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Light-middleweight Rose, who won the Lonsdale Belt outright, will fight on the undercard of the clash between Kell Brook and Vyacheslav Senchenko on October 26.
There is also a spot on the high-profile programme for Lytham’s Scott Cardle, the Central Area lightweight title.
Both Cardle and Rose are eagerly waiting to hear the idenity of their opponents.
Rose has designs on mixing it at world level after conquering all the goals at domestic level in his weight category.
Olympic gold medallist Anthony Joshua MBE will box for the second time as a professional on the card after his debut at the O2 on October 5, and he is joined on the card by Team GB captain Thomas Stalker.
Liverpool’s Callum Smith will be aiming to add to his impressive run of stoppage wins and there’s a return to action for Kal Yafai, the exciting, unbeaten bantamweight who boxes for the first time since injuring his bicep in his last outing in March.
Brook’s showdown with Senchenko tops the bumper card in his home town.
- Kirkham’s unbeaten welterweight Adam Little will not be boxing until the autumn while he sorts out a troublesome right hand.
He has not boxed since last October, when he beat Dee Mitchell on points at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
Little, who has won all his eight contests to date, is due to have an operation on Thursday.
It is not expected to affect his long-term career but it is frustrating for Little, who is keen to maintain his progress up the boxing ladder under the tutelage of Ricky Hatton.
Scott free of bad memories champion Rose - Boxing - Blackpool Gazette
There is also a spot on the high-profile programme for Lytham’s Scott Cardle, the Central Area lightweight title.
Both Cardle and Rose are eagerly waiting to hear the idenity of their opponents.
Rose has designs on mixing it at world level after conquering all the goals at domestic level in his weight category.
Olympic gold medallist Anthony Joshua MBE will box for the second time as a professional on the card after his debut at the O2 on October 5, and he is joined on the card by Team GB captain Thomas Stalker.
Liverpool’s Callum Smith will be aiming to add to his impressive run of stoppage wins and there’s a return to action for Kal Yafai, the exciting, unbeaten bantamweight who boxes for the first time since injuring his bicep in his last outing in March.
Brook’s showdown with Senchenko tops the bumper card in his home town.
- Kirkham’s unbeaten welterweight Adam Little will not be boxing until the autumn while he sorts out a troublesome right hand.
He has not boxed since last October, when he beat Dee Mitchell on points at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
Little, who has won all his eight contests to date, is due to have an operation on Thursday.
It is not expected to affect his long-term career but it is frustrating for Little, who is keen to maintain his progress up the boxing ladder under the tutelage of Ricky Hatton.
Scott free of bad memories champion Rose - Boxing - Blackpool Gazette
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Mike Tyson was the closing act, which seemed appropriate since he knows a thing or two about headlining shows on the Vegas Strip.
He had some tough acts to follow, including another former heavyweight champion. Larry Holmes worked the crowd like a standup comic, refusing to give up the microphone as he talked about his career and, surprisingly, his fondness for promoter Don King, whom he once sued for taking his money without asking.
"I don't care if he took the money because he always gave me more money," Holmes said, pointing to King sitting a few feet away.
Boxing does make strange bedfellows, but this night was a love-in the likes of which the sport has seldom seen. Holmes joked with Tyson about being knocked out by him, Floyd Mayweather Jr. said nice things about Bob Arum, and Arum and bitter rival King even shared a hug.
Before that, there was a tender moment when Tyson walked over to former referee Mills Lane — making a rare public appearance after being incapacitated by a stroke — and gently laid his cheek on Lane's head in a soft embrace. It was Lane who disqualified Tyson for biting Evander Holyfield's ear in the infamous "Bite Fight."
The occasion was the inaugural banquet for the newly formed Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame, and the honorees were like a who's who of boxing from the 1980s and '90s. It was a time when no one asked what was wrong with boxing; a time when the outdoor fights at Caesars Palace were as much a spectacle as the faux Roman debauchery that went on inside.
Holmes was one of 19 inductees, a group that included just about everyone except the one man who could have brought down the house at the Monte Carlo resort. Maybe it was for the best, because Muhammad Ali suffered two of his most painful defeats in Las Vegas, losing to both Holmes and Leon Spinks in fights where he was merely a shell of his old self.
Spinks himself was there, though he spent most of Saturday night camped in front of the bartender, drinking Bud Lights on the house.
This being a boxing crowd, there was only so much patience even with the greats. Holmes found that out as he continued long past his allotted time with tales of King and the two heavyweights he said hit him harder than anyone else — Tyson and Earnie Shavers, who was also in the crowd.
"Sit down!" someone yelled from the back of the room, but of course the former heavyweight champion was having none of it.
No one told Floyd Mayweather Jr. to sit down when his turn came. Not when he was surrounded on stage by about two dozen members of his entourage, all applauding and laughing at pretty much anything Mayweather said.
And why not? Like him or hate him, Mayweather is the main force keeping boxing alive and well in this gambling town today. His fight Sept. 14 with Canelo Alvarez will be one of the richest — if not the richest — in history, bringing high rolling gamblers to town for a weekend the likes of which fighters who came before him used to provide.
The real fear was that King wouldn't stop talking when it came time for his induction. The frizzy haired promoter is now 81 and has slowed down some, but anyone who remembered his four-hour long press conferences during his prime had to wonder what would happen when he took the microphone on stage.
Turned out there was little need to worry. King talked about his late wife, Henrietta, and how much he loves Holmes because he's respectable and appreciative of all the promoter did for him. He also talked about how Ali gave him his start and how he had to take the Rumble in the Jungle with Ali and George Foreman to Zaire because no one would put up the money for it at home.
"In America they wouldn't give a black man eye water to cry with," King said. "I had to go all the way around the world looking for money after signing two of the hottest athletes in America at the time."
If the sight of fellow octogenarians King and Arum sitting calmly 20 feet from each other was a bit startling, seeing Tyson on stage wasn't. The man who once sued King for $100 million for stealing his money has reinvented himself as an entertainer, taking his one-man show on tour and to Broadway and getting generally good reviews along the way.
It was nearing midnight and Sugar Ray Leonard had already said it was past his bedtime when Tyson was introduced by Barry Tompkins, the fight broadcaster who had a few stories to tell himself. One of them was about when Tyson was fighting nemesis Mitch Green at Madison Square Garden and Tyson landed a big right hand that sent something flying out of Green's mouth.
Ever the pro, Tompkins instinctively reached up and grabbed Green's tooth as it whizzed by.
Tyson thanked his late trainer and mentor Cus D'Amato for his career, saying he was doomed on the streets of Brooklyn before D'Amato took an interest in him.
"I'm a guy who comes from a prostitute mother and pimp father and when I go to another country I get mobbed like I'm the president," Tyson said. "I'm very grateful for that."
Like many of the stories in the room that night, it could only happen in boxing.
Or maybe, as one promoter likes to say, only in America.
Tyson headlines Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame ceremony
He had some tough acts to follow, including another former heavyweight champion. Larry Holmes worked the crowd like a standup comic, refusing to give up the microphone as he talked about his career and, surprisingly, his fondness for promoter Don King, whom he once sued for taking his money without asking.
"I don't care if he took the money because he always gave me more money," Holmes said, pointing to King sitting a few feet away.
Boxing does make strange bedfellows, but this night was a love-in the likes of which the sport has seldom seen. Holmes joked with Tyson about being knocked out by him, Floyd Mayweather Jr. said nice things about Bob Arum, and Arum and bitter rival King even shared a hug.
Before that, there was a tender moment when Tyson walked over to former referee Mills Lane — making a rare public appearance after being incapacitated by a stroke — and gently laid his cheek on Lane's head in a soft embrace. It was Lane who disqualified Tyson for biting Evander Holyfield's ear in the infamous "Bite Fight."
The occasion was the inaugural banquet for the newly formed Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame, and the honorees were like a who's who of boxing from the 1980s and '90s. It was a time when no one asked what was wrong with boxing; a time when the outdoor fights at Caesars Palace were as much a spectacle as the faux Roman debauchery that went on inside.
Holmes was one of 19 inductees, a group that included just about everyone except the one man who could have brought down the house at the Monte Carlo resort. Maybe it was for the best, because Muhammad Ali suffered two of his most painful defeats in Las Vegas, losing to both Holmes and Leon Spinks in fights where he was merely a shell of his old self.
Spinks himself was there, though he spent most of Saturday night camped in front of the bartender, drinking Bud Lights on the house.
This being a boxing crowd, there was only so much patience even with the greats. Holmes found that out as he continued long past his allotted time with tales of King and the two heavyweights he said hit him harder than anyone else — Tyson and Earnie Shavers, who was also in the crowd.
"Sit down!" someone yelled from the back of the room, but of course the former heavyweight champion was having none of it.
No one told Floyd Mayweather Jr. to sit down when his turn came. Not when he was surrounded on stage by about two dozen members of his entourage, all applauding and laughing at pretty much anything Mayweather said.
And why not? Like him or hate him, Mayweather is the main force keeping boxing alive and well in this gambling town today. His fight Sept. 14 with Canelo Alvarez will be one of the richest — if not the richest — in history, bringing high rolling gamblers to town for a weekend the likes of which fighters who came before him used to provide.
The real fear was that King wouldn't stop talking when it came time for his induction. The frizzy haired promoter is now 81 and has slowed down some, but anyone who remembered his four-hour long press conferences during his prime had to wonder what would happen when he took the microphone on stage.
Turned out there was little need to worry. King talked about his late wife, Henrietta, and how much he loves Holmes because he's respectable and appreciative of all the promoter did for him. He also talked about how Ali gave him his start and how he had to take the Rumble in the Jungle with Ali and George Foreman to Zaire because no one would put up the money for it at home.
"In America they wouldn't give a black man eye water to cry with," King said. "I had to go all the way around the world looking for money after signing two of the hottest athletes in America at the time."
If the sight of fellow octogenarians King and Arum sitting calmly 20 feet from each other was a bit startling, seeing Tyson on stage wasn't. The man who once sued King for $100 million for stealing his money has reinvented himself as an entertainer, taking his one-man show on tour and to Broadway and getting generally good reviews along the way.
It was nearing midnight and Sugar Ray Leonard had already said it was past his bedtime when Tyson was introduced by Barry Tompkins, the fight broadcaster who had a few stories to tell himself. One of them was about when Tyson was fighting nemesis Mitch Green at Madison Square Garden and Tyson landed a big right hand that sent something flying out of Green's mouth.
Ever the pro, Tompkins instinctively reached up and grabbed Green's tooth as it whizzed by.
Tyson thanked his late trainer and mentor Cus D'Amato for his career, saying he was doomed on the streets of Brooklyn before D'Amato took an interest in him.
"I'm a guy who comes from a prostitute mother and pimp father and when I go to another country I get mobbed like I'm the president," Tyson said. "I'm very grateful for that."
Like many of the stories in the room that night, it could only happen in boxing.
Or maybe, as one promoter likes to say, only in America.
Tyson headlines Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame ceremony
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The last time a boxing ring was set up in old Comiskey Park, no one on this side of the Atlantic had heard of the Beatles, who would visit the White Sox's ballpark three years later.
Friday night Chicago favorite Andrzej Fonfara meets Gabriel Campillo in a 12-round light heavyweight fight at the Sox's current home, U.S. Cellular Field, in the first ballpark fight in Chicago since Sonny Liston's first-round knockout of heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson for the title in 1962.
The card also features a rematch of February's slugfest between local heavyweight Mike Mollo and rising Polish star Artur Szpilka. Before their match, the Liston-Patterson bout will be shown on the park's video screen.
The first Szpilka-Mollo fight, which Szpilka won in the sixth round, featured multiple knockdowns and plenty of blood as one of the most brutal in Chicago.
Fonfara might be stripped of his IBO light heavyweight championship for taking this fight, which could lead to an IBF title fight with Bernard Hopkins.
"I don't feel pressure," Fonfara said. "It's more like motivation."
Though he trains a few blocks from the ballpark in a traditional boxing gym, he has altered his routine to include more work outdoors.
Campillo, a former WBA light heavyweight champion, said he is not training differently for this fight but he thinks he might need a knockout to win in Fonfara's adopted hometown.
"If it goes to the cards," Campillo said, "I'm very worried about it."
Fonfara, also from Poland, "is a good boxer, a hard worker," Campillo said, but he added Fonfara is not in his class.
Also featured will be a junior welterweight eight-rounder between Adrian Granados of Chicago and Mark Salser of Mansfield, Ohio and a junior welterweight match between Kristin Gearhart of Oak Park and Mara Marquez of Southgate, Michigan. It will be Gearhart's first pro bout after seven Chicago Golden Gloves titles.
The card will be shown on ESPN2 in a three-hour edition of its "Friday Night Fights."
Boxing: Boxing on tap at U.S. Cellular Field - chicagotribune-com
Friday night Chicago favorite Andrzej Fonfara meets Gabriel Campillo in a 12-round light heavyweight fight at the Sox's current home, U.S. Cellular Field, in the first ballpark fight in Chicago since Sonny Liston's first-round knockout of heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson for the title in 1962.
The card also features a rematch of February's slugfest between local heavyweight Mike Mollo and rising Polish star Artur Szpilka. Before their match, the Liston-Patterson bout will be shown on the park's video screen.
The first Szpilka-Mollo fight, which Szpilka won in the sixth round, featured multiple knockdowns and plenty of blood as one of the most brutal in Chicago.
Fonfara might be stripped of his IBO light heavyweight championship for taking this fight, which could lead to an IBF title fight with Bernard Hopkins.
"I don't feel pressure," Fonfara said. "It's more like motivation."
Though he trains a few blocks from the ballpark in a traditional boxing gym, he has altered his routine to include more work outdoors.
Campillo, a former WBA light heavyweight champion, said he is not training differently for this fight but he thinks he might need a knockout to win in Fonfara's adopted hometown.
"If it goes to the cards," Campillo said, "I'm very worried about it."
Fonfara, also from Poland, "is a good boxer, a hard worker," Campillo said, but he added Fonfara is not in his class.
Also featured will be a junior welterweight eight-rounder between Adrian Granados of Chicago and Mark Salser of Mansfield, Ohio and a junior welterweight match between Kristin Gearhart of Oak Park and Mara Marquez of Southgate, Michigan. It will be Gearhart's first pro bout after seven Chicago Golden Gloves titles.
The card will be shown on ESPN2 in a three-hour edition of its "Friday Night Fights."
Boxing: Boxing on tap at U.S. Cellular Field - chicagotribune-com
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Nathan Cleverly is confident he has the chin to cope with anything Sergey Kovalev throws his way in tonight’s WBO light heavyweight title bout in Cardiff.
The Welshman is making the fifth defence of his crown and is putting his 26-0 record on the line against Kovalev, a Russian who has developed a reputation for stopping fights in their infancy with his formidable power. Of his 21 professional wins, Kovalev has won 18 of them by KO inside three rounds.
Bookmakers are split over who should be favourite for the Motorpoint Arena contest. The side-effect of his explosive record is that Kovalev has yet to be tested over a 12-round contest, and his ability to go the distance remains a question mark.
Cleverly is confident he can handle any early onslaught and said: “We all know Sergey’s record, it speaks for itself. It is no secret, he starts fast and comes to knock you out, but I have got a great chin and I am prepared for that.
“Obviously, he has wiped out his previous opponents but I feel I am at a different level now and I will be there after three rounds, and I will be there for the full fight.
“It is going to be very hard for him to beat me on the night because of my stamina, my chin and my speed. It is going to be very difficult for him.”
Cleverly and Kovalev opted to take each other on after both parties failed to put together a bout with the IBF belt holder Bernard Hopkins.
But the Welshman is happy to take on an opponent eager to get in the ring, rather than think of what may have been with Hopkins.
“Hopkins did not want to fight, but I want to fight,” Cleverly added. “Now we have two guys who want to fight, so it is going to be a great fight, a proper fight. It will be two hungry guys, two undefeated guys. That is what people want to see because someone has to lose for the first time.”
Boxing: Nathan Cleverly confident he can chin Sergey Kovalev - Others - More Sports - The Independent
The Welshman is making the fifth defence of his crown and is putting his 26-0 record on the line against Kovalev, a Russian who has developed a reputation for stopping fights in their infancy with his formidable power. Of his 21 professional wins, Kovalev has won 18 of them by KO inside three rounds.
Bookmakers are split over who should be favourite for the Motorpoint Arena contest. The side-effect of his explosive record is that Kovalev has yet to be tested over a 12-round contest, and his ability to go the distance remains a question mark.
Cleverly is confident he can handle any early onslaught and said: “We all know Sergey’s record, it speaks for itself. It is no secret, he starts fast and comes to knock you out, but I have got a great chin and I am prepared for that.
“Obviously, he has wiped out his previous opponents but I feel I am at a different level now and I will be there after three rounds, and I will be there for the full fight.
“It is going to be very hard for him to beat me on the night because of my stamina, my chin and my speed. It is going to be very difficult for him.”
Cleverly and Kovalev opted to take each other on after both parties failed to put together a bout with the IBF belt holder Bernard Hopkins.
But the Welshman is happy to take on an opponent eager to get in the ring, rather than think of what may have been with Hopkins.
“Hopkins did not want to fight, but I want to fight,” Cleverly added. “Now we have two guys who want to fight, so it is going to be a great fight, a proper fight. It will be two hungry guys, two undefeated guys. That is what people want to see because someone has to lose for the first time.”
Boxing: Nathan Cleverly confident he can chin Sergey Kovalev - Others - More Sports - The Independent
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Darren Barker has won the IBF world middleweight title after climbing off the canvas to claim a split decision success over Daniel Geale in Atlantic City.
The 31-year-old Barnet fighter was knocked down in the sixth but recovered to secure an emotional victory, which he dedicated to the brother he lost in a car accident in 2006.
Barker fell short against Sergio Martinez in 2011 in his previous world title attempt but started this fight in determined fashion, landing early shots and having the better of the early rounds.
But Geale sent him to the floor with a left hook to the body and seemed set for a stoppage win as he rained punches in on his dazed opponent.
Gruelling slugfest
However, Barker somehow survived the onslaught and went on the attack again in the seventh as the fight turned into a gruelling slugfest.
The Brit landed a fine combination in the 10th and was on the front foot again in the 11th but Geale then landed some nice punches in the final round.
But two judges scored the fight in favour of Barker, 116-111 and 114-113, while just one favoured Geale by a margin of 114-113, prompting Barker to hit the canvas again, this time due to a surge of emotion.
"Not many people know the journey I've been through," he said. "It's been a real Rocky story.
"I dedicate this to my late brother. Everything I've done is for him. Gary, this is for you, mate.
"I take my hat off to Daniel Geale. He's a great champion and a tough, tough man.
"He caught me right in the solar plexus and completely took my breath away from me.
"I was in absolute bits, I was gone. But, as the seconds went on, my brother and daughter, they got into my head. I showed I've got heart and a lot of people didn't think I did."
Geale said: "I'm not going to whinge and cry and carry on. I worked so hard, I did everything I had to do.
"I could tell he was throwing a lot of punches, whether he was catching me or not, that's to be seen. I felt in control but it wasn't my best performance. Darren's a great fighter and I knew it was going to be tight. I'm very disappointed."
Boxing: Darren Barker beats Daniel Geale on a split decision | Sky Sports
The 31-year-old Barnet fighter was knocked down in the sixth but recovered to secure an emotional victory, which he dedicated to the brother he lost in a car accident in 2006.
Barker fell short against Sergio Martinez in 2011 in his previous world title attempt but started this fight in determined fashion, landing early shots and having the better of the early rounds.
But Geale sent him to the floor with a left hook to the body and seemed set for a stoppage win as he rained punches in on his dazed opponent.
Gruelling slugfest
However, Barker somehow survived the onslaught and went on the attack again in the seventh as the fight turned into a gruelling slugfest.
The Brit landed a fine combination in the 10th and was on the front foot again in the 11th but Geale then landed some nice punches in the final round.
But two judges scored the fight in favour of Barker, 116-111 and 114-113, while just one favoured Geale by a margin of 114-113, prompting Barker to hit the canvas again, this time due to a surge of emotion.
"Not many people know the journey I've been through," he said. "It's been a real Rocky story.
"I dedicate this to my late brother. Everything I've done is for him. Gary, this is for you, mate.
"I take my hat off to Daniel Geale. He's a great champion and a tough, tough man.
"He caught me right in the solar plexus and completely took my breath away from me.
"I was in absolute bits, I was gone. But, as the seconds went on, my brother and daughter, they got into my head. I showed I've got heart and a lot of people didn't think I did."
Geale said: "I'm not going to whinge and cry and carry on. I worked so hard, I did everything I had to do.
"I could tell he was throwing a lot of punches, whether he was catching me or not, that's to be seen. I felt in control but it wasn't my best performance. Darren's a great fighter and I knew it was going to be tight. I'm very disappointed."
Boxing: Darren Barker beats Daniel Geale on a split decision | Sky Sports
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Nathan Cleverly says he is considering his future in boxing after his WBO light-heavyweight title defeat by unbeaten Russian Sergey Kovalev.
The Welshman was knocked down for the first time in his career and suffered his first defeat in the professional ranks in Cardiff on Saturday.
Cleverly, in his sixth title defence, went down in the third round and lost the fight 29 seconds into the fourth.
The 26-year-old said: "I could leave it there or give it another go." Kovalev, 30, has now won 19 of 22 bouts inside the distance and proved too strong for Cleverly at the Motorpoint Arena.
Cleverly had made no secret of his ambitions of unification and a career-defining fight in America against boxing great Bernard Hopkins, but his defeat by Kovalev ends his hopes of that.
The mathematics degree holder had seen off five previous challenges to his title but the Cefn Fforest fighter could not withstand Kovalev's onslaught.
"I will have a holiday now and recover and see where I go from here and see what I want to do in life now," said Cleverly.
"I will go away and live a normal life for a bit now. Just leave boxing for a bit - it has been an intense period.
"You know six weeks into that where you want to go. Your instincts tell you if you are missing boxing, or are you going to find another career path. Who knows where my heart is going to lie?
"If I continue, I will come back and give it a go. But the background I have got and the brain I have got, do I really need to continue? It could go either way, my career."
Cleverly says he was happy with his preparations for what could be his final fight despite the defeat.
"The good thing is that I prepared well and I cannot have any regrets, because I missed training or cheated on anything," he said. "I can hold my hands up and say Kovalev took his chance."
BBC Sport - Nathan Cleverly hints at boxing retirement after title defeat
The Welshman was knocked down for the first time in his career and suffered his first defeat in the professional ranks in Cardiff on Saturday.
Cleverly, in his sixth title defence, went down in the third round and lost the fight 29 seconds into the fourth.
The 26-year-old said: "I could leave it there or give it another go." Kovalev, 30, has now won 19 of 22 bouts inside the distance and proved too strong for Cleverly at the Motorpoint Arena.
Cleverly had made no secret of his ambitions of unification and a career-defining fight in America against boxing great Bernard Hopkins, but his defeat by Kovalev ends his hopes of that.
The mathematics degree holder had seen off five previous challenges to his title but the Cefn Fforest fighter could not withstand Kovalev's onslaught.
"I will have a holiday now and recover and see where I go from here and see what I want to do in life now," said Cleverly.
"I will go away and live a normal life for a bit now. Just leave boxing for a bit - it has been an intense period.
"You know six weeks into that where you want to go. Your instincts tell you if you are missing boxing, or are you going to find another career path. Who knows where my heart is going to lie?
"If I continue, I will come back and give it a go. But the background I have got and the brain I have got, do I really need to continue? It could go either way, my career."
Cleverly says he was happy with his preparations for what could be his final fight despite the defeat.
"The good thing is that I prepared well and I cannot have any regrets, because I missed training or cheated on anything," he said. "I can hold my hands up and say Kovalev took his chance."
BBC Sport - Nathan Cleverly hints at boxing retirement after title defeat
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US boxing legend Mike Tyson became an unlikely star among Chinese internet users overnight by wading into one of the nation’s most intricate political debates.
“Who is the best boxer in China?” he asked in his second ever post on Sina Weibo on Monday, a post that had on Tuesday been shared more than 68,000 times.
The answer he received from thousands was “chengguan”, referring to the controversial civilian force charged with enforcing municipal by-laws such as bans on hawking or illegal construction.
The semi-professional force has gained a reputation for exercising excessive and arbitrary violence as it struggles to deal with increasing urban unemployment. In a survey in July, 87 per cent said they had witnessed clashes between chengguan and street hawkers.
Two years ago, the consultancy Asia Monitor compared the unrest caused by chengguan violence with that of security forces preceding the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
“Chengguan are the best fighters, I don’t think you can beat them”, commented one person on Tyson’s post. “Please come to China be a street peddler, let you know! [sic]”, wrote another.
Tyson, or the person curating the “verified” account, either unaware of the meaning of the word or pretending ignorance, asked, “Who is Chengguan? A tough man? I’ve never heard it,” in a further post, thus generating another 57,000 re-shares.
The 47-year-old former boxer won some 72,000 followers within the first 24 hours after starting his Chinese microblog. On Facebook, he has 3.7 million followers.
Last week, he announced his return to the world of boxing on Thursday as a promoter and president of Iron Mike Productions.
Boxing, banned until 1986 in China, is increasingly gaining popularity. Fans are anticipating the biggest boxing match in Chinese history in Macau this November featuring Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.
Boxing legend Mike Tyson provides unlikely platform for anti-chengguan rage | South China Morning Post
“Who is the best boxer in China?” he asked in his second ever post on Sina Weibo on Monday, a post that had on Tuesday been shared more than 68,000 times.
The answer he received from thousands was “chengguan”, referring to the controversial civilian force charged with enforcing municipal by-laws such as bans on hawking or illegal construction.
The semi-professional force has gained a reputation for exercising excessive and arbitrary violence as it struggles to deal with increasing urban unemployment. In a survey in July, 87 per cent said they had witnessed clashes between chengguan and street hawkers.
Two years ago, the consultancy Asia Monitor compared the unrest caused by chengguan violence with that of security forces preceding the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
“Chengguan are the best fighters, I don’t think you can beat them”, commented one person on Tyson’s post. “Please come to China be a street peddler, let you know! [sic]”, wrote another.
Tyson, or the person curating the “verified” account, either unaware of the meaning of the word or pretending ignorance, asked, “Who is Chengguan? A tough man? I’ve never heard it,” in a further post, thus generating another 57,000 re-shares.
The 47-year-old former boxer won some 72,000 followers within the first 24 hours after starting his Chinese microblog. On Facebook, he has 3.7 million followers.
Last week, he announced his return to the world of boxing on Thursday as a promoter and president of Iron Mike Productions.
Boxing, banned until 1986 in China, is increasingly gaining popularity. Fans are anticipating the biggest boxing match in Chinese history in Macau this November featuring Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.
Boxing legend Mike Tyson provides unlikely platform for anti-chengguan rage | South China Morning Post
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The migrant worker life is the ultimate sacrifice a Filipino parent can make. Faced with bleak economic prospects in their homeland, many migrant workers, or Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), leave their families behind in search of employment. They remain away from their families for years on end, living as aliens in an unfamiliar culture, sending whatever extra money they earn back to a family that goes on without them.
This is a life that Rolly Lunas knows all too well. For the past seven years, Lunas has lived in Japan under the name Rolly Matsushita, fighting 16 times against anyone whom he could get in the ring with, while working as the chief sparring partner to former bantamweight and featherweight titleholder Hozumi Hasegawa. During that time, Lunas managed to win the well-regarded regional Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight title, before losing in a bid for Anselmo Moreno's WBA 118-pound title in 2008.
Meanwhile, his two daughters - Reign, nine-years-old, and Rits, five-years-old - grow up in Tabaco City in the Albay province of the Philippines, communicating with their father through social media.
Though Lunas' story is uncommon in boxing, it is one that many families in his home country can relate to. According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, over two million Filipino citizens are living similar lives to Lunas in countries throughout Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere. The longest stretch that Lunas has spent with his family has been two months. He hasn't seen his children since leaving for America in April.
"[My daughters] always tell me that they miss me, that they want me to stay with them," said Lunas, whose record stands at 31-8-1 (19 knockouts). "It's hard but you know I need to do this to give them a better life. If I stay in the Philippines, there's nothing expecting to my future."
Earlier this year, the 29-year-old Lunas took another leap of faith when he relocated to San Diego, California, now training under the auspices of Vince Parra. Lunas' pursuit of the American dream will kick off this Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time), when he faces German Meraz (44-26-1, 23 KOs) at Las Pulgas in Tijuana, Mexico in an eight-round tune-up bout. It is just another step in a journey that has taken him around the world.
Lunas began boxing at the age of eight. A neighbor of his was a former pro, and devised a plan to harness his rambunctious energy for the boxing ring. Lunas' amateur career lasted until he was age 16, amassing a record that he says was 52-4, competing in five national amateur competitions.
Lunas turned pro at age 16, running his record to 12-0 domestically before losing a pair of bouts in Japan. This pattern would persist, as Lunas would win a few bouts before losing on decisions whenever he ventured overseas. Finally, after dropping a close decision to countryman Michael Domingo in 2005, Lunas looked to greener pastures in the Land of the Rising Sun. Lunas made his name in 2007, when he won a technical decision and the OPBF belt over former flyweight titleholder and fellow Filipino expatriate Malcolm Tunacao, adding the scalp of Japanese bantamweight champion Masayuki Mitani during a six-fight win streak that led him to his lone world title challenge.
Lunas' team claims that Moreno's team offered them the fight on one week's notice in Moreno's backyard of Panama City, Panama. Lunas would lose a one-sided decision.
After being knocked out in seven rounds by Japanese journeyman Hiromasa Ohashi the following year, it looked like Lunas' dream of becoming a world champion were over. But he has persevered, and is currently riding a six-fight winning streak, with all six wins coming by knockout.
In search of better options and a more consistent trainer, Lunas' trip to the United States earlier this was sponsored by a prospective manager. The relationship went sour, and that's when he reached out to Vincent Parra.
Parra, who also manages and trains Filipino contender Mercito Gesta, had heard of Lunas through Gesta's cutman Stephan Lunas, who is Rolly's cousin.
"I really wasn't that interested at first," admitted Parra. "You see a guy 29 years old with eight losses and you kinda just go 'hmmm'.
"Then I took a step back and did some homework on him. The guy is just a hell of a fighter. I looked closer at the loses, met him, worked him out. I was sold."
Since joining forces with Parra, Lunas has spent significant time at the Filipino boxing Mecca known as the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California, sparring with San Diego mainstays Chris Martin, Aaron Garcia and Antonio Orozco. Sparring with Mexican and Mexican-American boxers has been a learning experience, he says.
"Mexican fighters are different from Asian fighters," said Lunas. "Asian boxers are conservative, while Mexicans are more aggressive."
Parra says that, barring any unforeseen occurrence, he hopes to bring Lunas back in October in a more significant fight, with contender Chris Avalos being mentioned.
Despite not having fought in nearly a year, Lunas has retained a number six ranking with the World Boxing Council (WBC) at 118 pounds, and hopes to ride that crest to another title shot. Parra says they are working with Las Vegas-based promotional outfit Top Rank to make that a reality.
"Before I retire in boxing, I want to become a world champion," said Lunas. "This is how I can give my family a better life."
Rolly Lunas is a boxing OFW in search of the American Dream | Sports | GMA News Online
This is a life that Rolly Lunas knows all too well. For the past seven years, Lunas has lived in Japan under the name Rolly Matsushita, fighting 16 times against anyone whom he could get in the ring with, while working as the chief sparring partner to former bantamweight and featherweight titleholder Hozumi Hasegawa. During that time, Lunas managed to win the well-regarded regional Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight title, before losing in a bid for Anselmo Moreno's WBA 118-pound title in 2008.
Meanwhile, his two daughters - Reign, nine-years-old, and Rits, five-years-old - grow up in Tabaco City in the Albay province of the Philippines, communicating with their father through social media.
Though Lunas' story is uncommon in boxing, it is one that many families in his home country can relate to. According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, over two million Filipino citizens are living similar lives to Lunas in countries throughout Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere. The longest stretch that Lunas has spent with his family has been two months. He hasn't seen his children since leaving for America in April.
"[My daughters] always tell me that they miss me, that they want me to stay with them," said Lunas, whose record stands at 31-8-1 (19 knockouts). "It's hard but you know I need to do this to give them a better life. If I stay in the Philippines, there's nothing expecting to my future."
Earlier this year, the 29-year-old Lunas took another leap of faith when he relocated to San Diego, California, now training under the auspices of Vince Parra. Lunas' pursuit of the American dream will kick off this Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time), when he faces German Meraz (44-26-1, 23 KOs) at Las Pulgas in Tijuana, Mexico in an eight-round tune-up bout. It is just another step in a journey that has taken him around the world.
Lunas began boxing at the age of eight. A neighbor of his was a former pro, and devised a plan to harness his rambunctious energy for the boxing ring. Lunas' amateur career lasted until he was age 16, amassing a record that he says was 52-4, competing in five national amateur competitions.
Lunas turned pro at age 16, running his record to 12-0 domestically before losing a pair of bouts in Japan. This pattern would persist, as Lunas would win a few bouts before losing on decisions whenever he ventured overseas. Finally, after dropping a close decision to countryman Michael Domingo in 2005, Lunas looked to greener pastures in the Land of the Rising Sun. Lunas made his name in 2007, when he won a technical decision and the OPBF belt over former flyweight titleholder and fellow Filipino expatriate Malcolm Tunacao, adding the scalp of Japanese bantamweight champion Masayuki Mitani during a six-fight win streak that led him to his lone world title challenge.
Lunas' team claims that Moreno's team offered them the fight on one week's notice in Moreno's backyard of Panama City, Panama. Lunas would lose a one-sided decision.
After being knocked out in seven rounds by Japanese journeyman Hiromasa Ohashi the following year, it looked like Lunas' dream of becoming a world champion were over. But he has persevered, and is currently riding a six-fight winning streak, with all six wins coming by knockout.
In search of better options and a more consistent trainer, Lunas' trip to the United States earlier this was sponsored by a prospective manager. The relationship went sour, and that's when he reached out to Vincent Parra.
Parra, who also manages and trains Filipino contender Mercito Gesta, had heard of Lunas through Gesta's cutman Stephan Lunas, who is Rolly's cousin.
"I really wasn't that interested at first," admitted Parra. "You see a guy 29 years old with eight losses and you kinda just go 'hmmm'.
"Then I took a step back and did some homework on him. The guy is just a hell of a fighter. I looked closer at the loses, met him, worked him out. I was sold."
Since joining forces with Parra, Lunas has spent significant time at the Filipino boxing Mecca known as the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California, sparring with San Diego mainstays Chris Martin, Aaron Garcia and Antonio Orozco. Sparring with Mexican and Mexican-American boxers has been a learning experience, he says.
"Mexican fighters are different from Asian fighters," said Lunas. "Asian boxers are conservative, while Mexicans are more aggressive."
Parra says that, barring any unforeseen occurrence, he hopes to bring Lunas back in October in a more significant fight, with contender Chris Avalos being mentioned.
Despite not having fought in nearly a year, Lunas has retained a number six ranking with the World Boxing Council (WBC) at 118 pounds, and hopes to ride that crest to another title shot. Parra says they are working with Las Vegas-based promotional outfit Top Rank to make that a reality.
"Before I retire in boxing, I want to become a world champion," said Lunas. "This is how I can give my family a better life."
Rolly Lunas is a boxing OFW in search of the American Dream | Sports | GMA News Online
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Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight champion who only five years ago was a desperate drug addict who considered taking his own life, has become a business conglomerate with so many projects that he is busier than he was at his peak as a boxer.
On Friday, Tyson's latest venture, Iron Mike Productions, will kick off with a boxing card at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y., that will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2. The main event features an IBF super bantamweight title fight between champion Argenis Mendez and challenger Arash Usmanee.
His day is filled with meetings, interviews, photo shoots and so many other obligations that he literally wouldn't have time to get into trouble, even if he wanted to do so.
"Man," Tyson told Yahoo! Sports with a sigh, "it's crazy. Crazy. I'm glad I have someone to tell me where I am supposed to be next."
In addition to promoting his fight, he's the subject of an upcoming six-part documentary series on his life, "Being: Mike Tyson," that will air first on Fox and later on the new cable channel, Fox Sports 1. He'll resume his one-man show, "Mike Tyson: The Undisputed Truth," in the fall, traveling the world explaining his rise, fall and renaissance. He's written his memoir, "Undisputed Truth," that will be released in November. He's got a hand in dozens of other projects, all of which help to pay off what his wife, Kiki, told HBO's Real Sports earlier this year are millions in debt to the Internal Revenue Service.
In a conference call with reporters Monday, Tyson railed at his former promoter, Don King. In 1998, he sued King for stealing $200 million from him, and settled in 2004 for $14 million.
On the conference call, Tyson said all he learned from King was how to steal from his fighters.
"If I learned something [from King], it was how to manipulate my fighters and take advantage of them and tell them lies, tell them I love them and that the white man hates them and that we're [expletive] together, we're brothers together and everybody is against us," Tyson said.
Tyson and King were inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame together on Aug. 10 in Las Vegas, and got along well. They embraced on the red carpet and Tyson spoke kindly of King during his induction speech. But Tyson traced a lot of his issues back to King and said that stealing his fighters' money would leave them feeling the way he did after his dealings with King had ended.
"At the end of the day, I can have their money in my pocket and they'd be walking the streets feeling sorry for themselves and attempt suicide and use cocaine and overdose, just like I did," Tyson said. "But like I said before, I forgave him, and whatever I did to him, I hope he forgives me. I don't have any hard feelings toward him." Tyson told Yahoo! Sports, "I'm everybody's friend," but being friends with anyone is a long way from where he was in 2008 and '09, when he said he was "a full-blown addict" and harbored thoughts of suicide. His depression reached a crescendo on May 26, 2009, when his 4-year-old daughter, Exodus, was tragically killed when she was strangled by a cord while playing on a treadmill.
Losing a child is the worst nightmare for any parent, and it hit Tyson hard. But it, and his marriage to Kiki 11 days later, ultimately helped to save him.
"I just wanted to live a different life," Tyson said. "I'm still struggling. Living life remains very difficult."
To his credit, though, he's made a dramatic turn.
The 47-year-old Mike Tyson of 2013 bears little resemblance to the cocaine-snorting, confused man who fought Kevin McBride in 2005 just to cover his debts.
He showed by his demeanor in that fight that he'd had enough and no longer wanted to compete. At one point in the fight, he'd put an arm bar on McBride in an obvious attempt to be disqualified.
He retired after losing to McBride, the type of fighter he'd routinely destroyed in a round or two during his heyday, but had no plan for life after boxing.
He was adrift and increased his drug usage. He was on a quick path to destruction.
It got so bad by 2008 that he was shocked on a daily basis when he would awaken in the morning.
"I was planning to kill myself," he said. "I was just going full-blown [overdosing on drugs] every night. I was like, 'Arrrgh!' "
He's clean now, he insists, and no longer is overcome with dark thoughts. For this, he credits his wife, who encouraged him to take on many of the projects he's involved in and to speak candidly about his life.
Tyson said he is so buried in debt that he believes he'll never get out from under his mountain of bills. But the man who earned, and subsequently lost, $300 million in purses in the ring, said softly, "I don't want to be wealthy again. I just want to pay my bills and live my life in peace."
He's not attempting to replicate anyone else in the promotional business, and said that while he has ambitious dreams for Iron Mike Productions, he can only be certain of one thing.
He wants, he said, to produce world champions and put on exciting fights. He said he'd even be interested in training fighters, but said most of them don't have the discipline it takes to become successful.
There will be, he said, only one certainty in his company.
"I can't tell people how to spend their money or how to live their lives, but at the end of the day, there is never going to be a fighter who says, 'Mike Tyson done me wrong and stole my money,' " he told Yahoo! Sports. "The most important thing to me is that at the end of the day, they get what they signed up to get."
Y! SPORTS
On Friday, Tyson's latest venture, Iron Mike Productions, will kick off with a boxing card at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y., that will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2. The main event features an IBF super bantamweight title fight between champion Argenis Mendez and challenger Arash Usmanee.
His day is filled with meetings, interviews, photo shoots and so many other obligations that he literally wouldn't have time to get into trouble, even if he wanted to do so.
"Man," Tyson told Yahoo! Sports with a sigh, "it's crazy. Crazy. I'm glad I have someone to tell me where I am supposed to be next."
In addition to promoting his fight, he's the subject of an upcoming six-part documentary series on his life, "Being: Mike Tyson," that will air first on Fox and later on the new cable channel, Fox Sports 1. He'll resume his one-man show, "Mike Tyson: The Undisputed Truth," in the fall, traveling the world explaining his rise, fall and renaissance. He's written his memoir, "Undisputed Truth," that will be released in November. He's got a hand in dozens of other projects, all of which help to pay off what his wife, Kiki, told HBO's Real Sports earlier this year are millions in debt to the Internal Revenue Service.
In a conference call with reporters Monday, Tyson railed at his former promoter, Don King. In 1998, he sued King for stealing $200 million from him, and settled in 2004 for $14 million.
On the conference call, Tyson said all he learned from King was how to steal from his fighters.
"If I learned something [from King], it was how to manipulate my fighters and take advantage of them and tell them lies, tell them I love them and that the white man hates them and that we're [expletive] together, we're brothers together and everybody is against us," Tyson said.
Tyson and King were inducted into the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame together on Aug. 10 in Las Vegas, and got along well. They embraced on the red carpet and Tyson spoke kindly of King during his induction speech. But Tyson traced a lot of his issues back to King and said that stealing his fighters' money would leave them feeling the way he did after his dealings with King had ended.
"At the end of the day, I can have their money in my pocket and they'd be walking the streets feeling sorry for themselves and attempt suicide and use cocaine and overdose, just like I did," Tyson said. "But like I said before, I forgave him, and whatever I did to him, I hope he forgives me. I don't have any hard feelings toward him." Tyson told Yahoo! Sports, "I'm everybody's friend," but being friends with anyone is a long way from where he was in 2008 and '09, when he said he was "a full-blown addict" and harbored thoughts of suicide. His depression reached a crescendo on May 26, 2009, when his 4-year-old daughter, Exodus, was tragically killed when she was strangled by a cord while playing on a treadmill.
Losing a child is the worst nightmare for any parent, and it hit Tyson hard. But it, and his marriage to Kiki 11 days later, ultimately helped to save him.
"I just wanted to live a different life," Tyson said. "I'm still struggling. Living life remains very difficult."
To his credit, though, he's made a dramatic turn.
The 47-year-old Mike Tyson of 2013 bears little resemblance to the cocaine-snorting, confused man who fought Kevin McBride in 2005 just to cover his debts.
He showed by his demeanor in that fight that he'd had enough and no longer wanted to compete. At one point in the fight, he'd put an arm bar on McBride in an obvious attempt to be disqualified.
He retired after losing to McBride, the type of fighter he'd routinely destroyed in a round or two during his heyday, but had no plan for life after boxing.
He was adrift and increased his drug usage. He was on a quick path to destruction.
It got so bad by 2008 that he was shocked on a daily basis when he would awaken in the morning.
"I was planning to kill myself," he said. "I was just going full-blown [overdosing on drugs] every night. I was like, 'Arrrgh!' "
He's clean now, he insists, and no longer is overcome with dark thoughts. For this, he credits his wife, who encouraged him to take on many of the projects he's involved in and to speak candidly about his life.
Tyson said he is so buried in debt that he believes he'll never get out from under his mountain of bills. But the man who earned, and subsequently lost, $300 million in purses in the ring, said softly, "I don't want to be wealthy again. I just want to pay my bills and live my life in peace."
He's not attempting to replicate anyone else in the promotional business, and said that while he has ambitious dreams for Iron Mike Productions, he can only be certain of one thing.
He wants, he said, to produce world champions and put on exciting fights. He said he'd even be interested in training fighters, but said most of them don't have the discipline it takes to become successful.
There will be, he said, only one certainty in his company.
"I can't tell people how to spend their money or how to live their lives, but at the end of the day, there is never going to be a fighter who says, 'Mike Tyson done me wrong and stole my money,' " he told Yahoo! Sports. "The most important thing to me is that at the end of the day, they get what they signed up to get."
Y! SPORTS
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The most impactful moment occurring on the "Friday Night Fights" season finale didn't occur in the ring, in the main event -- which pitted junior lightweight titlist Argenis Mendez against Arash Usmanee -- on the undercard at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY.
No, that signature moment occurred when Mike Tyson, the promoter of the event, walked up to ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas before the TV bouts kicked off.
Not so strange, considering Atlas had helped train Tyson, along with their common mentor, Cus D'Amato, in upstate NY in the early 1980s. But the falling out between Atlas and Tyson was explosive.
Atlas, in his biography, recalled that he reacted heatedly after he found out that the young boxer, then age 15, had approached a young girl, who was a relative of Atlas' wife, in a crude manner. Atlas borrowed a .38 from a pal, tracked down Tyson one night in 1982, told him to smarten up, and fired the gun, deliberately missing, for emphasis. That was the end of Atlas helping Tyson learn the ropes.
Through the years, the analyst hasn't been shy about critiquing the power-punching former Kid Dynamite. He dismissed his moral fiber, labeled him "boxing's version of the Jerry Springer show."
"Mike has always been looking for an escape, a trap door," said Atlas of Tyson in 2003. "He always lacked one essential ingredient in situation building character: the ability to confront himself."
They haven't had a relationship, save for maybe a nod at a charity dinner, since the blowup.
Until Friday. Tyson, before the show started, came up to Atlas at his station. "He behaved like a man, what can I say," Atlas recollected to partner Joe Tessitore. "He came over, extended his hand and asked me if I'd shake it and said, 'You're not still mad at me, are you? I wish you wouldn't be'. ... I give him credit for showing a gentleman's side."
"Life is short, I made amends with everybody," Tyson explained about the gesture to FNF host Todd Grisham after the first fight finished. He said making amends is important to his sobriety, describing himself as a "vicious addict. I'm recovering and I'm gonna die. If I don't follow my steps, I'm useless." Atlas, he said, was extremely important to him back then. "I was wrong," he admitted, so he's was happy to get a chance to say so.
"I have a lot of pain, and I just want to heal it, and that was part of it, right there," he said, before the main event, which saw Mendez fight to a majority draw against Usmanee, started. Tyson told Grisham his mom was a hooker, his dad was pimp, he's shot at people, and so all that fame and fortune didn't feel right to him. He said he feels better emotionally than he ever has.
It was riveting material, a powerful expression of the power and possibilities of forgiveness, and redemption.
Tyson makes amends with Atlas - Boxing Blog - ESPN
No, that signature moment occurred when Mike Tyson, the promoter of the event, walked up to ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas before the TV bouts kicked off.
Not so strange, considering Atlas had helped train Tyson, along with their common mentor, Cus D'Amato, in upstate NY in the early 1980s. But the falling out between Atlas and Tyson was explosive.
Atlas, in his biography, recalled that he reacted heatedly after he found out that the young boxer, then age 15, had approached a young girl, who was a relative of Atlas' wife, in a crude manner. Atlas borrowed a .38 from a pal, tracked down Tyson one night in 1982, told him to smarten up, and fired the gun, deliberately missing, for emphasis. That was the end of Atlas helping Tyson learn the ropes.
Through the years, the analyst hasn't been shy about critiquing the power-punching former Kid Dynamite. He dismissed his moral fiber, labeled him "boxing's version of the Jerry Springer show."
"Mike has always been looking for an escape, a trap door," said Atlas of Tyson in 2003. "He always lacked one essential ingredient in situation building character: the ability to confront himself."
They haven't had a relationship, save for maybe a nod at a charity dinner, since the blowup.
Until Friday. Tyson, before the show started, came up to Atlas at his station. "He behaved like a man, what can I say," Atlas recollected to partner Joe Tessitore. "He came over, extended his hand and asked me if I'd shake it and said, 'You're not still mad at me, are you? I wish you wouldn't be'. ... I give him credit for showing a gentleman's side."
"Life is short, I made amends with everybody," Tyson explained about the gesture to FNF host Todd Grisham after the first fight finished. He said making amends is important to his sobriety, describing himself as a "vicious addict. I'm recovering and I'm gonna die. If I don't follow my steps, I'm useless." Atlas, he said, was extremely important to him back then. "I was wrong," he admitted, so he's was happy to get a chance to say so.
"I have a lot of pain, and I just want to heal it, and that was part of it, right there," he said, before the main event, which saw Mendez fight to a majority draw against Usmanee, started. Tyson told Grisham his mom was a hooker, his dad was pimp, he's shot at people, and so all that fame and fortune didn't feel right to him. He said he feels better emotionally than he ever has.
It was riveting material, a powerful expression of the power and possibilities of forgiveness, and redemption.
Tyson makes amends with Atlas - Boxing Blog - ESPN
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Leo Santa Cruz pummelled Victor Terrazas with a third round knockout Saturday to capture the World Boxing Council’s junior featherweight crown.
Referee Lou Moret stopped the fight at 2:09 of the third with Terrazas defenseless and unable to see out of his right eye after being knocked down previously in the round.
“I was not expecting a knockout this early in the fight, I thought it would be later,” Santa Cruz said.
The challenger dominated from beginning using his superior height and reach to land some heavy punches on Terrazas.
Santa Cruz said he won the title for his brother Roberto who is battling lupus, a disease which affects a person’s immune system and attacks healthy cells and tissues.
“It means the world to me,” said Santa Cruz. “I want to give the belt to (Roberto) because he is the real champion.”
Santa Cruz vacated his bantamweight world title to move up to the junior featherweight ranks.
Terrazas falls to 37-3 with one drawn. Coming into the fight he had lost only once since his pro debut a decade ago. Saturday’s defeat also snapped a 12-fight win streak.
Read more: Boxing: Santa Cruz crushes Terrazas to claim WBC title | Inquirer Sports
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Referee Lou Moret stopped the fight at 2:09 of the third with Terrazas defenseless and unable to see out of his right eye after being knocked down previously in the round.
“I was not expecting a knockout this early in the fight, I thought it would be later,” Santa Cruz said.
The challenger dominated from beginning using his superior height and reach to land some heavy punches on Terrazas.
Santa Cruz said he won the title for his brother Roberto who is battling lupus, a disease which affects a person’s immune system and attacks healthy cells and tissues.
“It means the world to me,” said Santa Cruz. “I want to give the belt to (Roberto) because he is the real champion.”
Santa Cruz vacated his bantamweight world title to move up to the junior featherweight ranks.
Terrazas falls to 37-3 with one drawn. Coming into the fight he had lost only once since his pro debut a decade ago. Saturday’s defeat also snapped a 12-fight win streak.
Read more: Boxing: Santa Cruz crushes Terrazas to claim WBC title | Inquirer Sports
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An upstate New York wedding went an extra round when boxing great Mike Tyson just happened to stumble upon the wedding party posing for pictures.
The Observer-Dispatch of Utica reports (Mike Tyson makes appearance at Rome couple's wedding - Utica, NY - The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York ) Saturday the Brooklyn-born boxer was crossing the lawn of the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y., as Greg and Amber Keller snapped photos with their bridesmaids and groomsmen Friday evening.
Greg Keller says Tyson posed for photographs, congratulated the happy bride and groom on their union and was ''extremely nice.''
Tyson, a Hall of Famer, was in Verona for his first promotional fight card featuring boxers from his newly created ''Iron Mike Productions.''
The newly married man says Tyson's surprise cameo energized the evening's celebrations.
Y! SPORTS
The Observer-Dispatch of Utica reports (Mike Tyson makes appearance at Rome couple's wedding - Utica, NY - The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York ) Saturday the Brooklyn-born boxer was crossing the lawn of the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y., as Greg and Amber Keller snapped photos with their bridesmaids and groomsmen Friday evening.
Greg Keller says Tyson posed for photographs, congratulated the happy bride and groom on their union and was ''extremely nice.''
Tyson, a Hall of Famer, was in Verona for his first promotional fight card featuring boxers from his newly created ''Iron Mike Productions.''
The newly married man says Tyson's surprise cameo energized the evening's celebrations.
Y! SPORTS
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AT THE peak of his boxing powers in the late Eighties Mike Tyson seemed simply unbeatable. It's said the self-styled "baddest man on the planet" was so intimidating that many of his opponents were beaten long before they climbed through the ropes.
You could hardly blame them. In the history of the sport there have been few men with such a ferocious knockout punch. His fearsome reputation was sealed by a snarling, win-at-all-costs attitude, which went too far when he bit off part of an opponent's ear.
He dominated boxing but was clearly a man beset by demons. He struggled to channel his aggression into the ring but was seduced by the trappings of success. His personal life was a disaster and a man who once earned £20million for a single fight ended up bankrupt.
So it was not entirely surprising when Tyson, now 47, revealed at the weekend that he was close to dying from a combination of drugs and alcohol problems.
"I haven't drunk or taken drugs for six days and for me that's a miracle," he confessed.
His story has echoes of Britain's Frank Bruno, whom he beat twice. Both have bipolar disorder and have found the challenges of life far harder than those of the ring.
Tyson had a classic boxer's background, growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in Brooklyn, New York. His father walked out soon after he was born and his mother died when he was a teenager. He ran wild much of the time and had frequent brushes with the law for petty crime. Bullied because of a lisp, he quickly learned to let his fists do the talking. Then he was taken under the wing of Cus D'Amato, a trainer who recognised his potential and rescued him from reform school. Tyson credits D'Amato with turning his life round and being the father figure he'd never had.
Tyson's meteoric rise began with gold medals at the junior Olympics. In March 1985 he made his professional debut, knocking out Hector Mercedes in the first round. He won all but two of his first 28 fights by a knockout. More than half didn't go beyond the first round.
When Trevor Berbick was dispatched the following year Tyson created history by becoming the youngest holder of a world title at just 20 years and four months.
His punch earned him the nickname Iron Mike but he was no slugger. He also had outstanding hand-speed, co-ordination and timing and an immaculate defence.
But outside the ring his life was beginning to unravel. His marriage to actress Robin Givens lasted a year and was punctuated by allegations of domestic violence. She later described life with Tyson as "torture and pure hell".
He went on to marry twice more and have eight children with a variety of different women. Eventually the turmoil in his personal life began to affect his training and mental stability and it ranks as one of the greatest sporting upsets when Tyson was knocked out by the journeyman Buster Douglas in Tokyo in February 1990. Soon he was winning again but his air of invincibility had been shattered.
The following July Tyson was arrested for the rape of beauty queen Desiree Washington in an Indianapolis hotel room. He was given a six-year prison sentence, serving three.
In court Tyson was portrayed as an out-of-control sexual predator who believed it was his entitlement to have any women he wanted. After the verdict other women came forward to claim they had also been sexually assaulted by him. He was marched off to jail with his reputation and career in ruins. It later emerged that Tyson suffered from bipolar disorder. In fact, he was a mass of contradictions. On one hand was the brutal boxer and rapist, on the other an almost child-like character who tended his 200 pigeons when he was not knocking men senseless. He also claimed to be interested in philosophy and was an avid reader.
Tyson once said: "I'm the most irresponsible person in the world. But the reason why I'm like that is because at 21 you guys gave me 100 million dollars. I don't know what the hell to do. I come from the ghetto. I don't know how to act. One minute I'm in a dope house robbing somebody.
The next thing, 'You're the heavyweight champion of the world.'" The period in prison gave Tyson an opportunity to take stock and he claimed to be a reformed man when he was released, becoming a Muslim and determined to get his career back on track. For a while it seemed to be going well but he imploded.
In a fight with Evander Holyfield in 1997 a frustrated Tyson twice bit his opponent's ear, removing a chunk that was found lying in the ring. Tyson claimed he had reacted after being head-butted but was banned from boxing, despite a grovelling apology. The authorities later allowed him to fight on but it was the beginning of the end for Tyson the boxer.
His career became a sideshow marred by pre-fight brawls, a failed drugs test and an incident in which a referee was knocked to the canvas when he tried to intervene as Tyson punched an opponent after a bout had been stopped.
The boxer then spent another nine months in jail after a dispute with two motorists.
It appeared Tyson was incapable of avoiding controversy and before one defeat, to Britain's Lennox Lewis, he said: "I want his heart. I want to eat his children."
Promoting the same fight he added: "I know at times I come across like a Neanderthal or a babbling idiot but I like that person. I like to show you that person because that's who you all come to see. I'm Tyson, I'm a tyrannical titan."
But in 2005, after losing three out of his four last fights, Tyson called time, stating he'd lost his passion for the sport that had defined and destroyed him.
He admitted soon after retirement: "My whole life has been a waste. I've been a failure. I just want to escape. I'm really embarrassed with myself and my life. I want to be a missionary. I want to get this part of my life over as soon as possible."
Behind the scenes Tyson had squandered an estimated £250million.
Even in the twilight of his ca
You could hardly blame them. In the history of the sport there have been few men with such a ferocious knockout punch. His fearsome reputation was sealed by a snarling, win-at-all-costs attitude, which went too far when he bit off part of an opponent's ear.
He dominated boxing but was clearly a man beset by demons. He struggled to channel his aggression into the ring but was seduced by the trappings of success. His personal life was a disaster and a man who once earned £20million for a single fight ended up bankrupt.
So it was not entirely surprising when Tyson, now 47, revealed at the weekend that he was close to dying from a combination of drugs and alcohol problems.
"I haven't drunk or taken drugs for six days and for me that's a miracle," he confessed.
His story has echoes of Britain's Frank Bruno, whom he beat twice. Both have bipolar disorder and have found the challenges of life far harder than those of the ring.
Tyson had a classic boxer's background, growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in Brooklyn, New York. His father walked out soon after he was born and his mother died when he was a teenager. He ran wild much of the time and had frequent brushes with the law for petty crime. Bullied because of a lisp, he quickly learned to let his fists do the talking. Then he was taken under the wing of Cus D'Amato, a trainer who recognised his potential and rescued him from reform school. Tyson credits D'Amato with turning his life round and being the father figure he'd never had.
Tyson's meteoric rise began with gold medals at the junior Olympics. In March 1985 he made his professional debut, knocking out Hector Mercedes in the first round. He won all but two of his first 28 fights by a knockout. More than half didn't go beyond the first round.
When Trevor Berbick was dispatched the following year Tyson created history by becoming the youngest holder of a world title at just 20 years and four months.
His punch earned him the nickname Iron Mike but he was no slugger. He also had outstanding hand-speed, co-ordination and timing and an immaculate defence.
But outside the ring his life was beginning to unravel. His marriage to actress Robin Givens lasted a year and was punctuated by allegations of domestic violence. She later described life with Tyson as "torture and pure hell".
He went on to marry twice more and have eight children with a variety of different women. Eventually the turmoil in his personal life began to affect his training and mental stability and it ranks as one of the greatest sporting upsets when Tyson was knocked out by the journeyman Buster Douglas in Tokyo in February 1990. Soon he was winning again but his air of invincibility had been shattered.
The following July Tyson was arrested for the rape of beauty queen Desiree Washington in an Indianapolis hotel room. He was given a six-year prison sentence, serving three.
In court Tyson was portrayed as an out-of-control sexual predator who believed it was his entitlement to have any women he wanted. After the verdict other women came forward to claim they had also been sexually assaulted by him. He was marched off to jail with his reputation and career in ruins. It later emerged that Tyson suffered from bipolar disorder. In fact, he was a mass of contradictions. On one hand was the brutal boxer and rapist, on the other an almost child-like character who tended his 200 pigeons when he was not knocking men senseless. He also claimed to be interested in philosophy and was an avid reader.
Tyson once said: "I'm the most irresponsible person in the world. But the reason why I'm like that is because at 21 you guys gave me 100 million dollars. I don't know what the hell to do. I come from the ghetto. I don't know how to act. One minute I'm in a dope house robbing somebody.
The next thing, 'You're the heavyweight champion of the world.'" The period in prison gave Tyson an opportunity to take stock and he claimed to be a reformed man when he was released, becoming a Muslim and determined to get his career back on track. For a while it seemed to be going well but he imploded.
In a fight with Evander Holyfield in 1997 a frustrated Tyson twice bit his opponent's ear, removing a chunk that was found lying in the ring. Tyson claimed he had reacted after being head-butted but was banned from boxing, despite a grovelling apology. The authorities later allowed him to fight on but it was the beginning of the end for Tyson the boxer.
His career became a sideshow marred by pre-fight brawls, a failed drugs test and an incident in which a referee was knocked to the canvas when he tried to intervene as Tyson punched an opponent after a bout had been stopped.
The boxer then spent another nine months in jail after a dispute with two motorists.
It appeared Tyson was incapable of avoiding controversy and before one defeat, to Britain's Lennox Lewis, he said: "I want his heart. I want to eat his children."
Promoting the same fight he added: "I know at times I come across like a Neanderthal or a babbling idiot but I like that person. I like to show you that person because that's who you all come to see. I'm Tyson, I'm a tyrannical titan."
But in 2005, after losing three out of his four last fights, Tyson called time, stating he'd lost his passion for the sport that had defined and destroyed him.
He admitted soon after retirement: "My whole life has been a waste. I've been a failure. I just want to escape. I'm really embarrassed with myself and my life. I want to be a missionary. I want to get this part of my life over as soon as possible."
Behind the scenes Tyson had squandered an estimated £250million.
Even in the twilight of his ca
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Evander Holyfield is set to visit Portsmouth after organisers pulled off a coup to bring the boxing legend to the city.
The move to bring the five-time world champ to town means Holyfield could arguably be the biggest-ever boxing name to come to the area.
The night, called an Evening with Evander Holyfield, takes place at the Pyramids in Southsea on September 25.
Holyfield, of course, has his name immortalised in the boxing pantheon of greats, after an unrivalled lifetime in the noble art,
In a professional career, spanning 27 years, Holyfield collected five world titles at two weights and took part in some of the most memorable contests the sport has ever known.
Now he is set to regale fight fans with his stories and offer them the chance to meet a living legend.
Event organiser Jason Thame knows it is the kind of event boxing lovers will never be able to repeat.
Thame said: ‘It’s a brilliant thing to be able to bring Evander Holyfield to the city.
‘Everyone knows what he has achieved in boxing.
‘To have him come to Portsmouth is something else.
‘Evander rarely comes over to England, so that only adds to the occasion.
‘He’s doing eight events around the country and one of them is here.
‘So we want to make sure it is a special night – and there is no doubt that is what it’s going to be.
‘It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity really.’
The night will see guests have a four-course meal and see Holyfield answer questions with career footage played.
There is entertainment provided by a comedian, boxing raffle and photo opportunities with Holyfield.
Tickets for an Evening with Evander Holyfield are priced at £75 or £700 for a table of 10.
The platinum package is priced £125 per ticket or £1,000 for a table of 10.
This includes a personal audience with Holyfield before the main event, along with champagne reception and memorabilia pack.
Night with boxing hero is Real Deal - Boxing - Portsmouth News
The move to bring the five-time world champ to town means Holyfield could arguably be the biggest-ever boxing name to come to the area.
The night, called an Evening with Evander Holyfield, takes place at the Pyramids in Southsea on September 25.
Holyfield, of course, has his name immortalised in the boxing pantheon of greats, after an unrivalled lifetime in the noble art,
In a professional career, spanning 27 years, Holyfield collected five world titles at two weights and took part in some of the most memorable contests the sport has ever known.
Now he is set to regale fight fans with his stories and offer them the chance to meet a living legend.
Event organiser Jason Thame knows it is the kind of event boxing lovers will never be able to repeat.
Thame said: ‘It’s a brilliant thing to be able to bring Evander Holyfield to the city.
‘Everyone knows what he has achieved in boxing.
‘To have him come to Portsmouth is something else.
‘Evander rarely comes over to England, so that only adds to the occasion.
‘He’s doing eight events around the country and one of them is here.
‘So we want to make sure it is a special night – and there is no doubt that is what it’s going to be.
‘It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity really.’
The night will see guests have a four-course meal and see Holyfield answer questions with career footage played.
There is entertainment provided by a comedian, boxing raffle and photo opportunities with Holyfield.
Tickets for an Evening with Evander Holyfield are priced at £75 or £700 for a table of 10.
The platinum package is priced £125 per ticket or £1,000 for a table of 10.
This includes a personal audience with Holyfield before the main event, along with champagne reception and memorabilia pack.
Night with boxing hero is Real Deal - Boxing - Portsmouth News
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After speaking to several scientists and medical experts, I have constructed this brief timeline on what would happen if Tim Duncan punched you in the face as hard as he can.
•First upon cocking his arm back, millions of small gears in his robotic arm spring to life, as the nuclear-powered rockets in his cyborg shoulder begin to propel his arm forward. Let's pretend for a second that all life in a ten-block area isn't destroyed by the vacuum created by the force of this motion.
•Duncan's arm extends forward and there's that tiny moment where the very idea of getting hit by Tim Duncan starts to form in your cortex. Were it allowed to actually develop, this would be accompanied by your involuntary urination, the proverbial "life flashing before your eyes," and an unstoppable torrent of tears as you look back with regret on what you could have done differently to avoid this fate. Lucky for you, this happens so fast you never get past "Oh, n.."
•Duncan's cold, metallic fist lands, and again, assuming we're ignoring the nuclear detonation caused by the forced of this blow triggering a blast wave equal to a single warhead deployed by a modern ICBM, your face begins to separate in nanoseconds, breaking into millions of tiny pieces.
•The battering continues as the particles begin to disintegrate at the sub-atomic level. Your head becomes a fine powder, drifting throught the air as his fist reaches the other sideof your skull.
•You die. The end.
So you see, this would be very bad. Duncan's training may require intervention from allied NATO forces to stop this threat to our society.
Unless he's punching Shane Battier. Then he manages to miss despite Battier being right in front of him, harmless whiffing just barely and resulting in all sorts of sadness.
Tim Duncan does boxing training with Jesse James Leija - CBSSports-com
•First upon cocking his arm back, millions of small gears in his robotic arm spring to life, as the nuclear-powered rockets in his cyborg shoulder begin to propel his arm forward. Let's pretend for a second that all life in a ten-block area isn't destroyed by the vacuum created by the force of this motion.
•Duncan's arm extends forward and there's that tiny moment where the very idea of getting hit by Tim Duncan starts to form in your cortex. Were it allowed to actually develop, this would be accompanied by your involuntary urination, the proverbial "life flashing before your eyes," and an unstoppable torrent of tears as you look back with regret on what you could have done differently to avoid this fate. Lucky for you, this happens so fast you never get past "Oh, n.."
•Duncan's cold, metallic fist lands, and again, assuming we're ignoring the nuclear detonation caused by the forced of this blow triggering a blast wave equal to a single warhead deployed by a modern ICBM, your face begins to separate in nanoseconds, breaking into millions of tiny pieces.
•The battering continues as the particles begin to disintegrate at the sub-atomic level. Your head becomes a fine powder, drifting throught the air as his fist reaches the other sideof your skull.
•You die. The end.
So you see, this would be very bad. Duncan's training may require intervention from allied NATO forces to stop this threat to our society.
Unless he's punching Shane Battier. Then he manages to miss despite Battier being right in front of him, harmless whiffing just barely and resulting in all sorts of sadness.
Tim Duncan does boxing training with Jesse James Leija - CBSSports-com
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As Jhonny Gonzalez's dramatic Round 1 stoppage of pound-for-pound star Abner Mares proved last weekend, fortunes in boxing can rise and fall in an instant.
Mares had ground away at this brutal sport for years, cleaning out weight classes and collecting world titles. He'd garnered so much respect in the sport that when his promoter, Richard Schaefer, declared that Mares should be viewed as the pound-for-pound No. 2 behind Floyd Mayweather, nobody laughed at him, even if they politely disagreed.
Mares is a serious talent, and nobody who knows much about boxing will write him off based on one shocking loss. But it's a major setback to his standing in the sport.
Gonzalez, meanwhile, finally gets the kind of respect he's been waiting for. He has been winning world titles since the Bush administration and has defeated some very good fighters.
But nothing he's done in his long years in the sport will raise his reputation more quickly than his dramatic destruction of one of Golden Boy's primary golden boys.
Here are the boxers like Gonzales who have improved their reputation this year.
Pictures: Boxers Who Have Dramatically Improved Their Reputations in 2013 | Bleacher Report
Mares had ground away at this brutal sport for years, cleaning out weight classes and collecting world titles. He'd garnered so much respect in the sport that when his promoter, Richard Schaefer, declared that Mares should be viewed as the pound-for-pound No. 2 behind Floyd Mayweather, nobody laughed at him, even if they politely disagreed.
Mares is a serious talent, and nobody who knows much about boxing will write him off based on one shocking loss. But it's a major setback to his standing in the sport.
Gonzalez, meanwhile, finally gets the kind of respect he's been waiting for. He has been winning world titles since the Bush administration and has defeated some very good fighters.
But nothing he's done in his long years in the sport will raise his reputation more quickly than his dramatic destruction of one of Golden Boy's primary golden boys.
Here are the boxers like Gonzales who have improved their reputation this year.
Pictures: Boxers Who Have Dramatically Improved Their Reputations in 2013 | Bleacher Report
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English boxers will be able to compete at the World Championships in October whatever the outcome of disciplinary action against their governing body.
The Amateur Boxing Association of England is provisionally suspended from International Boxing Association (AIBA) events over governance issues.
If a disciplinary panel upholds the decision there may be a six-month ban.
But AIBA president Dr Ching-Kuo Wu said: "English boxers will be protected." He added: "It is their right to participate in all AIBA-sanctioned events.
"I have promised the boxers they will be able to compete in the major events this year, including the World Junior Championships, the World Senior Championships and the women's junior and youth World Championships."
The AIBA imposed the provisional suspension after judging the ABAE to be in breach of the world governing body's rules.
Sport England's support for a new ABAE constitution was interpreted as a violation of a statute which says national federations should prevent external influences in their election and appointment processes.
Former sports minister and current ABAE chairman Richard Caborn reportedly mentioned approval from Sport England, which funds grassroots amateur boxing, in a letter to the AIBA to inform them of their new articles of association and plans to make boardroom changes.
The AIBA also believe their technical competition rules were breached by the ABAE, which stopped World Series of Boxing fighters competing in this year's national championships.
Wu said the world governing body's disciplinary commission is close to reaching a decision - and if a ban is imposed English boxers will be made to compete under the AIBA flag at the World Championships in Kazakhstan.
England did not compete at the recent European youth and junior championships because of the suspension.
In June, UK Sport, the government agency that funds elite sport, backed down on its threat to redirect boxing's £13.8m Olympic funding away from the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA).
BBC Sport - AIBA confirms English boxers can compete at World Championships
The Amateur Boxing Association of England is provisionally suspended from International Boxing Association (AIBA) events over governance issues.
If a disciplinary panel upholds the decision there may be a six-month ban.
But AIBA president Dr Ching-Kuo Wu said: "English boxers will be protected." He added: "It is their right to participate in all AIBA-sanctioned events.
"I have promised the boxers they will be able to compete in the major events this year, including the World Junior Championships, the World Senior Championships and the women's junior and youth World Championships."
The AIBA imposed the provisional suspension after judging the ABAE to be in breach of the world governing body's rules.
Sport England's support for a new ABAE constitution was interpreted as a violation of a statute which says national federations should prevent external influences in their election and appointment processes.
Former sports minister and current ABAE chairman Richard Caborn reportedly mentioned approval from Sport England, which funds grassroots amateur boxing, in a letter to the AIBA to inform them of their new articles of association and plans to make boardroom changes.
The AIBA also believe their technical competition rules were breached by the ABAE, which stopped World Series of Boxing fighters competing in this year's national championships.
Wu said the world governing body's disciplinary commission is close to reaching a decision - and if a ban is imposed English boxers will be made to compete under the AIBA flag at the World Championships in Kazakhstan.
England did not compete at the recent European youth and junior championships because of the suspension.
In June, UK Sport, the government agency that funds elite sport, backed down on its threat to redirect boxing's £13.8m Olympic funding away from the British Amateur Boxing Association (BABA).
BBC Sport - AIBA confirms English boxers can compete at World Championships
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The world champion prize fighter has spent decades in a world that blends sport with show businesses, where images and stereotypes are manufactured and fuelled and hangers-on with hidden agendas are an occupational hazard.
For all of that, he takes time to size up people and you can see his mind ticking over with every approach.
And he is approached: there is not a day when he's asked for autographs, for a chat, for endless mobile phone photos or for his views about boxing and other fighters.
For the most part, he enjoys the support and his Facebook page is better attended than the biggest football clubs in Australia and gets regular correspondence from Green himself.
But there are also times when he puts his foot down. "Sometimes, you get treated like a piece of meat, like a commodity,'' Green said over lunch.
"People interrupt you, grab you for a photo without even asking and you have to tell them: 'manners are free'.
"But the real fans, the ones who have supported you and even gone to your fight ... they're fantastic.''
Green is about to speak at the Central District football club in Adelaide's north and he's not holding back; not over lunch, and not in his speech later on.
For all the bravado and gamesmanship that's in boxing, he has kept his sense of perspective and old-fashioned values.
The son of a sheep farmer turned burger flipper at a fast food joint, Green sees himself as an everyday Joe who just happens to had a successful boxing career.
He mocks himself. How he cried at his retirement press conference - he would later return to fighting - after he had laughed at so many fighters being emotional at such announcements before him.
"I haven't had it all my way,'' Green said.
"I've won some, lost one, took on some of the best fighters in the world and got chopped by some of the best in the world. But I wouldn't have had it any other way.''
Green, 40, is coming to terms with his career coming to an end, this time with more certainty than his first retirement.
It pains him. He loves the fight game and says it plainly: ``It is irreplaceable''. He smiles wryly at the notion that nobody will sack him; he has to do that himself.
Had it not been for family, he is confident he could fight for at least three more years, but recent revelations about the after effects from concussions has left him pondering, as he puts it.
"It's a concern,'' he said.
"I want to be in charge of my family and protect my family when I'm older.
"If any problems arise for my children, my family or friends, physically and mentally I want to be capable.
"If that means sacrificing a couple more years in the sport I love and I've been successful in ... if it's detrimental to me it has to happen.
"First and foremost to me is my kids. If I can't protect my kids, guide my kids through life, be their father and their friend, there's no point.
"I've been bashed in the face for 22 years.
"You never know what's around the corner and the next punch can change that.''
To Green, who has taken extensive punishment in the ring, it is not a matter of whether he will one day suffer from his career choice. It's a matter of how much, even though there have been no issues up until this point.
When he considers boxing, to which he was a latecomer, he has a way of explaining its brutal nature.
"Your job is to render your opponent unconscious with blows to the head,'' Green said. ``It's a pretty tough game.
"But I've never cared much about self-preservation ever since I was a kid.''
Green switches effortlessly from his serious side to the jocular tradesman-like fella who's quick with a joke and a laugh.
But the thing that is most striking about Green is his earthy take on what's important in life. You sense he is unaffected by the bright lights of Las Vegas when he's there and happiest when he's tinkering in the shed with his children nearby or training in his Perth garage to stay sharp.
How's this: when he arrived back from a losing title fight he was met by a large contingent of reporters, all of them glum-faced at his loss, and he stunned them with his responses.
They had expected a man who's world had fallen in - and professionally, he had taken a blow - but were met with somebody consoling them rather than the other way around.
"It is disappointing; it's bitterly disappointing,'' he told them.
"I've sacrificed and been through so much to be in this position.
"But there are people out there dying. Losing their life in combat. There are people who can't eat, can't feed their family, can't house their family or afford to send their kids to school.
Green laughs when he recalls the interview.
"You have to maintain some sort of perspective,'' he said.
"When your kids are healthy, you have a roof over your head and there's bread and butter on the table ... it's a tough world when you watch the news.''
It is with the same sense of reality that Green is prepared to let go of boxing, the sport that has consumed him for 20 years and which he remains passionate about.
He's developing businesses away from the sport now. There's property development - he was a carpenter before he turned pro - public speaking engagements and an interest in a gymnasium venture.
"I want to be in charge of my family and protect my family when I'm older,'' Green said. ``If any problems arise for my children, my family or friends, physically and mentally I want to be capable.
"If that means sacrificing a couple more years in the sport I love and I've been successful in ... if it's detrimental to me it has to happen.
"First and foremost to me is my kids. If I can't protect my kids, guide my kids through life, be their father and their friend, there's no point.
"I've been bashed in the face for 22 years.
"You never know what's around the corner and the next punch can change that.''
Listening to Green at a sportsman's show is a treat, becau
For all of that, he takes time to size up people and you can see his mind ticking over with every approach.
And he is approached: there is not a day when he's asked for autographs, for a chat, for endless mobile phone photos or for his views about boxing and other fighters.
For the most part, he enjoys the support and his Facebook page is better attended than the biggest football clubs in Australia and gets regular correspondence from Green himself.
But there are also times when he puts his foot down. "Sometimes, you get treated like a piece of meat, like a commodity,'' Green said over lunch.
"People interrupt you, grab you for a photo without even asking and you have to tell them: 'manners are free'.
"But the real fans, the ones who have supported you and even gone to your fight ... they're fantastic.''
Green is about to speak at the Central District football club in Adelaide's north and he's not holding back; not over lunch, and not in his speech later on.
For all the bravado and gamesmanship that's in boxing, he has kept his sense of perspective and old-fashioned values.
The son of a sheep farmer turned burger flipper at a fast food joint, Green sees himself as an everyday Joe who just happens to had a successful boxing career.
He mocks himself. How he cried at his retirement press conference - he would later return to fighting - after he had laughed at so many fighters being emotional at such announcements before him.
"I haven't had it all my way,'' Green said.
"I've won some, lost one, took on some of the best fighters in the world and got chopped by some of the best in the world. But I wouldn't have had it any other way.''
Green, 40, is coming to terms with his career coming to an end, this time with more certainty than his first retirement.
It pains him. He loves the fight game and says it plainly: ``It is irreplaceable''. He smiles wryly at the notion that nobody will sack him; he has to do that himself.
Had it not been for family, he is confident he could fight for at least three more years, but recent revelations about the after effects from concussions has left him pondering, as he puts it.
"It's a concern,'' he said.
"I want to be in charge of my family and protect my family when I'm older.
"If any problems arise for my children, my family or friends, physically and mentally I want to be capable.
"If that means sacrificing a couple more years in the sport I love and I've been successful in ... if it's detrimental to me it has to happen.
"First and foremost to me is my kids. If I can't protect my kids, guide my kids through life, be their father and their friend, there's no point.
"I've been bashed in the face for 22 years.
"You never know what's around the corner and the next punch can change that.''
To Green, who has taken extensive punishment in the ring, it is not a matter of whether he will one day suffer from his career choice. It's a matter of how much, even though there have been no issues up until this point.
When he considers boxing, to which he was a latecomer, he has a way of explaining its brutal nature.
"Your job is to render your opponent unconscious with blows to the head,'' Green said. ``It's a pretty tough game.
"But I've never cared much about self-preservation ever since I was a kid.''
Green switches effortlessly from his serious side to the jocular tradesman-like fella who's quick with a joke and a laugh.
But the thing that is most striking about Green is his earthy take on what's important in life. You sense he is unaffected by the bright lights of Las Vegas when he's there and happiest when he's tinkering in the shed with his children nearby or training in his Perth garage to stay sharp.
How's this: when he arrived back from a losing title fight he was met by a large contingent of reporters, all of them glum-faced at his loss, and he stunned them with his responses.
They had expected a man who's world had fallen in - and professionally, he had taken a blow - but were met with somebody consoling them rather than the other way around.
"It is disappointing; it's bitterly disappointing,'' he told them.
"I've sacrificed and been through so much to be in this position.
"But there are people out there dying. Losing their life in combat. There are people who can't eat, can't feed their family, can't house their family or afford to send their kids to school.
Green laughs when he recalls the interview.
"You have to maintain some sort of perspective,'' he said.
"When your kids are healthy, you have a roof over your head and there's bread and butter on the table ... it's a tough world when you watch the news.''
It is with the same sense of reality that Green is prepared to let go of boxing, the sport that has consumed him for 20 years and which he remains passionate about.
He's developing businesses away from the sport now. There's property development - he was a carpenter before he turned pro - public speaking engagements and an interest in a gymnasium venture.
"I want to be in charge of my family and protect my family when I'm older,'' Green said. ``If any problems arise for my children, my family or friends, physically and mentally I want to be capable.
"If that means sacrificing a couple more years in the sport I love and I've been successful in ... if it's detrimental to me it has to happen.
"First and foremost to me is my kids. If I can't protect my kids, guide my kids through life, be their father and their friend, there's no point.
"I've been bashed in the face for 22 years.
"You never know what's around the corner and the next punch can change that.''
Listening to Green at a sportsman's show is a treat, becau
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Preliminary bouts in pay-per-view telecasts rarely outshine the main event, quickly becoming forgotten results for the record books and historians’ appreciation.
Boxing fans often must deal with appetizers lacking appeal and action. Moreover, promoters suitably find slots for their emerging fighters on pay-per-view openers, but match them with inferior competition.
The typical trend of the nondescript preliminary could change with the fight leading into the Floyd Mayweather Jr.- Saul “Canelo” Alvarez pay-per-view headliner Sept. 14.
Before Mayweather and Alvarez enter the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for a unified super-welterweight title, super lightweights Danny Garcia and Lucas Matthysse will meet in a separate title fight that has intrigued fans and media even before it was officially announced three months ago.
“I’m happy to give the fans the fight that they want,” Garcia said.
Garcia and Matthysse are considered the top two fighters in the 140-pound weight class. And, although he won two sanctioning body titles last year and remains unbeaten in 26 fights, Garcia will be far from an overwhelming favorite against Matthysse.
“I really don’t care what the media thinks or who they think is the best, because in my heart I know I’m the best, and I hold the titles,” Garcia said. “September 14 is going to be another day at work for me, and I’m just going to defend my title. I’m still champion, and the people who don’t believe, hey, that’s their problem.”
A disputed split decision loss against Devon Alexander two years ago set Matthysse off on a current six-fight win streak. Instead of relying on the judges, Matthysse has won all six bouts by knockouts, further enhancing his reputation as one of the sport’s strongest punchers.
A native of Argentina, Matthysse (34-2, 32 KOs) served notice that he is ready to make the step toward stardom in his recent bout. Matthysse was expected to deal with solid boxing and slick defense against titleholder Lamont Peterson. Instead, Matthysse knocked down Peterson four times in a third-round technical-knockout victory on May 18.
“I respect Danny Garcia as a champion,” Matthysse said. “It is going to be a difficult fight, but I’m not looking for a knockout. I am looking to have a great victory and give a great fight.”
Garcia, of Philadelphia, refuses to be awed by Matthysse’s ratio of finishing opponents within the distance.
“I’ve fought big punchers, I took big shots before,” Garcia said. “I’m going to do what I do best, make adjustments in the fight and get the victory.”
Matthysse, whose other professional loss against Zab Judah three years ago also was decided by split scorecards, acknowledges the opportunity of fighting in the large viewership expected of the Mayweather-Alvarez fight.
“It’s an honor to be in a fight on this big of a stage,” Matthysse said. “I know there’s going to be a lot of interest. I’m just happy so many people are going to see my style of fighting
.”
Dueling contenders
Seth Mitchell avenged the only loss of his career in his previous fight. The heavyweight contender looks to make additional inroads toward a coveted title fight Saturday night. Mitchell (26-1-1, 19 KOs) will face former title contender Chris Arreola (35-3, 30 KOs) at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, Calif.
Seven months after suffering a second-round TKO loss against Johnathon Banks, Mitchell won a unanimous decision in a direct rematch June 22.
Saturday’s bout will be Arreola’s first since losing a lopsided decision against Bermane Stiverne on April27.
Read more here: Danny Garcia-Lucas Matthysse is a big bout on its own - Boxing - MiamiHerald-com
Boxing fans often must deal with appetizers lacking appeal and action. Moreover, promoters suitably find slots for their emerging fighters on pay-per-view openers, but match them with inferior competition.
The typical trend of the nondescript preliminary could change with the fight leading into the Floyd Mayweather Jr.- Saul “Canelo” Alvarez pay-per-view headliner Sept. 14.
Before Mayweather and Alvarez enter the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for a unified super-welterweight title, super lightweights Danny Garcia and Lucas Matthysse will meet in a separate title fight that has intrigued fans and media even before it was officially announced three months ago.
“I’m happy to give the fans the fight that they want,” Garcia said.
Garcia and Matthysse are considered the top two fighters in the 140-pound weight class. And, although he won two sanctioning body titles last year and remains unbeaten in 26 fights, Garcia will be far from an overwhelming favorite against Matthysse.
“I really don’t care what the media thinks or who they think is the best, because in my heart I know I’m the best, and I hold the titles,” Garcia said. “September 14 is going to be another day at work for me, and I’m just going to defend my title. I’m still champion, and the people who don’t believe, hey, that’s their problem.”
A disputed split decision loss against Devon Alexander two years ago set Matthysse off on a current six-fight win streak. Instead of relying on the judges, Matthysse has won all six bouts by knockouts, further enhancing his reputation as one of the sport’s strongest punchers.
A native of Argentina, Matthysse (34-2, 32 KOs) served notice that he is ready to make the step toward stardom in his recent bout. Matthysse was expected to deal with solid boxing and slick defense against titleholder Lamont Peterson. Instead, Matthysse knocked down Peterson four times in a third-round technical-knockout victory on May 18.
“I respect Danny Garcia as a champion,” Matthysse said. “It is going to be a difficult fight, but I’m not looking for a knockout. I am looking to have a great victory and give a great fight.”
Garcia, of Philadelphia, refuses to be awed by Matthysse’s ratio of finishing opponents within the distance.
“I’ve fought big punchers, I took big shots before,” Garcia said. “I’m going to do what I do best, make adjustments in the fight and get the victory.”
Matthysse, whose other professional loss against Zab Judah three years ago also was decided by split scorecards, acknowledges the opportunity of fighting in the large viewership expected of the Mayweather-Alvarez fight.
“It’s an honor to be in a fight on this big of a stage,” Matthysse said. “I know there’s going to be a lot of interest. I’m just happy so many people are going to see my style of fighting
.”
Dueling contenders
Seth Mitchell avenged the only loss of his career in his previous fight. The heavyweight contender looks to make additional inroads toward a coveted title fight Saturday night. Mitchell (26-1-1, 19 KOs) will face former title contender Chris Arreola (35-3, 30 KOs) at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, Calif.
Seven months after suffering a second-round TKO loss against Johnathon Banks, Mitchell won a unanimous decision in a direct rematch June 22.
Saturday’s bout will be Arreola’s first since losing a lopsided decision against Bermane Stiverne on April27.
Read more here: Danny Garcia-Lucas Matthysse is a big bout on its own - Boxing - MiamiHerald-com
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"When she found boxing, she found something that defined her as a person," said Kylie Fallis, a close friend of Griffin's and a fellow boxer at the Hamilton Boxing Club.
Police identified 30-year-old Griffin as the passenger of a white Kia SUV that crashed early Sunday morning southwest of Glencoe.
The SUV was travelling eastbound at "a high rate of speed" on Concession Drive when it ran through a stop sign and skidded, leaving the north side of the roadway and striking two trees, police say.
The driver, 31-year-old Johnathan Smith, was also from Hamilton. Fallis said Smith was Griffin's boyfriend. Smith's family could not be reached.
Neither was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, and both were ejected from the SUV, along with a dog that died at the scene.
Both were taken by ambulance to Four Counties Hospital, where they died of their injuries.
Fallis met Griffin in 2008, when they both joined the gym within the same week.
"She's been the girl boxing with me since day one," Fallis said.
When Griffin joined the gym, Fallis learned that they both had kids — Fallis had a son, and Griffin had two children, a 5-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter, said their coach, Brodie Boone.
"We were both just trying to do something that was for ourselves, get in shape," Fallis said.
The two trained and went to boxing shows together, but they also hung around outside of the gym, taking the kids to Emerald Lake or barbecuing at Fallis's house.
"(Her kids) were her everything."
If Griffin couldn't find a babysitter for her kids, she'd often bring them by the gym or to watch her local fights at Mohawk College, where her teammates would take turns watching them, Boone said.
Fallis said Griffin would sometimes train as often as three times a day, so it's no surprise she was undefeated — winning all 18 fights she took on, 10 of which she won by "stoppage," meaning she knocked the other fighter out, Boone said.
"Boxing wise, everybody feared her," he said.
Boone said he and Griffin had discussed her going professional before she turned 30, but she hadn't been by the gym in a couple months.
"She had a lot of inner demons, like anyone," said Fallis, noting that usually all it took was a phone call to bring her back to the gym after she had disappeared for awhile.
"She really cared about her boxing family," Fallis said. "Without Patti in my life, I probably wouldn't be the boxer I am today."
Hamilton woman killed in crash was undefeated boxer