Boxing News

By Per Ake Persson

IBF cruiser champ Steve Cunningham stopped brave German challenger Marco Huck in the 12th and final round of this Sauerland Event promotion last night at Seidensticker Halle, Bielefeld, Germany.

Huck was trailing on points going into the last round, took a lot of chances and walked onto a counter. He fell but it was ruled a slip. More...

If pre-fight comments serve as any indication as to the action that will take place in the ring on January 4th at the Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino, than the action should be fierce when world rated super middleweight Allen Green battles former world title challenger Rubin Williams as both are predicting knockout victories. More...

America's IBF Cruiserweight Champion Steve Cunningham has fought most of his career on the road away from his hometown of Philadelphia and will have to do it one more time when he faces challenger Marco Huck tonight at the Seidensticker Halle in Bielefeld, Germany.

Cunningham, 20-1 (10), tipped the scales at just 192 lb yesterday, in keeping with the reedy champion's thinner build while Huck weighed in much closer to the 200 lb cruiser limit at 198.

At just 23 years of age, Huck, 19-0 (14), will have the youth advantage over 31 year old Cunningham, but the champion will look to bring his greater ring experience into play, applying the wisdom learned during victories over Guillermo Jones, Kelvin Davis, Sebastiaan Rothmann and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk.

But will that experience be enough to keep Huck off? The oddsmakers don't think so as Cunningham is a big underdog with the bookies going into tonight's clash. More...

There wasn't a great deal of action last night across the globe but fans in attendance at the River Rock Casino in the Canadian city of Richmond saw what could have been the final nail driven into the career coffin of heavyweight Dominic Guinn.

The 32 year old Texan was soundly defeated by journeyman spoiler Robert Hawkins over 10 rounds via scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 97-93.

Guinn, 28-6-1 (19), had won his first 24 bouts until it all began to fall apart with a 2004 loss to Monte Barrett and has gone 3-5-1 since that time. 37 year old Hawkins, 23-10 (7), wins for just the second time in his last eight appearances and notches the biggest victory of his 13 year career. More...

Eight-time boxing world champion Roy Jones Jr. planned to visit with New York Knicks players after they finished practice at the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Tarrytown, N.Y., today but was surprised when Knicks head coach Isiah Thomas waved him over to take part in a full-court, three-man weave drill with the team.

“It was a dream come true for me to get on the court and shoot around and do some drills with the Knicks,” Jones, who once played in the professional United States Basketball League, said. “I was a little rusty but I wasn’t going to say no to coach Isiah. What a thrill it was to be on the court with the Knicks to see up close and personal how good they really are.” More...

One night before Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi defends his International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior welterweight title against top-ranked Herman “The Black Panther’’ Ngoudjo on Showtime Championship Boxing, undefeated, world-ranked Anthony and Lamont Peterson will be co-featured in 10-round bouts on ShoBox: The New Generation Friday, Jan. 4, 2008, on Showtime11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast. More...

DiBella Entertainment and Brave St. Productions are proud to announce the television premiere of “Magic Man” as it will air exclusively on Showtime Dec. 30 – Jan. 4.

The documentary film chronicles the ascent of perpetual underdog Paulie the “Magic Man” Malignaggi, a scrawny kid from a broken home who, in quest to prove his life was worth something, defeated all odds to arrive at the Mecca of boxing (where is this) one big upset away from proving everyone wrong. It’s a story of disappointment, determination, of stamina and salvation. More...

While the pairing has just been announced for early March with no venue yet determined, the mere mention of a showdown between David Haye and Enzo Maccarinelli is enough to get serious fans of the sport all wound up.

London based Haye and Welshman Maccarinelli went from British champion hopefuls to genuine world titlists in 2007 on the strength of fine performances that saw the pair sweep aside the old guard of the cruiserweight divisions.

Maccarinelli, 28-1 (21), was the first to rack up world class victory by retaining his WBO belt via an outstanding boxing performance over former WBC Champ Wayne Braithwaite in July at the International Arena in Cardiff.

The star turn of Haye, 20-1 (19), was perhaps a higher quality win as the Bermondsey slugger traveled to the Paris backyard of reigning WBC/WBA Champion Jean Marc Mormeck and belted out the Frenchman in seven brutal rounds.

But none of that will matter when the bell rings on March 8 in what is sure to be a massive and packed venue.

Both cruisers have pure dynamite in each glove with Haye having the edge in handspeed and Maccarinelli the advantage in stamina, combining for what is sure to be a torrid slugfest for as long as it lasts. More...

It was a warm, clear, summer morning in Sydney, Australia, and Herman Ngoudjo was heading to the airport to return to his native Cameroon. Ngoudjo (En-Goo-Jo) had desires of bringing home a medal from the 2000 Olympic Games. But without world-class training, the muscular boxer was eliminated early and would go home empty-handed.

“I was absolutely thrilled to compete in the Sydney Olympics,” said Ngoudjo (16-1, nine KOs), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) No. 1 junior welterweight contender who challenges IBF champion Paulie Malignaggi (23-1, five KOs) Saturday, Jan. 5, on Showtime Championship Boxing at 11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast. More...

IBF light welterweight champion Paulie “The Magic Man” Malignaggi has shifted his training camp from sunny Vero Beach, Florida to back home in the Big Apple without missing a beat as he continues preparing for his first title defense January 5 on Showtime Championship Boxing against No. 1 mandatory contender Herman “The Black Panther” Ngoudjo (16-1, 9 KOs) at Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City.

The brash Brooklyn boxer, rated No. 2 by The Ring, is back working out at famed Gleason’s Gym during the holiday season, something that hasn’t fazed Malignaggi in the least. More...

Promoter Frank Warren confirmed today that the explosive all-British showdown between big-hitters Enzo Maccarinelli and David Haye is on.

WBO world champion Maccarinelli and newly crowned WBC/WBA world champion Haye will clash on Saturday 8 March (venue TBC) to finally decide who is the best cruiserweight in the world. All three titles will be on the line.

Swansea puncher Maccarinelli last fought on the Joe Calzaghe-Mikkel Kessler undercard in November, stopping Mohamed Azzaoui in the fourth round.
He said,"I'm delighted that Haye has finally put pen to paper and the fight is happening. More...

Who do we want to see in the coming year? To take a look into the near future, there are really good match-ups that could take place, but it’s anyone’s guess if they’ll happen.

Tony Thompson, 31-1, vs. well, anybody: So long as it’s on TV, we just need to see the guy. He’s supposed to be on fire and at age 36, the clock is ticking. He needs a good television performance to get on the radar and seriously jockey for a run at the championship. But with the division lacking in superstars, there’s no guarantee the bout would get televised even if he fought a champion, unless it was perhaps a Samuel Peter or Wladimir Klitschko. Anybody got the number to Friday Night Fights?

Samuel Peter, 29-1, vs. Wladimir Klitschko, 49-3: As good as the first one was, the second promises to be even better. Peter should be able to get past the aging, ailing, inactive Maskaev, and has improved a lot since the last meeting with Klitschko. Sadly for him, so has Klitschko, who has settled into the Steward-trained style perfected with Lennox Lewis. Klitschko will be more apt to box from the outside and still tie Peter up on the inside like last time, but Peter has developed more movement and boxing ability. The result will be the same, but aside from the knockdowns scored by Peter, it will be a more entertaining fight.

Vitali Klitschko, 35-2, vs. Oleg Maskaev, 34-5: There’s little chance of this fight happening in 2008, not because it can’t be agreed upon by both sides, but nagging recurring injuries from both sides will continually push the battle back. Look for "Ironfist" to come out on top in the battle of words after a duct tape maneuver holds him together just slightly longer than the Big O. More...

2004 U.S. Olympian Jason “Big Six” Estrada battles former world heavyweight title challenger Charles Shufford and WBC Youth featherweight champion Manuel Perez defends his title against Matt “Sharp Shooter” Remillard in co-main events on “Champions of Tomorrow,” January 25 at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. More...

Famed Butterbean conqueror and New York boxer Mitchell “Cigarette Man” Rose has released a book titled “Mike Tyson Tried to Kill My Daddy”. More...

All the Staff at Saddo Boxing would like to wish all our Readers a Very Merry Christmas and a Great New Year.

Lets hope 2008 will be as great a year for the boxing fans as 2007 has been

Here is our little gift to you all....

© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing

Whether it's freezing cold or nice and tropically warm where you are right now, there wasn't a whole lot of boxing happening last weekend with the holiday season in full swing but there a few things to look forward to this week.

Tomorrow on Christmas day, 39 year old Pramuansak "The Machine Gun" Posuwan, 40-1-1- (22), will place his WBO Asia Pacific Super Flyweight crown at risk for the 23rd time over two reigns when he takes on Filipino slugger Marvin "The Leyte Bomber" Tampos, 14-8-2 (11), in Bangkok, Thailand. Posuwan suffered his only loss when attempting to lift the full WBO crown from Fernando Montiel two years ago.

Not taking any time off after Christmas are Massimo Bertozzi, 41-28-4 (12), and Alfredo Di Feto, 13-4-1 (5), who scrap for Bertozzi's IBF Mediterranean Lightweight belt at Reggio Emilia in Emilia Romagna, Italy on Wednesday, December 26. 40 year old Bertozzi has swapped punches with all the best Italian fighters since turning pro in 1989 and has held domestic titles at lightweight and light welter. More...

In a major Continental upset, Belorussian super feather Sergey Gulyakevich outpointed the heavy handed reigning European Champion Leva Kirakosyan over twelve rounds at Datch Forum in Milan, Italy last night.

26 year old Gulyakevich outboxed the favored Kirakosyan, an Armenian residing in Spain, and managed to avoid the champion's massive punching power while annexing the European title via the varying scores of 120-108, 118-110 and 115-113.

Kirakosyan, 26-5 (17), had previously won eight of his last twelve bouts by KO and had twice victimized British Champion Carl Johanneson during that period. Gulyakevich, 24-1 (12), had been stopped on cuts last year in a failed bid to lift the European title from Alex Arthur before the Scotsman gave up the belt and won the WBO crown. More...

After a blockbuster year in 2007 featuring seventeen world class professional boxing events, Dominic Pesoli’s 8 Count Productions storms into the new year with "The Month Of The Kings", an outstanding evening for Chicago fight fans set for Friday, January 25th at Cicero Stadium. More...

The O. It’s been what was for dinner in 2007 for boxing fans. This year has been a fond swan song for the much coveted goose egg. From the first of this year when bantamweight Jonathan Arias kayoed Jorge Lopez Palafox in Baja California in a single round to two weeks ago when Floyd Mayweather stacked his flawless record against the also undefeated Ricky Hatton, 2007 has seen perfect record pitted against perfect record, half of which now besmirched.

The first course was the “O” that came and went belonging to former WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Tomasz "Goral" Adamek, 31-0, by the fast hands of “Bad” Chad Dawson, 22-0, way back in February. It was a completely one-sided broasting as Dawson reduced Adamek to a single dimensioned fighter, knocking him down in the seventh. Adamek returned the favor in the tenth with a straight right after Dawson rested on a gravy train, but was unable to keep him down.

In September, WBC and WBO Middleweight Champion Jermain Taylor, 27-0-1, got a healthy serving of leather from challenger Kelly Pavlik, 31-0-0, as he found himself beltless and momentarily conscious-less. After jumping out to an early lead with a furious display of power that put Kelly Pavlik on the mat in the second round, Taylor was unable to capitalize and drop Pavlik for a full count. Pavlik became more assertive as the rounds progressed until he dumped Taylor like a sack of potatoes against the ropes.

Mikkel Kessler, 39-0, versus Joe Calzaghe, 43-0, made for a fine main course, a definite fight of the year candidate as it had the greatest impact ever in the super middleweight division, pitting undefeated champion against undefeated champion in which neither fighter would yield. Kessler faded while Calzaghe remained fresh throughout the fight, the Dane giving a good accounting of himself before relinquishing his WBA and WBC titles to the WBO linear champion. And this was after Kessler defended his titles against fellow undefeated, granite-chinned Librado Andrade, 24-0, back in March. More...

Not a whole lot went on last night but there were a few notable bouts to cover and we start at the Salle du Bouvy in La Louviere, Belgium where hometown hero Carmelo Ballone, 20-2-1 (9), stopped Romania's Eugen Sorin Tanasie, 14-1-1 (6), in the eighth to annex the vacant European Bantamweight title.

The belt became vacant when reigning champion Simone Maludrottu of Italy signed on to challenge WBC kingpin Hozumi Hasegawa in Japan next month. Tanasie came into the bout as the European Union titlist but could not overcome the more experienced Ballone, who came close to knocking off Maludrottu during a split decision loss two years ago.

Speaking of Italy and European titles, former heavyweight champion Paolo Vidoz, 24-4 (13), went back into action for the first time since failing to regain his former crown in a rematch against Vladimir Virchis back in May. Vidoz made short work of Hungarian novice Zoltan Peto, 6-4 (1), stopping the Budapest native in the first round at the Palabam in Mantova, Italy.

At the Arena El Jefe in Monterrey, Mexico, light middle Michael Medina, 18-0-2 (45), stayed perfect with a seventh round KO of Christian Solano, 20-14-4 (15), who's only win over his last seven bouts was a shocking second round stoppage against highly touted and previously undefeated Brit welter John O'Donnell in May. More...