- by Michael Swann on 29 February 2008
TWO MEN ON ANOTHER LEVEL
Tonight Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez meet for the third time in less than a year at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. The fight will be broadcast on Showtime Championship Boxing at 9 p.m. ET/PT, (delayed on the West Coast). Their first two fights were classics, both Fight of the Year candidates, all [...]
Read more- by Michael Swann on 27 February 2008
THE FAMILY MAN ON SHOWTIME
Two-time IBF featherweight titlist Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, 21-1-1 (14), defends his belt on Friday night against the exciting power puncher Jason “The American Boy” Litzau, 23-1 (19), at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, California in the “other” great Showtime bout this week. Showtime will present the fight on its ShoBox: The [...]
Read more- by Robert Morales on 27 February 2008
Oscar-Forbes : Real fight or Tune Up?
No matter which way Oscar De La Hoya spins his May 3 fight with Steve Forbes, there are going to be plenty of experts who denounce it because Forbes was only briefly a world champion in 2001 and because he fought at as low as 130 pounds just 3 1/2
years ago.
- by Michael Swann on 25 February 2008
GREAT EXPECTATIONS LEFT UNREALIZED
Well you certainly can’t blame HBO for this one. They set the table with the premiere of “Joe Louis: America’s Hero…Betrayed,” arguably one of the finest boxing documentaries ever made, and then they broadcast the first heavyweight unification bout in nine years. In between, they even showed a replay of last week’s exciting Kelly Pavlik-Jermain [...]
Read more- by Bart Barry on 24 February 2008
Those are good, but this is historic
“I know I will have seen two of the greatest Mexican warriors in the history of boxing. No matter what happens, nobody can take that away from me.” – Gary Shaw, Feb. 14, 2008
Read more- by Michael Swann on 23 February 2008
ENDING THE UNIFICATION PROCRASTINATION
Once upon a time when the heavyweight division was the centerpiece of the sport a unification bout would have been all the buzz in the boxing world. Now, not so much. Bookended between such compelling fights as last week’s Kelly Pavlik- Jermain Taylor rematch and next week’s Israel Vasquez- Rafael Marquez III “can’t miss” event, [...]
Read more- by Joon Lee on 23 February 2008
Eastern Promises Are Closing In
Finally, a heavyweight unification bout comes to fruition.
There almost seems to be a foregone conclusion as to who will win this Saturday. But in a real scheme of things, it’s safe to say that there’s nothing foregone or conclusive about anything in this mumbo jumbo heavyweight jungle.
- by Robert Morales on 22 February 2008
Gomez & Gloden Boy look for a busy spring
Like a good boxer will touch an opponent with his left jab before unloading the right cross, it’s time to touch on a few things as we near the end of the second month of this boxing year:
Read more- by Michael Swann on 18 February 2008
CAN TAYLOR FIND REDEMPTION IN A LOSS?
I wonder how Jermain Taylor felt on Sunday morning, aside from being bruised and sore all over. No, the question is how was his mental disposition after fighting what was arguably his best effort in three years, then having to face the reality that he had come up short for the second time in less [...]
Read more- by Bart Barry on 17 February 2008
Pavlik and Taylor: Following their game plans to semi-happy endings
Fighters gain weight on their chins more than their fists. As fighters move up in weight, their power increases some. Physics assures that. But their ability to absorb punches generally grows disproportionately to the weight, and power, they gain.
Read more- by Michael Swann on 15 February 2008
BEATING A DEAD HORSE
CALIFORNIA SCHEMING
Today we return to a couple of recent columns on the basis of new information. [...]
- by Michael Swann on 13 February 2008
GUNFIGHT AT 166
For a long time I’ve observed Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor, 27-1-1 (17), as being more a gifted athlete than a skilled boxer. I believe that he peaked as a fighter when he won the undisputed middleweight title against Bernard Hopkins and then defending it by winning the rematch. Though both fights were controversial decisions, particularly [...]
Read more- by Robert Morales on 13 February 2008
Jermain Taylor looks to rebound and gain revenge
Jermain Taylor should be given credit for going right back into the fire that is Kelly Pavlik, who beat down Taylor last Sept. 29 on his way to a seventh-round knockout, taking Taylor’s two middleweight titles.
Read more- by Bart Barry on 10 February 2008
Unconditional belief in Pavlik’s right cross
There are few things casual and serious boxing fans agree about. In January, casual fans helped Roy Jones and Felix Trinidad pull off a box office surprise. Serious fans, meanwhile, think that if Jones and Trinidad split $20 million, Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez deserve that much, each, for their March rubber match.
After a May [...]
- by Michael Swann on 9 February 2008
LATIN FURY XLII
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., 34-0-1 (27), returns to the ring on Saturday night in Leon, Mexico against Jose Celaya, 31-3 (16), in a scheduled 12 round super welterweight bout. The fight is the main event of the latest “Latin Fury” PPV card promoted by Top Rank, and will increase your cable bill by $34.95.
Read more- by Michael Swann on 6 February 2008
THE PROMOTER AS ADVOCATE
In a recent article, the Executive Director of Seminole Warriors Boxing, Leon Margules, told us that WBO heavyweight titlist Sultan Ibragimov, if successful in his fight with IBF belt holder Wladimir Klitschko on February 23 wanted to continue to unify the titles. He went on to say that if mandated by the IBF, Sultan would [...]
Read more- by Robert Morales on 5 February 2008
Castillo now sees a title, not cuts, in his eyes
Martin Castillo had been getting cut over the eyes for several years prior to his super flyweight title defense against Nobuo Nashiro in July 2006 in Nashiro’s native Japan. Then Castillo was severely cut against Nashiro and he lost his belt via 10th-round technical knockout when the bout was stopped because of the cuts.
Read more- by Michael Swann on 4 February 2008
HE SAYS… SHE SAYS
This Saturday WBO welterweight titlist Paul Williams, 33-0 (24), faces Carlos Quintana, 24-1 (19), at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California. The good news for the 26 year old Williams is that he’ll finally get some work for the first time since snatching the title from Antonio Margarito seven months ago. The bad [...]
Read more- by Bart Barry on 3 February 2008
The moratorium ends
More than eight months ago, I joined a moratorium on writing about titlists in the heavyweight division. The idea was simple. Until the four heavyweight champs began fighting one another and unifying titles, it was wrong to dignify their matches with previews, reports, interviews or opinion columns.
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