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It appears former WBA flyweight champion Eric Morel (41-2, 21KOs) is tired of waiting for WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel. According to promoters in Japan, Morel has agreed to challenge WBC champion Hozumi Hasegawa (27-2, 11KOs) on December 18 at the World Memorial Hall in Kobe, Japan. Hasegawa will be making his tenth defense and comes off an impressive first round blowout of Nestor Rocha.
David Haye's comments and actions at last week's press conference in Britain have really riled up WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev. Haye went to the presser to promote his November 7 challenge of Valuev. The 7-foot champion did not attend. Haye punched out a cardboard replica of Valuev and made several comments about Valuev's physical appearance and his body odor.
The truce only lasted a few weeks. WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch has hit back at Joe Calzaghe for some of his recent comments. After years of trading verbal jabs in the press, the two fighters began to show some support for each other but it didn't last long. Froch has taken offense to some of Calzaghe comments concerning Mikkel Kessler. Last week, Calzaghe said Kessler was "heads and shoulders" above the other participants in the Super Six World Boxing Classic. He picked Froch to beat Andre Dirrell but said Kessler would be far too much for Froch to handle.
The WBC continues to push for a 2010 clash between their junior middleweight champion Sergio Martinez and the number-one ranked challenger, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Martinez told tBoxnoticias that the WBC had approached him about the fight and the sanctioning body would like to hold the event in Mexico. Martinez doesn't think Chavez Jr. is ready for a fight of this level.
After 18-months of being inactive, WBA junior middleweight champion Daniel Santos is ready to do some damage when he steps in the ring on November 14 against undefeated Yuri Foreman. The fight will be televised on the pay-per-view undercard to Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto. Santos told Primera Hora that he doesn't about Pacquiao and Cotto getting all of the attention on the card.
Promoter Frank Warren was offended by the recent press conference antics from David Haye and his manager/trainer Adam Booth. At the recent UK press conference to discuss the November 7 clash with WBA heavyweight champion David Haye, the British fighter blasted Valuev with a high volume of insults. He called Valuev ugly and often questioned the champion's body odor. He made a request for a boxing official to hose Valuev down before the fight.
WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko has revealed that his next fight has been officially set for December 12 in Bern, Switzerland. As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, Vitali will face undefeated contender Kevin Johnson. It mark the third fight of the year for Klitschko. He stopped mandatory Juan Carlos Gomez in March and then put away Chris Arreola in September. Klitschko said he expects Johnson to be more dangerous than Arreola.
Mick Hennessy, promoter of WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch, wants to bring his fighter's next clash, with WBA champion Mikkel Kessler, to a venue in Britain. Froch won a close split decision over Andre Dirrell last Saturday in Nottingham. Kessler faces Andre Ward on November 21 in the challenger's backyard of Oakland. Kessler's bout with Froch is more than likely heading to Denmark, where Kessler is a mega-star.
Ricky Hatton doesn't deny it. He was very intimidated when he first met the 7-foot giant, WBA heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev. He even became nervous for his good friend, David Haye, who challenges Valuev for the title on November 7. Even with Valuev's huge advantage in height and 100-pound edge in weight, Hatton says Haye is too fast and too skilled. He doesn't see Valuev being polished enough to win the fight.
WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch expected Arthur Abraham to beat Jermain Taylor on Saturday night in Germany, but even he was shocked at the way it went down. Abraham knocked Taylor out cold in the twelfth and final round of their fight. The KO came down with only seconds left before the final bell. Taylor was already coming off a April knockout loss, to Carl Froch, and that also went down in the twelfth round with only seconds to go in the fight.