The purse bid for the mandatory fight between unified lightweight world champion and pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko (12-1, 9 KOs) and former titlist Anthony Crolla (34-6-3), originally scheduled for Feb. 6 and postponed until Wednesday, was postponed for a second time until Feb. 20 because Lomachenko promoter Top Rank and Crolla promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing were granted another extension as they get closer to making a deal. Lomachenko is scheduled to fight on April 12 (ESPN+) at Staples Center in Los Angeles and needs an opponent now that titleholder Richard Commey is out of their unification bout because of a hand injury suffered in his Feb. 2 title win.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer2d ago

Promoter Don King won a purse bid Wednesday at WBA headquarters in Panama City for the fight between secondary cruiserweight titlist Beibut Shumenov (18-2, 12 KOs) and interim titlist Arsen Goulamirian (24-0, 16 KOs). Minimum bid was $200,000 but King bid $821,000 on behalf of Shumenov, and Univent Productions, Goulamirian’s promoter, offered $621,500. Shumenov gets 55 percent of the winning bid ($451,550) and Goulamirian gets 45 percent ($369,450). King offered possible fight dates of April 15 in Monte Carlo, April 30 in Astana, Kazakhstan (Shumenov’s home country) or May 13 in New York. He has 15 days to submit signed contracts to the WBA. The purse bid, for the mandatory fight between junior featherweight titlist Daniel Roman and Murojdon Akhmadaliev was canceled because Roman was given an exception for a unification bout with TJ Doheny this spring.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer2d ago

The Showtime-televised tripleheader on Saturday night from Carson, California, averaged just 311,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The main event, junior lightweight world titleholder Gervonta Davis’ first-round knockout of Hugo Ruiz, a late replacement for the popular but injured Abner Mares, averaged 429,000 viewers. The telecast, which also included junior welterweight Mario Barrios’ fourth-round knockout of Richard Zamora and lightweight Javier Fortuna’s decision over Sharif Bogere, peaked at 487,000 viewers during the main event. The quick main event undoubtedly held viewership down.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer3d ago

Dallas light heavyweight Tristan Kalkreuth, a two-time youth national champion who began boxing at age 10 and was 92-9 as an amateur, is turning pro. At 17, he won’t be old enough to compete in the 2020 Olympic qualifiers and he didn’t want to wait to vie for the 2024 Olympics. His pro debut hasn’t been scheduled, but he has signed with manager Lester Bedford, best known for his work with former world titlist James Leija, and will be trained by Ronnie Shields in Houston. “Ronnie told me that Tristan is the best prospect he’s seen in many years. That’s a big statement from a guy who’s had multiple world champions,” said Bedford, who hasn’t yet signed Kalkreuth with a promoter, several of whom are interested.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer3d ago

Junior middleweight prospect Serhii Bohachuk (12-0, 12 KOs), 23, a Ukraine native who trains with Abel Sanchez in Big Bear Lake, California, will face southpaw Cleotis Pendarvis (21-4-2, 9 KOs), 32, of Los Angeles, in an eight-rounder that will headline the Hollywood Fight Nights card March 24 at the Avalon in Hollywood, California, Tom Loeffler of 360 Promotions announced Tuesday. The fight will be Bohachuk’s fourth in his last seven at the famed venue. Pendarvis has won four in a row since getting stopped in four rounds by Dierry Jean in a junior welterweight title eliminator in 2013 and then retiring for four years.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer4d ago

In what was an entertaining back-and-forth battle, Ray Beltran returned with a dramatic ninth-round KO of Hiroki Okada. At the time of the stoppage the scorecards read 78-74 for Beltran and two cards had it even at 76-76. Beltran (36-8-1, 22 KOs) now looks for bigger fights at junior welterweight, while Okada (19-1, 13 KOs) suffers his first professional loss.

Steve Kim, ESPN6d ago

According to CompuBox, Raymundo Beltran landed 154 of 453 (34%) total punches and Hiroki Okada was 129 of 541 (24%). Beltran also outpunched Okada in power shots 145 to 92.

Andres Ferrari, ESPN Editor6d ago

The World Boxing Super Series announced on Tuesday that the bout between Emanuel Rodriguez and Naoya Inoue, will take place in Glasgow, Scotland at the SSE Hydro, in the semi-final of their bantamweight tournament. As for the other side of the bracket, the fight between Zolani Tete and Nonito Donaire, Richard Schaefer of Ringstar Sports tells ESPN.com, "It looks like it's going to be April the 27th, as a doubleheader with Regis Prograis, and we are currently looking at venues." Prograis is scheduled to take on Kiryl Relikh, in the semi-finals of the WBSS 140 pound tournament.

Steve Kim, ESPN4d ago

Junior middleweight prospect Serhii Bohachuk (12-0, 12 KOs), 23, a Ukraine native who trains with Abel Sanchez in Big Bear Lake, California, will face southpaw Cleotis Pendarvis (21-4-2, 9 KOs), 32, of Los Angeles, in an eight-rounder that will headline the Hollywood Fight Nights card March 24 at the Avalon in Hollywood, California, Tom Loeffler of 360 Promotions announced Tuesday. The fight will be Bohachuk’s fourth in his last seven at the famed venue. Pendarvis has won four in a row since getting stopped in four rounds by Dierry Jean in a junior welterweight title eliminator in 2013 and then retiring for four years.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer4d ago

Junior featherweight Carlos Castro (22-0, 9 KOs) stayed unbeaten by defeating Genesis Servania (32-2-, 15 KOs) by unanimous decision in a 10-round bout Saturday night on the Jose Ramirez-Jose Zepeda undercard.

Andres Ferrari, ESPN Editor6d ago

The undercard continues in Fresno, and it was 18 year old Gabe Flores (12-0, 5 KOs) remaining undefeated as he decisioned Alex Torres Rynn (6-3 3 KOs) over six rounds by the scores of 60-54 (twice) and 59-55. This lightweight from Stockton, California, is the youngest boxer in the Top Rank stable.

Steve Kim, ESPN6d ago

Junior lightweight hopeful, Andy Vences (22-0-1, 12 KOs) remained undefeated by out-pointing the tough Dardan Zenunaj (14-6, 11 KOs) over eight rounds, pitching a shutout on all three cards by he score of 80-72.

Steve Kim, ESPN6d ago

In the Davis-Ruiz co-feature, junior welterweight prospect Mario Barrios stopped Richard Zamora in the fourth round.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer7d ago

We go to the scorecards for the Javier Fortuna-Sharif Bogere lightweight fight on the Davis-Ruiz undercard: 96-93 on all three cards for Fortuna. Not a good fight though.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer7d ago

Very impressive performance from junior middleweight Erickson Lubin, who blew out Ishe Smith by third-round TKO on the Showtime preliminary card. Lunbin dropped Smith four times overall before the fight was stopped in Smith's corner. Smith now has 11 losses but that's the first time he's ever been stopped.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer7d ago

Rey Vargas successfully defended his WBC 122 pound title by scoring a 12 round unanimous decision over Franklin Manzanilla, in what was a rather ugly affair, by the scores of 117-109 on all three cards. Vargas (33-0, 22 KOs) was sent to the canvas by a left hook in round two, but he recovered to subdue the Manzanilla (18-5, 17 KOs), who was penalized twice for fouling by referee, Raul Caiz Sr.

Steve Kim, ESPN7d ago

In a battle of Los Angeles-based junior featherweights, it was Joseph Diaz who dominated Charles Huerta over 10 rounds, winning by the scores of 99-91 on all three cards. Diaz, who last year challenged for the WBC featherweight title (losing to Gary Russell Jr), improved to 28-1 (14 KOs), while Huerta drops to 20-6 (12 KOs)

Steve Kim, ESPN7d ago

Middleweight contender, Tureano Johnson, was held to an eight round draw versus journeyman Fernando Castaneda (26-13-1, 17 KOs) in what was an entertaining affair at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. It's a disappointing result for Johnson (20-2-1, 14 KOs), who hadn't fought since August of 2017, when he was stopped by Sergiy Derevyanchenko.

Steve Kim, ESPN7d ago

ESPN.com has learned that former featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (29-2 17 KOs) will sign a multi-fight deal to box under the Premier Boxing Champions banner, that will begin in the spring. Gamboa, 37, last fought on November 10, scoring a 10 round decision victory over Miguel Beltran, in what was his only fight of 2018.

Steve Kim, ESPN9d ago

The Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on Saturday night from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, which included featherweight titlist Oscar Valdez’s seventh-round knockout of Carmine Tommasone and Richard Commey’s second-round destruction of Isa Chaniev to win a vacant lightweight title, averaged 880,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The two-hour telecast peaked at 1.022 million viewers in the later part of Valdez-Tommasone. The card also averaged 122,000 viewers on ESPN Deportes for a combined telecast average of 1.002 million.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer9d ago

On March 30 a card featuring WBO light flyweight titlist, Angel Acosta (19-1, 19 KOs), will take place at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California, which will be streamed by DAZN. Also on this card will be the likes of welterweight prospect, Daniel Zorrilla (10-0, 8 KOs), and Golden Boy is expected to make a deal with promoter, Oswaldo Kuchle, to feature the highly regarded junior lightweight prospect, Eduardo 'Rocky' Hernandez (27-0, 24 KOs) on this show.

Steve Kim, ESPN9d ago

Light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (16-0, 13 KOs), 31, of Ukraine, due to make his first defense March 30 in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card at Philadelphia's 2300 Arena, will face Doudou Ngumbu (38-8, 14 KOs), multiple sources with knowledge of the bout, which has been agreed to but not signed, told ESPN. Ngumbu, 37, a Congo native based in France, is coming off a decision win over then-unbeaten Yoann Kongolo in May to rebound from a decision loss to former title challenger Igor Mikhalkin, who has defeated him twice. Ngumbu has also lost to former title challengers Isaac Chilemba, Andrzej Fonfara and Nadjib Mohammedi.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer10d ago

Junior featherweight world titlist Emanuel Navarrete (26-1, 22 KOs), 24, of Mexico, and Isaac Dogboe (20-1, 14 KOs), 24, of Ghana, are headed to a rematch of Navarrete’s upset unanimous decision to take the belt on Dec. 8 in New York in their mandatory fight. Mike Altamura, Dogboe’s adviser, told ESPN they're close to finalizing the bout. “Isaac is very hungry and determined to regain the world title. No stone will be left unturned this preparation,” he said. “I'm confident we'll wrap up details with our promoter Bob Arum (of Top Rank) within the week.” Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN the plan is to have the fight in May.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer10d ago

Top Rank is planning a fight between junior lightweight world titlist Masayuki Ito (25-1-1, 13 KOs), 28, of Japan, and southpaw Jamel Herring (19-2, 10 KOs), 33, a 2012 U.S. Olympian from Coram, New York, for May 25 at a site to be determined, Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN on Wednesday. The fight would be on a Top Rank on ESPN card, Moretti said. Ito won a vacant belt, which pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko had relinquished to move up in weight, on July 28 in Kissimmee, Florida, by action-packed unanimous decision against Puerto Rico’s Christopher Diaz. Ito has made one defense, a seventh-round knockout of Evgeny Chuprakov on Dec. 30 in Tokyo. Herring has won three fights in a row.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer10d ago

The WBA has given clearance for their junior featherweight titlist, Danny Roman, to face IBF belt-holder, TJ Doheny in a unification bout. According to Alex Camponovo of Thompson Boxing (which promotes Roman), "The WBA based on their rules have asked that the winner of the fight, Roman or Doheny, give Murodjon Akhmadaliev his mandatory shot, immediately after that fight." Look for Roman-Doheny to take place within the first two weeks of April in the Los Angeles area.

Steve Kim, ESPN11d ago

Junior bantamweight titlist Donnie Nietes (42-1-5, 23 KOs), 36, the four-division world titlist from the Philippines, was ordered Monday to begin negotiations with countryman Aston Palicte (25-2-1, 21 KOs), 28, for their mandatory fight, which would be a rematch of a September draw for the vacant belt Nietes went on to win. The WBO notified Nietes promoter ALA Promotions and Palicte promoter Roy Jones Jr. Boxing Promotions that they have 15 days to make a deal or a purse bid, with a minimum offer of $100,000, will be scheduled. Palicte stopped Jose Martinez (20-1-2, 13 KOs) in the second round of a world title eliminator on Thursday night to earn the title fight.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer11d ago