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The best way to expose the silliness and hypocrisy of sanctioning bodies is not to waste your time and energy going after them with a clenched fist, but to simply wait. Eventually, if you sit tight and let them do their thing, there is every chance they will walk into the proverbial counterpunch and become architects of their own downfall. You won’t even have to pay a sanctioning fee to watch. 

Whether it’s spawning belts – Super, Regular, Interim, and so on – or ranking drug cheats and the deceased, there is a long history of sanctioning body boo-boos and rarely are we surprised when encountering new ones. Even on a good day, you will get some head-scratching decision, a double standard, or a comment from one of the presidents which will force you to question what any of it means. The belts. The bodies. The very concept of a “world champion”.

Just this week, for instance, we have seen two fights made for “world titles” which push the very definition of that already vague term to its limits. The first of the fights, a cruiserweight matchup between Jai Opetaia and Brandon Glanton, will be for the inaugural Zuffa Boxing world cruiserweight title – a new in-house belt proposed by Zuffa Boxing – and pairs the world’s best cruiserweight (according to the International Boxing Federation) against a man who nine months ago lost to Chris Billam-Smith. 

Glanton, to his credit, has since then stopped Marcus Browne in Nigeria, but to suggest he is a worthy challenger for Opetaia at this point would be stretching generosity to breaking point. Just because boxing happens to be littered with these kinds of “world title” fights and has been for decades does not mean a continuation of the trend should somehow be excused or, even worse, deemed noteworthy and interesting. That is especially true when dealing with a company who claims to want to change the way the sport is run – for the better, presumably – and rid it of all its confusion and lawlessness. One company, one title, one goal. Or something like that. 

Meanwhile, things are no less strange with the recognised sanctioning bodies. The World Boxing Organization (WBO), for example, still one of the newer bodies, are getting ready to approve a voluntary defence for their heavyweight champion, Fabio Wardley, against fellow Brit Daniel Dubois, despite Dubois having lost his last fight. 

While Wardley-Dubois is in isolation a good fight, the issue, again, is the wording: “world title”; “champion” versus “challenger”. Because although Wardley vs. Dubois is the right fight for both, and likely to be a compelling watch, a world-title fight it is not. Not even close. 

We appreciate that Wardley can do nothing about the fact he picked up the WBO title only when Oleksandr Usyk decided to vacate it, but the bigger issue here is that Dubois, a solid top 10 contender, was last seen losing to Usyk – stopped in five rounds – back in July. On the line that night were a variety of world heavyweight titles, including the WBO’s, and since that night Dubois, unlike Glanton, has failed to re-emerge with any kind of victory. That, in the context of him now receiving another world title shot, is an important point to highlight and belabour. After all, he is, in effect, being gifted a world-title shot on the basis of nothing. Worse, he just lost against a man (Usyk) to whom he had already lost only this time quicker and more convincingly. How can that, in a fair and just world, equate to any fighter then getting another shot at the world title? 

Well, it shouldn’t, but it can. In this case, it will. If, as expected, Wardley defends his WBO heavyweight belt against Dubois in Manchester on May 9, we will see, not for the first time, a world champion defend a belt he didn’t win in the ring against a challenger who didn’t have to win a fight to land the opportunity. It is, in many ways, a perfect summation of why boxing manages to perplex outsiders and why organisations like Zuffa Boxing feel they can barge their way in and clean up the mess. It is also, for Wardley, a bizarre situation to find himself in. On the one hand, yes, he will be proud to be holding that WBO belt on May 9 and thrilled to be fighting his countryman in a genuinely fascinating fight. Yet, on the other hand, the man from Ipswich has already had something of an identity crisis as a result of the manner in which he won his WBO belt without Dubois then being served up as his first challenger. 

“It’s bittersweet in a sense,” Wardley said of gaining the WBO belt following Usyk’s decision to dump it. “It’s a fantastic thing to happen to me but, and not to sound arrogant, I wanted it all. I wanted it to be picture-perfect. Anyone who gets into boxing dreams of becoming world champion so for me to turn my nose up at it and say, ‘It wasn’t exactly how I wanted it to be,’ almost feels ridiculously arrogant. I love to fight, I love to box, but I also love to earn it as well.”

Ironically, despite everything I have so far said, a win for Wardley over Dubois will be a win he will certainly have to earn. It will also go some way to legitimising Wardley as a champion – a champion, not the champion – if only because Dubois, despite losing to Usyk, remains a respected contender with some good wins to his name. It wasn’t all that long ago, remember, that Dubois was knocking out Anthony Joshua in five rounds. He has even held “world titles” of his own: an IBF strap upgraded from “interim” to full, and a WBA “regular” strap he won when stopping Trevor Bryan in a Miami casino. Dubois, in other words, knows this territory well. He has been in with some decent heavyweights and knows how fringe belts tend to work. Stick around long enough and you are likely to get an opportunity. Smile and say please and it might come sooner than you expect. 

Still, none of this is Daniel Dubois’ fault, of course. Nor for that matter is a mooted fight between Dubois and Wardley diminished on account of the weird way in which it has come about. In fact, if anything, the excitement people have expressed in spite of Dubois not deserving his shot speaks to the dwindling visibility and importance of world titles in 2026. It says, in a roundabout way, that we care less about world titles and how they are earned and more about seeing the most interesting and relevant fights happen exactly when they should. Everything else, to us, is just window dressing, or small print. We see the letters but have no idea what they stand for. Normally they spell out “World Boxing something or other” but even knowing the acronym fails to explain what they mean or indeed stand for.

 

The WBC on Thursday sanctioned Lester Martinez to fight for its vacant interim super middleweight belt versus Immanuwel Aleem in a bout that ProBoxTV will stage March 21 in San Bernardino, California.

Guatemala’s Martinez, 19-0-1 (16 KOs), visited with WBC officials in Mexico City this week, collecting his Fight of the Year trophy following his entertaining September draw versus new WBC full titleholder Christian Mbilli on the Terence Crawford-Saul ”Canelo” Alvarez card in Las Vegas.

“As president of the WBC, I am thrilled to know such an amazing young man as Lester,” Mauricio Sulaiman said in a release. “We are committed to supporting boxing and its development, worldwide.”

Ensuring that Martinez, 30, maintains an active schedule of ideally fighting every six months, ProBox founder and Martinez promoter Garry Jonas established the availability of Aleem, 22-3-3 (14 KOs), who most recently fought in July.

“I’d like to thank the WBC for granting Lester this opportunity,” said Jonas (who also owns BoxingScene). “I know it’s not easy doing their job with all the twists and turns that can take place at this level of the sport. This is a fair and reasonable outcome that Lester gets a chance to fight for the same belt he competed with Mbilli for. This is a big deal for Lester and his country. Guatemala has never had a world champion, and we’re very hopeful he can bring the belt home on March 21.”

The bout will be staged at the Orange Show Events Center, where Martinez knocked out Joeshon James in the fourth round in March.

Martinez was in a holding pattern following the December retirement of five-division and undisputed super middleweight champion Crawford, opening title vacancies among all four sanctioning bodies.

“I really thought I won the fight on September 13, and it’s been frustrating to not get a rematch with Mbilli,” Martinez said of the draw. “I very much appreciate Mauricio and the WBC Board of Governors for giving me this opportunity. It’s been my dream to be the first Guatemalan champion ever. I can’t wait for March 21.”

The WBC elevated Canada’s Mbilli, previously its interim belt holder, to full titlist, and the intention is to make his first title defense against four-division champion Alvarez in September atop a Mexican Independence Day weekend card in Saudi Arabia.

Alvarez underwent left elbow surgery in October and is skipping his traditional Cinco de Mayo weekend card.

On Wednesday, Martinez appeared on ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today,” displaying his new WBC trophy and discussing his future.

He called the Fight of the Year acknowledgement “great recognition,” and proof that his career is becoming “more serious. … To get an entire nation on its feet – so euphoric – feels great. We still have a long way to go.”

Martinez said his all-action showing against the unbeaten Mbilli “left me wanting more,” and with the approval to fight for the WBC interim belt, “we’re going to have it.

“We’re at that level, and I know my next fight will be for a world title,” he said.

Analyst and former 140lbs titleholder Chris Algieri asked Martinez if he would rather fight Alvarez or a victorious Mbilli for the full belt should he defeat Aleem, whom fellow analyst Paulie Malignaggi referred to as a tricky, potential “banana peel” opponent.

“I want to beat a truly great boxer and I want to be a world champion. … Of course, I’m interested in both,” Martinez answered.

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.

Let me say for the umpteenth time that, no matter what any mainstream sports publication’s lazy headline writer may tell you, there is no such thing as a “fight to save boxing."

 

There is, however, a fight to save the sanity of hardcore boxing fans, and it is Jaron “Boots” Ennis-Vergil Ortiz Jnr.

 

And, in a shocking twist that defies every time anyone among us in the fight fan fraternity has ever uttered the phrase, “This is why we can’t have nice things," signs are suddenly pointing very strongly toward our collective sanity being saved. The fight we want … the fight we need … the fight that makes too much sense for it to possibly not happen but nevertheless looked like it wasn’t going to happen … is … well …

 

As my colleague Jake Donovan wrote on Monday, “sources from both sides describe the continued progress as ‘getting close’ and that it would be a stunning letdown at this point if they fail to come to terms."

 

So barring a “stunning letdown” – which boxing fans are conditioned never to be overly stunned by – we’re going to get the meeting between undefeated, evenly matched, in-their-physical-prime junior middleweights that is everything we could ever possibly want in a prize fight.

 

And it’s not even a wild outlier. It’s not one thirst-quenching oasis in a vast desert. In the 154lbs division, Ennis-Ortiz Jnr happening would actually be part of a trend.

 

At this time last week, our cup at junior middleweight was half-empty, and the other half contained a spit-bucket cocktail. But now all of a sudden, our cup runneth over. The junior middles look set to give us everything we want and more.

 

Maybe we can have nice things after all?

 

I mean, there’s still time for contracts to get shredded, fighters to get injured, and so forth. But at the moment, all signs point to an overabundance of nice things in what is about to become the hottest division in boxing.

On the same day that those encouraging reports about an Ennis-Ortiz Jnr fight in April came out, word followed that Errol Spence Jnr had an agreement in place to fight Tim Tszyu in June, provided Tszyu prevails in a March tune-up.

 

In a vacuum, Spence-Tszyu – a meeting of ex-titlists, one inactive for the past three years, the other having lost three of his past five fights – is B-level news at best. Sure, it’s an intriguing crossroads fight between noteworthy names. But let’s just say you’d have a hard time selling this as a pay-per-view headliner in 2026.

 

It is not occurring in a vacuum, though, and it’s significant because Spence’s name was the one Ortiz Jnr and his people have been throwing around as the fight they supposedly really wanted.

 

Maybe they were just looking for leverage in the Ennis negotiations. Maybe a fight with Spence was something they were seriously discussing. Either way, the news that Spence has worked out a June fight with Tszyu makes it that much more apparent that Ortiz Jnr has nowhere to turn but toward Boots.

 

On top of that, Sebastian Fundora, probably the top dog in the division following Terence Crawford’s retirement, has his next fight set, headlining a PBC PPV on March 28, against Keith Thurman. It’s a fight with a clear favorite and underdog, certainly, but it’s an appealing clash of name-brand boxers just the same – and you can talk yourself into the 37-year-old Thurman, who still does have only one loss on his record after 33 fights, being the best opponent “The Towering Inferno” has faced yet.

 

Ennis-Ortiz Jnr, Spence-Tszyu and Fundora-Thurman make for one hell of a triple bill in the upper reaches of the division.

 

And there’s compelling depth of talent beyond that.

 

The 23-year-old Xander Zayas is fresh off both an impressive win over Abass Baraou and a profile-raising Super Bowl half-time appearance.

 

Baraou is himself a now-proven commodity to be taken seriously.

 

Josh Kelly has possession of a title belt following an upset win over Bakhram Murtazaliev.

 

Murtazaliev is still perhaps the scariest puncher in the division.

 

Then there’s Israil Madrimov, whose only two losses were narrow decisions to Crawford and Ortiz Jnr.

 

There’s also Brandon Adams, Isaac Lucero and, bouncing between 154 and 160, Jesus Ramos Jnr.

 

We can go about 15 names deep in this division right now with boxers we care about and, importantly, the best of them are ready and willing to fight each other.

 

As long as there aren’t any “stunning letdowns,” of course.

 

But this is no time to traffic in pessimism. I’m just going to pretend all this legal beef between Ortiz Jnr and his promoter (or former promoter?) Oscar De La Hoya isn’t happening. I’m going to ignore the pointlessness of Ennis’ fight with Uisma Lima in October and the possibility that Spence isn’t really Spence anymore and that Tszyu isn’t really Tszyu anymore (or, worse, was never all that good).

 

Because if we get Ennis-Ortiz Jnr, there’s no better division right now for fight fans than 154lbs.

 

The last time I remember being this excited about the potential for this weight class was back around the end of 1999. (Insert an obvious “gonna party like it’s” joke of your choosing here.)

 

Young, undefeated Olympians Fernando Vargas and David Reid had title belts. Welterweight superstars De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad and Ike Quartey were all talking about moving up. Future Hall of Famer Winky Wright was almost an afterthought amid all that star power.

 

We got Vargas-Wright, Trinidad-Reid, Vargas-Quartey, Trinidad-Vargas and eventually De La Hoya-Vargas, and they all delivered. (We also later got Wright-Trinidad, one weight class up, which I suppose delivered if you were a Winky fan.)

 

The star power in the current class isn’t on that level, but the matchups are every bit as compelling, and crucially, it seems they’re all happening.

 

Ennis-Ortiz Jnr is the centerpiece, of course. It’s a 28-year-old with a record of 35-0 (31 KOs) against a 27-year-old with a record of 24-0 (22 KOs).

 

Good luck picking a winner. But know that whoever does win enters the conversation for a spot in the pound-for-pound top five.

 

And think of all the possibilities after that.

 

If Ortiz Jnr prevails, and if Spence beats Tszyu, they can move forward with the all-Texas Ortiz Jnr-Spence showdown.

 

Or, if Ortiz Jnr wins and Fundora beats Thurman, admit it, you’d consider severing a pinkie toe for Ortiz Jnr-Fundora.

 

If Ennis beats Ortiz Jnr, bring on Ennis-Spence. Or Ennis-Fundora. Or Ennis-Zayas. Or Ennis-Kelly in the UK.

 

Fundora-Zayas is a scorcher. Spence-Thurman would be a meaningful clash of the old guard that somehow didn’t happen when they were in their primes. Fundora-Murtazaliev could be spectacular.

 

Hell, if either Ennis or Ortiz Jnr keeps winning and cleans out the division, maybe there’s even a chance Crawford comes out of retirement to reclaim his turf.

 

It’s all so tantalizing. And it’s all such a pronounced reversal from this time last week, when Ennis-Ortiz Jnr felt like a pipe dream, when we didn’t know if Spence would ever fight again, and when the division overall was little more than a frustrating collection of talent going to waste.

 

We just need Ennis-Ortiz Jnr to get over the finish line, and then all the pieces fall into place.

 

We can have nice things. Please, boxing, give us this nice thing. Our collective sanity depends on it.

Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with nearly 30 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.

Whenever we reflect on the 2023 welterweight superfight between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jnr, we tend to focus on how the fight ended rather than our feelings beforehand. That is to say, we picture Crawford with his arms raised in victory, and we picture Spence on the canvas, his dreams shattered and his face disfigured. We think only of the result: Crawford TKO 9 Spence. We think only of Crawford’s undeniable brilliance and how that display in Las Vegas set him on a path to greatness. 

Yet surely to think in those terms – narrow, revisionist – does a disservice to both Crawford and the fight itself. It strips from the fight, in particular its original context, appeal, and beauty. It removes the uncertainty we all experienced going into it, as well as the excitement we felt knowing Crawford and Spence would at last be sharing a ring following years of circling one another. That, in retrospect, was what made the fight feel so special at the time. It was what had many trying to outdo one another with their pre-fight predictions, as though guessing correctly was a sign of intelligence. The truth is, though, nobody had a clue. Not really. 

Both Crawford and Spence had been near-perfect in their respective careers to that point and had a combined professional record of 67-0. They were, back then, considered not only rivals but equals – flipsides of the same coin, Thing One and Thing Two. In Crawford, you had the genius technician with the sharp counters and one-shot power, while in Spence you had stamina and body-punching and an ability to keep pushing round after round. Combined, you had a bit of everything. They could do it all. But who could do it the best? 

That Crawford would end up beating Spence in such a dominant fashion should not detract from how torn most of us were the night before. Many, quite understandably, were backing Spence to win and go on to become the new face of American boxing. In fact, during the week of the fight there was a growing sense that Spence was the slight favourite and that his greater punch output could be the deciding factor. Plenty of journalists covering the fight were making those kinds of noises, and so too were those around Spence. In hotel lobbies and along The Strip you would spot “Team Spence” T-shirts, worn by fans and team members alike. Even Spence himself was starting to get that feeling. That feeling of fate. That feeling of the time being right. That feeling of it being his time. 

“It would mean a lot [to win],” said Spence at the Grand Arrivals that week. “It would be a dream come true. We watched the fights of all these great fighters, like [Oscar] De La Hoya versus [Felix] Trinidad, and now I get to have my moment. This is my moment now and I want to be under the bright lights and beat a worthy opponent; a guy who has been undisputed and is undefeated. That makes it even better when I defeat him on Saturday night.

“It’s definitely happening at the right time,” he added. “It has a lot of hype around it on social media and there are a lot of people talking about it. I would walk in stores before the fight was made and the first thing people would ask me was, ‘When are you and Terence going to fight?’ It’s happening at the right time. I’m in my prime. He’s in my prime. We are the two best fighters in the welterweight division and two of the best fighters in the world. Whoever wins on Saturday night will be the best fighter in boxing, period.”

As we now know, that man was Terence Crawford. He not only stopped Errol Spence in nine rounds, but made it look easy, so much so that everything that came before the fight was soon forgotten. Now these two were not so much rivals or equals as mere opponents; just one more name on a list. All the talk in the days prior regarding rematches, and a possible trilogy, was quick to dissipate in the aftermath. We had seen all we needed to see. Spence had endured enough. There was no need to put him through it again. 

As for Crawford, he would have to wait a little longer to be crowned the “best fighter in boxing, period”. In fact, while many lauded his stoppage of Spence as the finest performance of that year, Crawford wouldn’t really build on it until a couple of years later. 

In 2024, he stepped up a weight class to outpoint Israil Madrimov, but that, in truth, did little for his reputation and was closer than both Crawford would have wanted and many would have expected. 

Then, however, Crawford made an even greater leap in 2025 – all the way to super middleweight – to challenge Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on Netflix. This, unlike the Spence fight, was a true superfight; one with the potential to transcend and attract casual sports fans and scrolling streamers bored on a Saturday night. Better yet, Crawford would grasp the moment and demonstrate to a wider audience what we in boxing had known for some time. Suddenly now everybody was talking about Terence “Bud” Crawford. Suddenly now, instead of being mistaken for Kendrick Lamar, he was being name-checked by the rapper in a song. Suddenly now there were strong arguments to be made that Crawford was indeed the “best fighter in boxing, period”. 

Spence, meanwhile, just watched. Once Crawford’s equal, he was now a man two years out of the ring and a man whose irrelevance was increasing at the same rate as Crawford’s star was starting to soar. There were reasons for this, of course – injuries and whatnot – but the reality is, Crawford-Spence, for all its grandeur, had not been the Leonard-Hearns redux we all hoped it would be. After all, whereas both Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns went on to prove their greatness beyond and outside their famous rivalry, we had no sense of the same happening with Crawford and Spence. Or, rather, only one of the two appeared likely to go on and solidify their greatness.

Spence, on the other hand, was in danger of being best remembered for his one pro defeat – and final fight. It was somewhat cruel, too, given how impressive the Texan had looked before meeting Crawford, when defending his IBF welterweight title six times and beating the likes of Yordenis Ugas, Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter, Mikey Garcia, and Kell Brook. We knew he could fight – and could recall the time when many predicted he would beat Terence Crawford – but it was hard, with the passing of time, not to forget him. 

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before people were using Spence’s prolonged silence to generate clicks and start rumours. In 2025, for instance, a boxing parody account posted to social media: “The former unified champ Errol Spence Jr. has sadly announced his retirement at the age of 34 years old after sustaining another injury to his eye in training. We wish Errol all the best.” 

That led to many wishing Errol the best and both celebrating his career and lamenting his inability to recover from that Crawford loss in 2023. It also led to Spence creeping back into the spotlight, if only briefly, to clarify: “It's not from me.” He then followed those words with a trash bin emoji. 

The year before that, in January 2024, Spence had stated that the reason for his hiatus had to do with cataract surgery, though was quick to dismiss any suggestion that the eye issues would be career-ending. “You can kill the retirement s***,” he said in defiance.

Then he had a fight scheduled against Sebastian Fundora – first for October 2024, then rearranged for January 2025 – and again there was speculation about (a) his health and (b) his future in the sport. Even Spence himself admitted: “Might be the last time you see me.” In the end, however, there was to be no Fundora fight and still, as of February 2026, we patiently await Spence’s comeback.

According to the latest reports (per The Ring), there is now a chance that Spence will meet Tim Tszyu, another former champion in the rebuilding process, this summer. If so, that will represent Spence’s first bit of action in three years and will see him return to the ring at the age of 36. 

A funny thing, time. Whereas three years ago Spence was considered in his prime – on the rise if anything – and touted as the potential new face of American boxing, now, for his return, he will be thought of very differently. Now he will be one of the elder statesmen of the sport. Now, rather than receive praise for his stamina and athleticism, people will question whether Spence’s body can hold up and whether his problematic eyes should be in range of punches. “Does he really want it?” they will ask ahead of any comeback. “Is he still hungry?” 

They will, to validate their concern, perhaps point to “Prince” Naseem Hamed’s reaction to losing his first professional fight against Marco Antonio Barrera in April 2001. Hamed, like Spence, had taken time out following that shattering defeat before returning to the ring 13 months later in a low-key IBO title fight against Manuel Calvo. I was there at the London Arena that night and can remember seeing Hamed essentially retire mid-fight, fed up with it all. Gone, all of a sudden, was his passion for the sport and both the desire and spite to finish Calvo in a mismatch. Gone, also, was Hamed’s mystique and all that once made him special. In place of that you had 10,000 British fans inside an arena stamping their feet in frustration and chanting “Bruno! Bruno! Bruno!” to reveal that absence, in Hamed’s case, had not made the heart grow fonder. Hamed, needless to say, got the message. Though then only 28, he would never fight again. 

Spence, a less divisive and more popular character, won’t be without goodwill when he returns, that’s for sure. But he will be without Terence Crawford, his old rival, who retired from the sport in December with a perfect record: 42-0. That, on the face of it, could be a good thing for Spence; a chance for him to properly move on and avoid any painful reminders. Or, conversely, knowing that Crawford, at his expense, not only became the “best fighter in boxing” but then applied the “period” by retiring at the perfect time could be the salt in Errol Spence’s wound. 

Either way, there is no bigger indication of both the passing of time and the fleeting nature of superstardom than what we have seen happen, or not happen, in the two and a half years since Crawford vs Spence. It wasn’t all that long ago that we struggled to separate them. Now it’s a struggle just to find them and remember them the way they were.

Zuffa Boxing is set to crown its first champion.

Company co-founder Dana White confirmed that the March 8 headliner between Jai Opetaia and Brandon Glanton will crown the inaugural Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight championship. Their previously reported bout will top the Zuffa Boxing 04 show on Paramount+ from Meta APEX in Las Vegas.

“Great fight and this will be for the first ever Zuffa world cruiserweight championship,” White announced via livestream Tuesday. “Whoever wins this fight will be our first world champion.”

Unsurprisingly, the IBF belt was not listed among the stakes for the forthcoming 200lbs championship affair. Opetaia is also the current RING champion, which also wasn’t mentioned in White’s announcement or the accompanying news release.

That said, White has previously stated that Zuffa and RING champions will be permitted to unify, though he doesn’t plan to work with or acknowledge the sanctioning bodies. Thus far, he’s remained true to his word.

Australia’s Opetaia, 29-0 (23 KOs) will make his U.S. debut along with the abovementioned groundbreaking event. The 2012 Olympian and long reigning 200lbs king will also attempt the eighth defense as the division’s lineal champion, dating back to his July 2022 points win over Mairis Briedis in his current hometown of Broadbeach, Australia.

Glanton, 21-3 (18 KOs) will enter his first major title fight. The 33-year-old Atlanta native has experience at the top level – including a knockout win over Marcus Browne last October and a competitive but clear points loss to former WBO 200lbs titlist Chris Billam-Smith six months prior in North London.

“What’s really interesting about this fight, [Glanton] has never been stopped,” noted White of Glanton’s three defeats all going the distance. “So, Jai undefeated at 29-0, with 23 knockouts. Brandon’s never been stopped and… has like an 86 percent knockout [to win] rate. Jai has like an 80 percent knockout rate.”

What wasn’t immediately made clear, however, is how the Zuffa belt will be at stake under the current Professional Boxing Safety Act.

As previously reported by BoxingScene, Zuffa Boxing has pushed for an amendment to the current safety act to be made law. There are several benefits to the proposed H.R. 4624 bill. Relevant to this development would be the ability for Unified Boxing Organizations (UBOs) such as Zuffa to create its own belts and rankings, in lieu of working with and being at the mercy of the sanctioning bodies.

A bipartisan effort by the U.S. Education and Workforce Committee allowed H.R. 4624 to advance to the House floor, by an overwhelming vote of 30-4 during a January 21 hearing in Washington, D.C.

However, the bill still needs to put to a vote and approved separately by the House and Senate floors before it is presented to U.S. president Donald Trump. Once fully approved at that level will the bill become law. 

A hearing for the bill to appear before the House of Representatives has yet to be scheduled as this goes to publication.

That part does not seem to be of any concern at the moment to White, his partners or any of the parties involved in the watershed moment for the new league.

Opetaia is by far the most significant Zuffa signing to date, though the company has promised plenty of big news to come in the next few weeks and months.

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.

Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions is seeking more than $10 million in damages from Vergil Ortiz Jnr’s manager Rick Mirigian, claiming the veteran representative has interfered with its contract and the economic advantages of the agreement.

Amid reports that unbeaten WBC interim junior-middleweight champion Ortiz 24-0 (22KOs) is in the advanced stages of fight negotiations with recent unified welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis 35-0 (31KOs) for a bout that could fall on April 25 on DAZN, the January 29 crafting of this lawsuit casts a shadow over the process.

In the Golden Boy lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles by lead attorney Ricardo P. Cestero, the promoter claims Mirigian is interrupting efforts with the most successful of his 26 fighters in order to ingratiate himself with the new Zuffa Boxing promotion headed by UFC CEO/President Dana White.

“Unfortunately, Mirigian has embarked on a campaign of self-promotion … in an effort to ingratiate himself with the newest player in the boxing world – Dana White … and Zuffa,” Cestero wrote. “In a transparent effort to curry favor with Zuffa, Mirigian has deliberately and willfully interfered with Golden Boy’s contracts for his own personal interest. … He is acting for himself only.”

Mirigian and De La Hoya declined to respond to the lawsuit in interview requests from BoxingScene.

The lawsuit alleges Mirigian engaged in “a campaign of self-promotion” and has disclosed private details of Ortiz’s contractual situation with competing promoters, including Zuffa, Canelo Promotions and Matchroom.

Ortiz has alleged in his own lawsuit against Golden Boy that the promoter’s expiring union with streaming partner DAZN provides Ortiz, 27, the freedom to leave Golden Boy.

Golden Boy counters in the lawsuit that it signed Ortiz to a three-year deal in August 2024, when he won the WBC interim belt by defeating Serhii Bohachuk, clinching the right to exclusively negotiate all of Ortiz’s boxing activities and matches.

Any other offers by third parties were to be presented to Golden Boy, the lawsuit claims. 

And Mirigian is alleged to have shared terms, minimum purses and the importance of the DAZN union to rival promoters, weakening Golden Boy’s position, the lawsuit said.

That continued through these Ortiz-Ennis talks, with the lawsuit claiming that while believing it was making good progress on the talks, Mirigian was “working behind the scenes to interfere with these negotiations.”

By talking to Ennis’ promoter Matchroom, Mirigian was “undermining” talks to arrange a different deal.

That, according to Golden Boy, has resulted in sabotaging the promoter’s ties to Ortiz and DAZN, triggering the lawsuit to confront his alleged “misconduct.”

Golden Boy seeks injunctive relief to stop the alleged interference and disclosed it is in danger of having its 2026-2027 license fee from DAZN reduced because of this dispute.

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.

 

Three months, several rounds of negotiating through the media and an internal lawsuit later, Vergil Ortiz and Jaron “Boots” Ennis finally appear to be on the verge of finding common ground.

BoxingScene has learned that the two sides are in advanced talks for their highly sought-after 154lbs showdown. The timeline was slightly pushed back to April from its originally targeted March 28 date, but it’s still to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

A deal is not quite yet at the finish line. However, sources from both sides describe the continued progress as “getting close” and that it would be a stunning letdown at this point if they fail to come to terms. 

Ring Magazine senior insider Mike Coppinger was the first to report the bout’s progress, during the most recent installment of the publication’s weekly “Inside the Ring” series.

The bout has been in play realistically ever since Ennis, 35-0 (31 KOs), moved up from welterweight, where he previously served as the lineal, Ring and unified IBF/WBA champ. Ennis made a splash in his 154lbs debut with a first-round knockout of Uisma Lima on October 11 in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

The feat saw Ennis claim the WBA’s interim title at the weight, which took place four weeks prior to Ortiz’s most recent outing. The unbeaten Texan retained his WBC interim 154lbs belt with a second-round knockout of Erickson Lubin atop a November 8 DAZN show from Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, mere minutes from his Grand Prairie hometown. 

Among those in attendance for the occasion was none other than Ennis himself. Ortiz was joined in the ring by his newfound divisional rival, who was brief and emphatic afterward in declaring the fight he wanted next. 

“I'm letting everybody know – this is the fight I want next,” Ennis told DAZN’s Chris Mannix at the time. “All the government stuff going on [with flight cancellations], I wanted to make sure I was here and let everyone know this is the fight I want.

“This fight has so much hype behind it. Even more than it did two months ago. This fight has a lot of hype behind it and I got a good fan base. So, let’s go.” 

The fight was on the verge of collapse, however, beginning with the games played by those handling Ortiz’s career.

Golden Boy Promotions co-founder and chairman Oscar De La Hoya and Ortiz’s manager Rick Mirigian insisted throughout the initial round of talks that Ortiz was the A-side and that other options were there for the taking. 

Those claims were quickly shut down when it was confirmed that DAZN – though never directly disclosed by the brass – was not interested in hearing about or financing any fight for either boxer other than this matchup. 

The hardline stance was taken at a time when Golden Boy’s latest deal with the streaming service was due to expire. 

In lieu of a new deal or even finalizing the one fight for Ortiz demanded by the public, De La Hoya and Golden Boy found themselves in the middle of a lawsuit filed by Ortiz. Among the claims filed were breach of contract and interference, as Ortiz sought to have his promotional contract voided. 

Despite all that, his side has remained vocal – to the point of opposing De La Hoya’s alleged status updates – in its desire to line up Ennis as the next opponent. 

Mirigian recently took to social media, posting a teaser that good news was on the horizon and to never doubt his management strategy. 

Based on this round of updates, it appears that both sides are ready to enjoy a victory lap.

The potentially forthcoming good news arrives at a time when things are really taking shape atop the 154lbs division.

Xander Zayas became the unified WBA/WBO titlist following his January 31 split decision victory over Abass Baraou in his birth town of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The event was a rousing success in every regard, as Zayas drew a crowd of more than 12,000, which produced a live gate in excess of $1.1 million.

Additionally, the 23-year-old Zayas, 23-0 (13 KOs), raised his profile with an appearance during global superstar Bad Bunny’s musical performance during the Super Bowl LX halftime show. Zayas is signed to Bad Bunny’s Rimas Sports agency.

Theoretically, the winner of Ortiz-Ennis would become the mandatory challenger for Zayas’ newly acquired WBA belt.

Another option would be the winner of the March 28 Sebastian Fundora-Keith Thurman WBC title fight, which headlines a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Prime Video pay-per-view event from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

For now, the industry will gladly settle for Ortiz and Ennis sharing a ring. Such a vision is fortunately more realistic than was the case earlier this year.

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.

Jake Paul’s attacks on Bad Bunny and the American-ness of Puerto Rican culture have drawn the ire of his company’s most popular Boricua boxer.

Amanda Serrano, an eight-division world champion and national icon in Puerto Rico, took to the social media platform X to fire back at her promoter, who called for a boycott of the Super Bowl halftime performance by Bad Bunny, echoing similar sentiments from U.S. President Donald Trump, a right wing politician who Paul openly supports, who criticized Bad Bunny for singing in Spanish, writing on social media, "Nobody understands a word this guy is saying."

“Turn off this halftime. A fake American citizen performing who publicly hates America. I cannot support that,” said Paul, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions. Paul did not cite examples of how Bad Bunny, an American citizen whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, displayed hatred of America.

Serrano, who resides in Carolina, Puerto Rico, voiced support for Bad Bunny’s performance and said she was in “awe” of how well Bad Bunny represented Puerto Rican culture.

“I am proud to be Puerto Rican, and I am proud to be an American citizen. Puerto Ricans are not ‘fake Americans.’ We are citizens who have contributed to this country in every field, from military service to sports, business, science, and the arts, and our identity and citizenship deserve respect,” said Serrano.

Serrano added that, while she is grateful for the opportunities she has been afforded by Paul and Most Valuable Promotions, she does not support Paul’s statements.

“I want to be clear: I do not agree with statements that question the legitimacy or identity of Puerto Rican people, and I cannot support that characterization. It is wrong,” wrote Serrano.

“I fight with the pride of Puerto Rico and represent my flag every time I step into the ring. I will always stand with my people, with respect for who we are, and with pride in where we come from.

“I will never change and will forever be a Proud Boricua.”

Jake Paul's comments found criticism even closer to home as his older brother, former boxer and current WWE wrestler Logan Paul, addressed them on social media, writing "I love my brother but I don’t agree with this. Puerto Ricans are Americans & I’m happy they were given the opportunity to showcase the talent that comes from the island."

Paul’s attacks on Bad Bunny and Puerto Rico come as a surprise to some, as Paul, a native of Cleveland, now makes his home in Dorado, Puerto Rico. A number of Most Valuable Promotions’ boxers are from Puerto Rico, including Elise Soto, Yankiel Rivera and Alexis Chaparro. The company’s most recent show took place in Puerto Rico, with several thousand fans filing in to watch Serrano outpoint Reina Tellez in the capital of San Juan.

Paul, who is not of Latino heritage, moved to Puerto Rico in 2021 and adopted the ring name “El Gallo,” which translates from Spanish to “The Rooster.”

Paul, a boxer with a 12-2 (7 KOs) record, most recently fought in December, getting knocked out in six rounds by Anthony Joshua.

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, had one boxing reference in it, as unified junior middleweight champion Xander Zayas and unbeaten junior welterweight prospect Emiliano Vargas had a cameo during his opening number, “Tití Me Preguntó.” Promoter Bob Arum praised their appearance, saying it would “help raise their profiles not just within boxing, but beyond the sport as well.”

The Super Bowl halftime show turned out to be a moment of super exposure for two unbeaten boxers.

Unified junior middleweight titleholder Xander Zayas and undefeated junior welterweight prospect Emiliano Vargas made an appearance Sunday during the performance by Latin music star Bad Bunny at Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Zayas and Vargas both wore the colors of their ancestral homelands of Puerto Rico and Mexico respectively as they punched each other’s gloves – while Bad Bunny walked underneath their gloves singing his 2022 hit song “Tití Me Preguntó.”

Tití Me Preguntó” @sanbenito #AppleMusicHalftime pic.twitter.com/zRHodY6AQh

— NFL (@NFL) February 9, 2026

Promoter Bob Arum, whose company Top Rank promotes them both, was proud to see two of his young fighters on the world stage.

“It was a very special moment to see two of our young stars, Xander Zayas and Emiliano Fernando Vargas, make appearances during Bad Bunny’s performance,” Arum said. “The Super Bowl halftime show is one of the biggest stages in the world, and opportunities like this help raise their profiles not just within boxing, but beyond the sport as well.”

The Puerto Rico-based Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has been the most streamed artist in the world almost every year, and his selection to headline the Super Bowl halftime show has been the subject of unexpected political debate. The Super Bowl is by far the biggest single-day sports event in America, and the halftime show is among the biggest platforms in all of music, with last year's Super Bowl show headlined by rapper Kendrick Lamar garnering a record-breaking audience of 133.5 million viewers.

Zayas, who holds the WBA and WBO 154lbs titles, is no stranger to collaborating with Bad Bunny, having signed with Bunny’s marketing firm Rimas Sports last year. Zayas is one of three Puerto Rican boxers currently represented by Rimas, including unified strawweight champion Oscar Collazo and junior bantamweight prospect Juanmita Lopez.

Zayas, 23-0 (13 KOs), is coming off a second straight title fight victory, having defeated Abass Baraou by split decision in a unification bout on January 31 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Vargas, 16-0 (13 KOs), of Oxnard, California, is back in action on February 28 when he faces Agustin Quintana at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

The Seattle Seahawks emerged victorious, defeating the New England Patriots, 29-13, to win their second Super Bowl title.

Nine hours before featherweights Nick Ball and Brandon Figueroa entered the ring last night in Liverpool, the fight’s promoter Queensberry Promotions posted on social media an AI-generated image which featured the two boxers squaring off inside a Colosseum. It came with the caption “ARE YOU READY TO BE ENTERTAINED?” and the only thing capable of softening the disappointment of AI slop being used to sell a legitimate fight was the fact that (a) it was a legitimate fight and (b) entertainment was almost guaranteed. 

With these two, you see, there was never any danger of us being let down, nor the need for anything “artificial”. In Ball, you had a WBA champion whose nickname “Wrecking Ball” amounts to more than just an obvious pun, while Figueroa, the former champion from Texas, threw over 1,000 punches in his previous bout, a 12-round decision win over Joet Gonzalez. Together, they were only ever likely to produce one kind of fight. It would be a battle – yes, of the gladiatorial sort – but it would also be real, with nothing either forced or fake about it. A “proper fight,” they would call it in the UK, and a proper fight it proved to be. Not only that, after 11 rounds of compelling back-and-forth action, we received a proper finish, too, when Figueroa, the underdog, landed a left hand on Ball which made three judges’ scorecards irrelevant and delivered the Texan his third world title (two full titles, one interim). 

The finishing shot, a stunner, arrived just 10 seconds into the final round. By that stage the fight was perceived to be in the balance, with Ball starting well, Figueroa coming into his own during the middle rounds, and Ball responding in kind. Nobody knew going into the championship rounds how the judges would have it. They only knew that nothing could be left to chance or taken for granted. 

Figueroa, known as the “Heartbreaker”, was perhaps more conscious of this than anyone. He was neither the champion nor the home fighter, so suspected he would have to do that little bit more to win rounds and ultimately win the fight. After round five he was implored by his cornerman Manny Robles, “You’ve got to be first and you’ve got to be last,” and received the instruction as a reminder. A reminder to get going. A reminder to not expect any favours. “You’ve got to start taking over,” Robles added. 

Up to that point the fight had been competitive, but Figueroa had yet to make any sort of dent in the champion from Liverpool. He came forward, as is his custom, and he always showed a willingness to exchange, only every time he did so he found Ball more than happy to oblige and give some back. In fact, Ball would often use Figueroa’s aggression against him by stepping off to the side and then popping out fast jabs, counter left hooks or lead rights as Figueroa marched forward. The jab in particular was a key shot for Ball throughout the fight. It was an impressive shot, too, given the physical disadvantages with which he had to contend (Ball, at 5 '2, was seven inches shorter than the 5' 9 Figueroa). Despite his shorter arms, Ball was able to utilise superior timing and speed to round after round out-jab Figueroa and prevent him from setting his feet. He would then accompany this shot with either a stiff right cross or a slashing left hook, both of which were shots Ball relied on time and time again whenever Figueroa opened up. 

But Figueroa was not without success of his own, of course. By virtue of him constantly throwing and trundling forward there were always going to be periods of success and periods in the fight when he would grab the momentum and force Ball to fight his kind of fight. This was especially true in the middle rounds when Figueroa found his rhythm and started to reap the rewards of his early investment in body shots. The eighth and ninth were particularly good rounds for the visitor, with a lead right hook catching Ball clean in the eighth, and a left cross forcing Ball to the ropes in the ninth. In the ninth, too, Figueroa, a southpaw, appeared comfortable switching stance and was becoming increasingly physical with Ball; pushing him back, grappling with him, and whacking away at whatever bits of flesh were available on an admittedly small target. 

The assumption at that stage was that Figueora, accustomed to flourishing late, was turning the fight around. However, Ball, who had boxed so well in rounds five, six and seven, sharpened up again in the 10th and 11th rounds, just when he needed to. He spotted more openings for the jab in the 10th, as well as a clever straight right, and in the 11th, he sensed for maybe the first time that Figueroa’s work was starting to become sloppy and that his attacks were being launched without much thought. This meant Ball could not only navigate his way around them, but also search for openings, then exploit them whenever presented with one. 

Yet still Figueroa came forward and still he punched. Sloppy though it was at times, he was still showing a fierce determination to engage and win rounds and he believed, too, that at some point one of the many shots he was throwing would be the one to land clean and make a difference. If it took a thousand shots to land the one he needed, so be it. 

That is the game of chance Brandon Figueroa is and has long been content to play and last night in Liverpool it again paid off – and how. In round 12, with both men now exhausted, Figueroa acted as he had done in the 11 previous rounds – moving forward and throwing – only this time one of the numerous left hands he threw landed flush on Ball’s chin and almost spun the British fighter’s head around on his neck. The result was that Ball collapsed to the canvas, where he looked to be out and where he was immediately counted by the referee, Steve Gray.  

Somehow, despite the severity of the knockdown, Ball managed to pull himself upright and show enough “life” for Gray to let him continue. He was given ample time to recover too, it should be noted, not that it mattered. In fact, most who saw the knockdown punch land, and saw the impact it had, would have known that Figueroa going on to finish Ball was now an inevitability. We also knew that if there is one fighter you don’t want smelling blood it is someone like Figueroa, a man whose every attack is relentless and whose stamina is endless. Sure enough, in just a matter of seconds Figueroa was not only on Ball, he was swarming him and hurting him against the ropes. He then bundled him through the ropes and out of the ring.

It was at that point – 32 seconds into round 12 – the referee intervened, having presumably realised what we all realised: the only way to stop Brandon Figueroa punching was to end the fight. That permitted Figueroa, now 27-2-1 (20 KOs), to at last lower his hands and celebrate as various members of Ball’s team tried to lift the stricken former champion back into the ring and check he was okay. 

Some members of Ball’s team were less interested in the health of their fighter, however. For reasons only they know, they appeared far more interested in targeting Figueroa and his team, seemingly irked by them celebrating a tremendous knockout win. We even saw Andrew Cain, who boxed earlier in the night, aim a kick at one member of Figueroa's team, which in turn motivated a few of the Liverpool fans to then throw bottles into the ring and cause Figueroa, the victor, to duck for cover at a time when he should have been standing tall. 

The natives were now restless, it seemed; the ring had indeed become a Colosseum, as advertised, but this was not the “entertainment” the locals had in mind, nor an image doctored by lazy promoters. Instead, this was real. As real as it gets.

 

LIVERPOOL, England - Brandon Figueroa brutally knocked out Nick Ball to claim the WBA featherweight title at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena.

The now 27-2-1 (20 KOs) Figueroa told BoxingScene this week that he wasn’t worried about travelling over to the UK where questions have been asked of the judging of foreign fighters. Figueroa was fighting in Ball’s home city, but did not plan on letting the judges have a say in proceedings. The contest was close, too. As things turned out, Figueroa was not only up on many ringside reporter’s cards, he was also ahead on two of the three officials' cards, but at the time of the dramatic stoppage, nobody knew how the judges had it.

Figueroa made those tallies redundant, smashing a left hook across Ball’s chin that left him motionless on the canvas. Although Ball pulled himself up bravely he was soon down again. The finish was brutal as Figueroa, a true gladiator, claimed his third world title in two divisions.

The opening round, which perfectly set the tone, was an entertaining one. Figueroa, 29, pawed at Ball with his southpaw jab but the champion was having none of it. He bullishly pushed forwards and fired in a left uppercut that buckled the legs of the travelling Texan. Figueroa responded by trying to smother Ball, but he was shrugged him off and planted a right hand upstairs. Ball, also 29, was countering well, and in the second landed another right hand over the top of Figueroa’s jab. The American, however, didn’t seem too concerned with Ball’s power and continued to push the pace, firing a left hand to the body.

Despite Figueroa’s huge advantage in size he rarely used it and opted to fight up close with Ball. The American had success tagging the previously unbeaten favorite with his right hand and pressing him back into the corner. Ball pushed his way out of his own corner and waved the challenger on as the bell sounded.

Figueroa started the fourth well, knocking the head back of Ball with a left hand on the ropes. Ball was physical as the pair locked horns, uncorking wild hooks, but was being outlanded. Ball was wearing damage from the frantic pace of the opening rounds as he stood waiting for the fifth session to begin. Figueroa instantly got to work and planted in another body shot. The pair hammered away at each other but Ball's shots seemed to bounce of the bigger Figueroa.

Blood trickled from the nose of Ball as he returned to his corner. He had again broken it and, to make matters worse, there was swelling around his left eye. The fight seemed as though it was slipping away from the champion and Figueroa was growing in confidence. Then Ball landed two beautiful left hooks in the sixth only for his work to be cancelled out as Figueroa responded with four of his own. Ball just couldn’t match Figueroa’s workrate and, uncharacteristically, was struggling on the inside.

Ball rallied in the seventh, sitting back and catching Figueroa as he came in to land a flurry. A right hand bounced off Figueroa’s head and Ball followed with a left downstairs. Figueroa battled back in Round 8, unloading on Ball as he lay on the ropes. Ball hurt the challenger hurt when a right hand forced Figueroa to cover up but the challenger smiled through his guard and planted a heavy shot downstairs.

Figueroa continued to march forward in the ninth, bullying Ball up against the ropes. Ball was being outworked but had started to time Figueroa well as he pushed forwards. Despite Ball’s smaller reach it was his jab that was catching Figueroa, and although Figueroa was landing more, it was Ball with the cleaner, more eye-catching shots. The contest was getting tighter and harder to score as the rounds continued. The 12th and final round approached and it appeared from ringside that both men needed it to secure the win.

Figueroa came out and instantly fired a left hand that crashed across Ball’s chin, with the champion falling to the canvas. You could have heard a pin drop in the arena as Ball lay face down on the canvas. Ball seemed to spark into life and stumble up before the referee Gray’s count reached 10. It could have easily been stopped then, but Gray gave the champion an opportunity to get through the crisis. Figueroa came right at Ball, smashing the champion’s head and body as he lay helplessly on the ropes. Ball tumbled through the ropes. He again bravely tried to climb up, but Gray had seen enough and waved off proceedings.

Things got ugly after the stoppage. Figueroa’s team, understandably joyous, jumped in the ring and Ball’s corner didn’t take too kindly to their celebrations. Stablemates Andrew Cain and Brad Strand instantly jumped through the ropes but were held back by security. Ball’s Liverpool crowd made their presence known, hurling drinks into the ring at Figueroa’s corner in ugly scenes. Thankfully, order was quickly restored.

The now 23-1-1 (13 KOs) Ball was met with a cheer as he finally returned to his feet, but the night belonged to the relentless Figueroa, who yet again lived up to his "Heartbreaker" moniker.

 

LIVERPOOL, England – Brandon Figueroa is unworried about traveling into enemy territory for his WBA featherweight title shot.

The fight this Saturday at M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, UK, has been billed “A Tall Order,” referencing the size difference between the men. Figueroa stands at 5ft 9ins – or 7ins above featherweight titleholder Nick Ball in the opposing corner. Despite the challenger's advantage when it comes to height and reach, he very rarely uses it. Figueroa opts for a more fan-friendly style instead of using his long levers to keep out of harm's way, which is likely to gel with Ball’s aggressive nature.

“If you look at my career, Oscar Escandon's 5ft 1in, Luis Nery's 5ft 4ins. I have experience fighting short fighters, so to me this is nothing new,” Figueroa told BoxingScene. “Obviously height does play a big factor in boxing, but styles play a bigger factor, so it's not necessarily about height – it's more about styles.

“A lot of people say that I have length to box and I like to mix it up, I like to get inside. So I feel like a lot of people underestimate my inside game and a lot of people underestimate my boxing ability, so I feel like this fight you guys are going to see a little bit of everything. But you guys are always going to see my inside game. I love to mix it up, and that's the way I manage to hurt my opponents.”

Ball has defended his WBA strap three times now but has come under criticism in each of the contests. He has shown a lack of respect for what was coming back at him, marching forwards to land his heavy shots – but most of the time taking one to give one.

“He opens up a lot, throws a lot of looping shots and, you know, I just have to have good timing and catch him in the routine,” said Figueroa of his opponent’s recent showings.

Traveling away from home for a title shot is never easy, especially when the bout is located in the belt holder’s backyard. British judges have not shown themselves in good light in years gone by, with many foreign fighters fearing an unfair shake on British soil.

“I have a job to do. You've got to understand that he's a champion. You know, his rules, his backyard,” said Figueroa of fighting in Ball’s home city. “But we're not here to mess around. We're coming to fight and we don't really plan to leave it to the judges. We're coming to work, and my work rate, my volume punching speaks for itself. I just can't wait to put it all together.”

Tom Ivers is a lifelong fight fan and former amateur boxer who has a master’s degree in sports journalism. Tom joined BoxingScene in 2024 and is now a key part of the UK and social media teams.

Christian Medina made his first WBO bantamweight title defense Friday, winning a 12-round unanimous decision against Adrian Curiel in a homecoming fight at Domo Alcalde in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The scores were 120-108, 116-112 and 115-113. 

Medina, a 25-year-old from Guadalajara, fought a calculated fight, targeting Curiel’s body. Curiel, a former junior flyweight titleholder from Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico, was fighting at bantamweight for the second time in his career, with a game plan of pushing forward and forcing the action. But Medina was methodical in punching the head and body of Curiel as he came forward.

In the middle rounds, Curiel, refusing to take a step back, began to find some success. Yet the size difference was apparent. Curiel’s path to victory was aggression, but he appeared a bit too small to fully impose his will on Medina. Despite Medina landing big, powerful hooks to Curiel’s body, the smaller fighter refused to retreat.

In the 11th round, both fighters were warned by the referee after the action got rough in the ring. Curiel urged on his hometown crowd as he returned to his corner between rounds, and started the final round energized. The fight ended with both fighters exhausted and the crowd cheering for Medina.

Medina’s story to this point is just as interesting as Friday’s win. He lost three fights in his first two years as a pro. He then went on a 12-fight win streak before losing to unbeaten Ryosuke Nishida in 2023. Medina began another win streak and most recently picked up the biggest win of his career, knocking out WBO bantamweight titleholder Yoshiki Takei in September.

Medina improved to 27-4 (19 KOs), while the 27-year-old Curiel fell to 26-7-1.

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.

After years of flashing cash and even changing his nickname to “Money,” Floyd Mayweather Jnr’s lawsuit alleging that $340 million in earnings were misappropriated from him by Showtime has grabbed the industry’s attention.

“Did you get screwed, or is this your own financial ignorance?” Paulie Malignaggi wondered aloud on Wednesday’s episode of ProBoxTV’s “BoxingScene Today.”

“This kind of money, I’m going to track it, [because] $340 million does not slip through the cracks.”

Mayweather’s lawsuit, which named former Showtime Sports President Stephen Espinoza, alleges that the fighter’s longtime advisor Al Haymon was also complicit in the misdirecting of funds Mayweather believes are his.

Industry officials have countered that it’s not only suspect that Mayweather is bringing this claim nearly nine years after he staged the second of his two most lucrative prizefights in history versus Conor McGregor, it also may confirm a recent Business Insider report that painted Mayweather, 49, as financially troubled.

“This is why everyone says keep your finances private,” Malignaggi said. “The last thing you need is for [financial] things to go wrong and you were showing off [your wealth]. Now, you have egg on your face.”

While Mayweather was believed to have made $600 million from the 2015 Manny Pacquiao fight alone, the scope of the alleged loss “makes me think someone else has gotten into his ear, that someone else is going through his books,” analyst and former 140lbs titleholder Chris Algieri said on the show.

“How do we use him to extract wealth?”

The fallout is that Mayweather has made these allegations against powerfully legally backed entities, with Espinoza himself an attorney who will not shy from a legal counterpoint.

“If this is true, you’ve got a massive situation – the reverberations are massive,” Malignaggi said. “If it’s not true, it’s going to come back on you. These people know how to maneuver.”

Added Algieri: “This is a really big deal and can get Floyd in a lot of trouble. There’s always a paper trail. [Showtime is] not stupid.”

Malignaggi knows firsthand after losing his boxing analyst position at Showtime before the premium cable network shuttered its boxing coverage in 2023.

As the situation was transpiring, Malignaggi claims he was silenced by a gag order.

“You’ve got to let all the pieces play out,” he said. “Let the chips fall where they may.”

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.

Terence Crawford’s retirement announcement in December opened up quite a few vacancies.

There were the assorted alphabet belts he held in multiple weight classes at the moment at which he called it a career.

There was the pound-for-pound throne, which most fans and experts either elevated him to or kept him seated in after he outdueled Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

And there is the unofficial title of best American boxer.

For the better part of the past couple of years, there was a three-way debate to be had over who was the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport, but with Oleksandr Usyk hailing from Ukraine and Naoya Inoue from Japan, there was no debating that “Bud” was the best from the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Incredibly, there hasn’t really been a debate on that front since Andre Ward retired in late 2017. Scrolling through old pound-for-pound lists, I can’t find a time in the last eight-plus years that any American boxer was ranked higher than Crawford.

Remove “Bud” from consideration, though, and that designation is finally disputed again.

And the dispute, for now, is focused fairly squarely on two men: Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Shakur Stevenson.

But the “Bam or Shakur” question isn’t just about who’s the best American boxer right now, and in turn who should be ranked higher on the pound-for-pound list (where they’re both fairly obvious choices to place somewhere between third and fifth).

If we expect one or both of them to continue to ascend, and we acknowledge that Usyk is 39 years old and will be walking off into the sunset soon, and that Inoue is 32 and showing more signs of being human than he did in his 20s, then it makes sense to predict that either Rodriguez or Stevenson is likely to be crowned pound-for-pound king before too long.

So who will it be? Who’s the next American who will be recognized as the best boxer on the planet? Or, taking nationality out of the conversation, which of these two marvelously skilled and talented fighters will rule the fistic world once Usyk and Inoue have both either slipped enough to lose or pink-slipped themselves before they can?

As much fun as it is to live in the future rather than the present, I suppose we should first address the question of which man is superior now and, relatedly, which man deserves to be ranked higher on the pound-for-pound list.

The pure win-loss records are similar: Stevenson is 25-0 since turning pro in April 2017, and Rodriguez is 23-0 since turning pro one month prior.

The knockout tallies on their records, however, are not so similar. “Bam” is undeniably the bigger pound-for-pound puncher, with 16 KOs to his credit (a 69.6 per cent knockout rate), while Stevenson has only 11 stoppage wins (44 per cent).

Rodriguez has won alphabet titles in two divisions — flyweight and super fly — and is the lineal champion in the latter.

Stevenson can top that with titles in four divisions — 126, 130, 135 and 140 — and the last of those, a reign that started this past weekend, is of the lineal variety.

Shakur has the best victory on either man’s record, the near-shutout of Teofimo Lopez at Madison Square Garden that made him the 140lbs champ and drew comparisons to masterpieces painted by pound-for-pound kings past such as Pernell Whitaker, Roy Jones and Floyd Mayweather.

But Rodriguez has the slightly greater depth of A-level wins. Other than the Lopez wipeout, the only championship-caliber names on Stevenson’s pro resume are Oscar Valdez and William Zepeda. From there it falls off to Robson Conceicao, Edwin de los Santos and Jamel Herring. Bam counters with the quartet of Juan Francisco Estrada, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, Carlos Cuadras and Sunny Edwards, then a half-level drop-off to Fernando Martinez, and the likes of Pedro Guevara another half-notch below that.

For what it’s worth, Rodriguez stopped five of those top six opponents he’s encountered; Stevenson has KO’d only one of his six.

But this isn’t about who hits harder. Power is just one part of the package. And in terms of the whole picture, there’s not a lot to separate these two standout southpaws.

If we can agree that, for now, Usyk and Inoue are the top two in some order, I’d say it’s similarly close to unanimous that the next three after that are, in some order, Rodriguez, Stevenson and Dmitry Bivol.

Bivol is 35 years old, and therefore working with a timeline closer to those of Inoue and Usyk than to those of Stevenson, who is 28, and Rodriguez, who’s 26.

Also, Bivol just doesn’t pop off the screen the way Bam and Shakur can. That’s no knock on the Russian, and if you want to rank him third for the moment based on longevity and accomplishment, that’s perfectly reasonable. But he has neither the chronological runway nor the gifts to ace the “eye test” to put him realistically in the conversation for possible future pound-for-pound number one.

The choice between Rodriguez and Stevenson, meanwhile, is largely a matter of style preference. They are both outstanding technical boxers, but…

Stevenson is of the otherworldly, once-in-a-generation variety when it comes to pure proficiency. He probably is the closest thing to Whitaker since “Sweet Pea” retired. For mastery of proper offensive and defensive, hit-and-don’t-get boxing, Shakur is an A++. And maybe two plus signs isn’t enough.

Rodriguez is a boxing wizard as well, with fantastic footwork, punch variety, defensive skills, etc. But he’s just your garden-variety A+. He’s one of the best technical boxers of his era, but not in any all-time conversations. But he combines that A+ with an A-level ability to knock guys the F out.

So what do you prefer? The A++ boxer with just enough power to keep opponents honest, or the A+ boxer who can punch like a beast too?

That question, combined with whose resume to this point dazzles you more, determines how you order them on your pound-for-pound list.

Turning our attention to the future requires another level of thought. 

Again, style is a part of it. Not that Stevenson and Rodriguez are likely to ever fight each other (they’re six weight classes and 25lbs apart), but historically, when the master boxer faces the great boxer-puncher, the match-up favors that pure boxer — with Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao and Whitaker-Julio Cesar Chavez the standout examples of modern times. You can even include Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad if you like, as long as, like Whitaker-Chavez, you’re willing to overlook what the judges said happened.

But again, we won’t see a head-to-head clash for pound-for-pound supremacy between the two current best American fighters. So stylistic considerations only get us so far.

What may matter more is their respective potential opposition that can get them over the hump.

It was beating the likes of Canelo and Errol Spence that did it for Crawford. For Usyk, it took beating Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury twice each.

Stevenson just found something akin to his Spence in Lopez. And the good news for him is there are plenty of additional opponents out there for him if he wants to continue proving how truly elite he is.

At 140, beating Keyshawn Davis or Richardson Hitchins would bowl over the hardcores. At welterweight, conquering Devin Haney would be a massive statement. And if Stevenson gets all the way to 154, either Jaron “Boots” Ennis or Vergil Ortiz Jnr could someday be for him what Alvarez was for Crawford. 

As a junior bantamweight, Rodriguez doesn’t have nearly as many options. In Estrada, Sor Rungvisai and Cuadras, he pretty much cleaned out all the existing big names. It’s telling that in the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board’s ratings, the top two contenders to Bam’s lineal title are both men he already defeated comprehensively.

With the passage of time, perhaps another credible opponent will emerge, but for now, if Bam wants to announce his arrival louder than he already has, it will require going to junior featherweight — two divisions up from where he is now — and beating either Inoue or Junto Nakatani.

I should pause to apologize, by the way, for not including David Benavidez in this discussion. He’s just 29 years old and not too far below Rodriguez and Stevenson on pound-for-pound lists, and I suppose his ascension to the very top can’t be entirely ruled out. But he’s a long shot, compared to Bam and Shakur. This is not compelling the three-way debate that Crawford-Usyk-Inoue once was.

No, when we look up in, say, three years, it’s almost certainly going to be Stevenson or Rodriguez atop that pound-for-pound list.

And Stevenson has the edges in terms of his fighting style and his possible opposition. So, even if you rank Rodriguez above Stevenson right now, the smart money is on Shakur reaching the pound-for-pound pinnacle first.

About the only path there for Bam in the next year or two is if he jumps up to 122lbs and knocks out Inoue. Which is a big “if” followed by a gargantuan “if”.

Then again, Rodriguez is the younger man by two years. So how’s this for a conclusion that covers all bases:

Shakur Stevenson will be the next American fighter to reach the top spot on the pound-for-pound list. But Bam Rodriguez will be the next American fighter after Stevenson to get there.

Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with nearly 30 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.

 

LOS ANGELES – If there’s one thing a 37-year-old former unified welterweight champion understands, it’s that the business of boxing can be fickle at best.

So when WBC junior-middleweight champion Sebastian Fundora suffered a hand injury to postpone his scheduled October title defense against former champion Keith Thurman, several alternatives were at hand that could’ve left Thurman out in the cold.

In the sport’s deepest division, Fundora, 23-1-1 (15 KOs), and promoter Premier Boxing Champions could’ve turned to the unbeaten WBC interim champion Vergil Ortiz Jnr, to a younger former unified welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis or another veteran like Jermell Charlo or Errol Spence Jnr. 

Yet, an attribute often fleeting in the sport won out: loyalty.

Thus, there was Thurman, 31-1 (23KOs), standing on the Avalon Theater stage Wednesday afternoon, selling his March 28 Prime Video/PPV.COM pay-per-view main event at a favored venue – Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Winning that fight would likely clinch a Hall of Fame spot for Thurman, who has defeated Danny Garcia, Shawn Porter and current WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios in a career marked only by a narrow loss to record eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao.

“I was advised from the beginning, ‘We want this fight,’” Thurman said in reference to PBC leadership of Al Haymon and TGB Promotions head Tom Brown. “Yes, anything can happen. It’s hard not to have a little bit of doubt – ‘What’s happening? What’s happening?’ – but Al’s done right for me for so much.

“I’ve been with PBC for so long. I opened PBC. So, luckily for me, when they told me, ‘We want this this fight,’ it means, ‘We want this fight.’”

Thurman indeed christened PBC’s debut bout, a 2015 main event on NBC in which he knocked down and defeated former two-division champion Robert Guerrero by unanimous decision at MGM Grand.

Nevertheless, Thurman was left to twist without a net (or a signed postponement-bout contract) through the holidays into early 2026 before confirmation arrived.

“It was hard to know when exactly they were re-establishing it,” Thurman said. “I allowed myself to take a breather, be with my family [in Florida] as we had our new child in December. And look where we are today – under eight weeks out to make this beautiful fight happen.”

The 5’9” ½ Thurman has a daunting challenge ahead of him, trying to defeat an ever-improving Californian who might’ve had a 2025 fighter-of-the-year campaign to lobby for after stopping Chordale Booker and former champion Tim Tszyu in bouts before Thurman’s was scrapped.

Because Fundora, 28, stands 6’6”, Thurman has brought in three sparring partners taller than 6’4” and lifted his heavy bag closer to the ceiling to ensure his practice uppercuts are being aimed at the correct height.

He printed up a bunch of T-shirts with a cartoon of an axe going through a tree, headlined, “Timber!,” and tossed one of the souvenirs to Fundora, who smiled and said, “We’ll see.”

Thurman on Wednesday took account of the depth of his PBC allegiance, reminding that it was his own 2024 injury that allowed Fundora to emerge as a replacement opponent for Tszyu and win a bloody battle to capture the WBC and WBO belts in the first Prime Video PBC pay-per-view.

“I’ve been a part of this for so long. It’s not the way I talk to the people, or the way I sell a fight … Keith Thurman delivers. The entertainment has always been there,” he said. “The skills I bring to the ring are what people want to see.”

Perhaps most importantly, the veteran has earned this shot to gain a victory that can stamp his ticket to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.

“Not just that, Sebastian Fundora is a terrific fighter, but is [he] the people’s champion?” Thurman asked. “If we’re to make boxing great again, it’s my time to shine.”

Thurman nodded in delight at the suggestion that he could finally go after a showdown with former three-belt champion Spence after being accused of ducking him during the height of their careers.

And former undisputed 154lbs champion Charlo is in training for a comeback bout after fighting Canelo Alvarez in 2024.

“This is a pinnacle moment where Keith Thurman becomes champion of the world again – a champion that did so much,” Thurman said. “And even as he grows older, he can re-establish his name, which is beautiful.

“As long as there’s a great [March 28] performance, with a win, loss or draw … this is boxing. You have to know there’s risk every time you step in the ring.”

And every time you’re waiting on someone else to finalize your next career step.

“It’s tough. Boxing is not a team sport,” Thurman said. “We are attempting to be the best fighters of the world. The world! That’s a lot to be asking. For some reason, we love it and I’m trying to make it happen. 

“History in the making. Tune in March 28.”  

Haymon’s care for Thurman occurs just as the greatest fighter Haymon ever managed, Floyd Mayweather Jnr, sued Showtime in California, alleging more than $300 million sent to Haymon was misappropriated from Mayweather’s seven purses between 2013 and 2017.

Thurman said he hasn’t dissected all the details of the lawsuit, but called the claim “sad.”

“You’ve made probably over $800 million, and you need money for whatever reason … it’s tough to live that lifestyle. To have that many cars, that many houses, the entourage, constantly traveling the world, buying $1.5 million watches. Jet fuel is not cheap … ,” Thurman said of Mayweather’s lavish living.

“All I’ve got to say is … when you hear that stuff … rich people problems.”

 

Nick Ball will yet again be looking up when he squares off against Brandon Figueroa this Saturday in Liverpool, England.

The 5’2” WBA featherweight champion will give up seven inches to his challenger, but this is something all too familiar to Ball. The Liverpudlian is one of the smallest featherweight champions in history but has a knack for looking down on his foes even if he starts every bout looking up.

A visit to the Everton Red Triangle gym, where Ball has learned his craft, tells much of the story. While watching him wreaking havoc on the heavy bags hanging from the ceiling you would also notice that he is always punching up. Dents sit high on the leather, a physical reminder of years spent attacking targets well above his natural reach, ever since he walked through the doors at the start of his professional career nearly a decade ago.

“I don't mind punching up. I've been punching up my whole life,” said Ball of his most recent tall foe. “So punching down, maybe it could be more draining, but I understand [Figueroa is] good at fighting people who are small as well and things like that. But I'm going to show him I'm not like any of them people. I'm stronger than what I look. So we'll just have to wait and see, but it's going to be an exciting one.”

Despite Ball’s impressive run since his controversial draw with the 5’10” Rey Vargas, where many thought Ball had done enough to claim the WBC featherweight title, there remain those who underestimate the Englishman purely because of his size.

“It shocks a lot of people and gets people behind you, thinking, ‘Oh, he's small, he can't do this, he can't do that,’ and then when you show them that you can, it's a shock to them,” Ball said. “They’re like, ‘Wow, he's only 5’2” and he's doing things like that,’ and you get underestimated and overlooked. But once you show them, it's a good feeling.

“When you're small, people could make fun of you, couldn't they? Make fun of you, think you can't do things like I said before, and just overlook you, underestimate you, underestimate your strength. So it gives you that extra grit to prove them wrong, and show them, and embarrass them.”

The jokes and jeers about his size is something Ball had to deal with when he was a child growing up in Kirkby, Liverpool, but the experiences have clearly helped shape the fighter he is today.

“It's good and bad, however you take it at the time, you've got to use it to your advantage, like fuel to the fire,” Ball said. “So when someone says you can't do something, don't respond with words, just respond with actions and show them that you can do it, and then leave them with nothing to say. Embarrass them.” 

Ball still believes that, even now, as a world champion, he is being underestimated by fellow titleholders at 126lbs and challengers circling his WBA belt.

“Even with the fighters probably who watch me, they probably think, ‘Oh yeah, I can handle that, I can handle that outside looking in,’ but then when they get in there with me, and they feel it, and it's on them, and they can't do nothing about it, then they'll know.”

That sense of being overlooked is nothing new for Ball. It is a feeling that has followed him from gyms and schoolyards to world title fights, and one that has quietly shaped both his mentality and his approach to the sport. Rather than resenting it, Ball has learned to draw strength from it, using doubt as fuel while keeping his focus fixed firmly on what still lies ahead.

“Yeah, I'm definitely proud of myself, how far I've come, but I know there's more to get,” said Ball. “As a kid, you set yourself these goals, don't you? And then when you achieve them, you set yourself new ones, but there's always something more. I always knew I was going to become world champion, it was just a matter of when and getting the opportunities. Frank Warren's done that. Frank has got me the opportunities, and now I've done it, and now I'm defending it, and then there's other belts to get as well in the division. 

“So, the big unification fights, the big fights all the fans are speaking about that they want me to be involved in. So, there's more things to come and more things to get. So, yeah, proud of myself, but also knowing that this is not the end and this is basically just the start.”

Tom Ivers is a lifelong fight fan and former amateur boxer who has a master’s degree in sports journalism. He had his first bout in 2013 and spent the majority of his career at the Salisbury Amateur Boxing Club in Liverpool, England, where he won two regional titles. Tom joined BoxingScene in 2024 and is now a key part of the UK and social media teams. You can reach him @tomosivers on X and Instagram.

Floyd Mayweather and Showtime joined forces for some of the biggest fights in boxing history during the final years of the Hall of Famer's legendary career.

Today, they are on opposite sides of a multimillion-dollar legal battle. 

According to a report from news site TMZ, Mayweather has filed a lawsuit against the one-time cable giant as well as longtime Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza. In the complaint, filed in the state of California, Mayweather alleges aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, civil conspiracy to commit fraud, conversion, and unjust enrichment.

The former five-division champion seeks to recover at least $340 million in alleged misappropriated funds, as well as punitive damages. 

"Floyd is one of boxing’s biggest pay-per-view draws. He generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for Showtime," Bobby Samini, Mayweather's attorney, told TMZ Sports. "Mr. Mayweather now takes this fight to the courtroom to recover what he rightfully earned.

"Retiring undefeated at 50-0, Mr. Mayweather will go the distance in the courtroom just as he has in the ring."

The filing stems from claims that moneys that should have been distributed to Mayweather were instead sent directly to longtime adviser Al Haymon by Showtime and Espinoza. The former boxer cited his blockbuster, record-breaking events with Manny Pacquiao (May 2015) and Conor McGregor (August 2017) among his fights where the amount of revenue he helped generate paled in comparison to his final compensation. 

Despite the suggestion of Haymon being in on the alleged scam, Mayweather did not name the high-powered figure in his complaint.

Mayweather first entered a union with Showtime in 2013 after having long fought on HBO and its pay-per-view arm.

Two fights into his six-fight agreement with Showtime, Mayweather set financial benchmarks in his September 2013 win over then-unbeaten Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. The bout headlined a Showtime PPV from MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas and established the record for the biggest live gate for any fight to take place in Nevada. It also generated more revenue than any other PPV fight in history, along with generating the second most units sold – surpassed only by his May 2007 win over Oscar De La Hoya.

Mayweather outdid himself, financially, with his May 2015 win over Pacquiao. Their pound-for-pound showdown aired as a joint PPV venture between Showtime and HBO, and remains by far the highest-grossing event in boxing history on every level – live gate, PPV revenue, units sold, sponsorship generated and closed-circuit ticket sales. He bowed out of the sport four months later, following his 49th career win in a lopsided decision over Andre Berto.

Two years and one retirement later, Mayweather returned for a novelty fight with McGregor, a UFC legend and pro boxing debutant. Their August 2017 affair remains second only to Mayweather-Pacquiao in live gate, PPV units sold and PPV revenue generated.

Mayweather claimed years later that he emerged as the sport's only-ever and self-made billionaire. However, that status was clearly based on expected income that he alleges to have never received. 

BoxingScene has reached out to all involved parties and their respective legal representation; those messages went unreturned as this goes to publication. 

Showtime continued to do business with Mayweather Promotions both during and long after the boxer's incredible career. The platform ultimately bowed out of the boxing business altogether in 2023 and no longer exists as a standalone network, having since rolled into the Paramount+ app. 

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.

Gervonta “Tank” Davis’ newest legal problems are causing problems for some of his older legal problems.

A judge in Maryland has issued an arrest warrant for the 31-year-old lightweight titleholder for allegedly violating his probation, according to The Baltimore Banner. 

Davis has been on probation since 2023, when he pleaded guilty to several traffic offenses after a 2020 hit-and-run in which he crashed into another vehicle, leaving four people injured and leaving the scene before police showed up.

That potential probation violation is because of his recent arrest in Florida – where Davis now lives – weeks after a warrant was issued for him on accusations of domestic violence. The criminal counts include allegations of battery, false imprisonment and attempted kidnapping. The alleged victim in the criminal case has also filed a civil suit against Davis.

Davis’ attorney has asked the Maryland judge “to recall the arrest warrant and issue a summons to appear in court and order GPS monitoring,” the Banner reported.

The allegations also led to the cancellation of Davis’ exhibition match with Jake Paul in November, costing him a lucrative payday and a spotlight on Netflix. And Davis has been named the WBA’s “champion in recess” at 135lbs and could potentially be stripped of his title belt.

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.

Matchroom are intensifying their expansion into the Australian fight market after agreeing an eight-date broadcast agreement with the Australian broadcaster Fox Sports.

BoxingScene understands that they have agreed terms to stage four promotions and up to four pay-per-views with the influential broadcaster, having previously worked in Australia with DAZN.

Matchroom oversaw George Kambosos Jnr-Jake Wyllie in Sydney, Australia in March 2025, Wyllie-Youssef Dib in August, and also co-promoted dates led by Jai Opetaia with Tasman Fighters – in all instances with their long-term broadcaster DAZN. 

By working with Fox Sports, however, they will be sharing a broadcaster with No Limit, long Australia’s leading promoter. The development, regardless, does not represent a conflict of interests – DAZN acquired Foxtel, the owner of Fox Sports, from News Corp and Telstra in 2025 in a deal that valued the broadcaster at $3.4billion. The pay-per-view arm of Foxtel, incidentally, is Main Event.

Matchroom no longer work with Opetaia, who recently signed co-promotional terms with Zuffa Boxing, but continue to co-promote, with Tasman, the heavyweights Justis Huni and Teremoana Teremoana. 

Their long-term ambitions in Australia will be led by their popular junior featherweight Skye Nicolson, and Wyllie is also expected to contribute. The junior welterweight significantly enhanced his reputation when competitive in defeat as a late-notice opponent for Kambosos Jnr, and in the build-up to his draw in December with Paul Fleming on a Tasman promotion told BoxingScene: “Ultimately Matchroom’s the one I want to be with, but look, in the mean time, if these big fights and good offers come, I’m gonna take it. We’re in talks with Eddie Hearn.”

Matchroom will become a more permanent presence on the Australian fight scene at a time of increasing competition. Opetaia’s victory over Huseyin Cinkara in December was the first date of a broadcast agreement between Tasman and the also influential Stan. 

Speaking to BoxingScene at Opetaia-David Nyika in January 2025, Eddie Hearn said: “We want to do at least four shows here a year, and I think it’s a great market. I really do. They understand their boxing. See the turnout – I think there’s a lot of potential.”

For those lucky enough to be blessed with a full head of hair, the mishap that Jarrell Miller encountered on Saturday night caused significant amusement. Miller self-consciously joked afterwards that it was nothing major – he’d simply washed his hair in bleach by mistake (and by golly, we’ve all been there). But as those who have endured male pattern balding will tell you, it’s a tricky process to navigate. Worse for Miller is this: Unless he somehow manages to win a world belt at heavyweight, he will forever be known as the boxer whose hairpiece was punched off his head.

His legacy isn’t assisted either by the volumes of PEDs he consumed that led him to being banned after his 2019 shot at Anthony Joshua was cancelled. Miller certainly has some work to do to restore both his reputation and the appearance of his head. And I would humbly suggest that work should begin with a razor blade.

Miller can take comfort knowing that some of the best fighters in history enjoyed stellar performances after losing their hair. After all, this is boxing, where scary-looking brutes prosper and the moral of the story is simple: Own the problem and shave it off.

Marvin Hagler

There are so few photographs of Hagler with hair it’s easy to imagine him arriving from the belly of his mother without a single hair on his head. Certainly, by the time he was rising through the middleweight ranks Hagler’s pristine dome only added to his fearsome style. Throw in the goatee, those velvet shorts, and the knee-high socks, and Hagler somehow made that savagery look elegant. 

Tyson Fury

When Fury turned professional in 2008 he had thick black hair and movie-star looks. And if you’re into the tall, dark, and handsome type, Fury undeniably looked better back then. But within a few years, his thatch was thinning and he made a bold (and wise) decision: He got the clippers out and shaved off what remained. What followed was a significant uplift in form that saw him go on to rule the world at heavyweight. Coincidence? Absolutely not.

Kelly Pavlik

There’s a reason why thugs shave all their hair off: It makes them look hard. And Pavlik, as he was moving up the middleweight ranks, suddenly looked like a mean dude when he made the decision to dispense with his floundering locks. A hellacious hitter who, for a while, looked unstoppable as he flattened all-comers.

James Toney

Toney was both one of the snazziest boxers of the modern era and one of the most terrifying. He had the cold stare and demeanour of someone you wouldn’t want to upset and that only increased when he removed the hair from his head during his impressive rebirth at cruiserweight and heavyweight.  

Jack Johnson

Not only the first black heavyweight champion but also the first truly bald one – Bob Fitzsimmons doesn’t really count because he persevered with what he had left – Johnson was a trailblazer and trendsetter. Rightly regarded as one of the best boxers of them all, Johnson was also a snappy dresser, a Casanova, and a man who never once tried to hide who he was.

Bernard Hopkins

Hopkins’ transition to bald was a gradual and public process which, given he fought until his fifties, should be no surprise. As Hopkins’ career was seemingly winding down, and his hairline was retreating, he opted for close shaves as he fought with mixed results against fighters like Jermain Taylor, Antonio Tarver, Joe Calzaghe and Chad Dawson. However, by the time he was beating Tavoris Cloud and Beibut Shumenov, to become the oldest titlist in history, he was both hair-free and carefree. 

Floyd Mayweather Jnr

There is an element of truth to the idea that one needs an appropriately shaped head to wear being bald well. Some might say that Tyson Fury, for example, has a head better suited to hair. But Mayweather’s head – and you’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen it up close – was made to shine. Though he’s had some sort of restoration up there in recent years, Mayweather was a bald badass while earning ludicrous money for the final six years of his career.

George Foreman

You know that feeling when you bump into someone who you haven’t seen for years and you’re struck by how much older they look? Well, the whole world experienced that feeling in 1987 when Foreman returned after a 10-year layoff. Only problem was, Foreman didn’t only look older, he looked ancient. However, by the time he flattened Michael Moorer in 1994 to regain the heavyweight title, 45-year-old Foreman – merrily bald and not caring a jot about the excess baggage around his waist – became the poster boy for every middle-aged man in the land.

Evander Holyfield

Holyfield wrestled with his ever-decreasing barnet for a number of years. Which must have been difficult. You dedicate your life to becoming the world heavyweight champion and then, once achieved, your hair decides against sticking around for the party. When he lost the title to Michael Moorer in 1994, Holyfield’s tufts were so unbecoming he resembled a beaten-up teddy bear. Out came the razor and a new Holyfield was born; one who bludgeoned Mike Tyson into defeat and beat the bejabbers out of Moorer in a rematch.

Earnie Shavers

Muhammad Ali labelled Shavers ‘The Acorn’ on account of his head. He would also call Shavers one of the hardest punchers he fought, a view shared by practically everyone who encountered Shavers’ cannonball fists. Now, I’m no scientist, but it’s certainly fair to assume that Shavers wouldn’t have been nearly as effective if he’d been bogged down by some pesky hair. 

 

Having become a four-division champion with a clear win over Teofimo Lopez in Madison Square Garden, Shakur Stevenson talked about the keys to his victory.

Stevenson, among other things, urged young fighters to understand the importance of the jab and he told fighters how important it was to study tape of their opponents.

“It was an amazing night, I stayed disciplined all the way through my camp,” Newark’s Stevenson said. “I was in tremendous shape. Teo is a helluva fighter but I was the better man tonight. “

Stevenson, now 25-0 (11 KOs), claimed the WBO title at 140lbs with the win, claiming 119-109 scores across the board. Stevenson said he felt like he demoralised his opponent.

“I definitely did,” he added. “He’s a fighter, so he tried to fight back but I picked him apart. In the second round, I told my corner, ‘I’m stronger than he is.’

“I hurt him a couple of times, my jab, my left hand to the body, my left hand up top.  I put on a great show tonight.”

Was he disappointed not to get a stoppage?

“It’s no disappointment. It’s boxing at the end of the day. I seen him go out there when I was about to stop him and he started fighting back a little bit, so respect to him. He’s a sharp fighter, he’s got a lot of knowledge and he did what he needed to do to survive…. I told you he wasn’t on my level, and I proved it tonight.

“I studied him… everything I seen was there tonight. There is benefit from watching tape.

“I’ve been calling people out and Teo took the bait. Finally, someone took the bait. I was begging for this moment and we finally got it…. Tonight, I went out there and I just used my jab over and over, made it a weapon and he couldn’t stop it.”

Gifted southpaw Stevenson said he took a phonecall from Floyd Mayweather wishing him well before the fight and was asked whether he was the next Mayweather.

“I’ve got a lot of love for Floyd, but I’m the first Shakur Stevenson,” said the Newark star.

It was the opportunity that Shakur Stevenson has waited his entire career for. In the end, it was a technical mismatch.

Stevenson made it look easy on Saturday night, dominating Teofimo Lopez Jnr over 12 rounds at New York City’s Madison Square Garden to win the WBO junior welterweight title, making the 28-year-old from Newark, New Jersey, a four-division champion. The scores were 119-109 on all three cards as Stevenson, 25-0 (11 KOs), finally got his signature win after nine years as a professional.

For the Brooklyn native Lopez, 22-2 (13 KOs), the loss was his first since a 2021 upset decision loss to George Kambosos Jnr, snapping a six-fight winning streak. Instead of a classic matchup between boxer and puncher, the fight looked more like Pernell Whitaker vs. Azumah Nelson, as a technical master southpaw used a laser-accurate right jab to diffuse a more explosive but less coordinated fighter.

“I felt good, I picked him apart. I did what I was supposed to do,” said Stevenson, who previously won world titles at featherweight and junior lightweight, and still owns the WBC lightweight title.

“This is the art of boxing: Hit and don’t get hit, and pick guys apart. I can beat any of these guys; all I have to do is put my mind to it. I told y’all I’m the best fighter in the world, and I stand by that.”

Although some may disagree, it was hard to make a case against it based on what Stevenson did to Lopez, who occupied a spot on most observers’ pound-for-pound lists.

After an aggressive start from Lopez in the first round, Stevenson landed the first big punch of the fight near the end of the stanza with a straight left to the chin. Stevenson continued to find the target in the second round with his left as he became more aggressive behind his jab, which opened up opportunities for his left hand. Stevenson’s confidence continued to grow in the third as he used his jab to pick off Lopez, walking Lopez down and making him miss with lunging attempts.

Lopez was equally ineffectual in the fourth as his attempts to break through with double rights left him off balance and out of position when Stevenson countered back. Lopez’s frustration became more apparent in the fifth as he switched momentarily to southpaw before switching back after taking a clean jab.

Lopez made almost no adjustments throughout the fight as his father and trainer, Teofimo Lopez Snr, tried desperately to inspire his son with energy but offered nothing in the way of technical instructions. By contrast, Stevenson received detailed but concise instructions on adjustments to make after each round from his trainer and grandfather, Wali Moses.

Lopez’s struggles went from bad to worse in the sixth round as a cut opened up over his left eye, creating a bigger target for Stevenson’s right jab. Stevenson continued to take advantage of Lopez’s lack of coordination in the seventh, landing left-hand counters as Lopez appeared lost while trying to lay a glove on his opponent.

Lopez had his first taste of success in the eighth round when he outworked Stevenson and landed hard shots to the body. It would be the only round that Lopez won.

Stevenson turned the engines back on in the ninth round, landing a hard right hook on Lopez as he reached in with a punch. Lopez’s cut began to flow more in the 10th as Stevenson’s right jab popped off Lopez’s eyebrow with greater regularity. Stevenson increased his dominance in the 11th by letting go with more left-hand counters, which produced more swelling, this time over Lopez’s right eye. Stevenson continued to assert himself in the 12th, never giving Lopez a moment to sneak back into the fight.

Afterwards, Lopez acknowledged his lack of answers as he tried to solve the Stevenson puzzle.

“I could say a lot of things, but it’ll still be the wrong thing,” said Lopez, when asked what went wrong in the fight.

Lopez added that he would be switching his focus to the upcoming birth of his next child, and hinted at a move up to welterweight. “Maybe 147,” said Lopez, 28. “A lot of people won’t agree with that, but I’m a fighter until the day that I die.”

For Stevenson, he has a tough decision to make as he holds world titles in two divisions and now has to decide which to continue campaigning in. Although no decision has yet been announced, Stevenson did signal that he would be interested in one opponent in particular: England's Conor Benn, a welterweight who has fought his past two fights at middleweight in a grudge showdown with Chris Eubank Jnr.

Stevenson and Benn jawed at center-ring briefly in what looked like pre-planned, good-natured banter.

“Let’s make it happen,” said Stevenson, while Benn shot back, “Come up to welterweight and be a big dog.”

Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.

At the ripe age of 23, Xander Zayas is now a unified junior middleweight titleholder – and he was able to pull it off in front of his hometown fans.

Zayas won a split decision over Abass Baraou to win the WBA junior middleweight title while making the first defense of his WBO title, in Saturday’s main event at the Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Scores were 116-112 twice in Zayas’ favor, with one card oddly reading 116-112 for Baraou.

Zayas, fighting in Puerto Rico for the first time as a titleholder and second time in his career, started strong, boxing on the outside. Baraou, of Oberhausen, Germany, relentlessly pressed forward, forcing Zayas to stay engaged. Zayas continued his magnificent start, dancing around his opponent as Baraou struggled to mount any form of effective offense. Zayas’ beautiful counterpunching and fast hands were the story of the fight through the early rounds.

In the fifth, Baraou, 31, began to intensify the pressure and increasingly landed shots on Zayas – something he hadn’t done in any round prior. Zayas, 23, bounced back well, continuing to box deftly from the outside, while Baraou got more aggressive, looking for opportunities to land.

In the seventh, Baraou began to find Zayas again, his constant pressure beginning to pay off. But Zayas had his best combination punches in the ninth round, bringing the crowd to life. In the end, it was Zayas’ active feet that were too much for Baraou – until the final round.

Zayas obliged Baraou in the 12th, standing in the middle of the ring and trading with his opponent. He might have boxed his way to victory, but Zayas put on a show for the fans who came to support him, trading hard punches with Baraou until the final bell. After the fight, the two former sparring partners embraced, showing great sportsmanship. 

Zayas improved to 23-0 (13 KOs) and is now the youngest unified titleholder in boxing.

Baraou fell to 17-2 (9 KOs), losing his title in his first defense.

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.

Bruce Carrington turned Madison Square Garden into Shu-York on Saturday night.

Carrington, a native of Brooklyn, New York, won his first world title with a ninth-round knockout of Carlos Castro to lift the vacant WBC featherweight title. Carrington, 17-0 (10 KOs), shook off his biggest challenge to date, surviving being hurt in the fourth round before a flurry of overhand rights had Castro’s eyes spinning and left him on the canvas for the 10-count.

The official time was 1 minute and 29 seconds, as Castro, 30-4 (14 KOs), of Fullerton, California (by way of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico), was stopped for just the second time as a pro.

Carrington entered the fight in trunks inspired by the New York Yankees’ pinstripe outfits, was accompanied to the ring by a live performance of “Ante Up” by the rap group M.O.P., and was greeted after the fight by film director Spike Lee.

Tears of joy underlined the happiness that the 28-year-old Carrington felt in the moment, but they didn’t come without his overcoming adversity.

After a feeling-out first round, Carrington’s quick jab began to open up power punch opportunities in the second round, as he snuck in short uppercuts and body punches. But Castro was never far behind him, narrowly missing a right-hand counter that could have done damage. Castro’s own jab began to pay off in the third, as he gained the upper hand and landed left uppercuts and right hands. But Carrington showed he wouldn’t give up the momentum, ripping Castro with uppercuts and right hands that had him on the defensive.

The following round, Carrington survived perhaps his first-ever moments of adversity as a pro, getting rocked after dipping in the direction of an overhand right from Castro. The punch landed high on Carrington’s head and caused his legs to wobble momentarily. He recovered relatively well, landing sharp counters from the corner as he tried to clear his head. Castro continued to have success in the fifth round, continuing to land right hands from distance. Carrington began to pull himself back into the fight in the sixth, aiming to land pull counters with his right cross – but Castro still found openings to land his right hand and short left hooks.

Carrington’s speed and timing began to take over the fight again in the seventh round. He opened the stanza with a counter uppercut and then found the target with straight rights through the middle before moving his head to avoid the incoming shots.

Hand speed from Carrington also dominated the seventh round, when he put together hard combinations that had Castro looking to cover up. 

Carrington could sense that his moment was coming and his confidence grew, leading to the right-hand counter that had Castro out on his feet, before two more rights finished the job.

“To be honest, I felt that it was gonna come the round before,” said Carrington, who turned pro just over four years ago. “I was coming on hot the round before, but I just knew that I needed to land a good combination. I was looking for one shot at first, but the combinations is what set up the big punch.”

The loss was the second straight for the 31-year-old Castro, who lost a split decision to Stephen Fulton in September 2024.

Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.

Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller may have lost his hair, but he didn’t lose the fight.

The heavyweight contender Miller overcame a toupee malfunction and a spirited early performance from Kingsley Ibeh to win a split decision Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Miller, 27-1-2 (22 KOs), won the fight by scores of 97-93 on two cards while the third had it 96-94 for Ibeh, 16-3-1 (14 KOs), who saw his 11-fight win streak snapped.

Ibeh, who entered and left the fight with a bald head, started quickly, using his range and southpaw style to land counterpunches on the advancing Miller. One of the uppercuts Ibeh landed knocked Miller’s toupee loose, to the shock of those in attendance.

It was a moment that could have dislodged Miller’s confidence and focus, but instead Miller reassumed control over the situation by ripping it clean off his head and throwing it into the crowd. The toupee was caught by WBO heavyweight titleholder Fabio Wardley, who was watching the fight at ringside.

Miller’s superior experience began to pay off as he took over in the sixth round, his nonstop body attack beginning to wear down Ibeh, who had never previously fought past the sixth round.

Miller’s edge began to grow as the rounds progressed, with a left hook near the end of the ninth round rocking Ibeh.

The 36-year-old Miller, a native of Brooklyn, New York, explained his absence of hair in the post-fight interview, saying that his hair fell out two days earlier after he accidentally used ammonium bleach instead of shampoo while showering at his mother’s house. 

The fight was the first for Miller since his draw against Andy Ruiz in August 2024. He says he wants to be back in the ring in about a month.

Austin Williams may not have gotten a world title opportunity but he was at least able to get a win. A 29-year-old middleweight contender, Williams was originally scheduled to face WBC middleweight titleholder Carlos Adames, but when Adames withdrew before the weigh-in due to illness, Williams was matched instead with Wendy Toussaint, who took the fight on a day’s notice.

Toussaint, of Long Island, New York, was game but couldn’t match the preparation and offensive variety of the southpaw Williams, who won the fight by scores of 99-90 on two cards and 98-91 on the third, improving to 20-1 (13 KOs). Toussaint dropped to 17-4 (7 KOs) with the loss.

There was only one knockdown in the fight, as Williams countered a Toussaint jab to land a right uppercut near the end of the fourth round.

Opening the card, Ecuadorian journeyman Kevin Castillo pulled off a minor upset, defeating previously unbeaten Saudi boxer Ziyad Almaayouf by unanimous decision over eight rounds. Castillo, now 6-2-1, was dropped in the first round but rallied to outwork the defensively porous Almaayouf, 7-1-1 (1 KO), to win by scores of 77-74 on two cards and 78-73 on the third.

Compubox stats showed both boxers landing around the same rate, but Castillo landed and threw more (201 of 555 attempts, compared to Almaayouf’s 141 of 408).

Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.

NEWCASTLE, England – Josh Kelly defeated Bakhram Murtazaliev by the finest of margins to claim the IBF junior middleweight title at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena.

There were question marks over whether Sunderland’s Kelly would have the stamina and heart to beat one of the most avoided fighters in the division. Many pointed to Kelly’s sole defeat in the build up, a stoppage loss to David Avaneseyan in 2021, as a mirror of how the fight may play out, and it was similar in some ways. 

Kelly started fast and had success early on with his flashy footwork and fast hands, even dropping the champion in the fourth round. But as the sessions went by, the Russian started to get closer and closer, and eventually Kelly found himself in a similar position to the one he found himself in against Avaneseyan. 

Kelly was dropped in the ninth and hurt badly, but unlike against Aveneseyan he did not crumble, gritted his teeth, and pushed back. Murtazaliev continued to come on strong late, but Kelly pushed back to edge the fight and the title from the champion by scores of 113-113, 115-111 and 114-113.

Kelly, now 18-1-1 (9 KOs), started by circling the ring, allowing his tall Russian opponent to come forward. Both men’s timing was a little off, but in the second they started to find their range. Kelly was first to land a shot that brought a cheer from his home crowd, but Murtazaliev quickly returned fire with a right hand. Kelly, 31, was having the better of it, the Russian just couldn’t tie down Kelly as he bounced round the ring with his hands low. Early in the fourth it looked as though Murtazaliev, 33, may be starting to find the target when a sharp left hand landed, but as the Russian came into land again, Kelly fired in a sharp jab that sent Murtazaliev tumbling to the floor. Kelly had said earlier in the week that he had envisioned Murtazaliev on the floor, and he had done exactly that, but his foe quickly climbed to his feet.

Kelly was enjoying himself, sending his razor sharp jab into Murtazaliev’s face, and the champion seemed to be running out of ideas. Kelly was banking the rounds, and as the fifth came to a close Murtazaliev’s right eye was starting to swell. The Russian upped the tempo in the sixth, grabbing Kelly when the fleet-footed Brit attempted to pivot away from harm. But still Kelly would bounce away, smiling away as he jabbed Murtazaliev in the face. Things were going well and Kelly was dancing ahead of the eighth, but things started to turn sour.

Early in the ninth, Kelly found himself on the floor and hurt badly. A short left hook on the inside sent Kelly stumbling down. Kelly climbed up, but his quick feet were no longer there, and Murtazaliev moved in for the finish. Kelly grabbed hold in an attempt to ride the storm, but the Russian shrugged him off and landed a hard right that again rocked Kelly. It looked as though the tide had turned, but Kelly bit down on his mouthpiece and survived the round. The next three rounds were crucial, Kelly was up, but Murtazaliev was coming on strong. The Russian again had a good 10th, bullying Kelly, whose feet were still not quite beneath him, around the ring.

Kelly’s lead was now looking slim, but just in time his feet were back, and the Brit snapped Murtazaliev’s head back with a jab before circling away from harm. Kelly was waving Murtazaliev on before countering, and it seemed as though Kelly might just do it. The 12th began and Murtazaliev instantly hurt Kelly with a right hand. If Kelly was going to win the title he was going to have to go through more rough moments in the final round to get it. Murtazaliev pressed forwards, again nailing Kelly with a right hand as the Brit tried to hold on. Kelly then spun Murtazaliev and unloaded four powerful hooks that bounced off the Russian’s head. The bell sounded and the pair nervously awaited the decision only for the venue to erupt as the words “And the new” were announced. Kelly now becomes a big player in a booming 154lb division. The long avoided Murtazaliev falls to 23-1 (17 KOs).

We’re approaching the nine-year anniversary of Floyd Mayweather’s retirement from professional boxing and still we await the ‘next Floyd Mayweather’. 

Though we’ve had seemingly untouchable talent catch the eye since, like Vasiliy Lomachenko, Bam Rodriguez and Naoya Inoue, and money-making machines, like Canelo Alvarez, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, there hasn’t been anyone close to Mayweather for combining the two qualities – and the sport is crying out for one such individual, particularly one who hails from America.

Four names were considered candidates to one day become that complete package when their careers started to flourish. Each with supreme skillsets, braggadocious tongues, and influenced by Mayweather to different degrees. 

There was Devin Haney who was arguably the most highly regarded, and though his career continues to progress, he’s still some way from taking Mayweather’s crown. The long-troubled Gervonta Davis, the most fan-friendly of the bunch, was last week arrested after the latest of his crimes caught up with him. It now seems the longest of shots that “Tank” will ever fulfil his significant potential.

The other two, Teofimo Lopez and Shakur Stevenson, are pitched together tonight in a mouth-watering collision that should see the winner’s standing soar. No, he won’t become the face of the sport overnight – Mayweather didn’t achieve such status until much later in his career – but he’ll have proven potential to do so.

With more consistency the 28-year-old Lopez might already have lived up to his “The Takeover” moniker. After all, the WBO junior welterweight titlist can count Lomachenko and Josh Taylor among those he defeated during his 22-1 (13 KOs) career. In both bouts, Lopez was exceptional. Yet one look at those stats and it’s the loss that jars; in 2021, immediately after deservedly outpointing Lomachenko, Lopez was dropped and outhustled by George Kambosos which – if we’re comparing to Mayweather – would have been akin to Floyd coming unstuck against Carlos Hernandez after trouncing Diego Corrales in 2001.

Perhaps that’s too harsh on Lopez. Not everyone – barely anyone, in fact – can get through an entire career without having an off-night and it’s true that, physically, Lopez was far from fit and well when facing the Aussie. Yet it’s difficult to write that off as an anomaly when we dig deeper into Lopez’s ledger. Plenty felt he was lucky to get the nod over Sandor Martin in 2022 and in his three bouts since outscoring Taylor the following year, wins on the cards over Jamaine Ortiz, Steve Claggett and Arnold Barboza, Lopez has looked far from superstar material.

Stevenson, meanwhile, has been altogether more consistent. Cute defensively and so intelligent when on the attack, the 24-0 (11 KOs) Stevenson is perhaps the most like Mayweather – late-career, safety-first Mayweather, at least – when it comes to style. On those educated feet he can bewitch and dominate when keeping things at his own pace, albeit at the expense of thrills and spills, and when circumstances demand more gruelling fare, as they did against William Zepeda last July, he’s proved he can stand and fight. 

Though that victory over Zepeda was impressive there were clues that Lopez, whose front foot play is underrated, might be able to make life exceptionally uncomfortable for the 28-year-old if he’s keen to force the action. He surely will be keen to do that, too. Furthermore, though Stevenson has taken the unbeaten records of Zepeda and Oscar Valdez during reigns at junior light and lightweight, he’s yet to beat an established division leader like Lomachenko or Taylor. In that regard, if both were to apply for entry into the Hall of Fame tomorrow, only Lopez’s application would be considered.

So, while we’re right to highlight Lopez’s tendency to coast, and his struggles against lesser foes, it’s also only fair to remember that on the two occasions the bookmakers expected him to lose, he ended those bouts as the rightful winner. One can expect Lopez, then, to be approaching this showdown with a similar determination and focus. Whether it’s a malfunction in his makeup that he can’t always get ‘up’ for certain opposition is likely irrelevant here - he will come into this as determined to win as he’s ever been. Indeed, never one to shy away from the cameras during training camp, he’s this time kept himself to himself and focused on being the best version of Teofimo Lopez he can possibly be.

Which begs the question: Can the best of Stevenson beat the best of Lopez? Particularly when one considers that Stevenson – who has already stated he might drop straight back down to lightweight afterwards – will be making his debut at 140lbs where Lopez, the heftier puncher, has long been comfortable. 

Another factor to consider before playing it safe with the most obvious bet – Stevenson wins on points – is the stance of the favorite. Like Lomachenko and Taylor, both of whom Lopez got to grips with quickly, he’s a southpaw. Whether Lopez chooses to box clever, which might be his best chance against a natural counter-puncher like Stevenson, or go for the jugular to make his physical advantages count, Lopez winning is far from unthinkable. Squint your eyes and it’s easy to picture the underdog utilising that size and explosivity against a boxer rising in weight out of choice rather than necessity. 

However, it’s likely that Stevenson is much closer to his best than either Lomachenko or Taylor were. With both of those there was already a sense that we’d seen their peaks but with Stevenson, most suspect, the best is yet to come. It’s true, too, that Stevenson will recognize in Lopez – the bigger and stronger man – a greater threat than either the Ukrainian or the Scot were prepared for. Because for Stevenson, who has long been threatening to show the world how good he really is, this fight represents his defining moment and, regardless of stance or style, he’s never once failed to look like the convincing winner. No need to squint to imagine that outcome, either.

Though Lopez shouldn’t be written off, especially if he gains Stevenson’s respect early after Stevenson fails to gain his, the feeling here is that Shakur will prove too versatile, composed, and skilled for his opponent and win on points after 12 compelling rounds. And just like that, after almost a decade waiting for a new and true American superstar, one man might be leading the race to become just that.

Teofimo Lopez-Shakur Stevenson is both a high-quality match-up and a fight between two of the biggest names in the world in 2026.

Raymond Muratalla’s recent victory over Andy Cruz was a similarly high-quality match-up, but one that lacked crossover appeal. Lopez-Stevenson will draw a bigger audience, even if it ends up being as tactical as many expect.

Lopez already has two defining victories – over Vasiliy Lomachenko and Josh Taylor. Stevenson, who’s often struggled to get the right opponents and has been avoided, is still seeking his – and Lopez would fit. 

Stevenson has deserved a big fight for a long time, and should be given credit for his willingness to move up from lightweight to junior welterweight to secure it. I regardless also think that even if he wins on Saturday we could see him move back to 135lbs.

Both of these fighters could well be at their physical peaks. There’s no questioning their abilities, but Lopez hasn’t seemed the same fighter, psychologically, since the second half of his victory over Lomachenko in 2020. Even if the victory over Taylor three years later was impressive, Taylor also lost his following two fights and then retired, so it perhaps wasn’t as impressive as it first appeared.

Lopez is an explosive, athletic, naturally talented, dynamic fighter who can create openings out of nothing. He hasn’t been as devastating in his more recent fights as he was earlier in his career, but he retains the explosiveness that means he can hurt his opponent at any point. His IQ’s also capable of matching anyone he shares the ring with.

But he’s unpredictable and inconsistent. He’s too often too capable of fighting at the level of his opposition – by the standards of his abilities there are times that he can look awful. He’s been at his best when he’s been matched with his most dangerous opponents – Lomachenko and Taylor – and for that reason I expect him to be at his best on Saturday night. 

If he is, Stevenson’s going to have to work to earn victory. But it’s also relevant that Lopez has typically looked his best against aggressive, come-forward opponents, and while – like Lomachenko and Taylor – Stevenson is a southpaw, he can be expected to remain on the back foot, and his being a southpaw provides no guarantees. Between those two victories Lopez also fought Sandor Martin, another southpaw, and one who made him look bad.

Stevenson, in 2026, may well be a better fighter than Lomachenko was in 2020, which means that Saturday’s fight is coming against the best opponent both of them will have faced. He’s consistent, he has one of the best boxing IQs in the world, and he’s capable of controlling the space and the distance and the ring to the extent that his opponents end up fighting his fight whether they want to or not. He knows exactly how to win by disarming his opposition, and once he does so he makes victory simple. He’s such a master at figuring out how to win a fight and then execute what’s required to do so that the only weakness he has is his hands.

What can make Saturday’s fight particularly interesting is that while Stevenson’s a master at controlling distance, Lopez is so explosive that he might be capable of closing the gap between them in a way that surprises Stevenson, even if it’s something that to some degree he will expect. Lopez came out fast against Lomachenko – if he shows a similar level of hunger and ambition he’ll start aggressively again, which means that we’ll know early on which version of Lopez has showed up. If he controls the ring and attempts to be aggressive and make Stevenson uncomfortable – Stevenson’s at his best when he’s comfortable – Stevenson will have to be at his best. If he doesn’t, Stevenson can expect an easy night – and it’s also likely we’ll never see the best version of Lopez again.

The aggressive, explosive Lopez might still struggle to catch Stevenson cleanly, but he could well catch him and make him uncomfortable and threaten Stevenson’s attempts to control the distance. Stevenson showed against William Zepeda in July that he’s capable of responding when he’s pressured and of being drawn into a more physical fight – the question is whether Lopez, who’s more explosive than Zepeda, can succeed in doing so, because not only would making Stevenson fight more than he wants present him with more opportunities to hurt him, there would also be an increased chance of Stevenson again hurting his hands.

Stevenson’s never previously fought above lightweight. If Lopez can hurt him it’ll become more difficult for him to learn to negate Lopez, but even if it becomes a physical fight, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Lopez will win. If it does, Stevenson would still have to be favoured to work his way back into the fight, but he would have to overcome some doubt in his mind and maybe even take risks that would suit Lopez. Either way – particularly so if Lopez doesn’t start with sufficient intent – Stevenson should be the favourite to win on points.

On the undercard at Madison Square Garden, Keyshawn Davis fights Jamaine Ortiz. Davis has been out for a over a year, but he’s a special fighter when he’s focused. If he dominates Ortiz, a good fighter, he’ll have been the first one to do so. Ortiz will recognise Davis’ inactivity as an opportunity to transform his career so he’ll be hungry and can out-hustle Davis if Davis doesn’t perform as he can.

The much-speculated return of former heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder against longtime contender Derek Chisora was made official on Friday.

Wilder, 44-4-1 (43 KOs), will square off against Chisora, 36-13 (23 KOs), on April 4 at the O2 Arena in London in MF Pro’s first-ever show, which will be broadcast on DAZN. MF Pro announced the fight on its social media channels.

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Wilder, the 40-year-old former long-reigning heavyweight belt holder from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, may be sending out a trial balloon as he weighs one last run at a title. All of his four career losses – three of them by stoppage – have come in his past six fights. Wilder appeared all but shot by the end of a June 2024 knockout loss to Zhilei Zhang, and his successful return in a seventh-round stoppage of the limited Tyrrell Anthony Herndon last June was a far cry from his heyday in multi-fight series against Tyson Fury and Luis Ortiz.

Then again, Chisora, a 42-year-old Londoner, was regarded similarly – perhaps even considered even more shopworn – at least as far back as three years ago, after he was stopped by Fury in a challenge for his belt. But Chisora has since rebounded with three quality wins, over Gerald Washington, Joe Joyce and, most recently, Otto Wallin last February.

Both fighters are indisputably living on borrowed time, but a chance to find out if a late-act rebuild for Wilder is possible and the opportunity for at least one last big fight for Chisora at the O2 make for compelling enough theater, especially given the high probability of a combustible finish.

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.