By Norm Frauenheim

The furor is familiar. So is the futility.

Nothing like a positive drug test to generate big headlines, especially in boxing at a time when big fights are more rumor than real.

It’s hard to know if Errol Spence Jr.-Terence Crawford is on, off or just more talk. Spence suggests on Twitter Wednesday that the fight will still happen.

But the biggest welterweight bout in years has been on and off more often than Tyson Fury has been in and out of retirement.

The state of the game? Let’s just say it’s in a state of disrepair, which brings us back to the game’s only real news — the positive drug test that forced Conor Benn-versus-Chris Eubank Jr. off its scheduled date Saturday in London.

The fight, an Eddie Hearn-promoted exercise in nostalgia between the sons of fathers from a memorable UK rivalry in the 1990s, is off. Benn, a welterweight preparing to fight at 157-pounds, tested positive for something called clomiphene, reported to be a women’s fertility drug. (Insert lousy joke here.) The substance also is reported to increase testosterone in men. (Insert confusion here.)

It’s the confusion that reigns, of course. The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) “prohibited” the bout, saying it was “not in the interests of boxing” Wednesday following news of Benn’s positive test in the Daily Mail.

Injunctions were threatened. Contradictory statements delivered. Look for all of that to continue, ad nauseam.

For now, however, there’s no fight, although Hearn is reportedly shopping for a new date, new location and a commission known more for sports washing than regulation.    

Hearn contends that Benn has not been suspended. Benn, he says, tested positive only in the so-called A-sample. It’s not clear when results from a B-sample will be disclosed. Then again, it’s not clear whether there was – or is –a B-sample.

From A-to-Z, it’s a mess.

Another one.

At one level, it’s reminiscent of what transpired in a PED flap surrounding former junior-lightweight champion Oscar Valdez Jr. in September of 2021. He tested positive for something called phentermine, reported to be a stimulant that helps in losing weight. Valdez was allowed to fight, beating Robson Conceicao at a casino on Native American land near Tucson

But he fought only because of confusion over what qualifies as a PED and what doesn’t. It depends on location, location, location and acronym, acronym, acronym.

Both Benn and Valdez tested positive for substances banned by VADA. Both were positive in random VADA tests conducted weeks before the scheduled opening bell.

But the Valdez-Conceicao happened because the fight was regulated by the Pascua Yaqui, which adhered to a PED list and rules used by WADA not VADA. Only one letter separates the acronyms. But there’s a huge difference between the W and the V.

Phentermine is not illegal if not found on the day of the fight, according to WADA.

It is prohibited at all times by VADA.

Call it a loophole. Call it a devil in the details. Whatever, Valdez fought, amid a social-media outcry of condemnation directed at him and anybody associated with the Top Rank bout.

Now, there’s Benn-Eubank. The difference is that it’s not happening, at least not now. But the same sort of loophole remains. According to a deal between the two fighters, they agreed to non-binding VADA testing. VADA prohibits clomiphene. But the UK Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD), which tests for the BBBofC, does not.

Only the BBBofC, however, has final say-so on whether to proceed with the fight. It said no, unlike the Pascua Yaqui

The mystery is why this loophole still exists at all. During contract negotiations, shouldn’t the promoters and representatives of each fighter get together and agree on one testing authority – WADA or VADA or UKAD? Pick the acronym and abide by what it bans.

Close the loophole before the sport itself gets banned.

ReplyForward

By Norm Frauenheim-

It’s hard to know what to make of reported pay-per-view numbers, especially during a streaming era when numbers are misrepresented or not reported at all and the theft rate might rival the buy rate.

But they continue to accumulate, fight-after-fight, like CompuBox’s punch stats, round-after-round, in a one-sided bout. They add up to a trend. And it isn’t pretty.

The business is losing, mostly because it doesn’t get it anymore. Latest example: Deontay Wilder-Robert Helenius. It’s a pay-per-view fight.

Wilder created some controversy about 10 days ago when he told Boxing Scene he already belongs in the Hall of Fame.

Go ahead, argue about that one. But he doesn’t belong on pay-per-view. Not now, not on October 15 in his first bout since he was left on the canvas, a broken man, by Tyson Fury after 10-plus rounds of a violent beatdown nearly a year ago.

For most of the last year, there were doubts about a Wilder comeback, both in the public mind and his own. Even the winner talked about retirement. Then again, Fury talks a lot. There’s not much he doesn’t say. We’ve lost count how many times he’s been in and out retirement. He’s retired at lunch. He’s coming back at dinner.

But he did say he suffered a concussion against Wilder during their dramatic third date in Las Vegas last October. That’s believable. Nobody emerged from that heavyweight rematch unscathed. It’s a mark of just how violent it was. It’s also reason to proceed with caution.

In effect, Wilder, a former champion, is starting over. He says he decided to attempt a comeback after a statue of him was placed in front of a Tourism and Sports building in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, his hometown. Move over, Nick Saban.

The statue is a symbol of who Wilder was. But it says nothing about who he is, post-Fury.

Tough fights come with a price, but not one that fans should have to pay in a first bout, a test run on whether a comeback is even viable. If it is – if Wilder doesn’t display symptoms of lingering damage against Helenius at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, then, yeah, it’s time to move back onto a pay-per-view stage and a comeback that would provide a further chance to prove the Hall-of-Fame claim.

But now, against Helenius, Wilder’s former sparring partner? Pay-per-view for a virtual sparring session? No way. PPV is a tag that says you’re proven, a commodity worth watching. The burden of proof is, first and foremost, what Wilder has to deliver against Helenius, a 38-year-old Finn and at best a mid-level challenger.

It should be an investment on what Wilder hopes will unfold in his comeback. Instead, he’s going straight to the pay window. In part, Wilder is selling his name recognition, which is lot more durable than chins, noses and brain cells in today’s version of the boxing biz. 

He’s also doing what other fighters are. FOX is charging $74.99, which is the same price it charged for heavyweight Andy Ruiz Jr.’s unanimous decision over Luis Ortiz on Sept. 5.

It’s not clear how Ruiz-Ortiz did on PPV. It’s not, probably because it wasn’t big. Boxcar numbers get reported. Small ones don’t, but increasingly they are part of the business plan. PPV is the persistent devil in the details of a bet on immediacy instead of the future. Fighters agree to a share of PPV receipts in an attempt to get the money they want.

But it’s a gamble, a risk to them. Remember the scheduled PPV fight between lightweights Tevin Farmer and Mickey Bey in Prescott Valley, AZ last August 12? It got canceled hours before opening bell because the money wasn’t there. That’s where this business model is headed.  

Above all, it puts the business at risk of losing more customers in an already eroding fan base.

More and more, a PPV tag is seen as a warning: Buyer Beware. Even Canelo Alvarez’ decision over Gennadiy Golovkin in a third fight on Sept. 17 left doubts about PPV. Arguably, Canelo-GGG 3 was the most PPV-worthy fight in 2022.

But reports indicated it failed to meet expectations for a long-awaited bout. DAZN’s PPV price for non-subscribers was $84.98, nearly a buck more than the Wilder-Helenius price tag.

It wasn’t long ago that the boxing biz declared that PPV is dead. Yet, it persists, a working definition of what Albert Einstein meant when he said insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting it to be different.

By Norm Frauenheim –

It was thoroughly forgettable. Thoroughly predictable, too.

Nothing that happened within the ropes during Canelo Alvarez’ decision over Gennadiy Golovkin in a third fight registered much more than a yawn on the wow meter.

It was simply a sign that it’s time to move on.

Turns out, only that sign is important, despite over-the-top promises that were part of a tireless sales pitch before opening bell. 

Question is, will boxing heed its warning? Sometimes, the business is the last to know. Increasingly, it’s becoming evident that fans suspected the bout was over-hyped, over-due and over-priced for a trilogy between fighters who were over-the-hill.

That’s the unmistakable message in the pay-per-view numbers reported a few days after DAZN’s live-stream of the bout last Saturday at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

There’s some debate about the numbers, just as there was some disagreement about the scorecards (115-113, 116-112, 115-113) in favor of Canelo. Long-term, doesn’t matter. Feigned outrage about the scoring margins doesn’t change the result. Canelo clearly won.

The subsequent debate about the pay-per-view reports don’t matter, either. The trend does. To wit: The public appeal for the red-headed Canelo, Spanish for cinnamon, is beginning to look a little Oxidado, rusty.

Dan Rafael’s Fight Freaks Unite reported that the pay-per-view stream generated between 550,000 and 575,000 buys in the United States. DAZN quickly countered, issuing a statement saying that it generated 1.06-million buys worldwide. 

The numbers are hard to confirm, especially in a live-stream era when the theft rate probably rivals the buy rate. Then, there are questions about who’s counting. And how they’re counting. But there’s no argument about the trend. It’s down.

The first two Canelo-GGG bouts were televised by HBO Pay-Per-View. The first, a draw in 2017, was reported to generate 1.3 million buys, all in the United States. For the second, a controversial Canelo victory by majority decision in 2018, 1.1-million was reported, also in the United States.

By either report this week – US or worldwide, it’s down. The message: It’s time to move out of the Canelo business and back into the boxing business.

There’s a whole new generation of young, promising fighters, desperate to get a share of the attention and financial pie.

A face of that generation is David Benavidez, the unbeaten super-middleweight from Phoenix. Mention Benavidez, and Canelo sneers the way that proverbial old man might when he tells someone to get the hell off his front lawn.

Canelo complains that Benavidez has accomplished nothing. Eddie Hearn, Canelo’s promoter for the third GGG fight, says the same.

I’m not sure they’ve been listening to the fans, or a growing number of fighters and cornermen. From Paulie Malignaggi to Roy Jones Jr., the fight to see is Benavidez-versus-Canelo.

For now, at least, it doesn’t look as if that’s going to happen. Canelo beat a 40-year-old in GGG Saturday. GGG looked old, fought old. But the 32-year-old Canelo didn’t exactly fight like a young man, either.

His fatigue midway through the fight was oh-so evident. A younger man, a 25-year-old Benavidez, might have walked through him at that point. Come to think of it, so too would a younger Golovkin, say the GGG of 2017 or 2018.

Canelo already concedes he’s dealing with injuries. His knees are problematic enough to limit his roadwork. He underwent knee surgery. That might explain why he tires after four-to-five rounds. Now, he plans to undergo surgery for an injury to his left wrist.

From wrist to knees, he’s beginning to display the symptoms of his many years in the ring. He’s beginning to look like an aging fighter, no matter how old he is.

A year off might allow him to restore his knees, rehab his wrist.

Ii might allow him to rekindle his passion for the blood, bruises, wear and tear.

Then again, it also might just convince him to stay on the golf course, his latest passion.

Meanwhile, Benavidez has to fight. There are plans, father-and-trainer Jose Benavidez Sr. says, for him to fight three more times at 168-pounds, super-middleweight. Whatever the weight, he can’t wait on Canelo. He has to move on.

Boxing would be smart to move on with him. Current numbers say that’s where the future is.

Round 1 Left from Canelo…Right to body

Round 2 Jab from Canelo..Jab from Golovkin…Jab from Canelo..Jab..Right…Jab

Round 3  Right to body from Canelo…Big right from Canelo…Right..Jab…Right…

ROUND 4 Left from Canelo..Jab from Golovkin..Right to body…by Canelo…left hook..Jab…Right…

ROUND 5  Left from Canelo..Jab from Caenlo…Right,,,1-2…Right to body..Left hook…Hard right…

ROUNd 6 Jab from Canelo…Right from Golovkin..Right to body from Canelo..Uppercut from Golovkin..Left to body from Canelo…

ROUND 7   Right to head from Canelo…Uppercut and right to the body…Right to head …Uppercut from Golovkin..Jab

ROUND 8 Right from Canelo…left hook..Counter right..Right to body…Right to bidy…Left gook..andother…Right from Golovkin..Right over the top..

ROUND 9 Double Jab from Canelo..3 punch body combo…Uppercut..1-2 ..Hard left hook from Golovkin…Combo on ropes..Hard right over the top..Ripping right from Canelo..

Round 10 Body shot from Canelo…..Uppercut..Hard jabs from Golovkin…

ROUND 11 Quick start for Canelo with a 3 punch combination…Nig uppercut…Left hook…Left from Golovkin

ROUND 12 Canelo dominant and crusie home

116-112 AND 115-113 FOR CANELO

ROUND 1  Right from Gonzalez….Uppercut from Rodriguez..

ROUND 2 Straight left from Rodriguez…

ROUND 3 Good Straight Left from Rodriguez…

ROUND 4 Hard Left Uppercut from Rodriguez…jab..Straight left..right from Gonzalez..Body shot..Straight left from Rodriguez..Right to body

Rounds 5-11   Rodriguez dominating.  He was deducted a point in round 4 for a low blow

ROUND 12 Rodriguez  working on the inside…Right to side..

118-109; 117-110; 114-113 FOR RODRIGUEZ

Round 1: Akhmedov lands a left
Round 2 Right from Akhmedov…Jab..2 punch combination…Right over the top..Jab from Rosado
Round 3  Volume punching from Akmedov
Round 4  Combination from Akhmedov..Double jab…Double left and right
Round 5 Right from Rosado…Combination from Akhmedov
Round 7 Right to body from Akhmedov…Left from Rosado..Uppercut and body shot from Akhmedov
Round 9 Right from Rosado..3 Punch combination from Akhmedov…Right
Round 10 Double jab from Akhmedov…1-2…Right from Rosado…Right…Right to head..Left…3 punches from Akhmedov…1-2..Hard 3 punch combination

100-90 on ALL 3 CARDS FOR AKHMEDOV

Round 1 Jabs from Williams..Right from Conway..Right to body
Round 2 Right from Conway..2 lefts from Williams..Left to body…
Round 3
Round 4 Jab from Conway…Straight left from Williams..Body shot from Conway..Jab from Williams..Right from Conway
Round 5  Left from Williams..Right hook..Double right from Conway…Jab..Left from Williams…Right from Conway,,,
Round 6 
Round 7 Jab from Williams..Left..Jabbing from Both…
Round 8 Left from Williams
Round 9 Conway bleeding from his nose…UPPERCUT AND DOWN GOES CONWAY
Round 10 Jab from Williams…

96-93 and 97-92 TWICE FOR WILLIAMS

Round 1:
ROUND 5 OVERHAND RIGHT AND DOWN GOES COLLAZO….FOLLOW UP AND THE FIGHT IS OVER

By Norm Frauenheim –

LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin kept their cool under a hot desert sun Friday afternoon at a staged weigh-in.

It was more concert than conflict.

More of a festival than a fight.

Hostility was only there in the eyes and the words exchanged after both fighters stepped off the scale, each a fraction of a pound lighter than the super-middleweight maximum for their third fight Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

At a weigh-in behind closed doors a few hours before the show on the plaza outside of T-Mobile, Golovkin was at a career-high 167.8 pounds. Canelo, the undisputed defending super-middleweight champ, weighed 167.4.

On the scale, their obligations were met. In the ring, their promises remain to be delivered in a long-awaited, long-overdue bout (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) that figures to be the final punctuation point to a contentious rivalry.

Canelo (57-2-2, 39 KOs) has promised a stoppage. He says it will end within 12 rounds. The first bout in 2017 ended in a draw. The rematch in 2018 ended in Canelo winning a majority decision. Controversy has lingered ever since.

“Come on, if you guys are real boxing fans, you know who is the real champ,’’ said Golovkin (42-1-1, 33 KOs), a middleweight champion who is fighting at super-middle for the first time ever.

GGG has long argued that he won the first two. The question is whether he can deliver the proof. He’s 40, at least a couple of years past his prime. Canelo knows that.

At 32, Canelo is presumably still in his prime, although there were questions – still unanswered – left in the wake of only his second loss in his last outing against light-heavyweight Dmitry Bivol.

He, too, has much to prove against a fighter who has angered him ever since he tested positive for clenbuterol before their 2018 fight. Canelo blamed the test on tainted beef.

GGG dismissed Canelo’s explanation, suggesting that was it was more like the manure produced by the beef.

Over the four years since their last fight, the two have never really settled the argument. It looks as if they’ll get a final chance to do so Saturday on DAZN pay-per-view ($64.99 for subscribers/$84.99 for non-subscribers).

A stoppage, perhaps, is the best way for Canelo to silence GGG, who says he saw nothing new in Canelo during their ritual face-to-face stare-down Friday.

“Maybe, he saw nothing new in my eyes,’’ Canelo said to a roaring crowd of his loyal fans Friday. “But he’ll see something new in the ring.’’

DAZN executives hope so. They have wanted the third fight for four years. They have invested in it heavily. The total purse is $65 million.  But there are questions about whether the fight is too far past its due date.There was a huge crowd on the plaza. for the staged weigh-in. As of Friday, however, the fight had yet to sell out.

By Norm Frauenheim–

LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez says he’s happy to be back on what he calls the path to greatness, a destination that suddenly grew elusive in a stunning loss to Dmitry Bivol four months ago.

It’s still there, of course. Canelo has always talked about greatness as though it’s his destiny. Bivol was just like that bumper sticker. Bleep happens.

Canelo intends to leave it behind and resume his march on history in a long-awaited and long-overdue third fight with Gennadiy Golovkin Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in a DAZN pay-per-view bout.

Everything seems to say that a victory over Golovkin will happen. GGG is 40, the same age Manny Pacquiao was when his career ended against late stand-in Yordenis Ugas a year ago. Canelo is nearly a 5-to-1 favorite.

Nobody gives GGG much of a chance. Then again, few would have ever guessed that Albert Pujols would be closing in on the 700-home-run milestone at 42-years-old either. Remember, bleep happens. Maybe, GGG channels Pujols and hits a homer here. But don’t bet on it.

Expect a Canelo victory. But greatness is different. It’s not an expectation. It’s an argument. At least, it is amid all the talk before GGG and Canelo resume their contentious rivalry.

Canelo, still boxing’s undisputed box-office draw, stirred up controversy about a month ago when asked if he would fight fellow Mexican Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez if Ramirez beats Bivol on Nov. 5.

“I don’t want to fight Mexicans,’’ Canelo said. “I represent Mexico.’’

The comment has been repeated and interpreted. According to one interpretation, Canelo was really saying he wouldn’t fight David Benavidez. The problem with that one is that Benavidez is Mexican-American. He’s from Phoenix. Over the last couple of years, Benavidez has emerged as the one super-middleweight fans would like to see fight Canelo.

But Canelo has moved on to other challenges against other 168-pound contenders, including Callum Smith or Caleb Plant or Billy Joe Saunders. He’s also moved up the scale, beating former light-heavyweight champ Sergey Kovalev and losing to Bivol. None of the moves have included Benavidez.

His comment about not fighting Mexicans, however, is just a further sign to Benavidez father-and-trainer Jose Benavidez Sr. that he never will.

Benavidez Sr. repeated what was said after David’s third-round blowout of David Lemieux last May in Glendale, Ariz. Then, Benavidez manager/promoter Sampson Lewkowicz told the media to forget about Canelo.

“Quit talking about David-versus-Canelo,’’ Lewkowicz said. “It’s fantasy.’’

In so many words, Jose Benavidez Sr. said the same thing four months later after a news conference Thursday at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

“It’ll never happen,’’ said Benavidez’ dad. who will be in Diego Pacheco’s corner for a super-middleweight bout against Enrique Collazo on Saturday’s undercard.

Then, Jose Benavidez had a lot more to say, suggesting that Canelo’s planned path to greatness can never happen without a fight against his son. The defining face of great in Mexican boxing is Julio Cesar Chavez.

Go to a barrio gym in Mexico or the United States. Chances are you’ll see at least one photo or poster of the legendary JCC. He’s the icon

“Julio Cesar Chavez became one by fighting everyone,’’ he said. “He fought Filipinos, he fought Americans. It didn’t matter. He fought everyone. Nationality didn’t matter. You only had to be a champion.

“There’s no other way to be great.’’

PHILADELPHIA (September 15, 2022)–Weights for Friday night’s Hard Hitting Promotions show at the Fillmore.

Joshafat Ortiz 129.8 – Mario Ezequiel Sayal Lozano 132.3

Jan Carlos Rivera 142.9 – Ganzalo Carlos Dallera 145

John Leonardo 127.5 – Pedro Hernandez 127.2

Carlos Ramos 131.1 – Diuhl Olguin 130.1

Jeffrey Villanueva 117.9 – Jose Torres 119.8

LeAnna Cruz 113.9 – Lillian Almarez 114.4

Abdiel Padilla 142.1 – Axl Malendez Salgado 149.3

Promoter: Hard Hitting Promotions (Ortiz vs Lozano is in Association w/DiBella Entertainment)

Venue: The Fillmore

1st Brll: 7 PM ET

Tickets for this great night of boxing ate $60, $75, $100 and $175 and can be purchased at BY CLICKING HERE

By Norm Frauenheim-

It’s hard to believe anything Tyson Fury says these days. He’s the master of the rhetorical feint, an entertaining way of serving up distractions and misinformation. In Fury’s dangerous hands, it’s an art form.  

One minute he’s retired. The next, he’s not. One minute, he’s fighting Derek Chisora. The next, he’s not. It’s all nonsense, of course, from a heavyweight champion who either has too much time on his hands or just needs the attention. Whatever the reason, few are better at turning the ring into a personal stage.

Laugh at the punch lines. Suspend the believability.

The latest chapter in Fury’s ongoing routine involves Anthony Joshua. Fury has let everyone know that he wants to fight him, wants to fight him as soon as possible.

Of course, he does.

Joshua appears to be as vulnerable as ever in the wake of his second straight loss to Oleksandr Usyk, who won a split decision in a competitive rematch on August 20.

Other than the usual bruises, Joshua emerged from the loss in Saudi Arabia without any reported injuries.

But the absence of blood doesn’t mean there wasn’t damage to his confidence. Fury saw what everybody else did. He watched Joshua’s emotional meltdown in a bizarre exhibition immediately after the decision was announced.

He threw two of Usyk’s belts out of the ring. He grabbed the microphone and delivered a desperate plea, seemingly asking the crowd and television audience to believe in him. Joshua emerged from the loss unhurt. But it sounded as if his confidence was fractured.

Fury heard it. He also saw a fighter, still big and powerful, who had improved, perhaps because of new trainer Robert Garcia’s guidance. Joshua had Usyk in trouble throughout a dramatic ninth round.

In the wake of Usyk’s decision to not fight until early next year, Fury immediately turned to Joshua. Fury’s predatory instincts had to tell him the time was now. Fight him, finish him, before he has even more time to improve.

A result, perhaps, was sudden news that Joshua had agreed to a purse split for a fight projected for December 17. Forty percent for Joshua, 60 percent for Fury.

But Fury’s co-promoter Bob Arum isn’t buying.

“I really don’t think Joshua’s people are anxious to make the fight now,” Arum said to Sky Sports while in London for a Claressa Shields-Savannah Marshall/Mikaela Mayer-Alycia Baumgardner card postponed Thursday because of Queen Elizabeth’s death. “He’s come through a devastating loss and I think, conventionally, Joshua is going to want a couple of soft touches to get back in the swing of things.’’

It’s not exactly clear what — who – qualifies as a soft touch. Deontay Wilder is set to make his comeback from a devastating stoppage loss a year ago to Fury against Robert Helenius on October 15 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Wilder faces some of the same questions that Joshua does when step back through the ropes. Still, his singular power is there, hardly a soft touch. A young heavyweight, unknown and inexperienced, might pose the least risk for Joshua’s re-entry.

Whoever it is, Arum is betting it won’t be Fury. He dismisses talk from Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn that an agreement on the purse split is in place.

“Eddie Hearn is just talking.,’’ Arum said. “Eddie Hearn, if he wanted to make the fight, he knows me well enough and knows I’m over here.

“…We haven’t really heard from Eddie Hearn. He’s really good at making statements to the press and television. But he’s not – I don’t think – anxious to make this fight.

“I’ve been in boxing a long time and the fact that Eddie and Joshua would want this fight is, to me, incomprehensible. It makes no sense. If I’m wrong and they decide they want it, they know where to find us and call. Stop talking to the press and talk to us and see if we can put it together.”

Hearn, a longtime Arum rival, had his own take.

“I’m not quite sure what Bob Arum has spoken about,’’ said Hearn, who said he has had multiple phone calls and exchanged several e-mails with Frank Warren’s Queensbury Promotions, Fury’s UK promoter. ‘’AJ has just finished his fight with Usyk. He has a couple of bumps and bruises, nothing major.

“Queensberry have the date held of December 17, and that is our preferred date to make the fight. We’re in continued discussions.’’

With Fury in the mix, the only sure bet is that discussion will continue, ad nauseam.

By Norm Frauenheim–

Canelo Alvarez is fighting for Mexicans, but not against Mexicans.

That, at least, was the message he intended this week during a media workout for his approaching date with Gennadiy Golovkin on Sept. 17 in a third fight.

“I don’t want to fight Mexicans,’’ Canelo said. “I represent Mexico.’’

The comment to USA Today at his training camp in San Diego generated questions, if not exasperation, especially among fans who might be reaching into their closets to dust off old caps with the GGG logo done in Mexico’s green-white-and-red colors.

Canelo was responding to a question about whether he would fight fellow Mexican Gilberto “Zurdo’’ Ramirez if Ramirez beat cruiserweight champion Dmitry Bivol. On the scale of tough questions, this one wasn’t intended to be confrontational. It was a softball.

After all, Bivol beat Canelo. If Ramirez can do what Canelo could not, why not go straight to Ramirez in a fight that would be a Mexican blockbuster? It’s simple. Sensible. It also would be a further step toward an initial measure of redemption for Canelo after his stunning May loss to Bivol. He could beat the man who beat him.

What’s more, this is boxing. Not politics. It’s not as if Canelo is running for office. He’s only trying to get back into the pound-for-pound debate. The road back begins with an interesting fight against a bitter rival in a second rematch that could restore the historical momentum he had before the Bivol defeat.

He made the comment, of course, simply because he can. Follow the money. In the boxing business, that means follow Canelo. His minimum wage against Bivol was $15 million, plus a reported 70 percent of pay-per-view sales. He’s the draw, undisputed in every way. That figures to continue, especially if he’s able to make a statement with a definitive victory over GGG. Betting odds suggest that will happen.

Canelo is favored, minus-600, which puts his probability of victory at 85.5 percent. That’s one-sided enough to think that a knockout is likely. For Canelo, a stoppage is almost mandatory.

It would serve as the final punctuation to the skepticism that has circulated for years about the first two fights.

The first bout at middleweight was judged a split draw in September 2017. A year later, the second bout, also at middleweight, was judged to be a Canelo victory by the narrowest of margins. He won a majority decision.

But there was no end to the debate. It has raged on and at a level that forced a third fight. For whatever reason, the third is way past its due date. Still, it’s interesting, because the final say-so goes to the victor.

On paper, Canelo has all the advantages. At 32, he’s eight-years younger than the 40-year old GGG. He’s at his most comfortable weight, 168-pounds. GGG is moving up the scale. All the elements for Canelo to make a definitive statement are in place.

But he’s complicated it with his comments about not wanting to fight a fellow Mexican. Those words could create additional pressure. Suddenly, Canelo has a lot to prove. To himself. And to his fans.

He’s fighting to put some distance between himself and the Bivol loss. He’s also fighting an old rival, one who created his own niche among Mexican-American fans in Southern California before his first bout with Canelo.

In much of the pre-fight hype, GGG looks and sounds comfortable about his role.

“Many Mexicans love me and nobody in Kazakhstan loves Canelo,” GGG, a Kazak living in southern California, said a couple of weeks ago.

He has little to lose. He knows he’s close to retirement, and he’s said so.  An old warhorse, he still knows his way around the ring. It’s not clear how Canelo will react in his first fight after a one-sided loss to Bivol.

A tentative Canelo creates opportunities for GGG.

So, too, does a careless Canelo, whose recent comments create a potential distraction, one he can’t afford at a moment when he’s fighting to retain his pound-for-pound relevancy and his pay-per-view marketability.

Juan Francisco Estrada is ‘excited’ to be back in action and ready to put on a show when he defends his WBC Franchise and Ring Magazine World Super-Flyweight titles against Argi Cortes on Saturday September 3 from Centro de Usos Multiples in Hermosillo, Mexico and broadcast live to all subscribers worldwide on DAZN.
 
Estrada (42-3 28 KOs) makes a welcome return to action almost 18 months after edging out Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez in their epic rematch in Dallas in March 2021. ‘El Gallo’ welcomes Cortes to his hometown and the same arena he stopped Dewayne Beamon in August 2019, and the Hermosillo hero will want to put on another show for his fans. Cortes (23-2-2 10 KOs) lands the biggest fight of his career in his 28^th pro outing, with the Mexico City man aiming upset his fellow countryman and become a household name overnight.
 
The Super-Flyweight landscape is as exciting as ever, with Chocolatito holding the WBC Diamond strap, up and coming superstar Jesse Rodriguez producing stunning wins over Carlos Cuadras and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai so far this year and a host of talents at 112 and 115lbs itching to test themselves against the best – so 32 year old Estrada is looking to remind the world that he’s the top dog.
 
“I am very excited for this show, where we can finally get into the ring after more than a year without fighting,” said Estrada. “I expect a difficult rival, I know that Argi will arrive very well prepared, and will have a man in the corner who knows everything, everyone, with great experience and achievements like Don Nacho Beristain. 
 
“But we have made a great preparation and that I have enjoyed a lot, because for the first time in six years, I have had a camp without injuries, and that has me very motivated for this fight and whatever comes next. There are so many great fights out there and I cannot wait to return.
 
“I hope the fans join us on Saturday. My fight against Cortés will be a war, and the rest of the fight card will be very competitive and exciting with two more World championships, very good prospects, hometown talent with my teammates here Christian Olivo and Omar Salcido present. It will be a historic event that people cannot miss, I hope to see all my people at the arena.”
 
There are two more World title bouts on the bill, starting with the long-awaited rematch between Erika Cruz and Jelena Mrdjenovich for the WBA World Featherweight title. Cruz (14-1 3 KOs) ripped the title from long-time champion Mrdjenovich (41-11-2 19 KOs) in April 2021, with the Mexican ending the five-year rule of the Canadian on the cards after an accidental headclash halted the contest after seven rounds. Cruz successfully defended the belt in Puerto Vallarta in November via split decision over Melissa Esquivel, while the former champion returns for the first time since the first battle.
 
The vacant IBF World Flyweight title is on the line between unbeaten pair Hector Flores and Sivenathi Nontshinga. Both men taste their first World title action as Tijuana’s Flores (20-0-4 10 KOs) builds on his victory over Welsh World title challenger Jay Harris in Wales in November, while hard-punching Nontshinga (10-0 9 KOs) fights outside his native South Africa for the first time and comes into the bout on the back of his first points win in his tenth bout having beaten his previous nine foes inside the distance.
 
Also featuring on the card is Super-Featherweight dangerman Eduardo Hernandez, defending his WBC Silver International title against Jorge Mata. Hernandez (32-1 29 KOs) pulled off a stunning victory last time out, blitzing Jorge Castaneda inside a round in Guadalajara in June to land the title he defends against Mata (14-0-2 10 KOs), the unbeaten 21 year old Tijuana native who fights for his first pro title.

By Norm Frauenheim-

Tyson Fury is a little bit like an ex-American president. He stays in the headlines.

Fury has been there, loud and profane, throughout a week that should belong to Oleksandr Usyk.

Usyk’s rightful chance to celebrate his brilliant ascendancy to the top of the heavyweight division has been stolen, first by the fighter he beat and then by the fighter he wants to beat, all within six days.

Anthony Joshua grabbed the microphone moments after he lost a split decision to Usyk in a rematch Saturday in Saudi Arabia. Joshua also tossed two championship belts out of the ring. They weren’t even his belts. They belonged to Usyk.

Somehow, Joshua thought he could trash somebody else’s property. Even Riddick Bowe knew better thirty years ago. In 1992, Bowe tossed the World Boxing Council’s belt into a garbage can in London. But it was Bowe’s belt to throw away. Ownership and sanctioning fees come with privileges. Bad behavior doesn’t.

Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn is defending Joshua, asking for understanding. That’s his job. Still, I can’t help but think that Joshua might have faced more than just criticism if his tantrum had played out in New York or Las Vegas instead of Saudi Arabia. Boxing is the flip side to politically-correct. It’s hard to regulate behavior.  

But if belts can be tossed out of the ring and into the crowd, what’s next? Stools and buckets? Hide the kids. If you’re seated in a ringside seat, wear a helmet.

A state Commission might issue some kind of censure, a warning to Joshua. But this was Saudi Arabia, a nation that is moving into boxing, golf and auto racing as a way to sports-wash — launder — its image. Nothing new about it. It’s been around since the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Boxing, however, is a risky way to get anything clean. The sport is a collection of great moments and Godfather moments. Still, it generates headlines and money. Enter Fury.

Within hours after Joshua’s tantrum, Fury was at the bully pulpit. He slammed Usyk’s victory, saying ad nauseam that he’s ready to come out of retirement. He’ll fight, he promises, only for half-a-billion. It’s not clear whether he’s talking about pounds or dollars. 

Whatever the currency, it’s astronomical, big enough to be prohibitive. Maybe, that’s the idea. I’ve long thought that Fury’s retirement is just more hot air from a gasbag looking for more attention.

But an impossible demand is one way for Fury to say no to the Usyk possibility. He repeated it Wednesday via social media.

“Hi guys, to all out there that want to make the fight, I’m gonna give you all seven days — till the 1st of September, to come up with the money,” Fury said on Instagram.  “If not, thank you very much. It’s been a blast. I’m retired.”

In a second post, he says, “Also, guys, I forgot to say, all the offers submitted must be to my lawyer, Robert Davies, in writing and with proof of funds. So, let the games begin.”

Safe to say, the head games are already well underway.

At today’s inflation rate, there’s no telling how much Fury’s half-a-bill will be worth. How ever many zeroes, it figures to be more than anyone will be willing to pay. Reportedly, the Saudis paid $150 million for the rights to Usyk-Joshua 2, a rematch of a Usyk victory in the UK about a year ago.

For as long as Fury’s demand makes the fight impossible, he can stay in the headlines with noise mocking Usyk. He calls him a “middleweight.” He says nobody knows who he is. He says he can’t pronounce his name. The lousy lounge act continues. Some of it is funny.

He told talkSPORT that he knows the Saudis have the money.

“They offered Tiger Woods $1 billion,’’ Fury said of the Saudi attempt to get Woods to join LIV Golf.

Then, he dismissed Usyk’s punching power.

“He couldn’t knock the skin off a rice pudding,’’ Fury said.

But talk won’t beat the unbeaten Usyk. There’s no doubt that the much-bigger Fury is the only fight Usyk wants.

“If I’m not fighting Tyson Fury, I’m not fighting at all,’’ he said while standing in the middle of a chaotic ring following his victory over Joshua.

Usyk also didn’t criticize Joshua. He stood there like a parent, watching Joshua with a look that was a mix of exasperation and disapproval. Joshua was more toddler than ex-heavyweight champ. It was hard not to cringe. But Usyk kept his poise, a great champion and a serious man. He has bigger fights. He returns to Ukraine and resumes the deadly fight against the Russians.

He’s a grown-up.

The heavyweight division could use one.  

Follow all the action as Oleksandr Usyk defends the IBF/WBA/WBO Heavyweight titles against two-time champion Anthony Joshua in a rematch.  The card kicks off at 1 PM ET / 8 PM in Saudi Arabia with bouts involving Ramla Ali Plus two elimination bouts with Callum Smith vs Mathieu Bauderlique and Filip Hrgovic and Zhilei Zhang

NO BROWSER REFRESH NEEDED.  THE PAGE WILL UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY

ROUND 1: Right to body from Joshua…Left from Usyk..Jab..Jab..Left

ROUND 2: Joshua jabs to the body..Left to body..Straight right..Jab from Usyk..Jab from Joshua..Good right down the middle…right to the body

ROUND 3 Joshua lands a good right..Usyk lands a left..another left…Left

ROUND 4  Left From Usyk

ROUND 5 Low Blow landed by Joshua…Counter jab from Usyk

Round 6 Right to body from Joshua

RouND 7 Counter left from Usyk..

Round 8 Good body shot from Joshua…Left hook to the body..3 Punch combination to the body…Combination Usyk…Slapping right from Joshua..Uppercut from Usyk..Bidy shot from Joahua

ROUND 9 Right from Joshua..Huge flurry from Joshua backing Usyk up…Good left hook…Good body shot

Round 10 Big left from Usyk…Body shot…Right from Joshua rocks Usyk..Uppercut and right from Usyk..Uppercut…Body shot

Round 11 Good body shot from Joshua..Left from Usyk…Jab

ROUND 12 Hard body shot from Joshua..Right..3 punch combination from Usyk…Big left hook and a right from Joshua…

115-113 Joshua….115-113 Usyk…116-112 Usyk

Round 1  Right Hook and dOWN GOES Hrgovic
Round 2 Straight from Hrgovic
Round 3 Straight left from Zhang..Good body shot
Round 4 2 Lefts from Zhang and 2 rights to the body..Hard right from Hrgovic..Left from Zhang..Zhang cut on his forehead
Round 5 Good body work from Hrgovic…Good right..Good counter from Zhang
Round 6 Big combination from Zhang..Hrgovic look hurt..Bosy shot from Hrgovic
Round 7 Right from Hrgovic..Counter from Zhang..Sweeping left from Hrgovic..3 punch combination
Round 8 Big left from Zhang..Hard right from Hrgovic..Counter right..Lett hook..Right..Over hand right snaps Zhang’s head back
Round 9 Good right hook from Zhang,,Hard combination..Hard lefts…Big left
Round 10 Check left hook from Zhang..Left from Hrgovic…Right…Body shots…Quick combination..ANother combination
Round 11 Combination to body from Hrgovic..Good right from Zhang…Hard right..Combination from Hrgovic…
Round 12 Straight right from Hrgovic…

115-112 twice…114-113 for HRGOVIC

Round 1: Right from Smith..Left from Bauderlique
Round 2 Right from Smith..Trading hooks…Left from Bauderlique..Right from Smith..Left on inside..Right to body..Uppercut..
Round 3 Right from Smith..Left hook to the body and 2 more..Bauderlique lands a right hook to the body..Right to body from Smith…Short left hook…hard left hook
Round 4 Good body shot from Smith,…HARD LEFT AND DOWN GOES BAUDERLIQUE…Right wobbles Bauderlique…HUGE LEFT HOOK DNA DOWN GOES BAUDERLIQUE AND THE FIGHT IS OVER

Round 1 Rivera lands a 2 rights..Left hook from Jack and a right to the body..Good right from Rivera
Round 2 Big right from Jack..Body shots…Good left hook..Big right…Good uppercut from Rivera…Good right..Leaping shots from Rivera…
Round 3 Jab from Jack..Right to body..2 Uppercuts from Rivera…Jab from Jack..Right and good left hook
Round 4  Uppercut from Rivera…Body shot from Jack…Flurry from Rivera..Left..Right…Left hook from Jack…
Round 5 Right to body from Jack..Hard right
Round 6 Big Right from Jack…Hard left hook to the body..Good uppercut from Rivera…Left..Flurry that ends with a hard right to the body…
Round 7 Good overhand right from Jack… Good uppercut on inside from Rivera…Left hook to body from Jack…Good right to the body
Round 8 Flurry from Rivera…hard right from Jack. Swelling around the right eye of Jack…Right over the top from Jack..Good left hook..Another big left hook…Right over the top..Big body shot…
Round 9 Good 1-2 from Jack..Good uppercut from Rivera
Round 10 Big right from Jack

96-94 Rivera, 96-94 Jack, 96-94 Jack

Round 1: Alatorre lands a left and right hand.  Left hook…Hard RIGHT AND DOWN GOES ALATORRE…Right Rocks Alatorre…COMBINATION AND DOWN GOES ALATORRE AND THE FIGHT IS OVER

Round 1 HARD RIGHT AND DOWN GOES NOVA…SHE DOES NOT GET UP…FIGHT OVER

By Norm Frauenheim –

Boxing and war are often confused, especially in the media. Great fights are called wars. Great fighters are warriors. It’s part of the hype. Sometimes, it’s part of the sales pitch.

Marvin Hagler’s wild stoppage of Thomas Hearns in 1987 is forever remembered as The War, which would later become a logo stitched in white across the front of Hagler’s blood-red cap.

Warfare as symbol and metaphor has always been part of the story. It’s there, a chapter in history, where symbol and sport become one. Joe Louis’ rematch knockout of German Max Schmeling in 1938 is considered a milestone, the first blows thrown in a looming World War.

But it takes a current war, long and lethal, to separate the symbol from the sport, the carnage from the circus.

Make no mistake, boxing is dangerous. But war is disaster.

Oleksandr Usyk reminds us of that, especially Saturday (DAZN, 10 am PT/1 pm ET) when he re-enters the ring for a rematch against Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia after weeks of duty in a self-defense unit in Ukraine.

He’s a soldier on leave. His fellow warriors in the fight against Russia will still patrol city streets and Ukrainian countryside while he goes back to work on a job that pays millions. But that job takes on a magnitude hard to overstate.

Impossible to imagine.

“My country and my honor are more important to me than a championship belt,” he said repeatedly throughout the weeks before Saturday’s opening bell.

Fighting-for-country is a well-worn cliche, especially at the Olympics. But Usyk, who fought and won Olympic gold for his country in 2012, will now fight for the Ukraine in a mission to inspire his nation’s fellow warriors.

Usyk, a family man with three kids, told reporters at a news conference in Jeddah Thursday that he’s been in touch with fellow soldiers.

“I receive voice and video messages from them with words of support and news that they are praying for me and for my victory,’’ said Usyk, who agreed to fight the heavyweight rematch at the urging of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “They are holding their hands tight and praying for my victory. That motivates me.”

Attention to detail in the gym is about all Usyk could do once the deal for the rematch was done in mid-June. He upset the bigger Joshua last September, scoring a unanimous decision over the popular UK heavyweight. But the war at home also was impossible to shut out. It’s there, 24-7, on television. Its effect was there, too, evident on the scale early in training camp. He had lost weight.

“In the first month of the war, I lost 10 pounds,” Usyk told The Guardian.

He blamed it on stress that every Ukrainian felt at the first sound of a Russian missile and the first sight of a dead neighbor. But the pounds came back. If anything, Usyk looks to be bigger than he was in his September victory over Joshua for three of the significant belts. He’s expected to be around 220 pounds against the 6-foot-6 Joshua, who promises to be more aggressive with new trainer Robert Garcia in his corner.

There are questions about whether the added bulk will impact Usyk’s unique footwork and upper-body movement. Joshua, curiously passive for the last few years, is expected to unleash an early assault.

The unspoken question rests in how Usyk will deal with the unprecedented pressure that will follow him into the ring. An entire war-torn country will be watching. Usyk ensured it.

Initially, Usyk offered to buy the television rights. His plan was to make the fight free on his YouTube channel for everybody in the Ukraine. Then, promoters decided to simply give the rights to Usyk, who quietly did what Tyson Fury demanded between a couple of retirements over the last couple of months. Fury — still retired the last anybody checked — said he would fight the Usyk-Joshua winner only if the UK could see the fight for free. Fury also said he’d fight for only half-a-billion dollars.

Hard to know what Fury is doing.

But there’s no confusion about Usyk. In a rare moment when war and boxing will be impossible to separate, he’s fighting for warriors he left at home and warriors he plans to rejoin. 

By Mario Ortega Jr.-

The sport of boxing has been known for providing second chances. Troubled youth headed down the wrong path turns their angst and negative energy into something positive in the ring or a failed fighter can find a new lease on life as a trainer for a promising young talent, hoping their past mistakes can serve as a cautionary tale. Oakland, California’s Kris “Lightning” Lopez did not fulfill the promise he had as a fighter, but his third act in the sport has already proven more fruitful. The former promising amateur turned single fight pro is developing some exciting young talent out of his Lightning’s Boxing Club, most notably his own son David “Dynamite” Lopez, who goes for pro win number two this Sunday in Orlando, Florida on the Bally Sports Entrobox Championship Boxing undercard. 

Boxing and fighting is rooted deep in the Lopez family bloodline. “It is very interesting that boxing is in our family,” explains Kris Lopez, whose great grandfather Elmario Santos was a fighter. “My grandmother used to always tell me stories about him jumping rope and chasing roosters. That was what he did. Come to find out we have a cousin [Nante Manangan] in Hawaii and he’s the face of boxing in Hawaii. Mike Tyson has been to his gym, Laila Ali. Boxing is definitely in our family, from my grandmother’s side to my uncle’s.” 

Kris Lopez’ life in boxing began in what he refers to as bootleg backyard fights in his grandmother’s backyard. “So my uncle started my boxing career when I was young,” recalls Lopez. “I had like 80 backyard fights before my first amateur fight came about. I am not bragging about it. I was like a 15, 16-year-old kid and thought of myself like a Mike Tyson. I wanted to be like Mike Tyson. I looked up to him and studied him and kind of fought like him.  We never wore headgear, and we might have had mouthpieces and gloves, but it would be whatever gloves were around. We would have these fights, and the toughest guys would hear about me and want to fight.” 

The bootleg backyard fights would take place in a 10×10 or 8×8 foot box in Lopez’ grandmother’s backyard, where the young student of Mike Tyson fights would knock out two or three opponents in a single day at times. Lopez’ fighting career took a turn from the backyard into more organized amateur boxing after an encounter with his uncle. 

“One day I was talking to my ex-wife on the phone and my grandmother was telling me something in Tagalog to get off the phone and I wasn’t being disrespectful, but I wasn’t listening,” recalls Lopez. “Next thing I know, my uncle Richard, who was known as the “Duke of Garfield,” and is a legend in our family as the bully, he punched me. He punches me and I turned around as a reaction and knock him out with a one-two. Before he hit the deck, he said, ‘Good shot Kris.’ And then he woke up, and this guy survived Vietnam, and he chased me. I’m being nice, but he said some shit that got under my skin, so I knocked him out again. Then, our relationship was kinda ruined by that and my cousins kind of looked at me different, but the brothers were all secretly happy because he tormented their lives. His own siblings were like, ‘You knocked him out boy?’ and they were proud. This is straight out of a movie. It’s crazy. He was 50-years-old, and I was 20…It was just his presence. I’m not bragging about knocking out my 50-year-old uncle, it was pretty much an accident. But when it happened, in my mind, I knocked out the “Duke.”

Six months after his confrontation with his uncle, Lopez navigated his way to winning the San Francisco Golden Gloves, a feat he would end up repeating the following year. Away from his grandmother’s backyard, Lopez found his way to one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most respected boxing gyms, King’s Boxing Gym in Oakland. “I was at King’s at its peak, at its height,” remembers Lopez. “I was there when James Page was there and Andre [Ward]. Back then it seemed like fights were more scarce, so guys would fight in the gyms.” 

While still an amateur, Lopez was offered to provide sparring for Oscar De La Hoya, who at the time was well into his championship holding professional run. “They offered me to go spar De La Hoya after about my fifth fight,” remembers Lopez. “Honestly, I was scared, I am not going to lie. That dude had like 150 amateur fights and he’s on about his 34th pro fight and I am just getting started. I made up a good excuse. I said, ‘I am not going to fight him as an amateur, because I’ll kick his ass for four rounds, but then I will probably get tired and he will have his way with me. So, instead of sparring with him I am going to fight him for real one day, mark my words, and I am going to beat him.’ It would have been a great story if it had gone on to happen, but it didn’t happen. He went on to fulfill his legacy and I kind of faded into oblivion.” 

Despite amassing a 10-0 record as an amateur, Lopez’ fighting career fizzled out before he could profit from his early promise. “Self discipline. I didn’t have the self discipline,” explains Lopez. “I got caught up in the allure of the streets and selling drugs in the streets. It got the better of me.” 

Only years later, after a divorce and finding love and support from his second wife Denise, did Lopez come back to boxing and eventually get one professional fight under his belt, a disqualification defeat in Las Vegas, Nevada. “I found my wife and kinda got my act back together and salvaged what I had left with boxing, because it was all I really knew and we kind of gave it a shot,” explains Lopez. “I fought my best and I wasn’t the same as when I was 20, but I didn’t know that until I fought and I hit the guy and I couldn’t hurt him. The guy took the shots like a champ. It was kind of a messy, uneventful amateurish pro debut between two guys. It was really a lot of holding and hitting.”  

With his in-ring career behind him, Lopez found his way as a trainer and eventually opened his own gym, Lightning’s Boxing Club in Oakland. Today, Lopez trains professional fighters such as veteran contender Aaron Coley and heavily hyped former international amateur standout Yoel Angeloni of Italy, who turned professional in June with a decision victory in Melbourne, Australia. However, what has undoubtedly brought him the most joy has been developing his own sons, Daniel and younger brother David as fighters. 

“Daniel, my older son, he’s the one that beat Fernando Vargas,” says Lopez with pride. “He could punch, man. I wish he would have stuck with it. He’s making a comeback now. He’s lost 20 pounds, he’s 25. You know how the sport is. We will see what he has left and I am going to support him. Daniel was a two left-footer with power. He’s not as fast or as smooth [as his younger brother,] he’s more of a brute type of fighter, instead of more of a thinker. Now, we are trying to get him to become more of a thinker, so we will see.” 

David Lopez, currently 1-0 as a professional, has been a closely followed wunderkind since the earliest stages of his amateur boxing career. Kris’ old King’s Gym mate Andre Ward took a special interest early on, even inviting David to carry his championship belt to the ring for fights. News cameras and television stations have loved interviewing David, a polished public speaker for such a young kid, from the very beginning. Under the tutelage of his father, David showed an advanced aptitude for the fight game early on. 

“The guys that David beat [as an amateur] had like 125 fights and David only had like 10 and beat them,” remembers Kris. “So we weren’t too worried about David, because David is just the greatest kid fighter I have ever seen in my life. I think he could have beat Andre. He could have beat Roy Jones.” 

David Lopez turned professional in October with a first-round knockout after becoming the youngest fighter signed to a contract by Mayweather Promotions, before even completing high school. Since his debut, lining up willing opponents that actually stick with the fight after signing a contract has been the biggest struggle for the young Lopez. Fights scheduled for February in Las Vegas and in May in Los Angeles fell out after fully completed training camps. 

“I’ve learned there’s a lot of bumps in the road getting fights, but being introduced to the professional game, I’ve learned to always stay ready for whatever,” the media savvy David Lopez explained to Bay Area KRON4 news recently. “It is very stressful. I’ve gone through a lot of training camps and I put my body through a lot. It takes a toll to go through these long camps and then guys pull out. But me and my dad try to stay positive and keep positive mindsets.” 

There have been some very successful father-son, trainer-fighter combos in boxing over the years. It would appear that the Lopez family could be another successful entry in that boxing tradition. 

“It’s great having my dad with me,” says David Lopez. “I know that I am safe and that my dad has my best interests. I think it is really cool that I get to follow my dreams with my dad. He’s a part of it and he’s taking me to where I need to go through his knowledge from what he has experienced in his past. It is definitely dope that my father gets to be part of this and is my trainer of course.” 

This Sunday night at the Caribe Royale Orlando, Kris Lopez guides his son David into the ring for his second professional bout. Through his son and the other aspiring young boxers that walk into his gym in Oakland seeking his expertise and guidance, Lopez has already achieved a level of success and accomplishment he may not have found as a fighter himself, but a second chance is one of the things boxing provides in abundance.  

“I sought out to become a legitimate fighter,” says Kris “Lightning” Lopez. “I struggled with it a bit and I kind of blew my career. Here I am years later, trying to right my wrongs with my kids.” 

Tickets for the event, promoted by Boxlab Promotions, American Dream Presents, Mayweather Promotions and GH3 Promotions and televised by Bally Sports Network, are available online at ticketmaster.com 

Photos courtesy the Lopez family 

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com or followed on Twitter @MarioG280

By Norm Frauenheim –

Tyson Fury, lineal heavyweight champion and undisputed populist, is back. Correct that. He never left. He’s still at the proverbial pulpit, but more as a comedian than a bully.

He never retired, of course. We knew that. He knew that. But it was a show, a lousy lounge act full of one liners and rhetorical feints. Fury needs a microphone the way the rest of us need oxygen.

That’s why he’s so much fun. That’s why he’s so exasperating. That’s also why he gets away with it — all with a wink, nod and sometimes a few lyrics from Bye-Bye, Miss American Pie.

From this corner, he’s a better singer than a comedian. But he’s neither Frank Sinatra nor Richard Pryor. What he is — who he is — has never been in dispute. He’s a great heavyweight, as cunning and clever as any.

The good news: That’s a role he’ll continue to play. Actually, it’s the only news.

Amid a flurry of Fury one-liners this week, the only headline is further confirmation that Fury’s retirement was really a vacation. There’s only one reliable guide on Fury. To wit: As long as he’s talking, he’s still active. When he’s fighting — who he’s fighting — are questions without answers.

At least, there were no answers in headlines over the last few days that said Fury was wanted to fight Derek Chisora for a third time. Fury has already beaten Chisora twice. What’s to prove in a third?

A trilogy was news to Chisora. News, too, for co-promoter Bob Arum, who told Dan Rafael’s Fight Freaks to pay no attention. It was just another performance with the microphone from Fury, said Arum, who went on to say that Fury is waiting on the winner of the Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony rematch a week from Saturday in Saudi Arabia.

That’s the smart thing, the only thing remotely believable. Between opening bells, however, Fury isn’t interested in believable. He just wants an audience, and he got one just as the media megaphone began to shift its attention to Usyk-Joshua 2.

Fury’s UK promoter Frank Warren also is confident he’ll fight again, although Warren’s tone isn’t as skeptical as the ever-forthright Arum.

“I speak to him all the time, Warren told Sky Sports. “If he wants to fight, he’ll fight. I’m not going to tempt him. Because if he needs that, then he shouldn’t be fighting.

“It’s got to come from him and his heart. Do I think we’ll see Tyson in a ring? I do because I think he’s a fighting man and I think he’ll miss it too much. The fans love him. He’s got a real rapport with the man on the street. He’s different class. And he’ll do what he wants to do.”

Warren knows as well as Fury that an all-UK fight between Fury and Joshua is a biggie. It would make some history and GDP-kind of money. But would is a key qualifier here. Yet, the fair-minded Warren doesn’t think Joshua can beat Usyk, a heavyweight every bit as cunning and clever as Fury. Usyk’s versatile skillset and genius ring IQ prevailed in an upset, a unanimous decision over Joshua last September.

“Against Joshua he looked different class,” said Warren, who watched Usyk in his first two dates at heavyweight in victories over Chazz Witherspoon and Chisora. “He didn’t use any of his physical attributes. I didn’t understand why.

“I felt that he would out-jab him or keep him on the end of the jab and let the right hand go. But he didn’t. He was getting out-jabbed by a smaller guy on the outside. I thought the only way Usyk was going to do any damage was to get underneath inside and work inside.

“But he didn’t have to do that. He was beating him on the outside. How do you fight him? I really do fancy Tyson to beat him.

“I think Tyson is a similar guy in some ways and a much, much bigger guy.”

That’s no punchline.

By Mario Ortega Jr.-

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – Undefeated middleweight prospect Amari Jones likely has his seventh straight knockout on his mind as he heads into battle against veteran Michael Lemelle tonight at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton, Sacramento. The six-round middleweight bout headlines a five-fight card at what has become the lone launching pad for Northern California fighters in recent years. Fighters weighed-in Thursday afternoon at Our Place Event Space & Kitchen in historic Old Sacramento.  

Jones (6-0, 6 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada by way of Oakland, California was last seen two months ago as he scored a second-round stoppage on the undercard of Devin Haney-George Kambosos in Melbourne, Australia. Lemelle (3-10-1) of Fort Worth, Texas has seen nothing but undefeated fighters over his last seven contests, each of which ended in a less than satisfactory result for the Lone Star State resident. Jones, who fights under the Devin Haney Promotions promotional banner, weighed in at 161-pounds. Lemelle scaled 159-pounds on Thursday afternoon. 

In the six-round co-feature, popular former amateur star Cain Sandoval (5-0, 5 KOs) of Sacramento takes on significantly more experienced veteran Daniel Evangelista Jr. (20-14-2, 16 KOs) of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico in a light welterweight bout. Sandoval, much like Jones, has begun his professional career with a knockout streak he will aim to keep intact tonight against Evangelista. The veteran from Mexico appears to be a step-up from Sandoval’s early competition, but time will tell if his odometer has too many miles on it to push the young fighter. Sandoval weighed-in at 138-pounds, while Evangelista scaled 139. 

Another young knockout artist in Angel Chavez (6-0, 5 KOs) of Salinas, California will take on the unknown debuting Elj Portee of Oceanside, California by way of Baltimore, Maryland in a six-round light heavyweight bout. Chavez, a product of the MXN Boxing Center in Salinas, has scored four first-round stoppages in his first six bouts as a professional. Portee has the unenviable assignment of attempting to make it through six-rounds against a power puncher as his first assignment as a professional. Chavez came in at 178-pounds, as did the shorter Portee. 

Former international amateur standout Shamar Canal, a Devin Haney Promotions stablemate of Amari Jones, takes on Dan Hernandez (0-1) of Riverside, California by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in a four-round lightweight bout. Canal (1-0, 1 KO) of Albany, New York turned professional just over a year ago with a first-round knockout. Hernandez lost a narrow majority decision in his lone pro effort last November. Canal scaled 133-pounds, while Hernandez made 132-pounds. 

In the curtain raiser, former local sparring mates Sergio Vega of Woodland, California and Cmaje Ramseur of neighboring Elk Grove, California appear ready to wage war tonight. Vega (2-1-1, 2 KOs) and Ramseur (1-1, 1 KO) immediately got in each other’s face during the post-scale staredown during Thursday’s weigh-in and had to be separated by promoter Nasser Niavaroni and a member of the California State Athletic Commission before the jawing got out of hand. Vega weighed-in at 140-pounds, while Ramseur, who took the fight on short notice, scaled 144 for the four-round light welterweight bout that Niavaroni predicted will be the fight of the night.  

The intriguing co-main event scheduled to take place between Joeshon James (6-0, 3 KOs) of Sacramento and Chris Thompson (7-0, 5 KOs) of Kansas City, Missouri was scrapped two weeks ago when the Midwesterner pulled out with a reported wrist injury. Somewhat curiously, Thompson has already taken to social media with video hitting a heavy bag while touting a late August return to the ring. 

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Middleweights, 6 Rounds

Jones 161

Lemelle 159

Light welterweights, 6 Rounds

Sandoval 138

Evangelista Jr. 139

Light heavyweights, 6 Rounds

Chavez 178

Portee 178

Lightweights, 4 Rounds

Canal 133

Hernandez 132

Light welterweights, 4 Rounds 

Vega 140

Ramseur 144

Tickets for the event, promoted by Upper Cut Promotions, are still available online at uppercutpro.com 

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com 

By Norm Frauenheim-

It’s been a summer about comebacks, which is another way of saying that it’s been mostly forgettable.

Maybe, the Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua rematch on Aug. 20 knocks out the doldrums. Maybe, it ends with something memorable in the Canelo Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin trilogy on Sept. 17.

For now, at least, the season belongs to a power hitter in another arena. Yankee outfielder Aaron Judge’s bat is the only Big Drama Show.

As Judge moves ever closer to Roger Maris’ magical 61 homerun mark, boxing finds itself stuck in the waiting room. Plenty appears to be on deck, but in the here-and-now there’s only Terence Crawford-Errol Spence Jr. 

ESPN reported in June that an agreement was close. Maybe it is. Maybe, Crawford and Spence are signing the contract as I write this. Maybe, it gets announced this weekend.  Maybe, maybe.

The sooner, the better, because the messy web of maybes has put the balkanized business and its suspicious fans on edge.  When ESPN first reported that a deal was close, talk was that the long-awaited welterweight fight would happen in October. Now, no news has pushed the speculated bout into November. Can the Twelfth-Of-Never be too far away?

It’s getting hard to remember when Crawford-Spence wasn’t a topic. It’s been in the public imagination for so long that the two welterweights have gone from early prime time into their 30s.

A whole new 147-pound generation is beginning to emerge. One of them, Vergil Ortiz Jr., will be back in the ring Saturday in his first fight in a year. Ortiz (18-0, 18 KOs), of Grand Prairie TX, is coming off a scary illness for a date against UK welterweight Michael McKinson (22-0, 2 KOs) in Fort Worth Saturday night on DAZN.

“Fortunately, time is on my side,’’ said Ortiz, who suffered from a debilitating condition apparently brought on by intense workouts.  “I’m only 24 years old, and at the same time, I don’t want to be wasting time. You know what that’s like. I should have fought three or four times already, and that’s time we won’t get back.’’

Time is what Crawford and Spence are running out of. Crawford is 34; Spence is 32. It’s no coincidence that one of the acronyms made the Ortiz-McKinson a title eliminator this week. Increasingly-impatient fans will watch in part to get an idea at how Ortiz might do against a Crawford or Spence.

Reasons are countless as to why there was still no Crawford-Spence deal as of Thursday. PIck one, pick-em all.

Crawford, at least, seemed confident this week that the fight will happen.

“Hopefully we can get that fight made down the line,” Crawford told FightHub on Wednesday. “Real soon, not down the line, and give fans what they’ve been looking for.

“We’re working to get it done for you all.’’

The apparent hurdle – surprise, surprise — is the size of the prize in this projected prizefight. In a welterweight bout some say could be the best since Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns, both Crawford and Spence want big money in what would be pay-per-view. They’re hoping for big guarantees. However, most of their money would likely have to come from a percentage of pay-per-view sales.

That’s the problem. Neither Crawford nor Spence have done big PPV numbers. Crawford’s impressive stoppage of Shawn Porter last November generated fewer than 100,000 PPV buys, according multiple reports.

That makes promoters and networks leery, especially during an era when theft of the PPV signal is rampant. It also leaves a question about whether there’s a sugar-daddy willing to step up with the kind of investment that can make it happen.

That’s exactly what transpired in 2015 when then-CBS President Les Moonves stepped up and brokered the deal that led to the revenue record-setting fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.

Can it happen again? No sign of it in July. But, maybe, there will be a home-run deal in August. At least, Aaron Judge is there and on a pace to prove that just about anything is possible.

By Norm Frauenheim-

It’s a fight without all the belts and whistles. That’s what makes it interesting. There’s no confusion about what’s at stake in the Danny Garcia-Jose Benavidez Jr. bout Saturday night in Brooklyn.

The acronym guys, belts in one hand and a sanctioning fee in the other, won’t be there. Cast aside the promises from promoters who can’t keep them.  It’s just Garcia and Benavidez in a lonely fight to stay at the table.

For the loser, there’s an exit from the circus. For the winner, there’s another chance at a good payday. It is simple, a relief from a long summer full of muddled signs that it’s business as usual.

An example: A much bigger fight, Canelo Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin 3, approaches (September 17), yet there’s talk from promoter Eddie Hearn that a Canelo rematch with Dmitry Bivol might not be as immediate as it appeared to be after Bivol’s upset of Canelo in May. Belts and whistles, shoots and ladders. Confusion and chaos prevail.

But there’s no confusion surrounding Garcia-Benavidez at Barclays (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT). In a busier summer, it might have been a fight for a major undercard. But the clarity that defines this one makes it a main event. Both fighters bring faded names to the ring.

Garcia is a former junior-welterweight and welterweight champion. Benavidez is a former celebrated prospect still remembered for being the youngest national champion (16-years old) in the Golden Gloves fabled history. Garcia is fighting to further his claim on legacy with a bid at a third division title, junior-middle. Benavidez is fighting to re-discover a prodigy’s promise.

Each is motivated by different pasts.  But the story line is as clear as it is dramatic. Both are formers. Only one stays current.

Garcia’s accomplished resume makes him the favorite. So, too, does the site. The Philadelphia fighter is popular at Barclays.

“I’m just excited to be back at Barclays,’’ Garcia said Thursday at the final news conference. “…The Danny Garcia Show is back.’’

In his turn at the bully pulpit, Benavidez had a predictable counter.

“This is the end of The Danny Garcia Show,’’ Benavidez said.

Now 30, Benavidez understands the magnitude of the challenge that awaits him. He also seems to understand that Garcia, his trash-talking dad/trainer Angel and much of the boxing media see him as a steppingstone. Garcia’s resume suggests he’ll bury Benavidez.  Garcia is predicting a seventh-round stoppage of Benavidez, who grew up in a tough Phoenix neighborhood on the city’s sprawling westside.

 “Fourteen of Danny’s last 19 opponents have been world champions,’’ said Showtime sports executive Stephen Espinoza, who called Garcia’s resume Hall-of-Fame worthy.

But a resume can be one-dimensional. Garcia, the best 140-pound fighter in his generation about a decade ago, was vulnerable at welterweight. His three losses have all been at 147 pounds – Keith Thurman by split decision in March 2017, Shawn Porter by unanimous decision in September 2018 and Errol Spence Jr. also by unanimous decision in December 2020.

At 5-foot-10 ½, Benavidez is taller than Garcia, who is listed at 5-8. With a 71-inch reach, Benavidez , who is four years younger than Garcia, also has a two-and-a-half-inch advantage. Garcia reach is listed at 68 ½. Give or take, Benavidez has measurements comparable to Thurman, Porter and Spence. That resurrects an old question – also an old line – about Garcia. His stardom was stopped at welterweight. There’s a reason for weight classes.

Add Benavidez’ resume, which includes one – and only one – reason to think he can win. To wit: Nobody has fought Terence Crawford tougher than Benavidez, who lost by stoppage with 18 seconds left in a contentious fight in October 2018 in front of a roaring crowd in Omaha, Crawford’s hometown.

The unbeaten Crawford, who stopped Porter in November, might be able to further his claim on pound-for-pound supremacy in a potential showdown with Spence. Benavidez, who has fought only once since Crawford, looked terrible in a draw with unknown Argentina Emanuel Torres last November.

A hometown Phoenix crowd booed him. The crowd was right, Benavidez says. He calls his performance “trash.’’ He says it almost as if he is promising to emerge from the ashes the way the bird — the mythical Phoenix – does in his hometown’s official logo.

Says here, he has a real chance in the right fight at the right time. 

By Norm Frauenheim-

Jose Benavidez Jr. was something of a prodigy. He was a 16-year-old national champion, the youngest ever in a Golden Gloves’ history that is a lot longer than any acronym. He started at the top, a mixed blessing.

A lot since then has been a chase to fulfill expectations, a long fight to prove that the initial promise was real.

He’s been engaged in that fight, one way or another, for most of the 14 years since the teenager from the streets of west Phoenix won that Golden Gloves title. It’s been hit, miss and messy. It’s an old story. Prodigies come, go, come back and then vanish. The burden of proof is hard to beat. Think of Francisco Bojado. Think of Frankie Gomez, who beat Benavidez as an amateur before disappearing in 2016 after going 21-0 as a pro.

But the fight goes on for Benavidez, now a 30-year-old father of three daughters and just days from facing Danny Garcia on July 30 at Barclays In Brooklyn in a junior-middleweight bout that puts both at a career crossroads.

For the accomplished Garcia, it’s about coming back at a new weight, this time in an attempt to eventually become a three-time division champion.

 For Benavidez, the stakes are clearer by multiples that add up to a sense of urgency. He’s fighting to prove he still belongs. The Showtime-televised date comes with a binary question. To wit: Still a contender, or just a tune-up?

The tune-up role has already been suggested, both in on-line media and by Garcia’s dad and trainer, Angel, who has never been shy.

“Jose Benavidez Jr. is not a skillful fighter,’’ Angel said Wednesday during a media workout in Philadelphia.  “He can’t fight going backwards.

“He doesn’t have any skill.’’

“He doesn’t dip. He doesn’t slip. He doesn’t duck hits. He just comes forward, I guess. I don’t know what they’re teaching him. I teach perfection. I don’t teach just going in and getting beat up.’’

After more than a decade in the noisy pro game, Benavidez has heard it all. Said it all, too.  Trash talk is just another lousy punch. Angel Garcia’s rip of Benavidez’ skill level, however, was a surprise. It was the very execution of skill that made Benavidez look like the best of a new generation in 2008. It was exemplified by the delivery of a long, precise jab.

Benavidez wasn’t angry at Angel Garcia’s rip. It would have been a surprise only if Angel Garcia had not said something intended to annoy or disrupt. He’s known for the pre-fight tactic. Good at it, too. But Benavidez didn’t take the bait.

Benavidez would only say that a forgotten prodigy’s skill will be there opening bell. He’s not intimidated by either Angel Garcia’s blunt rhetoric or Danny Garcia’s signature left hook.

“Like Angel said about me, I don’t see anything special about Danny, either,’’ Benavidez told 15 Rounds Thursday in his own counter during a media day from his dad’s gym in Seattle.

Benavidez said it in an understated tone. In part, perhaps, he knew not to get into a shouting contest with a master of the bottom-feeding art-form. But there was also a sense of confidence in Benavidez’ response. His career has taken unforeseen turns since the Golden Gloves peak. He won a fringe junior-welterweight title and appeared to be enroute to bigger ones. Then, however, he was shot in the knee on a Phoenix canal bank in August 2016. It looked as if his career was finished.

It’s a stretch to say that Benavidez had to learn how to walk all over again before he could fight once more. Still, it’s a pretty good way to describe what he’s trying to accomplish against Garcia, a 2-to-1 favorite.

Benavidez’ record since the shooting is hard to judge. The Pandemic is a further complication. He’s fought only four times since February 2018. In his last two dates, he looked like two different fighters.

Last November on a card featuring his younger brother and emerging super-middleweight star David Benavidez, Jose tried to bully Francisco Torres, an unknown Argentine, into submission. The fundamentals to his prodigious beginning were forgotten. He paid with a controversial draw booed by a hometown crowd in downtown Phoenix.

Three years earlier, however, the defining skills of a celebrated teenager were still there against Terence Crawford, feared then and feared now. Crawford, known for his ring smarts, was cautious throughout the fight. He finally finished Benavidez with 18 seconds left in a 12-round bout in front of a wild, pro-Crawford crowd in Omaha, his hometown.

Since then, the bout has been called Crawford’s toughest. Shawn Porter said repeatedly that it was the one fight he studied before his own loss to Crawford last November. Crawford, himself, says his toughest fight was a ninth-round TKO over Australian Jeff Horn.

Fair enough.

Fair, too, to also assume that Crawford, still No. 1 in many current pound-for-pound ratings, would never characterize his stoppage of Benavidez as a tune-up.

Benavidez suggests that Angel Garcia’s dismissive scouting report is based on what he saw of him against Torres. He further suggests that Garcia will see more of the fighter who challenged Crawford. He’s as blunt as Angel Garcia when asked about his performance against Torres.

“Trash,’’ said Benavidez, who has seen and heard enough of it throughout his many-layered career to know he’s had enough of it.

By Norm Frauenheim-

There’s life after the statue for Deontay Wilder, whose comeback plans are beginning to fall into place within just a couple of months after he was honored – cast in bronze – in hometown Tuscaloosa.

Wilder, The Bomber with Bronze in his nickname, liked what he saw in late May when his statue was unveiled in front of a sports and tourism building.

Tyson Fury might not recognize it. Fury knocked Wilder off his pedestal repeatedly, leaving the former heavyweight champion in an exhausted heap in the 11^th round of a wild rematch last October.

Wilder looked finished then. But that statue unveiled on a spring day in Alabama is upright, a symbol for how Wilder wants to be remembered.

A durable sign, too, for a comeback that is sure to follow.

Wilder said so then, amid festivities that included him hugging the life-size statue, which weighed in at a reported 830 pounds. On any scale, it was a lot heavier than the costume Wilder said wore him out in his ring walk to a stoppage loss to Fury in their first rematch in February 2020

“So many people telling me: ‘Come back, come back,’ ‘’ Wilder told reporters as he stood alongside his bronzed likeness. “So, I’ll say I’m back by popular demand. The business of boxing needs me.’’

Just how that comeback will proceed isn’t clear yet. But some possibilities began to emerge this week. Wilder manager Shelly Finkel started with the obvious — the August 20 rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia.

“Maybe the winner of Usyk and Joshua,” Finkel told Planet Sport, a Sky Sports partner.  “I don’t know what Fury is doing.’’

Fury is doing what he always does. He’s throwing rhetorical feints, saying one day he’ll fight if somebody offers him half-a-billion and then seemingly backtracking. He’s retired, he also says, because Wilder left him with bruises and concussions. It’s impossible to know exactly what his plans are. Chaos is his business plan. Put it this way: As long as he’s talking, he’s interested.

Meanwhile, there are questions about how fast Wilder, who will be 37 on October 22, should move in a quest to regain a title. His lethal right hand is still there, a drawing card and a powerful reason to still call him a contender.

“There’s only four real top guys in the heavyweights right now – Usyk, Joshua, Fury and Deontay [Wilder],’’ Finkel said

But the beating Wilder endured in October might have taken a psychological toll. A cautious beginning to the planned comeback might be the wise option. Derek Chisora wants a shot — and a payday — at Wilder. But Finkel said no to that one.

“Derek Chisora?’’ Finkel said. “He just edged (out) a split-decision over Kubrat Pulev. No way.”  

Fury co-promoter Frank Warren thinks Wilder already has somebody else in mind.

Robert Helenius, Warren says.

“Deontay is fighting in October,’’ Warren told TalkSport. “He’s coming back and they’re talking about him fighting (Helenius). That’ll be in (the United) States.’’

But there has yet to be any confirmation from Wilder, Finkel or Helenius’ management in Finland.

Whoever it is, expect somebody with Helenius’ journeyman-like credentials. A test-run before a real test.

Wilder, Warren said, “is coming off a bad knockout.’’

He is. But there’s a statue in Alabama that says he isn’t going away.

LOS ANGELES (July 13, 2022) – Undefeated boxing phenom Ryan Garcia (22-0, 18KOs) of Victorville, CA, and former two-time world champion Javier “El Abejon” Fortuna (37-3-1, 26 KOs) of La Romana, DR hosted their fight week media workout today at EC Young Boxing Gym in Los Angeles,CA. They anticipated 12-round lightweight showdown will take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Downtown Los Angeles and will stream live worldwide, exclusively on DAZN. Also in attendance of today’s media activities, was co-main event fighter Alexis “Lex” Rocha (19-1, 13 KOs) of Santa Ana, CA, who will be facing Luis Veron (19-4-2, 9 KOs) of Buenos Aires, Arg. in a 10-round fight for the vacant NABO Welterweight Title. Also, in attendance was Lamont Roach Jr. (22-1-1, 9 KOs) of Washington, DC, who is scheduled for 12-rounds for the WBA Super Featherweight Title Eliminator against Angel “Humildad” Rodriguez (20-1, 10 KOs) of Barranquilla, COL. Finally, Rialto’s Ricardo “El Nino” Sandoval (20-1, 15 KOs) was onsite to perform for the media as he prepares to take on David “Medallita” Jimenez (11-0, 9 KOs) of Cartago, CRI, in a 12-round fight for the WBA Flyweight Title Eliminator. All fights will take place on Saturday, July 16, and will stream live worldwide, exclusively on DAZN, starting at 5:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. ET.

Below are what the fighters had to say today at their media workouts:

RYAN GARCIA, Undefeated Lightweight Contender:

“I am having a great time. I am supreme confidence. I’ve worked my ass off.”

“This game is about adjustments, you can’t bank on the same thing every day. What matters most that you do the best that you can with the hand you are dealt with in that moment.”

“It doesn’t matter if you are not 100%. We are at the point where that doesn’t event matter. I am at the point that it wouldn’t matter if I am at 65%, I am destroying Fortuna. He cannot beat me. I am levels above him.”

JAVIER FORTUNA, Former Two-Time World Champion:

“I feel very good to be here, very honored, and am happy that I can move my career forward.”

“I feel in good physical condition and I promise I will give the fans a very good fight.”

“Ryan is a good fighter, but we hope that this time around he doesn’t have any excuses not to fight me. I see that he is very focused on another fight instead of focusing on the fight he has this Saturday. And we hope that after I beat him on Saturday he doesn’t have any excuses.”

“When you enter the ring you risk your life. I am risking my life, sacrificing for my children and I promise that I will give him everything I have. I am focused on what I can do to win.”

ALEXIS ROCHA, Welterweight Contender:

“Its been another great camp. They are always grueling, physically and mentally challenging, but it has been great. Shout out to my whole team, Hector Lopez, Cesar Campos, and Robert Villasenor.”

“My opponent is tough, he has never been stopped, and we know he has been in there with many tough opponents. I expect a game opponent on Saturday night.”

“I want to fight who ever has the belts. Errol Spence and Terrence Crawford will retire or move up in weight and those belts will be up for grabs.”

LAMONT ROACH JR., Super Featherweight Contender:

“In this game, the circle of opportunity for a world title shot closes, so for me to get another opportunity like this, it’s just in me to tackle it.”

“I have always been challenged in my career. They were always putting in some guys that come to fight, they weren’t just laying down. But it has built me into the man and fighter that I am now. And the new guys in front of me they aren’t lasting.”

“I feel I am the best and I just need an opportunity to show it. Every time I am in the ring I want to improve and put the division on notice. I’m here.”

RICARDO SANDOVAL, Flyweight Contender:

“Its very cool to fight in Los Angeles in a big stage like the Crypto.com Arena. That is where a lot of historic boxing events have happened, basketball games, so it’s a real privilege to be able to fight there.”

“I just want to thank all the people that supported me, that has been my motivation. I want this fight, I have been waiting for a year, we are fight for a title eliminator. This just gets me closer to a world title shot.”
Tickets for Garcia vs. Fortuna are on sale now and are priced at $500, $300, $200, $100, $75, and $50 not including applicable service charges. Tickets will be available for purchase online at AXS.com, CryptoArena.com and GoldenBoyPromotions.com.

Garcia vs. Fortuna is a 12-round lightweight fight presented by Golden Boy in association with Sampson Boxing. The event is sponsored by Hennessy “Never Stop. Never Settle,” “BetOnline – Your Online Sportsbook Experts, Uncle Bud’s Hemp & CBD – Relax, Recover, Reset, Masculen “It’s a Mentality. Don’t be a man, be the man,” and Gym Shark. The fight will take place on Saturday, July 16 at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena and will be streamed live worldwide on DAZN.

For more information, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com and DAZN.com. Follow on Twitter @GoldenBoyBoxing and @DAZNBoxing. Become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoy and https://www.facebook.com/DAZN. Follow on Instagram @GoldenBoy and @DAZNBoxing. Follow the conversation using #GarciaFortuna.

By Norm Frauenheim-

He’s a brother. He’s a dad. Jose Benavidez Jr. is a lot of things. These days, however, he’s a fighter in a battle to fulfill the potential that was attached to his future more than a decade ago.

Then, he was a kid with a jab, a fundamental impossible to ignore. It was pretty and precise. As an introduction, it was long and deadly, seemingly limitless in what it might do and where it might lead.

Then, it was a symbol, an 18-year-old prospect’s identity.

Now, it is what a 30-year-old father of two is fighting to recapture.

In about three weeks, Benavidez will get that chance against Danny Garcia in an intriguing bout – a crossroads fight for both – on July 30 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

For Benavidez, it’s a fight that comes with some urgency. He turned 30 in May. He’s fought only twice over years that shoved careers and ambitions into uncertainty brought on by the Pandemic.

He struggled in a draw against unknown Argentine Francisco Emanuel Torres in hometown Phoenix last November. Three years earlier, he fought fearlessly against the feared Terence Crawford, who finally stopped him in the final seconds of the final round.

Now, Benavidez re-enters the ring for a Showtime-televised bout after only two fights — and no victories – over the last three years.

His father and trainer, Jose Benavidez Jr., doesn’t have to be told his son is engaged in an unforgiving business, one dictated by an old line. To wit: What have you done lately?

Jose Sr. knows the counter has to be loud and definitive.

“We have to look impressive,’’ Jose Sr. told reporters in a recent Zoom session. “…At the end of the day, man, we need this fight in order to get back into the rankings, get back in boxing for Jose Benavidez Jr.

“We need to impress. We need to give it all. I guarantee you someone in this fight is going to get knocked out.’’

It’s an unambiguous message, one that includes pressure to deliver a knockout of the more accomplished Garcia, a former two-division champion who will be fighting at junior-middleweight for the first time.

Benavidez’ headlong pursuit of a knockout might have been the problem in his last outing on a card that featured his emerging younger brother, unbeaten super-middleweight David Benavidez in front of roaring crowd at the Footprint Center, the Suns home arena in downtown Phoenix.

Benavidez abandoned his signature punch. The jab wasn’t there, and neither was the gifted young prospect remembered by Phoenix fans. Maybe, it was forgotten over time and inactivity. Maybe, Benavidez thought he could simply bully the unknown Torres into submission. He couldn’t. He didn’t.

“No excuses,’’ Benavidez said after reviewing the film. “I looked bad. I tried to do too much and didn’t do enough.’’

It’s an assessment that suggests Benavidez has learned a lesson. Dad wants him to be impressive. But the son understands that happens only with the jab that identified him as such a prominent prospect in 2010.

“I’ve just got to stick to my game plan, stick to my tools and do what I do best: Work my jab,’’ Benavidez Jr. said.

No translation needed. He just needs to be himself.

“The knockout is going to come, on its own. The winner of this fight is going to go back up on the map.’’

For Benavidez, it’s a trip that will take him back to the punch where it all began.

By Norm Frauenheim-

Jesse Rodriguez storms into the headlines and pound-for-pound talk in about the time it takes to say his nickname.

Bam, he’s there.

His sudden emergence in the wake of a magnificent performance in a stoppage Saturday of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai is stunning, yet not unprecedented.

He’s a little guy, near the bottom of a scale where weights and wages are light. Not much changes. But Rodriguez, still only 22, is poised to do exactly that. His thorough breakdown of an accomplished, yet aging Sor Srisaket, 35, in hometown San Antonio was a bold statement.

For those who didn’t know much about him, it was a crash-through-the door introduction. Bam, he’s impossible to ignore. For those anxious to know more, it was reason to look again at a career that promises so much more. Bam, his dimensions have a potential dynamic that defies boxing’s traditional measure.

On the historical scale, Rodriguez looks to be the best American at a lighter weight since Michael Carbajal. It was fitting five months ago that Rodriguez won his first significant title at the newly-named Footprint Center, an NBA arena within a couple of miles of roadwork from Carbajal’s home in downtown Phoenix.

Rodriguez beat Carlos Cuadras, skilled yet also aging (33), scoring a unanimous decision for a belt at 115 pounds. Depending on the acronym, it’s a division called super-bantamweight or super-flyweight. Super-fly works best here. Lord of the Flies, too.

Carbajal stayed at light-flyweight (108) throughout his Hall of Fame career which ended in 1999.  Why?  Follow the money. Nothing about that old axiom has changed. Rodriguez, also a former light-flyweight, moved up in search of bigger names and bigger paydays. Carbajal never had to. In the. He was the key the flyweight vault.

Over the last two-plus decades, however, a search for another great American flyweight – anther Carbajal – has been hit and miss. Mostly miss.

Those around Rodriguez – trainer Robert Garcia and promoter Eddie Hearn – have been cautious. They aren’t ready to proclaim him as the next in any line of succession. There’s talk about him going down in weight — to 112 — for another title, a resume piece that could augment marketability and his leverage at the bargaining table. Given his relative youth, that’s wise.

If you follow the money, however, it’s impossible to not arrive at Naoya Inoue, a former junior-flyweight champion who retained the bantamweight (118) title with a rematch stoppage of 39-year-old Nonito Donaire a Filipino and another former flyweight champ.

Junior-lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson was the first to mention Inoue on social media last week, saying that Rodriguez would beat the Japanese star in two years. The reaction was swift.

Be careful, don’t let Rodriguez get ahead of himself, skeptics said. Fight Roman Gonzalez first.

Gonzalez is the most decorated flyweight ever. The Nicaraguan became the lightest fighter ever to be No. 1 in respected pound-for-pound ratings. The Ring and ESPN put him on top after the then flyweight champion stopped Brian Viloria in October 2015. But Gonzalez’ reign was brief. He moved up in weight, a jump to super-fly that ended in a knockout loss knocked out by Srisaket in 2017.

Before the KO — Gonzalez’ first loss, there was talk of a fight with the emerging Inoue. First, however, negotiations stalled when Gonzalez said he wanted more money. Then, any chance at the proposed bout vanished with Gonzalez’ KO loss.

Now, Inoue is in just about the same position Gonzalez was five, six years ago. He’s No. 1 in The Ring’s current pound-for-pound rating. He’s No. 2 in ESPN’s edition. Meanwhile, Gonzalez is older (35) and vulnerable to being stopped all over again. Would Gonzalez risk fighting Rodriguez, even if he could?

Meanwhile, Inoue’s stardom is peaking. He’s seeking to enhance his international celebrity and affirm his pound-for-pound supremacy.

“I would like to thank all the media for paying attention, and I would like to have more exposure from the media in the future,’’ he said this week in a video address to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.

He went on to say: “I’d like to have the fights that the No. 1-ranked boxer deserves.’’

That, he said, means unifying the bantamweight title. He also suggested it could mean another jump up the scale, this time to 122 pounds, junior-featherweight. But another jump in weight poses the risk that undid Gonzalez.

Instead, there looks to be a better opportunity down scale at Super Fly against Rodriguez. It might be the best way to move up the pay scale. Here’s why:

Inoue was guaranteed a reported $350,000 for his rematch with Donaire. His percentage of pay-per-view receipts were expected to boost his pay check to $500,000.

There were no reports on how much Rodriguez collected for his eight-round stunner of Sor Srisaket. Best guess, it was several numbers less than Inoue’s payday for the Donaire rematch.

That brings us back to Carbajal. Historically, he represents the financial record for reported purses in weight classes between bantam and minimum weight (118 to 105). He got a reported $1 million for his rematch loss to rival and business partner Humberto Gonzalez in a 1994 rematch in Los Angeles. Gonzalez got a reported $1-million for a third fight in Mexico City, also in 1994.

Roman Gonzalez’ biggest reported purse was $700,000 for a split-decision loss to Juan Francisco Estrada in 2021. Donaire, who had a $125,000 guarantee for the Inoue rematch, collected seven-figures twice in his long career. But both were at junior-featherweight (122 pounds). He got a reported $1.32 million for a loss to Guillermo Rigondeaux in 2013 in New York. In 2012, he got a reported $1 million for a stoppage of Jorge Arce.

Another move up in weight increases the risks that have already been there for Inoue. He suffered a fractured eye-socket in his 2019 Fight-of-the-Year decision over Donaire in their first meeting. Call it a warning. There’s also the clock. Inoue is 29. He’s in his prime. His chances will probably never be any better than they are right now against the emerging Rodriguez, still five-to-six years from his prime.

Do it now. Bam, it just makes too much sense.

By Norm Frauenheim-

It’s a rematch full of role reversals. But one thing hasn’t changed.

The same question is there about Anthony Joshua, the underdog this time instead of the favorite, the role he surrendered in Oleksandr Usyk’s stunning upset by a one-sided decision last September.

The Usyk-Joshua heavyweight sequel, set for August 20 in Saudi Arabia, is intriguing at multiple levels. Usyk, fun and fearless, is a lot of things. He brawls, he boxes. He’s clever, he’s cruel. He has many faces, many styles. All of them have worked and the odds say they will again. Usyk is a 2-to-1 favorite in a rematch announced at a formal news conference this week in Saudi Arabia.

The key is Joshua. Can he change? Amend that. Can he re-discover the fighter he was four-plus years ago in a stoppage of Wladimir Klitschko at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Then, Joshua looked like history’s next great heavyweight. Klitschko’s reign was historic for its duration and efficiency. But his efficiency was so reliable that it suffocated the fabled division. Joshua reinvigorated it with a dramatic performance in a fight that drew comparisons to the Ali era.

There were four knockdowns. Joshua scored one, got up from one and scored two more in an 11^th-round TKO of Klitschko in what was then a fight for the ages.  

But the excitement ended quietly not long after the last fan of a reported 90,000 exited Wembley after that memorable fight in April 2017. A forgettable TKO of Carlos Takam followed. Then, a forgettable decision over Joseph Parker. And another forgettable stoppage of Alexander Povetkin. There was talk that Joshua had suddenly grown tentative, seemingly a fighter who had left his aggressiveness in the ring during the up-and-down drama against Klitschko, then 41.

Then, there was Andy Ruiz Jr. in a stoppage stunner of Joshua at Madison Square Garden in June 1919. That’s when the doubts about Joshua went from a whisper to a shout. Joshua just wasn’t the same guy. The doubt is still there, loud and clear, despite Joshua’s careful decision over a woefully-prepared Ruiz about six months later, also in Saudi Arabia.

Joshua still looked tentative, despite a Ruiz who had partied himself out of heavyweight and into sumo. Joshua fought as though he was there only to win. What he needed, however, was an aggressive stoppage, a definitive statement in an answer to the questions.

Then, Joshua followed up with a stoppage, this time a ninth-round KO of Kubrat Pulev, who went into the ring with only 14 KOs in 28 victories. Pulev lacked heavyweight power. He couldn’t hurt Joshua.

But Usyk could and did so repeatedly in a unanimous decision that left Joshua looking confused and again – tentative – at Tottenham Stadium in London. The doubt persists.

The key, however, might be there in what is the most intriguing change made before the rematch. Robert Garcia will be in Joshua’s corner. Garcia is known for teaching aggressiveness to fighters in the middle weight classes. It’s all about pursuit, moving forward and fighting off the front foot.

He’s there to stop Joshua’s retreat.

That, however, figures to be a challenge, both for him and Joshua. Garcia is not known for his work with heavyweights. His career includes 14 world champions, but never a heavyweight champ. Joshua would be his first. He’s known for his terrific work with Mexican-American and Mexican fighters. From Antonio Margarito to brother Mikey Garcia, Robert Garcia’s aggressive philosophy is there, in tactics and demeanor.

It’s a Garcia trademark. But will it work with a UK heavyweight, who is bigger and maybe stronger than the multi-skilled Usyk?

“I started coming (to the UK) in December,’’ Garcia said this week during the newser “I’ve been coming back-and-forth to work with Anthony. I see a different Anthony now. The way he thinks, the way he talks, everything he’s practicing, everything he’s doing in the gym. I think he fought the wrong fight, and that’s the past. That happened already. 

“We’ll see who’s the better man. We’re going to do whatever it takes to win those titles back. I know he can do it. He’s the bigger man, he’s the stronger man, he’s got the reach advantage.

“So, we’re going to take advantage of all that. Come that day, I think without a doubt, we’re going to have a three-time heavyweight champion of the world.

“We’ve got to be prepared for everything. Usyk is a great fighter. He’s got skills. He’s got reflexes. He’s got accuracy. He’s got everything. I think Anthony has all the tools to beat him. We just have to do the things in the gym.” 

And in the corner for what might the story of the fight.

By Norm Frauenheim-

Tyson Fury is talking again. That, of course, would be news only if he had gone silent for, say, longer than a week or three. Put it this way: He’ll quit talking when the tide quits coming in.

He says he’s retired. He says he’s not. He mentions half-a-billion. He teases and taunts, insults and intrigues, lies and laughs We’ve yet to hear a few lyrics from Bye-Bye, Miss American Pie. But the beat goes on. The whole lousy lounge act is already unfolding.

It’s doesn’t matter what he says. What does matter is that he’s saying it, still saying it all. The heavyweight champ is back at the bully pulpit, which only means that another opening bell can’t be too far away.  

There’s an old line that a fight starts at the negotiating table. Fury is already negotiating.

The latest sure sign came in a tweet — a “QUICK MESSAGE…” — from Fury Wednesday.

“A quick message to let everybody know that I, The Gypsy King, am happily retired. But to get me out of retirement – considering I don’t need the money, I don’t need the aggravation – it’s going to cost these people half-a-billion.’’

QUICK REACTION: Gob-smacking, it’s not.

Nobody, including Fury co-promoters Frank Warren and Bob Arum, ever believed that retirement was anything more than a vacation. Fury promised he was done – retired – after his sixth-round stoppage of Dillian Whyte on April 23 in front of 94,000 at London’s Wembley Stadium.  Promises last about as long as noses in boxing, of course, They are there to be broken. Fury didn’t even let the seasons change before he started the talk that says he’ll fight again. He retired in early spring. He began signaling another fight before the official start to summer.

It’d be no surprise if Fury backed off his tweet in some way. Another great talker in another sport, basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, once said he had been misquoted in his autobiography, Outrageous. He even said that would try to ban the book, published in 1992. Barkley got away with it, because people like him. They love the self-deprecating humor, the edgy common sense. Same with Fury. He can say whatever he wants. It’s part of the act.

The question, of course, is the half-billion, which could move Fury into the exclusive fringe of the billionaire’s neighborhood, especially if the half-a-bill is paid in pounds instead of dollars. It’s clear that a couple of “the people” in Fury’s tweet are Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk. They’re expected to fight on August 20, at least so says Eddie Hearn, another talker, but no match for Fury.

Fury is already ripping Joshua, calling him a weightlifter among other things. He’s offered to help him in the rematch of Usyk’s upset of the fellow UK heavyweight last September. Then, when asked if he would attend the projected Usyk-Joshua rematch, Fury said he wouldn’t waste his time on “bums.”

The winning bum, of course, could be Fury’s partner in what might be the biggest payday in history. The aforementioned “people” in Fury’s tweet has to be the Arabs. They are the only people who can afford a tank of gas these days. The Usyk-Joshua rematch is expected to happen in the oil-rich state. If Fury changes his mind and decides to attend, maybe he can sit ringside alongside golfer Phil Mickelson, the face of the latest purchase in Saudi Arabia’s sports-washing enterprise.

“If you do get us a deal with these Middle East folks, can you at least get me free fuel for life?” Fury saId this week during a show hosted by Warren’s Queensberry Promotions.  “I’m paying a fortune on petrol.”

For now, he’s also doing a little gas-lighting, a traditional starting point in negotiations.

By Norm frauenheim-

There are a couple of finishers, both forged by a relentless dynamic hard to counter, almost impossible to elude.

Then, there are a couple of craftsmen, both forged in the patient execution of fundamental skill that breaks down, busts up challengers, leaving them confused instead of confident.

They’re fun to watch. They’re also Generation Next, four fighters, 25 and younger, who figure to climb to the top of the boxing marquee, if not the pound-for-pound debate, within the next couple of years.

The finishers: 25-year-old super-middleweight David Benavidez and 24-year-old welterweight Jaron “Boots” Ennis.

The craftsmen: 24-year-old junior-lightweight Shakur Stevenson and 23-year-old lightweight Devin Haney.

The Future Four have all made powerful statements this spring on who they are and how they might impact the business.

Last Saturday, Haney (28-0, 15 KOs) unified the lightweight title with a jab, a traditional weapon and timely as ever. The defining punch summed up poise and patience that belie his years. George Kambosos Jr. never had a chance in losing a unanimous decision in Melbourne, Australia, his home country, mate.

On May 14, Ennis (29-0, 27 KOs/1 NC) continued to overwhelm anybody in his way. He scored his 19^th stoppage in his last 20 fights. He blew away a somebody, somebody named Custio Clayton, in a second-round knockout. There are a lot of somebodies on Ennis’ resume, which also includes a stoppage of Sergey Lipinets, a former world champion who had never been stopped. Still, Ennis’ skill and one-punch power are impossible to ignore, even if your name is Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr. According to reports, a deal for a long-awaited Crawford-Spence fight is close. If the fight in fact happens, it’s fair to say that Ennis will be at least mentioned as one who deserves a shot at the winner. That’s how fast he’s emerging.

A week later on May 21, Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) looked a like a force of nature in overwhelming David Lemieux in a three-round beat-down in front of roaring crowd in Glendale AZ, about seven miles from the Phoenix streets where Benavidez grew up. The victory was no surprise. Lemieux, brave and faded, was overmatched before opening bell. The stunner, however, was in the way Benavidez won. It was almost scary. It was violent. He was all momentum, a tsunami that looks as if it is just beginning.

In April, there was Stevenson (18-0, 9 KOs), who throughout 12 rounds, left Oscar Valdez Jr. with no chance. For the last decade, Valdez was the one fighter who always found a way. Not this time. Like Benavidez, Stevenson figured to win. But nobody figured he would suffocate a fighter known for his resilience.

“Valdez is a hard out,’’ promoter Bob Arum said in a perfect summation.

Haney, Ennis, Benavidez, and Stevenson are following lightweight Tank Davis and bantamweight Japanese bantamweight Naoya Inoue into the elite. Both are older. Both, too, are entering their primes. Davis is 27, Inoue 29

Davis (27-0, 25 KOs) continues to flash his dramatic edge, finishing power, with a sixth-round knockout of Rolando Romero on May 28 in Brooklyn. It was a big crowd. A wild one, too, in a further testament to Davis’ growing box-office power.

Ryan Garcia, who spends more time on social media than he does in the ring, has been calling out Davis. Somebody needs to text Garcia (22-0, 18 KOs) an old line: Be careful what you wish for.

Then, there’s Inoue (23-0, 20 KOs). He might be the only fighter who creates a buzz at sunrise. Sunrise, at least, was when anybody in the United States saw him blow away accomplished Nonito Donaire in a second-round stoppage in Japan. It was more than just a rematch for the bantamweight title. It was re-affirmation of Inoue’s pound credentials. There’s a good argument that he should be No. 1, ahead of Crawford.

Inoue was mentioned as possible opponent for Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in mid 2015 when Gonzalez, a longtime flyweight champion, had moved up to junior-bantamweight. He also moved up to be the lightest pound-for-pound No. 1 ever. But it was a move up the scale, to junior-bantam, that got him knocked off the pound-for-pound perch. He lost successive fights to Thai Wisaksil Wangek in 2017.

Inoue, a champion at junior-flyweight, skipped a weight class (fly) and went straight to junior bantam and then bantam. He’s still unbeaten.

Davis and Inoue are the first to re-energize the pound-for-pound debate in a shakeup set in motion by Dmitry Bivol’s upset of Canelo Alvarez May 7.

The debate will continue. Maybe, Teofimo Lopez resurrects himself and his career in his first fight since his messy loss to Kambosos in November. Lopez has time on his side. He’s 24. He moves up, from lightweight to junior-welterweight, in a reported deal for an August 13 with Mexican Pedro Campa.

Maybe, there will be a Future Five.

For now, however, the future rests in the eight dangerous hands of four – Benavidez, Ennis, Haney and Stevenson.

Follow all the action as Naoya Inoue and Nonito Donaire battle for the WBA/WBC/IBF Bantamweight titles in a rematch of the 2019 Fight of the Year. The action Kicks off at 5:30 AM ET / 2:30 AM PT/6:30 PM in Japan

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Round 1: Left hook from Inoue..Counter left hook…Right…Jab…Left hook from Donaire..Left from Inoue…COUNTER RIGHT AND DOWN GOES DONAIRE..

ROUND 2 Left Hook from Donaire…hard left from Inoue…Big left hook…Body shot…Left buckles Donaire badly…BIG LEFT HOOK AND DOWN GOES DONAIRE AND THE FIGHT IS OVER

Round 1 Inoue lands a jab…Furuhashi lands a right and left to the body..Left hook from Inoue…1-2..Right uppercut from Furuhashi..Left from Inoue
Round 2 Left hook from Inoue..Nice body work from Furuhashi…Right from Inoue…Triple uppercut
Round 3 Right uppercut from Inoue..Uppercut from Furuhashi..2 Punch combination from Inoue…Overhand right from Furuhashi..Nice right uppercut from Inoue…Double Uppercut..another double uppercut…big exchange…
Round 4 Nice uppercut from Inoue…Nice sweeping left hook…Nice right uppercut…Long right from Furuhashi..Landing power shots…
Round 5 Furuhashi landing body shots…Uppercuts from Inoue…Left hook to body…Right to body from Furuhashi..Jab from Inoue…Uppercut..Short right and left hook…Uppercut…
Round 6 2 Good body shots from Inoue…Double uppercut…
Round 7 Double left hook from Inoue…right and left uppercut…
Round 8 Inoue lands a left hook to the body…Exchanging of liver shots..Uppercut from Inoue…Nice body shot from Furuhashi…
Round 9 Nice combination from Inoue…Good right to the body by Furuhashi…
Round 10 Nice right cross and left uppercut from Inoue…Good right from Furuhashi…Nice right uppercut..Overhand right…Nice counter left from Inoue…Nice left hook from Furuhashi…Left from Inoue..Nice Jab from Furuhashi..
Round 11 Nice double uppercut from Inoue…Nice body shot from Furuhashi..Short left hook and right from Inoue..Right uppercut…Body work from Furuhashi…Right uppercut…
Round 12 Nice Body shot from Inoue..Blood from right eyelid of Furuhashi..Nice double uppercut from Inoue..Body shot from Furuhashi.

Round 1 Left uppercut from Hiraoka…Straight left..LEFT UPPERCUT AND DOWN AKAIWA..Counter left and right from Akaiwa…
Round 2 Right hand from Akaiwa…left to body..Body shot and uppercut from Hiraoka..Nice body work
Round 3 Good right to body from Hiraoka..
Round 4 Nice right from Akaiwa…
Round 5 
Round 6 Good right uppercut from Hiraoka..Hard overhand right…BARRAGE OF PUNCHES…FIGHT STOPPED

By Norm Frauenheim –

The shuffle continues. It never really ceases, mostly because the pound-for-pound game is only about opinion. It’s noisier than it has been in a while.

Upsets will do that, and there have been plenty in a debate heightened by the biggest one of all – Dmitry Bivol’s upset of consensus No. 1 Canelo Alvarez.

A month later, that stunner is still generating lots of revised ratings, all at the top of the scale. Terence Crawford, Oleksandr Usyk, Naoya Inoue, Tyson Fury. Take your pick. There’s no right or wrong here. No rules either. There’s just chaos.

From this corner, Crawford, still unbeaten, was No. 1 before Bivol-Canelo. Last November, the unbeaten welterweight strengthened his hold on this corner’s mythical No. 1 with a dynamic stoppage of proven Shawn Porter, who retired after the bout.

For Crawford to become the consensus No. 1, however, he still has to beat Errol Spence Jr. Amend that. First, he has to secure a deal, date and place for a showdown with Spence, who has his own pound-for-pound credentials and aspirations. Recently, there’s been a lot of talk that the fight will happen, perhaps later this year. That’s better than all the prior talk that it would never happen. Still, it’s only talk.

Maybe the shuffle at the top of the debate will serve as further motivation for a deal, a definitive fight that should have happened a couple of years ago. The clock is pushing it perilously close to past-due. Crawford will be 35 on Sept. 28; Spence is 32, about 10 months from his next birthday. It’s still a prime-time fight, but it won’t stay in that window much longer.

More urgent, perhaps, are the pound-for-pound contenders who figure to line up – week-after-week, fight-after-fight — for an opportunity to make their own claim on No.1.

Let’s just say it’s vacant and will stay that way for a while.

There’s Inoue, already a consensus top five, who can further his pound-for-pound argument next week (June 7 in Japan) against Nonito Donaire in a rematch (ESPN+) of their 2019 Fight of the Year. Guess here: The entertaining Inoue will do exactly that. Donaire is 40. His resiliency and energy will begin to fail in the later rounds     

Then, there’s Usyk, who is already at the top of some ratings. We’ll know soon enough if he belongs there. He’s working toward a summer rematch against Anthony Joshua. He scored a stunner — a decision as unanimous as it was skillful — over the bigger Joshua in September. Guess here: He’ll do it again, this time motivated more than ever to win one for his besieged homeland, the Ukraine.

Still, there was an intriguing addition to Joshua’s corner this week. The UK heavyweight hired Robert Garcia to be his trainer. Maybe, Garcia can restore Joshua’s aggressiveness. He’s been timid, a shell of the fighter who ended Wladimir Klitschko’s career

in April 2017.

Then, there’s Tyson Fury. The unified heavyweight champ says he’s retired. But there are tons of reasons, all fungible, to be skeptical. He just leaves a lot of money on the table if he walks away and stays away. Maybe, he’s waiting on Usyk-Joshua 2. Or, maybe, he’s just trying to distance himself from questions about his relationship with Daniel Kinahan, the alleged Irish gangster with documented links to boxing. US law enforcement is offering a $5 million reward for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of Kinahan.

Then, there’s still Canelo. The Mexican, boxing’s biggest draw in the post-Floyd Mayweather era, can put himself back in contention and win back the support he had before his unanimous-decision loss to light-heavyweight champion Bivol. But that won’t be easy. Canelo, a golfer, is in the rough. Guess here: To reclaim the top spot, he needs two convincing stoppages, first of 40-year-old Gennadiy Golovkin in September in a super-middleweight bout in their third fight and then in a rematch against Bivol in early 2023.

This argument is just getting started.

Follow all of the action as Gervonta Davis defends his WBA Lightweight title against Rolando Romero. The action begins at 7 PM ET and will feature Erislandy Lara taking on Spike O’Sullivan for the WBA Middleweight title; as well as fights featuring Jesus Ramos taking Luke Santamaria and Eduardo Ramirez fighting Luis Melendez

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Round 1: Left from Davis

ROUND 2 Hard right from Romero…Another…Straight left from Davis..Left..

ROUND 3 Left from Romero..Hard left..Counter left from Davis..Straight left..

ROUND 4 Good right  to body by Romero..Straight right..1-2 from Davis…

ROUND 5  Left from Davis…stright left from Davus,,,Another..Right from Romero…Left to body from Davis,,

ROUND 6 Straight left from Davis…HUGE COUNTER LEFT AND DOWN GOES ROMERO..THE FIGHT IS STOPPED

ROUND 1 Left from Lara…

ROUND 2 Left from O’Sullivan…’

ROUND 3 Hard left to body by Lara…Good straight left…Right from O’Sullivan…Straight left from Lara

ROUND 4 Left to body from Lara…LEFT AND DOWN GOES O’SULLIVAN…

ROUND 5 Hard left from Lara…Right from O’Sullivan,,and another…Hook from Lara…Right from O’Sullivan

ROUND 6 Right from O’Sullivan…Body shot and hard left from Lara…Hook and uppercut from O’Sulliva..2 lefts from Lara

ROUND 7 Jab from Lara…2 body shots from O’Sullivan…Left from Lara..Hard left rocks O’Sullivan at the bell

ROUND 8  HARD LEFT ROCKS O’SULLIVAN…FIGHT OVER

Round 1: Ramos looks much bigger…Jab from Ramos…
Round 2: Left from Ramos…
Round 3: Left from Ramos backing Samtamaria up..Combination from Santamaria…Jab to the body..Hard left from Ramos…Trading body shots..Body shot from Ramos..Right hook…
Round 4 Uppercut from Ramos..Right Hook…Straight Left,,,
Round 5 Right from Santamaria..Right to body from Ramos…Left to body…Right to body
Round 6  Lefts from Ramos
Rounds 7 Jab and right hook
Round 8 Straight left…Right Hook from Ramos..Flicking Jab..Nice exchange
Round 9 Combination from Santamaria..Left to body from Ramos…Ramos working on the inside…Left to body
Round 10 Right hook from Ramos

98-92 and 97-93 twice for RAMOS

Round 1 Left from Ramirez…Right to body from Melendez…Uppercut and left
Round 2 Right from Melendez…
Round 3 Uppercut from Melendez…Left..Ramirez lands a left to the body..Left by Ramirez…Uppercut and combination from Melendez…Combination on ropes Ramirez..
Round 4 2 Uppercuts from Melendez..Body shot from Ramirez…Counter uppercut from Melendez…Right off the ropes..Straight left from Ramirez…
Round 5 Ramirez landing a combination on the ropes..Left…
Round 6 Right from Melendez..Left to the body..Ramirez lands a combination..
Round 7 Left from Ramirez..Straight left…another…Right from Melendez…Flicking Jab…Right hook from Ramirez…
Round 8 Jab from Melendez..Body shot from Ramirez..
Round 9 Right from Melendez..Left…Right from Ramirez at the bell
Round 10 Right and left from Melendez..Ramirez landing combination to the body…Jab from Melendez..Hook from Ramirez..Left rocks Ramirez

95-95; 96-94 and 98-92 RAMIREZ

Round 1: Jabs from Williams…Hard combination from Arias
Round 2  Big Right from Arias,,..Jab to Body from Arias..2 lefts to body
Round 3  Doctor Checking Williams before round..Hard right,,,
Round 4 Left hook by Arias..Right Hurts Williams…Right by Arias…Williams fires back…Arias working on the inside..Right over the top
Round 5 Left to body from Arias..Right to head…Left from Williams..Hard right and left hook from Arias..
Round 6  Good right from Williams..2 Rights from Arias..
Round 7 Combination from Arias…Right from Williams..
Round 9 Hard overhand right from Arias..
Round 10 Williams backpeddling…Arias lands a right..Right from Williams..Right from Arias..Head combination on the inside…Toe to toe action…

99-91 on all cards for Arias

By Norm Frauenheim –

It’s a fantasy.

That, at least, is how David Benavidez’ promoter described talk about any chance at a fight with Canelo Alvarez in the wake of Benavidez’ very real beatdown of David Lemieux.

“Quit fantasizing,’’ Sampson Lewkowicz told media about an hour after a violent third-round stoppage of Lemieux at a National Hockey League arena about seven miles from where Benavidez grew up in Phoenix. “There’s no way that Canelo is going to fight the People’s Champ.’’

There no quit in fantasy, however, especially after a dominant exhibition from 25-year-old super-middleweight that got a roaring crowd and Showtime audience fantasizing about just how good Benavidez might be a year, or two, from now.

Put it this way: A little bit of fantasy is a pretty good place to start thinking about negotiations. It’s also a subtle step away from the frustration that has dogged Benavidez throughout his noisy pursuit of a rich date with Canelo.

Benavidez’ victory over Lemieux a week ago at Gila River Arena in Glendale AZ was no surprise. The brave Lemieux, a former middleweight champion, was overmatched in every way. But Benavidez exceeded expectations. The bout was meant to showcase his potential. He did that and more. The clever Lewkowicz called him a People’s Champ. The Lemieux performance was full of more reasons to think he will be one. He’s getting social-media clicks. He’s doing numbers at the box office.

That’s more than fantasy. It’s momentum, which is something Canelo is trying to regain.

This week, Canelo decided to fight Gennadiy Golovkin for a third time instead of an immediate rematch of his stunning decision loss to light-heavyweight Dmitry Bivol.

GGG was a business move, not surprising in the wake of disappointing reports about the DAZN numbers for the pay-per-view telecast of Canelo-Bivol on May 7. The PPV reports varied, but they fell nearly 300,000 short of the PPV sales — reported to be about 800,000 — for Canelo’s victory over Caleb Plant. Plant an American, was – still is — better known than the skilled Bivol, a mostly-unknown Russian.

GGG is 40. His skillset might have eroded, but his name recognition has not. People still know him for his first two fights with Canelo, both debatable. The first was a draw. The second was a majority decision, won by Canelo.

Now, questions follow Canelo as he goes into a decisive third fight with GGG. Was the Bivol loss just a bad night? Was the move from 168 pounds to 175 too much? Is he beginning to show signs of decline? They’ll all be there in September.

So, too, will Benavidez.

For now, Benavidez is first in line for Canelo. With the World Boxing Council’s so-called interim title, Benavidez is supposed to get a mandatory shot at Canelo, if and when the WBC ever orders the fight.

For the rest of this year, however, Benavidez-Canelo is fantasy. Lewkowicz is talking about Plant, Jarmall Charlo or David Morell, an emerging Cuban. perhaps in November. Whoever it is, it’s a fight that could further the fantasy. If Benavidez’ ascendancy continues, fans won’t quit thinking about it. More important, they won’t quit talking about it.

They’ll promote it in ways that Lewkowicz can’t. Could the fantasy become reality next year, say May 6 2023? It depends on Canelo’s performance against GGG. It depends on how Benavidez looks in November.

It also depends on whether Canelo in fact fights Bivol for a second time. He said this week he will. Maybe, a third GGG bout is a steppingstone toward regaining momentum and his pound-for-pound status.

But Benavidez believes that Canelo can’t ever beat Bivol. He says Canelo would lose a rematch. Then what?

“Then, he’s got nowhere to go,’’ Benavidez said before he bulldozed Lemieux. “He’ll have to come back down to 168.

That means me.’’

Fantasy meets reality