(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.”
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.
(By Erik Killin) - Andre ward takes on Mikkel Kessler this Saturday in Oakland at the Oracle arena. The hometown hero takes on his biggest test to date when he faces the WBA Super Middleweight Champion. The two combatants have a combined record of 62-1 with 45 KOs.
Come out and support the only American fighter left in the tourney without a loss.
Unbeaten local prospects Karim Mayfield and Stan Martyniouk are also on the card in separate bouts.
Tickets are still available. Contact: (510) 569-2121 or visit Ticketmaster.com
ANDRE WARD-MIKKEL KESSLER MEDIA WORK OUT:
11:30 for Kessler workout; 12:30 p.m. for Ward workout.
Note: Workout is open to the public.
Kings Gym
843 35th Avenue
Oakland, CA., (510) 261-2199
MIKKEL KESSLER vs. ANDRE WARD
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
ORCALE ARENA, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
Live on SHOWTIME(r) 10 p.m. (ET/PT)
NEW YORK (November 17, 2009) – The Mikkel Kessler vs. Andre Ward fight
will be televised live on SHOWTIME from Oracle Arena, in Oakland,
Calif., on Saturday, Nov. 21, beginning at 10 p.m. (ET/PT) (delayed on
the West Coast).
The Kessler-Ward fight is part of the historic inaugural Super Six World
Boxing Classic, a six fighter, round-robin tournament featuring the
class of the Super Middleweight division from home and abroad. Five of
the world’s top boxing promoters have collaborated with SHOWTIME
Sports(r) to facilitate this epic tournament. Lou DiBella of DiBella
Entertainment, Dan Goossen of Goossen Tutor Promotions, Mick Hennessy of
Hennessy Sports, Gary Shaw of Gary Shaw Productions LLC and Wilfried and
Kalle Sauerland of Sauerland Event will promote the tournament which
began October 17th and runs through spring 2011.
For more information on the Super Six World Boxing Classic, including
exclusive videos, photography, expert analysis from Al Bernstein and
Steve Farhood, and much more please visit www.WorldBoxingClassic.com.
For information on all SHOWTIME Sports telecasts, including exclusive
behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries from its events and complete
information on the Super Six World Boxing Classic, please visit the website at: http://www.sports.sho.com
Mexico’s Juan Carlos Salgado (21-0-1, 15 KOs) needed just 45 seconds to upset highly regarded Jorge Linares (27-1, 18 KOs). A short left hook penetrated Linares’ high guard which dropped the Venezuelan flat on his back. The back of Linares’ head appeared to also hit the canvas, further disrupting the former champion’s equilibrium. Linares rose on unsteady feat and after the ref allowed the action to continue, Salgado wasted no time in rushing Linares. Salgado unleashed a two-punch combo which quickly crumpled Linares for a second time. The bout was quickly waved off after the second knockdown.
With the victory, Salgado claims the WBA Super Featherweight title.
Showtime Boxing presents ShoBox: The New Generation (live on SHOWTIME at 11PM ET/PT).
In the main event, WBC #6 super middleweight contender, Allan Green (28-1, 20 KOs), faces unbeaten southpaw, Tarvis Simms (25-0-1, 11 KOs).
In the second televised fight of the night, welterweight Antwone Smith (16-1-1, 8 KOs) takes on unbeaten Henry Crawford (22-0-1, 9 KOs) in a ten-round bout.
The opener features unbeaten Marcus “Too Much” Johnson (17-0, 14 KOs) vs. Victor Villareal (8-3-2, 4 KOs) in an eight-round super middleweight bout.
(AP, October 1, 2009) Bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko will defend his title against Yohnny Perez on Oct. 31 in the first boxing match at Treasure Island Hotel & Casino.
Lightweight contender Antonio DeMarco will face former champion Jose Alfaro in the co-main event, a bout that will serve as a WBC title eliminator.
Agbeko (27-1, 22 KOs) is coming off an unanimous decision over four-time world champion Vic Darchinyan in July. The IBF titleholder won the title by stopping Luis Alberto Perez in September 2007, and defended it last year against William Gonzalez.
Perez (19-0, 14 KOs) earned the title shot by stopping Silence Mabuza in the 12th round in May.
By Lance Pugmire (Los Angeles Times) - Cris Arreola wiped away the tears that engulfed him after his first career loss and vowed to quickly rid “the bitter taste in my mouth” that came with joining the club of losing to a Klitschko.
Riverside’s Arreola (27-1) was outpunched 301-86, out-jabbed 150-62 and deemed the loser of every round by one judge Saturday before his trainer Henry Ramirez told referee Jon Schorle to award Vitali Klitschko a 10th-round technical knockout, blocking Arreola’s quest to become the first world heavyweight champion of Mexican ancestry.
“I want to fight as soon as possible, December or January,” Arreola said in the post-fight news conference after sobbing on HBO cameras as he apologized for losing. “It’s back to the drawing board, back to the gym. I’m not going to let this fight break me.”
Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KOs) and Roy Jones Jr. (54-5, 40 KOs) have agreed to finally rematch each other. The bout, which is about 5-10 years too late, will most likely take place within the first 3 months of 2010.
Jones won a unanimous decision over Hopkins in 1993 for the vacant IBF middleweight championship. However, the bout took place many years before both fighters hit their primes. Hence, there has always been speculation as to what would transpire if the two faced one another once again.
Interestingly, the contracts call for a 50-50 split, with a clause which stipulates that the winner will receive a favorable 60-40 split if he wins by KO/TKO. Both fighters have stated the knockout clause will definitely provide an incentive to step it up and go for the knockout.
Despite their agreement to face one another, Roy Jones Jr. must still travel to Australia and defeat Aussie, Danny Green (27-3, 24 KOs), on December 2nd. Hopkins too must get by an opponent TBA on December 2nd.
By J. Michael Falgoust (USA Today) - While it remains unknown how well Floyd Mayweather’s return to the ring did on pay-per-view and closed circuit, his easy 12-round decision against a Mexican opponent didn’t sell out despite it being Mexican Independence weekend.
Attendance at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas was announced at 13,116, but Thursday the numbers showed that 12,009 tickets were sold at face value, 895 tickets were comps — or giveaways — and 2,645 went unsold.
The total gate: $6,811,300.
The base salary for Mayweather was $10 million while Juan Manuel Marquez cleared $2 million.
Golden Boy Promotions, co-promoter of the event, said after Saturday show that according to early reports they expected the bout to approach and possibly exceed one million PPV buys which would be a gross of at least $50 million. Richard Schaefer, CEO of GBP, said after Saturday’s bout that the numbers would be released by week’s end.
