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In Chicago, Robert Garcia Baits Floyd Mayweather

Published

10 years ago

July 16, 2014

THE “MAYHEM” ROLLS ON: FLOYD MAYWEATHER vs. MARCOS MAIDANA; CHICAGO PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

“He needs to make some major changes and probably get a new trainer if he wants to have a chance against me.” – Floyd Mayweather

“First, I’m going to give him a beating and then I’m going to knock him out.” – Marcos Maidana

CHICAGO (July 15, 2014) – The “MAYHEM” that is the Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana cross-country promotional press tour took center stage in Chicago on Tuesday as both fighters resorted to creative tactics to get under their opponent’s skin as they announce their Sept. 13 rematch taking place at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, live on SHOWTIME PPV^®.

Eleven-time world champion Mayweather refused to sit down as Maidana and his trainer, Robert Garcia, took their turn at the podium. Instead, he signed autographs for fans, taunted Garcia and chanted his signature line: “Hard work, dedication.”

Not to be outdone, Maidana and Garcia returned the favor when it was Mayweather’s turn on the dais, jetting off stage to greet a large group of “Chino” fans as they chanted “Ole.”

Tuesday afternoon’s event at Auditorium Theatre was the third stop on the five-city, open-to-the-public promotional tour, which continues Tuesday evening in San Antonio and Thursday in Los Angeles.

Here’s what the participants had to say on Tuesday:

FLOYD MAYWEATHER, Eleven-Time, Five-Division World Champion

“Fighting is not all about power. It’s about being smart. I don’t have to change anything. My job is to go out there and do what I am paid to do – that’s be smart and finish first. And I always finish first.

“I’m going to do the same thing I always do. It’s about blood sweat and tears, and nobody does it better than me.

“I’ve had some bumps and bruises, but I always stay on top. His camp needs to make major changes if they want to have a chance.

“My hand got raised so I don’t need to make any adjustments. He needs to make some major changes and probably get a new trainer if he wants to have a chance against me.

“I have to watch this guy in there. He’s dirty.

“If he really feels like he won the first fight then he should bet his purse. He should put his money where his mouth is. But he knows he can’t beat me.

“My legacy and the will to win drives me to keep fighting. All I have to do is keep racking up victories and putting on a show.

“If you want to beat me you have to earn it the hard way.

“Why are we fighting again? Because the fans wanted it. I usually dominate my opponents or knock them out. But this guy won three or four rounds against me, and that never happens.

“It’s obvious he’s doing something right if he is facing me again and he won a few rounds from me. But the referee had a bad night last time. We forgive him but this is going to be a much cleaner fight. Note of those dirty rabbit punches or elbows.

“This is not a street fight; this is not an MMA fight. My health and my career after boxing is what’s important. He has a wife, he has children. I could hit this guy without gloves and he could never talk again. We use gloves to protect ourselves.

“It’s going to be another great showdown because I’m pretty sure he’s going to be ready and I’m always ready. We’re just going to give the fans what they want to see

“My back is always against the ropes no matter how it plays out in the sport of boxing. If I dominate a guy they say he’s over the hill. If I don’t knock a guy out they say he’s slow. I’m not just fighting my opponent, I’m fighting the world – the media, the critics, the haters. But it comes with the territory.

“I’m in this position for a reason so all I can do is go out there and be the best Floyd Mayweather. I just need to dominate, take my time and listen to the instructions that my father gives me.

“Robert Garcia is not the fighter, so he can say whatever he wants to say. It’s up to the fighter to get in there September 13 and show me what he can do.

“This is my era and I just might be on another level.”

MARCOS MAIDANA, Former WBA Welterweight World Champion

“I’m going to have to go for the knockout this time, I have no choice. Floyd’s defense is very good and at times it is hard to hit him. That’s why I want to knock him out.

“First, I’m going to give him a beating and then I’m going to knock him out. It’s going to be hard to get a decision because he connects well and knows how to score points.

“I’m going to make some technical adjustments, work on my distance and always pressure him. Our camp last time was great, but we just need to make minor adjustments to get the win.

“Floyd is trying to get under our skin, but it’s not going to work. We’re going to do our fighting in the ring and this time we’re going to win.

“Floyd is trying to make us lose our cool. He’s trying to make us angry so we break concentration. He does it on purpose because he wants to have the upper hand. But his comments don’t affect me at all.

“Floyd can say whatever he wants about me. He knows that I gave him the toughest fight of his life. The only difference is this time I will knock him out.

“This will be a different fight. He knows what I bring to the table and he knows how I fight. I don’t want to leave any doubt whatsoever. To beat a champion like Floyd you have to knock him out.

“I promise I’m going to put on a great fight and I’m going to shut his mouth. He doesn’t respect anything or anyone. He might have money, but he doesn’t have respect.

“He thinks he intimidates me? Nothing intimidates me. His talk can’t hurt me, his punches can’t hurt me. Come Sept. 13, he’ll be the one that’s hurt.

“One hundred percent the gloves made a difference in the last fight. The gloves I use are fit to my hand and are more comfortable. But the ones that I was forced to wear were not comfortable.

“But the bottom line is, this time I’m going to win with any glove that I wear.

“We only had five weeks of sparring and training camp last time. But in this camp we’ve already been in the gym for a week and we still have eight weeks to go. So we will be 100 percent ready for Sept. 13.

“The rematch was unexpected because I thought Floyd was not going to agree (to fight me). And then, one day out of the blue, I got word Floyd wanted to fight me again. By then I was already thinking I wasn’t going to fight again this year.

“For me, what’s really important here is to come out victorious. I come here to win and I don’t really care about money.

“I think many fighters are obsessed with Mayweather. Everybody wants to fight him because they get the chance to make history if they win. And I want to make history.”

ROBERT GARCIA, Maidana’s Trainer

“If Floyd thinks the last fight was tough, this fight is going to be even tougher.

“I retired 12 years ago, and I heard you talking about me and my fights. I know that you are going to bring up my fight with [Diego] Corrales –I have nothing to be ashamed of. I lost to a warrior. He was a great champion and I lost that fight with honor, not like a [expletive].

“If I fought like a [expletive] and acted like a [expletive] I’d still be undefeated. Floyd fights like a [expletive] and behaves like a [expletive].

“You’ve been bringing up stories about dirty fighting, dirty this, dirty that. Guess what? This fight is going to be rougher for you. You better be ready.

“You are going around telling Chino that you want to place a bet on this fight? Well, let’s do that bet right now. You want to put in conditions? Well, we have our conditions, too. Let’s do a bet where winner takes all. You have a lot of money. Winner takes all.

“It looks to me that you are not that sure that you are going to win. If you were, you would have shaken my hand and agreed to the bet if you were that confident you are going to win.”

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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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