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After an analysis of the middleweight division, the World Boxing Association (WBA) Championships Committee has ordered a bout between WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara and top challenger Michael Zerafa. The parties have a 30-day negotiation period. In the event they do not reach an agreement in the established time or any of the parties refuses to sign the contract, the WBA may send the bout to purse bid. Lara became the WBA’s only champion at 160lbs when Gennady Golovkin recently gave up the super belt.

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Meanwhile, WBA featherweight champion Mauricio Lara (no relation to Erislandy Lara) has until April 18 to lock in an optional defense, otherwise the WBA Championship Committee will issue a mandatory negotiation notice for Lara to defend against official challenger Otabek Kholmatov.

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WBA female super welterweight champion Terri Harper will make the first defense of her crown against 41-year-old legend Cecilia Braekhus on the May 20 Cameron-Taylor card at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland.

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Undefeated IBF #8 super featherweight Charlie Suarez (15-0, 9 KOs) stopped previously unbeaten WBA #11, IBF #13 rated Paul Fleming (28-1-1, 18 KOs) in round twelve of an action-packed bout on Wednesday night at the Kevin Betts Stadium in MtDruitt, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Suarez outworked Fleming in the early rounds but Fleming took control in the middle rounds. In round twelve, Suarez dropped Fleming with a left hook and at 1:58 the referee crowned Suarez, who captured the IBF Intercontinental, WBC Asian and WBA Oceania titles.

The World Boxing Organization has announced that their 36th Annual Convention will take place at the Barceló Bávaro Palace Hotel in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic from October 9th through the 13th. The convention will gather executives of the WBO as well as promoters, trainers, boxers, journalists, and other members of the boxing community from all over the world to discuss important topics related to the sport and its growth in the different regions represented. Special guests and attending world champions will be announced in the upcoming months as well as the full agenda of events that will be taking place.

Alen “The Savage” Babic (11-0, 10 KOs) and Lukasz Rozanski (14-0, 13 KOs) meet for vacant WBC bridgerweight title on Saturday, April 22 at the G2A Arena in Rzeszów, Poland. The card also features “The Next King of Scotland” Martin Bakole (18-1-0, 13 KOs) against Ihor Shevadzutskyi (10-0, 8 KOs). The 6’6 Bakole signed a long-term deal with BOXXER back in February. In women’s action, unbeaten Caroline Dubois (6-0, 5 KOs), sister of WBA “regular” heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois, meets TBA. The card will air in the UK on SkySports and is promoted by BOXXER in association with Knockout Promotions.

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

OPBF flyweight champ WBA#6 Taku Kuwahara (12-1, 7 KOs), 113.5, made very short of Mexican Jose Rivas (18-14-4, 10 KOs), 113, halting him in just 51 seconds of the opening session of a scheduled non-title eight on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. Having come back from a tenth-round annihilation in his crack at Seigo Yuri Akui’s national flyweight belt in 2021 and captured the OPBF title from Filipino Giemel Magramo last October, the speedster Taku stunned the crowd with his quick stoppage of the more experienced Mexican veteran. His opening shot, a vicious left hook, decked Rivas and the same punch again sent him flat with the referee Sugiyama calling a halt without counting because of the impact of the loser’s second visit to the canvas. Continue reading “WBA#6 Kuwahara halts Rivas in 51 seconds”

“I give Tommy Fury his credit.”

Long before Benjamin (BJ) “El Peligroso” Flores begin training social mega star turned bóxer Jake Paul, he had an accomplished boxing career. Flores was a standout amateur bóxer and former two-time world title challenger in the professional ranks. He also has logged in more than a decade in the broadcast booth. Though Flores prefers to stay out of the limelight, he has been in it quite a bit of late while manning the corner of the extremely popular Paul. Fightnews.com® caught up with Flores while he was taking a much deserved break after months in training camp with Paul prior to the Fury fight. Continue reading “Interview Jake Paul trainer BJ Flores”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

You were the third man in the ring for WBO super welterweight title bout featuring Tim Tszyu and Tony Harrison, a globally televised promotion. There was a live gate of over eleven thousand fans to witness this exciting contest. You performed your duties perfectly stopping the contest in round nine. Your thoughts of this fight?

The Tszyu-Harrison fight is on top of the list of fights I have officiated. I have refereed over 500 fights since I started in 2009. It is a 14 year career now and that fight was the biggest one. I am grateful that I have reached this level. As far as the viewership of the fight around the world including around Australia and the United States of course which is the biggest market that was shown on a international level especially on Showtime and over eleven thousand plus live gate. It was an electric environment and the brightest of lights of all the fights I have officiated. After 14 years that was my biggest assignment of my career. Continue reading “Interview Referee Danrex Tapdasan”

Undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and challenger John Ryder pose at a press conference held at Estadio Akron in Jalisco, Guadalajara to announce their bout on May 6.

Canelo Alvarez: “I feel very excited after 12 years of not coming home and being able to bring back everything I have achieved during all these years, the truth is that I feel very happy and proud. It is not easy to make an event like this. It is not easy to make a fight of this magnitude. In the end, what I wanted is possible, I wanted to fight here in my land, Jalisco, and am very happy to be here. I had many offers to fight in many places, but I never thought about it. I always wanted to come here, return to my land, return as the best in the world. It is a pride to be here, I do it with my heart, giving people the opportunity to see me fight here motivates me a lot. The first thing I want is for people who can’t buy a ticket or who can’t go to Las Vegas to have the opportunity to see me here in Guadalajara, and to be able to donate a part of the money to a foundation here in Guadalajara. We are going to do this event.”

John Ryder: “This fight comes at just the right time. It is an honor for me to fight in Mexico. I thank everyone for the opportunity they give me. I have come here to win; I have defeated important rivals and I am ready to become the undisputed champion. Thanks to Canelo, we will give them a great fight.”

ProBox TV has secured the American and Australian broadcast rights to Saturday’s heavyweight crossroads battle between undefeated WBA #10 Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller (25-0-1, 21 KOs) and former WBA “regular” heavyweight champion and WBA #9 Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne (31-3, 27 KOs). The catch is that current $1.99 monthly ProBox TV subscribers will NOT be able to access the fight. You have to upgrade to the $18 annual subscription (which is cheaper in the long run) to watch Miller-Browne.

Held at the Agenda Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the card also features a 10-round super featherweight co-main event between  WBA #5- and IBF #11-rated former world title challenger Jono “King Kong” Carroll (23-2-1, 7 KOs) and three-time world title challenger Miguel “The Scorpion” Marriaga (30-6, 26 KOs). Also broadcast that night will be a 10-round cruiserweight battle between fast-tracking former amateur star Soslan “Cobra” Asbarov (3-0, 1 KO) and once-beaten American Brandon Glanton (17-1, 14 KOs).

Calling all the action will be commentator/ring announcer Ray Flores, along with former UFC star Tyron Woodley.

The undercard has been finalized for the fight night featuring former world champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramírez (44-1, 30 KOs) of Mazatlan, Mexico against Philadelphia’s Gabriel “King” Rosado (26-16-1, 15 KOs). The 12-round light heavyweight fight will take place at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach on Saturday and will be broadcast worldwide on DAZN.

Returning to the ring for the first time in 2023, former world champion Joseph “JoJo” Diaz, Jr. (32-3-1, 15 KOs) will face former world title challenger Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta (33-3-3, 17 KOs) as the co-main event. The two veterans will participate in a 12-round lightweight fight. Continue reading “Zurdo-Rosado undercard set”

Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach works the pads with fast-rising super welterweight ‘King’ Callum Walsh (5-0, 4 KOs) during a media workout at Peter Welch’s famed boxing gym in Boston. Walsh will face Wesley Tucker (15-4, 9 KOs) in a ten-rounder topping a special St. Patrick’s Day card as Hollywood Fight Nights invades New England for the first time. UFC Fightpass will air the action.

U.S. Olympic silver medalist Richard Torrez Jr. has been forced to withdraw from his March 25 homecoming fight due to a training injury. Torrez (5-0, 5 KOs), from Tulare, California, was scheduled to face Willie Jake Jr. in the six-round ESPN-televised opener at Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. The 23-year-old southpaw knockout artist, who has three first-round knockouts on his ledger, is expected to return this summer.

The ESPN broadcast will now be a doubleheader featuring Jose Ramirez and Richard “RC” Commey in a junior welterweight showdown and a minimumweight title unification fight between WBA champion Seniesa “Super Bad” Estrada and WBC queen Tina Rupprecht.

Ramirez-Commey and Estrada-Rupprecht will be broadcast live on ESPN.

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Undefeated WBA #11, IBF #13 super featherweight Paul Fleming (28-0-1, 18 KOs) returns to action Wednesday against also unbeaten IBF #8 Charlie Suarez (14-0, 8 KOs) of the Philippines at the Kevin Betts Stadium in MtDruitt, Sydney, NSW with the IBF Intercontinental, WBC Asian and WBA Oceana titles up for grabs. Southpaw Fleming is coming off a ten round victory over Jackson Jon England in 2022. Suarez stopped Delfry Palulu in two rounds in his last ring outing in 2022.

By Jeff Zimmerman

Middleweight rising star and former 2020 US Olympian Troy “The Transformer” Isley (8-0, 4 KOs) faces Roy Barringer (9-3, 6 KOs) on April 8 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on ESPN+. It will be on the undercard headlined by pound-for-pound super star Shakur Stevenson who takes on the undefeated Shuichiro Yoshino. Isley talks about his boxing journey, fighting in the Olympics, his Top Rank Dream Team and what makes Shakur so special and much more in this Fightnews.com® exclusive interview.

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By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Former undisputed 135-pound champion George “Ferocious” Kambosos (20-2, 10 KOs) and currently IBF #7 rated will return to action in June against IBF #9 Maxi Hughes (26-5-2, 5 KOs) in an IBF eliminator for the vacant #2 position in the lightweight division. The vacant IBO title will also be up for grabs. Contracts have been signed for this fight to happen it was reported

“I don’t know how much longer Devin has at 135 [pounds], Kambosos Jr. told Fox Sports. “I think he might move to 140, God willing that opens up some doors for us and I’m a big, big name in the world of boxing still.”

WBC heavyweight champion Tyson stated today that he doesn’t want any rematch clauses if there is a deal reached for a unification fight against WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.

“I’ve been speaking to the lawyers today,” stated Fury, “and Usyk’s people have been talking about rematch clauses and all that bollocks. Here’s one to up the antes. How about there is no f**king rematch clause? For both of us. Let’s up the antes completely. They’re worried about what’s in the future and how many more dollars they can get after being defeated. Worry about the fight, April 29th, no rematch clause, the winner takes the glory, the loser goes home with his d*ck in his hand. How about that? Agree to that, you f**king b*tch!”

Former light heavyweight world champion Jean Pascal (36-6-1, 20 KOs) returns to the ring in a 12-round IBF light heavyweight world title eliminator against German contender Michael Eifert (11-1, 4 KOs) this Thursday, March 16, at Place Bell in Laval, Canada. The 40-year-old Pascal is coming off a decision win over then-undefeated Fanlong Meng. Eifert is 5-0 since his lone defeat against Tom Dzemski in 2020. Continue reading “ESPN+ picks up Pascal-Eifert IBF eliminator”

By Ron Jackson

In a complete mismatch South Africa’s Thomas Oosthuizen blasted out Ugandan Musa “Hitman” Ntege at 63 seconds into the first round, to claim the vacant African Boxing Union cruiserweight title at the Carousel Casino in Hammanskraal north of Pretoria on Sunday afternoon. The 34-year-old Oosthuizen came out fast at the opening bell against the smaller Ntege and battered him to the canvas on three occasions before referee Thabo Spampool waved the fight off.

The unused judges were Simphiwe Mbini Patience Ngubo and Moses Zauna.

This was a complete massacre and Boxing SA and the African Boxing Union should not have sanctioned the fight as it was the vastly more experienced and multiple world champion, Oosthuizen in against a complete novice, who has never beaten an opponent of consequence. Continue reading “Oosthuizen wins in the first round”

Welterweight Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez (22-1, 14 KOs) came back from a 21-month layoff to win an eight-round unanimous decision over Kashon Hutchinson (10-6, 2 KOs) in the main event on Friday night at The Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem, PA.

Rodriguez came out fast as he landed some booming power punches which landed flush on Hutchinson. Hutchinson showed an amazing chin as the punches that landed did not seem to faze the Reading, PA. fighter. The middle rounds saw Hutchinson try to peck away and get some punches through on Rodriguez. Rodriguez showed some solid boxing ability down the stretch.

Rodriguez of Hasbrouck Heights, NJ, won by scores of 80-72 and 78-74 on two cards in his first bout since losing to former world champion Jose Pedraza in June 2021. Hutchinson had his seven fight win streak snapped. Continue reading “Hammer Hands returns with victory”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

In a nationally televised promotion, Thailand’s Phumiridet Chonlathondamrong (14-1, 13 KOs) scored an eighth round knockout over Jules Victoriano (12-6, 9 KOs) of the Philippines to capture the vacant IBF Pan Pacific 135 pound championship on Friday at the Thuparhemi Stadium, Thailand. Phumiritdet dropped Victoriano three times in round eight and referee Sanong Uomim crowned the Thai at 2.19. Continue reading “Chonlathondamrong victorious in Thailand”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

When asked after the fight what his TKO win against former world champion Tony Harrison means, newly crowned WBO interim junior middleweight champion Tim Tsyzu stated, “It means I’ve beat the man who beat the man!”

Undisputed 154lb champion Jermell Charlo’s only career loss was to Harrison, later avenged.

“We will always have respect for each other, but tonight I proved I was the better fighter,” Tszyu said of Harrison. “The way my career has unfolded has been step by step, all the way to the top. That’s my mentality as a fighter. When I’m presented an opportunity like Charlo, of course I’m going to take that. And when I get an opportunity to face Tony Harrison, of course I’m going to take it.”

Tszyu was also asked if he had a message for Charlo: “The message was sent clearly. You know what’s next, you know I’m coming.”

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Harrison was all class in defeat. “The better man won,” Harrison said. “They’ve done a good job over there. His timing, his reaction is very good. He just beat me, so all I can say is he’s up for Charlo.”

As for his future, Harrison added, “The boxing [stuff] is hard. I’ve been doing this since I was five. I don’t know if I want to spend the next five, six years getting hit in the face. My brother [trainer LJ Harrison] had the perfect game plan, but sometimes when you get in there you forget.”

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Injured world champion Jermell Charlo joined the Showtime announce team live from the CBS Studios in New York City as a special guest. Continue reading “Tszyu: I’ve beat the man who beat the man”

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

Undefeated WBO #1 rated Tim Tszyu (22-0, 16 KOs) stepped out of the shadow of his ring legend father Kostya Tszyu to stop former world champion Tony “Superbad” Harrison (29-4-1, 21 KOs) in round nine to claim the vacant WBO interim junior middleweight title on Sunday morning at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Harrison was able to keep Tszyu on the end of his jab in round one. Tszyu upped the pressure in round two. Tszyu rocked Harrison with heavy artillery in round three. Harrison continued to land the jab, but most the power punches were landed by Tszyu. Tzsyu finally dropped Harrison hard with a barrage of punches in round nine. Harrison barely beat the count, but referee Danrex Tapdasan waved it off. Time was 2:43 of round nine.

With the win, Tszyu set up a clash against undisputed super welterweight world champion Jermell Charlo. After the fight, Tzsyu shouted, “What’s my motherf**king name? Say my motherf**king name!”

At the time of the stoppage, Tszyu was ahead 77-75 on all three cards.

By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing

IBF #7, WBO #6, super bantamweight Sam Goodman (14-0, 7 KOs) clearly outscored WBC #11, WBO #11 T.J. Doheny (23-4, 17 KOs) over ten rounds to capture the IBF intercontinental and WBO Oriental titles. Goodman connected with accurate left jabs and right hands to the head that kept the former world champion Doheny off balance throughout the contest. Both Goodman and Doheny suffered cut eyes during the contest. At the conclusion, the scores were 97-92, 98-92, 100-89 all for Goodman.

Former amateur star light heavyweight Paulo Aokuso (4-0, 3 KOs) dominated American-based Cuban Yunieski Gonzalez (21-6, 17 KOs) over ten rounds. Aokuso connected with a four-punch combination to the head of the Cuban to drop him in round six. Scores at the conclusion for Aokuso 97-92, 99-90, 100-89, who captured the IBO Intercontinental 175-pound championship.

Super middleweight Rohan Murdock (27-2, 19 KOs) outworked Issac Hardman (13-2, 11 KOs) in the first four rounds of their ten round contest but from round five the action see -sawed and at the conclusion of an entertaining bout, Murdock was awarded a split decision with two judges scoring 97-92 in Murdock’s favor while one judge gave it 96-93 for Hardman.

Unbeaten super welterweight Nikita Tszyu (5-0, 4 KOs) chopped down tough Bo Belbin (7-1, 5 KOs) in round four of a scheduled six round bout. Tszyu connected with solid combinations from round one that had Belbin on unsteady legs throughout the contest – and in round four the Tasmanian was dropped and referee Will Soulos crowned Tszyu at 1:46.

By David Finger

In an exciting show last night (Friday March 10th) at the Cuban Boxing Club in Dubai, the WBC eighth ranked super featherweight in the world moved a little closer to his dream of a world title fight as undefeated Jadier Herrera scored an impressive one punch knockout in round three over Filipino Harmonito Dela Torre. Herrera dropped Dela Torre in round two and again in round three before landing the picture-perfect right hand that ended the fight later in the third round. With the win Herrera improves to 10-0, 8 KOs. Dela Torre falls to 22-5, 14 KOs. Continue reading “Results from Dubai”

42-year-old heavyweight Carlos Takam (40-7-1, 28 KOs) scored a ten round split decision over 2016 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist Tony Yoka (11-2, 9 KOs) on Saturday night at Zenith Paris in Paris, France. Yoka never got untracked and Takam pressed him all the way to deservedly win 96-94, 96-94 on two cards. Yoka was somehow ahead 96-94 on the third card. Two straight losses for Yoka now, following his defeat to Martin Bakole last May. Yoka was a 6:1 favorite.

In a bout for the European light heavyweight title, unbeaten Dan Azeez (19-0, 13 KOs) broke down and stopped Thomas Faure (21-5-1, 2 KOs) in round twelve. No time announced. Tough gritty fight. Faure not happy about the stoppage.

In a female welterweight bout, Olympic gold medalist Lauren Price (3-0, 1 KO) shut out Naomi Mannes (6-1, 4 KOs) over eight 80-72 3x.

Undefeated middleweight Farrhad Saad (8-0-2, 0 KOs) and Macaulay McGowan (17-3-2, 3 KOs) battled to an eight round draw. Scores were 77-75, 76-76, 76-76.