Forrest vs Mora

Mora won a Majority Decision. Forrest looked in command and had the boxing ability over Mora. Forrest slowed down and got caught with a couple of shots that seemed to unsettle him mentally rather than physically. He switched off. Mora was changing style constantly and looking for the right system that would breakthrough or unbalance Forrest's obviously superior technique. I don't think he really outboxed Forrest,it was more a combination of Mora drive and Forrest lack of output.

There were times when Forrest caught Mora bang on,but he didn't sustain his attack constantly enough to take over the whole fight. Mora was sloppy and untidy some of the time,while Forrest kept his overall defensive security in check. At no point did it look like Mora could trigger a downfall,or produce a flash knockdown or knockout. It was that kind of fight. I can see how the judges would score it for Mora. I thought Forrest edged it. It was a close fight.

Pavlik won a third round KO against Lockett

Kelly Pavlik just won a third round knockout to GaLockett. Lockett received a beating from Pavlik in every round. It was just like Kelly Pavlik gave him a boxing lesson, a mismatch fight. Pavlik destroyed Jermain Taylor two times before this fight. Pavlik is such a great boxer and must be the number one pound for pound in the world.

Daniel Ponce De Leon lost in a First Round knockout to Juan Manuel Lopez

The hard hitting Daniel Ponce De Leon lost to a Puerto Rican prospect Juan Manuel Lopez in a first round knockout, this is a very big upset for Ponce De Leon with his first round KO to Rey Bautista and a wide decision win to Gerry Penalosa. De Leon seemed like underestimated Lopez in that first round, but Lopez is on his way to the greater Champion which is Israel Vasquez. I wanna see this fight happen soon. Congrats to the new WBO super bantam weight champion, Juan Manuel Lopez.

Malignaggi vs Ndou

The fight was about even after the first 6 rounds. Up to that point, Ndou had landed the much harder shots. His jab was stronger and his long right hands were surprisingly accurate and effective. Malignaggi gave more movement and punched in combinations but his light flurries had no effect on N'dou. Malignaggi tried to control the distance early, but his lack of mobility allowed N'dou to to land repeatedly with hard, eye-catching shots. In the second half of the fight, Malignaggi tired badly and landed nothing of significance, whereas N'dou rattled him a number of times, buckling paulie's knees and and continuing to score effectively even when his back was on the ropes with uppercuts and overhand rights. Paulie hardly landed a punch in the last two rounds, whereas N'dou at least scored with solid shots from the outside and in close quarters. I had it 9-3 N'dou...although I could accept 8-4. Still, it was obvious from BEFORE the fight that N'dou would have to KO malignaggi to get the win.

Insights on Hopkins vs Calzaghe fight

I saw it as a Great fight even though I'm not a fan of Hopkins nowadays because as wee all see it has been a boring fight to see since he fought Winky Wright. Joe Calzaghe made it an exciting fight because of his tremendous hand speed and ability to recover easily on the knockdown he had on the first round. Calzaghe I think did outpunched Hopkins even if it was his first fight in the USA and Calzaghe is not that of a Famous fighter than Bernard because his fight has always been deleted in youtube because of his camp dont want to publicize his fights, dont know why.. Anyway Calzaghe must fight Kelly Pavlik or Roy Jones Junior next..that will be a great fight!

Why didn't Miguel Cotto call out Mayweather post fight?

I'm a big fan of both guys, and I thought this point was worthy of it's own discussion.
Cotto's undeniably the strong silent type, and doesn't often do a lot of trash talking. But he's made quite a few comments about Mayweather in the press leading up to this fight. Larry Merchant was definitely stirring the pot prodding Cotto to call for Mayweather, and he danced around the question.

I'm not suggesting for a second he's afraid of Mayweather, nor do I think he's uninterested in the fight. It just seems to me for all the arguing between the fans about this match up, you would have thought Cotto would have seized the opportunity to call for Mayweather as Hatton did post fight vs. Castillo.
I think neither of them are overly eager to fight the other anytime soon. Both of them have downplayed fighting each other when directly questioned about the prospect.

How far can Steve Molitor go?

IMO, Molitor is right amongst the mix of the top guys at SBW. To be honest, before he best Michael Hunter, I hadn't really heard of Steve or watched him box.

He seems to be improving all the time & appears to have a good, strong work ethic. I'd like to see him box in America. I know he's scheduled to make his next defense in Canada, but after that, I think it's time to fight ellsewhere.

Can he mix it up with guys like Vazquez, Marquez, etc

Does anyone think that...

... Cotto can stop Margarito?

I think that Cotto could stop Margarito but it won't be with a head shot. I reckon that Margarito has never been in with a body puncher like Cotto before and it will be interesting to see how Tony responds to that. In addition I wouldn't rule out Margarito stopping Cotto as like you say, Cotto has had his moments against punchers like Judah and Torres. I think the question is whether Margarito can survive such an high intense body attack - that's why I once would've picked Hatton over Margarito just before he fought Collazo. And on seeing the evidence of the Collazo fight, Margarito would've killed Hatton I think. Anyway I am going for a Cotto KO11 or a very wide decision - Margarito starts off too slow.

Do you think that Mayweather has to fight Cotto to be considered an all-time great if Cotto beats Margarito? I do. Miguel would be a double world-champion and he would have a win over the other champion in Quintana (a pretty brutal win as well). I actually think that Cotto is the no.1 welterweight at the moment because who has Mayweather beaten at welterweight? Baldomir, a blown up Hatton and Mitchell who had been destroyed by Tszyu.

Klitschko refuses 5 million euro to fight Povetkin

Wladimir Klitschko refused a 5 million euro offer to fight Povetkin.

Apparently Sauerland wanted all rights for the fight, the fight to happen on ARD (Klitschko has a contract with RTL) and the money was by Russian sponsors. Klitschko's management says they agreed to the Thompson fight first. Apparently Sauerland has filed protest against the Thompson fight, claiming that Povetkin has to come first.

Kinda stupid from Sauerland. Why on earth would Wlad agree to their conditions? On top of that I think the more time Povetkin can get, the better.

The Best Trainers in World Boxing?

Just interested to see who people rate as some of the top trainers in Boxing.

Freddy Roach - Works with so many different guys constantly on the go. Pacquiao, Hopkins, Bautista, Penalosa etc.

Enzo Calzaghe- Great stable including son Joe, Maccarinelli, Rees, Lockett, Pryce etc.

Robert Garcia - Works out of Oxnard gym where he fought out of has Luevano, Mikee Garcia (his younger brother i think)

Manny Stewart - Has a great history from the Kronx gym. Currently has Klitschko, Banks, Lee.

Nacho Beristain - The Marquez Bros & Mares.

Floyd Mayweather Snr - Trained his son from a young age though currently not talking. Trains ODLH & Guzman.

Germany Michael Timm (Erdei, Sturm, Dzindziruk, Kotelnik, Sidorenko), Fritz Sdunek.

There are loads of others fell free to add them.

Felix Sturm v Jamie Pittman, WBA Middleweight Titlefight!

German based Bosniak Adnan Catic, 28-2-1 (12) or as he is known "Felix Sturm" will attempt to make his 3rd consecutive defense of his WBA title (which he won in 2007 in a 12 rd UD over Javier Castillejo), against Jamie Pittman, 16-0 (7) the affectionately dubbed "Mr Business" from Australia.

STURM, 29, is a very skilled boxer who employs high guard, and nice straight punching with the right cross and jab. Sturm has a great jab, which he has showed in his fights with DLH (L 12), Alcoba (W 12), Cherifi (KO 3), and Castillejo rematch (W 12).

PITTMAN, 26, had an impressive amateur career of roughly 130 fights, culminating into a spot at the 2004 Olympics. As a pro, Pittman has some decent wins to his credit, but nothing against any world-class or "name" opposition. The best fights on his record would most likely be Nonoy Gonzales (W 12), and William Gare (W TD 9). Pittman is somewhat of an unknown factor due to his limited pro career.

THE FIGHT, Some people say that Felix Sturm is a "spent fighter" since his TKO loss to Castillejo, and he's never fought the same since. The glimpses of brilliance that Sturm showed against DLH, Cherifi, and Masoe seem to be: Gone. Still others say that Sturm can rejeuvenate his career, after all, hes only 29, and he certainly has the tools and experience.

Can Sturm revitalize his career against Pittman? Or will Pittman pull off the big upset and win the WBA? Whats your opinion?

Khan & Peterson title shots? / Ring title mess

Lightweight prospects Amir Khan and Anthony Peterson could be close to title shots. Peterson is WBO#1 and Khan is taking on WBO#3 Kristiansen this weekend. Improbable that either could be challenging for a world belt this early.

Will Khan go for Casamayor and Peterson go for Campbell, perhaps? Or is it just too early for both these raw talents?


What does everyone think about this? IMO lightweight is a mess. It's all fine having Casa as Ring Champ but there is another claimant out there Nate Campbell who beat Juan Diaz for 3 of the 4 main titles according to the sanctioning bodies.

Anyone remember what Hopkins did when there was 1 more claimant out there - he went and punished Joppy. Ditto with Bob Foster who was pissed off that Vincente Rondon was calling himself champ. Ring Champs shouldn't be allowed to rest on their laurels.

The WBO says Casa has to take on Campbell to settle whom their champ is as Campbell has the WBO proper and Casa holds the Interim version.

If sanctioning body belts don't matter, are irrelevent, as Ring expect us to think by accepting their abstract title, then why has Casa been paying sanctioning fees in Interim title fights to the WBO and WBC?

Vernon Paris pulls out against Stevie Johnston

19/20 year old Paris has been brought along at a fast pace...but even his people knew he would probably have gotten schooled by Johnston last night. good pull out
His promoter said he would be ready for a title shot at the end of 2008.
no chance......no reason.......he has time to improve.

Why Bernard Hopkins will slay the Italian Dragon

PHILADELPHIA – We all know Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins 48 -4 -1 (32 KO’s) the fighter, but to know the man, you only need to take a stroll through any of the economically depressed sections of North Philadelphia. It is where he was born, where he learned to fight and where he was eventually arrested for strong arm robbery when he was in just 11th grade and sentenced for up to 18 years. At age 17, he was officially a statistic. While most athletes find out who they are in college or in amateur competition, Hopkins was discovering the colder, harder side of life. He was a kid in prison with killers, and he wasn’t fighting for a belt, he was fighting for his life.

Ring Magazine MAY edition? WTF????

This is odd. I bought the Ring magazine today, it sounds like it is current as of about late January. The ratings are for the period "Ended January 21st, 2008. " stories, previews etc seem to focus on "upcoming" fights in Feb or early March.

So why is it called the MAY edition? Whats that all about?

I know some magazines call themselves the month-after edition (so as to appear "new" throughout their shelf life - eg a mag that is monthly and comes out on Feb 10th might be the "March" edition. But May? For a magazine that came out in late Jan/early feb? How do they work that one out?

Urbano Antillon

Ive been raving about this guy for about a year now. Everyone called me "crazy" and "out of touch", but since about a year ago I touted Urbano Antillon as what I said would be a next champion someday. And I think against Pacquiao he proved it.

Ive always known this guy was sik and thats why since last year I predicted he would be a world champ. This dude is sik. Off the wall, off the hook man. He looked AMAZING versus Wilson Alcorro, then he just looked AMAZING against Bobby Pacquiao. He KTFO them both, and these are the types of guys who usually give top fighters good fights.

Urbano Antillon, hes some1 for all boxing fans to keep an eye on!

Pacquiao wins over Marquez

Pacquiao is the harder puncher, but JMM does a great job neutralizing Manny's offense for long stretches, other than the two rounds in which he was knocked down.

Pacquiao gets more credit for being aggressive, and I think wins some close rounds he doesn't really deserve to win.

Even tonight, Emanuel Steward kept mentioning how strong Manny looked, and most of those comments were during the middle rounds where JMM was actually in control.

Both are great fighters. JMM is smarter, and Manny is the harder hitter, but more one-dimensional.

Styles make fights, and this was a great fight. I just thought JMM controlled more of the action, landed more effective punches, and eked out a close win.

IF Calzaghe loses/ B Hop Loses.... Where does it Leave them?

What status would each boxer have if they lose after their Match up.

Keep it Short and Simple...

Joe Calzaghe - i feel he has a lot more to lose. His critics say he has failed to get Big wins at the the right time. Although Great boxer, many feel his 10 year Span is under-mined by the fact he always fought in Britain etc. etc. Losing to B-Hop will render him as the guy who lost to an old-timer when he was in his Prime.

Bernard Hopkins - i feel he has a lot LESS to lose. He is 43, although looking very strong and will take most contenders pretty easily, Calzaghe is not just another Boxer. At 43, no matter how good he is, you have to consider he is passed his best and going into this fight a slight under-dog etc. etc.

i personally feel Hopkins' career will not suffer much if he loses. Depending on how he performs in the fight, one can always suggest he may have won had it been in back in HIS day.

I feel Calzaghe must win since this fight has happened already too late he cannot afford to lose

Israel Vazquez- Manny Pacquaio Sparring

Israel was Manny main sparring partner leading
up to his first fight with Barrera. Israel and
Manny sparred a lot at the Wild Card. Well....
I thought you might like seeing it.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYD3DQ_OwTQ

Chris Byrd at Light-Heavy?

Chris Byrd gave an interview on Boxingtalk that he was skipping cruiser to drop all the way down to 175 to fight at light-heavy. He is almost at the weight already apparently "just by running".

If it actually happens, I am curious as to how much punching power he would have at this weight? I have heard of punchers losing power as they go up in weight, but is the inverse true? With his boxing skills and good chin, if you threw in punching power I think he would make a dangerous opponent for anyone at 175.

How would he do against Tarver, Woods, Erdei, Dawson, and Green?