Jürgen Brähmer vs Enzo Maccarinelli on April 5th in Rostock, Germany

02/04/201402/04/2014 Jeff Sorby

In one of the better match-ups of WBA World light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer’s career, he’ll be defending his new WBA strap against non-top 15 ranked Enzo Maccarinelli (38-6, 30 KO’s) on April 5th at the Stadthalle, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Brahmer was fortunate recently to be able to capture the WBA title after the strap came available when the World Boxing Association elevated the previous WBA champion Beibut Shumenov to the status of Super World Light heavyweight champion.

That means the WBA has two world champions at 175 – Shumenov and Brahmer – and it kind of cheapens the whole idea of someone being a champion when they’re listing two of them.

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Golovkin defeats Adama by 7th round quick stoppage

02/01/201402/01/2014 Jeff Sorby

(Photo/Courtesy Sumio Yamada) WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26 KO’s) did what he said he was going to do by going out and halting challenger Osumanu Adama (22-4, 16 KO’s) in the 7th round in a three knockdown performance at the at the Salle des etoiles, in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Golovkin knocked Adama down with a jab in the 7th. Shortly after that, Golovkin hit Adama with a left hook square in the jaw that staggered Adama, sending him backwards a couple of steps.

The referee Louis Pabon quickly stopped the fight at that point rather than waiting to see if Adama would recover from the shot. The official time of the stoppage was 1:20. It’s hard to say if Adama would have made it through the round, because he had been staggered several other times in the fight and he’d been able to recoup from the punches.

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Pacquiao-Bradley II fight signed and done for April 12th in Las Vegas!

01/25/2014 Jeff Sorby

Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) and Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) have signed for their rematch on April 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. After weeks of negotiations, Bradley and Pacquiao have signed their contracts for what their promoter Bob Arum hopes will be a successful pay-per-view card on HBO. It’s a risky rematch, because the first fight didn’t do well on PPV, but Arum doesn’t have much else to offer other than Bradley or a fight against Ruslan Provodnikov.

Pacquiao will receive $20 million for the fight, which is around the same amount he received for their previous fight in June of 2012. As for Bradley, he’ll be getting a slight bump up in pay to $6 million for the fight plus the upside from PPV. Bradley will likely make as much as $10 million if the fight does well on PPV on HBO.

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Groves confused by Froch’s press statement

01/24/2014 Jeff Sorby

George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) turned down a 7-figure offer for a rematch from IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s) after being unsatisfied with the specific requirements written into the contract. Groves is waiting for another offer that is more to his liking.

However, Froch responded to the rejection of the offer by Groves to make a statement saying that Groves has refused the 7-figure offer made to him, and he would be looking to fight former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. instead.

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Canelo: I’ll still be the future of boxing despite loss

01/22/2014 Jeff Sorby

(Photo credit: Hogan Photos) Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KO’s) still feels he’s going to be the guy that carries the sport of boxing for a long time to come despite his one-sided loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last September. Canelo was pretty well clowned by Mayweather until the 36-year-old fighter backed off in the last 4 rounds and took it easy on him. Canelo isn’t bothered that he looked so bad. He thinks he’s going to bounce back in his next fight against his hand-picked opponent Alfredo Angulo ((22-3, 18 KO’s) and resume where he was before his loss to Mayweather.

“Losing is part of boxing. Muhammad Ali lost and he’s still the greatest of all time,” Canelo said. “So a loss isn’t going to prevent me from being the future of boxing.”

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Danny Garcia to fight on March 15th against TBA

01/20/2014 Jeff Sorby

WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (27-0, 16 KO’s) will be back in the ring on March 15th against an opponent still to be determined, according to Dan Rafael. Garcia, 25, last fought in September in beating Lucas Matthysse by a 12 round unanimous decision on the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez pay-per-view card on Showtime. The Garcia-Matthysse fight was the co-feature bout, and it wasn’t quite as good as it was expected to be due to the continuous circling of the ring and holding that Garcia did in the fight.

“Been told @DannySwift’s next fight will be March 15,” Rafael said. “He’ll be defending his title, not moving up, on @SHOsports. Opponent/site TBA.”

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Brandon Rios to fight in May, possibly against Provodnikov

01/20/2014 Jeff Sorby

Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO’s) is expected back in the ring next May against possibly WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov. Rios is waiting to find out which fighter Manny Pacquiao will take on for his April 12th fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. If Pacquiao selected Tim Bradley, then Rios will be looking to fight Provodikov for his World Boxing Organization 140 lb. title. If Pacquaio selects Provodnikov to fight, then Rios could be fighting Tim Brady for his WBO welterweight title.

The criticism that would come from Rios fighting for a world title against Provodnikov or Bradley stems from the fact that Rios has lost his last two fights and isn’t ranked in the top 15 at either 140 or 147. For Rios to get a title shot off of consecutive defeats and with him being a 2nd tier fighter, it would definitely run a lot of people the wrong way. However, you can bet that the WBO will come to the rescue or Rios once talk begins for him to fight Bradley or Provodnikov.

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Robert Garcia: Maidana deserves a shot at Mayweather after win over Broner

01/20/201401/20/2014 Jeff Sorby

Trainer Robert Garcia feels that his fighter WBA welterweight champion Marcos Maidana should have been in the running for a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. following his win over Adrien Broner last December. But instead of getting a potential chance against Mayweather in what would have been a career high payday for the Argentinian fighter, Maidana is now pretty much locked into a rematch with Broner after Broner invoked his rematch clause in his contract with Maidana.

“We thought by beating Broner and doing it the way we did, we definitely earned the shot at Mayweather,” Garcia said to the Boxing Channel. “For whatever reason it looks like they’re going to go with Amir Khan, and we’re going to have to wait and wait, because what if he changes his mind and fights someone else?

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Pascal vs. Stevenson not likely to happen soon

01/19/2014 Jeff Sorby

For boxing fans hoping to see WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson and Jean Pascal face each other in the near future, it’s not likely to happen, says Dan Rafael of ESPN. He sees both guys as having too many options for fights right now to where they don’t need to face each other. The Pascal-Stevenson fight will happen sooner or later, but probably not anytime soon.

Pascal showed last night after his 12 round unanimous decision victory over Lucian Bute that he wasn’t all that excited about fighting Stevenson when he said to Max Kellerman “I’m very proud of him [Stevenson]. He’s black like me; he’s from the Haitian community. Big shout out to ‘Superman’ Stevenson.”

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Mayweather says he’ll hang up the gloves next year

09/15/201601/18/2014 Jeff Sorby

For fans of Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) you had better soak in as many fights of the 36-year-old Mayweather Jr. while you still can because he’ll be ending his career next year in September, he says. Mayweather Jr. will finish out his contract with Showtime/CBS and then walk away from the sport a very, very rich man. As long as he doesn’t gamble his money away foolishly or lose it on bad business deals, Mayweather should be able to remain wealthy for the remainder of his life.

Mayweather said to AP from South Africa “September 2015 will be my last.”

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