Rios: I was picked for Pacquiao because I lost my last fight

rios343By Chris Williams: Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) figures that the only reason he was given a big money fight against Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) on November 24th this year is because Rios is coming off of a loss to Mike Alvarado in a fight that he didn’t look good in last March.

Rios said to the bostonherald.com “He [Pacquiao] picked me because I lost. They probably think ‘Brandon is easy to hit. Brandon gets hit all the time.’ It’s a very different story when you get in the ring with me…they made a mistake picking me.”

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WBO Champ Ricky Burns superb in beating Gonzalez

burns754By Stevie Ocallaghan: The thing I would like to start with is that I do not judge a fighter on nationality, color or race, I judge a fighter on his ability in the ring.

Last Saturday night at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow we witnessed a war between WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns and Jose Gonzalez. What should be judged is that Ricky Burns retained his title when Gonzalez quit on his stool. No hollow victory, Gonzalez quit.

Great fighters in the past have quit, Roberto Duran, Vitali Klitschko, Don Curry and many more have quit through exhaustion or injury. It happens, but when a guy quits for whatever the reason, don’t belittle the winner as being lucky or fortunate.

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Burns victorious over Gonzalez

burns43By Stevie Ocallaghan: First things first, WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns retained his WBO lightweight title last Saturday night at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow by stopping challenger Jose Gonzalez after the 9th round.

Burns was not at his best, but I honestly think that was down to the supreme talent that Jose Chelo Gonzalez was. Gonzalez, arguably out fought Burns in the first half of the fight, but as I’ve written before there are not many fighters with the heart and fitness of Ricky Burns.

Gonzalez won the first 5 rounds fairly easily, the 6th was shared then round 7 was a barnstormer. Gonzalez threw everything he had and at one point looked to have Burns ready but Burns came back with everything he had. What a round and Burns did enough to share that round.

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Darchinyan stops Gallo

darchinyan4334By Jim Dower: #3 WBC 122 lb. contender Vic Darchinyan (39-5-1, 28 KO’s) potentially put himself in position for a world title shot tonight in beating Javier Gallo (18-7-1, 10 KO’s) in an easy fourth round knockout at the Uni-Trade Stadium, in Laredo, Texas, USA.

Darchinyan, 37 knocked Gallo down four times in the fight, 3 times in the 2nd round, and a final time in the 4th round. The fight was halted at 0.26 of the fourth round.

It’s good that Darchinyan won the fight, but he was stunned once in the fight by the little known Gallo and that’s not a good sign for Darchinyan with him wanting to get a title shot against WBC super bantamweight champion Victor Terrazas.

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Burns’ victory over Gonzalez was a hollow one

burns433By Scott Gilfoid: If there was ever win that was a tainted one it was WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns’ win tonight over Jose Gonzalez (22-1, 17 KO’s) in Glasgow, Scotland. I mean, I’ve never seen Burns schooled like that before.

I shudder at the thought of what would have happened had Gonzalez not stopped fighting when he did. Burns looked totally out of his depth in the fight, and you could see it on his face. The man was desperate.

I like Burns as a fighter, but to see him win like that was sad because he really struggled against Gonzalez and couldn’t handle his jab, speed, power and movement.

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RIP Andrew Millwall

By Mark Havey: To be famous in boxing it is customary to have exceptional talent in either fighting, training or matchmaking. Writers, commentators and pundits at times share the recognition that boxing brings. I can’t remember a time when a fan of boxing became famous, essentially for being a fan.

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Three most underrated fighters

wladimir#7By Bob Smith: Earlier I wrote that in my opinion the two most overrated fighters currently are heavyweight Tyson Fury and junior middleweight Canelo Alvarez. But what about the most underrated fighters? I name three: Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko, and Gennady Golovkin.

Why are they are underrated? It is simple – boxing announcers, promoters and commentators are strikingly similar between the mid-80s and currently – if you watch the old Tyson fights or other 1980s fights of the era, there is Al Bernstein and Harold Lederman commenting, with Bob Arum as a promoter in the background. I don’t dispute that they are excellent commentators or promoters, but boxing commentary and promotion does have a lot of barriers to entry (otherwise they would have had some competition in the last 27 years or so). Basically, they still have a Cold War mentality and are biased against Russian/Ukrainian fighters. And this goes for the network heads as well.

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Shane Mosley vs. Pablo Cesar Cano next Saturday, May 18th in Cancun, Mexico

mosleyBy Allan Fox: 41-year-old former three division world champion Shane Mosley (46-8-1, 39 KO’s) will be returning to the ring for the first time this year to face former world title challenger Pablo Cesar Cano (26-2-1, 20 KO’s) next Saturday night on May 18th at the Grand Oasis Resort in Cancun, Mexico.

Mosley hasn’t fought since taking a beating against the younger and much heavier WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last year in May in a fight that arguably should have never been made in the first place given how over-matched and out-sized the aging Mosley was in that fight.

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Canelo doubts Mayweather or Cotto will fight him on September 14th

canelo400By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) says he only has two weeks to decide on who’s going to be his next opponent on September 14th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Canelo, 22, doesn’t think Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Miguel Cotto will choose to fight him next. He also recognizes that a fight against WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez isn’t possible after Martinez broke his left hand and injured his knee in his win over Martin Murray last April.

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Prime Pacquaio or prime Mayweather: who wins?

pac73by Bob Smith: This is a topic really any boxing fan should love and I definitely look forward to reading your comments and suggestions. Of course, an article like this is purely speculative; at the same time, these speculations are worth real money, as 2-4 years ago this fight would have been worth tens of millions to each fighter.

Of course, this is article is not to say that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is not in his prime, but arguably Manny Pacquiao is not in his prime at this point.

The truth is that I am not sure who would win if these two fighters fought at their primes.

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