Perhaps Glen Johnson's best attempt at head-games during the buildup to Saturday night's 175-pound rematch with IBO titlist Chad Dawson is his refusal to admit defeat.
The facts are that Johnson was not only judged the loser of their first light heavyweight clash in April of 2008 by scores of 116-112 on all three cards, but that the decision was rendered before a partisan crowd in Miami -- not far from the native Jamaican's current home in Hollywood, Fla.
But Johnson's insistence that he was "robbed" clearly rankles Dawson's promoter, Gary Shaw, and if nothing else, has Dawson so chagrined that he has vowed to turn up the heat when they face off at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., near the champion's hometown of New Haven.
Former world champion Winky Wright will return from an eight-month layoff when he enters the ring against Grady Brewer on Dec. 11 at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan.
A southpaw who will turn 38 on Nov. 26, Wright is coming off of consecutive losses by decision to Bernard Hopkins and Paul Williams in July 2007 and this past April, respectively.
Wright (51-5-1, 25 knockouts) owns victories over former world champs Shane Mosley and Felix Trinidad, and fought to a disputed draw with former undisputed middleweight (160 pounds) champion Jermain Taylor.
On this week's edition of The MMA Hour, we were joined by Dan Hardy, who faces Mike Swick in a No. 1 contender's match at UFC 105 on Nov. 14. Hardy talked about getting a shot to fight for the title early in his UFC career, MMA's popularity in the United Kingdom, and his recent criticism of Bernard Hopkins after the boxing legend blasted MMA.
LOS ANGELES -- As is usually the case in the world of UFC president Dana White, a lot is happening on a daily basis. Not only is this weekend UFC 104, but news continues to break on a whole host of topics. FanHouse spoke to White on Thursday about whether Dan Henderson will re-sign with the organization or head to Strikeforce, Bernard Hopkins' recent negative comments about MMA, "Big" John McCarthy not working at UFC 104 and Chuck Liddell's fighting future.
White discussed all those issues and much more. Check out the video interview (which includes mature language) below.
Paul Williams is pursuing a fight with either WBO junior middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk or Sergio Martinez on Dec. 5 in Atlantic City now that his scheduled bout for the same night, against Kelly Pavlik, has been canceled, his promoter, Dan Goossen, and his trainer and manager, George Peterson, told FanHouse.
Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs) has a staph infection in his left finger that has plagued him for months, having led to the second postponement of his WBO and WBC middleweight title defenses against Williams (37-1, 27 KOs), a two-time welterweight and one-time junior middleweight champion.
Showtime's Sports general manager, Ken Hershman, said that he is "thrilled" concerning the success of last weekend's two super middleweight bouts of the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament, even as he expressed concern and well-wishes toward Jermain Taylor, who was diagnosed with a concussion following his 12th-round knockout loss to Germany's Arthur Abraham.
After losing to Abraham (31-0, 25 KOs) in a clash of former middleweight (160 pounds) champions, Taylor (28-4-1, 17 KOs) was hospitalized for a few days in Germany following their 168-pound battle.
Stop me if you've heard this one before: a legendary figure from the boxing world has decided to take a couple of shots at MMA. This time its Bernard Hopkins who has decided to join the MMA bashing party.
Speaking to BoxingScene.com, "The Executioner" took a page out of Bob Arum's handbook, comparing MMA to "entertainment porno."
On July 4, America's independence Day, "Fast" Eddie Chambers was handing Ukrainian Alexander Dimitrenko his first loss in 30 bouts before a crowd partisan to Dimitrenko in Hamburg, Germany.
It was Chambers' fifth consecutive win since a January 2008 setback against Russian Alexander Povetkin. And the symbolism is not lost on Chambers, America's best shot at a heavyweight champion.
"I hear that a ton from my fans, like, 'You're the only one who is gonna do it.' It was important for me to go over there and show my skills," said Chambers, who defeated Dimitrenko the day before the latter's 27th birthday. "Beating Dimitrenko, you know, I realize what it did for the United States and our hopes of having a world champion again."
Former undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins will fight hard-punching Enrigue Ornelas on Dec. 2 at the Liacorous Center on the campus of Temple University in his hometown of Philadelphia.
The 12-round light heavyweight matchup for Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 knockouts) precedes an agreed-upon rematch with Florida's multi-champion Roy Jones (54-5, 40 KOs) that is slated for perhaps late January or early February, assuming Jones gets through his cruiserweight bout on the same night against Austrailia's Danny Green (27-3, 24 KOs).
Puncher to Promoter is an upcoming documentary about Oscar De La Hoya that chronicles the fighter's transformation from his early childhood life as the product of a poor, underprivileged Latino family living in East L.A., into that of an Olympic gold medalist, a world champion and a top promoter.
"What audiences will find is that in the process of Oscar's ups and down, and through the course of his wins and his losses, they can learn -- as Oscar did -- to take failure and use it as a foothold on success," film director Leigh Simons promises. "Through the experiences outlined in Oscar's life through this film, the audience will relate."
FanHouse recently talked to Simons for this exclusive interview below.
Perhaps Glen Johnson's best attempt at head-games during the buildup to Saturday night's 175-pound rematch with IBO titlist Chad Dawson is his refusal to admit defeat.
Former world champion 
LOS ANGELES -- As is usually the case in the world of UFC president 
Paul Williams
Showtime's Sports general manager, 
Stop me if you've heard this one before: a legendary figure from the boxing world has decided to take a couple of shots at MMA. This time its 
On July 4, America's independence Day, "Fast" 
Former undisputed middleweight champion 
