Weekend boxing

Sportsbook.com, the largest sportsbook and casino on the planet, has released the numbers for this weekend's fight action. It all starts tonight when former light heavyweight champ Glen Johnson -625 faces off against George Khalid Jones +425 on a FOX Sports Net televised bout from Brooks, California.
Saturday can only be classified as a "Super Saturday" with eight major bouts on the board. On the HBO-PPV card from Tampa, light heavyweight champ Antonio Tarver is -185 to do away with Roy Jones Jr +155. Also on the card, the heavyweight rematch between Brian Minto and Vincent Maddalone is a pick'em at -115 apiece, lightweight contender Almazbek Raiymkulov is a solid -450 to top Nate Campbell +300, and in off-TV action it's heavyweight Lance Whitaker -625 to beat Gabe Brown +425. SHOWTIME counters with heavyweight James Toney -575 to best Dominick Guinn +375 and IBF heavy champ Chris Byrd -325 to get past DaVarryl Williamson +250 on a telecast from Reno.In international action, all eyes will be on Oldenburg, Germany where Nikolay Valuev -550 and Larry Donald +350 meet in a WBA heavyweight eliminator. European heavy king Paolo Vidoz is -200 to retain against Michael Sprott +160 in the co-feature.

Days before

Days before the biggest fight of his career, a rematch of a sensational fight in which he lost, Italian heavyweight slugger Vinny Maddalone is just happy for the opportunity. "Am I nervous about my first Pay-Per-View? No, definitely not. I was a co-feature when Wladimir Klitschko and Ray Mercer fought. Once you’re in the ring, you forget about everything else. You just have to take care of business." Maddalone will face arch rival Brian Minto this Saturday, October 1, as one of the main supporting bouts to Joe DeGuardia and Star Boxing’s epic Tarver vs. Jones 3 fight at the St. Pete Times Arena in Tampa, Florida and televised live on HBO PPV. "This time, it will be different," he promises.

Leavander Johnson's

Leavander Johnson's final viewings will be Friday, September 30th from 5-9 PM and again on Saturday, October 1st with Services beginning at 11 AM at the Shiloh Baptist Church, 701 Atlantic Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ. (Shiloh Baptist Church is one block from the Showboat. The Showboat is on Pacific and the church is one block North).

October 7th

On October 7th, Lenord 'The Haitian Sensation' Pierre (17-1; 12 KO's) will square off against Robert 'Push Up' Frazier (31-6-4; 15 KO's) at the Monticello Raceway in Monticello, NY. Their middleweight bout looks to be an interesting match up in that Pierre is a promising 26 year old power slugger from Catskill, NY, and is trained by Kevin Rooney. While Frazier, is a sturdy ring veteran who faced Felix Sturm last year for the vacant WBO Intercontinental middleweight title (L-UD12) and Ronald 'Winky'Wright in 2001 for the vacant IBF jr. middleweight crown (L-UD12). The card is promoted by Bob Duffy of Ring Promotions.

Enoki barely

Unbeaten WBA#11/WBC#15 Japanese feather champ Hiroyuki Enoki (23-0-1, 17 KOs), 126, failed to impress his hometown crowd with his disappointing performance, though keeping his national belt by a close but unanimous verdict over overmatched Koji Umezu (9-6, 5 KOs), 125.75, on Thursday in Akita, Japan. Enoki, who dethroned previously unbeaten Dainoshin Kuma via ninth round stoppage last September, couldn't his trade-mark stinging lefts only to have a tough time coping with Umezu's countering tactics. There had been a rumor that Enoki might have a shot at the WBC feather belt against Injin Chi, but no one will support his premature crack at the world throne by watching his lackluster showing. Promoter: Kadoebi Jewel Promotions.

IBF

IBF super bantamweight champion Israel “Magnifico” Vazquez has confirmed that the contract has been signed and delivered to face WBC champ Oscar "Chololo" Larios as part of an HBO-PPV card along with Bernard Hopkins vs. Jermain Taylor II on December third. "This is the moment of truth. We have one victory against each other and like ring announcer Lupe Contreras says (as his catch phrase) we’ll finally get to see who really is more macho," said a giddy Vazquez. Vazquez and Larios fought a toe to toe war that was a fight of the year candidate in 2002 before Gatti and Ward embarked on their two fisted epic. Larios won the fight with a twelve round stoppage. Their first fight took place in 1999 with Vazquez brutally knocking out Larios in the first round. Vazquez, who had many fights fall through in the last two years, feels this is the big time fight and exposure both he and Larios need in order to rise to another level. His faith has also been re-established, "I was losing a lot of faith in the boxing world. But this proves to me that all I needed was a little patience and something big would soon happen. Many fighters sacrifice a lot and never get this far. This is what every fighter works so hard for. What’s bigger than fighting on HBO and getting to face the one fighter I’ve been wanting revenge against for so many years?" Vazquez also assured that his recent sparring sessions with Manny Pacquio will be very helpful in this fight, "I learned some important lessons from those sessions. Those are lessons I can take with me into the ring for any fight."

Ghost

Robert "The Ghost" Guerrero(16-0-1, 9 KOs) is without a doubt one of the nicest people you could ever meet outside the ring but once that bell rings he is a frightening foe for his featherweight rivals. Fightnews.com spoke with Guerrero immediately after his first round destruction of Sammy Ventura in their featheweight bout Friday night in Lemoore, CA. Guerrero spoke of the victory and his big scheduled fight date on Showtime December 2nd.

Brady

Irish middleweight power punching prospect, John Duddy, improved to 12-0 (11), by knocking out Joseph Brady at 1:01 of the first round, in the main event of the New England Ringside promoted card from the Dana Barros Sports Complex in Mansfield, MA. The Derry, Northern Ireland native Duddy came out very aggressive after the opening bell and was able to hurt Brady right away with a solid straight right hand. Duddy then followed that up with a jab and left cross combination to drop Brady. Brady was able to beat the count however, but just seconds later was dropped by a Duddy left hook to the body. Brady attempted to get back to his feet, but immediately went back down as the referee reached the count of 10, as the pro-Irish crowd 0f 852 in this town 30 miles south of Boston cheered wildly. Brady of Albuquerque, NM now drops to 13-5-1

Tuaman

On Friday, October 21, Seminole Warriors Boxing, in association with Cedric Kushner Promotions, is pleased to announce the latest installment of the Hard Knocks at the Hard Rock series "Rumble at the Rock" featuring the United States return of one of the sport’s most electrifying fighters, David "The Tuaman" Tua vs Cisse Salif (17-4-2, 16 KOs). The ten round heavyweight clash will air live on pay-per-view from the Hard Rock Live Arena in Hollywood, Florida. Suggested retail price is $24.95. Undercard bouts will be announced at a later date. Tickets are on sale now for Hard Knocks at the Hard Rock – "Rumble at the Rock" They are priced at $150, $100, and $50.

Sycuan help victims

Female boxing star Ann Wolfe was scheduled to fight a male boxer in Biloxi, Mississippi on October 15, but that event has been postponed. Ann has been assisting and visiting with victims of Hurricane Katrina at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. Currently, more than 4,000 people are being housed there. Wolfe is helping out the kids by feeding them, spending time with them, as well as opening her home and gym as a place to get away.The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation has donated $100,000 to help victims hit by Hurricane Katrina. Sycuan gave $50,000 to the San Diego Chapter of the Red Cross to assist with local relief efforts. Sycuan Tribal Chairman Daniel Tucker and Treasurer Glenn Quiroga, also the president of Sycuan Ringside Promotions, showed up at Storm Aide, a fundraiser held at Qualcomm Stadium to drop off the cash donation. Sycuan also donated an additional $50,000 to the national Red Cross for direct assistance.

Tijuana card cancelled

The twinbill featuring former world jr flyweight champion Victor Burgos and longtime bantamweight contender Ricardo "Chapo" Vargas in separate bouts scheduled to happen tonight at the Auditorio Municipalin Tijuana, Mexico was cancelled when Burgos's opponent, Luis Valdez, was a no show at the weigh-in and his whereabouts are still unknown at the moment. The fightcard is tentatively rescheduled for two weeks from now, Monday Sept 19th, 2005.