Andre Berto is Preparing for a Triumphant Return to the Ring

08/07/201408/07/2014 Goldsticker PR

(OAKLAND, CALIF.) – What a difference a year makes. Just 12 months ago, Andre Berto (Winter Haven, Fla.) went under the knife at a Los Angeles hospital to repair a significant tendon tear in his right shoulder.. Today, the former two-time welterweight world champion is training full force in an Oakland area gym to prepare for his return to the ring on September 6 at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio and live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING®.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since my surgery. The last 12 months have definitely been hard, but I have learned a lot about myself and the sport since my last fight,” Berto said. “Dealing with an injury like this has helped me strengthen different elements of my game and I can’t wait to put all of that in to play on September 6.”

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George Groves says his third world title quest will end in success

09/18/201408/07/2014 ESB

Super-middleweight boxer George Groves says his third world title quest will end in success, as he prepares to take on European champion Christopher Rebrasse next month.

The 26-year-old faces the Frenchman, who is ranked third with the World Boxing Council, on September 20 at the SSE Arena in Wembley.

The winner takes the European title and the opportunity of a final eliminator for the WBC Super Middleweight belt, which is currently held by Sakio Bika.

Bika first fights in a title rematch against American Anthony Dirrell, but Groves said neither fighter would be able to halt his world title chase.

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Porter vs. Brook workout quotes

08/07/201408/06/2014 Showtime Boxing

LAS VEGAS (Aug. 6, 2014) – Unbeaten IBF Welterweight World Champion “ShowTime” Shawn Porter and undefeated contender Kell Brook held an open media workout at Barry’s Gym in Las Vegas on Wednesday as they reach the apex of preparation for next Saturday’s world championship showdown.

Porter (24-0-1, 15 KOs), of Akron, Ohio, will defend his 147-pound crown against Britain’s Brook (32-0, 22 KOs) in the main event of a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING tripleheader Saturday, Aug. 16, live on SHOWTIME® (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) from the storied StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., home to some of the most memorable, non-stop action, exciting fights in recent boxing memory.

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Chris Algieri vs. Manny Pacquiao: About the Fighters

08/05/2014 Bill Barner

On November 22, 2014, WBO Jr. Welterweight Champion Chris Algieri will move up in both weight and opponent caliber as he challenges Manny Pacquiao for the WBO Welterweight Championship.

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao is as accomplished as he is well-known. A world champion at a record-breaking eight weight classes, he has fought and beaten nearly every world-class fighter available. Moreover, like Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali before him, he has avenged nearly every loss.

In 2012 questions surfaced as to whether Pacquiao’s career was through. First, he lost an incredibly controversial decision to Timothy Bradley. The same year, he suffered his most definitive loss at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez. However, the Philippine pugilist took a year off and returned to beat Brandon Rios by unanimous decision in 2013. In April of 2014, Pacman decisively beat Timothy Bradley, avenging his loss to the 147lb champion and proving his sustained greatness to the boxing community. At the time of the fight, Bradley was coming off a win against Ruslan Provodnikov and considered one of the best fighters – pound for pound – in the world.

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Floyd Mayweather Jr: Nevada Fighter of the Year

08/05/2014 Boxing Hall of Fame

Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be honored as Nevada Fighter of the Year by the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame at its annual Induction Ceremony/Dinner this Saturday night, August 9. It is the second straight year Mayweather takes the honor, following his victories over Canelo Alvarez in September, 2013, and hard-fought decision over Marcos Maidana in May, 2014.

Mayweather will receive the honor on the same night 18 Inductees are brought into the NVBHOF, and several other Special Achievement Award winners are honored. The gala event will take place in the Cohiba Ballroom inside the New Tropicana, Las Vegas. Social hour and Silent Auction begin the evenings festivities at 6PM with dinner and the program at 7PM

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Shannon Briggs doing a great job of creating interest in Wladimir Klitschko fight

08/05/201408/04/2014 Bill Phanco

Thus far, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has missed out on the mega-fights that we saw from former champions like Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis. But that could change with the hype that 42-year-old Shannon Briggs is singlehandedly creating by following Wladimir Klitschko around the globe and getting in his face at every opportunity to force him to fight him.

Briggs has been ignored by Klitschko so far, but Briggs doesn’t care about that. He plans on continuing his one-man campaign to get the fight with the Ukrainian fighter. While it may not be working for Briggs right now, he’s steadily building interest in fight between him and Wladimir Klitschko in Germany.

The fans over in Germany are being bombarded constant news about Briggs’ confrontations with Klitschko. At this point a fight between Briggs and Wladimir Klitschko would likely be the biggest match of his career. That’s unfortunately more of an indication of the lack of interesting opponents that Wladimir has had than an endorsement of Briggs. Klitschko has faced largely unknown fighters or guys that were played out by the time he did face them.

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Hopkins vs Kovalev Official for November Live on HBO

08/04/2014 HBO Boxing

Speed, savvy and defense will come face-to-face with explosive power and force this November when Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins takes on Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev in a Light Heavyweight Unification title fight, Golden Boy Promotions and Main Events announced today.

Hopkins, incredibly just two months short of his 50th birthday, is seeking to add the WBO Light Heavyweight Championship to his collection of IBF and WBA belts. Kovalev, who burst on the scene just a year ago, has never lost a fight and has won 23 of his 25 victories by knockout.

“Everything I do at this point in my career affects my legacy,” Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs) said. “I’ve set and broken many records, but becoming the oldest undisputed light heavyweight world champion is the goal and Kovalev stands in the way of that goal. He’s another young, hungry fighter and just like the ones that came before him, he will leave the ring beltless.”

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Rios wins DQ over Chaves; Jesse Vargas hands Anton Novikov his 1st loss; Kovalev KOs Caparello

08/03/2014 Paul Strauss

It seems no one at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, NV was happy with the way the fight between Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios and Diego Gabriel Chaves ended. It was a close, rugged battle that fans undoubtedly were enjoying. They certainly didn’t want it to end so abruptly at the hands of referee Vic Drakulich. Diego clearly didn’t want it to end with him on the losing end. He felt he was winning the fight, and that it was snatched away from him. Even Rios expressed dissatisfaction with the way things ended, but he felt Diego deserved to be penalized.

The fight was a war. Most people thought that it would evolve into a war, but it wasn’t expected to start that way. Diego controlled that surprise. He came out throwing power jabs and hard overhand rights. Would he run out of steam? Rios seemed to be caught off guard initially, but by the second round he already had Diego backing up. He got in close and started throwing punishing shots to the body. Diego was hit with his first penalty point in the third round, apparently for excessive holding.

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Sergey Kovalev TKO 2 Blake Caparello – business as usual

08/03/201408/03/2014 Ivan Ivanov

There was no drama on Saturday night at Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey when Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs) chopped down Blake “Il Capo” Caparello (19-1-1, 6 KOs). Caparello was brave to even take the fight but offered very little in the way of return fire and skill against the overconfident Kovalev.

The Russian started the fight by rushing head on against his unpretentious opponent. The only notable thing about Caparello is that he is a southpaw and this required some adjustments to the fine-tuned automatic skills of his opponents. Kovalev did not seem to care about his opponent’s stance other than throwing straight right hands a little more frequently.

Caparello almost made a name for himself when he was credited with a knock down against Kovalev in the first round. The referee clearly made a mistake, Caparello did land a clean left hand on his foe but his lead foot was firmly set on Kovalev’s lead foot toes and tripped Kovalev off balance. The Russian went down but wasn’t hurt at all; he wasn’t even annoyed and did not make a fuss or challenge the referee’s call. He only “revved up” and the thuds of his shots became more audible. The knock down only expedited matters and brought controlled anger to Sergey’s actions.

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Referee ruins fight, Rios beats Chaves on DQ; Vargas defeats Novikov

08/03/201408/03/2014 Jeff Sorby

Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 Kos) should be on his knees tonight thanking referee Vick Drakulich for saving his career in needlessly disqualifying visiting fighter Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) in the 9th round at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Drakulich had been overactive in taking points off from the 3rd round when he took a point off from Chaves for clinching. I still can’t understand why Drakulich disqualified Chaves instead of Rios, who really was the one that was fouling repeatedly by head-butting during every clinch, hitting low and throwing rabbit punches.

From my perspective, it just looked like Chaves was robbed tonight. He came in as the B-side and he was beating the house fighter and getting fouled like mad. Instead of the referee addressing the fouling that Rios was doing, he disqualified the victim of the fouling in giving the hook to Chaves. I can’t remember ever seeing a visiting fighter get shafted as badly as Chaves did tonight.

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