Abraham Han's corner waived it off after Round 8 and Glen Tapia became the new titlist for NABO for ESPN2 Friday Night Fight co-featured light middleweight fight at the Texas Station Casino, Las Vegas.

It was a solid win for Tapia who scored a knockdown in Round 7. Referee Nady ruled it a knockdown when the ropes prevented Han from going down. Han beat the count and continue to fight, but the cut from the left side of his head was getting nasty.

At the start of Round 8 he seemed a finished fighter to me. And yes, after that round, Han did not answer the bell.

It is reported on ABS-CBN that Chinese two-time Olympic medalist boxer Zou Shiming will train side-by- side with Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao in the Philippines.

Shiming 1-0 (KO 0) will face Jesus Ortega of Mexico on July 27 in Cotai Arena, Venitian Casino in Macau China. And will be back in the same arena to fight on the undercard of Pacquiao-Rios on November 23.


Shiming won his professional boxing debut in April against Eleazar Valenzuela in the same arena.

Although the report did not indicate when Shiming will travel to Philippines, but I believe this will be after his July 27 fight because obviously Pacquiao did not start yet his training camp for the Rios fight. It is most likely that they will train together for the preparation for their respective fight in November.

According to Shiming it is a great honor to train with Pacquiao in the Philippines.

It is a busy year for Shiming who fought last April, scheduled to come back on July 27, and again on the under-card for Pacquiao-Rios on November 23. With tremendous backing from Top Rank honcho Bob Arum, I will not be surprised, that in just a couple of wins he will be in line for the ‘world championships’.

A possible fight between fellow light welterweight titlist Danny Garcia and Lucas Matthysse has been the talk all over the boxing world these past weeks, but nothing was official yet. The rumored fight will be on the undercard for the Mayweather-Canelo showdown on September 14.

Garcia-Matthysse will be a great boost in the card billed ‘The One’ if it will materialize. It will be a co-featured bout if Golden Boy doesn’t come up with anything bigger than Garcia-Matthysse. Both men held titles in the light welterweight division and looked very impressive on their previous fights.


Matthysse 34-2 (KO 32) is coming from a fresh TKO win against Lamont Peterson in May. He is a knockout artist that stops 86 percent of his opponent.  Garcia 26-0 (KO 16) also won his last fight against savvy veteran Zab Judah.
  
Now that the 11-city, two-country promotional tour for Mayweather-Canelo was over, Golden Boy Promotion will have time to make this fight happen. I think the reason of delay is that they are very busy with the promotional tour.

However, if Garcia-Matthysse has been official prior to the promotional tour—it could have helped the promotion.

The fight between TBRBs rank number three heavyweight fighter David Haye, and number seven, Tyson Fury held a press conference on Thursday, July 11 in England for their September 28 all British showdown in Manchester Arena.

Haye came out all business while Fury was playing around. Fury did not even agree to a faceoff, which is a common act during press conference. “I don’t want to faceoff today because I don’t want to see the fear in my eyes…” Fury told during the pictorials.


The verbal jabs that both men started in twitter continued in the press conference. “If you are the haymaker, but I am the playmaker here”, said Fury.

Fury also told Haye that, “you are nothing but a little girl”. Haye also said that “the more he talks, (Fury) the quicker he gets destroyed.”

Below are photos during the press conference.

David Haye (left) during his arrival in Kuwait

David Haye reportedly signed the dotted line for a September 28 clash with fellow British heavyweight Tyson Fury.

MMA│"Never underestimate your opponent"--this is the golden rule in any combat sports. "Protect yourself at all times"--is another word that a referee will remind the fighter before fight will commence in the ring or octagon. These words were ignored by former middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Chris Weidman just proved these words its truest meaning that Anderson Silva disregard during their world middleweight championship fight in the MGM, Grand. Weidman knock Silva out cold after toying and showboating in the second round.


Silva seemed annoyed with what had happened in the first round. Weidman scored a nice take-down that put Silva in a difficult situation on the ground. Weidman was able to pound Silva several times. But Silva managed to stand-up and wanted to show to the crowd that what Weidman just did was nothing to him.

Right after the start of the second round Silva toyed and mimics a hurt fighter every time Weidman throws a punch. Wiedman made adjustment of what Silva just did and take advantage on Silva's cockiness. Weidman throws a right, and Silva pretended that he is hurt, and then Weidman followed up. And he caught Silva with a left hook while Siva was leaning backwards. Silva fell flat on his back. Weidman rushed in followed through, and the referee stepped in to stop the action.

The funny thing is that Silva unconsciously held the referee's legs. I guess his body still reacts as if he is still in a fight. But that was not the case--he was out.

Weidman becomes the new middleweight champion and improve his undefeated record to 10-0.

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. you can't just be kidding in a fight. It is a serious thing. It may cause a life at times.

Coach Freddie Roach

Originally posted on the TheScuffle.com│Sometimes when you lose something, eventually something else will comes your way in return. Although in most cases these things take time, that wasn’t the case for Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach this past week.  On the same week that he lost one of his young star fighters, he managed to add a veteral superstar to his list of Wild Card Gym members.

It has been announced that the celebrated trainer will be in Miguel Cotto’s side when the Puerto Rican star returns to the ring October 5 against Delvin Rodriguez in Florida.


Also news broke out that Julio Cesar Chavez will not have roach in his corner when he faces Brian Vera this upcoming September.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, during the tutelage of Roach, lost the precious “O” on his record when he fought Sergio Martinez. Their training camp for the Martinez fight was rough and on HBO’s 24/7 it was revealed that Chavez Jr. missed several training sessions and Roach had little control over the schedule of his fighter. With that history, it’s not surprise that the two have decided to part way.

Miguel Cotto will part ways with Pedro Diaz—Cotto’s head coach in his fight against Austin Trout in which he lost via unanimous decision. Diaz gained recognition in the sport when the unknown Cuban trainer first appeared with Miguel Cotto for his rematch against rival Antonio Margarito in which Cotto looked very impressive.

Where in Roach himself also suffered the same fate as a head coach, with all his top pupils at the time, such as Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan and Jorge Linares, all loosing back to back fights.

Now with Cotto, it will be  exciting to see how Roach can help rehabilitate Cotto’s career after suffering from back-to-back losses, and whether  the Hall of Fame trainer himself can once get on the road back to gaining the title of the best trainer in the sport.

Darren Hamilton successfully defended his British light welterweight title tonight against Adil Anwar at Liverpool’s Echo Arena.

Hamilton swept the championship round to make sure that he had Anwar's number in his resume. He finished the fight strong landing the telling blows in the last two rounds. His shots found its mark mostly on Anwar's head that made him (Anwar) looked shaky several times.

Anwar who slipped a couple of times, although bouncing on his toes, seemed too tired, his hands were down on his side most of the time.

Filipino top tier boxers have been in the losing column recently. Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire and Brian Viloria suffered their respective losses. They need to win on their next fight to pick-up what they left before they were defeated—especially Pacquiao, which is in a make-or-break fight against Brandon Rios on November in Macau, China. Pacquiao 54-5-2 (KO 38) even if will get past Rios 31-1-1 (KO 23), has few fights left in him before he will finally decide to retire and end his stellar career in boxing.

The question now is who will be next possible frontier in Philippine boxing landscape?

Here are my top three prospect, under 30 years’ old, undefeated Filipino boxers that could become the leading edge in Philippine boxing and perhaps can emulate the achievement of the Filipino boxing icon.

Milan Melindo 29-0 (KO 12) – is the Transnational Boxing Ranking Board’s (TBRB) rank number 8 flyweight. The 25 years old from Southern Philippines is a savvy tactician in the ring. Although not known as a power puncher, Melindo is noted for his methodical approach. He knows basics and throws a lot of combinations during exchanges. He is coming from a fourth round TKO win against tough Indonesian Tommy Seran on April 6 in Macau, China. He is scheduled to fight against WBO and WBA flyweight titlist Juan Francisco Estrada also in Macau, China on July 27.

Merlito Sabillo 21-0 (KO 11) – is undefeated 29 years old and TBRB’s rank number 10 at the straw weight division. He is a heavy handed southpaw who stopped his Columbian challenger Luis de la Rosa with a single punch. He will headline Pinoy Prides’ 21’st edition on July 13 at the luxurious Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila to defend his WBO title.

Arthur Villanueva 22-0 (KO 12) – is only 24 years old and had the OPBF title in his resume. He is TBRB’s rank number 10 in the junior bantamweight division. Villanueva is a tough fighter. You will admire his precise counter-punching during exchanges. At 5-feet 5-inches tall he seemed to have the height advantage in this division. And he is able to use this advantage to maintain a comfortable distance to throw punches but out-of-range from opponents counter. He will co-feature the Pinoy Pride 21’st series on July 13 against Mexico’s Arturo “Fuerte” Badillo, a heavy puncher who has 19 knockouts out of his 21 wins.

While watching TFC (The Filipino Channel) TV Patrol tonight, ABS-CBN's sports correspondent Dyan Castillejo reported an interview of Manny Pacquiao after a break from playing basketball. Pacquiao told that he forget already the devastating loss that he suffered from his Mexican rival, Juan Manuel Marquez.

Pacquiao told that Rios is a good fight, "Kagaya ng pagkatalo ko dati noong nag uumpisa pa lang ako... babalik ako..." (Like my first defeat when I was just started... (boxing) I will come back...). "Sikap at tiyaga lang talaga" (It's just really diligence and perseverance).

The Filipino boxing icon is playing basketball daily in his residence in Southern Philippines to stay sharp and maintain stamina prior to his preparation for training for a fight against Brandon Rios in November. Aside from boxing, Pacquaio also loves to play basketball. He told in an interview before that if he had the height he would prefer basketball rather than boxing.

Playing basketball really improves stamina because it is more on running. But I blame basketball for Pacquaio's claim of cramp calves. Basketball not only plain running. It includes jumping running in a continuous changing direction that create strain in the ankle and calves.

I'm nagging about this not as an expert in cross-training but I speak through my experience. I'm a basketball addict too. When I played a lot basketball, lets say two games in a row. I started to feel cramps in my calves.

Do you think playing basketball really has more benefit than risk for Pacquiao?

Gennady Golovkin, 27-0 (KO 24) was a beast on Saturday night. Golovkin proved skeptics wrong and silenced critics on their seats while watching him dismantled Matthew Macklin. Those who believed he was a hyped and overrated fighter, were in disbelief how he battered Macklin in just three rounds. Golovkin’s seek-and-destroy style that hardcore and casual fans love to watch will always stand out. Macklin was supposed to be the toughest test of GGG’s career. But he was nowhere near a hard task to tackle, instead he look like a prey to a hungry monster.


In the first round it was evident that Golovkin had no little respect for Macklin’s power. Golovkin immediately jump at Macklin and throw punches with real bad intention. He was marching towards Macklin as if he was holding Thor’s hammer. The heavy handed phenom from Kazakhstan shook the underpowered challenger that look stunned and frightened with every punch that landed.
 
In the second round I am asking myself this question, until when Macklin now dropped to 29-5 (KO 20) could keep himself standing. With this question in my mind, I know this is going to be a short walk in the park for Golovkin. HBO should better back-up with good quality under-cards whenever they headline Golovkin, it is going to be guaranteed short night.

Golovkin backed Macklin several times through the ropes. Macklin seemed confused on how to react the situation, whether to punch out off the ropes or to cover up downstairs or upstairs. Macklin had neither answer nor clear defense for Golovkins head and body assault.

In the third round, Golovkin unleashed a powerful shot to the body that put Macklin down for good. Macklin took a knee and was counted out from there.

Prior to the fight, Macklin was regarded as an acid test for Golovkin. Macklin had been in a war with top tier middleweight Felix Sturm and Sergio Martinez.  Although he lost against Martinez, he gave the champion one hell of a fight that if it went through the final bell, for sure he would have taken the title. Against Felix Sturm, we all know who won. However, last night Macklin was overpowered and overwhelmed by a different kind of beast.

What next for Golovkin now that he passed the ‘toughest’ test?

Sergio Martinez, sitting on top of the middleweight hill, would likely be the next opponent for GGG. But with Golovkins performance tonight, I don’t know how willing Maravilla would take the risk. Martinez narrowly escaped the final round knockdown scored by Chavez Jr. in their September 2012 fight. Against Golovkin, he will be treated with more of the same punches. But his awkward style is interesting to watch against a heavy handed stalker.

Andre Ward, the number two pound for pound boxer next to Floyd Mayweather Jr. is another mouthwatering match-up. But I hate to hear Ward calling out opponents to come up or to come down at 168-pounds. A catch-weight at 164 is ideal.

What do you think would be GGG’s best next opponent?

The fight between eight-time and five division world champion Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. and super welterweight world champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will host a press conference in Bayfront Park, Tina Hills Pavilion at 301 North Biscayne Boulevard Miami according to Golden Boy Promotion press release.

The open-to-the-public press conference that will be held on Friday June 28 at 1PM (E.T.) will discuss their Super Welterweight World Championship fight taking place on Saturday, Sept. 14 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas.


The fight, which is billed as “The One: Mayweather vs. Canelo” featured both undefeated fighters. And after the fight there could be only one, which will remain undefeated. Canelo Alvarez will try to erase that “O” on Mayweather’s record and dethrone the pound-for-pound kingpin, which his previous 44 opponents failed to do. The winner will be boxing’s “Numero Uno”.

The fight will be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV®.

Since this press conference is open to the public, fans are encouraged to arrive early.

Photo Credit: Al Bello

COMMENTARY│Expected and considered by some as "the next big thing" in boxing, Adrien "The Problem Broner" scored a split decision victory against hometown favorite Paulie "The Magic Man" Malignaggi at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY on Saturday.

The Cincinnati fighter, Broner, captured the WBA welterweight title from the often regarded as "paper champion" Malignaggi, from this talent-packed 147 pound division. Broner at 23, became three division champion: having won world titles at super featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.


Broner now improved to 27-0 (22 KO), skipped 140 pound division to fought Malignaggi. His move was criticized. He is accused of ducking the likes of Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse, Lamont Peterson, Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado. These fighters would give real problem to "The Problem" and will pose the biggest test of Broner's talent.

Well, fast forward, he chose to fight Malignaggi 32-5, (7 KO) at 147 pound, last night on Showtime. A fight that was somehow perceived, to be an easy job for Floyd's so called "younger brother".

Most if not all boxing aficionados picked Broner to win via knockout or in a very impressive manner. I predicted that Broner will win unanimously in a lopsided battle. I did not predict a KO because Broner is a newcomer at welter and Malignaggi has been fighting in this division for several fights. Instead, I expect Broner to showcase more from his talent and ring prowess to outwit the feather-fisted Malignaggi.

Maybe I am expecting a lot from Broner. But what I should expect from a fighter who is positioned to be the next big thing in boxing? I expect an easy job for a pick out job.

However, although Broner won and remained undefeated, his performance is far from my expectation. Broner started the fight slow as expected, which he always did to size up his opponent. Malignaggi at 32 managed to land jabs and was the busier fighter. Broner has the lower punch output because his hands were too busy on shoulder roll and doubling up to protect from Malignaggi's volume jabs to his head and body in the first four rounds.

Broner, increased his output in the fifth and throw more uppercuts and left hooks that find mark on Malignaggi's head and body. But Malignaggi stuck to his game plan, he continued to keep distance using his jab and clinched whenever Broner got close.

Broner failed to adjust Malignaggi's game plan. Knowing that he can take whatever the light hitting Malignaggi throws. He kept coming towards Malignaggi flat footedly in one direction, using his shoulder roll as the only defense. But it also prevented him to throw more punches of his own.

Broner has the upper body movement of Floyd but without the footwork. He did not use lateral and more head movement to evade Malignaggi's jabs. The added weight made him slow and did George Foreman's move that Muhammad Ali describes as a "mummy walk" prior to their "the rumble in the jungle" fight in 1974.


On the other hand, I saw what I don't expect from Malignaggi; he was able to keep up the next big thing in boxing and was never in a verge of collapse or getting KO'd. He religiously stuck to his game plan from start to finish. The only thing that is lacking is the sting from his punches. If he has decent power I think it would have been a different story.

Photo Credit Tom Casino/Showtime

Photo Credit: Tom Casino SHOWTIME

Brooklyn’s hometown favorite Paulie “The Magic Man” Malignaggi will defend his WBA world welterweight title against Cincinnati’s undefeated and current lightweight champion Adrien “The Problem” Broner on June 22 as the main event of Showtime’s’ tripleheader at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The fighters showed (photos below) to the media what they have got in their respective training on a media workout held on Tuesday.

The tripleheader features 12-round bout between Johnathon "Mr." Banks (29-1-1, 19 KO's) and Seth "Mayhem" Mitchell (25-1-1, 19 KO's) and Sakio "The Scorpion" Bika (31-5-2, 21 KO's), of Sydney, Australia,  against Mexico City's undefeated Marco Antonio Periban (20-0, 13 KO's) will clash for the vacant WBC Super Middleweight Championship.


Malignaggi and Broner exchanging heated and sometimes below-the-belt verbal assaults against each other on social media, continued during the media workout, here are some quotes.

Paulie Malignaggi

"I'm going to dominate him, punish him and make him quit on his stool"

"It's not just him coming to beat my ass.  He's forgetting one thing: I'm coming to beat his ass and, that's the plan on Saturday night."
 
Adrien Broner

"June 22, he's going to wish there's another corner he can run to"

"Paulie is Paulie.  You know, I'm gonna be honest with you, if you're not on you're A-game against Paulie, he can slip away from you.  He's a guy with some tricks up his sleeve, but we're not here for a circus day.”

Whatever Malignaggi and Broner had already been said against each other, only one questions lingers on, whose trash talking will transpire in the ring comes fight night?

Photo Credit: Tom Casino/SHOWTIME

Mikey Garcia officially joins the one percent league of elite fighters in the sport, making former two time champion Juan Manuel Lopez like a club fighter. Garcia stops Lopez in round 4, after knocking him down in the second round. The official time of the stoppage: 1:35 in the fourth round.

Both fighters started the first round cautious, trying to figure its other out. But the snapping jabs of Garcia were dominating. Just in the second round, Garcia perfectly thrown a quick-as-a-cat one-two combination that Lopez never saw it coming. Boom! Down went Lopez on his butt. He never saw it coming.

The knockdown came from a very treacherous attack. Garcia was so calm, seems not willing to engage at that time and content with his jab connecting well on Lopez's face. But all of the sudden Garcia unleashed a cracking one-two punch.

Lopez, not badly hurt, got up and continued the fight.

In the third round, Garcia is landing at well, beating the former champion form Puerto Rico by the punch. Lopez was totally off in his counters, he is just swinging in the air, not able to touch Garcia.

With the win, Garcia will make the title vacant. He was not able to make the division limit 126 pounds coming in during the weigh-in two pounds over at 128 pounds and did not bother to make the weight, because according to him it might affect his health. Mikey said after the weigh-in that his body seems like 'shutdown'.

I think Garcia's win will be put into question somehow for not making the contractual weight. He had two hours to get the right weight but instead of shedding the extra poundage he give Lopez several thousands of dollars.

Maybe those two pounds might not matter at all, but those division limits, were being set for a reason. Two pounds is two pounds.

However, looking into Lopez performance tonight, do you think he will not get knockout by Garcia, if he (Garcia) make the right weight?

I think Garcia will still knockout Lopez even if he weighed the same. Or even if they were both above the featherweight limit. The execution of Lopez was never near his level before he was knockout by Salido. He looked old and sluggish. He was totally wrecked from the two battles he endured against Salido.
 
Meanwhile, Garcia was ask if he will fight at 130, he said that If he feel comfortable fighting at 130 come next fight, he will stay there. But if not, and 126 still his division, he will go back down.

Maybe Garcia’s explosive win will be question, but the kid has a very bright future ahead of him. A fight with Rocky Martinez is inevitable for another classic Puerto Rico vs. Mexico rivalry.

Garcia vs Lopez Weigh-in Result:

Garcia came in on the scales at 128 pounds, two pounds over the featherweight limit. Garcia looks so drain in the weigh-in. It seems he is having difficulty making the division limit. I hope this will not be a big factor in the fight outcome.

I believe he should move up to super-featherweight division after this fight.

Juan Manuel Lopez came in at 125.25 pounds and look ripped. 
    
The featherweight showdown between undefeated WBO champion Mikey Garcia and Puerto Rican star Juan Manuel Lopez will be televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark at the American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.

Garcia did not bother to make another try to make the weight that might pose health problems. This means that he lost his WBO Featherweight title without even setting his foot in the ring.

Lopez at 125.25 will be contesting the title that he once held.

For my preview of the bout you will find it here on THESCUFFLE.COM.

Weigh-In Result:

Mikey Garcia - 128 pounds
Juan Manuel Lopez - 125.25

Follow Retech Son on twitter @RetechSon

Originally posted on THESCUFFLE.COM
Undefeated WBO featherweight champion Mikey Garcia will face former two-division champion Juan Manuel Lopez at the American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas, USA on Saturday, June 15.

Mikey Garcia was coming from a technical decision victory over Mexican banger Orlando Salido in January wresting the title once held by Juan Manuel Lopez that he will defend on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark”

Garcia, 31-0 (KO 26), is a young and fast rising star that graduated from being simply called prospect, now making way to become member of the sports elite. He is a kind of fighter despite being young; He thinks like a veteran in the ring.


He is very patient and picks his punches very well with total precision. He tends to be very cautious in the ring. And has the tendency to be boring against fellow counter puncher. But against puncher/brawler, it will be very interesting to watch and that should be the case against Lopez.

A win against Lopez would help solidify his claim in the featherweight division and would get his self ready for another potential bigger name in the division, perhaps against brawler, fellow undefeated Abner Mares—WBC champion.

Lopez, 33-2 (KO 30) is coming from two consecutive victories against, Aldimar Santos and Eugene Lopez. He is trying to get back into the winning column after he suffered TKO losses against Orlando Salido.

Lopez is a two fisted fighter who wanted to slug it off punch by punch. He is a fighter that one’s get himself into a brawl stops thinking about defense and just throwing bombs after bombs, not caring if he gets hit as long as he hits. If you are in the opposite corner against Lopez be sure you can absorb wicked punches to your body, or you will drop to your knee.

Lopez cannot afford to lose this fight, if he wants to go back to the status he left before losing from Salido. A win against Garcia would make him beat the man, who beat the man that beat him. It’s a redemption against those TKO loses in his career.

Against common opponent—Orlando Salido

Garcia vs. Salido – Garcia scored a total of four knockdowns against Salido, twice in the very first round and once in rounds three and four. In round eight Garcia suffered a broken nose from an accidental head butt. The fight was stop and Garcia was awarded the title.

Mikey Garcia was a bit criticized for not continuing the fight. He was accused of quitting from the fight after the head butt. Robert Garcia, Mikey’s trainer, being aware that his fighter was way ahead in the judges’ scorecards, insisted that his fighter cannot continue. He knows that it is very dangerous for his fighter to continue fighting, having a broken nose, against a guy who is noted to be very strong in the closing rounds.

However, the blame cannot erase the fact that the 25 years old, fast rising prospect was schooling the veteran Orlando Salido. Salido was out boxed and was beaten by the punch all night long. He was always a recipient of well timed counters from a technically savvy Garcia.

Salido vs. Lopez (twice) – Lopez was defeated by Salido twice via technical knockout. It is a fight that Lopez believed he can defeat Salido into a slugfest. In the first bout, although up on his feet but unable to answer several punishing shots from Salido, the fight was stop by the referee. Lopez pointed out that the fight was stop prematurely.

In the rematch, Lopez didn’t learn the lesson in his first defeat. He met Salido head-on again. And even if he was wobbled several times, he chose to trade bombs after bombs. But Salido’s more powerful and devastating punches prevailed.

Prediction

Looking into each gentleman's performance against a common opponent, it is easy to say that Garcia has the edge, which I believe is the case for this fight.

However, I also believe that Lopez learned from the mistakes he made from the two defeats in his record. I think he will not rush to engage Garcia in a slugfest because he knows he will be walking ahead to Garcia's precise counters. I think he will fight intelligently this time around.  If Lopez considers plan B, I like to see him slug it out in the latter rounds and to find out how much Garcia can absorb from his power.

Nevertheless, I still think that the skills and slickness of Mikey Garcia will prevail and he will cruise into a unanimous decision.

Follow Retech Son on Twitter @RetechSon

The second installment of Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s 6-fight deal with Showtime against Saul "Canelo Alvarrez will stage 11-city, two-country media tour that will kick off on June 24 in New York City and will culminate Phoenix and Los Angeles according to Golden Boy Promotion Press release forwarded to me via email.

You can read full details of the schedule here.

I've been a freelance writer for Yahoo! Contributor Network (YCN) submitting content for possible publication on Yahoo! websites, for almost a year now. Being a boxing fan that loves to write about the sport, having my work published on Yahoo! is very much fulfilling. As a starter, it is a confidence booster to have my articles posted on their site.

One thing I learned in submitting contents to yahoo is about timing. YCN editors review submitted contents four to ten days after submission. And because of this, it is not favorable to write boxing results. HBO and Showtime stage boxing bouts every Saturday night.


Granted you submit your article right after the fight--it will be published the earliest on Wednesday, which is too late for a news story to be published after four days.

One example is the article I wrote regarding Hopkins-Cloud result. I submitted the article right after the fight, (Saturday night) but it was published after four days (Wednesday). Most of the related stories are already online right after the fight. Anyway, I can handle that because I am not a Yahoo! sport news correspondent (just an aspiring contributor/writer).

I decided to ditch news stories. I tried writing fight and future match-up predictions. This is better; all I need to do is choose a match-up, know when it will happen, and submit the prediction a week before, just to make sure it will be published two or three days before the fight.

However, when I wrote a piece predicting two possible opponents of Floyd Mayweather Jr, yet the timing was off. I can't help but to laugh at the result.

I submitted the article on May 28, but to my surprise Mayweather announced his opponent on May 30. That made my article totally useless. I wanted to blame Mayweather (lol...) for that early announcement.

I have option to delete it before it will be published, but I choose to keep it. I wanted to see if Yahoo! Contributor Network editors will notice it. But to my surprise it was published after five days. So, I told to myself, "better late than never". I kept the article and submitted another one with a headline "Mayweather Jr. Vs. Canelo: Is Floyd Pressured to Fight Alvarez"

Now I understand that timing is very essential in everything we do. I do hope YCN editors will shorten the number of days for reviewing contents. Let say at a day or two.