Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Wilder vs. Ortiz?

Yesterday, it was reported that WBC World Heavyweight Champion, Deontay Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) will square off against Cuban heavyweight, Luis Ortiz (27-0, 23 KOs) on November 4th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. The information on this potential matchup was reported by veteran combat sports writer, Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports, who received the details of this bout from sources close to both boxers.

Wilder, an Alabamian knockout artist, is coming off five straight knockout victories. His most recent win was a TKO victory over Gerald Washington (18-2-1) in Birmingham, AL. Ortiz most recently fought Englishman, David Allen (12-3-1) in Manchester, England. He decisively defeated Allen via a seventh round TKO. 

Stay tuned to The Weigh-In Boxing Blog and Podcast for continued coverage of this bout and undercard! 


MW

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Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Dustin's Corner: Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez Falls to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai

Hold up, wait a minute, let me put The People’s Red Head in It!

Finally, The People’s Red Head has come back to The Weigh-In.

WBC Super Flyweight Champion, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, dominated Chocolatito from the opening bell. This match was night and day from the first time they met in the squared circle. Chocolatito was never really able to get into the fight. While he showed moments of his former self, he just looked to be outclassed by Rungvisai.

It appeared Rungvisai spent his time training with the likes of Sagat out of his native Thailand following the previous war he had with Chocolatito. For those of you who never played a video game, shame on you all. Sagat is the fictional character from Street Fighter, and perhaps Matt Ward’s biological father… (That is for a different article at a different time! Just kidding!) However, what Rungvisai did to Chocolatito looked like something out of the video game.

The first round was a feeling out round. Chocolatito did not do much in the way of activity. In addition, there was a warning from the referee regarding headbutts, which we all know impacted the first match.

In the second round, it appeared Rungvisai was getting the better of the exchanges. Chocolatito was landing, but exchanges ended with Rungvisai landing the more meaningful punches.

In the third round, Chocolatito gave the fans a show, landing something like eight straight punches with around a minute to go in the round. However, Rungvisai answered with a barrage of his own punches and once again, seemed to get the better of the exchange.

In the fourth round, Chocolatito was dropped twice. The second knock down came from Rungvisai’s right hand, and many questioned whether or not retirement papers were attached to it. The knockout was stunning and shocking for the many fans of Chocolatito. Both fighters have a special place among fans, and both are true warriors.

What is most concerning is the way Chocolatito went down. He was tended to in the corner for several minutes following the knockout. As a precautionary measure, Chocolatito was taken to a local hospital following the bout. The fight left this writer and the boxing world to wonder, what is next for Rungvisai? Additionally, was this the last time we will see Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez?

The People’s Red Head OUT!


- Dustin Johnson, The People's Red Head

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Monday, September 11, 2017

Sergey Kovalev vs. Vyacheslav Shabranskyy

Former World Light Heavyweight champion, Sergey Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 KOs) will square off against hard-hitting contender, Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (19-1, 16 KOs) in a ten-round, light heavyweight bout on November 25th at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. The event, which is promoted by Main Events and Krusher Promotions in association with Golden Boy Promotions, will air on HBO's "Boxing After Dark". This fight was scheduled amidst rumors of Kovalev's upcoming retirement from boxing.

Russia's Kovalev is coming off of back-to-back defeats at the hands of current light heavyweight king, Andre Ward. His first defeat to Ward came on November 19, 2016, and was considered in some boxing circles to be a controversial, unanimous decision victory for Ward. The June 17, 2017 bout ended decisively in favor of Ward, who scored a TKO victory over the "Krusher" in the eighth round of a twelve round contest.

Shabranskyy's only career loss came at the hands of Sullivan Barrera on December 16, 2016. Barrera knocked out the Ukrainian in the seventh round of a scheduled ten round fight. Most recently, Shabranskyy defeated Todd Unthank May for the vacant WBC United States (USNBC) Light Heavyweight Title on August 4, 2017. Shabranskyy is signed to Golden Boy Promotions.

Stay tuned to The Weigh-In Boxing Blog and Podcast for more information on this bout and undercard as this November 25th light heavyweight showdown approaches!


MW

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Saturday, September 2, 2017

Veteran Boxers Association - Ring 10 of New York 7th Annual Gala

The Veteran Boxers Association - Ring 10 of New York is holding it's 7th Annual Gala on Sunday, September 24th at Marina Del Rey in the Bronx, New York. The event will take place from 11 AM to 4 PM, and tickets are $135 per person. Proceeds from this event support former amateur and professional boxers who have fallen on hard times.

Ring 10 of New York has a great lineup of boxing celebrities scheduled to attend this year's event including Danny Jacobs, Mike Weaver, Micky Ward, Bonecrusher Smith, Tex Cobb, Iran Barkley, Mark Breland, Buddy McGirt, Junior Jones, Joey Giambra, Steve Farhood, Angel Manfredy, Dennis Milton, Tyrone Jackson, Larry Barnes, Richard Burton, and John Scully.

For more information and to purchase tickets to this event, please visit Ring10NY.com or call Matt Farrago at 631-948-6028.


MW

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Friday, September 1, 2017

John DiSanto of the Briscoe Awards and Philly Boxing History.com Interview Part I

I recently interviewed John DiSanto of the Briscoe Awards and Philly Boxing History.com for the first segment of a two-part Bonus Round interview about the upcoming Briscoe Awards in Philadelphia, PA. In Part I, John and I discussed the background and history of the Briscoe Awards.

The Briscoe Awards is an annual award ceremony that honors the best of Philadelphia boxing from the previous year. "The Briscoe Awards are named in honor of legendary Philly middleweight Bennie Briscoe and the trophies given away – the Briscoe Statue and the Briscoe Medal – all bear the deceased icon’s likeness.  The event brings together the local boxing community, including the award winners, their families, past and present boxers, fight fans, other boxing people, and general sports fans."

The Briscoe Awards will be held on October 15, 2017 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM at XFINITY Live in Philadelphia.

Check out Part I of our Bonus Round interview on both SoundCloud and iTunes:

Bonus Round - John DiSanto and the 10th Annual Briscoe Awards Part I on SoundCloud

Bonus Round - John DiSanto and the 10th Annual Briscoe Awards Part I on iTunes

Stay tuned to The Weigh-In Boxing Blog and Podcast for the second installment of our interview which will air on October 1st! Part II will cover this year's Briscoe Award recipients. 

For more information on this year's Briscoe Awards, check out our recent post on the event:

10th Annual Briscoe Awards

You can also contact John DiSanto at 609-377-6413 for tickets and more information on how to support this great event!

For more information on John DiSanto and Philly Boxing History.com, check out the following links:

Philly Boxing History.com Official Site

Philly Boxing History.com Facebook Page

Philly Boxing History.com Twitter - @phillyboxing

John DiSanto Twitter - @johndisanto 

The Matt Ward History Experience Podcast - Episode #10 (John DiSanto and Boxing History)





MW

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Thursday, August 31, 2017

Dustin's Corner: Floyd Mayweather Retires from Boxing after Retiring McGregor

Finally...

The People’s Red Head has come back to The Weigh-In!

Saturday night marked the mega fight between Mayweather and McGregor. Hopefully the readers will forever remember what they were doing when the pay-per-view stopped working. We imagine the next generation will be telling their grand-kids about the passing of Michael Jackson, 9-11, President Trump’s election, and how pay-per-view went out during Saturday’s mega fight.

Regardless of what the feelings were leading up to the fight, Mayweather did not disappoint. Once the fight got underway, it was a different Mayweather than we are used to seeing. Hats off to McGregor who gave it his all, until expending all the energy he had to give.

As many suspected, Mayweather gave the early rounds to McGregor. It appeared, as per usual, Mayweather spent the first three rounds downloading McGregor’s attack. To his credit, in the early rounds, McGregor gave Mayweather everything he could handle. If you listened carefully, you could hear Vegas sports books quaking in the early rounds.

Mayweather then began to focus on the body and left McGregor looking shaky in round 7. His earlier investment of body work paid off in round 10. Round 10 was all Money. Mayweather walked McGregor down forcing referee Robert Boyd to call a stop to the action.

Many individuals felt the stoppage was premature. To that, we say two things: why are you wasting time on other sites over The Weigh-In, and seriously, there was no need for the fight to continue. It was apparent that McGregor’s tank was empty and there was no need for him to take unnecessary punishment.

Hopefully fans enjoyed the fight. It was clear McGregor put in the work and he looked terrific. However, Mayweather’s experience was really on display. Boxing fans everywhere get bragging rights that the sport prevailed. One cannot help but wonder if we will see another crossover fight in the future.

I will close with this; Mayweather forgot to send out invites to his after party. For this, we will forgive him, but it still hurts. We cannot even get McGregor to spit in our direction, and I am Irish. In all seriousness, a thank you to both for putting on a great show.

The People’s Red Head Out!


- Dustin Johnson, The People's Red Head

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Monday, August 28, 2017

Now Back to Boxing...

In case you have been living under a rock for the last couple of days, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (50-0) defeated Conor McGregor (0-1) via a tenth round TKO this weekend in Las Vegas. The crafty veteran capitalized on McGregor's endurance problems during the second half of the contest. Kudos to McGregor for looking far better than most boxing analysts thought he would, even against an aging Mayweather. Now we can only hope that this was the first and last time we see McGregor in the boxing ring...

Now that the Mayweather vs. McGregor weekend is over, we can get back to boxing. The next big fight coming up this year is a middleweight title unification contest between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (49-1-1) and Gennady "GGG" Golovkin (37-0) on September 16th in Las Vegas. The winner of this contest will sit on top of the middleweight division, a division that has had a number of tough and popular fighters pass through its ranks in recent years.

Alvarez is coming off of a May unanimous decision victory over the son of a Mexican boxing legend, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Canelo's only loss came at the hands of Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2013. Golovkin, who is undefeated, most recently won a close fight via unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs at Madison Square Garden in March.

Stay tuned to The Weigh-In Boxing Blog and Podcast over the next few weeks for more information on this bout and undercard!



MW 

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Saturday, August 26, 2017

Gervonta Davis Fails to Make Weight

Gervonta Davis (18-0, 17 KOs) came in two pounds over the 130 pounds limit on Friday at the weigh-in, in Las Vegas for his title defense against challenger, Francisco Fonseca (19-0-1, 13 KOs). This is not the first time that Davis has had trouble making weight. Prior to his title defense against Liam Walsh in May, he needed three attempts to make weight. Although the fight will still take place tonight on the Mayweather vs. McGregor undercard, Davis has been stripped of his IBF Junior Lightweight Title. If Fonseca defeats Davis, he can still be crowned the new IBF Junior Lightweight champion.

This seems to be just another chapter to the "soap opera" that will finally end this evening. I am very disappointed to see a young and talented fighter fail to make weight in a fight that may turn out to be the most viewed of his career. I truly hope that Davis bounces back from this setback, and learns a lesson in the importance of making weight... Especially in title fights!


MW 

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Thursday, August 24, 2017

"Huge" Weekend for Boxing

Well "fight" fans, we are officially on the home stretch to the spectacle that has overshadowed the great fights of the year, as well as those on the horizon, Mayweather vs. McGregor... If you plan on purchasing the pay-per-view, then you are in for a solid undercard of boxing, and a main event that will bring together the worlds of boxing and MMA for the first (and probably not the last) time in history. If you are going to tune into this mega circus, that means that you are going to miss a great card on HBO.

The HBO card features future Boxing Hall of Famer, Miguel Cotto (40-5) in what is being billed as his final bout against Japanese star, Yoshihiro Kamegai (27-3-2), for the vacant WBO World Super Welterweight Title. Unfortunately, this competitive matchup will hurt in the viewership department due to poor scheduling by the Cotto camp and HBO. It is important to note that Cotto went on the record recently to say that he never considered moving this fight to appease Floyd Mayweather. The Cotto vs. Kamegai card also features a very exciting matchup between Rey Vargas (29-0) and Ronny Rios (28-1) for the WBC World Super Bantamweight Title.  

Now back to the Mayweather vs. McGregor circus' card... The seven-bout card kicks off with three non-televised preliminary bouts, one of which is a bout between two women making their professional debuts. The main card starts at 9 PM EST, and features three title fights that include familiar names from the world of boxing. The bout I am most looking forward to is the WBA Light Heavyweight Title fight between Nathan Cleverly and Badou Jack. Cleverly is coming off of a October 1, 2016 RTD victory over Juergen Braehmer. Jack most recently fought to a MD draw against James DeGale in January. The undercard also features Mayweather Promotions' rising star, Gervonta Davis, and 41-year-old former world champion, Steve Cunningham. I highly recommend tuning in for the undercard, because the fights will likely blow away the main event! 

Below is the breakdown of the full Mayweather vs. McGregor card: 

Preliminary Card - 

Juan Heraldez (12-0) vs. Jose Miguel Borrego (13-0) - Welterweights

Kevin Newman (7-0-1) vs. Antonio Hernandez (9-1) - Super Middleweights

Savannah Marshall (Pro Debut) vs. Amy Coleman (Pro Debut) - Women's Super Middleweights

Main Card - 

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0) vs. Conor McGregor (Pro Debut), Light Middleweights

Gervonta Davis (18-0) vs. Francisco Fonseca (19-0-1), IBF Super Featherweight Title

Nathan Cleverly (30-3) vs. Badou Jack (21-1-2), WBA Light Heavyweight Title

Andrew Tabiti (14-0) vs. Steve Cunningham (29-8-1), USBA Cruiserweight Title


MW

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Throwback Thursday - Randy "Commish" Gordon Interview (October 5, 2016)

Check out my October 5, 2016 interview with with former Editor-in-Chief of The Ring Magazine, former New York State Athletic Commissioner, and current host of the SiriusXM show "At the Fights", Randy Gordon!

The Matt Ward History Experience Podcast - Episode #9 Notes

Randy Gordon and Boxing History - MWHE Episode #9 on SoundCloud

Randy Gordon and Boxing History - MWHE Episode #9 on iTunes


(Left to Right: Randy Gordon, Sean Corcione, Matt Ward, and Gerry Cooney)


MW

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