Fightnews.com

By Joe Koizumi
Photo: Boxing Beat Magazine

Ohashi Promotions on Friday announced a quintuple of all-female title bouts on January 12. It features three world championship bouts and a couple of regional title goes at the Korakuen Hall. The headliner will be WBA, WBO unified minimumweight champ Yuko Kuroki (22-7-2, 9 KOs) against Rie Matsuda (6-1-1, 1 KO), both of Japan, over ten rounds. The semi-windup will be the second defense of last year’s female Boxer of the Year WBO super fly titlist Mizuki Hiruta (5-0, 1 KO) against Korean Ji-Hyun Park (26-3, 8 KOs) over ten. IBF atomweight ruler Mika Iwakawa (12-6-1, 4 KOs) will put her belt on the line against up-and-coming unbeaten Sumire Yamanaka (7-0, 3 KOs), the younger sister of former WBO 105-pound champ Ryuya Yamanaka, over ten. Continue reading “Five female title bouts announced in Japan”

Lightweight Gavin Gwynne (17-2-1, 5 KOs) got all he could handle from previously unbeaten 47-year-old Emiliano Marsili (42-1-1, 16 KOs), but still came away with the W on Friday night at the famed York Hall in London. Gwynne was crowned EBU European lightweight champion when Marsili was unable to continue after round eight due to a shoulder injury.

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Heavyweight Nathan Gorman (19-3, 13 KOs) came into the ring at the Toughsheet Community Stadium in Bolton, England, at a career high 296 pounds. He left the ring with an eight round loss to the much fitter Bohdan Myronets (8-1, 4 KOs). The referee scored it 77-76.

Ryan Rozicki 197.4 vs. Olarewaju Durodola 197.4
John Blanco 168 vs. Bryan Galvez 164
Pedro Bernal 130.4 vs. Mario Vera 128.6
Brett Beaton 159.6 vs. Kenny Chery 160.8
Diana Tapia 154.2 vs. Jennifer Williams 144.4
Reda Benbaziz 135.4 vs. Ramiro Garcia Lopez 136.2

Venue: Emera Centre Stadium in Sydney, NS, Canada
Promoter: Daniel Otter (Three Lions Promotions)
TV: PPV

After a sudden shift to a catch weight, both Ryan Garcia and Oscar Duarte weighed in for their clash Saturday night in Houston. The bout was scheduled for 140lbs as of yesterday.

Ryan Garcia 142.8 vs. Oscar Duarte 143
Floyd Schofield 135 vs. Ricardo Lopez 134.2
Shane Mosley Jr. 159.4 vs. Joshua Conley 163.6
Darius Fulghum 167.6 vs. Pachino Hill 170

Venue: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Promoter: Golden Boy
TV: DAZN

The World Boxing Association (WBA) Executive Committee has approved the creation of a new super cruiserweight division in a vote called by the president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza. This new division will be between 200 and 224 pounds, matching the bridgerweight division created by the WBC three years ago.

The WBA made several analyses during recent months before considering the request and in the end it was submitted to a vote, in which it was approved unanimously by the executive committee. The creation of this new division is designed to help fighters considered to be “small heavyweights,” who often give up 25 or more pounds. They will now have the option to move down to super cruiserweight and seek opportunities against more balanced weight opponents.

The WBA ranking committee has already begun working on the creation of the rankings for this weight and the first divisional match-ups will be announced soon.

Michael Conlan 129.5 vs. Jordan Gill 129.5
(WBA International super featherweight title)

Tyrone McKenna 146.9 vs. Lewis Crocker 147
Caoimhin Agyarko 153.8 vs. Troy Williamson 154.2
Sean McComb 139.1 vs. Sam Maxwell 139.6

Venue: SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Promoter: Matchroom
TV: DAZN

Eye of the Tiger will hit the ground running in 2024, presenting two major boxing cards in January. Following up on their massive January 13 show topped by unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, EOTTM returns January 25 with #2 WBA, #3 WBC, #3 WBO, and #4 IBF super middleweight Erik Bazinyan (31-0, 22 KOs) at the Cabaret du Casino in Montréal against veteran Billi Facundo Godoy (41-7, 20 KOs) for the NABF and WBA Continental North America titles. In the co-feature, WBA #4, WBC #6, WBO #7 light heavyweight Albert Ramirez (17-0, 15 KOs) fights in an eliminator for the #2 spot in the WBA rankings against Charles Foster (22-1, 12 KOs).

MarvNation Promotions will be back at the Robert C. Lee Activity Center in Hawaiian Gardens, California, on Saturday night, as one more member of the fighting Vargas clan, led by former super welterweight champion Fernando ”Feroz” Vargas will showcase his skills in the main event. Coming on the heels of seeing his brother Fernando Vargas Jr. score an impressive stoppage last month, super featherweight Amado Vargas (9-0, 4 KOs) will look to make an impression himself as he takes on Ezequiel Flores (4-1, 0 KOs) in the show’s main event scheduled for eight rounds.

Former WBC world title challengers Ryan “The Bruiser” Rozicki (19-1, 18 KOs) and Nigeria’s Olanrewaju “God’s Power” Durodola (43-9, 39 KOs) faced off today for the first time. The pair will square off for real this Saturday at the Emera Centre Stadium in Sydney, NS, Canada. The winner will be the mandatory to face newly crowned WBC cruiserweight world champion Noel Gevor Mikaelyan.

Promoter Dan Otter (Three Lions Promotions) stated the following: “Both fighters seemed very confident at the press conference. Rozicki is laser focused right now. It will take a lot from Durodola to bump Rozicki off and stop him from getting his shot at the world title. May the best man win.” Continue reading “Rozicki-Durodola Final Press Conference”

Super lightweights Ryan Garcia (23-1, 19 KOs) and Oscar “La Migraña” Duarte (26-1-1, 21 KOs) hosted a press conference ahead of their fight that will now be for the WBA Gold title on Saturday night at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas and will be broadcast worldwide on DAZN. The atmosphere was rather tense as Garcia was openly hostile toward Golden Boy execs Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins saying B-Hop doesn’t decide his future and claiming Oscar has been trying to get him beat since the Duno fight.

Ryan Garcia: “I put everything into this fight. You know, for the first time, I’m extremely committed in a long time. You know 2021 was one of the years that kind of broke me. 2022, you know a big change in me, and 2023 opened my eyes. I’m about to come back for everything, I’m just laser-focused and that’s where my confidence comes from.”

Oscar Duarte: “I’m very happy, very content, to be here. I’m enjoying every moment. This was a dream and it is now a reality. And this Saturday, you’ll see my best version. I have a great team, and this Saturday, I’ll be winning.”

A ten round heavyweight showdown between former world title challenger Kubrat Pulev (29-3, 14 KOs) and Andrzej Wawrzyk (34-2, 20 KOs) is set for Thursday, December 14 at the The Hangar in CostaMesa, California.

The Fight Club OC event will also feature 11-0 super featherweight Austin Brooks in a potential WBA Americas Title fight, local welterweight Luke SantaMaria vs. Cameron Krael, 17-1 heavyweight Tervel Pulev vs Dionardo Minor, 14-2 super featherweight Viktor Spavinskyl vs. Darel Harris and more. Tickets are available at $55 and $65 online at www.socafights.com.

Due to last minute unforeseen circumstances, Friday night’s R&B Promotions card at Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena featuring former world champion Tevin Farmer against Patrick Okine is postponed. Ticket buyers may be refunded at point of purchase. A new date will be announced shortly.

Nathan Gorman 296.3 vs. Bohdan Myronets 217.4
Chloe Watson 111.6 vs. Justine Lallemand 110.6
James Moorcroft 147.6 vs. Mathew Rennie 147.6
Codie Smith 129.2 vs. Darryl Tapfuma 128.1
Nelson Birchall 129.6 vs. Eliecer Quezada 130.9
Dan Toward 154.5 vs. Fabrizio Rubino 163.3
Isaac Lowe 127.4 vs. Jonatas Rodgrigo 130.4
Adbul Khan 130 vs. Eddy Lopez 130.8

Note: Roman Fury has been forced to withdraw from Friday’s show due to illness.

Venue: Toughsheet Community Stadium, Bolton, England
Promoter: Wasserman Boxing
TV: Channel 5 (UK)

Gavin Gwynne 134.4 vs. Emiliano Marsili 134.3
(EBU European lightweight title)

Sam Noakes 134.6 vs. Carlos Perez 133.6
Raven Chapman 125.1 vs. Lucie Sedlackova 125.2
Brad Strand 121.1 vs. Joshua John 121.6
Oronzo Biradi 197 vs. Israel Duffus 200.5
Moses Itauma 242.5 vs. Michal Boloz 223
Royston Barney-Smith 132.9 vs. Maicol Velazco 132.3
Umar Khan 126.9 vs. Yin Caicedo 124.8
Sonny Liston Ali 150.8 vs. Fernando Mosquera 147
Joel Kodua 151.3 vs. Dario Barosa TBA

Venue: York Hall, London
Promoter: Queensberry Promotions
TV: TNT Sports (UK)

Derrieck Cuevas 149 vs. Marlon Aguas 149
Eveling “La Colocha” Ortega 107.6 vs. Yanissa Castrellon 108
Azael Villar 107.6 vs. Ricardo Astuvilca 108
Uwel Hernandez 168 vs. Alexi Rivera 166
Yunior Menendez 175 vs. Heyder Solis 175
Alex Bray 155 vs. Alcibiades Ballesteros 153
Pedro Veitia 152 vs. Eric Pino 151

Venue: Coliseo de Combates, Panama City, Panama
Promoter: All Star Boxing
TV: ESPN+

Promoter Oscar De La Hoya has reached out through social media to try to fix the broken relationship with junior welterweight star Ryan Garcia, who is fighting Saturday on a Golden Boy card in Houston. Oscar’s message said:

Bernard and I have spent decades putting on the biggest events in the sport – including Ryan’s last fight which generated $30 million for him.

We build champions, help them navigate their careers to the top and make them the highest paid fighters.

Ryan: keep focused on your craft instead of listening to some of your “team’s” interpretations of comments taken out of context.

Bernard and I will remain committed to taking your career to the top.

Super featherweight Orlando Gonzalez (22-2, 12 KOs) won a ten round split decision over Jorge Castaneda (16-3, 12 KOs) on Wednesday night at the Whitesands Events Center in Plant City, Florida. Gonzalez dropped Castaneda in round two, but Castaneda came back to take the late rounds. Scores were 95-94 Castaneda, 97-92, 96-93 Gonzalez.

Unbeaten welterweight Tarik “The Sandstorm” Zaina (13-0-1, 8 KOs) outboxed Marcelino Nicolas Lopez (37-4-1, 22 KOs) over ten uneventful rounds. Scores were 97-93, 98-92, 99-91.

In a clash between unbeaten super welterweights, Marques Valle (10-0, 7 KOs) won a hard fought ten round unanimous decision over Farid Ngoga (10-0, 6 KOs). Scores were 77-75, 78-74, 78-74

Bantamweights Joahnys Argilagos (9-1-1, 4 KOs) and Jose Lopez (4-2-3, 0 KOs) battled to an eight round draw. Scores were 76-76 and 77-75 for Argilagos, 78-74 for Lopez.

Unified lightweight champion Devin Haney told ESPN that he’s planning on vacating his WBA, IBF, and WBO titles at 135 pounds. Haney, who is moving to super lightweight to challenge WBC champion Regis Prograis on December 9 in San Francisco, stated that he’s outgrown the division and plans to go to welterweight after the Prograis fight.

The move would leave Shakur Stevenson as lightweight champion of the WBC and Tank Davis as lightweight champion of the WBA, with a Lomachenko-Kambosos clash reportedly in the works for the IBF lightweight strap.

Ahead of Saturday’s action-packed People’s Championship boxing card at the Casino Miami Jai Alai, legendary promoter Don King addressed assembled media alongside the athletes from the card.

“We’ve got five spectacular and action-packed title fights ready for our boxing fans of South Florida,” said King. “And since we lost one title fight, we’ve set a holiday special price of $25 for this fantastic evening. It’s the People’s Championship.”

Fights include

Ian Green (17-2, 11 KOs) against Vaughn Alexander (18-7-1, 11 KOs)
WBA Continental America’s middleweight title

Tre’Sean Wiggins (15-5-3, 8 KOs) vs. Chris Howard (18-2-1, 8 KOs)
WBA NABA welterweight title

Antonio Perez (8-0, 5 KOs) vs. Haskell Rhodes (29-5-1, 14 KOs)
Vacant WBA International lightweight title

Alex Castro (13-1, 11 KOs) vs. Harry K. Cruz (14-3, 11 KOs)
WBA NABA middleweight title

DeVon Williams (3-0, 3 KOs) vs. Nelson Morales (4-11, 1 KO)
Vacant WBC Youth Intercontinental super lightweight title

Continue reading “DKP People’s Championship Final Press Conference”

Promoter Oscar De La Hoya has announced that this Saturday’s WBA interim super lightweight title fight between
Ohara Davies and Ismael Barroso set for this Saturday at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, has been postponed. “Due to Visa delays, the fight between Ohara Davies and Ismael Barroso scheduled for this Saturday, December 2 will be postponed to a later date. More information will be made available in the coming weeks.
Floyd “Kid Austin” Schofield will now be the co-main event on the stacked card December 2.”

Puerto Rican junior middleweight contender Xander Zayas (17-0, 11 KOs) will take on Spain’s Jorge Fortea (24-3-1, 9 KOs) in a 10-round battle on Saturday, Dec. 9 at Charles F. Dodge City Center in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Zayas-Fortea will serve as the co-feature to the WBO featherweight world title showdown between reigning champ Robeisy “El Tren” Ramirez and unbeaten Mexican contender Rafael “El Divino” Espinoza.

Xander Zayas: “I am determined to close the year with a bang and to continue positioning myself as one of the main contenders at junior middleweight. In the new year, I’m aiming to continuing my climb up the ranks step by step. That is why I push myself to give my all every day in the gym. You will see a better version of me every time I fight.”

Ramirez-Espinoza and Zayas-Fortea will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ beginning at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

A seven bout card is coming to the University of Texas at Arlington’s College Park Center on Friday, December 15th. Fans will witness seven live fights headlined by super featherweight Kenneth Taylor (13-2) vs Jorge Ramos (8-4-1) in an eight-rounder. Then, LIVE STREAMED from Orlando, Florida, boxing and YouTube star Jake Paul (7-1) will battle Texas’ own Andre August (11-1) on the College Park Center giant screen video boards.

Tickets are priced at $50, $75 and $100 and available at UTAtickets.com. This week only, Knockout Live is offering a Cyber Week Special with all tickets being 25% off. Offer good through Saturday, December 2nd.

Lightweight Gavin Gwynne (16-2-1, 4 KOs) will have size on his side when he faces unbeaten Emiliano Marsili (42-0-1, 16 KOs) for the EBU European title on Friday on TNT Sports from London’s York Hall.

Gavin Gwynne: “He is 47 and 42-0. He is kicking on now and, to be honest with you, I could have beaten him in his prime. Him being 47 is not going to help his case on Friday night when I start letting my hands go and he is not doing any damage to me…I think the size of me will be a massive factor as well because I am a welterweight, really. He is a featherweight coming up so I think this will play a part…I don’t care what I get hit with and he doesn’t have the power to keep me off him. I know that for a fact. As soon as he sets his feet, that’s game over for him.”

By Ron Jackson

South Africa’s Kevin Lerena should be known as ‘Mr. Courageous’ after winning the WBC interim bridgerweight title with a prior fractured rib against Senad Gashi from Pec, Kosovo in an all-southpaw clash on Saturday night at the Emperors Palace in Kempton Park.

Gashi (27-4, 26 KOs) came into the ring with a 96% knockout record and predicted that he would possibly stop Lerena (30-2, 14 KOs) on the way to the title.

However, his big talk before the fight proved to be nothing as he pushed, and fouled throughout the fight and was even knocked down in the last round. Continue reading “Lerena entered ring with broken rib”

According to well-known boxing manager Frank Espinoza, former Olympian and rising Mexican boxing star Joselito Velazquez has signed a promotional contract with Cancun-based promoter Pepe Gomez, who is a well-regarded promoter in Mexico.

“Joselito is very excited to be part of Pepe’s company,” Espinoza stated. “He had a great performance in Cancun on Pepe’s card which was televised on Televisa and the network really liked him. We expect to have him back fighting on Televisa soon.”

Velazquez, who fights as a flyweight, holds a record of 18 wins, 1 defeat and 1 draw is excited. “It was great fighting in my hometown for Pepe. I want to thank him for the great hospitality he showed us. I’m thrilled to be working with him. I think Pepe along with my manager Frank Espinoza and my trainer Carlos Barragan are an amazing team and we’re definitely going places.” Continue reading “Pepe Gomez inks Joselito Velázquez”