Campeon Azteca Round 2

With a roomful of world and former world champions, Tijuana’s Zanfer Promotions and Box Azteca introduced their jam packed schedule for the month of September to celebrate the 200th year in since the Mexican war of independance.

“We didn’t want to leave anything out and we are throwing the house thru the window,” Zanfer Promotions President Fernando Zanfer stated. “We are putting on our best fighters week after week beginning on September 4th and going until the 25th.”

The director of the Azteca channel, Rodrigo Fernandez, also announced the premiere of the second season of the “Campeon Azteca” reality series which will be billed “Round 2″.

Supporting Beltran and his announcement were Marco Antonio Barrera, Humberto “Zorrita” Soto, Rafael Marquez, Fernando “Kochulito” Montiel, Jorge “Travieso” Arce, Jorge “Coloradito” Solis, Alberto “Topo” Rosas and Ricardo Dominguez.

Tough Comeback Fight for Baldomir

The return of the former welterweight champion Carlos “Tata” Baldomir will be tough one when he faces the up and coming Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on September 18th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA.

The bout will be part of the undercard of Shane Mosley versus Sergio Mora, presented by Golden Boy Promotions.

Baldomir has been training in his native Argentina, in the city of Junin’s Arano Box Gym. Initially, he was going to make his comeback bout in Argentina on September 24th but the prospect of a lucrative purse against Alvarez forced him to speed up his return to the ring.

Alvarez is considered one of the most popular athletes in Mexico at the moment and at only 20 years of age, he holds a perfect record of 34 wins against no defeats and with 25 wins via KO. Alvarez also holds a draw in his ledger.

Pacquiao-Margarito in Dallas?

According to Top Rank’s CEO Bob Arum, the super fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito can be officially announced in a press conference in Dallas, TX, on August 31st. Cowboys Stadium is the #1 choice to hold the much anticipated match up after Las Vegas was dropped from the list. Last March, the Pacquiao-Clottey mismatch drew more than fifty thousand fans. Arum believes the fight with Margarito will receive even bigger numbers.

“We will see what happens in Abu Dhabi,” Arum told the Manila Bulletin. “If the fights ends up in Abu Dhabi, I would imagine we would hold a press conference there but if not, we will hold it on August 31st in Dallas, then one in New York and one in Los Angeles.”

Pacquiao, Margarito and the Rest

The Deadline

So the deadline that Top Rank’s head honcho Bob Arum set forth for Mayweather Jr. to sign the contract to fight Filipino wunderkind Manny

Pacquiao came and went, now what? As it was rumored Arum is now pushing for either a Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito match up for the now Filipino Congressman which comes as no surprise since the Las Vegas based promoter has been dropping hints for more than two weeks of those two possible opponents if Mayweather did not sign on the dotted line. Now Mayweather has come out and stated that he is not even thinking about boxing at the moment. His team went as far as to send out an official presser stating that no talks were ever held between Team Pac or Team May in the form of Ross Greenburg, President of HBO Sports, as intermediary.

DeMarco’s Return to the Ring Successful!

Former WBC interim lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco (24-2-1, 18KOs) or Tijuana, MX, made a successful comeback to the ring after his rather unsuccessful challenge for the full-fleged lightweight title of the late Edwin Valero last February in Monterrey, MX. Last Saturday DeMarco took on veteran Daniel Attah (24-6-1, 8KOs) of Nigeria in a scheduled ten round bout on the undercard of Bradley-Abregu at the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, CA.

After controlling the first round, DeMarco landed an overhand left cross which sent Attah down to the canvas. The former title contender beat the count but only to be met with a barrage of punches from DeMarco while his back was to the ropes. A series of uncontested devastating left hands prompted the referee Raul Caiz Jr. to stop the contest at the 2:30 mark of the second round.

With the win, DeMarco hopes to get back into title contention by the end of the year.

Zanfer Promotions: “There Is No Fight Versus Pavlik for Chavez Jr!”

Despite the rumors that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr might face former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, Guillermo Brito, Operating Manager of Zanfer Promotions, who direct Chavez Jr.’s career, stated that there is no concrete offer to face the “Ghost”.

Brito mentioned that the only bout they have slated for Chavez Jr. is for September 11th in Sinaloa but a bout against Youngstown, OH’s Pavlik is not in the horizon.

“There isn’t anything. That is an interesting fight but right now Julio is only focused for September 11th,” Brito stated recently. “There is a possible date for December but I don’t think Pavlik is an option.”

Brito did mention an opponent that Zanfer Promotions as well as Chavez Jr. would be interested in.

“What we would be willing to look for is a match up against Cotto if he goes up to middleweight,” Brito said. “It can be made at a catch weight also like 157 lbs. Freddie Roach said that he would be interested in a fight against the Puerto Rican.”

A “Ghost” Sighting in Chavez Jr.’s Future!

In a recent post on twitter.com, Steve Kim of MaxBoxing.com stated there were serious talks of a mega fight between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30KO) versus former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (36-2, 32KO) for December in either Dallas, TX, or Las Vegas, NV. The sudden upswing of Chavez Jr’s competition is coming on the heels of his recent impressive performance in a unanimous decision over strong Irish workhorse John Duddy last month. Granted Chavez Jr. did look like a different fighter under the tutelage of new head trainer Freddie Roach but is he ready for such a step up or is this all hyperbole by his promoter, Bob Arum?

According to Kim, his trainer Freddie Roach has gone on the record to say that he wants to wait for the outcome of Chavez Jr’s next bout slated for September 25th to see if he is ready for such a lofty assignment.

Margarito-Cotto II? I Hope Not!

In his June 23rd Random Thoughts column on ESPN.com, the well respected Dan Raphael mentioned that there were talks for a December 4th rematch between Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28KOs) and Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27KOs) of Tijuana, MX. In their July ’08 first match up, Margarito survived an early ambush from the Boricua to completely destroy the face and spirit of Cotto by 11th round TKO.

Since that fight, the career of both fighters has changed immensely. After taking some time off and enjoying his time under the sun, Margarito was the first to return to the ring in January of ’09, only to lose the WBA title he ripped from Cotto and to fall neck deep into a pit of controversy. It is old news that Margarito was caught with a plaster-like substance prior to his KO loss at the fists of “Sugar” Shane Mosley. After being suspended by the California State Athletic Commission for a year along with his trainer, Javier Capetillo, Margarito has since resurfaced under the tutelage of former champion Robert Garcia last May and earned a unanimous decision over Robert ” La Amenaza” Garcia (no relation).

Antonio Orozco on Telefutura

For most fighters when given the opportunity to perform on national television, it is a dream come true. Despite the excitement detected in his voice, undefeated jr. welterweight Antonio “Simple Man” Orozco (6-0, 5KOs) is trying to keep it as another day at the office when he faces Michael Peralta (4-4, 1KO) in a six round contest this Friday night at the Four Points Sheraton in Kearny Mesa, a suburb of San Diego, CA.

Golden Boy Promotions in association with a crew of local promoters are presenting “Solo Boxeo Tecate” televised nationally by spanish language channel Telefutura this Friday night. In the main event, undefeated super bantamweight CA state champ Christopher Martin (17-0-2, 5KOs)) of San Diego, CA, defends his title for the third time against journey man Adolfo Landeros (20-13-1, 9KOs). As of press time, it was a possibility that Orozco’s bout might be the televised semi-main event although not yet confirmed.

Who Should Cotto Face Next?

Boricua three divisional world champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28KOs) of Caguas, PR, jumped back into the win column after his

some what bizarre TKO over previously undefeated Yuri Foreman (28-1, 8KOs) last Saturday night from Yankee Stadium in New York City. The historic bout was for Foreman’s WBA jr. middleweight which now Cotto has added to his collection of titles. Under the tutelage of his new trainer Emmanuel Stewart, some believe that Cotto looked sharper and more like the Cotto of the jr. welterweight division while others have stated that he was hit too often by the rabbi in practice Foreman and because of that, there might not be much left in the twenty nine year old Cotto tank.

Regardless, here is my list in order of who I believe Cotto should face next. Cotto is not favored to win all these potential match ups but in my opinion these would be his opportunity to earn the biggest paydays in what seems to be the twilight of his career.

Next Page »