Boxing Blog – TSS Tidbits

ProElite.com, an online community for MMA fighters, fans and organizations, announced it will bring the prestigious Abu Dhabi Combat Club “Submission Wrestling World Championship� to a global Internet audience for the first time May 5 – 6, 2007. The live broadcast stream from the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey will begin noon EST/ 9:00 a.m. PST on both days

This ProElite.com and OntheMat.com Pay-Per-View presentation over two days will feature selected fights from over 75 male and 30 female fighters that include grappling’s cream of the crop from Brazil, Australia, France, Japan, Canada, Portugal and the United States. Visitors to ProElite.com before May 5 will be able to purchase the two-day event, unlimited viewing, for only $19.99, a $5 discount to purchasing May 5 or after.

Besides the two days of live fights, fans will be treated to bonus coverage that ranges from behind-the-scenes interviews to the pre-fight weigh-ins on May 4.

The featured “Super Fight,� scheduled for May 6, will have current Absolute Division winner Roger Gracie battling against Ricardo Arona, who replaced an injured Dean Lister on the card. Due to contractual obligations during ADCC 2005, Arona was unable to defend his Super Fight title against Lister and now he’s back in this epic match-up with Gracie.

“There is no grappling event in the world that is as exclusive as the invitation-only ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship,� said Kelly Perdew, President of ProElite.com. “ADCC is a high-caliber brand with a world class event and we are privileged to be aligned with them. This tournament occurs once every two years, making it a can’t-miss event that will not disappoint.�

ADCC has staged the Submission Wrestling World Championship since 1998 with 2007 marking its 7th presentation of the biennial event. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was imported to Abu Dhabi, UAE from the United States when Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nayan studied in San Diego, California, and brought back Jiu-Jitsu master Nelson Monterio, Jr. to found the ADCC. The event has grown into the most prestigious of all grappling events, offering the largest purses in the discipline.

“Our goal with ADCC World Championship is to bring together the best the fighting world has to offer under one roof,� said H.E. Sheikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of Abu Dhabi Combat Club. “No one in the MMA online community understands this better than Kelly Perdew and ProElite.com. With their advanced streaming broadcast and social networking capabilities, they will introduce this event to a whole new audience.�

Undefeated USBA super bantamweight champion Mike “Machine” Oliver headlines “Battle Zone 3″ in a 10-round non-title fight against Vernie Torres on May 4 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

“Battle Zone 3,” promoted by Alpha Omega Entertainment Group in association with Sprint, Mohegan Sun and NESN, will be taped live and shown on NESN on Thursday, May 24th at 8:00 PM/ET.

Hartford-native Oliver (18-0, 7 KOs), rated No. 8 by the International Boxing Federation, captured the USBA title last October with a 12-round unanimous decision against Adam Carrera at Mohegan Sun, is coming off of a close title-defense 12-round decision victory against Gary Stark, Jr. on February 16 in Oklahoma.

Torres (27-9, 15 KOs), a Philippine southpaw now fighting out of Pensacola (FL), is the former USBA and WBO super flyweight champion, as well as IBA bantamweight title holder.

The 10-round co-feature is a rematch between Rodney Toney, cousin of future Hall of Fame boxing champion James Toney, and Anthony “The Rowdy One” Russell for the vacant IBA Americas light heavyweight championship. Last October, WBA No. 36 rated Toney (29-5-5, 17 KOs) captured a unanimous 10-round decision from the Canadian-born Russell (15-2-1, 4 KOs).

“Our ‘Battle Zone Boxing’ series continues to grow with NESN and Mohegan Sun helping us bring high quality boxing on television in New England,” promoter Hank Tuohy said. “Having Oliver headline, the USBA champion and rated so high by the IBF, is very exciting. The rematch between Toney and Russell should be a war. We also have some of the best young talent around on the undercard.”

Chief support on the undercard will be provided by unbeaten heavyweight prospect Tony Grano (8-0-1, 7 KOs), the 2005 U.S. Nationals amateur champion from Hebron (CT), against dangerous Jay Sweetman (7-5, 3 KOs) in a six-round bout.

Also scheduled to fight on “Battle Zone 3″ is exciting Stoughton (MA) cruiserweight Chris McInerney (7-0-1, 4 KOs), whose 2005 draw with Anterio Vines earned ESPN2 Fight of the Year honors, versus veteran John Battle (14-18-1, 7 KOs) in a six-round match; Vietnamese featherweight Dat “Be Dat” Nguyen (8-0, 5 KOs) faces Jorge Ruiz (5-1-1) in another six-rounder; Boston light welterweight Anthony LaMonica (3-0, 2 KOs) takes on Ken Yon Kellum (0-1 in a pair of four-round match. All bouts and fighters are subject to change.

“Battle Zone 3″ is sponsored in part by Mohegan Sun, Everlast, DavidoffMadison.com, Sprint/Nextel (Data Link Communications), KitchenSales.com and SearchHelp.com.

Tickets, priced at $25.00, $40.00 and $75.00, are available at the Mohegan Sun box office by calling 800.226.7711 or at www.mohegansun.com. For more information call 617.842.8661 or go to www.tuohysports.com.

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Leading up to the super fight showdown between future Hall of Famers Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather — set for Saturday, May 5 in Las Vegas and broadcast live on HBO Pay-Per-View– HBO Sports will present exclusive back-to-back weekends of four ring performances, showcasing their talents.

On Friday, April 27 at 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT) HBO 2 and Saturday, April 28 at 10:00 a.m. (ET/PT), HBO2 will replay Mayweather vs. Judah (their 2006 melee-marred scrap) and Mayorga vs. De La Hoya (Oscar’s surprisingly dominant 2006 outing against the Nicaraguan bully). Mayweather’s unanimous decision over Zab Judah and De La Hoya’s sixth round KO of Ricardo Mayorga came a month apart last year and underscored their command in the ring.

Then on Friday, May 4 at 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT) and Saturday, May 5 at 12:30 p.m. (ET/PT), HBO 2 will replay Mayweather vs. Corrales (PBF’s five-knockdown decimation in 2001) and De La Hoya vs. Vargas (the all-Hispanic showdown from 2002). The Mayweather victory over Corrales at 130 pounds was total domination, while De La Hoya hammered away at Vargas before scoring an 11th round TKO win.

The four fights will also be available to HBO On Demand subscribers and can be seen 24 hours a day from Monday, April 23 thru Monday, May 14.

On Saturday, May 5 at 9:00 p.m. ET/ 6:00 p.m. PT, HBO Pay-Per-View will present De La Hoya vs. Mayweather live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. As if you didn’t already know this…

Occasionally, we’ll offer content from some of the well informed readers that interact with TSS. Here’s a short piece from Mike Richards, a regular TSS reader who gives us an insight into how the British public view Joe Calzaghe.

The British public’s reaction to Joe Calzaghe’s victory over Peter Manfredo Jr was one of indifference. Outside of Wales, of course…

Joe had been riding a wave of respect among the public and boxing insiders after his demolition of Jeff Lacy last March; however his match with unknown Sakio Bika and then Peter Manfredo Jr had removed any respect Joe had gained. A large number of tv viewers were familiar with Peter Manfredo Jr from the Contender series and while his story tugged at viewers hearts, his inability to box left no doubt that he wasn’t a true contender.

I was often asked how could a guy that lost in the 1st round and the final of the show expect to beat Joe Calzaghe? What is Frank Warren thinking? They had been promised Hopkins, Wright, Kessler and Roy Jones Jr and now we get Peter Manfredo Jr.

To make matters worse the ending of the fight hardly earned Calzaghe any fan support. He was expected to crush Manfredo Jr but the referee did that. Frank Warren attempted to give his usual spin that Manfredo Jr was a name. Yes, he was but to British fans he was and is a reality tv fighter, one that couldn’t win a reality tv tournament, yet he was allowed to fight for a world title.

On numerous occasions since the Lacy fight Joe had been vocal in the media questioning why he had not won BBC sports personality of the year. The answer was simple enough– he hadn’t faced challenges that the public deemed insurmountable. Joe is treading a thin line with the British public (outside wales)… continue to fight nobodies and we will abandon you once again. As one of my mates said after the Calzaghe v Manfredo fight it was “PATHETIC CAR CRASH TV”.

I want to add to that Sugar Ray Leonard’s constant rant that Manfredo Jr would beat Joe seemed to puzzle British fight fans. Especially when Barry Mcguigan said on English network tv during the build up that he had a side bet with Sugar Ray that Manfredo Jr would not beat Calzaghe. Sugar Ray lost a lot of credibility with his steadfast declaration of a Manfredo Jr victory. If there is one thing we now truly know it’s this don’t bet on a Sugar Ray produced fighter. He may have been a great fighter but he has been founding wanting in terms of talent spotting. —Mike Richards

It was heartbreaking to see what happened to Diego Corrales last night. Witnessing a fighter of the caliber of Corrales fall to the level he has is just a shame. I think it’s abundantly clear that his best days are behind him at the age of 29. As far as I am concerned the fight lasted about four or five rounds longer than it should have. I normally agree with Al Bernstein most of the time, but yesterday was the exception to the rule. He stated that referee Mike England was doing a good job officiating the fight. To have allowed that carnage to continue was sadistic. The fight wasn’t close, in fact Corrales wasn’t even fighting well enough to be competitive. Corrales got hit with a ton of clean punches and was staggered several times, ultimately being dropped twice in the process. Corrales has always said that he wants to be taken out on his shield, apparently England wanted to see that materialize.

In the past two years Corrales is 0-3 in last three fights. He obviously hasn’t been the same since his first epic encounter with Jose Luis Castillo. Fights of that brute physicality always leaves a fighter drained. That was apparent when he stepped into the squared circle with Castillo five months later. So combine several extremely tough fights in a row, with a year of inactivity that saw him fail to make weight, with the pounding he took yesterday and you have a finished fighter.

Hopefully Corrlaes makes the choice of stepping away from the game while he still has his senses. He is still 29 and can still be involved in the sport of boxing in the capacity as a trainer or a commentator. The road doesn’t seem to bright if he continues as a boxer.

Some fighters just plummet after fighting that one “great” fight in their career. Last night reminded me of witnessing Riddick Bowe fighting Andrew Golota both times eleven years ago. A spent force.

—J-Gon