Sunday Sparring

With 12RoundsNews up and running for over a week now, i thought it was time to introduce a regular round up of the weeks events. Boxing is such a non-stop sport, that everyday you hear rumours, updates and fight news. With myself working a full-time job, sometimes it’s just not possible to get a full post on every juicy detail regarding the events of our beloved sport. Now of course i will be continuing my articles throughout the week, so Sunday Sparring will be dedicated to all those little bits that i am unable to write a full article for.

We start with the early events in the week. Twitter is a fantastic source for information these days, with many of the sports top performers, journalists and promoters all operating on the site every day, new information is always being announced regarding the sports goings on. So it was a very interesting move when Floyd Mayweather used the site to officially call out current pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao to fight him on May 5th. Floyd put it straight to the WBO welterweight champ “Manny Pacquiao I’m calling you out let’s fight May 5th and give the world what they want to see.” following with “My Jail Sentence was pushed back because the date was locked in. Step up Punk.” Now with these statements are we in fact now closer than ever to finally getting the Fight of the Century! I highly doubt it. Straight away Manny’s team knocked back the offer stating that May 5th is an “economically illogical date” for Mayweather-Pacquiao, as they are currently waiting for the completion of a 40,000 seated arena in Las Vegas. The current estimated date of completion is the end of May or early June. Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer (currently in charge of negotiations with Mayweather’s opponents) finds this to be very convenient for Pacquiao and Top Rank. He believes that the Pacquaio camp are just supplying excuse after excuse to the media, firstly with the date and also claims that they are unsure of who they are to negotiate with. This has led Schaefer to believe that they simply do not want the fight. At this current time, both fighters have a long list of potential opponents. WBC light middleweight champ Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is believed to have started light training as a possible  opponent for Mayweather, with Timothy Bradley rumoured as Pacman’s opponent in the spring.

Pacquiao’s stablemate Amir Khan is finally getting some answers after having an action packed week of his own. With Mustafa Ameen being revealed as the mysterious “Man in the hat,” it prompted the WBA to issue a rematch of Khan’s December loss to Lamont Peterson. The fight has been marred by controversy every since the result was announced. Initially there was the points deductions, followed by rumours of scorecard tampering and then Ameen’s interference at ringside. It was only a matter of time before a rematch was ordered. However it’s not yet official, Peterson has ten days to appeal the decision and the IBF is yet to make a decision. Should the IBF choose to uphold the result, Peterson can opt to vacate the WBA title rather than fight a rematch.

On Wednesday the Nevada State Athletic Commission voted unanimously to grant Victor Ortiz a conditional one fight license for his February 11th rematch with Andre Berto. Ortiz was called before the commission regarding his online video, in which he states that he intended to break the nose of Floyd Mayweather when he infamously head butted him in their fight last year. Ortiz told the commission that his words were “taken out of context,” adding that he was “very embarrassed” by his actions. However Ortiz has been put on a tight leash by the commission. Should he do anything improper during the fight he may be once again called before the commission for discipline, and his license would automatically expire. It has also been announced that the proceeds from tickets sold for Ortiz-Berto 2 will benefit the victims of the earthquake that hit Berto’s native of Haiti two years ago.

Brandon Rios is to once again fight at lightweight. This despite his recent failure at two attempts to make weight in his eventual December destruction of Manchester’s John Murray. In failing to make weight Rios was stripped of his WBA title and many thought that he would decide to move up to light welterweight, being there obvious problems with fighting at 135 lbs. He is scheduled to fight in March with WBC champ Antonio DeMarco rumoured as the opponent for the undefeated fighter.

Undefeated American Mike Jones is to finally get his chance at a world title. According to Russell Peltz (Jones co-promoter) negotiations for the vacant IBF title bout between Jones and fellow American Randall Bailey are to be heading for a purse bid. Jones with an impressive 26-0 record with 19 knockouts earned the number one ranking with the IBF following his December points win over Argentinian Sebastian Lujan. “The purse bid deadline was at the close of business today, Jan. 12. If it wasn’t agreed to by 5 p.m. today, then the date of the purse bid is Jan. 24. So it’s officially going to purse bid,” said Peltz, “Top Rank is going to do the official bidding (for Jones,) and Randall Bailey is under contract to Lou DiBella. The winner of the purse bid has to put the fight on within 90 days. So the fight has to take place by April 24.” Peltz believes that the winner of the fight could eventually go into the mix for big money fights with pound for pound contenders Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquaio and Juan Manuel Marquez. In personal opinion i would love to see Jones as an eventual opponent for our own Kell Brook, should they both get through their upcoming bouts.