101 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Ernest Gabion byline.
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WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao made history on Saturday night at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. He captured a record eight world title with a dominating twelve round decision over Antonio Margarito. Pacquiao picked up the vacant WBC junior middleweight title, but his team, and Arum, expect him to return to the welterweight division in his next fight.
The first priority for Top Rank CEO Bob Arum is a fight between welterweights Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Arum will start working on that fight in the next couple of weeks. There are two issues that Arum needs to resolve. The first, is whether or not Mayweather is interested in the fight. The second issue is the ongoing legal situation in Las Vegas between Mayweather and the mother of his two children, Josie Harris. Arum wants to make sure the pending assault case will not interfere with a planned fight.
Arlington, Texas - "Sugar" Shane Mosley spoke with BoxingScene.com to discuss his status with Golden Boy Promotions and to clear up some of the rumors being circulated on the internet. Mosley told BoxingScene that he is not signing a promotional agreement with Top Rank. While Mosley is still a partner in Golden Boy, he plans to fight outside of their promotional banner in order to get fights with Top Rank-promoted boxers.
In a few short hours, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao will rise to the junior middleweight division to face former three time welterweight champ Antonio Margarito for the vacant WBC title. Pacquiao will attempt to capture a record eight divisional title. A wild scene is expected at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Top Rank's Bob Arum has predicted an estimated crowd of 60,000 or more fans. There were more than 41,000 patrons at Cowboys Stadium in March to witness Pacquiao's one-sided twelve round decision win over ex-champion Joshua Clottey.
With the unexpected injury to former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, BoxingScene.com has learned that Top Rank is going to do some last minute shuffling. Pavlik was slated to face Brian Vera in the co-feature position on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito pay-per-view on November 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum confirmed to BoxingScene that Pavlik suffered a rib injury in training camp.
By Ernest Gabion - Los Angeles - While of no major significance to the junior middleweight division, the main event was contested at 154-pounds, and held some significance for the careers of Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora. For starters, Mosley had his unbeaten record at Staples Center on the line. The venue is the same location where Mosley achieved two of his greatest career wins, against Oscar De La Hoya and Antonio Margarito. For Mora, a chance to give his career a boost with a win over a highly respected former three division champion. Initially the bout had the look of a walkout fight as both seemed unwilling to go the extra mile to press the action. The lull in action for the first stanza was hard for the audience, who saw knockouts in the previous three fights. The lack of excitement forced the boo birds to come out early. The smattering of boos were temporarily drowned out by the chants of "Canelo! Canelo! Canelo!" as Saul Alvarez made his way to ringside to watch the main event.
The weights are in for Saturday's big card at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California to celebrate 200 years of Mexican independence. In the main event, former champions Shane Mosley and Sergio Mora will collide. Shane Mosley easily made the division limit at 154. Mora was three pounds over the junior middleweight limit at 157-pounds.
By Ernest Gabion - It won’t follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, which was 2009's Fight of the Year. But the 12-round lightweight championship rematch between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz was far from a letdown, as Marquez added another superb performance to his legendary career with a well-earned unanimous decision at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday evening. Scores were 116-112 118-110 117-111 for Marquez, who makes the second successful defense of the lineal championship he wrested from Joel Casamayor nearly two years ago. Both fighters worked their strengths in the early going. For Diaz, it was a whirlwind of activity and movement that has overwhelmed who have stood in front of him. For Marquez, it is an assassin type approach, picking apart game plans as easy as any other fighter in the game today. While Marquez for the most part dominated, it wasn’t without taking punishment himself. For as technically sound as Marquez is, Diaz seems to have his number. The Houston native caught him cleaner and more often than just about any other fighter not named Floyd Mayweather. This fight was more on a technical level and while it kept Diaz in the game, trying to match boxing profiency with a master like Marquez is hardly a recipe for success. This was no different for Diaz who tried to box more this time out. It was a catch 22 situation for Diaz – does he box and hope to stay in the fight, or try and get inside of Marquez knowing he could take more punishment but give more in return?
Las Vegas - BoxingScene.com has learned that welterweight/junior middleweight prospect Saul Alvarez (33-0-1, 25KOs) will likely face former welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir (45-12-6, 14KOs) on September 18 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The fight will be part of the pay-per-view undercard to Shane Mosley vs. Sergio Mora. There is still some discussion as to the catch-weight for Alvarez-Baldomir, but it's expected to take place in the low 150's. Although Alvarez is the WBC's silver champion at 154-pounds, he wants to win his first major title at welterweight.
On Saturday night, WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez defends his titles against Juan Diaz in a rematch of their 2009 "fight of the year" battle. Marquez was ripped and ready to go at 133.5-pounds. Diaz came in at the division limit at 135-pounds. Both returns from defeats. Marquez lost by decision, in a welterweight contest, to Floyd Mayweather Jr. last September and Diaz lost a decision to Paulie Malignaggi.