Fightful Boxing Newsletter (5/17): Matchroom-DAZN Deal, Lomachenko vs. Linares

Fightful Boxing Newsletter (5/17) Table Of Contents:

1. Matchroom Boxing-Perform Group Announcement (Page 1)
2. World Boxing Super Series Season 2 Announced (Page 2)
3. Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Jorge Linares Review (Page 3)
4. Sadam Ali vs. Jaime Munguia Review (Page 4)
5. Gennady Golovkin vs. Vanes Martirosyan Review (Page 5)
6. Canelo Alvarez Signs Up For VADA Testing, What It Means For GGG Rematch (Page 6)
7. May 19 Showtime Boxing Preview (Page 7)

Matchroom Boxing-Perform Group Announcement

In an effort to further expand into the United States boxing market, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, alongside John Skipper and Simon Denyer of Perform Group announced a monumental partnership that will allow Hearn to promote 16 boxing shows a year in the United States to be streamed exclusively to U.S. fans on Perform’s on-demand streaming service DAZN.

The deal, worth a whopping $1 billion, is an eight-year deal that will give Hearn the ability to promote a boxing card in the United States every “three or four” weeks, which has been the goal when Hearn announced the start of Matchroom Boxing USA in 2017 with Jacobs as the centerpiece.

The announcement was made on a special media-only event on May 10 at The Rainbow Room’s 620 Loft & Garden in New York City. The event, which ran for about four hours, only featured a 15 minute presentation that featured an introduction by Michael Buffer, who has done ring announcing for Matchroom Boxing shows in the United Kingdom in recent years, a short retrospective video on Matchroom Boxing stemming all the way back to Hearn’s father Barry running the company, and the actual announcement by Hearn and Denyer on stage. The rest of the event was for the media to have a chance with several of the key people who are going to be working closely on this new project.

Part of the deal will also include exclusive streaming access to 16 Matchroom Boxing shows in the United Kingdom, which may end up being a far bigger deal than many realize. As popular as British boxing has gotten in the last few years, fans in the United States either have to rely on illegal streaming to watch the fight or hope ESPN, Showtime or HBO picks up the rights to broadcast U.K. shows in the United States. With Matchroom and Perform committing to 16 U.K. boxing shows, several of the top Matchroom boxers will get a better look from boxing fans in the United States and further build their popularity and marketability so that when they come stateside, Hearn can maximize their potential profitability.

Denyer told Fightful that DAZN should expect to be launched in the United States sometime in late June/early July. As far as any details regarding what services will be offered and what will be the monthly price, those were not announced, but based on what Denyer told Fightful, it will likely be available on Smart TVs, Sony Playstation consoles and on mobile devices. Price-wise, Denyer, nor anybody Fightful talked to, wanted to commit on a price, but based on what it is priced in other countries (10€ in Germany and 1715‎¥‎ in Japan), one would expect the monthly price to be somewhere between $9.99 (as it is the regular monthly fee as other services such as UFC Fight Pass and WWE Network) and $16.99.

If one were to make a guess, the price would likely fall closer to the $16.99 than the $9.99 price tag. The $9.99 price from UFC Fight Pass and WWE Network only offer mixed martial arts and professional wrestling programming, respectively, while DAZN tends to focus on more than one sport depending in the region. In Japan right now, DAZN costs roughly $15.54 and the main assets DAZN in Japan has are broadcast rights to 11 of the 12 baseball teams in the Nippon Baseball League plus English Premier League soccer from England and La Liga soccer from Spain. Right now, the main focus on DAZN in the United States appears to be boxing, but don’t be surprised if Perform adds another sport in the United States version.

There a couplle of risks that comes with DAZN launching as a primary boxing streaming platform in the United States. The first, which Denyer explained to Fightful is dealing with the United States and its tendency to rely on cable packages to watch television. Even with the advent of online streaming being a viable alternative for million of people in the United States, there is still a heavy reliance on cable television packages.

“The U.S. is the biggest OTT market in the world, there’s already 220 million OTT subs here in America, so we had to come up here with a plan. We were looking at is there was a sport, and obviously it’s a busy market here with all of the U.S. sports and it’s pretty tied up here, is there a sport where we can be the home of. The thing about OTT is that you need to grow the market, OTT is the future. The problem with broadcasting here in the U.S. is actually the cable bundle. It’s taking up $160, $170 of your monthly salary for a load of stuff that you’re not watching. The key to us is for people to get off that cable bundle and to sign for multiple OTT stuff and if they are a sports fan, they’re going to sign up for ESPN+ and they’re going to buy our service and they also might have Netflix and Hulu as well, but if you add all that up, they won’t even spend $50. We’ve already seen in the territories that we’re in that multiple people are signing up for multiple OTT services and still saving up money that they will with cable and satellite TV,” Denyer told Fightful.

The announcement may have left some people wanting to know more about Hearn’s plans on when the first boxing card will take place or who will be fighting on DAZN. As it is understood, the first Matchroom Boxing USA show under the new DAZN deal will likely take place in September.

The reason why the announcement was made in early May and not later in the summer is because Hearn will be spending the next few months meeting with several boxers in the United States to sign to his Matchroom Boxing USA stable. Daniel Jacobs, the company’s first big American signee from 2017, will not really factor into the DAZN deal as he is locked into an HBO contract. Whether or not Jacobs remains with HBO after his contract runs up remains to be seen.

In the May 10 media event, Hearn made it clear that he will go after all the top boxers currently not with a promoter, meaning boxers such as Mikey Garcia, Jermall and Jermell Charlo, Jarrell Miller, Adrien Broner, Errol Spence Jr., Deontay Wilder, Keith Thurman and many more are on Hearn’s radar. At this moment, it’s not a guarantee that Hearn will get all of these names even with the promise of fighting more regularly and more money offered. Garcia is currently exploring his options as he is currently in talks with both Hearn and UFC President Dana White, who is looking to sign Garcia to his Zuffa Boxing company.

Miller appears set to sign with Hearn after Miller was prominently featured on the April 28 Matchroom Boxing card and even appeared at the May 10 event. As for the status of the other boxers, only time will tell if they sign on with Hearn.

World Boxing Super Series Season 2 Announced

The World Boxing Super Series has announced that three world champions will take part in an upcoming bantamweight tournament.

In a press conference in the United Kingdom, the World Boxing Super Series announced that season two of the global tournament will have three tournaments instead of two as was the case last season. The bantamweight tournament has been announced with the other two tournaments being announced in the coming weeks.

Although not revealed, there is heavy speculation one of the remaining tournaments will be a junior welterweight tournament. According to reports, neither bantamweight and junior welterweight tournaments have their full eight-man roster set. The current junior welterweight tournament field is expected to have the following boxers when their announcement happens:

• WBA champion Kiryl Relikh
• WBA mandatory challenger Eduard Troyanovski
• Ivan Baranchyk, ordered to fight for the vacant IBF title
• Anthony Yigit, ordered to fight for the vacant IBF title
• Interim WBC champion Regis Prograis

As for the bantamweight tournament, here are the boxers that were announced in the press conference:

• WBA champion Ryan Burnett
• WBO champion Zolani Tete
• IBF champion Emmanuel Rodriguez

One name that was offered a spot in the bantamweight tournament is former world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, who has not fought since losing to Vasiliy Lomachenko last December. Rigondeaux had been out of the public eye since the loss and there is no indication as to when his next fight will take place, if it ever does happen. Rigondeaux declined the offer after he was advised not to drop down to 118 pounds after fighting at 130 pounds five months ago. Rigondeaux wouldn’t necessarily be the favorite to win the bantamweight tournament, but his presence would bring some much-needed attention from the United States, which has been an issue with the first season of the tournament.

The junior welterweight tournament may not have the full roster, but two fights have reportedly been locked in due to previous orders issued by the WBA and IBF. In a quarterfinal bout, Relikh is expected to fight Troyanovski as Troyanovski is the WBA’s mandatory challenger. Baranchyk and Yigit are expected to fight each other for the vacant IBF title in another quarterfinal fight.

In an interview with IFL TV, Kalle Sauerland said he would expect one of the two tournaments to take place at middleweight or above, but Sauerland ruled out a tournament at middleweight and heavyweight for the second season of the World Boxing Super Series. This would leave a light heavyweight tournament or a second cruiserweight tournament to be the weight classes remaining that Sauerland would refer to as a big weight.

“Yeah I would expect at least one weight above middleweight. We have the big weights, middleweight and above, and you got the smaller weights. I won’t do heavyweight, I would love to do heavyweight. I would never rule out anything. Cruisers part two is exciting, light heavies is exciting, super middleweights, I think it might take another year to get some new faces in. Middleweights you have to rule out because of Canelo and Golovkin are sorta the middleweight division at the moment and Billy Joe Saunders as well and you need at least two of those three. That ain’t going to work. You can’t compete with an HBO pay-per-view [for September 15],” Sauerland said.

The WBSS is currently in the midst of concluding its super middleweight and cruiserweight tournaments, but injuries to fighters competing on both tournament finals have postponed those fights. In the cruiserweight finals, Oleksandr Usyk fill face off against Murat Gassiev to unify the WBA, WBO, WBC, IBF and Ring Magazine titles and in the super middleweight finals, George Groves is scheduled fight Callum Smith to unify the WBA “Super” and WBC Diamond titles.

Unfortunately for Groves, his recovery from injuries suffered in his semifinal fight against Chris Eubank Jr. has not progressed as fast as he would have hoped and so tournament organizers are planning to move forward with the super middleweight finals taking place in July with or without Groves. If he is unable to fight, Eubank Jr. would fight Smith in the final which would be a significant downgrade in the tournament’s prestige of notoriety.

Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Jorge Linares Review

The rise of Vasiliy Lomachenko, arguably Top Rank’s biggest superstar, continues with a historic knockout win over WBA lightweight champion Jorge Linares on May 12.

The fight, which took place on ESPN at Madison Square Garden, was the latest chapter in the short, but already impressive career of Lomachenko, who captured his third world title in three weight classes in just 12 fights.

As many had predicted, the fight ended up being one of the most exciting boxing matches of the year, likely going to be on many fans’ “Fight of the Year” ballots with Linares landing a surprise knockdown midway through the fight with a vicious overhand right hand. Lomachenko eventually bounced back and landed a well-placed left body shot in the 10th round.

Even as Lomachenko was ready to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Lomachenko was already the No. 1 amateur prospect in the world, arguably the most pro-ready amateur boxer in the history of the sport. If Arum had his way when he initially signed Lomachenko to a promotional deal in 2013, the Ukrainian superstar would have competed for a world title in his pro debut, but regulations prevented that from happening.

Lomachenko would have to settle for a world title fight in his second pro fight against Orlando Salido. That 2013 bout for the WBO featherweight title remains a topic of debate among fans today. Lomachenko lost that fight by split decision with one side claiming Lomachenko actually won that fight in which he kept getting low blowed by Salido, while the other side makes a rather ridiculous claim that losing to Salido, a former two-time world champion who is able to have a great fight with just about anybody, should keep him from truly being considered an all-time great.

But if Lomachenko’s floor is losing a title fight against Salido by split decision in his second fight, then wouldn’t calling his ceiling that of perhaps one of the greatest pound-for-pound boxers of the last 20 years be somewhat reasonable?

Of course the one reasonable knock on Lomachenko’s career so far is not that he doesn’t deserve the three world titles, but it’s who he faced. After 12 fights, it’s safe to say Lomachenko has had the toughest 12 fights to open a pro career in the history of the sport, among the wins over Rigondeaux, Linares, Nicholas Walters and Gary Russell Jr., none of those names truly feel like it would be the one true signature win of an all-time great.

The next 12 months are going to be crucial to Lomachenko’s legacy. According to Bob Arum, the plan is for Lomachenko to fight in August in California although no exact details are being discussed. As it stands, everything seems to point to Lomachenko staying at 135 pounds and vacating his WBO super featherweight title. At 135 pounds, there’s really only two big fights for Lomachenko: against WBO champion Raymundo Beltran and against WBC champion Mikey Garcia. Let’s start with the latter.

A fight against Garcia would easily be the biggest fight of Lomachenko’s career. Garcia is one of 17 men to ever hold a major world title in four weight classes and is already a top 10 pound-for-pound boxer. When it’s all said and done, Garcia stands a good chance of making it to the Hall of Fame someday at this rate. The issue of Lomachenko vs. Garcia happening next is that Garcia is already being penciled in to unify the WBC and IBF titles against Robert Easter Jr. in July at Staples Center although that fight has yet to be formally announced.

As far as Beltran is concerned, he would mostly likely get the nod to fight Lomachenko in a unification bout. Both Beltran and Lomachenko are promoted by Top Rank and a fight between the two would not be hard to negotiate and has already been talked about before Lomachenko’s win over Linares.

The one true wild card in Lomachenko’s next 12 months is Manny Pacquiao. Of course, Pacquiao is fighting Lucas Matthysse for Matthysse’s WBA “regular” welterweight title in July in Malaysia, but depending on how that fight goes, Pacquiao could be talked into dropping 12 pounds to fight Lomachenko in what could be considered a dream match. Pacquiao has said he would be interested in that fight for the end of 2018 and even said he would be willing to drop down all the way down to lightweight though 135 pounds is the absolute limit of how low the future Hall of Famer can go in terms of weight.

Arum has every intention in the world to make that fight a reality and it’s very easy to see why. Pacquiao is still perhaps one of the five most popular active boxers in the world today and is still arguably the biggest boxing draw in the United States not named Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez. Depending on how pay-per-view sales go for Pacquiao vs. Matthysse, Arum might be tempted to make a Lomachenko vs. Pacquiao clash a pay-per-view fight and still expect a reasonable buyrate. If that fight gets moved to ESPN television, it stands a good chance at being the most-watched boxing fight in the history of the network. There’s no doubt the ratings would dwarf most boxing telecasts in the United States within the past 10 years.

Lomachenko’s knockout win over Linares averaged 1.439 million viewers according to Showbuzz Daily. That final viewership is significantly down from Lomachenko’s last fight against Guillermo Rigondeaux, which did 1.73 million viewers. Lomachenko vs. Linares peaked at 1.749 million viewers.

Although the viewership was significantly down from the December 2017 fight, Lomachenko vs. Linares did produce the highest overnight metered rating for a boxing fight on cable in 2018, achieving a 1.0 rating. The fight was also the most-watched event among combat sports events in the U.S. that night, which includes UFC 224 prelims and Bellator 199. The last time a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card produced a high viewership was the March 10 WBO featherweight title fight between Oscar Valdez and Scott Quigg, which averaged 1.1 million viewers.

The co-main event fight was also a successful bout in the ratings, achieving a 0.7 metered rating, tied for sixth among boxing fights on cable in 2018. The bout saw undefeated prospect Carlos Adames defeat Alejandro Barrera y unanimous decision.

Sadam Ali vs. Jaime Munguia Review

Jaime Munguia’s lost opportunity to fight Gennady Golovkin turned into another title shot and he took advantage of that opportunity.

In his first world title fight, Munguia decimated WBO junior middleweight champion Sadam Ali to win the the title in the main event of an HBO telecast from the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York. The fight ended in the fourth round when Munguia knocked down Ali a fourth time in the fight.

The title bout started off with a bang when the much bigger Munguia knocked down Ali early in the first round. Although Ali got right back, Munguia continued to dominate the fight, landing numerous power punches while Ali was cornered and knocked down a second time in the opening round. Despite Ali surviving the round, he didn’t look like he would be able to return to the ring for a second round.

Munguia continued the assault on Ali in round two by knocking him down a third time in the fight and Ali barely hanging on. The third round went slightly better for Ali, getting accustomed to Munguia’s power, but did not put himself in position to turn the tables. It was in the fourth round where Munguia landed the decisive knockout. At 1:02 of round four, the referee stopped the fight the moment Ali went down a fourth time, awarding Munguia his first world title.

For the fight, Ali connected on just 30 of 135 total punches (30 percent) while Munguia was far more efficient, landing 59 of 144 total punches thrown. The loss ends Ali’s short reign as the WBO champion after winning the title when he defeated Miguel Cotto last December.

Munguia was a relatively unknown Mexican prospect at 154 and 160 pounds up until a few weeks ago. After Canelo Alvarez withdrew from his planned May 5 fight against Golovkin, Munguia was considered to be a replacement opponent until the Nevada State Athletic Commission rejected Munguia as an opponent for Golovkin on May 5. Munguia then stepped up to be Ali’s replacement opponent when Liam Smith, originally planned to be Ali’s opponent, went down with a skin condition that prevented him from preparing for the fight against Ali in time.

In an interview with IFL TV, promoter Frank Warren said the WBO has ordered Munguia to fight Smith in Munguia’s first world title defense.

“The WBO has ordered the new champion [to fight Smith]. We got 30 days to agree to terms. So that’s what’s happening. It’s a shame that Liam wasn’t in the ring with Ali. It would have been great and I think Liam would have done the same thing. The Mexican is a good puncher, he comes to fight as we have seen. I think it’s a tough fight but I do think Liam has a good boxing brain plus he can take a punch and can fight and I think he can fight and regain his title,” Warren said.

Warren said he’s not sure if he can bring that fight to the United Kingdom and that negotiations hasn’t really started as of May 15. Warren did say a potential timetable for the fight happening would be between August and September.

Fighting in the co-main event fight of the Sadam Ali vs. Jaime Munguia WBO junior middleweight title, Vargas managed to escape with his WBC title with a unanimous decision (118-110, 117-111, 116-112) win over Hovhannisyan. The fight took place on HBO at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York.

The fight started with fireworks as both men landed numerous hard shots, one of which opened up a cut above Vargas’ left eye with blood pouring out from it throughout the fight. Hovhannisyan managed to stun Vargas in the first round, but the champion seemed to bounce back and recover to get back into the fight. The following rounds continued to be a slugfest between the two 122-pound boxers. Hovhannisyan got several combinations in midway through the fight, but quickly tired himself and allowed Vargas to get back and take control of the fight, creating a cut above Hovhannisyan’s right after one particular exchange.

The last few rounds of the fight was nothing more than scrappy fighting from both men and lots of pushing to the ground. Both men had been dropped to the mat multiple times throughout the fight, but none of them were considered knockdowns as the referee deemed them to be pushes and not legitimated knockdowns. An accidental clash of heads created another bad cut on Vargas towards the end of the fight and Hovhannisyan managed to throw one more barrage of punches but it was too little, too late for Hovhannisyan.

According to Showbuzz Daily, the HBO card averaged 711,000 viewers in the main event, down from the 1.249 million viewers the May 5 boxing card averaged for its main event, which was Gennady Golovkin vs. Vanes Martirosyan. The fight peaked at 779,000 viewers with the telecast starting as a Top Rank Boxing card on ESPN was ending.

The final viewership for the May 12 fight is also down from Ali’s last fight back in December when he retired Miguel Cotto to win the WBO title. The December 2 fight, which was also televised on HBO, averaged 944,000 viewers and peaked at 1.012 million viewers.

The co-main event fight averaged 619,000 viewers, peaking at 740,000. HBO is expected to take an extended break from live boxing with its next live telecast taking place in August, headlined by Sergey Kovalev vs. Eleider Alvarez for the WBO light heavyweight title.

Gennady Golovkin vs. Vanes Martirosyan Review

It didn’t even take Gennady Golovkin five minutes to remind the boxing world he’s still the most dangerous middleweight boxer in the world.

Golovkin knocked out Vanes Martirosyan, the man who was selected to replace Canelo Alvarez for the May 5 HBO boxing card, in just two rounds to retain the WBA, WBC and IBO middleweight titles. The knockout came 1:35 into round two, giving fans at the StubHub Center a highlight reel from Golovkin not seen since the fall of 2016.

Martirosyan started the fight relatively well. In the first round, Martirosyan did not back down when hit with Golovkin’s powerful punches and even landed a strong right-left combination that seemed to stun Golovkin for a brief moment.

The win for Golovkin, who is the sport’s longest-reigning world champion, was also historic in the sense that it tied Bernard Hopkins’ all-time consecutive middleweight title defense record at 20. This was Golovkin’s first knockout victory since defeating Kell Brook back in 2016. Golovkin’s two fights in 2017 — a unanimous decision win over Daniel Jacobs and a controversial split draw against Alvarez last September– both went the distance, snapping Golovkin’s 23-fight knockout streak that started in 2008.

The fight against Martirosyan was not even the original plan for Golovkin on Cinco De Mayo. Golovkin was originally supposed to face Alvarez at the T-Mobile Arena on pay-per-view in a rematch that was expected to draw more than a million pay-per-view buys. Alvarez tested positive twice for traces of clenbuterol. Sensing he was going to be suspended, Alvarez withdrew from the fight in early April before getting hit with a six-month suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

After a lengthy process that saw Golovkin change venue for a fight twice and multiple boxers not getting the nod to fight for the middleweight titles, Martirosyan and the StubHub Center were selected to be Golovkin’s dance partner and host venue for the fight.

As for what is next for Golovkin, the biggest fight is still a rematch against Alvarez on Mexican Independence Day weekend, which takes place in mid-September. When asked about his future plans, Golovkin simply responded by saying that he wants to face everybody.

As women’s boxing continues to get more exposure in the United States, HBO gets its turn to broadcast a title fight featuring one of the top women in the world.

In the first-ever live women’s boxing match televised on HBO, undefeated undisputed women’s welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus had one of the toughest tests of her long reign as champion when she defeated Kali Reis to retain her titles. Braekhus scored the win over Reis by unanimous decision (97-92, 96-93, 96-93) while Fightful had scored the fight 95-94 in favor of Braekhus.

Braekhus had dominated the fight throughout the first six rounds of the bout while Reis managed to turn the table in the seventh round. An overhand right by Reis that landed on Braekhus’ jaw knocked down Braekhus for the first time in the champion’s career. In the last three rounds of the fight, it was a more even affair between the two women that made the fight a little closer in the scorecards.

Braekhus, who had been a world champion since 2009, is the only active boxer to hold the WBA, WBO, WBC, IBF and IBO titles at the same time and is the only undisputed champion across both men and women’s boxing.

The May 5 HBO main event ended up being the most-watched boxing fight on premium cable in 2018. According to Showbuzz Daily, Golovkin vs. Martirosyan drew an average of 1.249 million viewers, giving the network its first fight to average more than a million viewers since 2016.

The fight, which peaked at 1.36 million viewers, also averaged 645,000 viewers in the coveted 18-49 demographic and drew a 0.67 rating. Golovkin retained the WBA and WBC middleweight titles by knocking out Martirosyan in the second round.

The viewership was the network’s top boxing fight in terms of live viewership since Golovkin’s 2016 fight against Dominic Wade averaged 1.325 million viewers. The May 5 fight was also a huge jump in viewership from HBO’s April 28 boxing event headlined by Daniel Jacobs vs. Maciej Sulecki, which averaged 811,000 viewers. The May 5 co-main event averaged 904,000 viewers and peaked at 1.02 million viewers.

Canelo Alvarez Signs Up For VADA Testing, What It Means For GGG Rematch

One of the biggest hurdles for a potential rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin is Alvarez signing up for year-round drug testing. The Mexican superstar has announced that he’s now in the VADA testing pool.

Alvarez made the announcement on his Twitter, which can be seen below. Alvarez will be tested by VADA, who were the organization that tested Alvarez when he was flagged twice for traces of clenbuterol back in February.

Alvarez was initially going to face Golovkin in a rematch from their September 2017 fight that ended in a draw. The rematch was set to take place on May 5 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, but after Alvarez tested positive in February, he withdrew from the fight in early April before the Nevada State Athletic Commission ruled that Alvarez would be suspended for six months retroactive to the date of the first positive test. Alvarez and Golden Boy Promotions were adamant that Alvarez’s positive test came as a result of contaminated meat. A recent hair test from a sample Alvarez provided showed no trace of clenbuterol.

As far as what the prospects of a rematch between Alvarez and Golovkin being signed are, Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez recently told Boxing Scene before Alvarez’s VADA announcement that once a fight deal between both sides is reached, then Alvarez would sign for drug testing. Golden Boy Promotions has stated that the plan is for Alvarez to fight in September once his suspension is up.

“If we have a deal done, he’ll start when the contracts get signed,” Gomez said.

This sudden shift would indicate that the negotiations has progressed nicely as both men, despite the public animosity, are very interested and trying their best in making a rematch in September possible. Alvarez being in the VADA testing pool could also be a direct result of the public pressuring Alvarez to sign up in order to further prove that he is innocent. Alvarez’s prior absence forced the WBC to remove Alvarez from their official rankings. Of course, with Alvarez now being tested by VADA, expect him to be back in the next rankings when they release in June.

May 19 Showtime Boxing Preview:

Showtime will have a rare split-site broadcast on May 19 with two world title fights being featured on the broadcast. The first is the WBC featherweight title fight between Gary Russell Jr. and Joseph Diaz taking place at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland while the perceived television main event is the long-awaited WBC light heavyweight title fight between and Adonis Stevenson and Badou Jack taking place at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

As far as the first world title fight is concerned, Russell will be making his third defense of his title against arguably his toughest test yet in Diaz. Russell has been an inactive champion, only fighting three times since the start of 2015, but has passed every test with flying colors since losing to Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2014.

Diaz is a budding star in the featherweight division and one of the fastest-rising contenders at just 25 years old. Diaz, who sports a 26-0 record, has not only held the WBO-NABO and NABF featherweight titles, but also has been a part of some of the biggest boxing cards of the past few years, most notably fighting on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin last September.

Tale of the Tape:

Gary Russell Jr.:

• Record: 28-1 (17 KO)
• Age: 29
• Height: 5’4.5”
• Reach: 64”
• Notable Fights: Oscar Escandon, Patrick Hyland, Jhonny Gonzalez, Vasiliy Lomachenko
• Titles Won: WBC Featherweight

Joseph Diaz:

• Record: 26-0 (12 KO)
• Age: 25
• Height: 5’6”
• Reach: 64”
• Notable Fights: Horacio Garcia, Manuel Avila, Rafael Rivera
• Titles Won: NABF Featherweight, WBO-NABO Featherweight

On the flipside, Stevenson vs. Jack is without a doubt the biggest light heavyweight fight in the division since Andre Ward’s stoppage win over current WBO champion Sergey Kovalev in 2017. Stevenson has had a stranglehold on the WBC light heavyweight title for years and despite him reaching the age of 40 last year, still is arguably the most dangerous fighter in the division, possessing incredible knockout power even for a light heavyweight.

Jack is a former two-division champion who has been groomed by Floyd Mayweather to be one of the marquee stars of Mayweather Promotions. Jack has not only headlined major boxing shows in the United States, but is also coming off a WBA light heavyweight title win over Nathan Cleverly on the Mayweather vs. McGregor pay-per-view card. Fighting in his sixth consecutive world title fight, Jack has made himself perhaps the most dangerous light heavyweight in the division and with a training camp that Jack describes as his first without injury, Jack is the favorite to not only win the title, but also lead the division in the post-Ward/Kovalev era.

Tale of the Tape:

Adonis Stevenson:

• Record: 29-1 (24 KO)
• Age: 40
• Height: 5’11”
• Reach: 77”
• Notable Fights: Andrzej Fonfara, Sakio Bika, Tony Bellew, Chad Dawson, Derek Edwards
• Titles Won: WBC Light Heavyweight, WBC Silver Super Middleweight, IBF Intercontinental Super Middleweight, WBA-NABA Super Middleweight, WBC International Super Middleweight, WBC Continental Americas Super Middleweight, Canada Super Middleweight

Badou Jack:

• Record: 22-1-2 (13 KO)
• Age: 34
• Height: 6’1”
• Reach: 73”
• Notable Fights: Nathan Cleverly, James DeGale, Lucian Bute, Anthony Dirrell, George Groves
• Titles Won: WBA “Regular” Light Heavyweight, WBC Super Middleweight