By Norm Frauenheim

Amateur boxing is talking reform. Again. With another Olympics just a few weeks away, the sport’s international ruling body says it plans far-reaching change for what it promises will be “a fair fight.’’

Fair enough. Easy to do, too. The body, AIBA, took an opportunity to grab the bully pulpit this week with an international news conference less than a month before opening ceremonies. Trouble is, AIBA isn’t supposed to have anything to do with boxing at the delayed Tokyo Games.

The Olympic czars in Switzerland have ordered AIBA to get its house in order. That means cleaning up a reported $16-million debt, a mob-like history of bureaucrats and bosses and decades full of corrupt judging.

Olympic boxing makes the scarred pro game look like Mister Clean. Hard to do. Yet, it hangs on, pushed to the edge of the Olympic fringe because of its long history and its universality. Everybody fights, and everybody has been fighting since at least the ancient Greeks. It’s there, in spite of itself.

But it’s not clear how many people watch anymore. Exasperation at boxing’s failure to root out the corruption forced NBC to drop it as a featured part of its telecast schedule. It’s embarrassing and has been since Roy Jones Jr. got robbed 33 years ago in Seoul. The world saw it. Then, boxing still generated an audience, one that remembered 1976 and a Montreal Olympics that starred Sugar Ray Leonard.

The Jones theft, a decision that cost him the gold medal, might as well be forever framed in yellow-crime tape. It was defining, for him and the Olympics. It was no coincidence, perhaps, that Jones was part of the news conference from Lausanne. He appeared alongside AIBA’s new president, Umar Kremlev, a Russian. Remember, Jones is Russian, too. At least, he has a Russian passport. The American was granted citizenship by Vladimir Putin in 2015.

Whatever the connection, Jones belonged there. Despite all of his great moments in the pro ring and his long run atop the pound-for-pound ratings, he will be remembered for what happened at the 1988 Olympics. His voice is the key to any discussion about Olympic boxing and its troubled path to irrelevance. Say it in Russian. Say it In English. Roy Jones Jr. said it all this week.

“Whenever I see that, it feels like yesterday,’’ Jones said of the photo that shows the ref raising South Korean Park Si-hun’s hand in victory for the light-middleweight gold. “And not in a great way.

“All the judges that were part of that decision were crooked. They’ve all been banned. And I know they were not the only ones.

“So, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The judges were crooked. The whole world knows it. Even my opponent agrees I won the fight. But how come I don’t have my gold medal? How can you beat someone so bad and not get the gold medal, and they don’t go back and fix it? Because I’m still here. And I still earned it. And we have to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.’’

The key is in Jones question: Why-oh-why doesn’t he have the gold? More than three decades have come and gone. Jones was awarded the Val Barker Trophy, the award for being the most outstanding boxer at the Seoul Games. In 2002, the IOC honored him with something called The Olympic Order.

But never the gold.

Kremlev said this week that he wants Jones to finally get that gold. For Olympic boxing, it’s a beginning, really the only beginning.

All of the talk about reform is hollow – Fool’s gold – until Olympic boxing gives Jones his moment on the podium’s top pedestal. In the years since 1988, enough has been revealed to give not only Jones the gold. Give one to Michael Carbajal, too. Carbajal’s loss to Bulgarian Ivailo Hristov was just the beginning of rigged judging in a scheme that included an officer in the former East German police force (Stasi). Years after the Seoul Games and subsequent collapse of East Germany, Stasi files were found to include allegations that the fights were fixed and bribes were paid.

Carbajal, of Phoenix, fought and lost on Oct. 1. Jones lost the next day. The night before the Carbajal fight, talk circulated that the fix was in. A shouting match erupted between the American coaching staff and members of the committee responsible for assigning the judges.

Stan Hamilton, a judge-referee from Knoxville, Tenn., told the Los Angeles Times about a contentious 2 a.m. meeting. Hamilton told sportswriter Earl Gustkey that two judges, Hiouad Larbi of Morocco and Alberto Duran of Uruguay, were supposed to have been suspended for questionable work early in the Olympics. He said neither was eligible to work any gold-medal bout. But they worked both the Carbajal and Jones losses – five judges-to-zero against Carbajal and 3-2 against Jones.

Before the meeting ended, Hamilton said, committee member Vladimir Gordienko, of the former Soviet Union, left and ran into Jim Fox, then executive director of the U.S. amateur federation.

“Gordienko was angry,” Hamilton said. “He found Fox and told him: ‘You will lose, 5-0, to the Bulgarian.’ ‘’

That’s what happened. First, Carbajal, then Jones, both losing with judges working while suspended. Carbajal and Jones moved on, both to Hall-of-Fame careers. Neither Hristov nor Park fought again, amateur or pro.

It was the fix that never got fixed. Until it does, there will never be a new beginning for Olympic boxing.

A fair fight is possible, but first give Jones and Carbajal the gold they fairly won.Attachments area

Follow all the action as Gervonta Davis takes on Mario Barrios for Barrios version of the WBA Super Lightweight title.  The action begins at 9 PM ET with a three fight undercard featuring Erickson Lubin taking on Jeison Rosario; Carlos Adames battling Alexis Salazar, and Batyr Akhmedov fighting Argenis Mendez

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Round 1: Not Much

Round 2 Right from Barrios..Left hook to the body…Left from Davis..Right to body from Barrios…Left hook/Right hand..double jab…Right from Barrios..Left uppercut from Davis

Round 3 Davis lands a left to the body and then to the head..Left to body from Barrios

Round 4 Jab from Davis..Right from Barrios…Another right

Round 5 Right from Barrios.. 2 lefts from Davis…Right to body from Barrios…Left from Davis..Left hook to boy/Right to head from Barrios..Straight left from Davis..Right hook to body from Davis…Left hook to body from Barrios…Hard left from Davis…Body shot from Barrios…barrios cut around his right eye

Round 6  Jab from Barrios..Left from Davis..2 Lefts…Counter right from Barrios…Left from Davis..Uppercut from Barrios..Left and right to body

Round 7 Lead left from Davis…Left..Double Jab/Left hand

Round 8  BIG RIGHT HOOK AND DOWN GOES BARRIOS….BIG STRAIGHT LEFT AND DOWN GOES BARRIOS AGAIN…Huge right hook from Davis..Left and right..Barrios cut under left eye

Round 9 Body shot from Barrios..Combination..Right hook from Davis…Left hook from Barrios..Double jab/left hand from Davis..

Round 10 Right to body from Barrios…Double left hook..Combination….Huge right hook from Davis…Right hook..Jab from Barrios..Right to the body..Left to body from Davis..Good right to the body from Barrios…left to liver from Davis..Left uppercut from Barrios…Big left from Davis…Exchange of body shots…Big left from Davis…

Round 11 3 punch combination from Barrios…Double jab/left hand from Davis…Right Hook…right to bisy from Barrios…BODY SHOT AND DOWN GOES BARRIOS...BIG LEFT THAT ROCKS BARRIOS AND THE FIGHT IS STOPPED

Round 1 Jab-Right hand from Lubin…
Round 2 Left and right from Lubin
Round 3 Right hook from Lubin…1-2 buckles Rosario..Good right hook and left…hard right
Round 4 ..Hard right staggers Lubin
Round 5  Lubin steadies himself
Round 6 Nice Uppercut from Lubin…Body shot…Left to the head…HARD RIGHT HOOK TO THE BODY AND DOWN GOES ROSARIO…HUGE STRAIGHT LEFT AND DOWN GOES ROSARIO…HE DOES NOT BEAT THE COUNT

Round 1: Right from Salazar…
Round 2:  1-2 from Salazar…
Round 3 Hard combination from Adames…HUGE LEAD LEFT AND DOWN GOES SALAZAR…THE FIGHT IS OVER

Round 1 Jab from Akhmedov..Left to the body..Counter from Mendez
Round 2 Jab from Mendez..Body work from Akhmedov…Blood around the left eye of Akhmedov…Jab from Akhmedov..Body shot
Round 3 Good right to body from Mendez…Body shot from Akhmedov…Right uppercut to body from Mendez…Right..Body shot…Right from Akhmedov..Nice counter right from Mendez..Lead right
Round 4 Left from Mendez…Left hook..Lead right..Lead left hook…another…sweeping right..
Round 5 Straight left from Akhmedov…Jab…right hook to the body and another…Counter right from Mendez…2 left hooks to the body..Jab from Akhmedov..Head shot from mendez..Body from Mendez…Double jab..left from Ahkmedov…Body shot..
Round 6 Jab from Akhmedov…Left hook from Mendez…Jab..Akhmedov lands a nice jab…Left..
Round 7 Left uppercut and body work from Akhmedov…2 left hooks from Mendez
Round 8 2 straight lefts from Akhmedov..Right hook to the body..double jab and left hand…FIGHT STOPPED IN CORNER…MENDEZ RETIRES ON STOOL

By Norm Frauenheim-

It’s high risk for a fighter who calls himself Hi-Tech.

Vasiliy Lomachenko, a consensus pound-for-pound No.1 for a couple of years in the post-Floyd Mayweather era, is at a career crossroads in a fight that appears to be a way of strengthening his argument for a rematch with Teofimo Lopez.

But Masayoshi Nakatani is a tough way to go. In Nakatani, Lomachenko encounters all of the dimensions –and then some – that troubled the Ukrainian in his move up the scale and into a loss last October to Lopez.

Lomachenko’s scorecard defeat was debatable on a couple of levels. The judging was one-sided, especially the 119-109 and 117-111 scores. ESPN’s Andre Ward, former super-middleweight and light-heavyweight champion, scored it a draw. So did I.

After reviewing the lightweight bout several times, my card could have been 115-113 or even 116-112, — the third official score – all for Lopez. Never for Lomachenko, who has since said he is convinced it was a draw.

From every angle in repeated reviews, Lopez wins the argument with energy, poise, size and – in the end – knowing he was the bigger guy. That was the key then. It might be the key now for Lomachenko (14-2, 10 KOs) Saturday night (ESPN+, 4:15 PT./7:15 pm ET)) against Nakatani (19-1, 13 KOs) at Las Vegas’ Virgin Hotels.

Nakatani is bigger in every significant aspect. At 5-11 ½, he is 4 ½ inches taller than Lomachenko and 3 ½ inches taller than Lopez. In reach, he has a 5 ½ advantage over Lomachenko, 3 ½ over Lopez. The appropriately named tale-of -the-tape doesn’t measure everything, of course. If it did, Russian 7-footer Nikolai Valuev would still be the heavyweight champ. It doesn’t measure those proverbial intangibles. Lomachenko has plenty in terms of footwork, punching angles, smarts and instinct.

Then, again, so does Nakatani. The Japanese fighter’s skill set has been questioned, but there’s not much doubt about his will. He’s there for the distance. For Lomachenko, that’s the problem. And the challenge.

Lomachenko needs a stoppage. He has to do what Lopez could not. His argument for a rematch with Lopez hinges on one because Nakatani is the reference point. Nakatani forced Lopez to go the distance for the first time a couple of years ago in Oxon Hill, MD.

Lopez won a unanimous decision, similar to his decision over Lomachenko in that the scoring didn’t reflect the fight in July 2019. It was close, or at least a lot closer than the 118-110, 119-109, 118-110 cards. Even the ever-confidant Lopez called the bout, a then a lightweight title eliminator, “horrible.’’

A decision — from one-sided to close and everything in between — just won’t do it for Lomachenko. A complication, perhaps, is injury. Since the former featherweight and junior lightweight champion jumped to 135 pounds, he’s been vulnerable. He underwent surgery on his right shoulder the week after his loss to Lopez. He apparently aggravated a lingering injury. But, apparently, it was enough to make him cautious through the first seven rounds against Lopez.

Believe what you want, he can’t afford another injury, even with a definitive stoppage of Nakatani. He’s 33. The best of his prime is probably behind him. Another injury, even in a definitive knockout of Nakatani, would leave him with a dilemma.

Risk further injury against Lopez, perhaps at even heavier weight, 140 pounds?

Move back to 130, where his skill set was dominant in every way?

The latter would end any hope at avenging his loss to Lopez, who is already calling out undisputed junior-welterweight Josh Taylor.

There’s really no choice for a fighter whose Hi-Tech nickname has summed up the variety of options included in his unique skill set. Lomachenko needs a clean stoppage for his career at the top of the game to continue. Attachments area

By Norm Frauenheim-

Silence from Deontay Wilder can be a good thing. But even a little wasn’t enough in a news conference bizarre, even by boxing’s twisted standards. A lot was said about Wilder’s decision to say almost nothing during a scheduled appearance in front of the media this week for the formal announcement of a third fight with Tyson Fury.

Wilder wore sunglasses dark enough to hide his eyes and headphones, presumably the noise-canceling model. He appeared to be a man determined to insulate himself from the chaos he and his craft promise. It was an angry look, appropriate for the stage.

But it was also another costume. The last time he fought, he wore a comic book-like suit of armor into the ring, a get-up he would later blame for his loss to Fury in their second bout. He went on to blame a lot of things. But never himself. It’s hard to blame somebody you don’t know. Increasingly, that’s who Wilder appears to be. There’s a confused sense of self in the ex-heavyweight champ, one that has been further fractured by the loss of his title to Fury 16 months ago.

The belt was his identity. It’s gone.

Power also has been his identity. But Fury left some doubt about its potency. It’s fight-stopping potential is still there, still dangerous enough respect. To fear. But Fury stripped some of the deadly certainty out of Wilder’s right hand and perhaps his mind when he got up – twice — in their first bout, a draw in December 2018.

It looks as if Wilder can’t be sure of much, including himself, these days. Perhaps, the costumes are a way of hiding, or a method of searching for changes that can transform him into the fighter he once knew. For now, however, it just looks like an act, one that’s not fooling anyone, especially Fury.

Fury had all the lines in what was supposed to be the only news conference before their July 24 bout at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

“Thank you everybody for coming out for this one-sided press conference,” said Fury, who knows something about acting and even more about a show-stopping quip.

By then, it was already evident that the silence was just one part of the act. Before the Los Angeles news conference, Wilder talked to UK reporters via Zoom. After the news conference, he met, one-on-one, with Elie Seckbach for the popular ESNEWS on YouTube.

Turns out, silence was a little bit more expendable than the vow it appeared to be during the presser. In Wilder’s ever-changing wardrobe, it was just a costume accessory. This one proved to be awkward for PBC, Top Rank and everybody else trying to conduct the newser.

It ended with perhaps the longest, if not the strangest, face-off ever. Fury and Wilder were asked to pose for the cameras. It’s a ritual that sometimes goes awry because of a shove or a punch. Without the extracurricular violence, it’s a pose meant for video and still photos. Look mean, act angry. It’s marketing. It’s theater. Wilder and Fury walked to center stage, separated by a few feet. Fury smiled, talked some trash. Then, Wilder took off his sunglasses in what could have been interpreted as a threatening gesture. The idea, perhaps, was to show Fury his angry eyes, an intimidating look into his furious soul.

Fury looked. And looked. He also smiled. Wilder looked. And looked.  He also ran his tongue beneath his lower lip, back-and-forth, in a gesture meant to add to a scary mask.

For an estimated five-and-a-half minutes, nobody would break the stare. The first to blink is a sign of weakness. At least, that’s an old theory in an ancient sport. Fury and Wilder might still be standing there if not for the bodyguards and security who stepped between them and begged them to walk away.

Wilder was the first to break it off.  It was time for another costume change.

By Norm Frauenheim-

Manny Pacquiao got back into the gym for some honest work for his summer date with Errol Spence a few days before Floyd Mayweather pulled off another heist, an exhibition he called legalized bank robbery.

The timing was mere coincidence, yet symbolic of how the two are connected by opposite paths each has taken since their fight six-plus years ago fell woefully short of expectations.

The differences have never been more polarized. Pacquiao still embraces risk; Mayweather has never been more risk-averse. Despite their divergent paths since Mayweather’s unanimous decision in 2015 over Pacquiao in the richest fight ever, danger is there for both in what looks to be a dilemma for a troubled business and its polarized fan-base.

Applaud Pacquiao for his courage, but worry that a younger, bigger Spence might hurt him. Defend Mayweather’s right to make as much as he can, but worry about his legacy.

Mayweather’s string of cash grabs continued Sunday in Miami against one of the Pauls. Logan or Jake or Rand? I can’t keep them straight. I also didn’t watch a show without an official winner, although both corners apparently scored a victory for their bank accounts. Showtime’s pay-per-view telecast was expected to hit the one-million mark, according to multiple reports.

Mayweather still sells, although recent photos of him made me think of a word applied to a former boxing entrepreneur and ex-president who was back on the bully pulpit in North Carolina last weekend. The New York Times called him diminished.

Diminished might just be another way of saying Mayweather, 44, is beginning to look old. Apparently, nothing about his net worth has been diminished. Still, there’s a question about whether his string of legalized bank robberies is diminishing the legacy he has defined and marketed with his official record, 50-0.

From this corner, TBE — The Best Ever — looks to be a diminishing acronym. Stop The Steal, Floyd, or the unbeaten legacy will become unrecognizable.

There might be opportunity in that. Mayweather’s diminishment might be Pacquiao’s enrichment. But the risk is huge. In age, Pacquiao is a lot closer to Mayweather than Spence. At 31, Spence is squarely in his prime.

He’s also bigger, a big welterweight, who at opening bell on August 21 is sure to be the middleweight he is about to become. Think Antonio Margarito. Pacquiao beat him decisively on the scorecards in a junior-middleweight bout on the Dallas Cowboys home field in Arlington, Tex. But Pacquiao called it his toughest fight. The bigger Margarito hurt him with body punches along the ropes midway through the bout. Hurt him 11 years ago.

The question is whether Pacquiao can still endure — and recover — from that kind of punishment. He thinks he can, although he hasn’t answered an opening bell in a couple of years. When he faces Spence, it will be about 25 months since his last fight, a split decision over Keith Thurman in July 2019.

“It’ll be a good fight,” Pacquiao told The Philippine Star Wednesday after nearly a week of some preliminary work at his home in Manila. “A lot of world titles will be at stake. Spence is unbeaten, younger. But I’m confident, I have the experience, speed and power.”

The Filipino Senator with Presidential aspirations also has wear and tear, all inevitable after 26 years in the pro ring. The middle-aged Pacquiao is the early underdog. He was at minus-240 this week, according to various on-line betting sites That translates to a 29.41-percent chance of victory. There might be a better chance of him getting hurt.

But the role is not new. Oscar De La Hoya was a huge favorite, Then, there was also fear that a smaller Pacquiao might get hurt. Pacquiao stopped him, forcing De La Hoya to quit after eight rounds. It was a career-defining moment. A moment that happened 13 years ago.

For now, Pacquiao seems to enjoy being the underdog. Maybe, it makes him feel younger.

“It was the same trend when I fought Thurman,” said Pacquiao, who was expected to move his training to his hometown, General Santos City, on Thursday. “In the beginning, he was the favorite, but as people found out how I was training and saw my speed and power hadn’t changed, the odds reversed by the time the fight started.”

He’s an underdog with a legacy that will always be compared to a rival moving in another direction, yet on a parallel track. Each has a risk-to-reward ratio. Each also has own way of calculating it.

For Mayweather, it’s the safest possible bet on more money, his nickname. For Pacquiao, it’s another risky chance at history. 

By Norm Frauenheim-

It’s hard to know what to make of talks for an Anthony Joshua-Oleksandr Usyk fight, especially in the turbulent wake of an arbitrator’s ruling that ended any chance of a Joshua-Tyson Fury showdown in August.

After months of nothing but rumors and unfounded promises, caution is the only way to approach today’s heavyweight division.

Here’s what we do know: Fury has moved on, almost seamlessly, to an agreement to fight Deontay Wilder for a third time on July 24, reportedly somewhere in Las Vegas.

What we don’t know involves Joshua, whose plans and training were disrupted by a former federal judge’s unexpected interpretation of the Joshua-Wilder contract, signed before their second bout and won by Fury in a one-sided stoppage.

Fury looked to be ready for a Joshua bout in Saudi Arabia for a share of oil money reported to be $155 million. Not so fast, the ex-judge ruled. First, fight Wilder.

The immediate guess was that Joshua would move on to the Usyk option as quickly as Fury did. Not so fast.

An early reason for caution surfaced this week. Joshua-Usyk was supposed to be announced Tuesday, the deadline set by the World Boxing Organization for what is supposed a mandatory defense for Joshua.

Mandatory has become a euphemism for messy in today’s acronym-speak. It has led to lousy bouts and all of the usual threats to vacate or strip.

According to news reports, the WBO granted an extension. What else was it going to do? Grant a pardon? It wants the sanctioning fee. The WBO didn’t grant anything. It said, yeah, please take all the time you need to get this done.

Maybe, a deal gets announced within a few days. That would be the good news.

Maybe, talks get extended for another week or two. That’s kind of the same-old-news, given what happened with Fury-Joshua.

Going to a purse bid would be the next step in a tiresome process. That would mean an 80-20 split, the lion’s share going to Joshua

But Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn made that sound unlikely. At least, he did in comments after lightweight Devin Haney’s decision over Jorge Linares last Saturday.

“We’ll either make a deal or we’ll vacate,” Hearn said. “I mean, we won’t be going to purse bids or anything like that.’’

Hearn also forecast that there would be an extension beyond Tuesday’s deadline.

“I do think where we are with negotiations, we would probably say to the WBO: ‘If there’s no deal by Monday or Tuesday, could we have another week, please?’ Hearn said. “Like if both teams say that, then they’ll give you more time, you know?”

Of course. Say no and there’s no fee.

This time, however, there are back-up possibilities, options if for some reason Usyk does not agree to terms. There were none, at least none apparent in the headlong pursuit of Joshua-Fury, still the only heavyweight fight that really matters.

The names of Dillian Whyte, Luis Ortiz and Andy Ruiz Jr. were dropped as possibilities in the event of no agreement with Usyk.

Whyte, a British heavyweight fresh off a stoppage of Alexander Povetkin in March, would keep Joshua’s UK base of fans happy. In the United States? A collective yawn.

The aging Ortiz still has a respected skill set. Yet, the Cuban doesn’t do much to excite fans anxious to see Joshua face the new, instead of the shopworn. It’s a stay-busy date.

Ruiz? A third fight would do well with Mexican-Americans, a key fan demographic on any continent. It also might be an opportunity for Joshua to answer some questions, still lingering after his loss to Ruiz in a 2019 stunner followed by a scorecard victory in a cautious decision in a rematch. A knockout of Ruiz would knock out some of the doubts.

The doubts about Joshua are still there, reflected by odds that had been posted for the expected Fury fight. Fury was a slight favorite, minus-175, which translates to a 63.6-percent of victory.

In Usyk, Joshua would encounter a newly-minted heavyweight, one who hopes to make himself the reigning face of the division. There are still plenty of questions about Usyk after just two bouts in the division. The former cruiserweight champion looked tentative. There were some inevitable questions about his power. But the promise is still intact. Hype and expectations are there.

Joshua-Usyk would be easy to sell. Hopefully, easy to make, too. 

Follow all the action as Nordine Oubaali defends the WBC Bantamweight title against four-division world champion Nonito Donaire.  The action begins at 10 PM ET

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Round 1: Left to body of Donaire

Round 2 Counter right from Donaire..Left from Oubaali..Counter from Donaire..

Round 3 Left from Oubaali..another..Left…Right from Donaire…Right..Left uppercut..left hook..body ,,,LEFT AND DOWN GOES OUBAALI…Left hurts Oubaali…LEFT AT THE BELL AND DOWN GOES OUBAALI

Round 4 Left hook from Doanire and other…Hard roght…Left hook and right hand...LEFT AND DOWN GOES OUBAALI AND THE FIGHT IS OVER

Follow all the action as Devin Haney defends the WBC Lightweight title against former world champion Jorge Linares.  The action begins at 8 PM ET with fights that is featured by a WBC Super Lightweight title bout between Chantelle Cameron and Melissa Hernandez.

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Round 1: Left hook for Linares…Jab from Haney..Jab..Exchange of hooks

Round 2 Uppercut from Haney…Left hook from Linares..Left hook from Linares..Uppercut from Haney..Good body..Left from Linares..Jab from Haney shot…Right from Linares…

Round 3 Overhand right from Haney..Left hook from Linare…Jab go body from Haney

Round 4 Left from Linares…4 jabs from Haney…Good right from Linares…Left hook from Haney

Round 5 Right to body from Haney..Good exchange…

Round 6 Good uppercut from Haney…And another..Good left hook..

Round 7 Right from Haney..Jab to body…Uppercut..Left to body..

Round 8 Big left hook from Haney..Counter right…Good body shot..Uppercut….Double jab

Round 9 Counter right from Haney..Uppercut from Linares..Body work

Round 10  Right from Haney…Body shot..Bug right at the bell hurts Haney

Round 11 Double left from Linares..Haney looks shaky..Left from Haney

Round 12 Right from Haney…Left from Haney..Right from Linares..Jab..Right

116-112 twice and 115-113 for Devin Haney

Round 1 two rights from Cameron…Straight right

Round 2 1-2 from Cameron

Round 3 Right drivers Hernandez to the ropes…Straight right…

Round 4  BIG RIGHT AND DOWN GOES HERNANDEZ

ROUND 5  Cameron landing...REFEREE STOPS THE FIGHT …CAMERON WINNER BY TKO

Round 1: Good right from Mosley..Overhand right..Nice Jab…Rednessa round left eye of Quigley
Round 2 Jab from Mosley Jr.
Round 3 short left to body from Mosley…Left hook to the temple
Round 4 Good body shot from Quigley..Left hook on inside from Mosley…Nice right to the body
Round 5 Nice left hook from Quigley..Body shot..Body shot
Round 6 Right from Quigley..Good combination..Straight and left hook…
Round 7 Right from Quigley…Short Right uppercut…2 hard jabs…Right from Mosley..Big straight right from Quigley…Right from Mosley..Left hook..Straight from Quigley
Round 8 Right from Mosley…Right to body from Quigley…
Round 9 Right from Quigley..Straight from Mosley
Round 10 Big Right from Quigley…Combination and clubbing right from Mosley..Right from Mosley…Chopping right..Slugging it out at the bell

Round 1 Right Hook from Fuzile..Over hand right from Ward
Round 2 Left From Fuzile..Body shot..Good left..Straight from Ward…Combination
Round 3 Uppercut from Ward
Round 4  RIGHT HOOK AND DOWN GOES WARD..Good combination from Ward
Round 7 BIG RIGHT HOOK AND DOWN GOES WARD…WARD IS BLEEDING …FIGHT OVER

Round 1: Good uppercut from Coe…Left hook to body hurts Tadd…BIG FLURRY AND DOWN GOES TADD… body shot….right to head…..BODY SHOT AND DOWN GOES TADD…
Round 2 good snapping jab from Coe,..Another Jab…LEFT TO BODY AND DOWN GOES TADD FIGHT OVER.

By Norm Frauenheim–

It’s been called a surprise, Maybe, it was. Maybe, it was an artful feint. Whatever it was, an arbitrator’s ruling looks to be a win for Tyson Fury.

Former federal judge Daniel Weinstein abruptly silenced all the hype for a Fury-Anthony Joshua fight in Saudi Arabia with a decision last week that Fury owes Deontay Wilder a second rematch.

Fury-Joshua, a fight for the unified heavyweight title, was said to be a done deal. Now it’s gone, faster than a desert mirage.

There’s anger, seemingly all from Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn, who for months had trumpeted the proposed fight as a showdown for the ages.

But a promised date with history came undone because of a contract clause. It’s as if the king’s clothes suddenly unraveled because of an unseen flaw in an overlooked stitch. Nobody saw it, or if they did, nobody was concerned about it.

Hearn sounds as if he’s embarrassed. Fury has yet to express any frustration. Even Fury had announced on social media that he would be fighting Joshua on August 14.

The next day, Weinstein issued a KO ruling, saying no, Fury would have to honor the clause and fight Wilder before Sept. 15. Within days, Joshua and Wilder had a date, July 24, for a third fight in Las Vegas.

Then, Fury showed up at ringside last Saturday for Josh Taylor’s compelling decision over Jose Ramirez for the unified junior-welterweight titles at Vegas’ Virgin Hotels. He signed autographs. He posed for photos. He smiled. He had the look of a man happy to move on.

“If this was me in that case, I would have done absolutely everything I could to save this fight,’’ Hearn told IFL TV Tuesday. “They didn’t try one thing. That also sits on Tyson Fury, because he didn’t try and do one thing either. There’s nothing I can do about it because, as I said leading up to this fight, the only thing I can’t control is their team. But where are your bollocks, Tyson Fury? If you really wanted this AJ fight, you have not said anything negative about this situation.

“You have not said how disappointed you are, you have not looked at your promoters – who clearly could have terminated this contract a long time ago – and gone: ‘What have you done? You’ve not only cost me fifty or sixty million dollars, you’ve cost me the biggest fight of all time, the undisputed fight because you’ve dropped the ball. And if you haven’t dropped the ball, why are you not fighting this and trying to come up with a Plan B.’

“I’ve not seen one thing from Tyson Fury, where he’s saying – ‘I’m devastated, I can’t believe this, we had a deal in place, I was happy, guys, I’m sorry.’ “

Memo to Eddie Hearn: Fury didn’t say anything negative — isn’t sorry – because he got exactly what he wanted.

Throughout the long-winded negotiation, Hearn was too busy talking to Saudi Princes, instead of listening to what Fury was saying. All along, Fury said he wanted a tune-up.

His decision to walk away from a third bout with Wilder initially came about because he wanted to fight. 

Early last October, Fury declared that the clause for a third fight had expired in the weeks since his stoppage of Wilder on Feb 22, 2020 at Vegas’ MGM Grand.

Fury said he needed to stay busy. He then went ahead with plans for a stay-busy fight in the UK late last year. But those plans were cancelled because of a COVID surge in the UK. Meanwhile, talks with UK rival Joshua had begun. Joshua went on to stop Kubrat Pulev on Dec. 13 in London. But Fury remained idle, yet he continued to hint that he wanted – needed – a tune-up.

Weinstein gave him one.

Wilder’s power is still a risk. It always will be. But Fury has dealt with it. He survived it, getting up twice in their first fight, first in the ninth round and again in 12th, in a Dec. 1, 2018 bout that ended in a split-draw.

In the rematch, Fury went straight at Wilder, suffocating him and never allowing him the leverage he needs to launch his right hand. Fury won easily, forcing Wilder’s corner to throw in the towel in the seventh. It was a surprise. Many corners, including this one, thought Wilder’s power would prevail all over again. But Fury proved that Wilder had only power. Take it away and he was clueless.

Fury’s tactics looked reckless. Five months earlier, He had suffered a nasty cut over his right eye in a tune-up win over a little-known Swede, Otto Wallin. The guess was that Wilder would re-open that cut. A scar is still evident. But Wilder never got close to that scar. He simply didn’t have enough in his limited skillset to set up a shot against the clever, ever-elusive Fury. It’s hard to see it going any other way on July 24. Fury knows exactly who he’s fighting in this tune-up, unlike his tune-up against Wallin.

Meanwhile, Joshua faces a far more challenging task in a mandatory defense against Oleksandr Usyk, who is two fights into his heavyweight career after dominating the cruiserweight division. Usyk beat Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora, but his performance in both left doubts.  There are questions about his power and size against the giants in the heavyweight division. Nevertheless, Usyk still has dangerous potential.

Put it this way: Who would you pick in a Usyk-Andy Ruiz Jr. fight? Ruiz upset Joshua in a stunner on June 1, 2019. Joshua avenged the loss, yet he fought cautiously in winning a decision throughout a rematch in Saudi Arabia. The 6-foot-3 Usyk is an inch taller than Ruiz, listed 6-2. Usyk’s 78-inch reach gives him a four-inch advantage over Ruiz, listed at 74. Usyk is not as heavy as Ruiz, whose battle with weight led to lousy conditioning in the Joshua rematch.

Translation: Usyk is a much bigger threat to Joshua than Wilder is to Fury in a third fight.

Fury should send Weinstein a thank-you note.

By Kyle Kinder-

Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez was just eight years old when he started boxing competitively.  As an amateur he racked up a laundry list of honors, including a 2013 National Golden Gloves Title.  As a professional, he has compiled a perfect record to date; 21-0, 14 kayos.  His 18-plus year journey between the ropes now leads him to Las Vegas on June 12 where he’ll face the toughest challenge of his career against former two-division world champion Jose Pedraza (28-3, 13KO).

“This is a big stepping stone for me,” Rodgriguez, a New Jersey-native, acknowledged.  “If I get through Pedraza…I’ll be at the top of 140, and that’s what we’re aiming for.”

While Scotland’s Josh Taylor just claimed King of the Junior Welterweight Castle with his convincing victory over Jose Ramirez, a win against Pedraza would put Rodriguez right in the mix in a deep 140 pound division.

Perhaps adding a bit of pressure on Rodriguez for his next bout is the fact his contract with Top Rank expires in July.  With that in the back of his mind, he knows the Pedraza fight is an opportunity for him to gain leverage for upcoming contract negotiations, whether those be with Top Rank or another promotional outfit.

To date, Rodriguez, a New Jersey native, has fought his entire pro career under the Top Rank banner.  After turning pro in 2013, he overpowered early opposition, mowing down eight of his first nine rivals.  But in 2015 he started to experience shoulder pain, something he initially thought was normal boxing wear and tear.  It was a tolerable soreness, but he eventually found out the source of his pain was abnormal, and there were actual tears.  For over a year, Rodriguez opted to fight through his injuries, but in 2017 he underwent surgery to repair the torn labrum in his left shoulder.

Ever the optimist, Rodriguez thinks the times he fought with his shoulder injury actually helped mature him into a more well-rounded boxer.

“Once I had the injury I didn’t know for a long time, I just felt like my arm was injured and I just had to change my style up,” Rodriguez said.  “So I was actually fighting with tears in my shoulder which caused me to change my style up and box more and use more of my footwork and utilize different tools in my arsenal.  In a way, I always look at the positive in everything so I took the time to focus on other things, sharpening my other tools.”

The shoulder surgery and subsequent rehab ultimately kept Rodriguez out of the ring for 22 months.  Since returning to the ring in July 2019, Rodriguez has stopped four of his five opponents before the final bell. 

“Once I was all healed up I felt like my footwork was better, my jab was better, and of course my power came back,” said Rodriguez.

Now, just weeks away from squaring off against Pedraza, Rodriguez is confident all the sacrifices made in the name of boxing since he was an eight year old kid have prepared him to pass his most difficult test with flying colors.  While conscious that Pedraza poses a grave threat to his career progression, Rodriguez can’t find anything about his opponent’s skillset that concerns him.

“I have respect for the fact that he’s been world champion and that he has experience, but I feel like everything that he has, I do it better,” Rodriguez said.  “In terms of hand speed, in terms of power, in terms of foot-movement, head-movement, I don’t think in terms of skill that he surpasses me in anything.”

He added, “We see a lot of holes [in Pedraza’s game].  It’s pretty much whatever fight we want to fight, I think we’ll be good.”

As fighters often do, Rodriguez has played out his upcoming fight in his head multiple times.  He says he has visualized various scenarios and is prepared to adapt with the ebb and flow of the fight to achieve victory.  Deep down however, Rodriguez thinks he becomes just the second boxer to stop Pedraza inside the distance. 

“Based on how this camp is going, I don’t see how this guy is going to pass 6 rounds, I don’t,” Rodriguez said.  “The pressure, the output volume of punches, the bodywork, I feel like I’m the naturally bigger guy too.  I just don’t feel like he’s going to be able to take these punches for that long…We’re right where we want to be.  We’ve had great sparring, and this guy’s going to go through hell on the 12th.”

Follow all the action as Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez meet for the undisputed junior welterweight world title.  The fights begin at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT with two more junior welterweight fights featuring Jose Zepeda battling Hank Lundy; Elvis Rodriguez taking on Kenneth Sims Jr.

NO BROWSER REFRESH NEEDED.  THE PAGE WILL UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY

Round 1: Good body shot from Taylor..Left to body from Ramirez…Another body shot..Straight left from Taylor..Nice Body shot after Taylor lands a right..

Round 2 Right from Ramirez..Left to body from Taylor…Lead left..Jab…Double jab from Ramirez…Let to the body..Good uppercut

Round 3 Straight rigt and left hook from Ramirez…Right..uppercut..aylor working on the inside..uppercut…Good straight left..Ramirez lands 2 good righs to the body..Left..Combination..

Round 4 Left from Taylor..Body from Ramirez…Left..Straight right..Hard Body shot from Taylor….Ramirez fighting back

Round 5 Taylor cut around the left eye..Body shot from Ramirez….Rights to the body…Lead left from Taylor…

Round 6 BIG LEFT AND DOWN GOES RAMIREZ…Left hook from Ramirez….Lead right…Good body shot from Taylor…Good left…

Round 7 Double left hands to body from Ramirez….UPPERERCUT AND DOWN GOES RAMIREZ…

Round 8 Uppercut from Taylor

Round 9 Right from Ramirez…Good right..Taylor gets in a left….Uppercut ..Right from Ramirez

Round 10 Left from Taylor…Hard right from Ramirez..Counter left from Taylor

Round 11 Counter left from Taylor…Ramirez lands a combination on the ropes..

Round 12 Left hook from Ramirez…Left from Taylor…Good right from Ramirez…

114-112 ON ALL CARDS FOR JOSH TAYLOR

Round 1
Round 2 Left t the body from Zepeda…Another…right to the body..Left to body…Left
Round 3 Good left from Lundy
Round 4 Left from Zepeda
Round 5 Left from Zepeda..Good left from Lundy
Round 6 Counter left from Zepeda
Round 7 Right hook from Zepeda…
Round 8 Left from Zepeda
Round 9 Left from Lundy
Round 10 Combination from Zepeda…Right to the body

98-92 on all cards for ZEPEDA

Round 1:
Round 2: Left from Rodriguez..Good right from Sims..Another right
Round 3 Left from Rodriguez
Round 4 Good straight left from Rodriguez…Right from Sims..Jab from Rodriguez
Round 5
Round 6 Left hook from Sims…1-2 from Rodriguez…Right from Sims..Check hook from Rodriguez
Round 7 Sims working on the inside and lands a uppercut,,2 rights…body..Right from Rodriguez..Redness around right eye of Right eye and his bleeding from the mouth
Round 8 Right hook from Rodriguez…Combination

76-76; 78-74 TWICE FOR KENENTH SIMS JR.

By Norm Frauenheim-

LAS VEGAS – On the scale, nothing separates them. A fight projected to be even in every way was exactly that at the weigh-in.

Not an ounce separated Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor Friday. It was 139.6 pounds each for all four of the significant pieces to the junior-welterweight title Saturday at Virgin Hotels.

Ramirez has two of the belts. Taylor has the other two. Half-and-half, split right down the middle in a bout (ESPN 8pm ET/5 pm PT) between two fighters with different, yet equal styles.

Take your pick.

In Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs) , there is a versatile skillset, an ability to switch from right to left and agile footwork that allows him to move in, out and away. In Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs), there is dogged grit, a tireless determination to move forward with a will that seeks, even embraces, adversity.

Take your pick.

The best one might be Fight of the Year. Late Friday, only the betting wasn’t divided. Taylor was a slight favorite. In a pick-em fight, it looks as if the bettors favor Taylor because he has more options, more ways to win.

But Ramirez has an instinct that is very hard to beat. Think Erik Morales. Think Michael Carbajal. Think Oscar Valdez Jr. They seemed to get better when hurt. Adversity is an ally. Their way.

For Taylor, the task is to break that will. He’s confident enough to believe he can.  Ramirez is vulnerable, Taylor said.

“Vulnerable to be stopped,’’ he said in a conference call earlier this week.

Taylor is promising a knockout to anyone willing to listen, especially Taylor. Ramirez has been there, face-to-face, for photos Thursday after a news conference and again Friday.

An angry confrontation erupted as Taylor and his cornermen left the weigh-in and encountered a crowd of Ramirez fans in a hallway outside of the ball room. At the hotel elevators, Ramirez and Taylor shoved each other, each exchanging insults and threats. Opening bel can’t come soon enough.

For the last couple of days, the Scotsman called The Tartan Tornado has been The Tireless Trash Talker. It’s only business, perhaps. He says he respects Ramirez. But Ramirez, he says, is his enemy through Saturday.

If trash talk is a calculated weapon, it might be working. Ramirez, the quiet son of farmworkers in central California, reacted to Taylor’s rhetorical footwork Thursday and again Friday. Ramirez told Boxing Scene that Taylor is “a fake” after Thursday’s final news conference.

After they faced off after Friday’s weigh-in, Ramirez matched Taylor, word-for-word, as they stood nose-to-nose. Eventually, Taylor trainer Ben Davison stepped in between the two. As Davison led Taylor away and toward the edge of the stage, Ramirez gestured to him as if to say the Scot was all talk, only talk.

It was noteworthy only because nobody has ever seen Ramirez react with that kind of angry emotion. Was Taylor in his head? Had Taylor distracted him? Or had Taylor only motivated Ramirez even more?

Ramirez has already talked about what a victory could do for him in terms of legacy.

“This is a historical fight for me,’’ he said a few days ago. “You know, this could open up the doors for the Hall of Fame for me in the future.’’

It’ll open a lot of immediate doors for the winner. There’s talk of a fight against welterweight champion and leading pound-for-pound contender Terence Crawford, the last junior-welterweight to hold all four belts.

Crawford has nothing on his schedule. Manny Pacquiao announced Friday that he will fight Errol Spence Jr. on August 21.

“One-forty-seven, 140, 135,’’ Taylor said. “The possibilities, the options after this fight, are massive.’’

Take your pick.

By Norm Frauenheim–

Nothing can mix and confuse extremes quite like boxing. From courage to cowardice, it’s all there all at once. That’s part of the attraction. Part of the problem, too.

This weekend, it’s all there all over again, another example of what has been called life-in-a-shot glass. Good-and-bad, 180-proof, in a cocktail sure to enthrall and exasperate.

Start with the good, Jose Ramirez-versus-Josh Taylor Saturday night (ESPN, 8p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) in a fight at Las Vegas’ Virgin Hotels for all of the relevant belts between junior-welterweights, both unbeaten and in their primes. What’s not to like?

Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs), a confident Scotsman, and Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs), a farmworker’s son from central California, bring all of the personal and physical elements to a bout that promises to be a classic. At every level, it’s compelling.

It’s also a refuge from the other side of a whiplash-like week that sums up the schizoid state of the game.

It’s a short trip from classic to crap, which is a polite way of describing the spit-bucket full of ongoing headlines about Anthony Joshua-versus-Tyson Fury. Will it happen? I don’t care. Not anymore.

It feels as if the heavyweight talks have lasted as long as the Pandemic. They haven’t, of course. Like the virus, however, there just never seems to be a real end to reported negotiations for a fight said to be worth $155-million.

Only the insults escalate in what appears to be a fight with diminishing chances at landing on any calendar in any hemisphere.

The latest problem looks to be an arbitrator’s ruling to uphold Deontay Wilder’s contractual right to a third fight sometime before September 15 or The Twelfth of Never.

Fury has been suggesting he needs a tune-up, which is exactly what Wilder might offer if his performance in losing a seventh-round stoppage to Fury in a rematch last February is any indication.

Meanwhile, Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn is suddenly issuing deadlines instead of promises. And Fury is issuing threats, challenging Joshua to a street brawl instead of a fight that Fury said would happen in Saudi Arabia on August 14.

Joshua-versus-Fury is getting to be a little like Terence Crawford-versus-Errol Spence Jr. Maybe, we’ll see both on Triller a couple of decades from now.

But there is Taylor-versus-Ramirez.

“Now at the end of this pandemic, we have the best fight of the whole pandemic experience,’’ Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said. “We don’t have to sell anything about this fight. We just mention the fighters. They are both undefeated, both former Olympians, both world champions. This will be a great fight!”

Arum, a man of many words. has unloaded his share of vitriol during his role as Fury’s co-promoter. But he didn’t have to say much about Ramirez-Taylor

That says volumes about what might be Fight of the Year.

By Kyle Kinder-

Jesse Hart isn’t the only Top Rank fighter angling for a showdown against Brooklyn-born KO-artist Edgar Berlanga (17-0, 16KO).  Unbeaten Tennessean Tyler Howard (19-0, 11KO) is hoping he’ll be the next boxer with a chance to stamp the first “L” on Berlanga’s record. 

Earlier in the year Howard thought he might get a crack at the Puerto Rican wrecking ball, but the stars never aligned.

“To be totally honest this was brought to my attention in January,” the 27 year-old Howard recalled.  “They [Howard’s management team] called me…and said that it was a possibility for me to fight him on the card that just passed in Kissimmee on April 24th.  I tested positive for COVID at that time, and then for whatever reason the fight didn’t develop and Demond Nicholson ended up taking the fight.”

Against Nicholson, Berlanga was made to fight beyond the opening round for the first time in his career.  Not only that, despite sending Nicholson to the mat four times, Berlanga was stretched all eight rounds, where he picked up his first win via decision.

“If that fight had been a nine round fight, Demond Nicholson wouldn’t have made it because Edgar cracked him at the end of the eighth round and hurt him very bad,” Howard said.  “So that was extremely impressive.”

While Howard was complementary of Berlanga’s ability to retain punching power over a twenty-four minute window, he wasn’t impressed by his stamina.

“Edgar performed very well, but he did get tired in the later rounds and I feel like that’s something we can capitalize on,” said Howard.  “And Edgar has been knocked down in the past, he got knocked down in the amateurs and that hasn’t been long ago.  If you got a weak chin, you got a weak chin, and that’s just the way it is.  And I don’t think he fights very well on his back foot.  Whenever Nicholson was planting his feet and trying to walk through him and putting his punches together, he had some success.”

Although Howard’s last three contests have been fought at middleweight, his most impressive win arguably came at super middleweight against once-beaten Isaiah Seldon in 2018.  In that bout, Howard sent Seldon crashing to the mat twice and ended the fight in just :90 seconds. 

Even still, with Berlanga fighting at super middleweight, Howard prefers any potential match be fought at a catchweight.  But he’s realistic about who holds the cards.

“Obviously I’d want to make some kind of catchweight,” said Howard.  “If you look in the past he’s weighed 162, 164.  Recently he’s been making 168.  At the end of the day, he would be the A-side in this, he’s the one that carries the star-power, he’s the one that’s been dominating, he’s earned everything that he’s got.  So if I had to go up to 168 to fight him, I’d go up and do it.”

And while a possible bang up with Berlanga is an idea that has Howard fired up, he doesn’t view his fistic future as Berlanga-or-bust.

“One thing I want to make clear is that I’m not going to put my career on halt for Edgar Berlanga,” Howard said.  “If that fight isn’t there, it’s not there.  The middleweight division is loaded with big fights to be made, they’re everywhere.  I’m definitely not banking my career on a fight with Edgar Berlanga, but if they call me and the money and timing’s right then yeah, I’m down to bump with him.”

If they did mix it up, that fight would likely take place in late July or early August, as Berlanga is expected to become a father early next month.  But if their paths do cross inside the ropes, Howard fancies his chances. 

“I definitely think I can beat him,” Howard said. “If I didn’t think I could beat him, I wouldn’t take the fight.  But the most important thing is you have to figure out a way to neutralize his power because it doesn’t matter who you are if Edgar Berlanga catches you clean, he’s going to shut your ass down…that’s just the fact of the matter.”

To help prepare for his next fight, whether it be against Berlanga or not, Howard plans to head down to Houston, TX to work with Bobby Benton, who he thinks will help him get the most out of his power.  

“One thing he [Berlanga] will realize real fucking fast is that I can punch too,” Howard said.  “My knockout ratio doesn’t reflect how hard I punch…and my hands are a lot faster than his.  If I can get him on the inside trading with me, I’m going to win those exchanges.”

According to Howard, a potential Berlanga clash “is all about risk versus reward.” 

The risk is obvious, and Howard wants to take it.

The reward? To become a Van Helsing of sorts…to become the man that stops the Monster.

Follow all the action as Luis Nery battles Brandon Figueroa for the WBA/WBC Super Bantamweight titles; The action starts at 10 PM ET with Xavier Martinez taking on Juan Carlos Burgos; The co-feature will pit former unified champion Danny Roman taking Francisco Espinoza

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Round 1: Jab from Nery..Big left…

Round 2 Right to body from Figueroa..Good body work from Nery…Nery throwing power shots….Counter..2 Left from Figueroa…Left hook…Left hook

Round 3 eft and right from Figueroa…Left uppercut..Left and right from Nery…2 lefts from Figueroa..

Round 4 Nice left from Figueroa…Left from Nery..Right from Figueroa…Left hook and left hook from Nery…Right from Figueroa..

Round 5 Body shot from Figueroa..2 lefts from Nery ..2 body shots…left to head..left from Figueroa.

Round 6 Exchanging body shots…Left to body from Nery..Good uppercut..3 left uppercuts…1-2 from Figueroa…

Round 7 Figueroa landing good shots to the head..  Swelling around left eye of Nery...LEFT TO THE BODY AND DOWN GOES NERY….HE CANT BEAT THE COUNT …FIGHT OVER

Round 1 Espinoza coming forward…Nice counter right from Roman…Double jab from Espinoza…counter right from Roman..Left…
Round 2 Right from Espinoza…Counter right from Roman…Right…3 punch combination from Espinoza…Beautiful right from Roman…Combination from Distance..
Round 3 Right from Espinoza…Good exchange….Lead right and uppercut on inside from Espinoza..Right…Body shot from Roman..Counter left
Round 4 Right to body from Espinoza….Lead left hook…Counter right from Roman…Good left to the body..Solid right…
Round 5 Lead left hook/right hand from Roman…Combination
Round 6 Left uppercut from Roman…Left from Espinoza…Counter from Roman…Jab..Right to body…Short left uppercut to body from Espinoza…Left from Roman…
Round 7 Good left from Roman…1-2 from Espinoza…Lead left uppercut from Roman…Body work from Espinoza..Right to body…Left to body from Roman…left uppercut…
Round 8 Left to body by Roman…Big left…Lead left uppercut…Blood on face of Espinoza…1-2 from Roman..Left to body…
Round 9 Doctor looking at Espinoza…left uppercut from Roman…Another left uppercut
Round 10 Double left from Roman…Uppercut…Lead left uppercut…

97-93 AND 98-92 TWICE FOR DANNY ROMAN

Round 1: Counter right from Martinez…2 jabs..Good right hand..Jab to the body..3 punch combination from Burgos..Body shot..1-2…
Round 2 Fierce exchange on the ropes…Martinez counters..Sweeping left hook..Right from Burgos…Jab from Martinez..Martinez gets better of exchange
Round 3  Good ehange…Left and right from Martinez….Right from Burgos
Round 4 Burgos scores with a combination…Right off the ropes…2 left hooks from Martinez…Great exchange
Round 5 Left upperut…Jab from Burgos..Martinez lands a jab….Jab..Combination from Burgos…Good combination on inside from Martinez..2 ,ore shots…uppercut from Burgos..Shoeshine and uppercut
Round 6 Body shot from Burgos..Nice eft-right from Martinez..Body shot from Burgos..Uppercut..Right from Martinez
Round 7 Martinez fighting off the ropes..Right..Body work from Burgos..Right uppercut from Martinez..
Round 8 Short shots from Martinez…Right…Burgos fighting off the ropes…Lead right from Martinez…Right..Double jab-right..Combination from Burgos..Uppercut from Martinez…
Round 9 Left from Martinez…
Round 10 Combination from Burgos…Right from Martinez..Toe to toe action…Left hook to body from Burgos…

99-91 ON ALL CARDS FOR MARTINEZ

By Norm Frauenheim-

Canelo Alvarez’ pursuit of unification is about more than just belts. It’s about consensus.

Canelo, fresh off his stoppage of Billy Joe Saunders Saturday, figures to win the fourth and final piece to the super-middleweight title in a projected bout against Caleb Plant.

Contracts have yet to be signed, but betting odds already have been posted.

Canelo is at -600, meaning he has an 85.71-percent chance at taking Plant’s IBF version of the 168-pound title in a fight expected to happen in mid-September.

Las Vegas looks likely, perhaps at Allegiant Stadium on Sept. 11, two nights before the Raiders opener against the Baltimore Ravens Monday Night Football and five days before Sept. 16, Mexican Independence.

The Raiders’ new home is booked Saturday, Sept. 18, with college football, Iowa State-versus-UNLV.

Where ever or whenever, indoors or outdoors, it’s clear Canelo belongs on the biggest possible stage. Against Saunders on the Cowboys home field at AT&T Stadium in Arlington TX, a crowd of 73,126 set boxing’s indoor record.

His popularity is growing. Canelo is boxing’s biggest draw. No doubt about it. Meanwhile, odds are that soon it’ll be hard to argue with his dominance of the super-middleweight division. David Benavidez might have one and it’s a good bet that we’ll hear it more than once. If Canelo takes that fourth belt, however, he wins the debate.

But consensus is not as simple. Polls never are, and there have been plenty lately about where Canelo belongs, both today and among Mexico’s all-time greats.

Canelo continues to say he wants to make history. Mexico’s boxing history means one face: Julio Cesar Chavez. In a Boxing Junkie poll last week, Canelo was fourth, behind Ruben Olivares, Salvador Sanchez and – of course — Chavez at No. 1.

Over time, the theory is that Canelo might one day supplant Chavez. There are plenty of factors. First, he has to beat Plant, which might not be as much of a lock as early odds suggest. Then what? A fight against a still-maturing Benavidez? A jump to light-heavyweight, which would mean Artur Beterbiev and/or Dmitry Bivol?

Time is still Canelo’s ally. He’s 30. He says he might fight for seven more years. That’s a span that offers countless opportunities to fight major bouts before huge crowds. Think of it as a political campaign. Each bout is a way to eliminate rivals and convince skeptics.

In effect, that’s exactly what Canelo has been doing in that other debate, the current pound-for-pound race. Six months ago, the argument raged. Canelo or Terence Crawford?

Crawford looked good in a stoppage of former champion Kell Brook on Nov. 14. Crawford’s body-of-work, his overall resume, is dismissed by critics, who question the quality of his opposition.

But Crawford’s supporters are impressed by the immediate, the eye test that seems to say that nobody at 147 pounds could beat Crawford’s thorough skillset and predatory instinct.

Trouble is, there’s been no test for any eye to measure since Crawford’s victory over Brook six months ago. There was talk about Manny Pacquiao. Rumors, only rumors.

Crawford has been idle.

Meanwhile, Canelo has been busy, fighting three times – a unanimous decision over Callum Smith on Dec. 19, a stoppage over Avni Yildirim on Feb. 27 and a stoppage of Saunders on May 8.

Busy is convincing, especially in a pound-for-pound campaign that is essentially political. It’ll continue. It always does. Maybe, Crawford gets a chance to re-state his case in a fight against the Josh Taylor-Jose Ramirez winner May 22 in an intriguing junior-welterweight showdown (ESPN) at Las Vegas’ Virgin Hotels. There’s talk that the winner will make the jump, from 140 pounds to 147, for a shot at Crawford.

For now, however, Canelo is winning the debate in a couple of ways. There are notable victories within the ropes. And huge crowds outside of them.

By Norm Frauenheim-

Canelo Alvarez’ evolution continues, proceeding incrementally with stubborn attention to detail. He never quits learning, which helps to explain why he never quits improving.

It also explains why he’s a 7-to-1 favorite over unbeaten Billy Joe Saunders Saturday (DAZN/8 pm ET, 5 pm PT) in a bid to win another piece of the super-middleweight title on the Dallas Cowboys homefield in Arlington, Tex.

A few years ago, those odds wouldn’t have been so one-sided. Then, Canelo (55-1-2, 37 KOs) looked to be vulnerable to the slick sort of skillset possessed by the left-handed Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs).

There were moments when Canelo looked confused in a unanimous decision over Austin Trout in 2013. About a year later, he escaped with a split-decision over Erislandy Lara. In between Trout and Lara, there was a one-sided loss delivered by the masterful Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Lessons, each and every one, for the student in Canelo.

His career has unfolded like one long lesson-plan. Potential for some new move or tactic is always there. For Saunders, it’s reason to be wary. For everybody else, it’s something to respect. Canelo learns and never forgets.

He introduced some head movement a few fights ago. Now, he has begun to master the head games that precede any significant fight. In terms of public interest, Canelo-Saunders looks to be a biggie.

A crowd of more than 60,000 is projected, which would break the Texas-sized record of 59,995 at San Antonio’s Alamodome for the controversial Pernell Whitaker-Julio Cesar Chavez draw in September 1993.

For the last week, it’s been evident that Saunders has tried to distract Canelo. That’s hard to do. In the eight years since Mayweather, only Gennadiy Golovkin has managed to rattle the impenetrable calm that seems to surround Canelo like a fortress. There were words at news conferences and shoving at the weigh-in before their 2018 rematch.

Saunders tried to land a psychological punch. He and his father, Tom Saunders, issued a series of complaints. They grumbled that Eddie Hearn, Saunders longtime promoter, was favoring Canelo. They complained about the assignment of judges. Not one is from the UK, Saunders’ home country. Not one is from Mexico, Canelo’s home country, either.

On and on, it went.

Finally, Saunders complained about the size of the ring, saying he wouldn’t fight in one measuring 18-feet-by-18 feet. Hearn said he assured him that the ring would be 20-by-20. Saunders, who might need every available inch of canvas to elude Canelo, demanded 24-by-24. He and his dad also threatened to withdraw if the demand wasn’t met.

Hearn countered: How about 22-by-22? OK, Saunders said. But this tale of the tape still needed Canelo’s approval.

No problem, Canelo said.

From a man known for his lethal counter-punching, it was brilliant. Ring size wasn’t ever the real issue, anyway. Guess here: This fight could be in a ring as big as an aircraft carrier. Canelo will beat Saunders.

In a fight before the fight, Canelo ended the head games, quickly and quietly, this time with some smart head movement.

He disarmed Saunders, who was left with nothing else to say. It looks as if Canelo’s life-long lesson plan included a course in psychology. He aced that one too.

By Kyle Kinder-

Just after midnight on January 13, 2020, in the center of the boxing ring inside the Hard Rock’s Etess Arena in Atlantic City, Jesse Hart (26-3, 21KO) stood shoulder to shoulder with referee Harvey Dock, awaiting the verdict of his ten round light heavyweight clash against Joe Smith Jr.  Moments later, dinging from the ringside bell echoed through the arena and public address announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. read the judge’s scorecards: 97-92 Smith, 95-94 Hart, 98-91 Smith. 

The split-decision loss capped what had been a frustrating night for Hart, who was hoping to build momentum after scoring a unanimous decision over Sullivan Barrera in his prior outing.  But any immediate feelings of disappointment quickly gave way to concern. 

In the leadup to the Smith match, during training camp, Hart injured his right hand.  He thought he’d be able to fight through the pain, but in round two, after landing a short, awkwardly placed punch, Hart’s injury went from tolerable to severe.  Reluctant and unable to let his right hand go for the final seven-plus rounds, Hart tried to rely on his legs to evade the bigger, plodding Smith.  But it was to no avail.  A post-fight medical evaluation revealed damaged ligaments and a torn tendon, injuries that Hart was told were potentially “career ending.”

“I had one hand, I had to use my legs, I had to use my other attributes and my athleticism came into play,” Hart said about the Smith fight.  “When I have one hand, how am I going to stand in there and trade with a big puncher like Joe Smith, who is a bigger man than me?…People always say don’t make excuses, but that’s just the truth.”  He added, “With one hand, he was just too strong and I couldn’t hold him off with one hand.”

Eager to put the Smith fight in his rearview and fix his right hand, Hart braced for a major operation that would put him out of commission for a few months.  However, due to COVID-19, he wasn’t able to schedule his operation, which fell into the category of “elective surgery”, until June 5th, almost five months after his fight with Smith. 

During various post-surgery doctor visits, Hart sought clearance to resume training, but was continually rebuffed.  So for the last eight-plus months, heeding the advice of his doctors, Hart took it easy. 

“I’ve been really trying to let my hand heal, spending time with my family, my son and my daughter, and just trying to regain focus,” said Hart.  “It took major surgery and a long healing process, being patient, not wanting to punch….but I’m back to 100%, I feel a lot better.” 

Once Hart was finally greenlit to lace up his gloves again, he decided it best to part ways with head trainer Fred Jenkins.  Hart now hones his craft in North Philadelphia’s Philly 1 on 1 Boxing Gym, where he linked up with Boze Ennis, father of unbeaten welterweight phenom, Jaron “Boots” Ennis.  

“I recently made that switch and I’m starting to get comfortable with Boze and we’re starting to work real good,” Hart said.  He went on to state that while things didn’t necessarily get stale with Jenkins, Boze is “fresher.” 

With a healed right hand and new trainer at the helm, Hart now has his sights set on a potential June 12 matchup in Las Vegas against ultra-hyped super middleweight KO artist, Edgar Berlanga (17-0, 16KO).

“I think he’s a good puncher and over time he’ll develop, but I don’t think much of him,” Hart said of Berlanga. “I don’t think he’s ready for a guy of my caliber.  When Bob [Arum] said he wanted to do that, I literally jumped at that chance.  This is definitely a big fight for me, I won’t lie.  It’s definitely a big risk taking fight for me….I’m taking a gamble, but I know this kid can’t beat me and he won’t beat me in June.”

Hart’s only two losses at super middleweight have come in the form of razor-thin defeats in world title bouts against Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez.  Dropping back down to super middleweight from light heavyweight is a welcome change for Hart, who feels he does his best work at 168.

“I’m naturally a super middleweight….I talked to my mother and my mother said she thought I was too big.  She was saying, ‘You’re light Jesse, why are you fighting these big guys?’  She wasn’t always involved in my career, but she was saying the guys at 175 were too big, and my dad was saying that too…but now that I’m back here I feel comfortable.”

As of a week ago, Hart and Berlanga now have a common opponent on their resume in Demond Nicholson.  Nicholson was stopped by Hart in the seventh round of their 2018 contest, but went the distance in an eight round contest against Berlanga, becoming the only Berlanga opponent to make it out of round one in the process.

With regards to the Berlanga-Nicholson fight, Hart said, “Styles make fights.  He didn’t stop Demond Nicholson, but he did knock him down (four times).  I think Berlanga showed he had power, but I don’t think he showed smarts, I don’t think he showed skills, and I don’t think he showed athleticism.  He was getting hit a lot.”

Ever the boxing historian, Hart thinks a potential Berlanga fight would play out like another Philadelphia vs. Puerto Rico battle: Bernard Hopkins v Felix Trinidad.

“You saw what happened with Bernard Hopkins and Tito Trinidad,” the presumed underdog Hart, said. “He didn’t care that the whole Garden was against him.  He went in there and did his job and got Tito out of there.  It’s going to play out like that.  If this fight gets made, it will be a hell of a fight, but I got me stopping him in eight rounds.  I got both of my hands, I’m living right, I’m healthy, there’s no way this thing goes eight rounds June 12.”

Follow all the action as former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. Battles Chris Arreola in a Heavyweight showdown. Also on the card is Sebastian Fundora battles Jorge Cota; Abel Ramos fights Omar Figueroa Jr. and Jesus Ramos takes on Javier Molina on the Pay-Per-View Portion

NO BROWSER REFRESH NEEDED; THE PAGE WILL UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY

Round 1: Good right from Arreola…Hard right from Ruiz..Combination..
Round 2 Good combination from Ruiz….RIGHT AND DOWN GOES RUIZ..Hard right from Arreola
Round 3 Big right from Arreola…Hard left…left from Arreola…Good hook..Right drives Arreola back…Uppercut from Ruiz..Right from Arreola
Round 4 Left hook and right from Ruiz…Right hand and hook
Round 5  Arreola lands a right.  3 Hooks from Ruiz..Left hook
Round 6 Combination from Ruiz Pop’s Arreola’s head back..Hook..3 punch combination..Hard combination…Good body shot..Hard jab…Blood from Bridge of Arreola’s nose
Round 7 Stiff Jab from Ruiz…Left hook..Good jab to the body
Round 8 Good hook from Ruiz…Arreola looks like he could have hurt his shoulder
Round 9 Hard body  from Arreola…Combination from Ruiz…hard right to the body
Round 10  Big Hook from Ruiz…Good right to the body…Right to the body..hard jab to the body..
Round 11 Uppercut from Ruiz…Hard hook…Arreola shoulder hurt again..Cuffing right from Ruiz….Good right
Round 12 Jab from Ruiz…3 punch combination..Right…Big hook and right hand…Body shot..

117-110, 118-109 TWICE FOR ANDY RUIZ JR.

Round 1:

[/su_table]

Round 1: Hard left from Lara..another…Quick left..HUGE LEFT AND DOWN GOES LAMANNA….FIGHT OVER

Round 1 Jab from Avelar; Right Hook from Ramirez…jab

Round 2 Nice counter from Avelar; Good Counter from Ramirez…Jab..left.3 shots…2 counters from Avelar..Good left from Ramirez..

Round 3 BIG RIGHT AND DOWN GOES AVELAR…HARD RIGHT ROCKS AVELAR…FIGHT OVER

By Norm Frauenheim-

The heavyweight division, once revered, has been reduced to a rumor. Only Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua seems to matter, despite mounting doubts about reported negotiations full of promises and short on specifics.

Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn says it will happen this summer.

Fury co-promoter Frank Warren says it won’t.

That’s where it started months ago.

That’s where it still is, although there’s a growing chorus of frustration from Fury and his American promoter Bob Arum, whose skepticism about a $150 million offer from Saudi Arabia was evident in multiple media reports this week.

A deal hinges on whether the money is really there. A deal – date and place – has yet to be announced, hence deepening suspicions that the offer is bupkis, just more dust in a Haboob.

Meanwhile, Fury has taken to social media and Hearn is his target. Fury, whose trash talk is as deadly as his jab, is ripping Hearn, saying that the UK promoter has cozied up to Canelo Alvarez in the Mexican’s title fight against UK super-middleweight Billy Joe Saunders on May 8 in Arlington, Tex.

For the May fight, at least, Hearn is the promoter of record for both. But Fury is questioning his allegiances, which means Hearn is probably as popular as a piñata back home in Britain.

Such is that state of the heavyweights, a flagship as rudderless as ever. Yet, chaos at the top hasn’t silenced it.

Andy Ruiz Jr. and Chris Arreola, Joe Parker and Derek Chisora will do what Fury and Joshua may — may not — do.

They’re fighting Saturday, Ruiz (33-2, 22 KOs) versus Arreola (38-6-1, 33 KOs) in Carson, Calif., on Fox pay-per-view (9 pm ET/6 pm PT) and Parker (28-2, 21 KOs) against Chisora (32-10, 23 KOs) in Manchester, England, on Sky Sports Box Office.

Both fights are interesting. Both are linked. Both Ruiz and Parker are ex-champions.

Ruiz, the first heavyweight champ of Mexican descent, is the most memorable for his stunning stoppage of Joshua at New York’s Madison Square Garden in June 2019. He’s also the most forgettable for his messy loss in a rematch six months later in Saudi Arabia.

Ruiz blamed the scorecard defeat on lousy conditioning. He was about 30 pounds heavier than he is expected to be Saturday in his first bout with Canelo trainer Eddy Reynoso. Ruiz described the defeat as a kind of “self-death’’ during a news conference Wednesday.

“I killed the old Andy and am reborn with the new Andy,” he said.

It was a good line from Ruiz who looked to be re-energized if not resurrected. At 31, Ruiz still has a chance to be a player at heavyweight if –as expected – he beats the 40-year-old Arreola.  Perhaps, a Parker rematch awaits Ruiz, who emerged as a contender in a narrow loss – majority decision – to Parker for a vacant World Boxing Organization title in 2016 in Auckland, Parker’s hometown.

At least, it’s real instead of rumor. No telling what happens to the Fury-Joshua possibility.

Put it this way: Fury expects to take a day off from his training regimen in Las Vegas Saturday. He plans to be in Louisville at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby. The 20-horse field includes a horse named for him after his stoppage of Deontay Wilder in a rematch in February 2020.It’s beginning to look as if the horse, King Fury, a 20-to-1 longshot, has a better chance of winning the Derby than Joshua-Fury has at happening anytime soon.

By Kyle Kinder-

In late spring 2013, having spent his last eight months training with the Danish military, Landry Kore was mentally preparing for deployment to Afghanistan.  Then he answered a life-altering phone call.

The voice at the other end of the line was a familiar one; that of former Danish Olympic boxer and Kore’s old amateur coach, Brian Lentz.  Lentz told Kore about a tryout in Copenhagen being staged by European boxing promotional giants, brothers Kalle and Nisse Sauerland.  The Sauerland’s were scouring Denmark seeking to bolster their roster of talent, which at the time included the country’s top ranked prizefighter, Patrick Nielsen.  

Kore, a former Danish Amateur National Champion, was hesitant.  He was a soldier now.  

He told Lentz, “Listen, I haven’t done any boxing training in eight months.”

But his ex-coach insisted.  “He told me, just come and put your name out there,” Kore recalled. “He convinced me to take a leave for the weekend and go to the audition.”

When Kore arrived at the gym, he quickly grasped the magnitude of the opportunity at hand.

“There were television cameras and newspapers.  Patrick Nielsen was there and [former world super middleweight champion] Mikkel Kessler…there were over 100 people there,” Kore said.   

The fighters, a mix of amateurs and professionals, were asked to workout at various stations.  They performed cardio exercises, smacked speed bags, and pounded heavy bags.  Once boxers completed the circuit of drills they were divided into groups by weight and made to spar in a mini tournament.  Those who impressed during their sparring sessions advanced to the next round, while those who underwhelmed were free to head home. Despite not gloving up for over half a year, Kore, along with three others, progressed to the final round.

Knowing this round-robin style of sparring matches were his last opportunity to impress Team Sauerland, Kore dug deep.  A mix of skilled boxing, ring IQ, and military-induced stamina resulted in Kore dominating all three of his opponents.  Within weeks he was presented with his first professional boxing contract.

But as eager as he was to put pen to paper, Kore first needed to be relieved of his military obligations.

“In Denmark you don’t just go into the Army,” Kore explained.  “I had to go through a selection of 400 people, and I think they accepted around 40.  So they invested in me for eight months.”

He continued, “I had to speak with my captain and say look this is what’s going on right now.  I told him I dreamed about being a professional boxer, but I also somehow got away from that dream, but this opportunity just came to me.”

Kore was prepared for rejection, ready to swallow the bitterest of pills.  Fortunately, he would never have to. 

“You know what, don’t worry about it, I’ll figure something and you can leave,” Kore remembers his captain telling him.  “Today I’m even still friends with him on LinkedIn, he’s been supporting [my career].”

As unconventional a path to professional boxing as Kore’s was, his journey to the sport itself was just as unlikely.

Born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 1989, Kore spent his first decade of life surrounded by family and friends, living a normal Ivorian childhood.  When he turned 11 he left for Denmark to reunite with his father, who was living in Copenhagen.  

Shortly after, Kore’s life took a cruel and tragic turn.  About six months after leaving the Ivory Coast, Kore’s mother passed away.  Less than a year later, his father kicked him out of the house.  

“I ended up in a foster home,” Kore recalled.  “It was quite stressful, leaving Africa and all my family, coming to Europe, expecting to live with my father and he put me on the street.”

In foster care, Kore became close with a 16 year-old boy, three years older than him at the time.

“Living with him, he became my brother, even though he was a different skin color than me,” Kore said.  “And one day he came home and said he had an issue with some guy from school.” 

They knew their new rival was a boxer, so naturally Kore and his foster brother headed to the local boxing gym, figuring they’d be able get their licks in a responsible manner, without fear of repercussions.

“I had no idea what boxing was at that point,” Kore admitted.  “We got to the gym and we kept asking to spar.  The coach was like, ‘No, you cannot spar with this guy, but you can get some of the younger fighters who are the same age as you.’ I thought, man they can’t do anything to me, but I actually got my ass kicked.”

Kore continued, “After we went to the gym again, eventually we even forgot the beef we had [with their rival].  But I really fell in love with the sport.  At that time, with all the things happening in my life, coming up to Denmark with my father, and the only person there that I know throwing me out on the street…I felt like boxing was a place where I can find refuge.”

Oh, and the head boxing trainer at the gym Kore happened to stumble into?  None other than former world super feather champion Jimmy Bredahl.  

“He became something of a father figure for me,” Kore said of Bredahl.  

Kore fell in love with boxing at a vulnerable time in his life and the love was mutual.  But like all relationships, Kore and boxing have had their ups and downs.

Months after inking his deal with Sauerland, Kore turned professional in April 2014, earning a four-round unanimous decision victory 28 fight veteran Nikola Matic.  He scored his first knockout five months later against the Czech Republic’s Michal Vosyka.

Four fights and four wins later, Kore and Sauerland parted ways in late 2015.  The following year saw Kore, fighting at middleweight, decisioned veteran Andreas Reimer before brawling with Poland’s Bartolomiej Grafka in a fight that resulted in a no contest.

Without the backing of a well-oiled promotional machine, Kore traveled across the Atlantic for the first time in his career in 2017 and fought his eighth professional bout on a Christy Martin promoted card in Charlotte, North Carolina where he scored an easy KO1 over Richmond’s Travis Davidson.  In his next bout, Kore knocked out Armenian Armen Ypremyan to claim the IBO Mediterranean Middleweight Title for his first taste of alphabet hardware.  

Promoter-less, Kore signed with a German management team in 2018 and began splitting time between Copenhagen and Karlsruhe, Germany.  It’s at the Mach1 Gym in Karlsruhe where Kore practices his craft under the tutelage of top-rated German trainer Dominik Junge.  

After going 1-0-1 in 2019, Kore hoped 2020 would be the year he’d create big waves in the middleweight waters, with a personal goal of cracking the top ten of an alphabet ranking. 

After penning a new contract with an upstart Danish promotional company, Kore’s 2020 began with a bang when he KO’d Frenchman Idaas Redjdal in late February.  Then the COVID-19 pandemic thrust the world into disarray.  Uncertainty ruled the day and Kore and his new team had little control over when his next contest would be.

“They said March, then in May, June, July,” Kore said.  “During all this time at some point, my body said you need to relax.  I was training too much, overtraining.  I was training for a fight and then about a week or two before a fight the Danish government said no events….so I had to stop training.”

Kore eventually eased off the gas and split with his Danish promoters.  In March 2021 Kore made a curious, but calculated career move for someone with only one fight in America and inked a deal with California-based promoter Shane Shapiro and his promotional company, No Limit Mindset. 

Junge and Shapiro had a prior relationship, and Kore was impressed with the way the young promoter had managed the career of Turkish-German super middleweight Cem Kilic.  A few phone calls later, Kore was convinced that signing with No Limit Mindset was the right decision for his career.

“When I spoke with Shane, the whole vibe, the energy, it was completely different,” Kore said glowingly.  

With his promotional situation straightened out, Kore, who hasn’t fought in 14 months, has his sights set on returning to the ring as soon as possible.

“Shane is planning something for the end of May or June,” Kore said.  “He really wants me to get in the ring, but there have been so many things in Germany, the restrictions and lockdowns, not even allowing professional athletes to train.” 

The 31 year-old Kore continued, “It doesn’t really matter where the fight is, I just want to have progression in my career.  The goal is to climb the rankings and get into the top ten.  This is what I want, this is what I dream of, this is what I’m willing to do everything for.  If the fights are in the US, then let’s go.” 

Currently, Boxrec.com rates Kore, whose record stands at 11-0-1 with 6 kayos, as Denmark’s top-ranked male boxer.  He admits that at present, though, the state of the country’s female fight game is a bit healthier than the men’s.

“Right now the female fighters are doing pretty good, but the males…the young guys are still prospects,” Kore said.  “The promoters just need to keep these young guys busy.  It looks like maybe one or two more years before it looks like anything.”

While a younger generation of Danish fighters may be a few years away from earning legitimate contender status, Kore knows he’s knocking on that door.  

He anticipates he’ll return to the ring with a “comeback fight” against a modest level of competition.  After that, he believes just one or two wins against “next-level” competition will catapult him into a top ten ranking and position him for a crack at a world title.  That’s the roadmap to glory that Kore has laid out in his mind.  With Shapiro and Junge in his corner, Kore believes he now has the right team around him to help him fulfill his dreams. 

Time and again, whether in life or in the ring, Kore has shown an extraordinary ability to overcome adversity.  He may get knocked down, but you can’t count him out.  Only a fool would doubt him.

By Norm Frauenheim-

It’s a powerful introduction. Edgar Berlanga’s intro is memorable because of power for which there’s been no time for a counter.

Hello-goodbye. That’s about how long it has taken in Berlanga’s 16 fights, all of which have ended within the first round.

Berlanga is also generating a predictable buzz, a welcome one in a business drifting toward a carnival featuring You Tube wannabes and aging legends trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of their fading name-recognition.

Jake Paul, Logan Paul, Peter, Paul and Mary. Who cares? Plenty do, it turns out. You-Tuber Jake Paul’s one-round skit in a win over Ben Askren last Saturday reportedly drew a pay-per-view audience estimated between 1.2 and 1.6 million. Canelo Alvarez must be jealous.

Yes, there’s money in virtual power, an irresistible illusion for gamers and an opportunity for anyone seeking a quick buck.

But Berlanga’s power is real, sustainable if he can prove that there’s something more. The task continues this Saturday (ESPN, 10 pm ET/7 pm PT) against Demond Nicholson (23-3-1, 20 KOs) in a super-middleweight fight on a card featured by Emanuel Navarrete’s featherweight title defense against Christopher Diaz in Kissimmee, Fla.

Berlanga-Nicholson is scheduled for eight rounds, not that seven of them – second through the eighth – will matter. Berlanga’s professional apprenticeship suggests they will not. Therein, however, is the dilemma for a 23-year-old Puerto Rican who grew up in Brooklyn.

He goes into the bout with hype surrounding the first-round KO streak. Can he make it 17 straight? But his development hinges on what he can do beyond the first. He’s a fighter hoping for a career that goes the distance. At some point, he’s got to prove that he can with skills not yet seen. Until he does, he remains a prospect.

Berlanga knows what awaits him. He’s heard the questions at the heart of the dilemma.

“Everybody’s always like, ‘Oh, how he’s gonna do when he goes to the second?’ ‘’ he said Tuesday during a zoom session with the media. “At the end of the day, listen man, I’ve been boxing for 16 years.

“You know, I got all the experience in the world. I’ve been all over the world. I’ve sparred and I’ve got the most experience I could as an amateur, and even just sparring and everything, you know. So, for me to go into the second round, I know everybody out there will make it seem bigger than what it is.’’

From this corner, going into the second round would represent a second step in his promising career. A graduation, of sorts. The power is proven. But feared power can be fickle.

To wit: Deontay Wilder. No fighter in today’s generation was more celebrated or feared for his power than Wilder, whose 32 stoppages include 20 in the first round. Wilder grew certain that the power in his right hand would always prevail.

There were doubts, however, skepticism about whether he had a jab, footwork or any of the other skills he’d eventually need. Tyson Fury proved he did not in a seventh-round stoppage of a heavyweight rematch in February 2020.

Wilder went on to blame the loss on armor in a costume he wore into the ring, on a spiked water bottle and who-knows-what-all. What he didn’t blame was the one-dimensional belief in his power.

It proved to be more feint than faith.

A powerful lesson.

By Bart Barry (For the final time)–

Editor’s note: After 16 years of boxing writing, Bart Barry now retires.  As we’ve allowed him a space for interviewing himself about the craft each year of the last five, we believe this is the best way for him to explain his departure.

BB: Promise our readers this isn’t about current events.

BB: It surely is not.  It isn’t about exhaustion, either.  It’s about logistics.  A simple lack of electricity for the foreseeable future.

BB: In these United States of America in the year 2021?

BB: No more USA.  By this time next week, as you know, we’ll be fully relocated to a very small, mostly indigenous town in the mountains of Mexico’s southernmost state.  There’s not yet reliable electricity there – no internet, no way to watch fights, no WiFi for miles.

BB: No sense in the hoopsjumping needed?

BB: None.  This has been a fantastic run with wonderful people and asking more would evince greed.  We’re taught, as contemporary Americans, maybe contemporary humans, even –

BB: Cut the prepositions.

BB: – there’s no easing the wrists while there’s milk yet to be wrung.  Thank you, no.  When coincidence intervenes and gives you a chance to be grateful and leave gracefully, there’s no inquisition.

BB: This won’t be a grievance-filled greatest-hits piece?

BB: No, certainly not.

BB: Why now?

BB: Blood pressure and cryptocurrency.  Last Thanksgiving, after an impressive bit of lockdown weightgain and a right miserable stretch at the day job –

BB: Data analytics?

BB: At a large bank, yes.

BB: Carry on.

BB: A trip to the dentist uncovered dangerously high blood pressure.  It was serious enough for me to write letters to my wife, daughter and son, last testaments more than wills, that discovered for me I hadn’t one more item on the to-do list.  Helping my wife build a house in the mountains of her home country was the last goal I had.  From there, in other words, there was only existing.

BB: Without regrets.

BB: There was a place to live, now, and 25 years of frustration and bad timing in the stock market finally hit with Ether cryptocurrency.

BB: Something we wrote about a few years ago.

BB: In part, yes.  I was enchanted by its frictionlessness back then.  And decentralization.

BB: Not any more?

BB: Now it’s more about an unfinished thought I have that combines lots of complexity reasoning and cooperation and the enduring failure of economics –

BB: Its illusion of precision.

BB: That there’s immense value out there, outside what the U.S. dollar captures.  Vaporware built on dog memes, intrinsically, is no more absurd than green pieces of paper with dead men’s faces on them.  Supporting the former, wethinks, makes more sense than dying for the latter.

BB: Sounds partially finished, anyway.

BB: It’s a thought I can see out the window and across the street.  I want to hold it.  But it’s much farther than my arm can stretch.

BB: Do you think there’s any chance you’ll grasp it if you stop writing?

BB: No, I do not.  I am OK with that.

BB: Isn’t that complacent?

BB: It may be, yes.  I can accept that.  The compulsion, the gnawing sense I have a talent I’ve not justified, is gone now.

BB: What will you miss about this?

BB: The people.  Being ringside.  The routine.

BB: That’s all?

BB: This is harder than expected.

BB: We’re already retired.

BB: I think so, yes.  When a fighter announces his retirement immediately after losing, we know, he retired during training camp.

BB: Now we’ve just wasted 70 minutes looking for a picture of you and Norm (Frauenheim) and Roberto Duran from 2006.

BB: Turns out, that’s my favorite memory in 16 years of writing about our beloved sport.  It happened so early, too.  It was a midday press conference at a Phoenix hotel.  Duran was part of a shortlived outfit called DRL Promotions.  There was a different press conference for the Coyotes hockey club or something, too, that same afternoon.  So nobody showed up.  Except for Arizona boxing’s one legendary writer and Manos de Piedra.  Norm interviewed him, and I translated, and I recall thinking, in the moment, the experience exceeded all expectations I had when I started writing about the sport.

BB: Gratitude, in other words.

BB: Yes.  In real-time.  That’s good as life gets.

BB: Other memories to recount?

BB: Don’t want to do that.  I’ll forget some and feel I’ve offended someone.

BB: OK, what’s the hardest you laughed at ringside?

BB: Tom (Hauser) recounted some absurd tale to me about a fan approaching Steve Albert on the street and telling him how much he loved his work, only to be surprised to learn Albert was on TV.  I still laugh at that sometimes.  I don’t know why it remains so funny – probably Tom’s delivery.

BB: Best fight you covered from ringside?

BB: Would have to be Vazquez-Marquez 3 in Carson, Calif., wouldn’t it?

BB: Sure.

BB: Or Marquez-Diaz 1 in Houston.  Sitting between Doug (Fischer) and Steve (Kim), two guys whose work at MaxBoxing inspired so many of us, and thinking Nacho would have to stop the fight to save Marquez from himself.

BB: What about Margarito-Cotto 1?

BB: That was sensational, but the memory got sullied later.  Marquez-Pacquiao 4 is another candidate.

BB: Marquez turns up a lot.

BB: I guess he’s the fighter I most wanted a prizefighter to be.  The synonym for me.  Though Izzy Vazquez is the person I most wanted a prizefighter to be.

BB: No heavyweights for the casuals?

BB: I didn’t cover a great era.  Or even a very good one.  The current guys are entertaining, I guess, but you can’t set them beside Pacquiao or Marquez.

BB: There was Briggs-Liakhovich at Bank One Ballpark.

BB: Yes there was.

BB: How shall we end?

BB: I was read by writers I admire – my greatest accomplishment.

BB: Some ending gratitude?

BB: To Bob Benedetti, my first editor and publisher; to John Raygoza, for creating 15rounds.com and taking me with him to Desert Diamond Casino; to Phil Soto and Lee Samuels, for my first credential; to Tom Hauser for inviting me to write a book with him; to Norm Frauenheim for being a genuine and wonderful mentor; and finally, to Marc Abrams, without whom none of these last 15 years could’ve happened.

*

To acquire the only signed first draft of this last column, as an NFT, click here.

By Norm Frauenheim-

Tyson Fury is in Las Vegas this week, but is he tuning up his vocal chords or his jab?

It’s hard to know, given the ongoing talk about the when and where surrounding a fight with Anthony Joshua for the undisputed heavyweight title.

Daily headlines have become a tease, a rhetorical fan dance promising something big, very big, yet delivering little, very little.

Maybe, this is the week. At least, that’s what Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn promised a few days ago. Hearn talked about the end of week, which presumably would mean now.

But timetables are like glass jaws. They are there to be broken, especially in a business often ruled by Fury-co-promoter Bob Arum’s old comment: “Yesterday I was lying, today I’m telling the truth.” A line to set your clock by, if there ever was one.

So, if Friday and Saturday pass without something specific about the when and where of Fury-Joshua, the dance goes on. By now, just about everywhere has been mentioned. Saudi Arabia, the United States, China, Qatar, Singapore, Dubai and the UK have all been teased by Hearn.

“Both sides have approved the site offer that they want to go with, and now we’re just finalizing the site deal and we’re in a great place,’’ Hearn told Behind The Gloves after reportedly speaking Tuesday with Fury after he arrived in Vegas to begin training.

Yet, Hearn’s comment was notable for what it still lacked. No place, no date. Speculation has the fight going to Saudi Arabia. Speculation has it happening on July 24. But more speculation only spawns more skepticism

Last Tuesday appeared to be leverage, a drop-dead date. That’s the day Fury said he needed to know something specific about what would be the first in a two-fight deal.

“We have to go to Monday, Tuesday by the latest,’’ Fury said, also to Behind The Gloves, last weekend. “If I don’t know anything by Tuesday, I’m just going to move on, because it’s been a long time in the making.’’

More to the point, it’s been a long time since Fury has fought. Nearly 14 months have come and gone since he stopped Deontay Wilder. If the idle time hasn’t left rust, it has created an impatience in Fury, whose earning potential is at its peak. He’s 32.  

Fury’s father says it’s time, past-time, for his son to fight. If not a summer-date against Joshua, John Fury suggested a tune-up for the heavyweight champ who likes to sing before and after bouts. Bye-Bye, Miss American Pie, he sang to the media during a post-fight news conference after he fought Wilder to a draw in their 2018 fight.

“We will fight anyway, with or without AJ (Joshua),” John Fury told Sky Sports. “We have made this quite clear.’’

Only a place and date could make it any clearer.

By Bart Barry-

Saturday on ESPN in an entertaining and honest title fight at an Oklahoma casino New York light heavyweight Joe Smith Jr. majority-decisioned Russia’s Maxim Vlasov by fair scores that would have been just as fair and exactly opposite had they happened in Russia.  Neither man claimed the other’s consciousness, which means no crying for the loser, and announcement of the official cards got called correctly, comically and tragically “the big reveal”.  Smith got what he long desired and got it by winning the championship rounds.

There was a relative dissipation, though, by Smith in the pre-championship rounds, relative and relatable.  A deflation of sorts, when the taut covering, be it tattooed skin or shiny plastic (I’m thinking of the inflatable bop bags kids punch), has less air protruding it and goes some slack.

That’s what the corner of an attrition guy like Smith fears most.  Not that he’ll lose energy and get frustrated and make that frustration new energy; that he’ll lose energy and make a treaty with it, lose his defiance, find a resignation, and revel silent counterintuitively in his own helplessness.  Like Oscar De La Hoya pleading with Manny Pacquiao to throw a punch to cut the lights and spare him conscious humiliation.

There’s some wallowing in the Smith biography, doubt not, lest his trainer’d not’ve been so emphatic round the time Andre Ward made note of Smith’s body language.  Lunchpail, hardhat, selfindulgence – they are of a piece, or so say their dinercounters and bartops.  There’s nothing particularly heroic about rising at the same time each day and going to work.  The impediments, the sore back and sprained ankle and tendinitis in the elbow, dash in heroic seasonings.  It makes the next generation of men consciouser of these obstacles, seeing them celebrated in their dads’ overcomings.  The weight of the world and the system and all that.  Balance it just right, take on so much weight – and ensure some poet sings on it – and prevail, that is heroic.  Take on a bit too much, get forward bowed, and you make the infinite rolls of broken men.

For Joe Smith’s good from here till the end he needed to be able to be a titlist.  It’s why the judges’ decision took on outsized import to his corner.  Smith had done enough to win and little enough to lose, but being able to be called champ in a meaningful way, not in the cliched ways promoters and handlers and superfans address everyone who’s worn gloves, that was in the offing after 36 minutes of punching Saturday.  Smith got what he wanted – a well deserved new identity, something our beloved sport owed him for curtaining the B-Hop show years after its curdling.  

Smith is absolutely the best light heavyweight in his country and just as absolutely not the world’s best light heavyweight.  There’s a chance a good fight might be made between Smith and The Ring’s number-3 175-pounder, Sergey Kovalev, another man whose deflation has been public and obvious, but no chance Smith’s handlers should want for him to make any unification efforts with the division’s currently belted Russians.

Smith is in the glow of his greatest night as a prizefighter, his longsought triumph, the apogee of a bluecollar epic, a win for every everyman, so there’ll be no talking him into retirement, even if the time might be ironically right.  He knows he physically doesn’t have everything he did a few years ago.  But he has experience, now, and adulation, especially from strangers, and those things convince a man he’s better than ever, 20-percent at least for his new hardware, and capable of blinding others with status.  But Russians can be brutally oblivious of American status.

When your talent is what you are and the energy that manifests it begins to dissipate there are so very many reasons to say it is not what happens.  Do not discount resentment in those reasons, a general sense others have gotten more with less than you, that even though your product isn’t what it was in your obscure years there are backwages owed, and all those who ignored what you did when you were young and energetic owe you a retirement.  There’s a sweetness in obscurity, though, a private joy in being unappreciated for the right reasons that often proves more durable than an acclaim that comes for the wrong.

To jumble metaphors more than a little, that sweetness is the siren song for a fighter that his handlers lash him to a mast, any mast – be it sparring or roadwork or larger purses – to prevent his tasting.  You owe it to the less-fortunate to make the most of your talent, they say, and that most is a thing insatiable till you’re knocked the fuck out the ring by a younger, stronger man.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

Follow all the action as Joe Smith Jr. takes on Maxim Vlasov for the vacant WBO Light Heavyweight title.  The action kicks off at 10 PM ET with a Heavyweight fight featuring Efe Ajagba and Brian Howard.

NO BROWSER REFRESH NEEDED; THE PAGE WILL UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY

Round 1: Right from Vlasov…Another right

Round 2 Good right from Smith..Smith cut over his right eye…Right from Vlasov..3 body shots from Smith

Round 3 Left to body from Smith…Right from Valsov..Combination

Round 4 Right from Vlasov..Left hook from Smith

Round 5 Right from Smith…Right from Vlasov..Good right

Round 6 Good body shot from Vlasov..Body shot from Smith…Right from Vlasov…Blood from Mouth of Vlasov…Right from Smith..

Round 7 Hard right hurts Vlasov..2 rights to the body..another body shot..Hard right..Left from Vlasov

Round 8 Hard combination from Smith..Right to body by Vlasov

Round 9 Series of headshots from Vlasov

Round 10 Right from Vlasov..Lead right..Right from Smith

Round 11 Good body shot from Smith…Short right from Vlasov..Body shot from Smith

Round 12 Right from Smith..Combination from Vlasov

114-114; 115-113 115-112 FOR SMITH

Round 1  Big right from Ajgaba
Round 2 Jab and right from Ajagba
Round 3 HOWARD LANDS A HUGE RIGHT…DOWN GOES HOWARD…FIGHT OVER

By Norm Frauenheim–

He’s the Common Man with a common name. There are 4,791 people named Joe Smith, according to a web site that keeps track of these things for everybody who needs to know. It’s an anonymous name, common enough to be an alias.

Go ahead, tell somebody you’re Joe Smith. Sure, you are.

But this isn’t a common Joe Smith. He has been fighting to separate himself from the everyman tag that was attached to him since 2016 when he followed a first-round stoppage of Andrzej Fonfara with a KO that knocked Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins out the ring.

He showed uncommon power then. He has shown uncommon determination since then, with five fights, winning three and losing two to Sullivan Barrera and then to Dmitry Bivol.

He lost to Barrera in his first fight after the stunner over Hopkins. He lost a one-sided decision to Bivol in his only shot at a significant light-heavyweight title in 2019.

The Bivol loss might have been a sign it’s time to return to the union hall and go back to work as a laborer in Long Island, N.Y. It would have been the common thing to do. But Smith continued to fight, beating contenders Jesse Hart and Eleider Alvarez.

Smith (26-3, 21 KOs), perhaps a late-bloomer in a tough craft, still had some work to do. Namely, a job without a major title is a job still undone.

He’s back for a second shot, this time for the World Boxing Organization’s version of the 175-pound title against former cruiserweight Maxim Vlasov (45-3, 26 KOs) Saturday (ESPN, 10:00 pm ET/7 pm PT) in Tulsa, Okla., in a bout re-scheduled after Vlasov tested positive for COVID in February

“Becoming world champion and hearing the words, ‘and new!’ it’s going to be an amazing feeling,’’ Smith said this week before his bid for the WBO’s vacant crown. “This is everything I have been working for since I was 15 years old.”

About five years have come and gone since Smith did to Hopkins what nobody ever could. He’s 31 years old. He’s married. His sudden prominence in the wake of crashing Hopkins’ retirement party has also created options. The former laborer now has his own company, Team Smith Tree Service. He’s still a working man. A working man’s fighter, too. That’s still a big part of his story, still one of the best in boxing.

An irony perhaps is that he’s pursuing a belt and there may be nothing more common than that in boxing these days. There might be more belts than Joe Smiths. But this Smith might be in a position to claim one more belt if – as expected – he beats Vlasov, who enters the ring within a couple of months of his positive test for the virus.

It looks as if the Smith-Vlasov winner would set up a light-heavyweight biggie against Artur Beterbiev, who holds two pieces to the light-heavyweight puzzle. Beterbiev is considered the best in the division.

Beterbiev scored a 10th-round stoppage of Adam Deines on Mar. 20 in Moscow. But it was a mandatory defense, which is another way of saying it was forgettable. The mostly-unknown Deines had no chance.

Guess here, the determined Smith would. Call it common sense.

By Bart Barry-

Saturday afternoon on ESPN+ in a match from Dubai junior lightweight titlist Jamel “Semper Fi” Herring beat-up Northern Ireland’s Carl “The Jackal” Frampton, a former titlist in three divisions.  It was the finest win of Herring’s career and an unexpectedly convincing one.

Two times in as many months the 130-pound division has yielded the event glorious as any in a prizefighter’s career: The betting underdog winning a title match by knockout.  You’re the real thing once you’ve done that, regardless what comes before or after.  It does not happen often and happens even less often with household names.  Sometimes it happens in a wild upset but more often it happens when a man challenges himself with stiffest competition.  Betting odds speak to that competition, and knockouts speak to decisiveness.

Herring left no more doubt Saturday than Oscar Valdez did in February.  If Herring was not up against a man in his prime, like Valdez, neither is Herring a man in his prime – though primer, much, than he was in September.

A couple weeks ago Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin, a recent COVID patient, looked disbalanced and awful, unrecovered from the virus more than partially.  It recalled Herring’s performance against Jonathan Oquendo, the sort of performance that made a veteran handicapper like Frampton try and pick what 130-pound fruit he espied lowest the ground.  Herring’s second title defense, against Oquendo, was ugly an affair as a title match might be.  Herring was off-balance in the opening instants against Oquendo the same way Povetkin stutterswam from Dillian Whyte on Gibraltar.  If the men’s similar balance issues aren’t correlated to their similar COVID issues, it’s a whale of a coincidence.

That’s the bad news.  Here’s some good: Herring looked like a new man Saturday, which means COVID long-haulers need only haul so long.  Herring looked better not merely in the obvious way of fighting much better against a much better man but also, and more importantly, in his willingness.  Herring wanted to fight Frampton in a way he surely did not want a fight with Oquendo.  Frampton was, is, Oquendo’s superior, thoroughly.  That Herring wanted to trade with Frampton, holstering his jab enough to set Frampton a table for eating uppercuts, said nothing so much as: Herring is fully recovered from COVID.

So different was Saturday’s alpha predator that I revisited my column in September to ensure it was the same guy about whom Timothy Bradley said “real eyes real-ize” – disgusted and honest as Bradley was about Herring’s closedeye attempts to end that contest prematurely.  Herring took the initiative from Frampton exactly the way he surrendered it against Oquendo.

Frampton looked outclassed most of the opening rounds.  But he was undissuaded for having watched film of Herring’s last tilt.  If he might parry the jab and slip the cross and get close enough to Herring to hook an arm and clock-in, he assumed, a European ref, even one imported to the desert, would offer Herring no early breaks.  Frampton fought the exact fight that would have won him a midrounds stoppage against September’s Semper Fi.

Saturday’s Semper Fi was a different thing altogether.  In round 5, as Frampton began to remove some initiative from Herring’s grasp Herring kissed him with a lefthand Frampton’ll not soon forget.  It hamstrung The Jackal.  Less than a round later it was an uppercut that cut Frampton’s lights for a second or so.  The Northern Irishman rose bravely, yes, as Americans have come to expect from overmatched European champs.  But whatever courage Frampton showed quickly succumbed to Herring’s cruel plans.

By the time Frampton’s corner cancelled his whupping Frampton was wondering what took them so long.  He spun from the confrontation a bit expectantly, didn’t he?  Not to worry, as Frampton’s relief at the white feather got dutifully overshadowed by Herring and his handlers’ joy.  As it should be.  A titlist comes in a fight as a betting underdog and summons the white towel from his opponent’s corner, he’s deserving of what joy our beloved sport can bestow.

Herring acted fully redeemed Saturday.  So did boxing.  Didn’t it feel great to have a meaningful fight end decisively well before midnight?

Saturday’s event put promoter Top Rank in an enviable position, one it mustn’t squander.  It now has two of the 130-pound division’s three titlists, along with Shakur Stevenson and Vasyl Lomachenko.  Those are the makings of a wondrous four-man, single-elimination tourney sure to crown the defacto champion of the division.

It gets better.  The third titlist in the division is arguably its best and most exciting prizefighter, Gervonta “Tank” Davis, who finds himself in a set of circumstances Bud Crawford would surely recognize.  And therein lies the better part.  Soon enough Davis should demand of PBC what Crawford regularly demands of Top Rank.  When Davis does, we can hope, PBC will offer Crawford a shot at its best welterweights in exchange for Top Rank’s offering Davis some of its best junior lightweights.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry

By Norm Frauenheim–

History is easy to advertise. It’s harder to make. But some history is part of the promise attached to what otherwise would be just another title bout for another acronym-sponsored belt if not for location, location, location.

Jamel Herring and Carl Frampton are fighting in Dubai Saturday.

If it were Las Vegas or any other of boxing’s familiar stops, the fight for Herring’s junior-lightweight belt (ESPN+, 4 pm ET, 1 pm PT) would be interesting in terms of what’s next for a 130-pound division re-energized by Oscar Valdez’ stirring upset of Miguel Berchelt.

But interesting doesn’t qualify as history, or even noteworthy. Let’s just say that Herring-Frampton is a potential ground breaker for what it could do to boxing’s traditional real estate. It’s the first title fight ever in Dubai.

“I don’t have any doubts with the fight happening in Dubai because I’m a U.S. Marine.,’’ said Herring, a veteran of two combat tours in Iraq, including the battle of Fallujah in 2005. ”I’ve fought everywhere, in terms of the battlefield or in the ring.’’

The difference rests in rules and regs, presumably there to govern what happens in the ring. The violence is supposed to be controlled, unlike the killing fields Herring saw and survived 16 years ago. In part, those rules and regs will be subjected to something of a test run Saturday in Herring’s title defense against Frampton, an oft-injured ex-champ from Belfast.

If all goes well Saturday, the first of a reported two fights between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua for the undisputed heavyweight title might be headed to Dubai later this summer. Dubai has been mentioned repeatedly as a possibility for Fury-Joshua, both UK fighters. It’s fair to ask why, in the name of the Queen, would two British heavyweights fight anywhere other than the UK? There’s only one answer. It the same one you’ll get to the question about why the London Bridge is in the Arizona desert (Lake Havasu City).

Money.

Promoters are looking for site fees, which these days have been eroded by restrictions brought on by a Pandemic that is in Year Two and counting. There’s hope that it’ll end soon because of effective vaccines. By fall, there’s optimism that socially-distancing vanishes and seats are filled by paying customers instead of cardboard cutouts.

That’s already the plan in Texas. The state is open for business. The Texas Rangers are hoping for a capacity crowd (40,300) next Monday for their home opener against Toronto Monday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Tex., Next door at AT&T Stadium, Canelo Alvarez hopes to fight Billy Joe Saunders in front of 70,000 fans on the Dallas Cowboys homefield on May 8. But medical experts worry whether so-called COVID variants will turn the baseball-opener into a super-spreader. It’s anybody’s guess what that might do to crowd expectations for Canelo-Saunders. But the risk is there.

Nevertheless, shopping for the best site-fee continues for what might be the biggest heavyweight fight in years. At Dillian Whyte’s stoppage of Alexander Povetkin last Saturday in Gibraltar, Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing Social that he’s hitting the road for the next three weeks, all in search of a country willing to pay a king’s ransom for Fury-Joshua.

Hearn acknowledged there’s talk that the first fight should happen late in the fall. But Hearn insists June or July. Neither Joshua nor Fury can wait much longer, he says. Fury has been idle for more than year. He hasn’t fought since a Feb. 22, 2020 stoppage of Deontay Wilder. Joshua hasn’t fought since a stoppage of Kubrat Pulev last Dec. 12.

Fury, at least, has been idle long enough to reconsider and ask for a tune-up. He has mentioned that possibility. But the push is on, and it’s motivated by the pursuit of a site fee in the Middle East, where there’s money and oil to burn.

The heavyweights have already been there with Joshua avenging a loss to Andy Ruiz with a decision over the Mexican-American on Dec 7, 2019 in Saudi Arabia. It was called Clash On The Dunes, but it was more cash than clash.

Look for the bidding to begin Saturday, with the cash perhaps big enough to buy a piece of history. 

By Bart Barry-

Saturday on DAZN in a heavyweight rematch for an interim title London’s Dillian “The Body Snatcher” Whyte snatched the remainder of Russian heavyweight Alexander “Sasha” Povetkin’s body and soul in the fifth round.  Symmetrically, round 5 was the same in which Povetkin unzipped Whyte seven months ago.

Whyte had before him the worst imaginable opponent, and he handled it gracefully.  So often, as Americans, we watch British prizefighters on the other side of things, playing the noble loser exactly as Whyte did last August, that it was a bit disorienting to see what a good winner a Brit could be.

For let there be no doubt the most memorable and meaningful thing that happened in the ring shared by Whyte and Povetkin came after their fight ended.  While I can recall plenty of acts of sportsmanship after prizefights – so many, in fact, the acrimonious way Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera treated one another thrice remains exceptional as their matches – I cannot recall seeing a victor do for his vanquished what Whyte did for Povetkin.  It warrants description more than any punch Whyte threw or will throw.

After Povetkin failed to rise in time and woozied his way to a corner where his handlers gathered round him Whyte strode over for a customary embrace.  Povetkin was upright though barely conscious and apparently uninterested.  Whyte shrugged it off, turned his back and walked away.  About right, really, no man still staggering from blows to the head and the humiliation of defeat wants too desperately to be taken in a better man’s arms.

But Whyte didn’t go on a victory lap as expected.  Rather he fetched a stool for Povetkin.  Then he returned to the corner where Povetkin kept up an uninspired search for himself and positioned the stool beneath Povetkin, ensuring he sat squarely.  It held many times what grace Whyte shows when punching.  After that Whyte got a little carried away as a caretaker – “under the spell of his own sincerity”, as Philip Roth once put it – insisting on squirting water on the top of Povetkin’s head, but there’s no faulting him if he believed Povetkin’s handlers weren’t up to the task of protecting or preserving their charge.

Whyte’s fetching of Povetkin’s stool instantly joined in a library of our sport’s elegantest gestures Eddie Futch’s unfurling hand at the end of Thrilla in Manila – beautiful, simple acts contrasted dramatically by the violence preceding them.

Why might Whyte have assumed Povetkin’s corner wasn’t up to the task of caring for Sasha?  Povetkin’s presence in the ring, for starters.  Hospitalized twice for COVID since he coldcocked Whyte in their first match Povetkin looked like he might struggle with a breathalyzer during his ringwalk and couldn’t possibly walk a straight line after a couple minutes of moving round with Whyte.

Not enough is known yet about the lingering effects of COVID, but as aficionados we have witnessed steep declines in prizefighters known to have contracted the virus.  There are few sports whose preparations require quite the cardiovascular regimen boxing does, even in the heavyweight division.  The first time you spar is the closest you come to drowning on a dry surface.  In short order your lungs burn, your legs hollow at the hips and your eyes start to bulge.  None of these things happens during your first at-bat, your first hockey scrimmage or your first soccer practice.  Boxing with perfect lungs is daunting enough.  Boxing with compromised lungs?  Heavens.

Povetkin did not breathe any more laboriously than Whyte did, no, but he behaved like adequate oxygen wasn’t going all the places it should.  He looked worse than nonchalant before the match.  Then he went through round 1 with the footwork of a firsthour foal.  Whyte’s best landed punches ironically made Povetkin more stable.  It was Whyte’s ferocious misses that sent Povetkin splashing about the ropes, wheeling across the purplemat.

Povetkin’s chin was all the man had for defense from the open.  He had much the same offense he’s long had, a pronounced ability to concuss, but now offset by an approaching 42nd birthday and COVID.  Alexander Povetkin did not belong in a prizefighting ring.  Whyte sensed this but could only do so much about it.  He’d been handling Povetkin pretty easily in August, too, before Povetkin lowered their curtain with an uppercut.

Whyte wasn’t shy as he might have been and deserves credit for that.  Whyte might’ve made a longer and uglier night of it jabbing Povetkin and letting Povetkin’s deteriorated everything do the rest, but he went for the ice.  Even so, outside the United Kingdom and its incredible vocabulary for mediocre products, Whyte had won no new fans by stopping a COVID patient.  It’s what made Whyte’s remarkable act of postfight sportsmanship so important to his prospects.

Dillian Whyte is not a great prizefighter or future heavyweight champion; he is a man twice stopped by merely good fighters.  But he is talented enough to catch a rusty Deontay Wilder cold and have a few Yanks cheering him whilst he does.  He’ll not beat Wilder, he’ll not hear the closing bell against Wilder or Tyson Fury, as he already didn’t do with Anthony Joshua, but he’ll deserve one more sizable payday for being such a wonderful ambassador for a sport in need of wonderful ambassadors.

Bart Barry can be reached via Twitter @bartbarry