Whether you were a fan of his or not and whether you will miss him or not, it is undeniable how Andre Ward left a big hole in the sport when he announced his pretty much out of the blue retirement earlier this week.
Results: Valdez decisions Servania; Ramirez defeats Hart
WBO featherweight world champion Oscar Valdez (23-0, 19 KOs) survived a scare in getting knocked down in round 4 by challenger Genesis Servania (29-1, 12 KOs) last Friday night, but Valdez was able to get up off the deck and go on to win a 12 round unanimous decision victory at the Tucson Convention Center in Tucson, Arizona.
Dorticos vs Kudryashov: Weigh-In Photos
Yunier Dorticos 199 vs. Dmitry Kudryashov 200
Lateef Kayode 197.75 vs. Keith Tapia 197.5
Nonito Donaire 125.5 vs. Ruben Garcia Hernandez 126
Fight week in San Antonio officially kicked-off as Yunier Dorticos and Dmitry Kudryashov went face-to-face Wednesday at the final press conference before their Saturday, September 23 World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight quarterfinal showdown taking place at the Alamodome.
Jorge Linares vs Campbell Weigh-In Photos, Video
Jorge Linares 134.2 vs. Luke Campbell 134.8
Romero Duno 134 vs. Juan Sanchez 133.6
Azat Hovhannisyan 122 vs. Sergio Frias 120.6
Abraham Lopez 127.8 vs. Isao Carranza 126.8
Rafael Gramajo 120.8 vs. Pedro Melo 121.2
Sergey Kovalev vs. Vyacheslav Shabranskyy press conference quotes
Kathy Duva, CEO – Main Events: All right, everybody, welcome. We are here today to officially kick off the promotion for a fight that’s going to take place at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, November 25. That’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev is going to fight Vyacheslav Shabranskyy in a fight that is going to be a little departure for what Sergey’s gone through lately. It’s going to be a fight where both guys stand in the ring and throw punches at each other.
Video: Andre Ward retires on top
In somewhat of an unexpected surprise, unified light heavyweight champion of the world, Andre Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) retired from professional boxing. Ward was 33 years old, and was widely viewed as the best pound for pound boxer in the world. He is coming off of an impressive stoppage victory against Sergey Kovalev last June.
Loeffler: There’s a reason Mayweather fought McGregor and would never entertain fighting GGG at 154
Though Tom Loeffler, promoter of middleweight king Gennady Golovkin, feels his fighter has what it takes to carry on fighting until the age of 40, he also says there is no chance 40 year old Floyd Mayweather will ever agree to face him, even at 154 pounds.
Speaking with Sky Sports, Loeffler said that never at any time were there “serious talks” between GGG and Mayweather; even though “ out of respect to Floyd, he is the only fighter that Gennady would have come to 154 for.”
Jake LaMotta: Did he have the toughest chin in middleweight history?
As fight fans the word over know, boxing great Jake LaMotta passed away this week at the long-lived age of 95. Tributes have been pouring in from all over, deservedly so, and most celebratory pieces written in dedication to “The Bronx Bull” go into great detail about Jake’s great chin, his unimaginably tough and durable chin.
Truly a phenomenon, LaMotta, who retired from the ring with an astonishing 83-19-4(30) record in April of 1954, outlived his famous ring rivals by a considerable amount of time. The sublime Sugar Ray Robinson has been gone for well over thirty years, Frenchman Laurent Dauthuille, against whom Jake scored that flabbergasting, come-from-behind, last 13-seconds of the 15th-round KO, passed away back in 1971. Tony Janiro, the good looking kid Jake busted up (as immortalized in the classic movie starring Robert De Niro (“well, he ain’t good looking no more”) left us in 1985. And the list goes on.
Former Ward foe Froch on Andre’s retirement: I won’t be sad to see the back of him
It was the most frustrating, horrible night of Carl Froch’s entire boxing career, one the retired “Cobra” still has nightmares about some six years on. And it is due to the bad night Froch had against Andre Ward, along with Ward’s particular fighting style, that Froch says he will not miss the two-time champ one bit.
As fans know, 33 year old Ward shocked many people by announcing his retirement yesterday. Though he’s still very much on top of his game – scoring a very impressive stoppage over arguably the most dangerous 175 pounder on the planet, Sergey Kovalev in his most recent fight – Ward has had enough. And Froch, who says he was as shocked as everyone else was by the decision of his former foe, says he wouldn’t be too surprised if the unbeaten former champ decided to make a comeback down the road.
Dorticos vs. Kudryashov & Parker vs. Fury Highlight Busy Boxing Weekend
The Yunier Dorticos vs. Dmitry Kudryashov & Joseph Parker vs. Hughie Fury standout in a busy boxing weekend that includes cards on ESPN, HBO, YouTube, and a variety of available (legal) streams.
Let’s begin this preview and predictions piece with another installment of the Top Rank on ESPN series. The televised tripleheader opens up with Micheal Conlan and is headlined by Oscar Valdez’s making a mandatory defense of his 126 pound WBO belt. Let’s hope the main event is at least entertaining style-wise and that Conlan puts on show. The best matchup on paper is Gilberto Ramirez (35-0) vs. Jessie Hart (22-0) in the co-feature.