In a banner year for boxing, it seems that the sport’s popularity has reached increasing levels of mainstream notoriety and a number of different factors do seem to start to confirm that statement. Keith Thurman vs. Danny Garcia’s fight on CBS back on March 4 peaked at just more than five million television viewers; Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko prompted the extremely rare circumstance where HBO and Showtime (the two most notable networks that regularly broadcast boxing) worked together to share broadcasting privileges and Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin are set to square off in the sport’s biggest fight since Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao.
Coupled that with the recent addition of the Fightful Boxing Podcast (which has earned some of the highest viewership numbers on the site in its infancy phase), this seems to be the perfect time for Fightful to introduce the Fightful Boxing Newsletter. The feature will provide analysis on some of the sport’s biggest news, results on cards that wouldn’t otherwise be on other articles here on Fightful and the Fightful boxing rankings, where the top 10 boxers of every division are going to be ranked and other segments to be included.
This newsletter serves as a longform way for both the hardcore boxing fans to further read up on the latest news in the sport and for casual fans that want to know more or want to get back into boxing.
Below is the table of contents for the inaugural edition and where to locate each piece of content:
- The Pacquiao-Horn fallout and what's next? (Page 2)
- World Boxing Super Series: What do we know (Page 3)
- Mikey Garcia vs. Adrien Broner undercard news (Page 4)
- What the PBC Long Island card could mean for boxing in New York? (Page 5)
- Other news in boxing (Page 5)
- Fightful Boxing Rankings (Page 6-7)
- Results from the world of boxing (Page 8)
- Fightful Boxing 2017 Mid-Year Awards (Page 9)
The Pacquiao-Horn fallout and what's next?
Boxing’s welterweight division was shaken to its very core in Brisbane, Australia when Jeff Horn won a highly controversial decision to capture the WBO welterweight title.
Many people, fans and pundits alike were fuming at the unanimous decision win for Horn, calling the fight a robbery and a mockery of the sport. The three judges who scored the fight – Waleska Roldan, Chris Flores and Ramon Cerdan – gave scores of 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113, respectively. I had scored the fight 115-113 for Pacquiao and many within the sport had similar scores, such as promoter Lou DiBella, who was very critical of the judging.
The fight itself was a gritty affair that saw Horn be the more active fighter when the bell first rang, which surprised people as they thought fighting on the biggest stage of his career would affect him in some way, shape or form.
What’s bizarre is how the judges scored the fight, especially early on. Roldan gave the six of the first seven rounds to Horn, Flores gave Horn five of the first six rounds and Cerdan awarded Horn six of the first eight rounds. The fight nearly ended in the ninth round when Pacquiao hurt Horn numerous times, nearly knocking down the Australian boxer. The referee nearly stopped the fight after the ninth round. The referee wanted to stop the fight at the point, but Horn convinced him to give him one more chance and came out much more aggressive moving forward.
The undercard saw David Toussaint overpower Shane Mosley Jr. in a split decision win in the early prelim fight on ESPN. The main broadcast started with highly-touted prospect Michael Conlan making quick work of local boxer Jarrett Owen, stopping Owen in the third round. The co-feature saw Jerwin Ancajas, Pacquiao’s protégé, handily beat Teiru Kinoshita in the seventh round to defend his IBF junior bantamweight title. A hard body shot from Ancajas left Kinoshita on the mat gasping for air as the referee stopped the fight.
The card was littered with bad matchups all around. Even though Pacquiao lost his fight, he dominated it, but Horn survived far better than most people would think. On paper, Pacquiao, Ancajas and Conlan were huge favorites and there really was no reason to believe any of those fighters would lose.
The biggest mismatch came in the co-feature. Ancajas was fighting someone whose last two wins came against guys making their pro debut and only fought one person with a winning record in his last six fights. It’s obvious Kinoshita was nowhere near prepared for a fight against someone of Ancajas’ caliber and it showed. Kinoshita had a clear size advantage, but lacked the knowhow to take advantage of it.
Despite the wrong call being made in the main event in a card full of mismatches, it’s hard to say that this was not a success for ESPN. Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn continued boxing's extremely successful 2017, peaking at 4.4 million viewers on the July 1 broadcast, averaging 3.1 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN Deportes (the Spanish-language broadcast), and ESPN’s streaming options. The 4.4 million peak came in the final half hour of the main event.
The main ESPN channel broadcast averaged 2.812 million viewers and a 1.6 overnight rating. This would make it the most-watched boxing event on cable TV since 2006, when Carlos Baldomir fought Arturo Gatti on HBO. That fight also earned a 1.6 rating. It was the highest rated boxing broadcast on ESPN networks since December 21, 1995, when Danell Nicholson fought Darren Hayden.
What’s next for both fighters? At the moment, a rematch is likely to happen. Pacquiao did say he would invoke the rematch clause in the fight contract that both had signed, but any further details still need to be worked out.
Should a rematch happen, the winner of that fight will likely face either IBF champion Errol Spence Jr. in a unification bout or Lucas Matthysse, the WBO’s international champion and is the next-highest ranked boxer in the organization’s official standings. The 147-pound division is prime for the taking since unified WBC and WBA champion Keith Thurman is recovering from elbow surgery and likely out until early 2018.
Other notes: Production-wise, the show had been riddled by several, albeit minor, production issues. Numerous times the time on the screen did not show how much time was actually left in the round. In some cases, they added 10 seconds to the round, making it look like the round ended prematurely.
One of the biggest talking points of the ESPN broadcast came from the announcing. The commentary team, comprised of Joe Tessitore, Teddy Atlas and former world champion Timothy Bradley Jr., had gotten mixed reviews from the boxing community. If anything, it was Atlas who made waves all across social media for his very loud demeanor throughout the broadcast, sometimes drowning out Tessitore at times, who was on play-by-play duties. Atlas was extremely critical at the unanimous decision in favor of Horn, calling the decision an act of robbery and corruption from the sport and had no problem telling Horn he did not deserve to win the fight.
Stephen A. Smith was another notable talking point coming out of ESPN’s broadcast. Smith made fun of Horn’s last few opponents, making light of the fact that their last names were hard to pronounce, talking a lot about how Pacquiao needs to win in order to get himself a rematch with Floyd Mayweather (which, in reality, had very little chance of happening, even if Pacquiao won) and giving critiques to Bradley’s announcing and how he failed to acknowledge the headbutts Horn gave Pacquiao throughout the fight.
No one argues that Horn had a great showing in front of a record crowd, but most don’t feel that he won more rounds than Pacquiao, especially since some people, including Atlas, awarded Pacquiao a 10-8 in the ninth round. None of the judges gave Pacquiao a 10-8 round in the ninth, but even if they did, it never really mattered.
World Boxing Super Series: what do we know
The World Boxing Super Series has been getting a ton of attention from boxing fans all over the world and it’s no surprise. For the unitiated, the World Boxing Super Series is a tournament designed to determine the best boxer of their respective weight class, with the winner receiving the Muhammad Ali trophy, which is being billed by tournament organizers and participating boxers as "the greatest prize in boxing."
There are two tournaments for the World Boxing Super Series: one for the cruiserweight division and one for the super middleweight division. Each tournament is an eight-man, single elimination tournament that is supposed to run from September 2017 to May 2018. The full field has not been announced, but below are the participants announced so far.
Cruiserweight:
- Oleksandr Usyk
- Yunier Dorticos
- Murat Gassiev
- Mairis Briedis
- Krzysztof Wlodarczyk
- Marco Huck
Super middleweight:
- George Groves
- Juergen Braehmer
- Erik Skoglund
- Jamie Cox
One good thing about the WBSS is that the format is much simpler – an eight-man, single-elimination tournament – than the Super Six, which was a six-man round robin tournament, followed by a four-man, single-elimination mini tournament. One of the promoters of the WBSS, Kalle Sauerland, helped out with the promotion and planning of the Super Six and he understands what went right and what went wrong.
The WBSS has a lot of talent for both tournaments, but the big attention grabber is the amazing depth the cruiserweight tournament has amassed. Almost every cruiserweight world champion is in this tournament and the ones that aren’t world champions were former titleholders. Oleksandr Usyk will likely be the early favorite heading into the tournament.
The super middleweight tournament does have George Groves the top super middleweight, but part of it is due to the lack of other world champions in the 168-pound field. The super middleweight division is undergoing a few changes in terms of who are the world champions. The WBC belt was vacated by Badou Jack earlier this year. James DeGale, the IBF champion, has been out of action due to numerous injuries sustained in his January fight with Jack. The IBF did create an interim title, but Dirrell and Jose Uzcategui are fighting in a rematch later this year due to the extremely controversial nature of their first fight a couple of months ago.
Two fighters that were originally going to take part, Anthony Dirrell and Callum Smith, are no longer going to participate, due to ongoing issues in negotiating. The two decided they want to resolve their issues so that they could fight for the vacant WBC belt.
One thing to note is that, for as great as the idea is on paper, not often do things like this ever go smoothly in boxing. There is a reason major tournaments of this magnitude are extremely rare. Too many factors, such as injuries, could derail the tournament. The tournament draws certain parallels to the Super Six World Boxing Classic, a tournament that ran from 2009-11 in order to determine the top super middleweight boxer in the world. The field was filled to the brim with champions and top contenders, but the tournament became complex and had numerous issues throughout.
A number of developments required multiple adjustments to the original plans for the tournament’s Group Stage 3. By August 12, 2010, a venue had not been chosen and ticket sales had not started for the scheduled September 25 bout between Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward. This was expected to result in a new date for the fight. Instead, on October 7, 2010, it was reported that Dirrell withdrew due to an undisclosed injury. This resulted in a decision to have Ward fight Sakio Bika in a non-tournament bout, which created the possibility that the WBA Championship could have been removed from the tournament. (Ward did defeat Bika, so the WBA Championship remain in the Super Six tournament).
On August 25, 2010, Mikkel Kessler withdrew from the tournament citing an eye injury. On September 6, 2010, the WBC vacated its Super Middleweight Championship, announced that Kessler will be the first contender when he returns from his injury (naming him Champion Emeritus), and announced that it would grant its championship to the winner of the upcoming Group Stage 3 match between its number one contender, Dirrell, and the WBA champion, Ward, to be followed with a mandated WBC title fight against the winner of the Carl Froch vs. Arthur Abraham match.
The draw for each tournament is supposed to take place on a date to be determined on July 8 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. In each weight class, the four top seeds will select their quarterfinal opponent from the four unseeded boxers on a live TV show. The tournaments are supposed to start in September with the quarterfinals. 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.
One aspect about this tournament that is still being worked on is the television rights in the United States. Richard Shaeffer, who is co-promoting the tournaments with Sauerland, said that is still being worked on. There is legitimate interest in showcasing the event in the United States, according to Schaeffer.
"We are in the process of working that out and there will be an announcement shortly but obviously it's going to be televised in the U.S. but I'm not at liberty to disclose who it will be with. All that is being led - the selling of the global TV rights - by Comosa, the company from Switzerland and they have retained one of the leading sports agencies, MP & Sillva, to assist them in selling the rights, globally and in the United States," Schaeffer said.
We’ll likely now more about the details once the opening gala concludes on July 8.
Mikey Garcia vs. Adrien Broner undercard news
As we get closer to the Mikey Garcia vs. Adrien Broner fight on July 29, we’re getting word on who will be fighting on the undercard and the card itself so far is a superb one. The co-feature of the card sees Jermall Charlo make his middleweight debut against Jorge Sebastian Heiland in a fight that will determine who will be the mandatory challenger to one of Gennady Golovkin’s titles.
Another fight being discussed is the lightweight debut of former world champion Jose Pedraza. Pedraza lost the IBF junior lightweight title back in January against Gervonta Davis. Pedraza has remained silent for the most part since the loss, the move to lightweight had been something set in stone for a long time. I’ve spoken to Pedraza and his team and was told Pedraza was dead set on moving up in weight regardless of the result of his fight against Davis. The move is largely due to the fact that Pedraza had not been able to get the world title unification fights that he has been asking for years.
Pedraza was originally set to face Jamel Herring on the PBC card in Long Island on July 15, but there was an issue regarding Pedraza’s contract – it didn't exist.
Since the fight could not be signed, both Pedraza and Herring are slated to appear on the Garcia vs. Broner card from Barclays Center. The twist here is that both boxers are going to face other opponents instead of each other. Herring, a 31-year-old with a 16-1 record, will now face rising undefeated Alejandro Luna, a former interim WBC Youth lightweight champion.
As for Pedraza, an opponent still hasn’t been found. There had been talks about Pedraza fighting Anthony Peterson, a lightweight who is 37-1 and the younger brother of two-weight world champion Lamont Peterson. His biggest fight was his only loss, a 2010 DQ loss to Brandon Rios. Pedraza vs. Peterson could serve as a very good first test for Pedraza.
The only other confirmed fight for the card is Jarrell Miller taking on Gerald Washington in a 10-round bout in the heavyweight division. Washington came in as a last-minute replacement opponent back in February, challenging for the WBC heavyweight title against Deontay Wilder. Washington was dominated in the fight, but it wasn’t exactly a surprising result. Miller, on the other hand, is a rising prospect who is undefeated and the current WBO NABO heavyweight champion. Miller is no stranger to combat sports as he had a successful kickboxing career, competing in the K-1 World Grand Prix in 2012. He had a 21-2 record as a kickboxer and his two losses came against MMA legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.
What’s incredible is that Miller has accomplished so much in his career, is a rising prospect as a heavyweight and he is only 29 years old. His last win over Fred Kassi was a very positive step and a win over Washington could possibly set him up for a potential world title opportunity. The current world champion for the WBO is Joseph Parker, who is defending his title against Hughie Fury later this year. Miller is ranked No. 6 in the official WBO Rankings from June.
As it stands, here is the July 29 card from the Barclays Center. Showtime will handle the broadcasting, doing their fourth Barclays Center card for 2017:
- Adrien Broner vs. Mikey Garcia: Junior welterweight bout
- Jermall Charlo vs. Jorge Sebastian Heiland: WBC middleweight eliminator
- Jarrell Miller vs. Gerald Washington: Heavyweight bout
- Jose Pedraza vs. TBA: Lightweight bout
- Jamel Herring vs. Alejandro Luna: Lightweight bout
What the PBC Long Island card could mean for boxing in New York?
Premier Boxing Champions and famed New York boxing promoter Lou DiBella recently announced that Nassau Coliseum, a longtime sports venue in the heart of Long Island, New York, will host its first boxing card since 1986. The card will be televised on July 15 on Fox and have a Spanish-language simulcast on Fox Deportes.
The card will be headlined by former world champions Robert Guerrero and Omar Figueroa in a 10-round welterweight fight.
Pitting this fight as a Fox primetime main event might not be the best move for boxing fans for multiple reasons. Firstly, HBO will be running a televised card roughly at the same time with a far more attractive tripleheader: Miguel Berchelt vs. Takashi Miura for Berchelt's WBC junior lightweight title; Jezreel Corrales vs. Robinson Castellanos for Corrales' WBA junior lightweight title; Joe Smith Jr. vs. Sullivan Barrera for Smith's WBC International light heavyweight title. Fox, with a far bigger reach on television will struggle to not only compete with HBO’s diehard boxing fanbase preferring the Berchelt vs. Miura main event than a Guerrero vs. Figueroa main event, but also have to deal with trying to market a card with so many names that non-boxing fans do not know.
That isn’t to say it is a guarantee that HBO will beat Fox in the television ratings. HBO has yet to average a million viewers in any of its telecasts this year. The May 21 fight between Terence Crawford vs. Felix Diaz averaged 961,000 viewers, but did peaked at 1.036 million viewers, and it was the network’s most viewed boxing fight of 2017 that isn’t on pay-per-view. Fox, on the other hand, drew 1.76 million viewers on its last boxing broadcast, which saw Deontay Wilder successfully defend his WBC world heavyweight title against Gerald Washington. Two other Fox boxing broadcasts in 2016 averaged 2.5 million viewers (a January fight between Danny Garcia and Guerrero) and 1.8 million viewers (a July fight between Wilder and Chris Arreola).
Arguments that the Nassau card will still do decent television numbers are the fact that the historical significance of the card is a good marketing tactic and Guerrero has been a part of PBC telecasts that have drawn very good ratings (such as the Danny Garcia fight).
The idea is that this would be the first of several boxing cards being held at the Nassau Coliseum. The building, which was also home to the NHL's New York Islanders, reopened in April after undergoing a $170 million renovation. Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, the company that runs Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, also runs the Nassau Coliseum and aims to have regular fights there too. The Barclays Center has been a major venue for world title fights in the past couple of years, holding three major cards there in 2017 alone. The original plan for Nassau Coliseum is to have a boxing card on April 29, but was ultimately pushed back for July.
It’s hard to argue with Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment’s success with Barclays Center’s boxing cards. In the span of a couple of short years, the Barclays Center has become the more attractive venue for major boxing cards to be held inside New York City. While Madison Square Garden has Barclays Center beat in the mystique factor, Barclays Center is a more modern-looking arena and is less expensive to book boxing cards there than MSG.
If that is the plan moving forward, then expect Nassau Coliseum to potentially be another home for PBC to hold cards, if the card does well enough in both attendance and television ratings. Just like HBO does cards at Madison Square Garden, Showtime (sometimes in conjunction with PBC) has emphasized doing boxing cards in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, PBC could eventually do cards on major television networks whenever PBC wants to do New York City boxing cards.
Nassau Coliseum has significant history in boxing and sports entertainment. The main event at the Nassau leg of WrestleMania 2 was actually a boxing match between Rowdy Roddy Piper and actor Mr. T. Nassau Coliseum has hosted fights featuring a number of boxing greats including Mike Tyson in 1986, George Foreman’s 1976 fifth-round TKO win over Joe Frazier and New York boxing great Gerry Cooney in 1980.
While a Guerrero vs. Figueroa fight with no titles on the line or even immediate title shot opportunities is not an attractive main event for a primetime boxing card, the card functions as a necessary first step to further expand boxing in New York.
Here is the full boxing card for the Nassau Coliseum card:
- Omar Figueroa vs. Robert Guerrero: Welterweight bout
- Marcus Browne vs. Seanie Monaghan: Light heavyweight bout
- Artur Szpilka vs. Adam Kownacki: Heavyweight bout
- Jamal James vs. Jo Jo Dan: Welterweight bout
- Brandon Figueroa vs. Eliezer Aquino: Bantamweight bout
- Alicia Napolean vs. Mary McGee: Vacant IBF female junior middleweight title bout
- Eric Walker vs. Patrick Day: Junior middleweight bout
- Tommy Rainone vs. TBA: Welterweight bout
- Earl Newman vs. Melvin Russell: Light heavyweight
- Vincenzo D'Angelo vs. Dequan Burgos: Super middleweight
Other news in boxing:
1. Flyweight world titleholder Zou Shiming, the two-time Chinese Olympic gold medalist and the face of boxing in his country, will make his first title defense when he faces Sho Kimura, on July 28 in Shanghai, China. Zou won the vacant WBO flyweight title by near-shutout decision against Thailand's Prasitsak Phaprom in November in Las Vegas on the Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas undercard.
2. Chris Eubank Jr.’s upcoming defense of his super middleweight IBO title against Arthur Abraham will now be broadcast in the United States on pay-per-view. The scheduled July 15 fight in London will now be distributed domestically in the United States on pay-per-view by Integrated Sports Media for $24.95. Lee Selby’s IBF featherweight title defense against Jonathan Victor Barros will also be featured on the telecast, with an additional fight that have yet to be announced.
Although this fight won't make much on pay-per-view buys, the idea of two world title fights on a reasonably-priced pay-per-view might drum up some attention. Unfortunately, July 15 has two big boxing cards already. HBO is doing a tripleheader headlined by Miguel Berchelt vs. Takashi Miura for Berchelt's WBC junior lightweight title and Fox is holding a PBC card from Nassau Coliseum with Robert Guerrero vs. Omar Figueroa as the main event.
3. Joshua Buatsi, the British boxer who was the bronze medalist as a light heavyweight in the 2016 Olympic Games, impressed many with his second-round TKO win over Carlos Mena last on July first. Eddie Hearn, Anthony Joshua’s promoter, said Buatsi’s next fight could take place in South London. Hearn also said there is a possibility of him fighting on the Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo undercard in August and that the plan moving forward is for him to fight four times from September to December.
4. Paul Butler and Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren have parted ways. Butler, a former IBF bantamweight champion, has won his last seven fights since challenging Zolani Tete for the IBF super flyweight title in 2015.
5. While the July 15 PBC on Fox card from Nassau Coliseum will have Robert Guerrero face Omar Figueroa in the main event, it won’t be the last fight on the card. FS1 will have two fights take place after Guerrero vs. Figueroa: a bantamweight bout between Brandon Figueroa and Eliezer Aquino as well as a welterweight bout between Jamal James and Jo Jo Dan.
6. Daniel Dubois, a rising heavyweight prospect from England, will fight for the vacant WBC Youth heavyweight championship in just his fourth pro fight. Dubois will face Julian Fernandez at the Copper Box Arena on July 8. Dubois is coming off a knockout win over David Howe, who holds a 13-5 pro record.
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
- Murat Gassiev
- Denis Lebediev
- 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
Results from the world of boxing:
July 2: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Jeff Horn defeats Manny Pacquiao to win the WBO welterweight title: UD (117-111, 115-113, 115-113)
- Jerwin Ancajas defeats Teiru Kinoshita: TKO Round 7
- Michael Conlan defeats Jarrett Owen: TKO Round 3
- David Toussaint defeats Shane Mosley: SD (75-77, 77-76, 77-76)
- Damien Hooper defeats Umar Salamov to win the IBf Australasian and WBO International light heavyweight titles: UD (96-94 96-94 96-94)
- Brock Jarvis defeats Rasmanudin: KO Round 1
- Brent Dames defeats Jonel Dapidran: UD(58-56, 58-56, 59-55)
July 1: Gymnase des Malteries, Schiltigheim, Bas-Rhin, France
- Jelena Mrdjenovich vs. Stephanie Ducastel for the unified WBC/WBA female featherweight titles ends in a split draw (96-94, 95-95, 94-96)
July 1: Casino d'Evian, Evian les Bains, Haute-Savoie, France
- Brian Carlos Castano defeats Michel Soro to retain the interim WBA super welterweight title: SD (115-113, 115-113, 112-116)
- Arsen Goulamirian defeats Mitch William: TKO Round 9
- Mickael Diallo defeats Bernard Donfack: TKO Round 4
- Mohammed Rabii defeats Temur Abuladze: KO Round 1
- Victor Ialimov defeats Giorgi Kandelaki: UD (59-55, 59-55, 59-55)
July 1: Parque La Pedrera, Villa Mercedes, San Luis, Argentina
- Diego De La Hoya defeats Alan Isaias Luques Castillo to retain the WBC Youth super bantamweight title: UD (97-93, 98-92, 98-92)
- Fidel Angel Ruiz Diaz defeats Guillermo Osvaldo Soloppi to win the vacant South American lightweight title: TKO Round 6
- Carlos Jorge Luis Sardinez defeats Daniel Esteban Coronel to win the vacant South American bantamweight title: UD (119-111, 119-110, 119-109)
- Claudio Fernando Echegaray defeats Diego Ricardo Santillan to retain the interim WBC Latino super bantamweight title: KO Round 9
July 1: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- Charlie Hoy defeats Rafael Rodriguez to win the vacant WBA Fedelatin super flyweight title: TKO Round 2
July 1: Müggelspreehalle, Hangelsberg, Brandenburg, Germany
- Ibrahim Class defeats Jose Forero to win the vacant Global Boxing Council lightweight title: UD (118-110, 119-109, 120-108)
- Gianluca Frezza defeats Anzor Gamgebeli to win the vacant Global Boxing Council welterweight title: DQ Round 7
- Laszlo Toth defeats Azad Azizov to win the vacant IBF East/West Europe welterweight title: UD (117-109, 116-110, 115-111)
- Robert Maess defeats Paata Varduashvili: TKO Round 4
- Denny Lehmann defeats Robert Larsen to win the vacant German International super middleweight title: TKO Round 4
July 1: Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
- Kenichi Ogawa defeats Hirotsugu Yamamoto to retain the Japanese super featherweight title: TKO Round 2
July 1: Auditorio Centenario, Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico
- Roberto Ortiz vs. Diego Cruz for the vacant WBC FECARBOX Super Lightweight title ends in a draw
July 1: Luzhniki, Moscow, Russia
- Alexander Povetkin defeats Andriy Rudenko to win the vacant WBO International and WBA Continental heavyweight titles: UD (120-108, 120-109, 120-108)
July 1: O2 Arena, Greenwich, London, United Kingdom
- Frank Buglioni defeats Ricky Summers to retain the BBBofC British light heavyweight title: UD (116-113, 115-114, 118-111)
- Ted Cheeseman defeats Matthew Ryan to win the BBBofC English super welterweight title: TKO Round 3
- Reece Bellotti defeats Jamie Speight to win the vacant WBC International Silver featherweight title: TKO Round 8
June 30: Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California, USA
- Oscar Negrete defeats Sergio Frias to win the vacant NABF bantamweight title: RTD Round 8
- Ryan Martin defeats Marcos Jimenez: UD (100-90, 100-90, 100-90)
- Lamont Roach defeats Jesus A Valdez to retain the WBC Youth Silver super featherweight title: UD (100-90, 97-93, 98-92)
- Damon Allen defeats Gamaliel Diaz: TD Round 6 (58-55, 57-56, 56-57)
- Keandre Gibson defeats Dennis Dauti: UD (77-75, 79-73, 80-72)
June 30: Huntington Center, Toledo, Ohio, USA
- Robert Easter Jr. defeats Denis Shafikov to retain the IBF lightweight title: UD (116-112, 120-108, 120-108)
- Julian Williams defeats Joshua Conley: TKO Round 7
- Jamontay Clark defeats Ivan Golub: UD (79-73, 77-75, 77-75)
- Enver Halili defeats Wesley Tucker: UD
- Damar Singleton defeats Cory Dulaney: KO Round 2
June 30: Complesso Fieristico di via Cesina, San Valentino Torio, Campania, Italy
- Gianluca Ceglia defeats Eloy Iglesias to win the vacant IBF International lightweight title: UD (117-110, 116-111, 116-111)
- Salvatore Annunziata defeats Ricardo Pompeo Mellone on points
- Domenico Valentino defeats Tibor Meszaros: TKO Round 6
June 30: Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
- Daisuke Sakamoto defeats Makoto Kawasaki to win the interim Japanese welterweight title: UD (97-93, 97-93, 97-94)
- Hiroki Okada defeats Jheritz Chavez: UD (100-90, 100-91, 99-93)
- Shuhei Tsuchiya defeats Shota Suito: UD (78-74, 77-75, 77-76)
- Tatsuya Matsumoto defeats Toshizane Kinoda: UD (60-55, 59-55, 59-56)
- Ryota Yamauchi defeats Supaluek Noiwaengphim: KO Round 2
June 30: Ramatex Hall, Windhoek, Namibia
- Bethuel Ushona defeats Roman Belaev to retain the World Boxing Federation welterweight title: UD (117-111, 118-110, 117-111)
- Lukas Ndafoluma defeats Barend van Rooyen to win the vacant International Boxing Organization All-Africa middleweight title:
- David Shinuna defeats Immanuel Andeleki to win the vacant Namibian super featherweight title on points
- Vakufilapo Nashivela defeats Simon Shafodino to win the vacant Namibian super welterweight title on points
June 30: Nuevo Gimnasio Nicarao, Managua, Nicaragua
- Melvin Lopez defeats Greivin Lopez to retain WBC Latino super flyweight title: KO Round 5
- Byron Rojas defeats Carlos Ortega: UD (76-75, 78-73, 77-74)
- Elton Lara defeats Herald Molina: KO Round 1
- Heiler Gonzalez defeats Danny Mendoza: SD (38-37, 38-37, 36-39)
- Juan Arguello defeats Darwin Turcios: KO
- Moises Mendoza defeats Francisco Mejia: UD (40-36, 40-36, 40-36)
June 30: Los Andes Mall, Panama City, Panama
- Gilberto Pedroza defeats Amrit Herrera to win the WBC FECARBOX light flyweight title: KO Round 4
- Laura Ledezma defeats Claudia Munoz to win the vacant WBA Fedelatin female super bantamweight title: UD (79-72, 79-72, 78-73)
- Keiver Fernandez defeats Juan Lopez: UD (76-75, 77-75, 76-75)
- Lourdes Borbua defeats Franyuli Riascos to win the interim WBC Latino female lightweight title: UD (79-71, 79-70, 79-70)
Fightful Boxing 2017 Mid-Year Awards
1. Male Boxer of the Mid-Year: Anthony Joshua
Undefeated boxer? Check
Unified world heavyweight champion? Check
Brought order to the heavyweight division by stopping Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 people? Check
Boxing has been dying for a transcendent superstar in the heavyweight division and it may have finally gotten one in Joshua. Beating Klitschko cements his status as the heavyweight king and at only 27 years old, we have yet to see the best of Joshua. The dethroning of Klitschko as the best heavyweight in the world opens up the rest of the division and now there numerous stars and big-time matchups for Joshua to take for years and years to come.
2. Female Boxer of the Mid-Year: Amanda Serrano
Serrano accomplished what no other Puerto Rican boxer has done: win a world title in FIVE weight classes. She did so when she beat Dahiana Santana to capture the vacant WBO World female bantamweight title back in April in her second win of 2017 alone. Serrano has won world titles at lightweight, featherweight, super featherweight, bantamweight and super bantamweight.
Serrano is one of the best female boxers in the world and as boxing great Joe Cortez told me, Serrano is a boxing Hall of Famer. Serrano is set to defend her WBO female super bantamweight title in Puerto Rico against Laura Soledad Griffa later this month.
3. Prospect of the Mid-Year: David Benavidez
In a wide-open super middleweight division, Benavidez is slowly turning himself into a very attractive option for a world title fight. Benavidez already won both of his fights in 2017. He knocked out Sherali Mamajonov back in January and stopped Rogelio Medina early in their fight back in May. Benavidez is 18-0 as a boxer with 17 KO. The shocking part about Benavidez? He's only 20 years old and turns 21 in December. Benavidez has a ton of room to grow as a boxer and all the time in the world to gain experience until he is ready to win the world title. At the moment, he is both ranked in the top five of the WBA and WBC rankings and could potentially see himself fighting for a strap as soon as late 2017/early 2018.
4. Round of the Mid-Year: Ivan Baranchyk vs. Abel Ramos, round 3
Showtime does a great job of pitting exciting prospects together for their ShoBox: The Next Generation cards. The result is one of the best fights of 2017 between Baranchyk and Ramos. The third round of the February 10 fight was about as good a round as there is in boxing throughout the year. Baranchyk scored a knockdown midway through the round, looking like he might score another one in the round. After Ramos emphaticaly got back up, he was ready to get some payback on Baranchyk and scored a knocked with just seconds remaining in the round, shocking the Oklahoma crowd. Baranchyk would end up winning the fight, but there was really no losers. Both fighters had a great showing and the fans got to see one of the better fights of the year thus far.
5. Knockout of the Mid-Year: David Lemieux KO Curtis Stevens
If there was any doubt as to whether or not Lemieux is arguably the best knockout artist in the sport since losing to Gennady Golovkin a couple of years, watch this knockout.
Before the knockout, what fans got to enjoy was a quick, fast-paced and extremely exciting fight between two of the middleweight division’s hardest hitters. Lemieux got himself a match on the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. pay-per-view. It won’t be long until Lemieux is back to fighting for a world title, likely against WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders at some point in the second half of 2017/early 2018.
6. Fight of the Mid-Year: Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko
This fight was not only one of the most exciting boxing fights of 2017, it was one of the greatest heavyweight world title fights in history. While it may seem like hyperbole, there is no underlying the significance of this fight. While Klitschko lost in his last fight against Tyson Fury back in 2015, it felt more like a freak accident than a proper coronation to the heir apparent to the heavyweight division. This fight felt more like a passing of the torch in front of 90,000 people, a British boxing attendance record. How often do sporting events of any kind hold an event that attracts 90,000 people to attend?
Joshua, the younger and faster boxer, started off hot winning the early rounds of the fight and even scored his first knockdown of the night in the fourth round. Joshua celebrated a little too much after the knockdown and gassed himself, leaving Klitschko the perfect opportunity to come back and knock down Joshua in the following round.
What followed was Klitschko’s veteran experience in the middle rounds and taking advantage of a tired Joshua. Joshua then dug deep and showed mental fortitude and caught his second wind. Joshua started landing his trademark uppercut in the ninth round and eventually shifted the momentum back to him with two knockdowns in the 11th round. The referee stopped the fight with just 35 seconds remaining, officially crowning Joshua as the new king of the heavyweights.
A rematch will likely happen later this year and will provide another chapter in the story of Joshua’s still blossoming career.
