Fightnews.com

U.S. Olympian and former unified super lightweight world champion Jose Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) and undefeated super welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr. (20-0, 20 KOs) hosted their final press conference on Thursday. Opponents Rances Barthelemy and Thomas Dulorme were not present. The twinbill take place on Saturday on DAZN from the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.

Jose Ramirez: “I am ready for this Saturday. My goal is to get back on top and to get all those belts back. I still feel like I am one of the best 140-pounders in the division. I plan on making a statement on Saturday, and that’s what I was working on in the gym. Thank you to Oscar and to Golden Boy for the opportunity.”

Vergil Ortiz, Jr: “I don’t have too much to say right now. All everyone should know is that we had a great training camp, trained hard, and had incredible sparring. I like running – I ran a lot. I really don’t have anything else to say aside from that.”

By Mauricio Sulaimán
Son of José Sulaimán / WBC President

During this year I have had the opportunity to hold unforgettable encounters and meetings with many champions of great sentimental value for me and for our WBC. It has been a busy year with a lot of travel, but the most important thing has been those moments with my beloved champions.

Manny Pacquiao

I was with him for several days during my visit to the Philippines. It was very gratifying to see what a so loved person he is. It was impressive to see that he was always the last person to leave the events we went to, signing autographs, taking photos, and making video messages for those who asked him. We talked about topics of great interest, as he has very interesting plans to perhaps still have some high-level fight, although he is also already a promoter of boxing, basketball and pool. A legendary champion adored by everyone in the Philippines and the world. Continue reading “Boxing All Around the World”

Ramon Arellano (Arellano Boxing) presents another night of boxing May 23 in Nashville, Tennessee. The site location will be the popular local Mexican restaurant San Jose Fiesta owned by Arellano. The 4 round light heavyweight main event will feature local unbeaten Michael Nelson (2-0, 2 KOs) looking to keep his 0 vs the debuting Jordan Hawthorne-Ranzy. Continue reading “Boxing back in Nashville”

A pair of showdowns featuring super welterweights in separate attractions will highlight PBC on Prime Video action taking place Saturday, May 4 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The two matchups will be available via free access to all fans, regardless of Prime membership or purchase of the PPV card.

The live streaming presentation will be topped by hard-hitting contender Jesus “Mono” Ramos (20-1, 16 KOs) taking on Venezuela’s Johan Gonzalez (34-2, 33 KOs) in a 10-round bout, plus Vito Mielnicki Jr. (16-1, 11 KOs) battles Ronald Cruz (19-3-1, 12 KOs) in a 10-round fight kicking off the stream. These bouts will lead into a four-fight PBC Pay-Per-View on Prime Video. PPV price is %89.99.

Hall of Fame boxing promoter Don King and Kris Lawrence’s The Heavyweight Factory will present a big June 7th card at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The main event will be Adrien “The Problem” Broner (35-4-1 with 24 KOs) against Blair “The Flair” Cobbs (16-1-1, 10 KOs) for the WBC “People’s Championship.”

Also, WBC cruiserweight champion Norair “The Dark Horse” Mikaeljan (27-2, 12 KOs) will defend his title for the first time against Ryan “The Bruiser” Rozicki (20-1, 19 KOs).

“This spectacular fighting event is dedicated to the honor of the life and legacy of the late great Jose Sulaiman in the spirit of world peace,” said promoter Don King. “Jose was at the forefront of always putting on great fights and we plan to honor him with this great card.” Continue reading “Broner-Cobbs collide June 7”

Sad to anounce the passing of famed ring announcer Joe Antonacci at the age of 63. We’re told Joe had a massive heart attack. Antonacci ring announced all over including on many major TV shows and promotions. He was known for donating all of his ring earnings to assist injured or retired boxers in need. The family is planning to have a Celebration of Life for him sometime during the summer.

Heavyweight Jermaine Franklin Jr. (22-2, 14 KOs) returns to his home state of Michigan to take on former US Olympian Devin Vargas (22-10, 9 KOs) in the 10-round main event of the next installment of Salita Promotions’ “Big Time Boxing USA” boxing series on Thursday, May 23, from Wayne State Fieldhouse in Detroit and live on DAZN.

In the eight-round co-feature, undefeated former national amateur champion Joshua James Pagan (9-0, 4 KOs) meets fellow unbeaten prospect Roger Hilley (13-0, 8 KOs) for the “junior” NABF super lightweight belt.

World rated super bantamweight Ramon Cardenas (25-1, 14 KOs) scored a ninth round KO against Eduardo “Koreano” Ramirez (22-4-2, 16 KOs) on Wednesday night at the Whitesands Event Center in Plant City, Florida. Cardenas ended a close, competitive fight with a bodyshot. Time was 1:37.

Super welterweight Damian Sosa (25-2, 12 KOs) upset previously unbeaten local hero Marques Valle (10-1, 8 KOs) by split decision over ten rounds. Scores were 96-94, 97-93 Sosa, 98-92 Valle.

Former world champion Ronny Rios (34-4, 17 KOs) won his featherweight debut by fifth round KO against Nicolas Polanco (21-6, 12 KOs). Body shots finished Polanco. Time was :54.

Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez has now confirmed his opponent for the historic return on July 12 at the Alexis Arguello Arena in Managua, Nicaragua. Gonzalez will face former WBA world title challenger Rober “El Huracan” Barrera (27-5 17 KO’s) in a 10-round Main Event. The show will stream live on ESPN+ and ESPN Knockout in Latin America.

Gonzalez will shake off the ring rust after 18 months of inactivity by the time he steps in the ring. “Chocolatito” was last seen in the trilogy against Juan Francisco Estrada December of 2022. Continue reading ““Chocolatito” Gonzalez opponent named”

By Damien St.Pierre

“Brawlin N Nawlins” is bringing boxing back to the Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi, MS on April 26. The main event of the night will feature a local heavyweight brawl between current NABF heavyweight champion Jonathan “King” Guidry (20-1-2) of Dulac, LA and Bobby “Bobo” O’Bannon (10-7) in a bout scheduled for 8 rounds.

Guidry who is coming off of his 3 consecutive wins against notable opposition will look to continue his quest to a heavyweight title opportunity once again. He is currently ranked 14th by the WBA. In his last bout Guidry destroyed undefeated Jesus Escalera in 2 rounds, his most notable bout where he gained national attention he was narrowly defeated by Trevor Bryan in a bid for the WBA heavyweight crown. Continue reading “Heavyweight “King” Guidry headlines in Biloxi on Friday”

By Joe Koizumi

There will be another world title bout in Japan prior to the sensational encounter of Monster Naoya Inoue and Luis Pantera Nery on this coming May 6. Just two days before the super fight at Tokyo Dome. IBF bantamweight champ Emmanuel Rodriguez (22-2, 13 KOs), from Puerto Rico, arrived on Tuesday night in Osaka, Japan. He will face IBF#1 Ryosuke Nishida (8-0, 1 KO) at Edion Arena Osaka on May 4. Rodriguez reportedly stayed at a high altitude for four months in Mexico and directly came to Japan without returning his native Puerto Rico. The champ confidently said, “It’s hard for Nishida to beat me due to the difference of experience. I’m in very excellent shape after two hundred sparring sessions in Mexico.” Nishida may have a southpaw speedster’s chance.

Riyadh Season, the Saudi promotional outfit that has taken over big time boxing recently, has announced a megacard for August 3 at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. This is their first boxing event to be staged outside Saudi Arabia.

The lineup includes:

• Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov
• Tim Tszyu vs. Vergil Ortiz
• Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz vs. Jose Valenzuela
• Andy Ruiz vs. Jerrell Miller
• David Morrell vs. Radivoje Kalajdzic
• Andy Cruz vs. Antonio Moran

Unbeaten super welterweight Nikita Tszyu (9-0, 7 KOs) scored a mostly one-sided ten round unanimous decision over Danilo Creati (8-2-1, 1 KO) on Wednesday night in a clash for the Aussie domestic title at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, NSW, Australian. Tszyu dominated the first five rounds, including a knockdown in round two when Creati’s glove touched the canvas. A Creati right hand rocked Tszyu in round six and had Tszyu holding on. After that, Tszyu was back in charge for the rest of the fight to win comfortably.

Nikita is the son of Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu and brother of former WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu.

In an IBF light heavyweight eliminator, unbeaten IBF #14 Malik Zinad (22-0, 16 KOs) won a twelve round majority decision over IBF #4 Jerome Pampellone (18-1, 11 KOs). Score were 117-111, 117-111, and 114-114. Zinad becomes the mandatory IBF challenger for the winner of the undisputed clash between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol on June 1.

Undefeated former world champion Jaime Munguía held a media workout in Los Angeles on Tuesday ahead of his upcoming showdown against Canelo Álvarez for the undisputed super middleweight world title on Prime Video May 4 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Jaime Munguia: “I’m going to go in there to do my job. I don’t care what anyone on the outside says. At the end of the day, I have to stay ready and make the most of this opportunity. I’ve always kept an eye on Canelo, even when we were in different weight classes. Eventually, you have to fight the best in your division and that’s where we are right now. I respect Canelo as a fighter, but when you step into that ring with me, I’m gonna do my best to do my job and get my hand raised.”

Oscar De La Hoya: “Canelo is going to come out guns blazing, but there’s a changing of the guard in every era and I think that this is the perfect scenario for Jaime Munguia to take over. Jaime is ready to go. He’s faced every adversary and every style. Whether they brawl or box, he’s taken them out. Now he’s ready for the biggest fish in the sea. Jaime has the youth, the punch output and the chin. I see all the cards stacked against Canelo.”

Ramon Cardenas 121.2 vs. Jesus Ramirez Rubio 121.2
Marques Valle 152.6 vs. Damian Sosa 153.6
Ronny Rios 125 vs. Nicolas Polanco 127.4
Max Ornelas 122.2 vs. Alexander Mejia 122.2

Venue: Whitesands Events Center, Plant City, Florida.
Promoter: ProBox
TV: ProBox TV

At an IBF welterweight purse bid, Matchroom Boxing won the right to promote a clash between world champion Jaron Ennis and Cody Crowley. Matchroom outbid TGB Promotions $3.9 million to $2 million. Ennis will have an 85-15 split. The bout will reportedly have a July date and take place in Philadephia.

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Undaunted and undeterred by Naoya Inoue’s reputation as a prefight favorite, Mexican challenger and ex-WBC bantam ruler Luis Nery (35-1, 27 KOs) participated in a public workout on Tuesday at Teiken Gym in Tokyo, Japan. Some seventy press people gathered to watch Nery’s first training since Pantera is so notorious, so sensational and so dangerous to Naoya. The 29-year-old thick-bearded Mexican demonstrated just each one round of shadowboxing and hitting the mitt of trainer Samil Rosano. That’s all. But Nery talked a lot before the Japanese press. “It is rather warm and the weather is much better than my previous visits here against Shinsuke Yamanaka. I’m already 127 pounds. My condition is by far better than for all my previous fights. I don’t think Naoya is Michael Jordan. He has been overestimated, and I will beat him. I’ve already found some serious defects on Inoue, and will dethrone him without doubt.”

Should it been a speech contest, Nery might be more eloquent than Inoue. Naoya’s father/trainer Shingo and his promoter/manager Hideyuki Ohashi were in attendance to watch Nery’s workout, and they looked impressed with his motivation and eloquence as well. Time will tell. Continue reading “Luis Nery highly motivated to defeat Monster Inoue”

By Jeff Zimmerman

One of boxing’s best trainers, Robert Garcia, broke down Haney-Garcia, talked about his heavy hitters Jose Ramirez and Vergil Ortiz Jr fighting this weekend in Fresno and the return of Bam Rodriguez in June against Juan Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada and much more in this Fightnews.com® exclusive interview.

On Saturday night at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Teflon Promotions will present a card filled with Philly favorites airing on BLK Prime.

The main event is heavyweight Andrew “Beast” Tabiti (20-2, 16 KOs) against Junior “Hurricane” Wright (20-5, 17 KOs) in a ten rounder. In the co-feature, light heavyweight Jesse “Hard Work” Hart (30-3, 24 KOs) meets Daniel Aduku (15-4, 11 KOs) over eight. Other notables include unbeaten middleweight Nikita “White Chocolate” Ababiy, unbeaten cruiserweight Muhsin Cason (Hasim Rahman’s brother), unbeaten bantamweight Dylan Priice, heavyweight Joey “Tank” Dawejko, and super lightweight “Hank” Lundy.

By Joe Koizumi
Photo by Naoki Fukuda

The Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) on Friday (April 19) announced to suspend WBC#8, WBA#10 featherweight Hayato Tsutsumi (5-0, 2 KOs), 24, for six months from April 16 (the weigh-in day) because he failed to make the contracted 126-pound by no less than three and a half pound. Also Tsutsumi was fined 20 percent of his purse due to his violation of JBC’s rules and regulations. Hayato, after the fight, explained that he suffered a fever caused by corona virus infection while training in Las Vegas on March 26. After he came home from Vegas, he couldn’t do good training and eventually had a difficulty making weight. The bright prospect who had won thirteen national amateur belts prior to his entry into the paid ranks, this time with a dark reputation due to this overweight incident, is hoped to make a sound comeback since we know he is so vastly talented that he will certainly follow “Monster” Inoue’s footstep.

By Joe Koizumi
Photo: Naoki Fukuda

Japan seems to be a hub port of smaller class super fights. WBA super flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka (31-2-1, 16 KOs) has decided to fight IBF counterpart Fernando Martinez (16-0, 9 KOs) in Tokyo on July 7. It was publicly announced with the Argentinian in attendance. The unification bout will take place at Ryogoku Sumo Arena, where many aficionados will be expected to watch this showdown of the champions. Martinez said, “I like Ioka’s style as the opponent. I’ll defeat him and bring back both belts to Argentina.” Ioka said, “I have to cope with Martinez’s style and exchange punches with him to finally score a knockout victory.” It will be a very competitive fight without doubt.

More Photos

By Joe Koizumi

Former WBC bantamweight champ Luis Nery (35-1, 27 KOs), the Mexican southpaw challenger to “Monster” Naoya Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) on this coming May 6, arrived on Sunday in Tokyo, Japan. Accompanying his wife and three daughters, Nery said, “I’m fully aware that Inoue is an excellent boxer, but I’m not scared of fighting him. I don’t believe Naoya, in the pound-for-pound ratings, is superior to Terrence Crawford or Gervonta Davis. I’ll knock him out and win the world belts from him.” Reportedly he is already at 127, just five pounds over the super bantam class limit. He has a couple of weeks prior to the highly anticipated super fight at Tokyo Dome.

Former two-time amateur world champion and WBA #15 ranked middleweight Yoenlis Hernandez (3-0, 3 KOs) of Cuba is currently training with undisputed super middleweight world champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. Both are currently preparing for upcoming fights. Hernandez will fight June 7th against TBA in a 10 round bout at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Promoter Kris Lawrence believes Hernandez’ takeover of the middleweight division will happen more sooner than later. “If given the opportunity I know he could beat anyone at 160 right now,” said Lawrence. “Hopefully before the end of the year he could fight for a world title. He is ready to fight any of the beltholders right now.” Continue reading “Interview: Yoenlis Hernandez”

By Joe Koizumi
Photo by Boxing Beat Magazine

WBO Asia Pacific junior flyweight champ Jayson Vayson (12-1-1-1NC, 5 KOs) 107.75, retained his regional belt as he outscored Japanese challenger Takeru Inoue (4-1, 2 KOs), 108, by a unanimous decision (96-94 twice, 97-94) over ten hard-fought rounds on Sunday in Osaka, Japan. Filipino Vayson upset ex-world champ Ryuya Yamanaka via stunning second round stoppage to wrest the WBO AP belt last December, and it was his initial defense. Inoue, formerly a policeman after graduating from Kinki university though he retired to enter the paid ranks, fought well, but Vayson showed his superior ring experience, and compiled points steadily. It is said that Vayson, in his second defense, will engage in a rematch with ex-champ Yamanaka.

Promoter: Muto Promotions.