Bernard Hopkins taught a master class Saturday at Quebec City’s Colisée Pepsi. The record will show Jean Pascal earned a passing grade in retaining his WBC and Ring light heavyweight titles on a majority draw. But the more than 16,000 hometown fans who witnessed Hopkins’ stirring exhibition of technical precision, ring generalship and true grit know Pascal’s transcript deserves at best an incomplete.
Former British and European heavyweight boxing champion Matt Skelton was sentenced today after admitting attempting to pervert the course of justice. Last month a judge at Cambridge Crown Court said all sentencing options were open after hearing how the fighter lied about who was driving when faced with a speeding fine.
Kell Brook proved he is ready to be moved on by making light work of the unknown Philip Kotey in Liverpool on Saturday night. The Sheffield slickster was keen to make a statement in the first major fight of the night at the Echo Arena and did just that, overwhelming the Ghanaian at the start of the second round.
Tony Bellew successfully defended his Commonwealth title, but he had to climb off the canvas twice before halting Ovill McKenzie in Liverpool on Saturday night. The 28-year-old has been touted as one of the stars of the future, but failed to dispel concerns about his leaky defence as he touched down twice in the early rounds before battling back to stop McKenzie in the eighth.
Nathan Cleverly completed a momentous 12 months by winning the vacant WBO ‘interim’ light-heavyweight world title in Liverpool on Saturday night. The unbeaten 23-year-old Welshman finished a mathematics degree earlier this year while adding the European title to his collection of belts.
Amir Khan’s trainer Freddie Roach declared the British boxer will be good enough to beat Floyd Mayweather after he grew “from a boy to a man” during last night’s world title defence.
Matthew Macklin dug deep to retain his European middleweight title with a laboured points win over Spaniard Ruben Varon in Liverpool on Saturday night. The 28-year-old, in his second reign as Continental champion, went into the fight with one eye on a possible world title shot in 2011.
Olympic gold medallist James DeGale continued his inexorable rise with a ninth-round stoppage of Paul Smith to claim the British super-middleweight title in only his ninth fight on Saturday night.
Amir Khan says his thrilling win over Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas on Saturday night proved he has a “lion’s heart”. The Bolton star went toe to toe with the dangerous Argentine slugger and emerged from an enthralling bout with a unanimous points victory.
Former world champion boxer Ricky Hatton has gone into rehab after battling with severe depression and a drink problem, his spokesman said.
Publicist Max Clifford said Hatton spent several hours speaking to specialists following newspaper claims that the boxer used “industrial quantities” of cocaine on a night out in his home city of Manchester.
