Category: Boxing News

Before the heavyweight championship action begins this Saturday night at Madison Square Gardens, fight fans will be treated to an intriguing scrap between former heavyweight champion Oliver McCall and hard-hitting contender Davarryl Williamson. McCall became the WBC heavyweight champion by knocking out Lennox Lewis in two rounds back in the nineties but subsequently lost the title in a subdued effort against Frank Bruno. McCall’s misdemeanours inside and outside of the ring have been well documented. As a habitual drug user, McCall furnished boxing history with one of its most bizarre moments when he seemed to suffer a mental breakdown in the ring in the Lewis rematch, in tears, he was led from the ring a tattered shell. But you do not get the nickname ‘The Atomic Bull’ for nothing. McCall has a granite chin and fists to match that notably helped him to KO Henry Akinwande in a 2001 comeback fight. Williamson is looking to ride the momentum he gained whilst knocking down Wladimir Klitschko before losing the fight on a technical decision when Klitschko was cut. That was only a little over a month ago, This is a crossroads fight that should be entertaining while it lasts. Williamson is not known to have great punch resistance and if McCall can get to him he might have himself an early night.

Both WBC light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver and his IBF counterpart Glen Johnson have opted to forego their mandatory obligations to the sanctioning organizations they represent to pave the way for their fight on December 18th. Tarver was due to honor his mandatory in a fight with Australia’s Paul Briggs who has just signed a promotional agreement with Don King. Likewise, Johnson would have been pitched in for the second defense of his title against Rico Hoye, the man that beat former champion Montell Griffin for the title shot. Boxing politics will fall as they may, leaving Briggs and Hoye to contest the titles with whoever the next available contender is as mandated by their respective sanctioning bodies. But the legitimacy of Tarver-Johnson cannot be called into question, virtually all of boxing recognizes the fight as the only one that can decide the true identity of the world’s best light heavyweight.

Watch this space for more developments.

WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe of Wales celebrated the latest successful defense of his title, a points win over Egyptian Kabary Salem by signing a new contract that will keep him with promoter Frank Warren for the forseeable future.

Calzaghe has long yearned to test his skills and power in the light heavyweight division and was set to do so earlier this year against the IBF champion at that weight, US based Jamaican, Glen Johnson. However, Calzaghe had to endure a double dose of misfortune after being ruled out of the Johnson fight and having to watch Johnson step up and knock out Roy Jones Jr. this past September. Latest developments have seen Johnson sign to fight fellow Roy Jones conqueror Antonio Tarver in the true battle for the light heavyweight crown, leaving Calzaghe in the shadows once again. Calzaghe could save face by engaging newly crowned IBF super middleweight champion, America’s Jeff Lacy in a unification fight that would be a headline affair on either side of the Atlantic. Stay tuned to saddoboxing.com for developments as they happen.

Former undefeated super featherweight and lightweight champion Acelino Freitas will reassume his career in his native Brazil on December the 11th. An opponent for Freitas is yet to be determined but the appearance will give the boxing world an opportunity to gauge exactly how affected he has been by his dramatic loss to Diego Corrales earlier this year. Furthermore, Freitas’s reputation as an entertaining and aggressive puncher may have been tainted considerably by the way he walked away from the fight with Corrales after being floored several times by the American. Fan reaction to Freitas in Brazil will not likely be an accurate measure of his current popularity but the reaction from American and European audiences and the mainstream boxing press could weigh heavily in his future ventures. (more…)

Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Romanian light welterweight fighter Leonard ‘The Lion’ Dorin has announced his retirement from professional boxing. During a six year career, Dorin won the WBA lightweight title and successfully defended it

before fighting to a contentious draw with IBF lightweight titlist Paul Spadafora, a fight that an overwhelming majority of observers felt Dorin had won decisively. Having fought the bulk of his career as a light welterweight, Dorin returned to that division in his last fight for what has turned out to be his final performance; he lost a bid for the WBC light welterweight title against Montreal born champion Arturo ‘Thunder’ Gatti.

A dejected Dorin previously hinted at retirement when he was stripped of his WBA lightweight title after failing to make weight for a fight in Romania, costing Interbox, his then promoters in Canada a considerable sum of money.
Dorin’s return to the ring was of little consequence and culminated in his losing effort against Gatti. After a decorated amateur career and a successful professional stint, Dorin leaves us with a record of twenty-two wins, eight by knockout with one loss and one draw. All of us here at saddoboxing.com wish Leonard well in his future ventures, whatever they may be.

The vast majority of boxing fans identified the Kellerman name with ESPN’s fast-talking Friday night fights analyst Max Kellerman. However, the name will now forever inspire remembrance of a darker nature due to the brutal murder of Max’s older brother, Sam Kellerman. It is alleged that light heavyweight boxer, James Butler is responsible for Kellerman’s senseless slaying earlier this month. Butler horrified boxing fans worldwide in 2001 when he clearly lost a fight to Richard ‘the alien’ Grant and proceeded to club Grant with his ungloved fist after the decision had been read. It is now thought that another violent attack from Butler has resulted in Sam Kellerman’s death. The details of the crime scene indicate that Kellerman died from an unfathomably savage attack, being struck in the head with a hammer several times before the perpetrator set fire to his apartment in an attempt to cover the crime.

Butler, who once unsuccessfully contested the IBF super middleweight championship of the world against then champion Sven Ottke, is being held by Los Angeles police pending a pre-trial hearing for Kellerman’s murder. Sam Kellerman was an author and a freelance sports writer who will be mourned by the Kellerman family and all who knew him. Prayers and condolences go out to all of those he has left behind from all of the team here at saddoboxing.com.

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