Boxing Experts Blog

Boxers are like baseball closers, you got to have a short memory otherwise a beating can put your career down for the count. Ricky Hatton recovered once from a whipping at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and now it sounds like he's regaining his confidence after the Manny Pacquiao disaster. His father Ray says Ricky wants to make sure the decision to retire will come at the right time:

"He's taking his time. He is single minded, stubborn if you like, and once he makes up his mind that will be it. We will respect that decision and knowing him it will be final and certainly he won't be a Frank Sinatra, forever making comebacks."

The older Hatton says there's no need rush into the second phase of life at such a young age:

"This is one big decision for a 30-year-old. It's not like old Father Time is catching up on him. It's the biggest decision of his career, even of his life, and he's got to get it right."

Hatton's legacy is at stake if he walks away off a defeat where he was last seen laid out:Read More >>

Manny Pacquiao may not be boxing's best pitchman but his trainer is certainly making up for it. Freddie Roach has taken on the role of trash-talker extraordinaire. Roach isn't happy that the upcoming Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez fight is simply being dubbed "No. 1":

"They can call Mayweather-Marquez "No. 1" but it smells like No. 2," said Freddie Roach. "The fight stinks. Two counter-punchers waiting for the other one to make the first move is boring and proves nothing." 

Since the minute the Pacman-Ricky Hatton fight ended, Roach has been ripping the Mayweather comeback effort. He told ESPNRadio1100 that the fight will be terrible. He repeated recently that Mayweather is ducking Pacquiao:

"If Mayweather wanted to prove he was the best all he had to do was wait one day to see who won Pacquiao-Hatton before signing to fight Marquez.  You might as well rename him Fraud Mayweather, Jr.“

Marquez twice fought Pacquiao going 0-1-1. The WBA and WBO lightweight champ is fighting Mayweather at a catch-weight of 144 pounds.

Chad Dawson got the job done on Saturday but was it enough to get a Bernard Hopkins fight? At the postfight press conference, Dawson's promoter Gary Shaw said  that it doesn't matter what "Bad Chad" does, Hopkins isn't going to fight him. Shaw saw BHop on ESPN on Friday night saying the money has to be right. Shaw's response:

"Bernard is full of [expletive]!"

That prompted Hopkins' camp member Malik Chambers to snap at Shaw during the press conference. Chambers took issue when Shaw said that Hopkins had offered Tomasz Adamek $300,000-$500,000 for a fight. Chambers told Shaw to mind his own business because it was really $1.2 million. For some reason, Hopkins also told ESPNRadio1100 that it $500,000 last week (3:05 mark). There seems to be some disconnect between Chambers and Hopkins or is it possible that in the week since the BHop interview, Adamek was offered $1.2 million?

Dawson told ESPNRadio1100 there haven't been any negotiations with the Hopkins camp (7:00 mark) so it seems a bit odd that Chambers would be yelling out, "get the money right!" during the press conference:

"There's not been one second of conversation. So how can he say it's a money issue? What he should say is, I'm going to have my representatives call Gary Shaw and work out a deal."

Watch Shaw talk about Dawson v. Hopkins with Yahoo!:

Shaw says he's not going to chase Hopkins. Fortunately for fight fans Dawson does have the option of going down to 168 pounds to take on Carl Froch or Mikkel Kessler. Is there any other fight we care about for Hopkins other than Dawson?  

There were plenty of negative cries about this rematch between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver. Dawson did beat Tarver the first time around but it wasn't a walkover. There didn't have to be a rematch but it turned out to be a pretty good fight. The fans and the HBO broadcast team seemed to think it was a much closer fight than the judges who gave a unanimous decision to Chad Dawson 117-111 on two cards and 116-112 on the other card. The Yahoo! Boxing Blog scored it 115-113 but there were at least three difficult rounds to score. Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole had it 117-111 for Dawson.

Dawson retains his IBO light heavyweight title in front of 2,156 at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas but sounded disappointed after the fight:

"I was a little bit out of my element. He came back strong in the middle rounds. He said he was going to push the pace. He came forward," said Dawson (28-0, 17 KOs). "He took me off my gameplan. He fought a heckuva fight. My hats off to him."

Dawson outlanded Tarver 209-121 and landed at a higher connect rate (31-percent to 16-percent). He also impressed the judges with his body punching, landing 62 shots to just 14 for Tarver.

Dawson's best rounds came in the sixth and seventh. His combinations of three or body punches followed by a big uppercut were impressive. He did the same in the ninth round to at least lock up a draw at that point in the fight.Read More >>

The night is off and running for Eddie Mustafa Muhammed in Las Vegas in the Joint at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. His main pupil Chad Dawson looks for another win over Antonio Tarver in roughly an hour. On the undercard, Muhammed's heavyweight prospect Bowie Tupou scored a quick knockout win over journeyman Chris Koval. Tupou pounded "Special K" in the opening two round using a stiff jab to score. Tupou blasted his opponent with some big rights to close the second and Koval responded by smacking his face, saying he wanted more. He got it early in the second when Tupou followed two jabs with a huge right that locked up Koval. He froze for a second and then fell to his knees. Referee Tony Weeks spared Koval (24-6, 18 KOs) any more damage at 0:15 of the third round.

It was the third win of the year for Topou (17-0, 13 KOs), who was coming off a victory over the one and only Marcus Rhode.

Another unbeaten prospect, Ismayl Sillakh (8-0, 7 KOs) scored a sixth round KO (2:25) win against David Whittom )_in a light heavyweight fight.

Jose Guzman, 25, also remained unbeaten but it wasn't easy. Veteran Jose Lugo was outclassed but was able to sucker Guzman onto the ropes where he did some decent damage to the body, In the end, Guzman (7-0, 5 KOs) was simply too slick in the middle of the ring. He won a majority decision (59-55, 58-56, 57-57) over Lugo (10-8-1, 5 KOs).

Additional undercard results:

Melisa Hernandez (10-1-2, 3 KOs) defeated Jeri Sitzes (14-9-1, 6 KOs) via Unanimous decision (60-54, 59-55, 59-55)

Anna Donnatella Hultin (1-0, 1 KO) defeated Jasica Rojo (0-1) via fourth round KO, 1:08 - Jr. Lightweight

Said El Harrack (5-0, 2 KOs) defeated Hugo Correa (8-3, 4 KOs) via first round KO, 1:55 - Middleweight

Jose Pacheco (1-5-6) and Omar Valencia (0-3-1), Majority Draw (39-37, 39-32, 38-38) - Jr. Featherweight

Bernard Hopkins was beaming in Atlantic City back in October when he downed the much younger Kelly Pavlik. Little did he know that dominant win could be his swan song. At 44 years old, Hopkins is only going to take a big money fight, but the choices are slim and BHop says he's getting the lionshare of the money or he won't fight the likes of Chad Dawson, Tomasz Adamek or even Antonio Tarver. That's right. Tarver a huge underdog tonight against Dawson, would certainly make for a big rematch against Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KOs), if he puts in a rousing victory.

Hopkins says he's ready to fight someone in September but the terms have to be right:

"I'm not waiting on nobody," Hopkins told Yahoo! Sports. "If it ain't set up by at least June or July, whoever it is, then it's a wrap. It's a done deal. What's the purpose? If a guy's 44 years old, they should be beating his door down."

Listen to Hopkins talk about Dawson and Adamek (2:45 mark):

Hopkins claims that Dawson wants a 50-50 split. Dawson told ESPNRadio1100 on Friday that's not the case:

"We haven't even talked about money. No one's even mentioned anything about money. Let's just fight man. Stop all the bullcrap. I go to the ratings, they have Bernard rated above me. He's one, I'm two. Don't you think one and two should fight? The money will be good for both of us. Let's just fight."

Now word is leaking out that Hopkins is throwing the name Felix Trinidad into the mix. Huh? That set off Keith Idec of the North Jersey Herald:Read More >>

Eight months has passed since the first time they met but you'd think it was five years from the recent reports of their first meeting. Chad Dawson rolled to a decision win over Antonio Tarver but it was far from a beating. Yet according to the odds, this is one of the most lopsided title bouts of the year. Dawson (27-0m 17 KOs) was as high as -900 at some Las Vegas sportsbooks on Friday. The number has settled down but it's still at a very high in the -600 to -700 range. What's the deal?

The 40-year-old Tarver (27-5, 19 KOs) has a shot in this fight. He was more dedicated this time around with his training. Tarver got as a high as 233 pounds for the role of "Mason Dixon" in Rocky VI. He's generally cutting from around the 200 pound mark but there time there was no massive weight loss. If anything, he may have overtrained a bit coming in at 172 pounds during Friday's weigh-in. His dedication is from joining forces again with Buddy McGirt:

"Buddy is a great trainer," says Tarver. "We've had a lot of success together, and I think along with Jimmy Williams, two great minds are better than one. Where Jimmy is weak at, as a trainer, Buddy has strengths. And vice versa. They complement each other. And just to be able to have two guys in that corner that I love, and believe in and trust in, I think it just helps me. I know Buddy's going to be cool and calm under pressure and that's what I need between those rounds."

Trainer and fighter are both hard-headed but they put aside their differences for this one:

"It's been a year and a half since I worked with Antonio, and it was difficult at first. But we've worked hard, and I see Antonio winning back the championship Saturday night."

The fight starts tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET on HBO live from the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. This is the first major boxing card to be held at the Hard Rock's new venue concert/fighting venue The Joint. The $60 million facility is configured for 2,900 fans for boxing cards. Let's hope this fight performs better than the first one which sold less than 700 tickets in a similar venue, the Pearl at the Palms.

There's no one better than Steve Kim from Maxboxing.com to cut through the bull. K-9 says enough with Oscar De La Hoya comeback talk. DLH is not "Oscar De La Favre."

Floyd Mayweather's return last week got some people buzzing about a rematch between the two. The first fight was a financial success but a dud for most boxing fans.

Stay retired Oscar! There's plenty of real 147-pounders lining up to take on Mayweather. No need to block Shane Mosley, Paul Williams, Antonio Margarito, Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.

A surly Floyd Mayweather returned last Saturday to announce he's back and he wants his pound-for-pound title back. "Pretty Boy" is irked that all these other fighters are claiming that they're the man now. Add Chad Dawson's trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammed to the list of dudes who may be getting on Floyd's nerves:

"Chad throws combinations like the old Sugar Ray Robinsons," said Mustafa Muhammed. "You don't see that no more. These guys throw 1-2 and then they resort to holding."

Dawson and his boys don't believe a knockout is a must to prove you're a great fighter:

"The name of the game is 'I hit you but you don't hit me' not 'I hit you and you hit me back.' It don't work like that. That's not the game," said Mustafa Muhammed extolling the virtues of Dawson's defensive prowess.

Mayweather is actually pretty tight with Dawson. The New Haven-native mentioned that a pre-fight call from Floyd before his first matchup against Antonio Tarver gave him an extra boost of confidence. The fight is set for 9:30 p.m. ET on HBO live from the Hard Rock in Las Vegas.