Boxer Pleads Guilty Of Murder

The Boxer known as The Harlem Hammer will be sentenced this week for the murder of an L.A. freelance sports writer named Sam Kellerman incident that occurred in October, 2004.

James Butler Junior attacked Kellerman with a hammer that was found afterwards near the body and he set on fire the victim’s apartment located in Hollywood. The victim had been beaten in the head around thirty times while sitting at his computer.

The Harlem Hammer and the victim used to be friends and the boxer was staying at Kellerman’s apartment since late September. The motive for the murder hasn’t been revealed yet for the authorities.

The boxer pleaded guilty on both charges: manslaughter and arson. According to the Deputy Public Defender Jack Keenan, Butler would be sentenced to 29 years and 4 months in prison by California State Court Judge Michael Pastor. If Butler would have gone to trial and had been convicted of murder he would have had to face about 34 years in jail.

The victim was the younger brother of Max Kellerman, boxing expert and host of ESPN Radio show in New York who covered professional boxing matches.

Boxing Notebook: Everything’s Super This Week

SuperFighter hit New York City on Monday - it’s the latest craze. Three fights, four rounds, eight contestants - it’s four hours of mayhem, Australian style. Duval invented an eight-man eliminator that offers the winner a whopping $5 million.

Chris Byrd (39-3-1 20 KOs)

- The former IBF heavyweight champion.

O’Neil Bell (26-1-1 24 KOs)

- The current cruiserweight champion. He crushed French tank Jean Marc Mormeck in a war. A big plus for Bell is that he can crack.

“The Nigerian Nightmare” Samuel Peter (26-1 22 KOs)

- He’s George Foreman’s pick to take it all. In a four-rounder, he’s the most dangerous opponent.

Steve “USS” Cunningham (19-0 10 KOs)

- He’s the #1 IBF cruiserweight and walks around at 195 lbs. Cunningham showed a dynamite chin by taking everything Guillermo Jones could offer.

Shannon Briggs (45-4 40 KOs)

- Since his loss to Jameel McCline, he has fought every club fighter from New York to Arizona.

Alexander Povetkin (7-0 5 KOs)

- I think Povetkin is Russian for pulverized. Can you recall who won? Clottey Chasing Margarito

Joshua Clottey (28-1, 20 KOs) is ranked #4 by the WBC, #5 by the WBO and #7 by the IBF. Just as the high ratings indicate, Clottey believes he is capable of beating the best welterweights in the world, and having reeled off nine consecutive victories the star from Ghana has his eyes set on WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (33-4, 24 KOs).

“I’m determined to become a world champion,” Clottey says. “I have the skills, work ethic and heart to be a champion. Margarito may want to fight an easier fight right now, but if Antonio wants to stay at welterweight, he can run, but he can’t hide.”

Floyd Mayweather turned down an $8 million dollar offer to face the WBO champion, so Margarito is running out of defense options. In a recent FightBeat.com interview, Bob Arum confirmed a Clottey matchup: “Mayweather has shown reluctance to fight Margarito, so we are thinking about putting Margarito-Clottey on the undercard of Rahman-Maskaev clash.” That fight takes place Aug. 12.

Diego “Chico” Corrales (40-2 33 KOs) and Jose Luis Castillo (52-7-1 46 KOs) are revving their engines to produce another “fight of the year.” If you’ve never seen their first fight, GET IT! Castillo was fined for this stunt, but Team Corrales agreed to fight anyway. The weight issue proved to be a mistake, something even promoter Gary Shaw admits: “I’ll never do again what I did in this fight,” Shaw said. “If the contract calls for 135 pounds it will be at 135 pounds.” The fight takes place June 3. Sportsbook has Castillo-220, Corrales +180

Barrera Wars with Juarez

Marco Antonio Barrera really underestimated 2000 Olympian Rocky Juarez. Juarez showed power with both hands and kept countering Barrera all night with left hooks and overhand rights. The correct total was 115-114 in Barrera’s favor to give the champion a split-decision victory.

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