Steven Luevano, reigning WBO featherweight champion, hasn’t fought since October and he’s eager to get back in the ring.
Boxing
Gary Shaw is certain of it. He thinks boxing still has it over mixed martial arts in one specific way. He has no doubt that when a megafight occurs, when a Manny Pacquiao steps into a ring and faces a Ricky Hatton, when so many movie stars show up that Denzel Washington is relegated to the 15th row, when the lights are blinding and the buzz deafening, the advantage still falls to boxing.
You still see it in movies. How boxing once was. How it truly mattered to all those watching. How the action inside the ring was thought far more exciting than whatever celebrity might be attending outside it.
Now that Manny Pacquiao has agreed to fight Miguel Cotto, trainer Freddie Roach will have several months to put Pacquiao’s game plan in place for the Nov. 14 bout at the MGM Grand Garden.
Top Rank chairman Bob Arum announced Monday that everything is set for Manny Pacquiao, considered boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighter, to face WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14 at the MGM Grand Garden. The nontitle fight, scheduled for 12 rounds, will be contested at a catch weight of 145 pounds.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. had plenty of respect for Arturo Gatti, and the Las Vegan expressed that after learning of Gatti’s death last week.
The card was supposed to be the opening act this weekend for the headline performer. But when an injury forced Floyd Mayweather Jr. to postpone his welterweight fight with Juan Manuel Marquez, it had the stage to itself.
This really does make perfect sense, that the new, big (really big) thing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship is our very own version of Ivan Drago.
Of the eight oddsmakers at Las Vegas Sports Consultants, Sean Van Patten is an oddity. He actually follows the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Nonito Donaire said he’s ready to leave the flyweight division, and he’ll get his first taste of life as a 115-pounder next month when he faces Rafael Concepcion at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Layla McCarter has been out of boxing for 11 months, but the way she competed Friday, it was as though she had been in the ring every week.
Layla McCarter has been missing from the boxing ring for so long, there was a temptation to look for the champion on the side of a milk carton.
Taking a page from Andre Agassi and Tiger Woods, Oscar De La Hoya will host a musical celebration in Las Vegas in 2010 to raise money for his foundation, which helps children in De La Hoya’s hometown of East Los Angeles.
Victor Ortiz doesn’t fit among all those boxers who pursue fortune and publicity as though they’re staggering opponents practically begging to be knocked out.
Manny Pacquiao appears headed back to the MGM Grand Garden, the site of his two most recent victories.