Lemieux-Rubio ordered | Boxing Scene
In what looks like a pretty good step up, the WBC has ordered a title eliminator between David Lemieux and Marco Antonio Rubio. This seems to ignore that Rubio has already won a fight that was purported to be an eliminator, but whatever. Rubio would be the best opponent of Lemieux's career to date, and has a serious reach advantage as well as a good chin, so we might get a better chance to see how good Lemieux really is. No word on whether the winner would get to face champion Sergio Martinez, interim titlist Sebastian Zbik or "silver" titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr..
Other mandatories named at WBC convention | Fight News
All kinds of sillyness here, including the WBC electing that Pascal-Hopkins will be for a "diamond" belt, even though it's not a catchweight fight. The WBC also says that if Timothy Bradley beats Devon Alexander, they will not recognize him as their champion. Evidently, they're still really offended that after Bradley beat Kendall Holt to unify, they gave Bradley an unreasonably short time frame to defend against then-mandatory Alexander, and he dropped the belt rather than needing to get back in the ring within 90 days. Finally, the Hasegawa-Burgos winner will be named titlist, but will immediately need to face two mandatories thereafter (and possibly three, when "champion-in-recess" Elio Rojas recovers from surgery), the first against Jhonny Gonzalez and the second against the Justin Savi-Chonlatarn Pirapanyo winner.
James Kirkland back in jail; Dec. 11 comeback still on | ESPN
Junior middleweight James Kirkland is incarcerated again but should be released by the end of the week, co-manager Cameron Dunkin told ESPN.com on Wednesday. Dude needs to learn how to follow instructions. His parole officer dropped by the gym to check on him, but he wasn't there because he was supposedly getting a custom mouthpiece made, which was a parole violation.
HBO and the State of Boxing – Part One | Max Boxing
Thomas Hauser makes his annual rant on how HBO isn't really doing their job of bringing in the fights people actually want to see.
Ross Greenburg wants to make boxing mainstream again | LA Times
Indirectly firing back at Hauser, Greenburg says HBO went through this recent dead spell because he's learned that " the way to make solid fights is by not accepting mediocrity". Which is why they paid seven figures for Berto-Hernandez. He also says that the falling apart of negotiations between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao has thrown the network for a loop, but at this point, Mayweather needs to clean up his legal woes before they'll revisit the issue.
Rafael Marquez recuperated and eager to battle Lopez | 411mania
Marquez says his thumb is now healed up and he's 100% ready to go against Lopez. He also recently said he thinks Lopez has a weak chin, and that his plan is to attack with combinations. Like Marquez has ever had a different plan.
Judah feels re-energized for return to light welterweight | USA Today
Judah says that mentally and physically, he feels the best he has in years. He also says his plan against the power punching Matthysse is to stick with his jab and try to set up some punches that Matthysse doesn't see coming. Matthysse has been preparing for the bout by sparring with middleweight champ Sergio Martinez.
Concerns raised over Green's next challenge | Brisbane Times
The Australian boxing authority have fined Paul Briggs AUS $75,000 for what was deemed to be a "sham contest" in his pretty blatant dive against Danny Green. Bookies, who called off all bets on the fight, applauded the result. The authority also expressed concern over the weight difference for Green's next fight, to come against BJ Flores, although Flores has given them assurances that he will be able to make weight.