By Keith Idec

Sadam Ali still can make the welterweight limit of 147 pounds.
The newly crowned WBO super welterweight champion recognizes, however, that he has much more business leverage at 154 pounds. That’s why Brooklyn’s Ali figures to defend that title in his next fight, rather than going back down to welterweight, the division within which he has competed for most of his career.
“Personally, I felt strong at 54,” Ali told BoxingScene.com. “I felt really good in there. I have the world title, so I don’t see why I should go back down.”

The 29-year-old Ali (26-1, 14 KOs) won that title by upsetting heavily favored Miguel Cotto (41-6, 33 KOs) by unanimous decision in the Puerto Rican icon’s farewell fight December 2 at Madison Square Garden. Since then, various 154-pounders, including former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-2, 25 KOs) and WBC super welterweight champion Jermell Charlo (30-0, 15 KOs), have called out Ali.
“Of course they’re gonna wanna call me out now,” Ali said. “They see that I’m just coming up to the weight class. They see that I have the world title. They might think that they have the chance to easily beat me, which they would be wrong. But I don’t blame anybody that’s interested in fighting me, just like I was interested in fighting Cotto. It was for a world title, against a legend. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Some people are looking at [fighting me] like it’s for a world title. Why wouldn’t they try to call me out or make the fight happen? They would like that.”
Ali would welcome the chance to box Brook if Brook wins his March 3 fight against Belarus’ Siarhei Rabchanka (29-2, 22 KOs) in Sheffield, England, Brook’s hometown.
“That would be a great fight,” Ali said. “But that’s also something I would leave with Golden Boy [Promotions]. I don’t know, honestly, who I’ll be fighting. I’m really aiming big. A lot of people might think, ‘Oh, Sadam won’t be ready. He won’t be able to handle it.’ But I’m talking bigger fights, guys like Pacquiao, Canelo. I like big challenges and like I said, I fear nothing but God. It would be amazing to have a huge fight like that, and I feel like I would do fine.”

 

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Ali dethrones Cotto, seizes WBO 154lb title

By Arvin Nundloll at ringside
Photos: Sumio Yamada

Puerto Rican boxing legend Miguel Cotto (41-6, 33 KOs) came up short in his final Saturday night in front of 12,391 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Former Olympian Sadam Ali (27-1, 14 KOs) scored a twelve round unanimous decision over Cotto to take Cotta’s WBO junior middleweight world title by scores of 115-113, 116-112, 115-113.

Both fighters started cautiously, testing each other with the jab in effort to see what lay ahead the next possible 12 rounds. Ali wobbled Cotto in the 2nd with a stunning straight right but seconds later went down via a slip to kill any momentum he may have had. The 3rd brought back and forth action from both fighters leading to intelligent exchanges and a more dominant Cotto round. Ali then turned the tables on Cotto in the 4th, landing overhand right hooks that stopped Cotto in his tracks and building his confidence. Round 6 saw Cotto deliver a right hook that sent Ali flying to the ropes, reminding the younger fighter whose goodbye party it was.

The later rounds become closer affairs as both fighters began slowing down and were able to better time their punches, some landing flush yet still nothing significant between the two to separate them on points. The 10th round brought out another of Ali’s finest rounds as he shocked Cotto with a lunging left hook that backed him up and continued to apply an assault with no response from Cotto. The 12th round saw a reemergence for Cotto which may have saved the day given how close some of the rounds had been.

 

 

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Sadam Ali: Cotto is coming to MY territory

 

Jr Middleweight title challenger Sadam “World Kid” Ali (25-1, 14 KOs) hosted a media workout at his gym in Brooklyn ahead of his fight against WBO world junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (41-5, 33 KOs) set for this Saturday at Madison Square Garden. “I’m really excited to be fighting at MSG against a legend. I know what’s in front of me, and I know what I’m stepping up to. I’m different. I’m a bit of a boxer. I can brawl if I need to. And I have my little tricks.

“My motivation is being on HBO, it being a world title, and my career honestly. People say I didn’t deserve this fight, but they haven’t been paying attention to my career. This is my hometown. I grew up here. Cotto is coming to my territory…he’s got power. I need to focus on not getting stuck. I worked a little bit with Danny Jacobs and Curtis Stevens for this fight…I want to thank all the fans who are coming to watch my fight! It’ll be a great one!” Juridiska svenska kasinon låter dig spela med bankid .

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Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade born February 26, 1988 in Providence, Rhode Island is a professional boxer from the United States. He won the 2007 world championships as an amateur, then made his professional debut on October 23, 2008. Demetrius represented the United States in the 2008 Olympics. He is trained by David Keefe and his father, Paul Andrade.
A Providence native of Cape Verdean descent, southpaw Andrade began boxing in 1994 at the age of 6. His nickname is “Boo Boo” and he currently competes in the Junior Middleweight division.
Andrade won the United States Amateur Boxing Championship in 2005, and repeated it in 2006 when he also won the National Golden Gloves. He again won the National Golden Gloves in 2007, but did not compete in the U.S. Amateurs that year due to injury.
Andrade initially struggled at the international level, losing to Eastern European opponents at the World Cup in 2005 and 2006. However, he won the silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, losing controversially in the gold medal match to Brazilian hometown favorite Pedro Lima by a narrow 7-6 margin.
He won Gold at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, where he beat Kakhaber Zhvania, Dmitrijs Sostaks, 2005 silver medalist Magomed Nurutdinov, future champion Jack Culcay-Keth, Adem Kılıçcı in the semifinal round, and then Non Boonjumnong of Thailand in the finals, a match in which Andrade inflicted a standing eight count upon Boonjumnong and was leading by a score of 11-3 in the second round when Boonjumnong retired with an injury to his right arm.
At the Olympic trials he defeated hard-punching Keith Thurman 27:13
At the Olympics he beat Kakhaber Zhvania and the highly regarded Russian Andrey Balanov14:3 but was shocked by Korean veteran Kim Jung-Joo 9:11
Professional career
Following the disappointment of not gaining a medal at the Olympics Andrade then turned professional and had his first pro fight in October 2008, which he won at Northern Quest Casino, Airway Heights, Washington beating Patrick Cape by second round knockout. He went on to win a TKO over Eric Marriott before making his Friday Night Fights debut against Tom Joseph on March 6 with a 1st round TKO victory then only 2 weeks later a second round KO win against Arnulfo Javier Romero. On June 19, 2009 he won the unanimous decision against Tony Hirsch. And another KO against Chad Greenleaf in the second round. He is also a member of Team Fight to Walk, which supports America’s first clinical stem cell trial, along with other notable fighters such as Boyd Melson, Shawn Estrada, Steve Cunningham, Denis Douglin and Deandre Latimore

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According to the recent interviews of both contestants, the much awaited showdown between the WBO light middleweight champion Zaurbek Baysangurov (26-1, 20 KOs) and his mandatory challenger and WBO #1 154lber Lukas Konecny (47-3, 22 KOs), of the Czech Republic, is possible for the tenth of March in Kiev, Ukraine. The agreement hasn’t been signed yet but both parties hope the official announcement will come very soon, after a few small discrepancies are solved.

Baysangurov, who is promoted by K2 Ukraine, was raised in his status from the WBO interim-title after WBO has stripped then-reigning champion Sergey Dzinziruk of his crown. Konecny, who gave a close fight to Dzinziruk in 2008 only to lose by way of a dubious majority decision, hasn’t lost since and now has eleven wins in a row.

 

By Alexey Sukachev

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=49361

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In an earlier report on BoxingScene.com, IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale revealed that his management team is currently negotiating a possible unification with WBO king Dmitry Pirog for a date in late December. In the report, Geale (26-1, 15 KOs) said he was “90% certain” that a deal to fight Pirog (19-0, 15 KOs) would get finalized, with a Las Vegas venue being considered.

Pirog has now personally confirmed the serious nature of the ongoing negotiations.

“Immediately after the victory over [Danny] Jacobs when I won the world title in 2010, I asked my promoters to organize a unification fight. But, none of the other boxers wanted to fight. My promoters made proposals to various middleweight champions, but none of them responded. The only boxer willing to talk, is IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale of Australia. Like myself, Geale is not an American. And to get on American TV, he needs a big fight. That is why our discussions are the most realistic. It is possible that we’ll reach an agreement with him. At the moment, my promoters Kyril Pchelnikov and Artie Pelullo are negotiating with Geale’s side,” Pirog said.

By Ruslan Chikov
http://www.boxingscene.com/pirog-confirms-negotiations-geale-unification-bout–45171

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