Canelo-Khan breakdown & prediction

Michael Montero & Tiffany Lam
04/05/2016 6:53pm

Michael Montero lends his insight to the 155lbs catchweight fight between Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez and Amir Khan. The popular Mexican defends his WBC middleweight title belt against England's Khan on Saturday 7 May in Las Vegas. 

Gallagher's recipe for success

Terry Dooley
04/05/2016 6:41am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNGaD-zgr8g

In September 2001, Joe Gallagher led Stephen Foster Junior to the ring at the MEN Arena for the youngster’s winning professional debut. Gallagher was turning pro, too, after a successful stint as an amateur coach. The Manchester boxing scene was starting to blossom and bloom back then and, as is always the case with spring and summer, it felt like the season of success would last forever. Boxing is cyclical, though, so it came as no surprise when the city’s fortunes dipped a little following the Ricky Hatton era. Sure, fighters such as John Murray and Salford’s Jamie Moore kept the scene vibrant with a series of FOTY candidates; however, Liverpool was on the rise, the MEN was used for concerts and shows with boxing only sporadically on display at the Arena. Now, though, the wheel has turned full circle again. Manchester is booming, and the proud 47-year-old Mancunian and his Bolton-based stable of fighters are regular features at what is now known as the Manchester Arena. “I am very proud that we’ve got top boxing back at the Arena after a few quiet years and times when boxers from outside were headlining, like we saw with [Carl] Froch against [George] Groves and [David] Haye’s fights,” said Gallagher when speaking to Boxing Monthly. 

Facing Canelo

John A. MacDonald
02/05/2016 7:29am

When Canelo Alvarez meets Amir Khan on 7 May, it won’t be the first time the Mexican superstar has fought for a WBC title against a fighter from Greater Manchester at a catchweight limit. On 5 March 2011, Alvarez faced Matthew Hatton for the vacant super-welterweight title at a contracted weight of 150lbs, at the Honda Center, in the Los Angeles suburbs. “Obviously, it wasn’t the most pleasant experience for me,” Hatton told Boxing Monthly over the phone, as he recalled the fight. “[I was] very impressed with Alvarez, he’s certainly the best fighter I’ve been in the ring with. I think the thing that struck out for me was just that he’s immensely strong, physically he was just so strong. I’d boxed and sparred with bigger guys before but he was freakishly strong really. Again, [he was] very accurate with his punches, [he] didn’t waste many shots, powerful puncher but physically very, very strong.”

Comparing Joshua-Breazeale

Kurt Ward
30/04/2016 2:35pm

British fight fans are not happy. Well, some clearly aren't, that's for sure. And there's nothing like a Matchroom card proudly presented to you by Eddie Hearn for only £16.95 on Pay-Per-View to really get fingers smashing on keyboards around the country in a furious frenzy of anger. That annoyance intensified this week when it was announced that IBF heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua will be making the first defence of his strap against unbeaten American Dominic Breazeale. The PPV argument will rumble on and on, and it can be discussed each and every day on various forums and social media, but this article is a response to the negative reaction to the actual defence against Breazeale and only that. The challenger isn't expected to beat Joshua and, for most, won't even offer much of a test, but is this a rarity for champions in the sport, or more specifically since we're discussing Anthony Joshua's first defence, the heavyweight division? Let's take a look at some heavyweight titlists over the last few years and how their maiden defences stack up to what will take place at the O2 Arena on 25 June.

Ortiz and Berto seek to rekindle former glories

Shaun Brown
30/04/2016 7:00am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJsHvemf8q8

It was the thrilling welterweight spectacle that boxing fans hoped would happen in Michigan three months earlier. In January 2011, Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander met in a unification contest that on paper had the potential to be something special but instead had the life sucked out of it before it even got going. Step forward Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz to provide us with a wild slugfest that contained four official knockdowns, one unofficial and one of the broadcasting moments of the year when the late Manny Steward yelled “OH MY GAWD!” in the sixth round of HBO’s fight coverage. A great round for Berto that saw Ortiz go down from a heavy right hand only to get back up and detonate a left of his own to buckle the legs of his opponent and drop him. That night Ortiz would become WBC welterweight champion and fulfill some of the potential that had been thrust upon him at an early age. Five years later they meet once again (tonight 30 April), both at a crossroads stage of their career but expecting the Californian crowd in Carson to get their money’s worth once again. “I like exciting fights. I like to give fans what they pay for,” Ortiz (31-5-2, 24 KOs) told Boxing Monthly when we asked him why he was taking this fight on. “It’s a fight that I didn’t really prepare like I needed to. He came in there and was definitely prepared. I just wasn’t at my best that night and he came out to win,” said Berto (30-4, 23 KOs) to BM when he recalled the night Ortiz took his undefeated record.

 

 

 

Deas and Wilder take the road less travelled

John Evans
29/04/2016 6:38am

For all but the fortunate, the road to the heavyweight title is filled with bumps, dead ends and detours. Jay Deas has taken the scenic route to the summit of the sport. Deas has trained and managed Deontay Wilder from rank amateur to the WBC heavyweight title. From the outside, their journey to the top of the world seems to have been as straightforward as it is possible to get but, while Wilder has been able to concentrate solely on the business of knocking people out as quickly as possible, Deas has meandered through his career taking in the sights and sounds and breathing in the unique landscape of professional boxing. Deas was happily sequestered in Florida when his brother called to ask for his help in setting up a gym. The pair made their way back to their hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and opened the Skyye Boxing gym in 1997. Deas swept floors, wrapped hands and became the gym’s in-house sparring partner before adding matchmaking duties to his CV and eventually becoming Alabama’s first ever, licensed promoter. It is the type of education that money can’t buy. “When you live in Alabama you have to do it all. We don’t have too many boxing people here so you end up wearing a lot of hats,” Deas told Boxing Monthly. “We started the gym in ’97 with some amateurs and a few professional fighters. We went around the world with the professionals. We went to Montreal, Germany, England, Dubai. Russia. That really served us well because we got to know who was who and how the game worked."

Moore on the horizon

James Oddy
27/04/2016 12:07pm

York Hall in Bethnal Green has witnessed its fair share of small hall classics. The latest was the 10-round war between Floyd Moore and Ben Day for the southern area lightweight title, which saw Moore (13-6-1, 9 KOs) retain his title. “Straight after [the fight], I wasn’t overly happy,” Moore told Boxing Monthly recently via telephone. “I trained hard. I was ready to go 10 full rounds. But in my head, I thought I was probably going to stop him.” The venue has proved a great base for the 25-year-old Fareham puncher as his career progresses. “York Hall has a great atmosphere. I’ve boxed there five or six times now and won them all by knockout bar one. I lost to Gary Buckland there in Prizefighter which is the only time I’ve lost in London.” There will be a change of scenery, however, for Moore as he is set to box on the undercard of David Haye’s next fight against unbeaten Arnold Gjergjaj at the O2 Arena on 21 May.

Ibeabuchi vs Tua revisited

Luke G. Williams
26/04/2016 9:08am

Before his recent arrest for alleged probation violation, Nigerian heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi, who was planning a comeback at the age of 43, was interviewed in-depth by Boxing Monthly. As a follow-on from this interview, Luke G. Williams revisits and recreates the classic Tua-Ibeabuchi contest from 1997 which launched Ibeabuchi into the upper echelons of heavyweight boxing …

Gennady Golovkin-Dominic Wade ringside recap

Michael Montero & Tiffany Lam
25/04/2016 9:53am

Highlights, analysis and the atmosphere from Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin's second round TKO over the previously undefeated Dominic Wade in front of a sell-out crowd at The Forum in Los Angeles. Wade was the mandatory challenger for Golovkin's IBF middleweight title.

Ibeabuchi recalls Tua showdown

Luke G. Williams
24/04/2016 10:28am

Before his recent arrest for alleged probation violation, Nigerian heavyweight Ike Ibeabuchi, who was planning a comeback at the age of 43, was interviewed in-depth by Boxing Monthly’s Luke G. Williams about the legendary fight which made his name, namely his thrilling points victory against David Tua in 1997...