PRIMM, Nev. (Sept. 5, 2008) - Proud ShoBox alum and former World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson returns to the critically acclaimed series TONIGHT, not as a fighter but as a guest, during this evening’s SHOWTIME telecast of ShoBox: The New Generation (LIVE on SHOWTIME at 11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast).
Dawson (26-0, 17 KOs), will join ShoBox announcers Nick Charles and Steve Farhood to talk about his highly anticipated upcoming bout with light heavyweight kingpin Antonio Tarver (27-4, 19 KOs). Dawson and Tarver will fight for Tarver’s International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight title, LIVE on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, Saturday, Oct. 11, from The Pearl Theatre at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Read the rest of this story »
HOUSTON, September 5 - Always considered one of the top boxing cities in the world, Houston, Texas has again delivered with its enthusiastic response to Saturday’s doubleheader at the Toyota Center, putting the card featuring hometown heroes Juan Diaz and Rocky Juarez in pivotal bouts against Michael Katsidis and Jorge Rodrigo Barrios, on track to become one of the biggest boxing events ever in Houston.
“I’m grateful for the response to this card and these fighters as it shows the loyalty of the Houston fans not only to their fighters, but also to the sport of boxing,” said Oscar de la Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions. “We couldn’t be happier with how ticket sales have gone, and we’re looking forward to a great event on Saturday.” Read the rest of this story »
“Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis weighed in at a ripped 142 lbs. while his opponent Nasser Athumani tipped the scales at 141 lbs. “I feel great, and am ready to go,” said a cofident Arnaoutis. “I had a great training camp. I am physically and mentally one-hundred percent prepared for this fight. You are going to see the best Mike Arnaoutis ever tomorrow night.” Read the rest of this story »
David Martinez has replaced Tomas Rojas as the opponent for Yonnhy Perez in the 10-round bantamweight co feature on this Friday’s ShoBox: The New Generation telecast on SHOWTIME (11 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast). Rojas was forced to withdraw when he encountered visa problems and was unable to leave his native Mexico in time.
Martinez (18-4-1, three KOs), of Albuquerque, N.M., captured the 2001 United States national championship at 119 pounds and will make his third national television appearance.
In the 10-round main event, lightweight contender Antonio DeMarco will attempt to score his third ShoBox victory in one year when he takes on World Boxing Organization (WBO/LA) Lightweight Champion Jose Reyes.
As you all know by now, Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar is set for November 15th.
How did this happen? Couture had been embroiled in a bitter legal dispute for almost a year with the UFC, and specifically organization president Dana White. The two have always made it clear that their dispute revolves around business differences, and on a Tito Ortiz versus Dana White scale, the Couture/White squabble never got overly personal. It did seem irreparable until a month ago.
Couture got sick of fighting White in the courts (”I’m much better fighting in a cage,” he says) and reached out to White via text message. Over the next few weeks, the two hammered out a deal (three fights, with Lesnar being his first opponent) that they were set to announce on a Tuesday conference call.
Late Monday night, the deal got sidetracked by some last-minute concerns from Couture’s camp. By early Tuesday, things looked shaky. “No deal,” said one source close to the negotiations. But a few minutes before the big conference call (the UFC release called it a “major announcement” from Dana White), Couture signed the deal, and the fight was on.
Yesterday, as we taped a segment for today’s MMA Live broadcast, White, Couture and Lesnar seemed like old friends. The whole contingent had arrived at ESPN’s Bristol HQ at 4:30 a.m., yet didn’t seem like they were all running on two hours of sleep. Couture and Lesnar taught one goofy MMA reporter why duck-unders are a bad idea in MMA (I have the choke marks to prove it, too!), and White and Couture were side-by-side for almost eight hours. Check out White’s video blog from yesterday.
Over the course of multiple interviews, White and Couture addressed their past differences. “It was never personal,” Couture said. “I’m not Tito Ortiz.”
Later, without hearing Couture’s comments, White told me, “It was all business. I never hated Randy. He’s not Tito Ortiz.”
By the end of the day, they seemed sick of answering the same questions (especially about the proposed Couture/Fedor Emelianenko fight MMA fans are clamoring for). But they didn’t seem sick of one another. In fact, when they were done in Bristol and Lesnar flew back to Minnesota with his manager, Couture and White took the UFC’s private jet to New York City to see the season premiere of Entourage.
World Champion Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver (27-4, 19 KOs) and undefeated “Bad” Chad Dawson (26-0, 17 KOs) will face off in a battle of light heavyweight kingpins on Saturday, Oct. 11, live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast) from The Pearl Theatre at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
The SHOWTIME telecast will open with arguably the most significant world heavyweight championship fight in years. Active World Boxing Council (WBC) Heavyweight Champion Sam Peter (30-1, 23 KOs) will defend his title against WBC Champion Emeritus Vitali Klitschko (35-2, 34 KOs), who will make his dramatic return to the ring after a nearly four-year absence, on a same-day tape delay from the O2 World Arena in Berlin, Germany. Read the rest of this story »
Anyone who is anyone in boxing knows who Sugar Ray Robinson is. Robinson is believed by many to have been the best pound for pound fighter of all time. Now many people are learning there is a new Ray Robinson in boxing today. “The New” Ray Robinson, one of Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing’s brightest star’s, is an undefeated jr. welterweight prospect with a record of (8-0, 3KO’s). Robinson is next scheduled to fight on the undercard of the “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis vs. Nasser Athumani main event on September 5th in Atlantic City, NJ. The entire show will be broadcast live on www.GoFightLive.tv The 22 year old Robinson earlier this year was chosen as one of the top five prospects to watch in 2008 and so far the flashy boxer, whose hand speed has already been compared to some of boxing’s greats, has not disappointed. Robinson recently took time out of his busy training regime to sit down and talk about his upcoming fight, what it means to be “The New” Ray Robinson, and how his dreams of becoming a world champion were almost ruined before he was even in high school. Read the rest of this story »
It’s finally official. Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver’s (27-4, 19 KOs) International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight belt will be on the line when he battles “Bad” Chad Dawson (26-0, 17 KOs) on Saturday, Oct. 11 live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) from The Pearl Theatre at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nev. Read the rest of this story »
Welterweight Title Bout Is Co-Feature To Mosley-Mayorga Clash On HBO’S
Earlier this year, Andre Berto won the WBC World Welterweight Championship. On Saturday, September 27th, at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California, he will begin his reign as champion by facing his toughest challenge of his career when he faces the tough and never stopped former World Champion Steve Forbes. The fight for the WBC World Welterweight Title will be the co-featured bout to the highly anticipated showdown between Sugar Shane Mosley and Ricardo Mayorga and televised live on HBO. The fight is presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Don King Productions, in association with DiBella Entertainment and Tournament of Contenders. Read the rest of this story »
Special National Anthem Performance By Natalie Foreman - George Foreman’s Daughter
LOS ANGELES, September 2 - Before hometown heroes Juan Diaz and Rocky Juarez take to the HBO airwaves on “Houston Super Fight Night” set for Saturday, September 6th for pivotal showdowns against Michael Katsidis and Jorge Barrios respectively, fans at Houston’s Toyota Center will be treated to an even bigger array of Texas’ finest, as Former World Champion Jesus “El Matador” Chavez and top prospects Hylon Williams and Jermell Charlo plan on showing their opponents that when it comes to boxing, you don’t mess with Texas. Read the rest of this story »
Sycuan Ringside Promotions in association with Manny Pacquiao Promotions Present
“Fight Night at Sycuan: Philippines vs. Mexico”
Thursday, Sept. 25 at Sycuan Resort and Casino, San Diego, Calif.
Manny Pacquiao’s next big test inside the ring will be against Oscar De La Hoya, but before he takes on boxing’s most popular figure, the four-division champion faces the challenge of co-promoting his first boxing show with Sycuan Ringside Promotions on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008 at Sycuan Resort and Casino in San Diego, Calif.
“I love the San Diego area,” said Pacquiao, who’s promotional company is titled Manny Pacquiao Promotions (MPP). “Before I won my title against David Diaz, I spent several hours touring San Diego after one of our press conferences. I can honestly say it is the most beautiful city in America.” Read the rest of this story »
Ortiz To Make Golden Boy Promotions Debut On Sep. 13TH Undercard
Golden Boy Promotions is proud to announce that one of boxing’s hottest prospects, “Vicious” Victor Ortiz, has been added to its extensive roster of fighters. Ortiz signed with Golden Boy today and is slated to make his Golden Boy Promotions debut on the Casamayor-Marquez “The Challenge” undercard on September 13th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in a fight which will be distributed live on HBO Pay-Per-View.
“Victor Ortiz is one of boxing’s hottest young stars in the junior welterweight division and we are very excited to add him to the Golden Boy roster,” said President of Golden Boy Promotions, Oscar de la Hoya. “I see a lot of qualities in him that I had as a young fighter and know that Victor will do big things in and out of the ring.” Read the rest of this story »
He was a hard banger and a crowd pleaser who battled some of the best welterweights of his era. Eventually he would move up to 154 pounds and win a world title in that division. He thrilled crowds in his home state of Texas and would also become a popular draw on the West Coast. His name was Oscar Albarado and they called him ” Shotgun “.
Born in 1948, Oscar turned professional in 1966 and reeled off 25 straight victories. He suffered his first loss via a decision to the highly touted Hedgemon Lewis in 1969. He came back in 1970 with two wins over Youngstown, Ohio veteran L.C.Morgan. Oscar would then drop verdicts to rated contenders Adolph Pruitt and ” Have Mercy Mr. Percy ” Pugh. Read the rest of this story »
On August 14, Dave Tiberi hosted a ‘Night of Champions’ at the Clarion Hotel in New Castle, Delaware. The state of Delaware gave a champions certificates from the Governor.
The champs who were there were Nate “Mr.” Miller, WBA cruiser-weight champ; former heavyweight champ Smokin’ Joe Frazier; former middleweight champ Robert “Bam Bam” Heinz; five-time former middleweight and welterweight world champ Emile Griffith; and Dave Tiberi himself a former IBC middleweight champion.
All the former champs were given awards by the state of Delaware for the work they’ve done in their communities, as well as boxing. What Dave Tiberi is trying to do is get the corporate and boxing worlds working together to improve the sport of boxing, and to set up some type of pension and health insurance plan for all former fighters and trainers.
Tiberi hopes that more people will come on board. About 300 people attended that night, along with newspaper and TV reporters. Dave is running his next show September 19 at the Hockessin PAL in Hockessin, Delaware.
This writer must say, “Let’s pack the place for Dave Tiberi and a great cause”.
UFC star Rich Franklin is back in action this Saturday at UFC 88 in Atlanta and will be moving up a weight class. Franklin will be facing a fellow Cincinnatian in light heavyweight Matt Hamill. I recently spoke with Franklin about the match and his career.
MMA Stomping Grounds: Why the move up to 205?
Rich Franklin: I was talking to the UFC after the second [Anderson] Silva loss and they encouraged me to move up to 205. They told me my position there would be more appealing to them from a business perspective. They weren’t interested in a third match between me and Silva and they didn’t want me fighting contenders because I could eliminate possible title fights, so I was stuck in that I was going to be fighting people on the back end of their losses to Silva and I didn’t care for that gatekeeper position. After the Travis Lutter fight, I said I would try my hand at 205 again.
World welterweight champion Antonio Margarito is in Puerto Rico and will be at ringside when Ivan ‘Iron Boy’ Calderon and Hugo Cazares battle on Top Rank’s Latin Fury 6 on Saturday night. Read the rest of this story »
Indonesia’s Chris John is an undefeated world champion. He has held that status since 2003. Still he is hardly ever mentioned in boxing columns or wire reports. I’ve never seen him on anybody’s pound for pound rating lists. He has boxed professionally for a decade now but he has become an invisible champion. Read the rest of this story »
Raymond Serrano (7-0, 5KO’s), Star Boxing’s 19 year old welterweight phenomenon, scored a first round knockout over veteran Jimmy LeBlanc (11-15-4, 3KO’s) Friday night at the New Alhambra in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Serrano came out very aggressive and started landing big shots against his opponent. Serrano seemed to be on a completely different level then the much more experienced LeBlanc as he continuously teed off on his opponent with huge over hand rights.
Serrano dropped his opponent three times before the referee called a halt to the contest at 2:37 of the very first round. “I felt great coming in,” said Serrano. He was looking to box so I knew right away I was going to have to put a lot of pressure on him. I knew after I hit him with the first big right hand that it would only be a matter of time before I stopped him.
It was great fighting here in Philadelphia, and I want to thank everyone who came out to see me tonight. I am going to enjoy the holiday weekend and then I will be back in the gym on Wednesday. I am looking to fight hopefully at the end of September maybe early October, whatever my promoter Joe DeGuardia and Star Boxing put together for me I will be ready to go.” Serrano improves his record to 7-0, 5KO’s.
