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

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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.

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

Follow all the action as David Benavidez meets David Lemieux for the WBC Interim Super Middleweight Title.  The action begins at 10 PM ET with Luis Nunez against Jonathan Fierro;  In the co-feature, Yoelvis Gomez battles Jorge Cota

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Round 1: Left hook from Lemieux…Right to body from Benavidez..Body shot from Lemieux..Right from Benavidez..Another right…left to body..2 rights…1-2..Huge right rocks Lemieiux..15 big shots and the bell rang…Lemieux in a lot of trouble

ROUND 2 BIG RIGHT AND LEFT UPPERCUT AND DOWN GOES LEMIEUX…Counter right from Benavidez..Lemieux fighting back…goes to the body…Big right from Benavidez..Massive uppercut..Left hook..Uppercut…Left side of Lemieux’s face is a mess…Left uppercut,..

ROUND 3 Jabs from Lemieux..Right from Benavidez..3 big left hooks..REFEREE STOPS THE FIGHT ON ADVICE OF CORNER

Round 1 Good counter left from Gomez..Rught hook to body…another..Gomez throwing wild lefts and lands a couple
Round 2 Jab from Gomez…Combination from Cota..Right hook from Gomez…Left uppercut..Cota trying to fight back..Gomez landing in the corner
Round 3 Jab from Gomez..Body shot from Cota..Good exchange on the ropes..Counter right backs Cota into the ropes..Straight left..Left and right..2 right hooks and left uppercut..
Round 4 Right and left from Cota…..Lead left from Gomez…Body shot from Cota..Left-right to head from Gomez…Had right hook..Left to body..
Round 5 Left from Gomez…Jab from Cota…Good exchange on the ropes…Left to body from Gomez
Round 6 Lead left from Gomez..Short right to body from Cota…Body..>left to body from Gomez
Round 7 Sharp Jab hurts Cota…Double jab..Uppercut from Cota…4 punch combination..Nice left from Gomez..Body combo from Cota..Left..Left from Gomez…Left to body from Cota
Round 8 Left uppercut and left hook from Gomez..Combunation from Cota..Right hook from Gomez..Overhand left and sharp jab from Gomez..Jab..2 hard rights
Round 9 Right Hook from Gomez..Cota lands a right and left..
Round 10 Left from Gomez

100-90 on all cards for YOELVIS GOMEZ

Round 1: Left from Fierro…Right from Nunez..1-2 from Fierro..Straight left to the body//3 Punch combination…
Round 2 Combination from Fierro..Counter Right from Nunez..Left to body..Fierro cut on the side of head…Nunez cut over left eye
Round 3 Counter right from Nunez..Jab to Body from Fierro…Nice right to body from Nunez..Quick jab from Fierro..
Round 4 Counter left hook rom Nunez…Counter left..Counter combination…Left…Uppercut staggers Foerro..
Round 5 Lead right from Nunez..1-2 from Fierro…Counter from Nunez..Counter right and left,,,Left from Fierro..Toe-to-action..Left uppercut and right hook from Fierro…Left from Fierro and a big left
Round 6 Big right from Nunez…Right hook from Fierro…
Round 8 Jab from Nunez..Counter…Counter right…Another counter right..Fierro gets warned for Head clash…Counter left from Fierro
Round 9 Body shot from Fierro…Counter from Nunez..Right to body…
Round 10 Counter from Fierro..Right hook…Counter right from Nunez

96-94 on ALL CARDS FOR LUIS NUNEZ

By Norm Frauenheim-

GLENDALE, Ariz. – It’s the only place he’s ever lost.

But the scale is no longer David Benavidez’ biggest challenge.

Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs), who lost the World Boxing Council’s super-middleweight title when he failed to make the weight in 2020, came in under the 168-pound mandatory Friday for an interim belt in a Showtime-televised bout Saturday against David Lemieux (43-4, 36 KOs) at Gila River Arena.

Under a hot desert sun at high noon, Benavidez stepped lightly on a scale located on a stage set on a pavilion outside of the ice-hockey arena’s front doors.

No problem. Jenny Craig would have been proud. Benavidez was more than a pound lighter than the maximum. He was at 166.4 pounds. Lemieux, a former 160-pound champion, was at 166.2.

The 25-year-old Benavidez couldn’t recall when he’s ever been so light. He grew up chubby. He likes to joke that he was the fat kid in the background of photos that featured his older brother, Jose Benavidez Jr., a former national amateur champion and an ex-junior-welterweight belt-holder.

When asked whether his second son has ever been so light, father and trainer Jose Benavidez Sr. shouted:

“Never.’’

The scale had loomed as problematic since David Benavidez was stripped of the title after he was 2.8 pounds heavier than the limit in August 2020. He went on to score a 10^th-round stoppage of Roamer Alexis Angulo at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. But he left the ring without the belt he has been trying to regain ever since.

Making the weight Friday is a key step in that direction. It keeps him in line for a mandatory shot at a title now in Canelo Alvarez’ possession. He has to beat Lemieux to stay there.

“David Benavidez is very solid, a big challenge,’’ said Lemieux, a Montreal fighter and the designated challenger in the main event on the Showtime telecast (7 pm PT/10 pm ET). “But I’m here to fight him. I’m here to take that belt away from him.’’

Benavidez is heavily-favored. He’s bigger. He’s younger. He’ll be fighting in front of a hometown crowd. He grew up in a tough Phoenix neighborhood, about seven miles from Gila River.

“This fight is not going to go the distance,’’ said Benavidez, who was already at the required weight on Monday. “It’s going to end in a knockout.

“And I’m going to win it.’’

By Norm Frauenheim-

GLENDALE, Ariz. – For a few seconds, there was more to David Benavidez’ future than questions about Canelo Alvarez.

There was his son, Anthony, a toddler in the middle of an audience full of reporters at a boxing news conference.

Anthony giggled. Benavidez smiled, a sure sign that he knew why he was fighting. No question about that one.

The Canelo questions would soon follow. So, too, will another opening bell, this time against David Lemieux Saturday (Showtime 7 pm PT/10 pm ET) at Gila River, a National Hockey League arena about seven miles west of where he grew up in a tough neighborhood on Phoenix’s west side.

There weren’t too many real answers to the Canelo questions. Then again, there never are for Benavidez, who has been frustrated in his pursuit of a big money date with Canelo. The same questions were there the last time Benavidez was in town for a stoppage of Kyrone Davis in downtown Phoenix last November.

Lots has changed since then, of course. Canelo lost his aura of invincibility. Dmitry Bivol beat him. Anthony is walking. The last time Anthony was in Phoenix he was giving his daddy’s fans a fist bump from his stroller. He made his dad smile then, too.  A son’s giggle is a father’s motivation. Dad fights on. Maybe, there’s a date with Canelo in his future. Maybe, not.

The business of keeping that possibility – questions and all – in place, however, is Benavidez’ immediate task. The fight is for a so-called interim title, the World Boxing Council’s super-middleweight version. Interim, of course, can mean just about anything. Interim titles get bought out by step-aside money. Interim gets forgotten, almost by definition.

But this one comes with a mandatory – also so-called — challenge of the WBC’s current champion, which happens to still be Canelo, the 168-pound division’s unified champ. The belts weren’t at stake against Bivol in a light-heavyweight stunner a couple of weeks ago.  

A victory over Lemieux would also embellish Benavidez’ resume. Benavidez remembers watching Lemieux when he was a kid hanging out at Central Boxing near downtown Phoenix.

“He was the Canadian Mike Tyson,’’ Benavidez said Friday after a formal news conference in a room overlooking a floor that will include a ring instead of a rink Saturday.

Lemieux, of Montreal, has power, especially in his left hand. Lemieux, who lost his most notable fight by stoppage to Canelo rival Gennadiy Golovkin in 2015, is confident that Benavidez has never faced anybody with as much one-punch power.

“Of course not,’’ Lemieux said.

But Lemieux, a former middleweight champion, is moving up from his natural weight, 160 pounds, to 168. Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) is bigger in every measurable way. He’s also younger. Lemieux (43-4, 36 KOs) who has won his last five bouts, is 33. Benavidez is 25. The differences, in years and on the tape, explain the one-sided odds. Benavidez is about a 10-to-1 favorite. Yet, Lemieux’s documented power still looms as a factor.

“David Lemieux is the most dangerous fighter we’ve faced,’’ Benavidez father-and-trainer Jose Sr. said.

Still, David Benavidez is confident he has the skillset to deal with Lemieux’s power.

“It’s not like I’m going to go In there and try to test how strong my chin is,’’ he said. “We’ve worked hard in the gym, put together a plan to deal with his power. I definitely want to follow the game plan. I don’t care (if the KO) comes in the first, second, fifth or 12^th round. When it happens, it’ll happen.’’

Best guess: It’ll happen. It’s an element – documented power from both corners — that promises an explosive fight. That, too, is important for Benavidez’ larger resume. He’s pursuing more than just another victory. He wants to do something memorable against a fighter who can hurt him.

Translation: He wants to create a groundswell of support among a growing fanbase already restless for a showdown with Canelo. He’s more than a good dad. He’s a pugilist. And a populist.

Yet, there’s still a question whether any of it will ever lead to a date with Canelo. There’s even some disagreement about that within the Benavidez camp.

David Benavidez and his father think the loss to Bivol improves their chances at Canelo.

“I think it’s more likely now than it was,’’ said David, who learned enough about Bivol from sparring sessions a couple of years ago to know that the Russian had a real chance at beating Canelo. “Before Bivol, there was all this crazy stuff from Canelo about fighting at cruiserweight or even heavyweight. I think Canelo believed all that hype.

“But you’re not going to hear that any more. He’s going to have to come back down to 168 pounds. That means me.’’

But Benavidez promoter Sampson Lewkowicz thinks the chances at Canelo are less now than they were pre-Bivol. Canelo’s box-office value took a hit, Lewkowicz says. He also doesn’t think Canelo can restore it in a rematch. Bivol will beat him again, he says.

“There’s no $50 million out there for Canelo anymore,’’ Lewkowicz  said. “Will he fight for less? $30 million?  $20 million? $10 million? I don’t know. He might just walk away and decide to play golf.’’

A decision from Canelo is forthcoming. His current promoter, Eddie Hearn, says he expects Canelo to decide next week on whether he’ll fight an immediate rematch or go on to a third fight against Golovkin in September.

Whatever Canelo decides, there are still big opportunities for Benavidez. There’s Jermall Charlo and Caleb Plant. David Morrell has emerged as a possibility, too.

Benavidez will stay busy. A toddler’s giggle will make sure of it.

Follow all the action as Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano battle for the undisputed Super Welterweight World Title. The action begins at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT with Kevin Gonzalez and Emanuel Rivera. Then Jaron “Boots” Ennis fights Custio Clayton

NO BROWSER REFRESH NEEDED. THE PAGE WILL UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY

ROUND 1 Charlo lands a right and double left hook to body..Jab..Castano lands a body shot…Counter from Charlo…Double jab…Nice left hook from Castano..Double jab..Left hook to body from Charlo..Right hook to the body..Nice overhand right..

ROUND 2 Nice Right from Castano..Charlo lands a 1-2..Nice right..Counter right..Left..Left uppercut and left hook..Lead left hook and right from Castano..Left hook to body from Charlo…Left and left uppercut from Charlo…Castano lands a left

ROUND 3 Right to body from Charlo…Body/Head…Jab…Right from Castano..Nice left hook…Left from Charlo…Left hook from each guy..

ROUND 4 Left hook to body from Charlo..Counter…Right from Castano..Jab from Charlo..Lead left hook and right from Castano..Left hook from Charlo..Jab..Left..Right uppercut…Big right from Castano,,,Toe to toe at the bell

 ROUND 5 Left to body from Charlo..Counter left…Right off the ropes…Combination…Body and head from Castano..Counter from Charlo..Nice right and double left hook..Right from Charlo..Right uppercut…Big combination..

ROUND 6 Lead right from Castano…Counter from Charlo…Lead right from Castano…Counter from Charlo…Right from Castano on ropes…4 jabs…Big right…right uppercut from Charlo…Left from Castano…Right from Charlo…Left hook from Castano…

ROUND 7 Combination from Charlo…Big left hook staggers Castano..Jab from Charlo…Jab to body from Castano…3 punch combo from Charlo…two punch combo from Castano

ROUND 8 Jab to chest from Castano…Right…Counter right from Charlo…Jab..3 punch combination..Right and left hook…left hook from Charlo..Left from Castano..Counter left from Charlo..1-2 from Castano…

ROUND 9 Combination from Charlo…and another…3 Punch combination from Charlo…Left hook and a double left hook…left uppercut from Castano…

ROUND 10 Combination from Castano..Combination from Charlo…Nice right from Castano..Combination from Charlo…RIGHT HAND AND DOWN GIES CASTANO..4 BIG SHOTS AND A LEFT AND DOWN GOES CASTANO AND THE FIGHT IS OVER

Round 1 Right from Ennis..Ennis dominating with the jab
Round 2 Nice left to the body from Ennis…Straight left..Straight left to the body…RIGHT TO THE HEAD AND DOWN GOES CLAYTON AND THE FIGHT IS OVER

Round 1 Rivera being busy..Gonzalez showing heandspeed..Uppercut from Gonzalez…Triple jab…left
Round 2 Good uppercut from Rivera…Double right hook from Gonzalez..Rivera lands a combination..Good body work from Gonzalez..Sharp jab…and another..Blood from Nose of Gonzalez..Left hook to body and right uppercut.
Round 3 Jab from Gonzalez…Right hook to head…Left uppercut..Lead left from Rivera..Body shot
Round 4 Gonzalez Jabbing…Left uppercut…Straight left …2 rights from Rivera…
Round 5 Rivera lands a 3 punch combination..Lead Right from Gonzalez..Right to head from Rivera..Jab from Gonzalez…1-2 from Gonzalez
Round 6 Gonzalez warned for headbutt..Hard right hook…Big shots by both..Right uppercut from Rivera..Right from Gonzalez stuns Rivera..
Round 7 Blood around right eye of Gonzalez..Left to body from Gonzalez
Round 8 Right uppercut on inside from Rivera…Right to body…Nice exchange…Straight left from Rivera..Body shot from Gonzalez..
Round 9 Gonzalez working the body…head shot from Rivera…Short uppercut from Gonzalez…Gonzalez
Round 10 Right uppercut and left body shot from Rivera..back up Gonzalez…Short left and right from Gonzalez..

96-94; 97-93 and 98-92 FOR GONZALEZ

By Norm Frauenheim–

Canelo Alvarez has an opportunity. That sounds crazy, especially in the immediate aftermath of his loss to Dmitry Bivol. The wounds are still there. The pain lingers. He tried to hide some of it with dark glasses a couple of hours after the stunning defeat. Nobody could look into his beaten eyes.

But the bruises will heal. The pain will subside. That’s when he’ll see a chance to actually fulfill the history he always says he is seeking. Legacy is become kind of a bumper sticker, not just in boxing. Its value has been eroded, a little bit like title belts. Everybody has one.

But not everybody is confronted with the adversity that comes with defeat. It’s deeply personal, more in boxing than in any other sport. Egos can get busted up, just like jaws and noses, especially when a world-wide audience is watching.

The loss to Bivol wasn’t Canelo’s first. He’s been there, losing to a masterful Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2013. But that was a younger Canelo, an apprentice still learning the craft. It was also a fight few expected him to win.

Last Saturday, Canelo was considered the master. He was the favorite. The scorecard defeat to a mostly unknown Russian light-heavyweight had to be more painful, which is what transforms it into the sort of opportunity that will put some real substance into Canelo’s pursuit. For him, legacy isn’t just a word or another belt anymore.

It’s real.

Adversity defines boxing. People watch to see fighters get off the canvas. To see comebacks. There’s an inherent dilemma in all of this. Nobody seeks defeat. Mayweather retired unbeaten. So, did Rocky Marciano, Andre Ward and Joe Calzaghe. So, did guys named Sven Ottke, Dmitry Pirog and Harry Simon. They’re all great fighters.

But the game amounts to a lot more than the 0 on the right side of the record. It’s about overcoming. It’s Ali coming back to beat Frazier. It’s Sugar Ray Leonard coming back to beat Roberto Duran. That’s history. Now, Canelo has a chance at some.

Late last Saturday at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, he wasn’t exactly clear about what he plans to do. His contract with Bivol included a clause for an immediate rematch. In the middle of the ring, Canelo said he would invoke the clause. A couple of hours later, he wasn’t sure.

“We’re gonna go to see what’s next, to talk about it,’’ he said.

Canelo will take his time. And he should. There’s plenty to consider. There’s a debate about his loss to Bivol, who displayed immense poise and smarts in front of roaring Cinco de Mayo crowd.

On the one hand, there’s an argument that Canelo took a risk in moving up the scale from super-middleweight to light-heavy. He failed. No shame there. Yet, questions about his tactics linger. There are also doubts about whether he took Bivol seriously.

Throughout the week before opening bell, there was talk about what Canelo would do after Bivol. Bivol was perceived as just another steppingstone. It got ridiculous. Even heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk was mentioned as a Canelo possibility. Everybody was buying into the hype, including me. I picked Canelo. I didn’t take Bivol serious and I’m not sure Canelo did. Yet, it become clear that Canelo didn’t have many plans beyond the first half of the fight against Bivol.

He went at the Russian, moving in a straight line throughout the first four rounds, as though he intended to bulldoze him they way he did Billy Joe Saunders. By now, we know it didn’t work. By the fifth round, there were signs that Canelo was fatigued. Earlier in his career, he had a habit of tiring late. He changed that with a more measured pace in the early moments, picking his spots and picking up the pace in the later rounds.

The argument is that Bivol beats Canelo again, that Canelo should just go on to a third fight with Gennadiy Golovkin in a bout that has been projected for September.

A victory at 168 pounds over GGG, a middleweight champion, would give Canelo the final say-so in their contentious rivalry. Canelo was 1-0-1 against GGG in two middleweight bouts. But what would it really prove? GGG is 40, several steps past his prime. The critics would be there. The critics would also gather into a social-media storm, demanding a rematch with Bivol.

Without Bivol, there would still be a lot of money for Canelo in super-middleweight bouts, post-GGG. There’s David Benavidez. But money can’t really be as decisive a factor as it was. Canelo’s got more of it than he can spend in a lifetime. He is ranked No. 8 on Forbes’ annual list of the world highest-paid athletes. He made a reported $90 million over a 12-month period, May 1 2021 to May 1 2022. That doesn’t even include his paycheck for Bivol. It was reported his purse could approach $50 million.

He doesn’t want for money. He wants history

History is calling. It’s in the rematch clause.

By Mario Ortega Jr. –

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – Fighting two weight classes above where he normally campaigns, Malikai Johnson returns home to fight for the first time since the untimely passing of his beloved father earlier this year as he headlines a full evening of fighting at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton, Sacramento. Fighters weighed-in Thursday afternoon at the same hotel where the action will take place on Friday evening. 

Johnson (8-0-1, 5 KOs) of Sacramento was last in the ring in January, scoring a devastating second-round knockout of durable veteran Jude Yniguez at this very same venue. Batres (10-21-1, 3 KOs) of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico has been fighting professionally since 2010 and has shared the ring with former world champion Miguel Berchelt and rising contender Brandun Lee among others. Despite being a good three inches shorter and normally a 130-pounder just like Johnson, it was Batres that prompted the higher contract weight for the fight Friday. The experienced Batres will hope to test Sacramento’s power-punching super featherweight prospect Johnson in a six-round bout. Johnson weighed-in at by far the heaviest of his career, forcing himself up to 138-pounds, while Batres made the contracted limit of 140 after stripping down behind a tablecloth. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson struggled to find the right training situation he needed to move forward with his professional career. “I was honestly thinking that I was probably going to quit,” recalled Johnson. “I was down to my last, so I thought I needed to challenge myself. The next day, I received a text from my assistant coach now, Genaro, that said Ray [Woods] was talking about you and how he’d love to train you and he extended an invitation. It was almost like it was destiny or fate. So I asked them what time they train on Monday and went over there. I wasn’t in a good place. I was in a bad mood and down, but I was trying to be optimistic. But I went in with really low hopes. Then the first day we started doing mitts, and I was like wow this is new, this is different. Every day I start showing up and really seeing improvements.”

In early February, not too long after Johnson picked up the win with Woods in his corner, the promising young fighter lost his biggest supporter, his father Tommie Tom. As it turned out, Tom had long wanted Johnson to hook up with the well respected Woods, but did not want to impose his belief onto his son’s career plans.  

During that whole process, [Woods] said, ‘Your dad always wanted me to train you.’ And then I went through my dad’s texts, and sure enough he had always been saying that he wanted Ray to train me, but that it had to be my decision,” explains Johnson. “After my dad passed, he said, ‘When I heard the news that your dad passed, I was here alone, but I looked up and I said, ‘Don’t worry Tommie, I got him. He’s in good hands, I got him.’ And that really touched me. Coach Ray, he might have tough love and get after me, but I know he is only doing it because this is a tough sport and bad things can happen. He doesn’t want those things to happen, and I know if I work hard and listen to the things that he says, I know if I do that, I have the skills to be world champion and have a successful career.”

In other action on Friday, DoubleTree Hotel favorite Tony Hernandez (4-2, 3 KOs) of Live Oak, California will take on Alejandro Fugon (3-1-1, 3 KOs) of Palmdale, California in what should be a thrilling six-round light heavyweight bout between two power-punchers. Hernandez, who scaled 173-pounds, is on a three-fight win streak dating back to 2019. Fugon, who came in at 170, is looking to bounce back from his lone defeat to a full-fledged cruiserweight prospect, Marco Deckmann, trained by Freddie Roach. 

In a four-round pairing of unbeaten welterweights, Luis Chavez (2-0) of Salinas, California will take on Juan Meza Moreno (4-0, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles, California. Chavez, who came in at 145-pounds on Thursday, has won two unanimous decisions since turning pro last July. Meza Moreno, weighing 144-pounds Thursday afternoon, turned professional last April, fighting exclusively in Tijuana, Mexico. 

In another battle of undefeated fighters, Kenny Lopez Jr. (4-0, 3 KOs) of Ceres, California will meet Andrew Garcia (4-0-1, 3 KOs) of Azusa, California in a four-round super middleweight bout. Lopez is eager to make his home state debut after a successful run in Tijuana last year. Garcia will also be making his California debut after scoring a second-round stoppage last time out in September in Tijuana. Lopez, who saw his January bout at this venue scrapped on the day of the fight, wound up cutting some weight on short notice after a mix-up on the weight limit. Despite the late notice, Lopez made the necessary 165 ½ and will finally enter the ring for the fifth time as a professional. Garcia came in at 165-pounds Thursday, four pounds north of his previous career high. 

In a highly anticipated encounter, Lizette Lopez of Salinas will take on Neveah Martinez of Victorville, California in a four-round featherweight bout. Both women will be making their professional debuts on Friday night. With their bout having been originally scheduled for January, both will be well-prepared for their first professional contest. Lopez, a product of the MXN Boxing Center, scaled 123 ½-pounds Thursday, while Martinez made 125 ½. 

Super featherweight prospect and former amateur standout Kevin Montano (2-0, 1 KO) of Sacramento will face veteran gatekeeper Corben Page (6-20-1, 1 KO) of Redding, California in a four-round super featherweight bout. Montano, who had been a finalist and a semi-finalist at the USA Boxing National Championships, turned pro with a knockout last August at the DoubleTree Hotel and returned for his second win two months later. Page scored a win in his last fight, a second-round stoppage. Montano and Page both scaled 130-pounds on Thursday. 

Irving Xilohua (1-0, 1 KO) of Stockton, California will meet Olaf Estrella Soto (0-1) of North Mankato, Minnesota by way of Apaseo El Grande, Guanajuato, Mexico in a four-round super bantamweight bout. Xilohua, who turned professional with a second-round knockout in Stockton this past December, weighed-in at 121-pounds on Thursday. Estrella Soto had a more difficult time getting to the contracted weight, weighing 123 ½ and then 123-pounds on his first two attempts. Well within the allotted one hour time-limit, Estrella Soto came back to the scale and made 122-pounds. 

Sacramento-based prospect Cain Sandoval (4-0, 4 KOs) was originally scheduled to make his hometown debut against veteran journeyman Jude Yniguez (5-9-4, 1 KO) of Oak Hills, California in a six-round lightweight bout. By the time the weigh-in ended, Sandoval was fighting a welterweight, David Minter (3-1, 3 KOs) of nearby Lincoln, California. Before Minter was named as the opponent and signed a contract, it briefly looked as though MMA fighter Alexander Carrillo, who saw his mixed martial arts fight scrapped when his opponent was not medically cleared, was going to bravely step in against the former amateur standout boxer.However, they were little too far apart on weight and experience and Minter was called in to replace Yniguez. Sandoval, who scaled 144-pounds, has kept busy since turning professional just last August, reeling off four knockouts in his four bouts. Minter, no stranger to the DoubleTree Hotel ring, made the welterweight limit of 147-pounds. 

In the lone mixed martial arts contest, Raheem Gilliam of Long Beach, California will take on Salvador Martinez of Stockton, California in a three-round middleweight fight. Both fighters are making their professional debuts. The contract had originally called for them to make 185-pounds, but both weighed-in a pound heavier and an agreement was made to make the bout for 186, so neither had to go sweat any extra poundage off. 

Quick Weigh-in Resuts:

Welterweights, 6 Rounds

Johnson 138

Batres 140 

Light heavyweights, 6 Rounds

Hernandez 173

Fugon 170

Welterweights, 4 Rounds 

Chavez 145

Meza Moreno 144

Super middleweights, 4 Rounds

Lopez Jr. 165 ½ 

Garcia 165

Featherweights, 4 Rounds

Lopez 123 ½ 

Martinez 125 ½ 

Super featherweights, 4 Rounds 

Montano 130

Page 130

Super bantamweights, 4 Rounds

Xilohua 121

Estrella Soto 122 

Welterweights, 4 Rounds 

Sandoval 144

David Minter 147

MMA

Middleweights, 3 Rounds 

Gilliam 186 

Martinez 186 

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

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortega15rds@lycos.com or followed on Twitter @MarioG280

By Mario Ortega Jr. –

Boxing and the motion picture industry have a rich history dating back decades. Before even colorvision had come along, stories around boxing made for great films. Somebody Up There Likes Me, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Fat City, the Rocky franchise, Raging Bull all the way to modern entries in the genre like The Fighter, Southpaw, Creed and too many others to name have been examples of how the sweet science makes for great storytelling. Super featherweight prospect, and avid film buff, Malikai Johnson sees his life playing out like one of his favorite films. Though he is still undefeated as a professional, his story includes a major setback, something every lead character needs to overcome in a great motion picture. With a win on Friday night in his hometown of Sacramento, California, Johnson may have the perfect ending to part one of his biographical film series. 

On the night of January 21st, Johnson moved to 9-0-1 (including a win in Rosarito, Mexico yet to be recognized on his official record) with a highlight reel type second-round knockout before his large and supportive fan following at the DoubleTree Hotel, Sacramento. Among his supporters, his greatest supporter of all, his father Tommie Tom. Unfortunately for Johnson and his family, tragedy would cast a pall over his triumph just a handful of days later on February 6th. On that date, Johnson, and everyone ever touched by the kindness of his father, lost Tom. 

“My dad was pretty against the vaccine and all that,” explains Johnson. “I kind of racked my brain about it back-and-forth. Maybe I should have forced him, I should have pressed him more to go get the vaccine. You know, I blamed myself. I went back-and-forth in my head about what could I have done. But, everything happens for a reason. It was out of my control.  I just had to look back and think about all the lessons that he taught me and appreciate him for the memories that he did give me.”  

One of the many qualities Tom passed on to his eldest son was a love of feature films. “He was a movie collector and we have like over 8,000 DVDs,” describes Johnson. “I just had to see my life like a movie. I lived with my mom for half of my life, until I was about twelve-and-a-half. She taught me a lot of love and empathy and that type of stuff. But just like the movie Boyz in the Hood, when he says, ‘Only your dad can teach you how to be a man.’  He taught me a lot of great things, like insurance, ownership, taxes, finance and a lot of logical things. He bred into me how to be a man and how to keep on keeping on.”

When Johnson first moved in with his father as a youth he did not look up to the man that really had just reentered his life. One of the things that kept the young Johnson on the straight and narrow was boxing, and the fact that his dad could take that privilege away. “I had to listen to what he said, because with the boxing, he was paying for it,” explains Johnson. “He told me I had to get good grades or I couldn’t box. So I got good grades. I had to do what he said and live right. But as I started doing it and growing older, I saw that things were going well for me and getting better. I was saving money, investing as a kid, making money and flipping the money to make even more money. Growing up with my mom and being broke, not having any money, I always kind of invested it, and that is how my fight name became Bankroll Mali, because I was in middle school, high school, always trying to make a buck, and I got that from my dad.”

The father-son relationship between Tom and Johnson continued to grow and eventually the two became co-workers. “At age 18 he was like, ‘Hey, I think you should come work with me at UPS. You will have health benefits that will pay for your pro license and all that. You can make a little money. You are in shape and young, so the work won’t be hard on you. You work at night and can box during the day time. So I started at 18.  It’s a union job, so he taught me the ways of that. I am getting my seniority up. He taught me a lot of great things and how to maneuver in there.”

It would be while working at UPS that Johnson would really gain an idea of the kind of man his father Tommie Tom was. “I started seeing random people in there, of all shapes, sizes and ethnicities, gay or straight, everybody would come up me, ‘Oh, you’re Tommie Tom’s son? That dude, when I was struggling, he paid for my son’s school supplies. Awww, man, it was a rainy day and I didn’t have a car and had to walk home and he gave me a ride home. He would bring me Starbucks everyday or I was having a bad day and he brought me this. Or my daughter was selling girl scout cookies and he bought two cases, the entire 50-piece boxes they were selling,’” recalls Johnson. “I was thinking, ‘Damn, he’s touching all these people.’ I have visions of being a success in boxing and wanting to get into philanthropy. I am trying to be a pro and have a platform for myself to speak to the people. But, him, he’s changing the world, he’s doing positive things one person at a time. After I saw that he touched so many people out of the generosity of his heart, I was like I want to be like that. When I was 18, working at UPS, that is when I started thinking that I wanted to be just like my dad.”

In addition to the kindness he saw in his father, Johnson also took up his dad’s work ethic. “He was a hustler,” says Johnson. “Everybody in the wherehouse would tell me how he’s pulling three shifts or always trying to maneuver his hours so he could get the double pay on Sundays, whatever he could do to make the most money. He would work like 80 hours a week. He liked to brag that he made $200,000 a year, just being a trucker. But somehow, this fool always ended up losing sleep just so he could come watch me box, watch me train sometimes. He just loved to support me and loved to be there. He taught me that anything you care about, anything that you have a shot at greatness with, you should go all out. Most people can go to school and follow the herd, but if you have a real shot or a real talent, why not go all the way, but have a backup plan. That’s why he got me in with UPS. So I could have an opportunity to make x amount. I was in AP and honors and he was always proud of that.”

Prior to late last year, a rift had existed among members of Tom’s family. Around Christmas, Johnson’s grandmother had made a plea to members of the family to squash whatever had split them up for her sake. At his grandmother’s urging, members of the family had done just that and started mending fences. 

“With that, I ended up getting even closer with my grandma,” explains Johnson. “I would do anything for her. After his passing, she asked that I go to Buddhist temple every Sunday for 49 days after his passing. At first I was thinking it would be really boring, but I was in a dark place right after my dad had passed. Getting in touch with my Vietnamese side and their Buddhist culture, it was amazing. Every Sunday we would go and pray. Us praying, we were asking Buddha to please get him into Heaven and the more people that would show up, it would show how many people he affected. So we would all show up in nice clothes and bring food for his altar every day, like we were feeding him. And pray. It made the process a lot easier and I cried a couple times there because I felt good, like he was almost still alive. On the 100th day, you come back, and it just happens to be the Sunday after the fight. So after this fight, I will have a little celebration on Saturday, but I am not going to stay up too late because I will be waking up for Buddhist temple on Sunday morning and go back and pray for my dad. When I am going to be there, I am going to show him and make him proud.”

Even though Johnson will be taking to the ring for the first time without his father’s support or their normal pre-fight ritual of prayer, a crack of the back and an elaborate handshake, Tommie Tom did not leave his son alone to continue this boxing journey on his own. 

“Even though my dad passed, he left me with a lot of great people and a lot of great support,” explains Johnson. “He always told me to call my uncles and my aunts and they have been real good to me throughout this whole process. My sponsor Gold USA has made a lot of connections. My aunts and uncle have stepped in and have helped sell so many tickets and shirts and stuff. So my support system has been great and I have a lot of great fans thanks in part to my dad and the fact that he promoted me or posted for me everyday as such a proud dad.” 

The only thing standing in Johnson’s way of a feature film type ending this coming weekend is 32-fight veteran Pablo Batres of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, his opponent for the Friday night’s six-round main event at the DoubleTree Hotel. 

“I just know he’s got a lot of experience, so I can’t go in there expecting that I am just going to run him over,” says Johnson of Batres. “I am going to treat him like he’s a world champion. I am going to be in there, implement my game plan, break him down and box him from the first round, get him tired and finish him if I find the opening.”

Beginning with the fight on Friday, followed by his Sunday of prayer, this coming weekend figures to possibly be the most emotionally charged weekend in the young “Machine Gun” Johnson’s life. On Friday and Sunday, Tommie Tom’s first born, who happens to share his birthday, plans to show his father the type of man he raised while applying some of the lessons he learned while under his dad’s care. 

“I am going to live my life and make the choices like he was here,” says Johnson. “I know he is looking down proud and when he was here he was proud. While I am here, I just want to do right by him.”

Tickets for the event, titled “May Madness: Show Up or Shut Up” and promoted by Upper Cut Promotions, are available online at uppercutpro.com 

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

By Mario Ortega Jr.-

In life, and in boxing, there is no substitution for experience. Exciting super featherweight prospect Kevin Montano believes that, despite his relative young age of 24-years-old. After years of learning and perfecting his trade over the course of a long amateur run, Montano and his team felt he had gained the experience needed to embark on a successful professional career and the Sacramento State graduate made the move to the paid ranks in August of last year. After notching two wins in 2021, the gifted young pro goes for win number three this coming Friday night, in front of his hometown fans at the DoubleTree Hotel in Sacramento, California against the professionally more experienced 27-fight veteran Corben Page. 

Montano (2-0, 1 KO) of Sacramento began boxing at the age of eight, training under renowned Concord, California-based veteran trainer Gary Sullenger, who still trains him to this day. “My family and friends wanted me to stay out of trouble, so they kept me in the gym,” recalls Montano. “When I won my first fight at nine, I loved the feeling of winning. Nothing compared to performing in front of a crowd, and having your name announced as the winner.”

Montano kept the winning feeling with him throughout over 160 amateur fights, achieving great national and international recognition along the way. “Personally, I wanted to get the most out of my amateur career and gain experience fighting the most different types of fighters that I could, especially going into the Olympic Trials and fighting overseas with Team USA,” explains Montano. “I wanted to see it all, because I have seen a lot of fighters turn pro too early and come across a style that they are not used to. There’s a lot of very awkward or very slick types of fighters out there. If you aren’t used to that in the amateurs, you definitely won’t be used to that in the pros. I feel like I have seen it all over these 160 bouts. I feel like I am well seasoned to turn pro, so that is why we turned pro at this time.”

Montano, who earned his degree in kinesiology, has a student’s approach to the boxing business. “In my eyes, just kind of like high school, there is a four-year cycle where everyone turns pro,” says Montano. “For me, this was like my graduation year. The Olympic cycle is every four years. So I went for Olympic Trials, it didn’t go as planned, so it was time to graduate and take the next step in my career.”

The next step began with a second-round knockout in front of his Sacramento and Bay Area fanbase last August. Two months later, Montano returned to the DoubleTree Hotel with a four-round unanimous decision. Beginning his professional career in his adopted hometown is a luxury Montano has not taken for granted. “I like to call it my adopted hometown, because I have been here for several years now and the city has shown me a lot of love,” says Montano. “I am very comfortable here. The people love me and I love them back. I have been here for four or five years. I pursued a higher education and the city grew on me and I grew on them.”

Montano began his boxing training in Concord, where Sullenger has been based for decades. Now as a professional, living in Sacramento, Montano still makes the drive to get his boxing work in the Bay Area with his lifelong trainer. “I go down there about three times a week,” explains Montano. “It’s a lot of commuting, but this is my profession, so it is all worth it. He tunes me up, tells me what I need to work on. I get any extra sparring and then I go up here because my strength coach is in Sacramento, but my boxing coaches are in the Bay Area.”

Not surprisingly, the college graduate/professional boxer does not take any shortcuts when it comes to his homework, studying his opponents before fight night. “I definitely study my opponents, so I know what he has got and I don’t think he has that much to bring,” says the supremely confident Montano. “I am very confident in my ability, especially my strengths: my speed and my athleticism. I am also very well-rounded in experience. I have had over 160 amateur fights and now my power is developing. I am looking to capitalize on that in this fight.”

While he does hope to be expanding his horizons soon when it comes to fight locations, Montano is very appreciative to be fighting before his family and friends. If things all go according to plan, Montano will be back at the DoubleTree Hotel in August as well. “I want to thank everybody that bought tickets to come out and support me and watch me fight live,” says Montano, with appreciation in his voice. “That means a lot to me. Even if you tried to make it and couldn’t make it, I know a lot of things happen, so I do understand. I want to give a lot of attention to my supporters, because they are definitely a driving force that keeps me going.”

With years of experience and his local fanbase supporting him from ringside, Montano is more than confident that Friday the 13th in Sacramento will be a nightmare for one Corben Page. “I don’t underestimate anybody,” explains Montano. “I know that I am more than experienced enough to handle somebody like this. I have been fighting for 16 years now. I’ve seen it all. I feel like this is just another guy that I have to get past. I do expect to dominate him and stop him for sure. I feel more than ready.” 

Tickets for the event, titled “May Madness: Show Up or Shut Up” and promoted by Upper Cut Promotions, are available online at uppercutpro.com

Photos by Julio Sanchez 

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

Follow all the action as Dmitry Bivol defends the WBA Light Heavyweight title against Canelo Alvarez. The action starts at 4:45 ET with 8 undercard bouts featuring Montana Love, Shakhram Giyasova and Zhilei Zhang.

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Round 1: Left from Alvarez..Uppercut at the bell

ROUND 2 Bivol Jabbing..1-2 from Bivol..Good right from Alvarez…Right from Bivol..Right from Alvarez..

ROUND 3 Right to body from Bivol…Uppercut from Alvarez..Left hook from Bivol..Right from Alvarez..Left..Right…Flurry from Bivol..Uppercut from Alvarez..

ROUND 4 Right from Alvarez..Right to body from Bivol..Hard right from Alvarez..Combination..Right..Good right…Hard uppercut

ROUND 5 Right from Alvarez..Right…Overhand right..Bivol lands a flurry and Canelo says “Come on”  Jab and left from Bivol..

ROUND 6 Good right from Bivol..Right from Alvarez…Uppercut..Left hook from Bivol..

ROUND 7  Right to body from Alvarez…Left to body…Left hook from Bivol..Right to chin by Bivol

ROUND 8 Combination from Bivol..Combination on ropes..Big Right..Right from Alvarez..

ROUND 9 Right from Alvarez…Bivol flurrying…Big flurry from Alvarez..Body shot..Left hook from Bivol..

ROUND 10  Uppercut From Bivol..Left hook…Counter right..

ROUND 11 Counter left from Bivol..Hard Jab…Right..Left ffrom Bivol…

ROUND 12 Body work from Canelo…Right…

115-113 FOR DMITRY BIVOL

Round 1 Straight left from Love…STRAIGHT LEFT FROM LOVE AND ITS A KNOCDOWN..
Round 2 LEFT FROM GOLLAZ AND DOWN GOES GOLLAZ…Right…Left from Love…
Round 3 Right from Gollaz
Round 4 
Round 5 Love lands a left..
Round 6  Not Much
Round 7 Left for Love…Right from Gollaz..Big Left from Love
Round 8   Right for Gollaz
Round 9 Right for Gollaz..Jab…
Round 10 2 Lefts from Love…
Round 11 Right for Gollaz
Round 12 Left hook/right uppercut from Gollaz…Right…Counter from Love…Straight left

114-112 on ALL CARDS FOR MONTANA LOVE

Round 1: Jab from Giyasov…Blood from Nose of Gomez..Left hook..
Round 2 Combination from Giyasov
Round 3 Big left hook from Gomez…Left hook..
Round 4 Counter left from Gomez…Blood from Nose from Giyasov…HARD LEFT HOOK AND DOWN GOES GOMEZ..Right from Giyasov…Left to body..
Round 5 Nice left to the body by Giyasov..Uppercut from Gomez..left from Gomez
Round 6 Good Jab from Gomez..Counter left
Round 7 Uppercut from Gomez…Jab from Giyasov…1-2 to the body…Uppercut fROM GIYASOV AND DOWN GOES GOMEZ..Nice Uppercut from Gomez Hurts Giyasov
Round 8 Good Jab from Gomez..Big Right..Nice right..Big Right…Left hook from Giyasov
Round 9 Giyasov lands a right…
Round 10 BIG RIGHT AND DOWN GOES GOMEZ…Overhand right…

99-88 Twice and 98-89 FOR GIYASOV

Round 1: Left from Zhang…Hard right hook…..STRAIGHT LEFT AND DOWN GOES ALEXANDER…FIGHT IS OVER

Round 1: Body shot from Castro
Round 2 right from Vicente…Body shot from Castro..Good Uppercut
Round 3 Left from Castro…Right from Vicente…Right from Castro…Right
Round 4 2 Hard Body shots from Castro
Round 5 Counter from Vicente..Left to body from Castro…Straight left..
Round 6 Left to body from Castro..Right over the top

60-54 ON ALL CARDS FOR CASTRO

Round 1 Good left from Abdurimov.Left to body..Good body shot…Right hook to body…Good left
Round 2 Left rocks Correa…STRAIGHT LEFT AND DOWN GOES CORREA..Blood on the face of Correa…Right hook over the top…HARD LEFT AND DOWN GOES CORREA…STARIGHT LEFT AND DOWN GOES CORREA., AND THE FIGHT IS STOPPED

Round 1 Combination from Molina…Uppercut…
Round 2 Good right from Molina..Right…left to body..Left hook from Molina..Double jab and right hand
Round 3 Right to body from Valdovinos..
Round 4 Jab from Molina…Right from Valdovinos…Right from Molina…Right from Valdovinos and a sweeping right..Counter from Molina..Right from Valdovinos…Good left hook from Molina…Right from Valdovinos..Good left hook from Molina
Round 5 Right from Valdovinos..Right from Molina..Body shot..Good right..Digging to the body…Good right from Valdovinos
Round 6 Good uppercut from Molina…Good right from Valdovinos…LEFT AND DOWN GOES MOLINA..Right from Molina

57-56 VALDOVINOS…58-56 MOLINA…57-56 MOLINA

By Norm Frauenheim-

LAS VEGAS — Canelo Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol made weight while a sweating crowd lost some Friday at a weigh-in under hot afternoon sun in the Nevada desert.

With temperature approaching triple digits, both Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) and Bivol (19-0, 11 KOS) came in under the 175-pound limit for their heavyweight title fight Saturday (Pay-Per-View, DAZN) at T-Mobile Arena.

Alvarez was at 174.4. Bivol, the current World Boxing Association belt-holder, tipped the scale 174.6. Both are expected to be several pounds heavier at opening bell (PPV telecast starts at * pm ET/5 pm PT)

“Canelo, probably 180,” promoter Eddie Hearn told reporters after the weigh-in in front of a lively Cinco de Mayo crowd at the Toshiba Plaza outside of T-Mobile. “Bivol, probably 190.’

By Norm Frauenheim –

LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez is moving up scale. Saturday it’s a bid for a light-heavyweight title held by Dmitry Bivol.

Then, there’s some business to finish with Gennadiy Golovkin in a third fight projected for September.

After that, he and his current promoter, Eddie Hearn, are talking about a unified title at 175 pounds, perhaps against Artur Beterbiev in May 2023.

He continues to talk about a fight at cruiserweight. Welterweight champion Errol Spence was mentioned for a date at a catch weight. Now, there’s even some wild talk about a move to heavyweight against Oleksandr Usyk.

A lot of names are mentioned, all there like milestones on the path to what Canelo calls history. There are no apparent limits to what Canelo hopes to do. Bivol might change that at T-Mobile Arena in a pay-per-view bout (DAZN). But that would be a huge upset.

If Canelo walks through Bivol the way he bulldozed Callum Smith, Caleb Plant and Billy Joe Saunders, his chances improve at actually doing what he envisions.

But at least one thing hasn’t changed. David Benavidez is still not in his plans. Among the myriad of names, weight classes and belts mentioned this week, there was no Benavidez. There was no mention of unbeaten middleweight belt-holder Jermall Charlo, either.

But increasingly Benavidez is the fighter at the top of the list. Take a poll. Benavidez, who faces David Lemieux on May 21 in Glendale AZ, is the fighter fans want to see against Canelo.

Even Hearn seemed to concede that much this week in a give-and-take with the media after a formal news conference Thursday.

“How can you say Charlo is a better fighter than Beterbiev? ‘’ Hearn said in a defensive counter to questions about the quality of Canelo’s opposition. “Are you mad? How can you say Charlo is a tougher fight than Dmitry Bivol at 175? Absolute rubbish.

“Who has Charlo ever beat? Keep going. Now, tell me the recent ones. (Juan Macias) Montiel? Terrible. He wasn’t motivated to fight. (Maciej) Sulecki? Lovely kid. But Sulecki? Put him in with Plant, with Benavidez.

“I think Benavidez could be the best of all of those.”

But it’s the best of a group that continues to be ignored in Canelo’s grand plan. For now, at least, that means the unbeaten Benavidez, a two-time former super-middleweight champion from Phoenix, is consigned to play the historical role that once belonged to Antonio Margarito. Oscar De La Hoya wouldn’t fight Margarito. Floyd Mayweather wouldn’t fight Margarito.

Hearn, however, suggests that Benavidez can change that role. It’s clear Hearn, like the fans, can see the explosive potential in a Benavidez-Canelo fight.

“That’s a big fight,’’ Hearn said.

But, Hearn also said, it’s up to Benavidez’ promotional team to put him in a better position to get the Canelo date he has sought for just about as long as Canelo has pursued history.

“Ultimately, the fights against Benavidez and Charlo are just voluntary defenses of his 168-pound title,” Hearn said. “He could (fight Benavidez at 175 pounds). But that’s another voluntary defense. If you said to Canelo, what would you rather do? ‘Fight Benavidez in a voluntary defense or fight Beterbiev for the undisputed light-heavyweight championship?’ it’s not even a conversation.

“Benavidez wants big fights. It’s embarrassing who they’re fighting. Why don’t you make Charlo versus Benavidez? Why don’t you make Benavidez versus Plant. You give them all these easy fights for all this money and they’re not selling. You’re just burning money.

“Get the guys together, make the fights. I know Benavidez. He wants the big fights. It’s PBC’s job to put him in big fights and they’re not. Canelo-Benavidez could be a massive fight.

“But it’s nowhere near what it could be.”

Interesting.Got it.Wow.

By Norm Frauenheim –

LAS VEGAS – It’s blood sport. It’s show biz, too. Canelo Alvarez does both in a career that includes risk and riches, a balancing act hard to master and even harder to sustain.

But Canelo is there, still on the high wire and on an ascending path notable in part because there just aren’t many apparent rivals in his way.

He says he fights for history. His promoter says he fights for legacy. Those are noble pursuits, of course. But fans are a little bit more pedestrian. They just want to see him fight somebody.

Maybe, Dmitry Bivol is that somebody. Bivol is there, next on Canelo’s assembly line to legacy.

He’s got a belt. He’s has an unbeaten record. He’s a step up the scale for Canelo, who is moving from super-middleweight to light-heavy. Those are elements easy to promote, easy to sell for a crowd anxious to see Canelo confront the sort of adversity he hasn’t seen since his draw and narrow decision over Gennady Golovkin in 2017 and 2018.

Front and center, those maybes have been the sale pitch this week for Canelo’s fight with Bivol at T-Mobile Arena in a pay-per-view, DAZN fight. Maybe, Bivol can deliver the drama. Maybe, he can do what Callum Smith, Avni Yildirim, Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant could not.

“Yes, he is a good fighter,’’ Canelo said Thursday during a final formal news conference at MGM Grand. “He’s really a good champion. He’s solid champion, at 175 pounds. I respect Dmitry Bivol.

“This is the kind of fight that will put me in the books of history.’’

But it is also a fight burdened by much of what fans have seen for a couple of years. Despite Bivol’s overall competence and thorough skillset, he looks a little but like the string of Canelo earlier opponents.

None have had enough power to keep Canelo from mounting his trademark assault. The theory has played out repeatedly. If Canelo knows he can’t be hurt in the opening moments, he’ll launch his predictable beatdown. He’ll begin to move forward stubbornly with sustained punishment. Again, maybe Bivol has the skillset to slow him down.

“I believe in my victory,’’ said Bivol, notable because he’s a likeable Russian whose country is waging an unpopular war in the Ukraine. “If you don’t believe, you can’t win.

“Why not?’’

It’s a fair question. But there are lot of numbers that argue against Bivol’s belief. He hasn’t scored a stoppage in more than four years. More ominous, perhaps Is a revealing statistic from Compubox’s Dan Canobbio. Bivol has thrown fewer than 20 power punches in 44 of his last 51 rounds. You can’t beat Canelo that way.

Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, Canelo’s current promoter, is frustrated with the questions about Canelo’s opposition. He countered them repeatedly in a give-and-take with media after the news conference. The questions fail to acknowledge what Canelo is achieving in the here and now, Hearn said.

“He might be the greatest fighter ever since Ali,’’ Hearn said.

The generations since Ali have include some legendary names. Here are just a few: Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Roy Jones Jr., Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, and Manny Pacquiao. Does Canelo belong among them? Hearn seemed to say that he does.

Canelo has been fighting champions, Hearn said. He’s been beating them too. But there are belts and weight classes aplenty these days. Hearns rival Bob Arum called all the belt-holders a bunch of “Jambonis” last Saturday when asked if he would put together a couple of more title 130-pound unification bouts together for Shakur Stevenson after his one-sided victory over Oscar Valdez for two of the junior-lightweight belts.

“Most of the people out there don’t know who the hell those guys are,’’ Arum said.

But they do know Canelo.

“This is my time,’’ Canelo said.

It is. It has been. And it might continue to be his time for a while. There’s a third fight with Golovkin looming in September. The consensus is that Canelo, now in his prime, will knock out the remains of the GGG rivalry with a dominant victory over Golovkin, who looks to be a year or two past his best days.

Hearn foresees a couple of fights in Europe. Then, he said, maybe Canelo can unify the light-heavyweight title against Artur Beterbiev in 2023.

“Maybe, next year’s Cinco de Mayo fight,’’ Hearn said.

Maybe. More like probably.