By: William Holmes
The following is the Boxing Insider notebook for the week of January 7th to January 14th, covering the comings and goings in the sport of boxing that you might have missed.
Mayweather to Help Revive South African Boxing
Floyd Mayweather Jr. was recently rated by the South African Government as the world’s greatest athlete and will use him to help turn boxing around in the country.
Mayweather will arrive in South Africa for a weeklong visit and has plans on visiting four cities in Soth Africa. His schedule will include an exhibition at a gym in the Johannesburg township of Soweto, a visit to Bloemfontein, a visit to East London, and possibly a visit to Nelson Mandela’s apartheid-era jail on Robben Island.
Pacquiao Calls Mayweather a Coward for Refusing to Fight
Pacquiao has recently stated to the Manila Times the following:
“Mayweather “is just a coward, insecure and envy my accomplishments. I don’t like to bite his gimmicks and I just want to understand him, although it’s too much”
“Top Rank already allowed us to directly negotiate with them [Mayweather] before but they never communicated with us, Mayweather Jr. is saying a lot of negative things against me but he doesn’t like to fight.”
“We will consider everything but until now, they don’t like to fight. At the same time, people are saying the fight between us needs a trilogy, but how can it be possible if he’s not going to fight me first”
More can be found at http://manilatimes.net/pacquiao-calls-mayweather-coward-for-refusing-to-fight/66830/
Chris Algieri vs. Emanuel Taylor Set for February 14th
Chris Algieri (18-0) will meet Emanuel Taylor (17-1) on February 14th at the Paramount in Huntington, New York. This bout will be a part of an ESPN Friday Night Fight’s telecast. Issouf Kinda (16-1) and Jason Escalera (13-1) will also be on the undercard.
Tickets are currently available online and can be found at either ticketmaster.com or through www.starboxing.com
Jonathan Gonzalez vs. Norberto Gonzalez to Headline ESPN Friday Night Fights on February 7th
On Friday, February 7, 2014, Mike Tyson and Garry Jonas (Iron Mike Productions), Dominic Pesoli (8 Count Productions) and Leon Margules (Warriors Boxing) will proudly present another installment of Friday Night Fights at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, and televised worldwide on ESPN Friday Night Fights.
In the night’s hard-hitting 10-round middleweight main event, Puerto Rico’s undefeated Jonathan “Mantequilla” Gonzalez (17-0-1, 14 KOs) will face Monterrey, Mexico’s Norberto “Demonio” Gonzalez (20-2, 13 KOs). In the 10-round, televised co-featured bout, red-hot undefeated featherweight prospect Kamil Laszczyk (15-0, 7 KOs) of Warsaw, Poland, takes on Managua, Nicaragua’s Daniel “El General” Diaz (20-5-1, 14 KOs).
Opening the telecast will be high-profile 18-year-old welterweight prospect Erickson “Hammer” Lubin (2-0, 2 KOs), the 2012 National Golden Gloves gold medal winner and former Team USA’s #1 overall prospect for the 2016 Olympics before recently turning professional under the Iron Mike Productions promotional banner.
Mike Tyson Meets Las Vegas Metro Police Department and PAL Youngsters
Hall of Famer Mike Tyson had a brilliant amateur career in the 1980’s. Now a professional boxing promoter for Iron Mike Productions (IMP), the youngest world heavyweight champion of all-time still has a burning passion for amateur boxing.
Tyson thought it would be fun to workout with kids from the Police Athletic League in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Metro Police Department was thrilled the “Iron” Mike would take time from his busy schedule to meet their PAL youngsters and arranged for two visits this past Saturday.
First stop was Richard Steele Boxing Club in North Las Vegas. Kids and officers lined up and went through slipping-and-weaving techniques, followed by turns on the heavy bag, all under Mike’s watchful eyes.
At Barry’s Boxing Center, another group of eager kids and officers lined up to try the same defensive techniques the late, great trainer Cus D’Amato had instilled in Tyson when he was a teenager.
Tyson was quite impressed by everyone’s hard work. Judging from the bright smile on his face, the former champ appeared to be the happiest person in both gyms.
“I would love to work with kids like this in a gym I hope to have one day,” Mike said.
Tyson presented each attending youngster with a Footlocker gift certificate and training DVD.
Hatton Promotions Statement on WBC Title and Alvarez vs. Angulo
HATTON PROMOTIONS would like to address rumours suggesting that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s March 8 clash with fellow Mexican Alfredo Angulo has been made for the vacant WBC light-middleweight title.
At the present time, undefeated Sergey Rabchenko is the WBC’s number one ranked contender and holds the sanctioning body’s prestigious Silver title.
Rabchenko’s rating places him one position higher than former holder Saul Alvarez, while Angulo lost his last fight by stoppage and does not appear in the ratings at all.
Both Rabchenko’s promoter, Ricky Hatton, and his manager, Philippe Fondu, are determined to stake Sergey’s claim to a shot at the title and will be holding discussions with the WBC.
“I’m sure the WBC will respect Sergey’s position and allow him to box for the title he deserves,” said Hatton.
“Since winning the Silver belt, Sergey’s been very proud of representing the WBC and I know he wants the opportunity to fight for the full world title more than anything.
“Hatton Promotions will do everything it can to make sure Sergey’s position is honoured”.
Rabchenko, who is also the European champion, will be taking part at the WBC’s Champions Race in Mexico alongside stablemate and WBC Youth Silver titlist Damien Hooper on January 26.
Organised in association with Emoción Deportiva and Grupo Martí, the event features runs up to 12km and aims to encourage dedication in order to fight addiction, obesity and other physical problems.
Dierry Jean Prepared to Take Lamont Peterson’s Crown
International Boxing Federation (IBF) No. 1-ranked mandatory challenger, undefeated Dierry “Dougy Style” Jean (25-0, 17 KOs), will become the first Haitian-born light welterweight champion of the world by upsetting defending champion Lamont “Havoc” Peterson (31-2-1, 16 KOs) on Saturday night, January 25, live on SHOWTIME Championship Boxing from The DC Armory in Washington D.C.
Fighting last May for only the second time outside of Canada, where he moved to from Haiti when he was 10, the slick Montreal boxer stopped then-IBF No.7 ranked Cleotis “Mookie” Pendarvis (17-3-2) in the fourth round of their IBF Title Eliminator, earning the 31-year-old Jean his first world title shot against Peterson.
“Training camp has been going well,” Jean reported. “My preparation is essentially the same as for any fight, only the strategy and game plan have changed. Winning the world title will be a dream come true. It would also mean a lot to my daughter, brother, coach Mike (Moffa) and my entire team since I would become their first world champ.
“This is a good time for Haitian fighters (including Adonis Stevenson and Jean Pascal). I really believe (his EOTTM stable-mate) Bermane Stiverne will become world champion this year as well. I would be really proud to bring the belt here to Quebec for my fans but also to make Haitians proud of me. It is really important for me to be representing them.”
Brooklyn Brawl Invades Millennium Theater February 27th
On Thursday night, February 27th at the Millennium Theater in Brooklyn, New York, Dmitry Salita’s Star of David Promotions will be back with the popular Brooklyn Brawl series.
In the main event undefeated Cruiserweight contender Steve Bujaj (10-0, 6 KO’s) is primed to stay undefeated as he fights in his first 8 round fight.
The native New Yorker is Coming off an impressive performance on December 18th , when he stopped Mike Bissett in five rounds at Webster Hall. Steve is looking for another stoppage Trainer of champions Billy Jilles said that the former Golden Gloves champions is ” Best prospect in NYC”
In the co main event, Polish sensation Michael Chudecki (8-0, 3 KO’s) looking to go for his first title as he takes on the tough, rugged and experienced Raphael Luna (4-6, 1 KO) in a Lightweight bout scheduled for eight rounds.
Eddie Chambers Joins Team Fury Promotions
American heavyweight hitman Eddie Chambers has joined Team Fury Promotions and will be trained by the renowned Peter Fury.
The Philadelphian bruiser turned professional in 2000 at just 18 and has amassed a record of 40 fights with 36 wins and only four defeats.
At 31 he has been in with some of the leading names in the heavyweight division including IBF, WBA and WBO world champion Wladimir Klitschko, as well as going the distance with Alexander Povetkin and Tomasz Adamek.
He now joins the stable of rising heavyweight sensations Tyson Fury and Hughie Fury, who have made huge strides in recent times under the tutelage of Peter Fury.
After falling just short of world title glory, Chambers, a former cruiserweight, is now aiming to go one step further by capturing such honour at heavyweight with Team Fury.
Eddie Chambers, said: “I am happy to be part of Team Fury Promotions. Being with Peter Fury and part of Team Fury is going to take me to the level Peter knows I’m capable of. They have the right resources and boxing knowledge that I feel has been missing in my career so far. I’ve had some great trainers in the past, however, I think with Peter’s great knowledge in the ring and also his business knowledge out of the ring, it gives me the confidence and inspiration I need to believe us as a team can do big things. I can’t wait to fight in the UK for all the boxing fans there. I have a message to all heavyweights in the world – Eddie ‘Fast’ Chambers is coming for you soon.”
Peter Fury, said: “I’m over the moon to have the great pleasure of working with Eddie Chambers. For some years I have always admired the boxing skills he possesses as a fighter. Having the trust and opportunity to challenge myself again is great. I love the American fighters of the past and am really excited to show the world what Eddie can achieve in world heavyweight boxing. He will be competing at heavyweight. I intend to put him up by 24lbs which will make his weight around 105kgs. I feel the growing advantage we have is the level of heavyweight sparring we have in one camp all under the same team. This can only breed success for my fighters. I’m only in boxing to reach world goals and I believe by adding Eddie Chambers to our team is one more step in that direction. We will be working with Eddie in association with Mick Hennessy of Hennessy Sports who has been part of us in professional boxing from day one, and also Frank Warren with BoxNation. So we look ahead to doing big things in heavyweight boxing in the coming years. We intend to bring exciting times for boxing fans around the world. Here is another addition to achieving that goal.”
