REAL COMBAT MEDIA BOXING WEEKLY REPORT
By Jason Gonzalez,Real Combat Media Arizona Boxing Correspondent
Welcome back to another edition of the Real Combat Media Boxing Weekly Report “Boxing Blaze Edition” where we cover all the top news stories in boxing each week!
Monday (May 15, 2017)
A couple of weeks ago Anthony Joshua beat Wladimir Klitschko by knockout in the 11th round of their fight; Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, is now looking into dates and venues for Joshua’s next fight. According to Hearn, he is looking for the rematch with Klitschko first and foremost but also looking at other options. Hearn is also looking at different venues around the world not just in England.
“We are looking at potential dates and venues for Anthony Joshua’s next fight – Cardiff, Las Vegas, China and Dubai are all in play,” Hearn said in an interview with Sky Sports.
“November is the most likely month for a return but it’s early days all round.”
“I am looking at options now for the rematch while we wait on Klitschko because you have to have an idea on dates and possibilities. We are talking to China, we are talking to Dubai and Qatar, we are talking to America and the Principality Stadium (Cardiff).
“Wladimir might say, ‘What’s the money?’ and obviously if there is huge money from another country he is going to want the rematch more.”
“It would have to be an incredible deal to go to another country. We should know where we are going by the end of June.”
Tuesday (May 16, 2017)
IBF Welterweight Champion Kell Brook is set to face the Errol Spence Jr. on May 27th in England. Spence Jr is looked at by many fans as what might be the next boxer to rule the 147 pound division. Recently Spence Jr did a in depth interview with Showtime’s Mark Kriegel. During the interview Spence Jr talked about several different topics including how he thinks he’ll beat Brook, how Brook eats too much, and also who he wants next. According to Spence Jr he plans on beating Brook then moving on to fight and beat Keith Thurman and finally going on and fighting Manny Pacquiao to become the undisputed champion at 147 lbs. Whether that will actually happen or not is a mystery but given Spence Jr’s skill set, it certainly is possible. If you want to see the full interview click HERE.
Wednesday (May 17, 2017)
Amir Khan Removed From WBC Rankings
Amir Khan has not fought since May of last year when he got knocked out by Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez. For a while Khan was ranked the number one contender for the WBC welterweight title. After the Canelo fight Khan underwent hand surgery and he was granted a medical extension so he can keep his WBC mandatory status. The WBc finally decided a year later that he was taking too long inactive, therefore, the WBC took Khan out of the top 15 ranked fighters at welterweight. This means Khan is no longer the mandatory for the WBC Champion which is Keith Thurman.
“Amir Khan was a mandatory before. Then he fought Canelo. Then he would remain as mandatory, but then he got injured. He has been out of the ring for so long, that [inactivity] took over,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said.
Thursday (May 18, 2017)
Mayweather vs McGregor Close to Official?
According to a statement from Conor McGregor, he has signed a contract to fight Floyd Mayweather and supposedly he now waiting for Mayweather’s signature.
“The first, and most important part of this historic contract has now officially been signed off on. Congratulations to all parties involved. We now await Al Haymon and his boxer’s signature in the coming days.” Mcgregor said in an interview with TheMacLife.com.
Not only McGregor mentioned this, UFC President Dana White, McGregor’s promoter, also mentioned the fight being close to done.
“The McGregor side is done,” White said. “I’m not saying the fight will happen but I got one side done and it’s time to work on the other (Mayweather). If we can come to a deal with (Al) Haymon and (Floyd) Mayweather, the fight’s going to happen.”
Like always the fight is not official until Mayweather says it’s official so until then boxing fans and MMA fans alike will have to wait patiently for the announcement.
Friday (May 19, 2017)
Arum talks Pacquiao, Crawford, Lomachenko
Recently Bob Arum was being interviewed by Tha Boxing Voice and Arum talked about his plans for Pacquiao, Terence Crawford, and Lomachenko. As we all know Pacquiao will be fighting against relatively unknown Jeff Horn but Arum revealed that this fight will not be pay-per-view but instead the fight will be free to watch. This is good news because not too many fans were fond of the idea of having to pay for Pacquiao vs Horn.
As for Crawford the Pacquiao fight isn’t likely to be next, instead Arum wants Crawford to fight Julius Indongo. Crawford has the WBC and the WBO belt while Indongo has the WBA and the IBF belt meaning the winner of the fight will be undisputed at 140 lbs.
Arum then talked about how he plans to put Vasyl Lomachenko against Orlando Salido in a rematch this year. Vasyl is known to be one of the most talented boxers today but his one lost is to Salido. Even though it seems impossible for Salido to beat Lomachenko it is important for Lomachenko to avenge his one and only loss.
For the full interview you can watch it HERE.
Saturday (May 20, 2017)
Tonight was a night full of boxing with at least six matches with familiar faces. The best part was that all six matches ended in stoppage.
On the HBO card Terence Crawford beat Felix Diaz by corner stoppage. In the early rounds it looked like Diaz was putting up a fight but as the fight went on it was hard for Diaz to even land a punch. After several round Diaz had taken a beating with no response which lead to the corner stopping the fight after the tenth round. It looks like Crawford is likely to face the only other champion at 140 lbs Julius Indongo.If the fight happens the winner would be undisputed at 140 lbs.
On the undercard Ray Beltran beat Jonathan Maicelo by knockout in the second round. According to Beltran’s attorney, Beltran needed a win to renew his green card. Therefore not only was Beltran fighting to keep his career going but he was also fighting to keep calling the United States his home.
In the main event Gary Russell Jr defeated Oscar Escandon by TKO in the seventh round of the fight. The Showtime commentators had every round going for Russell Jr before the fight stopped. After the fight Russell Jr talked about how he wants a rematch with Lomachenko but he also wanting to fight against the other champions at 126 lbs.
“I want Lomachenko [next], that’s a no-brainer. I don’t want to do it for the fans or for the media, I want to do it for myself. And I want to do it twice. I’ll knock him out the first time and then, he’ll want me to fight him again.” said Russell Jr. “I’d love to unify against all the other guys in the featherweight division. I’d like Leo Santa Cruz, Lee Selby, Oscar Valdez.”
In the co-main event Andre Dirrell beat Jose Uzcategui by disqualification. At the end of the eighth round Uzcategui threw a combination but the last punch was slightly after the round. Dirrell couldn’t get up therefore the referee disqualified Uzcategui for throwing the punch after the bell had rang. Earlier in the fight Uzcategui was warned by the referee for throwing punches after the round ended therefore justifying the disqualification. After the fight Dirrell’s uncle Leon Lawson, who is also his trainer, went over to Uzcategui’s and sucker punched him. Charges have been filed against Lawson for assault against Uzcategui; currently police are looking for Lawson.
On the undercard Gervonta Davis beat Liam Walsh by TKO in the third round of the fight. In the third round Walsh was taking some big shots from Davis with no response which lead to a knock down. Walsh got up and continued to fight but couldn’t keep his guard up while Davis was smashing away; this is when the referee called the fight to a stop. Floyd Mayweather has many talented fighters under his promotions but Davis certainly shows the most promise thus far. Who would you like to see Davis fight next?
Jose Benavidez is well known to boxing fanatics but he hasn’t completely lived up to expectations; meanwhile his younger brother, David Benavidez, just impressed many boxing fans this weekend. David Benavidez beat Rogelio Medina by knockout on Saturday night. Benavidez currently has an undefeated record which consist of 18 wins and 17 knockouts. Benavidez is currently ranked number fifth under the WBC Super Middleweight rankings. As of now there is no WBC title holder at 168 lbs meaning Benavidez could be a few fights away from getting that title shot.
Sunday (May 21, 2017)
Shannon ‘The Cannon’ Briggs failed a random drug test administered by VADA which showed that he has high levels of testosterone in his body. Briggs was set to fight against Fres Oquendo for the WBA regular Heavyweight title but now it is highly possible the fight gets canceled. When it seemed Briggs was just getting close to a big fight he went and messed it up. The WBA told ESPN it would assess the situation before making a statement.
Monday (May 22, 2017)
Adrien Broner pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for an incident that happened at a bar back in 2014. All jail time was to be suspended but because he failed to show up to court several times the court charged him with contempt. Broner will now spend the next three days in jail.
Also rumors started today of a possible fight between Broner and Mikey Garcia. I’m sure Broner’s three days in jail won’t deteriorate his body but he should definitely get his act together or risk completely destroying his career.
BROOK AND SPENCE CLASH AT BRAMALL LANE ON MAY 27
‘The Special One’ defends IBF strap against ‘The Truth’ in Sheffield
Kell Brook (36-1, 25 KOs) will defend his IBF World Welterweight title against US star Errol Spence (21-0 ,18 KOs) at Bramall Lane in Sheffield on Saturday May 27, live on Sky Sports Box Office and on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING in the US.
Brook makes the fourth defence of his beloved IBF strap he landed in the States in August 2014 with a career-best win over Shawn Porter, and blitzed Jo Jo Dan, Frankie Gavin and Kevin Bizier before stepping up to Middleweight to face fearsome Kazakh Gennady Golovkin at The O2 in September – and now the Sheffield star welcomes another unbeaten superstar into the ring.
Undefeated Spence became the mandatory challenger for Brook’s belt when he blasted Leonard Bundu inside six rounds in August, the eighth straight stoppage win for the Texas-based New Yorker who went into the fight after destroying Chris Algieri inside four rounds two months earlier.
Brook and Spence now clash in the biggest fight in the 147lbs division, and the elite pairing are promising to deliver an electric night at the home of Sheffield United FC.
George Groves (25-3, 18 KOs) will challenge Fedor Chudinov (14-1,10 KOs) for the vacant WBA World Super-Middleweight title at Bramall Lane in Sheffield on May 27, live on Sky Sports Box Office as the co main event for the IBF World Welterweight title clash between Kell Brook and Errol Spence.
Please stay tuned every week for news and updates. If you have any questions that you want answered in the weekly report please email me at [email protected] or follow me on Twitter @boxingblaze or on Facebook at Jason Gonzalez.
ABOUT REAL COMBAT MEDIA: Real Combat Media was founded in 2012. Since then realcombatmedia.com has become one of the most efficient premier international boxing and mixed martial arts online publications in the world. Our talented international team covers the latest combat news on a daily basis to provide the combat community with the best news in the industry for our readers. Our mission is to spread positive awareness of the combat sports to grow interest among the mainstream and to every region of the world.
REAL COMBAT MEDIA BOXING & MMA PUBLICITY SERVICES
REAL COMBAT MEDIA BOXING RANKINGS
English
No Comments Yet