut; such is his level of confidence.
Fury’s record stands at 7-0 with 7 KO’s, with some good domestic names on his resume such as Lee Swaby, Scott Belshaw and Matthew Ellis, with Swaby taking the longest to hold off the attack before succumbing in the fourth, and Ellis being beaten in 48 seconds of the first round.
With such a young career, some might deem this too big a mountain for Fury to climb, as his opponent McDermott goes into the fight with a record of 25-5 with 16 of those wins by way of KO. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Nick Chamberlain August 6th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
On Saturday, July 18, Amir Khan fulfilled a promise he made to himself and the nation when he beat Andreas Kotelnik over 12 rounds to become WBA Light Welterweight Champion. The journey to get there was not easy; by the same token it was not that hard either.
With his record now standing at 21-1 (15), Khan has some notable scalps on his record as Kotelnik joins the list along with Marco Antonio Barrera, Oisin Fagan, and Michael Gomez. The latter two are not exactly world class, but both hard veterans of the ring, they know their crafts very well and are good on a domestic and inter-continental level.
Barrera was well past his best when they fought in March of this year and the fight was stopped, quite controversially, after Barrera was cut in the first, which effectively blinded him in one eye.
The controversy happened when the doctor stopped it in the fifth and it went to the scorecards. Had he stopped it in any point through rounds 1-4, then it would have been deemed a No-Contest. Khan looked to be in control of this fight, but if the Barrera is saying he couldn't see, then surely it's an unfair contest.
Andreas Kotelnik was a tough, well-schooled, technical and precise counter puncher. Khan did not give him the opportunity to get his own punches off though and did a great job of covering up or using his nifty movement to skip out of the way, he did this impressively for the full 12 rounds, even when Kotelnik pushed him in the 11th and 12th rounds as he knew he had to secure the knockout.
Khan has always had his doubters and fair share of critics, who were rather pleased with themselves after a young undefeated Colombian came along by the name of Breidis Prescott, and knocked Khan out in 54 seconds of the first round at the MEN Arena in September, 2008.
After that defeat and the change of trainer and camp, Khan says it was the best thing that could have happened to him as a boxer, and you have to agree as a day before Khan took the world title belt off Kotelnik, Prescott suffered his first loss to Miguel Vazquez. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Al Bernstein August 5th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
The relationship between mixed martial arts and boxing has had an intriguing evolution in the past decade.
The boxing establishment has viewed MMA with equal parts ambivalence, hostility, envy and sometimes grudging respect. The MMA world has sometimes seen boxing as a kindly old uncle that you respect for its past, but snicker a bit at its present state.
From time to time there has been open hostility and ridicule of boxing by MMA moguls, but that has abated in the last several years.
For many of the “old guard” in boxing, MMA is scoffed at and treated like a barbaric undertaking that is without skill. The members of this old guard passes judgment on the sport of MMA without ever really bothering to learn more about it.
To suggest that there is not skill in mixed martial arts is as absurd as suggesting that courage is not an integral ingredient in both sports. While it is edgy and violent, MMA is also filled with nuances.
I have hosted MMA shows on television, one on Showtime and several others on pay per view or regional cable. To prepare for the first MMA show I ever did, I watched hours and hours of video and was able to pick the brain of one of the best analysts in the sport, Stephen Quadros.
Stephen baby-sat me through my Showtime MMA experience. What I learned from that experience was that MMA is a sport that demands that it’s athletes have at least some level of skill at many disciplines, if they are to reach the upper echelon of fighters.
I’ve enjoyed every one of my MMA announcing experiences and found that the fighters and fans will welcome someone associated with boxing as long as they are not guilty of either of these two things: a.) Pretending they are MMA experts, or b.) Pretending they like MMA, when they really don’t. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Al Bernstein July 30th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
What took David Haye and his braintrust so long to figure out that he was a lot better off fighting Nikolai Valuev for a world title than he was fighting a Klitschko?
If David had come to this realization earlier he would have spared us the charade of pulling out of the Wladimir fight and then the phony negotiations to fight Vitali.
Haye is obviously able to fight at heavyweight and will beat many heavyweights, but he won’t beat the ones who are tall, can “fight tall”, and have pop in their punch.
David was hurt by Jean Mormeck in the cruiserweight division. If and when he is hit by a really good right hand by either Klitschko, the heavyweight dream will be ended. His chances against Wladimir are remotely better because he might hurt Wladimir with one of his own punches - but that’s a longshot.
All that having been said, there will be more money for him to make off this unfortunate episode with the Klitschko if he brings a heavyweight title into the match. That was always the case and it is astonishing to me that the Haye camp didn’t get that and insisted on trying for the Klitschkos first.
I think Haye is the favorite to beat Valuev. He is much quicker than Valuev, (everyone is much quicker than Valuev), will throw enough combinations to keep the giant off balance, and he may be able to take even the best shot of the light punching Valuev.
Valuev is capable of performances that define dreadful in a new way, as evidenced by his “win” over an ancient Evander Holyfield. That version of Valuev would be raked over the coals by Haye.
If Haye can wrest the title from Valuev, I would actually suggest a defense against someone before he tackles a Klitschko, and I suggest Wladimir as his choice. In that case, Haye’s trash talking and fight promotion will seem more credible. More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Richard Eberline July 26th, 2009 All Boxing Articles
The boxing community is in mourning yet again today as reports surface that former two-weight world champion Vernon Forrest was gunned down last night in Atlanta, GA.
Forrest reportedly was involved in a firefight with two men who had attempted to carjack his Jaguar while he was filling up the car's tires at a gas station in the southwestern section of Atlanta.
The former amateur and professional star was defending more than his vehicle as the 11 year old son of Forrest's girlfriend was with him at the time.
The 38 year old achieved a 41-3 (29) record over the course of a career that began in 1992 and held the IBF, WBC and NABF titles at welterweight as well as the WBC light middleweight title.
Forrest was also actively involved in charitable causes.
SaddoBoxing expresses its deepest sympathies to the family of Vernon Forrest.
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Aaron King July 23rd, 2009 All Boxing Articles
Last week, I previewed Showtime’s "Super Six World Boxing Classic" and gave my predictions for the first round of fights. When I sat down to write that article, I still felt as though this whole thing wasn’t real.
In the back of my mind, I thought that Ken Hershman of Showtime was just playing a cruel practical joke on the boxing public.
And then I saw the pictures of the six of them: Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch, Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Jermain Taylor and Andre Ward with cocked fists and a mix of scowls and smiles. And then I pinched myself to make sure it was real.
That aside, let’s move on to the next set of predictions. Here is the rough schedule for the second and third rounds of the tournament, followed by my predictions.
January 2010: Abraham vs. Dirrell (U.S.)
March 2010: Froch vs. Kessler (Europe)
Spring 2010: Taylor vs. Ward (U.S.)
Summer 2010: Abraham vs. Froch (Europe); Dirrell vs. Ward (U.S.)
Fall 2010: Kessler vs. Taylor (U.S.)
January 2011: Semi-finals
May/June 2011: Final More...
| | | | |
| | | | |
By Nick Chamberlain July 22nd, 2009 All Boxing Articles
Recently, it was announced by Showtime that they were putting a super six tournament together, comprising of the six top super middleweights, bar one, a certain Lucian Bute, to face off against each other in order to ascertain the new king of the division.
As the WBC and WBA titles are on the line, this looks set to be a very exciting event indeed. As most, including myself, were relatively confused as to how this would take place, allow me to simplify...
The tournament participants are, in alphabetical order, as follows:
Arthur Abraham, Berlin, Germany: 30-0 (24), IBF Middleweight Champion
Andre Dirrell, Flint, MI: 18-0 (13), 2004 Olympic Medallist
Carl Froch, Nottingham, England: 25-0 (20), WBC Super Middle Champion
Mikkel Kessler, Copenhagen, Denmark: 41-1 (31), WBA Super Middle Champion
Jermain Taylor, Little Rock, AR: 28-3-1 (17), former Unified Middleweight Champion
Andre Ward, Oakland, CA: 19-0 (12), 2004 Olympic Gold Medallist
Rules
Each boxer will fight three bouts against different opponents in a round-robin, points based competition. Points will be awarded after each bout.
Scoring is as follows:
2 points for a win, with a 1 point stoppage bonus
1 point for a draw
0 points for a loss More...
| | | | |
Search Saddo Boxing | Boxing News Archives
|
|
