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Amir Khan To Meet Carlos Molina

Published

12 years ago

October 9, 2012

The Sweet Science

GOLDEN BOY PRESENTS HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA

AMIR KHAN VS. CARLOS MOLINA HEADLINES

DECEMBER 15 EVENT FROM THE LA SPORTS ARENA

IN LOS ANGELES LIVE ON SHOWTIME IN THE UNITED STATES

AND LIVE ON SKY SPORTS 1HD IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

FAN-FEST PLANNED FOR EVENT

LOS ANGELES (October 9, 2012) –The holiday season begins early this year as Golden Boy Promotions is pleased to present a Super Saturday for fight fans on Saturday, December 15 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. The event will be headlined by the return of former Unified Super Lightweight World Champion Amir “King” Khan who faces undefeated Californian Carlos Molina in a SHOWTIME /Sky Sports 1HD televised junior welterweight main event and will also feature a holiday fanfest complete with musical acts, memorabilia and gift giveaways, autograph signings, and meet and greets with some of boxing's biggest stars. All in all, it's the one day no boxing fan will want to miss.

Khan vs. Molina is presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Khan Promotions and sponsored by Corona. The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast begins live at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) with preliminary fights live on SHOWTIME EXTREME®.

“I am looking forward to getting back in the ring and continuing my career,” said Khan, who recently announced his relationship with new trainer Virgil Hunter. “I believe in myself and my abilities. With each fight I learn what I am capable of doing and these opportunities afford the chance to better myself and continue to comeback stronger than before. I fight for all of the fans that continue to support me regardless of outcome and I will not be satisfied until I give them what they want. I want to be a world champion again and that is what the goal is starting with this fight against Molina.”

“I look forward to this fight and the opportunity to fight someone like Amir Khan,” said Molina, who will be looking for his 18^th victory as he continues his quest for a world championship. “I expect him to fight with a new intensity, but I will be prepared and ready. I am the undefeated fighter in this fight and I do not plan on that changing.”

“I am looking forward to putting on this show, not only for boxing fans watching across the country and in the U.K., but also for the fans who will be able to attend and be part of this special Saturday of boxing,” said Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya. “Amir Khan is a fighter through and through and I believe he is taking the necessary steps to continue his career and become a champion again. Carlos Molina is not going to make that task an easy one as he is undefeated and always prepared to fight. We will see what happens on December 15.”

“Amir is eager to regain his place at the very top of the 140lb division,” said Asif Vali of Khan Promotions. “This path starts against Carlos Molina who is an undefeated fighter and someone who Amir knows he will need to be at his very best to overcome. This is going to be an exciting matchup between two talented fighters and one which we believe will lead Amir to another chance at world title glory.”

“This fight represents a major crossroads in each fighter's career,” said Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President & General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports. “For Khan, this is an opportunity to demonstrate that he is still one of the elite fighters in his division. For Molina, this is a chance to knock off one of the biggest names of this era and become a player in the deep 140-pound division.

“Showtime has upped the ante this year,” continued Espinoza. “This is the perfect end to an incredible run of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING events in 2012.”

“We are very much looking forward to working with Golden Boy Promotions and Khan Promotions on this December 15^th event,” said Joe Furin, Senior Director of Operations of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena. “The Sports Arena was actually inaugurated with a boxing event and has hosted some momentous fights over the years, so we are very excited about an event of this magnitude coming to our venue.”

The former Unified Super Lightweight World Champion, British superstar Amir “King” Khan (26-3, 18 KO's) is ready to bounce back under the guidance of new trainer Virgil Hunter following a controversial defeat to Lamont Peterson last December and an upset loss to Danny Garcia the past July, and knows a win over undefeated Carlos Molina on December 15 will end the year on a high note. The 25-year-old Bolton, England native won a Silver Medal in the 2004 Olympics and has been even more impressive as a professional with wins over a series of top guns, including Marco “El Chino” Maidana, Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi, Zab “Super” Judah and Marco Antonio “Baby Faced Assassin” Barrera. The young former champ knows his prime years are still approaching and it's clear that the best is yet to come starting with December 15 against Molina in his SHOWTIME debut.

Former National Amateur Champion Carlos Molina (17-0-1, 7 KO's) has passed all his tests thus far as a professional and the way he sees it, 'Graduation Day' is December 15 with his toughest test to date in Khan. After debuting in 2007, the talented 26-year-old from Norwalk, California has showed skill, patience and poise in the ring while defeating the likes of Manuel Leyva, Glenn Gonzales and Marcos Jimenez. Now ready to step up to the big leagues as he faces the former world champion in Khan, Molina is more confident than ever that he has what it takes to beat the best.

The Los Angeles Sports Arena opened its doors to the public in July of 1959, hosting a bantamweight boxing title match between Jose Becerra and Alphonse Halimi. The 15,000 seat Sports Arena plays host to a variety of events throughout the year, including mainstream and Hispanic concerts, religious events, and frequent other cultural and musical events. Among the many notable events that have taken place at the Sports Arena are the boxing competition for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, two NCAA Basketball Championships (men in 1968, women in 1992), numerous NBA Championship series, an NBA All-Star Game (1963), the 1960 Democratic National Convention where John F. Kennedy was nominated for as a presidential candidate. Major events at the Sports Arena have included Bruce Springsteen's most two most recent, sold out Los Angeles performances (October 29th and 30th), as well as annual Halloween and New Year's Eve Celebrations and electronic music festivals. The Sports Arena is also the site of frequent Naturalization Ceremonies, where immigrants make their way to the floor of the Arena to take the Oath of Citizenship. Notable professional boxing events to have taken place at the Arena include Sugar Robinson vs. Gene Fullmer (1960), Muhammad Ali vs. George Logan (1962), Muhammad Ali vs. Alejandro Lavorante (1962), Muhammad Ali vs. Archie Moore (1962), Bobby Chacon vs. Danny “Little Red” Lopez (1974), Roberto Duran vs. Pipino Cuevas (1983) and Jose Luis Lopez vs. Luis Ramon Campas (1996).

Ticket prices and on sale information will be announced shortly. For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, follow us on Twitter at, www.twitter.com/GoldenBoyBoxing, www.twitter.com/AmirKingKhan, www.twitter.com/CarlosMolina562, , www.twitter.com/SHOsports, follow the conversation using #KhanMolina or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing or www.facebook.com/SHOsports.

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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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