Rob Smith

Pacquiao vs. Rios: Brandon could give Manny more than he bargained for

pac89Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) hasn’t had an easy fight since his one-sided 12 round unanimous decision win over a completely shot Shane Mosley two years ago in May, 2011. Since that fight, Pacquiao has gone downhill himself and looked bad in his two fights against Juan Manuel Marquez and his fight with Tim Bradley.

Pacquiao lost two of those fights, but you can make strong argument that he deserved to lose three of them because his win over Marquez in November 2011 was a controversial one. Pacquiao now will be fighting Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) on November 24th in Macau, China.

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Canelo needs Mayweather more than the other way around

floyd#121WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez hasn’t fought at 147 in the 11 fights dating back to his win over a tiny Jose Miguel Cotto back in May of 2010, but if Canelo wants a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. then he’s going to have to find a way back down to that weight because that’s what he’s going to have to do in order to get the big payday fight he’s been harping about for ages.

Let’s be honest about this; Canelo needs Mayweather much more than Mayweather needs Canelo. Mayweather is going to get his $30 million each fight no matter who faces him in his next five fights. Mayweather’s got that guaranteed cash, and besides that he’s already a huge, huge draw. He’s the #1 money fighter in all of sports.

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Rios: Pacquiao made a mistake in picking me to fight

rios434Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) expects to make former 8-division world champion Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) sorry for picking him to fight in their upcoming November 24th in the tax friendly [at least for Pacquiao] Macau, China.

Rios thinks he was selected because Pacquiao and his team see him as an easy mark, a guy that Pacquiao can beat without too much trouble. Rios doesn’t like that and he wants to make them sorry for selecting him.

Rios said this as quoted by the Bostonherald.com “He picked me because I lost. They probably think ‘Brandon is easy to hit. Brandon gets hit all the time.’ It’s a very different story when you get in the ring with me. They made a mistake in picking me.”

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Espinoza optimistic Mayweather vs. Canelo fight will happen in September

alvarez1Showtime Vice President of Sports Stephen Espinoza feels confident that the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight will take place on September 14th in Las Vegas, Nevada, as he says the negotiations between Mayweather and Canelo’s team are underway.

Espinoza said to AP “I think the biggest fight out there is Mayweather vs. Canelo. So far the negotiations are going well and I think everyone involved is working to make it happen.”

There’s no word about what weight the fight will take place at.

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Darchinyan defeats Gallo in 4th round stoppage

darchinyan4334Vic Darchinyan (39-5-1, 28 KO’s) smashed his over-matched opponent Javier Gallow (18-7-1, 10 KO’s) in a 4th round TKO on Saturday night at the Uni-Trade Stadium, in Laredo, Texas, USA.

Darchinyan finished Gallow off with a left to the head that sent Gallo hitting the deck and sliding on his backside. Gallo, who had already been knocked down three other times in the fight, didn’t even try to get up after the fourth knockdown.

Gallo hurt Darchinyan twice in the fight with big right hands. The first time occurred late in the 1st round when he timed Darchinyan as he was coming in and nailed him with a right hand. Darchinyan was staggered by the shot but he wasn’t hurt enough to go down from it.

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Mayweather-Guerrero to hit 1 million PPV buys, says Showtime boss

Showtime Sports big time boss vice president Stephen Espinosa came out of the woodwork on Friday quash the rumors about the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Robert Guerrero fight resulting in less than 1 million pay per view buys on Showtime from last Saturday night. Espinosa says the fight did no less than 1 million PPV buys, although he’s still not sure what the full tally is as of now, but it is more than 1 million.

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Mayweather hints that he’s going to box Guerrero instead of slug with him on 5/4

mayweather223WBC interim welterweight champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) was recently able to WBC welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) to agree to go toe-to-toe with him in their fight on May 4th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mayweather Jr. asked Guerrero how he wanted the fight to take place and Guerrero responded with “Toe-to-toe.” Mayweather immediately agreed to fight him that way, but it looks like Mayweather Jr. is having second thoughts about it due to his father, who will be training him for this fight, preferring that Mayweather Jr. fight in a more defensive manner.

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Arum willing to match Donaire against Mares on HBO

donaire773Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is saying that he’d be willing to match his fighter WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) against the unbeaten Abner Mares (25-0-1, 13 KO’s) in the future, but only if the 27-year-old Mares was willing to face the 30-year-old Donaire on HBO rather than Showtime where Mares typically fights.

Arum said to Ringside SEN Radio in Melbourne that if Mares is “Willing to come over and fight Donaire on HBO that’s fine. [Mares] doesn’t enjoy 25 percent of the popularity Donaire enjoys but if he wants to fight Nonito and get a real good pay we’ll be happy to fight Mares.”

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Arum confident he can get Pacquiao-Marquez 5 fight made for September

pac6Despite Juan Manuel Marquez’s apparent reluctance to fight Manny Pacquiao for a fifth time, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum remains extremely confident that he’s going to get the fight made for September in Singapore or Macao, two places where the fighters can escape the taxes from the pay per view money that they get from U.S boxing fans. Arum is looking for the perfect hotel-casino in Macau or Singapore to stage the fight.

The rematch would likely be promoted as their previous fights with the fighters traveling to three or four major cities in the U.S to hold press conferences, and then the fight would take place outside of the U.S on fight night.

You can make a strong argument that Arum isn’t exactly doing Pacquiao any favors by putting him back in the ring with a guy like Marquez after the way that Pacquiao was knocked out by Marquez last December. Marquez knocked Pacquiao out cold with a nice right hand in the 6th round of that fight.

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Arum looking to make Pacquiao-Marquez 5 in Macau or Singapore in September

pac4Promoter Bob Arum is looking to put together a fifth fight between Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) and Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KO’s) in Singapore or Macau in September in order to dodge U.S taxes. Arum is looking at possible casinos in both places to see which one is the best fit for the fifth and possible final fight between the two.

If Arum can put the fight together, and that’s a big if, the fight could be the last one if Marquez knocks Pacquiao out cold again. He destroyed Pacquiao in 6 rounds last December and you can’t imagine that he’ll agree to a 6th fight with Marquez if he gets blasted out again.

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