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Eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao will begin promoting his showdown with Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios during a one week visit to the United States in mid-July. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard that he "will wait until the end of the week to talk to Manny and Michael Koncz" about the promotional tour.
Mandatory challenger Milan Melindo is training to go twelve hard rounds against WBO flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada when they clash at the Cotai Arena of the sprawling Venetian Resort Hotel in Macau on July 27. It’s the same venue where Estrada, the tough Mexican won the title with a twelve round pounding of WBO/WBA champion Brian Viloria last April 6.
Shortly after Floyd Mayweather's unanimous decision victory over Robert Guerrero, Juan Manuel Marquez spoke to BoxingScene.com about his decision to face WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley instead of a more lucrative fifth fight against Manny Pacquiao. Marquez feels that his December 8th knockout of the Filipino Congressman more than sealed their series and that there is no need for another fight. He said that he couldn't say why Bradley turned down a rematch against Pacquiao but that he feels an argument can be made for why he won each of his four fights against Pacquiao.
Former WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire believes he will be better if he moves up in weight and fights as a featherweight. However, in a conversation with BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard the former top five pound for pound fighter said that should he continue to fight at 122 pounds he would “have to watch my diet and work on my nutrition scheduling” to make the weight limit. Donaire who lost his title to former Cuban two time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux last April 13, indicated that he would need more time to prepare for a super bantamweight fight and that he would prefer to return to the ring in October and not September as earlier planned.
WBO and Ring Magazine featherweight champion Mikey Garcia, who makes the first defense of his title against former champion Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez of Puerto Rico at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on June 15, sparred eight rounds on Monday - and according to his brother and trainer Robert Garcia - “[Mikey] will be in great shape for the fight against Juanma.” The 2012 “Trainer of the Year” told BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard that he considers Lopez “a very dangerous opponent, very difficult and someone who punches hard.”
2012 “Trainer of the Year” Robert Garcia believes that the clash between Manny Pacquiao and Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios at the Cotai Arena in the Venetian Resort Hotel in Macao on November 24 will be more exciting that the fights of undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. Garcia told BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard that while Mayweather is probably the best fighter in the world and “is very smart and very technical, his fights are not as exciting as the fights of Pacquiao or Rios and the people will enjoy their fight” in Macau. Mayweather scored a lopsided, 117-111 unanimous decision over Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas last Saturday where less than 16,000 watched the fight at the venue and many left even before the fight ended while others booed the lack of action that fight fans love to see.
Hard-hitting Merlito 'Tiger' Sabillo, who was recently elevated to full WBO minimumweight champion, will make the first defense of his title on June 29 in Bacolod City against a top ten contender. ALA promotions president Michael Aldeguer is in negotiations with Mexican promoter “Tuto” Zabala Jr of All Star Boxing on a possible opponent but no details are available as yet. Sabillo won the interim-title with a stunning 8th round TKO over fancied Luis De La Rosa of Colombia last March 9 in De La Rosa’s hometown.
Undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr didn’t give Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero a ghost of a chance as he gave the over-hyped, over-matched challenger a clinical boxing lesson to win a unanimous twelve round decision at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. All three judges Julie Lederman, Duane Ford and Jerry Roth turned in identical 117-111 scorecards in favor of the 36 year old Mayweather who retained his WBC welterweight title and added the Ring Magazine belt to his collection while improving his record to 44-0 with 26 knockouts while Guerrero, the WBC Interim welterweight champion and former WBO/WBA lightweight champion fell to 31-2-1 with 18 knockouts.
World Boxing Organization president Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel has praised former WBO super bantamweight champion and 2012 “Fighter of the Year” Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire for undergoing voluntary drug testing. In response to a question from this reporter on the stand of the WBO on random drug tests in view of the growing concern over fighters using performance enhancing drugs, Valcarcel cited specific provisions in the organization’s rules one of which states that “ The World Boxing Organization encourages all Local Boxing Commissions to conduct anti-doping tests before or after the fight. If the Local Boxing Commission conducts the tests, they shall be administered in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Local Boxing Commission.”
The manager, trainer of WBC minimum weight No.1 contender and mandatory challenger to champion Xiong Zhao Zhong of China, Aljoe Jaro, says Cuello is “willing to fight Zhong anywhere, including in his own house.” The supremely confident Jaro, a former boxer, told the Manila Standard that he had met with Zhong’s promoter Lu Gang in China and Bangkok, Thailand and that they had agreed on a June 28 fight date but were looking at three possible venues – Macao, Dubai or China prompting Aljoe Jaro to state his ward is willing to fight the champion anywhere. Aljoe Jaro said the hard-hitting 26 year old southpaw Cuello who has a record of 33-4-6 with 21 knockouts will start training soon for the title shot he’s been chasing for over a year after winning the WBC silver title on May 19, 2012 with a smashing 2nd round TKO over highly fancied Mexican Ganigan Lopez.