Boxing Blog – TSS Tidbits

MIRANDA GETS 2008 KO OF THE YEAR; LOOKING TO MAKE HIS 2009 CONTRIBUTION ON JANUARY 14TH

HOLLYWOOD, FL, December 31 – On January 11, 2008, Edison Miranda blasted David Banks out of the ring in the third round, a knockout recently named 2008 Knockout of the Year by ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael. On January 14th, 2009, “Pantera” hopes to make spectacular January knockouts an annual tradition when he takes on Manuel Esparza on the latest edition of “Hard Knocks at the Hard Rock” at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida.

“I’m happy to accept the award for Knockout of the Year from ESPN, and I promise that I will be in the running for the 2009 award every time I step into the ring in the New Year,” said Miranda. “They may have to name the award after me after they see all the spectacular knockout wins I have in 2009.”

Tickets for this event, which is headlined by the return of junior middleweight contender Sechew Powell and the debut of 2008 Puerto Rican Olympian Jonathan Gonzalez, are priced at $152, $102, $52, and $22, and are available now at the Hard Rock Live Box Office or TicketMaster.com.

Also in action on January 14th will be highly touted Cuban defector Stalinn Lopez in his pro debut and Star Boxing standout Yathomas Riley. Former undisputed cruiserweight champion O’Neil Bell, who was scheduled to make his heavyweight debut, has pulled out of the fight for personal reasons.

For more information regarding this and other events, log on to: www.warriorsboxing.com

LAS VEGAS (December 29, 2008) – Former Kazakhstan Olympian Beibut Shumenov (7-0, 5 KOs), fresh off of his impressive 10-round decision victory against Columbian knockout artist Epifanio “Diamente” Mendoza (28-6-1, 24 KOs), arguably is the most ambitious, fastest-rising prospect in boxing.

Fighting only 13 months as a professional unbeaten light heavyweight Shumenov has already captured three championship belts – WBC Asian Boxing Council, WBO Asia Pacific and PABA. His most defining victory to date was a one-sided victory by 12-round decision (120-107, 120-108, 120-108) against former WBC title-holder Montell “Ice” Griffin (50-8, 30 KOs) this past August in Kazakhstan.

Shumenov, 25, was recently named the WBC Asian Boxing Council Organization’s 2008 Boxer of the Year. Beibut headlined against Mendoza in his new promotional company’s (KZ Event Productions) U.S. debut December 13th in Bellevue, Washington.

“I’m enjoying boxing but it’s more of a hobby than career for me,” Shumenov explained. “I see myself going another route in the future. I want to challenge myself mentally, as a promoter, like I have physically as a boxer. I plan to expand my boxing company, KZ Event Productions, Inc., and promote boxing as a businessman. I enjoy organizing fights and building my own career.”

In his previous two fights, Mendoza lost to former world champion Jeff Lacy by controversial decision, as well as to Chad Dawson for the WBC light heavyweight title. Beibut easily handled the veteran Mendoza, who was a late replacement for former world champion Kelvin Davis, by scores of 100-90, 98-92 and 97-93.

“When Davis pulled out of the fight only a few days before the show,” Shumenov said, “I was ready to cancel the show rather than fight just any opponent. I was offered a 5-0 guy

with three knockouts. No offense to him but I’d already beaten Montell Griffin, (Lavell) Finger, (Donnell) Wiggins and (Shannon) Miller. I didn’t want to go backwards. I was either going to fight somebody with a good record, well-known name or title, or I wasn’t going to fight at all. As soon as I realized that Mendoza had just fought Lacy and Dawson, I accepted the fight, and I want to thank Mendoza for taking the fight on such short notice. He’s a tough guy who came to win.

“I haven’t reached my limit in terms of mastering my skills, but I am ready now to fight any of the top light heavyweights in the world such as Joe Calzaghe, Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson, Zsolt Erdie, Roy Jones, Jr., Julio Cesar Gonzalez, Hugo Garay or Andrian Diaconu. I am working hard to improve my mastership and, when I reach the highest levels of my skills, I’d like to demonstrate it against all of the world’s best fighters.”

Already rated No. 15 by the WBO, Shumenov was highly-touted in the 2004 Olympics, winning his opening bout against Polish representative Aleksy Kuziemsky (presently 16-0 as a pro prospect), 37-22. But hampered by a hand injury, Beibut was defeated in the round of 16 by Turkey’s Ihsan Yildorim Tarham, 27-19, in the same light heavyweight division in which Andre Ward won a gold medal for the United States.

There’s no slowing down the confident Beibut, who is like an old-time fighter who doesn’t want easy opponents to build-up his record. His fourth pro fight was a scheduled 12-round title fight against Wiggins. In his seventh bout Beibut looked very good against a much more experienced, former world title challenger Mendoza. Shumenov just wants to fight the best and position himself for a world title shot in late 2009 or early 2010.

The KZ Event Productions website (www.kzeventproductions.com) with soon be launched with additional information about Beibut Shumenov and his new promotional company.

World Super Flyweight Championship
DARCHINYAN vs. ARCE
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7 at HONDA CENTER
LIVE on SHOWTIME

World Super Flyweight Championship

VIC DARCHINYAN vs. JORGE ARCE

AND

NABO LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

ANTONIO DeMARCO vs. KID DIAMOND

HEADLINE EXPLOSIVE CARD

FEBRUARY 7 — HONDA CENTER — LIVE ON SHOWTIME

Tickets Go On Sale This Tuesday!

December 30 at 10 A.M. PT

ANAHEIM, CALIF. (December 28, 2008) – Gary Shaw Productions and Top Rank announced today that the championship doubleheader featuring the rumble between World Super Flyweight Champion VIC “Raging Bull” DARCHINYAN and World Boxing Association interim super flyweight champion JORGE “Travieso” ARCE, and the North American Boxing Organization lightweight championship battle between top contenders ANTONIO DeMARCO and ALMAZBEK “Kid Diamond” RAIYMKULOV, will take place Saturday, February 7 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Priced at $250, $125, $90, $60, $45 and $35, tickets go on sale, This Tuesday! December 30, at 10 a.m. PT, and can be purchased through Ticketmaster (all Ticketmaster outlets), by phone, 714-740-2000, or online at www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets will also be available at the Honda Center box office, beginning Wednesday, December 31.

Darchinyan (31-1-1, 25 KOs), of Sydney, Australia by way of Armenia, and Arce (51-4-1, 39 KOs), from Los Mochis, Mexico, will settle their bitter hostilities toward each other, once and for all, in a fight to the finish. Their battle will be televised live nationally on SHOWTIME Championship Boxing, beginning at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast.) The broadcast will open with DeMarco (19-1-1, 13 KOs), of Tijuana, Mexico, risking his three-year, 13-bout unbeaten streak and Top-10 rating in a career-defining fight against the battle-tested Raiymkulov (27-1-1, 15 KOs), from Las Vegas, Nev., by way of Kyrgyzstan, who is enjoying his own two-year winning streak. These four gladiators boast a combined record of 128-7-4 (92 KOs) – a winning percentage of 92% and a victory by knockout ratio of 72%.

VERO BEACH, Florida (December 23, 2008) – Team McGirt has reevaluated middleweight prospect James McGirt, Jr. (19-1-1, 9 KOs) and, after considerable soul searching, has collectively decided that the 26-year-old southpaw will return to old-school training and incorporate a more aggressive attack in order to take better advantage of his hand speed, as well as to avoid his frustrating “fight to the level of his opponent” pattern.

McGirt’s somewhat up-and-down career, at least of late, found him losing for the first time on April 11 to a fighter he had out on his feet, Carlos “Baby Sugar” DeLeon (20-2-2, 12 KOs), rebounding from that with an impressive performance on ESPN to defeat former IBO and WBU middleweight champion Raymond “Hallelujah” Joval (37-4, 16 KOs) by 10-round decision last July, which moved McGirt up as high as No. 8 in The Ring’s ratings, but then fighting a disappointing 10-round draw with Marcus Upshaw (8-3) in his last fight this past November.

“I need to stop taking people lightly,” McGirt admitted. “This isn’t a joke; boxing is a serious sport. I looked past him (Upshaw) to an HBO fight in January (since scrapped). He trained for 5-6 weeks and really came to fight. I take my hat off to him. I had to lose some weight at the end that I shouldn’t have had to worry about and I paid the consequences. I am now working hard to take control of myself, mentally. Guys are coming to beat me and my father (former 2-time world champion and James’ trainer, “Buddy” McGirt). They bring their ‘A’ game. I hurt him (Upshaw) in the first round and then waited around too long, loading up for a one-punch knockout. If the fight’s easy, I get lackadaisical and go into a slump for a few rounds. Before I know it, I’m behind, and then I need to come on. I had a bad day, got a draw, and now there’s nothing to do now but learn from it and move on. I want to fight the top middleweights but, mentally, I have to be in control. It’s not like in basketball when you’re in a zone and you feel nobody can stop you. You can’t do that in boxing because punches are being thrown at your head.”

McGirt’s next fight is January 16 on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights in a 10-round co-feature against veteran Angel “Toro” Hernandez (28-7, 16 KOs) from Key West, Florida. Hernandez, who took “Winky” Wright 12 rounds in their 2003 IBF light middleweight title fight, is a former NABF title holder.

McGirt has already gotten into his old-school training regiment, working hard twice a day – in the morning and night with rest after 9 PM – and constantly coming forward in the ring towards his opponent, letting his hands go in laser-like fashion. “I’ve been on James 24/7,” his father/trainer Buddy reported from their Vero Beach training camp. “I’m an old-school guy but today a lot of fighters train 3 or 4 times a day. That’s too much wear and tear on the body for James. He’s ready at 6:45 every morning. If he’s scheduled to run, he runs even if it’s raining. No excuses. I believe in hard work, a prepared diet, and rest. It’s working. I went to his place today and he was waiting for me to go at 6:45.

“I’ve told James since he started boxing that he has three strikes against him — al three strikes are having McGirt as his last name. The fighter and his trainer want to beat James and me. They want to get at me through James. He has a lot to handle in the ring and it’s not his fault that his last name is McGirt. It is what it is. I told him he can’t fight like me. The problem is he didn’t see what I had to put into training when I was coming up. He was too young for that. But he saw what it was like when I was world champion and thought that was the way it’s like. He didn’t see all of the work that went into it.

“James’ big problem is everything in sports always came easy for him, whether it was playing basketball, baseball or football. No matter what sport he played, it came easy for him on the field or court. But you don’t play boxing. I told him after the last fight that if he wasn’t going to take it serious, he should quit and get out of boxing. Nobody’s going to give him anything. I told him to take a few weeks, not overnight, to think about it. He says he wants it and he has done everything he has to do. James needs tunnel vision. You can’t just go home from the gym and go back the next day and pick things up. You have to take it home – shadow box and practice things there, too. He needs to be dedicated and isolated. James has an opportunity to make a better life for him and his two kids. This is it from now until he retires. When he loses the edge, I’ll pull the plug.”

The pressure associated with a fighter who is the son of a popular world champion, coupled with his tremendous natural athletic ability, have made it easy yet difficult at the same time for James McGirt, Jr. The new McGirt will hopefully allow James to go back to the future and become the world title challenger he’s destined to be.

THE WBC’S “BEST OF 2008 AWARDS”

The World Boxing Council’s Board of Governors has voted on the awards for the “Best of 2008,” and the results are as follows:

BOXER OF THE YEAR

Manny Pacquiao, Philippines: Manny won the World Boxing Council super featherweight world title by decision against defending champion Juan Manuel Marquez in March, then won the WBC lightweight world title by TKO against defending champion David Diaz three months later in June. Manny finished the year in December with a sensational TKO win against Oscar De La Hoya in the welterweight division.

HONORABLE MENTION BOXER OF THE YEAR

Edgar Sosa, Mexico: Edgar successfully defended the WBC light flyweight world title four times, defeating top level opponents which included mandatory challenger Juanito Rubillar of the Philippines in November.

COMEBACK OF THE DECADE

Vitali Klitschko, Ukraine: He came back as WBC Emeritus Champion in the heavyweight division in October after almost four years without fighting. He won the WBC heavyweight world title for the second time with an impressive performance in his TKO win against defending champion Samuel Peter in October.

FIGHT OF THE YEAR

Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez. The third fight between these two great Mexican champions in March was a spectacular battle. Vazquez was knocked down in the fourth round, but came back to knock down Marquez in the twelfth round and retain the WBC super bantamweight world title by decision.

MOST DRAMATIC FIGHT OF THE YEAR

Carl Froch vs. Jean Pascal. Froch, the new British sensation, won the vacant WBC super middleweight world title by decision against Canadian warrior Pascal in an intense and dramatic fight in December.

KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR

Vic Darchinyan, Australia. The new WBC super flyweight world champion knocked out talented and accomplished defending champion Cristian Mijares of Mexico, and fulfilled his dream of winning the green and gold belt.

GREATEST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR

Samuel Peter vs. Oleg Maskaev. For the first time ever, a heavyweight world championship fight was held in Mexico – it was a top-notch promotion and great success in paradisiacal Cancun in March. The atmosphere in the bullring was electric with a capacity crowd in attendance, and the broadcast on HBO was excellent. Interim champion Peter, a native of Nigeria living in Las Vegas, Nevada, won the WBC heavyweight world title with a ninth-round TKO against defending champion Maskaev, a native of Russia living in Sacramento, California.

WEIGHTS: JOAN GUZMAN 135 LBS. & AMETH DIAZ 134.25 LBS.

Joan Guzman (28-0, 17 KOs) is in his native Dominican Republic to take on World Boxing Association (WBA) Fedelatin lightweight champion Ameth Diaz (25-7, 19 KOs) of Panama this Saturday, Dec. 20, from El Palacio de los Deportes in Guzman’s hometown of Santo Domingo.

The 12-round fight is promoted by Jay Boxing Promotions and will be Guzman’s first since outpointing Soto last November. The bout also serves as a WBA lightweight title eliminator.

The fight will be available on DIRECTV Channel 434 and DISH NETWORK Channel 844 (please check local listings for time in your area).

Guzman didn’t have much to say at the weigh in, but he did share a few thoughts.

JOAN GUZMAN

“I had a great training camp and made weight without a problem. I am feeling strong and healthy and I’m ready to give Diaz one of the toughest fights of his career.

“I did not come to the Dominican Republic to lose in front of my people. Everyone will see Saturday that their Dominican champ is back and better than ever.”

CA-BASED PROMOTER INKS ANOTHER

HOT LOCAL PROSPECT

Los Angeles, CA (December 19, 2008) – On the heels of last month’s signing of East LA 2008 Olympian Shawn Estrada, Goossen Tutor Promotions’ President Dan Goossen has signed undefeated Covina, CA lightweight John Molina, Jr. to an exclusive promotional contract with the company.

One of the hottest young lightweight prospects in boxing, Molina, who will turn 26 three days after Christmas, is 14-0 with 10 of those wins coming by way of knockout. At 5-11, he is tall for his weight class and uses his height, speed and knockout power in both hands to his advantage. Eight of his 10 knockouts have come in the first two rounds, including five first round blowouts!

“It’s always exciting whenever we sign a hot prospect who possesses not only the skills but also the mental fortitude necessary to become a World Champion,” Goossen offered.

“My brother Joe has known John for a few years and suggested that we take a look at him. When we did, we witnessed a young man that showed tremendous punching power, the type fans love to see. And with Joe now working with John in the gym, the team is ready to move forward toward the world championship.”

Molina, who is co-managed by his father, John Molina, Sr. and Ben Lira, made his pro debut in March 2006 with a second-round knockout of Lester Balmores in Maywood, CA. He fought four more times that year, scoring three more knockouts.

In 2007 Molina knocked out three of his four opponents.

This year he has stopped three of his five opponents including, most recently, Fernando Lizarraga last month in Highland, CA.

Molina is looking forward to taking his career to the next level with Goossen Tutor.

“This is like a dream come true, something I’ve been working for my whole life,” said Molina. “Being with Goossen Tutor is a notch on my belt because I know they are very selective and passionate about their boxers, and for them to have interest in signing me is a compliment unto itself. I am very anxious to show my ability not just to Southern California but also to the World.

“The goal here was to find the vehicle that is going to take me to where I believe I can be – a World Champion. I believe we all have the same goal in mind. I’m also very happy to be part of the same team as Shawn Estrada, Paul Williams, Chris Arreola, Manny Quezada, and Andre Ward, to name just a few.

“The treatment I received from Goossen Tutor far exceeded any I got from other promoters. They made me feel at home. They’re a home-based company about family and I’m a home-based guy. I was raised in a close-knit family and so were the Goossens. It makes me feel comfortable. And I believe I made an excellent decision in my career.”

“And so did we,” Dan Goossen added.

Weights From Switzerland

Valuev-Holyfield PPV

Nicolai Valuev 310 ¾ lbs.

Evander Holyfield 214 ¼ lbs.

(WBA Heavyweight Championship)

Francisco Pianeta 242 ¼ lbs.

Johann Duhaupas 223 ¼ lbs.

(European Union Heavyweight Championship)

Eileen Olzsewski 110 ¾ lbs.

Nadia Raoul 111 ¼ lbs.

(WIBA Flyweight Championship)

Mads Larsen 172 lbs.

Roberto Cocco 171 lbs.

Jimmy Kapanov 197 lbs.

Paolo Ferrera 199 lbs.

Oleg Platov 216 lbs.

Jason Gavern 230 ¼ lbs.

WHEN: Live: Saturday, December 20, 2008 – 3 PM/ET 12 PM/PT

Tape: Saturday, December , 2008 – 9 PM/ET 6 PM/PT

WHERE: Hallenstadion, Zurich, Switzerland

WHAT: Main Event (12 round, WBA Heavyweight Championship): Nikolai “The Russian Giant” Valuev (49-1, 34 KOs), 2-time and reigning WBA Heavyweight Champion, St. Petersburg, Russia vs. Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield (47-9-2, 27 KOs), 4-time World Heavyweight Champion, Atlanta, Georgia.

Also on PPV (8-rounds, super middleweights): Mads “Golden Boy” Larsen (50-2, 37 KOs), former IBO & WBF super middleweight champion, Berlin, Germany vs. 5-time world kickboxing and Thai boxing champion, Roberto Cocco (9-2, 5 KOs), Torino, Italy.

(Highlights will be shown, time permitting, from some of the other fights on the card): European heavyweight champion Francesco Pianeta (17-0, 11 KOs) vs. Johann Duhaupas (17-0, 10 KOs); WIBA flyweight champion Eileen “The Hawaiian Mongoose” Olszewski (5-2-1, 0 KOs) vs. Nadia Raoul (9-0, 3 KOs); heavyweight Oleg Platov (26-1, 22 KOs) vs. Jason Gavern (15-4-3, 8 KOs), cruiserweight Jimmy Kapanov (8-0, 5 KOs) vs. Paolo Ferrara (25-13-1, 7 KOs).

PROMOTER: Wilfried Sauerland’s Sauerland Event and its Managing Director, Christian Meyer, in association with Don King Productions

PAY-PER-VIEW: Distributed in the United States by Integrated Sports for live viewing at 3 PM/ET – 12 PM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, TVN and DISH Network for a suggested retail price of only $24.95. Same night replay at 9:00 PM/ET – 6:00 PM/PT.

ANNOUNCERS: Al Bernstein and Nick Charles

PPV NFORMATION: www.integratedsportsnet.com