Virgil Hunter

Ward vs. Brand: Hunter compares Andre to GGG

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By Allan Fox: Trainer Virgil Hunter says his fighter Andre Ward is in the same predicament as IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin as far as not being able to find high quality opposition for him to fight. Ward, 31, has been taking a lot of heat from boxing fans and the media for his choice opponent for his August 6 fight at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

Ward is fighting 39-year-old Alexander Brand. This is Ward’s interim fight to get him ready for an important fight against IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev on November 19. Brand isn’t even a light heavyweight, and the fans don’t understand why Ward is fighting a non 175lb fighter.

The fans don’t understand why Ward is fighting an older guy like Brand rather than a younger fighter in the 175lb division.

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Hunter: Canelo needs to stop hiding behind the flag and fight GGG

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Image: Hunter: Canelo needs to stop hiding behind the flag and fight GGGBy Patrick McHugh: Amir Khan’s trainer Virgil Hunter found himself in a weird situation last night in challenging WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 KOs) to stop hiding from his mandatory challenger Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (35-0, 32 KOs) and take the dangerous fight.

It was strange because Hunter found himself being opposed by HBO commentator Max Kellerman, who seemed to come to the defense of Canelo when Hunter told Canelo to stop hiding from GGG and take the fight.

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Hunter: Khan can hurt Canelo

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Image: Hunter: Khan can hurt CaneloBy Dan Ambrose: Trainer Virgil Hunter thinks Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) has enough size and power to hurt WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) in their fight this Saturday night. There’s a belief by some fans and writers that Canelo won’t be bothered by Khan’s punches because he’s moving up in weight from the welterweight division and isn’t a true middleweight like the 170+ pound Canelo.

Miguel Cotto wasn’t able to hurt Canenlo with his punches last November and Cotto is a much bigger puncher than Khan. Canelo was able to absorb the shots from the smaller Cotto without showing any signs of being bothered by the shots.

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Hunter not in favor of Canelo Alvarez’s catch-weights

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canelo48By Dan Ambrose: Virgil Hunter, the trainer for Amir Khan, is not in favor of WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s habit of fighting at a catch-weight of 155lbs, and he thinks it’s bad for the sport if Canelo tries to insist that his opponents fight him at a catch-weight rather than at the normal weight for the middleweight division.

A fight between Canelo and interim WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin could come down to whether or not Canelo is going to insist that Golovkin fight him at 155 later this year. Golovkin has already said he won’t move down in weight from 160 because he doesn’t believe he has to.

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Hunter doubts Khan will ever see 147 again

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Image: Hunter doubts Khan will ever see 147 againBy Dan Ambrose: Trainer Virgil Hunter was really surprised at how much his fighter Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) has filled recently in him bulking up to 167. Hunter hadn’t see Khan for a while, and when he did, he saw how much heavier he’d become.

The 29-year-old had really filled out since the last time Hunter had been with him. Hunter now questions whether Khan will ever see 147 again after his May 7 fight against WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. That’s potentially a negative for Khan because he has the opportunity to fight IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook in a big money clash in the UK later this year or next year.

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Virgil Hunter questions Canelo’s power; says he only KO’d one guy above 147

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hunterBy Dan Ambrose: Virgil Hunter, the trainer for Amir Khan, isn’t sold on WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s so-called punching power. Canelo is facing Hunter’s fighter Amir Khan on May 7 on HBO PPV, and many people believe Canelo is going to knock Khan out when the two of them start exchanging blows at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Canelo has built up a reputation as a puncher by a lot of boxing fans and from people in the media. However, Hunter points out that Canelo has only knocked out one fighter above the 147lb division, and that was a weight-drained and ring rusty James Kirkland in May of 2015. Kirkland hadn’t fought in a year and a half before facing Canelo, and he had to take off 40 pounds in just eight weeks’ time.

Hunter feels that Kirkland had no chance of winning the fight in taking that much weight in such a short period of time. Kirkland also wasn’t helped in that he hadn’t fought in almost two years since 2013 when he was selected by Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy to face him.

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Virgil Hunter: Golovkin can’t afford to fight Andre Ward right now

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hunter5By Allan Fox: Trainer Virgil Hunter thinks that IBF/IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin cannot afford to fight his fighter former WBA super middleweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) right now because Ward has a fighting style that is just all wrong for the 33-year-old Golovkin.

Hunter notes that Golovkin’s promoters at K2 Promotions has done a good job of building him up with the right fights, and he feels they have shown a good business model with how they’ve handled him.

However, if they make the mistake in putting Golovkin in with Ward, it would be bad for Golovkin because of the things that Ward can do. Golovkin is there to be hit against any top fighter, and Ward would take advantage of that.

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Khan’s trainer Hunter wants him to fight Kell Brook

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Amir Khan vs Devon AlexanderBy Scott Gilfoid: If trainer Virgil Hunter gets his way we’ll be seeing a fight between his fighter Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) and unbeaten but totally untested IBF welterweight champion Kell “Special K” Brook (35-0, 24 KOs) in the near future. Hunter wants the two fighters to face each other for the good of boxing, as well as the good of the UK.

Hunter thinks it would be a great fight if/when it eventually happens. Despite wanting the fight to take place, Hunter hasn’t put pressure on the 28-year-old Khan to face Brook, because he realizes that he has bad blood with the Sheffield fighter and has his reasons for not wanting to throw him a bone by giving him a shot that he feels he’s done precious little to earn.

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Khan to have long talk with trainer Virgil Hunter, wants to become his “own boss”

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khan213(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) By Scott Gilfoid: In what could be the beginning of the end for Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) being trained by Virgil Hunter, Khan hints that he was over-trained for his fight last Friday against Chris Algieri (20-2, 8 KOs), and that he’s going to be the one in charge of how training goes. Khan says he’ll use Hunter for his next fight against whoever that may be, but he’s going to be more involved with what’s going on in his training camps.

This all very predictable, as Khan has twice previously dumped well-respected trainers after poor performances in the past. In 2008, Khan was knocked out in the 1st round by Breidis Prescott. After that fight, Khan’s trainer Jorge Rubio was let go. After Khan was knocked out by Danny Garcia in 2012, Khan replaced trainer Freddie Roach with Virgil Hunter, a trainer known for his ability to teach defense. But with Khan’s poor performance against Algieri, it’s quite possible that trainer Virgil Hunter’s days are numbered as Khan’s trainer.

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Hunter: Froch will get the beating of his life against Andre Ward

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ward343By Scott Gilfoid: WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) has recently been talking about being open to facing WBA Super World super middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) after the World Boxing Association ordered the two fighters to start negotiations for a fight.

Froch recently dared Ward to come over to the UK and fight him in his own neck of the woods. Froch feels that Ward owes him a fight in the UK after Froch fought Ward in the United States.

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