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Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya has given some clear hints that he wants a welterweight clash between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Amir Khan in 2011. De La Hoya feels Khan proved that he's tough enough to take on Mayweather. Last Saturday in Las Vegas, Khan overcame some dangerous moments when he was hurt badly in the tenth round by Marcos Maidana. He won a close twelve round unanimous decision.
According to trainer Freddie Roach, he considered stopping the fight after watching Amir Khan take a lot of punishment from Marcos Maidana in the tenth round of their fight. The bout took place on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Roach spoke to Khan between rounds and felt he was stable enough to continue for the remainder of the fight. Khan went on to retain his WBA junior welterweight title with a close twelve round unanimous decision.
WBA heavyweight champion David Haye expects a unification with WBO/IBF/IBO champ Wladimir Klitschko to happen in the near future. Haye told Kevin Mitchell of The Guardian that Klitschko doesn't have a legacy and needs the fight in order to cement it. He expects the fight to happen at some point in the first half of 2011.
Vic Darchinyan and his team are planning to protest Saturday's split decision loss to Abner Mares at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. The fight was a semi-final bout in Showtime's bantamweight tournament. Two judges saw it for Mares with scores of 115-111 and 114-112. A third judge had it 115-111 for Darchinyan.
Multiple news outlets in Ohio report that promoter Don King, 79-years-old, was stopped by security at Cleveland's Hopkins International Airport for having ammunition in his carry-on luggage. Hopkins Airport spokeswoman Jacqueline Mayo issued a statement, indicating that King was stopped by members of the Transportation Safety Administration on Sunday night. She said King had ammunition for .38-caliber and .357-caliber weapons in his bag. The ammunition was taken and that King was released to continue his trip to Florida. Mayo was unaware if King received a citation. King was in Cleveland for his wife's funeral. Henrietta King, 87, died Thursday in Florida from complications related to stomach cancer.
At the Echo Arena in Liverpool, Tony Bellew (15-0, 10KOs) survived a huge gut-check to stop Ovill McKenzie (18-10, 7KOs) in the eight round to retain the Commonwealth (British Empire) light heavyweight title. Bellew was dropped hard in the first round and againe in the second round. It appeared like an upset was coming, but Bellew was able to get himself back in the fight after suffering a cut in the fifth. He rocked Ovill McKenzie in the sixth and dropped him with a hard left hand in the eight. McKenzie beat the count, he was hurt and Bellew jumped on him. There weren't many shots landed but the ref jumped in and stopped the fight. The stoppage was a bit premature.
At the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Amir Khan (24-1, 17KOs) retained his WBA junior welterweight title with a very hard fought twelve round unanimous decision over Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27KOs). The scores were 114-111, 114-111 and 113-112 for Khan.
At the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, junior welterweights Lamont Peterson (28-1-1, 14KOs) and Victor Ortiz (28-2-1, 22KOs) fought to a ten round draw. The scores were 94-94, 94-94 and 95-93 Peterson.
Boxing manager and trainer Adam Booth was impressed with James DeGale's nine round battering of British super middleweight champion Paul Smith on Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. The title winning effort was the most impressive performance of DeGale's career. Even with the impressive win, Booth believes that his own super middleweight, George Groves, will still beat DeGale.
At the Echo Arena in Liverpool, rising super middleweight star James "Chunky" DeGale (9-0, 7KOs) dominated Paul Smith (29-2, 15KOs) on route to a ninth round knockout to capture the British super middleweight title. DeGale really showed his stuff in the fight. He was quicker, more skilled and stronger than Smith. DeGale was landing some very hard shots that Smith took and continue to keep coming. Smith was under the impression that DeGale would gas out in the late rounds, but that didn't happen. The Olympic gold medal winner continued to punish Smith in the ninth and the ref had seen enough and stopped the contest.