The latest boxing top stories and breaking news
Heavyweight Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz (28-0, 24 KOs) kept his unbeaten record perfect with a 2nd round knockout win over Daniel Martz (16-6-1, 13 KOs) on Friday night in front of a good size crowd at the Hialeah Park in Miami, Florida.
Ortiz, 38, hit Martz with a left hand to the head that torpedoed him into the canvas. Martz went down face first, and he never attempted to get back up before the fight was stopped. Referee Samuel Burgos stopped the fight officially at 0:43 of round 2.
Former light heavyweight world champion Jean Pascal (32-5-1, 19 KOs) scored an impressive stoppage of previously unbeaten Ahmed Elbiali (16-1, 13 KOs) in the sixth round of the main event of a special Friday night edition of Premier Boxing Champions TOE-TO-TOE TUESDAYS on FS1 and BOXEO DE CAMPEONES on FOX Deportes at Hialeah Park in Miami, Florida.
A pair of two-time Olympic gold medalists, match wits in a game of high-speed chess, with the winner in the driver seat for fighter of the year. A quality matchup on ESPN this Saturday night will be accompanied by an excellent lead-in program. Top Rank founder, Bob Arum made an intriguing matchup, now it’s up to these two elite-level practitioners to shine.
One of the absolute greatest match-ups that can be made in all of professional boxing is just around the corner. On December 9, undefeated WBA super bantamweight world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs) will move up two full weight classes to challenge WBO super featherweight world champion Vasyl Lomachenko (9-1, 7 KOs) at the Madison Square Garden theater.
Vasyl Lomachenko (9-1, 7 KOs) and Guillermo Rigondeaux both made weight at their weigh-in on Friday for their huge bout this weekend at MSG in New York. Lomachenko weighed 129 pounds. Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs) came in at 128.4 lbs. The limit for the super featherweight division is 130 lbs.
Lomachenko, 29, looked a lot bigger than Guillermo at the weigh-in. The weight was almost the same, but Lomachenko looked like he belongs in a higher weight class.
Tickets for Usyk-Briedis semi-final are on sale now!
Tickets for the Ali Trophy semi-final bout in the cruiserweight edition of the World Boxing Super Series between WBO World Champion Aleksandr Usyk (13-0, 11 KOs) and WBC World Champion Mairis Briedis (23-0, 18 KOs) are on sale now via bilesuserviss.lv with prices starting at €50.
This biggest Cruiserweight unification fight for several years, takes place at the Arena Riga in Latvia on 27 January 2018.
In one of the best years in boxing in recent memory will get even better with another marquee matchup between two-division WBO super featherweight world titleholder Vasyl “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko (9-1, 7 KOs) and undefeated WBA / WBO / IBO junior featherweight world champion Guillermo “El Chacal” Rigondeaux (17-0 1 NC, 11 KOs) in a much anticipated, long-awaited showdown between two top ten pound-for-pound fighters to determine who is one of the best fighters in the world. This bout will be televised on ESPN from Madison Square Garden in New York City this Saturday, December 9th.
Not long to go now until the most fascinating fight of the year: the boxing purist’s dream that is Vasyl Lomachenko-Guillermo Rigondeaux, a fight which, as all fans know, goes down this Saturday night in New York. Much has been said and written about the all-southpaw encounter, by the fans, by the experts and by the two fighters themselves.
The International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum announced today the members of the Class of 2018. Inductees include three Modern category boxers who all enter the Hall in their first year of eligibility; heavyweight champion “Dr. Ironfist” Vitali Klitschko, four-division world champion Erik “El Terrible” Morales and light middleweight champion Ronald “Winky” Wright. Non-participants and observers to be inducted include German promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl and broadcasters Steve Albert and Jim Gray.
“We’re extremely excited about the Class of 2018 and are very much looking forward to paying tribute to the new inductees in Canastota next June,” said Executive Director Edward Brophy.
On a night that Madison Square Garden and the boxing world bid farewell to a boxing legend in Miguel Cotto (41-6, 33 KOs), Sadam “World Kid” Ali (26-1, 14 KOs) stole the show, winning a unanimous decision victory and the WBO Junior Middleweight World Championship in front of 12,391 fans and televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing. The final scores were 115-113 twice and 116-112.
Ali, a 2008 U.S. Olympian from Brooklyn, hurt Cotto twice in the early rounds and used slick defense and solid counter-punching to keep Cotto at bay throughout the 12-round bout.