Fightful Boxing Newsletter (2/15): Roy Jones Jr., Chocolatito, WBSS, WBA

With the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin rematch being announced, there has not been much chatter regarding the undercard, but a recent interview with the Nicaraguan media has opened the possibility of Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez fighting on the undercard in his first fight since losing his WBC super flyweight title rematch to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. The plan is to have Chocolatito return to the ring in May in a couple of tune up fights before gunning for a world title, likely the WBA super flyweight title held by Khalid Yafai.

Speaking of the WBA, the governing body has made a few resolutions regarding a few of their world titles, including the “regular” heavyweight title fight between Manuel Charr and Fres Oquendo. That title has been in boxing limbo, but the Oquendo/WBA saga seems to finally be over within a few months.

In terms of actual boxing action, this past weekend only had two noteworthy fights: Roy Jones Jr.’s retirement fight that ended up being one of the worst main events in recent memory (perhaps worse than the Lawrence Okolie vs. Isaac Chamberlain bout from a couple of weeks ago) and Miguel Berchelt defending his WBC junior lightweight title against an unknown fighter in Maxwell Awuku who had less than two weeks to truly prepare for the bout as he was a last-minute option after a couple of other names were not able to fight for one reason or another.

All this plus more news is covered on this week’s edition of the Fightful Boxing Newsletter.

Fightful Boxing Newsletter (2/15) Table Of Contents:

1. Examining Chocolatito’s Return Date And Possible Opponent (Page 2)
2. Latest On WBA Title Fights (Page 3)
3. A Look At Deontay Wilder‘s Potential 49-0 Record; Where Would He Rank All-Time? (Page 4)
4. Adrien Broner, Omar Figueroa Jr. Arrested In Separate Incidents (Page 5)
5. Weekend Review (Page 6)
6. Results From The World Of Boxing (Page 7)
7. Fightful Boxing Rankings (Pages 8-9)
8. News And Notes From Around The World Of Boxing (Page 10)
9. Weekend Preview (Page 11)

Examining Chocolatito’s Return Date And Possible Opponent:

It’s been nearly five months since Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez last fought, but his return to the ring could be on the biggest boxing card of 2018.

Carlos Blandon, Gonzalez’s manager, spoke with Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa and said the plan for Gonzalez is to hopefully make his much-anticipated return on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin 2 pay-per-view card. The fight will take place on HBO pay-per-view on May 5, but no venue has been decided.

“Everyone involved are in agreement that Roman should return on the card. The Mexican community is very much motivated for that main event and [Roman] could fight a Mexican opponent, but as I’ve said, it all depends on where [Canelo vs. GGG 2] takes place. I want to clarify that nothing has been signed yet. For now, the important thing is that promoters and HBO haven’t lost any interest in Roman,” Blandon said.

There are currently three venues under consideration to host the Canelo vs. Golovkin rematch: Madison Square Garden in New York City, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas and T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Las Vegas and New York City are the two favorites and Gonzalez fought at Madison Square Garden on the undercard of Gennady Golovkin vs. Daniel Jacobs last March.

Blandon also revealed he had received offers for Gonzalez to make his return on HBO’s upcoming “Superfly 2” card on February 24. Gonzalez has lost his last two fights, both of which were WBC super flyweight title bouts against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.

“We received two strong offers: A title fight for ‘Superfly 2’ and another for April, both of which we rejected because it’s not what we want. We were offered (WBA super flyweight champion) Khalid Yafai as well as a third fight against Sor Rungvisai. If down the line we still have those fights, we could explore those options, but not now. We want Roman to retire as we have dreamt it: as champion,” Blandon said.

Yafai had told Fightful last year that he wanted to fight Gonzalez had he won the WBC title against Sor Rungvisai last September. Although it’s questionable that Yafai vs. Gonzalez takes place on the Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin 2 card on May 5, Blandon did say the plan is for Gonzalez to return in May on that card although nothing has been signed off yet. As for who Gonzalez could face in his return fight, Blandon declined to name any boxers, but preferred if the fight would be against a highly-ranked fighter.

“If I give you a name, everyone will say that will be (Gonzalez’s) opponent. But to give you an idea, I’m referring to someone in the top five rankings at 115 pounds,” Blandon said.

As for Gonzalez’s fight plans for 2018 and 2019, the idea is to have the former world champion fight two 10-round fights in 2018 before fighting for a world title in 2019. The idea is to have Gonzalez ease in back into world title contention and build up his confidence with relatively easy fights.

For his first fight back, there are a couple of names that come to mind where Gonzalez could have a return fight that is not too tough. One thing that Blandon mentioned about looking for Gonzalez’s next opponent is that it should be against someone in the top five rankings at 115 pounds. What Blandon didn’t specify (and perhaps this was intentional to keep us guessing), is which rankings he’s talking about. He could just easily be referring to any of the four governing bodies’ rankings, the Ring Magazine rankings or all five of them.

If we’re going by Blandon’s comments of Gonzalez finding a top-five opponent, and if he’s referring to one ranking, then perhaps the WBA rankings could provide an answer. The WBA title fight against Yafai was offered to Gonzalez, so it would be the easiest rankings to take a look at. By going through the WBA rankings, Luis Concepcion (WBA No. 4) and Hernan Marquez (WBA No. 5) would be the likeliest solutions. Neither of those boxers have anything coming up and they aren’t unwinnable fights for Gonzalez, but they’re also fights that could test Gonzalez after two straight losses and see where his body and mind is at.

However, we do have to take into account other rankings. Although, there is an outside chance that Gonzalez could be fighting someone in the WBC’s top 5, it’s still someone doubtful that Gonzalez would ultimately accept a third fight against Sor Rungvisai at this time even if Gonzalez were to win a couple of tune up fights. The IBF rankings could be another place to look at, but with champion Jerwin Ancajas firmly signed to Top Rank and fighting on ESPN, I’m not sure if a deal could ever work out since Gonzalez is primarily an HBO fighter.

So that leaves the WBO rankings which could provide the perfect opportunity for Gonzalez to win another world title. Although Naoya Inoue is the champion, it’s likely that Inoue will soon vacate the title and challenge for the WBO bantamweight title. That will leave the title vacant and up for the taking.

Here’s where things could be a bit tricky. The WBO would essentially put its two highest-ranked contenders to fight for the vacant title. In this case, it would Rex Tso (WBO No. 1) and Aston Palicte (WBO No. 2). The issue here is that Tso wrote on social media several weeks back that he would be taking the first half of 2018 off so he would likely be out of that matchup. If that were the case, Gonzalez would be next in line to fight for the title.

Now the WBO could do one of two things in this scenario: The first is have Gonzalez and Palicte fight for the title outright and have Tso face the winner. The second is to have Gonzalez and Palicte fight for a spot to fight Tso for the vacant title down the line in 2018. The latter seems more plausible given that Blandon made it clear that the plan is to have Gonzalez fight 10-round bouts in 2018. Of course, plans change as time progresses, but if it’s a title eliminator then you can get away with making that fight a 10-round fight. It’s not common to see 10-round world title eliminators in boxing, but it has been done in the past.

If Gonzalez is not interested in either option should they become available, then the only boxer that could be ready for May would be Felipe Orucuta (WBO No. 4). Orucuta has not fought since last September and could be free to fight in May. Jose Ramirez (WBO No. 5) wouldn’t be ready in time for May since he has a fight next month in Puerto Rico on ESPN and Ramirez told me he wouldn’t take that fight for May.

It will be interesting to see when and against who Gonzalez fights but the safe bet, and perhaps the only bet, would be for Gonzalez to fight on the Canelo vs. GGG 2 undercard. It would likely be against a Mexican fighter if the event takes place in either Arlington or Las Vegas so by going through all that we know, Marquez and Orucuta would be the most probable to fight Gonzalez. Marquez has already called out Gonzalez and issued a challenge to Gonzalez, so it wouldn’t be a terribly difficult process to make the fight a reality. Golden Boy Promotions has no suitable super flyweights on their roster, so Gonzalez is almost free to choose who he wants as his opponent as he prepares for another world title fight starting in late 2018 at the earliest.

No undercard fight for Canelo vs. GGG 2 has been announced, but if Gonzalez makes his return on the May 5 superfight, he would likely be slotted into the co-main event spot, just like with the Golovkin vs. Jacobs pay-per-view card.

If you’re HBO, would it really be a bad thing to keep Gonzalez off of the May 5 pay-per-view? No. Although the undercard will be lackluster and devoid of big names just like the September 2017, pay-per-view, fans will mostly only be interested in the Canelo vs. GGG fight anyways. Showtime and ESPN are trying their hardest to put out the best television fights possible. After the “Superfly 2” event, there’s really nothing earth shattering the network has to offer. Their March 3 card at Madison Square Garden is a far less attractive event than the Showtime card at Barclays Center running at the same time that night.

Although they have an event scheduled for April at the Barclays Center which is supposed to feature Daniel Jacobs in the main event, there’s no viable big names available at that time that would make for a compelling opponent for Jacobs. Right now, the best fight is against Andy Lee, who hasn’t been really relevant since losing the WBO middleweight to title to Billy Joe Saunders in late 2015.

Putting Gonzalez front and center on an HBO-televised card in late May would not only help Gonzalez get back in the spotlight, but also give the network a date to contend with the likes of Showtime and ESPN, who have the potential to dominate the American boxing television market with their respective roster of fighters and already stellar schedule they have in the coming months.

Latest On WBA Title Fights:

The World Boxing Association (WBA) has been very busy as of late, creating purse bids and announcing what’s next for a couple of world champions the governing body has.

To start, the WBA named Byron Rojas as the mandatory challenger for current WBA minimumweight champion Thammanoon Niyomtrong. The Championships Committee made the decision according to article C29 of the WBA Rules, which indicates that a mandatory challenger in a division may be selected by the Championships Committee or through an elimination fight. In this case, it was the committee who made the resolution.

Now although Rojas has been named the mandatory challenger, Rojas will not get his title shot until late summer at the earliest. That is because Niyomtrong has an optional title defense on March 6 against Toto Landero, who is ranked No. 12 in the latest WBA rankings. The winner of that fight must immediately negotiate a fight with Rojas in a period no longer than 30 days, otherwise the fight will be called to a purse bid. This is a bit of an interesting matchup considering Niyomtrong won the title off of Rojas in 2016 and it appears that the rematch could happen later this year, probably in Thailand. Niyomtrong will probably beat Landero.

Regarding the status of the everlasting frustration that is the WBA “regular” heavyweight title. The organization had already botched the handling of the title for years and recently did so when the Manuel Charr vs. Alexander Ustinov fight from last November, originally a title eliminator, was turned into a title fight for the vacant “regular” heavyweight title at the last possible second without any prior warning.

Of course, this probably did not go over well with Fres Oquendo, who is still legally owed a shot at the “regular” title from a court ruling several years ago. After many failed attempts, Oquendo appears to finally be getting his title shot sooner rather than later. The organization called a purse bid on February 9 after the two sides were unable to negotiate a deal by the December 22 deadline and thus a purse bid had to be ordered.

The purse bid took place in Canada and Pow Sport Entertainment Inc., on behalf of Oquendo, won the purse bid against Global Sport Management, team that represented Charr, to carry out the title bout. The tentative fight dates proposed by the Oquendo team are: May 4th, 2018 in Chicago or May 28th, 2018 in Puerto Rico, but according to sources, Oquendo’s team is hoping to bring the fight to Chicago, but Puerto Rico would be a fallback option. The work teams of both boxers have 20 days to submit the fight contract to the WBA Championships Committee, as indicated by the body’s regulations.

The real tough part is not only negotiating a fight, but also finding a venue and a television network that would be willing to air the fight. Those factors, especially the television deal, is what hindered negotiations between Oquendo and Shannon Briggs when the two were supposed to fight for the title. Of course, such a matchup would be poison to whatever network decided to air it that matchup. Ratings and viewership numbers for that bout would have been atrocious given that matchup involved two fighters in their 40s, way past their prime and for a championship that isn’t even the true WBA championship which is owned by Anthony Joshua.

Now with Charr as the champion, perhaps things will go easier on getting a television deal. Paramount Network, formerly known as Spike, could be a candidate to televise the fight as the network no longer has a working relationship with Premier Boxing Champions, is free to do that fight. FITE TV is also another viable option as an online streaming option for the fight. Even though no one considers neither Charr nor Oquendo as a world-class elite heavyweight, the title is still technically a world title so that alone could bring some attention to it.

The WBA Championships Committee also called the fight between Alberto Machado and Rafael Mensah for the WBA Super Featherweight Title, which is currently held by Machado, to a purse bid on February 19.

The minimum for this purse bid is $120,000 with 75 percent in favor of the champion, while the challenger will receive 25 percent. In this way, the Championships Committee enforces the resolution issued last November.

Machado won his 130-pound world title last October, when he beat Jezreel Corrales by knockout in the eighth round. Both parties were duly notified. The purse bid will take place on February 19 at the offices of the WBA located in Panama City.

A Look At Deontay Wilder’s Potential 49-0 Record; Where Would He Rank All-Time?

When talks of Floyd Mayweather fighting Conor McGregor in a boxing match began in late 2016, one topic of conversation among several members of the boxing media and from fans that I’ve encountered in the ensuing months was whether or not the fight should count towards his then-perfect 49-0 record and if Mayweather wins, does it deserve to truly be the fight to break the legendary Rocky Marciano’s record.

Like it or not, Mayweather scored career pro win No. 50 last August when he defeated McGregor.

Now, thanks to an article written by Mike Coppinger of Ring Magazine, the conversation has now shifted to whether or not WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder can approach Marciano’s 49-0 record with only 10 wins remaining to reach that number. At 39-0, Wilder is perhaps a few years away of potentially matching that record.

What’s different about this conversation and the one for Mayweather’s 49-0 exists on two different planes: can Wilder actually reach 49-0 and if he does, is it a better 49-0 than Marciano’s 49-0?

Let’s start with the latter. The idea of Wilder reaching 49-0 is a bit farfetched, but let’s assume that Wilder gets there. If he ends his career at 49-0, tying Marciano’s record, Wilder’s likely four biggest wins would have to be against Anthony Joshua, Alexander Povetkin, Luis Ortiz and Tyson Fury (or Joseph Parker if Fury never gets back to his 2015 world championship winning self in this second boxing career of sorts). Would those four wins be at the same level as Marciano?

It should be noted that many will look at Wilder’s top wins in this scenario and think Wilder is an all-time great. Although Wilder should be consider an all-time great heavyweight by that point, it’s also hard to not point out how padded Wilder’s record was for most of his first 30 fights. Compared to Marciano, Wilder’s first couple of dozen opponents had worse records than Marciano’s opponents early in his career. What’s also important to note is that Wilder technically had a bigger field of heavyweights to work with. Wilder could have an opponent from almost anywhere in the world while Marciano had to face heavyweights in an era when the talent pool was still high but it was tough to find fights for.

On the topic of whether or not Wilder can actually reach 49-0, it’s entirely possible he can do it and if you think about it, outside of perhaps two or three opponents in the current heavyweight division that have a good chance at breaking Wilder’s win streak. Joshua, Povetkin and Fury are likely the three best heavyweights that could beat Wilder.

When examining Wilder’s current list of potential opponents, it’s hard to believe Wilder, or perhaps any heavyweight today can win against all of these names in consecutive fights:

• Anthony Joshua
• Tyson Fury
• Alexander Povetkin
• Luis Ortiz (On March 3)
• Jarrell Miller
• Kubrat Pulev

Against those six names, I give Wilder perhaps a 5 percent chance of winning against all of those opponents. Against any other current heavyweight, Wilder should be a prohibitive favorite to win those fights. Of course, all of this is not taking into account of potential rising heavyweights or any cruiserweights moving up in the rankings. Murat Gassiev and Oleksandr Usyk, the two best cruiserweight boxers in the world today, are most likely moving up to heavyweight once the World Boxing Super Series concludes in May and they could provide interesting fights for Wilder depending on how they perform in their first few fights.

If Wilder fights the winner of Joshua vs. Parker and wins, Wilder would most likely fight either Povetkin, the WBA mandatory challenger, or the WBSS cruiserweight winner because the winner would hold the WBO title and henceforth, mandatory challenger status if the winner decides to vacate the WBO title in a move up to heavyweight.

If we are to expand our search for 49-0 to the rest of the sport, probably only two names come to mind who have the best chance to either match it or surpass it.

WBC minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin is already at 49-0 and I give him perhaps a 90 percent chance to get to 50-0. What’s amazing is that if Menayothin improves to 51-0 and retires from that point, then he holds the most perfect boxing record in the modern era. Technically there are boxers who have never lost once, but have not won all their fights that have fought more than Mayweather at 50-0. Jimmy Barry, who ruled as the world bantamweight champion from 1894-1899, ended his career with a 59-0-9 record and Ricardo Lopez, who held a world title at either at minimumweight and light flyweight from 1990-2002, retired with a 51-0-1 record. At this point, Menayothin likely could eclipse Lopez’s record, but having him try to beat Barry’s unbeaten record at 68 fights likely will require Menayothin to continue fighting for another seven years at least.

The other active boxer that is looking at a potential 49-0 run is WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia. Garcia is 37-0 and had just turned 30 years old back in December. Putting age, activity and health into consideration, one would think that Garcia has a realistic shot at reaching 49-0, but in fact, he has an even smaller chance to go to 49-0 than Wilder does.

The knock on Wilder reaching 49-0 is that he has to go through gauntlet of aforementioned fighters to get to that record, but Garcia arguably has an even tougher road to 49-0. Garcia would likely have to face Vasyl Lomachenko, Robert Easter Jr., Jorge Linares and some of the best junior welterweights and even some welterweights and win against all of them in order to reach 49-0.

There’s a reason why 49-0 is such a legendary record for a boxing career. Very few have reached that number while winning every single fight on the way, in fact only two have ever reached that number. Wilder reaching 49-0 would be historic, but only time will tell if that record reaches the near folk legend levels of mysticism Marciano’s record achieved throughout the years.

Adrien Broner, Omar Figueroa Jr. Arrested In Separate Incidents:

A video circulating around the internet of four-weight world champion Adrien Broner being arrested has many in the boxing community questioning the future of Broner’s personal and professional future.

It turns out Broner was in fact arrested after the video in question sees Broner being escorted out Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta, Georgia by police on February 12.

Fightful previously reported that it had contacted Atlanta Police Department and was told by email around 11 p.m. ET that at the time of the initial report, there was no report on Broner’s arrest. Broner’s arrest report was filed after Fightful’s initial inquiry into the matter.

The video was released in the evening of February 12 and Fightful had contacted the Atlanta Police Department around 10 p.m. EST and got this response an hour later.

“At this time [we] are not locating a report for Mr. Broner,” Atlanta Police Department told Fightful.

TMZ confirmed that Broner was transported to Fulton County jail without incident. A woman had told police that she was inappropriately groped by Broner at a Louis Vuitton Store, according to Black Sports Online. According to the TMZ report, Broner denied the allegations but police believed they had enough evidence to arrest Broner for misdemeanor sexual battery. Broner was scheduled to face a judge around 9 AM local time on February 13.

Broner has since denied the allegations, saying that he did not inappropriately touched the accuser, saying that the accuser wanted to take a picture and Broner refused to.

Broner has been the subject of numerous brushes with the law in the past couple of years. In 2016, Broner was sentenced to 30 days in jail after missing his appointed trial time for a January 2016 incident outside of a Cincinnati bowling alley which saw him charged with felony assault and aggravated robbery charges. Last year, Broner was stopped by Kentucky police after crossing into the state in a bullet-riddled SUV. According to The Cincinnati Enquirer at the time, police linked Broner and the rented vehicle to reports of shots being fired on a street in Cincinnati, where 10 9-mm shell casings were found at the scene.

Broner is scheduled to fight on April 21 against Omar Figueroa Jr. in a WBC junior welterweight title eliminator. Broner last fought at Barclays Center last summer when he lost to current WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia.

But the main issue is that Figueroa has also landed in hot water with the authorities. Figueroa has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence in Riverside County, California, according to ESPN. Figueroa was arrested by the Indian Wells Police Department at 3:14 a.m. on January 29, according to Riverside County’s online records.

The former lightweight champion’s next court date for the case is scheduled for March 26 at the Indio Larson Justice Center in Indio, California.

Figueroa is currently scheduled to fight Adrien Broner on April 21 in a WBC junior welterweight title eliminator, but Broner has also been in trouble with the authorities as of late as well. The winner of the April 21 bout becomes the mandatory challenger to the winner of the four-man tournament that sees Julius Indongo vs. Regis Prograis for the interim title on March 9 and Jose Ramirez vs. Amir Imam for the vacant WBC title on March 17 with the winner of those two fights facing each other for the full title.

Figueroa’s last fight was last summer in New York where he sent Robert Guerrero into retirement with a third-round knockout win. That fight was Figueroa’s first fight in the previous 19 months due to Figueroa having to deal with hand injuries. Figueroa used to be the WBC lightweight world champion in 2014 until he was stripped of the title for not making a mandatory defense by the governing body’s deadline.

Since being stripped of the title, Figueroa has been on and off the ring for the last few years and never figured to be in the world title picture at 140 pounds until it was announced by the WBC that he would fight Broner in a title eliminator for the belt previously held by Terence Crawford.

Showtime recently commented on the matter, saying that Showtime, and by extension, Premier Boxing Champions, are looking into the matter before deciding what to do for the fight.

“We’re very concerned about the reported behavior and will continue to monitor the situation, as well as potential repercussions for his scheduled fight,” a Showtime spokesman told Michael Woods.

It’s hard to guess whether or not the fight will be called off. After all, a venue for that fight has not been decided yet and if it does get called off, Gervonta Davis, who’s slated to fight on that card as well, could potentially fight in the main event.

Given how Broner’s been acting in the past few years, one would think that there is a line that Broner has crossed with his multiple run-ins with the law. Perhaps the only saving grace for Broner is that he’s been a successful television draw if we’re going by his last few fights. There’s also the fact that this fight is a title eliminator for the WBC junior welterweight title, but the governing body could simply revoke its title eliminator status. After all, Postol was supposed to be in the interim title fight, but since his injury, he’ll be out for several months. In the event that the WBC no longer believes that Broner vs. Figueroa should be a title eliminator, the governing body could insert Postol as the mandatory challenger once he is healthy and the four-man tournament is finished later this year.

Weekend Review:

Only two big fights took place this past weekend, with one being more notable than the other depending on where you ask. In Mexico, Miguel Berchelt had a homecoming fight against Maxwell Awuku who fought as a last second replacement and defended his WBC junior lightweight title.

It took Berchelt less than 10 minutes to stop Awuku, a relatively unknown fighter from Ghana, and retain his WBC title. Berchelt dominated Awuku throughout the short fight, dropping Awuku twice, and the referee stopped the fight with four seconds remaining in the third round. The fight took place in Cancun, Mexico, where Berchelt had been scheduled to fight for weeks, despite the numerous changes to Berchelt’s opponent.

The WBC super featherweight title has been under a whirlwind of issues in regards to Berchelt trying to find an opponent. Berchelt was originally supposed to defend his title against Cristian Mijares, but that fight fell through. OPBF super featherweight champion Carlo Magali was then put in as Berchelt’s opponent, but the GAB announced that it has forced Magali out of the bout, refusing to allow him to return to the ring so soon after his January 13 win over Masatoshi Kotani. It was Awuku who answered the call to fight Berchelt with less than two weeks before the fight.

As for what is next for Berchelt, the 26-year-old champion will have to make a mandatory defense but there is no challenger as of yet. The WBC said it is in the process of voting on a request to appoint Miguel Roman as the mandatory challenger after Roman defeated Orlando Salido on December 9.

Roman vs. Salido was supposed to be a WBC interim super featherweight title fight until the WBC unsanctioned the title fight after HBO made a last-minute decision to shorten the fight, which headlined the December 9, 2017 HBO card, from 12 rounds to 10.

For decades, Jones has been one of the sport’s premier pound-for-pound boxers, but now his career is seemingly over in front of his hometown fans. The four-division world champion ended a legendary career with a wide unanimous decision win over journeyman Scott Sigmon (98-92, 98-92, 98-92) at the Pensacola Bay Center.

The fight was sluggish at times, with both men spending large portions of several rounds clinching, but Jones got the upper hand on most of the exchanges the two would have. The fight ended up being perhaps one of the worst boxing fights of the year, maybe in the past few years.

Sigmon looked exhausted after a couple of rounds, suffering a cut around his nose, but did not give up in trying to attack Jones’ body. Sigmon was unsuccessful in dishing out any meaningful damage on Jones as the 49-year-old Jones spent several rounds laughing and playing with the crowd when there was no action in the ring.

As for Jones, this marks the end of a near 30-year career that saw him rise up to all-time great status by becoming the first middleweight to win a heavyweight world title in more than a century. But the retirement fight almost didn’t even happen as Jones admitted after the fight that he suffered a torn left biceps the week before the fight.

Although Jones said this would be his last fight, he said he would be open to one more fight: a match against UFC superstar Anderson Silva, who is facing a potential lengthy suspension by USADA due to a possible second failed drug test. The fight, as well as four other fights, were streamed on UFC Fight Pass in the first event on the streaming service to have boxing and MMA fights on the same card.

One of boxing’s greatest boxers in his peak, Jones won world titles at middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight and owns wins over the likes of Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, Vinny Pazienza, Mike McCallum, Montell Griffin, Virgil Hill, Lou Del Valle, Reggie Johnson, Eric Harding, John Ruiz, Antonio Tarver and Felix Trinidad. The win against Sigmon was for the vacant WBU cruiserweight title, which is mainly a minor world title unlike the four main governing bodies of boxing (WBO, WBA, WBC and IBF).

If this is truly the end of Jones’ career, then he will walk out with one of the most decorated careers in the history of the sport and a likely guaranteed spot in the International Boxing Hall of Fame when he is eligible to enter in 2023.

Results From The World Of Boxing:

February 13: Dom Pechati, Ekaterinburg, Russia

• Akzhol Sulaimanbek Uulu defeated Devis Perez via RTD
• Ravshanbek Umurzakov defeated Bohdan Zemlianyi via KO
• Ashot Papyan defeated Zurab Kvitsiani via TKO
• Leon Antonyan and Mirzohidjon Abdullaev fight to a majority draw
• Timur Pashaliev and Vladimir Antonyan fight to a split draw
• Adalat Gamidov and Artem Pugach fight to a split draw
• Vladislav Freze defeated Kobiljon Khosilov via MD
• Ruslan Golovetdinov defeated Denis Zykov via MD
• Stepan Maurer and Tastemir Bibosynov fight to a majority draw
• Denis Khamatov defeated Raiko Santana via SD
• Erzhan Turgunbekov defeated Vladislav Khoritontsev via UD
• Karen Margaryan defeated Arstan Umbitkulov via UD

February 13: Korston Club, Moscow, Russia

• Yedil Kozhamberdiyev defeated Daniel Negat via RTD
• Ualikhan Bisenkulov defeated Samat Abdimomun uulu via TKO
• Erik Kazaryan defeated Alexander Lapygin via TKO

February 13: Sands Bethlehem Event Center, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA

• Kermit Cintron and Marquis Taylor fight to a no contest
• Mykal Fox defeated Ricardo Garcia via UD
• Colby Madison defeated Dante Selby via UD
• Blake Mansfield defeated Darryl Bunting via TKO
• Kendall Cannida defeated Leroy Jones via UD
• Michael Polite Coffie defeated Nicoy Clarke via UD
• Martino Jules defeated Malik Loften via UD
• Juan Sanchez defeated Sergio Aguilar via KO

February 11: Salle Beaufils, Saint-Lô, Manche, France

• Gabriel Lecrosnier defeated Ousman Dominguez via UD
• Dominique Soloy defeated Martin Owono via TKO

February 11: Onnam Primary School, Ulsan, South Korea

• Jin Wook Lim defeated John Ray Logatiman via UD
• Min Chul Bae defeated Joo Ho Lee via RTD
• Tae Young Suh defeated Dong Woo Sul via UD
• Won Woo Choi and Jae Hoon Park fight to a majority draw
• Jong Hae Lee defeated Dong Ho Keum via SD
• Suk Joon Hwang defeated Dae Young Lee via MD
• Jae Hyeok Lee defeated Jin Sung Jang via KO

February 11: The Flash Grand Ballroom of the Elorde Sports Complex, Paranaque City, Metro Manila, Philippines

• Roldan Aldea defeated Nathan Bolcio to win the vacant Philippines Games & Amusement Board (GAB) Lightweight Title via TKO
• Ricardo Sueno defeated Ryosuke Nasu via UD
• Shione Ogata defeated Floryvic Montero to win the vacant WBA Asia Female Light Flyweight Title via UD
• Cris Paulino defeated Robin Dingcong via TKO
• Al Toyogon defeated Naotoshi Nakatani via TKO
• Bienvenido Ligas defeated Jerry Canada via KO
• Machieka Pareno defeated Jean De Paz via MD
• Alvin Medura defeated Jess Darunday via TKO
• Ronel Sumalpong defeated Maurito Placios Jr. via TKO
• Pablo Gabunia defeated Jonathan Pedrosa via TKO

February 10: Olimpico Football Club, Villa Gobernador Galvez, Santa Fe, Argentina

• Cristina Beatriz Cuevas defeated Gladys Soledad Segui via UD

February 10: Centre Gervais Auto, Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada

• Simon Kean defeated Alexis Santos to win the International Boxing Organization Intercontinental Heavyweight Title via KO
• Mathieu Germain defeated Cam O’Connell via TKO
• Steven Butler defeated Uriel Gonzalez via KO
• Jordan Balmir defeated Uriel Hernandez via UD
• Clovis Drolet defeated Adriel Juzaino via TKO
• Francois Pratte Bernard defeated Daniel Cruz via UD
• Kim Clavel defeated Jessica Guerrero via UD
• Vincent Thibault defeated Piotr Brzoska via UD
• Raphael Courchesne defeated Luis Ernesto Granados via UD

February 10: 17 Steakhouse, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

• Tyson Cave defeated Ulises Perez via UD
• Alex Dilmaghani defeated Andy Almendras via RTD
• Kevin Higson defeated Sergio Samuel Castellano via UD
• Morgan Hughes defeated Francisco Hernandez via UD
• Roland Jeffery Membreno defeated Luis Alcaraz via TKO

February 10: Multicancha Plaza Arica, Iquique, Chile

• Cristian Olivares defeated Pablo Canido via UD
• Ramon Averanga defeated Yordan Mansilla via SD

February 10: Gimnasio Los Copihues, San Fernando, Chile

• Cristian Rojas defeated Patricio Bravo via UD

February 10: Hala Slavie, Kromeřiž, Czech Republic

• Hamo Aperjan defeated Richard Walter via TKO
• Pavel Sour defeated Rudolf Balaz via TKO

February 10: Palais des Sports Beaublanc, Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France

• Karim Achour defeated Patrice Sou Toke to win the vacant WBC International Middleweight Title via UD
• Elhem Mekhaled defeated Marion Montanari to retain the France Female Super Featherweight Title via UD
• Yazid Amghar defeated Giorgi Gviniashvili via RTD
• Tornike Puritchamiashvili defeated Mickael Vieira via RTD
• Julien Leguiset defeated Sasa Janjic via UD
• Guillaume Hauet defeated Milos Pavicevic via UD
• Yassine Morjane defeated Otar Gogoberishvili via MD

February 10: Espace Delta, Pleurtuit, Ille-et-Vilaine, France

• Kevin Thomas Cojean defeated Giorgi Beroshvili via UD
• Mehdi Kasimi defeated Giorgi Bliadze via UD
• Anthony Auffray defeated Andrei Nurchynski via TKO

February 10: Dojo Jimmy Agard , Vierzon, Cher, France

• Benoit Demik defeated Marvin Daniel via TKO
• Alain Christian Sangue defeated Olivier Bangui via PTS

February 10: LEO’s Boxgym, Munich, Bayern, Germany

• Emre Cukur defeated Slavisa Simeunovic via TKO
• Hector Hernandez defeated Borislav Gligoric via TKO
• Arton Berisha defeated Dino Sabanovic via TKO
• Yusuf Sultanoglu defeated Mazen Girke via UD
• Alexander Rigas defeated Miroslav Cembic via RTD
• Wanik Awdijan defeated Ferenc Hafner via UD
• Onur Kocer defeated Nikola Ivkovic via UD
• Artem Harutyunyan defeated David Vicanovic via TKO
• Robert Harutyunyan defeated Sinisa Legen via TKO
• Mert Yildirim defeated Aleksandar Kuvac via TKO

February 10: Talkatora stadium, New Delhi, India

• Brijesh Meena defeated Dennis Padua to retain the interim WBC Asian Boxing Council Super Middleweight Title via TKO
• Akhil Kumar defeated Sadiki Momba via TKO
• Jitender Kumar defeated Dato Nanava via UD
• Ulugbek Sobirov defeated Siddharth Ravindra Varma via UD
• Rupinder Kaur defeated Lela Terashvili via SD
• Reena Sharma defeated Rashmi Gorh via MD

February 10: Florence, Toscana, Italy

• Jovan Giorgetti defeated Manuel Vignoli via TKO

February 10: Cultur Center, Namyangju, South Korea

• Woo Min Won defeated Noriaki Sato to win the vacant WBA Asia East Super Lightweight Title via KO
• Ma Roo Jung defeated Moon Hyon Yun to win the vacant WBA Aisa East Welterweight Title via UD
• Kyung Hwan Song defeated Gwang Shik Na to win the South Korea Super Flyweight Title via KO
• O Gon Kwon defeated Min Ho Jung via SD
• Tae Seung Kim defeated Su Hong Jung via MD
• Min Ji Lee and Eun Bit Hwang fight to a split draw

February 10: Plaza de Toros, Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico

• Miguel Berchelt defeated Maxwell Awuku to retain the WBC World Super Featherweight Title via TKO
• Jaime Munguia defeated Jose Carlos Paz to win the vacant WBC Latino Super Welterweight Title via KO
• Pedro Campa defeated Ivan Alvarez via UD

February 10: Gimnasio Municipal “Jose Neri Santos”, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico

• Miguel Roman defeated Aristides Perez to win the vacant WBC FECARBOX Super Featherweight Title via TKO
• Diana Laura Fernandez defeated Noemi Bosques to win the vacant WBC Latino Female Super Flyweight Title via TKO
• Dario Ferman defeated Esteban Villalba via KO
• Lindolfo Delgado defeated Hector Mendoza via TKO
• Carlos Adrian Ramirez Valdez defeated Moises Adame via TKO
• Marco Isaias Gonzalez defeated Jose Luis Avalos via TKO
• Jesus Valentin Leon defeated Edgar Alfredo Martinez via TKO
• Miguel Esparza defeated Ivan Jimenez via KO
• Luis Hernandez Reyes defeated Edgar A Magallanes via KO

February 10: Nuevo Gimnasio Nicarao, Managua, Nicaragua

• Alexander Mejia defeated Edwin Tercero to retain the WBA Fedelatin Super Bantamweight Title via UD
• Hector Herrera defeated Amilcar Maradiaga via TKO
• Eduardo Tercero defeated Sergio Gonzalez via UD
• Jenn Gonzalez defeated Pablo Narvaez via SD
• Yesner Reyes defeated Ramon Urbina via TKO
• Alain Aguilar defeated Dodany Mejia via MD
• Giovanny Gutierrez defeated Imer Hernandez via TKO
• Hamsito Santiago defeated Julio Tercero via TKO

February 10: Mandaluyong City Hall Grounds, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines

• Sonny Katiandagho defeated Junar Adante to retain the interim Philippines Boxing Federation (PBF) Super Lightweight Title via TKO
• Mateo Handig defeated Albert Alcoy to win the vacant Philippines Luzon Professional Boxing Association (LuzProBA) Super Bantamweight Title via KO
• Joffrey Garcia defeated Cristian Abila to win the vacant Philippines Luzon Professional Boxing Association (LuzProBA) Lightweight Title via TKO
• Jason Buenaobra defeated Jason Dogelio via MD
• Ivor Lastrilla defeated Daffy Dempo via SD
• Glenn Bismanos defeated Jino Rodrigo via SD
• Alvin Lagumbay defeated Jeson Berwela via TKO
• Edison Ebron defeated Kelvin Tenorio via TKO
• Ariel Puton defeated Marlon Bacalando via TKO
• Ariel Enriquez and Alvin Dologuin fight to a draw on points
• Romshane Sarguilla defeated Noel Guliman via KO
• Ryan Pinola defeated Pelagiu Mosquerra via KO

February 10: Dagohoy Cultural Center, Dagohoy, Bohol, Philippines

• Johnriel Castino defeated Anthony Galigao via UD
• Jeorge Perez defeated Roga Libres via UD
• Jerry Tabago defeated Jonas Quigao via SD

February 10: Hala Nysa, ul. Sudecka 23, Nysa, Poland

• Przemyslaw Zysk defeated Kevin Ongenae via KO
• Pawel Stepien defeated Benson Mwakyembe via KO
• Krzysztof Wlodarczyk defeated Adam Gadajew via RTD
• Krzysztof Glowacki defeated Serhiy Radchenko via UD
• Lukasz Rozanski defeated Andras Csomor via TKO
• Fedir Cherkashyn defeated Artem Karasev via KO
• Maksim Hardzeika defeated Alexander Benidze via UD
• Krzysztof Stawiarski defeated Jan Jano via TKO
• Remigiusz Woz defeated Petr Pirko-Pulo via TKO
• Sebastian Hladun defeated Pavel Siska via UD

February 10: POSiR Hala sportów walki, ul.Reymonta 35, Poznan, Poland

• Prince Patel defeated Aleksandrs Cebakovs via PTS
• Robert Krason defeated Bartosz Cebulski via PTS
• Pawel Strykowski defeated Filip Bialynski via PTS
• Lukasz Rafalko defeated Artur Hozakowski via PTS

February 10: DIVS, Ekaterinburg, Russia

• Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov defeated Malcolm Klassen to retain the International Boxing Organization World Super Featherweight Title via TKO
• Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov defeated Mark Urvanov to win the vacant IBF Baltic and vacant WBA Continental Super Featherweight Titles via UD
• Zaur Abdullaev defeated Ardie Boyose to win the vacant WBO Youth Lightweight Title via TKO
• Islam Dumanov defeated Dmitry Mikhaylenko via SD
• Evgeny Romanov defeated German Skobenko via TKO
• Ravshan Ergashev defeated Ilya Balandin via SD
• Stanislav Kalitskiy defeated Denis Lashin via UD
• Vladislav Krasnoshein defeated Ilya Reutski via TKO
• Daulet Daukenov defeated Shamil Dautaev via TKO
• Alexander Krasheninnikov defeated Sardor Muzaffarov via SD

February 10: Qin Shi Huang Restaurant, Saint Petersburg, Russia

• Elena Saveleva defeated Nevenka Mikulic via UD
• Evgeny Terentiev defeated Nikolozi Gviniashvili to win the WBC International Silver Super Welterweight Title via UD
• Omurbek Malabekov defeated Alexander Saltykov via TKO
• Farrukh Juraev defeated Malik Gamidov via UD
• Andrey Kovalev defeated Fathullo Toshey via UD
• Rasul Dibirov defeated Alexander Tikhonov via TKO
• Mansur Ismailov defeated Dmitriy Antipov via TKO

February 10: Pabellón Municipal de Galatzó, Santa Ponsa, Islas Baleares, Spain

• Jose Del Rio defeated Giorgi Ungiadze via PTS
• Farah El Bousairi defeated Paloma Ramos via PTS
• Sean Pendry and Isaac Benitez fought to a draw on points
• Maxi Macchion defeated Diego Jair Ramirez via PTS

February 10: Frontón Ereta, Tafalla, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, Spain

• Marin Baltadjiev and Alvaro Terrero fought to a technical draw
• David Soria defeated Pablo Iniesta via KO

February 10: Hotel Alcora, San Juan de Aznalfarache, Andalucía, Spain

• Ionut Baluta defeated Jose Aguilar via PTS
• Rafael Secilla defeated Jose Antonio Martin Reis via PTS

February 10: Gimnasio No Limits, Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain

• Irakli Kurasbediani defeated Johnson Tellez via PTS

February 10: Gimnasio Club Boxeo Elche, Elche, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

• Edgar Martin defeated Jose Julian Osuna via TKO
• Eusebio Arias defeated Elkhan Bairamov via TKO

February 10: Salle Communale, Nyon, Switzerland

• Pamela Treand defeated Tamar Nazarashvili via TKO
• Nika Smoian defeated Merab Gukasian via UD
• Julien Calvete defeated Aleko Lursmanashvili via UD
• Arber Ibishi defeated Luan Kuka via MD

February 10: Stadium Suite, Banks’s Stadium, Walsall, West Midlands, United Kingdom

• Paul Holt defeated Luke Jones via PTS
• Indi Sangha defeated Louis Fielding via TKO
• Rachel Ball defeated Bojana Libiszewska via PTS
• Jordan Cooke defeated Edvinas Puplauskas via PTS

February 10: Devenish Complex, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

• Luke Keeler and Adam Jones fight to a draw on points
• Conrad Cummings defeated Michael Mora via KO
• Sean Creagh defeated James Gorman via PTS
• David Oliver Joyce defeated Lyuben Todorov via KO
• Anthony Upton defeated Eligio Palacios via PTS
• Sean Magee defeated Elvis Guillen via PTS
• Padraig McCrory defeated Manny Bique via KO
• Gerard Healy defeated Iain Jackson via PTS
• Declan Geraghty defeated Edwin Tellez via PTS
• Gary Cully defeated Pal Olah via PTS

February 10: Cache Creek Casino Resort, Brooks, California, USA

• Alan Sanchez defeated Ramses Agaton via UD
• Jose Hernandez defeated Ryan Bourland via MD
• Bruno Escalante defeated Javier Gallo via TKO
• Blake McKernan defeated Miguel Cubos via UD
• Ivan Vergara defeated Michael Andrew Gaxiola via UD
• Arnold Dinong defeated Tyler Marshall via UD

February 10: 2300 Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

• Henry Lundy defeated DeMarcus Corley via UD
• Derrick Webster defeated Francisco Cordero via UD
• Alycia Baumgardner defeated Nydia Feliciano to win the vacant WBC International Female Super Featherweight Title via UD
• Jeremy Cuevas defeated Mike Fowler via RTD
• Hasim Rahman Jr. defeated Ronny Hale via MD
• Michael Crain defeated Dillon Kasprzak via SD

February 10: Palladium, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

• Richard Rivera defeated Kevin Cobbs to win the vacant Universal Boxing Federation (UBF) All America Light Heavyweight Title via KO
• Troy Artis defeated Jose Rivera via MD
• Jelame Garcia defeated Nathan Schulte via UD
• Omar Bordoy defeated Seth Basler via UD
• Wilfredo Pagan defeated Bryan Abraham via TKO
• Reinaldo Graceski and Pawel Bansiak fought to a draw on points
• Derrick Whitley defeated Roger Blankenship via UD
• Bobby Harris III and Saul Almeida fought to a majority draw
• Luis Rivera defeated Carlos Marrero via MD
• Joseph Goss defeated Samuel Vasquez via UD

February 10: Mountaineer Casino Ballroom, New Cumberland, West Virginia, USA

• Aaron Quattrocchi defeated Joey Holt to win the vacant USA West Virginia State Super Middleweight Title via MD
• Matt Conway defeated Victor Abreu via TKO
• Justin Steave defeated Danny Rosenberger via UD
• Mike Conway defeated Dib Kaddah via MD
• Jesus Saucedo defeated Quwanda Williams via TKO
• Abner Guadalupe defeated David Perez via UD

February 10: Delta Hotel by Marriott, Fargo, North Dakota, USA

• Ronaldo Cruz defeated Ravshan Hudaynazarov via TKO
• James Jackson defeated Helaman Olguin via UD
• Jake Henriksen defeated Matt Bentz via MD
• Mariah Prussia defeated Micaela Fox via TKO
• Yancy Cuellar defeated Starr Roberts via MD
• Emilio Rodriguez defeated Lukas White Tail via TKO

February 10: Hartman Arena, Park City, Kansas, USA

• Nico Hernandez defeated Victor Torres via TKO
• Javontae Starks and Cesar Soriano Berumen fought to a majority draw
• Maurice Byarm defeated Richard Carmack via TKO
• Chazz Macias defeated Corey Roberts via TKO
• Derrick Clayton defeated Akeem Black via TKO
• Jeff Sturm defeated Brian Clements via TKO

February 10: Imperium Event Center, Westminster, Colorado, USA

• Misael Lopez defeated Luis Gerardo Avila via UD

February 10: Leader Luxury Motors, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

• Dennis Morris and Lamont Capers fought to a majority draw
• Antoine Elerson defeated Andre Espeut via UD
• Shelly Barnett defeated Karla Valenzuela via UD
• Dewone Johnson defeated DeWayne Wisdom via TKO

February 10: Agua Caliente Casino, Rancho Mirage, California, USA

• Antonio Rodriguez defeated Danny Andujo via SD
• Adam Rothweiler defeated Jacob Lerma via KO
• Anthony Reyes defeated Steve Lantry via KO
• Javier Padilla defeated Joseph Cole via KO
• Luis Alberto Cervantes defeated Alec McGee via UD
• Jonah Flores defeated Bacillo Monterroso via UD
• Luis Lopez defeated Josuhe Aispuro via KO
• Adan Ochoa defeated Juan Sandoval via MD

February 10: Gimnasio Mocho Navas, Petare, Venezuela

• Wilner Soto defeated Jorge Gonzalez via SD
• Danis Castillo defeated Ciro Molero via TKO

February 9: Olimpia BBC, Venado Tuerto, Santa Fe, Argentina

• Elias Damian Araujo defeated Javier Jose Clavero to win the Argentina (FAB) and interim WBC Latino Lightweight Title via TD
• Juan Jose Velasco defeated Sergio Manuel Liendo via KO
• Anahi Esther Sanchez defeated Ruth Stephanie Aquino via KO
• Jose Nunez defeated Lucio Alberto Ayala via UD
• Anyelen Loreley Espinosa defeated Natalia Josefina Alderete via UD
• Elias Mauricio Haedo defeated Antonio Santillan via UD

February 9: Ringo Boxing Club, San Francisco Solano, Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Tomas Javier De Mora defeated Victor Leonardo Loto via UD

February 9: Gimnasio El Toqui, Lautaro, Chile

• Cristian Palma defeated Jeremias Javier Ulibarre to retain the South American Featherweight Title via UD
• Carlos Diaz defeated Hardy Paredes to retain the Chilean Lightweight Title via UD

February 9: Maipú, Chile

• Cristian Salas defeated Cesar David Inalef to retain the interim WBC Latino Welterweight Title via MD

February 9: Barrio La Magdalena, Barranquilla, Colombia

• Ruben Cervera defeated Oscar Carrillo Villa via KO
• Jose Agustin Feria defeated Gustavo Sandoval via UD
• Leonard Carrillo defeated Oney Valdez via KO
• Jeremy Triana defeated Francisco Herrera via KO
• Edinson Garcia defeated Yeivy Rodriguez via KO
• Jenifer Rodriguez defeated Yurleidys Hernandez via TKO

February 9: UFD Gym, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

• Damir Beljo defeated Mindia Nozadze via TKO

February 9: Kaewkwan Resort, Nongkrok, Muangsisaket, Si Sa Ket, Thailand

• Tadayuki Miyagi defeated Prida Deemak to retain the Asian Boxing Federation (ABF) Super Featherweight Title via TKO
• Phutthiphong Rakoon defeated San Daochuai to win the vacant Thai Super Featherweight Title via UD
• Mongkol Kamsommat defeated Prapas Nakammool via TKO
• Suwanprasit Phewkakee defeated Atachat Siengchop via TKO
• Masayuki Ogata defeated Sarawut Niyomwong via UD

February 9: Guildhall, Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom

• Henry Janes defeated Des Newton via PTS
• Darren Townley defeated Dylan Draper via PTS
• Wes Smith defeated Kevin McCauley via PTS
• Jordan Platt defeated Liam Richards via PTS
• Louis Aitken Fred defeated Andy Harris via PTS
• Jack Bellingham defeated Paul Cummings via PTS
• Zane Turner defeated Darren Snow via TKO
• Paul Roberts and Brett Fidoe fight to a draw on points

Fightful Boxing Rankings:

Pound-for-pound

1. Terence Crawford
2. Vasyl Lomachenko
3. Gennady Golovkin
4. Canelo Alvarez
5. Mikey Garcia
6. Naoya Inoue
7. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai
8. Errol Spence Jr.
9. Ryoichi Taguchi
10. Sergey Kovalev

Heavyweight

1. Anthony Joshua
2. Deontay Wilder
3. Joseph Parker
4. Luis Ortiz
5. Alexander Povetkin
6. Kubrat Pulev
7. Jarrell Miller
8. Andy Ruiz Jr.
9. Dillian Whyte
10. Carlos Takam

Cruiserweight

1. Oleksandr Usyk
2. Murat Gassiev
3. Krzysztof Glowacki
4. Denis Lebedev
5. Firat Arslan
6. Mairis Briedis
7. Yunier Dorticos
8. Andrew Tabiti
9. Marco Huck
10. Krzysztof Wlodarczyk

Light heavyweight

1. Sergey Kovalev
2. Badou Jack
3. Adonis Stevenson
4. Oleksandr Gvozdyk
5. Dmitry Bivol
6. Sullivan Barrera
7. Artur Beterbiev
8. Eleider Alvarez
9. Marcus Browne
10. Joe Smith Jr.

Super middleweight

1. Gilberto Ramirez
2. George Groves
3. Anthony Dirrell
4. Andre Dirrell
5. Chris Eubank Jr.
6. David Benavidez
7. Caleb Truax
8. James DeGale
9. Jose Uzcategui
10. Tyron Zeuge

Middleweight

1. Gennady Golovkin
2. Canelo Alvarez
3. Daniel Jacobs
4. Billy Joe Saunders
5. Jermall Charlo
6. Ryota Murata
7. Demetrius Andrade
8. Andy Lee
9. David Lemieux
10. Sergiy Derevyanchenko

Light middleweight

1. Erislandy Lara
2. Jermell Charlo
3. Jarrett Hurd
4. Demetrius Andrade
5. Julian Williams
6. Austin Trout
7. Sadam Ali
8. Liam Smith
9. Maciej Sulecky
10. Kell Brook

Welterweight

1. Errol Spence Jr.
2. Keith Thurman
3. Terence Crawford
4. Danny Garcia
5. Shawn Porter
6. Jeff Horn
7. Manny Pacquiao
8. Lamont Peterson
9. Jessie Vargas
10. Lucas Matthysse

The rest of the rankings are in the next page.

Light welterweight

1. Julius Indongo
2. Viktor Postol
3. Antonio Orozco
4. Sergey Lipinets
5. Terry Flanagan
6. Eduard Troyanovski
7. Isaac Dogboe
8. Regis Prograis
9. Rances Barthelemy
10. Kenichi Ogawa

Lightweight

1. Mikey Garcia
2. Jorge Linares
3. Robert Easter Jr.
4. Anthony Crolla
5. Luke Campbell
6. Dejan Zlaticanin
7. Raymundo Beltran
8. Denis Shafikov
9. Ricky Burns
10. Javier Fortuna

Junior lightweight

1. Vasyl Lomachenko
2. Miguel Berchelt
3. Francisco Vargas
4. Jezreel Corrales
5. Alberto Machado
6. Robinson Castellanos
7. Miguel Roman
8. Orlando Salido
9. Jason Sosa
10. Jhonny Gonzalez

Featherweight

1. Leo Santa Cruz
2. Gary Russell Jr.
3. Abner Mares
4. Lee Selby
5. Oscar Valdez
6. Carl Frampton
7. Scott Quigg
8. Jesus Cuellar
9. Joseph Diaz
10. Claudio Marrero

Light featherweight

1. Guillermo Rigondeaux
2. Jessie Magdaleno
3. Nonito Donaire
4. Moises Flores
5. Rey Vargas
6. Danny Roman
7. Hugo Ruiz
8. Marlon Tapales
9. Julio Ceja
10. Yukinori Oguni

Bantamweight

1. Jamie McDonnell
2. Luis Nery
3. Ryan Burnett
4. Juan Carlos Payano
5. Shinsuke Yamanaka
6. Zolani Tete
7. Lee Haskins
8. Zhanat Zhakiyanov
9. Takoma Inoue
10. Liborio Solis

Light bantamweight

1. Naoya Inoue
2. Srisaket Sor Rungvisai
3. Jerwin Ancajas
4. Khalid Yafai
5. Juan Francisco Estrada
6. Carlos Cuadras
7. Roman Gonzalez
8. John Riel Casimero
9. Rau’shee Warren
10. Luis Concepcion

Flyweight

1. Kazuto Ioka
2. Donnie Nietes
3. Daigo Higa
4. Juan Carlos Reveco
5. Kosei Tanaka
6. Sho Kimura
7. Moruti Mthalane
8. McWilliams Arroyo
9. Francisco Rodriguez Jr.
10. Zou Shiming

Light flyweight/Strawweight

1. Ryoichi Taguchi
2. Ken Shiro
3. Wanheng Menayothin
4. Hiroto Kyoguchi
5. Knockout CP Freshmart
6. Milan Melindo
7. Angel Acosta
8. Tatsuya Fukuhara
9. Hekkie Budler
10. Jose Argumedo

News And Notes From Around The World Of Boxing:

Japan:

1. Former WBO bantamweight title challenger Shohei Omori has not been in action since suffering facial injuries in his last fight against Marlon Tapales back in April 2017, but his return has been announced. Omori will mark his return to the ring on the March 27 event at Korakuen Hall and will face Coach Hiroto in a super bantamweight bout. The fight will be Omori’s first against a domestic opponent since he defended the Japanese Bantamweight title against Hirofumi Mukai way back in September 2015. Following that win he has gone 3-2 against foreign foes, suffering a pair of stoppage losses to Tapales as well as stoppage wins over Espinos Sabu, Edgar Jimenez and Rocky Fuentes. The fight will be the co-feature to the Japanese super bantamweight title fight between Yusaka Kuga and mandatory challenger Ryo Kosaka which is a part of the 2018 Champion Carnival.

2. The Morioka boxing gym will have some of their brightest talent compete on the April 22 “Art of Boxing” event and will have Hinata Maruta in the main event. Former world title challenger Warlito Parrenas, one of the Morioka gym’s more recent acquisitions as both a fighter and as a trainer, will also be in action as well as Naoto Iwai and Homare Yasui. At this moment, no opponents for any of those fighters have been formally announced as of yet.

3. On February 10, Ohashi Gym held a press conference to announce its “63rd Phoenix Battle” event, scheduled to take place on March 26 at Korakuen Hall. On that card, OPBF featherweight champion Satoshi Shimizu will defend his title against Kyund Min Kwon. This fight is notable as Shimizu, who’s 32 years old, will be hoping to get into the world title scene later this year. The other notable fight on the undercard is Akira Yaegashi vs. Frans Damur Palue in a super flyweight bout. While it wasn’t confirmed, it’s likely that Fuji TV will televise those two fights on tape delay that same weekend.

4. The annual Japanese awards ceremony took place on February 9 with many of the top Japanese boxers walking away with hardware. Below are the award winners:

• MVP Award: WBA “Regular” Middleweight Champion Ryota Murata
• Skills Award: WBO Super Flyweight Champion Naoya Inoue
• Special Award: WBA/IBF Light Flyweight Champion Ryoichi Taguchi and WBO Flyweight Champion Sho Kimura
• Effort Award: Japanese/OPBF/WBO Asia Pacific Heavyweight Champion Kyotaro Fujimoto
• KO Award: WBC Flyweight Champion Daigo Higa
• Newcomer Award: WBC Light Flyweight Champion Ken Shiro
• Japanese Fight Of The Year: WBA/IBF Light Flyweight Champion Ryoichi Taguchi (for his fight against Milan Melindo on December 31, 2017)
• Best Japanese Non-World Title Fight: Takashi Miura vs. Miguel Roman
• Excellent Athlete Prizes: Every Japanese fighter who has held a world title at some point in 2017.
• Female MVP: WBC Female Minimumweight Champion Naoko Fujioka
• Special Achievement Award: Former WBA Super Featherweight Champion Takashi Uchiyama
• Other Special Awards: Takashi Miura and Akifumi Shimoda
• Trainer Award: Takeshi Nogi (Shirai Gushiken Gym) and Masayuko Ariyoshi (Aoki Gym)

5. Korakuen Hall will host a “Diamond Glove” event on April 12 with two regional title bouts taking place. The first is a WBO Asia Pacific featherweight title fight between Richard Pumicpic and Yoshimitsu Kimura and the other is a WBO Asia Pacific welterweight title bout between champion Keita Obara and an opponent to be named later. Yusuke Suzuki will face Suguru Muranaka for the vacant Japanese bantamweight title in a Champion Carnival bout. The card will likely be televised on Fuji TV on tape delay.

6. Koki Kameda’s planned return to the ring later this year will actually be a retirement bout. Kameda, a former three-weight world champion, is looking to return in May and although no opponent has been named, the rumor going around Japanese boxing fans is that Kameda is hoping to have a rematch against former super flyweight world champion Kohei Kono.

United States:

1. While it almost seemed like the planned April 14 Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card was going to take place at Madison Square Garden, it no longer appears to be the case. Bob Arum told Boxing Scene that Madison Square Garden no longer is in the plans to hold the special event, which will feature not only Manny Pacquiao’s return to the ring, but the WBO welterweight title fight between Jeff Horn and mandatory challenger Terence Crawford. The event could be on ESPN pay-per-view in the first of two planned pay-per-views for the network in 2018. Arum stated that April is a tough date to hold the card in New York given that March through May is busy with major fights. The event will now likely be headed to Las Vegas which actually was Arum’s first choice for a city to host the fight until he ran into problems securing a venue. Pacquiao could be facing Mike Alvarado and Arum essentially shut down the possibility of Pacquiao fighting Lucas Matthysse for the WBA “regular” welterweight title.

2. GH3 Promotions has signed former National Silver Gloves and National Junior Olympics winner and current heavyweight prospect Ronald Hines to a promotional deal. Hines is currently managed by former NFL player and former heavyweight boxer Ray Edwards.

3. Seniesa Estrada will headline the highly-anticipated March 16 return of LA Fight Club in an eight-round flyweight fight against Sonia Osorio at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles. The fight will be televised live on EstrellaTV’s Boxeo Estelar. Oscar Duarte and Jousce Gonzalez are scheduled to fight on the LA Fight Club card.

Latin America:

1. Unbeaten Puerto Rican prospect Wilfredo Mendez will face Leyman Benavides for the vacant WBA Fedelatin minimumweight title. The fight will take place on March 17 at the Jaragua Hotel in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

2. In Fightful news regarding Latin American fighters, articles from my chat with WBA light heavyweight title challenger Sullivan Barrera have been published on the site or will soon drop on the site. Next week’s edition of the newsletter will have the full interview. I also spoke with rising super flyweight contender Jose Ramirez, who is ranked No. 5 in the WBO rankings, and will defend his WBO-NABO title against Alejandro Santiago in Ponce, Puerto Rico on March 24. That fight will headline a Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN card which will be shown on the ESPN2 channel.

United Kingdom:

1. Frank Warren has announced that IMG has been appointed as his exclusive global distribution partner for future boxing events. The deal will see IMG represent Warren’s broadcast rights in all territories except the UK and North America, meaning the deal won’t have an impact on if North American fans will get a chance to see WBO middleweight title bout between Billy Joe Saunders and Martin Murray on April 14.

2. A fourth title fight has been added to the Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker card on March 31 in Cardiff, Wales. Joe Cordina will face Andy Townend for the WBA International lightweight title. The fight joins an already stacked card including Joshua vs. Parker for the unified WBA “super,” IBF and WBO heavyweight titles, Alexander Povetkin vs. David Price for the WBA International and WBO Intercontinental heavyweight titles and Ryan Burnett vs. Yonfrez Parejo for the WBA bantamweight title.

3. Seven-time national champion and former Team GB fighter James Branch has signed a promotional deal with Frank Warren and is expected to make his pro debut later this year, likely at the April 14 card at the O2 Arena in London.

4. Osmam Aslam has been added to Matchroom Boxing’s next installment of the JDNXTGEN series, which will take place at the Victoria Warehouse in Manchester on February 25.

5. A number of boxers have been added to the March 24 Matchroom Boxing card at the O2 Arena, including Louie Lynn, Craig Richards, Richard Riakporhe and Nick Webb. That card will be headlined by the WBC Silver heavyweight title bout between Dillian Whyte and Lucas Browne.

6. Former WBO heavyweight title challenger Hughie Fury will return to the ring against Sam Sexton on May 12. The fight will be a fight for the British heavyweight title and will take place at Macron Stadium in Bolton. The fight will air live on Channel 5.

Weekend Boxing Preview:

World Boxing Super Series Super Middleweight Semifinals: George Groves vs. Chris Eubank Jr.: WBA “Super” and IBO Super Middleweight Unification Bout:

Heading into the tournament, Groves vs. Eubank probably would be the most attention-grabbing matchup. However, given how the cruiserweight semifinals went, this matchup will have a tough time to follow up on those two excellent bouts.

But as far as the super middleweight tournament is concerned, this is the best fight of the tournament at 168 pounds even if this is just one of two semifinal matchups. Groves and Eubank probably have been the most intriguing rivalry of the whole tournament as well due to their seemingly real disdain for each other.

Eubank has been able to become a star in British boxing, but has not been able to truly escape his father’s shadow while Groves was one of the feel good stories in British boxing last year, finally winning a world title when he defeated Fedor Chudinov. The winner of the fight will fight the winner of the Callum Smith vs. Juergen Braehmer fight taking place next week with the final taking place in London this coming June.

Top Rank Boxing On ESPN: Raymundo Beltran vs. Paulus Moses: Vacant WBO Lightweight Title Bout

In the second installment of Top Rank’s ESPN boxing series of 2018, the WBO lightweight title, vacated by Terry Flanagan last year, will be on the line in the main event.

Beltran and Moses will fight for the vacant title although Beltran, who had been the poster boy for boxers wanting to move into the United States and becoming a citizen while Moses is coming here as a heavy underdog. Beltran has looked impressive in his last couple of outings, both on ESPN.

The fight has a lot of pressure to deliver big ratings for ESPN after the February 3 Top Rank Boxing on ESPN, a world title doubleheader, produced its worst ratings for a primetime bout since Top Rank and ESPN started working together last year,

Showtime Champion Boxing: Danny Garcia vs. Brandon Rios: WBC Welterweight Title Eliminator

Garcia has been taking an extended absence since his March 2017 loss to Keith Thurman, but now is getting back to the fold in order to find a rematch against Thurman. A win over Rios puts him one step closer to getting that rematch.

The winner of that fight is technically considered the second mandatory challenger. Shawn Porter is the current mandatory challenger to the WBC welterweight title held by Thurman and so the winner between Garcia and Rios will be next in line to vie for the title once Porter has had his chance to fight Thurman.

Rios briefly retired to rest his body and returned to action last year with an emphatic knockout win over Aaron Herrera. Having won three of his past six fights since 2013, Rios is competing in a stacked welterweight division and against the top boxers, he is a massive underdog. Against Garcia, Rios will need to have the best performance of his career in order to beat Garcia.

The co-main event of the fight is a WBC super middleweight title fight between David Benavidez and Ronald Gavril in a rematch from their first encounter last year. Benavidez and Gavril fought in a close and competitive bout that saw Benavidez take the title and become the youngest super middleweight world champion in boxing history.

PBC On FOX: Victor Ortiz vs. Devon Alexander:

This fight is simply a lead-in to the Showtime card featuring Garcia and Rios, which would be the second time in the past few months that FOX and Showtime work together to have one continuous night of boxing across two different cards. Ortiz, whose career has plummeted since losing to Floyd Mayweather in 2012, is slowly starting to climb back up the welterweight ranks in the hopes he puts himself back into world title contention.

Ortiz hopes to get a win over his first decent opponent in the past number of years. Ortiz is currently at a crossroads having not shown any hint of greatness since his 2011 fight against Andre Berto, considered by a lot of people to be the best fight of that year. Ortiz has spent the last couple of years in relative obscurity until coming back to the ring last year with a win over Saul Corral.

Alexander is at a similar point in his career since beating Lucas Matthysse in 2011 and Marcos Maidana in 2012. Alexander has not had a notable win in the last few years, losing to Amir Khan and Shawn Porter in the last few years. A loss to Aron Martinez in 2015 pretty much ended any hope of Alexander sniffing the world title scene as a legitimate contender.

If we’re looking at this matchup, it is the truest definition of a wild card fight as this fight is a redemption fight of sorts. Whoever wins can hope to get another major fight, not necessarily a world title fight, in the future, but that isn’t even a guarantee. The loser is pretty much relegated to the middle of the pack, especially in a division as heavy as the welterweight division. It’s an okay fight for a television main event and FOX has done worse fights on paper. If this fight had taken place in the early 2010s, this fight would have been far more attractive, but what we’re getting are two boxers past their prime and a shell of their former selves.