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On April 29th, Roy Jones Jr. (RJJ) Boxing is presenting “Sons of Legends” in The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. The main event is a 10-round match for the vacant WBC USNBC heavyweight title between Kenzie “TCB” Morrison (19-02,2, 17 KOs) and Hasim “Gold Blooded” Rahman (12-0, 6 KOs), respectively, the sons of past World Heavyweight Champions Tommy “The Duke” Morrison and Hasim Rahman.

Also scheduled to fight are sons of other “boxing legends” such as Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran, Mike “The Bounty” Hunter, Robert “Preacherman” Daniels, Gerald “G-Man” McClellan, and Steve “USS” Cunningham.

The action will be called at ringside by Hall of Famer Roy Jones, Jr., James “Smitty” Smith and Kalvin “Hot Sauce” Henderson on FITE TV and iNDemand PPV.

WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol trains in Carlsbad, California, ahead of his bout against Saul Alvarez on the Matchroom Boxing card on May 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Welterweights Shakhram Giyasov (12-0, 9 KOs) and Christian Gomez (22-2-1, 20 KOs) will clash for the IBF North American title on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. Dmitry Bivol at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 7, live on DAZN PPV.

The Giyasov-Gomez clash joins super lightweight Montana Love against Gabriel Valenzuela and Filip Hrgovic against Zhilei Zhang in an IBF heavyweight final eliminator on the Canelo-Bivol telecast.

“The British Mayweather” Lee Selby has announced his retirement via a long farewell statement on social media. The 35-year-old former IBF featherweight champion leaves with a record of 28-4 with 9 KOs and says he “exits the ring with no regrets, happy, healthy and with my family financially secure.”

Lee Selby Statement

After 27 years as an amateur and professional boxer, I know the time is right for me to hang up the gloves.

Being raised on the council estate in Barry, South Wales you learn early on about adversity. For many young people the burden of growing up in poverty takes its toll, but boxing saved me more than I ever thought possible. Continue reading “Former champion Lee Selby retires”

Groupe Yvon Michel (GYM) held a virtual press conference this morning in Montreal to announce the next installment of the popular boxing series co-promoted by GYM and Probellum on Thursday May 5th at the Cabaret of Montréal Casino.

In the main event, former WBO light heavyweight champion Eleider “Storm” Alvarez (25-2, 13 KOs) will return to the ring for the first time in nearly two years but this time as a cruiserweight. He will fight in an 8-rounder against an opponent to be announced this week.

In other action, Canadian super lightweight prospects, Mazlum Akdeniz (16-0, 8 KOs) and Mathieu “G-Time” Germain (20-2-1, 9 KOs) will fight in separate showcase fights.

The undercard for Tyson Fury’s WBC heavyweight championship PPV clash with challenger Dillian Whyte on April 23 is now in place, headed up by junior lightweight Anthony “The Apache” Cacace (19-1, 7 KOs) against former world champion Jonathan Romero (34-1, 19 KOs) for the vacant WBO International title.

The other PPV fights are featherweight Isaac Lowe (23-1-3, 6 KOs) against Nick Ball (14-0, 7 KOs) for the vacant WBC silver title, heavyweight David Adeleye (8-0, 7 KOs) against Chris Healey (9-8, 2 KOs), and light heavyweight Tommy Fury (7-0, 4 KOs) against Daniel Bocianski (10-1, 2 KOs).

Additionally, it has been confirmed that 4,000 additional tickets now set to go on sale tomorrow making the Fury-Whyte attendance the record-breaking sporting event to be held at Wembley Stadium.

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

Time is often ignored by human beings, without understanding and appreciating that lost minutes, departed hours and wasted days will never come back.

If we make a simple analysis of a given day, we can realize how we all waste time in many ways, due to our own actions, or by others wasting our valuable time. Regardless if it is tardiness or inattention, in reality it has vanished forever.

Our day-to-day and day-by-day is controlled and dominated by the damn cell phone. It’s likely that you’re reading this column on your cell phone, and most likely during working hours. Invariably, when we are with our family, we are on incessantly on the cell phone instead of enjoying those moments, those bright eyes, smiles and priceless moments of family life. The same with friends, being in a group, we are all chatting with someone who is far away and the cell phone brings us closer to them, but it partitions and separates us from those who are there right next to us. Continue reading “The most valuable thing in our life”

Unbeaten 6’6 super welterweight Sebastián “The Towering Inferno” Fundora has promised to bring the action against Erickson “Hammer” Lubin when they fight for the WBC interim title on Showtime Saturday in Las Vegas.

“We know Lubin is a southpaw and that he’s ranked number one by the WBC,” said Fundora. “He’s a good fighter overall. I expect him to come in and box, but I’m really just focused on doing what I do best. Fans can expect me to bring action against Erickson Lubin. ‘The Towering Inferno’ is bringing the fire on fight night.”

WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury said he was going off social media until his April 23 defense against Dillian Whyte. However, the champ couldn’t resist posting this tweet…

.@DillianWhyte is getting knocked out man!

Camp is going tremendous and cannot wait from my homecoming at the big smoke 🥊💨

All of my loyal fans are in for a treat, I’m going to put on a monster show @wembleystadium #FuryWhyte pic.twitter.com/I4CgIQYw7p

— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) April 5, 2022

By Gabriel F. Cordero

In a major development, the Cuban Boxing Federation has reached an agreement with Golden Ring Promotions to allow Cuban boxers, including Olympic champions Roniel Iglesias, Julio César La Cruz, Arlen López, and Andy Cruz, to compete in professional boxing matches. The first pro event to include Cuban boxers is expected to be held on May 20 in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and be broadcast by ESPN Knockout throughout the entire Latin American territory. Alberto Puig, president of the Federation, and Gerardo Saldívar made the announcement publicly and formally on Monday.

Cuba was once a professional boxing hotbed, but the pro sport was banned there in 1962.  Since then, the island has established the world’s premier amateur boxing program.

Australia’s Andrew Moloney hopes to earn another junior bantamweight world title shot in 2022. In order to do so, he’ll have to get past an upset-minded ]Gilberto Mendoza in an eight-rounder this Saturday at The Hangar at the Orange County Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, California. Moloney-Mendoza will open the televised tripleheader headlined by WBO/IBF junior lightweight world champion Mikaela Mayer’s title defense against Jennifer Han. The co-feature between Giovani Santillan and Jeonvanis Barraza, and Moloney-Mendoza will air live on ESPN. Continue reading “Mayer-Han undercard set”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Officials for Tyson Fury’s WBC heavyweight title defense against Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium on April 23 have been chosen. The referee will Mark Lyson of England, however, no British judges were chosen. Scoring will be done by Guido Cavalleri (Italy), Robert Tapper (Canada), and Juan Carlos Pelayo (Mexico).

Fury had stated that he wanted no British judges scoring his fight with Whyte following Josh Taylor’s controversial decision win over Jack Catterall last month.

Triller Fight Club has announced that heavyweight contender Jerry ‘The Slugger’ Forrest, (26-4-2, 20 KOs) will now face two-time world title challenger Kubrat ‘The Cobra’ Pulev (28-2 14 KOs), over ten rounds on May 14 at the Forum in Los Angeles. Forrest replaces Andrey Fedesov who was previously scheduled to face Pulev. Forrest is coming off draws against Michael Hunter and Zhilei Zhang. The main event remains intact with Sergey Kovalev against Tervel Pulev, the younger brother of Kubrat.

Here is Episode One of Showtime Sports’ All Access: Spence vs. Ugas series. Episode Two will premiere on Saturday.

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The Bourbon & Boxing series continues at Oak Grove Racing and Gaming Hotel in Oak Grove, Kentucky, as Tri-Star Boxing returns on April 30 with lightweight Austin “The Dream” Dulay (14-3, 10 KOs) on the comeback trail in a six-rounder against Carlos Gaston Suarez (8-7-3, 2 KOs).

In the co-feature, hard-punching cruiserweight prospect DeAngelo “The Memphis Madman” Leachman (8-0, 8 KOs) will see action in a six-rounder against Deon Ronny Hale (5-14-1, 4 KOs). Also in action, is welterweight Kerry James Jr. (4-1, 2 KOs) against TBA.

Showtime, DAZN, and ESPN will go mano a mano with three simultaneous telecasts on Saturday.

Showtime presents Erickson Lubin vs. Sebastian Fundora in a terrific clash for the WBC interim super welterweight title from Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. The all-super welterweight card also includes Tony Harrison vs. Sergio Garcia, and Kevin Salgado vs. Bryant Perrella.

DAZN counters with the return of Kingry. Lightweight star Ryan Garcia meets Emmanuel Tagoe from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Also, popular super middleweight “King” Gabriel Rosado faces Shane Mosley Jr. on the telecast.

ESPN leads with WBO/IBF female junior lightweight champion Mikaela Mayer against Jennifer Han at The Hangar at the Orange County Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, California. Welterweight Giovani Santillan faces Jeovanis Barraza in the co-feature. There is also a strong undercard on ESPN+ with both Maloney brothers, Jason Moloney and Andrew Moloney, IBF #1 featherweight Luis Alberto “El Venado” Lopez, and Olympic silver medalist Duke Ragan.

The biggest fight of the day, however, takes place on DAZN in the early morning hours when Gennady Golovkin faces Ryota Murata in an IBF/WBA middleweight unification clash from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Philadelphia bantamweight Christian Carto (18-1, 12 KOs) will headline a King’s Promotions event on April 29th 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 an eight-round bout, undefeated welterweight Paul Kroll (9-0-1, 6 KOs) returns to action as he takes on Marklin Bailey (7-7, 4 KOs).

In six-round bouts, junior welterweight Quadir Albright (5-0, 5 KOs) will take on Gonzlo Carlos Dallera (10-15), bantamweight Jeremy Adorno (6-0, 2 KOs) will fight John Vera (5-8, 3 KOs), lightweight Julian Gonzalez (5-0, 5 KOs), welterweight James Martin (7-3) and junior welterweight Malik Warren (6-0, 5 KOs) will see action against opponents to be named.

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Hall of Famer Jeff Fenech stated on Monday that Tokyo 2021 Olympic lightweight bronze medalist Harry Garside (1-0, 1 KO) will have problems with Sudanese-born Manuer Matet (4-1, 2 KOs) in their ten round bout on Wednesday for the vacant Australian title, which is up for grabs at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW, Australia, televised on Foxtel cable television network.

Jeff Fenech: “I take my hat off to you Harry. This guy, I’m not going to say he’s going to beat you but he’s going to give you a lot of problems. Harry’s certainly got one hell of a fighter in front of him. I’m proud of Harry for doing it but it’s not a fight I would’ve had for my guy having his second fight. I would’ve maybe looked at it for down the road so I think it’s been a very, very brave decision for Team Garside to do this and I’m sure they’re ready.”

Manuer Matet: “Sorry boy, you’re in my way. I’m taking him out.”

Harry Garside: “I’m excited. The last two, three years have been pretty hectic. I’m really excited to fight more than three rounds. It’s a ten round fight and everyone who knows boxing knows this is a tough fight. I’m excited to go deep into the fight and do what I do best, and that’s boxing.”

New promotional firm Abella Boxing Promotions presented their debut boxing event on Saturday night at the Terrace Paramus in Paramus, New Jersey. A sold-out crowd of 500+ was on hand to see the first boxing show ever in Paramus.

In the main event, super lightweight Nick “The Bull” Vitone (7-1-1, 6 KOs) stole the show in a six-round slugfest with Llewelyn McClamy (3-2-1, 1 KO). Scores were 60-54, 59-55, 60-54.

In the co-main, super welterweight Robert Terry (5-0, 0 KOs) outscored DeAundre Pettus (6-0, 3 KOs) in a six rounder by scores of 60-54, 59-55, 59-55.

In the fastest fight of the night, pro debuting light heavyweight Chaz Nyguen (1-0, 1 KO) stopped Tyler Voigt (0-2) in round one. Chazz, a police officer in East Brunswick, New Jersey, finished Voigt in just 2:40. Continue reading “Results from Paramus, New Jersey”

By Robert Coster

Dominican boxing fans were provided on Saturday with an entertaining international card with three regional titles on the line. The main event had local prospect Francis Frometa (16-0, 10 KOs) 135lbs, win a unanimous ten round decision over former title contender Oliver Flores (30-5-2, 19 KOs) 134lbs, of Nicaragua for the WBA Fedecaribe title. In the first half of the fight, Frometa had problems with the cagey visitor but he took command of the action by the fifth round. The fight was a rather slow-paced chess match. The three local judges scored it 99-91 for Frometa. Fightnews.com® had it 97-93 for Frometa.

Jose Miguel Galvez (18-2, 11 KOs) 139lbs, won the FIB Caribbean title with a second round TKO over Venezuelan Jampier Oses (18-6-1, 13 KOs) 138lbs.

Luis Miguel Aguero (11-0, 6 KOs) 122lbs, scored a spectacular one-punch knockout over Dixon Flores (17-10-3, 6 KOs) of Nicaragua, 121.5lbs, in the first round, winning the WBA Fedelatin belt. Continue reading “Results from Santo Domingo”

By Brad Snyder-The Undercard
Photos by Bob Ryder

When you say Erick DeLeon’s name in Detroit, you put a little respect behind it. The fact is he is talked about often. Erick has been silent during an injury-plagued and Covid boxing landscape for three years. But in the gyms, at the bars, and at entertainment venues when you speak of Erick DeLeon, you put a little respect behind it.

Saturday night was a homecoming. The legend of a 3-time National Golden Glove champion coming home. A star, whose light was so bright in the beginning, not many locals have been able to see him fight live as a professional. A question whispered at shows was, “Where is Erick DeLeon? And when does he fight next?” The answer, he never left and April 2, 2022. Continue reading “DeLeon destroys Herrera in comeback”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

In an encounter of perennial contenders, 37-year-old veteran JBC#2 Makoto Kawasaki (13-8-1, 2 KOs), 153.75, managed to acquire the vacant Japanese 154-pound belt by earning a unanimous decision (97-93, 98-92, 96-94) over JBC#1 Koki Koshikawa (9-4, 6 KOs), 154, over ten hard-fought rounds on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. The belt had been renounced by ex-champ Hironobu Matsunaga (20-1, 13 KOs) who previously defeated each of them with ease. Koshikawa, 31, was formerly an amateur boxer at Komazawa university, being a prefight favorite over Kawasaki. The underdog, however, kept punching upstairs and downstairs, scoring more points than Koshikawa who only threw a punch at a time. The late-bloomer cried for joy with tears, saying, “My mother, thank you for giving me such a tough body!” She, also in tears of joy, was in attendance to watch her unsung son’s coronation in his fourth attempt.

World-rated ex-WBO 122-pound challenger Ryo Akaho (38-2-2, 25 KOs), 121.5, occasionally had a tough time but eked out a close but unanimous verdict (77-75 twice, 79-73) over Mugicha Nakagawa (24-8-2, 14 KOs), 122, over a lackluster eight. Akaho, more aggressive, kept missing the elusive target, two years his junior at 33, with sporadic roundhouse left hooks all the way. Continue reading “Kawasaki beats Koshikawa, wins vacant Japanese 154lb belt”

WBC female bantamweight champion Yuliahn “Cobrita” Luna (22-3-1, 4 KOs) defended her world title via hard fought ten round unanimous decision against previously undefeated Mayeli Flores (8-1-1, 3 KOs) on Saturday night at the Gym Miguel Hidalgo in Puebla, Mexico. Scores were 95-92,95-91, 99-89. Good scrap.

WBC female super bantamweight champion Yamileth “Yeimi” Mercado (19-3, 5 KOs) won by ten round unanimous decision against late sub Isis “Emperatriz” Vargas (9-4, 3 KOs) on Saturday night at the Rodrigo M. Quevedo Municipal Gymnasium in Chihuahua, Mexico. Scores were 99-91 3x. Mercado, coming off her brave loss to Amanda Serrano, was initially scheduled to face Zulina “La Loba” Muñoz, but Muñoz was injured and Vargas stepped in.

Former world title challenger Dewayne Beamon (21-4-3, 15 KOs) had to settle for a technical draw against local fan favorite Pablo Carrillo (25-8-2, 17 KOs) on Saturday at the Coliseo Sugar Baby Rojas in Barranquilla, Colombia. Close fight until a ruled unintentional headbutt in round five left Carrillo with a deep visible gash on top of his head and he was ruled unable to continue by the ring doctor. The WBC Continental Americas super flyweight title remains vacant. The 36-year-old Beamon hails from Goldsboro, North Carolina.

WBO female middleweight champion Savannah “The Silent Assassin” Marshall (12-0, 10 KOs) brutally knocked out Femke Hermans (12-4, 5 KOs) in round three on Saturday night in Newcastle, England, to set up a grudge showdown with WBA, WBC, IBF champion Claressa “GWOAT” Shields later this year. Marshall laid out Hermans with a left hook. Time was 1:59.

“There’s no one else in the way between me and Claressa, so it’s me and her in the summer now,” said Marshall. “I know Claressa can’t handle my power. I believe I can beat her. It’s got to happen here in the Northeast.”

Shields, who was at ringside, stated, “I said she’d do that to Femke Hermans but I’m not Femke Hermans, I’m not Hannah Rankin, I’m not any of those girls she’s fought. If that’s what I’ve got to look forward to, it’s going to be a wipeout…I’m 10 times faster than Femke!” Continue reading “Marshall annihilates Hermans, Shields next”