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British junior middleweight Ryan Rhodes insists that he will succeed where countryman Matthew Hatton failed. Hatton moved up in March to face Saul "Canelo" Alvarez for the vacant WBC 154-pound title. Hatton was too small and had no power in his punches to get the job done. Rhodes, who previously fought at middleweight, predicts a very different outcome when he challenges Alvarez on June 18 in Mexico.
Boxing manager Chris Ganescu had informed BoxingScene.com that welterweight contender Jo Jo Dan (28-1, 15KOs) is willing to face Joel Julio (37-4, 31KOs) for the right to challenge WBC champion Victor Ortiz. Julio recently returned to 147-pounds and challenged Ortiz during a BoxingScene interview. When Dan heard about Julio's challenge, he advised the Colombian boxer to "wait his turn." At the same time, Dan, who is ranked #4 by the WBC, is willing to give Julio a shot to secure a top five ranking and get close to an Ortiz shot.
WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly doesn't appear too interested in facing Enzo Maccarinelli in an all-Welsh clash. Cleverly wants the big names, like Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson and Tavoris Cloud, but he would consider the Welsh battle if Maccarinelli won a few fights and became his mandatory. Maccarinelli, a former WBO cruiserweight champion, is now trying to make a name for himself at light heavyweight.
Former WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli, who wants to become a top light heavyweight, has challenged newly-crowned WBO 175-pound champion Nathan Cleverly to an all-Welsh clash. Maccarinelli was ringside at London's O2 Arena on Saturday when Cleverly retained his title for the first time with a fourth round stoppage of Aleksy Kuziemski. Cleverly wants the big names like WBC champion Bernard Hopkins, but Macca can't see promoter Frank Warren putting those two in the ring together, at least now at the moment.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the heavyweight rematch between David Tua and Monte Barrett, scheduled to happen on July 9 or July 16, will likely get postponed as Tua's promoter Cedric Kushner lies sick in a New York hospital. They fought to a controversial draw in New York in July 2010. Kushner has had several serious operations on his troublesome back. He has contractual arrangements with both Barrett and Tua and it is not known where those matters stand.
The bad blood is over between Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal. On Saturday night, Hopkins captured the WBC/IBO light heavyweight titles with a twelve round unanimous decision at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. During the press tour and the pre-fight hype, the two boxers nearly came to blows and the verbal fireworks were heavy. After Hopkins became the oldest fighter in boxing history to win a world title at age 46, he gave Pascal, 28, some veteran advice to improve on his stylistic flaws.
As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, Golden Boy Promotions and Main Events are far apart on the financial terms to make a junior welterweight unification between champions Amir Khan and Zab Judah. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told Kathy Duva, the CEO of Main Events, that Judah is not worth a 50-50 revenue split with Khan. And, Schaefer told Duva that Khan wants 100% of the revenue from UK pay-per-view.
"The Love Child" Joel Julio (37-4, 31KOs) has returned to the welterweight ranks. Julio has been fighting at junior middleweight, and above, since December of 2006. He suffered three of his four defeats at the higher weight. On Friday, he returned to 147-pounds to win an easy ten round decision over Anges Adjaho. Julio told BoxingScene.com that he would like to stay very active in 2011, and the man he wants to fight most is WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (29-2-2, 22KOs).
WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan is targeting a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2012. The young British star is scheduled to return on July 23 in the United States. Khan is trying to land a unification with WBC/WBO champion Timothy Bradley, but there appears to be financial issues that are blocking the deal from being finalized, although Khan's team continue to raise the financial stakes to lure Bradley to the table.
WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (27-0, 20KOs) will be looking to make it a war on July 9th, when he defends his title against Urbano Antillon (28-2, 20KOs) at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Rios is upset with some of Antillon's past comments related to a previously scheduled fight between the two boxers. Rios was unable to move forward due to an injury suffered in training, but Antillon wasn't convinced that Rios was actually hurt.