Fighting

Kevin Iole reports that Jean Pascal is out of his scheduled June 6 rematch with Badou Jack, which was to be the key co-feature for the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul exhibition PPV, with Pascal failing a drug test for the steroids epitrenbolone, drostanolone, and drostanolone metabolite A. The 38-year-old Pascal (35-6-1, 20 KO) and the 37-year-old

Saturday night on DAZN, Devin Haney returns to defend his WBC lightweight title against veteran Jorge Linares, a four-division titlist who will be Haney’s stiffest test to date on paper. Does the 22-year-old prove out, or will the 35-year-old Linares expose some weaknesses in the young man’s game? Scott Christ (34-10-2) I’m probably about as

Saturday night on Showtime, Nonito Donaire will attempt to make further history in his already Hall of Fame-bound career, as he looks to take the WBC bantamweight title from Nordine Oubaali and become the oldest bantamweight titleholder ever. Can he do it, or does Oubaali get the win and possibly send Donaire into retirement? Scott

Top Rank has officially revealed that their June 26th Vasiliy Lomachenko-Masayoshi Nakatani card will see former WBA “world” middleweight champion Rob Brant face Kazakh Olympian Janibek Alimkhanuly in the co-feature. Brant’s roller-coaster career saw him rise through the ranks at middleweight before making a one-and-done trip to 168 for the World Boxing Super Series, where

During this media session captured by Fight Hub TV, Teofimo Lopez Sr explains how he and his son are seeking a match up against newly-minted undisputed junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor, saying Taylor is scared to face his son because he knows he can’t match up. Check out some of what Lopez Sr. had to

Former Cincinnati Bengals star Chad Johnson has long been out of the sporting world’s spotlight, playing his last game for the New England Patriots in 2011, but now at 43, he’s set to make a boxing debut of sorts, participating in an exhibition on the Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul card on Sunday, June 6. Johnson will

A lot has been made of Devin Haney stepping up to a new level on Saturday, when he defends his WBC lightweight title against Jorge Linares. But not much of it has really come from the side of Linares (47-5, 29 KO), the 35-year-old Venezuelan veteran and multiple-time world champion. It seems most of the

Showtime really seems committed to propping up the worst of its upcoming main events with strong undercards. Mike Coppinger, Julius Julianis, and Espabox all report that unbeaten Dominican lightweight Michel Rivera will face Spanish finisher Jon Fernandez as part of the July 3rd Chris Colbert vs Yuriorkis Gamboa undercard. Both men saw marquee fights fall

A prospect vs prospect matchup has been added to the undercard of Vasyl Lomachenko’s June 26 return against Masayoshi Nakatani. Once-beaten amateur standout Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (9-1, 5 KO) of Uzbekistan takes on undefeated Quinton Randall (8-0, 2 KO) in a welterweight showdown. The 29-year-old Gaibnazarov is coming off a stellar amateur career that included silver

During Brian Custer’s latest installment of the Last Stand Podcast, former junior middleweight titleholder Julian Williams talks about his split with longtime trainer Stephen ‘Breadman’ Edwards, looking towards a big fight against Jermell Charlo, and why he believes Jaron Ennis is good enough to take out some of the best welterweights out there. Check out

Looks like we’re already getting answers about Josh Taylor’s next steps. Bob Arum tells Lance Pugmire that Taylor intends to face WBO mandatory challenger Jack Catterall in July, then “pursue a big fight” with either Terence Crawford or Teofimo Lopez by the end of 2021. As Scott points out in that first link, Catterall (26-0,

Saturday’s DAZN card doesn’t just have the main event between Devin Haney and Jorge Linares, as there is also — among other fights — an IBF junior lightweight eliminator between Martin J. Ward and Azinga Fuzile scheduled for the show. Ward (24-1-2, 11 KO) and Fuzile (14-1, 8 KO) come into the bout with different

Josh Taylor joined a short list of four-belt undisputed world champions on Saturday, beating Jose Ramirez to become the fully unified man at 140 lbs. Taylor (18-0, 13 KO) spoke with media at the post-fight press conference about his performance and what could be next. On setting a precedent for other fighters “I don’t know.

Three-division boxing champion Claressa Shields is set to make her MMA debut on Thursday, June 10, when she faces Brittney Elkin in a PFL fight from Atlantic City, which will air on ESPN+ and ESPN2. Shields (11-0, 2 KO in boxing) should be the favorite here, at least on paper. While it’s Claressa’s MMA debut

Josh Taylor is now one of five or six men — depending on your interpretation of the Teofimo Lopez situation — to become undisputed champion of a division in the four-belt era, beating Jose Ramirez by decision on Saturday night to become the one true king at 140 lbs. Even with small sample size, undisputed

Tyson Fury has announced that he’s signed his contract to face Deontay Wilder for a third time, expected to go down on July 24, hitting the set during tonight’s Ramirez-Taylor show on ESPN. “I just signed the Deontay Wilder contract,” Fury announced as he basically stormed the broadcast desk between fights. “Bitch, you’re getting knocked

Devin Haney continues to express respect and even a level of admiration for upcoming opponent Jorge Linares. After having recently said that he believes Linares is “by far the biggest step up” he’s faced to date, Haney expanded on what he respects about the veteran ex-champ. “I am expecting a firefight and I can’t wait,”

Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor weighed in Friday afternoon, both coming in under the weight limit at 139.6 pounds each. The fight is now officially set, with Jose Ramirez’ WBC and WBO and Josh Taylor’s IBF and WBA belts at stake (Saturday, May 22, 8 pm ET, ESPN and ESPN+). There were no major fireworks