Kellerman: Andre Ward is still out there for Froch

06/01/2014 Bill Phanco

Max Kellerman of HBO offered up the idea that IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch can always look in the direction of WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward if he wants to get a good opponent in the near future. Ward still has a victory over Froch from 2011 that Froch has nothing to try and avenge. Ward has open to a fight against Froch for the past three years, and he’s still willing to fight him if he’s feeling up to it. Froch has been feasting lately on the unproven George Groves, and he’s not fought a quality fighter for some time since he was beaten by Ward in the Super Six tournament.

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Roy Jones Jr: Golovkin would make Froch pay for his mistakes

06/01/201406/01/2014 Bill Phanco

HBO commentator Roy Jones Jr. says that he recommends that IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KO’s) go in the direction of former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. for his next fight rather than Gennady Golovkin, as Jones Jr. feels that with the mistakes that he saw in Froch’s game last night in his win over George Groves (19-2, 15 KO’s), that he would be taken advantage of by Golovkin if he were to fight him next.

Froch has an optional title defense available for his next fight, and his promoter Eddie Hearn reportedly has been in talks with Top Rank for a fight between Froch and Chavez Jr. for the fall. It would seem that Hearn likes the idea of Froch fighting someone as popular as Chavez Jr. There’s been no talk of Hearn reaching out to K2 Promotions for a fight against Golovkin though.

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Joshua KOs Legg; DeGale stops Gonzales; Mitchell beats Maduma

06/01/201405/31/2014 Bill Phanco

British heavyweight Anthony Joshua (6-0, 6 KO’s) took two mammoth left hooks from 38-year-old Matt Legg (7-3, 3 KO’s) before knocking him out in the 1st round with a right hand uppercut on Saturday night at Wembley Stadium in London, UK. Joshua came out looking kind of stiff over-muscled and while he was plodding forward, Legg smashed a left hook to the head of Joshua that send him reeling from the shot.

The crowd roared as if there might be an upset in the process. But Joshua fired back with a flurry of punches that got Legg to back off. But Legg was able to hit Joshua with another big left hook to the head that snapped his back. Joshua took the punch well, and he came forward to hit Legg with a right uppercut to drop him. Legg tried his best to get up from the knockdown, but the referee counted to 10 and the fight was stopped.

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Groves: Froch will be getting a beating from me

08/01/201405/25/2014 Bill Phanco

George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) plans on giving IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s) a royal beating in the process of ripping his two 168lb title straps from him on Saturday night in front of what will be a roaring crowd of 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London, UK.

Groves senses weakness in Froch, and like a shark, Groves will be looking to rip Froch to pieces to finish his title reign. Groves sees it as a process of the young lions taking over for the older lion.

“It might not even be a fight,” Groves said. “I can beat Carl for hand speed, foot speed and I can hurt him. It doesn’t matter how Carl approaches this fight, he’s just not good enough. I see panic, I see a man who’s worried, I see a man who’s got to face the inevitable and that’s a beating from me.”

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Will Alvarado turn Marquez into an old man tonight?

05/18/201405/16/2014 Bill Phanco

We saw the first hint of old age setting in on 40-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO’s) in his loss to former WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley last October in Marquez’s 12 round split decision loss.

The judges were being kind to give Marquez a split decision loss in that fight because he arguably deserved to lose by a unanimous decision. But importantly than the fact that he lost the fight was how old Marquez looked in that fight, and how much he had slipped from his fine performance in 2012 against Manny Pacquiao. Marquez looked like a shadow of what he was in that fight, both in punching power and in appearance.

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Floyd Sr. still convinced Mayweather would dominate Pacquiao

08/01/201405/12/2014 Bill Phanco

In his recent win over Marcos Maidana on May 3rd, Floyd Mayweather Jr. looked about as bad as he’s looked since his two life and death struggles against Jose Luis Castillo in 2002. Mayweather, for the first time in his career, looked his age, and didn’t seem to be the same guy that had dominated Robert Guerrero and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez recently.

That’s why it came across as kind of strange that Floyd Mayweather Sr. is still talking about how easily Floyd Jr. would beat Manny Pacquiao if that fight were to happen. It’s pretty much clear that Mayweather will never agree to fight the Filipino star for whatever reason. But it’s strange to see Floyd Sr. talking boldly about how Mayweather would dominate Pacquiao when he couldn’t even beat Maidana convincingly.

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Khan deserves the Mayweather fight, says Haye

05/10/2014 Bill Phanco

David Haye feels that Amir Khan’s victories over Luis Collazo, Julio Diaz and Carlos Molina are the right stuff to get him a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in late 2014 or in 2015. Haye believes that the way that Khan beat those three fighters was more than enough to show that he deserves to be in the same ring with Mayweather. Haye also has Khan rated as the number 2 welterweight in the division behind only Mayweather, and he sees Khan as being capable of defeating Manny Pacquiao right now.

“I think Khan deserves a fight against Mayweather. Maidana gave Mayweather a hell of a fight,” Haye said. “Khan smashed him [Maidana] before, put him down and dominated him. If anybody can beat Mayweather, its Amir Khan…He put him [Collazo] down multiple times, and he dominated him. That was a performance for me to say he is the best fighter on the planet behind Mayweather.”

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Klitschko: Leapai is an underdog but he can bite

07/31/201404/13/2014 Bill Phanco

IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (61-3, 51 KO’s) is taking on one of his smaller opponents in 6’0” Alex Leapai (30-4-3, 24 KO’s) on April 26th of this month at the Koenig Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The 6’6” Wladimir doesn’t care that Leapai is small or that he was recently knocked out by journeyman Kevin Johnson. Wladimir is still taking him very serious as an opponent.

This fight might not look great on paper due to Leapai’s less than impressive resume, but the World Boxing Organization chose to rank him at No.1 after his win over Denis Boytsov, leaving Wladimir no other choice but to fight Leapai or end up having his WBO title stripped from him.

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Clottey defeats Mundine in huge upset

04/09/2014 Bill Phanco

In a huge upset, #14 WBA Joshua Clottey (38-4, 22 KO’s) defeated #3 WBA Anthony Mundine (46-6, 27 KO’s) by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision on Wednesday night at the Entertainment Centre, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.

Clottey was supposed to be a safe fight for the 38-year-old Mundine to win in order to stay in line for a title shot against WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara. However, Clottey didn’t go along with the program, as he knocked the slow moving Mundine down 5 times in the fight with his still fast hooks to the head. Mundine was down once in rounds 3, twice in the 6th, once in the 8th, and a final time in the 10th. The final judger scores were 116-108, 115-109, and 117-108.

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Hatton: Khan deserves the Mayweather fight if he beats Collazo

04/03/201404/03/2014 Bill Phanco

While some boxing fans feel that a win over 32-year-old Luis Collazo (35-5, 18 KO’s) isn’t a big enough win to catapult Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) into a big fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Ricky Hatton thinks Khan should be given the Mayweather fight off of a victory over Collazo. Hatton admires Collazo’s ability after having beaten him by a 12 round decision 7 years ago when Collazo was much younger and in possession of the WBA 147lb title.

Collazo has been hanging around the sport ever since, but he stopped fighting well known opposition after a loss to Andre Berto in 2009. Collazo went through a 5 year period where he fought largely C level opposition until his win over Victor Ortiz earlier this year. Ortiz is arguably a low B level fighter, if not a C level guy at this point in his career.

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