Bradley backup plan for Pacquiao if Marquez says no to September fight

bradley14By Chris Williams: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum hasn’t given up on trying to persuade Juan Manuel Marquez to agree to a 5th fight with Manny Pacquiao for September this year in a fight that Arum wants to put in Macau or Singapore. If Marquez says no to the fight, Arum reportedly will then turn to WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley and have him take it, provided that his head has healed from the concussion he received in his recent victory over Ruslan Provodnikov.

Arum is scouting out casinos in Macau, China, and Singapore for Pacquiao’s September fight because it will enable him to avoid having a big chunk of his purse taken from him in taxes, which is what happens when Pacquiao fights in the U.S.

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Garcia vs. Judah: Danny doesn’t care how much more experience Zab has going for him

garcia3434By Allan Fox: Former two division world champion Zab Judah (42-7, 29 KO’s) has made it a point to let boxing fans know that he’s got much more experience at the upper levels of the sport compared to his opponent WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (25-0, 16 KO’s), and he feels that is going to be the telling factor in him winning their fight this month on April 27th at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

Garcia, 25, doesn’t think experience will mean too much for this fight. He feels that once he hits Judah really hard, the experience won’t matter one bit.

Speaking with RingTV, Garcia said “When you get hit, it don’t matter how much experience you’ve got. If you can’t take the punch, that’s the only thing that matters.”

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Thurman-Chaves & Berto-Soto Karass on July 20th or 27th on Showtime

thurman432By Allan Fox: According to Dan Rafael, Golden Boy Promotions is putting together a big fight card on July 20th or July 27th on Showtime with #10 WBC welterweight Jesus Soto-Karass (27-8-3, 17 KO’s) facing former IBFC/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KO’s) and #1 WBO, #4 WBA, #13 IBF, Keith Thurman (20-0, 18 KO’s) battling Interim WBA World welterweight champion Diego Chaves (22-0, 18 KO’s) at a still to be determined venue.

This is a good card because we’ll find out a lot of things starting with whether Berto has anything left in the tank after having lost two out of his last three fights and looked poor in all three of them. Berto is coming off of a 12 round unanimous decision loss to Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero last November.

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Hearn: Top Ranks wants Chavez Jr. vs. Barker at a catchweight on June 22nd

chavez45By Scott Gilfoid: Promoter Eddie Hearn says that Top Rank, the promoters for former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez (46-1-1, 32 KO’s), want a catchweight fight between Chavez Jr. and Hearn’s fighter former EBU middleweight champion Darren Barker (25-1, 16 KO’s) on June 22nd in Mexico.

In other words, the fight would be above the 160 pound limit, presumably because Chavez Jr. is having a hard time getting down to the 160 pound limit. Having seen Chavez Jr. working out lately, I can understand why the need for the catchweight.

Chavez Jr. looks to be over 200 pounds, and it’s hard to imagine him dropping all that weight to get down to 160. Chavez Jr. doesn’t look fat. He just looks like a small heavyweight/cruiserweight. The weight will come off but I don’t think Chavez Jr. will be able to get down to 160 to make the middleweight limit. It would be a fight that would be held at super middleweight.

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Golovkin wants Canelo vs. Trout winner; willing to move down to 154 to take fight

golovkin2By Dan Ambrose: WBA World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (26-0, 23 KO’s) is ready to face the winner of the April 20th unification bout between WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and WBA champ Austin Trout, and he’s willing to move down to 154 to take the fight, according to Dan Rafael. Golovkin’s manager Tom Loeffler says Golovkin wants that fight and he also wants to face WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez in a unification bout in 2013 if he’s open to accepting the fight.

Golovkin destroyed Nobuhiro Ishida in three rounds last Saturday night in Monte Carlo. Golovkin knocked Ishida out with a right hand in the 3rd that left him on the canvas unconscious briefly.

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Alvarado vs. Rios II draws 1.2 million viewers on HBO; replay tonight on HBO2 at 11 p.m. ET/PT

rios44By Eric Thomas: The rematch between Mike Alvarado (34-1, 23 KO’s) and Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) on March 30th drew a reported 1.2 million viewers on HBO, which is in the ballpark of some of HBO’s recent fights involving Bernard Hopkins vs. Tavoris Cloud and Ruslan Provodnikov vs. Timothy Bradley.

The Alvarado-Rios II fight also had an excellent gate of 5,400 fans that purchased tickets to the fight at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Both guys took a lot of damage as Alvarado ended up winning the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 114-113.

The Alvarado vs. Rios II replay will air tonight, Tuesday, on HBO2 at 11 p.m. ET/PT.

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Andre Ward: When Chavez Jr. comes up to 168, we’ve got to talk

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By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) is really looking forward to when former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) can no longer make weight for the 160 pound division and is forced to come up to 168 to campaign as a super middleweight. When that time comes, Ward expects Chavez Jr. to do the right thing by agreeing to fight him given that Ward is considered to the No.1 fighter at 168.

Ward said to Radio Raheem “I want two fights this year; hopefully in the summertime and then the end of the year.

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Will Amir Khan Ever Rise To The Top?

khan45By Rumel: Bolton’s superstar, Amir Khan, returns to the ring at the end of the month to face seasoned-veteran, Julio Diaz, as he looks to rebuild his career.

But the question remains – will he ever reach the top he so badly desires? Losses against Peterson and Garcia hurt his career just as he was about to enter the golden spotlight, with talks about a possible fight with Floyd Mayweather.

How things suddenly change in the space of a few months. If we take a look at his fight with Peterson, there’s no doubt in my mind that Khan won this fight. I felt the refereeing was unfair, and perhaps slightly biased. But in my opinion, Khan did enough to win a points decision. However, the fact remains, Khan did struggle against an opponent who many feel, along with myself, is not a world-class operator.

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Liam Walsh v Scott Harrison on April 20th at Wembley Arena, London

walshBy Stevie Ocallaghan: On the 20th April at Wemley Stadium, Liam Walsh defends his WBO European lightweight title against veteran Scott Harrison. 26 year old Walsh with 13 wins and 10 stoppages will be looking to extend his unbeaten record to keep alive his world title ambitions after having a December fight against WBO lightweight champ Ricky Burns scuppered due to a car crash injury.

Walsh is still a relative novice having only 13 fights and is now arguably taking his toughest test so far in Harrison, who at 35 is himself in the last chance saloon. This is Harrison’s last real chance at getting back to the top after well documented personal problems.

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Bellew can still bark but can he bite?

bellew22By Jack Tarpey @jackboxing24 – Well we witnessed another typical Tony Bellew build up, the former 15 year old doorman turned boxer has always relied on his quick witted mouth to upsell his notoriety as a genuine contender in the world of boxing. Considering his biggest accomplishment in the ring so far is ‘nearly’ beating Nathan Cleverly for his handed down world strap, he has managed to do himself proud in becoming a well-known name within British boxing scene.

Bellew has recently changed his boxing style from the exciting come forward fighter to the safety first approach, the idea for this was to ensure results but in reality all it has done is left a sour taste in the mouth of the paying punter, coming to watch a self-proclaimed bully in the ring only to be met with a fighter who isn’t willing to commit himself leaves more to be desired for the boxing purest.

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