Yesterday, BBC Sport reported how the WBA have ordered Carl Frampton to fight Guillermo Rigondeaux by July 27th or face being stripped. As fans know, unbeaten Irishman Frampton added the WBA title to his IBF 122-pound belt with a points win over Scott Quigg this past Saturday. Back in late 2015, Rigondeaux, also unbeaten, was stripped of the WBA (and the WBO) title for inactivity and Quigg, the interim WBA champ, was elevated to full champion.
Lucas Browne – Ruslan Chagaev on Saturday
LUCAS BROWNE: “I HAVE 24 MILLION AUSSIES BEHIND ME”
LUCAS BROWNE believes he’ll have a whole nation supporting him when he steps into the ring to face WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev in Grozny on Saturday night (March 5).
While there will be few Australians to cheer him on in the arena this weekend, Browne feels everyone in his homeland will be turning on their TV sets and hoping for him to make history.
Stacey Reile declared GFBG featherweight champion
Stacey “Stay Lo” Reile holds the distinction of winning the first International Boxing Federation (IBF) female featherweight title. Reile is now also the first female featherweight champion of another sanctioning body: the newly formed Global Female Boxing Guild (GFBG). The sanctioning body is solely for women’s boxing and does not sanction title fights for men. Reile was recently presented the GFBG featherweight championship belt at a ceremony in Miami Beach, Florida. When Reile obtained the IBF female featherweight title in 2011, it was after she won a boxing match against Dahiana Santana. This is different from how she obtained the GFBG featherweight title because she did not have to fight anyone to receive it.
Canelo-Khan quotes from LA
LOS ANGELES (March 2, 2016) – WBC, Ring Magazine and Lineal Middleweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) and former two-time world champion and resurgent contender Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) made their final stop off their three-city international press tour in Los Angeles at the Universal CityWalk to discuss their upcoming May 7 showdown at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Canelo Alvarez vs. Amir Khan will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.
Canelo Alvarez: I’m not a middleweight
Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez wants to make a deal. Speaking today at the second stop in the three-city promotional tour to hype the upcoming May 7 Canelo-Amir Khan fight, Alvarez – as quoted by RingTV.com – made one thing clear: he is not a middleweight.
As fans everywhere know, the demand for Canelo, the lineal middleweight champion of the world, to fight Gennady Golovkin, the interim WBC and reigning IBF and WBA 160-pound king, is at a fever pitch right now. Everyone wants to see this fight get made, but Canelo said that both he and GGG will have to “feel comfortable” and that “the conditions have to be right.” before this super-fight can get done.
Ortiz-Thompson clash this Saturday will not be a title fight, WBA declined to sanction “stay-busy” fight
It probably won’t matter to the fans who plan to tune in to see the bout on Saturday night, but the fight between interim WBA heavyweight champ Luis Ortiz and short-notice challenger Tony Thompson will not be a sanctioned title fight. The WBA, as reported by ESPN.com, decided against sanctioning the contest, largely due to the fact that Thompson, though a good and experienced heavyweight, is not currently ranked in the WBA’s top-15 at the weight.
Chris Eubank-Nigel Benn III? Yes, it could actually happen
For those fans who always felt bitter middleweight/super-middleweight rivals Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank had unfinished business to attend to back in the 1990s, by way of a third fight, there could be good news. Benn, who retired with a 42-5-1(35) record in 1996 after back-to-back losses to Irishman Steve Collins, recently made noise that suggested the 52-year-old was genuinely interested in returning to the ring to face the monocle-wearing fighter that so managed to get under his skin back in the day.
Canelo-Khan New York quotes
(Photo Credit: Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions) NEW YORK CITY (March 1, 2016) – WBC, Ring Magazine and Lineal Middleweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) and former two-time world champion and resurgent contender Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) made their second stop on a three-city international press tour in New York City today at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square to discuss their upcoming May 7 showdown at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Canelo Alvarez vs. Amir Khan will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.
Canelo-Khan televised on HBO PPV on 5/7
(March 1, 2016) – WBC, Ring Magazine and Lineal Middleweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) will make his first title defense of 2016 against former two-time world champion and resurgent contender Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) on Saturday, May 7, Cinco De Mayo weekend, in a match-up of two of the biggest stars in boxing. T-Mobile Arena, the hottest new sports and entertainment venue located just west of the famed Las Vegas Strip, will host this epic showdown, which will also be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.
Hughie Fury to face tested heavyweight Nagy Aguilera on March 26th Eubank-Blackwell bill
Unbeaten heavyweight contender Hughie Fury, cousin of course of reigning heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, will face a tested and experienced fighter in Nagy Aguilera in his next bout. Set to face the 20-9 operator from The Dominican Republic on the March 26th card at Wembley that will be headlined by middleweights Nick Blackwell and Chris Eubank Junior who will meet in something of a grudge-match, 21-year-old Fury could have a good fight on his hands.
Aguilera, aged 29 and long time based in New York, has been in with a number of notable names, including: Oleg Maskaev, Sam Peter, Antonio Tarver, Chris Arreola, Tomasz Adamek and, more recently, unbeaten U.S heavyweight hopes Dominic Breazeale and Gerald Washington. Okay, most of these fighters have beaten Aguilera but, with the exception of Peter and Arreola, they have not stopped him. And Aguilera is coming off a win – he travelled to Poland last September, where he stopped a 16-1 Marcin Rekowski.