Nearly a month into the New Year and the boxing world is in full swing so without any further ado; here is the latest edition of Around the Ring:
- “Haymaker” Haye Back at It – With his impressive knockout over Australian Mark de Mori a couple of weeks ago in London, former heavyweight champion David Haye has a new fight date for Saturday, May 21st, in the same venue, the O2 Arena in the aforementioned city. No opponent has been named but some fighters that have been mentioned to face him are Malik Scott, Shannon Briggs, Antonio Tarver and Bermane Stiverne.
- Women Get Together – The second annual WBC female boxing convention will initiate on Wednesday, January 27th, in Tijuana, Mexico. A number of the organization’s female champs will be in attendance where they will discuss better pay for women as well as medical issues regarding the sport focusing on women. A special homage will be made for Jackie Nava and Ana Maria Torres, the oldest current female champion Alicia Ashley and Lonnie Ali, Muhammad’s wife, for her humanitarian work. The convention will be topped off with a fight card on Saturday night featuring three WBC female championship bouts and a total of five female fights.
- Opponent for “GGG” Named – After Tureano Johnson pulled out from his challenge for the IBF middleweight title against Gennady Golovkin because of a bum shoulder, the federation has named undefeated Dominic Wade, their #3 ranked middleweight, as the mandatory challenger. His biggest win has been against former champ Sam Soliman back in June of last year. Wade is part of Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions but despite of that, it is said there are talks between his camp and K2 Promotions who take care of Golovkin’s career.
- Garcia Must Face Khan – With his unanimous decision win over Robert Guerrero this past Saturday night at the Staples Center, newly crowned WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia must now face his mandatory challenger, Amir Khan, by June or earlier according to Mauricio Sulaiman, president of the organization. Garcia owns a win over Khan already when he stopped him back in 2012 in Las Vegas.
- Rios Leaves Garcia – Former lightweight champion Brandon Rios has left his long-time trainer Robert Garcia. Garcia discovered Rios in the amateurs and convinced him to move to Oxnard, CA, where his gym is located. There they went on run where Rios captured a title as he became one of the most liked fighters in the sport. He has not looked all that great in his last 3-4 fights and after his most recent loss to Timothy Bradley Jr, Rios had actually announced his retirement. He thought against but now will be training with his father. No word if it will be in Oxnard where he lives or back in Garden City, Kansas, where Rios originates from. Garcia revealed he is ok with the change and Rios and him remain friends talking nearly every day. He feels it gives Rios to finish off his career like he wants and gives his dad the opportunity to make some money.
