Nathan Cleverly will defend his WBA World Light Heavyweight title against Badou Jack on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor blockbuster at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas on Saturday, August 26, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Cleverly defeated hometown champion Juergen Braehmer last October to pick up the WBA title and makes his first defence against Jack, who steps up a weight after a two-year reign as WBC World Super Middleweight champion.
It’s possible the fight has been overtaken somewhat in terms of hype and fan attention (an understatement if ever there was one!) but Miguel Cotto will face Yoshihiro Kamegai on August 26; the night Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor meet up in what is either a joke fight or a genuinely fascinating crossover fight (depending on your own view).
Is former super-middleweight king Carl Froch worthy of going into The Hall of Fame? “The Cobra,” now aged 40, his reputation, his health and his wealth as intact as his recently surgically repaired nose, told BBC Sport that he has “heard whispers that I might be a Hall of Famer one day.”
The British legend again confirmed how he will not be coming back, that he has “been out too long,” and that he would find it “dangerous” to attempt to boil back down to 168 pounds. Froch, who went out on a high with his crushing of vocal rival George Groves, who he knocked flat in a return fight in front of a then record crowd at Wembley in May of 2014, says he currently weighs around 14st (196 pounds) and that he is content where he is, on the safe side of the ropes.
Though recently crowned WBO welterweight champ Jeff Horn recently told The Sydney Telegraph that his in-the-works rematch with Manny Pacquiao will very likely take place in Australia, the superstar former champ says he very much wants the return bout to take place in his homeland of the Philippines, or failing that in Dubai or in the US.
This weekend in Las Vegas, nothing short of boxing royalty will be both in attendance and receiving honours at the fifth Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame inductions. There will be a genuine celebration of two great rivalries, as Thomas Hearns will be inducted, by Sugar Ray Leonard, and as Erik Morales will be inducted, by Marco Antonio Barrera.
Dillian Whyte has defended the credentials of his upcoming opponent Malcolm Tann, who “The Body Snatcher” will fight, in his US debut, on the big Terence Crawford-Julius Indongo card on August 19. Though Tann has had just two fights in the last nine years, one win and one loss, Whyte says his 6’6” foe will provide him with added experience as far as fighting big guys goes.
Whyte, in speaking with Sky Sports, also made clear his intentions of keeping himself active from now on; with two more fights planned for after the Tann bout.
Former two-division world champion and current Lineal and Ring Magazine titlist Canelo Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) hosted an international conference call ahead of his highly anticipated showdown against WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO Middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0, 33 KOs) during Mexican Independence Day weekend Saturday, Sept. 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. CEO and Chairman of Golden Boy Promotions Oscar De La Hoya, Manager and Trainer Jose “Chepo” Reynoso, and Head Trainer Eddy Reynoso were also a part of today’s international conference call, and shared their thoughts on the mega-fight. “Supremacy,” the showdown that will determine who is the king of the middleweight division, will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.
