Tag Archives: us

Posted on 03/30/2017

Carlos Balderas: King, Me

By: Francisco Martinez

2016 U.S. Olympian Carlos Balderas is set to debut April 9th in Los Angeles, California a few hours away from his hometown of Santa Maria who he has become a poster boy for. On this April 9th which lands on a Sunday not by accident but by design a masterplan crafted by boxing guru, promoter Richard Schaefer as he plans to showcase his young, new talent as he kickstarts his RingStar Sports entity that will feature 3 Olympians in Carlos Balderas, bronze medalist Misael Rodriguez, Lindolfo Delgado along Freddie Roach pupil, Lithuanian, Eimantas Stanionis with the card being headlined by fan favorite, The Riverside Rocky, Josesito Lopez.

BoxingInsider.com had the opportunity to catch up with Carlos Balderas at the famed Wild Card boxing club in Hollywood. Being from Santa Maria which is close to Los Angeles in Southern California Balderas supporters should make the trip which makes his debut that much more significant knowing he will have an all eyes on me type of platform to showcase his skills in front of his friends and family “I’m excited and I’m looking forward to it. The reason I wanted to fight out here is because I wanna grow a bigger fan base here and I don’t feel like New York is really my market, you know. I wouldn’t mind fighting out there later on in the future but as of right now I want to grow a big, big fan base out here in L.A.”

Carlos explains as in a prior interview he said he chose to pass up on a fight date for his pro debut on the Keith Thurman vs Danny Garcia card in New York at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. His uncle and long time trainer David who trains Carlos alongside his father Xenon added this to the conversation “step by step, you know, he’s gonna start with L.A. first cause like he said, Santa Maria is his hometown and now he’s trying to make L.A. his hometown then little by little Chicago, Texas…” all states with a rich boxing history and big Mexican fan base from which Carlos would greatly benefit from.

Father Xenon says L.A. was the starting point for Carlos at a young age of 7yrs old “I’m very proud of him. I’m very happy for what he is doing and I am pretty sure he’s gonna be a world champion, I promise you he’s gonna be a world champion” the Balderas family migrated from Mexico to the United States in what Carlos grandfather calls a “poor” early start in Santa Maria. As family the Balderas are as strong as a family can be and carry a support system that has manage to help guide Carlos to this point of his young and ambitious career as sacrifices after sacrifices is what kept them pushing through when times got really hard and difficult for them.

Carlos Balderas grandfather recalls when he pawned his watch at one point in time to help fuel the amateur part of his career and flash forward a few years later and Carlos did not forget and kept in mind as a young man exactly what his grandfather and family were doing to help keep his dreams as a young fighter alive. Carlos did not forget his grandfather’s unselfish act of loyalty and in return gifted the elder Balderas with his very own exclusive 2016 Olympic watch “well my family has always sacrificed for me, you know, my grandpa had once sold his watch so that I can go to a boxing tournament and I had always told myself that I was gonna pay him back and the day my Olympic watch arrived I just gave it to my grandpa to show him that I appreciated what he had done for me”

Something that didn’t surprise Carlos father, Xenon “those sacrifices, we went through a lot and when I see those things I know he’s grateful, I know he’s grateful and he’s thankful to the family” uncle David was also humbled by this act of maturity beyond his 20 years of age Carlos “you know what, Carlos being the grandson he feels like he needs to work for us, he feels like he has to work for his grandpa even though we tell him many times, all the time, you know what, relax this is your show you don’t have to work for us. You don’t have to carry us on your shoulders, you don’t have to do that but he’s like, no, no, no but one day I would like to pay my dad, my uncle, my grandpa for all the sacrifices. My grandpa sold his watch for me to go to the Olympics and all these types of things you know he remembers them”

Through these sacrifices Carlos Balderas has matured quickly and it has also humbled him. This April 9th at the Novo in downtown Los Angeles his journey as a professional boxer begins. His father Xenon promises Carlos will be a world champion and his uncle David expects for Carlos to shine on this Sunday and display his skills in front of a hometown crowd. Big expectations and ambitions from the Balderas family and what they have overcome to this point as they guided Carlos Balderas to this elusive April 9th debut has already been a victory as a team. Don’t miss it live April 9th at the Novo in Downtown Los Angeles for a actioned packed card that’s sure to entertain.

Follow all coverage leading up to the fight via #RingStarSports

 

Posted on 08/24/2016

Errol Spence Jr. – The Six Million Viewer Man
By: Sean Crose

Not only did undefeated welterweight Errol Spence Jr impress in Sunday’s televised battle against Leonard Bundu, he gave boxing a much needed bolt of adrenaline. For this weekend’s bout, which was aired live from Coney Island in Brooklyn, brought in an estimated six million NBC viewers. Needless to say, that’s a whole lot of eyeballs tuning into a boxing match. Sure enough, the Premiere Boxing Champions broadcast broke PBC records and proved that, when situated properly, the sweet science can bring in an impressive viewership – even late on a Sunday afternoon in the doldrums of August.

Photo Credit: Premier Boxing Champions

If this is all very good news for boxing – and it is – it’s exceptional news for PBC powerhouse Al Haymon, who arranged to have a star up and comer in Spence Jr appear right after an Olympic broadcast. That sort of lead in can prove to be invaluable, as it may have proved to be on Sunday. Maybe even more telling, however, is word that roughly three quarters of Olympic television viewers stuck around to see Spence take Bundu out in ruthless fashion in the sixth round. Had Spence bored his audience, well, that audience clearly would have changed the channel.

Something here obviously worked. The question now is whether or not it can work again. The truth is that it certainly can, but strategic thinking will have to be in place. Those of a certain age will remember first learning of fighters like Marvin Hagler and Mike Tyson by watching weekend afternoon television. They may not have turned on the t.v. looking for those fights, but once they saw them, those viewers stopped changing the channel. Having good fights/fighters on an afternoon broadcast can be a terrific thing. All of the elements, however, have to come together.

And the entertaining Spence Jr coming on after the US Olympic basketball team got its gold medals proved to be dynamite. Indeed, it may well be Spence who is happiest of all in all of this. For while he’s still considered an up and comer, the talented Texan has arguably now been seen by more people than peers Keith Thurman, Kell Brook and Danny Garcia. That’s saying something. It also means that it will be harder for the division’s top players to simply write the former Olympian off. Whether the biggest names like it or not, Spence has arrived – and it appears he doesn’t aim on going anywhere.

Except, of course, up.

Posted on 04/14/2016

PBC on NBC Preview: Browne v. Kalajdzic, Cunningham v. Glowacki & Spence Jr. v. Algieri
By: Matthew N. Becher

This Saturday, Premier Boxing Champions will present an exciting boxing card from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Packed with Olympians, former titlist and the WBO Cruiserweight champion. Teammates on the 2012 US Olympic team Errol Spence Jr. and Marcus Browne will reunite and put their undefeated records on the lines against each owns respected opponents. While the Co-Main event will see the return of former two time Cruiser weight world champion Steve “USS” Cunningham, in his first fight back from a brief stint at heavyweight, he will attempt to win back a world title against the undefeated Kzysztof Glowacki.

Marcus Browne (17-0 13KO) vs. Radivoje Kalajdzic (21-0 14KO): Light Heavyweight

Marcus Browne is a 25 year old, undefeated Southpaw, who was a member of the 2012 US Men’s Olympic team. Browne has an impressive record and has faced some tough fighters on his quick rise up the light heavyweight division. He fought four times in 2015, winning all of his fights, including a knockout out of former titlist Gabriel Campillo and retiring veteran Aaron Pryor Jr. Browne has a very good amateur background and knows how to box, but he also carries heavy hands, with 13 of his 17 wins coming by way of the knockout.

Kalajdzic is also a young, undefeated fighter, with heavy hands. His opponents have not been up to the same standard as Browne’s, but Kalajdzic possesses stopping power in his right hand and he will look for the upset on Saturday night. Kalajdzic also fought 4 times last year with wins over Larry Pryor, William Johnson, Gilberto Domingos, and Fabio Garrido. This would be a big upset if Kalajdzic could pull it off, but he is undefeated and relatively unknown. This would be his chance to show what he is made out of on national television.

Krzysztof Glowacki (25-0 16KO) vs. Steve Cunningham (28-7-1 13KO): WBO Cruiserweight Title

Cunningham first became a world champion in 2007, traveling to Poland and winning a Majority decision against Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. He defended that title against Marco Huck and ended up losing the title to Tomasz Adamek in 2008. He regained it 3 years later in Germany against Troy Ross, before losing it to eventual lineal champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez. After that fight, Cunningham decided to make a run at the heavyweight titles. Even though he was much smaller than his competition, Cunningham stayed in the division for three years, going 4-3-1, with wins over Manuel Quezada, Amir Mansour, Natu Visinia and a draw with Antonio Tarver. Cunningham was never able to put on enough weight to fully compete in the division against the very large men and decided to come back down to his natural Cruiserweight division and attempt to become a 3 time world champ.

Glowacki is a 29 year old who is coming off the biggest fight of his life. In August of last year, he ended a historic championship run by Marco Huck, coming from behind and picking himself off the canvas to Knockout Huck in incredible fashion in the final round of their “fight of the year” candidate match. Last year’s fight against Huck was Glowacki’s first fight outside of his native Poland and he proved his mettle. This has the promise to be a very exciting fight, with an old and young champion coming to stop the other with a possible unification bout later this year.

Errol Spence Jr. (19-0 16KO) vs. Chris Algieri (21-2 8KO): Welterweight

Chris Algieri is the former WBO Jr. Welterweight champion of the world. He won that title after upsetting hard hitting Russian Ruslan Provodnikov. That night certainly changed Algieri’s life forever. After hitting the deck twice in the first round and his eye swelling completely shut, Algieri proved that he could not only re adjust to a fight in very quick fashion, but that he had the heart of a champion. He turned that fight into a three year run that has seen him face Manny Pacquiao, lose a tough nosed brawl against Amir Khan, and then duke it out last year against a very game Erick Bone. Algieri has gone from the “underdog” to the “gate keeper” of the welterweight division. He will be Spence Jr.’s toughest opponent to date, and many think that Algieri could derail the former amateur standouts road to a title fight this year.

Spence Jr. is what many are calling the future of the welterweight division. Spence is a 26 year old southpaw that seems to have it all, the hand speed, footwork and power to give anyone from 140-154 trouble. Spence is riding a 5 fight knockout streak against Javier Castro, Samuel Vargas, Phil Lo Greco, Chris Van Heerden and Alejandro Barrera. Spence Jr. is a very exciting fighter, whose future looks extremely bright. He will be fighting a former champion against Algieri, and the two seem to match up well on paper. This is a big moment for Spence to shine on the big stage of a primetime nationally televised audience, and if he fights the way he is capable of, this could lead to a big fight later on this year.