Fightnews.com

By Robert Coster

A 16-bout fight card was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Friday night. The main event saw hot Dominican prospect Franklyn De Paula (7-0, 6 KOs) win the WBA Fedecaribe flyweight title by ten round unanimous decision over tough Gilbert Gonzalez (18-4-1, 13 KOs) of Venezuela. The one-sided scoring (100-90, 99-91, 99-91) did not reflect how hard the contest actually was for De Paula. Continue reading “De Paula wins WBA Fedecaribe title”

By Jeff Zimmerman

Fightnews.com® caught up with one of boxing’s best trainers, Ronnie Shields, in Dallas yesterday as he has hot prospect David Stevens on the Golden Boy card tonight headlined by Zepeda-Arboleda at the UTA Event Center in Arlington and live on DAZN. Shields talked about the talent of Stevens, the return to the ring for Jermall Charlo this summer and his other champ David Morrell Jr in his pursuit of David Benavidez and Canelo in this exclusive interview.

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By Jeff Zimmerman

Fightnews.com® caught up with Coach Bullet yesterday in Dallas for the Golden Boy card tonight headlined by Zepeda-Arboleda on DAZN. Coach Bullet is now training one of Golden Boy’s young, rising stars Tristan “Sweet T” Kalkreuth who is on the card. Coach Bullet talked about the talent of Kalkreuth and claimed Ryan Garcia lacked heart in his fight with Tank Davis and hopes for a rematch with Tank and his fighter Rolly Romero at 140 in this exclusive interview.

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Hometown favorite and former multi-time world title challenger Miguel “Mickey” Roman (65-14, 49 KOs) of Cuidad Juarez Mexican took on Jorge “Kan” Mata Cuellar (15-1-2, 10 KOs) of Guadalajara, Mexico on Friday night at the Gymnasio Josue Nery Santos in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico with the WBC international super featherweight title at stake. The visiting Mata came out strong in round one, firing and landing rapid combinations to the head and body. In round two, Roman was cut above his left eye. Instant replay showed that the cut was caused by a headbutt and the bout was announced as a no contest draw by the ring announcer. In a surprising turn of events following the final ruling, an unidentified man pushed Mata very hard in the back of the head. The man was immediately removed from the ring. Mata appeared to be unfazed as he went and gave Roman the traditional sportmanship greeting after the fight.

Connor Coyle 159.4 vs. Fernando Ezequiel Farias 160
(WBA NABA middleweight title)

William Silva 134.6 vs. Diego Gonzalo Luque 134.8
Joseph Fernandez 139 vs. Marqus Bates 139
Rodrigo Coria 153.2 vs. Marcelo Fabian Bzowski 159
Imran Haddabah 175 vs. Scott Lampert 175
(NBA Americas regional light heavyweight title)
Mike Misa 174.6 vs. Russ Kimber 171
Luke Iannuccilli 154.8 vs. Christopher Wright 152
Gabriel Morales 138.6 vs. Nathan Harp, Jr. (night weigh-in)

Venue: Hilton Carillon in St. Petersburg, FL.
Promoter: Reyes Boxing & Fire Fist Promotions

By Jeff Zimmerman at the scale

(William Zepeda 134.2 vs. Jaime Arboleda 134.6
WBA Continental Americas lightweight title)

Diego De La Hoya 126 vs. Victor Morales Jr. 125.4
Fredrick Lawson 149 vs. Esteban Villalobos 152
David Stevens 168 vs. Marco a. Periban 167.2
Tristan Kalkreuth 201.6 vs. Jonathan Rice 224.6
Caleb Suñiga 129.4 vs. Carlos Arroyo 130.2
Darius Fulghum 174.2 vs. Jay Williams 175.6
Robert Cruz 157.8 vs. Tyrone Selders 157.2

Venue: College Park Center in Arlington, Texas
Promoter: Golden Boy
TV: DAZN

Top-10 ranked light heavyweight Ali Izmailov (10-0, 7 KOs) faces his toughest test to date when he takes on fellow unbeaten Charles Foster (22-0, 12 KOs) in the 10-round main event as ShoBox: The New Generation returns to Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y., during Hall of Fame Weekend on Friday, June 9 on Showtime. This marks the second straight year ShoBox will be a part of the Hall of Fame Induction Weekend festivities.

The tripleheader features two undefeated matchups and includes fighters with a combined record of 99-2-2 and 56 knockouts. In the co-feature, Richard Vansiclen (13-0-1, 6 KOs) takes on fellow unbeaten Juan Carrillo (10-0, 8 KOs) in a 10-round light heavyweight matchup. In the telecast opener, former ShoBox main-event winner and rising super lightweight prospect Mykquan Williams (19-0-1, 8 KOs) will face Ryan Martin (25-2, 15 KOs) in a 10-rounder. Continue reading “ShoBox announces June 9 tripleheader”

By Jeff Zimmerman

Fightnews.com® caught up with WBA regular super middleweight champion and rising star David Morrell (9-0, 8 KOs) coming off his first-round knockout of Yamaguchi Falcao as the co-main event on the Super Fight of Tank vs. Ryan last weekend in Las Vegas. Morrell talked about his journey to the United States from Cuban, where he gets his knockout power, and his desire to fight the Mexican Monster David Benavidez in this exclusive interview.

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Unbeaten two-time Olympian Tsendbaatar Erdenebat (6-0, 3 KOs) took an eight round unanimous decision over Edy Valencia Mercado (20-10-6, 7 KOs) in a bout for the NABF super featherweight title on Thursday night at Sony Hall in Times Square, New York City. Erdenebat, who claims he injured Ryan Garcia with a body shot during Kingry’s training camp before Tank Davis landed a similar blow to stop Garcia in their super fight, didn’t particularly excite as he cruised to an 80-72, 78-74, 78-74 win.

In the main event, junior middleweight Brian Ceballo (14-1, 7 KOs) punished Luis Alberto Veron (20-7-2, 9 KOs) for eight rounds en route to a unanimous decision. Scores were 80-72, 79-73, 79-73. Ceballo back in the win column coming off his first loss.

Former WBO female super flyweight champion Miyo “Miyo Musashi” Yoshida (16-3, 0 KOs) took an eight round majority nod over Indeya Smith (6-7-2, 1 KO) by scores of 76-76, 77-75, 78-74.

Other Results:
Sydney Maccow W6 Christian Otero (lightweight)
Larry Fryers TKO6 Joshua David Rivera (jr welterweight)
David Lopez W4 Nelson Morales (super welterweight)

Undefeated knockout artist William “El Camarón” Zepeda (27-0, 23 KOs) and Jaime “Jaimito” Arboleda (19-2, 14 KOs) hosted a press conference today to promote their upcoming 12-round main event this Saturday in Dallas which will be broadcast worldwide on DAZN.

Oscar de la Hoya: “When you have the likes of Shakur Stevenson and other top dogs in the lightweight division calling you out, you must be doing something right. Zepeda is undefeated, has faced top contenders like Joseph “JoJo” Diaz and has broken CompuBox records. Zepeda is ready to step up for the difficult fight ahead of him. His opponent, Arboleda, has a lot of power and is hungry to dethrone the undefeated fighter.”

William Zepeda: This is my second time as the main event in my career, the first time in the red corner…I trained hard for this fight, and I am coming with everything come Saturday night. I want to thank my Mexican fan base and I promise to give the fans a very exciting fight.”

Jaime Arboledar: “I haven’t watched Zepeda fight before, but we know what he is capable of inside the ring. Regardless we did a very good preparation, we hope to bring a great fight and show what the Arboleda name is capable of. We will be victorious.”

Matchroom outbid Top Rank at today’s WBO purse bid in Puerto Rico for the junior welterweight elimination bout between Arnold Barboza Jr. and Liam Paro. Matchroom bid $303K to win out against Top Rank’s $271K. Proposed fight dates are June 17 in Las Vegas and July 15 in Detroit.

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Okinawa-born Japanese Shuma Nakazato (13-2-3, 8 KOs), 135, stunned the crowd with his one-punch demotion of Japanese lightweight champ, previously unbeaten prohibitive favorite Shu Utsuki (12-1, 10 KOs), 134.75, at 1:40 of the third round of the main event, surprisingly wresting the national belt on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan.  No one might have expected Shuma’s coronation, but anything could happen in the ring.  From the outset the challenger had the upper hand and damaged the champ with his opening attack in the first and second rounds.  His right counter was the haymaker that had Shuma follow his father and manager/trainer Shigeru (24-8-1, 18 KOs), a devastating puncher now at fifty years of age, who unfortunately failed to win the world 122-pound belt on three occasions, losing to Oscar Larios twice here in 2003 (he broke Oscar’s jaw) and 2004, and being halted by Mahyar Monshipour in France in 2005 (his last fight). Continue reading “Nakazato upsets Utsuki, wins Japanese 135lb belt”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

In the third of a quadruple national title attraction, hard-punching Homura Fujita (10-1, 8 KOs), 140, turned the tables and finally dispatched JBC#1 Cristiano Aoqui (16-10-2, 11 KOs), 140, at 3:08 of the second round in a scheduled ten on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan.  Fujita, having graduated from Waseda University, endured Aoqui’s furious opening attacks, and landed a perfectly-timed right counter to the face to drop him badly to the deck.  Aoqui, a half-breed of a Brazilian father and a Japanese mother, had him at bay in the first, but absorbed a very lethal right from the switch-hitting Fujita to sink for the count in round two. Continue reading “Homura sinks Aoqui, wins vacant Japanese 140lb belt”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Previously Mexico-based Japanese puncher, give-and-take warrior Shoki Sakai (27-13-3, 15 KOs and no losses by stoppages that proves his granite chin), 147, impressively seized the vacant national welterweight belt as he withstood an opening attack of Hironori Shigeta (8-3-2, 5 KOs), 147, in round one and furiously battered him back to have him look helpless to cause the ref’s intervention at 2:00 of the second session on Tuesday in Tokyo.  It was their rubber battle since Sakai won the first encounter (the first bout after his return to his native country from Mexico) over Shigeta in 2020 and barely drew with him after surviving a couple of visits to the deck last year.  Sakai’s do-or-die attack obviously hurt the taller southpaw Shigeta to the punch in the fatal session.

Promoter: Ohashi Promotions.

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By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

It was a quadruple national title event in commemoration of the latest passing of “Champion Maker” Kenji Yonekura (who produced 45 champions on aggregate) promoted by his pupil and ex-world champ Hideyuki Ohashi (currently handling “Monster” Naoya Inoue).  In the first title go on the night, unheralded JBC#1 Yuni Takada (11-8-3, 6 KOs), 105, acquired the vacant Japanese minimumweight belt by halting badly nose-bleeding JBC#2 Shuri Hasebe (9-7, 3 KOs), 105, at 2:59 of the sixth session in a scheduled ten on Tuesday at the Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan.

Takada, a late bloomer who had once suffered a bitter come-from-behind TKO loss by Hasebe in their first encounter exactly seven years ago (on the same April 26), demonstrated his new aggressive style, and beat him up to prompt the referee’s stoppage upon his accelerated barrage of punches in the fatal six. Continue reading “Takada stops Hasebe, wins vacant Japanese 105lb belt”

Undefeated knockout artist William “El Camarón” Zepeda (27-0, 23 KOs) and Jaime “Jaimito” Arboleda (19-2, 14 KOs) faced off at a media workout yesterday at Maple Avenue Boxing Gym to promote their clash this Saturday on DAZN from College Park Center at The University of Texas at Arlington campus. Zepeda will be defending his WBA Continental Americas lightweight belt in a twelve-rounder.

William Zepeda: “I am always preparing, and I was ready for this fight. I was lightly training already, at the ready to get the call. When I did, I was overjoyed, as I was excited to fight in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Champions are made by taking advantage of opportunities. When we defeated Joseph Diaz last year, my team and I trained hard to take advantage of the opportunity and it worked out perfectly for us. Getting the opportunity to headline as the red corner this time around is a blessing, and is the result of years of sacrifice, discipline, and hard work. We won’t let the fans down this Saturday, April 29!”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (31-3, 21 KOs) will clash with Faiga “Django” Opelu (15-3-2, 11 KOs) over ten rounds with the Commonwealth title up for grabs at the Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on May 24 with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury expected to be in attendance.

“The Commonwealth heavyweight title has been held by some of the biggest names in the sport and I’m looking forward to adding my name to that list,” Parker told Fox Sports. “He [Opelu] is a great fighter and deserves his shot, but there are levels to this game and I plan to show that. I’m not taking this lightly and I look forward to putting on a great performance for the fight fans. I believe I can win another world heavyweight title. It just takes time. I just need to keep winning. I can’t afford to lose.” Continue reading “Parker back in action May 24”

Robeisy “El Tren” Ramirez (12-1, 7 KOs) is ready to make the inaugural defense of his WBO featherweight world title against a fellow two-time Olympian. Ramirez will take on Japanese contender Satoshi “Diamond Left” Shimizu (11-1, 10 KOs) on Tuesday, July 25, at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. Ramirez-Shimizu will serve as the co-feature to the world title showdown between Philadelphia’s WBC/WBO junior featherweight champion Stephen Fulton and Japan’s pound-for-pound king Naoya “Monster” Inoue.

Fulton-Inoue, Ramirez-Shimizu and additional undercard bouts will stream live and exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+.

Ramirez said, “Next stop, Japan! I am happy to announce my quick return to the ring in what will be the first defense of my WBO world championship. Fighting is what I do best, titles are meant to be defended, and there’s no stopping ‘El Tren!'” Continue reading “Ramirez-Shimizu added to Fulton-Inoue card”

Looks like last weekend’s Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia PPV clash was a big winner. The event reportedly drew 1.2 million PPV buys plus delivered a live gate of $22.8 million – the fifth highest in Nevada history. Davis stopped Garcia in the seventh round.

Kenneth Taylor 133.4 vs. Dan Abrams 134.4
Brittnay Sims 118.1 vs. Alexis Mones 117.3
Jacob Reynolds 155.4 vs. Willie Bender 164
Emanuel Tennison 146.4 vs. Devon Jones 145.6
Jesus Guzman Jr 111.5 vs. Miguel Angel Perez 110.8
Kailia Attry 136.7 vs. Karen Dulin 132.5
Sammy Lee Brown 166.3 vs.Jose Gomez 165.9
Trrrion Claybon 141.1 vs. Xzavier Jackson 141

Venue: El Corral West Nightclub, Fort Worth, Texas
Promoter: King’s Promotions
1st Bell: 8 PM ET / 7 PM CT
Stream: BXNGTV.com (Marc Abrams and Mikenna Tanlsey on the call)

This morning at the main hall of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, the WBC unveiled the commemorative belt that will be presented to the winner of Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez vs. John Ryder PPV on May 6. WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán explained that while the WBC’s green and gold belt is the highest recognition for those who enter the ring aiming to conquer glory, the WBC in its tireless search for innovation has created a series of special and unique belts which Mexico and the WBC award to fighters who face each other on the two most important dates for Mexico and boxing: May 5 (Batalla de Puebla) and September 16 (Mexico’s Independence Day).

Former heavyweight contender Michael “The Bounty” Hunter (20-1-2, 14 KOs) has signed on with the new Team Combat League (TCL). Hunter will join the Team Las Vegas Hustle franchise, which will face the D.C. Destroyers squad on Thursday night at the Mohegan Sun Expo Center in Uncasville, Connecticut. Hunter is set to face off against two formidable opponents in Hasim Rahman Jr. (14-2, 6 KOs) and Norman Neely (14-1, 9 KOs). The event will be livestreamed on the TCL website and TCL’s social media channels.

Team Combat League competitions employ a unique and exclusive point-scoring system. Each match contains 18 three-minute rounds across six weight categories, five male and one female. Each round is scored individually with additional points added for knockouts and knockdowns. There are three judges appointed by a licensed boxing commission. A round is scored 10-9 to the winner for any round judged by decision. A round that features a knockdown is scored 10-8 to the winner and any round in which there is two knockdowns or a stoppage is scored 10-7 for the winner. At the conclusion of the 18 rounds, the team with the most points wins!

Brian Ceballo 152.4 vs. Luis Alberto Veron 153.4
Tsendbaatar Erdenebat 136 vs. Edy Valencia Mercado 136
Miyo Yoshida 111.8 vs. Indeya Smith 114.2
Sydney Maccow 134.2 vs. Christian Otero 134.2
Joshua David Rivera 142.8 vs. Larry Fryers 143.4
David Lopez 148.6 vs. Nelson Morales 148.4

Venue: Sony Hall, Times Square, NYC
Promoter: BoxingInsider Promotions, DiBella Entertainment
TV: DAZN

Sad to report the passing of former cruiserweight champion “King” Arthur Williams, who passed away in his sleep over the weekend at the age of 58. Williams won the IBF cruiserweight title in 1998 when he stopped Imamu Mayfield in the 9th round. He also beat Dwight Muhammad Qawi back in 1992. He lost a pair of split decisions against Orlin Norris and Chris Byrd. He finished his career with a record of 47-17-1 with 30 KOs!

USA Boxing has terminated its membership with the International Boxing Association (IBA) for what they claim is the IBA’S failure to uphold its mission and principles of its constitution and failure to respect the Olympic charter and movement. This means USA Boxing will no longer be a member of the IBA effective immediately. USA Boxing will commit full support to the World Boxing Internation Federation’s efforts to seek provisional recognition of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and as an International Federation (IF) for the sport of Olympic-style boxing, Paralympic Boxing (Adaptive) and Esport Boxing.

Meanwhile, the IBA has announced that due to the establishment of “a rogue international boxing organization,” they have initiated a series of actions that are designed to provide absolute clarity to all boxing stakeholders regarding the autonomy of the IBA as the global governing body of boxing. Among the steps is an official complaint to the Boxing Independent Integrity Unit (BIIU) against individuals and entities involved in creation of said rogue organization.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended the IBA’s recognition in 2019, prompting the IOC to step in and oversee the Olympic boxing program in Tokyo 2020 and the scheduled Olympic boxing program in Paris 2024. There is a distinct possibility that boxing (one of the original Olympic sports) will be dropped from the 2028 Olympics altogether.