World Boxing News 2010-2013

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor Unbeaten 28 year-old want to stay busy next year American Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell has been speaking to World Boxing News about his vision for 2011, after a successful 2010, when the Maryland boxer fought five times, winning all five by stoppage. 6’ 2” Mitchell, has always kept busy in his three-year career, cramming twenty one fights in since turning professional in January 2008 and believes 2011 will entail more of the same as he aims to climb the heavyweight rankings in the next 12 months. “2011 is a very big year for me and I expect big things to happen for me this year,” Mitchell told World Boxing News. “I would like to fight 5 to 6 times this year if possible and I am very happy with the way my career has gone thus far, 21 fights in a little less than 3 years is a great achievement for me. I believe that my team and promotional company, Golden Boy Promotions, have done a great job in getting me the right fights at the right time and hopefully,

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor European champion ready for acid test A March 19th date has been pencilled in for 35 year-old Brian Magee’s toughest test to date against Canada’s unbeaten IBF super-middleweight champion Lucien Bute at the Bell Centre in Monteal. Magee (34-3-1) is the current European champion, a title which he is likely to vacate as he steps up in class to face one of the top boxers in the division and the Irishman is confident he can handle the pressure as he takes on the champion on his home patch. “I am really looking forward to the fight,” Magee told WBN. “I have been to Canada many times as an amateur and I love the place, especially Montreal. The people are great and it’s a great city.” The challenger held the IBO title from 2001 to 2004 and has travelled abroad before when controversially unsuccessful in a European title challenge in Germany in 2005, but he believes the experience he has gained since then will help him in his quest for recognised world title.

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor After a long drawn out process of negotiations, Manny Pacquiao decided on fighting Shane Mosley rather than Andre Berto or Juan Manuel Marquez after giving his first choice opponent Floyd Mayweather Jr every chance to agree to a welterweight super-fight. Money and contracts did not seem to be an issue with the unbeaten four-weight world champion as his outside troubles have kept him out of the ring since he out-pointed Mosley himself, in a one-sided bout in May of 2010. Bob Arum had given a deadline, announced alternative opponents and even expressed his personal desire to get the fight made, but all appeared to be in vain as Mayweather never really got deep enough into any sort of talks to make a concrete case to challenge Pacquaio. That task now falls to “Sugar”, who gets his chance after indifferent form over the last three years. Wins over Miguel Cotto challenger Ricardo Mayorga and Pacquiao’s last opponent Antonio Margarito in late 2008 and early 20

SUNDAY 26TH DECEMBER 2010 Koki Kameda bt Alexander Munoz  ( UD ) ( 117-109, 116-109, 115-111 ) ( WBA bantamweight title ) Daiki Kameda bt Silvio Olteanu  ( SD ) ( 116-112, 115-113 , 110-118) ( WBA flyweight title ) THURSDAY 23RD DECEMBER 2010 Hugo Fidel Cazares bt Hiroyuki Hisataka  ( UD ) ( 117-111, 117-111, 116-112 ) ( WBA super-flyweight title ) SATURDAY 18TH DECEMBER 2010 Jean Pascal (D) Bernard Hopkins  (112-114, 113-113, 114-114 ) ( WBC light-heavyweight title ) Paulie Malignaggi bt Michael Lozada  ( TKO ) ( 6th Round ) (welterweight) Tyson Fury bt Zack Page  ( UD ) ( 80-72, 80-72, 80-72 ) (heavyweight) Luis Alberto Lazarte ( D ) Ulises Solis  (117-109, 113-113, 113-113 ) ( IBF light-flyweight title ) Marco Huck bt Denis Lebedev  ( SD ) ( 115-113, 115-113 , 112-116) ( WBO cruiserweight title ) Yoan Pablo Hernandez bt Ali Ismailov  ( KO ) ( 1st round ) ( WBA cruiserweight title eliminato

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor Light-middleweight champion to choose opponent soon WBA 154lb champion Miguel Cotto will return to action at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on March 12th and will decide his opponent in the near future, with three possible candidates on his shortlist to choose from. Cotto, 30, could face unbeaten Armenian Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan, Poland’s Pawel Wolak or three-time world champion Ricardo Mayorga of Nicaragua on the same night Sergio Martinez defends his WBC middleweight title at Madison Square Garden. The three men face an anxious wait to find out their fate as Cotto makes his first appearance since his proposed bout with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr collapsed last month, leading to the Puerto Rican putting his fight date back to March next year. 24 year-old Vanes Martirosyan is the hot favourite to face Cotto and holds an outstanding record of 28 fights 17 knockouts and no defeats. He trains at the Wildcard Gym with Freddie Roach and would not be an easy nights

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor WBA light-welterweight champion Amir Khan is a much sought after fighter since his excellent bout with Marcos Maidana earlier this month, but it now looks likely that he will defend his title against American challenger Lamont Peterson in the UK next April. Khan, 24, has been linked with various opponents since his Las Vegas debut victory, with Floyd Mayweather, Victor Ortiz and a move up to welterweight to take on fellow Brit Kell Brook all being supposed options for Khan (24-1). Its now almost certain that he next fight will be on his home soil in Britain, with the MEN Arena in Manchester the likely venue as “King Khan” builds up to a unification fight back in Las Vegas in the late summer against Timothy Bradley or Devon Alexander. Probable opponent Lamont Peterson drew with another of Khan’s possible future opponents Victor Ortiz on the undercard of his Vegas bout with Maidana and brings an impressive 28-1-1 record with 14 KO’s, his only defeat agai

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor Is it just me, but since when does a two round blow-out against a cold Paul Williams and unanimous points win over a man with many problems in his life (Kelly Pavlik), make you one of the best fighters on the planet? People seem to forget that Martinez had never ventured into world class until he was 34 years old and to be a pound for pound fighter, you have to take on the best around and prove it with longevity or at least keep your unified titles by making mandatory defences. In 2008, Martinez was still fighting four-rounders and in 2007, fought a man with 34 losses on his record. The year previously, Martinez fought Oliver Tchinda, who had one win in ten fights and certainly wasn’t a worthy opponent. All this, for me, doesn’t help him in his quest to be recognised as a pound for pound best fighter in the world. I struggled to even rank him in the top 20 until earlier this year and some people in the boxing game had him ranked as one of the best in the

Super-flyweight drops down for Bayaar challenge In only his eighth fight, Liverpudlian super-flyweight Paul Edwards faces his toughest test yet as he drops down to the 112lb limit to challenge British flyweight champion Shinny Bayaar at the Kings Hall in Belfast tonight. The 24 year-old has won all seven of his previous bouts, all at super-flyweight, since turning pro in July 2008 and jumps up several levels in class to take on the Oldham-based Mongolian on the undercard of the Martin Lindsay v John Simpson British featherweight title clash. Bayaar, 33, lost three of his first six bouts after turning pro in 2000, but has only lost once since 2004, against former British bantamweight champion Martin Power and just scraped through a split decision draw with Ashley Sexton earlier this year, to cling on to his title. Both fighters looked chiselled at the weigh-in, showing each other a mutual respect, but looking ready for a war, with scouser Edwards happy with his preparations and l

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor Both fighters give all in bruising battle British fighter Amir Khan retained his WBA light-welterweight title last night with a unanimous decision victory over Argentina’s hard-punching Marcos Maidana at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas. Khan, 24, put the challenger on the floor in the first round of a thrilling contest, which swung one way and then the other. The classier work coming from the champion, who improves his record to 24-1, still with that solitary loss to Breidis Prescott. 27 year-old Maidana was constantly frustrated by the champion’s speed and threw an elbow in the fifth, for which he was deducted a point. He came on strong in the later rounds as the Olympic Silver Medallist waned at the end. The three judges at ringside scored the contest 114-111, 114-111, 113-112 to hand Khan his third successful defence of the title, which he claimed from Ukrainian Andriy Kotelnik in July 2009 and will only enhance the Briton’s soaring repu

“I am going after bigger fish” – Canelo WBC “Silver” light-middleweight champion Saul Alvarez has distanced himself away from a potential all-Mexican showdown with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr by calling the unbeaten 24 year-old, “A good fighter, but that’s it.” Speaking on Mexican TV, Alvarez stated his intention to avoid middleweight Chavez Jr, in search of better known fighters in order to raise his profile, whilst Chavez hit back by saying “He called me out on TV, I didn’t even know who he was.” Although it’s highly unlikely that the pair will meet in the near future, it could happen later down the line. If both fighters acquire a world title in their respective weights, then a Mexican super-fight in two, maybe three years could be one of the biggest since Barrera v Morales. It has been mentioned that Alvarez’s promoters, Golden Boy have put an offer on the table to European welterweight champion Matthew Hatton, brother of two-weight world champion Ricky, to fight Alvarez in Mexico

Phil D. Jay WBN Editor There’s a lot of talk, especially in the United States, of the forthcoming Amir Khan vs Marcos Maidana WBA light-welterweight title fight on Saturday night being a battle of Khan’s speed against Maidana’s power. The fight at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas has even adopted the same name as Floyd Mayweather’s 2005 showdown with Italian-born Canadian legend Arturo Gatti; 'Thunder vs Lightning' as the promoters try to make the fight accessible to the American public. For my money, the bout should be called Thunder vs Thunder as Amir Khan has demonstrated his awesome power on numerours occasions in the past and it's just something that the American audiences have yet to witness. Granted that Maidana has 22 wins of his 29 contests, finishing in the first three rounds to Khan’s 12, but Maidana has fought six times more than Khan and its questionable whether his class of opponent could be compared to that of the former Olympic Silver Medalli

 WBO Super-Featherweight Title                                                   BURNS        EVENSEN ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Round 1                                       10                    8 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Round 2                                                                  10                    9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Round 3                                       10                    9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Round 4                                        9                    10 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Round 5                                       10                    9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Round 6                        

TUESDAY 30TH NOVEMBER 2010 Drian Francisco bt Duangpetch Kokietgym  ( TKO ) ( 10th Round ) (interim WBA Super-Flyweight Title ) SATURDAY 27TH NOVEMBER 2010 Juan Manuel Marquez bt Michael Katsidis  ( TKO ) ( 9th Round ) ( WBA and WBO Lightweight Titles ) Andre Berto bt Freddy Hernandez  ( TKO ) ( 1st Round ) ( WBC Welterweight Title ) Andre Ward bt Sakio Bika  ( UD ) ( 120-108, 118-110, 118-110 ) ( WBA Super-Middleweight Title ) Miguel Vasquez bt Ricardo Dominguez  ( UD ) ( 120-108, 119-109, 118-110 ) ( IBF Lightweight Title ) Giovanni Segura bt Manuel Vargas  ( RET ) ( 7th Round ) ( Flyweight ) Carl Froch bt Arthur Abraham  ( UD ) ( 120-108, 120-108, 119-109 ) ( WBC Super-Middleweight Title ) Robert Helenius bt Attila Levin  ( TKO ) ( 2nd Round ) (Heavyweight) Walter Estrada bt Nate Campbell  ( SD ) ( 77-74, 77-74, 75-76 ) (Lightweight) FRIDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2010 Takahiro Ao bt Vitali Tajbert  ( UD ) ( 116-110, 117-11

Francisco scores sixteenth career knockout Unbeaten Filipino super-flyweight Drian Francisco picked up the interim WBA Super-Flyweight Title on Tuesday night with a tenth round TKO over Thailand’s Duangpetch Kokietgym in Nong Khai, Thailand. Francisco, 28, has won 20 of his 21 contests, is yet to taste defeat in his five-year career and will gain the title vacated by Nonito Donaire, who fights this Saturday night after moving up to Bantamweight. His next challenge will be against tough Mexican Hugo Fidel Cazares or Japan’s Hiroyuki Hisataka, who meet for the WBA Title on the 23rd of December in Osaka, Japan, with the bout scheduled for early spring. His opponent had and impressive record of 52 wins in 54 bouts before the knockout, with the 30 year-old’s only loss being a knockout in his second contest thirteen years ago as a seventeen year-old. Kokietgym was taken to hospital as a precaution after taking his time to regain consiousness. He was floored twice in the sixth round,

Family fued fight is possible  After Junior Witters pot shots in a recent interview with the BBC, Matthew Hatton has retaliated by saying it’s a fight that the current EBU Welterweight champion would not refuse. Speaking to the Daily Mirror , Hatton, 29, recalled how “The hitter” has been slagging off the Hatton family for years and how he could be in a position to shut Witter up once and for all.  Former WBC Light-Welterweight Champion Witter, 36, spoke to BBC Sport last week about plans to end his fifteen-month absence from the ring and sees Matthew Hatton as ideal cannon fodder. "I don't see winning Hatton’s title as being a problem at all, then I want to move up to the world scene and get a title shot. "Andre Berto's WBC title is the one I want, but there are other champions out there." At 36, and with only five fights in four years behind him and two defeats in his last three bouts, It’s a little bit audacious for Witter to be calling ou