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Team Klitschko have given Nikolai Valuev a "take it or leave it" notice for a potential heavyweight fight with WBC champion Vitali Klitschko. For the last few weeks, the two parties have been negotiating but the money has been far apart. Klitschko's side offered Valuev a million, then raised it to $2 million and gave a final offer of $2.5 million.
At the Montreal Casino, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Sebastien Demers (31-2, 11 KOs) managed to pull out a ten round majority decision over William Joppy (39-6-1, 30 KOs) in a super middleweight contest. The scores were 97-93, 97-93 and 95-95. Joppy, a former WBA champion at middleweight and nearly 40-years-old, announced his retirement after the fight was over to the live audience.
According to reports in Puerto Rico, undefeated Roman "Rocky" Martinez (23-0, 14KOs) will once again travel to England. This time he will defend his WBO super featherweight title against Ricky Burns (27-2, 7KOs).
Ivan Rivera, president of Puerto Rico Best Boxing, has confirmed what BoxingScene.com reported on Friday. Rivera will pressure the WBO to strip Fernando Montiel of the WBO bantamweight title for avoiding a mandatory fight with interim-champion Eric Morel. There was a pre-existing contract agreement for Montiel to fight the winner of Morel vs. Gerry Penalosa from last month. Morel won a close decision to earn the shot. Montiel has agreed to fight WBC champion Hozumi Hasegawa on April 30 in Japan.
Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya made a mistake that Shane Mosley has to stay away from. He got mad at Floyd Mayweather Jr. prior to their 2007 fight and then went in the ring fighting mad instead of fighting smart. De La Hoya used up most of his energy in the early rounds and faded down the stretch. He says Mosley has to ignore Mayweather's taunts and avoid fighting mad on May 1.
Former two division champion Miguel Cotto is making the training rounds in Florida. We recently reported that Cotto's team contacted Orlando Cuellar to ask if he would be interested in training the Puerto Rican star for his June 5 challenge of WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman at Yankee Stadium in New York.
British junior welterweight Dean Harrison will have more than enough motivation when Ricky Hatton sits ringside at the Civic Hall next Sunday to watch the young fighter challenge Ben Lawler for the Midlands title. Harrison, 26, is coming off a bad third round TKO loss to Darren Askew. He wants to make things right by beating Lawler, the favorite, for the title. Hatton has done a lot for Harrison over the years. He even placed Harrison on the undercard of his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas back in 2007.
At the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, heavyweight Alvaro Morales (4-6-5) won a split decision over Sergei Karpenko of Ukraine. Karpenko was making his pro debut and recently signed a contract with Goossen Tutor Promotions. Karpenko is already scheduled for another fight, on March 27 against Anthony Mooney.
The weights are in for Saturday's junior welterweight unification at the Mohegan Sun in CT. Both fighters were in excellent shape for their HBO televised clash. Undefeated WBC champion Devon Alexander weighed 139.25-pounds. IBF champion Juan Urango weighed-in a tad bigger at 139.75.
At Leisure Centre in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, Gary Sykes (15-0, 4 KOs) won a close twelve round decision over Andy Morris (18-3, 6 KOs). The scores were 115-114, 115-114 and 116-114. Sykes picks up the BBBofC British super featherweight title with the win.