Jhonny Gonzalez retained the WBC Featherweight title with an 11th round stoppage over Jorge Arce at the Centro de Usos Multiples in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico.

Gonzalez scored knockdowns in round’s three, five and nine and the fight was stopped at 2:43 of round 11.

Gonzalez, 126 lbs of Mexico City is now 57-8 with 48 knockouts. Arce, 126 lbs of Los Mochis, MX is now 64-8-2.

Adrian Estrella scored four knockdowns en route to a 12-round unanimous decision over former world champion Celestino Caballero in a Super Featherweight bout.

Estrella dropped Caballero in round five from a hard right hand. A follow up flurry sent Caballero down on his back for a second time in the round. he scored knockdowns in both round;s ten and eleven.

Estrella, 130 lbs of Mexico won by scores of 117-107 twice and 115-109 and is now 19-0. Caballero, 130 lbs of Colon, PAN is now 37-6.

Adrian Young and Edgar Monarrez fought to an 8-round draw in a Super Featherweight bout.

Young, 130 lbs is now 19-1-2. Monarrez, 130 lbs is 18-2-1.

WBA Featherweight champion defends the WBA Featherweight title with a 12 round unanimous decision over Satoshi Hosono in Ypkohama, Japan.

Scores were 119-108, 119-108 and 116-111 for Caballero, 125 1/2 lbs and is now 36-4. Hosono, 126 lbs is now 26-2.

WBC Minimumweight champion Kazuto Ioka scored a 1st round stoppage over Yodngoen Tor Charlermchai in round one of the title bout in Osaka, Japan.

Ioka landed a hard left that set off a big flurry that was punctuated by a left hook that sent the challenger on his back for the ten count at 1:38 of round one.

Ioka, 105 lbs is now 9-0 with 6 knockouts. Charlermchai is now 8-1.

It may have been two years ago but it’s something Jeffrey “Mongoose” Mathebula remembers all to well. He travelled to Panama to face WBA/IBF kingpin Celestino Caballero, who was widely regarded as the best Super Bantamweight on the planet. Despite putting up a career best performance Mathebula was on the wrong end of a close split decision loss. There was no rematch, Mathebula would have to get back in line and earn another shot. The 31 year old won a stay busy fight and was vaulted into a title eliminator against countryman Takalani Ndlovu before again losing a heart breaking split decision. On 11 June he gets his chance to once again secure a title shot when he meets another South African Oscar Chauke in an IBF title eliminator. He will hope that he can get the win that will set up a return with Ndlovu.

Hello Jeffrey, welcome to 15rounds.com

Anson Wainwright – Firstly it’s been several months since you last fought. When can we expect to see you back in action?

Jeffrey Mathebula – I’m very excited!! I will be fighting on the 11th June. It is IBF # 2 Eliminator against my country man Oscar Chauke. Man, this IBF Jnr. Featherweight Title has always been mine!!

Anson Wainwright – Recently your countryman Takalani Ndlovu who beat you on a split decision last year won a world title when he beat Steve Molitor. It must have been nice to see your countryman/friend do this but also frustrating to see someone who you fought so well against win a world title. What are you thoughts on this and Ndlovu?

Jeffrey Mathebula – You are absolutely correct!! Yes, I’m happy for Taki to finally win, especially after our promoter made such a sacrifice in beating Top Rank at the purse bid. However, on the other hand, I should fought have Molitor and not Takalani. I lost an eliminator on split decision. I hope Branco, who promotes all of us, will give me short at Ndlovu!!

Anson Wainwright – Presumably you’d love a second fight with Ndlovu? What can you tell us about the first fight?

Jeffrey Mathebula – I don’t think he give me chance – even if Branco wants to make the fight. He knows I beat him first time! This is why I’m happy to fight now for IBF # 2, which will bring me closer to Takalani fight!

Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us about the members of your team; your manager, trainer & promoter? Also what gym do you regularly train at?

Jeffrey Mathebula – I’m with Nick Durandt, who is my manager & trainer. Of course, we all promoted by Branco (Milenkovic).

Anson Wainwright – What are your thoughts on the Super Bantamweight division including the champions WBC Nishioka, WBA Shimoda/Rigondeaux, IBF Ndlovu & WBO Arce? Who do you consider the best in your weight class?

Jeffrey Mathebula – I want Takalani! I want to prove the point, and after I beat him, anybody can come forward. I’m not scared to fight outside the country, I proved it in Panama.

Anson Wainwright – You also fought Celestino Caballero a couple of years ago, only losing a split decision to him in Panama. Can you tell us about the fight and what you thought it was like fighting there?

Jeffrey Mathebula – I was robbed two years ago in Panama, in unification IBF & WBA against local boy Caballero. Lost on split decision!! You know, in Panama if you lose on split decision, it is like you knock out guy 5 times. The day after the fight, Panama newspapers were having headline “ROBBERY”! Everybody knows I won.

Anson Wainwright – You were born in Malamulele in South Africa, can you tell us about your younger days.

Jeffrey Mathebula – We all had tough childhood – tough and poor. This is why I opted for boxing, to give my family better life.

Anson Wainwright – How did you first become Interested in Boxing and then can you tell us the path it took you?

Jeffrey Mathebula – It was only way out of poverty. But the big fights are with big promoters in Johannesburg and not Malamulele, this is why I have relocated.

Anson Wainwright – What Boxers did you look up to when you were growing up? Who do you enjoy watching today?

Jeffrey Mathebula – There were many great champions from Malamulele, but possibly the most known is Cassius Baloyi – he was my idol.

Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do with your time when you’re not Boxing or training? What are your hobbies and Interest?

Jeffrey Mathebula – I work in the same time as personal trainer for executive clients, at Durandt gym, so I’m busy all day.

Anson Wainwright – Last year the Soccer World Cup took place in South Africa. What did you think of it?

Jeffrey Mathebula – With out doubt it was event of the life time! Have put on the map not only South Africa, but all continents.

Anson Wainwright – Finally do you have a message for the Super Bantamweight division?

Jeffrey Mathebula – I’m still around and I’m coming to get you…but first…Takalani!

Thanks for your time Jeffrey.

Anson Wainwright

15rounds.com

Weekend Thoughts – It was an Interesting couple of days in the Boxing world. In Britain the grudge match between James Degale & George Groves took place in the splendid 02 Arena in London. Going In I thought Degale would beat up “The Ugle kid” as he’d often called Groves in the build up. It was anything but that in actual fact. Groves started well and while Degale came into in the fight in the middle rounds and then late. Groves won a razor thin majority decision by a single point on two scorecards. Full credit to Groves who went to Miami to train and sparred with world rated southpaw Andre Dirrell, the tough love approach certainly seemed to work. He may not be as skilled as Degale but he’s a ballsy fighter who you can’t take anything away from. The rivalry hasn’t been settled and a rematch is almost certain to happen in the future. For my money I though Degale just about eked it out. Nathan Cleverly endured a strange week when first Jurgen Braehmer pulled out, then Tony Bellew stepped in before not being allowed to fight because he was to far off weight only for Aleksy Kuziemski to take the fight at the eleventh hour. Cleverly managed to stop Kuziemski in the fourth and won handily except for a when the game Pole opened up in the third. Strangely the fight was stopped on a cut but in the Degale-Groves fight both guys had worse cuts and that was a British & Commonwealth title fight. Also part of the card Billy Joe Saunders scored his most impressive win to date with an eye opening second round stoppage over Kevin Hammond who’s known to be tough and never stopped previously. Former amateur star Frankie Gavin won a pedestrian twelve round decision as he comfortably handled former British champ Young Mutley… I’m not sure what it is about bad blood in Britain at the moment, there must be something in the water. The Cleverly-Bellew press conference kicked off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mLiYJMJn-8 , then the much anticipated Kevin Mitchell-John Murray fight scheduled for July got a bit tasty when both guys trash talked each other in the ring ahead on Saturday. At ringside Derek Chisora & Tyson Fury squared up to each other and of course we just had Degale & Groves who even after the fight wouldn’t go near one other…It was a shame to see Roy Jones get stopped in the brutal manner he was against Denis Lebedev, hopefully now the great man will hang them up before he gets an more seriously hurt. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlR5fQqdnyc …In Canada the living legend that is Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins once again turned back father time when he won a close but clear decision over Jean Pascal who was 17 years his junior. With the win Hopkins not only claimed the WBC Light Heavyweight title but also the distinction of being the oldest fighter to ever win a world title. Chad Dawson won a decision over Adrian Diaconu that was devoid of any real action…On Friday in North Wales much hyped Sergei Rabchanka beat former Enzo Calzaghe protégé Bradley Pryce over twelve rounds 117-112, 116-112 & 116-113. Rabchanka is handled by super agent Philippe Fondu who rates him as the best fighter he’s worked with. It is hoped that Rabchanka will fight the winner of Lukas Konecny-Hussein Bayram for the European Light Middleweight title in the second half of the year. If Konecny retains the title and faces Rabchanka that would most certainly be an entertaining fight.

Once again Mexican Legend Juan Manuel Marquez 52-5-1(38) proved that age is no obstetrical as he went toe toe with teek tough Michael Katsidis 27-3(22). The give and take action finally came to an end with the champion retaining his WBA & WBO titles via ninth round TKO at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas

The first round is pretty busy with both guys going straight to work, Marquez is more accurate and picks his openings while Katsidis closes the distance and stays in close to Marquez. The second see’s Marquez stay on the outside allowing Katsidis to come forward behind a high held guard. Marquez known as one of the games best counter puncher picks his way through Katsidis porous defense. Too his credit Katsidis continued to pressure Marquez landing some body punches. Nearly a minute into the third Katsidis lands a huge left hook that drops Marquez hard, to his credit he rides out the pressure and fires back his own combination’s. The third round is a contender for round of the year. Marquez enjoys a good fourth landing several eye catching combination’s to head and body. The fifth is much of the same, with Katsidis looking like a man who wont be denied walking through fire trapping Marquez on the ropes toward the end of the round. Katsidis makes Marquez work every second of the sixth & seventh rounds barreling forward pushing the hard nosed Mexican back. The war of attrition is well and truly on. Both guys have there moments in the eighth, Katsidis is marked under both eyes. Finally in the ninth when something had to give Marquez breaks through landing left uppercut hurting the brave Australian who backpedaled. Marquez jumped on his opponent and with plenty of time in the round picked his way through Katsidis until Kenny Bayliss stopped the action a 2.14 of the ninth round.

Afterwards Marquez said with regards a muted third fight with nemesis Manny Pacquiao “It’s what the public wants”

A gracious Katsidis afterward congratualted Marquez and spoke of the sad loss of his brother.

Andre Berto 27-0(21) made quick work of Freddy “El Riel” Hernandez 29-2(20) to retain his WBC Welterweight title for the fifth time. Catching him with a left hook followed by a right hand which punctured Hernandez guard sending Hernandez went down hard in the ring centre, to his credit he got up but referee Russell Mora waved the action over at 2.07 of the first round.

With none of the top guys at Featherweight willing to face Celestino Caballero 34-3(23) he moved up to Super Featherweight in an experiment that ultimately failed as he lost a close split decision to Jason Litzau 28-2(21) when the scores were totaled Litzau won 96-94 & 97-93 while the third judge scored it 96-94 for Litzau. On the HBO on the night scales Litzau weighted 140 while Caballero was 135.

Minnesota’s Litzau started well pressuring Caballero back for most of the first round. Caballero content having seen what Litzau could do picks up the pace. Both guys start fast throwing bombs, a big left from Caballero mid way through the round hurts Litzau, who quickly returns fire. Both guys look like they feel they have the power to take the other out. Caballero takes the fourth with a barrage of punches after shaking Litzau up with a solid right hand. The fifth see’s Litzau get back into the fight, again both guys trade punches with Litzau getting greater success, Caballero’s face is starting to swell. Litzau again enjoys a good round, his greater strength seems to be effecting Caballero in the sixth. The seventh is fairly scrappy round with Litzau pushing forward. Caballero regains a foot hold in the fight landing a solid left hook early in the round and another impressive combination in the middle of the round. The ninth & tenth see both guys land good shots with the momentum going back and for, in what’s a tough round to score.

Campbell Shocked – Nate Campbell dropped back down to Lightweight after a brief sojourn to Light Welterweight when he was unsuccessful against Victor Ortiz. He was expected to get back to winning ways, it didn’t prove that way as he was out hustled over 8 rounds by perennial journeyman Walter Estrada who won his third fight in a row to move to 38-13-1(25). Campbell 38, looked flat and was beaten to the punch by the Colombian on several occasions even getting rocked in the second round. Estrada was deducted a point in the third for hitting and holding. Estrada won a split decision 77-74×2 & Campbell took the other 76-75.

Cuban sensation Erislandy Lara 14-0(9) didn’t need long to dispose of Tim Connors 10-2(7). The end came at 1.38 when Lara first dropped Connors with a stiff jab. To his credit Connors rose but clearly shaken walked into a barrage of shots and was on his way down when the fight was called off. With the win Lara collects Vacant WBA Fedalatin Light Middleweight title.

Florida’s Keith Thurman 15-0(14) kept him impressive unbeaten record when he took apart Favio Medina 23-3-3(8) stopping him in the fourth with a right hand.

In Middleweight action Bastie Samir advanced to 7-0(7) when he battered Billy Cunningham into submission at 1.56. Cunningham was down 3 times before referee Jay Nady halted proceedings.

Michael Finney impressively moved to 6-0(6) when he stopped Clayvonne Howard 2-5-1(1) at 1.26 of the second round. Howard was hurt by a left hook at the end of the first round. Finney pounced on his man in the second pushing him back mixing head and body shots landing 3 hard left hooks that prompted the referee to stop the fight with Howard slumped on the ropes.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former world Super Bantamweight champion Celestino caballero will make his first appearance at Jr. Lightweight when he takes on perennial contender Jason Litzau on November 27th in Las Vegas underneath the world Lightweight championship between Juan Manuel Marquez and Michael Katsidis

Details are also being worked out to add welterweight titlist Andre Berto (26-0, 20 KOs) in a mandatory defense against Selcuk Aydin (20-0, 15 KOs) to the card, promoter Lou DiBella, who promotes Caballero and Berto, told ESPN.com.

DiBella said he and Aydin co-promoter Don King are getting closer on the money. If they make a deal, then HBO will expand the card to a tripleheader.

“Caballero is moving up because he basically has to,” DiBella said of the 5-foot-11 Caballero. “He’s outgrown the 122-pound weight class. At 126, he is unquestionably being avoided. If we could have worked out suitable opposition we could have made a reasonable deal, and he would have stayed at 126. It didn’t happen.”

“We had been kicking around Litzau as a possibility if Caballero had to move up again,” DiBella said. “When it became clear there wasn’t an alternative HBO liked better, we did it. Caballero wanted to fight a name, somebody people have heard of and Litzau is that guy. He’s coming off maybe the best win of his career against Juarez. So Caballero is making a statement — he was the best 122, one of the best 126 and now he’s willing to go to 130 to fight a real guy for TV. He believes he is the best and will do what is necessary to prove it.

“I think it’s an excellent matchup,” Wirt said. “Litzau always come to fight. A lot of people wrote Litzau off, but he stood up to the plate and delivered in the Juarez fight and now we’re planning on another upset.”

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, the April 10th co-feature bout between IBF Light Heavyweight champion Yavoris Clous and Glen Johnson is off citing a hamstring injury to Cloud plus the champion signing a promotional deal with Don King.

“I got a call at literally 10 at night [Monday] from a representative of King [Roy Langbord] saying King did a deal with the kid,”Said Lou DiBella told ESPN.com on Tuesday night from Miami, site of the Wednesday news conference. DiBella is promoting the April 10 double header that will also feature AndreBerto defending hs WBC Welterweight title against Carlos Quintana. “I told him that Richie Boy Promotions was the kid’s promoter of record and that I had made deal for the fight with Glen. [Langbord] said there were issues and that King did a deal with Cloud, but that King would talk to me about doing a deal for the fight. I already had a deal for the fight. So I’m sitting there — I have a show on April 10, a press conference on Wednesday and a flight to Miami in 12 hours. What the [expletive] is going on here? I told [Langbord] to tell Don I have nothing to talk to him about.

“Ten minutes later I get a call back [from Langbord] saying Cloud is hurt. I was on the phone with his lawyer, with his manager and with his adviser. They said they had no idea about him being with King. They were in the blind about him doing a deal with King and to their knowledge he was healthy. He must have gotten hurt walking up the steps to King’s mansion to sign that deal.”

“I don’t know anything about any of that,” King told ESPN.com when told of DiBella’s version of events. “All I know is that the guy came to me five weeks ago and him and his manager [Jerry Attardi] told me they had no deal with anybody and they asked me to help and I said, ‘OK.’ We finalized the details. He signed with me and I didn’t know nothing about any of this.”

“This guy is hurt. He can’t even fight if he wanted to,” King said. “I told Lou [through Langbord] I’d be happy to have him fight Glen, but he can’t do it April 10. We’ll jump through hoops to fight Glen Johnson. But we asked for a medical exception from the IBF, the IBF granted an exception. It’s just a postponement of the fight. With or without me, Cloud wouldn’t be able to fight on April 10. So he’ll fight Glen Johnson as soon as the doctor clears him.”

“I had to make a decision in the middle of the night on whether I could save this fight and I didn’t think it could, so I turned to the most meaningful thing I could do and something that would also work for HBO,” DiBella said. “I was on the phone with Caballero’s people and we were in touch with Yordan’s people in Indonesia.”

“They got back to me quickly and they weren’t interested in the fight in this time frame,” DiBella said. “I had already locked in a doubleheader with the site and the promotional materials were done. So we made Caballero-Yordan overnight and changed everything.”

“There may be some lawsuits. I suffered damages,” DiBella said. “I don’t like litigating, but what went down was wrong and the way it went down was wrong.”

15Rounds.com Matt Yanofsky caught up with with unified 122 lb champion Celestino Caballero at Saturday night’s Lopez/Gamboa doubleheader
interview-with-celestino-caballero