MMAJunkie.com reports that some MMA agents are uniting to try to stop Showtime from auctioning the contracts of Elite XC fighters. ProElite closed it’s doors last last month and Showtime had invested money into ProElite and Elite XC and is owed compensations for the fall out. However, the MMA agents are fighting the legality of Showtime’s attempts to auction off the contracts as part of the ProElite liquidation. Here is an excerpt from the letter:
The unity of this effort is unprecedented and the message that is being sent is clear. Absent significant pre-established negotiated terms, do not bid on these …read more

Fight fans were busy last night with bouts broadcast on both HBO and Showtime. Let’s start with the Showtime, fast becoming my favorite of the two boxing-wise.
Showtime’s main event brought together two stellar junior bantamweights, Armenian-Australian Vic Darchinyan and Russian Dimitri Kirilov. Darchinyan predicted a knockout and made gone on his promise by felling Kirilov in the fifth to seize the IBF super flyweight title.
Darchinyan dominated the fight from the opening bell. His speed and punching power was too much for the overmatched Russian who looked to have left his much lauded boxing skills in St. Petersburg. Darchinyan …read more

The Showtime Network’s weekend of boxing began with junior middleweight Ronald Hearns (18-0) taking on Kansan Jose Luis Gonzalez (12-3-1) in the Caribbean splendor of the Grand Cayman Islands. Hearns is the son of the legendary Thomas Hearns.
It is hard not thinking about the father while watching the son.
The Motor City Cobra was in The Chosen One’s corner often taking the advice reins from his son’s trainer. After the fight Thomas had the endearing smile of a proud father. He might have been happier after this fight than he had been for any of his own. It was …read more

Image details: Juan Manuel Lopez v Juan Brea served by picapp.com
If you stayed with the end of Showtime’s Sergio Mora victory over Vernon Forrest then you probably missed HBO’s opening bout. Heck, if you blinked you might have missed Juan Manual Lopez’ declarative first round TKO and WBO super bantamweight-grabbing win over Daniel Ponce de Leon.
The 24-year-old Puerto Rican destroyed the 27-year-old Mexican first dropping him with a straight left halfway through round one. Ponce de Leon got up but was out on feet an Lopez pounced. He stalked Ponce de Leon around the ring finally cornering him at …read more

One after the next The Contenders have come and gone. Unimpressive, overhyped and out of their league. Until tonight. In a startling but well-deserved victory Sergio Mora outworked Ring Magazine’s #1 junior middleweight and WBC super welterweight champ Vernon Forrest to earn a majority decision win.
Few gave Mora a chance. Conventional wisdom said he was a club fighter who got a chance against the two-time Shane Mosley slayer not because of skill but because of his marketability. For the first three rounds this standard line of thinking seemed accurate. But in the fourth Mora landed some punches, found his groove, …read more

It didn’t take long. In just two minutes Paul Williams regained his WBO welterweight title from Carlos Quintana revenging his unexpected February loss to the Puerto Rican. Williams put Quintana down twice in the first reminding us why he was once one of boxing’s most feared fighters.
This emphatic win puts Williams back on the welterweight map. He’s an exciting fighter and a powerful champ. Now that Oscar De La Hoya has nothing to do on September 20 why not take a chance on this up-and-coming star from Aiken, South Carolina.
The best part of Williams’ quick win is that …read more

On Saturday night in Nottingham, England light welterweight Junior Witter lost his WBC title belt in a split decision to American Timothy Bradley. Witter, a 5:1 favorite was outworked, outsmarted, and outclassed by the unknown southern Californian who dropped the Bradford native in the sixth. Before the fight Witter, who had goldenpalace.net shaved into the back of his skull, was Ring Magazine’s #1 junior welterweight contender. Bradley was unranked.
Witter’s loss adds to the growing list of title-dropping Britons, a number that now has swollen to five in the past six months: Witter, Ricky Hatton, Clinton Woods, Enzo Maccarinelli, and Gavin …read more

Two 2004 U.S. Olympians are furthering their careers tonight in southern California. Sadly, they won’t be fighting on the same card and their matches take place at around the same time some 225 miles apart. Lightweight Vicente Escobedo headlines the Carson, Calif. Home Depot Center card while southpaw super middleweight Andre Dirrell is the draw at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez. You won’t be able to travel to both.
For our money we would go to Carson to see Escobedo (16-1) face wily Argentine vet Roberto David Arrieta (27-12-4). Escobedo dropped his first big match in 2006, a split …read more

Image details: Mystery Scene served by picapp.com
Clinton Woods‘ performance last Saturday on Showtime against Antonio Tarver was lethargic, disappointing, and downright hard to watch. Trust me. Don’t go searching on youtube for highlights. There were none. On the line in Tampa for Woods were two title belts and a possible big money date in England with Joe Calzaghe. But he didn’t show up. This viewer felt that the Sheffield native might have left his energies in Ybor City where we’d bet he looked good on the dance floor.
In today’s Sheffield Star Woods’ promoter counters with another theory: Clinton Woods was …read more

Elite XC (Elite Xtreme Combat) is the newest MMA organization. It will makes its long awaited debut tonight at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi. Elite XC “Destiny” as it has been called has a main bout of Frank Shamrock v. Renzo Gracie. Other matches on the card include Wesley Correira vs. Antonio Silva; David Loiseau vs. Joey Villasenor; Women’s Gina Carano vs. Julie Kedzie; and K.J. Noons vs. Charles Bennett on the main card which is being broadcast on Showtime at 10:00 pm eastern.
On the undercard is middleweights Seth Kleinback v. Riki Fukuda, welterweights John-David Shackelford v. Edson …read more