Boxing News

Archive for November, 2010

Host China dominated the boxing event at the 16th Asian Games, which concluded in Guangzhou on Friday last week.

AIBA Report

The Chinese squad claimed five gold medals, placing them top of the team ranking. The Chinese women put on an excellent performance to win all three of the new women’s Olympic weight classes in front of the home crowd.

Two veteran Chinese athletes, 29-year-old Olympic Games winner Zou Shiming and 27-year-old Olympic Games silver medalist Zhang Zhilei, secured gold medals in the lowest and highest weight classes, while most of the remaining members of the squad secured either silver or bronze medals at the Foshan Gymnasium.

The young Indian boxers continued their successful series after this year’s Commonwealth Championships and Commonwealth Games. Lightweight super talent 18-year-old Vikash Krishan Yadav and Olympic Games bronze medalist Vijender Singh both took golds in Guangzhou and an incredible seven boxers out of the ten in the competition claimed at least a bronze medal. India’s women boxers took two bronze medals and five-times World Champion Chungneijang Mary Kom lost the semi-final to China’s Ren Cancan.

Kazakhstan claimed two gold medals in the men’s competition at light welterweight and welterweight. Two-times World Champion Serik Sapiyev took his first gold at the Asian Games and 19-year-old Daniyar Yeleussinov delivered the biggest performance in his career.

Uzbekistan celebrated only one gold medal when Elshod Rasulov won the light heavyweight division and successfully defended his title after his first victory at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

The top favorite at middleweight, two-time World Champion 24-year-old Abbos Atoyev, was defeated unexpectedly by India’s Vijender Singh and top bantamweight Orzubek Shayimov had to travel back to home without a medal.

Thailand had the most experienced team at the Asian Games and claimed one gold, one silver and two bronze medals in Guangzhou. Veteran Olympic Games silver medalist Worapoj Petchkoom is back on track with the gold medal at bantamweight.

Rey Saludar of the Philippines achieved his country’s target of a gold medal as the flyweight took the final victory in Guangzhou, despite India’s Suranjoy Mayengbam Singh, Japan’s Katsuaki Susa, Uzbekistan’s Shahriyor Isakov and Mongolia’s Tugstsogt Nyambayar being the top favorites in this division.

Syrian boxers had an excellent Games, with heavyweight Mohammad Ghossoun breaking a twenty year hiatus without boxing gold for his country and Wessam Salamana taking a bronze medal in the bantamweight class.

One of the biggest disappointments at the Games was Mongolia, because the Central Asian country claimed only one silver medal in the women’s competition and only one bronze in the men’s.

Nepal’s Deepak Maharjan secured an unexpected bronze medal in the light heavyweight division - his country’s first boxing medal since 1990. Bhutan also made history at the Games when Sigyel Phub won two bouts in Guangzhou as the first boxer from the small country.

Chinese Taipei, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan had to return home without any medals and Tajikistan,with only three boxers in the competition, managed to claim one bronze medal.

AIBA Article:

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Former unified lightweight champion Nate Campbell (33-7-1, 25 KOs) has decided to hang up his gloves after suffering a split decision loss to journeyman Walter Estrada (37-13-1) Saturday night on the Juan Manuel Marquez-Michael Katsidids HBO card in Las Vegas.

Nate Campbell Statment

“First of all, I want to let everyone know that I’m fine. But after thinking about Saturday’s fight, I know it’s time for me to hang it up. I’ve reached the point where I can still see the openings, but I just can’t get my shots there in time. In this business, a tenth of a second delay is too much.

“And in no way do I mean any disrespect to Estrada. He came to fight and won the fight fair and square, but I’m not supposed to struggle in fights like this. And if I do struggle in fights like this, then what would that mean for me against a top tier fighter? I didn’t enter this sport to be anyone’s opponent. I entered this sport to become a world champion. I am fortunate that I was able to accomplish that goal. I would have liked to continue on to win titles in other divisions, however when your body tells you that it’s time to go, then it’s time to go. I had hoped that the back rehab I went through after my injury in training camp for the Ortiz fight would have made a difference, however mobility obviously wasn’t my only issue, and the rehab couldnt fix my age. As we get older, things slow down a bit, and the 135 and 140 divisions just dont work well for a 38 year old.

“I would really like to publicly thank Golden Boy for still believing in me after the Ortiz fight. Its no secret that I’ve had many issues with promoters over the years. but if I had one regret in this sport, its that I wasn’t with Golden Boy at the time of the Diaz fight. I think the last 3 years would have played out significantly different had I been with them the whole time. Eric, Richard, Oscar, and my old friend Dave Iskowich are truly good people, and were more than fair with me. Hopefully I will continue to work with them in some capacity perhaps with other fighters I manage or in some other way. I actually enjoyed my time with them, and would go so far as to encourage other fighters out there to think long and hard before signing with anyone else. I’ve seen enough bad in the sport to know the good when I see it.

“For right now, I’m going to take a little time to reflect on everything, and then begin the next chapter of my life. I’ll still be involved in the sport somehow, through the fighters I manage, and I will also look for opportunities to continue with commentating. I truly enjoyed filling in for Teddy Atlas on ESPN, as well as doing commentary on a few of Roy Jones’ fights, and would like to do more of that in the future. I’ll also now be able to spend more time with my wife and kids, and continue God’s work with the mininstering that I do. I’ve got no complaints. I came into this sport as a nobody at 28 years old, ultimately appeared on NBC, ESPN, Showtime, HBO, and PPV, managed to win 3 world titles in the process, and made a few bucks along the way. Not too shabby for a wise-ass kid from Jacksonville.

“On a lighter note, there is still one fight I am going to take. Ten years ago, I met my advisor Terry Trekas in a gym in Tampa, FL, and we almost came to blows over some foolishness. We ultimately became the best of friends, and now we are more like family than anything else. Well for the past 5 years or so, we have had an agreement that after I retire, Terry gets 3 rounds with me. So sometime in the next few months, we will be heading over to Fight Factory in Tampa, so I can hit him in his stomach and watch the smoke come out of his mouth. Then we’ll head over to WingHouse and laugh about it, assuming of course he will be able to eat. It’s all in good fun though. Maybe I’ll even have John David work his corner.

“A lot of people played a role in me achieving everything that I did. People like Frank Jiminez, Jimmy Waldrop, Pete Fernandez, and plenty more. The list is way too long for me to write here, so I will be thanking those folks personally.

“And lastly, my door is always open to any young fighters who want to know how this game works, and what to look out for. Not being a big-shot amateur, and also being a bit older, I had to do this the hard way, and I learned alot along the way. Anyone who would like any advice or info can hit me up on Facebook or you can reach me through www.onepunch.net. Good luck and God Bless!”

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ULTRACHEM TKO GYM
TEAM TKO
GOODWIN PROMOTIONS
“JUDGEMENT DAY”
YORK HALL, LONDON - 4TH DECEMBER 2010

By Rio

London - Tuesday, 30th November 2010

ULTRACHEM TKO’S YOUNG GUNS SET TO SHINE ON DEC 4TH

Johnny Eames has a long history of producing champion boxers at his Ultrachem TKO Boxing Gym, located deep in the heart of the East End of London in Canning Town, but since the retirement of WBU Light Heavyweight World Champion Tony ‘Oakey Kokey’ Oakey, British Super Bantamweight Champion Matthew Marsh, and English Light Heavyweight Champion Peter Haymer earlier this year has been without a championship standard bearer.

Not one to be downhearted Johnny has been hard at work signing and
developing future title contenders. This coming Saturday four of his
‘Class of 2010′ are in action, two for the very first time, at Steve
Goodwin’s ’Judgement Day’ mega show, headlined by the Yassine El Maachi
vs Jimmy Colas International Masters title fight, at York Hall in Bethnal Green.

Even though blizzard like conditions engulfed the whole of London
Johnny’s charges still made their way into the gym today (Tuesday) for
their final preparations. After training Johnny took the time to talk
about each of his new boys.

The first to receive the Headmaster’s report was Featherweight
‘Saint’ George Jupp from Belvedere, who has had two outings to date.

George’s first against fellow debutant Peter Barney in Portsmouth back in
May, which he won convincingly by a tidy 40-37 points decision.

His next fight, at the York Hall in September, against Pavels Senkovs was
even better. Right from the opening bell George plain outclassed Senkovs
with slick long jabs and lightning fast hands.

Senkovs constantly tried to bully his way back into the fight but nineteen
year old George showed a maturity that belied his tender age, by not being
drawn into a dangerous toe-to-toe slugging match.

After four scintillating rounds George was rewarded with a shutout 40-36
points decision, as well as a much deserved standing ovation from the
packed house.

“I’ve done a few interviews about Georgie Jupp.” stated Johnny ”This kid
I think is going to go places.

He’s dedicated and keen. Each time he comes into the gym he’s learning and
after every fight he learns.

I would tip Georgie as one to watch for the future. He’s only nineteen
years of age so he’s got a lot of learning to do yet, so we wont be boxing
as regular as the others but we hold out for good things for George.”

Johnny then turned his attention to the baby of the TKO stable, 18 year
old Brett O’Callaghan, who faces the tough young Welsh banger Gary Cooper.
“Young Brett comes to us as just an eighteen year old and has had a
limited amount of amateur fights, probably just thirty or fourty, winning
half and losing half, but there’s something about this kid. He’s very
dedicated and holds his own with some of the bigger boys in the gym who
are obviously a little older and more experienced. For a young ‘un he
seems to have learned a lot very, very quickly and I hold out a bright
future for young Brett.”

Whilst not one who started his pro career under the watchful eyes of
Johnny Eames Stevenage’s Daniel Herdman returns to the ring after a two
year sabbatical following breaking his hand back in June ’08. Johnny gave
his candid view on Daniel’s return, “Daniel’s already had four fights with
a very good trainer friend of mine, Tony Simms. He broke is hand in his
last fight and subsequent to that has been out for the past two years.
For whatever reason it may be he felt he needed a change of trainer so we
spoke with Tony and let him know first and now he’s here with us at the
TKO gym.

This’ll be his first fight with us, he’s been looking very, very good in
sparring. It’s just a matter of if we can control him in the ring, because
he’s a bit aggressive and a little bit wild. We need to curb that in him
but I’m sure that when fight night comes on Saturday Daniel will be boxing
Ryan Clark rather than what he feels he should be doing.”

The final TKO new boy to receive his report card from Johnny is
‘Pretty’ Ricky Boylan, who is set for a baptism of fire as his opponent is
the experienced Sid Razak.

” ‘Pretty’ Ricky’s a great kid.” said Headmaster Eames, ”Very, very
dedicated, obsessively dedicated I would say. Again he’s only a young ‘un,
he’s 22 years of age. He reached the London ABA finals this year.

Unfortunately the fight he’s got is two minute rounds against Sid Razak,
who he’s scheduled to be fighting, is two minute rounds which messed up
our plans a little bit as we were training to three minute rounds.

Ricky really learns and he’s been coming along really, really well. Del’s
(Derek Grainger) done some great work with him, as he has done with all
the others on the show, and I’m just looking forward to fight night for
them all.

I’m pretty sure it will be a successful night for the four TKO fighters on
the show.”

‘Saint’ George Jupp versus TBA, Brett O’Callaghan versus Gary Cooper,
Daniel Herdman versus Ryan Clark and ‘Pretty’ Ricky Boylan versus Sid
Razak are part of a huge thirteen fight card supporting Yassine El Maachi
versus Jimmy Colas for the International Masters Light Heavyweight title
that headlines the Steve Goodwin promoted ‘JUDGEMENT DAY’ event at York
Hall, Bethnal Green, London on Saturday the 4th December 2010.

Tickets for Judgement Day at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, London on
Saturday 4th December 2010 are priced £35 ( (Unreserved) or £60
(Ringside).

For tickets call: 07960 850645, book on-line at www.tkoboxoffice.com or in
person at The Ultrachem TKO Gym, Gillian House, Stephenson Street, Canning
Town, London E16 4SA.

Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro
JustListen2This Publicity & Promotion

London, UK & Philadelphia, USA

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Latest Boxing News, Tuesday 30^th November for: Robert Guerrero, Drian Francisco, Hugo Cazares, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Jenifel Vicente,Felix Diaz, Carl Froch, Glen Johnson, Arthur Abraham, Juan Carlos Burgos, Hozumi Hasegawa

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• Robert Guerrero has plenty of options - According to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, former champion Robert Guerrero has plenty of options for his next fight, but it doesn’t appear that WBO/WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez is one of them. Marquez has focused his energy on chasing a third fight with Manny Pacquiao and refuses to entertain the possibility of any other opponent, for the moment. — “Marquez refuses to discuss anything else but Manny Pacquiao. That’s the only fight that he wants, and that’s all that he’s really interested in right now. So it would be really disrespectful of me to go and go and to discuss anything else,” Schaefer said. “For Robert, though, I have had conversations with HBO to get Robert back on HBO, and the sooner the better. Maybe sometime in the first quarter of 2011 in a meaningful fight.” — “I think that Robert Guerrero is one of these young fighters who has one of the brightest futures ahead of him in boxing in his weight class in the 130s and the 140s. There are so many big names and so many big opportunities there for Robert.”

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• Drian Francisco (20-0-1, 16 KOs) became the WBA interim super flyweight champion as he scored a tenth round TKO over WBA #2 Duangpetch Kokietgym (52-2-1, 21 KOs) on Tuesday at Bungkan school in Nongkhai, Thailand. Francisco dropped Duangpetch twice in round six and destroyed the Thailander with a tough right uppercut in round ten. Francisco’s management have already targeted Mexico’s Hugo Cazares, who holds the WBA’s full championship. They would like the fight to take place in March, once Cazares has run out of optional defenses. Meanwhile, Cazares will be making a final optional defense of his title on December 23 in Japan against Hiroyuki Hisatake in the city of Osaka.

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• Julio Cesar Chavez Jr — After losing several days of training, unbeaten WBC #1 middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 31 KOs) resumed his preparation on Monday for his fight this Saturday against Pawel Wolak (27-1, 17 KOs) at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Junior worked out for two hours under the eye of trainer Freddie Roach and conditioning coach Alex Ariza. “I was knocked down by a nasty flu, but thank God I was able to train this afternoon and I felt very good,” said Chavez Jr. “I’m taking a risk with the fight with Wolak, but I did a lot of preparation with a great trainer in Freddie Roach and his team and that gives me the confidence to move forward.” The Son of the Legend fell ill last week with a bad cold that prevented him from training for several days and put into question his fight with Wolak at the Honda Center.

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• Promising Dominican Jr Featherweight, WBA #13, Jenifel Vicente (19-0-2, 13 KOs) excited the local crowd in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, with a brutal knockout of Colombian visitor Jonathan Perez (17-8, 14 KOs) in just two rounds on Monday night. The ever attacking Vicente landed a thunderous right hand on the young Colombian’s chin at the beginning of the second round. Perez just crumpled to the canvas where he received the full count and laid prone for various minutes. With this explosive victory Vicente acquires the vacant WBA Fedelatin title. — The co-main event saw 2008 Olympic Champion Felix Diaz (8-0, 5 KOs) win a five round technical decision over tough Colombian veteran Edinson Garcia (17-11, 6 KOs). Diaz won every round.

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• Froch faces Johnson next — WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (27-1, 20 KO’s) won an impressive 12 round unanimous decision over Arthur Abraham (31-2, 25 KO’s) last Saturday night at the Hartwall Arena, in Helsinki, Finland. With the win, Froch re-captured his WBC title which he had lost in his last fight in the Super Six tournament against Mikkel Kessler. Now with the best back in his possession, Froch moves into the semifinals of the Super Six tournament against 41-year-old Glen Johnson (51-14-2, 35 KO’s) in a fight that will be taking place in the United States at a still to be determined location.

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• Abraham: “I’m always the smallest” — After suffering a disappointing 12 round unanimous decision defeat to Carl Froch (27-1, 20 KO’s) in his stage 3 Super Six tournament bout last Saturday night in Helsinki, Finland, former IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (31-2, 25 KO’s) admitted in an interview with the Bild.de, that he may be too small for the super middleweight division. — Abraham said “The others are simply larger. I’m always the smallest.” When asked if he’s considering moving back down to the middleweight division, Abraham said “Yes, about that I need to think.” Abraham says he’s going to stick it out in the tournament rather than quit and will fight Andre Ward next year. When asked if he’ll take that fight, Abraham said “Naturally, I’m a fair sports man.”

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• Juan Carlos Burgos Returns Home — Orange, CA (November 29, 2023) - Upon arriving to his hometown of Tijuana, Mexico, previously undefeated Juan Carlos Burgos (25-1, 18 KOs) reflected on his recent defeat in Nagoya, Japan, when he faced legendary Hozumi Hasegawa (29-3, 11 KOs) for the vacant WBC Featherweight title. After 12 brutal non-stop rounds — “I told all the reporters in Japan that I had no excuses, I fought a rough Japanese opponent that did the same as me, he gave it his all. I won’t take that away from him, he had a better night and his hand was raised at the end. But I disagree with a few things that happened during the fight; for one, I got a point deducted on the eighth round for a supposed unintentional head butt. Referee Roberto Ramirez Jr., saw it as a butt but it was a punch, a clean punch that cut Hasegawa’s eye.”

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A great boxer of yesteryear who even nowadays is a stalwart in most people’s lists of the top ten middleweight boxers ever and yet is rarely discussed at length or fully appreciated for his boxing abilities is MARCEL “Casablanca Clouter” CERDAN, who is still considered as one of Europe’s great champions though his career was interrupted by World War II and ultimately cut short when he was killed in a plane crash en route to America for a world title rematch.

During his eventful career the Algerian-born Frenchman lost just four of his one hundred and ten contests, (two were by foul) and won European titles at 147 and 160 lbs before going on to capture a World title at 160 lbs. Cerdan, the French pied noir world boxing champion is still considered by many boxing experts and fans to be France’s greatest boxer, and beyond. His life was marked by his sporting achievements, social lifestyle and ultimately, tragedy.

Marcellin “Marcel” Cerdan was born on July 22, 2024 (Died October 28, 2023) in Sidi Bel Abbès (in what was then French Algeria). Marcel had two brothers – all of whom had a boxing pedigree.

His fighting prowess was such that after he began boxing professionally on November 4, 2023 in Meknes, Morocco, beating Marcel Bucchianeri by a decision in six rounds. Cerdan then ran a streak of 47 wins in a row.

The Casablanca Clouter was in no way a deception he had powerful arms and shoulders, he was barrel chested and rugged looking. He was every inch a furious fighting man at 5’ 7” and 158lbs, a thinking man’s puncher whose strength and hitting power were allied to an imaginative mind and excellent footwork. (He had also playing league soccer for Casablanca). Cerdan was durable, tenacious, and could fire his damaging punches in rapid-fire bursts of varying permutations. He would set up opponents with vicious digs to the body and fast cracks to the jaw and required the minimum of leverage for his payoff punches.

Cerdan campaigned heavily in the French territories of Algeria and Morocco during that part of his career, as well as in metropolitan France, his parents’ place of birth.

Paris was calling. The boxing fans in the French capital quickly picked up on the exciting exploits of the young Cerdan and demanded to see him. Cerdan bulled and powered his way to 28 successive wins.

Than in January 4, 1939, he tasted defeat for the first time, to Harry Craster by a disqualification in five rounds in London.

After his first loss, Cerdan recorded five consecutive wins, which led him to challenge Saviello Turiello for Europe’s welterweight title in Milan, Italy. He won the European title by a decision in 15 rounds to continue his ascent towards the championship (back then, it was considered essential to own at least a Continental title belt to earn a world title shot; nowadays, it is not considered as important).

Cerdan’s winning streak eventually reached 23 bouts before he suffered a defeat to Victor Buttin by disqualification in eight rounds in Algiers.

For his next bout, Cerdan put his title on the line against José Ferrer (namesake of the Hollywood star). He knocked out Ferrer in one round, and won four more bouts in a row before facing another boxer with a namesake: James Toney, who shared that name with another boxer who would become world Middleweight champion five decades later. Cerdan knocked out Toney in two rounds to keep this new winning streak alive. The new streak would reach 37 wins.

Cerdan’s career was significantly interrupted by the Second World War. He was approaching his twenty-third birthday when he joined the French army shortly after dethroning Saviero Turiello for the European welterweight title. Marcel’s progress was halted for more than eighteen months until France fell to Germany and he returned to the ring in 1941. In between, he joined the American allies in World War II during 1944, and he won the Inter-Allied Championship.

The Clouter quickly made up for lost time. He won the French middleweight title and barrelled through the ranks with a series of exciting victories until gaining his first big break in 1946. Before a crowd of 10,000 at the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris, Cerdan gained an emphatic decision over that most able and cagey of craftsmen, Holman Williams. What made that triumph all the more impressive was that Marcel had battled through much of the fight with a broken hand that prevented him from throwing his destructive, one-two combinations with their usual steam and venom.

He also went up in weight to the Middleweight division, and won the French title by beating Assane Douf by a knockout in three rounds. He later claimed the vacant European title by beating Léon Foquet by a knockout in one round. He retained that title a couple of times before losing it to Cyrille Delannoit by a decision in 15 at Brussels, Belgium. Soon, he went back to Belgium and re-took the title by beating Delannoit, also by decision.

Finally, after the rematch with Delannoit, Cerdan was given a world title opportunity and he travelled to the United States, where he beat world Middleweight champion Tony Zale. Cerdan became a world champion by knocking Zale out in the 12th round in Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, New Jersey on September 21, 1948.

There is a school of thought that Tony Zale was past his best and ready for the taking when Cerdan tore the middleweight championship from his grip at the Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City in 1948. There is undoubtedly an element of truth to that theory, since thirty-four year old Tony was a veteran of 86 bouts by that time and had consistently faced top class opposition. Let us remember too that Zale had lost four years of his career to the Second World War, in which he served as a sailor.

Yet prior to defending against Cerdan, Tony had never looked fresher or more devastating in concluding his vicious trilogy with Rocky Graziano at the Ruppert Stadium in Newark. Stunning Rocky repeatedly with hard and precise punches, Zale brought the curtain down in classic style in the third round with a memorable one-two of a jolt to the body and a smash to the jaw.

Zale was the 8 to 5 favourite against Cerdan, yet the French ace dismantled him with a potent mix of surgical precision and brutality. Marcel was a revelation and the American crowd applauded his hard-edged artistry.

It was four o’clock in the morning in Paris when Cerdan’s many fans received the news that their man was the new middleweight champion of the world. In the Montmartre section of town, a big crowd gathered and celebrated joyously. In nightclubs and little street cafes, Cerdan was toasted. People poured onto the streets to discuss the fight after hearing the broadcast on French radio.

In the Roosevelt Stadium, Cerdan was dazed and uncertain how to react as the stunned pro-Zale crowd gradually drank in the greatness they had seen and gave a roar of appreciation for the new monarch. Accompanied by a phalanx of police offers, Marcel took a good ten minutes to hustle his way through the long tunnel from the baseball dugout to his dressing room.

“I go home in about two weeks but then I come back here,” said the overjoyed Cerdan in his broken English. He would come back to lose in the cruelest of circumstances. And then he would never come back again.

After two non-title wins in 1949, he lost the crown in bizarre circumstances on June 16th to the legendary Jake LaMotta via a 10th-round technical knockout. Cerdan, who injured his shoulder when the two fell to the canvas during a first round scuffle, fought one-armed, until he finally retired in his corner after completing the 10th round. Most agree that had it not been for the dislocation, Cerdan would have mauled LaMotta.

It would be the last fight of Cerdan’s life. A contract was signed for a rematch and Cerdan went to training camp for it, but before camp began he boarded an Air France flight to visit Piaf (1) in New York, where she was singing. The Lockheed L-749 Constellation crashed into the Monte Redondo (São Miguel Island, Azores), killing all 11 crew members and 37 passengers on board, including Cerdan and the famous French violinist Ginette Neveu, while approaching the intermediate stop airport at Santa Maria.Days later, LaMotta expressed words of condolences, praising Cerdan as a great human being. Cerdan was interred in the Cimetière du Sud, Perpignan, Languedoc-Roussillon, France.

Cerdan’s record was 113 wins and 4 losses, with 66 wins by knockout.

Personal — (1) Although married with three children, during the previous two years Cerdan had become involved with the famous French singer Edith Piaf she was his mistress.

During 1949 Piaf travelled between France and America, and Cedan, fought in Europe. Alone in the States, Edith grew bored and asked Marcel to join her - as soon as possible. Rather than travel by boat on October 27, 1949, he took a plane, which crashed, killing him. Edith, devastated, considered that she had killed him, and resorted to spiritualism and mysticism, and to ease her ‘fault’ installed his wife and children in a hotel. Nothing helped however, and eventually she took refuge in drugs and alcohol. Though she was to continue to work and enjoy success, she never recovered the equilibrium and happiness she had found with Marcel.

Marcel Cerdan, Jr. was the son of former Middleweight Boxing Champion Marcel Cerdan, Sr. who was killed in an airplane crash on October 27, 1949. Young Marcel lived with his father’s legend shadowing him and he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. After a brief amateur boxing career, he turned professional on 21 January 1965, knocking out Antonio Zuniga in 1 round in Neuilly, France. Fighting in such cities as Paris, Tarbes, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Lille, and Evreaux he knocked out such fighters as Mac Drevet KO 5, Andre Leguy KO 6, Claude Malezieux KO 1, Robert DiMartino KO3, and Jaime Aparici KO 2. Over the next few years he was undefeated in almost 50 straight fights. His impressive record earned him a bout in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, but his U.S. debut ended in a bitter defeat. Cerdan continued to fight for a few more years, but a loss to Canada’s Clyde Gray ended his days as a title contender.

In 1983, Cerdan and Piaf had their lives turned into a big screen biography by Claude Lelouch. The film, Édith et Marcel, starred Marcel Cerdan, Jr. in the role of his father and Évelyne Bouix as Piaf. He is portrayed by actor Jean-Pierre Martins in the 2007 Piaf biopic La Môme (entitled La Vie en Rose in English-speaking countries).

Herb Goldman ranked Cerdan as the #5 All-Time Middleweight; Cerdan was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1962 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1991

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Former IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham told BILD that he’s just not a super middleweight. “The others are simply larger. I’m always the smallest,” he stated. King Arthur added that he will still be challenging Andre Ward for the WBA super middleweight title in the Super Six semi-final and will remain with trainer Uli Wegner.

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Andre Zeitoun at the Kickboxing Warriors Gym.

On Sunday the 28th of November, Muaythai trainer Andre Zeitoun, took time to visit

Julian’s Lee Ritchie, Kickboxing club - ‘The Kickboxing Warriors’ in Gzira Malta.

before he departed Malta to return back to France.

Andre who is half Maltese is fast becoming a steady feature on the local fight scene.

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Paris United and Los Angeles Matadors Take Clean Sweeps in the WSB Boxing League.

The World Series of Boxing has entered into its second weekend of non stop spectacular action.

WSB: Monday, 29 November 2023 - Switzerland, Lausanne

Paris United are sitting pretty at the top of the European conference standings after notching up a 5-0 victory on the second weekend of World Series of Boxing action. Brahim Asloum’s boys put on a spectacular show in front of the home crowd at the Halle Georges Carpentier on Friday evening, shutting out the Moscow team in their first home match. The Los Angeles Matadors closed out the second weekend’s action with a clean sweep against the Mexico City Guerreros at the Nokia Theatre on Sunday evening.

In the opening bantamweight bout in Paris, Nordine Oubaali got the evening started with a technical knock-out over Uzbekistan’s Alisher Mahmudov. The 2009 Mediterranean Games gold medalist closed the fight in the third round, setting his team up for four consecutive wins on points to take three points for the team, placing them top of the table in Europe.

The encounter between the Istanbulls and Milano Thunder at the Ahmet Comert Spor Salonu in Istanbul on Friday was one of only two matches this weekend in which all five bouts went the distance. Turkey’s 19-year-old Mehmet Topcakan opened with a win over Vitaliy Volkov at bantamweight. Vazgen Safaryants replied with a win on points for Milan against Shafiq Chitou at lightweight. Team captain Onur Sipal then beat the only Italian in action for Milan on Friday, Luca Podda, at middleweight before Bosko Draskovic drew the scores level for Milan. In the evening’s climax, Mohammed Arjaoui sealed the victory for the home team with a win on points over Damir Beljo.

Two matches in the Asian conference followed on Saturday evening, with the Baku Fires outclassing the Astana Arlans in a much anticipated match. Yerzhan Mussafirov was the only boxer to beat his opponent in the home ring at lightweight. Baku Fires followed a technical knock-out through injury at bantamweight with the same result in the middleweight before two boxers who won by walkover last week, Denys Poyatsyka and Magomedrasul Medzhidov, scored their first wins for the team in the light heavyweight and heavyweight bouts respectively.

At the first home match at the Venetian Hotel in Macau, the Beijing Dragons made a strong start with wins on points for Zhiwei He and Zhimin Wang at bantamweight and lightweight against the Incheon Red Wings. The home team’s only international boxer in action on Saturday, Pedro Lima from Brazil, then won by walkover against Andranik Hakobyan, who had failed the medical after flying directly from Armenia, before the Red Wings made a late rally with technical knock-outs for the two Algerians, Abdelhafid Benchabla and Chouaib Bouloudinats, competing in the final two bouts.

The Baku Fires stay top of the Asian standings with six points, having lost only one of their ten bouts after two weeks of competition. The Astana Arlans are in second with three points and a lead over the Beijing Dragons, who have the same points total but only half the wins of Astana. The Incheon Red Wings are bottom, having won only two bouts so far.

In the Americas conference, Memphis Force opened the weekend’s action with a convincing 4-1 home win over the Miami Gallos at the Desoto Civic Center. The visitors’ Donovan Dennis was the only boxer to notch up a win for the Gallos in the evening’s finale, the heavyweight contest. On Sunday evening, the Los Angeles Matadors closed out the second weekend’s action with a clean sweep over the Mexico City Guerreros, including technical knock-outs for Brazil’s Everton Lopes at lightweight and Javier

Torres at heavyweight, who stopped fellow Californian Alex Rivera of the Guerreros in the fourth round. All the teams in the Americas conference have a 1-1 record after two weeks, but the clean sweep puts the Los Angeles Matadors at the top of the Americas Conference, one point ahead of their three rivals.

WSB Article.

Photo: Nordine Oubaali of Paris United on his way to a technical knock-out.

Photo Credit: World Series Boxing (WSB)

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By Rio

London- Monday, 29th November 2010

Golden Girl Set To Transform London’s ‘It Girls’ Into The ‘The Hit Girls’
The elegant stuccoed Nash houses, of Park Crescent and the other
prestigious neighbourhoods, that edge London’s Regents Park are home to many from the ‘It Girl’ and ‘Ladies that Lunch’ cliques. Not exactly where
you would expect the sport of boxing to hold much appeal.

However should female boxer Marianne ‘Golden Girl’ Marston, who has
recently introduced her industry leading Women’s Boxing Classes at the all new boutique style RingTone Health & Fitness Gym in Drummond Street, have her way the society belles of the exclusive NW1 environs will soon become the ‘Hit Girls’ and ‘Ladies that Punch’ and their topic of conversation, over drinks at Quaglino’s, will be on the merits of Grant or Reyes Boxing gloves rather than the latest bag from Gucci or Prada.

“RingTone is more like a private fitness club, but boxing based.”
explained Marianne, “It’s stylish, nothing like a conventional boxing gym,
and has a lively fun atmosphere.

Hopefully this new breed of gym Ben (Day) and Scott (Borthwick) have
created will attract those that wouldn’t have dreamed of going to a boxing
gym before.”

Marianne, whose background - private all girl school educated and holding
a B.Sc. (Hons) in Microbiology - is far from the pugilistic norm, first
created the classes after returning from America in 2009, where she had
been training under the guidance of Heavyweight Champion of the World
Smokin’ Joe Frazier and Cruiserweight World Champion Steve ‘USS’
Cunningham, having noticed that the only type of boxing fitness programmes being offered to women were of the less effective aerobic ‘Boxercise’ sessions so she decided it was time to create a proper series of true Boxing and Boxing based Fitness classes specifically for Women.

“It’s crazy” Marianne exclaimed, “back in 2008, while I was in full time
training in America with Joe Frazier, I returned to the UK for a month and
tried to find a gym to train at. I was told by many that they don’t train
girls and others, such as All Stars, that they only offer ‘Boxercise’
classes to women.

When I returned home last year things weren’t much better, but I did find
a gym I could train at. While I was there I got approached by various
women that wanted to do boxing for fitness, so decided to start offering
Women’s Boxing Classes.”

The classes Marianne created are far removed from the aerobic ‘Boxercise’
classes offered by most fitness centres and personal trainers. Her classes
are the real deal and include many of the conditioning exercises and
boxing drills taught to her by her famous mentors in America for her own fight preparations.

“Boxing provides the most effective form of exercise around.” said
Marianne, “The workout is close to 60% Anaerobic, it increases your
metabolism long after you’ve finished exercising.

It ‘s probably the most effective workout for anyone looking to lose
weight and tone up, plus you learn to box. Boxing is also a great way to
relieve the stresses of the day.”

In addition to the Wednesday evening class at RingTone Health & Fitness
Gym, Marianne leads her unique series of Women’s Boxing Classes at the
Ultrachem TKO Boxing Gym in Canning Town, East London, the Boxing Clinic
at The Angel, Islington in North London and the Tokei Gym at London Bridge
on the South Bank of the Thames.

For further information on Marianne’s Women’s Boxing and Boxing Fitness
Classes see www.womensboxingclasses.com

Photos:

Marianne Marston

Marianne with Joe Frazier

Marianne giving padwork to a client at RingTone Health & Fitness Gym.

Photo Credits: Gianluca (Rio) Di Caro

JustListen2This Publicity & Promotion

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