Former IBF super middleweight champion Lucien Bute, has insisted he was surprised at James DeGale’s decision to travel to his Quebec backyard on Nov. 28 to make the maiden defence of the belt he won in Boston back in May.
IBF champion, DeGale, will be giving the now 35 year old Bute a golden opportunity to win his old belt back – a title he held for 9 successive defences before travelling to the UK himself in 2012 and being destroyed by hometown hero Carl Froch.
Oft criticised WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (35-0, 34ko), has claimed once again that he wants to unify the division, stating his belief that it’s not the upcoming Nov 28 Wladimir Klitschko/Tyson Fury fight the fans really want to see, but rather a Klitschko/Wilder clash instead.
“I definitely give Tyson a chance in this,” Wilder said to the BBC World Service “But all the talk is about a Klitschko v Wilder fight, and if Klitschko prevails in that fight [with Fury] then we can look forward to [it].
Former WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (29-2, 15ko) has conceded his fight with Poland’s Andrzej Fonfara (27-3, 16ko) this Friday is a “high risk but high reward” type of affair, though says it’s exactly the type of gamble he needs to take in order to get back to top level.
The Welshman will be fighting in the Pole’s adopted Chicago backyard on the Premier Boxing Champions bill, and claims he took the non-title opportunity with Fonfara in America over another high-risk fight against WBA (reg) titlist, Juergen Braehmer in the champion’s German backyard – a hotbed of questionable judging for British fighters in the past.
2x former world title challenger Matthew Macklin (33-6, 22ko) is convinced that he can still capture the world honours that have proven frustratingly elusive, with a move down from middleweight to 154 lbs potentially the key to success.
The 33 year old begins his quest against Jason Welborn (17-3, 6ko) in Birmingham on Saturday night, his first fight at the new weight in 9 years, and a crucial bounce back from his crushing – and somewhat surprise – defeat at the hands of Jorge Sebastian Heiland a year ago.
While it seems that some fighters at 160 don’t really want the big fights in the division – or at best want to pick and choose them – one cannot say the same for Gennady Golovkin and David Lemieux, who clash in a unification Saturday in New York – and now WBO champ “Irish” Andy Lee has added his name to that [short] list of middleweights keen to fight the best and unify titles.
Lee finally has a rescheduled December 19th date with mandatory challenger, Billy Joe Saunders, and says that when he comes through that fight, he will seek out those big unification fights – ostensibly chasing the winners of Golovkin/Lemieux and November’s Cotto/Canelo WBC clash.
Whatever happens this Saturday at Madison Square Garden, IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux, will receive huge credit for signing to fight dominant WBA boss Gennady Golovkin, and nominating to sign for a dangerous unification immediately after winning his IBF crown against Hassan N’Dam, rather than take a couple of ‘soft’ voluntary defences first.
The Canadian star claims he has had the best camp of his career in the build up and is more than comfortable with the underdog tag he’s been branded with, claiming that when the upset comes, it will make victory all the sweeter.
After his fantastic WBO 154 lb title winning effort in Manchester last night, Liverpool’s Liam Smith has admitted he was looking past America’s John Thompson in favour of bigger fights/names, and alluded to the possibility of a future fight with veteran former world champion, Shane Mosley – who continues to fight on at 44.
“I can’t describe how I feel right now, it just hasn’t sunk in but I can tell how much it means to everyone around me,” Smith said immediately post-fight last night.
WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan, destroyed his mandatory challenger Diego Magdaleno in Manchester last night in effortless fashion, with a view to a possible quick turnaround – and 4th outing of 2015 -on December’s Andy Lee/Billy Joe Saunders card.
After he gave a spirited effort in his ultimately unsuccessful challenge to Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas last month, Andre Berto is seeking to get right back in the mix, and claims he would love to reverse the losses on his record in as quick a time as possible.
The former WBC welterweight champion (30-4, 23ko) has now lost four of his last seven fights, beginning when he dropped his green belt to Victor Ortiz in their 2011 thriller, followed by a 2012 UD loss to Robert Guererro and a 2013 KO at the hands of fringe contender Jesus Soto Karass.
Undefeated Russian contender Artur Beterbiev (9-0, 9ko) will face German-based Armenian, Karo Murat (27-2-1, 17ko) on the Nov 28 DeGale/Bute bill in Quebec, Canada, in an IBF final eliminator to determine the mandatory challenger to Beterbiev’s countryman and old amateur rival, Sergey Kovalev.
It was initially supposed to be Sullivan Barrera in the opposite corner to Beterbiev, though when the unbeaten Cuban had to pull out after experiencing Visa issues, his friend and teammate, Yunieski Gonzalez – last seen dropping an entertaining, yet debatable decision to Jean Pascal in Canada back in July – was offered the opportunity by the IBF, although it’s transpired he too has passed up the chance in favour of a different – undisclosed – option, paving the way for Murat.