Featured Articles
WARD, FROCH READY TO TALK…Borges

At times it looked like it would never happen and quite often it didn’t seem worth the effort, but it is nearly here now and Carl Froch and Andre Ward seemed elated this week that their moment has nearly arrived.
After over two years fraught with injuries, question marks, disappointments, cancellations and adjustments, SHOWTIME’s Super 6 super middleweight tournament is only two months away from crowning its 168-pound champion. Whether it turns out to be England’s Froch or the last U.S. Olympian to win a Olympic gold medal, Ward, is almost secondary (except to them). What is paramount is that Ken Hershman pulled it off.
It was SHOWTIME’s vice-president and general manager of sports who came up with the idea of putting together the top six 168-pounders in the world and matching them in a series of fights that would ultimately lead the final two into the ring with the most important thing in sports on the line – public recognition that the winner is truly the champion of the world.
With the absence of Lucien Bute from the tournament that will remain an issue to debate among 168 pounders perhaps but Froch-Ward will still be widely recognized as a fight that settles most of the issues in the division because few can argue that any super middleweight other than Bute and these two remain in the discussion.
The Danes can talk about Mikkel Kessler all they want but he had his chances in this tournament and was found wanting. Same is true of former middleweight champion Arthur Abraham. WBO champion Robert Stieglitz (40-2) might have something to say about the subject but he’s late to the dance so only after Froch-Ward decide who becomes the unified WBC-WBA champion and the winner faces Bute should he even be in the discussion (maybe by having to fight the loser of the Oct. 29 final?).
If soon after the winner is crowned it is announced he will face the undefeated Bute (29-0), who holds the IBF title as well as an equally valuable contract with SHOWTIME, all matters will have been decided in the ring and so they can all start over again from a higher profile and with a firmer grasp in the public’s mind of who is the man to be beat, which is frankly a good idea that has for too long eluded the men who run the sport.
“What Ken has done has thrown away all the questions and politics in boxing,’’ Eddie Hearn, Froch’s manager, said this week during a three-day promotional tour to London, New York and finally Ward’s hometown of Oakland, Calif.
“We have the best fighting the best to reveal the ultimate champion. This tournament has revolutionized the sport of boxing. It has taken out the politics of the sport that can hinder big fights and has left the best men in the division to square off.’’
That was the point all along and on that level it will have succeeded if the Super 6 final on Oct. 29 goes off without a hitch in Atlantic City. The winner will have fought his way through a gauntlet of difficult fights and Hershman will have survived an equally daunting series of problems.
“This has been an incredible endeavor and an exasperating one for all of us working behind the scenes,’’ Hershman admits. “But it has delivered thrilling fights and that is what we set out to do. As the tournament progressed we could see Andre Ward and Carl Froch were on a collision course. For this reason alone we’re in for a great fight.’’
That will be decided by the fighters and, to a lesser extent, the referee and judges, but there is no reason to expect anything but a highly competitive fight between two guys with just enough stylistic differences to provide fireworks and interesting tactical issues that should intrigue fans of the sport.
“We have a lot of respect for Andre Ward but I have some bad news for you,’’ Hearn told a pro-Ward group of supporters. “Carl Froch is not human. He’s a machine. Andre Ward says he’s been in the trenches but he’s never been in trenches with England’s finest.
“This is a huge fight for Britain. Carl is now Britain’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. He had nothing given him. He travels and fights away from home on the regular (basis). To defend his (WBC) title, capture the WBA, RING magazine belts and the Super 6 Cup would mean everything to a guy who has had to do everything on his own.’’
Probably so but it’s not exactly like Ward was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. In fact, he barely had a spoon for a time. Even once he began to show promise in the prize ring he was an afterthought, first at the Olympic Games and then when lightly regarded by many as the Super 6 tournament began. At that time the thought was he had simply been included to get a few recognizable American names in the mix to create early interest, yet as the tournament went along Ward emerged as a star in the making and someone who can help revitalize the sport in the U.S. if he continues to win and continues to look at the world the way he does now.
“When I started in this tournament everyone had questions about me,’’ Ward said. “Everyone has doubts. Now there are some people that say I’m the favorite but I don’t feel that way. I still have a chip on my shoulder.
“I don’t know if this tournament and the final would be what it is if it didn’t have the bumps in the road. Difficulties make you appreciate things. There were several times I thought it was over but then I’d get a call saying we’re back on. Don’t get frustrated by the journey; enjoy the ride.
“We (both) know why we’re here. I expected from the beginning to make it to the final and slowly but surely we made believers out of a lot of people that doubted me. But I would not call either of us “great,’’ Carl nor I. That term is thrown around too loosely today.
“You have to earn that and that’s what I want to do, to earn that name “great.’’ This is the kind of fight you have to fight and you have to win in order to be considered “great.’’’
The whole way Ward looks at things is refreshing. He’s not beating his chest, hollering about his greatness. He fight and lets’ you decide.
Equally refreshing is how he and Froch got to this point. They fought their way here. No politics, no purposeful avoidance of a deserving challenger. They faced down strong opposition, accepted who was put in front of them even when rugged Glen Johnson became an unexpected late addition. They didn’t complain nor try to explain.
They fought.
Refreshing idea that hopefully will reward both the fighters and SHOWTIME, which battled as hard to keep the tournament alive after Jermain Taylor and Kessler pulled out as it did to create it in the first place. Now it’s down to the final fight and two guys who got to this point the old fashioned way.
“This has been a fantastic tournament by SHOWTIME Sport,’’ the two-time world champion Froch said. “Some have said it has taken too long or that it’s been drawn out but these fights that were made possible in the Super 6…,with the six best guys out there, would not have happened had we not had the tournament.
“The Final is what a top sport is all about. We have the two best fighters facing off for it all. This is the essence of sport.’’
Indeed it is so when the fight finally happens maybe someone should hand Ken Hershman a trophy, too.
Featured Articles
Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.
Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.
After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.
Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.
One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”
Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.
“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.
A real fight was happening.
Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.
Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.
In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”
Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.
In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.
“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Espinoza Wins
WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.
“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.
Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.
Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.
It was Espinoza’s third title defense.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.
The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.
The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.
Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.
Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.
A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.
In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.
Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.
Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.
In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.
Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.
Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.
In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.
Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.
Semi-wind-up
In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.
A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.
The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.
Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.
Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.
Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.
Heavyweights
In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.
Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.
The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.
In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.
Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Results and Recaps from Las Vegas where Richard Torrez Jr Mauled Guido Vianello
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Weekend Recap and More with the Accent of Heavyweights
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Remembering Hall of Fame Boxing Trainer Kenny Adams
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Boxing Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Avila Perspective Chap 320: Boots Ennis and Stanionis
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Dzmitry Asanau Flummoxes Francesco Patera on a Ho-Hum Card in Montreal
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday