Scott Shaffer
Stephen Edwards
Benny Henderson jr. Bert Sugar
Ray Campbell Darren Nichols
Christian Schmidt Socrates Palmer Doveed Linder Matthew Goldstein
Rob Soucy
Tommy Canez
Mike Walters
The Nonpareli Hilario
Michael Herron
Cara Castronuova
Alonzo Benezra Michael Gonzalez
Cory Rapacz
Wyatt Johnston
Ramon Rodriguez
Hector Linares
Dontae Williams
Alex Stone
Tim Schluter
Dan Rodkewich
Tiffany Leon
Jenny Nichols
Tyson Fury TKO8 Christian Hammer... In London, heavyweight contender Tyson Fury improved to 24-0 when Christian Hammer's corner stopped the fight after eight rounds. The 6'9" Fury knocked down Hammer once during the fight. Afterwards, Fury pronounced himself ready to challenge Wladimir Klitschko for the world heavyweight championship. Hammer, originally from Romania, falls to 17-4. source: bbc
Sampson Lewkowicz of Sampson Boxing and Oswaldo Kuchle of Promociones Del Pueblo have announced the renewal of super bantamweight Hugo "Cuatito" Ruiz (35-2, 31 KOs) to a co-promotional contract. From
of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico's, the
28-year-old Ruiz, trained by his father, Heriberto Ruiz and twin brothers, Edel and Heriberto Jr (both former high-level fighters), was last seen demolishing Mexican veteran Carlos Medellin in one round last November.
Ruiz' only loss in the last eight years was a split decision to Japan's Koki Kameda in a WBA title fight in Osaka, Japan, in December 2012.
Texas welterweight gave boxing everything he had to give
Sad news to report out of San Antonio as we inform you that former welterweight contender Oscar Diaz passed away this week. Diaz had a professional career that spanned eight years. He racked up an impressive record of 26-3 with 12 KOs. Diaz was discovered in his amateur days by boxing Hall of Fame trainer Lou Duva. Duva often spent time watching Diaz train in San Antonio and also spent time with his cutman, the late Joe Souza. Diaz had several fights that landed on national television, including notable victories over Al "Speedy" Gonzales, Chris "The Mechanic" Smith, and Jesse Feliciano. During that run, he won multiple regional titles. Sadly for Diaz, he will most be remembered for his final bout, which was against Delvin Rodriguez. The fight took place on July 16th, 2008 at the Municipal Auditorium in San Antonio and was broadcast on ESPN2.
Two Mexican clashes are expected to produce plenty of action today, Saturday, Feb. 28th at the Oasis Arena in Cancun, as Fox Deportes airs a pair of hard-hitting matchups.
In the main event,
Ivan "Macanon" Cano
battles Jhon Carlo "Sireno" Aparicio in a ten
-round lightweight clash, and in the co-feature,
Edgar "Andres" Jimenez
takes on Humberto "Chato" Morales in a ten-round bantamweight fight.
The Fox Deportes broadcast begins at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT.
Tony Thompson TKO9 Odlanier Solis... In Turkey, former Cuban amateur star Odlanier Solis flushed his heavyweight career down the toilet by showing up grossly overweight for his rematch with America's Tony Thompson, and then quitting in the ninth round. Solis was getting punched around by a tired but determined Thompson and then refused to fight when the ninth round started. Solis' promoter, Ahmet Ohner, who was also working Solis' corner, berated Solis, but the Cuban refused to fight on. The 43 year-old Thompson improved to 40-5 and strengthened his credentials not only as a legitimate top 20 heavyweight but as a bona fide spoiler. Solis, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist, is now 20-3, including two straight losses to Thompson. Solis' only road back is to serve as a gatekeeper and knock off a couple of top prospects. source: youtube video
Heavyweight Chris "The Nightmare" Arreola (35-4, 31 KOs) returns to the ring on Friday, March 13th at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif. [No opponent has been named with the fight just two weeks away, indicating it will likely be a lay-up for Arreola]. The card features Andre Berto against Josesito Lopez and Shawn Porter battling Roberto Garcia on the debut of PBC on Spike TV. Born in Escondido, Calif. but fighting out of Los Angeles, Arreola was a 2001 National Golden Gloves champion who turned pro in 2003 and slowly began his rise up the heavyweight rankings. In 2009, Arreola unsuccessfully challenged Vitali Klitschko for the WBC heavyweight world title. After dropping a tough decision to Tomasz Adamek in 2010, Arreola pushed his way back with six-straight victories before he got a chance against Bermane Stiverne in 2013. In their first fight, Arreola lost a unanimous decision but earned himself another fight against Stiverne, this time for the heavyweight world championship. In an action-packed fight, Arreola was stopped in the sixth-round. Arreola is now 33.
At London's O2 Arena today, heavyweight contender Tyson Fury puts his 23-0 record on the line against Christian Hammer (17-3). Hammer, a Romanian fightingout of Germany, has strung together several solid wins in a row. On the same card, popular Chris Eubank, Jr. is hoping to rebound from his first career loss, a split decision to Billy Joe Saunders. However, Eubank (18-1) will be in very tough, challenging WBA interim middleweight titlist Dmitry Chudinov (14-0-2). source: box nation press release
Anne Sophie Mathis D10 Oxandia Castillo... Fighting in Sarcelles, France, female junior middleweight Anne Sophie Mathis was surprisingly held to a split draw by Oxandia Castillo. In a fast-paced fight in front of a packed arena, the 37year-oldMathis had problems with her 20-year-old Dominican challenger from the start, and even looked hurt by hard shots from Castillo several times in the first three rounds. But Mathis, a three-weight titlist, found her rhythm from round four on, and connected with well-placed body punches, as well as her jab and straight right hand. After a ten round battle, the official scorecards had 95-95, 96-94 for Mathis and 96-94 for Castillo.Mathis is now 27-3-1 in a career that started in 1995, while Castillo, a pro for only three years, travels home to Santo Domingo at 13-2-3. (10). A rematch seems proper. source: wbf press release
Light heavyweight world champion Adonis "Superman" Stevenson (25-1, 21 KOs) returns to the ring Saturday, April 4th at Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City to defend his title against former super middleweight beltholder Sakio "The Scorpion" Bika (32-6-3, 21 KOs).
Stevenson (pictured) said, "I know Bika will stop at nothing, so the fight will be spectacular and extremely offensive-minded. I predict that Bika will lose by knockout for the first time in his career."
It's been a long time since I wrote to you, but with 2015 shaping up, boxing back on network television, the super fight finally happening, I had to write down some thoughts. First Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao. All the true boxing fans know why one of the biggest reasons this fight is finally happening is because Floyd feels Pacquiao is not same animal as before. It's true Pac is not that same guy from 2009-11. His body has changed, he's thinking more, but this new version of Pac is still a tough out. There's no way I'm counting Mayweather out but Pac is all wrong for Floyd, but we'll see. I believe we will get a really good fight and it's because I recently watched the Floyd's fight against Demarcus Corley. People forget but Demarcus gave Floyd a way tougher fight than Zab Judah did.
Middleweight Jonathan Cepeda has now won five straight following his only career loss and a nearly two-year layoff. Last Sunday at The Mansion in Atlanta, Cepeda improved his career mark to 17-1 with 15 KOs by winning via first-round stoppage against Laatekwei Hammond (21-9 with 14 KOs). Cepeda knocked Hammond down three times in the first round, causing referee Brian Slutts to stop the fight at the 1:39 mark. Hammond had to be lifted up from the floor by the ref and his manager after Cepeda's assault by a Cepeda. Manager
Joe Kran stated, "Cepeda is a real smart fighter. Jonathan has learned how to maintain his very aggressive, crowd pleasing style, while being in complete control of his actions". Under Kran, Cepeda has had fve fights since August.
Cepeda commented after the fight that Hammond was, "knew that I had great power, but he was surprised by my speed. I was able to hit him from many different angles which he couldn’t defend." source:
Kovalev will defend the WBO, WBA and IBF light heavyweight championships against Jean Pascal. The fight will be televised as part of a live triple header on HBO World Championship Boxing on March 14, 2015 from the Bell Centre in Montreal. Here os what Kovalev had to say at an open workout held in Miami, Florida:
Press Release: Heavyweight Trey Lippe-Morrison faces his toughest opponent to date when he battles Richard Dawson (5-2-2) on Saturday, March 7th in the six-round main event at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, OK. Hailing from nearby Tulsa, OK , Lippe-Morrison’s 6-0 with all of his wins coming by knockout. Like his late father Tommy Morrison, Trey’s a big draw with strong punching power.
On March 14th, Nadjib "The Algerian Assassin" Mohammedi (36-3, 22 KOs) will face Lee Campbell (8-1, 4 KOs) on the undercard of the Sergei Kovalev vs. Jean Pascal fight in Montreal. When Nadjib defeated Anatoliy Dudchenko to become the IBF light heavyweight contender IBF, he thought his next opponent would be Bernard "The Alien" Hopkins as Hopkins' mandatory challenger. When Hopkins decided to face Sergey "Krusher" Kovalev in a unification fight for the WBO, WBA and IBF light heavyweight championships, Mohammedi was added to the Hopkins-Kovalev undercard.
But when Mohammedi arrived in New Jersey ahead of his fight with Demetrius Walker on November 8th, he found out that his trainer was unable to get to the United States.
Congratulations to lightweight contender Tony "Lightning" Luis (19-2, 7 KOs), whose fiance Manon Latulippe gave birth to their first child, a son named Miguel, on February 20th. Born at 6 lbs 14 oz, Luis says baby Miguel is healthy and beautiful. "I named him after Miguel Cotto, always loved the name for a boy," explained Luis. source: greg cohen promotions press release
Canadian promoter Groupe Yvon Michel Inc. (GYM) filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Quebec for damages against David Lemieux, Eye of The Tiger Management, Camille Estephan, Golden Boy Promotions and Home Box Office (HBO). GYM claims that it has suffered damages of $1,350,000 as a result of "tortuous" conduct and bad faith actions by the defendants. [The proper legal term is tortious interference.] Lemieux is currently in line to fight Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam for the IBF middleweight title that was vacated in the wake of Jermain Taylor's legal woes].
This Saturday afternoon, February 28th, Carl Frampton (19-0, 13 KOs) will make the first defense of the IBF 122-pound title when he takes on mandatory challenger Chris Avalos (25-2, 19 KOs) in a bout that can be seen live in the United States on Awe network
at 3:00 PM ET / 12:00 PT.
The card will originate from the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland and is promoted by Cyclone Promotions.
Bill Waller, the COO of K-9 Boxing Global Promotions, e-mailed Boxingtalk the following message regarding the current IBF junior middleweight world title holder, Cornelius “K-9” Bundrage. “Each time IBF 2-time world champion K-9 Bundrage steps into the boxing ring to defend his title, he is making history as the oldest (41 yrs.) junior middleweight champion in boxing history. The second oldest is the current pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, who is only four years younger. Demetrius Andrade is the WBO junior middleweight champion and he is fifteen years younger than K-9.
PRESS RELEASE: Six unbeaten boxers, eight total with a combined record of 105-3-3, will highlight a ShoBox: The New Generation quadrupleheader on Showtime (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast) on Friday, March 13th, from The Space at Westbury in Westbury, NY. Two of the fights will feature undefeated boxers against each other. In the main event, Antoine “Action” Douglas (16-0-1, 10 KOs) of Washington, D.C., will meet Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna (16-0, 7 KOs) of Millville, N.J., in a ten-round middleweight scrap. Adam Lopez (9-0, 4 KOs), of San Antonio, and Houston’s Pablo Cruz (11-0, 3 KOs) clash in an eight-round battle of Lone Star State super bantamweights in the opener of the telecast.
Swedish heavyweight Otto Wallin (9-0, 7 KOs) can claim his tenth professional victory when he takes on David Gegeshidze (14-7-1, 3 KOs) on March 14th at the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Wallin enjoyed a successful 2014, recording five wins including four stoppages. On March 14th, the 24 year-old from Sundsvall returns for the first time in 2015.
Professional boxing manager A.J. Galante and former heavyweight contender Fernely Feliz have opened a new boxing gym, Champs Boxing Club & Fitness in Danbury, Connecticut. The grand opening will take place on Saturday February 28th. Feliz, who moved to Danbury as a child from the Dominican Republic, has the distinction of being Danbury, CT's first professional boxer. As a heavyweight, he compiled a record of 23-9 in a career that spanned 15 years.
