Articles

Golden Boy Fighters Offer Their Thanksgiving Blessings List

Published

11 years ago

November 25, 2013

LOS ANGELES (Nov. 25, 2013) – As the Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaches, the boxers participating in the back-to-back quadruple headers on Saturday, Dec. 7 and Saturday, Dec. 14 live on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING took time out of their training camps to share some of the things they are thankful for this holiday season. While turkey, stuffing and yams may not be on their Thanksgiving menus, they are all in agreement that there is much to be thankful for.

PAULIE “THE MAGIC MAN” MALIGNAGGI, Former Two-Time, Two-Division World Champion (Training in Brooklyn, NY)

“[I am thankful for] My family and my true friends, especially those that have stuck with me from the start.”

“SUPER” ZAB JUDAH, Former Five-Time, Two-Division World Champion (Training in Las Vegas, NV)

“I am thankful for this time and that I get to be together with my family.”

DEVON “THE GREAT” ALEXANDER, IBF Welterweight World Champion (Training in St. Louis, MO)

“I am very thankful just to be living and in the position I’m in to help a lot of kids and inspire them too. I’m really thankful for so many things in my life, but I can’t mention them all because then the list would go on and on. I do want to say that I am thankful for my team and Golden Boy Promotions for getting me the best opportunity possible. Many peoplewant to be in the position that I am in and I am glad that I am one of them!”

SHAWN “SHOWTIME” PORTER, Top Welterweight Contender (Training in Las Vegas, NV)

“I am most thankful for family because they are the most important thing to me.

ERISLANDY “EL ORO DE GUANTANAMO” LARA, WBA Interim Super Welterweight World Champion (Training in Houston, TX)

“I am most thankful for being in the United State of America and for the freedom I have been given.”

AUSTIN “NO DOUBT” TROUT, Former WBA Super Welterweight World Champion (Training in Houston, TX)

“First and foremost I am most thankful for God, the Son of Jesus. Also, I am thankful for the love from my family, friends and fans. I have so much that I am grateful for including my health and career that allows me to provide for family.”

SAKIO “THE SCORPION” BIKA, WBC Super Middleweight World Champion (Training in St. Louis, MO)

“I am most grateful to have my family. Also, I am thankful that I have my health and a roof over my head because in this world there are a lot of disabled and homeless people.”

ANTHONY “THE DOG” DIRRELL, Super Middleweight Contender (Training in Del Rey, FL)

“I am most thankful for my family and getting this world championship title opportunity. What I have been through has been amazing with the cancer (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma) and the motorcycle accident. Having the opportunity to recover and fight for the title means a lot to me.”

ADRIEN “THE PROBLEM” BRONER, Undefeated WBA Welterweight World Champion (Training in Colorado Springs, CO)

“I am thankful to God for giving me the ability to take care of family, friends and children.”

MARCOS “EL CHINO” MAIDANA, Former WBA Intercontinental Welterweight Champion (Training in Oxnard, CA)

“I’m thankful for this opportunity that Golden Boy Promotions is giving me. I’m really excited about this fight because of the many more opportunities that will come my way if I win. I’m also grateful to the fans, all the Mexican fans that are showing me their support.”

KEITH “ONE TIME” THURMAN, Undefeated WBA Interim Welterweight World Champion (Training in Clearwater, FL)

“I am most thankful for my career in boxing. Boxing is the only job that I have ever had and the only job I have ever wanted and I am truly grateful for that.”

JESUS “EL RENUENTE” SOTO KARASS, Top Welterweight Contender (Training in Los Angeles, CA)

“I am most thankful for my life and my family. I am grateful to have the love of my wife, kids, parents and siblings. I have the best in life with them. I am also grateful for my health.”

LEO “EL TERREMOTO” SANTA CRUZ, Undefeated WBC Super Bantamweight World Champion (Training in Los Angeles, Calif.)

“I am most thankful for my family, especially my brother. He still suffers from his illness [lupus], but he is doing much better. I am also thankful for my promoter Golden Boy Promotions, my manager Al Haymon and his hard working staff and my fans for supporting me in becoming a champion. Without any of them I wouldn’t be where I am at today.”

CESAR SEDA, Super Bantamweight Title Challenger (Training in Salinas, Puerto Rico)

“I am thankful to God for my health and all of the good things in life that have happened to me and my beautiful family. I know that this Thanksgiving I won’t be able to be with my wife, kids, mother or my grandparents and the rest of my family, but they understand the sacrifice that I am making for their good. This Thanksgiving I pray that God blesses the whole world and that he brings a lot of peace. I am so grateful for the new opportunity he gave me to fight for a world title again.”

BEIBUT SHUMENOV, WBA Light Heavyweight World Champion (Training in Las Vegas, NV)

“As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, I am most thankful for my family. My father and mother raised me to be the person I am today and the continuous love and support from my brother, Chingis.”

TAMAS “TOMI KID” KOVACS, Top Light Heavyweight Contender (Training in Budapest, Hungary)

“I am very thankful for my family and feel very grateful every day to see my kids and my wife. When I am preparing for a fight my family is always on my mind and in my heart. In my career I am very grateful for the opportunity that I can fight for the WBA title.

ABOUT “MALIGNAGGI VS. JUDAH”:

Malignaggi vs. Judah is a 12-round fight for the NABF and NABO Welterweight titles taking place on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The event is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Super Judah Promotions and sponsored by Corona, AT&T, Casamigos Tequila and Grudge Match. In the co-featured bout, Devon Alexander puts his IBF welterweight title on the line in a 12-round bout against Shawn Porter, Erislandy Lara defends his interim WBA Super Welterweight title in a 12-round fight against Austin Trout and Sakio Bika defends his WBC Super Middleweight title against Anthony Dirrell in a 12-round bout.The SHOWTIME telecast begins at 8:00 p.m. ET/ 5:00 p.m. PT immediately following ALL ACCESS: Broner vs. Maidana which begins at 7:30 p.m. ET/ 4:30 p.m. PT. The telecast will be available in Spanish via secondary audio programming (SAP).

Tickets priced at $250, $125, $75, $50 and $25, plus applicable taxes and service charges, available at www.barclayscenter.com, www.ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster locations, by calling 800-745-3000 and at the American Express Box Office. For group tickets, please call 800-GROUP-BK.

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

The Sweet Science

Articles

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.

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Articles

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.

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Articles

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

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!