Errol Spence due to face Manny Pacquiao, August 21st in Las Vegas

                                               

It appears that legendary multi weight world champion and current WBA welterweight title holder in recess Manny Pacquiao 62-7-2 (39 Ko’s) will face undefeated WBC and IBF champion Errol Spence Jr 27-0 (21 Ko’s) at a venue to be announced in Las Vegas on August 21st. The bout that will be a PPV event was announced this week by both boxers on social media. Spence who suffered a horrific car accident in 2019 last boxed in December of 2020 when he outpointed Danny Garcia in Texas. Pacquiao’s last outing was in the July of 2019 when he won a split decision over the then undefeated Keith Thurman in Las Vegas for the WBA Super Championship at welterweight. 

The bout is likely to be aired by Fox in association with PBC.

Taylor and Ramirez weigh in at Virgin Resort in Las Vegas.

                               

Josh Taylor 139 v Jose Ramirez 139

WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO super lightweight titles

Jose Zepeda 140 v Henry Lundy 139

Elvis Rodriguez 139 v Kenneth Sims Jr 139

Jose Enrique Vivas 127 v Luis Coria 127

Elvis Rodriguez 139 v Kenneth Sims Jr 139

Andres Cortes 132 v Eduardo Garza 132

Robeisy Ramirez 126 v Ryan Lee Allen 125

Raymond Muratalla 137 v Jose Gallegos 139

Javier Martinez v Calvin Metcalf

Venue: Virgin Resort Las Vegas

Promoter: Top Rank 

TV: ESPN, ESPN+ and Fite Tv in the Uk

Bounty Hunter jr addresses reasons for Hrgovic collapse and the announcement of June 19th bout.

Former world Cruiserweight title challenger and current heavyweight contender, Michael Hunter 19-1-1 (13 KOs) clarified this week the reasons for his highly publicised bout with Filip Hrgovic being cancelled and his plans for the near future. Michael felt that when he pulled out of the fight with Hrgovic, much of the boxing press and all concerned jumped to conclusions stating that he didn’t want the heat and was dodging the unbeaten Croat, when in reality he felt that the offer made by Eddie Hearn and Matchroom boxing was a low bid and the risks involved weighed against the potential rewards wasn’t something Hunter was comfortable with. Apparently Hearn knew that Michael had better offers on the table and with that added to factors like having to travel to Europe or Croatia potentially to box Filip, Professional wisdom would always prevail. Michael said that he had the opportunity to box a former foe from the amateurs whom has a credible resume on a reputable Tv platform, on home territory for more money and the decision of which fight to take was a no brainier. Hunter is scheduled to meet once beaten Mike Wilson 21-1 (10 Ko’s) on June 19th in Miami on the Triller Tv platform. Michael said that the fight makes far more sense at the moment, financially for him and the opportunity to box Hrgovic will always be on the table. Michael feels disappointed that much of the worlds press jumped to conclusions and didn’t come to talk to him directly to find out the facts. Michael is preparing in Las Vegas for June 19th and has been sparring with current WBC champion Tyson Fury at Top Rank gym, an experience that he has described as invaluable.

Joshua Buatsi scores sensational knockout in Manchester, moves closer to World title.

WBA International light heavyweight Champion Joshua Buatsi 14-0 (12 KOs) scored a vicious knockout over previously unbeaten Daniel Blenda Dos Santos 15-1 (8 KOs) in the fourth round last night at the AO Arena in Manchester, England. Buatsi, fighting for the first time alongside trainer Virgil Hunter, landed a sneak right hand in round two, rendering the import unconscious, Buatsi instinctively landed a second right hand as the stricken Dos Santos was falling. Daniel was kept on the canvas for several minutes. Time of the stoppage was 2:44. Buatsi is one of the leading light heavyweight prospects in the world at the minute and In all honesty, this action was a pointless exercise. 

In a clash for the vacant EBU super middleweight title, Lerrone Richards 15-0 (3 KOs) outboxed former WBA belt holder Giovanni De Carolis 28-10-1 (13 KOs) over twelve rounds, the fight was a conclusive shutout with very little significant action. Scores were 120-108, 120-108, 119-109.

Unheralded Jason Cunningham 29-6 (6 KOs) scored a surprise upset by dethroning European super bantamweight champion Gamal Yafai 18-2 (10 KOs) by unanimous decision over 12. Cunningham dropped Yafai in the second, fourth and sixth on his way to a famous 115-110, 114-111, 114-111 victory.

EBU cruiserweight champion Tommy McCarthy 18-2 (9 KOs) retained his belt with a sixth round Stoppage over tough Alexandru Jur 19-5 (7 KOs). McCarthy dropped Jur in the fourth and finished the job in round six.

Unbeaten super lightweight Dalton Smith 8-0 (7 KOs) stopped Lee Appleyard 16-6-1 (5 KOs) in round six of a vacant English title affair.

The long awaited debut of the very talented amateur standout Solomon Dacres saw the midland heavyweight conclusively outpoint the rugged Mladen Manev over six rounds.

Chris Lovejoy controversy ahead of tonight’s fight with Manuel Charr.

California Heavyweight Christopher Lovejoy, who tonight met Manuel Charr 32-4 (18 Ko’s) for what was announced as the WBA title in recess, has an exclusive promotional agreement with Legendary promoter Don King. The promoter of Saturday’s boxing card in Germany Errol Ceylan is failing to comply with the Cease & Desist letter they received several weeks ago and with the fight taking place this evening may regret not acting on Kings legal council. 

“Chris Lovejoy and the Ceylan are defying the law,” said King. “We have served them and justice will prevail.. We will see who will be quacking when we get to court and the legal process decides that everything is there in black and white…  Lovejoy is out there popping off and feels that this fight is for the WBA championship..  The WBA hasn’t sanctioned this illegal bout and they certainly won’t do so. Trevor Bryan is the WBA champion.”

King continued.. 

“What fighter shows up in Germany without a trainer or cutman and is totally out of shape, weighing 306 pounds..  Lovejoy lacks plain common sense, We will see you in court along with your German promoter..  We’ll see who will be laughing last on Instagram.”

Lovejoy is supposed to have filed for bankruptcy in California before departing for Germany to try to stop King from taking legal action on his promotional agreement and thus trying to stop Saturday night’s fight with Manuel Charr.

King insists that promoter Errol Ceylan is promoting a title fight illegally, including a DKP exclusively promoted boxer, knowingly and willingly, compromising  King’s business agreement with Lovejoy.

Tonight in Cologne Germany, WBA champion in recess Manuel Charr, handed Christopher Lovejoy his first loss with a second round Ko over the Las Vegas based Californian.. This is Charr’s first fight since his 2017 fight with Alex Ustinov. Lovejoy 19-1 (19 Ko’s) looked out of his depth and will struggle to be taken seriously after this inept showing. 

Christopher Lovejoy v Mahmood Charr scheduled to commence this coming weekend in Cologne.

Next weekend we are scheduled to see the return of the enigmatic, mysterious undefeated heavyweight Christopher Lovejoy, if he steps into the ring to face former WBA regular champion Manuel Charr at the Box Gym arena in Cologne. Lovejoy 19-0 (19 Ko’s) has never faced a name opponent to date and has never featured in a televised bout, although sketchy footage exists from a couple of his knockouts, all of his appearances have been self funded and below the border in Mexico. Last year Lovejoy was scheduled to appear in London as an opponent for tough British heavyweight David Allen, until an intervention from Don King regarding a contractual dispute forced Lovejoy to pull out on the eve of the event. Many sceptics have speculated that Lovejoy is purely a marketed commodity who is attempting to promote himself into a huge payday. Inside boxing men like Kevin Henry and Bones Adams say that Las Vegas based Lovejoy can indeed fight, having also previously served briefly as a sparring partner to unified champion Tyson Fury several years ago but since then Chris has remained an unknown entity. Charr himself hasn’t boxed since 2017 when he faced Alexander Ustinov to pick up the WBA belt, he is 31-4 (17 Ko’s) and when on form is capable. With 6 days to go and Lovejoy already posting videos and pictures of himself in Cologne by the dozen via Instagram, one has to wonder, is Christopher once again enjoying the trappings of his media fame with very little intention of putting gloves on next weekend, Lovejoy already pulled away from high profile fights with Allen, Bryan very close to the date prior to this. This fight really has very little in terms of reward in terms of risk for Lovejoy, Charr isn’t renowned as a player in the higher echelons of the heavyweights today and victory would merely be an active baby step forward, where as a loss would bring the mystical tower that Chris has portrayed to the world to its knees. Expect a late pull out or injury postponement as this bout nears. 

Undefeated Frank Sanchez scores technical decision over theatrical Nagy Aguilera.

In the opening bout of the DAZN broadcast from Arlington, Texas, unbeaten Cuban heavyweight heavyweight Frank Sanchez 18-0 (13 KOs) outgunned veteran Nagy Aguilera 21-11 (14 KOs) for 6 uncomfortably dirty rounds of a scheduled ten to retain his WBC Continental Americas title via technical decision. Sanchez came out aggressively, hurting Aguilera early with right hands. By the third the fight became more heated with Aguilera complaining to referee Rueben Perez about a rabbit punch, at the same time as Sanchez unloaded a powerful right hand. Aguilera did bite down and fire back, but frustratedly resorted to head butting the Cuban. 

Sanchez replied by continually landing more stiff right hands, hurting Aguilera. Sanchez dictated the fifth with the jab frustrating the overmatched American. Round 6 was the closure, a long right hand from Sanchez landed awkwardly to the side of Aguilera’s head in the neck area, the referee warned the Cuban again for what appeared another rabbit punch, meanwhile Aguilera resorted to the dramatics of throwing himself to the canvas in distress. The ringside doctor entered the ring to check the stricken fighter although the Tv replay did not appear to show a shot that would have cause such a reaction. 

After several minutes of confusion, the fight was called off by referee Perez and a ruling of an accidental foul was announced sending the fight to the completed scorecards.

All three judges scored it 60-54 for Sanchez as he earned the technical decision at 1:42 of round six, remaining undefeated and retained his WBC Continental Americas title. 

Alvarez stops Saunders in 8 in Arlington.

WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez 56-1-2 (38 KOs) scored an eighth round retirement stoppage over WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders 30-1 (14 KOs) on Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Alvarez, arguably the best pound for pound fighter active today proved too strong for Saunders outgunning him gradually over 8 rounds before stopping him on his stool between the eighth and ninth rounds. Canelo walked Saunders down in the early sessions, slowly breaking through the visitors defensive shell, Saunders landed some clever counters from range and attempted to keep Alvarez off balance with the jab. Saunders did gain some confidence in the middle rounds, but was continually met with more significant return fire from Canelo who was now finding his measure. Alvarez began looking to land the right uppercut from round 5 onwards and as he began finding the target began throwing the show with more savage intent. It was in round 8 Alvarez landed the shot that caused a swelling around the right eye. At the end of the round Saunders looked subdued returning to his corner and after some brief deliberation a compassionate Mark Tibbs made the decision to pull his fighter out.

Alvarez leaves the Texas with the WBO belt from Saunders to go along with his WBC and WBA straps and now set his sights on IBF champ Caleb Plant this September for the undisputed title, which Canelo has indicated as his main objective.

Canelo told DAZN Chris Mannix immediately after the fight in the ring as such, “That’s the plan to go for the belt. I’m coming, I’m coming my friend. I hope that fight can be made.”

The official result was a TKO at the end round eight. All three judges had Canelo in the lead at the time of the stoppage 78-74 twice and 77-75.

Weights from the DAZN card from Arlington Texas.

 

Saul Alvarez 167 v Billy Joe Saunders 167

(WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight titles)

Elwin Soto 107  v  Katsunari Takayama 107

(WBO light flyweight title)

Kieron Conway 154 v  Souleymane Cissokho 153

Frank Sanchez 237  v  Nagy Aguilera 238

Marc Castro 132  v  Irving Macias Castillo 127

Keyshawn Davis 138  v  Jose Antonio Meza 138

Christian Duran 146  v  Xavier Wilson 147

Kelvin Davis 143  v  Jan Marsalek 140

Hosted by the AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas

Promoted by Matchroom Boxing 

Televised globally by DAZN

Slimline Ruiz outpoints tough Arreola in Carson Ca.

In a WBA world heavyweight title eliminator, former unified champion Andy Ruiz Jr. 34-2 (22 KOs) scored a hard earned twelve round unanimous decision over 3 time world title challenger Chris Arreola 38-7-1 (33 KOs) on Saturday in the first all  Mexican heavyweight showdown of this magnitude in front of 4000 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California in what was the first spectator accessible boxing event since the COVID lockdown.  The fight which was televised on FOX Sports and PBC Pay-Per-View in the United States was every bit as good as it promised, both guys came to fight and betting underdog Arreola caused the first shock of the evening by dropping Ruiz with a short right hand in the second. Ruiz weathered the storm and appeared to dictate the tempo of the majority of the bout from then on. Arreola slowed down steadily throughout the fight allowing Ruiz to land the more eye catching work. Arreola consistently stood his ground over the stretch, causing damage to the former champions face despite struggling with a shoulder injury. Both guys stood toe to toe until the end and no one could question the commitment of either man at the final bell. Ringside judges had Ruiz winning a wide unanimous decision with scores of 118-109, 118-109, and 117-110. 

“He got me with a good clean right hand in the second round,” said Ruiz. “I was too overconfident and dropped my hand a bit. Hats off to him. We just kept pushing and pushing. I switched up and started focusing on counterpunching and working the body.”

“I felt a little rust and I know other fighters can relate to that. If he wants to run it back, we’ll run it back with him.”

Arreola stated, “I respect the judges, but I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. He might have won, but don’t tell me I only won two or three rounds. I got hit in the shoulder and it kind of threw it off. It wasn’t a big deal though. It’s a part of boxing. I didn’t take too much punishment. I’m ready to run it back with Andy.”

 

Buatsi meets undefeated Daniel Dos Santos in Manchester on May 15th.

World ranked light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi 13-0 (11 KOs) stays on course for a world title fight when he meets ambitious undefeated Daniel Dos Santos 15-0 (8 KOs) for the WBA International title at the AO Arena in Manchester on May 15, live on Sky Sports in the UK and on DAZN in the United States.

Buatsi has teamed up with new trainer Virgil Hunter. “I’ve got an unbeaten opponent, that makes him ambitious,” said Buatsi. “Obviously it’s the first fight under Virgil, so it’s should be interesting. I’m looking forward to showing what I’ve been working on with Virgil. He’s going to want to hold onto his undefeated record, as I am. When that’s at stake you really dig deep.

“It’s mainly the style that I like. Each of his fighters translate it differently. The public haven’t seen how good I can be, or I will be. I want to unlock the potential that I have got. This addition to the team will 100 per cent bring the best out of me.”

Buatsi won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics and last boxed in October when he stopped the previously undefeated Mario Calic at the Marshall arena in Milton Keynes.