Arum plans on having Zou Shiming fight on Pacquiao-Rios undercard in November

shiming33In a not surprising move, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum will be sticking unbeaten Chinese flyweight Zou Shiming (1-0) on the undercard of the November 23rd Manny Pacquiao vs. Brandon Rios pay per view card from Macao, China. Shiming, 32, has a fight scheduled 6-round bout this month against Mexican novice Jesus Ortega (3-1, 2 KO’s) that Shiming has to take care of first at the Venetian Casino & Resort in Macao, China.

Shiming’s fight on the Pacquiao vs. Rios card will be an 8 round bout, and following that Arum wants to move Shiming up to 10 round bouts. The idea here is to quickly move the former two-time Chinese Olympic Gold medalist quickly so that he can fight for a world title by next year provided he keeps winning and looking good in his bouts.

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Floyd may struggle vs. Canelo; Pacquiao can handle Rios

Canelo answering media questions(Photo credit: Esther Lin) Despite the emergence of a Gennady Golovkin, what’s something special about the famous boxing “duo” which we can’t find in other boxers of this generation, so much so that the sport would seem to dim and weaken if they retire?

What is in Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao that keeps the sport “buzzing and oozing” notwithstanding the former’s disdained, manipulated “unbeaten” record and the latter’s recent heart-breaking “defeats”?

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Mayweather says Pacquiao’s career is done

pac89Floyd Mayweather Jr. wasn’t bashful about giving his opinion about Manny Pacquiao in Mayweather’s press conference with WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in San Antonio, Texas this week. Mayweather told the fans that he saw Pacquiao as an over-the-hill fighter, and he then complimented Juan Manuel Marquez seemingly for a job well done in knocking Pacquiao out last December.

Mayweather said “Pacquiao’s a has-been; his career is over. [Juan] Manuel Marquez is a legend. I commend him.”

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Pacman to Host Manny Pacquiao National Boxing Championships

pac67No, Manny Pacquiao National Boxing Championships is not a title of a video game or some upcoming book or movie about Manny Pacquiao, it’s an actuality event that Manny himself plans on promoting and even hosting himself in Manila in order to scout out top grade boxing talent.

According to a recent report, the event will feature eight boxing teams from all over the country, to pit eight boxers in eight weight categories, and fight from six to eight rounds in rotation matches among winners. The winner will be awarded with a Manny Pacquiao Trophy and a cash grant of P100,000 each.

This will most certainly be a very successful boxing event or show in the Philippines, but will it gain any international attention?

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Roach says he’ll tell Pacquiao to retire if he loses to Rios

roach2As far as trainer Freddie Roach is concerned, 34-year-old Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) is a do or die situation in his next fight against former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) on November 23rd at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.

Roach says he’s going to tell Pacquiao to retire from boxing if he loses that fight because it’ll have been Pacquiao’s third straight loss and obviously a clear sign that he’s over-the-hill as a fighter.

Roach said in an interview with ESPN “Yeah, if he loses I will tell him to retire. If you lose three in a row it’s your time. He’s up there in age, I’ve got to keep a close eye on him. I will do the right thing. I don’t want him to be a stepping stone.”

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Boxing’s 10 Most Exciting Fighters Today

pac433More than just a trending revival, thanks to recent exciting fights and big bouts on the horizon, boxing is seemingly back as one of the most watched and profitable sports on earth. Carl Froch vs Mikkel Kessler had the whole of Britain enraptured, while the announcement of Floyd Mayweather fighting Saul Alvarez in September has made every sports fan around sit up and take notice. All over, boxing is far away from the days where many stated it was ‘dying’.

It is probably true that the rise of MMA gave boxing the kick up the backside it needed to ensure the best fights were getting made regularly and made accessible to as many as possible. But there are also powerful new promoters that have helped boxing rise back to prominence, with the likes of Golden Boy Promotions and Matchroom Boxing in particular wrestling control away from the old-school promoters that called all the shots and thus stifled the sport.

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Rios: I’m going for the kill against Pacquiao

pac004Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) is very happy that he was picked out by his promoter Bob Arum to fight Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) on November 23rd at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China. Rios, 27, doesn’t plan on wasting his opportunity. He wants to knock Pacquiao out and get the praise that will come with a victory over the 34-year-old former 8-division world champion.

Rios said to esnewsreporting.com “I’m going to win this fight. I’m going to knock him out. [Juan Manuel] Marquez kicked his a**. I’m going for the kill.”

With Pacquiao having lost his last two fights, it’s hard to say who precisely will win this fight on November 23rd. If you were to throw Rios in the ring with Pacquiao in 2009, it would be like feeding Rios to a hungry Velociraptor, but a lot of things have changed since then.

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Pacquiao could get career high payday against Rios on November 23rd

pac3Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum will be charging $5 in pay per view in marketing Pacquiao’s November 23rd fight against former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios to the potentially lucrative Chinese. With the Chinese population at 1.34 billion, Pacquiao stands to make a lot of money if even a fraction of the population purchases his fight.

In addition to that, Pacquiao will be making a massive amount of money from the U.S fans from the PPV money, and it won’t be taxed at the high rate that it would have been had the fight taken place in the United States. Arum came up with the great idea for Pacquiao to fight in Macau, China to ease the tax burden on Pacquiao, so he’ll have even more money.

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Matthysse: I want Pacquiao

matthysse55WBC interim light welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (34-2, 32 KO’s) doesn’t mind being called the new Manny Pacquiao, but he much rather get a fight against the aging Filipino fighter before he retires or ends up getting knocked out again. Matthysse knocked out Lamont Peterson in the 3rd round last Saturday night, and at the post-fight press conference, Matthysse’s promoter Richard Schaefer called him the new Pacquiao.

This was Matthysse’s 6th straight knockout and he’s looking really powerful right now and similar to how Pacquiao looked in his prime.

Matthysse said “I didn’t imagine I would knock him [Peterson] out so fast. I was expecting a tougher fight. I’m happy to be compared to Manny Pacquiao, but what I want to do is fight him.”

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