By Bongani Magasela, courtesy of The Sowetan

South Africa’s and the United States’ two top boxing promoters, Branco Milenkovic and Bob Arum, have been ordered by the IBF to begin negotiations for Nonito Donaire and Moruti Mthalane’s envisaged flyweight championship fight.

Arum, a Hall of Fame inductee who promotes under Top Rank, controls Donaire, the Filipino who holds the IBF belt, while internationally acclaimed Milenkovic of Branco Sports Production guides the career of the number one ranked Ntuzuma fighter, Mthalane. More...

One of America's top lightweights came to Jan Smuts Stadium in East London last night in search of a world title opportunity and in the eyes of many, Zahir Raheem was almost certain to return home to the US with that title challenge in his pocket.

After all, hadn't Raheem easily defeated one of the best Mexican fighters in a generation, Eric Morales, and narrowly lost a heavily disputed split decision to Acelino Freitas?

And all Raheem had to do was get past local man Ali Funeka, who had never fought outside of his home country or faced the kind of competition that Raheem had been in the ring with.

But Funeka hadn't been without success, having held the South African Super Feather crown over six defenses and the WBC International Lightweight strap for three bouts and was riding a 15 contest win streak stretching back six years.

The first round was largely a studying session for both men as they attempted to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the other in this packed stadium that usually hosts Cricket and Track and Field events. More...

Tonight, the action in East London will be happening at the Orient Theater as top American lightweight Zahir Raheem comes to South Africa in an IBF final title eliminator against local hero Ali "Rush Hour" Funeka.

Raheem, 29-2 (17), is perhaps most famous for defeating Mexican legend Eric Morales in 2005 before losing a controversial vacant WBO title challenge to Acelino Freitas a year later. More...

By Mesuli Zifo

Top American fighter Zahir Raheem arrived in East London yesterday for his IBF lightweight title eliminator against Ali Funeka at Jan Smuts Stadium on Saturday. More...

Former world title challenger Zahir Raheem feels ready and confident as he enters the final stages of his training camp for his upcoming IBF world lightweight title elimination bout in East London, South Africa against Ali Funeka.

"Zahir knows this will be one of his toughest fights and he will be ready," said Bobby Dobbs, matchmaker for promoter Tony Holden, Raheem's promoter. "Obviously, he would have preferred to fight here in the states, but that won't affect Zahir as he will be ready to fight anywhere." More...

By Mesuli Zifo

The camp of top American fighter Zahir Raheem has refuted reports that he is underestimating Ali Funeka ahead of their eagerly anticipated IBF Lightweight title eliminator at East London’s Jan Smuts Stadium on July 5. More...

By Mesuli Zifo

Top American fighter Zahir Raheem is proving to be as cagey outside the ring as he is in it after he went ahead and booked his own lodging without consulting fight promoter Branco Milenkovic.

This after the American had also made his own travel arrangement to arrive in East London on Sunday. More...

By Mesuli Zifo

The Eastern Cape government has moved swiftly to save a world boxing extravaganza featuring a top American fighter from being moved from East London.

They’ve clinched the deal with fight promoter Branco Milenkovic to stage the event in East London on July 5. More...

Friday night at the Uniprix Stadium in Montreal, local light welter Herman "Black Panther" Ngoudjo bounced back from a close loss to IBF Champion Paulie Malignaggi in January to win that organization's official title eliminator at 140 lb by posting a hard fought unanimous decision against former WBA Champion Souleymane "The Sensation" M'baye of France.

Ngoudjo started well and worked his advantage in strength well against the rangy M'baye but by the middle rounds the Canadian was put to great disadvantage after suffering a swelling that closed his left eye.

The experienced former world champion punished the one-eyed Ngoudjo but could not hurt the iron-chinned native Cameroonian, expending a great deal of energy in the process.

The resurgent Ngoudjo took the initiative in the later rounds and forced M'baye to fight in close quarters, nullifying the effect of both his own injury and the reach differential enjoyed by the Parisian. More...

Much as fellow "Contender" TV series alum Peter Manfredo was diced and sliced by super middleweight world champion Joe Calzaghe last year, welterweight Alfonso Gomez was shown the door in cursory fashion by WBA Champion Miguel Cotto last night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ, while former WBO Welter boss Antonio Margarito once again proved that he has Kermit Cintron's number after KO'ing the IBF Champ in six rounds during a rematch that was supposed to display Cintron's marked improvement.

Bouyed by recent wins over withered former top light welters Arturo Gatti and Ben Tackie, Gomez had expressed great confidence leading up to the title challenge of Cotto but once the bell rang, was shown to be lacking in all the requirements to defeat a reigning world champion except toughness.

Forward marched the seemingly much larger Gomez, but the 27 year old Los Angeles man was unable to put a scratch on Cotto, who took the opportunity to paint a body punching masterpiece on the canvas of Gomez's midsection. More...

Click for larger image © Tom Casino / Showtime Boxing

Antonio Tarver registered a unanimous 12 round decision over defending champion Clinton Woods to capture the IBF light heavyweight crown and WBC 175 pound kingpin Chad Dawson remained undefeated with a thrilling, hard-fought 12 round decision over hard-luck Glen Johnson Saturday on Showtime. More...

Boxing fans will be treated to back-to-back welterweight championship bouts when World Championship Boxing: Miguel Cotto vs. Alfonso Gomez and Kermit Cintron vs. Antonio Margarito is seen live Saturday, April 12 at10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The fight will be available in HDTV, as well as closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.

In the main event, a welterweight title will be at stake as rising star Miguel Cotto, 31-0 (25), from Caguas, Puerto Rico, takes on Alfonso Gomez, 18-3-2 (8), from Whittier, CA., in a scheduled 12-round contest. More...

The IBF has granted heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko an exception to fight Tony Thompson, 31-1 (19), the WBO mandatory challenger. The fight is expected to take place during July in Germany, on a date and site to be determined, it was announced today by K2 Promotions’ Tom Loeffler, and Klitschko Management Group’s managing director Bernd Boente.

Klitschko holds three belts – the IBF, IBO and WBO titles – on the strength of his unanimous 12 round decision over Sultan Ibragimov at Madison Square Garden last February 23. More...

**With Slideshow**

© Jim Everett / Saddo Boxing

Yesterday at Sofrito Puerto Rican Cuisine in New York City, Top Rank hosted the final press conference for their World Welterweight Championship Double Header which will take place this Saturday, April 12 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ .

“Two World Championships…One Night” features WBA Welterweight Champion, Miguel Cotto, 31-0 (25), against Contender star, Alfonso Gomez, 18-3-2 (8). The co-feature will be the highly anticipated rematch featuring IBF Welterweight Champion, Kermit Cintron, 29-1 (27), who will look to avenge his only loss against former Welterweight Champion, Antonio Margarito, 35-5 (25).

The first time Cintron and Margarito met in the ring in April 2005, their roles were reversed; Margarito was the WBO Welterweight Champion and Cintron was the challenger. Margarito had literally broke down Cintron over five rounds, cutting him over the right eye in the third round and dropping him twice both in the fourth and fifth rounds before the fight was stopped.

Cintron looked like he may not recover from the devastating loss, but rebuilt his career with the help of trainer Emanuel Steward, winning all five fights since his loss to Margarito by KO and picking up the IBF strap in the process. More...