The Latest Boxing News
Former IBF cruiserweight king Glenn McCrory had some career. Not only was he a world champion, but McCrory also, famously, sparred nearly a hundred rounds with a peak Mike Tyson.
Glenn, who retired with a fine and hard earned 30-8-1(12) pro record in 1993, became a pundit and commentator for Sky Sports, calling fights all over the world. Despite this, it is due to the time he spent with Tyson that many fans are most familiar with McCrory.
Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather appears to have confirmed he has signed the contract to fight UFC champ, Conor McGregor following reports in Ghana on the postponement of his scheduled tour to the West African country this week.
Organisers of the ‘Undefeated Tour’ confirmed last week that Mayweather will also visit Nigeria before arriving in Accra on June 15 for a two-day visit which would have climaxed with him being a special guest of honour at a boxing show at the Bukom Boxing Arena.
Evander Holyfield was enshrined at The Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York yesterday, along with, amongst others, Marco Antonio Barrera and the late Johnny Tapia. Holyfield, the only four-time heavyweight champion in boxing history, was genuinely moved as he gave his acceptance speech; devoting his success to his mother – who, he told the gathering, told him “never to quit.”
Former European middleweight champ Errol Christie sadly passed away yesterday at the age of 53. He had been battling lung cancer for two years. A superb amateur boxer – Christie being placed in The Guinness Book Of Records for being the only British boxer to win ten amateur titles – Errol turned pro in 1982 and went 32-8-1(26) overall.
Former world champion Brandon Rios (34-3-1, 24 KOs) returned to the ring with a seventh round TKO of Mexico’s Aaron Herrera (23-7-1, 14 KOs) in the main event of Premier Boxing Champions on FS1 and FOX Deportes Sunday night from The Pioneer Event Center in Lancaster, California.
(Photo credit: Nabeel Ahmad/Premier Boxing Champions)
“I had that good nervous feeling tonight, like before my pro debut,” said Rios. “I was a little jittery but it felt good in there.”
The great, the fascinating, the exciting and the controversial boxing career of Mike Tyson officially ended today – in Washington DC of all places. Tyson was an ageing, past his best former champ in June of 2005, fighting only for money, yet it was still one huge shocker when the somewhat clumsy, somewhat unheralded, somewhat slow and lumbering Kevin McBride forced the 39 year old to quit on his stool after six rounds.
New Yorker Danny Jacobs, last seen pushing feared world middleweight king Gennady Golovkin very hard indeed, all the way to the end of the 12th and final round in March, might next be seen boxing on the under-card of Golovkin’s mega-fight with Canelo Alvarez.
According to a short news piece on ESPN.com, talks are currently underway between Golden Boy and Al Haymon. So far Jacobs’ opponent, if he does indeed box on the card, is TBA. It would of course help make the big September 16 show even bigger if Jacobs, arguably the world’s second best middleweight, appeared on the Las Vegas card.
After years of struggling to get the top names to agree to step into the ring with him, middleweight king Gennady Golovkin finally gets his defining fight in September, when he will, as all fight fans know, rumble with Mexican superstar Saul Canelo Alvarez.
Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler was right there with his fighter, trying to get the big fights, the important fights, and now, as he pointed out when speaking with The Las Vegas Review-Journal, the GGG-Canelo Super-Fight will take place almost five years to the day that Golovkin boxed on HBO for the very first time. Loeffler said that during the years 2012 to recently, he experienced serious reluctance from name fighters, fighters who wanted no part of his fighter; this type of reluctance being a new thing for the promoter.
Ryan Burnett (17-0, 9 KOs) battered IBF World bantamweight champion Lee Haskins (34-0, 14 KOs) for 12 round rounds on Saturday night to win an impressive 12 round split decision at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. One judge had it for Haskins by the score 118-108. The other 2 judges saw Burnett as the better fighter of the two in giving him the win by the scores 119-107, 119-107.
Friday night in Bergen, Norway, “The First Lady of Boxing”, CECILIA BRAEKHUS, (31-0-0, 8 KO’s), was victorious once again defending all five major welterweight world titles (WBC/WBA/WBO/IBF/IBO), over current WBC Junior Welterweight World Champion ERICA “La Pantera” FARIAS, (24-2-0, 10 KO’s), of Buenos Aires, in front of a massive crowd at the country’s major concert venue, Bergenhus Fortress – Koengen.