RFK Stadium to host U.S. men vs. Germany on June 2

By John Haydon: The U.S. men’s soccer team is returning to play at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C., with Germany as it opponent on June 2. The nation’s capital may have not drawn a World Cup qualifying game this time around like Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Columbus (Ohio) and Kansas City (Kan.), but an exhibition against three-time world champion Germany is nothing to sneeze at, and is sure draw a huge crowd to the 62-year-old venue.

The game against Germany is part of U.S. Soccer’s centennial celebration and is being dubbed as the “Centennial Celebration Match”. The game will see U.S. team coach Jurgen Klinsmann go up against the team he helped win a World Cup in 1990 as a player and coached to the third-place at the World Cup in 2006.

The U.S. team 13-3-4 all-time at RFK and has won the past seven games there (6-0-1). The team last played at RFK against Jamaica, earning a 2-0 victory on June 19, 2011, to advance to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The announcement about the game at RFK by U.S. Soccer on Thursday also came with the confirmation of the home venues for the U.S. team’s four remaining 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying games.

Marquez: I’m Facing Tim Bradley on 9/14 in Las Vegas

Former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KO’s) has revealed that he plans to continue his career by challenging WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (30-0, 12 KO’s) for the WBO welterweight championship on September 14th at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The fight is almost sure to land on HBO Pay-Per-View

“I had a meeting, I spoke with my family. The decision was made because I still feel good. I feel capable and I can probably do two or three more fights,” Marquez told ESPN Deportes Radio.

Marquez says he was given two return options – Bradley or WBO interim-junior welterweight champion Mike Alvarado. He selected Bradley.

“They discussed two opponents for September 14: Mike Alvarado and Timothy Bradley. I like challenges, Bradley would be a difficult fight for me. Apart from being world champion it would be a challenge to fight him and win another big challenge title in a fifth division, which for me is something that fills me with pride to have the opportunity to try,” he said.

This move by Marquez would leave Manny Pacquiao with the likely option of facing Alvarado on a date in October in Macau.

We are happy to announce that tickets for the said boxing event are available here for orders. We recommend you order Marquez vs Bradley fight tickets now to get exclusive seats near the arena.

By Salvador Rodriguez
Source: http://www.boxingscene.com/marquez-im-facing-tim-bradley-on-9-14-las-vegas–64561

Donaire promises to rebound

MANILA, Philippines – Nonito Donaire Jr. said he wants to rest, get well, enjoy fatherhood then return to the ring.

“I’ll come back and do better,” said the Filipino boxer who just lost his WBO super-bantamweight title to Guillermo Rigondeaux the other day in New York City..

Donaire was a 2-1 favorite to win against the two-time Olympic champion from Cuba but came unprepared for his opponent’s hit-and-run tactic.

“We fought the Cuban boxing way, hit and don’t get hit,” Rigondeaux’s trainer, Pedro Diaz, said in a report by the Associated Press.

Donaire floored Rigondeaux in the 10th round but didn’t really hurt him, and the latter went on to win the last two rounds to seal the unanimous victory.

One judge had it 116-111, another 115-112 and the third one 114-113 all for Rigondeaux, now the WBO and WBA champion in the 122 lb division.

The judges saw Rigondeaux as the clear winner. They were unanimous in giving the 32-year-old Cuban defector the first, third, sixth and 12th rounds.

Mayweather says Guerrero is a hypocrite

During today’s Media Day at the Mayweather Boxing Gym in Las Vegas, boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather had some harsh comments about his May 4 PPV opponent Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero’s recent arrest on a gun charge in New York City.

“A lot of times you see guys that are hypocrites,” stated Mayweather. “Like you got a guy who’s always preaching like he’s a preacher, like he loves God more than anyone else, and I feel that we’re all equal when it’s all said and done. You got this guy that’s going to the 700 Club, acting like he’s a pastor, but he got caught with a gun and he’s got Marilyn Monroe on his wall at his house, so like I said before, these guys are hypocrites. Like I said, you live, you learn, that’s not really my focus, you know what I’m saying? When a guy presents himself like Robert Guerrero was doing with myself. They were joking about me doing time. They say what goes around comes around, so a week after the fight it’s time for him to do his time!”

Source: http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/mayweather-says-guerrero-is-a-hypocrite-187432

TWO UNDERCARD FIGHTS CAN STEAL THE SHOW IN DAVAO

Two undercard bouts can very well steal the show from the main event where Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista will defend his WBO Intercontinental featherweight title against tough Mexican Jose Ramirez in “Pinoy Pride XIX – The Mexican Invasion” at the University of Southeastern Philippines Gym in Davao City on Saturday.

The ten round battle between Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation flyweight champion Rocky “ Road Warrior” Fuentes and Mexican slugger Juan Kantun and the OPBF title fight between OPBF super flyweight champion Arthur “El Matador” Villanueva and challenger Marco Demecillo in a clash of undefeated hard hitters could turn into action-packed bouts that fans usually go for.

The “Pinoy Pride XIX” card will be telecast on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. over Channel 2 with a replay on Studio 23 and a telecast over The Filipino Channel.

The 27 year old Fuentes who has a record of 34-6-2 with 20 knockouts is ranked No. 2 by the WBA, No. 3 by the WBC, No. 5 by the WBO and No. 7 by the IBF and has successfully defended his title six times after winning it with a twelve round majority decision over Masafumi Okuba on March 9, 2010.

Could Juan Manuel Lopez Be Next for Mikey Garcia or Nonito Donaire?

Early in his career, Juan Manuel Lopez had a lot going for himself, but the only two losses of his career have put up a huge question mark on his future. Before the first loss of his career he accumulated some major wins over very credible opponents. For his 22nd professional fight he went up against veteran fighter Daniel Ponce De Leon in a highly anticipated matchup in which he won via TKO in the first round. Many fighters at 22 fights are prospects or contenders and his 22nd fight made him a star. Ponce De Leon is not an easy opponent and Lopez’ victory over him was what he needed.

Lopez would continue fighting top ten opposition winning close decisions or by knockout. For his 31st fight he went up against veteran Mexican Orlando Salido. The fight was action packed with both fighters having bad intensions in their punches. Salido would go on to get the biggest victory of his career and present one of the biggest upsets of the year by 8th round KO derailing plans for a future bout with Cuban fighter Yuriorkis Gamboa.

Lakers hold off Rockets, take West’s 7th seed

Steve Blake scored 24 points, Pau Gasol added his seventh career triple-double, and the Los Angeles Lakers secured the seventh playoff seed in the Western Conference with a 99-95 overtime victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.

Dwight Howard had 16 points and 18 rebounds, and the All-Star center blocked James Harden’s shot in the final seconds of overtime for the Lakers (45-37), who only clinched a playoff berth about 10 minutes before tipoff in their season finale.

After winning once more without Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash Los Angeles will face second-seeded San Antonio in the first round.

Chandler Parsons hit a tying 3-pointer from three steps behind the line at the regulation buzzer for the Rockets (45-37), who will face top-seeded Oklahoma City after losing four of six to end the regular season.

Harden scored 30 points and Parsons had 23 for the Rockets, who already knew they were back in the postseason after a three-year absence, but could have ended up in three seedings depending on Wednesday’s results. Houston had a shot at the No. 6 spot before Golden State beat Portland earlier, but Los Angeles holds the tiebreaker on the Rockets.

Gasol had 17 points, 20 rebounds and 11 assists in his second triple-double in three games for the Lakers, who also held Houston well below its NBA-best average of 106.1 points per game. After a rocky regular season, the Lakers are heading into the playoffs with five straight wins, and eight in their last nine games.

Saul Alvarez/Austin Trout Head to Head Comparison: Who Has the Advantage?

This Saturday, April 20th two of the best junior middleweights in boxing will get it on in a unification bout. I am talking about none other than Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Austin “No Doubt” Trout. The majority of people are picking The WBC champion Alvarez to win this one and Trout will again be the underdog. This makes no sense to me, but lets take some time and go over the pros and cons of the fighters.
Experience:
Canelo Alvarez has over 41 professional fights, at the young age of only 22 years old. That is a lot of experience for a guy so young. However, his best competition within those 41 fights is an old watered down version of “Sugar” Shane Mosley, as well as a degraded Kermit Cintron.
Austin Trout only has 26 professional fights under his belt but his opposition has been much better, at least in my eyes. Trout faced the game Delvin Rodriguez and beat future hall of famer, Miguel Cotto, who was fresh off a good showing against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Experience edge goes to Trout.
Power:
Both fighters have enough pop that you have to respect them, but I believe Alvarez has the edge here. He turns his punchers over and plants his feet more than Trout. The statistics also back me up on this. Alvarez sports a knockout percentage of 71.43%. While Trout possess a knockout percentage of 53.85%. Having the edge in power could allow Alvarez to wear down Trout for the later rounds but you have to be able to hit him, this leads me into the next point, ring generalship. Edge in power goes to Alvarez.

Rigondeaux claims his place among the best

I once had the pleasure of witnessing unified super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux dance across the canvas to some of the most violent artists the world has ever known at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, CA. The southpaw Cuban legend known as “El Chacal” (The Jackal) was preparing for his fifth fight as a professional after an amateur career that boasted 2 gold medals among top honors at every world championship you can think of for a grand total of some 400 fights. The wins column varies from 374 to 388. The losses are always counted at 12 from what I understand. It was here under veteran trainer Freddie Roach, Rigo searched for his professional mojo briefly.

I wrote at the time, watching him work with various pros over a January morning in 2010:

Watching him in the gym on this particular day, I saw him work with three separate sparring partners; an unknown Armenian kid who was rough, tumble, and too slow to get to Rigondeaux, Gerry Penalosa, who couldn’t hit him with a bucket of water, and Bernabe Concepcion, who made Rigondeaux pick up the pace both with his feet and hands in the final rounds of the session. It’s like watching a scientist in the lab. Rigondeaux is a southpaw who understands how to make that work for him. Always shifting his feet side to side, back and forth, but never in a hurry. Relaxed and calm in what he calls “the Cuban style” of holding his lead hand down in an “L” around his waist, ala Floyd Mayweather Jr., while picking off shots with his rear hand. Nothing is rushed; each movement is used to keep his opponent off-balance and unsure, and all of it worked on this day. I got the sense he wasn’t toying with his opponents so much as tweaking and testing his own style to see what would work and what wouldn’t.

Filipino Promoter Advises Donaire To Climb Up To Featherweight

Veteran boxing promoter Sammy Gello-ani said that Nonito Donaire Jr. should move up to the featherweight class to regain his old deadly form. Donaire lost his World Boxing Organization (WBO) belt to Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux via unanimous decision on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in New York City.

“I guess he needs to go up to the featherweight class if he’s not comfortable anymore in the super bantamweight class,” Gello-ani told The Manila Times in a phone interview on Monday. “I didn’t expect him to loose but it happened.”

“If ever Nonito decides to go up in featherweight, he will have a lot of choices there.”

Donaire (31-2 win-loss log with 20 knockouts) showed lack of head and body movements during the bout while the Cuban two-time Olympic gold medalist Rigondeaux employed a cunning hit-and-run tactic.

“I guess he didn’t watch Guillermo’s tapes, Guillermo surprised him during their fight,” said Gello-ani, who is promoting the fight of the one of the remaining two Filipino world champions – International Boxing Federation light flyweight titlist Johnriel Casimero. The other is WBO light flyweight Donnie “Ahas” Nietes.

Meanwhile, Donaire revealed that he might undergo shoulder surgery and after that take some time off with wife Rachel and their new baby.

“The shoulder hasn’t been feeling good for awhile, so I’m going to get a surgery on it and take some time before going back in the ring,” Donaire told boxing website boxingscene.com.

Written by Josef T. Ramos
Source: http://manilatimes.net/index.php/sports/top-sports-news/45546-pinoy-promoter-advises-donaire-to-climb-up-to-featherweight