Rebrasse looking to wreck Groves’ world title hopes

09/21/201409/20/2014 Bill Phanco

Sometimes losing pays off for certain fighters. That was never more the case with George Groves (19-2, 15 KOs), who will be fighting in the WBC’s super middleweight title eliminator tonight against #3 WBC Christopher Rebrasse (22-2-3, 6 KOs) at the Wembley Arena in London, UK. Groves is coming off of two knockout losses in a row to Carl Froch.

The WBC doesn’t care that Groves has lost his last two fights. They feel that he fought well enough to rank above the likes of Sakio Bika and a number of other quality fighters in the top 15 rankings.

If Groves beats the 28-year-old Rebrasse tonight then he’ll be facing WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell for his WBC title in either December or early 2015. Rebrasse will be looking to beat Groves tonight and wreck his plans for a world title shot.

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Khan: My interest in fighting Mayweather has nothing to do with money

09/16/201409/15/2014 Bill Phanco

In the past week, former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) has ratcheted up the pressure on WBA/WBC 147lb champion Floyd Mayweather Jr in his efforts to try and get a fight against the superstar fighter.

Khan has been quite interested in getting a fight against Mayweather for years now, but he’s now highly interested after seeing his recent fight against Marcos Maidana last Saturday night.

Khan says Mayweather has slowed and no longer looks like the fighter he once was earlier in his career. Khan feels that he’s now beatable for him if he can only get Mayweather to say yes to a fight with him.

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Khan: Mayweather’s age is getting to him

09/14/201409/14/2014 Bill Phanco

(Photo credit: Idris Erba/Mayweather Promotions) Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) is hoping to get a fight against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) next year in May of 2015 in what would be the biggest fight by far of Khan’s career.

While you can make an argument that Khan hardly deserves a fight against Mayweather at this point in his career, given the less dangerous opposition that Khan has been fed by his adviser Al Haymon and his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions in his last three fights, he still likely is the biggest payday Mayweather can get outside of a fight against Manny Pacquiao.

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Klitschko injured during sparring

08/27/201408/25/2014 Bill Phanco

Earlier today, it was announced that IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52 KOs) suffered an injury to his left bicep injury while training for his previously scheduled September 6th title defense against Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KOs).

In the press statement sent out by Klitschko’s management, it was only mentioned that Wladimir had injured his left biceps while training without going into details about how the injury occurred. According to BILD, Wladimir was injured during a sparring session with one of his 15 sparring partners that had traveled to Going, Austria to help the 38-year-old Wladimir get ready for the fight.

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Hearn wants Khan-Brook in April or May 2015, then winner faces Mayweather

08/23/201408/23/2014 Bill Phanco

IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport believes that a fight between Brook and British boxing start Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) is possible for April or May of 2015 with the winner then moving on to face WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) later on in 2015 in a unification match.

It sounds like a reasonably good idea except that if Brook wins the fight over Khan, Mayweather would then be facing Brook, a fighter with a name that doesn’t resonate with casual boxing fans. It would be similar to Mayweather facing Chris Algeri.

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Hearn wants to schedule Brook-Khan fight for the summer in 2015

08/23/201408/22/2014 Bill Phanco

IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn says that former IBF/WBA 140 pound champion Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) is interested in facing Brook next year. Hearn says he wants to schedule the Brook vs. Khan fight next summer in 2015, and possibly stage at Wembley Stadium.

If that’s the case, Brook will have a chance to defend his title 1-2 times before he faces Khan. Hearn once again is saying that Khan-Brook will be as big as the Carl Froch vs. George Groves 2 fight that took place last May at Wembley Stadium in London. Hearn thinks it will sell out the 80,000 seat stadium.

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Broner: Khan and Brook can’t beat me

08/21/2014 Bill Phanco

Former three division world champion Adrien Broner (28-1, 22 KOs) doesn’t see either Amir Khan or IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook as being able to beat him. Broner feels he beat both of them if he shared the same ring with them.

When asked by esnewsreporting who would win between Khan and Brooks, Broner said “I don’t give an [expletive], neither of them could beat me.”

Khan and Brooks are in the welterweight division; whereas Broner fights at 140. Broner is currently on a different path than those guys because he’s already captured a world title at 147, and he’s now looking to win a world title at 140. After that, Broner wants to unify all the light welterweight belts before he decides what his next move is.

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Brook pushing hard for Khan fight

08/21/201408/20/2014 Bill Phanco

IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) is starting to sound a little needy and desperate in hopes of getting a fight against Amir Khan in 2015. Brook wants the negotiations with Khan to start pronto, and he doesn’t seem to want to wait.

Brook needs to get control of his emotions and play it cool or he could scare Khan off with how desperate he’s sounding.

Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn says that Khan’s management still hasn’t made contact with him about a Khan-Brook fight. At this point there’s no reason for Golden Boy Promotions to contact Hearn about a Khan-Brook fight, because they have no intention of fighting him next.

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Kell Brook’s trainer doesn’t want him to take an easy fight on December 6th

08/21/201408/20/2014 Bill Phanco

Dominic Ingle, the trainer for IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs), doesn’t want him to take his career backwards for his first title defense on December 6th in Sheffield by taking on an easy opponent.

Ingle wants Brook to face a high level opponent because he sees that in helping him get ready for one of the bigger fights like Amir Khan or Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The knock on Brook is he’s spent most of his 10-year pro career fighting tune-up type bouts. Last Saturday, Brook finally fought a good opponent in Shawn Porter, and he was able to somehow get the victory by nullifying Porter’s offense on the inside with frequent clinching.

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Hearn hinting Khan may need to be B-side against Brook

08/21/201408/20/2014 Bill Phanco

If a fight between Amir Khan and IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook can take place next year, it might require for Khan to take the lesser money and accept being the B-side of the equation.

Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn is dropping some big hints that Khan may not get the money split that he once could have got if he had taken the fight against Brook before he captured the IBF 147 pound title last Saturday night against Porter.

In Hearn’s mind, the IBF strap and the win over Porter changes everything. Khan doesn’t have the IBF title and he not in the position to call the shots like he could have in the past.

“Obviously, before Khan should get the bigger end because he’s the bigger name,” Hearn said to IFL TV. “Khan never did great numbers on pay-per-view. When he went to Sheffield last time, they really didn’t sell any tickets.

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