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Top-rated lightweight contender Ali Funeka, and his team, will stand before Boxing SA at a hearing set for April 18. We touched on the story last month, that Boxing SA, which is the governing body that oversees boxing in South Africa, was irate with Funeka for leaving the country without their clearance to fight Nate Campbell for the lightweight titles on February 14 in Florida. Funeka lost a close decision to Campbell.
As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, Roy Jones Jr. (53-5, 39 KOs) is looking at a possible drop from light heavyweight to super middleweight. Apparently Jones wants to eventually fight Jermain Taylor - if Taylor beats Carl Froch for the WBC super middleweight title on April 25.
The new opponent for Julio Diaz (36-4, 26KOs) , on Golden Boy's April 4 pay-per-view, is Rolando Reyes (30-4-2, 19KOs) - best known for a decision loss to Jose Luis Castillo in February 2006. He did stop former champion Stevie Johnston, who was past his best, in October 2007. He only fought four times since the 06 loss to Castillo, which is not exactly a good activity rate. Golden Boy matchmaker Eric Gomez confirmed the change to The Ring Online. Reyes replaces the injured Joel Casamayor.
There could be chance that one of the more anticipated fights in boxing will actually happen. Provided that WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and IBF champion Arthur Abraham win their next fights, the could possibly meet in a unification bout in October or November.
Marco Antonio Barrera plans to continue his quest of becoming the first Mexican fighter to win four major titles in four weight divisions. In his last two outings, in January and March, he suffered bad cuts from head clashes. In January he was able to win by disqualification over Freudis Rojas but then he lost a five round technical decision to Amir Khan a few weeks ago.
Last year, Edgar Sosa defended his WBC junior flyweight title four times. He beat Jesus Iribe, Takashi Kunishige, Sonny Boy Jaro and Juanito Rubillar to end the year with seven title defenses since winning the belt in April 07 with a tough decision over Brian Viloria
Heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers knows a big win over Sam Peter on March 27, at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, California, will catapult him right back in the mix for a title shot. Peter, a former champion, is returning from a one-sided loss to Vitali Klitschko from last year. ESPN will televise the fight.
An early statistical look on the April 4 clash between junior welterweight champions Timothy Bradley and Kendall Holt. The fight will televised by Showtime Championship Boxing.
It appears both sides have agreed to just about everything. According to Bernd Boente, manager of WBO/IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, the fight with David Haye is nearly done and the two sides are probably going to officially announce the fight in the next few days - he hopes. Negotiations have been ongoing for the last three months. The fight will take place on June 20.
Rumors of a boxing comeback by Floyd Mayweather Jr. continue. Everything seems to point to a return on July 11, and then a year-end fight with the winner of the May 2 junior welterweight mega-bout between Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton. According to Hatton, Mayweather is not the next fight on his list. If he beats Pacquiao in May, he would like to fight Juan Manuel Marquez, who is moving up to junior welterweight. Hatton still wants a rematch with Mayweather. He would like the rematch to take place on UK soil in the summer of 2010.