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Written by Rick Folstad
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Thursday, 26 January 2012 11:30
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 I don’t know his name, I don’t know where he’s from, and I don’t know if he’s really out there, but I can picture him in my mind. He stands about 6-foot-2 and weighs 240, give or take a couple pounds. He can bench press a Lexus, dunk a bowling ball, run a 5-minute mile and has the hand speed of a young Jesse James. It doesn’t matter what color he is or what church he goes to or how you pronounce his last name, because it’s his first name that’s important. He should be called Mike or Joe or Jack or Steve, something simple and easy, a name we can all spell and pronounce. He’ll probably come from the inner-city, maybe Philadelphia, Chicago or Detroit, some place cold and hard where men work long hours in foundries and on loading docks, a part of town where soot from smokestacks settles on the snow in winter and sometimes doesn’t disappear until spring. A place you want to fight... Read more...
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Written by David A. Avila
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Wednesday, 25 January 2012 22:22
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 There was a little bit of sex, drugs and rigamarole as Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto talked to the media about their upcoming rematch on a conference call Wednesday. Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KOs) and Berto (28-1, 22 KOs) are looking to recapture the fury of their previous fight on Saturday Feb. 11, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Their first encounter a year ago was dubbed “Fight of the Year” for 2011. Can it be done again? Golden Boy Promotion’s Oscar De La Hoya thinks it’s a slam dunk. “The first fight was a tremendous, tremendous fight. Both Berto and Ortiz showed tremendous hearts of warriors,” said GBP president De La Hoya, who promotes Ortiz. Lou DiBella, who promotes Berto went one step more in his thoughts. “Andre Berto is going to win. I do know he’s going to avenge a loss,” said DiBella. Their first encounter took place nine months... Read more...
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Written by David A. Avila
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Tuesday, 24 January 2012 20:48
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 Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have been in the news lately, mostly regarding a possible mega showdown. It doesn’t appear the top fighters pound for pound will meet in the ring this year but we can tabulate this year’s current and best prizefighters pound for pound. A number of changes have taken place down near the bottom of the Top 12 list. Toward the end of the year Giovani Segura was beaten soundly by Brian Viloria and Amir Khan was beaten controversially by Lamont Peterson. The new addition to the list is a heavyweight. Here is the list: 1.) Floyd Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs) – The Las Vegas prizefighter known as “Money” may not engage in the ring very often but, in those moments he jumps in, the arenas fill up and it becomes a real prizefight. As a pay-per-view attraction Mayweather, 34, attracts more than 1 million buys and as an... Read more...
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Written by Springs Toledo
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Monday, 23 January 2012 08:10
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 Robinson nervously laughs, LaMotta looks over his shoulder. Is Bert Lytell in the house? PART 4: SHADOWS AND SUGAR RAY Promoter “Rip” Valenti, a product of Boston’s North End, finagled an agreement with uncrowned welterweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson to fight Bert Lytell in 1945. In May, that agreement had become “very definite plans” and Valenti assured reporters that Robinson and Lytell would meet during the outdoor season at Fenway Park. Robinson had bigger things on his mind. The National Boxing Association would soon announce that the world titles were being unfrozen as World War II winded down and the champions came out of the armed services. Welterweight king Freddie Cochrane promised his navy pals that he would be an active champion and was making overtures to Robinson. Robinson pondered his options. With Cochrane making moves in his direction and that golden crown... Read more...
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Written by The Sweet Science
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Sunday, 22 January 2012 10:54
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 This nine-fight card promoted by Lou DiBella was something of a slog at nearly five hours. But the 10-round main event between junior welterweights Gabriel Bracero and veteran DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley was worth the wait. Bracero entered the ring 18-0 (3 KOs) and Corley had been on an endless losing streak to similar up and comers. The man who once hurt Floyd Mayweather Jr. and had Cotto on Queer St. went 27-19-1 (22 KOs). Corley, 37, has picked up where Emanuel Augustus left off; skilled, talented, and just faded enough.... Tonight, “Chop Chop” flipped the script. Early in the first the southpaw found a home for his overhand lead left. Bracero probably missed more shots in that round than he did in his first 18 bouts combined. In the next round Bracero’s right eye was cut from that same overhand lead left. Later in the round, a right hook to the chin put him down... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Saturday, 21 January 2012 23:09
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 I thought I heard a sigh, a humongous sigh of relief, coming from Kathy Duva and Russell Peltz, sitting in the front row at the Asylum Arena in Philly during the main event of NBC's "Fight Night" first installment. Their mainer, a late addition after the Sergei Liakhovich-Eddie Chambers bout was scrapped last week due to a Chambers injury, turned out to be a decent scrap, a rarity for heavyweights in this day and age. No, this was no Ali-Frazier type tussle, but the Bryant Jennings-Maurice Byarm mashup had the crowd amped to a decent degree. Neither man had ever been more than six, but they went ten rounds, and to the scorecards. The judges liked Jennings, by scores of 97-93, 96-94, 96-94, and all the way in Brooklyn, I breathed a little sigh of relief for Main Events, the promoter of the series. That's because I want boxing as a whole to succeed, and the networks to re-embrace the sport of... Read more...
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Written by Frank Lotierzo
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Saturday, 21 January 2012 17:48
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 No matter how many times we tell ourselves that we're not going to get sucked into the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao subterfuge, we always do. However, Mayweather relayed something in his phone call to Pacquiao last week that indicated what we probably already knew, that is Floyd isn't as serious as he wants us to think he is about making the fight with Pacquiao. ESPN reported that Mayweather sent SportsCenter anchor Stan Verrett an e-mail that rejected a 50/50 purse split with Pacquiao....something that Manny has said he's agreeable to. According to Verrett, Floyd wrote: "He asked about a 50/50 split and I told him that can't happen, but what can happen is you can make more money fighting me than you have made in your career." So there you have it. Mayweather is still about fighting Pacquiao in the media because if he were truly serious about... Read more...
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Written by Frank Lotierzo
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Saturday, 21 January 2012 17:02
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 Recently, former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes gave a phone interview to the DesertSun.com on the state of professional boxing, with a major focus on today's heavyweight division. As most boxing fans know, Holmes succeeded Muhammad Ali as champ and was never quite accepted by the boxing public and his due respect as an all-time great heavyweight fighter/boxer was a long time in coming. A lot of that was because he wasn't comfortable during interviews and also lacked Ali's quick wit and charisma. However, let no one forget that he was Ali's near equal as a fighter and only Joe Louis held the title longer and made more consecutive successful defenses of it than Holmes did. Today, the 62 year-old Holmes is no longer camera shy... Read more...
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Written by David A. Avila
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Saturday, 21 January 2012 09:01
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 LAS VEGAS-Cuba's Guillermo Rigondeaux wasted no time in showing why he was the favorite over the champion Rico Ramos and by ripping the WBA junior featherweight title from Ramos by knockout on Friday. “I knew once I hit him with the lefts he wouldn't get up from that,” said Rigondeaux. Rigondeaux (9-0, 7 Kos) showed why he was the favorite over Ramos (20-1, 11 KOs) in front of more than 2,000 at the Palms Casino Resort. The title changed hands emphatically as the Cuban's vaunted left cross proved too much for California's Ramos. A flurry of sizzling left hands beginning from the body to the head from Rigondeaux put down the new champion in the first round. The Cuban fighter attacked but was unable to capitalize. That round proved to be the most exciting for the next four frames. “He was afraid of getting hit,” said Cuban southpaw. Ramos seldom initiated... Read more...
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Written by Michael Woods
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Friday, 20 January 2012 14:21
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 We can still hold on to hope. It’s all we got, at this point, as most signs point against there being a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight in May. The people that want this bout to happen, and that’s most boxing fans, though I think some have stopped caring because this two-year flirtation has dragged on too long, were encouraged at a sign of détente. They heard that Floyd Mayweather called Manny Pacquiao on the phone the other night, and had to be happy at that development. Because it makes sense that walls could be torn down, barriers could be busted, if the two athletes removed some middlemen who might be looking a bit more towards their self interest than the interest of the fighters, and the people who put the money in their pockets, the fans, from the equation. Dan Rafael reported that the men chatted, and among the topics was the purse split. Pacquiao, it... Read more...
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