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According to the Los Angeles Times, Oscar De La Hoya has scheduled a news conference for April 14 at the Star Plaza downtown in California, where the former six division champion plans to make an announcement regarding his future in the sport. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer refused to discuss the details of the announcement with the paper.
At a recent media gathering in Hollywood, California, Ricky Hatton downplayed the biggest win of Manny Pacquiao's career. Hatton said that he was not that impressed with Pacquiao's win over Oscar De La Hoya. He believes that De La Hoya killed his body while trying to make weight and it wasn't that hard to get a win over him that night. Hatton faces Pacquiao on May 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Former champion Anthony Mundine recently stated that his upcoming bout with IBO middleweight champion Daniel Geale, scheduled for May 27 in Brisbane, may become his final bout in Australia. Mundine says a possible rematch with the returning Danny Green is not a priority. He wants to target the big names like middleweight champs Felix Sturm and Kelly Pavlik - but in reality a hometown bout with Green would make him a lot more money and he easily decisioned Green the first time around.
For the most part, Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao have been pretty calm when meeting in a face to face manner. Their trainers are another story. During a private media lunch in California, a quiet atmosphere became a verbal jab-fest when Freddie Roach and Floyd Mayweather Sr. began to express their bad blood. There has been animosity since Oscar De La Hoya dropped Mayweather Sr. in 2007 and hired Roach to train him for the fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Lance Pugmire of the LA Times caught the back and forth between the two trainers.
Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao is pretty confident that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will return to the ring in 2009. Pacquiao was informed by Mayweather's camp that a ring return will be coming in the near future. There are still rumors that Maywweather will return on the tentative date of July 11 and other rumors that point to a possible September return.
Promoter Frank Warren has voiced his take on Don King's recently filed petition to overturn Amir Khan's technical decision win over Marco Antonio Barrera, which took place on March 14 in Manchester. Barrera suffered a bad gash, from a clash of heads, in the first round and the blood poured out like a river until the fight was finally stopped in the fifth and went to the cards. King filed a petition to have the decision changed to a no-contest, writing that Barrera's vision was severely impaired from the blood and the fight should of been stopped in the very first round. He is also pushing for an immediate rematch.
Former three division champion James "Lights Out" Toney is a man on a mission. Now a free agent and running his own promotional company, he see big things for himself and "Lights Out Boxing" in 2009. Plans are shaping up for an upcoming but nothing is set at the moment.
There appears to be a bit of doubt over whether or not Matthew Hatton will be able to appear on the undercard to big brother Ricky's May 2 bout with Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas. Last Saturday in Altrincham, Hatton stopped Ted Bami in six rounds but suffered a small cut from a clash of heads. The cut needed one stitch to close and a decision will be made this week on Hatton moving forward with the Vegas fight.
Junior middleweight Tarvis Simms, 37-years-old, sees his next fight as a "now or never" opportunity. He flies over to Germany on April 25 and takes on undefeated Gennady Golovkin (15-0, 12KOs) on the undercard to Felix Sturm's title defense against Koji Sato. Because of his age, Simms says that he needs this kind of fight to get a good world ranking.
To this day, WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch refuses to forgive Joe Calzaghe for never accepting his challenge. Froch called Calzaghe out for years. He fought his way through the ranks, becoming Calzaghe's mandatory, but Joe vacated the title and moved up to light heavyweight to fight Bernard Hopkins. After Froch won the vacant title, he thought a Calzaghe fight was in reach. When Calzaghe announced his retirement a few weeks ago, Froch knew that he would never get a chance to fight his UK rival.