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Golovkin Coming to LA This Week To Start Training For Foe TBD

Published

11 years ago

May 12, 2014

Gennady Golovkin, the Bieber-faced bomber, is due to arrive in Los Angeles this week, and will begin training for a July fight, likely on July 19, against opponent TBD.

Ole TBD could be Daniel Geale, whose May 24 scrap against Matthew Macklin was blown up when the headline bout for that date, a Mike Perez-Bryant Jennings tussle, was cancelled. That’s because Perez hurt his left shoulder in training.

“We don’t have an opponent confirmed yet,” Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler, of K2, told me. “We hope to have that confirmed this week.”

The date will be either July 19 or July 26, the site TBD, and HBO will air the faceoff, he said.

“Geale is in the mix,” he continued. “He would make sense, he’s a former champion, but nothing is confirmed. We’ve made him offers before which he hasn’t accepted.”

I asked Geale’s promoter, Gary Shaw, if a Golovkin-Geale fight will occur. “I don’t know, as with all fights, there are always some blocks, but I am trying to make the fight,” Shaw said. “The dumbest thing I read is Matthew Macklin talking about a conspiracy. I lose serious money with the fight coming down, maybe he wants to cover my losses?”

Shaw is referring to a disappointed Macklin pointing out that the explosion of the GGG-Chavez fight had a domino effect, to his eye, with his fight against Geale also blowing up right after. He found that…fishy.

Now, on the subject of offers not accepted…it looked like a Triple G-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr fight would be crafted for July 19, but Junior turned up his nose at that tangle. Why? He didn’t care for a deal structure which would have tied him to promoter Top Rank for longer, I guess, than he’s comfortable with. The money promoter Bob Arum was guaranteeing him seems like a more than healthy amount to me, but I’m not in the negotiating rooms. Loeffler, ever so mild in manner, didn’t take the bait when I asked if perhaps Chavez was ducking a Golovkin bout. Loeffler said he doesn’t like it when others weigh in on negotiations he’s involved in when they are working with limited info, so he wouldn’t go there…but he did say that he thinks Golovkin made purse and weight and site concessions that should have made it easier for Junior to sign off on the bout.

“It seemed to make sense for both sides,” he said, ever so mildly. “I guess if he thought it would be an easy fight he would have taken the guaranteed money.”

Golovkin has been helping his mom, back in the Kazakhstan, deal with the death of her husband and his father. Loeffler said the boxer is one of the strongest people he’s ever met, in dealing with adversity, so he’s confident the fighters’ head is screwed on tight.

Loeffler said he aims to keep the momentum, in regards to ratings–GGG took part in the third highest rated boxing show in 2013–and popularity, in the US and overseas, chugging along.

As for Perez, results on an MRI come back tomorrow (Tuesday), so Loeffler will know more about resetting his squareoff vs. Jennings then. “With Stiverne’s win over Arreola, the Perez-Jennings fight is crucial, as it determines another mandatory (for the WBC belt-holder),” the promoter stated.

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Michael Woods

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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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