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Boxing

Promoter — Deal done for Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury heavyweight title fight

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Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn stated a deal for the world heavyweight champion to meet Tyson Fury in an undisputed world heavyweight title fight this year is all but done, with a venue in the Middle East a front-runner to host it.

Joshua defeated Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev last month to keep his IBF, WBO and WBA titles to set up the prospect of a mouth-watering clash with fellow Briton Fury who holds the WBC belt.

“The deal is done, really — without being signed,” Hearn told the Times.

“The financial elements of the deal are done. We’re talking through the broadcast situation, the only thing really now is to paper it. “And when you paper a deal like that, it does go back and forwards 15 times before every single letter is approved on the document.”

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Fury has not fought since beating American Deontay Wilder in their Las Vegas rematch in February to claim the WBC crown.

Fury and Wilder had a rematch clause in their contract but they couldn’t make the fight.

Hearn said Joshua and Fury would face off in two fights — with the first likely to be in the Middle East later this year — and he hoped to bring the rematch back to Britain.

“The Middle East will be aggressive and will be front-runners in this. To stage this fight, you need significant government support. You need someone who is staging this fight as a statement for their country,” Hearn added.

“I’d like it [the rematch] to be [in the United Kingdom]. Where? Millennium Stadium.”

Fury’s American promoter Bob Arum has stated before that he is “95 per cent confident the fight happens”. Arum said: “I don’t want to make a deadline, but I just can report that everything so far has been going splendidly, and we hope to have a signed document within the next couple of weeks.

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Boxing, Sports

Anthony Joshua dispatches Kubrat Pulev via KO, sets up prospect of Tyson Fury bout

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Anthony Joshua returned to ruthless form by dispatching Kubrat Pulev in nine rounds in London on Saturday to set up the prospect of facing Tyson Fury in 2021.

The WBA, IBF and WBO world heavyweight champion kept his titles by turning on the power switch to drop Pulev twice in the ninth round. It was Joshua’s first knockout victory since his previous performance on home soil, in September 2018.

Pulev crumbled to the canvas under a barrage of right uppercuts and was then finished by a straight right hand.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., the retired former pound-for-pound boxing No. 1, had made the trip from the United States to be among 1,000 present at the SSE Arena and was the first to congratulate Joshua at ringside.

Since halting Alexander Povetkin two years ago, the English boxer lost his titles via a shock knockout to American Andy Ruiz Jr. before regaining them on points a year ago.

This was a much more explosive performance from Joshua than the Ruiz rematch, as Joshua floored tough Pulev twice in Round 3 and twice in Round 9 in front of the first crowd at a professional boxing event in the U.K. since March.

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A second defense in his second reign as world heavyweight clears the way for Joshua to fight either rival world heavyweight champion Fury, his fellow Englishman, or Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk first in 2021.

Fury, regarded as the world No. 1 heavyweight by ESPN after stopping Deontay Wilder for the WBC title in February, would be the preferred choice, but because of mandatory defense obligations, former undisputed world cruiserweight champion Usyk might be the first person in the opposing corner to Joshua in 2021.

“It’s not about the opponent — it’s about who has got the belt, and if that’s Tyson Fury, let it be Tyson Fury,” Joshua said. “It’s one fight at a time, picking them off one by one.”

Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn stated he wants Fury to be Joshua’s next opponent in 2021, despite the obstacles, including legal action Wilder has brought to enforce a third fight with Fury.

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Boxing, Sports

Teofimo Lopez upsets Vasiliy Lomachenko to become youngest four-belt champion

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There is a new lightweight king. At just 23 years old, Teofimo Lopez became the undisputed lightweight champion of the world by dethroning Vasiliy Lomachenko over 12 tense rounds inside the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Lopez becomes the youngest fighter to become a four-belt champion since the WBO was founded in 1988.

After a strong start, Lopez overcame a late Lomachenko rally to win by the scores of 116-112, 119-109 and 117-111.

The fight was dominated early by the boxing of Lopez, who controlled the center of the ring by using his educated left hand and then hit Lomachenko with well-placed body shots that had the smaller boxer backing up.

Lopez (16-0, 12 KOs) built a big lead on the scorecards as he was able to neutralize the graceful movements of Lomachenko (14-2, 10) behind that jab. For most of the first half of the fight, Lomachenko just moved around the ring and did very little offensively. It was clear the technical acumen and poise of Lopez was vastly underrated. For long stretches of the bout he was actually outboxing the master boxer.

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Yet Lomachenko didn’t give up without a fight. As the fight entered the late stages, Lomachenko, sensing he was behind, started to ramp up the pressure and began to close the gap on Lopez. He struck him with quick, laser-like left hands that slowed the momentum of Lopez. To his credit, Lomachenko put together a late rally in the championship rounds.

“I think the first half of the fight he got more rounds than I did, but in the second half of the fight I took over,” Lomachenko said. “I was much better.”

But if a late statement was needed by Lopez, it was made in the 12th and final round.

Despite Lopez’s father saying he had the fight won entering the last round, Lopez kept the pressure on and got his hand moving, landing several significant power shots that halted Lomachenko in his tracks. Only a clash of heads that caused a gash over Lopez’s left eye stemmed the tide.

“I’m a fighter,” Lopez said after the fight regarding the 12th round. “I gotta dig in deep. I knew he was coming. I didn’t know if they had him up on the scorecards or not, and I love to fight. I can bang, too. I don’t care, man. I’ll take one to give one. That’s what a true champion does. I find a way to win.”

This round was a late exclamation to what was a sterling presentation by a young man who fulfilled the destiny of his outspoken father, who prophesied that not only would his son win a world title by his 15th fight, but he would topple a boxer many consider the best in the sport by his 16th.

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Boxing, Sports

Fury says he may not face Wilder in next fight

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WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury says he’s “moved on” from confronting Deontay Wilder for a third time.

“I was looking forward to smashing Wilder again. A quick and easy fight,” Fury told The Athletic. “But Wilder and his team were messing around with the date. They don’t really want to fight the lineal heavyweight champion. They know how it ends. The world knows how it will end: with Wilder on his ass again.”

Fury was originally expected to face Wilder in a third encounter between the pair at Allegiant Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, on Dec. 19.

But with no crowd due to restrictions for the coronavirus pandemic, promoters and broadcasters have yet to inform plans for the trilogy fight.

Fury also stated Wilder’s side kept moving back the date. “Then they asked me if I would agree to push it to December. I agreed to Dec. 19,” Fury said. “Then they tried to change the date again into next year. I’ve been training. I’m ready. When they tried moving off Dec. 19 and pushing to next year, enough was enough. I’ve moved on.”

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Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs), 32, from Manchester, England, wants to box again this year after stopping Wilder in seven rounds in February.

Wilder (41-1-1, 40 KOs), 34, from Alabama and who drew with Fury in December 2018 in their first fight, is contractually entitled to a rematch, but Warren says if a third fight cannot be prepared with Fury in December, then the Englishman will fight someone else.

One option for Fury would be to box an alternative opponent — and possibly without the titles on the line — at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Dec. 5, when Warren will stage a show featuring English light heavyweight Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur.

If Fury passes on Wilder, it opens up the opportunity of a world title unification fight in 2021 versus English rival Anthony Joshua, the WBA-IBF-WBO world champion, who will defend his titles against Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev on Dec. 12.

Warren also said rival world junior welterweight champions Josh Taylor (WBA-IBF) of Scotland and Jose Ramirez (WBC-WBO) of the United States will face each other next. Ramirez’s WBO mandatory challenger, Jack Catterall, has agreed to wait to face the winner of Taylor-Ramirez, according to Warren.

And American Jamel Herring will defend his WBO world junior lightweight title versus Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton, a former world champion at featherweight and junior featherweight, before the end of the year, according to the British promoter.

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Boxing, Sports

WBC orders Luke Campbell-Ryan Garcia fight for interim lightweight title

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The WBC has ordered a fight between Luke Campbell and Ryan Garcia for the organization’s interim lightweight title.

This occasion became available after the WBC’s top-rated lightweight, Javier Fortuna, opted to face Jorge Linares on Aug. 28. Campbell and Garcia are ranked second and third by the WBC, respectively.

“I’m finally getting to fight a southpaw my favorite fighters to fight! Bring it on luke Campbell,” Garcia wrote on Twitter. The entire WBC lightweight title scenario is a bit of a quagmire. The WBC “franchise” champion is Vasiliy Lomachenko, the organization’s regular champion is Devin Haney, and Fortuna-Linares will be contested for the WBC’s “Diamond” title.

It’s not clear just how this will ultimately be cleared up, or if the winner of Campbell-Garcia will face any of the other champions in the foreseeable future.

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While it’s an enticing matchup on paper, it doesn’t necessarily mean that this fight is destined to happen.

Both sides must come to an agreement, and recently Garcia (20-0, 17 KOs) and his promotional company, Golden Boy Promotions, have been at odds. The popular young prizefighter was arranged to kick off Golden Boy’s return to action on July 4, but was unable to come to terms.

It has become a very public spat between the two parties, who are meeting later this week, according to Eric Gomez, the president of Golden Boy Promotions.

“We just got the letter today [from the WBC], so we’re in the process of talking to Ryan,” Gomez said. “We’re going to talk to his team, we’re going to see what he wants to do.

“That’s one of the guys he’s said repeatedly that he wants to fight,” Gomez said regarding Campbell.

First and foremost, it seems as though the relationship between Garcia and Golden Boy has to be mended. “We’re meeting with team Ryan later this week, most likely Friday,” Gomez said.

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Boxing, Sports

Vergil Ortiz on Golden Boy’s first card during coronavirus pandemic

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Highly regarded welterweight Vergil Ortiz will face veteran Samuel Vargas on July 24 in Golden Boy’s first fight card since the coronavirus pandemic put a halt to boxing events across the world in mid-March.

The card will take place at the Fantasy Springs Casino Resort in Indio, California.

“We’re just excited, happy to be back with our fighters,” said Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions. “Especially a guy like Vergil who was scheduled to fight before the shutdown. He was 10 days out from fighting, so I’m just happy he gets to fight again, and we’re back at it.”

For the time being, Golden Boy’s cards in California will be held without an audience.

Ortiz (15-0, 15 KOs) is considered one of boxing’s best young fighters. The 22-year-old native of Grand Prairie, Texas, has stopped everyone he has faced thus far as a professional. In 2019, Ortiz stopped Mauricio Herrera in three rounds, and then Antonio Orozco in six.

Ortiz and Vargas were initially organized to clash on March 28 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, before that card was canceled. “I’m very thankful and excited to be headlining the first Golden Boy event after the quarantine,” said Ortiz, who has been training with Robert Garcia in Riverside for the past few weeks.

“I’m happy that it’s still with the same opponent, so basically we’re picking up where we left off. It’s going to be a tough fight, and it’ll be a great way to kick off the year for me.”

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Ortiz is facing a seasoned veteran in Vargas (31-5-2, 14 KOs), who has faced Amir Khan, Luis Collazo, Danny Garcia and Errol Spence over the course of his career.

“I think that everything happens for a reason,” said Vargas, who has been in Las Vegas in recent weeks, preparing for this fight. “I think this time off benefited me. I’m ready to upset the world. I believe I can come out with the win. The world is a weird place right now. The show will be different. There will be no supporters, but I have no doubt I’m going to win.”

As Golden Boy officials started to put this card together, they found a rather limited pool of options to draw from, in terms of selecting boxers.

“There’s a lot of guys that just weren’t ready,” Gomez said. “They hadn’t been to the gym because [gyms] were closed, they didn’t train, do road work, sparring or anything. Now it’s a little better, but we’re not in the clear yet.”

The co-feature arranged for July 24 is a 10-round lightweight contest between Hector Tanajara (19-0, 5 KOs) and Mercito Gesta (32-3-3, 17 KOs). Other fights include an eight-round middleweight fight between Shane Mosley Jr. (15-3, 9 KOs) and Jeremy Ramos (11-8, 2 KOs), a women’s junior flyweight fight between Seniesa Estrada (18-0, 7 KOs) and Jacky Calvo (12-5-2, 1 KO), and a clash between prospects Hector Valdez and Evan Sanchez.

There’s no indication when spectators will be allowed back into any sporting events, and from Golden Boy’s perspective, the hope at this point is just to try to get the first few cards off the ground smoothly.

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Boxing, Sports

Gabriel Flores defeats Josec Ruiz by unanimous decision

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Blue-chip lightweight prospect Gabriel Flores Jr. continued his development with a one-sided unanimous decision triumph over Josec Ruiz on Thursday at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas.

All three judges scored it 100-89 for Flores (18-0, 6 KOs), who started quickly and outboxed Ruiz (21-3-3, 14 KOs) the rest of the way.

In the second round, Flores, 20, stunned Ruiz with a counter left hook and followed with a right cross that sent him down. It looked as though Flores might score an eye-opening knockout, but he eventually had to settle for a decision victory.

While Flores dominated every round, it was a solid learning experience for him. He got some quality rounds while facing a veteran who had never been knocked down coming into this contest.

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Flores, who recently relocated to Las Vegas from his hometown of Stockton, California, is a young fighter with a high boxing IQ and has a keen understanding of ring generalship.

Blessed with quick hands and great footwork, he is relying on his skills from the outside to win fights. Now he is waiting for some physical maturity so he can finish fights more emphatically.

After Thursday’s victory, Flores, coming off a 117-day layoff, exposed that he had suffered a lower back injury during a training session.

“It happened in my last sparring [session],” Flores said. “My lower back, it hurts severely. I feel probably 50 percent, with the punches I could’ve thrown tonight. I wasn’t tired, at all.”

Despite the victory, Flores wasn’t totally satisfied with his effort.

“Tonight was the night to show everybody what a great performance was, and I didn’t get to show them,” Flores said. “Fifty percent of me, that’s what I showed tonight.”

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Sports

Ortiz not Garcia, to headline Golden Boy return

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Ryan Garcia and Oscar De La Hoya are at odds again, so Vergil Ortiz will headline Golden Boy Promotions’ first boxing card of the summer since the coronavirus pandemic struck.

Now that Top Rank has brought boxing back to television, it appears Golden Boy Promotions will follow suit, with plans to return in July.

It was once thought that the initial GBP event would be a Fourth of July card headlined by Ryan Garcia, but now it will be a card arranged for later in the month and with Vergil Ortiz in the main event. 

Oscar De La Hoya made the announcement Monday on Twitter, and the framing ruffled Garcia’s feathers. Garcia took exception to Ortiz being called the “future of boxing” and fired back in a now-deleted tweet. 

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You do realize you’re supposed to be my promoter (and) not (a) hater right?” Garcia responded. 

Golden Boy president Eric Gomez confirmed to ESPN that Ortiz will headline the first GBP card of the summer and explained why Garcia is no longer fighting on July 4.

“An offer was made to him and his team passed,” Gomez stated.

This comes not too long after Garcia said in an interview with Sports Illustrated that he felt the offer to return to the ring wasn’t to his liking.

Now, a relationship between Garcia and GBP that was once thought to be smoothed over after being frayed has again hit a snag.

The undefeated Ortiz was initially slated to face Samuel Vargas on March 28 in Los Angeles before the COVID-19 pandemic caused the card to be canceled. He will now be the first to return, versus an opponent to be decided. The location has yet to be confirmed, too, but it has been reported that the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, Calif., is the likely landing spot for the fight. 

As for Garcia, it’s anyone’s guess when he will return to the ring. 

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Boxing, Sports

Caraballo cuts half pound late to make weight

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Boxing is set to return to Las Vegas on Tuesday as all 10 boxers on the five-fight card weighed in effectively. However, there was some weigh-in drama ahead of the first boxing event in the city since Feb. 22.

Headliner Shakur Stevenson (13-0, 7 KOs) weighed in at 130 pounds, but his adversary in the 10-round fight, Felix Caraballo (13-1-2, 9 KOs), missed on his first attempt, coming in at 130.5 pounds. Per the rules of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Caraballo had an hour to make the weight and he was able to cut the final half pound to hit the 130-pound limit.

This is a non-title bout for the WBO 126-pound champion Stevenson, who has yet to make his first title defense since winning the belt in October.

He was arranged to defend that title on March 14 in New York City versus Miguel Marriaga, but that fight was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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After Mikaela Mayer tested positive and her fight was removed on the card, the heavyweight match between Jared Anderson (3-0, 3 KOs) and Johnny Langston (8-2, 3 KOs) was elevated into its spot. Anderson weighed at 236 pounds and Langston was 218.3 pounds.

Here’s a look at the rest of the card: Heavyweight: Guido Vianello (6-0, 6 KOs, 239.25 pounds) vs. Donald Haynesworth (16-3-1, 14 KOs, 294.5 pounds), Middleweight: Quatavious Cash (11-2, 7 KOs, 160.5 pounds) vs Calvin Metcalf (10-3-1, 3 KOs, 158.3 pounds), Featherweight: Robeisy Ramirez (2-1, 2 KOs, 126 pounds) vs. Yeuri Andujar (5-3, 3 KOs, 125 pounds).

During this weigh-in, everyone inside the facility wore masks. The fighters wore foot coverings as they stepped on the scale. The scale was then sprayed and wiped with disinfectant after each bout was set. There were no faceoffs and the boxers posed for pictures on stage several feet from one another.

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Boxing, Sports

California board passes rules for boxing return

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The California State Athletic Commission passed emergency regulations Friday with an eye to restarting combat events in the summer months.

The commission met via video conference Friday morning and its guidelines were sent to the California Office of Administrative Law.

“When that process is finished, we’ll start,” said Andy Foster, the CSAC’s executive director.

Among the key parts of these regulations, according to Foster, is that, “the fighters will be tested between two and three weeks before their event for the COVID-19 virus. If they’re clear, we’ll accept them on the bout card and we’ll approve the fights if they meet the other criteria.

Foster acknowledged that weighing heavily on the committee’s minds was Jacare Souza, who was scratched from the UFC 249 card in Jacksonville, Florida, on the weekend of May 9 for testing positive for the coronavirus.

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“We learned from that event, and I want to be clear, that’s not to put down the UFC one bit, they had a great plan and everything,” he said. “We learned by watching that, just how contagious this virus could be. So we want to mitigate that risk.”

Everyone working corners will be required to wear a mask and surgical gloves at ringside, but there will be no limit on how many people can be in the facility on fight night.

It’s not clear who will have the first show in California, but Eric Gomez, the president of Golden Boy Promotions, told ESPN, “Our plan, right now, we would like to go July 4th, and we’re working towards that. We’re doing a lot of work behind the scenes to ensure that all the right guidelines and protocols are going to be followed, and that the commission is going to be satisfied with all our efforts.”

Boxing has been at a standstill throughout the world since mid-March. Foster says he has received abundant calls during the past couple of months from those in the business wondering when they could start programing shows.

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