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

In the latest boxing news, an Eastern European woman (Milana Dravnel), now living in the United States and working as a stripper in New York, is reportedly suing Oscar De La Hoya foor one hundred million dollars, claiming that she was pressured not to sell pictures she owned in which De La Hoya was wearing skimpy female clothing in a hotel room. According to reports, she had already sold some of the photos for seventy thousand dollars. Read more

According to the latest boxing news, newly crowed WBC/WBA cruiserweight champion David Haye (20-1, 19 KOs) not only plans on moving up to the heavyweight division, effective immediately, but he also wants to fight IBF heavyweight champion as soon as possible, thus avoiding the need to work his way to the top like most heavyweight challengers. Certainly, Haye would appear to have the knockout power to stop Wladimir, given the Ukrainian’s weak chin, but for all that, Haye doesn’t have the size or the speed to match-up with Wladimir at this point. Read more

After undefeated World Boxing Association welterweight champion Miguel Cotto’s (31-0, 25 KOs) close shave victory over challenger Shane Mosley on Saturday night, Miguel mentioned that he’d be interested in fighting the top fights, like Floyd Mayweather, Paul Williams, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, but for some reason, avoided the name of Antonio Margarito. It seemed like a strange omission, considering the fact that Margarito is considered one of the best welterweights in the division, certainly better than either De La Hoya or Hatton, and perhaps even better than Williams. Read more

Former WBC/IBF heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman (44-6-2, 35 KOs) returns to the ring on Thursday night against last minute replacement Zuri Lawrence (23-12-4, 6 KOs) at the Sovereign Centre in Reading, Pennsylvania. Rahman, 35, is making his fourth right in the past five months, apparently seeming to be in a hurry to recapture his World Boxing Council heavyweight title in which he lost by 12th round TKO to Oleg Maskaev in August 2006. Despite the loss, Rahman is ranked #3 in the WBC, meaning that he should be able to get another chance at the title within a year or two if he keeps winning. Based on the competition that Rahman has faced in his comeback - Taurus Sykes, Taurus Sykes, Dicky Ryan and now Zuri Lawrence - he’s not in danger of losing anytime soon. Read more

With Oscar De La Hoya’s (38-5, 30 KOs) recent announcement of his intentions to fight on May 3rd, 2008, I thought this would be a good time to discuss whether or not De La Hoya should hang up the gloves. For me, I’m not precisely sure why he continues to fight, since he reportedly has a fortune of over a $100 million, and clearly doesn’t need the money. If he was still a successful fighter, I could understand why he would want to continue boxing. However, he’s lost three out of his last five fights, and realistically he should have lost a fourth fight to Felix Sturm. Read more

Javier Castillejo (62-7, 42 KOs) stopped Mariano Natalio Carrera (31-5, 22 KOs) in the 6th round tonight at Baden-Wurtemberg, Germany, thus setting up what will be a third fight with World Boxing Association middleweight champion Felix Sturm. Castillejo, now 39 years-old, dropped Carrera, 27, in the 5th and the sixth rounds, prompting referee Steve Smoger to step in and halt the bout in the sixth. Carrera, who previously knocked out Castillejo in the 11th round to take his then WBA middleweight title, only to have the results overturned due to a drug test that came up positive for Carrera.

Castillejo would later lose the WBA title to Felix Sturm by controversial 12-round unanimous decision in Germany. There was no controversy with their first bout, however, as Castillejo made sure the German judges would effect the outcome by stopping Sturm in the 10th round.

Castillejo took the fight to Carrera from the first round, ripping combinations and uppercuts on the inside. Carrera had his moments in the first three rounds, landing effectively from the outside with hooks and right hands. However, Castillejo was much busier, and pretty much kept the fight at close quarters where he ripped brutal head shots and crushing body blows.

In the 5th round, Castillejo knocked Carrera down late, landing a perfect right hand. Then, in the 6th round, Castillejo landed several left hands that dropped Carrera once again. Smoger quickly moved in and counted Carrera out.

Former International Boxing Federation Super middleweight champion Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy (22-1, 17 Kos) returns to action on the undercard of Ricky Hatton vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. against Peter Manfredo Jr. (28-4, 13 Kos) on December 8th, at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada. Lacy, 30, has been out of action since tearing his left rotator cuff in a bout with Vitali Tsypko on December 2, 2006. The injury to Lacy’s left shoulder involved a full thickness tear of the tendon, including a partial tear of the muscle as well. What made the injury even worse, however, is that it involves the side in which Lacy throws his left hook - his most dangerous weapon, in other words. Without his powerful left hook, Lacy becomes for all practical purposes and average fighter.

At the time the time of the injury, there was questions as to whether Lacy’s shoulder would ever heal sufficient enough for him to be as effective as he was earlier in his career. Apparently, the word is that the shoulder is as good as new. However, that remains to be seen. Read more

Undefeated German-based heavyweight challenger Alexander Dimitrenko (26-0, 16 KOs) faces Timo Hoffmann (36-5-1, 20 KOs) on Saturday night at the Bordelandhalle, Magdeburg, in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. Dimitrenko, 25, ranked #2 in the World Boxing Organization, is on the brink of a title shot, possibly against Ruslan Chagaev, the World Boxing Association heavyweight champion, or more likely against International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who will be facing the WBO title holder Sultan Ibragimov in February 2008. Few people give Ibragimov much of any chance against the 6′7″ Klitschko. However, before all that can happen, Dimitrenko - also 6′7″ - must defeat the equally large Hoffmann, a fighter with an excellent jab and a sneaky right hand. Read more

By Richard Rodriguez: As much as I enjoyed watching last Saturday’s fight between World Boxing Association welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (31-0, 25 KOs) and Shane Mosley, I couldn’t help wonder how much longer Cotto will be able to hold onto his title. Unlike the legions of Cotto sycophants, I see him as a remake of Arturo Gatti, except with good skin that tear easily. Cotto has taken a pounding in almost all of his bouts in the past couple of years and has been lucky not to have been knocked out in some of them. He’s really taken a ton of head shots in all of his most recent bouts, and I wonder how much longer he can continue on without losing to someone. Read more

According to the latest boxing news, ESPN is reporting that trainer Emanuel Steward will no longer be training former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. Steward had trained Taylor for little more than a year, seeing him through fights with Kelly Pavlik, Kassim Ouma, Winky Wright and Cory Spinks. Unfortunately, Taylor appeared to regress as a fighter during this time, knocking out none of his opponents, and struggling mightily with Ouma, Wright and Spinks. Read more

At the press conference following the Shane Mosley vs. Miguel Cotto fight, Oscar De La Hoya stated that he plans on fighting next on May 3rd, against an unnamed opponent. However, when pushed on the subject, De La Hoya, 34, said that he hoped it would be Ricky Hatton, whom he’s had considerable interest in fighting for the past couple of months. No doubt, De La Hoya sees huge dollar signs, with a worldwide audience. However, unlike many boxing experts, who don’t give Hatton much of a chance at beating Mayweather, De La Hoya seems oblivious to what they’re saying, still thinking that Hatton will pull off the upset somehow. Read more

With the dust barely settled following World Boxing Association welterweight champion Miguel Cotto’s narrow decision over Shane Mosely on Sat6urday night at Madison Square Garden, the question in most people’s minds is who should Cotto fight next? As Cotto puts it, he’d be interested in fighting “all the top guys,” like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya. However, the chance of him actually fighting either of them is slim and none, unfortunately.

De La Hoya has strict marching orders from his Puerto Rican wife, telling him that he can’t find fighters from Puerto Rico, for which Cotto is from. It’s unclear whether that De La Hoya would go against his wife’s wishes, but unless I miss my guess, this is probably a convenient excuse for him not to have to face the embarrassment of losing badly, likely by knockout by the hard-punching Cotto. So, De La Hoya’s basically out of the picture, no matter how much Cotto might want to fight him. Read more

Shortly after defeating World Boxing Association/World Boxing Council champion Jean-Marc Mormeck (33-4, 22 KOs) on Saturday night at the Palais des Sport Marcel Cerdan, in Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, France, British cruiserweight David Haye (20-1, 19 KOs) announced that he wouldn’t be defending the newly won titles, that he’d instead be moving up to the heavyweight division where he hoped to win a title in the near future. Given the 27 year-old Haye’s considerable power, it would seem that he would have an excellent chance at succeeding at his goal.

At 6′3″ 215 lbs, he certainly has the needed size to compete at a heavier weight, and he has stated that he will continue to add weight, enough possibly to come in at around 230+. From his standpoint, I suppose it’s a smart thing to do, as he’s clearly the best fighter in the cruiserweight division, although I’m sure World Boxing Organization cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli would have something to say about that. However, I’m not so certain that Haye will be even remotely successful at heavyweight. That’s not to say that he won’t have the power to compete, because I do feel that he has true heavyweight power. Read more

Junior welterweight prospect Victor Ortiz (20-1-1, 15 KOs) destroyed veteran Carlos Maussa in the 1st round last night at New York’s Madison Square Garden. At the bell to start the fight, Ortiz was immediately on Maussa, landing huge hooks repeatedly, as Maussa attempted to cover up in defense. After eating countless shots in the first minute of the fight, Maussa was dropped to the canvas after absorbing a vicisious one-two combination by Ortiz, who landed a perfectly placed right hook to the midsection and a left to the head. Maussa hit the canvas hard, and vainly tried to get to his feet but never made it up before referee Johnny Callas counted him out at 1:47 of the 1st round. Read more