By Jim Dower: Perhaps the best new talent in the heavyweight division, undefeated 6’7″ 250 pound behemoth Tyson Fury (4-0, 4 KOs) faces a tough test in journeyman Mathew Ellis (20-6-1, 9 KOs) in a six-round bout this Saturday night on the undercard of Commonwealth welterweight champion Craig Watson vs. John O’Donnell at the York Hall, in Bethnal Green, London.
Joshua Clottey
Cotto vs. Berto or Clottey?
By Matt Stein: after dismantling challenger Michael Jennings on Saturday night in an easy 5th round TKO victory, the question in the minds of many boxing fans is who will Miguel Cotto be facing next? Although many would love nothing better than to see Cotto face Paul Williams or fight a rematch with Antonio Margarito, it’s extremely doubtful that Cotto’s promotional team would want to risk putting him with such tough fighters like these.
Mayweather vs. The Welterweight Division
By Daniel Poland: Everybody in boxing is now talking about the possible ring return of Floyd Mayweather Jr., who hasn’t fought since his 10th round knockout of Ricky Hatton in December 2007. It has taken a year without Mayweather for the rumors to start, and I personally believe the sport of boxing needs Mayweather at this point. The talk is Mayweather is lining up a mega fight with the current Pound for Pound king Manny Pacquiao. That is if Pacquiao can get past his next opponent Ricky Hatton in May, which a lot of boxing experts are predicting he should do.
Baldomir Wants Bout Against Margarito, Cotto or Clottey — Boxing News
By Scott Gilfoid: Former World Boxing Council welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir (44-11-6, 13 KOs) reportedly wants a fight with top fighters Antonio Margarito, Joshua Clottey or Miguel Cotto according to Sycuan Ringside Promotions. The 37 year-old Baldomir hasn’t seen action since his 10-round majority decision win over light middleweight Luciano Perez in November 2007. Though Baldomir states that he’s interested in fighting one of the top welterweights in the division, it’s very questionable whether he can make the 147 pound weight limit at this stage in his career.
The last time he fought at 147 was two years ago against Floyd Mayweather in November 2006, a bout in which Baldomir was soundly defeated and lost his WBC welterweight title to Mayweather. Shortly after that, Baldomir moved up in weight to 154 lbs, the light middleweight division, where he was against defeated in a one-sided fight, a 12-round unanimous decision, to Vernon Forrest for the vacant WBC light middleweight title in July 2007.
Clottey Defeats Judah, Will Zab Still Get a Shot at Margarito?
By Dean Harman: As one would expect, number #1 ranked IBF welterweight Joshua Clottey (35-2, 20 KOs) defeated former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah (36-6, 25 KOs) on Saturday night, beating him by a 9th round technical decision to claim the vacant IBF welterweight title at the Palms Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight was stopped after Judah, 30, sustained a wide cut over his right eye early in the 9th, and complained to the ringside doctor that he couldn’t see out of his eye. Obviously, by Judah saying that, he basically was giving the doctor the ammunition to end the fight, which he promptly did.
By Judah saying he couldn’t see, it left the doctor with only one choice – to stop the fight. It probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway if he let the fight continue, because Judah, who has now lost four out of his last seven fights, didn’t appear to be gaining momentum and looked like he was well on his way to losing by a decision. However, the referee Robert Byrd, who ruled that the cut was caused by a head butt, appeared to miss the actual cause of the cut – a left uppercut from Clottey, thus ruining what should have been a 9th round TKO win for Clottey instead of a technical decision.
Options Available For Miguel Cotto – Williams, Judah, Margarito, Clottey
By Thomas Hanson: Since his brutal 11th round TKO loss to challenger Antonio Margarito (37-5, 27 KOs), there’s been a lot of speculation about what former WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (32-1, 26 KOs) will do next to rebound from the loss. For most boxing fans, they would like nothing better than to see Cotto get right back in the ring and fight Margarito in a rematch at the end of the year, perhaps in November or December. This would be the best scenario, because a rematch between the two of them would be a huge fight, a tremendous moneymaker for both fighters.
Cotto, though, took a lot of punishment in the later part of the fight in particular to the head, and it’s uncertain that he would want to risk getting back in the ring with a heavy pressure fighter like Margarito so soon. It would definitely be a ballsy move on Cotto’s part if he were to do that, similar to the way that welterweight Paul Williams immediately called for a rematch with Carlos Quintana after losing his title to him months earlier. However, in Williams’ case, he didn’t take a savage beating like Cotto, and he fought more or less competitively throughout the fight, especially in the later rounds when he appeared to be coming on and starting to regain control of the fight.
Clottey vs. Judah Fight For Vacant IBF title On Saturday
By Sean Mcdaniel: Former WBA/WBC/IBF welterweight champion Zab Judah (36-5, 25 KOs) and Joshua Clottey (34-2, 20 KOs) will meet up on Saturday night for the vacant IBF welterweight title up for grabs at the Palms Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The title was left vacant after Antonio Margarito gave it up soon after winning it with a 6th round TKO over Kermit Cintron in April. Rather than having to defend the title against Clottey, whom he beat previously by a 12-round unanimous decision in December 2006, Margarito opted to give up the title and instead fight Miguel Cotto for his WBA welterweight title.
On paper, this would seem like a fight that Judah can’t win. Although he’s perhaps a little faster than Clottey, he doesn’t have the rugged style of fighting that he possesses, nor does he have the chin needed to take the kind of big shots that Clottey will no doubt be dishing out against him throughout the fight. Both Clottey and Judah are roughly the same size, however, but that’s where similarities end. Clottey has excellent power in his left hook, which he often throws in blinding three and four-punch combinations within a fraction of a second.
Judah vs. Clottey On August 2nd
By Jim Dower: In the latest boxing news, former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah (36-5, 25 KOs) will be meeting up with Joshua Clottey (34-2, 20 KOs) for the vacant IBF welterweight title on August 2nd. The title is currently held by Antonio Margarito, who recently stopped then champion Kermit Cintron in the 6th round on April 12th, to win his IBF welterweight title. Instead of keeping the title, however, Margarito has decided instead to give it up and challenger WBA welterweight champion Miguel Cotto on July 2th for his title at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas.
If Margarito had held onto the title, it would have meant that he would have had to fight his number one challenger Joshua Clottey, whom he previously beat in a tough 12-round unanimous decision in December 2006. Clottey, though perhaps not in the class of Cotto, would still be a very tough fight for Margarito given his speed and power, but it would also, naturally, bring in much less money for Margarito than he would fetch by taking on the undefeated Cotto. As for Judah, he recently injured his right arm, cutting it accidently while training for his May 31st bout with Shane Mosley.
Clottey Stops Cruz
By Erik Schmidt: In what turned out to be a disappoint premature stoppage by referee Ricky Gonzalez, # 1 ranked IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey (34-2, 20 KOs) stopped an overmatched Jose Luis Cruz (34-4-2, 27 KOs) in the 5th round last night at the Aviator Sports Arena, in Brooklyn, New York. Shortly after Clottey landed a series of punishing shots, ending with two consecutive left hands to the head of Cruz in the 5th, the referee jumped in and stopped the bout at 2:48 of the round. However, before Cruz looked perfectly okay and had been fighting back well the entire round up until the quick stopped. The referee said later that Cruz was wincing after every shot from Clottey, which was his reasoning for stopping the fight with Cruz still on his feet.
Clottey, 31, looked far from his best in the fight as he very economical with his punches and mostly fighting hard for the last 30 seconds of each round. He’s had a history of fading in the 2nd half of his bouts dating back to his 12th round unanimous decision loss to Antonio Margarito in a title shot for his WBO welterweight crown in December 2006.
Clottey Decisions Alvarez – Is Cintron next?
Welterweight Joshua Clottey (33-2, 20 KOs) put in a workmanlike performance on Thursday, if not impressive, in winning a 12-round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Shamone Alvarez (19-1, 11 KOs) at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The final judges’ scores were 115-113, 116-112, 118-110. Clottey, 30, fought most of the fight in a relaxed manner, rarely exerting himself except to throw an occasional pot shot at Alvarez.
Still, however, Clottey faded in the last two couple, as he usually does, allowing Alvarez to make the fight closer than it normally should have been. The victory earns Clottey a shot at International Boxing Federation welterweight champion Kermit Cintron, if he’ll choose to fight him, that is. At the present time, Cintron is nursing an injured hand, but after that, he’ll possibly opt to take a match against WBO welterweight champion Paul Williams rather than Clotty, mainly because the bout would give him a much bigger payday.