Fightnews.com

The World Boxing Association becomes a Professional and Amateur organization

The World Boxing Association (WBA), in search of “The comeback of Boxing,” opens its doors to Olympic pugilism to achieve a true union in this sport and bring back the honor that this discipline had in the past. To achieve this goal, the WBA has summoned, through a letter, all National Boxing Federations to join this initiative. The intention is to achieve the systematic development of the sport, by the hand of specialists in the area. All this in favor of the two pillars of this discipline: the athletes and the fans.

“… As boxing is going through its issues there is another huge threat looming on the horizon: its negative public image, corruption, bureaucracy and continuing dysfunction of all parties involved, including amateurs and professionals of the sport of Boxing. Now they might lose participation in the Olympics. If this absurd decision were to take place, it would be an unprecedented setback for the sport”, reads the letter issued by the organization and signed by Gilberto Jesús Mendoza, President of the WBA, and Wladimir Klitschko, former World Heavyweight Champion and former Olympic Champion. Continue reading “The WBA opens its doors to Olympic Boxing”

Tyson Fury has vowed to abide by team orders and keep it strictly business when he turns to the second chapter of his comeback story against Francesco Pianeta in Belfast on August 18. Fury took showboating to a new level in the first of his return bouts against Sefer Seferi at the Manchester Arena in June, first setting the mood for the evening by planting a smacker on the equally game for a laugh Albanian.

Tyson now reveals that, for his duel with former world title challenger Pianeta, his trainer Ben Davison wants him to have his serious head on and not play to the expected sell-out crowd at Windsor Park, which also plays host to Carl Frampton defending his WBO world interim featherweight title against Luke Jackson as well as the WBC world flyweight title challenge of Paddy Barnes to the champion Cristofer Rosales.

“We saw the joker in the last camp, we saw the showman, the entertainer,” explained the 29-year-old. “Ben wants a serious approach this time and that is what he’ll get. All business in Belfast! Continue reading “Tyson Fury: Pianeta bout all business”

Tickets are now on sale to the general public for the upcoming slugfest between Former WBC International Light Heavyweight world champion Sullivan Barrera (21-2, 14 KOs) and Light Heavyweight Contender “Irish” Seanie Monaghan (29-1, 17 KOs) in the 10-round main event at the Sands Bethlehem Casino and Event Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Saturday, August 18, 2018. Tickets are priced from $105 to $55. The event is promoted by Main Events and World of Boxing and will be streamed live via Facebook.

Joet Gonzalez 125 vs. Rafael Rivera 125.2
(NABO featherweight title)

Seniesa Estrada 108.8 vs. Jhosep Vizcaino 108.2
Marciela Cornejo 164.2 vs. Samantha Pill 164.4
Christian “Chimpa” Gonzalez 134.8 vs. German Meraz 132.6
Richard Acevedo 152.6 vs. Quantavious Green 153.6

Venue: The Novo at L.A. Live, Los Angeles, California
Promoter: Golden Boy
TV: ESPN

By Brad Snyder, The Undercard
Photos: Bob Ryder

Jermaine Franklin 227.8 vs. Craig Lewis 241.5
Winfred Harris 158.3 vs. Dorell Van Horn 159
Frank Martin 140.6 vs. Jermon Houck (weigh in later)
Taylor Duerr 179.5 vs. Rocky Smith 182
Rydell Booker 239.9 vs. Domonic Jenkins 241.7
Anthony Barnes 171.9 vs. Dwayne Williams 171.3
Darryl Cunningham 160.4 vs. Daniel Craycraft (weigh in later)
Sinan Fradi 160.6 vs. Jared Chauvin 161.2
Cortez Chambliss 147.5 vs. Timotheus Coneal 149.7
Paolo Parente 207.6 vs. Charles Brown 279.8

Motor City Casino Hotel and CLIP Promotions presents Night of Knockouts 13 on Friday July 13, 2018. First fight is at 7pm and tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com or the SoundBoard Ticket Office.

Photos

Camps of WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders and Demetrius Andrade have ten days to negotiate and reach an agreement for their mandatory fight. If an accord is not reached within the time frame stated herein, a purse bid will be ordered pursuant to WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests. The minimum acceptable bid for the WBO middleweight division is $200,000. Any of the parties involved may request a purse bid procedure at any time during the negotiation process.

Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank

WBC interim super lightweight champion Regis “Rougarou” Prograis asked to fight in his hometown of New Orleans for a long time. After 21 bouts and more than six years as a pro, his wish is finally coming true. The Prograis homecoming will occur Saturday evening at the Lakefront Arena, where he will defend against fellow unbeaten Juan Jose Velasco live on ESPN. At Neyow’s Palace, located only a couple miles from the French Quarter, the fighters gathered for the final press conference.

Regis Prograis: “It’s a dream to come here. The Lakefront Arena, I grew up right around the corner from there. Like, in the car, you’d get there literally in two minutes. Just to be headlining there, that’s super important to me. I’m honored for it. I have to hide my excitement because I still have to fight. {Velasco} is going to try and knock me out, you know what I mean? So I gotta go out there and do my thing. I’m super excited. I might not show it, but I’m really excited to be fighting in my hometown, and not only that, my whole goal is to bring big-time boxing back to New Orleans. Not only a Regis Prograis fight, but one day we may get {Terence Crawford, who was seated in the audience} up here to fight. You know, one day, maybe me and {Crawford} might fight here at ’47. I’m focused. There are no distractions for me. This is normal. This is a part of the game.”

Juan Jose Velasco: “I’ve had a tremendous training camp, and I am thankful for this opportunity. I am going to take advantage of it. Regis is a great fighter. To be a great champion, you need to fight the best fighters. And I want to prove on Saturday night that I’m elite like him.” Continue reading “Prograis-Velasco Final Press Conference”

Former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will take on former Euro champ and two-time world title challenger Francesco Pianeta at Windsor Park in Belfast, Northern Ireland on August 18. Fury (26-0, 19 KOs) returned from two-and-a-half years out of the ring with a dominant stoppage of Sefer Seferi in Manchester on June 9 and aims to continue his march back towards the top against Pianeta (35-4-1, 21 KOs).

Pianeta has twice challenged for world honors, losing to Wladimir Klitschko in 2013 and to Ruslan Chagaev two years later, but he has recently dropped two of his last three.

Promoter Frank Warren said: “The Seferi fight is history and Pianeta is a far better operator than him. His level of opposition tells you that. Tyson had been out of boxing for a long time and Pianeta is a good opponent for what is Tyson’s second fight back after his break. Continue reading “Tyson Fury opponent named: Francesco Pianeta”

Photos: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Golden Boy Promotions

Newly-crowned WBO junior middleweight world champion Jaime Munguia (29-0, 25 KOs) of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, hosted a media workout Wednesday at the Westside Boxing Club ahead of the first defense of his title against former world champion Liam “Beefy” Smith (26-1-1, 14 KOs) in a 12-round main event Saturday, July 21 at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas. The fight will be televised live on HBO.

“We had a sensational training camp,” said Machado. “We have a great team, so I feel very good. The potential fight against Gennady Golovkin really got my name out there. It allowed me to get the opportunity to fight for a world title. I’m grateful for that. I’m also grateful that the NSAC didn’t allow me to fight against Golovkin because it led to this world title. Continue reading “Munguia: I’m a natural 160-pounder who drops down”