Former pound-for-pound king and four-division world champion Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez (46-2, 38 KOs), who is coming off a rough knockout loss in his junior bantamweight rematch with Sirsaket Sor Rungvisai in February, will return in an HBO-televised 10-round fight against former junior flyweight world titlist Pedro Guevara (30-3-1, 17 KOs), promoter Tom Loeffler told ESPN on Monday. Gonzalez-Guevara will open the HBO telecast at 11 p.m. ET/PT. On the non-televised card, women's undisputed welterweight world champion Cecilia Braekhus (32-0, 9 KOs), the No. 1 women's fighter in the world pound-for-pound, will defend her belts against former women's middleweight titlist Kali Reis (13-6-1, 4 KOs), who is moving down in weight to challenger her. Loeffler said HBO will air highlights of the bout.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer3h ago

Light heavyweight world champion Adonis Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs) and former titlist Badou Jack (21-1-3, 13 KOs), who are scheduled to fight May 19 on Showtime, will not meet at the Bell Centre in Stevenson’s hometown of Montreal as originally planned. Promoter Yvon Michel told ESPN on Monday that the card has been moved and will instead take place in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre, the home arena for the NBA’s Raptors and the NHL’s Maple Leafs. “The event will be in Toronto,” Michel said. “We are working right now to finalize the details. (It) was an unexpected (move) but we are professionals and we will make it happen.”

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer9h ago

Middleweight Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan (27-2, 19 KOs), 33, of Ireland, pleaded for a shot at unified world champion Gennady Golovkin on May 5 when Canelo Alvarez was suspended but when he was offered the fight, O’Sullivan turned it down because he didn’t like the money and instead opted for a low-level fight for a fraction of the money on the May 4 Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN undercard at StubHub Center in Carson, California. O’Sullivan now has an opponent for that card: Berlin Abreau (14-1, 11 KOs), 26, of the Dominican Republic, a welterweight moving up two weight divisions who lost the only time he stepped up in class. Sammy Vasquez stopped him in the fourth round in 2014. Junior lightweight Ryan Garcia (14-0, 13 KOs), the 2017 ESPN.com prospect of the year, will headline the card against former featherweight title challenger Jayson Velez (26-4-1, 18 KOs).

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer10h ago

Purses from Barclays Center in Brooklyn for tonight's Showtime card: Adrien Broner $1 million, Jessie Vargas $500,000, Jermall Charlo $500,000, Hugo Centeno Jr. $235,000, Gervonta Davis $350,000, Jesus Cuellar $350,000.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer2d ago

On the Broner-Vargas undercard at Barclays Center, junior welterweight prospects Fabian Maidana (Marcos' younger brother) and Gary Antuanne Russell (Gary Jr.'s younger brother) both scored knockout victories.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer2d ago

Wow! Tomy Coyle stops Sean Dodd in Round 6 to win the Commonwealth lightweight title! What an impressive performance by Coyle. He dropped Dodd with a short right hand then punished him against the ropes until Dodd's corner threw teh towel to stop the fight.

Andres Ferrari, ESPN Editor2d ago

Light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera (21-2, 14 KOs), who suffered a 12th-round knockout loss to world titlist Dmitry Bivol on March 3, has resumed training in Miami, Florida, said he'll be fight this summer on the undercard of the fight between light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev and Eleider Alvarez, which will headline an HBO card in July or August. Barrera, 36, a Cuban defector, said he has added a sports psychologist to his team. “I know that was just one bad night,” Barrera said of losing to Bivol, who is supposed to defend title in the Kovalev-Alvarez co-feature. “I am not worried about the past and only looking ahead. I think the fans know that I always want to fight the best out there. After this fight I want another big fight. My goal is to fight whoever wins between Kovalev and Alvarez. Boxing is like sex. You can be the best lover in the world but sometimes you have an off night. My fiancée knows I am the best even if I don't perform as well one night. I want to get back in the ring and show the world my best again."

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer3d ago

Junior lightweight contenders Billy Dib and Tevin Farmer were officially ordered on Friday to fight for the IBF’s vacant 130-pound title after the organization formally stripped Kenichi Ogawa, who on Wednesday was suspended for six months by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. In a drug test related to his vacant title win over Farmer (by controversial split decision) in December, Ogawa tested positive for two forms of synthetic testosterone. The result of the fight was also changed to a no contest and now former featherweight titlist Dib (43-4, 24 KOs), of Australia, and Farmer (25-4-1, 5 KOs), of Philadelphia, will vie for the vacant belt. The IBF notified both camps that they have until May 3 to make a deal or a purse bid will be ordered.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer3d ago

The May 11 edition of Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation” at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia has been expanded to a quadrupleheader. In addition to the previously announced 10-round lightweight main event between top prospect Devin Haney (18-0, 12 KOs) and Mason Menard (33-2, 24 KOs), three more bouts have been added to the telecast (10 p.m. ET/PT). In the co-feature, junior featherweights Josh Greer (16-1-1, 8 KOs), 23, of Chicago, and Glenn Dezurn (9-1-1, 6 KOs), 30, of Baltimore, will meet in a 10-rounder. There are also two eight-round bouts: light heavyweight Alvin Varmall Jr. (15-0-1, 12 KOs), 26, of Catskill, New York, will fight southpaw Charles Foster (15-0, 8 KOs), 27, of New Haven, Connecticut, and Ukrainian junior featherweight Arnold Khegai (11-0-1, 8 KOs), 26, will make his American debut against face Adam Lopez (16-2-2, 8 KOs), 27, of San Antonio.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer4d ago

Light heavyweight world titleholder Sergey Kovalev (32-2-1, 28 KOs) will defend his title against Eleider “Storm” Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs) on summer date to be determined on HBO at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, Main Events promoter Kathy Duva, who represents Kovalev, told ESPN on Wednesday. Duva said Alvarez has signed a contract for the title shot. A deal had been agreed to for Kovalev to face Marcus Browne (21-0, 16 KOs), who gave up a mandatory shot at titlist Artur Beterbiev to take the Kovalev fight. But it was not signed and when Browne was recently arrested on a misdeamonor domestic violence charge, Duva elected to go in another direction. Browne’s camp is considering a lawsuit.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer5d ago

British heavyweight David Price (22-5, 18 KOs) plans to fight on following a devastating fifth-round knockout to Alexander Povetkin on March 31 on the Anthony Joshua-Joseph Parker card. "I'm excited to get back in there. I can't wait,” Price, 34, said. “Normally I have some time away from boxing after a fight but I want to get straight back into it this time. I've fallen back in love with it.” Price has been KO’d in all of his defeats but the one-punch left hook KO from Povetkin was particularly bad. “The knockout won't have been nice for people to watch in the heat of the moment but I didn't mind watching it straight afterwards when I went backstage,” Price said. “If a fighter quits just because they get knocked out, are they really a fighter? Getting knocked out is part of boxing and you have to accept that. … Although I lost and got knocked out, I proved I can compete with elite fighters. Before the fight, I said I would carry on regardless and after it I take the positives and will now go for the European title."

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer6d ago

Promoter Lou DiBella has announced the signing of Australian lightweight prospect George Kambosos Jr. (13-0, 7 KOs). Kambosos, 24, will have his first fight with DiBella and first outside Australia on the May 5 “Broadway Boxing” card at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. “I'm looking forward to making my long-awaited American debut and moving forward in the right direction of becoming a world champion under the guidance of Lou DiBella and his team at DiBella Entertainment,” said Kambosos, who has relocated to Los Angeles to train with countryman Justin Fortune. DiBella has had his eye on Kambosos for awhile. “I have been a fan of George Kambosos from afar for a long time,” he said. “George is not only one of the most talented prospects in boxing, but he posses the charisma and the character to become a star.”

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer6d ago

According to CompuBox, Ryota Murata landed 154 of 368 punches (42%), while Emanuele Blandamura only connected on 53 of 289 (18%). Murata also landed an impressive 59% of his power punches (106-180) against only 22% from Blandamura (39 of 176).

Andres Ferrari, ESPN Editor9d ago

The mandatory fight between featherweight world titlist Gary Russell Jr. (28-1, 17 KOs), 29, and Joseph Diaz (26-0, 14 KOs), 25, of South El Monte, California, that is slated to take place May 19 will not be at the Bell Centre in Montreal on the undercard of the Adonis Stevenson-Badou Jack light heavyweight world title fight as many have reported. Instead, multiple sources told ESPN on Friday that plans are being finalized for the bout between former U.S. Olympians to headline its own card on the same date at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, the home turf of Washington, D.C. native Russell, who will be making his third title defense. Russell-Diaz would open a split-site card on Showtime, which will also air Stevenson-Jack from Montreal.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer10d ago