Hopkins-Shumenov to fight April 19

Bernard Hopkins will attempt to become the oldest fighter in boxing history to unify world titles when the IBF light heavyweight champion opposes WBA champion Beibut Shumenov on April 19th at the DC Armory.

''I'm trying to force history to write another book on me,'' the 49-year-old Hopkins said Tuesday.

Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KOs), of Philadelphia, already holds the records for oldest fighter to win and successfully defend a title. He captured the IBF crown in March 2013 with a decision over Tavoris Cloud, and then defended it with an October win against Karo Murat.

Shumenov (14-1, 9 KOs) is a 30-year-old native of Kazakhstan who lives in Las Vegas. He won the WBA title by defeating Gabriel Campillo in 2010 and has made five successful defenses.

Hopkins' long reign as middleweight champion ended nearly two years before his opponent's 2007 pro debut. Read more...

Mayweather vs Maidana fight now official

Mayweather vs. Maidana fight is officially set to happen on May 3rd on SHOWTIME PPV! The long wait of speculations including some feedbacks from social networking sites on who is going to be Floyd Mayweather next fight. Well, Marcos Maidana (35-3, 31 KO) has officially got the fourth of Mayweather’s remaining six PPV fights to SHOWTIME Sports.

Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs), undeniably the sport's No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter and a 10-time world champion, is coming off of a spectacular 2013 in which he continued to display his ring prowess with dominating victories over Robert Guerrero and Canelo Alvarez. In Maidana, Mayweather is arguably facing the most demanding and troublesome opponent of his heralded, 17-year Hall Of Fame career.

Maidana (35-3, 31 KOs), of Margarita, Santa Fe, Argentina, captured the attention of boxing and sports fans around the world with his thorough defeat of the highly regarded and undefeated Adrien Broner on Dec. 14, 2013. The 30-year-old impressively dominated Broner from the opening bell and registered two knockdowns against the three-time world champion. Maidana connected with a punishing 231 power punches in the bout en route to a unanimous decision by margins of 117-109, 115-109 and 115-110.

Boxing pundits are advised to order Mayweather vs Maidana tickets as early as possible to avail of this exciting boxing match up that will showcase two great warriors.

Roach says Bradley will pay the price

Freddie Roach thinks that Timothy Bradley made a very big mistake by saying Manny Pacquiao can no longer pull the trigger. Bradley beat Pacquiao when they first met in June 2012 and had to wait nearly two years for the rematch that takes place April 12 in Las Vegas. While he waited, the undefeated Bradley survived Russian Ruslan Provodnikov and outclassed Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez to move to 31-0. On the other hand, Pacquiao suffered a stunning knockout loss to Marquez but bounced back with a one-sided victory over Brandon Rios last November. 

Bradley watched the Rios fight, and said he noticed only one thing: Pacquiao has lost the killer instinct and will never get it back. The reigning WBO welterweight champion also said Pacquiao, who turned 35 last December, is too old to beat him in their rematch. “By saying that he (Pacquiao) has no killer instinct, [Bradley] really woke him up, and we thank him for that,” Roach told the Boxing Voice. 

Roach insists that by beating Rios, who is younger and bigger, Pacquiao proved that he has gotten over his horrific knockout loss to Marquez.Roach said Pacquiao is back as his old self and will prove it in April. Pacquiao is taking Bradley’s statement saying he’s already old as a challenge. He admitted he was “too nice” to Bradley in their first fight. Pacquiao, who hasn’t scored a knockout in four years, is dropping the “Mr. Nice Guy” tag, and vowed to prove that he still has the killer instinct. “(He’s) Fresh and hungry. 

He won every round against Rios and you’re going to see the same thing with Bradley,” Roach also said. Bradley insists that he won the fight against Pacquiao. He said he watched the tape of the fight, did his own scoring and gave himself eight of the 12 rounds. Of course, Roach disagrees. “He (Pacquiao) won the first fight handily. The thing is he just was too compassionate. He knows he can’t be compassionate anymore.” because otherwise you don’t make money and you don’t sell tickets.”

By Abac Cordero 
Source: http://www.philstar.com/sports/2014/02/17/1291333/roach-says-bradley-will-pay-price

PACQUIAO TO START TRAINING IMMEDIATELY AFTER MEDIA TOUR

Manny Pacquiao and American titleholder Timothy Bradley meet for the first time after their controversial faceoff a little less than two years ago in a two-city media tour starting Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) at the posh Beverly Hotel Los Angeles. Tuesday’s press conference, held to hype up their coming 12-round WBO welterweight title rematch, is set at 11:30 a.m. following a luncheon 30 minutes earlier at the Crystal Ballroom of the hotel, home to the brightest of the entertainment world. Special one-on-one interviews as well as photo opportunity will granted to the international media men attending the event held under the auspices of Top rank Promotions, headed by its chief-executive-officer Bob Arum.

Also to grace the occasion are the protagonists handlers, six-time trainer of the year Freddie Roach, for the Pinoy “Pacific Storm” and Rey Bradley for the undefeated “Desert Storm.” The 35-year-old Pacquiao, a congressman representing the lone district of Sarangani Province in the Lower House, is also expected to affix his signature on the dotted line of the fight contract which was earlier signed by Bradley. Pacquiao was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles last night in time for the L.A. stop of the tour accompanied by his Congressional chief-of-staff Bren Evangelio and assistanst trainer Roger “Haplas” Fernandez. The two teams proceed to New York for Thursday’s leg of the tour scheduled at the New world Hotel on West 50th Street of the City that never sleeps.

Pacquiao told People’s Journal/ People’s tonight he’ll be back February 12 to immediately pitch camp in his own Pacman Wild Card Gym in hometown General Santos City. “Magsisimula tayo agad ng preparasyon. Gaya ng laban kay Rios, importante din ang labang ito dahil gusto kong mabawi ang koronang ninakaw sa akin dalawang taon na ang nakararaan,” Pacquiao said hours before enplaning to L.A. via a Philippine Air Lines flight. The 12-round encounter will be held at the MGM Grand, the same venue where Bradley took the WBO 147-pound belt from Pacquiao via a highly questionable split decision on June 9, 2012 made possible by the verdicts of two of three judges -- C. J. Ross and Duane Ford -- who saw that fight with Bradley the winner, 115-113, the same score submitted by Jerry Roth, who had Pacquiao the victor.

That loss, accepted though by the eight-division and four-division lineal belt-holder as “part of the game,” was the first of back-to-back setbacks suffered by the Filipino ring hero in that year, he considered as the bleakest in his 18-year career. He, later in that year, was knocked out cold by arch-enemy Juan Manuel Marquez in the sixth round of their December 8 quadrology but came back strong November last year with a convincing unanimous decision over Brandon Rios in Macau, China. Bradley, on the other hand, scored a pair of impressive unanimous decision triumphs over Pacquiao’s long-time sparring partner Russian Ruslan Provodnikov and Marquez himself to somewhat earn the respect he had long been seeking for a long time and at the same time pave the way for this grudge match. Click on Pacquiao vs Bradley Tickets information.

By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Source: http://philboxing.com/news/story-91646.html

Canelo Alvarez vs Alfredo Angulo

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez looks former WBC world junior middleweight champion looks to bounce back from his 12-round majority decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. against Alfredo Angulo. The 12-round nontitle fight will be the main event of Golden Boy Promotions’ card and will be televised on Showtime Pay Per View. 

Angulo was chosen despite not possessing a title belt. He is a hard puncher and has fought some good but not great fighters, including Gabe Rosario, and has lost to James Kirkland, Kermit Cintron and Lara. But Angulo, 31, never has fought anyone close to Alvarez’s caliber, and Schaefer said Alvarez will have to carry the promotion and draw fans to the PPV. 

Alvarez, 23, was given a boxing lesson by Mayweather when they met Sept. 14. But because of questionable judging from Las Vegas’ C.J. Ross, Alvarez won six rounds on her card, and what should have been a unanimous decision for Mayweather resulted in a majority decision. The fight with Angulo (22-3, 18 knockouts) is the first of what Alvarez (42-1-1, 30 KOs) hopes will be three ring appearances in 2014. 

The original plan was to face Miguel Cotto, but he rejected a multimillion dollar offer from Golden Boy, preferring to wait until early June and a possible fight with Sergio Martinez in New York. Rafael said “On a call regarding Canelo-Angulo. Richard Schaefer says about 6,000 tix were sold on the first day.” So what are you waiting now buy Canelo Alvarez vs Angulo Tickets now.