Unified WBA, IBF, and WBO lightweight titlist Teofimo Lopez has been outspoken for months that boxing needs its promoters and other power plays to simply make the biggest fights possible, and continued that push this week on social media. “In order for us to bring boxing back to its fullest, we have to fight the
Fighting
Well, it looks like we might be getting the worst-case scenario. Mike Coppinger reports that Canelo Alvarez’s planned unification clash with Billy Joe Saunders, previously targeted for either May 1st or May 8th due to Cinco de Mayo landing on a Wednesday, is “slated” to land on the 8th, seemingly putting it in direct conflict
With Golden Boy welterweight prospects Vergil Ortiz officially scheduled to take on Maurice Hooker on March 20th on DAZN, the fight now has a venue set, as it will take place at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, about 40 minutes from Dallas, the hometown of both fighters. “I’m very happy to be fighting in
Tyson Fury, holder of the WBC heavyweight title and also LINEAL!!!!!! champion of the world, looks like he’ll be fighting Anthony Joshua next — that’s not set in stone, but the signs are good from all involved promoters (there are three of them, it’s not the easiest thing), the WBO seem to be on board
Marc Castro won’t be the only elite amateur on the February 27th Canelo Alvarez-Avni Yildirim undercard. Matchroom announced today that Keyshawn Davis, previously considered one of America’s best hopes for gold at the Tokyo Games, will make his professional debut that evening. The 21-year-old Davis, ranked as BoxRec’s #2 amateur super lightweight behind longtime rival
Rankings go up on Mondays at Noon ET. It’s a light update this week, and with no ranked fights coming this week, there will be no reason to update next Monday. So for the upcoming fights bit at the top here, we’ll just list what’s coming before our next rankings update on Feb. 15. Upcoming
Way back in 2015, Joanna Jedrzejczyk had established her rule atop UFC strawweight (115 lb.) division with awe-inspiring displays of violence. Despite the Pole’s fan-friendly style and marketable heel persona, however, the promotion instead focused its efforts on 21-year-old young gun Paige VanZant. It seemed like a good move at the time; in addition being
With Caleb Plant’s win last night over Caleb Truax to retain the IBF super middleweight title, the 28-year-old Tennessee native kept his place in line for the real prize at 168 pounds, and in boxing overall: a fight with Canelo Alvarez later this year. Canelo officially moved to 168 to stay in December, beating Callum
More than any other time in modern history, any schedule right now still needs to come with a solid knock on wood, but after a very slow run where we got almost nothing of real note in January, the boxing schedule is set to heat up and get really busy in February. It’s honestly against
Former two-time super middleweight titleholder Anthony Dirrell will return to the ring on Saturday, Feb. 27, headlining a PBC on FOX show that almost nobody will be paying attention to, as it is set to go head-to-head with Canelo Alvarez’s return on DAZN. There was some talk of the 36-year-old Dirrell (33-2-1, 24 KO) possibly
Tonight at 8 pm ET on FOX, Caleb Plant returns to action to defend the IBF super middleweight title against former titleholder Caleb Truax, as we finally find out which man is boxing’s top Caleb. Prelims will begin at 6 pm ET on FS1, and Wil Esco will be on round-by-round coverage for the main
Errol Spence Jr and Yordenis Ugas may be heading for a three-belt unification fight at 147 pounds, following Ugas being promoted to WBA “super world champion” with Manny Pacquiao moved to “champion in recess.” The WBA’s move had a pretty clear destination, and this is it. Spence (27-0, 21 KO) has the WBC and IBF
If Ryan Garcia does end up fighting Manny Pacquiao, there won’t be a belt on the line. The cretins at the WBA released a flurry of championship rulings today, two of them regarding Mahmoud Charr’s and Beibut Shumenov’s absence from Don King’s clusterf**k of a show tonight. “World” heavyweight champ Charr is now champion in
Welterweight prospect Conor Benn is starting to work his way up the ladder a bit, and the 24-year-old son of Nigel Benn is set to face Colombian veteran Samuel Vargas in a DAZN main event on Apr. 10 from the United Kingdom. Benn (17-0, 11 KO) is coming off of a very nice all-around performance
Before Joe Smith Jr. takes on Maxim Vlasov for the vacant WBO light heavyweight title and former IBF lightweight champ Richard Commey returns to action against Jackson Marinez on February 13th, featherweights Adam Lopez and Jason Sanchez headline a fairly solid ESPN+ undercard. Lopez (14-2, 6 KO), last seen stealing the show against Luis Coria
Some of Kazakhstan’s most promising up-and-comers get the spotlight when MTK Global hits Almaty on February 27th. The main event sees two-time world silver medalist Kamshybek Kunkabayev (2-0, 2 KO) take on Northern Ireland’s Steven Ward (13-1, 4 KO). The 29-year-old Kunkabayev appears to be getting an enthusiastic push, as while Ward got eaten alive
Five weeks after his loss to Canelo Alvarez, former super middleweight titlist Callum Smith has given the Mexican superstar great praise, breaking down the fight and what went wrong for him in Texas on Dec. 19. Smith (27-1, 19 KO) told Sky Sports that he knew there was a point where Canelo had taken over,
Joe Smith Jr burst onto the scene in 2016 with crushing wins over Andrzej Fonfara and Bernard Hopkins, retiring a legend with the latter win, but it seemed like maybe the clock had struck 12 on something of a Cinderella story when he suffered losses to Sullivan Barrera and Dmitry Bivol. But 2020 saw Smith,