Tom Leffler, former promoter of Gennadiy Golovkin, recalled under what circumstances his ward's fight with Jaime Munguia was derailed.
"Everything was negotiated and signed by Munguia for the biggest fee of his career. HBO PPV and MGM Grand liked GGG fighting an undefeated Mexican puncher with a record of 28-0, 24 KOs on "Cinco de Mayo" as Canelo's replacement.The day before we were going to announce the fight, Bob Bennett of the Nevada Commission derailed it with one of the most bizarre decisions I've seen from a commissioner. I checked with the other major commissions and they had no problem approving it at all. At his age of 36, GGG was no longer the youngest, and Jaime was physically bigger - he was fighting now at 168 pounds. Munguia had already trained and won the world title that same month, proving our point that he was a world class boxer and was worthy of fighting! Bob took away the big fight at Cinco de Mayo in Las Vegas in 2018 from GGG, Munguia and the fans...," said the functionary.
UFC welterweightAnthony Smith has spoken out about the return of Brazilian legend Jose Aldo to the octagon. Smith noted that it will be cool to see Jose back in the octagon in his home country of Brazil.
"It's cool to see Aldo return, especially here in Rio where he's so loved. He's fighting one of my teammates. I'm looking forward to seeing Jonathan Martinez go out there and get the win. Honestly, even though Jonathan is my teammate, it would be cool to see Jose take another walk," Smith said.
As a reminder, Aldo will fight at UFC 301, which takes place on the night of May 5 in Rio de Janeiro. Jose will meet in the octagon with Jonathan Martinez.
Paige VanZant, former UFC and BKFC fighter, has reacted to Dillon Danis' claim that they allegedly had an intimate relationship.
"It has come to my attention that there is some clown named Dillon Danis on social media trying to talk some nonsense. So, let's get started. I said you're not a real fighter and that provoked you. I realize I hurt your feelings. But instead of just saying mean things about me and saying I'm not a real fighter, what did you do? You kind of backed yourself into a corner because now you have to show proof of this alleged affair, right? As far as I can remember, the only time I saw you in Vegas was at a UFC event. You came up to me at the bar and asked me to take a picture with you in front of tons of other UFC fighters and I laughed in your face. Stirring up drama on the internet to try to pick a fight with my husband, there are definitely better ways to do it. He has three things you will never have. One, a wife, two, friends, and three, a real resume in MMA. So Dillon, sorry if I hurt your feelings, but when you're a piece of shit like you are now, it's damn easy to do, good luck to you," VanZant wrote on social media.
Tim Tszyu, former world champion in the first middleweight, did not speak too flatteringly about modern boxing. He compared it to reality TV, writing a post on social media about it.
"There's too much drama in boxing right now. It looks like some kind of reality show. Like 'The Kardashian Family' or something like that..." - wrote Tszyu.
His last fight Tszyu held at the end of March this year, losing by decision to Sebastian Fundora. At stake in that fight were the WBC and WBO middleweight championship belts. This defeat was the first in the professional career of the Australian boxer. Now his record is 24-1, 17 KOs.
Well-known UFC rostered welterweight Anthony Smith revealed how he fought the robbers.
"I really didn't think long at that point. It was more dangerous for my kids and my wife, so I wasn't worried about getting into a fight with him. I knew this guy had broken into my house and I had a tough time with him, but the reality is I beat him to a pulp. He then spent a long time in the hospital with brain swelling trying not to die. But that didn't really bother me. It was horrible at the time because it was unexpected, but over time it completely stopped bothering me. I said he was the most resilient competitor. I didn't say he almost beat me. He was just very tough because he wouldn't stop. He was on drugs, so he was just super crazy. I said he was tough, but I didn't say he was good. He just never stopped. To summarize, I'd never hit a man so hard in my life. I was really tired during that time. I was also really tired in the fight with Volkan Ozdemir," Smith said.
Anthony Smith, former UFC bantamweight title challenger, explained why he lost in his last fight to Khalil Rountree.
Jose Aldo, former UFC featherweight champion, has created what he believes is the perfect fighter. Notably, the Brazilian has taken two of his "skils" - striking and knockdown defense.
jab and knockdown defense - Jose Aldo;
Submissions - Charles Oliveira;
jaw strength - Max Holloway;
cardio - Merab Dvalishvili;
kickdowns - George St. Pierre;
grappling - Demian Maia.
Jose Aldo's next fight will be against Jonathan Martinez. Their fight will take place on the night of May 5 in Rio de Janeiro as part of the co-main event of UFC 301.
In his last fight, Jose Aldo lost by unanimous decision to Georgian fighter Merab Dvalishvili.
Anthony Smith, a welterweight, compared the organization's current and former lightweight champions Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
"Islam is a more versatile fighter than Khabib. I think Islam has better striking technique, and he's probably better at going for parterre holds. He's definitely better at leg kicks. So he has more skills. But Khabib was incredibly good at what he did. He was good at imposing his will on any opponent. I would say that Islam is more 'skilful', but Khabib was still better because of the fact that he had a strong side where there was just nowhere to be better."
Jon Jones, the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, spoke to a fight fan on social media about Tom Aspinall, the promotion's interim champion in the division.
Fan: "Tom is literally the interim UFC heavyweight champion."
Jones: "From my perspective, he's more of a number one contender after Stipe."
Aspinall didn't have anything to say in response, only adding a photo on social media of the moment he asks Jones about their fight.
Jones just recently had his first training session after a long layoff due to recovering from an injury. His next fight will be against Stipe Miocic, a former heavyweight champion.
On the night of May 5, Las Vegas will host an evening of boxing headlined by a bout between Saul Alvarez and Jaime Munguia. The preliminary card starts at 01:00. The main card will start at 03:00. Below is the link to the broadcast and the event card:
Main card
Saul Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) - Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs)
Mario Barrios (28-2, 18 KOs) - Fabian Maidana (22-2, 16 KOs)
Brandon Figueroa (24-1-1, 18 KOs) - Jessie Magdaleno (29-2, 18 KOs)
Eimantas Stanyonis (14-0, 9 KOs) - Gabriel Maestre (6-0-1, 5 KOs)
Vito Melnicki, Jr. (17-1, 12 KOs) - Ronald Cruz (19-3-1, 12 KOs)
Jesus Ramos (20-1, 16 KOs) - Johan Gonzalez (34-2, 33 KOs)
Tentative card
Alan David Picasso (27-0-1, 15 KOs) - Damien Vazquez (17-3-1, 9 KOs)
Gabriel Valenzuela (28-3-1, 17 KOs) - Jose Angulo (16-8, 9 KOs)
William Skull (21-0, 9 KOs) - Sean Hemphill (16-1, 10 KOs)
Jabine Chollet (9-0, 7 KOs) - Julian Bridges (4-0, 2 KOs)
Adrian Torres (7-0, 6 KOs) - Arsen Poghosyan (3-1-1, 2 KOs)
