British boxer Carl Froch is preparing to be the first boxer to stop the hardy Russian fighter Sergey Tatevosyan when the pair meet tonight.

Froch is the British and Commonwealth super middleweight champion and he is hoping to increase his world title credentials when he fights Tatevosyan at the Nottingham Arena.

Unbeaten 29 year old Froch said: “There is nobody left on the domestic scene who wants to know me now so it is all about moving on a world title shot.

“We have a plan and this opponent has been selected with the future in mind.”

Froch denied a fight for the European boxing title but he is looking to make the most out of this non-title bout.

A career best KO came for Tatevosyan against Dane Rudy Markussen in October and he then went on to go the distance with Lucien Bute in Montreal, who was a possible future opponent for Froch.

Froch added: “Tatevosyan is a difficult, well-schooled fighter who can punch a bit.

“This is the type of fight where I can really cement my status with the various sanctioning bodies for a world title eliminator.”

Froch is no ranked at number 5 by the IBF and he comes in third place in the WBC and WBO rankings so he thinks he is close to reaching his potential and getting a world title.

“I’ve always been a late developer and I am just coming into my peak now,” said Froch

“I feel physically stronger and tactically and technically I am still working on stuff and learning.”

Carl Froch beat Tony Dodson in November to retain his British and Commonwealth titles but he says that Wales’ WBO champion Joe Calzaghe is the man he really wants to meet.

“I’m high up in the rankings but Calzaghe is the one I’m interested in,” he added.

Calzaghe, defends his WBO crown against America’s Peter Manfredo in Cardiff on 7 April.

Froch may get a shot at Calzaghe in the future, but for now I think that he has a fair bit still to prove. If he could win say the European title as well and/or beat a couple of high class American boxers, then this would raise his profile enough to warrant a fight with Calzaghe. If you haven’t got a big profile then you wont get big fights and that is why Peter Manfredo has got this fight with Joe Calzaghe. It is not because of what he has achieved in boxing, he has achieved very little, it is because of his celebrity status and well known profile which was helped largely by the TV show “The Contender”.

What do you think?

The British crusierweight boxer John Keeton was knocked out in the second round of his commonwealth title fight against Troy Ross in Montreal, Canada.

Keeton of Sheffield was brought down with a left hook within 2 minutes of the round by the Canadian fighter.

Although Keeton won the British title only last month, he said that he ought to have used more defensive and conservative tactics.

“The plan was to box for three rounds and keep on the outside of the jab, but I got excited,” said the 34-year-old Keeton.

“We backed in my corner and I thought I’d have a go at planting one on him, but I threw a couple of rocks too many and he landed first.”

John Keeton is set to defend his British title against his old rival Mark Hobson in Manchester next month.

In a controversial decision, Juan Manuel Marquez claimed the WBC super featherweight title as he beat fellow Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas.

I want to see a rematch…

Even though Barrera clearly knocked Marquez down in the seventh round with an awesome stinging right hand, the referee Jay Nady somehow ruled in a slip!?

No way was that a slip, it was a clear knock down and an excellent punch by Barrera.

And then the ref made me scream even louder in frustration as he took a point from Barrera for apparently hitting Marquez when he was down on the canvas. Although Barrera did throw a punch when Marquez was down, he did not connect and so he should not have be docked a point.

Also the referee did not pick up on any of the punch that Marquez threw well below Barrera’s belt! Where was the ref then?

Barrera said: “We fought like true Mexicans but I did the necessary things to win. They were bad judges. I won the fight and I don’t know what happened.”
He added, referring to his point deduction, “I never connected with the punch because I knew he was down. He hit me four times below the belt and I never said anything.”

By the end of the fight they both were bleeding quite badly, Marquez from the right eye and Barrera from the left. It was a great fight as both boxers gave it their full effort, but I would have thought that Barrera should have won.

Marquez is an ex-WBA and IBF featherweight champion and at least he admitted that they should meet again to settle the rivalry more conclusively.

“Barrera is a great champion,” he said. “He deserves a rematch.”

I really think that their should definitely be a rematch, as I think Barrera won that fight.
I would love to see these two fight again, but hopefully we can have a fairer decision at the end of the next fight.

What did you think of the fight?

Are you looking forward to a rematch?

It was a really great fight overall, and that should not be over shadowed by a few bad decisions by the ref. Both boxers gave it their all and both deserve a great deal of credit and respect for that.

Wladimir Klitschko, the current IBF world heavyweight champion is lining up a fight with the massive Nikolai Valuev, who holds the WBA Heavyweight title.

Klitschko described the Russian giant as the “toughest boxer,” and also saying “Our bout would be a real event.”

Nikolai Valuev is set to fight Uzbekistan’s Ruslan Chigaev in April and Wladimir Klitschko recently defending his title in a mandatory defence against Ray Austin, who he beat in two rounds.

Wladimir Klitschko said: “I will be keeping my fingers crossed that Nikolai will win the bout and keep his title.”

I think that a fight with Nikolai Valuev is the best move that Klitschko could make at this stage in his career. Klitschko needs to unify the belts in the heavyweight division and beat decent well known boxers like Valuev to get the respect and to be recognised as a boxing champion, not just a title holder.

If Klitschko beats Valuev then he will have two title and is well on the way to unifying the heavyweight crowns.

Do you think he can do it?

Taking his record to 41-8-2 with 27 KO’s, veteran boxer Evander Holyfield beat Vinny Maddalone in Texas by a third round stoppage (read more…)

Mexico and the rest of the boxing world is waiting on the edge of their seats for the super fight this Saturday which sees Marco Antonio Barrera taking on Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand (read more…)

British IBF light heavyweight champion, Clinton Woods, will be defending his crown against Julio Gonzalez of Mexico in Las Vegas on 23 June (read more…)

Despite losing his British, European and Commonwealth titles to Michael Hunter in 2005 and his defeat to current European champ Bernard Dunne last year, Esham Pickering still hopes he will get a world boxing title ahead of his clash with Marc Callaghan for the vacant British super bantamweight belt in Norwich on Friday (read more…)

The Commonwealth light middleweight boxing champion, Bradley Price, is set to defend his crown against Thomas Awinbono of Ghana.

Is this a mis-match? (read more…)

The current British lightweight champion, Jon Thaxton, has said that he believes he would beat Amir Khan in a fight for the domestic title, in other words Khan is apparently not ready (read more…)