By Paul Upham at Circular Quay: Bob Mirovic feels disrespected. He has been boxing for over twenty one years and holds the Australian heavyweight title. But while he struggles for exposure and every dollar he earns, professional footballers jumping into boxing are receiving more media attention and more money. It has to stop says Mirovic and he is promising to make a point when he faces former NRL star John Hopoate on September 10 at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Broadbeach, Queensland,

After weeks of intense preparation, the wait has dwindled down to scant hours for IBF Junior Featherweight champ, Steve Molitor prior to his title defense against Ceferino Dario Labarda at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario.

WBC heavyweight champion Sam Peter and WBC heavyweight champion emeritus Vitali Klitschko were in New York City today at Gallagher’s Steak House to promote their upcoming bout on October 11 in Berlin on Showtime Championship Boxing.

By Paul Upham: Samoan heavyweight Solomon Haumono retained his undefeated record, but was taken the full distance for the first time in his career in winning a unanimous points decision over American veteran Cliff Couser on Wednesday night at the E.G. Whitlam Centre in Liverpool, NSW, Australia.

Former WBO junior flyweight champion Hugo Cazares trained hard this afternoon at the Miguel J. Frau Gym in Bayamón, Puerto Rico and at the end stepped on the scale at 112½ pounds, a good weight for this day.

Jerry Glick reporting: The first time these two talented men crossed gloves, back in June of 2008, Challenger Sergio Mora slowly built up a late fight lead resulting in his becoming the first former ’Contender’ contestant to win a genuine world title. Mora may not be able to knock people out, but he proved against defending WBC Jr. Middleweight Champion Vernon Forrest, 40-3 (29), that he can out fight many of the better fighters around today.

Edip Secovic, a former WAA boxing champion, was murdered following a knife attack at the pub he owned in the southern Vienna district at 6am today.

Two-time WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz broke his Las Vegas training camp and is now in Germany in quest of his third world title this Saturday, August 30 in a rematch with Nikolay Valuev. Despite all of his success, Ruiz has lost two high-profile bouts in Germany.

By Teddy Stenmark: I Contacted boxing manager Veli-Pekka Mäki recently to get the full line-up of their (P3 Boxing) big card at the “Metro auto arena” in Tampere; Finland on the 30th of august which is headlined by former European middleweight champion, Amin Asikainen.

Former IBF junior middleweight champion Roman Karmazin, currently rated # 11 at 154 lbs. by the same New Jersey-based sanctioning body, looks to get back on track on the September 27 Shane Mosley-Ricardo Mayorga undercard in Los Angeles.

By Lwazi Ndzobongo: Luduma Galada is the new WBF featherweight champion after defeating David Kiilu at the Orient Theatre in East London on Friday night.

By Paul Upham at ringside: Aboriginal boxer “Cool” Willie Kickett continued his impressive unbeaten run with a ten round unanimous points decision win over WBO No.11 ranked Argentinean Vicente Rodriguez at junior lightweight on Friday night at the Wyong Leagues Club on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia headlining a card promoted by the Grange Old School Boxing and Angelo Hyder’s “Nitro Boxing”.

IBF middleweight boxing world champion Arthur Abraham is back home to defend his title for the first time since his impressive June 2007 TKO victory over Edison Miranda, as he faces former IBF 154lbs champion Raul Marquez on Saturday October 4 at Jako-Arena in Bamberg, Germany.

In this week’s edition of Ask The Editor (ATE), we look at the reasons why Manny Pacquiao may have turned down Oscar De La Hoya’s fight offer, investigate whether the older name boxers are taking up valuable pay-per-view fight space from our younger stars and we check the crystal ball on the future of Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto. We comment on the future big fights for Vic Darchinyan, look into the Ricky Hatton-Billy Graham split and much more.

The recent trend of boxers fighting outside their best weight class may continue with welterweight Lovemore “Black Panther” Ndou issuing a challenge to former WBA super middleweight world champion Anthony Mundine. Ndou, a former IBF world champion at junior welterweight, issued a press release on Thursday challenging “The Man” to a fight.

This Friday (August 22) on a Mamali Boxing Promotions card, the vacant WBF featherweight title will be on the line as South African 126 lbs. champ Ludumo Galada takes on David Kiilu at the Orient Theatre in East London, South Africa.

WBO 108 lbs. champion and “pound-for-pound” contender Ivan Calderon faces one of his most dangerous rivals when the Puerto Rican defends versus Mexico’s Hugo Fidel Cazares in a rematch of a 2007 split decision won by Calderon, on Saturday, August 30 at Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

By Lwazi Ndzobongo: Daniel Bruwer retained his South African light heavyweight title with a sixth round TKO victory over Ronnie Lategan.

Last Saturday (August 16) Kofi Jantuah and his newly founded promotion “Prize Fight Entertainment” held their first show in Kumasi, Ghana labelled as “Rumble in the Garden City”.

By Paul Upham: Exciting undefeated Aboriginal boxer “Cool” Willie Kickett faces WBO No.11 ranked Argentinean Vicente Rodriguez in a ten round bout for the WBO Asia Pacific Youth junior lightweight title and the WBO Latino title on Friday August 22 at the Wyong Leagues Club on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia headlining a card promoted by the Grange Old School Boxing and Angelo Hyder’s “Nitro Boxing”.

By Teddy Stenmark: A date has now finally been set for Danish super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler mandatory defense against Germany’s Danilo Haussler.

Australian heavyweight and WBA No.3 Kali “Checkmate” Meehan will face American Dominique Alexander at the Max Schmeling Hall in Berlin, Germany on August 30 on the Nicolay Valuev-John Ruiz rematch card.

Promoter Don King arrived in Beijing, China on Tuesday and will be holding a press conference on Wednesday where he will announce his plans to promote a boxing event in Chengdu, China. The boxing card will be staged in November and is planned to be presented at the Chengdu National Stadium.

On September 12th two of Arena Box Promotions hottest rising stars will take their next steps towards the top of the world.

When WBA interim super flyweight champion Rafael Concepcion defends versus Jorge Arce on September 15 at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, the “championship” bout will represent one of three WBA world titles at 115 pounds.

By Lwazi Ndzobongo: Vusi Malinga fought a terrific fight on his way to a 12 round TKO victory over Amon Baloyi to capture the South African lightweight on Saturday night at the Johannesburg Park Station.

On Friday night (August 8) at the Coliseo Antonio R. Barcelo in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, world-rated super flyweight Jose Lopez forced Oscar Andrade to retire after round seven, and former Olympian Alex De Jesus TKO’d Adrian Navarrete at 1:23 of round twelve.

By Teddy Stenmark: By a sheer coincident I stumbled on to an article in a Swedish fitness magazine about former Danish professional and excellent amateur, female Alexandra Matheus (featherweight).

By Teddy Stenmark: On August 22, ” Blood and honor” the critically acclaimed documentary about former European light heavyweight champion, Ole Klemetsen of Norway will have it’s Norwegian premier.

By Lwazi Ndzobongo: South African Lightweight Champion Amon ‘Magic Man’ Baloyi defends his title against Patrick ‘Hammer’ Malinga on Saturday, August 9 at Park Station in Johannesburg.

Arthur Abraham will return to the ring on October 4 when he defends his IBF middleweight title against mandatory challenger Raul Marquez.

By WBC President Jose Sulaiman: I am very sad to report the passing away of the great Mexican fighter Bernabe “Baby” Vazquez and of Mr. Ray Hawkins, a boxing judge from Texas.

In October, a long wait will come to an end for Danilo Haussler.

By Teddy Stenmark: We are in August already, and the Olympics is just around the corner, as a Swede I am particularly proud that we as the only nation in Scandinavia has managed to qualify two fighters for the Beijing Games.

The Russian Giant is back in town!

Newly crowned IBF bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko was to have made his first title defense against mandatory challenger William Gonzalez this Saturday (August 2) in Ponce, Puerto Rico, but the bout is now off due to Gonzalez’s inability to obtain his travel visa.

The World Boxing Council declared a day of world mourning due to the passing away of former Light-heavyweight world champion, Mate Parlov

Earlier today (July 30) at Yoyogi First Gym in Tokyo, Japan, WBC flyweight champion Daisuke Naito rallied to knockout Tomonobu Shimizu at 0:57 of the tenth round and WBA counterpart Takefumi Sakati unanimously decisioned Hiroyuki Hisataka over twelve rounds…scores read 118-111, 117-111 and 116-112.

By Paul Upham: Former WBA super middleweight world champion Anthony “The Man” Mundine had to get up off the canvas to beat tough Japanese opponent Crazy Kim on points over ten rounds on Wednesday night at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Australia.

Joseph Agbeko, who received a presidential parade in Ghana after winning his first world championship last year, will make the first defense of his IBF bantamweight championship against knockout artist William Gonzalez this Saturday, August 2, in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

[Press Release] Marco “Captain” Huck (21-1, 16 KOs) will take on European cruiserweightchampion Jean Marc Monrose (24-1, 15 KOs) in his hometown of Bielefeldon September 20.

By Paul Upham

To be in the presence of one undisputed boxing world champion is special. To be able to sit back and observe two of them interacting together is a privilege that doesn’t come along every day. Such was the case on July 23, when Sugar Shane Mosley accepted an invitation to visit Kostya Tszyu at his home in Sydney, Australia.

WIBF/WBA flyweight world champion Susi Kentikian will take on Hagar Shmoulefeld Finer and WBO Inter-Continental middleweight titlist Sebastian Zbik defends versus John Anderson Carvalho, August 29 at the Burg-Wächter Castello in Düsseldorf, Germany.

IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham has been accused of Sexual assault against a Masseuse.

In today’s edition of Ask The Editor (ATE), we take a final look at Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito, weigh-in on the value of the Kelly Pavlik vs. Bernard Hopkins match and comment further on Joe Calzaghe vs. Roy Jones Jr. We break down Manny Pacquiao’s performance against David Diaz, ask if Wladimir Klitschko deserves more praise than he is getting in some parts and much more.

By Paul Upham at ringside: Australian lightweight prospect Lenny Zappavigna kept his undefeated record with a ten round unanimous points decision over Leon Maratas from the Philippines, winning the vacant IBO Asia Pacific title on Friday night at Club Marconi in Bossley Park, NSW, headlining a well promoted card by Billy Hussein and Tommy Mercuri.

Super middleweight Denis Inkin, currently rated No.2 WBC, No.6 IBF and No.9 WBO, returned to action yesterday (July 24) for the first time since last November to outpoint Sergei Beloshapkin over six rounds at Casino Vodoley in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

By Paul Upham: Exciting Australian prospect Lenny Zappavigna faces Leon Maratas for the vacant IBO Asia Pacific lightweight title on Friday night at Club Marconi in Bossley Park, NSW, promoted by Billy Hussein.

The WBA featherweight world title fight between champion Chris John and Australian challenger Jackson Asiku will go ahead as planned in North Jakarta, Indonesia.

At a press conference in Ankara on Tuesday Sinan Samil Sam received the European championship belt that he had won by majority decision against Paolo Vidoz on July 4th.

Team Sauerland have laughed off complaints from an American promoter who has criticised the selection of Taurus Sykes as Alexander Povetkin´s latest opponent.

Team Saurland was surprised to hear Mogens Palle’s reaction following the purse bids WBA super-middleweight title clash between champ Mikkel Kessler and Danilo Haussler.

A full week of boxing action and information on television in Australia, as compiled by Paul Upham.

All times Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST).

WBA #4/WBC #8 rated featherweight Leonilo Miranda continued to impress on Saturday night (July 19) with an eighth-round knockout of former WBO 118 lbs. champion Cruz Carbajal at the Explanada Tecate in Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico. Time of the stoppage was 2:31.

Former WBA heavyweight champions Nikolai Valuev and John Ruiz will fight a rematch at Max-Schmeling-Halle in Berlin, Germany on August 30 to contest the now-vacant WBA world title.

By Geoffrey Mpenda at ringside: On Saturday July 19 Sparks Pro-Boxing Promotions promoted an action-packed card at the WAB Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, sanctioned by the Kenya Professional Boxing Commission.

WBA No.10 rated lightweight Kengo Nagashima defeated Hiroto Takeshita by 1st round technical knockout on Saturday night at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan, headlining a boxing card by 18 Koga Promotions.

IBF No.1 contender Alexander Povetkin ensured his challenge against IBF heavyweight boxing world champion Wladimir Klitschko with a 4th round knockout win over American Taurus Sykes on Saturday night in front of 4,000 fans at the Olimpyskiy Sports Palace in Chekhov, Russia.

By Derek Bonnett: Located in the Pacific Ocean, Japan is a country comprised of over three thousand islands in East Asia. Four of these islands, Honshu, Hakkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, actually make up 97% of the country’s entire land mass.

By Paul Upham: A new two-hour documentary on the boxing career of retired WBA light heavyweight world champion Danny Green will premiere on the Fox Sports network in Australia on Friday night July 18.

Reportedly, former WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev will fight for the first time since being dethroned by Samuel Peter this past March when he takes on Robert Hawkins in a rematch of a 1995 Maskaev KO 4 victory. The site for Maskaev-Hawkins II purportedly will be Red Square in Moscow on September 6.

The European Boxing Union today installed Sinan Samil Sam as the European heavyweight champion

World rated WBA 115lbs contenders AJ Banal and Rafael Concepcion will collide for the Venezuelan-based sanctioning body’s vacant title, not to be confused with WBA “super champion” Cristian Mijares’s unified title, on Saturday, July 26 at Cebu Coliseum in Cebu City, Philippines.

Alexander Povetkin says he is taking one step at a time ahead of this weekend´s fight against Taurus Sykes.

Vitali Klitschko is set to return to the ring four years after his last bout and in an attempt and reclaim his former WBC world heavyweight title.

By John Lumpkin

Wladimir Klitschko defeated Tony Thompson this past weekend in a manner that can best be described as a relatively good performance.

By Michael Coppinger: This Wednesday (July 16), more than two years since their first encounter, Hasim “The Rock” Rahman and James “Lights Out” Toney will finally face-off in a rematch of their 2006 draw.

Regarding the WBC interim super featherweight world championship fight between Humberto Soto and Francisco Lorenzo, the WBC Board of Governors has voted for the following:

In today’s edition of Ask The Editor (ATE), we look at what lies ahead for the pound for pound best boxer in the world Manny Pacquiao. We review the outcome of the controversial Humberto Soto- Francisco Lorenzo fight and consider whether a John Duddy-Oscar De La Hoya fight is possible. We go another furious round of Steve Collins-Chris Eubank-Nigel Benn debate, look back at the career of super flyweight great Khaosai Galaxy and much more.

According to the Manila Bulletin Online promoter Bob Arum has put Humberto Soto on standby to face Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas on November 15.

Ulises Solis retained his IBF junior flyweight title via a 12 round unanimous decision over Glenn Donaire at the Palenque De La Expo in Mexico Saturday night.

By Paul Upham: Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko retained his IBF/WBO/IBO heavyweight boxing world titles with an 11th round knockout of Tony Thompson from the USA on Saturday night at the Color Line Arena in Altona, Hamburg, Germany.