James Wilkins: record, next fight and profile →
Britain’s Giorgio Visioli expects to be rewarded for his victory over James Wilkins by imminently challenging for the Southern Area lightweight title, according to his trainer Mark Tibbs.
Tahmir Smalls overcame Puerto Rico’s tall, tricky Jose Roman Vazquez to win a unanimous decision Saturday at Wells Fargo Center in his Philadelphia hometown.
Keyshawn Davis, the lightweight star who earned a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, has a golden chance to shine on one of boxing’s biggest platforms. Davis (3-0, 2 KOs), in his first fight since signing a long-term deal with Top Rank, will face Mexican veteran Jose Zaragoza (8-3-1, 2 KOs) in a six-round bout Saturday, Dec. 11 on the undercard of the Vasiliy Lomachenko-Richard Commey lightweight main event.
Bryan Chevalier left the toughest test of his career with a win and a future wife. A featherweight grudge match between Puerto Rico’s Chevalier and Staten Island, New York’s James ‘Crunch Time’ Wilkins proved as entertaining in the ring as was their skirmish at Thursday’s pre-fight weigh-in.
James Wilkins has already secured a win to begin his 2020 campaign, but his greatest victory thus far has come outside of the ring and at the negotiating table. The 24-year old junior lightweight is among a slew of prospects to have signed with Golden Boy Promotions, with the deal formally announced by the California-based outfit earlier this month. The pairing serves as the end result of a relentless pursuit by the transplanted New Yorker who gets to spend the next several years of his career fighting for the company of his dreams.
Jaime Munguia forever leaves behind the 154-pound division as he sets his sights on the world's best middleweights. The first order of business at the new weight for the former junior middleweight titlist is a 12-round clash with Gary 'Spike' O'Sullivan, which headlines from The Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas (Saturday, DAZN, 9:00pm ET; preliminary card beginning at 7:00pm ET).
Franchon "The Heavy-Hitting Diva" Crews-Dezurn (6-1, 2 KOs) will look to settle unfinished business as she defends her WBC and WBO Super Middleweight World Titles against WBC Heavyweight World Champion Alejandra "La Tigre" Jimenez (12-0-1, 9 KOs) in the 10-round co-main event of Munguia vs. O'Sullivan. The event will take place Saturday, Jan. 11 at The Alamodome in San Antonio, TX and will be streamed live exclusively on DAZN.
LOS ANGELES—Azat Hovhannisyan is one step closer to another world title opportunity. The hard-punching and crowd-pleasing Armenian contender defeated Franklin Manzanilla in a one-sided washing via fourth round knockout during a WBA junior featherweight division eliminator on Thursday. The 122-pound fight headlined Golden Boy’s Thursday Night Fights series at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles.
James Wilkins was a star of Showtime’s documentary on the New York Golden Gloves, “Cradle of Champions,” which premiered Friday night. It was Misael Lopez, Wilkins’ opponent, who became the star of their show later Friday night. Lopez out-worked Wilkins, mostly took Wilkins’ hardest shots well and defeated the previously unbeaten super featherweight prospect. Denver’s Lopez (9-0, 4 KOs) won an eight-round unanimous decision over Staten Island’s Wilkins (5-1, 5 KOs) in the first of four “ShoBox” bouts Showtime televised from Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
If all goes well in James Wilkins’ ShoBox debut against fellow unbeaten Misael Lopez, a bout that follows the Showtime premiere of the “Cradle of Champions” documentary that he stars in, life is going to be significantly different for the New Yorker on Monday. Well, that’s the plan.