Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. : “The Way Things Are Going….”

09/26/201309/25/2013 Marc Livitz

chavez766 According to promotional giants Top Rank, ticket sales for the ring return of the son of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico’s favorite son have been highly successful and a raucous crowd is to be expected on Saturday night. Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. is now back from his one year hiatus, only now the former WBC middleweight champion is no longer a middleweight. As is such, Chavez’s opponent, Austin, Texas native Brian Vera is now in the middle of a wait himself. Weight, poundage and mass are among the choicest words to accurately describe the grappling of the girth that Chavez, Jr. has so famously as well as publically battled.

To be fair, many of us aren’t as slim and trim as we’d prefer, yet even more of us are not handsomely paid professional athletes. The contracted weight for this Saturday’s bout in Carson, California was originally contracted at 168 pounds, yet rumblings emerged that the mark had been raised up another five pounds to 173.

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Brian Vera – “Chavez, Jr. Has Never Faced Anyone Like Me”

09/25/201309/23/2013 Marc Livitz

chavez565 Many hearts across Mexico were left broken on September 14. When Saul “Canelo” Alvarez suffered a lopsided unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather, Jr., the same had happened to Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. almost one year to the day. Chavez, Jr. lost a one-sided yet almost unforgettable twelve round decision to middleweight king Sergio Martinez on September 15, 2012. The two respective losses for what many saw as Mexico’s future torchbearers behind Juan Manuel Marquez left many questions answered, yet perhaps many more to be asked of each.

In regard to Chavez, Jr., (46(32)-1-1) the son of Mexico’s greatest fighter ever, his day back in the sun (literally) will come this Saturday evening at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Standing in the way of the Culiacan, MX native is the ring hardened Brian “The Warrior” Vera of Austin, TX. Vera (23(14)-6(2) has had an interesting career in the sport. He’s experienced a stint on the reality series “The Contender” and has victories over such names as Andy Lee, Sergio Mora and Serhiy Dzinziruk.

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Mayweather vs. Canelo: “He Did What??”

09/13/2013 Marc Livitz

MayweatherWorkout4Alvarez_Hoganphotos3 It’s likely happened to one or more of us at some point.

You’ve made your purchase and you’re already within steps of your car. Suddenly….you are hit with an epiphany which is just as brutally effective as Floyd’s lead right. You then realize that it’s too late. All purchases are final. You can’t instigate a return and you can’t hit the back button. It’s yours or at the very least, it has your name on it.

Saturday night’s boxing buffet was coined “The One”. We’ll see unified super welterweight world champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez face undefeated eight-time, five-division world champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather. Nice. The MGM Grand Garden Arena will open from end to end for the weigh in alone. When it’s in the bag, Floyd will likely tell us that he’s focused, hungry and beyond ready. That’s livable. Will he still claim it’s all part of the “Mayweather Experience”?

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Edwin Rodriguez – A Fan’s Fighter

07/15/2013 Marc Livitz

rodriguez333 For just a moment, let us allow ourselves, the true boxing fans to acknowledge the great accomplishment of Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez. Last Saturday evening at the Salle des etoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco the Dominican cum Massachusetts fighter thoroughly destroyed Denis “Drago’s Son” Grachev after less than two hundred seconds had elapsed. Perhaps the fact that throughout the majority of the first and only round, Grachev stood almost squarely in front of Rodriguez.

Add to that the almost platinum buzz cut adorned by Denis made his head look like a box for which to box and three sides of the box to hit was all Edwin (24(16)-0) would need to tee off on his opponent. It is up to the interpretation of the boxing know whether or not the first round TKO victory was a true shock or as expected.

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Floyd Mayweather, Jr: 200 million ring circus

07/03/201307/03/2013 Marc Livitz

Mayweather with fan (Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Marc Livitz: There are numerous individuals in this world who seem to have nothing better to do than to willingly succumb to society’s temptations and the desire to have the best of everything. The clearer and clearer an obvious illusion becomes, the more some are clamoring to obtain whatever is necessary to feed their materialistic fetish.

There are of course others who are just as quick to call a trough a trough. Many of us perhaps have seen the financial figures for the most successful movies of all time and how their respective totals look once they are adjusted for inflation.

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Saul “Canelo” Alvarez: “Simply Red”

04/27/201304/26/2013 Marc Livitz

canelo111 Most of us are learning to drive at fifteen years of age. We’re more concerned about our social lives, gals and guys and whose parents will be out of town next weekend so the killer party can go down. There’s only a handful of professions that would permit one still south of legal voting age to log hours upon hours of tedious work and still evade the scrutiny of the department of labor. Different countries have different rules. Such is the case in Mexico and the newly and truly confirmed prodigal son from Jalisco state, Santos Saul Alvarez Barragan.

We don’t often refer to him by this. Rather, we prefer his trade name, which is simply Canelo. Whether or not we may agree with his unanimous decision win over Austin “No Doubt” Trout this past weekend in San Antonio, Texas, there’s no denying that the kid has serious talent and more importantly in a global sense the potential for crossover appeal.

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Donaire vs. Rigondeaux: The Agony and the Ugh

04/17/201304/17/2013 Marc Livitz

rigondeaux43 Move aside and let the fighter enjoy and partake in the spoils which resulted from the biggest night of his professional career. Recognition is slowly seeping in simply because the shock may be finally headed towards the door. Prior to last Saturday evening, Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire was among the top pound for pound fighters on the planet.

News flash: he still is. Concurrently, Guillermo “El Chacal” Rigondeaux was indeed the jackal of sorts for the vast and overwhelming majority of twelve rounds in the ring set upon a stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. He put on a master class, yet the fact that he thoroughly and soundly beat Donaire isn’t a chorus line which has happily resonated in the eyes of much of the boxing public. What more must he do.

He was in the right venue, so maybe Rigondeaux needs to stick around to become a top pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

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Juan Diaz Triumphant in Comeback

04/15/201304/14/2013 Marc Livitz

Web-P4133638 By Marc Livitz at ringside in Corpus Christi, Texas, photo gallery by Adrian Hernandez – Juan Diaz scored a sixth round TKO victory over Hernando “Pipino” Cuevas, Jr. tonight at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Diaz (36(18)-4) had taken a respite of sorts from the ring. The Houston, TX boxer last fought in July of 2010 in a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez. He lost a sound unanimous decision and the result was a far cry from his initial meeting with Marquez in February of 2009.

Although Diaz was knocked out in the ninth round, their battle in front of Diaz’s home crowd in Houston garnered “Fight of the Year” Honors. In between his two meetings with “Dinamita” Marquez, “Baby Bull” Diaz went one up and one down with Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi, who many felt was robbed of a victory in their first meeting in Houston. Tonight, Diaz faced off with the son of former WBA welterweight champion Pipino Cuevas, Sr.

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Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado II – “The Boys are Back”

03/30/201303/30/2013 Marc Livitz

rios222 rios222 This coming Saturday evening, let us be collectively thankful that we as the boxing faithful can experience a headache to remember. Hopefully, such a careening of the cranium is felt more in the style of Cheech and Chong’s “Corsican Brothers” as we once more pull up to the TV (or some luckily enough in person) to witness either round one or maybe round eight in the memorable war that was Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios versus “Mile High” Mike Alvarado. The two battle hardened warriors met last October for a thundering clash in one of the sport’s gold standards of divisions, the junior welterweight class. They participated in a seven round, back and forth, see-saw type match-up which had just about everything for which dedicated fight fans clamor.

The two pugilists stood toe to toe during many points of the bout and two of the three ringside judges saw the bout even until “Bam Bam” Rios (31(23)-0-1, Oxnard, CA.) proved too much for “Mile High” Mike (33(23)-1, Denver, CO.) to handle, which resulted in a stoppage of the action at the 1:57 mark of the seventh round.

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