Jared Anderson: record, next fight and profile →
Jared Anderson has won each of his first three professional fights by first-round knockout. Bob Arum was most impressed, though, by what Anderson showed him in the gym earlier this year. Arum watched numerous sparring sessions between the heavyweight prospect his company promotes and Tyson Fury at Top Rank’s gym in Las Vegas.
Anderson, Ramirez, Vianello Weights Photos Gallery - Top Rank on ESPN live events return Tuesday, June 9, as WBO featherweight world champion Shakur Stevenson will take on Puerto Rican contender Felix “La Sombra” Caraballo in a 10-round super featherweight bout. Main event coverage will air exclusively on ESPN and ESPN Deportes (in Spanish) starting at 7 p.m. ET. (photos by Mikey Williams)
Shakur Stevenson made sure Monday that he wasn’t overweight for his debut in the junior lightweight division. Wearing a mask and foot coverings as COVID-19 precautions, the 22-year-old Stevenson stepped on the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s scale at exactly 130 pounds at MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.
For the second time this year, Mikaela Mayer has watched a fight canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This time around, it had a physical impact. The unbeaten 130-pound contender was forced to withdraw from a planned ESPN-televised appearance on Tuesday after testing positive for COVID-19. Mayer was due to face Helen Joseph—a veteran contender from Connecticut by way of Nigeria—in the chief support of a show headlined by training stablemate Shakur Stevenson, but instead is scratched from the card and forced into isolation until she fully recovers.
Robeisy Ramirez’s stunning defeat in his pro debut quickly knocked him off track for an eventual pro showdown with Shakur Stevenson. Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. signed Ramirez to a promotional contract in part to match him against Stevenson at some point because Ramirez beat Stevenson in the bantamweight gold-medal match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Cuba’s Ramirez, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, will attempt to continue rebuilding his reputation by winning his third straight professional fight on Stevenson’s undercard June 9 in Las Vegas.
Turning Stone Resort & Casino, Verona - In a battle of world title challengers, featherweight Chistopher Diaz (25-2, 16 KOs) bounced back from a decision loss to Shakur Stevenson. He won an eight round unanimous decision over Adeilson Dos Santos (19-8). All three judges scored it 80-72.
Felix Verdejo, Christopher Diaz, Nova, Anderson - Weights photos gallery - Eleider Alvarez had difficulty making weight for his last bout because he suffered an Achilles’ injury while training for it. Alvarez weighed over 200 pounds a month before he was scheduled to fight Sergey Kovalev in an immediate rematch last February 2. His injury prevented Alvarez from doing real roadwork, thus getting down to the 175-pound limit for that fight was harder than ever.
Puerto Rican superstar Felix “El Diamante” Verdejo, inching closer to a lightweight world title shot, will see action on a special Top Rank on ESPN show Saturday, Jan. 18 from Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y.
Later on tonight Oscar Valdez will make his super featherweight debut when he faces Adam Lopez in a bout scheduled for 10 rounds. Valdez was originally scheduled to face Andres Gutierrez who was scratched from the fight when he weighed in a whopping 11 pounds over the 130 pound limit. Lopez, who was scheduled to fight on the undercard in a featherweight bout, agreed to move up to 130 pounds to save the main event.
Frampton, McCreary, Valdez Weights Photos Gallery - Andres Gutierrez was removed from Saturday’s main event against former featherweight world champion Oscar Valdez, as he weighed in at 141 pounds, 11 pounds above the contract weight. Featherweight contender Adam Lopez (13-1, 6 KOs), from Glendale, Calif., stepped up to replace Gutierrez, and he will be in the opposite corner at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in a WBC super featherweight world title eliminator. Lopez was originally set to defend his Jr. NABF featherweight title against Luis Coria, but he jumped at the opportunity to face Valdez, who will be making his super featherweight debut.