Whyte: AJ is such a good boy

Dillian Whyte has dubbed Anthony Joshua 'a good boy' after he took a stylish step towards their winter showdown with Saturday's first-round knockout victory over Irineu Beato Costa Jr.

Whyte moved to 15-0-KO12 with an emphatic performance in Hull as he twice felled the giant Brazilian to win inside two minutes and he now turns his attentions to September 12, when he will appear on the undercard of Joshua's Commonwealth title fight with Gary Cornish.

Brixton's Whyte and Watford's Joshua have traded insults on social media in recent months and the Olympic champion will get his chance to avenge an amateur defeat when the pair finally meet in the ring later this year - but Whyte has dismissed the notion Joshua is 'a bad man trying to be good.'

The 27-year-old told Sky Sports: "I am not a bad man anyway but if people say Anthony Joshua is a bad man with a ruthless side to him, I am saying he is no bad man. He is a good boy. He is a good boxer but he is a good boy.

We have both had the same amount of fights and knocked out whoever's in front of us but he has been made out to be a great hope and a great role model. With social media and TV, you can build anything.

"I have had ups and downs and been on small shows, selling tickets and building my fan base from the ground up but now people are starting to see that Anthony Joshua is not the only heavyweight prospect. There are others out there who are big and strong and aiming to get to the top of the tree.

"I'm sure he would have watched but he would not have gained much information from my fight. It only lasted two minutes so you could not really see holes."

Whyte admits he needs sterner tests than Costa Jr and has held talks with promoter Eddie Hearn about possible opponents for September 12.

But the Londoner fears he will miss out on a fight against European champion Erkan Teper, who dramatically knocked out David Price to win the belt last month.

"We had a phone call this morning, but still no opponent yet," he said. "There are still a couple of names that we are going through. Hopefully we will have something sorted in the next week or so.

"They are guys like Johann Duhaupas and Edmund Gerber, and a few other guys. That sort of level of opposition.

"Erkan Teper is in the mix as well, but I doubt he will fight though seeing as he just won the belt. That is probably his last fight for this year maybe, so we will see what happens."

Looking ahead to encountering Joshua at upcoming press conferences, Whyte said: "I don't plan these things. It all depends on what he does. If he tries to give me attitude.

"'Violent' is a strong word to use. I'm respectful of everybody. I am a respectful fellow but if he tries to act like this so-called hard man people say he is, I will respond accordingly to what he does and says."

Whyte was economical and accurate in his work at the KC Lightstream Stadium and afterwards credited the influence of new trainer Johnathon Banks, who also trains heavyweight kingpin Wladimir Klitschko.

He is scheduled to travel with Banks to train at the legendary Kronk gym in Detroit later this month.

"Johnathon trains possibly one of the greatest heavyweight champions of the last 20 or 30 years," he said.

"Wladimir is a perfectionist and with one phone call could have been praised by anyone so if he chooses Johnathon, why shouldn't he be beneficial to me?"

Thurman: Khan has no business at 147 – come through me!

Undefeated WBA World welterweight champion Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 KO’s) stopped Luis Collazo in July as the former welterweight titlist retired on his stool at the conclusion of the seventh round due to a cut that was impairing his vision.

For the past eight months or so, Thurman has had plenty of criticism for former light-welterweight titlist Amir Khan, who he has described as the most overrated fighter at 147-pounds.

Khan, who also fought Collazo a year ago, knocking him down three times en-route to a unanimous decision victory, wasn’t impressed with Thurman’s performance and suggested a nickname change.

He calls himself ‘One Time,’ but he can’t do it. I think he needs to change his name to ‘Sometimes’”.

Thurman, known for his quick responses, showed his colors.

“Three knockdowns without a stoppage, let’s announce that,” Thurman said. “I am 26-0 with 22 knockouts, right? I guess maybe I am ‘Sometimes,’ right? I guess I am ‘Sometimes.’

“Amir, how many knockouts do you have? I guess we should call you ‘One Time’ because that’s probably how many knockouts you got is one, so it is what it is.”

Thurman was partially criticized for his performance because at times he didn’t engage Collazo and danced circles around him. However, the Clearwater, Florida native explains that he executed that strategy to “piss” Collazo off due to the way he was fighting him in the earlier rounds.

“I moved forward for the first two rounds. The first two rounds when Collazo was moving backwards being conservative, it really looked like he didn’t even show up to fight. Let’s be real,” said Thurman.

“In the third round, Collazo finally wanted to start fighting. I was like, ‘Cool, I’ve been waiting for you to do this, but just to piss you off because you want to run away from me, I’m gonna run away from you! I can play this game, too.’”

Thurman describes himself as a Yinyang fighter, which in Chinese culture, represent two opposite principles in nature. When your adversary is aggressive, you’re passive. When your adversary is passive, you’re aggressive. When both fighters are aggressive, that is when we get wars.

“I have my style, you [Khan] have your style. You want to talk the talk? Let’s walk the walk. Meet me in the ring,” he added.

With both fighters signed with Al Haymon, you would think that the fight would be easy to make, but that hasn’t been the case, with Thurman going as far to say that he wanted Khan in March and not Robert Guerrero.

“It’d be real easy to make the fight happen. I’m not Floyd Mayweather. You don’t have to keep running your mouth to not get a fight. All you have to do is call up Al Haymon and demand for the fight.

“Do you even know that I’ve already asked for you? I wanted you, not Guerrero. Do you know that?” Thurman questioned.

Thurman pushed for the fight earlier in the year as he stated, but Khan opted to fight Chris Algieri instead, who was coming off a lopsided defeat to Manny Pacquiao last November.

“We can throw blows later on this year – if he wants to make it happen – I’m ready to make it happen. I don’t need to talk no smack. I’m ready to fight.

Since moving up to the welterweight division, Khan has yet to face a big puncher. He has racked up victories against Julio Diaz, Luis Collazo, Devon Alexander, and Chris Algieri.

The last time he faced a solid puncher in Danny Garcia, he was caught by a counter left hook and stopped in 2012. Thurman, noting this, was very critical of Khan’s standing as a welterweight.

“I said it years ago. Amir Khan has no business being in the welterweight division. If he wants to prove himself as a welterweight – come see me – come through me! Come take my 0! Show the world that you are a legitimate welterweight.”

Amir khan pledges to train Pakistan boxers himself

British boxing sensation Amir Khan has pledged to train Pakistan boxers himself. Talking to reporters at Lahore Press Club here on Monday, 28-year-old Amir, who is on a short visit to Pakistan with his family, said he was ready to train Pakistan boxers in England if they wanted to visit his Amir Khan Academy there. “Pakistan only lacks facilities while the boxing talent is there,” he added. The World Boxing Council (WBC) silver welterweight champion said he would meet Pakistan boxers and also share his experiences with them. Amir also visited the Amir Khan Boxing Academy which is being run under the Punjab Sports Board (PSB).

Amir said Pakistan was rich in boxing talent which can be groomed under a long term plan. “I can see a lot of talented boxers in Pakistan and they have the necessary potential to gain international prominence if modern facilities are provided to them to polish their skills,” he maintained. Amir’s father also pointed out an issue and said that there were two parties handling boxing affairs and if they could work out a solution, they are ready to accept boxers in their academy in England. Amir said that he got a lot of love from Pakistan fans and was happy to receive such a support from the nation. “People love me too much. I am proud to be of Pakistani origin,” he maintained. Amir also said that he would invest his money in Pakistan to help people of the country. Later, Amir was awarded life-time honorary membership of the Lahore Press Club.

A Good Leader Learns When To Let Others Lead

Letting someone else hold the reigns when the situation calls for it doesn’t make you any less of a leader. In fact, you are more enlightened of a leader if you do. Although some may have a hard time releasing that power, a good leader knows when a more skillful subordinate should lead the situation. After all, it is the completion of the project that is important. Don’t let pride put the team in jeopardy if a subordinate has the required skills for the task at hand. Here are some tips that may help you in your quest to be the kind of leader who knows when to let others that are more qualified take over:

1. Emotional

Too many times leaders will continue his or her tasks when they are severely emotionally compromised. It is proven that emotional stresscauses a lack of judgment regardless of your status. A leader needs to be able to have subordinates lean on them when things are getting tough. They need to be a pinnacle of aspiration and may not be able to provide that comfort and knowledge if they are in an emotionally distraught frame of mind.

2. Stress 

It’s not an easy task to be a leader of a large group. You are constantly dealing with those under your command and exuding fairness among all of them. If the stress begins to swell up inside you, decisions may become questionable. If there is no possible way to vent this frustration, it is in everyone’s best interest to step down from your commission and allow a fresh outlook of the task from someone who can do the job. It doesn’t mean you are any less of a person. It means that you’re responsible enough to realize you cannot handle the situation and don’t want to jeopardize the team or project.

3. Knowledge

Leaders need to have the knowledge of the specific goal or task they are attempting to complete. Without this knowledge, the task could surely fail. As failure is not an option, it is better to allow someone else to lead the team in order to secure success. This doesn’t mean you are uneducated. It means that you see that someone else has superior skills and would do the team a great justice by leading. The best thing to do is to allow the other person to lead the team and learn all you can about the task in order to perform better the next time.

4. Burden 

At times, the burdens we face may be great. As a prelude to the stresses from above, too much of this burden can wear down our mental and physical selves. Allowing someone to shoulder some of that burden can help ease your tension. This could give you breathing room and the person a chance to prove him or herself as a leader to you and your management. You shouldn’t view this as a weakness. Gathering the support of your subordinates in order to delegate some of the leadership role shows more about your character than letting the job eat you away.

Stepping down doesn’t mean that you are losing what you have worked for. On the contrary, your supervisor could hold the situation in high regard. You are demonstrating that the good of the whole company supersedes your own desire to lead. It is an attitude that many managerial staff lack and one that should be incorporated into every leadership role. Sacrificing the project in lieu of your own personal feelings should never be an option.

Manny Pacquiao and Danny Garcia should clash in February

Danny Gracia scored a ninth round TKO over Paulie Malignaggi last night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

The 5-foot-9, 147-pound Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs) dominated, bruised and bloodied the 5-foot-9, 147-pound Malignaggi (33-7, 7 KOs) with an array of flush lefts and rights.

Conversely, Malignaggi never landed a meaningful punch and the overwhelmed Brooklynite was consistently on the defensive.

Referee Arthur Mercante Jr compassionately halted the mismatch at 2:22 of the decisive frame.

"I still have things to work on, but I'm proud of myself -- 147 is where it's at. I felt a lot stronger [at 147],” said Garcia, 27, who unified two major belts as a junior welterweight. “In the ninth round, I felt like it was round 1. I need to work on shortening up punches and sticking with the game plan.”

Malignaggi raved about Garcia’s abilities and proclaimed that the Philadelphian is an elite prizefighter.

"I think Danny can be an upper-echelon fighter. He already is," said Malignaggi, 34, a former junior welterweight and welterweight titlist. "He can put his name in the history books. He has a lot of talent. People don't realize he has a lot of character, too. He has a very good poker face. He doesn't get frustrated, and if he does, he doesn't show it to you. His father's a great trainer, and he really stays on him.”

Malignaggi is expected to retire and focus on his work as a topflightboxing analyst.

Comparatively, Garcia, who has conquered Lamont Peterson, Lucas Matthysse, Zab Judah, Erik Morales and Amir Khan, is prepared to meet any welterweight. Recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder, Manny Pacquiao will re-enter the squared circle in either February or March. The 36-year-old Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs), who tore his rotator cuff roughly three weeks before getting outclassed by Floyd Mayweather on May 2, failed to properly inform the Nevada State Athletic Commission about his injury. Pacquiao was subsequently prohibited from taking an anti-inflammatory shot, fought timidly, and was outscored by the 38-year-old Mayweather (48-0, 26 KOs) by embarrassing counts of 116-112, 116-112 and 118-110.

Pacquiao is an eight-division titleholder who the Boxing Writers Association of America named its “Fighter of the Decade for the 2000s.” The speedy southpaw used his superior quickness to land blistering combinations and become one the world’s premier pound-for pounders. Despite his pleasing style, Pacquiao shamed the boxing community last spring and fans deserve to receive some form of compensation for his abysmal outing. Accordingly, rather than competing on Pay-Per-View, Pacquiao should show humility and throw fists on standard TV this winter.

The most intriguing and qualified opponent for the 5-foot-6 Pacquiao to face would be Garcia. Garcia is a fierce battler who possesses vastly underrated power and a hellacious left hook. Nicknamed “Swift Danny,” Garcia, who turned professional as a 19-year-old in 2007 and was featured on the cover of the December 2013 issue of The Ring magazine, is also 6-0 in championship scraps.

Already “an upper-echelon fighter,” a free bout pitting Danny Garciaversus Manny Pacquiao would be a knockout for boxing.

We are Amir's army: Boxer Khan gets special gun guard

Amir, 28, and his wife Faryal Makhdoom, 24, are being protected by an army of gun-toting security guards in case of a Taliban attack.

He posted a number of pictures on Instagram and Twitter showing the size of his security team.

Amir said: “Police protocol front and back Lahore. This doesn’t mean it’s not a safe country. It is what it is. #Pakistan.”

The boxer spoke out against the Taliban following an attack on a Peshawar school where 132 pupils were gunned down last December.

Klitschko will come to America to fight Wilder

BC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder wants to lure the big cat out of his natural habitat – albeit this cat tends to fight all over the world – and he wants to unify the heavyweight division.

‘Too bad, so sad’ is how Wilder feels on the issue because if the Ukrainian wants to come even close to history – he’s going to have to back to the United States of America.

The 39-year-old Klitschko defends his plethora of heavyweight titles from the ESPRIT Arena in Germany on October 24th against the undefeated 6’9” Tyson Fury of Manchester, Lancashire, UK.
If he gets past Fury, he may or may not fight Wilder. The Fury fight will be the first fight of a new five-fight deal with longtime German television partner RTL. Also, the fight could be difficult to make.

Since June, Wilder has been fighting on Premier Boxing Champions and is expected to fight on the platform again on September 26th against an unknown opponent.

Wilder fought on Showtime prior to his new home on PBC. On the other hand, Klitschko, who probably wants nothing to do with the platform, is signed with HBO. That could cause some conflicts, but I don’t think it will be an issue.

It’s important to keep in mind that Klitschko is very business savvy.

Klitschko is fighting Fury in Europe because that’s where the interest is for that type of a fight. It wouldn’t be a successful fight in the United States because a majority of Americans don’t have a connection with either fighter.

When Klitschko fought Bryant Jennings – an American – he came to the Madison Square Garden. Wilder is a World champion and is a much bigger draw. Trust me. Klitschko-Wilder is going to take place in the United States. Wilder has nothing to worry about.

“We not going nowhere; we’re going to stay right here in America. We’re going to bring him here, sometime maybe mid or end of next year,” Wilder said via Fight Hype. “I won’t rest in this sport until I achieve all the belts. Klitschko wants what I have. I am the legitimate heavyweight; I’m the heavyweight champion of the world. He looked real old.”

Klitschko wasn’t all that impressive against Jennings. He looked a little sloppy and had trouble landing consistently on Jennings – who was a moving target for much of the bout.

Wilder himself wasn’t all that impressive against a fringe contender in Eric Molina that we all expected to get knocked out in the first round. Although he got the knockout in the ninth, Wilder was caught early in the fight by a left hand and had to show some grit to stand on this feet.

Who do you think comes out on top in this one?

Jones in great shape for Rose return - Sanchez

Jones returned to Sanchez’s Big Bear training base in California for the first time since his draw with Dean Byrne in London in December 2012, and the trainer of Kazakh star Gennady Golovkin believes that the Oklahoma man will provide a conclusive ending to the controversial rivalry with Rose.

Jones landed a first round stoppage win over Blackpool man in his backyard in February, bouncing back from being hurt by Rose early in the round to rock ‘The Lion’ with a barrage of shots that saw the referee jump in and stop the action.

Sanchez believes that the controversy from the first fight has added more fuel to the fire beneath the rematch, and that Jones will be the man that moves forward with his career this weekend.

“As rematches go this is natural for this one to happen in light of the controversy,” said Sanchez. “Fortunately for Carson he has spent eight weeks in camp with us this time and he looks fantastic – so I hope Rose has prepared well.

“Carson has been away from me for four or five fights, but after the first fight with Rose he called me up and said he wanted to work with me again and he's done a long camp for the rematch.

“You can never criticise the judges or the referee’s for their decision, we want them to feel safe and to go home to their families. It’s better to air on the side of caution than someone get seriously hurt. Tomorrow we will find out for sure if it was a premature stoppage last time.

“Whether it was controversial or not, the referee is there to protect the fighters, he felt Brian needed protecting and he stopped the fight. It's made for a more appealing and highly anticipated rematch and Carson is focused on it as he knows Brian wants revenge.

“Carson has rededicated himself back to the level he was when he first fought Kell Brook here. Rose is our focus but after we win that we will aiming for a World title shot.”

Rose made the agreed weight limit for the non-title fight at the second attempt at today’s weigh-in at Victoria Square in Hull, returning to weigh 11st 3lbs 1oz, with Jones a touch heavier at 11st 3lbs 6oz.

Jones’ rematch with Rose is part of a massive night of action in Hull topped by the all-Hull WBC World Lightweight title official eliminator between Luke Campbell MBE and Tommy Coyle.

Former two-weight World champion Ricky Burns back in action after his heroic performance in Texas against Omar Figueroa, Martin J. Ward defends his WBC International Super Featherweight title and unbeaten Brixton Heavyweight Dillian Whyte in action.

Garcia TKOs Malignaggi

At Barclays Center in Brooklyn tonight, Danny “Swift” Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs) stopped Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi (33-7, 7 KOs) by TKO. Referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped the fight at 2:22 of the ninth.

The bout marks Garcia’s first time fighting at welterweight.

Despite Malignaggi having his moments, he proved no match for the stronger and harder-hitting Garcia. Not that the Philadelphian showed a whole lot besides an inability or unwillingness to throw combinations. If it had ever occurred to him to throw more than one punch at a time, the bout probably wouldn’t have gone past the third. Still, he connected. So did Malignaggi on occasion, particularly with a right uppercut in the seventh. But Brooklyn’s favorite son is a graduate of the Maxie Rosenbloom School of Punching. Those blows, using the word loosely, wouldn’t distress a rose petal. Or, as a gentleman sitting nearby put it, “He hit like baby lotion, soft as shit.”

Malignaggi has also been stopped by Ricky Hatton, Amir Khan, and Shawn Porter.

A definitive, if not particularly impressive, win for Garcia, who said after the fight, “I feel strong, I feel good, and I used my jab. I have things to work on. I’m proud of myself, 147 is where it’s at.”

Said Malignaggi, when asked if he was ready to hang ‘em up, “This is probably it.”