Tag Archives: pro boxing

Decrepit Boxers Holyfield & Botha Prance in Las Vegas Ring Tonight

The “reveal” update:  Last night the 47-year-old Holyfield (43-10-2, 28 KOs) knocked out 41-year-old Frans Botha with 2:05 left in the eighth round Saturday night. Holyfield (43-10-2) knocked the defending champion down 31 seconds earlier with a right to the old guy’s chin.

—————

Some professional boxers just refuse to give up- or, perhaps, they can’t afford to.  

American heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield, left in photo, 47, squares off tonight with almost equally aged foe Francois “White Buffalo” Botha, 41, of South Africa at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.  At stake is the WBF heavyweight championship belt- and best, if you want to watch the fight, to pull out the No-Doz.

Holyfield, the former four-time heavyweight champion, apparently, wants to who wants to prove he stills has the skills to be a world champion, even though he last held a belt nearly 10 years ago and has lost two fights in a row. 

Holyfield has a professional boxing record of 47 wins with four losses, two draws and 27 KOs. 

Botha (47-4-3, 28 KOs), has had a relatively distinguished career as a heavyweight boxer with top contenders, but has fought several world heavyweight champions including Mike Tyson, Shannon Briggs, Axel Schulz, Michael Moorer, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko. 

Even so, Botha is named the current World Boxing Foundation World Heavyweight Champion. (Although he won the International Boxing Federation World Heavyweight title in the ring the fight was declared a no contest and he was never officially recognized as champion.) 

Probably feeling that long-term boxing is not good for the brain cells, Botha had some smarts and turned entrepreneur for a short time, corning the market on some magical champagne glasses. All you had to do was twist the stem and, voila!, the fluted glass supposedly lit up like Grand Central Station at rush hour. 

Promoters are literally begging the fight sales light up.  By Friday afternoon, only 2,000 tickets had been sold, leaving promoter Crown Boxing, which is paying Holyfield $150,000 plus a pay-per-view percentage, to hope for a large walk-up crowd. Even $25 lower-bowl seats are going unsold. 

Holyfield currently has the odds of minus-360, Botha plus-280

If you’re into comedy and want to save gas money, turn on the fight at 8 p.m. (PT) on pay per view (Cable 502, DirecTV, Dish Network) and shell out $29.95.

Leave a comment

Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, sports, Uncategorized

Bernard Hopkins Expected to Trounce Roy Jones Jr. in Las Vegas on Saturday

Bernard Hopkins, 45, is a minus-500 betting favorite at MGM Mirage’s sports books going into Saturday’s fight with Roy Jones Jr., 41, who is going in at plus-350 odds at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. 

It’s a glorious boxing rematch 17 years in the making.  For Jones, 54-6, losing five of his past 10 fights dating to 2004, it’s more about proving to people he’s not washed up in the fight game.  

Jones beat Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 1993 middleweight bout. 

But for Hopkins, apparently, it’s just another day at work.  After the fight he plans to be sitting in the Mandalay Bay audience with his 10-year-old daughter to watch the “Lion King.” 

Today’s weigh-in is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Mandalay Bay and is open to the public. 

Tickets for the fight are priced from $100 to $750.

Leave a comment

Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, sports, Uncategorized

Aging Mike “Ear-Biter” Tyson Throwing Gut Back into Ring? Not yet. He’s PIGEON RACING!

Recent sightings of a slimmed-down Mike Tyson added fuel to reports of a rumored rematch between Tyson and Evander Holyfield. 

Tyson, who hasn’t fought in five years and was known for his paunchy gut as of late, is clearly getting back in shape, losing 50 pounds, according to those who have spotted him taking regular long walks near his Anthem home in Henderson, Nevada. 

When Tyson, now 43, lost to Kevin McBride in 2005, it was his third defeat in four bouts over three years. 

His arch nemesis, Evander Holyfield, 47, has been cleared for a tentative April 17 fight in Las Vegas against Frans Botha.

Promoter Don King, likely wanting to keep his trump card, is trying to squash news that a Tyson-Holyfield fight reunion is not true.

But while biding his time for this to occur, we’ve learned that the eccentric one will soon star in an Animal Planet series that will feature — are you sitting down? — pigeon racing.

The show, titled “Taking on Tyson”, will showcase amateur pigeon racer Tyson against “serious competitors.”   

We’ve all known that Tyson has  bats aplenty in his belfry, but many probably are not aware that Tyson has apparently also raised pigeons all his life — squab anyone? — but is just now getting into the glamorous world of racing them.  (Hopefully, he won’t toss them around in their cages.) 

The show is on track to be taped this spring in New York City and will air early next year.

“Tyson’s passion for his pigeons takes my breath away,” says Animal Planet Media President Marjorie Kaplan.

If you’d like to bone up on your knowledge of this parlor sport, Las Vegas Backstage Access suggests visiting the American Racing Pigeon Union Web site, where you will find all you need to know- and probably lots you wish you never read.

Leave a comment

Filed under Las Vegas, news, sports, Uncategorized

Boxing Trainer Roger Mayweather Bound Over for Las Vegas Trial on Battery, Coercion Charges

A Las Vegas judge said today that boxing trainer Roger Mayweather should stand trial on three felony charges, alleging he attacked a female boxer he used to train.

The woman, 26-year-old Melissa St. Vil, testified that the 48-year-ld Mayweather punched and choked her during an Aug. 2 confrontation at an apartment he owned. 

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Pro-Tem James Gubler ruled St. Vil’s testimony was sufficient to bind the case over to state court on coercion, battery-strangulation and battery causing substantial bodily harm charges. 

Mayweather, the uncle of trainer of unbeaten boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., did not testify at the evidentiary hearing, and his lawyers chose not to call witnesses. 

The judge set arraignment for Jan. 26 in Clark County District Court. Mayweather’s lawyers say he’ll plead not guilty.

Leave a comment

Filed under Las Vegas, news, sports, Uncategorized

Police Confiscate Floyd Mayweather’s Arsenal, Investigate Shooting Incident

“Impulsive” is written all over professional boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr., a hallmark of his boxing career and his life.  

Las Vegas police are continuing to investigate an Aug. 16 shooting outside a Las Vegas skating rink that uncovered two handguns, ammunition and two bulletproof vests from the Summerlin, Nevada boxer’s home.floydmayweather2

One of the alleged victims in the shooting incident reporteldy told investigators that the six-time champion threatened him 10 minutes before another man shot at his car from the rink’s parking lot as they drove away.    

Mayweather’s Rolls Royce was seen in the parking lot of the Crystal Palace Skating Center, on Boulder Highway near Flamingo Road.   A witness, 24-year-old Quincey Williams, told the Review-Journal the boxer threatened him over a text message Williams sent him saying he hoped the undefeated Mayweather would lose. 

Mayweather said, “He’s got enough money to get me hit,” Williams said. Williams considered it a threat to his life. 

Not more than an hour later, as Williams and a friend were leaving, Williams said the car he was riding in was peppered with six gunshots.

Fortunately, no one was hit by the shooting. 

Mayweather has not been named as an official suspect, and a man police are seeking has not been arrested. 

This incident preceded his guest star episode on Monday Night RAW that, despite negative fan comments, scored extremely high on total viewer ratings according to WWE standards– it was the second highest rating since WWE started their “guest host” storyline. 

Mayweather has had various run-ins with the law in the past. A year ago, about $7 million in jewelry was stolen from his Summerlin home, believed to be one of the most lucrative burglaries in Las Vegas history. 

In 2002, he pleaded guilty to two charges of domestic violence and received a suspended six-month sentence.  

In 2003, Mayweather faced a felony domestic violence charge involving the mother of three of his children. A jury acquitted him after the woman recanted her original story that Mayweather hit her. 

In 2004, a Justice of the Peace, Deborah Lippis, convicted him on two counts of misdemeanor battery after two women claimed he punched them outside a nightclub. 

Mayweather, a six-time world champion in multiple weight classes, retired from the ring in 2008. But then, as he did in the past, he quickly “unretired” and now has a Sept. 19 12-round welterweight bout scheduled at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas with Juan Manuel Marquez that will be televised on HBO.

Leave a comment

Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, sports, travel, Uncategorized

Boxer Mike Tyson Marries in Las Vegas

Boxer Mike Tyson married longtime girlfriend Lakiha “KiKi” Spicer over the weekend.  They took out a marriage license early Saturday night and were by themselves when they exchanged vows at La Bella Wedding Chapel at the Las Vegas Hilton on Saturday night. 

Spicer, in her 30s, was linked to Tyson at the time his second marriage ended in divorce.  She was in the news in 2002 when he was charged along with her mother and brother, on allegations of defrauding $224,000 from a Philadelphia community college. 

The marriage, Tyson’s third, came less than two weeks after his 4-year-old daughter by another woman died accidentally after she hanged herself on a treadmill in Phoenix, Arizona.

1 Comment

Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, Uncategorized

Boxer ‘King’ Floyd Mayweather Jr. Announces Ring Comeback

Unbeaten welterweight pro boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., once considered boxing’s best pound-for-pound fighterfloydmayweather when he retired in December 2007 after knocking out Ricky Hatton, said he’s coming back to take on Juan Manuel Marquez on July 18 at the MGM Grand Arena. 

Mayweather, a Las Vegas resident,  is undefeated at 39-0 with 25 knockouts. 

“The king is back!” Mayweather said.  “I’m here to fight and reclaim what is mine.” 

The scheduled 12-round slugfest will be held at the welterweight level with a 143-pound weight limit.

Leave a comment

Filed under entertainment, Las Vegas, news, sports, travel, Uncategorized