Boxing Rumors (Maybe Hidden Truths) 3/6/08

1. It is said that Mikkel Kessler has turned down a fight with Edison Miranda on multiple occassions. When the fight was offered to Kessler at the Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida he turned down the location. Then Seminole Warriors Boxing, Miranda's promoter, suggested a neutral location again Kessler turned the fight down. Even when HBO and Showtime showed extreme interest in the fight, he turned it down again. Kessler has not fought since losing to Joe Calzaghe in November and has not been heard from much either. A fight like this would do wonders for Kessler if he beat Miranda. However it is up to him to fight. Miranda has made all kinds of negative comments towards Kessler in regards him turning down the fight.

2. David Haye who is fighting Enzo Maccarinelli on Saturday did not show up for the final press conference today. Haye stated in advance he has a sleep pattern he is trying to follow and did not want to break that. Since the fight is being shown live for the US, the fight is going to happen in London at 2am. Haye stated he asked for the conference to be later in the afternoon as the others were but they did not work with him to do so.

3. Roy Jones Jr.-Jermain Taylor has cooled down but it is not frozen yet. Lou Dibella, Taylor's promoter, plans on talking with Don King who represents Roy Jones Jr. Dibella has said he would prefer Taylor to fight maybe Mayorga or Trinidad first and then fight Jones Jr. Dibella realizes that even though Jermain got so much respect for his two fights against Kelly Pavlik, they were still losses. So Jermain needs to come back and win before he challenge Roy Jones Jr. By the way I think Roy Jones Jr. would beat Taylor.

4. Nothing is signed but it appears that Kelly Pavlik-Gary Lockett is getting closer and closer to being completed for June 7, 2008 at Madison Square Garden.

5. Carlos Quintana who defeated Paul Williams for the WBO Welterweight Championship looks to be defending against Williams in a rematch. Quintana tried to use his new belt to get another big name opponent but was unsuccessful. Shane Mosley is going to fight Zab Judah, Kermit Cintron is fighting Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto is fighting Alfonso Gomez, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is having found in his world wrestling among other things. Since Quintana does not want to sit idle he is working on having a rematch with Williams to prove that the first fight was no fluke.

6. Peter Manfredo Jr., best known for being on the first season of the Contender, is fighting on March 14 against Shane Benfield. After this fight, Manfredo is contemplating moving back down to Middleweight (160) where he feels he is more comfortable. He says he can fight at Super Middleweight but feels he would be better at Middleweight. He also stated he has to get a little meaner in the ring.

7. Gary Stark Jr. avenged his KO loss to Andres Ledemsa by UD. Here is what he looked like after the fight, which proves that it is not all glitz and glamour for fighters.

8. Jeff Lacy has switched head trainers. Roger Bloodworth is going replace Dan Birmingham as Lacy's head trainer. Lacy felt he needed a trainer that was going to challenge him a little more since he had become so familiar with Birmingham's training techniques.