The Official Boxing Thread

MR.CJ wrote: »

Black excellence

MR.CJ wrote: »

marc123 wrote: »

No

@marc123 his cousin?

DWO wrote: »

Lol working. Smh.. Haven't watched a live fight in forever

Hopkins: Ignored 'because I'm black'

PHILADELPHIA -- Unified light heavyweight titlist Bernard Hopkins believes race is the reason his pursuit of history hasn't been a bigger story outside of boxing.

Hopkins, who set records as the oldest boxer to win and defend world titles, will be two months shy of 50 when he faces unbeaten Sergey Kovalev in Saturday's light heavyweight title unification bout at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

In an exclusive interview with ESPN.com, Hopkins was asked the reason his record-setting run in recent years hasn't transcended the sport.

Bernard Hopkins believes race is the reason his pursuit of history hasn't been a bigger story outside of boxing.
"[It's] because I'm black," Hopkins said before the start of his media workout at the Joe Hand Boxing Gym. "What do you think if my name was Augustine, Herzenstein, Stern? Cappello? Marciano? Don't you understand the conflict of interest?

"If I was any of those names of any other background, I'd be on every billboard and every milk carton and every place to be. If we're talking 'American Dream,' here's a guy who almost threw his life away and he took this great country's great attributes and used it -- do for self, work hard and be a law-abiding citizen. I've done that for 26 years."

Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs), who set a middleweight record with 20 title defenses from 1996 to 2005, was released from prison in 1988 after serving nearly five years for armed robbery.

"If you really look at it, I have done the 'American Dream' that people have died on boats to come here to live," Hopkins said. "I have done all of that and then you look back and say, 'Wait a minute, what's wrong here?' A lot of people are not bold to say it, but I am."

Hopkins is no stranger to speaking out about race. In 2011, he made national headlines for comments about then-Washington Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb not being "black enough."

On Saturday, Hopkins faces possibly his most dangerous challenge in more than a decade against Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs), the feared Russian slugger whose 2011 opponent, Roman Simakov, died three days later from brain injuries suffered in the bout.

Hopkins claims a victory over the favored Kovalev wouldn't be enough to ? his top three of most significant in-ring performances. He reserves the top spot for his 2008 upset of unbeaten middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in a 170-pound catchweight bout.

"That was the greatest moment of my life because it was undeniably white against black," Hopkins said. "The American story against the thug, even though he changed his life. The convicted felon. So it was me representing an entity that had changed in spite of what they say you should be able to do. But once you do it, they really don't want you to do it.

"And so I exposed it and I beat him easily after being a 6-to-1 underdog. And, matter of fact, it even went further. I ruined his life. I ruined his career."

Pavlik was never the same after losing to Hopkins. He surrendered his middleweight title two years later to Sergio Martinez amid troubles with alcohol and retired from the sport in January 2013 at the age of 30.

Team Golovkin: If Pacquiao Looks Bad, Floyd May Eye Us - Boxing News

By Edward Chaykovsky

If the proper circumstances are in place, trainer Abel Sanchez could see Floyd Mayweather Jr. (47-0, 26KOs) seriously consider a fight with WBA/IBO/WBC interim-middleweight champion Gennady "GGG" Golovkin (31-0, 28KOs).

Mayweather has the WBC/WBA world titles at welterweight and junior middleweight. Golovkin is willing to drop down to the junior middleweight limit of 154-pounds to fight Mayweather or even 155 so the middleweight belts could be at stake.

The biggest fight for Mayweather is a welterweight unification with Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao faces Chris Algieri on November 22nd in Macau, China. Pacquiao is a very heavy favorite to win that fight. If Pacquiao wins, but fails to impress, Sanchez believes Mayweather will no longer view him as a very profitable option.

If Pacquiao has a lackluster win, but Golovkin pulls off an impressive victory over Martin Murray in February - Sanchez feels Mayweather might consider his fighter for a huge pay-per-view showdown.

"I think we have to wait on that one until the Algieri fight to see how good Pacquiao looks. If he doesn’t look good even if he wins, then it’s not a profitable fight for Floyd," Sanchez told On The Ropes Boxing Radio .

"Floyd understands the business as well as anybody in the boxing business and if it’s not a profitable fight and Golovkin does well against Murray, Floyd has got some decisions to make. Floyd’s about making the biggest fights and if Golovkin is the biggest fight, I’m sure that he’ll consider it."

stringer bell wrote: »

chi-guy wrote: »

http://www.fighthype.com/news/article18291.html

JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ JR. SIGNS WITH AL HAYMON
By Ben Thompson

| November 03, 2014JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ JR. SIGNS WITH AL HAYMON
Sources close to the information have informed us that former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has signed with influential adviser Al Haymon. Chavez Jr. becomes the newest big-name addition to Haymon's rapidly growing stable of fighters, which already includes Floyd Mayweather, Adonis Stevenson, Danny Garcia, Adrien Broner, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana, Lucas Matthysse, Keith Thurman, Devon Alexander, Peter Quillin, Leo Santa Cruz, Erislandy Lara, Andre Berto, and Deontay Wilder, just to name a few.

Chavez Jr. hasn't fought since winning a 12-round unanimous decision over Bryan Vera back in March of this year. Although he was presented with fights against middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and super middleweight champion Carl Froch, Chavez Jr. elected to pass on those offers because they came with contract extensions from his promotional company, Top Rank. In September, Chavez Jr. proclaimed that he was a promotional free agent. Promoter Bob Arum denied that claim, however, and a lawsuit was said to have been filed. It's unclear at this point if that lawsuit is still standing, but according to one source, Chavez Jr. finalized his paperwork with Haymon in the early hours of the morning. We're told that a potential showdown with unified WBA & IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch is still in the works and is being targeted for February of 2015.

Wonder if Arum will just let Chavez Jr. walk now that he's with Haymon

Showtime Execs have to be happy with news.. Since HBO won't do business w/ Haymon.. And Sho lost Cinnamon boy to HBO.. If they can get Chavez to fight on Sho.. that would be a big deal for their network.. Since Chavez is a ratings draw & 2nd biggest Mexican star in boxing...