The Army Boxing Thread

[ALinChainz]

Sturm retains WBA middleweight belt

June 30, 2007

STUTTGART, GERMANY (TICKER) -- Felix Sturm put an end to Noe Tulio Gonzalez Alcoba's dream of an undefeated career.

Sturm retained his WBA middleweight title Saturday, recording a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Alcoba at the Porsche Arena.

Entering with seven knockouts in his first 14 professional fights - all victories - Alcoba (14-1) was unable to outbox the German champion in his first shot at a major championship. The 28-year-old native of Uruguay lost each of the three judges' scorecards - 116-112, 120-108 and 118-110.

It was the first successful defense for Sturm (28-2, 12 KOs) in his second term as the WBA champion. The 28-year-old won the belt on April 28 from Javier Castillejo, who scored a technical knockout of Sturm on July 15, 2006 to end his first stint with the crown.

Sturm next is scheduled to make a mandatory defense of the belt against Randy Griffin on a date yet to be determined.

http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slug=txsturmalcoba&prov=st&type=lgns

[ALinChainz]

Holyfield takes Savarese in 10-round decision

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press Writer

July 1, 2007

EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- Evander Holyfield outworked and outclassed Lou Savarese on Saturday night, winning a 10-round unanimous decision to remain undefeated in his latest comeback.

Holyfield, the 44-year-old former heavyweight champion, started and ended the fight with a hard left to the head of the 41-year-old Savarese. In between, Holyfield was in control.

The judges scored it 98-90, 99-87 and 96-91.

Savarese, a former title contender himself, held his own for the first eight rounds before being knocked off his feet with a hard left to the chin.

Holyfield (42-8-2) knocked Savarese (46-7) to the mat again in the 10th, with Savarese looking as though he was hoping to just stay upright.

Holyfield came in weighing 219 pounds, giving Savarese a 23-pound advantage that wasn't all that tough to overcome.

"Lou hurt me with an upper cut (in the third)...but I got away from the next one," Holyfield said after the fight.

That was about the only stunning shot for Savarese, who himself had been on the comeback trail.

Holyfield said after a quick try at fighting the taller Savarese on the inside, he moved to the outside and did his best to land some quick, hard left jabs.

Savarese did a good job of dodging second hits, Holyfield said.

Savarese, looking swollen and battered, said that the fight was his last.

"I fought hard," he said. "I gave it my all."

It was Holyfield's fourth bout since returning to boxing after a two-year layoff. His goal is to win an unprecedented fifth heavyweight title and unify the belts in the messy division before retiring for good.

Saturday's result was a big step toward possibly getting another crack at one of the many fighters holding a heavyweight championship belt.

For his part, Holyfield said he believes a title shot will be next.

"I will be the five-time undisputed heavyweight champion of the world," Holyfield said.

Holyfield last held the undisputed championship after a 1990 win against James "Buster" Douglas.

Holyfield started his comeback in Texas last year. Despite his wins, Holyfield is just three years removed from losing his license to fight in New York, where boxing officials cited diminished skills shortly after losing an ugly 12-round decision Larry Donald.

Holyfield's professional career dates to 1984, and he's hoping to become the oldest heavyweight champion ever, surpassing George Foreman's record.



Story

[ALinChainz]

Japan's Sakata wins WBA flyweight title

July 1, 2007

TOKYO (AP) -- Takefumi Sakata of Japan won the WBA flyweight title Sunday with a unanimous decision over Roberto Vasquez.

Sakata used a barrage of punches to the head in the late rounds and was never seriously challenged in the 12-round bout at Ariake Colosseum. The three judges scored the fight 115-113, 116-112 and 116-112.

Sakata improved to 31-4-1 with 15 KOs. Vasquez dropped to 24-2 with 17 KOs.

Sakata and Vasquez fought last December in France when the Panamanian won a split decision with the WBA interim flyweight title at stake because champion Lorenzo Parra was injured. In March, Parra lost by TKO against Sakata, who became the flyweight champion with the obligation to face Vasquez.

http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slu...akata-vasquez& prov=ap&type=lgns

[binnie]

Seems to me that in the current heavyweight climate, Holyfield might actually win a title.

He's been much better since they sorted his shoulder out so that he could actually move his head...lol!

With the lack of heavyweight talent about, he just might do it.

[binnie]

Originally posted by ALinChainz
Pacquiao vs. Barrera rematch on after dispute ends

June 29, 2007

LOS ANGELES (TICKER) -- Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera will fight in Las Vegas on October 6 after a settlement was reached on Friday between two of boxing's most influential promotional companies.

Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank have agreed to settle various legal disputes, including one involving Pacquiao.

That paves the way for the rematch to take place at Mandalay Bay. Pacquiao won the first meeting, Barrera's corner throwing in the towel in the 11th round.

barrera is one of my favourite fighters, and he has had a hell of a career and always fought the best fighters, which we all know is rare these days.

I thought he was unlucky not to get the decision with Marques, and a rematch would have been great.

If a FOCUSSED Pacquiao gets into the ring, this will probably be quite one-sided, as Manny is a demon when he brings his game; he can toast anyone at that weight at the moment.

But if we see some Barrera magic, then we could have another war on our hands.

Looking forward to it

[binnie]

Originally posted by ALinChainz
Sturm retains WBA middleweight belt

June 30, 2007

STUTTGART, GERMANY (TICKER) -- Felix Sturm put an end to Noe Tulio Gonzalez Alcoba's dream of an undefeated career.

Sturm retained his WBA middleweight title Saturday, recording a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Alcoba at the Porsche Arena.

Entering with seven knockouts in his first 14 professional fights - all victories - Alcoba (14-1) was unable to outbox the German champion in his first shot at a major championship. The 28-year-old native of Uruguay lost each of the three judges' scorecards - 116-112, 120-108 and 118-110.

It was the first successful defense for Sturm (28-2, 12 KOs) in his second term as the WBA champion. The 28-year-old won the belt on April 28 from Javier Castillejo, who scored a technical knockout of Sturm on July 15, 2006 to end his first stint with the crown.

Sturm next is scheduled to make a mandatory defense of the belt against Randy Griffin on a date yet to be determined.

http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slu...v=st&type=lgns

Sturm vs Jermain Taylor would be a good fight, IMO...

[ALinChainz]

I would like to see Strum fight Taylor as well.

My biggest bitch about boxing is they need to shitcan all of these federations and belts.

We need unification. I can see WBA and the WBC, and not too crazy about that.

This is why I like fights about Calzaghe and Kessler, at least fights like that are a step in the right direction.

[binnie]

Originally posted by ALinChainz


This is why I like fights about Calzaghe and Kessler, at least fights like that are a step in the right direction.

Me too. The reason that boxing isn't as populsr anymore is becuase the top guys very rarely fight one another.

If Kessler-Calzaghe happens it will be good for the sport.

[binnie]

From newsday.com

It's best not to fight Holyfield on boxing
July 5, 2007

Logic hasn't worked, nor have legislation, ridicule and widespread apathy for the sport he once dominated and the division he once ruled.

There seems to be only one way left to save Evander Holyfield from himself: Give him what he wants.


Conventional wisdom used to say that to grant Holyfield yet another shot at the heavyweight title he already has held four times would be the equivalent of state-sanctioned murder.

Now it looks more like a public service.

Give Holyfield what he wants and maybe he'll go away once and for all.

'It's very simple," he said yesterday from his home in Atlanta, where he was entertaining 7,000 underprivileged kids at his annual Fourth of July barbecue. 'Just let me do what I want to do, because I'm going to do it anyway."

He might even go away happy. Absurd as it may seem, he could very well win the damned thing again, even at 44 years old and precisely a decade removed from the last time he really looked like a fearsome fighting machine.

Holyfield won another fight Saturday, to the delight of himself and the consternation of those who would try to protect him from same, and now more than ever, there seems to be no stopping this impossibly stubborn, incredibly gifted man.

The opponent was only Lou Savarese, who wasn't much at 25 and is a lot less now at 41. He was easy pickings for Holyfield, but that is not the point. In the ninth round of the fight, Holyfield's 44-year-old body contrived to deliver a left hook as short as Dick Cheney's temper. Down went Savarese.

Holyfield hasn't thrown a punch like that in 10 years, probably, and no heavyweight currently working has thrown one remotely like it in his entire career. It didn't end the fight - Savarese gamely climbed back up and survived to lose a lopsided 10-round decision - but it should at least end the whispers that there is something wrong, physically or neurologically, with Evander Holyfield.

And believe me, if Holyfield lands that same left hook on any of the four men currently calling themselves "champ" - even Wladimir Klitschko, the generally recognized best of the lot - the same thing will happen.

There simply is no more reason to deny Holyfield his due. He has won four straight fights, over opposition ranging from poor to mediocre, since the New York State Athletic Commission, amid great fanfare, pulled his license for the crime of being outboxed by Larry Donald at Madison Square Garden. (Incidentally, NYSAC lifted that suspension last year, quieter than they imposed it.)

Believe it or not, those credentials match up favorably with just about any heavyweight currently in line for a title shot, including Lamon Brewster, who is fighting Klitschko this Saturday night in Koln, Germany. They certainly overmatch those of Ray Austin, Klitschko's last challenger, a career sparring partner who couldn't last two rounds, or Calvin Brock, the so-called "Boxing Banker," who cashed a paycheck against Klitschko at the Garden in November.

You may think that says bad things about boxing, but really, it says great things about Holyfield. His persistence has paid off, as has surgery on his chronically injured left shoulder, which he said all along was at the root of his problems the past few years. Maybe he was telling us the truth.

Right now, the names of the heavyweight champions are Klitschko, Ibragimov, Chagaev and Maskaev, and you don't have to still be fighting the Cold War to know that is not helping the popularity of the sport.

Holyfield versus any of them would immediately put heavyweight boxing back in the game, and Holyfield-Klitschko probably is the biggest fight boxing can make right now. (Honestly, which would you rather see, that or Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton?)

Yeah, he's too old, and no, no one with that much money should be fighting anymore, but you know what? He's determined to do it, he has the legal right to do it and now he has even shown he has the ability to do it.

And besides, he is seven months younger than George Foreman was when he finally was granted, after much hand-wringing, a title shot against the 20-years-younger Michael Moorer. And we all know how that turned out.

There's only one thing left to do, and it is the right thing: Let Evander Holyfield do what he wants. Fight for the title one more time.

Besides, it looks like the only sure way we'll ever get him to stop.

[binnie]

Brewster is confident.

From indystar.com

COLOGNE, Germany -- Considering the usual hype before a heavyweight title fight, Wladimir Klitschko and Lamon Brewster talked about their rematch in measured tones, showing plenty of respect for each other.


Klitschko will defend his International Boxing Federation title Saturday at Cologne Arena.
The topic of poisoning was brushed off by Klitschko, who raised suspicions of being poisoned by Brewster's camp after the Ukrainian lost to him on a technical knockout in their first fight in April 2004.
"I am not thinking of the past, there are no parallels between the two fights," Klitschko said at Monday's news conference.
Brewster, an Indianapolis native, didn't want to dwell on the subject.
"Between the two of us, he knows and I know that I didn't poison him," Brewster said. "I was the better fighter that night."
Brewster was saved by the bell after being knocked down in the fourth round of that fight, then floored Klitschko twice in the fifth to stop the fight.
Klitschko (48-3 with 43 knockouts) won the IBF title by stopping Chris Byrd in April 2006. He has defeated Calvin Brock and Ray Austin in his past two defenses.
Brewster (33-3, 29 KOs) upset Klitschko in Las Vegas in 2004, capturing the World Boxing Organization title. The American defended it three times, beating Kali Meehan, Andrew Golota and Luan Krasniqi, but lost in April 2006 on a unanimous decision to Sergei Liakhovich.
"I don't have many words to say today. I want to thank Wladimir for accepting this challenge. Not many fighters want to fight me," Brewster said.
Both boxers said they were in great shape.
"I've waited more than three years for this fight to happen," Klitschko said.
Emanuel Steward, Klitschko's trainer, said his boxer was in his "prime."
"We are not underestimating Brewster," Steward said. "He is an old-school fighter. He is a serious fighter, he punches with both hands. These are the two best punchers in the heavyweight division. We'll have to be careful until the end. But Wladimir is in his prime and no fighter can beat him."
Brewster's trainer, James "Buddy" McGirt, said Klitschko showed he was a "true champion" by taking on Brewster.
"My prediction is that Brewster will regain the title," McGirt said. "These are the two best fighters in the world and we are going home with the championship."

[binnie]

Klitschko wins by stopage, rounds 8-10.

That's how I see it....

[binnie]

Roy Jones talks about boxing needing to have the best guys fighting each other (obviously forgetting his light-heavyweight career!).

From newsday

Robert Cassidy
BOXING

Toe-to-toe with Roy Jones Jr.

Roy Jones Jr., the former four-division champion, returns to the ring July 14 against Anthony Hanshaw (21-0). Jones (50-4) spoke to Newsday about various types of fighting - boxing, mixed martial arts and dog fighting.

Q. Roy, at the age of 38 why still fight? You've accomplished so much, what more can you do?




A. I just want to go back to back to the top of the pound-for-pound class one more time and I'll be happy. I'll get the belts. I'll be satisfied, then I'm gone.

Q. Who in your weight range can you beat to put you back at the top, someone like Bernard Hopkins?

A. No. I'm not thinking about him. I want Glenn Johnson.

Q. Who do you feel is at the top of the pound-for-pound list right now?

A. Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Q. What about his fight with Oscar de la Hoya? People felt that was the fight to save boxing. Were you disappointed in the fight?

A. It was okay. It was an average fight. It wasn't the major fight that we expected it to be. But he did his job. They expected that explosion and that explosion never happened. I didn't go to the fight, I didn't watch the fight because I knew what was going to happen. I was expecting what happened to happen. You can never tell. Whoever thought the first Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward fight was going to turn out to be what it was.

Q. What are your thoughts on UFC?

A. I watch it all the time. They have the best fighters fighting the best fighters and that's what boxing needs. You never can tell what will happen in a fight. Look at the last [Chuck] Liddell fight. Bam, 10 seconds it was over. They got that explosion they were waiting for. Boxing didn't get the same explosion out of Mayweather-De La Hoya.

Q. Do you think UFC will put boxing out of business?

A. No I don't think it will. UFC is a great thing, but boxing has to get on its game. UFC is the best fighting the best and that what boxing has to do. If you are an ultimate fighter, you are going to fight someone who is going to fight. In UFC, if you lose to a good fighter, you lost, you still know you are good fighter, and you come back the next day and fight again. In boxing, if you lose, that's it. You are done. I lose a few fights they want to tell me I'm washed up and I don't have it no more. The last fight I fought a worthy contender, but that wasn't good enough.

Q. Who would win between you and a UFC fighter?

A. It all depends on who gets there first. Now, I can't get on the ground and start wresting because I know nothing about that. But if I hit him before he gets to the ground, he's not going to get up and have the chance to wrestle.

Q. What do you think about Michael Vick and the dog-fighting allegations that are swirling around him?

A. People tend to talk so hard against people. They make it such a bad thing, like dog fighting is worse than killing someone. I'm not a dog fighter. I've never been to a dog fight. But just because they have the animals doesn't mean they are fighting the animals. Michael Vick doesn't have that kind of time to train and raise dogs... I like bulldogs and I like their mentally. They are making this so bad, but really two dogs fighting can happen in anyone's backyard or on the street. It happened in my backyard, two of my dogs fought and one died. I was devastated because I love dogs. Fighting animals don't necessarily get mistreated. They get treated just the way I get treated. They train me, they feed me; if I lose, I lose, and when I get in the ring, there is that chance I could get killed.

Q. You've always raised animals, haven't you?

A. I've raised dogs and I've raised game chickens, but I don't raise them for fighting. I just love them, I love their demeanor. But I can't stand to see them hurt. It used to be that you could drive to Louisiana and fight chickens. But they passed a law and that's illegal now.

Q. What do you know about your opponent Anthony Hanshaw?

A. I know he's undefeated, that's all I need to know. He's a good, well-rounded boxer. This is a challenge for me.

[binnie]

Wonder why he doesn't want to fight Bernard Hopkins?

Although he's living in a dream land if he thinks he's ever going to top the pound for pound prize again, he makes so good points in that article....

[ALinChainz]

Glen Johnson madde him look real bad, knocking him out in a more dominating fashion than Tarver did. Johnson went on to be fighter of the year beating the two of them.

Johnson has done little since.

[binnie]

Johnson was in a great fight with Clinton Woods and lost a close decision (Woods is a fairly decent fighter these days).

Maybe Roy thinks he can beat him now...