1,010 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Ron Lewis byline.
Every story follows our editorial policy. To report a mistake, use our corrections form; for anything else, contact us.
Saudi Arabia has made an offer to stage a lightweight unification clash between Vasiliy Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez, according to Bob Arum. The Top Rank promoter says that a deal has been agreed for the fight to go ahead and will happen in April if it takes place in the United States – with rival New York venues Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center the most likely sites - or in May if it is in Saudi Arabia.
Shakur Stevenson is to be offered the unification fight with Josh Warrington he has long sought after, if he is willing to go to Warrington’s home town to do it. BoxingScene.com understands that a deal has been agreed between Bob Arum, promoter of Stevenson, the WBO featherweight champion, and Frank Warren, the promoter of Warrington, the IBF champion, for a unification, which would take place at Elland Road, Leeds, on May 16.
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, who is Tyson Fury’s US promoter, believes that Anthony Joshua would lose to Kubrat Pulev, although he does say that from the point of view of someone who has a promotional deal with the Bulgarian. Pulev is the IBF's mandatory challenger to Joshua, who owns the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight belts.
Anthony Joshua should ignore his mandatory challengers and wait to face the winner of the February 22 clash between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, according to Frank Warren, Fury’s promoter. After regaining his WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF heavyweight titles from Andy Ruiz Jr in Saudi Arabia this month, Joshua was ordered by the WBO and IBF to face their mandatory challengers – Oleksandr Usyk and Kubrat Pulev respectively.
Back on December 15, BoxingScene.com first reported that former unified heavyweight champion Tyson Fury was in the process of replacing his head trainer, Ben Davison. A few hours later, Fury confirmed the report and announced that he hired trainer Sugarhill Steward, who is based in Detroit. Steward is the nephew of Hall of Fame coach Emanuel Steward.
In the United States, the Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury rematch, which is scheduled for February 22 in Las Vegas, will be joint pay-per-view between Fox and ESPN. No UK broadcast agreement has been made yet. Sky Sports have made what was described as a “substantial” offer for the fight, although BT Sport will get the rights if they match Sky’s offer.
There will be no automatic third fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury, although the loser of their clash on February 22 will be able to demand a straight return for a smaller cut of the purse.
Liam Williams says the decision to switch his training camps from South Wales to Sheffield has turned him into a hungrier fighter and equipped him for winning a world title in 2020. Williams, the British middleweight champion, recorded the finest win of his career when he cut down Alantez Fox in five one-sided rounds at the Copper Box, London, last weekend and while Paco Valcarcel, the WBO president, took to Twitter to deny that the fight was a final eliminator for their WBO middleweight title, Williams believes he will get a world-title shot early in the New Year.
Daniel Dubois says that Joe Joyce should not take any confidence from their sparring sessions if they meet next year. Joyce and Dubois sparred many rounds together when they were both members of Great Britain’s squad in Sheffield. Joyce was Britain’s super-heavyweight at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, where he won a silver medal, while Dubois had been earmarked as the GB super-heavyweight at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
An all-British heavyweight clash between Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce could be made for the first half of next year after Dubois blew away Kyotaro Fujimoto in two rounds at the Copper Box in London. Dubois flattened the Japanese fighter with a huge right hand, referee Victor Loughlin not even bothering to count, having knocked him down earlier in the round with a left jab.