Pride of Pomona Shane Mosley Gunning for Cotto, Hatton, or Pacquiao Next

By Ricardo Lois

Shane Mosley (the best welterweight in the World) and Ricardo Lois (the biggest mouth in the boxing radio World) meet up for a serving of humble pie.

You might remember that the always out-spoken Lois recommended fight fans to bet heavy on Antonio Margarito to destroy the Fighting Pride of Pomona.

After Lois bows down to Mosley, Sugar lets it be known that he is hunting down Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, and Manny Pacquiao. read more

Filed under: Antonio Margarito, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Oscar de la Hoya, Pacman vs. Hitman, Pacquiao vs. Hatton, Ricky Hatton, Sugar Shane Mosley

Our First Pound-For-Pound Top 20 List Of 2009

By Tim Starks

As usual, my criteria includes, in approximate order of importance: recent activity, career achievement and overall ability.

1. Manny Pacquiao (junior welterweight): Some might make an argument for Pacquiao’s rival Juan Manuel Marquez to take the spot, and I wouldn’t put up too much of a fight, but it’s not the argument I’d make. It’s my personal opinion that Pacquiao and Marquez should be 1-1 against each other right now, but the record says Pacquiao’s 1-0-1 against Marquez. And as good as Marquez was this weekend, Pacquiao still has an overall better career resume. Only losing to Ricky Hatton in May can drop him from the #1 spot, really, and winning would put more distance between #1 and #2. Manny’s the best. He’s likely going to stay that way at least until he fights Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Marquez again or Shane Mosley, and even then he could just as easily sweep that fearsome foursome. Which is not the same as saying it would be easy. read more

Filed under: Bernard Hopkins, Israel Vazquez, Jermain Taylor, Juan Manuel Marquez, Kelly Pavlik, Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Nate Campbell, Rafael Marquez, Ricky Hatton, shane mosley, Vic Darchinyan

Top Rank Goes It Alone

By Thomas Hauser

Don’t get carried away by the title of this article. It would be a stretch to liken Bob Arum to Gary Cooper in High Noon. But in recent weeks, there has been talk of a new economic model in boxing. And Arum, in tandem with Todd DuBoef (his stepson and the president of Top Rank) might be charting a path out of the wilderness that the sweet science has wandered through in recent years.

Arum is an old-time promoter who is adapting to today’s economic and technological realities. “I don’t look back,” he says. “I’m seventy-eight years old. If I look back, I’d stumble and fall, so I just look forward.” Then he adds, “Boxing needs to move into a new era. We have to face realistically what’s going on in the world and present our product in different ways.” read more

Filed under: Bob Arum, Erik "El Terrible" Morales, Erik Morales, Floyd Mayweather, Freddie Roach, Kelly Pavlik, Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Oscar de la Hoya, top rank promotions

LIGHTWEIGHT’S NOW UP FOR GRABS

By Iain Axon

It seems in the last three months that the lightweight division has gone from being one of the best weight classes in boxing to one that is in upheaval and up for grabs.

It started when Manny Pacquiao, the WBC lightweight champion, moved up to fight Oscar De La Hoya at welterweight back in December. Pacquiao decided he was going to move down, but not back to lightweight. He decided to go to 140 where he will fight Ricky Hatton on May 2.

Pacquiao officially relinquished the WBC lightweight title – without ever defending it – this week.

He sent a letter to the WBC this week saying what we already knew that he was giving up the title. read more

Filed under: Amir Khan, Antonio Margarito, Battle of East and West, juan diaz, Juan Manuel Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera, Miguel Cotto, Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky Hatton, shane mosley

British lambs to the slaughter

by Mark Gregory

Let me first of all preface this article by saying that ultimately boxing is all about levels, and that at Madison Square Garden on the 21st of February, Miguel Cotto demonstrated – as most expected – that he was a clear level or two above Manchester’s Michael Jennings. Let me also say that British fighters are no more prone to being the victims of one-sided ‘world’ title defeats than fighters of any other nationality.

The purpose of this article is to explore some potential reasons why the likes of Michael Jennings and Gary Lockett – the two most recent examples of Brits being outclassed in overseas ‘world’ title fights – find themselves beaten without even having the chance to steal a round or two from their more celebrated opponents. read more

Filed under: Antonio Margarito, Kelly Pavlik, Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton, Ricky Hatton, shane mosley, Sugar Shane Mosley, top rank promotions

Cotto, Pavlik victorious in return, now what?

by Ricardo Lois

A pair of young stars coming off deflating losses, welterweight Miguel Cotto and middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, notched knockout victories Saturday night. Separated by 349 miles, Cotto outclassed chippy Brit Micheal Jennings via fifth round technical knockout at Madison Square Garden in New York City and Pavlik took nine rounds to make Marco Antonio Rubio call it a night on his stool in Youngstown, Ohio. read more

Filed under: Antonio Margarito, Golden Boy, Kelly Pavlik, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, shane mosley, top rank promotions

Bring on Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton, and Floyd Mayweather JR: The Options of Shane Mosley

By Gene Ramirez

Everything seemed to be working against him. Shane Mosley was in the middle of a divorce with his wife and manager Jin Mosley. Everyone was talking about him and the BALCO situation where he either knowingly or not took steroids before a big fight with Oscar. When you add the fact that Mosley did not look his best taking every second of twelve rounds to drop Ricardo Mayorga last September and Antonio Margarito was coming off the performance of his career against Miguel Cotto and it all added up to one likely ending. read more

Filed under: Antonio Margarito, Floyd Mayweather, Freddie Roach, Golden Boy, Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Oscar de la Hoya, Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton, shane mosley, top rank promotions

Cotto Crushes Jennings in Five

By David Kolb

NEW YORK – In what turned out to be nothing more than an overhyped sparring session against an unproven and unknown Michael Jennings, Miguel Cotto pasted the Chorley, England product in five quick rounds at Madison Square Garden Saturday night.

Jennings, who was touted as a “top rated contender” by the publicists, proved to be nothing of the sort as he was crushed before the fight even hit the halfway point.

Cotto, who undoubtedly has had a myriad of emotions since losing to Antonio Margarito last year, looked like he had little trouble getting back in the ring after his career’s longest layoff. read more

Filed under: Bob Arum, Kelly Pavlik, Marco Antonio Rubio, Michael Jennings, Miguel Cotto, top rank promotions

Pavlik Returns to Stop Rubio on his Stool

By Gabriel Montoya

Coming into to Saturday night’s showdown at the Chevrolet Centre in Youngstown, Ohio between challenger Marco Antonio Rubio (43-5-1, 37 KOs) and Middleweight Champion Kelly Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs), the question was what kind of set back, if any, would Pavlik following his one-sided loss to Bernard Hopkins last year. After nine one-sided rounds from a returning to middleweight form Pavlik against a reluctant Rubio, we still don’t have the answer. What we got was a better than average opponent for a tune-up fight where Pavlik boxed patiently behind a double, sometimes triple jab that set up his telephone pole of a right hand all night. Rubio for his part, fought back in sporadic spurts, offering little resistance and getting off his firepower rarely.
read more

Filed under: Bob Arum, Kelly Pavlik, Marco Antonio Rubio, Michael Jennings, Miguel Cotto, top rank promotions

A Necessary Evil

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By Steve Kim

I’ve gotten more than a few emails from you loyal readers of Maxboxing, stating that you absolutely will not be forking over your hard-earned money for this weekend’s pay-per-view featuring the return of Miguel Cotto and Kelly Pavlik. Folks, I feel your pain, these are hard times (cue RUN DMC). And both Cotto and Pavlik, two stars of the Top Rank promotional stable, are facing opponents that are considered heavy underdogs as they are brought back judiciously from their first professional blemishes. read more

Filed under: Antonio Margarito, Kelly Pavlik, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, pacman, pacmonster, Ricky Hatton, top rank promotions