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The WBA Championships Committee called for a purse bid to be held on Monday, August 21st, for the fight between Jamie McDonnell and Liborio Solis for the WBA bantamweight title.

The WBA ordered both parties to negotiate on January 31st, 2017 and granted them 30 days to reach an agreement according to Championships Rule C36. However, at the beginning of July, they informed the Championships Committee that they had reached an agreement and the first call for purse bids agreed for July 3rd was suspended. Continue reading “WBA calls for McDonnell-Solis purse bid”

Unbeaten heavyweight standout LaRon Mitchell (15-0, 13 KOs) of San Francisco defends his NABF “Junior” title for the first time against Michael Bissett (14-9, 8 KOs) of Tampa, Fla. in an eight-rounder on Friday, Aug. 25 from Omega Products International in Corona, Calif. “I got a late start in the sport so it was important to be active early on,” said Mitchell, who turned 37 in May. “Now that I’ve built up my resume, I can be more selective in when I fight.”

Mitchell’s opponent, Bissett, has spent time in both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. His marquee fight came early in his career – a knockout loss to recent world title challenger Dominic Breazeale. Continue reading “Mitchell looking to remain unbeaten”

Charles Huerta 130 vs. Miguel A. Gonzalez 129.8
hristian Gonzalez 134.8 vs. Daniel Perales 135
Francisco Esparza 125.8 vs. Fernando Fuentes 123.6
Rafael Gramajo 121.8 vs. Felipe Rivas 120.6

Venue: Belasco Theater, Los Angeles
Promoter: Golden Boy
TV: Estrella TV

Undefeated heavyweight Robert Alfonso (12-0, 5kos) will clash with veteran Jason Bergman (26-14, 17 KOs) on Friday over 10 rounds for the vacant IBF/USBA Southern Region Heavyweight Title. A former Cuban Olympian, Alfonso stopped Roberto Santos (12-5) in his last fight in May, whereas former WBA-NABA champ Bergman dropped a 10 round decision to Andriy Rudenko (31-3, 19 KOs) for the WBC International Silver Title last December in Kiev, Ukraine. Promoted by Jay Deas, head of Skyy Promotions, the 7 bout card will take place at the Belk Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Continue reading “Alfonso battles Bergman for USBA belt”

Former world champion Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez (35-5, 32 KOs) will return September 30 against former world title challenger Jayson “La Maravilla” Velez (25-4-1, 17 KOs). The card is billed as “Live or Die” and will take place at the Coliseo Rafael G. Amalbert in Juncos, Puerto Rico. The card, promoted by Universal Promotions and Black Tiger Promotions, will officially be announced Thursday.

The 34-year-old Juanma is coming off a spectacular KO over ex-champ Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. last October. Velez, 29, at one time considered a serious contender, has won two straight after a four-fight losing streak.

Two-time Puerto Rican Olympian Jeyvier Cintron will have his first six-round bout, while former Olympian Victor Bisbal will fight for a regional heavyweight belt in the show “Noche de Campeones en Casino Metro Boxing Nights”, which is featured by the match between world contenders McWilliams Arroyo and Hernan “Tyson” Márquez on Saturday, September 9, at the San Juan Ballroom of the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino in San Juan, presented by PR Best Boxing Promotions (PRBBP). Continue reading “Cintron, Bisbal added to Sept 9 PR Best card”

After the dustup last week between Conor McGregor and Paul Malignaggi, WBO jr lightweight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko, now considered by many to be #1 P4P, has offered to spar with McGregor in advance of his bout with Floyd Mayweather. No response so far from McGregor.

Heavyweight David Price (21-4, 18 KOs) is confirmed on the WBSS Smith-Skoglund undercard when he faces Raphael Zumbano Love (39-15-1, 32 KOs) over eight rounds at the Echo Arena, Liverpool September 16.

“I’m looking forward to making a statement on the World Boxing Super Series undercard,” said 34-year old Price. “I know Raphael has been in with some big names and he has taken a few of them the distance. So he must be quite tricky and quite durable, but I view this fight, like all of my fights, as a must win fight.” Continue reading “Price opponent named: Raphael Zumbano Love”

Red-hot super middleweight contender David “El Bandera Roja/Red Flag” Benavidez is promising his best performance to date when he faces Ronald Gavril for the WBC super middleweight championship. The 20-year-old Benavidez (18-0, 17 KOs), ranked WBC #4, will be vying to become the youngest super middleweight champion in boxing history when he faces NABF champion Gavril (18-1, 14 KOs), rated #8, on September 8.

Benavidez was originally scheduled to face former champ Anthony Dirrell until Dirrell was injured. And with top contenders Callum Smith, Avni Yildirim and Chris Eubank Jr. all competing in the WBC Diamond Tournament, Gavril is the highest available contender. The winner of the tournament will become the mandatory to the winner of Benavidez vs. Gavril. Continue reading “Benavidez: I’ll be ready for Gavril”

Report, Photos by Joe Koizumi

WBC bantamweight champ, unbeaten Japanese southpaw Shinsuke Yamanaka (27-0-2, 19 KOs) showed his form in a public workout before many press people on Wednesday at the Teiken Gym in Tokyo, Japan.

Yamanaka, making his thirteenth defense against also undefeated WBC official challenger Luis Nery (23-0, 17 KOs) next Tuesday, engaged in sparring sessions with Filipino sparring partner Jake Bornea to show his good shape. Continue reading “WBC 118lb champ Yamanaka sharp in public workout”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Former world champion Tim Bradley made the decision to retire after being ringside working for ESPN when Manny Pacquiao went through hell against Jeff Horn at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. “I saw [Manny] all bloody and just, you know, beat up, and just been through hell. And I looked over to my wife, and I said, ‘Hey, I wanna talk to you after this fight.’ And from there, that’s when I was just like, ‘You know, I don’t wanna be in here fighting for a paycheck. You know, I have my legacy. I’ve done it. I don’t wanna be in here and take that type of punishment anymore. I don’t think I can.’”

Promoter Oscar de la Hoya was asked about the impact of the Mayweather-McGregor PPV taking place in the same building just three weeks before Golden Boy’s Golovkin-Alvarez PPV.

“We’re concentrating on our fight,” said Oscar. “We’re concentrating on our event, our fight. Obviously, we have the real fight. We have a serious fight. This is a serious fight, a serious event. Two of the best fighters fighting each other. And I think that the fans have recognized that And they’ve recognized that, and so have the sponsors and a lot of the media people. They’ve recognized that this is the real fight. This is the fight that they want to be at. This is the fight that they want to see. A clear indication is we sold out in ten days. And I feel like that the fans are recognizing that this is the fight that is the real fight. And that’s what they want.”

Heavyweight David Price (21-4, 18 KOs) is returning to the ring on the September 16 card at the Echo Arena in Liverpool featuring the WBSS super middleweight quarter-final clash between Callum Smith and Erik Skoglund. Price has a new team after a KO loss to Christian Hammer in February. All four of his losses were brutal stoppages. The opponent is TBA.

By Miguel Maravilla

Super featherweight Charles Huerta (19-5, 12 KOs) of Paramount, California is set to headline LA Fight Club this Thursday night at the Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles against Miguel “Miguelito” Gonzalez (21-2, 18 KOs) of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico on the Boxeo Estelar on Estrella TV main event. We caught up with Huerta at the Maywood Boxing Club in Maywood, California as he talked about his training camp and upcoming bout. Continue reading “Charles Huerta Headlines LA Fight Club”

By David Finger

Moments after WBO International Junior Featherweight champion Isaac Dogboe (17-0, 11 KOs) stopped the tough Argentine Javier Chacon in front of a raucous hometown crowd at the Bukom Boxing Arena in Accra, Ghana on July 22nd the young undefeated contender fired off a message for all of his haters.

“If you don’t love me now, don’t love me later!”

It was a clever and catchy phrase, but one that was entirely unnecessary. If his fight with Chacon in Accra showed anything it was this: Ghana loves Isaac Dogboe and they love him right now. Continue reading “Dogboe: Restoring Ghana’s lost pride in boxing”

By Matt Thompson
Photos by Emily Harney

In the main event of “Fight Night at the Bay” at the Marina Bay Sportsplex in Quincy, MA promoted by Granite Chin Boxing, popular jr middleweight Derek Silveira of Beverly, MA improved to 13-1 with 7 knockouts with a sixth round retirement win over former world title challenger Michael Clark (44-17-1, 8 KOs) of Columbus, Ohio. Continue reading “Late Results from Quincy, MA”

Gilberto Jesus Mendoza, president of the World Boxing Association (WBA), today reiterated the WBA’s heavyweight resolution for the mandatory fight between Anthony Joshua and Luis Ortiz. With Joshua having mandatories due for two separate organizations, Mendoza added that he is in conversation with the International Boxing Federation for the mandatory fights to take place without affecting the boxers. In addition, he repeated that the WBA will continue eliminating titles to arrive at a single champion.

As previously reported, WBA President Gilberto Jesus Mendoza informed at a press conference held Tuesday in Panama that the WBA presidency is moving to Colombia. “We are expanding the WBA operations by moving the presidency to Medellin, while Panama will keep the WBA central office,” He said. “The reasons leading to this decision are familiar. My daughter wants to study veterinary at a renowned university in Antioquia. My mother visits the city a lot, and while organizing our 96th Convention taking place from October 30 to November 2, we found that people have been very receptive and we also found some projects to promote boxing development,” said Mendoza. Continue reading “More details on WBA move”

Undefeated WBO world champions ÓScar Valdez and Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez will host a press conference next Tuesday in Tucson to announce the next defenses of their respective WBO featherweight and WBO super middleweight world titles, which will take place on September 22 at the Tucson Arena. Valdez (21-0, 19 KOs) will be defending his title against the WBO #4 Genesis Servania (29-0, 12 KOs). Ramirez (35-0, 24 KOs) will take on #1 contender and mandatory challenger Jesse “Hard Work” Hart (22-0, 18 KOs).

Promoted by Top Rank and Peltz Boxing, both title fights will be televised live and exclusively on ESPN and ESPN Deportes and stream live on the ESPN app.

By Gabriel F. Cordero

On Tuesday in Panama City at a huge press conference attended by national and international media, WBA President Gilberto Mendoza confirmed that the headquarters of the organization will be moving to Medellin, Colombia. An administrative office will remain in Panama, headed up by Julio Thyme who will be in charge of the WBA operations, presumed to include purse bids and committee meetings. Continue reading “Confirmed: WBA HQ moving to Colombia”

By Robert Hough

Canelo Alvarez: “We both have attractive styles and we’re both going to fight in a way that anyone can win by knockout.”

“We sing, we joke around in camp. We like baseball. We go to baseball games. We do what we like. We asked for this. We ask for these moments.”

Head trainer Eddie Reynoso: “There are some things we’ve noticed (in Golovkin’s last fight). There are some things we’ve always noticed and that’s what we’re working on.”

Oscar De La Hoya: “In terms of PR, in terms of attention, in terms of people watching, this has to be the biggest (middleweight fight in history). We’ll have to wait to see if it will be the best.

“For the athlete (a huge fight) is exciting because you can once again showcase your talent in front of a larger audience. It gives you the extra motivation.”

By Gabriel F. Cordero

Former two-timw world champion Hugo “Cuatito” Ruiz (36-4, 32KOs) will return to the ring on September 23 in Guadalajara against Enrique “Duende” Bernache (23-10, 12KOs) after a year without fighting from the past September 16 in Japan against Hozumi Hasegawa. Ruiz has been recovering from multiple nose fractures and a left knuckle injury. He expects a good comeback to boxing and is looking for a quick world title shot. Continue reading ““Cuatito” Ruiz returns Sept 23″

Former WBA world champion Juan Carlos Payano (18-1, 9 KOs) will face Alexis Santiago (21-4-1, 8 KOs) in a 10-round bantamweight matchup that headlines Premier Boxing Champions TOE-TO-TOE TUESDAYS on FS1 and BOXEO DE CAMPEONES on FOX Deportes August 22 from Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas and presented by Mayweather Promotions. Payano versus Santiago replaces the previously announced main event that featured a lightweight match between Mickey Bey and Anthony Peterson that was canceled after Bey was injured in training.

The show will also feature a showdown between once-beaten lightweights Jamel Herring (16-1, 9 KOs) and Ladarius Miller (13-1, 4 KOs), who will meet in a 10-round match

By TMZSports.com

“It’s not a fight for Christ’s sake,” Hall of Fame boxing promoter Bob Arum told TMZ Sports … “There’s not even a chance McGregor wins.” Arum also says he’s not shocked at reports saying tickets to the fight haven’t sold out yet — telling us, “There’s a limited number of suckers.”

No surprise Arum hates this fight, which some claim may break the all-time PPV record. Arum and McGregor’s promoter Dana White have been at war for years.

IBO super middleweight beltholder Chris Eubank Jr. (25-1-0, 19 KOs) meets Avni Yildirim (16-0, 10 KOs) on October 7 in a World Boxing Super Series clash quarter-final bout at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer Halle in Stuttgart, Germany.

Eubank Jr. has joined Floyd Mayweather’s training camp in Las Vegas ahead of Floyd’s fight with Conor McGregor. “What is Chris going to learn there, apart from hide-and-seek?,” said Yildirim. “I like Mayweather, he is a special guy. But Eubank is not Mayweather. Seriously, what is he going to learn from a welterweight, to run away for 12 rounds? The fans want a fight, I want a fight! If he is man enough, me versus Chris will be a good fight.”

Eubank stated, “Yildirim’s chin hasn’t been tested, I will test it to the absolute limit and if it has even the slightest bit of weakness he won’t last six rounds.” Continue reading “WBSS: Eubank-Yildirim lands in Germany”