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WBO junior welterweight champion Timothy Bradley has no problem heading to England to fight WBA champion Amir Khan in his backyard. If the fight makes more financial sense in England, Bradley will fight him in England. Bradley won his title by going to England to beat hometown favorite Junior Witter.
At the UIC Pavillion in Chicago, 22-year-old light heavyweight Mike Lee (1-0, 0KOs) made his pro debut with a four round unanimous decision over Emmitt Woods (0-4-1, 0 KOs). A score of 40-36 was down on all three cards. Lee had a lot of hype riding into this fight from his promoters, Top Rank. The Notre Dame wiz with a grade point average of 3.8 is looking to become a major star in the sport.
Prizefighter's latest tournament, showcasing the super bantamweight division, kicked off at York Hall in London.
According to reports in Germany, the Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali, are close to signing a deal worth $15 million euros with German televison network RTL. The big contract gives RTL the television rights to five future fights involving the Klitschko brothers. As part of the agreement, RTL will showcase three fights involving Wladimir and two fights involving Vitali. The Klitschko brothers draw record crowds of 40-60,000 people to their fights in Germany. They continue to display how fighters can prosper without the need for American television networks.
At the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, former heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs (51-5, 45 KOs) knocked Rob Calloway (70-12-2, 57 KOs) down three times in the first round before the fight was stopped by the referee. The Virginia Pilot reports the fight being stopped at the 98-second mark. It was the second fight for Briggs in less than a week. He is staying busy at least, well sort of. It only took him twenty seconds to stop Dominique Alexander last Saturday in New York.
Former two division champion Miguel Cotto has not fully deserted the welterweight division. As Cotto counts down the days until his challenge of Yuri Foreman for the WBA' junior middleweight title, he doesn't rule out a drop back in weight for the right fight.
At the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, super middleweight contender Librado Andrade (29-3, 22KOs) stopped former champion Eric Lucas (39-8-3, 15KOs) after eight rounds of action.
At the Palais des Sport Marcel Cerdan in Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, France, Souleymane M'baye (39-3-1, 21KOs) won a twelve round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Antonin Decarie (23-1, 7KOs) to capture the interim-WBA welterweight title. The scores were 116-113, 116-113 and 116-112. M'baye dropped Decarie in the fourth round. M'baye gets himself in position to challenge full champion Vyacheslav Senchenko.
According to Michael Katsidis' trainer Brendon Smith, a fight with WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan is not likely to happen on July 31 in England. Smith said Katsidis, the WBO's interim-lightweight champion, was turned down as an opponent for Khan's debut in America. Smith thinks the fight is too risky for Khan at this point.
At Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California, David Rodela (15-3-3, 6KOs) edged out an eight round split decision over Eric Cruz (7-3-3, 7KOs) The scores were 77-75 on two cards for Rodela and 78-74 on the third card for Cruz.