Hopkins-Murat, Deontay-Firtha & Quillin-Rosado this Saturday on Showtime

deontay1By Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight Deontay Wilder (29-0, 29 KO’s) will be in the ring this Saturday night in what could be an excellent showcase fight on Showtime against the towering 6’6″ Nicolai Firtha (21-10-1, 8 KO’s) in what could be the best fight of the card head-lined by Bernard Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO’s) defending his IBF 175 lb. trap against Karo Murat (25-1-1, 15 KO’s) at the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

The Deontay-Firtha fight will be most interesting bout on the card because it matched two huge heavyweights that will be trading bombs from the get go. Firtha may not be a top world class heavyweight right now, but he’s got class power. There’s definitely nothing wrong with the kind of power that Firtha’s packing.

read more

Deontay Wilder could land on Hopkins-Murat card on October 26th

wilder33By Scott Gilfoid: In order to help spruce up the October 26th Bernard Hopkins vs. Karo Murat card, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is looking to add unbeaten heavyweight talent Deontay Wilder (29-0, 29 KO’s) to the card to beef it up. The fight card will be televised by Showtime and it’ll be taking place at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

Unfortunately, there’s no real interesting fights on the card as of now because Hopkins-Murat is a terrible mismatch, as is the co-feature between WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin and junior middleweight Gabriel Rosado. At least by adding Wilder, there might be one interesting fight on the card as long as they find a quality opponent for the 6’7″ Deontay.

read more

Hopkins vs. Murat on October 26th; Anthony Dirrell vs. Sakio Bika possible for undercard

dirrell23134By Scott Gilfoid: IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO’s) will be making his first defense of his title against #2 IBF Karo Murat (25-1-1, 15 KO’s) on October 26th at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The undercard could have Anthony Dirrell (26-0, 22 KO’s) facing WBC super middleweight champion Sakio Bika (32-5-2, 21 KO’s). In addition to that, WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin (29-0, 21 KO’s) will be making his 2nd title defense against an opponent still to be determined. The card will be televised by Showtime.

read more

Hopkins-Murat fight now off; Karo can’t get visa

By Allan Fox: The scheduled July 13th fight between IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins and challenger Karo Murat is off for the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York due to Murat having visa problems that will prevent him from traveling to the United States for the fight. In addition to the Hopkins vs. Murat fight being off, the entire July 13th fight card has been cancelled as well.

read more

Hopkins wants Froch and Bute after Murat

hopkins452By Scott Gilfoid: After IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO’s) gets through taking care of his mandatory challenger Karo Murat )25-1-1, 15 KO’s) on July 27th, Hopkins wants to take on either IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch or former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute. It sounds like Hopkins wants to face them back to back.

Hopkins said to RingTV “I’m biased, so I’m going to tell you who I want to win. I want Froch and Bute to win. To fight either one of them, I would go to their countries, and, you know, they love me in Canada.”

read more

Bernard Hopkins vs. Karo Murat on July 27th in Brooklyn, New York

hopkins433By Scott Gilfoid: WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly might not be feeling too good today after the news of IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO’s) agreeing to defend his International Boxing Federation title against his mandatory challenger #3 IBF Karo Murat (25-1-1-, 15 KO’s) on July 27th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. According to ESPN, the 48-year-old Hopkins and Murat have agreed on the fight for July 27th.

It’s not as if Hopkins had a choice in the matter because Murat had already been promised by the IBF to fight the winner of the Hopkins vs. Tavorois Cloud fight regardless of who won the fight. If Hopkins had opted to fight Cleverly next, then he would have been stripped by the IBF for failing to face his mandatory challenger Murat.

read more

Hopkins must defend IBF title against Murat next; Cleverly out of luck

hopkins433By Scott Gilfoid: It looks like WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (25-0, 12 KO’s) can put his dreams of a unification bout against 48-year-old IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO’s) on hold for the remainder of 2013 because Hopkins has to defend his newly won IBF title against his mandatory challenger Karo Murat (25-1-1, 15 KO’s) in what should be an easy title-milking fight for Hopkins.

Hopkins likely won’t be able to get an exception to bypass the Murat fight because Tavoris Cloud, the previous IBF 175 lb. champion, already was given permission to steer around Murat in order to face Hopkins.

read more