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Bernard Hopkins has promised to pound Roy Jones Jr. into retirement. He was forced to wait 17-years to avenge the 1993 decision loss to Jones. Hopkins plans to punish his career rival and he doesn't want a quick knockout in the rematch. He wants to punish Roy slow. Hopkins warned Jones' trainer Alton Merkerson to stop the fight when the moment is right - or watch his fighter take more punishment.
Mexican promoter Ricardo Maldonado Jr., who used to manage WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel, says his former fighter has all of the tools to beat WBC champion Hozumi Hasegawa of Japan. Montiel faces Hasegawa on April 30 in Tokyo. Maldonado says the fight is very important to Mexican boxing and the Mexican boxing fans. He expects Montiel to pull through.
According to reports in Mexico, Humberto "Zorrita" Soto (51-7-2, 32 KOs) will make the first defense of his WBC lightweight title against tough Ricardo Dominguez (31-5-2, 19 KOs) on May 15 in Los Mochis, Mexico. If Soto gets past this test, BoxingScene.com was previously told by Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, that he would face mandatory challenger Anthony Peterson next. The fight with Peterson could take place in the co-feature slot to Yuriorkis Gamboa's HBO date in the month of July.
A few eyebrows were raised when WBA heavyweight champion David Haye weighed in on Friday at 222-pounds, which is the heaviest of his entire career. Haye has never weighed above 217-pounds for any of his previous heavyweight bouts, including last year's title win over Nikolai Valuev. He defends the WBA title against mandatory John Ruiz on Saturday night at the MEN Arena in Manchester. Ruiz was 231-pounds - hi second-lowest weight since 2001.
Manchester's hero, Ricky Hatton, is laying his prayers on WBA heavyweight champion David Haye to lead the way for British boxing. Hatton plans to support him on Saturday at the MEN Arena in Manchester when Haye defends his title against mandatory John Ruiz.
WBC flyweight champion Pongsaklek Wongjongkam of Thailand said ex-champion Koki Kameda of Japan lacked heart during their recent fight in Tokyo. Wongjongkam won an upset decision over a previously unbeaten Kameda to lift the title last Saturday. When Kameda was a teenager, he was paid by Wongjongkam to be a sparring partner.
According to manager Orlando Pineiro, Juan Manuel Lopez's first defense of the WBO featherweight title, against Bernabe Concepcion, might take place at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. The date of July 10 has been reserved and Showtime is likely to televise.
The battle of close friends, Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell, has been given a tentative date of September 25, according to Michigan's Flint Journal. The two fighters were teammates on the 2004 Olympic team, where Ward won a gold medal. Ward even helped Dirrell prepare for last Saturday's DQ win over Arthur Abraham.
WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch recently spoke with shortlist.com about his upcoming fight with Mikkel Kessler on April 24 in Denmark. Over the last two years, he waged a war of words with Joe Calzaghe. The fight never took place. Froch knew the fight was off the table when Calzaghe retired in early 2009. During the interview, Froch said he was quite confident Calzaghe would have been knocked out if the two of them met in the ring.
John Ruiz, a two time WBA heavyweight champion, goes for a third title this weekend when he faces David Haye in Manchester. Last year when Haye beat seven-foot Nikolai Valuev for the WBA title in Germany, Ruiz fought on the undercard and watched an amazing outcome. He saw a foreign fighter comes to Germany and win a decision over a star fighter in the country.