Robert Garcia and Henry Ramirez may be friends, but that won’t matter June 8

When Josesito Lopez of Riverside and Marcos Maidana of Argentina square off in the welterweight main event June 8 at Home Depot Center (on Showtime), it will also be a clash between their respective trainers – Henry Ramirez and Robert Garcia.

The two are friends, but these guys are pros and they’d never let that stand in the way of a fight that has the potential to be terrific.

“This fight, Josesito and Maidana, is a Fight of the Year candidate,” said Ramirez, who trains Lopez, and also is the trainer for heavyweight Chris Arreola. “Robert Garcia and I are good friends. But this is a sport and I know he has been preparing Maidana like I’ve been preparing Josesito.”

Of, Garcia has been.

We’re training hard for this fight and we know what type of fight we have in front of us,” Garcia said. We cannot take this fight lightly. We’ve gotten some great sparring in for this fight and I know Josesito and his coach have done the same. We’re actually pretty good friends with Henry (Ramirez).”

Lopez is 30-5 with 18 knockouts. Maidana is 33-3 with 30 knockouts.

 

 

 

 

 

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail

Alfredo Angulo says he’s starting to feel like his old self again

Junior middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo last year spent over seven months in the immigration detention center in El Centro because of ongoing visa issues; he presented himself to the center thinking he might only be there as long as a month.

It was a widely publicized story that brought Angulo (22-0, 18 KOs) plenty of warmheartedness from his fans. But the time for Angulo for bask in that is over. He is 2-0 with one knockout since coming back in November following a year out of the ring. He wants to get back to the business of getting a shot at a world title.

Angulo, of Los Angeles via Mexicali, will take on Erislandy Lara (17-1-2, 11 KOs) of Cuba on June 8 at Home Depot Center on the undercard of the Marcos Maidana-Josesito Lopez welterweight main event . Lara is a tough customer, but Angulo – a former interim champion –  believes the rust is gone.

“This is my third fight after my time off and conditioning-wise, I’m feeling like my old self, feeling like I used to feel,” said Angulo, 30. “There’s no doubt I’ll be in better condition than I was for my last two fights. There was just too much time off. Now I’m in a rhythm.”

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail

Charges of criminal gun possession dropped against Robert Guerrero

Charges of illegally possessing a firearm in the state of New York against Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero were dropped Tuesday morning in New York State Supreme Court for Queens County, Guerrero’s public relations team said in a statement.

Guerrero, of Gilroy, Calilf., pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was fined $250 and was ordered to complete 50 hours of community service, which he will be allowed to do in California.

Guerrero was arrested on March 28 after he told a clerk at JFK Airport that he was in possession of an unloaded weapon.

Guerrero on May 4 challenged Floyd Mayweather Jr. for his welterweight title, but lost a wide unanimous decision at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Guerrero, 30, could have gone to prison if he had been tried and convicted of the felony firearm possession charge.

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail

Two-time gold-medal winner Zou Shiming back on July 27 on HBO

Zou Shiming of China has won back-to-back gold medals in the Olympic Games. But he’s 32 and has just one professional bout, so time is of the essence for him.

Shiming made his pro debut April 6 with a unanimous decision over Eleazar Valenzuela at Venetian Casino & Resort in Macau, China. Shiming will be back there July 27 when he takes on Jesus Ortega (3-1, 2 KOs) of Mexico in a six-round flyweight bout that will act as the main event on a card that features two world-title bouts (on HBO).

Shiming is promoted by Top Rank Inc. and trained by Freddie Roach, who this week talked about what he wants to see from Shiming.

“I was very pleased with how quickly Shiming learned what I was teaching during our first training camp and he is the hardest worker in the gym,” said Roach, who owns the Wild Card gym in Hollywood. “This time our main focus will be on getting him to punch harder. Shiming will need to learn how to sit down on his punches to maximize their power.”

 

 


Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail

Promoter Ken Thompson always gets in at least one really good line

Ken Thompson has always been a bit nervous when he’s speaking at the podium. But the Orange County-based promoter has improved by leaps and bounds over the years, and these days he always seems to manage to get in at least one really cool line at a news conference.

He perhaps got in the best at Monday’s news conference in Los Angeles formally announcing the June 8 welterweight main event between Josestio Lopez of Riverside and Marcos Maidana of Argentina at Home Depot Center (on Showtime). It figures to be a very explosive and hard-hitting fight, so Thompson came with some good stuff.

“When Josesito Lopez and Marcos Maidana enter the ring for the main event on June 8, no judges will be needed,” Thompson said. “This fight will end with one great fighter laying in the middle of the ring, while the other great fighter will be standing and getting his hand raised in victory.”

Of course, Thompson co-promotes Lopez, so he believes that fighter getting his hand raised will be, in Thompson’s words, “the ‘Riverside Rocky,’ Josesito Lopez.”

Maidana is 33-3 with 30 knockouts. Ortiz is 30-5 with 18 knockouts.

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail

Marcos Maidana, Josesito Lopez talk bad intentions at news conference

Oh, man, in less than a month, on June 8, we figure to have quite a main event at Home Depot Center between Marcos Maidana and Josesito Lopez (on Showtime).

Maidana (33-3, 30 KOs), of Argentina, is one of the hardest punchers, pound-for-pound, in the world – he has a knockout ratio of 83 percent.

Lopez (30-5, 18 KOs) does not have the fight-by-fight destructiveness Maidana has, but Lopez showed what he can do in a given fight when he broke the jaw of Victor Ortiz in their fight in June 2012 at Staples Center. Lopez was losing on the scorecards, but he won via ninth-round when Ortiz could not answer the bell for the 10th round because of his broken jaw.

This could be a real good one. The fighters thinks so, too.

“I know Josesito is a great fighter,” Maidana said. “I know he likes to stand and trade and fight.That’s what I do and that’s why it’s going to be such an exciting fight.”

Lopez had an interesting take.

“I’m so excited about this fight, and I’m the one receiving the punches,” he said. “I can only imagine how excited the fans are. Years ago before I was at this level, I thought, ‘Man, this would be an exciting fight. I would love to get in there and bang with him.’ Now we’re here. It’s a hell of a matchup. It could be fight of the year.”

Tickets are $25, $50, $75 and $150 and can be purchased a variety of ways, including online at AXS.com or the Home Depot Center box office

The event is being staged by Golden Boy Promotions.

 

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail

Brooklyn matchmaker Johnny Bos dead at 61; had congestive heart failure

Johnny Bos, a Brooklyn matchmaker who had a hand in developing the careers of Mike Tyson and Gerry Cooney, died Saturday at the age of 61 at his home in Clearwater, Fla., the New York Daily News reported; he had been suffering from congestive heart failure.

Bos was described in the newspaper as “a towering figure with bleach-blond hair and faux fur coats.”

Promoter Lou DiBella, also of Brooklyn, could not say enough about him.

“It’s the passing of an era,” DiBella told the New York Daily News. “He was a Damon Runyonesque character. Johnny Bos touched a lot of guys. You can go through a laundry list of fighters who have ties to Johnny Bos, a lot of whom also forgot about him and left him in the rear view mirror once they made it.

“But Johnny was a legend. He was like one of the giant characters of the sport. He loved the fighters and he loved boxing and for a time, he was the biggest character and ambassador of the sport in New York.”

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail

Sounds like Ricky Burns was lucky to keep his lightweight title on Saturday

It sounds like Ricky Burns of Scotland was lucky to keep his lightweight title Saturday when he took on Jose Gonzalez of Puerto Rico in Glasgow, Scotland.

Burns was behind on all three scorecards when Gonzalez (22-1, 17 KOs) was forced to stay on his stool after the ninth round because of a suspected broken wrist, according to the Associated Press.

Gonzalez was leading Burns (36-2) by three scores of 87-84.

“I knew the rounds were close; the judges had me behind,” Burns told the Associated Press. “I couldn’t believe how awkward he is. He is a class, class opponent. He’s very hard to hit.”

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail

Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza scoffs at notion Mayweather pay-per-view did not do well

Stephen Espinoza, executive vice-president and general manager of Showtime Sports, told this newspaper Friday morning that stories speculating that this past Saturday’s Showtime pay-per-view presentation of the welterweight title fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero at MGM Grand in Las Vegas did not do well and that Showtime lost money, are false.
“Numbers are still coming in, but we’ve got enough of the report that we are confident in saying we will be over 1 million buys,” Espinoza said. “Not sure how much yet, a lot of that will be determined over the next few weeks.”
Espinoza said Mayweather generating that many buys against a fighter who is not quite a huge name, is even more impressive.
“Without having a very well-known opponent, it really is a testament to Floyd’s drawing power,” Espinoza said.
Espinoza was asked about the scuttlebutt that Showtime lost money.
“There are some numbers out there floating around that we had to do X or Y in order to break even,” he said. “No idea where they came from. … But we are very happy with the result of over a millon buys. And the rumors of our financial demise are greatly exaggerated, if not completely untrue.
“No one realy has any basis for writing about that break-even point because that is something only we know.”
Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions – which helps Mayweather promote his fights – is now working on a Mayweather-Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight for Sept. 14 at MGM Grand.
Espinoza said if that fight gets made, the promotion would likely include even more platforms than were used for Mayweather-Guerrero, which utilized Showtime’s parent company – CBS.
“It would certainly be adjusted to include more of the Spanish-language production,” Espinoza said.

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail

Live gate for Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Robert Guerrero not too shabby

The Nevada State Athletic Commission reports the live gate for this past Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero welterweight title fight did a live gate of $9,922,350.

That’s good, but that ranks as only the 16th best gate in Nevada history.

What’s No. 1? Oscar De La Hoya’s junior middleweight title fight against Mayweather in May 2007. That did $18,419,200. As was Saturday’s, that fight was won by Mayweather. However, whereas Mayweather dominated Guerrero, he just got by De La Hoya via split decision.

 

 

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Email Snailmail