Chris Eubank Jr has apologised to Frank Warren, and vice-versa, following their surprise spat at today's London press conference to promote the October 12 Riyadh Season card topped by the light heavyweight clash between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

"Following today's press conference for the historic Riyadh Season event on October 12th," Eubank stated, "I would like to retract my inaccurate statements and offer my apologies to Frank Warren, Eddie Hearn and Kalle Sauerland.

"I now wish to focus purely on boxing and preparing for a huge fight in Riyadh next month."

Warren's official statement on the incident read: "I accept Chris' apology and retraction. "I too have said things before and apologise to him if any criticism of him has upset him in the past. I look forward to seeing him compete on this huge Riyadh Season card. We look ahead to some potentially massive bouts in the future." 

: #ChrisEubankJr #FrankWarren #EddieHearn #KalleSauerland #BoxingNews #RiyadhSeason #BeterbievVsBivol #LightHeavyweight #BoxingDrama #ArturBeterbiev #DmitryBivol #FightNight #BoxingPressConference #October12 #BoxingApology

There’s little respect left between Sandy Ryan and Mikaela Mayer — and not just because they’ll be fighting this Friday, when Ryan will defend her WBO welterweight title against Mayer.

That led to some harsh words between the two 147-pounders on Wednesday at the final press conference ahead of their fight, which will headline at the Madison Square Garden Theater and will air on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+, with the broadcast beginning at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time (3:30 a.m. BST). The show’s promoter, Top Rank, has also been leaning into the drama to sell this fight .

“We’ve known each other since [the] amateur days. I was on the Great Britain team, she was on the USA team, and we used to do training camps and spar,” Ryan said at the press conference. “I've always respected her as a fighter, and I've always said that. I don't respect her as a person now with how she’s been leading up to this fight."

Mayer responded:

That’s not how Ryan sees things. To Ryan, Mayer wasn’t yet in the same weight class when the 31-year-old from Derby arrived at Koroma’s gym.

“The first time I came over to America was for the Jessica McCaskill fight, and Mikaela was not at 147 then, so what she's just said there, I'll let you all decide on your opinion,” Ryan said.

Ryan had picked up the vacant WBO belt in April 2023 after it was stripped from McCaskill. Five months later, she challenged McCaskill, formerly the undisputed welterweight champion and still at the time the lineal champ, in September 2023. The fight ended as a split draw, though some felt Ryan deserved the victory . Ryan stopped Terri Harper this March to move to 7-1-1 (3 KOs),

Mayer has moved up in weight over the years. She turned pro after competing in the 2016 Olympics and went on to become a unified titleholder at junior lightweight. After losing to Alycia Baumgardner in a 2022 fight for three world titles at 130, Mayer left that division behind. She made one appearance apiece at lightweight (a decision over Lucy Wildheart in April 2023) and junior welterweight (a points win over Silvia Borto in September 2023t). This January, Mayer arrived at welterweight and lost a split decision to IBF titleholder Natasha Jonas. The 34-year-old from the United States is 19-2 (5 KOs)

Mayer would have been at 140 when Ryan joined up with Koroma. That’s just one division away from welterweight, which Mayer officially moved to months later.

“I never came over here to trouble Mikaela. I came over here to better my own career,” Ryan said. “You see a lot of fighters — top-end fighters, U.K. fighters — come over to America because the training is great here. The sparring is great. The trainers are great. You see fighters doing that to better their career, and that's exactly what I did.”

Although Mayer clearly remains upset about the situation, she’s glad that it brought her to her new trainer, Kofi Jantuah, who fought as a pro from 1993 through 2009 between welterweight and middleweight. Jantuah is best known for wins over Daniel Santos and Marco Antonio Rubio, and losses to Kassim Ouma, Arthur Abraham and Dmitry Pirog.

#SandyRyan #MikaelaMayer #WBO #Welterweight #TopRank #Boxing #WomensBoxing #MadisonSquareGarden #PaulStevenson #AnthonyHumphreys #Koroma #KofiJantuah #JessicaMcCaskill #NatashaJonas #ESPN #FightNight #WBOWelterweight

There have been times when the phrase “He can always rebuild at British level” was a perfectly valid point. It is becoming increasingly redundant.

After making the most British debut imaginable against Ed Harrison, Peter McGrail learned his trade against a succession of tough Nicaraguans, Mexicans and Argentineans and squeezed in trips to Japan, Dubai and America. 

McGrail, 9-1 (5 KOs), and his team certainly weren’t avoiding the domestic scene. The 28-year-old junior featherweight spent years competing against the very best as an amateur and turned professional with an outstanding reputation. The decision was made to fast track him up the world rankings. 

Things went smoothly until he ran into a massive right hand from Ja’Rico Quinn and lost his unbeaten record in Arizona last December. 

While McGrail was making his way in the world, his British rivals engaged in the type of round robin that young, unknown fighters must survive if they are to prove themselves worthy of serious backing. 

The confident and well-rounded Liam Davies has put together an outstanding run and cracked any world top 10 list worth its salt whilst the precocious Dennis McCann has grown and matured into a very solid operator. 

Initially, the plan was for McGrail to instantly set the record straight against Quinn but the Detroit man's late withdrawal from their scheduled rematch set him on a different path. He dipped his toe back into the choppy domestic waters by comfortably outboxing former British champion, Marc Leach, in April and gets his shoulders wet this weekend when he takes on another former Lonsdale Belt holder, Brad Foster, 15-3-2 (5 KOs). 

Rumors abound that should McGrail beat Foster this weekend, he will plunge directly into a major British and European title fight with McCann. At the moment, Davies remains a step ahead but certainly isn’t shy about getting involved if there are titles and money on the table. 

This isn’t a case of McGrail admitting defeat and dropping back down to British level. If anything, he has stepped up. 

He can’t wait to get involved. 

“Yeah definitely, I just listen to my team, my management, my promoters at the time and mainly my coaches, Paul [Stevenson] and Anthony [Humphreys]. They decide what fight and route to go but I just train every day, learn as much as we can and fight,” McGrail told BoxingScene.

“At that time I was going through the WBA route and I think I was number 10 as I was fighting Ja’Rico and then obviously got beat. I don't know whether I lost my ranking but I’m back at number 14 with them but then I've been ordered to fight McCann now and this is a final eliminator for the British so the domestic route seems like a no-brainer to go to down.

“Me and Foster is a brilliant fight for me. He’s been in with a few good kids so it's time to put a good statement on for myself  and then further fights in the future are obviously the likes of McCann and that so that is probably the route we're going to go down.

“It's a route that I'm excited to go down. You could go down the world route and but never ever fight for the British or European or anything but the people could always say that you weren't the best in Britain because you didn't win the British title but that's what's looking to happen now.”

Money is obviously the driving factor behind the sudden determination to put together top level domestic fights but there does seem to be a collective willingness to match British fighters against each other at all levels.

2024 has seen a long string of outstanding area, English and British title fights and last weekend’s massive show at Wembley Stadium highlighted fighters who have made it to the grandest stage of all by winning tough fights with equally determined rivals. 

Willy Hutchinson took his profile to a new level by beating Craig Richards and his star won’t fall too far following his entertaining loss to Joshua Buatsi while Anthony Cacace’s wins over Joe Cordina and Josh Warrington have given a talented fighter the stage his talents have deserved for a long time. Josh Padley gave his own meandering career a massive shot in the arm by agreeing to a dangerous fight with Mark Chamberlain and then upsetting the Portsmouth man. Chamberlain himself made his name by stepping up and stopping Gavin Gwynne. 

McGrail finds himself in a division which offers him the opportunity to build both his world ranking and profile. 

“Me against Dennis or me against Davies - or even me against Foster - but more so me against Dennis or Liam Davies, the British fans are gonna show up and be a lot more interested  than if I was in against some mad Puerto Rican or Argentinian that no one knew [in an eliminator],” McGrail said. “Even though that fight probably means more because you're next in line for a world title, the likes of those fights gets more people talking about you and it builds your profile so that's what I'm looking forward to.

“There's some big fights coming but for now, for the last few weeks and obviously up until the 28th of September I've just been focused on Brad Foster and getting myself in the best condition I can be in  and looking forward to putting a show on for everyone.

“Everyone knows deep down who the boy is in the UK and I'm looking to show that over my next two fights and then obviously we'll go from there but, for now, we've got two weeks on Saturday and I'm back in the ring, back under the lights and I'm going to be enjoying myself. I can't wait.”

#PeterMcGrail #BradFoster #BoxingShowdown #DennisMcCann #UKBoxing #FightNight #BoxingFans #BritishBoxing #MarcLeach #BoxingRankings #LiamDavies #BoxingNews #UKFight #BoxingCommunity #BoxingHighlights

Alexis Rocha seeks to extend his climb up the welterweight ratings by taking on Raul Curiel, an undefeated product of Mexico, in a bout pitting Golden Boy Promotions stablemates Dec. 14 at Toyota Center in Ontario, Calif., BoxingScene learned Wednesday.

The 27-year-old Rocha (25-2, 16 KOs) is ranked No. 2 in the WBO rankings behind new champion Brian Norman Jr. and his top-ranked mandatory contender Shakhram Giyasov (16-0), and No. 7 in the IBF rankings.

The southpaw from Orange County, Calif., steps up from smaller venues in Indio, Calif., and Inglewood, Calif., to head the DAZN-streamed card against the 28-year-old Curiel (15-0, 13 KOs).

Rocha has rallied from a sixth-round knockout loss to Giovanni Santillan in October 2023 to defeat Fredrick Lawson (retired, seventh round on March 30) and Santiago Dominguez by unanimous decision on July 19. 

Curiel has knocked out or stopped 10 consecutive opponents. He most recently stopped Jorge Marron Jr. in the first round April 27 in Fresno, Calif.

Golden Boy secured the date and venue as Premier Boxing Champions also holds Crypto.com Arena – home of the Los Angeles Lakers – on Dec. 14 for a fight card that would include David Benavidez.

With PBC also seeking to plan late-2024 dates for its unified junior-middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora and lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis, an official close to the talks said it will be interesting to see which bout settles where and when considering the pay-per-view heavyweight-title fight between champion Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury is earlier in the day on Dec. 21.

#AlexisRocha #RaulCuriel #GoldenBoyPromotions #WelterweightShowdown #BoxingOnDAZN #RochaVsCuriel #BoxingNews #GiovanniSantillan #FredrickLawson #SantiagoDominguez #JorgeMarronJr #DavidBenavidez #Boxing2024 #OntarioBoxing #BoxingFightNight

Anthony Joshua is for now putting a brave face on his collapse at the feet of Daniel Dubois inside a busy Wembley Stadium. But in the days and weeks that follow, don’t doubt that the darkness will descend.

That natural sense of humiliation, the kind that demands the heartiest of soul searching, is surely in the post. What he remembers about the ordeal is likely mercifully little, but he won’t be able to avoid the evidence of his colossal fall. The splayed legs that he could not control as he clawed at the canvas, confused as to why he could not summon the strength to rise, were soon followed by online memes depicting the moment when he felt at his most hopeless. Defeat, thanks to social media, is crueller today than it’s been at any other point in boxing history.

Joshua, 34, has been beaten before, of course. Arguably the loss to Andy Ruiz Jr, in the summer of 2019, was more embarrassing. After all, his conqueror on the night of Joshua’s US debut was much shorter and looked like he’d never done a day of exercise in his whole life. But Joshua was not yet 30 years old, the difficult build up to that contest and the illness he’d endured were fresh in his mind. He could write that one off with victory in the rematch.

The losses to Oleksandr Usyk would have been tough to swallow, too. By then Joshua was trying to be the complete all-rounder, one who could both bang and box, only for Usyk – an older and wiser man, it turned out – to outbang and outbox him in consecutive bouts. Yet there were plenty who rightly applauded Joshua’s efforts and, years later, Joshua could find comfort in the knowledge that Usyk stood tall as the undisputable division leader and a puzzle, this all-time great in waiting, that nobody before or since has solved.

The loss to Dubois, however, came to a younger man he has felt superior to for a long time. Joshua never particularly rated Dubois, the young buck who’d dared to disrespect him, yet this is a man who can push out his chest and push back his shoulders and look just as imposing as Joshua looks when he does the same. Yet, unlike Joshua, he is enviably vacant when it comes to the pressures of the outside world. There is a simple, robotic quality to Dubois, one that can malfunction if he’s given too much time to process new surroundings or situations but one that is becoming increasingly effective when the instruction is simply to destroy. Dubois is still just 27, too – an age to be missed once you get past it. 

Joshua will remember being 27 years old. When he was blasting through all-comers without a care in the world, feeling invincible like only people in their mid-twenties can. It was the embracement of those feelings, as he strutted into press conferences as the biggest man in the room, as he politely bumped fists with mere mortals, that defined his rise through the ranks. The Olympic champion, the can’t-miss prospect, the gargantuan puncher, the hottest property in British sport. When Joshua turned 27 years old, he had not yet encountered Wladimir Klitschko. 

A lot has happened since then. 

It is everything that has happened since then, in fact, that makes it so difficult to see a way back for Joshua at the highest level, particularly if to reach that level he must again go through Dubois.

His performance in the first encounter was screaming for help. In the end, he simply didn’t know which way to turn. Only briefly energized when Dubois stumbled in round five, the subsequent desperation in Joshua’s work, to find the punch to end it all, was telling.

The uncertainty that has at times tainted Joshua’s in-ring approach since he went to hell and back with Klitschko is unlikely to have been eased by being bounced off the canvas, time and again, by a boxer who for so long lived in Joshua’s shadow and only recently threatened to come out.

Joshua’s plentiful qualities are unlikely to have disappeared without trace yet his shortcomings – the failure to believe in himself at crucial moments, the desire to go for broke at the wrong time, and the haphazard approach to the A-B-Cs of boxing – might only become more pronounced and the second guesses even wider of the mark. And that’s before we consider the heavy blows he’s taken, the concussions they’ve caused, and the ageing process that will soon dull his reflexes, slow his hands, and hack away at his punch resistance.

Yet it wouldn’t be a surprise if Joshua’s next fight was against the same man. After all, he followed the Ruiz loss with an immediate return, likewise the humbling defeat to Usyk. He has always relished a challenge, his career to date should still be deemed a generational success and the desire to prove everyone wrong will now be stronger than ever before. Whether that will be enough to put his hands in the right positions at the right times, to know when to defend and when to attack, and when to ignore the voices in his head, is unknown. But he needs to again become that fearless young man – just like the one who will stand in the opposite corner, even more confident, even more unnervingly cold. To overcome that would be a huge ask for anyone.

Joshua’s current record in sequels stands at 1-1, the success rate is still at 50/50, and that oft-referenced desire to ‘roll the dice’ may now seem like the best option for a man who is running out of time.

#AnthonyJoshua #DanielDubois #JoshuaVsDubois #BoxingRematch #HeavyweightBoxing #BoxingWorld #JoshuaRedemption #JoshuaDemons #DuboisRematch #FightNight #BoxingEvent #JoshuaVsDubois2 #AJBoxing #DuboisFight #JoshuaComeback

LONDON, ENGLAND: At a press conference in London, one loaded with thanks for the promoters and Turki Alalshikh, it seemed for a while like Chris Eubank Jr hadn’t got the memo.

The 35-year-old, from the seaside city of Brighton and Hove, was there because he’s scheduled to take on Kamil Szeremeta, 25-2-2 (8 KOs), on the October 12 Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undercard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Behind him sat Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn, two promoters who have dealt with Eubank Jr in the past and, over to his left, was Boxxer’s Ben Shalom, the middleweight’s current promoter. While every other boxer on the card thanked each of the promoters for the significant role they play in Riyadh Season, Eubank opted for a different approach.

The switch to Shalom occurred earlier this year after he split from Wasserman’s Kalle Sauerland. And so came the first seemingly innocuous question. Why Shalom?

“Why Boxxer? Because every other promoter out there is a scumbag,” Eubank replied. 

The 33-3 (24 KOs) contender then went on to explain his reasoning to those in attendance. In reference to an old legal matter between the pair, Eubank alleged that Warren – a Hall of Famer who has been involved in the sport since 1980 – has been “lying and cheating his way through boxing for the last couple of decade." (Shortly after the press conference, Warren promised to sue Eubank for his outburst.)

Eubank also alleged – as Warren urged him to speak up – that he’d been “locked up in a terrible contract” with Sauerland. Warren told him he should fight Hamzah Sheeraz while Hearn waited patiently for his turn.

“Eddie Hearn, Frank Smith, they did everything to make this fight against Conor Benn,” Eubank continued about the contest that was aborted in October 2022 when it emerged that Benn had failed two PED tests. “Scumbags,” Eubank seemingly concluded.

But he wasn’t done yet. Just when it seemed like he was going to be slung off the stage, out of the building, and off the card, he continued.

“The only promoter that I know for sure isn’t a scumbag is Turki Alalshikh,” Eubank said about the GEA boss responsible for bringing boxing to Riyadh Season. “This is a man who isn’t trying to take money from fighters, he isn’t trying to use lawyers. He’s a man of God, he’s a man of religion. He just wants to put the best fights on and pay the fighters what they’re worth and he’s the first promoter in the history of boxing to be like this. And Ben Shalom is a pretty cool guy, too.”

Well, that’s alright then.

When asked about his next opponent Eubank momentarily cooled. 

“I’ve been off a year and this is a solid opponent,” he said. “He’s only lost to two world champions, he’s the perfect fight for me to get back. Now I have to get the ring rust off and go and knock out all the big names in the next 12 months.”

Eubank was last spotted in September 2023, dominating Liam Smith before stopping him in 10 rounds. That result avenged a fourth-round stoppage loss to Smith eight months previously.

Szeremeta, 34, was asked if knowing that Eubank could be hurt and “knocked out” provided a source of inspiration. “I was stopped on my feet by the referee, I was not knocked out,” Eubank barked. “Get your facts right.”

Szeremeta’s response was rather dull by comparison.

“This will be the most important fight in my career,” he said. “That’s why I train hard to find a weakness [in my opponent]. I promise to give my best.”

#ChrisEubankJr #KamilSzeremeta #FrankWarren #EddieHearn #BenShalom #BoxingPressConference #RiyadhSeason #MiddleweightBoxing #Boxxer #ArturBeterbiev #DmitryBivol #FightNight #BoxingMatch #BoxingCommunity #BigFight

Though Jai Opetaia, 25-0 (19 KOs), unquestionably wanted a bigger fight than Jack Massey, his opponent on the October 12 Riyadh Season card in Saudi Arabia, the IBF cruiserweight belt-holder insists that he won’t overlook his next challenger.

The 29-year-old southpaw, from Sydney, Australia, had made overtures to WBO boss Chris Billam-Smith only for the Briton to declare the earliest he could fight would be in November.

“It is what is,” Opetaia said. “Jack Massey has my full focus now. I was chasing those unification fights but we’re here now.

“Man, I’m not taking Massey likely. He’s coming to fight. I’ve prepared for 12 hard rounds, like I always do. I’m ready for war, let’s go.”

Massey, 22-2 (12 KOs), is fresh off an impressive victory over Isaac Chamberlain but the cruiserweight leader is an altogether bigger challenge for the 31-year-old. 

“Listen, this is what I do,” he said. “This is my job and I know how big this fight is, I plan to take it with both hands.”

Massey has been in deep before, namely when he stepped up to heavyweight in January last year to take on Joseph Parker and lose a competitive 10-rounder on points.

“I know I’ve got a tough fight ahead of me,” Massey continued. “I don’t just turn up for the money; I didn’t do that against Parker. I’m going to do whatever it takes to win this fight.” 

Skye Nicolson, 11-0 (1 KO), let out a similar battle cry as she spoke of her bout with Raven Chapman in what will be the first women’s professional boxing match to take place on a Riyadh Season bill. “I’m prepared for everything and anything on the night,” she said. “I’ve levelled up again on this camp and whatever Raven brings we’ve got an answer for it.”

Chapman, 9-0 (2 KOs), added: “It’s a great clash of styles and I’m looking forward to getting women’s boxing on that big stage. 

“There’s not a lot of things now that can ‘make history’ but we’re a part of this and to go down in the history books is really humbling and it’s a huge reason why I do this as a fighter, as a woman in boxing. I want this to make it clear that it doesn’t matter what gender you are, you should get the opportunities you deserve.”

The 33-year-old Liam Cameron, 23-6 (10 KOs), has also been chasing justice after traces of a recreational drug were found in his system in 2018 and he was hit with a hefty four-year ban. He will take on the cocksure up-and-comer Ben Whittaker, 8-0 (5 KOs), on the same bill.

“I’ve seen two of his fights,” Cameron said of Whittaker. “I was with some mates and we were laughing, him making his opponents miss and that. But you can’t keep doing that. You have to have your hands up in boxing.”

#JaiOpetaia #JackMassey #SkyeNicolson #RavenChapman #LiamCameron #BenWhittaker #RiyadhSeason #BoxingHistory #Cruiserweight #WomenInBoxing #BoxingMatch #IBFChampion #BoxingCommunity #FightNight #BoxingEvent

Fabio Wardley said he had “zero doubt” about taking the rematch with Frazer Clarke.

The British heavyweights served up an early Fight of the Year contender when they shared 12 violent rounds to top the bill at London’s O2 Arena in March.

On October 12, they meet in a rematch at Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia and at today’s London press conference both said they felt they had won the first bout, which wound up being a terrifically hard-fought draw.

“It depends who you ask,” said Wardley, 17-0-1 (16 KOs). “I don’t think it was a draw at all. I think I pressed the fight. I pressed the action. I had him going in the fight numerous times. I had him down. Got a point deduction. I think there’s many a point there that proved I won the fight, but [it] set up for a bigger rematch so there’s not much to complain about. I get to come back to Riyadh, do it on a massive show on a massive card and settle the score properly.”

There were other opportunities, but the 29-year-old from Ipswich said little compared to the chance to put his rivalry with his fellow Englishman behind him.

“I had options, but there was some unfinished business there,” Wardley added. “There were some bits to settle. I’m not the sort of person to leave things to lie. I want it settled. I want it finished. I want that chapter ticked off to move forward. While we played around with a few other options, realistically the only other thing was to finish off Frazer.”

Wardley, the British heavyweight champion, said he was “looking to put on a clean, clinical knockout.”

Likewise, Clarke said there was no other fight he wanted more than the return.

“Before I got back to the changing rooms [after the first bout], this is the fight that I wanted,” Clarke said. “The draw didn’t sit well with me. You could see I was devastated at the end of the fight, and I’m glad we got it on because quite frankly I’ve had a lot of good things to say about Fabio since that fight now we’re here and now I’ve seen him, I can’t wait to just smash him in the face again. So I’m glad it’s here.”

Clarke, an Olympic bronze medallist from the Tokyo Olympics, is 33 and now 8-0-1 (6 KOs). He said, on review of the March war with Wardley, he identified “mistake after mistake.” He also said he felt a degree of imposter syndrome, being seated alongside bill-toppers Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, who meet to unify the world light heavyweight title in the main event on October 12.

“I’ve put the work in. Really really put it on myself to iron out those creases and right them wrongs,” Clarke added. “I’m taking a lot from these guys that are top of the bill.”

 #FabioWardley #FrazerClarke #HeavyweightBoxing #BoxingRivalry #RiyadhFight #BoxingRematch #BritishBoxing #FightOfTheYear #O2Arena #ArturBeterbiev #DmitryBivol #KnockoutPower #OlympicBronzeMedalist #BoxingCommunity #BoxingShowdown

Artur Beterbiev is a man of few words but the hugely-capable WBC, WBO and IBF light-heavyweight champion has said he is 100 per cent fit and focused on his October 12 unification bout with WBA king Dmitry Bivol.

Having thanked Riyadh Season – the fight takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – and promoters Top Rank and Queensberry, as well as Bivol, for the fight taking place, the 40-year-old, who is 20-0 (20 KOs) said winning all of the titles has always been his goal.

“It’s top of the meaning in boxing when you have four belts, and that’s it,” said Beterbiev. “I want to win a fourth one.”

Asked if he was specifically happy with the defining contest coming against Bivol, who he has known since his amateur days, Beterbiev added: “Every opponent is different. Every person is different. But we have prepared for this fight, to be ready for everything.”

The contest was originally set for June, but Beterbiev injured his meniscus and the fight was postponed for his knee to heal. He now says he is ready, and would not be fighting if he was not fully repaired and prepared.

“Yes, because I always do preparation for 100 per cent, half is not for me,” he said.

But Beterbiev stopped short of making a prediction, telling today’s press conference in London: “I never [make a] prediction. What happens happens. I’m more focused on different details, to prepare and to do good things.”

Top Rank’s Todd duBoef insisted Beterbiev was looking for his 21 st destruction.

“The guy is an absolute animal. You just feel it.”

#ArturBeterbiev #DmitryBivol #BoxingUnification #UndisputedChampion #TopRankBoxing #QueensberryPromotions #WBCChampion #WBOChampion #IBFChampion #WBAChampion #RiyadhSeason #SaudiArabiaBoxing #ToddDuBoef #BoxingClash #LightHeavyweight #BoxingShowdown

Top Rank today announced the signing of Juanmita López De Jesús, the son of former two-weight champion Juan Manuel Lopez.

López De Jesús, a 2024 Olympian who represented Puerto Rico, has pledged his long-term future to the Las Vegas-based company and will debut at junior bantamweight in early 2025.

The 18-year-old is the son of the big punching star who had a long and successful career under the Top Rank banner.

“Juan Manuel Lopez is one of Puerto Rico’s great champions, and it brings me great pleasure to welcome Juanmita to the Top Rank family,” said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum. “Juanmita is an exceptional talent, someone we feel will excel in the ring and, like his father, bring many championships to the great fighting nation of Puerto Rico.”

López De Jesús added: "I thank God and Top Rank for the incredible opportunity to walk this path alongside them, following in my father’s footsteps. This marks the beginning of something truly extraordinary. Thank you, Puerto Rico, for your unwavering support. I am thrilled to embark on this journey filled with passion and dedication. I am ready to give it my all to achieve greatness and create my own story."

Both father and son fought for Puerto Rico in the Olympics, Juanma at the 2004 Athens Games and López De Jesús this year in Paris, going out in his opening match to eventual gold medalist Hasanboy Dusmatov.  

The explosive “Juanma” had his last fight in 2019 and was 36-6-1 (32 KOs) when he retired.

#JuanmitaLopezDeJesus #JuanManuelLopez #TopRank #BobArum #PuertoRicoBoxing #Olympics2024 #Paris2024 #PuertoRicoOlympian #BoxingDebut #JuniorBantamweight #JuanmaLegacy #HasanboyDusmatov #BoxingFamily #TopRankBoxing #BoxingFuture #NextChampion

Chris Eubank Jr., the former IBO world champion, made headlines at the Beterbiev-Bivol press conference by launching an explosive attack on British boxing promoters. Ahead of his undercard fight on the Riyadh Season event, Eubank Jr. branded Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren, and other top promoters as "scumbags" while explaining why he signed with Ben Shalom's Boxxer.

Eubank Jr. suffered a career setback after being knocked out by Liam Smith in January 2023. However, the 35-year-old redeemed himself by defeating Smith in their rematch later that year. With his eyes on bigger fights in 2025, Eubank Jr. is now set to face Kamil Szeremeta on October 12 on the Beterbiev-Bivol card.

At the press conference, Eubank Jr. didn’t hold back, labeling major promoters in the UK as dishonest. “Why did I choose Boxxer? Because every other promoter out here is a scumbag," he stated. He went on to call out Frank Warren, Kalle Sauerland, and Eddie Hearn, accusing them of exploiting fighters and engaging in shady practices.

In contrast, Eubank Jr. praised His Excellency Turki Al-Alshikh, saying he is a promoter who values fairness and fighter welfare. “He’s not trying to lock fighters into contracts or squeeze them for money. He’s a man of God and cares about putting on the biggest fights," Eubank said.

Eubank Jr.'s strong words sparked a reaction from Frank Warren, who challenged him to face Hamzah Sheeraz next. But before any talks can begin, Eubank Jr. must first secure victory against Szeremeta.

#ChrisEubankJr #EddieHearn #FrankWarren #BenShalom #Boxxer #RiyadhSeason #BeterbievBivol #KamilSzeremeta #HamzahSheeraz #LiamSmith #BoxingNews #BritishBoxing #TurkiAlAlshikh #FightNight #ProBoxing

Junior welterweight Stephanie Simon is ready to start a new chapter in her boxing career as she returns to Atlanta for her professional debut on September 27 at Trilith Studios Town Stage in Fayetteville, Georgia. 

Simon's four-round bout will be part of the all-women’s undercard for the event headlined by Alycia Baumgardner and Delfine Persoon, with Baumbardner’s undisputed super featherweight title at stake.

This fight holds special significance for Simon, who will be revisiting her roots in Atlanta for the first time since 2002. “It’s kind of a weird feeling,” Simon said. “I grew up in Roswell, and then I moved away to Washington State from seven to 17. I’ve spent a lot of time on the East Coast, but nothing really brought me back to Atlanta until now.” She plans to visit her childhood home with her mother during fight week. “I still remember the address, and I think my mom will be at the fight too, so maybe we can just visit it together.”

Simon shared a touching story from her childhood, revealing how her father recognized her potential early on. "When I was three years old, my dad told me this story about our house in Atlanta," Simon said. "He said that one day, I took off running as fast as I could, and he looked over at my mom and said, 'She's going to be something special. The whole world's going to know that girl.' My mom looked at him like, 'Sure, that’s what everyone says about their kid.' But I guess there was something about the way I moved at such a young age that made him believe in me.” Now 30, Simon reflects on her father's early prediction with pride and gratitude, as she makes her pro debut mere miles away from where that statement was made. 

[use image: Stephanie-Simon-as-a-child here]

In preparation for her debut, Simon has been sparring with WBO welterweight titleholder Sandy Ryan in Santa Monica, who is also preparing for a fight against Mikaela Mayer the same day. Simon praised Ryan for her work ethic and dedication. “Sandy is one of the hardest-working fighters I’ve ever been around,” Simon said. “She trains in extreme conditions, and her commitment has been inspiring. Her humble attitude and impressive achievements, like her extensive amateur career, have motivated me to push myself further.”

Simon also admitted that the transition from amateur to professional boxing has been challenging. “I had some anxiety about fighting as a pro for the first time, especially after a nine-month break,” Simon said. “Working with top-level fighters and learning from them has boosted my confidence. I’m more comfortable with the techniques and strategies needed for professional boxing, and the anxiety I felt before has diminished.”

Simon might have sparred a titleholder and battled anxious thoughts, but now returns to the origin of so many of her good memories.

“I still have these vivid memories of just being around the neighborhood and riding bikes and just being crazy little kids,” Simon said with a smile. “I'm excited to go back home.” 

#StephanieSimon #BoxingDebut #ProBoxing #JuniorWelterweight #SandyRyan #AlyciaBaumgardner #DelfinePersoon #WBOChampion #AtlantaBoxing #WomenInBoxing #TrilithStudios #RoswellGA #BoxingTraining #FightNight2024 #BoxingNews

Vasyl Lomachenko knocked out George Kambosos Jr. earlier this year in one of the standout performances of 2024, regaining a lightweight world title to end an almost four-year spell without a belt to his name. Since then, ‘Loma’ has shut down rumours of a showdown with Gervonta Davis and news surrounding the Ukrainian has gone quiet. Yet, the three-weight world champion could be set to return against a Brit next year.

Anthony Cacace also boasts a memorable performance in 2024 after upsetting the odds to halt IBF super-featherweight champion Joe Cordina in May and on Saturday night he followed up that display with a comfortable points victory over two-time world champion Josh Warrington.

Although, if he is to keep hold of his IBF world title, the Northern-Irishman will be forced to defend the strap in a tricky mandatory defence against Mexico’s Eduardo ‘Sugar’ Nunez before March 21st, 2025.

After witnessing Cacace’s victory over Warrington, a confident Nunez publicly called out the champion on the Matchroom media accounts and declared that it is time to take care of business.Time is ticking, @AntoC6 ⏰

Sugar Nunez is ready 👊 pic.twitter.com/ao8jbsaXVI

“Congratulations, Cacace on your win. You achieved your objective and so did I. It is time to put our cards on the table and take care of business. Everyone knows that the next step is Cacace vs. Nunez. I hope our fight is made soon.”

However, the fighting pride of Belfast has appeared to have eyes elsewhere since the victory over Warrington, instead indicating that he will move up to lightweight in the hopes of securing a mammoth opportunity against IBF lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko, in an interview with BBC Sport NI.Josh Warrington Responds To Retirement Talk Following Defeat To Anthony Cacace“If I move up to lightweight, I’m the mandatory challenger for Lomachenko’s title. We’re just going to have to see. It’s all in my hands. I’m in the driving seat.

“We’ll see what the future holds.”

As for Lomachenko, the much-lauded amateur sensation has revealed that he is currently lacking motivation and that he will sit out the remainder of 2024, meaning that he will likely need a ‘tune-up’ fight in 2025 before heading into any possible unification contests against Gervonta Davis or Shakur Stevenson.

At 35-years-old and naturally big for the weight, this current landscape could prove to be ideal timing for Cacace – who could land the opportunity to face Lomachenko in his next outing if he confirms a move up to 135lbs in the near future.

Cacace could possibly even bring the fan-favourite champion to Belfast in a homecoming at the SSE Arena – for what would be ‘Loma’s’ second bout in the United Kingdom – amid rumours that he is keen to return home.

Although, despite the fact that Cacace believes that a move to lightweight would see him become the mandatory challenger, William Zepeda currently holds this position and could intervene, but rumours that the Mexican will opt to pursue the WBC route and face off with Shakur Stevenson will be music to Cacace’s ears.

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Whilst all eyes have been on Turki Al-Alshikh over the last twelve months, other areas of the sport are thriving without his involvement, none more so than the Japanese boxing scene. The proud fighting nation now has it’s own superstar to get behind in, the form of arguable pound-for-pound number one Naoya Inoue, and his stock may be set to rise even further in the near future, with a notable name clearly in his plans..

Debuting at light-flyweight, Inoue challenged for and achieved world honours in just his sixth professional bout before going on to fight in 23 consecutive world title contests, maintaining his undefeated record across four weight divisions and become a two-weight undisputed champion in the process.

Since moving to super-bantamweight, Inoue has majorly impressed with four knockout victories that have seen him finally receive the worldwide recognition that his talent merits, and he is now considered by the majority as a top three pound-for-pounder, at the bare minimum.

However, the one thing preventing ‘The Monster’ from an established position atop the pound-for-pound throne is the lack of reputable names in the lower weight-classes – some arguing that a showdown with Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis is the only route to being crowned as boxing’s greatest fighter.

Yet, one more realistic name that has been mentioned with Inoue is that of fellow Japanese sensation and current WBC bantamweight champion, Junto Nakatani, who has conquered three weight divisions himself and won the 2023 Ring Magazine Knockout of the Year award for his brutal stoppage of Andrew Maloney.

Amid rumours of what would be the biggest clash in the history of Japanese boxing, Inoue detailed that Nakatani would need to defeat his brother and WBA bantamweight champion, Takuma Inoue, before he would offer him the shot at the undisputed super-bantamweight title, as per Essentially Sports.

“Before he [Nakatani] moves up [in weight] to fight me, he will have to fight my brother Takuma. That’s not easy because Takuma will be a very tough opponent and a thick wall for Nakatani.”Josh Warrington Responds To Retirement Talk Following Defeat To Anthony Cacace

According to talkSPORT’s Michael Benson, Junto Nakatani has now confirmed that he is happy to adhere to Inoue’s two-fight proposal and move forward with a bantamweight unification showdown against Takuma Inoue in order to earn the fight with his world-renowned brother.Junto Nakatani has welcomed Naoya Inoue's challenge to first fight his brother Takuma Inoue in a WBA & WBC bantamweight world title unification fight, then move up and fight him for the undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO super-bantamweight world titles. pic.twitter.com/uRjI6zoPf6

— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) September 25, 2024

“Junto Nakatani has welcomed Naoya Inoue’s challenge to first fight his brother Takuma Inoue in a WBA & WBC bantamweight world title unification fight, then move up and fight him for the undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO super-bantamweight world titles.”

Naturally big for the bantamweight division, despite debuting at minimumweight, Nakatani’s move to 126lbs is a natural one and he would enter any encounter with Naoya Inoue as the one with the physical advantages. With both men appreciated for their knockout power, Inoue-Nakatani has to be perceived as one of the biggest possible events in the sport and one that would captivate boxing fans around the globe, as well as those in Japan.

As for the timescale, Naoya Inoue is expected to return against either Sam Goodman or Murodjhon Akhmadaliev in December, possibly opening the door for Nakatani to appear against his brother on the undercard and tee up a meeting for the second quarter of 2025.

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#NaoyaInoue #JuntoNakatani #TakumaInoue #JapaneseBoxing #SuperBantamweight #Bantamweight #BoxingSuperFight #PoundForPound #WBA #WBC #BoxingFans #MurodjhonAkhmadaliev #SamGoodman #KnockoutPower #BoxingHistory

His mind seemed clear. Even after being knocked down in the first, third, and fourth rounds and having taken steady punishment from a true puncher in Daniel Dubois, Anthony Joshua — smiling, nodding, beckoning — appeared to have his wits about him. But he didn’t have his legs under him. The head was willing, and potentially able. The body would not cooperate.

That runs counter to the split between strengths and shortcomings that had defined most of Joshua’s career.

His body made him the betting favorite over every single opponent he ever fought, at least the first time he fought them. (The lone time he was an underdog was in the rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, after we had 12 rounds of clear evidence to support that oddsmaking.) One look at Joshua suggested this was the man to carry boxing into and through the 2020s. Standing six feet, six inches, with roughly 240-250 pounds of chiseled muscle, Joshua was a post-Lennox Lewis lab prototype come to life. And he possessed all of the physical tools for this line of work: a long, heavy jab; knockout power in either fist; impressive athleticism and reflexes for a man his size.

But it was that pesky stuff from the neck up that let him down. His confidence was never quite the same after suffering a knockdown against Wladimir Klitschko (even though he rallied to win that night). He wasn’t sure from fight to fight if he wanted to be a boxer or a destroyer. He changed trainers repeatedly and was left with too many cooks arguing in his mental kitchen. He was too tense in the ring, and as a result, he’d gas out early in fights, his breathing becoming labored or his legs heavy.

Of course, it all connects — tension becomes exhaustion, mental strain bleeds into physical strain and vice versa. Whichever half of the equation was letting AJ down at a given moment, the fact remains that, all too often, he was less than the sum of his parts.

It would appear, on the heels of this most deflating defeat of his career against Dubois — four knockdowns, a pure knockout, done and dusted one minute into the fifth round — that the book on Joshua is written. He will go down as a good, perhaps very good, but not all-time-great heavyweight, one who offered unlimited promise but proved wildly unpredictable and inconsistent and was, ultimately, a bit of a letdown.

And that makes him an avatar of this entire heavyweight boxing era.

We can define the era as spanning from November 28, 2015 — the day Tyson Fury ended Klitschko’s almost-decade-long reign — until, probably, this coming Dec. 21, when Usyk and Fury are scheduled to rematch. More to come on that, but it figures to serve as a bookend.

It’s been a good heavyweight era. Certainly, it has run rings around the Klitschko brothers era that preceded it: two Hall of Famers who mostly lacked for competition and generated little enthusiasm outside of Europe. This era of Fury, Usyk, Joshua, Deontay Wilder, et al, could rightly be called a very good era. But that’s as far as you can go. It’s not an all-time great era. It isn’t the ‘90s, and it sure as hell isn’t the ‘70s.

As fans, we got lots of thrills out of it, no doubt. The third Fury-Wilder fight was among the most exceptional title tilts in heavyweight history. Joshua-Klitschko was unforgettable. Usyk-Fury wasn’t far behind. The Fury-Wilder draw featured a classic finish, the Wilder-Luis Ortiz fights were both fun, Andy Ruiz’s upset of Joshua was a doozy, and there were all sorts of wild scraps at lower echelons, from Alexander Povetkin-Dillian Whyte in the bubble to the recent Derek Chisora-Joe Joyce war.

It has been a heck of a ride. The heavyweights have recaptured much of the magic that was lost when one Klitschko or the other was deliberating and dominating.

But much like AJ’s career, in the heavyweight division over these years things rarely went according to plan. And much like AJ’s career, it could have been so much more.

Most notably on that “coulda been” front, we somehow never got Fury vs. Joshua or Joshua vs. Wilder. Maybe one or both will still happen, but neither would mean much anymore. Those fights, once for legacy and supremacy, would now be for money and personal pride. And it’s doubtful that either will happen at all anyway.

Either one of those, at the right time, could have been the most massive mainstream-crossover heavyweight event since Lewis vs. Mike Tyson. But the right time came and went.

More so than the disappointment, though, it’s the parallel unpredictability of AJ and of the changes to the division’s hierarchy that really stands out.

Every time Joshua got the boxing world believing, every time it seemed he had it all together, it unraveled. He was the king of the sport in 2019 when he ran into late sub and 11-to-1 underdog Ruiz, knocking Ruiz down as per the script in the third round, then suddenly stumbling and crumbling. He avenged the loss (in uninspiring fashion) and some two years later was about a three-to-one favorite to best the seemingly undersized Usyk, but we know how that one — and the rematch — went. Again Joshua rebuilt. He won four straight, each win better than the last. He was more than a four-to-one favorite over Dubois. But the underdog stepped fearlessly forward and, by midway through the first round, the smart money was all flowing one way.

For these last nine years or so, the division as a whole has echoed that feeling of “just when you think you have the answers, I change the questions.” Fury reached the top at the end of 2015 and disappeared for the next 30 months. He then elevated himself to the point where he was the subject of all-time heavyweight great conversations, and proceeded to squeak by an MMA fighter making his professional boxing debut and get whupped by a former cruiserweight champ. Ruiz had one great moment and ate himself out of contention. Wilder’s story is one of both an unfathomable ascent, given his late start and pitiable technique, and a rapid descent. Nobody’s Bingo card included Joseph Parker’s revival over the past year, or Joyce stopping Dubois but getting stopped twice by Zhilei Zhang.

Even Wladimir Klitschko’s role in the torch-pass to the new era defied convention; his loss to Joshua was so stirring as to make boxing fans pity non-boxing fans, and his loss to Fury was so dreadful as to make boxing fans pity themselves.

Back to Joshua and his legacy: I was insisting on my podcast about a year ago, before the Otto Wallin fight, that AJ was not quite a Hall of Famer — an insistence that was met with significant brushback from our listeners. It felt like an ice-cold take as he enjoyed a revival in crushing Wallin and Francis Ngannou, and as of a few days ago, I was prepared to admit that I was wrong, he was indeed a sure-shot Hall of Famer.

But now, after one utterly disastrous defeat to Dubois, he’s back to not getting my vote (with the caveats that his career is not over and that I can’t predict how weak a Hall of Fame ballot he may eventually find himself on).

What happened against Dubois reframed his entire post-Usyk comeback. Is it fair that we retroactively question results we once celebrated? No, but it’s what we do. If you listened to podcasts or read social media late Saturday night into Sunday, you heard/saw some variation on this: Jermaine Franklin was a light-hitting no-hoper (and Joshua couldn’t get him out of there!), Robert Helenius was washed (and Joshua needed seven rounds to get him out of there!), Wallin was stylistically made to order, and Ngannou was exactly who we thought he was before Fury created the fiction that the former UFC star could box.

The reality is that Joshua will probably get into the International Boxing Hall of Fame anyway, because that’s what happens when you’re on the borderline and you fight in the heavyweight division. If you took the resumes of Riddick Bowe, Ingemar Johansson, Michael Moorer, James J. Braddock, Luis Firpo, or Jess Willard and replaced the word “heavyweight” with, say, “lightweight,” none of them would have plaques in Canastota. Even Ken Norton would be iffy if you ported his record over to a different division.

So, yeah, Joshua — especially if you factor in the “fame” quotient — likely gets inducted someday. It’s just a lot harder to feel good about it in the wake of Dubois manhandling him.

Dubois, by the way, fits in perfectly with the unpredictability of this heavyweight era. He was the heir apparent. Then he lost unexpectedly to Joyce and came damned close to getting stopped in the first round by Kevin Lerena, and it was starting to feel like the only thing he was heir to was David Price’s legacy. Then he surrendered against Usyk, and most of us turned the page on him.

That was only 13 months ago. Dubois has since — in a nine-month span! — handed Jarrell Miller his first loss, done likewise to Filip Hrgovic, and flattened AJ.

Good luck figuring out the heavyweight division in the post-Klitschko age.

The curtain may be about to fall on the era, depending on what happens three months from now in the Usyk-Fury rematch. If Usyk wins again, there’s a real chance he retires, with no mountains left to climb. That would also likely signal the end of Fury — at least as an elite force. Wilder is finished, whether he knows it or not. Joshua may not have another rebuild in him at 34, and even if he does, it would be the most shocking twist of all if he suddenly developed the punch resistance to get back to the top.

Ruiz, Ortiz, Whyte, Chisora, Joyce, Zhang — they’re all 35-plus and somewhere near the finish line. The era is ending — if not on December 21, then assuredly soon thereafter.

And when it ends … I never would have imagined last year, or even last week, really, that I’d be saying this, but the next era may belong to Dubois.

He’s just 27, doesn’t bear the wear of a long amateur career, and has fought just 95 professional rounds. But he’s not inexperienced — he has built up the necessary calluses by navigating adversity and tangling with the likes of Usyk and Joshua.

Welcome to the Daniel Dubois era of heavyweight boxing?

Maybe. Just keep those expectations in check, and hopefully you won’t soon find yourself scraping said expectations off the canvas.

 #AnthonyJoshua #DanielDubois #HeavyweightBoxing #AJvsDubois #BoxingEra #TysonFury #WladimirKlitschko #OleksandrUsyk #AndyRuiz #DeontayWilder #UsykFuryRematch #BoxingNews #BoxingHistory #JoshuaLegacy #BoxingEraShift

LAS VEGAS – In so many ways, in so many interviews, in so many fights, Claressa Shields has been trying to get her point across.

Whether the listener wanted to hear it, whether the principled message was being delivered correctly, or whether Shields was saying things that made the status quo uncomfortable, there has remained a divide keeping the masses from comprehending the greatest women’s boxer in history.

Now, as her life story, captured in the film “The Fire Inside,” heads to movie theaters in late December, Shields is hopeful her journey from Flint, Mich., to two gold medals and world titles from super-welterweight to heavyweight will provide the needed perspective to illustrate where she’s coming from.

“I want people to understand when they watch my film that they understand what they haven’t before: that my boxing is a passion for me,” Shields said. “I’m not being forced to box, and I don’t have to box to heal. It has helped me grow into the person I was supposed to be.” 

Shields, 29, sat down with BoxingScene during the recent Canelo Alvarez fight week in Las Vegas, playing the trailer from her film written by Barry Jenkins and fighting tears knowing that her full story will be out there around Christmas, along with her return to the ring following her July second-round TKO of Vanessa Lepage-Joannise to capture the WBC heavyweight and WBO light-heavyweight belts.

“By December-January, I’d like to have another fight. I’m all about history. I want the biggest and best challenges,” she said. “Right now, the heavyweight girls are calling me out. They want to fight me. I know them all, and undisputed at heavyweight will put me at the tops with Muhammad Ali and (Oleksandr) Usyk, Evander Holyfield. I’ll be able to talk to those guys.”

Before heading to training camp, Shields is savoring this experience of knowing her life story is heading to the silver screen, where so many amazing real-life and fictional works – “Raging Bull,” “Rocky,” “Ali,” “When We Were Kings,” and “Million Dollar Baby” – have moved the world.

After learning a movie studio was picking up the rights to the documentary, “T-Rex,” that depicted three years of her life before and after the 2016 Olympics, Shields was contacted by Jenkins.

They met in person for four hours, with Shields maintaining her typically unfiltered, candid demeanor.

“I wanted to meet him to know I could actually trust him to do the storytelling,” she said. 

She asked Jenkins, “What do you think my life story is? How do you see me? What is your perception?”

She listened to his response and replied, “OK, we’re somewhere near the same thing. This is my perception of it, and this is what I want to be included that I know you wouldn’t include in regular movies.”

About two months later, Jenkins sent Shields the script before any actors had been retained.

“Anything you want taken out, anything you want moved, anything you don’t want mentioned, let me know,” Jenkins told Shields.

She made one cut, declining to divulge what it was.

“He did a great job writing the story. Some of the stuff he included was great … because a lot of times, my story has been misconstrued,” Shields said.

It’s been known that Shields was sexually assaulted as a 5-year-old, that her mother battled alcohol abuse in Shields’ youth, and that she didn’t connect with her formerly incarcerated father until the age of 9 before taking up boxing at 11.

“People have written things that are not true or made it worse than what it was, or what I was focused on,” Shields said. “I had a very hard upbringing. But I also had boxing, and boxing saved my life.

“The story before was that I was some kind of angry black woman who got raped when I was a kid and I hate all men, so I learned how to box to fight men … that’s not my story. But that’s how it was depicted for a long time.

“So I wanted to make sure we didn’t go down that road, that we actually got it right and make it clear how I’m passionate about boxing. I love boxing. It’s what I chose to do. God chose me to box. And I’m the person who’s supposed to change the whole sport – not just with women’s boxing. But boxing, period. I’ve been able to do that.”

Shields is portrayed by actress Ryan Destiny, the boxer comparing the integrity of Destiny’s work to that of Will Smith’s in “Ali.” Rachel Morrison directed “The Fire Inside.”

“Everybody will understand that it’s always been about my passion for boxing. They think when you have trauma and then you box that it’s all about trauma, anger and boxing. That you’re angry,” Shields explained.

“I’m not angry to box. It’s something I’ve taken the most joy in my life from doing. I’m passionate about boxing.”

It’s why she’s had no problem calling out fighters like Gervonta Davis for his domestic violence, Ryan Garcia over his erratic behavior and Jake Paul over comments that he’s helped grow women’s boxing by putting multi-division champion Amanda Serrano on his cards.

“When you see a guy come talking trash to me and hear me say, ‘I’ll kick his ass,’ I really mean that – in the most humble way,” Shields said. “I’ve done that. I do that. I train very hard.”

She even took Alvarez to task, responding to his comment that he accepted the Sept. 14 date against big underdog Edgar Berlanga because Canelo had “fought everyone else.” 

“Canelo hasn’t fought everyone. We still haven’t seen (David) Benavidez. Benavidez and (Dmitrii) Bivol. There’s people for him to fight, and there’s people for me to fight, too,” Shields said.

“When you can go as low as 154 and go all the way to heavyweight, there’s always going to be someone very good who can challenge you. There’s girls at 154 who I think can challenge me. They’re just scared. I think they’re good!”

By sparring against men for most of her boxing career, Shields said she has developed a toughness and grit that has contributed greatly to her 15-0 pro record.

“Me boxing – having to rise to these occasions, having to be on TV, having desires outside the ring – has helped me grow into the woman I am today,” she said. “It was all from my passion of fighting. It’s why I did MMA. I didn’t do MMA because I’m angry. I did it because I’m a great ass kicker. I can kick ass in MMA and boxing.”

Shields made it clear in her conversation with BoxingScene that she relishes being a woman.

“I can go to 147 (pounds), but I told (promoters and networks), ‘I need a couple million for that. Because my butt’s going to get little. And I don’t want that,’” Shields said, adding in her present-day weight of 178 pounds. “I like how I look. That means a lot. I’m a woman. These other girls out there looking all strong … I look strong, but I look feminine. That’s very important to me. I’m a woman boxer – woman first. I need to keep my curves and my looks. You want me to go to 147, I will. Just pay me my money.”

And while Alvarez, at 34, has expressed some fatigue with the business of boxing, Shields says she’s continually enthused by the sport.

“I’m always excited to fight. That’s the difference between me and other people. I’m in the back room dancing before a fight, they’re telling me, ‘Claressa, sit down, save your energy,’” she said.

“I’ve already put myself through the hard work, the brutal stress and the roadwork. Now, I get to eat, drink my water and juice and now I get to fight with no restraints.

“In sparring, you don’t want to knock your partners out. When you’ve got a fight, hey, it’s all or nothing. I love when I get to be as mean as I want to be, punch as hard as I want to punch, with nobody saying, ‘Hey, taper it down some.’ No, it’s, ‘Keep turning it up.’ I’m excited about that every time. And the buildup, too. These girls saying I don’t have power, that I haven’t fought nobody. It’s just, ‘Back it up when we get in there.’ When they can’t do that, I beat ‘em up real bad.”

Watching those scenes of her life play out on the big screen at the film’s screening in Toronto recently was powerful, leaving the strong-minded champion fighter reduced to a puddle of tears at times.

“God has done some miraculous things with my life that I can’t put into words. I’m grateful and thankful to see what God has done with this little Black girl from Flint,” Shields said.

She said she’s always been touched by a Biblical passage urging the faithful to maintain hope for the future, where prosperity awaits. Shields did so and was rewarded.

Asked what scenes made her weep, she said, “You have to come and see it, and you will know why I cry. Reliving it on film … you usually don’t get to do that with your life. You may get to watch a couple family videos. For me, to have a movie of my life is tear-worthy by itself.

“Happy tears, sad tears, all over the place. But you will leave feeling like you can conquer the world.”

 #ClaressaShields #TheFireInside #RyanDestiny #BarryJenkins #WomensBoxing #BoxingHistory #OlympicChampion #FlintMichigan #WorldChampion #WBCHeavyweight #WBOChampion #BoxingFilm #UndisputedChampion #PassionForBoxing #LegendInTheRing

Tim Tszyu’s last fight ended in a loss — but it didn’t have to end that way. Still, Tszyu wouldn’t change the decisions that led to his first pro defeat.

When Tszyu suffered a horrifying cut above his hairline in March against Sebastian Fundora, the second round was coming to a close. Because the wound was caused by an accidental elbow, Tszyu and his team could have told the ringside physician that the gushing blood was getting into his eyes and blocking his vision. 

They had a handful of minutes to do so. As long as four rounds had not yet been completed, the fight would have then been ruled a “no contest.” 

Instead, Tszyu continued on past Round 4. The judges, unbeknownst to the fighters and their teams, had it even at that point . But soon Fundora pulled ahead, and ending the fight because of the cut would’ve led to a loss via technical decision. Tszyu and Fundora lasted a bloody 12 rounds, and Tszyu wound up dropping his WBO junior middleweight title via split decision. Fundora also picked up the vacant WBC belt.

“The first initial reaction was, ‘This ain’t a normal cut.’ As soon as it happened, I looked down and there was a fountain of blood, and I’ve never had that before,” Tszyu told the media on a September 24 conference call. “Usually there's a couple of drips, and then it starts dripping a bit more, and then it might get a little in your eyes. It definitely hit the vein. My initial reaction was, ‘How am I going to get through this?’ I was feeling so confident. ‘What’s the task of getting through this?’ As soon as the [third] round started, it completely blindsided me. After a couple rounds, I sort of got used to it and I was able to adapt a little bit.”

Nearly six months later, does Tszyu (24-1, 17 KOs) have any regrets?

“No, not at all,” he said. “For me it was: If you’re going to lose, you’re going to lose that way. I’m not going to try and survive. I was there to win, and the only way to win for me was trying to smash my opponent. To just pull out and forfeit, that’s not my thing. It’s not in my blood. I’d rather die in that ring. That’s the mentality I’ve got.”

The only things Tszyu would’ve changed were tactical:

“Probably not get jabbed as much. Easier said than done,” Tszyu said. “Maybe throw a few more extra punches per round that land a bit cleaner.”

Tszyu feels the Fundora fight was close and could have gone either way.

But there was still disappointment with the result.

“There were so many future plans from that fight, of course, after a victory,” Tszyu said. “But you sort of go back to the drawing board. You don’t start again, but you see what other options are out there.”

Fortunately for him, there were indeed options out there after the loss, making it feel like less of a setback. Tszyu was initially called on to face Vergil Ortiz as part of a fight card in early August.

“Didn’t think about it. ‘Yes, of course. What an opportunity. Can’t wait.’ The next day, I book a trip to Thailand to start my pre-training camp,” Tszyu said. “I trained in Thailand for two weeks and then I came back. I needed to get clearance from the doctor about the cut. The doctor said, basically, ‘Not yet. It’s not cleared yet.’

“I was upset,” he said. “I was in pretty good condition, and I was ready to go. I was devastated.”

Tszyu wasn’t sidelined for too long. He was cleared for sparring in July, a few weeks before the originally scheduled August 3 date with Ortiz. Ortiz wound up winning a close fight over Serhii Bohachuk on August 10.

Tszyu will be getting a chance at winning another world title, challenging Bakhram Murtazaliev for the IBF belt on October 19 at the Caribe Royale Orlando, headlining on Amazon’s Prime Video.

#TimTszyu #SebastianFundora #WBO #WBC #IBF #VergilOrtiz #BakhramMurtazaliev #BoxingChamp #TitleFight #FightNight #AmazonPrimeVideo #OrlandoFight #WorldTitle #BoxingNews #RingWarrior #NeverBackDown

Mikaela Mayer has urged networks and promoters to do more to help grow women’s boxing.

The 34-year-old is one of the sport’s most established stars and tops the bill at the Madison Square Garden Theater on Friday in a grudge match with bitter rival and WBO welterweight champion Sandy Ryan.

With Claressa Shields moving up in weight, Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano II being postponed until November and neither her nor Jonas' boxing since January, Mayer still believes the women’s talent pool means that the otherwise seemingly comparatively slow year is not indicative a lack of progression in the women’s game after a bustling period.  

“I think that it might have been a slower year this year, but what’s most important is that the talent pool is there, and we have that stable of women now,” said Mayer. “There’s no way we can fall back, because there’s just too many young girls coming up in the gyms that are just too skilled and they’re just going to continue to get better, so what we need now is more support from the networks and promoters.”

Then with a nod to promoters, she added: “The ratio of men and women on their stable lists is just too far and too wide, so it’s sort of up to them now, but the women are here.

With Australian star Skye Nicolson heading to Saudi Arabia to defend her title against Raven Chapman, Mayer is optimistic that similar lucrative opportunities might be coming her way.

“Oh yeah, 100 per cent. Who wouldn’t?” Mayer said, of boxing in the Middle East. “Of course we do. So far so good. They [the Riyadh Season bills] look to be amazing. The fighters look happy. I think that you’re getting really great matchups. I think one of the reasons why you don’t get so many great matchups on boxing cards – you get your main event and then you have your undercard, right, is just because of money. They have a budget for that card and most of it goes to the main event fighters. Then it kind of trickles down from there and they just fill it with other people on their stable, get them experience, help them grow and that’s just the business structure financially. Having someone like Turki [Alalshikh] coming in where money really isn’t a problem, he is just passionate about boxing, loves it and wants to make the best fights, that’s gonna help. That’s going to help grow boxing, that’s going to help make the fights the fans want to see, so of course I want to be a part of that at some point.

“Turki came out and said that he was going to have women on the UFC cards, in 2025, so when I heard that, I knew he was open to the idea [of having women fight in the Riyadh Season bills] and it was just a matter of time, so I’m glad for Skye Nicolson, that’s a great opportunity for her. She’s gonna do great and people are gonna love her over there and that’ll help to kind of move the needle and get the rest of us out there.”

Mayer is also certain that, regardless of venues, moving up will ultimately reap rewards for her, earning her the biggest fights with the biggest names and the champions in the division.

“One of the reasons why I knew going to 147 was the right move, not just because my body physically felt like that was the weight for me, [was] I tried to move up slowly but surely, but it was like, ‘I can’t hold it, I can’t hold it, I’ve got to keep going.’ So, 147 feels really good for me and businesswise you look at it and it’s one of those divisions where all the belts are sort of separated and amongst some really good fighters. You have Sandy, you also have Tasha Jonas, and I could have a great rematch with her and then you also have Lauren Price, who’s an Olympic gold medalist.

“I don’t see the reason to go to 154 when I have so much opportunity to go in with top fighters at 147.”

#MikaelaMayer #SandyRyan #ClaressaShields #KatieTaylor #AmandaSerrano #TashaJonas #SkyeNicolson #RavenChapman #SaudiArabia #WomenInSport #BoxingPromotion #FightNight #MadisonSquareGarden #WomensBoxing #MiddleEastBoxing #SportsBiz

Coffee shops, fabricators, landscape gardeners and boxing gyms. Every business opens its doors to attract customers and every successful business faces the same issues once work starts pouring in.

As a reputation grows and demand increases, the product line expands, the queues and delivery times get longer and although the customer service is good, it inevitably starts to lose that personal touch. 

The vast majority of people are happy to join the line because they know that they will receive a tried and tested, quality product. 

After all, the business is busy for a reason.

More and more people are beginning to look for a more personal, bespoke service. Changing a supplier is a risk but the time to find somebody providing the right service in the right style is usually time well spent and can mark the start of a long, successful relationship.

When Charlie Edwards set out to attack the second half of his career, he knew exactly what he needed. The former WBC flyweight champion decided to entrust his future to a virtual start-up and linked up with the talented and knowledgeable former fighter, Stephen Smith, who is just beginning his career as a trainer.

This weekend, the pair will have their second outing together when Edwards challenges Thomas Essomba for the European bantamweight title. 

“It’s the  b est decision I've ever made in my life,” Edwards, 19-1 (7 KOs), told BoxingScene.

“I've always gone to big,   busy gyms and stuff. A lot of fighters do and it’s a craze, isn’t it? When all fighters go there [to one place],   then they all follow them there and then they find out, ‘Oh, maybe he ain’t as good as we thought. ’

“ With Stephen, I know he’s a proper boxing person. I watched his career.   He’s been through the whole process. He's been around the world in the biggest fights with his   brothers [Callum, Liam and Paul].

“The experience that man holds at a young age. He’s fresh into his journey and he’s hungry for success. He shits over all these other fucking coaches who are in it for the money.   It’s his passion. When two passionate people come together with a mindset of going to the highest   of heights, there’s no wonder why this sparks a great journey, just like Andy Lee and Joseph   Parker.

“We’re seeing it a lot lately now. Boxing’s changing, and the more experienced  – actual experienced coaches – who have actually fought, who’ve actually gone to world title level , who have actually done that and not just blagged it with management and got a good fighter. They were already a good fighter, but now they've took full ownership of them and all this media bollocks and blah, blah, blah. It's been the best decision I’ve made in my   career.”

Edwards is now 31 years old and experience has hardened him. It would have been easy for him to recruit a coach who was willing to tell him exactly what he wanted to hear in exchange for the opportunity. Smith isn’t that type of character. He was a talented amateur who challenged for world titles and was respected for his technical prowess. He has seen what it takes to succeed at the highest level. 

“Since Stephen came on when we first started, just before December last year, straight away we linked,” Edwards said.

“Straight away,   he was bringing the best out of me. Straight away, he was changing my style. Straight away,   he was altering things.

“It’s constantly developing and learning. The thing is we’ve bonded so much more.   It’s not like we’re just like, ‘Oh, that's my coach’ like all my other coaches through my career.

“It’s like, ‘That’s my mentor. That’s Mr. Miyagi to me.’ That's how we have bonded and   developed our relationship.”

Edwards moved quickly, fighting for the IBF flyweight title in his ninth fight and winning the WBC version in his 15th.

Citing issues making 112lbs, Edwards vacated his world title following a controversial No Contest with Julio Cesar Martinez back in 2019 but rather than opening up a whole new range of possibilities, he quickly discovered that his status as a former champion counted for little.

He spent almost five years flitting between promoters and trainers and scrapping for opportunities but boxing six rounds against a Nicaraguan journeyman in a warehouse on the outskirts of Manchester last summer broke his heart. 

Edwards decided that, for better or worse, he had to control his own destiny. He became self-managed, linked up with Smith and arranged a promotional deal with Wasserman Boxing. 

He told the story of his time in the wilderness time and time again before returning to the ring and beating Georges Ory in April. He also said the usual things about wanting to put on a show to remind people exactly who he is but, really, beating the Frenchman was just a part of a much bigger picture. 

The night after boxing his way to a unanimous win, Edwards was in Manchester to watch Zelfa Barrett beat Jordan Gill. He sat quietly in the crowd, his face bearing a few marks and a smile of relief that he was back in the game. 

This time around, there is a bite to Edwards’ words. The warm welcome back into the fold hasn’t taken away the bitterness he still feels towards the business which treated him so harshly. He knows that now it really is time to remind people what he is capable of.

The real comeback of Charlie Edwards begins against Thomas Essomba this weekend. 

“It’s like Daniel Dubois. He went   on his journey. We’ve just seen it. He resurged himself. He walked through the fire. He had to go with all the shit and all the people saying stuff about him,” Edwards said.

“I got hit on the floor by   Julius Caesar Martinez, who then went and failed a bloody drug test, and then got signed by my old promoter. I’ve had to go through all this and battle mental health and battle all this shit   and being left on the sidelines like no one cares about him. That’s created an inner demon in me,   and now I’m a powerful human being.

“This chip on my shoulder is on my shoulder forever   in this boxing career.

“I’ve set my goals. I’m out for legacy now. I want to   become one of the best British fighters. I want to be a four-weight world champion. That is my   goal. I’m setting the bar high.

“I’ve been through the years of turmoil and years of   soul searching and years of working every single day, day in, day out and not taking no for an   answer. What I’ve asked for and the dreams that I’ve put out to the universe, to God,   is prepared me. I fully believe that I’m on my steps to destiny now.”

 #CharlieEdwards #ThomasEssomba #EuropeanBantamweightTitle #Boxing #StephenSmith #Comeback #FightNight #Legacy #WassermanBoxing #Destiny #BoxingChampion #BritishBoxing #BoxingCommunity #BoxingJourney #FlyweightChampion

WBA heavyweight champion Mahmoud Charr is finally set to defend his title against Kubrat Pulev on December 7 in Sofia, Bulgaria. This matchup was originally scheduled for March 30 but was postponed due to an injury Charr sustained during training. The fight will be an important clash between two experienced heavyweights.

Pulev recently showcased his skills in Sofia, defeating Ukrainian fighter Ihor Shevadutskyi. With a record of 30-3, Pulev has remained a significant contender in the heavyweight division. Meanwhile, Charr, with a record of 34-4, has not fought since 2022, and his activity in the ring has been limited. He has only fought three times since 2017 and had no fights between 2017 and 2021.

Charr’s extended absence from the ring raises questions about his current form and readiness for such a crucial fight. He will need to shake off any ring rust to successfully defend his title against Pulev, who is eager to reclaim his position as a top heavyweight contender. Both fighters bring unique styles and experiences, making this matchup one to watch.

As fight night approaches, fans are excited to see how this clash will unfold. Will Charr successfully defend his title, or will Pulev seize the opportunity to take the belt? The outcome of this fight could have significant implications for both fighters' careers.

The heavyweight division is heating up, and this fight promises to be an exciting addition. With both fighters motivated, fans can expect a thrilling battle come December 7. 

#MahmoudCharr #KubratPulev #HeavyweightBoxing #WBAChampionship #BoxingMatch #FightNight #BoxingNews #PulevVsCharr #SofiaBoxing #BoxingFans #ChampionshipFight #BoxingCommunity #FightAnnouncement #BoxingEvents #DecemberFight