The fight was long over and most of the biggest crowd to see a fight in the U.S. in 17 years had found their way out of massive Cowboys Stadium. Manny Pacquiao was in the shower, where one member of his entourage surely was in charge of selecting his shampoo while another had the task of making sure the towels were just right.
Mexico's Humberto Soto claimed the WBC lightweight title with a dominant unanimous decision victory over American David Diaz on Saturday. Fighting on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey bout, Soto prevalied in just his second fight at lightweight. He had previously held the WBC's super featherweight and interim featherweight titles.
Jose Luis Castillo, a former two-time champion who was part of one of boxing's greatest fights, quit on his stool after the fifth round Saturday against Alfonso Gomez and promptly announced his retirement. Castillo, who has battled weight issues for years, landed just 47 punches before telling the referee after the fifth round that he wanted no more of Gomez.
After weeks of debate, April Entona finally decided to join her sister and brother-in-law to watch fellow Filipino Manny Pacquaio fight in Cowboys Stadium. So the day before the bout, she told her bosses someone would have to cover her nursing shift -- in Chicago. Lloyd Damian was so looking forward to this fight that he designed his own Pacquaio T-shirt.
Marco Huck of Germany has retained his WBO cruiserweight title by knocking out Adam Richards of the United States in the third round. Huck connected with a flurry of punches Saturday after already flooring Richards earlier and the American went down with 30 seconds left in the third round. The referee didn't bother to count and waved the fight over.
Former IBF lightweight champion Paul Spadafora stopped Italy's Ivan Fiorletta in the eighth round Friday night. Spadafora (44-0-1, 18 KOs) started the eighth with a series of solid combinations to the head. Although the punches didn't floor Fiorletta, referee Frank Gentile felt he had absorbed sufficient damage and stopped the bout at 40 seconds of the round.
Amir Khan is confident his big-punching style will be too powerful for challenger Paul Malignaggi -- even in the American's hometown. Khan, who has won 22 of his 23 fights, will defend his WBA light-welterweight title against the New Yorker at Madison Square Garden on May 15 in a bout promoted by Oscar De La Hoya.
South African boxer Jared Lovett has been banned for two years after testing positive for steroids. Lovett tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol on July 11 after his loss on points to Thomas Oosthuizen in a bout for the IBO Light Heavyweight Youth Belt. The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport held a hearing on the case last month and announced Lovett's two-year ban on...
The czar of boxing was so devastated the fight didn't happen, it took him weeks to get over it. The (not Don) King of promoters was so mad he could barely utter Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s name. And the emperor of Dallas felt like he had just lost the Super Bowl. "I wanted that fight here with those two fighters worse than my next breath," Jerry Jones said.
A prosecutor served notice Wednesday that a grand jury may hear evidence that an associate of boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. shot at a man who police said argued with the boxer last August at a Las Vegas skating rink. Ocie Harris, 27, made a brief initial court appearance in a Las Vegas court on felony attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon charges.
Australian boxers will miss the Commonwealth Championships in New Delhi because of a clash of dates, not because of security concerns, Boxing Australia said Wednesday. Boxing Australia chairman Ted Tanner said his organization was happy to send boxers to India but the championships, starting Wednesday, clashed with national selection trials from March 18.
A court clerk says a judge dismissed a felony coercion charge against boxing trainer Roger Mayweather, who faces trial June 1 on allegations that he beat and choked a female boxer at a Las Vegas apartment he owned. The 48-year-old Mayweather still faces battery-strangulation and battery causing substantial bodily harm charges carrying the possibility of up to 10 years in prison.
Vitali Klitschko will defend his WBC heavyweight title against Polish-born fighter Albert Sosnowski on May 29. Klitschko's management group said Tuesday that the fight will take place at the Schalke stadium in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Klitschko said Sosnowski is an experienced, fast and tough opponent who will try everything to deprive him of the title -- "but I won't allow that."...
Australian Victor Darchinyan scored an unanimous decision against Rodrigo Guerrero of Mexico City to retain his WBC and WBA super flyweight titles Saturday night at The Show inside the Agua Caliente Casino. The judges scored the bout 118-110, 117-111 and 120-108. Darchinyan (34-2-1, 27 KOs), known for his spectacular knockouts, couldn't put down the tough Guerrero, whose head was rocked back...
Devon Alexander was ahead of Juan Urango by only one point on two of the judges' scorecards going into the eighth round of their light welterweight title unification bout. The closely contested fight seemed headed for 12 rounds -- until Alexander landed one powerful right uppercut. Alexander floored Urango with that thunderous punch and then knocked him out with another uppercut at 1:12 of the...
Former heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Morrison has been arrested in Kansas on suspicion of marijuana possession. A Wichita police report says the 41-year-old boxer was taken into custody Thursday evening a Wichita fitness club after police received a report of a suspicious person. Police said Morrison was arrested without incident.
Longtime boxing referee Mills Lane will be honored with the James J. Farley Award by the Boxing Writers Assocation of America. The award is given out periodically to those who exemplify "honesty and integrity" in boxing. Lane boxed as an amateur and for a short time as a professional before becoming a referee.
Boxing is making its long-awaited return to Yankee Stadium, where icons like Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis once plied their trade. WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman will defend his title against former welterweight champion Miguel Cotto on June 5 at the year-old ballpark in the Bronx, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told The Associated Press late Thursday night.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has known he was inside Sugar Shane Mosley's head from the moment Mayweather's last fight ended. That's when Mosley jumped into the ring last September to challenge Mayweather, who had just demolished Juan Manuel Marquez in his comeback bout from a 19-month layoff. After Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao couldn't make a deal, Mayweather accepted a deal to fight...
American welterweight Mike Jones remained undefeated Saturday with a unanimous decision over Puerto Rico's Henry Bruseles at Bally's Atlantic City. Former junior-welterwight champ Kendall Holt did not fare as well. With his close friend Brandon Jacobs of the New York Giants looking on, Holt lost his bid to get back into title contention with a sixth-round knockout loss to Kaizer Mabuza of...
Manny Pacquiao ran roughshod through four different sparring partners earlier this week, and boxing's pound-for-pound king plans to churn through just as many on Saturday. He's been peppering the speed bag, pounding the heavy bag and doing enough running to make Usain Bolt fall over in a heap.
The Oklahoma State Athletic Commission is investigating the death of a Toughman contestant. Commission director Joe Miller said Wednesday that 23-year-old Nathan Johnson of Latta apparently suffered a head injury during a weekend event at the Oklahoma City Farmers Public Market. Miller says Johnson was lethargic and non-responsive after winning his second fight Saturday.
Allan Green always figured he could beat anybody in the Super Six World Boxing Classic. Now he'll get a chance to prove it. Green was officially announced as the opponent for WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward on Monday, even though he'd been the likely replacement for Jermain Taylor for weeks.
Joe Louis' hometown plans to unveil a statue of the boxing great on Saturday. The eight-foot bronze statue has a base of Alabama red granite and will be erected outside the Chambers County Courthouse in LaFayette. The boxer's son, Joe Louis Barrow Jr., and other family members are expected to attend the unveiling in the town of about 3,000.
It's been nearly three decades since Hector Camacho won his first world title, and almost two decades since he won his last. For those 10 years in between, he was among the most exciting and controversial figures in boxing. He was a brawler who reinvented himself as a defensive fighter, whose rivalry with Julio Cesar Chavez made just as many headlines as his outsized personality.
Kelly Pavlik is headed back to the Boardwalk. The middleweight champion will defend his WBO and WBC belts against junior middleweight champion Sergio Martinez at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall on April 17. Pavlik's promoter Top Rank made the announcement Saturday. Pavlik (36-1, 32 KOs) has fought several times in Atlantic City, including his stunning victory over Jermain Taylor to win the...
Edel Ruiz stopped former WBA super-bantamweight champion Clarence "Bones" Adams in the fourth round Friday night in a featherweight fight. Ruiz, from Mexico, stunned Adams with a straight right to the head in the closing seconds of the third round, with Adams immediately clinching to avoid followup shots.
Robert Guerrero of the United States has vacated his IBF junior lightweight title to be with his wife, Casey, during the latest steps in her lengthy struggle with leukemia. Guerrero announced his decision Tuesday, a week after he was forced to drop out of a prospective fight with Australia's Michael Katsidis.
Jewish boxing champion Yuri Foreman hopes to defend his title at Yankee Stadium in June -- unless a bar mitzvah gets in the way. The 154-pound champion would fight former welterweight titleholder Miguel Cotto on June 5 at the ballpark in the Bronx, promoter Bob Arum told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
