50 Cent with 'Money' Mayweather

Following the accusations from Floyd Mayweather Jr’s ex-girlfriend Josie Harris over a domestic violence incident Thursday morning, Mayweather’s famed friend, international best-selling rap artist 50 Cent, has put his two cents in. 50 Cent’s advocacy came during a rant on Twitter, but the former convict is not exactly the best person to push Mayweather’s innocence.

“Another case of angry baby mama wanting money…She’s claiming he hit her but has no bruises,” said 50 Cent on Twitter.

“Floyd went to see his kids last night if a fighter of Floyd caliber hits u, u would be bruised.” Later, he added that he’d just talked to Mayweather Jr, who wasn’t upset, and that a comment about his girlfriend’s poor housekeeping skills caused her to start “trippin.”

At least Mayweather has someone on his side, even if it is a person who himself has crossed the thin blue line on more than one occasion.

The Cuban Revolution continues at The National Stadium in Dublin this Saturday when unbeaten Cuban duo Alexei Acosta and Luis Garcia feature on the undercard of the Hunky Dorys Fight Night.

Acosta and Garcia are two of a trio of undefeated Cuban sensations now based in Cork having all won World Junior Championships in the amateur ranks. The third is heavyweight Mike Perez who was forced off Saturday’s card earlier this week due to illness. All three are unbeaten and tipped for big things in the pro ranks.

Garcia, a 22-year-old Super Middleweight is currently undefeated in 8 pro fights and already rated number 26 in the World by the independent boxing records site, Boxrec.com. Garcia faces American veteran Christian Cruz on Saturday with the Californian having perviously extended current WBC Light Heavyweight Champion, Jean Pascal in to the 10th round and having lasted into the 12th with reigning IBF Super Middleweight Champ Lucien Bute. Cruz also holds a stoppage win over perennial contender Enrique Ornelas and with 10 of his 12 wins coming by KO he can clearly punch.

Garcia has prepared for the contest by sparring former World Champion and Joe Calzaghe foe Byron Mitchell in Cork and he’s hoping to put on a show for Dublin fights fans on his first appearance at the National Stadium. “I have trained hard for this fight and I am looking to putting on a real show for the fans in Dublin,” said Garcia. “I want to give them a performance to remember. Cruz is an experienced opponent but I never worry about who is in the opposite corner. It’s up to them to worry about me!”

Super Bantamweight Acosta has so far won all 11 of his professional outings since making the switch from the amateur ranks just under 2 years ago. Amazingly the 22-year-old has yet to rely on the scorecards having stopped all 11 opponents inside the distance and he will be hoping to continue that run on Saturday.

Acosta had been set to take on former World title challenger and Bernard Dunne foe Cristian Faccio but the Uruguayan was forced to pull out of the fight earlier this week due to personal circumstances. Acosta will now square off with Venezuelan Oscar Chacin on Saturday but Faccio remains on his hit list.

Acosta (along with Garcia and Perez) is due back in the ring in Letterkenny on October 2nd on the next Hunky Dorys Fight Night and he’s hopeful that Faccio will be in the opposite corner on that occasion.

“It’s unfortunate that Faccio was forced to pull out because he was certainly talking a good fight but now I have to focus on Chacin and taking care of business on Saturday,” said Acosta. “Hopefully the Faccio fight can be rescheduled for October 2nd but for now the fight with Chacin is all that matters.”

The card is headlined by a European title double header that will see Brian Magee make the first defence of his European Super Middleweight title against Roman Aramian while Kiko “La Sensacion” Martinez returns to Dublin as he bids to reclaim his old European Super Bantamweight crown when he clashes with Arsen Martyrosian.

A third title bout on the Hunky Dorys Fight Night will see Dubliner’s Anthony Fitzgerald and Robbie Long square off as they look to complete a trilogy that has already thrilled Irish fight fans with both men having a win a piece. This time around, Fitzgerald’s Irish Super Middleweight title will be on the line.

Reigning EU and Irish Super Bantamweight Champion Paul Hyland will also be in action as looks to press his claims for a shot at the winner of the Martinez – Martirosyan fight while Hyland’s fellow Dubliner’s Gavin Prunty and Brendan Fitzpatrick will also be in action alongside reigning Irish Heavyweight champ, Coleman Barrett from Galway.

Tickets for the Hunky Dorys Fight Night priced €40, €75 and €100 are available from Ticketmaster.ie / 0818 719300 or the National Stadium on 087 2511772, the Ticket Office on 086 8120135 or the boxers on the bill.

For all the latest visit brianpeterspromotions.com or check us out on Facebook.

Yuriorkis Gamboa (right) with promoter Ahmet Oner and Orlando Salido (left) Photo: Rick Peneda

When WBA featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa steps into the ring against IBF champ Orlando Salido for his first title unification this Saturday (Sept. 11th, featured on HBO Boxing After Dark) at The Palms in Las Vegas, ‘El Ciclon’ knows exactly who to thank for the way his career has taken so far.

“I have a fantastic team behind me”, said Gamboa in Vegas. “With my father Carlos who brought me to boxing and has always been a role model, my trainer Ismael Salas who I have known for many, many years, my promoter Ahmet Öner and my manager Tony Gonzalez who led me from my pro-debut to Las Vegas on the fast lane and the team of Top Rank who is doing a great job in putting together these wonderful shows I have the best team in my corner that a fighter can possibly have. But I also know that I wouldn’t be where I am right now if I wouldn’t work as hard as possible for my success.”

By emphasizing his own way of hard work Gamboa wants to encourage young fighters and promising prospects to always go to their limits.

“I know that I am a gifted fighter and I thank God for all the talent He has given me. But even the most talent in the world will not make you a main event fighter if you do not dedicate all your life to training. The hard work in the gym has brought me to Las Vegas. I never got anything for free in my whole life; I always had to fight and work hard for it. I still remember the times when I was still a young fighter in Cuba. There were so many excellent boxers with extraordinary achievements and great talent. Lots of them were more gifted than me. But I wanted to prove that I can be the best of all so I started doing extra training sessions.”

Adds his father Carlos Gamboa: “Yuri is a boxaholic. He was always the first to come to the gym and the last to leave. He sacrificed a lot to become the best fighter in the world. His hard work earned him the Olympic gold medal and a world championship title in very short time as a professional.”

“I guess, the most important thing is never to be fully satisfied with what you’re doing”, says “El Ciclon”. “After some of my fights lots of people told me how great I was but all I ever wanted and still want is to get better. I am proud that I have come this far already but I still see room for improvement. I want to be recognized as the best boxer in the world. This is what I am living and working for.”

Multiple weight World champion and self-proclaimed best fighter on the planet Floyd Mayweather Jr. is in trouble once again after an incident at his former girlfriend’s home in Las Vegas on Thursday morning. Mayweather is alleged to have inflicted “minor injuries” on Josie Harris, a mother of several of Floyd’s children, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police.

Only earlier this week Mayweather was kicking up a storm after a vulgar, racist rant on a live web stream. Mayweather and some friends broadcast live from his home and continuously threw racist insults at Pacquiao, some of which were hugely offensive.

The video appeared on You Tube and Floyd was forced to apologise the next day after a justifiably disgusted reaction from almost everyone that heard the monologue. Now Floyd is yet again in trouble, in one of a long line of misdemeanours for the Vegas-based fighter.

Police spokesman Jim Cassell said details such as what prompted the alleged incident and Harris’ specific injuries were “part of the investigation.” Asked if Mayweather would be arrested, Cassell said only that, for now, the boxer is a “person of interest.”

“At this point, Mr. Mayweather is a suspect in a domestic battery violence case, and we would very much like to speak with him,” Cassell said.

Irish Super Middleweight Champion Anthony “The Pride of Dublin” Fitzgerald will put his title and his ring moniker on the line when he faces Robbie Long in their eagerly awaited rubber match on this Saturday’s Hunky Dorys Fight Night at the National Stadium in Dublin.

The completion of this all Dublin trilogy is part of the undercard to a European title doubleheader with Brian Magee making the first defence of his European Super Middleweight title against Roman Aramian while Kiko “La Sensacion” Martinez and Arsen Martyrosian will battle it out for the vacant European Super Bantamweight crown.

For Dublin fight fans though the Fitzgerald – Long clash will hold a special interest pitting the Champion, a Northsider from the inner city against the challenger from Tallaght on the Southside of the Liffey. Both men already hold a victory over the other and Saturday’s decider will have extra spice with Fitzgerald’s Irish title on the line.

The two men clashed for the first time at the start of 2009 with Long taking a points win but Fitzgerald gained revenge 9 months later with a points win of his own to level the score at one win a piece after two exciting back and forth battles. Since then Fitzgerald has gone on to win the Irish title while Long has been inactive and the Champion believes that will prove crucial on Saturday night.

“I’m always confident going into every fight but I suppose I will carry a lot more confidence in to this fight because I’m a far better boxer now that our first two fights,” said Fitzgerald. “The first time we met because I was very inexperienced in the pro’s but in the second fight I showed how much I had improved. I’ve had another 4 fights since then and I think I’ve shown improvement in each and every one of those fights while he hasn’t even fought since our last fight.

“He’ a tough lad but I know that if I stick to the game plan I can make it a comfortable nights work. Of course there always a chance that we get drawn into another war but that’s no problem either, I can mix it with the best of them when I have to and here’s no way that title is leaving Sean McDermott Street.”

However Long believes that Fitzgerald is reading to much into his recent inactivity and believes that overconfidence could prove to be his downfall. “I definitely think he’s underestimating me and that’s going to be a big mistake,” said Long. “The pressure is all on him, he’s the Champion so he has everything to lose so there’s no pressure on me and I think he’s in for a big shock on Saturday night. I’ve been working very hard for this fight and working on a lot of things in the gym that are going going to surprise him so if everything goes to plan it will be a good fight but a short night!”

However the ambitious Champion believes he has bigger fish to fry than Long and has already set his sights on another all Irish clash with U.S. based Derryman John Duddy. “I’d love to fight John and I think I’m ready for it. I need a challenge to bring out the best in me because you have to box the best if you want to be the best and I’d take that fight in a heartbeat if it comes along.”

Other Dubliner’s in action on Saturday night include current European Union and Irish Super Bantamweight Champ Paul Hyland, with the Tallaght native taking on American Robert DaLuz while Castleknock’s Gavin Prunty and new Finglas pro Brendan Fitzpatrick also feature.

The 9 fight card also features undefeated Cork based Cuban’s Alexei Acosta and Luis Garcia with their compatriot, heavyweight Mike Perez having been forced off the card through illness. However there will be heavyweight action on the card with Galway’s Irish Heavyweight Champ Coleman Barrett featuring in a non title bout.

Tickets for the Hunky Dorys Fight Night priced €40, €75 and €100 are available from Ticketmaster.ie / 0818 719300 or the National Stadium on 087 2511772, the Ticket Office on 086 8120135 or the boxers on the bill.

For all the latest visit brianpeterspromotions.com or check us out on Facebook.

Green and Flores face to face at the press conference in Australia

Danny Green (30-3, 27 KOs) will defend his IBO cruiserweight title against BJ Flores (24-0-1, 15 KOs) at the Challenge Stadium in Perth, Australia on November 17th.

This should promise to be a great fight, for Flores it’s been a long road to a title shot and for Green this win will hopefully erase some of the doubts over his last farcical fight with Paul Briggs in which there were accusations that the fight was fixed.

After Green defeated Roy Jones Jr by shocking one round knockout in December last year he tried to lure Bernard Hopkins into the ring and then Antonio Tarver to no avail. Now he has perhaps the kind of competition he wanted to prove his worth only it comes in the form of the undefeated Flores who Green will have to convince he is susceptible to a loss.

Flores hasn’t been in the ring since August last year but was sparring regularly with David Haye in preparation for Haye’s fight with John Ruiz and has been sparring also with Chris Arreola. So he has been in with some big punchers something that will no doubt do wonders to prepare him for the heavy handed Green.

Today the rumoured David Haye-Audley Harrison fight for the WBA heavyweight title was officially announced at a press conference in London. Both fighters were present and exchanged insults freely. Titled the “Best Of Enemies” due to the pair’s past friendship, the fight will take place on November 13 at the M.E.N Arena in Manchester.

There was obvious bad blood between the pair, and neither pulled their punches, exchanging harsh words. Haye openly claimed Harrison didn’t deserve to be there, and only was because of his desire to please his fans by ‘annihilating’ Harrison.

“I know how hard it’s been for me to get to where I am today. I was the cruiserweight champion going to Paris to fight Mormeck, getting knocked down and getting up to claw my way back to victory.. then moving to heavyweight and going to Nuremberg to beat Valuev, the biggest heavyweight champ in history, I know what it takes to get here” said Haye.

“I dont believe Audley deserves a shot at the heavyweight title but fortunately for him, or unfortunately for him depending on which way you look at it, there’s enough people in Britain that want to see him get destroyed, to get completely annihilated, and that’s why this fight is happening.”

” I get more email’s to fight Audley Harrison than anyone else in the world and everybody passionately wants me to close the final curtain on the joke that is the Audley Harrison show, and that’s what I’m going to do”

“Audley knows me, he’s known me for years, he knows how devastating I am in the ring. He’s tasted it first hand in sparring sessions. He knows what type of character I am, and I’m no joke. When that bell rings I’m the most devastating fighter on the planet.”

“If he thinks he’s been hurt in the ring before, then think again Audley son. If you thought Michael Sprott hurt you, think again. You were just unconscious in that fight. Wait until november 13 and you will see the difference between the European heavweight champion and the World heavyweight champion”

Harrison was in his usual arrogant mood and wasn’t at all affected by Haye’s insults, still convincing everyone that this was his destiny.

“First of all I’m happy to be here.. ecstatic to get a shot at the heavyweight championship.. doubly ecstatic that it’s against David Haye, a guy that I groomed when he was 19 and I was 29 and the Olympic champion.”

“I know David very well, and yes I’ve tasted his punches, and his power. He never hurt me in those training sessions, he never KO’d me in those training sessions, even though he tried.”

“What David Haye needs to realise is that this is my destiny. At some point my left hand is going to land on his chin and trust me, on November 13 Audley Harrison will become the new heavyweight champion of the world, no doubt.”

Big talk from Harrison, and it didn’t stop there, with both fighters bickering and cursing for a full twenty minutes. In truth it’s a fairly poor match for Haye to take, and no doubt will get accused of ducking the Klitschko’s, despite his claims that the blame lies with the other camp.

Harrison will enter the fight as a huge underdog on November 13, but he does have a punchers chance. With Haye’s questionable chin and Harrison’s power an upset is always possible, but like Haye himself said, Harrison needs the speed to land a punch first.

Audley Harrison to get his first World title shot

The match up that most people do not want (apart from the UK television companies) between current WBA heavyweight champion Dave “Hayemaker” Haye 24-1 (22) and former Olympic champion Audley “A Force” Harrison 27-4 (20) is nearly a done deal.

In fact, a press conference has allegedly been called tomorrow where the fight will be made official. Respected boxing records website boxrec.com has already listed the bout as taking place on the 13th of December 2010 with the venue being listed as the MEN Arena in Manchester.

Sky tv are expected to televise the bout on its Pay per view Sky box office channel but it is very unlikely that the American television companies will follow suit.

More to follow after an official announcement.

The WBA has so many World champions

The World governing bodies rightly get some abuse from boxing fans. With the plethora of World titles available now it is no wonder that the casual sports fan would be hard pushed to name three World champions out of the sixty odd.

The WBC has a silver World title belt now which is supposed to be for fighters who are lined up to fight the recognised World champ at the weight, while the WBA now has an interim World champion at most weights, with the idea originally being to award the interim belt to the winner of a bout between the two top contenders in a division where the champion was injured or out of action for a while.

However this seemingly good idea has just been wasted with an interim champion at most weights now , possibly just because of the money that the WBA receive in sanctioning fees for these “World title bouts”. Add in to this the fact that the WBA also has “Super World” champions in divisions where the titlist has held the belt for a considerable period of time or has partly unified other belts and we end up with a farcial situation.

Well the WBA has seemingly surpassed themselves this time. Felix Sturm 34-2-1 (14)  who won at the weekend is the current WBA “Super World” champion at middleweight. Unbeaten Gennady Golovkin 19-0 (16)  from Kazakhstan is the “interim” champion. So Golovkin gets a shot at Sturm?

No that is a daft idea according to the WBA. Instead they are rumoured to be making a match between number two contender Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam 24-0 (17) and number three ranked contender Avtandil Khurtsidze 22-1-2 (13) for the standard WBA middleweight belt. Confused? Yes, so am I. Surely if the WBA want to have a regular champion then just appoint Golovkin as the champion.

The rumours also persist that Golovkins management team will seek legal action if this bout takes place for the regular title. Now I am no fan of fighters seeking court action but in this case I can see where Golovkins team are coming from.

No wonder why the MMA scene that regular pits the top fighters against each other is building up steam when even hardcore boxing fans like myself struggle to name all of the current World champions in our sport.

Roy Jones Jr (54-7, 40 KO’s) will return to the ring on October 7th against Danny Santiago (31-4-1, 19 KO’s) in his hometown of Pensacola, Florida for what I hope is his final goodbye to the sport .

Jones has lost six of his last eleven fights and ever since he came down in weight from his successful foray in the heavyweight division has never looked the same. He scraped a win against Antonio Tarver and was then knocked out in their next fight. Another knockout followed at the hands of Glen Johnson a good fighter but one that Jones would have boxed circles round in his heyday. After his second loss to Tarver the signs were all there that Jones was not just on the decline but completely washed up. He was able to silence a few naysayers with three back to back wins one of them to the great Felix Trinidad who like Jones was not great anymore.

Jones was then defeated by Joe Calzaghe despite knocking him down in the first round. He bounced back again with wins over Sheika and Lacy but was then knocked out by Danny Green in a fight that was supposed to be a warm up for a 17 years in the making rematch between himself and Bernard Hopkins. Unlike Jones Hopkins has improved with age like a fine wine and to many people’s amazement still took the fight with Roy regardless of Jones’ loss to win a dull uninspired unanimous decision. Both fighters looked a shambles but Jones barely threw a meaningful punch throughout the whole fight perhaps in the back of his mind losing to Bernard on points he could handle but being knocked out by his rival he couldn’t bear.

Now he steps into the ring again perhaps for one last fight in front of his home fans to give them a good farewell but something tells me should he win then he may continue fighting. For a guy that was so adamant about not getting hurt and leaving the sport with everything still intact it seems crazy that Roy is still fighting and taking the serious risk at this stage of his career. Forever scared by what happened to his friend Gerald McCellan in his fight with Nigel Benn I’m baffled as to why Roy still fights on when his punch resistance seems totally gone but then again I’m not a fighter and for a man who was once on top of the boxing world it must be hard to finally admit you time is over.

When he finally does call it a day I hope HBO will offer him his old job as a boxing analyst as he not only showed master of the sweet science in the ring but he call the action pretty well outside it aswell.

The weigh-in went without any real drama and both fighters weighed in within the limit, but the stare down showed some true intent between the pair…

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The news that Bob Arum feared has unfortunately become a reality as his son John Arum was found dead yesterday at the slope of Storm King Mountain after he failed to return from a recent mountain climbing trip.

Arum was forced to abandon his promotional tour for the up and coming fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito after it was reported that his son, who was apparently due to return home from his mountain climbing trip on Sunday, had gone missing.

His body was seen by helicopters at about the 7,700-foot level of the 8,500-foot Storm King mountain according to park spokeswoman Kerry Olson.

“His plan was to climb Storm King on Saturday, so it’s probably a safe assumption that he fell that day,” Olson said.

Arum’s larger backpack was found on Wednesday on a trail on the mountain’s less arduous south side. The backpack was found at about 7,400-feet along a climbing route, and climbing gear was missing from the pack.

Arum’s smaller pack was found higher on the mountain on Thursday, and Olson said his body was found about 300 feet below that spot in an extremely steep area with a lot of loose rock.

Around twenty people with search dogs were employed on Friday, along with four helicopters, two of them King County sheriff’s aircraft with heat-seeking equipment to conduct the search.

National Park Service workers were trying to develop a plan to recover the body, which is in an area so difficult “that people can’t rappel down or climb up to it,” Olson said.

John Arum was 49 years of age.

We send our condolences at this time to Bob and his family.

Even Ricky Burns (28-2, 7KO’s) himself has admitted he has no idea how he got a title shot, nevermind one in his hometown against a champion who has to travel half way around the World from Puerto Rico, but regardless, tomorrow night at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, Roman ‘Rocky’ Martinez (24-0-1, 15KO’s) will attempt to make a third defence of the WBO super-featherweight title that he won in England against Nicky Cook in March ’09.

Burns is the legitimate number one contender with the WBO, if you don’t believe me check their rankings, but how or why he got to that position is a slight mystery. To discredit Burns too much would be unfair, but it is hard to see exactly what he has done to earn a shot at a World title.

Having been on a thirteen fight winning streak that includes four wins for the Commonwealth title, Burns is in good form it can’t be denied, and now he has his opportunity he is determined to take it with both hands, but there seems little chance of him coming away with a win.

Roman Martinez is a tough box-puncher who will pepper both head and body of his opponent and look to knock them out. Burns, being a pure boxer, could have sever trouble dealing with the pressure Martinez will bring, and to put it in no uncertain terms, could be over fairly quickly.

Martinez was hugely impressive when destroying Nicky Cook at the MEN Arena last year, stopping the Englishman in four brutal rounds, and since has produced two fairly decent performances in Puerto Rico, but at some point Martinez’ opponents may be scrutinised. Having held the title for a while, this will be the third fighter he defends against who isn’t in most people’s top ten, and may need to step up his level of competition if he is to be taken seriously as a true force at 130lbs.

Should Martinez come through tomorrow unscathed, and all evidence points to it being likely, then Martinez can look forward to securing bigger fights in the future, but all that wont bother Ricky Burns, who will give his heart and soul and leave nothing in the ring in his quest to win the title.

In the main supporting bout Scotland’s experienced John Simpson (21-6, 9KO’s) faces England’s Stephen Smith (10-0, 6KO’s) in a fight for Simpson’s Commonwealth featherweight title. It will also be doubling up as an eliminator for the British title, with the winner going on to face champion Martin Lindsay.

Simpson will very much have the edge in experience, having held the British title in the past and fought almost everyone of note at domestic level, whereas Smith, a talented amateur, finds himself in the first big test of his pro career.

The fight is likely to go long, possibly the twelve round distance, and most likely will be a close gruelling fight between two fighters who desperately want the win. Smith should just have enough skill to outbox Simpson but it will be far from easy.

Matthew Macklin still has the chance to regain his old title

Even though European middleweight champion Darren Barker withdrew from his defence against Matthew Macklin (26-2, 18KO’s) on Frank Warren’s big September 18th card at the LG Arena in Birmingham, it has been revealed that Macklin will now fight for the vacant title against Georgia’s Shalva Jomardashvili (27-2-1, 19KO’s) in what should prove an easier test for the Birmingham-based Irishman.

Barker withdrew a few days ago with a hip injury, and it was feared Macklin had lost his opportunity to regain the title he held and never lost in the ring,  but Barker will now vacate allowing Macklin to fight for the title before defending against Barker further down the line should he defeat Jomardashvili.

“I was gutted to hear that Barker had pulled out of our fight but the main thing for me and my fans is that I’m still fighting in my hometown” said Macklin.

The Macklin-Jomardashvili bout will just be one in a packed night of high-class boxing on a card also featuring Nathan Cleverly, Kell Brook, Enzo Maccarinelli and the much anticipated Chisora-Sexton heavyweight showdown.

Hopkins may have thought his World title fight days were over

It has been announced that WBC light-heavyweight champion Jean Pascal will make the next defence of his title against American veteran Bernard Hopkins in a fight between two fighters who most consider to be #1 and #2 in the weight class. The fight will take place on December 18 in Pascal’s hometown of Quebec, Canada.

Quite whether Hopkins should be getting another World title shot at 45 is debatable, and his last fight, a tepid points win over an even more faded Roy Jones Jr hardly inspired viewers and certainly didn’t convince anyone that Hopkins is still worth watching, but nevertheless you can never write the Philadelphian ex-con off, and his ring smarts could prove troublesome for Pascal.

Pascal is just coming off the biggest win of his career so far, a decision over the fancied Chad Dawson, so by rights has room to pick whichever opponent he likes within reason this time around, although many will still see Hopkins as a strange choice. You can’t say Hopkins doesn’t deserve it, as he is in many people’s eyes still the top dog at 175lbs, but whether the fans actually want to see it is another matter.

Very little information is available at this time and as details emerge we will pass them onto our readers.