Fightnews.com

In part two of this four-part interview with Fightnews.com®, ring legend Bernard Hopkins pulls no punches as he prepares to embark on the biggest fight of his career outside the ring.

By Jeff Zimmerman

The super fight of Spence-Crawford is still not on the calendar [although media reports say November is targeted for the undisputed welterweight title]. Hopkins, however, gives high praise to WBO champion Terence Crawford and believes he is the guy to beat at 147.

“I respect the fighter that gets on TV or any other chance he gets to make it known [he wants to fight],” said Hopkins. The only person I can say right now, I’m 100% serious, then saying some BS on social media that you are willing to do this or do that. No, you’re not. You have to listen to your master. You got to listen to who’s thinking for you before you think for yourself.

“I respect Terence Crawford man. Not only has he shown up to support his stablemates, but he has shown up to say, ‘hey guys, I’m here, I got my eyes on y’all.’ And he hasn’t shown up sinning and grinning, he has shown up, ‘I’m here, I’m respected and I’m getting respect and I’ll give it back, I’m here.’” Continue reading “Bernard Hopkins: No Punches Pulled, Part 2”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Undisputed lightweight world champion Devin “The Dream” Haney (in Los Angeles) and “Ferocious” George Kambosos Jr. (in Melbourne) participated on a split feed kick-off press conference to kickoff their October 15 (October 16 in Australia) rematch at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. Haney-Kambosos 2 will be broadcast in prime time in the United States, live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN+ and live on Main Event and Kayo in Australia.

While the first fight was one-sided in Haney’s favor, Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum says George Kambosos warns people not to count out Kambosos.

“If he approaches the fight differently, he has a good, good chance,” Arum said to FoxSports. “If he fights the same fight that he fought last time, he has no chance. We’ll have to see which George Kambosos shows up. The one who fought and beat Teofimo Lopez or the one who fought from the outside and wasn’t aggressive against Devin Haney.” Continue reading “Haney-Kambosos 2 Kick-Off Press Conference”

The World Boxing Council has announced that its 60th annual convention will take place in Acapulco, one of the most beautiful beach attractions in the world. Arrival and welcome cocktails will be Sunday, November 6 and the official opening ceremony takes place on Monday November 7. The final day of activities and departure is Friday November 11.

Mental health of boxers will be the main topic to be discussed during the medical seminar to be held at the World Boxing Association (WBA) Centennial Convention, which will take place at the Caribe Royale Hotel in Orlando, Florida, from December 11-14. The WBA and its Medical Committee will have as its main banner a problem that is affecting many fighters today and that needs to be watched closely and treated properly.

“The mental health of our athletes will be the central theme of the Medical Seminar of our WBA Centennial Convention, to be held next December in Orlando, Florida,” said WBA President Gilberto Jesus Mendoza.

There have been several cases recently among very prominent names who have had to withdraw from fights, take extended breaks and even think about retirement due to their situation, which makes it necessary to address the issue in a more direct way. Continue reading “WBA Centennial Convention to focus on mental health”

By Bob Ryder

Toledo’s Albert “Prince” Bell will face Dominican Republic’s Nicolas Polanco in the 10 round main event at the Huntington Center in downtown Toledo for promoter Vick Green’s Pulse Boxing on Saturday, September 3. Up for grabs will be the WBO NABO super featherweight title which is currently vacant. Bell brings his perfect (21-0, 6 KOs) record into the match as he continues his drive for a top ten ranking. Polanco (20-2-1, 11 KOs) will be competing in the United States for the first time and this will be only his second fight outside his native county. Polanco hopes to rebound from a tough majority decision loss in his last fight in which he lost to Jaime Arboleda in Panama despite knocking Arboleda down twice. Bell possesses solid boxing technique, smooth and hard to hit, and has won most of his fights in dominant fashion despite his low knockout percentage. The challenge for Polanco will be to get Bell to mix it up in hopes of landing a big shot but given Albert’s past performances he faces a tall task. Continue reading “Bell vs Polanco Headline Toledo Show”

Official registration opened Wednesday for the Centennial Convention of the World Boxing Association (WBA), to be held December 11-14 at the Caribe Royale Hotel in Orlando, Florida. The completion of a century by the pioneer organization makes this event one of the most important of the year and those wishing to attend this great event can register at the link provided below.

Important topics that affect boxing today will be discussed, such as the search for a single champion, mental health for boxers, science applied to boxing, safety issues, among other aspects that will be announced in the coming weeks. Continue reading “Registration for the WBA Convention is officially open”

Super lightweight Kenneth Sims Jr. (18-2-1, 6 KOs) became the new WBA intercontinental champion by knocking out Cristian Ruben Mino (22-6-2, 17 KOs) on Sunday night at the Caribe Royale Hotel in Orlando, Florida. Sims Jr. settled the fight in the fifth round after showing superiority throughout the bout. He knocked down Mino once in the fourth round and twice in the fifth forcing the referee to stop the action.

After a crazy busy Saturday last weekend, we have only one main boxing event on the docket this Saturday. It’s a good one.

ESPN/ESPN+ presents a stacked card headlined by two former world champions as Jose “Sniper” Pedraza (29-4, 14 KOs) battles Richard “RC” Commey (30-4, 27 KOs) in a 10-round junior welterweight clash at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The card also features a ton of heavyweight action. The ten round co-feature has undefeated Jared “The Real Big Baby” Anderson (11-0, 11 KOs) returning against Miljan Rovcanin (24-2, 16 KOs). In addition, Efe Ajagba (15-1, 12 KOs) and Trey Lippe Morrison (18-1, 17 KOs) will see action in separate bouts.

Some other streams may pop up, including a Murat Gassiev fight on Friday, so we’ll keep you posted.

In this 4-part interview with Fightnews.com®, ring legend Bernard Hopkins pulls no punches as he prepares to embark on the biggest fight of his career outside the ring.

By Jeff Zimmerman

The legendary Bernard Hopkins is about to pick a fight with one of the heavyweights of boxing outside the ring and he’s not holding back.

Hopkins is no longer going to sit idly quiet. This is nothing new for him as fighting is in his blood and keeping quiet is not his forte.

And it started long before his amazing 28-year pro career where he won world titles at middleweight and light heavyweight that finally culminated as a first ballot Hall of Famer this past June in Canastota, NY. Continue reading “Bernard Hopkins: No Punches Pulled, Part 1”

Heavyweights Cassius Chaney and Juiseppe Cusumano blew out overmatched competition on Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Chaney (22-1, 15 KOs) smoked Matt McKinney (9-6-3, 6 KOs) in round one, while Cusumano (21-4, 19 KOs) took out Dennis Ventura (4-2, 3 KOs) in round two.

Photos: Sumio Yamada

Check out this GIANT Navarrete-Baez photo gallery for some incredible shots, plus the scorecard.

Photos

Former WBA minimumweight world champion Carlos Cañizales (24-1-1, 18 KOs) of Venezuela retained his WBA Fedecaribe light flyweight title by way of TKO in round one over Armando “Ichiro Ozeki” Torres (26-22, 19 KOs) of Mexico. The event took place at the Auditorio BB in Mexico City, México and promoted by Producciones Deportivas.

Cañizales patiently waited for his moment to land a hook to Torres’ face which left him visibly hurt. His corner opted to stop the fight to prevent any further punishment. The offical time of the stoppage was 2:05. The victory keeps Cañizales on course for an opportunity to fight current WBA light flyweight champion Hiroto Kyoguchi. Continue reading “Ex-champ Cañizales stops Torres in Mexico”

By Héctor Villarreal
Photos: Martín Pérez (Producciones Agua Blanca)

After three years of inactivity, featherweight Francisco Pachay (6-1-1, 4 KOs) returned on Saturday night to face Arnulfo Bejerano (3-5, 0 KOs) on the main event of the “Apuesta al Mejor” card, promoted by Laguna Premium at Majestic Casino in Panama City, Panama.

Pachay knocked Bejerano down in round one of the bout scheduled for six but was dropped in the second. Bejerano visited the canvas again in rounds three and four, forcing referee Ernesto Arce to declare the TKO. Time was 1:21. Continue reading “Pachay defeats Bejerano in Panama”

Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has commented on social media about his bizarre meltdown in the ring following his loss to current champion Oleksandr Usyk last night in Saudi Arabia.

I wish @usykaa (Oleksandr Usyk) continued success in your quest for greatness. You are a class act champ.

Yesterday I had to mentally take myself into a dark place to compete for the championship belts! I had two fights, one with Usyk and one with my emotions and both got the better of me.

I’ll be the first to admit, I let myself down. I acted out of pure passion and emotion – and when not controlled, it ain’t great.

I love this sport so so much and I’ll be better from this point on.

Respect

WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury opens as a big favorite in a potential bout with WBA, IBF, WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. The opening odds offered by BetOnline.ag list Fury at -280 (4/15), while Usyk is +220 (11/5). Both fighters want the fight, so it’s just a matter of coming up with the mega-millions to make it happen.

Unbeaten lightweight Ruben “Ace” Torres (19-0, 16 KOs) scored a spectacular seventh round KO over Cristian Baez (18-2, 17 KOs) on Saturday night at the Omega Products International Event Center in Corona, California. Both fighters were down in round two. Baez gave Torres all he could handle for six rounds. In round seven, Torres was credited with a questionable knockdown. When action resumed, Baez was still complaining to the ref and Torres knocked him out cold with a left hook. Time was 1:53.

Welterweight Louie Lopez (12-1-1, 4 KOs) outpointed previously unbeaten Elias “Ingles” Diaz (11-1, 6 KOs) over eight rounds by scores of 77-75, 77-75, 78-74.

WBO featherweight champion Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete (36-1, 30 KOs) scored a spectacular sixth round knockout over Eduardo Baez (21-3-2, 7 KOs) on Saturday night at the Pechanga Arena (formerly known as the San Diego Sports Arena) in San Diego, California. Baez appeared on his way to a shocking upset until Navarrete ended matters with one punch – a shot to the liver. Time was 1:05.

Navarrete, who hadn’t fought in nearly a year and let his weight balloon in the interim, was trailing on two of the three judges’ cards (50-45 and 48-47) at the time of the stoppage, while one card had Navarrete ahead 49-46.

“I expected a fight like this,” Navarrete said. “I never underestimated Eduardo Baez. I knew that he was an excellent fighter and the fact that he hit pretty hard. It was a lot more complicated than I anticipated. But then came that shot, and I was able to finish him. That’s a very Mexican punch. It comes with my blood. And you can see, I don’t throw a perfect left hook like you’re used to seeing. But this one came out perfect for me. And you saw the result because not many guys can take that shot.”

Cornflake is back. After a year layoff, middleweight Thomas LaManna (32-5-1, 13 KOs) returned to the ring scoring an eight round unanimous decision (2x 77-74, 78-73) over Saul Roman (46-15, 38 KOs) in the main event of Rising Star Promotion’s Boardwalk Boxing held on Saturday night at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. Shaking off ring rust after the longest layoff of his career, LaManna delivered a solid overall performance and nearly finished Roman in the fifth with a knockdown after landing a flurry of punches. The former world title challenger will remain busy, looking to fight twice more before year’s end, moving down to 160-pounds in the process.

Bantamweight Emmanuel “Salserito” Rodriguez (12-0, 6KOs) of Newark, N.J. captured the WBO NABO Latino title in impressive fashion by delivering a RD4 TKO (0:27) win over Frank “El Castigador” Gonzalez (9-3, 4KOs) of Miami, Fla. in the evening’s Co-Main Event. The offensive-minded Rodriguez dropped Gonzalez twice in the second before stopping him in the 4th to capture the 118-lb title. Continue reading “LaManna defeats Roman in Atlantic City”

In a clash for the vacant WBA super lightweight title formerly held by Josh Taylor, Alberto Puello (21-0, 10 KOs) scored a twelve round split decision over aggressive Batyr Akhmedov (9-2, 8 KOs) on Saturday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Hard fought bout with Puello prevailing 115-113 Akhmedov, 117-111, 117-111 Puello.

“I mixed it up, sometimes counterpunching and some other times coming forward,” Puello said. “What I studied from the gym and from the videos, I knew he would apply pressure. But I was actually surprised with the amount of pressure he started with and in the end I was able to figure him out. I knew it was a close fight, and I just kept the distance and kept the pressure on the jab tonight and that helped me get the victory.”

Unbeaten super featherweight Hector Garcia (16-0, 10 KOs) dethroned WBA champion Roger Gutierrez (26-4-1, 20 KOs) by twelve round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Garcia built up a lead then faded down the stretch, but he did enough tp prevail by scores of 117-111, 117-111, 118-110.

Two upsets in a row for Garcia, who shocked the world by soundly beating highly-regarded Chris Colbert in a WBA eliminator in February.

“It means a lot to me to win this title,” Garcia said. “I dedicate it to my people, the entire Dominican Republic and my town, San Juan de la Maguana. In the pros, nobody knew me. But in the amateurs, people knew my name. I went to the Olympics – it was my dream. I had a good run. [Gutierrez] was looking for the right punch to take me down, but I was able to dominate, dictate the pace of the fight and get the win.”

In a clash of former world champions, late sub Sergey Lipinets (17-2-1, 13 KOs) stopped Omar “Panterita” Figueroa (28-3-1, 19 KOs) on Saturday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Lipinets, who stepped in on five days’ notice after original Figueroa foe Adrien “The Problem” Broner suddenly pulled out citing mental health issues, dropped Figueroa in round two and punished him until his corner pulled him out of the fight after round eight. The bout was for the WBC silver title. After the fight, Figueroa indicated that this would be his final bout.

Unbeaten super lightweight Brandun Lee (26-0, 22 KOs) won a ten round unanimous decision over Will Madera (17-2-3, 10 KOs). Madera dropped Lee hard in round three with a right hand. Lee recovered took control thereafter. Scores were 98-91 3x. Continue reading “Late sub Lipinets wins, Figueroa retires”

In a clash between unbeaten welterweights, Giovani “Gallo de Oro” Santillan (30-0, 16 KOs) scored a ten round unanimous decision over Julio Luna (19-1-2, 10 KOs). Scores were a realistic 96-94, and two judges had a 100-90 shutout for the hometown fighter.

Undefeated middleweight prospect Nico Ali Walsh (6-0, 5 KOs), grandson of Muhammad Ali, knocked out Reyes Sanchez (7-3, 3 KOs) in the second round with a body shot. The fight took in the same venue where Walsh’s grandfather got his jaw broken by Ken Norton in a 1973 split decision loss.

In a clash between unbeaten junior welterweights, Mexican Olympian Lindolfo Delgado (16-0, 13 KOs) defeated Omar “Pollo” Aguilar (24-1, 23 KOs) over eight by scores of 77-75, 79-73, 79-73. Continue reading “Undercard Results from San Diego”

WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury still has a few days to decide whether or not he will vacate his WBC title. From the looks of his comments after Saturday’s Usyk-Joshua bout, it sounds like he may un-retire and fight Usyk for the undisputed title.

“To be honest with you guys, after watching that, the both of them were shite,” said Fury. “It was one of the worst heavyweight title fights I have ever seen. It was bullshit. C’MON! I would annihilate both of them on the same night. F**king shite! Get your f**king checkbook out because the Gypsy King is here to stay forever!”

WBA, IBF, WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) retained his titles with a twelve round split decision over Anthony Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) on Saturday night at the King Abdullah Sports City Arena in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Joshua came out with some new tricks learned from new trainer Robert Garcia. It took Usyk a few rounds to adjust. Joshua’s body attack was much improved from the first fight and Uysk became noticeably slower as the fight progressed. Joshua took over completely in round nine, but Usyk changed his tactics again and unloaded on Joshua in round ten, which kept Joshua from doing more body damage. Usyk took the fight to Joshua in the championship rounds. Scores were 115-113 Joshua, 115-113, 116-112 Usyk.

After the fight, Joshua had a bit of a meltdown, storming out of the ring, returning, dropping two of the belts on the canvas, and grabbing the mic and giving a rather bizarre diatribe. “I’m not a 12 round fighter? Look at me, I’m a new breed of heavyweight,” said Joshua. All them heavyweights, Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston, Jack Dempsey, they say ‘he doesn’t throw combinations like Rocky Marciano,’ because I’m not f**king 14 stone (200 pounds). That’s why. I’m 18 stone (250 pounds). I’m heavy.”

Meanwhile, Usyk called out Tyson Fury, saying “I want to fight him and if I am not fighting Tyson Fury, I am not fighting at all. Only God knows whether I will fight him or not, but all these gentlemen here around me, my team, they are going to help me.”

Unbeaten super welterweight Sebastian “The Towering Inferno’’ Fundora (19-0-1, 13 KOs) will defend his WBC interim super welterweight title against former title challenger Carlos Ocampo (34-1, 22 KOs) live on Showtime on October 8. Ocampo, who is ranked #13 by the WBC, has won 12 straight and recorded a first-round knockout on June 11.

The Showtime Championship Boxing telecast will also feature middleweights Carlos Adames (21-1, 16 KOs) and Juan Macias Montiel (23-5-2, 23 KOs) squaring off for the WBC interim middleweight title in the co-main event, while IBF junior bantamweight world champion Fernando Martinez (14-0, 8 KOs) meets former champion Jerwin Ancajas (32-2-2, 22 KOs) in a highly-anticipated 12-round rematch to open the telecast.