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https://www.boxingscene.com/thurman-laughs-talk-giving-broner-title-shot--136239

Thurman Laughs at Talk of Giving Broner a Title Shot

WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman has rejected the idea of giving a world title shot to former four division champion Adrien Broner.

In the last few weeks, Thurman and Broner have traded words in the press.

Thurman was very critical of Broner's in-ring performance against WBA "regular" welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao, which took place last month at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Broner was dominated over twelve rounds, and he wasn't very active with his hands as Pacquiao outworked him for nearly the entire contest.

Thurman shook his head at that performance.

Once the criticisms reached Broner, he verbally lashed out in Thurman's direction.

And once they began to trade words, there was online speculation that a Thurman vs. Broner contest was being constructed.

“That’s the dumbest rumor that’s popped up all week,” said Thurman to Premier Boxing Champions. “Personally, I don’t believe Broner deserves a world title shot. I think he’s more in a situation where he should have a title eliminator. You need to fight and you need to win before you just keep getting world title shots.”

“The day Manny Pacquiao fought Adrien Broner was like a catch-22 for me. Pre-fight, I was in Broner’s corner. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. One of the hardest things to live with is not living up to your full potential. All I wanted to see was Broner live up to his full potential. But I had an interest in seeing Pacquiao win too.”

Thurman was also back in action last month, when he snapped a 22-month layoff to win a twelve round decision over Josesito Lopez.

He admits the performance was not his very best, but he also warned that a less than perfect performance was likely - due to the two years of ring rust.

“It felt so good to get back in there, to get back in shape,” Thurman said. “Usually, I don’t like coming down to 147. One, it’s stressful on the body and two, I don’t want to eat like a rabbit every day. But it really did feel good to lose the weight, get in shape and feel like a champion again. I’m inspired now that I’ve turned 30. I’ve created a level of success and I don’t want to let it go away.

“I have the ability to do many things that I did not show that night. I wish I did more bodywork. I was comfortable moving around, I know I can rely on my athleticism. I wish I put him on his backfoot a little more. I told everybody that you’re not going to see the best Keith Thurman you’ve ever seen. But you will see a world class performance. I have a lot more to show so I am fired up."
 
https://www.boxingscene.com/claressa-shields-vs-christina-hammer-april-13-on-showtime--136223

Claressa Shields vs. Christina Hammer, April 13 on Showtime

Undefeated middleweight world champions Claressa Shields and Christina Hammer will meet on Saturday, April 13 live on SHOWTIME to crown the women’s undisputed 160-pound world champion. The blockbuster unification from Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. will be the main event of SHOWTIME BOXING: SPECIAL EDITION live at 9 p.m. ET/PT and is arguably the most significant women’s boxing event in history.

Shields vs. Hammer features two of the consensus top-10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world squaring off to crown only the second undisputed champion in female boxing history. The fight, originally scheduled for November 2018, was postponed due to a now-resolved medical issue suffered by Hammer.

The 23-year-old Shields (8-0, 2 KOs) is a two-division champion who holds the IBF, WBA and WBC 160-pound titles. The 28-year-old Hammer (24-0, 11 KOs) owns the WBO belt, is the WBC Champion in Recess, and has dominated the women’s middleweight division for more than eight years. Shields and Hammer fought on the same card last June on SHOWTIME, with both fighters winning impressively to set up the first undisputed showdown in the women’s 160-pound division.

The winner of Shields vs. Hammer will join Terrence Crawford, Jermain Taylor, Bernard Hopkins, Oleksandr Usyk and women’s welterweight Cecilia Braekhus as the only fighters to have unified all four major world titles in any weight class.

Shields vs. Hammer is promoted by Salita Promotions. Ticket prices and on-sale date will be announced next week by Boardwalk Hall.

“I always seek the biggest challenges and set the highest goals. I will be ready like never before and will defeat Christina Hammer on April 13,” said Shields. “Nothing will stop me from becoming undisputed champion and continuing my journey to carry women’s boxing to never-before-seen heights. I want to be the greatest of all time and change the game forever for all women in sports, and April 13 is an important step on that road to history.”

“I have waited a long time for this moment,” said Hammer. “I am bigger, stronger and more experienced than Claressa Shields. I am undefeated and have been a champion for over eight years. I can’t wait to show the world that I am the best and undisputed middleweight champion of the world.”

“SHOWTIME Sports has a long history of featuring the best in women’s combat sports, whether it was with Laila Ali and Christy Martin in boxing, or Gina Carano, Cris Cyborg and Ronda Rousey in MMA,” said Gordon Hall, Executive Producer of SHOWTIME BOXING: SPECIAL EDITION. “More recently, since 2016 we have featured today’s elite with Claressa Shields, Christina Hammer, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano appearing in an industry-leading 10 presentations of women’s boxing. Male or female, SHOWTIME has delivered the best fighters in their toughest matchups, and April 13 will be no different. We have two of the best pound-for-pound female fighters in the world facing each other with all four middleweight titles at stake. It doesn’t get much better than that.”

“The biggest women’s fight of all time is set to take place on April 13 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City,” said promoter Dmitriy Salita. “Claressa Shields and Christina Hammer, both champions, both in their prime, are not only taking on the biggest challenge in their respective careers by meeting each other in the ring, but are breaking barriers for boxing and for women in sports. April 13 is destined to be an electric and historic night of boxing live on SHOWTIME.”

“Shields vs. Hammer is the biggest and most important fight in women’s boxing history – two undefeated unified champions in their prime battling for the undisputed middleweight championship of the world,” said Shields’ manager Mark Taffet. “Christina Hammer is indeed a very good fighter and champion, but Claressa Shields is once-in-a-lifetime. The same intense focus and determination that got Claressa through life, earned her two Olympic gold medals, and won her five world titles in eight pro fights will carry her to victory on April 13.”

“We are very excited to bring world-class championship boxing back to Atlantic City’s Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall,” said Matt Doherty, Executive Director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. “This reinforces the CRDA’s commitment to attract world-class sporting events and increase visitors to our destination.”

Shields was the first American boxer in history – male or female – to win consecutive Olympic gold medals. The Flint, Mich., native turned professional following the 2016 Olympics and became unified women’s super middleweight world champion in just her fourth professional fight. Shields moved down to middleweight for her June 22 headliner on SHOWTIME, defeating Hanna Gabriels to win the IBF and WBA titles and become a two-division champion in just her sixth professional contest. After Hammer was named WBC Champion in Recess due to her medical issue, Shields picked up the vacant WBC title last November with a unanimous decision over Hannah Rankin. She most recently defended all three titles in December against Femke Hermans.

Hammer, of Dortmund, Germany, has been the dominant force in the women’s middleweight division since winning the WBO title in 2010. Hammer became unified champion in 2016 with a unanimous decision over WBC titlist Kali Reis and made four defenses as unified champion. In her eight years as champion, Hammer has lost just a handful of rounds across 16 world title fights. Hammer, who also models professionally and was recently featured at Fashion Week in New York City, made her U.S. debut on June 22 after campaigning mostly in Germany since turning professional in 2009. After being forced to withdraw from the November unification due to the health issue, Hammer won a non-title fight via second round knockout last Saturday, February 9 in Germany.
 
https://www.boxingscene.com/joshua-miller-official-june-1-madison-square-garden--136240

Joshua-Miller Official For June 1 At Madison Square Garden

By Keith Idec

THE Brit is coming.

DAZN officially announced Wednesday morning that Anthony Joshua will make his debut on American soil against Jarrell Miller on June 1 at Madison Square Garden. The unbeaten British superstar will defend his IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles against Brooklyn’s Miller in a main event DAZN will stream live from “The Mecca of Boxing” in New York.

The 29-year-old Joshua has fought exclusively in the United Kingdom since the 2012 Olympic gold medalist turned pro five years ago. He has long expressed a desire to fight in the United States, where his rival, WBC champ Deontay Wilder, resides.

Joshua’s American debut is widely viewed at least as progress toward he and Wilder eventually fighting in the heavyweight title unification fight fans are anxious to watch. After witnessing Canelo Alvarez’s destruction of fellow Brit Rocky Fielding from ringside at Madison Square Garden on December 15, the Watford, England, native can’t wait to fight in the famed arena himself.

“June 1st, I am heading to ‘The Big Apple’ and I plan to embrace the culture and leave with an appetite for more,” Joshua said in a press release issued by DAZN. “I will be fighting Jarrell Miller at the legendary Madison Square Garden. It has been an honor and a blessing to fight at some of the best venues in the world at home, in the UK, not least Wembley Stadium. But the time has come to head across the Atlantic and defend my heavyweight titles in the USA. I am looking forward to taking on another challenge with a good boxer and a brilliant talker. It will be an exciting fight. I will leave nothing to chance and plan on dismantling Miller in style to make my mark.”

In Miller, the 6-feet-6, 245-pound Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) will face an unbeaten brute who has established himself as one of boxing’s best heavyweights over the past 18 months. The 30-year-old Miller (23-0-1, 21 KOs) has won four of his past five bouts by technical knockout since ending an 11-month layoff in July 2017.

The former MMA fighter has stopped veterans Gerald Washington, Mariusz Wach, Tomasz Adamek and Bogdan Dinu during that stretch. He also soundly defeated Johann Duhaupas in a 12-rounder sandwiched between the Wach and Adamek matches.

The trash-talking, 6-feet-4, 315-pound challenger is eager to not only win four heavyweight titles, but to ruin the biggest bout in boxing that has yet to be made.

Joshua and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, had planned for him to defend his titles April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London. He twice has helped draw crowds in excess of 80,000 to that outdoor venue, but they ultimately decided to make his U.S. debut in his next fight.

BoxingScene.com first reported December 17 that a Joshua-Miller fight was in the works for June at Madison Square Garden (https://www.boxingscene.com/joshua-miller-msg-bring-khan-brook-wembley-413--134713).

“It’s been an eventful few months, but I’m delighted to finally announce that Anthony Joshua will make his American debut at the iconic Madison Square Garden on June 1,” said Hearn, Matchroom Boxing’s managing director. “AJ has created an incredible ‘Lion’s Den’ atmosphere in the UK and we plan to bring that energy to New York on a card that will be stacked with British versus American talent. When you look at the heavyweight greats that have graced the renowned ‘Mecca of Boxing,’ the names of Ali, Frazier, Marciano and Tyson stand firm, and June 1 will be a moment when the world will witness AJ’s turn.

“Jarrell Miller is someone I know well, having been involved in his last four fights in America. I know how much he wants this fight and I know the belief that him and his team have in beating AJ. He is a mountain of a man, with an incredible work rate, and he will get the chance to challenge for four world heavyweight belts in his backyard this summer. They went head-to-head for all the wrong reasons last summer [in New York] and next week they will do it again as we get ready for the big buildup for a momentous moment on June 1st at MSG.”

A press conference to officially kick off the Joshua-Miller promotion has been scheduled for Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. Ticket information will be made available soon.

Popcorn Muscles is finally going to fight in US at the Garden...
 
i'm with miller, fuck it...



Danny-DeVito-Nope.gif


He drops his hand when he throws a punch.

He aint ready
 

Eddie and AJ must be gutted, Wembley had been booked for ages, but looks like no one would fight with a 9-10 week camp... Whyte wouldnt fight because of being low balled to go along with the lack of camp and Fury and Wilder are having their rematch, bit of a reality check for Hearn and AJ that they dont hold all the cards...
 
No way Miller wins imo, hes not even that harder a puncher for a big dude and is too one dimensional, Im going with AJ out manoeuvring him and stopping him mid to late rounds...
 
https://www.boxingscene.com/teofimo-lopez-top-rank-pursuit-wbc-title-2019--136286

Teofimo Lopez, Top Rank in Pursuit of WBC Title in 2019

By Jake Donovan

As Mikey Garcia (39-0, 30KOs) continues to prepare for his March 16 challenge of unbeaten welterweight titlist Errol Spence Jr., there remains heavy interest as to what his plans are with the World Boxing Council (WBC) lightweight title which remains in his possession.

For now, the WBC is taking a wait-and-see approach—as BoxingScene.com previously reported—to give Garcia a chance to decide at which weight he chooses to campaign after the Spence fight.

Meanwhile, several divisional players continue to plot their own next moves. England’s Luke Campbell patiently awaits his owed title shot, which at some point will have to be enforced.


One contender on the rise, Teofimo Lopez Jr. decided to take his act directly to Mexico City where he joined reigning WBC 140-pound titlist Jose Ramirez and representatives from Top Rank Inc. on Thursday afternoon to take part in a press conference held to honor the WBC’s 56th anniversary.

Lopez (12-0, 10KOs) is fresh off of a one-sided 7th round stoppage of Diego Magdaleno earlier this month in Frisco, Texas. The feat officially graduated the 21-year old knockout artist from prospect to contender.

“In just 12 fights I have already moved to number 5 (WBC-ranked lightweight) in the world,” noted Lopez, a Brooklyn-bred boxer who represented Honduras in the 2016 Rio Olympics. “It is in my plans for this year to become a world champion.”

His next fight won’t be for the title but certainly one that will continue to move him in that direction. Lopez will next appear on the undercard of the April 20 Pay-Per-View headliner between Terence Crawford and Amir Khan at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The bout will mark his fifth fight on MSG property, having previously fought twice in the main room and twice at Hulu Theatre. None have lasted very long, in fact lasting just 11 minutes combined in two each 1st round and 2nd round knockouts.

Lopez is just one of several young boxers under the Top Rank banner, along with Ramirez—fresh off of a 12-round win over Jose Zepeda in his 2nd title defense last weekend—whom the company deems as can't miss future stars.

“You talk about the top stars, Vasiliy Lomachenko will be fighting April 12 at Staples Center (in Los Angeles) and then Terence Crawford fights April 20 at Madison Square Garden,” explained Carl Moretti, vice president of operations for Top Rank. “In the not-too-distant future, these two gentlemen here will be talked about on pound-for-pound lists.

“It’s great to have that kind of talent. We develop character, not characters.”

Lopez has character for days, along with a world of talent and what many have already identified as that certain “it” factor in targeting future superstars. Having already run through the prospect phase of his short career—appropriately hailed by BoxingScene.com as a frontrunner for the 2018 Prospect of the Year—he’s already leading a path of destruction in his rise as a lightweight contender.

“Hopefully, over the next 6-9 months there will be clarity as to what happens with the title,” Moretti offered as a loose timetable for when Lopez will challenge for the WBC belt, also known as ‘The Green Belt’. “As you can see, the green looks wonderful on Teofimo Lopez. That is our goal and if we have to fight Luke Campbell, (former 130 pound titlist) Javier Fortuna or whoever, we don’t care.

“We’d just love to have the opportunity for Lopez to fight for the title. Then eventually, the fight to make would be a unification fight with Lomachenko in 2020. Right now, (Lopez is) fighting on April 20 and that’s the most important fight of his career—the next one. After that, we will take care of business.”
 
https://www.boxingscene.com/lennox-lewis-rolls-eyes-hearn-miller-not-test-joshua--136325

Lennox Lewis Rolls Eyes at Hearn: Miller Will Not Test Joshua

Former undisputed heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis is not very excited about the upcoming contest between Anthony Joshua and Jarrell Miller.

Joshua defends his IBF, WBA, WBO, IBO titles against Miller on June 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The two fighters will come together for a press conference event on Tuesday in NY.

Initially, Joshua was pegged to return on April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London - with his promoter, Eddie Hearn, attempting to secure Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte.

Lewis expected Joshua to have a much better opponent for his debut fight in the United States.

Lewis believes the fight was already in play when Miller confronted Joshua at a DAZN press conference last summer, in New York.

He does not give Miller a shot to win.

“I am with everybody else in this case, I wanted to see a better fight. When Anthony came to America last year and Miller came up and crashed his press conference, I thought that was big set-up and I was not fooled by it," Lewis told Sun Sport.

“I have only seen Miller fight once but I guess it’s the easy sort of fight they want to have in America and then go home. It’s not really a fight that will test Anthony. Miller is just an up-and-coming heavyweight who is trying to make himself known to the world.

“But no one really knows him in America and they don’t know him too well in England either.”

And Lewis places the blame on Hearn, in terms of his inability to secure a unification with Wilder in the coming months.

“I don’t think it was complicated to make the Wilder fight, they were in the best spot possible to dictate exactly what they wanted. They cannot cry over spilled milk and say ‘oh I wish I could have got the fight’. They could have got the fight but they did not take advantage of their position. It’s a situation where they have to know what is going on in their business," Lewis said.

“The fact Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury are going to fight again has got everyone excited, they want to see that match-up and that has left Anthony Joshua out in the cold and it’s just down to bad decisions from his promoter.”
 
https://www.boxingscene.com/crawfords-coach-world-knows-khan-got-chance--136326

Crawford's Coach: The World Knows Khan Don't Got a Chance

Brian McIntyre, head trainer for WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford, expects his boxer to dominate challenger Amir Khan on April 20th.

Crawford will defend his title against Crawford at Madison Square Garden in New York City, with ESPN Pay-Per-View carrying the bout.

The talkative trainer spoke with Michael Woods of Everlast's “Talkbox” and explained that he doesn't give the British superstar any shot to pull off an upset win.

Khan is the more experienced fighter and faced a much stiffer level of competition.

But, he's also a massive underdog - due to three knockout defeats on is record and struggling at times in his last ring outing against Samuel Vargas.

He's reunited with veteran coach Virgil Hunter, who trained Andre Ward for his entire career and led him to titles runs in two weight divisions.

Khan's four career defeats have not come at the welterweight limit. He tasted defeat at lightweight, twice at junior welterweight and once at a catch-weight of 155 with the much larger Canelo Alvarez.

But Crawford's trainer fully expects Khan to suffer his first welterweight loss in April.

“He don’t got a chance to save his life, man. You know that, the world knows that. Definitely [won't pull off an upset] that night, not April 20, pick another day and another opponent for Amir Khan for stranger things to happen. But definitely not April 20 against Terence Crawford," McIntyre said.

While Crawford is often seen ringside to view live boxing, he always stays fit and keeps his weight in check.

“Terence hasn’t changed a bit. The older he gets the more understanding he is of the game. He knows he must stay in the gym, not heavy when there’s no fights coming up, stay in the gym to stay fit, keep the weight down to 160, 161, keep his mind and hands sharp," the trainer noted.

Wow.. Great job by Crawford’s trainer of promoting a fight that shouldn’t be on PPV.. Smh...
 
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