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Shawn Porter vs. Kell Brook Official Weights
TEMPERS FLARE AS WBC CHAMPION SAKIO BIKA
AND CHALLENGER ANTHONY DIRRELL
EXCHANGE HEATED WORDS
AFTER FRIDAY’S WEIGH-IN AT STUBHUB CENTER
Shawn Porter Defends IBF Belt Against Kell Brook in Battle of Unbeaten Welterweights,
Omar Figueroa Jr. Risks WBC Lightweight Title Against Daniel Estrada
Tomorrow/Saturday Live on SHOWTIME® (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)
Deontay Wilder and Jorge LinaresCo-Featured on SHOWTIME EXTREME® (7 p.m. ET/PT)
First Live, Non-Televised Fight is 1:05 p.m. PT; Tickets Still On Sale !!
CARSON, Calif. (Aug. 15, 2014) – WBC Super Middleweight Champion Sakio “The Scorpion” Bika and undefeated challenger Anthony “The Dog” Dirrell have been heckling and hurling insults at each other ever since their first fight (Dec. 2013) on SHOWTIME ended in a controversial, disputed 12-round split draw.
The war of words continued between Bika and Dirrell during Friday’s weigh-in at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. View the entire Weigh-In via SHO Sports Press Pass Live: http://www.sho.com/sho/sports/press-pass-live/101.
After each boxer made weight (Bika 167.8 pounds, Dirrell 168), posed for photos on the scale and faced-off at center stage, Dirrell (26-0-1, 22 KOs), of Flint, Mich., was interviewed by SHOWTIME’s Brian Custer. Dirrell’s interview came off peacefully but when it was Bika’s turn to speak Dirrell and his team could be heard harassing him unmercifully off camera. A couple of times, an agitated Bika (32-5-3, 21 KOs), of Sydney, Australia, looked down and spoke directly to Dirrell while the heated exchanges continued before he finally returned his full attention to Custer.
There were no punches thrown, but it is obvious that both fighters dislike like each other and that tomorrow can’t come soon enough for either of them.
In other world title fights tomorrow on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING®, IBF Welterweight World Champion“ShowTime”Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15 KOs), of Cleveland, Ohio, will defend against fellow unbeaten Kell Brook(32-0, 22 KOs), of Sheffield, England and undefeated Omar “Panterita” FigueroaJr. (23-0-1, 17 KOs), of Weslaco, Texas, will put up his WBC Lightweight World Championship against mandatory challenger Daniel“Tremendo” Estrada (32-2-1, 24 KOs), of Mexico City.
Like Bika and Dirrell, the four other SHOWTIME fighters made weight on their first attempts: Porter weighed 146.8 pounds, Brook tipped the scale at 146.4 pounds. Figueroa weighed the division-limit 135 pounds, Estrada 134.6 pounds.
Preceding the SHOWTIME telecast will be two significant fights on SHOWTIME EXTREME® (7 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast): undefeated heavyweight knockout sensation and WBC Continental Americas Champion Deontay “TheBronze Bomber” Wilder (31-0, 31 KOs), of Tuscaloosa, Ala., will take on Jason Gavern (25-16-4, 11 KOs), of Orlando, Fla., in a 10-round scrap and former two-division world champion Jorge “Niño De Oro” Linares (36-3, 23 KOs) will meet IraTerry (26-11, 16 KOs), of Memphis, Tenn., in an eight-round lightweight bout.
Wilder weighed 224 pounds, Gavern 247 pounds; Linares weighed 137 pounds, Terry weighed 132 pounds.
Tickets priced at $150, $75, $50 and $25, plus applicable taxes, fees and services charges are on
sale now and are available online at AXS.com, by phone at 888-9-AXS-TIX (888-929-7849) and at StubHub
Center Box Office (Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. PT to 6 p.m. PT). VIP Suites are available by
calling 877-604-8777. For more information on group discounts or VIP packages, please call 877-234-
8425. Doors open at 1 p.m. PT. The first fight begins at 1:05 p.m.
Full Bout Sheet with weights is attached.
# # #
Porter vs. Brook is a 12-round fight for Porter’s IBF Welterweight World Championship promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona and AT&T. In the co-main event, the WBC Super Middleweight World Champion Sakio Bika defends his belt in a rematch against Anthony Dirrell, and in the televised opener, Omar Figueroa defends his WBC Lightweight World Championship against Daniel Estrada. The event will take place at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif., and will air on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING (SHOWTIME 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) and will be available in Spanish via secondary audio programming (SAP). Preliminary bouts will air live on SHOWTIME EXTREME (7 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast).
Articles
2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura
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
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.
Articles
2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland
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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