Tag Archives: o2

Posted on 09/08/2016

HBO World Championship Boxing Preview: Chocolatito vs. Cuadras, Golovkin vs. Brook
By: William Holmes

On Saturday night HBO will broadcast two world championship fights from two different venues. Pound for pound king Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez will be bumping up to the junior bantamweight division to chase after another world title when he faces off against Carlos Cuadras. If he is successful he will have won titles in four different weight classes. Earlier in the day knockout artist Gennady Golovkin will be defending his middleweight titles when he faces welterweight world champion Kell Brook.

The Gonzalez vs. Cuadras bout will take place at the Forum in Inglewood, California and the Golovkin vs. Brook bout will take place at the O2 Arena in London, England on Brook’s home turf. HBO will also be televising a rematch between Yoshihiro Kamegai and Jesus Soto-Karass in the junior middleweight division. Their previous fight was considered by many to be a fight of the year candidate.

The following is a preview of both world title fights.

Carlos Cuadras (35-0-1) vs. Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (45-0); WBC Junior Bantamweight Title

Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez is a three division world champion and considered by many to be the best pound for pound boxer in the world today. However, there are limits to how many weight classes an individual can be a champion in and he’s facing a legitimate junior bantamweight world champion.

Gonzalez will be giving up five inches in height and two inches in reach to Cuadras. Cuadras is also one year younger than Gonzalez, but both are in their physical primes.

They both have been fairly active in the past two years. Cuadras fought three times in 2014 and in 2015, and already fought once in 2016. Gonzalez fought four times in 2014, three times in 2015, and once so far in 2016.

They both had experienced success as an amateur. Cuadras is a Pan American gold medalist and a gold medalist in the International Junior Olympics. Chocolatito has an alleged record of 88-0 as an amateur, but does not have any notable international amateur tournament victories.

Chocolatito has beaten the likes of Yutaka Niida, Juan Francisco Estrada, Rocky Fuentes, Akiri Yaegashi, Edgar Sosa, Brian Viloria, and McWilliams Arroyo. Cuadras has defeated the likes of Marvin Mabait, Luis Concepcion, Dixon Flores, Koki Eto, and Richie Mepranum.

Gonzalez has more world title fight experience and has a record of 14-0 in world title fights. Cuadras has a record of 6-0 in world title fights.

Both boxers have considerable power. Cuadras has twenty seven stoppage victories, and three of his past five fights were by stoppage victory. Gonzalez has thirty eight stoppage victories.

It will be interesting to see how Gonzalez handles the length and reach of Cuadras. Gonzalez, who was a world champion in the minimumweight division, will likely be unable to jump additional weight classes if he’s victorious on Saturday and he has a very tough test ahead of him. This should be an entertaining and technical bout, but Gonzalez should be able to pull off the decision victory, but may have his chin tested in the process.

Gennady Golovkin (35-0) vs. Kell Brook (36-0); WBA/WBC/IBF Middleweight Titles

Don’t let the fact that Kell Brook is jumping up two weight classes to fight Gennady Golovkin fool you. Brook is a large welterweight and Golovkin is a smaller middleweight. In fact, Brook has been weighing in heavier than Golovkin in the weeks leading up to the fight.

One of the biggest question marks about Golovkin is his age. He’s thirty four years old and doesn’t have many years left in his prime. His opponent is four years younger than him. Golovkin, however, will have a slight one and a half inch height advantage and a one inch reach advantage.

Despite the fact he’s a major star in boxing, Golovkin has kept a fairly active schedule. He has fought once in 2016, three times in 2015, and three times in 2014. Brook has been having trouble finding a big fight in the welterweight division and fought twice in 2014 and in 2015, and once in 2016.

Golovkin’s power is well known and can be considered legendary. He has thirty two knockouts on his resume and is in the midst of an incredible streak that consists of twenty two wins by knockout in a row. Brook’s power can’t be overlooked, he has stopped twenty five opponents and has one four of his past five fights by stoppage.

Brook will be fighting in front of his home crowd at the O2 arena and that will be a big advantage for him. He has defeated the likes of Kevin Bizier, Frankie Gavin, Ionut Dan Ion, Shawn Porter, Vyacheslav Senchenko, Matthew Hatton, and Luis Galarza.

The last person to go the distance against Golovkin was Amar Amari in 2008. He has steamrolled every boxer he’s faced since then. He has defead the likes of Dominic Wade, David Lemieux, Willie Monroe Jr., Martin Murray, Marco Antonio Rubio, Daniel Geale, Curtis Stevens, Matthew Macklin, Nobuhiro Ishida, Gabriel Rosado, Kassim Ouma, and Grzegorz Proksa.

Golovkin has to be very careful to not overlook Kell Brook. Brook is a very good, technical boxer and is considered by many to be a top 10 pound for pound fighter. Golovkin’s power should be able to lead him to victory, but don’t be surprised if he knockout streak ends on Saturday night.

Posted on 07/08/2016

Bombshell – GGG To Face Kell Brook
By: Sean Crose

“It’s official. I will be facing off against @SpecialKBrook Sept. 10 in #London. Ready
for my first #UK fight.”

Those words, my friends, come straight from the Twitter account of the one and only Gennady Golovkin. Surprise, surprise. Who’d have thunk that middleweight titlist GGG – one of the most avoided men in boxing – would end up facing IBF welterweight champ Brook in a mega-bout, in Brook’s homeland, no less? You read that right, the fight’s going down in London in September…of this year. Oh, and the bout’s reportedly at the 160-pound middleweight limit.

Take that, Canelo Alvarez.

“Sept 10th at @TheO2” an excited Brook Tweeted, “I will take on the most feared fighter on
the planet @GGGBoxing – let’s go UK #2weight#2time”

Followers of the sport have every right to be surprised by all this. After all, word was that Brook was all but set to face Jessie Vargas in a welterweight throwdown. There was also word that GGG would be facing Brook’s fellow Englishman Chris Eubank Jr, who now might be feeling a bit silly.

“Per @TomLoeffler1,” ESPNs Dan Rafael Tweeted, “Brook took the same deal from @EddieHearn that
Eubank turned down. #GGGBrook” That’s right, it’s being reported that middleweight Eubank refused to fight GGG after shooting off his mouth and calling the man out publicly. If true, that makes Eubank very much a modern fighter.

And it also makes Brook, for lack of a better term, look like the kind of ballsy fighter this sport needs a lot more of. Knock him and Amir Khan all you want for moving up to middleweight, these Brits are bringing it. While a number of boxing’s name fighters seem downright timid – especially in comparison to their UFC c counterparts, who don’t seem to ever fear a serious challenge – Brook and Khan aren’t afraid to dive into the deep end of the pool.

Sure enough, I don’t mind this match. While it’s true it looks a bit nuts on the surface of things, it’s features a domineering fighter getting his turn in the spotlight against a top competitor who’s daring to be great. What’s not to like? Now, should GGG win before willfully moving on to easy competition, I’ll have a serious problem with the guy. For now, though, I don’t think there’s much to complain about. It’s not like GGG hasn’t been wanting to fight other top middleweights.

It’s simply not his fault if those guys don’t want to face him.