For Immediate Release & Publish
REAL COMBAT MEDIA WEEKLY BOXING REPORT
By Jason Gonzalez,Real Combat Media Arizona Boxing Correspondent
Welcome back to another edition of the Real Combat Media Boxing Weekly Report “Boxing Blaze Edition” where we cover all the top news stories in boxing each week!
Monday (October 24, 2016)
Wladimir Klitschko Injured
Former Heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko will not be returning to the ring in 2016 due to an injury. Klitschko’s manager Bernd Bonte said “Wladimir suffered a strained muscle in the calf. It was nothing bad, but he needs to briefly pause [training] for a few days. If we had already finished the fight contract, then he could have boxed in December.” Klitschko was scheduled to fight against Tyson Fury in a rematch but the fight never came into fruition due to Fury. The rematch with Fury was postponed early in 2016 when Fury got injured and the fight was rescheduled for October 29, 2016. It seemed we were finally going to see the two giants fight but Fury pulled out of the fight for good. Fury had been going through depression and tested positive for cocaine use.
After Klitschko had been let down twice, he started negotiations with IBF Champion Anthony Joshua. The two had been in negotiations for a couple of weeks and several reports said that they were close to a deal but it never materialized. The two were waiting and are still waiting for the WBA to sanction a fight between them but as of now it doesn’t matter due to Klitschko’s injury. Both sides are looking to fight in March or April of 2017. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn told Sportsmail “‘After speaking with Wladimir’s manager, Bernd Boente, we will now look at making the fight next March or April.” Joshua is still scheduled to fight on December 10, 2016 against an opponent to be determined.Eric Molina is considered to be the leading candidate for Anthony Joshua.
Vanes Martirosyan Unhappy With Haymon
Almost every single fighter under Al Haymon has gone on record thanking Haymon several times but Vanes Martirosyan is probably the first to say publicly he is unhappy. “I want all my boxing fans to know that I’m not happy with my manager, Al Haymon, and my promoter, Tom Brown,” said Martirosyan. “They are holding me back! I have too much respect for this bulls*t. They don’t wanna answer my calls, but they answer my tweets! Champs keep cherry picking around each other.” Martirosyan signed with Haymon in 2014 and he was previously with Top Rank. What will Martirosyan do next? And will he face any backlash for speaking against the all might Haymon?
Tuesday (October 25, 2016)
Showtime Boxing Makes a Comeback!
It looked like Showtime had little to offer boxing for a while but they have officially announced seven fights today, all of which have big names. Here is a list with the dates and fights to come on Showtime Boxing:
December 10:
Jesus Cuellar (28-1, 21 KOs) vs. Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs)*
Jermall Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs) vs. Julian Williams (22-0-1, 14 KOs)*
January 14:
Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) vs. James DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs)
January 28:
Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) vs. Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs)*
Dejan Zlaticanin (18-0, 11 KOs) vs. Mikey Garcia (35-0, 29 KOs)*
February 11:
Adrien Broner (32-2, 24 KOs) vs. Adrian Granados (18-4-2, 12 KOs)
March 4:
Danny Garcia (32-0, 18 KOs) vs. Keith Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs) (World title bout a and World title unification bout)
Boxing had a dry spell in the month of October but it looks like boxing will be busy in the up and coming months. One thing to note is that these are just the fights scheduled for Showtime. Think about all the matches to be added from HBO and Premier Boxing Champions? If you’re a boxing fan you should be excited. If you haven’t noticed the list above contains the highly anticipated matchup between Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman. This is the fight the fans have been asking for and they have finally got it. The only thing that possibly stands in the way of this match up is the Garcia’s fight against Samuel Vargas on November 12, 2016. Vargas is a huge underdog and is expected to lose. Let’s hope everything goes according to plan because an upset could destroy boxing fan’s hopes and dreams of seeing Garcia vs Thurman in March.
Wednesday (October 26, 2016)
Brandon Rios is now a free agent. Rios was in a contract with Top Rank that was set to expire in December but he made some sort of agreement with Top Rank allowing him to part ways earlier than expected. The last time Rios fought was in November of 2015 against Timothy Bradley. Rios lost that fight by knockout and he had even mentioned retiring from boxing. A few weeks after the Bradley fight he said he would not retire and that he would be back. Not only has he made a change with his promoter, Rios has also made a change in trainers. Rios had trained with Robert Garcia for a long time and now he has switched over to trainer Ricky Funez. Who do you want to see Rios fight next? I hope to see Rios fight against Victor Ortiz or Ruslan Provodnikov.
Thursday (October 27, 2016)
Pacquiao vs Golovkin? Pacquiao vs Lomachenko?
Manny Pacquiao is set to return to the ring on November 5, 2016 against Jessie Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada but boxing fans are looking ahead to see who he might fight next. One rumor that went around was that Pacquiao could be fighting against Golovkin in his next fight. This all started when Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum mentioned a possible fight between the two after Vargas but he later stated that it was all a joke. But what Arum wasn’t joking about was a possible fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and Manny Pacquiao at 135 lbs. According to Arum, Pacquiao can still make 135 lbs easily.
“What fight would I want to see Manny in? I would pay any amount of money to see Manny fight Lomachenko. That for me would be a great, great fight.” said Arum “They could fight anywhere from 135 to 140 pounds. Manny could make 135 easy. I never asked about fighting Lomachenko, but ask me about a fight that I would want to see – him against Crawford is also a good fight, but for me I love guys who are almost like ballet dancers in the ring, and Lomachenko is that and so is Manny,” Do you want to see Pacquiao fight Lomachenko? Or would you rather see him fight Crawford?
Friday (October 28, 2016)
Terence Crawford vs John Molina?
It looks like Terence Crawford might be fighting against John Molina on December 10, 2016 in Omaha, Nebraska. The terms of the fight has been agreed to but the contract has not been signed yet. In an interview with ESPN Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum said “We’ve sent the contract. Everything is agreed to. Molina is tough dude as he proved in the (Ruslan) Provodnikov fight (in June). He’s a quality opponent.” Now all that is left to do is put the ink on the line and it looks like this fight is good to go. If the fight becomes official this week what do you think about it? Do you think that Molina is a good opponent for the time being or do you think Crawford could have looked for a better fight?
Saturday (October 29, 2016)
Schaefer Talks Mayweather Return
Richard Schaefer was the CEO of Golden Boy for several years and close friends with Floyd Mayweather. All of Mayweather’s fights were promoted by Golden Boy for about 7 years because of the close relationship with Schaefer. In 2014 Schaefer had a fallout with Golden Boy Promotions and so did Mayweather. From then on all of Mayweather’s fights have been under Mayweather Promotions. On the other hand Schaefer has been out of the business for a while but he recently hinted being part of Mayweather’s 50th fight; if Mayweather decides to fight again. “First of all, if he would do it – we would make it the biggest global boxing event in the history of the sport – bigger than Mayweather-Pacquiao was, because truly it would be historic. And I would be so passionate about it,” Schaefer said to BoxingScene.com.
Sunday (October 30, 2016)
Going viral today is a video of the fight between Juan Manuel Lopez and Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and not for the right reason. Lopez won the fight in the 11th round of the fight when he knocked down Vasquez and the referee stopped the fight. Shortly after Vasquez was knocked out, his trainer Albert Rivera got into the ring to check on his fighter. When Rivera got into the ring Lopez sped over to him and threw a punch at him. Afterwards both Lopez and Rivera started to exchange punches until Lopez’s trainer pulled him out of there. The reason why Lopez attacked Rivera is not clear yet. Regardless of Lopez attacking Vasquez’s trainer, the two fighters embraced each other with respect inside the ring. They even went as far as to going to a corner and standing on the ropes together; the fans didn’t like this for some reason. When the fans saw that the two fighters were “buddy buddy” they proceeded throw bottles at the ring. Lopez has mentioned wanting to fight Abner Mares and Orlando Salido. Who do you think Lopez should fight next?
Please stay tuned every week for news and updates. If you have any questions that you want answered in the weekly report please email me at [email protected] or follow me on Twitter @boxingblaze or on Facebook at Jason Gonzalez.
ABOUT REAL COMBAT MEDIA: Real Combat Media was founded in 2012. Since then realcombatmedia.com has become one of the most efficient premier international boxing and mixed martial arts online publications in the world. Our talented international team covers the latest combat news on a daily basis to provide the combat community with the best news in the industry for our readers. Our mission is to spread positive awareness of the combat sports to grow interest among the mainstream and to every region of the world.
COMMENTS
English