WBC ” Night of Champions” Awards Banquet

Photos and report by Boxing Bob Newman

The second installment of the WBC Night Of Champions wrapped up tonight at the Cardiff International Arena with a gala awards banquet. Medallions and plaques were given to every champion on hand. The European Boxing Union headed by Bob Logist of Belgium awarded Frank Maloney as Promoter of the year and his charge Rendall Munroe as fighter of the year. Finally, several WBC awards were given out or being the best of the year in several categories:

Female fighter of the year: Ina Menzer
Knockout of the year: Toshiaki Nishioka TKO3 Jhonny Gonzalez
(honorable mention): Carl Froch TKO12 Jermain taylor
Fight of the Year: Giacobbe Fragomeni D12 Kzrysztof Wlodarczyk I
Fighters of the Year: Vitali Klitschko & Sergio Martinez

The trophies were gold plated casts of Mike Tyson’s fist.

WBC President Jose Sulaiman sent a moving video message to all the gathered participants from Mexico. Sulaiman is recovering for the past month from knee replacement surgery on his left knee and was unable to make the trip to Cardiff.

Earlier in the evening at the Hilton Hotel, WBC Super Featherweight champ Toshiaki Nishioka finally squared off face-to-face against his mandatory challenger Rendall Munroe. The two will meet for real in the ring on October 24, at Kokugikan Sumo Arena, Tokyo Japan. The European champion Munroe is (21-1, 9 KOs), is on an eleven fight win streak, while Nishioka will be making the fifth defense of the WBC belt, with all four previously coming by stoppage. Nishioka is (36-4-3, 23 KOs).

Courtesy of Fanhouse.com

Argentinian-born southpaw Sergio Martinez, who dethroned WBO and WBC middleweight (160 pounds) champion, Kelly Pavlik last month, has been stripped of the WBO belt by the organization, according to his interpreter, Cicilio Flores.

The news was first reported by Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com

A 35-year-old resident of California, by way of Spain, Martinez (45-2-2, 24 knockouts) was informed that the WBO’s ruling was rendered because he has yet to make a final decision as to whether or not he plans to stay at middleweight.

Martinez also owns the WBC crown as a junior middleweight (154 pounds), and has been notified that he has 10 days to appeal the ruling.

“I’m very surprised by the decision that was made by the WBO. I wish that I had more time to make a decision,” said Martinez, through a statement. “I’m very grateful that I was able to win the title and that I was recognized by the WBO. I would rather lose the title in the ring, and not like this. It has been an honor to be their champion.”

In dropping Pavlik to 36-2, with 32 knockouts, Martinez made himself a potential candidate for lucrative bouts against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs) should a bout not happen for Mayweather against WBO welterweight (147 pounds) titlist, Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs).

Other potential options for Martinez includes bouts opposite junior middleweight southpaw Paul Williams (38-1, 27 KOs), to whom he lost a disputed, 12-round decision in December, or former world champion, Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs), who knocked out Martinez in the seventh round in February of 2000.

By Ryan Burton
Courtesy of BoxingScene.com

Former Contender series contestant Alfonso Gomez talks to BoxingScene.com about his July 17th ring return, retiring another legend in Jose Luis Castillo (although there are rumblings that Castillo will lace up the gloves again), his music career and more in this Boxingscene exclusive interview.

BoxingScene.com: It has been a while since we have talked. What is new with you?

Alfonso Gomez: Nothing much. I just came back to training camp here in Oxnard, California. After I defeated Castillo I took about a month off and we just enjoyed ourselves. I was making music and stuff like that. I am back in training camp because apparently I am going to be fighting someone on July 17th. I don’t know who and I t know where.

BoxingScene.com: Lets get off the boxing topic for a minute. Did you say you were making music?

Alfonso Gomez: I have been making music for I don’t know, twelve years already. I started my group called H3 Hy3rid. That is the group’s name about seven years ago. I have a music studio at home and all that good stuff.

BoxingScene.com: What kind of music do you make?

Alfonso Gomez: It is Spanish hip hop. It is hip hop in español and a little rock in español, word play and all that stuff.

BoxingScene.com: Back to boxing. You said July 17th is the date you will be back and you don’t know who you will be fighting or where. Have any names been mentioned?

Alfonso Gomez: I don’t know who, what or where. I have already started camp and started sparring and doing conditioning work and all that stuff. As soon as I know who is the opponent we will figure out a good game plan for that person and execute it.

BoxingScene.com: Have any names been thrown out there?

Alfonso Gomez: Well they haven’t really any names. The name of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez came up and David Estrada has been pursuing a fight with me but nothing is in concrete. I know I can beat them both.

BoxingScene.com: In your last fight you retired another legend in Castillo. How do you grade that performance?

Alfonso Gomez: I give myself maybe a B+ even though my conditioning coach gave me an A-. I give myself a B+ because I think I did great. I used my distance and I followed the game plan. There are flaws always like bending my knees and keeping my hands up. In general I think I did good. I trained very hard for that fight. I made weight perfectly. I came in at 145. I felt strong. I felt much stronger than Castillo and I am sure he felt it too because the rounds where I started pushing it more was the round he stopped.

BoxingScene.com: After July how many more fights do you think you will get in this year?

Alfonso Gomez: I hope I can get one or two more, maybe three.

BoxingScene.com: When do you think you will be ready for another world title shot?

Alfonso Gomez: I am ready to go already I think time flies real quick. I am not getting any younger. I feel that my technique and conditioning have improved. I have acquired a great team here in Calfiornia with my father as chief trainer and Robert Garcia has been helping us a lot. We are training at World Crown Sports Boxing which has helped my conditioning and improved my strength and speed and balance a lot. I have a great team and I have fought tremendous fighters like Jose Luis Castillo, Miguel Cotto, Arturo Gatti, Ben Tackie, Peter Manfredo and Jesse Brinkley. We are talking about guys that are champions or were champions or who fought for championships so in reality I am ready to go. I am ready to step up to bigger challenges. Hopefully I get to step up in my fight on July 17th or in my next one. Hopefully someone like Saul Alvarez. I would love to fight Marcos Maidana who is a 140 pounder. I am willing to push it down that far or he can come up in weight. I am looking for big names and big opportunities. I am ready to go baby.

BoxingScene.com: You mentioned fighting Miguel Cotto. He has a fight coming up against Yuri Foreman. He is moving up in weight. Do you see him winning that fight?

Alfonso Gomez: That is a great challenge for him. If he wins he will be a three weight division champion. That is definitely an accomplishment that not every boxer gets to achieve. In reality I wish him all the luck in the world and hopefully in the future he can give me that rematch that I feel he still owes me (laughing).

BoxingScene.com: Do you have a message for the fans?

Alfonso Gomez: All in all I want to say I train hard to give my best performances. I am coming out this year strong in the fight scene and music scene. I am going to try to be more out there. I have been kind of hiding in the background and I am going to out there in the world and show everybody that in urban Spanish rap I am the best and there is no doubt about it. You can check out my groups music at hy3rib.com or look up some of our videos on youtube.

Sergio Martinez won a well-earned unanimous decision tonight over Kelly Pavlik, taking the world middleweight championship in the process.

Martinez (45-2-2, 24 KO) won on scores of 115-111, 116-111 and 115-112. Bad Left Hook scored it 115-112 for Martinez.

It was a terrific tactical fight, with some great back-and-forth momentum. Martinez dominated the early portion of the fight, but Pavlik (36-2, 32 KO) charged back in the middle rounds, knocking down Martinez and taking a lead on our card through eight rounds.

But then, it was the Sergio Martinez show. Martinez cut Pavlik up, had him bleeding profusely, and took the fight for the rest of the time left, winning what I felt was a clear and solid decision.

Pavlik showed a lot of guts tonight, and so did Martinez. Pavlik has a rematch clause, and I’d expect they’ll do this again. The fight was definitely good enough to deserve a rematch. Kelly Pavlik fought through blood, managed to turn the tide of the fight, and just got beaten in the end. It was a damn good fight, I thought, and one worthy of the hype.

All congratulations to Sergio Martinez, the new legitimate middleweight champion of the world.

On the Atlantic City undercard, Mike Jones, Matt Korobov and Ronald Hearns all won. Hearns landed some right hands on Delray Raines that were worthy of his family name.

From Montreal in the co-feature, Lucian Bute knocked out Edison Miranda in the third round. Miranda had been doing fairly well and got cocky. After making a big show of his not feeling Bute’s punches, Bute immediately stopped him with a gorgeous left uppercut.

The times changed tonight, folks. New middleweight champion of the world: Sergio Martinez. But don’t discredit Kelly Pavlik, who made no excuses afterward and fought his heart out. Both were a credit to the sport tonight.

courtesy of badlefthook.com

By Ricardo Conde

WBA # 2 junior welterweight contender Victor “Mermelada” Cayo (24-0, 16 KOs) of the Dominican Republic will face Argentina’s Marcos “El Chino” Maidana (27-1, 26 KOs) on Saturday March 27th for the interim WBA junior welterweight title at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. We had a moment to sit down and talk to Cayo as he prepares for his upcoming bout with Maidana.

You’re currently preparing for your next fight, which will be against Marcos Maidana, what do you know about your opponent and what’s your opinion of him as a fighter?

I respect him a lot as a fighter, he’s a great fighter and he’s got a lot of heart. He’s a hard puncher but he’s never faced anyone like “Mermelada” before.

How is training camp going and where did you train for Maidana?

Everything has been going great. We’ve finished the preparation, the sparring and everything else, we’re just winding down and we’re on weight. I’ve been training for a little over two and a half months at the World Crown Sports Training Center in Oxnard, CA with my trainers Gabriel Sarmiento and Cicilio Flores.

How do you feel at this point of your training camp?

I feel great, 100% ready for the fight. We’re very prepared, we’ve done our homework and I can’t wait to get in the ring and thanks to God everything is great.

Do you think this is going to be the toughest fight of your career so far?

It’s definitely the hardest and most important fight of my career so far. It opens the door to show case my talent to the world because the fight is going to be seen by thousands and thousands of people on HBO.

Name one or two fighters you’d like to face in the near future?

It really doesn’t matter to me who I fight. I leave that up to my manager and my promoter, I’ll fight who ever they put in front of me. My job is to do what I do in the ring and to do my work in the gym.

Is there anything you would like to tell your fans?

I would like to thank all the fans around the world that support me and especially all my friends and family back home. I would to dedicate this fight to my country, the Dominican Republic and I hope to inspire the kids like I was inspired by other fighters when I was a kid.

* * *

Victor Cayo is guided by manager Caesar Mercedes Maguita and trained by Gabriel Sarmiento.

Article courtesy of Fightnews.com