Fightnews.com

The public and media are invited to the Official Weigh-in for Salita Promotions’ “Shields vs. Gabriels” professional boxing event being held on Friday, June 22, at the Masonic Temple in Detroit.

The three main bouts will be nationally televised on SHOWTIME BOXING: SPECIAL EDITION (10 p.m. ET/PT), which features two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and current Unified Women’s Super-Middleweight Champion Claressa Shields (5-0, 2 KOs) taking on unified 154-pound champion Hanna Gabriels for the vacant IBF and WBA Women’s Middleweight World Championships.

The weigh-in is open to everyone and will be held today, Thursday, June 21 in the Jack White Theater in the Masonic Temple. Fighters will be on the scales at 3:00 p.m.

By Gabriel F. Cordero

WBC #1 rated super featherweight Miguel “Micky” Román (59-12, 46 KOs) takes on unbeaten Venezuelan KO artist Michel Marcano (17-0-1, 14 KOs) on Saturday at the Fería de Juárez in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Roman will be Marcano’s first opponent with a winning record.

“There are many hours of work and preparation for a fight,” said Roman. “There are days in which you have to sacrifice a lot, but my single dream is to be world champion, the first from Ciudad Juarez, so every fight has a special value. Every fight is very important and this weekend I want to once again dedicate my fight to all my beautiful people of Ciudad Juarez. Everything I do is for them.”

By Brad Snyder

More quotes from Tuesday’s Shields-Gabriels press conference.

Claressa Shields:

[On the fight]  “I really hope Hanna has trained hard. Because it’s not going to be an easy task. And I really hope Christina Hammer has trained hard. Because in the future, it will not be an easy task for her. To beat me, you have to kill me. I am not going to go down.”

Hanna Gabriels:

[On if Shields has power] “We will see. We will see what her power is. If I feel that she could knock me down, I will be more careful. But if I feel like I can handle it, I will go all the way through. I think when you fight, you have to be smart. You have to adapt to the conditions that fight is presenting at that time.” Continue reading “Shields: To beat me, you have to kill me”

Photos: Mikey Williams/Top Rank

The next chapter of Jose Ramirez’s career — this one as a world champion — will occur with a new voice in his corner. After a long and successful partnership with Freddie Roach, Ramirez (22-0, 16 KOs) hired Robert Garcia as his head trainer following his unanimous decision victory over Amir Imam on March 17 to win the vacant WBC super lightweight championship.

Ramirez, from Avenal, California, will make his first title defense on July 7 at the Save Mart Center in nearby Fresno against Danny O’Connor (30-3, 11 KOs).

Ramirez worked out for the media Wednesday at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy. Continue reading “WBC Champ Ramirez now trained by Robert Garcia”

By Ron Jackson

Rodney Berman of Golden Gloves Promotions presents two top line bouts and three good matchups on the undercard at Emperors Palace near Kempton Park on Saturday night. In the main event, South African and WBC International welterweight champion Thulani Mbenge (13-0, 10 KOs) meets Diego Gabriel Chaves (26-3-1, 22 KOs) from Argentina in a clash for the vacant IBO welterweight belt. Mbenge is listed at #32 and Chaves at #28 in the latest IBO rankings.

In the main supporting bout, a ten round international cruiserweight fight, South Africa’s Thabiso Mchunu (18-4, 11 KOs) of Cato Ridge, KwaZulu/Natal takes on Ricards Bolotniks (11-4-1, 5 KOs) from Riga, Latvia. Continue reading “Two top line bouts at Emperors Palace”

WBC super featherweight world champion Miguel “Alacrán” Berchelt (33-1, 29 KOs) and Jonathan Victor Barros (41-5-1, 22 KOs) participated in a public workout Wednesday, leaving a great taste in the mouths of the press and fans. They fight Saturday at the Poliforum Zamna in Merida and televised on ESPN+ in the USA and Azteca 7 in Mexico.

Miguel Berchelt: “I feel very motivated to defend my championship in front of my people. We will provide a great fight. I will leave everything in the ring, but the belt stays home.”

Jonathan Victor Barros: I didn’t come from so far for sightseeing. I’ve come to become a world champion. I respect Berchelt. He’s had great fights, but he can’t cope with my style and my rhythm.”

Photos

Promoter Frank Warren today held the final press conference ahead of Saturday’s o2 Arena show topped by Roberto “Amenaza” Garcia’s WBC silver middleweight title defense against Martin Murray. ESPN+ will televise in the U.S.

Roberto Garcia:
“I have always been on the B side and built a career of pulling off upsets. This is something I’m used to and I am the last throwback fighter. We thought we had the Gennady Golovkin fight a couple months back, and it has been frustrating. I told Don King I wanted a big fight and I pleaded for a big fight and he got this overnight. I have a lot to fight for and I need this fight more than Martin. I go hard, as hard as I have to.”

Martin Murray: “When Billy Joe pulled out I thought I would’t fight, but getting a meaningful fight means a lot. I was gutted that Billy Joe pulled out, but never took my eyes off the ball. Garcia was calling for the fight on Twitter and he can bring that. He is the opposite of Billy Joe and I won’t have to go looking for him. It is about levels and I will show that on Saturday. Being so close before in world titles makes me more hungry and determined. As soon I feel I can’t offer anything to the sport I will gone.”

45-year-old former two-division world champion “El Gallo” Jose Antonio Rivera and his 25-year-old pro-debuting son, A.J. Rivera will headline the August 17 Rivera Promotions Entertainment/Granite Chin Promotions show at The Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts. Rivera, fighting as a middleweight, will face Ryan “Dangerous” Davis (24-19, 9 KOs) in the eight-round main event. It will be Rivera’s first fight since 2011. A.J. will fight an opponent to be determined in a four-round welterweight match. Cruiserweight Richard “Popeye The Sailor Man” Rivera (8-0, 7 KOs) will also be on the card.

“I am boxing at 45 years old because of this great opportunity that has arisen for my son and I,” Jose explained. “Boxing on the same card with my son is going to be exciting and, even more so, because we will be a part of history! I am fortunate to be healthy, physically, and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for not having any brain issues from my prior years of boxing. I’ve lost 20 pounds, so far, and need to lose 12 more to make the 160-pound weight class.”

Mikkel LesPierre 144.2 vs. Gustavo Vittori 146.6
Dejan Zlaticanin 135.4 vs. Roberto Ramirez 135.8
Jude Franklin 127.6 vs. Enrique Aguilar 130
Raquel Miller 159.8 vs. Szilvia Szabados 154.8
Jose Roman 149.6 vs. Marcus Beckford 151.4

Venue: Melrose Ballroom, Astoria, NY
Promoter: DiBella Entertainment
Stream: dbe1.com (PPV)

Photos: Bob Ryder

Unified Women’s Super Middleweight World Champion Claressa Shields and unified 154-pound champion Hanna Gabriels met face to face during the final press conference in advance of their fight to decide the IBF and WBA Women’s Middleweight World Championships this Friday live on SHOWTIME (10 p.m. ET/PT).

The SHOWTIME BOXING: SPECIAL EDITION telecast features the #1 fighter at 168 pounds facing the #1 fighter at 154 pounds as they both attempt to become champions for the first time in the middleweight division. In the telecast co-feature unified women’s middleweight champion Christina Hammer defends her WBC and WBO titles in her U.S. debut against former world champion Tori Nelson. Also, light heavyweight prospects Umar Salamov and Brian Howard will meet in a 10-round matchup that will open the tripleheader from Masonic Temple in Detroit. Continue reading “Shields-Gabriels Final Press Conference”

By TMZSports.com

The heavyweight fight everyone wants to see — Deontay Wilder vs. Anthony Joshua — could happen in the next 6 months … says the man in charge of broadcasting the event. TMZ Sports spoke to Stephen Espinoza — Showtime’s president of sports and event programming — who tell us the “ball is rolling” on making the fight happen in 2018. “Things are moving. Discussions are happening,” Espinoza tells us.

Wilder and Joshua have been calling each other out publicly for the last year — with Wilder recently saying he’d even fly to England to fight Joshua on his home turf. Both guys seem down to fight — it’s just a matter of locking up a deal.

Espinoza tells us the fight would be massive — bigger than Canelo Alvarez vs. GGG — and only rivaled by Mike Tyson vs. Lennox Lewis in 2002 and the super fights of the 1980s.

Fingers crossed he’s right!

Just a short distance from Manhattan, Astoria, Queens’ premier entertainment venue, Melrose Ballroom, is prepped and ready to shine this Thursday night, June 21, as it hosts DiBella Entertainment’s long-running and acclaimed Broadway Boxing series for the first time. In the 10-round welterweight headliner, undefeated Brooklyn fan favorite Mikkel Les Pierre (19-0-1, 8 KOs) takes on Gustavo Vittori (20-3-1, 11 KOs). Also, newly crowned WBA female super middleweight champion Alicia “The Empress” Napoleon (9-1, 5 KOs) battles former world title challenger Vashon “Lady V” Living (6-3, 1KO), and former WBC lightweight champion “Dynamite” Dejan Zlaticanin (23-1, 16 KOs) meets Roberto “The Rifle” Ramirez (17-2-1, 12 KOs). If you can’t make it to the Melrose Ballroom, there is also a PPV stream available.

By Brad Snyder
Photos: Bob Ryder

Claressa Shields’ Trainer, John David Jackson:

On where Shields’ development wise when he began training her and where she is at now:

“She had a great amateur background. All i do is come in and polish her up, to make her become a better professional fighter. I’m teaching her to go to the body more, to get those knockouts.”

On Shields’ new diet and how much influence he had on this:

“That’s all her. Most of the fighters I train I don’t worry about their weight. Most fighters will tell you, ‘I know my body.’ With Shields, she understands she needs to get her weight down. She is doing that. Doing it very well.” Continue reading “Shields/Gabriels Media Workout”

Argentine challenger Jonathan Victor Barros (41-5-1, 22 KOs) arrived this morning in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, with his team from Mendoza, Argentina. He faces WBC super featherweight champion Miguel “Alacrán” Berchelt (33-1, 29 KOs) this Saturday on ESPN+ in the USA and la Casa del Boxeo Azteca 7 in Mexico.

“I’m excited to be here because life gives me another opportunity to be a world champion and I will not waste it,” stated Barros. “The experience and hunger are on my side. The dream of the Mexican Berchelt will end on Saturday night in front of his own people.”

No official announcement yet, but the president of the Russian Boxing Federation, Umar Kremlev, has confirmed that WBC/WBO cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (14-0, 11 КО) and WBA/IBF champion Murat Gassiev (26-0, 19 КО) will contest the final leg of the Super World Series of Boxing July 21 in Moscow at the Olympic Stadium sports complex according to XSPORT.

Usyk and Gassiev were scheduled to fight on May 11 in Saudi Arabia, but the fight was postponed due to an injury suffered by Usyk.

By Miguel Maravilla

WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (37-0, 25 KOs) of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico and undefeated super lightweight Alex “El Cholo” Saucedo (27-0, 17 KOs) of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma held a media workout Tuesday afternoon at the Hill Street Boxing Gym in Signal Hill, California for their upcoming bout taking place Saturday June 30 at the at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Ramirez will be making the fourth defense of his WBO super middleweight title against Alexis Angulo (23-0, 20 KOs) of Columbia and Saucedo will go up against Australia’s Lenny Zappavigna (37-3, 27 KOs). Continue reading “Ramirez, Saucedo Media Day Quick Quotes”

Unified Women’s Super Middleweight World Champion Claressa Shields and unified 154-pound champion Hanna Gabriels spoke to the media at a workout session in Detroit just days before the two clash to decide the IBF & WBA Women’s Middleweight World Championships this Friday on SHOWTIME.

CLARESSA SHIELDS

“It’s been seven weeks of really hard work. A lot of people don’t know and I really don’t like to be open about it, but I got to 183 pounds after my last fight in January and now I’m 160. That’s 23 pounds. I was in camp running and getting ready for the fight and having to focus on weight was very different for me.”

“I expect her to use her gifts. She’s really good on her legs and she’s strong up top. I think she lacks in speed so I expect her to try to counter me and try to force me to make mistakes with her movement. I think she underrates my power.”

HANNA GABRIELS

“You are going to see a very technical and aggressive fighter. That’s the only way that you can fight Claressa because she’s so aggressive herself and so tough, you can’t go in the ring passive against her. You have to put your life on the line in there and that’s what I’m planning to do.”

“I think her strengths are pretty obvious. She has great feet. I don’t know if she punches hard but she’s very explosive. She must have a lot of power and she’s very defensive. She keeps her distance and she’s so big and I’m so small that we will have to risk a lot of things. Her confidence is one of her biggest strengths.”

Top Rank has signed former two-time interim WBA super featherweight champion Bryan Vasquez to a promotional contract, Bob Arum announced today. Vasquez (37-3, 20 KOs), from San Jose, Costa Rica, is 30 years old and has been fighting at the world level for nearly a decade. His debut under the Top Rank banner will be announced soon. Vasquez is currently ranked #8 by the WBA at 130 pounds and is angling for a third world title shot.

“I feel really happy. I feel blessed to be signed by the biggest company in the sport of boxing,” Vasquez said. “I want to rule the 130-pound division. I’m ready for big names, whether it’s Christopher Diaz or Oscar Valdez. They better watch out now that I’m with Top Rank. I will show everyone that Vasiliy Lomachenko is beatable, and in the near future, I want the rematch with Ray Beltran with proper notice now that I have a real promotional company behind me. I’m happy and motivated.” Continue reading “Top Rank inks two-time champ Bryan Vasquez”

The “Common Man,” Long Island light heavyweight Joe Smith, Jr. (23-2, 19 KOs), returns to the ring after being inactive the past 11 months recovering from a broken jaw. The popular Irish-American will face Melvin “The Romantic Redneck” Russell (11-4-2, 7 KOs) in the 10-round main event.

Smith burst onto the boxing scene in 2016 when he defeated, top rated light heavyweight, Andrzej Fonfara on NBC in Chicago, and again later that year, when he knocked living legend Bernard Hopkins clear out of the ring, becoming the first person to ever KO the former multi-division world champion and future Hall of Famer. Continue reading “Smith-Russell undercard annouced”

Triple Olympian Paddy Barnes will challenge Cristofer Rosales for the WBC World Flyweight Title on the undercard of Carl Frampton vs. Luke Jackson at Windsor Park on August 18. Barnes (5-0, 1 KO), who has two Olympic bronze medals to his name, will enjoy home support in Belfast as he bids to conquer the world in just his sixth bout as a professional. Nicaragua’s Rosales (27-3, 18 KOs) has been outpointed by Kal Yafai and Andrew Selby in the past but won the WBC crown with a stunning ninth-round stoppage of Daigo Higa back in April.

By Miguel Maravilla

WBC, WBA middleweight world champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs), of Kazakhstan, held court with media Monday afternoon at the Palm Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. During the press event, “GGG” was awarded and crowned the Ring Magazine title by Ring Magazine’s Doug Fischer. Interestingly that title was previously held by Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez (49-1-2, 34 KOs) until Canelo was stripped last week.

“I am very happy and excited for this gift. I always felt that this fight was possible. Everybody wants it. I wanted this fight,” Golovkin told Fightnews.com®.

“This is a media lunch to recognize Gennady as the Ring Magazine middleweight champion. It just happens to be that last week we made the deal to fight Canelo Alvarez,” Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler said in opening up the press conference. “We are having clenbuterol-free, VADA-approved steaks for this press conference.” Continue reading “More on Golovkin-Canelo 2 (45/55)”

By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

WBO #5 Luke Jackson (16-0, 7 KOs) will clash with WBO featherweight champion Carl Frampton (25-1, 14 KOs) at Windsor Park, Belfast, Northern Ireland on August 18.

Luke Jackson: “My life will change overnight if I win the title. Carl is a humble fighter who does not trash talk his opponents. As a fighter, I don’t think he does anything great but he does everything very very good. I think to beat him I’m going to have to be at my best. I’m very confident. I’m going to be smart and intelligent. We have come here to win.”

Carl Frampton “I have never disrespected an opponent and I’m not starting against Luke Jackson. I will be ready for this fight. Jackson has been an Olympian and is a undefeated fighter and as he said this fight could change his life. My fight against Nonito Donaire was my most disciplined performance. I done everything I was told.”

Undefeated welterweight Dusty Hernandez-Harrison is now a promotional free agent after being granted his release from promoter Roc Nation Sports. The former USBA, WBC Continental Americas and WBC Youth Champion is eager to get back in the ring after a 22-month hiatus from the sport.

“I am excited to have the opportunity to get back into the ring and fulfill my goal of becoming a World Champion,” Hernandez-Harrison said. “I am in the gym and I am working hard to get back to where I was two years ago.” Continue reading “Roc Nation releases Hernandez-Harrison”

By Marco Bratusch

Last week in Rome, Matchroom Boxing won the scheduled purse bid held at the EBU headquarters to determine which promoter was going to stage European junior lightweight champion James Tennyson (22-2, 18 KOs)’s defense against official challenger Samir Ziani (27-3-1, 5 KOs). The powerful British firm offered 81,000 Euros to top another offer of 70,000 made by Blagnac Boxing Club. The 24-year-old hitter Tennyson won the continental belt at the beginning of May when he stopped the former champion and countryman Martin Joseph Ward in round five, ending a spirited contest where both men visited the canvas. That will be Ziani’s second attempt to the European 130-pound title after his close unanimous decision loss to Guillaume Frenois in 2016. Continue reading “European Boxing Update”

Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and unified 168-pound champion Claressa Shields isn’t lacking in confidence as she begins fight week preparing to take on unified 154-pound titleholder Hanna Gabriels for the vacant IBF and WBA Middleweight World Championships this Friday night LIVE on SHOWTIME® (10 p.m. ET/PT).

“As great as she is being a three-time world champion at 154, she’s coming up [in weight],” said Shields, in the video feature. “I’m faster than Hanna Gabriels, I’m bigger. I’m coming down in weight. I’m stronger, I’m taller, and I’m better skilled.”

Shields added: ““I box better than a lot of men… I have to get in there, look good and make them like women’s boxing…I have to perform at Claressa Shields level, and that is GWOAT: Greatest Woman of All-Time.” Continue reading “Claressa Shields: I box better than a lot of men”