Mikey Garcia a future opponent for Pacquiao, says Arum

01/07/201701/03/2014 Rob Smith

garcia564 (2) While WBO super featherweight champion Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 KO’s) still hasn’t even proven that he’s the best fighter in the 130 lb. division, that’s not keeping his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank planning on matching the skinny Mikey up against his cash cow fighter Manny Pacquiao in the near future. Arum hasn’t given a date for when he wants to match the 26-year-old Mikey with Pacquiao, but don’t be surprised if it happens really soon if Pacquiao decides to leave Top Rank. His contract is up with the company this year, and anything is possible if this is his final year with them.

“I wouldn’t be surprised as he [Mikey Garcia] gets older to move up to 140 and possibly fight Manny Pacquiao,” Arum said.

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Anthony Mundine faces Carson Jones on January 29th in Australia

01/02/2014 Rob Smith

mundine1 The soon to be 39-year-old Anthony Mundine (45-5, 27 KO’s) will continue his slow climb to a title shot at 154 when he faces welterweight Carson Jones (35-10-3, 25 KO’s) on January 29th in a scheduled 10 round bout at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall, Queensland, Australia. Mundine recently beat 42-year-old Shane Mosley by a 6th round stoppage last November in Australia. Mundine looked huge compared to the smallish Mosley in that fight and it was odd-looking fight.

For fans who don’t remember, Mundine has fought most of his career in the super middleweight division and he previously captured the WBA 168 lb. title and held it on two separate occasions. Mundine has come down in weight in hopes of getting a big fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mundine is currently ranked #4 WBA, #10 WBC in the junior middleweight division, and is striking distance to a title shot against Mayweather, if he doesn’t vacate his belt.

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Pacquiao-Provodnikov: Is this as good as it gets for Manny?

01/01/2014 Rob Smith

provodnikov673 With Ruslan Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KO’s) talking himself up as a possible next opponent for Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) for his next fight on April 12th in Las Vegas, Nevada, it could be that this is as good it’ll get for Pacquiao for the remainder of his career if he stays with Top Rank until retirement.

A rematch with WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley promises to be a boring affair, because Bradley will no doubt choose to move around the ring for 12 rounds like he did with his recent win over 40-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez. We’re not going to see Bradley use the same fighting style that he did in barely beating Provodnikov last year. Bradley already said that he won’t make that mistake again.

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Hunter has no doubts Khan can beat Mayweather

07/31/201412/31/2013 Rob Smith

khan#2 khan#2 Amir Khan’s trainer Virgil Hunter is really beating the drum in hopes that Floyd Mayweather Jr. won’t slip away and leave Khan with a much lesser fight. In trying to sell Khan as the perfect opponent for Mayweather’s next fight on May 3rd, Hunter is being vocal about his belief that the struggling Khan can pull off an upset and beat Mayweather in this fight. As for why Khan keeps getting knocked out, Hunter blames on Khan being at the wrong weight.

Hunter feels that now that Khan has moved up to welterweight the knockout defeats he’s been suffering will disappear. I’m not sure that I agree with him, but if that’s what he believes then I guess we’re going to find if he’s right sooner or later when Khan starts fighting again. Khan hasn’t fought since last April when he beat past his prime former lightweight champion Julio Diaz by a controversial 12 round decision in London.

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Khan says he’s willing to fight Pacquiao if Mayweather won’t ink contract

08/01/201412/30/2013 Rob Smith

khan4045 In an interesting confession, Amir Khan (28-3, 18 KO’s) says he’s already inked his part of the contract for a big fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s), but he’s still waiting and hoping that Mayweather will sign. Khan isn’t saying when the contract was sent to him and how long he’s been waiting on Mayweather.

What Khan is saying is that he’s willing to fight Manny Pacquiao next if Mayweather doesn’t sign the contract. Khan says he would try and bring Pacquiao to Dubai to make the fight happen. Whether that’s feasible given the Golden Boy – Top Rank freeze is the question. Khan’s says he wants Pacquiao, but unless the two promotional companies can work with each other then he’s wasting his breath.

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Pacquiao won’t get Mayweather fight until he changes promoters, says Showtime’s Espinoza

12/29/2013 Rob Smith

pac78311 Showtime President of Sports Stephen Espinoza doesn’t have a lot of faith than we’ll be seeing a fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao in he near future unless Pacquiao bites the bullet and chooses to leave Top Rank. Espinoza sees that as being the issue that is keeping the fight between Manny and Floyd from taking place. Espinoza has no doubts in his mind that Mayweather would take the fight with Pacquiao immediately.

Espinoza could be right. If Pacquiao was with Golden Boy Promotions are some other promotional company instead of Top Rank, he’d probably agree to take the fight with him in a heartbeat. After all, it’s a fight that would give Mayweather a huge payday if he could get it. We just saw in his last fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez that Mayweather isn’t afraid to take on a tough opponent, if it means that he’s going to get a big payday out of the fight.

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Pacquiao still very interested in Mayweather bout

08/01/201412/28/2013 Rob Smith

pac783 pac783 While Manny Pacquiao’s close adviser Michael Koncz met with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum this past week to discuss the two names – Tim Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov – that Arum has for Pacquiao’s next bout April 12th in Las Vegas, Nevada, Pacquiao is still very much interested in fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. That’s his first choice of who he’d like to fight, but unfortunately Mayweather’s not on Arum’s list of opponents for him to fight. It’s going to be one of Arum’s Top Rank fighters that Pacquiao faces next.

Earlier today Pacquiao was asked if he’d like to fight Mayweather, and he said “Anytime. We’re just waiting.”

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Fury saying he wants Deontay Wilder

09/15/201612/27/2013 Rob Smith

deontay32 - Copy (2) Recently British heavyweight Tyson Fury (21-0, 15 KO’s) had been telling anyone that cared to listen to him that he wanted to fight Golden Boy fighter Deontay Wilder (30-0, 30 KO’s), but shortly after Deontay expressed interest in facing him too, Fury said he was retiring from boxing.

Deontay didn’t know what was happening, and neither did Golden Boy Promotions, who had hoped to line up the fight as soon as possible. But now Fury once again is expressing interest in fighting the 6’7″ Wilder, and you have to hope that Fury won’t retire again or disappear when Golden Boy Promotions attempts to put the fight together.

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Koncz: Marquez will never fight Pacquiao again

12/27/2013 Rob Smith

marquez7787 It looks like it’s finally dawned on Manny Pacquiao’s team that they won’t be able to count on having Juan Manuel Marquez continue to fight him and help pump up his pay-per-view numbers anymore, as Pacquiao’s personal adviser Michael Koncz is now saying what everyone has known for the past 6 months in that Marquez will never fight Pacquiao fight Pacquiao again.

What this means in the immediate future is that the options for Pacquiao’s next fight on April 12th are mighty slim down to him either fighting a rematch with WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley or fighting one of his former sparring partners Ruslan Provodnikov.

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Mayweather shows Khan, Maidana and Pacquiao in tweets

12/26/2013 Rob Smith

Just imagine what Amir "Con Artist" will get if his name gets picked in the Mayweather sweepstakes pic.twitter.com/WL4rBB1UU3

— Floyd Mayweather (@FloydMayweather) December 26, 2013

In what could be a sign that that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is still undecided about who he plans on fighting on May 3rd, he posted 3 tweets today showing himself fighting Amir Khan, Manny Pacquiao and Marcos Maidana, and writing captions that showed how little he thought of them as potential opponents for him. As you can see from Mayweather’s caption, he feels that Maidana would be little more than a side order for him to beat. As for Khan, Mayweather sees himself knocking him out.

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