Boxinginsider Notebook: Mayweather Earns the Nickname “Money”; Mora; Pacquiao; Soto-Karass

By: William Holmes

The following is the Boxinginsider notebook for the week of June 11th to June 18th, covering the comings and goings in the sport of boxing.

Quigg Draws With Munroe, Rhodes Stopped in the Seventh

On paper, Manchester, England looked to play host to a pretty good card on Saturday. However, the main event left a lot of fans disappointed.

Scott Quigg (24-0-1) drew with Rendall Munroe (24-2-1) in the junior featherweight division. A cut to Munroe in the third round stopped the fight, and it was due to a clash of heads. Sergey Rabchenko (21-0) remained undefeated with a 7th round TKO over Ryan Rhodes (46-6) in the junior middleweight division. Martin Murray (24-0-1) also remained undefeated with a ten round decision over Karim Achour (13-3-2) in the middleweight division.

Dulorme Wins in NY, Rosinsky Moves on to Pavlik

Upcoming prospect Thomas Dulorme (15-0) defeated an overmatched Alberto Herrera (8-7-1) in the welterweight division in New York on Thursday night. He won by a 7th round TKO, when the referee was forced to stop the fight on the advice of the ringside physician. Will Rosinsky (16-1) defeated Aaron Pryor Jr. (16-6) with scores of 79-73, 79-73, and 78-74 in the Super Middleweight division. It was announced after the fight that Rosinsky will be taking on Kelly Pavlik on HBO on July 7th.

Carlos Molina Decisions Jimenez

Carlos Molina (17-0-1) remained undefeated with a decision victory over Marcos Jimenez (18-4) in the lightweight division on Saturday in McAllen, Texas. The official scores were 99-91, 97-93, and 96-94 all in favor of Molina.

Gavin, Hall, and Walsh in Title Action on Haye-Chisora Show

British stars Frankie Gavin, Matthew Hall, and Liam Walsh will be featured in championship title action at the West Ham United in London, England on July 14th. They’ll be on the undercard for the David Haye vs. Dereck Chisora heavyweight attraction. Alexander Povetkin will also be defending his WBA World Heavyweight title against Hasim Rahman.

Perez vs. Katsidis Announced for ESPN Friday Night Fights

Darley Perez (25-0) will be taking on Michael Katsidis (28-6) on August 10, 2012 at the Morongo Casino. The bout will be part of an ESPN Friday Night Fights card. This bout will take place in the lightweight division. Chris Avalos (19-2) will be featured in the co-feature.

Soto Karass and Francisco Vargas to be Featured on July 7th Card

On July 7th, as part of a doubleheader televised card on Fox Sports Net and Fox Deportes, Golden Boy Promotions will be holding a card featuring Jesus Soto Karass and Euri Gonzalez squaring off at The Hangar at the Orange County Fair * Event Center. A co-feature will be between Francisco Vargas and Irving Torres in the junior lightweight division.

Bryan Vera and Sergio Mora Rematch Announced

Bryan Vera (20-6) and Sergio Mora (23-2-2) will hold a rematch on August 11th at the Illusions Theater at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Vera was able to win a close split decision win over Mora in February of 2011. The bout will be for the vacant NABO Middleweight Title.

Fortuna and Cruz Set for July 6th

Featherweight prospect Javier “El Abejon” Fortuna (19-0) is set to step in with former IBF Featherweight Champion Cristobal Cruz (39-13) at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in a bout that will be televised live on ESPN Friday Night Fights. The original main event participant, Marvin Sonsona, was injured, allowing Fortuna and Cruz to fill in the main event spot. The co-feature will feature Magomed Abdusalamov (14-0) taking on Maurice “Freight Train” Byarm (13-1-1) in the heavyweight division.

June 30th ShoBox Card is Set

Gary Russell Jr.(19-0) vs. Christopher Perez (23-2) and Erislandy Lara (16-1-1) vs. Freddy Hernandez (30-2) has been added to the June 30th ShoBox card at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. The card also includes Cornelius Bundrage and Cory Spinks for the IBF Junior Middleweight World Championship.

Emanuel Steward Concerned About Chavez Jr. Drug Test

In the aftermath of the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs Andy Lee fight, Lee’s trainer Emanuel Steward has expressed concern about whether the fight took place on a level playing field. Chavez Jr. neglected to give a mandatory urine sample when he successfully defended his title against Marco Antonio Rubio in Texas in February this year.

Team Lee have now requested confirmation and clarity from Dick Cole, the Texas State Athletic Commissioner, on whether Chavez Jr. carried out an anti-doping drug test on Saturday evening and what the results are. Furthermore, Steward has a meeting with Senator John McCain, instigator of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, on July 10, and one of the items on the agenda is performance enhancing drugs being used in professional boxing.

Emanuel Steward commented, “Andy Lee is like a son to me, I always look after all my fighters’ health and well-being. I am very concerned about enhanced performance drugs being used by boxers. This is not tennis or golf; boxing is a physical combat sport where if drugs are used by one fighter then this is a disadvantage against the other fighter and causes serious damage to a fighter’s health. Are we going to wait for someone to be killed in the ring before this matter is taken seriously and dealt with?”

Pacquiao Tells TMZ: Everyone Knows I Got Screwed

TMZ was able to catch up with Manny Pacquiao as he was leaving Kabuki restaurant in Hollywood. When asked if he felt the boxing judges were unfair when they crowned Timothy Bradley the new champ, the Pac-man replied,” That’s their decision, dude . . . hard to change.” He added, “I respect that decision, but we know in our hearts.” Source.

According to Forbes, Floyd “Money” Mayweather Is the World’s Highest Paid Athlete

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has fought twice during the past two months, and he is the world’s highest paid athelete over the past year. He even unseated Tiger Woods, the top-earner since 2001. Mayweather earned $85 million for both of his bouts. Manny Pacquiao came in second with a total earnings of $62 million. Source.