Bernard Hopkins’ trainer Nazim Richardson feels that Hopkins should choose to fight Roy Jones Jr. rather than Joe Calzaghe, the current undisputed super middleweight champion, according to AP. Richardson believes that Calzaghe isn’t in Hopkins’ class, and that he would be better off fighting Jones because Hopkins still has a “score to settle” with Jones over a narrow uanimous decision loss in 1993. Over the years, both Jones and Hopkins have spoken about a rematch but they were never able to come to an agreement due to differences of opinion over who should be paid more for the bout. Read more

Former welterweight/light middleweight champion Fernando Vargas (26-4, 22 KOs) will go up against former welterweight/light middleweight champion Ricardo Mayorga (28-6-1, 23 KOs) on Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Both fighters, unfortunately, are well past their prime, having dealt with weight issues (among other things) for the past few years. Both are coming off losses where they were stopped and looked bad during the process. Strangely enough, the bout is going to be PPV, although I’m curious who - aside from a diehard boxing fa - would want to pay to see a bout between these two fighters. Read more

According to the trainer of Manny Pacquiao, Freddie Roach, Pacquiao vs. Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs) “Ain’t going to happen,” he said to the Manila Bulletin. Apparently, the weight differences between Pacquiao, a 130 pound super featherweight, and De La Hoya, a light middleweight, would be too extreme for Pacquiao to handle. Based on reports, De La Hoya, 34, is highly interested in the bout, knowing perhaps the huge amount of money that could be made off a bout of this nature. Read more

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) received a sentence of one day in jail along with three years of probation for possession of cocaine and driving under the influence, according to the latest boxing news. Tyson, 41, had pleaded guilty in September to the cocaine possession, which is a felony, and a DUI, a misdemeanor. Tyson will start serving out his jail time on Tuesday. Tyson, however, got off lucky, as he could have received a sentence of four years in prison, the maximum for these kinds of offenses. Read more

Unbeaten super middleweight prospect Andre Ward (14-0, 9 KOs) stopped previously unbeaten Roger Cantrell (12-1, 8 KOs) on Friday night at the Beausejour Cricket Ground in Gros Islet, St. Lucia. Ward, 23, a former 2004 light heavyweight Olympic Gold medalist, was pounding Cantrell with huge unanswered shots in the 5th, prompting referee Jose Rivera to halt the one-sided bout at 1:56 of the 5th. Ward, 23, showed blazing speed at the start of the fight, hitting Cantrell with powerful left hooks and right hands repeatedly. Read more

Making his first appearance since being stopped with a huge body shot in the 7th round against Gerry Penalosa, former WBC bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez won a hard fought 10-round unanimous decision over Jose Angel Beranza (30-11, 25 KOs) on Friday night at the Cicero Stadium, in Cicero, Illinois. Gonzalez, 26, showed the same leaky defense that got him into trouble against Penalosa, as he often didn’t even attempt to block shots in his effort to trade shots with Beranza. In the first round, Beranza came out strong, landing sweeping hooks that caught Gonzalez cleanly. Read more

Unbeaten World Boxing Organization super featherweight champion Joan Guzman (28-0, 17 KOs) won a one-sided unanimous decision over the tough challenger Humbreto Soto (43-6-2, 27 KOs) on Saturday night at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in
Atlantic City. The final judges’ scores were 117-111, 117-111 and 118-110, for Guzman. Soto, a tough figher used to having his way, found it difficult to match punches with the lightning fast Guzman, who used both quick flurries and excellent defense to stymie Soto’s constant attacks. It was the first loss for Soto in five years, and it wasn’t a case where he made it easy for Guzman, as he never gave him a second of rest without something coming at him. Read more

Former 2004 Mexican Olympian Abner Mares (15-0, 9 KOs) stayed unbeated as he won a gruelling bout over Damian Marchiano (14-3-1, 5 KOs) on Saturday night. Mares landed an enourmous amount of shots on Marchiano, an Argentinian fighter, but he kept coming forward, firing off big homerun shots. Not a knockout puncher by any means, Marchinao, 27, was really bringing it, and his aggressive style clearly had Mares looking worried. However, Marchiano had diffulty connecting with Mares, who used movement and distance to keep Marchiano bottled up on the outside where he would do little damage. The final judges’ scores were 118-109, 118-109 and 117-109, all for Mares. Read more

After unifying the super middelweight titles recently. undefeated champion Joe Calzaghe was reportedly laughing to himself about a recent challenge from British super midddleweight champion Carl Froch. Calzaghe has said, “Coming off the biggest fight of my life and with my stock as high as it’s ever been, it’s a joke to think I’d fight Froch. Calzaghe was referring, of course, to his near shut out victory over Mikkel Kessler in Cardiff, a bout that turned out to be not even remotely compeitive, as Calzaghe used his superior speed, boxing ability and defense to box circles around the Danish Kessler. Read more

Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Alexander Dimitrenko (27-0, 17 KOs) stopped German Timo Hoffmann (36-6-1, 20 KOs) in the 12th round to hold onto his World Boxing Organization Inter-Continental heavyweight title tonight at Bordelandhalle, in Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. Both fighters were knocked down in the bout, with Hoffmann, 33, being knocked down twice in the 4th and twice in the 12th round, and Dimitrenko being dropped in the 5th round. Along the way, both fighters took turns attacking each other with fierce exchanges, and badly swelling up each other’s faces. Read more

I’ve always wondered how a young George Foreman would have done in this a day and age against the mostly Eastern European fighters. For the sake of this discussion, I’m pitting a prime 24 year-old George Foreman against the current heavyweight champions Wladimir Klitschko, Sultan Ibragimov, Ruslan Chagaev, Samuel Peter and Oleg Maskaev. At 24, Foreman was perhaps at his peak physically, a period in which he destroyed Joe Frazier in two brutal rounds, knocking him down six times in the process. Read more

International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and World Boxing Organization heavyweight title holder Sultan Ibragimov are reportedly close to signing for their February 23rd unification bout, according to a recent Sports Illustrated article. Klitschko’s PR representitive contacted Sports Illustrated and said that the signing is almost completed. Wladimir Klitschko, 31, has stated that he wants to unify all of the heavweight titles, and the WBO - Ibragimov’s title - is the first goal in the long journey ahead of Wladimir. Read more

Young undefeated Irish middleweight sensation Andy Lee (13-0, 10 KOs) stopped Marcus Thomas (10-3, 4 KOs) in the 1st round on Thursday night at the Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Michigan. Lee, 23, wasted little time in the first round, attacking Thomas with huge hooks to the body and head, driving him back continuously. Lee’s punches were lightning fast, as he mixed them up well to the body and head, keeping Thomas off balance. The end came suddenly in the 1st round when Lee landed a pulverizing left hook to the head, dropping Thomas like a ton of bricks to the canvas. Read more

Undisputed super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe is reportedly tiring of Bernard Hopkins, and wants him to step up to the table and sign for the fight. Hopkins, 43, however has yet to to agree to the fight, instead throwing barbs at Calzaghe, saying that he’ll beat the English fighter. The two came close to fighting in 2002, but Hopkins wanted more money for the fight, thus an agreement couldn’t be made. This is what has Calzaghe and his promoter Frank Warren worried now - that Hopkins will make a ridiculous offer, something that will be next to impossible for the Calzaghe camp to me. Read more

In today’s boxing news, WBO/WBC/WBA super middleweight champion Joe Calzahge has stated that he doesn’t have the slightest interest in fighting Carl Froch, the British super middleweight champion, who has been calling him out for the best year. Not many people give Froch a ghost of a chance at beating Calzaghe, and perhaps Froch is even aware of the fact that he’d lose, but with the huge payday that he’s receive in a bout with Calzaghe, it would be like winning the lottery regardless of the eventual outcome of the fight. Read more

In the latest boxing news, former heavyweight champion of the world Riddick Bowe (42-1, 33 KOs) plans on fighting in an MMA bout on December 12th. Bowe, who retired from boxing in December 1996 and then made a short-lived comeback seven years later, says that he’d like to hold titles in both MMA and boxing at the same time. However, to do so, Bowe, 40, has a lot of work cut our for him to get in fighting shape for either sport. Read more

Former heavyweight title holder Hasim Rahman (45-6-2, 36 KOs) stopped Zuri Lawrence in the 10th last night at the Sovereign Center, Reading, in Pennsylvania. Rahman, struggled badly in the bout, and the fight was close to even in the final round when Rahman connected with a big right hand that hurt Lawrence. Rahman then went right hand crazy, driving a badly hurt Lawrence to the ropes where referee Gary Rosato stopped the fight at 2:20 of the 10th round. It wasn’t an easy fight for Rahman, who was cut over both eyes during the course of the bout. Read more

For many people, me included, they have long wondered whether former undisputed light welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu (31-2, 25 KOs) will ever fight again. It’s been two years since Tszyu, 39, lost to Ricky Hatton, when Kostya’s trainer threw in the towel following the 11th round. The bout was incredibly close up to that point, though Kostya was clearly losing the fight. It’s odd, then, why he would choose not to fight anymore bouts after this fight, rather than continuing on and getting a rematch with Hatton and perhaps winning the title back. To be honest, Tszyu was insane to go to England and fight in front of 50,000 screaming Hatton fans, considering it was Tszyu who was the champion at the time of the bout. Read more

It’s been two years since former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson (50-6, 44 KOs) retired from boxing following a particularly embarrassing 6-round TKO to the mediocre Kevin McBride in June 2005. However, at the time of the loss, Tyson, now 41, had reportedly not been training correctly nor had he been taking care of his self in a proper manner. If, however, Tyson were to get his head on straight and finally start taking his training seriously, could he someone make it back to the top and perhaps win another title? Of course, it would be monumental task if he were able to do this, as he’d have to forgo all his vices, whatever that may be, and truly deticate himself to boxing full time in order to make it all the way back. Read more

Darius Michalczewski (48-2, 38 KOs) is reportedly coming out of his two-year retirement to fight Graciano Rocchigiani in May 2008. Michalczewski previously defeated Rocchigiani twice in his career, but felt that a rubber match was needed to settle things, because the first fight resulted in a 7th round disqualification. caused when Machalczewski was hit on the break and subsequently knocked out. Read more