Lo que dejó la 27ma convención de la OMB, realizada en el Caesars Palace

Por Carlos Irusta /ESPN.com –

LAS VEGAS — El Caesars Palace, cargado de lujo de estuco y de gran historia boxística, ya quedo atrás. “El hogar de los campeones”, como fue reconocido por muchos años, fue también testigo del ocaso triste de uno de los justamente, grandes campeones del boxeo, como Joe Louis, quien terminó sus días como un empleado de lujo del hotel-casino. Y en su estadio abierto, que ya no está, Muhammad Alí vivió su última noche grande cuando perdió frente a Larry Holmes, en una pelea que Don King, había bautizado, paradojalmente, “El último hurra”.

Hoy es hoy y los tiempos han cambiado. El presidente de la Organización Mundial de Boxeo, Francisco “Paco” Valcárcel lo sabe, y muy bien. Aunque lleva veinte años en la presidencia -algo que pareciera normal en estos organismos, teniendo en cuenta por ejemplo, que José Sulaimán encabezó el Consejo durante más de treinta años-, piensa retirarse a tiempo. “No me gustaría que alguna vez alguien me diga o me aconseje que ya es momento del retiro -afirma Valcárcel- ni tampoco quiero ser recordado por haberme hecho eterno en el poder, prefiero que me recuerden por buena persona y por dirigente honesto”.

La WBO se ha separado varios pasos de los otros organismos. No es una manera de decir. Baste mirar que, en las reuniones tripartitas convocadas por el Consejo Mundial de Boxeo (WBC), integrando a la Asociación Mundial (WBA) y a la Federación Internacional (IBF), Valcárcel no asistió. Y no solamente eso, sino que demás afirmó que son reuniones “que terminan siendo una pérdida de tiempo y que no cambian nada, por eso preferimos seguir nuestro camino”.

Asistieron más de cuatrocientas personas de todo el mundo, lo cual significa crecimiento. De hecho se esperaban trescientos asistentes. El mercado chino ya ha sido incorporado desde hace varios años -todo un logro de Valcárcel-, y el propio Japón, que durante años no reconoció a la WBO, también ya forma parte del grupo. La Organización tiene mojones muy fuertes en Europa, especialmente en Inglaterra y Alemania. Y, por supuesto, el mercado norteamericano y latino.

Esto no quiere decir que la WBO sea una organización perfecta, ni mucho menos, pero si apunta a dos hechos que fueron el hilo conductor de esta semana de Convención en el Caesars Palace. Uno, fue sin dudas, el análisis de la ley Muhammad Alí. El otro, la transparencia de la entidad y de sus oficiales de ring.

De esta manera, el secretario general de la OMB José R. Izquierdo, efectuó una presentación ante el Comité Ejecutivo y asistentes en generales, sobre la Ley de Reforma de Boxeo Muhammad Ali y sus consecuencias en los otros organismos que sancionan al boxeo.

Izquierdo hizo hincapié en que la WBO “quiere dejar rotundamente en claro que nuestra posición es trabajar conjuntamente con la Asociación de Comisiones de Boxeo (ABC)”. La idea es que las organizaciones deben evitar el aislamiento que crean las limitaciones de jurisdicción. Y, entre otros temas, Izquierdo pidió que se busque la forma de aclarar la denominación de “asesor” en el boxeo, y “que se defina su naturaleza y alcance”. De hecho se formó un comité OMB para que presente un informe con sus conclusiones a los legisladores de los Estados Unidos, con el objeto de que se mejore la Ley de Reforma de Boxeo Ali, para tornarla más eficaz. “Es bueno tener en cuenta, y hablo como abogado también -dijo Valcárcel- que esta actividad, el boxeo, es muy compleja, más de lo que parece. Y no siempre la letra fría es aplicable. Creo que es importante que quienes se encargan de la ley Alí cuenten en su equipo con veteranos del boxeo, para escuchar sus opiniones”.

Una visión tal vez más simplista de esta convención, o con menos profundidad de análisis, no puede dejar de mencionar que fueron agasajados especialmente dos ya ingresados al Hall de la Fama: Oscar De La Hoya y Joe Calzaghe, por sus grandes carreras profesionales. De la misma manera que, entre tantos invitados importantes, estuvo Marco Antonio Barrera. Y que asistieron dos campeonas mundiales japonesas, Nao Ikeyama, monarca de la OMB en el peso átomo (102 libras) y la campeona junior mosca (108 libras) Kimiko Seser Ikehara. También estuvieron presentes el dos veces campeón mundial de la WBO, Orlando Salido, otro ex campeón mundial en diferentes categorías como James Toney, la ex campeona Hanna Gabriels y la actual campeona mundial Carolina Duer. Marco Huck campeón crucero- fue distinguido por su trayectoria. 

Pero los temas de fondo fueron otros, sin duda. “Queremos que nuestros campeones se distingan. Nuestros campeones tienen que tener, ante todo, prestigio”, enfatizó Valcárcel. “El aficionado no entiende la gran proliferación de campeones interinos, alternativos, en receso… Confunden a la gente y sus propios portadores tienen apenas porciones, por eso los campeones WBO tienen que distinguirse”.

Otro tema que no puede soslayarse es el crecimiento de la incursión de AIBA en el boxeo profesional, a través de certámenes por equipos (Argentina, México, Italia, entre otros tantos países, ya participan de estas competencias) en donde también pueden combatir boxeadores amateurs que, incluso, clasificarán para los Juegos Olímpicos.

“La AIBA no puede entrar en los Estados Unidos, porque en este país no se puede ser promotor y dirigente al mismo tiempo. La AIBA nos hizo un gran favor a nosotros, la WBO, porque de sus filas pudimos clasificar a Vasyl Lomachenko (campeón pluma) o a Zou Shiming dijo Valcárcel-, pero convengamos en que es un boxeo de poco vuelo. Los boxeadores que se conformen con un sueldo, podrán competir en esos torneos, pero los que quieren ser un Oscar De La Hoya o un Carlos Monzón, o un Ray Leonard, los que quieran ser figuras de verdad, no pueden crecer en esos torneos”.

La transparencia fue, sin dudas, otro de los temas. “No se puede ser dirigente y manager, los roles son diferentes y deben caer en diferentes personas. No se puede ser directivo y manager de boxeadores -expresó Valcárcel-. De la misma manera en que buscaremos la manera de que las actuaciones de los jurados sean mejores, para evitar malos fallos y lo que es todavía peor, la desconfianza de la gente”.

El tema de los fallos controversiales forma parte del folklore del boxeo: no siempre todos vemos una pelea de la misma manera. Pero, cuando las diferencia de puntajes son tremendamente grandes, “estamos ante un problema y queremos solucionarlo. De hecho, estamos pensando poner fuertes penalidades a quien, de alguna manera, en su condición de oficial de ring, pueda tener una conducta errónea, y subiremos las multas de 50 mil dólares a 250 mil y de un año de suspensión también llegaremos a los cinco años…”, expresó Valcárcel.

En la fiesta final estuvo presente Bob Arum (fue galardonado como el promotor del año) quien estuvo cerca de Oscar De La Hoya… pero en mesas separadas (podría ser también, el premio a “la foto que no fue”, puesto que no hubo oportunidad de reunirlos…).

Terence Crawford y Yuriorkis Gamboa fue “La pelea del año” (ganó Crawford por KOT en 9) , Vasyl Lomachenko -campeón mundial pluma-, fue distinguido como el boxeador de mayor futuro (el ucraniano solamente tiene 3 peleas profesionales, pero se le dio autorización a pelear por el campeonato mundial por su gran campaña amateur), Carolina Duer recibió el anillo de diamantes por sus 10 defensas. Chris Algieri, quien está por combatir con Manny Pacquiao, hizo una presentación especial. También fue distinguido, lo mismo que las japonesas Nao Ikehara y Kimiko Seeser Ikeyama.

En una palabra: hubo premios para todos -una costumbre de Francisco Valcárcel- y no faltó la música salsa, aunque con el agregado del mariachi. Ni tampoco faltó la cordialidad y la amistad. Pero, mientras se hacen planes para la próxima convención en Orlando, Florida, quedan en pie varios compromisos.

Que las promesas de profundizar la Ley Ali, o el desafío de analizar a fondo los malos fallos, o la obligación de que no proliferen títulos que confundan al aficionado no sean solamente proyectos, sino realidades.

Un compromiso que el boxeo necesita y que WBO promete ir corrigiendo. Ojalá lo puedan ir logrando, para que Francisco Valcárcel y el organismo sean reconocidos, con el tiempo, por su trayectoria, pero también por sus objetivos cumplidos. Ese es el gran desafío.

http://www.espn.com.ar/news/story/_/id/2222031/el-gran-desafio-de-valcarcel

By David Finger \ Photos: Joel A. Colon/WBO\

The third and final day of the 27th annual WBO Convention kicked off yesterday morning, and as anticipated, the open forum of the championship and ratings committees was not without fireworks. The day began with a short video presentation of the charitable work done by both the WBO and numerous WBO champions to promote the WBO “Kids Drug Free” program.

The second order of business came when Vice President John Duggan proposed a resolution that clarified that the position of “vice president of the China Zone” is now vacant and that the China commission is not to use any trademarks or logos. The resolution would also transfer this over to the Asia Pacific region. The resolution would be passed unanimously.

There then followed a brief discussion of the 2015 budget and a proposed amendment to the budget, which passed as well. Following this budget discussion, Joe Cortez briefly spoke of the role of instant replay in Nevada. “Instant replay in Nevada has been in play for two years,” Cortez said, “but it hasn’t been used.” Cortez noted that in Nevada only a referee has the discretion to overturn his or her decision, before adding that the “door was open” to any adjustments that needed to be made in regards to the rule as it stands in Nevada.

From there WBO junior welterweight champion Chris Algieri spoke of the importance of being a role model as a champion.

“Being a champion is a world wide title,” Algieri said, “there are a lot of eyes on you. A lot of young eyes. As a champion you want to present yourself to the world as a champion. As a role model.” Algieri was subsequently presented the WBO Gordy Volkman Man of the Year Award for Outstanding Community Service.

Following the presentation of the Gordy Volkman Award to Algieri, the discussion then turned to where to host the 2015 WBO Convention. Although the Philippines had been the early front runner, having been named in 2013 as the location of the 2015 convention, it was passed over for Florida. Citing concerns over the recent typhoon in the Philippines, and the impact that had on the feasibility of hosting the event there, President Valcarcel accepted a recommendation for the 2015 WBO Convention to be held in Orlando, Florida. Puerto Rico was named as a backup location. President Valcarcel, however, indicated a strong desire to eventually have the WBO convention in the Philippines in the near future.

A brief video fallowed in which highlights of the 2013 WBO Convention in Budapest was shown. Heavyweight Charles Martin was awarded the NABO fighter of the year award at that time as well as several other special recognition awards to journalist Pedro Fernandez, Ulf Steinforth, and Wladimir Klitschko. Wilfried Sauerland was given an award after having been named “European Promoter of the Year” as well.

From there the ever contentious championship and ratings committee kicked off with their session.

This started in the mini-flyweight division, where Japanese matchmaker Ulysses Sato pushed to have his fighter enter the WBO rankings.

There were no requests at junior flyweight and only one at flyweight (to move an undefeated European champion into the WBO ranks). However, the relative lack of controversy in the lowest weight classes was not a harbinger of what would follow, as the discussions became more intensive starting with the junior bantamweight division. Representatives for #5 ranked Paul Butler requested a move to #1 or, in the alternative, to have the winner of the Paul Butler-Jamie Conlan fight be named the mandatory challenger. Conlan is ranked #7 by the WBO. Although Frank Warren’s request to have the winner of the Butler-Conlan fight named “interim champion” was denied, the committee and President Valcarcel did agree to name the winner of that fight as mandatory challenger for champion Omar Narvaez.

At bantamweight several promoters made arguments to have their fighters move into the top ten, most notably #13 ranked Pungluang Sor Sinyu and #14 ranked Lee Haskins.

At junior featherweight the executive committee did acknowledge the difficulties that Guillermo Rigondeaux was having finding opponents willing to take him on. Hedi Taouab Mohammed initially pushed to have his fighter, #4 ranked Zsolt Bedak, move up in the rankings before President Valcarcel inquired about a possible matchup between Bedak and #2 ranked Genesis Servania.

At featherweight a compelling argument was put forth by representatives of King Sports to have undefeated Colombian banger Miguel Marriaga move into the top ten. A proposed fight between #8 ranked British bomber Mark McCollough and #5 ranked Polish fighter Kamil Laszczyk was also discussed, as well as the possibility of the winner of that fight moving up into the top four. Ulysses Sato made a push to have Filipino Mark Gil Melligen, the #13 ranked WBO Oriental champion, move into the top ten.

A familiar name was brought up in the junior lightweight discussions as Main Events pushed to have Edner Cherry return to the top ten on the basis of his nine fight winning streak. President Valcarcel seemed open to the proposal.

At lightweight it appeared highly likely that Juan Diaz might move up from #3 to #1 after the current #1 contender, Ray Beltran, fights the WBO champion Terence Crawford. The prospect of the #1 slot opening up brought out numerous other requests, including one from representatives of #4 ranked Anthony Crolla. However, that request was immediately challenged by Frank Warren, who reminded the executive committee that Crolla “never fought anyone in the WBO top 15” before offering his fighter, #9 ranked Terry Flanagan as a strong candidate to move up.

At junior welterweight the recognition that the title may be at play in the coming months also led to a contentious and colorful discussion. Ruslan Provodnikov’s camp made an argument to have him leapfrog #1 ranked Lucas Matthysse. Several fighters had representatives push to have them move into the top ten, including Emanuel Taylor and veteran Paul Spadafora.

In the welterweight division several promoters jockeyed to have their fighters move up, with the most notable being undefeated Canadian prospect Mikael Zewski, undefeated Fredrick Lawson, and the winner of the upcoming Jeff Horn-Robson Assis fight. Horn, the WBO Oriental Champion, is ranked #11 while Assis, the WBO Latino champion, is ranked #12.

In the junior middleweight division Frank Warren pushed to have #10 ranked Liam Smith move up while representatives of #13 ranked Sirimongkol Singwancha also pushed to have the Thai based fighter move into the top ten.

In the middleweight division the biggest news came when the WBO championship and rating committee voted unanimously to name the winner of a proposed four fighter elimination as the top middleweight. The first fight, between #4 ranked Andy Lee and #1 ranked Matt Korobov, would then face the winner of the Billy Saunders –Chris Eubank fight. Saunders is currently ranked #2 while Eubanks is ranked #9. Also noteworthy in the discussions regarding the middleweight division were proposals to move Abraham Han into the world rankings as well as a push to have Willie Monroe Jr. move up in the rankings.

In the light heavyweight division several fighters received pushes to move up the rankings including #11 ranked Isidro Ranoni Prieto, who already is emerging as arguably the most popular fighter ever from Paraguay.

In the cruiserweight division a second four fighter elimination looks likely as the winner of the upcoming Tony Bellew-Nathan Cleverly fight would fight either #1 ranked Krzysztof Glowacki or #3 ranked Nuri Seferi with the winner being named the mandatory for WBO Champion Marco Huck. Bellew is currently ranked #4 while Cleverly is currently ranked #5.

In the heavyweight division the discussion revolved around Wladimir Klitschko and who his next mandatory challenger would be, as well as when he would be required to fight that fighter. After some discussion, it became apparent that the winner of the upcoming Tyson Fury-Dereck Chisora fight would be named mandatory challenger to the WBO champion, although the timetable of that mandatory defense was still not set in stone.

Rounding off the event was the gala banquet in which the family of the recently deceased Dan Goossen was presented with an honorary WBO belt. Several other awards were handed out, including WBO Promoter of the year (Bob Arum), WBO Fight of the year (Crawford-Gamboa), WHO female fighter of the year (Carolina Duer), WBO fighter of the year (Sergey Kovalev), Spanish Network of the year (Telemundo), and an award to Vasyl Lomachenko, who was given an award for being the WBO champion with the brightest future. Rounding off the gala banquet was a touching and moving ceremony where both Joe Calzaghe and Oscar De La Hoya were awarded lifetime champion awards by the WBO. Both Calzage and De La Hoya gave moving speeches about their ties to the WBO, and how important the WBO belt had meant to them as fighters.

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/giant-wbo-2014-convention-day-three-report-266898

Lem Satterfield –

Talks are ongoing for a middleweight clash of southpaws in December between Matt Korobov and Andy Lee for the vacant WBO belt, their respective promoters, Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions and Lou DiBella informed RingTV.com on Thursday.

“We’re working on the details right now,” said DiBella. “It would look like we’re aiming for December. The venue would be uncertain but it could be in England.”

The promoters’ request was also tweeted by WBO President Paco Valcarcel on Thursday.

“Their letter has been received by the WBO World Championship Committee,” said Jose Izquierdo, general secretary of the WBO, “so the championship committee will decide whether or not to sanction the fight for the vacant title.”

The negotiations for Korobov-Lee are part of recent developments in the wake of Peter Quillin’s having vacated the title last month rather than face Korobov.

“We’re trying to put it together,” said Arum of Korobov-Lee. “We’re looking at Dec. 13.”

Korobov (24-0, 14 knockouts) was subsequently ordered  to fight WBO junior middleweight beltholder Demetrius Andrade before Andrade chose to remain at 154 pounds and defend his belt in December.

Andrade was given the shot against Korobov over the Puerto Rico-based  WBO’s No. 2-rated 160-pounder Billy Joe Saunders in accordance with a petition from Andrade’s promoters, Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions and and Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing. The WBO, in part, ruled that Andrade was more deserving as an organization titleholder given that Saunders had not fought a top-rated boxer in more than a year.

In his last fight in June, Korobov, 31, scored a unanimous decision over Jose Uzcategui. Lee (33-2, 23 KOs), 30, earned a come-from-behind, fifth round knockout of John Jackson in June.

The win over Jackson represented Lee’s fifth straight victory, third by stoppage, since falling by seventh round knockout to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in June 2012.

“Andy Lee had the knockout of the year against John Jackson. I think that Andy Lee’s a very good fighter. I think that he can fight at either 154 or 160,” said DiBella. “I think that he has an excellent chance to beat Korobov and to become the middleweight champion. He’s well-traveled and he’s fought top competition. He’s been through the fire and he’s a guy who has shown that he’s resilient. He’s a very popular fighter and a very deserving fighter.”

Izquierdo said the WBO is also aware that Saunders could now face Chris Eubank Jr. in an all-English clash in November.

“I don’t know that there has been a formal request for that fight but that fight must also be approved. It seems that would be for a WBO International title,” said Izquierdo, “but we are aware that there are ongoing negotiations on that fight. In that case, it would have to be approved by the executive director of the WBO International [committee].”

Saunders, 25, was last in action for an eighth round knockout of Emanuele Blandamura in July and Eubank Jr., 25, for a first round knockout of Ivan Jukic in July, representing his ninth consecutive stoppage win.

http://ringtv.craveonline.com/news/358471-matt-korobov-andy-lee-in-the-works

OMAHA, NEB — Undefeated World Boxing Organization (WBO) lightweight champion TERENCE “Bud” CRAWFORD, Omaha’s favorite son, will make an encore hometown title defense on the heels of his wildly successful victory over previously undefeated world champion and Cuban sensation Yuriorkis Gamboa.  Crawford will defend his title against No. 1 contender and mandatory challenger RAY BELTRAN on Thanksgiving weekend, Saturday, November 29, at the CenturyLink Center.  The fight will be televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark, beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. Photos by Chris Farina/Top Rank.

Crawford successfully defended his title on June 28, at the CenturyLink Center, knocking out previously undefeated world champion Yuriorkis Gamboa in front of an energized crowd. The fight, a candidate for Fight of the Year honors, was televised live on HBO®, and according to Nielsen Media Research, garnered an average audience of 1.208 million viewers to the live, first-time airing, making it the second most-watched fight of the year so far.  Crawford vs. Gamboa was the first world championship fight the city of Omaha had hosted in 42 years when Joe Frazier defended his World Heavyweight Championship crown against Ron Stander in 1972.

“It’s an honor to fight in my hometown during the holiday season in front of my fans and family who will be traveling to Omaha,” said Crawford.  “It’s great that Top Rank and HBO are coming back into town to promote another show on one of the biggest weekends of the year.  Beltran feels I have something – a world title belt – which belongs to him.  He thought he beat Ricky Burns and I thought Beltran won too.  But he didn’t and I did. Beltran can fight. We know that.  I am going to fight him like a bad dog, fight fire with fire. Let’s see if he really has a will to win in Omaha. My will to win is off the charts. He won’t be coming straight at me the way he did against Ricky Burns.  My team and I are training hard to put on a good show for everyone. No one will be disappointed.”

“Crawford has shown to be a talented fighter, someone I respect,” said Beltran.  “But I see this fight as an opportunity for me to achieve the recognition in the boxing world and the public’s eye.  This fight is Champion vs. Champion. It’s not about the belts. It’s about us.  Crawford is talented, has skill, but I have the ability to adapt and will be ready for what he brings.  The situation against Burns made me stronger, I felt the love of the crowd and all of their respect that night.  I feel blessed with my family and friends.  All of that will be with me when I fight Crawford in Omaha. I am the No.  2 fighter in the world. Crawford is No. 1. That is what this is all about.  I believe in me.  This is my moment.”

“This fight between Crawford and Beltran could very well be the fight of the year. The styles and skills of both fighters guarantee as much,” said Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum.

“When Terence Crawford fought in front of his Omaha hometown crowd last June, the atmosphere produced one of the most spectacular fights of 2014 on HBO,” said Peter Nelson, vice president, programming, HBO Sports.  “The spotlight returns to the American heartland November 29, as the undefeated champ faces Ray Beltran, a challenger who has earned more opportunities than he’s been given and always gives the fans his all.”

“CenturyLink Center Omaha is honored to have the opportunity once again to host this world championship boxing event,” said Roger Dixon, President and CEO of the Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority.  “The atmosphere was electric in June and we expect even more excitement this time around”

Crawford (24-0, 17 KOs), of Omaha, returns to the ring fresh from his dramatic and critically-acclaimed knockout victory of Gamboa.  Not only did Crawford retain his title, he also made himself a contender for Fighter of the Year.  He is only the second Nebraska native to be recognized as a boxing world champion.  Perry “Kid” Graves, from Rock Bluff, captured the welterweight crown, knocking out Johnny Alberts in Brooklyn, in 1914, according to the Omaha World-Herald.  After a short but impressive amateur career, which included victories over future world champions Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia and one-time world title challenger Diego Magdaleno, Crawford made his professional debut on March 14, 2008 – a first-round knockout victory of Brian Cummings.  On March 1, 2014 – just 13 days short of the sixth anniversary of his pro debut, Crawford captured the WBO lightweight title, dethroning defending champion Ricky Burns on Burns’ home turf of Glasgow, Scotland. Scoring a powerful and unanimous decision, Burns put the boxing world on notice that with his virtuoso performance.  Crawford pulled out all stops in dismantling Burns as he rocked the defending champion throughout the fight, while switching back and forth between orthodox and southpaw stances.

Beltran (29-6-1, 17 KOs), a native of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, who now lives in North Hollywood, Calif.,  is one of the lightweight division’s toughest and most experienced fighters.  A former NABF and USBA lightweight champion,  Beltran enters this fight riding a two-year five-bout winning streak, which includes a disputed draw against defending WBO lightweight champion hometown favorite Ricky Burns in Glasgow, Scotland last year.  In that fight, Beltran fractured Burns’ jaw in the first two rounds and dominated the fight, consistently landing the harder punches.  Beltran scored a knockdown in the eighth round and finished the fight strongly.  Ringside observers and television viewers alike screamed “home cooking!” when the fight was declared a draw.  Beyond his professional fight, Beltran has had the benefit of being a main sparring partner for Fighter of the Decade Manny Pacquiao for several years before becoming a top-rated contender in his own right.  In his last fight, on April 12,  he claimed the NABO lightweight title, winning  a 12-round unanimous decision against once-beaten Arash Usmanee on the undercard of the Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley Jr world welterweight championship rematch.

http://www.boxingscene.com/photos-terence-crawford-ray-beltran-go-face-face–82695

Photos: Chris Farina / Top Rank

Superstar Manny Pacquiao and New York’s undefeated (20-0) WBO Jr. Welterweight champion Chris Algieri make their ‘Grand Arrival’ at The Venetian Las Vegas on ‘Day Six’ of their worldwide media tour.

Pacquiao and Algieri, along with their respective trainers Freddie Roach and Tim Lane, promoters Bob Arum, Joe DeGuardia and Artie Pelullo, and Ed Tracy, President and CEO of Sands China Ltd., are on a 27,273-Mile Media Tour, that began on Monday, August 25 at The Venetian Macao. The 12-day tour includes press conferences or public and private appearances scheduled for Macau, Shanghai, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York.

Promoted by Top Rank and Sands China Ltd., in association with MP Promotions, Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing, Banner Promotions and Tecate, the Pacquiao vs. Algieri world welterweight championship event will take place Saturday, November 22, at the Cotai Arena in The Venetian Macao Resort in Macau,China.

It will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT.

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/pacquiao-algieri-grand-arrival-258869

San Francisco, California   — “DAY FOUR –  Superstar Manny Pacquiao(R) and New York’s undefeated (20-0) WBO Jr. Welterweight champion Chris Algieri(L) make a special appearance on “Yahoo Sports Talk Live” with host Jim Kozimor(ctr) at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area , Thursday on ‘Day Four’  of their worldwide tour.

Pacquiao  and Algieri , along with their respective trainers Freddie Roach and Tim Lane, promoters Bob Arum, Joe DeGuardia and Artie Pelullo, and Ed Tracy, President and CEO of Sands China Ltd.,  are on a 27,273-Mile Media Tour, that began on Monday, August 25 at The Venetian Macao. The 12-day tour includes press conferences or public and private appearances scheduled for Macau, Shanghai, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York.

Promoted by Top Rank® and Sands China Ltd., in association with MP Promotions, Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing, Banner Promotions and Tecate, the Pacquiao vs. Algieri world welterweight championship event will take place Saturday, November 22, at the Cotai Arena in The Venetian Macao Resort in Macau,China.

http://www.boxingscene.com/photos-pacquiao-algieri-continue-tour-san-francisco–81556

Photos: Chris Farina/Top Rank –

New York’s undefeated (20-0) WBO Jr. Welterweight champion Chris Algieri arrives in San Francisco with trainer Tim Lane on ‘Day Three’ of his worldwide tour with superstar Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao and Algieri , along with their respective trainers Freddie Roach and Tim Lane, promoters Bob Arum, Joe DeGuardia and Artie Pelullo, and Ed Tracy, President and CEO of Sands China Ltd., are on a 27,273-Mile Media Tour, that began on Monday, August 25 at The Venetian Macao. The 12-day tour includes press conferences or public and private appearances scheduled for Macau, Shanghai, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York.

Promoted by Top Rank® and Sands China Ltd., in association with MP Promotions, Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing, Banner Promotions and Tecate, the Pacquiao vs. Algieri world welterweight championship event will take place Saturday, November 22, at the Cotai Arena in The Venetian Macao Resort in Macau, China. It will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT.

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/algieri-arrives-in-san-francisco-258442

By Jake Donovan

A phone call from representatives handling the career of two-time Olympic Gold medalist Zou Shiming to the Top Rank office led to what has become an ongoing tradition of promoting major fight cards in Macau. That marriage – not even yet two years old – is already on the verge of reaping major benefits.

Shiming has spent his entire young pro career fighting at The Venetian Macao, beginning with his pro debut last April.

“None of this would have been possible if we weren’t contacted by the people who represent Zou Shiming,” Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum pointed out of the ongoing relationship between Top Rank and the casino resort often referred to as ‘Las Vegas on steroids.’

In that debut show, Shiming won a four-round decision over Eleazer Valenuela. The bout was billed as the headlining act given the soaring popularity of the most successful boxer in the history of China’s amateur boxing program, including Olympic Gold medals won in 2008 at home in Beijing and 2012 in London. The highlight of that show, however, was Juan Francisco Estrada scoring what at the time was a major upset over Brian Viloria to become a two-belt flyweight titlist.

If all goes well in their next bouts, their paths could cross in the ring.

Top Rank and Shiming return to the Venetian Macao on November 23 (November 22 in the United States), with a show headlined by a welterweight title fight between legendary Manny Pacquiao and unbeaten Chris Algieri. On the undercard, Shiming (5-0, 1KO) appears in his first scheduled 12-round bout as he faces unbeaten Thai boxer Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym (27-0-2, 12KOs). Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum confirmed during Monday’s press conference in Macau that the bout will serve as an official title eliminator.

The winner will go on to face the last man standing in the September 6 mouthwatering clash between Estrada and former lineal 108 lb. king Giovani Segura.

From a promotional standpoint, Arum is naturally rooting for his guy to win. Also, so that he no longer has to butcher then name of the unbeaten opponent who will stand across the ring from Shiming.

“Zou Shiming won three medals in three (Olympic) competitions, the second and third being Gold medals,” Arum reminded the assembled media during Monday’s press conference in Macau, the first stop of a 27,000-mile press tour that concludes September 4th in New York. “China had never been a hotbed for boxing, so the past few years have been an education. The past few years have been educational.

“A lot of that is attributable to following Zou Shiming and his winning Olympic medals. He will go into the ring on November 23, in a WBO title eliminator versus the Thai fighter (Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym). Thank God he changed his name, he now goes by 13-Rien Express. The title eliminator will be fought over 12 rounds.”

Shiming has quickly advanced up the scale since his pro debut. His two ring appearances in 2014 came in fights scheduled for eight and ten rounds, respectively. Shiming only enjoyed one early night, though not by much as he stopped Yokthong KKP in the 7th round of their February flyweight bout.

His most recent ring appearance was his deepest to date, a 12-round decision over Luis de la Rosa this past July. It was the first time in Shiming’s career that Arum was unable to sit ringside, as the promoter was still recovering from knee surgery. The 33-year old flyweight hopes it’s the only time the two are separated, especially as he already begins to hit the prime years of his rapidly escalated career.

“Bob missed my last fight, so I hope all of my fights in the future are in the company of Bob Arum,” Shiming noted. “I’m grateful for all that Bob has done for me so that we can progress with each fight.”

Following the completion of the press tour, Shiming will travel to the Philippines, joining his head trainer Freddie Roach and Pacquiao in training camp. The preparation is truly a team effort, one that even has the Filipino legend rooting for his stable mate to the world title stage despite his own difficult assignment lying ahead.

“Zou Shiming is going to train with me in the Philippines,” Pacquaio confirmed to the media during Monday’s presser. The comment was accompanied by a big grin, as Pacquiao turned to Shiming while holding two fingers in the air. “Two more fights to become a world champion.”

http://www.boxingscene.com/shiming-onesongchaigym-confirmed-wbo-eliminator—81413

Photos: Chris Farina/Top Rank

Article By Karl Freitag –

The kickoff press conference for the November 22 clash of champions between WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and WBO jr welterweight champion Chris Algieri took place Monday at the Venetian Macao in Macau, China.

“This fight is going to be a good fight,” promised Pacquiao. “Algieri is undefeated, he’s a good boxer, I saw his last fight with Ruslan. He took a lot of punches but he’s a very tough boxer and fought back…my opponent is tough and I like that. The last fight that we had here with Brandon Rios we did a good job, but Algieri’s different than Rios. He’s faster than Rios, he’s taller than Rios, so it will give me a hard time.

“It’s been a long time that the fans of Manny Pacquiao have been expecting a knockout. This fight I’m going to try to do my best to make the fans happy and if the knockout comes it’ll come, but what I’m trying to do is focus and win the fight.”

Algieri was very gracious toward the Pacquiao Team for accepting the fight and stated he deserved this chance. “I earned the right to be here,” said Algieri, who is significantly taller than Pacman. “I bled for this. I trained for this my whole life. This opportunity means the world to me. I’m going to prepare myself the best I possibly can…I will give it my absolute all, just like I showed in my last fight and every fight before that.”

Pacquaio’s trainer Freddie Roach said Manny’s training camp will be held in General Santos City, Philippines. “I know Chris has a master’s degree,” commented Roach. “But Manny has a Ph.D in boxing.”

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/pacquiao-and-algieri-face-off-in-macau-258169

More Pacquiao-Algieri Quotes

Photo:  HBO –

Manny Pacquiao versus Chris Algieri is a done deal.

Algieri and his co-promoters, Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing and Banner Promotions’ Artie Pelullo, met for several hours on Tuesday and hammered out their remaining issues, resulting in an agreement that will see Algieri, a junior welterweight titleholder, get the opportunity to challenge Pacquiao for his welterweight world title.

The fight will take place Nov. 22 (HBO PPV) at the Cotai Arena at the Venetian Macao in Macau, China, where Pacquiao also fought in November 2013 and easily outpointed Brandon Rios, the promoters told ESPN.com.

“I have to talk to my lawyer, Dan Pancheri, who will spit out the contracts first thing (Wednesday) morning so they can have a copy of it in the afternoon,” Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said Tuesday night. “We have a deal. On my end, it wasn’t a hard deal at all. I came up pretty much with what they were looking for and then Joe and Artie had to sit down with Algieri and cut it up fairly amongst themselves.”

That is what Algieri, DeGuardia and Pelullo did for most of the day.

“We had a marathon lunch. We started out meeting in the morning, then went and had a long lunch together, came back to the office and finished it up,” DeGuardia said. “I called Bob to tell me we have a deal on our end. All the terms have been reached with Top Rank and we’re going to paper it up.

“We were able to sit down and go through everything Chris wanted to go over and put everything together. He’s gonna beat Pacquiao.”

Terms were not disclosed but DeGuardia said Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) will earn a career-high payday of more than $1 million. It will be more than 10 times his previous biggest purse, which was $100,000 for his upset split decision win against Ruslan Provodnikov to win a junior welterweight world title on June 14 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Eleven months ago the 30-year-old Algieri was unknown and not even fighting regularly on televised cards. Now he is fighting one of the most famous fighters on the planet for a world title and a seven-figure payday.

“He’s very happy. He’s happy for the opportunity,” DeGuardia said. “I’m ecstatic we’ve been able to give him this. It’s a great feeling. You work hard you develop him up the ranks. He fought off TV for a long time, he got on TV and now this. It’s really rewarding to see him get this opportunity and a payday that will change his life.

“He’s wants the fight and has no problem going up in weight. He wants the welterweight championship. He wants challenges. He loves the idea. He wanted to fight for another championship and he loves that he is fighting Manny Pacquiao for it. He looks as Manny as an elite of the game. He wants to climb another mountain. If he wins this fight, you have the start of another era.”

Algieri, from the Long Island, New York, town of Huntington, got knocked down twice by Provodnikov in the first round and persevered through a grotesquely swollen right eye for most of the fight. He also has a background different from most boxers.

A former kickboxer, Algieri grew up in a middle class family, went to college and eventually earned a master’s degree. He says he wants to go to medical school when he is done with his boxing career. He also works as a nutritionist.

“I think it’s an interesting fight between him and Manny,” Arum said. “I’m excited. This is a college-educated kid, a good boxer, the kind of kid who will draw interest other than the just the hard core boxing fan,” Arum said. “And the kid can also fight.”

Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs), the 35-year-old Filipino icon, has won world titles in a record eight weight classes. On April 12 in Las Vegas, Pacquiao convincingly outpointed Timothy Bradley Jr. to regain the welterweight title he had lost to Bradley in June 2012 in a fight in which Bradley received a split decision in one of the most controversial calls in boxing history.

Pacquiao and Arum have had terms in place for his next fight since Pacquiao signed a two-year extension with Top Rank in May that will take him through 2016 with the company that has promoted him since 2005. Although terms for the fight with Algieri were not disclosed, Pacquiao has been making in the $20-million-plus range for recent fights.

Although the business side of Pacquiao’s next fight has been set, he didn’t know who he would be fighting. Arum said Pacquiao called him on Monday morning to check in on his health — Arum is recovering from a recent knee replacement surgery — and they also talked about Algieri since Arum was getting close to a deal.

“Manny is 100 percent for it,” Arum said. “I told him I was coming along with it. He said Algieri seems like a nice young man and he saw his fight with Provodnikov. Manny said he thought it would be a good fight and he was OK with fighting Algieri.”

Pacquiao could be motivated for the fight by wanting to seek revenge for his beloved trainer, Hall of Famer Freddie Roach, who is also Provodnikov’s trainer and was on the losing end of that in that June upset.

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/11221114/manny-pacquiao-fight-chris-algieri-china-nov-22

By Jerry Glick
Photos: Peter Frutkoff/PeterFrutkoff.com

Flush with the success that he had from taking the WBO junior welterweight title from Ruslan Provodnikov back on June 14th, Star Boxing’s pride and joy, Chris “The Fighting Pride of Huntington” Algieri, was eager to talk about winning the belt and his challenge to the great Manny Pacquiao for Pac Man’s WBO welterweight belt scheduled to happen on November 22nd.

His right eye, badly damaged in his title winning effort, appeared to be completely healed, as well as the broken nose he suffered. Algieri looked in every way a superstar.

Algieri became a boxing world champion in only his twentieth pro fight, but he explained, it isn’t the first time he became a world champion after a limited number of fights. “I became a kickboxing world champion in only my fourth fight.”

Algieri admitted that fighting Pacquiao, “Is surreal, because it is something I’ve been thinking about so long, and visualizing this moment and now it’s here.”

He actually began to discuss the possibility of challenging Pacquiao even before he won the Provodnikov fight. The prospect was initially discussed by Top Rank’s head man, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum.

“I didn’t know how real it was,” said the newly crowned champ. “I know that Bob Arum mentioned it prior to the Provodnikov bout, and generally when Bob says something it’s a big deal. There were murmurs about the fight and about a week later (after the Provodnikov fight) we had worked out the details.”

The naysayers have come out of the woodwork for Pacquiao fight as they did for the Provodnikov contest, although he admits the critics are a lot more unsympathetic regarding the Pacquiao matchup.

“I am a self motivating person,” he said, “It doesn’t affect me negatively or positively.”

Algieri’s promoter, Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing, is taking a backseat to the venerable Bob Arum for the November 22nd showdown with Pacquiao.

“Chris is going to carry this promotion, and that’s why Bob is the top promoter in the industry,” explained DeGuardia. “Bob’s a Hall of Famer who’s been in the business for fifty years promoting top fighters…..Ali, Leonard, Hearns, you name it. He saw it before the Provodnikov fight. He knew it before. He saw it because it’s there, Chris will be the attraction.”

Algieri is very confident of a victory over Pacquiao and stated that he will gain even more confidence during training.

“I’m not the same person I will be on November 22nd as I am today.”

According to Algieri, Pacquiao has not fought his style in years and although Algieri is moving up in weight, he is actually the bigger man.

“Margarito was bigger,” he pointed out. “But not an athletic guy; a straight forward slugger. Not a guy who is going to be moving pushing, pulling, using his jab. Manny kills those guys; he picks them apart.”

Algieri said that he has watched all of Pacquiao’s fights and knows that he will be facing a great fighter, but he remains confident.

Much has been said about drug testing especially where Pacquiao is concerned, given his history of being questioned about whether he is juicing, but this does not worry Algieri.

“I think every fighter should be blood tested. There’s no reason not to. When I got approached about drug testing I said of course. I got nothing to hide. I have no fear about what I put into my body and what I can do.”

He added that he has no comment about whether Pacquiao uses PEDs and he has confidence that Pacquaio will be carefully tested and all things should be fair.

He believes that when Pacquiao was smaller he was an explosive powerhouse and that he is more affected by his moving up in weight than the fact that he is aging (Pac Man will be a month short of 36 by fight time).

“I’m expecting what he is,” said Algieri. “He’s an explosive guy, very quick. In and out, I think he’s one of the best in and out, side to side guys out there. He puts on pressure without just going forward. Ruslan is a straight ahead guy and puts on pressure. Manny puts on pressure too but it’s more like an ebb and flow, he cuts an angle and moves laterally. He can use his jab when he needs to, he can box. He fires fast combinations moving in and out.”

Will Algieri be faster?

“We will find out that night,” countered Algieri. “You know what the great equalizer is, and I say this all the time, the jab. I don’t care if he’s faster, I don’t care if he hits harder, I don’t care if he’s bigger, stronger; I got a jab and I got a brain. That’s the great equalizer. Not power, it’s the jab.”

He said that the biggest thing that he learned about himself against Provodnikov was that strategy comes before pride.

“I learned that I’m not too proud to take a knee,” admitted the fighter. “When I was younger I would have been too proud to go down. He (Provodnikov) didn’t knock me down a second time, I took a knee. I was trying to figure out what was going on. At the time my eye was still blurry. After I got up I could see. So my vision returned. I don’t think I would have done that back in my kickboxing days.”

It may be to the advantage of Algieri that due to the time differential between Macao and the US, he will be entering the ring at 10 AM local time so that HBO PPV can broadcast the event in the evening hours in the US.

“I’m a morning person,” said Chris. “I hate having to fight at midnight.”

He said that he feels fine now, but he is not sparring yet, and won’t until doctors clear the broken nose he also suffered in that first round.

Algieri is healing fast. “The eye was opened on the second day,” he recalled. “The swelling was gone in the first week. I was on FOX Business on Wednesday. I put shades on and you couldn’t tell.”

He anticipates he’ll begin training in earnest about eight to ten weeks before the big fight.

“The end of August or early September.”

An admitted gym rat: “This is the longest I’ve been out of the gym,” admitted Algieri, “Because the doctors advised me to.”

THE PRESS TOUR

He is already looking forward to the press tour, the travel to China, and the training that awaits him.

“I like the fact that we will have a civil tour,” said Algieri. “We are not going to get aggressive, there’s not going to be some ugly stare downs.”

After a tour of Asian cities including Shanghai, Macao, and others, it’s off to a tour of the United States. So far DeGuardia is sure of only Los Angeles and New York as tour stops, with more to be added later. DeGuardia called this the biggest fight in that part of the world since Tyson-Douglas back in 1990 in Tokyo.

A FAMILY NOTE

Chris’ dad was at this interview and attends all his fights including the Provodnikov fight. His mother stays home. How did she react when she saw his damaged eye?

“Funny story,” stated Chris. “This guy here,” pointing at his father, “Almost had a heart attack. Mom? Cool, just happy I won. It didn’t faze her one bit.”

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/talking-with-newly-crowned-wbo-jr-welterweight-champion-chris-algieri-253617

The Thai protested the stoppage. The crowd in Macao booed. (Chris Farina/Top Rank) – By Robert Ecksel –

With history as a guide, everyone expected Rigondeaux to waltz his way to a decision or late round stoppage…

Photo:  Chris Farina/Top Rank –

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Anyone for Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez V?

That is the fight likely to happen in the fall after Marquez put on a clinic against Mike Alvarado and won a lopsided unanimous decision in a welterweight title elimination bout before a raucous pro-Marquez crowd of 12,090 on Saturday night. It was the first fight at the refurbished Forum, which had not hosted a boxing card since 2001.

The resounding victory, one in which Marquez did have to survive a knockdown in the ninth round, made Marquez the mandatory challenger for Pacquiao, who regained his welterweight world title by outpointing Timothy Bradley Jr. in their April 12 rematch.

The judges had it 119-109, 117-109, 117-109 for Marquez. ESPN.com also had it 117-109 for Marquez, who dropped Alvarado in the eighth round.

Making the win even sweeter for Marquez was the fact that it took place at the Forum, where, as an unknown, he cut his teeth and developed into a featherweight contender, going 12-0 with nine knockouts in the arena between 1995 and 1999.

“I said it was going to be a tough fight and I said it was going to be a difficult fight,” Marquez said. “I wanted to give the public here a gift. A gift that dignifies the history of this event and the history of the Forum.

Marquez-Alvarado punch stats

“I wanted to make this fight a gift to the fans.”

Another gift might be a fifth fight with Pacquiao. He and Marquez have already met four times in all-time great fights. Although Pacquiao leads the series 2-1-1, Marquez’s lone victory was as definitive as the others were controversial.

In their fourth fight, in December 2012, Marquez knocked Pacquiao unconscious with a right hand at the end of the sixth round for one of the most memorable knockouts in boxing history.

Although Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs) lost his next fight by split decision challenging then-titleholder Bradley in October, he bounced back in a big way against Alvarado, the former junior welterweight titlist.

But he was not going to make a definitive statement about fighting Pacquiao next right after the fight.

“Finally, in that fourth [Pacquiao] fight, we obtained justice,” he said. “This fight is for all of the Mexicans that have supported me in that fourth fight and this fight was for them. [As for a fifth fight with Pacquiao], we’ll relax. I don’t know at the moment but any decision we make will be good for me, good for my family and good for the Mexican fans.

“I’m not making a decision on Pacquiao right now. I felt great in the fight and I know I did a great job, but let me see how I feel in a couple of weeks. I am not making a decision on a Pacquiao fight right away. I’m gonna rest and think about it.”

While the crowd chanted “Marquez! Marquez! Marquez!” during the first round, he was firing punches, but Alvarado started very slowly. Alvarado was barely throwing any punches in the early rounds and anything he did throw Marquez countered well.

The 40-year-old Marquez, a shoe-in Hall of Fame and one of the best fighters in Mexican history, raised swelling around Alvarado’s right eye in the third round as he continued to land hard, clean jabs.

Marquez, who earned $1.4 million, also had his right hand working well as he was aggressive with it against an Alvarado (34-3, 23 KOs), 33, of Denver, who appeared confused and was either unable or unwilling to throw many punches until turning things around later in the bout.

Marquez continued to land powerful punches in the sixth round as the right side of Alvarado’s face began to become more and more swollen. There was an exciting exchange at the end of the round but Marquez clearly got the better of it. Even when Alvarado, who made $650,000, did land anything, Marquez, one of the great counter punchers in boxing history, countered him.

But the fight became more exciting in the second half even though Marquez was in control. He was having another dominating round in the eighth when he landed a huge right hand flush on Alvarado’s jaw a couple of seconds before the round ended and Alvarado went down. He beat the count and the round ended.

“It was a bad experience being in there with a legend,” Alvarado said. “I was warming up a little bit too much before I started getting off. It was on me but it was a great fight.

“I knew I needed to let my hands go to create some more shots for me. The way the fight went, he backed up and he felt the power from me so he fought a good fight.”

Moments into the ninth round, Alvarado landed a clean right that dropped Marquez, nearly silencing the crowd. But he got up, did not appear badly hurt and engaged Alvarado in an action-packed exchange that brought the crowd to life again.

“That’s the kind of fighter I am. I like wars,” Alvarado said. “That’s how he exploited me and that’s how I fight. My hat’s off to him. I thank God it was a good fight. I am happy with this opportunity and blessed that we are safe and it’s good.”

Alvarado’s left eye was also damaged and a purple mess after the ninth round and the ringside doctor gave it a good look, but the fight went on. After the 10th round, Alvarado’s corner told him he needed a knockout.

Alvarado landed a right hand near the end of the 11th round that made Marquez’s legs buckle, and he nearly went down.

“Yes, I did expect this fight,” Marquez said. “I always said that Mike Alvarado is a strong man and fast and worthy and strong, and I did expect this fight.”

Marquez’s dominance was illustrated by the CompuBox punch statistics. He landed 278 of 627 punches (44 percent) while Alvarado landed 178 of 510 blows (35 percent). More notable, Marquez landed more punches than Alvarado in 11 of the 12 rounds.

Alvarado has now lost two fights in a row. In October, in his hometown, he lost his junior welterweight belt in his first defense, getting knocked down twice by Russian brawler Ruslan Provodnikov — who was ringside Saturday — before retiring on his stool after the 10th round of a punishing fight.

“I put that [Provodnikov] fight behind me,” Alvarado said. “It was another experience and another life lesson I have gone through. It only made me stronger. This fight will only make me better. I will learn from it and use it for the rest of my career.”

One of the reasons Marquez accepted the fight with Alvarado was because it was an eliminator for a welterweight title shot. Marquez has won world titles in four weight classes from featherweight to junior welterweight and wants to be the first Mexican to win titles in five divisions. That would mean a fight with Pacquiao if Marquez wants the title shot next.

“Marquez said he would go back and consult with his team and analyze the fifth fight. That’s a pretty good statement,” said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, who promotes Marquez and Pacquiao. “I’m fairly confident I’ll make it. Manny wants the fight. So it’s going to be up to Marquez. It really is. I think there’s a lot of money in the fight. And this was a great fight tonight.

“Mike has the guts of a lion. He stayed in there, he hurt Marquez pretty good but Marquez is Marquez. Marquez is a great fighter.”

http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/10949279/juan-manuel-marquez-earns-unanimous-decision-win-mike-alvarado-elimination-bout

By Jake Donovan –

The worst thing you can ask a fighter if you are in search of an honest answer is what he plans to do with a win in his upcoming fight. The response most often offered will be that they are focused on nothing other than the fight in front of them, and that all bets are off until the outcome is decided.

That’s why fighters have promoters and managers – so they can plan the next move. When they are in the mood, they can even talk about it as well.

So when Juan Manuel Marquez and Mike Alvarado insist that the only thing that matters right now is their head-on collision on May 17, we have to respect their response. After all, both fighters are coming off of a loss – Marquez dropping a close but clear decision to Tim Bradley, while Alvarado suffered a heartbreaking stoppage defeat in a Denver homecoming versus Ruslan Provodnikov.

Needless to say, a second straight loss could prove damaging to either boxer. A win, however, immediately puts that fighter back into the title mix. Given what’s at stake in this fight, it’s a hell of a prize to claim to ignore until after the fight.

But at least their promoter is talking.

“Well, I’m not the one fighting,” quipped Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum, whose Top Rank company presents this weekend’s action at The Forum in Los Angeles. “So, the first thing I did was talk to Manny Pacquiao, and he’s up to fight the winner.

“There’s nothing contractual with the winner of the two fighters on Saturday. I will offer the fight to the winner and it’s up to them to accept it or reject it.”

It’s hardly happenchance that such a fight is being offered for this weekend’s winner. In addition to promoting all three fighters, Arum secured sanctioning for the fight – which takes place at a contracted maximum weight of 144 lb. – to serve as an official title eliminator for the right to challenge for Pacquiao’s belt.

Pacquiao reclaimed his place among the best welterweights in the world with a convincing 12-round points win over Timothy Bradley Jr. last month in Las Vegas. The win avenged a highly controversial defeat suffered nearly two years prior, though the Filipino southpaw was later forced to overcome a far more damaging blow to his career when Marquez knocked him out cold in their 6th round of their Dec. ’12 war, which was honored as Fight of the Year.

Alvarado is new to the mix, having yet to fight any of the aforementioned welterweights. Marquez and Pacquiao, on the other hand, have one of the longest running rivalries in the sport’s history. Dating back to their first fight just over ten years ago, there has been little to separate the two in each of their four encounters, with the exception of Marquez’ conclusive knockout ending in their last fight.

Fans have forever disputed the outcomes of each of their previous three encounters, in which they fought to a draw, followed by two close, controversial decisions narrowly won by Pacquiao.

Marquez spent most of those years chasing one more fight with Pacquiao to settle the score, which he was finally able to do last time around. He had even reached a point in his career where he saw little reason to continue if a fifth fight with one of the two biggest superstars in the sport couldn’t be made.

Yet through it all, May 17 is all that matters if you ask the future Hall of Famer.

“All I’m thinking is first things first and that’s May 17,” Marquez (55-7-1, 40KO) insists. “After I win this Saturday, if (a 5th fight) with Pacquiao is there, it’s there. I just want to have this fight on Saturday and it goes from there.”

His opponent was a little more forthcoming in at least acknowledging what awaits the winner.

“This is a huge opportunity. We’re both coming off of losses, but this fight is going to lead to a bigger fight,” Alvarado (34-2, 23KO) said of the reward that will come with Saturday’s bout. “It means a lot to both of our careers. It helps motivate me to train that much harder, knowing that I’m in a category with the best of the world.

“I’m happy, I’m excited and I’m ready for this show to begin this weekend.”

Alvarado has every reason to be anxious to move on to his next fight. The Colorado boxer has lost two of his last three contests, with both losses coming in brutal slugfests. His first defeat – a 7th round stoppage versus Brandon Rios in their Oct. ’12 war – was avenged five months later, but fell into the same kind of trouble against Provodnikov last October.

Worse than the actual loss itself, Alvarado’s dramatic decline in the fight coupled with the manner in which the bout developed and ultimately ended raised concerns from those closest to him about his health, including requests of retirement from his loved ones. Alvarado insists such talks have no place in his career at the moment, although he took such feedback in the most uplifting manner.

“They just want to make sure I’m safe, that I’m OK. They are my number-one supporters and as long as I know they’re there for me, I’m OK.”

Being repositioned for a potential title shot despite coming off of a knockout loss let Alvarado know that he has more than just his family in his corner.

“I was surprised,” Alvarado admitted of the chance to fight in a title eliminator. “But it also tells me that Top Rank has my back. I’m ready to step up to the plate and put on a better show. I’m ready to redeem myself and put on a good show. That’s what this weekend is all about.”

As far as Marquez is concerned, this weekend is all about pleasing the fans. Entertainment comes first, with business to be discussed whenever he feels the time to be appropriate.

“This fight will be a war,” Marquez guarantees, about as far into the future as he wishes to predict. “He likes to fight. I like to fight. The people win because the people want to see this type of fight.”

Should Marquez win, the fight those same people – and millions of others – would like to see him take another run at a major title. Including the title he was practically given at 140 lb., Marquez has won belts in four weight classes and – three months shy from his 41st birthday – believes time remains on his side to add to that total.

“Obviously that’s what I want to do – make history by winning a title in five weight classes, something no other Mexican fighter has ever done,” Marquez admits.

With that in mind, how can he NOT help but look ahead of Alvarado and towards the future?

“It’s not difficult for me. I feel right now like I am fully concentrated on Mike Alvarado,” Marquez promises. “Maybe in the future I will have “the most” important fight of my career. But right now, I’m only thinking about Mike Alvarado.”

In the meantime, everyone else is thinking about what will come next.

“Manny has agreed to fight the winner,” Arum reiterates. “I will say that pretty much once we get the terms worked out, it will be a done deal.”

http://www.boxingscene.com/pacquiao-prize-awaits-marquez-alvarado-winner–77789

Photo: Chris Farina/Top Rank

By Karl Freitag –

Undefeated world champions Terence Crawford and three-division champ Yuriorkis Gamboa, who share identical records of 23-0 with 16 KOs, today officially announced their June 28 clash for Crawford’s newly-won WBO lightweight title at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska. In an unusual press conference, Gamboa made his statement, then Crawford spoke. But rather than having things wrap up, Gamboa wanted to come back to the podium to rebut Crawford and the debate was on.

Yuriorkas Gamboa: I came here to prove to everyone, my critics and fans alike that I’m willing to fight Terrance in his own backyard so everyone can witness a great fight.

Terrance Crawford: It’s going to be a good fight. I know that. Gamboa is a truly incredible champion. I have nothing bad to to say about the man. The only thing I can say is he shouldn’t have took this fight.

Bob Arum: OK. This is usually for a debate but I’m willing to go along with it…a rebuttal from the challenger Yuriorkas Gamboa.

Yuriorkas Gamboa: I didn’t make any error in choosing this fight. Before you speak you’ve got to compare the records and look at my record versus yours. Just measure the caliber of fighters you fought versus the caliber of fighters I fought.

Terrance Crawford: One thing. You ain’t fought me yet.

Yuriorkas Gamboa: You’ve never fought an Olympic champion like I am and a three division world champion. You can’t say that.

Terrance Crawford: Hey. This ain’t amateurs. This is the professional game. You got a zero, but it’s going to be a loss.

Yuriorkas Gamboa: Exactly. I’m a three category world champion and what are you?

Terrance Crawford: I’m the champion. You’re the challenger.

Yuriorkas Gamboa: In the professional ranks you can’t say what I say. I’ve fought in three categories and been crowned world champion in three categories. You’ve only done it in one category.

Terrance Crawford: Interim don’t count. I’m the champion. You’re the challenger. You’re going to see June 28th.

Bob Arum: One thing that’s great about boxing. On June 28, it’ll all be decided. The fighters will decide who is the best.

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/debate-breaks-out-at-crawford-gamboa-press-conference-245205

Undefeated two-division world champion Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley (31-0, 12 KOs), trainer Joel Diaz and Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum hosted an international media conference call from Bradley’s Palm Springs training camp on Thursday to discuss Bradley’s eagerly-anticipated April 12 WBO welterweight championship PPV rematch against Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KOs). This will be Bradley’s third defense of the world title he won from Pacquiao in their previous fight.

Timothy Bradley: I’ve got a lot to prove in this fight. I’ve gotta prove that the first fight wasn’t a fluke. There’s a lot of things that happened in the first fight that weren’t right. This time I’ll be 110% ready.

I gained a lot of experience from my last two appearances on HBO, one in particular against Marquez, who is a great champion and great fighter, legendary, and also the fight of the year against Ruslan Provodnikov. So I’m a different fighter now, a different beast, a different animal and this time around I’m gonna prove it to the fans and everybody. The last time around I got the win but it felt like I lost because I didm’t get any credit from the fans and it’s very important to get the credit from the fans. I definitely gotta win by a wide margin.

Joel Diaz: We don’t really feel the support. Everybody goes to the Wild Card to see Manny Pacquiao train, he’s in great shape, he’s in great preparation… but nobody comes around to Tim Bradley’s gym to see how he’s doing. But in a way I like that because curiosity, it sometimes puts a little bit of fear. Nobody knows how Tim Bradley is training and he’s very ready to come to Vegas and ruin the party for a lot of people again.

Bob Arum: This rematch is special because the previous fight ended in a decision win for Timothy Bradley and a lot of people thought the decision could have gone the other way. That can be debated endlessly, so a rematch gives a definitive answer to who is the better fighter.

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/timothy-bradley-quick-quotes-240099

Photos by:  Chris Farina/Top Rank –

SAN ANTONIO — Two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist and 2013 Prospect of the Year VASYL LOMACHENKO (1-0, 1 KO), is in a hurry to make his mark, and in only his second professional fight, he will be challenging three-time world featherweight champion ORLANDO “Siri” SALIDO for Salido’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) featherweight title.  The Salido-Lomachenko world championship fight will be televised live from the Alamodome, Saturday, March 1, on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.  The telecast will also feature the eagerly-anticipated 12-round rematch between former World Boxing Council (WBC) middleweight champion and Son of the Legend JULIO CÉSAR CHÁVEZ JR. and Top-Five contender and two-fisted Texan BRYAN VERA.

“It has been a long, hard ride to get to this world title fight,” said Lomachenko.  “I may have only one professional fight on my resume but I have been boxing all my life,  dreaming that one day I would be fighting the best fighters. And now I am fighting a world champion who is one of the best in featherweight division. Salido is a very good veteran fighter and he has been in the ring with toughest opponents.  He puts a lot of pressure on you inside the ring and he comes to fight.  Defeating this kind of fighter would mean a lot to me. It would also add my name to boxing history and get me one step closer to joining the sport’s all-time best. Thank you to Top Rank and a special thank you to Bob Arum for making this fight happen — for making my dream come true. Tune into HBO World Championship Boxing on March 1st.  You will remember the Alamodome that night.”

Salido (40-12-2, 28 KOs), of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, México, completed a hat trick last year by winning a world featherweight  title for the third time.  He captured the vacant WBO featherweight title by knocking out No. 1 contender Orlando Cruz in the seventh round of their September 12, 2013 fight.  Salido captured his first world title in his third attempt.  After a No Decision to Robert Guerrero in 2006 and a split decision loss to Cristobal Cruz in 2008, Salido finally captured the International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight title in 2010, avenging his loss to Cruz by winning a split decision.  His title reign was short-lived, losing a unification fight to World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa later that same year.  Salido bounced back in a big way, stopping undefeated WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez in the eighth round in 2011 to capture his second world championship crown.  Salido successfully defended that title twice, knocking out Kenichi Yamaguchi and Lopez in a rematch during his two-year reign, before losing it to Mikey Garcia last January. He enters this title defense having won six of his last seven fights by knockout.

Two-time Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko jumped into the deep end of boxing’s international-sized swimming pool when he made his professional debut in a 10-round featherweight bout against the WBO’s No. 7-rated  featherweight contender Jose Luis Ramirez last September 12.  It didn’t take Lomachenko long to take to the water.  He knocked out Ramirez (24-2-2, 15 KOs) in the fourth round to become the new WBO International featherweight champion.  He ended the year as the WBO’s No. 5 world-rated featherweight contender as well as being proclaimed the 2013 “Prospect of the Year” by the majority of the major boxing media.  Lomachenko first gained international renown by winning gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Games as a featherweight and a lightweight, respectively.  Known for his all-out aggressive style of boxing, Lomachenko is equally aggressive in plotting his professional boxing plan to a world title where he insisted on making his pro debut in a 10-round bout against a seasoned Top-10 rated contender where a victory could propel him to a world title shot in his next fight.

http://www.boxingscene.com/photos-lomachenko-putting-work-salido-shot–74604

Photo:  Getty Images/googleimages/-

By Miguel Rivera –

Top Rank’s CEO Bob Arum, and Zanfer Promotions President Fernando Beltran, are discussing the possibility of a fight between Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40KOs) and Mike Alvarado, which is being targeted for May 17th at The Forum in Los Angeles, California. The co-feature would see a lightweight bout between Mikey Garcia and Yuriorkis Gamboa. Marquez lost a twelve round split decision to WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley in October, and then a week later Alvarado (34-2, 23KOs) was stopped by Ruslan Provodnikov.

“A few minutes ago I just spoke with Fernando Beltran [who handles Marquez]. Juan Manuel Marquez, maybe he will go against Mike Alvarado. And then the winner? Although not officially, [the winner] would face the winner of the rematch between Pacquiao and Bradley. This is what might happen here. We are thinking about [doing that fight] at the new Forum in Los Angeles,” Arum stated to Carlos Narvaez.

http://www.boxingscene.com/marquez-alvarado-arum-beltran-discussing-5-17–74595

By Edward Chaykovsky –

WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (31-0, 12KOs) is relishing the opportunity to make things right on April 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, when he takes on Manny Pacquiao in a rematch of their controversial June 2012 clash. Bradley won the first meeting, with a controversial split decision victory.

Their mutual promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank, was so irate over the scoring that he contacted the Nevada State Attorney General to conduct an investigation.

Since their fight, Bradley won a Fight of The Year battle with Ruslan Provodnikov and a twelve round split decision over Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao was knocked out cold by Marquez in the sixth round of their fourth fight in December 2012 and then returned to outclass Brandon Rios over twelve rounds in November of last year.

“Now I’m not the little dog on the block. I’m a top dog,” Bradley said to his hometown paper The Desert Sun. “I’m a lot more mature as a fighter, as a man. I’m a little older, Pacquiao is a little older, so it’s different. I’ve had some great wins in those two years and I feel I’m more than ready.

“It’s almost like I spar someone the first time. OK, you get a few shots. The second time, it’s much easier, because I know what to expect. Pacquiao can say the same thing about me. But Pacquiao only fights one-way guys. Only one way, and that’s the Pacquiao way.”

“I think Manny Pacquiao will get aggressive until he gets hit. People are going to laugh about this, and it’s OK, they can laugh. But like I said, if I was a non-puncher, if I didn’t have anything, guys would walk completely straight through me.”

http://www.boxingscene.com/bradley-pacquiao-easier-second-time-around–74060

Image by:  Ringmagazine on Twitter /

Tim Smith –  NEW YORK – Mikey Garcia had hoped for dynamite, but he had to settle for dominance as he pounded out a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision over Juan Carlos Burgos to retain the WBO junior lightweight title at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Garcia looked completely unmarked after the fight. He said it was not the type of fight that he expected. He expected fireworks from a hungry challenger.

“He wasn’t engaging like I thought he was going to do,” Garcia said. “He might have felt my power and respected that. He might have decided to box and try to come out with a decision.”

Once Garcia (34-0, 28 knockouts) got his rhythm going, he just walked Burgos down and came away with a very easy decision.

Much of the electricity had been drained from The Theater by the time Garcia and Burgos got to the ring. The place had been charged up by several Polish fans who came cheer for Artur Szpilka, who was stopped on a 10^th round TKO by Bryant Jennings in the co-feature.

It was going to be up to Garcia and Burgos to re-energize the place. As they settled into a tactical boxing match with few fireworks, that seemed like an uphill battle. Garcia’s slow burn style is not conducive to the kind of instantaneous combustion the Garden boxing crowd craves.

But Burgos (30-2-2, 20 KOs) threw a brief thrill into the fans when he pulled a page from the Rocky Martinez playbook, landing a solid shot on Garcia’s chin that buckled his knees and sent the champion sailing backwards. But Garcia didn’t hit the deck like he did against Martinez. This time he steadied himself before his backside or gloves could touch the canvas, sparing himself a knockout. As he did against Martinez, Garcia remained poised and came back firing.

“It was a left hook,” Garcia said. “I caught him with a good right hand and he came back with a left hook. He wobbled me a little bit, but I wasn’t hurt.”

Burgos tried to press his height advantage. But he found it difficult to get inside of Garcia’s tight defense to land anything telling after that shot to the chin that nearly decked Garcia in the second round.  Meanwhile Garcia effectively used his jab as a range finder and landed his combinations with pinpoint accuracy. Garcia hurt Burgos in the third round with a body shot and that seemed to push Burgos into a more conservative mode.

“He probably felt my power and respected my power,” Garcia said. “I felt that as he was getting a little hurt he decided that he didn’t want to engage.”

By the seventh round Garcia was in full stalker mode, urged on by his brother and trainer, Robert. The constant pressure was draining Burgos and you could see him begin to wilt in the ring. Burgos punches had lost their snap and his feet were moving across the canvas as if there was lead in his shoes.

Entering the match, Garcia had called Burgos a dangerous fighter because the challenger from Tijuana, Mexico had come up short in his two previous world championship matches and had to deal with Garcia being considered one of the top boxers in the game. Burgos had fought to a draw against Martinez for the same title and in the same ring that he challenged Garcia on Saturday night. To add to the injury, Garcia had won a featherweight world title in the main event that night and went on to defeat Martinez by TKO for the junior lightweight title.

Garcia defused any danger that Burgos posed after that second round near knockdown. By the 10^th round Burgos was as dangerous as a toothless tiger and in the end that world title had eluded him again.

“I feel good. We did a good job,” Burgos said. “I hurt him but he recovered well. He was prepared. I know I have to work harder. He has a lot of ability. He’s fast and strong. Luck was not with us tonight.”

Bob Arum, Garcia’s promoter at Top Rank, has an ambitious plan for Garcia, wanting to move him from 130 to 135 to 140 pounds and eventually up to 147 pounds to face Manny Pacquiao. Garcia said he is comfortable at 130 pounds – this was just his second match at the weight. And he probably should stay there for at least one more fight before considering moving up to lightweight.

Yuriorkis Gamboa made a cameo at the fight, even climbing into the ring after the fight with his promoter, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson to press for a match with Garci. Garcia-Gamboa is an attractive match at 130 pounds. Now it’s a matter of whether it makes dollars and sense.

“Gamboa knows what to do. Sit down at the table and negotiate and if all parties can come to an agreement, then good,” Garcia said. “He can put on a pair of gloves and we can finish it right now. But it’s yet to be determined.”

Photo gallery / Naoki Fukuda –

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