Heavyweight contender Tony Thompson (31-1, 19 KOs) destroyed journeyman fighter Cliff Courser (26-13-2, 14 KOs) in the 2nd round last night at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, in Lemoore, California. Thompson, 35, softened up Couser with jabs and hooks in the first round of the fight. In the 2nd round, Thompson began unloading with his powerful straight left hand, and soon after flattened him with a clean left hand to the head. The referee moved in and halted the bout at 1:49 of the second round. With this win, Thompson stays on course to meet the winner of the Evander Holyfield vs. Sultan Ibragimov bout October 13th in Moscow.

WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-0-1, 17 KOs) has been heated all week long leading up to Saturday’s fight with #1 challenger Kelly Pavlik by the many fans and sports writers that have brushed off his career and given him slim chance at winning. Most of the criticism has been centered around Taylor’s lackluster performances against Cory Spinks, Bernard Hopkins, Winky Wright and Kassim Ouma, who Taylor struggled against. Though Taylor defeated Spinks, Ouma and Hopkins, he looked almost uncoordinated as if he didn’t know how to box properly despite his quick reflexes.

Most of the fans and sports writers were expecting the 29-year old Taylor to continue to knockout his opponents like he did earlier in his career, before he became a champion. Unfortunately, since winning the title in 2005, Taylor has been on a dry spell in which he’s been forced to earn tough fought decisions or - even worse - being held to a draw, such as the case against Wright in June 2006. However, Taylor blames his poor performances on the styles of his opponents, most of which are defensive-minded fighters, the type that are difficult to land effectively against. Taylor says that he fights better against fighters like Pavlik, the type that come directly at him and try to take him out. Read more

By Sasha “Kozlov” Baranov: With a little more than a week to go between World Boxing Council interim heavyweight champion Samuel Peter’s (28-1, 22 KOs) bout with Jameel McCline, I thought it would be interesting to consider what Peter’s chances would be like in a rematch with IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (49-3, 44 KOs). In that bout, fought on September 24, 2005, Peter knocked Wladimir down on three separate occasions and had him on the verge of being stopped in the bout. However, two of the knockdowns were the result of illegal rabbit punches to the back of Wladimir’s head, and thus should have been negated by referee Randy Neumann. Wladimir was guilty of his own issues as well by continuously clinching Peter whenever the Nigerian fighter got in close.

In fact, Wladimir initiated over 90 clinches in the 12-round bout, averaging over seven clinches per round. The tactic worked to perfection, for the most part, as Peter was unable to land effectively once he got within punching range. When Wladimir wasn’t clinching, though, he easily boxed circles around Peter, hitting him at will with jabs, straight right hands and left hooks. Read more

Former three division woman’s boxing champion Regina Halmich (53-1-1, 16 KOs) will be fighting for the last time on November 30th against Hagar Shmoulefeld Finer at the DM-Arena, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, in Germany. Halmich, the current WIBF woman’s flyweight champion, has been a major force in bringing woman’s boxing to the mainstream in recent years in Germany, while at the same time she’s taken advantage of her good looks to attack endorsements that have allowed her to step away from competition while still at the top of her game. Still only 30, Halmich has won IBF championships in the Jr. Flyweight, Flyweight and Featherweight. Apart from that, she’s defeated well known fighters such as Elena Reid, Maria Jesus Rosa and most recently, Wendy Rodriguez.

Halmich has never been one to shy away from publicity, having posted nude in the German Playboy magazine. Additionally, she has had two highly successful bouts with male against German TV host Stefan Raab, in which she defeated him twice, breaking his nose on the first occasion. Both bouts were a huge spectacle in Germany, helping her gain a large amount of publicity.

The manager of WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev (34-5, 26 KOs) is reportedly angry with the WBC for their vote by the council’s board of governors to appoint Samuel Peter as the interim heavyweight champion after Maskaev pulled out of their October 6h fight last week with a back and ankle injury. Maskaev’s manager, Fred Hesch, felt that Maskaev, 38, should have been allowed three months to recover from the herniated back injury, which is something that has been permitted with past heavyweight champions. Read more

Former WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev (46-1, 34 KOs) makes his first appearance since losing his heavyweight title to Ruslan Chagaev on April 14th when he takes on undefeated Canadian Jean-Francois Bergeron (27-0, 19 KOs) at the EWE-Arena, in Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany. Both fighters are 34, although Bergeron has faced exclusivly soft opposition in his native Canada. Valuev is in the rebuilding stage of his career after losing a controversial 12-round majority decision against Chagaev, a bout in which Valuev appeared to tire badly in the latter rounds of the fight.

Bergeron, ranked #13 in the WBA, has good sixe at 6′5″, though he is perhaps too slender, only weighing 216 lbs. This fact alone will likely be a substantial problem against the 320 lbs Valuev, who will have a 100 pound weight advantage going into the bout. This may not seem like a big deal, but for Bergeron to have to wrestle and trade shots with someone of that size all night long, it can add up to big problems. Read more

According to the latest boxing news, WBC interim heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (28-1, 22 KOs) has a new opponent for his October 6th title defense at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The newest possiblity is Jameel McCline (38-7-3, 23 KOs), who is currently scheduled to fight DaVarryl Williamson on the undercard of the October 6th bout. Apparently, Showtime, the cable television company, aren’t enthralled with Peter’s other choice for an opponent, Andrew Golota, who they voted not to use his as an opponent for Peter, perhaps remembering the multiple times he frozen up when challenging for a title and lost badly.

McCline, however, has equal baggage of failure, having lost three times previously - Wladimir Klitschko, Chris Byrd and Nikolay Valuev - when challenging for a heavyweight title. McCline never quit, though; He just wasn’t good enough to overcome his limited talent, which makes him the perfect opponent for the 27-year old Peter, who isn’t exactly loaded with talent himself. Read more

Former two-time WBO heavyweight champion Herbie Hide (40-4, 39 KOs) destroyed an unwilling Romanian Mircea Telecan (5-17-2, 3 KOs) in the 1st round on Friday night at the Hansehalle, Luebeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Hide, 36, now fighting as a cruiserweight, dropped Telecan twice in the first round before the referee Arno Pokrandt stopped the horrible mismatch at 1:16 of the first round. The odd thing was, Telecan fell down twice in the first minute of the fight without ever really being hit. On the first occasion, As Hide threw a punch that missed by a mile, Telecan backed up and fell down as if he was hit.

After getting up, Hide came forward and missed a wild left hook, and then landed a right to the lower back of Telecan as he was already falling to the canvas. It looked painfully obvious that Telecan wasn’t particularly interested in fighting, as he looked terribly frightened and seemed to want to get out of the fight as soon as possible. Again, after getting up the fight was continued on for a few more seconds as Hide moved forward in attack mode. Read more

Heavyweight prospect Odlanier Solis (4-0, 3 KOs) TKO’d the old trial horse journeyman Marcus McGee (19-14, 9 KOs) in the 2nd round on Friday night at the Hansehalle, Luebeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Solis, the 2004 Olympic heavyweight Gold medallist from Cuba, knocked McGee down with a combination followed by a short chopping right to the head in the 2nd round. McGee was able to make it to his feet but was badly hurt, causing the referee Arno Pokrandt to halt the fight at 2:14 of the 2nd round.

Solis, 27, showed excellent speed in the first round of the fight as he attacked McGee with blistering fast left hooks to the head and midsection. Solis fought mostly in short, explosive bursts in which he would suddenly spring a fast attack of two-three punches. McGee, 36, was content mostly to jab and slowly move around the ring. Towards the end of the round, Solis began opening up with powerful rights that had McGee backing up. Read more

Former 2004 Cuban Olympic featherweight Gold medallist Yuriorkis Gamboa (5-0, 4 KOs) flattened Argentinian Nestor Hugo Paniagua (17-4-1, 14 KOs) in little over one minute of the 1st round on Friday night in Hansehalle, Luebeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Gamboa, 25, knocked Paniagua with a left-right combination seconds into the fight. After getting up, Gamboa was immediately on him pounding him with combinations and driving him across the ring.

After reaching the ropes, Paniagua attempted helplessly to cover up, but it was no good, as Gamboa unloaded on him with a barrage of punches that knocked Paniagua down to the bottom rope where he hung there as Gamboa dished out another four shots at the helpless and hurt Paniagua.

By the time the referee Heinrich Muehmert moved in to stop the fight, Paniagua was badly hurt from Gamboa’s final shots. The bout was officially stopped at 1:05 of the 1st round. Read more

35-year old Audley Harrison (21-3, 16 KOs) was injured in an automobile crash while coming out of a training camp in Vero beach, making it necessarily for him to cancel his bout with Paul King (5-18-1, 1 KOs), which had been previously scheduled for September 29th. Harrison, the former 2000 Olympic Gold medallist in the Super heavyweight class, was driving his vehicle onto U.S. Highway 1, when another vehicle failed to give him access onto the highway, resulting in a crash between the two vehicles. Harrison sustained serious injuries to his wrist, hand, shoulder, chest and head. He reportedly had an MRI done on his most serious injury, to his shoulder. At this time, Harrison stated that he’ll need a minimum of six weeks to rehabilitate his injuries enough so that he can continue training and move forward towards his comeback bout. It’s unknown whether that will still involve the journeyman King.

Harrison had recently been stopped in the 3rd round by Michael Sprott on February 17, 2007, wiping out a brief two-fight comeback in which Harrison had won two fights in a row following successive losses to Danny Williams and Dominic Guinn in 2005 and 2006. Read more

By Gary Jones: After a week of watching Ricky Hatton get constantly embarrassed over and over again by Floyd Mayweather Jr,, Hatton finally showed a little courage at Manchester when he let loose with a couple four letter words directed at Mayweather. It was funny, but also sad, mainly because Hatton had stood by in earlier press conferences, smiling silently and chewing his gum with a ridiculous look on his face like he was too embarrassed to respond. But once in Manchester, Hatton suddenly gets brave and finally responds now that he’s backed by thousands of his fans, many of them singing English songs, cursing and drowning out any comments made by Mayweather.

The best that Hatton could say, however, was calling Mayweather a “puff” and “a six year old,” mixed in with a couple of four letter words. It was pathetic of Hatton, and made him look less than courageous in large part because he had waited until he was in front of his home fans to finally respond to Mayweather’s constant insults. Up until then, Hatton had been repeatedly nsulted by Mayweather, who had done an excellent job of making a complete fool of Hatton. Read more

By David Lahr: At the recent press conference in Manchester with Ricky Hatton (43-0, 31 KOs) and Floyd Mayweather Jr. (38-0, 24 KOs), Hatton commented that Mayweather “fights like a woman” and “fights on the back foot,” meaning that Mayweather tends to fight in a mostly a safety first defensive posture to avoid taking shots from his opponents. However, what Hatton fails to realize in saying this, though, is that all of the former great boxers of the past, for example, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammed Ali, Ezzard Charles and Jack Johnson, as well as boxing stars of the present, like Roy Jones Jr., and Chris Byrd, use the same style of fighting with most of their weight on their back foot.

There’s no shame in having a sound defense, as the nature of boxing is to hit and avoid being hit in return. Somehow, Hatton has got it mixed up in his head about fighting, perhaps thinking it’s a test of manhood to take unecessary shots to the head in order to gain the respond of the fans. Who knows? That may be a requirement in England, but if it is, it’s something that they need to get away from because the boxer is the one that has to live with the results of being punches continuously in the head, not the fans. Read more

Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya mentioned at the recent London press conference with Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather Jr, that “That will be a real advantage for Ricky, he’ll have no respect for Mayweather’s punches. I’m crossing my fingers that Ricky wins, a fight between us would be a great possibility for Wembley next year.” Clearly, Oscar realizes the huge money potential a bout between him and Hatton would bring, especially if somehow Hatton is able to come out victorious over Maweather in their Dec 8th bout. However, it’s unclear whether De la Hoya would still have interest in fighting Hatton should he lose to Mayweather, especially if he loses badly and is embarrassed in the process.

De La Hoya, 34, was lost a split decision to Mayweather in May 2007, a bout that was exciting during the earlier going when Oscar pressed the action. However, De La Hoya faded - as usual - in the second half of the fight and lost the crucial rounds which he badly needed. Read more

According to the latest boxing news, light heavyweight Anthony Hanshaw (21-1-1, 14 KOs) will taking on Glen Johnson (46-11-2, 32 KOs) on November 3, at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi. Both fighters have had the distinction of having previously faced Roy Jones Jr. Hanshaw, 29, fought Jones on July 14, 2007, and lost a unanimous decision. However, the bout was very close and could easily have been scored a draw or in Hanshaw’s favor, as he appeared to outwork Jones throughout the fight. Jones, however, landed enough pot shots to impress the judges, in a a typical Jones-type fight.

Despite having only been beaten once, Hanshaw isn’t ranked highly in any of the alphabet rating agencies. Johnson, 38, ranked #1 in the IBF, previously stopped Roy Jones Jr, in the 9th round, knocking him out with a single punch in September 2004. Johnson has been busy trying to line up another title shot against IBF light heavyweight champion Clinton Woods, who Johnson has faced three times, winning one, losing one and fighting to a draw. Read more

Future heavyweight star Chris Arreola (22-0, 20 KOs) KO’d an over-matched Thomas Hayes (26-2, 18 KOs) on Friday night, blasting him to the canvas in the 3rd round of a scheduled 10-round bout at the Doubletree Hotel, in Ontario, California. The victory, the 22nd in a row, gives the 26-year old Arreola the vacant WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title and continues his forward progress towards a future heavyweight title shot. Arreola, ranked #12 in the WBC, flattened Hayes with a left uppercut-right cross combination in the 3rd round. The referee immediately stepped in and halted the bout as Hayes was unable to continue fighting.

Arreola was very impressive in the first round, landing powerful right hands to the head, backing him up to the ropes where Arreola unloaded with numerous combinations. Hayes bravely fought back and was able to land a significant amount of return shots. However, Arreola’s power and size was simply too much for Hayes, as he was taking a horrendous beating during the first two rounds of the fight. In the 2nd, Hayes landed some good shots at the beginning of the round, pounding Arreola downstairs and trying to take the air out of him. Read more

While watching the recent press conferences with Floyd Mayweather and Ricky Hatton, I’ve noticed that Mayweather has been incredibly aggressive in his trashing talking towards Hatton, seemingly going out of his way to devalue all of Hatton’s previous accomplishments, his fighting style and his physical shape. However, in doing so, Mayweather has seemed almost desperate in his efforts to get the crowds to side with his own belief system as he tries to weaken and diminish Hatton as a human being.

It has gone far beyond normal boxing trash talk, to a more personal level as Mayweather not only seems to be trying to hurt Hatton, he seems to be trying to destroy him in an effort for Mayweather to get sense of control. From a psychological stand point, Mayweather appears to be trying to prevent from feeling vulnerable - something he no doubt must be feeling based on his extreme aggression towards Hatton - and by criticizing him more and more, Mayweather appears to be trying to accomplish a feeling of grandiosity and invulnerability, even at the expense of true reality.

WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev reportedly injured both his back and his ankle yesterday, making it necessary to postpone his fight with #1 challenger Samuel Peter for 2-4 months. Apparently, a disc slipped out of place in Maskaev’s back while he was training on Thursday for his October 6th bout which was to have taken place in New York’s Madison Square Garden. Peter, however, was understandably upset by the news, having already waited for a year to fight to fight Maskaev. As of now, Peter and his manager, Ivalo Gotzev, are requesting that an interim bout take place on October 6th, probably against #2 ranked challenger Vladimir Virchis.

Dino Duva, president of Duva Boxing, the promoter of WBC no. 1 contender Samuel Peter, was very emotional about the fact that the sacred Madison Square Garden boxing ring has been retired before Peter’s October 6 World Heavyweight Title fight against Oleg Maskaev, and not after the fight. “Yesterday, I had chills the entire time during the MSG ring retirement ceremony,” said Duva.

“Anyone whose life has been boxing had to feel that way. I was always told that the plan was to retire the ring AFTER the October 6 event, meaning Samuel would be able to be the last fighter to win a world championship in this sacred ring. “It was a bush league, disrespectful manuever by Dennis Rappaport, to insist on that clause changing the size of the ring without my knowledge or approval,” added Duva. “And this was all over a one and a half foot total difference in ring size!

“Not that one and a half feet, or even ten feet, would make a difference in the outcome,” wrapped up Duva. “There will be a major victory for Samuel, but it would have been wonderful for Sam to be the last Champion in history to walk out of that ring.” Read more

Boasting a combined record of 154 victories – 80 by knockout — against just 12 losses and a winning percentage exceeding 92%, the three-bout pay-per-view undercard for “Will to Win” promises to be 100% action! Promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank, in association with MP Promotions, “Will to Win” will be headlined by the 12-round super featherweight rumble between three-division world champions and arch rivals Manny Pacquiao, from The Philippines, and Mexico’s Marco Antonio Barrera. “Will to Win” takes place Saturday, October 6, at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View, beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.. Read more