Boxing

Whatever one made of Showtime's Super Six, there was one fight in that 168-pound tournament that is beyond dispute about its quality: Mikkel Kessler vs. Carl Froch. When last they met in 2010, Kessler and Froch dueled at a high level in Denmark, delivering a Fight of the Year contender and the best round of that year, a sizzling 12th where Kessler -- one fight removed from an embarrassing, emasculating defeat by Andre Ward -- found his inner man and traded shots with boxing's most fearless warrior, eventually coming out on top by decision. It wasn't Froch's finest moment; after the loss, he whined endlessly about the decision and made excuses about how an Iceland volcano that threatened to postpone the fight took him out of his mental game. It was, actually, Kessler's finest moment, because he rebounded so impressively from such a low against a fighter who has gone on to become one of the world's 10 best of any weight. Since, Kessler has endured a long injury layoff due to an eye injury and won two ambiguous stoppage wins. Froch has lost to Ward himself, then secured the victory of his career over Lucian Bute. That's the backdrop of this rematch, one of the more anticipated bouts of 2013, in London on HBO Saturday. The promotion has had its share of volcanic moments. This week, Froch threatened to "kill" Kessler if it was necessary, even though Kessler has become his buddy outside the ring. It earned him a reprimand from British boxing authorities, but it wasn't so long ago that Kessler said there would be "death in my eyes" for Froch. Such rhetoric hardly elevates boxing, but it does, if nothing else, appear to reveal a window into the mindsets of both men: This fight is, figuratively if not literally, do or die for each of them them. Froch is the kind of boxer who harbors grudges against the universe for any wrong he perceives, and it fuels his enormous will. Kessler is perceived as on the other side of the hill, and needs this win to cement his legacy. Such passion, such history, is the stuff of great rivalries. It probably doesn't appear on HBO if the network doesn't see the winner as a viable opponent for Ward, an HBO favorite owing to ex-Showtime exec Ken Hershman taking over HBO's boxing programming. It has appeal, and competitive merit, independent of Ward. Perhaps Froch learned from his loss to Kessler, even if he never considered it a loss: In his very next fight, he displayed a never-before-revealed defensive aplomb and versatility against Arthur Abraham. The Ward loss was a setback, but an understandable one -- Ward is pure special, and Froch is just a notch below that. By the time Froch fought Bute, he was back to his old ways, multiplied by 10. The nuance of the Abraham performance was gone, replaced by the traditional Frochian "I don't care how much you hit me, I'm going to get mine" mentality. Bute caught him with some enormous shots, but Froch, whose chin is as good as they get, strolled through them and broke Bute's heart before shattering his consciousness. If Froch still had any non-believers left before the Bute win, they vaporized afterward. In some quarters, Bute was considered too fast, too powerful, too cute for a man of Froch's limited means. But Froch's whole career is a testament to how much willpower and ablity to absorb punishment overcomes any limited means, and together form a lethal weapon. He is coming off a rare easy-ish bout against Yusaf Mack, following a multi-year grind of a schedule unequaled in boxing and that only continues its grueling pace Saturday. Froch's momentary lapse of will against Kessler came at a time when Kessler's shaky psyche was at its peak stability. Ward's mauling, physicality and technical/physical superiority had Kessler on the verge of quitting before a wound forced the bout to the scorecards. This wasn't the first time Kessler had betrayed mental weakness. He

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.