Haye - I'll take his head off -- Sky Sports

Sky Sports

David Haye has risked the wrath of John Ruiz by threatening to take his head off.

The WBA heavyweight champion, who famously upset the Klitschko brothers by sporting a t-shirt with their severed heads on last year, says he is in the mood to deliver a blistering knockout performance at the MEN Arena on Saturday night.

Haye has been unusually subdued in the run-up to his first world-title defence, live on Sky Box Office, but exploded into life in familiar fashion with the first bell 72 hours away.

Ruiz has arrived in England with a small entourage and without his family, a man on a mission to become only the third man in history to become a three-time world heavyweight champion.

But Haye believes he has left his loved ones at home because he knows what's coming.

"I wouldn't bring my family either, if I knew I was going to get decapitated!" he told Sky Sports News.

"He's gonna get knocked out and maybe subconsciously he knows that. That's why he told his family to stay at home.

"I'm bred to do this, I'm a fighter through and through. I know what it's like to be in hard fights, I know what it's like to dig dip and I'm expecting to have to dig deep.

"I'm mentally prepared for a tough, gruelling fight - but a fight he will end up unconscious in."

Blazing

Only one person, David Tua, has managed to knock Ruiz out in 54 professional fights.

Haye will be boxing at heavyweight for only the fourth time and says concerns about his weight and physique will prove unfounded once the bell sounds on Saturday.

He only arrived in Manchester in the early hours of Wednesday morning, but insists it is merely a case of the quiet before the storm.

"I wanted to do my last hard training session in London, in my own gym," he said. "It's fine, it's only when I really get into the changing rooms that I really switch on.

"A lot of fighters switch on too early; you see them shadow boxing a week before their fight and they're burning up too much energy that they need in the fight. When I'm in the ring, that's when I'm 100 per cent, all guns blazing.

"It's all about looking, feeling and being as perfect as possible on the night of the fight. There's no need being on peak performance three weeks out - it means nothing.

"Everything myself and Adam (Booth) do is to peak when we walk into that ring. When I climb through them ropes I'm in the best physical condition I can be in and that's all that matters.

"I'm expecting a real tough night; it's going to be exciting but I am going to knock him out."

Promoter Frank Warren "Doesn't See Haye Even Making A Dent" In Either Klitschko Brother -- Eastside Boxing

By James Slater, Eastside Boxing

Like him or not, you have to admit that U.K boxing promoter Frank Warren speaks his mind. Known for not always saying good things about fighters, even the men he has worked with, Warren has come out swinging at WBA heavyweight champ David Haye; at least that's the way the things Warren has had to say will most likely be interpreted by Haye and his fans.

Speaking with Mail online, Warren began by saying something that practically everyone agrees with - how a Haye-Nikolai Valuev rematch, which has been talked about, is a very bad idea indeed!

"If Haye beats [John] Ruiz, then Sauerland [promotions], who he's signed a deal with, will enforce a rematch with Valuev," Warren told Mail online. "I think that would be a disaster for boxing, but the rematch clause is there in the contract. It was a dreadful fight the first time around, I don't care what anyone says.

"Either guy could have been given the decision, it was the most boring fight ever."

Though Warren is absolutely correct when he says a Haye-Valuev II would be bad for boxing, it is questionable whether or not the promoter would be saying all the negative things he is saying about Haye's winning performance from last November if he was promoting the charismatic Londoner. Some experts, after all, lauded the way Haye showed patience, stuck to a game-plan and outboxed the giant to win on points.

Still, though some did admire Haye's maturity and boxing skill, we don't want to see a part-two; as Warren states. What we do want is for Haye to face one or both of the Klitschko brothers. Warren is most doubtful Haye would have much of a chance against either man if he does fight them, however.

"The only way for Haye to get to fight one of the Klitschkos is to pay Valuev to step aside," Warren said. "Valuev will then meet the winner. I don't know about Haye being the saviour of the heavyweight division - I want to see him fight the Klitschkos first. The Klitschkos would be too big and too strong for Haye. I don't see him beating either of them.

"I don't see Haye even making a dent. If Monte Barrett can put Haye on the floor then the Klitschkos certainly can."

It's likely a good number of readers of this web site will also agree with what Warren has had to say about Haye and his chances against Waldimir and Vitali. Most fans do seem to think the brothers would be too strong for the former cruiserweight king. But that's the thing: we all want to find out for sure! Haye has done so much talking about what he will do to the Klitschkos, we NEED to see if he can back it up.

Needless to say, if Haye can do so; Warren, and a good many other experts, will have to admit that they were very wrong about the reigning WBA heavyweight champ and his talents. But will we ever get to see the fights? Certainly not if John Ruiz beats Haye on Saturday night in Manchester. And it seems more and more fans are beginning to feel this could happen.

Source: eastsideboxing.com

Tua - all the way -- New Zealand Herald

By Steve Deane, New Zealand Herald

David Tua cruised to a comfortable points victory over Friday Ahunanya in Auckland last night but the dreary performance would have done little to promote his world title prospects.

Nigerian Ahunanya carries the moniker "The 13th"'. As in Black Friday. But Good Friday - a day when everything is shut and not much happens - would be more appropriate.

Ahunanya hardly fired a shot. His strategy seemed to consist of backing on to the ropes, taking a few body shots and then slipping away to make the stalking Tua track him down all over again. Occasionally he offered a stiffish jab, but little more.

Tua went about his work efficiently enough to take a unanimous points victory, but his foe was slippery enough to avoid serious punishment.

Ahunanya had been inactive for more than two years before this fight. Some would say that stretch remains unbroken.

But after the fight, he presented a different view.

"I did what I had to do, I thought I won the fight," he said.

His trainer Luis Tapia agreed.

"This is bad for the sport," Tapia said. "We won every round, Friday won every round."

That opinion was at odds with the score cards. One judge gave Tua every round (120-108) and the other two did not score it as even close.

More than 18 years have passed since Tua marked his professional debut with a 37-second demolition of American Ron Humes in Virginia.

Today, he is is a vastly different physical and mental specimen from the 19-year-old who stepped on to the pro stage in such devastating fashion.

But some things haven't changed. He hasn't lost his power, nor seemingly much of his speed. But neither has he grown the extra 30cm that would enable him to fight on more even terms with the likes of Ahunanya.

Last night's fight asked an important question of Tua. Was his effort against Shane Cameron a one-off, a case of an ageing lion roused into one final roar by a yapping hyena?

Or is his continuation, as he likes to call it, the real deal?

It's probably for real, but last night's snore fest will have added a dose of reality to the world-beater tag he took by dealing to Cameron.

The next question for Tua is whether he can sustain the sort of momentum needed to push him into the frame for a title shot at WBO champ Vladimir Klitchko.

He went into last night's fight ranked third by the WBO. But the near seven months that have passed since his demolition of Cameron did little to keep his name in the title shot frame.

Last night's victim, Ahunanya, was unranked. The victory was little more than was expected of Tua, and will have simply kept him treading water.

Tua needs to get busy against some higher-calibre opponents.

On the politics side, not much has changed. Tua is committed to two more fights for Maori TV. The lack of pay-per-view revenue means those contests will probably be small-beer affairs.

Another option for Tua is to hit the road and fight overseas, but he has shown a reluctance to do that, pulling out of a planned February fight with former champion Bruce Seldon.

So once again it is a case of watch and wait. The clock is still ticking for the 37-year-old Tua.

But last night's effort at least suggested his time isn't about to run out any time soon.

Source: nzherald.co.nz

Meeting of influential promoters nets few answers for boxing's woes -- Sports Illustrated

By Chris Mannix, SI.com

NEW YORK -- Those who love boxing are the ones hurting it the most. It's true. Just ask them.

On Tuesday afternoon, six of the most influential men in the sport -- promoters Lou DiBella, Dan Goossen, Gary Shaw, Kalle Sauerland and Mick Hennessy and Showtime exec Ken Hershman -- gathered with two dozen or so media members in a private room on the second floor of the Renaissance Hotel in Times Square. They were there to discuss the Super Six World Boxing Classic, Showtime's fledgling tournament that will eventually anoint the new face of the 168-pound weight class.

It began civilly enough. Hershman championed the competitiveness of the tournament thus far, a stretch punctuated by Andre Dirrell's controversial DQ win over former middleweight champ Arthur Abraham on Saturday. He cited the record viewership for Abraham-Dirrell (which was boosted by Showtime's free preview weekend, upping the number of available homes from 18 to 55 million) and the Congressional bill-thick stack of publicity for the tournament that sits on his desk.

"The interest," Hershman said, "is ratcheting up."

No discussion of the Super Six, however, can pass without talking about the health of the sport. And for the promoters, that's when the gloves came off.

Like wolves they attacked each other. Golden Boy was a particularly popular target. The promotional heavyweight -- which was not represented in the room -- was blasted for putting on the putrid Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. card this Saturday, a $50 pay-per-view that isn't worth 50 cents. The fight was attacked. The undercard was attacked. The promoters were attacked.

"You expect people to tune in for three hours to watch that s---?" DiBella said.

"That undercard," Shaw said, "is a disgrace."

Even Hershman got his hands dirty. When asked about HBO's counterprogramming the Super Six with fights of its own, a visibly irritated Hershman called HBO's decision "intentional" and "regrettable" and said it was "unfortunate that [HBO] feels so threatened by this tournament that they think [counterprogramming] is their answer. Why don't you put on better fights instead of worrying about what we're doing?" HBO responded with a statement denying any counterprogramming, saying its goal was to "provide the best possible boxing matchups with the best fighters in the world."

But as their indignation grew, so did their hypocrisy. Because before any matchmaker can level accusations, each needs to take a long look in the mirror.

Consider: Sauerland Event and Top Rank blew the best middleweight title showdown in years when they nickel-and-dimed each other out of an Abraham-Kelly Pavlik match. More than 10,000 energized fans filled Newark's Prudential Center for Tomasz Adamek's win over Jason Estrada in February. So, of course, Adamek's next fight, against Goossen-controlled Chris Arreola, is 3,000 miles away in Ontario, California.

Then there is Don King, who could be the most subversive force in boxing today. DK has had a particularly unsettling stretch: He has buried prospect Devon Alexander, sabotaged a light heavyweight title fight between Glen Johnson and Tavoris Cloud, blown up an exciting cruiserweight match between Steve Cunningham and Matt Godfrey and priced lumbering heavyweight Nikolai Valuev right out of a fight with Vitali Klitschko, one of the only heavyweight fights out there that could generate any real interest.

In an effort to line their pockets with a little bit of extra change, promoters -- who have grown fat with the riches of casino money -- have hamstrung the sport with their own shortsightedness. It's not the rise of MMA that has hurt boxing, a thinking many have come to adopt. It's boxing itself.

"MMA didn't take boxing and put it in the shape that it's in," DiBella said. "We did. Sometimes I'm the first to mention MMA to other promoters and they say, 'Shut your mouth,' and they are right. We have to worry about our own sport. We have to make sure we are providing compelling entertainment. In our sport, we shove s--- down people's throats, and they are supposed to be interested in it?"

There are signs of progress. On April 10, DiBella will put on an HBO card headlined by explosive welterweight champion Andre Berto, who will defend his title against former titlist Carlos Quintana. A solid undercard featuring a matchup between former junior featherweight champion Celestino Cabellero and featherweight prospect Daud Yordan and a look at highly touted prospect Guillermo Rigondeaux strengthens the show. And as puzzling as the decision to move Adamek-Arreola out of New Jersey is, it's an explosive matchup between two quality heavyweights.

The Super Six will move forward, too. In April, Carl Froch will defend his title against Mikkel Kessler. And in June, Andre Ward will defend his belt against Allan Green.

You can't fill a crater with one shovelful of dirt. And as brilliant an idea as the Super Six is, it can't fill the hole boxing has dug by itself. It needs help. And the promoters are the only ones who can provide it. They talked a lot during the two-hour meeting in Manhattan. Now it's time to go out and back it up.

Source: sportsillustrated.cnn.com

I'll KO Kessler and King Arthur -- The Sun

By GAVIN GLICKSMAN, The Sun

CARL FROCH is looking forward to piling the misery on Arthur Abraham after taking care of Mikkel Kessler.

The Cobra puts his WBC title on the line against Kessler in his second Super Six outing on April 24 in Denmark.

Kessler, still reeling from dropping his WBA crown to Andre Ward, knows another defeat in the super-middlweight tournament will leave him staring into the abyss.

And Froch is confident he will end the Dane's hopes of reaching the semi-finals before taking care of Abraham, who lost his unbeaten record to Andre Dirrell on Saturday night.

The Nottingham puncher said: "I've got another headline fight against Abraham straight after Kessler, so I've got the makings of becoming massive.

"And that's exactly what I want — I want the recognition.

"I fancy doing a number on King Arthur quite easily. No disrespect to him as he's tough, strong and can bang a bit, but he's quite a small man.

"He's a middleweight who's stepped up and as far as I'm concerned he's not really a boxer — he's a fighter and a brawler.

"I've always coped with fighters and brawlers quite easily, so I think I'll knock him out."

Froch expects Kessler to come out with all guns blazing when they collide in Herning next month.

But he believes the Viking Warrior is past his best following his unexpected loss to Ward last November.

The undefeated 32-year-old added: "If he loses, Kessler will still go to his final group stage fight in the Super Six, but he's pretty much in the last chance saloon.

"He's fighting for a world title and has been given a gift horse really, so I think he's going to take the bull by the horns and give it a really, really good go.

"He'll be trying to take the title off me, so it's my job to make sure he doesn't. I'm expecting him to bring his A-game and be quite ferocious.

"But I'll do what I have to do to win. If that means outboxing and sticking my jab in his face, I will do.

"If it means standing in front of him and going toe to toe in a real battle, as everyone knows I can, I will.

"Ideally, I want a fight, I don't want to get hit. I want to keep low and use my boxing skills.

"But if it comes to it later on in the fight, I'll stand in front of him and trade blow for blow."

Froch already has two points on the board following his split decision over Dirrell in October.

The Cobra endured a frustrating night against the American but is determined to silence his remaining critics by knocking out Kessler.

He said: "Regardless of how it goes, I'm going to get the win. I'll be looking for the stoppage because I want the bonus point.

"As far as I'm concerned, three points will secure my place in the semi-finals of the Super Six - and that's very, very important to me.

"I'd like to get Kessler out of there, so I'm predicting a late stoppage."

Source: thesun.co.uk

Andre Dirrell: 'I Executed Perfectly' -- FanHouse

By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse

Accused of "Running scared," following October's split-decision loss to WBC super middleweight (168 pounds) champion, Carl Froch (26-0, 25 knockouts), former Olympic bronze medalist, Andre Dirrell, had something to prove entering last Saturday's group stage No. 2 bout with unbeaten, former, middleweight (160 pounds) king, Arthur Abraham, before Dirrell's partisan fans at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena.

Not only was Abraham's peek-a-boo defense perceived to be impregnable, but he was coming off of a 12th-round knockout of former undisputed world middleweight titlist, Jermain Taylor, was after his ninth knockout in his past 10 fights, and his third straight stoppage victory.

But it was the 27-year-old Dirrell who emerged the signature performance of his young career, flooring the 30-year-old Abraham for the first time his career in the fourth round with a long, counter-left hand, slicing a cut beneath his right eye with a seventh-round, left hook, and frustrating the Armenian-born fighter into a bout-ending, 11th-round foul.

Abraham (31-1, 25 KOs) lost his first, professional bout by disqualification at 1:13 of the 11th, as Dirrell rose to 19-1, with 13 knockouts in their Showtime-televised, Super Middleweight World Boxing Classic bout.

Dirrell spoke to FanHouse in this Q&A about the fight, the future of the tournament, and the victory's impact on his career.

FanHouse: During the immediate moments after the fight, I understand that you were under the impression that you had been knocked out?

Andre Dirrell: Yes, I did. I did. I heard the commotion, and then, I saw my brother jump into the ring. So I didn't know what had happened once I saw that. But I knew that I was low in that corner, I just didn't realize that I was on a knee. I remember the doctors asking me where I was, but I didn't remember any of the punches or anything like that.

I just figured that I was just in the corner and got caught. I remember the fight. I remembered, like, certain rounds of the fight, like, seven rounds of the fight. I thought that it was a lot closer than when I finally watched the tape. But there was so much commotion that I couldn't even think. I couldn't think of nothing.

When you get hit, like I had gotten dropped as an amateur, and you just hear the whole crowd, and you're like in a dream. So I got up, heard a bunch of commotion, a bunch of people were around. My head was hurting really bad. And I just couldn't focus. My mind wasn't on anything but what had happened.

I'm thinking that I had gotten dropped and I'm hearing the crowd going crazy, so I was think that was pretty much it.

FH: Who was the first person who told you that you had in fact been declared the winner?

Dirrell: My big brother, Willie, he's one of the corner men. And he was like, 'Andre, you won, man, you did your job. You did what you were supposed to do.' And I was like, 'What?' And he was like, 'You dropped him, man. And he got disqualified, man. You was whuppin him, man.' That's all that I kept hearing was that he got disqualified.

FH: So can you tell me about the experience of watching the replay of the fight on tape?

Dirrell: I watched the whole fight. I couldn't stand watching the end. I could not stand watching the end. But as I watched the fight, I was executing perfectly. I was using all of my abilities that I had and the abilities that he couldn't handle to beat him in that fight.

Like I said, I was in training camp, and it was a hard training camp. I knew exactly what I had to work on, and I believe that I executed perfectly. It was a beautifully executed fight -- the way that a boxer is supposed to beat a brawler. I saw that I was given round after round. There were very few flaws.

I was even surprised by my performance. I didn't see holding and I didn't see running. I just utilized the ring well. I thought that it was a beautiful fight, man. It was a beautiful master piece leading up to the disqualification.

FH: Whom did you watch the fight with?

Dirrell: My fiance, Alaia Zamora, was with me watching it. I was still anticipating waiting the whole time until the punch had come. It was explained to me when I got hit, where I got hit at, but I still didn't expect it to be the way that it was. I thought that I had gotten hit in the temple, because my temple was very sore.

My head was hurting really bad like I said, and my jaws were hurting. And when I watched the fight, I actually saw that I had slipped, went to get back up, and so I'm more or less up on all fours, looking down. And then he brings the hook in and connected right on my jaw. I believe that my mouth was open a little bit.

And I hated watching it. I didn't even want the camera on me. I hated watching it. It wasn't a good feeling.

FH: How so?

Dirrell: I really believe that he took my shine. Even if people say that I was acting, or taking a dive, even if so, and that was 100 percent true, he brought that disqualification on himself. He did that. A lot of people are judging my character when they should be judging his.

Everybody thought that Arthur Abraham was a nice guy who walks around and smiles all day. Even me, I thought that he had a great personality and seemed like a good guy to be around. But when you're in a losing situation, how do you handle yourself then?

When your backs against the ropes, how do you handle yourself then? He showed it. And it's really tough for me to digest. I just wanted that legitimate win, being that I had lost to Carl Froch, and I wanted to bounce back and show the world that that loss didn't affect me mentally.

And I did that, but I didn't get the glorified things that I should have. I didn't get that in-ring interview. I didn't get to go to a post-fight press conference. It was just tough for me to swallow. It's tough for me to swallow right now, it really is. No matter how good that I looked, I wish that I could have finished that fight legitimately.

I watched the tape twice, and I've watched it for the last time. I'm not going to watch it again, and that's a guarantee. I looked at it and I saw where I was on the canvas. I watched me throw a jab on the way down. My legs slipped, and I slid down. He backed up a bit off of that punch, looked at me the whole time, came up and just stared and really just hit me.

After being on the ground for 1.2 seconds. It was a shot that he felt that he had to take, and we all know that he wouldn't done that if he was leading on the score cards. It wouldn't have happened.

FH: Was there a moment in the fight where you knew that you were in complete control?

Dirrell: It was pretty much the first round, as awkward as it sounds. I know that he's a slow starter, but at the same time, I knew that his ability to handle pressure wouldn't be that heavy. I pretty much knew that if I stuck to my game plan that it was going to be pretty easy.

Once I felt him out in the first couple of rounds, I figured that he would start to feel the pressure. I was pretty confident from the first round on.

FH: What particular punches do you believe had the most effect?

Dirrell: I honestly believe that it was the straight punches. A lot of times I wouId throw the straight left down to the body, and turn out, and that was confusing because he never knew whether I was going to throw to the top or the bottom, or to the body or the head. And most of the straight lefts that I shot to the body, I would come right back around to the top with a looping left hook.

That would get right around his defense, and that started to confuse him down the line. So the straight punches were pretty much the most effective punshes for me because they set up everything else.

FH: Were there any punches that you felt he was concerned about as far as potentially being knocked out?

Dirrell: I honestly believe that the left hand would have knocked him out and was hurting him the most and was the most effective as far as power punches go. And I believe that once he felt my power, that he knew that if I landed the right shots, that I could take him out.

I didn't throw enough uppercuts in the fight, and I wish that I had. Because a lot of the punches that he threw were those leaping, looping punches. That's when I would step to the side. For example, when I dropped him the first time, I stepped to the side of his looping punches and came right over the top with the left hand, I could have done that a lot of times in the fight.

But for the most part, I was just keeping my composure and boxing and not looking for the knockout, and that's how the big punches landed. So, there was a possibility, even after the stoppage, that I could have stopped him in around the 11th or 12th round.

FH: Is there any consolation that you thrilled your home crowd?

Dirrell: It really felt awesome, man. It was the best feeling in the world. I haven't had a home fight in a long time. The one that I had before in Flint, that was the beginning of my professional career, but it was nothing compared to this. I knew that my crowd was going to bring out the best in me, and I knew that I would feed off of the crowd's energy.

I knew that it was going to be my best performance yet. I haven't heard a single fan tell me that it wasn't my best performance -- everyone that I've talked to. I didn't run, and I didn't grapple, I moved just enough. Slight movements made the biggest difference.

Running would have just built his confidence, but being right there in his face, giving him small turns and coming back with punches, that was going to confuse him. I did just that, and I truly believe that I did everything that I didn't do in the Froch fight.

FH: Where are you reading or hearing that you took a dive or whatever?

Dirrell: The European fans. I've already gotten like 250, more than that in requests on Twitter. And they're still coming in. You have a few guys telling me that I was acting. And I'll tell them, 'Well you let the strongest guy at 178, or 168, and, 160 hit you while you're on the floor and let's see just how you act?'

I fed into one because it was very blatant and it was just blatantly disrepectful. But the rest of them, I ignored them.

FH: What does it say about you and Andre Ward that you beat the two guys who were perceived favorites in Kessler and Abraham?

Dirrell: We were supposed to b e the underdogs, but I said it before that this tournament was made for us. We're the two, superior boxers, we're the fighters that people want to see the most of and see what we can bring to the table. They want to see if we can handle the pressure, and we've answered all of the questions.

Because we're so talented, and because we're so young, and because we're in our prime, then, this tournament has to be focused on us. They just want to see if we can cut it or not. There's no oen I've ever faced in sparring or boxing period that hits as hard as Abraham did.

Abraham is the hardest-hitting guy I've ever faced, period. Mikkel Kessler speaks for himself, more than 40 fights. They wanted to see how well we could do, and we answered all of those questions. From this moment on, the fans will pay close attention to us when we fight.

Source: boxing.fanhouse.com

David Tua wins unanimous points decision -- Stuff

 By DUNCAN JOHNSTONE, Stuff.co.nz

David Tua's comeback remains very much alive after a hard-fought but deserved points decision over Friday Ahunanya in west Auckland on Wednesday night.

Tua got good reward for being the constant aggressor in the fight although he couldn't land his trademark knockout with Ahunanya fulfilling his promise of durability.

Tua landed constant shots although struggled to get through the tight defence of the big Nigerian for the killer blow.

The card gave it to Tua 109-119, 109-117 and 108-120 for a unanimous decision.

Tua holds on to his WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental heavyweight belts.

This was seen as a dangerous fight for Tua but he was rarely troubled.

He was busy throughout, he went hunting Ahunanya and he ultimately gained a comfortable win.

This was a clean fight with Australian referee Gary Dean reduced to being another spectator at the sold out venue at Trusts Stadium.

Tua might be disappointed at failing to floor his opponent but his corner had spoken of the value of getting some rounds in and he certainly got that.

He worked hard with his right, particularly to the body of Ahunanya and he also managed to score with his hook occasionally.

Coming on top of his two-round demolition of Shane Cameron last October this was a solid performance from the New Zealand heavyweight.

The win left Tua's record at 51 wins (43 by KO), a draw and three losses.

The big question is where to from here for a 37-year-old fighter who still has major ambitions for a world title but is stalled by a prohibitive deal with Maori Television.

There could be calls for a rematch which would be an easy option given the persistent struggles to provide opponents.

But pressure will be for his global promoter Cedric Kushner to work around this and come up with a worthy opponent.

Kushner believes Hawaii remains a workable venue and wants to see Tua in action again within two months. But the search now starts in earnest to find a willing and credible fighter who will help manoeuvre Tua into a better position to a tilt at a title.

One that could provide a pay-per-view audience in the lucrative United States market would also help.

Tua earned $200,000 for this win - peanuts in global terms.

But this latest result will have done Tua no harm in terms of his important WBO ranking which is No 3 on a list headed by champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Ahunanya is left with a his sixth loss from 33 fights and after two years in the wilderness it will be interesting to see if he can rebuild his career from here at the age of 38.

Earlier, Tua's sparring partner Israel Garcia won an ugly fight on the main undercard event at Trusts Stadium in west Auckland tonight.

Garcia's Australian opponent Brett Smith was disqualified in the third round of their scheduled eight-round heavyweight bout for persistent fouling.

Referee Lance Revill warned Smith several times as the outclassed Australian struggled to stay with Garcia, at one stage virtually rugby tackling him.

Smith, in appalling shape after being called up late to make the fight, was no match for Garcia who appeared to be toying with the Australian who was fighting outside of his country for the first time.

Ad Feedback Garcia was well toned and well in charge, showing the sort of form that seemed to justify his desire to fight Shane Cameron.

It was a disappointing end to the preliminaries.

The other heavyweight contest on the undercard saw giant American Clarence Tillman win a split decision against rugged Wellington fighter Leamy Taito.

They fought over four rounds with Taito producing a gallant effort despite being seriously out-sized.

Tillman entered the ring at 130.2kg compared to Taito at 108.1kg.

The difference was too much in the end although Taito did trouble Tillman in the final round.

Source: stuff.co.nz

Bernard Hopkins relishes chance to send Roy Jones Jr. into retirement -- Las Vegas Sun

By Brett Okamoto, Las Vegas Sun

When Roy Jones Jr. suffered a first-round TKO loss at the hands of Danny Green in December, there were some who believed it no longer made sense for him to take on the still highly dangerous Bernard Hopkins in 2010.

Among those with that line of thinking was Hopkins's head trainer, Naazim Richardson.

"I didn't think the fight (Hopkins vs. Jones) was going to happen," Richardson said. "I picked Danny Green by knockout, so I didn't think it was going to happen. Then when (the knockout) came to terms, I really didn't think it was going to go on."

But despite the quick loss to Green — which has become somewhat controversial after Jones's camp complained Green used illegal hand-wrapping procedures — Hopkins still saw value in fighting Jones, whom he lost to in 1993.

And even though his own trainer didn't agree with him, Hopkins made his stance clear — he wanted to fight Roy Jones Jr.

"He said, 'I'm going to fight Roy Jones,'" Richardson said. "And I was like, 'Why?' I'm telling people, and I told Bernard, I would not take this fight.

"But I support Bernard. He's the man who put in all this work all those years, and if a man like him hasn't earned the right to pick a fight that he wants to fight, who has in this sport?"

With rumors of bad ticket sales and limited fan interest leading up to Saturday's main event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, it's become clear this fight possibly is more for the fighters than for the public.

For Jones (54-6, 40 KO), it's a (possibly) final chance to prove he still can compete at the highest level in the sport he once stood at the top of.

For Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KO), it's a chance to beat the guy who ruined his first world title shot 17 years ago.

"To me, in 17 years you learn to get immune to it. It doesn't get my blood pressure up high or anything like that," Hopkins said. "But that's because I'm a true veteran and I'm not trying to waste energy answering questions on whether I like him or not in the days before the fight.

"When you've been around the game, everything is controlled until that bell rings. But around Friday after the weigh-in, you'll start to see it bubbling up."

After losing to Jones in 1993, Hopkins went on to win a middleweight world title and successfully defend it 20 times, the most in boxing history.

He took out the likes of Glen Johnson, Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya, Antonio Tarver, Winky Wright and Kelly Pavlik.

He got past the disappointment of losing his first shot at a world title.

But then the opportunity finally came to make a rematch that fell apart so many times in the past because of conflicts over financial splits and suddenly the loss became something Hopkins needed to vindicate before the end of his career.

"Bernard had really come to terms with the Roy Jones fight," Richardson said. "He really found peace in the fact that two of the guys that destroyed Roy (Tarver and Johnson), he destroyed them. So he was comfortable that, 'I can retire knowing that I put it to bed.'

"Then when the talk came up about it and started to line up, he went back into the fight and he was interested in it."

So, 17 years and 71 combined fights later, Hopkins will get his chance to write not only the final chapter to his rivalry with Jones but possibly also to his opponent's storied career.

If Hopkins does send Jones into retirement Saturday night, he says his emotions will be exactly how Jones' probably were in 1993 — no remorse.

"I've been brought up kind of different," Hopkins said. "Where I come from, I don't love my enemy. When you conquer your enemy based on him trying to conquer you, I can't have love for you. If you don't like me, I don't like you.

"If you try to do something to me and your gun jams and now you're asking me for mercy, not because you changed your mind but because your tools didn't work, I got to kill you right there. I got to lay you in the ground."

Brett Okamoto can be reached at 948-7817 or brett.okamoto@lasvegassun.com. Also follow him on twitter: LVSunFighting.

Source: lasvegassun.com

Harrison hits out at Haye -- Sky Sports

Sky Sports

Audley Harrison says David Haye needs an early knockout against John Ruiz as he is not in good enough shape to go the distance, while also claiming 'The Hayemaker' is not a big name in the heavyweight division.

Harrison fights Michael Sprott for the vacant European title on April 9 at Alexandra Palace, just six days after Haye defends his world title in Manchester.

Haye fights veteran American Ruiz on April 3 at the MEN Arena, live on Sky Box Office, but Harrison thinks he may have underestimated his opponent.

The former Olympic champion has seen Haye in training and does not think he is in good enough shape to go the distance, so needs an early KO to retain his WBA title.

"I watched a training session of David Haye from Sky Sports and his timing is off. He's also carrying excess weight," said Harrison.

Long night

"I know David very well and mark my words, if he doesn't blast out Ruiz early, which is possible, then it'll be a tough night. Golden Boy have also signed Ruiz, so they are in with the winner and out with the winner.

"But it's a funny old game and if it doesn't go well for David on Saturday night then who knows what the future holds for him."

Prizefighter winner Harrison thinks he can get a world title shot if he claims the European strap, but he would not be going after Haye if he did.

Instead, California-based Harrison says he would want to fight Wladimir Klitschko or his brother Vitali, claiming that Haye is not a big enough fight for him.

"The heavyweight division is desperately looking for marquee names and, no disrespect to David Haye, but no one in the US is talking about David Haye," added 38-year-old Harrison.

Klitschkos

"They're all talking about the Klitschkos and no one is giving David Haye any play as a world champion so the guys I want to fight are the Klitschkos.

"If you get a chance against David Haye then people will say 'you now have to beat the Klitschkos', so if I beat Sprott, I want the Klitschkos.

"The fight with Sprott is obviously huge for me because when I get revenge and lift the title it puts me straight in line for a shot at the world title.

"People are talking about me fighting David Haye at Wembley but, with all due respect to David, outside of the UK no one is talking about him - it's the Klitschkos they see as the real heavyweight champions so dethroning one of them is what I really want."

Source: skysports.com

David Tua decisions Friday Ahunanya

Boxing News World

New Zealand’s pride David Tuamanator’ Tua scored a unanimous decision victory over tough Nigerian Friday ‘The 3th’Ahunanya to retain his WBO Asia Pacific and WBO Oriental heavyweight belts just a couple of minutes ago at the Trusts Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.

Tua improved his records to 51-3-1 with 43 knockouts.

38-yr old Ahunanya suffered his sixth career defeat.

- Marshall N. B., marx7204@lycos.com