Former Heavyweight Chris Arreola slimming down

A slimmed down and solid Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola, who is on target to enter the Home Depot Center boxing ring on Saturday night, May 14 in Carson, CA at his lowest weight in four years. “Right now I’m training very hard,” said the former #1-ranked world contender about his upcoming 10-round fight with Nagy Aguilera (16-5, 11 KOs) as the co-featured bout underneath the Super Six World Boxing Classic semi-final contest between WBA Super Middleweight Champion Andre Ward and Arthur Abraham. “I’m looking more to showing than talking; at least until after the fight,” said the normally ‘sound bite’ machine who ballooned up to a career high of 263 pounds in 2009.

The “re-dedication of Arreola” started when he and his longtime trainer Henry Ramirez trekked down to the Houston, TX training center run by Ronnie Shields to prepare for an ESPN2 main event on January 28, 2011. For the first time in eight fights, Arreola came in under 250-pounds for that bout. And now Arreola is back in Riverside hard at work with Ramirez for his upcoming bout. So what was Arreola’s motivation for re-dedicating himself? “I hate to lose,” he said.

Boxing stars pays tribute to the late late Sir Henry Cooper

Tributes are continuing to pour in for the late Sir Henry Cooper, 76, who died yesterday after a prolonged illness. Former three-time world champion Muhammad Ali has revealed his shock at his friends death as he was never told that the former British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight champion was ill.

"I am at a loss for words over the death of my friend, Henry Cooper," said Ali in a statement on Sunday night.

“I was not aware he was ill. I visited with him two summers ago during a brief visit to Windsor as part of the Equestrian Games being held there.

“He was in good humour and looked quite fit. Henry always had a smile for me; a warm and embracing smile. It was always a pleasure being in Henry's company. I will miss my ole friend. He was a great fighter and a gentleman."

Top Rank boss Bob Arum has also paid tribute to the man, who in 1963, almost became the first man to beat the great Ali.

"Henry was a real gent and that was apparent from first to last when we dealt with him in London when Ali fought there against him for the first time."

"There was something special about him as a personality and of course, he belonged to a different age. He was a gracious man. He carried himself with dignity at all times. Later, he became an elder statesman and was one of the good guys in boxing. He will be sadly missed. I know Ali enjoyed seeing him in Windsor two years ago when Ali visited. A legend has gone. He won't be forgotten.”

On British shores, current world champions David Haye and Amir Khan has expressed their sorrow on the loss of what of the UK’s great characters of the game.

"He was at all the charity dinners and what-not and we'd talk to each other and he'd give me advice and wish me luck, give me his opinion on what he thought I should do and it was always sound advice.

"He'd let you know his opinion - whether you wanted to hear it or not! - and I believe the advice he's given me over the years is working out because I'm now the heavyweight champion of the world."

Amir Khan said: "He had everything. I remember meeting him a few times and he came across very humble, we had a good conversation about my own career.

Roach to Pacquiao: Slowdown!

Freddie Roach is facing the same problem he’d faced many times before: how to slow Manny Pacquiao down.

“The main job right now is to try and slow him down,” Roach said Thursday at the Wild Card Gym, after working the mitts with Pacquiao for at least a dozen rounds.

It was more like a sparring session.

And at times it looked and sounded like they were hitting each other hard.

Roach slapped Pacquiao hard with his mitts, to the body and sometimes to the head, and the latter got away with some of his own.

They shared some laughter inside the ring, but the next time they work the mitts, they better put their headgear on.

It’s just eight days to the fight, and it’s the right time for Pacquiao to slow down. But Roach seems to be having trouble asking his ward to do that.

He said he’ll try.

“I have to. I have to slow him down,” said Roach.

Roach was asked if it was possible for Pacquiao to even slow down as they wrap up the final days of training for the May 7 fight with Shane Mosley.

“Somewhat,” said the trainer, “but not as much as I would like.”

Roach thinks Pacquiao is done with all the hard work, the lung-busting roadwork, the heavy sparring, and now he’s ready for battle.

“He’s ready to go. He’s sharp. He knows the game plan very well. He’s a hundred percent ready,” said Roach, still insisting it won’t be an easy fight.

The mitts session went on non-stop, and when Roach asked Pacquiao to get some water, the boxing icon said, “Are you tired?”

“Nope,” Roach shot back.

“Oh boy, I can’t get a f***g break here,” Roach added, breathing heavily in one corner.

Pinoy scribes told him later on he appeared like he was going to quit.

“It won’t happen. We had a great workout and had fun doing it. It was a good day. He came in a little bit late today. I thought I could wear him out today,” said Roach.

One other concern, the celebrated trainer said, is Pacquiao getting a little too low on his weight, saying he weighed in at 147 after the workout.

But it could be even be lower than that.

“Payat nga ako (Yes, I’m light). Pero mataba naman ang suntok ko (But my punches are heavy),” said Pacquiao.

Later on, after the workout, inside the dressing room, he told Pinoy scribes he was just making sure all bases are covered heading to the fight.

“Ganado ako (I’m eager). Naniniguro lang,” he said.“Napagod din ako (I got tired, too).”

If he was, he didn’t show it, even when Roach had called it a day.

“One more round?” he begged his coach.

“No. I’m done,” was the only answer he got.

Haye vs Klitschko Fight in doubt?

The proposed superfight between David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko may still be in doubt.

The pair were formally due to tie the knot for their fistic nuptuals with press conferences in Hamburg, where the bout was scheduled for 2 July, and London this week. But last night these were suddenly cancelled with the Hayemaker organisation saying: "There are still issues to be resolved."

The on-off fight was announced last month but has twice been postponed before because of injuries to first Haye and then Klitschko. It seems the fight game's other glove affair has ended in divorce too. Floyd Mayweather Jnr's trial on serious charges of domestic violence has again been delayed until July. The likelihood is that Manny Pacquiao is tired of waiting for a £50m showdown, which would be the richest in history, and that fans will witness the valedictory appearance of the greatest fighter of this generation against the veteran Shane Mosley (the last man to fight Mayweather, a year ago) in Saturday's Sky-TV WBO welterweight title fight in Las Vegas.

As trainer Freddie Roach says: "We are going to lose him to politics for sure." So the Pacman versus the Money Man sadly won't happen, since Pacquiao, 32, intends to focus on his career in parliament in the Philippines and Mayweather contemplates a possible 34 years in jail if he is convicted.

Condes: New IBF Strawweight champ!

The IBF strawweight king Muhammad Rachman of Indonesia (61-6-5,31 KO's) was dethroned by Florante Condes of the Philippines (22-3-1) on Saturday night at RCTI TV studio, Jakarta, Indonesia in a all out war between two boxing warriors. Condes, known as "Little Pacquiao" devastating power punching put down the champion twice in the third and 10th round of the title bout but the heart of the champion cannot be completely under estimated as he survives the boxing bout with a split decision but in favor of the newly crowned Filipino.

“His punches were as hard as stone. Luckily I had good durability in round three, so I could go on fighting,” said Rachman. “Round ten when I was knocked down for the second time, I was sloppy in my defense, it shouldn’t happen.” Rachman also told to this correspondent that he was surprised with Condes’ power, and that Condes could punch so hard from awkward angles. “A rematch is one possibility, otherwise Rachman must fight in an eliminator fight to get his mandatory status,” said Martinez dos Santos, Rachman’s manager. “We'll talk about a rematch after this.”

Until this minute, Condes’ camp hasn’t signed anything for the rematch option asked by Rachman. “We’ll let Condes enjoy his victory first," said Aljoe Jaro, Condes’ manager. "After then we hopefully can reply Rachman’s request soon.” On a separate occassion, Lindsey E. Tucker, the match supervisor, informed the press that the new champion Condes had 9 months before his mandatory fight became due. If the rematch can't happen soon, Rachman will have to fight in a eliminator bout to earn his mandatory challenger status.

Klitschko retained his belts

On Saturday night, IBF/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko was set to defend his titles against former conqueror Lamon Brewster in front of 17,000 fans at the Köln Arena in Cologne, Germany. Three years ago, Brewster captured the WBO heavyweight title with a shocking fifth round TKO victory over the younger of the Klitschko brothers. Since then, Brewster had three successful title defenses before losing the belt in a heavyweight classic against Sergei Lyakhovich in 2006. The rematch against Klitschko was his first bout since suffering that defeat. On the other side, Klitschko returned with strong wins against Samuel Peter, Chris Byrd (his title winning effort) and Calvin Brock, among others. So after years of waiting, the fans finally got to see the rematch between two of the best heavyweights today.

World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko scored a dominating victory over tough Lamon Brewster in the main event. Brewster's trainer Buddy McGirt halted the action after the sixth round. It was a interesting opening round, as both fighters tried to etablish their game plan. Klitschko used his long jab to keep the distance, while Brewster tried to get on the inside and land some big body punches. It was Klitschko, however, who was more effective in the first. The second was a even better round for Klitschko, as he seemed unable to miss with his excellent jab. But Brewster continued to walk forward, looking for his opportunity. In the middle of the round, the champion landed a left hook followed by a right hand that stunned Brewster a bit. But Klitschko couldn’t seriously hurt his foe. In the third stanza, Klitschko continued to dominate with his jab. Brewster wasn’t able to get on the inside and unleash his best weapon, his left hook. Close to the end of the round, Klitschko scored with some nice right hands but the challenger took them well. Klitschko controlled the fourth with his jab again, although the round was rather slow and nothing noteworthy happened. Round five was a tough one for Brewster, as he was once again kept at bay by Wladimir's jab. Klitschko also mixed it up with his right hand but Brewster showed his heart as he took them and continued to move forward. However, withour any success. The sixth was about the same, as Klitschko’s jab almost always found its target, while the challenger took everything that was thrown at him.

After round six, however, the trainer of Lamon Brewster, Buddy McGirt, decided his fighter had taken enough of a beating and halted the action. Thus, Klitschko was declared the winner by TKO at the end of round six. It was a great performance by Wladimir Klitschko, who impressivly got redemption. Brewster, although soundly beaten, tried his best but was completly unable to put Klitschko in any danger at all. With the victory, Klitschko kept his IBF and IBO belts and moves to 49-3 with 44 KOs. Brewster, suffering his second straight loss, falls to 33-4.

Nonito Donaire's Triumph

Bridgeport, Connecticut. Nonito "The Filipino Flash Donaire" 18-1, 11 KO's provide an impressive performance to capture the IBF flyweight against an hard hitting champion Armenian born Australian Vic "Raging Bull" Darchinyan, 28-1,22 KO's, in the fift round on their title bout at Harbourd Yard Arena in Connecticut last July 7, 2007 this title bout was promoted by the Showtime promotion. On the boxing fight,the champion caught by a thunderous left hook from the challenger that sent him to kiss into the canvass. Darchinyan tried to get up on his feet while the referee Eddie Claudio gave a mandatory 10 count but the champion didn't make it as he fell against the rope and the referee wave as a sign that the bout is over.

This spectacular victory give the Filipinos a legitimate boxing champion after a long years of drought. Many boxing analyst impress with the heart of Donaire as he fought with a combine power and good strategies. In addition with this, it also serve as a avenge for Nonito's brother-Glen Donaire who was defeated by Darchinyan last October via TKO as he broke the jaw of Glen and retain his IBF/IBO fyweight belt.

After the bout, Vic Darchinyan qouted that he was not hurt with the punch of the Filipino Flash and he right away demand for a rematch. “I am okay...but I am very disappointed. I got caught with a great shot and these things happen in boxing. Of course I want a rematch.” said by the former champion. On the other hand Nonito Donaire says that he's readdy for a rematch.“I came in here as an underdog, nobody believed in me but I did it," he stated for the record. "I said yesterday that one punch can make the difference between me and him. I fought guys who are heavier so I timed my shots. He has heavy hands but my brother said he isn't as tough as he thinks he is. I shut him up but he still won't admit that I beat him." the newly crowned IBF flyweight champion qouted out.