Ghana’s WBA number 3 rated super featherweight, Rafael Mensah whose only previous fight outside Ghana was when claiming a TKO victory over Sunday Ajayi in Coutonou, Benin in December 2011, will have the chance to fight outside Africa for the first time when he faces Fatiou Fassinou of Benin in the UK on March 18.
The undefeated Mensah (28-0, 22 KOs) will square up to Fassinou (26-4-3, 13 KOs) on the Dennis Hobson Promotions bill at the Olympia in London come March 18.
Kelly Swanson
Thanks everybody for joining us. What an exciting conference call we have today. We’re talking about Carl Frampton versus Leo Santa Cruz, the rematch, as well as Dejan Zlaticanin versus Mikey Garcia.
I just want to mention that SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is Saturday, January 28 live on SHOWTIME. It’s a doubleheader presented in association with Premier Boxing Champions and live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye is thinking big in this, the final phase of his career as a fighter. Having just formed his own promotional company – Hayemaker Ringstar with Richard Schaefer as his partner – the 36-year-old says he feels he has five fights left in which to “prove what I need to prove before I retire.”
Haye of course faces Tony Bellew on March 4, but he is already looking at bigger fights in which to cement his legacy. Haye said he is looking at a big “box office clash” against Anthony Joshua and/or Tyson Fury.
Oscar De La Hoya is not alone in thinking the upcoming 164.5-pound catch-weight battle between Mexican stars Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Junior could be a great fight. With Canelo set to fight at the highest weight of his career against a seemingly motivated and deadly serious and determined Chavez, fans could get something special on May 6.
And De La Hoya, in speaking with ESPN Deportes, goes as far as to suggest the fight could end up a draw, with a rematch and even a third fight possible. De La Hoya also said that while the plan for Canelo to go ahead with his verbally agreed super-fight with Gennady Golovkin in September remains in place, the nature of the May fight with Chavez could change things.
Superstar Manny Pacquiao’s next fight is still up in the air – recently, Pac-Man said he didn’t even know who possible foe Jeff Horn of Australia is – but one fight from his recent past remains uppermost in Manny’s mind. Or so it seems.
Talking to Fox Sports, the former multi-weight king and reigning WBO welterweight champ spoke about “The Fight of The Century” with Floyd Mayweather from May of 2015. Pacquiao insists that he was deserving of the decision after the 12 rounds had been completed; that he won the highest grossing money fight in history by “two or three rounds.”
Dominican Felix Diaz (19-1, 9 KOs) ended a successful 2016 as a world ranked junior welterweight contender with another two impressive victories added to his ledger. He is determined to continue that momentum this year by facing the biggest challenges. The top name on his hit list remains WBC/WBO junior welterweight world champion Terence Crawford.
“I spent half of last year calling out Crawford. He went the easy route, facing John Molina, who entered their December title fight three pounds above the weight limit and was way overmatched. Now, it is time for Crawford to face a real challenge,” said Diaz.
David Haye’s Hayemaker Promotions has today announced a historic deal with boxing promoting giant, Richard Schaefer, to form Hayemaker Ringstar, a new promotions company set to change the landscape of boxing promotion
The deal brings together two world renowned boxing figures; former World Heavyweight Champion, David Haye, who has self promoted and navigated his way to multiple world title fights and Pay-Per-View mega showdowns, joins forces with former Golden Boy Promotions CEO, Schaefer, the brains behind many of the biggest-selling Pay-Per-View fights in history, and the founder of Ringstar Sports. The deal marks Schaefer’s first business foray into the UK market, and it also ensures that Haye will remain at the pinnacle of boxing long after he hangs up his gloves.
Former IBF Middleweight Champion David Lemieux (36-3, 32 KOs) will defend his NABO Middleweight title against Curtis ”The Cerebral Assassin” Stevens (29-5, 21 KOs) on Saturday, March 11 at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York and televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark beginning at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT. The two athletes had their first face off during the Montreal press conference held earlier today.
Tickets for this highly anticipated matchup will go on sale January 24 at 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT. Tickets for the March 11 HBO Boxing After Dark event are priced at $30, $45, $55 and $75 for ringside seats plus applicable fees and are available at the Turning Stone Resort Box Office by calling 315-361-7469 or online at Ticketmaster
(www.ticketmaster.com).
It seems an almost every day occurrence nowadays that fighters, or members of a fighter’s team, get involved in some sort of crazy trouble at either a press conference or a weigh-in. Just yesterday, all-round hothead Angel Garcia once again lost it completely when attending a pre-fight presser.
Is 2017 the year when outspoken former British middleweight champ Chris Eubank Junior gets in with the elite fighters? Once again, the once-beaten contender is saying all the right things; stating how he wants to fight not only middleweight king Gennady Golovkin but also IBF super-middleweight ruler James DeGale and, in a rematch of his sole pro defeat, WBO middleweight champ Billy Joe Saunders.