Mosley-Mayorga Rematch To Go On As Scheduled

It has been announced that the rematch between former world champions Shane Mosley and Ricardo Mayorga, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday at the Forum in Inglewood, CA will take place as scheduled.  The announcement comes following an attempt to stop the fight from taking place by longtime Mayorga promoter Don King who sought an injunction. King claimed to have Mayorga under an exclusive promotional contract and could prevent him from fighting under a different promotional banner.  

A court ruling on Tuesday in Miami, FL however, allowed the fight to go on stating that any future efforts of promoting Mayorga by King would not be negatively impacted by the scheduled rematch with Mosley.  Mosley, who is also promoting the card had stated in an interview with Fox Sports that the card would go on with or without Mayorga.  Mosley claimed to have a substitute opponent in place if Mayorga was pulled from the fight.  

Mosley-Mayorga II takes place Saturday, August 29th at The Forum in Inglewood, CA. The card will be televised on a cable/satellite pay-per-view basis in the United States for $49.95. Contact your local pay-per-view provider for ordering information.

We will have a preview of the fight that will be released on Thursday. Stay tuned.

“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”

The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.

Follow Beau Denison on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Beau_Denison

Update:

We want to let our readers know that new material will be released on Tuesday August 25th. Stay tuned.


“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”


The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.



Follow Beau Denison on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Beau_Denison

The Potential Options for Chazz Witherspoon Following Victory Over Guivas

A recurring theme recently here at The Boxing Truth ® has been to take a look at fighters who are attempting to reestablish themselves as contenders in their respective divisions. One such fighter who has been working his way up the ranks is Heavyweight contender Chazz Witherspoon. Witherspoon carried a three-fight winning streak into his fight against prospect Nicholas Guivas on August 15th at The Playground in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The story of this bout as this observer said prior to the fight was whether or not Witherspoon, who entered the fight with a record of 33-3, with 25 Knockouts, could continue to build momentum on his comeback and if he were successful whether a victory could lead to a fight against someone who is rated in the top fifteen in one of the sport’s respective sanctioning organizations. Although one might argue that the thirty-three year old Witherspoon was in a “Must Win” scenario in regard to his future as a contender, he did have a significant experience advantage over the thirty-six year old Guivas, who entered the fight with a record of 11-2-2, with 9 Knockouts.

What impressed me about Witherspoon’s performance in this fight was the measured way he approached his attack of Guivas. Witherspoon patiently awaited his opportunities to execute his offense and was able to capitalize on those openings when Guivas would leave an opening. Witherspoon’s jab and right hand were particularly effective in allowing him to more or less pick his spots.

Although Guivas was quite “Game” and was willing to engage with Witherspoon, he simply could not establish a rhythm in this fight. Witherspoon was able to drop Guivas with a right hand midway through the second round. Even though Guivas was able to survive the round, he was unable to land anything to discourage Witherspoon from continuing his attack. The systematic attack by Witherspoon would continue into round three before the fight was stopped at 1:07 of the round.

As I stated prior to this fight if Witherspoon were to look impressive his storyline of a fighter looking to get back in the mix could be one that will continue to generate buzz. Witherspoon simply did what was expected of him in this fight and dominated a “Game”, but overmatched opponent. Now with four victories in his comeback, all coming by way of knockout under his belt, the question is what is next for Chazz Witherspoon?

Whether or not Witherspoon will face a fighter who is ranked in the top fifteen or top twenty in either of the sport’s five major sanctioning organizations in his next fight remains to be seen. One potential opponent that this observer believes would be an interesting fight would be an encounter between Witherspoon and Heavyweight contender Travis Kauffman. Kauffman, who recently scored a first round knockout over Richard Carmack on August 14th, is a fighter who much like Witherspoon is trying to reestablish himself as a contender in the Heavyweight division.

Kauffman has only lost once in thirty professional fights and has been undefeated since 2009. A fight between Kauffman and Witherspoon could offer both fighters the chance to get into position to potentially fight for a top ten ranking. Both fighters have career knockout percentages of 70% and based on the styles of the two fighters I believe this could be a good fight if it were made.

Other possibilities for Witherspoon could be a potential rematch with Chris Arreola who defeated Witherspoon in 2008. Arreola, who last fought in July and earned a draw against Fred Kassi is not currently rated in the top fifteen of any of the sport’s five major sanctioning organizations and could view a rematch with Witherspoon as potentially a way to elevate his standing in the rankings.

With several fighters either ranked in the top fifteen of a sanctioning organization’s respective rankings and other fighters all looking to elevate their standing in the division with the ultimate goal of challenging either unified IBF/WBO/WBA/IBO Heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko or undefeated WBC world champion Deontay Wilder, the Heavyweight division is one that is very much open and if Witherspoon can continue to win regardless of who he fights next, it is not difficult to envision him possibly being a top contender in the not too distant future.

Chazz Witherspoon however, should be considered a fighter to watch and it will be interesting to see what is in store for the next chapter of his comeback.

“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”

The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.

 Follow Beau Denison on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Beau_Denison 

 

Is Lucian Bute Back In The Mix?

Former IBF Super-Middleweight world champion Lucian Bute has certainly earned his distinction as one of the stars in the sport of Boxing. Bute, who won the IBF world championship in the Super-Middleweight division in October 2007 with an eleventh round stoppage of Alejandro Berrio ruled as a dominant champion for nearly five years, successfully defending his championship nine times.

Along the way the Romanian born Bute was able to garner a significant following in his adopted home country of Canada. After nine successful defenses of his world title, Bute carried an undefeated record of 30-0, with 24 Knockouts into his fight with Carl Froch in May 2012. On that evening Froch’s power was simply too much for Bute as he was able to stop the previously unbeaten world champion in the fifth round.

Prior to this defeat most would argue that the closest Bute had come to defeat was in his first fight against longtime contender Librado Andrade in October 2008. Bute outboxed Andrade  and had the fight won on points before being caught by the challenger in the closing seconds of the fight. Andrade knocked Bute down with a barrage of punches. Bute however, was able to beat the count due in large part to Andrade being warned by the referee to get in a neutral corner. The referee halted his count of Bute while warning Andrade, allowing the champion more time to recover. The controversy notwithstanding, Bute was able to retain his title and silenced any doubts in his rematch with Andrade in November 2009 in scoring a fourth round knockout.

Following the first loss of his career at the hands of Carl Froch, Bute moved up in weight to the 175lb. Light-Heavyweight division. After successfully winning the North American Boxing Federation (NABF) championship with a twelve round unanimous decision over Denis Grachev in November 2012, Bute faced former WBC Light-Heavyweight world champion Jean Pascal in January of last year.

Although Bute would rally late in the fight against Pascal, he would come out on the losing end for only the second time in his career. Following that fight, this observer stated that it was my opinion not only based on his performance in his fight with Pascal, but also his performance against Denis Grachev that Bute did not have the same confidence that he once had. Whether or not his tentativeness to let his hands go against Pascal was attributed to any effects he may have suffered in his fight against Froch is a subject as I said following his fight with Pascal that could be debated. I also stated that although there may have been some who may have been of the opinion that whomever lost that fight may well have been finished on the top level sport that perhaps with time to reflect on his career Lucian Bute could find himself back in the discussion of top fighters in either the Light-Heavyweight or Super-Middleweight divisions.

This observer also alluded to the possibility of Bute taking more of a gradual approach in his comeback rather than jumping right back in against top level opposition. The first step in Bute’s comeback following his loss Pascal came on August 15th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada against current European Super-Middleweight champion Andrea Di Luisa.

In some ways Di Luisa, who was moving up in weight for this fight turned out to be the perfect type of opponent for Bute, who was coming off of a nineteen month layoff. Di Luisa was able to provide some resistance in the first two rounds of this fight and showed that he intended to give Bute a test in his first fight back.

Bute was provided with an opponent who much like himself has the ability to execute his offense in spurts and was more than willing to engage with him. Bute however, would bring an end to the fight in the fourth round dropping the “Game” Di Luisa with a left hand and causing Di Luisa’s corner to throw in the towel to save their fighter from further punishment following a follow- up barrage from Bute. Although there is not much one could say about this fight, it was still an impressive performance by a former world champion who was looking to get back in the win column.

The question coming out of this fight is did this victory put Bute back in the mix? It is important to remember that the only two fights that Bute has lost as a professional came against two world-class fighters, both of whom were world champions. The question of whether or not Bute is back in the mix is one that will probably be answered when he gets an opportunity to face a fighter who is ranked in the top fifteen in one of the sport’s respective sanctioning organizations.

The most important thing in this observer’s eyes will be whether or not Bute can remain active. If he can stay busy and more importantly if he continues to win it is logical to assume that Bute will be back in the discussion of top Light-Heavyweight contenders in the not too distant future. This victory over Di Luisa however, did serve a purpose in perhaps beginning the process of restoring the former world champion’s confidence. It will be interesting to see where Bute goes from here.

“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”

The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.

Follow Beau Denison on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Beau_Denison

Premier Boxing Champions 8/14/2015 Recap

An intriguing Heavyweight crossroads fight between former world champions headlined the Premier Boxing Champions card on August 14th at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. In one corner stood forty-six year old former two-division world champion Antonio Tarver. Tarver, a fighter who entered this bout undefeated as a Heavyweight was looking for his third straight win in his comeback. Tarver faced a legitimate threat in his quest to earn a title shot in a third weight division in the form of former IBF Cruiserweight world champion Steve Cunningham.

The thirty-nine year old Cunningham entered this fight coming off of a controversial loss in his previous outing to undefeated contender Vyacheslav Glazkov in March of this year. Although Cunningham entered this bout still rated in the top ten in the International Boxing Federation’s (IBF) Heavyweight ratings as its number six rated contender, an argument could have been made that a loss to Tarver, a fighter who entered unranked by the IBF, but ranked number nine in the world by the World Boxing Association (WBA) could have put his status as a contender in question.

Prior to this bout this observer stated that it was logical to assume that this fight would be a tactical battle that could end up in a close decision. Both fighters are world-class boxers who each have the ability to out box their opponents and to get an opponent out of there should an opportunity present itself.

In short, this fight was fought at an extremely methodical tactical pace from the outset and that pace remained consistent throughout the entire twelve round bout. Cunningham was able to be the consistently busier of the two fighters, but it was Tarver who was able to conserve his stamina and make the most out of openings that Cunningham would give him. Although Cunningham was the busier of the two throughout much of the fight, Tarver landed the harder punches.

As this observer has often said over the years when it comes to close fights it will often boil down to what a judge prefers in their own individual criteria in how they score a fight based on clean punching, effective aggressiveness, ring generalship, and defense. Although both fighters were able to have their moments in this fight, neither fighter was really able to stand out from the other in convincing fashion.

It was certainly not surprising to this observer based on how this fight was fought to see a close decision rendered at the end of this fight. Judges Robin Taylor and John McKaie split scores of 115-113 or 7-5 in rounds to each fighter. The third and deciding Judge John Stewart scored this fight even 114-114 or 6-6 in rounds resulting in this fight being declared a split decision draw. Unofficially, I scored this fight 115-113 in favor of Antonio Tarver.

Although there was not much to separate these two fighters in this fight, I felt Tarver was able to execute his offense a little better than Cunningham and landed the cleaner punches of the two in what was a very competitive fight from start to finish. It is certainly understandable how an official judge or an outside observer could see the fight going the other way or see it as John Stewart saw it as a contest that was simply too close to call.

Antonio Tarver advances to 31-6-1, with 22 Knockouts. Steve Cunningham advances to 28-7-1, with 13 Knockouts.

It is difficult to say where either fighter will go coming out of this fight. Based on what was in all honesty an “Inconclusive” outcome it is understandable and perhaps even logical to assume that the likely course of action for both fighters would be to pursue a rematch. We will have to simply wait and see what both fighters decide to do for their next bouts.

Also on this card, undefeated WBO number one Cruiserweight contender Krzysztof Glowacki scored a thrilling come from behind eleventh round knockout over longtime champion Marco Huck to win the WBO Cruiserweight world championship. This was a fight that produced plenty of back and forth action from the outset.

Glowacki was able to dictate how the fight was fought in the early rounds by being able to consistently push the champion back and land solidly with his right hand. The champion Huck, who was attempting to surpass former Cruiserweight world champion Johnny Nelson’s record of most successful world title defenses in the division by successfully defending his world championship for the fourteenth time began to open up his offense more as the fight progressed and landed some flush combinations on Glowacki.

As the fight entered the sixth round it was a very close contest. Glowacki clearly had the upper hand in the early rounds due to his overall aggression and ability to push the champion back. The middle rounds however, would be dictated by Huck. Huck nearly brought the fight to a sudden conclusion in round six as he dropped Glowacki with a solid left hook that sent the challenger down to the canvas and flat on his back. Although he was clearly hurt Glowacki showed his mettle by getting up from the knockdown at the count of nine and continuing to combat the champion by attempting to fight Huck off of him instead of fighting in a defensive manner and was able to survive the round.

Huck continued to get the better of the action in the eyes of this observer in the middle rounds with his ability to throw and land combinations. Glowacki however, remained very “Game” and continued to put pressure on the champion. By the eleventh round Huck appeared to be ahead on the scorecards and seemed as though he were heading toward a decision victory. The challenger however, would have other plans as Glowacki landed a left/right combination that dropped the champion. As Glowacki had done earlier in the fight, Huck showed his mettle by getting up from the knockdown on wobbly legs, but unlike the challenger was unable to recover as Glowacki pummeled him along the ropes causing Referee David Fields to stop the fight. Official time of stoppage was 2:39 of round eleven.

Krzysztof Glowacki advances to 25-0, with 16 Knockouts. Marco Huck falls to 38-3-1, with 26 Knockouts.

In other bouts:

Artur Szpilka KO2 over Yasmany Consuegra Official time 3:00 of round two (Heavyweight)

Luis Rosa UD6 over Giovanni Caro (technical decision) (Jr. Featherweight) Official scores 60-55, 59-55, 58-56.

 Kamil Laszczyk UD8 over Oscauris Frias (Featherweight) Official scores 80-70 (On all three scorecards)

Travis Kauffman TKO1 over Richard Carmack (Heavyweight) Official time 2:07 of round one.

Jarrett Hurd  TKO 7 over Jeff Lentz (Jr. Middleweight) Official time 2:59 of round seven.

Mikkel LesPierre UD6 over Kevin Womack Jr. (Jr. Welterweight) Official scores 60-54, 59-55 (0n two scorecards)

Marciej Sulecki TKO1 over Jose Barrio  (Middleweight) Official time 2:07 of round one.

Some readers may recall the feature on the Cruiserweight division that was released earlier this month in which this observer stated that if the recent exposure the division has received in the United States continues and if the division continues to be showcased on American television the better for long-term growth of not only the sport overall, but just maybe the growth for the Cruiserweight division in this country as well.

Although this card produced more questions than answers in regard to the futures of Antonio Tarver and Steve Cunningham, it also produced a fight of the year candidate between two fighters making their United States debuts in Krzysztof Glowacki and Marco Huck. For those who may not have seen a Cruiserweight fight prior to this battle between Glowacki and Huck, these two fighters put on a performance that will not only elevate both of them in terms of their exposure here in the United States, but also succeeded in bringing a new audience to their division. It would not surprise me to see a rematch between the two on a future Premier Boxing Champions card. Whether or not this fight does end up in the discussion for fight of the year honors, it is a fight that is definitely deserving of an encore.

“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”

The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison All Rights Reserved.

Follow Beau Denison on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Beau_Denison