German super-middleweights Arthur Abraham (33-3, 27KO’s) and Robert Stieglitz (41-2, 23KO’s) both scored victories tonight in Germany but the performances couldn’t have been more different. Stieglitz had no problems at all scoring a wide unanimous decision over fellow German Henry Weber (15-1-1, 3KO’s), but Abraham, returning from a loss to Andre Ward in the Super Six, looked less than impressive despite scoring a fifth-round TKO over Argentina’s rugged Pablo Farias (19-2, 11KO’s).

Abraham,31, had lost three of his last four coming into tonight’s fight, so could be forgiven for being a little cautious, but up until the stoppage in the fifth round barely landed a punch. Farias was game and stood in front of Abraham, throwing hooks and body shots, but Abraham’s sporadic wild swings hit thin air.

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Peterson and his team have clearly had enough of Khan's complaints

Lamont Peterson’s manager Barry Hunter has hit back at claims that his fighter’s win over Amir Khan for the WBA & IBF light-welterweight titles in Washington last month was fixed. Leaving no doubt about his, and his fighters stance on the matter, Hunter slammed Khan for being a bad loser and suggested the financial clout of Golden Boy is the only reason this matter is being pursued.

The statement read: “Unfortunately, we are in this process of dealing with these unfounded protests. It would be an understatement to characterize Lamont as being disappointed in the unprofessional manner in which Khan is attempting to discredit his performance in the ring and victory. We were raised to conduct ourselves where Champions display professionalism, both in victory and defeat. Lamont previously tasted defeat and handled it the way it should be handled — he worked harder on areas that needed improvement to maximize his performance in the ring. Now, he is World Champion.

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Arum has told Pacquiao to hold out for a bigger purse despite the calls from boxing fans

To the disappointment of boxing fans everywhere, Manny Pacquiao’s financial advisor Michael Koncz has told the press that fighting Floyd Mayweather on May 5 is not going to happen because it is ”foolish from an economic standpoint”, and would require a far larger venue than the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Mayweather called Pacquiao out via his Twitter account on Tuesday, challenging the Filipino superstar to a fight on May 5, a date Mayweather has pencilled in already. Even though Pacquiao responded positively to the challenge, calling for the fight himself, it now appears as if the men behind the scenes have influenced his thinking and once again greed has scuppered the biggest fight in the sport today.

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Pacquiao and promoter Bob Arum seem to be in disagreement about a Mayweather fight

It’s the fight the whole World wants to see, and today a clash between pound-for-pound rivals Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. seems one step closer to being signed. Mayweather’s next opponent was widely rumoured to be either Robert Guerrero or Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez but today Mayweather called out Pacquiao via his Twitter account.

“Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see,” he tweeted.

“My Jail Sentence was pushed back because the date was locked in. Step up Punk,” Mayweather added.

It’s a direct challenge to Pacquiao and will surprise many people who believed the fight to be dead in the water. Adding even further weight to the argument was Pacquiao himself, who told Eddie Alinea of Philboxing.com that despite promoter Bob Arum’s concerns wants his next fight to be against Mayweather.

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IBF champion Lucian Bute is undefeated in 30 fights

Canada’s undefeated IBF super-middleweight champion Lucian Bute (30-0, 24KO’s) and England’s former World champion Carl Froch (28-2, 20KO’s) are close to signing a deal that will see them fight twice, beginning with a bout in Bute’s adopted hometown of Montreal this spring.

Even though Andre Ward recently beat Froch and would seem the logical choice to face off with rival champion Bute, it appears that Ward’s team want nothing to do with Romanian-born Bute and have stepped aside to allow Froch to make a deal.

“We have pencilled in 14 April in Montreal and 4 August in Nottingham for the ‘home-and-away’ bouts,” said Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn.  “I don’t see why we can’t get this boxed off in the next week or so.”

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Mustafa Ameen (far left) is here seen celebrating with Peterson post-fight

The man in the middle of the controversy surrounding Lamont Peterson’s split-decision victory over Amir Khan in Washington last month has spoken out publicly for the first time.

Khan and his team raised questions about the role of a mysterious man at ringside who they believe interfered with the scorecards, after being seen continuously speaking to Michael Welsh, the WBA supervisor at ringside, as the fight progressed.

Commenting on his Facebook page Mustafa Ameen denied any wrongdoing in a short statement.

“So you are questioning if I did something to harm my Muslim brother? May almighty Allah protect me from what you and the rest of you assert. Don’t make assumptions based on allegations,” he said.

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Mayweather's fight on May 5 has saved him from serving hard time at the County jail

Showing a defence as slippery outside of the ring as in it, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has once again managed to escape prison after a Nevada judge today postponed the five-weight champion’s imminent 90-day sentence for domestic assault until June. The postponement was made due to a fight Mayweather has in May against an as yet unnamed opponent. Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa granted the request from Mayweather’s defense attorney who requested the delay.

Mayweather was found guilty of an attack on the mother of two of his children, Josie Harris, after Mayweather discovered Harris was dating another man. Harris, 31, lives in the Los Angeles area with the couple’s two sons, now 12 and 10, and a daughter aged 8.

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2012 promises to be a big year for Nathan Cleverly

Welsh WBO light-heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 11KO’s) is on course to face off with WBC and Ring magazine king Bernard Hopkins (52-5-2, 32KO’s) this summer in a huge unification fight at the Millennium Stadium in Wales, according to Cleverly’s father Vince.

“Hopkins is coming around to the idea,” he said. “It would sell out the Millennium Stadium. This year was brilliant and all went to plan. Let’s hope 2012 can be even better. Barring injuries Nathan will unify the division.”

46-year-old Hopkins has been ordered to fight a rematch with Chad Dawson after their controversial first fight, during which Hopkins was thrown to the floor, injuring his shoulder and rendered unable to continue. Although Hopkins has a date pencilled in for February 27 for his next fight there’s been no word on the opponent, and whether or not it will be Dawson.

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Mayweather with manager Leonard Ellerbe today in a Las Vegas court

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been given a 90 day jail sentence by a Nevada judge after pleading guilty to a charge of misdemeanor battery domestic violence and no contest on two counts of harassment. He was also handed a 100-hour community service order and a $2,500 fine. Had the case gone to trial Mayweather was facing up to 34 years in prison.

Mayweather appeared in a Las Vegas courtroom today to face the charges and was expected to plead guilty but his attorney Karen Winckler said she is considering an appeal against the prison sentence, which will commence on January 6. It’s believed part of the deal includes Mayweather pleads guilty to another charge he’s facing, this time misdemeanor battery on a security guard stemming from an incident last year.

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Amir Khan is still likely to get a rematch despite the IBF's ruling

The IBF have refused to order a rematch between newly crowned champion Lamont Peterson and former holder Amir Khan following an appeal lodged by Khan’s team. The protest was over the way referee Joseph Cooper handled the bout, deducting two points from Khan for pushing, and also a discrepancy on the scorecards prior to the decision being announced.

Today IBF chairman Lindsay Tucker confirmed that the organization would not be ordering a rematch and were satisfied that the fight at the Convention Center in Washington, D.C was officiated fairly.

“We found no discrepancies that would affect the outcome or the result of the fight,” Tucker said.

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Brook (left) was in complete control of his bout with Galarza

In the chief supporting bout to Ward-Froch at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J the touted English welterweight Kell ‘Special K’ Brook (26-0, 18KO’s) made his long-awaited debut on American soil and looked good breaking down and stopping Luis Galarza (17-3, 13KO’s) in the fifth of their scheduled ten-rounder. Brook, ranked by all the governing bodies, hardly put a foot wrong, dominating his Tennessee-based Puerto Rican opponent from start to finish.

Brook’s manager Eddie Hearn has promised him a World title fight in the new year, and against Galarza looked more than ready to move on to bigger things. Showing fast hands, maturity and good ring awareness, Brook will have impressed all who watched with his controlled demolition job.

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Klitschko believes Chisora clearly beat Helenius and is a worthy challenger to his crown

Despite only losing only two weeks ago in a European title challenge, England’s Derreck Chisora (15-2, 9KO’s) is to get a shot at WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (43-2, 40KO’s) in Munich on February 18, it was announced today.

Chisora was twice scheduled to face brother Wladimir only to be let down on both occasions by circumstance, so will be delighted to finally get his shot at the title, as undeserved as it may or may not be.

Klitschko, now 40 years old, says he plans to have at least two more fights next year, and wants the second to be against David Haye in July,

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Khan demanded answers at the post-fight press conference

It already looks a near certainty that Amir Khan and Lamont Peterson will fight a rematch following their controversial fight last night in Washington, D.C. A Khan camp member said they wanted the fight to take place in Las Vegas on March 31.

Khan, who lost his WBA & IBF junior-welterweight titles to Peterson after being deducted two points controversially, was far from happy with both the performance of referee Joseph Cooper and the scoring judges, questioning the fairness of those involved at the post-fight press conference, and promoters Golden Boy have released a statement demanding answers.

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As fighters need to be retired for five years before being considered, Hearns has only just become eligible for induction

Tommy ‘Hitman’ Hearns and Freddie Roach are among a list of people who have been nominated for inclusion in this year’s Hall Of Fame. Boxing writers and historians working together choose a class each year and today released the latest list of inductees.

Hearns, 53, a Detroit man through-and-through, has always been a sure-fire entrant to the Hall Of Fame and will join peers Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran and ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard in the exclusive club. It’s both a blessing and a curse that Hearns had to compete in such a talented era but his fights with Duran, Hagler and Leonard will never be forgotten.

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Khan (left) and Peterson are both sounding confident ahead of their World title clash

All the right words are being said by both men in the build-up to Amir Khan’s WBA/IBF lightweight title defense against Lamont Peterson on Saturday night at the Convention Center in Washington, D.C, with both fighters sounding very confident about getting the victory.

Khan (26-1, 18KO’s), will be taking part in his seventh World title fight and has yet to lose one, but is not looking past Peterson (29-1-1, 15KO’s) and insists it will be a tougher fight than his last one, a fifth-round KO of Zab Judah.

“I definitely think this will be a tougher fight than Judah was,” Khan said. “He’s (Peterson) one of the most dangerous opponents in the division.”

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