Expert From The Armchair... 'TV Mix Up'

By David Johnson @mrdaj

The fans still want to see Rigo!

Let’s make no mistake, we all love seeing knockouts! It’s the quickest route to keeping a boxing fan happy and enthralled...

But is it?

When Sergio Martinez sets the trap for Paul Williams and unleashes one of the greatest knockouts of all time or Diego Corrales shows heart, determination and ring savvy (spitting out the gumshield to gain a little break) in Round 10 against Castillo, then the answer is unequivocally YES!!

Cuban Revolution

By Adam_Canavan

It was in 1962 where the Cuban leader Fidel Castro decided to outlaw professional sports for political reasons that are probably beyond my knowledge to comment on, I'll stick to the boxing, and this leads to the Cuban domination in the amateurs that we all know and love. and if a Cuban fighter did want to turn pro then they would have to defect from their country. Fighters such as Teófilo Stevenson and Felix Savon chose to stay put in the amateurs and stay with their country and the great Pro's Cuba have produced such as Kid Chocolate and Kid Gavilán predated the ban on professional sports with the exception of the likes of Joel Casamayor, who is probably the most well known and successful Cuban defector in the pro ranks so far.

Cuban Missile Crisis - Rigondeaux Upsets Donaire

By Bobby Hunter @thefightscore.

http://fightscorecollector.blogspot.co.uk/

Fighting at the famous Music City Hall in New York City. Former Cuban defector Guillermo Rigondeaux upset budding superstar Nonito Donaire over twelve rounds to unify the 122lb Title. Rigondeaux now living in Miami, Florida gave a polished performance where he displayed his speed, skill and his ability to keep to his game plan as he confused Donaire for large parts of the fight.

Donaire did have some success most notably in the tenth and a huge left hand floored the WBA champion. Rigondeaux recovered quickly and by the end of the round was firing back the better shots at the Filipino.

The fight started at a slow pace. This is usually Rigondeaux's plan. He has never been a rushed fighter who feels the need to throw loads of punches. Donaire on the other hand was expected to be able to out throw and out land the Cuban but right through the fight Donaire was far to conservative with his punches. In the first it was Rigondeaux's counter straight lefts that probably won him the round. He was faster and landing the cleaner punches. Donaire targeted the body in the second and had some mild success as Rigondeaux seemed to be moving around the ring too much trying to avoid being hit. It was a close round with very little action.

Nonito Donaire Vs Guillermo Rigondeaux - Post-Fight Report

@PriceyJ97.

Nonito Donaire Vs Guillermo Rigondeaux - Fight Preview

By Jack Sumner @Jack_Sumner_

It’s becoming a cliché, but in boxing rarely do the best fight the best anymore. Too often in recent years fights that should have materialised between the two standout competitors in a division have not, submerged under the weight of promotional rivalries, inflated egos and protected records. 

But every once in a while those fights do materialise and above the confusion of fractured world titles an undisputed champion emerges. Every once in a while two rare talents shared the squared circle in an event that makes the boxing world stand still, a superfight, when a pair of great pugilists collide, captivate and divide opinion.

That’s what we have this Saturday at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, when WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KOs) meets WBA 122lb titleholder Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KOs). It’s a unification battle that not only features the top two fighters in their division, but arguably two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport.

Rigondeaux has no issue with drug testing...

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

The highly-anticipated super-bantamweight unification bout between Nonito Donaire and Guillermo Rigondeaux now seems in doubt after Nonito Donaire took to Twitter yesterday and released the following statement:

“I want you guys to hear it from me first. I am NOT going to NYC for the presser this Thursday [because] Rigo is backing off his agreement to VADA drug testing. Rigo's team verbally agreed to VADA testing both online and in negotiations. But now that the contract to start testing is infront of them, they are finding every excuse not to sign and delay the start of the testing. I have NOT signed my fight contract yet to fight him so I have no obligation to fight ONLY HIM. It disappoints me that top fighters these days run from everything that will hold professional boxing integrity to its highest standard. I will be looking into other opponents with my manager, Cameron Dunkin immediately."

However, Rigondeaux's team have responded to the Filipino's allegations, and claim that their fighter has absolutely no problem with the VADA random drug testing. His manager Gary Hyde also stated that it was part of the 30-year old's Olympic training program during his amateur days in Cuba.

Abner Mares considering a move to featherweight!

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97. 

WBC super-bantamweight world champion Abner Mares is considering a move up in weight if a unification bout with WBO champ Nonito Donaire cannot be made.

"My promoter (Golden Boy) and Top Rank said they are pushing for this fight, but to be frank I'm hopeful that someday they can do it and it disappoints me a lot, because it's a big fight for me and people want it," Mares told Rene Umanzor of The Record. "In my division there is nothing but opponents who are just coming up, and I do not want to be (a) step (for them). I want to fight the best, and right now I (I'm thinking about moving to featherweight) to face a champion in that division."

Golden Boy's chief promoter Oscar De La Hoya recently went on record saying that he would love to stage a fight between Mares and IBF bantamweight champ Leo Santa Cruz. Mares, 27, claims that he is willing to face Cruz but would much rather take on Donaire.

Fight Night Of The Year!

You've read the title and I'm sure you'll agree. Last night (September 15th) was the biggest and best night of the year for boxing fans all around the world! I don't normally sum up the whole night in one article because usually there is a difference in class and entertainment between the fights, but not this time. Every fight that took place provided us with excitement and entertainment to the highest level.

I'm gonna start off with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr Vs Sergio Martinez. Now, it's not often you can get scorecards as wide as 117-110, 118-109 & 118-109 and say that a fight was jam packed with action and excitement. Well with this one you can. Martinez dominated most of the fight, almost all of the fight, but the final round will go down as one of the best in boxing history. Chavez knew he had to get the knockout so for the final time in the fight, he stepped up the pace and bulldozed towards Martinez. He landed a couple of shots and then BOOM! Martinez hit the floor. At this point I was jumping out of my seat as a I just couldn't believe what was happening. It actually seemed as though Chavez Jr was going to come back and finish this fight in the 12th.
But, just as it seemed the surprises and shocks were over... Martinez came back even stronger and Chavez looked like the guy who had just been knocked down. He was swinging everywhere and Martinez was landing some solid shots. The bell rang and both men walked away knowing they had give it their all. They matched each other for heart but Martinez was purely just the more talented guy.

Where Martinez goes next will link in with something at the end of this article so I'll leave that to then. But I know exactly where I want Chavez to go next. I want him to fight Carl Froch. He obviously needs to move up in weight. He's only 26 so he's still got his whole career ahead of him. Why not start off fresh at a new weight? I'm sure the fans would love to see this fight as both of these guys bring excitement and heart to the ring.

Damn! Don't even get me started on the undercard. I'll get the first two out of the way because I just want to talk about Miguel Beltran Jr Vs Rocky Martinez.

Guillermo Rigondeaux dominated against Roberto Maroquin but did show a few flaws and looked slightly less unbeatable than he usually does. And then Matthew Macklin announced himself back onto the world middleweight scene by stopping Joachim Alcine in the first round.

Now, onto the "fight of the year", well in my opinion it is, and I'm sure a lot of you will agree with me. I'm surprised the fans still had energy to watch Chavez Vs Martinez after witnessing this fight. It was 12 rounds of non-stop action from Beltran and Martinez. The judges scorecards were 116-111 Beltran (horrendous judging) & 114-113, 114-113 to Rocky Martinez, meaning Martinez won the fight by split decision and claimed the WBA title. If you get time, try and watch this fight on YouTube as it truly was the most action-packed fight of the year.

Right, onto the Golden Boy show. Now I have to say it; this show was not as good as the Top Rank show (I think we always knew it wasn't going to be) but it did still provide a lot entertainment. Especially the fight between Marcos Maidana and Jesus Soto Karass. This was another all-out war and it seemed like both guys just forgot about the rules. The referee, Kenny Bayliss was forced to deduct points from both fighters. After slowing down and losing a couple of rounds, Maidana eventually managed to pin Karass to the ropes and stop him in the 8th round. It wasn't a top draw performance from Maidana but he got the job done.

The main event on this show went exactly as expected. Many, including myself, were hoping that Josesito Lopez could cause an upset once again and steal the title from Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez. But unfortunately this wasn't the case and Alavarez dominated Lopez for four rounds and then stopped him in the 5th.

Now this is where Martinez comes back into the equation. I would love to see 'Maravilla' fight Floyd Mayweather but to be honest with you, I just can't see this happening. So the second best option for Martinez is Canelo. Ward is out of the picture because Martinez will not move up to super-middleweight so this is the next best fight for us fight fans. The chances of it happening are about 50% but we can still hope. Both fighters' confidence will be sky high after last night so they'll both feel like they can take on anyone right now.

Well that's it, last night summed in as short article as possible (I could have gone on talk about it for pages and pages). It truly was one of the best nights in boxing's long and eventful history.

 

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Donaire Vs Arce almost definite!

Donaire in his fight with Jeffrey Mathebula on July 7th.

The fight that Top Rank have been trying to make for over a year is now finally looking like it's going to happen. According to reports, a showdown between Nonito Donaire and Jorge Arce is "ninety percent" finalized and is looking set to take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in October.

Mexican warrior Jorge Arce.

Donaire fought last Saturday (July 7th) when he beat Jeffrey Mathebula by unanimous decision in California. Donaire now holds the WBO and IBF titles at 122lb and after his fight with Mathebula, he stated that he wanted to unify at least one more title. He won't be able to do this if he fights Arce as the Mexican does not hold any world titles at this current time. It looked as though we were going to see Donaire fight Toshiaki Nishioka but Top Rank seem to prefer this fight a lot more. Probably because of the fact that Arce will bring a lot more fans that Nishioka.

Another reason is that Arce (60-6-2, 46 KO's) is 32-years old and has the fighting style that will take a negative affect on you as you get older. So Top Rank probably feel that they should take what could be their final chance to make a big-money fight involving Jorge Arce, and this is the perfect opportunity. Arce and Donaire both bring very big fanbases so it won't be hard to sell tickets and promote the fight, and Arce has the typical style that is tailor-made for Donaire but he will bring excitement and put on a show.

Donaire could have looked for a fight with the champions such as Nishioka, Abner Mares and Guillermo Rigondeaux but these men are going to be around for at least another few years and Arce might not. Donaire has a lot of time ahead of him and if he performs to the best of his potential, he could easily unify his titles in a big fight next year.

Munroe-Quigg Winner Vs Carl Frampton looking less likely...

This Saturday (June 16th), the fans get to witness one of the biggest domestic fights of the year when the No.1 and No.2 super-bantamweights Rendall Munroe and Scott Quigg take each other for the title of 'The best super-bantamweight in Britain.' This is a great fight, but we all had something even better to look forward to. The winner of this fight was looking likely to face the highly rated up and coming prospect Carl Frampton. But now, this idea is looking less and less likely to happen.
The reason for this is that Quigg's promoter Ricky Hatton was dropped from Sky as his deal expired. This means that after this fight, none of Hatton's fighters will fight on SkySports. And here's the problem: Frampton is one of SkySports' most valuable fighters and will not fight on any other channel.

"Frampton is a Sky Sports fighter and I hope to be able to announce in the next couple of weeks my new TV deal," told Hatton. "So if you look at it from that point of view, the fight looks highly unlikely. When I was a figther, I wanted to fight the best and as a promoter I want to put on the fights the fans want to see. The TV situation makes things slightly more difficult - but you can never, say never."

There have been rumours that the winner of Quigg Vs Munroe could go on to face Guillermo Rigondeaux, a man who is probably one of the most dangerous up and coming fighters in the world right now. However, I doubt that Hatton would even consider putting one of these men in with Rigondeaux. Munroe and Quigg are very good fighters but I really doubt that they would even trouble Rigondeaux.

We will have a fight preview available on our site for this fight available on our site tomorrow morning.

Rigondeaux looks fantastic yet again!

Rigondeaux just before landing a devastating blow on Kenndey.

Yesterday (June 9th) we all had the privilege to watch the young Cuban superstar Guillermo Rigondeaux in action on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao Vs Timothy Bradley.

The 31-year old has had just 10 professional fights and he is already good enough to compete with some of the top fighters in the world. He became super-bantamweight world champion after just 9 fights. He has looked untouchable so far in his career and his record as an amateur was one of the best you will ever see. 'The Jackal' won 243 out of 247 fights. Now that shows that the guy can box.

In his fight last night, he had a slight step up in class against Teon Kennedy (18-2). But it was the same old solid performance from Rigondeaux yet again. The WBA champ knocked Kennedy down five times and finally stopped him in the fifth round. If he would have gone in like a mad man he could have probably finished it much earlier but he showed his composure and did not make any mistakes. I don't think Kennedy landed a punch throughout the whole fight.

It's time now for Rigondeaux to step up his level of opposition. I know it's strange to say that for a guy who has only had 10 fights but I am already considering him as a top-class fighter in the world right now.

Personally, I think a great fight would be between him and Anselmo Moreno, if he decides to move up from bantamweight. Whilst Rigondeaux would provide a stern challenge for the pound-for-pound contender Nonito Donaire, he is not yet ready to fight somebody like him.

Whatever happens in the near future... We can no doubt expect a very bright future for Guillermo Rigondeaux.

Pacquiao Vs Bradley: Weigh-in results

Pacquiao & Bradleey side-by-side at the weigh-in.

The weigh-in for the superfight between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley took place yesterday and the atmosphere was unbelievable. You could have been fooled into thinking that the fight was taking place right then. Anybody thinking that this fight wasn't attracting as much interest as the usual Pacquiao fights do were given a shock when the doors opened at the MGM Grand for Friday's live weigh-in.

Pacquiao looks away during stare-down.

More than 5,000 enthusiastic fans crammed into the venue to see all of the fighters on the show weigh in. And the fighters didn't disappoint. The face-off between 'Pacman' and 'Desert Storm' was intense! Bradley tried to intimidate Pacquiao and even when the Filipino looked away, he continued stare straight forward. 

Both men looked in fantastic shape and both made the weight (all weights are listed below). Bradley showed off his fantastic physique and a lot of people who had never seen him before were shocked at how incredible he looked.

Weigh-in Results:

Manny Pacquiao 147lb Vs Timothy Bradley 146lb

Jorge Arce 123.5lb Vs Jesus Rojas 123.5lb

Mike Jones 146.5lb Vs Randall Bailey 146lb

Guillermo Rigondeaux 122lb Vs Teon Kennedy 122lb