Fightnews.com

By Joe Koizumi

NOJIMA UPSETS NONAKA, WINS WBO AP 160LB BELT

The headliner of the month in Japan is newly crowned WBO Asia Pacific middleweight champion Hiroya Nojima (10-1, 5 KOs), 156.25, who upset WBO#15 defending titlist Yuki Nonaka(35-11-3, 10 KOs), 160, by a spectacular TKO victory at 1:01 of the sixth round in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture on July 24. The 44-year-old southpaw veteran Nonaka, making his third defense, absorbed Nojima’s opening attack and yielded an initiative in early rounds. Nojima caught up with the champ and floored with a stunning right in round six, when he furiously followed it up to prompt the referee’s intervention. What’s the new champ Nojima’s daytime job? He is a researcher at Chukyo University in Nagoya, and his dream is to acquire a Nobel Prize, isn’t it?

EX-WBO 130LB CHAMP MASAYUKI ITO RETIRES

Former WBO junior lightweight champ Masayuki Ito announced to hang up gloves for good on Thursday. Ito once acquired the vacant WBO belt by defeating Christopher Diaz on points in Florida in 2018 but lost it to Jamel Herring by a unanimous decision next year. But Ito recently lost to compatriot 135-pounders Hironori Mishiro (split decision) and Shuichiro Yoshino (technical decision) to prove he is no more a top notcher here.

TOMOKI KAMEDA RETURNS AGAINST ENCARNACION

Former WBA bantam champ Tomoki Kameda (38-3, 20 KOs), Japan, will take on former 2012 Olympian William Encarnacion (19-3, 15 KOs), from Dominican Republic, tomorrow (Saturday) in Kobe, Japan. Tomoki lost a unanimous nod to Rey Vargas in a WBC mandatory title bout in 2019, but was victorious twice thereafter, beating Hironori Miyake in Japan and Yonfrez Parejo in Mexico. We wish to see “El Mexicanito” Tomoki’s return to road toward winning back the belt.

Unbeaten super lightweight Jousce “Tito” Gonzalez (13-0-1, 12 KOs) knocked out Jose Angulo (14-3, 7 KOs) with a shot to the liver in round three on Thursday night at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. After two slow rounds, Gonzalez connected and it was over. Time was 2:29.

Unbeaten super bantamweight Manuel “Gucci Manny” Flores (13-0, 10 KOs) laid out Daniel Moncada (15-7-2, 5 KOs) in round three of a scheduled 8-rounder. A flush left hook to the chin ended matters at 1:35..

Unbeaten super featherweight Elnu Abduraimov (10-0, 9 KOs) needed just 74 seconds to demolish Leonel Moreno (11-2-1, 9 KOs). A body shot was all it took as Abduraimov claimed the IBF North American title.

Unbeaten female flyweight Gabriela Fundora (8-0, 4 KOs) took a one-sided eight round unanimous decision over Lucia Nunez (7-13, 0 KOs). Scores were 80-72 3x. Fundora is the sister of 6’5 super welterweight contender Sebastian Fundora.

Due to his opponent dealing with visa travel issues, the main event of Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez has been canceled. Harley “Heavy Hands” Burke has been elevated to the main event with Carlos “All In” Vanegas Nunez now set for the co-feature.

Harley Burke 166.5 vs. Brandon Maddox 166
Carlos Vanegas Nunez 118 vs. Ahmond Rayshaun Oates 118
Mike “The Champ” Lee 147 vs. Ryan Schwartzberg 147
Robert “Tiger” Terry 157 vs. Isaiah Seldon 157
Jade “Poison” Ivery 161 vs. Dario Guerrero-Meneses 165
Jenna Gaglioti 154 vs. Miranda Barber 156
Saleh “Habibi” Ali 134 vs. Carlos Nunez 135
Raymond “The Scientist” Cuadrado 129 vs. Andrew Bentley 129
Michelle Cook 131 vs. Elizabeth Tuani 130
Elijah “The Bully” Williams 141 vs. Joey Aquino 142

Venue: American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey
Promoter: Abella Promotions

By Christian Schmidt

Sad to report that Houston heavyweight boxer Maurenzo “Tuffy” Smith (29-13-4) was tragically gunned down in a Houston restaurant yesterday. The 44-year-old Smith accompanied a 29-year-old female friend to the Crab Station where she was set to discuss a divorce with her 61-year-old husband of seven years.

According to witnesses, the twenty minute conversation didn’t go well and the husband left the restaurant to retrieve his gun and returned to fire several shots at Smith and also proceeded to shoot at his wife but she was able to get away unharmed. No one else inside the restaurant was hurt. Police then lead a chase on the suspect who wound up being cornered. He exited his vehicle and shot himself in the head. The suspect was taken to a local hospital and authorities do not expect him to survive. Continue reading “Maurenzo “Tuffy” Smith killed in Houston”

David “Severo” Carmona 122 vs. Alexandro “Peque” Santiago 119

(Mexican super bantamweight title)

* First time a fight for the Mexican national title takes place outside Mexico.

Amilcar Vidal 158 vs. Gabriel Díaz 159.5

Victor Ezequiel Rodríguez 153 vs. Elias Haedo 152

Roiman Villa 147 vs. Andrés García 147

Joel Cano 147.2 vs. Juan Martín Salvia 147

Venue: American Box Stadium in Montevideo, Uruguay

Promoter: Producciones Deportivas

TV: Estrella TV

Welterweight Blair “The Flair” Cobbs (15-1-1, 10 KOs) will look to make a successful return after suffering his first career loss, but it won’t be easy. He faces former world champion Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (27-2-3, 18 KOs) in a ten-rounder on the August 6th undercard of Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Michael McKinson at The Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, and streamed worldwide on DAZN.

“I am going into this bout with my mind on coming out victorious by all means necessary,” said Cobbs. “I understand that I need to make a statement in this fight to get back on track toward fighting for a world title. At this point in my career, all fights are going to be tough, and I must step up my game. This is going to be a great show, and it’s time for me to show up and show out.” Continue reading “Woooo! Blair Cobbs returns against Mo Hooker”

Former two-division world champion Danny “Swift” Garcia and Jose Benavidez Jr. went face-to-face at a final press conference on Thursday and gave verbal clues of the explosive action they plan to dish out in a super welterweight clash set for this Saturday headlining live on Showtime from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Danny Garcia: “Nothing ever comes easy against Danny Garcia. Don’t try too hard, because you might knock yourself out.”

Jose Benavidez Jr: “This is going to be the end of the ‘Danny Garcia Show.’”

Also squaring off on Thursday at the press conference were heavyweights Adam Kownacki and Ali Eren Demirezen, who battle in the heavyweight co-main event, plus unbeaten super lightweight Gary Antuanne Russell and former two-division champion Rances Barthelemy who duel in the telecast opener. Continue reading “Garcia-Benavidez Final Press Conference”

Says Oscar is trying to do everything he can to NOT make a fight between Ryan Garcia and Tank Davis

Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, has ripped into the claim of rival promoter Oscar De La Hoya that WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis hasn’t been surpassing 100,000 buys in his PPV fights.

“Oscar is a lying piece of shit,” Ellerbe proclaimed on Twitter. “To prove it we will put up $5mil to his $1mil or whatever he can scrape up. We will present the info to an arbitrator who then can determine the winner and the winner donates the money to a charity of their choice. The public can see who’s lying!

“Tank has done substantially more than 100k buys in EVERY one of his PPV fights. Oscar is trying to do everything he can to NOT make a fight and it’s time to expose the facts. This is a terrible look for Ryan and his promoter. Continue reading “Mayweather CEO Ellerbe blasts Golden Boy”

Here’s good news. Fite.tv has picked up Saturday’s attractive clash between world-rated cruiserweight contenders Chris Billam-Smith (15-1, 11 KOs) and Isaac Chamberlain (14-1, 8 KOs) from the Bournemouth International Centre in Bournemouth, England. Both the European and Commonwealth titles will be on the line. The BOXXER-promoted card airs in the UK on Sky Sports, and is now available to US viewers who have a $4.99/month FITE+ subscription.

Billam-Smith is rated WBO #2, IBF #3, WBA #5, and WBC #8. Chamberlain is rated IBF #8.

In other action, super welterweight Joe Pigford (19-0, 18 KOs) meets Raphael King (15-1-1, 13 KOs) in what looks to be an explosive contest for the WBO Euro belt, plus 2020 Olympic medalists Frazer “Big Fraze” Clarke and Ben “B£NZO” Whittaker appear in separate bouts.

Reigning two-division world champion Seniesa “Super Bad” Estrada has signed a multi-year promotional contract with Top Rank. The company made the announcement over social media, adding that Estrada will make her Top Rank debut on ESPN later this year. Estrada (22-0, 9 KOs) was formerly with Golden Boy. She currently holds the WBA female minimumweight title and the WBO female light flyweight title.

Two-division world champion Danny “Swift” Garcia and exciting contender Jose Benavidez Jr. kicked off fight week events at the world famous Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn on Wednesday showing off their skills and claiming they would be the better fighter at super welterweight during a media workout ahead of their showdown this Saturday, July 30 headlining live on Showtime from the nearby Barclays Center.

Danny Garcia: “I feel strong and I want to go in there and make a real statement. He’s going to see what I bring into the ring on Saturday. I’ve had the right sparring for this fight and I prepared perfectly. It was really a perfect camp.”

Jose Benavidez Jr: “I’m glad that Danny is confident. He’s going to find out on Saturday that 154 pounds isn’t for him. I fought Terence Crawford on one leg and gave him a fight. I know what I’m capable of and I’m going to fight like that. I’m not worried about what Danny is bringing.” Continue reading “Garcia-Benavidez media workout”

The verbal jabs continued one week ahead of the Jake “The Problem Child” Paul and Hasim Rahman Jr. clash as Rahman Jr. participated in an open media workout Tuesday night at DLX Boxing in Las Vegas. He wasted little time dissing Paul as a “mockery of our sport” saying he respected Paul’s work ethic, but that he is looking to “expose him for the fraud he is.”

The cruiserweight clash scheduled for eight rounds will take place on August 6 on Showtime PPV from Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Here is what Hasim Rahman Jr., Hasim Rahman Sr., and Rahman Jr.’s trainer Yoel Judah had to say…

Hasim Rahman Jr.

“We’ve had an amazing camp and I just want to thank my team. From my track coach to my strength and conditioning, all my coaches have been there for me. Just taking care of every little thing down to my nutritionist preparing my meals. Everyone is in sync and we’re ready to go.

“There’s nothing Jake Paul does that concerns me. I’m just super confident going into this fight. I feel like this guy is not at my level. He made a mistake picking me.

“Being in Vegas is amazing. My family and I came here because of boxing and we’ve been training for what could be the biggest fight of the year. It’s on me now and I have Vegas on my back. I have a lot of support and this is my home. I love it here. There’s not a better place to be and then to go from here to go to the mecca of boxing next week is just a beautiful thing. It’s poetry in motion.

“Fighting in Madison Square Garden happened so fast – I didn’t think it would happen so fast. But it’s here and I’m ready and I know what I signed up for. We’re going to go in there and make it look easy.

“I respect his work ethic but come August 6 I look to expose him for the fraud he is.

“It’s similar to when my father knocked out Lennox Lewis. He had a target on his back. I’m looking to do the same thing and to get that target on my back so I can fight for a world championship.

“I just have one final message: Jake Paul is going to fall!”

Hasim Rahman Sr.

“We’re looking forward to knocking Jake out. I feel like when you get a certain status you start feeling you’re invincible. You start thinking you can do it all. But it’s one thing to say something, and another thing to go out there and do it. So when he has to go out and do it, he’s going to realize it wasn’t as easy as he thought it was going to be. Once he wakes up.

“I just feel like we don’t have to look for a KO. I just feel like we have superior boxing skills. His boxing IQ is much greater than Jake Paul’s and I just personally feel like the knockout is going to come.

“Timing beats speed. We got the bigger, stronger fighter. We’ve got the reach advantage. We control the distance of the fight. We control how this fight goes. If we want to make it a slugfest, we will make it a slugfest. If we want to make it a boxing clinic, we’ll make it a boxing clinic. It all depends on what style we want to fight. The fight you are going to see will be dictated by us.

“We’re not really concerned with Jake Paul’s power. We don’t need to show how good our chin is. We don’t need to show what his right hand can do. What we can do is take his right hand away from him. We aren’t going to get hit with the right hand, but if we do we are going to fire back with our own counter. It’s going to be an interesting fight. Jake Paul can fight. Don’t get it twisted. But I’m not impressed by the knockouts he’s had. I don’t really feel like he’s knocked out a fighter yet.”

Yoel Judah, Rahman Jr.’s trainer

“I see Rahman Jr. is going to win in the sixth round. He’s confident and he’s doing everything by the book. He wants this fight. Jake made a big mistake.

“We’ve been working on everything. Movement, speed, and mainly stamina. We know he has really good punching power, and legs. So, if we get good stamina, we know we are good.

“Jake has a problem. He’s tried to cripple us to get to 200 pounds, then to not go over 214. The best thing about Jake Paul is he’s probably going to be in great shape. But you’re fighting a real boxer now. Good punching power and good combinations and someone who is not afraid of you and who is going to bring the fight to you.

“I’ve been with Hasim about four, five years. He’s right there. He’s where he’s supposed to be for this fight. I see him three years from now fighting for a world championship.”

Jousce Gonzalez 136.6 vs. Jose Angulo 136.2
Manuel Flores 119.8 vs. Daniel Moncada 119.8
Elnur Abduraimov 129.6 vs. Leonel Moreno 135.8
Gabriela Fundora 111.8 vs. Lucia Nunez 109
Eric Tudor 156.8 vs. Edgar Valenzuela 156.6
Jasmine Artiga 114.2 vs. Amy Salinas 114.8
Daniel Barrera 114.2 vs. Jesus Godinez 114

Venue: Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California
Promoter: Golden Boy
TV: DAZN

Claressa “G.W.O.A.T.” Shields held a media workout in Detroit on Wednesday to preview her upcoming undisputed middleweight world championship showdown against longtime rival Savannah Marshall. Shields vs. Marshall will take place on Saturday, September 10 from The O2, London and be available on ESPN+ for audiences in the U.S. Shields will bring the WBA, WBC and IBF middleweight titles into the showdown against Marshall and her WBO strap, in an event promoted by Salita Promotions and BOXXER in association with Hennessy Sports.

Shields will look to avenge the only loss of her amateur career and end a long war of words with Marshall that has reached a boil in recent years and which stems from Marshall’s points victory over Shields in a 2012 amateur bout.

Here is what Shields and her promoter Dmitriy Salita had to say Wednesday from Downtown Boxing Gym. Continue reading “Claressa “G.W.O.A.T.” Shields media workout”

Currently ranked in the top five by three of boxing’s major sanctioning bodies, former WBO champion Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith (31-3-1, 18 KOs) headlines on September 3 at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England, against Hassan Mwakinyo (20-2, 14 KOs). Mwakinyo is best known for demolishing the infamously tough Sam Eggington in just two rounds.

Two of the UK’s top light heavyweights will collide in the chief support bout when reigning British champion ‘Super’ Dan Azeez (16-0, 11 KOs) meets former champion Shakan Pitters (17-1, 6 KOs).

Also seeing action is super lightweight Adam ‘The Assassin’ Azim (5-0, 4 KOs), who will make the first defense of his WBC Youth title vs. TBA. And in a super middleweight clash, John Docherty (12-1, 9 KOs) faces Diego ‘Dynamite’ Costa (8-0, 5 KOs). Sky will televise in the UK.

By Ron Jackson

Veteran South African flyweight champion Jackson “M3” Chauke meets novice Mustafa Khalid Mkupasi from Tanzania in a clash for the African Boxing Union flyweight title at The Galleria in Sandton on Thursday night.

The 37-year-old Chauke (20-1-2, 14 KOs) has an outstanding record and as an amateur won silver medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2007 All-Africa Games, both at flyweight. As a professional, he has captured the South African and WBC International flyweight titles.

The 26-year-old Mkupasi (9-0, 7 KOs) is a comparative novice and the odds must be overwhelming in favor of the South African. Continue reading “Chauke to face novice for ABU title”

By TMZ.com

Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor are reportedly “very close” to inking a deal to once again meet in the boxing ring, and Dana White has a thought — “BULLS**T!” TMZ Sports talked to the UFC President on Tuesday and asked about a report out of the UK stating the two megastars were all but set to rematch in the near future.

“It’s total bullshit!” White told us, adding, “That story came from a paper called The Daily Mirror which is a tabloid in Europe. It’s total bulls**t!” Continue reading “White: Conor-Floyd rematch reports are BS”

Promoter Yvon Michel has announced that the August 13 WBC bridgerweight world title clash between WBC champion Oscar “Kaboom” Rivas and Lukas Rozanski in Cali, Colombia, is on hold for the moment.

Unfortunately, we must confirm that the gala scheduled in Colombia on August 13 between the champion Oscar Rivas and Lukas Rozanski from Poland has been postponed,” Michel stated via social media. “Different scenarios are being considered and we will set the new date very soon.”

Full details of the supporting cast to the unified heavyweight title rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua rematch on August 20 at the King Abdullah Sports City Arena in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, have now been confirmed. Still no official announcement regarding the network, mainly due to a snafu over the UK rights to the fight.

Filip Hrgovic (14-0, 12 KOs) vs. Zhilei Zhang (24-0-1, 19 KOs)
IBF heavyweight final eliminator

Callum Smith (28-1, 20 KOs) vs. Mathieu Bauderlique (21-1, 12 KOs)
WBC light heavyweight final eliminator

Badou Jack (26-3-3) vs, Richard Rivera (21-0, 16 KOs)
cruiserweight ten-rounder

Andrew Tabiti (19-1, 15 KOs) vs. Tyrone Spong (14-0, 13 KOs)
heavyweight eight-rounder

Other bouts:
Ramla Ali vs. Crystal Garcia Nova (female super bantamweight)
Daniel Lapin vs. Jozef Jurko (light heavyweight)
Ziyad Almaayouf vs. Jose Alatorre (super welterweight)

Super middleweights Ali Akhmedov (18-1, 14 KOs) and Gabriel Rosado (26-15-1 15 KOs) will clash for the IBF North American title on September 17 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as part of the undercard to the trilogy clash between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennadiy ‘GGG’ Golovkin. The event, presented by Matchroom, Canelo Promotions and GGG Promotions, will broadcast live on DAZN Pay-Per-View in the U.S. and Canada as well as around the world on DAZN (excluding Mexico, Latin America, and Kazakhstan)​.

By the way, Canelo-GGG III isn’t an instant sellout this time. Tix are still available if you want to attend live.

 

As we expected, Showtime will offer live coverage of top middleweight contender Sergiy Derevyanchenko against Joshua Conley in a 10-round bout on the Showtime Sports YouTube channel and Showtime Boxing Facebook page on Saturday from Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The stream will also cover welterweight Vito Mielnicki Jr. taking on Jimmy Williams in an eight-rounder.

The stream leads into a Showtime tripleheader topped by Danny “Swift” Garcia against Jose Benavidez Jr.

By Jeff Zimmerman

Fightnews.com® caught with the entertaining and confident super lightweight Kendo “Tremendo” Castaneda (18-5, 9 KOs) out of San Antonio, Texas, as he heads into a showdown with Joseph Fernandez (15-4-3, 5 KOs) on Friday, May 5 at the ProBox Events Center in Plant City, Florida and shown live on ProBox TV. ProBox TV was founded by former fighters Roy Jones Jr., Antonio Tarver, Juan Manuel Marquez and Paulie Malignaggi and has recently formed a new partnership with Miguel Cotto and his Cotto Promotions.

Castaneda talked about growing up in the family business which was boxing and his encounter with a 4th grade bully. He shared his relationship with San Antonio boxing legend and former world champion Jesse James Leija and current world champion brothers Jesse “Bam” Rodriquez and Joshua “The Professor” Franco. Castaneda also discussed his fight with top 140lber Jose Zepeda and gave his prediction of fellow Texan Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. and Terence “Bud” Crawford and much more in this exclusive interview.

_

IBF #3 heavyweight Filip “El Animal” Hrgovic (14-0, 12 KOs) meets undefeated #15 Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang (24-0-1, 19 KOs) in a final eliminator for the IBF title on the August 20 Usyk-Joshua undercard in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  Hrgovic-Zhang was originally planned for the undercard of Alvarez-Bivol in May but they are now set to do battle on the Red Sea.

Usually final eliminators involve the top-rated fighters in a division. To find an opponent for Hrgovic, however, IBF went down the rankings and got ‘no’ after ‘no’ until they got all the way down to the #15 ranked Zhang, 39, before a fight could be made.

Filip Hrgovic: “I respect a fighter like Zhilei Zhang, especially as there were plenty of others who could have fought me and didn’t. The respect stays outside the ring, and it’ll be business as usual for me when I step in there and look to do what I do best; put people away…there’ll be no doubt about this when Zhang is dealt with and I go on to beat whoever it is out of Usyk or Joshua.”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Undisputed WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF lightweight champion Devin Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) will travel to back to Melbourne, Australia to defend his laurels on October 16 in a rematch against formerly undisputed world champion George “Ferocious” Kambosos (20-1, 10 KOs). This time, the bout will take place at the Rod Laver Arena.

In June, Haney captured all the 135-pound belts with a unanimous decision over Kambosos at the huge Marvel Stadium with over 40,000 fans in attendance. The event attracted the second largest attendance in Australian boxing history – eclipsed only by the Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn WBO welterweight title bout in Brisbane in 2017 that had over 50,000 fans attending. Rod Laver Arena has a capacity of around 16,000.

…Thanks to my sixth toe!!

By TMZ.com

Danny Garcia has an edge over José Benavidez that cannot be matched, no matter how many miles he runs, or rounds he spars … the former world champ was born with an extra toe, and that’s all the advantage he needs!

Sure, Danny’s totally kidding … but this is an excuse to talk about one of our favorite clips ever.

If you haven’t seen it, back in 2015, the 36-3 welterweight took off his Jordan’s and literally proved he had an extra digit on his foot.

So, when we recently talked to Danny, we asked the 34-year-old about the toe … in addition to a bunch of serious questions about returning after a lengthy layoff, and whether Garcia can once again be champ.

“I’m gonna keep showing it off because when I was a kid, I was ashamed of it,” Danny said, adding, “Now, I’m somebody. That six-toe brought me a long way.” Continue reading “Garcia: I got a leg up on Benavidez…”