Fightnews.com

By Joe Koizumi

Yoshikawa follows manager Yoshikawa’s footstep

In a WBO Asia Pacific 105-pound title bout for the vacant championship, Japan’s Riyuna Yoshikawa (5-1-1, 1 KO), 104.75, acquired the belt as she made best use of footwork and outhustled WBC#3 veteran Filipino Norj Guro (12-8-1, 4 KOs), 105, winning a unanimous decision (all 78-74) over eight hot rounds in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, last Sunday (November 27). Riyuna is handled by manager ex-two-time world champ Nana Yoshikawa (no relation to her) and her husband/promoter Shinji Nogami. She is Diamante Promotions’ first champion that the couple has ever produced with their fruitful collaboration.

Koshikawa fails to appear at the weigh-in

On the same day (November 27), there happened an unexpected fiasco in Osaka, Japan. The main event was a Japanese super welter eliminator to decide the next mandatory challenger to the national belt between JBC#1 Rei Nakajima and #2 former three-time title challenger Koki Koshikawa, but Koki didn’t appear at the official weigh-in to have it abruptly cancelled. Instead, the slated semi-final became the main attraction, where former world champ Ryo Miyazaki, 115, was held to a surprising draw with Toma Kondo, 115, over eight. The JBC will severely punish Koshikawa for his negligence of the weigh-in regardless of any reason.

2016 Olympian Josh “Pretty Boy” Kelly (13-1-1, 7 KOs) scored a one-sided twelve round unanimous decision to dethrone previously unbeaten British super welterweight champion Troy Williamson (19-1-1, 14 KOs) on Friday night at the Newcastle Arena in Newcastle, England. Kelly in command all the way en route to a 118-110, 119-109, 119-111 verdict.

Former WBO #1 light heavyweight “King” Lyndon Arthur (21-1, 14 KOs) got a referee’s stoppage in round two against “El Toro” Joel McIntyre (20-5, 5 KOs). Arthur couldn’t miss with the right hand.

In a walk-out rematch, heavyweight Franklin Ignatius (5-0-1, 1 KO) outpointed 320-pound Hosea Stewart (2-1-1, 0 KOs) over six round rounds. The referee’s score was 58-56. They battled to a draw back in July.

Juan Francisco Estrada 115 vs. Roman Gonzalez 114.7
(WBC super flyweight title)

Julio Cesar Martinez 111 vs. Samuel Carmona 111.4
(WBC flyweight title)

Venue: Desert Diamond Arena, Glendale, Arizona
Promoter: Matchroom
TV: DAZN

Tyson Fury 268.75 vs. Derek Chisora 260.75
(WBC heavyweight title)

Daniel Dubois 240.25 vs. Kevin Lerena 231
(WBA “regular” heavyweight title)

Yvan Mendy 134.6 vs. Denys Berinchyk 134.75
(European Lightweight title)

Karol Itauma 177.1 vs. Vladimir Belujsky 176.6
Royston Barney Smith 133.8 vs. Cruz Perez 132.25

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Promoter: Top Rank, Queensberry
TV: ESPN+ (USA), PPV (UK)

Former world-ranked contender Bryan De Gracia (28-2-1, 24 KOs) of David, Panama, takes on local favorite Manuel Felipe Gonzalez (11-3, 11 KOs) of San Pelayo, Colombia, on December 17 in an eight round featherweight bout in the highly popular beach tourist city of Santa Marta, Colombia. De Gracia last fought in Medellin, Colombia, this past August, impressively stopping Venezuelan veteran Jose Alfaro by third round TKO. The hard-punching southpaw Gonzalez has a 100% knockout percentage and fought ten hard rounds in his last bout, dropping a decisión to an unbeaten prospect.

The most active promoter in all of Texas, Team Morones Boxing, is having a show this Saturday at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. Former NFL star Frank Gore (1-0) is headlining the event against Joshua Romero (0-2) in a four round heavyweight clash. The 39-year-old former 49er running back won his pro boxing debut in May after getting his feet wet in an exhibition fight on a Jake Paul undercard last year. Continue reading “Frank Gore returns Saturday”

Heavyweight Kaleel Carter (4-2, 3 KOs) knocked out previously unbeaten Ricky Frausto (7-1, 1 KO) in round three on Thursday night in the Fight Club OC main event inside the Hangar at the OC Fair & Events Center in Costa Mesa, California. Frausto started off with movement and snapping punches, as Carter seemed content to wait and land counter shots. It seemed like it would be a boxing match all the way until Carter exploded with a series of combinations knocking Frausto down and out.

Other Results:
Tayden Beltran TKO1 Trenton Gibson (super featherweight)
Antonio Garcia TKO3 Josias Gonzalez (super welterweight)

Englebrecht Promotions & Events sold out every single Fight Club OC show (1500 in attendance) in 2022.

Chann Thonson 135.1 vs. Aelio Mesquita 138.9
Derrieck “Pretty Boy” Cuevas 152.3 vs. Esneiker Correa 146.9
Trevor Thonson 136.5 vs. Sebastian Chaves 136
Justin Goodson 125 vs. Weusi Johnson 126
Roddricus Livsey 154.3 vs. Jorge Munguia 154.3
Darrin Austin 176.3 vs. Tavorus Teague 170.5
Antonio Todd 165.3 vs. Larry Smith 160.2

Venue: Georgia International Convention Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Promoter: Boswell Promotions/Tuto Zabala/All Star Boxing
TV: ESPN Knockout (Latin America)

Weights from Nova Scotia

Former world title challenger Allan Greene pulled out of Friday’s clash with cruiserweight contender Ryan Rozicki, citing a hand injury suffered in sparring. Mario Aguilar (22-8, 18 KOs) steps in on short notice.

Ryan Rozicki 204.6 vs. Mario Aguilar 212.4
Antonio Napolitano 164.6 vs. Tonathiu Mendez 168
John Blanco 167.6 vs. Victor Flores 164
Derek Kuchmey 174.2 vs. Osvaldo Martinez 169.4
Brett Beaton 159 vs. Jon Johnson 158.8
Reda Benbaziz 135 vs. Luis Ramirez 135.8

Venue: Centre 200, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada
Promoter: Daniel Otter (Three Lions Promotions)

Brandon Glanton 200 vs David Light 198.8
(WBO Global jr heavyweight title)

Marques Valle 153.6 vs. Luis Sanchez 153.4
Jusiyah Shirley 140 vs. Mohamed Soumaoro 140
Kelvin Davis 143 vs. Jalen Hill 140.8
Jaycob Gomez 131 vs. Juan Lopez 131
Jan Paul Rivera 126 vs. Miguel Carrizo 125.6

Venue: ProBox Event Center, Plant City, Florida
Promoter: ProBox
TV: ProBox TV

Troy Williamson 154 vs. Josh Kelly 153.75
(British super welterweight title)

Lyndon Arthur 179.3 vs. Joel Mcintyre 178.75
Hosea Stewart 320 vs. Franklin Ignatius 242
Ewan MacKenzie 154 vs. Angel Emilov 156
Joe Laws 159 vs. Alexander Zeledon 155
Travis Waters ?? vs. Eligio Palacios ??
Jordan Barker-Porter 134 vs. Sheila Martinez 134
Katharina Thanderz 136 vs. Edina Kiss 136
Ben Marksby 142 vs. Santiago Garces 139
Robert Dalton 153 vs. Joel Banderas 151
Adam Reichard 134 vs. Claudio Baldomir 136

*Matty Harris has withdrawn from the card due to illness*

Venue: Utilita Arena, Newcastle, England
Promoter: Wasserman Boxing
TV: Channel 5 (UK)

Super flyweight superstars Juan Francisco “Gallo” Estrada and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez faced off at the final press conference for their trilogy showdown at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona on December 3, live worldwide on DAZN. The WBC 115lb title will be on the line.

Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez: “If you thought the second fight was good, the third fight will be even better because we are prepared better than ever before. I’m in the best shape of my life.”

Juan Francisco Estrada: “He and I are fighters who do our talking in the ring. Outside we’re respectful, but inside we disrespect each other…this is going to be the best fight out of all three of them, the best one will win.”

By Jeff Zimmerman

WBA #13 ranked lightweight Chann Thonson (13-0, 9 KOs) out of Quebec, Canada continues his journey up the ranks when he faces tough veteran Aelio Mesquita (21-8-1, 19 KOs) hailing out of Sao Paulo, Brazil Friday night at the Georgia International Convention Center. Thonson shared his journey to boxing along with his twin brother Trevor also on the card, the ups and downs to start his career and his big win against fellow, rising prospect Tyler Tomlin earlier this year on Showtime. He also had high praise for Tank Davis and much more in this exclusive interview for Fightnews.com®.

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Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist Bakhodir Jalolov (12-0, 12 KOs) insists he belongs in the top ten heavyweights but will use 2023 to make that official. Last Saturday, he stopped Curtis Harper in the fourth round.

“I believe that I can be in the top ten right now and fight anyone in the top ten,” the 6’7 Jalolov said. “It’s just that every everyone has their own time, and my time is just not there yet. And we’re not in a rush. I’m following the plan of my team and when the time comes, I’ll be ready. I’m 28 years old. I’m not even in my prime yet, and when I get there, I will make everything the way it should be. Continue reading “Jalolov: I can be in the top ten right now”

Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez is ready to go to battle once again with Juan Francisco Estrada on Saturday night at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, live on DAZN – and the living legend expects their trilogy clash to be the best yet.

“We know it’s going to be a great fight, a war for the fans,” said Chocolatito. “But we have faith in God that we’re going to come out victorious. We’ve worked well in our training camp, and you’ll see this on Saturday.

“My physical condition has been very good, and I know it will be a beautiful fight for the fans. We’ve shown that the lighter weights have qualities that fans like to see. I get the feeling this third fight will be legendary too and many people will remember this great fight like the first and the second. The last two fights captured the hearts of the fans so, the third will be a tremendous fight, it could be the best one. Continue reading “Chocolatito: Third fight will be legendary too”

WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury faced off with Derek Chisora at the final press conference for their clash Saturday night at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in front of an expected sold-out crowd of roughly 70,000. ESPN+ will stream the fight is the U.S.

Tyson Fury: “I’m doing what I love to do. I’m getting paid to do what I love. I take my career very seriously. I’m looking forward to it. I cannot wait to get out there, put on a show and entertain. Come Saturday night, there’s no friendship. There are no friends in business, and this is a business transaction. So, we’re going to go in there, punch the f**k out of each other, and then afterward we can have a nice little sandwich, a nice cup of tea, whatever he wants. Not a problem. But while we’re in there, we’re in fight mode. We’re going to put on a great show.”

Derek Chisora: “I can’t sit here and try to be more aggressive to Tyson and try to say so many bad words because the man I’m looking at right now is giving me an opportunity when nobody wanted to give me an opportunity. He called me up and he said to me, ‘I want to fight you. I want to give you a big payday.’ And I said, ‘Yes. Let’s make it happen.’ For me to sit here and try to talk shit and say so many bad things about a man who is actually giving me food on the table for my kids, I cannot.”

Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum says a unification fight between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk is up next provided that Fury gets past Derek Chisora on Saturday night in London.

“I don’t see any reason why the Uysk fight with Tyson Fury can’t be made speedily without much trouble,” said Arum today. “I know the Usyk people very well. His manager, Egis Klimas, is a really good friend of mine. He manages Lomachenko and Janibek. I’ve dealt with him a whole lot over the years. I know Oleksandr Usyk. I know he wants the fight. I talked with Tyson a little while ago, and he wants the fight. That fight will happen next unless Mr. Chisora lands his punch. Don’t discount Chisora. He is a hell of a fighter. He has a tremendous punch. I remember when he fought Usyk. He gave Uysk life or death. That fight could have gone either way. You can’t, in this business, count your chickens before they hatch.”

While WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is taking heat for fighting Derek Chisora again after previously beating him twice, but the Gypsy King says there are a lack of other name fighters for him to face.

“I hear all these critics talking bullshit. They basically never took a punch in their life,” said Fury. “‘Why are you fighting Derek Chisora because you’ve beaten him twice already?’ The thing is there’s a lack of names in the division. There’s plenty of depth in the division, there are a thousand heavyweights in the world, but there’s a lack of household names. I could have fought somebody 34-0 from some foreign country, and everyone would be like ‘who the f**k is this guy?’ But mention Derek Chisora, they know who Derek is. For good, bad, or indifferent reasons, controversial, whatever, they all know who he is and know we’re gonna put on a good show. And there we are, we sold out 50,000 tickets.” Continue reading “Fury defends Chisora trilogy”

The WBC has commented on admissions by retired referee Carlos Padilla in a recent interview that he intentionally made several calls to help his countryman Manny Pacquiao win a 2000 fight against Australian Nedal Hussein. Padilla stated that 1) he intentionally prolonged a ten-round after Pacquiao was knocked down and 2) ruled that a cut to Hussein was caused by a punch when it was actually caused by a headbutt.

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WBC Statement: The World Boxing Council has established a special panel to review the situation about Legendary Referee Carlos Padilla with regards to some comments during an interview published by The WBC a few days ago.

We have received a sensitive letter from Mr. Padilla´s daughter Suzy which is found in this release as she has addressed it to the boxing Community of the world. The letter is self-explanatory and I, as President of The WBC, as well as a human being who has known Mr. Padilla since I was 10 years old, I can certainly empathize with Suzy and the contents of her letter to the boxing Community.

I will personally follow the process in the meantime, The WBC will not make any further public comments.

Sincere regards
Mauricio Sulaiman

Continue reading “WBC Statement on referee Carlos Padilla “

Fightnews.com® caught up with pound-for-pound king Terence “Bud” Crawford as he prepares for his upcoming fight against world title contender David Avanesyan on Sat, Dec.10 back in his hometown of Omaha, NE and shown live on BLK Prime. Crawford shared his thoughts on his upcoming fight, Regis Prograis check bouncing and MMA legend Cris Cyborg as the co-main. He talked about his relationship with Shakur Stevenson and Keyshawn Davis as well as addressed the recent IG rant from Jermell Charlo and much more in this exclusive interview.

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Juan Francisco Estrada is ready to step through the ropes to face his old foe Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez for the third time on Saturday night at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, live on DAZN – and the Mexican ace thinks their fights are so good, that we could even be treated to a fourth installment.

“We’ve had a great training camp and I’m desperate to get in the ring for the trilogy with Román,” said Estrada. “I’m happy and I feel it will be a great fight like the last two. He beat me in 2012 and I beat him in the second fight, so you could say this is the decider. There might be a fourth like Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Márquez, who knows? We’ll have our trilogy, and we don’t know whether it will end here or not. We’re going to find out who is the best, who will be leading in fights won and if in the future, God willing, there is a fourth, bring it on. Continue reading “Estrada: We’re going to find out who is the best”

WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury opened up in a very revealing and at times emotional interview ahead of his fight with Derek Chisora on Saturday.

“I’ve been in love with boxing for such a long time from being a little boy and I am 34 now, probably at the end of my career in the next few years,” said Fury. “It has been a love-hate relationship and it has been toxic at times, but when it is good, it is very good.

“So we are in that relationship and I don’t just abandon things. I try and make things work and that is where we are at the minute. I’ve wanted to leave a lot of times but it always drags me back. It is like a massive drug and an addiction. Continue reading “Fury: Boxing is more addictive than any drug”

The women’s light flyweight unification fight between WBC champion Kim Clavel (16-0, 3 KOs) and WBA champion Jessica Nery Plata (28-2, 3 KOs), scheduled for Thursday in Laval, Canada, will be postponed after Clavel contracted the flu, her promoter confirmed Tuesday night. The fight was to be the first title defense for both champions. Clavel defeated Yesenia Gómez via unanimous decision in July and Plata defeated Yesica Bopp in March.

Clavel’s promoter, Yvon Michel, commented on his social networks: “Following the recommendation of Dr. Francis Fontaine, regarding the state of health of Kim Clavel, we are forced to postpone the unification fight scheduled for Thursday, December 1 in Place Bell. We will announce more details soon.”

Golden Boy Promotions will wrap up 2022 on December 17 with a clash between unbeaten welterweight Raúl “Cugar” Curiel (11-0, 9 KOs) against Brad Solomon (29-5, 9 KOs) at The Commerce Casino and Hotel just south of downtown Los Anngeles. Curiel’s NABF Welterweight title will be on the line and the event will be broadcast worldwide on DAZN.

Providing chief support to the card, Diego De La Hoya (23-1, 11 KOs) will face Jose “El Torito” Gonzalez (23-10-1, 13 KOs) in a ten round featherweight fight. Continue reading “Golden Boy announces Dec 17 DAZN card”

The Top Rank on ESPN 2023 slate kicks off with a heavyweight doubleheader on January 14 at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. The 10-round main event is a battle of big-punching Olympians as WBC bridgerweight champion Oscar “Kaboom” Rivas (28-1, 19 KOs) faces Efe “The Silent Roller” Ajagba (16-1, 13 KOs) in a non-title bout.

“I’m proud of my WBC Bridgerweight title and will be defending it soon, but this opportunity Top Rank gave us at heavyweight was too good to pass up,” said Rivas. “I also have a lot of respect for Ajagba, and while I agree with him that it will be spectacular for the fans, my skills and my experience will be the difference.”

In the 10-round co-feature, 2016 Italian Olympian Guido “The Gladiator” Vianello (10-0-1, 9 KOs) takes a seismic step up in class against fellow unbeaten Stephan “Big Shot” Shaw (18-0, 13 KOs). Continue reading “Rivas-Ajagba in non-title tilt on Jan 14”