Archive for the ‘Top Stories’ Category

There’s Nothing Quite Like A Good Boxing Saturday

Boxing may not be going through its finest hour, but there are still plenty of hardcore fans out there. For those of you who happen to fit this description and are looking for a weekend full of the sweet science pay close attention because you are in luck this Saturday! These days very rarely do we get a weekend filled with marquee boxing matchups. It seems though, that times are about to change, and now you can even enjoy top of the line fights on Facebook for free!

That will be an option this Saturday as one of the UK’s most revered fighters of the last couple of years, Tyson Fury, will face off against Sefer Seferi. Later in the evening, we have two other main events in Las Vegas and Los Angeles that are also shaping up to be all out wars. In Vegas Jeff Horn, fresh off his victory over Manny Pacquiao will finally come stateside to face Terence Crawford. Over in L.A., the stage is set for a Mexican civil war between Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares. Let’s make a quick recap of each of the three bouts to get you ready for fight night come Saturday.

Tyson Fury vs Sefer Seferi

Let’s be real this is a tune-up fight for Fury. After almost a 3-year hiatus Fury is looking to get back into boxing shape by fighting a 39-year-old Albanian fighter in Seferi. Fury is hoping to turn this into a bit of a glorified sparring session, but in heavyweight boxing, you just never know one shot is all it takes.

Jeff Horn vs Terence Crawford

Other than the loyal Jeff Horn, fans in Sydney, Australia, the main consensus is that he stole a decision from Manny Pacquiao in his hometown. In that fight, we got a good look at the type of heart and resiliency that Horn has. What we didn’t see was a great boxing technician out there. If Crawford can keep Horn at a distance with his jab, he should be able to outbox him with relative ease. Plus, Horn probably won’t be getting any
tough decisions in Vegas so we might just see his perfect record smashed this weekend.

Leo Santa Cruz vs Abner Mares

Overall people see Mares as the better boxer the only problem is his chin has not been the same since that brutal knockout he took at the hands of Johnny Gonzalez. Mares had better hope he can make something happen otherwise his career may go downhill from here! For Leo Santa Cruz the plan is simple, work the body and wear down Mares then go in for the kill up top!

Now that you know what your plans are for Saturday start placing your bets, and getting the snacks together, because fight night is just around the corner! And if boxing is not your thing you can also bet on football with the first match of the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2018 scheduled on the 14th of June.

Boxing – The Perfect Blending ….

… of Fine Martial Arts and Combat Sports

 

Viewed by some as a sport for truly masculine men and by others as cruel, boxing is perhaps one of the oldest sports and has been practised ever since the dawn of time. In fact, from various carvings found in modern Iraq (the land of the notorious Sumerian civilization), the early history of boxing takes us back to the 3rd millennium B.C. In spite of the fact that it is controversial, at a closer look, boxing can be considered as an extension of the human nature, in the sense that it represents a competitive combat game with the simple goal of testing out the players’ limits while relying on people’s natural instincts of fighting and self preservation.

(more…)

PPV Boycott Threatens Cleverly-Bellew II

by Ryan Watson

The upcoming 22nd November show being billed as, “Repeat or Revenge” is under threat from a potential PPV boycott from the boxing fraternity.

An online petition has emerged with fans urging eachother not to purchase the event in protest for the poor quality of the card, while many others have taken to twitter to stage the PPV blackout.

In the last week, hundreds of online boxing fans have declared they will not be buying the event and are encouraging others to join them. They claim that the card is not competitive enough to be on pay-per-view and say Matchroom promoter, Eddie Hearn, is simply trying to exploit the general public.

The blacklash was first sparked at the show’s opening press conference when Hearn announced the general public would be charged £17 to see the fight. The boxing community was left shocked at the news, believing a domestic dust-up without a belt at stake could not warrant the fee.

The announcement will particularly resonate with British fight fans as in 2011, Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew clashed for the WBO world Light-Heavyweight title which was televised free-to-air on Boxnation. Many critics claim however, this is only part of the reason for the boycott, and that the entire undercard has been filled with big-name mismatches in an effort to deceive the public. While others suggest that paying for the event would give Hearn the ‘green light’ to put on more appalling shows on pay-per-view next year.

The news of a potential blackout will come as a shock to the boxing mogul, as he plans to ramp up promotion in the coming weeks. With the record-breaking PPV of Froch-Groves now a distant memory, should the staged boycott go ahead it could spell a financial disaster for Hearn and his associates at Sky.

Bernard Hopkins, Still a Champ at 46!

The most unforgettable move in the career of Bernard Hopkins has to be the one where he taunted the WBC light-heavyweight champion, Jean Pascal by doing push-ups and staring him in the face between the sixth and the seventh round during their match in Montreal. After he got back to his hometown of Philadelphia, Bernard Hopkins said that he did so due to the adrenaline pump and wanted to send a message across the opponent, who was watching him from the other end. He wanted his fans to think that it was bizarre and say that Bernard was at his game again.

(more…)

Michael Katsidis: On Top or Down Under?

By Ryan Watson: In just over a months time power-punching Australian Michael Katsidis takes on Mexican ring legend Juan Manuel Marquez in a clash for the WBA lightweight title at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas. In a bout which has fight of the year written all over it, will we see Katsidis become the ‘nearly man’ we are all starting to suspect him of, or the champion warrior we all hope him to be?

(more…)