Frank Warren has won the right to stage George Groves’ British and Commonwealth Super Middleweight Title defence against Kenny Anderson. The two fighters still have unfinished business after their first fight in 2010, when rising star Groves recovered from the only knockdown in his career to stop the Scotsman.
Anderson had managed to draw the heavily favoured Groves in to an out-and-out war, looking the stronger of the two for the first five rounds of the contest, which was part of a David Haye undercard. The resilient Groves however showed that he was made of stern stuff by coming back and landing a series of body blows in the sixth round to force a stoppage.
Anderson has pursued a rematch ever since, confident that he could deliver a win following his near miss at the first time of asking. Similarly Groves, earmarked as a future world champion by many, will be hugely eager to comprehensively put to rest the solitary wobble in his hugely impressive fledgling career.
Following a long period of chasing the rematch Anderson got his wish when the British Boxing Board of Control handed him the dream fight as a mandatory challenger last month.
The action will be shown live and exclusive on BoxNation and will be part of an already action packed schedule of fights coming up on the channel in the first quarter of 2012, which already includes a mammoth SIX World Championship fights.
The WBKBA Launches The First Sanctioned Bare Knuckle Boxing Association
Last year the WBKBA—World Bare Knuckle Boxing Association—made history as it held the first sanctioned bare knuckle boxing bout since BKB legend John L. Sullivan fought an epic 75-round contest against Jake Kilrain, winning by knockout and retiring the last heavyweight champion.
In August of 2011, in the Fort McDowell Casino in Scottsdale, Arizona, former IBA Cruiserweight champion Bobby “The Celtic Warrior” Gunn defeated Richard Stewart via third round knockout to claim the vacant title and become the new world heavyweight bare knuckle boxing champion.
Gunn and his team formed the WBKBA as the first and only sanctioning body in bare knuckle boxing.
“Our goal with the WBKBA is to provide bare knuckle fighters around the world with an organization where they can legitimately compete in a sanctioned sport,” said Chris Cella, President of WBKBA. “Moving forward in 2012 we have big plans, and in the near future we believe we can be as big—if not bigger—than gloved boxing and MMA.”
The WBKBA has already announced an upcoming show—BKB 2—to take place in either late February or early March, in which Bobby Gunn will put his world title on the line, and Dan Batchelder will go to battle for the United States World Heavyweight BKB Championship.
Since the reemergence of the original form of combat, several big names in both the boxing and MMA world have expressed interest in BKB. The fight sport has been featured in ESPN The Magazine, CNN, Sports Illustrated, Maxim, espn.com, and several other media outlets.
“Bare knuckle boxing is exploding on an international level,” said Cella. “Each week we continue to get countless requests from fighters around the world asking for information on how they can get involved in BKB in their region, and we expect the forthcoming response to expand exponentially.”
Bare knuckle boxing combines the technique and strategy of a gloved boxing match with the excitement and stand-up of a MMA fight.
“BKB is going to take off big time in 2012,” said Cella. “We have a solid team—in addition to the world heavyweight bare knuckle boxing champion—and we have some big things in the mix that are going to make BKB a household name.”
For more information on the WBKBA visit www.wbkba.com.
Melson to face Wilson January 21!
New York, NY (January 13, 2012) – Boyd “Rainmaker” Melson will face his most experienced foe to date when he battles Shawn Rawley Wilson in a six round junior middleweight bout Saturday, January 21 at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom.
Hailing from Omaha, NE, Wilson’s faced a number of quality opponents including contenders DeAndre Latimore, Grzegorz Proksa and Jesus Gonzalez. In his most recent bout on October 15, Wilson improved to 6-5 (1 KO) by outpointing Reuben Rodriguez. In addition to having a winning record as a pro boxer, the 29-year-old is a top-notch mixed martial artist with close to 50 fights.
“Wilson is definitely coming to fight,” said Melson, a West Point graduate who improved to 7-0 after knocking out Danny Lugo in December on the Andre Ward-Carl Froch undercard in Atlantic City. “With the experience he has in boxing and MMA, I need to be at my best, especially because a number of West Point boxers are going to be on hand watching me. I’m training hard and working on my endurance because this is going to be a barnburner!”
Melson is also excited about his growing fan base, which helps support his donations to Justadollarplease.org in association with America’s first Clinical Stem Cell Trial using Umbilical Cord Cells.
“It’s truly an honor to see more and more people supporting me each fight. All of my tickets for this fight have been sold, so I really owe it to the great fans out there that are not only helping me, but those in need by supporting the cause”
In association with Justadollarplease, Melson created Team Fight to Walk, whose mission is to raise awareness within the boxing community about the importance of stem cell research for spinal cord injuries. Team Fight to Walk is comprised of Melson, former two-time cruiserweight champion Steve “USS” Cunningham, title contender DeAndre “The Bull” Latimore, Edgar “El Chamaco” Santana, Hector Camacho Jr., 2008 US Olympian Shawn Estrada, and prospects Sid “The Messenger” El Harrak, Denis “Da Momma’s Boy” Douglin, Frank Galarza, Vinny “The Lion” O’Brien, Ahmed “Prince of Egypt” Samir and Delen “Sniper” Parsley.
For more information or to make a donation, go to teamfighttowalk.com or Justadollarplease.org.