HBO’s ’24/7 Pacquiao/Rios’ to premiere Nov. 9 ahead of Nov. 23 bout in China

HBO’s “24/7 Pacquiao/Rios” will premiere Nov. 9. It is the first of three episodes ahead of the Nov. 23 welterweight fight between Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines and Brandon Rios of Oxnard from the Venetian in Macao, China. The fight itself will be televised on HBO pay-per-view.

The second episode will air Nov. 16 with the final episode to be shown Nov. 21, two days before the fight. All three episodes will have multiple replay dates.

Rios, 27, is 31-1-1 with 23 knockouts. Pacquiao, 34, is 54-5-2 with 38 knockouts.

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Brandon Rios not about to just rush Manny Pacquaio next month in China

Former lightweight champion Brandon Rios of Oxnard is a hard puncher, and has no problem getting into vicious fights. That doesn’t mean he’s going to just throw caution to the wind when he tangles with Manny Pacquiao on Nov. 23 in Macao, China (on HBO pay-per-view) just to see how Pacquiao reacts to having been knocked cold by Juan Manuel Marquez last December in Las Vegas. A lot of fighters would be gun-shy after being knocked out the way Pacquiao was – as in face-first.

“We can’t go in the ring and think he’s going to be like that from the last knockout,” Rios said Tuesday during a conference call from Oxnard, where he lives and trains. “:We don’t know how he is personally. We have to go in there and wait and wait and wait and see what he has because he is still a dangerous opponent. … I can’t go in there and jump on him to see if he’s done with.”

Rios, 27, is 31-1-1 with 23 knockouts. Pacquiao, 34, is 54-5-2 with 38 knockouts.

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Golden Boy plays host to Fox Sports 1 show tonight from Redwood City

Manuel Avila of Fairfield puts his undefeated record on the line Monday night when he takes on Jose Angel Cota of Mexicali in the 10-round featherweight main event from Sports House in Redwood City (on Fox Sports 1).

Avila is 12-0 with four knockouts. Cota is 15-9-1 with 11 knockouts.

The semi-main event will feature Louis Rose (8-1, 2 KOs) of Claremont going against Paul Mendez (14-2-1, 6 KOs) of Salinas in an eight-round super middleweight bout. Rose is on a three-fight winning streak after suffering his only loss in December in Hollywood.

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Bernard Hopkins retains title in impressive fashion with win over Karo Murat

Bernard Hopkins, 48, retained his light heavyweight title with a convincing unanimous-decision victory over Karo Murat of Germany on Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Hopkins won by scores of 117-111 (Benoit Roussel), 119-110 (Julie Lederman) and 119-110 (Joseph Pasquale). The cards of Lederman and Pasquale seemed a bit off the mark as Murat seemed to deserve better than a nine-point deficit.

The excitement in a Hopkins fight has waned as the years have gone by, but this was very action-packed at times, particularly in the middle rounds when there were several  toe-to-toe exchanges.

Murat was cut twice over the left eye.

Hopkins (54-6-2) recently changed his nickname from “The Executioner” to “The Alien” and he entered the ring wearing a green alien outfit complete with mask. In the fifth round, he kissed Murat on the back of the head when Murat got turned around during a clinch.

Murat (25-2-1), who is 30, was later deducted a point for hitting on the break.

 

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Peter Quillin retains middleweight title, stopping Gabriel Rosado in 10th on cuts

Peter “Kid Chololate” Quillin of Brooklyn retained his middleweight world title when he stopped Gabriel Rosado of Philadelphia in the 10th round on cuts at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night.

Rosado (21-7, 13 KOs) complained afterward that this was a world championship fight and that it should not have been stopped in the championship rounds. His cut on the left eye lid was absolutely gruesome.

Interestingly, Quillin (30-0, 22 KOs) was well ahead on the judges’ scorecards at the time in a fight that appeared very close. The Showtime announcers could not believe one judge (Kason Cheeks) had Quillin winning a shutout. Another, Waleska Roldan, had Quillin ahead 89-91. And Ron McNair had Quillin up 87-83.

 

 

 

…89-81, 100-90…

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Deontay Wilder now 30-0 with 30 KOs after stopping Nicolai Firtha in 4th round

American heavyweight Deontay Wilder is now 30-0 with 30 knockouts after knocking out Nicolai Firtha in the fourth round of their fight Saturday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City (on Showtime).

Wilder, who is 6-foot-7, connected with a mean right hand to the head of Firtha, who dropped to the canvas. When referee Lindsey Page saw Firtha could not push himself off the canvas, he waved off the bout without reaching the count of 10.

Wilder, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., is 28. Firtha, of Akron, Ohio, is 34. He is 21-11-1.

The bout was underneath the light heavyweight title fight between Bernard Hopkins and Karo Murat.

 

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Golden Boy, Showtime announce move and other changes to Broner-Maidana card

Golden Boy Promotions and Showtime on Saturday announced it has moved and re-shaped the Dec. 14 card that will feature Adrien Broner of Cincinnati defending his welterweight title against Marcoa Maidana of Argentina in the main event.

Originally the event was tentatively slated to take place at MGM Grand in Las Vegas and be televised on Showtime’s pay-per-view arm. It has been moved to the Alamodome in San Antonio and will now be available on regular Showtime.

Golden Boy also announced that a Nov. 30 card slated for Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio has been canceled, with the fighters from that card ending up on the Dec. 7 Showtime card at Barclays Center in Brooklyn where the headliner will be Paulie Malignaggi-Zab Judah, and the aforementioned Dec. 14 gig.

Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy, and Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza basically said the changes were made for the better, that Broner will eventually be a headliner in Las Vegas and a pay-per-view star, but that he will be seen by more viewers on regular Showtime and for him, that’s beneficial.

And San Antonio has terrific fight fans. The Alamodome had some 40,000 in it when Saul “Canelo” Alvarez defeated Austin Trout there in April.

“I really feel with what San Antonio has done this year with 40,000 for ‘Canelo,’ I just thought this was the right thing to do as well, not just cancelling the Nov. 30 card, but rewarding San Antonio with another big card,” Schaefer said.

The Nov. 30 headliner was to feature Devon Alexander defending his welterweight title against Shawn Porter. That fight will now be underneath Malignaggi-Judah.

Also on that card, Erislandy Lara of Cuba and Austin Trout will square off for a vacant super welterweight championship. And Sakio Bika will defend his super middleweight belt against 2004 U.S. Olympian Andre Dirrell.

Four fights will be televised on both December cards.

To add to the Dec. 14 card, former champion Victor Ortiz will return to action for the first time since having his jaw broken by Josesito Lopez in June 2012. He will take on Alfonso Gomez.

These changes were announced from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, where Bernard Hopkins is defending his light heavyweight title against Karo Murat on Saturday night on Showtime.

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HBO’s ‘Face Off’ show for Manny Pacquiao-Brandon Rios debuts Nov. 2

HBO’s “Face Off with Max Kellerman: Paquiao/Rios” will debut on Nov. 2, three weeks before Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios square off in the welterweight main event Nov. 23 in Macao, China (on HBO pay-per-view).

Kellerman the moderator and the fighters will sit face to face, with the fighters answering Kellerman’s questions and the fighters addressing one another.

 

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Gabriel Rosado stoked to be fighting under fellow Philly fighter Bernard Hopkins

Gabriel Rosado of Philadelphia will be in a very big fight when he challenges Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin(29-0, 21 KOs) for his middleweight world title Saturday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City (on Showtime). That it will come on the undercard of the light heavyweight title fight between champion Bernard Hopkins of Philadelphia and Karo Murat of Germany makes it that much sweeter for Rosado (21-6, 13 KOs).

“Never did I think I’d have the opportunity to fight on the same card as Bernard,” Rosado said. “I thought by the time I had the opportunity, he’d be gone, but he’s still here kicking (butt). Its crazy how that played out and I’m just blessed to have been around Bernard in so many training camps and to learn old school boxing, which is a lost art now.”

Hopkins is 48.

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One short Bernard Hopkins quote says a lot about the ageless wonder

Bernard Hopkins and others Wednesday played host to the final news conference for Hopkins’ light heavyweight title defense Saturday against Karo Murat of Germany at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City (on Showtime).

During the proceedings, Hopkins, 48, had many things to say. But one short line was perhaps the best of his dialogue.

“Saying, ‘I’m getting old,’ is getting old,” he said.

When Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KOs) steps into the ring Saturday, he’ll be less than three months away from his 49th birthday, which is Jan. 15.

Murat, 30, is 25-1-1 with 15 knockouts. He has never fought in the U.S.

“It’s the first time for me to ever be in the United States,” Murat said. “It was (a) dream of mine to come and actually fight one day here, particularly against someone like Bernard Hopkins.”

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