The Gold League

[Thomas Hearns]

May 20th

A confirmation and another return.

Veteran former Lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo reached an agreement to fight on the Welterweight Tournament. Castillo is 38 and in his last fight he defeat Sammy Ventura by TKO2.

On another great contratation the league promoters said that former JWW and WW champion Ricky Hatton will comebock on the Welterweight tournament of the league.
Hatton didn't fight since being defeat by Manny Pacquiao on May of 2009 but he is only 33 now , so he is still young to compete on the first level.

[Thomas Hearns]

May 31st

Final Negotiations

Finally we will know who are the former heavyweight stars that were negotiating with the league promoters:

Lennox Lewis decided to reject to participate on the Gold League, Lennox said that he is too old to boxing sport and he haven't climbed to a ring for almost nine years. He also said that if this offer have come five or six years earlier he perhaps would accepted it.
With this withdraw all people that wanted a rematch with Vitaly Klitschko will stay with the desire.

But not all is bad:

Former undisputed Heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe has reached an agreement with the league promoters and finally will make his much heralded come back. Lewis is 43, his last fight was in 2008 and he had fought only three times on the last fifteen(!)years. On the other way Bowe only lost one time against Evander Holyfield and never received a beating in his whole career. The weight is another problem for Riddick on his last fight he was around 270 lbs.

Former Light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Michael Moorer will be other of the returned fighters. Moorer is 44 and he didn't fight since februay of 2008 but he has won his last six fights.

Finally and without the shine of the others former cruiserweight champion Vassily Jirov decided to participate on the Heavyweight tournament. Jirov retired in 2007 but then he come back on 2009 but only for a fight but now at 38 he is ready for a new challenge.

[Thomas Hearns]

Finally the tournament will have 280 participants: 112 heavyweights, 84 middleweights and 84 welterweights.

On the first round the heavyweight tournament will have 16 groups of seven fighters and the first three qualified of each group will pass to the secondr round.

The welterweight and middleweight tournament will have 12 groups of seven fighters and the first three of each group will pass to the second round.

The format is a round robin so every boxer will participate on six fights on this first round.

In the next few days will present each of the groups.

[Thomas Hearns]

June 1st

Finally the league will start on July 1st 2012, the month of june will be used to promotionals purposes and to present the different Groups for the first round of the three tournaments.
on this period some fighters had scheduled fights and others used it to finish his warm up to the tournament.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 1

Wladimir Klistchko Ukraine (36) 57-3-0 (50)
Audley Harrison United Kingdom (40) 28-5-0 (21)
Kevin Johnson United States (32) 28-2-1 (13)
Michael Grant (39) United States 48-4-0 (36)
Francesco Pianeta (27) Italy 26-0-1 (14)
Tye Fields United States (37) 49-5-0 (44)
Tony Grano (31) United States 20-2-1 (16)

Current WBA-WBO-IBF-IBO and number one Heavyweight in the world Wlad Kilitschko is the clear favourite to win the group and to pass this stage undefeated.
For the other two spots on the second round veterans Harrison and Grant seem to be the favourites but Kevin Johnson has his chances.
Vetreran Tye Fields seem to be a step under this three and finally lackluster Tony Grano doesn’t appear with any opportunity.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 2

Antonio Tarver (43) United States 29-6-1 (20)
Denis Lebedev (33) Russia 24-1-0 (18)
Pavel Kolodzieg (31) Poland 30-0-0 (17)
Frans Botha (43) South Africa 48-7-3 (29)
Taras Bidenko (32) Ukraine 28-5-0 (12)
Manuel Charr (27) Lebanon 21-0-0 (11)
Johann Duhaupas (31) France 27-1-0 (16)


Former light heavyweight and current IBO cruiserweight champion Antonio Tarver and WBA cruiserweight interim champion Denis Lebedev appear as the main favourites to pass to the following stage.
The third qualified could be veteran southafrican warrior Frans Botha or top cruiserweight contender and former minor blets title holder Pavel Kolodzieg.
Charr is still undefeated but he only face average oposition his best victory is against fellow group member Taras Bidenko.
Lackluster frenchman Johann Duhaupas seem to be the worst of the group.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 3

Oldanier Solis (32) Cuba 18-1-0 (12)
Fres Oquendo (39) Puerto Rico 34-7-0 (23)
Mariusz Wach (32) Poland 27-0-0 (15)
Jovo Pudar (41) Bosnia 28-3-0 (16)
Alexander Ustinov (35) Russia 27-0-0 (21)
Johnaton Banks (30) United States 28-1-1 (18)
Konstantin Airich (33) Germany 23-6-2 (17)

Cuban prospect Oldanier Solis seem to be the best of this group but under him veteran Fres Oquendo and two undefeated prospects Mariusz Wach and Alexander Ustinov are the candidates for the other two places. Veteran Jovo Pudar has also his chances but he only fight average oposition on his whole career. With a good record and victories against some veterans like Mayfield and Rossito and a defeat against Tomasz Adamek, Johnaton Banks is a real guess.
German Airich seem to be a step backwards of the rest.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 4

Marco Huck (27) German 34-2-1 (25)
Tony Thompson (40) United States 36-2-0 (24)
Jameel McCline (42) United States 41-12-3 (24)
Guillermo Jones (40) Panama 38-3-2 (30)
Ondrej Pala (27) Czech Republic 30-3-0 (21)
Sam Sexton (28) United Kingdom 15-3-0 (6)
Lisandro Diaz (34) Argentina 19-11-1 (15)

Current WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck, top heavyweight contender Tony Thompson and current WBA cruiserweight veteran Guillermo Jones are the three favourites of this group. Veteran and a bit wash up Jameel McLine can be the only enemy of this trio.
Ondrej Pala has a good record but against poor oposition. He lost his most important fight against Denis Boystov. Sam Sexton is an average fighter Derek Chisora gave two beatings to him and also David Price punished him. Former argentine heavyweight champion Lisandro Diaz hasn’t got any chances of qualifying.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 5

David Haye (31) United Kingdom 26-2-0 (24)
Monte Barrett (41) United States 35-9-2 (20)
Kali Meehan (42) Australia 38-5-0 (31)
Vassily Jirov (38) Ukraine 38-3-1 (32)
Timur Ibragimov (37) Uzbekistan 31-4-1 (16)
Andrej Wawrzyk (24) Poland 26-0-0 (13)
Travis Walker (33) United States 39-7-1 (31)

Former cruiserweight and heavyweight champion David Haye is clearly the class of this field, but the rest of the fighters seem to be in a very even level. Jirov seem to be the best of the rest but the former cruiserweight champion didn’t fight since 2008. Monte Barrett had lot of experience winning and losing with some of the best heavyweights. A bit backwards is Timur Ibragimov who had lost some of his most important fights but had victories against Olivier McCall,Alfred Cole and Luis Pineda.
The poland Andrej Wawrzyk is a good but unproven prospect.
Finally is hard hitter Travis Walker that has a victory against fellow group participant Kali Meehan. The australian is perhaps the most irregular of this group

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 6

Ola Afolabi (32) Nigeria 19-2-4 (9)
Samuel Peter (31) Nigeria 34-5-0 (27)
Robert Helenius (28) Finland 17-0-0 (11)
Albert Sosnowski (33) Poland 47-5-2 (28)
Tor Hamer (29) United States 18-1-0 (11)
Brian Minto (37) United States 37-5-0 (24)
Carlos Takam (31) Cameroon 26-1-0 (20)

With a great campaign on the cruiserweight included a draw against WBO champion Marco Huck, Ola Afolabi appear as the best of this group. Depending of his physical training fellow nigerian Samuel Peter can be a good opposition. Peter doesn’t fight since april of 2011 and he lost he last two fights. Robert Helenius is perhaps the best of all the young prospects on the heavyweight division. Helenius also has a KO victory against Samuel Peter. This three fighters are the real favourites to pass to the next round.
Albert Sosnowski was an interesting prospect that only lost a fight on his first 10 years as a profesional but against low opposition. On his last ten fights when the rivals were better the Poland only won four fights.
At thirty seven Brian Minto look a bit spent for the first level and Carlos Takam is a real guess he has an amazing record but the only great name in his it is veteran Frans Botha.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 7

Tomasz Adamek (35) Poland 46-2-0 (28)
Oliver McCall (47) United States 55-11-0 (37)
Steve Cunningham (35) United States 24-4-0 (12)
Enzo Maccarinelli (31) United Kingdom 35-5-0 (27)
Vyacheslav Glazkov (27) Ukraine 11-0-0 (8)
Ismaikel Perez (26) Cuba 18-0-0 (12)
Raymond Olubowale (42) Nigeria 10-5-1 (7)

Former Light Heavyweight and Cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek is the great favourite to win this group. Former IBF cruiserweigth champ Steve Cunningham appear as his worst enemy. Veteran former WBC Heavyweight champion hard-hitter Oliver McCall will fight for being the third qualified on this group. He is good enough to do it but on the other hand he is 47. Former WBO and WBU cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli seem to have passed his best days but he still can challenge for a place on the second round.
Vyacheslav Glazkov has only eleven fights all won but against low opposition his lack of experience can be crucial for him. On the same way is fellow undefeated cuban Ismaikel “Mike” Perez.
The participation of the Nigerian giant Raymond Olubowale is only to complete the seven fighters on the group he is not a serius contender.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 8

Evander Holyfield (49) United States 44-10-2 (29)
Denis Boystov (26) Russia 31-0-0 (25)
Donnel Holmes (39) United States 33-2-2 (29)
Derek Chisora (28) United Kingdom 15-3-0 (9)
Sherman Williams (39) Bahamas 35-11-2 (19)
Chazz Whiterspoon (30) United States 30-3-0 (22)
Martin Rogan (41) Nothern Ireland 14-3-0 (7)

What more can do Evander Holyfield at 49 years old? Can the former cruiserweight and four times heavyweight champion qualified to the second round? Holyfield is a living legend of boxing and without doubts is the most skillful fighter of this group but the age is a silent enemy for him….
On another way undefeated Russian prospect Denis Boystov will have his fire test here, on his last two fights he increased the grade of opposition and he still performed well.
After winning his first 14 fights on a row Derek Chisora had lost four of his last five but all against top rivals. If he is focused on the tournament he can challenge for one spot on the second round.
Donnel Holmes and Chazz Witherspoon are in the same position good records but without great names on his wins and losing when they face harder opposition.
Bahamian warrior Sherman Williams still can give problems to the rest. He is happy of staying on this group becouse he wants a rematch with Holyfield.
Irish Martin Rogan seem to be the weakest point of the group.

[Thomas Hearns]

June 15th

With some small changes the Gold League promoters give the final details of the Tournaments.

The beginning date will be July 1st 2012 and the tournament will have four rounds during the following two years.

First round
From July 1st 2012 to January 31st 2013

Heavyweight Tournament
Entries:112

Sixteen groups of seven fighters each one, round robin system with the first three of the group (48 fighters) passsing to the second round.

Middleweight and Welterweight Tournaments
Entries: 84 on each tournamnet.

Twelve groups of seven fighters each one, round robin system with the first four of the group (48 fighters) passing to the second round.

Second round
From February 1st 2013 to June 30th 2013

All tournaments.

Eight groups of six fghters each one, round robin system with the first two fighters of the group (16 fighters) passsing to the third round.

Third Round
From July 1st 2013 to January 31st 2014

Two groups of eight fighters each one with the first three of each group (six fighters) passing to the fourth and final round.

Final round
From February 1st 2014 to June 30th 2014

The six remainder fighters will face each other on a round robin to determine the champion of the different tournaments.

All the fights will be scheduled to six rounds and the points system is two points for the winner, zero for the loser and 1-1 in case of draw.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 9

Vitaly Klitschko (40) Ukraine 44-2-0 (40)
Eddie Chambers (30) United States 36-3-0 (18)
DaVarryl Williamson (44) United States 27-7-0 (23)
Denotay Wilder (26) United States 24-0-0 (24)
Matt Godfrey (31) United States 20-3-0 (10)
Fabio Moli (43) Argentina 44-8-0 (29)
Gonzalo Basile (38) Argentina 55-7-0 (23)

Like his brother Wladimir, WBC champ Vitaly Klitschko is the clear favourite to win this group without any tourble. The pair of ukrainian brothers are the big favoutrites to win this league.
Eddie Chambers appears as the enemy for Vitaly on this group and he should have no problems to pass to the second round.
The third palce on the second round will be disputed by a post-best days DaVarryll Wilson and promising knockout artist Denotay Wilder that put to sleep all his “unknown” rivals to the date. Matt Godfrey a man who win against poor opposition and lost his big fights (against Huck and Kayode) could have some chances too.
To complete the group former southamerican and Latino champion Fabio “La Mole” Moli a veteran heavyweight good for the internal argentine competition but lackluster against the best and archrival Gonzalo Basile who was knoked out every time he fought outside of his country.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 10

Roy Jones Jr (43) United States 56-8-0 (40)
Ruslan Chagaev (33) Russia 29-2-1 (18)
Arthur Szpilka (23) Poland 12-0-0 (9)
Dominick Guinn (37) United States 34-9-1 (23)
Alex Lepai (32) Samoa 25-4-3 (20)
George Arias (38) Brazil 51-11-0 (37)
Tupou Bowie (30) Tonga 22-1-0 (16)

Former four divisions champion and once pound for pound best boxer in the world Roy Jones Jr. is the main attraction of this group. Roy will fight on around 190 lbs and could be the lighter of all the tournament competitors. Most expected him to participate on the middleweight tournament (up to 170 lbs.) but he chooses the Heavyweight one due to the lack of talent of most of the participants. The six round format can suit Roy to outbox his rivals using his hand speed until gettig tired.
Former WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev is the worst enemy of Roy in this group, Ruslan is a real Heavyweight and he will fight on around 230 lbs, forty more than Jones.
The Poland Arthur Szpilka is a real guess, undefeated on twelve fights he looks too inexperienced but on his last fight he beat former title contender Jameel McCline.
At 37 Dominick Guinn doesn’t look like a big force after defeating Michael Grant nine years ago he lost every big bout that he fight except against Audley Harrison.
Alex Lepai is a samoan hard-hitter that have some good wins (Owen Beck,Travis Walker) but he was knocked out by Kevin Johnson on his last fight.
Veteran Brazilian George Arias is the class of the field on the southamerican continent but he doesn’t seem to have enough fuel in the tank to pass to the second round.
Finally Tupou Bowie a native of Tonga with a good record against poor opposition.
Of the last five fighters the Poland Szpilka seem to be the more solid contender to pass to the second round with Jones Jr. and Chagaev.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 11

Alexander Povetkin (32) Ukraine 24-0-0 (16)
Yoan Pablo Hernandez (27) Cuba 26-1-0 (13)
Kubrat Pulev (31) Bulgaria 16-0-0 (8)
Sergey Lyakhovich (36) Belarus 25-5-0 (16)
Bermane Stiverne (33) Haiti 22-1-1 (20)
Damian Wills (32) United States 30-3-1 (23)
Shane Cameron (34) New Zeland 29-2-0 (22)

Ordinary WBA champion undefeated Alexander Povetkin is the main favourite to win this group, IBF cruiserweight champ Yoan Pablo Hernandez is his best opposition. For the third spot on the second round undefeated Kubrat Pulev seem to be the favourite. He has short experience but he also had some good wins (Guinn, Walker, Vidoz, Skelton).
Lyakhovich and Wills seem to be on an equal position after a good start of their careers beating average opponents they weren’t good enough for the big names. Lyakhovich lost four of his last six fights and Wills three of his last twelve.
Bermane Stiverne had a good record fighting nobody his only good win is against a veteran Ray Austin. Shane Cameron is the asia-pacific heavyweight champion good for his continent but nobody knows how he will perform against best opposition. On his biggest fight he was defeated by David Tua.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 12

Chris Arreola (31) United States 35-2-0 (30)
Krysztof Wlodarczyk (30) Poland 46-2-1 (33)
David Price (28) United Kingdom 13-0-0 (11)
Jean Marc Mormeck (40) France 36-5-0 (22)
David Rodriguez (34) United States 36-0-0 (34)
Timo Hoffman (37) Germany 40-7-2 (23)
Jason Gavern (35) United States 21-10-4 (10)


WBC cruiserweight champion Krysztof Wlodarczyk and top Heavyweight contender Chris Arreola are the big forces on this group. Arreola lost his two bigger fights (Adamek and Vitaly) but he performed well against a bit less opposition. The Poland is a solid cruiserweight champion and he should not have problems to pass to the second round.
For the third spot on the second round there are to fighters on very different stages of their career: former cruiserweight champion Jean Marc Mormec at 40 seem to have passed his best days and promising british prospect David Price lacks of experience.
Hard-hitter David Rodriguez has an outstanding record but built against journeyman.
Timo Hoffman seem to be in his last days as a boxer and he usually fails on the big fights, and finally Jason Gavern is a journeyman with the only merit of facing a lot of the upcoming prospects (Ustinov, Wach, Boystov, Banks).

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 13

David Tua (39) Samoa 52-4-2 (43)
Firat Arslan Germany (41) 32-5-2 (21)
Michel Moorer (44) United States 52-4-1 (40)
Edmund Gerber (24) Germany 20-0-0 (13)
Cedric Boswell (42) United States 35-2-0 (26)
Dennis Bakhtov (32) Russia 35-8-0 (24)
Joe Hanks (29) United States 20-0-0 (14)

Veteran Samoan David Tua a real champion without crown of this days is the clear favourite of this group but David didn’t fight for almost an year when he lost against Monte Barrett showing the first signs of decline.
The other two spots will be disputed by three veterans and two unproven prospects. The best and most skilled of them is former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Michael Moorer who returns to the ring after a four years hiatus. Before retiring Moorer won his last six fights but returning at 44 could be too hard for him.
Cedric Boswell is other of the veterans of this group. He has a protected career so he has a good record but fighting poor opposition. He lost his most important fight against Alex Povetkin.
German Firat Arslan is a good cruiserweight that win and lost with some of the best of his division.
Edmund Gerber and Joe Hanks are two undefeated but unproved prospects. Gerber has a victory against Maurice Harris but Hnaks didn’t have any remarkable names on this record.
Finally Russian Dennis Bakhtov didn’t appear as a real threat on this group, the russian lost all his important fights.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 14

James Toney (43) United States 74-7-3 (45)
Matt Skelton (45) United Kingdom 27-6-0 (22)
Lateff Kayode (29) Nigeria 18-0-1 (14)
Luis Ortiz (33) Cuba 16-0-0 (13)
Seth Mitchell (30) United States 25-0-1 (19)
Nagy Aguilera (26) Dominican Republic 17-7-0 (12)
Scott Malik (31) United States 34-0-0 (11)

Nigerian cruiserweight Lateff Kayode seem to be the one with the best actuality, he came of a draw against IBO cruiserweight champion Antonio Tarver, he is young and good.
Former middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight champion (he also win WBU lightheavyweight crown) James Toney is by far the more talented of this group but his physical state at the age of 43 is a question mark. On his last fight against Bobby Gunn, James weighted 248 lbs. But if he is on an aceptable condition he can pass to the second round.
Three undefeated fighters will challenge for the remainder spot on the second round Seth Mitchell appear as the most proved of the three, Luis Ortiz don’t have big names on his record but he shows that he has power on his hands.
Malik is undefeated but he didn’t show power even against journeyman.
Nagy Aguilera doesn’t seem to have any chances to pass to the next stage, he lost six of his last ten fights.

[Thomas Hearns]

Group 15

Juan Carlos Gomez (38) Cuba 51-3-0 (38)
Bryant Jennings (27) United States 14-0-0 (6)
Riddick Bowe (43) United States 43-1-0 (33)
Franklin Lawrence (36) United States 17-2-2 (12)
Maurice Harris (36) United States 25-17-2 (11)
Jason Estrada (31) United States 19-4-0 (5)
Derric Rossy (32) United States 26-5-0 (14)

Also far away of his time of undefeated cruiserweight champion Juan Carlos Gomez stil has skills enough to win this group without trouble. His main rivals are the undefeated prospect Bryant Jennings that didn’t face any remarkable opponents (his best victory is against Sergey Liakhovick) and former champion and heavyweight star Riddick Bowe. “Big daddy” is making his return to the rings after three and a half years and he only fight four times on the last fifteen years. Bowe only lost one time on his whole career against Evander Holyfield but how is him physically is a real guess. This group is quite accessible so Bowe has chances to pass to the second round.
Of the remainder four fighters Franklin Lawrence and Maurice Harris seem to be the best. Lawrence has only 21 fights at 36 so he is a bit old but inexperienced but he has some interesting wins. Harris win and lose with a lot of remarkable heavyweights (included Larry Holmes). His experience could be very important to pass to the second stage.
The other two fighters are Jason Estrada that was defeated by Povetkin, Adamek and fellow group participant Frank Lawrence on his most remarkable fights and Derric Rossy who lost to Dimitrenko, Pulev, Chambers and fellow group participant Maurice Harris. So Rossy and Estrada seem to be a step backwards of the others.