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After Oleksandr Usyk’s second victory over Tyson Fury in December, the Ukrainian admitted to himself it was time to take a break from the sport.

He had, after all, become the first fighter in history to unify all four heavyweight belts when beating Fury for the first time and then successfully defended three of them – after the IBF all but stripped Usyk and awarded the title to Daniel Dubois – in the rematch. The break, however, was short lived. Four months after defeating Fury again, he signed to fight Dubois at London’s Wembley Stadium on July 19.

“Two weeks,” said Usyk about that 'break' when talking to selected members of the media. “After [the Fury] fight I go to Spain with my guys… I called my wife, ‘Hey, listen. I come home, because I want to go to the gym.’ When I home, I training every day. Sometimes I'm up on the second floor in the house like…”

The Ukrainian then started to shadowbox. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I stay with my wife, I say, ‘Hey, punch me, punch me',” he joked.

Usyk is getting short on challengers, after having already beaten Dubois out in Poland in 2023, as well as Fury and Anthony Joshua, both twice. Usyk stopped Dubois inside nine rounds but in the fifth the champion went down heavily from a shot that was ruled below the belt. This is disputed to this day by Team Dubois, who believe it was a legal blow and that Usyk should have been counted out. It remains the only asterisk on an otherwise perfect 23-0 (14 KOs) professional record.

The shot is something Dubois described as “a punch from the Gods”.

“God bless you, Daniel. He shouldn't have said it,” said Usyk on the comment.

Usyk is a former undisputed cruiserweight champion and said the chance to claim that honor a third time is motivation enough to fight Dubois again. Some wonder why he needs to continue fighting, however, after proving everything there is to prove. Yet Dubois will not be his last fight, he will entertain a third encounter with Fury or Joshua afterwards. Then there's more work to do.

“I'm not final in my career, I continue work with boxing,” he said. “I will be training. Listen, you know, professional sportsmen, we’re different people... 23 years I work, just boxing. It's not football, not like judo. For example, Ronaldo [the Brazilian soccer player], he was a good player. Not Cristiano Ronaldo. He's good, fast, dribbling, a skinny guy.

“[Ronaldo] stops [playing] football…” Usyk explained while puffing out his cheeks and gesturing of having a large stomach. “Big man, because Ronaldo is not training every time. Not good condition. It's bad… I want to live long. I want to build in Ukraine a school of boxing. I'm taking care of my health to live a longer life, happy life, but not to be disabled.

“I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't hang out at clubs,” he continued. “When I have free time I spend it with my family playing football and probably break something in the house, which makes my wife quite angry.”

Usyk just wants more from the sport that he has already given his life to. An Olympic gold medal as well as eight professional world titles is not enough for Usyk. The Ukrainian wore a symbolic message on the back of his tracksuit: “Never Enough.” This message, however, means so much more than just titles.

“It's a message to all people, because a lot of people don't work, they just dream,” he said. “I dream, too… When I was young, 14, 13 years old, I worked as a shepherd. I see like a horse in the sky. I said, listen, ‘What's next? I work here, I don't have any opportunity.’ I sit like, ‘What's going on, Oleksander?’ I want to sleep, I want to eat, I want to go to a house. Not like this…” Usyk then demonstrates the small space in which he used to live. “Like sleeping in a box, you know? Two meters by two meters. But I work, every time I work, I change my work… And it's my life. A lot of people say, ‘Hey, you win undisputed, cruiserweight, heavyweight, maybe you stop.’ No, listen, why stop?”

One person who does want to see Usyk walk away is his mother.

“My mama not want me to continue boxing, but I say, ‘hey mama, you want to eat?’” Usyk jokes. “Yeah, but I must go to work.”

Though the comeback of Tyson Fury this week went from probable to inevitable following his recent posts on social media, the heavyweight’s promoters Queensberry today told BoxingScene they’ve had no dialogue with the Englishman about boxing since he lost a unanimous decision to Oleksandr Usyk in December.

That second consecutive points defeat to the Ukrainian came seven months after Fury was beaten on a split verdict and triggered his latest retirement announcement.

For now, Queensberry is busy enough. Tickets for their July 19 Wembley Stadium event, headlined by the rematch between Usyk and Daniel Dubois, go on sale today while rumors that Jarrell Miller has pulled out of his June 7 showdown with Fabio Wardley gathered pace overnight.

Amid huge interest in both the Chris Eubank Jnr-Conor Benn rivalry and the confirmation of Usyk-Dubois II, Fury teased his intention to return with a third fight against the Ukrainian seemingly at the top of his list.

On Monday – as Usyk and Dubois began their media duties – Fury recorded a video on his mobile phone while “just in the gym”. His familiar face took up the entire screen until he panned left to reveal he was with his coach SugarHill Steward. “I just bumped into somebody you might know,” he went on. “You know what’s coming.”

Well, of course we do.

Fury first disappeared from boxing after dethroning long-reigning heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. Triggered by a failed drug test and then entrenched by depression, Fury’s hiatus lasted until 2018. He would regain a portion of the world heavyweight title in 2020, stopping Deontay Wilder in seven rounds. He has toyed with retirement ever since, most famously after beating Dillian Whyte two years later when he promised his wife that he would never fight again. Contests against Derek Chisora, Francis Ngannou and Usyk followed.

A few hours after bumping into Steward in the gym, and with Usyk-Dubois II publicity starting to gather pace, the 36-year-old Fury took out his phone again with an apparent address to the man who twice defeated him in Saudi Arabia: “Beat the fucker two times and the world knows the truth… any time any place… uk next time 100k people.”

On Sunday, June 8, in the tiny upstate New York village of Canastota, as convertibles make their way slowly down Peterboro Street, all eyes will be on Manny Pacquiao, the central attraction among the International Boxing Hall of Fame’s new induction class.

Actually, that’s a lie. 

Pacquiao was going to be the central attraction with all eyes upon him. Then the IBHOF announced that Sydney Sweeney would serve as the annual parade’s grand marshal.

Still, some eyes will be on Manny.

Probably.

Provided Sydney is entirely out of view.

In any case, even if his induction gets somewhat slightly upstaged by the presence of the actress starring in the upcoming Christy Martin biopic, it figures to be a glorious end to a glorious weekend for Pacquiao. The boxing world will come together to celebrate one of the sport’s most remarkable careers, one of its most accomplished people, one of its most beloved heroes – a man who made history too many times to count during his 26-year, 72-bout run.

And 41 days after he delivers his induction speech, Pacquiao may just make boxing history one more time.

He is strongly considering becoming the second boxer ever to engage in a sanctioned fight during the same year in which he is inducted into the IBHOF.

As reported last week, Pacquiao, at age 46, continues to pursue a welterweight alphabet title fight against Mario Barrios, now with a target date of July 19.

If it happens, “Pac-Man” will join an exclusive club. In 1996, Sugar Ray Leonard was voted into the following June’s induction class in Canastota, and on March 1, 1997, three months out from his plaque going up on the wall, he came out of retirement to take on Hector Camacho.

Ignoring those who engaged in exhibitions after becoming Hall of Famers – a somewhat lengthy list – only five boxers have added official bouts to their records after getting voted in.

After his 1992 induction, Alexis Arguello returned for one fight in ’94 and another in ’95 and went 1-1.

2002 inductee Jeff Fenech and 2004 inductee Azumah Nelson both came out of retirement in 2008 to add a third fight to their rivalry, with the younger Fenech capturing a 10-round majority decision in his native Australia.

Last November, 2011 inductee Mike Tyson added an official loss to his record in a deeply depressing money grab against Jake Paul.

But Leonard is the only one thus far to fight in the same year his greatness was celebrated in Canastota.

And, look, Pacquiao is a grown man who can make his own decisions. But it wouldn’t be the worst idea for someone who cares about him to send him the YouTube link to Camacho vs. Leonard.

It’s not a straight apples-to-apples comparison, of course. Leonard was 40 at the time, a young pup compared to Pacquiao now. Camacho was 34. Barrios will be 30 by this July.

For Leonard, the Camacho fight came 20 years after his pro debut. For Pacquiao, it will have been 30 years since he first hit the scene in a four-rounder, weighing 106 pounds.

Leonard hadn’t fought in just over six years, whereas Pacquiao’s layoff will check in at just under four years. (When the IBHOF first opened, a fighter had to be retired at least five years to be eligible for induction, but that was shortened to three years beginning with the 2020 induction class.)

Sugar Ray was coming out of retirement for the fourth time (at least by the broadcasters’ count), whereas Pacquiao has only announced his retirement twice.

The set-up is similar, but not exactly the same.

Also, Leonard was listed as a slight (7-to-5) betting favorite over Camacho. I can’t imagine the 46-year-old Pacquiao, last seen getting smacked around in an exhibition against Rukiya Anpo, will be favored over Barrios, despite his name value and the “public money” presumably impacting the sportsbooks’ lines to some degree.

If you’ve seen the Camacho-Leonard beatdown, you may be inclined to say, “Well, it can’t go any worse for Pac-Man than it did for Leonard.” But that would be an incorrect statement. Yes, it went horribly for Leonard, but he did last beyond four rounds and he probably won one of them. It certainly could go worse.

Camacho-Leonard did reasonably well at the box office. It drew 10,324 to Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, and the fight sold nearly 300,000 pay-per-views (at the now-dated price of $29.95), justifying Leonard’s $4 million payday.

Because Camacho held something called the IBC middleweight title – I believe the A&W title was vacant at the time – Leonard, as challenger, entered the ring first. Blow-by-blow man Al Albert cracked during his ring-walk, “Well, if it doesn’t work out, I don’t think they will kick him out of the Hall of Fame.”

No, but Leonard in no way resembled a Hall of Fame fighter at any point during the contest. Facially, he still looked like Sugar Ray Leonard, but otherwise you wouldn’t have guessed this was the same man who’d previously gone 36-2-1 (25 KOs) against the elites of his time.

He was less muscular than in his prime, moving creakily, and even stood ever so slightly hunched over.

He was a 40-year-old man who’d whipped himself into decent shape, but he couldn’t cover up the way his hyper-athleticism was long gone.

The very first clean punch Camacho landed sent Sugar Ray stumbling back, off balance, into the corner. “The Macho Man” – usually a defense-minded southpaw stylist – took an aggressive approach from the outset, a clear sign that he recognized just how depleted the man in front of him was.

Imagine how depressing it would be to watch Mario Barrios fearlessly walking down Manny Pacquiao.

Leonard tripped and fell late in the first round, and it was correctly ruled a slip by referee Joe Cortez, but it was hard to miss how feeble he looked as he went down.

The five-division former titleholder had a decent round in the second, and probably won it. But after that, it got dark.

Camacho – who came in at 63-3-1 (31 KOs) – was never known as a puncher, but a third-round left hand to the temple knocked Leonard back on wobbly legs. A fourth-round head clash left Sugar Ray bleeding from above his left eye.

The end came suddenly in the fifth. Camacho scored with a quick right-left inside, prompting Leonard to hold. The Puerto Rican kept punching while Leonard tried to grab him, and a series of three left uppercuts sent the Hall of Famer down. He flopped awkwardly on his first attempt to stand, rolling over instead, but got to his feet at the count of six. Camacho immediately unloaded along the ropes, and Ray couldn’t defend himself and couldn’t punch back, instead just covering up helplessly until a crunching left uppercut gave Cortez the excuse he needed to stop the fight, at just 1:08 of the fifth round.

“Hector Camacho was supposed to be a safe opponent for Sugar Ray Leonard,” Albert commented, and he and color analyst Sean O’Grady acknowledged that Leonard looked significantly worse than he had six years earlier, in the one-sided loss to Terry Norris that sent him into retirement for a while.

In his post-fight interview with O’Grady, Leonard publicly mentioned for the first time a supposed calf muscle tear suffered during training. (Pacquiao, of course, is no stranger to struggles with calf muscles.) He elaborated at the post-fight press conference – at which he had a helper under each of his arms, assisting him in his walk up the steps to the dais. Leonard had taken a painkiller before the fight to help with the still-healing calf. “Do not write this is the reason I lost,” he insisted. “I lost to a better man.”

Said his longtime friend and camp coordinator, JD Brown, regarding the calf injury: “We started to think about canceling the fight, but Ray thought he could defy the odds.”

In retrospect, it was telling that the Leonard camp wouldn’t let the media see any of his sparring.

Leonard announced his fifth retirement just minutes after the fight ended, telling O’Grady, “For sure, my career is definitely over in the ring. … I’m through.” But six days later, on the ESPN program “Up Close,” he shifted into reverse and said, “Yes, I would fight again,” and spoke of taking some tune-ups and working his way back. Thankfully, none of that happened.

The next issue of The Ring magazine had on its cover a picture of Leonard in his corner, eye closed, blood from that small cut trickling down his face, with the headline, “Blinded By Ego.”

Writer John Scheinman concluded his story: “It’s too bad a smart man like Leonard refuses to read the writing when it’s so perfectly legible. Everybody gets old. The trick is to learn to live with it. Why do boxers have so much trouble with that?

“Ray, it’s over.”

The next year, Leonard spoke more openly about the challenges of training for a fight at age 40. In a feature for the September 1998 issue of KO magazine about the difficulties Tyson could theoretically encounter when he would soon begin preparing to return from his “Bite Fight” suspension, Leonard talked about how much more slowly an old, inactive fighter’s body recuperates from injury and even simple soreness.

“The first day or so [of training], it’s funny. It’s no big deal,” Leonard said. “Then all of a sudden, the body starts to communicate with the brain, and the brain says, ‘You know what, we haven’t done this in a while.’”

Mario Barrios can take a very different lesson from Camacho-Leonard than most people will. He may see that Camacho used the Leonard win as a springboard to a handsome payday against a prime Oscar De La Hoya, and he may envision how disposing of Pacquiao could make someone like, say, Ryan Garcia, interested in sharing the ring with him.

But the lesson for most of us should come from the Leonard side of the equation, that reminder of how many of the all-time greats had to be beaten into retirement in a way that was emotionally devastating to watch.

It happened to Leonard. It famously happened to Muhammad Ali. It, perhaps most famously, happened to Joe Louis. 

It happened to De La Hoya, at the hands of a prime Pacquiao.

So far, it hasn’t really happened to Pacquiao. As of the moment he was voted into the Hall of Fame, his farewell fight had been a somewhat competitive decision loss to Yordenis Ugas. It was about as dignified a defeat on which to exit as you could ask for.

Manny Pacquiao is a Hall of Famer. In June, he will dip his fist in plaster as the throngs descending upon Canastota fete him. 

The Camacho fight offered Ray Leonard a painful lesson. Pacquiao still has time to absorb that lesson without the pain, and to make that bucket of plaster the last thing he tries to sink his once-lethal southpaw left hand into.

Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X, BlueSky, or LinkedIn, or via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.

The fighters in this Friday’s tripleheader in New York City’s Times Square made their grand arrivals on Monday evening.

Topping off the DAZN pay-per-view is Ryan Garcia making his return from a yearlong suspension due to positive tests for the banned performance-enhancing drug ostarine. He is officially fighting at welterweight for the first time in his career and will take on former junior welterweight titleholder and past sparring partner Rolando “Rolly” Romero.

“I’m coming back with a bang,” Garcia, 24-1 (20 KOs), said at the event. “I’m not here to play no games. I can’t. I got a huge fight coming up next.”

That huge fight is presumably a rematch with Devin Haney. They first met in April 2024, a bout full of controversy before and after. An ugly buildup to the fight culminated with Garcia coming in 3.2 pounds overweight, and seemingly intentionally so. Garcia dropped Haney three times en route to a majority decision win, only to have that victory changed to a no-contest when Garcia’s positive drug tests rolled in.

Garcia is heavily favored against Romero, 16-2 (13 KOs), whose defeats came via stoppages to Gervonta “Tank” Davis at lightweight and Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz at junior welterweight.

But they have a shared history – Romero claims he gave Garcia trouble in their sparring sessions – and Garcia knows he can’t take his eye off the ball.

“I’ve got to take him as serious as if I’m fighting Devin, so we’re going to be prepared 100%,” Garcia said. “I’m still going to bring that speed, that power. It’s just what I do. I’m explosive and I’m hungry. I feel the adrenaline right now. Fight week, I’m feeling how I always feel – just focused and ready to kill.”

Garcia said the person he most wanted to fight was Haney’s father, Bill.

“Devin can get it as well again,” Garcia said. “I’m going to do the same thing, just like I did last time.”

Romero, meanwhile, called this opportunity “long, long overdue.” Prompted about the sparring sessions, Romero said he expects things to go his way once again.

“He got his ass beat. Twice. Three times a charm, right?” Romero said. 

For Haney, as with Garcia, this will be his first boxing match since April 2024.

“I’m happy to be back in the ring,” said Haney, 31-0 (15 KOs). “This is a dream come true. I’d like to bring fireworks on May 2. I’d like to show the world a new and improved Devin Haney from before. I had to go back to the drawing board and focus on the mistakes I was making and become a better version of myself.”

Talk of a hypothetical Garcia-Haney rematch has drowned out either of the individuals’ actual fights this coming weekend – but Haney has remained present.

“It all starts with May 2,” Haney said. “My main focus right now is Jose Ramirez. He’s a former two-time champion. I’d like to handicap him and just show him that I’m on a whole different level, and then we can get to the Ryan Garcia fight.”

Ramirez greeted the crowd with some light shadowboxing and lifted up his shirt to show his abs. (“I like that,” one broadcaster said, presumably meaning the show of toughness. Ribbed by their colleagues, they were then driven to specify that they were not attracted to Ramirez’s abs. Professionalism all around!)

“I see myself out there, May 2, stealing the show,” Ramirez said. “It’s time to show the world the best version of myself. I owe it to myself to move up in a bigger weight class. Those four pounds [Haney and Ramirez are fighting at a catchweight of 144lbs] is going to definitely do wonders for me that night. We’re ready.”

The fight with the closest odds on the main card pits lineal and WBO junior welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez against Arnold Barboza Jnr, who is on a hot streak with wins over Ramirez and Jack Catterrall. During an acrimonious face-off at the promotional event for this card in Los Angeles on March 10, Lopez slapped Barboza in the face.

Asked to explain why he did it, Lopez, who has repeatedly used the N-word in efforts to provoke Terence Crawford and Gervonta Davis into fighting him, claimed that, “I come respectful. My whole thing is I’m always gonna come respectful. But he crossed that boundary, and we just gotta lay it right there.”

Lopez also said he planned to “beat the breaks off this boy.” 

Barboza was more placid, happy to praise Lopez despite the slap. 

“I’m very excited to share the ring with him. He’s an awesome fighter, one of the top at 140. But I’m an awesome fighter too, so it’s gonna be fireworks.”

MORENO VALLEY, California – The question of the night in Times Square Friday will be, “What can we expect from Devin Haney?”

The boxing world is wondering and so is his opponent, Jose Ramirez.

“The beating he took is one you can’t just forget even though it was erased from BoxRec,” Ramirez trainer Robert Garcia told BoxingScene in an exclusive interview as they broke camp in Southern California this weekend. “You can’t take away the fact [Haney] took a beating.”

That three-knockdown drubbing from Ryan Garcia in Haney’s most recent bout, April 20, 2024, was notably converted from a majority decision loss to a no-contest when Garcia tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, but it leaves an uncertainty about whether Haney, 31-0 (15 KOs), can endure the type of forceful pressure he should expect at this level.

Especially against a determined former unified 140lbs champion in the 29-2 (18 KOs) Ramirez who’s out to prove that, at age 32, he can wash away the stain of a somewhat vacant showing last time out in his November unanimous-decision loss to Friday night’s 140lbs title challenger, Arnold Barboza Jnr.

“It’s always in Jose’s mind to win,” Garcia said before Ramirez’s final sparring session Saturday. “He doesn’t see it like, ‘This is my last chance, do or die.’

“He always fights with his heart, always is in shape. But there is that reality, that after that last fight against Barboza, he needs to come out and give a spectacular performance for the boxing world. Not for us, because we know him. But to the boxing world, he needs to do that something special to let them all know he’s still where he belongs.”

Ramirez has expressed enthusiasm about moving up in weight, performing on Friday’s unique outdoor stage and asserting himself as a title challenger who wants to replace Haney as the planned next opponent for Garcia in the early fall.

Garcia said what he’s seen from Ramirez in camp qualifies as “turning back the clock,” to when Ramirez impressively defeated rising challenger Amir Imam in 2018, and then stopped champion Maurice Hooker in his home state of Texas one year later to become unified champion.

“Against Arnold, no excuses, [Barboza] had a great plan and won, but this camp is totally different,” Garcia said. “Jose’s more motivated. He’s training so hard. He’s sparring like he was [in his prime]. And even when he lost [the undisputed title fight] against Josh Taylor, he had a great camp like this. The sparring partners are saying how strong he is. We feel it: It’s a totally different camp.”

There’s speculation Haney, a -1200 favorite, will be content to rely on his movement, to remain evasive and stay out of a dogfight in order to reach perhaps the year’s most anticipated bout as Garcia meets former 140lbs champion Rolly Romero before the already agreed upon Garcia-Haney rematch in Saudi Arabia.

“Devin’s going to want to box. Forcing Devin into a fight is what we need to do,” Garcia said. “Going into the next fight against someone like Jose says a lot about Haney and his dad, [trainer Bill Haney]. They made this decision because they want to show they still belong with the top contenders in the division.

“They could have easily taken someone else. They know Jose’s tough. They want to show the world they’re still up there, even though they lost to Ryan, who’s very strong and fast and caught him. Remember: that was still a good fight, still close. Haney was in the fight.”

Haney worked this camp at Hall of Fame fighter Shane Mosley’s Big Bear Lake, California, gym. There was never anything elusive about Mosley’s style, so what did Haney take from the experience?

“Everybody in boxing is wondering, ‘What Haney are we going to see?’ It’s a question we ask ourselves and don’t know. Is that beating he took in his mind? Or is it out of the way and he’s fresh from a one-year layoff?” Garcia asked.

“We’ll see. But I do know that for Devin and Bill Haney, taking this fight says a lot about them. They could’ve easily taken someone else. It’s interesting that they brought Shane Mosley into camp. I know Shane very well from the amateurs and pros. Mosley’s a great fighter, a true, smart fighter who always came to fight, so it’ll be interesting to see what Devin takes from him.”

As the Times Square card looms, so many questions hover.

How will Garcia perform after the stain of the positive tests and his erratic pre-fight behavior last time out? Can Romero recover from losing his belt? Which version of Teofimo Lopez Jnr will we see?

But the greatest unknowns are connected to Haney-Ramirez.

“For both fighters. I know Jose because he trains with us, and he’s training harder than ever, like he’s preparing for his first world title fight. Motivated, ready,” Garcia said. “I don’t know where Haney is, but I know they want to make a statement. It’s going to make for a great fight.

“I think both will bring their best because they both need a big win.”

Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois will meet again on July 19 at Wembley Stadium.

The heavyweight champions fought in Poland in August of 2023, with Usyk winning via a ninth-round stoppage following a controversial moment when, Usyk said, he was caught by a shot below the belt. Dubois' team maintained it was a legitimate bodyshot, but the decision stood.

Dubois has since gone on an impressive run, stopping Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic, and Anthony Joshua on a three-fight tear and looking better and more rounded each time. Joshua was down four times before he was stopped in the fifth last September.

Before that fight, the 27-year-old Dubois – 22-2 (21 KOs) – had been awarded the IBF title, vacated by Usyk, who had a rematch with Tyson Fury to tend to. Usyk holds two victories over both Joshua and Fury, and he will be aiming to make it a pair over Dubois.

Usyk is 23-0 (14 KOs), a former undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight champion who folds the WBA, WBC, and WBO belts. The gifted southpaw is 38, and last fought with that decision win over Fury in December. Should he defeat Dubois once more, he will once again be able to claim undisputed status.

It marks the first occasion an undisputed championship has been contested in the UK.

“I’m grateful to God for the opportunity to once again fight for the undisputed championship,” said Usyk. “Thank you, Daniel, for taking care of my IBF belt - now I want it back.”

“This is the fight I wanted and demanded and now I get my chance for revenge against Oleksandr Usyk,” said Dubois. “I should have won the first fight and was denied by the judgement of the referee, so I will make no mistake this time around in front of my people at the national stadium in my home city. I am a superior and more dangerous fighter now and Usyk will find this out for himself on July 19. I would like to thank my promoter Frank for making this happen for me and I intend to repay him by becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.”

“I am thrilled to deliver this historic undisputed occasion for Daniel at Wembley Stadium,” said promoter Frank Warren. “It will be an honour to promote a sporting event of this magnitude and a privilege to bring over a champion of the stature of Oleksandr. I would like to thank Oleksandr and his team at Ready to Fight for their great cooperation in making this fight become a reality. I am certain that we will see the best of British both in and outside of the ring, from Daniel and the unrivalled fight fans who will pack out the biggest sporting venue in the country.”

“Both teams have done tremendous work to make this fight a reality. Even more work is waiting ahead, especially for Oleksandr and Daniel themselves. I’m confident no one will be left disappointed,” said Egis Klimas, Oleksandr Usyk’s manager. 

“Thank you to Queensberry Promotions for the cooperation, as well as Riyadh Season and DAZN for their support,” said Sergey Lapin, the CEO of Ready To Fight and Usyk’s team director. “This will not only be a great bout, but also a unique event in terms of entertainment. We are ready to deliver the Undisputed Resolution to all boxing fans worldwide.”

The fight between Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn meant different things to different people. To some, it was a wedding following a 35-year engagement, whereas to others it represented a toxic couple trying to paper over the cracks in their relationship by renewing their vows. Then there were those who saw it not as a wedding at all, but instead a funeral; the burying of a long-running feud; the burying of the truth; the burying of boxing’s few remaining principles and its moral code. It could even have been viewed as a dinner party, one that seemed a good idea when proposed, only for its appeal to diminish considerably as the date approached; one involving a collection of the most unsavoury characters you could bring together in a room, each of them pretending to get along. 

However you personally felt about Eubank Jnr vs. Benn going in, the feeling afterwards would have been the same. Like the aftermath of the wedding, or the funeral, or the dinner party you had been dreading, you would have been just happy it was all over. You would have started clearing up the mess left behind and perhaps turned to the person nearest to you and said, “Actually, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

Suddenly, because of this, the mess left behind isn’t so severe and the clearing up is less of a chore. After all, nothing tends to absolve bad behavior and messiness like a good old prizefight. We all know that. Perform in the ring, where it matters, and every boxer knows they can get away with doing and saying just about anything. Perform there and we are all quick to forgive and forget and tell ourselves that at least we had fun. Didn’t we?

Last night, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, we actually did. We had fun. From first bell to last Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn gave it their all, backed up their boasts, and delivered on the pre-fight hype. We saw a great fight, we saw a reunion between father and son, and we witnessed flickers of mutual respect between two men who all week couldn’t stand the sight of each other. 

Forget the 60,000 fans in attendance, for 12 rounds Chris and Conor were just two sons fighting in front of their dads. They felt only their eyes on them. It was only their voices they heard. Legacy, at that stage, was no longer just a selling point or the cynical way in which promoters had managed to fuse these two – a welterweight and a middleweight – together. Now it was all that counted. Now it was everything. 

As such, the two of them gave everything in what proved to be a rather fitting continuation of a rivalry. They exchanged ferociously throughout and produced a diluted but no less thrilling 12-rounder before a diluted audience no less captivated and enthralled. It was not Benn-Eubank, no, but it was, for all the pre-fight talk, never going to be, either. 

If nothing else, it was a worthy tribute to the rivalry and a good impression to boot. Even the winner of the piece, Chris Eubank Jnr, was able to continue the pattern of a Benn coming up short at the end of it all, this time via unanimous decision (scores: 116-112 across the board). 

The omens were good for the Eubanks. They often were when it came to this rivalry and that didn’t change in Tottenham, where the surprise appearance of Chris Eubank Snr – and yes, some parliamentary procedure – signalled things might turn out all right. With him there, the fight all of a sudden felt a little more meaningful, and some of the dirtiness had been wiped away, if only temporarily. Moreover, with Daddy Eubank arriving at the eleventh hour, we had our clearest indication yet that everything with this lot is a show, a performance, and that even familial bonds can be used for leverage, strategy, and promotion. It was perhaps then that we allowed ourselves to relax and not take anything too seriously. It was perhaps then that we resigned ourselves to the rules of the warped world in which these damaged men make a living. 

In this world the sons of fighters, historically, have a tough time of it. They typically come to the sport late on account of not needing to do it, and they then struggle to muster the necessary hunger to go that extra mile. Yet, in the case of Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn, there was no evidence of these shortcomings last night. Instead, with two and a half years of back and forth, and with their dads sitting ringside, there have been few fights as keenly contested in Britain for some time.

Whatever the impetus for it, the action in the ring was always frenetic, full of meaty exchanges and momentum swings, and both men performed as though to pause was to surrender. Even when things inevitably got messy, and they did, this messiness only added to the drama of the spectacle and served to remind us of how it came to fruition in the first place. 

It was delightfully imperfect, in other words. It was not, as some have said, the best fight of the year, nor the greatest fight in a British ring since (insert any year here), nor anywhere near as compelling as the work their fathers produced in the 1990s. But that’s okay. We didn’t expect or even need any of those things. The truth is, we expected something a great deal worse and uglier than what we got in north London close to midnight. Some worried about a mismatch – in one direction or the other – and some, including the man’s own father, were worried that Chris Eubank Jnr would be badly hurt due to his weight cut, thus continuing the one Benn/Eubank tradition we never want to see continued. 

That we managed to avoid all that can be deemed the fight’s greatest triumph. Indeed, the fight was such a success, as a piece of entertainment, that you were able to remember the actions of the dads while simultaneously forgetting the behaviour of the sons – no mean feat. At times you even forgot the sons had famous fighting fathers, for the shared desperation and exhaustion stopped them both from impersonating their heroes for any length of time. Gone, for instance, was Eubank Jnr’s famous posturing and the sense, true or not, that everything is measured and under his control. That was replaced by a sudden panic and urgency, especially in the fight’s second half, which led to Eubank Jnr becoming a head-down brawler and having to drag a performance out of himself. He was, in those moments, no longer the cocksure son of Chris Eubank, but a fighter in his mid-thirties who knows he can only go to the well so many times before, like his father, he finds it is empty. 

He is, after all, despite his efforts to convince us otherwise, only human, Eubank Jnr. He is prone to the same deterioration and emotions as us all and of this we received proof last night. It was why he screamed as the decision was announced, then hugged his dad, albeit briefly. He also then mentioned how having his father in attendance gave him something extra, a statement at odds with what he has been saying for years.

Conor Benn, meanwhile, deserves credit for battling as hard as he did and for 12 rounds offering some of us the option to forget. “He surprised me,” said Eubank Jnr, 35-3 (25), after the fight. “I didn’t know he had what he had in him. I really didn’t. I thought I would break him early. I underestimated him. I didn’t train for a fight like that.”

Rather poignantly, as Eubank Jnr said those words in the ring, Benn, now 23-1 (14), could be seen in the arms of his father, his cheek against his shoulder, his body now a costume, empty. In this position, he was not only a boxer being held, but he was being held up, with his weight taken back by the man who had made him, the donation reversed. Suddenly Conor Benn was again just a boy. A boy with his dad.

“I looked at Chris [Senior] and I grabbed him by the neck and I said, ‘Mate, I’m so happy you’re here,’” Conor said at the post-fight press conference. “Because outside of everything else, all the noise and the promotion and the fight, your relationship with your dad never goes. That’s always there. That’s long-standing. That’s real without boxing. What’s boxing? What is it? Because I’d pick the relationship with my dad over boxing any day of the week. If this brought them together, that’s worth its weight in gold.”

As true as all that is, it is also the kind of talk you often hear at the end of a wedding, or a funeral, or a dinner party nobody wanted to attend. It is real talk but emotional talk. It is, in the case of the dinner party, usually followed by somebody saying, “We should do this again sometime,” and the rest, each of them relieved it wasn’t as bad as they feared, nodding their heads and saying, “Yes, absolutely, we must. We should get another date in the diary soon.”

But that doesn’t mean it will, or should, happen again, of course. Nor does it mean the sense of dread will be any different second time around. Sometimes, in fact, you are better off just leaving it at one and going home relieved everybody made it out alive.

After 12 exhausting, thrilling, and brutal rounds, Chris Eubank Jnr won the grudge match of the year, defeating bitter rival Conor Benn on points.

Billed as the third fight in the rivalry between the two families after their famous fathers, Chris Eubank Snr and Nigel Benn, twice battled in the 1990s, the sons delivered everything those inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London hoped to see and by the end, Eubank Jnr had done enough to win 116-112 on all three scorecards.

It marked the first defeat for Benn, who drops to 23-1 (14 KOs) but does so having tackled a man who operates at least two weight classes above him.

Much of the build-up centred around how hard it was for Eubank Jnr to remain at 160lbs, where this fight was fought, but the Brighton man had enough in his tank to propel him to 35-3 (25 KOs), and his output increased as the fight wore on.

By the end, he was relieved to get over the finish line.

Eubank Jnr, sporting a long gash along his right eye, dropped to his knees and shouted: “Let’s go.”

Benn, teary-eyed, looked lost and dejected but the crowd buzzed loudly, in awe of the wild slugging they had witnessed. Whatever the pain of the physical damage of 12 torrid rounds, this will hurt Benn even more when he wakes up.

“I didn’t think he’d be the guy to bring it out of me like that, but the fact that our fathers did what they did all those years ago, it brings out a different soul and a different spirit to you,” said Eubank Jnr. “And that’s what we both showed here. 

“I pushed through. There’s a lot of things that have been going on in my life that I’m not going to go into. But I’m happy to have this man [his father] back in my life. We’ve upheld the family name like we said we were going to do, and onwards and upwards.”

Eubank Snr had been absent from the official build-up, but had spoken of the concerns he had for his son having to fight at 160lbs at 35 years of age.

Asked what it meant for his father to walk to the ring with him, Jnr sighed: “A lot. It’s one of those things that was special. All of these things are because of what he did.”

Benn, for his part, felt 14 months of inactivity played a part in his defeat, and he admitted he spent too long on the ropes for sections of the battle.

“I felt like it was a close fight,” he said. “I’ve got to watch it back. I stayed on the ropes maybe a bit too long. He worked harder towards the end. I’ll have to watch it back but I enjoyed it.” 

He said he could seek a title fight at 147lbs, and that he was open to a rematch. By the end, they had won one another’s respect.

“I didn’t know what he had in him,” admitted Eubank Jnr. “I really didn’t. I thought I would break him early. I underestimated him.” 

The blood was so bad beforehand that the referee Victor Loughlin had to purposefully bring the fighters back together before the first bell to have them grudgingly touch gloves – but they were met with a coliseum-like roar as they set about one another.

Benn flew out of the corner but Eubank Jnr, calm and composed as ever – having vaulted over the top rope to enter the ring – was able to catch the smaller man coming in with his jab and lead left hook from a low position. Benn landed a right near the end of the round but Eubank Jnr pursed his lips together and shrugged.

“Make him miss,” said trainer Tony Sims to Benn before the second, urging his charge to role under the left hook and let his own hands go. 

Eubank Jnr, in white shorts with red trim, spat out his left hand, but in the second round the referee instructed them to work and not clinch. 

Benn was twitchy, feinting and then attacking, using his legs to spring in and out but sometimes looking – understandably given the occasion – overeager.

Benn launched over several optimistic but ultimately successful right hands, and after both the first and second frames the fighters stared at one another, with the initial grudge seemingly being softened by respect as the fight wore on.

Respect, of course, was a key component. The fathers sat side by side watching while the boys attempt to settle their differences in the school playground before them – in front of some 60,000 other witnesses. Let’s not forget that Eubank Jnr had, only weeks earlier, slapped Benn with an open hand with an egg in it to kick off the promotion for this bout.

A minute into the third and Eubank Jnr was rocked by a left hook and although he smirked we knew that Benn could hurt the bigger man. Eubank Jnr started to lose the jab battle, too. Benn’s high-energy approach allowed him to attack from varying angles and they scrappily tumbled to the deck together in the third. Eubank Jnr, able to control the distance in the first and second rounds, was threatened with being over-run.

Eubank Jnr smiled but it was rough in there and Benn, fired up, was not smiling – although he chomped on a long, rangy right uppercut halfway through the fourth.

Benn’s faster hands then caught Eubank Jnr with a left hook and a right hand. Eubank Jnr again grinned, and by the round’s end Benn was doing Benn things, doing exactly what his dad used to do and daring his opponent to stand and trade with him.

Benn took a flush right in the next and, in the same breath, replied with a left hook. It was captivating and anticipation hung heavily in the air.

“Eu-bank” chants momentarily filled the stadium but Benn remained a constant menace.

“You’re going one shot, one shot, you’ve got to put your punches together,” Sims told Benn.

Eubank’s corner treated him for swelling beneath his right eye.

So much of what Benn – clad in black shorts and black boots – did harked back to the way Nigel Benn fought. He would set himself and let his hands go, almost bracing himself for what might come back, and another Eubank Jnr right uppercut landed in the sixth.

Benn’s upper-body movement meant Eubank Jnr missed with plenty in that session.

Eubank Jnr stepped things up in the seventh. Without putting a dent in Benn, he caught Benn with a sweet one-two, and Eubank Jnr – in a clinch – talked smack into Benn’s ear. Whether that was wise or not, it served to encourage Benn to set his feet and battle back.

Round after round, the Ilford “Destroyer” came out bombing.

Loughlin warned Eubank Jnr about punching in a clinch and there was a sustained spell where Benn was swinging but, often, missing. 

A left hook from Eubank Jnr, however, had Benn looking weary. It seemed to travel from his chin and into the soles of his black boots but Benn, with 30 seconds left in the round, battled back and they traded wildly.

It was pulsating, but one wondered – as Eubank Jnr returned to his corner – how much he had left.

Benn crashed in a left-right that had his promoter, Eddie Hearn, leaping off his chair. Benn was looking like an irresistible force and Eubank Jnr not quite the immovable object. They set about one another in the ninth again.

Some had commented about how small the 18ft ring was, but by this point it could have been 15ft and they wouldn’t have been using all of it. They battered each other with right hands. Eubank Jnr was badly cut by his right eye from a clash of heads, but he couldn’t afford to stop.

In his corner, his trainer Johnathon Banks told Eubank: “Your jab is key to everything.”

It was riveting, and Eubank Jnr snapped Benn’s head back with a left that sparked yet another spell of trading.

Whether it was the narrative of the weight making – whether Eubank Jnr has been at the sport too long – it always seemed that despite being well in the fight, that he might just unravel, but he rallied hard at the end of the 10th to give the judges a reminder that he was in there pitching.

Sims, whose fighters recognize punch patterns by the name of great boxers who perfected them, called for Benn to do the “Marquez”.

Benn’s tank didn’t seem close to running dry and Eubank, in the 11th, matched him, throwing tirelessly with both hands to the extent that, when he had some respite, he looked at the clock to see how much longer in the session he had to work.

It was wild, again. Eubank Jnr hand landed several blistering combinations and blood was splattered across Loughlin’s white shirt.

Banks asked Eubank for everything with one round to go.

Both Eubank Jnr and Benn started the 12th with a ferocity that matched anything previously. Eubank Jnr nailed Benn with a right uppercut. They tussled in close. Loughlin had to break them a couple of times, Eubank Jnr kept throwing and started to catch Benn, a left hook the pick of the shots, and Benn was fighting to stay in the contest. They took turns cracking each other with heavy blows and through the last 10 seconds the crowd rose and applauded. 

Nigel scooped up his son on to his shoulders to celebrate, Eubank Jnr climbed the turnbuckle to salute the crowd. Both claimed victory, after what had been rough, brutal, and gripping.

The Eubanks being reunited was arguably the story of the night, though it was almost inevitable that Chris Eubank Snr would, at some stage in the promotion, make his presence felt. Footage emerged of him arriving with his son earlier in the evening. Had their rift all been a ruse? Was the limelight too bright for the former champion to ignore? Regardless, the appearance of Snr seemed significant enough to turn the crowd in his son’s favor, and they shrieked their appreciation when images of the pair were shown on the screens.

“I’m so happy he’s here,” Nigel Benn told DAZN before the main event. “I wanted him here from Day Dot. It’s a family affair.”

When the Eubanks made it into the ring, Eubank Snr and Nigel Benn, grizzled rivals from some three decades ago, embraced, and Chris Snr tried to hug Benn, but the Essex warrior was keen to make sure his focus was not snapped.

For those invested in the double-generation family feud, it was a warming moment, but it should also be noted that Chris Eubank Snr and Nigel Benn have been firm friends for years and have delivered a wholesome message about what boxing can do at its best when it comes to self-respect and respect for others. If once they were the bitterest of rivals, that is in the past.

Whether this feud between the sons is condemned there, we shall see. Conor Benn certainly was keen to discuss a return after. And it will likely be there. This fight had been, of course, two years in the making

They should have fought in October 2022, but after Benn twice tested positive for clomifene it was dramatically shelved at late notice and a lengthy process to clear Benn’s name began. For many, it made Benn unwanted on the UK sporting scene, but Matchroom backed him, his father backed him, and the legal wranglings that followed left so many with a sour taste. Many, however, still followed Benn, and he was buoyed by public sentiment, telling me several times that the messages he received were often overwhelmingly positive.

Benn had to take his show on the road, boxing in Florida and Las Vegas, and this marked his return to UK shores, and fighting with a license from the British Boxing Board of Control. 

Through it all, Eubank Jnr had teased and taunted Benn, levelling him with “cheat” accusations every step of the way in reference to the failed tests.

At the weigh-in on Friday, Benn wore a bejewelled necklace with "Not Guilty" on it.   

The weigh-in had been a thorny subject for so many. This was, in essence, a welterweight against a middleweight.

Had this catchweight attraction not been made, Benn was talking of a welterweight fight with the WBC champion Mario Barrios while Eubank Jnr was eyeing the middleweight champion Erislandy Lara. They were on different career tracks that merged in an unlikely but inevitable fashion.

Instead of Barrios, Benn leapt up and Eubank Jnr conceded he would have to fight at 160lbs, accepting a rehydration clause that meant he could only weigh 170lbs on Saturday morning.

It is, feasibly, all over. One of British boxing’s most chaotic chapters resulted in a chaotic fight and there was no crisis, even if its organizers gambled on it. Calling a fight card Fatal Fury – even after a video game – would have been taboo years earlier with the boxing establishment. Too much blood has been spilled. Too much damage has been done. Both of their fathers had been in tragic fights, with Michael Watson and Gerald McClellan respectively emerging from their bouts against Eubank Snr and Nigel Benn as shadows of their former selves. And, ironically, it was at the ground of Tottenham Hotspur where Watson was left permanently injured after his fight with Eubank at the old White Hart Lane.

Both of the fathers remain on the ballot papers for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. It is unlikely their sons will join them there, but from their fight they emerge with the type of credit that did perhaps what they had always aimed to do – make their fathers proud.

“I felt he done really well,” said Nigel Benn. “He [Conor] learned a lot from this. He’ll come back stronger. I’m not taking anything away from Chris. It’s his night. We can handle defeat gracefully. Now we’ll go back to the drawing board and we know where we went wrong.”

Eubank Snr, preening, of course, beamed: “That is legendary behavior in the ring. I am so proud of him. That’s my son. That’s why I’m here. I was always going to be here.”

He was always going to be there. As inevitable as the fight. As Inevitable as the rematch?

There was little to separate Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur, and therefore not much decided by their trilogy fight.

On the scorecards Yarde won a decision, but it was close, with one margin of 115-113 and two of 116-112.

It means Yarde leads their three-fight series 2-1, and also that there is no need to run it back a fourth time.

When Yarde got in the ring on Saturday night, he sidestepped around it and brushed up against Arthur, but there were no similar signs of aggression in the opening couple of rounds, with neither taking any chances or risking anything early on. Yarde came out looking more alert and dangerous in the third. He landed a right to the body and another to the head, and a third crashed into the body. He also whipped in a left hook that the promoter Frank Warren applauded at ringside. But the action slowed as the round progressed.

Yarde was switched on and focused, but Arthur’s fundamentals and counter right stopped the Londoner from being reckless and from gambling with anything too big. There was not a great deal between them.  

The crowd at Tottenham Hotspur’s soccer stadium was filling up ahead of the Chris Eubank Jnr-Conor Benn main event, and Arthur was giving Yarde plenty to think about, firing two-fisted attacks into his body – although the Londoner landed a good right hand at the bell.

Arthur smiled to himself ahead of the seventh. His economic approach was not giving Yarde any opportunities to let his big, more flamboyant, shots go.

In the seventh, Yarde mixed up his attacks, following a double jab with a left hook, but Arthur fired straight back to fend off any momentum shift.

The eighth round was the best of the fight up to that point. Yarde closed the distance and worked Arthur over on the ropes, but left himself open for a cracking left hook.

Arthur’s trainer, Pat Barrett, urged him in the corner to stick to his boxing.

A ridge of swelling started to form over Yarde’s right eye, and while he enjoyed scoring with some shots when Arthur’s back was to the strands, the Manchester veteran was happy to box with Yarde, 27-3 (24 KOs), and stayed with him every step.

The 33 year olds tried to establish their jabs to open the 10th, but there were signs that Arthur was starting to get outworked, although his skills off the ropes kept it close and neither had a clear advantage in the 11th as they swapped shots downstairs and jostled for a superiority they had been unable to establish. But Yarde broke in midway through the session, and Arthur, 24-3 (16 KOs), was forced to withstand a difficult spell as Yarde flurried for the majority of what was left in the round.

“Back him up, finish strong, don’t let him breathe,” shouted Tunde Ajayi, in Yarde’s corner.

Arthur still had moments of slickness on the ropes in the last session, but Yarde’s volume took him through again.

In their previous meetings, Arthur had won a split decision over a listless Yarde. Emerging from the pandemic having lost four family members, including his father, Yarde was not present, but he made sure a year later he was, blasting the Mancunian into a fourth-round defeat. That victory, in 2021, was so emphatic that it seemed unlikely that these two would cross paths again, with so many other attractive options domestically – including Joshua Buatsi and Callum Smith.

Both fighters have previously lost at the top table. Yarde’s stoppage defeats by Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev were entertaining, courageous, but ultimately futile efforts. Arthur was well outpointed by Dmitry Bivol in December 2023.

Victory means Yarde will be on his way towards another significant fight later in 2025.

There might not be a more impressive example of a fighter moving up in class than Aaron McKenna’s wide decision win over former world champion Liam Smith.

The Irishman, from Monaghan, was superb, scoring a resounding victory at Tottenham Hotspur’s Stadium in north London – winning a wide decision and scoring a 12th-round bodyshot knockdown in the process.

It was a coming of age performance for the 25-year-old “The Silencer”, who improved to 20-0 (10 KOs), and whether it indicated only his promise or represented the inevitable decline of the Liverpool battler, who turns 37 in July, remains to be seen – but you can’t take credit away from McKenna with such a breakout victory.

Smith, 33-5-1 (20 KOs), saluted McKenna at the bell, and applauded when the scorecards of 119-108, 117-109, and 118-108 were read out.

Their fight finished in a one-sided manner but the fighters took a steady look at one other in the early going. Smith, on the front foot and behind his customary tight guard, tried to stay in the pocket to investigate future opportunities while the taller and rangier McKenna aimed jabs and right hands from the outside.

There was blood on the Irishman’s nose in the second round, during which McKenna turned southpaw momentarily.

Brothers from both families could be heard shouting their support and instructions from ringside, with Stephen McKenna competing with Paul, Stephen, and Callum Smith.

It was cagey. McKenna had never boxed at this level or on this stage – and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium had started to hum in anticipation of the main event.

McKenna was proving to be a hard target, pivoting left and right, maintaining his range, and making it look like Smith was taking too long to get his shots off.

“He’s trying to time your movement – he’s trying to time you with the right hand,” warned Fergal McKenna, working his son’s corner.

McKenna’s constant switching and unpredictable ability to change direction – something he’s extensively practised in the gyms of Los Angeles and Las Vegas – was a cause of frustration for Smith, and McKenna only looked smoother in the fifth.

Smith was also cut above his right eye when their heads came together but, tough as they come, he didn’t complain.

Smith was often bamboozled by the lanky victor, and by the sixth the rhythm and trajectory of the fight seemed as though it had been decided.

He just couldn’t get untracked, and while the Liverpudlian landed blows here and there, he could not apply the type of pressure he is usually able to sustain.

McKenna was a box of tricks in the ninth, moving to his left and throwing his right, moving to his right and throwing his left, and lancing Smith with a pair of right hands before the bell.

“Can you give me two really world-class rounds?” asked McKenna’s dad before the 11th.

In the other corner, trainer Joe McNally urged Smith to “fire up”.

But there was no quelling McKenna’s dominance and the Irishman, it should be added, was equally adept when Smith was in range.

They touched gloves before the 12th, and McNally urged Smith to go for it, while Fergal told his son to prepare to capitalise on any mistakes that were made.

Thirty seconds later Smith, who has been in with the likes of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez and Jaime Munguia, was dropped by a bodyshot after a left hook was buried into his side.

Smith clambered off the floor, gritted his teeth, and fired back, but the Irishman was well on top, never slowed, and fired away with both hands to the bell.

McKenna and Smith had told BoxingScene beforehand that they hoped victory could take them into fights with the main eventers, Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jnr, but the queue to face McKenna next will not be long.

As long, convoluted and complex as the journey might have been, the destination was never in doubt. 

On Saturday at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn meet in a match that has been more than two years in the making.

It has become a huge event, laced with multiple storylines and talking points, but at around 10 p.m. local time, in the cool night air of the glamorous North London stadium, everything will go quiet, a hush will fill around the crowd, Eubank and Benn will stare at one another across the ring and then the bell will sound.

Benn, 23-0 (14 KOs), from Ilford in Essex, England, is the underdog. He has less experience. He has not fought up at middleweight before (more on that later) and he has yet to fight a top opponent in their prime.

But he is fresher. He hasn’t had to strip off the weight. And he is showing the type of hunger and ambition that you would hope to see from a fighter on the rise.

Brighton, England’s Eubank is 34-3 (25 KOs) and has mixed at a higher level, is more experienced and the bigger man. But he has posted a video of his grueling weight cut, one that has looked so rough that it has resulted in some questioning whether the fight should take place. Despite the cut, Eubank missed the 160lbs weight limit by the slenderest margin and had to pay the penalty.

But it is fight day now, and there is a mixture of excitement and trepidation around the contest. As a fight, it delivers what those in the sport care for most – jeopardy, where the winner is not known or preordained before the first bell.

Because while the logic has pointed to the bigger man and the more experienced fighter being the favorite in the fight, the asterisks around how hard he found the weight cut gives one cause to believe that he might show up in a depleted state.

Benn took to social media to say Eubank was already getting his excuses ready.

Whatever, there is no love lost.

There was not any when their fathers twice battled some 30 years ago.

But neither fighter is coming in having fired on all cylinders in his previous fight.

Eubank, in January 2023, was caught out by a very good fighter in Liam Smith and stopped in four rounds by the rampaging Liverpool man. When they boxed again, six months later, a diminished version of Smith (he said he was injured going into the fight) lasted into the 10th round, but he was down twice and losing before it was stopped. And although activity has not been Smith’s friend, Eubank has boxed just once since, underwhelming against Kamil Szeremeta before stopping him last October.

Eubank is 35 now. He is a 37-fight veteran, still chasing a lucrative fight with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. But are his best days behind him? Was the first Smith bout a precursor of decay that was to come. Because while Eubank has boxed at a high level for a long time, having fought the likes of Billy Joe Saunders, Arthur Abraham, George Groves, James DeGale, Matvey Korobov and Dmitry Chudinov, he had lived a lifetime before that, moving out to Las Vegas where he became, as a teenager, a fixture in the gyms, doing rounds with the likes of Chad Dawson, Montell Griffin and Zab Judah. As a young pro, he sparred with luminaries such as David Haye, Groves, Carl Froch and Nathan Cleverly.

It has been quite a journey since Eubank turned pro in 2011, and he has spent the following years since trying to step out of such an emphatic and charismatic shadow.

“People probably looked at that and thought, ‘Well, who does he think he is?’” Eubank told me a few years ago of trying to impress in his early pro days. “‘Just because he’s got the second name Eubank, he’s doing all this stuff in the ring like that and I don’t like him.’ And then there’s other people that love that, because it’s different.”

But while the Eubank of today has plenty of experience, it also represents a solid amount of wear and tear.

Benn doesn’t have that, of course.

Will the cutting words in the buildup of Eubank’s outspoken estranged father, Chris Eubank Snr – a terrific fighter and former long-reigning world champion, who has called his son “a disgrace” – strip confidence and the resolve of his son, or will it inspire him to fight for his father’s approval? Or will Tina Turner’s iconic “Simply the Best” blast out for Eubank Snr to lead his son into battle?

Regardless, there might come a point when Eubank has to dig deep, as his dad did against the likes of Benn, Joe Calzaghe, Carl Thompson and countless others. And that is something Eubank Jnr said he was always prepared to do.

“If you’re doing it for any other reason but the love of the sport, you’re gonna get hurt and you’re not gonna make it,” he told me years ago. “Some people, especially early on in my career, were like, ‘Ah, he’s just doing it for the money. He’s gonna make a quick payday, have a couple of fights, make some money, go on Big Brother or something like that,’ and that’s fair enough. Because I could have easily done that. But if you’re doing it for those reasons – for those superficial reasons, for money or fame or whatever – you’re just never gonna make it, because there are gonna be so many times where you’re gonna be in positions where it’s so painful, so hard, so gritty, that if you were only in it for those reasons, you’d be like, ‘You know what, screw this. I’m just gonna find another way.’”

Eubank might have felt like that while melting off his final pounds yesterday. And the IBF hydration clause that allowed him to weigh only 170lbs this morning might have hurt just as much.

Neither of the fathers, Nigel or Chris Snr, had wanted their sons to box. They hoped their sacrifices meant their sons would not have to take the same gritty, hard and often painful path. But both sons doubled down, proving their passion to their fathers and to themselves.

Benn once told me how his amateur career had come and gone before he knew it.

“I just went in there and had a fight,” Benn said. “I just fought. I shouldn’t have fought. I shouldn’t have been a fighter. I wasn’t raised to fight. I don’t even know what happened, to be honest. It’s like a blur in my life, and I look back and I think, ‘How on Earth did I get here?’”

He might well have thought that yesterday, too.

Benn has always wanted his career to pay off; not just for himself and his family, but for Tony Sims, who has trained him from the start. Their bond is a strong one, to the extent that Benn told me years ago that he would be with Sims from the start to the finish of his career. And when I told Sims that, he was unsurprised because he knows the amount of time he spent smoothing off the rough edges at the start, repeating drill after drill. After Sims’ leading fighters had left the gym for the day, he would stay back with Benn and go through everything: pads, defensive moves, combinations.  

Of course, the Eubank name itself is associated with mind games and gamesmanship. One can be sure Eubank did not intentionally miss weight yesterday, coming in 0.05lbs over the 160lbs limit, with Benn making it with pounds to spare. It cost Eubank $500,000 of his purse, and prompted Benn to post a video of Cuba Gooding, from the famous “Jerry Maguire” scene, shouting, “Show me the money!”

But Eubank has been spending freely in recent times. Ahead of this contest, he used £50,000 of his own money to reimburse those scheduled to box on the undercard in 2022 when they were originally due to clash with money toward training expenses. Eubank has also tried to bet Eddie Hearn £1m on the outcome, and the British Boxing Board of Control slapped Eubank with a £100,000 fine for pushing an egg into Benn’s face at the first press conference.

But if the weight is horrendous for Eubank, there is every chance that a swarming, dynamic attacker like Benn could have success early. That might be his best chance. And although Benn’s father insisted his son is a 15-round fighter, Benn has sometimes looked one-dimensional the longer fights have gone on. Here, Plan A could be what Nigel did against Iran Barkley, which is to come out firing and not stop until the job is done. Barkley complained for years about Benn’s roughhouse tactics, but ultimately the record books show he was stopped in a round. 

Benn has labored in the two fights that came since the aborted first bout with Eubank, after those two failed tests for clomifene that he has always stringently pleaded his innocence over. If the Benn who failed to dazzle against Rodolfo Orozco in 2023 and Peter Dobson in 2024 shows up in Tottenham, he could be in trouble.

If Eubank, assuming he is exhausted at the weight, is not caught cold, it is not likely that he will get stronger as the fight goes on – certainly not, if the 28-year-old Benn is able to maintain a hot pace. But if Eubank is able to find a rhythm, hammer Benn with the jab consistently and pick away, he might see it through for a decision.

There will likely come a point when, through fatigue, pride and the primal urge to defend their surnames, that they are swinging for the fences and that it might come down to who has the stronger legs and the fresher chin, and that tips the scales toward Benn.

Of course, both of the above might be true at certain stages, but the prediction is that the size – particularly if he has time to replenish and come in far heavier – and experience of Eubank will prove too much for Benn to overcome. But it might be worth putting money on a rematch.

Anthony Yarde vs Lyndon Arthur III

Four years have gone by since Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur put their hands on one another. It seemed then that Yarde’s impressive fourth-round win had consigned their rivalry to the history books, but they meet again tonight.

Yarde is more dynamic and more versatile, but Arthur’s fundamentals set him apart from a lot of his competitors – his jab in particular. 

It is well-known that Yarde was a shadow of himself the first time they fought. He had lost several family members in the pandemic and was not psychologically present, falling to a listless split decision. For Yarde, there was often a criticism that the fighters he faced on the way up were not tough enough to prepare him for what was to come. And when his shots arrived, they were against two of the best 175lbs fighters in recent years in Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev. They both proved to be a bridge too far, but Yarde pushed both hard, losing each time via stoppage yet winning fans through his style and grit in the process.

Yarde is 26-3 (24 KOs), and the 33-year-old Londoner has scored victories over Jorge Silva, Marko Nikolic and Ralfs Vilcans in his past three fights.

Arthur, 24-3 (16 KOs), is from Manchester, England, and also 33. He lost a decision to Dmitry Bivol in December 2023 and was given a tough fight by Liam Cameron in his most recent outing, taking a split verdict over 10 rounds in the summer.

Arthur will be hoping to scupper the constant speculation that Yarde will – at some stage – have an all-London fight with Joshua Buatsi, because Arthur will want to be back in those big fights.

Yarde looked flat against Vilcans, having dropped the visitor in the first round and settled for points in what served as a tick-over fight. But this occasion, this moment – in the fight before the main event on Saturday’s card – should spur Yarde on to a career-best performance and a victory inside the distance. Then he can stake his claim for another main event.

Liam Smith vs Aaron McKenna 

Liam Smith is 36. Aaron McKenna is 25 years of age. The story could be that a torch is set to be passed between battling middleweights, and that is what the optics look like. However, if Smith is close to being the Liam Smith of old rather than an old Liam Smith, then there is far more to this match than meets the eye.

It marks the most significant step up in the career of Ireland’s McKenna to date, and it is a big step at that. 

His most recent scheduled eight-rounder was early last year, when he stopped Mickey Ellison in six rounds, and he followed that in July with a 10th-round stoppage of Jeovanny Estela in Japan. There were two fights for McKenna in 2023 and two fights for him in 2024.

Smith had two bouts in 2022, and had his pair of contests with Eubank Jnr in 2023, but he hasn’t fought since that final bout in September 2023. He had been due to fight Josh Kelly last September, but he fell ill during fight week and was forced out.

Smith said this week that if he could create his perfect opponent, it would be someone like McKenna, who is a tall volume puncher. But McKenna has – for years – had a tough education in the gyms of Las Vegas and Los Angeles, sparring a who’s who of leading stars. 

But Smith – who has fought the likes of Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia – is not a sparring partner. He wants one more significant run and he should be able to kick-start on the scorecards in a fight that McKenna believes will steal the show.

Chris Billam-Smith vs Brandon Glanton

The Tottenham Hotspur show on Saturday could kick off with fireworks as cruiserweight punchers Chris Billam-Smith and Brandon Glanton will look to inch closer to a world title fight by attempting to lay waste to one another.

They have nearly identical records, with former WBO titleholder Billam-Smith at 20-2 (13 KOs) and Glanton at 20-2 with 17 stoppages.

Billam-Smith, at 34, is a year older, and there has been bad blood this week, with Glanton citing a snubbed handshake with “The Gentleman” a couple of years ago as the source of his energy.

Glanton lost two fights back-to-back, to David Light and Soslan Asbarov, both contentiously in 2022 and 2023, but he has stopped his past three opponents, halting Carlos Fromenta Romero in three, Emil Markic in two and Aleksei Egorov in 11.

Billam-Smith is coming off a loss in a unification fight with WBA belt holder Gilberto Ramirez, and he suffered an early career points loss to Richard Riakporhe, which he subsequently reversed when he was a titlist and Riakporhe was his mandatory.

Billam-Smith is a heavy puncher, but the knock on him has been that he gets involved unnecessarily, and if he does that with a puncher like Glanton, he could be in trouble. Billam-Smith, as a father, is increasingly civilized, and it makes you wonder if the selfish fire he needed to achieve everything he has burns as hotly as it once did.

Glanton is a dangerous operator and, to win, Billam-Smith might need to come through some rocky moments, and even climb off the floor, to win a hard-fought battle.

Viddal Riley vs Cheavon Clarke

Much has been made about Viddal Riley’s success and fame away from boxing, and when he was paired with Isaac Chamberlain earlier in the year, that represented what many considered a professional baptism gauging how far he can go. Chamberlain, however, had to withdraw with an injury and Riley was promptly shifted on to Saturday’s card, where he has an equally stern test against former Olympian Cheavon Clarke.

Clarke, a southpaw, is 10-1 (7 KOs), and coming off his only loss, when he challenged Leonardo Mosquea in Monte Carlo in December for the European title. He rose off the canvas in the first round to lose a split decision, and the Jamaican-born contender – who lives in Kent in the UK – cannot afford another slip-up at age 34.

“I’ll use my skill,” said Clarke. “I’ve got pedigree.”

Riley is seven years younger and 12-0 (7 KOs). He had a two-round runout against Dan Garber in December and before that bagged 10-round victories over Nathan Quarless and Mikael Lawal, respectively. Riley contends that those English title fights show he is the real deal, but Clarke is a menace. He stopped Tommy McCarthy in four rounds last year and then knocked out Ellis Zorro in eight before defeating Efetobor Apochi in the US last August. So activity and rust won’t be a problem. 

Riley – who fought internationally as an amateur and who holds a win in that code over Billam-Smith – might try to outbox Clarke and use his range, but one can see Clarke closing the distance within 12 rounds and closing the show.

Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, is on The Ring ratings panel and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.

Manny Pacquiao is up for senate re-election in the Philippines May 12, and he’s going into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in June. He also is enthused about returning to fight Mario Barrios Jnr for the WBC welterweight title in July.

“It’s a possibility,” Pacquiao advisor Sean Gibbons told BoxingScene Friday. “Manny is a modern-day George Foreman, Archie Moore and Bernard Hopkins.

“He has taken care of himself, lives a clean life and would be up for this. The Hall of Fame comes if you’re out of the ring for three years. It doesn’t mean you can’t fight again.”

Following reports of the bout (first from Brunch Boxing), BoxingScene has learned the target date is July 19, sending eight-division champion Pacquiao, 62-8-2 (39 KOs), back to the ring at age 46.

He last fought in the summer of 2021, losing a welterweight title fight by decision versus Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas.

While Pacquiao for now is locked in on winning a return to the Senate with 11 other countrymen, he has told those close to him of his interest in fighting for a world title once more.

He previously flirted with the idea of meeting Barrios 29-2-1 (18 KOs), of San Antonio, but it didn’t work out. 

Barrios, 29, last fought in November, barely retaining his belt in a draw against Abel Ramos on the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson undercard.

Gibbons said Pacquiao is poised to announce his boxing plans as soon as the election results are finalized.

A long-time matchmaker said, “If he [Pacquiao]’s coming back to fight for a title, this is the exact guy you want to do it against.”

TGB/PBC has requested a hold on the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 19, the Nevada State Athletic Commission should decide on that on April 30.

Some will say that the culmination of the Benn-Eubank rivalry has arrived decades too late. They will say that it should have happened back in the nineties, when the first two fights took place. They will say that not following the drawn rematch in ’93 with an immediate third fight was a missed opportunity.

Others, meanwhile, will say it has arrived a couple of years too late. They will point to the events of 2022, when the sons of Benn and Eubank were all set to fight only for Conor Benn to fail two performance-enhancing drugs tests for the banned substance clomiphene. They will call it an omen. A bad one. They will suggest that if the rivalry was ever going to continue, it could only have been then, when, prior to the failed test, the sole issue was that Benn was a welterweight and Eubank Jnr a middleweight. 

Then there will be some who will say it has arrived not decades or years but just days too late. These people, troublemakers, will tell you that the ideal time for Benn and Eubank Jnr to fight was last weekend – Easter weekend – and that them not doing so represents another missed opportunity. Ask them why and they will delight in explaining to you that there was no better time for Benn to fight Eubank Jnr than Easter weekend because eggs have done much of the heavy lifting, promotionally, since the pair’s first date – October 8, 2022 – was scrapped. (Eggs, of course, were one of the things blamed for Benn’s adverse findings that year.) 

For Benn, a fight on Easter weekend would have offered him the chance to view the easter egg the Christian way; that is, as a symbol of new life and rebirth. He might even have mentioned this on his Instagram account – white text on a black background, perhaps with a roaring lion – during the next break from his self-imposed social media ban. “Resurrection Sunday,” he might have written. “Locked in.”

As it happens, Benn-Eubank III takes place six days after Easter. This means that Conor Benn will receive a reduced amount of egg jokes and that the rest of us will need to be more creative with our headlines and reports. It also means that it takes place at a time when many are regretting their overconsumption of chocolate eggs and now doing all they can to either forget they ate them or, having been shamed by those around them, trying to work off the damage. Maybe, in that respect, April 26 was the perfect date all along. 

Still, one thing is certain: the selling strategy has now changed. Whereas before Benn-Eubank III was being sold on the drug that is nostalgia, now it has a different drug powering the promotion. Now it has clomiphene, a word less familiar. Now nostalgia, the gateway drug, no longer has much of an effect, our collective tolerance to it having increased. In fact, Chris Eubank Snr, one half of the rivalry, has refused to even deal – confirmation, if ever it was needed, that this fight on Saturday has outgrown the original reason for its existence. 

It is, you see, not about the dads anymore. That was just the bait for middle-aged men who wanted to feel young again and relive the nineties. It worked as a starting point, sure, but it ultimately rang hollow once Chris Eubank chose to keep his distance and Conor Benn introduced the word clomiphene to the Benn-Eubank glossary. After that, the pitch was very different. Now, with clomiphene the drug, we found that the levels of hate went up, as did the levels of controversy, and suddenly those involved with the event had a drug even more potent than nostalgia at their disposal. Now, rather than just aiming the fight at Oasis fans who once watched the dads, they had a whole new generation invested in the fight, the sons, and the rivalry. 

All they had to do was simplify the story – meaning dumb it down – for the uneducated masses. They needed either a street name for the new drug keeping business alive or, failing that, an emoji, or just something associated with the drug capable of catching on. That’s where the egg came in. That, unlike clomiphene, was something familiar, tangible, and easy to picture. It also possessed great pun and meme potential, which is all that really matters when selling anything these days. It could even be used as a prop. 

Sure enough, soon they had cracked it. In a matter of days, we had an egg smashed across Conor Benn’s face, we had an “egg detector” at a press conference, and we had a video of Chris Eubank Jnr making an omelette. We knew then that the fight had grown wings and that the fathers, the ones who started it all, were only required to lend surnames and lay the groundwork. Indeed, the moment it became possible for the fight to be sold in a different way – in a sexier, more dangerous way – everybody involved started clucking and whisked it off in the direction most viral. 

Even Turki Alalshikh, the bird who built the nest, is making light of its construction. “I just arrived to London…” he tweeted on Monday. “I have a very big concern that the fight will not happen because of the drug test results of Eddie Hearn and Ben Shalom [its promoters].”

They can laugh about it now, of course. See the funny side. The sunny-side-up. But that is only because Benn-Eubank III has scrambled everybody’s minds, memories and ability to think. Two-and-a-half years on, it has now become a remake less interested in history and tradition and more interested in clicks, childish puns, and cheap sales tricks. It has become a rivalry where anything goes and money conquers all, and yet nothing about the fight has ever been earned. Instead, it was poached, inherited. Worse than that, it has, since 2022, been far too easy for them all. Easy to move on. Easy to forget. Over-easy.

In fact, with no hardboiled detectives on hand to get to the bottom of what occurred in 2022, we will on Saturday just eat what has been passed through a hatch and try to ignore the smell. We will tell ourselves that if you can’t beat them, you must join them, and retreat into our shells, where it is safe, and where, for some, it is still 1993. 

Those in the kitchen, meanwhile, will be reassured to know that the stench they have produced is rotten only to fans with the nose to detect it. The ones with a sense of smell. The ones with a sense of taste. For everybody else it is just a damn good source of protein, what is being served. For everybody else the only danger is consuming too much of it, getting caught, and having nobody but themselves to blame.

Elliot Worsell is a boxing writer whose byline first appeared in Boxing News magazine at the age of 17. He has, in the 20 years since, written for various publications, worked as press officer for two world heavyweight champions and won four first-place BWAA (Boxing Writers Association of America) awards. In addition to his boxing writing, Worsell has written about mixed martial arts for Fighters Only magazine and UFC.com, as well as worked as a publicist for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He has also written two non-fiction books, one of which, “Dog Rounds,” was shortlisted at the British Sports Book Awards in 2018.

Brian Norman Jnr will travel to Tokyo to take on Japan’s Jin Sasaki and defend his welterweight title on June 19, promoter Top Rank announced Thursday night.

Norman, 27-0 (21 KOs), of Atlanta, will make the nearly 7,000-mile trip to make the second defense of his title against Sasaki, 19-1-1 (17 KOs), at Ota City General Gymnasium in Sasaki’s hometown.

“Brian Norman Jr. is a motivated and talented champion who didn’t hesitate when offered this opportunity,” Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum said. “Jin Sasaki has power and punches in volume, and their styles will make for a dramatic, action-packed world title showdown.”

Also on the bill will be Cristian Araneta, 25-2 (20 KOs), facing Thanongsak Simsri, 38-1 (34 KOs), for a vacant junior flyweight world title in the co-main event; and welterweight Sora Tanaka, 3-0 (3 KOs), squaring off against Takeru Kobata, 14-7-1 (6 KOs) in an all-Japanese welterweight bout.

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Norman, 24, isn’t new to fighting abroad. After making his pro debut in the States in 2018, he took his next 12 fights in Mexico – nine of them before he had turned 18 years old. Norman knocked out then-undefeated Giovani Santillan in the latter’s hometown of San Diego last May to earn an interim belt. Elevated to full titleholder status upon Terence Crawford’s move out of the division, Norman followed hand surgery by making his first defense in March, stopping Cuba’s Derrieck Cuevas inside three rounds in Las Vegas.

“The king from the South comes to take over the world – I like how that sounds,” Norman said of the Sasaki matchup in Tokyo. “On June 19, I’m ready to put on a stellar performance and write another triumphant chapter of ‘The Norman Experience.’”

Sasaki, 23, hasn’t lost in nine fights since moving up to welterweight in 2021. Most recently, he went 12 rounds for the first time to win a unanimous decision over Shoki Sakai last January.

The Norman-Sasaki headliner and the top two supporting bouts will stream live on ESPN+ in the United States.

"The Contender" debuted on NBC on March 7, 2005. This article is part of a monthly series throughout 2025 – the 20th anniversary year – catching up with alumni of the show.

Previous profiles in this series: Sergio Mora, Tarick Salmaci, producer Adam Briles.

“I woke up. I’m blessed.”

That’s how Peter Manfredo Jnr responds to “How are you?” – the simple rhetorical question that starts the interview. And his five-word response fully encapsulates his attitude in life now, as a 44-year-old ex-boxer. He exudes appreciation for what he has and for every day that begins with him opening his eyes.

And he starts each day by passing that appreciation along, in the form of a texted GIF to damned near everyone in his contact list. It’s usually a religious message, offering blessings and some sort of positive affirmation. But it doesn’t matter if the people on the other end of his texts share his faith. For Manfredo, he’s mostly doing it as a way to check in.

“I do it just to keep in touch with the people I love in my life, and to make sure they wake up every day,” Manfredo explained this week from his home in Rhode Island. “It’s just, you have a certain amount of time. We never know when that time is up. So I just make sure that I stay in touch with everybody before it’s my time.”

Among the recipients of the daily texts are family, old friends, newer friends, other ex-fighters like his fellow New Englander Micky Ward – and of course, a lot of his castmates he met 20 years ago on the first season of “The Contender.”

He listed Brent Cooper, Tarick Salmaci, Joey Gilbert, Jesse Brinkley. They all get the texts.

But what about that guy Sergio Mora, the one who defeated Manfredo in the finals of the reality-TV tournament?

“Sergio, yeah, I text him here and there, but he’s not on the every-day thing because I don’t know if he’ll get mad if I text him because they’re three hours behind in California. I don’t wanna wake him up and get him mad – I don’t need him trying to beat me up again, you know what I mean?” Manfredo said with a chuckle. “He already kicked my ass and won the million. Leave me alone.”

Nobody else on Season 1 of “The Contender” had a journey quite like Manfredo’s. It ended with that defeat to Mora on live TV on May 24, 2005, via lopsided seven-round decision with nearly 8 million US households watching. It also began with a loss – the first of Manfredo’s pro career, an upset in a five-rounder against Alfonso Gomez.

And in between, Manfredo got the ultimate redemption arc.

“The Pride of Providence” came into the reality show a 154-pound hot prospect, having gained acclaim fighting regularly on ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights” and sporting a record of 21-0 (10 KOs). He made for a relatively easy casting decision after fellow Providence boxer Vinny Paz – who happened to be buddies with co-host Sylvester Stallone – convinced him to drive up to Brockton, Massachusetts, for a tryout. Manfredo had a target on his back from the moment he arrived on the “Contender” set. He was the most established fighter in the cast.

But the “West Coast” team was stronger top to bottom than Manfredo’s “East Coast” team and started out winning the challenges and earning the right to make the matchups.

And the then-unknown Gomez cleverly blindsided Manfredo by calling him out for the opening fight of the tournament.

“We had to weigh in at 158, and the weight was really hard for me to make,” Manfredo recalled. “I was walking around on the show at about 170, I believe, and then the weigh-in was on the day of the fight. I was used to the weigh-in the day before and then rehydrating myself and sleeping and coming in fresh, and I couldn’t do that for the fights on the show.

“So Alfonso, I believe I hurt him in the first round, but I expended all my energy trying to take him out, and after the first round, I was dead. He ended up beating me up for the rest of the fight.

“I thought I’d ruined my life. I really did. I thought my career was over after that. I kind of wanted to give up, because I knew I was better than Alfonso, I knew I could beat him, and I really didn’t know if I wanted to fight anymore. But I also didn’t know what else I could do. Boxing was all I knew. My father and mother, that’s all they had me do since I was a kid, was box. So I had no other options.”

As fans of the show surely remember, one of the other contestants from the East Coast team, Jeff Fraza, contracted chicken pox a few episodes in, setting up the remaining cast to vote for an eliminated boxer to come back and replace him. They picked Manfredo.

“All the guys were licking their chops,” he remembered. “They were like, ‘Peter Manfredo, he can’t make the weight, he’s probably not mentally ready to come back, and I want him to come back so I can have his name on my resume. It’ll be easy to beat him.’”

Here’s something most people don’t know about “The Contender”: When a boxer lost, he wasn’t allowed to go home. It’s similar to “Survivor,” where when a contestant is eliminated early, they travel with other eliminated contestants, because otherwise, the order in which people return home would provide spoilers. They couldn’t have the locals in Providence seeing that Peter Manfredo was back in the gym after just a few days away, as word would get around that he must not have lasted long on the show.

So Manfredo was sent to another house in the L.A. area.

“It was actually an even better house than the one we were staying in on the show,” he said. “It was beautiful. We actually had a TV, we had chefs and all that other stuff, and, you know, I didn’t even want to go back. It was better than the loft or being back home.”

Of course, keeping the eliminated fighters in southern California had the added benefit of making them readily available to return if a boxer got cut, or suffered a bad concussion, or, say, came down with chicken pox.

So Manfredo returned to the show. And he went on a three-fight winning streak, narrowly decisioning Miguel Espino, beating Gilbert, and then avenging his loss to Gomez in the semifinals.

The scores are all posted on BoxRec now, giving a sense of which fights were squeakers and which weren’t – something you couldn’t necessary tell as a viewer in 2005.

“They made every fight look close, which, every fight really wasn’t close. But they made every fight look close in the editing, like it came down to the last round,” Manfredo noted with a laugh. “Look, that’s what sells on TV. They want to make people watch and make it seem like the last round is gonna decide this fight.

“And it worked. I think it was a great show, really. It was great to watch. It was great for boxing. And it got to show the other side of boxers. We’re people, you know, it showed we’re not just animals. We’re regular people, we have wives, we have families, and it showed why we actually fight, what we do this for.”

Even though Manfredo started “The Contender” undefeated and finished it with two losses, he has no regrets about taking part in this pugilistic TV experiment.

“It was challenging because here we were, professional prizefighters, but now we’re on this reality show where we didn’t have our trainers, we didn’t have our comfort, our routines. But I’m glad I went on the show. I wish I won the million dollars, but I didn’t. It wasn’t in the cards. Sergio beat my butt in the end, and, he was the ‘Contender’ champion, but I was glad I did it. People got to know who I am and people still know who Peter Manfredo is.”

His celebrity has waned, of course. He remembers the craziness of that spring and summer of 2005, when he was getting stopped left and right for pictures and autographs while trying to enjoy Disney World with his family. Now it’s less frequent, and Manfredo says it’s usually more of a “Hey, you look familiar,” rather than people instantly knowing his name. In fact, he said appearing in the “Fight Night Champion” video game has probably done as much to make him recognizable to people in 2025 as his reality-TV run did.

That Contender fame, of course, also propelled him to further opportunities in the ring. There was an immediate rematch with Mora, which went “The Latin Snake’s” way by split decision, though Manfredo feels strongly the judges got it wrong. That was followed by back-to-back third-round KO wins headlining ESPN cards at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, against Scott Pemberton and Joey Spina, setting Manfredo up for the ultimate shot: April 4, 2007, in Cardiff, Wales, against super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe.

To the surprise of nobody, it was a one-sided contest. But to the shock of Manfredo, referee Terry O’Connor stopped it halfway through the third round, with Manfredo yet to show any sign of being buzzed by any of Calzaghe’s punches.

“I never got a chance,” he said. “That stoppage, it just wasn’t fair to me. It left a bad taste in my mouth. I wasn’t hurt. Here’s the thing – Calzaghe, he was great, don’t get me wrong, I’ll never take nothing away from him. He would have probably beat me anyway. I know that. But it shouldn’t have been like that. I think I would have given him a good fight. But, basically, they used me. They knew I was popular from ‘The Contender.’ I just had come off two big wins, two big knockouts, and they wanted to bring Calzaghe to America soon, and they wanted to use me to do it, and they really didn’t give me a chance to win.

“But I can’t cry over spilled milk. It is what it is. Calzaghe was great, and no one can ever say Peter Manfredo didn’t fight the best, right? Because I fought him, and he’s one of the best of all time.”

There were ups and downs after that. Wins over David Banks, Matt Vanda, and Daniel Edouard; losses to Jeff Lacy, Sakio Bika, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr, the latter two by KO. Manfredo kept going, off and on, retiring and un-retiring, until 2019, when he was 39 years old.

Along the way, there were money problems, and Manfredo became a part-time boxer and a part-time construction worker, first out of the Local 271 labor union in Providence, later out of Local 22 in Boston (where he still works daily from about 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.).

“After I got beat by Bika, I said, ‘I gotta get a job.’ But I kept boxing, too, because I had bills and I had a family.”

Manfredo, 42-7-1 (23 KOs), was actually planning another comeback fight in 2022, against Daniele Scardina in Italy, but one punch in sparring changed everything.

“As I was leaving the gym, I noticed my right side was all numb,” Manfredo revealed. “My whole right side of my body was all numb, and it’s still numb to this day. The doctors found a bruise on my brain. He must have hit me so hard in the head, he put a bruise on my brain. They said eventually it’ll heal, but it’s been a couple years, I still feel the same.”

Manfredo explained that his right foot burns and he has a tingling sensation in his right arm, and it can be uncomfortable, but far from debilitating – and he holds out hope that the doctors are right and it will eventually heal and the numbness will go away.
“I think it was God telling me to quit fighting,” he said. “I had enough. It was time to hang it up for the rest of my life. But I’m OK. It doesn’t stop me from going to work every day. I’m just used to the way it feels now. It’s not ruining my life. It’s just a pain in the ass, and it’s always there.”

For what it’s worth, Manfredo sounds just fine – his mind seems sharp, his speech the same as it was 20 years ago.

Told as much, he responded: “Oh, yeah, I’m not that punchy. I still got a few French fries in my Happy Meal. Don’t worry about it.”

His current physical issues aren’t the only sad part of Manfredo’s story. Fans will recall that he was trained for much of his career by his father, Peter Manfredo Snr. But they’re not on speaking terms these days.

“I haven’t talked to my father and mother in over a year,” he said. “I used to send them those text messages, but they told me to stop sending them. It’s … it’s a shitty situation. I hate to talk about it. Everybody has a cross to bear in their life.”

Manfredo didn’t want to get into any details beyond that.

And there’s no need to dwell on it – especially when his current family brings him such joy. Fans of “The Contender” will remember his wife Yamilka as well as his daughter Alexis, who was 2 years old on the show. Alexis is 22 now, daughter Mercedes (with whom Yamilka was pregnant at the Contender finale) is 19, and son Peter is 17.

Peter and Yamilka have been together since high school, when she was 15, and they’re still married.

“I got so lucky,” he said. “I got her when she was too young to know better.”

That’s Manfredo’s personality summed up in two sentences: cracking jokes, thinking himself lucky, and appreciating every little thing that’s gone his way – including getting to be part of the first season of “The Contender.”

“It was a long process to get cast on the show, a bunch of different stages, but eventually I made it, I was one of the 16. I was lucky, ya know? I caught a break, which we all need to do in life sometimes.”

Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with more than 25 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X, BlueSky, or LinkedIn, or via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.

Chris Eubank Jnr sought to unnerve Conor Benn in one of the final opportunities he will have to do so before finally confronting him in the boxing ring on Saturday night.

The 35 year old started the promotion of their middleweight contest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium by hitting him in the face with an egg at the first press conference. At the second, he threatened Benn’s father Nigel, and at Thursday’s final press conference he accused his opponent of “fleeing the pressure” surrounding one of the biggest fights of the year.

Those involved in Saturday’s promotion, at the 62,850-seater stadium in north London, claim that it has sold out. If it is beyond the magnitude of occasion the experienced Eubank Jnr has previously been involved in, it dwarves, by comparison, any of those previously involving Benn.

The calcultated Eubank Jnr, who has consistently labelled Benn a “cheat” as a consequence of the failed drugs tests that forced the cancellation of their date in October 2022, has targeted Benn via social media and at further set-pieces organised to promote Saturday’s grudge match.

His recognition that the 28-year-old Benn is the most emotional of fighters was again transparent when he spoke on Thursday. So, too, was his appreciation of the way his father of the same name so succesfully angered Nigel Benn during their heated and memorable rivalry of their 1990s. If he is a less talented fighter than Chris Eubank Snr he is also more articulate, and he adopted a similarly dismissive-and-condescending tone to address Conor Benn as that Eubank Snr used over 30 years earlier. 

“I know what’s coming,” he calmly said. “I’ve prepared my whole life for these moments. I’ve put the time in; dedicated decades to this sport, and done it all without cheating; without cutting any corners, and I’m proud of that.

“The mentality I have – the experience I have – the fortitude, and the will, is what I will be using on the night to take out my adversary in Conor Benn.

“Conor speaks about pressure and dealing with it, but there’s a reason why he had his training camp in Spain. The kid had to flee his own country to prepare for this fight. He knew that he couldn’t handle the pressure of walking these UK streets and having people shouting out, ‘drug cheat’, and egg jokes. He didn’t want to be involved in any of that. So he took himself away, and now he’s back. 

“He thinks he can use me to get back into good graces. I haven’t fled. I haven’t hidden away from anything. I’ve been on these streets. I’ve been to gyms all over London over the last two months. I’ve been and spoke to kids; done all the media obligations I needed to do around the country. I’ve felt the energy on the streets of the UK over these last two months. It’s real. People are invested in this. Everywhere I go, people are screaming, and most of the time it’s positive, which is a new thing for me. I’m still getting used to that.

“I’m happy with the place I’m at mentally. I don’t think Conor can say the same thing. I think he’s feeling the pressure and the heat. He’s feeling that, and he’s going to feel it a hell of a lot more in a couple of days’ time.”

Eubank Jnr had, by then, again refused to allow the normally vocal, quick-witted and composed Eddie Hearn, Benn’s promoter, to speak. Hearn responded by instructing Frank Smith, the chief executive of Matchroom, to replace him at the top table, and Smith, similarly, struggled to speak over Eubank Jnr’s consistent-and-dismissive interruptions. The middleweight was regardless, by comparison, much more willing to listen to his rival, until seizing on an opportunity to deliver his most dismissive line of all.

“No, no pressure,” Benn responded when asked about Eubank Jnr’s assertions. “I’ve had the fight over 100 times in my head. It’s just focusing on the training; removing myself from my comfort zones; my familiarities; my family, and fully dialling in. I’m not going to lower myself to Chris and do all that back and forth. That PR’s done. 

“I’m excited to get in there and put my hands on him Saturday night, irrelevant of all the rubbish he wants to talk, and names. We’re not at school, and come Saturday night I get to put me hands on him.” 

“You will be at school on Saturday night, my friend,” Eubank Jnr swiftly responded. “I’m taking you right to school. I’m going to be the headmaster, my friend, and you will be in detention.” 

When Benn responded, “Just focus on getting the weight off, fat boy”, Eubank Jnr got the emotional response he perhaps had sought. Hearn has already spoken of the need for Benn to maintain the composure he lost at the first two press conferences; though Hearn was unable to offer it on Thursday, support came from Benn’s father Nigel in the form of him repeating the same stories he told on Wednesday of his son’s dominance in sparring against Denzel Bentley, Bruno Surace and William Scull, in the same prediction that he will win inside four rounds, and from Benn’s long-term trainer Tony Sims.

“Every so-called expert I listen to or watch are all favoring Chris Eubank Jnr to win, because they’re saying that Conor’s at a disadvantage moving up in weight and Chris is going to be too big for him and too skilful,” Sims said. “But Conor Benn carries the power up from welterweight to middleweight. He’s got the speed. And I believe he wants this fight really badly. 

“He’s been through two years of hell [following the failed drugs tests that Benn has maintained his innocence regarding] – over that course of time he’s gone from being a boy to a man, and we’ve seen in this camp, eight weeks in Palma, Mallorca, we really have had a fantastic camp. He really has looked fantastic to me in sparring. I believe he’ll come out victorious. 

“God has a way of looking down – things happen for a reason. He’s been through hell for two years, but sometimes you have to go through these things to come out on top at the end.”

“Everyone’s always talking about this weight thing,” said Eubank Jnr with the same straight face, having agreed to fight Benn at a catchweight of 157lbs in 2022. “The weight is painful. I’m in pain right now. I’ll be in even more pain tonight and tomorrow morning. But the question I ask myself is, ‘What is pain?’ I have a 31-year-old brother [Sebastian] buried in the desert in Dubai. That’s pain. I have his son, Raheem, three years old. He asks, ‘Why can’t I see my daddy? Why doesn’t he talk me to school?’. That’s pain. 

“My own father, a man I idolised for my entire life – he doesn’t speak to me. We haven’t spoken for years, and he thinks I’m a disgrace. These things are what pain is to me. If I can deal with all of these trials and tribulations, then the weight cut, and the rehydration clause – these are all things that are not an issue. They’re not important.

“Now it’s about preparing to get this kid out of boxing. We’re not taking him lightly anymore. He should have taken the chance he had in that first fight, when I was underestimating him. That was his best shot, and now it’s gone. Now I have a duty to boxing, to the fans he’s lied to, to erase these guys from the picture.”

“This is what I do,” Benn also said. “I love this game. This is what I live for. This is every fighter’s dream; to turn professional; to live this life. I’ve been doing this for 10 years, and I’m more than prepared; more than ready. I wish it was Saturday night.”

By the time Eubank Jnr had finished goading Hearn with a new proposal for a bet on the outcome of Saturday’s contest, it’d become easy to forget about those who spoke before him – his trainer Johnathon Banks included.

“It takes a certain type of mental fortitude to be able to [fight],” Banks said. “No way in the world should that be underestimated. But even with that, what separates what we have going on is [Eubank Jnr’s] mentality. It’s a little bit different. With that mentality, along with that work ethic, it’s going to be the separation between the two.”

LOS ANGELES – Naoya Inoue fully grasps the significance of a Cinco de Mayo fight weekend in Las Vegas. As he launches toward the teeth of his schedule, returning to the U.S. to headline the traditional festivities ignites a campaign to elevate his standing as a global sporting figure.

Japan’s undisputed junior-featherweight champion Inoue, 29-0 (26 KOs), will defend his belts against Texas’ Ramon Cardenas, 26-1 (14 KOs), on May 4 at T-Mobile Arena to cap a jam-packed boxing weekend that includes cards headed by Ryan Garcia on May 2 in New York’s Times Square and Canelo Alvarez on May 3 in Saudi Arabia.

And, with former unified 122lbs champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev awaiting Inoue in Saudi Arabia in September, and unbeaten bantamweight champion and countryman Junto Nakatani due in December, Inoue has the sport’s grandest stage to stamp himself as the world’s best boxer.

“I don’t know if I’ll make it back to No. 1 with this fight, but with September, December and next year … I hope to get back with those fights,” Inoue told reporters gathered at his media workout Wednesday at the Westside Boxing Gym. “I’m really looking forward to it. I know it is a legendary day for boxing, and I’m very pleased I’m in the main event.” 

At 32, the four-division champion nicknamed “The Monster” has taken some criticism for meeting aged TJ Doheny and replacement fighter Ye Joon Kim when a planned mandatory in January against Sam Goodman fell through.

The lesser foes have seen Inoue fall behind former undisputed heavyweight champion and 2024 Boxing Writers Association of America fighter of the year Oleksandr Usyk in the pound-for-pound rankings. 

And while Akhmadaliev’s team has decried the extended wait for their mandatory WBA title shot, Inoue’s American promoter Todd DuBoef of Top Rank quickly sprang to Inoue’s defense.

Labeling Cardenas a third consecutive soft touch is “such an unfair indictment. Forget about [the recent bouts]. Are you looking at [Inoue’s 2023 TKO of champion Stephen] Fulton?” DuBoef asked.

“It’s not fair to point to Doheny, an [injured] mandatory or [Mexico’s Alan David] Picasso, who doesn’t want to show up [leading to Cardenas].

“The guy goes out of his way to say, ‘I’ll take him, I’ll take him, I’ll take him.’ He’s the one guy I’ve never seen protect himself, who thinks, ‘You have the title, you’re in the sweepstakes.’ He’s very [Vasiliy] Lomachenko-esque, he’s never backed off anybody.

“And it wasn’t like Hagler, Hearns, Leonard and Duran all fought each other in succession. You have to have fights in between, and the timing has to be right. The standard for the greats is too high. When you’re a pound-for-pound guy and a big attraction, everybody wants to be in the sweepstakes, but there aren’t always sweepstakes fighters available, so you have a choice: Sit on your ass and wait, or stay active like he does and say, ‘Whoever wants to come in … I want to come to America, I want to expand my runway, fight in Japan, Saudi Arabia, wherever it is … I’ll take him. And when the next title fighter is available, I’m ready.’

“I’d rather have him fighting than not fighting.”

Inoue has only fought in the U.S. three times – two COVID-era bouts and a 2017 undercard debut in Carson, California.

“Having Inoue come back to the states is really important, because in the time he’s been away, he’s emerged as the pound-for-pound king and decimated everybody while the buzz that’s carried through Japan has carried through the world,” DuBoef said. “He’s one of the most exciting fighters you can watch with his speed and power.

“He and his team understand the importance of being in America and expanding your brand. He sees how popular he is, and that it’s good to step outside that.”

Inoue said he’d also like to one day fight at Madison Square Garden, and a bout attended by Japan’s Shohei Ohtani at Dodger Stadium would generate a bonanza of interest.  

“There’s a great turnout today. I know the expectation is there. I want to fulfill those expectations,” Inoue said, calling his interest in fighting in the U.S.“very important to me.”

Starting this rugged stretch of bouts on Cinco de Mayo weekend is especially meaningful for Inoue after he watched fights growing up with his father-trainer that included their favorites, Mexican legends Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and Juan Manuel Marquez.

“Those are the Mexican fighters I’m fond of,” he said. “It’s going to be a great fight for me, and I’m very excited about that. For this fight, I have pure confidence. [Cardenas] is an all-around good fighter. No matter how it comes out, I have the advantage.”

Inoue recently announced his intention at a Japanese boxing awards show to pursue the showdown with Nakatani – “Who wants to see that fight?” he asked reporters to enthusiastic responses Wednesday. 

He additionally has been linked to major bouts against Top Rank’s WBO featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza – who defends his belt in the May 4 co-main event – and unbeaten WBC super-flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.

“He’s the most active champion, averaging more than three fights a year. Tell me anyone on the pound-for-pound list that’s matching that?” DuBoef said of Inoue.

“There’s a lot of chatter, with everyone getting on their milk boxes screaming, ‘He’s avoiding me, he’s avoiding me.’ That’s all bullshit. That’s just their way of saying, ‘I want more money.’ But they want the fight later on. That’s not fair, and he shouldn’t be indicted for it. He’s fighting! And he’s knocking everyone off.”

Inoue is up for it all, DuBoef maintains, pointing to how other great champions have avoided demanding rematches after a difficult title test.

When Nonito Donaire broke Inoue’s jaw in the 2019 fight of the year, Inoue sought out a rematch.

“That’s a fucking fighter,” DuBoef said. ‘That’s a real guy.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.

Ryan Garcia is officially cleared to fight.

BoxingScene has confirmed that the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) has officially removed the once-troubled star boxer from suspension. Garcia, 24-1 (20 KOs; 1 no contest), was required to meet the terms of a settlement reached with the commission stemming from a positive drugs test from his 12-round fight with Devin Haney, 31-0 (15 KOs; 1NC) on April 20, 2024. 

The development comes just ahead of his planned showdown with Rolando Romero, 16-2 (13 KOs) atop a DAZN Pay-Per-View from New York City’s Times Square on May 2.

“The suspension has been lifted,” a spokesperson for NYSAC confirmed to BoxingScene. “All conditions of the consent order have been met.”

Garcia, 26, initially earned a majority decision over Haney at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The verdict was changed to a no contest when it emerged that Garcia tested positive for the banned substance ostarine, in samples collected through testing by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA). 

The results also confirmed a separate sample collected by the state commission. Garcia – through his legal team – reached a settlement with the commission which left him banned from competing anywhere in the US for a minimum of one year, along with a $10,000 fine – the maximum allowed by NYSAC – and full forfeiture of his seven-figure purse. 

An undisclosed portion of the purse was paid to Haney, who was additionally compensated when Garcia was more than three pounds overweight, an infraction that cost the California native a shot at Haney’s WBC junior-welterweight title. 

Even after Garcia was declared the winner on fight night, Haney retained the belt. The unbeaten two-division champ would subsequently vacate in lieu of a mandatory title defense against Sandor Martin, for which he felt the payday from the purse bid fell short of his true worth. 

In that vein, Haney also filed a civil complaint against Garcia, alleging battery, fraud and breach of contract. 

BoxingScene has confirmed that the case has since been settled and will be dismissed in May. 

Meanwhile, Garcia’s signed consent order with NYSAC carried conditions for his career to move forward beyond the minimum one-year suspension period.

Garcia was required to submit to random drugs testing during that time, to prove that he was a clean boxer. Not only did he not immediately comply, but Garcia – and promoter Golden Boy Promotions – repeatedly contended that he was the victim of substance contamination. 

His stance changed earlier in 2025, when Garcia was able to strike a deal with Riyadh Season and its leader Turki Alalshikh. The pact led to his headlining the upcoming May 2 Ring Magazine show, but – as is the case with all Riyadh Season promotions – requires the participants to commit to VADA testing. 

Garcia was apprehensive about working with the agency but ultimately conceded – though, not without reinforcements. Supplemental testing was conducted by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) – his home state governing body – which helped end his suspension, as the findings were properly reported to NYSAC. 

Neither Garcia nor Haney have fought since their controversial clash but will share a card next weekend. Garcia and Romero will meet for the WBA “World” welterweight title in the main event. Haney will face former unified WBC and WBO junior-welterweight titlist Jose Ramirez in the co-feature, in the welterweight debut for both boxers. 

Wins for Garcia and Haney will reportedly lead to a rematch later in 2025 to officially launch the year’s Riyadh Season in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as a senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.

It’s a fight that was born to a rivalry from a different generation, yet the story of Chris Eubank Jnr vs Conor Benn has grown increasingly ugly since its conception. It’s a tale of failure, incompetence, manipulation, emaciation, and eggs. 

September 18, 1989: Chris Eubank Jnr, son of middleweight contender Chris Eubank, is born in Hove, England.

September 27, 1990: Live on British television, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank (Snr) sign to fight each other on November 18. “I personally do hate him,” Benn growls.

November 18, 1990: Following a bad-tempered build-up, Eubank upsets Nigel Benn in Birmingham, England, when he stops him in nine brutal rounds to win the WBO middleweight title. A reported 14m watch the contest on television. Afterwards, in his dressing room, Benn is inconsolable. “Of all the people to lose to, why did I have to lose to him?”

October 9, 1993: The grudge between Eubank and Benn, by now both titlists at super middleweight, has long since intensified to the extent it captures the interest of practically everyone in Britain. The rematch, staged at Manchester United’s Old Trafford, ends in a contentious 12-round draw with many observers believing Benn had done enough to win.

September 28, 1996: Ten days after Eubank Jnr celebrates his seventh birthday, Conor Benn – son of Nigel – is born in London, England.

November 9, 1996: After being defeated by Steve Collins for the second time in four months, 32-year-old Nigel Benn calls time on his 42-5-1 (35 KOs) career. 

July 18, 1998: Following consecutive losses to cruiserweight belt-holder Carl Thompson, Chris Eubank retires from boxing at the age of 31. His record reads 45-5-2 (23 KOs).

August 9, 2003: Tensions run high when Eubank and Benn star in reality TV show, Gladiator: Eubank v Benn III.

November 12, 2011: On the undercard of Tyson Fury toppling Neven Pajkic in Manchester, England, professional debutant Eubank Jnr – donned in gold trunks emblazoned with the family name and his father prowling at ringside – feasts on the overmatched Kirilis Psonko. “A father, or any right-minded father, only ever wants their son to be better than what he was and that’s something I truly pray for,” Senior later tells Boxing News about 22-year-old Junior. 

April 9, 2016: A fortnight after Eubank Jnr wins the British middleweight title with a fateful victory over Nick Blackwell to improve to 22-1, 19-year-old Conor Benn – weighing a little over 144lbs – makes his professional bow on the London undercard of Anthony Joshua-Charles Martin and tears through Ivaylo Boyanov in 127 seconds. “He wants to be better than me and he’s going to be better than me,” a proud Nigel Benn says afterwards.

September 27, 2018: It emerges that Billy Joe Saunders has failed a VADA test ahead of a proposed bout with the Eddie Hearn-promoted Danny Jacobs. Later, the British Boxing Board of Control [BBBoC] report they won’t take any further action against Saunders, who was found to have an illegal stimulant in his system, under instruction from UKAD. “What is the point of signing up for drug testing if, when you fail, everyone just goes, ‘Don’t worry about it, just let him him fight?’” said Hearn. “The argument that it’s all right with UKAD is totally irrelevant. You signed up for drug testing with VADA, the best testing agency, in my opinion, in the sport.”

January 19, 2022: Benn, previously at No. 5, is removed from the WBC welterweight rankings for failing to enrol in the sanctioning body’s Clean Boxing Program with VADA.

January 23, 2022: While in conversation with TalkSport Benn calls the situation with the WBC a “shambles” and, the following day, states that his team have been instructed to begin the enrolment process. He insists that he will be reinstated into the rankings in February.

February 5, 2022: Eubank Jnr, weighing 160lbs, drops Liam Williams four times during a 12-round points victory in Cardiff, Wales.

April 16, 2022: The still unranked Benn, half-a-pound under the 147lbs welterweight limit, obliterates the fading Chris van Heerden in two rounds. He returns to the WBC rankings the following month. 

May 12, 2022: Benn and Eubank Jnr briefly cross paths at the Sports Industry Awards in London. “Listen, you and me can make a lot of money in the future,” Eubank tells Benn who replies, “Yeah, I know.” 

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June 3, 2022: British publication Boxing News is told that negotiations for a huge domestic showdown between Eubank Jnr and Benn are underway and moving positively.

July 19, 2022: The official announcement of the contest is expected but postponed until July 28, a date which also bites the dust due to ongoing arguments about the catchweight and rehydration clause between Eubank Jnr, a middleweight, and Benn, a welterweight.

July 25, 2022: As part of the WBC’s Clean Boxing Program, Benn submits a sample to VADA. 

August 9, 2022: The contest between Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn is officially confirmed for October 8, 2022. It will take place at a catchweight of 157lbs though the rehydration clause is not publicized due to it being a private agreement between the two boxers. Different reports suggest it is between five and 10 pounds. Eubank, who also spent several years campaigning at super middleweight, had never been as low as 157 at any point in his professional career. Benn’s then-highest was 148 1/2lbs. 

August 12, 2022: At the press conference to launch the promotion, Eubank declares that he will only be at “60 per cent” due to the catchweight. And to beat Benn, Eubank insists, he’ll only need to be at 60 per cent.

August 23, 2022: Benn, Matchroom, the BBBoC and the WBC are informed that clomiphene, an estrogen modulator known to boost testosterone, was found in the sample he submitted on July 25. Eubank is not informed due to the test taking place before the fight between them had been formally signed. 

September 1, 2022: Benn submits another test to VADA, pursuant to the fight contract.

September 9, 2022: The pair go head-to-head for a promotional film. “There are levels in the game, you’ve never done anything like this before,” Eubank tells his rival. “I have walked your path; I was you once.” Benn rolls his eyes. “Stop playing that old man card,” he says.

September 23, 2022: The results of the second test are disclosed to both fighters, their teams, and the BBBoC. Clomiphene has again been found in Benn’s sample. 

September 30, 2022: Eubank and Benn appear together on Good Morning Britain, a popular television show to promote their contest.

October 4, 2022: In the evening, the BBBoC rule that they will “prohibit” the contest due to the failed tests. Relevant parties are informed the following morning.

October 5, 2022: Riath Al-Samarrai, of the Daily Mail, breaks the news of the second failed test. That afternoon the promoters of the bout, Matchroom and Wasserman, release a statement that suggests they still plan to stage the bout on October 8. “Both fighters have taken medical and legal advice, are aware of all relevant information and wish to proceed with the bout on Saturday,” it reads.

Reports emerge that they are seeking an alternative governing body to the BBBoC. Benn appears at the open workouts. “I’ve not committed any violations, I’ve not been suspended,” he says. “So as far as I am concerned the fight is still going ahead. I am a clean athlete, and we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

October 6, 2022: Eubank Snr, long opposed to the contest, tells Boxing News: “It’s just a game to them [promoters]. All they seem to do is mock us [fighters] and do not seem to know that it’s on our backs, that we make them and their families financially secure… Stop playing with the lives of our sons.” It is understood, however, that his son is still keen to go ahead with the bout after being told by a doctor that the amount of clomiphene in Benn’s system is not “performance-enhancing”.

October 6, 2022: Late into Thursday afternoon, Saturday’s contest is belatedly pulled. “It is undeniable that the British Boxing Board of Control’s decision to withdraw their sanctioning was procedurally flawed and without due process,” reads part of the Matchroom and Wasserman statement. “However, while there are legal routes to facilitate the fight taking place as planned, we do not believe it is in the interests for those to be pursued at such a late stage or in the wider interests of the sport.” Hearn, annoyed by the BBBoC waiting so long to make their decision, later suggests that because tests were also carried out by UKAD, and they found no trace of anything illegal, the contest could have gone ahead.

October 8, 2022: Enraged with Benn, Eubank posts images on his social media channels of his emaciated body making the stipulated weight regardless. He later tells The Opening Bell podcast: “That was gruesome… You’re sitting there dying of starvation and all the time thinking, ‘you don’t actually have to do this, you can eat and drink as much as you want.’ That will never happen again. If and when the fight does happen with Conor, he’s lost all his privileges. I will not be coming down to 157lbs. He does not deserve that anymore.”

October 11, 2022: News of the first failed test breaks.

October 21, 2022: Benn is due to appear in front of the BBBoC regarding an allegation of misconduct. He does not attend but sends legal representation who indicate that the boxer wishes to relinquish his British licence. The commission confirm that the allegation of misconduct is upheld. 

October 27, 2022: Benn, furious that the BBBoC left it so late to pull the fight, tells The Sun’s Wally Downes Jnr that he will never again box under a British licence. “I will never box for them again,” he says. “I’ve got nothing to hide but as far as I’m concerned they’ve got it in for me… All the fighters who have tested positive and been cleared to fight. But with me they left it until days before the fight.”

January 21, 2023: After going straight from the Benn fiasco into camp to prepare for a date with Liam Smith, Eubank Jnr is stopped in four rounds in a sizeable upset.

February 22, 2023: Following an investigation into the first VADA test, the WBC absolves Benn of intentionally doping after ruling that a “highly elevated consumption of eggs” was considered a “reasonable explanation” for the adverse finding. Benn’s team provided a 270-page document to assist the rankings body with their study. It is not provided to UKAD or the BBBoC. The result of the second test, which had nothing to do with the WBC, is not considered during the investigation. 

February 22, 2023: In response, the BBBoC state: “For clarity, whilst the BBBoC wishes to make clear it respects the WBC, the WBC is a sanctioning body and not a governing body. The BBBoC was the governing body with whom Mr Benn was licensed at the material time, and as such any alleged anti-doping violation shall be dealt with in accordance with its rules and regulations.”

February 23, 2023: Benn posts his reaction on Instagram. “Whilst I welcome the ultimate outcome, I do not agree with everything said in the WBC’s statement. That is something I am discussing with my legal team. There will be additional comment in due course but the for the time being I just want to focus on getting career back on track after being effectively prevented from fighting for many months.”

February 28, 2023: Again on Instagram, Benn says: “At no point did I indicate that I failed any VADA tests because of contaminated eggs.” 

March 15, 2023: Benn is placed under provisional suspension by UKAD.

July 28, 2023: Benn is no longer provisionally suspended by UKAD after a ruling by the National Anti-Doping Panel (NAPD). The ruling centers on VADA, who carried out the failed tests, not being Britain’s ruling anti-doping agency. 

August 17, 2023: UKAD, in conjunction with the BBBoC, announce that they plan to appeal the NAPD’s ruling.

September 2, 2023: In an immediate rematch, Eubank blitzes Smith in 10 rounds. Smith will later claim that he was battling injuries throughout his camp but felt obliged to go through with the fight.

September 23, 2023: Benn returns to the ring after a 17-month absence and comfortably outpoints Rodolfo Orozco over 10 rounds in a junior middleweight bout staged at the Caribe Royale Orlando.

October 21, 2023: Eddie Hearn, eager to stage Eubank Jnr-Benn in Britain, puts pressure on the BBBoC: “If we stage the fight, it’s up to the Board if they want to sanction the fight, we hope for their support.” The unimpressed BBBoC indicate they will wait for the outcome of the appeal.

November 29, 2023: With the BBBoC standing firm on their stance to distance themselves from a proposed Eubank-Benn clash, at least until the pending appeal is heard, Hearn announces that the fight will take place on February 3, 2024, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

December 14, 2023: The fight is off again. Kalle Sauerland, of Wasserman, states the collapse is due to commercial issue, Hearn feigns disbelief that Eubank has turned the fight down, and Benn insists that Eubank is running scared.

February 2, 2024: Out in Las Vegas, Benn is forced to go the full route again when the unheralded Peter Dobson takes the Briton 12 rounds before losing a unanimous decision. 

May 7, 2024: UKAD and the BBBoC are successful in their appeal and Benn is provisionally suspended again. 

October 11, 2024: Benn is invited to Saudi Arabia to ramp up interest in a future bout with Eubank, who is set to fight Kamil Szeremeta the following day. Benn, with Hearn nearby, confronts a visibly drawn Eubank after the weigh-in.

October 12, 2024: Eubank defeats Szeremeta in seven rounds. Benn, still provisionally suspended from boxing due to failing two drug tests, is encouraged to enter both the ring and Eubank’s personal space. They engage in a spot of nose-to-nose name-calling, much to the delight of the paymasters watching on. 

November 6, 2024: The NADP rule they’re “not comfortably satisfied” that UKAD had proved that Benn committed an anti-doping violation. The latest provisional suspension is lifted. UKAD indicate they will consider appealing again. It has been a costly process, however, and reporters learn that another appeal is in fact unlikely.

November 28, 2024: UKAD confirm they will not appeal the ruling but “the World Anti-Doping Rules, the World Anti-Doping Agency has a separate right of appeal and an extended deadline to file any appeal.” Within the statement is another interesting aside: “In accordance with 8.5.2 of the UK Anti-Doping Rules, UKAD is unable to publicly disclose the decision of the independent National Anti-Doping Panel at this time without Mr Benn’s consent.” It is reported that the ruling was made without Benn being ordered to explain why clomiphene was twice detected in his system. 

January 23, 2025: Following a two-week negotiation period, it is confirmed by Turki Alalshikh that Eubank and Benn will fight on April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. The fight will take place at 160lbs but there will be a rehydration clause – neither fighter can weigh more than 10lbs over the middleweight limit on the morning of the contest. Eubank Jnr, now 35 years old, typically gains 20lbs after weighing in. The bout is labelled ‘Fatal Fury’ after a computer game.

February 25, 2025: On a day designed to market the fight, the saga plunges to a new low as Eubank Jnr and Benn are pulled apart when the former strikes the latter, smashing an egg on his face in the process. Eubank Jnr will later tell The Guardian’s Donald McRae: “The egg was meant to embarrass him. It was meant to make an example of him. It was meant to make sure that his cheating will never be forgotten. There are so many active fighters that have been caught cheating and are now still fighting and no one says anything about it. I couldn’t let that be the case for this man.” 

Behind the scenes, when pressed by two journalists to divulge the finer details of being cleared by UKAD, Benn says: “If someone starts asking me trick questions, I’ll throw you out of the room, do you hear me? I’ll drag you by the neck outside.”

April 16, 2025: Chris Eubank Snr, in London to support old rival Michael Watson who was left with brain damage following a 1991 loss to Eubank, expresses his concern to SecondsOut about the rehydration clause and his son’s behaviour. “If the rules are abided to then we don’t have to talk about rehydration clauses, which actually kills fighters and puts them in the position that Michael Watson is in,” he says. “Junior, you are smashing an egg in someone’s face. Who taught you that? It’s disgraceful. You think I’m going to stand in your corner? You must be mad. I would never be in your corner. You smash an egg in someone’s face and then try to justify it? There is no justification for that. There is nothing noble about that.”

April 22, 2025: “I keep hearing this two weight classes thing; he’s not coming up two weight classes,” Eubank says at the ‘grand arrivals’. “He hasn’t been a welterweight for three years. This isn’t about size or weight. It’s about skill. It’s about dedication. It’s about expertise. And all those areas I excel in.”

“People say it’s strictly business,” Benn says. “It’s never business. If you’re trying to put your hands on me and render me unconscious, it’s never business. It’s always personal… this one has a little more history to it, shall we say.”

Eddie Hearn adds: “I can’t believe we’re four days away. I mean, is it actually going to happen?”

Veteran former champion Liam Smith faces unbeaten prospect Aaron McKenna on Saturday on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jnr-Conor Benn at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Smith has not fought since his stoppage defeat against Eubank in their rematch back in September 2023. He was then slated to face Josh Kelly last September, but Smith was forced to withdraw during fight week because of an illness.

Smith will now face McKenna, a 19-0 (10 KOs) middleweight from Ireland who is attempting to announce himself on the world scene. McKenna, still only 25 years old, had recently competed in Matchroom Boxing’s “PrizeFighter” in Japan, picking up a career-best win over Jeovanny Estela, but the tournament has since been scrapped due to a legal matter.

McKenna isn’t short on confidence, despite his limited experience at the top level. Smith isn’t too sure where McKenna gets his confidence from.

“Yeah, I think he's a good fighter coming through,” Smith told BoxingScene. “Young, hungry, a little bit too big for his boots. I think in past fights I've heard him saying he's the best middleweight in Britain and all that. Just before the Japan tournament and all that, ‘the most feared middleweight in the world,’ he was saying. At one stage, I couldn't get where that was coming from. But good fighter, good game, loves a fight, can box a bit better than his brother. I rate him as a good fighter coming through.”

Aaron’s older brother, Stevie McKenna, recently suffered the first defeat of his career, to Lee Cutler last December. Stevie spoke a good game heading into the contest, but he was found out by the more experienced Cutler. Smith was asked if he believes lightning will strike twice on the McKenna brothers.

“One hundred per cent, yes I do,” he said. “Just like, you know, a similar case, just repeats all over. Fights I've had over the past five years, maybe, [Anthony] Fowler. Just people – I get asked all the same questions as well. I get asked all the same questions in the press conference, the fight week. I get asked all the same things. A lot got mentioned to [my brother] Callum [Smith on February 22].

“People mentioned age, the fellow at the top of the bill [Artur Beterbiev] was 41 years of age. Age is a number when, if you're getting old, you're getting old. It can come at 31 years of age, it can come at different ages. I feel like I'm going to get the same type of questions. You know, I've reached the top, what have I still got? You know what I mean? But, yeah, it's time for me to show that I've still got a lot. I've still got a lot left to be done.”

McKenna has trained in the US for the majority of his pro career, and has learned his craft from some of the best in the States: Freddie Roach and Robert Garcia. During his time training in America, McKenna shared the ring with the likes of Terence Crawford in sparring. But Smith believes that sparring can teach you only so much and it’s his experience under the bright lights that will show on fight night.

“Massive, massive. That's one thing I think of him – I think he's still very green,” said Smith. “You can do all the sparring in the world, but in there's a different story, a different kettle of fish. I've said this with numerous fighters I've had over the years. I've boxed Fowler, I've said it with him. After the Fowler fight, I remember an interview I'd done, I said, ‘You can match me with’ … there was a lot of 154lbers on that bill, there was JJ Metcalfe against Kieran Conway, Ted Cheeseman versus Troy Williamson. I was like, you can match me with any one of them – It's a good fight, a better fight.

“I've sparred them all, but just experience, little gloves on, it's a big factor,” Smith continued. “Same with Sam Eggington [whom Smith stopped in 2019]. I use Sam a lot for sparring; we have very good spars. In the ring with him, with fight gloves on, in fight shape with a bit of needle, it's a different story. Yeah, I think experience and know-how will be a big factor to have in that kind of fight.”

Pick it: Chris Eubank Jnr-Conor Benn

When to Watch: Saturday, April 26 at noon Eastern Time (5pm BST)

How to watch: DAZN Pay-Per-View

Why to Watch: First, there was the family history – the second generation of a past rivalry resurrected in the present. Then there was the drama over this fight being postponed, which only stoked the flames between the two boxers. Now, two-and-a-half years after they were first supposed to fight, Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn are at last sharing the ring.

It is a huge event for UK fight fans, even though it is between two men who have never won a world title. Tens of thousands are expected at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Many more will watch the show on pay-per-view.

Their fathers – Chris Eubank Snr and Nigel Benn – were famed British boxers in the 1980s and ’90s. They battled twice; Eubank stopped Benn in the ninth round in 1990 for the WBO middleweight belt (back before that sanctioning body was widely recognized as a major title). They had a rematch in 1993, this time as super middleweights, and fought to a draw.

Eubank Jnr is a 35 year old from Brighton, England. He was born in 1989 and followed his father into the sweet science. He turned pro in 2011, lost a split decision to Billy Joe Saunders in 2014, and rebounded with wins over Arthur Abraham and Avni Yildirim. That landed him a fight with then-WBA titleholder George Groves in 2018; Groves won a unanimous decision.

Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn were supposed to fight in October 2022. Benn tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug, and the match was canceled.

Instead, Eubank Jnr met Liam Smith in January 2023 and lost via fourth-round TKO, though some feel that stoppage came in part because of an elbow from Smith. Eubank Jnr won their rematch nine months later, stopping Smith in the 10th round. Eubank Jnr last fought in October 2024, returning from a 13-month layoff with a seventh-round TKO of Kamil Szeremeta. His record is 34-3 (25 KOs).

Benn, born in 1996, is a 28 year old from Ilford, London. He turned pro in 2016. Although he is undefeated at 23-0 (14 KOs), Benn has never won beyond the level of the faded versions of Adrian Granados (UD10 in 2021), Chris Algieri (KO4 in 2021) and Chris van Heerden (TKO2 in 2022).

He was suspended after his positive test for clomifene, though that didn’t stop Benn from getting a pair of bouts in the United States – decisions over the 33-3-3 Rodolfo Orozco in September 2023 and the 16-0 Peter Dobson in February 2024. Benn, previously a welterweight, was at junior middleweight for those two victories. The fight with Eubank Jnr will be at middleweight.

Eubank Jnr has been understandably upset at Benn’s positive test in 2022, and he is understandably skeptical of Benn’s excuse that it was caused by eating too many eggs. He slapped Benn in the face with an egg during a pre-fight event.

This fight is even bigger in 2025 than it would’ve been in 2022. But it also has implications beyond what happens on Saturday.

At Eubank Jnr’s age, he needs a victory in order to remain in the running for a title shot in an otherwise shallow middleweight division. Benn, meanwhile, would be launched forward with a win over Eubank Jnr, becoming a star – be it as a hero or villain – in the UK. Doors would open for him at 160lbs, or perhaps down in the deeper junior-middleweight division.

Or perhaps there will be so much money made in this version of Eubank-Benn that they follow the leader of their fathers and give us Eubank Jnr-Benn II.

Beyond the main event, the PPV’s four-fight undercard includes:

Chris Billam-Smith-Brandon Glanton: Billam-Smith, 20-2 (13 KOs), is back for the first time since losing his WBO cruiserweight title in November’s unification bout with Gilberto Ramirez. He faces Glanton, 20-2 (17 KOs), an action-friendly fighter best known for his win in a war in 2021 with Efetobor Apochi. 

Viddal Riley-Cheavon Clarke: In the other cruiserweight bout on this card, the undefeated Riley takes on the once-beaten Clarke. Riley, 12-0 (7 KOs), is taking a step up in level of competition. Meanwhile Clarke, 10-1 (7 KOs), received a reality check in December when he was dropped in the first round against Leonardo Mosquea and wound up losing a split decision.

Liam Smith-Aaron McKenna: Smith, 33-4-1 (20 KOs), is a former junior-middleweight titleholder who was last seen losing to one of this show’s headliners, when taken out in 10 rounds in his rematch in  September 2023 with Eubank Jnr. He’d like to face the winner of the main event. But first he’ll need to get through McKenna, 19-0 (10 KOs), a middleweight prospect who’d like to be considered a contender and who wants to use Smith’s name to propel himself forward.

Anthony Yarde-Lyndon Arthur: This is the third fight between these two light heavyweights. Arthur, 24-2 (16 KOs), won a split decision in their first meeting in December 2020. Yarde, 26-3 (24 KOs), avenged that defeat with a fourth-round knockout in December 2021. Both have fallen short against the top tier at 175lbs. Yarde was taken out in the 11th round by Sergey Kovalev in 2019 and by Artur Beterbiev in eight rounds in 2023, though he was competitive in both bouts. Arthur was shut out by Dmitry Bivol in 2023.

More Fights to Watch

Friday, April 25: Eric Tudor-Kevin Johnson (DAZN)

The broadcast begins at 9pm Eastern Time (2am BST).

Tudor, 12-1 (7 KOs), is a 23-year-old welterweight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His one loss came via unanimous decision to the 13-3-1 Jose Luis Sanchez in October 2023. Tudor earned three victories in 2024, including a unanimous decision over the 28-1 Harold Eduardo Calderon in November.

Johnson, 12-5 (8 KOs), is a 32 year old living in Las Vegas. Four of his five losses have come against undefeated fighters, and all five of his losses were by decision. There were defeats by the 4-0 Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in 2018 and a young, 9-0 Richardson Hitchins in 2019. A decision loss to the 18-2 Cristian Baez in December 2022 left Johnson inactive for around 18 months. He returned in 2024 and added a majority decision loss to the 12-0 Kelvin Davis in July and a unanimous decision loss to the 10-0 Isaiah Johnson in December.

This fight headlines at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California.

Friday, April 25: DeAngelo Evans-Helton Lara (TrillerTV)

The broadcast begins at 9pm Eastern Time (2am BST).

Evans, 13-0 (12 KOs), is a 26-year-old junior welterweight from Kernersville, North Carolina, not too far from this show at a church’s event and sports building in Greensboro.

Lara, 17-8 (9 KOs), is a 28 year old from Nicaragua fighting out of Key West, Florida.

Saturday, April 26: Ashton “H2O” Sylve-Nicolas Polanco (BLK Prime PPV)

The broadcast begins at 7pm Eastern Time (midnight BST).

Nine months after he suffered his first pro loss, lightweight prospect Ashton “H2O” Sylve is set to return to the ring. Sylve, 11-1 (9 KOs), will face Nicolas Polanco, 22-8-1 (13 KOs), in the main event at the Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia.

Sylve, a 21 year old from Long Beach, California, was last seen in July 2024. He was pitching a shutout on the scorecards after five rounds when his opponent, the unbeaten Lucas Bahdi, scored BoxingScene’s knockout of the year for 2024.

His road back begins with Polanco, a 35 year old from the Dominican Republic. Several of Polanco’s defeats have come against familiar names, including Javier Fortuna, Albert Bell, Angelo Leo and Ronny Rios. Polanco fought five times in 2025. However, he went 2-3, with those wins coming against foes with records of 22-34-2 and 16-20. Polanco has lost his past two fights by stoppage, falling in the third round to the 13-0 Haven Brady Jnr and in the second round to the 23-6-1 Leonardo Padilla.

The co-feature will showcase one of Fernando Vargas’ fighting sons, Amado Vargas – a 24-year-old featherweight with a record of 12-0 (5 KOs). Vargas is coming off an eight-round majority decision win in March over the 8-2 Eduardo Hernandez Trejo. 

Vargas will face Angel Luna, 20-15-1 (11 KOs), a 35 year old whose last fight was a 36-second knockout loss in September to the 10-0 Victor Hernandez. Thirteen of Luna’s 15 losses have come by KO or TKO.

Saturday, April 26: Ardian Krasniqi-Diego Ramirez (DAZN)

The broadcast begins at 2pm Eastern Time (7pm BST).

Krasniqi, 10-0 (10 KOs), is a light-heavyweight prospect from Rottweil, Germany, who will be headlining up the road at Glaspalast Sindelfingen in Sindelfingen. He has only ever faced two foes who had won more fights than they had lost – a first-round KO of the 15-10 Denis Altz in September 2023 and a first-round KO of the 10-1-1 Saul Ivan Male in Krasniqi’s past appearance in September.

Ramirez, 27-12-1 (6 KOs), will make it three. The 30 year old from Argentina has lost to a handful of somewhat recognizable names, including a KO8 to Custio Clayton in 2020, a UD10 to Nathan Heaney in 2022 and a points loss to Padraig McCrory in 2023. Although Ramirez has won successive fights, he’s clearly here as a designated opponent, has fought most of his career between welterweight and middleweight, and will most likely be undersized, overmatched and Krasniqi’s 11th knockout victim.

At least the undercard features a title fight. In December, Sarah Bormann won the WBO strawweight belt left vacant when the undisputed champion Seniesa Estrada retired. Bormann, 19-1 (7 KOs), is making her first defense against Isabel Rivero, 10-2-1 (1 KO).

Sunday, April 26: Greg Outlaw-Windry Amadis Martinez (BXNG TV)

The broadcast begins at 6pm Eastern Time (11pm BST).

Outlaw, 17-2 (10 KOs), is a 31-year-old welterweight from Bowie, Maryland, who will headline at AC Jordan Arena on the campus of Bowie State University.

Martinez, 10-2 (5 KOs), is a 31 year old from the Dominican Republic.

Sunday, April 27: Kurt Scoby-Jesus Vasquez Jnr (DAZN)

The broadcast begins at 7pm Eastern Time (midnight BST).

The rebuilding continues for Kurt Scoby, 16-1 (14 KOs). The 30 year old from Pennsylvania suffered an upset loss in April 2024, stopped in the sixth round by the 13-6-3 Dakota Linger. Since then, he’s won three in a row – all by KO or TKO – defeating the 11-1 Daniel Lim in two minutes, the 8-4 Ramiro Lucero in four rounds, and the 11-11-1 Cesar Villarraga in five rounds.

Sharing the main event with Scoby at the Carteret Performing Arts and Events Center in Carteret, New Jersey, is Jesus Vasquez Jnr, 11-3 (3 KOs). The 33 year old from Colorado is returning from his most recent defeat – an eight-round shutout loss to the 12-0 Haven Brady Jnr. 

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing”, is available on Amazon.

Rivalries in boxing are a lot like relationships, meaning no two are ever the same and not a single one is perfect. 

Some will start with a first date so full of potential it must be followed immediately with a second for both parties to know exactly where they stand. Others, meanwhile, have a longer and less certain courting period and function more as a drawn-out love affair, with all the ups and downs typically associated with one. 

If, as is the case with Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur, a rivalry is stretched over the course of five years, you can be sure that a lot has gone on between the pair and that other partners have at some stage been involved. You can also be sure that they are reuniting at the point at which they have realised either that the grass isn’t always greener or that they were never at their best when in each other’s company. 

In 2020, when they first met, Yarde happened to be mourning the deaths of various family members due to Covid-19 and his mind was naturally elsewhere. He was thinking not of Arthur, the opponent in front of him, but of all he had lost; fighting just to distract himself and feel something. As a result, he would suffer further loss on the night, with Arthur a shock winner via 12-round decision. 

One year later, having now come to terms with his losses, Yarde rematched Arthur and was a completely different proposition. This time, rather than passively following Arthur around the ring and allowing the technician to control him with his jab, Yarde set about him in an effort to take back the one loss he could actually take back. In just four rounds, he had done it, too, stopping Arthur with a barrage of shots to level the score in the most empathic way possible. 

So emphatic was Yarde’s performance, in fact, most assumed the rivalry between Yarde and Arthur was finished that night in London. After all, though it was now one win apiece, the nature of Yarde’s rematch victory surely superseded the relatively close decision which went Arthur’s way in fight one. 

“I thought it was put to bed,” Yarde told BoxingScene. “I didn’t think I’d ever fight him again, to be honest. After we fought the second time, I went on to fight for the unified title against [Artur] Beterbiev and he fought [Dmitry] Bivol. I then heard rumours that he might retire, so I wasn’t really thinking we would ever fight again. 

“But that’s the thing about boxing. You look at my situation and you’ll see that the fights I wanted didn’t materialise and that I wasted a lot of time trying to make them. That caused me some inactivity and it caused me to slow down really. Now I’m just happy to be getting back in the ring and fighting on a massive occasion like this. Finally, I’ve got a live opponent.”

While it would be a stretch to say that Yarde and Arthur have found each other exactly when they need each other, it is true to say that their trilogy fight, set for Saturday (April 26) at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, is an example of two fighters going over old ground in an attempt to then move forward. It is, in many ways, a reset. It is a chance to not only settle the rivalry once and for all, but it also provides some renewed relevance to a couple of light-heavyweights whose careers are seemingly always in danger of drifting, being forgotten. 

Yarde, in particular, has had the strangest of careers, with heroic performances, albeit losing ones, against the likes of Beterbiev and Sergey Kovalev interspersed with routine wins against nonentities. In fact, when he isn’t boxing fearsome Russians as the underdog, it is only in fights against Lyndon Arthur that Yarde, now 33, has managed to capture the imagination of the British public. Everything else, alas, has been somewhat anticlimactic for Yarde, his career awash with one too many tune-up fights and one too many knockouts followed by a shrug. 

“It's been very frustrating,” he admitted. “The fight I had against Beterbiev [in 2023] won ‘Fight of the Year’ and I was ready to go again and build on the momentum from it. We tried to get the rematch but he went on to do bigger things and fight Bivol. 

“For me, it was hard, because I still wanted to be involved in big fights. We tried to make certain fights happen – like against [Joshua] Buatsi, and Callum Smith, and some other names – but they didn’t come to fruition. I was also in promotional disputes around the same time. There were a lot of ups and downs and a lot of going round in circles. But it all worked itself out in the end. I just stayed in the gym and kept getting better. 

“After the Beterbiev fight I had a nice break and it was probably the best I have looked in the return fight [against Jorge Silva]. Then I had the dispute thing, the layoff, and I fought again but didn’t feel myself. That’s why I’m excited to get out again and be part of a big occasion. That’s when I feel I really thrive.”

He calls the third fight with Arthur an example of him going “full circle” and believes it will act as a “building block” for his career and nothing more. It is not a fight anybody was hankering to see, he concedes, yet it is probably the fight that makes the most sense for Yarde at this crucial stage in his 29-fight career. 

“I feel like it’s one of those fights where we both know each other and there’s a bit of bad blood there,” he said. “We’re both from England and we both speak English. So there will be a bit of excitement in the build-up as well. 

“The second fight was a lot more electrifying – there was a crowd there, etcetera. But this one will be even bigger than that.”

Of course, given the “electrifying” nature of fight two, and especially Yarde’s performance, it won’t be easy for the Londoner to improve on it come Saturday night. A decision win, that can be bettered with a stoppage win, while a late stoppage win, that can be bettered by an early stoppage win. A stoppage in round four, however, leaves little room for improvement and makes Yarde fighting Arthur for a third time an even riskier option to take. 

“Unless I go out there and knock him out in the first round – or the second or third – and I look better, there’s always going to be that pressure,” Yarde acknowledged. “But my mentality is to never put pressure on myself. Even when I’m in big fights, I never put pressure on myself. It’s boxing. We don’t know what’s going to happen until it happens. I just go out there and enjoy myself. I embrace the fact I made this decision in my life and enjoy the whole experience.”

Usually when it comes to rematches you can use the previous fight as a guide and an indication of what to expect. Here, though, it is a little more difficult. After all, in fight one Yarde was present in body only, while in fight two Arthur could argue that he was caught cold, or simply caught out by something, or someone, he had not been expecting. Neither, in other words, have ever been at their best on the same night, which helps give fight three a little bit of mystery and intrigue it would otherwise lack.  

“I think he expected it,” Yarde, 26-3 (24), said of Arthur in their 2021 rematch. “I just think he couldn’t handle it. He knew what was coming, but when it did come, he had no answer for it. I told him what I was coming with and his trainer [Pat Barrett] even told everybody what I was going to be coming with. His trainer told me they knew how I was going to come for that rematch. I just hope that they know I will be bringing even more to this third fight. I’m going to be more aggressive, better, sharper. Hopefully he’s better as well. 

“I’m probably the best [version of himself] out of the three. Third time’s a charm, they say, and of the three fights we have had, I feel like I am in the best place mentally for this one.”

Often in relationships familiarity breeds contempt, yet in boxing it tends to go the other way. In boxing, a familiarity between two boxers builds only respect. Sometimes it is grudging, and sometimes it is hard to express, but it is always there, somewhere. 

“In his career he has always been a good fighter,” Yarde said of Arthur. “He has only lost to me and Bivol and has only been stopped once – by me. He’s not someone I can overlook. He’s got some good wins on his record as well. 

“I know that Lyndon Arthur is not a gatekeeper. He is a guy who will want his revenge. Even after I beat him in our rematch, the first thing he said to me was, ‘I want my belts back. I want to fight again.’ He will be seeing this as a massive opportunity. 

“Knowing that, plus the fact there’s a bit of bad blood there, makes this a very exciting fight for me.”

Because we have seen them share a ring before, it doesn’t take much creativity and imagination to picture both Yarde and Arthur triumphing on Saturday. If you like Arthur, you will point to his mastery of the left jab and how he used this punch so expertly to offset Yarde in fight one. If, on the other hand, you are more partial to the work of Yarde, you will steer doubters in the direction of his work in the rematch, which he won by essentially overpowering Arthur and throwing punches in combination; something he neglected the first time around. Ask Yarde, of course, and he can see only one way fight three unfolds. 

“I think the result will go the same way [as the rematch], definitely,” he said. “I don’t ever go into a boxing ring expecting anything in terms of the opponent fighting a certain way, or the fight playing out a certain way. But he’s known as a fighter who fights on the back foot, jabs a lot, and clinches a lot. He might come with something different this time. Who knows? I’m just seeing it as a fresh fight. We know each other well enough, as two people going into a ring and fighting, but you still can’t assume anything. I just genuinely feel that he can’t handle the things I bring to the table. That’s my mentality for this fight. I know I’m better now than I was when we fought three years ago.”

It is, in truth, the only way a relationship like theirs can work and make sense. They must, on the night, both be better than they have been in the past and they must show that they have learned their lessons and that they have improved. Only then can we think about adding Yarde vs. Arthur to the many memorable and meaningful trilogies we have seen in British boxing over the years. Only then can one of the two finally make peace with everything that has happened between them and maturely move on to bigger and better things.

The managers of Shakur Stevenson are finalizing a deal for the unbeaten WBC lightweight and three-division champion to be represented by veteran New York promoter Lou DiBella for Stevenson’s planned title defense versus Mexico’s William Zepeda on July 12 in New York.

Boxing reporter Dan Rafael first reported DiBella’s involvement – a shift for Stevenson, 23-0 (11 KOs) – away from his two-fight agreement with Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn that included a title defense on February 22 against late-replacement opponent Josh Padley in Saudi Arabia.

According to an official connected to the agreement who was unauthorized to speak publicly on the matter, Stevenson’s co-managers James Prince and Josh Dubin were empowered to negotiate with DiBella because Hearn and Matchroom didn’t exercise their option for the second fight on the agreement with Stevenson.

DiBella’s team will work to represent Stevenson as the New York State Athletic Commission selects officials and assigns medical tests for fighters.

DiBella, according to an official close to the promoter, is said to be “very happy for” Stevenson, a fighter he views as “super talented – to be in a big show again, [DiBella] has gratitude”.

Hearn did not immediately return messages left for him on Monday by BoxingScene. 

Hearn’s parting, said the official, freed Prince to negotiate directly with the Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh after Stevenson previously accused Alaklshikh on social media of shorting the purse he originally promised when Stevenson and Zepeda sought to fight in 2024. Stevenson has since apologized for the misunderstanding, and the Zepeda fight is a go.

Zepeda’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, is expected to serve as lead promoter for the card that Alalshikh’s company recently announced – one that includes a super-middleweight bout between Edgar Berlanga and Hamzah Sheeraz, the WBC 140lbs champion Alberto Puello versus former champion Subriel Matias, and David Morrell in a light-heavyweight bout against Imam Khataev.

Golden Boy promoting the card and Berlanga also moving on from Hearn following the expiration of his multi-fight agreement with the promoter isn’t seen as a Saudi turn away from Hearn and Matchroom, who are overseeing the Times Square promotion on May 2 and will be involved in the coming Dmitry Bivol-Artur Beterbiev light-heavyweight title trilogy and the expected return of Anthony Joshua.

“Turki didn’t need Eddie to make a Shakur fight,” said a veteran fight official observing the Saudi’s movements. “That said, I strongly don’t think Eddie’s out … although I don’t think anybody’s solidly in [with Alalshikh] except Frank [Warren of Queensberry Promotions]. If it doesn’t help [Alalshikh’s] agenda, he doesn’t care who he does or doesn’t do business with.

“Eddie can be a difficult guy and I don’t think his ego’s going to handle well the idea that Turki is running boxing, but, that said, if [Alalshikh] wants to make a deal with Eddie for Joshua to fight Tyson Fury, I’m sure he can and will.”

One individual said the July 12 show may also deviate from the rotation of using Madison Square Garden or Barclays Center and get staged at another New York venue, as with the May 2 promotion.

The individual additionally said that they expect Alalshikh to create a fuller “round-robin” of bouts beyond the coming Ryan Garcia-Devin Haney rematch that is expected to follow the card on May 2.

The winner of the WBO 140lbs title bout between the champion Teofimo Lopez and Arnold Barboza Jnr will be positioned to meet the winner of Puello-Matias winner, for instance – or Stevenson may be coaxed to move up one weight class to meet either winner if he achieves his expected triumph.

“You can see [Alalshikh] is cornering those weight classes, and we know he’s not shy about overspending,” the individual said.

When taken out of context, everything seems a little silly. The two of them, Ben Whittaker and Liam Cameron, fighting in Saudi Arabia six months ago seemed silly when both are from England. The image of them then falling out of the ring in round five looked silly. The subsequent image of Whittaker leaving the ring in a wheelchair also looked silly. The reaction to it, that seemed silly. The drawn-out negotiations to get the rematch on seemed silly. The argument regarding an extra two rounds seemed silly. The wheelchair jokes seemed silly. Bringing an egg to a faceoff seemed silly. Pundits on “Super Sunday”, a football (soccer) show, discussing Whittaker vs. Cameron II seemed silly. The reaction of Whittaker to winning in round two seemed silly. The debate afterwards to the reaction of Whittaker winning in round two seemed silly. The crowning of Whittaker as British boxing’s greatest talent seemed silly. Writing this, a post-fight piece about something so silly, seems silly. 

It all seems a little silly not because Whittaker and Cameron are two unserious fighters, but simply because their fight, an English title fight in all but name, has been blown out of all proportion on account of controversy. As a result of it, Whittaker found himself under more scrutiny than he probably deserved and the rivalry itself ended up growing into something it was never meant to become. Suddenly, in the space of just a few months, a routine fight for Whittaker became a career-defining one and a man of just nine pro fights was being held to the standards of seasoned world champions. 

It was, on reflection, unnecessary, perhaps even unfair. But it was also symptomatic of both Whittaker’s personality and British boxing’s growing desperation to create something worthy of a headliner these days. In Whittaker and Cameron, you had, in theory, all the ingredients. You had a showman in Whittaker whose downfall many have either been predicting or praying to see since he turned pro, and you had a fight, the first one in Riyadh, so bizarre and controversial it could only ever lead to months of debate and back and forth. You then had the inevitable rematch and the chance to go viral all over again. 

Indeed, given that was forever the driving force, is it any wonder that Whittaker reacted the way he did when finally silencing the noise on Sunday in Birmingham? After all, before winning the fight in two rounds, he had been accompanied to the ring by a chorus of boos – this despite the venue being close to his hometown of Wolverhampton – and had for months been told he didn’t have the minerals for this game and that he had failed the warrior’s code by “tapping out” in October. That, of all the insults hurled at a boxer throughout their career, is arguably the worst. It is the worst because courage is usually the one thing uncontested; the one thing that separates a boxer from an ordinary civilian. Rarely is a boxer ever praised for their intelligence, or selflessness, or people skills, but courage, that’s another thing. That is a given. A prerequisite of their job. The bare minimum. 

To have it questioned, therefore, must have hurt Whittaker, just as it would have hurt the many fighters who have had the same said about them whether online or by commentators. It would explain, if not condone, his behaviour both before the fight and also after it, when, having stopped Cameron in round two, he made a beeline for Cameron’s cornerman, Grant Smith, and aggressively stuck his head through the ropes. Some claimed he then spat at Smith, but this Smith later denied. Either way, it was not something one usually expects to see after a fight, nor something Whittaker, in an ideal world, would have wanted to do following his career-best win. 

Yet this win was not like the other wins, of course. This win on Easter Sunday meant more to Whittaker than any previous and possibly future win as well. More than just a win, his second-round stoppage of Liam Cameron was vindication; a middle finger up to everybody who doubted him or, worse, questioned his commitment. It had, for Whittaker, become a battle bigger than simply boxing. Moreover, it had become a battle bigger in his head than it was in anybody else’s. 

That, you see, is the problem with being stuck there, in your own head, while also enjoying the glare of the spotlight; when you are told you are Britain’s greatest prospect; when accustomed to going viral; when pushed as a headliner from day one. All of a sudden, despite the fact you are still learning, you find yourself assessed from every angle and learn only when it is too late that you lack both the experience and maturity to handle it. 

Whittaker, in moving to Ireland to escape both the spotlight and the trappings of success, appears to have now realised this in the nick of time. “What happened in Saudi needed to happen,” he told Sky Sports’ Andy Scott in the ring last night. “It made me open up the door, it made me work harder. I’m still flashy, I’m still swaggy – you saw me on that ring walk, it was beautiful – but when I came in here, I was very disciplined and people know now I can hit. 

“People need to understand my lifestyle went a hundred miles an hour. I come from a humble family. My dad worked two jobs, my mum worked two jobs, and then everything was coming, people were following me, people were driving past my house, calling me, doing this and that, so I got lost in it. But what I did was calm down, go to Ireland, lock in, and you saw Ben Whittaker there; the real Ben Whittaker.”

Often the mere threat of defeat is all it will take for a fighter like Whittaker, 27, to see the silliness of everything going on around him. That he experienced this threat from Liam Cameron in October should now stand him in good stead going forward, even if the fallout from last night’s correction, and indeed his personality, will always make things trickier for Whittaker than for most. Natural or otherwise, the way Whittaker elects to carry himself invites pressure – both in the ring and outside it – and the way people with a vested interest in his progress talk about him does the same. In a world, too, where everything is, for attention’s sake, either the greatest thing ever or the worst thing ever, there is no longer the opportunity for someone like Whittaker to just be good; that is, humbly learn his craft and improve. He will, current trends dictate, either be brilliant or awful and must then live with the emotional rollercoaster which becomes a byproduct of these extremes. One minute he will be up; the next he will be down. One minute he will be a viral sensation; the next he will be a meme used to mock.  

All Whittaker, 9-0-1 (6), can do is keep winning and, in time, try to understand the nature of the beast – both boxing, and himself. Should he do so, he will be able to then place fights like last night in their proper context and see that winning is enough and that it speaks louder than anything he can say with his mouth or aim at his critics. He will realise in the process that nobody is out to get him and that, if they are, it is only because he has eyes on him and now a target on his back; two things he has wanted, it seems, from the very start.

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – Ben Whittaker took just two rounds to silence the doubters. A huge right hand caused Liam Cameron to unravel, dropping the Sheffield man, and Whittaker followed up, causing the referee Howard Foster to stop the fight and put the Whittaker-Cameron feud to bed.

The fight was scheduled for 10-three-minute rounds, an issue that had been the centrepiece of a bizarre fight week story involving Cameron saying he had signed to box 12 rounds but Whittaker’s team saying he was going to fight over 10. In the end, that debate proved completely futile.

“I should have done the 12 now, shouldn’t I?” Whittaker joked. “It’s the best camp of my life, and thanks to Andy Lee… You saw the real Ben Whittaker.”

It marked the first time the pair had teamed up, and for their first fight together they headlined at the bp Pulse Arena, part of the larger Resorts World in Birmingham.

Cameron was cheered to the ring on what should have been enemy territory, while the divisive Whittaker was announced to boos. 

As that happened, Whittaker’s former Olympics teammate Frazer Clarke pointed to both of his temples and told Whittaker to focus on what was in front of him rather than the noise.

Whittaker looked sharp early, too. His jab was pointed and he whipped in occasional rights. Cameron shrugged at the power, but Whittaker had set his stall out and power was nothing to do with it; it was speed and movement, and then opportunities would come.

Whittaker was up and out for the second with enthusiasm and conviction. He then started adding lefts to the body to his repertoire. Cameron tried to march him down, crowd him, and outmuscle him on the inside, but Whittaker’s sharpness soon paved the way for a booming, precise right hand that travelled from Cameron’s chin – where it detonated – down his spinal cord and into his boots with a jolt. 

Whittaker knew it registered and knew he had a chance, and with that he flew in and fired away. With Cameron’s back to the ropes, Whittaker lanced him with another right hand, and then another thudded off Cameron’s head and as Cameron threatened to be overwhelmed, Foster intervened after 1:53 of the second round.

Whittaker, to the crescendo of boos, cupped his ears, but the boos could never have sounded so good.

Cameron, the 34 year old who served a suspension for taking recreational drugs, had felt his career was over, and having battled alcoholism he’s returned for its most lucrative stage. 

The length of the bout was being questioned, providing the chief talking point over the rematch and placing what happened previously firmly in the rear-view mirror.

Because what had happened last time, when Whittaker and Cameron met in Saudi Arabia in October, was controversial. The bout ended with both men tumbling over the top rope and Whittaker claiming he was too injured to fight on but Cameron, seen by many as holding the upper hand, hungry to continue. As it was, their fight went to the scorecards and it was all square after six rounds, leaving nothing resolved.

This time, it was put to bed in emphatic fashion, and Whittaker improved to 9-0-1 (6 KOs).

Cameron wanted the rematch, but Whittaker was initially quiet; that he agreed to it earned the former Olympian credit from his detractors. Whittaker then joined Lee, committing to a training camp in Ireland, and he spoke of punching with more spite while, at Saturday’s weigh in, Cameron merely thought Whittaker had shrunk.

But Whittaker’s reputation once again grew on Sunday evening. Often one with the highlight-reel moves and the ability to goad an opponent that draw viewers to viral clips, he added the biggest stoppage of his career to date to that reel, and silenced those who doubted that the unlikely underdog from Sheffield might have had his number.

Six months after losing the heavyweight championship to Muhammad Ali in Zaire, George Foreman was angry, adrift and lost. In contrast to the cheerful, affable man widely eulogized upon his passing in March, he was surly and unapproachable.

“Losing had knocked me off my axis,” he would later write. “The heavyweight title meant much more to me after I had lost it than when I held it. Without it, I was nothing. As a champ, I imagined that everyone considered me the ultimate man. Now I imagined that I could hear them laughing at the loser.”

He became consumed with the idea of regaining the championship. 

“I resolved that if I ever got into a title fight again, I’d die before losing. The only way to count me out now would be on a stretcher.”

Foreman knew that securing a rematch with Ali would not, however, be easy. The champion, he wrote, “didn’t want to risk fate again.”

He knew he had to build a drumbeat of public demand for him to face Ali again. It was, of all people, the singer Marvin Gaye who came up with the idea of Foreman facing five men on one night.

“Just fighting an ordinary fight wouldn’t prove what I wanted to prove: that something had to have happened to me in Africa,” Foreman wrote. “Beating one guy wouldn’t do it; beating five guys would.”

When his team struggled to secure a location or a TV network, Don King stepped in and found a site – Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto – and secured TV coverage from ABC. Commentating from ringside would be  Howard Cosell and Ali, and it was their presence that would help turn what already threatened to be a circus into something of a PR nightmare for Foreman.

As soon as Foreman entered the ring on April 26, 1975, for the first of what were scheduled as five three-round exhibitions, Ali sprang into action, playing to the cameras, jawing at his rival and pretending to be on the verge of lunging at him. The champion was clearly having fun with it all; Foreman, who glowered at him in return, was not.

Cosell began dumping on the whole venture almost as soon as he started talking.

“What has he got to gain, really?” he asked rhetorically. “If he knocks these five guys out, they’ll say, ‘Well, he should have – they’re all stiffs.’ But if he fails to knock any of them out, they’ll say he’s not the fighter he was.”

Foreman’s first opponent was Alonzo Johnson, 40 years old and with a record of 24-18 with 6 KOs, and without a professional outing in three years. His last would be Boone Kirkman, who, with a record of 32-5 (23 KOs), was on paper the toughest opponent of the five.

Ali was critical of the idea of saving the strongest opponent until last, although the order had been settled by a blind draw by media members.

“I’d think if he had the chance, he’d pick the best man first while he’s still fresh,” Ali opined. “If I was coaching these guys, I’d tell the first three to lay on the ropes like I did and block punches, and the last two should open up on him.”

Johnson did nothing of the sort, attempting to take the fight to Foreman in the first round as the former champion danced and hopped around the ring contemptuously. Foreman had predicted a second-round knockout, and as soon as the second frame began, Foreman stepped into a short left hook and put Johnson down. A second left-hook knockdown swiftly followed and then a right hand dropped Johnson for the third time. 

One fight down, and as Johnson’s handlers stepped in to save their man, Foreman was already leaning over the ropes and jawing once more with Ali. 

Opponent No. 2 was Jerry Judge, 15-4-1 (12 KOs), who, at 195 pounds, would not even be considered a heavyweight today. Before the bell even rang, however, came the first signs that the night would not present Foreman with the public support and endorsement he wanted. Responding to Ali’s taunts had been a mistake, as now the crowd started chanting the champion’s name, to Foreman’s clear irritation.

Judge was determined not to just lay down, and he landed a clean left hand on Foreman’s jaw about halfway through the round. That woke up Foreman, who was continuing to pay more attention to Ali than his opponents, and he marched forward, launching uppercuts and overhand rights and dropping Judge to his knees with one powerful uppercut near round’s end. Judge hauled himself up just before the count ended and even landed a right hand as Foreman moved in for the kill. The bell rang to end the round, and the two fighters glared at each other. Foreman paced around the ring during the break as the fans began to boo him. It was all starting to unravel for Foreman, prompting Cosell to urge his commentary partner to “sit down and leave him alone.”

“George is getting a little tired,” Ali said on the mic as action of sorts resumed in the second. “He’s sweating now, losing a lot of perspiration, and by the time he meets the fifth man, who is the best, we can see that this is going to be really rough now. If George was in with the same man, he’d be tiring the man out. But you must remember that each man George meets is fresh and George is constantly getting tired.”

As Ali spoke, Judge continued to frustrate Foreman until the former champ once more stepped in to him and let go a series of right hands that put Judge down again. This time he didn't beat the count.

Two down, but now things began to really get out of control.

Foreman went over to Judge, the two men talked, then they shoved each other, then they punched each other, and finally they wrestled each other to the canvas as their corners rushed in.

“This is an absurd scene,” Cosell observed accurately. “Foreman is beside himself, and Ali’s presence at ringside has to have something to do with it.”

By now, it was difficult to see what Foreman could do to prevent the whole enterprise being derided as a circus act. “This thing is a carnival and it is not pleasant to see,” Cosell editorialized as the boos rang out.

Ali was now whipping the crowd into a frenzy as Cosell lamented that “the whole thing has turned into a charade.” 

Almost unnoticed, Terry Daniels now entered the ring for the third bout of the evening. In 1972, Daniels had challenged Joe Frazier for the heavyweight crown Foreman would subsequently win and lose, but he was presently in the midst of what would become a 2-18 slump with which he concluded his career.

Daniels went down from a short, fast left in the first but made it into the second, whereupon Foreman stalked him and landed a steady succession of right hands. When Daniels, clearly wobbled, refused to go down, Foreman waved in the referee to stop it – which he did, hesitatingly. Foreman walked back toward his corner and Ali, Daniels following and apparently protesting that he wanted to keep fighting. So Foreman obliged him, and when the referee – again haltingly – stepped between them, Foreman stabbed a jab into the chest of Daniels’ cornerman. One of Foreman’s team entered the ring and threw a hook at the same man, Foreman shoved him out of the way, Daniels raised his arms aloft, and the crowd cheered. Foreman raised his and the crowd jeered.

Opponent No. 4 was Charley Polite, a former sparring partner for Frazier, who kissed Foreman on the chin during the pre-fight staredown.

“One had nothing to do with the other,” Foreman wrote later, “but he was the only boxer of the five I didn’t knock down at least once.”

Polite, largely adopting Ali’s rope-a-dope tactics, lasted all three rounds; so, too did, Kirkman. However, despite Foreman being clearly exhausted by this stage, he roused himself to pursue Kirkman aggressively, dropping him and cutting him over the eyes even as Kirkman continued to fire back.

Foreman was defiant afterward, insisting he was ready to go more rounds and criticizing Polite for laying against the ropes. “How can you call yourself a champion when all you do is lay against the ropes,” he asked, clearly not directing his ire at Polite but at the now-departed Ali.

“Despite Cosell and Ali, I felt proud at having gone 12 rounds,” Foreman wrote later. “A cracked rib showed I’d taken some wicked punches.” 

Still, he ultimately acknowledged that he had made an error by engaging in a back-and-forth with Ali.

“That put the fans in his corner against me, and gave the exhibition the smelly aura of professional wrestling,” he wrote. “This was strictly Ali’s domain. I couldn’t avoid looking like my usual sour self.”

The following year, Foreman returned to the ring for his first sanctioned bout since the Ali loss, visiting the canvas twice in the fourth round before stopping Ron Lyle in the fifth. A second win over Frazier was followed by three straight knockout wins before a loss to Jimmy Young led to a religious awakening, a 10-year retirement and finally the greatest comeback in boxing history. On November 5, 1994, Foreman finally became champion again, at the age of 42, and his bizarre night in Toronto became nothing more than an aberrant footnote to an all-time-great career.

Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcast about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He presently co-hosts the “Fighter Health Podcast” with Dr. Margaret Goodman. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.

OCEANSIDE, California – Relentless, merciless and without a qualified peer at this hour, Gabriela Fundora stepped up to the task of becoming the first woman to headline a Golden Boy Promotions’ main event Saturday, scoring a technical knockout of Marilyn Badillo in the seventh round.

“I knew the stoppage was going to come. It was just how I was going to place it,” said Fundora, 16-0 (8 KOs) and the undisputed flyweight champion.

“People like home runs. People like touchdowns. It’s boxing: People like knockouts.”

The sister of men’s unified junior middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora, 23-year-old Gabriela now has just one fewer knockout than the combined total of renowned lightweight champion Katie Taylor and the proclaimed “GWOAT,” Claressa Shields.

The southpaw Fundora immediately wielded her powerful weapon by sizing up Badillo with the left and whipping it to the challenger’s face in the first round.

Fundora said it was during the first that she felt she had solved Mexico's Badillo 19-1-1 (3 KOs), who was seeking to duck and move inside.

“That’s Boxing 101," Fundora said. “The jab’s always there.

“I stayed on her. She’d do movement to get a break, but like I told you, we train every round for a knockout.”

Fundora compounded the abuse with combinations in the second, defusing Badillo’s ability to get inside and brawl. Kept at bay by the stinging left, Badillo was left to wait for offerings that usually fell short.

Fundora’s jab heightened the difficulty for Badillo, who continued eating lefts in the fifth, ducking in to hold and delay further damage.

In the sixth, Fundora slammed two hard lefts to Badillo’s head and another to her rib cage, expanding an insurmountable scorecard lead.

Before the seventh, Fundora’s father-trainer, Freddy Fundora, advised her to finish the work.

The fighter uncorked three consecutive lefts to Badillo’s head, the second of which sent the challenger to the canvas. Referee Rudy Barragan then waved the fight off on the advice of Badillo’s corner.

With 105lbs titleholder Yokasta Valle sitting ringside, Fundora said she’s capable of moving down or up in weight.

“That’d be awesome to go to a different weight class and collect some more belts,” she said.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.

OCEANSIDE, California – What was supposed to be Charles Conwell’s audition for a shot at a world title instead became Jorge Garcia Perez’s showcase.

In a determined performance highlighting the advantages of reach and activity, Mexico’s Garcia Perez, 33-4 (26 KOs), emerged with a split decision victory over Cleveland’s Conwell by scores of 115-113, 113-115, 115-113 Saturday night at Frontwave Arena.

“By winning this fight, a big fight can happen – a world title can happen,” Garcia Perez, 28, said in reference to unified WBO/WBC champion Sebastian Fundora, who was in attendance Saturday to watch his undisputed women’s flyweight champion sister, Gabriela, defend her belts in the main event.

Judges Chris Migliore and Damian Walton awarded the 12th round to Perez to give him their 115-113 scores, while Lou Moret had the final round for Conwell.

It was the ambition of Conwell, 21-1 (16 KOs), to lean on Saturday’s showing to improve his position as the second-ranked WBO contender and move nearer a title shot at Fundora, who is currently in talks with No. 1-ranked mandatory contender Xander Zayas, of Puerto Rico, for a title defense.

Now Garcia Perez is expected to jump from No. 3 past Conwell into that prime position.

Relying on a 3in height advantage and the reach that kept Conwell on the short end of distance exchanges, Garcia Perez said his cornermen instructed him to continue repeating the proven fight plan as the rounds extended.

“My conditioning,” Garcia Perez said, when asked what won him the fight. “My camp was great. Each time out, I feel better and better. I worked really, really hard.”

Although Conwell – a -1200 betting favorite at the start of the night – sought to absorb the punches and land power shots of his own, the wearing effect of the blows began to take effect in the second half of the bout, as the points leaned to Garcia Perez.

The difficulty with Garcia Perez’s length showed that Conwell would have to deal with an even more trying proposition in the 6ft 5½in Fundora, who would own a whopping 13in reach advantage over Conwell.

At 6ft, Garcia Perez is nearer in size.

And by defeating Conwell, Garcia Perez proved he’s nearer in talent, too.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – Dalton Smith picked up a unanimous decision win over Mathieu Germain on Saturday in Sheffield, England.

Germain proved to be an awkward customer, moving around constantly from Smith’s attacks. The traveling Canadian was able to survive the contest but was dropped three times by Smith, with the final scorecards reading 117-107 and 119-105 twice, all in favour of Smith.

Smith is now the mandatory challenger for Alberto Puello’s WBC junior welterweight title and Smith’s promoter Eddie Hearn is adamant that his next fight will be for the world championship.

Smith, now 18-0 (13 KOs), was in no rush to get Germain out of there, and patiently stalked his opponent as the fight began. Smith threw a wild right that missed by a mile but seemed unfazed and continued to edge closer to Germain.

Smith was again patient in the second, waiting for his opportunity to land with bad intentions. Smith landed his first telling shot of the fight midway through the session. It came in the form of a left hand, which brought a smile from Germain. But the Canadian certainly felt it.

Germain, now 26-3-1 (11 KOs), started to get a little cocky after landing a couple of nice body shots. He then came in to land a left hook but also took one himself and hit the canvas in a heap. Germain returned to his feet but was on shaky legs, and thankfully for him the bell sounded just as Smith went in to finish the job.

Smith, 28, had Germain hurt again in the third. This time it was the right hand that caused the damage. Smith whipped over a right as Germain came in low and landed clean on the Canadian’s head. Germain was wobbled and nearly touched down, yet managed to survive the round.

In the fifth, Germain was now moving a lot to evade the heavy shots coming from Smith. The Canadian landed a nice left hand as Smith came in, but was on the receiving end of a low blow moments later. Smith was warned by the referee and Germain took his time before coming out of the neutral corner to restart proceedings.

Smith started to turn up the heat in the sixth. Germain was struggling to find a way around Smith as he came in and at times couldn’t keep Smith off. Smith targeted Germain’s body, whipping in left hands to the Canadian’s ribs.

Germain, 35, started the seventh a little better, landing a few jabs to the body before spinning away from trouble. He eventually slowed down, however, and Smith again landed several telling blows to his body and head.

Germain started to feel the impact of the hard shots Smith had been landing in the eighth. As Germain threw his right hand Smith sank in a left to the body which caused the Canadian to wince in pain. Smith seemed in no rush to secure a stoppage in the ninth, however. He again stalked Germain and waited for him to stop moving before sinking in power shots.

Smith had Germain hurt again after landing a left hand and, as the Canadian retreated to the ropes, Smith threw two more to send German falling through the ropes. The referee Victor Loughlin ruled it a slip.

Smith again seemed like he was in no rush to halt things in both the ninth and tenth, and during the break heading into the eleventh, his father and trainer Grant Smith urged him to pick up the pace. Smith came out for Round 11 and straight away followed a double jab with a right hand which sent Germain to the canvas. The Canadian returned to his feet and recovered from the shot well.

As the twelfth began, Smith landed a hard shot below the beltline of Germain and that forced the Canadian to drop to his knees in pain. He took his time to recover but Smith sensed that the Canadian was feeling the effects of the blow and pounced on him. He belted in two body shots and then landed a stiff jab which dropped Germain as he was retreating away.

The Canadian returned to his feet yet again and Smith, urged on by his home support, came in to try and finish the job. He pinned Germain into each corner of the ring for the remainder of the round but just couldn’t find a way to send Germain to the canvas for what would have undoubtedly been a third and final time.

Warrington connected on 31% of his punches, while Khan only landed 22% of his punches. Khan reached double digit lands in two rounds, while Warrington reached double digit connects in eight of the ten rounds. Warrington knocked Khan down early in the second round, and Khan lost an additional point in that round for excessive spitting out of his mouthpiece. All three judges scored the fight for Warrington- 99-89, 99-90, and 97-91.