Bellew to face Ilunga Makuba for vacant WBC title (Drozd is now “Champion in recess”)

Liverpool’s Tony Bellew will get a second chance to become a world champion this summer, as his promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed Bellew will face Ilunga Makuba for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title. Grigory Drozd was supposed to defend against Makuba but pulled out of the April fight injured and will now become either “Champion in Recess” or will be stripped of the title completely.

So Bellew and Makuba get their chance. There is no date or confirmed venue yet, but the word is June 4th is likely and Bellew wants the fight in Liverpool. Bellew, a former challenger of WBC light-heavyweight ruler Adonis Stevenson (“Bomber” losing inside six-rounds in 2013) has won six in a row since moving up to cruiserweight where he says he feels more comfortable and more powerful. Bellew has some good cruiserweight wins on his record, most notably a revenge points win over Nathan Cleverly and a EBU title win over Mateusz Masternak, which came in the 33-year-old’s last fight in December.

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Khan compares his upcoming fight with Canelo to Sugar Ray Leonard’s challenge of Marvelous Marvin Hagler

Not surprisingly, Amir Khan says that if he manages to beat Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in their hugely intriguing May 7th fight, it will be the biggest and best thing he has ever done in his boxing career. The former 140-pound champion, in talking to Sky Sports, said it would be a “dream come true to be called the middleweight world champion.”

And Khan, who has been bulking up with weights as well as strength and conditioning training yet claims he is just as fast, with both his hands and his feet, is looking at an exceptional fighter’s exceptional achievement as inspiration going into the 155-pound clash: Sugar Ray Leonard’s fabulously unforgettable (and also controversial) points win over Marvellous Marvin Hagler in 1987.

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Sergey Lipinets defeats Ghvamichava

Unbeaten junior welterweight Sergey Lipinets (9-0, 7 KOs) of Martuk, Kazakhstan thrilled the packed venue at the Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino in Nice, California on Tuesday night with a dramatic fifth-round knockout of Levan “The Wolf” Ghvamichava (16-2-1, 12 KOs) in the main event of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) TOE-TO-TOE TUESDAYS on FS1 and BOXEO DE CAMPEONES on FOX Deportes.

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Shannon Briggs arrives in UK, says he may not leave – “might just stay here and just knock people out!”

Former heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs arrived in London today, and he says he is looking to fight, “Whoever the British people want me to fight.” Briggs may be well into the veteran stage of his long career and he may be way past the force he once was, but the New Yorker remains both a good talker and a fan attraction.

It’s no secret Briggs wants a big fight with Britain’s David Haye – and he today told Sky Sports how he has “been looking for him [Haye] everywhere” – but the man who once beat the great George Foreman and gave the also great Lennox Lewis a helluva fight says he is open to fights with any of the big-name British heavyweights, including Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.

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Russell Jr. battles Hyland on 4/16

MASHANTUCKET, CT (March 15, 2016) – Gary Russell Jr. will return to the ring to defend his WBC Featherweight World Title against Irish contender Patrick Hyland on Saturday, April 16, live on SHOWTIME® (11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT) from Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT.

In the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING co-feature, undefeated IBF Super Featherweight World Champion Jose Pedraza will defend against mandatory challenger Stephen Smith.

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Tyson Fury posts his wish-list: wants Klitschko rematch, then Martin-Joshua winner, then Wilder-Povetkin winner

If heavyweight champion Tyson Fury gets his way, the heavyweight division will see some huge and potentially thrilling match-ups take place in the coming months. Fury must first defeat former champ Wladimir Klitschko – in a return fight that has dragged on and on in terms of being officially announced; maybe the two fighters will clash in a secret location on a secret date! – but after that he wants more big names.

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Paul Williams is back in boxing as a trainer!

Former two-time world champion Paul Williams, who’s pro career came to a sudden and tragic end when he was paralyzed from the waist down after a motorcycle accident in May 2012, is back in boxing as a trainer.

The popular Williams will work the corner of once-beaten Justin DeLoach (13-1, 7 KOs) when DeLoach faces undefeated super welterweight and local favorite Dillon Cook (16-0, 6 KOs) in the opening eight-round bout of what is now a ShoBox: The New Generation quadrupleheader on Friday, March 25, live on SHOWTIME (10:30 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast) from Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Okla.

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Robert Garcia doesn’t think Marcos Maidana wants to fight again (and fans who saw a certain photo of Maidana will know why!)

A couple of days ago, a photo of Argentine warrior Marcos Maidana surfaced on the internet and it caused quite a response, being re-posted a number of times. Maidana looks very much over his fighting weight in the pic, his stomach bloated and rings of fat evident. Immediately after seeing the picture, fans everywhere came to the seemingly obvious conclusion: the once great action fighter who gave us memorable fights with the likes of Victor Ortiz, Amir Khan, Adrien Broner and, most recently, Floyd Mayweather Junior twice will not be fighting again.

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Lennox Lewis favours Povetkin over Wilder

As fight fans are probably aware, it looks like reigning WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder will have to travel to Russia for what most are calling the toughest fight of his entire career – the May 21st date with Alexander Povetkin. Wilder, unbeaten at 36-0, deserves much credit if he does indeed take the already risky (but mandatory) assignment in the hostile, unfamiliar environment of Russia.

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Carl Frampton says he has “maximum another ten fights” aims to retire by age 33

Unified WBA/IBF 122-pound champ Carl Frampton has told The Belfast Telegraph he is already making plans regarding his retirement from boxing. Though he is probably at his peak now and has many big fights ahead of him, the unbeaten Irishman is already looking at making sure he does not stay in boxing too long.

Next up for Frampton will almost certainly be a summer showdown up at featherweight with thrilling warrior Leo Santa Cruz. If Frampton can get a win there he will have achieved another of his goals: that of becoming a two-weight world champion. And Frampton said he is hoping Santa Cruz will agree to fight him in Belfast, though he says he has his doubts.

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