Michael “Second To” Nunn: How Good Was The Former Middleweight Ruler, And How Great Could He Have Become?

08/29/2012 ESB

by James Slater: How great was Michael Nunn. Or, perhaps a better question: how great could he have become? Michael “Second To” Nunn, who captured the IBF middleweight title by stopping former Olympic gold medallist Frank Tate almost a quarter of a century ago, was certainly a fighter who once seemingly had it all. The Davenport, Iowa southpaw was a tall, athletic, naturally gifted and hardworking boxer; one who was being referred to at the time of his 9th-round stoppage of Tate as a future great. Back in the mid-1980s it was rumoured how even the legendary “Sugar” Ray Leonard was reluctant to face the peaking star.

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Ricky Hatton needs Khan, Mayweather or Cotto for comeback fight

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

Ricky Hatton needs Khan, Mayweather or Cotto for comeback fight By Michael Collins: The rumors persist about former two division world champion Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) staging a comeback in the next couple of months. Hatton looks in incredible shape having burned off a thick layer of flab that covered his once muscular physique and it’s hard to imagine that he’s just taking off the weight just for the sake of living a healthy life. It’s unclear why Hatton would come back at this time, but perhaps he wants to prove to himself that he can put in a better effort than he did in losing to Manny Pacquiao in his last fight in 2009.

Hatton, now 33, probably needs to go for the biggest fight possible if he does decide to make a comeback. It’s too risky for him to take on a guy like Paulie Malignaggi, who won’t bring in the big cash because he lacks the huge star appeal needed to really rake in the cash. Hatton can’t afford to take a lesser fighter because at this point he could lose to almost anybody he fights because of the time he’s been out of the ring. What Hatton needs is someone like Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan or Floyd Mayweather Jr.

A fight against Mayweather would be the ideal situation for Hatton, because it would bring in the most money possible and Mayweather let Hatton hang around for the full 12 rounds instead of trying to drill him into the canvas early.

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Mike Alvarado: My fight against Rios will be talked about for a very long time

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

Mike Alvarado: My fight against Rios will be talked about for a very long time By Marcus Richardson: The October 13th clash between unbeaten light welterweight contender Mike Alvarado (33-0, 23 KO’s) and former WBA World lightweight champion Brandon Rios (30-0-1, 22 KO’s) promises to be an exciting one when the two fighters mix it up on the undercard of the Toshiaki Nishioka vs. Nonito Donaire fight at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California.

Both Alvarado and Rios are hard hitters that constantly come forward trying to land knockout shots with every punch. Rios might be at a little disadvantage in this fight in that he’s moving up from lightweight to take it, and he’s not looked really good for some time. Rios could be biting off more than he can chew by fighting the all action Alvarado, because this is a guy that has torn pretty much everyone apart that he’s faced thus far.

Alvarado said in his recent conference with Rios as quoted by the denverpost.com “This is the fight that’s going to be talked about for a very long time.”

It’s possible that this fight could live up to the billing, but for that to happen Rios is going to have to raise his game considerably from his last two outings. He’s blamed his less than spectacular performances on him having problems making weight. That sounds like a reasonable excuse but he’s going to have to up his game none the less. At this point there’s a question of whether Rios can even make 140 without a great struggle because it’s only five pounds more than the weight class that Rios has been having big problems with.

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Sergio Martinez hoping that win over Chavez Jr. will lead to Mayweather fight

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

Sergio Martinez hoping that win over Chavez Jr. will lead to Mayweather fight By Rob Smith: Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) has some really big hopes for what a win over WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) will potentially do for him when he meets Chavez Jr. on September 15th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Martinez, 37, sees a victory over the young 26-year-old Chavez Jr. as something that could open doors for him to land a big fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and if not it could put him on the doorstep to a big money fight.

Martinez said on Max Kellerman’s Face off on HBO to Chavez Jr “After I beat you, I will be nipping on Mayweather’s heals.”

So is Martinez deluded about his aspirations of wanting to get a big money fight against Mayweather? We’ve seen Robert Guerrero talking up a fight with Mayweather recently, and it’s pretty clear that Guerrero has no chances of ever landing that fight unless Mayweather wants decides on taking an easy stay fight. The 37-year-old Martinez could also be kidding himself if he thinks that Mayweather will show any interest in fighting him.

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Josesito Lopez given high ranking by WBC at 154 for Alvarez fight

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

Josesito Lopez given high ranking by WBC at 154 for Alvarez fight By Rob Smith: The World Boxing Council recently pushed welterweight Josesito Lopez (30-4, 18 KO’s) to number #4 in the 154 pound rankings just as Lopez heads into his September 15th fight against WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Why the WBC decided to give Lopez a high ranking in the junior middleweight division is the big question. Lopez has never fought at 154 before and he only recently moved up to 147 lbs to fight Victor Ortiz in his last fight.

Going from light welterweight to welterweight for one fight and then being pushed to the #4 spot by the WBC at 154 is kind of baffling to me. What did Lopez do to get ranked so high other than signing to fight the WBC’s champion Alvarez? Stuff like this just makes me feel distrustful of the sanctioning bodies. When they take a fighter and push him to a high ranking in a division that they don’t fight in it seems wrong. I hate the idea of Alvarez a welterweight, if you want to call him that, in the first place. Why couldn’t Alvarez at least fight someone in his own division.

I know the WBC has now taken care of all this by giving Lopez an inflated ranking in the junior middleweight division, but it’s disappointing that Alvarez is being matched up against what is really a light welterweight for this fight. I thought it was really bad that Alvarez picked up the vacant WBC junior middleweight title last year by fighting a welterweight Matthew Hatton, who wasn’t even ranked in the junior middleweight division. But now Alvarez is making things look even worse by taking on a fighter from a division below him Lopez.

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Has Froch let his fans down by choosing Yusaf Mack to fight next?

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

Has Froch let his fans down by choosing Yusaf Mack to fight next? By Michael Collins: By now you’ve all heard the news about IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch’s next fight against light heavyweight Yusaf Mack (31-4-2, 17 KO’s) on November 17th at the Capital FM Arena, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom. Froch’s choice of an opponent hasn’t been well received from boxing fans who wanted to see Froch fight a much better opponent than then the struggling 32-year-old Mack. Froch had always prided himself on not taking any easy fights. Well, this certainly does seem to be an easy fight for him and it’s more than off putting when you consider that Froch may not have more than a small handful of fights left in his career before he retires.

Boxing fans wanted to see Froch fight unbeaten South African Thomas Oosthuizen or Sakio Bika at the least. But in choosing Mack, Froch and his promoter Eddie Hearn seem to have really reached for the bottom and it’s disappointing to Froch fans. There are some Froch fans who are okay with this choice and feel that Froch can fight anyone due to him having put in two hard years in the Super Six tournament.

However, many other boxing fans don’t buy into excuses like that and they feel that fighters shouldn’t be taking easy fights, especially given that the price of tickets don’t change to reflect an easier fight. I can understand that. If a fighter is going to take a tune-up bout then the prices of tickets should change along with it so that boxing fans don’t get stuck paying big money for a mismatch that will likely end in a few rounds.

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Marco Antonio Rubio vs. Carlos Baldomir on September 8th

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

Marco Antonio Rubio vs. Carlos Baldomir on September 8th By Marcus Richardson: IBF International International middleweight champion Marco Antonio Rubio (54-6-1, 47 KO’s) will be defending his title against 41-year-old former WBC welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir on September 8th in a still to be determined venue in Mexico. Rubio, #6 WBC, suffered a 12 round unanimous decision loss to WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr earlier this year in February. Rubio fought his heart out in that fight, but simply didn’t have the weight to compete with the 180 pound Chavez Jr. and ended up spending most of the fight pinned to the ropes by the bigger Chavez Jr.

Rubio has since won his last fight, beating Jorge Cota by a 7th round knockout in June of this year. Rubio looked good in that fight and beat a good fighter in Cota.

Baldomir previously held the WBC welterweight title from January 2006 to November of 2006 after beating champion Zab Judah by a 12 round unanimous decision in a shocking upset. However, Baldomir was only able to successfully defend the title once, beating Arturo Gatto by a 9th round TKO in July of 2006. In November of that same year, Baldomir lost his title to Floyd Mayweather Jr. by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision.

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Chris Arreola Working Hard, In Shape At A Reported 245-Pounds; May Fight In November

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

Chris Arreola Working Hard, In Shape At A Reported 245-Pounds; May Fight In November By James Slater: Rest assured Chris Arreola fans. Though “The Nightmare,” has been quiet as of late (after a most active 2011, during which he fought five times), leading some fans to wonder whether the 31-year-old has lost his desire and piled the pounds back on, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Though the Riverside native has not fought since his February win over Eric Molina (a 1st-round stoppage victory, for which Arreola scaled 245-pounds), he has been working hard in the gym. Just today, ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna posted a Twitter photo of an trim-looking Arreola working on the speed bag in the Riverside Gym. Osuna reports that Arreola weighs exactly the same as he did for his February fight and that he is “eying a possible November return to the ring.”

This is good news. As we know, a dedicated, motivated Arreola is a handful for any heavyweight out there and it would be good to see the WBC#1 ranked heavyweight contender get another fight in before the end of the year. At one point, Arreola, 35-2(30) was very much on Ring Magazine, WBA, IBF and WBO king Wladimir Klitschko’s radar – with “Dr. Steel Hammer” saying he would like to fight in America again and that Arreola was the fighter he had in mind.

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Mike Tyson Vs. Evander Holyfield: Which Fighter Has The Greater Legacy?

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

Mike Tyson Vs. Evander Holyfield: Which Fighter Has The Greater Legacy? by James Slater: Somewhat as it is with Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, the names Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson are destined to be forever linked. Though they only fought twice, with Holyfield winning on both occasions, Tyson and Holyfield had a long running rivalry, with a genuine grudge element added. The two were talked of as natural rivals as far back as 1987, when “The Real Deal” was a cruiserweight, but we had to wait – for one reason or another (jail, injury, etc) – until 1996 before the two mesmerizing heavyweights clashed in ring centre.

Today, quite amazingly considering the infamous “bite fight” of 1997, the rematch, the two have become pretty good friends (with Evander today releasing a Twitter pic of himself wearing a T-short mocking the bizarre DQ win he engaged in with “Iron” Mike. But who was the overall greater fighter, who has the greater legacy – Tyson or Holyfield?

Though many would ordinarily jump right on an article that prompts a debate about who was the better man between two fighters when one of them has beaten the other twice, I have a feeling this will not be the case here. Sure, Holyfield twice defeated Tyson, but this is “Iron Mike” we are talking about after all – a fighter with one of the most rabid and vocal groups of supportive and idolising fans in modern day boxing history.

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Pacquiao update: Still no opponent picked out and no date chosen for next fight

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

Pacquiao update: Still no opponent picked out and no date chosen for next fight By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum still haven’t selected an opponent for a date for Pacquiao’s next fight. All that is known now is that the fight will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on either November 10th or December 1st. We know that Pacquiao will chose amongst three fighters – Miguel Cotto, Tim Bradley or Juan Manuel Marquez – picked out for him to choose from by Arum but there’s still no word who that guy will be. Michael Koncz, the personal adviser for Pacquiao, had said that the name of the opponent could possibly be revealed this week, so hopefully they can finally say who the guy will be.

Cotto’s name is mentioned but the chances of him getting the fight are so slim that it’s not even funny. Cotto has already booked Madison Square Garden in New York for December 1st, and Pacquiao and Arum won’t likely agree to fighting in New York because of the State taxes that would be taken out if the fight took place there. Nevada doesn’t have state taxes, which is why the fight can only take place there and that’s not going to happen with Cotto having already booked Madison Square Garden.

The only choices for Pacquiao’s next opponent are Bradley or Marquez. It’s pretty clear that Arum seems to favor the soon to be 39-year-old Marquez because he helped bring in 1.4 million pay per view buys for Pacquiao’s last fight with him last November. That number was double the 700,000 PPV buys that Pacquiao-Bradley brought in last June. Just doing the math it suggests that Marquez is overwhelmingly the favorite to get the fight with Pacquiao.

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