Tag Archives: Ring Magazine

Ivan Calderon Voted into International Boxing Hall of Fame

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Ivan Calderon has entered the Hall…

The 48-year-old Puerto Rican former professional boxer, a two-weight world champion who competed from 2001 to 2012, has been elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Ivan CalderonThe 13-member class was voted by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America and a panel of international boxing historians.

Calderon (35-3-1, 6 KOs) held the WBO mini flyweight title from 2003 to 2007, making eleven successful defenses and being recognized as super champion by the organization. He also held the WBO, Ring magazine, and lineal light flyweight titles from 2007 to 2010 (making six successful defenses).[1] Additionally, his August 2010 bout against Giovani Segura was named fight of the year by Ring magazine.

As an amateur Calderón represented Puerto Rico in international competitions, including the 2000 Olympics.

Diego Corrales, who died two years after winning a 2005 bout voted “Fight of the Year,” is the other member of the Hall’s 2024 class from the men’s modern category.

The enshrinement ceremonies will be June 6-9.

Corrales went 40-5 with 33 KOs and is best remembered for his 2005 victory over Jose Luis Castillo, when he was knocked down twice in the 10th round but then rallied later in the round to stop Castillo.

The former super featherweight and lightweight champion died in 2007 from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

Ana Maria Torres of Mexico was elected from the women’s modern category. The 43-year-old Mexican former professional boxer competed from 1999 to 2012. She held the WBC female super flyweight title twice between 2007 and 2012, and challenged once for the WBC female bantamweight title in 2006.

Luis Angel Firpo in the old-timer category was also voted into the hall.

The late Argentine boxer was the first Latin American in history to challenge for the world heavyweight title. His bout against Jess Willard set a world record for boxing attendance. And his heavyweight title bout against Jack Dempseywas namedRing Magazine Fight of the Year for 1923.

Vergil Ortiz Jr. to Fight Maurice Hooker in March

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Vergil Ortiz Jr. is ready to rumble…

The 22-year-old Mexican American boxer, an undefeated rising welterweight star, will step up his boxing game as he’s set to face fellow contender Maurice Hooker in a bout that’s still being finalized, according to ESPN.

Vergil Ortiz Jr.

The fight is expected to take place on March 20, according to ESPN sources. The firm date is the final step to be completed before an announcement of the bout, which is expected to take place in Dallas and air on DAZN.

Ortiz (16-0, 16 KOs) was ESPN’s and Ring Magazine‘s 2019 Prospect of the Year. His knockout power and impressive skill put him among a handful of young fighters competing for prime billing in the years to come. With Canelo Alvarez‘s departure, Ortiz has become one of Golden Boy Promotions‘ most promising fighters.

Ortiz is coming off a seventh-round TKO victory over veteran Sam Vargas in July — the first pro bout in Ortiz’s career that has lasted beyond six rounds.

But he’ll be facing his stiffest competition yet in Hooker, who after having issues making weight is moving up from junior welterweight to take this bout.

Hooker (27-1-3) has a significant experience and length advantage over Ortiz, helping make the bout an intriguing test. Hooker, 31, hasn’t fought since a December 2019 first-round TKO over Uriel Perez. Before that, he suffered his lone loss to junior welterweight unified champion Jose Ramirez by sixth-round TKO.

Canelo Alvarez Reportedly Planning to Fight Mandatory Challenger Avni Yildirim in February

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Canelo Alvarez isn’t waiting long to get back in the ring…

The 30-year-old Mexican boxer, the sport’s biggest star, will return to the ring on February 27 versus mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, according to sources.

Canelo Alvarez

The fight will be broadcast on DAZN and other PPV cable platforms everywhere except Mexico.

It will be a stay-busy title defense for Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs), who is coming off a dominant unanimous decision victory over previously undefeated champion Callum Smith on December 19 to win the WBA, WBC and the Ring magazine super middleweight titles.

 

The Athletic was the first to report the Alvarez fight date.

“Canelo is in the gym, and he has been working and training, waiting for the date,” Alvarez’s trainer, Eddy Reynoso, said. “And to take advantage of the preparation we had for most of last year without fighting.”

After a deal with Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, Alvarez is on track to fight again on May 8, the weekend following Cinco de Mayo, against WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. That bout is not official yet, but it is expected, with IBF champion Caleb Plant as a secondary option.

Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) has plans to unify the super middleweight division, with Saunders and Plant as the two other belt holders in the division.

Yildirim (21-2, 12 KOs) hasn’t fought since a February 2019 split technical decision loss to Anthony Dirrell. He has been Alvarez’s WBC mandatory challenger since before the Alvarez-Smith bout.

“Obviously it’s a very big fight for me. It makes me very proud to be on a stage like this, representing the Turkish people,” Yildirim told ESPN on Wednesday. “I know my opponent well. Of course, Canelo is one of the best in the world. But I know my value, and now the entire world will see who Avni Yildirim is.”

Alvarez and Reynoso wanted to fulfill their commitment to the WBC by fighting Yildirim before continuing their pursuit through the super middleweight champions.

“Yildirim is a strong fighter. He is a fighter who has earned his place in boxing to get to where he is as the No. 1 challenger in the world,” Reynoso said. “He had a fight against Anthony Dirrell, which seemed to me they took away from him, and gave it to Dirrell due to a cut. It was a world title fight, and [even with a loss], he became an official challenger. He is a guy who has worked honestly to be there, and he is dangerous, strong, has a good punch and very reliable.”

This will be Alvarez’s first bout in Miami, a place he has long enjoyed. Fans can be in attendance up to the COVID-19 pandemic capacity allowed at Hard Rock Stadium, where the Miami Dolphins and Miami Hurricanes play their home football games.

Oscar de la Hoya Says He’s Coming Out of Retirement & Resuming Boxing Career

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Oscar de la Hoya is ready to rumble once again…

The 47-year-old Mexican American former professional boxer and boxing/mixed martial arts promoter says he’s planning to return to the ring.

Oscar De La Hoya

Twelve years after his last fight, the 11-time titlist confirmed he’s ready to end his retirement.

“The rumors are true, and I’m going to start sparring in the next few weeks,” de la Hoya said.

de la Hoya (39-6 30 KOs) added that he won’t be engaging in an exhibition fight like fellow retired champions Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr.

“It’s a real fight,” he said. “I miss being in the ring, I love boxing. Boxing is what gave me everything I have today, and I just miss it.”

After winning a gold medal for the United States at the 1992 Barcelona Games, de la Hoya had a meteoric rise in the professional ranks, winning the WBO junior lightweight title by stopping Jimmi Bredahl in 10 rounds in 1994, in only his 12th professional bout.

de la Hoya would eventually win major world titles in six different weight classes.

During this stretch, “The Golden Boy” was considered one of the best fighters in boxing and its biggest pay-per-view and gate attraction. He was as marketable outside the ring as he was good inside of it. There are very few fighters who can appear on the cover of Ring Magazine and Newsweek.

de la Hoya’s career came to an ignominious conclusion when he quit on his stool after the eighth round of a fight against Manny Pacquiao in December 2008. A few months later at age 36, de la Hoya announced his retirement.

“Look, my last fight with Pacquiao, I weighed in at 145 and obviously that was a shell of myself,” said de la Hoya of his ill-fated decision to move down to welterweight to face Pacquiao after seven years of campaigning at junior middleweight.

Now, as he’s set to return, de la Hoya understands that many will question his decision.

“Look, it’s been a long time, yes,” said de la Hoya, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2014. “But actually my jab feels faster than ever. I have to make sure that my conditioning is perfect, my health is good. And that’s going to take place in the next few weeks. So we’ll see.”

de la Hoya, who has battled drug and alcohol addiction in the past, said he started to get back into shape a couple of months ago, and as he began to feel better and better, the old itch came back.

de la Hoya said he looked around the current landscape of boxing and didn’t like what he saw.

“All these fighters are not of the level that was 15, 20 years [ago], all these fighters are demanding so much money, all these fighters are demanding the moon,” said de la Hoya. “And they’re forgetting that you must train hard, you must work hard. So that’s a huge advantage for me because I know what it takes to train hard, I know how to train smart. I know how to fight smart in the ring.

“These guys are in it just for the money — that’ll be the big difference. I will fight for the glory, and these guys only fight for the money. And guess what? The glory will always win.”

For now, the plan is to compete between 154-160 pounds. As for who he will be targeting?

“Any top guy, any top guy out there,” said de la Hoya.

Alvarez Defeats Trout to Claim WBA Belt

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Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has a new belt in his collection…

The 21-year-old Mexican boxer won the WBA championship belt by unanimously outpointing Austin Trout on Saturday night at San Antonio’s Alamodome.

Saul "Canelo" Alvarez

Alvarez (42-0-1) unified the 154-pound titles with a dominant victory, retaining his WBC super welterweight championship along with the vacant Ring Magazine belt. But it was the WBA belt that was the ultimate prize.

Alvarez received winning scores of 115-112, 116-111 and 118-109 to beat Trout.

Some observers speculated Alvarez wasn’t ready for a veteran opponent like Trout (26-1), but they didn’t realize how personal the bout was to him.

“My brother was a big motivation for this,” Alvarez said. “I did this for him. He beat my brother, and that’s my blood.”

Alvarez fought like a man out for revenge, knocking down Trout for the first time in his career and staggering him several times to the delight of the crowd that continually chanted “Mexico! Mexico!”

“I’ll take the loss like a man,” Trout said. “The better man won tonight. He was better than me. I have no excuses.”

Trout was the more active fighter, connecting on 154 of 769 punches compared to 124 of 431, but Alvarez landed 43 percent of his power punches compared to 27 percent for Trout.

“He shocked us, I was prepared for a different fighter,” Trout said. “I tried to pressure the action and change things up, but he kept changing.”

Alvarez dropped Trout early in the seventh round, catching the southpaw flush to the chin with a powerful straight punch. Trout staggered a few steps backward before falling front first to the canvas.

“He caught me with a good shot,” Trout said. “There is nothing else I can say.”