Fightnews.com

By Evan Jacobs

SOCA Fights returned to the Hangar at the OC Fair & Events Center in Costa Mesa, CA for the first show of 2024 and it was yet another great night of fights that had a little something for everyone…four boxing matches, an MMA clash, and even a sword fight!

Yes, you read that right! The event opened with some fine fencing skills on display before a very appreciative crowd. The swords moved swiftly as the audience cheered on this very intricate art form. The combatants showed strong resolve and really set the stage for the action to follow as the evening moved on. Continue reading “Fight Club OC Results”

Super lightweight Jesus “Ricky” Perez (25-5, 18 KOs) scored a hard fought split decision over former world champion Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jr. (33-5-1, 15 KOs) on Thursday night at the Commerce Casino & Hotel in Commerce, California. After a ten round slugfest, judges had it 95-94 for Diaz, 96-94 and a ridiculous 99-90 (Lou Moret) for Perez. Diaz was deducted a point in round five for shoving Perez through the ropes. JoJo has now lost four of his last five.

The scheduled co-feature between flyweights Ricardo “El Niño” Sandoval and Jayson Mama was scrapped when Mama tested positive for Hep-C.

Super welterweight prospect Eric Tudor (10-1, 6 KOs) bounced back from his first loss with an eight round unanimous decision over Luis Ramos (6-3-1, 6 KOs). Scores were 80-72 3x.

Unbeaten super bantamweight Jorge “El Niño Dorado” Chavez (10-0, 7 KOs) outscored Diuhl Olguin (16-35-7, 10 KOs) over six rounds. Chavez recovered from a first round knockdown to win 59-54, 58-55, 58-55.

Unbeaten lightweight Joshua Garcia (7-0, 4 KOs) scored a first round KO against Eric Lozada (1-1-1, 0 KOs). A flush right hand finished Lozada. Time was 1:45.

Pro debuting middleweight Sasha Tudor (0-0-1, 0 KOs) and Josias Gonzalez (2-2-1, 0 KOs) battled to a four round draw. Scores were 39-37 Gonzalez, 39-37 Tudor, 38-38.

Adrian Curiel 107.5 vs. Sivenathi Nontshinga 108
(IBF light flyweight title)

Mauricio Lara 130 vs. Daniel Lugo 129.75

Venue: Auditorium Guelaguetza in Oaxaca, Mexico
Promoter: Matchroom
TV: DAZN

Victor Hernandez 124 vs. Jose Edgardo Garcia 125
(NABA USA Featherweight Title)

Marklin Bailey 138 vs. Rondale Hubbert 142
Jaquan Carty 162 vs. Orlando Salgado 161.5
Elijah Williams 144 vs. Clay Burns 139
Aaron Lopez 137 vs. Raymond Chacon 133.5
Trevor Thonson 135.5 vs. Mike Fowler 134
Joshua Baker 180 vs. Ricardo Beceril 180
Khalid Twati 118.5 vs. Ira Terry 118
Tayvien Alpough 114 vs. Malcolm Speight 115
Aaron Cypress 188 vs. Shabios Lynch 180
Paul Anthony 137 vs. Keasen Freeman 140

Venue: John T. Rhodes Sports Complex
Promoter: Christy Martin Promotions
Stream: TrillerTV Powered By Fite (Marc Abrams, Ron Borges in the call)
1st Bell: 6 PM ET

The DAZN undercard is set for the March 16 IBF and WBA lightweight eliminator featuring between knockout machine William “El Camarón” Zepeda (29-0, 25 KOs) and Maxi “Maximus” Hughes (26-6-2, 5 KOs) at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

• Undefeated and highly regarded lightweight Floyd “Kid Austin” Schofield (16-0, 12-KOs) will take on Esteuri “El Puma” Suero (13-1, 10 KOs) in the ten round co-feature.
• In a WBA featherweight final eliminator, Victor “El Tornado” Morales, Jr. (19-0-1, 9 KOs) faces Luis “The Twist” Nunez (19-0, 13 KOs) in a ten-rounder.
• In a bad-blood rematch, Marlen Esparza (14-1, 1 KO) will put her unified WBA, WBC, WBO female flyweight titles on the line against Gabriela “Chucky” Alaniz (14-1, 6 KOs) in a ten round fight.
• Opening the broadcast, cruiserweight Tristan “Sweet T” Kalkreuth (12-1, 9 KOs) meets Marquice Weston (15-2-1, 8 KOs) and middleweight Eric Priest (12-0, 8 KOs) faces TBA.

O’Shaquie Foster 130 vs. Abraham Nova 129
(WBC super featherweight title)

Bryan Chevalier 129 vs. Andres Cortes 130
Bruce Carrington 125.6 vs. Bernard Torres 125.4
Guido Vianello 242.2 vs. Moses Johnson 248.4
Isaah Flaherty 158.4 vs. Julien Baptiste 158.2
Ofacio Falcon 130 vs. Edward Ceballos 129.6
Tiger Johnson 140.4 vs. Paulo Galdino 141.8
Euri Cedeno 159 vs. Antonio Todd 158.6
Arnold Gonzalez 150 vs. Charles Stanford 147.6

Venue: Madison Square Garden Theater, New York City
Promoter: Top Rank
TV: ESPN

Bitter rivals Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall finally meet in a rematch at the First Direct Arena in Leeds on April 27, shown live on DAZN in the UK and around the world and exclusively on ESPN+ in the US.

Josh Taylor: “I’ve never run from anyone in my life, especially not Jack Catterall. He has spent the last two years running from promoter to promoter while living off my name. Jack should be careful what he wishes for because he’s getting battered on April 27. I am going to enjoy every second of this. See you soon, Jack.”

Jack Catterall: “I get asked every day of my life multiple times a day, ‘when are you fighting Taylor again?’. This isn’t about belts, this is personal to me and I can’t wait to get my hands on him. I don’t like him, I don’t respect him and on April 27 I’m going to end him.”

2020 Olympian silver medalist and unbeaten super middleweight Ben Whittaker (6-0, 5 KOs) brings his controversial style to The O2 in London as the latest addition to BOXXER’s Wardley-Clarke clash on Sunday, March 31st on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland and Peacock in the USA. Fans either love or hate Whittaker for his penchant to embarrass his less talent opponents with his flamboyant showboating. But, nevertheless, he has become a viral sensation with clips of his antics during his stoppage win over Khalid Graidia on February 3rd generating millions of views and global interest on social media.

Promoter Ben Shalom said: “The reaction to Ben Whittaker’s performance against Khalid Graidia has been incredible. It shows the power of social media. He gained hundreds of thousands of followers overnight and there’s clips of him online with millions and millions of views. We’ve known from day one that we’ve got a superstar on our hands with Ben Whittaker. With his style and personality, we believe he can become the biggest star in world boxing.”

By Jeff Zimmerman

Fightnews.com® caught up with 3x division world champ Badou Jack as he looks to seek another title at bridgerweight and perhaps heavyweight. Jack shared his move to Dubai from Las Vegas, how a potential fight with Canelo unraveled and his take on potential Canelo-Benavidez and Canelo-Crawford showdowns and much more in this exclusive interview.

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IBF light flyweight champion Adrian Curiel and former beltholder Sivenathi Nontshinga faced off at the final press conference for their clash this Friday night on DAZN from the Auditorium Guelaguetza in Oaxaca, Mexico

Adrian Curiel: “It’s great to defend my belt on home soil. It was not a lucky shot or KO…I’ve been watching interviews that he’s been giving, and he says that I’m not a big puncher and I’m an easy fighter, but he’ll see on Friday that as we say here, people need to back up what they say. So, we’ll see on Friday if that’s true.”

Sivenathi Nontshinga: “I’ve trained so hard. It’s not the first time I’ve prepared for a world title fight. I’ve been a champion before, and I promise everybody that once again I will prevail. I believe falling down is part of life, but getting back up is living, so once again, I will become a champion.”

JoJo Diaz 137.6 vs. Ricky Perez 138.2
Ricardo Sandoval 110.8 vs. Jayson Mama 112.4
Eric Tudor 153.2 vs. Luis Ramos 153.8
Jorge Chavez 123.6 vs. Diuhl Olguin 124
Joshua Garcia 131.2 vs. Eric Lozada 130.8
Sasha Tudor 159 vs. Josias Gonzalez 153.8

Venue: Commerce Casino, Commerce, California
Promoter: Golden Boy
TV: DAZN

WBC super featherweight world champion O’Shaquie “Ice Water” Foster (21-2, 12 KOs) and Abraham “El Super” Nova (23-1, 16 KOs) faced off at the final press conference for their ESPN clash on Friday night at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. This will be the second title defense for Foster, a native of Orange, Texas, who salvaged his title with a come-from-behind 12th-round knockout over Rocky Hernandez last October.

O’Shaquie Foster: “It was crazy {against Rocky Hernandez}. We shocked the world. And I’m here to do it again. Everybody calls me Shock, and we’re going to keep doing it…we’ve been calling out Nova for years. He knows it. His excuse was that my name wasn’t big enough. Funny how the tables turn. I’m ready, and I’m familiar with his style…I did everything in the gym. We are prepared. Come Friday night, we will dominate and put on a show.”

Abraham Nova: “Fighting for a world title is a dream come true. I can’t let this opportunity slip by. I’ve wanted this for so long. Now I have this opportunity. So, I’m super excited and super motivated…I’ve got to put my trust in God. Everything in the gym has been done. You know what I bring and what I come with. The pressure will be on. The IQ will be on. Everything will be on. I will just have to adjust and come out with the victory.”

All-action Alen ‘The Savage’ Babic is back in action on the undercard of the ‘Bad Blood’ showdown between unbeaten heavyweight rivals Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke on Sunday, March 31st at The O2 in London, live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland and Peacock in the USA. After a devastating KO1 loss to Lukasz Rozanski in a WBC bridgerweight world title fight, Babic (11-1, 10 KOs) will be looking to get back to winning ways when he steps up to heavyweight against 240+ pounder Steve ‘Drago’ Robinson (6-2, 4 KOs). Also seeing action is unbeaten super middleweight Callum Simpson (13-0, 9 KOs) vs. TBA.

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Old warrior but young at heart, 39-year-young Yuichi Ideta (18-16-1, 9 KOs), 153.5, eked out a hairline majority technical decision (67-66, 68-66 for him, 66-67 against him) over JBC#1 Masaki Kobayashi (9-3, 4 KOs), 153, because of the latter’s bad swelling caused by an accidental headbutt at 1:47 of the seventh round in a scheduled ten on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. Continue reading “Ideta barely keeps Japanese 154lb belt”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Perennial 140-pound world contender, ex-OPBF, WBO AP and national super light and welter champ Keita Obara, 37, lately hung up gloves for good and celebrated his retirement on Tuesday at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

Standing 5’11” and hitting very hard, the upright stylist, whose overall mark was 26-5-1, 23 KOs, once attempted to conquer the world belt, but in vain. Obara went to Miami, FL to exchange gloves with Walter Castillo in the IBF eliminator to decide the #1 only to fight to a highly controversial draw (115-113 for Obara, 114-114 twice) in 2015. Continue reading “Ex-OPBF, WBO AP champ Keita Obara retires”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Japan might have a new star in unbeaten JBC#5 super lightweight Mikyo Watarai (5-0, 3 KOs), 139.25, who very impressively dispatched Philippine GAB#1 contender, previously unbeaten Ali Canega (10-1-1, 6 KOs), 139.75, at 0:28 of the fourth round in a scheduled eight on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. Continue reading “Unbeaten Watarai demolishes GAB#1 Canega”

IBF light flyweight champion Adrian Curiel and former champion Sivenathi Nontshinga face-off for the first time during fight week at Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman in Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico.

Bitter rivals Josh Taylor (19-1, 13 KOs) and Jack Catterall (28-1, 13 KOs) are reportedly close to announcing a rematch on April 27 at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England. In February 2022, when Taylor was still undisputed 140lb champion, he won a controversial decision over Catterall. Their rematch would again be at 140lbs and be streamed by DAZN.

IBF junior welterweight champion Subriel Matias (20-1 20 KOs) has signed a multi-fight co-promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing and Fresh Productions. Matias is now eyeing a summer defense in his native Puerto Rico.

“I am very excited about the deal we’ve reached with Matchroom,” said Matias. “I can’t wait to show DAZN, Matchroom, all the big names out there and the world why this deal was made because I am the best 140 pounder on the planet. And I will show this in front of my people, which makes me immensely happy. I promise to keep working hard to give the fans what they are looking for. This is all-out wars until one of the two opponents breaks up. I do not run. It is not my fighting style, and it is not in my DNA. This will not change now in any way. Whoever they put in front of me, I will destroy.” Continue reading “Matchroom inks IBF champ Subriel Matias”

Two showdowns featuring a rising star in his toughest test to date and a flyweight world champion against an undefeated contender will highlight the first PBC on Prime Video show on March 30 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 feature rising middleweight Elijah García (16-0, 13 KOs) taking on Kyrone “Shut It Down” Davis (18-3-1, 6 KOs) in a 10-round attraction, and will also have WBC flyweight champion Julio César Martínez (20-2, 15 KOs) defending his world title against unbeaten Angelino Cordova (18-0-1, 12 KOs).

These bouts will lead into the inaugural four-fight PBC Pay-Per-View available on Prime Video and topped by WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu against two-time former champion Keith “One Time” Thurman in a non-title affair, plus WBA super lightweight champion Rolando “Rolly” Romero against Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz in the co-main event.

WBO #1, IBF #5 bantamweight and former WBC/WBA interim champion Reymart Gaballo (27-1, 22 KOs) needed just 32 seconds to demolish former WBA interim minimumweight champion Phai Pharob (35-4, 27 KOs) on Tuesday night at the Midas Hotel and Casino in Pasay, Philippines. A left, right, left to the body combination finished Pharob. Gaballo, whose only loss was to future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire in 2021, is the mandatory challenger for current WBO bantamweight king for Jason Moloney.

Undisputed super middleweight champ Canelo Alvarez confirmed today that he’s still planning to fight on May 4 in Las Vegas. He wouldn’t name an opponent, but revealed that he will be facing an American. Possible candidates include Jermall Charlo, Terence Crawford and David Benavidez, with Charlo considered the most likely.

“I always try to fight in May and September, the Mexican dates. I always like to look for those dates. We are fine-tuning some details for the May fight, but it’s going to be an interesting fight as I always like for the people,” said Canelo.

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

On Sunday, one of the most important sports events worldwide took place, Super Bowl LVIII, and my prediction was that the Kansas City Chiefs would win based on the experience of both quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his greatness, plus Brock Purdy, with his rookieness, but also because defenses usually win games and Kansas City showed at the end of the season great solidity, organization, and steadfast discipline in this area.

Football has had great coincidences over the years and for me, it was something that always brought me closer to my dad.

My passion for the Dallas Cowboys was born on a Sunday in 1976, when Don José took me from the Lindavista League baseball field to return home. He sat me down with him to watch the Super Bowl, between Dallas and Pittsburgh. Those Cowboys, with Roger Staubach, and the Steelers, with Terry Bradshaw. Continue reading “The NFL and Boxing”

While the postponement of Fury-Usyk from February 17 until May 18 leaves a big hole in Saturday’s boxing lineup, it’s still a great week of fights including a world title fight.

THURSDAY
DAZN presents former world champion Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jr. (33-4-1, 15 KOs) in a ten round super lightweight clash against Jesus “Ricky” Perez (24-5, 18 KOs) at the Commerce Casino.

FRIDAY
ESPN has WBC super featherweight champion O’Shaquie Foster (21-2, 12 KOs) defending against Abraham Nova (23-1, 16 KOs) in the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

DAZN counters with IBF light flyweight champion Adrian Curiel (24-4-1) against the man he dethroned back in November, Sivenathi “The Special One” Nontshinga (12-1, 9 KOs) at the Auditorium Guelaguetza in Oaxaca, Mexico. Also, former featherweight champion Mauricio Lara (26-3-1, 19 KOs) meets Daniel Lugo (27-2, 18 KOs).

ProBox TV has a rare Friday stream headlined by bantamweight Israel Rodriguez Picazo (30-5, 20 KOs) against Ramon Cardenas (23-1, 12 KOs) from the Whitesands Events Center in Plant City, Florida.

A clash between world ranked jr flyweight contenders kicks off All Star Boxing’s first show of 2024 on March 8th from Pharaohs Casino in Managua, Nicaragua. Panamanian WBO #7 WBA #8 WBC #8 Azael “Candelilla” Villar (20-2-4 15 KO’s) faces undefeated WBC #5 WBA #7 WBO #12 Jairo Noriega (13-0 3 KO’s) of Villareal, Spain in a 12-round main event. The show will be televised on ESPN+ and ESPN Knockout.

“We are ready to kick off the new year with a bang,” stated Tuto Zabala Jr., President of All Star Boxing, Inc. “In the main event, we have a high stakes clash on neutral ground. The winner will be in good position to end up as a mandatory contender for any of the three organizations.” Continue reading “Jr flyweight contenders meet March 8”