Schaefer not worried about Canelo-Angulo doing poorly on PPV

08/02/201401/11/2014 Rob Smith

While many boxing fans are openly grumbling about the March 8th Showtime card headlined by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KO’s) vs. Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18 KO’s) being on Showtime pay-per-view given that both guys are coming off of losses, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer isn’t worried at all that the fight will bring in poor PPV numbers.

Schaefer thinks it’ll do okay because of the 23-year-old Canelo’s huge popularity in the United States following his one-sided loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last September in a fight that really well at the gate and on PPV.

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Showtime’s Espinoza likes Khan-Mayweather fight

08/02/201401/10/2014 Rob Smith

Stephen Espinoza, the President of Sports for Showtime, thinks Floyd Mayweather Jr. (45-0, 26 KO’s) vs. Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) on May 3rd would be a good fight for Showtime pay-per-view due to the 27-year-old Khan’s fighting style. While Espinoza still isn’t saying that he specifically prefers Khan to Marcos Maidana as Mayweather Jr’s next opponent, he does seem to be dropping an awfully big hint by praising Khan’s fighting at length in an interview with ESPN from today.

“Who will be most entertaining once the bell rings? Espinoza said to ESPN. “That’s the way we will evaluate the May fight and every fight after that. I like the Khan fight stylistically. I think Amir provides a set of challenges based on his skills that Floyd hasn’t seen in a while. For that reason, I think it will be a very entertaining fight.”

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Roach wants Pacquiao vs. Robert Guerrero

01/10/201401/10/2014 Rob Smith

Trainer Freddie Roach says that WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley isn’t a fight that Manny Pacquiao is excited about. He feels that he already beat Bradley in their fight last year, and doesn’t think the fight will bring in big pay-per-view numbers either.

With Bradley asking for more money than they’re willing to pay, Roach says that he’d like to see Pacquiao fight Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero if that fight could be made. Roach thinks it would give Pacquiao a good opportunity to show what he an against a fighter that was able to go the full 12 rounds against Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year in May in Guerrero’s lopsided 12 round unanimous decision loss.

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Daniel Geale vs. Garth Wood on February 19th in Sydney, Australia

08/02/201401/08/2014 Rob Smith

geale3 geale3 Former IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale (29-2, 15 KO’s) will be facing 35-year-old fringe contender Garth Wood (12-3-1, 8 KO’s) on February 19th in an all-Australia clash in Sydney, at the Entertainment Centre. This is Geale’s first fight since his 12 round split decision defeat at the hands of Darren Barker last year in August. Geale has been sitting idle looking for a fight, and this is what he found.

Geale, 32, is interested in fighting WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin for his title in April, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen because HBO reportedly isn’t interested in that fight. It’s not surprising that HBO doesn’t want to put on Geale-Golovkin, because Geale hasn’t done anything since his loss to Barker. Fighting #13 WBA, Wood isn’t then type of fight that will redeem Geale in any way, shape or form. It’s just a fight that will make money for Geale in Australia, and nothing more than that.

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Mayweather: Pacquiao is now begging for the fight

07/31/201401/07/2014 Rob Smith

floyd7878 With Manny Pacquiao’s pay-per-view numbers dropping off badly in his last fight, and with him having lost 2 out of his last 3 fights, Floyd Mayweather Jr. is now gloating about it and seemingly kicking him while he’s down. Mayweather sees Pacquiao in a situation where he needs his help in order to get him out of the hole he’s been put in. But Mayweather says he’s not going to do it. He’s not going to bail Pacquiao out with his IRS problems, or with his problems with his PPV numbers tanking all of a sudden. Mayweather feels that Pacquiao has to deal with these issues on his own without his help.

“Pacquiao missed his opportunity; he had his chance,” Mayweather told Fighthype. “He felt like he was on the same level as me. He wouldn’t have asked for 50-50. So now, two losses later and he’s got a problem.

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Canelo to battle Alfredo Angulo on March 8th in Las Vegas, Nevada

01/06/2014 Rob Smith

canelo74 Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KO’s) will be playing it safe for his next fight by taking a confidence builder fight against Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18 KO’s) on March 8th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mexican news site Esto has broken the story about this match-up. The Canelo-Angulo fight is expected to be a pay-per-view bout on Showtime. It’s going to be interesting to see how much this fight will be going for on PPV, because both fighters are coming off of losses.

Canelo is headlining the card, and hopefully Golden Boy Promotions will stack the undercard with interesting fights to make it worth purchasing on PPV. For a main event fight, Canelo-Angulo is not an appealing fight when you’re talking about paying to see it. Of course, if Golden Boy chooses to have this fight on regular Showtime then this isn’t a bad tuneup fight for Canelo. But in no way should this be a PPV fight.

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Will Arum free Pacquiao so he can fight Mayweather?

01/06/2014 Rob Smith

arum3432 Manny Pacquiao’s lawyer Franklin Gacal Jr. thinks Bob Arum of Top Rank should be a good one and free Manny Pacquiao up from the remainder of his contract with Top Rank so that Pacquiao can fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a history-making bout in 2014. Pacquiao is still under contract with Arum for the whole of 2014, and as long as he’s with him, Mayweather will not agree to fight Pacquiao.

Would Arum agree to let Pacquiao leave Top Rank for the good of Pacquiao? There’s no question that a Mayweather fight would be a big boost for Pacquiao’s career right now. He’s lost 2 out of his last 3 fights, his last fight against Arum’s fighter Brandon Rios was disappointment in bringing in only 475,000 pay-perv-view buys. Arum says fans weren’t interested because the fight took place in Macao, China instead of the United States. Getting beaten in back to back fights probably didn’t help Manny any.

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Arum: Pacquiao may renew contract [with Top Rank] past 2015

07/31/201401/05/2014 Rob Smith

pac8787 pac8787 If you were one of the fans who were hoping that Manny Pacquiao would leave Top Rank when his contract expires with them at the end of 2014, you might not be happy to read the news from Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who is saying that Pacquiao may re-sign with Top Rank to stay with them beyond 2015. This could mean a 2-year contract or possibly even longer.

“I just had a good meeting with Michael [Koncz] yesterday, and I’ll leave it at that,” said Arum via RingTV. “I have a contract with Manny, and he’s saying that we may very well renew the contract past 2015.”

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Rafael: Pacquiao is near the end; Top Rank wants Mikey Garcia as a PPV guy

01/05/2014 Rob Smith

pac6766 (2) This past week Bob Arum of Top Rank mentioned that he’s interested in having Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 KO’s), the current WBO super featherweight champion, facing his No.1 star Manny Pacquiao once Mikey moves up in weight in the future. The fact that Arum is talking about this fight tells you that we can expect that fight to happen very, very soon. Arum doesn’t have another pay-per-view presence in his Top Rank stable, and the 35-year-old Pacquiao is about the end of the line as a PPV guy in a year or two.

We’re already seeing Pacquiao’s PPV numbers diminishing with his last fight against Brandon Rios. Was that just an aberration as a result of Pacquiao fighting in Macao, China, or a signal that fans are growing weary of him?

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Cotto must pressure Sergio Martinez, says Jones Jr.

08/01/201401/04/2014 Rob Smith

cotto 2321 While the proposed June 7th fight between Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) and WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) still hasn’t been negotiated, Roy Jones Jr. chimed in on his thoughts about the fight anyway. He sees the fight coming down to a couple of things.

If Sergio boxes Cotto, then his chances of success increase dramatically. But if Cotto is able to turn the fight into an inside war like he did in his last fight against fringe junior middleweight contender Delvin Rodriguez then that gives Cotto an excellent chance of beating the soon to be 39-year-old Sergio.

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