For the second consecutive fight, undefeated light middleweight Yuri Foreman (24-0, 8 KOs) won a controversial split decision, beating Ukrainian Andrey Tsurkan on Thursday night at the Paradise Theatre, in the Bronx, New York. The final judges’ scores were 96-94, 96-94, and 94-96, giving Foreman the narrow victory. Foreman, 27, looked unimpressive throughout, spending the entire fight moving from side to side while flicking a jab. Much of the crowd disliked Foreman’s constant movement and rewarded him with a chorus of boos starting in the sixth round. Read more

In an interview yesterday, Ricky Hatton mentioned that Floyd Mayweather Jr. isn’t entirely focused for their bout, that he’s not “seeing the whole picture,” referring to Mayweather’s constant self promotion of himself and his nonstop assertions that Hatton is not a worthy opponent. Hatton, 29, feels that Mayweather doesn’t realize whom he’ll be up against on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, even though Mayweather has repeatedly said that he never takes anyone lightly. Certainly, from a media point of view, Hatton appears to be working out harder than Mayweather, who seems to be almost casual about his workouts in comparison’s to Hatton’s Rocky-like grueling training regimens. Read more

In the final press conference which took place yesterday, both Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton got into a brief shoving contest after being asked to stand face to face with each other. Like in previous occasions, Mayweather, 30, used the opportunity to talk to Hatton and try to intimidate him. After a minute or two, Mayweather appeared to bump Hatton with his chest, at which point Hatton bumped him back, causing Mayweather to go wild, shouting “Don’t touch me, don’t touch me.” Both fighters were then pulled apart, with Mayweather seeming incredibly angry like he wanted to get at Hatton. Read more

In the latest boxing news, undefeated super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe has recently stated that he doesn’t think it’s possible to set up a bout with American Bernard Hopkins in the near future, saying that he’s gone nowhere in negotiations with the 42 year-old fighter, whom has appeared reluctant to get in the ring with the Welshman. Hopkins made an offer to Calzaghe but apparently it was well below the asking price that Calzaghe would expect to get for a clash of this magnitude. Read more

In the latest war of words between undefeated Rikcy Hatton and Floyd Mayweather, Hatton, 29, has questioned Mayweather’s heart, saying “I’ve never seen Floyd dig deep, grab the bull by the horns and pull a fight out of the bag.” Hatton appears to have a point, as Mayweather has mostly dominated or out right destroyed his opposition in his career. Obviously, what Hatton has left out, however, is that Mayweather has been so good, he hasn’t had to show any heart, fighting most of the time in a casual, workmanlike manner as he systematically destroys his over-matched opposition. Read more

After dealing with both injury and illness which has kept him out of the ring since winning the title in April, undefeated World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev (23-0-1, 17 KOs) will be defending his title on January 19th against 40 year-old British heavyweight Matt Skelton (21-1, 18 KOs) at the Burg-Waechter Castello in Dusseldorf, Switzerland. For most people, this is a disappointing opponent for Chagaev, as many were hoping that Chagaev would either fight a rematch with Nicolay Valuev, whom Chagaev, 29, defeated by a majority decision in April. Read more

Continuing with his tradition of fighting almost exclusively softer European opposition, undefeated International Boxing Federation middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (24-0, 19 KOs) goes up against British challenger Wayne Elcock (18-2, 8 KOs) on Saturday night at the St. Jakob Halle, in Basel, Switzerland. Since winning the vacant IBF middleweight title in December 2005 with a 5th round KO over Kingsley Ikeke, Abraham, 27, has defended against Shannan Taylor, Kofi Jantuah, Edison Miranda, Sebastien Demers and most recently to Sebastien Demers. Read more

Howard Eastman (42-5, 17 KOs) takes on undefeated Irish born John Duddy (22-0, 17 KOs) on Saturday at the Kings Hall, in Belfast, Ireland. Despite the fact that Eastman, 36, has lost four out of his last six fights, this bout appears to be pretty evenly matched. Duddy, 28, an extremely hyped fighter, is mostly a brawler type and not much better than a B-level fighter in my estimation, and is vulnerable to a heavy slugger like Eastman. Certainly Eastman, originally from Guyana, isn’t the same fighter he was four years ago, but he still has respectable power in the early going, enough possibly to either take Duddy out with a series of shots or stop him on cuts. Read more

Saturday’s bout with pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. would appear to be window dressing for Ricky Hatton, for his main goal is to land a mega fight with Oscar Dela Hoya, a crossover star that appeals to both whites and Hispanics, virtually guaranteeing another huge payday for Hatton. Hatton, however, will first have to get by Mayweather, 30, on Saturday, which few fans give Hatton much of a shot at winning. Read more

World Boxing Association super bantamweight champion Celestino Caballero (28-2, 19 KOs) was too much for former IBF light flyweight champion Mauricio Pastrana (34-8-2, 22 KOs), defeating him by 8th round TKO on Saturday night at the Gimnasio Roberto Duran, in Panama City, Panama. The 31 year-old Caballero, arguably the best fighter in the super bantamweight division, used his nine inch height and reach advantage to pummel the shorter Pastrana, controlling him with power shots and stinging jabs. In the 8th round, the referee moved in and stopped the bout as Pastrana was taking a tremendous beating and was unable to defend himself. Read more

Perhaps one of the best prospects in the junior middleweight division, undefeated James Kirkland (21-0, 18 KOs) survived a first round knockdown to comeback and obliterate Allen Conyers (11-3, 9 KOs) at 2:56 of the 1st round on Friday night at the the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California. Kirkland, 23, immediately opened up on Conyers in the 1st round, driving him to the ropes with left hooks and straight right hands. Read more

Junior middleweight prospect Alfredo Angulo (11-0, 8 KOs) destroyed hard-punching Syrian Archak Ter-Meliksetian (16-6, 13 KOs) in the 1st round n on Friday night at the Chumash Casino, in Santa Ynez, California. Angulo, a former 2004 Olympian for the Mexican boxing team, found himself under tremendous fire at the opening bell of the first round as Ter-Meliksetian, whom had previously lost four out of his last five fights going into this bout, was immediately all over Angulo, hitting him with a flurry of hard shots and trying to take him out. Read more

International Boxing Federation welterweight prospect Roberto Garcia’s (24-2, 17 KOs) but with Freddy Hernandez (22-1, 17 KOs) was stopped in the 3rd round on Friday night after both fighters clashed heads, causing a bad cut on the right eye of Hernandez, 28. Referee Lawrence Cole, ruled that the cut was in a particularly bad spot and it would be a danger to Hernandez if the bout were to have continued. Read more

Let me be the first to say this: light middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (34-0-1, 27 KOs) will never win a major belt for as long as he boxes. On Saturday night, Chavez Jr. went up against handpicked opponent Ray Sanchez (20-2), whom Chavez’s people tried to pump up as a dangerous power puncher. I actually bought into what they were saying until seconds into the bout when I saw that Sanchez has next to no power, at least in terms of major fighters go in the light middleweight division. Read more

In a stay busy fight, International Boxing Organization light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver (26-4, 19 KOs) TKO’d Danny Santiago (29-4-1, 19 KOs) in the 4th round on Saturday night at the Foxwoods Casino, in Mashantucket, Connecticut. After toying with Santiago in the first three rounds of the fight, Tarver opened up with combinations in the 4th round, dropping Santiago, and then finishing him off with repeated left hands shortly after Santiago had gotten up from the knockdown. Referee Steve Smoger stopped the fight at 2:53 of the 4th round. Read more

Former welterweight champion and now World Boxing Council light middleweight champion Vernon Forrest (40-2, 29 KOs) KO’d a badly overmatched Michele Piccirillo (48-4, 30 KOs) on Saturday night at the Foxwoods Casino, in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The bout was as one-sided as it could be, as Vernon Forrest, now 36, easily controlled the action from the start, eventually stopping Piccirillo, 37, in the 11th round. The fight should have been stopped sooner, however, because Piccirillo had nothing from the first round and began to take serious punishment as the fight progressed. Piccirillo was knocked down in the 6th, 9th and 11th rounds, courtesy of big right hands from Forrest. Read more

Former three-division champion Shane Mosley (44-5, 37 KOs) is reportedly looking for another mega-fight, against either Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton or Floyd Mayweather Jr., according to the latest boxing news. Apparently, Mosley has discussed retirement with his wife, Jin, after his close unanimous decision loss to Miguel Cotto on November 10th at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Read more

According to International Boxing Federation light heavyweight champion Clintron Woods, He has begun talks with super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe, perhaps for a bout in March, if everything goes as planned. In an interview with the BBC, Woods said “There’s been talks and money’s been offered. I could be ready in March or April. I’d be a massive underdog, but I’d fancy my chances against him. And for the British public, it’s far bigger than Calzaghe against Bernard Hopkins.” However, nothing has been confirmed by Calzaghe’s promoter Frank Warren, who feels that it’s too early after Calzaghe’s bout with Mikkel Kessler to make a decision as to future opponents. Read more

Women’s International Boxing Flyweight champion Regina Halmich (54-1-1) announced her retirement after winning a narrow over Hagar Shmoulefield Finer, a 23 year-old Israeli, on Friday night at the DM Arena in Berlin, Germany. It was a record 45th title defense for Halmich, 31, a record that’s likely not to be broken anytime soon by anyone. Fighting in front of a sell-out crowd of 7500 fans, who had come to say goodbye to Halmich, she didn’t disappoint as she pressed the action from the opening bell, punishing the weaker, slower and less skilled Finer. Read more

In a recent press conference, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (38-0, 24 KOs) continued with his barrage of insults towards his opponent Ricky Hatton, whom he faces on December 8th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mayweather, asserted that Hatton had lost to Luis Collazo, in their welterweight bout in May 2006 bout in which Hatton narrowly won by unanimous decision. At the time of their fight, Hatton was the World Boxing Association welterweight champion and was defending it against Collazo, a fighter known mostly as a defensive fighter, who mainly counter punches. Hatton did by far the more work in the bout with Collazo seemingly content to counter punch until late in the bout when Collazo suddenly began making a surge. Read more