News of The Day

Catch up on all the news in the boxing world from the past few days!

WORLDWIDE

After his fight with Ray Narh tomorrow night, Jessie Vargas wants a shot at Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez next, providing the veteran gets past Bradley.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum predicts that the fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley this weekend will do between 350,000 and 400,000 PPV buys. He also believes Pacquiao Vs Rios can reach 750K.

Carl Frampton Vs Kiko Martinez - Fight Preview

By Jack Sumner @Jack_Sumner_

Carl ‘The Jackal’ Frampton faces his ‘Judgement Day’ when he steps into Belfast’s Odyssey Arena this Saturday, when the Northern Irishman attempts to rip the European super bantamweight title from it’s tough Spanish holder Kiko Martinez. 

Frampton (15-0, 10 KOs) has been on a steep trajectory of late, culminating in the impressive sixth-round stoppage of former IBF champion Steve Molitor in September. The Odyssey was rocking that night as the hometown boy dominated the experienced Canadian in a performance that reverberated at world level, but the visiting fighter on this occasion will be no stranger to the atmosphere having entered the lion’s den many times before.

Martinez (27-3, 19 KOs) is a true champion of Europe having fought and won all over the continent and is undefeated on five trips to the Emerald Isle. He broke Irish hearts in Dublin when he stopped then unbeaten Bernard Dunne inside a round in 2007 and has set his sights on repeating that feat north of the border, by knocking out the Ulsterman Frampton this weekend. 

Both men have real firepower at the weight and both men come to fight, whilst neither man has tasted the canvas in their professional career. Martinez’s three losses were all by competitive decision, twice to Rendall Munroe and once to South African Takalani Ndlovu at altitude in Johannesburg. 

Lee Selby Vs Martin Lindsay - Fight Preview

By James McKnight

CAN LINDSAY WRECK SELBY'S QUEST FOR EURO GLORY?

The Odyssey arena in Belfast will welcome back Belfast born Martin Lindsay in a show that is entitled 'Unfinished Business'. Lindsay will attempt to upset the odds on February 9th in his hometown as he faces Wales' current British and Commonwealth featherweight champion Lee Selby. This fight will be a chief support act to Carl Frampton's super-bantamweight title fight against Kiko Martinez. 

Let me tell you how both Lindsay and Selby worked their ways to this fight. 

 

In September 2008, Lindsay (20-1-0, 7 KO's), stunned Liverpool's Derry Mathews in a British title eliminator bout. Lindsay had hit the canvas in the second round but went on to knock Mathews out in round 9. After Lindsay's scheduled British title fight with Scotland's Paul Appleby was cancelled, the two Men met in early 2009. Lindsay stopped the Scot in six rounds to claim the British title for the first time. 

Nine months later, Lindsay defended the British title after a solid performance against Scot Jamie Arthur. The fight went the full 12 rounds but it was a resounding points victory for Lindsay. The Belfast born boxer then tasted defeat for the first time as a pro in December 2010, against Scot John Simpson. After 12 bruising rounds Simpson's hand was raised as Lindsay's head dropped in disappointment. 

Prizefighter & Kal Yafai Report

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

Prizefighter

Well what a way to start off boxing for Sky Sports and Matchroom Boxing in 2013! The 3rd edition of Prizefighter Welterweights gave us exactly what we were expecting and even more! It clearly wasn't the strongest line-up we had ever seen, but I can 100% say that it was the most-action packed tournament I have ever seen.

The action kicked off with the favorite Mark Thompson scoring a second round stoppage over Rob Hunt. The relentless pressure of the experienced veteran was just simply too much for the over-matched opponent that stood in front of him. The fight of the night came next when youngster Sam Eggington, just 19-years old, stepped into the ring with Dale Evans. Eggington was wobbled early on and looked close to being stopped, but somehow he managed to pull his way back into the fight and make it a close one. With it all even going into the third, Evans was the man who stepped it up that little bit extra and took the fight.

The third quarter-final saw the heavily-hyped Chad Gaynor in with Calum Cooper. This proved to be a big mismatch as Gaynor blasted through his opponent in less than a round. Glen Foot Vs Steven Pearce came up next. Pearce showed a lot of courage but just simply couldn't handle Foot's pressure and was stopped in the second round meaning the semi-final line-up was complete: Mark Thompson Vs Dale Evans & Chad Gaynor Vs Glen Foot.

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.

Hearn looking to make Abril Vs Rees & Golovkin Vs Proksa!

Matchroom's forever-improving promoter Eddie Hearn.

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed that if things go well, we could get to see two really interesting fights later this year... The first being Gavin Rees Vs Richard Abril for the vacant WBA lightweight title.

Personally, I think this an amazing fight and if it does happen, a lot of people will be watching. Rees has been calling for a world title shot for a very long time and many people believe he deserves after his knock-out victory over domestic rival Derry Matthews on July 7th. Abril, technically is not coming off of a victory but almost everyone believes he should be.The Cuban world title contender put on a career-best performance against Brandon Rios on March 17th only to be clearly robbed. However, now he has a chance to get revenge and win the world title that he believes should rightfully be his.

"Abril is someone that we are talking to and we are looking to make that happen, but nothing will be announced this week," told Hearn.

The next brilliant fight that we could get to see is Grzrgorz Proksa Vs Gennady Golovkin. Personally, I don't think this fight is as good as Rees Vs Abril but it is still a very good fight. Proksa is coming off of a great performance in which he won back his European middleweight title. And I probably don't even need to stress to you how much of a good fighter Golovkin is. He is regarded by many as the most underrated fighter in the world and is no doubt a future world champion. Looking at it this early on, it seems like it will be a fairly one-sided fight in Golovkin's favour but if Proksa wants to prove that he is one of the best in the world he is going to have to take fights like this.

"Proksa was due to be fighting Barker on September 8th, but we're now in deep negotiations with Golovkin's camp to take that fight next month after we were approached by them," Hearn confirmed.

Brook taken to a place he has never been before!

Undefeated British welterweight Kell Brook fought last night (June 7th) and extended his perfect record to 28-0. However, it wasn't as easy as some people expected it to be. Jones put up a hell of a fight and made it the toughest test of Brook's entire career.

Brook started well and easily won the first four or five rounds but then things started to change. The tactics that were ineffective for Jones at the start of the fight, were starting to work and bring the American back into the fight. In the first few rounds, it was Brook's physical strength and superior boxing skills that were keeping Jones at bay, but the spite that Brook desperately wanted to prove he had, may have just worked against him in the middle rounds. 'The Special One' started to get involved in a war and this style of fight suited Jones.

The hard-punching American continued to move forward and at one point, Brook looked a little dazed and wobbly. It was revealed that after the 8th round that Brook was suffering from a broken nose. It was clear that this was effecting Brook has he was breathing heavily and not throwing his punches with the same aggression that he was at the beginning. 

Brook managed to last the final few rounds and even stood toe-to-toe with Jones in the last minute or so of the fight. The judges scorecards at the end were 114-114, 116-113, 115-113. The last two were fair, but I still don't know how the first judge managed to score the fight a draw. Jones had a few good rounds, but Brook was in control for the majority of the fight.

'The Special One' proved a lot of things in this fight, but also left a lot of questions. We are still wondering if he is ready to step up in class and fight world beaters, but he did prove to all of his doubters that he has a tremendous amount of heart and almost a pretty strong chin.

On the under-card of the fantastic show set up by Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, there were no surprises. Gavin Rees scored a 9th round KO over Derry Matthews in their highly anticipated rematch for the European lightweight title. And in the other great rematch, Proksa won back his European middleweight title by knocking out Kerry Hope in the 8th round.

Hamer wins Prizefighter!

Last night (June 20th) there was a heavyweight Prizefighter held at York Hall in Bethnal Green. It followed the same pattern as most of the previous Prizefighter tournaments. A lot of excitement and action but not much skill involved.

The winner in the end was 29-year old Tor Hamer (18-1, 11 KO's). He upset the odds by beating the tournament favourite, Kevin Johnson in the final. During the final three rounds of the tournament, Hamer stepped up the pace and took advantage of Johnson's lazy fighting style, making it almost completely ineffective. He won by scorecards of 30-27, 30-28 and 29-28.

The American also pocketed the famous Prizefighter trophy a long with a bonus £32,000.

On his route to the final, Hamer looked very good and just outclassed the rest of the fighters. In the quarter final he unleashed bombs from the first round to get a shout-out victory over Marcelo Luiz Nascimento. And then his semi-final bout was even more impressive. He overwhelmed the house favourite, Tom Dallas, and stopped him in just one round.

This is no doubt a very good achievement and a very good boost for Hamer's career. I know that the competition wasn't too great, but there were still some tough fighters he had to get past on the way to the top.

Overall, it was another great Prizefighter tournament given to us by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom sport. Once again it provided the fans with non-stop excitement all the way through, even if there wasn't much boxing involved.

The Prediction League has returned! Enter Here!

Prizefighter returns on June 20th!

On June 20th, the popular British Prizefighter tournament returns with a bang as eight heavyweights will battle it out to be crowned champ at the York Hall. In case any of you haven't seen one of these tournaments before, it consists of eight fighters, seven fighters and one winner. And to make it all better, it all happens in one night!

Here is a list of the eight men that will take part in the tournament:

Tom Dallas (15-2, 11 KO)

Tom Little (3-0, 0 KO's)

Noureddine Meddoune (4-1, 4 KO)

Marcelo Luiz Nascimento (16-3, 14 KO)

Albert Sosnowski (46-4-2, 28 KO)

Tor Hamer (15-1, 10 KO)

Maurice Harris (25-16-2, 11 KO)

Kevin Johnson (26-1-1, 12 KO)

There's a few 'decent' boxers that you might recognise from that list, but to be honest, Prizefighter is exciting no matter who they have in it. 

Just a few years ago the man at the top of the list, Tom Dallas, was considered to be a rising prospect on the British scene. However, now he is considered a 'has been' or someone who will 'never quite make it' after he has looked terrible in his last three fights. He won a very controversial decision over American journeyman Zack Page and then he suffered two devastating beat downs to British heavyweights David Price and Matt Skelton. This tournament could be the perfect opportunity for him to make a comeback but it is highly unlikely.

Another notable fighter is Kevin Johnson. The 32-year old suffered an embarrassing loss to Vitali Klitschko back in 2009, but there is still some hype about him in the States. Since the fight with Klitschko he has won four fights, including 9th round TKO over Alex Leapai back in April. 'Kevbo' does talk a lot of smack and is probably the favourite to win on June 20th.

The only two fighters that have really never been hear of are Tom Little and Noureddine Meddoune and they are probably the two men that are there just to make up the numbers. The other four are decent fighters but are not expected to win the tournament. However, this is Prizefighter and there is usually a couple of upsets during the tournament.