(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
BERLIN – Wladimir Klitschko will defend his heavyweight title against American Eddie Chambers in March.
Klitschko’s management said Monday that the fight will take place March 20 at the Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf. Klitschko holds the IBF, WBO and IBO titles.
The 33-year-old Ukrainian says he’s looking forward to the fight in the “gigantic stadium,” which has a capacity of 51,000 spectators.
Klitschko says the 27-year-old Chambers is currently the best U.S. heavyweight “and is not No. 1 in the world rankings for nothing.”
(Northjersey.Com) NEW YORK — A sellout crowd of 5,142 predominantly Puerto Rican fight fans came to The WaMU Theater at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night to cheer the island’s fastest-rising boxing star, Juan Manuel Lopez.
They had to have left more impressed with the fellow undefeated featherweight champion Lopez is expected to fight sometime later this year. Yuriorkis Gamboa gave Lopez something to think about, too, by brutalizing Rogers Mtagwa en route to a spectacular second-round knockout win on the undercard.
Mtagwa (26-14-2, 18 KOs, one no card) nearly knocked out an exhausted Lopez late in their thrilling 122-pound title fight Oct. 10 at The Theater, but Gamboa’s mesmerizing hand speed and impressive power were entirely too much for the Philadelphia-based fighter from Tanzania. Referee Steve Smoger stopped their scheduled 12-round fight for the Cuban-born Gamboa’s World Boxing Association 126-pound crown 2:35 into the second round, once Mtagwa hit the canvas a third time.
Waipahu boxer Brian Viloria relinquished his International Boxing Federation light flyweight world championship in an upset loss to Colombia’s Carlos Tamara last night in the Philippines.
Tamara defeated Viloria via 12th round TKO.
Media outlets in the Philippines reported that Viloria collapsed in his locker room after the bout, and was rushed to a hospital. GMA News in the Philippines was reporting that Viloria was conscious and in stable condition late last night.
The world championship bout was scheduled for 12 rounds at the Cuneta Astrodome in Manila.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mexican sports officials are searching for potential Olympic athletes in the United States with family links to Mexico who might eventually compete for the Latin American country.
Mexico’s sports minister Bernardo De la Garza said Wednesday that the first step in the identification process would be the so-called Mexican Games being held in Los Angeles in March. Competitions will be held in 12 Olympic disciplines and will be open to Mexicans, Mexican-Americans and Mexican-Canadians.
De la Garza used the example of Oscar De la Hoya, a retired American boxing champion of Mexican descent, as the kind of athlete the competition might unearth.
Mexico has traditionally done poorly in the Olympics, and De la Garza said the country was partly to blame. Mexico won only three medals in 2008 in Beijing — two golds and one bronze.
(CNN International) - Vitali Klitschko successfully defended his WBC heavyweight title against American Kevin Johnson in Bern and then looked ahead to a super-bout next year against new WBA champion David Haye.
Ukrainian Klitschko produced a workmanlike, but hardly inspired performance, to outpoint Johnson in 12 rounds on Saturday night.
It was his third defense of the WBC version of the crown since he reclaimed the title after an injury layoff.
His brother Wladimir holds the IBF and WBO titles, but it’s Briton Haye who offers the route to a unification bout that would capture the imagination of the wider sporting public.
The flamboyant Haye beat Russian giant Nikolai Valuev to claim the WBA title last month and Klitschko said he was ready for a clash in 2010.
(By Bob Hurst, Chronicle) – CHICAGO — Paulie Malignaggi finally got his revenge, and let the world know that he still has a lot left.
Malignaggi, from Brooklyn, avenged his controversial Aug. 22 loss to Houston’s Juan Diaz at the Toyota Center with a unanimous decision in front of a crowd of 4,906 fans at the UIC Pavilion on Saturday night. He claimed the NABO junior welterweight crown with the win.
The Chicago venue was more to Malignaggi’s liking, after he felt that he didn’t get a fair result in the first meeting with Diaz. Before the Aug. 22 bout, Malignaggi voiced his displeasure with the selection of judges. Diaz won a unanimous decision, but one of the judges, Gale Van Hoy, scored the fight 118-110. The other two judges scorecards were closer. Malignaggi complained after the fight, and eventually earned a rematch.
This time, judges Mauro DiFiore, Thomas Miller and Michael Pernick each scored the fight 116-111 in favor of Malignaggi.
“Juan fought a good fight,” Malignaggi said. “He’s such a cool dude. I feel vindicated. I feel that I’m a better fighter than Juan. Juan and his team were victimized by the fact that they thought I was finished.
(Erik Killin @ Ringside) - Former heavyweight champion, Oleg Maskaev (36-7, 27 KOs), returned to the ring Friday night in his adopted hometown at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, California. In front of a good Russian crowd, the former champ took on Nagy Aguilera (15-2, 10 KOs) of Newburgh NY. With a victory, Maskaev was set to face Ray Austin for a WBC Heavyweight Elimination bout sometime next year.
Maskaev came out looking a bit dry. As the bell rang to start the fight, Maskaev still had his back to his young hungry opponent. Aguilera came out with a few jabs backing up the “Big O.” Maskaev pawed a bit with his own jab but was soon caught with a combination that dropped him. Maskaev beat the count but rose on rubber legs. Aguilera pounced on Maskaev, nailing him with a left hook that sent Oleg down slumping into the corner. Referee Lou Moret waived off the bout at 1:54 of the very first round.
This was a huge victory for the 23 year old Aguilera. He is managed by former heavyweight contender Lou Savarese, who was on hand to witness the upset. Retirement may be next for the 40 year old Maskaev.
In the co-feature, undefeated light heavyweight Denis Grachev, (8-0-1, 5 KOs) of San Diego , CA, battled local journeyman Ernesto Castaneda, (11-8-2, 4 KOs) to a six-round majority draw.’
Grachev started well fighting at a distance using his jab , but was eventually lured into Ernesto’s fight. The two stayed at close quarters throwing back and forth. Castaneda fought well on the inside and negated Grachev’s reach and jab. As the fight progressed, Castaneda moved to the ropes and kept the fight at his distance. The scores where 58-56, and 57-57 twice in a crowd pleasing bout.
In a rematch this time at super middlweight, Geraldo Lopez (4-0, 2 KOs) of Vacaville, California took on Kyle Dundas (0-1) of Rocklin, California in a four rounder. Lopez looking out of shape and flabby came out using his reach and superior skills to land on the former MMA fighter. Lopez ended the opening round with a good left hook. The two fighters clashed heads in round two, opening cuts on both fighters. Lopez was cut on his eye and Dunda was cut high on his head. The cuts did not seem to bother either guy in round three as Lopez used his speed to potshot his shorter opponent. Dundas was able to close the round with some nice left hooks. Round four slowed even more and appeared to be turning into a sparring session. At about the half way point, Lopez stepped on the gas pedal and dropped Dundas with a right hand opening another cut near Dunda’s eye. Referee Lou Moret had seen enough and stopped the bout at 2:36 of round four.
Geraldo Lopez moves to (5-0, 3 KOs) while Kyle Dundas drops to (0-2).
In a pairing of two local fighters making their pro debuts, Mike Guy of Sacramento stopped Ayo Olorunsola of Oakland, California in the first round of their scheduled four-round super middleweight fight. Guy came out guns blazing throwing sloppy hooks with both hands. Olorunsola picked off some of the shots and attempted to jab and slow down the pace. Guy started to connect and landed a big right hook to drop Olorunsola. Olorunsola was up but in bad shape when Ref Lou Moret stopped the bout at 1:32 of round one.
Max Becerra, (3-0, 2 KOs) and Thomas Herrera, (2-4-1, 0 KOs) battled it out in a four round lightweight bout. Herrera seemed to drop the over confident Becerra with a straight right in round one. Max was stunned but up. Becerra came back strong in round two using his hand speed to land the jab and left hook to body. Max again was wide open for the right leaving his left hand low and paid on a few more occasions in round two. Becerra outworked Herrera in round three closing out the round with some nice left hooks to the body. Round four started with some good exchanges. Becerra was the more accurate puncher getting the better of these flurries to close the fight. Scores where 40-36 for Becerra by all three judges.
In the opener, amateur star Richard Hargraves (pro debut) of San Francisco, California outclassed the winless John “The Baptist” Dunham, (0-5-1). Hargraves used his reach to jab and land a few combos on Dunham. Around a minute in ,Hargraves dropped Dunham with a right hand. Dunham got up but was once again dropped by a right hand. Referee Ray Balewicz had seen enough and called a halt to the bout at 1:50 of round one.
Local fighters on hand where former champs Tony “The Tiger” Lopez, Loreto Garza, Juan Lazcano , Michael Simms, Stan Martyniouk. , Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield, Hector Martinez, and Eric Regan.
(By J. Michael Falgoust, USA TODAY) - ATLANTIC CITY — No longer can Paul Williams call himself the sport’s most avoided fighter.
Sergio Martinez met him head-on Saturday night at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.
“They called him the most feared man in the world, but I didn’t have any fear at all in this bout,” said Martinez, who overcame a first-round knockdown to drop Williams at the first-round bell en route to losing a disputed majority decision in a non-title middleweight bout in front of 2,927.
In a Fight of the Year candidate that was as brutal as it was entertaining, judge Julie Lederman scored it even at 114 and Lynn Carter had it 115-113 for Williams. Pierre Benoist, however, saw it 119-110 for Williams. He gave Martinez, who holds a major belt at junior middleweight (154), the first two rounds but gave the next 10 to Williams.
Williams threw 340 more total punches, according to CompuBox estimates, but landed 31% to the Argentine’s 40%.
There were furious exchanges throughout, most notably in the second, third and fifth rounds in which Martinez (44-2-2, 24 KOs) rocked Williams (38-1, 27 KOs) by walking him into lead right hooks.
Amir Kahn once again showed why a lot of boxing insiders believe he has the talent and power to become a future star.
Kahn (22-1, 16 KOs) needed but 76 seconds to destroy Dmitiry Salita (30-1-1, 16 KOs). Kahn quickly dropped Salita with a quick right hand to open up the bout. Moments later, Kahn dropped his opponent again with a barrage of punches. The end came after Kahn dropped Salita for a third time. Referee Luis Pabon felt Salita was in no condition to continue.
On the undercard, Kevin Mitchell (30-0, 22 KOs) won a twelve round unanimous decison over Breidis Prescott (21-2, 18 KOs), the man that handed Kahn his lone loss. Mitchell outboxed Prescott via scores of 119-110, 118-111, 117-111.
Other Notable Undercard Bouts
John Simpson (21-6, 9 KOs) TKO 7 Stevie Bell (18-2-2, 5 KOs)
Enzo Maccarinelli (30,-4, 23 KOs) KO 1 Kirstian Jaksi (6-13-4, 0 KOs)
(By Bryan Graham, SI.Com) PHILADELPHIA - Bernard Hopkins went home Wednesday and didn’t let down the fans who’d waited years for his return.
Hopkins won a lopsided unanimous-decision over Mexico’s Enrique Ornelas at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University — less than one mile from the Raymond Rosen projects where the former middleweight and light heavyweight champion grew up.
Hopkins, who turns 45 on Jan. 15, was cautious throughout a cagey opening and became more offensive-minded as the fight moved forward. He landed nearly twice as many punches as Ornelas (205 to 113), among them 64 body shots.
The judges’ scorecards — 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110 — were fair bellwethers of the action. SI.com had it 118-110.
