The boxing circus has rolled into town with Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor beginning their world press tour for the upcoming August 26 fight. The first two days of the press tour had just about a little bit of everything, including a lot of trash talk.
Mayweather, boxing's former pound-for-pound king, and McGregor, the UFC's biggest superstar, launched their joint promotional tour on Tuesday inside Staples Center. The pay-per-view event will air on Showtime and is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, potentially breaking several records set by Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in 2015.
Elsewhere in Monaco, the World Boxing Super Series had its gala and announced the opening rounds of their cruiserweight and super middleweight tournaments and the matchups that will take place.
The Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn saga reaches another chapter with the WBO independently reviewing the fight and determining whether or not Horn won the controversial bout.
All that and more is contained in this week’s edition of the Fightful Boxing Newsletter. I would like to thank everyone for the feedback and I hope to improve the newsletter with each new edition.
Below is the table of contents for the second edition of the Fightful Boxing Newsletter and where to locate each piece of content:
- Mayweather vs. McGregor Press Tour Kicks Off (Pages 2-3)
- World Boxing Super Series (Pages 4)
- Weekend Boxing Preview (Page 5)
- Fightful Boxing Rankings (Page 6-7)
- First Look Results: Boxing In Puerto Rico (Page 8)
- Results From The World Of Boxing (Page 9)
- Other News From Boxing (Page 10)
- Manny Pacquiao Re-Score (Page 11)
Mayweather vs. McGregor Press Tour Kicks Off
It certainly feels weird seeing Mayweather and McGregor jawing at each other in a press conference. The fact that Mayweather, the former pound-for-pound king of boxing, and McGregor the current UFC lightweight champion will fight each other in just six weeks is still a bizarre one, but it does appear that it will happen.
Kicking off the worldwide tour to promote the fight, Mayweather and McGregor, alongside UFC president Dana White, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe and Showtime Sports Executive VP Stephen Espinoza, went to Los Angeles and Toronto July 11 and 12 respectively, and now head New York and London from July 13 & 14.
From the first couple of days of the tour, it appears that McGregor was the clear winner in terms of trash talk. McGregor had plenty of material to work with and didn't hesitate to take numerous jabs at Mayweather regarding his age, his clothes, his alleged insistence on fighting under certain terms within boxing rules and even his recent troubles with the IRS.
McGregor even made a fashion statement on the first day of the tour, wearing suit where the stripes spelled out "F*ck You."
One of the highlights from the second day of the tour saw Mayweather tricking a fan into throwing him an Irish flag. Instead of giving it to McGregor, he drapes it over his shoulders. McGregor responds by doing a search of Mayweather's money-filled backpack. McGregor remained as confident and brash as ever, reminding the fans that it only takes one punch from him to finish a fight.
As McGregor was talking in the press conference in Los Angeles, he made a comment about Mayweather's father and how it's hard to differentiate both Mayweathers, confusing Floyd Mayweather Sr. for his son as the 64-year-old came into the press room. McGregor would jokingly confuse both Mayweathers, calling the elder Mayweather "Junior" and that they'll fight on August 26 as planned.
“The old man came and I don’t know who’s who," McGregor said. "I got confused, but the old man came and was saying some stuff. So whatever, I don’t know.”
Mayweather Sr. then burst into the back of the room calling out the UFC champion.
“Like what son? I will beat your ass. I will beat your ass,” Mayweather Sr. said.
The ticket prices for the fight have been announced and are as follows: $500, $1,500, $2,500, $3,500, $5,000, $7,500 and $10,000. Other fights are expected to be announced shortly, with a portion of the preliminary card airing live on Fox.
If there was any doubt as to whether or not the tour would be a success, then the 11,000 people that attended the Los Angeles press conference is a pretty clear indication that this show could do monster numbers. Showtime Sports' official YouTube channel's uploaded videos of the first two full press confereces have garnered at least 4.4 million views as of the morning of July 13.
The press tour was loud, brash and filled with profanity, which is exactly what fans were hoping for.
One of the conditions for the fight that were mentioned during the initial press conference, including the type of gloves that will be used in the August 26. McGregor made a passing comment about the gloves being used for this clash.
“All these rules, all these restrictions, it doesn’t faze me – it amuses me. The gloves, they have to be 10 ounces. 154 pounds. He’s never fought at 154 pounds; I think he’s fought at 154 pounds once. He wants the gloves up, no problem. I’ll wear 10 ounces. No Mexican-made gloves. No gloves made from horse hair. OK, no problem. We’re wearing gloves in our game for about five years, so I don’t give a f*ck about gloves. It’s funny to me. All I need is a gum shield, line me up in the ring, and I’m good to go,” McGregor said.
I have seen some confusion and I have been asked by a number of people about this particular matter. To the untrained eye, all gloves used in boxing appear to be the same, but they’re an incredibly important part of boxing that has gone largely unnoticed for many years.
In dissecting what McGregor said, both fighters are fighting using 10-ounce gloves. This part is true and there has been some questions as to whether or not Mayweather demanded the fight to be contested using 10-ounce gloves. To answer the glove weight question, no, Mayweather did not demand that McGregor fight using 10-ounce gloves. At least not directly.
The fight, being contested at 154 pounds, forces both Mayweather and McGregor to have to fight using 10-ounce gloves, per Nevada State Athletic Commission law. All sanctioned boxing matches in Nevada contested at light middleweight (154 pounds) and above must have 10-ounce gloves whereas fights contested at welterweight (147 pounds) and below allow for smaller ones. Now McGregor’s comments could also hint that Mayweather may have been pushing heavily for the fight to be contested at 154 pounds and not at 147 pounds (where Mayweather has enjoyed the majority of his success), so that McGregor would have to wear 10-ounce gloves.
The part where McGregor talked about the horse hair gloves and Mexican-made gloves brought many questions as to what he meant.
The thing about horse hair gloves is that they have less padding around the knuckles, which does allow the boxer wearing the gloves to hit harder, but sacrifice a little bit of protection on their hands. The Mexican-made gloves (referring to Cleto Reyes gloves) are excellent gloves that many fighters nowadays use with great success. This is the case because less padding is on the knuckle area than other gloves, like Winning or Grant gloves (which Mayweather generally uses both for most of his career. Reyes gloves are very soft and one can feel their knuckles through the padding when they have them on. This naturally translates to more punching power, but with less hand protection.
Reyes gloves are used by Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, Kelly Pavlik, Marcos Maidana, Amir Khan and numerous other top fighters. They're popular with boxers who don't have a history of hand problems and who have above-average punching power. Reyes gloves also are considered more conducive to punchers and anecdotally believed to induce cuts more frequently, while Mayweather for several years has worn custom Grant gloves in competition (he spars in Winning brand) on the belief that they protect his hands better than other brands.
Floyd Jr., much like his father, has had a bad history with brittle hands throughout the latter half of his boxing career. For several years, Floyd has been using special gloves that give a lot of padding and protection for his hands, which has been a factor -- Floyd has only knocked out one person since stopping Ricky Hatton in 2007, and that was a much maligned KO of Victor Ortiz a few years back.
This isn’t news to those who have followed Mayweather’s career as he not only as had a long history of wearing gloves with extra padding, but also demand opponents to wear certain types of gloves as was the case for the the May 3, 2013 fight against Maidana. Mayweather insisted Maidana wear Everlast Powerlock model gloves rather than Everlast MX, the latter of which includes horsehair as part of the padding. The disagreement on the eve of the fight included a Mayweather threat to cancel the event if Maidana didn't comply.
Even the 2015 mega fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao had its fair share of issues regarding gloves. In the lead up to their fight, Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach was skeptical over the legality of the type of gloves Mayweather was using and demanded to inspect Mayweather’s gloves.
Why is it so important for boxers to know exactly what type of glove, handwrap and padding is being used? The answer to that lies in Antonio Margarito.
Margarito is a former welterweight world champion who has been accused and suspended by the California State Athletic Commission in the past for illegal handwraps allegedly used in his fights against Shane Mosley and Miguel Cotto. Those illegal handwraps were being used to create a substance similar to how casts are made, making his punches a lot harder. While Mayweather is not doing the same thing as Margarito, this should shine a light on the type of boxing equipment being used by boxers.
World Boxing Super Series First Round
The World Boxing Super Series has unveiled its first round matches for their upcoming cruiserweight and super middleweight champion. In its opening gala in Monaco, the organization unveiled the seedings and the tournament brackets for the event. The first round fights are expected to take place sometime in the fall.
Here are the super middleweight matchups. Seedings are in parenthesis:
- (1) George Groves (WBA "super" super middleweight champion) vs. Jamie Cox
- (2) Callum Smith vs. Erik Skoglund
- (3) Chris Eubank Jr./Arthur Abraham winner (IBO super middleweight champion) vs. Avni Yildirim
- (4) Juergen Braehmer vs. Rob Brant
And here are the cruiserweight matchups:
- (1) Oleksandr Usyk (WBO cruiserweight champion) vs. Marco Huck
- (2) Murat Gassiev (IBF cruiserweight champion) vs. Krzysztof Wlodarczyk
- (3) Mairis Briedis (WBC cruiserweight champion) vs. Mike Perez
- (4) Yunier Dorticos (WBA "regular" cruiserweight champion) vs. Dmitry Kudrayshov
Among the 16 fighters competing, six of them are current world title holders while Smith and Skoglund will compete for the symbolic WBC diamond belt. Eubank Jr. vs. Abraham will take place on July 15 with the winner facing Yildirim.
One thing that the fighters have really emphasized is the importance of winning the Muhammad Ali trophy and how good the tournament format is. Some of the fighters have called the World Boxing Super Series the "Champions League of Boxing." For those that don't follow soccer, the Champions League is a European club soccer tournament generally considered the best club soccer tournament in the world, and arguably the most popular yearly soccer tournament in the world, second-most popular overall soccer tournament behind the FIFA World Cup.
It's a breath of fresh air seeing something so unique and special being created to help the sport of boxing. If all works out, this could make the super middleweight and cruiserweight divisions, which are constantly being overlooked in the west, very attractive divisions for casual boxing fans.
Looking at the bracket, there's no surprise that Groves and Usyk were the No. 1 seeds in their respective tournaments. One thing to watch out for is in the super middleweight division. With Eubank vs. Abraham taking place this weekend, the winner will fight in the first round of the Super Series, leaving only less than three months for the winner to recover before facing Yildirim. Let's say the Eubank vs. Abraham winner makes it to the finals, you're looking at four fights within 10 months.
Usyk, the favorite in the cruiserweight tournament, is facing Huck in the first round. Huck is a very experienced fighter who recently fought for the vacant WBC title back in April. It's not a foregone conclusion that Usyk will beat Huck, despite being favored. In terms of the best fight in the first round, Groves vs. Cox is a very attractive fight. Groves recently won his first world title and Cox has been on the precipice of doing so himself. Cox won the WBA international super middleweight title earlier this year and is ready to have a very competitive fight against Groves.
The quarterfinals are expected to take place between September and October, the semifinals are expected to take place in early 2018 and the finals to be held in May 2018. The winner of each will take home the Muhammad Ali Trophy. All 16 fighters will divvy up $50 million for the prize money, about $3.125 million from each fighter. A deal to broadcast the tournament in the United States has yet to be made.
Previewing the upcoming weekend in boxing
Saturday, July 15 is a surprisingly boxing-heavy day, and with no UFC or major sporting events taking place, the sport filled itself with three cards, all of whom are important for their own reason. HBO, Fox and Integrated Sports are each holding a boxing card on that day, with HBO and the Integrated Sports cards have a couple of world title fights in each card while the PBC card sees the return of boxing to Nassau Coliseum with former world champion Robert Guerrero headlining against undefeated Omar Figueroa.
HBO card
- Miguel Berchelt vs. Takashi Miura: WBC Junior Lightweight Title Fight
- Jezreel Corrales vs. Robinson Castellanos: WBA Junior Lightweight Title Fight
- Joe Smith Jr. vs. Sullivan Barrera
- Mercito Gesta vs. Martin Honorio
- Horacio Garcia vs. Diuhl Olguin
- Ryan Garcia vs. Mario Macias
- Manny Robles Jr. vs. Christian Esquivel
- Peter Duran vs. TBA
PBC on Fox
- Omar Figueroa vs. Robert Guerrero
- Marcus Browne vs. Seanie Monaghan
- Artur Szpilka vs. Adam Kownacki
- Jamal James vs. Jo Jo Dan
- Brandon Figueroa vs. TBA
- Alicia Napolean vs. Mary McGee: Vacant IBF Female Junior Middleweight Title Fight
- Eric Walker vs. Patrick Day
- Tommy Rainone vs. Fidel Monterrosa
- Earl Newman vs. Quinton Rankin
- Vincenzo D'Angelo vs. Dequan Burgos
Integrated Sports PPV
- Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Arthur Abraham: IBO Super Middleweight Ttle Fight
- Lee Selby vs. Jonathan Barros: IBF Featherweight Title Fight
- Martin J. Ward vs. Anthony Cacace: British Junior Lightweight Title Fight
- Kid Galahad vs. Jose Cayetano
- Robbie Davies Jr. vs. Michal Syrowatka
Fightful Boxing Rankings:
Note: Rankings are organized and maintained by Carlos Toro
Pound-for-pound
- Andre Ward
- Gennady Golovkin
- Canelo Alvarez
- Vasyl Lomachenko
- Terence Crawford
- Keith Thurman
- Roman Gonzalez
- Guillermo Rigondeaux
- Mikey Garcia
- Leo Santa Cruz
Heavyweight
- Anthony Joshua
- Deontay Wilder
- Wladimir Klitschko
- Joseph Parker
- Luis Ortiz
- Kubrat Pulev
- Dilian White
- Andy Ruiz Jr.
- Dominic Breazeale
- Charles Martin
Cruiserweight
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Denis Lebediev
- Murat Gassiev
- Krzysztof Glowacki
- Mairis Briedis
- Krzysztof Wlodarczyk
- Marco Huck
- Tony Bellew
- Yunier Dorticos
- Firat Arslan
Light heavyweight
- Andre Ward
- Sergey Kovalev
- Adonis Stevenson
- Nathan Cleverly
- Oleksandr Gvozdyk
- Joe Smith Jr.
- Artur Beterbiev
- Juergen Braehmer
- Eleider Alvarez
- Sullivan Barrera
Super middleweight
- James DeGale
- Gilberto Ramirez
- George Groves
- Anthony Dirrell
- Andre Dirrell
- Jose Uzcategui
- Chris Eubank Jr.
- Tyron Zeuge
- Arthur Abraham
- Callum Smith
Middleweight
- Gennady Golovkin
- Canelo Alvarez
- Daniel Jacobs
- David Lemieux
- Billy Joe Saunders
- Andy Lee
- Hassan N’Dam
- Ryota Murata
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko
- Tureano Johnson
Light middleweight
- Erislandy Lara
- Jermell Charlo
- Demetrius Andrade
- Jarrett Hurd
- Julian Williams
- Austin Trout
- Erickson Lubin
- Liam Smith
- Jack Culcay
- David Benavidez
Welterweight
- Keith Thurman
- Errol Spence Jr.
- Danny Garcia
- Shawn Porter
- Manny Pacquiao
- Jeff Horn
- Adrien Broner
- Kell Brook
- Jessie Vargas
- Lucas Matthysse
The rest of the rankings are in the next page.
Light welterweight
- Terence Crawford
- Julius Indongo
- Viktor Postol
- Antonio Orozco
- Eduard Troyanovski
- Rances Barthelemy
- Adrian Granados
- Ricky Burns
- Sergey Lipinets
- Felix Diaz
Lightweight
- Jorge Linares
- Mikey Garcia
- Terry Flanagan
- Robert Easter Jr.
- Anthony Crolla
- Luke Campbell
- Dejan Zlaticanin
- Raymundo Beltran
- Denis Shafikov
- Felix Verdejo
Junior lightweight
- Vasyl Lomachenko
- Miguel Berchelt
- Gervonta Davis
- Jezreel Corrales
- Takashi Miura
- Takashi Uchiyama
- Francisco Vargas
- Orlando Salido
- Jason Sosa
- Robinson Castellanos
Featherweight
- Leo Santa Cruz
- Carl Frampton
- Gary Russell Jr.
- Abner Mares
- Oscar Valdez
- Lee Selby
- Scott Quigg
- Jesus Cuellar
- Joseph Diaz
- Claudio Marrero
Light featherweight
- Guillermo Rigondeaux
- Jessie Magdaleno
- Nonito Donaire
- Moises Flores
- Hugo Ruiz
- Rey Vargas
- Marlon Tapales
- Julio Ceja
- Yukinori Oguni
- Ronny Rios
Bantamweight
- Shinsuke Yamanaka
- Jamie McDonnell
- Zhanat Zhakiyanov
- Ryan Burnett
- Rau’shee Warren
- Juan Carlos Payano
- Zolani Tete
- Lee Haskins
- Luis Nery
- Takoma Inoue
Light bantamweight
- Naoya Inoue
- Roman Gonzalez
- Srisaket Sor Rungvisai
- Jerwin Ancajas
- Khalid Yafai
- Carlos Cuadras
- Juan Francisco Estrada
- John Riel Casimero
- Luis Concepcion
- Kohei Kono
Flyweight
- Kazuto Ioka
- Donnie Nietes
- Daigo Higa
- Zou Shiming
- Juan Carlos Reveco
- Moruti Mthalane
- McWilliams Arroyo
- Francisco Rodriguez Jr.
- Komgrich Nantapech
- Andrew Selby
Light flyweight/Strawweight
- Milan Melindo
- Kosei Tanaka
- Knockout CP Freshmart
- Jose Argumedo
- Ken Shiro
- Ryoichi Taguchi
- Tatsuya Fukuhara
- Hekkie Budler
- Pedro Guevara
- Wanheng Menayothin
First look: Boxing in Puerto Rico
I spent the better part of six weeks in my home country of Puerto Rico and in my time there I met the new president of the Puerto Rico Boxing Commission, Luvi Callejas, a former Puerto Rican junior bantamweight world champion.
We spent several hours talking about Puerto Rico boxing and the future of the country’s boxers. Towards the end of our conversation, he personally invited me to attend a boxing card at my birth town’s sports arena on July 8. The venue, El Palacio de Deportes y Recreaciones (The Palace for Sports and Recreations) has been home to many events, such as basketball and volleyball, as well as several boxing events and even hosted pro wrestling events featuring WWE Hall of Famers like Ric Flair, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Abdullah the Butcher, Carlos Colon and The Bushwackers.
The show itself was extremely entertaining and showcased a lot of great prospects from Puerto Rico. The eight-fight card had four fights televised on DirecTV in Puerto Rico with a WBA regional title fight serving as the main event. It is the first of a few solid boxing cards in Puerto Rico with five-division world champion Amanda Serrano fighting in her home country later in July and a Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN card taking place in August.
Several prominent boxing names were present in the card, some of whom include Callejas, former world champion Carlos Quintana and former Olympic boxer Alberto Mercado. Mercado, who was one of only three American citizens who challenged the boycott of the 1980 Olympics celebrated in Moscow, Russia. Mercado beared the flag of and competing in boxing for Puerto Rico after having won the gold medal at the 1979 Pan American Games
Bryan Lopez defeats Jonathan De La Paz: TKO, Round 1: The fight got stopped late in the first round and I have to wonder why the fight was the stopped. Lopez did thrash De La Paz throughout the round, but did not knock him down, nor did he hurt him badly.
John Correa defeats Argenis Camacho: TKO, Round 1: This fight got stopped when Correa landed three gut-busting punches to Camacho's body that left him kneeling on the canvas gasping for air. It didn't look like Camacho could catch his breath and continue to fight comfortably. This stoppage was a good one.
Kelvin Floyd defeats Jesus Feliciano: UD (40-36, 40-36, 40-36): This probably was one of the most bizarre four-round boxing fights I have ever seen. The second round starts with Feliciano throw very wild haymakers and Floyd decided to shove his gloves down Feliciano's shoulders. The referee stops the two of them and sneds each fighter to opposite corners. As the referee talks to Floyd, he turns his back to Feliciano and Feliciano gyrates his hips in a very Rick Rude style, getting a huge laugh from the crowd. Feliciano was wildly inaccurate but did try his best to mount some offense.
Jean Carlos Quintana defeats Andrew Rosser Nunez: TKO, Round 4: Quintana, who is Carlos Quintana's son, made his pro debut and looked very sharp for someone of his limited experience. He's fighting at 135 pounds, but looking at his physique, he does not look like he weighs 130 pounds. No doubt that as the 21-year-old continues to get experience and grow, he'll likely climb up in weight. He already has the ability to mix different types of punches effortlessly and is agile enough to duck and weave and avoid opposing punches. It's still too early to tell whether or not Jean Carlos Quintana will have the same success as his father, but his career started on a positive note.
Ruben Mass defeats Manuel Galaviz: TKO, Round 3: Mass hs already been climbing up the ranks in Puerto Rico's somewhat crowded super bantamweight division. Mass improved to 5-0, but all five wins came against guys with a losing record. Mass has shown that he's able to finish fights quickly. He scored a knockdown late in the second round and that was just enough for Galaviz's corner and the referee to not continue the fight right as the third round was set to begin.
Jayson Velez defeats Giovanni Caro KO, Round 5: Velez, the current WBC FECARBOX super featherweight titleholder, has started to get his career back in line after suffering a four-fight losing streak. He looked great in this fight that served as the television co-feature. Velez had his best round in the fourth, hurting Caro numerous times en route to his second straight win.
Felix Caraballo defeats Edgardo Laboy to retain WBA Fedecaribe featherweight title: UD (78-74, 78-74, 77-75): Very good television main event with a very hot crowd cheering for both fighters from the opening bell. Caraballo dominated early in the fight, Laboy connected on a few good body shots halfway through the fight that nearly knocked Carabllo down, but Caraballo as spurred on by the crowd. Caraballo retained his title after winning the last couple of rounds, keeping himself inside the official WBA featherweight rankings.
Orlando Gonzalez defeats Luis Diaz Torres: UD (59-54, 59-54, 60-53): Solid dark main event that still had most of the crowd from the TV cheering wildly at this gritty fight. Both fighters put together a tough, scrappy affair as Gonzalez kept attacking the body while Torres tried to attack upstairs. Things got heated throughout the fight, with accidental head clashes causing Torres to get cut and was visibly angry at times. Gonzalez did deserve the victory, however, especially with a fourth-round knockdown to help secure the unanimous decision win.
Results from the world of boxing:
July 10: Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
- Tomoki Kameda defeats Ivan Morales: UD (100-90, 100-90, 99-91)
- Takafumi Nakajima defeats John Ray Logatiman: SD (76-75, 76-75, 75-76)
- Toshiro Tarumi defeats Noriaki Sato: UD (79-74, 77-75, 77-75)
- Ryosuke Takami defeats Yiamyut Saithonggym: TKO, Round 2
- Yuta Nakagawa defeats Chirawat Saithonggym: TKO, Round 1
July 9: Bandai Namco Shanghai Base, Shanghai, China
- Aketelieke Jieensi defeats Yu Quing Xia: MD (38-38, 39-37, 39-37)
- Ayati Sailike defeats Yan Fen Suo: TKO, Round 3
- Daijian Jiao defeats Anrong Wu: SD (39-37, 40-36, 37-39)
- Yangyang Wang and Fan Cai fought to a majority draw (38-38, 39-37, 38-38)
- Nuerlanbieke Ayiding defeats Cheng Hong Tao: UD (39-36, 39-36, 39-36)
July 9: GOR Otista, Jakarta, Indonesia
- Stevanus Nana Bau defeats Abeito Freitas to win the vacant Indonesia Boxing Association (ATI/IBA) light flyweight title on PTS
- Marco Tuhumury defeats Jon Reinhard via PTS
- Daeng Armando and Jeffrey Batok fought to a draw on PTS
- Moensaku Yor defeats Emanuel Nahak via PTS
- Isack Junior defeats Boido Simanjuntak via PTS
July 9: L-Theatre, Osaka, Osaka, Japan
- Satoru Sugita defeats Egy Rozten: TKO, Round 5
- Kyosuke Tsutsumimoto defeats Takashi Okura: TKO, Round 3
- Ginjiro Tsutsumimoto defeats Jio Alfriando: TKO, Round 3
- Ryusei Miki defeats Yasutaka Yamaguchi: TKO, Round 4
July 9: City Hall, Yachiyo, Chiba, Japan
- Fire Ikkyu defeats Yoshiki Abe via split decision
- Ryuki Ishii defeats Yudai Tamagawa via majority decision
- Ryo Shintomi defeats Kazushi Kuramoto via majority decision
- Araki Yamazaki defeats Katsuhiko Kawashima via majority decision
- Atsushi Suzuki defeats Naoya Sato: TKO, Round 3
July 9: DIVS, Ekaterinburg, Russia
- Qudratillo Abduqaharov defeats Dmitry Mikhaylenko to win WBC Silver welterweight title: UD (116-111, 116-111, 117-110)
- Denis Lebedev defeats Mark Flanagan to retain WBA "Super" World cruiserweight title: UD (119-108, 120-107, 119-108)
- Mark Urvanov defeats Jin Miura to retain WBO Asia Pacific Youth featherweight title via SD
- Mukhammadkhuja Yaqubov defeats Daiki Ichikawa to retain WBO Youth lightweight title: TKO, Round 1
July 9: York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, United Kingdom
- Freddy Kiwitt defeats Erick Ochieng to win the vacant BBBofC Southern Area welterweight title: KO, Round 7
- Arfan Iqbal defeats Wadi Camacho to win the vacant BBBofC English cruiserweight title: TKO, Round 4
July 9: Colorado Convention Center, Denver, Colorado, USA
- Manuel Perez defeats Bexzod Nabiyev: UD (79-73, 80-71, 79-72)
- Jose Arellano defeats Ernest Knight: KO, Round 1
- Mario Quezada defeats Diego Nolasco: UD (40-36, 40-36, 40-36)
July 8: Polideportivo Vicente Polimeni, Las Heras, Mendoza, Argentina
- Nahuel Alberto Galessi defeats Diego Martin Aguilera to retain interim WBC Latino super lightweight title: UD (99-88, 97-91, 97-92)
- Tania Macarena Pereyra defeats Alejandra Reynoso: MD (39-37, 39-39, 39-38)
- Dante Roman Cano defeats Nahuel Basabe via UD
July 8: Centro Recreativo y Cultural Villa Raffo, Villa Raffo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Agustin Ezequiel Quintana defeats German Alejandro Monzon fight to a majority draw (38-38, 38-38, 39-38)
July 8: Estadio F.A.B., Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina
- Ezequiel Luna defeats Ricardo Miguel Echeverria via
- Cristian Rodrigo Zarate defeats Claudio Javier Chavez: MD (38-38, 38-37, 39-37)
July 8: Fraternity Club, Fairy Meadow, New South Wales, Australia
- Sakio Bika defeats Luke Sharp to win the vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental super middleweight title: TKO, Round 7
- Mark Lucas defeats Arnel Tinampay: MD (98-93, 95-95, 97-93)
- Haithem Laamouz defeats Joebert Delos Reyes to win the vacant Australian lightweight title: KO, Round 2
- Michael Van Nimwegen defeats Aswin Cabuy: UD (39-38, 40-37, 39-37)
- Danny Rio defeats Jeff King: TKO, Round 2
July 8: Asociación Beniana de Boxeo, Trinidad, Beni, Bolivia
- David Urkiza defeats Juan Carlos Flores Choque via SD
- Jorge Ordonez Montenegro defeats Andres Castedo: TKO, Round 2
July 8: Gimnasio Fiscal, Quellon, Chile
- Jose Velasquez defeats Sebastian Daniel Rodriguez to win the vacant WBA Fedebol bantamweight title: TKO, Round 3
July 8: FengCheng Stadium, Liaoning, China
- Yangcheng Jin defeats Aydar Amirzakov: UD (59-54, 58-55, 57-56)
- Aydarkhan Nukanov defeats Qiang Luo: TKO, Round 1
- Leshan Li defeats Hyunsu Lee: TKO, Round 3
July 8: FIT Food, Kolwezi, Democratic Republic Of The Congo
- Rocky Kaleng defeats Georges Akuvi to win the vacant Universal Boxing Organization (UBO) International heavyweight title via UD
- Jacques Tshikubu Muvud defeats Mamadou Kulibali: TKO, Round 3
July 8: Centre Multimedia, Vic de Bigorre, Hautes-Pyrénées, France
- Meryl Vegas defeats Jerome Ham Chhoueng via PTS
July 8: Place de la République, Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France
- Tautuarii Brillant defeats Boriss Lesins via PTS
July 8: Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Ludwigshafen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
- Ramona Kuehne defeats Djemilla Gontaruk to retain WBO World female super featherweight title: UD (100-90, 99-91, 99-91)
- Leon Bauer defeats Abdallah Paziwapazi to retain IBF Youth super middleweight title: UD (96-92, 96-92, 96-92)
- Artur Mann defeats Leon Harth to win vacant WBO International cruiserweight title: MD (95-95, 96-94, 97-93)
- Nicole Wesner defeatsHasna Tukic to become unified WBF, Global Boxing Union and Women's International Boxing Association World lightweight title: UD (99-90, 98-91, 98-91)
- Micki Nielsen defeats Simon Bakalak: UD (79-72, 78-73, 78-73)
July 8: Amphitheater, Gelsenkirchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
- Howik Bebraham defeats Cristian Ruben Mino to win the vacant IBO International lightweight title: UD (99-88, 100-87, 100-87)
- Francesco Pianeta defeats Oezcan Cetinkaya to win the vacant IBO International heavyweight title: TKO, Round 1
- Vartan Avetisyan defeats Adnan Zilic: TKO, Round 5
- Spas Genov defeats Mladen Ponjevic: KO, Round 1
- Andrej Pesic defeats Zeljko Bojic: TKO, Round 2
- Antonio Hoffmann defeats Nikola Ivkovic: TO, Round 2
- Nawid Hakimsadeh defeats Sabri Ulas Goecmen: KO, Round 2
- Nick Morsink defeats Dragoljub Stanojevic: TKO, Round 1
July 8: Dreifach-Sporthalle, Kempten, Bayern, Germany
- Alem Begic defeats Beka Aduashvili: KO, Round 6
- Dejan Milicevic defeats Mihaita Cosma: TKO, Round 2
- Murat Keles and Napor Ninsaw fought to a split draw (58-56, 57-57, 56-58)
- Patricia Braesick defeats Marion Farkas: KO, Round 1
July 8 Balai Sarbini Convention Hall, Jakarta, Indonesia
- Ruben Manakane defeats Edison Berwela: MD (116-113, 115-114, 115-115)
- James Mokoginta defeats Artid Bamrungauea to win the vacant WBC Asian Boxing Council Continental featherweight title: TKO, Round 2
- Willem Marahina defeats Rocky Irawan Sikumbang to win the vacant Indonesia Boxing Association (ATI/IBA) super lightweight title: TD, Round 6 (58-56, 59-55, 59-56)
July 8: Auditorio Benito Juárez, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico
- Mariana Juarez defeats Terumi Nuki to retain WBC World female bantamweight title via UD
July 8: Salon Los Laureles, Comitan, Chiapas, Mexico
- Aaron Herrera defeats Israel Toala: TKO, Round 4
- Jose Rivas defeats Octavio Ocampo: TKO, Round 7
- Mateo Javier Perez Vazquez defeats Daniel Rodriguez: TKO, Round 1
- Alberto Serrano defeats Rodolfo Cruz: UD (60-54, 60-54, 60-54)
July 8: AMI Netball Centre, St Johns, New Zealand
- Junior Pati defeats Lui Te'o via UD
- Jerome Pascua defeats Rob Ramsey via UD
- Skope Siaosi defeats Aafeen Deen via UD
- James Wilson defeats Joe Betham: RTD, Round 3
- Evander Tia defeats Peter Tovi'o: TKO, Round 1
July 8: IEC Convention Center, Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines
- Mark Magsayo defeats Daniel Diaz to retain WBO International featherweight title: TKO, Round 1
- Jeo Santisima defeats Goodluck Mrema: TKO, Round 1
- Joey Canoy defeats Melvin Jerusalem via unanimous decision
- Albert Pagara defeats Aekkawee Kaewmanee: KO, Round 4
July 8: Club Udarnik Kozhukhovskaya, Moscow, Russia
- Yerzhan Zalilov7 0 1Shukur Abdinabiev: TKO, Round 2
- Alexander Ivanov defeats Yury Bashmanov: TKO, Round 2
- Igor Ivanchenko defeats Roman Ryabukhin: TKO, Round 2
- Alibek Elberdov defeats Saveliy Kuptsov: TKO, Round 1
- Ruslan Mbaziira defeats Vitaliy Charkin: TKO, Round 1
- Sergey Akopyan defeats Shergazy Sakyev: SD (39-36, 39-36, 37-38)
July 8: Pabellón Ricart, San Adrián del Besós, Cataluña, Spain
- Alejandro Moya defeats Adrian Lopez: TKO, Round 1
- Isaac Farre defeats Ismael Martinez via PTS
- Cristobal Lorente defeats Iago Barros via PTS
- Martin Ojues defeats Gocha Kvirikashvili: KO, Round 1
July 8: Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
- Josh Taylor defeats Ohara Davies to become unified Commonwealth (British Empire) and WBC Silver super lightweight champion: TKO, Round 7
- Jason Easton defeats Steve Jamoye to win the vacant International Boxing Organization Intercontinental super lightweight title: TKO, Round 9
- Chantelle Cameron defeats Bojana Libiszewska: TKO Round 4
- Stephen Simmons defeats Lukasz Rusiewicz via DQ
July 8: Copper Box Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Hackney Wick, London, United Kingdom
- Gary Corcoran defeats Larry Ekundayo to win the vacant WBO Intercontinental welterweight title: SD (115-113, 114-113, 113-114)
- Bradley Skeete defeats Dale Evans to win BBBofC British welterweight title: UD (120-109, 119-109, 119-109)
- Anthony Yarde defeats Richard Baranyi to win WBO European light heavyweight title: TKO, Round 1
- Darryll Williams defeats Jahmaine Smyle to retain BBBofC English super middleweight title via majority decision
- Asinia Byfield defeats Sammy McNess to retain BBBofC Southern Area super welterweight title: TKO, Round 5
- Daniel Dubois defeats Mauricio Barragan to win vacant WBC Youth World heavyweight title: KO, Round 2
Other news in boxing:
1. Oleksandr Gvozdyk, a fast-rising light heavyweight contender coming off impressive back-to-back knockout wins against top opposition, will take on Craig Baker in his next outing, Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN. That fight will serve as the co-feature to the Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo light welterweight unification bout
2. Felix Verdejo will get his long-overdue world title opportunity against Terry Flanagan after several weeks of negotiations. Verdejo will challenge Flanagan for the WBO lightweight title on September 16 in the Copper Box Arena in London, England, according to Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti. The fight had been in danger of not happening after contract issues was made public a couple of weeks ago
3. Also on the card is WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders making his second title defense. Saunders will defend his title against Willie Monroe Jr. after Avtandil Khurtsidze, Saunders' original challenger was arrested back in June and had his interim championship stripped. Saunders vs. Khurtsidze would have happened on July 8.
The Flanagan vs. Verdejo fight fit perfectly into Saunders' plans since he and promoter Eddie Hearn wanted to have a WBO middleweight title defense on the same week as the Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez fight, which also takes place on that day. The plan figures Saunders challenging the winner of that fight in a middleweight title unification bout.
4. The second clash between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev failed to deliver as expected at the live gate and on pay-per-view. Ward vs. Kovalev 2 on June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas generated a live gate of $2,187,340, according to figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
The revenue from last month's bout came from the sale of 6,366 tickets, even though Roc Nation Sports announced a crowd of 10,592 on fight night. There were 2,113 complimentary tickets given out from a total of 10,748 available, according to the commission. Both fights did poorly on HBO pay-per-view with the first fight selling only about 165,000 units, and the rematch getting about 125,000 buys.
The conclusion is that Ward isn't a viable pay-per-view headliner, but was smart enough to completely cash out on this rematch. Ward had a guaranteed $6.5 million purse while Kovalev's winnings was almost entirely dependent on the pay-per-view buyrate. With the rivalry against Kovalev done with, there is no one else in the light heavyweight division that can both challenge him for the unified titles and bring a large enough following to garner a pay-per-view. Ward's days as a pay-per-view headliner are done, at least for the moment.
5. The rematch between Srisaket Sor Rungivsai and Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez has a venue. The fight, for Sor Rungivsai's WBC junior bantamweight title, will be contested on September 9 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Sor Rungvisai won the title off of Gonzalez in an extremely controversial decision back in March that also gave Gonzalez his first loss as a pro boxer.
The fight will headline an HBO-televised card that also has Naoya Inoue vs. Antonio Nieves for Inoue's WBO junior bantamweight title and Carlos Cuadras vs. Juan Francisco Estrada in a WBC junior bantamweight title eliminator.
6. Unbeaten Mexican featherweight Eduardo Ramirez (20-0-2, 7 KOs), 24, signed this week with promoter Sampson Lewkowicz. Ramirez, a southpaw, is managed and trained by Manuel Montiel Jr., brother of former three-division world titleholder Fernando Montiel.
7. The T-Mobile Arena has been completely sold out for the September 16 mega fight between Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez for Golovkin's unified middleweight titles. The fight, which will be on HBO pay-per-view, has no other fights confirmed on the card.
Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn Review
An independent review of the scoring in Manny Pacquiao's WBO welterweight world title loss to Jeff Horn has confirmed the outcome in favor of Horn.
In a statement earlier this week, the WBO announced five anonymous judges reviewed the fight. The statement also said three of the five independent judges who reviewed the bout awarded it to Horn, one awarded it to Pacquiao and one scored a draw. WBO president Francisco Valcarcel asked the judges, who came from different countries and remained anonymous, to assign their own scores to rounds.
I had taken the liberty of rescoring the fight, this time without any commentary and crowd noise to see whether or not Horn did win the fight. I ultimately thought Pacquiao won upon second review, but it wasn't the clear robbery that many are arguing.
Official Judges Scorecards:
- Judge Waleksa Roldan: 117-111 Horn
- Judge Chris Flores: 115-113 Horn
- Judge Ramon Cerdan: 115-113 horn
WBO Judges Scorecards:
- Judge #1: 114-113 Pacquiao
- Judge #2: 114-114 Draw
- Judge #3: 115-113 Horn
- Judge #4: 114-113 Horn
- Judge #5: 114-113 Horn
My Scorecards:
- First Viewing (With live ESPN commentary): 115-113 Pacquiao
- Second Viewing (No commentary and no crowd noise): 115-113 Pacquiao
When breaking down all eight judges' scorecards, there are several rounds where I do agree with the score -- namely rounds one, six and 12. In addition to those three rounds, most of the judges believe Horn won rounds two, four and seven, which by that point would have made it a draw on almost all of the cards. When I rescored the fight, I did give Horn rounds two and four, but that ws the extent of my scoring for Horn.
Even without listening to an obviously pro-Pacquiao commentary team at ESPN, I believe Pacquiao won the fight, although I certainly do not think it is as big a robbery as people make it out to be. Some rounds were somewhat close because Horn was definitely the more aggressive fighter and some judges like to see that when scoring fights. All that is left is the inevitable rematch.
As for a rematch, Australia is very interested in hosting Horn vs. Pacquiao 2. Sydney and Melbourne are now poised to make multimillion-dollar offers to host the rematch.
According to the Courier Mail, officials at Etihad Stadium, which can seat 56,000 fans under a retractable roof, have indicated their interest in staging one of the world’s most anticipated fights in conjunction with the Melbourne Cup. While the Horn camp are keen to have the rematch at Suncorp Stadium there are concerns over Brisbane’s November heat and potential for rain at an outdoor fight in Horn’s hometown.
ANZ Stadium, which could seat more than 80,000 people and is located in Sydney is also looming as a threat to Brisbane, as management there see a potential Horn vs. Pacquiao rematch as a way to showcase Sydney to the world in the same way Brisbane was advertised to hundreds of millions of viewers in 159 countries during the telecast from Suncorp Stadium. ESPN took over main broadcasting duties for the fight, which did record numbers in terms of viewership for a boxing fight on cable.
Even if Pacquiao does win back the WBO welterweight world title, it's hard to imagine that there is much else waiting for him. Many people would say that Pacquiao won the fight, but many of those same people would say that Pacquiao's boxing days should be coming to a halt very soon.
