Category Archives: Boxing

The Battle for Sept. 14 for Timothy Bradley, Floyd Mayweather and Juan Manuel Marquez

Posted: May 6th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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After Floyd Mayweather’s clinical victory over Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero on Saturday night, the focus now turns to when Mayweather’s next fight will be. Mayweather said he intends to fight on Sept. 14. With the close turn-around time, that’s a stretch for Mayweather, who fights infrequently. Also making it unlikely he’ll fight on Sept. 14 is a hand injury. Mayweather got X-rays, but there’s no word on the extent of the injury.

Already scheduled for Sept. 14 is Cathedral City’s Timothy Bradley defending his WBO welterweight title against Juan Manuel Marquez, who is trying to become the first boxer from Mexico to win world titles in five different weight classes. It will be a good pay-per-view fight. But promoter Bob Arum saidin online reports that  if Mayweather really does fight on Sept. 14, he would move Bradley-Marquez.

But after Saturday’s fight, should Bradley-Marquez move off that date? Mayweather earned a lopsided victory, and there’s not many boxers in the Golden Boy stables who figure to give Mayweather a challenge. There’s only one that people want to see and that’s Mayweather-Alvarez. Unlikely Mayweather would take on the big fighter. After that, there’s not many boxers who can make a Mayweather fight more intriguing than Bradley-Marquez. Amir Khan, who is fresh off his narrow victory over Coachella’s Julio Diaz, could a good fight to market, but it seems like a waste of the Mexican Independence Day weekend.

Things should shake out in the coming days to see where Floyd goes, and if Bradley-Marquez will stay on Sept. 14 or go.

Timothy Bradley picked well in facing Juan Manuel Marquez

Posted: April 24th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , ,
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Timothy Bradley found himself in an ideal spot, getting to choose multi-million dollar fights against two superstars — Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao.

The best choice was Marquez on several levels. First, the fight was going to be in Las Vegas on Mexican Independence Day weekend against the country’s biggest star. Now that can change if Floyd Mayweather says he’s going to fight on that day. But Mayweather has a fight on May 4 and it’s rare he would fight on a short turnaround. While Mayweather might say he’ll fight on Sept. 14, So Bradley could have a huge audience to himself.

As for Bradley’s legacy, it would mean much more to him to fight Marquez and beat him. Marquez arguably beat Pacquiao all four times. And the most convincing victory of their four fights was the knockout victory in December that had Pacquiao on the canvas out cold for over two minutes.

Plus, Pacquiao was asking for too much for not enough compensation. In the original contract Bradley was to get close to $10 million for a rematch according to several reports. So for the Pacquiao camp to offer $6 million could actually be seen as a markdown. And then they wanted Bradley to fight in China, which is a huge ask. For that, they should have paid a premium. Or they should have made arrangements to compensate Bradley with a marketing plan in Asia that could open up millions of dollars.

And really, Bradley is doing Pacquiao a favor. Pacquiao is coming off two straight losses. Why shoule he get a title shot against Bradley?

Bradley-Marquez promises to be a fantastic, intriguing fight. And for Bradley, it can lift him up into another level.

Fight of the Year competition for Timothy Bradley-Ruslan Provodnikov comes this weekend in Rios-Alvarado II

Posted: March 25th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
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Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado will have their highly-anticipated rematch this weekend, and could be an early contender for Fight of the Year along side Timothy Bradley’s unanimous decision victory over rugged Ruslan Provodnikov on March 16.

In their first fight, Rios scored a seventh-round TKO when he rallied against Alvarado. It was an exciting fight between two guys who just went after each other. The first fight was also a Fight of the Year candidate, losing out to Manny Pacquiao getting knocked out cold in the sixth round by Juan Manuel Marquez.

But during their tele-conference last week, they were still buzzing about Bradley-Provodnikov.

“I was almost jumping on the TV watching that fight,” Rios said.  “It brought back memories.  I was like ‘Damn, they are showing the warrior spirit.’  They were going at it.  Like they said, Bradley came out with a different game plan and he proved that he’s a warrior and a fighter.”

Promoter Bob Arum is in a nice position. He promotes Rios, Alvarado, Bradley and Pacquiao. And he has worked well with Marquez. The talk is there might be a mini-tournament between the top welterweights.

So if Rios wins, he could set up a fight against Manny Pacquiao probably in the fall. Marquez has talked about wanting to fight for another title and that’s where Bradley will come in. Only time will tell if that materialize. If it does, it will be a great situation for Arum and HBO, which last week announced it won’t air any fights from Arum’s rival Golden Boy Promotions.

“Fans aren’t stupid.  They want to see action,” Arum said. ”Mike Alvarado and Brandon Rios are action fighters.  Timothy Bradley showed that he is an action fighter.  Juan Manuel Marquez is an action fighter.  Manny Pacquiao is an action fighter.  Ruslan Provodnikov is an action fighter.  They don’t play around.  They don’t dance around.  They fight.  That’s what the public wants to see, so we’ll mix and match as we go along because they are the big fights that people want to see.  That is the way the fighters can be rewarded monetarily.”

 

 

A good story on Ruslan Provodnikov by Steve Kim

Posted: March 22nd, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Timothy Bradley’s victory Saturday not only helped his career, but his opponent Ruslan Provodnikov. Steve Kim, an excellent boxing journalist for Max Boxing was at Wild Card Gym, which is trainer Freddie Roach’s headquarters. And he captured a really great moment, and how it was a microcosm of how his life has changed as well.

Micky Ward said he believes there’s six action fighters in the welterweight divisions, listing both Bradley and Provodnikov with the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.

Provodnikov might have an advantage in that he’s with Banner Promotions. So they could probably make a deal to fight a Golden Boy fighter or champion.

If you haven’t seen Kim’s story, check it out on the link below.

http://www.maxboxing.com/news/main-lead/azad-championship-report—provodnikov-feels-like-the-winner

Timothy Bradley’s win over Ruslan Provodnikov was a ratings winner according to Nielsen

Posted: March 19th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , ,
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Nielsen Media Research released the numbers and 1.2 million viewers watched HBO’s live telecast of Timothy Bradley’s victory over Ruslan Provodnikov on Saturday night in Carson. The audience peaked at 1.4 million viewers.

But the real measure of the excitement of the fight was 274,000 fans tuned in to watch the Sunday morning replay.

By comparison, Bradley-Provodnikov matched the amount of viewers from the week before when 48-year-old Bernard Hopkins beat Tavoris Cloud to become the oldest boxer to win a world title, the IBF light heavyweight title. But the next day replay of Bradley-Provodnikov did 57 percent better than the Hopkins-Cloud fight.

Looking back at Timothy Bradley’s win over Ruslan Provodnikov

Posted: March 17th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , ,
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What I saw on Saturday was something I never saw in 2008 and that was Timothy Bradley taking punishment. And lets put that into perspective, I’ve seen Bradley fight current and former world champions, and that includes the great Manny Pacquiao.

But what Bradley did during that fight was not surprising. He showed the courage to overcome and he kept coming.

Bradley stood in the line of fire and battled. Bradley did that when he fought Kendall Holt and was knocked down in the first round by a punch that had Bradley’s eyes roll up. In that fight, he said he couldn’t feel his legs. Against Pacquiao, he strained ligaments in one foot in the second round and severly sprained the other by the fourth in a fight against the dangerous Pacquiao, but overcame the pain to score a split decision victory.

Freddie Roach, the trainer for Pacquiao and Provodnikov, came towards me after his press conference and asked me to tell Bradley something along the lines that he has big cajones.

Now Bradley, who was the most criticized fighter after the Pacquiao fight, probably doubled his fan base at least. But most of all, Bradley got what he most wanted, respect. What Bradley and Provodnikov gave fans was a fight they won’t soon forget.

But let’s not forget Provodnikov. He did to Bradley what other world champions couldn’t. He punished Bradley. He is heavy handed and was able to connect on Bradley frequently with heavy-handed punches. Pacquiao couldn’t do it, Devon Alexander couldn’t do it, Lamont Peterson couldn’t do it. The only other time Bradley has been knocked down in a fight was against Holt, who did it twice. But Holt wasn’t as relentless as Provodnikov.

If you missed the fight, HBO will replay the fight. It was on Sunday morning and will have multiple replays. In a few days, the fight should be available as part of the On Demand service.

Other HBO playdates: Today (10:30 a.m.) and Monday (11:30 p.m.)
HBO2 playdates: Today (4:45 p.m.) and Tuesday (11:30 p.m.)

 

BNP Paribas Open: Bob Arum’s message to tournament

Posted: March 14th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog, Tennis | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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The Indian Wells Tennis Garden’s 16,100 main stadium would be an ideal situation to hold boxing. With the dimensions of the court, it would be perfect to install an ring with great site lines for fans. But the main stadium could be a little big for boxing, if you don’t have a real marquee fighter to headline a card. Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather are the only sure bets. Cathedral City boxer Timothy Bradley could do well also, being the hometown hero.

But with the new Stadium 2 being built after Sunday’s tournament completes, and with a target for opening it by next year’s tournament, it could be well suited for boxing. It will be an 8,000-seat stadium, with two restaurants and should have nice site lines.

Told about the stadium, Top Rank’s founder Bob Arum had a message for the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. “Tell them we’re in,” said Arum, who represents Bradley, Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire, who was the fighter of the year.

 

Andy Murray on Timothy Bradley Jr. and Julio Diaz

Posted: March 7th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog, Tennis | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
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One of the biggest boxing fans on the ATP Tour is U.S. Open and Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray, who last year got a chance to meet Timothy Bradley Jr., the WBO welterweight champion.

At the tournament last year, Bradley had secured a fight against superstar Manny Pacquiao, considered one of the two definitative boxers of this era. Bradley would score a split-decision victory over Pacquiao.

“Obviously he was building up to the biggest fight of his career against one of the best fighters the last time I saw him,” Murray said. “To see him win that fight was cool. It will be nice to see him again.”

There’s word that Bradley will visit the tournament on Sunday.

From Great Britain, Murray is friends with Amir Khan, who was the former light welterweight champon.

In April, Khan will fight Coachella’s Julio Diaz, who also trains at the Indio Boys and Girls Club with Bradley. Diaz is the two-time IBF lightweight champion, making him the first world champion in a major sanctioning body from the Coachella Valley.

It will be Khan’s first fight in Great Britain in two years.

“I know a lot about boxing. I follow it more than I do tennis sometimes,” Murray said. “I know who (Diaz) is, that he’s the former world champion.

“He’s a very good fighter. I’m not going to go into details about why he does well or not. I don’t know if I have the right to have a strong opinion about that. It should be a good fight.”

 

I need a translator for this Timothy Bradley segment, por favor

Posted: February 27th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing | Tags: , , , , , , ,
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After Timothy Bradley’s Los Angeles workout, he made a trip to the ESPN studios next to Staples Center to film a segment of Nacion, which is the Spanish version of ESPN2′s Sports Nation. It was captivating television, even though I didn’t understand about 85 percent of the things that were being said. Where are you Rosetta Stone when I need you?

The questions they had for Bradley and his trainer Joel Diaz included:

Who was the better trainer, Diaz or Freddie Roach? They both went with Diaz, while the host went with Roach.

Who is a better matchup for Bradley, Manny Pacquiao or Juan Manuel Marquez? Bradley wants Marquez to set up a fight between two guys who beat Pacquiao. Diaz wants Pacquiao to end the controversy and have Bradley beat him again.

Here are the two clips from Nacion’s website. Enjoy. And please send me a translation.

http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/videohub/video/clipDeportes?id=1735480&cc=3888

http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/videohub/video/clipDeportes?id=1735566&cc=3888

 

 

Floyd Mayweather’s big deal

Posted: February 19th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Boxing, Sports Blog | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
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In a surprising turn of events, Floyd Mayweather announced he is switching television networks, going from sports leader HBO to Showtime. For me, there’s more questions. It’s a gamble for both sides with a lot of potential.

First, will this help elevate the sport. Mayweather is the top attraction now. With Manny Pacquiao’s back-to-back losses, Floyd stands alone. Now if he can get CBS involved in promoting his fights as well, it will be big in drawing in a larger audience. s. HBO has done a masterful job of spreading their promotion of boxing through the Time Warner properties. The 24/7 reality shows on CNN, and having spots on NBA games. Hopefully CBS can do more.

By signing with Showtime, Mayweather will be looked upon to bringing more fans to Showtime. It will be interesting to see how many people will switch over to Showtime from HBO for Mayweather. Will it be minimal, or will it be significant. The last boxing star Showtime had of this magnitude was Mike Tyson. It will be interesting at the end of Mayweather’s deal to see how he’s helped the network compared to Tyson.

According to a New York Times story in January, Showtime has improved its subscription base to 21.3 million, which is up from 13.8 million in 2005. By comparison, HBO has held steady at 28-to-29 million. And Showtime does have a strong array of shows, including Emmy-winner Homeland, as well as other critically acclaimed shows Dexter, Californiacation, Nurse Jackie, Shameless. The network has also expanded its sports coverage wtih Jim Rome, Inside NASCAR and Inside the NFL.

But there’s always big deals that never fulfill their potential. The truth is, Floyd is 36. How good will he be at the end of the contract? If there’s a big dropoff, that could really hurt Showtime. And will Showtime and CBS be able to get Floyd out there to really build their brand? HBO was pretty good at it. I’m not sure how successful Showtime will be.

But it will all be interesting to watch.