Alex Pierpaoli

Modern Day Gladiator Marvelous Marvin Hagler dies at 66

 

Marvelous Marvin Hagler, one of boxing’s all-time greatest Middleweights passed away unexpectedly at his Bartlett, New Hampshire home on Saturday, according to a Facebook post by his wife Kay Hagler. Hagler held the Middleweight Championship from 1980-87 and fought his entire career at the 160 pound weight class. IBRO lists him as 4th among the Middleweights in the All-Time-Greatest Rankings. The epitome of a prizefighter, Hagler was a member of the Fab 4 of the 1980s, along with Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran. Hagler’s work ethic and warrior’s courage were admired by so many fighters and he was a fan favorite at the IBHOF Induction Weekend each year in Canastota, NY. The entire Talkin’ Boxing with Billy C extends their deepest condolences to family and friends of The Marvelous One.

RIP Champion.

Here is a Blast on The Marvelous One from February of twenty-thirteen.

#CaneloKovalev pre-fight shows from Las Vegas

Alex P at the Canelo-Kovalev weigh-in. “When in Rome…”

Sights and Sounds from Sin City

TalkinBoxing with Billy C’s Canelo versus Kovalev pre-fight coverage

By Alex Pierpaoli

Billy C and Alex P arrived in Sin City on Wednesday and have consumed all there is to take in about the DAZN card tonight featuring Saul Canelo Alvarez’s jump to 175 pounds against Sergey The Krusher Kovalev.

 

After all that’s been said and done we’re just hours away from fight-time but you’ve still got time to catch up on all our Canelo-Kovalev fight week coverage!

Johnston Brown prediction HERE

Daxx Kahn scouting report HERE

Billy C and the gang breakdown Canelo-Kovalev HERE

Undefeated prospect Blair “The Flair” Cobbs talks with Billy C about his fight on the undercard of Canelo-Kovalev

Canelo vs. Kovalev pre-fight coverage Live from Las Vegas Part 1

The Gamma Green Goliath talks with Billy C about his pick for Canelo vs. Kovalev

HOFer James “Buddy” McGirt chats with Billy C

The Latin Snake, Sergio Mora talks with Billy C

Main Events CEO Kathy Duva talks with Billy C about Kovalev versus Canelo

Canelo vs. Kovalev pre-fight coverage Live from Las Vegas Part 2

Bernard Hopkins jokes with Billy C at the MGM Grand

Canelo vs. Kovalev pre-fight coverage Live from Las Vegas Part 3

 

 

 

Canelo Alvarez defeats Daniel Jacobs and lays claim to P4P Best Fighter in the sport

Saul Canelo Alvarez turned back the challenge of IBF strap-holder Daniel Jacobs tonight at the T-Mobile Arena, in Las Vegas, NV. Guadalajara, Mexico’s favorite son thrilled a crowd of 20,203 people with a close but decisive display of his unique brand of pot-shot punching, bedeviling defense and the rock-solid chin that make Canelo Alvarez the biggest star in the sport and quite probably the best middleweight on earth. There is of course still some question of that. But first to Daniel Jacobs.

Tonight, Brownsville’s cancer survivor and all around good-guy didn’t show quite the same aggression he showed at yesterday’s weigh-in. Jacobs boxed smart through much of the fight and took chances in trading in the later rounds but was never able to hurt Canelo or stymie his brutal economy of well-placed hard shots. Jacobs appeared busier during much of the bout but even in the close rounds, of which there were probably three, it was Canelo landing the more damaging, showier shots. Jacobs had some success in keeping Canelo on the outside when switching to southpaw, but Jacobs landed more than just jabs and did better scoring from the orthodox stance. In the fourth round, Canelo Alvarez put on a dazzling display of defense that had Jacobs hurling and whiffing at the Mexican with punch after missed punch in the final minute of the frame.

Although it never had the same brutality of the 2 fights with Golovkin, Canelo-Jacobs did become bruising in the 8th, 9th and 10th when Jacobs knew he was likely behind and chose to stand and trade more often. In the ninth, Jacobs landed a huge right hand, his best shot of the fight, and it had no effect on Canelo whatsoever. By the final bell in the twelfth, Alvarez had made his case as the new owner of Jacobs IBF Title and the final scorecards were 115-113 x 2 and 116-112. Alvarez is now the WBA, WBA and IBF Champion while Providence, Rhode Island’s Demetrius Andrade holds the fourth piece of the 160 pound world governing body title, the WBO.

Daniel Jacobs had exceeded a contractual rehydration clause by weighing 173.6lbs this morning and was forced to cough up 250,000 dollars for each pound over the 10 pound rehydration limit. That’s right, that means he lost almost a million dollars off his earnings for tonight’s bout before he even taped up his hands. And his height and bulk did not really help him versus Alvarez, as there were few clinches and the fight took place in close only in spots.

Afterwards, Jacobs said about the weight: “I didn’t feel any different. I’m just a naturally big middleweight. I made the sacrifice of coming in 173 and paying a hefty fine for it but at the end of the day, I made sacrifices.” Promoter Eddie Hearn told DAZN’s Brian Kenny later that he will talk to the Brownsville native about a possible move up to super middleweight in the future.

As to Canelo Alvarez, after vanquishing Jacobs, he now has a draw and a victory with the only other middleweight on earth who could argue he might be better or at least as good, Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin. The Kazakh was ringside and heard the boos and hisses from the pro-Canelo crowd each time he was shown on the monitors at the T-Mobile Arena. But what of a third meeting between them, would Canelo be interested? When asked if there was unfinished business between him and Triple G, Canelo answered: “No, for me, it’s over. But if the people want another fight, we’ll do it again, and I’ll beat him again.”

That’s exactly what fight fans want, a third fight, and it looks as though they’ll get it this Fall. One thing is for sure, this building and this city have become Canelo Country, of that there’s no doubt. He puts asses and seats and he gives them exactly what they want. And for all those folks who like to argue about who the current P4P best fighter in the sport may be, it’s hard to look at the names and accomplishments on Canelo Alvarez’s record and not think This is THE MAN.

 

Fireworks at the Canelo versus Jacobs weigh-in!

The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada is ground zero for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez versus Daniel Jacobs tomorrow night but things almost erupted into full fledged fisticuffs just moments ago here at the weigh-in. After both fighters made weight, Jacobs 160lbs, and Canelo 159.5lbs, their obligatory pre-fight face-off descended into a forehead-to-forehead shoving match which Canelo seemed to take personally. Jacobs explained later that he didn’t like Canelo “bumping me with that big ass head.” After the shove both fighters had to be restrained by members of their camps and Canelo seemed the angrier of the two fighters.

Neither man had anything nice to say about the other and both fighters suggested the other man go perform unnatural acts with their own mother. The packed crowd loved every minute of it and it certainly made for good entertainment. Was it real? It sure seemed real. Welterweight great Marlon Starling likes to say “the worst thing that could happen in a boxing match is a fight breaks out.” Well, if you saw the way Canelo just responded he seemed ready to fight right now, not really a wise move when if he did he could jeopardize the actual fight tomorrow night. Was that just what Jacobs was hoping to do? Try to knock Canelo out of the focused, strategist counter-puncher role we’ve seen Canelo be and get him to charge Jacobs angrily? Jacobs did appear to push the intimidation and the forehead-to-forehead pressure in that face-off. But it was Canelo who “flinched” first and shoved back hard which caused the melee. In the end it’s just a face-off and the fight comes tomorrow, but damn it was fun.

Other weights were as follows:

Vergil Ortiz Jr weighed 147lbs and fights Mauricio Herrera who scaled 146.5lbs

Joseph Diaz Jr weighed 129.5lbs and battles Freddy Fonseca, 130lbs

Lamont Roach weighed 129.5lbs and meets Jonathan Oquendo, 130lbs

Sadam Ali, 147lbs versus Anthony Young, 146lbs

John Ryder, 167.5lbs versus Bilal Akkawy, 167.5lbs

Aram Avagyan, 125.5lbs, versus Francisco Esparza, 126lbs

Alexis Espino, 164lbs, versus Billy Wagner, 161.5lbs

 

 

This week’s Blast-From-The-Past features Ike Ibeabuchi

Hey Fight fans!

This week our subject is former heavyweight contender and generally strange/dangerous guy, Ike Ibeabuchi. Born February 2, 1973, in Isuochi, Nigeria, Ike “The President” Ibeabuchi stood six foot two inches tall and weighed a solid two hundred thirty some odd pounds. After success as an amateur in his native Nigeria, Ibeabuchi came to the USA and fought out of the Dallas, Texas gym of former welterweight great turned trainer, Curtis Cokes.

Ibeabuchi was on the winning end of one of the greatest heavyweight fights of the last thirty years. Together with slugger David Tua, Ibeabuchi set a compubox record for punches thrown in a heavyweight contest (Ibeabuchi set the record for most thrown by a heavy). Ibeabuchi was an action heavyweight with lots of punches in his arsenal and the aggressiveness to land them. He went on to stop Chris Byrd at a time when Byrd was one of the best heavyweights in the division and Ibeabuchi was on course to challenge Lennox Lewis in a super-fight for the heavyweight championship.

Ibeabuchi was involved in several disturbing criminal incidents before the sexual assault to which he accepted an Alford Plea and was eventually incarcerated. Before that he kidnapped his own son from an estranged girlfriend and, with the young man in the passenger seat, Ibeabuchi drove his car at high speed into a bridge abutment. The boy was permanently disabled and Ike was sentenced to 120 days in jail for kidnapping. After the win over Byrd, Ibeabuchi was involved in another incident at the Mirage Hotel when an in-room entertainer claimed she was sexually assaulted by Ibeabuchi. He then locked himself in the hotel bathroom and when police arrived he had to be forcibly removed by being pepper-sprayed under the door.

It was a long time before Ibeabuchi was finally deemed fit to stand trial and was sentenced to prison. He was released in November of twenty-fifteen and there were rumors he was going to return to boxing and fight Andy Ruiz on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Tim Bradley rematch but that never panned out. And in April of twenty-sixteen he was arrested for parole violation and is currently being held pending sentence or deportation.

Professional ring record of Ike Ibeabuchi

Unrealized: The Story of Ike Ibeabuchi… podcast

Ike Ibeabuchi versus David Tua June 7, 1997

This week’s Blast-From-The-Past features Prince Naseem Hamed

Hey Fight-Fans!

Born in Sheffield, England to Yemeni parents, Prince Naseem Hamed brought bone-crunching, head-cracking, leg-wobbling power to the featherweight division in the late 90s. An elusive, free-styling, arrogant southpaw with power in either hand, the Prince called the rounds he’d scored kayos in and then boasted about it when he proved himself true. Training out of the Wincobank Hill boxing gym of Brendan Ingle, the seven year old Naseem showed an aptitude for speed, power and the drive to become a champion. After 11 years as an amateur and a record 62-5 (18), Hamed turned pro and started racking up the kayos.

In 1997 he burst upon the American boxing scene with a true tempest-in-a-teapot of a fight against the Flushing Flash Kevin Kelley. Their contest featured one of the longest ring-entrance walks ever witnessed and six knockdowns in four rounds. The Prince had arrived.

He solidified his claim to featherweight bad-assery with a frightening knockout of tough but limited Augie The Las Vegas Kid Sanchez in Connecticut in August of 2000, a fight which paved the way for a featherweight unification fight against the great Marco Antonio Barrera. Unfortunately for the Prince, he had broken his hand in the Sanchez victory and allowed himself to get too out of shape during the recovery period. Once camp began for Barrera it was focused almost entirely on weight-loss. Whatever, the Prince never really recovered professionally from the embarrassing domination he suffered at the hands of Barrera.

At his peak he posed a difficult and extremely dangerous opponent for any featherweight and he helped catapult the little men into bigger purses with his flamboyant style, arrogance and knockout power to back it up. He was inducted into the IBHOF in 2015.

Prince Naseem Hamed’s professional ring record

Naseem Hamed vs. Kevin Kelley  December 19, 1997 MSG

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