Rival super-bantamweights Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg have sat down and had the face-to-face treatment courtesy of Sky Sports’ “The Gloves Are Off” series, and from what the teaser trailer shows, the full episode – to be aired tomorrow, Valentine’s Day – should be quite something.
The two men appear to have some mutual respect, with an apparently grudging handshake taking place, but the back and forth verbal exchanges suggest some very real bad blood between the IBF and the WBA champions.
It’s one of those stories that, when you read it, you have to double check to see if you really have read correctly. Once great multi-weight king Roy Jones Junior – who recently announced how, contrary to some reports that said he had retired, made it clear he has not yet done so – will indeed fight again. Sort of.
It’s up on a number of boxing sites, so it must be true: Jones, 47, will “fight a fan” in a March 20th pay-per-view event in Phoenix that will also feature MMA and wrestling bouts.
Following his shock upset stoppage loss to Viktor Postol in October, former 140-pound champ Lucas Matthysse aims to prove he is far from done by invading the talent-rich welterweight division. Dan Rafael of ESPN.com reports how the big punching former champion is currently back in training and will make his ring return at 147, probably on the under-card of the huge Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan bill in Las Vegas on May 7th. Matthysse will face TBA, but Eric Gomez of Golden Boy told Rafael how the plan is for the 37-4(34) operator to meet “a quality contender.”
Retired superstar Floyd Mayweather Junior may not have sold as many tickets as he had hoped on his UK Victory Tour, but the 49-0 great known as “Money” says he has had a good time “touching so many fans” whilst here in the UK. On the Manchester leg of the tour, Mayweather – who will soon celebrate his 39th birthday and insists he has no urge to fight again – said yesterday he had nothing but respect for the city’s favourite fighting son, Ricky Hatton (“a hell of a fighter with a big heart”) – while Floyd also revealed to The Manchester Evening News how he bet on Tyson Fury to score that shocker over Wladimir Klitschko back in November.
Robert Uzzell: I can’t tell you the comments I’ve read on Twitter, Facebook, and other boxing webpages crucifying Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. A catchweight, lineal middleweight title fight (155 pounds) has Canelo stepping into the ring to defend against Amir “King” Khan. Fans are furious at Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) for “cherry-picking” a much smaller Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) who has only fought at welterweight twice. They say this is a complete mismatch and an easy win for Canelo. ‘NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND!’ (in my Lee Corso voice).
Los Angeles, CA (February 12, 2016) Consensus #1 Pound-for-Pound Fighter and World Boxing Council Flyweight Champion, Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez will defend his title against world ranked Puerto Rican McWilliams Arroyo on Saturday, April 23 at the Fabulous Forum in the co-featured bout to the World Middleweight Championship between Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Dominic “Lights Out” Wade, it was announced today by K2 Promotions. Both bouts will be televised Live on HBO World Championship Boxing® beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
The current heavyweight division seems to be as slow moving as ever – we are still waiting on a definite date for the big Tyson Fury-Wladimir Klitschko rematch and neither British star Anthony Joshua nor David Haye has announced an opponent for their upcoming bout – but fight fans are slowly but surely getting the fights that matter.
Former world title challenger, Isaac ‘Grenade’ Ekpo is confident he is ready to have another crack at a championship and is eyeing an immediate date against Romanian born, Lucian Bute.
The Nigerian fighter has racked up seven straight victories since his WBO Super Middleweight world title loss to Robert Stieglitz in Germany in October 2013, in the process winning the Commonwealth title as well as regaining the WBO Africa crown he previously vacated.
OSCAR DE LA HOYA, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions: Welcome, everyone, to the Luis Ortiz, Tony Thompson and Sadam Ali and Jessie Vargas media conference call. These will be two exciting matchups taking place on March 5th at the DC Armory in Washington D.C.
Trowbridge star Nick ‘Bang Bang’ Blackwell will defend his British middleweight championship against number one-ranked contender Chris Eubank Jr. on March 26 at The SSE Arena, Wembley, LIVE on Channel 5.
The explosive clash between world-class middleweights Blackwell and Eubank Jr. headlines a stacked fight card which also features heavyweight sensation Hughie Lewis Fury in a scheduled 12-round contest against a world-ranked opponent.