Judah-Mosley In The Making

A verbal agreement has been reached between Golden Boy Promotions and Premier Event Management (PEMG) for a May 31st, 2008 showdown in Las Vegas between Shane Mosely and Zab Judah. Premier Event Management is Zab Judahs new promotional company, where he will oin the list of others in promoting him self. Judah was supposed to face Margarito on the undercard of Cotto-Gomez. I will keep you up to date on the developments of this one.

The Punisher: " I Want Them All"

It's hard being Paul Williams these days, when you're entrenched in a talent infested division. The talent goes so far that you can be overlooked because of other possible match-ups. When you are 6'2" 147 pounds and dodged you can honestly point the finger at something or someone other than yourself. So what is a fighter to do when you have called out everybody and to no avail, everyone seems to be gone till nevaworry 31st or has some sort of hand injury or prior commitment. There are even fighters rumored to turn down one million dollars just to avoid him. If Paul Williams had the mouth of Paulie Malignaggi he could definitely get his self more fights than he can handle. If Paul Williams had the temperament of James Toney a riot would breakout at virtually every press conference. It's just too bad that Paul Williams is a nice, respectable person outside of the ring.

His promoter Dan Goossen had this to say:
“For as long as I have been in this sport,” Goossen says, “I have never seen a fighter turn down a million dollars and a unification fight for half that to be on an undercard.” Goossen believes his fighter isn’t being avoided due to a low profile but rather out of fear of his combined size and style. “You avoid Cory Spinks,”(A stylistic nightmare) “but you fear Paul Williams. As evidence, you only have to look at Kermit Cintron.”

“I think we have already made our statement,” says Goossen, referring to the Margarito fight. “I think the real question is what will the other champion do to state their case for being the best welterweight in the world? I don’t care who comes out on top. If they don’t fight Paul Williams, they can’t call themselves champion.”

Here is how Paul Williams feels:“I let my fists do the talking.,” “I don’t worry about them other guys,” “My main focus is to keep winning and eventually get a big fight with [the other champions]. As long as I keep winning they are going to have to end up fighting me. Guys know I’m a tough match up. And they know I’m going to fight them every second of every round. Me? I just want to beat them all. Nothing else matters to me. No matter what happens in the ring I just want to keep winning. That’s my main focus. Just do what I been doing.”

Watch This Video Clip And See Why He Is Avoided:

UFC 83 TIckets Going Fast

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Monday held a press conference in Montreal to discuss its upcoming Canadian debut on April 19.

Georges St. Pierre and Matt Serra were on hand to help pump up their welterweight title bout, but from the news that UFC president Dana White delivered, they didn’t really need to be there.

Tickets don’t even go on sale to the general public until Thursday of this week, but according to White, UFC Fight Club members (the only ones to whom tickets are currently available) have already purchased more than 13,000 tickets for UFC 83, which is set to take place at the 21,273-seat Bell Centre.

“13,375 tickets, in that ballpark,” said White of the total ticket sales thus far.

Serra defeated St. Pierre at UFC 69 in Houston, Texas to capture the UFC welterweight title. He was scheduled to defend that belt against Matt Hughes on Dec. 29 in Las Vegas, but had to withdraw due to an injury. St. Pierre stepped up to take his place and ended up defeating Hughes to capture the interim welterweight strap.

The UFC on Monday also announced the rest of the bouts for the April 19 event, minus one opponent. It is a full fight card with 10 bouts scheduled:

-Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra
-Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter
-Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy
-Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry
-Jason MacDonald vs. Joe Doerksen
-Mac Danzig vs. Mark Bocek
-Sam Stout vs. Rich Clementi
-Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Jonathan Goulet
-Ed Herman vs. Demian Maia
-Patrick Cote vs. TBA

UFC 82 FIGHT CARD ANNOUNCED

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Monday released nine fights for its March 1 return to the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

The main event features UFC champion Anderson Silva facing Pride champion Dan Henderson in a battle of middleweight titleholders. Silva also headlined the promotion’s first effort in Columbus in March of 2007 where he won the title from local favorite Rich Franklin.

The main card is fleshed out with bouts featuring heavyweights Cheick Kongo vs. Heath Herring, Evan Tanner making his UFC and fighting return against No. 9-ranked Yushin Okami, top welterweight John Fitch vs. UFC newcomer Chris Wilson, and Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Sanchez against another UFC newcomer in Swedish fighter David Bielkheden.

The UFC set the national total attendance record for a mixed martial arts event at Nationwide Arena last year, attracting 19,079 fans.

Main Card:
-Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson
-Cheick Kongo vs. Heath Herring
-Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner
-Jon Fitch vs. Chris Wilson
-Diego Sanchez vs. David Bielkheden

Preliminary Card:
-Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O'Brien
-Luke Cummo vs. Luigi Fioravanti
-Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett
-Jorge Gurgel vs. John Halverson

Mir Submits Lesnar

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir survived a vicious onslaught by the former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar to lock in a tight ankle lock forcing the tap at 1:30 of the first round. For the last several months, questions were raised whether Brock Lesnar had the skill set to compete at the top level of the sport. All questions were answered Saturday night. As Lesnar engaged Mir, the former professional wrestler mauled his opponent with a fast takedown. After landing a flurry of crushing shots, referee Steve Mazzagatti deducted one point from the newcomer for an illegal blow to the back of the head. Following a restart, Lesnar caught Mir with a right hand but fell directly into a tight foot lock. Lesnar tapped instantly giving Mir the submission victory.

Khan Pitches Shutout

Ahmir Khan retained his Commonwealth lightweight title against Gairy St Clair at the ExCeL Arena, London. It was the type of test he needed to see if he was the real deal. I would like to take my hat off to St. Clair who pressured Khan every single second of every round, and had some success in the second half of the fight. Khan deserved to win his combinations flowed like water, his hand-speed was blinding and he picked his punches well. He looked very well going the distance, he did not seem to tire. In only his 16th pro fight to take on this type of opposition say an awful lot about his character, competence and commitment to his craft. St Clair, who has gone the distance with Diego Corales and Vivian Harris did everything he was supposed to do but just came up short. All three judges' scorecards read 120-108, I still don't think that anybody will be quick to be lining St. Clair up as an opponent any time soon.

Khans comments on his performance:
"I've beaten a world-class opponent and I want to become world champion this year," Khan said afterwards.

"I've always wanted to do 12 rounds - and now I have. Every shot I hit him with, he kept coming back. He was so strong.

"A few times I caught with good shots and thought he might go. But he was coming and coming - and I had to pace myself.

"I'd done the training and knew I had the fitness in the tank to go the 12 rounds.

"My strength helped a lot. We've done lower-body strength and upper-body strength work - and it all paid off."

Frank Warren added: "That was an excellent performance. To win every one of the 12 rounds was just outstanding.

"I don't think anyone can complain about that one - or about the opponent."

Khan, now 16-0 (12) probably learned more in this fight than his previous 15 combined.

I would not be surprised if he invades the U.S. sometime this year as there are not shortage of lightweigh talent here.

Joe Calzaghe – “I’will Smash Hopkins Up”

The pride of whales is set and ready for his April 19th date with the Hopkins. He had some comments about Philly fighter. “His comments won’t get under my skin. I remember Robin Reid used to say things about me and I took it personally. Now I just laugh it off. Hopkins knows he has to throw me off to get me to fight his fight. The only way he can do that is to make me angry enough that I make mistakes. But I know I have the temperament to take everything in stride.”

Calzaghe went on to add, “Bad things happen to people who mouth off to me. They get paid back. Come April 19th I’m going to smash him up. It’s about me going over there and kicking his ass. He’ll need a facelift when I’m finished with him.” I still do not like the styles but, it is safe to assume that Calzaghe will press the action in the fight. Hopkins will rely on guile and strategy to win the fight.

Hitman Hatton Back In the Gym

IBO junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton is back in the gym after returning to his hometown of Manchester, England following a two-week safari in South Africa. Things are on target for the Hitman's return on May 24 at the City of Manchester Stadium, possibly in the early morning hours to accomodate US TV. The Manchester Evening News is reporting that Team Hatton has narrowed it down to a shortlist of four potential opponents. "As for Ricky's opponent, there have been Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and Brits looking to challenge him. That's all I want to say about it at the moment," Ricky's father and manager Ray Hatton most likely has an opponent for his son, but will not release any details on who it is.