The latest boxing top stories and breaking news
Vasyl Lomachenko defends his WBO junior lightweight belt against Miguel Marriaga in what on paper is a showcase fight on ESPN. Top Rank is banking on this main event being stylistically an entertaining matchup for television.
Saturday nights co-feature is Raymundo Beltran versus Bryan Vasquez.
How can former amateur sensation Vasyl Lomachenko prove his greatness at pro level? Already a two-weight world champ, this despite having had just nine fights in the paid ranks, the gifted southpaw wants much more.
Lomachenko, in action against whopping outsider Miguel Marriaga this Saturday night (some odds-makers have the defending WBO 130 pound champ listed as an enormous 100/1 favourite over the Colombian challenger) told ESPN, the network that will carry his fight, that he is “frustrated” right now.
This Saturday night live on Showtime, Adrien Broner meets Mikey Garcia in the main event from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Even without a title on the line the stakes remain high based off the accomplishments of both men. Showtime will also be live-streaming the undercard via Facebook & Youtube, 3 fights in total including unbeaten heavyweight Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller versus one-loss Gerald Washington.
Let’s start at the top of the bill with a very intriguing matchup between Mikey Garcia 36-0, (30KO’s) and Adrien Broner, who hasn’t lost a fight under the welterweight limit. In fact the weight of 140 pounds is a good item to focus on for two main reasons.
Four-division world champion Adrien Broner and three-division world champion Mikey Garcia went face-to-face Thursday at the final press conference two days before they headline a Premier Boxing Champions event Saturday, July 29 live on SHOWTIME from Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING®.
SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT with unbeaten former world champion Jermall Charlo meeting top contender Jorge Sebastian Heiland in a middleweight world title eliminator.
HBO Sports’ groundbreaking “24/7” reality franchise, which has captured 18 Sports Emmy® Awards, will return for its 23rd multi-part boxing installment with 24/7 CANELO/GOLOVKIN, it was announced today by Rick Bernstein, executive producer, HBO Sports. The two-part behind-the-scenes series follows two elite fighters – Canelo Alvarez and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin – as they prepare for their middleweight championship megafight title showdown Saturday, Sept. 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Adrien Broner insists he is more serious and more focused than at any other time in his entire career; and he had better be telling the truth. This Saturday’s must-win fight (must-win for both men) against Mikey Garcia sees Broner enter the ring as big an underdog as he has ever been. Can “The Problem” rise above the odds?
Broner knows he’s not the fan favourite to win but he says he will be “100-percent” and that he wanted this, a tough fight. To his credit, Broner, a multi-weight champ, has never been stopped in his career, where he has suffered two defeats – to Marcos Maidana, who for many people “exposed” Broner and burst his bubble, and to Shawn Porter. But will Broner get stopped by Garcia on Saturday? Could he even get knocked out cold? Is this the fight that ends Broner’s time as an elite fighter?
After giving fans some of the most thrilling fights in boxing, which spanned over sixteen hard fought years, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero is announcing his retirement.
“First, I want to thank God for allowing me to have a wonderful career. I’m a kid from a small town in Gilroy, California, who made it to the mountain top of the boxing world. When I was a young kid growing up, I always believed in myself, but never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined a small-town kid like myself, would be fighting in front of millions of fans.”
Finally they are silent – for now. We’ve been “treated” to plenty of hype, nastiness, fun and games and, most notably, trash-talking these past four days; courtesy of Floyd Mayweather Junior and Conor McGregor. And, perhaps surprisingly, it is McGregor who gets most votes when it comes to who had the fastest, smartest mouth during the four-day press tour; with the MMA star getting off better, more amusing lines than his upcoming August ring rival.
Trash-talking has of course been around the sport of boxing for decades, with it today being as big a part of the game as stare-downs, catch-weight fights and rematch clauses. Trash-talking can be fun; if it’s done right. Mayweather, for once, found himself out-talked by McGregor (rest assured Floyd will make him pay in the fight next month) but “Money” is usually on the money when it comes to hurling both amusing and effective (effective at rattling his opponent) insults.
Both HBO and the PBC on Fox have dueling tripleheaders this Saturday night featuring quality matchmaking from top to bottom whether you’re looking for pure entertainment or an evenly matched 50-50. For this boxing scribe (hack) the most intriguing one of all is Joe Smith Jr. vs. Sullivan Barrera and the can’t-miss action fights include Berchelt vs. Miura and Figueroa vs. Guerrero.
Here’s the rundown on how these fights will play out starting with a true pick’em, Joe Smith Jr. vs. Sullivan Barrera. Just a few days short of 13 months ago the boxing public especially the media, destroyed a PBC on NBC main event that matched Joe Smith Jr. against Andrzej Fonfara. That fight was chastised as yet another (perceived) mismatch from the Al Haymon stable pushed aside as a worthless waste of space for a prime time slot. Then the first round happened and the rest is music to Joe’s ears. Once again Joe was seen as a sizable underdog facing The Legend of Longevity Bernard Hopkins late last year. Joe knocked Bhop out of the ring ending his storied career abruptly.
Day three of their blockbuster world tour saw boxing legend Floyd Mayweather and UFC superstar Conor McGregor continue to trade verbal jabs as the global stars went face-to-face in front of over 13,000 fans at Barclays Center ahead of their Aug. 26 showdown on SHOWTIME PPV from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
(Photo credit: Idris Erba/Mayweather Promotions)
After filling venues in Los Angeles and Toronto, an electric crowd greeted the two fighters Thursday as Mayweather and McGregor picked up right where they left off, building on the two increasingly combative press conferences held Tuesday and Wednesday.