Mayweather decisions Maidana; Khan beats Collazo; Broner defeats Molina

05/04/201405/03/2014 Jeff Sorby

WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (46-0, 26 KO’s) won a disputed 12 round majority decision over WBA 147lb belt holder Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KO’s) on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fans disagreed with the decision from the three judges, as they loudly booed the decision. The judges scored 116-112, 117-111 for Mayweather and 114-114 even.

Many of the rounds were very close due to the constant heat that Maidana was putting on Mayweather while pressuring him against the ropes. Mayweather was nearly helpless when Maidana had him on the ropes, and he had to hold in order to slow the tough Argentinian down. In the first three rounds, Mayweather tried to fight Maidana off the ropes, but he was not in Maidana’s league on the inside and he took a lot of punishment.

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Thurman beats Diaz; Matthysse stops Molina; Figueroa defeats Belmontes

04/27/201404/26/2014 Jeff Sorby

Julio Diaz (40-10-1, 29 KO’s) suffered a rib injury in the 3rd round tonight against interim WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KO’s) that caused the fight to be stopped at the end of the 3rd round a the StubHub Center in Carson, California. We didn’t learn anything from the fight other than the fact Thurman fights a lot better when he’s coming forward than he does when he’s being backed up and pressured.

It was clearly a huge mistake to make Thurman-Diaz the main event, because the fight was one-sided and not nearly as interesting to watch as the Lucas Matthysse vs. John Molina bout.

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Hopkins dominates Shumenov; Porter destroys Malignaggi; Quillin wins

04/20/201404/19/2014 Jeff Sorby

49-year-old IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KO’s) completed the first part of his goal of unifying all of the 175lb titles by beating arguably the weakest link among the champions in beating WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov (14-2, 9 KO’s) by a 12 round split decision tonight in their unification bout at the DC Armory in Washington, DC.

The judges scores were 116-111, 116-111 for Hopkins and 114-113 for Shumenov. The judge that scored it for Shumenov must have been focusing on his greater work rate and ignoring the cleaner landing shots from Hopkins. It seemed like a clear cut win for Hopkins tonight. He knocked Shumenov down with a right hand in the 11th, and continued to dominate him in the 12th. Shumenov didn’t have the hand speed or the defensive skills to compete with Hopkins, and he ended up getting badly out-boxed in this fight.

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Canelo-Lara to fight on July 12th at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada

04/14/201404/13/2014 Jeff Sorby

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KO’s) and Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) will be fighting in the three months on Showtime pay-per-view on July 12th from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Oscar De La Hoya revealed the information earlier today, and Lara’s previously scheduled May 2nd title defense against Ishe Smith has been canceled to free Lara up for the Canelo fight.

“Ready! July 12, 2014 – Canelo vs. Lara. We are going to give you want you want,” Canelo said on his social media site.

“Canelo official, July 12! We will find out what the kid’s got. This one is for my fans!!” – said Lara.
You’ve got to give Canelo a ton of credit for taking this fight, because he looked totally over-matched recently in his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last September.

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Pacquiao beats Bradley; Beltran and Vargas win

04/13/201404/13/2014 Jeff Sorby

Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO’s) pounded out a 12 round unanimous decision win on Saturday night in beating WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KO’s) to hand him his first career loss in a closely contested battle at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was scored 116-112, 116-112, and 118-110.

The judge that scored it 118-110 must have been watching another fight because there’s no way Pacquiao won the fight by that score. It was close.

The win wasn’t the huge one-sided victory that Pacquiao needed to prove that he was back. Indeed, he looked slow at times tonight, and clearly not the fighter he was five years ago when he beat Miguel Cotto in his prime. But Pacquiao at least got the victory over Bradley, and he can now go on and fight the winner of the Mike Alvarado vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fight in September. As for Bradley, he’ll very likely get a third fight with Pacquiao in 2015.

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Pacquiao and Bradley make weight

04/13/201404/11/2014 Jeff Sorby

WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) looked like a statue today at his weigh-in with Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) for their mega fight on Saturday night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Bradley look so good before. He came in at 145.5, and was oozing confidence, especially when two fighters came together for the traditional face off.

Pacquiao weighed 145lb and looked good as he always does. Pacquiao looked like he really worked hard for this fight. Let’s hope he’s ready to take the vicious shots that Bradley will be nailing him with on Saturday, because Bradley doesn’t want to give up his WBO title. He’s going to fight tooth and nail to keep it, and if Pacquiao doesn’t find the fountain of youth before Saturday night, he’s going to be out of luck.

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Kellerman: Pacquiao has more ways to win than Bradley

04/10/2014 Jeff Sorby

My man @Max_Kellerman and I break down #PacBradley 2. Check it out: http://t.co/3TbpnszuLt @HBOboxing @TooFred @trboxing @CarlMoretti

— Dan Rafael (@danrafaelespn) April 10, 2014

HBO’s Max Kellerman believes than Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) is in a good position to defeat WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) this Saturday night and hand him his first loss of his career at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kellerman likes Pacquiao’s power and speed, and he feels those two factors are going to weigh heavily in him likely beating the 30-year-old light hitting Bradley in their important rematch.

Kellerman also sees it as difficult for Bradley to get a decision this time around if the fight is anywhere close due to Pacquiao getting the shaft last time he fought Bradley in 2012 with two of the judges seeing Bradley as the winner despite Pacquiao having dominated 11 of the 12 rounds.

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Roach: If Pacquiao loses to Bradley, he might need to retire

04/08/2014 Jeff Sorby

Trainer Freddie Roach is saying that his fighter Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) may need to retire from boxing if he loses his fight this Saturday night against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s). Roach sees the fight as one that the 35-year-old Pacquiao can’t afford to lose.

A defeat in this fight will be Pacquiao’s third loss in his last four fights, and that obviously would have a major effect on his future earning power in terms of his pay-per-view fights.

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Canelo says he’s offered a fight to Lara for July 12th

04/07/2014 Jeff Sorby

With no one for him to fight that would gain him any respect from the boxing public, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KO’s) says that he’s offered WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) fight for July 12th, but here’s the kicker: Lara will only have two months in between his May 2nd title defense and the July 12th fight to get ready.

So in other words, if Lara is going to have very little time to get ready for the 23-old Canelo, and if he suffers so much as a scratch in the Ishe Smith fight, then his title defense against Canelo will go down the drain.

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Arreola: I’d rather fight Fury than Deontay Wilder

07/31/201404/07/2014 Jeff Sorby

#2 WBC Chris Arreola (36-3, 31 KO’s) could find himself facing unbeaten knockout artist #3 WBC Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31 KO’s) before the end of the year if Arreola is able to get past #1 WBC Bermane Stiverne (23-1-1, 20 KO’s) in their rematch on May 10th at the Galen Center, in Los Angeles, California, USA.

The Arreola-Stiverne 2 fight will be for the vacant WBC title that was recently vacated by long-time champion Vitali Klitschko. If Arreola beats Stiverne, he says he would prefer to fight the unbeaten British heavyweight Tyson Fury (22-0, 16 KO’s) rather than the 6’7” Deontay, because he feels that Fury is more accomplished and has the much bigger fan base.

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