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Philippines, 18 Apr 2024 |
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LOMACHENKO IS HBO'S THE FIGHT GAME (TFG) FIGHTER OF THE YEAR, MAYWEATHER HITS WHITE By Maloney L. Samaco PhilBoxing.com Sun, 31 Dec 2017  Jim Lampley announced during the year-end program of ?The Fight Game? on HBO that Vasyl Lomachenko is the winner of the TFG's ?Fighter of the Year? award for 2017. Lampley also disclosed that Lomachenko is chosen as the No. 1 fighter on ?The Fight Game? pound-for-pound list. Ukrainian Lomachenko (10-1, 8 KOs) pounded all of his three opponents this year and made them quit. ?The most technically pure boxer in the sport had an immaculate year,? Lampley said. * * * ?First, in April, Vasyl Lomachenko made a confused Jason Sosa?s corner call it quits after nine rounds. He was the second opponent in a row who opted out of further embarrassment," said Lampley. ?In August, Miguel Marriaga chose the same path. In December, Lomachenko decisively put to rest the belief of some that Guillermo Rigondeaux was an equally profound talent. So, for the first time, and most likely not the last, Vasyl Lomachenko is the TFG Fighter of the Year.? * * * Lomachenko stopped the previously undefeated fighter and fellow two-time Olympic gold medalist Rigondeaux (17-1, 11 KOs, 1 NC) in a six-round one-sided match on December 9 in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. HBO televised Lomachenko?s victorious encounter over Sosa. While ESPN showed his winning fights against Marriaga and Rigondeaux since the network has recently signed up a new partnership agreement with Lomachenko?s promoter Top Rank Inc. * * * The other award winners Lampley announced Wednesday night are : Fight of the Year: Anthony Joshua over Wladimir Klitschko Knockout of the Year: David Lemieux over Curtis Stevens Person of the Year: Anthony Joshua Trainer of the Year: Eddy Reynoso (Canelo Alvarez) * * * UFC President Dana White created a stir among boxing and MMA circles when he said he was scheduled to meet with Floyd Mayweather's team. There were rumors circulating that the UFC lured Mayweather to a multi-fight agreement to begin a career in mixed martial arts. Mayweather asserted that the pact amounted to $1 billion. But later he negated it stating he is not interested in fighting again. * * * White clarified everything and explained that the meeting is not about Mayweather fighting in the UFC. He says it has something to do with the UFC's plan to promote boxing events. "Let's be clear here. Floyd gets killed in MMA, and I think even Floyd knows that," White said. "I've been very honest about I'm getting into boxing. I want to get into boxing and in 2018 the next couple of months, I'm meeting with everybody from the boxing world and I'm meeting with Team Mayweather too." * * * At a late age of 40 years old and having fought only one combat sport since 2015 after the fight with Manny Pacquiao, it was improbable that Mayweather would consider the thought of fighting in the octagon even for a huge prize. "He's not talking about it," White said blatantly. "I mean, Floyd would be crazy. Obviously it would be a big deal, Floyd would make a lot of money. But no, I don't think Floyd wants to fight in the Octagon." * * * White experienced co-promoting boxing when Mayweather fought UFC superstar Conor McGregor in a showdown that sold over 4 million pay-per-view buys and a sizable gate attendance last August at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. White immediately considered the idea of the UFC engaging in boxing promotions under the company Zuffa Boxing. "I'm going to talk to a lot of people, I'm going to listen, and then I'm going to figure it out," White said. "I'm going to see if I want to do this or not. But I have a Plan A and a Plan B and we'll see how it goes." * * * But the former five division world champion was irated with White's actions. Mayweather accused White of using his name as leverage in some sensitive negations to renew a television contract with FOX. The UFC had a seven year TV deal with FOX in 2011 which ended and need to be renewed. There were reports that FOX offered the UFC $200 million for the new contract, but that amount is less than half of what UFC is aiming at. * * * Mayweather has sounded off and blamed White of constantly using his name to deceive them that the undefeated boxer might fight in the MMA in order to boost the UFC's business in dealing a TV rights contract with FOX. "I've made a lot of money in my career, I've spent a lot of money in my career, but I've made a lot of smart investments," Mayweather told Fighthype.com. * * * "I'm not hurting for money. I took the McGregor fight because that was an opportunity for me to make nine figures," said Mayweather. "The UFC.... their deal with Fox is coming to an end, they're trying to renew a new deal and what better name could they can use than Floyd Mayweather. I don't need to fight again." Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.  |
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