Can boxing be revived ?

[THE KOD]

I have been reading alot lately that boxing as we have known it is dead.

The Mayweather / De La Hoya fight was supposed to revive boxing and be one of the best fights in history. Yeh right. We all saw what happened to that one.

Betting boxing has definately become more difficult to win at successfully over the last few years. Box is one of the few that I have ever seen be able to maintain a consistant record year after year like he does. It really is amazing.

We all have to rely on our strengths to win the cash. There is no way I could pick winners week after week. But give me time to pour over a upcoming fight , and I can usually find something that leads me to the winning play.

Its never any one thing, but rather insight into how the fight will turn out.

As I have said in the past I love heavyweight fights the best when titles are on the line.

Besides following Box on the lighter weights I have never really wagered on these fights.

Boxing was in its heyday ....

Larry Holmes
Lennex Lewis
Mike Tyson
Sugar Ray Leonard
Tom Hearns
Alexis Arguyo sp
Ali of course
Evandor Holyfiled.

I think I read the other day that Evander is going to fight Lou Saverese. What a joke. If there is anything that is bringing the sport of boxing down, its fights that are made like that one.

 

[THE KOD]

Saturday, June 2 2007
Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey

Shannon Briggs vs. Sultan Ibragimov
(WBO Heavyweight Championship)



Saturday, July 7 2007
Cologne Arena, Cologne, Germany

Wladimir Klitschko vs. Lamon Brewster
(IBF Heavyweight Championship)

HBO
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These are two fights that I intend to play pretty large. I have begun looking into the Briggs fight and I like what I see.

I hate it when its this easy.

 

[THE KOD]

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Shannon Briggs then recaptured part of the division for America when he defeated Serguei Lyakhovich in the final seconds of their fight by KO to win the WBO belt.

Chris Byrd and Lamon Brewster lost their belts to European fighters Wladimir Klitschko and Serguei Lyakhovich respectively.

 

[THE KOD]

 

[THE KOD]

Infamous boxing promoter Don King has a plan to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion through a series of fights before the end of 2008?

?I think the title should be unified. To have one undisputed, identifiable world champion would make everything better,? King told Reuters in an exclusive interview.

?It would restore the magic,? he said.

King made the statement one day after his latest heavyweight client, Nikolai Valuev, lost his WBA Heavyweight Belt to Ruslan Chagaev. He said that Valuev winning would have given him more power in making his plan a reality but is set on doing so anyway.

King said that it would take roughly $30 million in order to make the tournament happen and that it could be very easy to gather the money, even if it has to come out of his own pocket?

The outcomes of the Briggs-Ibragimov, Klitschko-Brewster, and Maskaev-Peter fights this summer will set up the beginning of the projected series of fights according to King.

- For those of you that are wondering, there hasn?t been an undisputed champion since right before Mike Tyson lost to Buster Douglas in 1990?

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[THE KOD]

 

[THE KOD]

 

[THE KOD]

Wladimir Klitschko

Whether you love him or hate hime, Wladimir Klitschko is still one of the most feared heavyweights in professional boxing.

Wladimir, along with brother Vitali are arguably the most dominating sibling duo's in modern sport history.

His explosive power and superior boxing skills continue to keep him in the heavyweight title chase.

 

[THE KOD]

 

[THE KOD]

 

[THE KOD]

.....down goes Frazier down goes Frazier
!

 

[THE KOD]

 

[THE KOD]

New York, April 16?The heavyweight championship Fight of the Year is on! Wladimir Klitschko, the IBF and IBO world heavyweight titlist, will defend his belts against former world champion Lamon Brewster in ?The Rematch? on July 7 at the 20,000-seat Cologne Arena in Cologne, Germany, it was announced by K2 Promotions.

In their first battle for the WBO championship, Brewster won the title with a fifth round technical knockout on April 10, 2004 in Las Vegas. The dramatic battle was stopped between the fifth and sixth rounds, after Klitschko had knocked down Brewster in the fourth round, but was saved by the bell. Brewster recovered and went on to score a spectacular win to take the title.

?This chance for revenge against Lamon Brewster is a dream come true,? said the 31-year old Klitschko. ?He is without a doubt an extremely dangerous opponent, but I always hoped for chance to redeem myself. In the first fight, three years ago, I ran out of gas for some still unknown reason that I still can?t explain. But I am very happy to get back into the ring with Brewster.?

?I will knockout Klitschko again,? said Brewster, ?and then no one will be able to say that the first win was a fluke. As fans saw in my knockout win over Luan Krasniqi in 2006, I have no problem fighting in Germany, and am happy to return there.?

Klitschko, a native of Kiev, Ukraine, has a ring record of 48-3, with 43 victories coming by way of knockout. Brewster is 33-3, with 29 KO?s, so the title bout is a true battle of knockout artists. Brewster was the WBO heavyweight champ from 2004-2006. Wladimir Klitschko captured Olympic gold in the heavyweight division in 1996 in Atlanta, and is the current IBF and IBO world heavyweight champion.

HBO World Championship Boxing will broadcast live from Germany at 5:00 PM/ET and 2:00 PM/PT, and replayed 10:30 PM/ET/PT.
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[THE KOD]

2006 boxrec

1 Calvin Brock

2 Nikolay Valuev

3 Wladimir Klitschko

4 Samuel Peter

5 Tony Thompson

6 Shannon Briggs

7 Matt Skelton

8 James Toney

9 Hasim Rahman

10 Tye Fields

11 Brian Minto

12 Oleg Maskaev

13 Joe Mesi

14 DaVarryl Williamson

15 Sultan Ibragimov

16 Eddie Chambers

17 Malik Scott

18 Alexander Dimitrenko

19 Serguei Lyakhovich

20 Lamon Brewster

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2007

1. Wladimir Klitschko Next: July 7 vs. Lamon Brewster
2. Oleg Maskaev Next: TBA vs. Samuel Peter
3. Samuel Peter Next: TBA vs. Oleg Maskaev
4. Shannon Briggs Next: June 2 vs. Sultan Ibragimov
5. Ruslan Chagaev
6. Sergei Liakhovich
7. Lamon Brewster Next: July 7 vs. Wladimir Klitschko
8. Nicolay Valuev
9. Chris Byrd
10. James Toney Next: May 24 vs. Danny Batchelder
11. Calvin Brock Next: June 2 vs. TBA
12. Hasim Rahman Next: June 14 vs. Taurus Sykes
13. Evander Holyfield
14. Luan Krasniqi
15. John Ruiz
16. Sultan Ibragimov Next: June 2 vs. Shannon Briggs
17. Juan Carlos Gomez Next: June 16 vs. TBA
18. David Tua
19. Fres Oquendo
20. Monte Barrett
21. Oliver McCall Next: June 16 vs. Sinan Samil Sam
22. Tony Thompson Next: May 25 vs. Derek Bryant
23. Jameel McCline
24. Tye Fields
25. Larry Donald

 

[THE KOD]

 

[THE KOD]

King said that it would take roughly $30 million in order to make the tournament happen and that it could be very easy to gather the money, even if it has to come out of his own pocket?


30 million out of King's own pocket, and we wonder why boxing is in trouble.

 

[THE KOD]

Boxing News

Champion Shannon Briggs takes on challenger Sultan Ibragimov at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

The emphasis being on a few rounds because I believe there are three factors that will make this fight a short one, in favor of the champion.

Size

Briggs is 6?4 ? and will hold at least a 40 pound weight advantage. Camp Briggs he keeping quiet on whether he will come to the fighter lighter than he did against Sergui Lyahkovich, but regardless the size difference will be very substantial. Ibragimov stands just over 6 foot tall and does his best work a few pounds south of the 220 pound mark.

Experience

Briggs has been in the ring with five former champions: Sergui Lyahkovich, Ray Mercer, Lennox Lewis, Frans Botha, and George Foreman. Briggs also has been in the ring as a professional fifty-three times and this will only be Ibragimov?s 21st time.

The champion has also appeared on a number of high profile fights, including bouts on HBO, Showtime, and PPV. The challenger has appeared once, on ESPN 2. Briggs is used to the build up of a title fight while Ibragimov has only fought two opponents who have fought back. On his ESPN 2 fight Ibrigamov was lucky to walk away with a draw, after being put on the canvas by the light hitting Ray Austin in the final round. Ibragimov was also in a tougher than expected fight with unheralded Friday Ahuanya. Neither of those two fighters are anywhere close to the same league as Briggs.

Style

If there is an instruction manual on how to beat Briggs it?s to stay on the outside, use the jab, and outbox him while piling on the points. Jameel McCline did it to perfection and Sergei Lyahkovich did it effectively for 10 rounds before making the mistake of trying to fight Briggs? fight in the championship rounds.

If there is an instruction manual on how NOT to fight Briggs it might have been written by Ibragimov. Ibragimov likes to get inside and get in punching range. Ibragimov also likes to go toe-to-toe with opponents. Against fighters lesser than Briggs this is fine, but with Briggs he is fighting a man who has 42 knockouts who has knocked out iron chinned fighters like Lyahkovich and Mercer. Previous to that Briggs nearly knocked out Lewis in their title fight and knocked down Frans Botha with a single shot. As Austin showed in their match-up it appears that Ibragimov is wide open to counter shots, a Shannon Briggs specialty.

Before completion of halfway through the fight it will be goodnight sweet prince to the Sultan.
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:scared :scared

 

[THE KOD]

Column: Boxing losing popularity as talent runs dry
That's what's up
Eric Harding
Issue date: 10/6/05 Section: Sports
PrintEmail Article Tools Page 1 of 1 Does it seem like one sport has been missing from our viewing rotation recently? Maybe it hit you like it hit me the other day. Where was the TV coverage and analysis of the Antonio Tarver vs. Roy Jones, Jr. fight? Does SportsCenter, or newspapers around the country even care about covering America's former favorite blood sport?

Think about it, you see more of the Ultimate Fighting Championship on a regular basis than boxing matches people care about. I realize HBO and Showtime won't allow sports broadcasts to run actual footage of their fights, but Tarver beating Jones (who was once considered "pound for pound," the greatest in the world) is a big deal and should receive more recognition.

The same thing happened when Jermain Taylor beat Bernard Hopkins back in July. Hopkins was 46-2-1 with 20 consecutive title defenses until he was up-ended by Taylor, who gets little to no notoriety.

On the flip side, whenever Mike Tyson makes the news for any reason at all (good or bad) he gets media exposure, and he's been washed up for five or six years now.

His idea of becoming a porn star for his next paycheck following his last loss was all over sports talk shows.

As a result, the entire sport that people train their entire lives for, is looked upon like a joke or freak show at times, because one crazy individual has dominated the "limelight."

Now I'll admit, I was as intrigued about the "Mike Tyson Soap Opera" as anyone, but now it's time to find someone else to shine the boxing spotlight on; a superstar, someone to carry the torch, someone the casual fan will recognize. Maybe it's Tarver, maybe Taylor, but these guys don't have the star power or charisma to make people want to see, talk about and anticipate their fights.

Smaller fighters such as "Sugar" Shane Mosley and Ronald "Winky" Wright are very skilled and exciting to watch, but even those two are 33 and 32 respectively, and on the downside of their careers. Floyd Mayweather is only 27, but his size makes him unappealing to some viewers.

We're still waiting for a young boxer to come along with the total package. One who talks a good game and, even more importantly, backs it up in exciting fashion in the ring. Kind of like a boxing version of Chad Johnson.

Someone that kids grow up emulating and women talk about how cute he is. Is it possible though? Until someone like that comes along, boxing will continue to fade and fade until you see Don King holding a "will work for food" sign on the Las Vegas strip.
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