“This [surpassing of George Foreman’s record] is a hell of a milestone. This is something that not any old fighter gets to do, or most athletes from any sport for that matter. I am glad to be able to represent that at this stage of my career.
“I have been able to reach this milestone because of things I have overcome [in my life] and I am motivated by the legacy I will leave.
“I am already going in a champion. At the Montreal press conference, Pascal was trying to be cute and he gave me his belts. I never gave them back, so I have them in my possession. I just have to make it official next Saturday because I don’t think anyone should have a belt unless they win in the ring.
“Fifty percent of me is always going to be 100 percent [of someone else] in today’s world of athletics. When people look at me, they should think ‘He is not the norm.’
“I don’t know how accidents happen, most accidents aren’t good. This one [my longevity] is a good accident.
“The only way you can get experience is from the clock. Time works with some people and against some people. Fortunately, the clock has worked in my favor.
“The difference between me in my 20’s and me in my 40’s is that I have learned not to waste a lot of energy. When you are young, you are filled with raw emotions and you want to prove that you are the new young lion in the jungle. Pascal is a new lion, but I am the old lion.
“We have a lot of healthy things now that we didn’t have years ago. I get my food at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. Joe Louis didn’t have Trader Joe’s. Ali didn’t have Whole Foods. Society is paying attention to what is healthy as compared to what we had years ago and I am taking advantage of that.
“For me, this fight is more about the history than redemption.
“I am the professor and Pascal is the student. Sometimes the student thinks he knows more than the professor. Every now and then, you have to show them that because you know a little doesn’t mean you know as much as the teacher. I think he respects what I have done. He would be a fool not to.
“Fans can expect drama this time around. I am going to throw a lot of punches. I am going to be out of character in the way I fight this fight. It won’t be the Bernard Hopkins people have seen the last couple of years.
“I am going in there with one objective…to win by any legal boxing means necessary and then get out of there with the record broken and the titles won.
“I have been training in downtown Philadelphia to remind myself that I still have to fight like a hungry man that wants something. I had to go back to where I started.
“Right now, I am the Philly franchise. The Flyers are out. The Sixers are out. The Phillies are playing, but it is early in the season. I am the franchise right now and I have delivered more than I have failed. I am going to bring the championship home.
“When I can no longer perform physically and mentally, then I will know I am ready to leave the sport. It is the same thing that happens at any job. You know when it is time to leave. I have too much pride as a man and too much pride for Philly to embarrass myself by staying in boxing too long.”
# # #
“Dynasty II: Pascal vs. Hopkins” is presented by GroupeYvon Michel and Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Casino de Montreal, Videotron and Coors Light. The 12-round WBC, WBC Diamond and Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight World Championship fight will take place Saturday, May 21 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada and will be televised live on HBO’s World Championship Boxing beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT in the United States and distributed live on pay-per-view in Canada on Canal Indigo, Bell TV, Shaw TV, Viewer’s Choice and Sasktel in French and English beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET. A 12-round light heavyweight bout between former World Champions Chad Dawson and Adrian Diaconu will also be featured on the telecast. Dawson vs. Diaconu is presented in association with Gary Shaw Productions and InterBox.
Tickets, priced at C$500, C$350, C$250, C$175, C$110, C$75, C$50 and C$35, are on sale now and may be purchased at the Bell Centre box office or by calling (514) 790-2525 or (877) 668-8269. Tickets are available online at www.evenko.ca.
“Fans of Zsolt Erdei” tickets held for Hungarian superstar’s return versus Byron Mitchell on June 4 in Atlantic City
NEW YORK, NY (May 10, 2011) – It was impossible not to notice the throngs of Hungarian fans who made the trek to Atlantic City to watch their national hero and unbeaten former two-time world champion, Zsolt Erdei, when he fought on the undercard of middleweight champ Sergio Martinez’s second-round knockout of Paul Williams last November at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Erdei drew a large – and noisy – contingent of fans who cheered, chanted, and sang him on throughout his convincing eight-round decision win over veteran Samson Onyango.
Now, Erdei (32-0, 17 KOs) is set to return to the ring, and Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, on June 4 when he battles former world titlist Byron Mitchell (28-7-1, 21 KOs) on the undercard of the SHOWTIME Super Super Six World Boxing Classic semifinals between Carl Froch and Glen Johnson at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom inside the famed building in the heart of the AC strip.
With Erdei scheduled to return to the ring, DiBella Entertainment has secured a special block of tickets, solely for Erdei’s loud and proud contingent of fans, that will be available for purchase online through Ticketmaster.com.
Those looking to purchase tickets should visit Ticketmaster.com, search “Boardwalk Hall”, click on “Carl Froch vs Glen Johnson – WBC Super Middleweight Championship Tickets” and then search for tickets under the header “Fans of Zsolt Erdei”. Fans looking purchase tickets from this block must use the password ZSOLT in the appropriate box for the purchase to go through.
“Zsolt is a Hungarian megastar and one of the best European fighters of the past decade,” said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment.”He needs to fight and stay busy for his enormous Hungarian fan-base here in the states. He will be on the international broadcast, so the home-town crowd can watch him there too. The last time he fought in Atlantic City, he brought a very passionate and devoted crowd. It was really impressive to see.”
Erdei, who held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) light heavyweight title from 2004 to 2009, moved up in weight in 2009 to win the WBC cruiserweight title. He has now returned to the light heavyweight division for yet another run at that championship.
Erdei is in line to be the mandatory challanger for the winner of the May 21 bout between current WBO champion Jurgen Brahmer and Nathan Cleverly.
WBC News
May 10, 2011 – Mexico City.
From WBC President Dr. José Sulaimán: On behalf of the Board of Governors, I deeply regret to announce the passing away of the greatest boxing hero of Australia and former WBC bantamweight champion of the world, Lionel Rose, who was an Aborigine and struggled all of his life to project and defend his people.
The WBC will prepare a more extensive posthumous homage for this special champion, who had the passionate idolatry and support not only from his Aboriginal people, but also from the whole of Australia and the world.
****
The following is one of the weekly “Hook to the Body” columns by WBC President Dr. José Sulaimán that are published in El Universal every Sunday. From May 8, translated from Spanish:
HOOK TO THE BODY
By José Sulaimán
The Intelligence and Guts to Retire on Time.
Reflecting on recent happenings in boxing and after my many years of life, I have concluded that fighting is a human nature since the beginning of the 5th Evolution of our planet Earth. The cave men fought for food, leadership of tribes, and for women. Today, nothing has changed in boxing – they fight for money, to be the best as a world champion, and for fame, for women. In business they fight with programmed schemes, sometimes Machiavellian, to be the wealthiest, to be at the top, as well as for fame.
The same thing happens when the time arrives for boxers to retire. Many continue because they don’t have a penny, others because they believe that they can continue to be the best, some others because they want to live forever in the limelights. But the main thing is that it is very difficult to know when the end of your cycle has come so you don’t continue tarnishing the great deeds that you performed in the past.
We have only very few who have announced their retirement and never came back, keeping their fame and dignity forever, like Raúl “Ratón” Macías, Marvin Hagler, Lennox Lewis, Flash Elorde, Henry Cooper, Sugar Ray Leonard, Humberto “Chiquita” González, and a few others.
Most others, having been among the greatest of all time, decided to return, with some of them losing even against boxers who at their times, would not have even able to carry their shoes into the gym. Very few in history have been as good as Julio César Chávez, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Durán, Mike Tyson, Joe Louis, Alexis Argüello, Evander Holyfield, Wilfredo Gómez, Hector Camacho, and even Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali, all who are, without a doubt, with golden letters in the history of boxing, but who by their insistence to return to boxing, following promotion offers that led them to make some money, but also to end their careers with defeats and sadness.
Days ago, one of the greatest Mexican boxers ever, the three-time REAL world champion in different divisions, Eric Morales, came to visit me at home. We talked about his career, as I was one of those who advised him to retire. We are very good friends and he has always given to me his respect, which I greatly appreciate. I have always been very disappointed to have seen how he had to suffer in inhuman weight loss practices, to reduce weight to fight the also great Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera, and twice against Manny Pacquiao, who he defeated in their first bout at a lower weight.
Eric decided to return to boxing against my amicable recommendation, but he has won all his fights on his return and if it wasn’t for the first two rounds, he showed that he could defeat the solid puncher Marcos Maidana. You cannot but admire someone who lost 60 pounds to return to boxing and dedicate all of his time, with exemplary perseverance, to accomplish his dream of a fourth world title in four weight divisions, always against the best, as it has been his life in boxing.
We wish the very best for this great champion, who has been an example as a boxer for the youth of Mexico and the world, for him to conquer his dreams. The truth is that the great ones of the last decade have already gone, and there will be others to go soon in one or two years. We need new idols to keep boxing going as actively and passionately as it is today, and we must do something about it.
Thank you for reading my lines.