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Quotes Galore From Canelo/Kirkland Golden Boy Pressers

Published

10 years ago

March 4, 2015

The Sweet Science

CANELO ALVAREZ VS. JAMES KIRKLAND

HOUSTON & SAN ANTONIO PRESS CONFERENCES QUOTES & PHOTOS

Tickets on Sale Now!

Oscar De La Hoya, Founder and President of Golden Boy Promotions, Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson, Chairman and CEO of SMS Promotions, Mike Battah, President of Leija*Battah and Texas boxing legend and Founder of Leija*Battah Promotions, Jesse James Leija, were also in attendance to discuss the much anticipated clash of two of boxing’s toughest fighters. Golden Boy Promotions, in association with Canelo Promotions, SMS Promotions and Leija*Battah Promotions will bring fans an explosive night of boxing on Saturday, May 9. The event will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing ®.

Below is what Canelo Alvarez, James Kirkland, Oscar De La Hoya, Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson and their teams had to say during the press conferences.

CANELO ALVAREZ, Former World Champion:

“I want to thank everyone for coming out today. As always you guys are very good to me you have always supported me.

“First of all I want to thank all the people; I feel like home every time I come to Texas.

“This is the first time that I am anxious to fight here and I am looking forward to fighting Kirkland. He is coming to fight. He is dangerous and powerful. I am also powerful and aggressive and I can guarantee you, this is going to be an explosive fight.

“I am very happy to be with Golden Boy Promotions, they want to make the best fights and so do I. I want to give fans an exciting night of boxing on May 9.

JAMES “MANDINGO WARRIOR” KIRKLAND, Super Welterweight Contender:

“I want to thank HBO Championship Boxing, Golden Boy Promotions, SMS Promotions for giving me this opportunity.

“I’m ready to put my life on the line and give it everything I’ve got. I want to show my fans what I’ve really come to do.

“May 9, we’re here. Team Kirkland!”

OSCAR DE LA HOYA, Founder and President of Golden Boy Promotions:

“Canelo has faced all the top guys at this age. Why? Because he wants to be the very best and to be the very best you have to fight the very best.

“We have to pair the best styles to create the best fight. No questions asked, this is going to be the fight of the year.

“We have all seen what Kirkland can do. He is a tough fighter. But, these are the types of the fights that Canelo loves, the fights for the fans.

“In just two hours since they went on sale, 15,000 tickets have been sold for May 9.

“Canelo has said he wants to fight in Texas once a year. That is how important the Teaxs fans are to Canelo Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions.

“We are happy to announce that tickets start at $10. The $10 seat is probably the best seat because of how the arena is built. We wanted to reasonably price these tickets out of respect for the fans.

“We are thrilled and happy that we can have this fight here in Texas. Come Saturday May 9, we know that a lot of fans from San Antonio will be driving down and filling up the place in Houston.

“We are extremely happy to have a home for this fight and what better place than HBO.”

CURTIS ‘50 CENT’ JACKSON, Chairman and CEO of SMS Promotions:

“It’s a pleasure to be here and announce one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year.
“Fans will see something really exciting on May 9. In James, you have a fighter who is powerful, intense and aggressive.

“James is a powerful warrior, and you all will get to see him in action on May 9.”

MIKE BATTAH, President of Leija Battah Promotions:

“We’re going to experience a historical event on May 9. We have two warriors, Canelo and Kirkland. We are glad to be bringing a mega fight to Texas.

“We sold 39,000 tickets when Canelo was last here. We are going to beat that with this fight on May 9.”

JESSE JAMES LEIJA, Founder of Leija*Battah Promotions:

“Oscar De La Hoya, Canelo and Kirkland wanted to fight here in Texas so we got the closest venue we could for May 9 and that’s in Houston.

“We want everyone to come out here and show what kind of boxing fans we have in Texas.

“We want everyone to come out there on May 9 and let’s fill up Minute Maid Park. I’ll tell you what; it’s going to be a much better fight than the fight on May 2.

“You’ve got two powerful punchers, two guys that want to prove to Texas and the world who is the better man. It’s going to be a great fight.”

JOSE “CHEPO” REYNOSO, Manager and Trainer for Canelo Alvarez:

“We’re here to give you guys thanks, we are very thankful for all the support. We are also here to invite you to Houston on May 9.

“Styles make fights and the boxing styles of Canelo and Kirkland will make a war in the ring on May 9. Both of these fighters have come to fight.

“May belongs to the Mexicans, and on May 9 we will be chanting ‘Viva Mexico!’ ‘Viva Canelo!’”

EDDIE REYNOSO, Head Trainer for Canelo Alvarez:

“I want to thank everyone for being here. We are training hard to prepare Canelo to be ready to face a tough contender on May 9.

“On May 9 we have a dangerous fight, a fight that could end at any time with one punch. That’s why we have been getting ready since the second week of January. That’s why we are going get ready like never before. Kirkland is a fighter with a very big punch and he’s very good.

“I want to invite all of you to see Canelo May 9 at Minute Maid Park so that you can see a great knock out.”

BAY-BAY McCLINTON, Trainer for James Kirkland:

“I’ve known James since he was 16 years old. He was in my training camp I had eight guys. And, out of those eight guys James stood out the most to me. He promised me that ‘Whenever I have a big fight, you’re going to be the guy.’ He called me, and he stuck to his word.

“He’s going through hell right now, but I’ll tell you, come May 9 he’s not going to be a pit bull – he is going to be a beast.”

PETER NELSON, HBO Sports Vice President of Programing:

“Thank you guys for coming out. I think Texas has some of the best fight fans in the world. It’s always a privilege for us to come to Texas and we look forward to a great event on May 9.

“I think it is to the great credit of these two men, Canelo Alvarez and James Kirkland, that they wanted to take this fight. I think it speaks to the quality of fighters that they are. This is as fine a fight as I’ve seen on the network since I started working at HBO. This is going to be an all-action fight. It is not to be missed.”

MARCEL BRAITHWAITE, Senior Vice President Business Operations Houston Astros

“We are very excited to help bring boxing back to the City of Houston and are proud to be hosting the first ever professional boxing match at Minute Maid Park.

“A special thanks to Golden Boy Promotions, SMS Promotions, Leija*Battah Promotions and our partners for bringing this once in a lifetime event to our venue.

“On behalf of the Houston Astros, we want to wish both fighters ‘good luck’ and to present them with a personalized authentic jersey on behalf of our entire team.”

# # #

Canelo Alvarez vs. James Kirkland, is a 12-round super welterweight bout presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Canelo Promotions, SMS Promotions and Leija*Battah Promotions and is sponsored by Corona Extra and Mexico – Live it to Believe it! The HBO World Championship Boxing telecast begins at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Tickets for Canelo vs. Kirkland priced at $350, $150, $100, $50, $25 and $10, plus applicable fees and service charges, and are on sale now and available for purchase at the Minute Maid Park Box Office (Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) all Ticketmaster outlets, by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000, online at www.ticketmaster.com. There is a 19-ticket limit per household.

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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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