By Michael Collins: Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) has been saying for weeks now how he’s going to be a completely different fighter now that he’s being trained by Virgil Hunter, and that he would fight smart and in a more conservative manner.
Groves defeats Johnson in one-sided fight
This fight had mismatch written all over it before the fight was even made, because Johnson had been retired and lost four out of his last five fights coming into the bout. Groves had predicted that he would knock Johnson out, but he never came close to doing that despite trying hard to stop Johnson in every round.
Groves unloaded everything but the kitchen sink on Johnson in rounds 1, 6, 7 and 12, but he didn’t go anywhere. But what Groves did show in going all out was a lack of discipline because he didn’t seem to have a clue that all that he was doing was hitting gloves for the most part, and leaving himself open for huge shots from Johnson. I lost track of all the times that Johnson tagged Groves with shots that would have knocked him cold if Johnson was a little younger.
Pacquiao turns 34 today
By Rob Smith: Former 8 division world champion Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) turns 34 today, Monday, December 17th, and his career seems to be floundering despite not being all that old. Pacquiao has lost his last two fights and was viciously knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez recently.
Khan beats Molina, calls out Danny Garcia after fight
By Steve Mabbot,Photos: Tom Casino/SHOWTIME – Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) picked up the WBC Silver light welterweight strap tonight with a nice 10th round stoppage win over Carlos Molina (17-1, 7 KO’s) on Showtime television. After the fight an excited Khan said “I’m ready to fight Danny Garcia anytime, anyplace.”
It was Garcia that knocked Khan out last July in the 4th round. Khan hasn’t enjoyed the sting of the loss, as he said tonight “He [Garcia] got lucky. He caught me with a good shot.”
Khan doesn’t look ready to be fighting Garcia right now, because Molina was able to hit him frequently in the early rounds with left hooks and right hands. If Molina was three inches taller and had the power of Garcia, I have no doubts that Khan would have been knocked out again because Khan was leaving himself open a lot when throwing his flurries.
Khan did box more in the fight, but he was still throwing a lot of flurries in each round that would give someone like Garcia plenty of opportunities to knock him out again if Khan were to fight like that in a rematch with him.
Hopkins to challenge Cloud for IBF 175 lb title on 3/9 in Brooklyn
By Bill Phanco: 47-year-old Bernard Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KO’s) faces IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud (24-0, 19 KO’s) on March 9th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Hopkins wants to win another world title, and he’ll be 48 by the time this fight takes place, making him one of the oldest world champions.
Abraham stops Bouadla in 8th!
By Marcus Richardson, photo by Wende — In his first defense of his WBO super middleweight title Arthur Abraham (36-3, 28 KO’s) put in an impressive performance in stopping #14 WBO Mehdi Bouadla (26-5, 11 KOs) in the 8th round on Saturday night at the Arena Nürnberger Versicherung, Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Bayern, Germany. Bouadla was cut on the right eyelid in the 7th, and it was giving him major problems in the 8th round at the time the fight was halted. Bouadla was just taking one-way punishment in that round when the referee wisely stepped in and halted the fight.
In rounds one through four, Abraham attacked Bouadla with punches in bunches and then would tire out and then let Bouadla have an opportunity to land his own shots. Surprisingly, Bouadla turned out to be a very respectable puncher and it was an eye opener to see him unloading on Abraham. The last time I had seen Bouadla fight against Mikkel Kessler last year, Bouadla wasn’t able to lay a glove on Kessler and was quickly taken out in a 6th round stoppage. But against Abraham, Bouadla landed a lot of heavy shots. Part of the reason for that is the 5’9″ Abraham’s lack of size, but the other reason was that Abraham kept allowing Bouadla to have chances to land his shots by backing up to the ropes.
Khan defeats Molina; Wilder, Angulo, Santa Cruz win
By Michael Collins: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) stopped a badly overmatched, undersized, and underpowered 5’6′ Carlos Molina (17-1, 7 KO’s) in the 10th round on Saturday night to win the vacant WBC Silver light welterweight title at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. The fight was halted after the 10th by Molina’s corner.
Khan really dominated this fight with his size and speed, as he rarely gave the much shorter and weaker Molina opportunities to land his shots.
Khan’s promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions seemed to stumble over his words when interviewed after the fight and asked if he’d be interested in matching Khan with WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia. Schaefer said that Garcia has a fight in February and that he plans on getting Khan back in the ring in April.
Pascal defeats Kuziemski; Lemieux stops Ayrapetyan
By Rob Smith: Fighting with only one hand from the 4th round after injuring his left shoulder in the 4th, Jean Pascal (27-2-1, 16 KO’s) was able to defeat Aleksy Kuziemski (23-5, 7 KO’s) by a pretty one-sided 10 round unanimous decision tonight at the at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada. The victory will now set Pascal up with a rematch against WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson next March if Pascal’s injured left shoulder heals. The judges scored the fight 100-88, 98-90 and 98-90. Pascal knocked Kuziemski down in the 6th and the 10th round rounds from hard right hand.
Pascal hurt his left hand when he attempted to throw a left hook in the 4th and his arm got caught on one of the ring straps that support the ropes. Luckily for Pascal, Kuziemski was far away from him when he got his arm caught because arm was caught on the strap and he had to untangle it. From that point on, Pascal was forced to fight with only his right hand. Had he been fighting someone with good power and boxing ability, Pascal would have lost the fight because he telegraphed everything he threw and almost defenseless because he couldn’t block shots with his left arm. When he would attempt to raise his arm you could see that it was causing him pain. Fortunately for him, Kuziemski didn’t have the offensive weapons to take full advantage of Pascal’s injury.
Marquez tests negative for PEDS; he beat Pacquiao fair and square
By Rob Smith: For those fans who were hoping that Juan Manuel Marquez would test positive for performance enhancing drugs so that it would help deflate the impact of his impressive knockout performance against Manny Pacquiao, they got bad news today with the Nevada State Athletic Commission revealing that Marquez – and Pacquiao’s – tests came up negative for PEDs. The only thing you can say now is that Marquez beat Pacquiao fair and square on his talent alone. He did get help with his training with his excellent trainer Nacho Beristain and other team members such as strength and conditioning coach Angel Heredia, but there’s nothing illegal with what Marquez did.
Deontay Wilder battles Kelvin Price tonight
Price does have decent power, but it’s nothing like the kind that Wilder. There’s no comparison in that regard. Wilder is one of those rare heavyweights with classic one-punch knockout power in either hand, and if he connect on Price’s chin he’s going to put him on the canvas. That’s a given for this fight. Price will do down.
The only question is whether Price can get up and resume his safety first boxing style. He’s someone that will be looking to jab his way to a decision, because he’s not going to be looking to throw too many actual punches at Wilder because it’s just not safe to that. If Price starts throwing power shots, he’s going to leave himself open for Wilder’s monster shots.