Dean Phillips steps into the ring at the home of British Boxing the York Hall in Bethnal Green on Sunday to establish his place amongst Britain's top lightweights. Phillips who faces from European champion Tontcho Tontchev knows nothing less than a convincing performance will get the attention of the boxing public.
Phillips at 30 knows time is not on his side in an exciting lightweight division, with Graham Earl fighting for the European title and Lee Meager and Dave Stewart fighting for the British title. More...
In a fabulous doubleheader on “ShoBox: The New Generation” Friday on SHOWTIME (11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast), physically-gifted Anthony “The Messenger” Thompson takes on battle-tested contender Darnell Boone in a 10-round super welterweight bout, and “Vicious” Victor Ortiz meets fellow Southern Californian “Feisty” Freddie Barrera in an 8-round lightweight duel. More...
British fight fans can judge for themselves if Howard Eastman is justified in his belief that his exhilarating IBF middleweight final eliminator against Edison Miranda in Florida last weekend shouldn't have been stopped. Sky Sports will show the contest "originally covered by ESPN" in full on Friday 31st March from 10pm.
Former undefeated British, Commonwealth and European champion Eastman was under fire, but on his feet, when the referee stepped in during the seventh round to end an affair between two obviously heavy handed world-class operators that had ebbed and flowed. There was the sense that the "Battersea Bomber" who protested immediately - was allowing the Colombian to punch himself out, but got caught heavily in the process. More...
Colombian knockout artist Juan Urango is healed from an injury to his left hand, back in the gym, and ready for his long-awaited shot at the IBF Junior Welterweight championship vacated earlier this week by Ricky Hatton.
“My hand is 100 percent and I’m looking forward to knocking people out with it,” said Urango, 16-0-1 with 13 KOs. “The first one on my hit list is Naoufel Ben Rabah, and I’m looking forward to becoming a World Champion.” More...
Although he has never fought a major bout in the United States, greatness transcends even the breadth of the Atlantic Ocean. British junior welterweight Ricky Hatton wowed the world in 2005 and has won the Edward Neil Award, given to the Boxing Writers Association of America's Fighter of the Year.
The Hit Man won each of his 2005 fights in remarkable fashion. He scored an upset in June, when he made esteemed junior welterweight champ Kostya Tszyu quit on his stool after 11 rounds and then unified the title with a ninth-round knockout of Carlos Maussa in November. Hatton is the first British fighter since Lennox Lewis in 1999 to be named Fighter of the Year.
Hatton and the other honorees will be feted at the 81st annual BWAA Awards Dinner to be held May 5 at The Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. More...
On Wednesday, May 10, Classic Entertainment & Sports, Inc. (CES) presents “A Night of Championship Boxing” when undefeated cruiserweights Matt Godfrey and Shaun George do battle at the Fox Theatre in Foxwoods Resort Casino. At stake are Matt “Too Smooth” Godfrey’s WBC United States cruiserweight championship and Shaun George’s NABA crown. Godrey, currently ranked as the world’s 26th best cruiserweight by the WBC, and Shaun George, ranked 15th by the WBA, look to continue their assent in the cruiserweight division in a 12-round unification bout. More...
Unbeaten Joan “Sycuan Warrior’ Guzman is one of the most feared fighters in boxing. Now, with the promotional backing of Golden Boy Promotions and Sycuan Ringside Promotions, the former super bantamweight champion and current number one WBO featherweight contender will get to display his immense talent for a worldwide audience every time he steps into the ring.
'We’re very excited to be working with Sycuan to co-promote a great fighter like Joan Guzman,' said Oscar De La Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions. 'He is not only very talented and able to knock his opponents out with either hand, but he has a charisma in and out of the ring that few fighters possess. If you haven’t seen him fight before, you’re in for a treat.' More...
Commonwealth Heavyweight king Danny Williams will be ringside at the York Hall this Saturday (1 April) to watch rival Matt Skelton in his comeback fight before their big rematch in the summer. Skelton has his first fight since losing his unbeaten record to Williams last month in their brutal encounter and takes on Frenchman Suren Kalachyan over eight-rounds. The Brixton puncher will face Skelton again at the M.E.N Arena on July 15 and this time says he will not leave it until the final round to stop Skelton - as he nearly did in the first fight. "I will be there watching Skelton's every move and seeing how much the first fight affected him and if he is still the same or if he has learnt and improved," said Williams. More...
There have been some excellent fights in the world cruiserweight division in the recent months. The most important of which was the surprise victory of O'Neil Bell, who took the title of undisputed divisional champion away from the highly rated and favoured Frenchman Jean Marc Mormeck via a tenth round KO. But there has also been some major action in the UK, such as the recent thriller between WBU Champion Enzo Maccarinelli and British and Commonwealth kingpin Mark Hobson on the undercard of the Joe Calzaghe – Jeff Lacy unification bout. Both boxers produced a full showing of their armoury and Hobson, despite getting knocked down early on, recovered to take the fight to the Welshman and eventually lost a close decision after twelve action packed rounds. Just this past Friday, European Champion David Haye and Lasse Johansen provided an excellent fight for the fans, ending in the powerhouse Haye scoring a technical knockout in the eight round.
So now after recent events, the cruiserweight division appears to have laid weight to the claims that it is currently one of the most potential filled divisions in boxing, and the fights which have been made are certainly full of quality. David Haye, young and full of power at 25 years of age, has finally put the ghost of the Carl Thompson fight behind him, going eight rounds against Johansen and proving that he is a real contender for a world title. Haye is ranked fourth by the WBC and sixth by the IBF and WBA; surely a shot at one of those titles is not far away? More...
The most exciting and courageous heavyweight champion in the world will return to America’s No. 1 Boxing Network on Saturday.
Lamon Brewster (33-2, 29 KOs), of Los Angeles, by way of Indianapolis, Ind., will make the fourth defense of his World Boxing Organization (WBO) title when he takes on once-beaten Sergei “The White Wolf’’ Liakhovich (22-1, 14 KOs) Saturday, April 1, 2006, on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING (11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast). The 12-round world title fight will be promoted by Don King Productions and take place at the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. This will be the first heavyweight world championship bout to take place in the city since 1983. More...
Fight Academy’s Dennis Hobson has offered rival Frank Warren a £100,000 side bet in an attempt to lure Warren’s super-middleweight king Joe Calzaghe to light heavyweight to face IBF champion Clinton Woods in a mouthwatering all British showdown this summer.
Hobson said: “I know Calzaghe looked tremendous against Jeff Lacy but I’m prepared to put my money where my mouth is and have a £100,000 bet with Frank on the winner. I know it would be a great fight but my fighter would win.”
He added: “We are prepared to make Joe and Frank an offer for Fight Academy to put the fight on or we could do a joint promotion - but we could all make money and deliver a real England v Wales super-fight. British boxing is really on the upswing at the moment but the one thing we haven’t seen in a long time is two British fighters battling it out for a proper world championship. But that fight can happen, right now, if Frank Warren and Joe Calzaghe want it to.” More...
April the 2nd sees Dean Phillips the unheralded hard-punching lightweight from Wales continue his march towards fulfilling his ambition of winning a major title when he tops the bill for the second time on a Maloney Promotions London show at the York Hall, Bethnal Green.
Phillips steps in with his most dangerous opponent to date in former European and World-class super-featherweight Tontcho Tontchev of Bulgaria. The irony of the bout is that Phillips is now under the Maloney Promotions banner while Tonthcev was one of Maloney's former 'Golden
Boys' in the days of Panix Promotions. More...
Sanigar Promotions and West Country Boxing are pleased to announce Plymouth's Scott Dann will box on Friday 7th April 2006 in Bristol. The current British & Commonwealth Champion boxes tough European Yuri Tsarenko from Belarus in an eight round International Middleweight contest. Tsarenko is familiar to UK viewers for beating Gary Lockett.
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If successful, this will push Scott up the European ratings. Main Event on the evening will be Bristol's Lee Haskins defending his Commonwealth Flyweight Title against former World Champion Zolile Mbityi from South Africa. As well as Scott Dann, there is another great chief support with Stroud's Leigh Alliss challenging London's Peter Haymer for the English Light-Heavyweight Title. To complete the 8 fight card, new Sanigar signing and former Olympian Courtney Fry as well as top amateur stars Gary Buckland, Dan Guthrie, Michael Graydon and Danny Butler will all make appearances.
Guilty Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions teamed up to provide the local boxing fanatics with an action-packed Friday night of boxing at The Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The main event was an IBF Super Featherweight Title Eliminator between Tijuana native Manuel Medina and Argentinean tough guy Javier Alvarez. Medina’s world class experience, boxing skills, and work rate proved far too much in a lopsided 118-110 (twice), 119-109 unanimous decision over Alvarez.
Alvarez seemed a little too relaxed and didn’t engage nearly enough in the early rounds as Medina employed his boxing lesson. Medina rarely neglected his effective jab and worked smooth combinations up and down on Alvarez, quickly getting out of harms way before Alvarez could fire back. More...
With major bouts scheduled for May and July, Portland Boxing Club brawler Jason "The Hammer" LeHoullier was looking for a tune-up in Saturday night?s main event at the Rochester (New Hampshire) Community Center. What he got was eight rounds of heavy-bag work against an opponent who didn't seem to have much interest in punching back.His opponent, Jerome Elder
of Indianapolis, IN, broke out his version of the rope-a-dope, laying back on the ropes, taunting his opponent and hoping to weather the storm until LeHoullier punched himself out.
It can be an effective tactic (all nine of Elder's wins have come by knockout), but only against boxers who get tired. Unfortunately for Elder, LeHoullier got stronger as the fight wore on. After spending much of the opening round sizing up his opponent, LeHoullier backed Elder into the corner and unloaded with a half dozen hooks. Elder clowned for the crowd, dismissing the punches, then he ate a half dozen more. More...
The 20th anniversary celebration of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING continues with a WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT on Saturday, April 1, when "Relentless" Lamon Brewster defends his WBO title against Sergei "The White Wolf'' Liakhovich. The 12-round world title fight at Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio is promoted by Don King Productions and will air on SHOWTIME at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast). More...
When boxing historians look back at the date of June 10th, 2006, one of two results will be crystal clear- it will be the day that light heavyweight Antonio Tarver cements his hall of fame credentials by ending the career of boxing legend Bernard Hopkins, or it will be the day when middleweight great Hopkins, ends a legendary career with a stirring win over one of the top light heavyweights of this era. However, one thing is certain. When Antonio "The Magic Man" Tarver and Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins meet on Saturday, June 10th at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, it will definitely be a "Fight To The Finish". More...
For many boxers the comeback trail is the hardest trail to travel. But for 2-time former WBC Lightweight Champion and current IBO and NABC Light Welterweight Champion Stevie "Lil' But Bad" Johnston every day is in his comeback is as bright and full of promise as the beautiful sunny weather in his new home of Vero Beach. FL. Johnston firmly believes his future is as bright as the warm, sunny skies he awakens to each and every day. More...
Unbeaten prospect Timur Ibragimov, fresh off a second round stoppage of Kenny Craven on March 24, will take the next step on his road to the heavyweight championship of the world when he faces highly-regarded contender Calvin Brock on Saturday, June 24th at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. More...
After a stirring seventh round TKO of Howard Eastman on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights last weekend, top middleweight contender Edison “Pantera” Miranda is eager to take the next step in his career and bring home a world championship.
“I predicted a knockout of Howard Eastman on March 24th and I delivered one,” said Miranda, now 26-0 with 23 KOs. “Now I have another prediction – I will knock out anyone at 160 pounds – at least anyone who is willing enough to step into the ring with me.” More...
