Marcos Maidana could be out in the cold as far as big fight is concerned

12/24/2013 Bill Phanco

maidana5434 Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO’s) was hoping to cash in with a big money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. following his upset victory over Adrien Broner earlier this month on December 14th in San Antonio, Texas. But the chances of Maidana getting a fight against Mayweather are slim at best, and he might not even get a rematch against Broner. It’s doubtful that Golden Boy Promotions will let Broner fight Maidana again unless he forces the issue against their advice for him to move on.

With neither the Broner or Mayweather fight likely to happen, Maidana may have to be satisfied fighting a lesser star. We’ve heard recently that WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov wants to fight Maidana, but that’s hardly the big fight that Maidana was looking for after his big win over Broner.

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Stevenson obliterates Bellew; Kovalev crushes Sillakh

12/01/201311/30/2013 Bill Phanco

stevenson54 WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (23-1, 20 KO’s) hammered Tony Bellew (20-2-1, 12 KO’s) at will with power shots en route to stopping him in the 6th round tonight at the Colisee de Quebec, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The fight was embarrassingly one-sided from start to finish, and it probably would have been over much sooner if Bellew hadn’t moved as much as he did.

In the 6th round, Stevenson hit Bellew with a big left to the head that sent him down on the canvas badly hurt. To Bellew’s credit he was able to staggered back to his feet, but Stevenson was on him right away in hitting him with a hard left hand that caused Bellew’s legs go stagger and look like noodles. Stevenson then hit a defenseless Bellew with two more left hands to the head that caused the referee to stop the fight to save Bellew from getting knocked down a 2nd time.

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Groves: Froch was on his last legs, gassing out

11/26/201311/25/2013 Bill Phanco

froch7771 George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) confesses that one of the reasons why he wasn’t throwing a lot of shots back at IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s) last Saturday night in his 9th round stoppage loss was that he thought that if he let Froch expend a lot of energy that he’d gas out and he’d be able to take advantage of that in the remaining three rounds of the fight.

Unfortunately what happened was the referee Howard John Foster saw Groves not punching and he likely figured he was more hurt than he really was so he stopped the fight.

You’ve got to put a lot of the blame for the defeat on the hands of Groves for making the decision to let Froch use up energy throwing shots.

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Cotto could move up to 160 for his next fight

08/02/201410/06/2013 Bill Phanco

cotto900 One of the ideas that Top Rank Promotions has for Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) is for him to move up to 160 for his next fight and challenge WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez for his title. Top Rank’s Bob Arum would like for Cotto to take on Sergio and sees it as a fight that would make a lot of money if he can get Sergio to agree to the fight.

Cotto also has a slight chance of fighting former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. That might be the better fight because it would likely bring in much more money than a fight against Sergio, who is coming off of a poor performance against Martin Murray last April. Martinez is still recovering from hand and a knee injury from that fight.

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Barker defeats Geale by split decision; Kiko Martinez batters Jhonatan Romero

08/18/201308/17/2013 Bill Phanco

geale3 geale3 Darren Barker (26-1, 16 KO’s) defeated IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale (29-2, 15 KO’s) tonight by a 12 round split decision to win his IBF 160 lb. title at the Revel Resort, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. Barker got the decision by the scores 114-113 for Geale, 114-113, 116-111 for Barker.

Much of the fight was toe-to-toe action with not much in the way of defense being displayed. Geale used a lot head movement, but he was still hit a lot by Barker’s shots. Barker threw a lot of shots, so it didn’t matter that he was missing punches every now and then because he more than made up for it by his sheer volume of shots thrown.

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HBO finalizing Wladimir Klitschko – Alexander Povetkin deal to air fight live in U.S

09/15/201608/01/2013 Bill Phanco

KlitschkoBanks001_PublicAddress HBO is working to finalize a deal to show the October 5th fight between IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (60-3, 51 KO’s) and WBA champion Alexander Povetkin (26-0, 18 KO’s) live in the United States, according to Dan Rafael. If HBO can swing this, it will be a big deal for American boxing fans, because they don’t get to see too many fights of the Klitschkos anymore.

HBO is selective in which fights of the Klitschkos they televise in the U.S, and rightfully so with Wladimir facing the likes Jean Marc Mormeck, Francesco Pianeta, and Mariusz Wach in the past two years. If HBO had aired any of those mismatches, it would have likely brought in poor ratings.

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Berto in crucial fight against Soto Karass tonight

07/27/2013 Bill Phanco

(Photo credit: Steve Lopez) Andre Berto’s once promising career has come crashing down with his recent defeats against Victor Ortiz and Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, and he’s now literally in a situation tonight where he can’t afford to lose to Jesus Soto Karass (27-8-3, 17 KO’s) if he wants to stay at the top of the welterweight division among the other names.

A loss to Soto Karass tonight could put Berto into a category where he’s little more than a gatekeeper in the 147 lb. division. Soto Karass is the type of fighter that the top welterweights are supposed to be able to beat, and if Berto can’t beat him then he’s going to have to make a hard decision about the direction of his career.

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Soto Karass plans on punishing Berto this Saturday

07/25/2013 Bill Phanco

berto4 berto4 Former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KO’s) has a real fight on his hands this Saturday night against the tough Mexican fighter Jesus Soto Karass (27-8-3, 17 KO’s) at the AT&T Center, in San Antonio, Texas. Berto, 29 is in a weakened position having lost two out of his last three fights.

Berto is coming off one of his poor performances of his 9 year pro career in losing by a fairly wide 12 round unanimous decision to Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero last November. Berto is now facing a carbon copy of Guerrero’s fighting style in 30-year-old Soto Karass and thing could go badly for Berto on Saturday unless he can find his way back to his prime years of his career back in 2010.

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Berto faces Soto Karass; Thurman battles Chaves this Saturday on Showtime

07/23/201307/22/2013 Bill Phanco

berto233 This Saturday night on Showtime, undefeated welterweight Keith “One Time” Thurman (20-0, 18 KO’s) faces off against unbeaten Argentinian Diego Chaves (22-0, 18 KO’s) and former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto 28-2, 22 KO’s) takes on Jesus Soto Karass (27-8-3, 17 KO’s) at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Both fights are scheduled for 12 rounds and both have titles on line. Thurman-Chaves will be fighting for the interim WBA 147 lb. title, and Berto-Soto Karass will be fighting for the vacant NABF welterweight strap.

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Rodriguez crushes Grachev

07/13/201307/13/2013 Bill Phanco

rodriguez44 Super middleweight Edwin Rodriguez (24-0, 16 KO’s) proved he was the better man tonight in quickly stopped Denis Grachev (13-2-1, 8 KO’s) in the 1st round on Saturday night at the Salle des etoiles, in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Rodriguez nailed a hurt Grachev with three straight clubbing right hands to the head that ended with referee Stanley Christodolou stopping in to stop the fight at 2:50 of the round.

Rodriguez had already put Grachev down twice in the round, and he was hitting him nearly at will at the time of the stoppage.

Rodriguez made the calculated move to come out blazing fast in the 1st round and throwing everything he had at the slower but hard hitting Grachev.

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