The ABC 35th Annual Convention headed to Las Vegas.

The 2023 Association of Boxing Commissions’ 35th Annual Conference will be held in Las Vegas at the fabulous Mirage hotel resort between July 30th and August 3rd. This is the first time that the Convention event has been changed to a Sunday to Thursday format, put in place to allow attending boxing commissions to continue to work boxing shows on both the front and back weekends of the event. The training workshops for Officials and Inspectors will be held on the 30th and 31st (Sunday and Monday) leaving the General Session to run Tuesday through Thursday (August 1st to the 3rd.) 

There is an early booking discount to attend the event with the link for booking on the ABC website sometime in December. The Convention has proved popular over the last 9 years and is expecting a high demand for registration. 

Olympians Ajagba and Rivas meet Jan 4th in NY.

Top Rank in association with ESPN will enter 2023 with an intriguing heavyweight doubleheader heavyweight doubleheader on Jan 14th at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

The feature bout is a scheduled 10 rounder between former Olympian punchers Efe Ajagba 16-1 (13 KOs) and the current WBC Bridgerweight world champion Oscar Rivas 28-1 (19 KOs.) To accompany this bout in a quality 10-round co-feature 2016 Italian Olympian Guido Vianello 10-0-1 (9 KOs) tackles a mammoth task when he meets undefeated Stephan Shaw 18-0 (13 Ko’s.) 

The show is due to be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

The associated Undercard fights will stream live and exclusively on ESPN+ and includes a 10-round junior lightweight bout between Adam Lopez and Abraham Nova.

Both Ajagba and Rivas have boxed at the highest level and have lost to rising contenders, Ajagba dropping a decision to Frank Sanchez last year and Rivas losing in similar fashion to Dillian Whyte in 2019 having dropped the former world title challenger in her process. Rivas has faced a lengthy spell of inactivity since picking up the WBC Bridgerweight title and has opted to move up in the meantime, despite having every intention of defending his title down the line.  Stephan Shaw is a big man with a big reputation, the St. Louis native has sharpened up for the Vianello bout with shutout over tough Rydell Booker just last week. The 235 pounder has knocked out 3 of his last 4 opponents and intends on continuing the trend by dispatching Vianello. Vianello a native of Rome, turned pro with great promise in December 2018 and won his first seven bouts by stoppage. Vianello’s strong run came to a halt with a 2020 draw with Kingsley Ibeh and a scarce 2021 where injury’s saw him fight only once. Vianello did return in July, stopping Rafael Rios in four rounds and more recently appeared on home soil in Rome where he dominated the colourful Jay McFarlane over 8. 

Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Groupe Yvon Michel GYM Promotions, tickets are priced from $49 to $89 and are due to go on sale Friday Dec 2nd at 10 a.m. ET, with pre-sale for TS Rewards Members on Thursday Dec 1st. Pre sale tickets can be purchased at the Turning Stone Resort Casino Box Office, charge by phone by calling 800.771.7711 or online at Ticketmaster.com.

Calendar of Boxing Events through December.

December 10th 

A PPV event featuring Terence Crawford vs David Avanesyan (WBO welterweight title) along with the boxing debut of Cris Cyborg from Omaha Nebraska. Broadcast by BLK Prime and Integrated Sports.

December 10th

Teofimo Lopez meets Sandor Martin at junior welterweight along with a co-feature heavyweight bout between undefeated Jared Anderson and durable Jerry Forrest broadcast by USA ESPN in association with Top Rank from Madison Square Garden. 

December 10th

Manny Pacquiao will box DK Yoo in an exhibition to be staged in Seoul, South Korea that will be broadcast in PPV via Triller. 

December 10th 

Michael Conlan takes on Karim Guerfi at featherweight on an ESPN+ card at the Oddessey arena (SSE Belfast) Northern Ireland which also features a WBO European title fight between Tyrone McKenna and Liam Taylor.

December 10th 

Josh Warrington meets Luis Alberto Lopez for the IBF featherweight title from the First Direct Arena in Leeds Uk, the show also features an IBF Woman’s World Bantamweight title fight between Ebanie Bridges and Shannon O’Connell, broadcast by DAZN.

December 11th

CBS Sports Network will broadcast a show from The Caribe Royale in Orlando Florida featuring Yamaguchi Falcao vs Ernest Amuzu at super middleweight, the card is due to host 11 undercard fights. 

December 13th

ESPN+ feature a show headlined by a unified bantamweight title fight between Naoya Inoue and Paul Butler from the Ariake Arena, Koto-Ku in Tokyo Japan. The card also features undefeated prospects Yoshiki Takei and Andy Hiraoka.

December 16th 

PPV show featuring undefeated heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov vs Michael Wallisch with the NABA and NABF titles on the line, on the same show once beaten heavyweight contender Simon Kean takes on former world title challenger Eric Molina. 

From The Centre Gervais Auto, Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada promoted by Eye of the tiger. 

December 17th 

In a battle of undefeated lightweights, Michel Rivera 20-0 meets Frank Martin 16-0 on Showtime from The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

BLK Prime and Integrated Sports unite to deliver Crawford v Avanesyan PPV Championship event Dec 10th.

The entertainment broadcast group ‘BLK Prime’ has linked up with the broadcasting company ‘Integrated Sports’ to host the December 10th World Welterweight Championship showdown between champion Terence Crawford 38-0 (29 KOs) and David Avanesyan 29-3-1 (17 KOs), held at the CHI Center in Omaha, Nebraska along with a healthy undercard. 

The events Pay per view will stream on BLK Prime and PPV.com priced in the US at $39.99 in addition to this the event will also be distributed across the United States lon cable and satellite pay-per-view via iN Demand, DIRECTV and DISH.

In a press release the BLK Prime representative Sam Katkovski made it clear that they wanted to make Crawford v Avanesyan PPV available for the masses, so made the decision to go the traditional route with cable and satellite, in addition to just the BLK Prime App. Integrated Sports has been in the business for many years and has the experience to hit all corners of the United States. BLK Prime are happy to be partnering with them and look forward to a great night of boxing on December 10.”

Integrated Sports president Doug Jacobs said. “Crawford is arguably the No. 1 pound-for-pound champion in the world and Cris Cyborg (who is due to make a boxing debut on the broadcast) may be the greatest female MMA fighter of all-time. It’ll be interesting for MMA fans to watch her box and we are excited to be part of the BLK Prime movement to make all the big fights happen.”

The co-promoters of the event worldwide are NextGen Boxing, Bash Boxing, and BLK Prime.

Historic information regarding Integrated Sports:

IS are North America’s leading distributor of International Pay-Per-View and Closed-Circuit sports events and has presented World Championship boxing matches featuring Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones, Ivan Calderon, Rocky Martinez, Nicolai Valuev, Amir Kahn, Marco Antonio Barrera, Arthur Abraham, David Haye, John Ruiz, and Juan Manuel Lopez. In addition, Integrated Sports Media has distributed numerous international soccer matches showcasing the National Teams of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the USA, as well as World Championship and world-class mixed martial arts events featuring Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia, Bobby Lashley, Bob Sapp, Jeff Monson, and Roy Nelson.

In a similar fashion BLK Prime is a growing subscription video-on-demand company that offers multicultural content to a diverse audience worldwide. To learn more about BLK Prime, visit: https://watchnow.blkprime.com/ 

To order the pay-per-view visit https://ppv.blkprime.com/pay-per-view. 

On social media follow #CrawfordAvanesyan, on Instagram @BLKPRIMEBOXNG @BLKPRIME, on Twitter @BLKPRIMEBOXING, on Facebook @BLKPRIMEBOXING

Regis Prograis stops defiant Jose Zepeda to pick up the vacant WBC Super Lightweight title.

In an intriguing bout for the vacant WBC super lightweight belt, Regis Prograis 28-1 (24 KOs) scored an impressive KO over tough Jose Zepeda 35-3 (27 KOs) in the penultimate round on Saturday night in Carson, California. Both fighters mixed it up from the opener with Prograis dictating with the jab and Zepeda playing counter puncher. The bout began to unfold as a tactical battle with Prograis appearing to control the majority of the exchanges. Zepeda suffered a cut over his right eye following a heated exchange in round 4 but managed to maintain his composure and even cause Prograis some problems in the fifth. Prograis picked up some nose damage from Zepeda’s accurate jabs in the 6th but stuck to his strict game plan and boxed intelligently to orders through round 8. Down the final stretch both fighters boxed behind the jab, patiently poaching for openings with some impressive back and forth action. By the tenth it was apparent that Zepeda was fading and Prograis was closing the distance, Zepeda fought back defiantly but midway into the 11th found himself being backed up. With a minute left in the round Prograis unleashed a vicious two handed attack to drop Zapeda forcing referee Ray Corona to stop the fight at 0:59 of the session. Both men had their moments in a very competitive fight but it was Regis’ more accurate efficient work that pulled him through against a very determined Zepeda.  Ringside judges had it 98-92, 98-92 and 97-93 all in favour of Prograis at the time of the stoppage.

Wardley outguns Gorman to secure vacant British Heavyweight title.

Unbeaten Ipswich heavyweight Fabio Wardley 15-0 (14 KOs) started off slowly on Saturday night against tough Nathan Gorman 19-1 (13 Ko’s) before digging deep to drop the Manchester man three times and securing the vacant British title. Gorman was dropped twice in the second and once again the the third before his corner had seen enough and pulled him out at 2:33 of the session. Gorman’s vast amateur pedigree showed in the early showing as he appeared to dictate with a well timed jab and good movement. Crisp accurate punches seemed to be problematic for the Wardley who was bleeding from the nose as early as the opening round. Round 2 saw Gorman attempt to pressure Fabio and capitalise on the nose injury, until a defiant Wardley sprung to life to hurt Gorman with a flurry of wild punches, dropping him momentarily. Gorman survived the knockdown but was stunned again moments later and knocked down for a second time. Gorman survived the round and maintained his composure but was hurt badly following a third knockdown in round 3, forcing his corner to pull him out at 2:33 of the session.  Wardley being crowned the British champion after just 15 professional fights and only a handful of white collar appearances behind him. 

Whyte outpoints Franklin in disputed majority decision.

Dillian Whyte returned to the ring tonight with a highly disputed majority points victory over tough unheralded and unbeaten Jermaine Franklin at Wembley Arena. Franklin got off to a spirited start with well selected sharp combinations, stamping his authority on the fight. Whyte found his range in the middle rounds but appeared to try too hard to land single shots. As Whyte raised his tempo, Franklin matched him for spirit and guts. The bout appeared in the balance as Franklin appeared to slow, offering Whyte opportunities to break through. At the end of the ninth Whyte walked onto a short hook which seemed to stun him, as he reeled towards the corner the Michigan fighter moved in with a series of shots only to be cut short by the bell that possibly saved Whyte from a compromising spot. Whyte himself seemed to fade towards the closing rounds as Franklin seemed to spring to life with explosive bursts of intermittent punches. Whyte was told to forget about knockouts by James McGirt in the corner between rounds and to stay in his shell. The final round again was a close affair with Franklin acting defiantly, Whyte did rally towards the end of the session and managed to stun Franklin with a highly entertaining bout coming to its conclusion. Many at ringside felt the fight could have gone either way but all appeared to agree that it was extremely close. Unfortunately despite one judge scoring accurately with a 115-115 draw, both of the other officials at ringside saw it necessary to score the bout a one sided 116-112. I scored the bout with one round in favour of the American but it remains that Whyte moves on to a potential meeting with Anthony Joshua in the summer. Jermaine Franklin a gracious loser voiced his opinions on the scores but made it very clear that very few people have the heart to get into the ring with him, his stock does rise significantly.

Whyte and Franklin weigh in, drama ensues during glove selection.

At todays weigh in for the heavyweight double header scheduled for Wembley arena tomorrow night, former WBC world heavyweight title challenger Dillian Whyte, a distinct 10-1 favourite scaled 251 pounds whilst imported yet undefeated underdog Jermaine Franklin scaled a soft 257. Both men conducted themselves well at the weigh in and it looks like an intriguing battle of styles for the feature event.  The chief support features undefeated Fabio Wardley of Ipswich who scaled a solid 240 pounds for his British title challenge against the once beaten Nathan Gorman of Nantwich who tipped in at a whopping 271 pounds. Gorman appeared to struggle the sole time that he stepped up in class and is facing a man who seems to be moving on a fast-track making some bold statements along the way. Wardley is extremely confident and well conditioned whilst a lot could be said for the Manchester mans appearance.  Following a rather cordial weigh in both camps of the main event bout headed to the conference centre for the glove selection ceremony where high drama unfolded. Dillian Whyte’s representative chose two sealed packets of white, prepared gloves by the manufacturer Fly. Joshua the man selecting gloves for Dillian appeared happy with the gloves from the second packet and alerted the BBBC official to mark the, as selected for Whyte to use tomorrow night. The Franklin team didn’t appear to have any issues with this and were handed a selection of packages containing the gloves that they had requested. Jermaine and his team opened a pack of Black coloured gloves by the manufacturer ‘Loaded’ and agreed to use that pair after trying on the gloves. As this was taking place, the representative from team Whyte ‘Joshua’ checked the gloves which Franklin had chosen and alerted a BBBC official to the fact that the gloves appeared as though they were broken in or had been worn previously, something that is against the rules of the commission. Whyte then got himself involved and himself noticed that it appeared as if tape had been removed from the knuckle area and had left residue. Team Whyte made it very clear that they were opposed to Franklin wearing these particular gloves. A BBBC official made some enquiries as to where the gloves had been stored and whether or not they were in fact sealed from the manufacturers factory. Some verbal exchanges took place between the camps and Dmitri Salita the promoter for Franklin challenged team Whyte accusing them of trying to get under the underdogs skin and bad gamesmanship. In the midst of this Whyte made a comment directed at Jermaine’s trainer Jesse Addison stating “If he keeps talking he will get checked” Addison appeared infuriated at this comment and an exchange of words took place. Once this was diffused Whyte made an offer the resolve the situation saying that he’d have two identical pairs of Fly gloves sent from the factory that both parties could agree on. A BBBC official handed Franklin a pair of white and purple Fly gloves which Jermaine tried on, even though he had no solid opposition to the gloves he and his immediate team were now dead set of sticking to their guns in being allowed to use the gloves that they had requested as neither the promoter or the officials were in favour of backing team Whyte’s claims up regarding the gloves being tampered. Franklin and his team were eventually granted the opportunity to wear Black Loaded gloves whilst Whyte had stuck with the White pair by the Fly brand. It appears as though a touch of last minute mind games had been employed by team Whyte, which didn’t actually seem to phase the away fighter who continued to maintain his composure regardless. 

Former jr Middleweight Champion Buster Drayton passes aged 70.

Philadelphias Former world light middleweight champion Buster Drayton, sadly passed away this week at the age of 70. The news was announced by the Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame last Sunday, and was later confirmed by his daughter, Melanie. 

Moses Drayton was born on March 2, 1952, and at the age of 19 was enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, Drayton would rise quickly through the ranks to the level of Sergeant. Buster found boxing whilst in the marines and would embark on a pro career 6 years later. 

Drayton soon built his reputation as a durable rugged fighter by traveling the world to take on all comers usually heavily favored opposition like Sumbu Kalambay in Italy, tough contenders Jimmy Cable and Mark Kaylor in successive fights in the Uk. Drayton earned his stripes and gained huge experience at home in the local Philadelphia gyms, where he would become a regular and reliable main sparring partner to then-middleweight champion Marvin Hagler.

Drayton broke out of the stereotypical journeyman mould in 1986 when he grabbed the opportunity with both hands and defeated Carlos Santos to win the vacant IBF junior middleweight title by majority decision.

Drayton would make two successful defenses overseas, defeating Davey Moore and Said Skouma in France, both by tenth round stoppage, before losing a unanimous decision to Matthew Hilton in Canada, losing the belt a year after winning it. 

Drayton continued to fight on until 1995, but never regained his championship status, losing to Julian Jackson by third round stoppage in a 1988 challenge for the WBA junior middleweight title and again by decision to rising contender Terry Norris in back to back outings. 

Drayton finished his career with a record of 40-15-1 (28 knockouts), and later worked as a police officer in Philadelphia and later at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Philadelphia. Buster’s passing has prompted a huge amount of tribute to those who knew or fought him, John Scully, Charles Brewer and Al Bernstein all testified that he was one of the finest individuals in the game with a wealth of knowledge that he was always willing to pass on. Buster was a no nonsense fighter with explosive power in both hands, but as a man was one of the most gentle and caring people one could ever wish to meet, he will be sadly missed. 

Bentley offers brave challenge for Alimkhanuly’s 160 pound WBO title.

                               

Undefeated Janibek Alimkhanuly 13-0 (8 KOs) was forced to dig deeper than expected to earn a unanimous decision victory over British Middleweight Champion Denzel Bentley 17-1-1 (14 KOs) on Saturday night at the Pearl Theater at The Palms Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. Bentley came into the bout as a 20:1 underdog to challenge Alimkhanuly for his WBO 160lb title but offered a gallant performance giving the champion all he could handle throughout the fight. Alimkhanuly managed to break through and visible shake Bentley in the final round but was unable to register a stoppage. Scores were 116-112, 116-112, 118-110.

Alimkhanuly gave Bentley huge praise afterwards, stating that ‘Anything can happen in the ring, he came well prepared, I respect my opponent because he was completely prepared, he was 100 percent, but I am a champion and I fought all 12 rounds as a champion…I am ready for any champion, for unifications. I am ready. Let’s fight.’ 

A subdued Bentley stated, ‘thought I was in the fight, in the fifth round, my coach told me we weren’t in front and to pick up the pace, so I picked up the pace.” Bentley must go away from this experience with so much confidence, very little was actually expected of him and he gave an excellent account of himself. 

This was the first title defense for Alimkhanuly, who picked up the WBO strap when he was elevated from interim champion when Demetrius Andrade opted to move up in weight rather than defend against him.

Expect a routine night for Dillian on the 26th against untested Franklin.

                              
On November 26th at Wembley Arena, Dillian Whyte makes his first appearance since his disappointing defeat at the hands of Tyson fury back in April in his sole attempt at a world title to date, the man employed on this night to offer some stubborn resistance is the undefeated American Jermaine Franklin, a 29 year old native of Saginaw Michigan who has an impressive record of 21-0 (14 Ko’s) and has served as a sparring partner for Whyte’s more recent Victor, Tyson Fury. Unfortunately, despite some impressive statistics and some good spiel, Franklin has only boxed once in 38 months and on that night only beat a 20-21 Rodney Moore who has previously boxed as light as super middleweight. Jermaine has looked impressive in victories over the notable Rydell Booker and Pavel Sour, where a tenacious work-rate and respectable power won the day. The unfortunate yet notable statistic regarding Franklin’s record is a 2019 bout with the durable yet average Jerry Forrest where most ringside onlookers had Forrest a clear winner despite a shady decision in Jermaine’s favour. Whyte himself 29-3 (19 Ko’s) is coming off 2 knockout losses in his last 4 outings and needs an impressive showing to ensure that the top tier fights remain on table. Victory here and an impressive one at that could potentially secure an AJ rematch and at 35 the Brixton puncher knows that slip ups aren't an option.  Franklin has to understand that he is stepping several echelons above the level of anyone that he has ever stepped foot in the ring with and in my opinion one appearance in 3 years against inept opposition and a move around with Fury wearing headgear and 18 ounce gloves aren’t enough to sharpen your tools for a live version of Whyte. Franklin may be busy enough and brave enough to offer Dillian a nice workout but let’s make it clear, this should be routine work for Whyte and a stark education for Franklin about how there are levels to this sport.