Rigondeaux to fight Donaire in June 2013

rigondeaux4 By Steve Mabbott, photo by Tom Casino — It looks like WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) will finally be getting his shot at WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire in the summer. Rigondeaux’s manager Gary Hyde is saying that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has promised him that he’ll set up a fight between Donaire and Rigondeaux for June.

Rigondeaux, 32, has to first win his next fight on February 23rd, and then he’ll be free to face Donaire in the summer.

Hyde said to El Nuevo Herald “Rigos next fight is scheduled for February 23rd against an opponent still to be named. Promoter Bob Arum promised me Rigo-Donaire fight will be in June 2013.”
This is good news because Rigondeaux has been waiting to get a shot at Donaire for a year now, and it looks like he’ll finally be getting his big chance.

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Ariza wants Pacquiao to adopt his old strength program before facing Marquez again

pac562 By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza wants to get Pacquiao back on their strength training regimen so that he can increase Pacquiao’s strength and get him winning a again. Ariza thinks that Pacquiao has made a mistake by not following his old strength training with Ariza.

Pacquiao lost his last fight to Juan Manuel Marquez, who did a great job of increasing his own strength with his strength coach Angel Heredia.

Ariza has a lot of respect for what Heredia was able to do with Marquez with building up his muscle strength while keeping Marquez’s weight the exact same as it was. Heredis built up Marquez’s body and was able to replace the fat on his frame with muscle, which made him a much different fighter than he’d been in the three prior fights with Pacquiao.

Ariza said to Doghouseboxing.com “In a perfect world, I would want Manny to adopt the strength and conditioning program all over again from day one. Then I’d like him to have a tune-up fight to get familiar with that feeling again. After that then Marquez again and let me do my thing to help.”

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Chavez Jr. could sack Roach and replace him with Beristain

By Jeff Sorby: Trainer Freddie Roach’s bad luck could be about to get even worse, as fightnews.com is reporting that Roach might possibly get the sack by former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. The replacement, if it happens, will be Nacho Beristain, the trainer of Juan Manuel Marquez.

It’s a move that would make sense for Chavez Jr. because there wouldn’t be the language issue by switching to the Mexican Beristain. It would also make training easier because Chavez Jr. wouldn’t have to travel to Los Angeles, California to train with Roach. Chavez Jr. could stay in Mexico and trainer there with Beristain.

It’s a logical move and I can understand why Chavez Jr. might want to do that. Also, Beristain has the hot hand right now with his fighter Marquez’s recent impressive 6th round knockout win over Manny Pacquiao. I doubt that Beristain would be under consideration if Marquez had been the one knocked out.

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James DeGale vacates EBU 168 lb title, aiming for world title

By Michael Collins: WBC Silver and EBU super middleweight champion James DeGale (14-1, 9 KO’s) has reportedly decided to vacant his EBU strap rather than continuing to defend against fringe contenders one after another. DeGale wants to go after a world title belt at 168.

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Amir Khan signs deal with Showtime for three fights

By Michael Collins: Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) may not be with HBO anymore following his losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, but he’s now signed on with Showtime for a three fight deal, which should take him through the end up next year.

A three fight deal is a nice safe number for Showtime because if things go to pieces with Khan in terms of him getting knocked out left and right then Showtime won’t be left with a lemon that nobody in the boxing world wants to see.

It’s likely that Khan won’t run into trouble for his first fight of his contract with Showtime because he’s being mentioned as possibly taking on Josesito Lopez in April. That’s a very winnable fight for Khan, because Lopez, as good as he is, he’s not really a puncher.

He’s just a guy with a lot of heart that likes to go to war with his opponents despite not being a huge puncher and not being all that fast either. Lopez would have likely lost to Victor Ortiz had Ortiz not quit on his stool after the 9th round.

Khan could end up fighting Danny Garcia in the middle of 2013. I honestly don’t believe that Golden Boy Promotions will make this fight, I really don’t. If they make that fight it’ll be like them putting another loss on Khan’s record because he’s really not ready to fight Garcia again.

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Geale vs Mundine 2 : The Road to Redemption

by Adam Santarossa: Anthony Mundine is the only fighter in history to have had all of his fights broadcast on PPV. The simple answer is Anthony Mundine equals money. Mundine reportedly made $700,000 from his boxing debut against Gerard Zohs way back in 2000. It was similar money to what he would have made only a year earlier for a full season with the St George/Illawarra Dragons.

Daniel Geale on the other hand would have been lucky to make a few thousand dollars from his debut fight, despite being a former Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

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Video: Lebedev stops Silgado in highlight reel KO; Calls out Eddie Chambers

By Rob Smith: WBA World cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev (25-1, 19 KO’s) showed tonight why he’s one of the most dangerous fighters in the cruiserweight division by knocking out #8 WBA Santander Silgado (23-1, 18 KO’s) in the 4th round with a devastating left uppercut to the head that put him down face first on the canvas at the Crocus City Hall, in Myakinino, Russia.

There really wasn’t any point in counting because Silgado was knocked out. The fight was stopped at 2:16 of the round.

Silgado showed really nice power during the first three rounds if the fight, as both fighters traded some monster shots. However, Silgado didn’t have quite as much power as Lebedev and he wasn’t as quick as him either. Lebedev was landing some tremendous punches that told you that the fight wasn’t going to last too long. You’ve got to give credit to Silgado for giving it a game effort but he simply was out of his class in this fight.

It would be nice to see Lebedev and WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck get back in the ring for a rematch because those two fighters are at the top of this division and there’s still a lot of controversy about Huck’s 12 round split decision win over Lebedev back in 2010.

After the fight, Team Lebedev called out Eddie Chambers, who in return said he is ready for the fight.

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Nonito Donaire: “With the style that I’ve developed, anyone will fall”

By Joseph Herron — After annihilating five-division world titlist Jorge Arce this past Saturday night at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, boxing fans around the world are anxious to see who Nonito Donaire will step in the ring with in 2013.

Most fight fans and boxing scribes have been clamoring for a Super Bantamweight showdown with WBC title holder Abner Mares or WBA champ Guillermo Rigondeaux. While the matchmaking for Donaire has most recently been decided by boxing manager extraordinaire Cameron Dunkin and Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum, “The Filipino Flash” claims that he is and always has been ready to take on the best fighters in boxing.

“As much as you want to fight someone, sometimes it just doesn’t happen in the boxing industry. It’s really not up to you unless you’re a Pacquiao or a Mayweather,” insists Nonito Donaire. “At this point in my career, I just tell my handlers that I want to fight this guy, and they see if they can make it happen.”

“If it’s not possible at the time, then they just send over the contract that says you’re fighting this person or that person. If they place Mares or Rigondeaux on that dotted line next to my name, then that’s who I’ll meet in the ring. That’s the way it usually is with me. It doesn’t matter who it is. If your name is on the contract, then that’s who I’m going to fight. It’s just a blessing to be able to fight as often as I have been.”

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Fury trashes Deontay Wilder and David Price

By Jeff Sorby: Big 6’9” unbeaten former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (20-0, 14 KO’s) didn’t see much he liked of Deontay Wilder (26-0, 26 KO’s) in watching his 3rd round knockout win over Kelvin Price (13-1, 6 KO’s) last Saturday night.

Fury sees Wilder as having little more than his right hand going for him, and he doesn’t think that’s going to be enough for Wilder to amount to much in the heavyweight division. Fury, 24, also thinks that his recent opponent Kevin Johnson would beat Wilder if the two guys went at it.

Fury said on his social media site twitter “Just watched Wilder fight! Not impressed at all. He couldn’t beat Kevin Johnson! Very raw and open to big shots. Long way to go; big punch. Wilder and [David] Price are the same, untested hype! To be a top fighter you need more than a punch! They have a long way to go. Why not fight each other.”

Fury isn’t giving Wilder much credit for his knockout win over Price for some reason. To be sure, Wilder did look really raw in that fight, and he definitely needs a lot of improvement.

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Don’t jump on the Amir Khan band wagon just yet

by Paul Strauss, photo by Tom Casino / Showtime: Yes, Khan looked impressive on Showtime against Carlos Molina last night at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. His hand and foot speed were there. But, they’ve always been there. Initially last night, there did seem to be one thing that was different. Khan seemed calmer and less herky-jerky. He walked and shuffled when out of range instead of hopping and running. But, Molina’s smaller stature, short arms and less than knockout power provided the opportunity for Khan to show off a bit.

The fact is Khan is still very hittable. The shorter Molina tagged him plenty of times, but unfortunately for Molina, he just doesn’t have true junior welterweight power. Khan’s people knew that when the match was made. As a result of that power deficiency, Khan was able to take risks, to stay in the pocket more often than he should have, and to show off with shoe-shine like displays without real risk of penalty.

The fact is Khan still drops his hands when attempting to rip off combinations. For example, when throwing his left, whether a jab or hook, his right glove is still too low, which allowed Molina to land several counter left hooks. Khan doesn’t get under the shot either.

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