HORN IS NOT SURE YET OF CRAWFORD FIGHT IN APRIL, SULAIMAN WANTS CANELO-GGG REMATCH IN MEXICO
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 27 Dec 2017
WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn (18-0-1, 12 KOs) is scheduled to fight on April, but he won't confirm if Terence Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) will be his opponent. Crawford, the undisputed junior welterweight champion, has been identified as the mandatory challenger to Horn's WBO title. Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, who also promotes Crawford and has a fight contract remaining on Horn, proposed to let them face each other on April 21 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. But Horn has other plans, and it may depend on the purse since an offer to fight fellow Australian Anthony Mundine is also offered.
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"There's a lot of water to go under the bridge yet before we determine who our next opponent will be," Horn told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I've told Glenn Rushton, my trainer, that I should be able to get ready for a fight by about April 20 next year. I don't know if that will be the Terence Crawford fight straight away. I'm due for a mandatory against him in April. We'll see."
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Horn would also prefer to fight at home. The Australian champion had a big hometown advantage over the heavy favorite Manny Pacquiao with a twelve round unanimous decision to grab the WBO title before a cheering crowd of 51,000 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane last July 2. He would like to bring the fight with Crawford to Brisbane, if ever it pushes through. But he considers also the possibility of fighting outside Australia.
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"I would always prefer to have that fight here but, again, there will be quite a bit of negotiating to get through before that is determined," Horn said. "I see fighting at home as a big advantage. Your opponent has to fly all the way over to Australia, sit on the plane for all that time, and come to a hostile environment. Meanwhile, you don't have to travel at all and everything is on your terms on home turf. I would love the next fight to be in Brisbane again. But if it isn't, so be it. I'll try and find a positive in it. I was able to do that this time around."
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World Boxing Council (WBC) prsesident Mauricio Sulaiman, reported what his experiences and achievements in the boxing world in 2017, and he's sure that better things will happen for the sport in 2018. From the fights that the fans long wanted to see, like the much awaited encounter between Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and the middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin, the return of Floyd Mayweather fighting Conor McGregor in the ring, and the popularity of female boxing.
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He commented that a great year ended with the Mexican champions like Luis "Pantera" Nery, Rey Vargas, Miguel "Alacran" Berchelt, Mikey Garcia, Oscar Valdez, Gilberto Ramirez and David Benavidez. "The WBC is closing the year with Berchelt, Rey Vargas, Nery, Benavidez, Mikey Garcia, we have a great quality of champions, I'm happy," said the WBC President.
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"The fight between Juan Francisco Estrada and Srisaket Sur Rungvisai, who will fight for the WBC super flyweight title on February 24, right now I can say that it will be a candidate for fight of the year and the rematch between Luis Nery and Shinsuke Yamanaka is closed for March, in Japan, it seems that on March 4," added Sulaiman.
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Sulaiman also explained that Mexico has hosted important sporting events and he believes that a major fight is needed in the country's capital. He wants to see the rematch between Canelo and Golovkin to happen in Mexico. Golovkin recently visited the country to participate in several charity works with the WBC, and he stated that he loves to fight Canelo in Mexico. "I think the Mexico City Arena would be the perfect scenario for that fight," Sulaiman said.
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Sergey Kovalev's journey back to the pinnacle of the light heavyweight division continues on March 3 when he defends his WBO world light heavyweight title against Russian southpaw Igor Mikhalkin, now fighting from Hamburg, Germany. Mikhalkin (21-1, 9 KOs) stakes his straight ten-bout wins when he faces Kovalev (31-2-1, 27 KOs), one of the world's top pound-for-pound fighters at The Theater, Madison Square Garden, New York.
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Last month, Kovalev the two-time light heavyweight world champion, made his New York debut with a stoppage of Vyacheslav Shabranskyy in the second round to regain his WBO world light heavyweight title at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. "Krusher" kept a large following of Russian fans in his last fught and he expects an even bigger number to cheer him in March. He aims to satisfy the fans in attendance and those watching on HBO.
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In a hotly contested Christmas Day NBA game, the Golden State Warriors prevailed over the Cleveland Cavaliers, 99-92 at the Oracle Arena. Kevin Durant had a team-high 25 points and a game-high five blocks with seven rebounds. Draymond Green tallied a triple-double of 12 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. He became the sixth player in NBA history to achieve a triple-double on Christmas. Klay Thompson added 24 points and was 4-of-7 from three-point range. Stephen Curry was out because of a right-ankle sprain.
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Gheorghe Muresan, a Romanian basketball player, at 7 feet 7 inches, is the tallest player in NBA history, along with Manute Bol. He is also the tallest man in Romania and tallest living person in the European Union. He was dradted by the Washington Bullets in 1993 and played in the NBA from 1993 to 2000. His best performance came in the 1995?1996 season, when Muresan was named NBA's Most Improved Player after averaging 14.5 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.26 blocks per game with a league-leading 58.4% of his field goals.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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