Couture-Nogueria Weights

Photo: Joe Cordova

Former champions Randy “The Natural” Couture and Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira headline UFC 102 in a heavyweight battle of living legends this Saturday live on Pay-Per-View from the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon beginning at 10pm ET / 7pm PT. In the co-feature, two of the light heavyweight division’s heaviest hitters collide, when perennial contender Keith “The Dean of Mean” Jardine takes on Brazilian powerhouse Thiago Silva.

Below are the official weigh-in results for Saturday’s UFC 102: COUTURE-NOGUEIRA event.
Randy Couture 220 vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 231
Keith Jardine 205 vs Thiago Silva 205
Nate Marquardt 185 vs Demian Maia 185
Brandon Vera 205 vs Krzysztof Soszynski 205
Chris Leben 185 vs Jake Rosholt 185
Ed Herman 185.5 vs Aaron Simpson 185
Gabriel Gonzaga 259 vs Chris Tuchscherer 258
Justin McCully 238 vs Mike Russow 260
Tim Hague 263.5 vs Todd Duffee 251
Nick Catone 185.5 vs Mark Munoz 185.5
Marcus Aurelio 156 vs Evan Dunham 155

UFC 102: COUTURE-NOGUEIRA LIVE is available LIVE this Saturday on pay-per-view on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, Bell ExpressVu, Shaw Communications and Viewer’s Choice Canada beginning at 10pm ET / 7pm PT. Click here for more info.

Hanks defeats Jordan!

Photo: Rocco Morales

By Rocco Morales

Thursday night, a sellout crowd of 1,412 fight fans came out to the Irvine Marriott for the ever popular Battle In The Ballroom put on by Roy Englebrecht Promotions. In main event action, somebody’s “0″ had to go and in this case it was going to be one of two undefeated heavyweights, as Ashanti Jordan risked his perfect (10-0, 7 KOs) record against the very tough Joe Hanks (8-0, 6 KOs). Although Hanks had a noticeable size advantage, and having fought before in the Battle Of The Ballroom series, enjoyed the hometown support, it was Ashanti who seemed to have more experience, if not the better skills. However, it was Hanks who was able to let his fists fly and who racked up the points on the judges scorecards, while Jordan mostly countered Hanks. For more details and photos click here…

Weights from Mexicali!

Photo: Gabriel F. Cordero

By Gabriel F. Cordero at the scale

¨Pelenchin¨ Caballero 121.5 vs Franky Leal 121.5
(WBA super bantamweight championship)
Ana Maria Torres 114.8 vs Ava Knight 114.8
(WBC super flyweight championship)
Venue: Ciudad Deportiva de Mexicali
Promoter: KO Entretainment & Rochmar

Weights from Honolulu!

Photo: Zanfer Boxing

Brian Viloria 107.5 vs Jesus Iribe 108
(IBF light flyweight championship)
Zaid Zavaleta 141.5 vs Dennis Laurente 142
AJ Banal 118.7 vs Jose Angel Beraza 118.2
Alfonso Gomez 152.2 vs Raul Munoz 156.3
Venue: Blaisdell Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
Promoter: Zanfer Boxing

Weights from Cleveland!

By Antonio Castro at the scale

Hector Camacho Jr 154 vs. Israel Cardona 153.5 (Camacho originally weighed in at 156 pounds)
(Vacant WBC CABOFE Jr Middleweight Title)
Ronald Johnson 174.5 vs. Billy Bailey 173.5
(WBC USNBC light heavyweight title & WBF light heavyweight title)
Marvin Cordova 142 vs. Ernest Johnson 141.5
Jay Krupp 148 vs. Abel Perry 149
Dante Moore 153.5 vs. Silas Ortley 156
Julius Leegrand 132 vs. Norman Allen TBA
Venue: Wolstein Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Promoter: Z entertainment & American Dream Productions
TV: On Demand PPV

Weights from Tunica!

Photo: Scott Foster

By Scott Foster at the scale

Fernando Guerrero 168.6 vs Chris Archer 167.9
Shawn Porter 154.3 vs Lamar Harris 155.8
Dominic Wade 164.3 vs Tyrone Dowdy 158.9
Chazz Witherspoon 234.6 vs Stacy Frazier TBA
Mike Wilson 211.7 vs Marvin Hunt 193.2′
Venue: Fitzgerald’s Casino & Hotel, Tunica, Mississippi
Promoter: Prize Fight Promotions
TV: Webcast on prizefighttv.com

Nate Campbell speaks!

Vince Ornalez Photography

By Matt Thompson

FightNews had the opportunity to talk exclusively with former unified lightweight champion and current jr. welterweight contender Nate Campbell following his return home after the CSAC overturned the result of his fight with WBO champion Tim Bradley, changing that result to a no contest. The Galaxxy Warrior didn’t pull any punches in discussing the situation. (more…)

Q&A: Hector Camacho

Hector “Macho” Camacho Jr. (48-3-1, 27 KOs) speaks about his fight on Saturday night in Cleveland at the Wolstein Center and on In Demand Pay Per View against the upset-minded Israel “Pito” Cardona (36-9, 28 KOs).

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Juanma, Mtagwa in Puerto Rico

Photo: Chris Farina-Top Rank

Following their kick-off press conference on Thursday in New York City, WBO world jr. featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez and challenger Rogers Mtagwa headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for a follow-up presser on Friday tfor their collision on Top Rank’s  “Island Warriors” – Latin Fury 12 pay per view event on October 10th at  Madison Square Garden.  Also on this doubleheader card, WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa will defend his title against challenger Whyber Garcia.  Top Rank promotes this event in association with Arena Box-Promotion and PR Best Boxing. Click here for more photos…

Ramirez, Huck make weight

Photo: Sauerland Event

Victor Emilio Ramirez 198.9 vs Marco Huck 198.4
(WBO cruiserweight world championship)
Karo Murat 172.4 vs Sergey Demchenko 172.8
(WBO Intercontinental Light Heavyweight Title:
Lamon Brewster 233 vs Gbenga Oloukun 233
Robert Helenius 249.6 vs Serdar Uysal 219.8
Dominik Britsch 158.9 vs Salvatore Annunziata 159.8
Geoffrey Batello 198.6 vs Alex Mogylewski 193.5
Lukas Schulz 198.1 vs Dirk Mandelartz 196.4
Marcos Nader 159.1 vs Giovanni Architravo 157.6
Venue: Gerry Weber Stadium, Halle, Germany
Promoter: Sauerland Event
TV: ARD (Germany)

More photos.

Contreras, Taylor KO foes

Thursday night in Hagerstown, Maryland, fight fans were treated to two spectacular knockouts win by sensational prospects; junior welterweight Francisco “The Phenom” Contreras and cruiserweight Andres “Taylor Made” Taylor. The 25 year old Contreras improved his perfect knockout record of 10-0, 10 KOs by stopping Julian Rodriguez at the 1:35 mark of the second round under a hailstorm of power shots from the Dominican. The loss evened Rodriguez’s record to 17-17-4, 11 KOs. Fighting out of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Taylor, now 10-1-1, 6 KOs), stopped Joseph Harris with a barrage of punches in the fourth round. Time of the stoppage for Taylor was 1:25. The loss moved Harris’ record to 10-9-0, 7KOs). (more…)

Witherspoon continues revival!

Once-beaten heavyweight prospect “Gentleman” Chazz Witherspoon (25-1, 17 KOs), the 2004 National Golden Gloves champion, wants to match his cousin “Terrible” Tim Witherspoon’s major accomplishment as heavyweight champion of the world . . . click here for more

Boxing’s back on Beale!

First Tuesday of Every Month, Starting October 6th! Brian Young and Prize Fight Boxing today proclaimed that “Boxing on Beale was back!” The announcement was that a new Miller Lite Fight Night Series – Boxing on Beale would begin October 6 at the historic New Daisy Theatre on Beale Street, downtown Memphis, TN, with future fights scheduled on the first Tuesday of every month.. . . click here for more

Azzaoui defeats Mensah

By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

Former WBO cruiserweight challenger Mohamed Azzaoui (24-5-2, 8 KOs) captured the vacant interim WBO African title when referee Steve Marshal disqualified Moyo Mensah (19-7-1, 9 KOs) for continual infrigements in round seven at the ASB stadium in Auckland, New Zealand Friday. Azzaoui had previously been stopped in four rounds by Enzo Maccarinelli in a WBO title attempt in 2007. Yoan Hernandez stopped him in one round in 2007. Alex Lepai stopped him in two rounds in 2008. Australian cruiserweights Jamie Withers and Daniel Ammann outscored him in 2009 bouts. Mensah lost to former IBF cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Wlodarczy in five rounds of 2007 bout Azzaoui outpointed Mensah in 2006. Also in a light heavyweight bout Soulan Pownceby (11-0, 6 KOs) outpointed Togasilmai Letoa (11-2, 6 KOs) over twelve rounds to win the WBO Asia Pacific title. Pownceby had previously defeated Letoa in 2006. Pownceby is scheduled to meet Shane Chapman on the David Tua v Shane Cameron heavyweight title card on October 3rd

Wonjongkam stops Masuda in 6th!

By Damrong Simakajornboon
Photos: Sroi Mungmee

Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (73-3-1,39 KOs) successfully kept his WBC interim flyweight title as he easily stopped WBC#22 Takahisa Masuda (20-9-3,5 KOs) in round six on Friday at Kadcheongdoi in Chiangmai, Thailand. Experienced Thai fighter aggressively hunted the Japanese from the opening round, rapidly dropping his foe in round two with a sharp right straight. Then, the one-man show was going on by the champion wildly attacking his contender who tried to keep distance and displayed his counterpunches but little efficiency. Finally, the action was ended when Wonjongkam displayed one-side attack and floored Masuda again with his consecutive three uppercuts, forcing referee Brad Vocale to stop the bout at 1:06 of round six. Scoring announcement after round four were unanimous 40-35 for the champion. After the bout, Virat Wachirarattanawongsi, Wonjongkam’s manager, said that his fighter will unify the WBC title against the winner of Naito-Kameda next and the unification bout will be scheduled at the early of 2010. (more…)

Camacho looking to rebuild

Interview by Antonio Castro

Hector “Macho” Camacho Jr. (48-3-1, 27 KO’s) is looking to rebuild his reputation starting with his fight on Saturday night in Cleveland at the Wolstein Center and on In Demand Pay Per View as he is taking on the upset minded Israel “Pito” Cardona (36-9, 28 KO’s) . . . Click here for more

Roach wants Mexico

By Nick Giongco

Top trainer Freddie Roach wants to bring Manny Pacquiao to a secluded training camp up in the mountains of Toluca in Mexico in preparation for the Nov. 14 fight with Miguel Cotto.
“It’s absurd to train in the Philippines,” said Roach in an interview Thursday with fightnews and Manila Bulletin as the Hall of Fame trainer brushed off suggestions that Baguio be used as an alternate camp to the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood. “Cotto is going to be the toughest fight and anyone who says that it’s going to be easy is a f_____ idiot!” Roach said he “knows what’s best for my fighter,” pointing to the high elevation of Toluca as the perfect site for Pacquiao’s usual eight-week training. (more…)

Q&A: Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel

By David Finger

It seems hard to imagine now, but there was a time back in 1988 when many boxing insiders were predicting that the newly formed World Boxing Organization would fall flat on its face before the end of the decade. Founded when a group of WBA members bolted from that organization citing anger at how that company was run, the WBO seemed at first like so many other start up sanctioning bodies: rudderless and with less credibility than the big three of the WBA, WBC, and IBF. In fact it seemed that most of these start up sanctioning organizations had one simple philosophy: to copy the IBF and hope that a highly recognizable champion would dump his belt and claim theirs, thus giving them instant credibility. But it became clear almost immediately that the WBO was different. For one thing, they put on better fights, and the champions were all very credible. But although the fighters were the foundation of the success of the WBO over the years, much credit has to be given to the leadership of men like Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel, the current WBO president. (more…)

McGirt answers Alcine’s prayers

By Dave Spencer / Fightnews Canada

Looking for somebody to once again take him to the top, former WBA junior middleweight champion Joachim Alcine (30-1) finally found the answer he was looking for in Church. But it wasn’t so much divine intervention as it was simple logistics that brought in famed trainer Buddy McGirt as the man to step in and try and bring back Alcine from his only professional loss, a 6th round knockout to current champ Daniel Santos. The tragedy of Arturo Gatti’s funeral brought the two men together earlier this summer as both men were in Montreal to pay their final respects to the fallen warrior. “I saw him in the Church, he was sitting right behind me,” Alcine told Fightnews. “I told my wife, that’s Arturo’s coach, and she said: ‘that’s him, you’ve finally found a coach.’” (more…)

Mendez, Hamer Photo Report

By Andreas Hale

Jr welterweight Argenis Mendez (13-1, 8 KOs) pummeled Anthony Napunyi (14-7) to a fifth round TKO stoppage in front of a full house at BB Kings Bar & Grill in New York. In the evening’s co-feature, unbeaten heavyweight Tor Hamer (8-0, 6 KOs) survived a flash knockdown in the final stanza of his 6 rounder with Theron Johnson (3-2) to eek out the decision. Click for photos and full details…

Next Club Nokia card Sept 24

The next intsallment of “Fight Night Club” at L.A. LIVE’s Club Nokia in Los Angeles, will take place on September 24th and will feature lightweight Luis Ramos (11-0, 6 KOs), featherweight Charles Huerta (11-1, 7 KOs) and junior featherweight Ronny Rios (6-0, 2 KOs) in separate bouts against opponents to be named. “Fight Night Club,” is a new live monthly boxing series presented by Golden Boy Promotions.

Camacho regains passion!

Hector Camacho, Jr. reclaimed his passion and love for the sport of boxing at today’s final presser for Saturday night’s “Latin Invasion” card. “I had lost passion and love for boxing,” Camacho admitted. “I found myself going through changes, feeling tremendous pressure and not feeling at my best. I was constantly battling with my weight and with the black cloud that hung over me. That’s why I was away from the ring all this time . . . Click here for more

Q&A: Jimmy Chaichotchuang

By Ray Wheatley–World of Boxing

Leading Thailand promoter Jimmy Chaichotchuang started promoting in 1996 and has regular nationally televised shows featuring the cream of Thailand’s boxing stars. Jimmy talks to Fightnews and tells of his first promotion, how his uncle Police Colonel Kreerin Intrakaew sponsored him and also about boxers he managed such as Fahprakorb Rakkiattgym and Fahsung 3K Battery, who both battled Manny Pacquiao. (more…)

Mares punishes Fulgencio

Photo: Big Joe Miranda

Unbeaten IBF #3/WBO #4/WBC #8 bantamweight Abner Mares (19-0, 12 KOs) scored an impressive sixth round knockout over Carlos Fulgencio (11-4-1, 7 KOs) on Thursday night at L.A. LIVE’s Club Nokia in Los Angeles. Mares’ sustained and brutal body attack finally took its toll on Fulgencio, who went down for the count at 2:24. A 2004 Olympian, Mares was formerly rated WBO #1, but was dropped in the ratings after being sidelined for eleven months with a torn retina and then appendicitis. He has won two straight since returning in May. For more details and photos click here…

WBO Convention, Day 3

By David Finger

The third and final day of the 22nd Annual WBO boxing congress wrapped up today in Budapest, Hungary as President Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel kicked off the championship and ratings committee meetings early in the morning. With all of the recent activity involving WBO ranked fighters, there was little questioning that it would be a colorful and at times contentious morning. As President Valcarcel discussed the situation in the heavyweight division he first brought up American Eddie Chambers, whose defeat over Alexander Dimitrenko in an eliminator set him up as a mandatory challenger to reigning WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko. President Valcarcel was confident that would be fighting for title in the next eighteen months. (more…)

Cruz confident!

Photo: Promociones Miguel Cotto

USNBC featherweight champion Luis Cruz will face his first tittle defense next Saturday, 29th, at the Juan Viera Choliseum in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico. Today the press conference was help and Cruz (11-0, 9 KOs) explained that fighting in his native town acquires particular value, because that encourages his will and forces him to train harder in order to thank his fans for all of their support. In a really touching moment, the 23-year-old champion emphasized that he will dedicate the bout to his mother, who is currently hospitalized. “When she comes out, she’ll find that her son has a new victory. This one is for her,”said Cruz, who will face Yogli Herrera (22-8, 15 KOs). Tickets are available at Ticketcenter.com: ring side $25.00 and general entrance $12.00. Boxeo Boricua in Las Piedras is presented by Promociones Miguel Cotto and H2 Entertainment.

Mendez stops Napunyi

It was 80 degrees in New York City on Wednesday, but the real heat was at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, where a sold out crowd watched DiBella Entertainment showcase some of the best young talent in boxing. In the main event, 2004 Dominican Republic Olympian Argenis Mendez scored a fifth round knockout over hardnosed veteran Anthony Napunyi in a super featherweight contest. Mendez (14-1, 9 KOs) systematically broke down Napunyi (14-7, 7 KOs) with impressive hand speed and impeccable accuracy until referee Michael Ortega was forced to step in and halt the proceedings. It was a wildly successful first outing under the DiBella Entertainment promotional banner for Mendez. (more…)

Weights from Hollywood, FL!

Juan Urango 139 vs Randall Bailey 139.5
(IBF light welterweight championship)
Tavoris Cloud 174 vs Clinton Woods 173.5
(IBF light heavyweight championship)
Jonathan Gonzalez 146.5 vs Jason Thompson 145.5
Michael Jean Louis 142.5 vs Prenice Brewer 142.5
Joel Morales 166.5 vs Robert Campbell 168.5
Luis Franco 127.5 vs Christain Fernabdez TBA
Rances Barthelemy 130 vs Vinesah Rungea 129.5
Venue: Hard Rock Live, Hollywood, Florida
Promoter: Warriors