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Middleweight contenders Hamzah Sheeraz and former world title challenger Liam Williams faced off at the final press conference for their clash at London’s Copper Box Arena, with the WBC Silver and Commonwealth titles on the line.

Liam Williams: “Camp has gone really, really well and I’ve trained my nuts off! I am ready and, if I’m not ready now, I never will be…I don’t think he has been in with someone yet who has really tested him and stuck it on him. On Saturday night we are going to see how he holds up to that.”

Hamzah Sheeraz: “The ideal night is a Hamzah Sheeraz win, it all depends on that. For me to achieve my dreams and make people proud, I have to put on a performance. A stoppage is the plan and I don’t see why I can’t do it. The way I work and my mentality is elite level. I am rubbing shoulders with great champions in LA and only learning off them.”

WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez (20-2, 15 KOs) will defend against Angelino Cordova (18-0-1, 12 KOs) on PBC’s March 30 event in Las Vegas. Martinez, who is part of “Team Canelo” and trained by Eddy Reynoso, was slated to face Cordova in December on the final Showtime telecast, but due to visa problems the fight had to be postponed.

Jamaine “The Technician” Ortiz (17-1-1, 8 KOs) is in the biggest fight of his career as he challenges WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo “The Takeover” Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) for his world title tonight at the Michelob Ultra Arena and live on ESPN.

“To be honest, I don’t know how this fight came to be,” admitted Ortiz on The Final Bell podcast only 9 days from fight night. “I saw Teofimo at the Benavidez vs. Andrade fight, and a few weeks later, I got the call…it’s a rivalry in the sense that we fought in the past…it was a very competitive fight, and we gotta get even on that”.

“He’s a great fighter. I think he’s the best at 140 right now. I feel like it’s a harder challenge [than Stevenson and Haney], but I can’t take anything away from the guys at the top. They’re world champions for a reason. It takes a lot to get there, but I feel like once I beat Teofimo, I’ll be the top guy. Continue reading “Jamaine Ortiz: You’re gonna see fireworks”

Undefeated super featherweight Austin Brooks will be in the spotlight on Saturday night. With no major U.S. shows on Super Bowl eve, the eight-rounder between Brooks (11-0, 4 KOs) and Jose Manuel Izaguirre (7-0, 3 KOs) will be just about the only free fight card available during the evening time slot in the U.S.

The event will be broadcast live on Fubo Sports and take place at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California.

Here is what Brooks, who hails from La Mesa, California, had to say about his recent training camp, his matchup with Izaguirre, fighting in the main event on national television, and more. Continue reading “Austin Brooks in spotlight”

By Jeff Zimmerman

Former 2x unified welterweight champ Keith “One Time” Thurman takes on the hard-hitting WBO junior middleweight champ, Australia’s Tim Tszyu on March 30 in Las Vegas for the first fight on the Premier Boxing Champions new platform, Amazon. Thurman has been out of the ring for 2 years as he moves up in weight against the son of Hall of Famer, Kostya Tszyu. Thurman talks about his big fight plus shares his thoughts on a Spence-Crawford rematch and Crawford moving up to face Canelo plus much more in this Fightnews.com® exclusive.

Teofimo Lopez 139.6 vs. Jamaine Ortiz 139.6
(WBO junior welterweight title)

Keyshawn Davis 134.7 vs. Jose Pedraza 134.5

George Acosta 131.3 vs. Rene Tellez Giron 132
Javier Martinez 161.6 vs. Raul Salomon 164.4
Abdullah Mason 135.3 vs. Benjamin Gurment 136.8
Charlie Sheehy 135.7 vs. Abdel Sauceda 135.4
Alan Garcia 136.6 vs. Tomas Ornelas 134.6
Antonio Zepeda 299.7 vs. Lemir Isom-Riley 257
Art Barrera Jr. 141 vs. Michael Portales 140

Venue: Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
Promoter: Top Rank
TV: ESPN, ESPN+

Unbeaten WBA #2 Evgeny Romanov (19-0, 12 KOs) and WBA #3 Zhaoxin Zhang (11-2-1, 6 KOs) will clash in a WBA bridgerweight eliminator this Saturday at the KRK “Uralets” Arena in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Romanov, 38, is unbeaten since making his debut at age 30 in 2016. Zhang, 28, is a former WBA cruiserweight title challenger. The winner will become the mandatory challenger to current WBA bridgerweight champion Evgeny Tishchenko.

The evening will also see the return to the ring of former WBA super featherweight champion Roger “The Kid” Gutierrez (27-5-1, 21 KOs), who will face Zaur Abdullaev (18-1, 11 KOs) in a lightweight fight.

Popular all-action light heavyweight contender Anthony Yarde will be in action Saturday on Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren’s card at the Copperbox in London. Yarde (24-3, 23 KOs) will face Marko Nikolic (32-3, 12 KOs) in a ten-rounder. Happily, the card has been picked up by ESPN+ in the US. TNT Sports will air the card in the UK.

In the main event, unbeaten WBC #4 middleweight Hamzah Sheeraz (18-0, 14 KOs) takes on WBC #8 rated former world title challenger Liam Williams (25-4-1, 20 KOs) in a twelve round fight for the WBC silver belt.

Also, lightweight knockout artist Sam Noakes (12-0, 12 KOs) meets fellow unbeaten Lewis Sylvester (13-0, 4 KOs) for the Commonwealth, British, and WBC International Silver titles.

John Clark (Top Tier Boxing) presents a boxing card this Saturday at the Brentwood Centre, in Brentwood, Essex, United Kingdom. The 10 round main event will feature hometown favorite James Osborne (4-0, 1 KOs) against Grant Dennis (18-6, 3 KOs). The two will battle it out for the English super middleweight title. “I think it´s a crossroads fight for both really.” said Clark. Continue reading “Boxing back in Essex Saturday”

Unbeaten bantamweight Ryan Shaw (7-0, 7 KOs) stopped Vit Y (7-7-1, 4 KOs) in round two on Tuesday night at the Texas Troubadour Theatre in Nashville, Tennessee. Shaw hurt Y to the body, then teed off until the referee stepped in at 1:04.

Unbeaten lightweight Iman Lee (9-0, 6 KOs) and Devon Jones (5-12-1, 1 KO) went six hard rounds with Lee winning by majority decision 58-56, 59-55, 57-57

Super lightweight Terell Bostic (10-2, 1 KO) took a narrow six round unanimous decision over Pedro “El Gago” Hernandez (7-18-1, 2 KOs). Hernandez dropped Bostic in round six, but it was too little, too late. Scores were 57-56, 57-56, 58-55.

Unbeaten light heavyweight Luis J. Rodriguez Fernandez (13-0, 7 KOs) won a six round beatdown against Javier Frazier (8-28-1, 4 KOs). Fernandez dropped Frazier in round one, but the rugged Frazier stayed in there for the full six. Scores were 60-53 3x.

Featherweight Elon De Jesus (6-1-2, 5 KOs) knocked out Weusi Johnson (3-33-1, 0 KOs) in the third round. De Jesus dropped Johnson in round one and laid him out in round three with a right hand.

WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) will defend his world title against Jamaine Ortiz (17-1-1, 8 KOs) on Thursday night at Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The fight will take place three days before the Super Bowl in the same city. Lopez-Ortiz will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+

Teofimo Lopez: “I’m the big clown of the sport of boxing. I’ve got to make everyone laugh. I’ve got a big nose for a reason…it’s great to be back. I’m glad to see the talents coming through. But this is only the beginning for me. I’m 26 years young. I’m not even in my prime yet…we have a tremendous dance partner. He’s wanted this fight for a while and we’ll do our thing.”

Jamaine Ortiz: “There hasn’t been respect. It’s a fight. I’m coming here to take his head off. It is what it is. There is a calm before the storm. you’ve got to know to keep control of your mind and body, especially before you go into battle…I feel like I’m going to be the guy having the clown do whatever I want to do. It’s going to be that kind of show.”

Official Statement: It is with a heavy heart that I have come to the decision to hang up my gloves and retire from professional boxing.

I’ve been absolutely blessed to have the most amazing career over the past 14 years. Starting in Bethnal Green in 2010 and ending in Phoenix, Arizona. I’ve been lucky enough to box everywhere from The 02 Arena, T-Mobile in Vegas, Alexandra Palace, Manchester Arena to Guadalajara in Mexico. For a boy from Islington, it’s been some run.

Although I didn’t manage to win that world title, I’ve achieved and experienced more than I could ever have imagined when I first put on a pair of boxing gloves and I wouldn’t change that for any belt.

I’d like to thank the whole team and Matchroom, especially Eddie, Barry and Frank. My trainer and manager Tony and Charlie Sims and my S&C coach Dan Lawrence for their constant support. And of course, my loving family. My partner Nancy, kids Heidi and Brody, who have given me the strongest ‘why’ possible over the past decade in this sport. I’m blessed to have you all in my corner.

Finally, although my professional career as a boxer is now over, the sport won’t be able to get rid of me that easily and l look forward to officially starting my new career as a coach working alongside Tony at the Matchroom Gym very shortly. There’s no place like home.

Thanks again,
John “The Gorilla” Ryder

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

It is regrettable, but unavoidable, that the highly anticipated fight for the undisputed world heavyweight championship between the WBC titleholder, the Englishman Tyson Fury, and the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, announced for February 17 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has been postponed.

This was due to an unexpected injury that Tyson suffered to the right eyebrow when he was sparring, and it caused the suspension of the fight.

However, even though this altered things, we now have the new date, which will be May 18.

As is known, in this contest all of the heavyweight titles will be at stake recognized by the four existing organizations: WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO, and hence, the enormous interest with which this long-awaited undisputed contest is being awaited. This is not the first time that something like this has happened, that plans are momentarily affected, but it will come to fruition. Continue reading “Fury-Usyk + Trip to Thailand”

By Ron Jackson

It has been reported that South Africa’s number one fighter Kevin Lerena (30-2, 14 KOs), the WBC interim bridgerweight champion, will be fighting at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on March 8, when he meets the unbeaten Australian heavyweight Justus Huni (8-0, 4 KOs) on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Nganou heavyweight fight.

The current WBC Bridgerweight champion is Lukasz Rozanski (15-0, 14 KOs) from Poland who is reportedly scheduled to face Oscar Rivas in Columbia on August 13.

Despite being one of the top two fighters in the bridgerweight division, Lerena, 31, will moving into the heavyweight class to keep busy and earn a good purse on the international stage. Continue reading “Kevin Lerena to fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia”

By Joe Koizumi

The unbeaten Shigeoka brothers will make their second defenses on the same bill in Nagoya, Japan, on March 31. WBC minimum champ Yudai Shigeoka (8-0, 5 KOs), 26, will risk his belt against Filipino ex-titlist Melvin Jerusalem (21-3, 12 KOs). Also, IBF 105-pound ruler Ginjiro Shigeoka (10-0-1NC, 8 KOs), 24, will put his belt on the line against Filipino puncher ArAr Andales (14-2-3, 6 KOs). Continue reading “Shigeoka brothers to defend belts together”

Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank

Teofimo Lopez (19-1, 13 KOs) and Jamaine Ortiz (17-1-1, 8 KOs) hosted their public workouts today ahead of their showdown for Lopez’s WBO junior welterweight world title this Thursday on ESPN at Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

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Ryan Shaw 117.6 vs. Vit Y 117.8
Iman Lee 132.8 vs. Devon Lee 132.2
Luis J. Rodriguez Fernandez 171 vs. Javier Frazier 175.4
Elon De Jesus 123.2 vs. Weusi Johnson 124.6
Terrell Bostic 137.8 vs. Pedro Hernandez 136
Khalil Smoot 244.4 vs. Conway Beaudry Will weigh in Tomorrow
Jacob Riley Solis 164 vs. Tracey Coppedge 157.6

Date: Tuesday, February 6
Venue: Troubadour Nashville
Promoter: Jimmy Adams Promotions
TV: Fite.tv (Marc Abrams and Albert Haynesworth on the call)
1st Bell 7PM CT (8 PM ET)

CBN Promotions, headed by former Thompson Boxing exec Alex Camponovo, has announced a deal to stream its events on Fubo Sports. The agreement will deliver monthly live boxing content to Fubo Sports, which you can stream for free on Amazon Freevee, LG Channels, Samsung TV Plus, The Roku Channel, Vizio WatchFree+, Tubi, Plex and Tablo TV.

CBN kicks off its 2024 schedule on Saturday from Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, with super featherweight Austin Brooks (11-0, 4 KOs) against Jose Manuel Izaguirre (7-0, 3 KOs) for the WBA Continental title in the 10-round main event. The entire event will be broadcast live on ESPN Knockout and Fubo Sports.

WBO Advisory Notice: Please be advised that in the event any WBO champion (male or female) tests positive for any banned substances, it is not necessary that the WBO demonstrate intent, fault, negligence, or knowing use on the fighter’s part considering that it is the fighter’s duty to ensure that no prohibited substances enter his/her body. Fighters are fully responsible for any prohibited substances found to be present in their body.

His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, has unveiled a special belt to be presented to the winner of WBC heavyweight champion against WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.

“This belt will wait for Fury or Usyk,” tweeted His Excellency. “Made specifically for this fight … for the first time 4 belts undisputed in the same fight … fight of the century… Ring Of Fire 18th of May 2024.”

Unbeaten 6’5, 270-pound heavyweight Tsotne Rogava (4-0, 4 KOs) will headline for the first time on Thursday night, February 15, on the “Punches and Punchlines” card at Soboba Casino Resort in San Jacinto, California. This will be the first pro boxing event at Soboba Casino in nearly five years. Rogava, a 2020 Olympian trained by Hall of Famer Joe Goossen, will take on John Shipman (5-5, 2 KOs) in the six-round main event.

In the co-feature, super lightweight Jimmie “El Chingon” Nunez (5-2, 5 KOs) faces Kenekuk De La Rosa (2-1, 1 KO) in a six-rounder. Also, undefeated 6’1 super featherweight prospect Nilo Guerrero (7-0, 6 KOs) meets Dan Hernandez (3-4, 2 KOs) in a six-round bout.

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Hard-punching ex-champ Goki Kobayashi (7-1, 5 KOs), 104.75, regained the WBO Asia Pacific 105-pound belt as he dropped compatriot Yuri Kanaya (5-2, 1 KO), 105, three times and finally halted him at 2:27 of the third round in a schedule twelve on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. Having been in a boxing team of the same high school, they were more than intimate friends but Kobayashi, two years his junior at 25, exploded a vicious left hook to floor the game senior in the second, and decked him twice more with furious combos in the fatal third. Kobayashi forfeited his WBO AP belt by an upset decision to Filipino Jake Amparo last August. Though aiming to regain it from Amparo in a direct rematch, the newly crowned champ renounced the belt to decline a rematch with the Japanese. Kobayashi looked sharp and speedy enough, and we wondered why he had lost his belt to Amparo. Kobayashi is worth watching. Continue reading “WBC#8 Kobayashi regains WBO AP 105lb belt”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Formerly world rated flyweight JBC#2 Ryota Yamauchi (11-3, 10 KOs), 112, impressively scored a one-punch knockout of Filipino Arnold Garde (12-15-5, 6 KOs), 111.25, at 1:16 of the second round in a scheduled eight on Friday in Tokyo, Japan. Having failed to win the WBO 112-pound belt via eighth-round stoppage by unbeaten champ Junto Nakatani two years ago, Ryota mixed it up with the free-swinging Filipino banger, and his single short uppercut had him on the deck to have him unable to beat the count. Continue reading “Ex-world challenger Yamauchi finishes Garde”

WBO #12 world ranked Tobias ´Pitbul’ Reyes (14-0-1, 13) of Argentina stopped Eduardo Ajito (13-2, 7 KOs) of Peru Saturday night at the Club Deportivo Jorge Newbery, in Galvez, Santa Fe, Argentina. Reyes applied a very controlled offensive attack from the opening bell, mixing both head and body shots on the game Ajito. It was a steady breakdown of Ajito as each round passed. Ajito did not answer the bell for round six. Reyes retained his WBO Latino flyweight title.