July 28, 2010, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas: Juan Manual Marquez faces off with Juan Diaz at the final presser.
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vegas fight week ends local drought
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Las Vegas, July 27, 2010: Does it really matter that Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz have lost their last fights? Not here in Vegas, where fight fans have been starved by a fight drought the past few months. On Saturday’s HBO-PPV card, from the Mandalay Bay, Marquez and Diaz will seek to repeat last year’s Fight of the Year. The entire card is decent, for once, Jorge Linares taking on Rocky Juarez, Robert Guerrero fighting Joel Casamayor and Daniel Jacobs, getting a title shot against Dmitry Pirog. Pick ‘em fights? My colleagues argue otherwise, predicting Marquez, Linares, Guerrero and Jacobs in a clean sweep of wins Saturday night. Personally, I’m staying away from the sportsbooks Saturday night – there are too many question marks up and down the line-up.
caught at the crossroads
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
A failed five-time world title challenger coming off two straight losses matched up against a former two-time champ proclaimed to be worth his weight in gold – that is, until he was KO’d in one last year – might not top the list of the year’s most important matches. But it just might make a damn good fight . . . |more|
fight stories from vegas
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
Stage left: There will be no false pretenses when former champs Joel Casamayor and Robert Guerrero step into the ring in a battle of former southpaw champs July 31 . . . |more|
Jacob’s Ladder: Given the chance to rise out of contention to become a world champion, Daniel “The Golden Child” Jacobs (20-0, 17 KOs) will get a shot at the belt stripped from Lineal Middleweight Champion Sergio Martinez when he takes on also-undefeated Dmitry Pirog (16-0, 13 KOs) July 31 . . . |more|
‘hard knocks’ in hobbs
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
heavyweight monster mash
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
Fans and media expecting drama and WWE-style vulgarity from Brock Lesnar went away from today’s press conference disappointed.
None of the 250 fans allowed in to the presser, held at MGM’s Hollywood Theater in Las Vegas, were flipped off. There was no foaming at the mouth and no one was insulted, not Bud Light – not even Lesnar’s opponent, Shane Carwin.
Instead, the UFC’s heavyweight champion smiled, joked and – yes – gave thanks that he was alive . . . |more|
new direction for Golden Boy
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
You’d think that boxing promoters would’ve caught on years ago, in making an entire fight card competitive and a pay-per-view telecast actually worth its price tag . . . |more|
“The First Black Boxing Champions” in production
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
The First Black Boxing Champions: Essays on Fighters of the 1800s to the 1920s has gone into production and will be available this Fall/Winter by McFarland Press. The book, edited by Colleen Aycock & Mark Scott, presents 15 detailed biographies of some of the first African American and black champions and challengers of the early prize ring. Boxers covered range from Tom Molineaux, a slave who won freedom and fame in the ring in the early 1800s; to Joe Gans, the first African American world champion; to the flamboyant Jack Johnson, deemed such a threat to white society that film of his defeat of former champion and “Great White Hope” Jim Jeffries was banned across much of the country.
The book also features a lengthy piece by writer/photographer Chris Cozzone, who spotlights black fighters from WWI and the early ’20s in southern New Mexico and El Paso, namely Thomas “Speedball” Hayden, who rose to stardom fighting out of Columbus, N.M.
Check out more info on Amazon.
‘nightmare’ on vine street
Monday, May 31st, 2010
After a lengthy five-year grooming period, Vanes “Nightmare” Martirosyan has officially been unleashed from the Wild Card Gym . . . |more|
