by Fox Doucette Heavy-hitting junior lightweight prospect Javier Fortuna (20-0, 15 KOs) delivered his second spectacular early-round knockout of the year on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights, demolishing Cristobal Cruz (39-14-3, 23 KOs) in just two rounds in the main event. In the co-feature, Magomed Abdusalamov (15-0, 15 KOs) continued his demolition of all brave or foolish enough … [Read more...]
Kim Beats Rahimov In Excellent Main Event: FNF Recap
by Fox Doucette Former IBF lightweight title challenger Ji-Hoon Kim (24-7, 18 KOs) kept the embers of his once-bright career alight in a unanimous decision victory, handing Uzbekistan native Alisher Rahimov (23-1, 12 KOs) his first defeat as a pro. In a snoozer of a co-feature, heavyweight Vincent Thompson (11-0, 2 KOs) pawed at Joell Godfrey (14-7-1, 6 KOs) for eight rounds … [Read more...]
Teddy Atlas, Man of Integrity: The Southpaw
By Fox Doucette Michael Woods of ESPN and the Boxing Tribune's own Kelsey McCarson have reported that Teddy Atlas is ending his trainer relationship with Alexander Povetkin, the best heavyweight not named Klitschko. Said Atlas: "Our agreement from the beginning has been that I would go to Russia to train Sasha when Friday Night Fights was off season, and he would come to the … [Read more...]
Povetkin and Atlas Parting Ways
Michael Woods of ESPN.com is reporting that heavyweight Alexander Povetkin (23-0, 16 KOs) and longtime trainer Teddy Atlas are parting ways-- at least for his next fight and quite possibly forever. Povetkin, who currently holds something called the WBA "regular" heavyweight title, is scheduled to face top-ranked cruiserweight Marco Huck (34-1, 25 KOs) on February 25th in … [Read more...]
You’re On TV, Fight Like It: The Southpaw
By Fox Doucette The fastest way to inspire a poor performance seems to be to say something nice about someone. Or so fans would be led to believe after all the glowing reviews of the 2011 Friday Night Fights season on ESPN2, where the matchmakers at the Worldwide Leader were rightly praised for putting on some tremendous fight cards, including the Fight of the Year between … [Read more...]