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!
Sunday (October 9, 2016)
Manny Pacquiao Sick
Manny Pacquiao is currently in training camp to fight Jesse Vargas but he has had a minor set back because he missed two days of camp recently. Reports say that he got sick and wasn’t able to train but he plans to return to the gym on Monday. With only a month to go do you think that Pacquiao will dominate Jessie Vargas or will his age finally catch up to him?
As of now Liam Smith and Miguel Cotto share one thing in common, their last opponent was Canelo Álvarez. Cotto lost by unanimous decision against Canelo and Smith lost to Canelo by 9th round knockout. Previously, before losing to Canelo, Smith held the WBO title at 154 lbs and now he is looking to reclaim that title. It looks like Canelo will be moving up to 160 lbs and dropping his WBO belt at 154 lbs. This means that the WBO belt will be vacant and it will be looking for a new owner. Smith is interested in fighting Cotto for a shot at regaining his former title back.
Smith told IFL TV in an interview “I’m sure after the Canelo fight, it’s a fight [Cotto’s team would] love. They will probably want to do a better job on me than Canelo did. It sounds crazy from my point of view, but from their point of view they would wanna do a better job on me than Canelo did, so they might be happy with that fight,”
Monday (October 10, 2016)
Lee Selby looking to fight in December
IBF World Featherweight Champion Lee Selby is looking to return to the ring in December against his mandatory Jonathan Victor Barros. Recently Selby went to Japan to watch Barros fight and defeat Satoshi Hosono in an eliminator match. The winner of that fight was to become that mandatory and Barros won the fight. Selby hopes to get Barros out of the way and try to unify the division. “Barros is next and it needs to be done before early January, but I want it done as soon as possible, hopefully early December,” said Selby in an interview with Sky Sports. “Everyone knows I want a unification fight with Frampton and I am sure everyone wants to see it.” Carl Frampton and Leo Santa Cruz might have a rematch before Selby’s get’s a chance at Frampton. This means that Selby might be entering the ring with Santa Cruz if he is able to beat Frampton in a rematch.
Tuesday (October 11, 2016)
Amir Khan Loses WBC Rankings
Recently the WBC made it mandatory that all fighters take random drug testing with Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) and Amir Khan did not enroll into the program. There was talks about Amir Khan fighting Danny Garcia because he was his mandatory but Khan is no longer ranked by the WBC. This means Khan will not be getting his second shot at Garcia; unless Garcia chooses to do so voluntarily. Khan was not the only fighter to get dropped from the WBC rankings. Other fighters include David Haye, Jean Pascal, Vanes Martirosyan, Gabriel Rosado, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Lamont Peterson, and Felix Verdejo. It is important that the sport of boxing stay clean. Every time these fighters step into the ring they are risking their lives. It makes me wonder why the fighters mentioned above are not taking one of most rigorous drug testing.
Golden Boy Confirms PPV Numbers
Saul Canelo Álvarez fought against Liam Smith on September 19, 2016 at the AT&T Arena in Texas. Many fans and boxing analyst alike thought that this fight should not be PPV but HBO went ahead and did it anyways. Golden Boy has confirmed that Canelo vs Smith did 300k PPV buys and the CEO, Oscar De La Hoya, is happy with those numbers. “We’re going to wind up doing close to 300,000 homes, which is great when you combine that with almost 52,000 fans we had in the crowd,” De La Hoya said to ESPN. “We’re very happy, extremely happy with the numbers.”
Wednesday (October 12, 2016)
Danny Garcia Returns on November 12
Danny Garcia’s fight against Samuel Vargas is finalized for November 12, 2016 and the fight will take place in Philadelphia. The fight will be shown on Spike’s Premier Boxing Champions. Many fans are mad at this decision because this is the second time Garcia has “cherry picked” his fight and got into the ring with practically a nobody. The first time was against Rod Salka who was knocked out viciously in the second round of the fight. Some fans think that Vargas has a similar fate awaiting him. I wonder if the Garcia camp is ever worried that one of these days they are going to pick the wrong nobody and get handed a loss embarrassingly. Realistically the chances of that happening are small but all it takes is one lucky punch right?
But also with the news of this bad match up is news of a good match up. There has been talks about Garcia fighting Keith Thurman in the first quarter of 2016 which makes some fans partially relieved that Garcia is fighting Vargas. The WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman was on board with Garcia’s decision to fight Vargas. “The idea of ??unifying with Keith Thurman in the future is very good, it is a mega fight. And the WBC will always extend their support to ensure that the best fights are made, so he was granted the opportunity to [take a fight where he wouldn’t] defend the championship,” Sulaiman told ESPN Deportes.
Keith Thurman and Errol Spence on the other hand are not so happy that Garcia picked an easy fight. Keith Thurman posted a picture on his Instagram where the caption says “Enjoy your last cherry of the year … I’ll be waiting to take that green belt in 2017!” Errol Spence on the other hand has went on twitter and made fun of Garcia for fighting someone Spence has already knocked out. The post says “Danny say I have to pay my dues but he fighting somebody I knocked out already.”
Heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury has vacated all of his titles which include WBA, WBO, and the IBO world titles. Tyson Fury was set to fight Wladimir Klitschko in a rematch on October 29, 2016 but Fury pulled out of the fight because he was unfit to fight. Days after he pulled out of the fight it was revealed that Fury had been doing cocaine and that he had not been in the gym to train in months. Fury says he has been going through depression issues and that he has vacated his belts in order to get help.
Fury said “I won the titles in the ring and I believe that they should be lost in the ring, but I’m unable to defend at this time and I have taken the hard and emotional decision to now officially vacate my treasured World titles and wish the next in-line contenders all the very best as I now enter another big challenge in my life which I know, like against Klitschko, I will conquer.”
Bernard Hopkins to Fight One Last Time
Bernard Hopkins is now 51-years-old but he is looking to fight one last time before hanging up the gloves. The last time that Hopkins stepped into the ring was in 2014 when he lost a unanimous decision against Sergey Kovalev. As of now there is no date, opponent, or venue set for his last fight but he does plan on fighting before he turns 52-years-old on January 15, 2017. Hopkins said “I will fight before my 52nd birthday.” If you had to pick an opponent for Hopkins last fight who would it be?
Golovkin vs Jacobs Purse Bid Modification Denied
After Gennady Golovkin beat Kell Brook on September 10, 2016 he was ordered by the WBA to fight his mandatory Daniel Jacobs. After some time the two sides went over it’s allowed time for negotiations but the WBA gave them an extension. Now the two sides have until October 22nd to negotiate a deal. If the terms to the fight are not made by that date the fight will go to purse bid which favors Golovkin 75% to 25%. Jacobs was not happy with this and asked that the share get changed to 60% to %40 in favor of Golovkin. After reviewing the request the WBA denied it on Wednesday. This means if the fight goes to purse bid it will remain 75-25 split.
Adrien Broner Threatens Suicide
Early in the morning of Wednesday October 12, 2016 Adrien Broner posted several pictures on his Instagram implying that he was going to suicide. One of the posts said “I don’t want to be here no more this st too much.” Shortly after this post was made Broner’s friends called the police because they worried he would actually do it.
UPDATE:
The day after Broner’s suicide threat his management came out and said he is doing fine now. “I spoke to [boxing manager] Al Haymon; he said there’s nothing to be concerned with here,” “Premier Boxing Champions” spokesman Tim Smith told USA Today. Broner was also been seen training with Mayweather at the Mayweather boxing gym on Friday where Broner had the chance to spar some rounds.
Thursday (October 13, 2016)
Danny Garcia vs Keith Thurman Next?
Danny Garcia has been scrutinized by much of the boxing community after choosing to fight the relatively unknown Samuel Vargas. But the spokesman for Premier Boxing Champions, Tim Smith, assures that a fight with Keith Thurman is next. “He [Garcia] wants to be sharp when he gets in the ring with Keith Thurman early next year,” Smith said. “He wants to be at 100%. He wants to be at his physical and mental peak. And trust me, this fight between Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman will be for supremacy of the welterweight division.” – PBC spokesperson Tim Smith told USA TODAY. Garcia has been quoted saying “I’m gearing up for a big fight with Keith Thurman next year that’s going to be a can’t miss event. First, I’m going to fight for my city on November 12.” As a boxing fan does the promise of a fight with Keith Thurman makeup for this mis-match?
Friday (October 14, 2016)
Khan, Pascal, Vanes Now Enrolled to Drug Testing
Earlier in the week a report came out saying that several fighters did not enroll into the mandated drug testing set by the WBC. As of October 14, 2016 several fighters including Amir Khan, Jean Pascal, and Vanes Martirosyan have now enrolled into the program. Other fighters such as Felix Verdejo are still in the process of signing up for the program. These fighters were taken off the WBC rankings but they will return to the list in November. As of now only the top 15 ranked fighters in each weight class is mandated to random drug testing by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.
Saturday (October 15, 2016)
Tony Bellew Confronts David Haye
Tony Bellew knocked out BJ Flores on October 15, 2016 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. After the fight Bellew hopped out of the ring to confront David Haye. Bellew has retained his WBC belt at Cruiserweight. Do you think that Haye will step into the ring with Bellew?
Sunday (October 16, 2016)
One of the biggest chatter this week in the boxing community was the possible mega fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Anthony Joshua. Several news outlets had reported that the fight would be announced this weekend but no news of the fight has been made. This week Tyson Fury vacated his WBO, WBA, and IBO belt. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn says they are trying to figure out which belts will definitely be on the line for the fight. “Now we are just making sure when we make our announcement we announce what belts are on the line rather than announcing two and then adding a couple.” said Hearn to the Daily Star. “I would say the terms are agreed but there are things that have to fall into place for it to be signed. It is not signed yet.” The fight is believed to be worth 15 Million euros and will take place December 10, 2016. The fight expected to be official this week.
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.
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