Long faded former P4P star Roy Jones Jr has been spending a lot of time glad-handing and hob-nobbing in Russia lately, ostensibly on a ‘building bridges’ mission to promote better sporting ties with the US, the culmination of which has seen him granted citizenship at the hand of President, Vladimir Putin.
The news was revealed, in Russian, on the official Kremlin website this weekend, and has been independently confirmed by Jones himself, who said the following to Russian news agency, R-Sport.
When Shane Mosley tweeted after his recent comeback victory over the grossly unfit, chain smoking Ricardo Mayorga that he had been contacted by ‘the champ’ about a potential fight, many assumed he was talking about IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, who is set to fight once again in December if he comes through his October 24th clash with Argentina’s Diego Chaves in Sheffield, as expected.
The tweets from ‘Sugar’ went out just as Brook went live on Sky Sports in the UK to talk about the Chaves fight, and the subject of Mosley was broached on air by the presenter, prompting Brook to say that although it was a fight he wasn’t keen on, he couldn’t rule it out completely.
Britain’s Amir Khan, so oft overlooked as an opponent by Floyd Mayweather, still hasn’t given up hope of facing the self professed “Best Ever” next year, as he, like the rest of the world it seems, isn’t sure this will be the last time that Floyd steps between the ropes as a fighter.
Khan, who trains alongside Berto under the tutelage of coach Virgil Hunter, has issued a pertinent warning to those fans who have turned their back on this PPV, such are the low-levels of expectation for anything other than a routine, and visually un-appealing Mayweather victory.
Unbeaten Australian heavyweight contender Lucas Browne, has enlisted the assistance of British super-middleweight legend Nigel Benn as he gears up for his (mandatory) title shot against WBA (reg) champion, Ruslan Chagaev.
The Dark Destroyer, now resident in Australia full-time, will oversee Browne’s training regimen alongside experienced Australian trainer Rodney Williams, as “Big Daddy” makes the switch full-time from previous coach, Jeff Fenech.
It’s been over three years since former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye last stepped between the ropes and knocked out Dereck Chisora in 5 rounds at a rain soaked Upton Park, and ever since that time fans have been more used to seeing ‘The Hayemaker’ popping up on reality television, or proffering himself as the first black James Bond, than duking it out in a boxing ring.
After twice signing, and twice pulling out of fighting Tyson Fury, then retiring citing a shoulder injury, we have been promised numerous times that Haye would be returning at some point, and in true “boy who cried wolf” fashion, it seems the fans grew weary of his empty promises and moved on.
The eagerly anticipated dust-up between the old foes, largely stemming from an old amateur rivalry that saw Whyte beat Joshua in 2009, provided a taster of the bad blood to come at today’s presser to promote Saturday’s card, when Whyte told Joshua, ‘You’re getting hurt in December.”
Ahead of his much-maligned 49th, and ‘final,’ fight this weekend against Andre Berto in Las Vegas, Floyd Mayweather and those around him, like right-hand man, Leonard Ellerbe, continue to insist to all and sundry that he will not be fighting on, despite continued public belief to the contrary.
Much has been made of the fact that the deteriorating health of his Uncle Roger is said to be key in the decision for Floyd to hang them up, and whether he will indeed resist the wealth of lures to make history and attain a perfect 50-0 slate, remains to be seen.
It would seem that many of George Groves’ old foes are wishing him well in Saturday’s WBC title clash with Badou Jack in Las Vegas on Saturday.
First Carl Froch, who defeated the Hammersmith man in back-to-back world title fights, wished him luck for the sake of British boxing, and now IBF 168 lb champion James DeGale, defeated by Groves in their close 2011 encounter, has joined the chorus of well-wishers in hope of getting a big domestic unification rematch signed for the future.
Tonight at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, WBC light-heavyweight champion, Adonis Stevenson, takes on America’s Tommy Karpency in a defence many have slammed as yet more one-sided matchmaking from Premier Boxing Champion’s boss and elusive fight ‘advisor,’ Al Haymon.
Since launching the PBC brand back in March, fans have been critical of the seemingly ever-present format’s tendency to lean on the side of ‘quantity,’ rather than ‘quality,’ with only a few noted exceptions.
Initial reports published on Wednesday by SB Nation, that P4P boss Floyd Mayweather used an illlegal drip comprising saline and vitamin C on the eve of his “Fight of the Century” with Manny Pacquiao, has today led to the self professed ‘Best Ever’ speaking out via a statement to deny any wrongdoing.
The drip, which Floyd’s medical team said was administered after the weigh-in for rehydration purposes, allegedly included a 250-milliliter mix of saline and multivitamins, plus 500-mls of saline and Vitamin C.