Ringside

Newly crowned WBO Welterweight champion Miguel Cotto may face IBF champ Joshua Clottey in his next bout, rumoured to be on June 13th, the eve of the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

Clottey would pose a real challenge for Cotto, as he is tough and durable and has a solid chin. In his last bout he dominated Zab Judah until a cut stopped the fight and is an underrated a dangerous opponent.

Clottey has not really been given the credit his good boxing skills deserve and manages to combine durability with solid body punching and a decent jab.

Cotto had been lined up to face Antonio Margarito, but after ihs hand wrapping scandal that fight looks to be on hold at the very least and we may be lucky to ever see the eagerly anticipated rematch.

Cotto didn’t show enough against Jennings to prove he has recovered fully from the battering he suffered at the hands of Margarito, but easily did enough to dominate the British fighter. However, a bout against Clottey would be a much more demanding and physical clash than last Saturdays encounter.

This promises to be an intriguing match up, but the possibility of Cotto facing the winner of Pacquiao v Hatton should not be underestimated, particularly if it is the Bob Arum promoted Pacquiao who emerges victorious.

I’ll keep you posted!

Miguel Cotto and Kelly Pavlik both made winning returns to the ring last night, in a double headline event for Top Rank Promotions.

Cotto easily overcame British fighter Michael Jennings at Madison Square Garden with a fifth round TKO. Whilst the plucky Brit was in no way disgraced, the gulf in class was evident from the first bell and the bout was stopped in the fifth after Jennings had to pick himself up from the canvas for the third time in the round.

Cotto looked big and strong but never reached the heights of the first six rounds against Margarito, and will need to step up his performances in the future when he faces real, world class opposition.

No disrespect to Jennings, he was not overawed by the Puerto Rican, who was a heavy favourite coming into the fight, but perhaps he over reached himself on the world stage, against a top class fighter, even if not a top class performance.

Meanwhile, over in Youngstown, Ohio hometown favourite Kelly Pavlik made a successful, if not spectacular return in breaking down Marco Antonio Rubio in nine rounds to retain his WBC and WBO straps.

As with Cotto to a degree this was not a particularly impressive return as Pavlik looked one dimensional at times and relied heavily on that big right hand.

Pavlik too will have to step up his game for future fights, but both fighters will be relatively content with their returns to the ring after what could have been career defining defeats to Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Margarito.

I’ll keep you posted!

WBC Light Welterweight Champion Timothy Bradley will face WBO Champion Kendall Holt on April 4th in what promises to be a mouth watering unification encounter.

Bradley won his WBC strap in a split decision over Britain’s Junior Witter and has one defence to his name against Edner Cherry.

Holt meanwhile is coming off the back of a stunning first round stoppage of Ricardo Torres last July.

The bout is due to be held in Montreal and the victor could face the winner of Hatton v Pacquiao, taking place in Las Vegas this May.

Hatton especially may seek such a bout in order to add the titles to his current belt and unify a division in which he remains unbeaten.

I’ll keep you posted!

This Saturday sees the chance of redemption for two of boxing’s biggest names with the return of Kelly Pavlik and Miguel Cotto.

Junito faces Britain’s Michael Jennings at Madison Square Garden whilst the Ghost squares up to Marco Antonio Rubio in Pavlik’s native Youngstown, Ohio.

With both fighters coming off rather surprising defeats, Cotto a destruction at the hands of a now tarnished Margarito and Pavlik a schooling at the hands of Bernard Hopkins, they each have something to prove come Saturday night.

Neither fight will be a walk over, but both opponents have been selected so as to provide the right challenge for fighters looking to redeem themselves and attempting to re-establish themselves on the world scene.

Jennings is decent value at 10/1, but Cotto should have too much for the Chorley based fighter, especially given the recent revelations concerning Margarito’s loaded gloves.

Pavlik is now returning to his natural middleweight and should defend his WBO and WBC Middleweight titles against the experienced Rubio, after an unsuccesful move up in weight.

I’ll keep you posted!

Kermit Cintron was lucky to escape with a draw Saturday night against Sergio Martinez after he seemed to be counted out in the seventh round after walking onto a good left hand and even eased off in the final round thinking he had done enough to win the fight.

Cintron complained of a head butt from Martinez when he regained his feet after the seventh round knock down, but neither the referee nor the fans in attendance were convinced.

After Cintron had finished berating the referee his poor night continued as he coasted through the final round, feeling he had the fight in the bag and even had the audacity to climb to ropes after the result as if he had put in a decent performance.

This was a disappointing showing from a fighter who does have a lot of promise, and heavy hands, but completely failed to deliver here.

Where Cintron can go from here isn’t immediately clear as it is doubtful whether he can draw the marquee names and challenge for a title with performances like this.

I’ll keep you posted.

Nate “Galaxxy Warrior” Campbell beat Ali Funeka by Decision on Saturday night, but after failing to make the weight, lost his alphabet 135lb titles.

After Campbell’s comments concerning Joan Guzman’s failure to make the weight in 2008, this came as quite a shock and has lead to Campbell indicating he will now move up to Light Welterweight.

The 140lb division is full of talent at the minute with Bradley, Kotelnik, Urango and Ricky Hatton, so at 36 a move to this weight may be a risk for the American fighter, whose record now stands at 33-5-1.

Whether Campbell will be able to get the marquee fights at Junior Welterweight remains to be seen, but this was a disappointing night for Campbell after he had done so well to win the WBA, WBO and IBF titles from Juan Diaz.

I’ll keep you posted!

Former Middleweight and Light Heavyweight world champion Roy Jones Jr will face Omar Sheika on March 21 in his home town of Pensacola,
Florida. 

Jones is coming off a very one sided defeat to now retired Joe Calzaghe, whilst Sheika hasn’t been in the ring for 2 years since a fourth round knockout of Tiwon Taylor in Atlantic City. 

Unlike Calzaghe, Jones has not felt the need to retire, and is continuing despite calls from many quarters to hang up his gloves. 

Exactly where Jones will go after this fight is unsure as it doesn’t seem to open any doors for the former mercurial fighter and seems to be somewhat of an exhibition for his hometown crowd. How much of a battle Sheika will put up is also open to question, given his lengthy absence from the ring. 

I’ll keep you posted!

Ricky Hatton’s assistant trainer Lee Beard has been speaking about the upcoming super bout between the Hitman and Manny Pacquiao and appears very confident of his man’s success.

Beard feels he has seen enough of Pacquiao, and his mistakes, to allow himself, and trainer Floyd Mayweather Snr to take down the Filipino and knock him out within 6 rounds. 

Beard also feels Hatton would have had way too much for both David Diaz and Oscar De la Hoya (Pacquiao’s last two opponents) and believes the British fighter would have knocked out both of these highly regarded fighters. 

Beard is relying on Pacquiao underestimating Hatton’s speed and jab, but most notably his strength, which will over power the Pacman and ultimately lead to a knockout.  Hatton was noticeably hungrier and faster against Paulie Malignaggi and utilised his jab much more than in any fight since Kostya Tszyu. 

If Hatton continues improving under Beard and particularly Mayweather Snr he may well pull off a major shock and defeat the much fancied Pacman. 

I’ll keep you posted! 

Fernando Montiel is seeking to unify the Super Flyweight world titles by facing off against Vic Darchinyan, after the latter’s victory over Jorge Arce this past weekend.

Darchinyan currently holds the WBA, WBC and IBF belts whilst Montiel is the WBO champion.

Montiel is due to move up to Bantamweight to face Eric Morel for the WBO interim title, but would move back down to fight Darchinyan in the future.

Despite problems in making the weight, Montiel would prove a stern test for Darchinyan, who may still look for a fight with the only man to have beaten him as a professional to date, Nonito Donaire.

I’ll keep you posted!

Following over a year out of the ring, Ruslan Chagaev returned to action last night and was victorious over previously undefeated Carl Davis Drummond via a sixth round technical decision.

This was far from a thriller, but Chagaev will be happy to be successful in his first bout after such a lengthy lay off, even if this was not the type of performance he would have wished for.

The fight had to be stopped because of a severe cut over Chagaev’s left eye, sustained via an accidental clash of heads in the third and then again in the fourth round.

There were a few decent exchanges, notably in the third and the fifth but the doctor at ringside adjudged the cut too severe for the bout to continue.

Chagaev improves to 25-0 and will surely be looking for a title fight in the near future.

I’ll keep you posted!