Floyd Mayweather: And the winner is…

12/20/201312/20/2013 Chris Carlson

Every December the boxing world buzz burns hot with the topic of who will Floyd Mayweather face next and what are the chances that it will be Manny Pacquiao.

All signs point to Amir Khan as the winner of the Money May Sweepstakes for May, 3 2014.

With numerous recent reports it would seem the only thing that needs to be figured out now is the place and undercard.

Obviously it needs to happen in a somewhat timely fashion in order to beat the drums of hype, something Golden Boy & Mayweather Promotions will need with the major backlash this fight has received any time it’s been mentioned since Amir was sparked out by Danny Garcia in the summer of 2012.

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Broner vs. Maidana: Will Chino shut Broner’s mouth or will Adrian’s speed be too much of a problem for Marcos?

12/13/201312/13/2013 Chris Carlson

Photo: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME – The old saying “If you build it they will come” rings true for boxing.

In 2013 the two biggest networks and promoters have improved the quality of their product despite engaging in a Cold War.

Both networks have done a great job building events along with lowering the average price of admission causing attendance to rise and the best example of this would be San Antonio, Texas.

Earlier this year Canelo Alvarez fought Austin Trout on Showtime in front of almost 40,000 fans at the Alamodome.

This summer Showtime had what was probably the best tripleheader of the year back in San Diego, oops I mean San Antonio.

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Malingaggi vs. Judah & Trout vs. Lara: Four highly skilled fighters two 50-50 fights

12/06/2013 Chris Carlson

This weekend fight fans will get the whole kit and caboodle when it comes to the variety of fights and the style in which these combatants will fight with.

Showtime has a quadruple header this Saturday with the main focus of this article being the “Battle between Brooklynites featuring Paulie Malignaggi and Zab Judah, also including a very intriguing tilt pairing Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout.

Let’s start with the Brooklyn bred Paulie vs. Zab fight that makes plenty of sense as the headliner even with all the belts that will be on the line in the undercard fights.

Both men are coming off losses at the Barclays Center yet both managed to prove people wrong with their respected performance.

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Rigondeaux vs. Agbeko & Tapia vs. Kirkland: Return of the 122 King and a classic prospect versus vet matchup

12/06/201312/06/2013 Chris Carlson

This coming weekend boxing fans get quite a treat with a plethora of fights to choose from. This article will focus on the return of the Super Bantamweight King Guillermo Rigondeaux facing off against the hardened pro Joseph Agbeko.

There is a fantastic matchup between rising prospect Glen Tapia, who is vying to become a contender, and always dangerous James Kirkland, which will serve as the co-feature for the HBO broadcast from Atlantic City.

Much has been stated or spewed about Guillermo Rigondeaux’s performance the night he did the unthinkable and beat than Top 5 P4P member Nonito Donaire.

Some of the top writers in the sport rained down on the Cuban’s parade for not having enough excitement or action in his victory. Many including Bob Arum labeled it as horrible bordering on torture to watch the whole fight in one sitting.

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Pacquiao vs. Rios: The Macau Massacre

11/22/201311/22/2013 Chris Carlson

This Saturday night which will be Sunday morning Macau time, Manny Pacquiao attempts to climb back on the horse that bucked him and ride that thing in to the sunset of his career.

The man that will be across the ring from Pacquiao is Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, who’s full steam ahead style has everyone outside the Rios camp thinking this fight will be a one sided beat down not in his favor, and entertaining as hell while it lasts.

Can Manny bounce back from the nightmare that still lingers from his fourth encounter with the Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez?

Can Rios clip Manny with a fight changing punch making him an overnight star in the boxing world?

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Ward vs. Rodriguez: Will ring rust make this fight more competitive?

11/15/2013 Chris Carlson

419 It will have been just over 14 months since the last time Andre Ward graced the HBO airwaves as a fighter when he enters the ring this Saturday to face unbeaten Edwin Rodriguez.

Sidelined with a shoulder injury much has been said and written about Andre Ward.
Some of it was said using facts.

While other articles, tweets, and forum posts clearly had biasness oozing out of it, whether directed at Ward personally or at the way in which he was taught to fight.

The style of fighters and fans vigorously debating over the topic is nothing new.

I will never forget some of the arguments that my grandfather, the man that introduced me to the sport, and I had over who was better fighter and why between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard.

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Donaire vs. Darchinyan 2 & Garcia vs. Martinez: A bridge to nowhere

11/08/2013 Chris Carlson

Normally when two elite fighters are co-featured on a card together you can expect the winners (favorites) to be matched up in a (super) fight of sorts at some point in the near future.

It’s a formula that’s been used to build or as Bob Arum would say “marinate”, certain fights that have been labeled by the fans as must see fights.

Usually the promoters put each fighter in a showcase type fight for future highlight replays that will be used as fuel to stoke the fire of a talked about fight.

Some fights never come to fruition due to the inner political issues of the business of boxing.

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Golovkin vs. Stevens: Slugfest, Slaughter, or both?

11/01/201311/01/2013 Chris Carlson

Gennandy Golovkin has taken America by storm shooting up the ladder of success faster than most of his opponents have lasted in his current streak of 14 straight knockouts.

Brooklyn native Curtis Stevens, who will be fighting close to home in the Theatre at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, has taken a much different path en route to get back on HBO after losing to Andre Dirrell his first time on the network.

The Las Vegas betting lines, boxing fans and media alike aren’t giving Stevens much of a chance besides as a puncher. Can you really blame them in a matchup that looks like a duck?

It seems like HBO is playing a dangerous game of trick or treat with triple G’s.

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Quillin vs. Rosado: Will it be the King or the Kid?

10/26/201310/25/2013 Chris Carlson

Peter Quillin defends his middleweight title for the second time against the ever improving veteran Gabriel Rosado. The fight stands out to hardcore fans as the best matchup of Showtime Triple-header this Saturday night from Atlantic City, New Jersey. In the main even Bernard Hopkins attempts to add to his legend of longevity.

The unbeaten Quillin is on a mission to prove all of his doubters wrong with a great performance. Rosado, who claims he can’t get a legit fight at 154, travels north to 160 once again for a shot to win his first title.

They say the early bird gets the worm.

That old saying holds true majority of the time when it comes to successful professional boxing careers.

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Mike Alvarado vs. Ruslan Provodnikov: This one has fight of the year written all over it!

10/18/2013 Chris Carlson

After successfully avenging a loss from Brandon Rios early this year, Mike Alvarado’s reward from Top Rank was some good ole fashion home cooking and a stylistic matchup with Ruslan Provodnikov that should guarantee entertainment.

Can Alvarado stay focused on the game plan with extra weight placed on his shoulders by a hero’s welcome he’ll get from his fans that will fill the 1STBANK Center in Denver, Colorado? Will Provodnikov build on a loss that raised his profile amongst fans who thought he was only at the ESPN level talent?

And most importantly to the fans that tune in on HBO and fill the seats of the live gate, will there be blood?

Ruslan Provodnikov had his moment in the spotlight last March on HBO in what was supposed to be a showcase fight for Timothy Bradley after being out of the ring with injuries, both physical and emotional he sustained during and after his fight with Manny Pacquiao.

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