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To Headline on HBO
Garcia, Golovkin, Martinez – NEW YORK (January 5, 2013) — The Theater at Madison Square Garden will go from Season’s Greetings to Season’s Beatings when it hosts three world championship fights in January.
ORLANDO “Siri” SALIDO will defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight title against undefeated No. 1 contender MIKEY GARCIA; undefeated World Boxing Association (WBA) / International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight champion GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN will look to extend his reign into its third year against world-rated contender “King” GABRIEL ROSADO; and two-time WBO junior lightweight champion ROMAN “Rocky” MARTINEZ will put it all on the line when he goes mano a mano with No. 1 contender JUAN CARLOS “Mini” BURGOS.All three fights will be televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark®, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.
These six warriors have a combined record of 170-18-3 (123 KOs) — a winning percentage of 89% and a victory by knockout ratio of 72%.
Promoted by Top Rank® and K2 Promotions, in association with Tecate and Madison Square Garden, remaining tickets, priced at $200, $100, $50 and $25, are currently available for purchase at the Madison Square Garden Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge by phone (866-858-0008) and online at www.ticketmaster.com or www.thegarden.com.
“The tripleheader, which Top Rank is promoting in conjunction with K2 Promotions, is worthy of being at ‘The Mecca of Boxing ,’ Madison Square Garden, ” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum. “This spectacular event will be staged at the Theater in Madison Square Garden. Each bout figures to be a real barnburner.”
“Gennady Golovkin has become one of the hottest fighters since making his debut on HBO. Defending his middleweight titles against an exciting fighter like Gabriel Rosado will only bring more fireworks,” said Tom Loeffler, managing director of K2 Promotions. “Fighting at ‘The Mecca of Boxing’ is every fighters’ dream and Gennady looks forward to performing on the world’s greatest stage. While others have avoided a fight with Golovkin, at all costs, Rosado jumped at the chance. Both fighters think they are going to win and neither is going to go backwards, that is what makes this such a great fight. GGG at MSG on HBO is an exciting combination.”
“Three world titles featuring a host of exciting and hard-hitting competitors hosted by Madison Square Garden is an ideal way to launch an all-new season of HBO Boxing After Dark,” said Kery Davis, senior vice president of programming, HBO Sports.
Salido (39-11-2, 27 KOs), of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, México, captured his first world title in his third attempt. After a No Decision to Robert Guerrero in 2006 and a split decision loss to Cristobal Cruz in 2008, Salido finally captured the International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight title in 2010, avenging his loss to Cruz by winning a split decision. His title reign was short-lived, losing a unification fight to WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa later that same year. Salido bounced back in a big way, stopping undefeated WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez in the eighth round in 2011 to capture his second world championship crown. Salido enters this fight having won his last five fights by knockout, including title defenses against Kenichi Yamaguchi in 2011 and a rematch with Lopez in March.
Garcia (30-0, 26 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., returns to the ring having won 14 of his past 15 bouts by knockout. Considered to be one of boxing’s top young prospects, Garcia, 24, had a career-best year in 2011, knocking out previously undefeated contender Matt Remillard in the 10thround in March to capture his NABF and NABO title belts. He followed that with four-round knockout title defense victories of Rafael Guzman and Juan Carlos Martinez in June and October, respectively. Guzman and Martinez had a combined record of 47-14-1 when they fought Garcia. This year he continued his winning ways, knocking out one-time world title challenger Bernabe Concepcion and former world champion Mauricio Pastrana, in the seventh and second rounds, respectively. In his last fight , on November 10, Garcia knocked out former WBA featherweight champion Jonathan Barros in the eighth round. Trained by his father Eduardo Garcia and co-managed by his brother Robert Garcia, the former IBF junior lightweight champion, Garcia is currently the WBO’s No. 1-rated featherweight contender.
Golovkin (24-0, 21 KOs), a native of Kazakhstan, now training in Big Bear, Calif., came from a sterling amateur background having won Olympic silver in 2004 and winning the World Championships in 2002 and 2003. Significant amateur victories in those competitions included Daniel Geale, Andre Dirrell, Lucian Bute, Andy Lee and Matvey Korobov. Known for his outstanding conditioning and tremendous two-fisted power, Golovkin captured the WBA interim middleweight title on August 14, 2010, knocking out Milton Nuñez in the first round. He became the WBA middleweight champion in his next fight, knocking out Nilson Julio in the third round, on December 16, 2010. He has successfully defended his WBA title four times while adding the IBO title to his trophy case via a first-round KO of Lajuan Simon last December. Golovkin returns to the ring having won his last 11 fights by knockout, dating back to 2008. On September 1, he made his highly-anticipated U.S and HBO debuts, successfully defending his titles against No. 3-rated Grzegorz Proksa via a fifth-round TKO.
Rosado (21-5, 13 KOs), of Philadelphia, PA, enters this fight riding a two-year, seven-bout winning streak, with five of those victories coming by way of knockout. His current streak has included three career-best victories, all this year, against Jesus Soto-Karass in January, Sechew Powell in June, and Charles Whittaker in September, all by knockout. The Powell victory included the WBO Inter-Continental junior middleweight title while the defeat of Whittaker in an IBF title elimination bout propelled Rosado to the top of the IBF ratings.
Martinez (26-1-1, 16 KOs), of Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, is one of the division’s more exciting fighters. He won his first world title — the WBO junior lightweight championship — on March 14, 2009, knocking out defending champion Nicky Cook in Manchester, England in the fourth round. Martinez successfully defended the title twice — with knockout victories of Feider Viloria in 2009 and Gonzalo Munguia in 2010. He lost the title later that year, via a unanimous decision , to local favorite Ricky Burns in Glasgow, Scotland. After scoring a sixth-round TKO of Daniel Attah for the WBO Inter-Continental junior lightweight belt, Martinez reclaimed the WBO crown winning a fire fight split decision against Miguel Beltran, Jr. on September 15.
Burgos (30-1, 29 KOs), of Tijuana, México, will be making his second attempt at a world title. After unsuccessfully challenging Hozumi Hasagawa for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight title in 2010, he moved up to the junior lightweight division stringing together a two-year, five-bout winning streak, including Luis Cruz for the NABO title last year, and former world champion Cristobal Cruz for the WBC Silver championship belt last February. In his most recent fight, Burgos stopped undefeated Cesar Vazquez in the third round, catapulting him into the No. 1 contender position.
Garcia, Golovkin, Martinez
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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.
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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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