The May 6 all-Mexican clash between big stars Saul Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is a huge fight all by itself, ensuring millions of viewers at home as well as a big, big live audience in Las Vegas. But the card just got even better, with the announcement – courtesy of Dan Rafael of ESPN.com – that Argentine monster puncher Lucas Matthysse will make his ring return on the bill.
James Slater
Deontay Wilder: 2017 is all about unifications
While reigning and unbeaten WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder has gone on record as saying he doesn’t believe his February 25 challenger Gerald Washington is ready to fight him (way to build the fight!), “The Bronze Bomber” is more than ready to get busy trying to unify the heavyweight titles here in 2017.
Speaking at a presser this week, and quoted by RingTV.com, Wilder said that after he gets past the unbeaten (but yes, still very green) Washington, he wants his very next fight to be for the WBO belt; either against the current holder Joseph Parker or Parker’s next challenger Hughie Fury – who will face Parker in his maiden defence on April 1 (incidentally, Wilder picks Parker to win the fight.)
Kell Brook-Errol Spence Jr. possible for Sheffield; Hearn hopes to get a deal done by next Tuesday
It looks almost certain that Kell Brook will defend his IBF welterweight title against his unbeaten mandatory challenger Errol Spence Jr. in his next fight. Speaking with Sky Sports News today, Brook promoter Eddie Hearn spoke of how a venue for the fight is now being looked at being finalised.
According to the Matchroom boss Brook’s hometown of Sheffield is a strong possibility to play host to the hugely intriguing fight, while New York and Las Vegas are also possibilities. Hearn said he hopes to make a deal soon, so as to avoid the need for purse bids.
Fury vs. Fury? Forget it! Hughie says he’ll never fight Tyson
As it was when the two Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali, were fighting at the same time, some people have asked the Fury cousins, Tyson and Hughie, if they would ever get it on and fight. Well, as was the case with the two world heavyweight rulers, Tyson and Hughie will never, ever fight.
Twenty Years ago today: when “The Prince” was in his prime; Hamed unifies the featherweight titles
Exciting, abrasive, controversial and still talked about some 15 years after his final ring appearance. Who? Sheffield’s cocksure, blisteringly powerful featherweight king Naseem Hamed, a potentially great fighter who preferred to go by the nickname of “Prince.”
It was two full decades ago today (February 8, 1997) when Hamed scored what was arguably the most impressive and meaningful win of his 10 year, 37 fight pro career. Southpaw Hamed – who had burst onto first the British scene and then the world scene with thrilling wins and an extremely arrogant approach that included a pre-fight somersault over the top rope, a hands-held-low style and supreme self-belief – met the classy and experienced Tom Johnson in London.
Who is the best heavyweight in the world today? Lennox Lewis says it’s still Tyson Fury
Right now there are a number of heavyweights who could lay claim to being the number-one, the best in the division today, and not run the risk of being laughed out of the room upon making such a lofty claim. We have unbeaten WBC king Deontay Wilder, we have young and unbeaten IBF ruler Anthony Joshua, and we have unblemished WBO boss Joseph Parker.
Will a Gennady Golovkin-Chris Eubank Jr. fight really happen this year?
Heaven knows, and boxing fans know, it’s time the incredibly vocal and boastful Chris Eubank Junior stepped up in class (okay, he did so in 2014, losing to WBO middleweight boss Billy Joe Saunders). Eubank Jr. claimed his “ticket” to the big, big fights this past Saturday, when he stopped Australia’s Renold Quinlan to take the lightly regarded IBO belt at super-middleweight.
20 years ago today: revenge, a mental breakdown and the weirdest heavyweight title fight ever seen!
It was February 7, 1997 and heavyweights Lennox Lewis and Oliver McCall met in Las Vegas to both decide the vacant WBC title and to box a rematch. Lewis, who had been shocked by McCall in September of 1994, being bowled over in the 2nd-round, had revenge uppermost on his mind. McCall? To this day nobody really knows what the state of his mind truly was.
What followed twenty years ago today ranks as one of the craziest, weirdest and most disturbing of all heavyweight title fights.
Jarrell Miller talks possible Luis Ortiz fight in New York
Brash, outspoken and unbeaten New York heavyweight Jarrell Miller, 18-0-1(16) says it’s “time to show my skills,” and the 28-year-old is relishing the idea of a fight with unbeaten Cuban southpaw Luis Ortiz to do just that. According to a news piece on Sky Sports, Ortiz’ promoter Eddie Hearn has been trying to get a fight in the US for Ortiz and April and May are possible months for an Ortiz-Miller clash.
Carl Farmpton says he’s unable to watch his losing fight with Santa Cruz, but confirms talks are already underway for the rubber-match
Proud Irishman and now former featherweight champ Carl Frampton says his loss to Leo Santa Cruz in their rematch is simply “too annoying” for him to watch on video. Wanting to look back on the close decision loss he suffered in Las Vegas, Frampton put the fight on yet, as he told The Belfast Telegraph, he had to turn it off after just two rounds.
Despite the frustration at losing to the Mexican warrior, or because of it, Frampton is massively eager to get the third fight on, and in Belfast. Talks between the two camps have now begun, Frampton has confirmed, and he also says that whoever he fights next, it will definitely be in Belfast.