Knockout of the Year candidate

Undefeated lightweight contender Angelo “La Cobra” Santana’s fifth round KO of Johnny Garcia on Friday night at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla. is a definite Knockout of the Year candidate. Photographer David Martin Warr working with Team Santana got some great shots of it.

The card was promoted by Don King.

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Martin, Reyes get early wins

By Miguel Maravilla at ringside
Photos: Big Joe Miranda

Thompson Boxing Promotions returned to the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California with “Locked and Loaded” for its final series closing the year with an action packed card. In the main event San Diego featherweight Christopher Martin (25-2-3, 8 KOs) scored a nice second round KO against Robert Guillen (6-10-3, 1 KO) of Glendale, Arizona. A left hook to the chin by Martin sent Guillen through the ropes as referee Raul Caiz stopped the contest at 1:27 of round two.

In the welterweight co-main event, Colton’s Artemio Reyes Jr. (18-2, 14 KOs) knocked out Gerardo “Pipino” Cuevas Jr. (15-9, 13 KOs) of Chihuahua, Mexico, in round two. Reyes stalked Cuevas from the opening bell and landed a left hook to the body that bothered Cuevas in round. Moments later a crushing right hand floored Cuevas moments later. Referee Zach Young counted and then waved off the bout at 1:51. (more…)

Oliver Gomez new Panama Boxing Commissioner

By Boxing Bob Newman

Experienced Panamanian boxing leader, Jose Oliver Gomez, returns to the prestigious Panamanian Boxing Commission (COMIBOX) as new Panama Boxing Commissioner, after 21 years of an impeccable international career inside the sport of boxing. Gomez was appointed due to his outstanding work throughout the years, benefiting Panama’s boxing and international boxing as well. The General Director of the Panamanian Sports Bureau (Pandeportes), Javier Tejeira, confirmed Gomez’ designation. Recently, Jose Oliver Gomez served as president of the World Boxing Association ratings committee, a global position which he served with distinction for more than ten years. (more…)

Weights from St Paul

By Jesse Kelly

Caleb Truax 162 vs. Michael Walker 168
(Contract of 162. Truax agreed to Walker keeping the weight difference minus part of his purse. Truax said afterwards about Walker coming in over weight: “I don’t give a damn. He’s getting KO’d either way.”
Cerresso Fort 159.5 vs. Brandon Baue 161
Jon Schmidt 161 vs. Keith Collins 166
Charles Meier 156 vs. Bruce Johnson 153
Tyler Hultin 159 vs. Travis Perzynski 159
Serhiy Karpenko 231 vs. Dakota Talbert 224

Venue: Crowne Plaza, Saint Paul, MN
Promoter: Omega Presents

Fonfara stops Karpency to win IBO belt

By Jeff Reiners and Sam Geraci at ringside
Photo: Przemek Garczarczyk

Andrzej Fonfara (23-2, 13 KOs) was awarded a seventh round TKO after Tommy Karpency (21-4, 14 KOs) injured his shoulder and was unable to continue on Friday night at the UIC Pavilion in downtown Chicago. Fonfara floored Karpency twice in the opening round almost ending the bout. Karpency made a fight of it, but Fonfara was the last man standing at the end to win the vacant IBO light heavyweight world championship. (More to come)

UPDATE: “We are on the way to the hospital,” the ‘Polish Price’ told Fightnews.com. “I think my right hand is broken and from the start of the second round I was afraid to throw any punches, to not make things even worse.” –Przemek Garczarczyk

Santana KOs Garcia in five

Photos: Tom Casino / Showtime

In a clash of undefeated lightweights, Angelo “La Cobra” Santana (14-0, 11 KOs) scored a spectacular fifth round KO over Johnny Garcia (13-1, 8 KOs) on Friday night at the famed Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Santana dropped Garcia in round two and twice in round five. The final knockdown was a brutal overhand left that put Garcia down and out. Time was 1:41.

“I was able to knock him out and that was my intention,” said Santana afterward. “He was a very strong opponent but I was able to stop him. This performance says it all for me. This proves I am ready. I felt nervous at the beginning as this was my first national TV appearance. I needed a round to gain my composure. But I was in front of my people and they supported me and that is something beautiful. I was waiting for him to gain confidence and attack me because he was the taller fighter. Once he did that I was able to unload my left hand. I came looking for my fight and he was the one who hurried up.” (more…)

Krasniqi, Pianeta destroy foes

Photos: SES Boxing

WBO #1 and mandatory light heavyweight challenger Robin Krasniqi (39-2, 15 KOs) scored a third round TKO over Max Heyman (25-12-4, 14 KOs) on Friday night at the Maritim Hotel in Magdeburg, Germany. Referee Manfred Kuechler gave Heyman standing eight-counts in rounds one and three before finally waving it off. Krasniqi will now take aim at WBO champion Nathan Cleverly.

In the co-feature, unbeaten WBO #8 heavyweight Francesco Pianeta (28-0-1, 15 KOs) blew away Nelson Dario Dominguez (14-2-1, 7 KOs), getting a TKO stoppage after just 2:31 of the first round.

(more…)

Ceja-Lopez ready in Acapulco

By Gabriel F. Cordero

Light flyweights Luis “Gallito” Ceja and Ganigan “Zurdo” Lopez will meet for the WBF title on Saturday in the Sports Acapulco Pacific Paradise in an event organized by Promociones del Pueblo and broadcast of Televisa. Ceja and Lopez both appear in great condition for the fight, after passing the medical examination smoothly and making weight at 107.5 for Ceja and 108 for Lopez.

Ceja: “This championship I promised to my family, and I see so many fans here today so tomorrow no excuses. I am one hundred percent ready and I will be the champion.”

Lopez: “What better than to be crowned champion in a place where people are so interested in boxing. I was really surprised to see so many people at the weigh-in…I will take home the world title.”

Also, Marcos Villasana Jr., the son of former world champion Marcos Villasana, weighed in at 139 for his ten-rounder against “Chavita” Rodriguez for the WBC super lightweight Youth title. Rodriguez weighed 140.

Weights from Panama City

By Gabriel F. Cordero

Alberto Mosquera 140 vs. Fidel Monterrosa 139
(WBC Latino super lightweight title)
Rolando Giono 132 vs. Fabian Marimon 133.25
Juan Delgado 146 vs. Jeffrey Rosales 146
Yoelvis Gamboa 142.75 vs. Jose Aguirre 147
Antonio Lui 143.5 vs. John Renteria 144
Desiree Hernandez 108 Yaditza Perez 106.5

Venue: Fantastic Casino Panama City
Promoter: Promociones y Eventos del Istmo
TV: TV Max

Broner, DeMarco make weight

Photos: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Golden Boy

Antonio DeMarco 134.5 vs. Adrien Broner 134.5
(WBC lightweight championship)
Seth Mitchell 242 vs. Johnathon Banks 214.5
Phil LoGreco 149 vs. Daniel Sostre 146
Demetrius Hopkins 154.5 vs. Joshua Snyder 158
Julian Williams 154 vs. Jonel Tapia 154.5
Zachary Ochoa 140.5 vs. Michael Salcido 145

Venue: Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City
Promoter: Golden Boy/Gary Shaw/K2
TV: HBO

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At the scales in Albuquerque

Photo by Jose Leon Castillo III
Weights by Chris Cozzone

From the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albuquerque for tomorrow night’s Team Tapia Presents card:

Joaquin Zamora 156 vs. Bernardo Guereca 153.8
Archie Ray Marquez 135.2 vs. Ricky Alexander 130.4
Josh Torres 146.2 vs. Omar Quevedo 145.4
Adrian Lopez 179.2 vs. Manny Otero 180
Henry Anaya III 165 vs. Manuel Eastman 164.2
James Martinez 147.4 vs. Donald Sanchez 146.8
Angelo Leo 118.4 vs. Jesus Pacheco 118.2

For more photos, visit www.NewMexicoBoxing.com

Q&A: Carl Froch

World champion Carl Froch talks about his IBF super middleweight title defense against Yusaf Mack on Saturday at the at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England, which can be seem live on pay-per-view in the U.S.

Cotto-Trout undercard fights

The December 1 event at Madison Square Garden just became an explosive tripleheader with the addition of unbeaten Puerto Rican phenom Jayson Velez (19-0, 14 KOs) taking on Mexico’s Salvador Sanchez II (30-4-3, 18 KOs) in a 10-round fight for the vacant WBC Silver Featherweight title in a classic Puerto Rico vs. Mexico battle. In the second co-featured attraction, one of boxing’s top young talents, middleweight Danny “Miracle Man” Jacobs (23-1, 20 KOs) will face Cleveland’s Chris “The Irish Ghost” Fitzpatrick (15-2, 6 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight fight as Jacobs returns for his second fight after winning a harrowing battle against a cancerous tumor that attacked his spine.

Froch, Mack make weight

Photos: Laurence Lustig

Carl Froch 167.5 vs. Yusaf Mack 168
(IBF super middleweight championship)
Tony Bellew 174.75 vs. Roberto Bolonti 173
(Vacant WBC silver light heavyweight title)
Scotty Cardle vs. Joe Elfidh??
Khalid Yafai 118.25 vs. Pro Antonio Nettuno 120.75

Venue: Capital FM Arena, Nottingham, England
Promoter: Matchroom Boxing
TV: Distributed on PPV in the United States by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing at 3:00 PM/ET – 12:00 PM/PT on both cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, DIRECTV, DISH Network and Avail-TVN for a suggested retail price of $29.95. Also available to view via Fight Now TV (Cablevision channel 464) and Go Fight Live.

Froch quotes from today’s official weigh-in: “I’ve trained just as hard for this fight as I did for the Bute fight. The training, the physical side of it: the runs, the groundwork and the sparring, have been just as hard as last time. You’ve got to be in tip-top shape for every single fight, if I turned up 50-percent fit for Mack then I’m probably going to get beat. It’s as simple as that. I can’t just take my foot off the gas and think, ‘Oh, I’ve got an easy fight.’ There’s no such thing as an easy fight, so I turn up fully prepared for whoever I’m fighting. (more…)

Burns seeking new challenger

Liam Walsh has been forced to withdraw from his WBO lightweight title challenge against champion Ricky Burns after suffering a back injury in a car accident earlier this week. The unbeaten Walsh was due to face Burns on December 15th at the ExCeL London, but after receiving expert medical advice he has been told to rest and not resume training for four weeks. Burns will still headline Frank Warren’s big multi-title show with the third defense of his title against a new challenger to be announced shortly. The show also features Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves defending his title against the Road Warrior Glen Johnson and Billy Joe Saunders defends his Commonwealth middleweight title against Nick Blackwell with the vacant British title also on the line. (more…)

Geale to get key to the city

IBF middleweight champion boxer Daniel Geale (28-1, 15 KOs) will be presented with the Key to the City of Launceston at a public ceremony at the Town Hall tomorrow, November 17. Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten has extended an invitation to all Northern Tasmanians to attend the ceremony. The presentation will begin at 12.00 noon in the Brisbane Street Mall with a parade led by The City of Launceston RSL Band. The parade will leave the Brisbane Street Mall and proceed north along St John Street to Civic Square, where the Key to the City will be presented on the Town Hall steps. Geale will be the grand marshall of the parade. (more…)

Zhong in pursuit of history for China

On November 24th Xiong Zhao Zhong (19-4-1, 11 KOs) of China will take on Javier Martinez (13-3-2, 6 KOs) of Mexico for the vacant WBC minimumweight title. The world title bout will take place in Kunming, China where Zhong resides. For many who follow boxing, this is just another world title fight but not in the eyes of the natives of China. China has never had a professional world champion boxer and a large portion of the country will be tuning in to watch Zhong’s attempt at history on their televisions. In Zhong’s only other attempt at a world title in 2009 he fought valiently dropping a close decision to then champion Daisuke Naito in Naito’s native Japan. Zhong even scored the only knockdown of the bout sending the champion to the canvas in round 6. That fight was fought at 112 pounds with Zhong giving up 5 inches in height to the champion. In his last bout this past June he dropped down to 108 pounds and fought argueably the best fight of his career defeating Oswaldo Razon of Mexico way of unanimous decision to win a WBC Silver title. For this world title fight the 4ft.11 Zhong will be fighting at his ideal weight class of 105 pounds and on top of that will be fighting on his own turf. The dimunitive sized fighter will look to bring the world’s largest populated country that elusive first world title in boxing won by one of their countrymen. (more…)

Bellew: Bolonti no better than Edison Miranda

Tony Bellew says he intends to ‘seek and destroy’ Roberto Bolonti when the pair fight for the vacant WBC Silver light heavyweight title at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, live on pay per view. “The Bomber” has warned his Argentine opponent that he will adopt different tactics in Nottingham than those used when he beat Edison Miranda with a ninth round stoppage in September. Bellew also believes Bolonti is not a better fighter than Miranda, despite having a higher ranking.

“I am not going in there to box and move with Roberto Bolonti,” he said. “The tactics I use won’t be the tactics I employed for the Edison Miranda fight – I would say it will be more like the tactics I employed for the Danny McIntosh fight, and we saw how devastating that knockout was. It is about seeking and destroying and really hurting someone and getting a vicious knockout; that is what this fight is about. I believe I am good enough to go in there, stand there and trade. I can go into this fight and have a fight and I am happy to do that. You don’t go in with a guy like Edison Miranda and start fighting fights on his terms. (more…)

Fonfara-Karpency IBO officials

By Johnny B’

Illinois director of boxing Nancy Illg and International Boxing Organization president Ed Levine, have agreed on the following officials for tonight’s IBO light heavyweight world championship bout. The match-up of Andrzej Fonara vs. Tommy Karpency will be refereed by Pete Podgorski. Judges are William Lerch, Ted Gimza and Mike Fitzgerald. IBO supervisor is Ramiro Ortiz. This is a Frank Mugnolo (Round 3 Productions) event. The venue is UIC Chicago and the bouts start at 8pm.

WV2 will not move up two divisions to face Juanma

Former WBO super bantamweight world champion Wilfredo “WV2″ Vazquez of Bayamon, Puerto Rico will not move up two divisions to fight Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez at super featherweight on January 19 at MSG.

“We where offered the fight at the featherweight limit and we had an agreement in principal with Top Rank’s Carl Moretti,” said WV2′s promoter Tuto Zabala, Jr. “We have no problem fighting Juanma, it’s all about business. It’s a very interesting fight and Puerto Rican fight fans are eagerly waiting for it.

“After they agreed, now they want to take advantage with the divisions. If he can no longer make the featherweight limit then we will wait for our WBO jr. featherweight title fight. There’s no rush, we want our title back and the winner of the Donaire-Arce fight on December 15. The day will come at the right moment. We already beat Juanma’s pupil Jonathan Oquendo to prove who is the best super bantamweight in Puerto Rico and we are available to prove who is the best featherweight of the Island by knocking him out.”

Fonfara, Karpency make weight

By Przemek Garczarczyk

On the scales: Andrew Fonfara 174.2, Tommy Karpency 174.4 before their IBO light heavyweight title fight at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. Also an interview with Fonfara trainer Sam Colonna.

Other weights:
Jaime Herrera, 148 vs. Patrick Boozer, 146.4
Carl Davis, 231.8 vs. Tommy Carmack, 322.6
Paul Littleton, 164.6 vs. Michael Williams, 165
Luis Santiago, 148.4 vs. Richard Jones, 152.6

Weights from Germany

Photos: SES Boxing

Robin Krasniqi 174.3 vs. Max Heyman 174.3
WBO International light heavyweight title)
Francesco Pianeta 242.9 vs. Nelson Dario Dominguez 231.7
Dominic Bösel 174.1 vs. Zoltan Kiss Jr. 173
Dennis Ronert 193.1 vs. Tamas Bajzath 199.7
Markus Tomala 227.5 vs. Istvan Ruzsinsky 249.778
Moritz Stahl 173 vs. Josef Obeslo 177.6
Toni Thes 179.4 vs. Freddy Lammerer ??

Venue: Maritim Hotel, Magdeburg, Germany
Promoter: SES
TV: Das Vierte (Germany)

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