Former pound-for-pound king and four-division titleholder Roy Jones Jr. is scheduled to fight again.

Jones, who is 45 and about a decade past the end of his run on top, told ESPN.com on Thursday that he will take on 39-year-old British journeyman Courtney Fry (18-5, 6 KOs) in a 12-round cruiserweight bout on July 26 in Riga, Latvia.

I know he'll give it all he got, which is what I want from any opponent, Jones said. I want to go out and do my thing and take what I've been doing in the gym to the boxing ring.

The fight is the main event of a card that is also scheduled to feature long-faded heavyweight James Toney (76-9-3, 46 KOs), Jones' one-time rival and a former three-division titleholder. They met in a 1994 super middleweight world championship fight that Jones won by one-sided decision to claim the 168-pound belt.

Toney, 45, is scheduled to fight 6-foot-9, 330-pound Evgeny Orlov (15-12-1, 11 KOs), 35, of Russia. KP Promotion, which is putting on the card, initially wanted to match Jones with Toney in a rematch, but Jones said he had no interest.

I'm not doing that. For what reason? What do I gain from that? What am I gaining from that fight, Jones said. I already beat him and beating him again does nothing for me. Besides, I want to fight for the cruiserweight title. I ain't interested in going up to heavyweight again.

Since suffering three consecutive losses to Danny Green (a first-round knockout), Bernard Hopkins (a lopsided decision) and Denis Lebedev (a brutal 10th-round knockout) between 2009 and 2011, Jones has defeated three low-level opponents in a row.

He will be seeking his fourth consecutive win against Fry, who has lost two fights in a row.

Jones last fought in December in Moscow and scored a knockdown and won a 12-round unanimous decision against Zine Eddine Benmakhlouf.

Jones (57-8, 40 KOs) said his reason for accepting the fight next week is to knock off the rust, win and hope I get a bigger opportunity. I want to go for a cruiserweight world title. I'm an entertainer but I still fight and I still love to fight. You got to keep active and win and you will get a shot.

Many have called for Jones to retire, but he said he is not ready to do that yet.

You do think about it but it's hard to leave when you know you still got it. I know I still got it, he said. I'm very much looking forward to [going to Latvia].

Jones has not recorded a knockout victory since stopping former super middleweight titlist Jeff Lacy in the 10th round in August 2009.

I will get one this time, Jones said.

Jones is the lead analyst for HBO's boxing telecasts but he is leaving for Latvia on Sunday and will miss the network's July 26 broadcast of the Gennady Golovkin-Daniel Geale card at Madison Square Garden in New York.

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Marquez to be offered Pacquiao 5th fight in 2015

By Chris Williams: It seems that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum hasn’t given up on the idea of getting 40-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs) to agree to a 5th fight with his No.1 money fighter Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) after failing to agree to the rumored $20 million asking price that Marquez wanted for him to fight Pacquiao on November 22nd this year.

Arum wants to set up a fifth fight between Marquez and Pacquiao in early 2015. If the fight fails to happen at that time then that’s going to likely be the end of any chances of them ever fighting again, because Marquez is said to be retiring in 2015.

Marquez will be meeting with his promoter Fernando Beltran, and he’s got a couple of fights that he wants to offer him. The first is a fight in Mexico City in what would be a farewell fight in Mexico. The other fight would be the one that Arum wants in a fifth fight against Pacquiao.

“Juan is not convinced whether to continue boxing,” said an unnamed source. “He has won everything and has been thinking about saying goodbye. He’ll be taking a holiday in August and will be deciding what to do with his future in the ring. He knows that Beltran and Arum will offer him two fights, one where he fights Pacquiao, which would bring him a lot of money.”

You can bet the other fight that Marquez will be offered will be someone from Arum’s Top Rank stable. Marquez just did Arum a big favor in fighting one of his stable fighters in Mike Alvarado last May in a fight that Marquez easily won by a 12 round unanimous decision. I wouldn’t be surprised if Arum offers either Brandon Rios or WBA champion Jessie Vargas for Marquez to fight next. Neither of those fights are worth it for Marquez, and neither would do anything for his legacy.

Marquez lives in Mexico City, an expensive place to live, but he’s a millionaire so he doesn’t need to worry about money anymore. There’s not much of a reason for him to continue to fight unless he wants to fight Pacquiao a fifth time or if Floyd Mayweather Jr were to show interest in fighting him again. Those are pretty much the only two interesting fights left for Marquez. He’s already played out the Pacquiao fight and proven that he’s the better fighter than him in arguably beating him 4 times while getting robbed in three of the fights.

http://www.boxingnews24.com

Porter: Brook is getting his first loss on August 16th

By Scott Gilfoid: IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15 KOs) expects to hand unbeaten #1 IBF Kell Brook (32-0, 22 KO’s) his first loss of his career on August 16th in their fight at the StubHub Center, in Carson, California, USA. Porter sees Brook as basically just an experienced fighter with a stand-up European style of fighting.

Porter notes that Brook likes to jab and then load up with right hand. Porter doesn’t see anything complicated about Brook, as he does the same thing over and over again against the weak opposition that he’s been matched up against during his 10-year pro career.

“It’s going to happen, I’m very confident,” Porter said to esnewsreporting.com about his belief that he’ll easily beat Brook. On August 16th that’s where he’s going to get his first loss. If I get in the ring with Kell Brook right now, I’m looking at him like he’s the little guy. I’m just going to overpower you and wear you out.”

Unless Brook changes his stiff, upright fighting style and loosen up to be more of a boxer/mover, he’s going to get taken apart by Porter in this fight. Brook has no inside game, and it’s going to be a real problem for him to try and keep Porter off of him while standing straight up the way he does with his traditional stance.

Obviously, Brook is going to try and keep Porter on the outside with his jabs so that he can pot shot him and set him up for his right hands, but Porter is going to likely walk straight through the jabs from Brook. You’re not going to keep a guy as big and as strong as Porter off of you with just jabs. That’s not going to happen.

No one is going to keep a fighter like Porter off with just a jab. Unless Brook has learned how to fight on the inside during this training camp, which I highly doubt, he’s going to get taken apart on the inside.

Of course, Brook can always try and move around the ring to evade the big power shots from Porter, but he’s not proven himself to have the kind of mobility to move. Brook is really stiff and slow on his feet, and that’s probably not going to change by the time he fights Porter.

http://www.boxingnews24.com

WBO jr. middleweight champion Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade (21-0, 14 KOs) says he is the man to beat at 154 pounds and wants Canelo Alvarez and his promoter Oscar De La Hoya to know that he would be interested in dealing a beating to the Mexican star in a fall bout.

“I read some comments that Oscar made to Lara after the fight that there is a line about 10 people deep to fight Canelo and Lara would have to get to the back of it. What Oscar failed to mention is that line forms behind me,” said Andrade. “I am the WBO champion and I am undefeated. As I look down the rankings, I just defeated my mandatory Brian Rose and Alvarez is ranked number-two by the WBO. He will be elevated to number-one and I am ready and willing to fight him for my title. I just hope he would be prepared for the beating I will put on him.”

http://www.fightnews.com/

Manny Pacquiao's next fight probably will be a welterweight title defense against Chris Algieri, an unknown fighter just a few weeks ago until he upset Ruslan Provodnikov to win a junior welterweight world title.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who represents Pacquiao, told ESPN.com that he has made an offer to Star Boxing promoter Joe DeGuardia, Algieri's promoter, for the fight, which would take place Nov. 22 (HBO PPV) at the Cotai Arena at the Venetian Macao in Macau, China.

That's the fight I'd like to make and I think we're getting closer, Arum said Wednesday from Los Angeles, where he was meeting with Algieri co-promoter Artie Pelullo. Artie is here with me now and hopefully we'll be able to finalize everything.

Said DeGuardia, We have an offer from Bob and we're excited. I'm enthusiastic. It's the kind of fight that can push Chris higher up the ladder. He made a huge step in his last fight by winning the title against Ruslan and this would be another huge jump up that ladder.

Arum said that Mexican star Juan Manuel Marquez - who has already faced Pacquiao four times in memorable fights and is his mandatory challenger - is out of the running for the November fight but that there are two others still under consideration in the event he can't close a deal with Algieri: former junior welterweight titlist Mike Alvarado (34-3, 23 KOs) and welterweight contender Luis Carlos Abregu (36-1, 29 KOs) of Argentina.

However, Alvarado has lost two fights in a row, including a wide decision to Marquez on May 17 in a title eliminator to determine Pacquiao's mandatory challenger. Abregu is a formidable contender but has virtually no name recognition.

With there being no chance of a Pacquiao fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. this year - the fight that the public has demanded for years and not gotten for various reasons - Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) finds himself in the right place at the right time. In a three-fight span covering nine months, he could find himself going from making $15,000 for a January fight to $100,000 for the Provodnikov fight to more than $1 million against Pacquiao.

The 30-year-old from the Long Island, New York town of Huntington came out of nowhere to upset Provodnikov by controversial split decision on June 14 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Provodnikov knocked Algieri down twice in the first round and grotesquely swelled his right eye. While many thought Provodnikov won, Algieri also had many who thought he outboxed Provodnikov and was the rightful winner.

I like the storyline with Algieri, Arum said. Besides being a good fighter, he's a college graduate, a kid who wants to go to medical school to become a doctor in the future. He's articulate, good looking and we'll get a lot of backing in the promotion from the New York media because he's from New York.

But Algieri, a former kickboxer, who not only graduated from college but also earned a master's degree, has had very limited television exposure, having appeared once on HBO, once on ESPN2 and once on NBC Sports Net.

Arum knows he is in for an uphill battle to promote him in a pay-per-view fight with Pacquiao, especially one from Macau, where Pacquiao's fight with Brandon Rios last year drew less than 500,000 buys, which was a major disappointment. The poor performance had a lot to do with the 12-hour time difference from the East Coast, which caused an unusual schedule for promotional activities -- even though the pay-per-view itself began in the morning in Macau to accommodate a live prime time show in the U.S. -- and a lack of media members who made the trip to cover the fight. But Arum said he is able to make up for a lot of the lost American television revenue because of his site deal.

It remains to be seen how we'll do (on pay-per-view) but when you have a nice storyline you can really push it, Arum said. Would I like if Algieri had more exposure? Absolutely. But it is what it is.

Arum and DeGuardia said they hope to wrap up a deal by early next week. DeGuardia said he spoke with Algieri to go over various deal points, including the seven-figure offer, on Wednesday.

When you fight somebody like Manny Pacquiao you're a different player in the sport, DeGuardia said. Monetarily, it's always important to get what you can get, so while the offer isn't exactly what we wanted the flipside is that there are so many collateral benefits from being in a fight like this. We know Chris brings a lot to the table. When you really look at it from a marketing standpoint in the United States, they need a good dance partner and Chris has a lot going for him. Artie is on board with the deal if it gets made and, as far as Arum goes, there are a few little things we need to tweak. But I don't see any issues. I'm waiting to hear back from Chris as well on a few things.

The Philippines' Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs), 35, has won two fights in a row since being knocked out by Marquez in December 2012. Pacquiao returned to easily outpoint Rios in November and avenged his heavily disputed split decision loss to Timothy Bradley Jr. by easily outpointing him on April 12 to regain his welterweight world title.

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There was a moment in time when UFC president Dana White said that nobody wanted to fight Khabib Nurmagomedov. That was before Nurmy was booked into a fight with Benson Henderson (or at least so Henderson thought; turns out it was Rustam Khabilov) and Rafael dos Anjos showed up as just such a particular nobody in April to face the Dagestan bear wrestler.

And it was certainly before White checked with Donald Cerrone, the man who keeps reminding us that he’ll fight anybody, anytime -- whether it’s Nate, Khabib, anybody -- and actually means it.

At this point, it’s hard not to like Cowboy Cerrone, the Budweiser-guzzling fun dude who is always fighting some colossus or other between some adventure or other. The adventures he hitches to his fights are always something like rock climbing, or wakeboarding on Lake Powell, or riding mechanical bulls, rappelling, RVing in Clear Creek, passing the ladle around the campfire with Leonard Garcia or getting rowdy on his Fight Ranch outside Albuquerque with the tumbleweeds. Sometimes his adventure involves the taxman, who is one of his supreme motivators. Sometimes women.

This time, as Cerrone visited New Jersey, he was en-route to hanging with his grandmother in Niagara Falls before catching his friend, NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick, out in Indy. Yippee ki-yay!

And as always, there was a fight at the center of his action weekend.

Jim Miller, who’s nobody’s slouch, was the anybody this time through, and the only variation was that it was midweek. Cerrone very gamely took a few lumps from the Jersey native Miller in the first round before figuring out the timing, distance, cadence and rhythm of his UFC Fight Night 45 main event and teeing off on his head. He downed Miller with a well-timed head kick mid-second round, after he’d tenderized him with a crippling body kick moments earlier. Miller never recovered from the first, and the second had to come back to him slowly.

Between the time Dan Miragliotta called Cerrone off and the time he took the dais for the post-fight press conference, there were cold, rewarding Budweisers and another $50,000 in bonus money. This has become its own norm. After he submitted Edson Barboza in April, Cowboy was double-fisting the White Cans on the podium; he had one that he was drinking, the other that he made into a spitter. He had to pee mid-conference that night in Orlando. Dana White shook his head, and said, go pee.

At the Revel, Cerrone had just one bottle with him afterwards, but he was audibly enjoying it. And boy did he get antsy when he finished its contents…Cowboy was ready to go drink some beer, and be done with the silly media inquisition. This is a guy who says he wants to be the kind of fighter that people pull over to the bar to watch fight on TV. This is a guy who embodies everything that the UFC has ever been after in terms of willingness, aggression, excitement, technique and explosiveness, all the sellable, workable tenants.

I will literally fight anybody, he said. The UFC tells me the date and time to be there and I’ll gladly be there. Nate [Diaz], Khabib [Nurmagomedov], anybody, I wanna fight. So the sooner the better and looking forward to getting back out there.

At this point, the question is: Why is Cerrone not America’s favorite fighter? It’s certainly not because of the bashful, sh*t-eating grin he hides under his cowboy hat each time he’s told he won another $50,000 in end of the night bonus money. It’s not because he can’t win. After Miller, he’s now won four in a row…and he’s finished all four guys. It’s not because he makes himself scarce. He’s fought 17 times since 2010. That kind of action density is usually found at the beginning of fighter’s careers, when they are setting up cans.

But look at those 17 fights, going back to the WEC…Benson Henderson, Dos Anjos, Anthony Pettis, Miller, Nate Diaz, Melvin Guillard, Barboza, on and on. He’s fighting the very best of the best in his division, casually, like he's dealing in some good-timing rowdiness at the honky-tonk, usually on his way to Florida to wakeboard with Rusty Malinoski or to part-take in Cheyenne Days. He’d be the first to tell you he’s a crazy bastard, and by now we should believe him. But damn if it’s not fun to live through him vicariously a little bit.

Yet he keeps winning, and once again Cerrone has pitched his silhouette on the horizon against that blazing, warbling sun. (Or…you know, positioned himself near a title shot). He just keeps beating guys. Just keeps collecting bonuses.

The cool thing with Cerrone is, he just wants to keep fighting, regardless if it’s for a belt or not. Nate Diaz implicating him in hashtags (#UFCdick) ain’t no snake in the Cowboy’s boot; he’ll fight Diaz tomorrow, and he’ll do it in Stockton. And he’ll fight Nurmagomedov, too, if that’s what the UFC wants.

He’ll fight anybody, anytime, and he’ll leave a trail of empty Budweiser’s just to remind us he was there. And if there’s one thing that Cowboy makes you think, it’s this: Fighting shouldn’t be as easy as he makes it seem.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ, July 16 - Bantamweight veteran Leslie Smith wasn’t much of a “Peacemaker” against The Ultimate Fighter 18 alum Jessamyn Duke Wednesday night, as she stopped her opponent in the first round of their UFC Fight Night prelim bout at Revel Casino Hotel to nab her first Octagon victory.

“This is epic,” said an ecstatic Smith. “This is one if the biggest wins of my entire career and I'm going to remember it and take it with me. I'm really glad that I was able to live up to the training and the expertise that my coaches have shared with me. They all have done so much and been such good examples. It was great to be able to honor them with a win.”

Duke looked to be in control of the bout in the early stages, as she used her significant height and reach advantages to keep Smith at the end of her jab. But as soon as Smith was able to cut the Octagon off and put Duke against the fence, she unleashed a torrent of strikes. Duke took the first few shots well, but after a couple body shots, the Kentucky native slumped to the canvas, with referee Vitor Ribeiro stopping the fight at 2:24 of the round.

“The fight was going well with a good pace,” said Duke. “I knew she was going to come out strong. I threw a left hook and felt a pain in my left hand. To her credit, she sensed something was wrong and took advantage of it and got the win.”

With the victory, Smith improves to 7-5-1; Duke, who later posted an x-ray of her broken hand online, falls to 3-2 with 1 NC.

STERLING vs. VIANA

Highly touted 135-pound prospect Aljamain Sterling picked up his second UFC victory and his first Octagon stoppage, finishing Brazil’s Hugo Viana in the third round.

The bantamweights set a fast pace from the start, Viana having some solid success in the stand-up game as Sterling did equally well in the grappling realm while also getting his share of strikes in.

It was in the second that Sterling started taking over, as Viana had few answers for his stellar ground game, and things just got worse from there for “Wolverine,” who made a quick visit to the mat again early in round three. Patiently, New York’s Sterling looked for his time to strikes, and with under two minutes remaining in the fight, he found it, letting loose with a series of strikes that caught Viana by surprise and soon prompted referee Liam Kerrigan to step in and halt the fight at the 3:50 mark.

With the win, Sterling improves to 10-0; Viana falls to 8-3.

TIBAU vs. HEALY

Despite a stellar effort, Pat Healy remained winless in his sixth trip to the UFC Octagon, as he dropped a three-round unanimous decision to fellow lightweight veteran Gleison Tibau.

Scores for Tibau, now 38-10, were 30-27 and 29-28 twice. Healy falls to 31-19 with 1 NC.

Tibau was sharp from the opening horn, stunning Healy briefly with a few flush shots while the two stood, and then going on to dominate the action on the mat, starting with a thudding slam and some equally hard ground strikes. With less than a minute left, Healy got to his feet, but his faster opponent kept him from getting any significant offense off.

Healy, always known for being resilient, kept the pressure on Tibau in round two, and after some rough early moments, he appeared to get himself back in the fight as he chased his tiring foe around the Octagon.

In the third, Healy continued to push the action on the feet, outworking the Brazilian, but a slam by Tibau with a little over a minute left set the stage for a late rally that secured his well-deserved victory.

CEDENO vs. SANDERS

Lightweight Yosdenis Cedeno had a strong first round against newcomer Jerrod Sanders, and it was enough to land the TKO victory, as an injured knee suffered by Sanders in that round left him unable to come out for the second.

After a tentative opening as the fighters got acclimated to the fight, Cedeno (10-3) caught a Sanders kick and drilled him with a right hand, dropping him to the mat. Sanders was able to weather the follow-up storm, and in response he had the fight where he wanted it on the mat, but it was Cedeno who remained in control from the top position, where he landed several hard strikes throughout the rest of the round.

At the end of the frame though, Sanders (14-2) was slow to get up as he limped on an injured knee that forced him out of the bout before the start of round two.

GADELHA vs. LAHDEMAKI

Brazil’s Claudia Gadelha won the first strawweight bout in UFC history, as she outpointed Finland’s Tina Lahdemaki via unanimous decision in the 115-pound opener.

Scores were 30-27 twice and 30-26 for Gadelha, now 12-0; Lahdemaki falls to 5-1

The fight went as expected in the first round, with Gadelha controlling matters at range, in the clinch, and on the mat. Yet despite finding herself in serious trouble on a couple occasions, Lahdemaki showed plenty of heart and made it out of the first five minutes, giving her a chance to put Gadelha in some deeper waters in round two.

The Finland native wasn’t able to take full advantage in the second, as Gadelha controlled much of the frame, but Lahdemaki did get on the board late, tagging her foe with some significant shots while the two stood.

Gadelha fought past fatigue and finished strong through, controlling the final round on the mat to keep her unbeaten record intact and start a new chapter in women’s MMA history.

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Since the Escudero fight, which earned him Submission of the Night honors, Dunham has nabbed three Fight of the Night bonuses and four more victories. He’s also had his share of losses too though, and heading into his UFC Fight Night co-main event against Edson Barboza this Wednesday in Atlantic City, he’s dropped back-to-back fights to Rafael Dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone. The submission loss to Cerrone last November has no argument attached to it, but when it comes to his May 2013 decision defeat against Dos Anjos, Dunham doesn’t let that one go as easily.

“A lot of people say that coming off a two-fight losing streak - I think it’s only one - but it’s a chance for me to get in there and reestablish myself amongst the higher-tiered fighters,” he said. “Barboza is no slouch by any means, but stylistically I think we match up really well and there are definitely areas where I have a big advantage and there are definitely areas where he might have the advantage over me. It’s just a matter of going in there, playing smart and taking advantage of what I can do best.”

One would assume that if Dunham goes back to his technician roots, that would be his best chance for victory against the hard-hitting Brazilian. But Dunham – who now makes his home in Las Vegas – disagrees, believing that a modified Mr. Hyde may be what leads him to his first win since he decisioned Gleison Tibau in February of 2013.

“Actually, I think a firefight is beneficial to me as long as I keep pressure on him,” said Dunham. “He (Barboza) has shown in the past that he’s not exactly the best when people pressure him and get right in his face and turn it into a fight. He shines when people stay at the end of his punches and stay outside and let him get his rhythm. There are a few tweaks and a few things I need to do different, but in general, I think the way that I fight will work well for me.”

So he’s going to brawl with a guy who has a host of highlight reel knockouts on his resume?

“I think there’s a time and a place for it,” he laughs. “It’s kind of a dangerous place, and people say if you lose three fights in a row you’re in trouble, but I go out there and put on a good fight, and that’s all that matters to me – that I go out and put on a good fight and win.”

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Well, there are no complaints about Mr. Dunham bringing out Mr. Hyde this week, but even Evan knows that to keep putting on those memorable battles in the Octagon, he has to leave with his hand raised.

“I have to remind myself that I like to win even more than I like to fight,” said Dunham, who, to this day, never seems happier than when in the midst of situations most of us would run from.

“The fight game itself has so many ups and downs, and sometimes when you’re on those downs, it’s hard to remember those times of joy, when you’re fighting and there’s no purer feeling than getting out there and scrapping,” he said. “I think sometimes I do get caught up in some slugfests because I’m having so much fun with it. But you have to remind yourself that that’s why you do it.”

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(Photo credit: Idris Irba) By MM: With the rematch set, and the fight tour underway, most fight fans feel that Floyd Mayweather Jr will skate to an easy victory over Marcos Maidana on September 13th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are a few things that make me feel that will not be the case.

The unknown factor for both fighters is gone. Going into the first fight Maidana may have felt a little cautious, perhaps even intimidated by Mayweather and the big stage. At this point, Maidana knows the power Floyd is packing, and does not believe Floyd can hurt him. Furthermore, Maidana has now been on the big stage, so that should not be a factor in this fight at all. Maidana’s mindset will be he can walk through Floyds punches without worry. Taking 2 or 3 to give 1 or 2.

Mayweather on the other hand probably expected the first fight to be a walk in the park, “easy money”. We all saw, it was neither. Maidana roughed him up, bullied him around, fought dirty, and landed more punches on him than anyone else that has fought Mayweather in the past. Going into the second fight, the intimidation factor has shifted, and is in now on Maidana’s side. Floyd knows Maidana is going to go in looking to rough him up even more so than in the first fight and with Floyd not being able to hurt Maidana, Maidana is going to go for the kill. The fact of the matter is, Maidana is a dangerous fighter with far more power than Floyd, and this fight is a lot more dangerous for Mayweather than it is for Maidana.

Floyd claims he will box this fight. I do not see that happening for two reasons. First and foremost, I do not believe in any way shape or form that Floyd chose to stand and fight with Maidana. I believe Maidana took the fight to Floyd, and his style left him with no choice but to fight. Second, I think Floyd’s pride will cause him to brawl with Maidana again. He has been talking about winning by KO, and that is not going to happen if he tries to box Maidana, unless he is able to really dig to the body and wear him down.

No matter you who believe won the first fight, I think the second fight will be more exciting than the first one. Very few people gave Maidana a chance against Broner or Mayweather, and he surprised everyone. I do not recall any one in recent history showing absolutely no respect to Floyd Mayweather and actually coming to the ring looking like they were trying to take his “0” away. No matter what happens on fight night, or who you are rooting for, sparks are sure to fly.

http://www.boxingnews24.com

Mayweather: Maidana was dirty and reckless last time; Canelo and Cotto are better fighters

Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) really wailed on Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) in their final press tour meeting in Los Angeles, California, by continuing to call him a dirty fighter who has no hopes of winning, and just looking for a payday.

Mayweather says he wouldn’t bother fighting Maidana again if he were beaten by him. But Maidana is willing to take it for the payday because this is his best and only chance of getting a big fight.

“I know that if I lost this fight, then I wouldn’t take it again…The reason why he is trying to fight me again is because he is going to make more money fighting me than anyone else, even though he knows he will lose again.”

I have to agree with Mayweather 100%. Maidana probably knows he doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance of winning the fight other than a lucky knockout, but the payday he’s getting is so amazingly good that he was going to campaign for the rematch. He got the rematch now, but it’s so sad that he’s ruining his moment in the sun by croaking about the gloves. He really needs to move on, doesn’t he?

Mayweather is the king in this equation being that he’s the A-side, so there’s not much Maidana can do is just obediently accept that Mayweather isn’t going to let him wear his gloves. It’s good to be the king. But by Maidana stubbornly insisting on wearing his Everlast MX gloves he’s coming across as scary determined. I just hope he doesn’t pull out of the fight if he doesn’t get his way. The sooner Maidana comes to terms with the fact that he’s not going to be able to wear his favorite gloves the better off he’ll be.

“To be honest, Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez are better fighters than Maidana. They are better, stronger boxers. With me and Canelo, it was more of a chess match as opposed to Maidana who came at me very dirty and reckless. I knew something crazy was going to happen in our fight, which it did, I got a headbutt.”

Yes, the Mayweather-Maidana fight last May was painful to watch because it had so much wild fouling in that fight, and it shocking and disappointing how out of control the fight got. The referee working the fight Tony Weeks looked like he was just in the ring getting a good view of the fight like a fan who had wondered into the ring to watch the action instead of someone who was supposed to control the action.

It’s pretty much academic at this point that Cotto and Canelo are on a different level as Maidana in terms of boxing skills. Those guys are technicians of the sport. Both are flawed in their own way, but they’re definitely skilled technicians that are constantly thinking. The approach Maidana used against Mayweather last May was that of bull lowering his head and charging straight ahead to try and mow Mayweather over.

Maidana initially had some success during the first few rounds while Mayweather was figuring him out looking at a plan of action. But once Mayweather adapted to what Maidana was doing in the ring, he was able to negate pretty much everything he was doing aside from the occasional low blow and rabbit punch. Those things were impossible for Mayweather to deal with without the help of the referee stepping in to do his job.

http://www.boxingnews24.com

2009 ADCC bronze medalist and Felipe Costa jiu-jitsu black belt Ryan Hall has signed a multi-fight deal with Titan FC. Titan FC COO Lex McMahon confirmed the news with MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani Tuesday evening.

Hall, 29, is the owner of a number of grappling awards, most notably a 2009 run at ADCC, which netted him the bronze medal (a full rundown of his jiu-jitsu resume is available here). He is known for his triangle, heel hook and 50/50 guard, which he detailed for MMA Fighting in a previous edition of Technique Talk.

There's no word on when precisely he'll debut, although MMA Fighting has learned an announcement should be available soon. Hall has fought MMA at both lightweight and featherweight.

http://www.mmafighting.com

Promoter Eddie Hearn expects Kell Brook to rip away Shawn Porter’s world title with a stunning knockout win after their welterweight clash was finally confirmed.

The Sheffield fighter has been forced to wait for his shot at a world title, but Porter has now agreed to put his belt on the line at the StubHub Center in California on August 16th.

Injuries prevented Brook from facing Devon Alexander, the previous IBF champion, and there were fears the fight would be pushed back from an original date in August to September.

But Hearn is delighted that ‘Special K’ will get his chance to shine on the world stage and believes he will take Porter’s belt with a stoppage triumph.

He told Sky Sports: “We were told a few things. September 6th was the previous date we were given, August 9th was the first date and then I got an email from Golden Boy (Porter's promoters) to say we’re moving it to August 16th at the StubHub Center in California.

“It’s good news for Kell, because he’s been training for six or seven weeks already.

“The extra delay of September 6th wasn’t the best news for us and now it’s brought forward by three weeks.

“Perfect, he’s ready to go. It’s a great arena, formerly the Home Depot Center - Oscar De La Hoya has fought there many times -  it’s open air.  I can’t wait.

Brook will head out to Los Angeles up to four weeks before the fight as part of his stringent training camp.

In Porter, he faces a fellow unbeaten fighter, and the American sent out a chilling warning to his rivals with a fourth-round knockout win over Paulie Malignaggi.

www1.skysports.com

While his preference to remain as active as possible is well known, Donald Cerrone is far from picky when it comes to potential opponents.

Nothing changed following  UFC Fight Night Cerrone vs. Miller, where the Jackson-Wink MMA product authored a second-round head kick knockout of Jim Miller in the evening’s main event at the Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J., on Wednesday night.

The spectacular finish followed a typically slow start for Cerrone, who absorbed some punches before finding his range with kicks to the body late in the opening stanza.

“I think the body work started wearing on him a little bit. I started getting his timing. It’s kind of why I’m a slow starter – I like to figure out people’s movement and their timing,” Cerrone said. “It’s just the way I fight. I got his rhythm and it was time to hit the switch and go.”

With the win, Cerrone became the first person to finish Miller via strikes in 30 professional fights. The Colorado native has been close to a lightweight title shot before, but has come up short in title eliminator bouts against Nate Diaz and Anthony Pettis. While he appears to be nearing contention again, the path he travels to get there doesn’t seem to be of great importance.

Earlier in the week, Cerrone  targeted the streaking Khabib Nurmagomedov as a future dance partner. The Dagestani is unbeaten in 22 professional fights – including six in the UFC – and, according to UFC President Dana White, seems to have a difficult time finding opponents.

On Wednesday night, “Cowboy” was still fine with the possibility of facing Nurmagomedov – or anyone else, for that matter.

“I’ll fight anybody,” Cerrone said in an interview on Fox Sports 1. “All the UFC has to do is call me, and I’ll be there. Whether it’s 170 [pounds], 155 – I’ll fight whoever.”

Not everyone appreciates Cerrone’s whoever-whenever-wherever mentality. Diaz, who defeated the WEC veteran at UFC 141, took a thinly veiled shot at his former foe on Twitter this past week, accusing him of attempting to curry favor with UFC brass.

White quickly fired back at Diaz, who has been on the sidelines since defeating Gray Maynard in November.

Nate can do whatever he wants to do. Nate can sit out and not suck any UFC whatever, for as long as he wants to. Who cares, he's a grown man, White told UFC.com on Tuesday. Sit out for as long as you want; sit out the rest of your career. It's your decision. But to start making fun of guys who actually like to fight, and guys who go out there and put on unbelievable fights and people love to see him? [Cowboy] steps up and does what he does. People love Cowboy Cerrone.

Nate wants to talk about making money, but there's only one way to make money, and that's fighting.

No one is more aware of that fact than Cerrone, who has professed a desire to fight six times in 2014. Whether he accomplishes that feat remains to be seen, but the popular lightweight would prefer a swift return to the cage. If he gets Nurmagomedov or even Diaz, great. If someone else is willing to step up, that’s fine too.

“The sooner, the better,” Cerrone said. “I will literally fight anybody: Nate, Khabib, anybody.”

http://www.sherdog.com