In what should turn out to be one of the most interesting boxing matches of 2016 this weekend, WBO junior lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (6-1, 4 KOs) will defend his title against the immensely talented challenger Nicholas Walters (26-0-1, 21 KOs). The bout takes place at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada and will be televised on HBO, which will also be airing the replay of the competitive clash this past weekend between pound-for-pound elites Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward.
Hatton Promotions has been made of aware press reports regarding Lucas Browne and issues relating to the VADA drug test which took place as part of the WBC Clean Boxing Programme.
Firstly, we wish to make it absolutely clear that we support fully the WBC programme and its efforts to rid the sport of performance enhancing drugs.
Clearly the test results are hugely disappointing for the company and for Lucas himself. For a man and a team who fought so hard to clear his name following what is now universally accepted to have been a deliberate contamination of products he ingested prior to his March fight with Ruslan Chagaev, this is a bitter blow.
Richard Schaefer
Thank you very much, and thank you to all the media for being on today’s call. It was an interesting weekend, but boxing goes on and boxing goes on in a big way here on Saturday, December 10 as a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING doubleheader with two toe-to-toe fights that will electrify the sport, and I’m really excited to be able to host and promote this card here from Galen Center in Los Angeles.
Today marks the 30th anniversary of one special heavyweight’s ascension to the world title: Mike Tyson. Tyson, as fans know, decimated Trevor Berbick to win the WBC crown three full decades ago, and it wasn’t long before the rest of the belts were Tyson’s property. Some experts say Tyson, at just 20, turned in his finest performance on November 22nd, 1986.
Here is a list of the ten finest performances from the ten greatest-ever world heavyweight champions:
Dulwhich Super-Welterweight Ahmet Patterson has been forced to withdraw from his British title showdown with Welshman Liam Williams after being attacked whilst out running late on Thursday night.
Patterson, 29, suffered injuries to his head and right eye after being struck by a brick whilst running past a group of three men in London. The undefeated Peacock Gym fighter was struck on the head as he ran past the three men who attempted to block his path.
In more bad news for the heavyweight division and for Lucas Browne in particular, it has been reported – by Ring and by ESPN.com – that the Australian heavyweight has failed a second drugs test. According to the WBC, Browne – who vehemently insists he did not knowingly take the banned substance clenbuterol ahead of his March fight with Ruslan Chagaev – tested positive for ostarine, a stamina-increasing substance.
Browne enrolled in VADA back in July, insisting he has nothing to hide, but this failed second test looks to have put an end to his WBA-ordered fight with Shannon Briggs for a version of the title (still, the Alexander Povetkin-Bermane Stiverne fight, for the interim WBC belt, is still going ahead, despite Stiverne testing positive for an illegal substance, so you never know).
Ghana’s Richard Oblitey Commey believes he needs as many of his fans as possible to cheer him on when he faces hard customer, Denis Shafikov next week Friday, December 2 at the Tough Fight Gym in the Russia capital, Moscow in a mandatory final eliminator for the IBF Lightweight world title.
Commey (24-1, 22 KOs) hopes to set up a rematch with American, Robert Easter Jnr with victory over the highly rated Shafikov (37-2-1, 20 KOs) whose only two career defeats came via decisions in world title fights against Miguel Vazquez in 2014 and Rances Barthelemy in 2015.
Yesterday, November 21st, saw the 40th anniversary of the movie premiere of arguably the finest, the best-loved and the most inspirational boxing flick of them all – “Rocky.” All these years (and six sequels) later, “Rocky” is a movie and a fighter to have passed the test of time in style; still standing and way ahead on points.
Fans simply love the Sly Stallone creation, even if some of the more hard nosed film critics enjoy slating the over the top theatrics of the series (having been guilty of totally missing the point). Bottom line: “Rocky” is a great film; as are some of its sequels.
LAS Two-division world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist VASYL LOMACHENKO (6-1, 4 KOs), of Odessa, Ukariane, undefeated former World Boxing Association (WBA) world featherweight champion NICHOLAS “Axe Man” WALTERS (26-0-1, 21 KOs), of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum began their Fight Week in Las Vegas with a Q & A today. Lomachenko will defend his World Boxing Organization (WBO) junior lightweight title against Walters This Saturday, Nov. 26, at The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. It will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing® beginning at 10:35 p.m. ET/PT. This will mark the 2,000th event Arum has promoted, dating back to March 29, 1966, when World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali defended his title against George Chuvalo. The HBO® telecast will also feature the replay of last week’s controversial light heavyweight title fight between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward.
Going into this past Saturday’s big light-heavyweight title fight showdown plenty of people were saying the winner between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev would be deserving of being placed atop the mythical but always hotly debated pound-for-pound rankings. Ward, as we all know, won – at least officially – and we cannot go back on things now.
So is Ward, who was a dominant super-middleweight for a number of years and is now a king at light-heavyweight, the best boxer, pound-for-pound on the planet? On paper, yes, he probably is, although a number of people may choose to rate Kovalev higher than “S.O.G” due to the fact that they felt, and feel, “Krusher” won on Saturday, only to be “robbed.”