British Boxing News
A huge undercard for Joshua vs Breazeale is being pieced together by promoter Eddie Hearn, and the first fight announced is a mouth-watering Super-Middleweights George Groves and Martin Murray in an eliminator bout for the WBA crown.
Both men are hunting a World title shot in the second half of the year, a fourth in the division for Groves and a first at 168lbs for Murray, who boxed three times for a World crown at Middleweight.
Anthony Joshua MBE will make the first defence of his IBF World Heavyweight title against unbeaten American Dominic ‘Trouble’ Breazeale at The O2 in London on June 25. Joshua ripped took both the belt and unbeaten record of American Charles Martin at the same venue on April 9, and he’ll be looking to take another ‘0’ in his maiden defence.
Breazeale brings a formidable 17-0 record to the UK with 15 wins inside the distance and enters the clash on the back of forcing Amir Mansour to retire after five rounds of their clash in January. The Californian is no stranger to London having represented USA in the 2012 Olympic Games, where Joshua won gold.
Had he managed to avoid disaster against Tony Thompson and, last time out, Erkan Teper, Liverpool’s David Price would arguably have been right in the mix to challenge heavyweight ruler Tyson Fury in a fight or three’s time. Price, who holds an amateur win over Fury (“I’m still the last Englishman to beat him, by the way,” he told Sky Sports recently) launches his latest comeback on May 29th and he says he still harbors a desire to get the chance to mix it with Fury.
Britain’s James DeGale, the reigning IBF super-middleweight champion, wants to go down in history as one of the best fighters from his homeland; and that means becoming a dominant world champion in two weight divisions. This is what the Olympic gold medal winner told The Star, and the gifted southpaw says he is looking at getting himself big fights with the stars of the 175-pound division in the near future.
British heavyweight David Price will return to the ring on May 29th, on the under-card of the Tony Bellew-Ilunga Makabu cruiserweight title clash that will go ahead in his native Liverpool. Price, last seen being iced inside two rounds by Erkan Teper, has been working – very hard by all accounts – with promoter and trainer Dave Coldwell and the 32-year-old still believes he can fulfill the potential he showed earlier in his career when he was chopping down the likes of Audley Harrison and Matt Skelton.
By his own admission, heavyweight champ Tyson Fury struggled to remain motivated after his big November win over Wladimir Klitschko. The new champion piled out weight, wasn’t really interested in talking about boxing and even suggested he might retire, claiming he had done everything he had set out to do. True, we never know when Fury is being serious, but some fans wondered if the hard to figure out 27-year-old meant it when he said he’d done all he’d wanted to.
As fans have most probably read, new IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua’s first title defence has been officially announced for expected venue The O2 in London, on June 25th (two weeks before world heavyweight champ Tyson Fury meets Wladimir Klitschko in their big rematch). Another big sell-out is anticipated, even though fans who are buying tickets do not yet know who the 16-0(16) Joshua’s challenger will be.
The fight is dubbed “Repeat or Revenge,” and next week in the city of Manchester in the UK, heavyweight rivals Tyson Fury and Wladimir Klitschko will come face to face for the first time since their November fight, at the official press conference to announce the date and the venue of the anticipated return.
Press conferences can be dull affairs, merely a matter of formality. However, in light of the crazy, and highly amusing antics Fury got up to in a previous press conference with Klitschko – where he, amongst other things, dressed up as Batman, rolled around on the floor in a mock fight, knocked the then-champ’s belts on the floor and hurled plenty of verbal abuse at an often bemused-looking Klitschko – people are asking themselves what will happen when Fury meets Klitschko next Wednesday in Manchester?
As has been reported previously, newly crowned IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is likely to face one of the following three opponents in his first title defence set for June 25th: Bermane Stiverne, Eric Molina or Dominic Breazeale. All three US heavyweights have strengths and weaknesses, and either fighter would make a good first title challenger for the 16-0(16) champ who has yet to be taken beyond the 7th-round.
![Kell Brook: I just wonder if [Errol Spence Jr] has got a taste of Jeff Lacy about him](https://www.boxing247.com/wp-content/uploads/1-007_Kell_Brook-768x513.jpg "Boxing photo: British Boxing image")
Reigning and undefeated IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook heard unbeaten hot prospect Errol Spence Junior call him out after his impressive stoppage win over Chris Algieri this past Saturday, and Brook, in speaking with Sky Sports, says a fight with the classy southpaw will be “interesting when he becomes the mandatory and we have to get it on.” However, Brook – who lists WBC welterweight ruler Danny Garcia as his first choice for his next fight – isn’t yet convinced “The Truth” is the complete article.