Fightnews.com

By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

WBA#8 super-bantamweight Jason Moloney (14-0, 11 KOs) will be in action against Julius Kisarawe (27-4-1, 14 KOs) over ten rounds at the Function Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on October 21.

Kisarawe was born in Tanzania in 1990 and is coming off a fifth round stoppage of Steven Kobelo in September.

Moloney was born in Australia in 1991 and is coming off a ten round points win over Lolito Sonsona in August.

By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

Former 2012 London Olympian Jai Opetai (12-0, 9 KOs) will clash with unbeaten American, Frankie Lopez (9-0, 7 KOs) over ten rounds for the IBF world Youth cruiserweight title at the Function Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australian on October 21.

Lopez,21 years, resides in North Hollywood and is trained by former world light heavyweight champion Virgil Hill.He is coming off a four round stoppage over Tyler Vogel in April

Opetai,22years, represented Australia at the London Olympics in 2012 and in 2011 captured the world junior light heavyweight championship. He is coming off a nine round stoppage of Daniel Ammann in July. Jai is trained by his father Michael Opetai.

Vaughn Alexander 161 vs. Elvin Ayala 161
Nate Green 123.5 vs. Josh Crespo 124
Cassius Chaney 245 vs. Jon Bolden 226
LeShawn Rodriquez 159 vs. Romon Barber 157
Enriko Gogokhia 148 vs. Joaquin De la Rosa 149
Kevin Asmat 128 vs. Rafael Castillo 122
Bakhram Murtazaliev 157 vs. Robson de Assis 163.5

Venue: Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Connecticut
Promoter: Main Events

From WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman in Baku: The WBC has concluded the process according to its Clean Boxing Program protocol in the adverse finding of Luis Ortiz. An official ruling has been sent to the corresponding parties. The WBC has withdrawn its sanction of the Deontay Wilder vs. Ortiz fight, and Wilder will fight next his mandatory fight against Bermane Stiverne. Specific details will be released at a later date.

Wilder-Ortiz and Stiverne-Breazeale were both scheduled for the November 4th card at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. In fact, Stiverne, Wilder’s WBC mandatory, was paid step-aside money to allow Wilder-Ortiz to happen. So now Wilder will face Stiverne in a rematch of their 2015 fight in which Wilder won a unanimous decision.

Former WBC super middleweight world champion Anthony Dirrell had been named by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. as his next opponent for November 11 at the LA Forum, but it looks like Dirrell is going a different direction. PBC announced today that Dirrell (30-1-1, 24 KOs) will meet Denis Douglin (20-5, 13 KOs) in an FS1-televised 10-rounder on November 17 from Dort Federal Credit Union Center in Flint, Michigan. The bout is a homecoming for Dirrell, who was born and raised in Flint along with his brother and top contender, Andre. “Douglin has fought a lot of good fighters and I respect him, but he’s standing in the way of my title shot,” said Dirrell. “This is a chance for me to showcase my skills. I’m going for a stoppage, and I think I’m going to get it in the middle rounds. I want to put on a great performance and give the fans something to see. I’m going to get the job done.”

Also, welterweights Jamontay Clark (12-0, 7 KOs) and Ivan Golub (13-1, 11 KOs) will meet in an eight-round rematch of their June 30 showdown which ended with Clark winning a unanimous decision, and Ryan “Cowboy” Karl (14-1, 9 KOs) will take on Kareem Martin (9-1-1, 3 KOs) in an eight-round junior welterweight clash that opens televised coverage.

By David Finger

Undefeated WBO #1 contender Panya Pradabsri was dealt a stunning defeat yesterday, October 3rd, in Datong, China. Pradabsri lost a twelve round majority decision to 35-year old former WBC champion Chao Zhong Xiong (27-7-1, 14 KOs). Pradabsri looked poised to take on newly crowned WBO champion Ryu Yamanaka out of Japan but took what initially looked to be little more than a tune up against the former champion, who last fought for a world title in 2014. Scores were 116-112, 115-113, and 114-114 for Xiong, who captured the WBA International Minimumweight title with the win. Pradabsri sees his record drop to 18-1, 10 KOs with the loss.

Report/Photos: Boxing Bob Newman

Day 3 of the 55th WBC convention in Baku, Azerbaijan saw the open session containing some brief presentations as well as one of the hot topics: mandatory defenses. The night was capped off with the annual talent show at the nearby Bulvar Hotel.

Representatives from WBC China made a brief presentation to state their case for restoring the relations with the WBC, as they became strained to the point of being severed earlier this year. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman was optimistic with what he saw and heard and appointed a three-member committee to monitor the progress of the WBC China growth with the hopes of getting back on track.

Mauricio Sulaiman then drew the attention of the delegates to a short video focusing on the various Social Awareness programs in which the Council is involved: anti-bullying, alcohol abuse, domestic violence, texting while driving and any more.

The continuation of the Jose Sulaiman Boxer’s Fund in association with the Nevada Community Fund was discussed with a focus toward more fund raising options for retired, in need boxers. Continue reading “55th WBC Convention, Day 3”

Already a two-time cruiserweight world champion, Krzysztof “Diablo” Wlodarczyk will seek to become a champion a third time, and also put himself into the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight semi-finals, when he battles IBF Champion Murat Gassiev on Saturday, October 21 in quarter-final action from Prudential Center in Newark, N.J and live on AT&T AUDIENCE Network.

“Anyone who knows me and my experience in this sport knows that I will be ready on October 21,” said Wlodarczyk. “Everything that I’ve done so far in training camp and in sparring is to show my Polish fans in American that ‘Diablo’ is back.” Continue reading “Camp Notes: Krzysztof Wlodarczyk”

By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

Former WBC super-middleweight Champion Sakio “The Scorpion” Bika (33-7-3, 22 KOs) will be in action on October 22 against Serbian, Geard Ajetovic (31-16-1, 16 KOs) over ten rounds for the vacant WBC International title at Star City Casino, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Bika captured the WBC super middleweight crown by defeating Marco Antonio Periban in 2013 and gave WBA champion Andre Ward and IBF champion Joe Calzaghe tough twelve round bouts.

Ajetovic lost to former IBF/WBA middleweight champion Daniel Geale in Sydney in 2008 by twelve round decision. He has also lost to Mathew Macklin and Dmitry Pirog by ten round decision.

By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

WBA#7 lightweight George “Ferocious” Kambosos (12-0, 6 KOs) returns to action on October 13 when he will clash with Thailand’s Krai Sethaphon (25-2, 16 KOs) over ten rounds for the WBA Oceana title at the Melbourne Pavillion, Flemington, Victoria, Australia.

Kambosos is coming off a ten round points victory over Qamil Balla on the undercard to WBO heavyweight title bout featuring champion Joseph Parker vs Razvan Cojanu in May. Kambosos was a regular sparring partner to Manny Pacquiao for his July 2 WBO title bout against Jeff Horn in Brisbane. He travels to Los Angeles on a regular basis to train at Justin Fortune’s gym and was impressive in sparring session with IBF#1 Sergey Lipinetc.

Sethaphon’s only losses were at the hands of WBA#3 Czar Amonsot and WBA#11 Masayoshi Nakatani by twelve round decision in 2017. He is coming off a twelve round points victory over Isack Junior in May.

By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

Australian super-middleweight Bilal Akkawy (14-0-1, 12 KOs) will clash with Russian based and Ukraine born Igor Selivanov (11-2,7 KOs) over ten rounds for the WBA Oceana title at Club Punchbowl, Sydney, NSW, Australia on October 21. Akkawy, 24 years, is coming off a seven round stoppage of Kerry Hope in one of the best fights in Australia for 2016. Selivanov, 23 years, is coming off a points victory over Izzat Ibragimov in March.

Promoter Paul Nasari said “Bilal Akkawy is one of the best prospects in Australia and his fight with Kerry Hope in 2016 was action packed with Hope being stopped because of a broken jaw he suffered.

“Bilal’s manager made offers to Brian Vera and Peter Manfredo but they both rejected the offer.

“Igor Selivanov has a very good record and will give Akkawy a good fight.”

Carl Frampton will face Mexico’s Horacio Garcia in a ten round Featherweight contest on his highly-anticipated Belfast homecoming at the SSE Arena on November 18th. It will be the three-time World Champion’s first fight in his home city since he successfully defended his IBF Super-Bantamweight crown against American Chris Avalos at the same venue back in February 2015.

Garcia, 27, holds a top record of 33 wins from 37 contests; with 24 of those victories coming by way of knockout. Before a surprise loss to Diuhl Olguin, which he quickly avenged, his only career losses had come to two-weight World Champion Hozumi Hasegawa and rising star Joseph Diaz. Continue reading “Frampton opponent named”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn will clash with WBO #11 Gary Corcoran in Brisbane during December according to the champion’s trainer Glenn Rushton, who talked to the Courier Mail newspaper. “The terms have been agreed upon and it will be in Brisbane. We’re still sorting out a location and a date, and then it’s just a matter of the signatures,” Rushton said. “I’ve been told by the promoters that it’s a done deal. We’re hoping to announce it in the next few days. Continue reading “Trainer: Horn to defend against Corcoran”

2016 Rio Olympians Teofimo Lopez and Antonio Vargas promoted by Top Rank will showcase their talents on the October 13 telecast of Boxeo Telemundo Ford. Lopez (6-0, 5 KOs) recently moved to Las Vegas to train in the famous Top Rank gym. Although he’s is thousands of miles away from home he wants to keep fighting in Florida where his heart and fans remain. Meanwhile, Vargas looks to keep his unblemished record as he fights for the 4th time this year in the Sunshine State. Continue reading “Rio Olympians added to Telemundo”

Professional boxing makes a rare appearance in the city of San Francisco on October 21 as hometown hero Karim “Hard Hitta” Mayfield (19-4-1, 11 KOs) takes on undefeated prospect Miguel Dumas (10-0, 7 KOs). The main-event bout will take place at the beautiful historic San Francisco Armory. San Francisco native Mayfield, who’s been out of the ring for over a year, is looking to get his career back on track with an impressive victory, especially in his hometown.

“I really wanted to bring boxing back to San Francisco in a classy manner,” said Mayfield. Continue reading “Mayfield headlines Oct 21 in rare SF card”

Report/Video/Photos: Tony Mayger/Ringtone Boxing

It was supposed to be a media workout, an opportunity for photographers and journalists to gather images of boxer ahead of the second quarter-final showdown for the Muhammad Ali Trophy. Unfortunately, technical difficulties forced a change from workout to hastily arranged press conference ahead of this Saturday’s eagerly awaited contest between Britain’s Chris Eubank Junior and unbeaten Turkish prospect, Avni Yildirim.

Eubank Junior and his team were due to attend but cancelled at the 11th hour citing security concerns. According to Ahmet Oner, Yildirim’s manager and trainer, Eubank Senior expressed concerns for Juniors’ safety in a crowd of majority Turkish support for Yildirim.

“He [Junior] shows a little bit of disrespect to the organisation, to us personally and to my fans, especially his father last night, he said ‘oh I don’t know, my son is in danger, dangerous people, hooligans’ but you saw them, they are all nice, cool guys” explained Oner, translating for Yildirim. “He’s arrogant, respectless, very bad behavior. It’s not nice.” Continue reading “Eubank No-Show at Stuttgart Press Conference”

Report/Photos: Boxing Bob Newman

Day two of the WBC 55th convention in Baku, Azerbaijan had several simultaneous events occurring in and out of the fabulous Fairmont Baku Hotel. While the referees certification seminar was being held in one room, several topics were discussed as well as the ratings meeting were held in the large meeting hall on the same floor. The WBC Cares group headed off to a boarding school for orphans and children without sufficient parental care in the Mardakan district of Baku.

In the general session, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman asked Luis Escalona to talk about the progress made in the WBC Clean Boxing Program. Escalona touted the program’s 2017 progress to date: 170 tests conducted, 7 positive, 5 dismissed. He also handed out certificates to those who assisted and supported the Clean Boxing Program.

***

With the sad and untimely passing of former ratings chairman Frank Quill, Bob Yalen was voted in to position as Ratings Chairman, with Dean Louhis as Ratings Vice Chair. Continue reading “55th WBC Convention, Day 2”

The opponent for former middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) was officially announced today at a press conference in New York City. Jacobs was the first American signing of UK promotional powerhouse Eddie Hearn/Matchroom Boxing. He will make his debut under the Matchroom banner on HBO November 11 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. The opponent is unbeaten Luis Arias (18-0, 9 KOs).

By Johnny B’

The 2017 Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame awards dinner took place Saturday night at the Abbington in Glen Ellyn located outside of Chicago. Inductees included Dr. Glenn Bynum, Ernie Brown, Pat Coleman, Mauro DiFiore (unable to attend), Kenny Gould, Fernando Hernandez, George Hernandez, Mike Jankovich, William Lerch aka Bill Lerch, Rocky Martinez, Sam Merza and Anwar Oshana. Continue reading “2017 Illinois Boxing HOF awards dinner”

By Lucas Ketelle

BALCO founder and sports doping expert Victor Conte explains the Luis Ortiz’s positive test drug result and explains why he feels Ortiz shouldn’t be removed from his fight against Deontay Wilder.

Former heavyweight title challenger Alex “The Lionheart” Leapai (30-7-3, 24 KOs) is already eying off future opponents ahead of his comeback fight against New Zealander Thomas Peato (2-5, 0 KOs) at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre on 14 October. The Samoan-born heavyweight has undefeated former WBA “regular” champion Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne in his sights and says that a fight between the two of them is a natural.

“It’s a fight that needs to happen,” says Leapai, who went five rounds with longtime undisputed heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko when he challenged for the title in 2014. “It’s a big heavyweight fight in Australia and it’s something that Australians want to see. For sure, one of us is going to get knocked out.”

“Forget about war on the Korean Peninsula,” says Paul Keegan of DDP Sports Management, who promotes Leapai. “When these two fight they’ll be dropping more bombs than North Korea and the United States combined.” Continue reading “Leapai launches comeback, targets Browne”

Report/Photos: Boxing Bob Newman

The 55th annual WBC convention officially got underway in Baku, Azerbaijan today at 10:00 (AZT) with the opening ceremony. As per usual, in typical WBC style, no amount of pomp and circumstance was spared, local culture and music were implemented and an array of champions old and new, near and far were on hand to behold was has become quite the spectacle in the ceremonial boxing world.

Paulie Malignaggi once again assumed the role of master-of-ceremonies with his well-rounded and articulate speaking style. Assisting Paulie throughout was WBC legal counsel Alberto Leon.

A local youth choir performed the Azerbaijan national anthem and would later perform what has become the WBC convention theme song, “We Are The World.” Continue reading “WBC Convention opens in Azerbaijan”

DiBella Entertainment’s Broadway Boxing series returns to the beautiful Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT, on Saturday, October 28, headlined by an excellent 10-round clash between popular lightweight contender Matt “The Sharp Shooter” Remillard (25-1, 14 KOs), of Hartford, CT, and battle-tested Mexican veteran Yardley Armenta Cruz (22-8, 12 KOs), now fighting out of Sacramento, CA.

Also featured on October 28, top welterweight prospect 19-year-old “Marvelous” Mykquan Williams (8-0, 4 KOs), of East Hartford, CT, faces Somner Martin (7-5, 4 KOs), of Martinsville, VA, in a scheduled six-round bout.

By Joe Koizumi
Photos: Naoki Fukuda

Unbeaten 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Satoshi Shimizu (4-0, 4 KOs), 126, impressively captured the OPBF featherweight belt when he recklessly mixed it up with defending champ Sa-Myong Noh (11-4, 4 KOs), a Korean brawler at 126, and finally dropped him in the fourth and halted him with a barrage of punches at 1:54 of the fifth session on Monday in Tokyo, Japan. Shimizu, an exceptionally tall southpaw at 31, failed to win the gold medal in London, when he lost a 20-11 decision to Luke Campbell in the semi-final in 2012. He couldn’t be a Japanese representative for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, and promptly turned professional thereafter. Shimizu, an awkward puncher despite his advantageous height and reach, loves swapping punches in a short range, and decked a 3-0 mark—all within the distance. Shimizu, six years his senior, exchanged hot rallies from the outset, kept on battling toe-to-toe and sent him to the deck with a flurry of punches following effective body bombardments in round four. Going for a kill, Shimizu accelerated his attack and battered him to the punch to prompt the ref Fukuchi’s well-received stoppage in the fifth round. Continue reading “Olympic Bronze Medalist Shimizu wins OPBF 126lb belt; Abe upsets WBC #12 Hosono”

By Gabriel F. Cordero

A direct rematch between world champion Gennady Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was ordered here at the WBC’s 55th Annual Convention in Baku, Azerbaijan. WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman announced the Board of Governors’ official decision today. The bout is expected to take place for Cinco de Mayo 2018.