Fightnews.com

By Ron Jackson

The 40-year-old Nkululeko Mhlongo from Eshowe in KwaZulu-Natal defends his South African middleweight title against the 30-year-old John Bopape of Alexandra, Gauteng on Friday night at the Dr Molemela Indoor Sports Centre in Mangaung.

In their first encounter in Durban on 27 February last year Bopape (10-8, 9 KOs) won on a split ten round points decision in a non-title fight.

Mhlongo (23-9-1, 18 KOs) had previously won the vacant South African junior middleweight title and made five successful defenses to win the championship belt outright, one of the few fighters to achieve this in recent years. Continue reading “Mhlongo-Bopape meet in a rematch”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney has requested that he gets fair judges when he challenges IBF, WBA, WBO and WBC Franchise lightweight champion George “Ferocious” Kambosos on June 5 (June 4 in the USA) at the Marvel Stadium, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

“Here’s how I look at it,” Haney told Cigar Talk. “Robberies happen in the US. A lot of robberies. How many robberies? It’s too many to count. Robberies happen all over no matter where the fight is.

“Me and my team are doing the best to make sure that there’s fair judging, neutral judges, or if it’s not neutral judges, it’s gonna be a US judge and an Australian judge. We gonna make an even playing field. That was all I demanded. I just want fair judges. I wanted nothing else. Continue reading “Haney: I want fair judges”

By Joe Koizumi

Japan finally opened the door for foreign boxers to campaign here. After a long two-year hiatus since early 2020, we could see international confrontations of Japanese and foreign fighters for the first time—except for the 160-pound unification bout of Golovkin and Murata three weeks ago. Former WBO Asia Pacific 108-pound champ Riku Kano (14-3, 7 KOs), 112, moved up to the flyweight category and displayed his improved power in dispatching Thailand’s Sanchai Yotboon (7-5, 6 KOs), 111.75, at 2:42 of the second round on Sunday (April 24) in Osaka. Also, former world challenger Sho Ishida (30-3, 16 KOs), 117.75, halted Filipino Carlo Demecillo (15-6-1, 8 KOs), 116, at 1:20 of the eighth and final session.

Foreign boxers are mandated to get vaccinated three times with either of Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca or Novavax that our government has approved. If not, they will have to be quarantined for several days.

Promoter: Taisei Promotions.

Christian Carto 120.8 vs. Ernesto Sebastian Franzolini 119.4
Julian Gonzalez 131.8 vs. Ivan Jimenez 130.5
Jeremy Adorno 128.5 vs. Jason Vera 130.8
Quadir Albright 145 vs. Jorge Martin Garcia 144
Kristian Prenga 242 vs. Deshon Webster 205.5
Thanjhae Teasley 144.5 vs. DeAaron Alexander 147.5

*The Paul Kroll-Marklin Bailey fight is off as Kroll did not make weight

Promoter: King’s Promotions
1st Bell: 7:15 PM ET
Venue: 2300 Arena
Stream: FloCombat

WBC champion Oscar Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) and WBO king Shakur Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) had their first fight week faceoff Thursday, two days out from their unification showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Oscar Valdez: It’s the perfect time. Let’s prove who is the best 130-pounder. Let’s get it on April 30.

Shakus Stevenson: I think he’s trying to trick me into thinking he’s going to box me and be technical. I’m not falling for that. I’m ready for the Oscar Valdez who goes in there throwing hooks and putting pressure.

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As per prior communications and with the agreement which all four presidents (WBC-WBO-IBF-WBA) confirmed in a meeting held in Puerto Rico, the WBC mandatory defense is next, followed by the IBF. The WBC is hereby advising of the beginning of the free negotiations period for Josh Taylor´s mandatory title defense versus Jose Zepeda. If no agreement is reached, the WBC will conduct a purse bid on Tuesday, May 24th, 2022.

This is interesting because the WBA already held a purse bid for Taylor to fight Alberto Puello. That auction was won by TGB Promotions with a bid of $200,000. They are planning to stage Taylor-Puello July 16 in Las Vegas. The camps have until May 12 to send the signed contracts, and the fight has to take place between June 6 and July 21.

Here are comments from undisputed female lightweight champion Katie Taylor, P4P best woman fighter Amanda Serrano and the undercard from today’s press conference ahead of Saturday’s clash at Madison Square Garden in New York City, live worldwide on DAZN. Continue reading “Taylor-Serrano Final Press Conference”

By Héctor Villarreal

Hector Sosa 122 vs Rafael Pedroza 122
Alexander Duran 143.25 vs Edwin Bennett 143.5
Ronal Batista 116 vs Ramses Perez 114.75
Edgar Valencia 118 vs Luis Robles 117.5
Roiman Villa 142 vs Jesus Bravo 141
Juan Huertas 140 vs Fernando De La Rosa 141.75
Alcibiades Ballesteros 149 vs Ricardo Rodriguez 151.5

Promoter: Sampson Boxing and Best Box
Venue: Vasco Nuñez de Balboa Convention Center, Panama
TV: TyC sports

WBA Heavyweight Champion Trevor Bryan and his team did a lot of listening. When the former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes speaks, silence is golden. Bryan is getting ready to defend his WBA title against Daniel Dubois set for Saturday, June 11.

Bryan moved his camp from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Las Vegas and the former heavyweight champion came to town to work with Bryan.

“Trevor Bryan has got himself together,” said Holmes. “He’s kind of quiet and he doesn’t talk a lot. I’m the one with the big mouth. He did a lot of listening and I did the talking. He was willing to learn. Continue reading “Holmes: Bryan really impressed me”

Popular Philadelphia bantamweight Christian Carto (18-1, 12 KOs) will headline a King’s Promotions event tomorrow night when he takes on Ernesto Sebastian Franzolini (14-12-2, 1 KO) in an eight-round bout at The 2300 Arena in South Philadelphia.

In the eight-round co-feature, undefeated welterweight Paul Kroll (9-0-1, 6 KOs) returns to action as he takes on Marklin Bailey (7-7, 4 KOs).

By Héctor Villarreal
Photos: Martín Pérez

Argentine super bantamweight Héctor Andrés “La Maquinita” Sosa (13-0, 7 KOs) and local prospect Rafael “El General” Pedroza (12-0, 11 KOs), went face to face for the first time, in the final press conference for their long-awaited fight, which heads the international boxing card organized by Sampson Boxing and Best Box for Friday night at the Vasco Nuñez de Balboa Convention Center in Panama City, Panama.

In this clash of undefeated fighters, Sosa, managed by former triple world champion Juan Martin “Latigo” Coggi, puts his WBC Silver Latin American belt on the line. Eleven professional fights were confirmed for the event, included Mexicans Ramses Perez and Luis Robles, both trained by Hall of Fame member Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain.

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By Ron Jackson

In 1994 East London became part of the province of the Eastern Cape and in 2000, East London became part of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, also consisting of King William’s Town, Bhisho and Mdantsane and is the seat of the Metro.

Loyiso Mtya a former boxer who has been involved in all the facets of boxing from trainer to administrator has now written his story of 40 years in boxing and records it in his book Boxing – the Story of Money, Blood Sweat and Tears. Continue reading “The story of boxing in the Buffalo City area”

Behind the scenes on media day of Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano ahead of the Matchroom Boxing card on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

After a photo opp on Tuesday at the Empire State Building, undisputed female lightweight champion Katie Taylor and women’s P4P Amanda Serrano took part in a media workout today in advance of their clash on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City, live worldwide on DAZN (even in Australia and New Zealand!).

Katie Taylor: “There’s going to be a lot of Irish fans in the building, I think it could easily be a 50-50 crowd with a lot of Amanda’s fans too, so it’s going to make for an amazing atmosphere.”:

Amanda Serrano: “Being a Latina from Brooklyn, I’m excited to say, ‘I’ve made it.’ I’m fighting the main event at Madison Square Garden! I’m making seven figures, a young Latina from Brooklyn. I never thought it could happen.”

By Mauricio Sulaimán
Son of José Sulaimán / President of the WBC

What an event and what a memorable show that I had the great opportunity to experience on Saturday at Wembley Stadium in England!

Tyson Fury celebrated the famous day of St. George and was proclaimed The King of Boxing in front of ninety-four thousand fans, in the most important fight during the last 30 years around the British Empire.

This event broke the attendance record for a boxing card in Europe and positioned itself as the second largest in boxing history only behind the Guinness Record of Mexican idol Julio César Chávez, with more than 136 thousand fans, on February 20, 1993, at the Azteca Stadium, promoted by Don King in association with Dan Goossen. Continue reading “The King of Boxing”

Former world jr middleweight champion and fan favorite Alfredo “Perro” Angulo has been added to the June 11th boxing card at The Center Stage Theater in Atlanta. The 39-year-old Angulo is 26-8 with 21 knockouts. Opponent is TBA.

In a six-rounders, super middleweight Casey” K Champ” Dixon (2-0, 1 KO) will take on Josh Franks (4-0, 3 KOs) for the WBA Youth title and middleweight Quatavious Cash (14-3, 8 KOs) takes on Jayson Minda (14-7-1, 8 KOs).

Veteran boxing trainer Orlando Cuellar has been selected by 2-time world champion Jean Pascal (35-6-1, 20 KOs) as his new chief second for his May 20th 12-round main event fight against undefeated Chinese light heavyweight Meng Fanlong (17-0, 10 KOs), the International Boxing Federation’s #1 contender.

The Miami-based Cuellar is best known for guiding the career of 2-time world light heavyweight champion Glen Johnson. Other world-class fighters he has trained include Antonio Tarver, Juan Carlos Gomez, Odlanier Solis, Eromosele Albert, and Yunieski Gonzalez. Continue reading “Pascal now training with Cuellar”

By Miguel Maravilla

There comes a time in a fighter’s career when he takes the biggest challenge and fights the best in his division. Julio Cesar Chavez took on the biggest challenge and best fighter in his division when he fought Melderick Taylor in what was a fight between two undefeated champions. For WBC champion Oscar Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) of Tucson by way of Nogales, Sonora Mexico he will be experiencing that moment this Saturday night as he takes on WBO champion Shakur Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) of Newark, New Jersey in a super featherweight unification showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas live on ESPN.

“I am ready for this fight. Ever since I was a kid, I have dreamed of being the main event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. This is the toughest and biggest fight of my career.” Continue reading “Valdez hopes to become one of Mexico’s greats”

Continue reading “Stevenson looks to unify, become a superstar”

Bitter junior lightweight rivals Oscar Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) and Shakur Stevenson (17-0, 9 KOs) will put their respective WBC and WBO belts on the line this Saturday on ESPN from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Four days from fight night, this is what Valdez and Stevenson had to say.

Oscar Valdez: “He is the type of fighter that is not willing to go to war. I’m the type of fighter that always wants to give the fans what they want. Since he is not willing to give the fans what they want, this will be more of a chess match.”

Shakur Stevenson: “I am the best 130-pound fighter in the world, and I will prove it when I beat Oscar Valdez and become unified champion.”

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Unbeaten two-time world champion David “El Bandera Roja” Benavídez and former world champion David Lemieux previewed their 12-round showdown for the vacant WBC interim super middleweight title during a virtual press conference Tuesday kicking off the build-up for their May 21 clash on Showtime from Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

David Benavidez: “I see flaws in David’s game and I’m sure he sees flaws in me. I know he wants to stop me, and I want to stop him.”

David Lemieux: “Styles make fights. I have the style to hurt Benavídez and I’m training hard to beat this guy.”

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Matchroom and DAZN announced two new shows today.

On June 10 at the Arena Coliseo in Mexico City, Hiroto Kyoguchi (15-0, 10 KOs) will defend his WBA super world light flyweight title against WBA regular titlist Esteban Bermudez (14-3-2, 10 KOs). The bout will crown one WBA 108lb champion as part of the WBA title reduction program. In the co-feature, super lightweight Jorge Casteneda (15-1, 11 KOs) faces Eduardo Hernandez (31-1, 28 KOs) for the WBC Silver International belt. Also, super middleweight Diego Pacheco (14-0, 11 KOs) will see action.

On June 25 at the Tech Port Arena in San Antonio, Texas, Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez (15-0, 10 KOs) will defend his WBC world super flyweight title against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (50-5-1, 43 KOs). That card also features WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez (18-2 14 KOs) against McWilliams Arroyo (21-4 16 KOs), IBF/WBA super bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (10-0, 7 KOs) against Ronny Rios (33-3 16 KOs), and undisputed female welterweight ruler Jessica McCaskill (11-2 4 KOs) vs. TBA.

In the co-feature, super lightweight Jorge Casteneda (15-1 11 KOs) faces Eduardo Hernandez (31-1, 28 KOs) for the WBC Silver International belt.

Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano pose at the Empire State Building ahead of Saturday’s fight at Madison Square Garden.

On Thursday, May 26, Salita Promotions will kickoff Memorial Day Weekend festivities with a special edition of the Detroit Brawl series in the Lincoln Ballroom of the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Michigan. Rising super welterweight Marlon Harrington (7-0, 6 KOs) vs. TBA will be featured in the night’s eight-round main event. Fighting in supporting bouts will be several undefeated Michigan prospects.