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The new WBA super featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama (14-0, 11KOs) is riding a big wave after stopping Juan Carlos Salgado on Monday to capture the title in Tokyo, Japan. He says the win over Salgado was tough and he wasn't sure if he was the clear winner until he dropped the champion in the twelfth and final round.
According reports coming out of Puerto Rico, a deal for Miguel Cotto to make a jump to 154-pounds to challenge unbeaten WBA champion Yuri Foreman is very close. An announcement by the fighter's mutual promoter, Top Rank, can happen as early as next week. The fight would take place on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day Parade - June 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
WBO/WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez claims that he was in shock when he found out from Golden Boy Promotions that Manny Pacquiao passed on their trilogy fight and instead agreed to defend his WBO welterweight title against Joshua Clottey on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Texas.
Promoter Dan Goossen told the Los Angeles Times that Paul Williams is ready and able to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on March 13 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Mayweather has yet to pick an opponent for the fight. Kermit Cintron, Paulie Malignaggi, Carlos Quintana and Nate Campbell have all been mentioned as possibilities.
In a follow-up to a story published on BoxingScene.com in 2008, it's been reported that junior welterweight prospect Alex De Jesus (19-1, 13KOs) aka "El Pollo" has been hit with a 4 year and 9 month jail sentence that will keep him locked up until July 9, 2014. In 2008, De Jesus was arrested in Puerto Rico on charges of domestic abuse and a weapons violation and it wasn't the first time he was in trouble with the law. He will spend his time in a minimum security prison in Ponce. He saw action last March and lost a twelve round decision to undefeated Cesar Rene Cuenca.
Since December, former champion Jorge "Golden Boy" Linares has been heavily involved with the Teiken gym in Tokyo and says: "2010 will be a year that demonstrates what I'm made of - and I assure you the Golden Boy will be here to stay."
Carl Froch plans to make a serious point when he defense his WBC super middleweight title against Mikkel Kessler on April 17 in Denmark. The fight is part of the second stage of fights in Showtime's Super Six tournament. Kessler was the favorite to win it all but he was battered in the first stage by Andre Ward. Froch had more luck on his side. He won a close decision over Andre Dirrell. Froch is getting pumped at the thought of fighting Kessler in his backyard.
Juan Manuel Lopez (27-0, 24 KO's) is heading off to New York City to finish up training camp for his move to the featherweight division to challenge WBO champion Steven Luevano (37-1-1, 15 KO's) on January 23 at Madison Square Garden. Juanma feels very strong at the weight. He plans to display his newfound power during the action.
WBO super featherweight champion Roman "Rocky" Martinez (23-0, 14KOs) started the second phase of his training camp by taking part in some hard sparring for his second title defense against Ricky Burns (27-2, 7KOs) on March 6 in Puerto Rico. Burns is tall for the weight at 5'10. Martinez will take no chances in the fight.
WBA heavyweight champion David Haye is known as one of the best trash talkers in boxing. He showers his opponents and potentials rivals with verbal jabs from every corner. Haye was inspired to trash talk by watching British icon Prince Naseem Hamed. As a teenager, he loved to watch Naseem verbally trash his opponents.