World Boxing News 2010-2013

Phil D. Jay  WBN Editor Hamed could work with Frank Warren again Former WBO Featherweight Champion, “Prince” Naseem Hamed is contemplating a return to boxing in the near future, according to Sky Sports boxing show Ringside . Sky Sports reporter Ed Robinson fuelled speculation last night when he mentioned it on his news round-up segment for the Thursday night televised boxing magazine. Hamed, 36, has not fought since 2002, when he beat Manuel Calvo and has ruled out a ring return as a fighter on many occasions, so this seems like the most logical step for the southpaw knockout specialist to take. With other young boxers like Ricky Hatton and David Haye having their own promotions companies, don’t rule out a similar move by Naz, who did promote some of his own fights in the past under the name “Prince Promotions.” Hamed would be welcomed back to the sport with open arms after some troublesome years away from the ring and boxing would have one of its real characters b...

Phil D. Jay  WBN Editor Champion shows class to out-point Brit WBC Super-Bantamweight Champion Toshiaki Nishioka kept hold of his title after a unanimous points decision victory over Rendall Munroe in Tokyo, Japan. All three judges, two Americans and a Mexican, scored the bout 119-109 which didn’t really reflect the effort shown by challenger in a cauldron of Japanese fans at the Sumo Hall. Munore started well, taking the centre of the ring and pushing back the champion with his strength but seemed to struggle generating enough power to hurt the WBC Champion. After round four, Nishioka took control of the bout and picked his punches superbly, shaking Munroe in the fifth with his trademark left hand and again in the seventh with an awesome body shot. Munroe tried to fight back, taking the ninth round to Nishioka, but the body punching of the Japanese fighter seemed to take the steam out of the “Boxing Bin Man” in the later rounds and his knees dipped in the tenth afte...

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor Steve Molitor was born in Ontario, Canada and began boxing as a youngster, following in his older brother Jeremy’s footsteps by taking up the sport. Steve fought over 100 fights at amateur level, winning a hefty percentage and acquiring numerous national titles before narrowly missing out on the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. After the disappointment of the Olympic Trials, Steve decided to turn professional and in May 2000 defeated Julio Luna in an eight-round contest via unanimous decision. This would set Steve up on an unbeaten, five year, twenty one fight winning streak as he picked up the Canadian Super-Bantamweight and Commonwealth, WBF and NABA Bantamweight Titles, beating British hot prospect Nicky Booth in his home country along the way. Steve had already beaten another Briton, John Mackay on his home-soil two years before he travelled to the UK for the third time to challenge Michael Hunter for the vacant IBF Super-Bantamweight Title in...

Phil D. Jay  WBN Editor Rendall Munroe focused on WBC Title WBC Super-Bantamweight Title challenger Rendall Munroe has been acclimatising to the Japanese time zone all this week in preparation for his bout with champion Toshiaki Nishioka on Sunday morning in Tokyo. “The Boxing Bin-man” as he is lovingly known in his home country has enjoyed his time in Japan and is hoping for a happy ending to his 12 day stay by taking the title back to his native Britain. Munroe 30, has just one close points defeat in 21 contests but is taking a huge step up against the champion, who has shared the ring with and beaten, some of the top super-bantamweights in the world. Nishioka (36-4-3) has beaten Ivan Hernandez and Jhonny Gonzalez in the last two years, both by stoppage and will have every confidence in keeping hold of the title he won in January 2009. With the Japanese being notorious for scoring bouts for the home fighter, it will be twice as tough for Munroe, who may have to st...

Phil D. Jay  WBN Editor Brave Aussie turns down Marquez offer to postpone bout Michael Katsidis’ challenge for the WBO and WBA Lightweight Titles against Juan Manuel Marquez will still go ahead despite the death of the challenger’s brother. The pair are due to meet on November 27th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and it has now been confirmed by the Australian that the bout will not be postponed. "The fight will go on," Katsidis said in a statement. "I will do this for Stathi, my family and myself. Stathi 31, who was a Queensland Champion Jockey in his native country, was found dead on Tuesday and police has confirmed there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death. Michael Katsidis went on to say, "He (Stathi) is with me and will be all the way, I'm happy about this. I have never experienced anything like I felt that day, Stathi is inside me.” "We will fight this fight together, I know this is what he wants." Golden ...

Former Contender star ready to take his chance Jesse Brinkley challenges for the IBF Super-Middleweight Title tomorrow night against current holder Lucien Bute at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. The 33 year-old finally has a world title shot after a 40 fight career that has seen him have the lows of losing four out of five fights and the highs of reaching the Contender TV series semi-finals. Jesse lost to former world champion Sergio Mora on the that night and ran him very close over seven tough rounds before losing three out of his next four fights, one of them to another former world champion Robin Reid. Since then, he is unbeaten in nine fights in the last three years and is hoping to rip the title away from the Canadian on his home soil. Bute 30, has held the title since late 2007 when he beat Alejandro Berrio via an eleventh round TKO and has made five successful defences since, including a notable late stoppage of three-time world middleweight champion William Jo...

Unified Bantamweight Champ faces months out  Morel: misses out  WBO and WBC Bantamweight Champion Fernando Montiel has suffered a fractured leg in a motorcycle accident last weekend which is expected to keep him out of the ring for the next few months. The Mexican was due to fight Eric Morel on November 20th, which has now been scrapped and there is increasing doubts that the scheduled match-up with former flyweight and super-flyweight champion Nonito Donaire on February 19th will now go ahead.  Donaire: on hold  Donaire has expressed his scepticism that the bout with Montiel would have been made in the first place “I had doubts. I heard various reports and figured something would postpone the Montiel fight,” said the 27-year-old Filipino. “We wanted to make sure, that’s why we signed a two-fight contract with Top Rank to ensure us that we are going to fight Montiel.” “I’m happy signing that contract to make sure my fight with Montiel gets made,” added Donaire. M...

WBC “Champion Emeritus” may be forced to retire Former WBC Super-Middleweight Champion Mikkel Kessler has announced that the eye injury that forced him to withdraw from the Showtime Super-Six Tournament doesn’t seem to showing signs of recovery. Kessler pulled out of the Super-Six after complaining of double vision and doctors have told him to expect to be out for up to a year or risk a permanent injury to his eye. “It is still the same. There is no improvement yet. I don’t spar. I do not train hard. I am not in doubt that it will be better. The only question is, when it is going to happen?” said the 31 year-old. “People always say to me “What if you get hit and it starts up again?” “What if you go blind, is it worth it?” and I say “No, its not,” He explained. The WBC have given Kessler a special status as the “Champion Emeritus” which allows him to box for the title as soon as he is fit enough to do so. If he eyes doesn’t improve to the Dane’s liking though, he may never b...

Thai legend gets win number 77 Pongsakek Wonjongkam made the 20th successful defence of his WBC Flyweight Title against fellow Thai Suriyan Por Chokchai in a close unanimous decision earlier today. The 33 year-old first won the title in 2001 and held it for six years making 19 defences before losing it to Daisuke Naito on points and also drawing a rematch with the Japanese fighter eight months later. In March this year, Wonjongkam travelled to Tokyo and regained the title with a majority points win over another Japanese flyweight, the unbeaten Koki Kameda. It was a close affair against ChokChai with Wonjongkam just edging it as the judges scored the bout 115-114, 114-113, 115-112 improving his recored to 77-3-1 with 40 KO’s.

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor Magic Man moving to Welterweight for fresh start Former IBF Light-Welterweight Champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi has left Lou DiBella and signed a three-year deal with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Despite also losing three world title tilts at 140lbs, the 29 year-old has also decided to move up to Welterweight as he is finding it increasingly difficult to get down to Light-Welterweight. Malignaggi has lost three out of his last five bouts, the last of which a comprehensive 11th round KO defeat to WBA Champ Amir Khan and will be looking to hit the ground running at 147lbs with his next opponent yet to be named. One man being mentioned by Malignaggi himself is European Welterweight Champion Matthew Hatton, brother of Ricky, who knocked Paulie out in 11 rounds in November 2008. “The Magic Man” will certainly have to come up with a new style and strategy at the higher weight as he is not a known puncher and will be in against m...

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor New IBF Champion calls out Golden Boy Newly crowned IBF Light-Middleweight Champion Cornelius “K-9” Bundrage has offered retired former six-weight world champion Oscar De La Hoya the chance to challenge for his eleventh world title. Brundrage (30-4-0), claimed the title with a surprise knockout victory over Cory Spinks in August and wants to capitalize on his new fight pulling power as he knows time is not on his side at 37 years of age. “This would be a great comeback fight for him. It is a chance for him to go out on top, and who is better than to go out against a champion?” Bundrage told World Boxing News. “Oscar loves boxing and he loves the spotlight,” he continued. “I’m not sure if he has been training or not, but I think he will come back to face the K-9. A lot of guys are challenging me now, but they are in my rear view mirror. I am looking through the front window and see the one guy who I look up to and admire, and he is Oscar De La ...

Inactivity: Jones Panamanian Champion set to defend WBA Belt, two years after clinching the title. Guillermo “Felino” Jones (36-3-2) is finally ready to defend his WBA Cruiserweight Title, two years after beating Firat Arslan to claim the championship. The Panamanian former light-middleweight and welterweight world title challenger has held the WBA belt since September 2008 and was the subjuect of a WBA meeting in August to decide whether strip him of the title. After agreeing to the October 2nd defence, Jones was allowed to keep the title and is now pencilled in to face Russian number one contender Valery Brudov (38-2-0) Tomorrow night in Panama City. His two year inactivity was due to several reasons, opponent postponements, injuries, amongst other things, but after 25 months without defending his title, the WBA seem to have finally persuaded the champion to defend or give up his title.