Author Adam Pitluk must be complimented on his gripping portrayal of Jesus Chavez's inspirational life journey, "Standing Eight", published by Da Capo Press. While reading this book, there were times when I had to remind myself that this was a factual account of a boxer's life and not just a "story." His journey was incredible.
Beginning with the Chavez family background and the struggle and sacrifices they all made in the early days to set up home in the United State, this is a story of real courage to achieve against the odds. More...
After ten months away from the spotlight, Roy Jones returned to the ring and deftly snuffed out the aspirations of "Prince" Badi Ajamu over the course of twelve one-sided rounds in Boise, Idaho. Despite predictions by many in the media that he was finished, Jones, 50-4 (38), captured the NABO Light Heavyweight belt by avoiding anything Ajamu, 25-3-1 (14), could bring to bear while catching the Camden, New Jersey man with sharp counters. Ajamu didn't help his cause at all by fouling Jones, resulting in three point deductions for low blows, and losing by scores of 119-106 on all three cards.
The chief support bout saw ex-IBF Light Heavy titlist William Guthrie stop Luke Munsen in the fifth to capture the vacant IBF International Cruiserweight belt.
In a battle of former world champions, Vivian Harris prevailed over Stevie "Lil But Bad" Johnston at light welter tonight at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California. Both men were on the comeback trail but at 33 years of age and at least six years past his prime, Johnston didn't have enough left to stay with Harris and was dropped in the first, fourth and seventh. It was the last knockdown that convinced referee Raul Caiz Jr. to stop the action at 2:45 of the seventh round.
With the victory, former WBA Light Welter titlist Harris, 27-2-1 (18), takes a giant step back into title contention, just two fights from his devastating knockout loss to Carlos Maussa. Ex-WBC Lightweight Champion Johnston, 39-4-1 (18), has recycled his career already on numerous occasions but it remains to be seen whether or not the once masterful southpaw can recover from this disaster. More...
WBO Light Heavyweight kingpin Zsolt Erdei outboxed two-time European Champion Thomas Ulrich over twelve rounds tonight to retain his title for the sixth time at the Konig-Pilsner Arena in Oberhausen, Germany. Erdei, 25-0 (15), a promotional stablemate of Ulrich's, had to endure a sustained opening push from the seemingly larger German but began to take control when the challenger's initial burst of energy began to fade. Erdei, of Budapest, Hungary, used his sharper skills to pick off Ulrich, 29-3 (19), for most of the middle rounds but was on the defensive again staring in the eighth when the ex-European titlist got his second wind. More...
Australian Gairy "Superman" St. Clair hit the jackpot tonight in Kempton Park, South Africa by pulling out a unanimous decision victory over IBF/IBO Super Feather Champion Cassius Baloyi via scores of 116-112, 115-113, and 115-114. St. Clair, 38-3-2 (17), had not lost in nearly six years after dropping decisions to future world champions Diego Corrales, Leonard Dorin and Vivian Harris. Despite towering over St. Clair, the South African Baloyi, now 32-3 (17), was unable to keep the action on the outside and loses his longtime IBO crown and the IBF title won from Manuel Medina in May.
World-class welterweights and junior welterweights do battle when HBO Boxing After Dark: Vivian Harris vs. Stevie Johnsyon and Joshua Clottey vs. Richard Gutierrez is seen tonightat 10:30 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from Chumash Casino & Resort in Santa Ynez, Cal., exclusively on HBO. The HBO Boxing After Dark team of Fran Charles, Max Kellerman and Lennox Lewis will be ringside for the event, which will be presented in Spanish language on HBO Latino. More...
The ring action will be as hot as the temperature in New York these days – sizzling – when DiBella Entertainment’s undefeated Dmitriy “Star of David” Salita headlines against Shad Howard on the latest (July 20th) edition of Broadway Boxing from the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center in New York City. The first broadcast will air on SportsNet New York this Sunday, July 30 at 8:00 PM. Here is the full schedule of air dates: More...
In recent weeks, there has been a hearty dose of bluster from the camp of WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito, claiming that he is the “most feared fighter in boxing’, and that no one is willing to fight him. Golden Boy Promotions has the solution to Mr. Margarito’s problem in securing an opponent for a fight this year – in fact, it has three solutions in pound for pound superstar Winky Wright, former junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma, and rising star Ishe Smith, all of whom are willing to battle Margarito at a moment’s notice.
'I respect Antonio Margarito as a fighter, but his claims that no one wants to fight him are baseless,' said Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya. 'We already offered Margarito’s promoter, Top Rank, a fight against Winky Wright, but they declined, saying that Margarito was not a middleweight. Well, we never discussed this fight as being at middleweight. Winky is more than willing to come down to 154 pounds for this fight, and given the fact that Margarito has fought at junior middleweight before and has called out other junior middleweights like Shane Mosley, Cory Spinks, and myself, I don’t see why this fight can’t be made.' More...
Middleweight Kelly Pavlik continued his march toward a world title shot by stopping former world title challenger Bronco McKart in the sixth round at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT on a Top Rank promotion on Thursday night. Pavlik was putting his NABF belt at risk for the first time and his veteran southpaw opponent gave the lanky Ohio native all he could handle from the second through the fourth rounds, sending Pavlik's mouthpiece flying and even knocking down the undefeated prospect.
But the 35 year old McKart simply couldn't keep up the assault and when he began to tire in the fifth frame, the heavy punching of Pavlik became a factor. The 24 year old from Ohio tagged McKart with a riveting left hook in the sixth, sending the southpaw to the canvas and while McKart made it to his feet, he soon returned to the floor under a hail of leather, prompting the bout to be stopped at 2:45 of the round. More...
By Matthew Bridgeman July 28th, 2006 All Boxing News
Former British boxer Garry Delaney was jailed for life on Friday 28th July by an Old Bailey judge for the murder of 23 year old Paul Price. The judge Leonard Goldstone ruled that Delaney must serve a minimum of 11 years for what he described as a “Cowardly” attack.
The incident happened in October 2005 when Delaney, 35 years old, was at a disco in the County Hotel in Woodford, Essex. He was asked by a member of staff to help remove Price and his friend who had been refused entry for wearing jeans and trainers. The former boxer, who worked as an East London bouncer, then lifted Price’s friend up off his feet and carried him outside and dropped him into some nearby bushes. More...
All good things must come to an end so the saying goes. It’s time for one good thing to end and another good thing to begin. Saturday night at the Qwest Arena in Boise, ID it’s time for Prince Badi Ajamu to overthrow former pound for pound boxing king Roy Jones, Jr. who challenges for the Prince’s NABO light heavyweight championship in a 12-round fight shown nationally on Pay-Per-View.
Prince Badi (25-2-1, 14 Kos), known as “The Fighting Prince” hails from the legendary gyms of Philly and plans on taking Jones to the school of hard knocks that Roy has pretty much been able to avoid during his remarkable career. A future Hall of Famer, Jones has very selectively avoided opponents capable of turning a “fight” into a “war”. Make no mistake about it, Roy Jones, Jr. (49-4, 38 Kos) will find himself in a “war” Saturday night. More...
Featherweights Rogers Mtagwa, of Philadelphia, and Alvin Brown, of Kansas City, will go through their final workouts this weekend in preparation for their scheduled 12-round USBA title fight next Wednesday, Aug. 2, at the New Alhambra in South Philadelphia. ESPN 2 will televise beginning 9 pm est. While beating Brown is Mtagwa’s main concern, there already have been preliminary discussions for a fall fight with unbeaten (19-0, 17 K0s) prospect Jason Litzau, of St. Paul, MN.
Representatives from the Litzau camp, including Main Events’ Carl Moretti, will be at ringside for the Mtagwa-Brown fight next Wednesday. Mtagwa, 27, will be making his second defense within seven weeks. He knocked out challenger Artyom Simonyan, of Glendale, CA, in four rounds in the same ring June 16. A pro since 1997, Mtagwa has scored 15 knockouts on his 20-10-2 record. More...
DiBella Entertainment's hotly anticipated light middleweight war between ex-welterweight world champions Ike Quartey and Vernon Forrest will reach a boiling point next week when the two heavy hitters participate in a series of open workouts in a midtown boxing gym before they clash at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, August 5. Also scheduled to appear in the workouts will be undefeated light middle Sechew Powell and dangerous former IBF Champion Kassim Ouma. More...
The eyes of the boxing and business worlds will be on Silverhawk Entertainment Group, formerly Silverhawk Boxing Promotions (www.silverhawkboxing.com), as it celebrates its restructuring, reorganization and coming-out party as a publicly traded corporation in grand fashion by having two of its fighters headlining major nationally and internationally televised fights in two cities on Saturday night. This is a one-two combination that few, if any, boxing promotion companies have achieved.
Silverhawk’s IBO world and NABC light welterweight champion Steve Johnston (38-3-1, 17 KOs), a former two-time WBC lightweight title-holder, will headline one card and fight former WBA super lightweight champion Vivian Harris. This main event will be shown on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” at 10:30 p.m. ET from the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, Calif. More...
On Wednesday night in New York, Detroit heavyweight Jonathon Banks came back from two first round knockdowns to stun seasoned vet Eliseo Castillo with a fourth round knockout on a Cedrick Kushner Gotham Boxing card at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Banks, 12-0 (9), retained his NABO title with a one punch KO of Castillo, 20-2-1 (15), a former top amateur in Cuba who had previously only lost to current IBF Champion Wladimir Klitschko. Banks was dropped by Castillo's first right hand in the initial frame and went down again in the follow-up assault before clinching his way through the rest of the round. Castillo went on to successfully box on the outside during in rounds two and three before nailing Castillo with a perfect right hand that floored the Cuban and ended matters.
Also on the bill, New Zealand heavyweight and former world title challenger David Tua continued his comeback, knocking out Chicago's Edward Guiterrez with a trademark crushing left hook in the fourth and lightweight hot prospect Jorge Teron of the Bronx decisioned rival Armando Cordoba in a six round rematch.
After a four year hiatus, hard punching dangerman Pele Reid is planning a return to the boxing ring. For the past four years, the 32 year old has fought internationally on the K1 kick boxing circuit and now wants to prove himself on the British heavyweight boxing scene. He feels his K1 experience has hardened him mentally and physically, and he is a much improved boxer from the one who last boxed in October 2002.
Reid came to boxing in the mid 1990’s from a martial arts background with no amateur experience to speak of. It was renowned Sheffield trainer Brendan Ingle who took Reid under his wing and moulded him into a dangerous boxer. In the ring, Reid ran up a record of 13 wins in a row by stoppage and began to create a real buzz among the British fight fans.
It wasn’t meant to be and in 1999 Reid was thrown in too deep against in-form British champion Julius Francis and was stopped on his feet inside three rounds. The tough-love matchmaking continued and he was served up to world class Orlin Norris in his next fight and stopped inside a round. Other set backs followed but he kept a reputation as a dangerous, if vulnerable hitter. In some ways, his fighting DNA was not dissimilar to that other British powder-keg, Herbie Hide. More...
Broadway Boxing, courtesy of Dibella Entertainment, was back at the Manhattan Center in New York last Thursday night. In the main event Dmitriy “Star of David” Salita took on late substitute Shad Howard in a scheduled 12 round welterweight bout. In round one, Salita got off to a quick start by establishing his jab to set up punches. It was clear that Salita was the quicker of the two as he outboxed Howard easily. In round two, Howard attempted to get in on the inside to try and close the gap, having some success and connected with a beautiful right hand. Much of the same action follows in round three.
By the fourth, the two fighters engaged in toe to toe action with Salita getting the better of the exchanges. In round five, Howard was able to penetrate Salita's defense and connect with numerous right hands, appearing to make it a competitive bout. Howard was very effective when working on the inside and enticing Salita to brawl. Unfortunately, the fight was stopped before the sixth round began at the advice of the referee due to Howard sustaining and ear injury in round five. Salita improves to 25-01 (15). According to Salita's publicist Ron Goldman, "The Star of David" is looking to fight a top ten welterweight contender for his next bout. More...
Inside a sweltering Altrincham Leisure centre, WBC number one ranked Cruiserweight contender David Haye successfully defended his European Title via a unanimous twelve rounds points decision over Belgium's Ismail Abdoul on a Maloney Promtion last Friday night.The fight was extremely dull and disappointing though, it has to be said. David, never once living up to his explosive nickname of Hayemaker, boxed well within himself as he won every single round. While the durable Abdoul failed to offer much in the way of aggression, content instead to be picked off with left jabs on the way to a lopsided decision loss.
The crowd wanted action, and when it refused to materialise some fans got up and left, mid-fight. The boos steadily cascaded down on the ring from the fourth round on. And , purely on value for money terms, the match was a huge letdown. There was simply nowhere near enough drama. More...
Massive Photo Gallery copyright Jane Warburton Saddo Boxing.com
In the fight of the night on the Maloney Promotions bill at the Altrincham leisure centre last Friday night, British light middleweight champion Jamie Moore tuned up in very impressive fashion for his September bout with Matthew Macklin. Going up against fellow south paw Mike Algoet, from Belgium, Moore was expected to be taken the distance. Algoet is a fighter of proven durability - once taking the excellent Roman Karmazan the distance - yet Jamie managed to get his win inside schedule. The action was good, too.
Jamie's loyal fan base had lots to shout about. Not least the quality of Moore's work. Mike has a reputation as being something of a spoiler, but against Moore he wasnt given the chance. Switching his shots from body to head well, Moore set a fast pace and, despite going up against a full middleweight, was stronger at the inside work. In short, Jamie put not one foot wrong - he boxed like a fine and experienced pro. More...
It goes without saying that whenever boxing superstar Marco Antonio Barrera steps into the ring, it’s a big event for fight fans. But add a hungry challenger looking for redemption in a rematch to the mix, along with two more highly anticipated championship bouts, and you’ve got a night that will go down in history as one of the greatest fight cards in recent memory.
And the fans have responded, as tickets to the September 16 “Too Close to Call” card at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino - which features the championship rematch between Barrera and Rocky Juarez, along with the Jhonny Gonzalez vs Israel Vazquez and Jorge Rodrigo Barrios vs Joan Guzman title bouts – have been selling at an amazing rate since going on sale on July 15th. More...
