Fightnews.com

By Miguel Maravilla and Jeff Zimmerman at ringside

Washington D.C. super featherweight Lamont Roach Jr. (23-1-1, 9 KOs) won a lackluster unanimous decision over Angel Rodriguez of Columbia (20-2, 10 KO’s) in a twelve round WBA 130lb eliminator on the Garcia-Fortuna undercard at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. Roach boxed aggressively early in the fight taking the fight to Rodriguez. Letting his hands go in the third, Rodriguez connected with a low blow as Roach took a knee in pain, Roach recovered and was up fighting. Roach staggered Rodriguez with a right hand in the fifth as he stalked the Colombian throughout the round. Momentum appeared to be going Roach’s way in the sixth as he backed Rodriguez and connected with combination late in the round. Boxing patiently in the seventh, Roach attacked smart backing and limiting Rodriguez. In the eighth, Rodriguez appeared to be fading as Roach kept coming staying on top of the limited Rodriguez.

In the ninth, Roach stayed on top of Rodriguez scoring points and painting up Rodriquez behind the jab staying busy. The whistles began to fill the arena with noise in the tenth as L.A fans began to boo, Roach’s dominance of Rodriguez. Roach boxed in the eleventh as he was obviously ahead on the cards outworking Rodriguez. Stalking in the twelfth and final round, Roach pressed behind the jab as Rodriguez held on in making it the distance. The judges scored the bout 117-111, 116-112, and 116-112.

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In a WBA flyweight title eliminator, David Jimenez (12-0, 9 KOs) out of Cartago, Costa Rica stunned the local, crowd favorite Ricardo “El Nino” Sandoval (20-2, 15 KOs) from Rialto, CA with a come from behind majority decision 114-112 twice, 113-113. Through the first six rounds, Sandoval picked his spots and tried to neutralize the constant movement of Jimenez as neither fighter could gain control. But in the 7th round, the tide appeared to change as referee Thomas Taylor deducted a point on Jimenez for holding. This seemed to energize Sandoval, as he came out firing in the eighth, which started with a left hook to the body that clearly hurt the Costa Rican. Sandoval smelled blood and went on the attack and dropped bombs to the head and body on Jimenez, who showed his toughness and survived the round. Jimenez was no longer coming forward as Sandoval was now in complete control until the fateful eleventh round. After a missed right hand by Sandoval, Jimenez stepped back and landed a flush right on the jaw of Sandoval that sent him to the canvas. Jimenez was now looking to stop Sandoval who did his best to survive to the final bell. Jimenez pulled out the victory to the dismay of the pro-Sandoval crowd and remained undefeated, while Sandoval lost for only the second time as his 16-fight winning streak came to a halt in dramatic fashion.

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Unbeaten minimumweight Oscar Collazo (5-0, 3 KOs) of Puerto Rico won a unanimous decision over Victor Saludar (21-6, 11 KOs) in a WBA 105lb eliminator. Collazo worked his way to a hard-fought 118-110, 116-112, and 116-112 judges’verdict. Continue reading “Roach, Jiminez, Collazo win WBA eliminators”

Hamzah Sheeraz is the new WBC Silver middleweight champion following a fifth round stoppage victory of the rugged Francisco Torres. Mark Heffron scored a title treble by halting Lennox Clark, Dennis McCann won the WBC International Silver belt with an eighth round stoppage of James Beech Jr and Nick Ball retained his WBC Silver title with a defeat of Nathanael Kokololo at the Copper Box Arena. Details…

IBF #9 light heavyweight Michael Eifert (10-1, 4 KOs) and Adriano Sperandio (14-1, 2 KOs) fought ten close rounds with neither fighter really seizing the initiative. In the end, Eifert prevailed 96-95, 98-92, 96-95 to claim the vacant IBF Intercontinental strap on Saturday night at the Maritim Hotel in Magdeburg, Germany.

Light heavyweight Tom Dzemski (20-1, 11 KOs) beat up previously unbeaten Alexander Lorch (7-1, 4 KOs) for three one-sided rounds and Lorch didn’t come out for round four. Dzemski, son of former fringe contender Dirk Dzemski, claimed the German domestic 175lb title. Continue reading “IBF #9 Eifert edges Sperandio”

Dylan Price 118 vs. Drew Correll 118
(NBA bantamweight title)

Tariq Green 167.3 vs. Abimbola Osumdairo 171.4
Jamir Anderson 147.6 vs. Aaron Newmose 145.5
Jaliq Holden 129.4 vs. Tyrique Gerald 124.9
Jeremiah Kendrick 159.3 vs. Erron Peterson 162.1
Frankie Lynn 155.5 vs. Prince Francis 156.3

Venue: Elevations Event Center in Chester, PA
Promoter: Price Promotions
Stream: Flo Combat
1st Bell: 7 PM ET

Rising heavyweight Richard Torrez Jr. (2-0, 2 KOs) is wasting little time getting back in the ring after his quickie 58-second fight on Friday night. The recent U.S. Olympic silver medalist returns in a six-rounder against Marco Antonio Canedo (4-2, 2 KOs) on August 27, at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa. Torrez-Canedo will open the ESPN tripleheader headlined by the junior welterweight main event between former world champions Jose “Sniper” Pedraza and Richard “RC” Commey.

In a clash between undefeated junior welterweight contenders, WBO #8, WBC #11 Arnold Barboza Jr. (27-0, 10 KOs) scored a ten round unanimous decision over WBO #10 Danielito Zorrilla (16-1, 12 KOs) on Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,836 at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California. Barboza outworked Zorilla in a tough, gritty fight and survived getting rocked in the final stanza to win 98-92, 97-93, 97-93.

“I was a little rusty,” said Barboza afterward. “It’s been awhile. I’m not going to be inactive like that no more, man. I’m going to be fighting constantly. I was more off balance {in the 10th round}. I was right there. Once you saw me off balance, I was right back to my thing. Shout out to my conditioning. My conditioning was on point. My manager knows, if we can’t get a title shot, you know who it is. We want Teofimo. It’s either a title shot or him.” Continue reading “Barboza defeats Zorrilla, remains unbeaten”

Former WBA super welterweight champion Austin “No Doubt” Trout (35-5-1, 18 KOs) outboxed Florin Cardos (21-4, 9 KOs) buttony came away with an eight round majority decision on Friday night at the Historische Stadthalle in Wuppertal, Germany. Currently rated IBF #5, Trout seemingly won comfortably. Scores 79-73 and 78-76 for Trout. The third card was 76-76.

“I don’t know what fight they were watching,” said Trout afterward. “I want to give thanks to God for bringing me here to be safe, giving me the win as I feel like I deserve even though it seemed like the devil had his hand on some of the judges but not all of them – it wasn’t enough.”

Ryan Garcia 140 vs. Javier Fortuna 139.8
Alexis Rocha 146.6 vs. Luis Veron 146
(NABO welterweight title)
Lamont Roach 129.8 vs. Angel Rodriguez 129.2
(WBA super featherweight eliminator)
Ricardo Sandoval 111.8 vs. David Jimenez 111.2
(WBA flyweight eliminator)
Oscar Collazo 105 vs. Victorio Saludar 104.2
(WBO minimumweight eliminator)
Diego De La Hoya 126 vs. Enrique Bernache 125.2
Miguel Gaona 138.6 vs. Abdiel Padilla 136

Venue: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles
Promoter: Golden Boy
TV: DAZN

Ageless former WBA cruiserweight champion First Arslan (52-9-3, 37 KOs) destroyed Juan Rodolfo Juarez (20-7, 14 KOs) in two rounds on Friday night at the Historische Stadthalle in Wuppertal, Germany. The 51-year-old Arslan, still rated #6 in the world by the WBA, pressed the action and dropped Juarez twice in round two, prompting Juarez’ corner to throw in the towel. Time was 2:30.

Female super featherweight Ramona Graeff (4-0, 0 KOs) defeated Alys Sanchez (17-8-1, 6 KOs) by unanimous decision to claim the vacant WBA gold title. Scores were 99-91 3x.

Super middleweight Timo Rost (13-1-3, 5 KOs) needed just 42 seconds to take out Mariusz Biskupski (23-50-2, 8 KOs) with a body shot.

Super middleweight Uwel Hernandez (14-1, 7 KOs) outpointed Kamer Maloku (16-3, 13 KOs) over ten rounds by scores of 98-92, 97-95, 97-95 to claim the WBA continental title.

Unbeaten lightweight Jaouad Belmehdi (16-0-3, 7 KOs) outpointed James Chereji (17-2, 7 KOs) over eight rounds. 78-73, 77-74, 78-75. Chereji down in round six.

Heavyweight Agron Smakici (19-1, 17 KOs) scored a first round KO over Fernando Almeida (9-6, 9 KOs). Smakici landed two hard jabs and Almeida went down grabbing his nose. Time was 2:44.

Michael Eifert 174.2 vs. Adriano Sperandio 174.6
(IBF intercontinental light heavyweight title)

Tom Dzemski 173.9 vs. Alexander Lorch 172.6
(German light heavyweight title)

Nina Meinke 125.7 vs. Eva Hubmayer 125.4
Nenad Stancic 136.7 vs. Brayan Marsina 133.4
Julian Vogel 145.7 vs. Richard Walter 147
Marlon Dzemski 145.5 vs. Karim Bericha ??
Robin Rehse 159.6 vs. Ganiyou Idriss ??
Hamsat Shadalov 133.6 vs. Edwin Tercero 131.2
Paul Wall 157 vs. Nikolas Dzurnak 154.1
Hugo Micaleff 142 vs. Mauro Loli 141.3
Lara Ochmann 125.7 vs. Marina Sakharov 126.8
Albon Pervizaj 238.1 vs. Alvaro Terrero 221.6

Venue: Maritim Hotel, Magdeburg, Germany
Promoter: SES Boxing
TV: MDR (Germany), ESPN+ (USA)

40-year-old former four-weight world champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes says he still has plenty left in the tank and plans to work his back into title contention after his world title defeat to WBO junior bantamweight champion Kazuto Ioka Wednesday night in Tokyo.

“I lost the fight on points, and I felt that Ioka did not want to try and deliver a knockout win for his fans and was just happy to win the fight on the scorecards,” Nietes told Probellum.com. “I was not able to put as much pressure on Ioka as I would have liked. I was waiting for Ioka to move in and throw his shots, so that I could hit him with my big counters, but it didn’t happen often enough.

“I was defeated but, without question, I can still fight for world titles again.” Continue reading “Nietes: I can still fight for world titles again”

By Ricardo Ibarra

Unbeaten welterweight Quinton Randall (10-0-1, 2 KOs) outboxed Ivan “Cobra” Pandzic (14-2-1, 8 KOs) over eight Rigondeaux-like rounds on Thursday night at the Yakama Legends Casino in Toppenish, Washington. Randall picked apart Pandzic and was content to cruise to a 78-74, 79-73, 79-73 win.

Unbeaten local super middleweight Andrew “White Lightning” Murphy (6-0, 4 KOs) took a workmanlike eight round unanimous decision over journeyman Isiah Jones (9-7, 3 KOs). Murphy, who is trained by Roy Jones Jr., won 79-73, 80-72, 80-72 to claim the NBA America’s title. Continue reading “Randall tops Pandzic remains unbeaten”

Lightweight contender Ryan Garcia and former two-time world champion Javier Fortuna faced off at the final press conference for their DAZN clash on Saturday at the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. Fortuna gave Garcia his Chicago Bulls hat as a gift after Garcia stated that he likes the Chicago Bulls.

Ryan Garcia: “I’m determined to do something amazing, entertain the fans and give them a show. He wants to knock me out too, so we’re going to come in and throw our punches and give the fans a great show…we know what we do. I’m coming to f*ck him up too. I don’t care if he gave me a hat or not.”

Javier Fortuna: “Obviously there have been a couple of times in my career where I left it up to the judges and it wasn’t a good thing. It’s either he kills me or I kill him. Me giving you this hat doesn’t guarantee I won’t break your face on Saturday. I don’t want any excuses.”

Arnold Barboza Jr 139.6 vs. Danielito Zorrilla 139.6
(WBO intercontinental junior welterweight title)

Raymond Muratalla 136 vs. Jair Valtierra 137
Richard Torrez Jr 224 vs. Roberto Zavala Jr 255.2
Jorge Marron Jr 143.2 vs. Adrian Yung 142.6
Austin Brooks 125.2 vs. Victor Saravia 125.2
Stephan Shaw 236.6 vs. Bernardo Marquez 231.2
Floyd Diaz 122.6 vs. Pedro Salome 121.4

Venue: Pechanga Resort & Casino, Temecula, California
Promoter: Top Rank
TV: ESPN

Two former world champions are set for an Oklahoma showdown, as Jose “Sniper” Pedraza (29-4, 14 KOs) will battle Richard “RC” Commey (30-4, 27 KOs) in the 10-round junior welterweight main event August 27 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In the 10-round heavyweight co-feature, undefeated puncher Jared “The Real Big Baby” Anderson (11-0, 11 KOs) returns to action against veteran Miljan Rovcanin (24-2, 16 KOs).

Pedraza-Commey and Anderson-Rovcanin will be broadcast live on ESPN. The undercard — streaming exclusively on ESPN+ — is scheduled to include the return of heavyweight puncher Efe Ajagba (15-1, 12 KOs) in an eight-rounder against Hungary’s Jozsef Darmos (14-4-3, 10 KOs). Continue reading “Pedraza-Commey clash Aug 27”

By TMZ.com

Boxing legend George Foreman says two women have made up claims that he sexually abused them … all in an effort to extort him out of millions of dollars.

Sources familiar with the matter tell TMZ Sports … a lawsuit against Foreman is expected to be filed in L.A. this week by two women whose fathers apparently had a friendship and working relationship with Foreman decades ago.

The suit, according to our sources, is expected to allege that Foreman sexually abused the women in the 1970s.

But, Foreman said in a statement on Wednesday that the allegations are flat-out not true.

“Over the past six months,” Foreman said, “two women have been trying to extort millions of dollars each from me and my family. They are falsely claiming that I sexually abused them over 45 years ago in the 1970s.” Continue reading “Foreman says he’s being extorted”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Looks like WBO #1 super welterweight Tim Tszyu will challenge undisputed WBO, WBC, WBA, IBF champion Jermell Charlo on January 28 in Las Vegas. Tha date is 27 years to the day when Tim’s famous Hall of Fame father Kostya Tszyu challenged Jake Rodriguez for the IBF super lightweight title in the same city.

“I can’t even describe it,” Tszyu told reporters on Thursday. “I’m fighting for all the belts in Las Vegas. It’s a dream come true. I’ll be basing my camp there. I’ll be there for two months. This is the biggest fight of my career. This is the biggest fight for anyone. This is the pinnacle of the sport, this is the pinnacle of all sports in general. All four belts. This is as big as it gets!”

Tim’s message for Charlo? “Don’t underestimate me. Stop being a grumpy old man. I’m coming for you.”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos: Naoki Fukuda

WBO 115-pound champion Kazuto Ioka (29-2, 15 KOs), 115, made his fifth title defense when he decisively avenged his previous loss to Filipino veteran WBO#1 Donnie Nietes (43-2-6, 33 KOs), 114.5, by a unanimous decision over twelve speedy rounds on Wednesday in Tokyo, Japan. The judges lopsidedly favored Ioka: Gerardo Martinez (Puerto Rico) 118-110, William Lerch (US) 117-111 and Waleska Roldan (US) 120-108. The referee who handled the fast-moving contest very well was Bence Kovacs (Hungary).

It was such a tactical fight of both four-division titlists as a couple of Miguel Cantos kept outboxing and countering each other, but it was Ioka, 33, that displayed more aggressiveness in throwing combinations upstairs and downstairs all the way. Nietes, 40, showed only his cleverness in averting Ioka’s versatile combinations, and failed to retaliate with more effective punches in return. Continue reading “Full Report: Ioka defeats Nietes in rematch”

By Miguel Maravilla

The Golden Boy, Oscar De La Hoya was on hand at Wednesday’s media day for this weekend’s lightweight fight between undefeated Ryan Garcia (22-0, 18 KOs) of Victorville, California, and former two-time world champion Javier “El Abejon” Fortuna (37-3-1, 26 KOs) of the Dominican Republic. The bout takes place Saturday at the Crypto.com Arena in downtown L.A. live on DAZN.

Here is what De La Hoya had to say.

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By Robert Coster

Domini Boxing Promotion has announced a 16-bout international card taking place July 22 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The main fights comprise the following:

• Former WBA interim world champion Felix Valera (19-5, 16 KOs ) vs. Felipe Romero (21-20-1, 13 KOs), Mexico, light heavyweight.
• Former world title challenger Lenin Castillo (22-4-1, 17 KOs) vs. Wilson Santana (14-3, 9 KOs), cruiserweight.
• Two-time world title challenger Thomas Dulorme (25-6-1, 16 KOs), Puerto Rico, vs. Abrahan Peralta( 19-11, 11 KOs), welterweight.
• Unbeaten Ernesbadi Begue (6-0, 5 KOs), Cuba, vs. Ronald Gonzalez (8-1, 8 KOs), Venezuela, light heavyweight
• Unbeaten Sanderson Diaz (15-0, 12 KOs) vs. Angel Yomar Mateo (22-1, 18 KOs), light heavyweight.
• Unbeaten Nike Theran (16-0, 11 KOs), Colombia, vs. Gustavo Pina Melgar (11-3-2, 5 KOs), Mexico, super featherweight

Continue reading “Huge Card in Santo Domingo July 22”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos: Naoki Fukuda

ormer WBC flyweight titlist, hard-punching Daigo Higa (18-2-1, 17 KOs), 118, very barely eked out a split decision (76-75, 76-74, 74-77 against him) over ex-world challenger, Filipino Froilan Saludar (32-6-1, 22 KOs), 117.25, over give-and-take eight on the Ioka-Nietes undercard on Wednesday in Tokyo, Japan.

The fourth witnessed Saludar explode a very vicious right hook that penetrated Higa’s chin and badly dropped him to the canvas. People then thought Higa, flat on the deck, might not be able to stand up and resume fighting, but he barely did. Higa, who forfeited his WBC belt on the scale in his title defense against Cristofer Rosales and was badly stopped by him in 2018, moved up to the bantam category, and acquired the WBO AP belt, but lost it to Ryosuke Nishida via upset decision in April last year. In his comebacking fight, Higa experienced a very tough time with the more skillful Filipino who gamely withstood the ex-champ’s desperate retaliation down the stretch.

Photos

By Joe Koizumi
Photos: Naoki Fukuda

Record-making thirteen-time national amateur champ, very highly expected prospect Hayato Tsutsumi, 125.75, made a successful pro debut by scoring a nearly shutout decision (80-72 twice, 79-73) over OPBF#5 feather Filipino Jhon Gemino (23-14-1, 13 KOs), 125.25, over eight fast heats beneath the Ioka-Nietes WBO junior bantam title bout on Wednesday in Tokyo, Japan. The 23-year-old Hayato, whose amateur mark was 88-6, once won the national amateur championship by defeating all adult oppositions while he was just a high school student—like “Monster” Naoya Inoue. Already nicknamed “Next Monster”, Tsutsumi displayed his speed and skills against the more experienced and very durable Filipino, sweeping all rounds. This youngster is worth watching. Continue reading ““Next Monster” Tsutsumi makes pro debut”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos: Naoki Fukuda

Workman stylist Makoto Kawasaki (13-8-2, 2 KOs), 153.5, barely retained his Japanese super-welter belt as he fought to a unanimous draw (all 95-95) with JBC#1 Ryosuke Maruki (18-7-2, 13 KOs), 154, over hard-fought ten on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan.

Having acquired the vacant national belt by defeating Koki Koshikawa on points this April, Kawasaki, the oldest national champ at 38, had a very tough time coping with the perennial contender’s furious last surge from the eighth on. Ryosuke, in his fourth attempt to win the belt, is the son of former world challenger Takao Maruki (who failed to win the WBA 130-pound title from Samuel Serrano in 1978). We may see their rematch soon. Continue reading “Kawasaki draws with Maruki, keeps Japanese 154lb belt”

By Miguel Maravilla

Unbeaten lightweight Ryan Garcia (22-0, 18 KOs) of Victorville, California, kicked off fight week hosting a media day workout Wednesday afternoon at the EC Young Champions Gym in Los Angeles. Garcia will take on former two-time world champion Javier “El Abejon” Fortuna (37-3-1, 26 KOs) of the Dominican Republic, this weekend Saturday, July 16 at the Crypto.com Arena in downtown L.A. live on DAZN.

Here is what Garcia had to say…

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Quinton Randall 146.8 vs. Ivan “Cobra” Pandzic 146.6
Andrew “White Lightning” Murphy 168 vs. Isiah Jones 166.8
William Hernandez 141.8 vs. Magarito Hernandez 141.2
Joseph Aguilar 166.2 vs. Alarenz Reynolds 167.2
Chris Johnson 153.4 vs. Devontae McDonald ??
Bryan Sanchez 135 vs. Dyllon Cervantes 133.6

Venue: Yakama Legends Casino, Toppenish, Washington
Promoter: RJJ Boxing
TV: UFC Fightpass