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Luke Campbell says he is relaxed ahead of the biggest night of his career. The 31-year-old former Olympic champion has a huge task when he faces Vasiliy Lomachenko for the WBA, WBA and WBO lightweight titles in London on Saturday night, but he says he is taking things in his stride.
If Charlie Edwards was looking for something to make him stand out, his bold new look may have done the trick. The 26-year-old makes the second defence of his WBC flyweight title against Julio Cesar Martinez on Saturday night and believes his new blond hair is a sign of his growing confidence.
Vasiliy Lomachenko says that nothing he could achieve in his professional career could compare to winning the first of his two Olympic gold medals. The Ukrainian three-weight world champion has his sights set on unifying all four parts of the world lightweight title and would move a step closer if he adds the vacant WBC title to the WBA and WBO belts he already holds by beating Luke Campbell at the O2 Arena, London, on Saturday.
Frank Warren wants to have a “proper grown-up conversation” with Anthony Yarde and his trainer Tunde Ajayi in the wake of Yarde’s defeat to Sergey Kovalev in Russia at the weekend. Yarde was knocked out in the 11th round in his attempt to claim the WBO light-heavyweight title in Chelyabinsk, having looked on the verge of victory in the eighth round.
Vasiliy Lomachenko said he was shocked by the positive reaction of the British fans, who turned out in big numbers to cheer him at the public workout ahead of his world lightweight title fight against Luke Campbell.
Anthony Yarde says it is “surreal” that he is boxing Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light-heavyweight title on Saturday night, having watched the Russian win a world title on television before he had even taken up the sport. The 28-year-old Londoner faces Kovalev in the Russian’s home city of Chelyabinsk on Saturday. A late starter in boxing, Yarde boxed only 12 times as an amateur, stopping all his opponents, and has earned his world-title shot after only 18 professional fights.
Billy Joe Saunders says he would relish the chance to face Callum Smith in a world super-middleweight title unification fight and would have no problem travelling to Smith’s home turf in Liverpool to make the fight happen. Eddie Hearn, the promoter, unveiled Saunders as his latest signing in London yesterday and suggested that a clash for Smith’s WBA and title and Saunders’s WBO belt would be an obvious match and could take place at either Anfield or the Emirates Stadium – the football grounds respectively of Liverpool and Arsenal. However, Hearn said the fight “still needs building” and would not happen until next summer at the earliest.
Billy Joe Saunders would be a good option to face Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in November if the Mexican is still without an opponent for his planned fight later this year, according to Eddie Hearn. Alvarez is keen to face Sergey Kovalev, the WBO light-heavyweight champion, in an attempt to become a four-weight world champion, but the California-based Russian must first get through a title defence against Anthony Yarde in Chelyabinsk, Russia, on August 24.
There cannot have been many big fight announcements made with neither fighter present. It is not that Anthony Joshua was not around to meet the press in London on Monday afternoon, he just wasn’t required. Eddie Hearn did nearly all the talking as he confirmed that Joshua’s attempt to regain most versions of the world heavyweight title was headed for Saudi Arabia. If there was going to be any flak flying around over the choice of venue, Hearn wanted to be Joshua’s human shield.
Eddie Hearn insists that Andy Ruiz had signed for his rematch with Anthony Joshua, which will take place in Saudi Arabia on December 7. Hearn scoffed at rumours circling on social media that Ruiz might not agree to go to the Middle East to defend the WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF heavyweight belts that he won from Joshua in New York in June.