Articles

Floyd Mayweather: “I’m Not Taking Maidana For Granted”

Published

7 years ago

March 9, 2014

LAS VEGAS (March 8, 2014) – Boxing superstar and 10-Time World Champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather (45-0, 26 KOs) held court at a jam-packed press conference at MGM Grand today to formally discuss his 147-pound welterweight world title unification bout against dangerous, hard-hitting Marcos “El Chino” Maidana (34-3, 31 KOs) in the main event of “THE MOMENT” on Saturday, May 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena live on SHOWTIME PPV^®.

Addressing media members hours before the start of Saturday night’s “TOE TO TOE: Canelo vs. Angulo” event on SHOWTIME PPV, Mayweather touched on a variety of subjects, including Maidana, the upcoming matchup with the Argentine slugger, his future and more. Also speaking were Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions and

Stephen Espinoza, Executive Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME SPORTS.

FLOYD MAYWEATHER, 10-Time World Champion, Five Division World Champion and WBC Welterweight

“Maidana is a young, strong and tough competitor. He’s a guy that I can’t overlook. You can never take any fighter for granted because anything can happen.

“I believe in dedicating myself to my craft. This is my 18th year in the sport. I’ve had a strong run and we’ve got three more fights after this one. I truly believe in taking one fight at a time.

“This was my first week out [in training camp] and we had a tremendous week.

“Hopefully, some day I help some of this up-and-coming talent and promote them. Boxing is growing and is here to stay.

“I’m not scared of any opponent. I fight who I want to fight.

“Tonight is another marvelous show. Canelo is one hell of a fighter and Angulo is too. It’s going to be nonstop action. This is a fight not to miss.

“Canelo’s a different breed. A lot of people think because of the way I made Canelo look, they’re going to be able to do the same thing, but that’s not true. He’s a strong fighter.

“Tonight’s fight is different than my fight with Canelo back in September. They [Canelo and Angulo] have great styles and styles make fights. This fight is tailor made to be a war.

“I fight myself. I don’t fight to break Ali’s record or Sugar Ray Robinson’s record. I fight to please myself. I know in my heart where I’m rated. I didn’t fight in Ali’s era. This is my era.

“I don’t know who my three next opponents will be. A lot of people ask me that. You want to fight me? Earn it.

“I’m a strong critic of myself. I’m really hard on myself. Even with the Canelo fight and the fight before that fight, I wasn’t happy with my performance. I haven’t reached my peak yet. I know I can do better.

“I’ve been in the sport of boxing for a long time, but I haven’t been able to bring my ‘A-game’ totally out. I’ve beaten fighters with my ‘C-Game’ and with my ‘D-Game,’ but I haven’t been able to beat anybody with my ‘A-Game.’

“I’m a firm believer that before you can go anywhere, you have to conquer the level that you are at, just like young kids do it today with video games, they have to finish one level to go to the next one. Conquer one level at the time, and only then you’ll get where you want to go to.

“I always say that I’m a clean athlete and that I should be randomly tested anytime, urine and blood.

“I have only seen Maidana’s last fight against Broner. I’ve only watched the first six or seven rounds. I’ve also seen highlights of other fights, but not many. He’s a good fighter; I’m not taking him for granted. I don’t take anybody for granted.”

ROBERT GARCIA, Maidana’s Trainer

“In 1998, Floyd and I won a title in the same year in the same weight division. Sixteen years later, I’m training my fighters to fight him and he’s still a champion. That is hard to believe.

“Our guy Maidana earned this fight. I want to thank Mayweather for taking this fight.

“There were other names out there, but Mayweather is a boxing person and he made the right choice. I think Maidana earned the right to fight Floyd. He’s going to come out and do his best. Just like he did against Adrien Broner.

“Broner was supposed to be the next great thing. What Maidana did to him was something that no one believed could happen. It takes hard work and dedication.

“It takes a great fighter that listens to what his coaches tell him to do and we’re going to come out and do our best to please everyone with a great fight and come out with a win. Everyone has a time and it could be this time. No one has a blueprint because no one has ever beaten Floyd.”

RICHARD SCHAEFER, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions

“Floyd Mayweather did it again. He picked the most dangerous opponent he could have.

“It’s going to be a thrilling fight. Maidana is ready and he’s going to come to try to knock out Mayweather.

“The tickets went on sale this morning at 10 a.m. There are 16,000 seats [in the arena] and 14,000 were sold with over $12 million in the bank already.”

LEONARD ELLERBE, CEO of Mayweather Promotions

“Maidana’s a tremendous fighter. He can crack with either hand and Floyd is going to have to be at his best to beat him on May 3rd.

[On the Mayweather Promotions opponent poll] “Floyd has over 11 million followers across different platforms, all of those were taken under consideration.

“On the first tweet he put out, there were over 50,000 comments on the first two hours. My team and I went through all of the responses, and Maidana was an overwhelming favorite.

“Maidana earned the right to fight Floyd and May 3rd is going to be a great night for boxing.”

STEPHEN ESPINOZA, Executive Vice President & General Manager, SHOWTIME SPORTS

“SHOWTIME Sports has become the home of the most compelling fights and the biggest events in the sport of boxing. And there are no bigger events than those featuring Floyd Mayweather.

“We are proud to be part of the May 3^rd event and look forward to another incredible night at the fights.”

# # #

“THE MOMENT: Mayweather vs. Maidana,” a 12-round world championship unification bout for Mayweather and Maidana’s respective 147-pound titles, is promoted by Mayweather Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona, O’Reilly Auto Parts and AT&T. The event will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) and is the third fight of a lucrative six-fight deal with Showtime Networks Inc.

Tickets priced at $1,500, $1,000, $750, $550 and $350, not including applicable service charges and taxes are on sale now. Tickets are limited to eight (8) per person with a limit of two (2) at the $350 price range. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available for purchase at www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

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The Sweet Science

Articles

2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

5 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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Articles

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

Published

5 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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Articles

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

Published

5 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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