Top Rank on ESPN will kick off its 2018 season with a sensational Super Bowl weekend world championship event. GILBERTO “Zurdo” RAMÍREZ , Mexico’s super middleweight champion with the matinee idol looks, defending his world title. Ramírez (36-0, 24 KOs), from Mazatlan, Mexico, will make his third defense of his World Boxing Organization (WBO) super middleweight title against Top-Five world-rated contender HABIB “Wild Hurricane” AHMED (22-0, 17 KOs) from Accra, Ghana. The fight will take place on Saturday, February 3, at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX, and will be televised live and exclusively at 10:30 p.m. EST on ESPN and ESPN Deportes and stream live on the ESPN App.
James DeGale defends against Caleb Truax on 12/9
IBF World Super-Middleweight Champion James DeGale MBE will defend his title against American Caleb Truax in his long-awaited British homecoming on Saturday 9th December when he headlines at London’s Copper Box Arena, exclusively live on BT Sport and BoxNation.
The Rise and Rise of Jason Easton
In the East of Scotland something of a boxing renaissance is underway, headed by rising super lightweight Josh Taylor, whose success has helped inspire a revival in the sport’s popularity in this part of the world. Taylor’s most recent outing under the McGuigan Cyclone banner saw him take apart with impeccable skill former lightweight world champion Miguel Vazquez in front of a packed crowd at a sold out Royal Highland Centre just outside Edinburgh.
Will GGG-Canelo II get done any time soon? Don’t hold your breath
It’s far from the kind of news fights fans eager to see a return fight between middleweight king Gennady Golovkin and Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez want to hear (and who doesn’t want to see a sequel – ideally one with a definitive ending – to the September draw!), but Golden Boy head Oscar De La Hoya has conceded how talks for the fight are “going slow.”
Shannon Briggs says that after he KO’s “Whale” Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko will come back to fight him
There sure is some crazy comeback talk fluttering around the boxing word right about now: what with Oscar De La Hoya saying how he has been “secretly training” and how he needs just “two rounds” to stop MMA star Conor McGregor, and with Julio Cesar Chavez, who pretty much disgraced himself in his last fight, against Canelo Alvarez, plotting yet another ring return of his own (would you pay good money to see him fight again?)
Billy Joe Saunders says he’s the best middleweight out there; willing to fight Danny Jacobs, really wants GGG
Billy Joe Saunders, the unbeaten WBO middleweight ruler, has a tough assignment to come through in December, against proven power-puncher David Lemieux – but already the gifted southpaw is looking at other massive fights.
Speaking with Sky Sports, BJS said he accepts the challenge of Danny Jacobs – who will be at ringside in Canada to watch the hugely intriguing and tough-to-pick Saunders-Lemieux clash (clash, as in clash of styles and personalities) – Saunders adding how he is willing to go to New York for the fight. Once again though, Saunders made it clear that the man he really wants to fight is world champ Gennady Golovkin.
Canelo-Golovkin negotiations going slow says De La Hoya
Rematch negotiations between Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin are going very slow according to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya. Golovkin is still the main target for Canelo’s next fight on May 5th, but he’s not the only one in that is being considered.
De La Hoya calls out Conor McGregor
Oscar De La Hoya called out Conor McGregor today on Golden Boy Radio, hoping to get a fight with the UFC star under the rules of boxing. De La Hoya says he’s been working out in secret, getting ready for he hopes is a fight with McGregor. De La Hoya figures that he can still KO the 29-year-old McGregor in 2 rounds or less.
Hearn wants Wilder & Joshua on same card in March
Promoter Eddie Hearn is pushing to have heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua and Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder fight on the same card in March or April before matching them up against each other in the summer.
25 years ago today: The heavyweight trilogy begins – Bowe-Holyfield and the last great heavyweight rivalry
25 years ago today, a great, great heavyweight trilogy began, as reigning and undefeated heavyweight king Evander Holyfield met unbeaten challenger Riddick Bowe in Las Vegas; the venue for all three epic rumbles “The Real Deal” and “Big Daddy” would engage in.