Last night in Michigan, in a fight that was barely covered, 48 year old future Hall of Famer James Toney improved to a quite amazing 77-10-3(47) with a TKO win over veteran journeyman Mike Sheppard. Toney, weighing a hefty 249 pounds, unloaded some hurtful body shots, sending Sheppard down.
The younger man (Sheppard is 41) got up but was counted out in the act of rising, the fight waved off. Sheppard is now 24-21-2(10).
Ghana’s Sena Agbeko recorded a second straight victory of 2017 with a round 3 technical knockout victory over Christian Bruffy Holmes on Saturday night in the US.
Agbeko only fought for the first time in three years in March and maintained his push to get to the very top with the resounding victory over Holmes who was so battered in the first two rounds he failed to answer the bell for round 3 at the Frank Cochran Centre, Meridian, Mississippi.
WBO Middleweight World Champion Billy Joe Saunders will make the second defence of his crown against mandatory challenger Avtandil Khurtsidze on Saturday 8th July at London’s Copper Box Arena, live on BT Sport and BoxNation.
Hatfield’s Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) defeated Irish hero Andy Lee to take the WBO strap in a close and absorbing fight back in December 2015 that saw the undefeated star floor the former Champion twice in the third round and go on to claim a majority decision from the judges.
Anthony Joshua, the recently crowned IBF/WBA heavyweight king, is arguably THE hottest fighter in the sport right now, yet his next fight will be decided by the man AJ beat in stunning fashion last month.
Wladimir Klitschko, the proud ex-champ who, despite losing in an heroic effort, raised his game to tremendous heights on April 29, has a rematch if he wants to take it. It is now up to the 41 year old: will he retire, or will he demand the rematch, maybe in October or November of this year? Joshua says he is happy to fight “Dr. Steel Hammer” a second time – and the entire boxing population wants to see a sequel, the April battle was so great – even in Germany.
LOU DiBELLA: I am really looking forward to what I think is a really good fight and I am really happy with all of the karma coming out from the media with this fascination with Indongo who has never fought in the US and does not have the resume that Felix does because the more you talk about Indongo, the more mojo is thrown in our direction. I know how good Crawford is. Felix knows how good Crawford is. The media knows how good Crawford is, but he is not G_d, he is not unbeatable. He’s had tough fights and I think he’s had tough fights with guys like Gamboa, who was a little guy who gave him a tough fight for a while and Diaz has a lot of the same attributes when it comes to pressure and style which could make it a very difficult night for Bud.
Undefeated World Junior Welterweight Champion and top pound for pound fighter TERENCE “Bud” CRAWFORD (30-0, 21 KOs), of Omaha, Neb., will make his 2017 debut, Next Saturday! May 20, at the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden. This will also be his debut headlining in the big room — a testament both to his talent and his growing popularity. Crawford will be defending his unified World Boxing Organization (WBO) / World Boxing Council (WBC) / Ring magazine titles against former Olympic gold medalist and top-rated contender FÉLIX DÍAZ (19-1, 9 KOs), of Brooklyn by way of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in a marquee all-action fight. It will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing, beginning at 10:15 p.m. ET/PT.
Cuban star Rances Barthelemy will look to take one step closer to becoming the first Cuban fighter to win world titles in three weight classes when he battles Kiryl Relikh in a WBA 140-pound title eliminator on Saturday, May 20 on SHOWTIME from MGM National Harbor in Maryland.
Televised coverage begins on SHOWTIME at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT and is headlined by WBC Featherweight World Champion Gary Russell Jr. defending his title against top challenger Oscar Escandon plus super middleweight contenders Andre Dirrell and Jose Uzcategui in a matchup for the Interim IBF Super Middleweight World Championship. In the telecast opener, from Copper Box Arena in London, Gervonta Davis defends his IBF 130-pound world championship against Liam Walsh.
CAMP LIFE, the new digital series produced by Top Rank®, will make its debut later this week with a four-part feature on undefeated two-division world champion and top pound for pound fighter TERENCE “Bud” CRAWFORD. Designed to give a behind-the-scenes look at training camps of fighters in the Top Rank stable, CAMP LIFE gives fans a real taste of training camp as fighters prepare for their battles. CAMP LIFE will be distributed on various platforms, including Facebook, Top Rank’s You Tube channel, Twitter and Top Rank’s website..
GERVONTA DAVIS
Thoughts on going to London to make his first title defense on foreign soil:
“I believe it was the right business move as far as getting me to the UK in my early career and giving the fans what they want to see. I have a lot of UK fans after the [Jose] Pedraza fight so I think it’s a good change. It’s good for me to fight in the UK. I fought overseas when I was an amateur so now I’m going as a pro and I feel like it’s a great opportunity.
It’s the biggest fight of the year, no doubt, and already fight fans everywhere are talking about the September 16 showdown between middleweight king Gennady Golovkin and star challenger Canelo Alvarez. And there are plenty of things to talk about with this mega-fight.
Aside from discussing who will win the big fight, fans are currently mulling over the following things:
The fight will not be fought at a catch-weight.