McDonnell: Ceja is smaller than I thought he’d be

mcdonnell11By Scott Gilfoid: British bantamweight Jaime McDonnell (20-2-1, 9 KO’s) thinks he’s got an easy mark tonight in unbeaten Mexican warrior Julio Ceja (24-0, 22 KO’s) just because the 5’5 ½” Ceja is 2 ½” inches shorter than him. The 5’8” McDonnell says he’s now more than ever certain that he’ll beat the 20-year-old Ceja tonight after standing next to him and looking at the height difference between himself and him.

Ceja and McDonnell will be fighting for the vacant IBF bantamweight title tonight at the Keepmoat Stadium, in Doncaster, UK.

McDonnell said to Sky “I knew I was going to beat Ceja before, but now that I’ve seen how short he is, I know I’m going to win now.”

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Thompson vs. Price II: Tony ready to score another KO

By Scott Gilfoid: Last February 41-year-old heavyweight contender Tony Thompson (37-3, 25 KO’s) blasted out Britain’s David Price (15-1, 13 KO’s) in two easy rounds in Liverpool, UK.

Instead of Price and his promoter Frank Maloney getting a clue that it might not be the best idea to tangle with the 6’5” Thompson again, they’ve set up a rematch for July 6th, and once again in Price’s home city of Liverpool, UK.

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Tyson Fury options: Pulev or Adamek

fury11By Daniel Mcglinchey: Unbeaten Heavyweight sensation Tyson Fury (21-0, 15 KO’s) is set to be out again in the summer to continue his journey on the way to Heavyweight stardom.

According to his uncle and trainer Peter Fury his options are Kubrat Pulev (17-0, 9 KO’s) or Tomasz Adamek (48-2, 29 KO’s) for his next bout according to Peter Fury’s social media site. Peter also mentioned David Haye. However, Haye recently signed to fight 2nd tier Manuel Charr, so he’s out of the picture.

Either Adamek or Pulev as an opponent for Tyson would generate massive interest from boxing fans around the world because they are both legitimate and established world class fighters.

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Atlas: Guerrero didn’t have a plan against Mayweather

guerrero45By Dan Ambrose: ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas was disappointed from what he saw from Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KO’s) in his failed attempt to defeat WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Atlas expected Guerrero to have some kind of logical plan to try and win the fight, but instead Guerrero stood on the outside and took pot shots for most of the fight. When did plod forward, he’s eat big right hand shots and get tied up after missing two or three shots.

Guerrero looked totally clueless and also scared. I expected Guerrero to look confused, because he had never fought anyone even close to the skill level of Mayweather before during his career. However, what I wasn’t expecting was for Guerrero to look as timid as a lamb out there against Mayweather, especially after all that bold talk that Guerrero had done about him not being intimidated by Mayweather.

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Not impressed with Ring’s pound for pound list

wladimir3by Bob Smith: Though Ring magazine is a respectable if not venerable boxing publication, there are two ways in which its pound for pound list can inaccurately report the best boxers – one is by being susceptible to the favorites of boxing promoters and hype; the other is by overemphasizing recent wins, especially by knockout.

For instance, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko jumped from #9 to #4 just because he defeated a badly overmatched challenger in Francesco Pianeta. Also, WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner is still untested yet is ranked ahead of Sergio Martinez on the list. I will present my own list here to correct for these errors.

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Atlas sees Canelo fighting Cotto next, not Mayweather

canelo 03 (2)By Dan Ambrose: ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas says he’s hearing that Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) will be the one that ends up facing WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) rather than Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) for Canelo’s next fight on September 14th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Atlas said to ESPN: “My sources tell me it will be Miguel Cotto [who faces Canelo next]. Floyd Mayweather is not looking to fight. Yes, it would be a huge money fight [Mayweather vs. Canelo], but Mayweather can make money in a lot of different places. Why take a risk with a much bigger guy like Alvarez. So what I understand, Alvarez-Cotto is a much better bet than waiting to see Alvarez-Mayweather.”

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Weights: Darchinyan 123.5, Gallo 123.25

darch1By Allan Fox: 37-year-old former two division world champion Vic Darchinyan (38-5-1, 27 KO’s) successfully weighed in on Friday for his fight tomorrow night against Javier Gallo (18-6-1, 10 KO’s) for their fight at the Uni-Trade Stadium in Laredo, Texas.

Darchinyan, #3 WBC, came in at 123.5 pounds, and his opponent 29-year-old Gallo weighed in at 123.25 lbs. This will be the first fight for Darchinyan with Top Rank Promotions and there’s talk of him possibly facing newly crowned WBC super bantamweight champion Victor Terrazaz next, although former IBF/WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire might be the one that ultimately gets the shot against Terrazaz.

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Mayweather-Guerrero rakes in $9.9 million gate

floyd#30By Chris Williams: Last Saturday night’s fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero may not equal Mayweather’s previous fight against Miguel Cotto in terms of pay per view buys, but in one area where it did quite well was at the gate.

The fight hauled in a gate of $9,922, 350 from 14,258 tickets with 1,459 tickets comped. That’s good loot for this fight, especially given that Mayweather was fighting a complete unknown in the minds of many boxing fans in choosing to fight Guerrero instead of a better known fighter. Guerrero didn’t help the PPV card any by getting arrested last April at the New York airport.

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Weights: Ceja 117, McDonnell 117

Jamie McDonnell  Julio Ceya  Press conference Keepmoat stadiumBy Scott Gilfoid: Earlier today, bantamweight contender Jaime McDonnell (20-2-1, 9 KO’s) made weight for his fight against the devastating puncher Julio Ceja (24-0, 22 KO’s) for their fight on Saturday for the vacant IBF bantamweight title that previously belonged to Leo Santa Cruz before he vacated it to move up to 122.

The Ceja-McDonnell fight will be taking place in the UK at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster.

Ceja weighed in at 117 lbs, while McDonnell also came in at 117 as well.

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Froch beats Kessler, says Roach

froch65By Scott Gilfoid: Freddie Roach believes that IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (30-2, 22 KO’s) will beat WBA super middleweight Mikkel Kessler (46-2, 35 KO’s) when the two fighters meet up for their pay per view rematch on May 25th in London, UK. Roach thinks Froch, 35, is too young for the 34-year-old.

Roach said to RingTV “I think Froch is too young and too much for him at this point. I think Froch wins by a decision.”

I hate to be the one to break this to Roach, but Kessler is actually the younger fighter and he looks a lot younger than Froch as well. I mean, I don’t knock Roach for being ignorant about the ages of the fighters. After all, he’s not a writer and it’s not his job to keep up with those kinds of things. That’s my job. I keep track of ages and junk like that.

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