The Latest Boxing News
It may have come as no surprise when David Haye and Tony Bellew got nasty towards one a other at today’s press conference in London – Haye even chucking a left hook at Bellew as they went face-to-face – but Haye’s scathing attack (of the verbal kind) on promoter Eddie Hearn was a surprise.
Seemingly genuinely bitter rivals David Haye and Tony Bellew came face to face (literally) in London today, at the O2 presser to further promote/hype their upcoming March 4 clash. The two exchanged words on the top table, before the inevitable (now tiresome) face-to-face “photo opportunity.”
Featherweight world champion Jesus Cuellar and former three-division world champion Abner Mares participated in a media workout in Los Angeles Tuesday in advance of their long awaited showdown taking place Saturday, December 10 from Galen Center in USC in Los Angeles and live on SHOWTIME.
Also in attendance Tuesday at City of Angels Boxing was former title challenger and local fan favorite Josesito Lopez, who competes in a welterweight bout on the undercard. The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast begins at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT and features junior middleweight world champion Jermall Charlo taking on top-rated challenger Julian Williams in a battle of undefeated rising stars in their prime.
By the time David Haye meets Tony Bellew in the centre of the ring on March 4, 2017, at the O’2 Arena in London, we will already have witnessed a build-up that many would have paid to watch regardless of the fight itself, given the personalities of both fighters and the needle taht exists between them.
The 28th of November, 2015. Just another date in history to most but for boxing fans it marked a “changing of the guard” or at least that’s what they hoped.
When Tyson Fury met Wladimir Klitschko, the dominant force of Heavyweight boxing for a decade, at the Esprit Arena, Dusseldorf for the WBA (Super), WBO, IBF, IBO & Ring Magazine Championships it was seen as yet another routine defence for Klitschko. What followed was one of the most unexpected and shocking turn of events in the blue ribbon division for some time. By the end of twelve rounds there was nobody in any doubt that Fury had done the unthinkable, he had made believers out of the doubters and, like it or not, cemented his name in the annals of time. He ended the seemingly unstoppable reign of Wlad with a comfortable twelve round unanimous decision and left fans and experts alike wondering what was next for a division that had laid stagnant and dormant for far too long.
With news coming that former heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko will be in attendance in Manchester for Anthony Joshua’s IBF title defence against Eric Molina, some people are wondering if Joshua will be at all affected by the sight of the man he is set up to meet in a huge fight next March/April. Will Joshua try too hard to impress Klitschko? Will he take his eyes, and his concentration, off the man in front of him?
Joshua told Sky Sports how he aims to make the fight, his second title defence, “look easy.” Molina says there is no way AJ will have an easy night next month, and the Mexican/American also made it clear he does not want any excuses if Joshua underestimates him and winds up losing in a big upset. Molina told Sky Sports that he wants to face a Joshua who is fully focused and is taking his challenge seriously.
There is no doubting the talent of two-weight champ and reigning WBO super-featherweight king Vasyl Lomachenko. It is also undeniable that the 28-year-old Ukrainian is hovering as close as can be to the top spot, pound-for-pound. Some fans and experts suggest “Hi-Tech” is already fully deserving of the top spot.
That much is debatable – considering the formidable talents of special fighters such as Andre Ward, Roman Gonzalez and Gennady Golovkin – but promoter Bob Arum, who looks after the finest, most prominent 7-1 boxer in history, has ensured even more debate amongst fight fans. We’ve already read the Top Rank boss’s statement, one made from the heart, regarding how Lomachenko has impressed him more than any fighter since the peak Muhammad Ali – but Arum also says he feels the southpaw talent is more of a fully formed package than the one and only Floyd Mayweather Junior (who, like the immortal Ali, was once promoted by Arum).
Retired superstar Floyd Mayweather is annoyed at the way certain people involved in the sport continue to talk about, and call for, his ring return. Every week or so, a story breaks suggesting “Money,” now aged 39 and having last fought over 14 months ago, will return to the squared circle soon. But Mayweather, who has said again and again that he is content in retirement, sure seems to mean what he says.
Just yesterday, Mayweather put out a message on social media, in which he both ridicules those people who continue to talk about him returning for fight number-50, and boasts about his incredible wealth.
Forget the cold war, this one will be red-hot! This Saturday in Moscow, Russia, we just might have The Fight of The Year, as cruiserweights Denis Lebedev (never in a bad fight) and Murat Gassiev (brutal KO artist) meet in a fight that has attracted plenty of attention amongst hardcore fight fans. These same fans, and a whole lot of boxing experts, are split as to who wins.
According to Andre Ward, we fans could have, indeed, would have, seen a super-fight between he and middleweight king Gennady Golovkin this year had Team-GGG been willing to take the 50-50 fight that was offered to them. Speaking with TMZ Sports, Ward, now the unified light-heavyweight champion, said Golovkin was not willing to fight him until 2018, so he made the decision to move up in weight and challenge Sergey Kovalev.
“I think the fight with Golovkin should have happened before the Kovalev fight,” Ward said. “That fight was talked about, our teams had some correspondence, and it just didn’t work out. I’m not here to expose them or throw them under the bus or nothin’ like that. But I will be honest with the fans because there is a lot of confusion out there. They didn’t want the fight. They flipped it and said we were ducking and dodging. If you read the e-mail [of an offer for the fight] it was clear – we gave them a 50-50 split so there wouldn’t be any arguments.”