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Cocky Frochy Says Johnson Won't Win One Round

Published

13 years ago

June 2, 2011

The Sweet Science

Tom Casino photo

WBC SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION CARL FROCH,

FORMER WORLD CHAMPION GLEN JOHNSON

FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

NEW YORK CITY (June 1, 2011) — WBC Super Middleweight Champion Carl “The Cobra” Froch and former World Champion Glen “The Road Warrior” Johnson and their respective camps held their final press conference Wednesday at the Edison Ballroom in New York City to discuss their Super Six World Boxing Classic Semifinal at the Adrian Phillips Ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday, June 4 and televised LIVE on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).

Both fighters were respectful to each other, but they are predicting radically different outcomes of Saturday’s highly anticipated fight.

Froch feels he will dominate every round, while Johnson and his team feel that Froch is in way over his head with a lighter, faster Glen Johnson.

The following are quote highlights made by all the speakers on Wednesday:

Ken Hershman, Executive Vice President and General Manager SHOWTIME Sports:

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to have Glen Johnson and Carl Froch in these Semifinals. They’re proud warriors who signify everything that’s great about this sport.

“FIGHT CAMP° 360, the latest episode that introduces everybody to this Semifinal will be airing all week on SHOWTIME Extreme, so plenty of opportunities to catch a great show. We’re also running a special 15-minute recap of Pacquiao/Mosley FIGHT CAMP 360° leading into Saturday night’s fight.

“We look at FIGHT CAMP 360° as exactly what it says: a 360 view, which includes post-fight; the good and the bad from both camps, and that’s what separates us from our competitors. You’ll see some really compelling footage that no one has ever seen before on that show.

“The Super Six has been a challenging roller coaster. As everyone knows, we’ve been through some ups and downs in this tournament, but one thing is certain: all the fights have been interesting and compelling, many of them more than compelling. … thrilling.

“We have whittled the field down from six to now three and after Saturday night it will be two. So, again, I think the tournament has served its purpose. It’s designed to keep attention on boxing and attention on these great champions throughout the entire 18 months to two years that this has been gong on. It’s certainly done that; in between fights; after fights; before fights. Lots of drama. Lots of politicking and drama out of the ring. There has also been a lot of great action in the ring, so we couldn’t be more thrilled.

“A goal of ours in boxing is to eliminate the idea that a loss is such a setback. And somehow you have to go back to the beginning of the process to rehabilitate yourself. If you’re fighting the best; if you’re fighting the caliber of fighters of Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler and Glen Johnson and Andre Ward, you’re going to lose. That’s not an indictment of your skill set. It might not be your night, but you deserve the chance to come back and I think we’ve seen what a great champion Carl Froch is and his ability to come back and get right back in the title hunt and now he’s well-positioned to get into the finals.”

Lou DiBella, Event Co-Promoter of DiBella Entertainment:

“This tournament was a wonderful idea. Ken has gotten all the kudos for it and it’s deserved. It’s a great tribute to SHOWTIME Sports in how far they’ve come. SHOWTIME has become a well-rounded sports outfit and Ken and his team deserve all the credit.

“I have the utmost respect for Carl Froch, but remember, an old man showed us a few weeks ago what’s possible if there’s still some greatness left in his body. And there’s still some greatness in the man to my right (Johnson).

“I remember when I made the first call to Ken about Glen joining the tournament. Ken said there’s no way he can make 168. I said, if Glen says he can, he can and he weighed 167 the night of that fight and he weighs 167 now. My co-promoter Leon has been with him for years. I came in three or four years ago and it’s been a tremendous honor to promote “The Road Warrior”. He’s one of the most decent men I know.”

Leon Margules, Event Co-Promoter of Warriors Boxing:

“Thank you to Ken Hershman for allowing Glen this opportunity. Ken has given Glen two great opportunities: Chad Dawson at 175 and now Carl Froch to prove he’s the best 168.

“This is a tremendous event and this goes a long way towards getting boxing where it should be: seeing the best fight the best all the time. I have tremendous respect for Carl but if he thinks he’s fighting Arthur Abraham again, he’s wrong.

“I think Glen after you win this tournament, you should let each of us keep the Cup for a while.”

Glen Johnson

“We had a great training camp. Everything went well. We went through a lot of stuff we wanted to go through and we came out very successful.

“I have to thank SHOWTIME for considering me for the Super Six. When they heard the name Glen Johnson they could have said, ‘He’s an old guy and it might not go over very popularly,’ but they took a chance on me and I want to say thanks so much. I’m going to go out there and do everything to make you proud and not regret that decision.

“You have to respect a man who can go out there and become a two-time world champ. Every man does it their own way and he found a way. I give him respect.

At the end of the day, it’s a fight. I’m not about lip service or talk. That’s not what I do. I’m about boxing. I will wait for Saturday to finish the rest of the conversation.”

Orlando Cuellar, Johnson’s Trainer

“Carl, congratulations on winning the 168-pound world title, but there will be no finals for you. This will be your last run on Saturday night.

“Glen: you know what he brings. Glen has been there and done that and seen every style. He has beaten every style. No man has ever beaten up Glen Johnson and it won’t be happening in this next fight either. We know Carl’s strengths and we’ll get around those. We know his weaknesses and we’ll expose those. Carl has been in with good fighters, but now he’s in with one of the most successful fighters of the last 10 years.

“I wish Carl luck, but the winner will be Glen Johnson.”

Carl Froch:

“Glen Johnson’s trainer is delusional. He’s not only not going to win the fight; he’s not going to win a round. I’m too young and fresh. From round one to 12, I will dominate.

“I’m WBC champ and everybody talks about my one loss, against Mikkel Kessler, and 80 percent of the people don’t acknowledge it was a loss. The fight could have gone either way.

“That’s all behind me now I’ve redeemed myself. I’m the first man to out-box and outclass the top KO specialist Arthur Abraham. Nobody had ever put a beating on him.

“I’m getting tired of hearing about how many big fights I’m fighting in a row. That’s why I’m here. I don’t want to fight bums.”

Rob McCracken, Froch’s Trainer:

“I’m a man of few words. Training camp went very well. I know you have to say that, but I know it’s gone really well. He’s focused now. I know he wasn’t 100 percent focused at other fights, but he’s motivated again.

“He’s got a little son he has to take care of. You saw the real Carl Froch in his last fight (a dominant decision over Arthur Abraham). He was fantastic. He’ll be fantastic on Saturday too. Glen is a great road warrior but his journey is over.”

Eddie Hearn, Froch’s Promoter

“I think in any sport in the world, fans and media prefer to see the best fighting the best. Only America could produce a concept like this tournament. It’s been a breath of fresh air for boxing.

“A lot of you don’t know, but in the UK, Carl is one of the greatest fighters who has ever come out of the country. There’s never been a UK fighter fight so many big shows in a row like this.

“Carl Froch is a complete warrior. There’s no person in the world I would rather send into war than Carl Froch.

“Glen has shown us respect, but Carl Froch is on the verge of creating a great legacy in British sports when he wins Saturday and then goes on to fight Andre Ward. We aren’t looking past Glen but we’re all very proud of Carl and we know he’ll do his business on Saturday night and put on a great show.”

Carl Froch vs. Glen Johnson is presented by DiBella Entertainment and Warriors Boxing, in association with Matchroom Sports and Caesars Atlantic City.

Tickets, priced at $300, $150, $100, and $50, can be purchased through the Boardwalk Hall ticket office and any retail Ticketmaster outlet, online at http://www.ticketmaster.com, or by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

8 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

8 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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