Lebedev destroys Kolodziej; Drozd defeats Wlodarczyk

09/28/201409/27/2014 Vladimir S

WBC challenger Grigory Drozd (39-1, 27 KOs) did a good job of outworking World Boxing Council cruiserweight champion Krzysztof “Diablo” Wlodarczyk (49-3-1, 35 KOs) on Saturday night to beat him by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Dynamo Palace of Sports in Moscow, Russia.

Wlodarczyk was waiting too long to let his shots off in each round, and this enabled the much busier Drozd to win rounds based on being busier.

In the past, Wlodarczyk was able to win many of his fights simply by overpowering his busier opponents, but that didn’t work tonight. Drozd was able to take the best shots from Wlodarczyk and keep coming forward to land his own punches. Wlodarczyk was knocked down in the 8th round. Drozd did a good job of shutting Wlodarczyk down in the last half of the fight when he was trying hard to score a knockout.

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Abraham defeats Smith; Macklin decisions Yebes

09/28/201409/27/2014 Bill Phanco

Paul Smith (35-4, 20 KOs) fought the fight of his life on Saturday night in losing a 12 round unanimous decision to WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (41-4, 28 KOs) by a set of scores that were far too wide at the Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Smith deserved a victory or at least a draw out of the fight because he was the one making the fight in many of the rounds. The judges scored the fight 117-111, 117-111 and 118-109

Abraham uncharacteristically went on the attack mode early in the fight in taking the fight to Smith. But after several rounds, Abraham slowed way down and spent much of each round covering up behind his high guard while Smith carefully landed shots to his head and body.

Abraham did a good job in throwing powerful jabs that frequently caught Smith while he was in punching range. But Smith was the one landing many of the cleaner shots. By the 8th, Smith appeared to be in control of the fight. Abraham was taking rounds off and letting Smith control the fight.

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Abraham vs Smith: Smith’s Crowning Moment?

09/28/201409/27/2014 Ryan Forde-Kelly

On the morning of the Merseyside Derby, you would be forgiven for the thinking that an Everton away victory would be the rarest of occurrences, having not won since 1999, in this sports crazy city.

You’d be wrong.

Not since Paul Hodgkinson’s reign as WBC Featherweight Champion, between 1991-1993, has Liverpool been the home to a legitimate world champion. So, when Paul Smith faces Arthur Abraham (40-4 28KO’s) for the WBO Super-Middleweight World Title in Kiel, Germany this evening, he will aim to redress the balance and return with a title this city has been missing for far too long.

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De La Hoya: Canelo wants to be the face of boxing

09/27/2014 Bill Phanco

Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has a lot of people with HBO and Golden Boy Promotions excited about his potential in the sport after he recently signed a 3-year, 3 fight deal with HBO this week. HBO Sports president Ken Hershman believes that he’s got a fighter who will be a huge success for his network with his big fights.

Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya believes that Canelo will become boxing. In other words, Canelo will rise up to the biggest star in the sport.

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Matthew Macklin vs. Jose Yebes this Saturday, September 27th in Germany

09/27/201409/26/2014 Jeff Sorby

Former three time world title challenger Matthew Macklin (30-5, 20 KOs) will be in action this Saturday night in an 8 round stay busy fight against 35-year-old Jose Yebes (12-4-1, 5 KOs) on the undercard of the Arthur Abraham vs. Paul Smith fight card at the Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, in Germany.

Macklin, 32, hasn’t fought since struggling to defeat little known Lamar Russ last December in an impressive performance. Macklin looked really poor in that fight, and he was fortunate that Russ didn’t have the stamina to fight hard for more than 5 rounds.

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Paul Smith: This is my first and last chance to win a world title

09/27/201409/26/2014 Jeff Sorby

Paul Smith (35-3, 20 KOs) will be fighting for a world title for the first time in his 11-year pro career this Saturday night against WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (40-4, 28 KOs) at the Sparkassen-Arena in Kiel, Germany.

Smith, 31, has definitely picked out the weak link among the super middleweight champions because Abraham has already been proven to not be in the league of Carl Froch and Andre Ward. WBC champion Anthony Dirrell would likely be too much for Abraham as well. But Smith doesn’t have that kind of talent, so he’s going to need to use his intelligence to try and outbox Abraham rather than wasting time trying to put a dent in his sturdy chin.

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Mayweather takes shot at Pacquiao on Twitter

09/27/201409/26/2014 Rob Smith

WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr waited two days before he unloaded on WBO Manny Pacquiao with both barrels on twitter this morning in calling him broke and desperate and in need of a payday fight against him. Mayweather also took a shot at Pacquiao’s sagging PPV numbers, which haven’t hit 1 million buys since his 6th round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.

“Miss Pac Man is broke and desperate for a pay day. Your Pay-Per-View numbers are a joke,” Mayweather said.

Ouch, that hurt. Mayweather hitting Pacquiao where it hurts in taking a shot at his financial situation and his high interest in a fight against him. Mayweather sees Pacquiao’s sudden interest in fighting him as a sign that he’s in need of money to help his finances.

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Public Perception Means Diddily-Squat

09/26/2014 Paul Strauss

Don’t concern yourself. What you thought you saw wasn’t real. “All Access” was all showbiz, according to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. What viewers saw was what he wanted them to see. It was not real, a kind of mirage. Shedding more light, he explained it wasn’t marijuana we saw. It really was nothing but harmless weed, a prop. He further explained we need not believe what we heard either. The truth is his doghouse fighters really did have rest periods, and weren’t forced to spar for 31 straight minutes. And, those people flashing money around, giving us the impression they were betting, well that was a staged exhibition for the cameras.

The NSAC panel in charge apparently nodded their heads in agreement, and voiced their satisfaction with Mayweather’s explanation. The implication was as long as you were just kidding, it’s okay. But, next time please let us know a head of time what you’re planning to do, so we won’t be alarmed and made to look foolish. Money would have us believe as Mick “Crocodile” Dundee used to say, “No worries mate.”

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Pacquiao will have a hard time catching Mayweather, says Lomachenko

09/24/2014 Rob Smith

WBO featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (2-1, 1 KOs) thinks that WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) will have a really tough time trying to catch up to WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) to land his power shots if Mayweather moves around the ring like he did against Marcos Maidana earlier this month in their rematch on September 13th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mayweather used movement for 12 rounds to elude Maidana’s fierce attacks, and while Maidana did an excellent job of cutting off the ring, he wasn’t quick enough to catch Mayweather enough to be competitive.

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Felix Sturm battles Robert Stieglitz on 11/8 in Stuttgart, Germany

09/27/201409/24/2014 Vladimir S

Former IBF/WBA/WBO middleweight champion Felix Sturm (39-4-2, 18 KOs) and former WBO 168 pound title holder Robert Stieglitz (47-4, 27 KOs) will share the ring on November 8th at the Porsche Arena, Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The fight is being talked about as being a WBO super middleweight eliminator bout. The winner would then get to face WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham. Stieglitz is no stranger to Abraham because he’s already fought him three times in the last 2 years, and if he beats Sturm, he could get a 4th fight against him.

One can only wonder how many times Abraham and Stieglitz will wind up facing each other before they both retire because a 4th fight is pretty much a given at this point.

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