Boxing News

Contending there was an unwritten but implied agreement for Teofimo Lopez to fight Devin Haney if anything went wrong for Ryan Garcia, Haney’s father, manager and trainer Bill Haney is pressing for Lopez to fulfil his duty and agree to a match pitting a pair of two-division champions.

“It wasn't in writing, but it was understood,” Haney told BoxingScene. “It was understood that we talked about it, and that’s what [Saudi Arabia boxing financier] Turki [Alalshikh] is doing right now. They reached out to [Team Lopez] to make the fight happen. But they’re quiet. So guess what – I reached out to you.”

Since his WBO 140lbs title victory over the previously unbeaten Arnold Barboza Jnr on May 2, that immediately preceded Haney’s evasive triumph over the former 140lbs unified champion Jose Ramirez at New York’s Times Square, Brooklyn’s Lopez 22-1 (13 KOs) has called out the unified welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis and also referred to the four-division champion Terence Crawford with a racial epithet.

“What's wrong with them?” Bill Haney asked. “Why do they act like Devin didn’t win his fight – that Devin didn’t shut out Jose Ramirez? All the chatter is over with and guess what? Devin has beat seven world champions – not secondary world champions. He beat seven of them at 26 years old; is the youngest to do it. He is the most accomplished fighter out there, right? And he's with Turki and Ring Magazine.

“So why would Teofimo Lopez come out and act like he’s looking for ‘Boots’? I thought you was looking for the big-money fight? That's what you complained about your whole career – that you wasn't able to earn the right and now you go into the racist bag to draw attention, but now there's nowhere where else to run and no place else to hide. I wanna know what you've been scared of. This is the ultimate grudge match and y'all running from it.”

The former lightweight and 140lbs champion Haney 32-0 (15 KOs) was subjected to a wealth of criticism for his performance against the fading Ramirez. Many observers saw it as an indictment of the former champion being shaken by his fight in 2024 with Garcia when he suffered three knockdowns in a fight that became a no contest when Garcia later tested positive for the banned performance-enhancing drug ostarine.

Haney is regardless intent to rush back to another significant bout given that a planned rematch against Garcia in the autumn has been perhaps permanently delayed by Garcia’s loss via decision to the former 140lbs champion Rolando “Rolly” Romero in the main event on May 2.

“Ryan Garcia – he's uncertain right now and that's what happens when you don't have the additives and preservatives that you had in there against Devin Haney,” Bill Haney said. “You end up with uncertainty, and until he gets back in the ring with Devin and clean, then it will forever haunt him. He will never know who he really is in the ring as a fighter. We know what we can do and we know what we've overcome. Devin Haney is the key for Ryan Garcia to get over any other demons that's haunting him, you know, because he could've had an off night against Rolly Romero. but he had a night that will forever haunt him against Devin Haney because he cheated us and won. That no-contest will forever haunt him.”

Garcia’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya recently told BoxingScene his fighters will never again fight Haney, because he’s proven in the Ramirez fight he will run from activity and engagement.

Bill Haney has countered that some fights are won with a “West Coast offense”, and others are won by defense.

“Devin told me he will beat Teofimo for all the disrespect he has uttered, to tell him, ‘Take it back’ every round and take back every word he’s said disrespecting the culture,” Bill Haney said. “He knows Devin is going to be a punishment. There will be no more Teofimo Lopez; just like there’s been no more JoJo Diaz; [Vasiliy] Lomachenko; [Jorge] Linares; Regis Prograis [other beaten opponents and former champions beaten by Haney).

“That’s what we’ve done and that comes from Bill Haney. [Lopez is] picking people and barking up the wrong tree.”

Bill Haney insists Lopez-Haney is a far more lucrative fight than Lopez-Ennis.

“I know [Lopez] said ‘No’ the other time it was on the table,” Bill Haney said. “Now that it is officially on the table again, he's quiet or maybe [he came] out and said something racist as a flex, but Devin Haney is on his ass.”

The elder Haney encourages Lopez to look wisely at who stands as his most formidable and intriguing next opponent.

“I'll tell him to look at the Rolls-Royce, look at the Maybach – he’s seen it; he seen the Mercedes 4x4 in New York that you know cost a few hundred thousand,” Bill Haney said. “He watched him get out of it in New York. Don't act like you didn’t watch, and don't act like that you’re not worried about the money.

“Don't ever again in life complain about money or complain about you not having an opportunity to be the fighter that’s been there. We’ve beat pound-for-pound guys; we’ve traveled across all the water; we got all those things right; show different styles; we shut motherfuckers down. We did everything and that's a clear indication of why Lopez wants to play these games, but let me tell you one thing about Devin: we've always been the hunters. We're not the hunted.

“He's not dodging us; he’s exposing himself and exposing how good Devin is.”

Lopez didn’t immediately respond to text messages sent to him by BoxingScene.

Bill Haney also said that his son can be ready to fight as early as August.

Devin Haney is training to recover for a bout that could occur as early as August, his father also said.

“It's the ultimate grudge match that has to happen and there's no better person that I have faith in than Turki Alalshikh to deliver this, because if Turki can't deliver this, then we gotta pray to God because God will be the only person right that we can go to after Turki,” he said.

“I’ve instructed Devin and Devin wants every round he's in the corner with Teofimo Lopez to tell him to, ‘Take it back; take it back’. Take the word back; take it back out. I want him to beat him and never say that ‘N word’ ever again in his life.

“He won't mention nothing. He won't even use the letter ‘N’ ever again in his life after death and get through with all the shit that he’s done in the past with a grudge match like this. It’s personal.

“Devin told me he will beat Teofimo for all the disrespect he has uttered, to tell him every round and take back every word he’s said disrespecting the cultures. He knows Devin is going to a punishment.”

Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Lamont Roach Jnr are finally ready to run it back.

BoxingScene has confirmed that their WBA lightweight title fight rematch is set to headline an August 16 PBC on Prime Video Pay-Per-View event. TGB Promotions has a hold on T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the date, though the final location remains undetermined as this goes to publication.

Brunch Boxing’s Matthew “Bellini” Brown was the first to report the date for their second act.  

Davis, 30-0-1 (28 KOs), and Roach, 25-1-2 (10 KOs), fought to a majority draw on March 1 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

The venue was previously considered to host the rematch when it was originally budgeted to take place in mid-to-late June. Las Vegas is now believed to be the likely destination, whether at T-Mobile Arena or the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

BoxingScene has also learned that the event is one of at least three premium shows planned by PBC in the coming months. 

As previously reported, a July 19 date is in play for the widely discussed Mario Barrios-Manny Pacquiao WBC welterweight title fight. Additionally, efforts are being made to firm up an official challenger for two-division and reigning WBC light heavyweight titlist David Benavidez, 30-0 (24 KOs), atop a show targeted for October or November.

Davis-Roach I was mired in controversy, though the final scores – 115-113 Davis, 114-114 and 114-114 – were largely reflective of what took place in the ring. A case was made that Roach deserved the nod, though the decision was not considered a robbery among most objective observers. 

Where Roach fell prey to questionable officiating was during a ninth-round sequence that should have altered the direction for the remainder of the fight. 

Roach – who hails from the greater Washington D.C. area – connected with a jab midway through the ninth round. Baltimore’s Davis turned to look at referee Steve Willis before moving in the opposite direction to take a knee. 

Not only was a knockdown never called during the sequence, but Davis was permitted to call his own timeout to have co-trainer Calvin Ford wipe what he described as hair chemicals that dripped into his eye and temporarily impacted his vision.

The extent of Willis’ discipline was severely limited to a tongue lashing at close quarters. Davis was let off easy, as he could have been disqualified for his actions – cornermen are not permitted on the ring apron during the course of a round unless summoned by a ring official. 

Additionally, the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) was unable to utilize instant replay reportedly due to a failure to secure footage from the Prime Video production truck prior to the start of the 10th round. 

All those elements contributed to Roach losing out on a 10-8 round. Davis was awarded a 10-9 score on two of the three official cards. 

Roach – who moved up from junior lightweight, where he holds the WBA title – was unable to fully capitalize on the moment and settled for a moral victory in the end by holding Davis to a draw. The final verdict was booed by the capacity crowd of 19,500, and the longshot underdog saw his stock soar as a result.

That said, Roach fully intends to have his hand raised in the forthcoming rematch. 

“Man, I’m so excited about this … it’s part two, and it’s time to boogie once again,” Roach told BoxingScene and ProBox TV of the contractually-bound rematch itself, though he not in a position to validate the reported date. 

Both fighters were prepared to move forward with a second fight, although Roach’s side filed a formal protest for the abovementioned in-ring concerns. The matter was reviewed by the NYSAC, who acknowledged the blown knockdown call but ultimately decided to uphold the original verdict. 

Davis has been trained throughout his career by Ford, but it was veteran cornerman Barry Hunter who took the lead for this past camp and on fight night. The unbeaten two-division titlist has yet to comment on the timing of the rematch, never mind who will take the lead for this camp. 

That part is of no concern to his rival.  

“Whoever he may have in his corner might try to make adjustments from the first fight and do certain things,” said Roach, who is guided by his father, Lamont Roach Snr. “But we’re going to be ready to tackle the issue of taking the belt from the champ.

“Some of the close rounds [in the first fight] were scored unnecessarily for him when he wasn’t really doing anything. We’re going to come back with some new things, too. My tool bag’s big. I’m going to show versatility. I’m going to show strength, endurance and the will of a warrior.” 

Roach entered the first fight essentially playing with house money. The onus was on Davis, a -1600 favorite at the time, to show up and show out. Instead, the box-office star and once-universally regarded pound-for-pound entrant was forced to endure his first career blemish, even if not an outright defeat. 

“Those 12 rounds proved I already knew who he was from before,” said Roach, who previously faced Davis twice in the amateurs. “There was a mental advantage from when the fight was first announced. I was already on a high horse, already had a chip on my shoulder. What’s driving me is I want to be the best. 

“[Davis] has been a pound-for-pound talent for the last few couple years. You guys have seen my skills now. I’m never going to knock his skills, never going to knock his ability, but I want to be amongst the tops, too. My performance in the rematch will show you guys that I belong in those conversations, and when I win, I cannot wait to celebrate and tell everyone, ‘I told you so.’”

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

With Edgar Berlanga and Hamzah Sheeraz each in need of a big statement win, both fighters were on the offensive at Thursday’s press conference in New York City.

The two fighters, who will clash on July 12 at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York, traded insults and made big promises heading into their super middleweight bout.

Both fighters were eager to relitigate the past – just not their own. 

Berlanga, 23-1 (18 KOs), took a shot at Sheeraz’s last fight, a split draw against Carlos Adames for the WBC middleweight title in February.

“You got a gift the last fight. Even your trainer knew that you lost the fight,” Berlanga said. 

Sheeraz, the British-born fighter who is stepping up to 168lbs for this match, was quick to shoot back.

“If we’re talking about the past, you’re Canelo’s bitch,” Sheeraz said, a reference to Berlanga’s unanimous decision loss to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last September.

Sheeraz, 21-0-1 (17 KOs), conceded that some are overlooking his chances heading into the fight based off of his last outing. Sheeraz reportedly injured his left hand in the third round of the fight and was outworked down the stretch by the incumbent titleholder.

Since then, Sheeraz has linked up with trainer Andy Lee, who has been on a hot streak of late, leading Joseph Parker and Ben Whittaker to big wins.

“I feel like this fight, for the first time in my career, I’m being underestimated, and I get it because in boxing you’re only as good as your last performance. But I’m telling you right now, July 12, when I get the win, the Hamzah Sheeraz hype train will be back on again,” said Sheeraz.

Berlanga, who rebounded in March with a first-round stoppage of Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz in Orlando, took aim at Lee. Berlanga reminded him of the one-sided victory he scored over another of Lee’s fighters, Jason Quigley, back in 2023, and vowed to do the same to Sheeraz.

“You already know what time it is. I’m knocking this motherfucker out. We’re in New York, this is my backyard,” said Berlanga, a New York-raised, Florida-based boxer of Puerto Rican descent. “He says Sheeraz is gonna knock me out, but not even his own fighter believes that. At the end of the day we’re here, he says we’re overlooking him, but I don’t overlook no fighter. 

“We’re looking to hurt him,” Berlanga said. “I’m gonna break every bone in this n---a’s face. I wanna do what I do best: win.”

The press conference at times descended into juvenile insults, with Sheeraz calling Berlanga a “sausage,” and Berlanga countering back by calling Sheeraz “a dick eater.” 

But both fighters knew the stakes at play for this fight. The undisputed super middleweight championship is being contested on a Ring Magazine boxing event on September 12, with Canelo Alvarez set to defend against Terence Crawford in Las Vegas. Berlanga has been vocal about wanting a rematch, stating that Mexican fans he had encountered in Florida had been inquiring about it, while Sheeraz would make for a fresh face for the Mexican star to mix it up with.

For either fighter to be considered for any fight of any significance, this is a must-win match.

“He’s a basic fighter,” Berlanga said of Sheeraz. “I’ve seen the best out there. I’ve been boxing since I’m six years old. And I’m still a sponge, I got 20-something years boxing, so whatever he brings, that don’t mean nothing. 

“He’ll fuck around and be the 18th first-round knockout.”

Sheeraz was equally confident about his own chances in the fight.

“I’ll go out there, throw a few jabs, land a right hand straight on the chin and knock him the fuck out,” said Sheeraz.

On the board that is her professional career Chantelle Cameron could see mostly snakes and very few ladders. All the ladders she had once seen had now been pulled up and even the ones still visible were leading to places she was no longer sure she wanted to go.

In fact, were it not for Jake Paul’s MVP (Most Valuable Promotions) dropping a ladder down exactly when it was needed, Cameron, now 34, admits she may have called it a day. Rather than go back to square one, she would have simply got out while the going was still relatively good and blamed her somewhat premature retirement on her inability to remain motivated when opportunities were in short supply. 

“I was worrying,” she admitted to Boxing Scene. “The Queensberry [Promotions] deal was coming to an end and I had one fight left with them. They were paying me very well – there’s no complaints there – but I knew that deal wouldn’t have happened again. So I was considering that as my last fight. I’d had some great fights and some great paydays and to go back to a deal that wasn’t as sufficient didn’t appeal to me. I wouldn’t have needed to box because I’ve been paid well enough that I can walk away.”

Given her only professional loss to date came against Katie Taylor, it is fair to say that Cameron’s slow walk away from the sport would have been performed with a heavy heart. Not only that, when one considers that Cameron’s 2023 loss to Taylor was a revenge win for Taylor, and that the pair are currently tied 1-1 in the series, any thoughts pertaining to retirement become all the more maddening.  

Not for the want of trying, Cameron, a former world super-lightweight champion, has so far failed to drag Taylor back into the ring for a third fight and has become increasingly disillusioned with both the sport and her career as a result. Even though she has continued winning – outpointing Elhem Mekhaled and Patricia Berghult last year – Cameron has struggled replicating the highs of those two Taylor fights and struggled, more importantly, to secure the sort of fights to potentially take her back there.  

“I had great fights [with Queensberry], and I’m very grateful I got those opportunities, but they weren’t really the fights I wanted,” Cameron said. “Without wanting to sound arrogant, it’s kind of hard to get up for those kinds of fights when you know you want the bigger names and the bigger fights. I was glad I got the wins but it didn’t really excite me and I don’t think I was able to give what I wanted to give to Queensberry, which were top, top, contender fights. It was very frustrating for me. 

“The year before I was undisputed, I was fighting Katie Taylor twice, and I was right at the very top. Then I had a massive, massive drop and, to be honest, I got fed humble pie. I was humbled hugely. It was definitely a mental challenge for me. 

“I just got a bit stuck because I wanted the [Katie Taylor] trilogy fight. We are one win apiece and the trilogy should have happened, but it never did. There’s only one person to blame for that and it’s not me. I made it very clear that I was willing to give her everything she wanted and take a pay cut to get that fight done. But it just didn’t happen and that’s the way it goes sometimes. To be fair, it was a pretty shit year last year. But at least now I’m with MVP.”

Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions has been credited with offering a platform and support to women’s boxing at a time when other promoters – so-called traditional boxing promoters – have started finding it difficult to either pay what the top women want or simply provide them with dates. Besides promoting Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano, which did huge numbers on Netflix, MVP has also acquired a flurry of other elite females, including Cameron and Savannah Marshall, whose signing was announced on Monday.

“My team has been doing a lot of negotiating and Queensberry helped with the deal as well,” said Cameron. “It was very amicable and I’m very grateful to them for helping us get the deal done. 

“It was just unfortunate I couldn’t get them the fights they wanted and I wanted. The opponents just weren’t there at the time and the fights weren’t available. But they were brilliant. 

“I think MVP will now get the big fights for me and the big names will want to be on that platform. If you’re a woman, it’s where you want to be at the minute. It’s the platform you want.”

[=img:20540::=]

Already Cameron has a date and an opponent for her next fight, the details of which will be announced very soon. It is a fight for which she will have no difficulty finding motivation, she says, and one that will soothe some of the frustration she experienced in 2024.  

“It was so annoying because I had nowhere to go,” she said of that time. “I was just going through the motions and you can see that in my performances. It was just a rubbish year. I didn’t enjoy the fights and all I wanted was to get revenge on Katie. I’d just suffered a loss and Katie is in the ring talking about a trilogy fight and ‘doing it for women’s boxing’ and I thought that it would happen. Before the Serrano fight, she then said she wanted an easier fight, so the reason for not fighting me was that she wanted to do a mandatory defence and have a so-called easier fight. Good on them, Katie and Amanda, for earning all that money – it’s unbelievable money – but the reality is, she was never going to fight me, regardless of money.”

If it’s true that you never forget your first, it must be even more difficult to forget it when that first, in Cameron’s case, happened to be Katie Taylor in Dublin. The sounds will surely stay with you and so will the disappointment. 

“They always say you find out a lot when you suffer your first loss, and Jesus, I really did,” Cameron said. “I found out stuff about the people around me, and how people give up on you. It’s quite brutal really. When you’re winning, your changing room is full. But when you lose, you come back and it’s empty. 

“Also, you have the brutality of the fans. You have one loss and you’re ‘rubbish’ and you should retire. You get loads of hate. It wasn’t even like I got battered. But all I was reading were these opinions from people about how I’d been ‘battered’ and was now ‘rubbish’. It’s crazy. You have to have tough skin. 

“Now I don’t care about all that stuff. My biggest fear was losing and now that I have taken that loss, what do I have to worry about? My undefeated record has been damaged and I can’t change that, so I’ve got nothing to worry about. It’s boxing. It’s a sport. I’m just going to enjoy it now; the pressure is off my shoulders. 

“Also, it’s not like I lost to a nobody. I lost to one of the very best. Then, when she did beat me, she ran away. So I can look at it in a positive way.”

That Taylor ultimately “ran away” from Cameron towards a lucrative fight against Amanda Serrano on Netflix is a bitter pill to swallow but one Cameron swallowed nonetheless. She understands it, in other words. She even understands why Taylor and Serrano are doing it all over again on July 11 in New York, despite the fact Taylor has twice beaten the Puerto Rican. 

“It genuinely doesn’t annoy me,” said Cameron. “She’s going to earn massive money again and I have also now accepted the fact that Katie doesn’t want to fight me. She knows that I have already beaten her and she’d rather fight someone she has beaten twice than fight the person who beat her. I’m taking that as a compliment. 

“If it was me, I would want to fight someone if I’m one win apiece with them. I would want to settle the score. But I can’t speak for someone else and how they want to carry on with their career.”

Cameron added: “They’ve put on great fights, Katie and Amanda, but I don’t really see the point of this third one. It’s 2-0 and I personally think Amanda has been quite hard done by in both fights. This one will be another close one, but I don’t know who will win. In the last two fights, when you think Amanda has got the decision, they give it the other way. So I wouldn’t be able to judge this next one. You don’t know which way they’ll go.”

Likewise, Cameron, now 20-1 (8), for a while hasn’t known which way to go. At one point she assumed a third fight with Taylor, again in Ireland, was the only way to go, but soon realised this was unlikely and that for any fight to happen both parties had to be willing to make it happen. Then, all of a sudden, she had nowhere to go. “Stuck,” she says, and she is right. She was stuck on the sidelines, she was stuck watching others in fights she wanted for herself, and she was stuck trying to work out how a series as finely poised as hers with Taylor was now in danger of never seeing a resolution. 

“The reality is, Katie may not even win her next fight,” Cameron said. “If she does, great, maybe she’ll want to fight me next. Or maybe she doesn’t want to lose again. I’ve just got to see how it all pans out. But it doesn’t really faze me. Obviously, I’d love to become undisputed [super-lightweight champion] again, but I can’t make these fights happen if the opponent doesn’t want to fight me. 

“My first fight with Katie was completely different to the second one. Her tactics were good in the rematch; she shut me down. But the referee should have penalised her a bit. She got away with all sorts. I think it ruined the fight and made it a scrappy fight. 

“If we had a third fight, though, I would obviously be aware of that and have the chance to make adjustments of my own. That’s why it would be intriguing. That’s why the trilogy makes a lot of sense.”

Indeed, it does. Yet, in boxing, the things that make sense are often secondary to the things that make money. 

 

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Jake Paul’s career-long vision has been to defy all expectations and fight to become a world champion.

The closest he will have stepped toward completing that mission arrives on the night of June 28, when he will meet former middleweight titleholder Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr in the main event of a card featuring unified cruiserweight belt holder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez in the co-main event.

Paul, 11-1 (7 KOs), and Chavez, 54-6-1 (34 KOs), who will fight in a cruiserweight bout scheduled for 10 rounds, met reporters Wednesday at the Avalon Theater, where they engaged in an entertaining verbal back-and-forth, with Paul promising to do what Saul “Canelo” Alvarez couldn’t and knock out Chavez Jnr, whose father – the Mexican legend – also attended and participated in the banter.

“Who have you knocked out?” Chavez Jnr asked, trolling Paul’s list of victims, which includes a retired NBA player and UFC veterans Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren.

“Mike Tyson didn’t throw a punch,” sneered Chavez Snr, referring to Paul’s November victory and record-breaking viewership on Netflix. “The way [Chavez Jnr] is training right now, there is no way, no how that Jake Paul can beat my son.”

Yet Paul told BoxingScene on stage that a destructive performance of Chavez Jnr at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on DAZN will be the final threshold he needs to prove himself fit for a title shot.

“I’m ready now. This is just a stepping stone. I see him as a speed bump,” Paul said. “I know what I’m capable of, and that’s the mindset you have to have. I know I’m the greatest. I know I’m a champion even before I arrive to that level, so [Ramirez] can get it whenever.”

While Paul said he is also in touch with WBC cruiserweight titlist Badou Jack, unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and lightweight titleholder Gervonta Davis for future fights – Davis’ would be an exhibition – the Ramirez showdown is most logical considering their mutual involvement on this card.

The left-handed Ramirez, 47-1 (30 KOs), will meet Cuba’s former IBF cruiserweight belt holder Yuniel Dorticos, 27-2 (25 KOs), on the Anaheim card.

Should Ramirez defeat the “K.O. Doctor,” he agreed he would be hard-pressed to find a better opponent than Paul, who sold nearly 60,000 tickets at AT&T Stadium and generated 108 million views on Netflix for the Tyson bout.

“I have to take care of the business of Dorticos first,” Ramirez said. “Then, whoever. It don’t matter.”

He said he’s “grateful” to be on a quality card even though he is stepping away from his recent main-event designation.

Paul was negotiating for another title fight this year, recalling being positioned during February talks to fight undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. Those plans fell through when Alvarez took a lackluster May 3 fight in Saudi Arabia versus Cuba’s William Scull, winning by decision.

Paul guaranteed his fight with Chavez Jnr will be more entertaining than Alvarez’s recent and coming fight in September, against four-division champion Terence Crawford.

“[Alvarez] is boring, guys. I threw more punches in eight two-minute rounds against Tyson than he did in a 12-round fight,” Paul said. “I would’ve beat Canelo. He’s over the hill. This [fight] has more hype around it. We’ve seen [Alvarez’s and Crawford’s] boring-ass fights. They’re probably going to dance for 12 rounds.”

Missing out on the Alvarez opportunity was a lesson to Paul.  

“I’m used to boxing politics – the ebbs and flows, fights falling through,” Paul said. “I’ve changed my opponent and I have to stay locked in no matter where or when the fight is.”

It moved him to work with Ramirez promoter Oscar De La Hoya to make a card that will heighten the anticipation and better secure a title showdown.

“It was a collaboration … with our ideas of lining up certain opponents to become a world champion,” Paul said. 

While Chavez Jnr, 39, has gained a well-deserved reputation for being an undisciplined fighter who has endured rehab battles and even lost a boxing match to former UFC champion Anderson Silva – whom Paul defeated – he apparently is training seriously in Southern California and said he wants to support boxing by being the man to finish Paul’s unexpected (and sometimes criticized) rise in the sport from his role as a YouTuber.

“I’m going to shock the world again and prove how powerful I am,” Paul said. “I don’t want any excuses. They say he’s training hard. They say he’s looking good. Good. I’m going to expose him. When he feels those first punches, he’s going to want to quit and go back to his stool.

“I always said I’m going to fight big people in high-money fights. I’m taking on tougher opponents [as I go].”

That means former super middleweight titleholder Ramirez would be next in victory.

“This is what I came here to do, become world champion and create one of the greatest sports stories the world has ever seen,” Paul said. “I’m here to inspire the next generation and do what no one has ever done in the hardest sport in the world, which is boxing.”

Paul said he’s not concerned about potential hostile environs fighting a Mexican in Southern California.

“The fans have wanted to see this, and I want to continue to elevate and rise,” Paul said of choosing Chavez Jnr. “They love me more than this guy [Chavez Jnr]. Mexico doesn’t even claim him. I’m going to show him who the real Mexican warrior is.”

Paul also turned to his opponent at one point and said, “There’s two things you can’t beat: me and your drug addiction.”

Chavez Jnr answered, “Paul has never fought anyone like me. Mike Tyson … when he wasn’t even a fighter. He doesn’t know what to expect, because he’s never seen it. In boxing, you learn step by step. He’s missed out on many.”

Chavez Snr poured salt in the wound: “This time, [Paul’s] gonna get fucked up,” to which Paul told the elder Chavez he will be reduced to another social-media meme, holding his head in his hands in embarrassment of his son.

“I didn’t know it was bring-your-daddy-to-work day,” Paul added. “You’re nothing without your dad. You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth.”

Afterward, Paul said he enjoyed the verbal exchanges with father and son, and his Most Valuable Promotions introduced boxing Hall of Famer Holly Holm’s return to the sport after she reigned as a UFC champion one decade ago. Holm will meet Mexico’s Yolanda Vega in a lightweight bout on the Paul-Chavez Jnr card, and said she expects to land a title shot soon as the Paul-promoted Katie Taylor-Amanda Serrano junior welterweight title trilogy nears July 11 at Madison Square Garden.

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

Manny Pacquiao’s impending return to world championship boxing at age 46 is the talk of the sport, the reason he shot to No. 5 in the WBC welterweight rankings and cause for concern.

“He didn’t look great in his last [professional] fight [in 2021 against champion Yordenis Ugas], but he’s not just a celebrity – he’s legendary,” former 140lbs titleholder and 2014 Pacquiao opponent Chris Algieri said on Tuesday’s episode of ProBox TV’s “Boxing Scene Today.” “I don;t love the fact that he skipped to the front of the line, but he brings in so many eyes, so many dollars, so much attention. That’s why he’s been pushed in here.”

Pacquiao, 62-8-2 (39 KOs), will enter the International Boxing Hall of Fame next month in New York.

His election loss in the Philippines senate race Monday will allow for his full attention on his July 19 shot at WBC welterweight belt holder Mario Barrios Jnr, 29-2-1 (18 KOs), with a news conference scheduled in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Said former welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi: “The silver lining is the eyes that will come back to the welterweight division” with Barrios, WBO titlist Brian Norman Jnr and unified champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis currently reigning while never having headlined their own pay-per-view bout.

“I’ve been saying Mario Barrios sucks [as a champion], and now we’re seeing Manny Pacquiao thinks Mario Barrios sucks. Team Pacquiao sees this as a moment they can make a move in. And if Manny Pacquiao wins a world championship, it’s more money [for future contenders] and it brings some life back to the division.”

Pacquiao is attempting to best George Foreman (45) as an older world titleholder. Only Bernard Hopkins, who did it at 49, has done it at an older age.

Yet, the fact that Pacquiao struggled in a boxing exhibition against a kickboxer last year sounds alarms for trainer Robert Garcia, who previously sent Brandon Rios and Antonio Margarito into the ring against Pacquiao.

“We’ll be worried about what happens in the fight,” Garcia said. “Barrios may be the easiest of the champions, but Manny didn’t look too good last time out. I hope he gets in great shape.”

Algieri added, “Aging brains don’t take punches well, but he’s done well against taller opponents who are heavy on the front foot and don’t jab well – I just named Mario Barrios. I don’t know what’s left of Manny, but this is his best chance.”

Garcia said the key is for trainer Freddie Roach to ensure Pacquiao gets in quality running and sparring sessions, and that he’s ready to call off the fight if Pacquiao shows signs of age with slow footwork and decreased ability to pull the trigger.

“I see an embarrassment. Barrios can hurt Manny,” Garcia said. “This could hurt boxing. It’s just too late, and you have a young, talented fighter in front of you.”

But Malignaggi was reminded of Barrios’ flat showing in November when he and Abel Ramos fought to a draw.

Malignaggi responded, “I keep coming back to Mario Barrios sucks, that even a shot Manny can pull this off. It creates a conversation point, a curiosity that we may see something special.”

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

A show with two main events finally has one solidified home.

Ring Magazine has confirmed that its July 12 card will take place at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center’s Louis Armstrong Stadium in the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park section of Queens, New York. The 14,000-seat tennis stadium, one of the venues used for the annual U.S. Open, will host its first boxing event.

Officially headlining the show on fight night, England’s Hamzah Sheeraz, 21-0-1 (17 KOs), will move up in weight to face Brooklyn’s Edgar Berlanga, 23-1 (18 KOs), in a super middleweight contest between former title challengers. 

The co-feature will pit Shakur Stevenson, 23-0 (11 KOs), and William Zepeda, 33-0 (27 KOs), in a WBC lightweight title consolidation bout. Stevenson, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist and three-division titlist from Newark, New Jersey, is the recognized full WBC title claimant. Mexico’s Zepeda holds the interim version of the belt.

Stevenson-Zepeda will take the lead during fight week activities, per a previous explanation from Ring Magazine, however absurd the concept. 

A media-only press conference will be held Thursday at Palladium Times Square. Ironically, the kickoff presser will take place within walking distance of the outdoor makeshift location where Ring held its intimate U.S. launch show on May 2.

The isolated location for that event was met with industry-wide criticism. Access to the show was limited to invited media and VIP guests. A RING-branded barricade surrounding the site not only blocked public view but prevented pedestrians from freely navigating the high-volume area.

Moving its second U.S. show to a conventional facility will alleviate those concerns, while also providing the famed tennis center with a watershed moment in its first boxing venture.

Louis Armstrong Stadium in its present form opened in 2018, replacing the venue of the same name from 40 years prior. The state-of-the-art facility is equipped with a retractable roof, a failsafe in the event of inclement weather.

All of the card’s top four fighters fought in the first quarter of 2025 – Sheeraz and Stevenson on the same February 22 Riyadh Season show, Berlanga on March 15 in Orlando, Florida, and Zepeda this past March 29 in Cancun, Mexico.

Sheeraz is the only fighter of the abovementioned quartet who has not posted a win this year. The unbeaten contender fought to a draw with WBC middleweight titlist Carlos Adames. The decision was met with scrutiny, as most observers felt Adames not only deserved the nod but was flat-out robbed of a rightful victory.

While not an official defeat, the stalemate snapped a 15-fight knockout streak enjoyed by Sheeraz. It was also his last fight at middleweight and with trainer Ricky Funez. As previously reported by BoxingScene, the 25-year-old Sheeraz confirmed his permanent move to super middleweight and is now guided by former WBO middleweight titlist Andy Lee.

Stevenson appeared in the co-feature of that same card, and earned a ninth-round stoppage of late replacement challenger Josh Padley. The win marked his second successful title defense.

Berlanga returned to the win column with a first-round knockout of woefully overmatched Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz. The fight was his first since his lopsided defeat to super middleweight king Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last September 14 in Las Vegas.

Zepeda retained his interim WBC lightweight title in a repeat win over Tevin Farmer earlier this year. The volume-punching Mexican southpaw claimed a majority decision, slightly improving on his split decision win over Farmer last November 16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Zepeda suffered the first knockdown of his career that night, but he recovered to edge Farmer for the secondary WBC belt.

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

Sam Goodman, long associated with Naoya Inoue after twice withdrawing from scheduled dates with the Japanese phenom due to cuts suffered in training, marked his return with a 10-round points victory over the rough and ready Cesar Vaca on Wednesday. The scores were 100-90, 99-91 and 99-92 but he did not escape without picking up further facial damage.

The contest, staged by No Limit Boxing inside Sydney, Australia’s Hordern Pavilion, was designed as a showcase for the 26-year-old with a potential shot at an interim junior featherweight belt being lined up for the summer.

Vaca’s only previous loss came to Erik Robles Ayala, perhaps best known for upsetting Lee McGregor, and the 23-year-old the Mexican came with ambition and no shortage of speed in his limbs. And it was those hasty hands, as he bounced inside and out, that seemed to be troubling Goodman the most in the opening round.

The favorite was better in the second, measuring Vaca with one-twos as the Mexican zipped inside. By the third, Vaca was spending too much time on the ropes, taking blows to the body. With 30 seconds remaining, Goodman fired a four-punch combination, but Vaca closed the stanza with a sharp right.

The Australian’s jab improved in the fourth as Vaca tried to rally - only to be met with Goodman blows, upstairs and down. The pattern continued into the next but Vaca, always dangerous, scored with a left hook to close the fifth.

Vaca, warned for striking low in the sixth, regularly pressed behind a high guard but exhibited his awareness that the contest was slipping away from him when he switched to southpaw in a move that was swiftly punished.

Yet the Mexican, 19-2-1 (12 KOs), enjoyed his best round in the eighth, bulling Goodman to the mat only for the referee to call it a slip. Suddenly, Goodman looked uneasy as Vaca charged forward with those high hands and his head primed for a collision.

Goodman regained control in the ninth behind his jab and contained his aggressive foe down the stretch, but only to a degree; Vaca was warned for the use of his head, a weapon that opened two cuts of the face of Goodman.

“I tried to get out without getting cut,” Goodman said afterwards. “But that doesn’t seem to be my style this year. Fuck.”

Deontay Wilder is excited to get back into the ring when he returns next month.

The former WBC heavyweight champion fights Tyrell Anthony Herndon in Wichita on June 27. The 39-year-old is refusing to call the bout a comeback, following losses to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.

However, now 43-4-1 (42 KOs), he also hopes to show an improved version of himself, almost three years on from his last win – which came when he battered Robert Helenius in a round.

Wilder said that for years he battled through shoulder pain that finally resulted in two surgeries and now he is pain free and predicting a return to his wild and violent best.

“I’m going to feel amazing,” he told BoxingScene of his return. “You know, my mind is back, my spirit. Physically, I’m back. I’m free of injuries now. They used to call me ‘Windmill Wilder.’ I didn’t have that windmill no more. I got that motherfucker now. Yeah, I’ve had two surgeries on my shoulders. It had cost me [in previous fights] to still be injured… at least the last three to four years of my career. I had to do what I had to do. You know, I still had to go out and do what I wanted to do. I could have sat around for years to try to heal this shoulder up. And anybody know anything about a shoulder injury, they know that’s like one of the most longest recoveries. And every time I lifted my arm or threw my right hand or even wiped my ass, my arm, my shoulder were hurt. I was in pain 24 hours a day, but still trying to have a regular lifestyle of living. You know what I’m saying? You can’t let it irritate you or bother you for the rest of your life. You got to be able to adapt to the pain and the situation and still have some type of natural ability of carrying on with life.” 

The puncher from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will fight Herndon at the Charles Koch Arena in a fight that is scheduled for 10 rounds. Herndon, from San Antonio, Texas, is 24-5 (15 KOs).

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

 

SAN DIEGO – Charly Suarez on Monday appealed his technical-decision loss to Emanuel Navarrete to the California State Athletic Commission, and that appeal will be heard at its meeting on June 2, BoxingScene has learned.

Suarez, of the Philippines, was dealt his first defeat in 19 fights on Saturday night at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego in a contest for the WBO junior-lightweight title after the ringside physician Dr Robert Ruelaz stopped the bout one second into the eighth round due to a cut that Navarrete suffered at the left eyebrow in the sixth round. 

Because the referee Edward Collantes initially ruled that an accidental clash of heads caused the cut, and the video replay official Jack Reiss couldn’t immediately find any footage to refute that claim, the bout was sent to the scorecards instead of being ruled a technical knockout victory in favor of Suarez, as it would’ve been if the cut had been caused by a punch.

The scorecards all favored Mexico’s Navarrete, via scores of 77-76, 78-75, 77-76, and he retained his 130lbs belt.

An additional replay later emerged showing that Suarez delivered a crushing left hand that appeared to open the cut that Navarrete said went “two layers deep” and required multiple stitches to close afterwards.

Navarrete, 30, said he believed the cut was caused by a headbutt due to its severity, because blood flowed heavily into his left eye during the bout, leaving him to paw at it several times with a glove while in combat with the game Suarez.

In his appeal on Monday morning, Suarez asked the California commission to either award him the TKO victory or to label the bout a no-contest, which a member of the commission first told BoxingScene would be a possible outcome on Saturday night after the additional replay emerged.

The WBO president Gustavo Olivieri told BoxingScene on Sunday he would wait for the commission’s decision before moving to order a rematch.

Calling the bout a no-contest would essentially allow the California commission to rule that the bout never existed, representing a mediator’s stroke that would answer both fighters’ positions that they each believed they deserved victory.

Stripping Navarrete entirely of a victory he left the arena believing he had achieved and calling Suarez, 36, a loser given what the late replay revealed are both seen as unfair, extreme responses, and so labeling it a no-contest empowers the WBO to order an immediate rematch when Navarrete heals.

Then, the thinking goes, Navarrete and Suarez can, once and for all, settle the matter in the ring.

When Terence Crawford was first being spoken about as an opponent for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, I thought it was a joke.

It was the super-middleweight champion against a welterweight. It looked like little more than a money grab. I didn’t take it seriously.

When Canelo was knocking out Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant – fellow super middleweights – he threw some menacing punches. Those same punches could seriously hurt a welterweight.

But that – particularly after watching Canelo-William Scull – seems a long time ago. Crawford has since won at 154lbs against Israil Madrimov, and Canelo hasn’t looked the same. Even if Scull’s lack of ambition makes that fight difficult to lean on, in his previous fight Canelo should have been capable of stopping Edgar Berlanga, who went toe to toe with him, and yet he couldn’t.

The intelligent Crawford has a great skill set – so good that, even with that kind of size difference, he’d have been able to survive. But even with their date of September 12 being officially confirmed at a time when their fighting has become less troubling, we were provided with another reminder of the growing disregard of the value of respecting weight divisions. 

At 154lbs, Crawford is established in one of the most competitive of all weight divisions where he has several appealing would-be rivals. Canelo is also still yet to fight David Benavidez, who has been his most appealing opponent for years.

He looked a declining fighter against Scull, who fought with no ambition, and I can’t help but question how much that decline has been sped up by him twice moving up to 175lbs – first to fight Sergey Kovalev, when he was already established at 168lbs, and later to fight Dmitry Bivol – and then back to 168lbs once again. I also question how much harm it would do to his legacy if he loses to Crawford and is seen to have ducked Benavidez than it would have done if he simply fought Benavidez and lost. 

Roy Jones Jnr and Sugar Ray Leonard are among the greatest fighters of all time, but Jones Jnr wasn’t the same when he returned to 175lbs to fight Antonio Tarver after beating John Ruiz at heavyweight – the atrophy started to set in – and Leonard suffered similarly when, after moving up to beat Donny Lalonde at 168lbs, he moved back to 154lbs and lost to Terry Norris. Moving down in weight rarely works. 

Canelo-Crawford was announced the night before Naoya Inoue – who won his first title at 108lbs – stopped Ramon Cardenas at 122lbs. Plans for Inoue to participate in future fight at 126lbs are one thing, and not unthinkable, but talk of him fighting Gervonta “Tank” Davis – a big, explosive lightweight – makes no sense at all. Davis is a supreme talent who could instead fight Shakur Stevenson or Keyshawn Davis – how does Inoue even get mentioned? Inoue also has a much more natural rival in the 118lbs Junto Nakatani – a fight between them could be one of the best of all. 

Succeeding from 108lbs through to 126lbs would once have seemed impossible. Succeeding from 108lbs to 135lbs almost definitely is. Handicapping the best fighters by demanding they fight so far beyond their natural weight divisions shouldn’t be the way those fighters are being asked to prove how great they are. 

The risks being taken are then being compounded by the increase in ceremonial weigh-ins, which can mean fighters actually weighing in 36 hours before they fight, and an even more unfair advantage being given to the bigger man. 

Somewhere along the line fighters were convinced by those around them that they could lose a ridiculous amount of weight in a short amount of time and then put it back on again, and that that would give them a significant size advantage over their opponents. Why are the authorities allowing that to keep happening? 

How many more fights do we need to see like that between Errol Spence and Mikey Garcia in 2019? Garcia had looked terrific until then, but at welterweight – Spence was a very big welterweight, while Garcia won his first title at featherweight – he produced a tame performance and routinely lost.

Marvin Hagler never moved from 160lbs during his entire career, and no one questions how great he was – it’s widely recognized he’s one of the greatest middleweights of all. Being the king of a weight division – like Gennadiy Golovkin was in the modern era – proves greatness far more effectively than passing by, winning a title, vacating it and moving on. 

There seems to be a growing school of thought that we don’t need to respect weight classes – rehydration clauses show that as well – and that regardless of weight we just need to see the best fight the best, but that’s dangerous, and wrong.

Russ Anber is the founder/CEO of Rival Boxing, as well as a highly respected trainer (of both pros and amateurs), a gym owner, a cut-man, an entrepreneur, a broadcaster and one of the best hand wrappers in the boxing business. Vasiliy Lomachenko, Oleksandr Usyk, Callum Smith, Janibek Alimkhanuly and Bakhram Murtazaliev are among the many top boxers Russ works with.

Naseem Hamed v Kevin Kelley, WBO featherweight title: Madison Square Garden, New York, 1997

‘This young punk arrives on the scene, and everybody is down on their knees licking his boots.’

It was the Monday before the fight and Hamed was behind closed doors at a fancy boxing gym called Blue Velvet in New York. The place was years in front of any curves. Hamed and all his people were there, but nobody else. I was tucked in under a speedball, watching.

There was a bang at the door, somebody opened it and Michael Jackson came in. Hamed had been at his Neverland ranch in October. Jacko had on full Jacko kit: gloves, hat, shiny shoes. The works. I wrote: ‘In the ring, Hamed performed some of Jackson’s dance routines and at the ring’s edge, the singer squealed with delight. It was weird cabaret.’ That is the breaking story you need in your paper over your eggs in the morning. Hamed stayed in the ring, moving, shadow boxing, smiling and shouting out at his friend. Then the pair were doing a synchronised moonwalk – one in the ring and one outside. The most important fight of Hamed’s career was about 100 hours away. Jacko removed his smog mask when he was ringside, left his shades on and took his gloves off to shake hands with the Hamed team. ‘He never does that,’ his security guy told me. And, yes, Jackson was a strange-looking dude.

At the Blue Velvet, there was a veteran trainer called Victor Machado and he had a wonderful line. He told me: ‘This kid, the Prince, he can do the double-fake quicker than a snake, man. He is an old fighter.’ Who finds these men from central casting and their quotes? Get in, love it.

Hamed’s boxing life in New York was more settled than normal. Hamed was not sharing a room, just a suite with Thomas Bradley and Johnny Nelson. The rest, including Anas Oweida, Kevin Adamson and Clifton Mitchell, were in rooms down the hall. There had still been long, long nights. They were all fighters; they had all known Naz when he had nothing. In New York there was endless talk of his new super deal, worth $40 million. It was a deal with Frank Warren, and it specifically excluded Don King’s involvement. 

The training team of Brendan Ingle and his son, John, were a couple of floors below. There was a rift growing, make no mistake. In New York it was strictly business. Welcome to Naz’s world.

On the Wednesday of fight week, Brendan Ingle was in great form. Inside boxing’s most revered venue, he conjured up the sport’s greatest men when he talked about the boy he had found. Brendan Ingle in the Garden. I wonder now if that was his first time, the first time for the kid from Dublin, a struggling and jobbing pro boxer in the Sixties and Seventies. Ingle had fought hard men in hard venues, once mixed it with an Olympic gold medal winner and walked away from boxing in 1973 with 19 wins and 14 defeats. He never had a single easy fight. He knew fighters, that was his trick.

‘All the Naz fella does is what the great fighters in history have done. He has taken a bit of Willie Pep, a bit of Kid Gavilan and a bit of Sugar Ray Robinson and turned them upside down, inside out to get his style.’ Ingle, the great whispering guru, played his part. A few people knew that the relationship was falling apart; the week in New York was odd in so many ways.

And there was more testimony. Hamed and Ingle, in an attempt to break clear of the New York fight rumour mill, had gone over to Jersey City to train at the Rocky Marciano gym. They had met Rocky’s brother, Lou, and he had watched a session. ‘The kid can fight,’ he declared.

Kelley had also done his best to raise the fight’s profile. He had lost just twice in 50 fights, held a version of the world title and was not happy with being a supporting actor in his beloved city. He had said some mildly offensive things. It all helped shift some tickets; it never helped his chances. The expected box office was about 7,000 tickets and that would have been a success.

‘This young punk arrives on the scene, and everybody is down on their knees licking his boots,’ Kelley said when we gathered round him. ‘If Hamed ever finds himself lost on a New York street and he tries any of his acts, guys that couldn’t kill him with their bare hands will shoot him.’ Late on the Monday night, at a gym out on Long Island, Kelley and his trainer, Phil Borgia, were going over the final details. It was all about pressure, and it was dependent on Hamed not being ready. Hamed was ready: he was on weight at that time, strong and ready. Kelley had fallen for the stories about Hamed not preparing seriously. It had been a Brendan Ingle con. ‘He has put himself in a bad place and there is no way back. Listen to his voice,’ Hamed said.

It also needs to be said that Kelley was getting $600,000 for fighting the ‘punk’. It was by far the highest purse of Kelley’s career. Hamed was only 23 when he left his dressing room on that Friday night at the Garden. He was unbeaten in 28, with 26 knockouts.

It was a crazy fight. It finished in the fourth with Kelley counted out. Hamed had been officially dropped three times and Kelley three or four times. Naz touched down a couple of other times. Hamed was dropped near the end of the first and was clearly still hurt during the break. Ingle worked furiously. At the start of the second, Hamed touched down, got up and was then dropped. It looked like it was all over – the money, the fame, the career. The Garden had taken another boxer; in 2019, it would take Anthony Joshua. Kelley had two minutes and ten seconds left to change history. One minute later, Kelley was flat on his back and Hamed was standing over him and smiling. I’m not inventing this stuff – inside five minutes of boxing, Hamed had been over three times and Kelley was looking up at the lights.

They both survived to the fourth. In the fourth, Kelley was over again, this time heavily, and then he caught Hamed, and Hamed went down. Then Hamed dropped Kelley for the last time. The native New Yorker beat the count but stared at oblivion and the count reached ten. It was over. There had been real fear in the Hamed camp.

‘We all saw what went wrong; I just hope people recognise what went right,’ said Warren at ringside. ‘An unknown from Sheffield went to New York, set a record for featherweights at the box office, attracted 12,000, climbed up from three knockdowns to take out the local hero in the fourth. That’s what happened and that’s a bloody good British success story.’ Hard to disagree with that.

Naseem Hamed: The papers in New York were harsh. ‘He came in like Kid Confetti and fought like Kid Counterfeit’ was one headline. Warren is right, it was a success. Hamed sold nearly 5,000 more tickets than Sugar Ray Leonard had done, 2,000 more than Roy Jones and he did it in the middle of a bleak winter and just six days before Christmas. There was a fallout, there always is. ‘Do you think I will ever be that bad again?’ Hamed asked me on the Saturday after we had watched the fight in his suite. I hoped not.

 

Steve Bunce’s Around the World in 80 Fights: A Lifetime’s Journey to the Heart of Boxing includes, among 79 others, his retelling of the memorable and dramatic fight between Naseem Hamed and Kevin Kelley in 1997, below. It was shortlisted for the 2025 Charles Tyrwhitt sports entertainment book of the year award, and is out in paperback on May 22.

 

SAN DIEGO – The California State Athletic Commission is expected to convert Emanuel Navarrete’s controversial technical decision victory over Charly Suarez to a no-contest, BoxingScene learned Saturday night.

A cut at Navarrete’s left eyebrow in the sixth round had been ruled the result of an accidental clash of heads. The fight ended at the start of the eighth and was sent to the scorecards. In the hours after an immediate judgment was made to award Navarrete the WBO junior lightweight title fight victory at Pechanga Arena, a subsequent replay emerged showing the champion’s cut was caused by challenger Charly Suarez’s left-handed punch.

If that had been the final decision in the minutes after ringside physician Dr. Robert Ruelaz ruled the fight to be stopped, Suarez would have been declared the winner by technical knockout.

Instead, referee Edward Collantes immediately ruled that the clash of heads caused the cut, and video replay official Jack Reiss said there was no conclusive evidence from the initial scenes he reviewed to overturn that call.

“Our rules on replay say unless it’s undisputed, the referee’s call shall stand, and this was very disputable," Reiss told BoxingScene. “I had quite a few looks at it. But nothing up close. And nothing at the correct angle.”

However, the later footage revealed Suarez’s punch opened the cut, and that has convinced the California commission to adapt, and label the outcome a no-contest that will provoke a rematch ordered by the WBO.

Following Saturday night’s confusing events, both fighters provided divergent explanations.

While the Philippines’ Suarez insisted his punch opened Navarrete’s cut, the champion from Mexico maintained it was Suarez’s head that caused a cut “two layers deep” and forced the bout’s outcome to the scorecards, which were returned 77-76 (Lou Moret), 78-75 (Pat Russell), 77-76 (Fernando Villareal) in Navarrete’s favor.

“I felt it was a headbutt. I saw the review. It seems like a punch, but it exploded two layers of skin,” Navarrete said to reporters while standing as the winner. “I didn’t want it to end. I was fine to keep going. I felt like the best rounds were still to come. But the doctor stopped the fight.”

He agreed Suarez gave him a demanding bout, and said, “He would be a great opponent. He is a great opponent. So a rematch would be good.”

Suarez, who took an 18-0 record into the bout, said he feels a rematch is justified given the dispute over the way it was settled.

“I thought I had a chance to win the fight. I had five more rounds to try to win,” if the bout hadn’t been stopped, Suarez said.

The fight was a highly entertaining scrap that saw both men swing for the proverbial fences, with each rocked in various moments.

Suarez said it reminded him of countryman Manny Pacquiao’s epic brawls with Mexican warriors, including Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.

Suarez said he was saddened by the turn of events against him, but obeying the rulings instead of vehemently arguing with officials.

“I respect Navarrete because he’s a good boxer, and he’ll give me a chance to rematch after a fight that was entertaining,” Suarez said. “I’m sad, but I have the hope they will give me another chance. Maybe next time.”

Top Rank Vice President of Operations Carl Moretti immediately said after the bout that he would push for a rematch.

Navarrete had great difficulty making weight for the 130lbs title defense, but he said he didn’t feel weakened during the bout and he’ll decide during the two-month cut healing period if he’ll remain as champion or try again at lightweight after a title-fight loss at 135lbs last year.

“You saw the level of that fight and how it developed – in the seven rounds, I think we threw more punches than all of those fights [Canelo Alvarez-William Scull, Devin Haney-Jose Ramirez] last weekend,” Navarrete said. “I felt good. I felt competent. There were opponents you can say he made me look limited, but there were alternatives.

“Yes, there was pressure in making weight – 0.4 pounds with time against [me]. But the weight was made, I recovered, I felt good in there.

“The work we did in the fight is the work we planned.

“I’ll see what comes and make a decision,” on the rematch.

SAN DIEGO – Despite a replay seemingly showing that junior lightweight titleholder Emanuel Navarrete sustained a vicious cut over the left eyebrow by a left-handed punch from challenger Charly Suarez, a referee ruling that the gash was caused by a clash of heads sent the bout to the scorecards.

And with that, Navarrete retained his WBO belt by unanimous technical decision with scores of 78-75 and 77-76 (twice).

“I knew it was a headbutt. It split my eyebrow completely,” Navarrete said in the ring afterward.

A distraught Suarez answered that it was his punch that caused the cut.

That distinction impacted everything, because when ringside physician Dr. Robert Ruelaz ruled that the fight needed to be stopped, doing so because of a punch would’ve awarded victory to Suarez by technical knockout.

Yet because referee Edward Collantes originally ruled the cut was caused by a clash of heads – and because video review supervisor (and former referee Jack Reiss) said the cause of the cut was inconclusive – the referee’s decision stood.

So even though Navarrete, now 40-2-1 (32 KOs), wanted the fight to continue as blood poured from his wound, the bout was stopped and he was declared the victor.

Suarez, 18-1 (10 KOs), from the Philippines, immediately requested a rematch.

“It’s that warrior spirit,” Navarrete said of his ability to withstand the discomfort of the sixth-round cut and emerge victorious while repeatedly pawing at his left eye to get the blood removed. “I felt good, strong, complete. The cut hurt. But while we were fighting, I felt good.”

Winning was a result of “the desire to get ahead, to get victorious,” Navarrete said. “[Suarez] is probably one of the top three fighters I’ve ever fought. He took the best out of me.”   

The pair came out blasting from the first bell, with Suarez pursuing Navarrete hotly and the champion landing a thunderous right and a later combination that buckled Suarez’s knees.

As Navarrete unleashed long-armed missiles, Suarez relied on his activity, snapping punches to the face.

Suarez continued with busy combinations, surging forward despite the lethal power of the Mexican with 32 knockouts in his 42 prior fights.

Navarrete struggled badly through Friday’s weight cut to 130 pounds, twice coming in heavy before dramatically exhaling out a rush of air so the scale struck 130.0. 

After the bout, he said the fact he felt strong Saturday may keep him at junior lightweight after last year’s failed effort to win a lightweight belt.

“I’ll take things calmly and see if I stay at 130 or go up to 135,” Navarrete said.

Navarrete fiercely pursued a finish in the fourth, letting hammer-fisted blows wail to no avail as Suarez shrugged them off and kept punching, bringing the crowd to its feet.

In the fifth, Suarez sought out Navarrete’s body, which pained him so a day earlier as he strained to meet the weight requirement.

Navarrete maintained his heavy-handed effort.

But in the sixth, on what was ruled to be the night’s third clash of heads, Navarrete sustained that nasty cut.

“It’s hard [to tell] so the referee decision stands,” California State Athletic Commission Executive Officer Andy Foster told BoxingScene.

Afterward, Top Rank Vice President of Boxing Operations Carl Moretti said he was stunned to watch the Suarez punch cause the cut, only to see the California commission fail to overturn it.

“That [punch causing the cut] is what I’m looking at, but they [the commission] said they couldn’t find it on the replay,” Moretti said.

SAN DIEGO – Raymond Muratalla’s pursuit of a world title may be days away if three-division champion Vasiliy Lomachenko opts to retire and surrender his IBF lightweight belt.

Until then, Muratalla did all he wanted to accomplish Saturday night at Pechanga Arena, dismissing Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev to claim the IBF interim lightweight title by unanimous decision scores of 119-109 (twice) and 118-110.

“It feels great to put this around my waist. It was a long journey. We got it now,” said Muratalla, now 23-0 (17 KOs). “[Abdullaev’s] a tough fighter. He came to fight. I was using my skills.”

Lomachenko, 37, has until October 8 to fight Muratalla – and his decision is expected imminently.

“I’m now the mandatory to fight him. It’d be an honor to fight him,” Muratalla said of Lomachenko.

Muratalla spent a wealth of time sparring for the Abdullaev bout, mastering his movement and ability to shift into position to land scoring blows. He started the night with jabs, then shuffled to deliver a left hand to the body and a right to the face.

The intensity of the punches increased in the second round when Muratalla belted Abdullaev with a hard, sudden right hand to the head, followed by a rapid right-left combination.

Muratalla dabbled in a southpaw position in the third, reverted back to orthodox to land jabs and landed a quick right before the pair exchanged blows, indicating Abdullaev recognized his early deficit.

Muratalla’s attention to defense and his sharp head movement makes him an elusive target, and it turned the bout more deliberate in the fourth. There’s risk in caution, because Abdullaev unloaded two big right hands in the fifth, and catching up to win the round becomes a more ominous challenge.

Muratalla opted to let his hands go more freely in the sixth, leaning on his skilled footwork to find Abdullaev with the greater abundance of scoring blows. He leaned into the benefit of activity again in the seventh.

Muratalla extended his lead by jabbing crisply and maneuvering to land effective rights, but as the eighth round moved along, some groans from the crowd arose.

Fair or not, the showing was ripe to be compared with the February 14 WBO lightweight title victory by 2021 U.S. Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis, who produced a masterful and destructive stoppage of Ukraine’s Denys Berinchyk.

The masses don’t pay for head movement. They want knockouts, not precaution.

Muratalla initially balked at expressing interest in meeting Davis, saying, “I’ve got a mandatory. I’m not focused on that right now.”

But then he added: “I’m coming to win. I want all the belts.” 

Before the 10th round, Muratalla’s 2024 trainer of the year, Robert Garcia, was seen urging his fighter to unleash flurries, or at least to follow a scoring blow with more than a withdrawal.

Muratalla absorbed some shots in the 11th and responded with effective uppercuts and jabs that added to the bruised face of Abdullaev, getting the better of their increased action in the 12th.

Saturday night, it was enough to win and move on. But with the likes of Keyshawn Davis, Gervonta “Tank” Davis, Shakur Stevenson and even unbeaten contender Andy Cruz looming in the division, Muratalla will learn soon about all the responsibilities that accompany that new strap around his waist.

“Different styles will bring the best out of me,” he said. “I will continue to work on my craft, and you’ll see a better version of Raymond every time out.”

NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND – Anthony Cacace put on a dominant display, stopping Leigh Wood in the ninth round.

The contest, which took place in the Motorpoint Arena in Wood’s home city of Nottingham, England, only had Cacace’s fringe IBO junior lightweight title on the line as he had vacated his IBF strap in January. Cacace, whose record now stands at 24-1 (9 KOs), put in perhaps the performance of his career, forcing Wood’s trainer, Ben Davison, to throw in the towel after two minutes and 15 seconds of Round 9.

Wood, who fell to 28-4 (17 KOs), was moving up from featherweight, though he did not look outsized by Cacace. Wood looked strong at 130lbs, pressing forward behind a high guard and seeking to land hard shots. Wood’s timing was off after 19 months out of the ring, however, and he fell short with a lot of his punches. Cacace, 36, punished him and slapped in a left jab that seemed to hurt Wood.

Wood, 36 years old as well, was again falling short in the second, and Cacace continued to punish him, but as the round came to a close Wood finally landed his right hand, and it seemed to stun Cacace. The Northern Irishman was thankful to hear the bell seconds later and acknowledged the shot as the pair returned to their respective corners. 

Cacace turned up the heat in the third and sent two hard shots into the arms of Wood as he backed away on to the ropes. Wood retaliated well and landed a hard right hand that thudded against the head of Cacace. Cacace also responded well and flicked a jab into Wood’s face that made the home fighter stumble back. Wood started to find his range as the bout went on and in the fifth landed his best shot yet as Cacace came in – a short left hook. Cacace took it well and returned fire, finishing the round on top. 

Cacace started to put his shots together in the sixth and landed a flurry that seemed to hurt Wood, although in typical Leigh Wood fashion he came firing back. Wood started the seventh with more intent, but Cacace was able to land his shots from the back foot. Wood continued to press forward and landed a hard right hand that crashed on the skull of Cacace. Cacace shook his head in response and fired back with a left hand.

Wood had his best round of the contest in the eighth, pushing forward and landing two hard shots on the inside that forced Cacace to hold on. As the round came to a close, the pair swung away hammer and tong, and both men ignored the bell in hopes of landing one more shot. 

As the ninth began, it was clear that Wood was starting to feel the effects of Cacace’s work. Both eyes were now starting to swell and blood was trickling down his nose, but that did not deter Wood from pressing forward. However, as Wood came in to land his right hand, he walked straight into a left hand that rocked him.

Wood was stumbling around the ring and helplessly trying to hold onto Cacace to stay on his feet. Cacace then landed another left hand that sent Wood flying to the other side of the ring and into the ropes. Cacace went in to finish Wood off but was stopped by the referee, who ruled the incident a knockdown and began to count Wood.

Wood was hurt, and Cacace knew it. As soon as the referee had finished his count, Cacace threw the kitchen sink in hopes of ending the proceedings. Cacace battered Wood from pillar to post, and with Wood again seemingly seconds away from being stopped, Davision threw in the towel. 

Wood, who could choose to walk away from the sport after the heavy beatdown, made sure to thank his home crowd for their support over his career.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – One winter in Pennsylvania was all it took to straighten out Nicklaus Flaz.

A 29-year-old welterweight from Puerto Rico, Flaz has taken a long, winding road from Bayamon and back again, and he may just now be arriving as a contender on the eve of his scheduled 10-round battle with Alan Sanchez in Saturday’s co-main event in Kissimmee, Florida.

Flaz’s first detour may have been his most formative. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, he was already running the streets and, as he says, “doing bad stuff” by 11 years old. His mother saw the direction he was headed and made a decision: Her son would be banished to the Keystone State.

“My mom said, ‘You’re going – you gotta get out of Puerto Rico,’” Flaz said.

The change was abrupt – the language, the people, the weather. The first time Flaz saw snow, he says, “I got hyped.” But then it didn’t stop.

“I didn't like it,” he said. “The whole year I was always crying, ‘I want to go back! I want to go back!’”

First came a pit stop in New York, however, which required its own adjustment. Yet it was also where Flaz, a native Spanish speaker, began to learn English while mainlining a steady diet of American cartoons and movies. (After previously giving only “a couple” interviews in English, Flaz was enthusiastic and spoke with ease without an interpreter for this story.)

Lessons learned, he was moved back home to the P.R., where the next stage unfolded. “Then I regrouped myself,” Flaz said. “I started doing things the right way. I came back to Puerto Rico, started boxing.”

Flaz says he knew he wanted “to do right for myself,” but it was boxing that pulled him all the way out of the streets. He loved the adrenaline – delivering a punch and even getting punched – as well as the discipline. It was obvious how much he craved the former. But he also desperately needed the latter.

At age 15, Flaz – now 5-foot-9 – weighed 232 pounds. After moving back to Puerto Rico and dedicating himself in the gym day after day, he had melted off 100 pounds within 18 months. He eventually moved up a few ticks to settle in at welterweight. On fight morning Saturday, Flaz was spotted at the hotel breakfast bar ready to dig into a couple mini waffles – but only after he arrived cut up and hit his mark at 147 for Friday’s weigh-in. “The discipline, everything, now – this is my whole life,” he said.

The latest stage – the final leg? – for Flaz has come only recently, as he has gradually absorbed a different type of discipline. He piled up knockouts after turning pro, but he dropped a decision in his sixth fight. Flaz lost again – this time by stoppage – against a 15-0 Janelson Figueroa Bocachica as recently as 2020. He needed two more close-call majority decisions to find the balance in the ring that would unlock the next level.

“At the beginning of my career I was a brawler,” Flaz said. “You hit me twice, I hit you two, three times, I get you out of there. I didn't care about getting hit. Now I got a more polished style, so I can move, I can box, I can set you up.”

Now 14-2 (9 KOs), Flaz says he’s ready to graduate from co-mains to main events. He came close in April before an injury scuttled his headliner against Gabriel Maestre in Philadelphia. Promoter ProBox TV views him as a future world titleholder, and a win over Sanchez, 24-6-1 (10 KOs), would likely land Flaz’s face at the top of the fight poster for his next show.

“I'm really close,” Flaz said. “I was really, really close. But I know that after this fight I can get it anyway.”

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

 

Emanuel Navarrete has created a sizable following in what is now his fourth business trip to San Diego. 

His previous appearance in town, however, was a letdown to his fans and to himself. 

Mexico’s Navarrete, 39-2-1 (33 KOs), saw a 12-year, 34-fight unbeaten streak come to a halt as he was outpointed by then-unbeaten Denys Berinchyk last May 18 at Pechanga Arena. A bid to become a four-division titlist ended with a split decision in favor of Ukraine’s Berinchyk, who claimed the vacant WBO lightweight title that evening. 

A sixth-round knockout of former two-division titleholder Oscar Valdez last December 7 saw Navarrete improve upon his performance in their first fight 16 months prior. 

The goal for this weekend is to continue that upward trajectory, and forever remove the bad taste left behind from his last fight in town. 

“I’m so happy to return to San Diego,” Navarrete told BoxingScene. “Life gives you second chances. That’s how it is for me with this fight. 

“Instead of feeling mad, I feel motivated to return to this place. First, I get to do what I do best, and to try to win.”

Fittingly, Navarrete’s shot at personal redemption comes against another unbeaten opponent. His return to Pechanga Arena will see the three-division and reigning WBO junior lightweight titlist risk his belt against the Philippines’ Charly Suarez, 18-0 (10 KOs). ESPN will air their bout atop a doubleheader this Saturday, beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT and local time. (Editor's note: Navarette endured a difficult weight cut to make 130lbs ahead of this fight, which Lance Pugmire wrote about here.)

It wasn’t Berinchyk’s perfect record that troubled Navarrete last May. The now 30-year-old boxer from San Juan Zitlaltepec, Mexico just seemed out of his element at lightweight, understandable given his first title win came at junior featherweight. 

Whatever the case, the night marked the second straight fight where Navarrete came up empty. He was held to a draw by Brazil’s Robson Conceicao just six months prior, which ended his true 33-fight win streak dating back to 2012. 

Navarrete was back to normal in his most recent outing, which was high among his best career performances. He dropped Valdez, 32-3 (23 KOs) three times in a one-sided rout five months ago at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The bout took place 16 months after and just 30 minutes away from Navarrete’s comfortable points win over his countryman at Glendale’s Desert Diamond Arena.  

“When I fought Berinchyk, I felt like my arms were tied behind my back,” Navarrete revealed. “You could see it in the rematch with Valdez, I felt much looser, much more fluid. I wasn’t as dynamic and explosive as I usually am in the ring when I fought Berinchyk. 

“I was back to my old self against Valdez. I was much stronger, and able to put together my punches which allowed me to close the way I did.”

Stylistically, Navarrete will get a different look from Suarez than really from any recent opponent. 

The only common thread shared among whom Navarrete faced in his past four starts is that Suarez was a well-credentialed amateur. The 36-year-old from Metro Manila represented the Philippines in the 2016 Rio Olympics and also spent time on the World Series of Boxing circuit. 

A late start to the pro ranks coupled with his age has left Suarez with a now-or-never mentality entering his first career shot at a major title. 

Navarrete insists he has trained for that very dangerous version of his challenger, while he enters his 16th career title fight. 

“There is this rivalry between Mexico and the Philippines,” acknowledged Navarrete. “It has grown and I’m happy to add another entry to that growing list. He was an Olympian and has great skills. We are working very hard to make sure Mexico once again prevails in this rivalry.”

The additional motivation is to improve upon his 4-1 record in a city whose patrons have embraced him as their own. 

Navarrete was perfect in San Diego before the setback against Berinchyk. More bothersome than the loss itself were whispers as to whether he was suddenly on the back-end of his career. 

“I want to show my best in every fight,” Navarrete said. “It doesn’t always work out, as we saw when I fought [Berinchyk]. So, it was important to be at my strongest the next time I stepped in the ring [against Valdez].

“I want to show the world that I am still getting better with each fight.”

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

SAN DIEGO – Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete tried to become a lightweight champion last year to both enhance his stature with a fourth division belt and to lessen the strain of the weight cut.

The discomfort from losing and returning to his reign as junior-lightweight champion was seen Friday as Navarrete, 30, originally missed weight by four-tenths of a pound before needing most of the two-hour allotted period to trim the remaining weight. Finally, he dipped to the 130-pound limit and preserved the right to defend his belt on Saturday night on ESPN at Pechanga Arena.

“Exhalar,” an official advised Navarrete after he weighed in heavy for a third time at 130.1 pounds.

With that, the scale read 130, and Navarrete slapped his hands in celebration.   

The extended wait was required when Navarrete returned from his initial draining process, only to learn he was still at 130.2 pounds, bringing an anguished expression and a groan toward the California regulator who could only say, “Sorry.”

Mandatory and No. 1-ranked WBO contender Charly Suarez made weight on his first try, at 129.9 pounds, and said he relishes “my opportunity” to become a champion for the first time.

“I will do my best. I’ve dreamed of this,” Suarez said, raising his arms while on the scale before quickly retreating to his hotel room for a satisfying Filipino-style lunch of chicken, fish and rice while Navarrete was dealing with his own personal hell.

Navarrete expressed the pain of the cut Thursday, telling reporters he only wanted a couple of questions after the news conference. He returned to 130 successfully in December, stopping former two-division champion Oscar Valdez in the sixth round in Phoenix. 

“It hurts for a day, and then it’s better the next day,” Navarrete told BoxingScene.

For this bout, Navarrete, 39-2-1 (32 KOs), was presented the choices of 22-0 Andres Cortes, former 130lbs champion Robson Conceicao, and the 36-year-old Suarez, 18-0 (10 KOs), for this return to San Diego. This is the same venue at which he was upset by Denys Berinchyk one year ago this month, seeing the WBO lightweight strap lifted beyond his reach.

“The last guy I would’ve picked is Suarez, because he’s a right-handed Denys Berinchyk,” Top Rank’s Hall of Fame matchmaker Brad Goodman said. “He’s going to chase Suarez down. Suarez switches lefty to righty. And it’s been seen already that he has problems with movers. Maybe [he chose Suarez] because he’s the least of the punchers.”

Navarrete said he selected Suarez because he’ll be a rugged test as a sophisticated former Olympian.

“He has a lot of experience … Olympians always generate a lot of difficulties,” Navarrete said.

Victory would allow three-division champion Navarrete to join countrymen Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Rafael Espinoza in successful title defenses thus far this month.

“I love the Mexicans when they do great work, it’s very pleasing for me,” Navarrete said. 

Goodman foresees Las Vegas’ Cortes as the next opponent for Navarrete should both win.

“Navarrete is a real strong guy, and I expect him to assert that,” Goodman said.

In the IBF interim lightweight title bout, unbeaten Raymond Muratalla, 22-0 (17 KOs), of Fontana, California, weighed in at 134.4 pounds while Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev, 20-1 (12 KOs), came in at 134.6.

The featherweight bout between California’s unbeaten Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez and Jose Guardado Ortiz 16-3-1, (6 KOs), was canceled when Ortiz fainted during his weight-cut process and was briefly hospitalized for precautionary reasons, according to a Top Rank spokesman.

Gonzalez’s welterweight stablemate Giovanni Santillan, 33-1 (18 KOs), who also was upset in May 2024 by current WBO champion Brian Norman Jnr, weighed in at 147.2 for his San Diego homecoming bout (contracted at 148 pounds) against Mexico’s Angel Beltran (146.6). Both fighters are left-handers.

In the final pre-ESPN telecast bout – a four-rounder – junior-welterweight Dyllon Cervantes Alvarado weighed 139.6 pounds while Sammy Contreras of Palmdale, California, was 138.9. 

The unbeaten Cortes came in at 131.7 for his junior-lightweight, 10-round bout against Spain’s Salvador Jimenez (131.9) for the contracted 132-pound fight. Jimenez, like Navarrete, required multiple attempts. 

Female junior-bantamweights Mona Ward (114.1) and Perla Bazaldua (114.4) of South Central Los Angeles made weight for their second pro bouts. Bazaldua is a recent Top Rank signee. 

In a lightweight bout, Mexico’s Cristian Medina weighed 136.7 pounds after stripping bare while Kansas’ Alan Garcia weighed 136.7. 

In Saturday’s 10-round junior-featherweight opener, Azat Hovhannisyan weighed 122.7 pounds while unbeaten opponent Sebastian Hernandez of Mexico weighed 122 pounds.

SAN DIEGO – Less than a mere week ago, it appeared the Ryan Garcia-Devin Haney rematch was a fait accompli bound to stand as the most important boxing match of the fall.

Now, it appears dead.

Garcia promoter Oscar De La Hoya told BoxingScene Thursday that, “I’ll never, ever put Devin in with one of our guys.”

Asked whether that decision was connected to Haney’s evasive showing against De La Hoya fighter Jose Ramirez Friday, the promoter’s running feud with Haney father-manager-trainer, Bill Haney, or the fact that Haney sued Garcia for battery following their April 2024 no-contest in which Garcia knocked down Haney three times but then submitted three positive PED test results, De La Hoya said, “All of the above.

“I won’t waste my time with Devin because he runs and will continue running.”

Garcia, 24-2 (20 KOs), was upset by Rolly Romero in the main event of the Saudi Arabia-promoted main event Friday in Times Square while Haney, 32-0 (15 KOs), engaged in a highly inactive showing to defeat former unified 140lbs champion Jose Ramirez by unanimous decision.

Bill Haney took the news in stride, saying he feels De La Hoya fighters – including former lightweight champion Jorge Linares – “are 0-3 against us when you consider Ryan Garcia didn’t beat us clean.”

De La Hoya’s comment was in response to being asked if he’d be interested in sending his fighters Arnold Barboza Jnr or Oscar Duarte to fight Haney before jumping right into a Garcia-Haney rematch.

“He doesn't have nothing left,” Bill Haney told BoxingScene. “Who does he have? We whooped everyone over there and are threatening to whip anything over there. What's over there for us to fight?”

Haney made no apologies for how his son performed Friday, taking the cautious route to avoid the plodding Ramirez and his left hook.

“We’ll continue making our way to the Mount Rushmore of boxing – in our last fight, we used our legs and lateral movement,” Bill Haney said. “Sometimes, you rely on the West Coast offense. Sometimes, it’s defense. It’s all about winning. Every fight is not all roses and every win may not be glamorous, but I can tell you Bill Haney is thrilled, excited and happy about that result.”

Haney said Garcia’s showing against Romero was not surprising given the scrutiny he endured by the drug-testing body Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.

“He’s not King Ryan. He’s Lyin’ Ryan,” Bill Haney said.

“You can tell Oscar that he needs to humble himself, and when he gets his panties out of his ass, he will realize that that is the Devin Haney era, and he better hope that he can find a boxer qualified to get in the ring with Devin because Devin is more accomplished than anybody that he has over there right now.”

De La Hoya went into last week’s bout wondering why Devin Haney retained his father as his trainer after the repeated knockdowns against Garcia and then jumping into the assignment with the veteran Ramirez.

After the victory, Bill Haney took pride in defeating the Golden Boy Promotions team of De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins and 2024 Trainer of the Year Robert Garcia.

“We gave Ramirez 36 minutes with the whip with a guy that came up from a smaller division in front of all of them, and they didn't cut the ring off or come up with the gameplan to beat us,” Bill Haney said. “It's gonna haunt them when they look back on that fight and realize. We showed [Ramirez] was a straight, up and down fighter with no special effects, and we added Ramirez’s scalp to the resume.”

Bill Haney said he and his son haven’t determined which fighter they are targeting next.

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

 

It stands to reason that the best fighters in the world, those who lead so-called pound-for-pound lists, would be men of a certain vintage. After all, to build a legacy takes time, and seldom will a fighter’s physical prime kindly coincide with their gathering of experience to give us the perfect version of that particular fighter. Usually, just as youth is wasted on the young, in boxing experience is wasted on the old, for it is at that stage, when old, a boxer’s body will start to betray them. It is at that stage their experience is used to compensate for the breaking down of their body and the erosion of their punch resistance. They know then that the end is nigh. They know then that it’s a young man’s game. 

For some, the decline is swift, cruel, and unexpected. Yet for others it is more of a gradual process, one that offers signs which often go undetected or are simply ignored. They are ignored by the fighter in question and they are ignored, too, by those who admire them. Just like that, time passes. For us, for them. One moment you find yourself drawing up a pound-for-pound list with all the usual names and the next you take note of their ages and start to wonder how much longer they will appear on your list.  

Today, for instance, most people’s pound-for-pound top five will include the following fighters: Oleksandr Usyk, Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue, Dmitry Bivol, and Artur Beterbiev. The order in which you find these men will of course vary from list to list, and some lists may include other champions on the rise, but the overall point I am about to make remains the same. The point is this: these men, all wonderfully gifted and dominant, are also not too far away from retiring and leaving something of a void in their wake. 

Usyk, the consensus number one, turned 38 years of age in January and has by now run out of meaningful fights and opponents at heavyweight. His next fight, for example, is against Daniel Dubois, a man he has already stopped in nine rounds. The fight after that, should he choose to carry on, might then involve Joseph Parker, the vastly improved New Zealander whose scalp, alas, will do little for Usyk’s legacy. 

Just below Usyk most will have Terence Crawford, the Nebraskan last seen holding the hand of Turki Alalshikh following the conclusion of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s lacklustre fight against William Scull on Saturday. Crawford and Alvarez are now set to meet in Las Vegas on September 12, while later that same month Crawford turns 38, the same age as Usyk. The difference, however, is this: although success as a 38-year-old heavyweight is not uncommon, the same cannot be said of 38-year-old super-welterweights or super-middleweights. Typically, at those weights, the rot has already set in. 

This is even truer of those who campaign in the lighter weight classes, like super-bantamweight, the division Naoya Inoue currently rules with an iron fist. At those weights, a boxer historically peaks in their mid-twenties and is usually over the hill by the time they hit 30. Yet Inoue, at 32, has so far proved the exception to this rule. He has avoided certain pitfalls by always moving up a weight class at just the right time and also by dominating most of his fights with an abnormal degree of power – which helps.

Even so, Inoue, despite his monstrous reputation, is still only human. Indeed, we have been reminded of this, and so has he, in his last few fights. On Sunday, in Las Vegas, he was dropped heavily in round two by the unheralded Ramon Cardenas, which came hot on the heels of Luis Nery doing the same to Inoue 12 months ago. Same shot, same result. Both times Inoue climbed to his feet, gathered himself, and rallied back to win, but the knockdowns were no less shocking and revealing. 

As for what they revealed, that is for you to decide. Some will perhaps point to Inoue’s age and say it is only natural that he will start slowing down and that his reactions won’t be quite the same as before. Others, meanwhile, will say that Inoue’s seek-and-destroy style and willingness to actually take risks and entertain, apparently a dying art these days, will forever put him in danger and invite the prospect of him being caught unawares. Either way, there is undoubtedly now a fragility to Inoue that wasn’t evident prior to him being floored by Nery in Tokyo. Either way, beating him doesn’t seem like the impossibility it was back when he was in his late twenties and rearranging his fringe between vicious combinations. 

After Usyk, Crawford and Inoue, you have the Russians, Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. This pair are interchangeable, mainly due to the fact they have both beaten each other and appear inseparable whenever they fight. They are also relatively late bloomers whose emergence at the top arrived only when money from Saudi Arabia convinced them to get together and try to establish a number one at light-heavyweight. Before that, Bivol was known for going the distance a lot against men not in his league, while Beterbiev was fighting a similar level of opposition, only finishing them instead of waiting for three judges to confirm the obvious. 

Now, having waited so long to rise, Bivol and Beterbiev are 34 and 40 respectively and wondering, each time they fight, if this will be their last great performance. Beterbiev, in particular, can’t have too many visits to the well left, and even Bivol, six years his junior, places so much importance on speed, reflexes and agility that you can’t help but question how many more times he can look as brilliant as he did beating Beterbiev in February.  

The saving grace for those two could be the relatively small number of pro fights they have so far had. In the case of Beterbiev, there have been only 22 pro fights, whereas Bivol has had 25. That doesn’t mean they are both fresh, especially when considering the sheer volume of amateur bouts they have had, but it certainly suggests they have fewer miles on the clock than other pros of a similar age. 

Here’s one: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. His fight against William Scull on Saturday in Riyadh was his 67th as a pro and at times it looked that way, too. Slow of hand, but especially foot, Alvarez followed the reluctant German-based Cuban around the ring for 12 rounds and seemed to have difficulty exploding, or just pulling the trigger, as effortlessly as he did in the past. As a result, the 34-year-old Mexican resigned himself to going 12 rounds with an opponent few had heard of before he got the fight. Some even said Scull outboxed Canelo, though others said Scull aimed only to survive. Regardless, it was dull and it was Canelo’s seventh distance fight in a row, which tells a story of its own. He is not yet vulnerable, no, nor has he been in danger of losing, but with each fight he starts to look more and more like his own tribute act; everything a little slower, a little more deliberate, and a little less certain. 

It was always going to happen, of course. Alvarez, after all, turned pro at the tender age of 15 and has boxed regularly ever since. He has also cut certain deals which require a lot of him – quantity over quality – rather than the best of him. In fact, this proposed fight against Crawford on September 12 will be the first time Alvarez has really been challenged by a supposed equal since he moved up to light-heavyweight and lost to Bivol in 2022. 

For that reason, the meeting of Alvarez and Crawford, two of boxing’s biggest stars, will be sold as the next Vegas superfight. In some respects, too, that is fair, understandable, no lie. Yet it could also be argued that the fight is a forced one rather than a natural one – what with Crawford moving up weight classes – and that it has come too late for perhaps both. As good as they are, and as dominant as they have been, it is hard to imagine Crawford, at 38, doing himself justice on September 12 as a super-middleweight, nor is Alvarez, based on recent evidence, the same fighter he was a few years ago. You might have their names on September 12. But what else do you have? 

Still, they collide at roughly the same point in their respective careers, which is something. The others, like Usyk and Inoue, must try to survive this summer in the company of new blood; younger, fresher challengers who believe it is time for a changing of the guard. Usyk, he will fight Dubois, a man 11 years his junior, in London on July 19 and will know that Dubois has not only aged but improved since they boxed in Poland in 2023. He will also know that Dubois, at 27, is entering the same athletic prime Usyk himself has recently left. 

Similarly, Inoue will know the danger of Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev, the man he is set to face on September 14 in Japan. Like Luis Nery, Akhmadaliev is a southpaw with a dangerous left hand. Not only that, he is younger than Inoue at 30, and has just 14 pro fights to his name. He won’t be backed by many to beat Inoue, granted, but he is dangerous and he is hungry and he saw Ramon Cardenas drop Inoue on Sunday night, reminding us all of the importance of timing. 

The timing of the punch. The timing of opportunity. The timing of risk. More than any other sport, boxing is all a matter of timing and every fighter who competes is aware of this. They are aware that they each have their time to shine – that one big moment – and that they then have a night when they simply run out of it. It happens to almost all of them, even the ones with perfect timing. It is sneaky, indiscriminate, and inevitable. It has no respect for either achievement or fame. It hides. It waits. 

This year it waits for at least three of the world’s best. 

 

LOS ANGELES – Rolly Romero has made no secret about the shoddy way he was treated as the “B side” fighter to Ryan Garcia in the Saudi Arabia-funded promotion of Friday’s Times Square card in New York.

In hindsight, going without a hotel room booked, fretting about no purse funds in escrow and opting to walk to the venue himself may have been the best thing that ever happened to Romero.

On a weekend that the handsomely paid Garcia, co-main-event fighter Devin Haney and Saudi Arabia headliner Canelo Alvarez all turned in clunker showings void of action, Romero, 17-2 (13 KOs, produced a knockdown-paced unanimous-decision victory to capture the WBA secondary welterweight belt and position himself strongly for big fights of his choosing.

At first glance from his newfound perch, Romero said he wouldn’t mind waiting for Manny Pacquiao to defeat WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios Jnr in their tentatively planned July 19 bout in Las Vegas.

As Alvarez, Haney and Garcia have been criticized for low-punch outputs in outings that ruined a planned high-profile Garcia-Haney showdown in the fall and dampened enthusiasm for Alvarez’s September 12 bout against fellow four-division champion Terence Crawford, Romero was hailed by his promoter Premier Boxing Champions as a beacon to how champions should perform.

“Look, it comes down to this – and this comes from a fighter – you guys shouldn’t be overpaying fighters because then it makes them not want to have to perform, especially when they have another fight lined up,” Romero told BoxingScene in a special interview session with reporters. “Then it’s, ‘All I have to do is survive this fight for the next paycheck.’ It’s really messing up the sport.

“They’ve got to do it like the UFC does: you have a shit performance, [then], ‘Fuck you, you all not getting paid no goddamn money.’ It’s taking away the hunger of these fighters. They’ve got a guaranteed check next. They’re protecting their ‘0.’ I’ve got two losses, but both of my losses came in big fights. It’s never derailed anything. I keep coming back. I have balls because I keep coming back and going after what I want.”

Romero was intent to draw that distinction, a point supported by his promoter, Tom Brown, and former super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant at Wednesday’s press event to promote Plant’s May 31 bout against Armando Resendiz at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

“These other guys keep protecting their ‘0,’ and saying, ‘Oh it’s not enough money, so I’m not going to fight.’” Romero said. “I fight for belts. I fight for legacy. These other guys who’ll only fight for [that] money, it’s sad and it’s destroying the sport.” 

Brown said while the plan is for Plant and unbeaten former two-division champion Jermall Charlo to fight after winning their respective bouts on May 31, he is confident the drive and character of the fighters should ensure that happens.

Simply paying elite fighters to carry out that mission has clearly been revealed as a flawed business plan.

“I’m going to handle business in impressive fashion and then we’ll go from there,” Plant said.

Given all the pre-fight disruption he endured, Romero clarified that, “I got paid.”

And now, after the Times Square main-event triumph, he’s guaranteed himself he’ll be paid more lucratively next time.

 

Life will never be again the same for Ramon Cardenas, following his spirited fight-of-the-year effort against Naoya Inoue. 

The courageous Texan, who lives in San Antonio, dropped the Japanese superstar in round two of a thriller in Las Vegas before succumbing to the electric fists of one of the best fighters in the world.

Still, the stock of the 26-2 (14 KOs) Cardenas rose dramatically, and ahead of a vacation to Japan and some time to heal and recover, the 29 year old was still a little disappointed that he didn’t pull off 2025’s biggest upset.

“I mean, it’s good,” he told BoxingScene of what life was like 48 hours on. “Granted, I’m bummed out that I lost, but I’m not down and out about it. My spirits are high. I’ve just gotta keep working, man.” 

He will not, however, be going back to work as a Lyft driver – a position he gave up in 2023 to focus on boxing. It’s proved to be a shrewd move, but the likeable and polite Cardenas also remains proud of having worked in that role previously.
On Monday morning, he wrote on X: “How about this Lyft driver now?” 

He followed that up with: “Never be ashamed of making an honest living. I no longer do Lyft but I’ll never be embarrassed about it. Also I need that Lyft sponsorship.”

He finished that job in July of 2023.

“At the time, I was struggling financially; making out,” he explained. “But I signed with my manager, and I told him, ‘Hey, man, I need help financially, like to pay my rent, more than anything’. It wasn’t, like, I’m buying dumb stuff and going around just flexing money that I don’t have. It was more just paying rent.”

His manager Mike Miller answered his call for help, his rent was paid, and Cardenas then defeated the 15-0 Panamanian Rafael Pedroza, not stopping to look back. 

“Everything kind of just changed after Pedroza – you know what I mean?” he said. “I had some money in my pocket and I was able to financially take care of myself.”

He certainly showed he could take care of himself against Inoue at the T-Mobile Arena.

Had the bell not gone almost immediately after Inoue rose from that wonderful flashbulb left hook, who knows how different the trajectory of Cardenas’ life would have become? 

And with the bell in mind, Cardenas admits it is hard to know how close to victory he actually might have been.

“You know, ultimately, I was two seconds away,” he smiled. “Because if he [referee Thomas Taylor] would have counted nine and 10, then the conversation would have been different right now, but... I think it’s all God’s timing. God has the ultimate say-so when it comes to stuff like that, so I was really close, but at the same time, I was far.”

Cardenas’ left hook was not an isolated incident. He stood with Inoue through numerous portions of the fight and was able to express himself without the burden of expectation upon him. Life as the underdog means you are written off, yes, but it also means that as long as you do your best, you are in a position to over-deliver.

“I didn’t have no pressure on me, because I was relatively unknown,” Cardenas said. “Nobody knew who I was, so it was one of those things where I just had to go out there and do my best. I didn’t have no pressure on me. All the pressure was on him. So I just went out there and showed out.”

There were some within the trade urging fight fans not to sleep on Cardenas, but even those who knew what the Texan could do were blinded by what Inoue had done. Like Lamont Roach did earlier in the year, Cardenas shocked plenty of observers by being a far livelier B-side than anyone expected, and he is firmly of the school of thought that fame and a significant social media presence do not make a great fighter. 

“I’ve been saying that recently, if you go back to all my interviews – I’ve been saying that people recently have been thinking that boxing is a popularity contest,” Cardenas said. “And they think that, ‘Oh, you have a million followers on Instagram, you’re really good’, or, you know, any of that stuff. 

“And that’s not the situation. I know fighters who have 200,000 followers on Instagram, and they’re not as good. They’re 10 and two, 10 and three, and they’re not really all that great. And no disrespect to them, but a lot of the times that’s not the situation, in certain cases. I had 5,000 followers, but it doesn’t take away the fact that I was ranked number one in the WBA, and ranked top 10 in the other two organizations. I’ve been preaching a lot that boxing is not a popularity contest. It’s about the best fighters fighting the best, and just because you might not know a certain person doesn’t mean that they’re not any good.”
When Inoue did finally get on top of Cardenas, seven rounds had gone by, and by the time the referee stepped in to halt the fight, opinion was split over whether it happened at the right time. Cardenas complained to Taylor, but said: “I wasn’t necessarily upset with it in general. Like I told everybody the day of the fight, the ref saw something that I didn’t. I’m okay with it, you know what I mean? I’m not going to be upset about what the ref does because ultimately, yes, his job is to protect the fighter, and I had told myself and I had told my team prior to the fight that I was going to go out and I was going to go out on my shield. No matter where the cards lay, I was ready for that, and I guess the ref saw something and he decided to stop the fight.” 

Inoue, for his part, improved to 30-0 (27 KOs) with the win. He has not gone the distance since his fight-of-the-year contender with Nonito Donaire in 2019.

“He’s pound for pound for a reason,” Cardenas added. “What he did really well was… like his timing, and I had said it before – his timing and his explosiveness was really good. He did that really well. That’s what he did really good, and that’s something that I expected.”

What so few expected was the volume and power of leather that went back towards the Japanese fighter from Cardenas’ gloves. As well as the knockdown shot, Inoue took some clean left hooks and was on the end of some terrifically hard right hands. But Cardenas knew Inoue could take a shot.

“Was I surprised?” he explained. “Not necessarily, because it’s like I use it for myself in my own example. My last fight [against Bryan Acosta], he did not punch nowhere near as hard as Inoue. He was not in the level of nowhere near close to Inoue, and he dropped me. So I got dropped by a guy who punches nowhere near as hard as Inoue, and it was just one of those shots where you land it good and if you land a good shot on anybody, they’re going to go down. So for me, with my shot, it was a shot that we had been practicing. And I was able to catch him [Inoue] good and he went down. But, I mean, shit, he does take a good shot, I’ll tell you that.”

The Inoue fight has served as a springboard for Cardenas’ future. Yes, he will go to Japan on pleasure, but already he has been courted by promoters there for future fights. He is a man in demand, and said with real modesty and some disbelief: “Yeah, I’m actually very popular now.”

Sacrifices have been made to get there. Not only did he have to walk through the fire against Inoue, not only did he give up his job to back himself as a boxer, but before his ring walk on Sunday night in Las Vegas he had to cut off his ponytail because the commission had concerns that it might whip either he or Inoue in the eye.
“I don’t want the hair swinging around,” said Taylor in the dressing room.

“Hey, man, just cut it,” Cardenas told his team.

“Any little distraction that I could avoid, I wanted to avoid, so I ended up cutting it before the fight. But it was coming off no matter what, so I’m not sad about it. 

“It’s a new chapter in my life, brother.”

Naoya Inoue-Ramon Cardenas was a very good fight. It had momentum swings; hard punches; action in the pocket. They combined to deliver the type of fight we all want to watch.

After the previous two nights in Riyadh and New York, it was also refreshing. Not only did we watch two guys who knew how to take advantage of the opportunity they had through showing up and fighting their hearts out, they also showed that they weren’t there just to get paid. 

The night before, William Scull showed up just for the money. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who so ineffectively cut off the ring against him, was also only there for the money. The night before that, Ryan Garcia only showed up for the money against Rolando “Rolly” Romero, and Devin Haney only showed up for the money against Jose Ramirez. These guys have big fan bases – it risks destroying the sport.

Inoue and Cardenas also far from provided the only highlights from Las Vegas. Rohan Polanco looked good against Fabian Maidana; Rafael Espinoza looked good when beating Edward Vazquez, and Emiliano Vargas showed that he could become what Garcia once looked capable of. He’s a good looking, marketable young fighter who knows how to speak; he may not be an influencer like Garcia is, but being the son of Fernando Vargas can help, not least because, also unlike Garcia, it means he knows how to carry the Mexican torch. He has the makings of a real star – one who can potentially become the future of Cinco de Mayo weekends.

After he’s had a rest, I’d like to see Cardenas have one comeback fight, and then be ready for another big fight – maybe for a title. He created shockwaves by dropping Inoue; he also gave and took some good shots. Inoue steamrolls opponents who don’t belong in the ring with him; Cardenas showed he belongs, and showed more boxing ability – hand speed, shot selection and a decent game plan – than Luis Nery when Nery dropped Inoue 12 months earlier. He may not have had what it took to beat a phenom like Inoue, but his style and mentality lived up to the Mexican-American reputation, and proved him a worthy challenger on the occasion of Cinco de Mayo.

I don’t believe that being dropped again showed that Inoue is declining. At 122lbs he’s in a weight class where his opponents can hurt him; he’s also fighting at a weight where he’s unable to put them away as quickly as before, when sometimes one big shot had been enough. A fighter’s power, ultimately, is unlikely to increase when they move up in weight. He may have to break opponents down more than previously, but he is still getting stoppages – the adjustments he made, in returning to his shotgun jab to set up combinations and body shots without sacrificing aggression or excitement, were also impressive. He certainly didn’t become shy after getting dropped.

No matter who either of them fights next – Murodjon Akhmadaliev is likely for Inoue in September – boxing fans will look forward to watching. Akhmadaliev’s a crafty, durable fighter; he can provide Inoue with another entertaining test.

If Inoue moves, as he has spoken of doing, up to 126lbs he’s taking a risk. He lacks head movement, and he also has a tight stance because of how committed he is to throwing with power; while he’s far from terrible defensively, he can be hit because he’s not particularly slick; unless he adjusts at 126lbs the shots he takes might start to tell.

After Canelo-Scull, Canelo-Terence Crawford was confirmed for September 12. His performance against Scull led me to conclude he’s no longer a world-class fighter; he’s been fighting opponents he’s known he can beat and who are just happy to be there. If someone decent fights him and actually tries to win, I believe they’ll do so. Scull didn’t come close to trying.

Fights like Canelo-Crawford are supposed to be built by the fights that come before them, but after watching Canelo-Scull it’s lost its appeal. When them fighting was first being spoken about I didn’t believe Crawford, the smaller man, could win, but Canelo looked so bad against Scull that I believe he can. He couldn’t track Scull down, so him fighting Crawford feels like a waste of time.

Haney and Garcia, similarly, killed their proposed rematch with their performances. Arguably Haney-Romero should be made instead. Haney’s performance reminded me of how I was forced to fight when I’d break a hand and fight one-handed, except that he had two hands. He did the bare minimum with his lead hand and every once in a while drop a right hand and then move around a ring. He can be forgiven for that, because of his psychology after being hurt by big shots against Garcia, but after this he has to embrace the challenges he accepts. 

I want to see Haney tested against a hungry opponent similar in age to him and still in his prime – Romero could prove that opponent. Romero’s been inconsistent – he can be awkward, but he has some power – and there aren’t countless alternatives at 147lbs. If Romero isn’t rewarded with a big fight, it’ll prompt questions about why. If Haney could beat Romero, it would be a more respectable win. 

For the past two years, Charly Suarez has been biding his time and exercising patience as he awaited a world title opportunity. It was around that time, in March of 2023, when the Filipino fighter first became a legitimate contender at 130lbs, pulling a last-ditch victory over the previously unbeaten Paul Fleming in Fleming’s hometown of Sydney, Australia.

Trailing on all three cards heading into the 12th round, Suarez dropped Fleming with a left hook and then pummeled the weary fighter until the referee had no choice to stop the fight with just 62 seconds left.

Suarez, 18-0 (10 KOs), believed that victory would lead him to a title fight, but what ensued was a series of events that tested him mentally, including a canceled title eliminator against Andres Cortes last September, leading Suarez to fight a series of tune-ups while he waited for his time to come.

Now that opportunity is here, as he prepares to face WBO junior lightweight titleholder Emanuel Navarrete this Saturday, May 10 at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. The fight will headline a card on ESPN, beginning live at 10 p.m. Eastern Time.

Suarez, now 36, is treating this opportunity as a once-in-a-lifetime shot, because he knows that there may never be another moment like this.

“This fight is a big answered prayer for me because we trained for this fight and this is my shot. I’ve been looking for this fight since two years ago,” said Suarez. “The chance that they gave me, maybe tomorrow there is no chance for me. That’s why once the opportunity came to me, I grabbed it and worked hard. Because maybe tomorrow I won’t have an opportunity like this. So this is my time.”

Suarez, who began boxing at the age of seven while growing up in Sawata barangay in San Isidro, Davao del Norte, Philippines, had been dreaming of a moment like this all along. An only child, Suarez was first introduced to the sport by his father. He made it to the Philippines’ national team in 2003, and by 2007 he was fighting on the world stage, competing in the AIBA World Championships in Chicago. 

Suarez already showed glimpses of his toughness on the world stage when, as part of the World Series of Boxing in 2013, he came in on five days’ notice, and with two injured shoulders, fought Vasiliy Lomachenko. Suarez hung in there for five rounds with the two-time Olympic gold medalist and future pro champion, refusing his trainer’s advice to stop the fight after three rounds and instead lasting the distance.

“I was excited because I know he is a good boxer, but for me that is my opportunity to beat him, or to fight with him,” Suarez told this writer in 2016. “But you know I lost because I wasn’t myself, didn’t have good training, I lacked training. I lacked practice but I gave our fight my best.”

After falling one win short of making the 2012 Olympics, Suarez finally achieved his goal in 2016, but he lost a split decision to future world champion Joe Cordina in his first bout in Rio de Janeiro.

It wasn’t until after 15 years on the national team, in 2018, that Suarez decided it was time to make a move to the professional ranks. It was a scary decision, as national team boxers are given a monthly stipend. The uncertainty of professional boxing is that unless you’re an Olympic gold medalist, you probably aren’t making money except for when you’re fighting. 

Faced with a tough decision, Suarez turned to his former national teammate, Delfin Boholst, asking him to be his manager and trainer. Boholst stepped up, and the two embarked on their pro journey together.

Boholst says that while the 30-year-old Navarrete, 39-2-1 (32 KOs), has been through wars in recent years and is just 1-1-1 in his last three bouts, he still has the punch volume to be a dangerous fighter.

Suarez has seen some changes in Navarrete over the years.

“In my observation he’s different from before. There’s a lot of fights, a lot of sparring, so it’s possible that he’s changed his style and power,” said Suarez, who is also a member of the Philippine Army, with a rank of Private First Class.

For this fight, Suarez held training camp at Elorde Boxing Gym in Parañaque City, Philippines, right in Metro Manila, before retreating to the quieter, cooler location of Tagaytay City to finish camp. They arrived in the United States nearly two weeks ago to acclimatize to the environment.

For what will be his most important fight to date, Suarez says he is banking on the several hundred fights he had as an amateur to find the solution to carry him through. 

“In this fight I use all of my experience in the amateurs. Me and my team, we studied for his movement, the movement of Navarrete,” said Suarez, who was a 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist and 2014 Asian Games silver medalist as an amateur.

“No more excuses in the ring.”

A win would make Suarez the third current world champion from the Philippines – and the only one in a weight class above 105lbs. Even more than the glory of becoming a world titleholder, he’s motivated by a desire to make his country – as well as his fellow soldiers in the Philippine Army – proud of him.

“I’m a fighter so I believe I will win the fight. I don’t want to lose the fight. No matter what happens, in my heart and mind, I will get this fight,” said Suarez. “If you have a dream, keep your dream alive and don’t take it for granted. So that’s why I have a dream for when I’m in the amateurs, that I want to be an Olympian. Now that I’m in my pro career, I want to be a champion.”

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

As a prospect develops and nears contender status, the run of fights left behind builds them up for what lies in front.

The experience gleaned from fighting tall, short, orthodox, southpaw, brawlers, boxers and punchers builds qualifications for an eventual title shot.

But as the work is done and momentum builds, the consequences of a loss or setback become more and more costly.

At 12-0 (10 KOs), Darrelle Valsaint’s confidence is building, but the junior middleweight also knows that the pressure intensifies as rungs on the ladder are climbed.

“Pressure?” he asks rhetorically. “A little bit, but it goes away as soon as I step in that ring. Everyone is gonna have a little fear. [But] I know what I can do. I trust in what I can do, and God blessed me with it. I definitely feel like the momentum is coming into play. Everything’s looking beautiful, everyone’s doing great, and I’m ready to look great on May 10.”

On Saturday, May 10, “Blast” boxes in his adopted hometown of Orlando, at Kissimmee’s Silver Spurs Arena in front of his fans, and those supporters of his stablemate Erickson Lubin, who faces Ardreal Holmes in the bill-topper.

“It’s going to be amazing,” Valsaint continued. He will soon fight Mexican veteran Rodolfo Orozco, 33-4-3 (25 KOs), who is stepping back in the ring for the first time since losing to Conor Benn and failing a post-fight test for PEDs. 

Orlando has quietly emerged as a boxing location, with the Caribe Royale hosting MVP and Matchroom shows as well as the WBA convention at the end of 2024. It is also where U.S. Olympian Omari Jones, who is also from the area, aims to – in part, at least – build his brand.

“It looks like it,” Valsaint said of Florida’s growing reputation. “Everybody loves boxing in Orlando. Everybody loves coming down and going to the fights, and we’ve got a big fight with a few thousand people at the Silver Spurs Arena, so I guess Orlando is gonna be a new home for boxing.”

Valsaint is learning as he goes. He studies fight films, and he names Mike McCallum and Willie Pep as two of his favorites, along with Roberto Duran, Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather.

“I love watching the old-school boxing more than the new school of boxing,” he said.

As seriously as he takes it, and as hard as he might be working, there is no disguising Valsaint’s enthusiasm for boxing. He answers questions with a smile on his face and is indebted to boxing for the opportunities it continues to present him with.

“Nothing comes close to the buzz of fight night and nothing comes close to the buzz of winning and getting your hand raised,” he enthused. “I love how you’re just in the gym, working on your craft, and it’s just a one-man sport. I love that everything’s on you. That’s what I love about it.

“I was always told I wasn’t going to be nothing growing up, so that lit a fire in me and was always my motivation. I just want to be great. I love fighting. This is what I do. I live this. I was just a troubled child growing up, I would always hear that [he would not amount to much]. Nothing too crazy, I was just a bad child. I needed this [boxing]. I needed this. Boxing was an outlet. I don’t think boxing gets enough respect for that. It’s the toughest sport, but I’m tough. I’m very tough. I love combat. The art of war. [It’s] probably [from] how I was raised, and it’s in my genes.” 

Boxing is, of course, part business and part sport. It is physical and political, but Valsaint has that clean-cut and charming naivete that implies that life is about boxing – the physical part – and only that.

“The less you get hit in this sport, the longer you last,” he admitted. “That’s the whole point. Hit and not get hit, but I love me some offense. I love putting hands on people.”

Of the business element, he explained: “I don’t worry about that because it can cause a lot of stress, but I am aware of listening to what’s going on, the politics and stuff like that. I’m also just focused on the training, but I have a strong team, a great team, so we’re looking out for everybody.”

Lubin is part of that team, and he is the headline act in a fight that has seen a grudge manifest since tempers flared between him and Ardreal Holmes at a public workout in Las Vegas last month. 

“He’s a dog, he’s an animal,” Valsaint said of his friend. “And right now, he’s bouncing back and Ardreal Holmes – he’s gonna put him on his ass.” 

Valsaint is still only 22. The story is that he lied about the details on his birth certificate to claim his Olympic spot, or else he would have been too young. He still made it to the quarterfinals of the 2020/2021 Games. But now he has the ambition and excitement of youth to propel him through his pro career. He’s talked about a possible future Florida clash with fellow Olympian Jones.

He also knows that boxing can give him a life he would have never been able to dream of while growing up in Haiti. Boxing has been a way out, a new journey, a fresh start, and it has given him hope where previously there might have been little.

“My parents were from one of the roughest parts of Haiti, Port-au-Prince,” said Valsaint. “And where I’m from, there’s a war going on, so I come from somewhere tough. But I want to be undisputed. I want to be one of the greatest in the sport of boxing. I want to be a superstar. I believe I’ll get there. I have the skillset to get to the top.”

Leigh Wood just forgot, that’s all. It was okay, too, because I understood why. I understood that he had other things on his mind that Thursday and that even his beloved Nottingham Forest Football Club struggled for real estate in that busy but focused mind nine days from a fight. That they were playing that evening, and that he had arranged for our interview to take place during the match itself, was something lost on Wood until it was suddenly upon us and set to happen. It was then that he asked if it could be brought forward an hour and fifteen minutes. It was then I remembered that I was about to talk to a boxer in the final days of training camp; a time when nothing else matters. 

“It’s unusual for them to be playing on a Thursday,” Wood said when we spoke that night. Yet the day of the week was not the issue. In fact, by the time we spoke at 7pm, half an hour before kick-off, Wood had only just started to relax following a full day’s training; meaning he had only just been granted permission to think of other things, other sports, small pleasures. 

Nottingham Forest, his team, has offered more than small pleasures for Wood and their legion of fans this season. Under the guidance of Nuno Espírito Santos, the Midlands club have exceeded all expectations and currently sit sixth in the Premier League table, one spot outside the Champions League places. Not only that, the success of the team has had a galvanising effect on the city, something Wood hopes to feel when he fights Anthony Cacace at the Nottingham Arena this Saturday. 

“From a motivational standpoint, I’m not just on my own,” said Wood, the city’s most popular active fighter. “I’ve got a whole city behind me and it’s a city I’m proud to represent. They pick me up – almost literally pick me up – when I’m down and out. They really get behind me on fight night. 

“It’s not just my city, either. I’ve got people travelling from all over the country to support me. It’s incredible. 

“Also, from a business point of view, if you’ve got that volume of support, it really helps. There are a lot of fighters sitting around at the moment doing nothing; they can’t get dates; they can’t get fights. That’s because they don’t sell tickets. But, with me, because I’ve got that volume and have shown I can sell arenas up here, and also in Manchester and Sheffield, they know what I bring to the table.”

With ticket-sellers now a dying breed, fighters like Wood, a former WBA featherweight champion, have set themselves apart and, yes, become valuable assets in British boxing. Indeed, Wood provides solid evidence that a boxer does not need to make outlandish remarks, pretend to be something they are not, or spend every waking moment on social media in order to be considered marketable by promoters and financiers. He is instead popular, particularly in Nottingham, on account of his everyman appeal and, more importantly, the value for money he represents on fight night. 

“It does feel different, to be honest,” Wood said of the experience of fighting at home. “The atmosphere is a little bit better and you hear all the chants. I remember watching [Carl] Froch when I was a kid and whenever he boxed in Nottingham it was like a choir echoing around the ring when they would sing and chant. Then I watched him against [Mikkel] Kessler at the O2 [Arena] in London and it just wasn’t the same. The atmosphere wasn’t even half as good. It was pretty poor, to be honest. The arena was big, but there weren’t as many fans from Nottingham there and they couldn’t dominate the place like they would at home. It’s really special when you go to a fight and the bulk of the people there are from that city and know all the chants. 

“Saying that, I’ve got Derby [County Football Club] fans who message me and tell me they’re coming to support me. Even they sing along to some of the Forest songs. They cross enemy lines for one night only.”

On Saturday there will no doubt be a few more Derby County fans in attendance at the Nottingham Arena, each of them trying their best to remain covert but no less committed to the cause. From the first bell to the fight’s conclusion, they will make peace with the Nottingham Forest fans all in the name of getting behind Wood and ensuring that this appearance in Nottingham turns out better than his last one. Last time, of course, Wood found himself stopped in seven rounds by Mauricio Lara, whom he then defeated by decision in a rematch in Manchester three months later. That loss, as regrettable as it was, left Wood not so much traumatised as impatient. He wanted to exorcise any demons as soon as he could. 

“I wanted to go straight back [to Nottingham], but for that rematch to happen so fast it had to take place in Manchester,” he explained. “I was then expecting a homecoming fight against [Josh] Warrington, but that didn’t happen, and we ended up fighting in Sheffield. So the last time I won in Nottingham was the [Michael] Conlan fight [March 2022], and I didn’t get to celebrate that night because I thought I had really hurt him. Hopefully on Saturday I’ll get to celebrate properly in front of my own fans in my home city.”

[=img:108374::=]

Should that be the case, Wood, 28-3 (17), will be seen celebrating with a junior-lightweight belt (the IBO title) around his waist rather than the featherweight belts he used to win and parade when somehow weighing nine stone. It will, like all his belts of late, be just that little bit looser; that little bit more comfortable. 

“The only difference [going from featherweight to junior-lightweight] is that I’m not feeling as anxious about the weight,” he said. “Usually it is really, really hard for me to make the weight and not worry about it. It would always be in the back of my mind, that thought: Will I be able to make it? I’m pretty much walking around at a similar weight now [as he was when a featherweight], but my cut isn’t as drastic and I have those extra four pounds. I still have to come down a long way, but if I had got complacent about it and put more weight on during camp, it would have ended up being the same cut [as featherweight]. I was trying to avoid that, so the cut isn’t as drastic. That’s what we’ve done. If you saw the numbers at featherweight, you would think it’s mad, frightening.”

If a safety net of four pounds teases the possibility of a happier and improved Leigh Wood this weekend, working in direct opposition to that is the number 19. That is the number of months between Wood’s last fight, against Josh Warrington in October 2023, and his next one against Cacace. 

Far from ideal, the 19 months Wood has spent away from the ring can be attributed to more than one injury and is something that will naturally have people wondering about the impact of ring rust. 

“I think it’s down to the individual,” Wood said when asked about that. “I say it all the time: I’m out the ring but not the gym. I’m very professional and always striving to be better. I stay fit regardless of what is happening and do whatever I’m able to do. When my leg was injured, I was still shadowboxing, and I always look at what I can do rather than what I can’t do. I think that’s been a key factor for me. I’ve been in situations before where I’ve had to have a year out because of an injury and it’s really done my head in. Back then I had no money, hadn’t won anything, and nobody knew who I was. I was 30 years old and had everything stacked against me. But I kept strong and kept doing what I could do. It then paid off. I use the same mindset now, even though I’ve now achieved a few things and made a few quid. I’ve still not finished.”

For any 36-year-old featherweight, the thought of being inactive for almost a year and a half would be considered inconvenient, at best, and, at worst, the beginning of the end. But for Wood it’s not just about peak performing years and the maximising of his physical potential. It is also about capitalising on momentum and building on that fine run of wins against Conlan, Lara and Warrington. Those, ideally, should have led to even bigger fights, as well as Wood cementing his reputation as Britain’s most exciting fighter. 

Instead, he resigned himself to watching everyone else fight from the sidelines. Last year he watched Anthony Cacace shock IBF champion Joe Cordina in eight rounds. He then watched Cacace beat Warrington over 12. 

“He [Cacace] was on my radar for all of 2024,” Wood said. “I wanted that fight before Warrington but I was injured and wouldn’t be ready in time to fight him. So I had to wait a bit, fight Warrington, and here we are. 

“He’s had some really good wins and is in really good form. His confidence must be flying. I‘ve got to go out there and strangle that confidence out of him, round by round. That’s what I’ll do. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but I’ve prepared perfectly for him and I know him better than he knows himself. I’m as confident as he is.”

Cacace, 23-1 (8), is a 35-year-old southpaw from Belfast whose biggest moments have come in the past 12 months. He is also someone whose power belies his knockout percentage and whose recent wins have seen him attack opponents with the conviction of someone certain they can break their heart. 

In that respect, he and Wood are kindred spirits. For if there’s one thing Leigh Wood has now almost mastered, it is breaking hearts when the going gets tough. “I’m prepared for it,” he said of the possibility of yet another war on Saturday. “Am I expecting it? You never know what to expect, to be honest. I just go out there and do what I do and I’ll get the win at any cost, by hook or by crook. 

“It just comes naturally to me,” he added. “You get in there and if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. The Can Xu fight [in 2021] was down to tactics, and I got that bang on; it was a breeze considering I only had a few weeks of training for that fight. The second Lara fight [in 2023], I prepared really well for and that was a cruise, too, because I knew him really well and knew what he was doing and when he was going to do it. I just kept him under control. This fight will have its moments, I’m sure. But I still expect to be in control.”

Whenever in the ring, Wood is able to establish the sort of control few get to experience in everyday life. Even when he is seemingly not in control, as was the case for periods against both Conlan and Warrington, Wood perseveres, knowing that it is better to be fighting and still have a chance than to be hurt and not fighting at all. He also knows that for as long as he is upright, punching, and winning, he will to some extent remain in control of his destiny and keep Father Time on the end of his jab.

“We’ll see, but probably 12 months from now,” he said when asked about retirement. “I’m just taking it fight by fight at the moment. I’m not too sure yet. I want that City Ground fight, but you sometimes need a bit of luck in terms of finding the right opponent at the right time.”

Later that Thursday evening, the City Ground played host to Nottingham Forest’s 2-0 loss against Brentford, a result that dented Forest’s hopes of claiming one of the five available Champions League spots. With three games to go, however, this team of so-called overachievers will now look to follow the example set by their city’s favorite fighting son. They will keep going, keep trying, and keep believing. They will continue to throw punches at their target and stop only once they get what they want. 

 

LAS VEGAS – Ramon Cardenas’ co-promoters are already plotting his next move after watching him enhance his reputation in defeat by Naoya Inoue.

The Mexican-American was stopped in eight rounds on Sunday but after having dramatically dropped the undisputed junior-featherweight champion in the second at the T-Mobile Arena and willingly trading with one of the world’s most dangerous punchers until then.

According to Sampson Lewkowicz, Akihiko Honda – Inoue’s long-term co-promoter – has raised the prospect of Cardenas fighting in Inoue’s home country of Japan, in recognition of how entertaining a challenger to the 32 year old he proved.

Lewkowicz even believes that the punishing nature of Sunday’s contest has jeopardised Inoue’s date of September 14 with Uzbekistan’s Murodjon Akhmadaliev. His fellow co-promoter Garry Jonas of ProBox TV, similarly, wants to see the 29-year-old Cardenas fully recover before returning, but expects him to be rewarded with further big fights when he does.

“I already have a call, from Mr Honda, that they want to see him in Japan,” Lewkowicz told BoxingScene. “He didn’t win the fight, but he won the hearts of the fighters.

“He did Cinco de Mayo, not in New York and not in Saudi Arabia – he did it in Las Vegas, the way it’s supposed to be.

“[The fight in Japan will be] next year, most likely. After this fight he needs to have a long rest. Maybe six months; by the end of the year, or next year [he’ll return to the ring]. We’ll have a great fight.

“[Inoue] got hurt several times, so I believe he will not fight ‘till the end of the year. He will not fight in September – I don’t think so. This is my personal opinion.

“He’s the best fighter [in the world].

“Cinco de Mayo is in Las Vegas. Don’t look for any other place.”

Cardenas had been the significant underdog against an opponent widely considered one of the world’s finest active fighters. It is also little secret that on the occasion of Cinco de Mayo weekend he had been matched with his opponent partly on account of his heritage.

“He made us all at ProBox TV very proud,” Jonas told BoxingScene. “We knew he would put up a very good fight.

“First, for Ramon, you take the money and you know you don’t have to win in order to win – if he gave a good performance his stock goes up and he did just that. Some take the money and lay down. Ramon is too good and has too much character to do that, and in Ramon’s mind he had at least a puncher’s chance to win and he almost did that.

“There’s already been a lot of buzz about future opportunities for Ramon – that’s what biting down and making sure he gave the fans a show did. He earned what’s surely coming his way.

“He’ll return as soon as he’s ready. He was very busy on ProBox TV, so if he wants to take a break, he’s earned that.

“Ramon knows that there’s been a string of fighters who’ve stepped up from ProBox TV to the big stage and done well. Lamont Roach; Angelo Leo; Radivoje Kalajdzic; Trevor McCumby. We add Ramon to that list – it’s testament to our level of fighter – he felt that pressure to deliver and be the action fighter we preach about. We may not win but we’re coming and we will entertain.”

It’s also been suggested since the final bell on Sunday that Inoue, who won his first world title a 108lbs, showed signs of decline.

“This was the first time I’ve seen Inoue in person,” Jonas continued. “He’s all they say he is. As good as Ramon is, you could see Inoue is at a whole other level. I’m not sure anyone at 122 can realistically do more than what Cardenas did. Inoue is that guy.”

Boxing has a pound-for-pound problem, and it’s a good one to have: There are three or four strong claimants to the mythical title of best male boxer in the world per unit of body weight. (I say “three or four” deliberately, because most lists have Dmitry Bivol as No. 4 and virtually none higher than that; but, for reasons expanded on below, his talents and accomplishments merit his inclusion here.) While Ukraine's idiosyncratic heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk is probably the consensus top dog after his pair of wins over Tyson Fury, there is no small segment of fandom and media who make the case strongly for Terence Crawford. The Nebraskan himself was the consensus pick in the immediate aftermath of demolishing Errol Spence Jnr, but his throne has been usurped due to his inactivity and a relatively mediocre showing at 154lbs, during which time Usyk has beaten Fury twice and stopped Daniel Dubois.

The fourth contender for pound-for-pound primacy, Naoya Inoue, most recently recovered from a second-round knockdown to dispatch Ramon Cardenas in the eighth of a Sin City slugfest this past Sunday, and with world titles in four weight divisions and counting, has perhaps the best classic pound-for-pound resume of all.

So how do they all line up, and with all four having confirmed or all-but-confirmed bouts set for the coming months, who will end 2025 on top? 

Naoya Inoue

Accomplishments: WBC light flyweight titlist, WBO junior bantamweight titlist, undisputed bantamweight and junior featherweight champion.

Most recent/next outing: Defeated Ramon Cardenas in Las Vegas on Sunday night; will face one of his mandatories, former titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev, on September 14.

Notable victories: TKO6 Luis Nery, TKO8 Stephen Fulton, KO2 Nonito Donaire

The case for: One of only three men to be undisputed champion in two weight classes (although the other two are also in this list). Has been utterly dominant in every one of four weight classes in which he has won a title; on the rare occasions he has encountered any difficulties – in the first fight against future Hall of Famer Donaire or following knockdowns against Nery or Cardenas – he has responded to win impressively; after a tough battle the first time, he obliterated Donaire in a rematch. Is willingly taking on his most dangerous challengers.

The case against: Not his fault at all, but he has been dominant at a time when many of the lighter weights have not been stuffed with world-beating talent. As a result, he has relatively few signature wins. And the flip side of getting off the canvas to win is that you find yourself on the canvas.

The path to No. 1: Inoue is probably approaching the limit of how far in weight he can climb, so he doesn’t have too many options there, but if he were able to pick up a featherweight title, that would be a huge statement given that 126lbs is a talented division at the top. A clear win over the skilled Akhmadaliev would be impressive in itself, but following that up with a featherweight title victory against Nick Ball would be immense.

Dmitry Bivol

Accomplishments: Undisputed light-heavyweight champion (although he has relinquished the WBC belt); previously held the WBA belt for five years.

Most recent/next outing: Defeated Artur Beterbiev on February 22 to avenge his only defeat and become undisputed champion. Likely to face Beterbiev in a rubber match later this year.

Notable victories: W12 Artur Beterbiev, W12 Saul Alvarez, W12 Gilberto Ramirez.

The case for: A supremely skilled boxer, Bivol racked up a series of title wins against the likes of Jean Pascal, Joe Smith Jnr, Sullivan Barrera, and Isaac Chilemba before scoring a big breakthrough with his win over Alvarez. His only defeat was to rival pound-for-pounder Beterbiev, which he promptly avenged. Beterbiev and Alvarez are fifth and sixth or thereabouts on most pound-for-pound lists, making the Russian the only contender for top spot to have beaten two men who are themselves top ten candidates.

The case against: His 2024 knockout of overmatched Malik Zinad aside, he hasn’t scored a stoppage win since 2018. He can sometimes appear slightly diffident and content to coast to a decision.

The path to No. 1: Defeating Beterbiev in their third outing, particularly a comprehensive one, would be significant. Following that up with a win over David Benavidez would stake a major claim to the top spot.

Terence Crawford

Accomplishments: Formerly WBO lightweight titlist, undisputed junior welterweight champion, and undisputed welterweight champion. Presently WBA junior middleweight titlist. 

Most recent/next outing: Defeated Israil Madrimov to add a 154lbs belt to his collection last time out last August; slated to jump up to super middleweight for a September 12 showdown with Alvarez.

Notable victories: TKO9 Errol Spence, TKO10 Shawn Porter, TKO4 Kell Brook.

The case for: The savviest ring technician this side of Floyd Mayweather Jnr, Crawford is a switch-hitting boxer with a nasty streak, willing to look for the knockout even with a points victory already in the bag. Has been undisputed in two weight divisions. Has rarely if ever looked in danger of losing a pro fight.

The case against: Even by modern standards, Crawford is infuriatingly inactive. Has fought just once a year since 2019, during which time Inoue has competed 11 times. Frustratingly found himself on the opposite side of the street from some of his biggest potential welterweight rivals for several years.

The path to No. 1: Crawford is probably already the major claimant to the top spot, alongside Usyk; jumping up to 168lbs and defeating Alvarez could leave him all but unassailable.

Oleksandr Usyk

Accomplishments: Undisputed heavyweight champion. Previously undisputed cruiserweight champion.

Most recent/next outing: Secured a second win over Fury in December; will face  Daniel Dubois in a rematch in July.

Notable victories: W12 Anthony Joshua (twice), W12 Tyson Fury (twice), KO9 Daniel Dubois.

The case for: Usyk is a supremely gifted athlete, whose relaxation in the ring grants him a stamina with which he consistently outlasts and wears down his opponents. Has unified the heavyweight belts despite being outweighed by an average of 37lbs in his outings in boxing’s flagship division. The only person to upend Fury as a professional.

The case against: Never a big puncher at cruiserweight, he has sometimes eked past his larger opponents. He may be susceptible to body punches and Dubois supporters claim their man already scored a KO win over him.

The path to No. 1: Beat Dubois again, this time without any controversy, and Usyk will have no questions at all left to answer. If he isn’t ranked No. 1 after that, there is likely nothing else he can do to change the situation. Either way, he’ll be able to ride off into retirement and await the call from Canastota.

So how are things going to unfold? Expect Usyk to defeat Dubois again in July, underlining his claim to No. 1 status; but that status won’t last for long. Having dispatched all foes, he doesn’t wait around for Joseph Parker or Agit Kabayel and announces his retirement.

Crawford establishes himself definitively as number one with a surprisingly emphatic win over a declining Alvarez. But guess what? Crawford also decides he doesn’t have anything left to prove; he, too, pockets Turki’s millions and heads off into the sunset. 

Inoue then defeats Nakatani in a thrilling contest to close 2025 before stepping up to featherweight and taking on Ball in the new year. He just about succeeds in that task, but featherweight will ultimately prove his undoing, as he then suffers a shock defeat to Rafael Espinoza.

That leaves the crown to be claimed by the quietest of the quartet – who, having taken a second win over Beterbiev in October, outpoints David Benavidez in a terrific contest next spring. Arise, 2026’s pound-for-pound No. 1, Dmitry Bivol.

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

LAS VEGAS – After one boxing newcomer sought to flex his status by staging a card at New York’s Times Square and by shifting Mexico’s most popular fighter to Saudi Arabia the next night, a 93-year-old man sat quietly in a press room, smiling in delight after producing a spine-tingling Sunday night.

“It shows that just because you have a shitload of money, it doesn’t mean you’re going to do entertaining, fun fights,” Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum said after stirring TKO finishes recorded at T-Mobile Arena by his undisputed junior-featherweight champion Naoya Inoue and unbeaten featherweight champion Rafael Espinoza.

“We know, being in this business, that if you don’t entertain the public and give them exciting fights, your clientele is going to drift off. It apparently isn’t their business. They have some other idea of what they’re doing that I really don’t understand.”

Arum is referring to Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh’s highly panned Friday and Saturday cards that were filled with lucrative purses but devoid of drama (and punches), leaving the fate of the traditional boxing weekend to this third and final show, staged in its usual place.

“I did the things I wanted to do for the people to be entertained,” Mexico’s Espinoza said after combining with challenger Edward Vazquez to land 330 punches in the seven-round fight – just 14 less punches thrown in the 36 combined rounds of three of Alalshikh’s high-profile bouts (Canelo Alvarez-William Scull, Ryan Garcia-Rolly Romero, Devin Haney-Jose Ramirez).

“I want to be the next Mexican idol,” Espinoza 27-0 (23 KOs) said. “In order to achieve that, I need to have great fights. I want to demonstrate that. This was more than pressure. It was about excitement. I knew if I gave everything, people would notice.

“I knew [those other] fights this weekend weren’t that good, but I told myself I’m going to try to steal the night, and I think we did it. We saved this weekend.”

Espinoza even stuck around to serenade the crowd of 8,000-plus with a variety of Spanish songs, while Japan’s Inoue 30-0 (27 KOs) air-gunned T-shirts out to the masses following his captivating bout.  

By comparison, Arum reasoned that Alalshikh sabotaged his own shows.

Not only did he foolishly turn his back on millions in live-gate earnings by not going to Madison Square Garden or Barclays Center in favor of a curtained-off, chain-link fence spot allowing for an audience of 300 in Times Square, he set high-profile fighters in three bouts who were eagerly anticipating their next, more lucrative fight.

In that scenario, said Arum, “there’s no incentive for guys to take risks. The next fighter’s lined up, with money that’s already set.”

Arum was pointing directly at both Alvarez, who formally announced his planned September 12 bout with fellow four-division champion Terence Crawford after defeating Scull, and Garcia and Haney, who were supposed to be headed to a rematch before Romero upset Garcia by unanimous decision.

The fate of Garcia-Haney II is now unknown.

“[Alvarez] had already been promised $100 million to fight Crawford. Why would he take a chance [versus Scull]?” Arum asked of a bout that offered the least total punches in CompuBox’s 40-year history of tracking 12-round fights.

“That’s terrible for boxing. The incentive to look great is gone, and the only sure way to get to the great money is to not engage in a fight,” Arum said. “Canelo has shown in his last few fights that he’s just a businessman.

“Take Haney. … That fight was an absolute disgrace. He came in there knowing he had to fight Garcia next, and so [Devin’s father-trainer Bill] Haney instructed his fighter to not take a lot of chances, give him a lot of movement. You’re with a guy whose best days are behind him. Stink up the joint. It doesn’t matter, because he cashes Turki’s check,” Arum said. “That was an awful fight.”

The polar opposite was Inoue overcoming a second-round knockdown by 15/1 betting underdog Ramon Cardenas of San Antonio to unleash a final, hammering barrage that led to the TKO when Cardenas slumped backward in his corner during the eighth round.

“Cardenas was much stronger and tougher than I expected,” Inoue said. “This was the [weekend's] most attractive fight.”

Inoue revealed his inner warrior by rising from the canvas to batter and drop Cardenas in the seventh, setting up the finish.

As he anticipates a September 14 date in Tokyo versus former unified 122lbs champion Murodjon “M.J.” Akhmadaliev and a May 2026 bout against unbeaten countryman and bantamweight champion Junto Naklatani, Inoue told BoxingScene he does not anticipate a move up to featherweight to meet either Espinoza or someone like fellow 126lbs champion Nick Ball, who was rumored as a December foe in Saudi Arabia.

“As long as I can make the weight in this division, I will stay in this division,” Inoue said.

Given that 115lbs champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez is intrigued to move up in weight for Inoue, along with the presence of the coming opponents and Cardenas, the decision appears highly logical.

Cardenas’ manager, Mike Miller, told BoxingScene Cardenas may move to bantamweight to pursue another title shot, and Cardenas promoter Sampson Lewkowicz said Cardenas has been invited to fight in Japan, where all four 118lbs champions reside.

Cardenas stunningly dropped Inoue late in the second round, and was deprived of moving to follow up quickly because the bell soon rang after Inoue arose. The champion rallied impressively, pounding Cardenas and skirting wildly flung blows before dropping Cardenas on four consecutive right hands in the seventh.

At times during the hail of Inoue barrages, Cardenas would smile.

“As funny as it sounds, I love being in there, giving the fans a show,” Cardenas said. “For me, I’ve dreamt of stuff like this – fighting on a big card in Vegas. I was just here to give my all. I told my trainer, ‘If I go out, I go out on my shield.’ I gained a lot of fans because of this.” 

Knowing who carries that attitude matters. Cardenas was driving for Lyft as recently as 2023. He trained mercilessly in the California desert under trainer Joel Diaz, another detail Top Rank’s Hall of Fame matchmakers considered before inviting Cardenas to take the significant fight that marked Inoue’s return to the U.S. after a four-year absence.

Based on the night’s riveting events, he said he’ll entertain coming back soon.

And Cardenas knows his stock has risen for going out on his shield. He wrote on X: “How about this Lyft driver now?”

Top Rank has been in business since 1966. Turki Alalshikh’s operation is still in hiring mode, making missteps that both boxing insiders and the general public are taking account of.

Arum fully admitted he, like other promoter peers, would send his fighters to fight for Alalshikh if the money was right for a favorable mismatch.

“Let’s be honest about it: There’s no medals on any of us in boxing, and if the Saudis offer one of my fighters really big money in a fight I believe will be non-competitive and boring, yeah, I would send him. The money is the money,” Arum said. “This is a business. We’re not amateurs.”

Still, the stench of those first two weekend cards was lingering and on the minds of the Sunday combatants.

“I want to say sorry to the people about the other fights we saw this weekend, but we came here to bring the fans a great fight,” trainer Diaz said. “I know what I’ve got, and, tonight, Ramon Cardenas showed what kind of warrior he is. Even in a loss, you gain.”

Arum smiled at the contrast, seeing his 21-year-old prospect Emiliano Vargas bounce on his feet while watching Inoue as Friday Times Square winner Teofimo Lopez attended and expressed awe about Inoue’s triumph.  

“A brilliant performance on a great show, and boxing needed that after swallowing and paying good money for Friday’s show from New York and Saturday’s show from Riyadh,” Arum said.

“This was what boxing is really about. The other stuff defies what it’s about. It’s not entertaining. It’s agonizing.”