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Juan Manuel Lopez has no issues with fighting WBO featherweight champion Steven Luevano in New York. He wanted the fight to take place in Puerto Rico. The production costs for Puerto Rico were too high and the fight is likely going to happen at the WaMu Theater in Madison Square Garden on January 23.
Juan Carlos Salgado (21-0, 15KOs), fresh from his first round destruction of Jorge Linares, will soon begin training for the first title defense WBA super featherweight title. The opponent is likely going to be against Takashi Uchiyama (13-0, 10KOs) in Japan. Salgado says the proposed date is January 13 but that could be changed.
According to the latest word from promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, HBO's January 23 doubleheader is heading to the WaMu Theater located in New York's Madison Square Garden. The main event has Juan Manuel Lopez moving up in weight to challenge WBO featherweight champion Steven Luevano. The co-feature has a WBA featherweight title defense by Yuriorkis Gamboa, who faces Rogers Mtagwa.
According to TVZN, heavyweight David Tua may face Friday Ahunanya on December 12 in New Zealand. Ahunanya handed Shane Cameron the first defeat of his career in 2007. In a bloody war, Ahunanya stopped Cameron in the twelfth round and then won a decision over undefeated Alonzo Butler (26-0) last year. Tua hammered Cameron a few weeks ago in what was billed as the biggest fight in New Zealand history.
WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto has fired off some bombs on Shane Mosley. Apparently Berto is very upset over some of Mosley's recent comments floating over the internet, where the former three division champion is taking some shots of his own. In the new age of "internet dissing" - Berto used his personal twitter account to launch an assault on Mosley. Their promoters are still working out the details for a potential clash between the two on January 30 on HBO.
Sources have indicated to BoxingScene.com that the IBF has notified the camps of Kendall Holt (#5) and Nate Campbell (#6) that they are the top 2 available contenders and shall meet in an eliminator to determine the IBF #1 contender position at jr. welterweight. It appears that the upcoming Juan Diaz (#3)-Paulie Malignaggi (#4) rematch on December 12 had been considered for that #1 eliminator, however one side of that fight refused. I would assume it was Diaz since he doesn't plan to campaign as a full junior welterweight.
During a recent interview, Arthur Abraham said that his upcoming bout with Andre Dirrell stands a good chance of landing at New York's Madison Square Garden on January 23. More than likely the fight will take place at the WaMu Theater located at the venue. The fight takes place in the second stage of the Super Six tournament. The press conference to officially announce the Super Six was held at WaMu.
Featherweight contender Israel Vazquez is planning to return to action in February or March of next year. After finally recovering from a right eye injury, Vazquez return after an 18-month layoff on October 10 to stop Angel Priolo in nine rounds. Vazquez appeared to struggle in what many saw as an easy fight. He says another tuneup is not necessary. Vazquez is ready for a big fight right now, and says the next one may come against Rafael Marquez in a fourth meeting.
Junior welterweight Antonio Diaz (46-5-1, 29 KOs) has stepped forward to fight Victor Ortiz (24-2-1, 19 KOs) on December 12 in Chicago. The fight is the co-feature to the Juan Diaz-Paulie Malignaggi rematch on HBO. Diaz was going to fight Zab Judah on the Mayweather-Marquez pay-per-view undercard in Septemebr. Judah withdrew over money and Diaz was left out in the cold. Now he gets a chance at another big fight and says a win over Ortiz means more than a win over Judah.
Manny Pacquiao's traing camp is starting to wind down for the toughest fight of his career. He challenges WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto on November 14 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Pacquiao is a heavy betting favorite but he is not overlooking Cotto in any form. He views Cotto as a very dangerous opponent and won't buy the heavy talk that has the Puerto Rican champion losing a step or two.