Fighter of The Week - Raymundo Beltran

This week we have chosen Raymundo Beltran as our 

fighter of the week...

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97 - @BoxingOpinions1

Well, boxing came back with a bang this weekend as the new season begun. We were given upsets, knockouts and more impressive performances. There are a few fighters that could have been given this award this week, and I'll give them a mention later, but for me, one man deserves it more than the rest. Especially after he didn't get what he deserved in the ring.

Continue reading...

Gavin Rees Vs Anthony Crolla - Post-Fight Report

http://www.youtube.com/user/PriceysBoxinThoughts

Ricky Burns Vs Jose Gonzalez - Post-Fight Report (Pricey Boxing)

PriceysBoxinThoughts

Ricky Burns Vs Jose Gonzalez - Fight Preview

By James McKnight @JamesMcKnight83

BURNS AIMING TO EXTINGUISH GONZALEZ THREAT! 

Ricky Burns is aiming to make a third successive defense of the WBO lightweight title on May 11. The Coatbridge fighter comes up against Puerta Rican mandatory challenger, Jose Gonzalez, at the Emirates arena, Glasgow. 

Burns (35-2-0, 10 KO's), split from promoter, Frank Warren, in March and signed with Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport. This was down to Burns' unification title bout with Mexican IBF 135lb titlist, Miguel Vazquez, being called off for a second time. Burns, 30, claimed the interim WBO belt in November 2011 when he defeated Australian, Michael Katsidis, at Wembley arena, London. 'Rickster' then defended the belt in March 2012 beating Namibian, Paulus Moses, in Glasgow. Both of those victories were won by unanimous decision after 12 rounds. Burns then returned to Glasgow in September. He put on one of his most impressive performances to date by stopping England's, Kevin Mitchell, in just four rounds. 

Derry Mathews Vs Anthony Crolla II - Fight Preview

By James McKnight @JamesMcKnight83.

Do not expect either 'Dirty' Derry Mathews or Anthony 'Million Dollar' Crolla to retreat or surrender come fight night. The North-West pugilists will clash for a second time on the undercard of Tony Bellew's WBC 'Silver' light-heavyweight title bout against Isaac Chilemba, at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, on March 30. 

The pair met on April 21 last year which saw Mathews rip the British lightweight title from Crolla after six enthralling rounds. 

During that bout, Mathews had sent Crolla to the canvas during the third round after landing an accurate right hand uppercut. Midway through the fourth round, Crolla suffered a nasty gash over his left eye which worsened as the fight wore on. 

Winning Ugly - Abril Tops Bogere

By Bobby Hunter @thefightscore.

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

Richard Abril vs Sharife Bogere - WBA Lightweight Title


Fighting for the first time in eleven months Richard Abril returned at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas to successfully defend his newly acquired WBA 135lb title toughing it out against Uganda's Sharife Bogere. Abril won an unanimous decision in what was an awkward fight not just for the fighters but the viewers at home watching on Showtime and Boxnation.

They say styles make fights?. Well this fight didn't mix well as Abril boxes with a stand up, lean back jabbing style that makes him so hard to fight against. Bogere is a walk forward type of guy that throws wild punches but also is dangerous with the head. In this fight Referee Russell Mora deducted a point of each fighter for continual fouling. Abril was the first to feel the Refs wrath for holding then in the last round Bogere lost a point for dangerous use of his head.

The first round started as expected. Abril boxing and Bogere rushing in trying to land his bombs, Early on it was getting ugly as Bogere threw Abril to the floor after an exchange. In the first Abril had landed the better punches by landing the odd jab and straight right hand. Bogere had a better second round as he was able to push the champion back landing crude hooks. There was not much quality in the round but Bogere certainly won on work rate as Abril did next to nothing. Timing became the key for Abril in the third as countered the challengers attack by landing his honey punch - the right hand which usually followed a jab.

Richard Abril Vs Sharif Bogere - Post-Fight Report

@PriceyJ97

Adrien Broner Vs Gavin Rees - Fight Preview

By James McKnight @Jamesmcknight83.

Gavin Rees will face Adrien Broner in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on February 16 for the WBC lightweight title.  

Rees, 37(18)-1-1, last fought in July when he took on Derry Mathews in a rematch from 2011 which had ended in a draw. He beat Mathews after the fight was stopped during the 9th round. With that win. the Welshman not only regained the European title but he also claimed the British title too. Rees, 32, is aiming to win a World title at a second weight after he claimed the WBA World light-welterweight title back in July 2007. On that night he beat Frenchman, Souleymane M'baye on points. In his first defense of the title against Ukranian, Andriy Kotelnik in February 2012, he was stopped in the 12th round despite putting up a valiant effort throughout the fight, Rees simply had absorbed too much punishment. 

Broner, 25(21)-0-0, is currently 23 years of age and he is one of boxing's finest upcoming prospects. When he faces Rees. he will be aiming to defend the WBC lightweight title. In November, he made his lightweight debut after stepping up from super-featherweight. In the opposite corner to him that night was Mexico's, Antonio DeMarco who was aiming to defend the WBC title. Before the fight, many people had their own interpretation of how they believed the fight would unfold and many people expected DeMarco to give Broner problems of his own to deal with. But, this proved to not be the case. Broner was in excellent form, and landed many big shots throughout the contest, in particular some lethal uppercuts. The fight was eventually stopped during the 8th round. 

Ricky Burns Vs Jose Ocampo - Fight Preview

By James McKnight (@mckjimbo).

WBO World lightweight champion Ricky Burns, was due to face commonwealth junior lightweight champion Liam Walsh on December 15 at the ExCel arena in London. Walsh though was involved in a car accident last month and consequently hurt his back forcing him to withdraw his challenge. Burns, 29, is now set to face late Filipino replacement, Jose Ocampo. 

Ocampo, 23, has a record of 17-5-1, 12 KO's and is rated at 14 in the World by the WBO. ''The bomber'' which is his alias, is relishing his meeting with Burns in the ring and believes he has what it takes to cause an upset. 

''I'll be coming to London with only one thing on my mind and that is to win the title.'' said the Filipino boxer. He added, "It's disrespectful that Burns is looking ahead of me next Saturday when i'll give him the hardest fight of his life,'' 

Prizefighter Lightweights 6/10/12 - Weigh-In

Here is exclusive video footage provided by iFilm London of the weigh-in for the highly anticipated lightweight Prizefighter that takes place this Saturday night...

Khan to face Molina in December!

Khan sent to the canvas by Danny Garcia in their July fight.

British light-welterweight Amir Khan will face 'up and coming' Mexican-American Carlos Molina in December of this year.

Khan has suffered two consecutive defeats, his last being a devastating knockout loss to unified world champion Danny Garcia, and is looking to get his controversial career back on track. Molina hasn't stopped any of his opponents in the last three years which could mean that Khan's team have been very careful in picking this opponent. If Khan gets knocked out again, his career could potentially be over.

However, Molina, 26, is an undefeated fighter (17-0-1, 7KO's) and despite his slow burning career Khan, 25, believes he is a dangerous opponent for him.

"Molina is a good fighter who is yet to taste defeat, so I know that he will be very dangerous," said Khan. "He's a tricky fighter who possesses a lot of natural speed. I always want to face hungry young fighters and in Molina I'm up against a guy who has ambitions of world title success."

The Bolton-born man has also confirmed that he will now be trained by Virgil Hunter after his split with long-time trainer Freddie Roach earlier this month.

"I'm really pleased that Virgil Hunter is to become my new trainer," Khan added.

"Everyone in boxing knows about his skills and the success that he has enjoyed over the last few years. I'm looking forward to the start of my training camp and working on some new things with him."

"With Virgil in my corner, I know that I can get back to the very top of the light-welterweight decision."

Whilst picking Molina is a very wise and sensible decision for Team Khan, I would have thought that they would have chosen a slightly more well-known fighter. Seeing as this fight is going to take place in America and not back in Bolton where Khan has insisted he wants to fight for so long, it is going to be very hard to sell this fight. It'll attract a relatively big number of fans just because its Khan but nowhere near the scale of his fights with Peterson and Garcia. It's a fight that Khan will most likely win but will it prepare him for the big hitters that he will inevitably face on his way back up to the top?

 

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Burns proves he is a class above!

Burns sends Mitchell crashing to the canvas.

Last night (September 22nd), WBO lightweight world champion Ricky Burns stopped the No.1 ranked contender and domestic rival Kevin Mitchell in just 4 rounds.

Burns was the slight favourite going into this fight but almost every boxing fan out there thought this was going to be a very, very close fight. How wrong we were... Burns proved to us and all of his doubters (if he actually had any) that he can not only box at the highest level of the sport, he can bang as well. Mitchell was considered as the dangerous puncher going into this fight, but it was him that ended up in the referee's arms at the end of the fight.

In the first three rounds it looked like it was going to be an action-packed 12-round slugfest as both men started strong and did not ease off. Mitchell did just enough to win the first round but then Burns came on stronger and nicked the second and third. Nobody expected what happened in the fourth, I don't even think Burns did. He threw a left-hook as Mitchell was coming in and it landed so sweetly that it was almost inevitable that Mitchell was going to hit the canvas. The 27-year old rose to his feet bravely but opted to fight back instead of doing the sensible thing which was to hold on. Ten seconds later he was down again and it was clear at this point that the fight was going to be over in this round. The referee did let Mitchell continue but Burns put the pressure on again and the ref was forced to step in with just a few seconds left of round 4.

Both men showed true sportsmanship after the fight and embraced each other almost straight away. Burns showed respect to Mitchell's bravery and Mitchell realised that he had been beaten by the better man. It was a great moment for British boxing.

It is onwards and upwards now for Ricky Burns. Personally, I would love to see him in with Adrien Broner and I think it would be between the two best lightweights in the world. If it was a few weeks ago I would have picked Broner to win without a doubt but after witnessing what happened tonight I would have to think long and hard before I made a prediction for that fight. Burns is up there with the best without a doubt.

For Mitchell, I think its back to the drawing board. There was nothing he could have done tonight, he was just beaten by the better man. A fight with Gavin Rees for the British title would be a good comeback fight for him and it would be a huge ticket seller for a domestic fight.

 

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Crolla looking to become Prizefighter champ!

Former British lightweight champion Anthony Crolla has signed up for Matchroom's Prizefighter tournament on October 6th - completing what is probably the most impressive line-up in the tournament's history. 

Crolla no doubt will be well and truly 100% hyped up for this tournament. Not only does he get to put his name back out there and get people talking about him again, he also gets the chance to avenge his most recent defeat against 'Dirty' Derry Matthews. That's right... Derry Matthews is also in this tournament. Forgetting everyone else.. Even just with these two its probably already one of the most high-profile line-ups in the tournaments short history. 

Matthews picked up the British lightweight title when he defeated Crolla back in April. But he lost it in his first defence just a few months later against Gavin Rees. The Liverpudlian will have the hometown advantage as the event will take place at the Liverpool Olympia. However, Crolla has already been announced as the hot favourite to walk away with the winner's prize of £32,000. But you must remember... This is Prizefighter. The tournament of upsets. 

Matchroom Promoter Eddie Hearn also believes that the eight men selected for the tournament are the strongest group of boxers he has ever put together. 

"Prizefighter is back with a bang with our strongest line-up ever," said Hearn. "I never expected a dream line-up like this and Anthony's inclusion is the icing on the cake." 

"Ideally we would have loved to have this in a 5,000-seater arena but the fans will experience an atmosphere like never before in the Liverpool Olympia... This is a must-see night of boxing." 

The full line-up for the October 6th tournament is as followed: Anthony Crolla, Derry Matthews, Gary Sykes, Stephen Jennings, Terry Needham, Nathan Brough, Kieran Farrell and Liam Patrick Walsh. 

In addition to the Prizefighter action, highly-rated super-middleweight prospect Rocky Fielding will challenge Wayne Reed for the Central area title.

Miguel Vazquez discusses Ricky Burns and Adrien Broner

EsNewsReporting.com

Lightweight world champion Miguel Vazquez has a highly-anticipated unification bout with Ricky Burns coming up. He believes that he is the No.1 lightweight in the world and is targeting guys like Burns and Adrien Broner.

Adrien Broner says Juan Manuel Marquez is "easy money"

@THABOXINGVOICE

Highly-rated WBC lightweight world champion Adrien Broner talks to ThaBoxingVoice and discusses a potential future clash with legendary Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. 

Adrien Broner reacts to Richard Abril calling him out.

@IFILMLONDON