Guillermo Rigondeaux vs Adolfo Landeros
NSU Arena, Don Taft University Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Friday, February 5, 2010

LOS ANGELES (Feb. 4, 2010) – Two-time Olympic champion Guillermo "El Chacal (The Jackal)" Rigondeaux, arguably the greatest amateur boxer of all-time, is showing more of his personal side with an announcement that he is donating his entire purse from his fight this Friday on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights February 5, 2010 at NSU Don Taft University Center in Davie, Florida to the Children of Haiti Fund.

Rigondeaux (4-0-0, 3 KOs), fighting as a super bantamweight, now lives in Los Angeles after defecting from Cuba, where he was a 7-time national champion. The 28-year-old southpaw also won multiple World Championships titles, as well as a gold medal at the 2003 Pan-Am Games, during his incredible 243-4 amateur career.

"Rigo," who is trained by Freddie Roach and managed by Gary Hyde, faces Adolfo Landeros (20-12-1) in an 8-round bout on ESPN Friday Night Fights, live from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

"Guillermo's gentle, caring heart will be full of fire Friday night for his fifth pro fight," Irishman Hyde said. "He really wants to win impressively on ESPN. He definitely hasn't let fame and all of the attention he's received to go his head. 'Rigo' hasn't forgotten the poverty he comes from. Hopefully, his thoughtful donation will encourage others to follow suit."

No stranger to poverty and hard times in his native Cuba, Rigondeaux was deeply saddened by all of the devastation and heartache caused by the recent earthquake in Haiti. "Rigo" was banned from boxing in Cuba when he failed to defect the first time while competing in the 2007 Pan-American Games in Brazil. His low but essential monthly stipend was taken from him for more than two years. He managed to escape from Cuba in February, 2009.

Rigondeaux trains at Roach's famed Wildcard Gym in Los Angles, under the watchful eyes of his celebrated coach, who calls Guillermo the Picasso of Boxing and one of the most technically sound boxers he has ever seen. "This kid is the master of the noble art," Roach commented. "He combines his skills with unbelievable power, which isn't the case very often in smaller weight classes. I have no doubt that he will win at least one world title by the end of this year. Once he cleans-up the 122-pound division, we will move him up to the 126-pound division, where there are some very interesting fights."

"Rigo" told Hyde that he wanted to donate his purse to the children of Haiti. "I was touched by his sincerity," Gary explained, "so I contacted Dr. Mick Molloy, a member of the Professional Boxing Union of Ireland, who went to Haiti this past Tuesday to offer his medical services to the victims of the earthquake. Dr. Molloy flew from Miami to Turks and Caico Islands, and then with the U.S. Navy to Haiti. He thanked us for the donation and suggested we do it through the Boston Children's Foundation."

Eric "Butterbean" Esch vs Harry "The Ho-Chunk Hammer" Funmaker
Brew City Brawl
US Cellular Arena, Milwaukee, WI
Saturday, October 3, 2009

Don't miss Butterbean's next fight if you are anywhere near Milwaukee, Wisconsin on October 3rd! It's going to be his last fight before he retires.

Butterbean (77-7-4, 58 KOs) is going to fight Harry Funmaker (17-17-0, 6 KOs) for the 3rd time. The two fought each other back in 2000 and 1998 in 4 rounders with Butterbean winning both times by UD.

Both fighters have had long layoffs. Butterbean has not boxed since his fight with Joe Siciliano in March 2007 where he won by 2nd round TKO. And Funmaker has not fought since he lost to Matt Anderson in November 2005.

It will be interesting to see how much Butterbean weights when he steps into the ring this time. When he fought Siciliano in 2007 Butterbean weighed in at 417 1/2 pounds. Now that's a lot of bean!

Bob has history with Yankee Stadium. He and his boxing promotion company Top Rank promoted the 15-round Ali-Norton fight at the old Yankee Stadium on September 28, 1976 .

Perhaps Bob is one step closer now to his dream coming true since he was able to hold the Pacquiao-Cotto press conference at the new stadium on September 10th.

Bob Arum of Top Rank has announced that the Pacquiao-Cotto fight is a done deal. The HBO PPV fight is scheduled for Saturday, November 14, 2009 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will take place at a catch weight (a mutually agree upon weight) of 145 lbs which is 2 pounds below the welterweight limit (over 140 lbs and up to 147 lbs ). This is a move up in weight for Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) and a move down in weight for Miguel Cotto (34-1-0, 27 KOs).

Hector "Macho" Camacho Sr vs Luis Ramon "Yory Boy" Campas fight which was scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 9, 2009 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey was canceled because the New Jersey Boxing Commission would not grant the 46 year old Hector Camacho a license to box in the state.

Camacho, who has never been knocked out in his career came back after a 3 year layoff and beat former welterweight champion Perry Ballard (20-2-1, 15 KOs) by 7th round TKO on July 18, 2008 at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas. Camacho has only lost one fight in his last eighteen and that was back in 2003.

Diane Lee Fischer, the fight's original promoter said that both boxers passed extensive medicals beyond what is normally required of younger boxers. Yet the New Jersey Boxing Commission didn't think that 46 year old Camacho (79-5-2, 38 KOs) was capable of fighting 37 year old Campas (92-14-0, 72 KOs) who lost his last two fights.

It reminds me of the movie Rocky Balboa when the boxing commissioners denied Rocky a license to box despite his passing all the medicals stating they were looking out for his best interests and Rocky said "But, maybe you're looking out for your interests just a little bit more. "

The fight is still going to take place on May 9th. Its just going to happen in another state that doesn't practice ageism. Campas vs Camacho will be at the DoubleTree Hotel at 5780 Major Blvd in Orlando, Florida and will also be televised live on PPV. Call 866-704-7845 for tickets.

Tyson, a new documentary about former heavyweight champion MIke Tyson directed by James Toback an American screenwriter and director will be shown in a special preview screening presented by the Museum of the Moving Image on Monday, April 6, 2009 at 8:00 PM at AMC Loews 34th Street Theater in Manhattan.

The 90 minute documentary to be released on April 24, 2009 provides a closeup look at the life of Mike Tyson from his childhood on Brooklyn's meanest streets, through his years training with legendary boxing trainer Cus D'Amato, his marriage to actress Robin Givens, rape conviction of Desiree Washington, falling out with boxing promoter Don King, to hanging up his gloves following his TKO loss to journeyman Kevin McBride on June 6, 2005.

To order tickets for the screening go to:
https://shop.movingimage.us/shop/catlist.php?cPath=57 or call 718-784-4520.

The Erin Go Brawl II fight card on March 16th the Eve of St Patrick's Day at Madison Square Garden in NYC has been cancelled. Eddie McLoughlin the president of Irish Ropes Promotions the promoter of the fight card cited poor ticket sales in comparison to two years ago as the reason for cancellation.

Andy Lee (16-1, 13 KOs), 2004 Irish Olympian was scheduled to fight former world title challenger Antwun Echols (31-9-4, 27 KOs) in the main event. And Wayne "Pocket Rocket" McCullough (27-7, 18 KOs), 1992 Olympic silver medalist and former WBC bantamweight champion was scheduled to fight Alex Becerra (19-7, 9 KOs) in the co-main event.

According to Thomas Hauser's article The Truth about John Duddy, New York State Athletic Commission said that Irish Ropes could not promote a fight in New York until complaints filed against them were resolved. So was it really poor ticket sales that caused the fight's cancellation or was it that Irish Ropes couldn't get a license to hold the fight on March 16th by the NYSAC commissioners?

You be the judge but it sure looks like Williams took a dive to me.

Morrison KOs Williams

Kelly Pavlik's fans started lining up Friday night outside of the Chevrolet Centre, Youngstown, Ohio hoping to get tickets for the cheap seats for Pavlik's fight when tickets went on sale Saturday morning at 10:00 AM.

What they got was a lesson on how to buy tickets in the current decade. Only the first few people in line were lucky enough to get the cheap seats at $50 and $100. Those sold out in the first two minutes, leaving the rest in line disappointed.

Instead of standing outside in temperatures ranging between 19 to 25 degrees they should have been in sitting in front of their computer's in a nice warm house ready to click the Find Tickets button on the Pavlik Fight page on Ticketmaster.com at 10:00 AM Saturday morning.

Photo: wytv.com

Ticket buying lesson number one. Venues don't get tickets reserved just to sell in the box office. When tickets go on sale all of the tickets go on sale at the same time everywhere, the box office, ticket outlets and online. Lesson two. The cheapest tickets always sell out first. So, it's better to be in the line that moves the fastest and that's online! Lesson three. Even though the box office says that the tickets are sold-out there are still tickets available in the nosebleed sections for Kelly Pavlik's fight on the secondary market, only now they are market price.

Evander Holyfield was robbed by three blind mice and a Neanderthal on Saturday night in Zurich, Switzerland.

After the 12-round stinker when Michael Buffer read the judges scores 114-114, 116-112 and 115-114 for Valuev the sellout crowd of 12,5000 who were chanting "Holyfield, Holyfield!" throughout the bout booed. It was a terrible decision.

Nikolay Valuev (50-1-0, 34 KOs) beat Evander Holyfield (42-10-2, 27 KOs) by 12-round majority decision.

Dan Rafael of ESPN said "Valuev was utterly horrific, the guy didn't throw any punches. He went through twelve rounds in a coma."

Boxingconfidential scored the Valuev-Holyfield fight 118-110 for Holyfield and Yahoo! Sports had Holyfield winning 116-112

If the WBA stands by their mission statement they should strip Valuev of the WBA title and call for an immediate rematch.

Weigh-in for the De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight took place Friday afternoon on December 5, 2008 at the MGM Grand. The contracted weight for the fight is 147 lbs, welterweight.

• Oscar De La Hoya weighed 145 lbs
• Manny Pacquiao weighed 142 lbs

Oscar looked dried out. The question is how much weight will he gain before the fight Saturday night after he eats and rehydrates? Will he step into the ring as a welterweight, super welterweight or middleweight?

Note: Professional boxing has 17 different weight classes. See weight classes for the weight limits.

Oscar De La Hoya vs Manny Pacquiao

The Dream Match is less than 24 hours away. Oscar De La Hoya (39-5-0, 30 KOs) and Manny Pacquiao (47-3-2, 36 KOs) will touch gloves and go toe to toe in fight Larry Merchant dreamed up.

In Manny's pro debut on January 22, 1995 he fought at 106 lbs as a light flyweight. Since 2003 Manny has fought at 130 lbs before moving up to 135 lbs in June 2008 to fight David Diaz at lightweight.

Oscar fought at 133 lbs as a lightweight in his pro debut in November 23, 1992 and has fought as heavy as 160 lbs in 2004 which is the upper limit of middleweight. Most recently he has fought at 150 lbs as a super welterweight.

De La Hoya and Pacquiao's fight on December 6th will be contested at welterweight, the 147 lb division. To make the fight happen Oscar had to give up three pounds to fight Manny and Manny had to move up another two weight divisions to fight Oscar.

Manny is 5' 6 1/2" and has a 67" reach and Oscar is 5' 10 1/2" and has a 73" reach. When the two of them step into the ring at the MGM Grand their size difference is going to be clearly apparent.

Let's hope for Manny's sake that the old boxing adage "A good big man always beats a good little man." doesn't ring true Saturday night.

Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton from the Beyond Human Collection by Lee Jones

RH2050 Copyright 2050Sports.com

"This is a totally unique and original piece of art which captures the true spirit of Ricky Hatton. It gave me a real adrenalin rush when I saw it." said Ricky Hatton.

You can also see the image on Ricky's site Rickyhitmanhatton.com and prints signed by Ricky Hatton are for sale on 2050Sports.com with a percentage of proceeds going to Ricky Hatton's charities.

In a Showtime media poll 26 out of 32 boxing writers picked Mijares to win. Knowledgeable boxing writer Graham Houston picked Darchinyan to pull off an upset with his thumping left hands.

After witnessing Darchinyan's impressive performance and knockout victory over Dimitri Kirilov this past August at the Emerald Casino in Tacoma, Washington I knew Darchinyan had what it would take to beat Mijares. Much more than just a punchers chance to win. Darchinyan throws punches from odd angles that baffle a boxer.

Tonight's fight on November 1, 2008 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California from the opening round to the final knockout was another statement making performance for Darchinyan. Once again he proved he has good boxing skills and knockout power.

Two Australian boxers, Jamie Fallon (0-0-0, 0 KOs) and Nazih Kheir (0-0-0, 0 KOs) are about to make their professional boxing debuts on November 14th in Queensland, Australia.

Fallon and Kheir are little people. Fallon stands a bit over 3 feet 5 inches tall and Kheir is 4 feet 2 inches. The bout will take place at minimum weight which is up to and including 105 pounds or 47.627 kilograms. The two were supposed to have fought back in September on boxing promoter Jamie Myer's card but the fight was scrapped because Myer was worried the bout would be perceived as a gimmick and exploitation of little people like the days of Sky Low Low and Fuzzy Cupid.

But with both boxers registered having passed their medicals and been deemed fit to fight by Dr Lou Lewis, a ringside medical specialist denying them the right to fight would be discrimination. Myer's noting that both boxers are hell bent on fighting and that they have been training under the tutelage of top trainers for months is going to put them on his upcoming card at Gold Coast Convention Centre which is sure to be a sellout.

Jamie "The Giant" Fallon Training

Damn this little guy can throw one hell of a punch!