WBC tries to sort through cruiserweight mess; Jack vs. Mikaelian II is ordered |
|
The WBC is sorting out its convoluted cruiserweight title situation. The sanctioning body announced that its Board of Governors has issued the following ruling: First, it has granted the appeal presented by Don King Productions and is ordering a direct rematch between WBC champion Badou Jack and former champion Noel Mikaelyan. The free negotiations has commenced and if there is no agreement a purse bid will take place on July 1st. Second, former world light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal will fight Michal Cieslak for the interim title on June 28th. Third, the winner of Pascal vs. Cieslak must fight Yamil Peralta next. Fourth, the WBC has ordered a medical update on the condition of Ryan Rozicki injury to evaluate his status.
In May, Jack retained his title against Mikaelian in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In doing so, Jack, who lives in the Middle East, seemingly got some favorable treatment from the judges. He was awarded a majority decision in what was a very close bout that leaned towards Mikaelian. The official scores were 114-114 and 115-113 (twice) for Jack. Compubox's Punchtats showed Mikaeljan threw 670 punches to Jack's 369, and outlanded Jack, 153 punches to 122. Each fighter entered the bout with some disadvantages. Mikaelian (27-3) stepped in as a somewhat late replacement, getting about three weeks notice to replace the injured Rozicki.
Jack (29-3-3) is 41 years old and hadn't fought in two years, since he captured the crown on February 26, 2023. He was demoted to champion-in-recess, but then had his championship status revived when Mikaelian was demoted from champion to champion in recess due to promotional issues with Don King.
|
|
|
|
WBC tries to sort through cruiserweight mess; Jack vs. Mikaelian II is ordered
The WBC is sorting out its convoluted cruiserweight title situation. The sanctioning body announced that its Board of Governors has issued the following ruling: First, it has granted the appeal presented by Don King Productions and is ordering a direct rematch between WBC champion Badou Jack and former champion Noel Mikaelyan. The free negotiations has commenced and if there is no agreement a purse bid will take place on July 1st. Second, former world light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal will fight Michal Cieslak for the interim title on June 28th. Third, the winner of Pascal vs. Cieslak must fight Yamil Peralta next. Fourth, the WBC has ordered a medical update on the condition of Ryan Rozicki injury to evaluate his status.
In May, Jack retained his title against Mikaelian in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In doing so, Jack, who lives in the Middle East, seemingly got some favorable treatment from the judges. He was awarded a majority decision in what was a very close bout that leaned towards Mikaelian. The official scores were 114-114 and 115-113 (twice) for Jack. Compubox's Punchtats showed Mikaeljan threw 670 punches to Jack's 369, and outlanded Jack, 153 punches to 122. Each fighter entered the bout with some disadvantages. Mikaelian (27-3) stepped in as a somewhat late replacement, getting about three weeks notice to replace the injured Rozicki.
Jack (29-3-3) is 41 years old and hadn't fought in two years, since he captured the crown on February 26, 2023. He was demoted to champion-in-recess, but then had his championship status revived when Mikaelian was demoted from champion to champion in recess due to promotional issues with Don King.
|
Jose Santa Cruz, trainer and father of a world champion, passes away |
|
PBC has announced the passing of Jose Santa Cruz, beloved father and trainer of former world champion Leo Santa Cruz. Born in 1958, Jose was the heart of Team Santa Cruz—an unwavering presence in his son’s corner and a true fighter in his own right. Jose exposed all of his sons to boxing. Armando Santa Cruz is a former contender at 135 pounds, but Leo shined especially bright from an early age, winning a world amateur championship at 15 years old and going on to become a multiple division champion with Jose in his corner. Boxingtalk joins PBC in sending its deepest sympathies to Leo, Armando and all friends and family of Jose Santa Cruz during this difficult time.
|
|
|
|
Jose Santa Cruz, trainer and father of a world champion, passes away
PBC has announced the passing of Jose Santa Cruz, beloved father and trainer of former world champion Leo Santa Cruz. Born in 1958, Jose was the heart of Team Santa Cruz—an unwavering presence in his son’s corner and a true fighter in his own right. Jose exposed all of his sons to boxing. Armando Santa Cruz is a former contender at 135 pounds, but Leo shined especially bright from an early age, winning a world amateur championship at 15 years old and going on to become a multiple division champion with Jose in his corner. Boxingtalk joins PBC in sending its deepest sympathies to Leo, Armando and all friends and family of Jose Santa Cruz during this difficult time.
|
Ex-champ Oliver McCall to fight tonight at age 60 |
|
Here are the boxers' weight for Tuesday's Jimmy Adams Promotions' show at the Troubadour Nashville in Tennessee:
Julio Luna Avila 153.6 pounds -vs.- Adrian Gutierrez 152;
Oliver McCall 235.4 -vs.- Carlos Reyes 207.8;
Savannah Tini 144.6 -vs.- Simone da Silva 144;
David Griffith 174.4 -vs.- Alejandro Fugan;
Damazian Vanhouter 208 -vs.- Dante Williams 221;
Jaywon Woods 197.4 -vs.- Kevin Torian 193.4;
Alfred Ortiz 124.8 -vs.- Marco Lara 125; and
Brent Cooper 158 -vs.- George Sheppard 161.4 (exhibition).
The first bell is scheduled for 7PM CT (8 PM ET), with broadcast coverage on Dooya Media, Countrybox247.com, itube24.com, Triller.TV.
Marc Abrams, Mike Rodgers and Albert Haynesworth on the call. Get your tickets at countrybox247.com
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE
McCall is now 60 years old. He turned pro in 1985 and won the WBC title by stopping the great Lennox Lewis in 1994. Reyues is 7-17-2 overall, including 0-12-1 in his last thirteen outings dating back to 2015. McCall ended 5 1/2 years of inactivity last year when he knocked out 50-something Stacy Frazier with an amateurish punch in round two. The knockout in that fight was about as bad as you would expect. Frazier hadn't won a fight since 2014. McCall won a second comeback fight in January, stopping Gary Cobia (3-5), who failed to come out for round two.
|
|
|
|
Ex-champ Oliver McCall to fight tonight at age 60
Here are the boxers' weight for Tuesday's Jimmy Adams Promotions' show at the Troubadour Nashville in Tennessee:
Julio Luna Avila 153.6 pounds -vs.- Adrian Gutierrez 152;
Oliver McCall 235.4 -vs.- Carlos Reyes 207.8;
Savannah Tini 144.6 -vs.- Simone da Silva 144;
David Griffith 174.4 -vs.- Alejandro Fugan;
Damazian Vanhouter 208 -vs.- Dante Williams 221;
Jaywon Woods 197.4 -vs.- Kevin Torian 193.4;
Alfred Ortiz 124.8 -vs.- Marco Lara 125; and
Brent Cooper 158 -vs.- George Sheppard 161.4 (exhibition).
The first bell is scheduled for 7PM CT (8 PM ET), with broadcast coverage on Dooya Media, Countrybox247.com, itube24.com, Triller.TV.
Marc Abrams, Mike Rodgers and Albert Haynesworth on the call. Get your tickets at countrybox247.com
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE
McCall is now 60 years old. He turned pro in 1985 and won the WBC title by stopping the great Lennox Lewis in 1994. Reyues is 7-17-2 overall, including 0-12-1 in his last thirteen outings dating back to 2015. McCall ended 5 1/2 years of inactivity last year when he knocked out 50-something Stacy Frazier with an amateurish punch in round two. The knockout in that fight was about as bad as you would expect. Frazier hadn't won a fight since 2014. McCall won a second comeback fight in January, stopping Gary Cobia (3-5), who failed to come out for round two.
|
Simpson and Zucco to contest European super middleweight honors |
|
Callum Simpson fights Ivan Zucco of Italy for the vacant European super middleweight championship at Oakwell Stadium in Barnsley, England on Saturday June 7th, live on Sky Sports. It will be a battle of undefeateds as Simpson ios 17-0 and Zucco is 21-0. Simpson believes a win will put him on course for a world championship bout. "I've won the British and I've won the Commonwealth, European's the next step. After that we push on for world titles next year," Simpson told Sky Sports." It will be Simpson's third fight of 2025 while Zucco's last action came in December of 2024.
|
|
|
|
Simpson and Zucco to contest European super middleweight honors
Callum Simpson fights Ivan Zucco of Italy for the vacant European super middleweight championship at Oakwell Stadium in Barnsley, England on Saturday June 7th, live on Sky Sports. It will be a battle of undefeateds as Simpson ios 17-0 and Zucco is 21-0. Simpson believes a win will put him on course for a world championship bout. "I've won the British and I've won the Commonwealth, European's the next step. After that we push on for world titles next year," Simpson told Sky Sports." It will be Simpson's third fight of 2025 while Zucco's last action came in December of 2024.
|
Touissant to face Hicks on Hall of Fame show this weekend |
|
Wendy “Haitian Fire” Toussaint will collide with undefeated Joseph Hicks Jr. in a junior middleweight clash on Friday, June 6th at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. The bout is part of the International Boxing Hall of Fame's annual induction weekend and will be presended by Salita Promotions in association with Star Boxing and will and broadcast live globally on DAZN. The 33 year-old Toussaint (16-3, 7 KOs), known for the relentless pace, ring savvy and fire he showed in a controversial loss to Ardreal Holmes Jr., enters the bout looking to derail the momentum of the undefeated Hicks, a former U.S. amateur standout. With major divisional implications at stake, this fight may serve as a launchpad toward world title contention for the victor. Toussaint is from Long Island, New York, by way of Haiti.
Hicks (12-0, 9 KO's), fighting out of Michigan, is know for his craftiness with impressive slick movement and deceptive power but will be facing his stiffest test yet in the veteran Toussaint.
The show wil be headlined by a heavyweight battle between Brandon Moore and undefeated Stanley Wright, along with a unified world super middleweight title defense by Franchón Crews-Dezurn. Also featured are Joshua Pagan, Da’Velle Smith, and more.
“Star Boxing is proud to continue to provide opportunities for determined fighters like Wendy Toussaint,” said Star Boxing CEO Joe DeGuardia. “We know Wendy has what it takes to reach the top but has a tough challenge as Hicks is a top class fighter. But, if the Wendy we know shows up in that ring on June 6th we believe fans will be in for a surprising fight and new coming out party for Wendy under the bright lights of Hall of Fame weekend.”
|
|
|
|
Touissant to face Hicks on Hall of Fame show this weekend
Wendy “Haitian Fire” Toussaint will collide with undefeated Joseph Hicks Jr. in a junior middleweight clash on Friday, June 6th at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. The bout is part of the International Boxing Hall of Fame's annual induction weekend and will be presended by Salita Promotions in association with Star Boxing and will and broadcast live globally on DAZN. The 33 year-old Toussaint (16-3, 7 KOs), known for the relentless pace, ring savvy and fire he showed in a controversial loss to Ardreal Holmes Jr., enters the bout looking to derail the momentum of the undefeated Hicks, a former U.S. amateur standout. With major divisional implications at stake, this fight may serve as a launchpad toward world title contention for the victor. Toussaint is from Long Island, New York, by way of Haiti.
Hicks (12-0, 9 KO's), fighting out of Michigan, is know for his craftiness with impressive slick movement and deceptive power but will be facing his stiffest test yet in the veteran Toussaint.
The show wil be headlined by a heavyweight battle between Brandon Moore and undefeated Stanley Wright, along with a unified world super middleweight title defense by Franchón Crews-Dezurn. Also featured are Joshua Pagan, Da’Velle Smith, and more.
“Star Boxing is proud to continue to provide opportunities for determined fighters like Wendy Toussaint,” said Star Boxing CEO Joe DeGuardia. “We know Wendy has what it takes to reach the top but has a tough challenge as Hicks is a top class fighter. But, if the Wendy we know shows up in that ring on June 6th we believe fans will be in for a surprising fight and new coming out party for Wendy under the bright lights of Hall of Fame weekend.”
|
Tellez steps up vs. Salinas in Orlando on Saturday |
|
Bantamweight Reina Tellez (11-0-1, 5 KOs) of San Antonio, Texas returns to the ring in the biggest test of her career as she takes on seasoned Mexico's Maria Salinas (27-11-6, 7 KOs). The eight-round bout is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 7th at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida, as part of the Most Valuable Prospects 13 fight card. It will be broadcast live on DAZN. Tellez, known for her combination punching and ring composure, faces a durable and experienced opponent in Salinas, who has shared the ring with world champions and title contenders throughout her career.
Salinas has lost two in a row, but to contender-level opposition. "Salinas is a veteran and she’s crafty,” said Tellez. “She’s been in there with the best, but I’m here to prove I belong at the top. I’m not underestimating her—but I’m not backing down either."
Tellez has been working hard in training camp noting, "Camp has been intense and focused. We’ve been sparring with high-level partners to replicate Salinas’ experience and style. I’m in peak shape physically and mentally. My record shows that I’m not just undefeated—I’m ready for world-level opponents."
Tellez says fans can expect, "controlled pressure, smart angles, and power shots. I’m looking to put on a complete performance—something that makes people stop and say, ‘She’s next.’"
"Reina Tellez continues to prove she’s one of the top young fighters in the bantamweight division,” said Amaury Piedra, President of Boxlab Promotions. “Taking on someone as tough and experienced as Maria Salinas is a major step, and we believe Reina is more than ready. This is the kind of fight that turns contenders into word champions—and Reina has all the tools to do just that on June 7th."
|
|
|
|
Tellez steps up vs. Salinas in Orlando on Saturday
Bantamweight Reina Tellez (11-0-1, 5 KOs) of San Antonio, Texas returns to the ring in the biggest test of her career as she takes on seasoned Mexico's Maria Salinas (27-11-6, 7 KOs). The eight-round bout is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 7th at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida, as part of the Most Valuable Prospects 13 fight card. It will be broadcast live on DAZN. Tellez, known for her combination punching and ring composure, faces a durable and experienced opponent in Salinas, who has shared the ring with world champions and title contenders throughout her career.
Salinas has lost two in a row, but to contender-level opposition. "Salinas is a veteran and she’s crafty,” said Tellez. “She’s been in there with the best, but I’m here to prove I belong at the top. I’m not underestimating her—but I’m not backing down either."
Tellez has been working hard in training camp noting, "Camp has been intense and focused. We’ve been sparring with high-level partners to replicate Salinas’ experience and style. I’m in peak shape physically and mentally. My record shows that I’m not just undefeated—I’m ready for world-level opponents."
Tellez says fans can expect, "controlled pressure, smart angles, and power shots. I’m looking to put on a complete performance—something that makes people stop and say, ‘She’s next.’"
"Reina Tellez continues to prove she’s one of the top young fighters in the bantamweight division,” said Amaury Piedra, President of Boxlab Promotions. “Taking on someone as tough and experienced as Maria Salinas is a major step, and we believe Reina is more than ready. This is the kind of fight that turns contenders into word champions—and Reina has all the tools to do just that on June 7th."
|
Ex-commish Ron Scott Stevens is now a working playwright |
|
Former New York State Athletic Commission chairman Ron Scott Stevens has a new screenplay on sale at Amazon, “Red, Green & Yellow,” the latest in his series of writings. Stevens, age 78, is a noted playwright whose works have been produced among different venues, off-Broadway at 13th Street Theater, Quaigh Theater, and Soho Playhouse, and the Woodstock Playhouse in upstate New York. In 2018, he moved from the Big Apple to Newport Beach, California, where his passion continues for boxing, film and theater. “Red, Green & Yellow” is on sale for $9.99 in paperback, $2.00 as a kindle book. It can be purchased here.
Stevens’ latest screenplay is based in 1992 in New York City. Taxi driver Nick Castle gets caught up in a world of cocaine, art, and the occult. When he finally realizes what he has gotten himself into, he learns that getting out is fraught with obstacles. Another of Stevens’ screenplays, “Eyes Closed,” is also about to be available on Amazon later this summer. Two sequels to “Red, Green and Yellow” – “In the Heart of Brooklyn” and “The Monkey Queen” -- will also be available on Amazon later this summer.
“I wanted to write screenplays and Southern California seemed like the best place to do it,” Stevens explained. “Plus, at least part-time, I’ve always lived near the ocean. And I’m extremely fortunate to be able to do that here. Southern California has many theaters and theater companies, and I belong to the Orange County Playwrights Association (OCPA) and some of my plans, including ‘Under the Hood,’ ‘Pulling Teeth,’ and ‘The Rifle Ministry ‘, have had table reads as I refine them before handing them over for production. Boxing, I find, is a sport that most resembles theater and as a boy, I felt passionate about both.”
A noted boxing matchmaker for years, most notably for legendary promoter Cedric Kushner, as well as a ring announcer, boxing magazine writer and editor, and radio announcer, Stevens was a high profile boxing commissioner from 2003 to 2008 in the state of New York. Today, he is a licensed boxing judge in California and New York, in addition to writing screenplays.
Stevens made fights for himself and Kushner featuring world-class boxers such as Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Vladimir Klitschko, Hasim Rahman, Ray Mercer, Lou Del Valle, Mark Breland, Angel Manfredy, Oleg Maskaev, Kirk Johnson, Regilio Tuur, Bronco McKart, Antonio Tarver, Verno Phillips, Reggie Johnson, and Jake Rodríguez among many others.
“While chairman,” Stevens said, “I oversaw fights like Miguel Cotto-Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad-Ricardo Mayorga, John Ruiz-Andrew Golata, Samuel Peter-Jameel McCline, and many more big-time boxing main events and co-features plus loads of terrific undercards.
“When I was appointed chairman of the NYSAC there were just 17 events the year before I arrived. The year I left there were 40. I had a terrific staff, officials, ringside physicians, deputy commissioners and inspectors. We made things happen and kept boxers safe.”
|
|
|
|
Ex-commish Ron Scott Stevens is now a working playwright
Former New York State Athletic Commission chairman Ron Scott Stevens has a new screenplay on sale at Amazon, “Red, Green & Yellow,” the latest in his series of writings. Stevens, age 78, is a noted playwright whose works have been produced among different venues, off-Broadway at 13th Street Theater, Quaigh Theater, and Soho Playhouse, and the Woodstock Playhouse in upstate New York. In 2018, he moved from the Big Apple to Newport Beach, California, where his passion continues for boxing, film and theater. “Red, Green & Yellow” is on sale for $9.99 in paperback, $2.00 as a kindle book. It can be purchased here.
Stevens’ latest screenplay is based in 1992 in New York City. Taxi driver Nick Castle gets caught up in a world of cocaine, art, and the occult. When he finally realizes what he has gotten himself into, he learns that getting out is fraught with obstacles. Another of Stevens’ screenplays, “Eyes Closed,” is also about to be available on Amazon later this summer. Two sequels to “Red, Green and Yellow” – “In the Heart of Brooklyn” and “The Monkey Queen” -- will also be available on Amazon later this summer.
“I wanted to write screenplays and Southern California seemed like the best place to do it,” Stevens explained. “Plus, at least part-time, I’ve always lived near the ocean. And I’m extremely fortunate to be able to do that here. Southern California has many theaters and theater companies, and I belong to the Orange County Playwrights Association (OCPA) and some of my plans, including ‘Under the Hood,’ ‘Pulling Teeth,’ and ‘The Rifle Ministry ‘, have had table reads as I refine them before handing them over for production. Boxing, I find, is a sport that most resembles theater and as a boy, I felt passionate about both.”
A noted boxing matchmaker for years, most notably for legendary promoter Cedric Kushner, as well as a ring announcer, boxing magazine writer and editor, and radio announcer, Stevens was a high profile boxing commissioner from 2003 to 2008 in the state of New York. Today, he is a licensed boxing judge in California and New York, in addition to writing screenplays.
Stevens made fights for himself and Kushner featuring world-class boxers such as Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Vladimir Klitschko, Hasim Rahman, Ray Mercer, Lou Del Valle, Mark Breland, Angel Manfredy, Oleg Maskaev, Kirk Johnson, Regilio Tuur, Bronco McKart, Antonio Tarver, Verno Phillips, Reggie Johnson, and Jake Rodríguez among many others.
“While chairman,” Stevens said, “I oversaw fights like Miguel Cotto-Shane Mosley, Felix Trinidad-Ricardo Mayorga, John Ruiz-Andrew Golata, Samuel Peter-Jameel McCline, and many more big-time boxing main events and co-features plus loads of terrific undercards.
“When I was appointed chairman of the NYSAC there were just 17 events the year before I arrived. The year I left there were 40. I had a terrific staff, officials, ringside physicians, deputy commissioners and inspectors. We made things happen and kept boxers safe.”
|
WBO orders immediate rematch between Navarrete and Suarez |
|
According to WBO president Gustavo Olivieiri, the California State Athletic Commission has officially ruled the May 11th bout between Emanuel Navarrete and Charly Suarez to be a no contest. The bout was originally ruled a technical decision win for Navarrete, allowing him to retain his WBO junior lightweight championship. Most people felt that the fight-ending cut suffered by Navarrete was caused by a Suarez punch, not an accidental headbutt, and therefore Suarez should have been declared the winner by technical knockout and awarded the WBO championship. In light of the CSAC's ruling, the WBO ordered an immediate rematch between Navarrete and Suarez.
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE
MAY 11, 2025: Emanuel Navarrete retained his WBO junior lightweight world title in San Diego on Saturday with an eighth-round technical decision over Filipino contender Charly Suarez. The fight was halted early due to a cut over Navarrete’s left eye, which referee Edward Collantes ruled was caused by an accidental headbutt. [Instant replay showed Suarez landed a punch just before Suarez's follow through the clash of heads. It was very difficult to tell whether the punch or the head caused the cut, and the California State Athletic Commission conducted an instant replay review. Boxingtalk is of the opinion that thepunch caused the cut, which would have given Suarez the championship by TKO. It was a very difficult decision to make, and Suarez deserves a rematch.] The headbutt ruling meant that the winner wouldbe determined on the scorecards. Navarrete prevailed by scores of 77-76 (twice) and 78-75.
Navarrete (40-2-1, 32 KOs) came out firing, launching wild right hands and leaping left hooks that bloodied Suarez’s nose in the opening round. Suarez (18-1, 10 KOs), a 2016 Olympian, found moments of success, sometimes landing on Navarrete’s head and sometimes just on his gloves.
In the sixth, Navarrete suffered the cut, and the two continued to trade heavy shots in the seventh as the Mexican began to bleed profusely. The ringside physician waved it off just after bell sounded to start round eight.
“It’s that warrior spirit of being a Mexican that helped us today,” Navarrete said. “I felt good, I felt strong, I felt complete. Unfortunately, what happened with the headbutt obviously it ended like that. But while we were fighting, I felt good.
“From the first moment of the impact, I knew it was a headbutt. It split my eyebrow completely, and from the first moment I noticed it was a headbutt.”
Suarez said, “Right now I’m sad, but that is part of the game, and I know that Navarrete won the fight, but that’s part of the game. I would like to make a rematch. I want a rematch with Navarrete.”
|
|
|
|
WBO orders immediate rematch between Navarrete and Suarez
According to WBO president Gustavo Olivieiri, the California State Athletic Commission has officially ruled the May 11th bout between Emanuel Navarrete and Charly Suarez to be a no contest. The bout was originally ruled a technical decision win for Navarrete, allowing him to retain his WBO junior lightweight championship. Most people felt that the fight-ending cut suffered by Navarrete was caused by a Suarez punch, not an accidental headbutt, and therefore Suarez should have been declared the winner by technical knockout and awarded the WBO championship. In light of the CSAC's ruling, the WBO ordered an immediate rematch between Navarrete and Suarez.
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE
MAY 11, 2025: Emanuel Navarrete retained his WBO junior lightweight world title in San Diego on Saturday with an eighth-round technical decision over Filipino contender Charly Suarez. The fight was halted early due to a cut over Navarrete’s left eye, which referee Edward Collantes ruled was caused by an accidental headbutt. [Instant replay showed Suarez landed a punch just before Suarez's follow through the clash of heads. It was very difficult to tell whether the punch or the head caused the cut, and the California State Athletic Commission conducted an instant replay review. Boxingtalk is of the opinion that thepunch caused the cut, which would have given Suarez the championship by TKO. It was a very difficult decision to make, and Suarez deserves a rematch.] The headbutt ruling meant that the winner wouldbe determined on the scorecards. Navarrete prevailed by scores of 77-76 (twice) and 78-75.
Navarrete (40-2-1, 32 KOs) came out firing, launching wild right hands and leaping left hooks that bloodied Suarez’s nose in the opening round. Suarez (18-1, 10 KOs), a 2016 Olympian, found moments of success, sometimes landing on Navarrete’s head and sometimes just on his gloves.
In the sixth, Navarrete suffered the cut, and the two continued to trade heavy shots in the seventh as the Mexican began to bleed profusely. The ringside physician waved it off just after bell sounded to start round eight.
“It’s that warrior spirit of being a Mexican that helped us today,” Navarrete said. “I felt good, I felt strong, I felt complete. Unfortunately, what happened with the headbutt obviously it ended like that. But while we were fighting, I felt good.
“From the first moment of the impact, I knew it was a headbutt. It split my eyebrow completely, and from the first moment I noticed it was a headbutt.”
Suarez said, “Right now I’m sad, but that is part of the game, and I know that Navarrete won the fight, but that’s part of the game. I would like to make a rematch. I want a rematch with Navarrete.”
|
Pacquiao vs. Barrios and PPV undercard to be formally announced on Tuesday |
|
Hall of Fame boxing legend Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (pictured) and WBC welterweight champion Mario “El Azteca” Barrios will square off on Tuesday at a Los Angeles press conference ahead of Pacquiao's comeback fight, scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 19th on a PBC pay-per-view event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Pacquiao. the only eight weight-divsion champion in boxing history, has not fought since a 2021 loss to Yordenis Ugas. The press conference will also feature WBC junior middleweight champion Sebastian “The Towering Inferno” Fundora and Australian superstar Tim Tszyu, who will fight a rematch on the same show after engaging in 2024’s bloodiest fight.
Also in attendance will be Mexican star Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz and his hard-hitting countryman Angel Fierro, who meet for a second time after their action packed February clash. Rounding out Tuesday’s lineup and the July 19th pay-per-view are former two-division world champion Brandon “The Heartbreaker” Figueroa and top contender Joet Gonzalez, who kick off the pay-per-view at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Pre-sale tickets are available on Tuesday, June 3rd from 10 a.m. PT until 10 p.m. PT through AXS.com with code: PBC. Public on-sale begins Wednesday, June 4 at 10 a.m. PT through AXS.com.
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE
MAY 21, 2025: Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao confirmed that, not only is he returning to the ring, his first fight back will be for a world title. The sport's only eight-division champion tweeted, "On July 19th, I return to the ring to face WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas." Pacquiao, age 46, is 62-8-2 for his career. He had a strong 2019 campaign that saw him defeat former champion Adrien Broner, and then-current WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman. However, Pacquiao has not fought since a 2021 loss to Yordenis Ugas.
|
|
|
|
Pacquiao vs. Barrios and PPV undercard to be formally announced on Tuesday
Hall of Fame boxing legend Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao (pictured) and WBC welterweight champion Mario “El Azteca” Barrios will square off on Tuesday at a Los Angeles press conference ahead of Pacquiao's comeback fight, scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 19th on a PBC pay-per-view event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Pacquiao. the only eight weight-divsion champion in boxing history, has not fought since a 2021 loss to Yordenis Ugas. The press conference will also feature WBC junior middleweight champion Sebastian “The Towering Inferno” Fundora and Australian superstar Tim Tszyu, who will fight a rematch on the same show after engaging in 2024’s bloodiest fight.
Also in attendance will be Mexican star Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz and his hard-hitting countryman Angel Fierro, who meet for a second time after their action packed February clash. Rounding out Tuesday’s lineup and the July 19th pay-per-view are former two-division world champion Brandon “The Heartbreaker” Figueroa and top contender Joet Gonzalez, who kick off the pay-per-view at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Pre-sale tickets are available on Tuesday, June 3rd from 10 a.m. PT until 10 p.m. PT through AXS.com with code: PBC. Public on-sale begins Wednesday, June 4 at 10 a.m. PT through AXS.com.
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE
MAY 21, 2025: Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao confirmed that, not only is he returning to the ring, his first fight back will be for a world title. The sport's only eight-division champion tweeted, "On July 19th, I return to the ring to face WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas." Pacquiao, age 46, is 62-8-2 for his career. He had a strong 2019 campaign that saw him defeat former champion Adrien Broner, and then-current WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman. However, Pacquiao has not fought since a 2021 loss to Yordenis Ugas.
|
Teofimo Lopez publicly apologizes to Turki Alalshikh |
|
World junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez has apparently had a serious falling out with the most powerful man in boxing, Turki Alalshikh. Lopez, who enjoys being controversial on social media, and in the past has said many inapprorpiate things, including usage of the N-word, seems to have offended Alalshikh, whose official role is the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia. Lopez had a big win on Alalshikh's recent show in Times Square in New York City, and was thought to be in the running for another multi-million dollar fight on an Alalshikh-sponsored show. But late last week, Lopez tweeted, "I just got fired guys, However, before things get better, bad things must happen first." While it was not clear exactly which remark got him "fired," there was one tweet in which Lopez referred to Alalshikh as a "DICKtator." By Sunday, Lopez had changed his tune, tweeting out the following:
"To His Excellency, Turki Alalshikh, I take full responsibility for my inappropriate words on the ‘X app.’ I publicly apologize to HE [His Excellency]; I will conduct myself with greater respect, humility, and professionalism. Sending love and light to all. TY."
Hopefully, this incident will not prevent Lopez from getting the biggest fights available. However, if Alalshikh does not want to do business, ther is still Top Rank, whom Lopez may still have contractual obligations to. There is also the Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya, who quickly decided to publicly declare an interest in working with the two-division wold champion. He texted, "Teofimo Lopez-- bro if you have no promoter, give me a call. I can give you advice and take care of your best interest. Let’s make you a pay-per-view star like you deserve."
|
|
|
|
Teofimo Lopez publicly apologizes to Turki Alalshikh
World junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez has apparently had a serious falling out with the most powerful man in boxing, Turki Alalshikh. Lopez, who enjoys being controversial on social media, and in the past has said many inapprorpiate things, including usage of the N-word, seems to have offended Alalshikh, whose official role is the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia. Lopez had a big win on Alalshikh's recent show in Times Square in New York City, and was thought to be in the running for another multi-million dollar fight on an Alalshikh-sponsored show. But late last week, Lopez tweeted, "I just got fired guys, However, before things get better, bad things must happen first." While it was not clear exactly which remark got him "fired," there was one tweet in which Lopez referred to Alalshikh as a "DICKtator." By Sunday, Lopez had changed his tune, tweeting out the following:
"To His Excellency, Turki Alalshikh, I take full responsibility for my inappropriate words on the ‘X app.’ I publicly apologize to HE [His Excellency]; I will conduct myself with greater respect, humility, and professionalism. Sending love and light to all. TY."
Hopefully, this incident will not prevent Lopez from getting the biggest fights available. However, if Alalshikh does not want to do business, ther is still Top Rank, whom Lopez may still have contractual obligations to. There is also the Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya, who quickly decided to publicly declare an interest in working with the two-division wold champion. He texted, "Teofimo Lopez-- bro if you have no promoter, give me a call. I can give you advice and take care of your best interest. Let’s make you a pay-per-view star like you deserve."
|
The great Mike McCallum dies suddenly at age 68 |
|
The boxing world is mourning the loss of a true ring craftsman. Mike McCallum — a three-division world champion, Hall of Famer, and the first Jamaican fighter to win a world title — passed away Saturday in Las Vegas at the age of 68. Nicknamed “The Bodysnatcher” for his ruthless and clinical body attack, McCallum carved out a storied career across three weight classes and became one of the most respected technicians of his era. A 1976 Olympian, McCallum first struck gold in October 1984, when he captured the WBA junior middleweight title at New York City's Madison Square Garden, outpointing Ireland’s Sean Mannion over fifteen rounds in a masterclass performance. In the ensuing years, he defeated Luigi Minchillo, Julain Jackson, Milton McCrory and Donald Curry before losing to Sumbu Kalambay. But McCallum continued to make history in October 1989, moving up in weight to dethrone Britain’s Herol Graham via split decision at London’s Royal Albert Hall fore the WBA middleweight title. In 1991, McCallum avenged the loss to Kalambay and fought to a draw with the great James Toney. After losing a decision to the prime Toney in 1992, McCallum bypassed super middleweight and went to light heavyweight, where his third crown came. After first being named interim champion, McCallum officially claimed the WBC title in July 1994, with a decision win over Australia’s Jeff Harding.
McCallum retired with a record of 49-5-1, with 36 knockouts — and perhaps most impressively, was never stopped in his career. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003, his legacy as one of the most intelligent and technical fighters of the 1980s and 90s is secure. Even after hanging up the gloves, McCallum stayed close to the sport, training fighters and making regular appearances at boxing events in Las Vegas, where he lived and worked.
Boxingtalk joins the rest of the boxing world in honoring this great champion and sending its deepest sympathies to the friends and family of the great Mike McCallum.
|
|
|
|
The great Mike McCallum dies suddenly at age 68
The boxing world is mourning the loss of a true ring craftsman. Mike McCallum — a three-division world champion, Hall of Famer, and the first Jamaican fighter to win a world title — passed away Saturday in Las Vegas at the age of 68. Nicknamed “The Bodysnatcher” for his ruthless and clinical body attack, McCallum carved out a storied career across three weight classes and became one of the most respected technicians of his era. A 1976 Olympian, McCallum first struck gold in October 1984, when he captured the WBA junior middleweight title at New York City's Madison Square Garden, outpointing Ireland’s Sean Mannion over fifteen rounds in a masterclass performance. In the ensuing years, he defeated Luigi Minchillo, Julain Jackson, Milton McCrory and Donald Curry before losing to Sumbu Kalambay. But McCallum continued to make history in October 1989, moving up in weight to dethrone Britain’s Herol Graham via split decision at London’s Royal Albert Hall fore the WBA middleweight title. In 1991, McCallum avenged the loss to Kalambay and fought to a draw with the great James Toney. After losing a decision to the prime Toney in 1992, McCallum bypassed super middleweight and went to light heavyweight, where his third crown came. After first being named interim champion, McCallum officially claimed the WBC title in July 1994, with a decision win over Australia’s Jeff Harding.
McCallum retired with a record of 49-5-1, with 36 knockouts — and perhaps most impressively, was never stopped in his career. Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003, his legacy as one of the most intelligent and technical fighters of the 1980s and 90s is secure. Even after hanging up the gloves, McCallum stayed close to the sport, training fighters and making regular appearances at boxing events in Las Vegas, where he lived and worked.
Boxingtalk joins the rest of the boxing world in honoring this great champion and sending its deepest sympathies to the friends and family of the great Mike McCallum.
|
World Boxing to institute mandatory sex testing |
|
World Boxing will introduce mandatory sex testing in order to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes that want to take part in its competitions. The introduction of mandatory testing will be part of a new policy on “Sex, Age and Weight” to ensure the safety of all participants and deliver a competitive level playing field for men and women. The policy is in the final stages of development and has been crafted by a specially convened Working Group of the World Boxing Medical and Anti-Doping Committee, which has examined data and medical evidence from an extensive range of sources and consulted widely with other sports and experts across the world. In light of plans to introduce this policy and the particular circumstances surrounding some boxers that competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, World Boxing has written to the Algerian Boxing Federation to inform it that Imane Khelif will not be allowed to participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup or any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes sex testing.
This decision reflects concerns over the safety and wellbeing of all boxers, including Khelif, and aims to protect the mental and physical health of all participants in light of some of the reactions that have been expressed in relation to the boxer’s potential participation at the Eindhoven Box Cup. The letter sent by World Boxing to the Algerian Boxing Federation on May 30, 2025, states:
“Imane Khelif may not participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup, 5-10 June 2025 and any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes genetic sex screening in accordance with World Boxing’s rules and testing procedures.
“In accordance with the World Boxing Statutes, amendments to the Competition Rules are typically made by Congress. However, under special or emergency circumstances, the World Boxing Executive Board holds the authority to make immediate amendments when a rule is deemed no longer functional or when evolving conditions necessitate a change. In May 2025, the Executive Board exercised this authority and adopted new eligibility criteria for participation in sex-specific boxing categories. These new eligibility rules were developed with the express purpose of safeguarding athletes in combat sports, particularly given the physical risks associated with Olympic-style boxing. Please be advised that, per World Boxing policy, “…in the event the athlete’s sex certification is challenged by the athlete’s federation or by World Boxing, the athlete shall be ineligible to compete until the dispute is resolved…”
This decision is designed solely to ensure the health and safety of all participants in World Boxing competitions (including Imane Khelif) and is not deemed to in any way prejudge the outcome of any testing that will be introduced as part of the new policy on “Sex, Age and Weight”.
World Boxing’s new policy and the introduction of testing will mean that all athletes over the age of 18 that want to participate in a World Boxing owned or sanctioned competition will need to undergo a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) genetic test to determine their sex at birth and their eligibility to compete.
The PCR test is a laboratory technique used to detect specific genetic material, in this case the SRY gene, that reveals the presence of the Y chromosome, which is an indicator of biological sex. The test can be conducted by nasal/mouth swab, saliva or blood.
Athletes that are deemed to be male at birth, as evidenced by the presence of Y chromosome genetic material (the SRY gene) or with a difference of sexual development (DSD) where male androgenization occurs, will be eligible to compete in the male category. Athletes that are deemed to be female at birth, as evidenced by the presence of XX chromosomes or the absence of Y chromosome genetic material (the SRY gene) or with a DSD where male androgenization does not occur, will be eligible to compete in the female category.
World Boxing respects the dignity of all individuals and its overriding priority is to ensure safety and competitive fairness to all athletes. To do this, it is essential that strict categories, determined by sex are maintained and enforced, and means that World Boxing will only operate competitions for athletes categorized as male or female.
Under the new policy, National Federations will be responsible for testing and will be required to confirm the sex of their athletes when entering them into World Boxing competitions by providing a certification of their chromosomal sex, as determined by a PCR test. A failure to provide certification of the chromosomal sex of an athlete or the provision of a false certification, will render the athlete ineligible to compete and may lead to sanctions against the athlete and/or the athlete’s National Federation.
Where test results for boxers that want to compete in the female category reveal Y chromosome genetic material and a potential DSD, the initial screenings will be referred to independent clinical specialists for genetic screening, hormonal profiles, anatomical examination or other valuation of endocrine profiles by medical specialists. As part of its new policy World Boxing will reserve the right to do genetic sex screening on new or existing athlete samples to confirm certification. The policy will include an appeals process. Support will be offered to any boxers that provide an adverse test result. The new “Sex, Age and Weight” policy will come into force from July 1, 2025.
World Boxing was launched in April 2023 with a mission to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement. It held its first formal meeting with the IOC in May 2024 and on February 25, 2025, it was granted provisional recognition by the IOC as the International Federation (IF) within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level. On March 20, 2025, the IOC confirmed that boxing has been restored to the sport program for the 2028 Games.
SAME-DAY RESPONSE FROM WORLD BOXING'S RIVAL SANCTIONING ORGANIZATION, THE IBA: "The International Boxing Association (IBA) has been advocating for equality for many years and is pleased to see that the only right approach regarding the subject heading has been adopted by other boxing bodies. Following the gender row issue at Paris 2024 and huge resonance and impact it had on the sport of boxing, the united response from all boxing bodies was absolutely necessary; we welcome the most recent statements to embrace the eligibility processes IBA has already established and urge all boxing bodies to join the intention to make our sport fair.
‘We wholeheartedly welcome those proactive steps that align with IBA’s longstanding framework, especially regarding the rigorous sex testing protocols that have been a cornerstone of our practices for the past 3 years,’ said IBA Secretary General & CEO, Mr. Chris Roberts OBE. ‘By upholding these measures, we not only fortify the safety and welfare of our athletes but also ensure a level playing field where every competitor has an equal opportunity to excel without being unlawfully deprived. The commitment to continual improvement in testing standards underscores our shared vision for an inclusive and transparent boxing environment.’ Mr. Roberts OBE stressed that IBA cares about all boxers in the first instance and wishes that the highest standards of integrity are maintained wherever our boxers are competing. ‘In tandem with sex testing, we are encouraged by the announcement of comprehensive age and weight testing protocols; surprisingly over the past few years, we have seen boxers from certain countries who have indeed attempted to falsify age and passport credentials. These measures, again already aligned to IBA, promise to further reinforce fair competition for all athletes with standardized benchmarks. We look forward to this collaborative approach, knowing that this will undoubtedly benefit our National Federations and the boxers they represent,’ Mr. Roberts continued. Regarding the contentious issues that emerged during the Paris 2024 Olympics, the IBA remains unwavering in its decisions. We stand firmly by our assessments and intentions. Notably, as World Boxing is set to receive identical results from these evaluations, we anticipate a forthcoming gesture of accountability – a formal apology from those athletes whose actions, inadvertently or otherwise, diverted well-deserved Olympic accolades away from our rightful female boxers. Over the nearly three years of painstaking experience and insight in navigating these complex issues, IBA’s governance and commitment to integrity have only strengthened. We continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our athletes, championing decisions that uphold fairness, respect, and the true spirit of competitive sports. ‘Our endorsement of collaborative initiatives reflects our deep-rooted commitment to enhancing athlete safety and competitive integrity. Through meticulous testing protocols, we are working to create an environment where fairness prevails, and every participant is respected. Equally, our firm stance on decisions arising from the Paris Olympics is a testament to our dedication to safeguarding the legacy of our female boxers. Together, these endeavours not only enhance our shared mission of transparency and fairness but also pave the way for the continued evolution and excellence of the sport,’ Roberts concluded. IBA encourages further reaction from international boxing governing bodies in alignment with eligibility rules to make boxing the pioneer sport in securing highest integrity standards for athletes in terms of gender eligibility."
***
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE: Khelif of Algeria beat Yang Liu of the People’s Republic of China to win gold in women’s welterweight division at Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Friday at Stade Roland-Garros. Khelif was one of two boxers embroiled in a controversy about her gender. She previously competed at Tokyo 2021, where she became the first female boxer to represent Algeria at the Olympics. Since then, the 25-year-old Khelif has won gold medals at the 2022 Mediterranean Games and the 2023 Arab Games. She won the Paris 2024 final in dominant fashion by a final tally of 5-0.
"I’m very happy. For eight years, this has been my dream and I’m now the Olympic champion and gold medallist," Khelif said. "I’ve worked for eight years, no sleep, eight years tired. Now I’m Olympic champion."
Khelif had been disqualified from the 2023 world amateur championships under suspicious circumstances. After competing for years and even winning the opening round of the 2023 tournament, IBA, the organization that ran the world amateur championships at the time, abruptly disqualified Khelif for failing a gender test. Full details of the test were not revealed. Khelif is not transgender, having lived her entire life as a woman. While IBA controls the world amateur championships, it has no authority to determine who is eleigible for the Olympics becuae the International Olympic Committee threw IBA out of the Olympics over proven corruption in the 2016 Olympics.
The IOC issued a statement addressing the controversy. Neither Khelif nor Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan are transgender, but there appears to be concerns about their chromosomes (females are XX, males are XY) or testosterone levels. The IOC stated, "We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments. These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process."
|
|
|
|
World Boxing to institute mandatory sex testing
World Boxing will introduce mandatory sex testing in order to determine the eligibility of male and female athletes that want to take part in its competitions. The introduction of mandatory testing will be part of a new policy on “Sex, Age and Weight” to ensure the safety of all participants and deliver a competitive level playing field for men and women. The policy is in the final stages of development and has been crafted by a specially convened Working Group of the World Boxing Medical and Anti-Doping Committee, which has examined data and medical evidence from an extensive range of sources and consulted widely with other sports and experts across the world. In light of plans to introduce this policy and the particular circumstances surrounding some boxers that competed at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, World Boxing has written to the Algerian Boxing Federation to inform it that Imane Khelif will not be allowed to participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup or any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes sex testing.
This decision reflects concerns over the safety and wellbeing of all boxers, including Khelif, and aims to protect the mental and physical health of all participants in light of some of the reactions that have been expressed in relation to the boxer’s potential participation at the Eindhoven Box Cup. The letter sent by World Boxing to the Algerian Boxing Federation on May 30, 2025, states:
“Imane Khelif may not participate in the female category at the Eindhoven Box Cup, 5-10 June 2025 and any World Boxing event until Imane Khelif undergoes genetic sex screening in accordance with World Boxing’s rules and testing procedures.
“In accordance with the World Boxing Statutes, amendments to the Competition Rules are typically made by Congress. However, under special or emergency circumstances, the World Boxing Executive Board holds the authority to make immediate amendments when a rule is deemed no longer functional or when evolving conditions necessitate a change. In May 2025, the Executive Board exercised this authority and adopted new eligibility criteria for participation in sex-specific boxing categories. These new eligibility rules were developed with the express purpose of safeguarding athletes in combat sports, particularly given the physical risks associated with Olympic-style boxing. Please be advised that, per World Boxing policy, “…in the event the athlete’s sex certification is challenged by the athlete’s federation or by World Boxing, the athlete shall be ineligible to compete until the dispute is resolved…”
This decision is designed solely to ensure the health and safety of all participants in World Boxing competitions (including Imane Khelif) and is not deemed to in any way prejudge the outcome of any testing that will be introduced as part of the new policy on “Sex, Age and Weight”.
World Boxing’s new policy and the introduction of testing will mean that all athletes over the age of 18 that want to participate in a World Boxing owned or sanctioned competition will need to undergo a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) genetic test to determine their sex at birth and their eligibility to compete.
The PCR test is a laboratory technique used to detect specific genetic material, in this case the SRY gene, that reveals the presence of the Y chromosome, which is an indicator of biological sex. The test can be conducted by nasal/mouth swab, saliva or blood.
Athletes that are deemed to be male at birth, as evidenced by the presence of Y chromosome genetic material (the SRY gene) or with a difference of sexual development (DSD) where male androgenization occurs, will be eligible to compete in the male category. Athletes that are deemed to be female at birth, as evidenced by the presence of XX chromosomes or the absence of Y chromosome genetic material (the SRY gene) or with a DSD where male androgenization does not occur, will be eligible to compete in the female category.
World Boxing respects the dignity of all individuals and its overriding priority is to ensure safety and competitive fairness to all athletes. To do this, it is essential that strict categories, determined by sex are maintained and enforced, and means that World Boxing will only operate competitions for athletes categorized as male or female.
Under the new policy, National Federations will be responsible for testing and will be required to confirm the sex of their athletes when entering them into World Boxing competitions by providing a certification of their chromosomal sex, as determined by a PCR test. A failure to provide certification of the chromosomal sex of an athlete or the provision of a false certification, will render the athlete ineligible to compete and may lead to sanctions against the athlete and/or the athlete’s National Federation.
Where test results for boxers that want to compete in the female category reveal Y chromosome genetic material and a potential DSD, the initial screenings will be referred to independent clinical specialists for genetic screening, hormonal profiles, anatomical examination or other valuation of endocrine profiles by medical specialists. As part of its new policy World Boxing will reserve the right to do genetic sex screening on new or existing athlete samples to confirm certification. The policy will include an appeals process. Support will be offered to any boxers that provide an adverse test result. The new “Sex, Age and Weight” policy will come into force from July 1, 2025.
World Boxing was launched in April 2023 with a mission to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement. It held its first formal meeting with the IOC in May 2024 and on February 25, 2025, it was granted provisional recognition by the IOC as the International Federation (IF) within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level. On March 20, 2025, the IOC confirmed that boxing has been restored to the sport program for the 2028 Games.
SAME-DAY RESPONSE FROM WORLD BOXING'S RIVAL SANCTIONING ORGANIZATION, THE IBA: "The International Boxing Association (IBA) has been advocating for equality for many years and is pleased to see that the only right approach regarding the subject heading has been adopted by other boxing bodies. Following the gender row issue at Paris 2024 and huge resonance and impact it had on the sport of boxing, the united response from all boxing bodies was absolutely necessary; we welcome the most recent statements to embrace the eligibility processes IBA has already established and urge all boxing bodies to join the intention to make our sport fair.
‘We wholeheartedly welcome those proactive steps that align with IBA’s longstanding framework, especially regarding the rigorous sex testing protocols that have been a cornerstone of our practices for the past 3 years,’ said IBA Secretary General & CEO, Mr. Chris Roberts OBE. ‘By upholding these measures, we not only fortify the safety and welfare of our athletes but also ensure a level playing field where every competitor has an equal opportunity to excel without being unlawfully deprived. The commitment to continual improvement in testing standards underscores our shared vision for an inclusive and transparent boxing environment.’ Mr. Roberts OBE stressed that IBA cares about all boxers in the first instance and wishes that the highest standards of integrity are maintained wherever our boxers are competing. ‘In tandem with sex testing, we are encouraged by the announcement of comprehensive age and weight testing protocols; surprisingly over the past few years, we have seen boxers from certain countries who have indeed attempted to falsify age and passport credentials. These measures, again already aligned to IBA, promise to further reinforce fair competition for all athletes with standardized benchmarks. We look forward to this collaborative approach, knowing that this will undoubtedly benefit our National Federations and the boxers they represent,’ Mr. Roberts continued. Regarding the contentious issues that emerged during the Paris 2024 Olympics, the IBA remains unwavering in its decisions. We stand firmly by our assessments and intentions. Notably, as World Boxing is set to receive identical results from these evaluations, we anticipate a forthcoming gesture of accountability – a formal apology from those athletes whose actions, inadvertently or otherwise, diverted well-deserved Olympic accolades away from our rightful female boxers. Over the nearly three years of painstaking experience and insight in navigating these complex issues, IBA’s governance and commitment to integrity have only strengthened. We continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our athletes, championing decisions that uphold fairness, respect, and the true spirit of competitive sports. ‘Our endorsement of collaborative initiatives reflects our deep-rooted commitment to enhancing athlete safety and competitive integrity. Through meticulous testing protocols, we are working to create an environment where fairness prevails, and every participant is respected. Equally, our firm stance on decisions arising from the Paris Olympics is a testament to our dedication to safeguarding the legacy of our female boxers. Together, these endeavours not only enhance our shared mission of transparency and fairness but also pave the way for the continued evolution and excellence of the sport,’ Roberts concluded. IBA encourages further reaction from international boxing governing bodies in alignment with eligibility rules to make boxing the pioneer sport in securing highest integrity standards for athletes in terms of gender eligibility."
***
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE: Khelif of Algeria beat Yang Liu of the People’s Republic of China to win gold in women’s welterweight division at Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Friday at Stade Roland-Garros. Khelif was one of two boxers embroiled in a controversy about her gender. She previously competed at Tokyo 2021, where she became the first female boxer to represent Algeria at the Olympics. Since then, the 25-year-old Khelif has won gold medals at the 2022 Mediterranean Games and the 2023 Arab Games. She won the Paris 2024 final in dominant fashion by a final tally of 5-0.
"I’m very happy. For eight years, this has been my dream and I’m now the Olympic champion and gold medallist," Khelif said. "I’ve worked for eight years, no sleep, eight years tired. Now I’m Olympic champion."
Khelif had been disqualified from the 2023 world amateur championships under suspicious circumstances. After competing for years and even winning the opening round of the 2023 tournament, IBA, the organization that ran the world amateur championships at the time, abruptly disqualified Khelif for failing a gender test. Full details of the test were not revealed. Khelif is not transgender, having lived her entire life as a woman. While IBA controls the world amateur championships, it has no authority to determine who is eleigible for the Olympics becuae the International Olympic Committee threw IBA out of the Olympics over proven corruption in the 2016 Olympics.
The IOC issued a statement addressing the controversy. Neither Khelif nor Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan are transgender, but there appears to be concerns about their chromosomes (females are XX, males are XY) or testosterone levels. The IOC stated, "We have seen in reports misleading information about two female athletes competing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The two athletes have been competing in international boxing competitions for many years in the women’s category, including the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA-sanctioned tournaments. These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process."
|
Garber vs. Bellotti presser quotes |
|
A multitude of junior lightweight belts will be up for grabs in Bournemouth, England on July 26th when the BIC plays host to a cracking 130-pound double header, with Ryan Garner going up against Reece Bellotti with European, British and Commnwealth honors at stake and Royston Barney-Smith taking on Danny Quartermaine. All four of them were present at the home of Southampton FC this afternoon for the opening media activity and below are a selection of key quotes from the event.
Ryan Garner
“Obviously every British boxer wants to win the British title and he has got the Commonwealth as well, while I’ve got the European. I want to make history, I don’t believe anyone from Southampton has ever won the British, Commonwealth and European titles at the same time. I am under no illusions, this is the biggest fight of my career, amateur or pro, and I know Reece is a very, very good fighter.
“He has got all my respect and, yeah, there will be fireworks on fight night. Be sure not to miss it.
“His record as a puncher speaks for itself. He’s had nearly as many knockouts as I have had fights. So he is a big puncher and I know that, but I know that if the Ryan Garner who I know is capable turns up, I know that I can come away with the win, but it will be the hardest fight of my career.
“It is just going to be an exciting fight and I am looking forward to it and putting on a good show. I just think what I am capable of is more than enough to win, but it will be a tough fight.”
Reece Bellotti
“This moment is massive and it is definitely the biggest in my career too. Unfortunately for viewers, there is not going to be a huge amount of beef between me and Garner because we respect each other and where we are in our careers.
“I expect the hardest fight of my career, also, and I will train accordingly. I am in good form, I feel good and moving up in weight has massively helped me. I am just looking forward to the fight.
“For me Ryan is definitely up there. I know people will look at Ray Ford because he was a world champion, but there is no reason why I can’t win a world title and also Ryan. Every time I get in there I view it as the hardest by far and Ryan is up there for me.
“I don’t really use power anymore as a factor for me because I learned the hard way before doing that when I got beat. I just relied on it and thought it was the only thing I needed. There is a lot more to the game and I have learned that now. I am not just a one-trick pony now and that will pay dividends on the night.”
Royston Barney-Smith
“I have been trying to get one of these fights for a long time now and, thankfully, Danny has allowed me to fight for his two belts and they do look very nice over there. I am coming for them. He is a champion, he is going to come and defend his belts, so I will rise to the occasion and do the job.
“He is an aggressive fighter and he does a good job at it, a great job. I am looking forward to exploit him in ways I know I can and I know I will.”
Danny Quartermaine
“Royston came and approached me about the fight in a very respectful manner. With the way he did it I thought why not give him that opportunity? Boxing is about opportunities and I am more than willing to put my belts on the line and fight a good level of opponent.
“People have seen me in the past coming forward, being aggressive and putting it on my opponent. In the last couple of fights I think you have actually seen me box as well. I’ve got a jab in my repertoire and I do use it when I can. I think the mix of styles could be very interesting or, as you saw at the weekend, it could be boring. I don’t think it will be one of those fights between me and Royston, I think it will gain the crowd’s attention and there is a lot to fight for.”
|
|
|
|
Garber vs. Bellotti presser quotes
A multitude of junior lightweight belts will be up for grabs in Bournemouth, England on July 26th when the BIC plays host to a cracking 130-pound double header, with Ryan Garner going up against Reece Bellotti with European, British and Commnwealth honors at stake and Royston Barney-Smith taking on Danny Quartermaine. All four of them were present at the home of Southampton FC this afternoon for the opening media activity and below are a selection of key quotes from the event.
Ryan Garner
“Obviously every British boxer wants to win the British title and he has got the Commonwealth as well, while I’ve got the European. I want to make history, I don’t believe anyone from Southampton has ever won the British, Commonwealth and European titles at the same time. I am under no illusions, this is the biggest fight of my career, amateur or pro, and I know Reece is a very, very good fighter.
“He has got all my respect and, yeah, there will be fireworks on fight night. Be sure not to miss it.
“His record as a puncher speaks for itself. He’s had nearly as many knockouts as I have had fights. So he is a big puncher and I know that, but I know that if the Ryan Garner who I know is capable turns up, I know that I can come away with the win, but it will be the hardest fight of my career.
“It is just going to be an exciting fight and I am looking forward to it and putting on a good show. I just think what I am capable of is more than enough to win, but it will be a tough fight.”
Reece Bellotti
“This moment is massive and it is definitely the biggest in my career too. Unfortunately for viewers, there is not going to be a huge amount of beef between me and Garner because we respect each other and where we are in our careers.
“I expect the hardest fight of my career, also, and I will train accordingly. I am in good form, I feel good and moving up in weight has massively helped me. I am just looking forward to the fight.
“For me Ryan is definitely up there. I know people will look at Ray Ford because he was a world champion, but there is no reason why I can’t win a world title and also Ryan. Every time I get in there I view it as the hardest by far and Ryan is up there for me.
“I don’t really use power anymore as a factor for me because I learned the hard way before doing that when I got beat. I just relied on it and thought it was the only thing I needed. There is a lot more to the game and I have learned that now. I am not just a one-trick pony now and that will pay dividends on the night.”
Royston Barney-Smith
“I have been trying to get one of these fights for a long time now and, thankfully, Danny has allowed me to fight for his two belts and they do look very nice over there. I am coming for them. He is a champion, he is going to come and defend his belts, so I will rise to the occasion and do the job.
“He is an aggressive fighter and he does a good job at it, a great job. I am looking forward to exploit him in ways I know I can and I know I will.”
Danny Quartermaine
“Royston came and approached me about the fight in a very respectful manner. With the way he did it I thought why not give him that opportunity? Boxing is about opportunities and I am more than willing to put my belts on the line and fight a good level of opponent.
“People have seen me in the past coming forward, being aggressive and putting it on my opponent. In the last couple of fights I think you have actually seen me box as well. I’ve got a jab in my repertoire and I do use it when I can. I think the mix of styles could be very interesting or, as you saw at the weekend, it could be boring. I don’t think it will be one of those fights between me and Royston, I think it will gain the crowd’s attention and there is a lot to fight for.”
|
Uprising Promotions completes its return with charity show |
|
A packed house at the Léman Ballroom in New York City this past Thursday night attended Uprising Promotions' return to action for Broad Street Brawl in association with Bigvision Community. Headlining the show was former NBA Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams, who made a successful amateur boxing debut against Sam Khatib to earn an unanimous decision victory. “Today was good, it was fun,” said Carter-Williams after scoring the win. “I thought my performance was pretty good. I thought I did some good things, but there are definitely some things I need to fix. My opponent was pretty good, too. Sam did a great job out there. Ultimately, we came here for a greater purpose. The two of us did this for charity, so we went out there, raised some money, fought and entertained the crowd. It was a good showing.”
Over the course of their three two-minute rounds battle, Carter-Williams and Khatib each showed an aggressive willingness to engage. Carter-Williams found his comfort level early in the match-up, unloading a series of crisp combinations that earned him standing eight-counts from the referee in both the first and second frames. His athleticism and footwork also paid dividends, with Carter-Williams remaining in control throughout most of the confrontation.
“I was antsy,” Carter-Williams said of how he was feeling ahead of the fight. “I was like ‘I’ve been putting in all of this work. I’ve been sparring twice a week. I can’t wait to get out there and really fight.’ This was great. I had a great time.”
The question everyone had at the conclusion of the bout was whether or not Carter-Williams would be getting back into the ring again soon. “I think you will see me again. I definitely want to improve on some things,” he declared. “I’m a competitor. Who knows where it will be. My kids love it—my wife, my family—so I will definitely be back out there.”
Throughout the evening, Broad Street Brawl featured nine amateur bouts as well as an exclusive performance by Yung Wylin’, who had the audience rocking with a dynamic rendition of his hit song, High Energy.
|
|
|
|
Uprising Promotions completes its return with charity show
A packed house at the Léman Ballroom in New York City this past Thursday night attended Uprising Promotions' return to action for Broad Street Brawl in association with Bigvision Community. Headlining the show was former NBA Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams, who made a successful amateur boxing debut against Sam Khatib to earn an unanimous decision victory. “Today was good, it was fun,” said Carter-Williams after scoring the win. “I thought my performance was pretty good. I thought I did some good things, but there are definitely some things I need to fix. My opponent was pretty good, too. Sam did a great job out there. Ultimately, we came here for a greater purpose. The two of us did this for charity, so we went out there, raised some money, fought and entertained the crowd. It was a good showing.”
Over the course of their three two-minute rounds battle, Carter-Williams and Khatib each showed an aggressive willingness to engage. Carter-Williams found his comfort level early in the match-up, unloading a series of crisp combinations that earned him standing eight-counts from the referee in both the first and second frames. His athleticism and footwork also paid dividends, with Carter-Williams remaining in control throughout most of the confrontation.
“I was antsy,” Carter-Williams said of how he was feeling ahead of the fight. “I was like ‘I’ve been putting in all of this work. I’ve been sparring twice a week. I can’t wait to get out there and really fight.’ This was great. I had a great time.”
The question everyone had at the conclusion of the bout was whether or not Carter-Williams would be getting back into the ring again soon. “I think you will see me again. I definitely want to improve on some things,” he declared. “I’m a competitor. Who knows where it will be. My kids love it—my wife, my family—so I will definitely be back out there.”
Throughout the evening, Broad Street Brawl featured nine amateur bouts as well as an exclusive performance by Yung Wylin’, who had the audience rocking with a dynamic rendition of his hit song, High Energy.
|
Resendiz upsets Plant by split decision |
|
Armando Reséndiz W12 Caleb Plant ... Mexican super middleweight Armando Reséndiz pulled off the upset over former IBF champion Caleb Plant via a split-decision in the main event of PBC show on Saturday night at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Reséndiz was victorious with two scores of 116-112, overruling one judge’s 115-113 verdict. The win brought Reséndiz (16-2, 11 KOs) the WBA interim title, theoretically putting him in line for a shot at the division's undisputed world champion, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. Resendiz was determined from the outset to give Plant (23-3, 14 KOs) all he could handle, following Plant around the ring looking to set up power punches. Reséndiz was able to land numerous flashy power punches, punctuating his work in a strong round three that set the tone early for a high-pitched duel.
“I knew that everybody was going to be against me, because on paper of course he was the favorite, but I believed in myself,” said Reséndiz. “My corner believed in me. And then we did exactly what we came to do. I felt like it was close and in a close fight, sometimes it switches the other way,” said Plant. “I feel like I was in control enough and using the whole ring, using my jab, but the judges saw it the other way.”
Plant showed off his boxing acumen to land pot shots and jabs that didn’t deter Reséndiz, but scored nonetheless. Reséndiz broke through again in round seven, wobbling Plant with a counter right hand and left hook to take the frame. “It wasn't that he was putting so much pressure on me,” said Plant. “He caught me with one overhand right. That was pretty good. But other than that, nothing really hurt me or stunned me.”
Reséndiz rode that momentum throughout the second half of the fight, pushing forward and fighting effectively enough that two judges gave him each of the final seven rounds. Overall Reséndiz dominated the punch stats according to CompuBox, outlanding Plant 186 ounches to 108 and connecting on 31% of his shots compared to 21% from Plant.
“I didn’t really worry about what people say,” said Reséndiz. “I knew I was going to win. I didn’t worry at all. I knew it was gonna be a tough fight and we gave them a great fight…I’m ready to fight anyone. Whoever the public wants.”
“I felt like I did good,” said Plant. “I used my jab, I used the whole ring and was patient, but I wasn’t the better man tonight…I’ll just get back with my team. Go home to my family, spend time with my daughter. My son’s on the way and you know we’ll regroup and we’ll be back."
|
|
|
|
Resendiz upsets Plant by split decision
Armando Reséndiz W12 Caleb Plant ... Mexican super middleweight Armando Reséndiz pulled off the upset over former IBF champion Caleb Plant via a split-decision in the main event of PBC show on Saturday night at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Reséndiz was victorious with two scores of 116-112, overruling one judge’s 115-113 verdict. The win brought Reséndiz (16-2, 11 KOs) the WBA interim title, theoretically putting him in line for a shot at the division's undisputed world champion, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. Resendiz was determined from the outset to give Plant (23-3, 14 KOs) all he could handle, following Plant around the ring looking to set up power punches. Reséndiz was able to land numerous flashy power punches, punctuating his work in a strong round three that set the tone early for a high-pitched duel.
“I knew that everybody was going to be against me, because on paper of course he was the favorite, but I believed in myself,” said Reséndiz. “My corner believed in me. And then we did exactly what we came to do. I felt like it was close and in a close fight, sometimes it switches the other way,” said Plant. “I feel like I was in control enough and using the whole ring, using my jab, but the judges saw it the other way.”
Plant showed off his boxing acumen to land pot shots and jabs that didn’t deter Reséndiz, but scored nonetheless. Reséndiz broke through again in round seven, wobbling Plant with a counter right hand and left hook to take the frame. “It wasn't that he was putting so much pressure on me,” said Plant. “He caught me with one overhand right. That was pretty good. But other than that, nothing really hurt me or stunned me.”
Reséndiz rode that momentum throughout the second half of the fight, pushing forward and fighting effectively enough that two judges gave him each of the final seven rounds. Overall Reséndiz dominated the punch stats according to CompuBox, outlanding Plant 186 ounches to 108 and connecting on 31% of his shots compared to 21% from Plant.
“I didn’t really worry about what people say,” said Reséndiz. “I knew I was going to win. I didn’t worry at all. I knew it was gonna be a tough fight and we gave them a great fight…I’m ready to fight anyone. Whoever the public wants.”
“I felt like I did good,” said Plant. “I used my jab, I used the whole ring and was patient, but I wasn’t the better man tonight…I’ll just get back with my team. Go home to my family, spend time with my daughter. My son’s on the way and you know we’ll regroup and we’ll be back."
|
Jermall Charlo returns to stop Thomas LaManna |
|
Jermall Charlo TKO6 Thomas LaManna... In the PBC co-feature in Las Vegas, unbeaten former two-division champion Jermall Charlo (34-0, 23 KOs) dropped Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna (39-6-1, 18 KOs) three times, eventually forcing a stoppage after the fifth-round of their super middleweight clash (official stoppage :01 into round six). "It feels good to be back,” said Charlo, who had not fought snce 2023. “I'm thankful to everyone who stood by me, I love y'all. It goes on man. I’m back. You know you gotta go through things to get better…I felt good. I got to work and I knew my timing was there. Shout out to my trainer Hylon Williams Sr.”
In his ring return, Charlo dominated throughout, showing off his trademark jab early and often (44 total jabs landed), while peppering in straight right hands and left hooks off his signature punch. Charlo scored his first of three knockdowns in round three, hurting LaManna with a straight right before sending him down with a left hook.
The Houston native struck again in round four, landing another left hook that forced LaManna to buckle and take a knee. While referee Mark Nelson originally ruled no knockdown, that decision was overturned on video review between rounds.
Charlo returned to his dominance in the fifth frame, this time delivering a laser right hand that put LaManna down for the third time. Although LaManna was able to make it to the bell, he was worse for wear, leading to the referee stopping the bout on advice from the ringside physician. "I'm just looking to stay well-known and relevant,” said Charlo. “No more dark places and keep my head straight. I just want to encourage everyone in the world, keep God first, keep God first.”
"It is what it is, I did the best I could,” said LaManna. “The doctors are here for a reason and they made their decision. I'm disappointed, but it's boxing…Charlo was sharper than I expected. I expected him to come out guns blazing a little more. He's a two-time world champion for a reason. He has a great, heavy jab and he did what he had to do."
|
|
|
|
Jermall Charlo returns to stop Thomas LaManna
Jermall Charlo TKO6 Thomas LaManna... In the PBC co-feature in Las Vegas, unbeaten former two-division champion Jermall Charlo (34-0, 23 KOs) dropped Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna (39-6-1, 18 KOs) three times, eventually forcing a stoppage after the fifth-round of their super middleweight clash (official stoppage :01 into round six). "It feels good to be back,” said Charlo, who had not fought snce 2023. “I'm thankful to everyone who stood by me, I love y'all. It goes on man. I’m back. You know you gotta go through things to get better…I felt good. I got to work and I knew my timing was there. Shout out to my trainer Hylon Williams Sr.”
In his ring return, Charlo dominated throughout, showing off his trademark jab early and often (44 total jabs landed), while peppering in straight right hands and left hooks off his signature punch. Charlo scored his first of three knockdowns in round three, hurting LaManna with a straight right before sending him down with a left hook.
The Houston native struck again in round four, landing another left hook that forced LaManna to buckle and take a knee. While referee Mark Nelson originally ruled no knockdown, that decision was overturned on video review between rounds.
Charlo returned to his dominance in the fifth frame, this time delivering a laser right hand that put LaManna down for the third time. Although LaManna was able to make it to the bell, he was worse for wear, leading to the referee stopping the bout on advice from the ringside physician. "I'm just looking to stay well-known and relevant,” said Charlo. “No more dark places and keep my head straight. I just want to encourage everyone in the world, keep God first, keep God first.”
"It is what it is, I did the best I could,” said LaManna. “The doctors are here for a reason and they made their decision. I'm disappointed, but it's boxing…Charlo was sharper than I expected. I expected him to come out guns blazing a little more. He's a two-time world champion for a reason. He has a great, heavy jab and he did what he had to do."
|
Hernandez wins wide decision over Davis |
|
|
Yoenli Feliciano Hernandez W10 Kyrone Davis... The PBC action in Las Vegas also saw the undefeated Yoenli Feliciano Hernandez (8-0, 7 KOs) rode a second-round knockdown to a ten-round unanimous decision triumph over Kyrone “Shut It Down” Davis (19-4-1, 6 KOs). Hernandez, a middleweight, earned the decision on all three cards, by the score of 100-89 according to each judge. Going the distance for the first time in his young career, Hernandez took the momentum early by punctuating a beautiful five-punch combination with a straight left hand that caused Davis to hit the canvas. While Davis was able to get to his feet and continued to use his veteran ring savvy to stay in the fight, he was badly out-gunned throughout the bout, being out-landed 217 to 41.
“In a way, the fact that it wasn’t a knockout allowed me to test myself going the distance,” said Hernandez. “I never thought I would feel as good in the 10th round as I did in the first round, but that’s what it felt like.”
"I just couldn't catch my rhythm from the beginning,” said Davis. “I started fighting from behind and wasn't able to establish my offense. He's a good fighter and he's got a bright future. I'm gonna go back to the drawing board and figure out what's next."
The Cuban Hernandez landed more punches than Davis in every frame, and never gave his opponent an opportunity to land anything significant. Hernandez poured it on in the final frame, bringing the crowd to its feet with flashy power shots all the way until the final bell. “I dominated based on the results of my preparation and the conviction I have in my skills,” said Hernandez. “I want to thank all the fans that showed me their love and support, and I want to go after the belts next. Bring on the champions.”
|
|
|
|
Hernandez wins wide decision over Davis
Yoenli Feliciano Hernandez W10 Kyrone Davis... The PBC action in Las Vegas also saw the undefeated Yoenli Feliciano Hernandez (8-0, 7 KOs) rode a second-round knockdown to a ten-round unanimous decision triumph over Kyrone “Shut It Down” Davis (19-4-1, 6 KOs). Hernandez, a middleweight, earned the decision on all three cards, by the score of 100-89 according to each judge. Going the distance for the first time in his young career, Hernandez took the momentum early by punctuating a beautiful five-punch combination with a straight left hand that caused Davis to hit the canvas. While Davis was able to get to his feet and continued to use his veteran ring savvy to stay in the fight, he was badly out-gunned throughout the bout, being out-landed 217 to 41.
“In a way, the fact that it wasn’t a knockout allowed me to test myself going the distance,” said Hernandez. “I never thought I would feel as good in the 10th round as I did in the first round, but that’s what it felt like.”
"I just couldn't catch my rhythm from the beginning,” said Davis. “I started fighting from behind and wasn't able to establish my offense. He's a good fighter and he's got a bright future. I'm gonna go back to the drawing board and figure out what's next."
The Cuban Hernandez landed more punches than Davis in every frame, and never gave his opponent an opportunity to land anything significant. Hernandez poured it on in the final frame, bringing the crowd to its feet with flashy power shots all the way until the final bell. “I dominated based on the results of my preparation and the conviction I have in my skills,” said Hernandez. “I want to thank all the fans that showed me their love and support, and I want to go after the belts next. Bring on the champions.”
|
Watch: Lucero stops Valenzuela in battle of unbeatens |
|
Isaac Lucero TKO2 Omar Valenzuela ... Kicking off the streaming presentation, junior middleweight Isaac Lucero (17-0, 13 KOs) delivered a dominating second-round technical knockout of the previously unbeaten Omar Valenzuela (23-1, 20 KOs), dropping him hard in round two before a final flurry forced referee Mike Ortega to halt the action 2:57 into the round. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity and I'm thankful to everyone watching,” said Lucero. “This is something I’ve been dreaming of and it feels amazing. Once I started landing, I thought he was feeling my big shots, and I knew it was a matter of time.”
In an all-Mexican showdown, Lucero and Valenzuela went toe-to-toe from the outset, exchanging heavy fire from close range. It appeared that Lucero had dropped Valenzuela late in round one with a chopping right hand, but the shot was deemed to have connected with the back of Valenzuela’s head by the referee. Late in a closely contested second frame, it was a counter right hand that did the damage for Lucero, putting Valenzuela down emphatically. While Valenzuela was able to get to his feet, Lucero continued with effective pressure until the fight was waived off.
“I've been preparing for better and better competition,” said Lucero, who is trained by top trainer Bob Santos. “I’m going to train hard and take it fight by fight with my team behind me.”
"It’s a painful loss, but I leave with my head up high,” said Valenzuela. “I felt like I could have continued, but I will learn from this and become stronger for it.”
|
|
|
|
Watch: Lucero stops Valenzuela in battle of unbeatens
Isaac Lucero TKO2 Omar Valenzuela ... Kicking off the streaming presentation, junior middleweight Isaac Lucero (17-0, 13 KOs) delivered a dominating second-round technical knockout of the previously unbeaten Omar Valenzuela (23-1, 20 KOs), dropping him hard in round two before a final flurry forced referee Mike Ortega to halt the action 2:57 into the round. “I’m very grateful for the opportunity and I'm thankful to everyone watching,” said Lucero. “This is something I’ve been dreaming of and it feels amazing. Once I started landing, I thought he was feeling my big shots, and I knew it was a matter of time.”
In an all-Mexican showdown, Lucero and Valenzuela went toe-to-toe from the outset, exchanging heavy fire from close range. It appeared that Lucero had dropped Valenzuela late in round one with a chopping right hand, but the shot was deemed to have connected with the back of Valenzuela’s head by the referee. Late in a closely contested second frame, it was a counter right hand that did the damage for Lucero, putting Valenzuela down emphatically. While Valenzuela was able to get to his feet, Lucero continued with effective pressure until the fight was waived off.
“I've been preparing for better and better competition,” said Lucero, who is trained by top trainer Bob Santos. “I’m going to train hard and take it fight by fight with my team behind me.”
"It’s a painful loss, but I leave with my head up high,” said Valenzuela. “I felt like I could have continued, but I will learn from this and become stronger for it.”
|
WBA sponsors June 7th show in Colombia |
|
The WBA Future program is back with a night of boxing scheduled for Saturday, June 7th in Barranquilla, Colombia. The event will feature nine professional bouts and an amateur showdown between regional teams from Atlántico and Magdalena. The action will unfold at Cuadrilátero Élite Gym and will be streamed live on the WBA’s official YouTube channel. The professional slate includes a compelling clash between junior welterweights Orlando Pérez Jr. (8-0) of San Onofre and Miguel Bolaños (9-3) from Soledad. Another attraction will be the return of Yeni Marcela Arias, a former standout on the Colombian women’s national team. Arias is set to headline the amateur segment before the spotlight shifts to the pro ranks later in the card. The live stream kicks off at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time (U.S.), and organizers are teasing a few surprises for fans tuning in online.
|
|
|
|
WBA sponsors June 7th show in Colombia
The WBA Future program is back with a night of boxing scheduled for Saturday, June 7th in Barranquilla, Colombia. The event will feature nine professional bouts and an amateur showdown between regional teams from Atlántico and Magdalena. The action will unfold at Cuadrilátero Élite Gym and will be streamed live on the WBA’s official YouTube channel. The professional slate includes a compelling clash between junior welterweights Orlando Pérez Jr. (8-0) of San Onofre and Miguel Bolaños (9-3) from Soledad. Another attraction will be the return of Yeni Marcela Arias, a former standout on the Colombian women’s national team. Arias is set to headline the amateur segment before the spotlight shifts to the pro ranks later in the card. The live stream kicks off at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time (U.S.), and organizers are teasing a few surprises for fans tuning in online.
|
Melikuziev deals Fulghum his first loss |
|
Bektemir Melikuziev W12 Darius Fulghum ... Bektemir "the Bully" Melikuziev defeated Darius Fulghum via unanimous decision in a super middleweight bout on Friday in Las Vegas. Melikuziev, from Uzbekistan, sealed the victory with a twelfth-round knockdown of the previously undefeated Fulgham. All three judges scored it 114-112. Melikkuziev is now 19-3 including the World Series of Boxing.
|
|
|
|
Melikuziev deals Fulghum his first loss
Bektemir Melikuziev W12 Darius Fulghum ... Bektemir "the Bully" Melikuziev defeated Darius Fulghum via unanimous decision in a super middleweight bout on Friday in Las Vegas. Melikuziev, from Uzbekistan, sealed the victory with a twelfth-round knockdown of the previously undefeated Fulgham. All three judges scored it 114-112. Melikkuziev is now 19-3 including the World Series of Boxing.
|
Akhmadaliev wins tune-up; Inoue could be next |
|
Murodjon Akhmadaliev TKO8 Luis Castillo... In Gudalajara, Mexico, former 122-pound champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev proved too much for Luis Castillo, battering him in round eight until the referee declared a technical knockout. This was a huge win for Akhmadaliev, as it sets up a likely title challenge against undisputed world super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue in Japan this September. Akhmadaliev is 16-3 including the World Series of Boxing. Castillo's career mark falls to 31-7.
|
|
|
|
Akhmadaliev wins tune-up; Inoue could be next
Murodjon Akhmadaliev TKO8 Luis Castillo... In Gudalajara, Mexico, former 122-pound champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev proved too much for Luis Castillo, battering him in round eight until the referee declared a technical knockout. This was a huge win for Akhmadaliev, as it sets up a likely title challenge against undisputed world super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue in Japan this September. Akhmadaliev is 16-3 including the World Series of Boxing. Castillo's career mark falls to 31-7.
|
Khalil Coe avenges lone career loss |
|
Khalil Coe TKO6 Manuel Gallegos... New Jersey light heavyweight Khalil Coe traveled to Gudalajara, Mexico and gained revenge over Manuel Gallegos (21-3-1) on Friday night. Gallegos did not come out of his corner for the sixth round. Coe had suffered a first career loss via ninth-round defeat vs. Gallegos in November, but returned to winning ways on this first foray into the ring since. Coe (10-1-1) delivered a sixth-round TKO triumph to fulfill his prediction of victory. "The last fight, I was dealing with a lot of body [and] internal problems," he said afterwards. "I was hospitalized twice before my last fight. That pretty much made the difference. "This camp, no problems all the way. [It is] a hundred percent Coe, and you all see what happened."
|
|
|
|
Khalil Coe avenges lone career loss
Khalil Coe TKO6 Manuel Gallegos... New Jersey light heavyweight Khalil Coe traveled to Gudalajara, Mexico and gained revenge over Manuel Gallegos (21-3-1) on Friday night. Gallegos did not come out of his corner for the sixth round. Coe had suffered a first career loss via ninth-round defeat vs. Gallegos in November, but returned to winning ways on this first foray into the ring since. Coe (10-1-1) delivered a sixth-round TKO triumph to fulfill his prediction of victory. "The last fight, I was dealing with a lot of body [and] internal problems," he said afterwards. "I was hospitalized twice before my last fight. That pretty much made the difference. "This camp, no problems all the way. [It is] a hundred percent Coe, and you all see what happened."
|
Ex-champ Estrada to embark on bantamweight campaign this month |
|
On Saturday, June 14th in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, former two-division champion Juan Francisco “Gallo” Estrada will return to the ring after his loss last year to Jesse “Bam” Rodríguez. Estrada, age 35, with a record of 44-4 and 28 KOs, will face fellow Mexican Karim Arce (21-2-2 with 8 KO), to officially begin his bantamweight campaign. The highlights of Estrada’s title reigns were the second and third fights of his exciting trilogy with legend Román “Chocolatito González.” Their first meeting was at 108 pounds in November 2012, when the Nicaraguan González outpointed Estrada. Their rematch in March 2021 was one of the best of the year, with Estrada winning two 115-pound titles by split decision. In the final bout of their trilogy, in December 2022, Estrada defeated González by majority decision to retain his WBC crown in Glendale, Arizona.
|
|
|
|
Ex-champ Estrada to embark on bantamweight campaign this month
On Saturday, June 14th in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, former two-division champion Juan Francisco “Gallo” Estrada will return to the ring after his loss last year to Jesse “Bam” Rodríguez. Estrada, age 35, with a record of 44-4 and 28 KOs, will face fellow Mexican Karim Arce (21-2-2 with 8 KO), to officially begin his bantamweight campaign. The highlights of Estrada’s title reigns were the second and third fights of his exciting trilogy with legend Román “Chocolatito González.” Their first meeting was at 108 pounds in November 2012, when the Nicaraguan González outpointed Estrada. Their rematch in March 2021 was one of the best of the year, with Estrada winning two 115-pound titles by split decision. In the final bout of their trilogy, in December 2022, Estrada defeated González by majority decision to retain his WBC crown in Glendale, Arizona.
|
Cruz to face Mishiro in IBF lightweight eliminator |
|
|
The card is set for Saturday, June 14th at The Theater at New York City's Madison Square Garden. In the previously announced main event, New York’s unbeaten champion Richardson Hitchins makes the first defense of his IBF junior welterweight title against Australia’s former world lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. The undercard will feature Cuban lightweight Andy Cruz vs. Hironori Mishiro (17-1-1) in an IBF eliminator. Cruz is listed as 5-0, but Boxingtalk recognizes his record as 21-0 due to paid bouts in the World Series of Boxing. Also on the show will be a battle of undefeated heavyweights as Canadian champion Alexis Barriere (12-0) will face 6'6" southpaw Roney Hines (14-0-1).
|
|
|
|
Cruz to face Mishiro in IBF lightweight eliminator
The card is set for Saturday, June 14th at The Theater at New York City's Madison Square Garden. In the previously announced main event, New York’s unbeaten champion Richardson Hitchins makes the first defense of his IBF junior welterweight title against Australia’s former world lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. The undercard will feature Cuban lightweight Andy Cruz vs. Hironori Mishiro (17-1-1) in an IBF eliminator. Cruz is listed as 5-0, but Boxingtalk recognizes his record as 21-0 due to paid bouts in the World Series of Boxing. Also on the show will be a battle of undefeated heavyweights as Canadian champion Alexis Barriere (12-0) will face 6'6" southpaw Roney Hines (14-0-1).
|
Bruce Carrington and Mateus Heita fight for interim featherweight belt |
|
On Saturday, July 26th, at The Theater at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Brooklyn native Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington and unbeaten Namibian Mateus Heita will collide for the WBC interim featherweight title. And, in the eight-round televised opener, Mexican-American Emiliano Fernando Vargas returns against Ecuador’s Alexander Espinoza in a junior welterweight showdown. The main event will see Xander Zayas of Puerto Rico against Mexico's Jorge Garcia for the vacant WBO junior middleweight world championship. These three featured bouts will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 6 at 12 p.m. ET and can be purchased via Ticketmaster.com.
Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) went 4-0 in 2024, beginning the year in February with a highlight-reel stoppage of Bernard Torres and ending it with a shutout decision over Dana Coolwell on the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson bill. In 2025, “Shu Shu” took out his frustration on Jose Enrique Vivas in March, becoming the first man to stop the Mexican pressure fighter. After knocking down Vivas in round two, Carrington ended the fight in the third.
“It’s always a thrill to fight in my city, and I can’t wait to bring the ‘Shu Shu Show’ back to The Theater at Madison Square Garden,” Carrington said. “The featherweight division is full of champions who have refused my challenge, so I credit Heida for accepting. That said, I will take out my frustration on him on July 26 and continue putting the division on notice.”
Heita (14-0, 9 KOs) is the latest hopeful from Namibia, a coastal African nation that has produced champions Julius Indongo Paulus Moses, and Paulus Ambunda in recent years. A stablemate of longtime contender Jeremia Nakathila, Heita turned pro as a junior featherweight in 2018, going 9-0 before moving up in weight. Last November, he stopped Tatenda Biningu in nine rounds to win the WBO Africa featherweight title. In April, Heita notched a one-sided 12-round decision over South Africa’s Abdulaziz Kunert.
“I’ve proven to the world that I’m a world-class boxer, and facing the best has always been my ambition because I believe I’m destined for greatness," said Heita. "I see Bruce as just another obstacle to becoming a world champion. There’s nothing particularly special about him — he’s simply another challenge I will overcome.”
Vargas (14-0, 12 KOs), the youngest son of former world champion Fernando Vargas, has continued to live up to the family legacy since turning pro in 2022. The 20-year-old moved up to junior welterweight last year and went 4-0 with four knockouts, including exciting stoppages over Angel Varela, Jose Zaragoza, and Larry Fryers. In March, he kicked off his 2025 campaign with a highlight-reel second-round TKO against Giovannie Gonzalez. He returned five weeks later to stop Juan Leon in two on the Naoya Inoue-Ramon Cardenas undercard in May. Espinoza (20-3-1, 9 KOs) is an 11-year pro coming off back-to-back wins at home following a loss to Rogelio Jimenez last July.
“Like 50 Cent said, I run New York. All jokes aside, I’m ready to perform on the biggest stage and continue to win,” Vargas said. “Each fight is one step closer to becoming the world champion God called me to be.”
The ESPN+-streamed undercard is scheduled to include second-generation Puerto Rican star Juanmita Lopez De Jesus (2-0, 1 KO) and the pro debut of Team USA amateur sensation Julius ‘JuJu’ Ballo. Lopez, the son of former two-weight world champion Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez, will return in a four-round junior bantamweight tilt against Jorge Gonzalez-Sanchez (5-2, 4 KOs). In April, the 19-year-old fought in his home country in his last outing, decisioning Malik Quinonez-Torres over four rounds.
Ballo, a decorated international amateur standout, will fight Brandan Ayala (2-0, 1 KO) in a four-round featherweight bout. The 22-year-old enters the paid ranks with an accomplished resume that includes wins over several of the nation’s elite.
|
|
|
|
Bruce Carrington and Mateus Heita fight for interim featherweight belt
On Saturday, July 26th, at The Theater at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Brooklyn native Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington and unbeaten Namibian Mateus Heita will collide for the WBC interim featherweight title. And, in the eight-round televised opener, Mexican-American Emiliano Fernando Vargas returns against Ecuador’s Alexander Espinoza in a junior welterweight showdown. The main event will see Xander Zayas of Puerto Rico against Mexico's Jorge Garcia for the vacant WBO junior middleweight world championship. These three featured bouts will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 6 at 12 p.m. ET and can be purchased via Ticketmaster.com.
Carrington (15-0, 9 KOs) went 4-0 in 2024, beginning the year in February with a highlight-reel stoppage of Bernard Torres and ending it with a shutout decision over Dana Coolwell on the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson bill. In 2025, “Shu Shu” took out his frustration on Jose Enrique Vivas in March, becoming the first man to stop the Mexican pressure fighter. After knocking down Vivas in round two, Carrington ended the fight in the third.
“It’s always a thrill to fight in my city, and I can’t wait to bring the ‘Shu Shu Show’ back to The Theater at Madison Square Garden,” Carrington said. “The featherweight division is full of champions who have refused my challenge, so I credit Heida for accepting. That said, I will take out my frustration on him on July 26 and continue putting the division on notice.”
Heita (14-0, 9 KOs) is the latest hopeful from Namibia, a coastal African nation that has produced champions Julius Indongo Paulus Moses, and Paulus Ambunda in recent years. A stablemate of longtime contender Jeremia Nakathila, Heita turned pro as a junior featherweight in 2018, going 9-0 before moving up in weight. Last November, he stopped Tatenda Biningu in nine rounds to win the WBO Africa featherweight title. In April, Heita notched a one-sided 12-round decision over South Africa’s Abdulaziz Kunert.
“I’ve proven to the world that I’m a world-class boxer, and facing the best has always been my ambition because I believe I’m destined for greatness," said Heita. "I see Bruce as just another obstacle to becoming a world champion. There’s nothing particularly special about him — he’s simply another challenge I will overcome.”
Vargas (14-0, 12 KOs), the youngest son of former world champion Fernando Vargas, has continued to live up to the family legacy since turning pro in 2022. The 20-year-old moved up to junior welterweight last year and went 4-0 with four knockouts, including exciting stoppages over Angel Varela, Jose Zaragoza, and Larry Fryers. In March, he kicked off his 2025 campaign with a highlight-reel second-round TKO against Giovannie Gonzalez. He returned five weeks later to stop Juan Leon in two on the Naoya Inoue-Ramon Cardenas undercard in May. Espinoza (20-3-1, 9 KOs) is an 11-year pro coming off back-to-back wins at home following a loss to Rogelio Jimenez last July.
“Like 50 Cent said, I run New York. All jokes aside, I’m ready to perform on the biggest stage and continue to win,” Vargas said. “Each fight is one step closer to becoming the world champion God called me to be.”
The ESPN+-streamed undercard is scheduled to include second-generation Puerto Rican star Juanmita Lopez De Jesus (2-0, 1 KO) and the pro debut of Team USA amateur sensation Julius ‘JuJu’ Ballo. Lopez, the son of former two-weight world champion Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez, will return in a four-round junior bantamweight tilt against Jorge Gonzalez-Sanchez (5-2, 4 KOs). In April, the 19-year-old fought in his home country in his last outing, decisioning Malik Quinonez-Torres over four rounds.
Ballo, a decorated international amateur standout, will fight Brandan Ayala (2-0, 1 KO) in a four-round featherweight bout. The 22-year-old enters the paid ranks with an accomplished resume that includes wins over several of the nation’s elite.
|
Maine to host Father's Day boxing event |
|
The second annual Father’s Day Pro Boxing Classic returns on Saturday, June 14th to the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine once again honoring the rich and lasting legacy of boxing in Maine. Tickets are on sale now. Portland Boxing Club’s Casey Streeter “The Comeback Kid”, the current New England junior middleweight champ will be moving up to the middleweight division to challenge Dorchester’s Bernard Joseph for his New England crown. Joseph, trained by Mark DeLuca, brings an 11-1 record to the bout. Streeter, 13-2-2, coming off an exciting eighth-round stoppage of Joe Farina in Boston considers the weight jump to be insignificant for the bout, bringing speed and mobility to counter the strength of the champ.
Undefeated Marco Romero (Olathe, Kansas) will appear in a featured six-round bout. Romero was 135-5 as an amateur, winning 21 National titles and closing out his amateur career as an Elite USA Boxing and National Golden Gloves Champion. Only making his professional debut a year ago at the Cross Insurance Arena, now 6-0, he, too, will step up his competition facing California’s Nafys Garner, 4-2.
Up-and-coming middleweight Wade Faria, and four-time New England Golden Gloves middleweight champ of Gorham will face undefeated Henry Hewig of Worcester, MA. Faria, 3-0, left the amateur ranks for the pros a year ago, also making his debut on the first Father’s Day Classic event with Portland Boxing Club. Looking to step up competition level with the tough Hewig, Faria is a fighter to watch- he may become the next big name in Maine boxing.
Also on the card is one of Maine’s most popular boxers, Brandon “The Cannon” Berry, of West Forks, ME, and heavyweight Liam Harriman (2-0) of Fryeburg, Maine. Ireland’s national champion, super middleweight, Brian Long, now boxing out of South Boston, will make his pro debut. Also making his pro debut and rounding out the pro card is super heavyweight Miguel Matias, a New York Golden Gloves Champion boxing out of Poughkeepsie, New York. The evening will open with three amateur bouts including Golden Gloves champs Ilyas Bashir and Kate Zehr.
At its core, the Father’s Day Pro Boxing Classic is more than just a fight night—it’s a celebration where family and community are as important as the action inside the ring. The annual event draws people from all walks of life and unites them by their shared passion for the sport. This year’s Classic promises to be an unforgettable showcase of talent, passion, and Maine’s proud boxing tradition. The Father’s Day Boxing Classic is made possible in part by News Center Maine – the official media partner and by Modelo, Bud Light, Lone Pine Brewing and Surfside Vodka Ice Tea
|
|
|
|
Maine to host Father's Day boxing event
The second annual Father’s Day Pro Boxing Classic returns on Saturday, June 14th to the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine once again honoring the rich and lasting legacy of boxing in Maine. Tickets are on sale now. Portland Boxing Club’s Casey Streeter “The Comeback Kid”, the current New England junior middleweight champ will be moving up to the middleweight division to challenge Dorchester’s Bernard Joseph for his New England crown. Joseph, trained by Mark DeLuca, brings an 11-1 record to the bout. Streeter, 13-2-2, coming off an exciting eighth-round stoppage of Joe Farina in Boston considers the weight jump to be insignificant for the bout, bringing speed and mobility to counter the strength of the champ.
Undefeated Marco Romero (Olathe, Kansas) will appear in a featured six-round bout. Romero was 135-5 as an amateur, winning 21 National titles and closing out his amateur career as an Elite USA Boxing and National Golden Gloves Champion. Only making his professional debut a year ago at the Cross Insurance Arena, now 6-0, he, too, will step up his competition facing California’s Nafys Garner, 4-2.
Up-and-coming middleweight Wade Faria, and four-time New England Golden Gloves middleweight champ of Gorham will face undefeated Henry Hewig of Worcester, MA. Faria, 3-0, left the amateur ranks for the pros a year ago, also making his debut on the first Father’s Day Classic event with Portland Boxing Club. Looking to step up competition level with the tough Hewig, Faria is a fighter to watch- he may become the next big name in Maine boxing.
Also on the card is one of Maine’s most popular boxers, Brandon “The Cannon” Berry, of West Forks, ME, and heavyweight Liam Harriman (2-0) of Fryeburg, Maine. Ireland’s national champion, super middleweight, Brian Long, now boxing out of South Boston, will make his pro debut. Also making his pro debut and rounding out the pro card is super heavyweight Miguel Matias, a New York Golden Gloves Champion boxing out of Poughkeepsie, New York. The evening will open with three amateur bouts including Golden Gloves champs Ilyas Bashir and Kate Zehr.
At its core, the Father’s Day Pro Boxing Classic is more than just a fight night—it’s a celebration where family and community are as important as the action inside the ring. The annual event draws people from all walks of life and unites them by their shared passion for the sport. This year’s Classic promises to be an unforgettable showcase of talent, passion, and Maine’s proud boxing tradition. The Father’s Day Boxing Classic is made possible in part by News Center Maine – the official media partner and by Modelo, Bud Light, Lone Pine Brewing and Surfside Vodka Ice Tea
|
Oliver McCall, age 60, books his next fight |
|
Oliver McCall will face Carlos Reyes on a June 3rd Country Box show at the Troubador in Nashville, Tennessee. The fight was confirmed on Country Box's Facebook page as a Jimmy Adams Promotions event. McCall is now 60 years old. He turned pro in 1985 and won the WBC title by stopping the great Lennox Lewis in 1994. Reyues is 7-17-2 overall, including 0-12-1 in his last thirteen outings dating back to 2015. McCall ended 5 1/2 years of inactivity last year when he knocked out 50-something Stacy Frazier with an amateurish punch in round two. The knockout in that fight was about as bad as you would expect. Frazier hadn't won a fight since 2014. McCall won a second comeback fight in January, stopping Gary Cobia (3-5), who failed to come out for round two.
An Instagram post also touted a heavyweight contest between Fernando Cuza (7-0) vs. Nathan Bedwell (8-21-1) for the same show.
|
|
|
|
Oliver McCall, age 60, books his next fight
Oliver McCall will face Carlos Reyes on a June 3rd Country Box show at the Troubador in Nashville, Tennessee. The fight was confirmed on Country Box's Facebook page as a Jimmy Adams Promotions event. McCall is now 60 years old. He turned pro in 1985 and won the WBC title by stopping the great Lennox Lewis in 1994. Reyues is 7-17-2 overall, including 0-12-1 in his last thirteen outings dating back to 2015. McCall ended 5 1/2 years of inactivity last year when he knocked out 50-something Stacy Frazier with an amateurish punch in round two. The knockout in that fight was about as bad as you would expect. Frazier hadn't won a fight since 2014. McCall won a second comeback fight in January, stopping Gary Cobia (3-5), who failed to come out for round two.
An Instagram post also touted a heavyweight contest between Fernando Cuza (7-0) vs. Nathan Bedwell (8-21-1) for the same show.
|
Final presser quotes from Las Vegas |
|
|
Super middleweight stars Caleb Plant and Jermall Charlo previewed their respective co-headlining showdowns at Thursday’s final press conference ahead of PBC Championship Boxing on Prime Video this Saturday, May 31st at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Plant will step in against Mexican knockout artist Armando Reséndiz, while Charlo faces veteran contender Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna on the four-fight card that streams exclusively on Prime Video for all Prime members in the United States and select countries. The workout also featured middleweight contenders Yoenli Feliciano Hernandez and Kyrone “Shut It Down” Davis, who duel in a ten-round showdown, plus Isaac “La Bestia” Lucero and hard-hitting Omar Valenzuela, who match up in a junior middleweight attraction that opens the streaming presentation at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Tickets for the live event are on sale now through AXS.com. Here is what the fighters had to say Thursday from Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino:
CALEB PLANT
“It feels good to be back on the big stage. My team put in a lot of work and left no stone unturned and that’s gonna show on Saturday. I’m looking to put on a show. This is a big moment for Armando, but it’s big for me too. I have a lot on the line. He may have nothing to lose, but I’ve got everything to lose. I sacrificed a lot and you’re gonna see it in the ring.
“I’m a competitor and I’m a winner. I’ve been a winner my whole life. Regardless of whatever I’ve done, that’s not what wakes me up in the morning.
“At this point in my career, I’m a complete fighter. Whether its inside, outside or midrange, I have great legs and great feet. Whatever he decides to do, we’ll be right there with him, but levels above. We’re gonna show him there’s levels to this.
“Experience plays a big factor in every fight and that’s something that I’ve had. I’ve faced the best in the sport. I’m the biggest and baddest dude he’s ever fought.
“You’re gonna be hearing ‘And still’, and it’s gonna be in impressive fashion. So make sure you tune in.”
ARMANDO RESENDIZ
“This has me so motivated and happy that I can’t even express how excited I am. My team has gone above and beyond and I’m feeling like the best version of myself.
“I don’t care what Caleb says. I’m just focused on myself. I’m gonna speak with my fists when that bell rings.
“Caleb is right that I have nothing to lose. But I have a lot to fight for too. I just announced yesterday that I’m gonna be a father for the first time. So I’m fighting for more than just myself.
“I’m going to listen to my corner, be disciplined and do whatever it takes to win. I know what I have to do in order to get the victory.
“The fight will show me how I have to approach Caleb. I have a lot of strategies past plan A. If I have to be in a brawl, I will. All that matters is that I get the win.
“He’s the toughest opponent of my life and that motivates me. I want to represent my people and give everyone a great show. I can’t wait for Saturday night.”
JERMALL CHARLO
“If he makes the wrong move, makes a miscalculation, or gets just a little too close, then I’m gonna knock his ass clean out.
“I feel the energy and the energy is great right now. I’m thankful to my whole team that’s stood by me. I’m ready to showcase my talent and give you all the old Jermall Charlo.
“Las Vegas is like a second home to me. I’ve got a lot of friends and family here and I’m happy to be back. There’s no other place like Las Vegas.
“I’m moving up to 168 because the competition is better. I’m not overlooking LaManna, but there are other fighters I can face in this division that would solidify my legacy. But right now I’m focused on getting wins and getting to the next level. I’m always learning and enjoying the sport.
“I don’t know if he’s trying to intimidate me. I wouldn’t expect nothing less than for him to be locked in. He knows who he’s up against.
THOMAS LAMANNA
“This is my last opportunity at greatness. It’s been a long journey for me and now I get to test my skills against a two-division world champion. Come Saturday night, we’re gonna shock the world.
“I know the show is based around Caleb and Jermall, but I’m here to do my part. I’m gonna upset the apple cart. Let’s let these fights happen.
“I’m real locked in. I know what I’m up against, so I had to train my ass off. I’ve been training like that for six months.
“Every fighter when you turn pro wants to fight in Las Vegas. Seeing my picture on the billboards is an honor. It means everything to me.
“I’m gonna shock the world by any means. That’s the only thing we’re coming to do.”
YOENLI FELICIANO HERNANDEZ
“This is one of the biggest cards of the year and I can’t wait to perform. I’m here to win, there’s nothing else.
“I’m not gonna underestimate anybody. I’m ready for any challenge that comes my way. Let’s see what he’s capable of. I hope he can withstand what I’m bringing.
“I’m prepared for what’s coming my way. I’m excited to perform and show everyone what I’m capable of.
“There’s gonna be an easy knockout coming. I don’t know what round it’ll be in, but I know that I’m getting the knockout.”
KYRONE DAVIS
“I’m coming here to put on a show. I’m used to being in this position, so being the underdog is not a big deal to me.
“Hernandez is good and that’s what we wanted. We want to face the best and that’s what we’re gonna keep doing until I get my shot at the title. Enjoy the fireworks on Saturday night.
“What he’s talking about now doesn’t matter. If he has what it takes, he’ll have what it takes. I’ve faced a lot of great fighters. I know he’s gonna give it his all, but we’ll see if it’s enough.
“There is a lot that’s gonna go into me winning this fight. I don’t care about what he’s done or where he’s from. You don’t win fights on paper. All that matters is what happens when that bell rings.
ISAAC LUCERO
“I’m so excited that we were able to make this fight happen. I can’t wait for people to get to know what I’m capable of.
“I have prepared better than I ever have in my life for this fight, and I hope Omar is equally prepared so that we can give the fans the action they deserve. We’re coming to steal the show.
“There’s gonna be dynamite in the ring on Saturday night because I’m gonna knock this guy out. That’s what I’m coming to do.
“Bob Santos is such a pro and he’s instilled so many things in me both inside and outside of the gym. He preaches about how discipline is key and that’s something that I’ve loved to experience throughout training camp. I’m going to use that to win on Saturday.”
OMAR VALENZUELA
“I’m very thankful to be here and pumped up for this opportunity. I’m glad that everyone is going to see this great performance on Saturday night.
“Las Vegas has been home to many memorable bouts and you’re gonna get another one on Saturday. It’s gonna be two Mexican fighters going hand to hand until someone wins. He’s got nowhere to hide.
“We’re both gonna give it our all, but I’m gonna come out with my hand raised. There’s no doubt about it.
“I know that Lucero comes into the ring well prepared. I’m gonna face this challenge head on and be ready for whatever comes my way.”
TOM BROWN, President of TGB Promotions
“I’m really excited about this card. I’ve always said that I love promoting these events at Michelob ULTRA Arena. We’re thrilled to have this event on Prime Video, we’ve had a great partnership
and will have more big fights announced coming up this summer.
“Make sure you get out to the arena early because we have a great card from top to bottom. This is a tremendous event, so make sure you get your tickets. It’s another great night in the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas.
|
|
|
|
Final presser quotes from Las Vegas
Super middleweight stars Caleb Plant and Jermall Charlo previewed their respective co-headlining showdowns at Thursday’s final press conference ahead of PBC Championship Boxing on Prime Video this Saturday, May 31st at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Plant will step in against Mexican knockout artist Armando Reséndiz, while Charlo faces veteran contender Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna on the four-fight card that streams exclusively on Prime Video for all Prime members in the United States and select countries. The workout also featured middleweight contenders Yoenli Feliciano Hernandez and Kyrone “Shut It Down” Davis, who duel in a ten-round showdown, plus Isaac “La Bestia” Lucero and hard-hitting Omar Valenzuela, who match up in a junior middleweight attraction that opens the streaming presentation at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Tickets for the live event are on sale now through AXS.com. Here is what the fighters had to say Thursday from Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino:
CALEB PLANT
“It feels good to be back on the big stage. My team put in a lot of work and left no stone unturned and that’s gonna show on Saturday. I’m looking to put on a show. This is a big moment for Armando, but it’s big for me too. I have a lot on the line. He may have nothing to lose, but I’ve got everything to lose. I sacrificed a lot and you’re gonna see it in the ring.
“I’m a competitor and I’m a winner. I’ve been a winner my whole life. Regardless of whatever I’ve done, that’s not what wakes me up in the morning.
“At this point in my career, I’m a complete fighter. Whether its inside, outside or midrange, I have great legs and great feet. Whatever he decides to do, we’ll be right there with him, but levels above. We’re gonna show him there’s levels to this.
“Experience plays a big factor in every fight and that’s something that I’ve had. I’ve faced the best in the sport. I’m the biggest and baddest dude he’s ever fought.
“You’re gonna be hearing ‘And still’, and it’s gonna be in impressive fashion. So make sure you tune in.”
ARMANDO RESENDIZ
“This has me so motivated and happy that I can’t even express how excited I am. My team has gone above and beyond and I’m feeling like the best version of myself.
“I don’t care what Caleb says. I’m just focused on myself. I’m gonna speak with my fists when that bell rings.
“Caleb is right that I have nothing to lose. But I have a lot to fight for too. I just announced yesterday that I’m gonna be a father for the first time. So I’m fighting for more than just myself.
“I’m going to listen to my corner, be disciplined and do whatever it takes to win. I know what I have to do in order to get the victory.
“The fight will show me how I have to approach Caleb. I have a lot of strategies past plan A. If I have to be in a brawl, I will. All that matters is that I get the win.
“He’s the toughest opponent of my life and that motivates me. I want to represent my people and give everyone a great show. I can’t wait for Saturday night.”
JERMALL CHARLO
“If he makes the wrong move, makes a miscalculation, or gets just a little too close, then I’m gonna knock his ass clean out.
“I feel the energy and the energy is great right now. I’m thankful to my whole team that’s stood by me. I’m ready to showcase my talent and give you all the old Jermall Charlo.
“Las Vegas is like a second home to me. I’ve got a lot of friends and family here and I’m happy to be back. There’s no other place like Las Vegas.
“I’m moving up to 168 because the competition is better. I’m not overlooking LaManna, but there are other fighters I can face in this division that would solidify my legacy. But right now I’m focused on getting wins and getting to the next level. I’m always learning and enjoying the sport.
“I don’t know if he’s trying to intimidate me. I wouldn’t expect nothing less than for him to be locked in. He knows who he’s up against.
THOMAS LAMANNA
“This is my last opportunity at greatness. It’s been a long journey for me and now I get to test my skills against a two-division world champion. Come Saturday night, we’re gonna shock the world.
“I know the show is based around Caleb and Jermall, but I’m here to do my part. I’m gonna upset the apple cart. Let’s let these fights happen.
“I’m real locked in. I know what I’m up against, so I had to train my ass off. I’ve been training like that for six months.
“Every fighter when you turn pro wants to fight in Las Vegas. Seeing my picture on the billboards is an honor. It means everything to me.
“I’m gonna shock the world by any means. That’s the only thing we’re coming to do.”
YOENLI FELICIANO HERNANDEZ
“This is one of the biggest cards of the year and I can’t wait to perform. I’m here to win, there’s nothing else.
“I’m not gonna underestimate anybody. I’m ready for any challenge that comes my way. Let’s see what he’s capable of. I hope he can withstand what I’m bringing.
“I’m prepared for what’s coming my way. I’m excited to perform and show everyone what I’m capable of.
“There’s gonna be an easy knockout coming. I don’t know what round it’ll be in, but I know that I’m getting the knockout.”
KYRONE DAVIS
“I’m coming here to put on a show. I’m used to being in this position, so being the underdog is not a big deal to me.
“Hernandez is good and that’s what we wanted. We want to face the best and that’s what we’re gonna keep doing until I get my shot at the title. Enjoy the fireworks on Saturday night.
“What he’s talking about now doesn’t matter. If he has what it takes, he’ll have what it takes. I’ve faced a lot of great fighters. I know he’s gonna give it his all, but we’ll see if it’s enough.
“There is a lot that’s gonna go into me winning this fight. I don’t care about what he’s done or where he’s from. You don’t win fights on paper. All that matters is what happens when that bell rings.
ISAAC LUCERO
“I’m so excited that we were able to make this fight happen. I can’t wait for people to get to know what I’m capable of.
“I have prepared better than I ever have in my life for this fight, and I hope Omar is equally prepared so that we can give the fans the action they deserve. We’re coming to steal the show.
“There’s gonna be dynamite in the ring on Saturday night because I’m gonna knock this guy out. That’s what I’m coming to do.
“Bob Santos is such a pro and he’s instilled so many things in me both inside and outside of the gym. He preaches about how discipline is key and that’s something that I’ve loved to experience throughout training camp. I’m going to use that to win on Saturday.”
OMAR VALENZUELA
“I’m very thankful to be here and pumped up for this opportunity. I’m glad that everyone is going to see this great performance on Saturday night.
“Las Vegas has been home to many memorable bouts and you’re gonna get another one on Saturday. It’s gonna be two Mexican fighters going hand to hand until someone wins. He’s got nowhere to hide.
“We’re both gonna give it our all, but I’m gonna come out with my hand raised. There’s no doubt about it.
“I know that Lucero comes into the ring well prepared. I’m gonna face this challenge head on and be ready for whatever comes my way.”
TOM BROWN, President of TGB Promotions
“I’m really excited about this card. I’ve always said that I love promoting these events at Michelob ULTRA Arena. We’re thrilled to have this event on Prime Video, we’ve had a great partnership
and will have more big fights announced coming up this summer.
“Make sure you get out to the arena early because we have a great card from top to bottom. This is a tremendous event, so make sure you get your tickets. It’s another great night in the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas.
|
A heavyweight bout for the hardcores: Xhoxhaj vs. Aliev |
|
|
This will be an excellent heavyweight match-up for the hardcore fans. On June 7th at the Universum Gym in Hamburg, Germany, Labinot Xhoxhaj (20-0-1, 16 KOs), the European heavyweight champion, will face Mourad Aliev (13-0, 10 KOs) of France. Xhoxhaj turned pro in 2016. The Kosovo-born boxer has fought in Germany, Kosovo, and Switzerland during his rise. Age 32, Xhoxhaj earned a victory over the always-combative Tamas Lodi, although he was held to a draw by Milosav Savic. He was expected to lose to the much bigger Oleksandr Zakhozhyi, but he recovered from an early knockdown to score one of his own, en route to a twelve-round unanimous decision that netted him the European belt (pictured).
Aliev (13-0, 10 KOs) is a 6'7" southpaw. He was a standout amateur who represented France at the 2021 Olympics. In those Olympics, Aliev was disqualified in a quarterfinal bout against Great Britain's Frazer Clarke. Aliev was warned, then disqualified for using his head. He immediately went nuts, but protested the result and remained in the ring for over 30 minutes. Clarke had cuts over both eyes. Since turning pro, he has fought primarily in Germany. The 29-year-old has scored wins over Yakup Saglam, Evgenios Lazaridis, and, most recently, David Brito. The card will be streamed live on DAZN.
|
|
|
|
A heavyweight bout for the hardcores: Xhoxhaj vs. Aliev
This will be an excellent heavyweight match-up for the hardcore fans. On June 7th at the Universum Gym in Hamburg, Germany, Labinot Xhoxhaj (20-0-1, 16 KOs), the European heavyweight champion, will face Mourad Aliev (13-0, 10 KOs) of France. Xhoxhaj turned pro in 2016. The Kosovo-born boxer has fought in Germany, Kosovo, and Switzerland during his rise. Age 32, Xhoxhaj earned a victory over the always-combative Tamas Lodi, although he was held to a draw by Milosav Savic. He was expected to lose to the much bigger Oleksandr Zakhozhyi, but he recovered from an early knockdown to score one of his own, en route to a twelve-round unanimous decision that netted him the European belt (pictured).
Aliev (13-0, 10 KOs) is a 6'7" southpaw. He was a standout amateur who represented France at the 2021 Olympics. In those Olympics, Aliev was disqualified in a quarterfinal bout against Great Britain's Frazer Clarke. Aliev was warned, then disqualified for using his head. He immediately went nuts, but protested the result and remained in the ring for over 30 minutes. Clarke had cuts over both eyes. Since turning pro, he has fought primarily in Germany. The 29-year-old has scored wins over Yakup Saglam, Evgenios Lazaridis, and, most recently, David Brito. The card will be streamed live on DAZN.
|
Junior lightweight title overview |
|
|
Here is a look at the recent lineage of the four major championships in the junior lightweight (130-pound) weight class. The current champions are Emanuel Navarrete (WBO), O'Shaquie Foster (WBC), Eduardo Nunez (IBF) and Lamont Roach (WBA). Boxingtalk will be updating and expanding this recent history of the junior lightweight division from time to time.
IBF / MAY 28, 2025: In Yokohama, Japan, Eduardo Nunez of Mexico beat Masanori Rikiishi to claim the vacant IBF junior lightweight title over twelve rounds. Nunez picked up the unanimous decision win with the scorecards reading 115-113, 116-112 and 117-111. Nunez is now 28-1 with 27 KOs, meaning this was the first fight he won by decision. The title was vacated by Anthony Cacace, who chose to fight former featherweight titlist Leigh Wood rather than Nunez. It has been a good week for Mexican boxing, as Willibaldo Garcia won a 155-pound title a few days ago,
WBO / MAY 10, 2025: Emanuel Navarrete controversially retained his WBO junior lightweight world title Saturday evening with an eighth-round technical decision over Filipino contender Charly Suarez. The fight was halted early due to a cut over Navarrete’s left eye, which referee Edward Collantes ruled was caused by an accidental headbutt. However, instant replay showed Suarez landed a punch just before Suarez's follow through caused a very slight clash of heads. It was difficult to tell whether the punch or the head caused the cut, and the California State Athletic Commission conducted an instant replay review. Boxingtalk is of the opinion that the punch caused the cut, which would have given Suarez the championship by TKO. It was a very difficult decision to make, and Suarez deserves a rematch. The headbutt ruling meant that the winner wouldbe determined on the scorecards. Navarrete prevailed by scores of 77-76 (twice) and 78-75.
IBO / MAY 10, 2025: Ex-IBF junior lightweight champion Anthony Cacace has seemingly brought an end to Leigh Wood's career after stopping the former WBA featherweight champion in round nine in Nottingham, England. The end came with Wood runing away from Cacace and the towel flying in from Wood's corner. Cacace (24-1) retained his IBO junior lightweight title, and now has dispatched Joe Cordina, Josh Warrington and Wood in his last three outings. Wood is now 28-4.
MARCH 2, 2025 WBA: In front of a sold-out crowd at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, amateur rivals Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Lamont “The Reaper” Roach engaged in an exciting lightweight brawl over twelve competitive rounds that ended was scored a draw. The outcome of the fight was swayed by a missed knockdown call when Davis took a knee. It was a slow-paced fight early on, but built to a crescendo by the end, as Roach withstood Davis' power and fearlessly battled back in the exchanges, sometimes getting the better of them. As usual, the southpaw Davis’ punch output was measured at first then increased round by round, whether planting straight lefts to the body or letting Roach lead so he could launch a powerful counter attack. Roach, who remains the reigning WBA junior lightweight champion, earned the respect of fans and pundits alike.
IBF / FEB 1, 2025: Anthony Cacace has vacated the IBF 130-pound title to avoid facing his mandatory contender, Mexico's Eduardo Nunez. Here is how Cacace defended the move: "Becoming a world champion was an absolute dream and incredibly proud moment for me. However, at this stage of my career, I only want the biggest fights possible, regardless of the belt on the line. I’m a prize fighter, and my aim is now to secure mine and families future, and to create a legacy for myself in boxing by being involved in massive fights that fans will remember. I look forward to announcing my next fight very soon."
WBO / DEC. 8, 2024: In Phoenix, Emanuel Navarrete stopped Oscar Valdez in round six with a left hook to the body, retaining his WBO junior lightweight world title. Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) had already bested Valdez (32-3, 24 KOs) once, by decision in August 2023, but this time, the fighting pride of Nogales, Mexico, did not see the final bell. Navarrete knocked down Valdez three times, including at the end of the opening round. While Valdez succeeded in small pockets, the three-division champion landed the harder, more telling blows. It was a return to form for Navarrete, who bounced back from May's decision loss to Denys Berinchyk for the WBO lightweight title. He came back to the junior lightweight ranks and used his awkward style and looping punches to once again blunt Valdez's aggression.
WBC / NOV. 3, 2024: O'Shaquie Foster (23-3, 12 KOs) is now a two-time junior lightweight champion. Foster regained the WBC world title with a split decision victory over Robson Conceição (19-3-1, 9 KOs) on Saturday evening at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. Two judges scored it 115-113 for Foster, while one scored it 115-113 for Conceição. Conceição dethroned Foster with a hard-fought verdict in July, prompting the rematch less than four months later. By the seventh, Foster began to wear down Conceição. The Brazilian fired back, but Foster consistently defended against Conceição’s right hand, countering sharply with a right of his own. In the tenth, Foster buzzed Conceição with a one-two, but Conceição survived before trading blows in the championship rounds.
WBC / JULY 26, 2024: The WBC Board of Governors has ordered a direct rematch between WBC 130-pound champion Robson Conceciao and the man he controversially beat for the title last month, former champ O'Shaquie Foster. On July 6th, Conceicao upset Foster by split decision to win the WBC title in a tactical affair. Conceicao fell short in world title bids three times before but this time, the judges though he did just enough to win. The verdict that sparked immediate debate. Conceicao (19-2-1, 9 KOs) prevailed by scores of 116-112 and 115-113, while Foster held a 116-112 edge on the third card. Boxingtalk reviewed the fight and scored it 115-113 for Foster.
IBF / MAY 19, 2024: Anthony Cacace (22-1, 8 KOs) is now the IBF champion after stopping Wales' Joe Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) in round eight in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. Cacace, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, became a world champion at the advanced age of 35. Punchstats credited Cacace with outlanding Cordina, 282 punches to 113. Cacace was breaking down Cordina against the ropes when the referee delcared the bout over and Cacace the new champion.
WBO / MAY 19, 2024: He tried moving up to 135 pounds, but Emanuel Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KOs) failed in his attempt to become a four-division champion.On the same day Oleksandr Usyk captured the undisputed world heavyweight championsip, Usyk's 2012 Olympic temmate, Denys Berinchyk defeated Navarrete by split decision to win the vacant WBO lightweight world title in San Diego. Berinchyk prevailed by scores of 116-112 and 115-113, while Navarrete won the third card, 116-112. Navarrete remains the WBO 130-pound champion.
WBA / NOV. 26, 2023: In Las Vegas, Lamont Roach wrested away Héctor García’s WBA super featherweight title in his second attempt at a belt. Roach dropped García in the twelfth round and wound up winning a split decision by scores of 116-111, 114-113 and 113-114 in a technical and strategic fight. [The result is controversial as Roach appeared to knock Garcia down with an improper blow to the back of the head]. The knockdown caused the WBA title to change hands as it allowed Roach to avoid a split-draw. The punch in question was a the left hook that landed with 1:20 left in the fight and drove García into the canvas for the second time in his career. In 2019, Roach came up short in his first title shot against Jamel Herring, also a southpaw
WBO / NOV. 16, 2023... Robson Conceicao of Brazil showed incredible heart, battling through two knockdowns and an apparent broken nose to get a draw against WBO champion Emanuel Navarrete. Conceicao, age 35, is a three-time Olympian, gold medal winner and three time world title challenger. After a legitimate loss to Shakur Stevenson and a controversial one to Oscar Valdez in prior title fights, Conceicao was all smiles after the bruising stalemate. Official scores were 113-113 (twice) and 114-112 (Navarrete). With the draw, Navarrete retains his title.
IBF / NOV. 4, 2023: The IBF 130-pound title remained with Joe Cordina of Wales who edged Edward Vazquez of Texas via a debatable majority decision. After twelve exciting and very competitive rounds in Monte Carlo, the three neutral judges scored it 114-114 and 116-112 (twice) for Cordina. Now 19-2 including the World Series of Boxing, Cordina is regarded as one of the best British fighters today and is a two-time champion. Cordina's first reign ended due to injury, and both of his losses date back to the Word Series of Boxing. Vazquez returns to Texas at 15-2, with both losses being controversial. Most feel Vazquez was robbed against Raymond Ford in 2022.
WBC / OCT. 29, 2023: O'Shaquie Foster was in position to lose by split decision before gaining a thrilling twelfth-round technical knockout victory over Eduardo Hernandez on Saturday. Fighting a Mexican in Cancun, Mexico, Foster and Hernandez went to war in round eleven. Foster was then three minutes away from losing his title to some very bad judging, as he entered the final round trailing on two of the official scorecards by 110-99 and 107-102. Foster led on the third scorecard by 106-103 but that would not have been enought to save his title. So he came out aggressively and kept his WBC super featherweight championship by knocking Hernandez down and then stopping him. It was dramatic stuff from the Houston resident, who is now 21-2 on ths his career. Boxingtalk salutes Hernandez, who is now 34-2, as well as Foster.
WBO / AUG. 12, 2023: Emanuel Navarrete defeated former two-division champion Oscar Valdez in a classic Mexican war held in Glendale, Arizona. Navarrete, a three-division champion, retained the WBO junior lightweight championship by unanimous decision. The official scores were 116-112, 118-110 and 119-109. Navarrete threw 1038 punches according to Compubox, outlanding Valdez 216-140. Valdez finished with swelling plus a deep bruise under his right eye. Valdez has now failed in his last two title fights, vs. Shakur Stevenson and now Navarrete.
IBF/ APRIL 24, 2023: Joe Cordina became a two-time IBF 130-pound champion, winning a unanimous decision over Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in a thriller of a bout held in Cordina's native Wales. The two men both entered the fight undefeated, as Cordina briefly held the title last year but had to give it up due to injury. The vacant belt was then won by Rakhimov last November, setting up Saturday's match
WBC / FEB. 12, 2023: With the words “ice water” and “shock the world” etched on his trunks, O’Shaquie Foster produced the fight of his life, coolly and methodically outboxing two-division champion Rey Vargas to capture the vacant WBC junior lightweight championship in his first title shot at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Foster, who normally switches to southpaw in his fights, fought orthodox for the entire twelve rounds with the objective of befuddling Vargas. He won by scores of 116-112, 117-111 and 119-109 in a dominant, albeit very competitive win. “I can’t put it into words (what this means),” Foster said in the ring afterward. “I know my mom, my uncle, my grandpa, they are all looking down on me.” Vargas was returning to the Alamodome after winning the WBC featherweight championship in his last bout with a decision victory over Mark Magsayo at the same venue last July. He still holds that title, so a return to 126 pounds may be in the cards for Vargas.
WBO / FEB. 4, 2023: In Glendale, Arizona, Mexico's Emanuel Navarrete (37-1) survived a knockdown and stopped Australia's Liam Wilson (11-2) in a thriller to earn the vacant WBO 130-pound championship. By claiming the title recently vacated by Shakur Stevenson, Navarrete become a three-division champion. Though Wilson lost, he established himself as a skillful and exciting boxer, and earned a return invitiation to the world stage. In round four, Navarrete was knocked down for the first time in his career. As Navarrete lunged forward with a punch, Wilson caught him with a combination that floored and hurt Navarrete. Luckily for him, Navarrete got critical extra seconds of recovery time as his mouth piece needed to be replaced, and Navarrete struggled to put in correctly. Round seven saw Navarrete swing the momentum his way, as blood began to flow freely from Wilson's nose. In round eight, Wilson appeared to be fighting the wrong kind of fight, looking for one big shot while Navarrete landed multiple blows upstairs and downstairs. Navarrete's body work paid off in round nine, as he knocked down Wilson in the first minute with a one-two combination. Wilson got up, but was clearly drained. He absorbed a lot of hard punches, stumbled badly in the middle of the ring, and seemed unable to tie up Navarrete up. When Navarrete trapped Wilson against the rope and began raining in punches, the referee had no choice but to stop the bout.
WBA / JAN. 8, 2023: In Washington D.C., Gervonta Davis defeated WBA 130-pound champion Hector Luis Garcia in a 135-pound bout in which Garcia's title was not at stake. Davis' feared punching power did not produce the knockout the fans were looking for, but it nonetheless proved to be Garcia's undoing. After seven competitive rounds, Davis began consistently landing power punches in round eight. Garcia was staggered but survived until the end of the round. Garcia was guided back to his corner in clear distress and told trainer Bob Santos he could not see. Garcia did not come out for round ten, and Davis was the winner by technical knockout. Davis remains the WBA regular title holder in the lightweight division, while the battered Garcia also retains the WBA junior lightweight title, which was not on the line because this was a lightweight bout. Davis led the cards at the time of the stoppage, 78-74 (twice) and 79-73. Punchstats gave Davis the lead in punches landed, 99-55.
IBF / NOV 6, 2022: In Abu Dhabi, Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov won the vacant IBF 130-pound title after the IBF stripped Joe Cordina for having hand surgery. Rakhimov defeated Zelfa Barrett by ninth-round technical knockout. The new champ is from Tajikistan and boasts a pro record of 16-0-1 with the draw coming in a prior IBF title shot vs. Joseph "JoJo" Diaz last year. Barrett was doing well in the fight as a whole, even knocking Rakhimov down with a huge uppercut early in the contest. But according to DAZN, something happened in the ninth round and Barrett's leg appeared to be injured. It looked like Barrett couldn't put full weight on his right leg, and Rakhimov took advantage with a flurry of hard shots to knock Barrett down twice. At the point the fight was stopped, the referee did not administer a count, although Barrett's corner was ready to throw in the towel. The British Barrett is now 28-2.
IBF / OCT. 5, 2022: Joe Cordina had this to say about getting stripped by the IBF of his 130-pound championship because he had hand surgery (he posted a picture on social media to prove it): "Absolutely gutted. Worked my whole life to become a world champion and I haven’t even had the chance to defend the title Feel like I’ve been robbed !!" Zelfa Barrett will face Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov for the vacant IBF 130-pound championship on a Matchroom show at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Saturday November 5th. Rakhimov (16-0-1, 13 KOs) gets a second opportunity to fight for the 130-pound crown following his draw with an overweight Joseph Diaz last year.
WBC & WBO / SEPT. 23, 2022: At Thursday's weigh-in in Newark, New Jersey, hometown hero Shakur Stevenson could not get below 131.6 pounds, and therefore lost the WBO and WBC 130-pound championships on the scale. His ESPN main event vs. Robson Conceição is still on, with the Brazilian challenger still eligible to win the titles. If Stevenson wins the twelve-round bout, the two titles become vacant. Conceição made weight with a bit to spare at 129.6. [Stevenson won the fight, so the titles remained vacant until February 2023 when O'Shaquie Foster defeated Rey Vargas for the WBC and Emanuel Navarrete stopped Liam WIlson for the WBO].
WBA / AUG. 21, 2022: Hector Luis Garcia of the Dominican Republic dethroned Roger Gutierrez for the WBA 130-pound championship. From San Juan de la Maguana, Garcia (16-0) proved that his dominant win against Chris Colbert in February wasn’t a fluke. Garcia, a former Olympian, dictated the action and survived a late rally to wrest the WBA title from Gutierrez via unanimous decision. Scores were 117-111 (twice) and 118-110.
IBF / JUNE 4, 2022: Wales has a new world champion as Joe Cordina had a dream-come-true moment in Cardiff. Fightng in front of a passionate hometown crowd, Cordina claimed the IBF 130-pound championship from Japan's Kenichi Ogawa with a turn-out-the-lights right hand. The one-punch, knockout-of-the-year candidate came in round two and saw Ogawa struggling to stand up, only to fall back down as the referee reched the ten count. Cordina was outboxed in the first round, but he made it all irrelevant with one punch a round later. He's been credited as the 13th world champion from Wales. Cordina is listed as 15-0, but Boxingtalk recognizes the World Series of Boxing as professional, so we report him as 17-1. Ogawa, a former drug cheat in 2017, is now 26-2-1.
WBC & WBO / MAY 21, 2022: WBO junior lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson unified two titles when he outboxed WBC champion Oscar Valdez via unanimous decision on Saturday in front of 10,102 fans in Las Vegas. After twelve rounds, the judges declared Newark, New Jersey's Stevenson the winner by scores of 118-109 (twice) and 117-110. Stevenson (20-0 including the World Series of Boxing) established the southpaw jab in the early going, and Valdez (30-1, 23 KOs) could not get his offense going outside of pockets of success in the third round. In the sixth, Stevenson spun Valdez into the ropes and knocked him down with a right hand. It was all Stevenson in the second half of the fight, who built an insurmountable lead on the cards. Valdez won the final round on all three judges' cards, but it was too little, too late.
IBF / NOV. 21, 2021... In the Madison Square Garden co-feature, Japan's Kenichi Ogawa became the new IBF super featherweight champion, dropping South Africa's Azinga Fuzile three times on the way to a unanimous decision. Official scores were 115-110 (twice) and 114-111 for Ogawa to claim the vacant title. A former drug cheat, Ogawa is now 26-1-1 but also has a no contest after testing positive in a fight vs. Tevin Farmer in 2017. Fuzile is now 15-2. The title became vacant ealier this year when JoJo Diaz failed to make the 130-pound limit for a fight.
WBO / OCT. 24, 2021: In Atlanta, Shakur Stevenson stopped Jamel Herring (23-3, 11 KOs) on cuts in round ten to become the new WBO junior lightweight champion. There were no knockdowns, but Herring was well behind on the cards and a cut over his left eye was rapidly worsening from Stevenson's punches. Although he was not badly hurt, Herring did not complain much about referee Mark Nelson's stoppage. The undefeated Stevenson is now a two-division title holder (as well as an Olympic silver medalist), having previously won a featherweight title before moving up in weight. As soon as the fight ended, talk began about Stevenson's next foe. The top name on his list is the WBC champion at 130 pounds, Mexico's Oscar Valdez.
WBC / SEPT. 11, 2021: In Tucson, Arizona, WBC 130-pound champion Oscar Valdez started slow but got some home cooking to help him remain a champion. Robson Conceicao was fighting the fight of his life, likely winning the first five rounds although not getting credit from the judges for it. The champion then turned it around. Valdez retained his title Friday evening with a unanimous decision over 2016 Brazilian Olympian gold medalist Conceicao. Official scores were 115-112 (twice) and a corrupt or incompetent 117-110. [Punchstat numbers favored Conceicao widely, 141 punches landed to 83. Valdez's face was completely marked up from the punches he absorbed. The referee did his part to assist Valdez by making a ridiculous and unjustified point deduction againt the challenger for a minor tap to the back of the head. Not even a warning for Conceicao but Valdez did the same thing and suffered no penalty. Valdez probably should not have even been allowed to fight, as he tested positive for a VADA-banned substance last week.
WBO / APRIL 23, 2021: Jamel Herring stops and retires the respected Carl Frampton a former two-division champion. With the win, Herring retained his WBO championship.
WBC / FEB. 20, 2021: In Las Vegas, Oscar Valdez and Miguel Berchelt promised an all-Mexican clash for the ages. They delivered. Valdez knocked out Berchelt with a left hook at the end of the tenth round to win the WBC super featherweight title from Berchelt, who was making his seventh title defense. The hook crumpled Berchelt, who fell face-first to the canvas, and referee Russell Mora immediately waved off the fight. Valdez, a former WBO featherweight champion, is now a two-division champion and a major star in boxing. Berchelt (38-2, 34 KOs) had been badly hurt and knocked down in the fourth, but steadied himself and continued to pressure Valdez (29-0, 23 KOs) throughout the middle rounds. Valdez turned the tide once again in the ninth with a knockdown, and with the tenth round in hand, he lowered the boom.
WBA / JAN. 2, 2021: Venezuela's Roger Gutierrez defeated Nicaragua's Rene Alvarado by an extremely narrow unanimous decision in Dallas on Saturday. Gutierrez, who had a prior loss to Alvarado in 2017, scored three knockdowns this time around and needed every one of them to capture the three scorecards by 113-112. It was a very close fight that had Alvarez ahead but things were still up for grabs going into the final round. A twelfth-round left hook from Gutierrez sent Alvarado to the canvas for the third time and proved to be the difference on the scorecards. With the win, Gutierrez acquires the WBA regular junior lightweight title in a situation hopelessly mucked up by the WBA. Right now Gervonta Davis holds the WBA super championship in this division and also the WBA regular championship at lightweight, but under the WBA rules, a super championship in at 130 pounds should never have been issued. So Gutierrez has a stronger claim to being the WBA 130-pound champion than Davis.
WBA / NOV. 24, 2019: A confrontation between veterans ended with a technical knockout in favor of Nicaragua's Rene Alvarado, who defeated California's Andrew Cancio to become the WBA junior lightweight champion. Alvarado (32-8), never considered true world-class material, surprised the fans in Indio, California by dominating Cancio for seven rounds. As soon as round seven ended, referee Raul Caiz, Sr. made a wise decision and stopped the bout. Alvarado broke down in tears in his corner. At one point, Alvarado was 24-8 but has now reeled off eight straight wins. Alvarado's twin brother is Felix Alvarado, the IBF 108-pound champion, meaning they have duplicated the Charlo brothers' feat as simultaneous twin champions.
WBA / JUNE 22, 2019: A boxing Cinderella story continued in true Arturo Gatti fashion on Friday in Indio, California. In an immediate rematch, Andrew Cancio fought through a bad cut to knock out Alberto Machado and retain his WBA regular 130-pound championship. Cancio, who is not hard to hit, suffered a cut forhead in round two, but he immediately began walking Machado down, landing hard body punches that quickly took all the steam out of Machado. Cutman Carlos Vargas did a phenomenal job stopping the bleeding, and Cancio picked up right where he left off to start round three. A nasty Cancio left hook to the side put his opponent down on one knee, and the deflated Machado got up an instant after the referee reached the ten count. No controversy. The result is similar to their first fight, in which Cancio's body attack stopped Machado in four rounds. Cancio is an unlikely champion: he retired from boxing in 2016 and remains a full-time employee of California Gas & Electric. Cancio (20-4-2) holds a title that it listed by the WBA as secondary to Gervonta Davis' super championship, but Cancio's title is no less legitimate than Davis', as Cancio beat a reigning title holder (Machado) to get his belt while Davis beat a non-champion who had lost his prior fight (Jesus Cuellar) to acquire the super championship
WBO / MAY 26, 2019: Marine Corps veteran Jamel Herring completed his Hollywood story, upsetting WBO junior lightweight champion Masayuki Ito via unanimous decision Saturday evening at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida. It was a highly active yet largely tactical match-up between Ito (25-2-1, 13 KOs) and Herring (20-2, 10 KOs). With Herring’s stamina fading slightly down the stretch, Ito’s best rounds came in the final quarter of the fight, however it was too little too late as Herring won a unanimous decision by scores of 116-112 and 118-110 (twice). Herring accomplished his championship dream on Memorial Day weekend in front of a host of active and reserve U.S. Marines.
WBO / JULY 29, 2018: Masayuki Ito traveled halfway around the world but he will return home with the WBO 130-pound championship. Ito, from Tokyo, defeated Puerto Rico's Christopher “Pitufo” Diaz via unanimous decision (116-111, 117-110, 118-109) on Saturday evening at the Kissimmee (Florida) Civic Center. Ito claimed the title that had been vacated by Vasyl Lomachenko. Ito (24-1-1, 12 KOs) knocked down Diaz (23-1, 15 KOs) in the fourth round and controlled the tempo of the fight. Ito, who was fighting for the first time outside of Japan, was not fazed by the pro-Diaz crowd
WBC / JAN 29, 2017: The WBC 130-pound title now belongs to Miguel Berchelt, who punished Francisco Vargas in Indio, California. The HBO Boxing After Dark fight went on a couple of rounds too long as Berchelt turned Vargas’ face into a bloody wreck. The ringside physician declined two opportunities to stop the fight, and when it was over, the cut above Vargas’ left eye was longer than the eye itself. Berchelt is now 30-1, with lone loss coming in 2014 to non-contender Luis Eduardo Florez. Bechelt’s first defense could be against former WBC champion Takashi Miura, who won an eliminator on the undercard. Another possibility is Orlando Salido, a former featherweight champion who recently drew with Vargas. Meanwhile, Vargas is now 23-1-1, and showed some effects from back-to-back wars vs. Miura and Salido.
IBF / JAN. 14, 2017: Baltimore's Gervonta "Tank" Davis (17-0 with 16 KOs) punished and stopped Jose Pedraza (22-1 with 12 KOs) to claim the IBF 130-pound championship. Just 22 years old, Davis is built like Mike Tyson. He certainly fought in a Tysonesque manner, bulling forward to take the Puerto Rican Pedraza's title in round seven. Davis started aggressively and landed some hard shots in the opening round. Davis continued to show he meant business, hitting Pedraza when Pedraza was down on a slip in round two and engaging in rabbit punches in round three. In the fourth round, Pedraza made some adjustments, landing enough to make Davis shake his head no, trying to indicate he wasn't hurt. In the fifth, Pedraza controlled the action for most of the round until both men put on a display of machismo, thrilling the crowd by trading punches with their hands down. Davis hurt Pedraza badly with a left hook to the ribs, forcing Pedraza to fight the remainder of the round with his right hand down to cover the rib. Davis punished the one-handed Pedraza accordingly, and it looked as though the fight might be stopped by the ringside doctor between rounds. The seventh round eventually got started, and the weakened Pedraza could no nothing but absorb punishment against the ropes. A hard combination punctuated by a right decked Pedraza. The Puerto Rican beat the count but the referee wisely ended the bout immediately.
WBO / JUNE 11, 2016: Ukrainian Vasiliy Lomachenko defeated Roman "Rocky" Martinez in a fifth-round knockout at Madison Square Garden to become the WBO junior lightweight champion. Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic champion, is now a two-division professional champion. Lomachenko made a successful debut at 130 pounds with a spectacular, fifth-round knockout of Martinez. WBC / JUNE 6, 2016: Francisco Vargas and Orlando Salido fight to a draw, allowing Vargas to retain his WBC title. WBC / NOV. 21, 2015: In Las Vegas, Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura gave boxing fans an instant classic. The Mexican Vargas (23-0-1) took the WBC 130-pound championship from Japan's Takashi Miura (29-3-2). In round one, Vargas nearly knocked Takashi down with a looping right hand. Despite doing his best to make it an early night, Vargas was unable to finish Miura off. Soon, Miura began to time his left hand and he dropped Vargas with a straight right hand at the end of round four. After being cut under his right eye by an accidental clash of heads in the earlier rounds, Miura opened a cut on top of Vargas' eye turning his face into a bloody mask. Rounds 5-8 were all Miura, as the soon-to-be-ex champ landed the cleaner, harder shots for the majority of those frames. But Vargas was not to be denied. He came out blazing in the ninth and dropped Miura with a series of heavy shots. After flopping around on the canvas, Miura made it to his feet and his found his balance. After not punching back for nearly 30 seconds, referee Tony Weeks appeared to stop the bout just when it seemed Miura was getting his feet back under him. IBF / JUNE 14, 2015: In the opening bout of the Showtime doubleheader from Birmingham, Alabama, Jose Pedraza (20-0, 12 KOs) dominated Andrey Klimov (20-1, 9 KOs) from the opening bell to claim the vacant IBF junior lightweight title with a unanimous decision victory. The Puerto Rican Pedraza, making his 2015 debut, triumphed by the scores of 120-108 (twice) and 119-109. The IBF title was last held by Cuba's Rances Barthelemy. WBO/ APRIL 11, 2015: Score one for Puerto Rico in its boxing rivalry vs. Mexico. In San Juan, Roman "Rocky" Martinez won the WBO 130-pound championship by unanimous decision over Mexico's Orlando Salido. Martinez knocked Salido down in the third and fifth rounds, and Salido was also penalized for low blows in the eleventh. Martinez carried the scorecards by tallies of 115-110, 114-111 and 116-109. Salido previously had great success over Puerto Rican rivals, including Juan Manuel Lopez, but having turned pro at age 15, the now 34 year-old Salido has absorbed a lot of punishment over his career. He was taken to the hospital after the fight. Salido is now 42-13-2 with 1 no contest in a long and honorable career. Martinez (29-2-2) now begins his third reign as the WBO 130-pound champion. Both times, his title was taken from him under dubious circumstances (vs. Ricky Burns in 2010 and Mikey Garcia in 2013).
WBO / OCT. 17, 2014: Orlando Salido has earned his warrior stripes many times over, but this week, he got a free pass to a paper championship. The WBO handed Salido a title belt in the 130-pound weight class. Salido, who held featherweight titles on multiple occasions, was handed the title because the prior titlist, Mikey Garcia, is embroiled in a lawsuit with Top Rank over his promotional rights, and Garcia intends to move up to 140 pounds anyway. Garcia has not fought since January and has no fight on the horizon. Garcia beat Salido controversially at 126 pounds in 2013 when Garcia, ahead on points, quit on his stool after eight rounds. The bout was allowed to go to the scorecards when it appeared that Salido, although losing most rounds, should have won by technical knockout because the injury to Garcia was caused by a punch. In any event, Garcia moved up to 130 and took the WBO title from Roman Martinez. Last month, with Garcia on the sideline due to the lawsuit, Salido defeated Terdsak Kokietgym of Thailand for an interim title. That title has now been updated from interim to full.
|
|
|
|
Junior lightweight title overview
Here is a look at the recent lineage of the four major championships in the junior lightweight (130-pound) weight class. The current champions are Emanuel Navarrete (WBO), O'Shaquie Foster (WBC), Eduardo Nunez (IBF) and Lamont Roach (WBA). Boxingtalk will be updating and expanding this recent history of the junior lightweight division from time to time.
IBF / MAY 28, 2025: In Yokohama, Japan, Eduardo Nunez of Mexico beat Masanori Rikiishi to claim the vacant IBF junior lightweight title over twelve rounds. Nunez picked up the unanimous decision win with the scorecards reading 115-113, 116-112 and 117-111. Nunez is now 28-1 with 27 KOs, meaning this was the first fight he won by decision. The title was vacated by Anthony Cacace, who chose to fight former featherweight titlist Leigh Wood rather than Nunez. It has been a good week for Mexican boxing, as Willibaldo Garcia won a 155-pound title a few days ago,
WBO / MAY 10, 2025: Emanuel Navarrete controversially retained his WBO junior lightweight world title Saturday evening with an eighth-round technical decision over Filipino contender Charly Suarez. The fight was halted early due to a cut over Navarrete’s left eye, which referee Edward Collantes ruled was caused by an accidental headbutt. However, instant replay showed Suarez landed a punch just before Suarez's follow through caused a very slight clash of heads. It was difficult to tell whether the punch or the head caused the cut, and the California State Athletic Commission conducted an instant replay review. Boxingtalk is of the opinion that the punch caused the cut, which would have given Suarez the championship by TKO. It was a very difficult decision to make, and Suarez deserves a rematch. The headbutt ruling meant that the winner wouldbe determined on the scorecards. Navarrete prevailed by scores of 77-76 (twice) and 78-75.
IBO / MAY 10, 2025: Ex-IBF junior lightweight champion Anthony Cacace has seemingly brought an end to Leigh Wood's career after stopping the former WBA featherweight champion in round nine in Nottingham, England. The end came with Wood runing away from Cacace and the towel flying in from Wood's corner. Cacace (24-1) retained his IBO junior lightweight title, and now has dispatched Joe Cordina, Josh Warrington and Wood in his last three outings. Wood is now 28-4.
MARCH 2, 2025 WBA: In front of a sold-out crowd at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, amateur rivals Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Lamont “The Reaper” Roach engaged in an exciting lightweight brawl over twelve competitive rounds that ended was scored a draw. The outcome of the fight was swayed by a missed knockdown call when Davis took a knee. It was a slow-paced fight early on, but built to a crescendo by the end, as Roach withstood Davis' power and fearlessly battled back in the exchanges, sometimes getting the better of them. As usual, the southpaw Davis’ punch output was measured at first then increased round by round, whether planting straight lefts to the body or letting Roach lead so he could launch a powerful counter attack. Roach, who remains the reigning WBA junior lightweight champion, earned the respect of fans and pundits alike.
IBF / FEB 1, 2025: Anthony Cacace has vacated the IBF 130-pound title to avoid facing his mandatory contender, Mexico's Eduardo Nunez. Here is how Cacace defended the move: "Becoming a world champion was an absolute dream and incredibly proud moment for me. However, at this stage of my career, I only want the biggest fights possible, regardless of the belt on the line. I’m a prize fighter, and my aim is now to secure mine and families future, and to create a legacy for myself in boxing by being involved in massive fights that fans will remember. I look forward to announcing my next fight very soon."
WBO / DEC. 8, 2024: In Phoenix, Emanuel Navarrete stopped Oscar Valdez in round six with a left hook to the body, retaining his WBO junior lightweight world title. Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) had already bested Valdez (32-3, 24 KOs) once, by decision in August 2023, but this time, the fighting pride of Nogales, Mexico, did not see the final bell. Navarrete knocked down Valdez three times, including at the end of the opening round. While Valdez succeeded in small pockets, the three-division champion landed the harder, more telling blows. It was a return to form for Navarrete, who bounced back from May's decision loss to Denys Berinchyk for the WBO lightweight title. He came back to the junior lightweight ranks and used his awkward style and looping punches to once again blunt Valdez's aggression.
WBC / NOV. 3, 2024: O'Shaquie Foster (23-3, 12 KOs) is now a two-time junior lightweight champion. Foster regained the WBC world title with a split decision victory over Robson Conceição (19-3-1, 9 KOs) on Saturday evening at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. Two judges scored it 115-113 for Foster, while one scored it 115-113 for Conceição. Conceição dethroned Foster with a hard-fought verdict in July, prompting the rematch less than four months later. By the seventh, Foster began to wear down Conceição. The Brazilian fired back, but Foster consistently defended against Conceição’s right hand, countering sharply with a right of his own. In the tenth, Foster buzzed Conceição with a one-two, but Conceição survived before trading blows in the championship rounds.
WBC / JULY 26, 2024: The WBC Board of Governors has ordered a direct rematch between WBC 130-pound champion Robson Conceciao and the man he controversially beat for the title last month, former champ O'Shaquie Foster. On July 6th, Conceicao upset Foster by split decision to win the WBC title in a tactical affair. Conceicao fell short in world title bids three times before but this time, the judges though he did just enough to win. The verdict that sparked immediate debate. Conceicao (19-2-1, 9 KOs) prevailed by scores of 116-112 and 115-113, while Foster held a 116-112 edge on the third card. Boxingtalk reviewed the fight and scored it 115-113 for Foster.
IBF / MAY 19, 2024: Anthony Cacace (22-1, 8 KOs) is now the IBF champion after stopping Wales' Joe Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs) in round eight in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. Cacace, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, became a world champion at the advanced age of 35. Punchstats credited Cacace with outlanding Cordina, 282 punches to 113. Cacace was breaking down Cordina against the ropes when the referee delcared the bout over and Cacace the new champion.
WBO / MAY 19, 2024: He tried moving up to 135 pounds, but Emanuel Navarrete (38-2-1, 31 KOs) failed in his attempt to become a four-division champion.On the same day Oleksandr Usyk captured the undisputed world heavyweight championsip, Usyk's 2012 Olympic temmate, Denys Berinchyk defeated Navarrete by split decision to win the vacant WBO lightweight world title in San Diego. Berinchyk prevailed by scores of 116-112 and 115-113, while Navarrete won the third card, 116-112. Navarrete remains the WBO 130-pound champion.
WBA / NOV. 26, 2023: In Las Vegas, Lamont Roach wrested away Héctor García’s WBA super featherweight title in his second attempt at a belt. Roach dropped García in the twelfth round and wound up winning a split decision by scores of 116-111, 114-113 and 113-114 in a technical and strategic fight. [The result is controversial as Roach appeared to knock Garcia down with an improper blow to the back of the head]. The knockdown caused the WBA title to change hands as it allowed Roach to avoid a split-draw. The punch in question was a the left hook that landed with 1:20 left in the fight and drove García into the canvas for the second time in his career. In 2019, Roach came up short in his first title shot against Jamel Herring, also a southpaw
WBO / NOV. 16, 2023... Robson Conceicao of Brazil showed incredible heart, battling through two knockdowns and an apparent broken nose to get a draw against WBO champion Emanuel Navarrete. Conceicao, age 35, is a three-time Olympian, gold medal winner and three time world title challenger. After a legitimate loss to Shakur Stevenson and a controversial one to Oscar Valdez in prior title fights, Conceicao was all smiles after the bruising stalemate. Official scores were 113-113 (twice) and 114-112 (Navarrete). With the draw, Navarrete retains his title.
IBF / NOV. 4, 2023: The IBF 130-pound title remained with Joe Cordina of Wales who edged Edward Vazquez of Texas via a debatable majority decision. After twelve exciting and very competitive rounds in Monte Carlo, the three neutral judges scored it 114-114 and 116-112 (twice) for Cordina. Now 19-2 including the World Series of Boxing, Cordina is regarded as one of the best British fighters today and is a two-time champion. Cordina's first reign ended due to injury, and both of his losses date back to the Word Series of Boxing. Vazquez returns to Texas at 15-2, with both losses being controversial. Most feel Vazquez was robbed against Raymond Ford in 2022.
WBC / OCT. 29, 2023: O'Shaquie Foster was in position to lose by split decision before gaining a thrilling twelfth-round technical knockout victory over Eduardo Hernandez on Saturday. Fighting a Mexican in Cancun, Mexico, Foster and Hernandez went to war in round eleven. Foster was then three minutes away from losing his title to some very bad judging, as he entered the final round trailing on two of the official scorecards by 110-99 and 107-102. Foster led on the third scorecard by 106-103 but that would not have been enought to save his title. So he came out aggressively and kept his WBC super featherweight championship by knocking Hernandez down and then stopping him. It was dramatic stuff from the Houston resident, who is now 21-2 on ths his career. Boxingtalk salutes Hernandez, who is now 34-2, as well as Foster.
WBO / AUG. 12, 2023: Emanuel Navarrete defeated former two-division champion Oscar Valdez in a classic Mexican war held in Glendale, Arizona. Navarrete, a three-division champion, retained the WBO junior lightweight championship by unanimous decision. The official scores were 116-112, 118-110 and 119-109. Navarrete threw 1038 punches according to Compubox, outlanding Valdez 216-140. Valdez finished with swelling plus a deep bruise under his right eye. Valdez has now failed in his last two title fights, vs. Shakur Stevenson and now Navarrete.
IBF/ APRIL 24, 2023: Joe Cordina became a two-time IBF 130-pound champion, winning a unanimous decision over Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov in a thriller of a bout held in Cordina's native Wales. The two men both entered the fight undefeated, as Cordina briefly held the title last year but had to give it up due to injury. The vacant belt was then won by Rakhimov last November, setting up Saturday's match
WBC / FEB. 12, 2023: With the words “ice water” and “shock the world” etched on his trunks, O’Shaquie Foster produced the fight of his life, coolly and methodically outboxing two-division champion Rey Vargas to capture the vacant WBC junior lightweight championship in his first title shot at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Foster, who normally switches to southpaw in his fights, fought orthodox for the entire twelve rounds with the objective of befuddling Vargas. He won by scores of 116-112, 117-111 and 119-109 in a dominant, albeit very competitive win. “I can’t put it into words (what this means),” Foster said in the ring afterward. “I know my mom, my uncle, my grandpa, they are all looking down on me.” Vargas was returning to the Alamodome after winning the WBC featherweight championship in his last bout with a decision victory over Mark Magsayo at the same venue last July. He still holds that title, so a return to 126 pounds may be in the cards for Vargas.
WBO / FEB. 4, 2023: In Glendale, Arizona, Mexico's Emanuel Navarrete (37-1) survived a knockdown and stopped Australia's Liam Wilson (11-2) in a thriller to earn the vacant WBO 130-pound championship. By claiming the title recently vacated by Shakur Stevenson, Navarrete become a three-division champion. Though Wilson lost, he established himself as a skillful and exciting boxer, and earned a return invitiation to the world stage. In round four, Navarrete was knocked down for the first time in his career. As Navarrete lunged forward with a punch, Wilson caught him with a combination that floored and hurt Navarrete. Luckily for him, Navarrete got critical extra seconds of recovery time as his mouth piece needed to be replaced, and Navarrete struggled to put in correctly. Round seven saw Navarrete swing the momentum his way, as blood began to flow freely from Wilson's nose. In round eight, Wilson appeared to be fighting the wrong kind of fight, looking for one big shot while Navarrete landed multiple blows upstairs and downstairs. Navarrete's body work paid off in round nine, as he knocked down Wilson in the first minute with a one-two combination. Wilson got up, but was clearly drained. He absorbed a lot of hard punches, stumbled badly in the middle of the ring, and seemed unable to tie up Navarrete up. When Navarrete trapped Wilson against the rope and began raining in punches, the referee had no choice but to stop the bout.
WBA / JAN. 8, 2023: In Washington D.C., Gervonta Davis defeated WBA 130-pound champion Hector Luis Garcia in a 135-pound bout in which Garcia's title was not at stake. Davis' feared punching power did not produce the knockout the fans were looking for, but it nonetheless proved to be Garcia's undoing. After seven competitive rounds, Davis began consistently landing power punches in round eight. Garcia was staggered but survived until the end of the round. Garcia was guided back to his corner in clear distress and told trainer Bob Santos he could not see. Garcia did not come out for round ten, and Davis was the winner by technical knockout. Davis remains the WBA regular title holder in the lightweight division, while the battered Garcia also retains the WBA junior lightweight title, which was not on the line because this was a lightweight bout. Davis led the cards at the time of the stoppage, 78-74 (twice) and 79-73. Punchstats gave Davis the lead in punches landed, 99-55.
IBF / NOV 6, 2022: In Abu Dhabi, Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov won the vacant IBF 130-pound title after the IBF stripped Joe Cordina for having hand surgery. Rakhimov defeated Zelfa Barrett by ninth-round technical knockout. The new champ is from Tajikistan and boasts a pro record of 16-0-1 with the draw coming in a prior IBF title shot vs. Joseph "JoJo" Diaz last year. Barrett was doing well in the fight as a whole, even knocking Rakhimov down with a huge uppercut early in the contest. But according to DAZN, something happened in the ninth round and Barrett's leg appeared to be injured. It looked like Barrett couldn't put full weight on his right leg, and Rakhimov took advantage with a flurry of hard shots to knock Barrett down twice. At the point the fight was stopped, the referee did not administer a count, although Barrett's corner was ready to throw in the towel. The British Barrett is now 28-2.
IBF / OCT. 5, 2022: Joe Cordina had this to say about getting stripped by the IBF of his 130-pound championship because he had hand surgery (he posted a picture on social media to prove it): "Absolutely gutted. Worked my whole life to become a world champion and I haven’t even had the chance to defend the title Feel like I’ve been robbed !!" Zelfa Barrett will face Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov for the vacant IBF 130-pound championship on a Matchroom show at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Saturday November 5th. Rakhimov (16-0-1, 13 KOs) gets a second opportunity to fight for the 130-pound crown following his draw with an overweight Joseph Diaz last year.
WBC & WBO / SEPT. 23, 2022: At Thursday's weigh-in in Newark, New Jersey, hometown hero Shakur Stevenson could not get below 131.6 pounds, and therefore lost the WBO and WBC 130-pound championships on the scale. His ESPN main event vs. Robson Conceição is still on, with the Brazilian challenger still eligible to win the titles. If Stevenson wins the twelve-round bout, the two titles become vacant. Conceição made weight with a bit to spare at 129.6. [Stevenson won the fight, so the titles remained vacant until February 2023 when O'Shaquie Foster defeated Rey Vargas for the WBC and Emanuel Navarrete stopped Liam WIlson for the WBO].
WBA / AUG. 21, 2022: Hector Luis Garcia of the Dominican Republic dethroned Roger Gutierrez for the WBA 130-pound championship. From San Juan de la Maguana, Garcia (16-0) proved that his dominant win against Chris Colbert in February wasn’t a fluke. Garcia, a former Olympian, dictated the action and survived a late rally to wrest the WBA title from Gutierrez via unanimous decision. Scores were 117-111 (twice) and 118-110.
IBF / JUNE 4, 2022: Wales has a new world champion as Joe Cordina had a dream-come-true moment in Cardiff. Fightng in front of a passionate hometown crowd, Cordina claimed the IBF 130-pound championship from Japan's Kenichi Ogawa with a turn-out-the-lights right hand. The one-punch, knockout-of-the-year candidate came in round two and saw Ogawa struggling to stand up, only to fall back down as the referee reched the ten count. Cordina was outboxed in the first round, but he made it all irrelevant with one punch a round later. He's been credited as the 13th world champion from Wales. Cordina is listed as 15-0, but Boxingtalk recognizes the World Series of Boxing as professional, so we report him as 17-1. Ogawa, a former drug cheat in 2017, is now 26-2-1.
WBC & WBO / MAY 21, 2022: WBO junior lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson unified two titles when he outboxed WBC champion Oscar Valdez via unanimous decision on Saturday in front of 10,102 fans in Las Vegas. After twelve rounds, the judges declared Newark, New Jersey's Stevenson the winner by scores of 118-109 (twice) and 117-110. Stevenson (20-0 including the World Series of Boxing) established the southpaw jab in the early going, and Valdez (30-1, 23 KOs) could not get his offense going outside of pockets of success in the third round. In the sixth, Stevenson spun Valdez into the ropes and knocked him down with a right hand. It was all Stevenson in the second half of the fight, who built an insurmountable lead on the cards. Valdez won the final round on all three judges' cards, but it was too little, too late.
IBF / NOV. 21, 2021... In the Madison Square Garden co-feature, Japan's Kenichi Ogawa became the new IBF super featherweight champion, dropping South Africa's Azinga Fuzile three times on the way to a unanimous decision. Official scores were 115-110 (twice) and 114-111 for Ogawa to claim the vacant title. A former drug cheat, Ogawa is now 26-1-1 but also has a no contest after testing positive in a fight vs. Tevin Farmer in 2017. Fuzile is now 15-2. The title became vacant ealier this year when JoJo Diaz failed to make the 130-pound limit for a fight.
WBO / OCT. 24, 2021: In Atlanta, Shakur Stevenson stopped Jamel Herring (23-3, 11 KOs) on cuts in round ten to become the new WBO junior lightweight champion. There were no knockdowns, but Herring was well behind on the cards and a cut over his left eye was rapidly worsening from Stevenson's punches. Although he was not badly hurt, Herring did not complain much about referee Mark Nelson's stoppage. The undefeated Stevenson is now a two-division title holder (as well as an Olympic silver medalist), having previously won a featherweight title before moving up in weight. As soon as the fight ended, talk began about Stevenson's next foe. The top name on his list is the WBC champion at 130 pounds, Mexico's Oscar Valdez.
WBC / SEPT. 11, 2021: In Tucson, Arizona, WBC 130-pound champion Oscar Valdez started slow but got some home cooking to help him remain a champion. Robson Conceicao was fighting the fight of his life, likely winning the first five rounds although not getting credit from the judges for it. The champion then turned it around. Valdez retained his title Friday evening with a unanimous decision over 2016 Brazilian Olympian gold medalist Conceicao. Official scores were 115-112 (twice) and a corrupt or incompetent 117-110. [Punchstat numbers favored Conceicao widely, 141 punches landed to 83. Valdez's face was completely marked up from the punches he absorbed. The referee did his part to assist Valdez by making a ridiculous and unjustified point deduction againt the challenger for a minor tap to the back of the head. Not even a warning for Conceicao but Valdez did the same thing and suffered no penalty. Valdez probably should not have even been allowed to fight, as he tested positive for a VADA-banned substance last week.
WBO / APRIL 23, 2021: Jamel Herring stops and retires the respected Carl Frampton a former two-division champion. With the win, Herring retained his WBO championship.
WBC / FEB. 20, 2021: In Las Vegas, Oscar Valdez and Miguel Berchelt promised an all-Mexican clash for the ages. They delivered. Valdez knocked out Berchelt with a left hook at the end of the tenth round to win the WBC super featherweight title from Berchelt, who was making his seventh title defense. The hook crumpled Berchelt, who fell face-first to the canvas, and referee Russell Mora immediately waved off the fight. Valdez, a former WBO featherweight champion, is now a two-division champion and a major star in boxing. Berchelt (38-2, 34 KOs) had been badly hurt and knocked down in the fourth, but steadied himself and continued to pressure Valdez (29-0, 23 KOs) throughout the middle rounds. Valdez turned the tide once again in the ninth with a knockdown, and with the tenth round in hand, he lowered the boom.
WBA / JAN. 2, 2021: Venezuela's Roger Gutierrez defeated Nicaragua's Rene Alvarado by an extremely narrow unanimous decision in Dallas on Saturday. Gutierrez, who had a prior loss to Alvarado in 2017, scored three knockdowns this time around and needed every one of them to capture the three scorecards by 113-112. It was a very close fight that had Alvarez ahead but things were still up for grabs going into the final round. A twelfth-round left hook from Gutierrez sent Alvarado to the canvas for the third time and proved to be the difference on the scorecards. With the win, Gutierrez acquires the WBA regular junior lightweight title in a situation hopelessly mucked up by the WBA. Right now Gervonta Davis holds the WBA super championship in this division and also the WBA regular championship at lightweight, but under the WBA rules, a super championship in at 130 pounds should never have been issued. So Gutierrez has a stronger claim to being the WBA 130-pound champion than Davis.
WBA / NOV. 24, 2019: A confrontation between veterans ended with a technical knockout in favor of Nicaragua's Rene Alvarado, who defeated California's Andrew Cancio to become the WBA junior lightweight champion. Alvarado (32-8), never considered true world-class material, surprised the fans in Indio, California by dominating Cancio for seven rounds. As soon as round seven ended, referee Raul Caiz, Sr. made a wise decision and stopped the bout. Alvarado broke down in tears in his corner. At one point, Alvarado was 24-8 but has now reeled off eight straight wins. Alvarado's twin brother is Felix Alvarado, the IBF 108-pound champion, meaning they have duplicated the Charlo brothers' feat as simultaneous twin champions.
WBA / JUNE 22, 2019: A boxing Cinderella story continued in true Arturo Gatti fashion on Friday in Indio, California. In an immediate rematch, Andrew Cancio fought through a bad cut to knock out Alberto Machado and retain his WBA regular 130-pound championship. Cancio, who is not hard to hit, suffered a cut forhead in round two, but he immediately began walking Machado down, landing hard body punches that quickly took all the steam out of Machado. Cutman Carlos Vargas did a phenomenal job stopping the bleeding, and Cancio picked up right where he left off to start round three. A nasty Cancio left hook to the side put his opponent down on one knee, and the deflated Machado got up an instant after the referee reached the ten count. No controversy. The result is similar to their first fight, in which Cancio's body attack stopped Machado in four rounds. Cancio is an unlikely champion: he retired from boxing in 2016 and remains a full-time employee of California Gas & Electric. Cancio (20-4-2) holds a title that it listed by the WBA as secondary to Gervonta Davis' super championship, but Cancio's title is no less legitimate than Davis', as Cancio beat a reigning title holder (Machado) to get his belt while Davis beat a non-champion who had lost his prior fight (Jesus Cuellar) to acquire the super championship
WBO / MAY 26, 2019: Marine Corps veteran Jamel Herring completed his Hollywood story, upsetting WBO junior lightweight champion Masayuki Ito via unanimous decision Saturday evening at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida. It was a highly active yet largely tactical match-up between Ito (25-2-1, 13 KOs) and Herring (20-2, 10 KOs). With Herring’s stamina fading slightly down the stretch, Ito’s best rounds came in the final quarter of the fight, however it was too little too late as Herring won a unanimous decision by scores of 116-112 and 118-110 (twice). Herring accomplished his championship dream on Memorial Day weekend in front of a host of active and reserve U.S. Marines.
WBO / JULY 29, 2018: Masayuki Ito traveled halfway around the world but he will return home with the WBO 130-pound championship. Ito, from Tokyo, defeated Puerto Rico's Christopher “Pitufo” Diaz via unanimous decision (116-111, 117-110, 118-109) on Saturday evening at the Kissimmee (Florida) Civic Center. Ito claimed the title that had been vacated by Vasyl Lomachenko. Ito (24-1-1, 12 KOs) knocked down Diaz (23-1, 15 KOs) in the fourth round and controlled the tempo of the fight. Ito, who was fighting for the first time outside of Japan, was not fazed by the pro-Diaz crowd
WBC / JAN 29, 2017: The WBC 130-pound title now belongs to Miguel Berchelt, who punished Francisco Vargas in Indio, California. The HBO Boxing After Dark fight went on a couple of rounds too long as Berchelt turned Vargas’ face into a bloody wreck. The ringside physician declined two opportunities to stop the fight, and when it was over, the cut above Vargas’ left eye was longer than the eye itself. Berchelt is now 30-1, with lone loss coming in 2014 to non-contender Luis Eduardo Florez. Bechelt’s first defense could be against former WBC champion Takashi Miura, who won an eliminator on the undercard. Another possibility is Orlando Salido, a former featherweight champion who recently drew with Vargas. Meanwhile, Vargas is now 23-1-1, and showed some effects from back-to-back wars vs. Miura and Salido.
IBF / JAN. 14, 2017: Baltimore's Gervonta "Tank" Davis (17-0 with 16 KOs) punished and stopped Jose Pedraza (22-1 with 12 KOs) to claim the IBF 130-pound championship. Just 22 years old, Davis is built like Mike Tyson. He certainly fought in a Tysonesque manner, bulling forward to take the Puerto Rican Pedraza's title in round seven. Davis started aggressively and landed some hard shots in the opening round. Davis continued to show he meant business, hitting Pedraza when Pedraza was down on a slip in round two and engaging in rabbit punches in round three. In the fourth round, Pedraza made some adjustments, landing enough to make Davis shake his head no, trying to indicate he wasn't hurt. In the fifth, Pedraza controlled the action for most of the round until both men put on a display of machismo, thrilling the crowd by trading punches with their hands down. Davis hurt Pedraza badly with a left hook to the ribs, forcing Pedraza to fight the remainder of the round with his right hand down to cover the rib. Davis punished the one-handed Pedraza accordingly, and it looked as though the fight might be stopped by the ringside doctor between rounds. The seventh round eventually got started, and the weakened Pedraza could no nothing but absorb punishment against the ropes. A hard combination punctuated by a right decked Pedraza. The Puerto Rican beat the count but the referee wisely ended the bout immediately.
WBO / JUNE 11, 2016: Ukrainian Vasiliy Lomachenko defeated Roman "Rocky" Martinez in a fifth-round knockout at Madison Square Garden to become the WBO junior lightweight champion. Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic champion, is now a two-division professional champion. Lomachenko made a successful debut at 130 pounds with a spectacular, fifth-round knockout of Martinez. WBC / JUNE 6, 2016: Francisco Vargas and Orlando Salido fight to a draw, allowing Vargas to retain his WBC title. WBC / NOV. 21, 2015: In Las Vegas, Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura gave boxing fans an instant classic. The Mexican Vargas (23-0-1) took the WBC 130-pound championship from Japan's Takashi Miura (29-3-2). In round one, Vargas nearly knocked Takashi down with a looping right hand. Despite doing his best to make it an early night, Vargas was unable to finish Miura off. Soon, Miura began to time his left hand and he dropped Vargas with a straight right hand at the end of round four. After being cut under his right eye by an accidental clash of heads in the earlier rounds, Miura opened a cut on top of Vargas' eye turning his face into a bloody mask. Rounds 5-8 were all Miura, as the soon-to-be-ex champ landed the cleaner, harder shots for the majority of those frames. But Vargas was not to be denied. He came out blazing in the ninth and dropped Miura with a series of heavy shots. After flopping around on the canvas, Miura made it to his feet and his found his balance. After not punching back for nearly 30 seconds, referee Tony Weeks appeared to stop the bout just when it seemed Miura was getting his feet back under him. IBF / JUNE 14, 2015: In the opening bout of the Showtime doubleheader from Birmingham, Alabama, Jose Pedraza (20-0, 12 KOs) dominated Andrey Klimov (20-1, 9 KOs) from the opening bell to claim the vacant IBF junior lightweight title with a unanimous decision victory. The Puerto Rican Pedraza, making his 2015 debut, triumphed by the scores of 120-108 (twice) and 119-109. The IBF title was last held by Cuba's Rances Barthelemy. WBO/ APRIL 11, 2015: Score one for Puerto Rico in its boxing rivalry vs. Mexico. In San Juan, Roman "Rocky" Martinez won the WBO 130-pound championship by unanimous decision over Mexico's Orlando Salido. Martinez knocked Salido down in the third and fifth rounds, and Salido was also penalized for low blows in the eleventh. Martinez carried the scorecards by tallies of 115-110, 114-111 and 116-109. Salido previously had great success over Puerto Rican rivals, including Juan Manuel Lopez, but having turned pro at age 15, the now 34 year-old Salido has absorbed a lot of punishment over his career. He was taken to the hospital after the fight. Salido is now 42-13-2 with 1 no contest in a long and honorable career. Martinez (29-2-2) now begins his third reign as the WBO 130-pound champion. Both times, his title was taken from him under dubious circumstances (vs. Ricky Burns in 2010 and Mikey Garcia in 2013).
WBO / OCT. 17, 2014: Orlando Salido has earned his warrior stripes many times over, but this week, he got a free pass to a paper championship. The WBO handed Salido a title belt in the 130-pound weight class. Salido, who held featherweight titles on multiple occasions, was handed the title because the prior titlist, Mikey Garcia, is embroiled in a lawsuit with Top Rank over his promotional rights, and Garcia intends to move up to 140 pounds anyway. Garcia has not fought since January and has no fight on the horizon. Garcia beat Salido controversially at 126 pounds in 2013 when Garcia, ahead on points, quit on his stool after eight rounds. The bout was allowed to go to the scorecards when it appeared that Salido, although losing most rounds, should have won by technical knockout because the injury to Garcia was caused by a punch. In any event, Garcia moved up to 130 and took the WBO title from Roman Martinez. Last month, with Garcia on the sideline due to the lawsuit, Salido defeated Terdsak Kokietgym of Thailand for an interim title. That title has now been updated from interim to full.
|
Zayas vs. Garcia lands in NYC on July 26th |
|
Xander Zayas, age 22, will take on upset-minded Mexican Jorge Garcia for the vacant WBO junior middleweight championship on Saturday, July 26th at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In the co-feature, Brooklyn native Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington and unbeaten Namibian Mateus Heita will collide for the WBC interim featherweight world title. And, in the eight-round televised opener, Mexican American prospect Emiliano Fernando Vargas returns against Ecuador’s Alexander Espinoza in a junior welterweight showdown. Zayas-Garcia, Carrington-Heita, and Vargas-Espinoza will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Zanfer Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions, tickets go on sale Friday, June 6th at 12 p.m. ET and can be purchased via Ticketmaster.com.
“When we signed Xander at the age of 16, he was a teenager with all the potential in the world. He’s now an accomplished young contender with a tremendous opportunity to win his first world title,” said Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum. “Jorge Garcia has been impressive lately, and I expect an action-packed, dramatic main event at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.”
Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs) looks to become Puerto Rico’s next world champion almost six years after turning pro as a 17-year-old. He became a contender in August 2022 after knocking out Elias Espadas. Zayas also has a one-sided decisions over Damian Sosa and former champion Patrick Teixeira in 2024. He kicked off his 2025 campaign in February with a ninth-round stoppage over German puncher Slawa Spomer. Zayas grew up idolizing Miguel Cotto, another Puerto Rican standout who turned pro under the Top Rank banner. Cotto won his first world title, the WBO junior welterweight strap, in September 2004. More than two decades later, Zayas looks to follow the lead of his boxing hero.
”This is a dream I’ve worked hard for my entire life. I’ve got a good opponent in Jorge Garcia, a Mexican hungry to become a world champion,” Zayas said. “But I’m ready to raise the Puerto Rican flag high in victory and become a world champion at 22 years old. See you all on July 26th.”
Garcia (33-4, 26 KOs) enters the assignment against Zayas riding an eight-fight winning streak, which began with a seventh-round knockout over then-unbeaten countryman Hector Andres Reyes in June 2023. During that streak, he has played the road warrior role, knocking out Angel Cruz Johnson in the Dominican Republic and Roarke Knapp in South Africa. In April, Garcia snatched the ‘0’ of the highly touted unbeaten U.S. Olympian Charles Conwell, securing a split decision over “Bad News” in Oceanside, California. “A lot of people thought I wasn’t going to win my last fight, but I scored a stunning upset,” said Garcia. “Even though I was the underdog, I shocked the world. This fight won’t be any different. Becoming a world champion is my dream, and I’m ready to make it come true on July 26 with a dominant win over Xander Zayas. Mexico will have a new champion this summer.”
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE
May 14, 2025: Gustavo Olivieri, president of the WBO announced the identity of the co-challenger of Xander Zayas for his organization's vacant junior middleweight championship. Olivieri tweeted: "Re: vacant WBO 154-pound title, Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia. The WBO confirms that Top Rank, Golden Boy, and Zanfer Promotions have reached an agreement for the subject matter bout. Official fight date and venue to be announced." Boxingtalk deems Garcia a worthy challenger. The Mexcian has a record of 33-4 and is riding high off a win over pre
viously undefeated U.S. Olympian Charles Conwell. He is 15-1 in his last sixteen fights, with the one loss coming by split decision to then-undefeated Etoundi Michael William by split decision.
May 2, 2025: According to the social media page of WBO president Gustavo Olivieiri, "The WBO Championship Committee has unanimously voted to strip Sebastian Fundora of his WBO junuor middleweight (154-pound) title, effective immediately. The Executive Committee has ratified the decision. Accordingly, the title is now vacant. Resolution to be published shortly." The decision seems to have been prompted by Fundora's failure to follow through on his obligation to fight mandatory contender Xander Zayas, a fight that was set to go to purse bid on May 2nd. Fundora remains the WBC champion.
April 28, 2025: WBO / WBC junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora has so far failed to reach an agreement with his WBO mandatory contender, Xander Zayas. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri wrote, "Be advised that the WBO Championships Committee has ruled that purse bids for Fundora vs. Zayas will be conducted this Friday, May 2, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. (Pacific Time) at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas." Olivieri indicated that the winning purse bid will be split 75% for Fundora and 25% for Zayas.
April 11, 2025: WBO president Gustavo Olivieri wrote, "Fundora/Zayas negotiations - Be advised that Top Rank / PBC have jointly requested an extension of the negotiation period. [The WBO Championship] Committee grants extension until Friday, April 25th, no later than 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)."
March 25, 2025: The WBO has designated Puerto Rico's undefeated Xander Zayas as its mandatory challenger in the junior middleweight division, stating that "Champion Sebastian Fundora must fulfill his WBO mandatory title defense obligation in his next bout against Zayas. Failure to do so will result in [the WBO Championship] Committee proceeding in accordance with WBO rules and regulations. Fundora will not be permitted any intervening bout, the two teams shall commence negotiation immediately to fulfill the title defense pursuing to the WBO rules. They have 20 days to reach an agreement after which a per proceeding will be ordered. If no agreement is reached. The minimum bid under WBO rules is $200,000." Fundora also holds the WBC title, so he has leverage to decline to fight Zayas and still remain WBC champion.
|
|
|
|
Zayas vs. Garcia lands in NYC on July 26th
Xander Zayas, age 22, will take on upset-minded Mexican Jorge Garcia for the vacant WBO junior middleweight championship on Saturday, July 26th at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In the co-feature, Brooklyn native Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington and unbeaten Namibian Mateus Heita will collide for the WBC interim featherweight world title. And, in the eight-round televised opener, Mexican American prospect Emiliano Fernando Vargas returns against Ecuador’s Alexander Espinoza in a junior welterweight showdown. Zayas-Garcia, Carrington-Heita, and Vargas-Espinoza will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+ at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Zanfer Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions, tickets go on sale Friday, June 6th at 12 p.m. ET and can be purchased via Ticketmaster.com.
“When we signed Xander at the age of 16, he was a teenager with all the potential in the world. He’s now an accomplished young contender with a tremendous opportunity to win his first world title,” said Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum. “Jorge Garcia has been impressive lately, and I expect an action-packed, dramatic main event at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.”
Zayas (21-0, 13 KOs) looks to become Puerto Rico’s next world champion almost six years after turning pro as a 17-year-old. He became a contender in August 2022 after knocking out Elias Espadas. Zayas also has a one-sided decisions over Damian Sosa and former champion Patrick Teixeira in 2024. He kicked off his 2025 campaign in February with a ninth-round stoppage over German puncher Slawa Spomer. Zayas grew up idolizing Miguel Cotto, another Puerto Rican standout who turned pro under the Top Rank banner. Cotto won his first world title, the WBO junior welterweight strap, in September 2004. More than two decades later, Zayas looks to follow the lead of his boxing hero.
”This is a dream I’ve worked hard for my entire life. I’ve got a good opponent in Jorge Garcia, a Mexican hungry to become a world champion,” Zayas said. “But I’m ready to raise the Puerto Rican flag high in victory and become a world champion at 22 years old. See you all on July 26th.”
Garcia (33-4, 26 KOs) enters the assignment against Zayas riding an eight-fight winning streak, which began with a seventh-round knockout over then-unbeaten countryman Hector Andres Reyes in June 2023. During that streak, he has played the road warrior role, knocking out Angel Cruz Johnson in the Dominican Republic and Roarke Knapp in South Africa. In April, Garcia snatched the ‘0’ of the highly touted unbeaten U.S. Olympian Charles Conwell, securing a split decision over “Bad News” in Oceanside, California. “A lot of people thought I wasn’t going to win my last fight, but I scored a stunning upset,” said Garcia. “Even though I was the underdog, I shocked the world. This fight won’t be any different. Becoming a world champion is my dream, and I’m ready to make it come true on July 26 with a dominant win over Xander Zayas. Mexico will have a new champion this summer.”
PRIOR BOXINGTALK COVERAGE
May 14, 2025: Gustavo Olivieri, president of the WBO announced the identity of the co-challenger of Xander Zayas for his organization's vacant junior middleweight championship. Olivieri tweeted: "Re: vacant WBO 154-pound title, Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia. The WBO confirms that Top Rank, Golden Boy, and Zanfer Promotions have reached an agreement for the subject matter bout. Official fight date and venue to be announced." Boxingtalk deems Garcia a worthy challenger. The Mexcian has a record of 33-4 and is riding high off a win over pre
viously undefeated U.S. Olympian Charles Conwell. He is 15-1 in his last sixteen fights, with the one loss coming by split decision to then-undefeated Etoundi Michael William by split decision.
May 2, 2025: According to the social media page of WBO president Gustavo Olivieiri, "The WBO Championship Committee has unanimously voted to strip Sebastian Fundora of his WBO junuor middleweight (154-pound) title, effective immediately. The Executive Committee has ratified the decision. Accordingly, the title is now vacant. Resolution to be published shortly." The decision seems to have been prompted by Fundora's failure to follow through on his obligation to fight mandatory contender Xander Zayas, a fight that was set to go to purse bid on May 2nd. Fundora remains the WBC champion.
April 28, 2025: WBO / WBC junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora has so far failed to reach an agreement with his WBO mandatory contender, Xander Zayas. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri wrote, "Be advised that the WBO Championships Committee has ruled that purse bids for Fundora vs. Zayas will be conducted this Friday, May 2, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. (Pacific Time) at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas." Olivieri indicated that the winning purse bid will be split 75% for Fundora and 25% for Zayas.
April 11, 2025: WBO president Gustavo Olivieri wrote, "Fundora/Zayas negotiations - Be advised that Top Rank / PBC have jointly requested an extension of the negotiation period. [The WBO Championship] Committee grants extension until Friday, April 25th, no later than 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)."
March 25, 2025: The WBO has designated Puerto Rico's undefeated Xander Zayas as its mandatory challenger in the junior middleweight division, stating that "Champion Sebastian Fundora must fulfill his WBO mandatory title defense obligation in his next bout against Zayas. Failure to do so will result in [the WBO Championship] Committee proceeding in accordance with WBO rules and regulations. Fundora will not be permitted any intervening bout, the two teams shall commence negotiation immediately to fulfill the title defense pursuing to the WBO rules. They have 20 days to reach an agreement after which a per proceeding will be ordered. If no agreement is reached. The minimum bid under WBO rules is $200,000." Fundora also holds the WBC title, so he has leverage to decline to fight Zayas and still remain WBC champion.
|
Revenge opportunity getting closer for Dubois |
|
On July 19th, London’s iconic Wembley Stadium will host one of the most anticipated heavyweight clashes of the year — a high-stakes rematch between world champion Oleksandr Usyk and IBF title holder Daniel Dubois, with the undisputed crown on the line. For Dubois (pictured), this is more than just a title fight — it’s a shot at redemption. The British heavyweight is laser-focused on avenging his 2023 loss to Usyk, a bout that ended in the ninth round after a controversial low blow ruling that many, including Dubois himself, felt should have been deemed legal. He’s made it clear: this time, there will be no mistakes.
Usyk, the undefeated Ukrainian maestro (29-0 including the World Series of Boxing), comes into the fight riding high off a dominant performance against Tyson Fury in December 2024 — a victory that cemented his place atop the heavyweight division. But the shadow of that first Dubois fight still lingers, thanks to the hotly debated fifth-round body shot that some say could’ve changed the course of history.
This rematch isn’t just about pride — it’s about legacy. Usyk is looking to reclaim the IBF title, which was vacated due to mandatory obligations, and close the chapter on the Dubois controversy once and for all. For Dubois, it’s a chance to prove he belongs among the heavyweight elite and claim the undisputed throne. With unfinished business between them and the undisputed championship at stake, Wembley is set to erupt.
|
|
|
|
Revenge opportunity getting closer for Dubois
On July 19th, London’s iconic Wembley Stadium will host one of the most anticipated heavyweight clashes of the year — a high-stakes rematch between world champion Oleksandr Usyk and IBF title holder Daniel Dubois, with the undisputed crown on the line. For Dubois (pictured), this is more than just a title fight — it’s a shot at redemption. The British heavyweight is laser-focused on avenging his 2023 loss to Usyk, a bout that ended in the ninth round after a controversial low blow ruling that many, including Dubois himself, felt should have been deemed legal. He’s made it clear: this time, there will be no mistakes.
Usyk, the undefeated Ukrainian maestro (29-0 including the World Series of Boxing), comes into the fight riding high off a dominant performance against Tyson Fury in December 2024 — a victory that cemented his place atop the heavyweight division. But the shadow of that first Dubois fight still lingers, thanks to the hotly debated fifth-round body shot that some say could’ve changed the course of history.
This rematch isn’t just about pride — it’s about legacy. Usyk is looking to reclaim the IBF title, which was vacated due to mandatory obligations, and close the chapter on the Dubois controversy once and for all. For Dubois, it’s a chance to prove he belongs among the heavyweight elite and claim the undisputed throne. With unfinished business between them and the undisputed championship at stake, Wembley is set to erupt.
|
World Boxing membership swells to 106-- including Cuba |
|
|
World Boxing’s membership has surpassed the landmark of 100 members after its Executive Board approved the applications of seventeen national federations, to take its total to 106 countries. The latest cohort of countries features some of the most famous and successful countries in Olympic-style boxing and includes Cuba, which has won 41 gold medals in the ring in 16 Games since it first competed at Rome 1960. Cuba is joined by Ireland, where boxing is by far the country’s most successful Olympic sport and accounts for 19 of the 42 medals it has won since 1924. It means that (with the exception of Russia and the Soviet Union) World Boxing’s membership now includes the ten most successful countries of all time in Olympic boxing and ten of the top eleven medal winning countries from Paris 2024.
The full list of the national federations that have had their applications approved in this group is:
1. Afghanistan National Boxing Federation
2. Austrian Boxing Federation
3. The Boxing Federation of Azerbaijan
4. Chilean Boxing Federation
5. Colombia Boxing Federation
6. Cuban Boxing Federation
7. Irish Athletic Boxing Association
8. Hong Kong Boxing Federation
9. Lebanese Boxing Federation
10. Macao Boxing Federation
11. Mauritius Boxing Federation
12. Federacion Mexicana De Boxeo
13. Royal Spanish Boxing Federation
14. Saudi Boxing Federation
15. Uganda Boxing Federation
16. United Arab Emirates Boxing Federation
17. Venezuela Boxing Federation
This group is now eligible to enter teams into the World Boxing Championships 2025 in Liverpool, September 4-14, 2025.
The President of World Boxing, Boris van der Vorst, said: “To have surpassed the landmark of 100 National Federations in just over two years is a massive achievement and I would like to thank all of my colleagues and every one of our members for their support and their commitment to ensuring that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement.
“Our membership includes the vast majority of the world’s most successful countries in Olympic boxing. To be able to announce a name like Cuba, which is synonymous with Olympic boxing, at the same time as a country like Saudi Arabia, that has huge ambitions within the sport, is a resounding endorsement of World Boxing and clear evidence of the confidence that National Federations across the globe have in our ability to develop and grow the sport at all levels.”
The Chief Executive of the Saudi Boxing Federation, Mansour Naif Alsharif, added: “Joining World Boxing marks a significant step in Saudi Arabia’s journey to elevate boxing nationally and internationally. We are committed to the Olympic movement and believe this partnership will help develop our athletes, align with global standards, and position the Kingdom as a rising force in the sport.”
The Chair of the IABA Board of Directors, Niall O’Carroll, commented: “This is a watershed moment for Irish Boxing. Every kid in every boxing club in the Association deserves the Olympic dream – and their clubs have made sure that dream can live on, to LA 2028 and beyond, by voting to join World Boxing. Irish Boxing has always valued our Olympic journey – from our first team of 9 boxers at Paris 1924, to winning 19 medals over the last 100 years and maintaining our standing as Team Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport. We have more Olympic podiums to climb, and more medals to win. Our joining of World Boxing today ensures that.”
All of the new federations have completed a rigorous application process to join World Boxing. They are deemed to be in good standing and, through their statutes and operating processes, able to demonstrate a transparent and open election process, the existence and operation of WADA-recognized anti-doping policies and processes, evidence of independent, structured, dispute resolution and appeals processes, formal recognition by either their National Olympic Committee (NOC) or Ministry for Sport and a solid national and international boxing program.
Under World Boxing’s statutes, the approval of the Executive Board means the 17 new federations have been endorsed for membership. Final approval of membership status can only be conferred by Congress, which is the ultimate authority of World Boxing, and will be voted on at its next Congress which is scheduled to take place in New Delhi in November 2025.
World Boxing was launched in April 2023 with a mission to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement. It held its first formal meeting with the IOC in May 2024 and on February 25, 2025, it was granted provisional recognition by the IOC as the International Federation (IF) within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level. On 20 March 2025, the IOC confirmed that boxing has been restored to the sport program for LA28.
Further information on World Boxing is available at www.worldboxing.org.
|
|
|
|
World Boxing membership swells to 106-- including Cuba
World Boxing’s membership has surpassed the landmark of 100 members after its Executive Board approved the applications of seventeen national federations, to take its total to 106 countries. The latest cohort of countries features some of the most famous and successful countries in Olympic-style boxing and includes Cuba, which has won 41 gold medals in the ring in 16 Games since it first competed at Rome 1960. Cuba is joined by Ireland, where boxing is by far the country’s most successful Olympic sport and accounts for 19 of the 42 medals it has won since 1924. It means that (with the exception of Russia and the Soviet Union) World Boxing’s membership now includes the ten most successful countries of all time in Olympic boxing and ten of the top eleven medal winning countries from Paris 2024.
The full list of the national federations that have had their applications approved in this group is:
1. Afghanistan National Boxing Federation
2. Austrian Boxing Federation
3. The Boxing Federation of Azerbaijan
4. Chilean Boxing Federation
5. Colombia Boxing Federation
6. Cuban Boxing Federation
7. Irish Athletic Boxing Association
8. Hong Kong Boxing Federation
9. Lebanese Boxing Federation
10. Macao Boxing Federation
11. Mauritius Boxing Federation
12. Federacion Mexicana De Boxeo
13. Royal Spanish Boxing Federation
14. Saudi Boxing Federation
15. Uganda Boxing Federation
16. United Arab Emirates Boxing Federation
17. Venezuela Boxing Federation
This group is now eligible to enter teams into the World Boxing Championships 2025 in Liverpool, September 4-14, 2025.
The President of World Boxing, Boris van der Vorst, said: “To have surpassed the landmark of 100 National Federations in just over two years is a massive achievement and I would like to thank all of my colleagues and every one of our members for their support and their commitment to ensuring that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic Movement.
“Our membership includes the vast majority of the world’s most successful countries in Olympic boxing. To be able to announce a name like Cuba, which is synonymous with Olympic boxing, at the same time as a country like Saudi Arabia, that has huge ambitions within the sport, is a resounding endorsement of World Boxing and clear evidence of the confidence that National Federations across the globe have in our ability to develop and grow the sport at all levels.”
The Chief Executive of the Saudi Boxing Federation, Mansour Naif Alsharif, added: “Joining World Boxing marks a significant step in Saudi Arabia’s journey to elevate boxing nationally and internationally. We are committed to the Olympic movement and believe this partnership will help develop our athletes, align with global standards, and position the Kingdom as a rising force in the sport.”
The Chair of the IABA Board of Directors, Niall O’Carroll, commented: “This is a watershed moment for Irish Boxing. Every kid in every boxing club in the Association deserves the Olympic dream – and their clubs have made sure that dream can live on, to LA 2028 and beyond, by voting to join World Boxing. Irish Boxing has always valued our Olympic journey – from our first team of 9 boxers at Paris 1924, to winning 19 medals over the last 100 years and maintaining our standing as Team Ireland’s most successful Olympic sport. We have more Olympic podiums to climb, and more medals to win. Our joining of World Boxing today ensures that.”
All of the new federations have completed a rigorous application process to join World Boxing. They are deemed to be in good standing and, through their statutes and operating processes, able to demonstrate a transparent and open election process, the existence and operation of WADA-recognized anti-doping policies and processes, evidence of independent, structured, dispute resolution and appeals processes, formal recognition by either their National Olympic Committee (NOC) or Ministry for Sport and a solid national and international boxing program.
Under World Boxing’s statutes, the approval of the Executive Board means the 17 new federations have been endorsed for membership. Final approval of membership status can only be conferred by Congress, which is the ultimate authority of World Boxing, and will be voted on at its next Congress which is scheduled to take place in New Delhi in November 2025.
World Boxing was launched in April 2023 with a mission to ensure that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement. It held its first formal meeting with the IOC in May 2024 and on February 25, 2025, it was granted provisional recognition by the IOC as the International Federation (IF) within the Olympic Movement governing the sport of boxing at world level. On 20 March 2025, the IOC confirmed that boxing has been restored to the sport program for LA28.
Further information on World Boxing is available at www.worldboxing.org.
|
June 7th show planned for Middleburg, SA |
|
Two South African light heavyweights, Bonginkosi Nhlapo and Nelson Mbhele, will battle each other on June 7th at Event City in Middelburg, South Africa. After a difficult start to their pro campaigns, this is a big opportunity for both boxers to get their careers on track. Nhlapo is 3-2-1 since turning pro in 2023, but both his defeats were disputed split decisions and could easily have gone his way. Mbhele, a pro since 2021, brings a 5-4 ledger and will also be hungry and determined to show that he is better than those statistics suggest. While not a clash of promising prospects on paper, this should be a very entertaining match-up between two boxers who are ready to put everything on the line to prevail.
|
|
|
|
June 7th show planned for Middleburg, SA
Two South African light heavyweights, Bonginkosi Nhlapo and Nelson Mbhele, will battle each other on June 7th at Event City in Middelburg, South Africa. After a difficult start to their pro campaigns, this is a big opportunity for both boxers to get their careers on track. Nhlapo is 3-2-1 since turning pro in 2023, but both his defeats were disputed split decisions and could easily have gone his way. Mbhele, a pro since 2021, brings a 5-4 ledger and will also be hungry and determined to show that he is better than those statistics suggest. While not a clash of promising prospects on paper, this should be a very entertaining match-up between two boxers who are ready to put everything on the line to prevail.
|
Expect delays ahead: Don King wins heavyweight purse bid |
|
Hall of Fame Boxing Promoter Don King has won a $1.1 million purse bid from the WBA for the right to promote a fight between WBA regular heavyweight champion Kubrat “The Cobra” Pulev and Michael “The Bounty” Hunter. King indicated the fight will take place on Saturday, August 23rd at a site to be determined. [Editor's note: In recent years, King has been notoriously bad about staging fights on their scheduled dates, and has repeatedly postponed or cancelled his fights]. It will be a true week of celebration during Fight Week as King will be celebrating his 94th birthday on August 20th. King said the location for the fight will be determined at a later date with Florida, Las Vegas, Ohio and Pennsylvania among the potential sites.
Fighting in his hometown of Sofia, Bulgaria, the crowd-favorite 44-year-old Pulev (32-3, 14 KOs) won the WBA regular title via a twelve-round unanimous decision win over Mahmoud Charr last December. [The WBA, like the other three major sanctioning bodies, recognizes Oleksandr Usyk as the true world heavyweight champion].
The Southern California native Hunter (24-2-2, 17 KOs) defeated Cassius Chaney in a twelve-round unanimous decision at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla. In his last fight in December, Hunter registered a fifth-round TKO over [unknown] Christian Larrondo Garcia in Mexico [Editor's note: In April 2024, Hunter lost an eight-round decision to heavyweight Artem Suslenkov that generally gets left off Hunter's record because the fight was promoted by the IBA. Boxingtalk has added that loss back into Hunter's record to arrive at 24-2-2].
Hunter’s only [other] career setback came back in 2017 when he lost a unanimous twelve-round decision to Usyk, who in December beat Tyson Fury to become just the third boxer to become an undisputed world champion in the two weight divisions in the “four-belt era”.
|
|
|
|
Expect delays ahead: Don King wins heavyweight purse bid
Hall of Fame Boxing Promoter Don King has won a $1.1 million purse bid from the WBA for the right to promote a fight between WBA regular heavyweight champion Kubrat “The Cobra” Pulev and Michael “The Bounty” Hunter. King indicated the fight will take place on Saturday, August 23rd at a site to be determined. [Editor's note: In recent years, King has been notoriously bad about staging fights on their scheduled dates, and has repeatedly postponed or cancelled his fights]. It will be a true week of celebration during Fight Week as King will be celebrating his 94th birthday on August 20th. King said the location for the fight will be determined at a later date with Florida, Las Vegas, Ohio and Pennsylvania among the potential sites.
Fighting in his hometown of Sofia, Bulgaria, the crowd-favorite 44-year-old Pulev (32-3, 14 KOs) won the WBA regular title via a twelve-round unanimous decision win over Mahmoud Charr last December. [The WBA, like the other three major sanctioning bodies, recognizes Oleksandr Usyk as the true world heavyweight champion].
The Southern California native Hunter (24-2-2, 17 KOs) defeated Cassius Chaney in a twelve-round unanimous decision at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla. In his last fight in December, Hunter registered a fifth-round TKO over [unknown] Christian Larrondo Garcia in Mexico [Editor's note: In April 2024, Hunter lost an eight-round decision to heavyweight Artem Suslenkov that generally gets left off Hunter's record because the fight was promoted by the IBA. Boxingtalk has added that loss back into Hunter's record to arrive at 24-2-2].
Hunter’s only [other] career setback came back in 2017 when he lost a unanimous twelve-round decision to Usyk, who in December beat Tyson Fury to become just the third boxer to become an undisputed world champion in the two weight divisions in the “four-belt era”.
|
Jermall Charlo Saturday prediction: "You’ll see, I’m back" |
|
|
Super middleweights Caleb Plant and Jermall Charlo (pictured) kicked off fight week events with a media workout Wednesday before co-headlining --in separate bouts-- PBC Championship Boxing on Prime Video this Saturday, May 31st at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Plant will step in against Mexican knockout artist Armando Reséndiz, while Charlo faces veteran contender Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna on the four-fight card that streams exclusively on Prime Video for all Prime members in the United States and select countries. The workout also featured middleweights Yoenli Feliciano Hernandez and Kyrone “Shut It Down” Davis, who will lock horns for ten scheduled rounds, plus Isaac “La Bestia” Lucero and hard-hitting Omar Valenzuela, who match up in a junior middleweight attraction that opens the streaming presentation at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Tickets for the live event are on sale now through AXS.com. Here is what the fighters had to say Wednesday from Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino:
JERMALL CHARLO
“Las Vegas, I missed you. It’s been a long time coming but I’m back. It’s Lions Only.
“You’ll see I’m back when you see me jabbing and doing my thing. I’m really excited to get back in the ring
“Get your popcorn early. Don’t blink. I’m coming to show everyone what I can do.”
THOMAS LAMANNA
“I feel great and I’ve come back from the loss to Erislandy Lara by doing it the right way. I’m gonna go in there it and give it everything.
“We waited for a big opportunity and this is a great one. He’s a big name and a two-division world champion. But I belong here and I’m gonna show everyone why I belong here.
“The fans make boxing go. Without them, there is no boxing. I’m so grateful for everyone supporting me. I’m using it all as fuel for the fire and it’s gonna help give me the edge against Jermall.”
CALEB PLANT
“It feels great to be here back on the big stage again. I’ve been in nothing but world title fights and title eliminators since 2017, so I’m ready to show out.
“I never get too high or too low. I’m focused and even-keeled. I’m locked in. We had a great training camp and I’m ready to whoop ass.
“I appreciate all the fans and their continued support. Make sure you stay tuned and come out on Saturday.”
ARMANDO RESENDIZ
“I’m very excited and motivated to be on such a huge card and I promise I’ll give everything in the ring on Saturday night.
“A win will mean everything. I’m fighting one of the best fighters in the world, so it will mean so much. I promise to give the fans an exciting fight.
“The Mexican support means everything to me. It motivates me to give it my all.”
YOENLI FELICIANO HERNANDEZ
“I don’t worry about my opponents, I came here prepared to win like I always do.
“I know that I have to be calm in the ring, because eventually things are going to go my way. If I stay steady in there and do what I have to do, victory will be mine.
“My mentality is what leads to my power. It’s about mind and body.”
KYRONE DAVIS
“We’re ready to have some fun in the ring in Las Vegas. I can’t wait for it to be fight night.
“I’m ready to go. This is what I’ve been working for. This is my time, because we train for these moments.
“If you get in the ring with me, you have to know that I’m coming to win. I’m going in there to take his ‘0’.”
ISAAC LUCERO
“This is a dream come true for me to be right here on this stage in Las Vegas. I would have prepared for this fight the same way regardless, but to be facing a fellow Mexican on a card like this is something I know that I have to take advantage of.
“Valenzuela is gonna learn what it’s like to take a loss. I could care less about his record, because he has never fought someone like me before.
“If there is one thing I can guarantee, it’s that you’re gonna see nothing but action on Saturday night.”
OMAR VALENZUELA
“I’m really grateful for this opportunity. It’s exciting to be in Las Vegas where boxing is king and I’m pumped to show everyone what I can do.
“You can bet that we’re going toe-to-toe on Saturday. It’s gonna be an all-out Mexican classic and we’re gonna give the fans what they want to see.”
|
|
|
|
Jermall Charlo Saturday prediction: "You’ll see, I’m back"
Super middleweights Caleb Plant and Jermall Charlo (pictured) kicked off fight week events with a media workout Wednesday before co-headlining --in separate bouts-- PBC Championship Boxing on Prime Video this Saturday, May 31st at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Plant will step in against Mexican knockout artist Armando Reséndiz, while Charlo faces veteran contender Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna on the four-fight card that streams exclusively on Prime Video for all Prime members in the United States and select countries. The workout also featured middleweights Yoenli Feliciano Hernandez and Kyrone “Shut It Down” Davis, who will lock horns for ten scheduled rounds, plus Isaac “La Bestia” Lucero and hard-hitting Omar Valenzuela, who match up in a junior middleweight attraction that opens the streaming presentation at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Tickets for the live event are on sale now through AXS.com. Here is what the fighters had to say Wednesday from Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino:
JERMALL CHARLO
“Las Vegas, I missed you. It’s been a long time coming but I’m back. It’s Lions Only.
“You’ll see I’m back when you see me jabbing and doing my thing. I’m really excited to get back in the ring
“Get your popcorn early. Don’t blink. I’m coming to show everyone what I can do.”
THOMAS LAMANNA
“I feel great and I’ve come back from the loss to Erislandy Lara by doing it the right way. I’m gonna go in there it and give it everything.
“We waited for a big opportunity and this is a great one. He’s a big name and a two-division world champion. But I belong here and I’m gonna show everyone why I belong here.
“The fans make boxing go. Without them, there is no boxing. I’m so grateful for everyone supporting me. I’m using it all as fuel for the fire and it’s gonna help give me the edge against Jermall.”
CALEB PLANT
“It feels great to be here back on the big stage again. I’ve been in nothing but world title fights and title eliminators since 2017, so I’m ready to show out.
“I never get too high or too low. I’m focused and even-keeled. I’m locked in. We had a great training camp and I’m ready to whoop ass.
“I appreciate all the fans and their continued support. Make sure you stay tuned and come out on Saturday.”
ARMANDO RESENDIZ
“I’m very excited and motivated to be on such a huge card and I promise I’ll give everything in the ring on Saturday night.
“A win will mean everything. I’m fighting one of the best fighters in the world, so it will mean so much. I promise to give the fans an exciting fight.
“The Mexican support means everything to me. It motivates me to give it my all.”
YOENLI FELICIANO HERNANDEZ
“I don’t worry about my opponents, I came here prepared to win like I always do.
“I know that I have to be calm in the ring, because eventually things are going to go my way. If I stay steady in there and do what I have to do, victory will be mine.
“My mentality is what leads to my power. It’s about mind and body.”
KYRONE DAVIS
“We’re ready to have some fun in the ring in Las Vegas. I can’t wait for it to be fight night.
“I’m ready to go. This is what I’ve been working for. This is my time, because we train for these moments.
“If you get in the ring with me, you have to know that I’m coming to win. I’m going in there to take his ‘0’.”
ISAAC LUCERO
“This is a dream come true for me to be right here on this stage in Las Vegas. I would have prepared for this fight the same way regardless, but to be facing a fellow Mexican on a card like this is something I know that I have to take advantage of.
“Valenzuela is gonna learn what it’s like to take a loss. I could care less about his record, because he has never fought someone like me before.
“If there is one thing I can guarantee, it’s that you’re gonna see nothing but action on Saturday night.”
OMAR VALENZUELA
“I’m really grateful for this opportunity. It’s exciting to be in Las Vegas where boxing is king and I’m pumped to show everyone what I can do.
“You can bet that we’re going toe-to-toe on Saturday. It’s gonna be an all-out Mexican classic and we’re gonna give the fans what they want to see.”
|
Fulgham playing the what-if game with WBA rankings |
|
On Friday night, Darius “DFG” Fulgham (14-0, 12 KOs) takes on Bektemir “Bully” Melikuziev (15-1, 10 KOs) in what his team is referring to as an unofficial WBA super middleweight title eliminator at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. “There is going to be separation in the super middleweight division,” Fulghum explained. “(WBA interim champion Caleb) Plant fights the day after my fight in Las Vegas, but [undisputed world champion Saul] 'Canelo’ Alvarez holds all the cards.” The key question, however, is how long Alvarez will maintain complete control of the division?
Alvarez (69-22, 39 KOs) rules the 168-pound division and the 34-year-old, who has been a professional boxer since 2005, fights twice a year to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (May) and Mexican Independence Day (September) weekends. Boxing’s ultimate rainmaker reportedly signed a four-fight agreement with Riyadh Season, which kicked off May 4th with am [uninspiring] twelve-round unanimous decision over William Scull (23-1, 9 KOs). Canelo has a mega-fight set versus another future Hall of Famer, Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), on September 12th in Las Vegas.
Even if he doesn’t retire after the Crawford fight, “Canelo” could be stripped of some or all of his four major titles. The winner of Fulghum vs. Melikuziev will position himself as a leading WBA world contender, if not its mandatory challenger for te winner of Caleb Plant vs. Jose Resendiz. [Editor's note: Fulghum's team may be disappointed, however, if the WBA sanctions Plant vs. former two-division champ Jermall Charlo for a vacant title, assuming Charlo wins his fight this weekend.]
The only super middleweights rated higher by the WBA than Melikuziev and Fulghum are Plant (23-2, 14 KOs), Christian Mbilli (27-0, 23 KOs), and Lester Martinez (19-0, 18 KOs). Plant is fighting Resendiz (15-2, 11 KOs) the day after Melikuziev vs. Fulghum, also in Las Vegas, on the same card as Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) vs. Thomas LaManna (39-5-1, 18 KOs). Plant vs. Charlo, assuming both are victorious, are rumored to be on a collision course for their next fights.
Mbilli, a French Olympian living in Canada, will likely be dropped from his #1 WBA ranking when he faces Maciej Sulecki (33-3, 13 KOs) on June 27th, in their WBC title fight in Quebec City- which could be for an interim title or a vacant world title. “This eliminator sets-up everything for me and I’m all business,” Fulghum said. “I won’t make it anything more than it is because each fight I’ve had was extra important; I wouldn’t be here if I had lost any of my fights. There’s no added pressure because this is an eliminator and there will be a lot more to come after this Friday night.”
The 28-year-old Fulghum, fighting out of Houston, has his fight against Melikuziev, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist from Uzbekistan, in its proper perspective. “This eliminator sets-up everything for me and I’m all business,” Fulghum said. “But I won’t make it anything more than it is because each fight I’ve had were extra important; I wouldn’t be here if I had lost any of my fights. There’s no added pressure because this is an eliminator because there will be a lot more to come after this Friday night.”
Fulghum was a decorated amateur boxer who was ranked No. 1 in the USA as a heavyweight, but as a professional he’s fought strictly as a super middleweight. He was the 2018 National Golden Gloves Tournament Champion, and he also won the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Somehow, he accomplished this while he was earning a nursing degree from Prairie View A & M University during COVID-19.
Fulghum is working with 3 Point Management.
|
|
|
|
Fulgham playing the what-if game with WBA rankings
On Friday night, Darius “DFG” Fulgham (14-0, 12 KOs) takes on Bektemir “Bully” Melikuziev (15-1, 10 KOs) in what his team is referring to as an unofficial WBA super middleweight title eliminator at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. “There is going to be separation in the super middleweight division,” Fulghum explained. “(WBA interim champion Caleb) Plant fights the day after my fight in Las Vegas, but [undisputed world champion Saul] 'Canelo’ Alvarez holds all the cards.” The key question, however, is how long Alvarez will maintain complete control of the division?
Alvarez (69-22, 39 KOs) rules the 168-pound division and the 34-year-old, who has been a professional boxer since 2005, fights twice a year to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (May) and Mexican Independence Day (September) weekends. Boxing’s ultimate rainmaker reportedly signed a four-fight agreement with Riyadh Season, which kicked off May 4th with am [uninspiring] twelve-round unanimous decision over William Scull (23-1, 9 KOs). Canelo has a mega-fight set versus another future Hall of Famer, Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs), on September 12th in Las Vegas.
Even if he doesn’t retire after the Crawford fight, “Canelo” could be stripped of some or all of his four major titles. The winner of Fulghum vs. Melikuziev will position himself as a leading WBA world contender, if not its mandatory challenger for te winner of Caleb Plant vs. Jose Resendiz. [Editor's note: Fulghum's team may be disappointed, however, if the WBA sanctions Plant vs. former two-division champ Jermall Charlo for a vacant title, assuming Charlo wins his fight this weekend.]
The only super middleweights rated higher by the WBA than Melikuziev and Fulghum are Plant (23-2, 14 KOs), Christian Mbilli (27-0, 23 KOs), and Lester Martinez (19-0, 18 KOs). Plant is fighting Resendiz (15-2, 11 KOs) the day after Melikuziev vs. Fulghum, also in Las Vegas, on the same card as Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) vs. Thomas LaManna (39-5-1, 18 KOs). Plant vs. Charlo, assuming both are victorious, are rumored to be on a collision course for their next fights.
Mbilli, a French Olympian living in Canada, will likely be dropped from his #1 WBA ranking when he faces Maciej Sulecki (33-3, 13 KOs) on June 27th, in their WBC title fight in Quebec City- which could be for an interim title or a vacant world title. “This eliminator sets-up everything for me and I’m all business,” Fulghum said. “I won’t make it anything more than it is because each fight I’ve had was extra important; I wouldn’t be here if I had lost any of my fights. There’s no added pressure because this is an eliminator and there will be a lot more to come after this Friday night.”
The 28-year-old Fulghum, fighting out of Houston, has his fight against Melikuziev, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist from Uzbekistan, in its proper perspective. “This eliminator sets-up everything for me and I’m all business,” Fulghum said. “But I won’t make it anything more than it is because each fight I’ve had were extra important; I wouldn’t be here if I had lost any of my fights. There’s no added pressure because this is an eliminator because there will be a lot more to come after this Friday night.”
Fulghum was a decorated amateur boxer who was ranked No. 1 in the USA as a heavyweight, but as a professional he’s fought strictly as a super middleweight. He was the 2018 National Golden Gloves Tournament Champion, and he also won the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Somehow, he accomplished this while he was earning a nursing degree from Prairie View A & M University during COVID-19.
Fulghum is working with 3 Point Management.
|
Taylor apolgizes in wake of loss to Essuman |
|
|
Ekow Essuman W12 Josh Taylor... Josh Taylor’s career now hangs in the balance after he suffered a shocking loss to Ekow Essuman in front of a passionate crowd in Glasgow. Essuman spoiled the Scottish party on Saturday night, with the experienced welterweight stunning former undisputed world junior welterweight champion in Taylor's own backyard. After a dozen hard fought rounds, the judges all scored for Essuman with totals of 116-112, 116-113, and 115-113. It was Taylor's third straight loss, making the retirement issue a fair question. In the ring, Taylor looked surprised when the verdict was announced and did not stick around for the post-fight interviews, which led him to issue the following apology:
"I would just like to apologize to all the fans last night for leaving the ring before having an interview and before taking the time to thank you all for showing up and showing out, as you always have done over the past ten years. I headed to the changing rooms because I did not want to say something in the heat of the moment or that I’d later regret on live TV. Your support means the world to me and you’ve created wonderful memories for me that will stay with me until the day I die. You’ve all helped to create some incredible moments in my life and despite the result, last night was another special night that was right up there, so thank each and every one of you. Thank you to [promoter] Queensberry for bringing a big show back to Scotland and to Ekow once again on the victory."
|
|
|
|
Taylor apolgizes in wake of loss to Essuman
Ekow Essuman W12 Josh Taylor... Josh Taylor’s career now hangs in the balance after he suffered a shocking loss to Ekow Essuman in front of a passionate crowd in Glasgow. Essuman spoiled the Scottish party on Saturday night, with the experienced welterweight stunning former undisputed world junior welterweight champion in Taylor's own backyard. After a dozen hard fought rounds, the judges all scored for Essuman with totals of 116-112, 116-113, and 115-113. It was Taylor's third straight loss, making the retirement issue a fair question. In the ring, Taylor looked surprised when the verdict was announced and did not stick around for the post-fight interviews, which led him to issue the following apology:
"I would just like to apologize to all the fans last night for leaving the ring before having an interview and before taking the time to thank you all for showing up and showing out, as you always have done over the past ten years. I headed to the changing rooms because I did not want to say something in the heat of the moment or that I’d later regret on live TV. Your support means the world to me and you’ve created wonderful memories for me that will stay with me until the day I die. You’ve all helped to create some incredible moments in my life and despite the result, last night was another special night that was right up there, so thank each and every one of you. Thank you to [promoter] Queensberry for bringing a big show back to Scotland and to Ekow once again on the victory."
|
Ryan Garcia self-reports hand surgery |
|
Ryan Garcia self-reported an operation on his hand today, posting this on Twitter: "I went and got the surgery for my hand and what I needed to get done, I never used that as an excuse for my fight [a loss to former 140-pound title holder Rolly Romero earlier this month]. The media is going to report the surgery. I’m just blessed it was done and successful. Thank you to all for the love and support from the community and people who have been supporting me in my career love yall."
Romero won the WBA regular welterweight title when he knocked down and upset a seemingly gun-shy Garcia in New York City's Times Square on May 3rd. A Romero double left hook landed flush on the chin and dropped Garcia in round two. Garcia got up and did not seem particularly hurt, but his performance became more passive with every round. Romero, a former 140-pound titlist but generally lightly regarded until today, was content to fight at a slow pace but he clearly landed the harder shots The strategy paid off as Garcia did not press the action despite between-round pleas from his trainer, Derrick James. The official scores for this welterweight fight were 115-112 (twice) and 118-109 all in favor of Romero. According to Compubox, Garcia outlanded Romero by a dismal 66-57 count. However, Garcia applauded the verdict and conceded Romero deserved the victory. The most telling statistic was that the 490 combined punches thrown total was the third lowest in a twelve-round fight in CompuBox's forty-year history, below even the 503 combined punches from Devin Haney and Juan Carlos Ramirez earlier in the evening. Romero's upset threw Turki Alalshikh's plans for a Garcia-Haney rematch into question.
|
|
|
|
Ryan Garcia self-reports hand surgery
Ryan Garcia self-reported an operation on his hand today, posting this on Twitter: "I went and got the surgery for my hand and what I needed to get done, I never used that as an excuse for my fight [a loss to former 140-pound title holder Rolly Romero earlier this month]. The media is going to report the surgery. I’m just blessed it was done and successful. Thank you to all for the love and support from the community and people who have been supporting me in my career love yall."
Romero won the WBA regular welterweight title when he knocked down and upset a seemingly gun-shy Garcia in New York City's Times Square on May 3rd. A Romero double left hook landed flush on the chin and dropped Garcia in round two. Garcia got up and did not seem particularly hurt, but his performance became more passive with every round. Romero, a former 140-pound titlist but generally lightly regarded until today, was content to fight at a slow pace but he clearly landed the harder shots The strategy paid off as Garcia did not press the action despite between-round pleas from his trainer, Derrick James. The official scores for this welterweight fight were 115-112 (twice) and 118-109 all in favor of Romero. According to Compubox, Garcia outlanded Romero by a dismal 66-57 count. However, Garcia applauded the verdict and conceded Romero deserved the victory. The most telling statistic was that the 490 combined punches thrown total was the third lowest in a twelve-round fight in CompuBox's forty-year history, below even the 503 combined punches from Devin Haney and Juan Carlos Ramirez earlier in the evening. Romero's upset threw Turki Alalshikh's plans for a Garcia-Haney rematch into question.
|
Boxingtalk's KO fix: Takei stops Thai softie in one |
|
Yoshiki Takei TKO1 Yuttapong Tongdee... Yoshiki Takei retained his WBO bantamweight championship with a first-round technical knockout of underqualified Yuttapong Tongdee. There were three knockdowns in the first round, with the Thai challenger getting up each time. After the third knockdown, Takei continued to take target practice until the fight was stopped. Tongdee was 15-0 coming in but had never been in with a real contender. (In 2020, he defeated former title challenger Wicha Phulaikhao a/k/a Pigmy Kokietgym, but Kokietgym had lost five of six prior bouts). Takei is 11-0 as a pro, with additional pro kickboxing bouts prior to his boxing career. Takei acquired the WBO title last year when he defeated Jason Moloney. All four bantamweight titles are wrapped around Japanese waists: Ryosuke Nishida has the IBF, Seiya Tsutsumi the WBA and pound-for-pound contender Junto Nakatani the WBC.
|
|
|
|
Boxingtalk's KO fix: Takei stops Thai softie in one
Yoshiki Takei TKO1 Yuttapong Tongdee... Yoshiki Takei retained his WBO bantamweight championship with a first-round technical knockout of underqualified Yuttapong Tongdee. There were three knockdowns in the first round, with the Thai challenger getting up each time. After the third knockdown, Takei continued to take target practice until the fight was stopped. Tongdee was 15-0 coming in but had never been in with a real contender. (In 2020, he defeated former title challenger Wicha Phulaikhao a/k/a Pigmy Kokietgym, but Kokietgym had lost five of six prior bouts). Takei is 11-0 as a pro, with additional pro kickboxing bouts prior to his boxing career. Takei acquired the WBO title last year when he defeated Jason Moloney. All four bantamweight titles are wrapped around Japanese waists: Ryosuke Nishida has the IBF, Seiya Tsutsumi the WBA and pound-for-pound contender Junto Nakatani the WBC.
|
