“I am ready to fight the best,” top-rated middleweight Jaime Munguia has declared on multiple occasions. However, in recent days Munguia’s braintrust has turned down a WBC middleweight title fight against Jermall Charlo, a WBO interim middleweight title fight against Janibek Alimkhanuly, and a WBC middleweight eliminator against Carlos Adame.

So where does Munguia go from here? Promoter Oscar de la Hoya is on the record saying a Munguia-Charlo fight is “top priority,” however Charlo has now signed to fight Maciej Sulecki on June 18.

Regarding Munguia-Charlo, De la Hoya stated, “Listen we want the fight. Obviously. Charlo’s the champion, he gets the bigger cut. We all know that. That’s common sense. Showtime, yes, you have the fight on Showtime PPV, but I need DAZN to participate. They built Jaime Munguia. That’s only fair, it’s business. More platforms, more pay-per-views, more money for the fighters…what’s wrong with that?”

Michael McKinson’s manager told BBC that McKinson’s fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr. on Saturday is off after Ortiz was forced to withdraw. No confirmation on the reason, but the rumor is Ortiz has weight problems.

Blair “The Flair” Cobbs has offered to step in. Cobbs stated, “Michael McKinnon, it is time. Baby, never fear, Blair the flair is here. Woooooo! And I ain’t pulling out, baby. Come and get this work! You saw I was trying to get it, let’s get it! Let’s get this work baby because I’m gonna f**k you up. Let’s go! Woooooo!”

Golden Boy Statement:

Unfortunately, Vergil Ortiz Jr. has had to pull out of this Saturday’s main event vs. Michael McKinson after being diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis. Vergil is recovering well in hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

“We wish Vergil a very quick and speedy recovery,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy. “As fighters, our first instinct is to fight whatever we have and tough it out. It takes a lot of courage to admit that something is wrong and get the care that you need. We are confident that we will be seeing Vergil in the ring again very soon.”

More information on the March 19 event will be announced shortly.

Standing by for further updates.

The ESPN+ streamed undercard is set for the Edgar Berlanga-Steve Rolls card on Saturday night in the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. The ESPN+ bouts, which feature all unbeaten A-sides, will precede the ESPN telecast that includes Berlanga-Rolls, Xander Zayas vs. Quincy LaVallais, and John Bauza vs. Tony Luis.

Featherweight Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (2-0, 1 KO) meets Yeuri Andujar (5-4-1, 3 KOs) in a six-rounder.

Welterweight Jahi Tucker (6-0, 4 KOs) faces Tracey McGruder (6-1, 4 KOs) in a six-rounder.

Junior lightweight Henry “Moncho” Lebron (14-0, 9 KOs) takes on Josec Ruiz (23-5-3, 16 KOs) in an eight-rounder.

Junior welterweight Kelvin Davis (3-0, 2 KOs) goes against Phillip Carmouche (2-2, 0 KOs) in a four-rounder.

Lightweight Armani Almestica (4-0, 4 KOs) battles Eliseo Villalobos (2-2, 1 KO) in a six-rounder.

By Mauricio Sulaimán
Son of José Sulaimán / President of the WBC

I spent a few days in the city of Los Angeles and had the delightfully fortunate opportunity to meet with Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, one of the great current champions, who will surely be enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame during the coming years.

Roman, the Pride of Nicaragua, visited the WBC office in Los Angeles, California, along with his team. He arrived proudly displaying his Diamond belt, which he conquered last weekend, after decisively defeating move-up flyweight champion, Julio César “Rey” Martínez. We coincided and dovetailed this visit, to present the WBC Trainer`s Belt to Marcos Caballero, who has been in his corner since Roman´s early days.

This innovative trophy was created by my dad many years ago, and Stephan Pryor, the son of Aaron Pryor, took the initiative to revive the accolade, which has been greeted in a great welcoming way by the boxing world. Continue reading ““Chocolatito” González and the Trainer’s Belt”

Showtime Sports and Premier Boxing Champions today announced nine boxing events across the first half of 2022. The robust lineup includes:

March 26 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING
The Armory, Minneapolis, Minn.
Tim Tszyu vs. Terrell Gausha, Super Welterweight Bout
Michel Rivera vs. Joseph Adorno, Lightweight Bout
Elvis Rodriguez vs. Juan Jose Velasco, Super Lightweight (142 LBS) Bout

April 9 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING
The Theatre at Virgin Hotels, Las Vegas
Erickson Lubin vs. Sebastian Fundora, WBC Super Welterweight Interim Title
Tony Harrison vs. Sergio Garcia, Super Welterweight Bout
Kevin Salgado vs. Bryant Perrella, Super Welterweight Bout

April 16 – SHOWTIME PPV
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Errol Spence Jr. vs. Yordenis Ugas, WBC, WBA & IBF Welterweight World Championship Unification

SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING (preceding PPV):
Radzhab Butaev vs. Eimantas Stanionis, WBA Welterweight Title Bout
Brandun Lee vs. Zachary Ochoa, Super Lightweight Bout

May 14 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING
Los Angeles
Jermell Charlo vs. Brian Castaño II, Undisputed WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO Super Welterweight World Championship
Jaron Ennis vs. Custio Clayton, IBF Welterweight Eliminator

May 21 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING
Phoenix
David Benavidez vs. David Lemieux, Super Middleweight Bout
Yoelvis Gomez vs. Jorge Cota, Super Welterweight Bout

May 28 – SHOWTIME PPV
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
Gervonta Davis vs. Rolly Romero, WBA Lightweight World Championship

June 4 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING
Minneapolis
Stephen Fulton, Jr. vs. Danny Roman, WBO & WBC Super Bantamweight World Championship
David Morrell vs. Kalvin Henderson, WBA Super Middleweight World Title

June 18 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING
Houston
Jermall Charlo vs. Maciej Sulecki, WBC Middleweight World Championship

July 9 – SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING
San Antonio
Mark Magsayo vs. Rey Vargas, WBC Featherweight World Championship

The so-called “Heaviest Boxing Match in History” is taking place at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium on Saturday. Almost two years in the making and over five years of bitter rivalry, it all ends in the ring as Game of Thrones star Thor “The Mountain” Bjornsson takes on British strongman Eddie Hall in the boxing ring for six, three-minute rounds under professional boxing rules.

The fight will be available to stream for free on SEGI.TV.

We’ll know at the weigh-in if the Bjornsson-Hall weight eclipses the 731lb combined weight from the 2007 showdown between Eric “Butterbean” Esch (417.5 lbs) and Joe Siciliano (313.5 lbs) won by Butterbean via TKO2.

Matchroom Boxing will return to the Palau Olímpic Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona, Spain on April 1 for a card topped by Sandor Martin (39-2, 13 KOs) taking on Jose Felix (39-5-1, 30 KOs) for the WBA International super lightweight title, live on DAZN.

“I’m so excited to fight again in Barcelona, for me it’s a very special comeback after beating Mikey Garcia in California. I needed to fight in front of my people again and feel their support. It could be my last fight before fighting for the world title. I don’t want any surprises, I’ve worked hard and I want to show that I’m ready,” said Martin.

* * *

DAZN also announced three other Euro events.

On April 22, unbeaten super middleweight Ivan Zucco (15-0, 13 KOs) faces Marko Nikolic (28-1, 12 KOs) at Palazzetto dello Sport in Verbania, Italy.

On May 13, super middleweights Daniele Scardina (20-0 16 KOs) and Giovanni De Carolis (29-10-1 13 KOs) meet in an all-Italian showdown at the Allianz Cloud in Milan, Italy.

On May 20, super welterweight Kerman Lejarraga (34-2, 26 KOs) takes on James Metcalf (21-2, 13 KOs) at the Bilbao Arena in Bilbao, Spain.

By Miguel Maravilla

Popular welterweight Blair Cobbs talks about his upcoming fight vs. Alexis Rocha, plus says PBC is playing with the belts.

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By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Former IBF middleweight champion Sam “King” Soliman (47-16-1, 19 KOs) will clash with Jesse White (6-2, 0 KOs) on Saturday at the Melbourne Pavillion, Flemington, Melbourne, Australia. The 48-year-old Soliman scored a six round split decision over White last December.

Soliman has no thoughts of retirement and is already scheduled to collide with Troy O’Meley on May 7 in Melbourne.

Solomon-White II will be available as a $16.99 PPV stream in the United States, with the show starting around 3AM ET.

By Miguel Maravilla

Welterweight Blair “The Flair” Cobbs (15-0-1, 10 KOs) of Philadelphia will have his toughest test to date as he takes on Santa Ana, California’s Alexis “Lex” Rocha (18-1, 12 KOs) this Saturday night March 19th in the co-main event for Vergil Ortiz, Jr. vs. Michael McKinson at the University of Southern California’s Galen Center in Downtown Los Angeles live on DAZN. We caught up with Cobbs as he discussed his upcoming fight with Rocha.

“This is the main attraction, Blair the Flair vs. a top contender. Let’s see what happens it’s going to be exciting,” Blair Cobbs told Fightnews.com®. “He is a tough contender and won’t give up. He will try to give me as much resistance as possible. He might want to pressure. I have been against multiple guys; Blair the Flair is used to being in the fire. Let’s see what happens when he is in the fire. Can Alexis handle it?” Continue reading “Blair Cobbs: I will keep it exciting”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Former IBF featherweight champion Billy “The Kid” Dib (47-6, 27 KOs) returns to action on Saturday against unbeaten WBO #5, IBF #9 lightweight Jacob Ng (15-0, 11 KOs) at The Star, Gold Coast, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia.

“The impossible has been made possible simply with the mindset that my back is up against the wall,” Dib tweeted. “March 19th no stone left unturned…my hard work in camp is already paying dividends. I’ll be skipping no meals, drinking plenty of water, tapering off my training feeling strong, refreshed & healthy all week, to feel sharp on fight night. Good luck Jacob, we all know the first fight for you is with the scales.”

The comeback of two-time WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrison (27-3-2, 15 KOs) is now over. The 44-year-old Harrison was slated to return to the ring on Saturday against Razak Nettey (22-5, 16 KOs) at the Rivals Gym, Wishaw, Scotland, but the fight was scrapped when Nettey pulled put just before their fight.

Harrison announced on social media, “I would like to announce my retirement from boxing. More bad memories than good. Should have kept working for the council as a joiner. All the best. God Bless.”

WBC #1 super Lightweight José “Chon” Zepeda returns to the ring on Saturday night at the Gimnasio Municipal “Josué Neri Santos” in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Zepeda (35-3, 27 KOs) will face Francisco “Verdugo” Pérez (18-12-1, 13 KOs) in a ten-rounder. Zepeda, of course, is now a major fan favorite after his 2020 fight of the year against Ivan Baranchyk. He most recently flattened Josué “Prodigy” Vargas in less than two minutes.

The co-feature is a good super lightweight clash between Carlos “Tiburón” Sánchez (22-0, 18 KOs) and Pedro “Roca” Campa (33-1-1, 22 KOs).

The card will be broadcast live by Azteca 7, so fire up your VPN and catch this telecast.

This past Saturday, lightweight contender Miguel “El Explosivo” Madueño (27-1, 25 KOs) suffered his first defeat as a professional, dropping a unanimous decision to former world champion Jezreel Corrales (26-4, 10 KOs) in a WBA lightweight title elimination bout. After the loss, Madueño feels he has a lot of things to work on and vows to be back stronger than ever.

“It wasn’t my night and I’m going to go back to the gym and work on all the things I know I can improve on,” said Madueño. “Corrales was fighting dirty, so I had to retaliate with some dirty tactics of my own. It wasn’t my best performance by far, but I’ll be back with an improved version of myself. This is just a minor setback.” Continue reading “Madueño: Loss just a minor setback”

Probellum has announced broadcast deals with fuboTV and ESPN KO to screen its back-to-back world title shows from Dubai to fans across North and South America. fuboTV, a $64.99/mo live TV streaming platform will broadcast the Dubai cards in the US and Canada on Fubo Sports Network, while ESPN KO will bring the action to its audience in Latin America.

The cards will air on Eurosport’s linear channels, discovery+ and Eurosport app to homes across 62 markets and territories in Europe and the Indian sub-continent.

The purse bid for the World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight championship bout between Trevor Bryan and Daniel Dubois was officially postponed to next Monday, March 21. The original date was today, March 14, but at the request of Bryan’s team, the WBA rescheduled the bid for the new date. If both teams reach an agreement before March 21, the bid could be suspended.

Bryan is the WBA regular champion and must fight Dubois, who was the interim champion of the division before the world title reduction plan was initiated in August last year, so the two must fight immediately for the black and gold heavyweight belt.

By Héctor Villarreal

Two former WBA super world champions from Panama, Anselmo “Chemito” Moreno and Jezreel “Invisible” Corrales achieved important triumphs in the main card of the WBA KO to Drugs Festival held at the Roberto Duran Arena in Panama City.

Moreno (41-6-1, 14 KOs), 36, ranked #3 at featherweight, stopped Mexican Gustavo Piña (10-4-2, 5 KOs) by TKO in the 10th and final round (1:23) to get closer to his goal of getting another world championship belt.

In a world lightweight title eliminator, Corrales (26-4, 10 KOs) overcame an early knockdown and two point deductions to outbox previously undefeated Mexican Miguel Madueño (27-1, 25 KOs) and win by unanimous decisión (117-108, 115-109, 116-108). Corrales won the right to be the mandatory challenger for Gervonta Davis.

Photos

This past Saturday, undefeated featherweight prospect, Ricky “El Castigo” Medina (13-0, 7 KOs), took one step closer to contender status as he stopped Armando Frausto (9-3-1, 5 KOs) in the eighth and final round in the main event at The Scottish Rite Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. The ring doctor was called ten seconds into the eighth round and advised the referee to stop the bout due to damage that had taken place to Frausto.

By Ricardo Ibarra

In a battle of unbeaten fighters, Marietta, Georgia’s Deonte Brown (15-0, 11 KOs) scored a ninth round TKO win over WBA #10 ranked lightweight Jesus Saracho (10-1, 9 KOs) on Saturday night at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, Washington. Continue reading “Brown stops Saracho in Bellevue, WA”

Plenty of good fights this week with big names like Regis Prograis, Vergil Ortiz Jr., and Edgar Berlanga seeing action.

THURSDAY

UFC Fightpass returns with super middleweight Cam Kilic (15-1, 10 KOs) against Antonio Louis Hernandez (6-12-2, 4 KOs) on a Hollywood Fight Fight show at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello, California.

FRIDAY

Probellum presents cards on consecutive nights from the Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Night One includes heavyweight Bakhodir Jalolov (9-0, 9 KOs), super featherweight Jono Carroll (21-2-1, 6 KOs), and female lightweight Estelle Yoka Mossely (9-0, 1 KO) in separate bouts. U.S. streaming is TBA.

Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing returns to the Paramount Theatre in Huntington, New York, with super bantamweights Oleh Dovhun (13-0, 5 KOs) and Geram Eloyan (7-2, 6 KOs) meeting in the main event. FITE+ will stream the card.

SATURDAY

DAZN deliver #1 welterweight prospect Vergil Ortiz Jr (18-0, 18 KOs) against Michael McKinson (21-0, 2 KOs), plus welterweight Blair Cobbs (15-0-1, KOs) in tough against Alexis Rocha (18-1, KOs). The event take place at the USC Galen Center in downtown Los Angeles.

ESPN+ counters with super middleweight KO artist Edgar Berlanga (18-0, 16 KOs) against former GGG foe Steve Rolls (21-1, 12 KOs) plus hot super welterweight prospect Xander Zayas (12-0, 9 KOs) against Quincy LaVallais (12-2-1, 7 KOs) from the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City.

Fightzone.uk returns with a free stream from Newcastle, England, featuring heavyweight David Allen (19-5-2, 16 KOs) against 38-year-old Milen Paunov (5-8, 4 KOs).

Day Two of Probellum’s boxing weekend at the Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Former super lightweight champion Regis Prograis (26-1, 22 KOs) takes on Tyrone McKenna (22-2-1, 6 KOs) is on the card, plus IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards (17-0, 4 KOs) against Muhammad Waseem (12-1, 8 KOs) and former champ TJ Doheny (22-3, 16 KOs) against Cesar “Corazon” Juarez (27-10, 20 KOs). U.S. TV is TBA.

M&R Boxing Promotions/Laura Ching will present an event at the Manual Artime Community Center Theater in Miami, Florida on Friday March 25th. The headliner will be lightweight Cuban prospect Idalberto Umara (4-1, 2 KOs) taking on Genaro Mendez (13-4-1, 7 KOs) of Mexico. The bout is scheduled for 10 rounds with the WBA FEDECARIBE at stake. Former WBA world minimumweight champion Bryan Rojas (27-4-3, 11 KOs) will be making his U.S. debut versus an opponent to be announced in an eight round co-feature.

“This card will feature a lot of stand-out Cuban fighters with extensive amateur backgrounds, a former world champion, and many more talented fighters,” said William Ramirez (WRAM Boxing).

Fights to be shown on M&R Boxing Promotions Facebook page Continue reading “Cuban prospect Umara headlines March 25 Miami”

Welterweight Przemyslaw Runowski (20-2, 5 KOs) scored a bloody ten round unanimous decision over local favorite Samuel Vargas (31-8-2, 14 KOs) on Sunday night at the Rebel Entertainment Complex, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was a tough, gritty fight with Vargas mostly pressing the action. A cut outside Runowski’s right eye bled steadily for most of the fight. Runowski dropped Vargas with a left hook in round six, but Vargas came back and hurt Runowski with a body shot later in the round. Blood gushed from a cut over Vargas right eye in round nine. Scores were 97-92, 98-91, 98-91 for Runowski, which seemed too wide. Vargas insisted afterward that he won the fight and said he’s done with boxing and not coming back. Continue reading “Runowski defeats Vargas in Toronto”

WRAM Boxing (William Ramirez) and Nica Boxing (Pablo Osuna) continued their run of monthly events Saturday night at the Nuevo Gimnasio Nicarao, in Managua, Nicaragua. The featherweight main event saw local favorite Elysson Marquez (12-2-1, 8 KOs) earn a hard fought technical decision over tough veteran Eusebio Osejo (32-27-3, 8 KOs). The bout was stopped in round seven due to a cut suffered by Marquez from a clash of heads. The fight was very competitive where officially it was announced that after four rounds two judges had it even and one had Marquez up by a round. The official scores were 68-65 and 69-64 for Marquez and 69-69 even. Continue reading “Marquez wins tech dec 7 over Osejo in Managua”

By Robert Coster

Dominican boxing fans were served with an action-packed card in Santo Domingo on Saturday night. The main event was an all-out war between prospects Misael Vasquez and Derlyn Hernandez for the Dominican junior lightweight title. Hernandez (9-1-1, 8 KOs) and Vasquez (9-3, 8 KOs), both hard punchers, went at each other mercilessly bringing the crowd to its feet. Vasquez’ left eye was completely shut after seven rounds which forced the referee to declare a TKO victory for Hernandez. Continue reading “Hernandez wins in Santo Domingo”

Responding to reports that negotiations for a bout between WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo and WBC #1 rated Jaime Munguia have broken down, Munguia’s promoter Oscar de la Hoya issued a statement on social media:

Finalizing Charlo vs Munguia is top priority. Golden Boy remains committed to our partner DAZN. DAZN understands the magnitude of this fight and is willing and able to collaborate with Showtime to get this done. I hope Showtime is on board. Oscar de la Hoya

PBC reportedly insists on putting the fight on Showtime PPV.

The WBC has a purse bid scheduled for next week for a Munguia vs. Carlos Adame eliminator with the winner becoming Charlo’s mandatory. So it looks like probably Munguia-Adame first and then, provided Munguia wins, revisiting the Munguia-Charlo fight with more leverage as the mandatory. In the meantime, Charlo would face another opponent.