Boxing FanHouse

Chad Dawson Looks to Repeat Against Glen Johnson

Lem Satterfield — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:14:00 EST

Filed under: WBC, HBO, IBO

Perhaps Glen Johnson's best attempt at head-games during the buildup to Saturday night's 175-pound rematch with IBO titlist Chad Dawson is his refusal to admit defeat.

The facts are that Johnson was not only judged the loser of their first light heavyweight clash in April of 2008 by scores of 116-112 on all three cards, but that the decision was rendered before a partisan crowd in Miami -- not far from the native Jamaican's current home in Hollywood, Fla.

But Johnson's insistence that he was "robbed" clearly rankles Dawson's promoter, Gary Shaw, and if nothing else, has Dawson so chagrined that he has vowed to turn up the heat when they face off at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., near the champion's hometown of New Haven.

"My beef with Glen is that he keeps calling it a robbery, but when you lose on all of the judges' cards by three and four rounds, in your home state, and in your home town, I don't see that as a robbery," said Shaw.

"So my beef is, instead of diminishing Chad Dawson by saying 'it's a robbery,' just say that 'I fought a very good fighter on that night. I believe that I won. I don't believe the judges saw it the way I saw it and I'd like another shot at Chad Dawson,'" said Shaw.

"Johnson's getting another shot because that's the fight that HBO was willing to pay for," said Shaw of a clash that is also for the WBC's interim title. "But don't diminish Chad Dawson by saying you were robbed."

Known as "The Road Warrior" for his reputation of fighting anyone, anywhere and anytime, as well as for his rugged in-your-face style, Johnson can become the oldest man to win a version of the light heavyweight title with a win over Dawson (28-0, 17 knockouts).

At 40 years and 319 days old, Johnson (49-12-2, 33 KOs) could surpass Bob Fitzimmons, who decisioned George Gardner over 20 rounds on Nov. 25, 1903, at 40 years and 193 days.

"I do think, though, that this is going to be a lot like the first fight except that they're going to mix it up earlier," said Doug Fischer, managing editor of RingTV.com. "It's going to be a back and forth kind of intense boxing match featuring some firey exchanges -- but probably more boxing than standing and trading."

Johnson believes he can outwork the talented, 27-year-old southpaw, against whom he fell behind early in their first meeting before coming on, late in the fight, even hurting Dawson but being unable to finish him.

"Johnson landed some clean shots, particularly in the second half of that fight directly to the exposed jaw of Dawson. And although it wobbled and rocked Dawson a little bit, Dawson was able to take it," said Fischer.

"Johnson did catch a lot of Dawson's punches on his gloves and forearms. The problem is, judges count that a lot of times, even though they shouldn't," said Fischer. "In Johnson's case, it's because he walks in a straight line and he's straight up, and there's not a lot of upperbody movement."

Johnson was named the 2004 Fighter of the Year after a decision over Clinton Woods, a ninth-round knockout of Roy Jones, and a split decision over Antonio Tarver.

Johnson was unbeaten at 32-0 in July of 1997, when he was knocked out for the only time in his career by Bernard Hopkins in the 11th round.

Although Dawson believes that he can earn a repeat decision by being the busier fighter, he stopped short of predicting a victory by knockout.

"I'm not a knockout puncher. I'm not going in there looking for the knockout. I will keep out-boxing you. I will out-point you. That's what got me to 28-0, so why would I want to change that?" said Dawson.

"The first fight I did what I had to do. I stacked up the rounds. It's like any fighter," said Dawson. "You get hit, you want to hit back. But my whole goal for this fight is to hit and not to be hit. Stick and move."

Still, Johnson insists that Dawson was wrongly rewarded for landing punches against his peek-a-boo defense, believing he successfully blocked a majority of the champion's shots.

"Chad Dawson moves a lot and just tried to throw punches at my defense," said Johnson, who has since won two straight, knocking out Aaron Norwood in four rounds last November before decisioning Daniel Judah over 10 rounds in February.

"My understanding is that boxing is supposed to be judged on clean and effective punching," Johnson said. "If something has changed, someone needs to tell me."

Johnson's defense notwithstanding, the older man will need to mount a more effective offensive strategy in order to lift the crown from Dawson before what is certain to be a crowd that favors the younger man.

"Looking at some of the rounds from the first fight, when Chad is getting off with his jab, Johnson is not jabbing. Even though some of those jabs aren't hitting Johnson directly in the face, they're hitting his gloves," said Fischer.

"The impression for the judges is often that he's being outhutstled and-or out-pointed by the younger, faster fighter, so he can't allow that to happen so much as he was in the first fight," said Fisher.

"In the end, though, I think that Dawson's a little more seasoned now -- smart enough to know that he can contain Johnson with his lateral movement and with the angles that he can give him on the inside."

FanHouse is in agreement, so the pick here is Dawson, by decision.

Chad Dawson Looks to Repeat Against Glen Johnson originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:14:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Valuev's Size an Advantage Against Haye

Lem Satterfield — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:57:00 EST

Filed under: WBA, WBC, WBO, HBO, Showtime

David Haye has fists that have earned him the nickname, "The Hayemaker," since only one opponent in 22 victories has gone the distance with him.

But the London resident is known by opponents as much for his verbal taunts and jabs outside of the ring as he is for the actual bombs he throws inside of it.

Haye, for example, once wore T-shirts sporting the decapitated likenesses of the siblings, heavyweight champions Wladimir Klitschko (IBF and WBO) and Vitali Klitschko (WBC), during promotions of scheduled bouts with each that never materialized.

And during the buildup to Saturday's matchup with WBA titlist, Nikolay Valuev, of Russia, Haye's vocal assault on the largest heavyweight champion in history have been equally relentless.

Called by Haye, "a circus freak, a zombie and a robot," the seven-foot Valuev literally steps over the ropes instead of through them because he says "it's easier."

In the meantime, Haye, who pulled out of the fight with Wladimir due to an injury, and then backed out of negotiations with Vitali to face Valuev, has been a hit while lampooning his rival in the British media.

"I want to make him so angry that he doesn't just want to beat me, but to kill me," Haye has said of Valuev, who weighed 310 pounds for his last fight in December compared to the 6-3 challenger's 215.

"[Valuev] is the biggest heavyweight champion in boxing history, and boxing's been around a long time. But I think that I'm making him angry, and that he really wants to do a number on me," said Haye, 29.

"I feel that will work to my advantage. He's big, he's strong, but he's not got the best skills in the world," said Haye. "I need him to give me openings because his arms are so long. I need him to bring the arms out and to try and get at me so that I can get inside and go to work."

On Saturday night Valuev will have a nearly 100-pound advantage in weight over Haye, having tipped the scales at 316 compared to 218 for his nemesis on Friday.

But the man nicknamed "The Russian Giant" claims he is unaffected by Haye's comments.

"He can say what he wants. I don't care about it. I will give my answer in the ring," said Valuev, 36, who is 50-1 with 34 knockouts.

"A lot of opponents have tried to provoke me, but nobody has ever succeeded," said Valuev. "I don't care about his statements. Needless to say, I am very confident of success."

Haye (22-1, 21 KOs) is facing Valuev in Nuremberg, Germany, after having risen from the cruiserweight (200 pounds) division. Evander Holyfield is the only former cruiserweight to win a heavyweight crown, having dethroned Buster Douglass in October of 1990 in three rounds.

Haye won the WBA cruiserweight crown with a seventh-round knockout of Jean Marc Mormeck in November of 2007, but then dropped it to dethrone WBC and WBO king Enzo Maccarinelli in two rounds in March of 2008, handing him only his second loss in 30 bouts and stopping him for the first time in his career.

"The cruiserweight division is solid, but it's not like it's a talented division top to bottom," said Doug Fisher, Managing Editor of RingTV.com. "Haye could get away with his flaws fighting those guys. He was able to find the tip of their chins and put them down."

By the time he enters the ring against Valuev, Haye will have been out of the ring for nearly 12 months, having scored a fifth-round knockout of faded, former heavyweight contender Monte Barrett on November 15.

Valuev will not have seen action since December, when he decisioned former four-time champion Holyfield 116-112, 115-114, and 114-114 -- a loss the 47-year-old ex-world titlist disputes even today.

"Unlike a lot of people, I didn't think Evander Holyfield was robbed when he fought Valuev. I scored it a draw, as I recall. Holyfield simply faded too badly down the stretch, but the lateral movement he showed that day is the key that Haye will surely use," said Kieran Mulvaney, of ESPN.com and Reuters.

"Haye is the faster man and better boxer, and has far more than Holyfield does right now," said Mulvaney. "Assuming Haye's stamina lasts --which is an issue -- I think he'll wind up a points winner in a fight that probably will not be too aesthetically pleasing."

Although Haye has a nine-fight winning streak that includes eight knockouts, he has gone 12 rounds only once during a lopsided decision over Ismail Abdoul in July of 2006.

Haye has been eight rounds and nine rounds (once each) in stoppages of previously unbeaten fighters, Lasse Johansen and Giacobbe Fragomeni, respectively, in March and July of 2006.

Valuev, meanwhile, has won four straight, grounding out route-going victories over previously unbeaten Jean Francois Bergeron as well as former world champs Sergey Lyakhovich, John Ruiz and Holyfield, all in succession.

And while Valuev's lone defeat was by majority decision to then-unbeaten, Ruslan Chagaev in April of 2007, Haye's only setback raises far more questions.

For in September of 2004, Haye was stopped in five rounds by a then-40-year-old, Carl Thompson, who entered their matchup with a record of 32-6 that included being knocked out five times.

Fischer points to Haye's last victory over Barrett as an example of why he believes the former cruiserweight titlist "is unproven as a heavyweight."

"David Haye put Barrett down five times, and Barrett got up. The first four knockdowns, Barrett got up with a clear enough head to swing back and to give David Haye something to worry about," said Fischer.

"I don't question Haye's power at cruiserweight, but I do question it a little bit at heavyweight," said Fischer. "I also question chin, as most people do, since he's been knocked out and he's been dropped more than a few times."

The difference between Valuev and Haye has as much do to with relative technique as it does with size, Fischer said.

"One thing that I'm impressed with in Valuev is his balance for a man that big. He does get hit, and you can throw punches around his guard and land punches. But Valuev's got good balance and decent technique, throws a nice jab, his right hand is not bad, and he can block and counter semi-effectively," said Fischer.

"If somebody gets into a clinch with him, Valuev has the size and the mass to walk them backward or to tire them out," said Fischer. "Haye willingly falls into clinches, and I believe that his stamina will catch up to him on the way to being stopped late."

FanHouse agrees with Fischer, and, so, the pick here is Valuev, but by decision.

Valuev's Size an Advantage Against Haye originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:57:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Paul Williams to Face Sergio Martinez

Lem Satterfield — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:00:00 EST

Filed under: WBC, WBO, HBO, FanHouse Exclusive

Paul Williams will be ending a nearly nine-month layoff when he enters the ring on Dec. 5 against Sergio Martinez, which he calls "a good thing."

Williams (37-1, 27 knockouts) will face Martinez (44-1-2, 24 KOs) in Atlantic City, on the same night he was supposed to challenge WBO and WBC middleweight (160 pounds) champion Kelly Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs), before the titlist canceled their bout due to a staph infection on the knuckle of his left forefinger.

"I've got to focus on this guy now. It's a little bit of an adjustment, but it's nothing that a champion can't do," said Williams, an Aiken, S.C., native now living in Augusta, Ga.

"At this point in my career, a win is a win. But any time you get in there, you want to make a statement," said Williams. "And I'm going to make a statement. I'm going to go in there and do what I do."

The Williams-Martinez 12-round, non-title, middleweight clash of southpaws will be televised on HBO from the Boardwalk Hall's Adrian Phillips Ballroom.

"I've fought a couple of southpaws, so it's not a thing to me," said Williams, 28. "I've just got to go out there and continue to do what I do."

The 34-year-old Martinez is 28-0-1 with 18 knockouts since February of 2000, when he was stopped in seven rounds by Antonio Margarito, whom Williams decisioned unanimously in July of 2007.

"I know that he's a fast fighter. He comes to fight. That's just about all that I know about him," said Williams, who has twice held the WBO welterweight crown and owns the WBO's interim junior middleweight title.

"I think that every fighter is looking to knock me off, and I love that because that motivates me to have to stay on top. So I'm looking at it like I'm the [underdog] trying to knock him off."
I think that every fighter is looking to knock me off, and I love that because that motivates me to have to stay on top. I'm looking at it like I'm the [underdog] trying to knock him off.
-- Paul Williams
The WBC junior middleweight (154) champion, Martinez is coming off of February's 12-round majority draw with Kermit Cintron, who has twice been stopped by Margarito.

"I'm not looking at the guys that he fought. You can't judge him off of that. He could have had an off night, just like I've had one off night in my career," said Williams, referring to a February, 2008 unanimous decision loss to Carlos Quintana, whom he rebounded to stop in the first round four months later.

"[Martinez] might be looking at me like I'm the top fighter, but in my eyes, I'm looking at him the same way," said Williams. "I'm looking at it as if I still have to prove myself, and that's providing me with some extra motivation."

A dangerous boxer because of his height (6-foot-1), high punch output, athleticism and general talents, Williams appears to be running out of opponents to fight.

"We didn't get caught off guard," with Pavlik's injury, Williams' manager and trainer, George Peterson, told FanHouse last month. "We have been sparring with right-handers and left-handers" as a backup plan.

Williams' talents were last on display in April, when he handed former world champion, Winky Wright (51-5-1, five KOs), the most lopsided loss of his career, 120-108, on one judge's card, and 119-109 on the other two.

"If we can get somebody to fight us at 147, we're going to entertain that also. We just have to go to wherever he can get a fight, it's as simple as that," said Peterson.

"We've stopped calling people out. That doesn't seem to work. But we don't plan to go up any further. We're only planning on going back down, because the only person in the 160-pound weight class that the networks will consider biting on is Kelly Pavlik. But they're not going to spend $3 million or $4 million on that, so there's nobody out there who can challenge us at 160 pounds. The ideal weight is to back down to 154 right now.

"But you've still got [Manny Pacquiao], [Miguel] Cotto, Shane Mosley and [Floyd] Mayweather. They're all hanging around at 147, but they may also flip-flop back and forth at 154. After a while, maybe somebody will break and we may get a breakthrough. It's not happening right now, but we still have to keep busy."

Paul Williams to Face Sergio Martinez originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cotto Says Pacquiao 'Picked Wrong Guy'

Lem Satterfield — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:18:00 EST

Filed under: WBO, HBO

Champion Miguel Cotto has a message for challenger Manny Pacquiao as well as those who believe he can be successful during his quest to win a world title in a record seventh different weight class: "They picked the wrong guy."

"If he thinks he's going to reach a seventh title in a seventh different division, he picked the wrong moment, the wrong fighter and the wrong opponent," said Cotto, all but bristling during Thursday's conference call with the national media.

"If he thinks he's going to beat Miguel Cotto," said Cotto, "he's pretty much all wrong with that kind of thinking."

Cotto (34-1, 27 knockouts) will defend his WBO welterweight (147 pounds) title against Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) on Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas at a catch-weight of 145 pounds.

Cotto also addressed comments by Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, who has leveled sharp criticism not only at the champion's skills, but toward his trainer, Joe Santiago's, ability to direct the fighter.

Roach told FanHouse that Cotto's "defense sucks" and has predicted an early knockout for Pacquiao, who is a 3-to-1 favorite to win the fight.

"Forget about Freddie Roach. The thing Freddie Roach can do is train Manny the best that he can. He can't go over the ropes and fight against Miguel Cotto, you know? He can train Manny the best that he can," said Cotto.

"He can teach what he believes he can teach to help Manny win this fight, but at the end of the road, it's just Manny and Miguel Cotto," said Cotto. "No matter what Freddie Roach says, I have a very strong mind, you know? I'm not going to fall for his game."

Roach is basing his assertion largely on the fact that he believes Cotto is not the same since an 11th-round knockout loss to Antonio Margarito in July 2008, during which he suffered a bloody face, a broken nose, was knocked down once and bled from a deep laceration over his left eye.

"That's the problem here. You can find 10 or 20 people who think they know about boxing. I can't go to a doctor and tell him how to do his job," said Cotto, who has won two straight since losing to Margarito.

"[The doctor] knows how to do his work, and I know how to do my work," said Cotto. "I'm pretty well recovered from the Margarito defeat, and I showed that to the world during my last two victories."

Cotto Says Pacquiao 'Picked Wrong Guy' originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:18:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Promoter: Mayweather-Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium 'Total Nonsense'

Lem Satterfield — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:55:00 EST

Filed under: WBO, HBO, FanHouse Exclusive

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum called a recent report that he is negotiating a Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight in early March at Cowboys Stadium "total nonsense."

"We haven't talked to Mayweather," said Arum. "We haven't discussed it with Mayweather."

The story, reported by an affiliate of The Dallas Morning News, quoted Top Rank vice president Bruce Trampler as indicating that Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 knockouts) needed to dethrone WBO champ Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) on Nov. 14, after which Top Rank could focus on making the fight with Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) in Arlington, Texas.

The story quoted Trampler as saying that Arum had "spoken directly to [Cowboys owner] Jerry Jones," later saying, "Pacquiao is very interested in fighting there. We would definitely try to schedule a fight with Mayweather in March, which is something fans have been waiting to see for some time."

Arum acknowledged discussions concerning Pacquiao in a third match with WBA and WBO 135-pound champion Juan Manuel Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs), whom Pacquiao has drawn with once and beaten once over two disputed fights at featherweight (125) and super featherweight (130).

Pacquiao-Marquez would take place at 140 pounds, said Arum.

"This would be my dream if Pacquiao wins. I would think that a fight with Marquez, coupled with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. against [John] Duddy would be a blockbuster in Cowboys Stadium, particularly given the huge Hispanic population in that area," Arum said.

Chavez (40-0-1, 30 KOs), a junior middleweight (154), meets Troy Rowland (25-2, seven KOs) on Nov. 14, and Duddy (27-1, 17 KOs), is a middleweight (160).

Pacquiao's record, on Boxrec.com, shows March 13 as being an opponent "TBA" in the United States.

"We're talking about Pacquiao against Marquez if Pacquiao wins," said Arum. "If Cotto wins, we're exploring Cotto fighting in June in Yankee Stadium."

Cotto has been a fan favorite at Madison Square Garden, where he packs the stands and is 6-0 with three knockouts, vanquishing the likes of Shane Mosley, Joshua Clottey, Zab Judah and Paulie Malignaggi.

"Yankee Stadium took a full page add out for our Pacquiao-Cotto fight program that reads 'Yankee Stadium, Your Home For Boxing 2010,' and there's a picture of the stadium," said Arum. "The Yankees are so interested in doing boxing at their stadium. That's a good story that nobody has."

Promoter: Mayweather-Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium 'Total Nonsense' originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:55:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Roach Throws Verbal Jabs at Cotto

Lem Satterfield — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:57:00 EST

Filed under: WBO, HBO, FanHouse Exclusive

During the buildup of WBO welterweight champ Miguel Cotto vs. Manny Pacquiao, the challenger's trainer, Freddie Roach, says he's having fun at the expense of Cotto and his chief cornermen, Joe Santiago.

Cotto "is slower," and "gets hit so much more" since his 11th-round knockout loss to Antonio Margarito, and "his defense sucks, because he's training himself," said Roach.

See what else Roach had to say after the jump.

FanHouse: You've been doing an amazing amount of interviews, are these the most you've done other than when you were training Mike Tyson?

Freddie Roach: Without a doubt, yes

FH: Is it any more enjoyable?

Roach: Yeah, I'm having fun with it, getting inside Miguel Cotto's head a little bit, and getting his trainer [Joe Santiago] all upset. It's a little bit of fun, yeah.

FH: Do you feel that you're being successful at it?

Roach: I know how to sell the fight. I'll say things to get inside of his head. They'll say that they're not affected by anything at all, and they're not paying attention to what Freddie Roach says.

But then they say that, 'We will knock Manny Pacquiao out.' I mean, they're obviously, they're taking it really hard.

FH: What was this about Miguel's trainer, Joe Santiago, and a trophy?

Roach: The thing is, the kid [Santiago] wants me to put up my [Trainer of the Year] trophy up that they gave me -- the best trainer trophy they gave me. The only reason he wants that trophy is because he's never fought before, so he's never even had a trophy.

I've got [friggin] thousands of trophies. He can have that trophy, for Christ sakes. It's not going to make him a better trainer.

FH: This is what you've heard that Joe Santiago has said?

Roach: Yep.

FH: What do you believe, in particular, are getting to Miguel Cotto's head?

Roach: Ah, just when I say Manny will knock him out in one round, stuff like that. They get all upset.

FH: Haven't you harped on your belief that Miguel's not fully recovered from his 11th-round knockout loss to Antonio Margarito?

Roach: It's true. Let's face it. When you're undefeated, and everything is going well in your career, you're invincible, and you're the world champion two times. And then, you get knocked out for the first time in your life, it takes a while to get over that.

Some people never get over that. I wasn't at his level, but I had won 27 pro fights and I got knocked out for the first time. It changed my whole life.
Yeah, I'm having fun with it, getting inside Miguel Cotto's head a little bit, and getting his trainer [Joe Santiago] all upset. It's a little bit of fun, yeah.
-- Freddie Roach
FH: How do you believe that the Margarito fight has changed Miguel Cotto?

Roach: He's a different fighter now. Margarito definitely took something out of him -- and I'm not saying that Margarito had anything illegal going on [with the reported plaster in his gloves,] but Cotto took a real beating in that fight.

When you take a beating in that fight, sometimes, there are significant changes in you.

FH: So you think that's happened to Miguel Cotto?

Roach: If you look at his fights after he's lost to Margarito, he's lost a step. He's slower, he gets hit so much more, his defense sucks, because he's training himself, you know?

FH: You feel like Miguel's the one in control of his own training, and not Joe Santiago?

Roach: I don't think that, I know that. You can see that. He's the boss. He calls the shots.

FH: And that's not good?

Roach: Of course not. It's like, when Eddie Futch left me, and I was kind of by myself, and so forth, I was doing great when Eddie was with me. You always need someone to correct you.

But when I was training by myself and basically had a guy in the corner to give me a drink of water, I was making fundamental mistakes, where, before, Eddie corrected me all of the time.

FH: You don't believe that's happening with Miguel Cotto?

Roach: He has some flaws that are mistakes that he's going to make in the fight with Manny that we're going to take advantage of. I've been studying his tapes -- I've been watching him since when he was first coming up all the way until now.

FH: What do you believe has Joe Santiago so upset?

Roach: I made a comment about the trainer, how well he catches punches on the mits -- it's like [friggin] slow motion.

FH: You're deducing this from watching the 24/7 series or ...?

Roach: Yep. And I know where he trains, and I know people at the gym he trains at, so I get reports every day. It's no biggie. They've seen him work out, so I get reports.

FH: I know that you've gone with bigger, stronger sparring partners and as many as seven or so for Manny, and that you've offered them $1,000 if they can knock him down?

Roach: Sparring has to be real. I mean, that's why I give them the incentive of $1,000 if they knock Manny down, because I want them to give their best. Because, that's what we're going to be up against when we fight.

We spar three days a week, and the sparring is really hard, and the days we don't spar, we work on the mistakes that we made before.

FH: What do you know about Miguel's sparring sessions?

Roach: His sparring partners, I don't really know them that well. I've never seen either one of them fight, but I know that they've been using southpaws to emulate Manny.

FH: Do you believe that it's easy for them to do that?

Roach: It's really hard to judge Manny's speed. It's like, I remember when I fought Hector Camacho, I thought he was fast. And I thought that I had fast sparring partners, but then when I got in the ring with him, he was [friggin] 10 times faster than my sparring partners.

When Manny gets in front of him, the speed of the guys that Miguel is sparring with will be like slow motion.

FH: Have there been any distractions with all of the exposure that Manny's been getting, including, most recently, on the Jimmy Kimmel show and on the cover of Time Magazine?

Roach: Manny loves stuff like that. He loves the limelight. There will never be an audience too big for Manny Pacquiao. He puts that smile on and enjoys. The Jimmy Kimmel show was great.

We taped it early in the afternoon, he wasn't out late or anything like that. He's a very disciplined person. When Manny Pacquiao walks through the doors of the boxing gym, everything stays outside. It's only boxing inside of the gym, and that's all that we do.

FH: You've trained guys like Mike Tyson, Virgil Hill, and, Marlon Starling, but have you ever had a fighter make the cover of Time Magazine?

Roach: Nope. That's pretty darn impressive.

FH: You correctly predicted that Manny would knock out Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton, but did he surprise you with anything that he did in those fights?

Roach: Neither of those fights surprised me. I expected both knockouts.

FH: How much better do you believe that Manny's going to look against Miguel Cotto?

Roach: People are doubting Manny's conditioning and so forth because of the typhoons and all of that stuff that happened in Manilla, but believe me, we didn't miss a beat. We didn't miss a day.

It was extremely sad, of course, because a lot of people died. But we did everything that we could do. We didn't melt in the rain. We did everything we had to do during the typhoon.

We never missed a day in the gym, and Manny's 100 percent. In this fight with Cotto, I expect another knockout and I expect another perfect fight.

Roach Throws Verbal Jabs at Cotto originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:57:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dawson or Johnson? Experts Decide

Lem Satterfield — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: WBC, HBO, IBO

Even though "Bad" Chad Dawson won by four points on all three judges cards in the hometown of his opponent the last time they faced, Glen Johnson still believes that he was robbed.

So on Saturday night, the 40-year-old fighter nicknamed, "The Road Warrior," will travel to the 27-year-old Dawson's home turf of Hartford, Conn., hoping to show the young pup that the old dog has learned some new tricks during his quest to become the eldest fighter to win a light heavyweight crown.

FanHouse sought the opinions of some of boxing's experts to determine if Dawson can retain his IBO title and win the "interim" WBC 175-pound crown Saturday night.

Bob Canobbio, CompuBoxInc. .
Chad Dawson by unanimous decision: Johnson's pushing the age of 41, while Dawson's got 24 more rounds of experience under his belt with two decision wins over Antonio Tarver. Not to mention the experience he gained in the first fight with Johnson.

Steve Farhood, Showtime boxing analyst
Chad Dawson by decision: I like Dawson on points. Glen Johnson is never easy for anyone, and he won't be easy in the rematch with Dawson. But Chad is only getting better, and he'll use his advantages in youth and speed and mobility to make it a little bit less of a fight than it was the last time.

Doug Fischer, Managing Editor of RingTV.com
Chad Dawson by decision: I'm going to go with the younger man. I thought Chad Dawson legitmately won the first fight, and I thought he won seven or eight rounds out of the 12. It was very competitive, but I thought that he landed more of the cleaner blows down the stretch.

When you have a fighter who is as fast, and talented and athletic as Chad Dawon is, somebody who can stick and move and has the kind of reflexes and hand-eye coordination that he does, and the fact that he's a southpaw, it's going to take an orthodox fighter some rounds to figure him out.

I think that Glen Johnson will understand him better after their 12 rounds together, and I think Johnson will be even tougher for Dawson and start faster the second time around. But I'm not going to pick Johnson.

As long as Dawson's emotionally up for this fight, I think that the younger man is going to take it again -- probably seven rounds to five. Johnson will probably feel like he's gotten robbed again, and there will probably be some observers who agree with him.

Nancy Gay, FanHouse.com
Chad Dawson by unanimous decision: There's been plenty of antagonistic buildup to this rematch of their 2008 light heavyweight bout, but it most likely will end up like the first one -- Dawson will win by unanimous decision.

Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports.com
Chad Dawson by decision: I am going to take Dawson by decision. My rationale on picking Dawson by decision is that he's now fought 36 rounds in the one fight with Johnson and the two fights with Antonio Tarver.

Dawson's a more talented fighter, and now, he's gained the experience that he lacked the first time that they fought.

Jim Lampley, HBO boxing color commentator
Chad Dawson by decision: I'm going with Dawson because there's no particular reason that the fight should be any different than the first time around. Johnson, at the end of the day, an effort fighter. His only X-factor is effort.

When he beats somebody like Antonio Tarver or Roy Jones, it requires that Tarver or Jones has an off night. Dawson was better the first time around, and he's so challenge for big fights, that he's not going to take this for granted.

Dawson understands what he's dealing with, and he'll make the effort. And as long as he makes the representive effort, he's the younger, faster, more skilled and better fighter than Glen Johnson so that he'll win the fight again by decision -- very similar to the first time.

Robert Morales, Los Angeles Daily News
Chad Dawson by unanimous decision: I just think that Dawson is going to win again. I think that this is going to go the distance because Glen Johnson is a very, very tough cookie, and it's not easy to stop this guy inside the distance.

But Chad Dawson, though, I think he's in his prime, and I think that he's a terrific fighter. I think that this is Chad's time to beat just about anybody that's put in front of him. I expect him to win a fairly wide, unanimous decision.

Joe Santoliquito, Managing Editor, Ring Magazine
Chad Dawson by decision: I think that Chad Dawson learned a lot from their first fight. I think he's just too young and has too much firepower for Johnson over 12 rounds. I see it being a good fight for eight rounds, but I can easily see Dawson winning the last four.

Michael David Smith, FanHouse.com
Chad Dawson by unanimous decision: Chad Dawson is one of the best boxers in the world and is in the prime of his career, and I'd rather see him fight an opponent who's in his prime than the 40-year-old Glen Johnson.

Johnson has had a fine career, but he can't hang with Dawson anymore. I see Dawson winning a very one-sided unanimous decision.

Tim Smith, New York Daily News
Chad Dawson by decision: I like Dawson, I think, because he's the younger guy. The problem that Glen Johnson poses for everybody is that he's always in your chest and he's always on you. He has a tendency to fatigue guys.

But Dawson is a young guy and he knows how to keep guys off of him. I just think that he's a bit too fit and a bit too young for Glen Johnson, although I think it will probably be a close fight. But I give Dawson the nod in a decision.

The experts favor Chad Dawson, 10-0, but if Glen Johnson wins, he'll become the oldest man to win a version of the light heavyweight title at 40 years, 319 days.

Below are the top five:

Bob Fitzimmons decisioned George Gardner over 20 rounds on Nov. 25, 1903, at 40 years and 193 days old.

Antonio Tarver decisioned Clinton Woods over 12 rounds on April 12, 2008, at 39 years, 153 days.

Mike McCallum decisioned Jeff Harding over 12 rounds on July 23, 1994, at 37 years, 237 days.

Dick Tiger decisioned Jose Torres on Dec. 16, 1996, at 37 years, 133 days.

Silvio Branco knocked out Medhi Sahnoune in the 11th round on Oct. 10, 2003, at 37 years, 53 days.

Scource: Bob Canobbio, CompuboxInc.

Dawson or Johnson? Experts Decide originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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George Foreman's KO Defies His Age

Lem Satterfield — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:35:00 EST

Filed under: HBO, FanHouse Exclusive

George Foreman was 28 fights into his comeback from a 10-year absence from the ring, had won 27 times, stopped 25 of his opponents, and failed during his first attempt at winning a heavyweight title.

But Foreman wasn't going to blow his second chance at world championship glory, when he faced southpaw Michael Moorer.

This time, the 45-year-old grandfather and father of nine was ready.

Foreman, 60, talks about his historic accomplishment as well as life after boxing during this, the fourth and final installment of a four-part series detailing how he became boxing's oldest man to win a division's crown.

FanHouse: So now, you're focused on the big one -- Michael Moorer -- for the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles?

George Foreman: Well, I remember one of the hardest things, was focusing. Even when I fought Michael Moorer, I was getting ready to come downstairs one night -- the night before the boxing match -- and talk to reporters and friends.

But [promoter] Bob Arum caught me at the elevator and said, 'Oh no, not this time.' I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'You're not going to do that. That's what happened the last time [against Evander Holyfield.]'

And so, I knew then, what I was going to have to do is to really focus on this one. So I was going to have to study film. I hadn't done that during my entire comeback.

FH: So was the film studying helpful?

Foreman: Well, this time, I got back into the gym and I got into the camera room. I saw that Michael Moorer was a good puncher. I saw him knocking down big guys, but only if they leaned into him.

He threw a straight left hand that would drop you, but he didn't have full extension with his left arm. And I saw that. It didn't seem like he could extend his left hand. I saw Moorer knock this one giant guy down, and then the guy went the rest of the 10 or 12 rounds.

And Moorer couldn't knock him down again -- not because he wasn't powerful, but the guy didn't bend forward anymore. So I said, 'Hmmm.' I studied that over, and over, so I changed everything.

FH: How do you mean?

Foreman: I wouldn't be bending down, crossing my arms in front of my body and covering my face and body like Archie Moore, which I learned from watching his films. I was going to stand straight up, because I didn't think he could reach me with that straight left hand.

And then, I was going to jab and jab and not look at him as a southpaw, but just look at him as a fighter. Then, I figured that I had the better left jab. And I was going to take the sting off of my left jab, which I hadn't done since I don't know when.

Everybody had told me to 'Jab, George.' They didn't know that with Michael Moorer, if you're going to get a good shot in, you've got to take all of the power off of the jab.

I kept missing Evander Holyfield because I would hit him with a big jab and then throw the right hand and I would almost fall over with that wild thing. That's part of the reason I lost that fight.

FH: So how did you rectify that against Michael Moorer?

Foreman: I was going to jab a couple of stiff ones, and then you slap with the jab and set up the right hand.

FH: It sounds like your strategy involved boxing a little bit, but you also took some punishment, didn't you?

Foreman: He was going to beat me to the punch a few times, yeah. But so long as I stayed standing straight up, he would not be able to execute his hardest shots. See, I had been practicing a little bit on that.

I boxed him a little bit and was able to surprise him. I surprised him a couple of times, because he came forward, and I jabbed him, and moved back, and jabbed him again. At one point, he kind of smiled as if to say, 'Where'd that come from?'

FH: So how did that set you up for the 10th round?

Foreman: Well, as the fight was going on, I decided, 'Now it's time.' I decided to use my right hand as a jab, and kind of touch Michael a little bit, and then put as much power into the left hook as I could.

So I threw [the hook] once, and I almost hit him. And then, the second one, I did touch him a little bit, and he felt the power. And now, he's got to think, 'Forget about his right hand, he's throwing all of his power with his left.'

I knew that throwing that left would make him start being careful for my left hand in a hook fashion, and that I would be able to throw that right hand. So then I got him to thinking that way, so I threw a left, and then I slapped the left jab out.

I did that just to touch him -- and then I threw that straight right hand, and delivered it, and I knew it was going to work. I hit him the first time, just like I thought, but it was too high.

Then I threw it again, and it landed right on the button, and -- Boom! -- that was it. I knew that it was over. He dropped right on his back. The right hand is going to get those guys who are southpaws.

FH: Did Michael Moorer get too brave?

Foreman: He did. He did. But that was the thing, to convince people -- and I'll go tell everybody. You got to watch the film of the first Joe Frazier fight, and you see me step into the ring with Joe Frazier, and you see Michael Moorer step into the ring with George Foreman.

The average kid will tell you what's going to happen -- the big guy's going to whup that little guy. But they kept believing things that other people were saying, and that just worked out to my benefit.

FH: So what can you tell us about winning three more times over Axel Schulz, Crawford Grimsley and Lou Savarese, and then being stripped of the WBA and IBF titles you won from Schulz?

Foreman: I sent a guy named Butch Lewis down to talk with [the WBA,] and to tell them that I'm not going to fight anybody for a while, and to give me some time to get some things together. And they told Butch 'No.'

They said that either George signs to fight [Tony Tucker,] or that's it. So I just decided, 'Nah, I'm not going to do that.' It's not like I wanted to be the heavyweight champion of the world for 10 more years. I said, 'They can have that belt.'

And with the IBF, they told me, 'Look George, you can fight whoever you want.' And then, I read it in the paper the next day that I had so many days to fight [a rematch against Schulz.]

So I called them up and thanked them for allowing me to fight for the title, but said that I wasn't interested in defending it anymore.

FH: Why did you finally walk away after the decision loss to Shannon Briggs in November 1997?

Foreman: I was in that Shannon Briggs fight, and one of my guys came in and said, 'Look, George! Here's your first $1 million per month royalty.' And here I am just getting ready to go out and go into a boxing match.

Later on, it was a $2 million dollar royalty per month. Then I needed to go here and to go there, and I just didn't have time. I hated to not box, but I needed to go and take care of business.

I never intended to retire, it was just that boxing had benefitted me so much. I was deep into these joint ventures, selling products, looking for publicity for those products. The major venture was the 'George Foreman Grill.'

I'd been so successful that I didn't have time to really get into training or have two weeks to promote a boxing match. I just never found time anymore.

FH: When did you land the HBO deal?

Foreman: That was just when I was signing to fight Evander Holyfield. One of their executives -- and I don't know one from another -- he said, 'George, when you get through with this fight, we want you to come and work for HBO. We want you on board as a commentator.'

I said, 'Sure.' I was there for 13 years with them.

FH: So what does George Foreman do with his spare time nowadays?

Foreman: I do lots of interviews. I've been traveling, promoting a book, doing book signings. I have George Foreman cleaning products -- which I'm starting to promote -- which means more travel.

This week, I travel to Atlanta to speak. I do a lot of motivational speaking these days. I have my son, Monk, who has decided to be a heavyweight boxer. Every day that I'm not traveling, I'm in the gym with him.

When I left boxing, Monk graduated from college and started working for me and making certain that I was doing the things that I was supposed to do -- showing up for television shows, interviews and speaches. So he knows the business inside and out.

That's going to help him, having watched my career. I just try to do the same thing for him that he did for me -- helping him to learn the sport and to stay out of the publicity thing too much. He's 3-0 with three knockouts and he's fighting again on Nov. 14 of this month in Louisiana.

And, of course, I have the youth center.

FH: How is your youth center doing?

Foreman: All of the property that I had been paying partially on, and paying loans on are now all paid off. I even purchased two and three more acres across the street from the original youth center. I renovated the original buiding.

The youth center is five buildings now when it used to be just a warehouse about the size of a large garage and had a second level. The weight room that was fenced off with chainlink from the boxing ring now has nothing but state-of-the-art tread mills and weight-lifting equipment.

I have a room just for the girls to come in and work out, you know, to do their aerobics. Then I have another building across the street that I call 'The [Muhammad] Ali building,' where they have a summer camp where the kids can work on computers, they can draw and jump on the buses and go to the zoo.

There's a building that has 4,000 square feet in it and a rubberized floor so the kids won't hurt their knees playing basketball. It's a bigger and better fitness center than ever.

FH: So do you have another comeback in you?

Foreman: If my wife heard you ask that, I would get shot. I was 48 when I fought my last fight. And I was considering a comeback at the age of 55. I had already made all of the preparations and gotten myself in great shape.

I was serious about it. I had even talked it over with Ross Greenburg over at HBO, and had some negotiations going and the whole deal.

And then my wife got wind of it, that I was training. And, one morning she said, 'You're not going back into boxing.' We were in the bedroom the first time she confronted me on it. I was explaining to her and showed her a film of what I thought I could do to this one guy.

It was two contenders, and I think that it was like, David Tua. And I thought, 'You know, these guys aren't making any money. If I guaranteed them $5 million, I could get them into the ring. And then, you beat the No. 1 contender and you've got a title shot.

I told my wife that I was going to knock him out. I was like, 'Look at this guy. I can still do it.' I looked at my wife and said, 'You're going to tell me that I can't still do it?'

And she said, 'George, isn't that the way you want to leave the sport -- feeling like you can still do it?' And I said, 'Yep!' And I've never even thought about boxing since.

George Foreman's KO Defies His Age originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:35:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pacquiao a Knockout on Jimmy Kimmel

Lem Satterfield — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, HBO

When Manny Pacquiao emerged from backstage for Tuesday night's appearance on The Jimmy Kimmel Show, he was greeted by chants of "Manny, Manny," from what appeared to be a large contingent of his Filipino countrymen.

Near the end of the segment, Pacquiao, wearing a dark, button-down shirt and blue jeans, literally closed the show, singing along with the band as the members of the crowd, collectively, waved their arms.

Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 knockouts) hopes to score a similar knockout performance on Nov. 14, when he challenges WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (34-1, 27 KOs) at the MGM Grand at a catchweight of 145 pounds.

"I respect Miguel Cotto. I told him that he's a champion for this fight and I'm just a challenger," said Pacquiao, who is looking to become the first fighter to win a title in a seventh weight class.

"This is fight is very important to me," said Pacquiao. "It's going to be history in boxing."

Pacquiao actually opened the show with a skit during which he feigned a training regimen that included smashing pumpkins, prompting Kimmel's remark, "I be willing to bet that he's the only future president of the Philippines whose punched a series of pumpkins on American television."

Kimmel introduced Pacquiao as boxing's best fighter, pound-for-pound.

Playing on Pacquiao's nickname, Kimmel asked the multi-belt champion if he knew what "Pac-Man" is, to which he answered, "My dog," adding, to the audience's delight, "I have a dog named Pac-Man."

At one point, Kimmel displayed a small poster of Pacquiao's soon-to-be-released movie, Wapak Man.

His powers "are a mix of Superman and Spider-Man," explained Pacquiao, who is depicted standing in front of three beautiful women in a full-bodied red suit with the letters, "W", and, "M," signifying the hero's name across his chest in yellow letters.

Pacquiao drew one of the many laughs on the night when he discussed his family, including his fourth child and youngest daughter, Queen Elizabeth, whom Kimmel referred to as "Queen Latifah."

Another subject was a unique training regimen used by Pacquiao to toughen up his arms and stomach, during which a member of his staff pounds those body parts with a cane-like stick.

Kimmel produced the stick, and pounded it on his desk.

"Yeah," said Pacquiao. "And it hurts."

Kimmel then had one of his assistants playfully feign the practice by lightly tapping it on Pacquiao's stomach.

"Now, how about you?" Pacquiao asked Kimmel, who allowed the fighter to do the same to him.

Paquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, said the technique has its roots in Thailand, where they "use it to deaden the pain so you can absorb a punch better."

"Manny's not getting whacked with it. It is just a small motion. We use it for sit-ups, but he is not getting whacked," said Roach.

"I don't know if I agree with it 100 percent, but Manny loves it. We've been doing it for five years now and it works for Manny," said Roach. "But if somebody is going to hit me with a stick, they better bring a big one."

Watch More of Pacquiao on The Jimmy Kimmel Show

Pacquiao a Knockout on Jimmy Kimmel originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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George Foreman 'More Patient' During Historic Comeback

Lem Satterfield — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, HBO, FanHouse Exclusive

With Thursday being the 15th anniversary of his 10th-round knockout of Michael Moorer -- which made him, at age 45, the oldest man to become heavyweight champion -- George Foreman reminisced about his comeback from a 10-year hiatus from boxing.

An evangelist for his non-denominational, Church of Jesus Christ, Foreman, 60, recalls the reaction of his wife, Mary, to the news that he was un-retiring, how trainers such as former light heavyweight champion, Archie Moore and Angelo Dundee, re-structured and modified his style, and how a victory over Steve Zouski began a run of 24 straight wins, including 23 knockouts during this, the second installment of a four-part Q&A series.

FanHouse: What was your wife, Mary's, reaction to your decision to return to the ring at age 38?

George Foreman: She didn't want it. She told me that I was going to get hurt or killed. She just insisted that I try something else. I told her that I had to do it. I just didn't have any way to fund the youth center and keep it going without boxing.

I told her that I was going to do it, and that was all three was to it. I talked to my kids, and I had their blessings. For them, they were like, 'Yeah, more money, more money.'

FH: So then, how did you decide to put together your team of trainers?

Foreman: Charlie Shipes, an original boxing trainer of mine, he had had some problems and had been in the slammer a little bit. But as soon as he was released, we got instantly together.

I brought him into Houston, boxed for him, and he was paroled on my behalf and was my trainer. As time went on, anyone would pop up, I would just say, 'Come on, let's go.' I even went to Oakland Calif., for probably the third boxing match, and I got in touch with Archie Moore.

I said, 'Archie, I need you to help me if you feel like it. Do you think I can still do it?' Everybody was talking about my age, but Archie said, 'Oh yeah, I think you can still do it.'

I explained to him that I didn't have a whole lot of money to pay the guys, but he said, 'Aw, don't worry about that George, one day, you'll make something.' He came to visit with me and to work with me and basically did it for free.

Of course, we added Angelo Dundee later on.

FH: Was there significant ring rust that first day back in the gym?

Foreman: I had gone 10 years, approximately, without even making a fist. That was the hardest thing. 'How could I make a fist and jab someone at the same time?' That was a more difficult physical activity than I was anticipating that it would be.

I wasn't angry with anyone. That anger and all of that stuff had fueled me to be an Olympic gold medalist and a champion of the world, once before. Making a fist, jabbing, putting on gloves -- How could I do it all again?

Making a fist, shadowboxing -- throwing a fist at an imaginary opponent. It wasn't Muhammad Ali in front of me anymore. The punching bag is not Joe Frazier anymore. Here I was, getting back into the ring, with a big smile on my face. That was as hard as the physical part.

This was altogether different -- shadowboxing for the first time, actually punching at a shadow. No person's face. Never any anger. Without any real intentions of harming anybody.

I had to relearn an entire philosophy. Of course, add to that that I would try to run a mile, and couldn't even run 400 yards. That was rough.

FH: So was your motivation the children of the youth center, your children?

Foreman: Well, so many kids would come into the gym with anger, and I would teach them how to box. There was just so much anger, anger, anger. I would say, 'You know what? I'm not going to teach you how to hurt people. You don't need to be angry to become a good boxer.'

I would show them how to do it without any punches in anger, and then that converted me. That's how I found out how to do it myself. It was just about doing it to fuel that youth center and to keep that thing going, and, at the same time, I had to make a positive impression on the kids if ever I had gone on television.

I didn't want them to see this angry man that I used to be.

FH: How did you go about selecting your opponents?

Foreman: I knew that there wouldn't be a championship fight or a top contender fight for me right away. I wasn't going to throw myself to the lions. I was going to have to start from the bottom, just like I did when I was an 18-year-old, or a 20-year-old man.

I was going to look into the mirror and see a guy with potential, not look in the mirror and see that old George who was ready to get right back in there and do it again. Any promoter who wanted me, I would ask guys to send me three films of fighters to choose from.

At that time, I didn't even have a television in my house. It was a peaceful place. My family and kids were raised without a television. So I had to buy a video recorder. I would start watching the videos of the guys, and I would choose one.

FH: Being that you were at 267 pounds, the most you'd ever weighed in the ring, how did you think you looked, physically for your first fight back against Steve Zouski on March 9, 1987?

Foreman: You remember, 10 years, I was out of boxing. I started at 315 pounds and kind of hovered around that and couldn't get under that 300 for nothing. Then, for a while, I kept training, got down to Sacremento, and one day, I got on the scales and I actually saw 260 pounds.

But that didn't last, because when I ate dinner, it went back up to 268 or something like that. But I was a happy guy, having been trying to get that weight off for years. For 10 years, no one had ever seen my upper body -- not even a short-sleeved shirt during that time.

I had been a buttoned up preacher -- buttoned the shirts up all the way up to my neck. Everyone in the dressing room before the fight was wondering how the fight was going to go, and how nervous I was going to be. My whole thing was, 'You're going to take off your shirt in public, for real?'

That was the only thing I was worried about. But at the same time, I was a happy guy. I had been trying to get that weight off for years.

FH: So as you walked into the Arco Arena in Sacramento for Zouski, how did the audience react?

Foreman: Standing ovation. I couldn't believe it. This was something new to me.

FH: Did Steve Zouski react as if he was in awe of you before you scored the fourth-round knockout?

Foreman: No. He gave me a decent boxing match. I remember jabbing him and hitting him with a right hand a few times and I thought, 'Oh, he'll quit.' But no sir, he came back and tried to get me. I was surprised.

I would hit guys pretty hard in the past, and they were trying to get out of there. But here was a guy like, 'Aw, that didn't hurt me.' And finally, the referee stopped the fight. It was like I was just another guy.

FH: Why did you fight so frequently -- five times in 1987, and eight times in 1988?

Foreman: I just knew from the past, that I had had a lot of rust. So the only way that I was going to get it back was to get back into the ring and get another fight in quickly. I was going to have to campaign and get one boxing match after another and as many as I can in one year to feel like I was getting two years back in the ring.

You've got to get into the ring, because I knew that, in spite of all of the training in the ring, you're not going to get your timing, or that ability to go out there and to finish a fight off. You've got to have ring experience, and I knew that. So I had to fight a lot.

My intentions were to get in as many boxing matches per year as I had done in my original career back in 1969. I was trying to duplicate it, because that's how you get your timing back.

FH: You stopped 23 of your first 24 opponents, so was your overall style and demeanor different in the ring than in the past?

Foreman: I enjoyed being a little more patient this time. The first time around, I would always want to get those matches over. I used to be scared, nervous, frightened and angry. This second time around, I had nothing else to do but to take my time.

There was a time that I would parry and jump out of the way of shots, but I couldn't get that sort of timing again. So I was just going to set my defense properly and keep coming.

I would just cross my arms in front of my face and my body, and I would keep coming -- like a bowling ball.

I realized that if you just kept coming, fight in those seconds that everybody's breathing, bobbing and weaving and feinting and all of that, and that if I could fill up those seconds with action, that I could burn most guys out.

I still had the same left jab, and the power in the left jab and right hand. But I was going to take my time. If I didn't get the guy in the first round, second round, it didn't matter. All of those years, it was just like life -- I should have just been patient with boxing, just as in life.

George Foreman 'More Patient' During Historic Comeback originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Evander Holyfield to Fight Botha; Shot at Vitali Klitschko Looms

Lem Satterfield — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:17:00 EST

Filed under: WBC, HBO, Showtime, FanHouse Exclusive

Although his Nov. 8 bout slated for Jeju Island, South Korea, was canceled, 47-year-old former four-time champion, Evander Holyfield, could fight South African, Francois Botha, on Dec. 19, in Uganda. A good showing in the Botha fight could also lead to a possible title shot at WBC champion, Vitali Klitschko, Holyfield's manager, Ken Sanders, told FanHouse on Tuesday.

"We do this fight in December, then I'd say in February or March, we could have a championship fight with the WBC's Vitali Klitschko," said Sanders, whose contention is supported by comments made by WBC president, Jose Sulaiman.

"If Evander comes and has a good showing in the fight that takes place in Jeju, I think that Klitschko might take a fight with him," Sulaiman, told FanHouse on Sept. 28 when Holyfield-Derric Rossy still was scheduled. "I believe that Evander Holyfield is one of the best heavyweight fighters of the last quarter century."

Holyfield was slated to fight Rossy (22-2, 12 KOs) of Medford, New York, who is rated No. 14 by the WBC -- one spot ahead of Holyfield -- according to the WBC's Web site.

"The Koreans who were putting the fight on [against Rossy], they didn't come up with the money, so Sulaiman called it off about three weeks ago. The reason that we were going to fight in Korea to start with was to get ranked to have a chance at a championship fight," said Sanders.

"When Jose called me to call it off, he said, 'I'm going to live up to my word, and I'm going to go ahead and rank Evander,'" said Sanders.

"Sure enough, when the rankings came out, Sulaiman had him ranked No. 15," said Sanders. "So we're working on the contract as we speak for Francois Botha in Uganda, and we have a real good understanding on it. We're going to get that done."

A resident of Newport Beach, Calif., Botha, 41, has a record of 47-4-3 (with 28 knockouts), and is 3-0-2 since being knocked out in March of 2002 by Wladimir Klitschko.

Botha's other losses are to former champions Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson and Michael Moorer, by knockouts in the second, fifth and 12th rounds, respectively.

Nicknamed "The White Buffalo," Botha, also called, "Franz," is coming off of a 12-round draw with Pedro Carrion on Oct. 24.

Holyfield (42-10-2, 27 KOs) is 6-7-1 in his past 14 fights, including a ninth-round knockout loss to James Toney in October of 2003.

Immediately following his third straight loss, to Larry Donald, at New York's Madison Square Garden in November of 2004, the New York State Athletic Commission revoked Holyfield's boxing license, citing a losing streak that included those to Chris Byrd and Toney.

Holyfield attributed the losses to an injury to his left shoulder, and resumed his career following surgery.

Holyfield still was licensed in Texas, where he reeled off victories over Jeremy Bates (KO-2), Fres Oquendo (decision), Vinny Madalone (KO-3) and Lou Savarese (decision).

But Holyfield has lost his past two bouts by decision to Russian's Sultan Ibragimov and seven-foot Nikolai Valuev, respectively, in October 2007, and, December 2008.

The loss to Ibragimov (22-1-1, 17 KOs) was for the WBO title, while the Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs) loss was for the WBA crown, which Valuev will defend on Saturday against London's David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs).

Holyfield disputes the scorecards in the loss to the seven-foot Valuev, who won, 114-114, 115-114, and, 116-112.

"There was no doubt that I won. I hit him more times than he hit me, and his arms are longer than mine. How could I not win? I was able to still beat him to the punch and land more punches than him," said Holyfield.

"For six rounds, I didn't even get touched. He couldn't even keep up with the quickness," said Holyfield. "The fact of the matter is that I won the fight. Ain't no way in the world that you can win a round and not throw a punch."

Klitschko (38-2, 37 KOs) is coming off of September's 10th-round knockout of Cris Arreola, and will defend his title against Atlanta's Kevin Johnson (22-0-1, nine KOs) on Dec. 12.

Klitschko's manager, Tom Loeffler, called a defense against Holyfield, "not totally out of the realm of possibility."

"I'm just trying to get a fight in this year, and I'm looking forward to fighting in December in Uganda," said Holyfield. "Then, maybe I'll be lined up for that championship sometime early next year."

Evander Holyfield to Fight Botha; Shot at Vitali Klitschko Looms originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:17:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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George Foreman's KO of Michael Moorer, 15 Years Later

Lem Satterfield — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:35:00 EST

Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, HBO, FanHouse Exclusive

Thursday marks the 15th anniversary of George Foreman's dethroning of Michael Moorer with a 10th-round knockout, making him the oldest man to earn a heavyweight title.

Foreman, 60, was knocked out by Muhammad Ali in The Rumble In The Jungle 35 years ago this past Friday.

There was a 10-year span between Foreman's first retirement -- following a unanimous decision loss to Jimmy Young on March 17, 1977 -- and his return to the ring with a fourth-round knockout of Steve Zouski on March 9, 1987.

Beginning with this, the first installment of a four-part series, Foreman discusses his transformation from a stoic, surly brawler, to philanthropic evangelist, to a patient and more cerebral fighter who left his mark in boxing history by dominating younger men.

FanHouse: What was your inspiration for a youth center?

George Foreman: My brother, Roy Foreman. He worked at a youth center that was placed further into the city of Houston, and that's how I got the idea. My brother was a volunteer. So I stopped by one day at his place -- where he was working with some kids -- just to visit him.

And he was signing them up for boxing. The room they were training in was very small -- barely big enough for a little boxing ring. And the kids' parents wanted me to get interested and involved.
That's the most embarrassed that I had ever been in my life. There I was, I had been champion of the world, I had been a wealthy man. Yet, there I was, scrounging around and asking people for money for the youth center like that.
- George Foreman
But I was dressed up in my suit, because I was preaching. I wasn't ready to put myself into that business. But then, I saw two of the kids from his place who had gone to jail and that was the beginning of my inspiration to do the youth center.

Many of the kids' mothers had been bringing them in. You could see that they were doing it to keep them out of trouble. Someone recognized me and said, 'That's George Foreman,' somebody told them. And one of the women said, , 'Boy, he could really help my son.'

I gave her a look like, 'If you need help, send him to church. Boxing's not going to help him.' But two months later, I asked about the kids, and I found out that they had tried to rob a store.

FH: Do you recall any of the details of the robbery involving the boys?

Foreman: Well, about two months later, I asked about those two kids. And the story was that they were robbing a store not too far from Humble, Texas where I was living. The storekeep shot one of the boys, and the boy -- whose mother was there at the youth center and who had asked me for help -- he shot the storekeep.

None of them were killed, but all of these lives were devastated, and that's what made me decide to take all of the available money from what I had saved to build a youth center.

FH: So you built your youth center soon after?

Foreman: Yes. I had purchased some property here, in about 1984, and I fixed up this gym with some of my old equipment. I was buying equipment and trying to get it running. The youth center was in Northeast, Houston, Texas -- pretty much in the county.

I wanted to put a place up where the kids from out of the inner city would feel like they're going out of town. I knew that it would make them feel like they're doing something when they left for the county and had to take a ride out of the city.

The kids would feel like, 'Hey, we're going out to Foreman's place.' The youth center was on one acre of property, in a warehouse. Some guys had started construction on a warehouse, and they had stopped.

FH: What work did you put into it?

Foreman: So I bought the place. There was about 3,000 square feet or more, because it had an upstairs also, where I could work from it and put lockers up there and a weight room if I so desired.

I put a chain-link fence inside of it to separate the weight-lifting area from the boxing area, which was the only way you would know the difference between them. I built a gym inside, and a little office in the front.

Even my mom, Nancy, would come and help me with greeting and advertising and whatever. My dad, J.D., would substitute and help me a little bit too. They were my backups as far as opening it up and greeting and taking out applications. They were my employees. But they've passed on now.

FH: So am I to understand that that is what led to your deciding to make a comeback?

Foreman: Yes, eventually, because I had literally run out of money to fund it. But first, I started speaking. I had been traveling around, speaking for this youth center that I had started. After a while, there was a church that I had invited me for three days to speak.

And afterward, they took a collection and they were going to make a donation to the youth center.

As I was there, for three days, I got to know the people and was friendly with them. On the third day, the pastor took up an offering and said, 'Now, look, we're going to reward Mr. Foreman for the kids he's working with and the work that he's done.'

The people came up, one-by-one, and they made a donation. They were fairly poor people, if you know what I mean. And as I'm sitting up on the pulpit, and they're looking at me, he counted the money up, right there, and he said 'Look' -- and he counted the money again.

'This is not enough,' he told them again. 'Let's really show our appreciation to Mr. Foreman. Those kids he's helping, they're really our kids.'

That's the most embarrassed that I had ever been in my life. There I was, I had been champion of the world, I had been a wealthy man. Yet, there I was, scrounging around and asking people for money for the youth center like that.

Sitting in that chair there, up on that stage, when that pastor said, 'Come on, let's help George,' I sat there embarrassed. Right at that moment, I said, 'I'll never ask anyone for anything ever again. I'm going to start boxing and become heavyweight champion of the world again.'

I said, 'That's how I'm going to get money for that youth center.' That had to be the last part of 1986, or maybe the first part of 1987. At any rate, I had my first fight of my comeback in March of 1987.

George Foreman's KO of Michael Moorer, 15 Years Later originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:35:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ex-Champ Winky Wright Returns to Ring Next Month vs. Grady Brewer

Lem Satterfield — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, Golden Boy Promotions, HBO, Showtime

Former world champion Winky Wright will return from an eight-month layoff when he enters the ring against Grady Brewer on Dec. 11 at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan.

A southpaw who will turn 38 on Nov. 26, Wright is coming off of consecutive losses by decision to Bernard Hopkins and Paul Williams in July 2007 and this past April, respectively.

Wright (51-5-1, 25 knockouts) owns victories over former world champs Shane Mosley and Felix Trinidad, and fought to a disputed draw with former undisputed middleweight (160 pounds) champion Jermain Taylor.

"Puerto Rico is great place to have this fight, because it is deep in boxing history and tradition with the Puerto Rican people embracing the sport like very few places around the world," said Wright, who will face Brewer in the middleweight (160 pounds) class.

"Tito [Trinidad] and I have become great friends, and each time I come to visit, I have been ingratiated by the fans who love and appreciate boxing so much," said Wright. "It will be an honor for me to fight in front of them on December 11."

Brewer, who will turn 39 on Dec. 22, is riding an eight-fight winning streak -- inlcluding first- and, second-round knockouts of his past two opponents in May and August.

"I appreciate the opportunity to fight Winky Wright in a place where boxing has been followed and understood for so long," said Brewer, who was the winner of "The Contender" reality series' second season.

"The fans might not know me like they know Winky," said Brewer, "but they will know me a lot better after I beat him that night."

Promoted by Winky Wright as well as Knockout Entertainment Inc., the card also features WBO light flyweight (108 pounds) champion Alex Sanchez (31-7-1, 21 KOs) of Puerto Rico.

"Boxing is my life and I feel confident that I can get back to the top of my game with a win December 11," said Sanchez "To fight one more time for my people on the same card as the great champion Winky Wright and to do it at the Coilseo is a blessing I will never forget."

Also on the card in seperate bouts are the Velasquez twins, super featherweight (130) Carlos Ivan Velasquez (11-0, nine KOs) of Miami, and super bantamweight (122) Juan Carlos Velasquez (9-1, five KOs) of Puerto Rico.

The siblings are 25 years old.

Also competing is welterweight (147) Eliezer Gonzalez (5-0, two KOs) of Puerto Rico.

Ex-Champ Winky Wright Returns to Ring Next Month vs. Grady Brewer originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ex-Champs Zab Judah, Joel Casamayor Return to Ring

Lem Satterfield — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, HBO, Showtime, IBO

Southpaw former world champions, Zab Judah, and Joel Casamayor will return to the ring on Friday night at The Palms Casino in Las Vegas.

Judah, a 32-year-old welterweight (147 pounds), will be ending a nearly 12-month layoff. The 38-year-old Casamayor will be ending a nearly 14-month ring absence when he enters the ring as a light weight (135).

Judah (37-6, 25 knockouts) will face 31-year-old Adailton De Jesus (23-4, 18 KOs) of Brazil, who has won four of his last five fights.

In his last outing on Oct. 24, De Jesus stopped Rudolfo Franz in three rounds to rebound from August's first-round knockout loss to Oscar Jesus Pereyra.

Judah has won three of his past four fights since June of 2007, when he was knocked out in the 11th round by Miguel Cotto.

A gifted left-hander, Judah is coming off of last November's 10-round, unanimous decision victory over Earnest Johnson, which helped him to bounce back from an August, 2008 ninth-round knockout loss to Joshua Clottey.

The Cuban-born Casamayor (36-4-1, 22 KOs) will meet 27-year-old Jason Davis (11-4-1, three KOs) a loser of his last three bouts -- including the last two by knockout.

Casamayor is 5-1-1 since losing a split decision to Jose Luis Castillo for the WBC lightweight title in December of 2004. Among the victories during Casamayor's run is a decision over former world champion, Diego Carrales.

Casamayor's last fight was in September of 2008 against Juan Manuel Marquez, when he was stopped for the first time in his career in the 11th-round of a tightly-contested, lightweight matchup.

Promoted by former world champion, Fernando Vargas, the card will also feature featherweight (126) Salvador Sanchez (16-3-2, eight KOs) of Mexico against Minnesota's Willshaun Boxley (5-2, three).

Judah earned his first world championship in February of 2002, when he stopped Jan Piet Bergman in four rounds to win the vacant IBF junior welterweight (140) title.

Judah defended that crown five times before being dethroned by Kostya Tszyu in November of 2001 -- the first loss of his career.

Judah rebounded with three straight wins at 140 pounds before rising to 147, where he lost a 12-round, unanimous decision to Cory Spinks.

That clash of southpaw fighters occurred during April, 2004, as Judah was unsuccessful in his bid to earn Spinks' WBA, WBC and IBF welterweight belts.

But Judah's ensuing, four-straight victories included a February, 2005 rematch with Spinks, whom he dethroned with a ninth-round knockout in the latter's hometown of St. Louis.

Judah then lost three of his next four 147-pound bouts, respectively, to Carlos Baldomir, Floyd Mayweather, and, Cotto.

Casamayor earned his first world title in May of 2000, when his WBA super featherweight (130) clash with Jong-Kwon Baek was stopped on cuts in the fifth round.

Casamayor defended that crown four times before being dethroned by a decision loss to Acelino Freitas in January of 2002.

Four wins later in October of 2003, Casamayor stopped Corrales in the sixth round of a battle that featured each fighter being floored.

Casamayor lost his March, 2004 rematch with Corrales by decision, and then was beaten by Castillo two fights later.

Sanchez is the nephew of former world champion, Salvador Sanchez Jr., who earned the WBC featherweight (126) title with a 13th-round knockout of Danny Lopez in February of 1980 and defended it nine times.

Salvador Sanchez Jr. died in a car accident shortly after stopping previously unbeaten Azumah Nelson in the 15th round of their July, 1982 matchup.

Ex-Champs Zab Judah, Joel Casamayor Return to Ring originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Paul Williams Pursues WBC Champ Sergio Martinez

Lem Satterfield — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:30:00 EST

Filed under: WBC, WBO, HBO

Paul Williams, a two-time welterweight and one-time junior middlweight champion, will likely face WBC champion Sergio Martinez on Dec. 5 in Atlantic City, his promoter, Dan Goossen, said Friday.

Goossen is pursuing Martinez (44-1, 24 KOs) for the 154-pound clash instead of WBO champion Sergiy Dzinziruk (36-0, 22 KOs), whom he was also considering.

"I would say that we're working toward trying to finalize Martinez. The site, I don't have yet," said Goossen of a man who battled former world welterweight champion Kermit Cintron to a 12-round draw in their clash for the WBC's interim title in February.

Williams 37-1, 27 KOs) was forced to find another opponent when his original rival, WBO and WBC middleweight champion, Kelly Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs), canceled their bout scheduled for the same date as a result of a staph infection on the knuckle of his left forefinger.

"Despite what I've been reading, we're still working toward finalizing everything with the site," said Goossen. "Certainly, I've been discussing things with Atlantic City. we're hoping to have that set no later than Monday, hopefully, maybe by this weekend."

Martinez has gone 28-0-1 with 18 knockouts since losing by seventh-round knockout in February 2000 to Antonio Margarito, who lost by 12-round unanimous decision to Williams in July 2007.

Also to be featured on the card is heavyweight contender Cris Arreola (27-1, 24 KOs), who is coming off of a Sept. 26, 10th-round knockout loss to WBA champion Vitali Klitschko (38-2, 37 KOs).

Goossen said that he has not yet secured an opponent for Arreola, adding, "Right now, we're concentrating on Williams."

Paul Williams Pursues WBC Champ Sergio Martinez originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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35 Years After Ali-Foreman, Angelo Dundee Recalls 'Monkey Meat's Good'

Lem Satterfield — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:48:00 EST

Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, HBO, Showtime, FanHouse Exclusive, IBO

For the past few weeks, Angelo Dundee, has busily provided on-site expertise to media members at Tampa's Fight Factory Gym, where WBO champ Miguel Cotto has been in training for his Nov. 14, welterweight clash with Manny Pacquiao.

So it is no surprise that the 88-year-old Hall of Fame trainer wasn't aware that today is the 35th anniversary of Muhammad Ali's eighth-round knockout of George Foreman in "The Rumble In The Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire.

In fact, Dundee said that none of the many reporters clamoring for his opinion on Cotto-Pacquiao "has even mentioned it."

See what Dundee had to say about the historic bout during his Q&A after the jump.

FanHouse: Why weren't you as fearful of George Foreman as was most of the world, considering he had dominated Joe Frazier, who had given Muhammad Ali a much more difficult time?

Angelo Dundee: Because I knew Ali's talent, and that certain things beat certain people. I've known Ali since he was 16 years old. So I have a pretty good insight about an individual when I've known them that long.

The Foreman that we fought was a home run hitter. But if you could prevent him from landing the heavy punches, and not get the home run, you could beat him.

My guy was pliable, flexible, and could bend with the shots. Plus, we felt like he could give George distance, which would disturb George. He just had the style to beat Big George.

FH: What did you work on in training leading up to the fight?

Dundee: I made Ali work on quickness, because quickness beats a big guy. Especially a guy that tries to hit the home run. Because if you can keep him off the homerun, then you can beat him.

FH: What about the famous 'Rope-a-Dope?'

Dundee: Muhammad completely fooled me when he did the 'Rope-a-Dope' -- I had nothing to do with that. I figured that movement would bother George more than anything, so by the second round, I was asking Muhammad, 'What are you doing?'

I was afraid that George would hit him with a forearm and knock him out of the ring. In fact, when he came to my side of the ring, I actually slapped Muhammad in the butt to make him get off of the ropes.

God forbid he had fallen out of the ring -- it was like six feet in the air in the middle of a soccer field. There would have been no coming back, he'd have broken his back on a chair or something.

I was scared to death that he would fall out. But he felt like it was working. So he says, 'I know what I'm doing.' I'm like, 'you're nuts, you're going to go through the ropes and break your back, so get off of the ropes!'

But he was like, 'I know what I'm doing.' And I'm like, 'Get him out of there, what are you waiting on? What are you waiting on?' So he had this expression, 'I made him empty his gas tank.'

So he did know what he was doing. He was the smartest guy in the place. George really ran out of gas, the poor guy. The tank ran dry. So [Ali] was more genius than we realized.

FH: Why was the 'Rope-a-Dope' effective?

Dundee: Muhammad had a great, great ability to slide on punches and pull back from them, so that he didn't take the full affect of the blows. Because if he had taken the full affect of George Foreman's blows, he'd have been out of there.

He was blocking the punches any way that he could -- with his arms, shoulders, elbows. But he was quick with everything that he did. Even pulling back from the punches with his chin. That just shows the greatness of the man.

FH: Could Muhammad Ali have won the fight with your strategy?

Dundee: I think if he'd have been in the middle of the ring, I think he'd always have been better off being in the middle of the ring. I think he would have controlled George because he was the smartest guy in the arena.

He would have beaten Foreman. He had the technique and the style to beat George.

FH: What was the problem with the loose ropes?

Dundee: That was such a big controversy. I had tightened the ropes at four o'clock in the afternoon in Zaire. I was there with Bobby Goodman, who was doing the P.R. there.

We went there, and the ropes were loose -- I mean really loose -- for a 24-foot ring. What we did was we took them apart and we tightened them. I used a double-edged razor blade to cut the ropes.

The ring was also lopsided. It was a dirt field, and it was on an angle. So we leveled the ring to the best of our ability. Nobody was paying attention to that. The fight wasn't taking place until 4 a.m.

I had tightened the ropes, but what I hadn't taken into consideration was that the heat, which, by 4 a.m., had stretched the ropes again. Being loose, my guy [Ali] was so agile that he was able to lean back and not fall out of the ring.

FH: As I understand it, you were always a stickler about checking out the conditions of the ring?

Dundee: I'm big about checking the ring out days before. I did that in Maine for the Sonny Liston fight. They were using an old wrestling ring that was like a trampoline. So I changed that, and I made them bring in a ring from Baltimore.

FH: What psychological advantages did you feel Muhammad Ali had over George Foreman?

Dundee: For us, going into this fight was like going to a party. Muhammad went into it like he never could lose. You've got to realize that in Zaire, he was the hero and George Foreman was the hero.

George Foreman brought a police dog with him, and he didn't know that they were scared of police dogs. There were so many odds against the poor guy.

FH: Like what?

Dundee: George was training across the road from us in a much rougher situation than we were in. We were in a beautiful complex there, where [President Mobutu Sese Seko] entertained the African nations. We had villas facing the Congo River.

The Zairian people were so nice to us, because, you know, I was with the hero, Muhammad Ali. To Foreman, they were chanting, 'Ali, bomaye!' That meant, 'Ali, kill him!'

FH: How did you come to train George Foreman?

Dundee: I was in Las Vegas and he was there doing something for HBO. Me and my wife Helen were there having lunch as the Caesar's Palace. George jumped up to the table and said, 'Mrs. Dundee, do you know why your husband's working with me?'

And my wife, Helen, goes, 'No, he never told me.' So my wife thinks it's something I never told her, but I didn't really know where he was going with it. So then, George says, 'I was working Muhammad against the ropes and I was getting ready to hit him with a helluva right hand.'

'And this squeaky voice from the corner said, get outta there, and then, Muhammad Ali moves. And if he didn't move, I may have knocked him out. So anybody who can help a guy like that, I want him with me.' So that's a true story.

Ali would have had more trouble with older George, between you and I. That George was steady, steady, and didn't look for the homerun. He just worked into the homerun, like he did when he won the world title. He would pick, pick, pick, and then -- Bang! --and that was it."

FH: So how have you become involved with the Miguel Cotto camp?

Dundee: I went there because I want to be around boxing. I've been doing it for 60 years, and I heard that Cotto was there. The guy that runs that gym, Peter Fernandez, is a former fighter.

They had been asking me to come. I live in Oldsmar, and it's about 45 minutes from Tampa. I have a guy that drives me there.

FH: Is there any one thing that sticks out in your mind concerning the Ali-Foreman fight -- the food, the atmosphere -- that we have not addressed?

Dundee: This is a great story. We were eating buffet style, so I never knew what I was eating. I didn't find out what I was eating until I got a visit from two Cuban guys who were airplane pilots who flew Mobutu all over the country.

So I brought them to lunch. And we were eating the buffet style. The buffet style was like chicken. I picked up a piece, and I put it in my mouth, and I'm chewing on it. But there's no meat.

So I pull it out of my mouth, and I move my thumb -- eye socket. I move my other finger -- eye socket. It was a monkey head. I had been eating monkey all of that time and didn't know it.

It tasted like chicken. I'll tell ya, monkey meat's good.

35 Years After Ali-Foreman, Angelo Dundee Recalls 'Monkey Meat's Good' originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:48:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fernando Montiel's 118-pound WBO Crown on Line in Tourney

Lem Satterfield — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:32:00 EST

Filed under: WBO, HBO

Fernando Montiel will defend his WBO bantamweight title against Z Gorres, and Eric Morel will take on Gerry Penalos on Feb. 13 at the Las Vegas Hilton, promoter Bob Arum told FanHouse on Friday.

"After that, the winners will fight the winners in June," Arum said of the clash of 118-pounders. "It's like a tournament."

Since losing a split decision to Jhonny Gonzalez in May of 2006, the 30-year-old Montiel (39-2-2, 29 knockouts) is 7-0-1 with four knockouts, including a split decision victory over Gorres in February 2007.

Before his rematch with Montiel, the 27-year-old Gorres (30-2-2. 17 KOs) has a December 13 date with Colombia's Luis Melendez (26-3-1, 21 KOs) -- whom Montiel stopped in the 12th round of their bout in October 2007.

The Gorres-Melendez matchup will take place at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.

The 34-year-old Morel (41-2, 21 KOs) has won six straight, three of them by knockout, since losing a 12-round unanimous decision in March 2005 to Martin Castillo, whom Montiel stopped in four rounds nearly three years later in February 2008.

The 37-year-old Penalosa (54-7-2, 36 KOs) is coming off April's 10-round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Lopez in a WBO super bantamweight (122) title bout.

Penalosa had won three straight prior to the loss to Lopez, including a seventh-round stoppage of Jhonny Gonzalez in August 2007.

Fernando Montiel's 118-pound WBO Crown on Line in Tourney originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:32:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chad Dawson Can Cash in by Beating Glen Johnson

Lem Satterfield — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, HBO, Showtime, IBO

Chad Dawson is nothing if not a winner; he just hasn't cashed in for a defining, lucrative fight.

"We've not gotten the chance to really expose Chad like I would like to expose Chad," said Gary Shaw, Dawson's promoter. "But that time will come."

Among the 27-year-old southpaw light heavyweight's most impressive victories was in February 2007, when he routed Polish-born Tomas Adamek of Jersey City by 10, eight and six points respectively over the three judges' cards. Dawson earned the WBC's 175-pound title against Adamek, who lost for the first time in 32 bouts.

"I think that Chad is the best fighter in the world," said Shaw. "I think he's the most talented fighter in the world."

Since then, however, it is Adamek who has soared in popularity, having won eight consecutive fights, six of them by knockouts.

Along the way, Adamek has earned the IBF cruiserweight (200) title and defended it three times. And Adamek has risen to heavyweight, where he flattened three-time heavyweight title contender Andrew Golota in five rounds.

And while Dawson (28-0, 17 knockouts) has continued to win, it has been with far less fanfare than Adamek, even as he counts triumphs over Roy Jones conquerors Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson among his last five victories.

Dawson will face the 40-year-old Johnson (49-12-2, 33 KOs) yet again on Nov. 7 at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., in defense of his IBO championship in a bout that is for the WBC's interim title.

The duo will meet in a rematch of Dawson's unanimous decision of April 2008, when he won by 116-112 on all three judges' cards. Dawson hopes that a second win over Johnson, whom he vanquished before the latter's partisan fans in Tampa, will vault him into a world of limitless and lucrative possibilities.

"We've been stuck in a rut, and it's nothing against Glen Johnson, but we've had Glen and we've had two Tarver fights. And now we have Glen again," said Shaw, who would also consider a matchup with WBC 175-pound champion Jean Pascal (24-1, 16 KOs).

"Chad will show who he is this time, and then we'll move on to our next options after the fight," said Shaw. "Whether it's field an offer for the 168-pound tournament, or whether it's fighting the winner of Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins."

The "tournament" is a reference to Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic, featuring six of the world's top middleweights, including England's WBC champion Carl Froch, Denmark's WBA king Mikkel Kessler and Germany's former middleweight (160 pound) titlist Arthur Abraham.

The Super Six also features former Olympians Andre Ward, a gold medal winner from Oakland, Calif., and bronze medalist Andre Dirrell of Flint Mich., respectively.

Shaw believes that Dawson could enter the tournament amid speculation that former middleweight titlist Jermain Taylor may drop out following a knockout loss to Abraham.

"But HBO has a first and last punch at Dawson. And I know [Dawson] would be welcomed into the 168-pound tournament, which I believe he'd win convincingly," said Shaw, who also promotes Dirrell. "When this fight is over, we'll sit down with HBO. I have an appointment with them that week, and we'll talk about 2010."

Dawson would embrace the chance to drop into the lower weight class, but only after whipping Johnson.

"I'd feel great at that weight and I'd actually be much stronger at that weight too. I've never had any problems making 175," said Dawson.

"Sometimes, I've even weighed in at 172, 173. So making 168 is not that difficult for me," Dawson added. "But I'm not really even thinking about that tournament. I have to worry about Glen Johnson coming up next week."

A resident of New Haven, Conn., Dawson said that he is dedicating his fight to Jasper Howard, a former University of Connecticutt football player who was stabbed to death outside of a dance on the campus on Oct. 18.

Calling Howard's death "a horrible tragedy", Dawson plans to enter the ring displaying the No. 6 on his trunks, representing Howard's football jersey number.

Named the 2004 Fighter of the Year after a decision over Clinton Woods, a ninth-round KO of Jones and a split decision over Tarver, Johnson said he needs no more motivation than his belief that he beat Dawson in their last meeting.

"Chad Dawson has his rights to have his hopes and his dreams. The only thing that I care about is our fight," said Johnson, a Jamaica native living in Miami. "My motivation stays the same, which is to feed myself and my family."

Johnson's preparation has included sparring with Romanian-born IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (24-0, 19 KOs) of Canada, who will defend his crown against Librado Andrade (28-2, 21 KOs) on Nov. 28.

"[Bute] is a solid fighter and we had some great sparring," said Johnson. "He's a boxer. He showed me a lot of what Chad Dawson has done and is doing. He's a solid fighter, and we will use that to our advantage."

Chad Dawson Can Cash in by Beating Glen Johnson originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IBO: Pacquiao Must Defend or Vacate Belt

Lem Satterfield — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:30:00 EST

Filed under: WBA, WBO, HBO, Showtime, IBO

Promoter Bob Arum called it "fair" that Manny Pacquiao has 60 days from the day after facing WBO welterweight (147 pounds) champion Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14 to decide whether or not to defend the IBO junior welterweight (140) crown he won by second-round knockout over England's Ricky Hatton in May.

The notification, issued by IBO president Ed Levine on Wednesday, calls for Pacquiao to relinquish his crown should he fail to comply.

"Yeah, they called me about that. I think that's fair," Arum told FanHouse on Thursday night. "It's 60 days to decide whether he wants to defend it. Otherwise, there's other people who are waiting to get a shot at the title, and Manny will make a decision after the fight."

In accordance with IBO rules, "all champions, with the exception of the heavyweight champion, shall defend their titles at least once every nine months unless medically excused for valid cause and/or at the sole and absolute discretion of the IBO," Levine wrote in a statement.

"He's a really nice guy, Levine, and that's really fine," said Arum. "And if Manny decides no, he's not going to defend the title, he still is the Ring Magazine champion at that weight -- 140 pounds -- so it's just no big deal."

The 32-year-old Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 knockouts) is ranked No. 1 in the organization's computerized rankings for October, while Hatton (45-2, 32 KOs) is No. 2.

Should Pacquiao elect to vacate his title, Levine said the championship would be filled by a subsequent bout between the top two available contenders.

Unbeaten Russian prospect Denis Shafikov (22-0, 12 KOs) is the IBO Intercontinental champion at 140 and a likely contender if the title were to become vacant.

"If Pacquiao-Cotto is a great, great fight, we can do a rematch. Or he could fight Shane Mosley, whom he wants to fight," Arum told FanHouse during an interview earlier this month. "Manny could fight Juan Manuel Marquez a third time down at 140, or he could fight Floyd Mayweather Jr."

A unanimous decision loser to Mayweather last month as a welterweight, Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KOs) has twice fought Pacquiao, losing a split-decision and battling him to a draw.

But in February, Marquez won the vacant WBO and WBA 135-pound titles with a ninth-round knockout of Juan Diaz, making him a lucrative, trilogy matchup in what would be a unification bout opposite Pacquiao at 140.

IBO: Pacquiao Must Defend or Vacate Belt originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Larry Merchant Recalls the Other Rumble In the Jungle

Lem Satterfield — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:20:00 EST

Filed under: HBO

George Foreman was not supposed to defend his crown against Muhammad Ali in Africa until Sept. 10, 1974, but New York Post columnist Larry Merchant had arrived in Kinshasa, Zaire, several days prior to what he called "the crush" of other international media members.

"I had actually gone over there earlier in order to write a book about it. I was there for a couple of weeks," said Merchant, now a renowned 78-year-old HBO boxing analyst.

"As a matter of fact, I was in the gym when Foreman was sparring and got the cut," said Merchant. "I believe that I called the [New York] Post and I told them that I thought that the fight would have to be postponed."

Foreman's laceration would, in fact, delay until Oct. 30 -- exactly 35 years ago Friday -- the champion's famous eighth-round knockout loss to Ali in one of the sport's most historic upsets.

"I guess that you could say that I broke the story, because there were only a few [reporters] there," said Merchant. "It was before the great mass of reporters that were coming had arrived."

Merchant's actions set in motion a caustic conflict between the then-43-year-old journalist and then-Zaire President, Mobutu Sese Seko.

And Merchant-Mobutu turned out to be a pretty good undercard bout.

"When I saw where George was cut, over his eyelid, I followed him and his handlers to where his dressing room was. But they wouldn't let me in. So I ran about a half a mile to the communications center," said Merchant, who had braved sweltering conditions of the nation now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

"To me, it was clear that George couldn't fight with a cut on his eye like that. Just from what I had known about boxing, and had seen in boxing, I knew that the fight couldn't go on," said Merchant.

"But when I reported it to the Post, it was qualified this way: There was a cut on the eye, but I said that it didn't look like the fight could go on," said Merchant. "I didn't make it definitive. But with the time difference [between Zaire and New York], it was early enough in the day for the Post to get something into an afternoon edition."

Word spread quickly about the injury. However, at the same time, the worldwide media already was congregating for the long trip, including those from New York who had read Merchant's story.

"I was told that they tried to check with the promotion and particularly in the government to see exactly what was going on," said Merchant. "But this was such a big deal for Zaire, and such a tremendous PR campaign by [Mobutu], that the government denied everything."

Mobutu was tight-lipped concerning what had happened. After all, Mobutu had given promoter Don King some $10 million for the fight -- a reported $5 million each for Foreman and Ali.

"The fight had not been formally or officially postponed, but they denied that it was going to be postponed," said Merchant. "So, anyway, the writers all came over and then the fight was postponed."

Merchant said that he further angered Mobuto, a renowned dictator, "by writing a couple of pieces that they didn't particularly like."

Merchant recalls one such column "being the one about the two gray-haired little old ladies from Michigan," whom Merchant "saw speaking to [Don] King in a hotel one day.

"They looked agitated. So after their conversation broke up, I went over to them, introduced myself, and asked them what was going on," said Merchant.

"These two little old ladies told me that, as part of the promotion," said Merchant, "they were told that Zaire was opening up a game preserve in the Eastern part of the country that had been closed off to the public for a very long time."

The women had purchased tickets for the trip to the preserve, said Merchant.

"They were told that as part of the promotion, you would get a flight to the game preserve," said Merchant.

"They said that when they showed King the letter confirming this -- which I think was from King -- King said that he didn't know anything about it," said Merchant. "So I wrote a column about it, which certainly couldn't have pleased King."

Another zinger of a column was aimed directly at Mobutu.

"I wrote about the fact that this was a poor, almost primitive country with a dictator running it, and about the fact that the fight was in a stadium where they had hangings and that was used for public executions," said Merchant. "Plainly, the people of Zaire didn't appreciate that."

Over the course of the six-week postponement, Merchant -- like many other media members -- returned home.

And that's when Mobutu went for the knockout.

"I go back to New York, and now I'm going to go back to Zaire on a flight out of JFK [airport,]" said Merchant. "But I am told by a member of the Zairian embassy that they were not going to allow me to come back into the country. So I never got back for the live fight."

Merchant wound up watching a closed circuit screening of Ali-Foreman at New York's Madison Square Garden.

"Everybody thought Ali would get beaten up by this powerful, unbeatable force, George Foreman, and that was supposed to be his last hurrah," said Merchant. "But the lead I wrote on my fight column was that, in victory, 'Ali turned what was supposed to be an electric chair into a throne.' "

What he wrote about Ali's performance, he could easily have written about himself. For in the world of boxing commentators, Larry Merchant is still among the kings.

Larry Merchant Recalls the Other Rumble In the Jungle originally appeared on Boxing FanHouse on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:20:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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