Boxing News

When Trevor Berbick was killed on October 28,of this year, a wave of news about the passing of the former WBC Heavyweight Champion hit the TV and Internet. You would have thought that a major world event just took place.

Being a writer and the fact that I deal with so many different people and companies, I became flooded with news clips and articles. Like many, I was shocked. I don't know if I was surprised in the same way some other people were but I was surprised nonetheless. It caught me off guard for two reasons.

1.) I was surprised, and I mean this with no disrespect to Berbick's family, that Trevor had not already been killed. Mainly due to the fact that he was always a guy who was involved in some confrontation or another and considering his past, I figured he would have met the wrong guy long before this. More...

Will He or Won't He?

Click for larger image © Tom Casino Showtime Boxing

I remember Shannon Briggs' first loss. He was hammering Darroll Wilson for two rounds and it looked like he was on his way to an impressive KO win, but "The Cannon" ran out of gas and Wilson cleaned his clock. George Foreman was one of the commentators and said that losing would be the best thing to happen to Briggs as Shannon would come back as an even better fighter.

That wouldn't turn out to be true for several more years. Even though Briggs eventually got back on track and won a controversial decision against George Foreman in the ring, the New Yorker wasn't ready to be amongst the heavyweight elite.

Before his fight against Lennox Lewis in 1998, I heard Briggs say in an interview how he beat the man who beat the man, who beat the man (translation: Briggs had beaten Foreman, who had beaten Michael Moorer, who had beaten Evander Holyfield) as if that circular logic meant something. More...

One of today's rising stars in boxing is undefeated welterweight Paul "The Punisher" Williams who fights out of Aiken, South Carolina. Williams has a stellar record of 31-0 23KO's and is the mandatory challenger for World Champion Antonio Margarito's WBO Welterweight Title. More...

Click for larger image © Stefan Christou / Saddo Boxing

Deptford swaggerer Anthony Small continued his surge up the light middleweight ranks last weekend, crushing previously unbeaten Mancunian Prince Arron in two pulsating rounds to clear the path for a November 13 return to the ring. More...

Smaller gloves, no headgear and different scoring aside, America's top heavyweight prospect -- 2004 U.S. Olympian Jason "Big Six" Estrada -- doesn't think anything else, particularly the final outcome, will be any different November 17 against unbeaten heavyweight Travis "Freight Train" Walker, who Estrada defeated three times as an amateur, on Showbox: The Next Generation

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from the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, California. Estrada-Williams is the co-feature headlined by Sam Soliman-Enrique Ornelas. More...

Only two months after making an impressive debut in the professional code, Alsager’s Aaron Thomas is set to make a return to the scene of his inaugural victory when he appears on an Impact Boxing promoted event at Stoke’s Kings Hall on 24th November. The 26 year old welterweight thrilled an avid following last time out when he stopped Darwen’s Martin Sweeney after 1 minute 45 seconds of the second round. More...

Silverhawk Boxing's power-punching heavyweight Gerald "The Jedi" Nobles, after being inactive for nearly two years, successfully returned to the ring last Thursday night stopping Wallace McDaniels with a vicious right uppercut 2:58 into the opening round at The Plex in Charleston, South Carolina. More...

At the 19th annual WBO convention, held on the cruise ship Enchantment of the Seas, the sanctioning body’s Championship Committee reconfirmed to Seminole Warriors Boxing’s Lourdes Carrero and our promotional partners Eric Gomez from Golden Boy Promotions and Sampson Lewkowicz that unbeaten heavyweight sensation Sultan Ibragimov, as the WBO’s mandatory challenger, will get a shot at the winner of Saturday’s bout between champion Sergei Liakhovich and challenger Shannon Briggs within 90 days. More...

News of former Australian boxer Johnny Wheeler was passed to Young Victor by former ABF President Bryan Membrey that he is presently in the Alfred hospital.

Johnny's fights were during 1948/57, he had 66 fights. He never fought for any titles but as Mario Magriss stated he had been awarded a vacant Victorian Title at some stage.

We wish him all the very best. More...

Four Title Holders And No Champion

If any of you can figure out what is going on with the light heavyweight division, you have a better grasp on things than I do. We have four different champions, limited rising prospects and since the return of Roy Jones, the Ring Magazine title has changed hands more times than a Vegas poker chip at the $5 limit table. It went from Antonio Tarver to Jones, back to Tarver, then from Tarver to Glen Johnson, then back to Tarver again.

Tarver defends it once against Jones in their rubber match before going on hiatus to make the film Rocky 6 while reminding us in interviews (but not in the ring) that he is "The Legend Killer" and number one fighter at 175 lbs. Tarver then meets ex-middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins a few months back and is given the boxing lesson of his life before fading into the background.

After winning the belt, Hopkins just throws it away like it was pocket lint and retires. It has been almost impossible to keep tract of who is at the top in the light heavy division without minute-to-minute updates. At least for me. More...

Famous For All The Wrong Reasons

It has been reported that in rural Jamaica, former WBC Heavyweight Champion Trevor Berbick was found dead in a church courtyard early Saturday morning with contusions to the head that match up with that of a large knife or machete.

In a way, it is odd that the former champion should be found dead in such a place as the outer surroundings of a church. In life, Berbick himself was not a man known for his good deeds. In fact, outside the ring he was more famous for his law breaking ways and it was this brutish attitude that gained him attention. In the ring, he may be more known for his biggest loss than any of his wins.

Berbick, who was born in Jamaica, had become a citizen of Canada and spent a large part of his life there before being deported back to Jamaica (for the second time) some years ago. He fought on the 1976 Olympic team and held several minor pro titles during his career. Among those belts were Several Canadian title reigns, the USBA crown and the Commonwealth title. More...

Retractable Roof Will Be Open for Day-Night Event Where Arizona History Will Be Made; First World Heavyweight Championship Staged in Arizona; Three Championships on Card.

It will be suntan lotion in the afternoon and stars at night with the retractable roof open at Chase Field on Saturday when Don King presents the first world heavyweight championship ever held in Arizona. More...

European cruiserweight champion David Haye is preparing hard for the biggest fight of his professional career as not only will he be defending his European title, but his defence against Italian Giacobbe Fragomeni will also be a final eliminator for the WBC cruiserweight title.

Haye, who normally trains on the South Beach in Miami, has stayed in London and has carried his training at the 3rd space gym. The reason for this change in routine is due to the first class sparing he is receiving at the gym. Number one spar partner has been former IBF cruiserweight champion Kelvin Davis from America as well as other quality names. More...

Due to an injury to Ross Puritty, Gotham Boxing has signed heavyweight Abraham “The African Assassin” Okine as the replacement face David Tua in the main event this week at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City on Friday night, November 3 on “Marathon Extravaganza” fight card presented by Gotham Boxing and DRL Promotions, it was announced today.

Puritty sustained a severe cut on his forehead last week in final preparations, so was unable to participate in the contest. More...

Alpha Omega Entertainment Group, Inc. has announced a one-year, eight-event professional boxing series to be broadcast on NESN, starting December 1 (8-10 PM/ET) of a show taped live October 28 at Mohegan Sun.

Alpha Omega's broadcast team consists of blow-by-blow announcer Ed Berliner, color analyst Mike DeLisa and rotating boxing experts on different shows such as famed boxing historian Burt Sugar, 1960 Olympic gold medal winning boxer Dr. "Wilbert "Skeeter" McClure, The Boston Globe's award-winning boxing writer Ron Borges and popular manager/trainer Mark Vaz. More...

It only seems like hard-hitting Shannon “The Cannon’’ Briggs – bleached-gold dreadlocks and all - has been around forever.

“It’s funny,” he said, “because when everyone thinks of me, they think I am old because I fought George Foreman and Lennox Lewis, and other guys. But those fights were when I was very young. When I tell people my age, they’re like, “Naw, you can’t be.’ ”

For the record, the six-foot-four-inch Briggs is just 34 and has won 11 consecutive fights, all by knockout. A dangerous threat to any boxer in the heavyweight division, he is the World Boxing Organization (WBO) No. 3 and World Boxing Association (WBA) No. 8 contender. In addition, 27 of Briggs’ 41 career knockout victories have occurred in the first round. More...

Last night at the historic York Hall in London, former British and Commonwealth Lightweight Champion Graham Earl of Luton had another of his trademark close calls in defeating Spanish based Argentine fighter Angel Hugo Ramirez by decision to annex the vacant WBU title and Essex phenom Kevin Mitchell captured the vacant Commonwealth Super Feather belt with a competitive points victory over George Ashie of Ghana. More...

Last night at the Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, Kermit Cintron blasted his way to the vacant IBF Welterweight title by out slugging the game but outgunned Mark Suarez in five action packed rounds.

It was bombs away from the very first round as both combatants let fly with the heavy shots but the more experienced Cintron, 27-1 (25), now being trained by Emmanuel Steward, had the better focus, although it would take awhile for that quality to shine through. More...

Two of the Washington area’s top boxers will serve as co-headliners and a highly-anticipated, super lightweight contenders’ rematch highlight a six-bout fight card presented by Major League Boxing set for Saturday, December 9, 2006 at the Patriot Center.

Northern Virginia fan favorite JIMMY LANGE (27-3-1, 19 KOs) will return for his fourth consecutive bout in Fairfax joining one of the region’s all-time great fighters, former three-time world champion MARK “TOO SHARP” JOHNSON (44-5, 28 KOs) of Washington, D.C. as the evening’s main attractions. Opponents for both fighters will be announced shortly. More...

Undefeated Hartford, CT native Mike "Machine" Oliver lived up to his nickname tonight, earning a unanimous decision victory over Cathederal City, California's Adam Carrera, at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT. Oliver improved to 17-0, 7 KO's, while easily outpointing his game opponent, Carrera. More...