By Eric Thomas: Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) will reportedly be fighting for the final time on December 6th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas against a still unnamed opponent. De La Hoya, who lost his original Floyd Mayweather Jr. for a bout that was supposed to have taken place on September 20th, is looking at a variety of opponents from Miguel Cotto, Felix Trinidad, Sergio Mora or Manny Pacquiao. Another potential opponent and the one that De La Hoya had the most interest in - Ricky Hatton - rejected an offer to fight De La Hoya, saying that he would prefer to go ahead and fight IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi instead.

Of the bunch that De La Hoya is currently interested in fighting, I highly doubt that Cotto or Trinidad will be the final choice for De La Hoya. Trinidad, 35, though a great fighter earlier in his career, he’s gone downhill considerably in the past seven years and has lost over half of his fights during that seven year span. Knowing that De La Hoya likes to mostly take on fighters that are still a challenge for him, he’ll probably not like the idea of fighting him at this stage in his career even though Trinidad previously defeated De La Hoya by a 12-round majority decision in September 1999. Read more

By John Carter: Joe Calzaghe has been doing the rounds of another sort. He has been taking part in a few radio interviews and while speaking to ‘The South Wales Argus’ shortly after Kelly Pavlik’s fantastic destruction of his fellow countrymen Gary Lockett had a few interesting things to say.

Calzaghe first talked about Lockett’s disappointing loss the undefeated American middleweight champion, Kelly ‘The Ghost’ Pavlik.

“ Gary couldn’t execute his strategy. Pavlik was too aggressive and strong for him. I’ve got to say that I love watching this kid fight, he’s entirely forward thinking – retreating and holding just don’t come into his mind”

“ Kelly is a breath of fresh air for American boxing and they desperately need a guy like him and I think he’s got a big future “ Read more

By Francisco Chantengo: South African Vusi Malinga (18-2-1, 11 KOs) destroyed former two-time bantamweight champion Veeraphol Sahaprom (61-4-2, 43 KOs) in a 4th round TKO of a scheduled 12-round WBC bantamweight eliminator bout on Wednesday night at the Bodindecha School, Bangkluay, in Nonthaburi, Thailand. Malinga, using a non-stop attack consisting mainly of uppercuts and hooks, dropped Sahaprom, 39, at the end of the 3rd round with a flurry of vicious uppercuts, and then finished him off at the start of the 4th round with a storm of punches to the head. Referee Bruce McTavish stepped in and stopped the bout at 0:36 of the 4th round with Sahaprom still on his feet.

In the opening round, Malinga tore into the former champion Sahaprom, who had previously held the WBC bantamweight title for an incredible seven years (from 1998-2005) and had defended the title successfully 14 times until losing it to now champion Hozumi Hasegawa, with nonstop uppercuts to the head. Sahaprom, at one a powerful puncher with a lot speed and a high work rate, was now much slower and less busy against Malinga. Read more

By Michael Lieberman: Undefeated super middleweight prospect Peter Quillin (19-0, 14 KOs) had great difficulty beating hard-hitting Colombian Dionisio Miranda (19-2-2, 18 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision on Wednesday night at the Hard Rock Times Square, in New York City, New York. Quillin, 24, nicknamed “Kid Chocolate,” won most of the early rounds of the fight and appeared to be cruising along in the 7th, when the powerful Miranda (no relations to the knockout artist Edison Miranda, also a Colombian) hurt Quillin with a powerful left-right combination that sent Quillin, now badly stunned, retreating to the ropes where Miranda unloaded on Quillin with 14 consecutive unanswered punches.

However, Miranda soon punched himself out, which allowed a badly shaken Quillin to survive the round. Quillin would recover well in the 8th, and fight effectively in the remaining 9th and 10th rounds of the fight. The final judges’ scores were 97-92, 97-92 and 97-93. Read more

By Michael Lieberman: In a shocking upset, number #1 ranked IBF junior middleweight Sechew Powell (23-2, 14 KOs) was stopped in the 7th round of a scheduled 10-round bout by Deandre Latimore (19-1, 16 KOs) on Wednesday night at the Hard Rock Times Square, in New York City, New York. Powell, 29, appeared to underestimate the quality and tenacity of his opponent, the 22 year-old Latimore, who fought him hard from the first round, making Powell fight much harder than perhaps he expected. Read more

By Francisco Chantengo: To no one’s surprise, undefeated WBA super featherweight champion Edwin Valero (24-0, 24 KOs) stopped his 36 year-old Takehiro Shimada (22-4-1, 15 KOs) in the 7th round of a scheduled 12-round title bout on Wednesday night at the Nihon Budokan, in Tokyo, Japan. The bout, a horrible mismatch going in, was never remotely competitive as Valero, 26, treated the Japanese Shimada as punching bag for most of the fight, hitting him with wild looping shots over and over. In the 7th round, Valero missed a wild left hand, but then followed it with a hard right hook that caught Shimada dead on the chin, sending him down to the canvas where he crouched, looking as if he were taking a knee while holding onto the top rope with his left hand.

With his right hand he held it in front of his face, as if to indicate that he was surrendering. Valero, however, stood over him for a second, then reached out and clobbered him with a big right hand that sent the crouching Shimada on his back on the canvas, although incredibly he still never let go of the top rope. Shimada then made it to his feet, looking hurt, his left eye puffed up and swollen, and him looking out of it. The referee Guillermo Perez Pineda then promptly stopped the fight at 1:55 of the seventh round. Read more

By Manuel Perez: Not too long ago, Floyd Mayweather announced that he retiring from boxing and saying that it was a permanent deal, that he wouldn’t be coming back because he had lost the love for the sport. I, for one, am hoping that Mayweather is good for his word and decides to stay away from boxing, because he’s basically stopped performing competitively years ago, perhaps all the way back to his second fight with Jose Luis Castillo in December 2002. That was his last meaningful, the last time that he fought someone that he wasn’t predicted ahead of time to beat by a landslide.

As it turns out, it was a fight that he didn’t even appear to win, nor had he seemed to have one the previous fight with Castillo earlier in the year, in April 2002. Both fights were narrow decisions, but naturally, Mayweather got the nod due to his big name. That, in a sense, was the last real fight for Mayweather as far as I’m concerned. After that, Mayweather went after strictly easy opponents, the type that he - or any other good fighter - could expect to beat without too much trouble. Among his wins were fighters such as Victoriano Sosa, Phillip N’dou, DeMarcus Corley, Henry Bruseles, Arturo Gatti, Sharmba Mitchell, Zab Judah, Carlos Baldomir, Oscar De La Hoya and finally Ricky Hatton. Do you get the picture? Read more

By Francisco Chantengo: Making his sixth defense of his WBC bantamweight title, champion Hozumi Hasegawa (24-2, 8 KOs) made easy work of his challenger Cristian Faccio (15-3, 10 KOs), stopping him in the 2nd round of a scheduled 12-round title bout on Wednesday night at the Nihon Budokan, in Tokyo, Japan. Hasegawa, 27, was never troubled by the #9th ranked WBC bantamweight challenger Facio, whom he dropped twice in the second round with big left hands. On the second knockdown, the referee Toby Gibson suddenly called a halt to the bout at 2:18 of the 2nd round.

It appeared, however, that Faccio was okay, could still fight and was mostly knocked down because Hasegawa had chased Faccio around the ring and tagged him with a combination while having a running start. Nevertheless, Faccio would have likely been stopped anyway, because the first knockdown, a huge left hand blast from Hasegawa, was a huge shot that dropped Faccio on the seat of his pants at the very start of the round. From there, it was all Hasegawa as he teed-off on Faccio, hitting him with tremendous left hands as he attempted to retreat around the ring and buy some time. Read more

By Aaron Klein: WBA/WBO cruiserweight champion David Haye (21-1, 20 KOs) received a bit of good news on when he found out that he had been received an incredible number #5 ranking in the WBC heavyweight division, bringing him only a short distance from being the number #1 mandatory for WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter’s title. According to an interview with Setanta Sports News, Haye, 27, is interested in a fight with Peter before Haye fights Wladimir Klitschko.

As usual, Haye is jumping a little ahead of himself, namely because Klitschko hasn’t of yet agreed to fight Haye, instead telling him to gain weight and get in line with the other heavyweights trying to get a bout with him. Not to be dissuaded, Haye instead intends on going for what Klitschko values the most – a heavyweight title belt – and if Haye can get Peter to give him shot, and possibly beat him, then Klitschko would naturally be more than interested in fighting Haye in order to grab another title to his growing collection. Read more

By Eric Thomas: In the latest boxing news, Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) perhaps still smarting from the rejection by light welterweight Ricky Hatton, who declined to step in and fight De La Hoya in September, as well as Floyd Mayweather Jr’s recent retirement, De La Hoya told Reuters on Wednesday, “One more and that’s it. This is my final year. I’m doing one fight and hanging up the gloves.” De La Hoya also had comments directed for Mayweather, saying “The time is running out. If Mayweather is playing these little games thinking he can catch me at an older age next year, it’s not going to happen. It has to happen by this year.”

It seems that De La Hoya hasn’t given up on his number one goal, a second fight with Mayweather, which would obviously bring De La Hoya another huge payday before he hangs up the boxing gloves. The two had been scheduled to fight on September 20th, but Mayweather blew those plans last week, when he suddenly announced his retirement from boxing, and said that it would be “permanent.” De La Hoya, whom had been counting on that fight a great deal, was left with no dancing partner for his September open date. Read more

By Jim Dower: After watching Ricky Hatton struggle against Juan Lazcano, looking good at times and appearing a little washed up as a fighter at other times, I wonder whether Hatton should opt for a fight against super featherweight Manny Pacquiao. First of all, I don’t think it’s a fight that Hatton could win at this point in his career judging by his recent performances against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Lazcano, fights which seemed to indicate that Hatton was on the downside of his career. Most importantly, however, is the question of fairness. Read more

By Scott Gilfoid: Irish middleweight Andy Lee (15-1, 12 KOs) makes his boxing comeback on July 19th against a still to be determined opponent in Limerick, Ireland. Lee, who turns 24 today, was shockingly stopped in the 7th round in his last fight against Brian Vera (16-1, 10 KOs), a former participant from The Contender reality television series on ESPN. Lee came into the fight a big favorite, with many boxing experts, including Lee’s trainer Emanuel Steward, hyping him and saying that he’s a future champion in the making.

In Steward’s case, he went even one step further, claiming that Lee would be a champion within the year and would defeat middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik to take his title. In hindsight, Steward seemed drunk with glory, thinking way too much of Lee’s easy wins over mostly soft set-up fights which were designed for Lee to look good in. That was supposed to be the case for his fight against Vera, a 26 year-old slugger known for being a heavy pressure fighter with mostly crude skills. Read more

By Manuel Perez: Undefeated light middleweight prospect Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (36-0-1, 29 KOs) will be making his toughest fight of his short career when he takes on Matt Vanda (38-6, 21 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout at the Monterrey, in Nuevo León, Mexico, on July 12th. Chavez Jr., 22, the son of the famous former boxing champion Julio Cesar Chavez, is hoping to get an impressive win against the 29 year-old Vanda. Chavez Jr., despite being the son of a former great, hasn’t looked good in quite some time in spite of his still unbeaten record.

Against C-class fighters like Ray Sanchez, Jose Celaya and Tobia Giuseppe Loriga, Chavez Jr. has had to work especially hard to pull out victories, getting hit often and appearing slow. His boxing fans have been quick to point out that he’s only 22, that he’s had virtually no amateur boxing career to speak of before turning and that he’s only now learning how to properly fight. However, Chavez Jr. seems to be missing something in a lot of areas at once, starting with his low punch output problem. That factor in itself has been a problem that’s plagued him constantly in his last three fights, in which he would stand around and wait for too long before letting his hands ago. Read more

By Sean McDaniel: While I was watching undefeated WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) dispatch his latest challenger Gary Lockett in the 3rd round on Saturday night, I noticed that Pavlik seemed to lacking in both speed and boxing skills in the fight, something that would likely be exposed if he were to step it up a couple of notches against a much better fighter than Lockett. This in fact might be about to happen, as Pavlik has been pressing hard for a bout against the undefeated super middleweight champion from Wales Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs). As of now, nothing has been ironed out between Calzaghe’s promoter Frank Warren and the promoter of Pavlik, Bob Arum, but both parties on working hard at trying to come to an agreement that would be suitable to both fighters.

Pavlik, as good as he looked against a very limited Lockett on Saturday night, has no idea what he’s about to be getting himself into by facing Calzaghe. In watching Pavlik, he has none of the boxing skills of a fighter like super middleweight Mikkel Kessler or even someone like light heavweight Bernard Hopkins, arguably the two toughest opponents of Calzaghe’s long 15-year boxing career. Read more

By Jason Kim: In a stay busy fight, number #1 ranked IBF challenger undefeated Alexander Povetkin (15-0, 11 KOs) will face journeyman fighter Taurus Sykes (25-4-1, 7 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round bout on July 19th at the Olimpyskiy Sports Palace, in Chekhov, Russia. Povetkin, 28, has been forced to wait on IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who instead of defending his IBF heavyweight title against the well deserving Povetkin, he’s opted instead to take on what many boxing fans and experts feel is the easier fight against heavyweight Tony Thompson, Wladimir’s #1 ranked contender for his WBO heavyweight title. Read more

By William MacKay: For a fighter as popular and as wealthy as Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs), he sure has had a bad week. Not only did he lose out on a huge potential multi-million dollar payday when his September 20th opponent Floyd Mayweather Jr. abruptly retired from boxing, but he then had his second choice Ricky Hatton flatly refuse to fight him. Most people would naturally assume that Hatton either much have rocks in his head or took too many head shots in his recent struggle against Juan Lazcano. After all, what fighter would turn down a monstrous payday against De La Hoya in order to fight IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi, a fighter that only boxing insiders have any clue to who he is.

Nevertheless, it’s not over yet, and De La Hoya may end up persuading Hatton to take the fight after all. De La Hoya isn’t one of the best businessmen in boxing for nothing, and once he gets talking to Hatton, I’d be willing to bet he’ll get him to come around. Short of that, De La Hoya has a lot of other choices, though many of them are far less appealing for obvious reasons than Hatton. The first names that jump out at me are welterweight champions Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto, both of which are fighting it out on July 26th for Cotto’s WBA welterweight title. However, one of them will be eliminated by virtue of the loss (unless it’s a draw, of course), but even the winner has to do it in an impressive manner or risk losing a shot in the De La Hoya sweepstakes. Read more

By Scott Gilfoid: In the ultimate in overreach on his part, WBC super featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao (46-3-2, 35 KOs) is reportedly interested in a bout with light welterweight former champion Ricky Hatton (43-1, 31 KOs) in the near future. First, however, Pacquiao has to deal with WBC lightweight champion David Diaz, with whom Pacquiao is scheduled to fight later this month on June 28th, at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. That in itself will be a rather difficult task for the 29 year-old Pacquiao in that he’s moving up five pounds in weight to fight Diaz at the 135 pound lightweight class.

If, however, Pacquiao can get by Diaz, then there’s a chance for to arrange a fight with Hatton, if he’s interested. According to reports, Ricky’s father has said that they’re interested in the idea, though a lot of this also hinges on whether Ricky is successful in his upcoming bout with IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi later on this year. Pacquiao is said to be willing to fight wherever Hatton wants, even if it means having to travel all the way to England and fight in front of Hatton’s often loud Manchester crowd. Pacquiao, it seems, is willing to take the risk in order to get the biggest payday of his career by far. Read more

By Aaron Klein: Cruiserweight champion David Haye (21-0, 20 KOs) stated recently that he plans on fighting two top ranked fighters at heavyweight, and after destroying them, he’ll be ready to challenge IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (50-3, 44 KOs) for his world titles. Klitschko has said that he wouldn’t fight Haye, 27, unless he was “ranked high enough” for it to possible, meaning probably that Klitschko won’t fight Haye unless he absolutely has to by him being his mandatory challenger. This is exactly what Haye is looking to do by beating a couple of top fighters in the heavyweight division, moving up to the top and forcing Wladimir to fight him whether he wants to or not.

Other than that, Klitschko will likely never fight Haye unless it’s actually forced upon him with the threat of him being stripped of his heavyweight titles. That’s the trap for Wladimir. Unlike other champions, he’s not going to vacate his titles in order to sidestep around an opponent, because of his dream - hopeless as it may seem - to unify all of the heavyweight titles. Obviously, Wladimir would prefer it to be easy and quick, him beating his next challenger for his WBO heavyweight title Tony Thompson, whom he fights on July 12th, then Sultan Ibragimov, his long awaited #1 IBF contender to his title, and then hopefully arrange bouts against the winner of Ruslan Chagaev and Nikolay Valuev. Then, if Wladimir is still a champion by that time, he could possibly fight Samuel Peter, the WBC heavyweight champion, in the final missing piece of his title unification dream. Read more

By Manuel Perez: If you’re like most people who saw last Saturday’s bout between Juan Manuel Lopez (22-0, 20 KOs) and WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce de Leon (34-2, 30 KOs) at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, you want to see an immediate rematch. The fight, which had thought to have been a competitive one going in, turned out to be a quick 1st round blow out when the 24 year-old Lopez landed a sneaky left-right combination that Ponce de Leon never saw coming, knocking him flat.

Though Ponce de Leon made it up before the count of 10, he was in really bad shape and barely able to stand much less fight. As you would guess, Lopez jumped all over Ponce de Leon as soon as the fight resumed and blasted him around the ring with a blizzard of punches, ending when he caught him with another right hook to the head which dropped the game Ponce de Leon to the canvas. He tried his best to get up from the knockdown, but only succeeded in stumbling backwards and falling into the ropes. The thing of it was, the fight was over way too quickly for my sake and neither fighter were able to effectively prove who the better one is between them. I’m sorry, but I don’t consider Lopez as the better fighter just because he was able to score a quick knockout. Read more

By Michael Lieberman: As much as boxing fans may want to see a potential bout between the undefeated WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (34-0, 30 KOs) and equally undefeated super middleweight/light heavyweight champion Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs), it may not come about judging from the recent comments of the 36 year-old Calzaghe’s promoter Frank Warren. So far, he’s held off making a commitment for Calzaghe to take on Pavlik for a bout that would mean a huge payday for bout, likely eclipsing anything that either fighter has done previously by far. There was talk of Pavlik wanting to get back into the ring as early as October for a bout with Calzaghe, or possibly Jones. Apparently, Calzaghe’s camp isn’t interested in that date, and prefers Nov 15th.

Besides dates that still need to be worked over, there’s also a question whether Calzaghe would rather prefer to fight Roy Jones Jr. instead. Calzaghe’s own views have seemed to have been lost in all of the hoopla with the recent talks of Pavlik’s promoter Bob Arum meeting with Frank Warren, the promoter of Calzaghe. In the past, Calzaghe has made it clear that he prefers to fight Roy Jones Jr., a fighter obviously on the downside of his career at age 39. Read more