Julian Ramirez: Squarely grounded and focused

03/12/201303/11/2013 ESB

GBP Prospect Julian Ramirez By Marc Livitz: On Saturday, March 16th, at the Grand Oasis Resort in Cancun, Mexico, undefeated Featherweight prospect Julian Ramirez will meet a very recognizable name in the ring. However, the southern California fighter will give all he has to ensure that this particular Ruben Olivares does not shine in the same way as the legendary “El Puas” once did.

A Los Angeles area resident all his life, Ramirez (7-0, 5 KOs) has had an active career since turning pro in early 2012. Currently just a few weeks shy of his twentieth birthday, Julian always knew that the sweet science held the calling towards where he would ultimately head.

Mendez KOs Salgado in 4 to capture IBF Super Featherweight title

03/11/201303/10/2013 ESB

By Joseph Herron: It took Dominican born Argenis Mendez (21-2, 11 KOs) just ten minutes and forty seconds to dispose of former IBF Super Featherweight Champion Juan Carlos Salgado (26-2-1, 16 KOs) in last night’s main event at The Hangar in Costa Mesa, California.

His first championship opportunity against Juan Carlos was fought in September of 2011 and was staged in Salgado’s backyard of Jalisco, Mexico, which resulted in a unanimous decision victory for the hometown favorite.

Hopkins The Master Does It Again, Takes Another One To School!

03/10/201303/10/2013 ESB

hop9 By James Slater – Living legend Bernard Hopkins did it again last night in New York: he took a good, strong unbeaten young fighter to school and relieved him of his world title. Arguably putting on his best show since taking away Kelly Pavlik’s perfect record in 2008, the amazing 48-year-old totally confused the powerful and dangerous Tavoris Cloud over 12 enthralling rounds to take the IBF 175-pound belt.

Enthralling rounds? Well, it’s certainly been said that Hopkins is a boring fighter, but if you do not enjoy ring mastery, ring brilliance and, yes, sheer genius unfolding before your eyes, then maybe the problem is more with you and less with ‘Nard. And Hopkins, now 53-6-2(32) sure put all his ring craft, all his savvy and experience and all his boxing brains on display last night. Scoring more rounds for defence perhaps (B-Hop cares less about punch stats and more about history stats!), Hopkins bamboozled Cloud, he had him tied up in knots (as ring caller Dave Bontempo stated on air) and he had Cloud bleeding and well beaten.

Hopkins defeats Cloud; Thurman decisions Zaveck

03/10/201303/09/2013 ESB

hop11 By Bill Phanco: 48-year-old Bernard Hopkins defeated IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud by a 12 round unanimous decision to capture his IBF title at the at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. The final judges’ scores were 116-112, 117-111, 116-112.

Undefeated welterweight Keith Thurman (20-0, 18 KO’s) put in an impressive power punching display in pounding out a nice 12 round unanimous decision on against #1 WBO Jan Zaveck (32-2, 18 KO’s) in an WBO title eliminator bout. The victory locks Thurman in as the mandatory challenger for WBO 147 lb. champion Tim Bradley.

The judges scored the fight 120-108, 120-108, 120-108. Thurman kept a constant flow of power shots raining down ont he shorter Zaveck through the full 12 rounds.

Barker stops Rotolo; Groves defeats Balmaceda

03/11/201303/09/2013 ESB

By Jeff Sorby: Super middleweight contender George Groves (17-0, 13 KO’s) made easy work of Dario Balmaceda (11-7-2, 7 KO’s) in stopping him in the 3rd round in a two knockdown performance on Saturday night in the 24-year-old Groves’ first fight with Matchroom Sport at the Wembley Arena in London, UK. Grove put the lanky Balmaceda down with a short right hand to the body in the 2nd.

Taylor defeats Cayo; Abdusalamov stops Bisbal

03/09/201303/08/2013 ESB

By Bill Phanco: Light welterweight contender Victor Cayo (31-4, 22 KO’s) suffered a disappointing 8th round stoppage loss to Emmanuel Taylor (17-1, 12 KO’s) tonight at the Resorts Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Cayo seemingly had the fight in the bag until getting put down with a series of solid right hands from the 22-year-old Taylor in the 8th. Taylor then hammered the hurt Cayo with several more shots after he got back up to his feet, and the fight was then halted by referee Benjy Esteves Jr. at 1:11 of the round.

Cayo fought reasonably well until getting hurt late in the 7th round, and then finished off in the 8th. Cayo knocked Taylor down in the 5th round with a sweeping right hook to the head. Cayo was effective when fighting out of the southpaw stance, but he only rarely used this stance despite the success he had in the fight when he was using it.

The Biggest Bernard Hopkins Fight That Never Happened

03/11/201303/08/2013 ESB

hop11 Bernard Hopkins is fighting tomorrow, March 8, 2013, possibly for the last time, depending on the outcome of the fight. The Bernard Hopkins-Tavoris Cloud fight is a win-win situation for Bernard, because if he wins the fight, he sets a record for being the the oldest man to ever win a major world title in boxing and breaks the standing record, which he holds right now, and he continues to make money as a boxer and a promoter.

If he loses his fight tomorrow, he still gets respect and praise for taking on a young, undefeated champion who is in the prime of his life, and he can devote all of his time to being a boxing promoter, instead of splitting his time training for fights and maintaining his weight.

Bernard Hopkins could get another age-related injury tomorrow night and have to quit fighting for health reasons. He says his surgically-repaired shoulder is 100 percent healed now, but it wasn’t fully healed in his last fight – the Chad Dawson rematch. If Bernard Hopkins last fight is not tomorrow, but he decides to have one last fight after this one, what well-known opponent could he fight to maximize his last boxing purse?

Bernard Hopkins and Cloud: A Battle of Old Versus New

03/11/201303/08/2013 ESB

By Jack Scales: Age and time eventually catching up with us are two inevitabilities we are faced with in this life. However, one man who has continued to evade this fact, is none other than Philadelphia’s treasured son, Bernard ‘The Executioner’ Hopkins. For years, critics, fighters and trainers alike, have predicted his fall from the upper echelons of the sport, but as every boxing fan knows he has constantly proven his doubters wrong, whilst simultaneously defying common trends in human biology.

Throughout his 40s, he has systematically broken down a vast number of much younger fighters who were touted to finally put an end to his illustrious career. Despite the best efforts of these young pretenders, at 48, B-Hop remains a major force in the Light Heavyweight division, and on Saturday night he will again challenge for a world title. This time, it will be against the IBF belt holder, Tavoris Cloud. Judging on Bernard’s performance against Chad Dawson, perhaps father time is finally catching up on the slick veteran, but as history has shown us, his opponents should count him out at their own peril.

Unbeaten Heavyweight Giant Lucas Browne: Will He Be The First Man To Stop James Toney?

03/08/201303/07/2013 ESB

By James Slater: James “Lights Out” Toney has been somewhat quiet as of late; the 44-year-old living legend not having fought since his April 2012 stoppage win over Bobby Gunn. Aside from calling out British heavyweight giant Tyson Fury late last year (a fight that failed to materialize and perhaps would not be sanctioned in the U.K anyway), Toney has made no headlines.

But now, the word is the former middleweight, super-middleweight and cruiserweight world champ could be facing another unbeaten big man in a fight this spring. Australian man mountain, Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne has been quoted in an article on Boxing News Magazine’s web site as saying a fight between he and Toney is “80 to 90-percent going to happen.”

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez: Share the Suffering

03/07/2013 ESB

By Marc Livitz – Call it a set of brass ones or just impenetrable will.

Maybe it’s a bit of both; or worse yet, it could be the incessant voices in either ear of one Saul “Canelo” Alvarez which led him to draw an indelible line in the pugilistic dirt. The admissions last week from Canelo’s side of the negotiating table ultimately meant that he’d be removing his name, likeness and participation from the highly anticipated (maybe that’s a bit of a stretch) fight card which was (and still is) set to take place in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 4.

Capitalism, free will, best interests, or perhaps a case of borderline Narcissism? Allow us to take a quick look at what has transpired.