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Report/Photo: Boxing Bob Newman

The opening banquet of the 96th WBA convention kicked off at 8 p.m. Monday evening on the 18th floor of the Dann Carlton Hotel in Medellin, Colombia. Hall of Fame ring announcer Jimmy Lennon, Jr. emceed the event, introducing a host of world champions to receive recognition from the WBA.

The previously mentioned champs were on hand as well as Colombians Luis Mendoza and Bernardo Caraballo. The crowning moment came as the man of the night, Antonio Cervantes, a.k.a. “Kid Pambelé” was honored with a WBA belt, surrounded by Oscar de la Hoya, Evander Holyfield, Juan Manuel Marquez, Bernard Hopkins and Roberto Duran as well as WBA president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza.

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

WBO #11 welterweight Gary Corcoran says he will too much for WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn on December 13 in Brisbane. ”The plan is to overpower Jeff Horn,” Corcoran told Grantlee Kieza of the Courier Mail. ”This is the biggest opportunity of my career and we’re going to meet in center ring and punch it out. I’m expecting a war, that’s what I want and it’s going to be a good fight. The two of us are not going to take a back step. It’s going to be like the Arturo Gatto-Micky Ward fights, a thriller. Toe to toe. Lots of action and I’m ready for him. I’m a brawler but I can box. I’m very strong and I just keep coming. Win on points, stop him … whatever. Continue reading “Corcoran: I Will Overpower Horn”

Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

Australian three time Olympian Tony Madigan has sadly passed away on Sunday at the age of 87 years. Madigan competed at Helsinki (1952), Melbourne (1956) and Rome (1960).

Madigan boxed the great Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, in a semi-final at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Madigan went on to take bronze at the event. He had also fought Clay at the Intercity Golden Gloves light-heavyweight championship in Chicago in 1959 losing by decision.

AOC president John Coates said: “Tony was a true legend of Australian boxing and Olympic history, best known for his battle with Muhammad Ali. He is and will remain Australia’s greatest amateur boxer and a milestone of Australian sporting history.”

Madigan is survived by wife, Sybilla, with whom he lived in the south of France and the UK, as well as son Kendall and brother Mark. Tony Madigan was inducted into the Australian Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010

By Marco Bratusch

At Monday’s EBU purse bid in Rome, Italy, Antwerp Boxing Academy earned the right to stage the next European cruiserweight championship between titleholder Yves Ngabu (18-0, 13 KOs) and challenger Geoffrey Battelo (32-5, 28 KOs) offering a squared 40,000 Euros bid which exceeded a 21,000 Euro offer made by Fabian Detaille. The two Belgian fighters were already scheduled to face each other last June for the vacant title, but an injury occurred to Battelo as a consequence of a car accident forced him to pass the opportunity. After Italian cruiserweight Mirko Larghetti also refused to confirm his willingness to fight a few days later, journeyman Tamas Lodi was called with very short notice and was approved as co-challenger to face the unbeaten 28-year-old Ngabu in order to ‘save’ the boxing show in Roeselare, Belgium, but then he quickly lost by TKO in round four to the Belgian puncher, who became the new European 200 lbs champion. No word yet by the winning promoter about a date or venue where stage the fight. Continue reading “EBU Updates”

By Ricardo Ibarra
Photos by Mike Blair/Boxingprospects.net

Headlining Pacific Northwest Professional Boxing Promotions’ nine bout line-up, Tacoma, Washington’s Marquice Weston (11-1-1, 6 KOs) added his fourth straight win on Saturday night at the Green River Conference and Events Center in Auburn, Washington, defeating New Orleans’ Steven Lyons (3-2) by unanimous decision.

Weston out-worked Lyons throughout a majority of the six rounds, employing an aggressive approach and pushing Lyons back with jabs and hard shots to the body. Lyons, who proved to be a crafty fighter, did find some success with hard overhand rights and left hooks, particularly in the second and fifth rounds when he was able to jump in and catch the taller Weston. Weston, though, was the more effective fighter in the fight and landed at a higher rate. All three judges scored the fight for Weston at 58-56. The fight was contested in the heavyweight division.

The 6’6” tall Weston has had a banner year, surging after suffering his first pro loss last December with four good wins. His team is planning a possible December return. Continue reading “Weston defeats Lyons in Auburn”

Unbeaten contender Ahmed Elbiali will take on former world champion Jean Pascal in the 10-round light heavyweight main event of a special Friday night edition of Premier Boxing Champions TOE-TO-TOE TUESDAYS on FS1 and BOXEO DE CAMPEONES on FOX Deportes, December 8 from Hialeah Park in Miami, Florida.

Televised coverage also features former two-time world champion Chad Dawson against hard-hitting contender Edwin Rodriguez in a 10-round bout plus a showdown between unbeaten prospects Austin Dulay (11-0, 8 KOs) and Raynell Williams (12-0, 6 KOs) in eight rounds of lightweight action.

The beginning of the first day of the 96th World Boxing Association (WBA) Convention in Medellin, Colombia, had a very special moment. Gilberto Jesus Mendoza, President of that organization, was able to gather various boxing stars and gave a speech highlighting every positive aspect of the sport of boxing. In the presence of the WBA Board of Directors and before the Regional Organizations Meeting, Mendoza shared some moments with idols such as Roberto Duran, Antonio Esparragoza, David Griman, Jackie Nava, Alys Sanchez, Ricardo “Finito” Lopez, Fidel Bassa, Kid Pambelé among others.

The presentation aimed to tell their life experiences and the way boxing helped them to be more than athletes. The inspiring and lively interventions of each one of them helped to show boxing from another perspective, as well as understand the WBA’s new vision at this moment. Continue reading “96th WBA Convention opens with Star Power”

Evander Holyfield’s The Real Deal Boxing, the promotional entity under his Real Deal Sports and Entertainment, presents ‘Real Deal Championship Boxing V’ on Friday, December 1 at The Strand Ballroom and Theater in Providence, RI and telecast live on CBS Sports Network, it was announced today. Headlining is featherweight contender and hometown hero Toka Kahn Clary (23-1-0, 16 KOs) in the 10-round main event against an opponent to be announced.

Also featured in his first fight in the United States is undefeated cruiserweight Fabio “Stone Crusher” Turchi (12-0-0, 9 KOs), of Florence, Italy in an eight round clash.

Victory Sports & Entertainment has announced by far their biggest name signing to date. The company has inked former IBF world junior lightweight champion Jose Pedraza (22-1, 12 KOs) to a multi-year managerial contract.

“I am very happy to sign with Victory Sports and look forward to the next chapter of my career,” stated Pedraza. “They represent a number of up and coming fighters and also work with elite fighters like Badou Jack so I feel that Victory is the right team to lead me back to a world championship.”

Pedraza lost his 130lb title to Gervonta Davis earlier this year and will now campaign the lightweight division.

By Robert Hough

Deontay Wilder spoke of having peace in his mind, but the heavyweight spoke with passion and torrents of profanity when he discussed social issues. Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs), who defends his WBC heavyweight belt Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY in a rematch with Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1, 21 KOs), was scathing as he related perceptions of racial inequality and shortcomings within what he called the “black community.”

“The more I learn about this country, the more I want to move to another country,” he told Fightnews.com® recently on a call to discuss the fight, which came together after a match-up with Luis Ortiz was scrapped when the Cuban failed a drug test. Continue reading “Furious Deontay Wilder Speaks His Mind”

By Robert Coster

Shuan Boxing Promotion through its President Belgica Pena has announced that all is set for their boxing gala show that will take place in Santo Domingo on November 18th. The international card will be held at the Jaragua Hotel and Casino and the main event will have Dominican super-Lightweight WBA #11 Alberto Puello (12-0, 7 KOs) defend his WBA Fedelatin and WBC Latino belts against 20-year-old Mexican prospect Ricardo Gutierrez (11-1-1, 6 KOs). “We are not looking past Gutierrez but Alberto is ready to move up to the top ten in the rankings,” declared Belgica with Puello by her side.

The card will also feature the return to ring action of former WBA Cruiserweight World Champion Guillermo Jones (40-3-2, 30 KOs). The 45-year-old Panamanian veteran is moving up to the heavyweight class and will be facing Ecuadorian Olympian Ytalo Perea (9-2-2, 5 KOs) for the vacant WBA Fedelatin title. Continue reading “Boxing Gala in Santo Domingo Nov 18”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

A book on WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn by author Grantlee Kieza titled THE HORNET has been published by ABC Books.

The book’s promotional blurb is as follows:

The story of Jeff Horn reads like a fairytale. Written with award-winning author, journalist and boxing aficionado Grantlee Kieza, The Hornet is the tale of a boy who, slapped around by bullies, saw through tears in his eyes a vision of himself as a hero, a champ, someone other people might one day look up to.

Horn took up boxing after being tormented as a teenager. Fast forward a dozen years and the former bullied schoolboy – now humble schoolteacher – became world boxing champion on 2 July 2017 at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium. The fight drew a record crowd to the stadium and a global audience of hundreds of millions, with Horn’s victory over one of the greatest boxers of all time, Filipino senator Manny Pacquiao, one of the most incredible upsets in Australian sporting history. Continue reading “Jeff Horn: Bullied schoolboy to world champ”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Las Vegas-based New Zealand trainer Kevin Barry who trains WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker is confident promoter Eddie Hearn will prefer IBF, WBA champion Anthony Joshua to fight Parker and delay a bout with WBC champion Deontay Wilder. Joshua was given a tougher than expected contest against Carlos Takam on Saturday.

“It made me feel that we have a very, very good chance of dethroning this guy,” Barry told Fairfax Media. “I thought Joshua was robotic, I thought he was slow at times, I thought his lead patterns were very predictable. And, once again, he showed that he definitely has stamina problems, he was blowing big time. Continue reading “Barry: Parker will fight Joshua before Wilder”

Heavyweight Amir “Hardcore” Mansour (23-2-1, 16 KOs) announced that he is bringing in boxing adviser and agent Ivaylo Gotzev of Epic Sports Enterprises to assist with his boxing career. “After the WBC and PBC (Premiere boxing championship) gave me the opportunity to fight an elimination bout against Kauffman, we really thought that we would get our title shot against Deontay Wilder,” said Mansour. “Instead, things stalled and now we’re about to see Stiverne vs Wilder 2. Continue reading “Amir “Hardcore” Mansour Update”

By David Finger

Fightnews.com® is sad to report the passing of former cruiserweight contender and noted boxing trainer Napoleon Tagoe earlier this week. Tagoe, passed away Wednesday, October 25th at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. He was best remembered by boxing fans as the gritty, hard punching, Ghanaian who was stopped by Juan Carlos Gomez in a bid for the WBC cruiserweight title back on December 11, 1999. Continue reading “Former cruiser contender Napoleon Tagoe dies”

By David Finger

Boxing fans in Southeast New Mexico were undoubtedly disappointed to hear that popular 21-year old middleweight prospect Isidro Castillo Jr. (6-0, 3 KOs) was forced to pull out of his upcoming fight against Ambrocio Bautista due to an injury, but if there is one thing that promoter Isidro Castillo and his School of Hard Knocks Boxing Promotions knows it’s this: the show must go on.

The original October 21st card was moved to November 4th, and the main event now features undefeated Texan Joey Alday Jr. (5-0, 5 KOs) as he takes on fellow prospect Chris Leyva (1-0-1, 0 KOs) of Albuquerque in a six round middleweight fight. Continue reading “Boxing returns to Hobbs, NM Saturday”

Report and photos by Ricardo Ibarra

Adding his tenth consecutive knockout win, undefeated Pacific Northwest cruiserweight Patrick Ferguson (10-0, 10 KOs) claimed his first title belt on Saturday night at the Majestic Valley Arena in Kalispell, Montana, stopping journeyman Damon Reed (48-20, 32 KOs) to claim the vacant WBC US (USNBC) 200-pound championship. Ferguson controlled the fight throughout, scoring six knockdowns before the fight was called. The fight was the main event of a seven bout pro-am card organized by Hard Knocks Fight Promotions. Continue reading “Ferguson stops Reed in four, claims WBC US title”

Former 2012 London Olympian Juan “Olympico” Huertas (14-1-1, 10 KOs) and Jeremy Triana (7-1-2, 6 KOs) fought to an exciting 10 round draw Saturday night at the Caribe Casino in Medellin, Colombia on Saturday night. The fight was non stop action from the opening bell to the final one. The fans were on their feet showing mutual respect for the Panamanian Huertas and the Colombian Triana. There were no knockdowns in the fight, but Huertas seemed to have Triana in trouble on a few occasions. Triana to his credit showed a lot of heart and kept coming. The fight was promoted by Huertas’ promoter Andy Kim (AK Promotions). This was Kim’s fourth card in Medellin in less than eight months where he has helped revive boxing in this predominately pro soccer city.

Photo: Esther Lin/Showtime

WBA and IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) speaks about the referee’s stoppage in his TKO win over Carlos Takam.

“Listen I come to fight,” said Joshua “I don’t sit on the edge and make decisions. As you can see, it was a good fight until the ref stopped it, so I have the utmost respect for Takam. I have no interest in what’s going on with the officials. That’s not my job. My job is to worry about my opponent. I was watching him. I was trying to break him down round by round, and unfortunately, the ref stopped it.

“I think people wanted to see Takam unconscious on the floor. Am I right? [crowd cheers] OK, OK, so now I understand. And that’s what I was trying to get to. Ten rounds, eleven rounds, twelve rounds, it was getting there, but as I said, I didn’t have control over the ref’s decision.”

By Ray Wheatley — World of Boxing

WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker was not impressed with IBF, WBA champion Anthony Joshua’s stoppage of IBF #3 Carlos Takam on Saturday and thought he was robotic against the challenger who had only twelve days notice. “The more I watch him the more I want to fight him,” Parker told the New Zealand Herald. “I’ve wanted to for ages but we’re waiting for them to give us a good offer. The more I see of him the more I think ‘damn, if I fought this guy I’d knock him out.’ Continue reading “Parker Not Impressed With Joshua”

Former UFC heavyweight title challenger Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga has a successful pro boxing debut Saturday night in the co-featured event on the “New England’s Future 4” card, presented by Rivera Promotions Entertainment (RPE), at DCU Center, Exhibition Hall, in Worcester.

The 6′ 2″, 280-pound Brazilian, now fighting out of Worcester (MA), fought another pro-debut boxer with limited MMA experience, Alejandro Esquilin Santiago, of Tampa (FL). Gonzaga stalked the southpaw Santiago, landing some hard shots in the opening round. The heavy-handed Gonzaga picked up the pace in the third and his upset-minded opponent responded in a positive fashion. Both fighters exchanged freely in the fourth and final round, neither was hurt during the contest, and Gonzaga was awarded a win by four-round majority decision. Continue reading “Former UFC fighter Gonzaga wins pro debut”

Former two-time world champion Moises “Moi” Fuentes (25-4-1, 14 KOs) annihilated Ulises “El Ratoncito” Lara (18-16-2, 10 KOs) in the first round of a flyweight bout on Saturday night at the Domo de los Trabajadores del IMSS in Mexico City. Time was 2:40.

Featherweight Emmanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete (22-1, 18 KOs) scored his 17th consecutive win with second round stoppage of Danny “Venado” Flores 15-11-1, 8 KOs).

Unbeaten female light flyweight Silvia “La Guerrerita” Torres 17-0-1, 6 KOs) halted Edith de Jesús “La Pantera” Flores (5-10, 1 KO) at 1:48 of the second round.

Photos: Emily Harney

Comebacking lightweight Matt “The Sharp Shooter” Remillard (26-1, 15 KOs) punished Yardley Cruz (22-9, 12 KOs) for four rounds before getting a referee’s stoppage on Saturday night at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Remillard was very sharp, repeatedly landing clean shots.

In the co-feature, female junior lightweight Shelly “Shelito’s Way” Vincent (21-1, 1 KO) outpointed
Calixta Silgado (15-9-3, 10 KOs) over eight rounds. Continue reading “Remillard dominates Cruz”

October has been a quite hectic month for the World Boxing Association (WBA) Classifications Committee. The super lightweight, welterweight, super welterweight, middleweight and light heavyweight divisions had the most important changes in the October rankings.

At 140 pounds, American boxer Terence Crawford asked to be classified in the welterweight division, for that reason, there is no WBA super lightweight champion. While within the 147 pounds, the regular title was vacated, since Lamont Peterson renounced, so the division has only a single champion. Continue reading “Big Shakeup in October WBA rankings”

Photos: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME

WBA and IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) scored a tenth round TKO over IBF #3 Carlos Takam (35-4-1, 27 KOs) on Saturday night in front of 80,000 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. A second round headclash broke Joshua’s nose. Joshua cut Takam over the right eye with a punch in round four, then dropped him later in the round with a left hook. Joshua continued to bust Takam up. Takam constantly rubbed away blood from cuts over both eyes. Referee Phil “Quick Stop” Edwards suddenly stepped in and waved it off in round ten. Takam was very upset by the stoppage.

“It was a good fight until the ref stopped it,” said Joshua afterward. “I have no interest for what’s going on with the officials. My job is the opponent. I don’t have control over the ref’s decision.”

Photos