Boxing

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 6, 2024, 08:59 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Naoya Inoue suffered the first knockdown of his illustrious career in the opening round but rebounded to floor Luis Nery three times en route to a Round 6 KO victory to retain his undisputed junior featherweight championship on Monday in Tokyo. There were 44,000-plus

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 5, 2024, 03:07 AM ET Open Extended Reactions LAS VEGAS — For the fifth time in five fights for the undisputed super middleweight crown, Canelo Alvarez remained king and more importantly, maintained his status as the face of boxing. As the fight game’s most bankable fighter, Alvarez calls the shots and once

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 5, 2024, 12:50 AM ET Open Extended Reactions LAS VEGAS — The boisterous, surprising support for Jaime Munguia was swiftly extinguished with a patented Canelo Alvarez combination, a left hook followed by a right uppercut that planted the challenger on the canvas for the first knockdown of his 44-fight career. Alvarez, boxing’s

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 4, 2024, 11:10 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Dmitry Bivol will defend his WBA light heavyweight title vs. Libya’s Malik Zinad on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, following Artur Beterbiev’s withdrawal, Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, told ESPN on Saturday. Former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder vs.

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 4, 2024, 05:47 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez returns to the ring for his annual Cinco De Mayo weekend fight and will face former junior middleweight champ Jaime Munguia on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs), 33, is 9-1 fighting on

James Regan May 3, 2024, 09:35 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions confirmed the signing of former undisputed junior welterweight champion Chantelle Cameron on Friday. Cameron (18-1, 8 KOs) was released from her contract with Matchroom on Wednesday and immediately took up an offer with rival promoter Queensberry in a bid to

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 3, 2024, 08:50 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Artur Beterbiev suffered a ruptured meniscus and his undisputed light heavyweight championship fight vs. Dmitry Bivol on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has been postponed, it was announced Friday. Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, told ESPN a replacement

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 3, 2024, 08:54 AM ET Open Extended Reactions LAS VEGAS — Canelo Alvarez removed his designer sunglasses to reveal the sort of deadly serious expression that’s all too familiar to his 39 knockout opponents. Only this time, the target of his white-hot rage wasn’t another fighter — at least not an active

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 2, 2024, 10:13 PM ET Open Extended Reactions LAS VEGAS — Oscar De La Hoya issued a cease-and-desist letter Thursday to Canelo Alvarez over what he says are “defamatory allegations” that the Golden Boy Promotions founder stole money from former champion Gennadiy Golovkin, among other fighters. The legal letter, a copy of

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 2, 2024, 01:04 AM ET Open Extended Reactions LAS VEGAS — Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s top star, and his former promoter, Hall of Fame boxer Oscar De La Hoya, engaged in a heated verbal exchange at a Wednesday news conference ahead of Alvarez’s undisputed super middleweight championship defense vs. Mexican countryman Jaime Munguia

David Purdum, ESPN Staff WriterMay 2, 2024, 11:57 AM ET Close Joined ESPN in 2014 Journalist covering gambling industry since 2008 Open Extended Reactions Mike Tyson is an underdog against Jake Paul in their July 20 fight at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The heavyweight fight between Paul, 27, and Tyson, who will turn 58

Timothy Bradley Jr.May 2, 2024, 07:45 AM ET Close Timothy Bradley Jr. is an ESPN’s boxing analyst, a two-division, five-time world champion and a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Open Extended Reactions Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Mexican Army’s victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla on May 5,

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 1, 2024, 09:03 PM ET Star boxer Ryan Garcia tested positive for the performance-enhancing substance Ostarine the day before and the day of his upset win over Devin Haney last month, per a Voluntary Anti-Doping Association letter sent to all parties Wednesday and obtained by ESPN. The samples were taken prior to

Erick Cervantes Roon May 1, 2024, 01:45 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia will face each other at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, which could add another chapter to the book of battles between top Mexican fighters. This fight, in particular, has created a lot of interest since it

Mike Coppinger, ESPNApr 30, 2024, 10:34 AM ET Open Extended Reactions A clash between former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and undefeated contender Jared Anderson is being planned for Aug. 3 in Los Angeles, Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, announced Monday evening on social media. Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) will first

Associated Press Apr 30, 2024, 09:44 AM ET JOHANNESBURG — South African boxer Dingaan Thobela, a two-weight world champion known as “The Rose of Soweto,” has died, the ministry of sports said on Tuesday. He was 57. Thobela won the WBO lightweight title in 1990 and the WBA lightweight title in 1993, when he beat

Mike Coppinger, ESPNApr 29, 2024, 05:35 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Derrick James filed a lawsuit against former welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. on April 17 in Dallas County, Texas, as he seeks damages upward of $5 million related to payment the longtime boxing trainer believes he is owed from working Spence’s corner. That same

Andreas Hale, ESPNApr 29, 2024, 10:55 AM ET Open Extended Reactions The July 20 bout between YouTuber-turned-prizefighter Jake Paul and former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson will be classified as a sanctioned, professional fight by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations. The heavyweight showdown will be contested over eight, 2-minute rounds with each fighter