Boxing

Banner Promotions and Thompson Boxing Promotions are re-signing Tijuana’s crackerjack super featherweight contender Juan Carlos Burgos (30-1-1, 20 KOs) to a second promotional contract.

VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association) will handle extra drug testing for November's Manny Pacquiao vs Brandon Rios fight in Macau, as promoter Bob Arum has chosen that agency over USADA, which has handled fights for Floyd Mayweather and most of Golden Boy's bouts in the past. "We're going to use VADA. To me, we've had experience now in two fights with VADA, and they've conducted themselves extremely well. The fighters who have participated have nothing but praise for the way that it was handled. I'm going with the organization that I have a track record with rather than an organization that I have never used," said Arum. "That's the point. It's the fighters who are the ones who are affected, and the reports that I received from the fighters in both of those fights -- from the winners and the losers and from everybody -- were very complimentary. In other words, the testing is very important, but it has to be done in a way that is compatible with the fighters' training." I've got two real thoughts here: VADA being "easier" for fighters by not disrupting their routines or whatever isn't really the point. I get what Arum means, but drug testing should not be at the convenience of those being tested. I mean, that shouldn't really be a factor. It should be effectiveness. We're probably basically going to have a drug testing split, so you can add VADA to Team Top Rank/HBO, and USADA to Team Golden Boy/Showtime. Sooner or later I expect trainers, cut men, managers, mistresses, etc. to all have to pick one side or the other. You'll probably recall that Golden Boy has not used VADA since they got positive tests last year from both Lamont Peterson and Andre Berto. Richard Schaefer had some kind of fit because of the way things were handled, which to VADA's knowledge was simply what was specified in the contract. Since then, USADA has had Erik Morales test positive for clenbuterol last October, but he was allowed to fight anyway after eventually passing a test. Despite that ruling, Morales was later "suspended" by USADA, which the fighter has effectively ignored as he plans to fight on in Mexico. I'm not saying one is better than the other, or that I don't trust USADA, or that I'm a Drugs Testings Experts, but I'm just saying if I had to put my own money on who I'd pick to handle the drug testing -- well, actually, I guess it depends on what my ultimate goal is. Manny Pacquiao offered this: "It's really important because, you never know, some fighters use drugs. It's really important to have drug testing." Depending on your level of skepticism, this quote may be totally hilarious to you.

While boxing fans around the world are willingly going ga-ga over Argentina's power-punching junior welterweight Lucas Matthysse, Floyd Mayweather Sr doesn't see what the big deal is, saying that Matthysse is just a banger, and doesn't have elite skills. From Chris Robinson: "He's a guy that just throws hard punches. He's not a skillful fighter. He's a banger and I didn't see nothing that impressed me about him but his power. He does have power. ... He's not an elite fighter. If you want to call him an elite fighter because of his power, you call him elite fighter then. As far as his skills? No." Predictably, this also means that Floyd Sr believes his son would easily deal with Matthysse, which I don't mean as a shot when I say "predictably" -- I think only the most truly insane would really pick Lucas to beat Floyd, and I expect few would even see him being competitive. Matthysse in four!

Anyone seeing Fast 6 this weekend starring The Rock and Gina?

Loads of new headlines.

On March 30, top-rated light heavyweight contender Isaac "Golden Boy" Chilemba (20-1-2, 9KO’s) and reigning WBC silver light heavyweight champion Tony Bellew (19-1-1, 12KO’s) battled to a 12-round split decision draw in Bellew’s backyard of Liverpool. Now, the two combatants are set to go at it again this Saturday night, on the undercard of the much anticipated rematch between defending IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler at t

Making The Rounds: Matthysse tops Peterson, Kessler rematches Froch and more from ESPN's weekly #boxing show

Photo: Rafael Soto Daniel Sandoval 154.3 vs. *Claudinei Lacerdo José Cayetano 120.2 vs. Charly Valenzuela 120.2 Sandra Robles 113.5 vs. Brenda Flores 113.5 Álvaro Aguilar 152.1 vs. José Vázquez 152.1 Ángel Rodríguez 129.4 vs. Victoriano Núñez 127 Paul Valenzuela 158.7 … Continue reading →

Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing has put together a stellar undercard for tomorrow night’s ESPN Friday Night Fights event at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

5. Richie Woodhall 26-3 (16) Unofficially the nicest man in boxing, Woodhall was a stellar amateur who won an Olympic bronze in Seoul, losing to Roy Jones Jnr in the semis. He turned pro shortly after winning Commonwealth gold in 1990 and quickly won the Commonwealth title at middleweight. He added the European title before taking on Keith Holmes for the world crown. Having fallen short against Holmes, being stopped in the twelfth round after a brave effort fighting with an elbow injury that almost ended his career, Woodhall moved up to the super-middleweight division. In early 1998, Woodhall had home advantage against WBC champion and recent Robin Reid conqueror Thulani Malinga. With the Telford Ice Rink packed to capacity (plus a few hundred more who had sneaked into the venue via cash in hand, hiding behind a mate with a ticket or blatantly just walking in), Woodhall was roared onto victory by an incredibly loud crowd. He controlled the fight with his textbook jab and picked Malinga off with frequent straight-rights - the style he had as an amateur tweaked ever so slightly for the professional game. He successfully defended the title twice, gaining a majority decision against Glenn Catley and getting off the canvas to drop and stop former champion Vincenzo Nardiello. He lost the title in unfortunate circumstances; he’d been out of the ring for eight months and had been in a long legal battle with his promoter, Frank warren, before he agreed to take on Markus Beyer in Germany. It was surprising that the champion agreed to fight an undefeated, up-and-coming fighter away from home, but by that point one sensed Woodhall was desperate to get back into the ring. Woodhall made a slow start, getting dropped in the first and twice in the third. He eventually got himself back into the contest, outboxing Beyer from the fifth onwards and rocking him late on. In the end the judges could’ve gone either way, which is remarkable given the poor start Woodhall had. Woodhall had a rematch with Beyer scuppered by Glen Catley, who stopped the German in the final round of their title bout. It wasn’t seen as too much of a problem as there was enough interest in a rematch with Catley for that to be made, unfortunately for Woodhall, Catley was beaten in his first defence by Dingaan Thobela. With the chance of a fight for his old WBC belt looking unlikely, IBF champion Sven Ottke was targeted, although it soon became clear that wasn’t going to happen. In late 2000 Woodhall faced his friend and WBO champion Joe Calzaghe. Woodhall was competitive early but seemed to run out of steam as the fight wore on, the non-stop punching of Calzaghe wearing down Woodhall, who was dropped in the ninth before being stopped on his feet in the tenth. He retired after the fight and has gone on to become a much respected commentator, analyst and trainer. 4. Chris Eubank 45-5-2 (KO 23) A two weight world champion, the eccentric Eubank was looked upon as a pantomime-esque villain in the early part of his career, yet was much loved by the time his career came to an end. Having won the WBO middleweight title against Nigel Benn, his arch rival, and defended it three times, Eubank moved up a division for a rematch with Michael Watson, who Eubank had beaten via a majority decision in his last bout at middleweight. Eubank produced a remarkable comeback after being thoroughly outboxed by Watson early on. He was way behind on the cards when he unleashed a brutal right hand at the end of the eleventh round that sent Watson crashing to the canvas, Watson got to his feet but was quickly halted at the start of the twelfth and final round. Watson collapsed seconds after the fight was stopped and suffered serious injuries that took him many years to overcome. It’s safe to say that if Watson hadn’t suffered those injuries, he would’ve undoubtedly become a world champion and would be very high up on this list. Eubank made f