USA Boxing News

By Thomas Hauser: Six decades ago, Rocky Marciano was on the verge of a celebrated reign at a time when the heavyweight championship of the world was the most exalted title in sports.

By Juan Barajas: Saturday night at the Coliseo Olimpico in Guadalajara, Mexico, Francisco Cordero and Jorge Solis battled for six of a scheduled twelve round bout for the interim WBA World Super Featherweight title.

Former multiple weight world champion Roy Jones Jr. will fight Danny Santiago in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida on October 7.

Jerry Glick reporting: Todd du Boef, Bob Arum’s stepson did an admirable job filling in for the venerable head man at Top Rank Promotions, when the Pacquiao-Margarito hype train stopped in New York City without him. Why, because Arum was on the other end of the country, near Seattle, Washington, looking for his 49 year old son John.

By Derek Gionta: Giovanni Lorenzo has been in quite a few fights. His extensive amateur boxing career catapulted the tough Dominican into the 2000 Olympics. Now a professional boxing career that begun in Atlantic City back in 2002, with dreams of becoming a world champion will now see the day this dream can come to fruition.

The World Boxing Council has received a request from Top Rank Inc. to approve the bout between Manny Pacquiao and Mexican fighter, Antonio Margarito, for the WBC Superwelterweight world title, to be held at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium this coming November 13th.

WBA and IBA Light Heavyweight World Champion Beibut Shumenov took the fast track to become world champion, establishing a weight-class record along the way, and now he wants to accelerate his road to stardom.

By Juan Barajas: Saturday night at the Lobo Dome in Mazatlan, Mexico, light flyweights Jose Rodriguez and Karluis Diaz battled it out for the WBC Youth Intercontinental light flyweight title.

Chazz Witherspoon came off his longest lay off and struggled through the first six rounds of his scheduled 10 round bout with Livin Castillo at the Trump Taj Mahal Grand Ballroom on Saturday.

By Derek Bonnett: Secondsout’s junior flyweight hierarchy experienced some movement as one of boxing’s pound for pound leaders, Ivan Calderon, suffered his first professional loss at Coliseo Mario Quijote Morales in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

By Derek Gionta at ringside: Pittsburgh super featherweight Monty Meza-Clay made his eagerly anticipated return to the ring Saturday night (August 28) at the Rivers Casino outdoor amphitheater in downtown Pittsburgh.

WBA mini flyweight champ Giovanni Segura not only ripped the WBO crown away from Ivan Calderon via a sensational eighth round knockout in their unification battle at Coliseo Mario “Quijote” Morales in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico on Saturday night but also his unbeaten record.

Former world boxing champion James ‘Lights Out’ Toney proved no match for five time Ultimate Fighting Champion Randy Couture at the TD Garden in Boston on Saturday night.

By Juan Barajas: Zahir “King” Raheem faced veteran Roberto Valenzuela in the main event Friday night at the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel in Atlanta, GA.

By Juan Barjas: Friday night in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico, flyweight Cesar Seda won a unanimous decision over former super flyweight champion Jose Lopez.

Former WBC heavyweight champ Sam Peter, 34-3-(27), has vowed to knock out says IBF/WBO and IBO king Wladimir Klitschko, 54-3-(48), when they clash on September 11.

Light flyweight Yodmongkol Wor Saengthep claimed the vacant WBC youth 108 lb title, stopping Heri Punomo in the seventh round on Friday at E-sarn University in Khonkaen, Thailand.

It is boxing world champion great versus world champion great, one a punching machine in perpetual motion, the other with a right hand containing irresistible knockout power, but that hasn’t stopped SecondsOut’s team of fearless writers from making their confident picks for a super lightweight super fight between Aaron Pryor and Kostya Tszyu over twelve rounds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, USA.

Disgraced former WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito has been granted a boxing licence in Texas, paving the way for a huge November 13 showdown with pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao.

By Jose Santana Jr: While everybody has, or should have, their eyes set on Saturday’s mega-matchup between WBO world junior flyweight champion Ivan Calderon and WBA titlist Giovanni Segura in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, there is another important bout happening the day before in the southern city of Juana Diaz.

By Derek Gionta: Super featherweight Monty Meza-Clay of Pittsburgh, PA will make his anticipated return to the ring at the new Rivers Casino in downtown Pittsburgh this Saturday night (August 28th) against Saint Paul, Minnesota native Allen “The American Boy” Litzau

By Derek Bonnett: The cruiserweight division saw some movement this weekend as Germany’s Marco Huck pounded Matt Godfrey from pillar to post before stopping him in the fifth round to defend his WBO belt. The bout took place at Messehalle, Erfurt, Thüringen, Germany

By Juan Barajas: At the Auditorio Municipal in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico on Saturday, super featherweight Joksan Hernandez made it a short night for last minute replacement, Ira Terry

Polish heavyweight contender Tomasz Adamek won a hard fought 12 round decision over former world title challenger Michael Grant at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday night.

One boxer is a champion in lower weight classes attempting to prove he can mix it with the big boys at heavyweight, the other was once a star prospect now given one final chance to prove he belongs, but that hasn’t stopped SecondsOut’s team of fearless writers from making their confident picks for Saturday’s heavyweight boxing match between Tomasz Adamek and Michael Grant at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, USA.

The August 20th match-up between undefeated Michael "Lil Warrior" Franco vs. Adolfo "El Terror" Landeros, has been called off, due to Franco suffering from a small tear in his retina.

Undefeated and world ranked cruiserweight BJ Flores is now a promotional free agent after his contract with Florida based company Square Ring Inc. has run out.

By Tom Gray: ‘Understand that I’m at my best when it comes to proving a point, not only to show that I’m a better fighter and a better athlete, but I’m at my best when I know I’ve got to beat the system again.’ Bernard Hopkins.

Marco Huck´s WBO Cruiserweight Title Fight against Matt Godfrey will be special for more reasons than just one.

By Tri Nguyen: Michael “Lil Warrior” Franco is like alot of young boxing prospects. He trains voraciously, surrounds himself with a close team, and is a student of the game.

Boxing legend Erik Morales has explained why, at the age of 33 and despite losing four of his last five fights, has decided to fight on and risk his legacy as one of the all time great Mexican fighters.

After an early morning run, breakfast and short rest, heavyweight contender Mike Sheppard gets into his car and travels to the gym for the serious work; he literally travels.

WBO Cruiserweight Champion Marco “Captain” Huck and challenger Matt Godfrey today participated in an open media work-out in front of more than 500 fans in Erfurt, Germany.

By Derek Bonnett: While still making his way as a "Contender" back in 2006, Cornelius "K-9" Bundrage was greatly underestimated. Michael Clark taunted him outside of the ring early on and, later, Steve Forbes out-finessed him inside of one.

By Ray Kilgore: Arturo Gatti’s last fight before he hung up his gloves for good was in July 2007, against Alfonso Gómez. And as Gatti took a beating that lasted seven rounds, no one who knew him, other than his devoted family and close friends, was more ill at ease than Showtime’s official photographer Tom Casino.

By Tri Nguyen: Eloy Perez continues his ascent up the boxing rankings by easily beating the tough Derrick Campos on August 13 at the Pico Rivera Sports Arena in Pico Rivera, CA.

By Derek Bonnett: The light heavyweight division experienced a shake-up as Jean Pascal surprised Chad Dawson with greater aggression to win on the scorecards via 11th round technical decision (108-101, 106-103, 106-103). Even though Dawson out threw and out landed the WBC champion, the judges preferred Pascal’s harder shots in a fight which appeared closer than the final verdict.

Miguel Vazquez scored a clear unanimous decision against Ji Hoon Kim over 12 rounds to claim the vacant IBF lightweight crown at the Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas on Saturday night.

Big punchong former WBC heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman acored a sixth round knockout against journeyman Damon Reed at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia on Saturday night.

By Mike Coppinger at ringside: Canadian promoter Yvon Michel said that when boxers don’t ply their craft stateside, they tend to be overlooked by the American public. And boy was he right. Jean Pascal became the lineal champion at 175 on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal with An 11th round unanimous technical decision over previously undefeated "Bad" Chad Dawson.

Undefeated super featherweight Eloy ‘The Prince’ Perez scored a fifth round stoppage win against Derrick Campos at the Pico Rivera Sports Arena in Pico Rivers, California on Friday night.

Jesus Pabon scored an eighth round stoppage win despite hitting the canvas on numerous occasions from low blows at the A La Carte Event Pavillion in Tampa, Florida on Friday night.

It is champion versus champion where the hometown boxer brings power and courage and the visitor an undefeated record and impressive technical skill, but that hasn’t stopped SecondsOut’s team of fearless writers from making their confident picks for Saturday’s WBC light heavyweight boxing world title match between Jean Pascal and Chad Dawson at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, televised in the USA on HBO’s World Championship Boxing.

WBC light-heavyweight champion Jean Pascal and American challenger both weighth insied the 175lbs limit ahead of Saturday’s title clash in Montreal, Canada.

Check out the exclusive Chad Dawson interview. In this Corner’s James ‘Smitty’ Smith speaks to the undefeated light-heavyweight at his training camp ahead of this weekend’s WBC title showdown with champion Jean Pascal.

The North American Boxing Federation has approved the bout between Carlos Cuadras and former world champion Eric Ortiz to be held on September 11th.

Undefeated Teon Kennedy and battle-tested Alex Becerra meet for the vacant North American Boxing Association (NABA) super bantamweight title on Saturday evening, Sept. 25, in the Grand Ballroom at Bally’s Atlantic City.

By Ray Kilgore: Antonio Tarver has spent a lifetime overcoming challenges. As he prepares for a possible heavyweight debut this fall, Tarver, 41, faces a number of new obstacles, something he embraces at this point of his career.

Rendall Munroe will have an army of fans following him to Japan in October despite facing a 12,000 mile round trip.

Former WBC Intercontinental Youth Champion, Michael “lil Warrior” Franco steps into the ring on August 20, at Del Sol Casino, Tucson, AZ, against Adolfo “El Terror” Landeros, in a scheduled eight round televised bout.

One of the most successful television executives in the world of boxing and entertainment, Jay Larkin, passed away this morning at Nyack Hospital in Nyack, NY at the age of 59.

By Derek Bonnett: The live action from the Scottrade Center in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA offered several changes in the junior welterweight, junior middleweight, and light heavyweight divisions. Of all the contests this past weekend, these were the only ones impacting the standings of boxers currently ranked in the top 10 by Secondsout.

Willie ‘Big Bang’ Casey extended his unbeaten pro record to 10-0-(6), at the City West Hotel in Dublin on Saturday evening with a shutout eight round points win over Italian Emiliano Salvini.

By Thomas Hauser: A fighter’s fists are his weapons. Tampering with a fighter’s gloved fists is one of the worst offenses imaginable in boxing. It subverts the notion of a fair fight and puts the opposing fighter at exponentially greater risk of serious injury or death.

SecondsOut’s Mike Coppinger analyses last weekend’s massive fight card in St Louis in which three major world title fights were staged by legendry promoter Don King. Devon Alexander defended his WBC and IBF junior-welterweight crowns against Andriy Kotelnik, Tavoris Cloud made the first defence of his IBF light-heavyweight title against Glen Johnson and Cory Spinks put his IBF junior-middleweight belt on the line against Cornelius Bundrage. Click through to find whose stock went up and whose

Check out all the post fight quotes from the massive Don King promoted card in St Louis on Saturdayt night.

By Jason Pribila: Devon Alexander won his first world title last August. He looked sensational making his HBO debut when he stopped Juan Urango in March.

Cornelius ‘K9’ Bundrage upset local hero Cory Spinks by scoring a fifth round stoppage win to claim the IBF Junior Middleweight title on the massive Don King promoted card in St Louis on Saturday night.

By Jason Pribila: On Saturday Night close to 10,000 boxing fans gathered in St. Louis, USA to celebrate the “Homecoming” of their favorite son, Devon Alexander. Many other boxing fans tuned into HBO to see the co-feature between Tavoris Cloud and Glen Johnson.

By Juan Barajas: Friday night at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas, featherweight Antonio Escalante took on journeyman Edel Ruiz in the main event of the evening.

By Jason Pribila: On Friday Evening ShoBox aired live from the Grand Casino in Minnesota, USA. The main event of the evening featured a pair of undefeated bantamweights, as highly touted Chris Avalos faced Chris Martin.

The undefeated champion is one of the rising stars of the sport, while the challenger is a former world champion with a strong chin, but that hasn’t stopped SecondsOut’s team of fearless writers from making their confident picks for Saturday’s WBC/IBF junior welterweight boxing world title match between Devon Alexander and Andriy Kotelnik at the Scottrade Center in St Louis, Missouri, televised in the USA on HBO’s Boxing After Dark.

Range "The Savage" Arrellin dismantled late substitute Julio Chavez with a spectacular right hand that put Chavez on his back in the sixth round at The Hard Rock Casino & Resort in Albuquerque, NM,Friday night

By Andy Rivera at ringside: It was a quick fight , but not not the ending Holly Holm wanted as she got credit for a first round tko over Jamie Clampitt Friday night

The younger champion wants to prove he is ready to dominate the division while the challenger is a former world champion who has been a top-line contender for over a decade, but that hasn’t stopped SecondsOut’s team of fearless writers from making their confident picks for Saturday’s IBF light heavyweight boxing world title match between Tavoris Cloud and Glen Johnson at the Scottrade Center in St Louis, USA.

By Tri Nguyen: Breidis Prescott displayed brains and brawn on Friday Aug 6 at Chicago’s UIC Pavilion as he cleverly outboxed, outmaneuvered, andoutgunned Harrison Cuello en route to a Unanimous Decision win.

By Jose Santana Jr: In 2009 this reporter was covering his first Cleveland Golden Gloves tournament; it’s a three week affair beginning with the quarterfinals, then semifinals and the ending with, accordingly, the finals.

Jerry Glick: One is on a roll and the other is coming back. Sadam Ali, the unbeaten, 8-0 (4 KOs), welterweight from Brooklyn, NY, who improves with every fight, will face a still to be determined opponent, and Gary “Kid” Stark is fighting again after a sixteen month layoff following a loss by knockout to Antonio Escalante back in April of 2009.

Chicago heavyweight “Merciless” Mike Mollo returns home Friday night to fight Gary “Pit Bull” Gomez in an 8-round bout at the UIC Pavilion Center.

Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Dante Moore will be facing the toughest challenge of his young career on August 20 when he fights Corey Rodriguez in the co-feature bout at the Nautica Pavilion in Cleveland, Ohio.

Mike Coppinger weighs up the good and the bad from last Saturday’s HBO televised card headlined by the rematch between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz. Click through to find which fighter’s stock went up and who’s nose dived in what was supposed to be one of the better value for money pay per view cards of the Year.

In just three days former Venezuelan Olympian Patrick Lopez will take on Prenice Brewer as the 8-round co-feature event of ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.

On Saturday night, August 28th, Spartan Fight Promotions will present Battle I at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. The main event sees Heavyweight contender Chazz “The Gentleman” Witherspoon battling rough veteran Livin Castillo over 10 rounds.

By Andy Rivera: When asked what keeps her driven? Women’s Pound for Pound No.1 fighter Holly Holm, simply says she doesn’t want to lose again before she hangs up the gloves.

Maureen Shea will bring the NABF featherweight title back to the Bronx after defeating tough-minded contender Liliana Martinez at the City Center in Saratoga Springs, NY on July 31

Shane Mosley returns to the ring for the first time since being out-pointed by Floyd Mayweather Jr when he takes on Sergio Mora at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on September 18.

By Tri Nguyen: Alberto ‘Topo’ Rosas let his fists do the talking on Saturday July 31 as he bludgeoned IBF super flyweight champion Simphiwe Nongqayi, leading to a sixth round TKO at the Palenque de laFeria in Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico.

By: Mike Sloan ringside in Las Vegas: The fight might have unfolded a bit differently from when the two locked horns early last year but the end result was the same: Juan Manuel Marquez was just too much for Juan Diaz to handle. The two lightweights picked up right where they left off from their first battle in 2009 and waged a memorable twelve round war, much to the delight of the 8383 in attendance inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

By Mike Sloan ringside in Las Vegas: Before tonight’s fight in the co-feature of HBO Pay Per View event, virtually nobody who follows boxing in America knew much, if anything, about Russian boxer Dmitry Pirog. Many figured his undefeated record didn’t really showcase how beatable he was and it was clear that the young fighter from Temryuk was brought in to make Daniel Jacobs look amazing.

By Mike Sloan ringside in Las Vegas: Robert Guerrero was knocked off his feet with just about a minute remaining in his fight with former world champion and future Hall of Famer Joel Casamayor. He was way ahead on all three scorecards going into the final frame and the former Olympic gold medalist desperately needed a knockout to win. Casamayor, normally a reserved counter punching assassin, had no choice but to force the action in the final minutes of the contest.

By Mike Sloan ringside in Las Vegas: Jorge Linares was touted as one of the future stars in boxing after he dominated former world champion Oscar Larios in July 2007. He was so impressive in that fight that it seemed like the sky would be the limit for the young Venezuelan, but thanks to puzzling promotion, he disappeared into obscurity. The talented young lightweight fought on largely unseen cards in Mexico in Panama instead of being featured on major boxing events. Eventually he suffered a

By Mike Sloan ringside in Las Vegas: Frankie Gomez, an unbeaten junior welterweight prospect from East Los Angeles, looked sensational in his first round knockout of Ronald Peterson. Gomez took his time but once he found an opening, he delivered a perfect left hook to the body/right uppercut/left hook to the head combo. Peterson collapsed in a neutral corner and could not get back to his feet while he was counted out by referee Kenny Bayless.

By Juan Barajas: Friday night at the Moon Palace Golf & Spa Resort, Cancun, Mexico, welterweights Danny Garcia and Jorge Romero matched up for the WBC Youth Welterweight Interim Title scheduled for 10 rounds.

British welterweight Ashley Theophane cooked up a determined late rally on Friday night to snatch a majority decision victory from fancied contender Delvin Rodriguez over ten rounds at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma, USA.

The champion is getting a little older but has been one of the best fighters in the world pound for pound in recent years, the much younger challenger is attempting to avenge a previous stoppage loss in a thriller, but that hasn’t stopped SecondsOut’s team of fearless writers from making their confident picks for Saturday’s WBA/WBO lightweight world title boxing match between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, televised in the USA on HBO Pay-Per-V

IBF, WBO and IBO World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko will defend his titles against Nigerian Samuel Peter at Commerzbank-Arena Frankfurt, Germany on September 11.

On Saturday night August 7th, Havoc Boxing will make its initial foray in to boxing promotion when they present a night of boxing at the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn, New York.

Juan Manuel Marquez has tipped Floyd Mayweather Jr to defeat Manny Pacquiao if the two pound for pound No.1 contenders ever meet in the ring.

Jimmy Burchfield, President of Classic Entertainment and Sports, Inc., categorically denied reports issued today that lightweight prospect “Hammerin’” Hank Lundy is a promotional free agent.

World ranked (WBO #7); and once beaten Lightweight, “Hammerin” Hank Lundy is now a promotional Free Agent after leaving Jimmy Burchfield CES Boxing.

Brownsville based Daniel Jacobs has decided to face Dimitry Pirog for the vacant WBO middleweight title at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on Saturday night despite the recent death of grandmother.

By Juan Barajas: Saturday night at the Auditorio del Estado in Mexicali, Mexico, welterweights, Omar Chavez and Jose Lopez provided very little excitement over eight rounds of boxing.

According to reports Antonio Margarito will be the man in the opposite corner to Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on November 13.

Ramón Garcia Hirales scored a 12 round split decision win over the previously unbeaten Johnriel Casimero to claim the WBO interim mini-flyweight title at the Polideportivo Centenario in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico on Saturday night.

By Juan Barajas: Friday night at the Pechanga Hotel and Casino in Temecula, California, undefeated middleweight Craig McEwan faced one of his toughest challenges against journeyman Danny Perez in their scheduled 10 round bout.

By Jason Pribila: Writer/Director Christopher Nolan’s latest visual masterpiece, “Inception” dominated the box office, leaving audiences with the task of trying to grasp what they just witnessed. On the same weekend, Top Rank president Bob Arum held a 3am conference call to announce that Floyd Mayweather Jr. missed the deadline for exclusive rights to negotiate to fight Manny Pacquiao on November 13.

WBA 175 lbs. champion Beibut Shumenov will defend his WBA and IBA titles in a bout against mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Uzelkov of Vinitza, Ukraine, tonight, Friday, July 23 in the scheduled 12-round main event of the ESPN2 “Friday Night Fights."

Former WBC Intercontinental Youth Champion, Michael “lil Warrior” Franco steps into the ring on August 20, at Del Sol Casino, Tucson, AZ, to face off against Adolfo “El Terror” Landeros.

Warner Promotions present the return of Friday Night Fights to Cleveland on August 20, live from Nautica Pavilion in the Flats!

Former world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan has announced he will promote his first professional boxing show at the Ulster Hall in Belfast on September 18.