Danny Garcia Has Reportedly Agreed to Fight Errol Spence Jr. This Fall

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Danny Garcia has lined up his next opponent…

The 32-year-old Puerto Rican professional boxer, the former junior welterweight and welterweight titlist, has agreed to fight unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. in a fall pay-per-view event, according to ESPN.

The bout — which needs a negotiation of final contract numbers — is expected to take place in November at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, according to sources.

But, Premier Boxing Champions, which promotes both fighters, has put holds on other venues around the country as it monitors the coronavirus pandemic and the guidelines in place for each state.

The Athletic first reported the agreement.

Garcia (36-2, 21 KOs) was a unified champion at junior welterweight and a world titlist at welterweight. In his most recent fight in January, Garcia outpointed Ivan Redkach over 12 rounds.

Spence defeated Shawn Porter by 12-round split decision on September 28 in a tough fight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Spence, who came into the bout as the IBF titlist, earned the WBC belt with the win. He was involved in a horrific one-car accident a few weeks later near Dallas, Texas, and suffered serious injuries, including facial lacerations and a broken jaw.

Before the accident, there was talk of Spence facing Garcia in late January 2020.

Spence is ranked No. 1 at welterweight in ESPN‘s divisional rankings, and Garcia is No. 6. Manny Pacquiao (WBA) and Terence Crawford (WBO) are the other titleholders in the division.

Vargas to Defend His Title Against Antonio DeMarco in Macau, China

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Jessie Vargas is preparing to make an Asian invasion in the fight to keep his belt…

The 25-year-old Mexican-American Junior welterweight boxer will defend his title for the second time when he fights former lightweight titleholder Antonio DeMarco on November 22 in Macau, China.

The fight will open the televised portion of the HBO PPV card headlined by welterweight titleholder Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) defending against Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) at the Cotai Arena at the Venetian Macao.

Vargas will be making the second defense of his secondary title — Danny Garcia is the champion — and will be facing his third consecutive left-hander.

Vargas claimed the belt by winning a slightly controversial decision against Khabib Allakhverdiev of Russia on April 12 on the undercard of Pacquiao’s rematch with Timothy Bradley Jr. Vargas made his initial defense on August 2, outpointing another Russian southpaw, then-undefeated Anton Novikov, in an exciting fight.

Now Vargas (25-0, 9 Kos) has DeMarco (31-3-1, 23 Kos) of Mexico, to deal with.

“My opponent Antonio Demarco is a tough, rugged fighter who comes to fight,” Vargas said. “I know this will be a fight that fans throughout the world will enjoy. This is very exciting for our team to be part of an event of this magnitude. I plan on bringing my world title belt back to Las Vegas.”

Since getting knocked out in the eighth round and losing his lightweight world title to Adrien Broner in November 2012, DeMarco has won three fights in a row, all as a welterweight.

He is coming off a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision against Lanardo Tyner on August 23, a fight in which DeMarco got knocked down in the first round but dominated the rest of the way.

De La Hoya Elected to International Boxing Hall of Fame

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Oscar De La Hoya will forever be remembered for his illustrious career…

The 40-year-old retired Mexican American boxer and Olympic gold medalist has been elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in balloting results announced Wednesday.

De La Hoya has earned the honor in his first year of eligibility.

“I am honored and appreciative to be chosen for the International Boxing Hall of Fame’s Class of 2014 and I thank everyone who has been a part of this journey with me,” said De La Hoya, who has struggled with substance abuse issues during retirement but also founded Golden Boy Promotions, one of the leading promotional companies in the world.

De La Hoya — “The Golden Boy” from East Los Angeles — won a 1992 Olympic gold medal at the Barcelona Games shortly after graduating from James A. Garfield High School before rocketing to professional stardom that resulted in his winning 10 world titles in a then-record six weight divisions (junior lightweight to middleweight) while becoming the face of boxing and a pay-per-view mega star during his 1992 to 2008 career.

“This is the dream of everyone who puts on a pair of gloves and steps between the ropes, and through the good and the bad, you always hope that when all is said and done, you put on good fights, entertained the fans and will be remembered for what you did in the ring. To know that I will be in the Hall of Fame with the greats of this sport is humbling, but it’s also put a smile on my face that isn’t coming off anytime soon.”

De La Hoya, whose titles came at 130, 135, 140, 147, 154 and 160 pounds, faced a who’s who of top opponents, including beating Hall of Famers Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. (twice), Pernell Whitaker and Arturo Gatti. He also faced the likes of Feiix Trinidad (a fellow honoree), Bernard Hopkins, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, Ike Quartey, Shane Mosley (twice), Fernando Vargas, Hector Camacho Sr. and Genaro Hernandez.

De La Hoya (39-6, 30 KOs) was a heavyweight when it came to selling pay-per-view as fans of all kinds, including women and a passionate Hispanic fan base, flocked to his fights. His 2007 junior middleweight championship fight against Mayweather set numerous revenue records, including selling nearly 2.5 million pay-per-view subscriptions, still the all-time high.

Joining him and Trinidad in the modern category of inductees (voted on by the Boxing Writers Association of America and a panel of boxing historians) is ormer super middleweight world champion Joe Calzaghe, who retired undefeated and is widely considered the best fighter to come out of Wales.

They will be honored on June 8 during the 25th annual inductions ceremony at the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.

Marquez Stuns Pacquiao with KO in the 6th Round…

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

It’s just one single “perfect punch” that Juan Manuel Marquez needed to finally defeat his arch nemesis Manny Pacquiao…

The 39-year-old Mexican boxer blasted Pacquiao with a huge right hand with just one second left in the sixth round of their highly anticipated welterweight fight on Saturday night to leave his Filipino adversary face-first on the canvas and score a decisive knockout, giving Marquez his first defeat of Pacquiao in four attempts.

Pacquiao had charged into the Mexican counterpuncher’s danger zone and ran into a right hand, dropping the Filipino along the ropes. Pacquiao lay motionless for several seconds as the sellout crowd of 16,398 at the MGM Grand Arena erupted.

“That’s boxing,” said Pacquiao. “I started to get confident, but I never expected that punch.”

Marquez said, “I knew after the last three rounds that he was going for the knockout and I could be knocked out at any time. I hit him with the perfect punch.”

Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, felt his fighter was in charge throughout the bout. “He just got a little too careless, but he was hurting Marquez,” he said. Pacquiao had knocked Marquez down in the fifth round and nearly had him stopped at that point.

Marquez, who’d never won a fight above 140 pounds, was behind on all three judges’ cards when the fight dramatically ended.

This time, there was no need for Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs) to complain about the judges’ scoring. The former four-division world champion had bitterly disputed the results of their three previous encounters, particularly his points loss last November in Las Vegas.

Asked about a fifth fight between the two, promoter Bob Arum, who handles Pacquiao, said, “Why not? We haven’t seen such an exciting fight in years. This fight will go down in history as a ring classic.”

Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KOs), who also went down in the third round, has lost two fights in a row for the first time in his career and was stopped for the first time in more than 13 years.

He said he would be up for a fifth fight. “It’s up to my promoter. Let’s fight again,” Pacquiao said before heading to the hospital.

Shakira Collaborates with Pitbull on “Get It Started”

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

The wait is over… Shakira’s finally back with a new single… And, this time around she’s getting it started with Pitbull…

The 35-year-old Colombian singer/songwriter has collaborated with Mr. Worldwide on “Get It Started,” which has been leaked on the web.

The dancetastic track starts off with an introduction by the 31-year-old Cuban-American rap superstar before Shakira belts the song’s catchy chorus.

Produced by RedOne and Afrojack, “Get It Started”—which name-checks several celebrities, including Tom Cruise and boxers Manny Pacquiao and Muhammad Ali–will reportedly appear on Pitbull’s forthcoming studio album, “Global Warming,” which is expected to be released in the U.S. later this year.

Meanwhile, Shakira will reportedly come out with a new album sometime before the end of 2012.

Pitbull previously appeared on Shakira’s single “Rabiosa,” which was part the superstar’s Latin Grammy-winning album Sale el Sol.

Lopez Filling His Resume with Producing Credits

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Mario Lopez is beefing up his resume with more producing credits…

The 38-year-old Mexican American actor and Extra host has lined up a number of series projects as a producer.

Lopez, the host of MTV’s dance completion American’s Best Dance Crew, has a 10-episode commitment at MTV Tr3s for Golden Boys, a docu-series following some of the world’s top young Latino boxers. Lopez is executive producing with boxing star Oscar De La Hoya.

Lopez also has a series commitment for Conversations with Mario at Comcast’s Latin-driven channel NuVo. The series takes an in-depth look at some of the most influential Latino celebrities in the world.

At ABC Family, Lopez is the man behind Back To Badass, a pilot for a reality series that aims to take former star athletes back to the top of their game.

Lopez’s latest projects are in addition to the upcoming Mario Lopez And Courtney Mazza Wedding Special, a two-hour special for TLC chronicling the preparations leading to Lopez and Mazza’s December wedding.

In addition, Lopez is working in post on an untitled boxing documentary he’s producing and appearing in, along with Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson, De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington and others. And, Lopez’s Los Angeles radio show, On With Mario Lopez, has just gone national.

Introducing Jasmine V.

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Tom Castaneda

It’s something I do all the time: sing out loud while working, driving, walking, folding laundry, etc.… And it hasn’t resulted in being discovered. (Probably ‘cause I can’t really sing. Hee Hee)…

But that isn’t the case for rising star Jasmine Villegas, who was discovered randomly…

When Jasmine V., as she’s called, was just 11-years-old, she was discovered by record company intern while walking her little brother to a music video and singing verses to help him prepare.

After getting permission to record her voice, the clip ended up in the hands of Gabriella Mosci, her current music manager.

Since then, the 17-year-old part-Mexican/part-Filipino starlet has been acting, performing and writing songs about experiences related to love, life and loss while dealing with the pressure of growing up too fast.

“These songs are girl anthems, but I try to give guys some guidance on how to treat girls,” the San Jose, California-native tells mun2. Hopefully, more people will relate to the songs that way.”

Meanwhile, Villegas’ base of celebrity fans has grown. In 2008, Filipino boxing champ Manny Pacquiao discovered Jasmine on YouTube and asked the then-14-year-old to sing the National Anthem before his bout with Juan Manuel Marquez. She’d end up spending months in the Philippines, performing on one of the biggest television stations in the country.

The following year, she produced her own music video for the track, “Serious,” which led to a contract with Epic Records.

But her biggest attention-grabbing moment came last year, when she appeared as Justin Bieber‘s love interest in the video for his break-out hit, “Baby.” Villeags would later tour with the Biebs, as well as briefly date him.

Earlier past September, Villegas—who has stayed true to her roots in her lyrics—released a mixtape, S(he) Be(Lie)ve(d), which she release.

Villegas is now working on her debut album, which should come out sometime next year.

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