– Former heavyweight champion and Rocky V co-star Tommy “The Duke” Morrison is returning to the ring. He was forced out of the ring in 1996 when he tested positive for HIV. He claims it was a false positive caused by steroids, not butt sex. Morrison has taken several HIV tests since and all have come back negative. Something stinks here. It took Tommy eleven years to come up with that excuse? Morrison fights Thursday night in a four-round bout.
– Vitali Klitschko’s return to boxing has put Samuel Peter’s hopes at a title on hold. Peter became #1 contender to Oleg Maskaev’s WBC Heavyweight Title after defeating James Toney twice. The WBC designated Vitali Klitschko as ‘WBC Champion Emeritus’ and assured him that whenever he was ready to return, he would become the immediate mandatory challenger for the title. Vitali is ready and Peter is pissed. Samuel Peter turned down $2.5 million to step aside and face the winner of Klitschko/Maskaev. That’s a lot of money to not fight. I wonder if Oleg Maskaev realizes that all these people want to fight him first so that they can win the title? Oleg is very easy to beat. Even Bernard Hopkins was calling him out.
– The next stop on Evander Holyfield’s comeback trail is in Corpus Christi, TX on March 17. He has re-signed with his original promotion team of Main Events. His opponent will be Vinny Maddalone. Maddalone is actually a step backwards from Fres Oquendo and that’s saying something. The 44-year-old Holyfield doesn’t have time on his side and fighting guys like this will not get him any closer to a title fight.
– Shannon Briggs had to withdraw from his first title defense against Sultan Ibragimov scheduled for March 10 on HBO. Briggs was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and will be unable to fight for three to four months. Briggs isn’t happy about this situation but he should be. He gets to enjoy his belt a little longer.
– Laila Ali will participate in the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars on ABC.
– Three big fights have been added to HBO’s summer lineup:
June 9 – Miguel Cotto vs. Zab Judah (PPV)
June 23 – Ricky Hatton vs. Jose Luis Castillo
July 21 – Winky Wright vs. Bernard Hopkins (PPV)
