Its going to be a very interesting fight and will make a bigger name for Pascal over here, he has Irongloves to thank for his preparation.

It is interesting to hear their (England) views on him and how highly they rate him.
Just for the record: Here in Arizona we highly favor Pascal.

Jean Pascal is back at Irongloves Boxing Gym training for his upcoming fight
against Carl Froch on December 6th, 2008.

Talk about an incredible line-up for the years end:
(these are free fights, they are not PayPerView - hooray!)

10/18  Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik vs Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins
11/08  Joe Calzaghe vs Roy Jones Jr.
11/15  Jermaine “Bad Intentions” Taylor vs Jeff “Left Hook” Lacey
11/22  Ricky “Hitman” Hatton vs Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi
12/06  Oscar De La Hoya vs Manny Pacquiao
12/13  Wladimir Klitschko vs Alexander Povetkin

Beat Jones, then time to go, Joe

Barry Mcguigan No.1 For Boxing 20/09/2008

It is heartening to hear Joe Calzaghe confirm he will bid farewell to boxing at Madison Square Garden. Though the old place has moved around a bit - today’s site is the fourth it has occupied in New York - it is synonymous with the noble art, evoking memories of all the greats that have crossed its ropes. Joe deserves to add his name to a glittering list going all the way back to Jack Dempsey that includes Joe Louis, Henry Armstrong, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Roy Jones Jr is well into the twilight of a great career.

I understand why Calzaghe wants to share a ring with him even though he is not the fighter he was. Calzaghe, too, is arguably on the wane. He was bowled over by Bernard Hopkins in a fight that might well have gone to the American. Jones does not offer quite the same challenge but don’t expect this to be a fluent encounter. Both are essentially backfoot fighters, counter punchers who rely on hand speed not outright power. There are huge question marks over how much punch resistance Jones has following heavy defeats to Antonio Tarver and Glen Johnson. Calzaghe does not have a sledgehammer in his armoury. He throws in bunches and overwhelms with volume. That said he hits harder than the Americans think. I see Calzaghe getting to Jones at some point in the 12 rounds, landing a full-blooded shot. Then we’ll see what Jones has left.

Calzaghe was disappointing against Hopkins, a fighter who has perfected the art of making opponents look bad. Joe will want to give a better account of himself this time. But it won’t be easy. I think we will see several rounds of cat and mouse, before Joe goes looking for Jones down the stretch. Calzaghe is the younger and fresher of the two and has the better chin so he starts favourite. And he will want to bow out with his unbeaten record intact so there is plenty at stake. We have heard a bit of sabre rattling from Kelly Pavlik this week, calling out Calzaghe. Pavlik shares a ring with Hopkins next month. If he wins convincingly the clamour for Calzaghe-Pavlik will start. But such a bout would be disappointing. The time is now for both Calzaghe and Jones to call it a day.

Both have been brilliant servants to the game. They have the floor at Madison Square Garden from which to say goodbye. Enough for any man, surely? I think we’ll see several rounds of cat and mouse tactics before Calzaghe goes looking for Jones

The fight is scheduled for December 6 against Carl Froch in Froch’s hometown Nittingham, England.
Read more about it here

JOSH WON BY KNOCK OUT! He knocked his opponent out 30 seconds into the 2nd round, with a left straight punch. Josh is a Southpaw. Good job Josh, you made Irongloves proud. Big kudos to Rory Hoffner (Josh’s boxing coach). Rory said “Josh did exactly like I told him”. Look for Josh next at the Copper Gloves.

Mike Nolan didn’t get matched up for a fight. Mike will for sure be competing in the Copper Gloves come October.

Germany doped their athletes with steroids, disguised as vitamins. This is such a sad story, it happened to so many Berlin athletes, whom are now paying the price.

Heidi Krieger, the 1986 European women’s shot-put champion, became Andreas Krieger after a sex-change operation in 1997. He says he had been fed so many steroids by his coaches without his knowledge that physical and emotional problems began.

You must watch the short video clip, it’s pretty sad.

You can read the full CNN story here.

In case you haven’t heard by now, the fight was canceled due to a mosquito bite Zuniga got. From the bite, he conceived a viral infection. The infection would also hamper the visa authorization. Stay tuned for an update on Pascal’s next fight.

Recently, expert trainer Nick Durandt made an official request to the World Boxing Council for a rematch.  South Africa’s heavyweight champion Osborne Machimana was not able to overcome deprived officiating and a terrible environment in Zambia on match night when he was stopped in the seventh round. This brawl was for the African Boxing Union heavyweight title held by Joseph Chingangu. The single reason Machimana took on the challenge was to get a WBC world rating if he thrashed Chingangu.

Durandt explains that the dressing area was the size of a toilet compartment with inadequate room for his boxer to warm up. Even the ring was over the normal height and it was similar to climbing a flight of stairs to use the ropes. Also, at that time of the evening the canvas was sopping wet and greasy from all the previous brawls. The annoyed Durandt  said “I was absolutely shocked. I have taken my fighters throughout the whole globe and I have never been treated so roughly. The Zambian Boxing Commission first needs to discover how to run and conduct professional boxing.” Durandt also said he had written a sturdily worded letter to the ABU, and would look for Boxing South Africa’s help in writing a letter of petition to the WBC, which is the mother organization to the ABU.