WBA super welterweight champion Jose Antonio Rivera will make the first defense his crown against undefeated “Tremendous� Travis Simms on the undercard of Sam Peter/James Toney II at the Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. on January 6.
Troubled Scott Harrison and his challenger Nicky Cook, the unbeaten former British, European and Commonwealth champion, are fighting for Harrison’s WBO featherweight title Saturday in London’s Excel Arena, and if their recent telephone conference call is any indication, fists might fly with the same lethal intensity as their words.
WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (34-4, 24 KOs), fresh off his victory over hardcore Ghanaian Joshua Clottey at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City Saturday night, says he’s ready to takes on all comers in the division, but would especially like to get it on with undefeated mandatory Paul “The Punisher” Williams (32-0, 24 KOs).
WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev, 33, aka the Big Russian, aka the crown jewel in Don King’s heavyweight stable, has decided against attempting to unify boxing’s marquee division and will instead defend his crown against perennial contender, and massive overachiever, Jameel McCline, 36, on January 20 in Switzerland.
The bigger, stronger, younger Winky Wright (51-3-1, 25 KOs) had the homecoming everyone at the St. Pete Times Forum expected Saturday night by totally dominating the smaller, weaker, older Ike Quartey (37-4-1, 31 KOs), in a fight broadcast by HBO.
Now that Bernard Hopkins’ return to the ring is officially official, the man in Ex’s sights is none other than the charismatic undefeated super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe.
Due to a hand injury, Matt Skelton (21-1, 18 KOs) has pulled out of his December 9 fight with Audley “A-Force� Harrison (20-2, 15 KOs) at the London Excel Arena in the UK.
Sweden, birthplace of former heavyweight champion of the world Ingemar Johansson and one of the more enlightened countries on the planet, banned professional boxing in 1970 after a study determined that the those who engage on the sport run the risk of suffering “severe and even life-threatening injuries,� and that boxing “had a brutalizing effect on the audience� and “was governed by unsound economic interests,� according to the AP.
I’m a tough nut to crack. I don’t like “Rocky,� love “Raging Bull,� must be a dark side of the moon kind of guy. I remember drifting through Michael Mann’s “Ali� almost half asleep, seemingly narcotized by the reverence.
Bernard “The Executioner� Hopkins, 41, to the surprise of no one, has decided to cut short his retirement (he promised his now deceased mother that he wouldn’t box beyond the age of 40) and return to active duty in the ring. Ex says the boxing needs him, America needs him, and the heavyweight division needs him.
