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Last Words Before Adamek-Chambers

Published

12 years ago

June 15, 2012

Loft 47, Newark, NJ –

Kathy Duva, Main Events CEO – “This is a tremendous fight between two great heavyweights. That is something that we don't get to see very much lately and something we intend to change. We actually started changing it back in January when we saw a fabulous heavyweight fight on NBCSN, and we saw it again in March.”

“One of the reasons you are seeing such fantastic fights, they don't just happen, is we have two matchmakers working on each show. Russell Peltz is of course is the matchmaker for the series, everybody knows his reputation and his pedigree. He also has a counterpart in the matchmaking and that is Jolene Mizzone from Main Events. She has come a long way from when she was our receptionist. Talk about a success story! They push each other and they make each other better. Getting to see it from the seat that I have is kind of fun to watch. It's a tremendous partnership.”

“People keep asking me who do I think will win and I honestly don't know. I think that's what makes a fight tremendous. We can argue all night. If you look on the websites you will see people going back and forth about who they think is going to win. You're going to have to watch it to find out. That what makes it a great event.”

Gary Quinn, NBC Sports Groups Senior Director, Programming and Acquisitions– “We are very excited for Saturday night. When Kathy, Russell and all of us got together before the start of the year to come up with the Fight Night franchise, our goal was to put evenly matched fights on and that each show would build on the fact that the boxing fan would know that they were going to get a great show every time they tuned in. Since January, that has happened in each and every fight. We started out with four in our original schedule, now we are up to six. I think you saw a couple Fridays ago, a great show, great atmosphere at the Sands with the Rosado fight and that was an additional show we were able to add. We are going to be opportunistic as we go forward. We are very excited to give the great fighters and athletes up here a national platform.”

“It was great to see Eddie and his trainer, his brother and friend last night on the Fight Night 36 show. It has quickly become a very valuable property to NBC Sports Network.”

“You're going to see us cultivate and grow with Kathy and with Russell. We are working on an announcement that's probably going to be very, very pleasing to the boxing fan very soon. Potentially adding a seventh date this year and working on a two year deal for '13 and '14. We'll work out the details of it and announce it very soon.”

“We're very excited about being able to expose the heavyweight division. We think Saturday night is an unbelievable card.”

Aaron Davis, NJ Boxing Commissioner – “This is great for the sport. Saturday night we are going to have some of our best judges and some of our best referees. We try to set a precedent here in NJ. If our fighters are going to give their life, and they're going to give their hard work and determination, our officials must do the same. I hope that precedent will be seen and respected , because your career means a lot. You guys are the next legends in the sport.”

Steve Collins – “Thanks for the opportunity. It's a big step up fighting on NBC. It's definitely going to be a great fight with Bryant Jennings. I know I'm ready, he (Jennings) looks ready. Hopefully come Saturday you guys will get what you want.”

Bryant Jennings – “I'm well known for running my trap, and pretty much making everyone laugh with my wonderful sense of humor, but today I am just going to showcase some seriousness. This is my 14^th fight, with every fight it gets tougher and tougher. Between the opponents, the pressure, my composure and my completeness I am challenged with every fight. Everybody knows I come to fight. I come to win – that's my goal. I don't have any other expectations for these fights. A “W” is just pretty much my goal. I hope you enjoy my fight with Steve Collins and I hope you see the future in both of us. “

Ziggy Rozalski, Ziggy Promotions, co-Promoter – “All the guys up here are nice polite gentlemen…then they get in the ring! This is going to be a great fight. I feel sorry for both fighters because this is going to be a war. The guy that wins is going to go forward and the guy that loses is probably going to have get himself a fishing pole and go fishing. “

Eddie Chambers – “If you had the chance to see Fight Night 36 last night you'll see I'm working extremely hard. Me and my team came together and decided that we really need to go up to Detroit, one of the tougher boxing areas in the country. We actually went to the legendary Kronk gym, where it's like 150 degrees every day, like training in a sauna literally. But I think that's the kind of thing we needed to do, we need to prepare that way because I am pretty sure Tomasz is going to bring a lot of heat inside the ring. I think that all the work we did was the perfect setting for what we are going to see in the main event on Saturday night.. It's going to be a fun night. I think Tomasz has worked very hard, I know I have, you've seen it.”

Chambers speaks at press conference

Photo: Larry Levanti

“My first thought was that I should not fight Adamek for my first fight back after 14 months off, but then I talked with my friends and trainers and we decided that this would be a good move for me. Show everyone right away that I am back and that I mean business.”

Tomasz Adamek – “I sparred close to 100 rounds in training camp which is a lot of rounds for me. I want to show Eddie some of the stuff I was working on for the last 3 weeks of our training camp. Eddie is saying how fast and untouchable he will be. I will be just as fast as him.”

Adamek speaks to media

Photo: Larry Levanti

“I want to fight another two to three years and it's easier to stay healthy when you are winning. I like the fact that my fights are being shown by both us (NBC Sports Network) and Polish TV. This proves alot of people still want to watch me and there is no reason to think about ending my career.”

“Everybody is waiting for Saturday. I am ready 100%. We had a good camp. I will give a good show Saturday night. I know that Eddie is a very good fighter. He's lost only 2 fights, like me, and this is why he took the risk fighting me, but it was a mistake.”

FIGHT INFO:The June 16th NBC Sports Network Fight Night card at Newark's Prudential Center features Tomasz Adamek vs. Eddie Chambers. Co-featured on the card will be Bryant Jennings vs. Steve Collins, Garrett, Indiana, 25-1,18 KO's.The NBCSN broadcast will begin at 9PM ET. Co-featured on the card will be fellow heavyweights Bryant Jennings vs. Steve Collins. Between the main event and the co-feature, Curtis Stevens takes on Marcus Upshaw in a middleweight battle. The NBCSN broadcast will begin at 9PM ET.The card is presented by Main Events in association with Peltz Boxing, Ziggy Promotions and Goossen Tutor Promotions.

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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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