More news than you can shake a stick at, assuming that stick shaking is your sort of thing.
Lots of bits from Dan Rafael at ESPN.com:
– Fernando Vargas and Ricardo Mayorga seem set for a September 8th date but HBO may not take part in it. Don’t be surprised if Showtime jumps on this fight.
– Also scheduled for a potential matchup in September are middleweight champion Jermain Taylor and Kelly Pavlik. Taylor defeated Cory Spinks last month while Pavlik knocked out Edison Miranda on the undercard of the same fight card. Promoters are looking at a September 29th date for the fight.
– Sergio Mora, winner of the first season of The Contender, is showing he’s more businessman than boxer. Mora turned down a fight with middleweight champion Jermain Taylor because he didn’t want to fight in Memphis, TN. Mora then agreed to fight Raymond Joval in the main event of ESPN Friday Night Fights on August 10th but that is now off as something better came along. Mora is likely to fight Kassim Ouma on the undercard of a September pay-per-view headlined by Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Jorge Barrios.
– Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr broke pay-per-view records with their first fight but De La Hoya doesn’t seem interested in a rematch. Probably because he won’t win. That’s the same reason why Floyd wants to do it. “Oscar told me he’s not hanging them up, but we have not talked about who, when or where. But it won’t be a rematch with Floyd Mayweather,” Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told ESPN.com. “Oscar’s thoughts about a Mayweather rematch are ‘Been there, done that.’ Most people felt like it was a close fight and that Oscar came to fight.”
– Bernard Hopkins is using temp-for-hire trainer Freddie Roach for his July 21st fight with Winky Wright. Hopkins’ usual trainer, Nazim Richardson, suffered a stroke and isn’t being called upon for training camp. Richardson will, however, be in Hopkins’ corner on fight night.
– Speaking of the Hopkins/Wright PPV, the undercard will feature Oscar Larios vs. Jorge Linares in a featherweight bout as well as Michael Katsidis vs. Czar Amonsot in a lightweight fight.
– Vitali Klitschko will return to the ring on September 22nd in Germany to face Jameel McCline. HBO and Showtime won’t be televising the fight so PPV will be most likely be the viewing option.
– Cory Spinks is going back to light middleweight after coming out on the losing end of his middleweight title fight against Jermain Taylor. That’s good news for Cory Spinks because he doesn’t belong at 160. He’s better suited for welterweight but he may not be able to make the 147 pound weight limit.
