PHOENIX – Jose Benavidez Snr, whose son David Benavidez has worn “PHX” on his trunks throughout his ascent to three division titles, is buying the gym where it all started.

Benavidez, his son’s trainer, told BoxingScene Tuesday that he has an agreement to purchase Central Boxing, a classic old gym within a couple blocks north of the Arizona state capitol’s copper dome.

It was expected to be a done deal this week, said Benavidez Snr, who will be in the corner for Gabriela Tellez against Elif Nur Turhna for a women’s lightweight title bout Saturday on a card headlined by the Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez-Antonio Vargas bantamweight title bout at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.

“There’s so much history here,’’ said the busy trainer, who witnessed a lot of it while managing the gym nearly 20 years ago. “I want to keep it the same. I want to keep the outside – with all those great murals – the same. Everything the same.’’

The building, which is about a century old, has already undergone lots of change. It started out as a corner store long before air conditioning. Many years later, it morphed into a boxing gym, although still without air conditioning.

No AC, in fact, was part of the attraction for Mike Tyson, who was at the end of his career yet was looking for a place to train in the heat. In mid-summer, Tyson got more of that than he might have wanted when he showed up in 2005.

Tyson worked in the old place, hitting bags and jumping rope in hellish temperatures that hovered around 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tyson survived, even if his career didn’t. But his arrival saved it from the wrecking ball. The city was prepared to condemn the building. But the stories and publicity surrounding Tyson attracted a collection of developers and entrepreneurs with an interest in boxing. They bought it and some AC.

Fighters followed, including Floyd Mayweather, Kostya Tszyu, Julio Cesar Chavez. Even Henry Cejudo, a 2008 Olympic gold medalist in wrestling, was there after his victory at the Beijing Games. Cejudo wanted to box. He trained and even lived there in a loft above the floor for a while before he went on to win two UFC titles.

“The place is Phoenix,’’ said the senior Benavidez, who said he is buying the storied gym from Patrick Zanzucchi

Benavidez managed it when David, now 29, was about eight years old. Back then, David was little brother to Jose Benavidez Jnr, an amateur prodigy who went on to win a secondary junior-welterweight title and is best remembered for giving Terence Crawford one of his toughest fights in October 2018 in Nebraska.

“Then, Central was like David’s playground,’’ his dad said. “He was a kid, running around.’’

Turns out, he also was absorbing some of the fundamentals of a craft he has begun to dominate with titles at 168, 175 and 200 pounds. Then, Tyson could have never imagined that one day he would nickname him “The Mexican Monster.”

Over the last many years, the Benavidez brothers and dad moved away. First to Los Angeles, then Seattle. Jose Snr has a gym in Seattle. Jose Jnr lives in Seattle. David lives in Miami, although much of training camp for his cruiserweight blowout of Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez was located at a casino in the Phoenix area.

It was then that Jose Snr re-opened negotiations for Central. Talks have been underway, off and on, since 2020.

Today, murals of David Benavidez and Tyson share a spot above the door that faces West Van Buren Boulevard.

“I look at it, I walk through it and it just looks and feels so much like home to me,’’ Benavidez Snr said.

It’s always been there, stitched across the back of David’s trunks. “PHX,” his home and identity.

LOS ANGELES – Raymond Muratalla is not getting a homecoming fight, is deprived of top billing and is assigned a second consecutive Olympic gold medalist.

Yet, Muratalla knows exactly what this is.

Nothing is gifted in boxing, promises can get reversed and even victory can hurt like hell.

Thus, IBF lightweight champion Muratalla, 29-0 (17 KOs), will report for duty versus Brazil’s 2016 gold medalist and former super-featherweight world champion Robson Conceicao August 1 on the TNT/DAZN card headlined by the WBC lightweight bout between Lamont Roach Jnr and William Zepeda at Virgin Hotels and Resort in Las Vegas.

“I love to fight. I’m here to fight. Wherever it is, that’s just me – glad to be a part of this,” Muratalla, 29, told BoxingScene Tuesday at the introductory news conference for the card staged at Golden Boy Promotions’ headquarters.

Zepeda promoter Golden Boy is promoting the card, not Muratalla’s promoter, Top Rank, which was earlier working toward an August 8 homecoming main event in nearby Ontario, California, for the champion following his tightly contested January victory over 2021 Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz of Cuba.

Instead, Top Rank loaned Muratalla to the card that will be both streamed on DAZN and shown on TNT, giving the Fontana, California, fighter his greatest exposure yet.

“I didn’t get the hometown [fight] I wanted. That would’ve been perfect, but I love fighting in Vegas, and everyone loves to travel out to Vegas,” Muratalla said. “It’s good for me to gain a greater audience, a bigger fan base, and I’m looking forward to it.”

One prominent boxing official told BoxingScene Tuesday that it’s not a given that the two lightweight champions who emerge from the August 1 bouts will fight each other next.

Muratalla said he feels good at 135lbs, but could also be swayed to pursue bigger fights – perhaps against 140lbs and four-division champion Shakur Stevenson – in the near future.

“Eventually, [I’ll go up in weight]. Right now, I’m comfortable here at 135lbs and we’ll see where it goes,” he said.

Part of that is to improve upon the gritty and skilled showing he produced in impressively defeating Cruz.

“It was a good performance. I did what I needed to do to win. With more fights to come, you’re going to see a lot more things,” Muratalla said. “You’ll see the real talent I have.” 

He said the 37-year-old Conceicao, 21-3-1 (10 KOs), offers the key assets of experience and seeking action.

Winning requires Muratalla to “be myself, do what I do, have fun. Keeping that mindset, my mentality.”

A day after announcing recent title challengers Ramon Cardenas and Sam Goodman were due to face off in Australia to beef up the Errol Spence Jnr-Tim Tszyu card in late July, the bout has been scrapped.

Promoter Sampson Lewkowicz told BoxingScene Tuesday that Cardenas will instead be assigned to further infuse the late August 29 ProBoxTV card.

Lewkowicz said he is working on retaining a new opponent for Cardenas, 27-2 (15KOs), the San Antonio, Texas, product who knocked down undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue in their thrilling 2025 bout.

Australia’s Goodman 22-1 (8KOs), who went the distance last year versus then-featherweight champion Nick Ball, is ranked No. 2 in the WBC 122lbs division with Cardenas No. 4.

Cardenas was originally slotted on the August ProBoxTV card that will be headlined by WBC interim super middleweight beltholder Lester Martinez, and now he returns, with Lewkowicz telling BoxingScene he is eyeing an undisclosed opponent “I really like.”

MANCHESTER, England – Ben Shalom has accused Dana White's Zuffa Boxing of engaging in "scandalous" behavior after Boxxer filed legal action against the promotional group over the alleged poaching of contracted fighters.

Last week, Boxxer launched a lawsuit against Zuffa Boxing claiming the company signed and used fighters who were still under contract with the British promoter. The fighters in question are former WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith and middleweight prospect Sam Hickey, both of whom appeared on Zuffa's inaugural UK event on Sky Sports and Paramount+ in Bournemouth on June 6.

"We have to protect our business because it's dangerous and damages aren't appropriate," Shalom told BoxingScene. "We need to stop them from being able to take our fighters and staff.

"We can all laugh and joke about it but it's just not how it's done. Have [the fighters] been incentivised to break contracts? I don't know, I really don't know. I'm as confused as everyone else, but for that sort of behavior to be going on from a blue-chip broadcaster is pretty scandalous to be honest."

The Bournemouth event marked Zuffa Boxing's first major step into the UK market and was broadcast by Sky Sports, Boxxer's former television partner. Dana White publicly dismissed Boxxer’s lawsuit following the event, but Shalom suggested White is not fully aware of the details involved.

"Dana doesn't even know the names of the fighters that we're talking about," said Shalom. "He's told what to say and that's it. I'm going to let it come out, because it'll come out in the next three weeks."

Adam Azim, perhaps Shalom’s most prized asset, was pictured alongside White at Saturday’s event, prompting speculation that he too could make the jump to Zuffa Boxing. Shalom, however, had no issue with Azim, who was there supporting his gym-mates, taking the photograph.

"It's fine. Dana is a celebrity, he's gone to watch Chris Billam-Smith, it is what it is," said Shalom. "But ultimately Adam Azim is someone that has signed a new contract. So I've not got a problem with it. What I have got a problem with is the other things and ignoring contracts."

Bryan “Nino Maravilla” Flores is planning on putting on a show when he takes on Jonathan “Thunder” Navarro on Saturday, July 18.

Flores, 28-1-1 (16 KOs), of Las Vegas via Juarez, Mexico, and Navarro, 18-2 (9 KOs), of East Los Angeles will meet in the 10-round junior welterweight main event, live on ProBoxTV, from the NOS Events Center (7:00 pm EST/4:00 pm PST) in San Bernardino, California. 

“I’m going to be smarter with better defense, but more aggressive as well,” said Flores. “In my last fight (a majority decision in January over then 20-1-1 Starling Castillo on ProBoxTV), I had a lot in the tank, but I didn't finish him off like I wanted to. On this one, I’m gonna demonstrate I’m ready for the best in the world.”

Flores' only loss was a controversial and close split decision to now No 1-ranked WBO and IBF junior welterweight contender Lindolfo Delgado in August of 2024. 

Flores says he’s more concerned about continuing to climb the WBC ratings, where he currently sits at 12th, and eventually face champion Dalton Smith or interim beltholder Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz rather than pursuing a rematch with Delgado first.

“I’m focused on the WBC because it’s a Mexican’s dream to fight for that belt. Every Mexican fighter’s goal is to get that green belt. I will take whatever comes my way, but I prefer the WBC. I’d eventually like to win all the belts though.”

Delgado describes upcoming foe Navarro as a “tough fighter,” and despite having suffered his two career losses in his last two fights, expects him to show up on fight night with something extra to prove. 

“He knows this might be his last call at the bar because of his losses, which means I have to be cautious with him. He might be coming out with everything now because he knows that it might be his last chance.”

Flores relocated to Las Vegas in late 2024 to work with trainer Richard Barrientes and assistant trainer Eddie Sanchez at the Pound for Pound Gym, and also signed with promoter Sampson Lewkowicz to be featured regularly on ProBoxTV. 

“Everything is looking good,” said Flores, “I’m very happy and very comfortable to be working with Rich and Eddie as a team. I wouldn't change anything now that I’m here. I’m also very happy with ProBoxTV and Sampson. They have put me on a big platform that is really helping to move my career along. My biggest hope is that I don't let them down when I do get my chance.” 

In the night’s 10-round sjunior middleweight co-feature, southpaws Joshua Kevin Anton, 13-0 (12 KOs) of Palmdale, California, and Vladimir Hernandez, 17-7 (7 KOs) of Stockton, California via Durango, Mexico, will collide.

And in a special added attraction, current champion Adelaida “La Cobra” Ruiz, 18-1-1 (8 KOs) of Los Angeles, will face interim champion Ginny Fuchs, 4-0 (1 KO) of Houston in a 10-round battle for the WBC women’s junior featherweight championship.

In the 10-round welterweight chief supporting bout, Ruben “El Pollito” Aguillar, 24-0-1 (21 KOs) of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, takes on Tre'Sean “Trigger” Wiggins, 17-5-4 (10 KOs), of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Future Stars action to begin the evening features, Anthony “2 Quick” Cuba, 12-1-2 (5 KOs) of Los Angeles battling Misael 'Pichon' Cabrera, 18-3-1 (12 KOs) of Sonora, Mexico, in a super lightweight eight-rounder; and Charles “LOLO” Harris, 12-1 (7 KOs) of Rialto, California, returning to action in another eight-round super lightweight bout against Jason “El Gallo” Limon, 11-2-1 (2 KOs) of San Antonio.

More exciting fights will be announced shortly. Tickets for this event are available through thundertix.com.

The event is presented by Garry Jonas (Pro Box Promotions) and Robert Garcia.

Anthony Girges, advisor for WBC cruiserweight champion Noel Mikaelian, told BoxingScene Tuesday that Mikaelian prefers to face WBO cruiserweight champ David Benavidez and defend his title, rather than face Australia's unbeaten Jai Opetaia. 

On May 29, Mikaelian, 28-3 (12 KOs), was reported to be in advanced negotiations to meet Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight champion Opetaia, however, hours after it was reported by BoxingScene, the WBC ordered Mikaelian to meet Benavidez, 32-0 (26 KOs), instead. 

Speaking to BoxingScene, Girges said, “Noel has no intention of walking away from the belt. We are waiting for our offers.” 

Girges said he was under the assumption he would immediately hear from Benavidez's promoter Sampson Lewkowicz , however, since the order was made, he has yet to hear from any of Benavidez’s reps, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, or Mikaelian’s own promoter, Don King. 

“We've heard from nobody,” Girges said. 

When contacted by BoxingScene, Lewkowicz reaffirmed the fight will happen. “It's not proper for me to contact the manager first,” he said. “I will be contacting Don King by tomorrow and presenting him an offer for the fight.”

The long-anticipated heavyweight showdown between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury could land at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles, BoxingScene has learned.

Two officials briefed on conversations involving Saudi Arabian boxing financier Turki Alalshikh during last month’s Pyramids of Giza card in Egypt headlined by heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk said SoFi Stadium was mentioned as a preferred destination for the bout.

While many Brits want the battle pitting the rival two-time heavyweight champions staged in their native UK, doing so at an outdoor soccer stadium in the fall or winter would make the major event prone to bad weather.

And while there are other questions connected to the potential placement of the bout in the western US – including British fans’ willingness to travel to Los Angeles en masse, whether Fury can now enter America, and ticket pricing – SoFi Stadium is covered and accustomed to major sporting showcases.

The stadium, which will host eight matches at the upcoming World Cup and the Super Bowl in February, can be scaled to accommodate a crowd of 100,000, with 70,240 seats for NFL games.

According to one individual briefed on the matter, the preference is for Joshua-Fury to be placed in an NFL stadium in an area of the country with widespread boxing interest.

Alalshikh brought his first US boxing card to Los Angeles, with five-division champion Terence Crawford defeating Israil Madrimov at BMO Stadium for the WBA 154lbs title in August 2024.

Crawford defeated Canelo Alvarez in another Riyadh Season card in September at the Las Vegas Raiders’ home, Allegiant Stadium.

Fury, 35-2-1 (24 KOs), has fought before in Los Angeles, miraculously rising in the final round against then-WBC champion Deontay Wilder to preserve a December 2018 draw at Staples Center, now known as Crypto.com Arena.

Joshua, 29-4 (26 KOs), has fought twice in the US, knocking out Jake Paul last December in Miami and, in June 2019, suffering a shocking defeat to Andy Ruiz Jnr in 2019 at Madison Square Garden.

Joshua, 36, returns to action July 25 in Saudi Arabia versus Kristian Prenga, seven months after surviving a fatal car crash in Nigeria that left two of his friends dead.

Fury, 37, has said he will fight again August 1 in Dublin, Ireland, before the showdown with Joshua that’s being eyed for later in the year.

BoxingScene reported first that Netflix is planning to stream the event, and Zuffa Boxing head Dana White repeated over the weekend that his promotion will handle the event despite objections of Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn and Fury promoter Frank Warren.

It’s logical that Alalshikh would push to add several high-profile bouts to the card, as major showdowns including Devin Haney versus Keyshawn Davis for the WBO welterweight title and four-division champion Shakur Stevenson versus 130lbs champion O’Shaquie Foster are ripe for fall-date placement.

The novel push by the California State Athletic Commission to boost the state fighter pension by accepting advertising on the backs of referee shirts has been denied by a bureaucratic maneuver to squelch the effort to make it law.

Despite the support of the commission, fighters including Ronda Rousey and the unanimous passage through two policy committees, California Assembly Bill 2130 was parked in the Suspense File and will not be voted upon this year.

BoxingScene has learned officials are currently plotting alternative methods that will allow corporate donations to California’s fighter pension fund, which has distributed several payments to veteran fighters who previously fought in the state.
 

In a March presentation campaigning for the bill’s passage, athletic commission officials projected that if they could generate $1 million in annual advertising for the next 20 years, the pension would gain $25.4 million to distribute $100,000 to $300,000 to boxers age 50 and older.

Boxers who’ve compiled 75 rounds and MMA fighters who’ve totaled 39 rounds of action in California are eligible for pension payments.

Assemblyman Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) crafted the bill, and Governor Gavin Newsom expressed support for it.

Newsom could’ve signed it into law as early as the new year had the bill avoided the Suspense File fate.

Edgar Berlanga leads the way on Zuffa Boxing’s New York show on Sunday, July 26, when he faces Canadian contender Steven Butler.

Former IBF 140lbs champion Richardson Hitchins is also on the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden bill against Ricardo Salas at welterweight.

Berlanga, 23-2 (18 KOs) has not boxed since a one-sided loss to Hamzah Sheeraz in New York last July.

Veteran Butler is now 38-5-1 (32 KOs), has won his last four but has career losses to Patrice Volney, Janibek Alimkhanuly, Jose de Jesus Macia, Ryoto Murata and Brandon Cook.  

Berlanga and Butler will box a 10-rounder.

“I’ve proven that I’m ready to return to the international stage,” the 30-year-old Butler said. “I’ve fought in Japan, so New York doesn’t intimidate me. In fact, it’s perfect because it’s not too far from my training camp in Connecticut. As for the rest, I’m working hard, and I plan to seize my opportunity in New York. You’ll see. This is my moment.”

Hitchins, like Berlanga – from Brooklyn – is 20-0 (8 KOs) and the 28-year-old will box at 147lbs for the first time having scared wins over Liam Paro and George Kambosos in his last two bouts.

Salas is 24-2-2 (18 KOs), and they will contest a 12-round fight.

Jack Catterall, arguably in the form of his career, is now targeting only big names. So bring on Rolly Romero, Devin Haney, and Conor Benn. Oh, and Ryan Garcia, Lewis Crocker, and Liam Paro.

Catterall, 32, is actively chasing a showdown with Romero, first and foremost. Catterall picked up the vacant WBA 'regular' welterweight title when he convincingly outpointed Shakhram Giyasov on May 23 in Egypt. Romero is now the 'super' champion with the same organisation and has been given 180 days to resolve differences with Catterall, 33-2 (14 KOs).

The Englishman remains hopeful, but not certain, that he'll get his chance.

"News is filtering down now that he's going to take an interim fight, a keep-busy fight, in August which is not ideal," Catterall told Sky Sports. "There's potential to get cuts, etc, but either way, I'm going to fight for that 'super' title. And if not, I'm in a great division with a lot of top fighters and a lot of titles. Nobody has unified yet so there's an opportunity to do that. There's some great fights to be made."

Without a doubt, Catterall has earned his right to fight those big names. Since ending up on the wrong side of highly contentious 2022 decision versus Josh Taylor, then undisputed champion at 140, the southpaw has won seven of eight. And though he defeated Taylor in their 2024 rematch, the fact that he should long ago have had all four belts is something still hard to stomach.

He hopes, however, that the WBA welterweight belt he now owns makes him more attractive to opponents who have not been keen to entertain his advances in the past.

"I like the winner of [Lewis] Crocker-[Liam] Paro, Conor Benn, Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, Romero," he said. "I'd fight all of them, whenever.

"I've got my piece of the puzzle now and hopefully that brings some weight to the table. I'm confident in winning all of these fights."

There might be no love lost between Troy Williamson and Callum Simpson, but they did at least manage a handshake at the press conference to announce their rematch today.

They will fight on August 8 at the First bank Arena in Leeds, with Simpson – 18-1 (13 KOs) – hoping to avenge the first loss in his career, which came when he was stopped in 10 rounds in the same venue last December.

Williamson is riding high. He is 22-4-1 (16 KOs) but the 34-year-old Darlington man has scored consecutive upset wins over Simpson and Mark Dickinson.

Williamson had wanted to get into the mix further up the super-middleweight ladder, but Boxxer has held him to the rematch clause and he now wants to do the same again and stop Simpson once more.

“I’ve got a lot of self-belief and I knew exactly what I was going to do,” said Williamson. “I told Callum, I told everybody what I was going to do and I did it… I was a shadow of the man I am today [previously boxing at middleweight]. I said, boxing at 12 stone [168lbs], you’re going to see the best of me and December 20 you saw the best of me and there’s only better to come.”

Barnsley’s Simpson, 29, wants redemption. He was ahead on the scorecards last time but Williamson felt he was in control of the fight and he promised a quicker finish this time.

“I were up on the cards, I watched it back, I probably gave Troy maybe one or two rounds, at best, anyone that knows me knows that’s one of my worst performances and I got caught in the 10^th and fair play to Troy, he jumped on me after that.”

During the press conference, promoter Ben Shalom celebrated his new deal with DAZN and said it allowed them “to work with pretty much every promoter in the world.”

He said there was “an incredible few months ahead.”

“It’s something I’m so excited about,” he added.

“We’ve had a phenomenal start to our relationship with the BBC that will continue but to join the global home of boxing to be able to put on the biggest fights, to be able to pretty much work with every single promoter in the world, it’s a massive day for us.”

O’Shaquie Foster has become one of the best fighters in the world and feels like he must be treated as such.

The junior lightweight Texan is on a hot streak, having defeated Robson Conceicao, Stephen Fulton and Raymond Ford in his last three and he holds the WBC’s belt.

More than that, though, he contends he should have hit all the pound-for-pound lists by now. 

“I should be top 10,” the 32-year-old told BoxingScene. “I should be top 10 for sure. If you look at my last five, six fights and you look at any of these other guys that’s top 10, you can see my resume, it’s just crazy. From the different caliber fighters, I went from Rey Vargas, which was a six-foot guy, undefeated, two-division champion. I beat him. Then I went to Rocky [Eduardo Hernandez], small, power puncher, straight forward. I knocked him out. [Abraham] Nova, [Robson] Conceicao, I was robbed the first fight [won the rematch]. Then Stephen Fulton and then Ray Ford. That resume is just kind of crazy to me. And none of them guys fight the same. They all got different styles, different attributes. So, I definitely feel like I’m top 10.

“Least you can do is eight, nine or 10. You know what I mean? It gotta be somewhere in there because ain’t nobody doing what I’m doing. And I hope they paying attention to it and it ain’t just a popularity contest.” 

The Ford victory came on May 30 in Houston.

In the aftermath, talk quickly turned to a possible fight with Shakur Stevenson, his former Top Rank stablemate who is 25-0 (11 KOs) but who has not boxed since a January win over Teofimo Lopez.

The pair have gone back and forth recently, and it is the fight that Foster wants above any other.

“Oh yeah, for sure,” he said. “We gotta fight. There’s no other way around it. The world wants to see it now and me and him, we got animosity, so we might as well just let it carry over and get it out of the way.

“We trying to make it happen and see what he talking about. We’re going to see if he hold up to his word, man. I need everybody to make him stand on that with him though.

“Y’all heard what he said. If I give his little man [Ray Ford] a chance, an opportunity and I did, you know what I mean? So now he got to hold up his word.”

They have sparred a few times previously, and those rounds have given Foster confidence.  

“Every session, I enjoyed,” Foster recalled. “A few sessions went bad for him, but it was great work. It was high level work, man. But I just believe in myself. I know what I can do in that ring. Like I said, he disrespected me. So now it’s time to show the world we got to fight.” 

Foster has become one of Top Rank’s stars. He is now 25-3 (12 KOs), having refused to get derailed by two early-career eight-round losses and the Conceicao decision in their first fight.

He has also come through several stays in prison but is now repaying the faith Top Rank has shown in him.

“Top Rank, they understand that I’m one of the rare guys that I don’t mind fighting anybody,” Foster said. “And that I can go across the street or I can go to these other networks and I can come back with the ‘W’ and make us look good. They’ve done right by me, especially when we didn’t have a TV deal. So I appreciate them for sure.”

Foster’s life has improved with each rung he’s climbed on the boxing ladder. 

Nothing has been able to derail him, even though he sees why big-name athletes and celebrities can get drawn back to the streets. 

“Oh yeah. Easy, easy, easy. And it’s them temptations, especially when you in boxing or certain fields, if you’re not at the top or you’re not making real money, then the streets definitely can try to call you back or you try to go make some quick money or something,” he said.

“So definitely they can pull you right back in.”

With where he is now, however, he is beyond the point of no return where, when he looks back on his hell-raising past in gangs, he doesn’t see the same man.

“I thank God every day cause I ain’t gonna lie, sometimes I can’t believe it,” Foster said.

“How far we came, how different my circumstances is now, just with everything. It’s just crazy.”

Felix Sturm, the 47-year-old former middle and super-middleweight champion will fight again on July 11 in Stuttgart, Germany, on a promotion called One Last Dance.

The veteran German, 45-6-3 (20 KOs), has been matched with Granit Stein, who is 20-2-1 (11 KOs), at the Porsche Arena where Sturm had big nights against the likes of Robert Stieglitz, Darren Barker and Ronald Hearns.

Following a decision win over Fedor Chudinov in 2016, Strum was out of the ring for four years and has had only sporadic activity since, boxing once each in 2020 and 2021, losing to Istvan Szili in 2022, having two bouts in 2023 and one last year. He weighed 174.75lbs for that bout, a third-round stoppage of the 14-1-2 Benjamin Blindert.

Sturm first rose to international prominence 22 years ago when he was thought exceptionally unlucky to lose a 12-round decision, and his WBO middleweight title, to Oscar De La Hoya.

Stein, 33, fought as recently as May when he was beaten on a split decision by Diego Carmona over 10 rounds.

The Troy Williamson-Callum Smith rematch, set for the First Direct Bank Arena in Leeds, England, on August 8 will be shown live and exclusively on DAZN after promoters Boxxer announced a deal with the streaming network.

Boxxer, headed by Ben Shalom, have worked with the BBC since their contract with Sky Sports expired 12 months ago. BoxingScene understands that Boxxer will continue to work with the BBC but the finer details of their coverage, after announcing on social media "a new multi-fight partnership" with DAZN, will be revealed at a press conference on Wednesday.

DAZN confirmed that the deal  DAZN "will see the promoter deliver major fight nights on the platform in the coming months, including a premium pay‑per‑view event scheduled for later this year."

Simpson, 18-1 (13 KOs), had been one of Boxxer's hottest commodities until he lost, in an upset, to Williamson in December. With the victory, which came via TKO in the 10th round, Williamson reinvigorated his own career and claimed the European, Commonwealth and British super middleweight titles.

In the buildup to Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez's move up in weight this Saturday, June 13, to seek a belt in a third weight division against WBA bantamweight champion Antonio Vargas at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, he’s resisted questions about a looming showdown with undefeated four-division champion Naoya Inoue.

Aside from admitting he thinks he would win, the focused Texan Rodriguez, 23-0 (16 KOs), has deferred most questioning surrounding the Japanese superstar, choosing instead to keep all his focus on Vargas, 19-1-1 (11 KOs), until the job is done.

The 26-year-old southpaw Rodriguez, however, let a juicy potential scenario for the super fight slip during an interview, posted to X, with Manouk Akopyan from Ring Magazine today, June 8.

While Rodriguez says he’ll fight anyone coach Robert Garcia tells him to, including a compelling eliminator with three-weight world champion, and recent Inoue victim, Junto Nakatani, he thinks about taking a different route to the showdown.

"I think that’s a perfect storyline to the fight,” Rodriguez told Akopyan. “Beating his brother [WBC bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue] first… I think that's like almost the perfect storyline to the Inoue fight, beating his brother first and then going and fighting the second brother.”

Admitting he has a tough job in front of him in Vargas, Rodriguez quickly turned the conversation back toward his upcoming fight. However, afterwards, he’ll be more willing to discuss twhat happens next. 

“I know when that Inoue fight does happen, then the fans are in for a great night of boxing,” he continued. “People are already talking about that fight so much that it's inevitable at this point. And I feel like when the time comes, it's going to be a great fight, probably one of the best fights in boxing history.”

Once touted as a global boxing showcase capable of drawing more than 100,000 spectators to the streets of San Francisco, the iVB boxing event is being scrapped for the Bay Area with vastly shrunken eyes on moving to a 2,500-seat Las Vegas venue.

Lead promoter Sampson Lewkowicz told BoxingScene Monday that logistical problems connected to fulfilling plans for hosting a public outdoor audience at the San Francisco Civic Center July 11 are chiefly responsible for the cancellation.

Lewkowicz said the boxing card, headlined by WBO flyweight champion Anthony Olascuaga defending his belt against Andy Dominguez, will still occur in July as he shops venues.

The outdoor plan proposed by iVB head Ed Pereira seemed overly ambitious from the outset even as it included the support of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.

The permit process of securing such an event was extensive, and the San Francisco Chronicle first reported the production company involved in the event, Silverback, withdrew.

Silverback, which produces the popular Bay to Breakers run, was “genuinely excited” about the boxing event, CEO Kyle Meyers told The Chronicle.

iVB Boxing didn’t mention reported financial issues also contributing to the cancellation, posting it was “due to growing logistical concerns … full refunds will be made to all that purchased tickets.”

Tickets ranged from $60 to $600.

Mayor Lurie said he’s turning his attention to this month’s World Cup games in the city.

Ramon Cardenas’ effort to position for another junior-featherweight championship bout has been boosted by him landing a WBC interim title shot versus recent title challenger Sam Goodman.

Cardenas co-manager Mike Miller and ProBoxTV founder Garry Jonas confirmed to BoxingScene Monday that Texas’ Cardenas, 27-2 (15 KOs), will meet Australia’s Goodman, 22-1 (8 KOs), on the July 25 (U.S. time) Errol Spence Jr-Tim Tszyu Prime Video pay-per-view card in Australia.

WBC No. 4-ranked Cardenas, 30, was being pointed to the late August ProBoxTV card that will be headlined by WBC interim super-middleweight champion Lester Martinez, but the opportunity to fight second-ranked Goodman was too rich to bypass.

“It’s a very good matchup on foreign soil, you’ve got to go for it,” Jonas said. “I don’t stand in the way of a fighter getting paid more money. We look forward to him bringing home the belt and putting the belt on ProBoxTV.”

Cardenas knocked down undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue in their May 2025 bout in Las Vegas before Japan’s Inoue 33-0 (27 KOs) rallied to stop Cardenas in the eighth round.

As Inoue perhaps moves to a next title defense against Texas’ Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, should Rodriguez fare strongly Saturday night versus WBA bantamweight champion Antonio Vargas, recent title challenger Junto Nakatani may also emerge as a next opponent for the Cardenas-Goodman winner.

Nakatani is ranked in the top five among junior-featherweight contenders among all four sanctioning bodies.

Like Cardenas, Goodman, 27, also recently fought for a title, losing an August 2025 unanimous decision to the then-IBF featherweight champion Nick Ball in Saudi Arabia.

Goodman has won two bouts by unanimous decision in Australia since.

The Spence-Tszyu main event, pitting the former three-belt welterweight champion Spence, also of Texas, versus Australia’s former WBO junior-middleweight champion Tszyu in a 154lbs bout, includes unbeaten former middleweight champion Jermall Charlo on the card.

Cardenas’ inclusion marks a busy month-long stretch for ProBoxTV fighters, starting with Rene Palacios challenging new WBC featherweight champion Bruce Carrington in Cleveland July 4.

ProBoxTV then stages its own card July 18 in San Bernardino, California.

Then, ProBoxTV’s top-ranked WBC contender Erik Badillo 19-0 (8KOs) of Mexico fights for the WBC junior flyweight title versus champion Shokichi Iwata 16-2 (13 KOs) in Japan July 20.

On August 1, ProBoxTV-backed Lamont Roach fights for the vacant WBC lightweight title versus Mexico’s William Zepeda at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas.

With a ticking deadline to strike a deal, a proposed Gervonta Davis versus Floyd Schofield Jr., WBA lightweight title fight is being negotiated, two officials close to the situation told BoxingScene Monday.

The individuals said Davis’ promoter, Premier Boxing Champions, has initiated contract negotiations by reaching out to Schofield’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.

The sides are targeting a date in mid-September to early October.

Texas’ Schofield Jr., 19-0 (13 KOs), nicknamed “Kid Austin,” has risen to No. 1 contender in the WBA after most recently knocking out veteran former super-featherweight champion Tevin Farmer one year ago this month.

Former three-division champion Davis, 30-0-1 (28 KOs), has been absent since his controversial March 1, 2025, draw against former super-featherweight champion Lamont Roach Jr., at New York’s Barclays Center.

In that bout, referee Steve Willis failed to reward Roach with a knockdown that would’ve given him the victory had it occurred. Davis has been beset by legal trouble since, facing criminal and civil cases for his alleged physical abuse of a former partner at her place of business.

The sides have been given until June 22 by the WBA to strike a deal before the bout would be sent to purse bid. If Davis doesn’t fight Schofield for his former belt that now sits vacant, Schofield, 23, becomes champion.
 
One official involved in the talks told BoxingScene, “I think we can make it work. I bet we have something done. We don’t want to go to purse bid.”

Schofield’s father-trainer, Floyd Schofield Snr told BoxingScene a potential Davis bout is “a huge fight for Floyd Jnr… he’s obviously looking sharp.
“It's a dangerous matchup, but we feel good. We’ve worked our behind off from being homeless to get to this, and ‘Kid’ holds two [minor] WBA titles already. So, you know, it's just the next step to see on our road of greatness.”

Schofield Snr said he doesn’t believe rust is an issue for Davis, 31, because “we know he’s stayed in the gym.

“Tank is doing everything like he had a fight coming up already. Tank is still a dangerous fighter. It’s going to be one hell of a fight, a great fight for the fans.”
Schofield Jnr has sought a shot at Davis since he signed with Golden Boy, his father has said. It dates to an occasion when Davis visited a gym that included an older stablemate friend of Schofield, who was knocked out by Davis during the session.

“We want the fight, and we’re going to win the fight,” Schofield Snr said. 

Lerrone Richards has been left questioning his next step after his controversial defeat to Albert Ramirez in Canada last week for the WBA interim light heavyweight title.

Almost everyone watching had Richards a clear winner after 12 completed rounds, however, two of the three ringside judges scored the contest in Ramirez's favour.

Richards has been a forgotten man of British boxing in recent years, struggling to land any fights and managing just one contest a year.

Despite his recent inactivity, Richards put on a clinic on away soil, and felt he was in complete control against the undefeated Ramirez.

"I was doing what I wanted, when I wanted, how I wanted,” Richards told BoxingScene. “Ramirez was trying to apply pressure and I nullified it, beating him from a distance, beating him inside.

"I just took each round as they came. I didn't look too far ahead and each round I felt like I was building momentum. After the bell rang in the 12th round, I thought, 'Yeah, I'm going to be interim world champion.' There were no nerves. I knew I was going to win the fight. I won it so clear. I just had my hand up and wanted to hear it announced.”

Richards thought he had finally changed his life, then the scorecards were read.

"I'd been dreaming about this for weeks,” he said. “Then when I heard 115-113 to him and 116-112 to me, and after that when they said, '115-113 and still...' honestly, my heart, everything, my whole body, just no energy left my body."

The result caused uproar back home in the UK with fans slating the decision on social media. The locals in Canada were also unhappy with the judges’ verdict.

"I walked through the crowd and there was a lot of interaction, people shouting, 'You won, you won.' It was all a blur,” Richards, 19-2 (4 KOs), recalled. “I walked up the stairs, the doctor wanted to have a look at me, and I remember not really wanting to see the doctor because I hardly got hit. Then I went upstairs, walked to the changing rooms and I just broke down. I'll be honest, I'm not going to lie, I broke down."

Even Ramirez, now 23-0 (19 KOs), admitted that he had been lucky to walk away with his belt and undefeated record intact.

"He spoke to my coach and, to be fair to him, told my coach, 'I didn't win that fight. Richards has won. I'm sorry.'” said Richards. "I watched the fight about five times and you can tell he knew after that fight. He was almost like, 'Whoa, I've won?' He almost didn't look happy."

Richards, who has long struggled to get the top names at super middleweight and light heavyweight, is now left in no man's land after the result.

"This is people's lives, man. People's mental health. People don't realise what it does to people,” the 33-year-old said. “People didn't want to fight me before. They just saw me school one of the top guys in the division. Who wants to fight me now?

"If no one wants to fight me, how am I going to get my income to provide for my family? Because as fighters, we have to fight to earn money. If there's no fight, there's no income. There is no money. How am I going to put food on the table for my family?"

Richards revealed that his team is working on an appeal with WBA and that he wants an immediate rematch and the loss struck off his record. He would also be happy to travel back to Canada to settle the score.

"I'll fight anyone, anywhere. I've proven that,” he said. "I just hope that out of a bad situation, something good can come of this."

It is no secret that Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing have approached Chris Eubank Jnr over a potential promotional deal.

Hearn and Eubank Jnr previously worked together between 2015 and 2016, with that relationship coming to an end following Hearn's frustration with Team Eubank's failure to agree terms for a showdown with then-middleweight king, Gennadiy Golovkin.

The pair would then work together again in 2022 when Eubank Jnr first signed to face Conor Benn only for the bout to be axed during fight week due to Benn testing positive for the banned substance clomiphene.

Eubank Jnr had agreed to come down to 157lbs for the fight and starved himself to make it before Benn's failed tests were made public. Eubank Jnr continues to blame Hearn for that catchweight.

The fight would eventually happen in April 2025 with Eubank Jnr winning a decision. He would need hospital treatment and, before their rematch seven months later, accused Hearn's Matchroom of blocking the ambulance. The allegations were unfounded. Benn would win the one-sided sequel in which Eubank Jnr looked a mere shadow of his old self. For both fights, Eubank could only weigh 10 pounds more than the middleweight limit on the day. This, too, he blamed on the promoter.

Since then, Benn has left Hearn and Matchroom to link up with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing. The move was seen as a betrayal to Hearn who had long defended Benn. That sparked interest in a move for Eubank Jnr, but, as Hearn admitted, there is still much to overcome.

“Nothing major really, I mean there's all kinds of sorts of speculation,” said Hearn of the talks. “There's nothing imminent, there's no deep conversations. A couple of little chats between members of the team and stuff like that. I think everybody appreciates how big it would be, but there's a lot of hurdles to overcome in terms of the past.”

You may be wondering why a boxing website is writing about a UFC heavyweight champion's contract.

The answer lies in the increasingly public battle between Eddie Hearn and Dana White. Ever since White announced his move into boxing through the Saudi-backed Zuffa Boxing venture, the pair have traded jabs from opposite sides of combat sports. White landed an early blow by luring away Conor Benn, one of Matchroom's biggest stars.

Then Hearn found himself inside White's world, acting as an adviser to UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. At first it seemed Hearn's role was to build Aspinall’s commercial value outside of the octagon and would have no involvement within it.

Now that seems to have changed and, according to Hearn, Aspinall is not happy.

“I was always advising him across his UFC position and contract,” Hearn said. “Tom Aspinall is the boss. So we will give him our advice and he will decide what he wants to do. He won't mind me saying he's not happy, but he also understands at the same point he’s signed a contract. So we can't sit here and cry too much, but you just hope that people are fair.”

In Hearn's eyes, Aspinall's current deal does not reflect the revenue he generates for the UFC.

“When you're getting one-fiftieth of the revenue of a show to main event for the UFC heavyweight world championship, how can anybody possibly suggest that it's fair?” Hearn said. “And it's not a normal situation for Tom Aspinall.

“He's had four eye operations coming off that fight [against Ciryl Gane in October]. And now you want to see him get back in the ring for… Honestly, by the time he's paid his expenses and paid his tax, in my opinion – this is not Tom's opinion necessarily – my opinion is, what's the fucking point?

“Like, do you really want to risk your health for nothing?” Hearn continued. “I mean, nothing. You're not even going to make anywhere near seven figures by the time you're finished. Yet there's $50 million of revenue in the show. It's absolutely obscene.”

Hearn again stressed that these are his opinions and not necessarily that of Aspinall’s, but his client must soon make a decision about his future in the UFC.

“I've got a call with Tom to go through everything this week, because he will have to make a decision at some point,” he said. “And listen, maybe those guys want to freeze him out and try and be clever, or maybe they want to be honourable and say, look, Tom Aspinall against Alex Pereira is a massive fight. Massive fight. So are we going to be fair? This is what we suggest. Maybe there's an extension to the contract.”

Many believe that Hearn plans on maneuvering a move to break Aspinall out of his deal with the UFC and into boxing where he fought once, nine years ago, stopping the 12-2–1 Tamas Bajzath in one round.

“That's not true at all,” Hearn said. “Tom's very happy to remain in the UFC, but he also feels as heavyweight world champion and with the revenue that's in the pot, that just a little bit of respect would be nice.”

Hearn believes that Aspinall is currently being neglected in more ways than one.

“It's just a weird set-up where he doesn't get invited to UFC London. They text him an hour before the start saying, ‘Do you want to come tonight?’ He lives four hours away,” Hearn explained. “I mean, how can he not be ringside at the White House for [Alex] Pereira against [Ciryl] Gane [on June 15]? He's fighting the winner.

“Can you imagine me having the heavyweight world champion, and there's a fight for the interim championship where the winner has to fight him and this guy's not even invited. I mean, it's mental. But this is the arrogance of it all. So my job is to act in the best interest of Tom Aspinall.”

There have been fighters disgruntled by their pay in the UFC for years, but White’s move into professional boxing with Zuffa – where he is reportedly paying boxers considerably more than their counterparts in the octagon – has resparked the argument.

“How can you have a situation where a fighter is making 15 times more than [Aspinall], yet there's a fifth of the revenue in the fight? It just doesn't make sense,” said Hearn. “I knew this was going to happen, where it's really going to kick them in the face this whole boxing thing, because they're paying the boxers so much more than the UFC guys, yet the UFC business is making $800m a year.

“I think it's unfair. But it just would never happen in boxing because the advisors and the managers are that much more advanced, where they know what's in the pot. And in the pot, we pay 80 per cent to the fighters, roughly.”

Despite Hearn’s criticism, he yet again affirmed that he’s “not looking to breach Aspinall's contract and terminate it”. However, he did have an ultimatum for the UFC.

Hearn challenged the organization to pay Aspinall what he is deserved, or release him so that he can work alongside Most Valuable Promotions in making Aspinall versus Francis Ngannou on their new MMA platform.

“Tom would love to fight Francis Ngannou, but it's very unlikely that the UFC would do anything honorable and potentially release Tom Aspinall from his contract,” Hearn said. “You've got enough money to pay him properly, but you just wouldn't do it because you're so arrogant.

“But if you don't really want to do it and you don't really like Tom Aspinall, which clearly they're giving him no support, no brand value, no profile building, then let him go. If you don't see the value in him, let him go. And, of course, in that situation, and this is why they'd never let him go, we would do Francis Ngannou against Tom Aspinall, and it would be absolutely huge.

“And Tom Aspinall would make 10 times more than he's making in his current contract.”

Whether Hearn's criticisms carry any weight inside the UFC remains to be seen. But his battle with Dana White is no longer confined to boxing.

It feels like a foregone conclusion that unbeaten Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez will win his third divisional title when he takes on WBA bantamweight beltholder Antonio Vargas on Saturday.

While Florida’s Vargas, 19-1-1 (11 KOs), is wearing the strap now and has the pedigree of being a former U.S. Olympic boxer, he’s nearly a 14-to-1 betting underdog and has struggled in his past two bouts versus competition far inferior to Rodriguez, 23-0 (16 KOs).

For the 29-year-old Vargas, however, the widespread lack of belief in his chances is only making him work harder ahead of the DAZN-televised clash at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

“Obviously, I understand he's done a lot of good things in the sport of boxing and he's trying to build a legacy. I respect that part,” Vargas said of Rodriguez. “As for myself, it motivates me to train harder and to really get this win, because I’ve got to beat a big name like this to get the recognition I've been fighting all these years to get.

“It puts me in a place of hunger, discipline and focus, because I know after I beat this guy, it will show I've been training and working hard to build my own legacy as a fighter.”

Vargas emphasized to BoxingScene that faith has brought him to what “is definitely the biggest fight of my career.”

Vargas said he believes he’s been the beneficiary of divine intervention, pulling from his religious faith to survive knockdowns in two of his past three fights while emerging through last year’s demanding title defense against Daigo Higa in Japan to keep his belt via draw.

“Just looking back on the last few fights, I see the hand of Christ over me, and my confidence in my strength comes from him, and I wouldn't even be in this position to take a fight like this if I wouldn't have got to draw my last fight,” he said.

After rising from the canvas after early fight knockdowns by Jonathan Rodriguez and Winston Guerrero to stop both men in 2024, Vargas gained the draw versus Higa last year by knocking him down late last July.

“One thing I can say – that wasn't me. That was the hand of Christ giving me the strength I needed. To put that guy down just to even the playing field… I know when I need to go into the same place with ‘Bam,’ the same guy who strengthened me and delivered me in my last couple of fights is gonna be the same guy who’s gonna strengthen me, and give me what I need to get the victory,” Vargas said.

“That’s the difference that comes from within myself. I believe on June 13, we're gonna see that, and I'll be able to testify to who he is and how he's been able to strengthen me and help me to overcome.”

That’s deep faith considering three-belt super-flyweight champion Rodriguez, 26, has knocked out or stopped his past five opponents while posting the scalps of the best 115lbs fighters of the prior generation – Juan Francisco Estrada, Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and Carlos Cuadras.

With a victory Saturday, Rodriguez is expected to hotly pursue undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue for a super-fight in Japan.

Vargas, however, is convinced he's about to thwart the grand plans with help from a higher power.

“Every time I feel that pressure, you can probably see my mouth moving… when I got dropped [by Guerrero] and I was hurt really bad and on the floor, I'm like, ‘Jesus, help me Lord,’” Vargas said. “I remember getting up and I've never dealt with the my legs being wobbly like that, and fear gripped me even more. I remember that the ref gave me the  eight-count and I remember once the ref was done man. I remember [Guerrero] coming to finish me. I remember holding him and I went blank the last 30 seconds of that round, and I still was blank in the corner.”

Vargas recalls only the instruction to start winning rounds, and a lesson from the Bible.

“Those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered, and when I cried in my desperation, God heard me. The only part I could take credit about is the training,” he said.

Vargas said beyond the spiritual assistance, he scouts opponents to identify weaknesses he can take advantage of.

What has he taken from the “Bam” sessions?

“He’s been dropped [by Estrada] so there's definitely some openings there,” Vargas said. “Every fighter has them. It's just about finding them, and training hard enough to bring the openings out – catching them between shots and making sure that he hits the canvas.”

Vargas said the fact Rodriguez needs to move up in weight to meet a world champion is another advantage since the champion intends to weigh near 130bs after rehydrating for fight night.

“Over the years, I've been seeing my body grow and develop as a man, so it's definitely a strength – I'm pretty sure people are gonna see the size difference,” he said.

Vargas said he and Rodriguez’s mutual promoter, Eddie Hearn, has motivated him by pointing to the recent bouts as proof he carries “the heart of a warrior.” Hearn advised Vargass to “endure” the Rodriguez pressure and become “the best version of myself.”

Vargas reflected on the start of the journey to get here. He started boxing when his father scoffed at his grade-school’s recommendation that the then nine-year-old Vargas required Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder medication, instead taking him to a boxing gym to burn off the extra energy.

“A week after that, the school said, ‘Hey, the medication is working.’ My dad just smiled and I fell in love with the competition,” Vargas said. “If I could play a role in leading kids off medication and leading them towards sports and health, I would like to be an advocate to help the next generation coming up.”

His voice and mission will certainly resonate if he can find a way to defy the odds and defeat “Bam” Rodriguez.

Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions has been named the 26th fastest growing business in the UK by the Sunday Times.

The boxing promotional powerhouse, which is guided behind the scenes by George Warren, is the company with the third highest revenue on the list.

George’s father, 74-year-old Frank, is an International Boxing Hall of Fame promoter who has, in the past, worked with the likes of Naseem Hamed, Frank Bruno, Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton and Amir Khan.

But, more recently, his burgeoning stable has included Tyson Fury, Hamzah Sheeraz, Daniel Dubois, Fabio Wardley, Moses Itauma and countless others.

Last year, he promoted Dubois’ second bout with Oleksandr Usyk, at Wembley Stadium, and according to the Sunday Times list, Queensberry reported £167.2m in sales for a 124.27 per cent growth.

The newspaper said: “The business, which is based in Hertfordshire, is now led by Warren’s son George, 39. The signing of the boxers Moses Itauma and Daniel Dubois, as well as a multiyear deal with the streaming giant DAZN in 2024, contributed to turnover reaching £167.2 million last year.”

Heavyweight Joe Joyce will make a return to the ring on July 11 in Moscow, Russia, against the unbeaten Artem Suslenkov. 

The 40-year-old Joyce, 16-4 (15 KOs), has not fought since his unanimous decision loss to Filip Hrgovic in April 2025. It marked his fourth loss in five bouts, a downward spiral in from that began when he was stopped twice by Zhilei Zhang in 2023.

He would lose to Derek Chisora, too, before he came up against Hrgovic. It's all a far cry from the stoppage victories he achieved over Daniel Dubois in 2020 and Joseph Parker two years later.

Now under the guidance of trainer “Sugar Hill” Steward, Joyce will travel to Moscow in an attempt to get his career back on track. Steward, the nephew of legendary trainer Emanuel Steward, has had success with Tyson Fury and worked alongside his uncle training the likes of Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko.

“I’ve spent the last year preparing, training and wanting to be back in the ring,” said Joyce in a press release from the IBA. “I’m excited for the opportunity to travel to Russia... My team and I are locked in and Moscow should get ready for a big performance.”

The bout will be on the undercard of Murat Gassiev’s WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title defence against Tony Yoka.

Suslenkov, 14-0 (9 KOs) will look to register the biggest win of his career and set up a clash with countryman Gassiev for the WBA title.

 “Joyce is a powerful opponent with strong technique and vast experience,” said Suslenkov, who is ranked at No. 9 in the WBA heavyweight ratings. “This is a serious challenge. I feel both excitement and full focus. Meticulous preparation and the right tactics to neutralise his strengths will be crucial. This is a chance to show my level and give the fans something to cheer about. Joyce is a strong, pressure-fighting heavyweight with heavy hands and a great deal of experience."

Boxing has always lived in two worlds.

One is competition, in my opinion the hardest, least forgiving of all sports. Everyone who reads this website knows the cliche, “You don’t play boxing.”

The other world boxing lives in is spectacle. The showmanship, nostalgia, and the irresistible pull of famous names under bright lights has gone on since John L. Sullivan, Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey.

High-profile exhibitions sit squarely in the second category, and there is nothing inherently wrong with that as long as everyone is honest about what they are watching.

If we’re honest that we are watching a show, I guess that’s fine. If you like watching Reggie Jackson and the Yankees old timer’s game and that’s a fun trip down memory lane, great. When you start to believe Reg could take Paul Skenes deep today, then you’re being delusional.

But Reggie wasn’t getting punched in the face.

You don’t play boxing.

The recent wave of exhibitions featuring retired champions, crossover celebrities, aging legends, and social media stars has proven there is still a market for gloves, ring walks, and nostalgia. Fans want to see familiar faces again. Promoters want to monetize brand power. Fighters, many of whom earned fame the hard way, may want one more payday or one more walk to the ring. That is understandable.

It is different when these events try to borrow the language and structure of legitimate competition while avoiding the substance of it.

That often shows up in the judging.

Instead of licensed, experienced officials, exhibitions frequently use celebrity judges, former athletes from other sports, entertainers, or members of the media. In truth, that may be the smartest thing they can do. Why? Because these events often cannot be judged in the same way a real contest can.

In a sanctioned bout, punches are thrown with commitment. In less flowery language, they are thrown to do damage. That’s bodily damage and it is often life changing and not in a good way. The risk is real and the commitment to conditioning is vital. Careers, hell, life, hangs in the balance. A loss means less income, an uncertain future and a return to a mundane and often impoverished life.

In exhibitions, the incentives are different. Punches are pulled and energy may be conserved. A formal or informal contract is agreed upon so that no one gets seriously hurt. Certain moments may be staged for excitement rather than tactical necessity. The intent is usually not to hurt an opponent but to entertain an audience.

That distinction matters.

How do you judge a pulled punch? How do you score ring generalship when the combatants, uh, participants is a better word, aren’t going all out? How do you judge who is forcing the action when neither of them are?

As uncomfortable as some people may be saying it plainly, the intent of boxing is to do damage within the rules. A boxer is trying to land effective punches, impose will, break resistance, and force defeat. Skill and courage exist inside that reality.

The intent of an exhibition is different. It is performance. It is a trip down memory lane and it is commerce. It is often two recognizable names giving the crowd a memory. It is a three inning game in July with Reggie, Bucky and Guidry.

Again, that is fine.

But if the purpose is entertainment, then let us stop pretending the scoring carries the same meaning as a professional fight judged by trained officials. Let celebrity judges smile for the cameras. Let media personalities hand out novelty cards. Let the ring announcer declare everyone had a wonderful time.

Just do not confuse it with real judging.

Professional judges are tasked with evaluating contests where stakes are genuine and margins can alter careers. Their work belongs in fights where outcomes matter and competitors are truly trying to win under the accepted standards of the sport.

Exhibitions can have value. They can attract casual fans. They can honor legends. They can generate revenue. They can let all of us go down memory lane for one more night.

But boxing does itself a favor when it labels things clearly.

A real fight is a real fight.
An exhibition is an exhibition.

Both can exist. But only one should borrow the authority of legitimate scoring.

And if the judging side of boxing interests you, my new book Judging Pro Boxing is now available on Amazon. It is a collection of many of these columns and essays, expanded with new material, added context, and behind-the-scenes perspective on how fights are scored, why controversy happens, and what fans often miss. Also available on Amazon are my new The Second Burning, a Notre Dame football weekend thriller, and The Split Decision, the latest entry in my boxing mystery series.

On this day 30 years ago (June 7, 1996), “El Gran Campeón Mexicano” Julio César Chávez and “The Golden Boy” Oscar De La Hoya met for the first time in a showdown many at the time called “the biggest fight in Latino boxing history.” 

Presented by Bob Arum of Top Rank and held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the historic fight for the WBC super lightweight title was billed as “Ultimate Glory.” 

De La Hoya ultimately won via fourth-round TKO.

1.  Ok, but exactly how Mexican is he?
Although both fighters shared Mexican heritage, with Chavez hailing from Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, and De La Hoya coming from East Los Angeles, most Mexican and even Mexican American fans heavily favored Chavez. In pre-fight buildup events across the country, De La Hoya was booed by Hispanic fans, even in his hometown Los Angeles.

2. A meteoric rise, but not the most meteoric.
Already an Olympic gold medalist, 23–year-old De La Hoya, 21–0 (19 KOs), had previously won three professional world titles in two divisions (super featherweight and lightweight) and was looking to capture one in a third weight class with a victory over Chavez. 

As young as De La Hoya was, Wilfred Benítez of Puerto Rico still holds the record as the youngest boxer ever to capture world titles in three different weight classes. After holding belts at junior welterweight and welterweight, Benitez achieved the feat, at just 22 years old, by knocking out Maurice Hope to win the WBC super welterweight title in 1981.

3. The man was still dangerous.
In his then 16–year career, 33–year old Chavez had already captured four world titles in three divisions and sported an incredible record of 96–1–1 (79 KOs). Chavez had suffered his first career loss 2.5 years earlier via split 12-round decision to Frankie Randall but, after regaining the belt from Randall in a rematch, was the defending champion hoping to make his fifth title defense at the time of the fight.

4. You want payday?
Both fighters took home a $9 million purse: career highs for both at the time.

5. The expert’s opinions didn’t match fans' expectations.
Despite his incredible achievements and record and his status as the defending champion, Chavez was still considered the underdog going into the fight. Opening odds had him a 3-1 underdog, but by fight night, the odds had tightened to 2-1.

6. Arr matey. Pirates aren’t welcome here.
Concerned about the burgeoning use of illegal decoders to pirate cable signals for free, promoter Bob Arum refused to put the card on pay-per-view and had it predominantly broadcast via private satellite to venues such as theaters, arenas, and convention centers through the ageing technology of closed-circuit television.

The result was an under-performing event that attracted 750,000 fans, down from the expected 1.7 million, and a disappointing gross of $14 million (approx.). Arum had voiced before the fight that it would net $60-$90 million.

7. The fight never really became a fight.
Just a minute into the first round, De La Hoya’s jab and powerful straight rights opened a huge gash above Chavez's left eye. Not long after, referee Joe Cortez halted the action to allow ringside doctor Flip Homansky to examine the wound. 

Chavez was allowed to continue but was dominated for the remainder of the fight. Late in round four, De La Hoya unleashed a series of powerful punches that broke Chavez' nose. 

Cortez then had Homansky take a second look at the damage. This time, Homansky advised Cortez that the fight should not continue due to the severity of Chavez’s laceration. It was waved off at 2:37 of the round.

8. Showdown? More like shutout at the Palace.
At the time of the stoppage, all three judges, Anek Hongtongkam, Larry O'Connell, and Daniel Van de Wiele, had the fight scored 30-27 for De La Hoya.

9. Did they know what they were watching?
Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler’s undercard featured a 19-year-old Erik Morales defending his North American Boxing Federation super bantamweight championship for the fourth time with a unanimous 12-round decision over Hector Acero Sanchez. Headed for boxing greatness, the young Morales won his first world title a year later with an eleventh-round knockout over ageless wonder Daniel Zaragoza to take the WBC title. 

In other supporting action that night, Johnny Tapia defended his WBO world super flyweight title with a TKO 8 over Ivan Alvarez, a 3-0 Diego “Chico” Corrales won a four-round unanimous decision over Ciro Canales and Butterbean knocked out George Clarke in the first round.

10. It happened again.
The fighters would meet again in September 1998 for De La Hoya’s WBC welterweight championship. A battered Chavez elected not to come out for the ninth round, giving De La Hoya the rematch victory.

BOURNEMOUTH, England – After seven rounds of brutal action inside the Bournemouth International Centre, Chris Billam-Smith and Ryan Rozicki were both sent to hospital as a precaution.

Neither had to spend the night there.

Rozicki was released at around 3am and was “doing well” at his hotel. Billam-Smith posted a picture of him back home with his youngest child on his social media.

“I have been taken to hospital but it’s just precautionary,” said the Bournemouth cruiserweight. “I’m absolutely fine and they’re just going to do some tests, but all is well… Another unbelievable night at the BIC.”

They had put each other through hell. Both were cut and took heavy shots throughout their war.

Billam-Smith’s trainer, Shane McGuigan, posted: “I thought we were in a Rocky film! What a fight, what a tough man Ryan was, CBS did what he had to do and showed his level in a gruelling fight.”

Zuffa Boxing boss Dana White, watching from ringside, also used the Rocky analogy.

Rozicki bombed and hacked his way forward throughout, and much of Billam-Smith’s best work was done with his back to the ropes or backing up, making the violence that followed unavoidable.

“The first time I ever met Rozicki, I was like, ‘Jesus, this guy’s like the meanest Canadian I think I’ve ever met,’” White told the media afterwards. “And what a hell of a fight. An incredible fight card from top to bottom, but the main event was like a Rocky movie.”

Billam-Smith held the advantage in skill, but Rozicki wouldn’t be denied. His night only ended when his corner withdrew him, bleeding from cuts over both eyes, after seven rounds.

“You’re like, ‘God damn, this is a tough, mean kid,’ so yeah, I couldn’t see him quitting,” White said. 

“We sent them both to the hospital, they’re both getting checked out. I don’t play with that kind of stuff. I mean, the fight wasn’t even over yet and I got my guy, Dave Lewis [who handles the Zuffa Boxing UK operations], and I said, no interviews, no nothing. I want both these guys to go straight to the hospital. And if there’s anything even remotely serious for either guy, I want them both med-vac’d to London. No disrespect to Bournemouth, but I’d rather have them in London if there’s anything serious. In 30 years of the UFC, there’s never been a death or serious injury. And it’s important for me to keep that run alive, especially with boxing. A lot more traumatic brain injury things happen in the sport of boxing than they do in MMA so I’m crazy about the health and safety side of it.”

Of the winner, White said: “Not just tough, super talented, talented fighter. And not just a great fighter but a tough kid in his own right. He took some big shots. Rozicki’s a knockout artist, and CBS took some big shots from him, too. We thought it was going to be a great fight. Obviously, we know how talented CBS is, and we knew going in how tough and mean Rozicki was so it had all the makings of a great fight.

“Was I surprised to see him [Rozicki] come back out [for the seventh round after a tough sixth]? No, but I was happy to see his corner call the fight. I mean, the right move, great stoppage.”

Does White want to see Jai Opetaia face Billam-Smith next?

“We’ll see. I don’t know,” said White. “I tell all the boxing guys, I don’t make fights the night of the fights. But we’ll see. We’ll see how everything plays out.”

BOURNEMOUTH, England – From Don King and Bob Arum going at it for years and Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren following suit, the hot new promoter feud is between Hearn and Zuff Boxing boss Dana White.

Following the bruising battle between Chris Billam-Smith and Ryan Rozicki in Bournemouth, White addressed some media questions about Hearn, who had a show on at the same time in Sheffield topped by Josh Padley-Aqib Fiaz.

The back-and-forth through the media has become more intense, and one significant discrepancy between the sides is who will promote the proposed fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.

Both Warren and Hearn have said White will not be involved. But the UFC boss maintains he will promote it.

“Have they announced where that fight is? No. I know where it is,” White said, when pressed by ProBoxing Fans.

“Watch what happens over the next 30 days.”

“You think that I would publicly lie and then look like a fucking idiot in front of everybody? So do you believe that? Do you believe that I would? What would be the point of that? ‘I was lying, everybody!’ ‘I got you, right?’ What would be the point of that? Call Eddie right now and ask him if he knows where the fight is. Call Eddie and ask him who negotiated the contract for the fight. It wasn’t him.”

Hearn has started managing UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, and has said he won’t let Aspinall fight under the terms of his current contract.

“Let’s see how it all happens,” White said. “I mean, if Eddie’s not going to let his fighter fight, what are you going to do? You can’t make anybody fight. You can’t force anybody to fight. You have to want to fight. So we’ll see how it plays out. Eddie, who apparently, you know, [Conor] Benn [who left Hearn’s Matchroom for Zuffa] was his best friend. Eddie’s been crying, literally crying for weeks, ‘Oh, you’re my best friend.’ He didn’t even want to pay him, but he wants to pay my guy [Aspinall]. He could have paid his best friend. They could have remained best friends… Eddie’s full of a lot of shit.”

White was then asked that, with Queensberry and Matchroom considering running back their 5x5 event, he would do something similar with either entity.

“No, not really. These guys that hated each other six months ago are all working together now. It’s me versus all of them,” he added. “So I don’t think you will see anything like that.”

Asked further about the Aspinall situation, White continued: “He said that he wanted him released [from his UFC contract], right? You release Bam Rodriguez then? Sounds pretty stupid, doesn’t it? Congratulations again, Eddie. You sound stupid again.”

White then furthered his vision for boxing, and how he plans to go about it, with dates set to be added to both his Paramount and Sky Sports deals.

“Well, what starts to happen is as we rip the sport apart and start to build from the ground up with nights like tonight, it starts to create all these different storylines and starts to line up different fights,” he explained. “And the fans and the media start to talk about what they want to see next. You know, we have a Sky deal, which is a very big deal to us. So we’ll be in the UK a lot. And already this year in the United States, we’re going to be adding more fights to Paramount. I mean, we’re five months into this thing and we’re already adding more shows on our Paramount deal and I hope the same thing happens with Sky. We’ve got a lot of big announcements coming up over the next month. So you’re going to expect lots of big things coming from us.”

White also said a lawsuit from Boxxer claiming Zuffa Boxing had taken some of their fighters was not true and that would play out publicly, but he made it clear he was not playing the sandbox with other boxing promoters.

“People always ask me about, ‘oh, you’re competing with this guy.’ Right now, at the level that we’re at, we’re competing with the NFL, we’re competing with the NBA, we’re competing with Major League Baseball and the NHL. You got to imagine, in the United States, the powerhouse over there is the NFL. And I’m sure when the NFL, when they were sitting in executive offices and they saw the deal that we got with Paramount, they had to be thinking, ‘Wait a minute, there was $8 billion sitting over at Paramount that we didn’t get.’ And then, when you go outside the United States, you start competing with soccer.

“When I think about my competition, those are the people that I’m looking at as competition these days. Over the next month, the announcements that we make over the next month and then, like I said, judge us January 1st at the end of this year, beginning of next year on how we’ve done this year.”

Asked also about when the WBC welterweight title fight between Ryan Garcia and Benn might take place, White added: “Soon. A lot of fun things coming up over the next month.”

Dmitry Bivol may lose another world title.

The unified WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight champion was stripped of his WBC strap last year for choosing to pursue a trilogy with Artur Beterbiev. The two Russians have battled twice in two razor close contests, with the score one a piece, hence the desire for a decider.

A back injury to Bivol put an end to talks of a trilogy but after a year out of the ring the Russian returned last month with a lopsided decision against overmatched IBF mandatory Michael Eifert. Beterbiev, now 41 years old, is still demanding a rubber match he believes he is owed.

Bivol, however, has another mandatory due: WBO interim titleholder Callum Smith.

The clock is ticking on Bivol’s decision; pursue a rematch with Beterbiev and lose his WBO title or take on Smith who, like Bivol, is promoted by Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing. David Benavidez, the WBC titlist at 175, is also under consideration.

“[It shouldn't be long, because obviously [Bivol's] finished his fight now and we need to make sure that we move forward with the plans,” Hearn told BoxingScene. “Dmitry wants the biggest fights in the sport, he's had his little run out against Eifert – his mandatory – and now he's got to decide if he's going to fight Callum Smith or vacate the WBO.

“There's a lot of interest in the Beterbiev fight in Russia, it's a fight that's important to Dmitry. I think the Benavidez fight is a great fight but so is the Callum Smith fight and obviously it's interesting having both those guys as are our clients. So we've got to see what's next, and if he vacates Callum Smith will be elevated to full champion. Not what [Smith] would have wanted but he'll go out and defend that against a big name. So I think that'll be decided in the coming weeks.”

The current WBO rankings have Beterbiev at No. 1, but should Bivol pursue the trilogy then No. 2 Joshua Buatsi, whom Smith beat on points in a thriller last year, would likely be ordered.

“A great fight,” Hearn said of Smith-Buatsi II. “I mean the first fight was one of the fights of the year, so if that's a defense that Callum Smith has to make, no problem at all, but we'll see. I still like the Dmityi Bivol-Callum Smith fight if I'm honest, so we'll have to see what unfolds.”

BOURNEMOUTH, England – After seven rounds of brutal action, Chris Billam-Smith and Ryan Rozicki were both sent to hospital as a precaution.

Neither had to spend the night there.

Rozicki was released at around 3am and was “doing well” at his hotel. Billam-Smith posted a picture of him back home with his youngest child on his social media.

“I have been taken to hospital but it’s just precautionary,” said the Bournemouth cruiserweight. “I’m absolutely fine and they’re just going to do some tests, but all is well…. Another unbelievable night at the BIC.”

They had put each other through hell. Both were cut and took heavy shots throughout their war.

Billam-Smith’s trainer, Shane McGuigan, posted: “I thought we were in a Rocky film! What a fight, what a tough man Ryan was, CBS did what he had to do and showed his level in a gruelling fight.”

Zuffa Boxing boss Dana White, watching from ringside, also used the Rocky analogy.

Rozicki bombed and hacked his way forward throughout, and much of Billam-Smith’s best work was done with his back to the ropes or backing up, making the violence that followed unavoidable.

“The first time I ever met Rozicki, I was like, ‘Jesus, this guy’s like the meanest Canadian I think I’ve ever met,’” White told the media afterwards. “And what a hell of a fight. An incredible fight card from top to bottom, but the main event was like a Rocky movie.”

Billam-Smith held the advantage in skill, but Rozicki wouldn’t be denied. His night only ended when his corner withdrew him, bleeding from cuts over both eyes, after seven rounds.

“You’re like, ‘God damn, this is a tough, mean kid,’ so yeah, I couldn’t see him quitting,” White said. 

“We sent them both to the hospital, they’re both getting checked out. I don’t play with that kind of stuff. I mean, the fight wasn’t even over yet and I got my guy, Dave Lewis [who handles the Zuffa Boxing UK operations], and I said, no interviews, no nothing. I want both these guys to go straight to the hospital. And if there’s anything even remotely serious for either guy, I want them both med-vac’d to London. No disrespect to Bournemouth, but I’d rather have them in London if there’s anything serious. In 30 years of the UFC, there’s never been a death or serious injury. And it’s important for me to keep that run alive, especially with boxing. A lot more traumatic brain injury things happen in the sport of boxing than they do in MMA so I’m crazy about the health and safety side of it.”

Of the winner, White said: “Not just tough, super talented, talented fighter. And not just a great fighter but a tough kid in his own right. He took some big shots. Rozicki’s a knockout artist, and CBS took some big shots from him, too. We thought it was going to be a great fight. Obviously, we know how talented CBS is, and we knew going in how tough and mean Rozicki was so it had all the makings of a great fight.

“Was I surprised to see him [Rozicki] come back out [for the seventh round after a tough sixth]? No, but I was happy to see his corner call the fight. I mean, the right move, great stoppage.”

Does White want to see Jai Opetaia face Billam-Smith next? 

“We’ll see. I don’t know,” said White. “I tell all the boxing guys, I don’t make fights the night of the fights. But we’ll see. We’ll see how everything plays out.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed two world championship bouts could take place on the undercard of Anthony Joshua-Kristian Prega on July 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Joshua will make his return for the first time since his involvement in a car accident that claimed the lives of two of his closest friends in December. Only days before, Joshua had completed a six-round thrashing of Jake Paul.

The Jeddah card will be funded by Saudi boxing financier Turki Alalshikh and will subsequently come with a bumper undercard. Hearn, whose Matchroom Boxing will be the lead promoter of the event, has revealed two world champions could make their maiden defenses.

Hamzah Sheeraz, who picked up the WBO super middleweight title last month, and Josh Kelly, who claimed the IBF junior middleweight belt back in January and is expected to fight Caoimhin Agyarko.

“I think there could be two world championship fights on the undercard,” Hearn told BoxingScene. “Hamzah Sheeraz may be one of those as well. Obviously we'll talk to Frank Warren and Spencer Brown [Sheeraz’s prmoter and manager] and everybody, and Josh Kelly could feature on there as well. That'll be announced this coming week.”

BOURNEMOUTH, England – Among the stars already contracted to the TKO Group from the worlds of UFC, WWE and Zuffa Boxing, there were many notable faces in the crowd at the Bournemouth International Centre to watch Chris Billam-Smith’s dramatic victory over Ryan Rozicki on Saturday.

Billam-Smith won when the Canadian did not come out for the eighth round of a brutal battle.

And there was plenty of discussion about the faces in the crowd.

Conor Benn, already signed to Zuffa Boxing, was ringside with Dana White and Nick Khan. Ex-fighters, including Scott Welch and Steve Collins were there, but active boxers taking a look at the action in Bournemouth – not a exactly a known boxing hub – included Joshua Buatsi, who was cheering on his pal Cheavon Clarke (who defeated Jack Massey), Adam Azim, who is stablemates with Billam-Smith, and also WBO interim middleweight champ Denzel Bentley, light heavyweight Dan Azeez, heavyweight contender David Adeleye, IBF 154lbs champion Josh Kelly, and light heavyweight Craig Richards.

Post-fight, Zuffa Boxing boss Dana White was asked whether the crowd was filled with fighters he could work with.

“Well, obviously, I’m honored that a lot of these guys showed up to watch our event tonight,” he said. “And my goal is, over the next couple of years, to have everybody.

“Everybody.”

SHEFFIELD, England – Josh Padley pipped Aquib Fiaz to defend his European junior lightweight at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena. The pair traded leather throughout the contest, with Fiaz, who was fancied by few, pushing Padley to the wire.

Padley showed a weakness to the body in his controversial win over Reece Bellotti last October, and Fiaz targeted it throughout. Both men were nervous as they awaited the decision after 12 nip-and-tuck rounds, but Padley, 19-1 (6 KOs), was awarded the win by split decision via scores of 115-112, 114-113, and 113-114.

The opener was dull with both fighters falling short with their shots. Padley, 30, looked to be a lot quicker than Fiaz, but the Yorkshireman struggled to find the target when he let his hands go.

Oldham, England’s Fiaz, 26, pushed Padley back to the ropes in the second, thumping his opponent to the body. Padley looked to be struggling with the physicality of the contest, but cracked Fiaz with a right hand on the bell.

The contest sparked into life midway through the third when the pair locked horns and went for it. Fiaz landed two hard shots to Padley’s midsection and Padley returned fire with a right uppercut upstairs. Padley was quicker but Fiaz looked like his shots were having more of an effect.

Fiaz made his first real dent in Padley early into the fourth. Fiaz landed a left, followed by a right - both downstairs - that caused Padley to keel over and protect his abdomen. Fiaz continued to thump away at Padley’s midsection, but Padley dug in to see out the round.

Padley was certainly feeling the shots to the body and had to dig deep again in the fifth. Although he was being hurt, Padley, to his credit, continued to throw shots and even hurt Fiaz with a left hook late into the session.

Padley, most likely down on the cards, started the seventh with an intent to turn things around, and instantly pushed Fiaz back. Fiaz looked to be struggling with the pace of the bout but, in the eighth, the pair continued to thump away at each other's midsections before Fiaz was given a final warning for shots below the belt.

Padley was coming on strong heading into the ninth and Fiaz needed something big to turn the tide. That is exactly what he got.

Fiaz found a home for a left hand downstairs that hurt Padley. Padley complained it was low, but it wasn’t, and Fiaz took full advantage. Fiaz, with his head on Padley’s chest, hammered away. The Yorkshireman looked as though he could go down at any moment, but he survived the round.

Now it was Padley’s turn to push back, and he cracked Fiaz with a left hook early into the 10th that shook his rival to his boots. Fiaz still continued to target the body but Padley was covering well and countered with an uppercut.

Padley seemed to have found a second win and was now landing often on Fiaz, who was getting frustrated and seemed to catch Padley with his head in a clinch.

The referee deducted a point and Fiaz, perhaps, knew that may have just cost him the fight.

Fiaz came out for the 12th and final session knowing he must win it, and win it big, to be in with a chance of taking the European title.

Fiaz started well, again landing hard shots to the body, but was caught by a hard uppercut midway through the round. Fiaz was dazed and grabbed hold of Padley. It seemed as though Padley was grateful for the rest, but the pair soon went right back to hammering away at each other.

The bell struck and Fiaz landed one last left hook to finish the bout.

It was close, and both men knew it.

They awaited the official decision, and Fiaz, 14-2 (2 KOs), erupted into tears when he learned of the defeat. Fiaz’s corner seemed outraged at the decision and exited the ring with their distraught charge.

The decision, however, was probably the right one.

BOURNEMOUTH, England – Chris Billam-Smith might have been too good for Canadian Ryan Rozicki but he had to endure seven rounds of hostile fire before the visitor’s corner compassionately withdrew their man from battle.

It was a bloody, engrossing affair, with both wounded and Rozicki hurt on occasion but never giving ground in his pursuit of the Englishman.

Bournemouth’s Billam-Smith, 22-2 (14 KOs), thrilled his fans once again and again gave his fans everything he had, taking huge shots to win the fight and doubtless put himself in line for another big fight.

Billam-Smith lost early in his career to Richard Riakporhe and then lost his WBO cruiserweight title to Gilberto Ramirez, but returned to defeat Brandon Glanton last year and now Rozicki to set up another run at a title.

Rozicki, now 21-2 (20 KOs), was like a bad guy in a horror movie that you couldn’t kill.

He maintained his furious pursuit until the bitter end having started out clutching a bible and then scowling at CBS as the Bournemouth hero was introduced to his fans.

Rozicki was a mauling menace and was soon warned for shots to the back of the head. By that point, he’d landed a big left hook and looked for rights to the body and head.

They jostled aggressively for position. Billam-Smith caught him with some left hooks as the Canadian attacked and Rozicki, cut by his left eye, gulped down a right hand.

The visitor’s pressure was forcing Billam-Smith to fight off the ropes and both had scored with hard shots in an enthralling if somewhat scrappy opener.

The focus of Billam-Smith’s attack shifted initially to the body in the second.

The cleaner work was being done by Billam-Smith and Rozicki had a point docked for use of the head and maybe even hitting after the referee called break.

Rozicki had the will but not the quality to overwhelm the former WBO champion but, of course, he remained a threat with his left hook and right hand, the shots that had seen him stop 20 of his 21 victims.

More than a minute into the third CBS landed the punch of the fight so far to both rattle and stagger the Canadian. A short right uppercut dazed the visitor who was cut badly above the left eye, too, and becoming wilder and more ungainly with his crude swings.

Having wound up the partisan crowd with his roughhouse tactics early on, Rozicki was feeling the wrath of the Bournemouth audience as they screeched and shouted after every Billam-Smith bomb that jolted Rozicki’s bloody features this way and that.

To his credit, Rozicki was game but as the fourth started his tank was surely running empty.

Billam-Smith has shown he can look exhausted but still operate in the trenches and Rozicki was going to have to prove he could do it now, too.

Rozicki’s white shots were bathed in a bloody red dye, he blinked through the cuts, but still planted his feet and slugged away, catching Billam-Smith with a clean left hook for his troubles. CBS again had to protest to the referee about the Canadian coming in head first but the Englishman sent a calm, reassuring nod to trainer Shane McGuigan as he walked back to his corner.

Early in the fifth, a Billam-Smith right and pair of left hooks failed to deter Rozicki, who chopped away with his own hooks.

Next to me on press rowm, former world super middleweight champion Steve Collins said: “They both look tired.”

That was a fair statement.

Billam-Smith cracked his man with two right hands, but Rozicki merely leapt in with a left hook to show he was still dangerous.

By now, Billam-Smith was bleeding above his right eye.

The action was paused in the sixth for Billam-Smith to have his mouthpiece replaced but the action didn’t slow for long and while CBS gave ground, he landed an array of shots off the back foot as Rozicki plundered forwards. Rozicki was ridiculously tough and equally stubborn.
“What’s he made of?” asked veteran writer Steve Bunce ringside.

That was a fair question.

Yet Rozicki rose from his corner like The Terminator in the seventh. Expressionless. Robotic. But his face was soon drenched in his own blood again and, astonishingly, he kept coming.

With 10 seconds to go in the round, Billam-Smith walloped Rozicki with a brace of rights and a crushing left. Maybe with more time, Nillam-Smith could have yanked down the bloody curtain on the show but Rozicki’s corner, led by former light heavyweight Shaun George, made the compassionate call and refused to let him go out for the eighth round.

Billam-Smith saluted his jubilant fans at the Bournemouth International Centre, Dana White applauded the corner’s decision and the Bournemouth man had once again delighted his home fans in the town where he has now fended off Lawrence Okolie, Isaac Chamberlain, Mateus Masternak, Rozicki and Armend Xhoxhaj.

Billam-Smith has been pushed hard in all of those fights and while big opportunities might lie ahead for Billam-Smith, including the fight he covets with Jai Opetaia, a family man like Chris could do worse than visit the bank manager on Monday morning to see if he must do this anymore. He’s clearly one of the best in the world, but he has a bright future, too, whether he boxes or not.

BOURNEMOUTH, England – Cheavon Clarke came off the floor and survived several worrying moments to stop Jack Massey in a low-key thriller on the south coast of England.

Clarke was dropped and hurt badly in the fourth and by that point it looked like the fight belonged to Massey.

But Clarke fought through the haze and the subsequent leather that came his way and astonishingly finished Massey with a sustained assault in the seventh round.

“He’s a quality operator, I manifested it,” said Clarke.

“I don’t care [who’s next].”

Both came out swinging early and they swapped right hands in the second and each enjoyed success as the fight progressed, earning one another’s respect as the fight went on.

Massey was looking to lead with the right hand, or to certainly make it count, but it was Clarke’s right hand that caught Massey and caused him to hold at the end of the third.

In the fourth, however, the fight turned and Clarke crashed to the canvas and was badly shaken.

Massey rushed to finish and Clarke tried to hold but Massey found his way through with a left hook and Clarke managed to grapple to the bell.

The former Team GB Olympian came out aggressively in the fifth but posed less of a threat. His punches slowed and his feet were heavy. Massey started to control the range but he switched off and Clarke stepped in and buckled his legs with a right hand.

Clarke smiled when Massey started to target his body but he was rattled by another right hand before the session ended.

There was no sign of either submitting in the sixth. Massey fired off a right hand, Clarke hurled a left hook as they went back to work. Massey was often looking for the double jab right hand, and then throwing occasional body shots while Clarke was trying to close the range and fight in close.

Clarke turned the fight on its head when he put Massey over with a big right hand in the seventh and Massey was sent reeling by Clarke’s follow up assault, forcing the intervention of referee Bob Williams. Time of the stoppage was 1-24 of the session and Clarke breathed new life into his 12-2 (7 KOs) career. It was a good fight.

Massey drops to 23-4 (13 KOs).

For Zuffa Boxing’s first fight card, the crowd was littered with fighters, including Denzel Bentley, David Adeleye, Dan Azeez, Craig Richards, Joshua Buatsi, Adam Azim, Josh Kelly and Conor Benn while former heavyweight Scott Welch and super middleweight champion Steve Collins were also in the audience.

SHEFFIELD, England – Rising heavyweight prospect Leo Atang made light work of Fouad Shaili at Sheffield's Utilita Arena. 

The mismatch ended with Atang dispatching of the 40-year-old Shaili at 2:30 of the opener.

France’s Shaili looked petrified of the hard-hitting Atang from the start, twitching whenever Atang threatened to let his hands go. Shaili kept his hands high in an attempt to protect himself whenever Atang did let those hands go, but had little success. The fleshy Frenchman was nothing but a punchbag to the 19-year-old Atang and he dealt with him accordingly.

Atang smashed Shaili from pillar to post, with Shaili desperately trying to cover up. The punches were coming from all angles and the Frenchman could do nothing about it. Following a string of hard, unanswered punches late into the opener, the referee Keiran McCann had no choice but to call a halt to the contest.

Strangely, Shaili was disgusted with the decision, shrugging off McCann and parading around the ring with his hands in the air.

Shaili, now 5-5-2 (3 KOs), then dropped to the floor and proceeded to do push ups to demonstrate he could have continued. McCann’s decision, however, was the correct one.

“They’re doing that to try and look better,” Atang, now 7-0 (6 KOs), said of his foe post-fight. “If it was up to me I’d flatten them properly. When you’re not punching back, what do you expect?”

The promoter of the event, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, had no sympathy for Shaili and praised the young Atang’s development.

“I wish they’d let him finish him properly. That’s a durable opponent, he would have gotten flattened,” said Hearn. “This is an electric talent and a guy who is destroying guys like that … I’m as confident as ever that this guy is a future world champion.”

BOURNEMOUTH, England – Brighton southpaw Harvey Dykes was a big moral winner against Ivan Dychko, not just going the distance but splitting the judges against the big Kazakh.

Dychko, returning from a decision defeat to Jermaine Franklin, won by two cards of 97-92 while one judge favoured the stocky English southpaw by 95-94.

A short right hook caught Dykes on the way in and dropped him for the count in the opener but the second was interesting, with Dykes landing to the body, but by the third the big Englishman’s right eye was swelling

Don Charles-trained Dykes had some aggressive moments in the fifth but Dychko quelled his aggression and kept him honest with feints and his jab and while Dykes began to load up with some big shots he couldn’t find a home for them.

Dykes was not wanting for enthusiasm or courage but Dychko’s long levers kept him in front but those who were concerned Dychko might blow the burly Brighton man out needn’t have worried. Dykes wasn’t going anywhere and he did better than seeing out the 10 rounds, he earned his money and made Dychko earn his.

Dychko is now 16-1 (14 KOs). Dykes is 7-1-1.

Lee Cutler kept his end of the bargain for a rematch with Steve McKenna alive by defeating Bristol’s Aaron Sutton in three rounds.

Bournemouth’s “Chaos” dropped Sutton in the third and his shoulder came out and the fight was stopped. Cutler called out McKenna, who had previously swamped Portland, Maine’s Casey James Streeter, in a round, dropping his opponent once before overwhelming him in just 64 seconds.

Sam Hickey landed a devastating right hand to stop Todd Tompkins in shocking fashion.

Tomkins went down so hard that the crowd fell into a worried silence as paramedics entered the ring to aid the fallen Tomkins, who fell in sections.

Scotland’s Hickey is 5-0 (2 KOs) and that was a Knockout of the Year contender.

Birmingham’s Tompkins is now 4-1.

There were quick wins on the undercard for prospects Alex Macmillan and Leon Hughes.

Macmillan, a 22-year-old super welterweight, opened up the show with a two-round stoppage of the 7-3 Leo Fathome, landing right hands at will and dropping his opponent twice in the first and once in the third.

Macmillan in now 4-0 (3 KOs) and is trained by Josh Pritchard and part of the McGuigan’s Gym team. Afterwards, he said that with Zuffa Boxing and Dana White behind him, he was heading to the top.

Light heavyweight hope Hughes was in charge from the get go to improve to 5-0 (4 KOs), scoring a third-round stoppage of 8-5 Bulgarian Mario Vergiev. Hughes was disappointed Vergiev was stopped on his feet but had it not been for the intervention of referee Mark Bates after 52 seconds of the round, things would likely have been different.

Matchroom Boxing is looking to reschedule Dalton Smith’s maiden defense of his WBC junior welterweight title against Alberto Puello for October or November, BoxingScene understands.

Smith, 19-0 (14 KOs), was set to fight WBC mandatory challenger Puello, 24-1 (10 KOs), on June 6 at Utilita Arena in Sheffield, England, but an injury to Smith’s elbow postponed the bout.

The contest would have been a homecoming for Sheffield’s Smith who won his title on away turf when he emphatically stopped Subriel Matias at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center inside five rounds back in January to claim the famous green and gold belt.

Smith will now get another chance to defend his title in front of his home fans.

Smith’s promoter Matchroom Boxing are understood to be targeting October or November at the Utilita Arena.

Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn has shed some light on more potential contests that could take place in a '5v5' with Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions.

The two promotional outfits pitted five of their best fighters against one another back in 2024 with Warren walking out a clear winner, five-zip. There has been talk about running it back ever since.

Two years on it looks as though we will finally get to see it with talk of the same format returning or even 7v7 to take place this winter.

“Certainly, there have been discussions with myself and George Warren about that card; about a string of fights really,” Hearn confirmed to BoxingScene. “Seven or eight fights that have potential between Queensberry and Matchroom. We just want to run it back. I mean, the event last time, although the scoreboard wasn't great [for Matchroom], to watch it was incredible, and when we look now at the potential matchups I think it's an opportunity to do an even better night than we did last time."

Hearn confirmed that a rematch between WBO interim light heavyweight titleholder Callum Smith and Joshua Buatsi could top the card should Smith be promoted to full champion. He also listed other potential bouts that could feature.

“Denzel Bentley against George Liddard,” Hearn said. “Georgio Visioli against Louie O’Doherty. Lyndon Arthur against Ben Whittaker. Sam Noakes against Joe Cordina – obviously he's fighting Abdullah Mason. Johnny Fisher against Dillian Whyte. I mean it's never ending. There are literally 15 that we've outlined. So yeah lots to pick from.”

Andrew Moloney claimed the IBF junior bantamweight title with a majority decision victory over Willibaldo Garcia in Tokoname, Japan. The judges scored the bout 115-113 (twice) and 114-114 in favour of the Australian who, in victory, invited Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez to be his next dance partner.

“It’s been a long, hard road to get this world title, but we finally got it done,” Moloney told ESPN afterwards. “This means everything to me. My whole life has been dedicated to being a world champion.”

Garcia, 23-7-2 (13 KOs), applied pressure from the opening bell but Moloney, in control, countered masterfully to both body and head. Such was Moloney’s class, which was trumping the champion’s determined but crude forward motion, he took five of the first six rounds on all cards.

The Mexican, always pressuring, rallied from the seventh round, however. Moloney, 29-4 (18 KOs), suddenly looked a little bedraggled and, by the eighth, was nursing two cuts above his eyes.

It would take a rally in the 12^th and final round to swing things Moloney’s way again. He would take it on all three judges’ cards to eke out a narrow triumph.

“I had to dig deep in that final round,” Moloney said. “We pulled it out. I couldn’t be happier.”

As for what’s next, the new champion said: “I’d love the undisputed fight with ‘Bam’. That’s the biggest prize in boxing.”

Sikho Nqothole, who last week beat Charlie Edwards to secure mandatory status with the IBF, might have something to say about that.

In the main event of a card that also featured John Riel Casimero blasting out Luis Nery, Masamichi Yabuki, 20-4 (18 KOs), unanimously outpointed Mexico’s Rene Calixto, 24-2-1 (10 KOs), over 12 rounds to retain his IBF flyweight title. The scores were 118-108 (twice) and 116-110.

John Riel Casimero scored a fourth-round stoppage of Luis Nery, dropping him six times along the way in Tokoname, Japan.

Casimero, a known puncher, started the destruction within 30 seconds of the opening bell when a left hook felled the Mexican southpaw. Nery, who failed to make the agreed featherweight limit at the weigh-in, never really recovered as he was sent to the mat on two further occasions - again from left hooks - in the opening round. 

Nery, 37-3 (28 KOs), looked a long way from the fighter who gave Naoya Inoue so much trouble in 2024. He was down again in the second session, with Casimero's right mitt this time the instigator as Nery - dazed, desperate and careless - waded forward.

Casimero reminded Nery what he could do with his left hand late in the third round, another hook high on the head causing Nery to fall for the fifth time. 

The inevitable conclusion occurred 42 seconds into the fourth. Casimero, 37 years old and 36-5-1 (25 KOs), scored with right, whipped in a trailing left, Nery fell for the sixth time, and the referee, Nobuto Ikehara, had seen enough.

Afterwards, Casimero called for a shot at Inoue, the world junior featherweight champion.

Eddie Hearn and Leo Atang sat across one another in Costa Coffee and plotted the future of the young heavyweight contender.

While the setting might not have been the stuff of fairy tales, they shared the same dream and now Atang is 6-0 (5 KOs) still only 19 and he’s not been a pro for a year.

A good amateur, he will inevitably be talked about in the same breath as the other young guns in the division, such as Moses Itauma, but Atang is his own man and on his own path.

“That’s the main reason I’ve gone [pro] early, because it’s going to give me that chance to have these learning fights now,” Atang told BoxingScene. “So then, when I get to them bigger fights and I’m still at a fairly young age, I’ve almost already got that seasoned pro experience.”

Atang decided to turn over because he was too young to fulfil his ambitions on Team GB. He would have had to wait another year but he’d already been speaking to now-managers Sunny Edwards and Anto Fitzpatrick and then had to sit down with the promoters.

He already knew that he was going to be trained by Ashley Martin, his amateur coach, and he’d had a bad hand before so he brought in Tommy McCormack to look after them. Add in his Uncle Dave and the team was soon rounded out, he just needed Hearn.

“I first actually met him straight after the Worlds [amateur championships] when I was 17. Just for a chat, not to sign or anything like that, just to see if he could support me as an amateur going forward and then, obviously, fingers crossed, turn pro with him and stuff.”
Of course, Atang has seen the professional path Hearn has guided Anthony Joshua along, and that would not have hurt Hearn’s ambitions to sign the youngster.

“You know what he’s saying isn’t just lies because he’s done it before,” Atang added. “That almost like he’s got that proof, that backing there, which makes him believe.”

Joshua was older when he turned over. He was also an Olympic gold medallist who made quick strides as a pro. Atang is not in the same hurry.

“Going early, turning pro early has definitely made me think I’m going to take it slow, not rush anything, get up the ladder, eventually, win the title by title instead of just rushing,” he continued.

“I know I’ve got a lot to learn and a lot of growing to do as well.”

Despite his size, he doesn’t feel like his “man strength” has come yet – “I think it comes later in your life, doesn’t it?” – and he felt good actually getting six rounds under his belt last time against veteran journeyman Viktar Chvarkou, having previously blasted everyone out within three rounds.

“It ticked a lot of boxes. It was like a good learning experience,” he said. “There’s plenty of positives to take from it, but also a lot of things I can learn from it as well.

“It’s 18 minutes of footage I can watch back and we’ve been working on the gym so I can go out next [time] and do it a lot better.”

Atang doesn’t just want to be patient inside the ring and with his career progression, but he wants to soak up everything along the way.

“It sounds cheesy, but just to enjoy it, it goes fast,” he said of the best advice he’s been given to date. “You know who told me? It was AJ who told me that. I mean, a lot of people have said it, but that was the one which kind of stuck with me when I first met him and he said that. And I was like, ‘Oh wow, that’s cliche of course.’ But he was saying it’s going to go fast, you’ve got to enjoy it. It is true though. In a blink of an eye, nearly a year’s gone already in my pro career and I don’t know where the time’s gone.”

Does he have a direct line to AJ for advice?

“Nah, I’d probably do his head in,” he smiled.

But Atang is the latest in a long list of 21st century English heavyweights to emerge and he knows there is a pressure that comes with the lineage that started with Lennox Lewis, carried on through David Haye and then to the likes  of AJ, Tyson Fury, Daniel Dubois, Fabio Wardely and, so everyone believes, Itauma.

“It does give you pressure because you want to live up to what they have done and stuff,” Atang admitted.

“I put pressure on myself because I know where I want to be. I know the potential, if everything goes right, where I can get to. So I want to do everything right to get there.

“So that’s where the pressure comes from.”

Already that first meeting with Hearn in Costa feels like a long time ago.

“It was a bit of a last-minute thing,” Atang recalled.

“I literally just got back [from a tournament]. He was at a show. And then we met at a Costa around the corner. It wasn’t like to sign or anything. It was talking about if I was to go pro, what it would be. But also, he wasn't pushing it to go pro either. He was saying, ‘If you want to stay amateur, by all means, get the experience and then see if we can support you.’”

Atang faces Fouad Shaili on Saturday night in Sheffield. The 40-year-old is 5-4-2 (3 KOs) and Atang wants a stoppage after going the distance last time.

One wouldn’t recommend going for a coffee once the bell rings.

“It was a bit of a last-minute thing,” Atang recalled.

“I literally just got back [from a tournament]. He was at a show. And then we met at a Costa around the corner. It wasn’t like to sign or anything. It was like, talking about if I was to go pro, what it would be. But also, like, he wasn't pushing it to go pro either. He was saying, ‘If you want to stay amateur, by all means, get the experience and that and then see if we can support you.’”

Atang faces Fouad Shaili on Saturday night in Sheffield. The 40-year-old is 5-4-2 (3 KOs) and Atang wants a stoppage after going the distance last time.

One wouldn’t recommend going for a coffee once the bell rings.

The proposed battle between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury is being teed up to land in Britain in November, according to Eddie Hearn. America, however, could yet play host.

Contracts have finally been signed for the long-awaited showdown but there are still obstacles to clear. Joshua, 29-4 (26 KOs), must first defeat Kristian Prenga on July 25 and Fury, though nothing is yet finalised, is also hoping to have a fight in the interim. The former heavyweight champion, who returned to action in April with a lopsided 12-round points victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov to take his record to 35-2-1 (24 KOs), had previously indicated he would appear on Queensberry's August 1 event in Dublin.

Should both win their respective bouts they would set up a huge contest in November. The two Britons have teased their rivalry for nearly a decade.

Turki Alalshikh, the Saudi paymaster who persuaded both to at last put pen to paper, will have full control over where the contest takes place. Wembley Stadium would be the obvious pick considering the size of the event involving two Englishman, but Hearn revealed earlier this week that the US, due to Britain's erratic climate, is also in play for the bout.

“Of course the UK is a front runner, but it is in November as well,” Hearn told BoxingScene. “And the fight will take place wherever Turki Alalshikh chooses for the fight to take place, he's the one covering the bill so it's up to him. We would all love the fight to take place in the UK. If it's in America, no problem, but I think they're the two likely countries.”

Edward Vazquez, 20-3, (6 KOs), kept his world tile dreams alive by taking a razor-thin 10-round unanimous decision over Mexico’s Daniel Lugo (28-4-1, 19 KOs). 

Fighting in the junior lightweight 10-round main event at College Park Center at the University of Texas in Arlington, in an event presented by ProBox Promotions and Sampson Lewkowicz (Sampson Boxing), the two-time world title challenger Vazquez had a good first round via his superior work rate in the pocket, but Lugo came alive and flashed repeated combinations to win the next session. Lugo continued to seemingly get the better in the third, but Vazquez found his foe’s rhythm in round four and landed several eye-catching bombs from midrange. 

After a decent fifth for Vazquez, the deceptively powerful Lugo caught Vazquez with a sneaky right hand coming in that nearly dropped him and then battered the hometown fighter with power shots for the rest of the stanza. Somehow, Lugo came away from the dominant stanza with cuts over both his eyes.

A credit to his conditioning, Vazquez came out for the seventh fully recovered and caught Lugo with a catch-and-shoot left hook near the end of the closely fought round. A back-and-forth war of attrition was the theme of rounds eight and nine, as both men had their moments but both failed to take complete control.

Lugo came out firing determined haymakers in the final stanza, with several eye-catchers hitting the head of Vazquez, who was breathing noticeably heavy by fight’s end.

The scores were 96-94, 96-94 and 98-92 for Vazquez. Had Vazquez gone down, it would have been ruled a majority draw.

In the 10-round co-featured bout, Filipino middleweight puncher Weljon Mindoro, 17-0-1 (16 KOs), scored a knockdown midway, but was extended the full 10-round distance while winning a unanimous decision over Elias Espadas, 23-9-1 (16 KOs) of Mexico.

Fighting in explosive spurts, the stalking Mindoro hurt Espadas briefly with a left hook late in round two and did it again late in round three. With Espadas attempting a multi-punch rally against the ropes, Mindoro showed good defense and then knocked the Mexican down with a strong over-the-top right hand later in round four. 

Espadas came alive in rounds seven and eight and nine, landing several strong punches with both hands in combination to lump up Mindoro’s right eye.

Mindoro returned to his early-round gusto in round 10, but Espadas showed tremendous heart by standing his ground and returning with his own thunder. The pair finished the fight going toe-to-toe.

The scores were 96-93, 98-91 and 97-92, all for Mindoro.

To start the Contender Series part of the evening, lightweight Alan Garcia, 18-1 (12 KOs), won an entertaining eight-round split decision over veteran Bryan Jimenez, 18-4, (10 KOs).

Punching with authority from the outset, Jimenez hurt Garcia with an overhand left midway through round one and again later in the round with a right hook. Strong left hands, straight down the pipe, had Garcia seemingly wobbled on two separate occasions in round two as well. 

After a closer round three, Garcia landed a strong right hand of his own in a better round four and continued his comeback momentum in rounds five and six. By round seven, Garcia was having things mostly his own way against a fading Jiminez. Garcia landed a winging left hook to punctuate round eight and cap off the close, but comfortable victory. 

The scores of the well-fought bout were 77-75 Jimenez, 78-74 Garcia and a deciding tally of 78-74 Garcia. 

The night’s Future Stars series portion was headlined by a wild, foul-filled eight-round welterweight bout that saw Mexico’s Guillermo Keb, 15-0 (6 KOs), awarded a controversial sixth-round disqualification victory over James Bernadin, 13-5-1 (6 KOs), of Haiti. 

With the action filled with clinches, hitting behind the head, excessive holding, low blows and Keb bizarrely jumping into Bernardin’s arms and wrapping his legs around him twice, Referee Robert Chapa seemed to decide Bernardin was the root cause of the unrest midway through round two. He penalized Bernardin a point in round three for throwing Keb down (with Keb’s arm around his neck and legs wrapped around him in midair) and another for a low blow in round five.

An additional low blow by a frustrated Bernardin in round six prompted Chapa to declare the DQ at :51 seconds. 

Super welterweight prospect Malachi Ross (6-0, 5 KOs) quickly overwhelmed the more experienced Derrick Whitley (9-8-2) stopping him inside the first round. 

A strong left hook from Ross dropped Whitley hard and, although he got up, started the finishing sequence. Referee John Schorley waved it off at 2:35 of the opener.

Super bantamweight Figo Ramirez, 11-0-1, 5 KOs, of nearby Dallas scored a third-round TKO over Roberto Tapia, 5-4, 4 KOs.

Tapia started the fight moving around the ring while eating Ramirez jabs. The temperature changed in round two, as both 122-lbs fighters decided to stand their ground, although Ramirez continued to get the better of the action with his quicker, more varied attack. 

Mexico’s Tapia discovered body shots in round three and appeared to be coming on until Ramirez turned on the jets again and dropped him midway through the round for a count with a series of bad-intentioned haymakers. 

Smelling blood Ramirez went in for the stoppage and got it, as Referee Ellis Johnson mercifully waved it off at 2:57 of round three.

In the opening televised bout, southpaw super featherweight Damylo Scott, 2-0, won a four-round unanimous decision over Yamil Ortiz, 2-1.

Both fighters came out slugging from the opening round with Scott progressively gaining the advantage, round-by-round, by walking down and landing right hand bombs to the head of the upright Ortiz. Electing to stay on the ropes through much of the action, Ortiz landed some of his own punches but appeared to tire from the Scott’s relentless pressure attack. 

Ortiz suffered a bloody nose and a serious cut on the right eye in round two that elicited two separate checks from the ringside physician. Referee Ellis Johnson penalized Scott a point in round three for hitting behind the head. 

The scores were 39-36, 39-36 and 38-37.

DUBLIN, Ireland – Katie Taylor was emotional ahead of her final professional contest that will take place at the iconic Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland.

Taylor, a two weight undisputed champion, has transcended the women’s game since her professional debut in 2016. There were barely women’s fights on televised cards in Britain and Ireland before Taylor came along and brought a spotlight onto the sport that has allowed women’s boxing to grow. Her career has taken her around the world fighting in Wembley Stadium, Madison Square Garden, and now she will compete in her 27th and final contest back home in Ireland at the national stadium.

It has been a dream of Taylor’s since she turned professional but one that felt out of reach due to economical issues surrounding booking the venue. Now, however, there has been a breakthrough, and boxing will return to Croke Park on September 5 for the first time since Muhammad Ali fought Alvin "Blue" Lewis in 1972.

“We did it. Boxing is back at Croke Park,” said Taylor, 25-1 (6 KOs). “This was on my career bucket list, but this is beyond my wildest dreams. So we're actually here. We've got it all over the line. Here we are. And this is going to be the most iconic moment of my whole career. I have a chance to fight in Croke Park, our most iconic venue. It's a cathedral of Irish sport, really. And I also have a chance to become a three-time undisputed champion. How amazing is that? This is just the perfect way to end my career.”

Taylor will defend her WBA, WBO and IBF junior welterweight titles as well as compete for the vacant WBC title against France’s Flora Pili, 12-0 (2 KOs).

“I also wanted to be in a real fight with a real risk that gives you the drive no longer to go again,” Taylor said. “And I have that in Flora. This is a real fight. It's a very dangerous fight and I have to be at my very, very best.”

Her opponent seemed in awe that she had been chosen for such an event and historic moment.

“This is a huge opportunity. This is a dream come true to fight Katie Taylor,” Pili said. “I’ve followed Katie Taylor’s career, she is a legend of the sport. I want to come here and make a name for myself.”

The Croke Park dream that Taylor desired for her final outing was an economic challenge that plagued Taylor’s promoter Eddie Hearn for years. Hearn admitted that there were major stumbling boxes to get past, but he was inspired by the Irish great to deliver her the perfect swansong.

“Every time it got tough, every time the doors would be closed, every time the barriers would come up, we thought about Katie Taylor,” said Hearn. “What would she do? Well, she would never be denied. When the IOC told everybody women's boxing just wouldn't be in the Olympics, how easy to walk away at that moment, but no, she banged the door down. She refused to take no as an answer.

“And what we've seen over the last 10 years is just one of the most incredible journeys. And I can sit up here and I can tell you about all the great things and all the records that this will break. Yes, it will be the biggest ever moment in the history of female boxing. Yes, it will be the biggest crowd in the history of female boxing. Yes, it will be the biggest crowd in the history of female sport for an individual athlete. But it will also be one of the greatest sporting moments this country has ever seen. But more important than that, it'll be her moment.”

Dave Coldwell has spoken of the heartbreak in the dressing room after Lerrone Richards lost to Ramirez in Canada by the most contentious of decisions.

Richards dropped to 19-2 (4 KOs) and wept once he’d returned to the backstage area at the Montreal Casino.

The team were due to fly back from Canada to the UK on Friday night, with their shattered dreams left behind.

Coldwell felt the game plan was going to plan and was more than happy with how his fighter was performing.

“Yeah, in my head I was thinking, ‘He’s pissing it,’” Coldwell told BoxingScene. “It’s everything, literally everything that I asked him to do, he was so disciplined, he boxed so well, and he nullified everything that Ramirez had, Ramirez was having to make massive movements all the time when he wants to punch, and that’s what he was having to do, and he was missing, missing, and Lerrone was just brilliant.”
Even so, Coldwell told his fighter as the rounds ticked by that he would be well served with a grandstand finish on away soil.

“You know that you’re banking it [the rounds], but I’ve always said coming here, I never trusted the judges. I never trusted anything over here, and knew they were going to fucking screw him, and I said, when it came to the last round, I said to him as well, I’m feeling with nine rounds, eight, nine rounds up, like out of the 12, I believe he won eight, nine rounds, that’s how I’m feeling in myself at the time. In the corner, I’m very pro the opponent, because I don’t trust the judges, and I said to him, ‘You box absolutely brilliant,’ I said, ‘but do not fucking let them have this last round. I don’t want them to screw you on the draw because they gave him the last round. I don’t want anything like that.' I said, ‘Go out there and win the last round,’ and that was the only reason why I didn’t tell him to just fucking run in last round, because I thought we were miles in front, but I didn't trust the judges, and we still got stiffed. I can’t believe it.”

Coldwell is irate, but his forlorn fighter is devastated.

“Honestly, the kid’s the most polite, loveliest human being you’ll ever meet,” Coldwell said. “And he was polite with them, but he got in the changing rooms, and he just cried his eyes out. His career, he’s not earned any money out of the game. He’s not had the big, big fights. His career’s not gone how it should have done for him, and this was his ticket to get the big money, to get the belt, so that he’s got something to bargain with, get in with the big names. Whenever they talk about your light heavyweights, your Yarde’s, Buatsis, and all the big, exciting domestic light-heavyweight weight fighters that we’ve got, nobody ever mentions Lerrone’s name. This was his ticket to get that, to get into that mix, to get mentioned to, get the big fights, get the fans fights, and fucking make some money for his family. He’s got two kids, and he’s made nothing out of the game and this was his ticket and they fucking robbed him, and he just sobbed his heart out.

“They [leading fighters] didn’t want to fight him before that, and now he’s gone and performed like that, they’re definitely not going to fight him, and it’s wrong.”

Asked about the possibility of the rematch, Coldwell was coldly realistic.

“Ramirez, in the ring, straight away, as soon as he spoke to me in the ring, he got my hand, he put his head towards me, and he said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Richards won the fight,’ and then he apologised again. That’s Ramirez. I’ve got all the credit in the world for the kid, because he actually said those words to me. Russ Anber his own corner, they all knew, they all said that, that Lerrone won the fight, but he ain’t going to get a rematch out here, and even if he does, right, let’s be honest, he won the fight so clear, and they still rob you, how does he win it even cleaner, without knocking him out, so literally, you’ve got to come over and knock him out. It’s just fucking this part of the sport is… It’s just dog shit. It ruins kids’ families. He’s what, 32, 33, he’s been in the game since he was a kid, this is what it’s about, but he’s got kids himself, it’s about his family, it’s about changing people’s lives, that’s what we talk about, this sport does it, changes people’s lives, for good, for better, but when they’re robbing people like this, it’s what it does to their life going forward. There’s a massive difference financially.”

The social media fallout has been extreme and while there is some comfort in the for Team Richards, it doesn’t change or fix anything.

“It has meant a lot, it has meant a lot, but people are only saying it as they see it, and that’s how they always should do it,” Coldwell added. “It is great that we see that, but it doesn't change anything, though, as well, does it? It’s his ticket to the big fights, the big, big names and big, big prizes that’s been ripped up in front of him. That’s what it is, You need something where somebody sees that and goes, ‘Oh, do you know what, fucking hell, let’s right a wrong and give him another opportunity,’ but how often is that happening. When you’ve got somebody that’s got the ability that Lerrone’s got, where he’s got the ability to beat them all out there, who’s gonna voluntarily give him a fucking opportunity? I hope fans get behind him and a promoter does and he’ll land something big, because it deserves it, and even how he reacted afterwards, just, he’s just so polite and just thanking everyone for opportunity and everything, he’s just a nice kid and you just want good things happening to him.”

Aaron McKenna and Etinosa Oliha will fight for the vacant IBF middleweight title at 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland on Zuffa 10, making it the first sanctioning body world title fight that Zuffa Boxing will host.

Also set to appear on the bill, in chief support, is Callum Walsh, 16-0 (11 KOs), making his second Zuffa appearance when he takes on the wily Tyler Denny, 21-4-3, of Rowley Regis, England in a middleweight 10-rounder.

Italy's Oliha, 22-0 (10 KOs), is yet to prove himself at world level. The same might be said for McKenna, 20-0 (10 KOs), but the Los Angeles-based Irishman did achieve a lopsided 12-round points victory over the fading Liam Smith in his most recent bout 11 months ago on the undercard of the first clash between Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn.

McKenna filled the void left by Shakiel Thompson, who had been nominated by the IBF to tackle Oliha for the vacant belt only to get knocked out by Brad Pauls in a minor upset.

The Irishman was, however, a standout amateur with more than 150 wins in the vested code and multiple national championships.

MORENO VALLEY, California – Jose Ramirez knows how it looks. A former champion coming off two losses with nearly 200 rounds of professional mileage on his body can lead to ominous conclusions.

He’s done. Playing out the string. Ready to yield to the next generation.

Not yet, Ramirez said Thursday while emerging from a workout at the loaded Robert Garcia Boxing Academy.

Leaning on credibility that includes being a U.S. Olympian and former unified 140lbs champion whose lone losses are to undisputed champions Josh Taylor and Devin Haney along with then-unbeaten Arnold Barboza Jnr, Ramirez, 29-3 (18 KOs), reminded, “I’m only 33.”

The Central California fighter told BoxingScene he expects to find more comfort and perhaps a fountain-of-youth injection by moving up to welterweight.

He speculated a return date of August or September, saying an undercard spot on the discussed September 12 Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn card could be ideal.

The targeted opponent is fellow Golden Boy Promotions’ welterweight Alexis Rocha, 26-2-1 (16 KOs), BoxingScene has learned.

“Things are looking good. I’ve been here for seven weeks, training three-four days a week,” said Ramirez, who last fought on the May 2025 New York Times Square card and was beaten by Haney on wide scorecards. “Mentally, I’m locked in. I feel good, I feel strong and I’m excited to go up to 147, go out there and work my way back up to the top.”

Ramirez manager Rick Mirigian was earlier working on a proposal to bring U.K.’s Jack Catterall to Fresno, California, for a Ramirez bout, but Catterall landed a WBA secondary title shot and defeated Shakhram Giyasov last month to now set his sights on full champion Rolly Romero.

“We still want the big fights. I have the fan base to follow me anywhere I fight,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez has grown into an elder statesman of sorts among the talented Garcia gym that includes unified super-flyweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla, unbeaten junior-middleweight Vergil Ortiz Jnr and 140lbs title contenders Lindolfo Delgado and Oscar Duarte.

“A lot of the young pros look up to me, see me still train and they ask questions. It’s great. This gym here is very family oriented,” he said. “We back each other up. Everybody works hard, and we push each other to train hard. Robert and the whole team … they’ve done a great job.”

Ramirez is looking forward to fighting in a full arena for the first time in more than two years when he returns.

He foresees reverting to his prime, when he successfully defended his 140lbs belt four times and memorably stopped Texas’ Maurice Hooker in his home state to stand as a unified champion in 2019.

“One of my biggest mistakes was fighting at 140 for way too long,” he said. “But right now my mindset is good. I feel happy, relaxed and confident. I’m sparring some middleweights and I feel very strong.

“I’ve been blessed in my career. I’m not fighting for money. I’m fighting for legacy now and this is my last chapter, and hopefully it’s a long and good one.” 

Lerrone Richards has spoken of his heartbreak following his highly controversial points loss to Albert Ramirez in Montreal, Canada.

Richards, 19-2 (4 KOs), boxed excellently from the start, negating the threat from the heavily favored Ramirez, who was defending the WBA interim light heavyweight belt.

At the end, though, two judges liked Ramirez via scores of 115-113. Only one score, 116-112 to Richards, seemed to tell the story of a fight that had been postponed at the 11th hour in February.

"What can I say - I am truly disappointed with the decision," Richards wrote on social media.

"After the fight was called off in February, and two back-to-back hard training camps and time away from my two beautiful sons and family, and the heavy financial commitments required to train for a world-level fight in Canada, I was absolutely shocked by the decision last night.

"I won that fight, and I am yet to speak to someone who doesn't agree. After the fight a lot of the crowd came up to me saying I won the fight.

"In the fight, I was in total control throughout, outboxing, out-landing and out-fighting my opponent, during the whole duration of the fight.

"I put everything into this performance and camp that preceded it and I am truly gutted to say the least to be coming home without the belt.

"I believe my performance showed that I belong at world level, and I feel I deserve a next opportunity to win a world title.

"I would like to say thank you to my team, as the training camps went perfectly, and I felt so confident and prepared for this fight.

"Onwards and upwards to the next opportunity: I proved I belong at this level and I will continue to work hard to become world champion again."

MORENO VALLEY, California – All eyes will soon be on Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, as the gifted unified junior bantamweight champion seeks a third belt June 13 in Arizona against WBA secondary bantamweight champion Antonio Vargas.

With a full house expected at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, and the global anticipation building that Rodriguez, 23-0 (16 KOs), is bound to next fight Naoya Inoue, Japan’s unbeaten four-division champion and pound-for-pound king, the San Antonio, Texas, fighter will draw the boxing equivalent of the attention his hometown Spurs’ appearance is attracting in the NBA Finals.

In typical low-key manner while talking to BoxingScene following his Thursday workout at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy, Rodriguez seemed unmoved by the expected onslaught of interest coming his way.

What was most striking from the afternoon session was how affixed Rodriguez is on the everyday tasks, showcasing the laser-focused discipline performed by those at the top of the sport.

Whether it was the ferocity of his round-ending punches on the heavy bag or the precision of his shots on the lower half of the miniature speed bag, Rodriguez, 26, made clear he’s taken no shortcuts through the duration of this camp.

“That’s what I’m here to do, that’s why I come all the way here to Riverside from San Antonio,” Rodriguez said. “I’m not going to half-ass my workouts. I’m going to work each time I step into this gym.

“I’m getting better each time with the sparring I’m getting each camp. I’ll be ready to go fight night.”

The deeply religious Vargas, 19-1-1 (11 KOs), from Florida, said on the heels of surviving a hurtful knockdown versus Winston Guerrero in 2024, and fighting Japan’s Daigo Higa to a July draw in Japan, that he feels destined for the opportunity to meet Rodriguez.

Boxing observers know it will take something almost divine for 16/1 betting underdog Vargas to topple Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said he’s analyzed a few Vargas highlights, and has let trainer Garcia script the fight plan.

“I trust my team. I’m ready to go out and perform. There’s another belt on the line. The stakes are higher, but I’m ready to go,” Rodriguez said. “I like to just go out the first couple rounds and see what they bring to the table. You can go out and watch all the film in the world, and he can change his style up fight night. That’s why I do no film studying of my opponents, and just go out there to see what they bring.”

Rodriguez said he doesn’t feel obligated to annihilate Vargas given his position as prohibitive favorite with so many expecting a destructive showing to clinch the Inoue showdown.

“I just need to do what I need to each time I step inside the ring, and that’s win. That’s the main goal,” Rodriguez said. “A lot of people might not know who Antonio Vargas is, but my team and I know. He’s an Olympian, a world champion. We’re not taking it lightly at all. We’re here inside the gym giving it 100 per cent every day.”

That’s obvious.

Thursday’s gym session was overseen by so few: Garcia’s son, a conditioning coach and – from a distance – Rodriguez’s father.

The phrase that came to mind was John Wooden’s, “The true measure of your character is what you do when no one is watching.”

Rodriguez said, “it adds more fuel to the fire” knowing the type of electric audience he’s headed to in what will be his fourth title fight in the Greater Phoenix area.

“The fan base I’ve grown up before… it’s like my second home, Glendale and Phoenix,” he said. “I’ve had some of my biggest wins there, and the fact they appreciate me as much as I appreciate their state, I feel the love each time.”

As for the Inoue talk, Rodriguez said he awoke early to watch Inoue’s convincing victory over former unbeaten bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani last month.

“It was a great fight, I had Inoue up eight rounds to four. Inoue’s the pound-for-pound No. 1. He went out there and showed it,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez is widely in the top five of most pound-for-pound polls, and this victory can move him to test Inoue’s ranking man to man – for all the world to see.