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Mike Jones-Randall Bailey Head Pacman-Bradley Undercard

Published

13 years ago

May 7, 2012

LAS VEGAS, NEV. (May 7, 2012) – If the Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley, Jr. World Welterweight Championship pay-per-view undercard was a poker hand it would be two pairs of world title fighters, Arce High! Six gladiators will be going mano a mano in two world championship rumbles and a 10-round junior featherweight brawl.

The three-bout pay-per-view undercard will feature undefeated No. 1 welterweight contender MIKE “MJ” JONES battling two-time world champion and current No. 2 contender RANDALL “The Knockout King” BAILEY for the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight title; undefeated World Boxing Association (WBA) super bantamweight champion GUILLERMO “El Chacal” RIGONDEAUX defending his title against world-rated TEON “The Technician” KENNEDY; and five-division world champion and Méxican icon JORGE “Travieso” ARCE, in his first fight in a Las Vegas ring in over one year, taking on Puerto Rican knockout artist JESUS ROJAS in a 10-round junior featherweight fight.

These six warriors boast a combined record of 171-15-5 (128 KOs) – a winning percentage of 90% and a victory by knockout ratio of 75%.

The Pacquiao vs. Bradley World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight championship event will take place Saturday, June 9, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The event will be produced and distributed Live by HBO Pay-Per-View®, beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT,

Promoted by Top Rank, in association with MP Promotions, Tecate, AT&T and MGM Grand, remaining tickets to Pacquiao vs. Bradley are priced at $1,200, $900, $600, $400, and $200. Ticket sales at $1,200, $900, $600 and $400 are limited to 10 per person and ticket sales at $200 are limited to two (2) per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster (800) 745-3000. Tickets also will be available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

“The fight card on June 9 will be a treat for all boxing fans,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum. “These will be great high-action fights as will be our main event with world champions Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley.”

Jones (26-0, 19 KOs), of Philadelphia, Pa., will be making his first world title challenge in a professional career that began with a second-round TKO of Jason Thompson on December 16, 2005 in Philadelphia. The 5’11 Jones, 29, has collected NABA and NABO welterweight titles en route to his ascent to the top of the welterweight ratings, which has included victories over Henry Bruseles, Jesus Soto- Karass (twice), Irving Garcia and Hector Muñoz. Jones, who is co-promoted by Hall of Fame inductee Russell Peltz, returns to the ring after winning a dominating 12-round unanimous decision over Sebastian Lujan in an IBF title elimination bout, at Madison Square Garden on December 3.

Bailey (41-7, 36 KOs), of Miami, Fla., is no stranger to world championship fights having won world titles twice, so far, in his 16-year professional career. He captured his first world title, the WBO junior welterweight championship, in 1999, via a first-round knockout of defending champion Carlos Gonzalez. Bailey successfully defended the title twice, both by knockout, against Hector Lopez and Ray Martinez before losing it via split decision to Ener Julio in 2000 in a very exciting fight. In 2002 Bailey captured the WBA interim super lightweight belt with a third-round knockout of Demetrio Ceballos. Bailey, now trained by two-division world champion John David Jackson, earned his latest title shot with a first-round knockout of Jackson Osei-Bonsu, in an IBF title elimination bout in 2010.

Rigondeaux (9-0, 7 KOs), a two-time Olympic gold medalist and seven-time Cuban National Champion, lives in Miami, Fla. The Cuban southpaw, who made his professional debut in 2009, won the WBA interim super bantamweight title the following year, in only his seventh pro outing, on November 13, 2010, winning a split decision over former world champion Ricardo Cordoba. After successfully defending the title with a first-round knockout of undefeated former European super bantamweight champion Willie Casey on March 11, 2011, he dethroned the previously undefeated WBA super bantamweight champion Rico Ramos in the sixth round of their January 20 title fight. This will be Rigondeaux’s first defense of his world title.

Kennedy (17-1-2, 7 KOs), of Philadelphia, Pa., was an amateur standout, winning gold at the 2004 National Golden Gloves Championships and the U.S. National Under 19 Championships and the 2001 Pan American Cadet Championships. His five-year professional boasts a USBA junior featherweight title reign, which we won in 2009 by knocking out Francisco Rodriguez in the 10^th round. He successfully defended that title twice with 12-round unanimous decisions over Jose Beranza and previously undefeated Jorge Diaz in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Kennedy also captured the NABA super bantamweight title in 2010, knocking out Alejandro Becerra in the 10^th round. In his last fight, Kennedy was awarded a disputed draw with Chris Martin, on January 13, a fight most ringside observers thought was won by Kennedy.

Arce (60-6-2, 46 KOs), from Los Mochis, México, is one of boxing’s most exciting and popular fighters. The all-action warrior has won world championships or interim world titles in all five divisions between 108 and 122 pounds.A future first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee, Arce enters this fight riding a two-year, nine bout unbeaten streak which includes victories over Angky Angkota for the WBO junior bantamweight title, Wilfredo Vazquez, Jr. for the WBO junior featherweight belt and Angkota again, this time for the WBO bantamweight crown, the title Arce currently holds.

Rojas (18-1-1, 13 KOs), from Caguas, Puerto Rico, enters this fight riding a two-year, six-bout unbeaten streak. Known for his aggressive style, good punching power in both hands, impressive skills and movement and a strong amateur background with close to 200 amateur fights, Rojas, 25, is ready to take the next step in going toe-to-toe with the great Arce.

The Pacquiao-Bradley world championship telecast, which begins at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT, will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View and will be available to more than 92 million pay-per-view homes. The telecast will be available in HD-TV for those viewers who can receive HD. HBO Pay-Per-View, a division of Home Box Office, Inc., is the leading supplier of event programming to the pay-per-view industry.

For Pacquiao-Bradley fight week updates, log on to www.toprank.com and www.hbo.com

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 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

9 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

9 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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