LOS ANGELES, March 28 – It’s the night before the biggest boxing event of 2008 and before the fists fly, the fiesta will start when Golden Boy Promotions presents “Noche de Boxeo y Musica,” a night of boxing and music, on Friday, May 2, at The Home Depot Center’s Tennis Stadium in Carson, California.

The fights, featuring 2004 U.S. Olympian and lightweight contender Vicente Escobedo and rising junior middleweight star Julio “Baby Face” Garcia in separate co-featured bouts, will air live on Telefutura’s ‘Solo Boxeo’ (8:00 p.m. ET / PT delayed on the West Coast) as part of the unprecedented extravaganza being planned for Oscar de la Hoya’s “Homecoming” weekend in Los Angeles.

Following the exciting evening of boxing, musical sensation Los Tucanes De Tijuana will perform their hits for fans in attendance at 9:00 p.m. PT. The popular Norteño band, made famous by the sounds of the accordion and the baja sexto (a 12-string guitar fused with a bass), has been nominated for numerous Latin Grammy’s and are one of the most popular bands of its kind in Mexico and the United States.

“Noche de Boxeo y Musica” tickets, which include an exciting night at the fights plus the musical performance, are priced at $100, $60 and $30, and will go on sale this Friday, March 28 at 2:00 p.m. PT, and may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets, including www.ticketmaster.com and Ticketmaster Charge-by-Phone at (213) 480-3232. Tickets are also available for sale at The Home Depot Center Box Office, open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. PT, and on event days. Event suites, group packages and VIP packages are available by calling 1-877-AEG-TICKETS (1-877-234-8425) or by visiting www.aegtickets.com.

2004 United States Olympian Vicente Escobedo (16-1, 11 KO’s), who faces Argentinean Roberto Arrieta (27-12-4 10 KO’s), has drawn comparisons to fellow Olympian Oscar de la Hoya for his two-fisted attack in the ring and his class and accessibility outside of it. Coming off a hard-fought win over Pascali Adorno in January - his seventh victory in a row - the rising Mexican-American star from Woodland, California, but now living in Los Angeles, Escobedo plans on keeping his winning streak alive on May 2nd.

“I am so excited to be able to showcase my talents on this great boxing weekend,” said Escobedo. “I consider my fight to be the warm-up act to Oscar’s fight and as I have lived in Los Angeles for awhile and fought here too, I expect a great turn-out from my LA-based fans. I will not disappoint them.”

Just 20 years old, Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, Mexico’s Julio Cesar “Baby Face” Garcia (40 -3, 33 KO’s), who will face Sergio Rios (18-6, 16 KO’s) of Oxnard, California, has more experience than most world champions, with 43 fights to his name already. Winner of 40 of those bouts, including 34 knockouts, Garcia – who has earned an amazing eight regional title belts – hopes to add a world championship belt to his trophy case in 2008, but first he must emerge victorious against Rios to keep those hopes alive.

“I can’t wait to fight in Los Angeles and show the world why I am a great fighter and will have a major championship by the end of this year,” said Garcia. “After the fight I plan to go to the concert to celebrate my victory.”

Friday’s night of boxing and music is part one of the “Homecoming” celebration weekend that brings Oscar de la Hoya back to Los Angeles, when he will fight Steve Forbes on Saturday, May 3 in the 27,000-seat soccer stadium at The Home Depot Center. This fight is the first-ever boxing event in the soccer stadium, and marks De La Hoya’s first fight in LA since 2000. Tickets are on sale now for the Golden Boy Promotions/AEG fight at all Ticketmaster outlets and The Home Depot Center Box Office. For more information on the “Homecoming” weekend, including both Friday and Saturday’s events, please visit www.goldenboypromotions.com.

Junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton, who has fought exclusively on HBO since signing a contract with the premium cable network in early 2006, has a new American TV home. Well, for at least one fight anyway.

Golden Boy Promotions, which signed free agent Hatton to a promotional agreement two weeks ago, has made a deal with Versus to televise Hatton’s next fight May 24 from his hometown of Manchester, England, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com on Saturday.

The fight, a previously announced match with El Paso, Texas, native Juan Lazcano (37-4-1, 27 KOs), will be televised live in the afternoon, Schaefer said. Versus will also air the other title bout on the card, Paulie Malignaggi’s second defense of his version of the 140-pound crown in a rematch against Lovemore N’Dou (46-9-1, 31 KOs), the man from whom Malignaggi (24-1, 5 KOs) won his belt last summer.

If Hatton (43-1, 31 KOs) and Malignaggi each win, they are slated to meet in the fall. That bout, Schaefer said, would mark Hatton’s return to HBO, which has televised his last four fights, including his 10th-round knockout loss to welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather in December in one of the biggest fights of 2007. Hatton’s deal with HBO ended after the Mayweather fight.

HBO passed on Hatton-Lazcano. Besides a packed schedule and budget concerns, it didn’t care for the matchup and was not too interested in doing a fight on the typically low viewership Memorial Day weekend.

Showtime passed on the card also. It opted to buy another fight for May 24, the super middleweight showdown between former titlist Mikkel Kessler and big puncher Edison Miranda.

Versus is a relatively new entrant into televised boxing. The former OLN network has had an exclusive deal to televise Top Rank-promoted fights for the past couple of years, but that deal is close to expiring.

Schaefer said he hopes the agreement for the Hatton fight leads to future dates on the network.

“We hope, of course, it will lead to something else, but there are no assurances or guarantees,” he said. “But it was important for us to showcase Ricky’s fight in the United States and important for fans to be able to see it live. We are really glad that Versus stepped up to the plate. There were other networks interested, including ESPN, including Showtime, but we felt we wanted to do it with Versus. We talked to NBC and ABC, but those would have been time buys. Everything fell into place with Versus. They really wanted the fight and were excited and enthusiastic to have someone like Ricky Hatton on their network. They wanted it the most.”

Versus will pay “in the low six-figures” for the rights to the card, said Schaefer, who is headed to London for a press conference on Thursday to talk about the fight with the British press.

The fight should provide viewers with quite a scene. It will take place outside at the City of Manchester Stadium, where Hatton’s passionate fans gobbled up 55,000 tickets almost instantly.

Lazcano, who turns 33 on Sunday, hasn’t fought since losing a competitive decision to former beltholder Vivian Harris in a title eliminator 13 months ago.

SAN DIEGO, Calif., Sycuan Ringside Promotions announced today that World Boxing Organization (WBO) 130-Pound Champion Joán Guzman has signed a multi-fight-multimillion dollar contract with their promotional company.

Guzman, currently in Las Vegas, Nev., is preparing for his title defense against interim champion Alex Arthur on April 26, 2008. The fight, which is being promoted by Frank Warren of Sports Network after having won the WBO purse bid, will take place in Edinburgh, Scotland, at a venue to be determined.

“I am thrilled to continue to be a part of the Sycuan family, “Guzman said. “I was the first fighter signed by Sycuan Ringside Promotions. They have been a key component to the Guzman team and have brought me to this important point in my career. I am confident we will win another championship together. Many people thought I would walk away from them, but the cynics fail to remember that I am the ‘Sycuan Warrior’.”

In Guzman’s last fight he successfully defended his WBO crown by scoring a 12-round unanimous decision over Humberto Soto on Nov. 17, 2007; at Bally’s in Atlantic City, N.J. Guzman won a unanimous decision with the judges scoring 118-110 and 117-111 twice on the scorecards.

Guzman’s manager, Jose Nuñez said, “I am very pleased and satisfied that Joan signed a major promotional deal with Sycuan Ringside Promotions. We have worked closely since the beginning with Glenn Quiroga, Willie Tucker, Scott Woodworth and Sean Gibbons. I am confident they will take Joan to the super fights and make him a household name, which is what he wants,” added Nuñez.

“We are proud that Guzman has signed again with Sycuan Ringside Promotions,” said Scott Woodworth, Sycuan’s vice president of boxing. “Glenn Quiroga, Willie Tucker, Sean Gibbons and I are very proud to have been able to offer him a multi-fight, multi-million dollar agreement that he was happy to sign. Joan Guzman and Jose Nuñez know that Sycuan has Joan’s best interest at heart and we will continue to do everything necessary for him to realize his dreams which he is so capable of doing.”

Sycuan Ringside Promotions–the first Native American-owned boxing promotional company, made its promotional debut in 2004. Sycuan Ringside Promotions is headquartered in San Diego, Calif. and led by Glenn Quiroga, president; Willie Tucker, executive vice president; and Scott Woodworth, vice president.

Sycuan Ringside Promotions has many notable boxers in its stable, including undefeated World Boxing Organization junior lightweight champion Joan Guzman, World Boxing Council super bantamweight champion Israel Vazquez, former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Julio Diaz, World Boxing Association super bantamweight champion Celestino Caballero, former WBC welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir, teenage super lightweight sensation Jorge Paez Jr. and undefeated cruiserweight prospect Shawn Hawk.

Frank Shamrock has a unique role in the nearly 15-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

He was the first truly well-rounded UFC champion, combining submission fighting on the ground and kickboxing, with quick transitions between the two. He was also one of the forerunners in recognizing the value of intense cardio training.

As an undersized light heavyweight, Shamrock was the first champion in what has been, from the day he won the title in 1997, the organization’s marquee weight class. He was the company’s top fighter for two years before walking away after his biggest career victory, over Tito Ortiz in 1999.

And Shamrock’s existence is all but completely ignored in UFC company literature.

Shamrock’s period on top, in 1998 and 1999, coincided with UFC’s low point, when most cable companies wouldn’t even air it on pay-per-view and there was no cable television outlet.

But over the long run, Shamrock (23-8-1) has emerged as a survivor. He’ll attempt to remain the only champion from the primitive days of the sport who is still one when he defends his Strikeforce middleweight title on March 29 against one-time training partner Cung Le (5-0) at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. The fight airs live on Showtime.

Shamrock didn’t fight top-level competition from late 2000 through early 2007. Therefore, he didn’t destroy his body for tiny paydays and wind up physically ruined when the real money started to come in, the fate suffered by many of his contemporaries.

When EliteXC started up in early 2007, Shamrock was the group’s first major signing coming out of the blocks, getting a $1.8 million deal for six fights and returning to the national spotlight.

Roundabout road

Shamrock, born Frank Juarez, is the adopted brother of UFC legend Ken Shamrock. Shamrock won his UFC title less than two years into his career by beating Kevin Jackson with an armbar in just 16 seconds in December 1997. After beating Ortiz in 1999, which is considered the high point of his competitive career, he left the company in a contract dispute and semi-retired, figuring the sport in the U.S. was going nowhere.

When current owners Zuffa LLC bought UFC in 2001, Shamrock was originally part of the announcing team, but left when the company wanted him to sign an exclusive contract. Since that time, Shamrock and UFC president Dana White have engaged in a noted public feud. Besides each calling the other names, the problems included a lawsuit filed by UFC toward Shamrock over a DVD of a Shamrock match in World Extreme Cagefighting, which took place years before Zuffa, the UFC parent company, purchased the WEC. But with the WEC name on the box, since Zuffa now owns the WEC, Zuffa alleged trademark infringement. The case was recently settled out of court.

White did make a lucrative attempt to sign Shamrock in 2006, but Shamrock figured, correctly, that he could better call the shots in his own career by being a name fighter who isn’t in UFC.

Next in line

Shamrock’s next foe, Le, is a 35-year old former Vietnamese refugee who has been the martial arts hero in his home town of San Jose for more than a decade. Le has the flashiest stand-up style in the sport, but he’s still unproven against top-level opposition.

There is little question the fight will be the toughest test for the undefeated Le, whose wins have all ended via stoppages from kicks or punches. Le is known for using an array of crazy kicks out of martial arts movies that history had demonstrated don’t work in MMA competition. Thus far he’s made them work, but this will be the first time he uses them against legitimate major opposition.

There has been impatience from some fight fans to see Le, who has been in MMA for only two years, against top competition. Because he’s been a well-known name in the martial arts world since the mid-90s, and a king of San Shou-style fighting, there were always questions as to how his style – which includes strong takedowns and strong takedown defense – would fare against the top-level MMA fighters.

Shamrock, who trained with Le years ago, and admitted Le was ahead of him as a striker in those days, believes that impatience has made him ask for the match a little early in his all-around MMA development.

“I’m going to punch him in the chin,” said Shamrock. “I’m going to stand right in front of him and force him to fight. By round two, he’s going to be going for the takedown because he’s not going to like when he gets hit. I don’t think he’s got a chin.”

The 35-year old Shamrock also believes the entertaining kicks Le throws, which he said are not bio-mechanically correct, will cause him to tire faster. Stamina is more of a factor in a five-round title fight, although both Shamrock and trainer Maurice Smith insist it’s not going five rounds. Shamrock believes Le has gotten away with his kicking style in previous fights because of superior athletic ability.

“I said back in 1999 that striking was the direction the sport was going to go,” he said. “It’s also what the fans want to see.”

Undefeated Paterson contender tested in hard fought main event.

By Mike Indri
RetiredBoxers Foundation
March 14, 2008

Newark, NJ - Having to wait more than 90 minutes because promoter Hilliard Edmond forgot the gloves - yes, the boxing gloves! - to be used by the boxers for the five scheduled bouts should have sent a message to the few people that actually came to the Robert Treat Hotel for this very under-publicized fight card.

After retrieving the gloves from his Maplewood home for the ten fighters and getting the debacle of a show to begin, the two hundred or so fight fans that painfully waited for some boxing action had to endure a shoddy undercard, which included six of the eight fighters making pro debuts. The hastily put together bouts did prevent another cancellation on behalf of Edmond promotions.

Luckily the eight round main event between highly regarded jr. middleweight contender Henry Crawford and Jerome Ellis, fighting out of Newark, by way of the Bahamas, somewhat salvaged the night for the new promoter.

Ellis’s “Ali-shuffle” in front of Crawford during the introduction heated up the crowd, but is was Crawford who was firing up Ellis with his clean right hands, and stiff jab as the fight began.

A loser of his last three fights dating back to November of 2006, Ellis was a much better fighter than his very deceptive 11-7-1 record would lead to believe, and caught Crawford with several big punches in round two. One of the bombs actually sent Crawford’s mouthpiece flying. Both fighters exchanged combinations and the fans appreciated the big time action.

Getting a “wake up call” slap from his long time trainer, Nettles Nasser, between rounds, Crawford settled down and began to box more in round three and made Ellis pay for his wide, knockout-minded swings. Each Ellis miss brought several hard body shots by the undefeated prospect.

Rounds four and five were all Crawford, and the difference was the jab and his superior boxing skill. A quick left hand caught Ellis clean on the chin and sent the stunned fighter to the canvas.

As long as Crawford kept to his fight plan of boxing smart and stinging the usually wide-open Ellis with his strong counter punching, win number nineteen was not far away.
Ellis was a good, hard test for the twenty-seven year-old Paterson fighter as there was not let up in the “Bahama Boomer” who continually was looking to make Crawford his eleventh knockout victim. Ten of the eleven Ellis victories have been by stoppage, and he was trying to catch his still learning opponent with that potent right uppercut and left hook.

Another solid Crawford left hand sent a dreary-eyed Ellis reeling into the ropes and down to the canvas for the second time in the fight late in round seven, and a questionable shot to the beaten fighter’s upper back drove him back to the deck in the eighth and final round. With no quit in him, Ellis quickly bounced off the floor and gave referee Earl Brown an earful as he disputed the call. Both fighters were slugging away as the bell sounded to end the exciting bout.

Judge’s Pierre Benoist and Lawrence Layton thought Crawford pitchout a shutout, as both scored it 80-69, while Al Bennet saw it 79-70 for the likable Crawford who remains unbeaten at 19-0-1 (8 KO’s) with the unanimous decision win. The durable Ellis, who has only been stopped once, slips to 11-8-1.

On the Edmond Promotions undercard:

After the lengthy delay Passaic featherweight Victor Valenzuela started things off in a big way as the highly acclaimed former amateur champion promptly delivered some action to the patient crowd, bouncing a couple of quick left hand off the body and head of Antwon Holcomb. Holcomb, fighting out of Indianapolis, Indiana and making his pro debut, was given the extra tough task of facing Valenzuela. Valenzuela caught the over-matched Holcomb with another nasty left to the head that dropped the stunned fighter. Obviously hurt from the blow, which knocked off the rubber band holding the dreadlocks of the Indiana fighter, Holcomb beat the count but referee Benjy Esteves wisely waved off the bout at the 1:05 mark of round one of the scheduled four round bout.
The promising Valenzuela is now 2-0 (1 KO), while Holcomb (0-1) drops his too difficult debut.

A “laugher” followed in a four rounder between two more young fighters making their pro debuts. Juan Guaman and Tawan Elman both proved they needed much more work in the amateurs as their “tough man contest-like” winging slap punches brought jeers from the sparse crowd. Guaman did connect with a right hand, which sent Elman to his canvas and looking to call it a night. After pulling himself off the deck and with Guaman looking to land again, Elman draped his arms onto the top rope and surprised referee Benjy Esteves by saying he did not want to fight on.

Credit to Guaman for his gutsy performance, as all fighters that enter the ring deserve their due - even Tawan Elman; who apparently decided against boxing as a profession, one minute and thirty-nine seconds into the first round.

Yet another four round battle of first time professionals followed!
Luckily this bout proved more entertaining, as Eddie Edmond and La-Take Williams gave it their all and scrapped out a four round draw. While Edmond appeared to land the more telling blows, the judges felt neither guy deserved to loss in this hard fought contest of novice junior middleweights.

Well trained Akima Stocks annihilated Angie Campbell in a scheduled four round female bout which served as an embarrassment to all involved in putting this match together, as well as the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board for allowing it to be sanctioned.

Stocks, fighting out of Newark, had registered knockouts in both her two wins, as well as having another fight she was in command of being stopped and ruled a no-contest; due to an accidental head butt which rendered her opponent (Michelle Garland: 06/01/07 at the legendary Blue Horizon in Philadelphia) unable to continue. Campbell had never fought professionally, and looked like she hadn’t even laced up a pair of boxing gloves before tonight’s fight…she definitely had no business in the ring and that was obvious BEFORE the opening bell had even rung. Twenty-five seconds into the first round of this scheduled four round mismatch of 152-pound females it was all over; as Campbell had absorbed too much punishment from the dangerous Stocks, now 3-0 with three knockouts. Luckily Campbell did not get seriously injured.

Not one of the better run boxing shows and this type of event definitely will not get the boxing fan to return. Edmond Promotions had either make the commitment to higher quality and more evenly matched fights, or will be facing financial disaster once more.

Fortunately the Crawford-Ellis main event was an entertaining eight rounds and the fans got to see highly touted Victor Valenzuela get his first knockout win as a pro with his picture perfect left hook.

Growing MMA promotion Strikeforce and NBC are reportedly on the verge of announcing a major partnership, according to MMA Junkie. Details of the expected venture are slowly coming out, but here is what we know so far:

“As part of the NBC deal, fight footage from past Strikeforce events will likely be shown in “highlights” shows, not unlike the Pride Fighting Championships shows that currently air on Fox Sports Net. The first Strikeforce show is expected to air in mid-April.

The program will likely air on late Saturday nights (early Sunday mornings) either immediately after or soon after the hit NBC series, “Saturday Night Live.”

Although unconfirmed, there’s speculation that the deal could possibly lead to live or, at the very least, tape-delayed Strikeforce events airing on NBC.

The show will apparently be patterned after the “PRIDE Fighting Championships” shows that air on FOX Sports Net and the “UFC Unleashed” episodes that broadcast on Spike TV. However, the Strikeforce shows will likely also include fighter interviews with the organization’s better-known personalities, such as Frank Shamrock, Cung Le, Gilbert Melendez and Nick Thomson — fighters that have been significant draws in California, where Strikeforce is headquartered. One source said the shows could also “extensively” promote Strikeforce pay-per-views and other upcoming live events.

Essentially, the shows will introduce viewers to the organization — rather than just show past fight footage.”

If all of this MMA-network talk sounds familiar, it’s probably because ProElite just announced their own network deal with CBS last month. Though the nature of the CBS-ProElite agreement differs from that of the new Strikeforce-NBC deal, it still boils down to one very obvious fact: Smaller, lesser known MMA promotions, which are definitely not the UFC, are scoring some type of network agreement. Meanwhile, the best Dana White has to offer in the wake of rival MMA network-deals is a Budweiser sponsorship. Not to take anything away from the Budweiser deal, which will definitely benefit the UFC from a number of angles, but it doesn’t necessarily get the biggest MMA organization any closer to being on network television. The report goes on to explain that while the UFC had been in the mix regarding a network agreement, nothing tangible had ever come very close to fruition:

“…Talks between the UFC and NBC never really got off the ground. According to those sources, the UFC wasn’t interested in a late-night timeslot, and additionally, NBC executives “weren’t too keen” on working with UFC president Dana White….

Prior to the EliteXC and Strikeforce deals, the UFC had been in talks with both HBO and CBS, but those deals fell apart when White reportedly wasn’t willing to concede creative control. During a pre-UFC 82 press conference, White said he wasn’t willing to make a “bad deal” when asked about the failed negotiations.”

So, has Dana White already soured his chances at getting the UFC on a major television network? I can’t say he has because you never know who will come out of the woodwork in the future. But it is entirely possible that once rival MMA promotions start getting their broadcasts out on major airwaves, some day people might stop immediately associating MMA with the UFC. And believe me, losing that sort of branding association could spell serious trouble for the promotion’s current lock on the industry.

By Michael Phillips

“Never Back Down” may be the most bloodthirsty revenge picture since “Walking Tall,” and its deceptively sunny “O.C” teen vibe–not to mention its periodic reminders that violence doesn’t solve anything, in between close-ups of bloody spittle flying through the air in slow motion–only adds to the weirdness.

Look: At heart, most of us are no different from Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” We don’t want realism, we want magic, or at least energetic crud we can believe in. For its target audience “Never Back Down” may well be that crud, offering bone-crunching, face-smashing mixed martial arts (MMA) action, wrapped around the triumph of an angry young Iowa transplant who, like Billy Jack, achieves inner peace through the severe kicking of behinds.

A “tough kid with a big heart,” as the press materials say, Tyler (Sean Faris, who looks a lot like Tom Cruise circa “All the Right Moves”) never forgave himself for not taking the keys from his ƒoƒè drunk of a father, now deceased. Mom (Leslie Hope), Tyler and Tyler’s tennis-phenom little brother ( Wyatt Smith) leave Iowa for Florida, whereupon Tyler gets sucked into the world of underground brawling. Authorized or un-, MMA, according to this film, allows for everything but a belt sander.

The No. 1 MMA sociopath (Cam Gigandet) sees Tyler as fresh meat, ready for tenderizing. In the Pat Morita role, Djimon Hounsou offers to our hero sage advice as an MMA coach saddled with his own father issues. The coach lives in his gym, just as Morgan Freeman’s character did in “Million Dollar Baby.” Is this a requirement for all trainers of color?

Romance? Yes! The misunderstood hottie (Amber Heard) finds herself torn between her bully boyfriend and Tyler, whose abs are roughly as impressive as the bad guy’s. Director Jeff ƒoWadlow treats the whole thing like a workout video, edited for maximum whaaaammmmm! and crrrrraackkkk! And for the really vicious kicks to the ribs, the screen flashes fleeting but extremely silly X-ray images of the bones inside the victim at the moment of impact. All the while the soundtrack concentrates on songs with lyrics about “not backing down.”

It’s a little “Karate Kid,” a smidge of “Fight Club” (with none of the ironic ambivalence toward violence that David Fincher brought to that story), a lot of “The O.C.” (evil boy Gigandet played an evil boy on that series), and presto: probable hit. I guess I’m more of a “Step Up 2 the Streets” guy when it comes to teen-aimed hooey. I’m a lovah, not a fightah. And the further I get from my teen years, the less satisfaction I draw from fairy tales whose primary goal is to get the audience in the mood, by whatever cheap means necessary, to see the other guy bleed.

MPAA rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic material involving intense sequences of violence, some sexuality, partying and language–all involving teens).

Running time: 1:53

Opening: Friday.

Starring: Sean Faris (Jake); Amber Heard (Baja); Cam Gigandet (Ryan); Evan Peters (Max); Djimon Hounsou (Jean Roqua)

Directed by: Jeff Wadlow; written by Chris Hauty; photographed by Lukas Ettlin; edited by Victor Du Bois and Debra Weinfeld; music by Michael Wandmacher; production design by Ida Random; produced by Craig Baumgarten and David Zelon. A Summit Entertainment release.

Yahoo! Sports run through their P4P rankings for the month of March, with Anderson Silva understandably topping the polls after his win over Dan Henderson.

 

 

 

 

Month in and month out, there are nine fighters you can almost guarantee will be ranked among the world’s top 10 pound-for-pound mixed martial arts.

By and large, the pundits agree that at this time Anderson Silva, Georges St. Pierre, Quinton Jackson, B.J. Penn, Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Urijah Faber, Dan Henderson and Randy Couture all deserve a place among elite, but disagree on where they should be placed.

The No. 10 spot, though, has been in flux. This month, Miguel Torres becomes the third fighter in four months to claim the final position in the Y! Sports Top 10. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua held it for two months. Rua was preceded by Gilbert Melendez.

Several others consistently knock on the door, but haven’t gotten in. Here’s a look at Torres, Rua and three combatants who haven’t cracked the top 10:

Torres: The newly crowned WEC bantamweight champion is officially 24-1, but others have pegged his real record as 33-1, including several fights against much larger men back in the days when it was hard for the 135-pound group to find quality opponents in their weight class. Torres’ national visibility should help lift the recognition of the bantamweight division in general.

Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto: Yamamoto has won 14 consecutive matches, including victories over Jeff Curran, Caol Uno, Genki Sudo and Rani Yahya. But he never fought in PRIDE or the UFC, which has hurt his visibility among North American voters.

Rua: Still one of the world’s best light heavyweights, the last impression most voters had of “Shogun” was his submission loss to Forrest Griffin in September. Five months later, Rua pulled out of his planned June match with Chuck Liddell because of a knee injury, which will keep him out of the spotlight longer.

Gesias “JZ Calvan” Calvancante: A fighter with a legitimate beef over his exclusion from the poll. The American Top Team lightweight is 12-0-1 in his past 13 fights. He has a highly anticipated matchup with Shinya Aoki in DREAM’s debut card on March 15 in Japan.

Paulo Filho: The WEC middleweight champion boasts a 16-0 record, but a dismal performance on national TV in his last title defense against Chael Sonnen, in which he looked terrible for the better part of two rounds before pulling out the win with an armbar, didn’t help his ascension up the rankings.

The Yahoo! Sports MMA Top 10 pound-for-pound poll, the only one of its sort in mainstream sports media, features 15 reporters and editors from the major national sports websites; newspapers that cover MMA; and legitimate MMA-only news-related websites. Each voter selects their top 10, with 10 points awarded for a first-place vote, 9 for a second, etc., down to 1 point for a 10th-place vote.

The only two guidelines placed on voters are: 1. Fighters need to have competed at least once within the past 12 months in order to be considered; 2. Fighters under suspension for banned substance or drugs of abuse usage cannot be considered until they are reinstated.

10. Miguel Torres

Points: 10

Affiliation: WEC

Weight class: Bantamweight (WEC bantamweight champion)

Record: 21-1

Last month’s ranking: Unranked

Most recent result: def. Chase Beebe, R1 submission, Feb. 13

Analysis: Torres’ absence from the rankings until this point has more to do with the lack of exposure for bantamweights than it is any reflection on his skills. And Torres left no doubt about his skills with one of the finest displays of pure jiu-jitsu you’ll ever see in MMA during his WEC bantamweight title win over Beebe.

9. Dan Henderson

Points: 30

Affiliation: UFC

Weight class: Light heavyweight/middleweight

Record: 22-8

Last month’s ranking: 7

Most recent result: lost to Anderson Silva, R2 submission, March 1

Analysis: Henderson is the only member of the top 10 who is coming off back-to-back losses. But then, those losses are to No. 1 Anderson Silva and No. 3 Quinton Jackson. So it wouldn’t be fair to be too harsh to a fighter who stepped up and provided fans with two of the biggest matches of the past six months.

8. Randy Couture

Points: 54

Affiliation:Under contract to UFC

Weight class: Heavyweight

Record: 16-8

Last month’s ranking: 8

Most recent results: def. Gabriel Gonzaga, Round 3 TKO, Aug. 25

Analysis: Don’t expect Couture to drop his grievances with the UFC anytime soon, as all indications are the wagons are circling in his camp and no dissenting thoughts are being allowed in. Fighters lose their eligibility for the poll if they go a full year without fighting, which would mean “The Natural” can no long be considered starting with the September poll.

7. Urijah Faber

Points: 55

Affiliation: WEC

Weight class: Featherweight (WEC featherweight champion)

Record: 20-1

Last month’s ranking: 9

2007 results: def. Jeff Curran, submission R2, Dec. 12

Analysis: The winner of 12 consecutive matches, Faber defends his title on June 1 in Sacramento against Jens Pulver in what is shaping up as the biggest card in WEC history.

6. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Points: 74

Affiliation: UFC

Weight class: Heavyweight (UFC interim heavyweight champion)

Record: 31-4-1

Last month’s ranking: 6

Recent results: def. Tim Sylvia, R3 submission, Feb. 2

Analysis: In his public posturing, UFC president Dana White continues to offer potential opponents to Randy Couture and not Nogueria. This is a legal maneuver to bolster the UFC’s claims in their battle against Couture. But most chatter seems to have Nogueira’s next matchup against Frank Mir.

5. B.J. Penn

Points: 87

Affiliation: UFC

Weight class: Lightweight (UFC lightweight champion)

Record: 12-4-1

Last month’s ranking: 5

Most recent result: def. Joe Stevenson, R2 submission, Jan. 19

Analysis: For all the talk that Penn’s pure skills are the best in the world, it has been four years since he’s pieced together as many as three consecutive wins. He has a chance for his third in a row with his lightweight title defense against former champ Sean Sherk on Memorial Day weekend in Vegas.

4. Fedor Emelianenko

Points: 89

Affiliation: M-1

Weight class: Heavyweight

Record: 27-1 (1 no-contest)

Last month’s ranking: 4

Most recent result: def. Hong Man-Choi, R1 submission, Dec. 31.

Analysis: The formation of the M-1 promotion was announced in September. We’ve yet to see its first live event. On a possibly related note, Mark Cuban’s promotion, HDNet Fights, has yet to announce a make-up date for its cancelled February card in Dallas. Cuban is presumed to be the promoter who wants to put together a Couture-Emelianenko match, but one has to wonder at this point if he’s content to pile up MMA promotions to fill air time on his cable station, as opposed to investing in a major-league organization.

3. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

Points: 112

Affiliation: UFC

Weight class: Light heavyweight (UFC lt. heavyweight champion)

Record: 28-6

Last month’s ranking: 3

Most recent result: def. Dan Henderson, unanimous decision, Sept. 8

Analysis: Those who have tuned out The Ultimate Fighter over the past couple seasons should have reason to watch the upcoming seventh season, as the combination of Rampage and Forrest Griffin should make the show worth watching.

2. Georges St. Pierre

Points: 130 (2 first-place votes)

Affiliation: UFC

Weight class: Welterweight (interim welterweight champion)

Record: 15-2

Last month’s ranking: 2

Most recent result: def. Matt Hughes, R2 submission, Dec. 29.

Analysis: After UFC 82, Dana White ripped into those who don’t consider Anderson Silva the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter. But does such an assertion shortchange St. Pierre? Most won’t rank GSP ahead of Silva now, with St. Pierre’s loss to Matt Serra still looming. But if St. Pierre finishes Serra next month the way most people expect, that will put him at 9-1 in his past 10 fights, with his only loss in that span avenged.

1. Anderson “Spider” Silva

Points: 145 (13 first-place votes)

Affiliation: UFC

Weight class: Middleweight (UFC middleweight champion)

Record: 21-4

Last month’s ranking: 1

Most recent result: def. Dan Henderson, R2 submission, March 1

Analysis: Seven straight wins. Seven straight finishes. No match went longer than two rounds. Silva’s only loss in the past 38 months was a disqualification against Yushin Okami. His two fights before the Okami debacle also were finishes inside of two rounds. It has become clear we have Silva, St. Pierre, and then everyone else.

Dave Doyle - Yahoo! Sports / Eurosport

Angle admits he’s not ready for an MMA bout…..

Kurt Angle appeared as a guest on TAGG Radio on Thursday and finally admitted that he is not ready for an actual MMA fight:

“I’ve always wanted to do (MMA), from after the Olympics, and I just never got the shot, I’ve been keeping myself in really, really good shape, but not in the fighting shape you have to be in to go into MMA.”

Angle will compete against Randy Couture later this year in a submission grappling match, which is basically MMA with no striking allowed.

By Quintin Harlan
As far as the sport of mixed martial arts has come, it still has a ways to go in terms of understanding.

Its detractors see it as nothing more than “human cockfighting,” as U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., termed MMA in the mid ’90s.

Myron Gerber, MMA trainer at Pendleton’s Iron Horse Gym and the promoter of the upcoming Iron Cage Clash, believes that the path to understanding lies in showing the sport to those who might be curious and ready to become fans.

Tonight will be another opportunity to further the cause of MMA in Indiana as “Iron Cage Clash VI: Battle of The Midwest” takes place at the Noblesville Fairgrounds. There will be 20 fights on the card with four title matches.

The show is being billed as “Who is the toughest (MMA camp) in the Midwest?” Fighters from Iron Cage will be competing with fighters from the Full Kontact Unleashed and Kutt Throat MMA gyms.

Ticket sales have gone well enough that all general admission seats have been sold and only a few floor seats and VIP seats remain.

Gerber has been putting on MMA shows for eight years. A student of martial arts since he was 6, he trained in tae kwon do for 18 years before he started training in the discipline of judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu when he was in college. He has owned and operated the Ironhorse Martial Arts school for 10 years.

His primary goal is to put on an exciting show for fans tonight. But an even more important goal may be to educate those who are not yet fans.

“A lot of people still don’t understand the sport; they see it as brutal and a glorified street fight,” Gerber said. “That’s not the case at all. These athletes are professionals. I had to go before the state (athletic) commission to plead my case to put the show on.”

One of the questions asked of Gerber and anyone involved in MMA inevitably compares the risks in boxing to those of mixed martial arts.

“It’s (MMA) safer than boxing,” Gerber said. “When a guy takes four punches that put him down and he’s not answering back, the fight is over. There’s no getting knocked down, a standing-eight count and then continue to get your head pounded in.”

Indianapolis’ David Love, who has competed in the Bodog Fights promotion, will compete. Anderson native Tristan Yunker also will be at the show, but not in a competition capacity. The Highland High School graduate will be serving as a referee for some of the bouts.
Gates open at 5 p.m. with a 6 p.m. bell time for the first bout. The Noblesville Fairgrounds are located behind Tractor Supply just off of Ind. 37 on Pleasant Street in Noblesville.

In what could be the worst idea, or the best idea to capture a new demographic, BET and some MMA fighters will start having a common goal starting very soon. In what will surely be half target marketing to an a base viewer already watching BET, and the hopes to attract the die-hard MMA fan to the channel, star power and punching power alike will hit the cable station on March 18th. BodogLife.com has Floyd Mayweather as a -285 boxing betting favorite in Floyd Mayweather vs Oscar De La Hoya II.

Fightcapper Brad Marchetti is the authority on boxing handicapping in the USA with his inside connections. The Einsteinpicks boxing money train pays out in cold hard cash. Brad Marchetti has a huge GUARANTEED winning boxing bet on the Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez fight this Saturday night.

On face to be seen for the first time in a mixed martial art setting will be the famed rapper who was happy to give this comment: “When I heard BET was bringing IRON RING to the air… I wanted to be involved in any way I could,” said team owner Ludacris. “…What people will get out of IRON RING is that it’s less about the man in the fight and more about the fight in the man.” Ludacris will be joined by rapper Nelly and a few trainers and fighters who actually know the sport. BodogLife.com has Manny Pacquiao as a -200 boxing betting favorite in Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez II.

While not an MMA star, one boxing champion will represent this new venture. As described by BET - Headlining the show is boxing champ Floyd Mayweather (with the assistance of hip-hop star Rick Ross) managing the Money Mayweather Boys. Its hard for the average person to picture such a concept, so enclosed is a picture for you to get an idea of what to expect.While the jury may still be out on what this show will bring, the MMA fan will likely bring in a verdict soon.

Fightcapper has the best boxing connections in the game. Fightcapper Brad Marchetti has picked over 65 % winners in Boxing this year earning his loyal customers over 38 DIMES of cash profits.

Get ready for a wave of mixed martial arts films. Even Mamet is in the ring.

By Chris Lee

SINCE the ’70s, they have arrived in grind-house movie theaters each year with the inexorable certainty of new moons and changing seasons: martial arts films featuring sweaty men engaged in hand-to-hand combat, pledging fealty to codes of honor, duty and dojo respect.

But 2008 is shaping up to be a watershed on the chop-socky film front.

To hear it from Hong Kong movie stars, zeitgeist chasers, action enthusiasts — even a Serious Auteur — Hollywood has set its sights on the next new thing: mixed martial arts.

In MMA (as aficionados call this polymathic blood sport), every physical punishment short of eye-gouging, biting and below-the-belt cheap shots is officially sanctioned. It’s the stuff of those hugely popular Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts: down and dirty, jujitsu-style grappling that utilizes a repertoire of arm bars, leg locks, chokeholds and submission poses in addition to the obligatory karate kicks and punches.

Ergo, the new movies featuring MMA — the teen-skewing coming-of-age story “Never Back Down” and the bloody Hong Kong police procedural “Flash Point” (both of which open Friday); David Mamet’s martial arts Catch-22 “Redbelt” (out in May); and the documentaries “Caged for Life” (which will screen at the Beverly Hills Film Festival next month) and the well-reviewed, mom-and-pop-produced indie feature “Under Pressure: Diary of a Cage Fighter’s Wife” — showcase gritty fisticuffs and wrestling tussles quite unlike the vast majority of filmic fighting popular up until this point.

“Flash Point” star Donnie Yen is one of Asia’s most revered action heroes, a veteran of some 50 thrillers who directed all the stunts in his latest film. In Yen’s view, MMA’s visceral approximation of nasty street brawling already has changed the face of movie action — a revolutionary shift away from the stylized kind of high-wire fight choreography that helped popularize films such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and the “Matrix” trilogy.

“I think MMA is here to stay,” Yen said by phone from Shanghai. “For me as an action director, it’s where action filmmaking is going. Now people will laugh at you if you do all that fancy jumping in the air. It wouldn’t work in a real situation. I think you’re going to have MMA in contemporary action films from now on.”

Teen fighters

It’s enough to make Jean-Claude van Damme cry. Unlike with previous generations of movie tough guys, the victor in MMA films’ climactic battles is never the last man standing. He’s either on the ground with the other guy in a headlock or twisting his limbs into a pretzel.

In “Never Back Down” — the first American-made MMA-focused film to receive a wide theatrical release — hot-headed Iowa football hero Jake Tyler (played by Sean Faris) relocates to Orlando, Fla., only to find himself sucked into a teen version of “Fight Club” after the school bully (Cam Gigandet) publicly humiliates him using MMA. But under the tutelage of a sagely mixed martial arts instructor (Djimon Hounsou in the Mr. Miyagi role), Jake attempts to right his life, channel his rage into positivity and protect those he loves from MMA bullies.

“Never Back Down’s” director, Jeff Wadlow, said he was aware of MMA’s reputation as the fastest-growing sport in America but hardly qualified as an aficionado before signing on to the project. “There are some good reasons it’s exploding in popularity and some not-so-good reasons,” Wadlow said. “People can appreciate the strategic, tactical aspects of close-quarters, ground game fighting. But there are people who perceive MMA as more violent, as legalized street fighting. We wanted to look at it in terms of life as a struggle. As Djimon’s character says, ‘Everyone has their fight.’ ”

“Never Back Down’s” writer, Chris Hauty, said he felt fortunate to be an early responder to MMA’s sudden mass appeal. “I couldn’t believe there were so few attempts to set a film in this world,” Hauty said. “In any subject, there’s only a limited number of stories to tell. So when there’s the inevitable movie featuring an MMA master being blasted off to Planet X, you’ll know the ground is too well tilled.”

Tamera and Todd Sturgis, the director and documentary subject of “Under Pressure,” never set out to make an MMA movie. Todd Sturgis, a former state wrestling champion turned long-haul truck driver, was looking to get back into fighting shape via mixed martial arts. And Tamera Sturgis (who also drives a big rig and has appeared in the “Stacked & Packed” calendar series as a bikini model) started filming his training sessions in 2003 to show friends and family the brutal yet fascinating subculture into which her husband had thrown himself.

“I thought, ‘This is insane. I have to get this on tape,’ ” she said. “But then I got so much interest from anyone who ever saw me with a camera — everyone I came across was saying, ‘I want to see whatever it is you shot’ — I thought, ‘There’s a lot more to this than showing the family what Todd’s doing at the downtown gym.’ ”

The couple self-financed the $50,000 film, a personal saga that depicts not only cringe-inducing cage match action but also the tight-knit MMA community (wives, children, parents and even supportive librarians). Three years after its completion, “Under Pressure” has not been picked up by a distributor despite glowing reviews in the MMA press (for info, check www.mycagefighter.com).

The documentary “Caged for Life” similarly depicts the heartbreak, jubilation and grueling training regimen that come with competing in MMA. The film also spotlights the sport’s growing maturation, following a selection of male and female combatants headed for a title ticket to be broadcast on Showtime — mixed martial arts’ premium cable TV premiere. (Last month, CBS announced plans to begin airing MMA fight cards on Saturday nights beginning next year.)

David Mamet’s ‘Redbelt’

But of the current crop of mixed martial arts movies, none comes with the art-house expectations or concerted, multi-platform marketing push of essayist-playwright-director-screenwriter David Mamet’s “Redbelt.”

The action drama follows Brazilian jujitsu instructor Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who imparts to his students street survival skills in lieu of promoting contest competition. A series of unfortunate events brings Mike into the orbit of an action movie hero (Tim Allen) and his Hollywood minions. But soon, Mike finds himself backed into a corner as a result of an elaborate con job and is forced to violate his personal ethics — he never fights for profit — in order to salvage his business, marriage and sense of pride.

According to “Redbelt” producer Chrisann Verges, Mamet felt compelled to set the movie within MMA because of his personal involvement with jujitsu. The 60-year-old Oscar nominee is an accomplished martial artist.

“David’s a brown belt; he started training six years ago and got captivated by the whole world of fighters — by their dignity and respect for tradition,” Verges said. “He wanted to write an American samurai story and thought the world of jujitsu would be perfect for it.”

The producer denied that MMA’s sudden cultural ubiquity had factored into Mamet’s interest: “There was no commercial impetus. He had no idea MMA was going to take off. He was not trying to cash in on something.”

“Redbelt’s” distributor, Sony Pictures Classics, plans to promote the film to both the art house and the grind house: It’s running commercials and holding giveaway contests in conjunction with the mucho macho cable channel Spike TV. But also, Mamet has been invited to privately screen the movie for members at New York’s Lincoln Center.

“This movie legitimizes the world of MMA,” said Sony Pictures Classics co-founder and co-president Tom Bernard. “Mamet made a fight movie that’s like a ’40s fight movie with John Garfield. It’s not exploitative. You don’t have guys going to Thailand, sweating it out. So we have two campaigns: one directed at MMA guys and another at the more upscale theaters. The movie appeals to both sides.”

HEAVYWEIGHT

CHAMPION: OLEG MASKAEV (KAZAKHSTAN)

INTERIM CHAMPION: SAMUEL PETER (NIGERIA)

EMERITUS CHAMPION: VITALY KLITSCHKO (UKRAINE)

WON TITLE: August 12, 2006

LAST DEFENCE: December 10, 2006

LAST COMPULSORY: August 12, 2006

WBA CHAMPION: Ruslan Chagaev (Uzbekistan)

IBF CHAMPION: Wladimir Klitschko (Ukraine)

WBO CHAMPION: Sultan Ibragimov (Russia)

Contenders:

WBC INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION: Juan Carlos Gomez (Cuba)

1.    Vladimir Virchis (Ukraine) EBU

2.    Juan Carlos Gomez (Cuba) INTL

3.    Hasim Rahman (US) NABF

4.    Alexander Dimitrenko (Ukraine)

5.    John Ruiz (P. Rico)

6.    Chris Arreola (US) AMERICA

7.    Oliver McCall (US)

8.    Andrew Golota (Poland)

9.    Jameel McCline (US)

10.   Donnell Holmes (US)

11.   Kali Meehan (New Zealand)

12.   Michael Moorer (US)

13.   Oleg Platov (Ukraine)

14.   JD Chapman (US) LATINO/Interim

15.   Carl Davis Drummond (Costa Rica) FECARBOX

16.   David Tua (New Zealand)

17.   Joe Mesi (US) USNBC

18.   Kevin Johnson (US)

19.   Odlanier Solis (Cuba) LATINO

20.   DaVarryl Williamson (US)

21.   Sinan Samil Sam (Turkey) MEDITERRANEAN

22.   Fres Oquendo (US) CABOFE

23.   Roman Greenberg (Israel)

24.   Denis Boytsov (Russia)

25.   David Rodriguez (US)

26.   Derrick Rossy (P. Rico) ABCO

27.   Mike Mollo (US)

28.   Monte Barrett (US)

29.   Manuel Quezada (US) CABOFE-Interim

30.   Paolo Vidoz (Italy)

31.   Chazz Witherspoon (US)

32.   Malik Scott (US)

33.   Taras Bidenko (Ukraine)

34.   Jean-Francois Bergeron (Canada)

35.   Francesco Pianeta (Italy)    

36.   Brian Minto (US) 

37.   Tomasz Bonin (Poland)  

38.   Sherman Williams (Bahamas)   

39.   Alexey Soloviev (Russia) CISBB     

40.   Egon Roth (Germany)    

*     NA = NOT AVAILABLE     

      Alexander Povetkin (Russia) * NA - IBF

      Eddie Chambers (US) * NA - IBF

      Tony Thompson (US) * NA - WBO

      James Toney (US) * NA - Medical

      Luan Krasniqi (Germany) * NA - Medical

      Lamon Brewster (US) * NA - Medical

      Evander Holyfield (US) *NA - WBO

      Nicolay Valuev (Russia) *NA - WBA

      Sergey Lyakhovich (Belarussia)

      Ray Austin (US)

      Matt Skelton (GB)

      Shannon Briggs (US)

 

CRUISERWEIGHT (200-90.719)

CHAMPION: DAVID HAYE (GB)

WON TITLE: November 10, 2007

LAST DEFENCE:

LAST COMPULSORY: March 18, 2007 by Bell

WBA CHAMPION: Firat Arslan (Germany)

IBF CHAMPION: Steve Cunningham (US)

WBO CHAMPION: Enzo Maccarinelli (GB)

Contenders:

WBC INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION: Herbie Hide (GB)

1.    Matt Godfrey (US) NABF

2.    Rudolf Kraj (Czech)

3.    Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (Poland)

4.    Giacobbe Fragomeni (Italy)

5.    Jean Marc Mormeck (France)

6.    Grigory Drozd (Russia)

7.    Chris Byrd (US)

8.    Johnathon Banks (US)

9.    Herbie Hide (GB) INTL

10.   Pawel Kolodzie (Poland) YOUTH

11.   Wayne Braithwaite (Guyana)

12.   Johnny Jensen (Denmark) EBU

13.   Yoan Pablo Hernandez (Cuba) LATINO

14.   Rob Calloway (US) AMERICA

15.   Vassily Jirov (Kazakhstan)

16.   BJ Flores (US)

17.   Guillermo Jones (Panama)

18.   Alexander Alexeev (Uzbekistan)

19.   Francisco Palacios (P. Rico)

20.   Vincenzo Cantatore (Italy)

21.   Darnell Wilson (US)

22.   Alexander Gurov (Ukraine)

23.   Vincenzo Rossitto (Italy)

24.   Jean Marc Monrose (France)

25.   Pedro Otas (Brazil)

26.   Aaron Williams (US)

27.   Jeremy Williams (US)

28.   Enad Licina (Serbia)

29.   Troy Ross (Guyana) COMM

30.   Rudiger May (Germany)

31.   Vitaly Rusal (Ukraine)

32.   Bobby Gunn (Canada)

33.   Shawn Hawk (US)

34.   Alexander Frenkel (Germany)

35.   Nuri Seferi (Albania)

36.   Dominic Vea (Australia) OPBF

37.   Cesar Crenz (Argentina)

38.   Ryan Henney (Canada)

39.   DeLeon Tinsley (US)

40.   Mikhail Nasirov (Russia) CISBB

*     NA = NOT AVAILABLE

      Valery Brudov (Russia) * NA - WBA Interim Champion

      Vadim Tokarev (Russia) * NA - IBF

      Virgil Hill (US)

      Marco Huck (Germany)

      Thomasz Adamek (Poland) * NA - IBF

      O’Neil Bell (US) * NA - IBF

 

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT (175-79.379)

CHAMPION: CHAD DAWSON (US)

WON TITLE: February 3, 2007

LAST DEFENCE: September 29, 2007

LAST COMPULSORY: October 7, 2006 by Adamek

WBA CHAMPION: Danny Green (Australia)

IBF CHAMPION: Clinton Woods (GB)

WBO CHAMPION: Zsolt Erdei (Hungary)

Contenders:

WBC INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION: Silvio Branco (Italy)

1.    Adrian Diaconu (Romania/Canada)

2.    Silvio Branco (Italy) INTL/LATINO

3.    Chris Henry (US) NABF

4.    Bernard Hopkins (US)

5.    Paul Briggs (Australia) 

6.    Glen Johnson (US)

7.    Antonio Tarver (US)

8.    Thomas Ulrich (Germany) EBU

9.    Braimah Kamoko (Ghana) ABU

10.   Roy Jones (US)

11.   Dawid Kostecki (Poland)

12.   Alexey Kuziemski (Poland)

13.   Hugo Garay (Argentina)

14.   Yuri Barashian (Ukraine)

15.   Antonio Brancalion (Italy)

16.   Rachid Kanfouah (France)

17.   Tavoris Cloud (US)

18.   Vadim Safonov (Ukraine)

19.   Elvir Muriqui (US)

20.   Carlos Duarte (Cuba)

21.   Rico Hoye (US)

22.   Anthony Hanshaw (US)

23.   Peter Venancio (Brazil)

24.   Tony Oakey (GB) BBB C

25.   Toshiharu Kaneyama (Japan) OPBF

26.   Jesus Ruiz (Mexico)

27.   Dean Francis (GB) COMM

28.   Otis Griffin (US)

29.   Vyacheslav Uzelkov (Ukraine)

30.   Brian Magee (GB)

31.   Joey Spina (US)

32.   Iran Rodriguez (Mexico) ABMH

33.   Jindrich Velecky (Czech Rep.) CISBB

34.   Zach Walters (US)

35.   Shaun George (US)

36.   Dario Cichello (Italy)

37.   Julio Cesar Dominguez (Argentina)

38.   Drago Janjusevic (Bosnia)

39.   Sebastian Wille (Denmark) YOUTH

40.   Gabriel Campillo (Spain)

*     NA = NOT AVAILABLE

      Julio Gonzalez (Mexico)

      George Blades (US) * NA - WBO

      Danny Santiago (P. Rico)

      Tito Mendoza (Panama)

      Stipe Drews (Croatia)

 

SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT (168-76.204)

CHAMPION: JOE CALZAGHE (GB)

WON TITLE: November 3, 2007

LAST DEFENCE:

LAST COMPULSORY: March 24, 2007 by Kessler

WBA CHAMPION: Anthony Mundine (Australia)

IBF CHAMPION: Lucien Bute (Canada)

WBO CHAMPION: Joe Calzaghe (GB)

Contenders:

WBC INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION: Dennis Inkin (Russia)

1.    Carl Froch (GB) BBBoC/COMM

2.    Dennis Inkin (Russia) INTL

3.    Mikkel Kessler (Denmark)

4.    Jermain Taylor (US)

5.    Edison Miranda (Colombia)

6.    Jean Pascal (Haiti/Canada) LATINO/NABF

7.    Jurgen Brahmer (Germany)

8.    Librado Andrade (Mexico)

9.    Cristian Sanavia (Italy) EBU

10.   Alejandro Berrio (Colombia)

11.   Jeff Lacy (US)

12.   Allan Green (US)

13.   Mads Larsen (Denmark)

14.   Stanislav Kashtanov (Ukraine) YOUTH

15.   Danilo Haussler (Germany)

16.   Karoly Balzsay (Hungary)

17.   Sakio Bika (Cameroon)

18.   Peter Manfredo Jr. (US)

19.   Epifanio Mendoza (Colombia)

20.   Marcus Johnson (US)

21.   Mario Veit (Germany)

22.   Jean Paul Mendy (France)

23.   Pablo Nievas (Argentina)

24.   Karo Murat (Germany)

25.   James McGirt Jr.(US)

26.   Dmitri Sukhotskiy (Russia) CISBB

27.   Victor Oganov (Russia)

28.   Andre Ward (US)

29.   Lajuan Simon (US)

30.   Fernando Zuñiga (Ecuador)

31.   Carlos De Leon Jr. (P. Rico) USNBC

32.   Ruben Acosta (Argentina) FESUBOX

33.   Devy Gogiya (Georgia)

34.   Keith Holmes (US)

35.   Martin Bruer (Argentina)

36.   Adonis Stevenson (Haiti)

37.   Thierry Karl (France) MEDITERRANEAN

38.   Dimitri Sartison (Kazakstan)

39.   Paul Smith (GB)

40.   Andre Dirrell (US)

*     NA = NOT AVAILABLE

      Vitaly Tsypko (Ukraine) * NA - IBF

      Robert Stieglitz (Russia) *NA - IBF

      William Joppy (US) *NA IBF

 

MIDDLEWEIGHT (160-72.575)

CHAMPION: KELLY PAVLIK (US)

WON TITLE: September 29, 2007

LAST DEFENCE:

LAST COMPULSORY: September 29, 2007

WBA CHAMPION: Felix Sturm (Germany)

IBF CHAMPION: Arthur Abraham (Germany)

WBO CHAMPION: Jermain Taylor (US)

Contenders:

WBC INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION: Domenico Spada (Italy)

1.    Giovanni Lorenzo (Dom. R.)

2.    John Duddy (Ireland)

3.    Sebastian Sylvester (Germany) EBU

4.    Marco Antonio Rubio (Mexico) FECOMBOX

5.    David Lopez (Mexico) LATINO

6.    Ronald Wright (US)

7.    Domenico Spada (Italy) INTL

8.    Sergio Mora (US)

9.    Fulgencio Zuñiga (Colombia)

10.   Raul Marquez (Mexico)

11.   Randy Griffin (US)

12.   Miguel Espino (US) CABOFE

13.   Enrique Ornelas (Mexico) NABF

14.   Sebastian Zbik (Germany)

15.   Koji Sato (Japan) OPBF

16.   Mahir Oral (Turkey-Germany)

17.   Sam Soliman (Australia)

18.   Daniel Geale (Australia)

19.   Gennady Golovkin (Kazakhstan)

20.   Amin Asikainen (Finland)

21.   Julio Garcia (Mexico)

22.   Sebastian Demers (Canada)

23.   Dmitry Pirog (Russia) ABCO

24.   Jose Luis Zertuche (Mexico)

25.   Bronco McKart (US)

26.   Raymond Joval (Netherlands)

27.   Kofi Jantuah (Ghana)

28.   Ruben Diaz (Spain)

29.   Jesus Gonzales (US)

30.   Joe Greene (US)

31.   Renan St-Juste (Canada)

32.   Andy Lee (GB)

33.   Ricardo Cortez (US)

34.   Grzegorz Proska (Poland) YOUTH

35.   Dionisio Miranda (Colombia)

36.   Keiji Eguchi (Japan)

37.   Darren Barker (GB) COMM

38.   Pedrag Radosevic (Montenegro) YOUTH/INTERIM

39.   Pawel Wolak Poland)

40.   Virgilijus Stapulionis (Lithuania)

*     NA = NOT AVAILABLE

      Joey Gilbert (US) * NA - Medical

      Khoren Gevorgyan (Armenia)

      Francisco J. Castillejo (Spain)

      Wayne Elcock (GB) IBF

      Elvin Ayala (US) *NA - IBF

      Mariano Carrera (Argentina)

 

SUPER WELTERWEIGHT (154-69.853)

CHAMPION: VERNON FORREST (US)

EMERITUS CHAMPION: FLOYD MAYWEATHER Jr. (US)

WON TITLE: July 28, 2007

LAST DEFENCE: December 1, 2007

LAST COMPULSORY: July 28, 2007

WBA CHAMPION: Joachim Alcine (Canada)

IBF CHAMPION: Cory Spinks (US)

WBO CHAMPION: Sergei Dzindziruk (Ukraine)

Contenders:

WBC INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION: Vincent Vuma (South Africa)

1.    Oscar de la Hoya (US-Mex)

2.    Sergio Martinez (Argentina) LATINO

3.    Ricardo Mayorga (Nicaragua)

4.    Alex Bunema (Congo)

5.    Carlos Baldomir (Argentina)

6.    Joel Julio (Colombia)

7.    James Kirkland (US)

8.    Zaur Baysangurov (Russia) EBU

9.    Yuri Foreman (Belarussia) NABF

10.   Andrey Tsurkan (Ukraine)

11.   Vincent Vuma (South Africa) INTL

12.   Saul Roman (Mexico)

13.   Nobihiro Ishida (Japan)

14.   Ronald Hearns (US)

15.   Jamie Moore (GB) BBBoC

16.   Roman Karmazin (Russia)

17.   Christophe Canclaux (France)

18.   Jose Varela (Nicaragua)

19.   Badru Lusambya (Uganda) ABU

20.   Alfred Angulo (Mexico)

21.   Carlos Nascimento Dos Santos (Brazil)

22.   Michael Medina (Mexico) FECOMBOX

23.   Vanes Martirosyan (Armenia)

24.   Alejandro Garcia (Mexico)

25.   Ulises David Lopez (Argentina)

26.   Kassim Ouma (Uganda)

27.   Kazuiko Hidaka (Japan) OPBF

28.   Javier Mamani (Argentina) ABMH/FESUBOX

29.   Bradley Pryce (GB) COMM

30.   Viktor Plotnikov (Ukraine)

31.   Rafael Sosa Pinto (Uruguay) LATINO-Interim

32.   Deandre Lattimore (US) USNBC

33.   Jimmy Lange (US)

34.   Damian Jonak (Poland) YOUTH

35.   Eromosele Albert (Nigeria)

36.   Luciano Cuello (Argentina)

37.   Sebastien Madani (France)( MEDITERRANEAN

38.   Henry Crawford (US)

39.   Marco Schulze (Germany)

40.   Troy Browning (US)

*     NA = NOT AVAILABLE

      Daniel Santos (P. Rico) * NA - WBO

      Alfonso Mosquera (Panama)

      Verno Phillips (US) * NA - IBF

      Travis Simms (US)

      Rodney Jones (US)

      Jose Antonio Rivera (P. Rico)

      Lukas Konecny (Czecz Rep.)WBO)

      Michele Piccirillo (Italy) *NA - Medical

      Sechew Powell (US) *NA / IBF

 

WELTERWEIGHT (147-66.678)

CHAMPION: FLOYD MAYWEATHER Jr. (US)

WON TITLE: November 4, 2006

LAST DEFENCE: December 8, 2007

LAST COMPULSORY: December 8, 2007

WBA CHAMPION: Miguel Cotto (P. Rico)

IBF CHAMPION: Kermit Cintron (P. Rico)

WBO CHAMPION: Paul Williams (US)

Contenders:

WBC INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION: Bongani Mwelase (South Africa)

1.    Andre Berto (US) NABF

2.    Miguel Rodriguez (Mexico)

3.    Antonio Margarito (Mexico)

4.    Jackson Osei Bonsu (Belgium) EBU

5.    Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (Mexico)

6.    Isaac Hlatshwayo (South Africa)

7.    Luis Collazo (US)

8.    Joaquin Zamora (Mexico)

9.    Bongani Mwelase (South Africa) INTL

10.   Alfonso Gomez (Mexico)

11.   Jesus Soto Karass (Mexico) AMERICA

12.   David Estrada (US)

13.   Said Ouali (Morocco)

14.   Roberto Garcia (US)

15.   Lucky Lewele (South Africa)

16.   Motoki Sasaki (Japan) OPBF

17.   Vitaliy Demyanenko (Kazakhstan) ABCO

18.   Luis Carlos Abregu (Argentina)

19.   Hassan Saku (Uganda) ABU

20.   Selcuk Aydin (Turkey)

21.   Jose Celaya (US)

22.   Saul Alvarez (Mexico)

23.   Vyachseslav Senchenko (Ukraine)

24.   Kevin McIntyre (GB) BBB C

25.   Tadashi Yuba (Japan)

26.   Anderson Clayton (Brazil) FESUBOX