With all due respect to the Dominic Breazeales and the David Hayes of the world, Anthony Joshua, the unbeaten holder of the IBF heavyweight belt, will engage in what could arguably be looked at as the first real test of his career, certainly his reign, when he faces the man who has just become his mandatory challenger, unbeaten New Zealand star Joseph Parker.
James Slater
Who looked better last night, Haye or Briggs – and who wins in September?
David Haye-Shannon Briggs, who wins? Go back a couple of months and no-one would have entertained such a question as anything other than a bad joke. Now? The impending collision is still nothing but a curiosity fight at best, a freak show at worst, but it cannot be denied how the two heavyweights with a combined 79 KO’s between them have created quite a buzz. Haye is still phenomenally popular, this despite the fact that he hasn’t fought a world-ranked foe since 2012. Briggs, since taking the George Foreman, keep-busy-against-low-level-opposition-and-get-the-fans-talking route back, has certainly attracted interest; with his mouth and with his fists.
Billy Joe Saunders launches scathing attack on Canelo Alvarez, calls him a “coward” he would “school”
WBO middleweight ruler Billy Joe Saunders has launched a scathing attack on Mexican star Saul Canelo Alvarez. As fans know, Alvarez recently vacated his WBC middleweight title rather than agree to fight Gennady Golovkin (at least he hasn’t agreed to face GGG yet). This has angered many fight fans, Mexican fight fans in particular of course, and Saunders, in speaking with boxingnews24, said Canelo should be ashamed of himself.
Joseph Parker out-points Carlos Takam, becomes IBF mandatory for Joshua
Earlier today in New Zealand unbeaten heavyweight prospect Joseph Parker kept his perfect record and made the transition to genuine contender with a hard-fought 12-round unanimous decision over experienced Cameroonian Carlos Takam. Parker triumphed by scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113. Now 19-0(16) the man from Auckland earned a shot at IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua. Takam, who came to fight but was just not busy enough, falls to 33-3-1(25).
Who will Gennady Golovkin fight next?
Unbeaten middleweight and pound-for-pound star Gennady Golovkin, now the holder off all major belts at 160-pounds barring the WBO belt currently held by Britain’s Billy Joe Saunders, needs a fight. Having been disappointed over the way Mexican star Saul Alvarez opted to hand him his WBC title instead of signing to fight him in September (we can hope the mega-fight will still happen but nobody is holding their breath), GGG now searches anew for his next opponent.
GGG took to his Twitter account yesterday, asking fans who they would like to see him fight. With Alvarez seemingly out of the picture for now at least, there seems to be pretty slim pickings at middleweight. British son of a great fighter, Chris Eubank Junior has thrown his hat into the ring, insisting he is serious about wanting to face Triple-G in September.
David Price to face Jakov Gospic on May 29th
Former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion David Price will face Jakov Gospic on the May 29th card in Liverpool that will be headlined by Tony Bellew-Ilunga Makabu for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title. This will, of course, be Price’s first fight back since being stopped inside two-rounds by Erkan Teper last July. Teper, like the only other man to have beaten Price, Tony Thompson, later failed a drugs test. Price is now convinced he can make it to the very top and that he was beaten only due to cheating on the part of Thompson and Teper.
Gospic, 17-14(12) was linked to Shannon Briggs at one point, with various reports suggesting the journeyman would face Briggs on tonight’s card at The O2 in London. Now Price gets the chance to ease himself back into action against the 33-year-old Croatian, with new trainer Dave Coldwell taking over as his head trainer. Price, a powerful puncher who looked for all the world like at least a world title challenger if not a world title winner before his three setbacks, told Sky Sports that he has no interest in going back over old ground at British level, instead aiming to show what he can do at the highest level.
Gennady Golovkin Vs. Chris Eubank: who wins – GGG or Simply The Best?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3keJuuC_tI
It’s not the most obvious “Dream Fight” that springs to mind when daydreaming on who would win out of today’s best middleweight, unified king Gennady Golovkin and great 160-pound fighters of yesteryear, but a GGG-Chris Eubank fight and how you think it would have gone is a pretty interesting notion all the same. Fans have thought about how Golovkin and his particular blend of skills would have done against the likes of a Marvin Hagler, a Carlos Monzon, a Bernard Hopkins (a fight that wasn’t too far from reality a while back!) and, dare we say it, a Sugar Ray Robinson (for the record, and for what it’s worth, I think GGG beats one of these guys, but only one) – but yesterday, Eubank, a former champ at 160 and 168, spoke about how he would have beaten Golovkin.
Can Emilio Ezequiel Zarate give Shannon Briggs a fight? Will Briggs give David Haye a fight?
First it was Alexander Dimitrenko, then it was Jakov Gospic, but now, finally, Shannon Briggs has a confirmed opponent for tomorrow night: Briggs, 59-6-1(52) will face Argentine heavyweight Emilio Ezequiel Zarate, 29-16-3(11) in his chief supporting role on David Haye’s second comeback fight at The O2 in London.
Video: Denis Lebedev 198.7 vs. Victor Emilio Ramirez 198.6
Weigh-In Results from Moscow:
Denis Lebedev 198.7 vs. Victor Emilio Ramirez 198.6
Felix Valera 174.6 vs. Dmitry Bivol 174.25
Umar Salamov 174.6 vs. Bob Ajisafe 174.5
Dmitry Kudryashov 201.6 vs. Julio Cesar Dos Santos 197.75
Rakhim Chakhkiev 198.5 vs. Tamas Lodi 198.5
Kell Brook-Jessie Vargas unification close for August 27th, fight set to be announced any day now
It seems Eddie Hearn has worked his magic and enticed reigning WBO welterweight ruler Jessie Vargas to Sheffield to face IBF king Kell Brook in a unification match-up. According to a number of sources – trade paper Boxing News among them – an official announcement of the fight, set for Brook’s home town on August 27th, is “imminent.”
Brook, excited over the way he has finally bagged himself the kind of big fight he has been craving since he closely out-pointed Shawn Porter to take the IBF belt almost two years ago, has Tweeted “Any day now!” referring to the official announcement of the fight.