Undefeated middleweight prospect Joe Greene (16-0, 12 KOs) quickly took out his opponent Darryl Salmon (15-2, 4 KOs) in the 1st round on Wednesday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino, in Hollywood, Florida. Greene, 21, despite being knocked down once in the opening minute of the bout, rebounded well, connecting with a pulverizing left hand shortly after to plant Salmon on the canvas where he was then quickly counted out by the referee.

Greene, a natural southpaw, blessed with extraordinary power, came out with mean intentions at the opening bell, as he was putting everything he had into every punch, causing him to be off balance after throwing them. It was during one of these occasions that Salmon connected with a hard left hand that sent Greene to the canvas. He immediately got up, however, and looked more embarrassed than actually hurt. All the same, it wasn’t the last time that Salmon connected cleanly with a left hand, showing that Greene had a got a lot of work to do on his defense side of his fight game. Though he quickly moved in and stopped Salmon a minute late, it could be a potential problem for Greene down the road when he takes on harder punching middleweights, such as Kelly Pavlik. Read more

By Larry Bass: Cruiserweight Francisco Palacios (12-0, 6 KOs) won a stunning sixth round TKO over Louis Azille (19-4-2, 15 KOs) on Wednesday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Hollywood, Florida. Palacios, 30, was trailing the fight entering the sixth round, when he suddenly surprised Azille with a perfectly thrown right uppercut, and then a right hand, which badly hurt Azille and sent him down. After making it up, Palacios followed with a flurry of punches, punctuated by two hard right hands that staggered Azille, causing the referee to intervene and call a halt to the bout in the sixth.

Before the knockdown, however, Palacios looked nothing like an eventual winner, as he mostly ran around the ring wearing his Hector Camacho imitation shorts, and throwing weak shots while trying his best to avoid getting hit by Azille. It didn’t look good, and made for bad boxing entertainment, causing many of the ringside fans to boo loudly by the fourth round. During these rounds, Palacios, whose goal is to one day become the cruiserweight champion of the world, gave few indications that he’ll eventually win a title. Even with the knockout, Palacios looked very mediocre, and was lucky to be in the ring with the 36-year old Azille, who was only making his second fight in the past three years.

Welterweight challenger Joshua Clottey (32-2, 19 KOs) defeated two-time title challenger Felix Flores (22-6, 16 KOs) by 10-round unanimous decision on Thursday night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Clottey, 30, using mostly quick combinations, was simply too much for the slower, plodding Flores to contend with. However, made it interesting in the first half of the fight, often forcing Clottey to the ropes where Flores would then unleash hard body shots.

Clottey, never one to a good scrape, went a long with Flores’ game plan, trying to beat him at his own game. However, it was clearly not working, so following the sixth round in which Clottey received a tongue lashing in between rounds by his trainer, Clottey came out in the seventh round and focused entirely on boxing. It worked, as he easily won the remaining four rounds without any trouble. The final judges’ score were 97-93, 99-91, and 100-90. Read more

By Dave Lahr: Heavyweight challenger Tye Fields (39-1, 35 KOs) completely dominated an intimidated looking Domonic Jenkins (12-7-1, 6 KOs), stopping him in 7th round after Jenkins failed to come out for the 8th round on Thursday night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jenkins, 34, looked like he didn’t want to be there from the opening bell, as he rarely threw punches, and instead mostly stood in front of Fields and absorbed continuous punishment for seven rounds. The fight perhaps should have been stopped as early as the fourth round when it became apparent that Jenkins was not interested in exchanging punches with the 6′9″ Fields. Although it’s hard to understand why not, since Fields didn’t present any semblance of defensive ability all fight long, with his main focus being his offensive output.

Fields, 32, threw a lot of punches during the fight, averaging an incredible 94 per round. However, it was slightly less than his usual enormous punch volume, perhaps in part because Jenkins was doing so little against him, that there was no real need to throw as many punches. Fields mixed in quite a few jabs during the bout, something unheard of for him, as he mostly throws wide hooks with both hands. The jabs, however, were thrown incredibly slow, as was Field’s other punches. It didn’t matter, though, because with the sheer volume of punches that Field’s was throwing and landing, he was punishing Jenkins badly. Read more

Shane Mosley (44-4, 37 KOs) vs. Miguel Cotto (30-0, 25 KOs) bout appears to be almost complete for November 10, 2007. Both sides have agreed to terms and all that’s needed is the final signings which should be taking place shortly. The bout will likely be for Cotto’s WBA welterweight (147 lb) title. Mosley, 35, has won five consecutive bots since losing back to back fights to Winky Wright in March and November 2004. Along the way, Mosley, formerly widely considered to be the # 1 pound-for-pound fighter in all boxing, twice beat the great Fernando Vargas, and recently soundly beat defensive artist Luis Collazo by unanimous 12-round decision in February 2007.

Cotto, 26, has been nothing short of spectacular since moving up to the welterweight division in December 2006, stopping Carlos Quintana (5th round December 2006), Oktay Urkal (11th round TKO in March 2007) and Zab Judah (11th round TKO in June 2007). Before that, Cotto has been fighting at light welterweight but was forced to move up because he could no longer comfortably make the weight limit without drastic dieting.

Undefeated WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (27-0-1, 17 KOs), will be meeting up with middleweight knockout artist Kelly Pavlik (31-0, 28 KOs) in September 29, 2007, at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Pavlik, 25, is ranked # 1 in both the WBO and WBC, which made it almost impossible for Taylor, who at first wasn’t excited at the prospect of the fight, not to fight Pavlik. To get to this position, Pavlik destroyed Edison Miranda, perhaps the hardest puncher in the middleweight division, in the 7th round in May 2007. The destruction was so complete that it left no question that Pavllik was the top dog in the division, aside from champion Taylor. Read more

Former two-time heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe (42-1, 33 KOs) will continue his stalled boxing comeback bid when he takes on journeyman fighter Paul ‘Rocky’ Phillips on August 19th, 2007, in Covinton, Kentucky. Bowe, now 40-years-old, and slightly paunchy, hasn’t fought in two years since last winning a split decision over Billy Zumbrun in April 2005. Read more

Light heayweight Bernard Hopkins (48-4, 32 KOs) is seemingly sitting on top of the world right now of his recent 12-round unanimous decision victory over Ronald “Winky” Wright on July 21st at the Mandalay Bay, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The win was nothing short of spectacular, not the least of which because of his advanced age (42-years old), and with the added fact that he hadn’t fought in over a year. Read more

The Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya (38-5, 30 KOs) has reported that he wants to fight twice in 2008, “In May and December,” although not saying whom he will be fight against. However, based on boxing reports, he’d like to fight the winner of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton fight, which takes place in December 2007. If he’d have a choice in the matter – which he obviously does – De La Hoya would probably prefer to fight Hatton, rather than go over old ground and fight Mayweather once again.

De La Hoya, 34, lost a split decision to Mayweather in May 2007, a bout that many people thought should have been ruled a draw, and one that De La Hoya felt that he had done enough to get the boxing decision. Reportedly, De La Hoya didn’t enjoy Mayweather’s style of fighting, which consisted of a lot of running, with an occasional put-shot by Mayweather in between. De La Hoya added that he would be fighting at welterweight rather than 154, saying that he feels faster and stronger at that weight than at light middleweight, a weight that he’s won four and lost two.

British lightweight star Ricky Hatton (43-0, 31 KOs) is reportedly in 7th heaven after the recent signing of a contractor to face boxing pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. (38-0, 24 KOs) in Las Vegas on December 8, 2007. “I am fighting the best fighter in the world; It doesn’t get bigger than this,” Hatton said. Based on reports, Hatton is set to make in the neighborhood of $10 million on the fight with Mayweather, which far and away tops his career winnings in one single night. However, the monstrous payday will come at a cost for Hatton, as he will have to move up in weight to the welterweight division, a move that is likely to place Hatton – a natural lightweight – at a significant disadvantage going into the fight.

Even still, I suppose it may not even matter much in the long run, as with that kind of payday, Hatton, perhaps, may not mind taking a single nights beating. Indeed, for that kind of money, it would have normally taken Hatton 4-5 fights to make an equivalent. Then again, if Hatton had agreed to take on Oscar De La Hoya, who had made mention of wanting to fight Hatton, then he’d have made much more than that. Only, that wasn’t guaranteed like the fight with Mayweather is, so I can hardly blame Hatton for taking the sure thing.

Four-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield (42-8, 27 KOs) will get yet another shot at a heavyweight title when he meets up with WBO heavyweight champion Sultan Ibragimov (21-0, 17 KOs) in Moscow, Russia, on October 13, 2007. The chance for Holyfield came about when Ruslan Chagaev, the WBA heavyweight champion, inexplicably pulled out of the fight without giving any explanation.

Whatever the case, Holyfield vs. Ibragimov figures to be the much more interesting bout, and will easily make more money than Chagaev-Ibragimov, which had so far failed to ignite interest in the boxing world, aside from a few fanatics. Previously, there had been rumors in the boxing news about Holyfield potentially taking on Wladimir Klitschko, the IBF heavyweight champion, a bout that would have had Holyfield taking the much harder road in seeking his fifth title than the relatively light-hitting Ibragimov. Read more

Featherweight boxing veteran Antonio Davis (24-3, 12 KOs) was simply too much for the young southpaw prospect Leon Bobo (16-1, 2 KOs), stopping him at the end of the 5th round on Wednesday night at the Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Georgia. Bobo, 28, was knocked down twice in the 5th round, and was penalized twice for holding, once in the 4th and another time in the 5th round. At the the end of the 5th round, Bobo requested that the fight be stopped due to the amount of punishment he had sustained during the course of the bout.

Bobo looked good in the first round, while landing sharp left hands and sweeping right hooks to the head of Davis. However, after the 2nd round, Bobo went into his shell and appeared to wilt under the constant pressure from the 35-year old Davis, who never let up on him for an instant. Most of the action was spent against the ropes, where Davis often had Bobo pinned against while he landed bomb after bomb without stop. Read more

By Larry Brown: Light heavyweight Roy Jones Jr. (51-4, 38 KOs) is reportedly considering a bout with WBO light heavyweight champion Zsolt Erdei, possibly to take place in November some time. Erdei (27-0, 17 KOs), a Hungarian fighter based in Germany, is perhaps the weakest power of the light heavyweight champions, but is by far the most technically skilled of the bunch, a factor that makes him a dangerous opponent for the 38-year old Jones, whom has become sloppy in his boxing technique as he’s aged. However, Erdei, 36, is still largely a question mark, as he hasn’t fought any really talented light heavyweights in the class of Jones. However, what I’ve seen of Erdei in his fights against Julio Gonzalez and Thomas Ulrich, tells me that he’s the real deal and good enough to create a lot of problems for Jones.

Jones recently, making his first fight in over a year, defeated Anthony Hanshaw by unanimous decision to win the IBC light heavyweight championship on July 14. He looked good for the most part, but was hit more than I can ever remember. His legs and fast hands have visibly slowed, allowing a slower fighter like Hanshaw to catch up to him often and punish him on the inside.

By Kevin Dinkins: Since destroying Lamon Brewster in six brutal rounds last month on July 14th, there’s been a tremendous amount of curiosity about who IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (49-3, 44 KOs) will elect to fight next. Of the names most bandied about, Corrie Sanders and Evander Holyfield have come up the most. Since Wladimir has a non-mandatory defense coming up, he’s free to take on a lower level fighter like these two, not that they’re not credible opponents, mind you, but clearly not at the top of the class at this stage in their careers. Normally, Wladimir would fight a lower guy, possibly someone in the lower top 10 or possibly as low as 14, but a big problem right now, unfortunately, is that many of the fighters in the top 10 are busy and have fights coming up.

The fighters lower than that, however, are relatively unknown and not something that the cable networks want to see matched up with Wladimir, mainly because it won’t generate fan interest in wanting to view the fight. That’s where Holyfield comes in, and to a much lesser extent, Sanders, both of whom the fans might tune in to watch just for the spectacle of seeing them essentially be put out of their misery by Klitschko, whom at this point in his career is at the top of his game. Read more

By Michael Austria: Pound for pound boxing king, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (38-4, 24 KOs) has reportedly signed a contract to fight British lightweight star Ricky Hatton (43-0, 31 KOs), according to eastsideboxing.com boxing news website. Apparently, the Hatton’s father has confirmed that the contracts have been signed and all they’re waiting on now is the site for the fight to be held at. As of now, the MGM Grand is the leading candidate for the location, and the date is slated for December 8, 2007.

Mayweather, 30, retired after his 12-round decision victory over Oscar De La Hoya in May 2007, saying at the time that there was no reason to continue boxing due to the lack of viable opponents. However, Mayweather suddenly changed his tune after seeing Hatton dismantle Jose Luis Castillo in June 2007, stopping him in the fourth round. Perhaps would motivated Mayweather even more, in part, was the fact that he had struggled twice in beating Castillo, whereas Hatton made it look effortless in beating Castillo. Read more

By Chet Mills III: According to Kommersant, the Russian news agency, former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KOs) is interested in fighting a rematch with Vitali Klitschko (35-2, 34 KOs), if the money is right, and only if Vitali can somehow win back a heavyweight title. No doubt, it’s a tall order for Klitschko, who has been out of boxing for the past two years after retiring due to numerous injuries. For the bout to happen, Vitali, now 36-years old, must beat Jameel McCline, his next opponent on August 22, 2007, in Germany. If all goes well in that bout, Vitali then faces the winner of WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev and challenger Samuel Peter.

“If I become the world champion, the leading TV channels will make that offer,” Klitschko said to Kommersant news. For Vitali to even get to the stage of fighting Lewis, however, will be a minor miracle, since he’s had a long history of sustaining injuries while training for bouts, and for him, at this age, to be able to go through three consecutive fights without breaking down would be stunning. However, who knows? If Vitali can avoid running, and at the same time take it easy while sparring, he might get lucky and make it that far. That said, beating someone as good Oleg Maskaev or Samuel Peter, both very talented fighters, would be a long shot for Vitali, given his age and two years away from boxing while in retirement. Read more

By Sam Bevington: In one of the first boxing heavyweight unifications bouts in ages, WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev (23-0, 17 KOs) will meet up with Sultan Ibragimov (21-0, 17 KOs), the WBO heavyweight champion, on October 13, 2007, in Moscow, Russian. Both fighters have recently won their titles, and neither of them have much of a following in the United States or the world, for that matter. In terms of talent, both Ibragimov and Chagaev have to be considered two of the weakest heavyweight champions in memory, at least as far as I can recall.

Ibragimov, 32, won his title over Shannon Briggs, winning a 12-round unanimous decision on June 2, 2007, in a fight in which Briggs threw very few punches. It wasn’t the case of Ibagimov looking good, but more so that Briggs appeared to be battling health problems during the bout, and had problems breathing. Rather than taking advantage of Brigg’s immobility and punishing him, Ibragimov mostly stayed on the outside and threw jabs, and looking very timid. As for Chagaev, he won the WBA title in April 2007, beating Nikolay Valuev by majority decision. However, it appeared that Chagaev, in fact, lost the fight, as was the case in his fight with John Ruiz in November 2006, where Chagaev won a 12-round split decision. Read more

By Chris Williams: Erik Morales (48-5, 34 KOs) will be challenging WBC light champion David Diaz (32-1-1, 17 KOs) on Saturday night at the Allstate Arena, in Chicago. Morales, 30, going into the bout, has lost three consecutive fights, two of which have been brutal knockout losses to Manny Pacquiao. In fact, Morales hasn’t looked good since winning a 12-round decision over Manny Pacquiao in March 2005. It’s unclear what happened since that time, perhaps it’s because of him putting on a great deal of weight after his winning effort against Paquiao.

Whatever the case, Morales has looked over-the-hill in the past two years, something that hasn’t been lost for the boxing public, many of which have been calling for Morales to retire rather than fighting on and receiving further beatings. On Saturday night, Morales is in for yet another test of how much he has left. It’s uncertain, however, whether Diaz, a fighter that is still relatively green, having mostly fought unknown fighters in his career up until wining the WBC interim lightweight title last August, when he stopped Jose Armando Santa Cruz in the 10th round. Diaz, 27, doesn’t have much power to speak of, but has an airtight defense and sound, albeit average power, offensive skills. Read more

By Tony Mouton: WBC super bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez (37-3, 33 KOs) will defend his newly won title on Saturday night against knockout artist Israel Vazquez (41-4, 30 KOs), with whom he stopped in between the seventh and eighth rounds four months ago on March 3rd, when Vasquez couldn’t continue fighting due to a busted nose that prevented him from breathing properly. The fight will take place at the Dodge Arena, in Hildago, Texas. On the undercard, Jorge Lacierva (32-6-6, 22 KOs) will take on Panama’s Celestino Caballero (26-2, 18 KOs) for Caballero’s WBA 122-pound title.

The first fight was an all-out battle from the opening bell, as both Marquez and Vazquez dispensed with any boxing niceties, going directly at each other with power shots with knockout intentions. However, it became immediately clear that Marquez’s jab, which was like a power punch, was inflicting terrible damage to Vazquez’s nose. Read more

By Chris Williams: Former light heavyweight boxing champion Glen Johnson (46-11-2, 31 KOs) knocked out Fred Moore (30-7, 25 KOs) in the fifth round on Friday night at the Sheraton Miami Mart, in Miami, Florida. Johnson, 38, waited out Moore’s early surge, and then came on starting in the 3rd round, landing huge shots and hurting Moore. In the 5th round, Johnson continued with his punishment, eventually landing a beautiful searing combination that dropped Moore to the canvas in a heap. The referee Frank Gentile stepped in and halted the bout at 2:45 of the 5th round. Read more