Fightful Boxing Newsletter (9/20): Canelo-GGG 2, Mayweather-Pacquiao 2, Anthony Joshua, Sho Kimura vs. Kosei Tanaka
Fightful Boxing Rankings (9/20) Table of Contents:
- Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin 2 Recap (Page 1)
- Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao 2? (Page 2)
- Anthony Joshua vs. Alexander Povetkin Preview (Page 3)
- Sho Kimura vs. Kosei Tanaka Preview (Page 4)
- Japanese/Asian Boxing News Roundup (Page 5)
- United Kingdom Boxing News Roundup (Page 6)
Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin 2 Recap
The rematch to last year’s Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin mega event ended in another exciting fight, but this time a winner was produced, though not decisively.
Alvarez defeated Golovkin with a razor thin majority decision (114-114, 115-113, 115-113) to win the WBA “super,” WBC and Ring Magazine middleweight titles almost one year exactly to the day their first encounter ended in a still-controversial split draw. On its live coverage page, Fightful had the fight scored in favor of Golovkin 116-112.
The fight was back-and-forth and Golovkin looked to once again establish the jab and outwork Alvarez. Both fighters constantly exchanged power punches with Golovkin coming forward with the jab to Alvarez’s head and Alvarez tagging Golovkin’s body with multiple left hooks.
Starting in the second half of the fight, Golovkin looked like he was starting to tire out a bit. But Golovkin caught his second win in the last few rounds of the fight, landing right hands to the Mexican star which stunned him and even in one instance in the 11th round, hurt Alvarez.
In the stats department, the fight was also very close. According to CompuBox, Alvarez landed 202 of 622 total punches (33 percent) while Golovkin, who outlanded Alvarez in eight of the 12 rounds, connected 234 out of 879 punches (27 percent).
The first fight between the two came with much fanfare, but when it was all said and done, there was a lot of outcry from the boxing world over the split draw, believing that Golovkin deserved the victory.
For now, the win for Alvarez ends a rivalry that has been brewing for well over a year. The rematch was supposed to take place back in May, but Alvarez tested positive for clenbuterol, postponing the fight. Since then, the animosity between Alvarez and Golovkin seemed to grow even deeper, culminating in a hotly-contested rematch.
The futures of both Alvarez and Golovkin are unknown especially after they are reportedly no longer signed to HBO due to their contracts expiring after this fight. Golovkin no longer has any middleweight world titles, and would have to wait and see what happens with the IBF and WBO middleweight title fights next month before deciding on what his future has in store.
Promoter Tom Loeffler doesn’t believe that Golovkin will be fighting for the remainder of 2018 and it might be a while before we see him in the ring again.
Loeffler spoke with Boxing Scene and stated that Golovkin did have to go through a lot in his September 15 loss to Canelo Alvarez and that it will take a while before all sides get together and discuss the future of the former middleweight champion.
As far as a timeline for Golovkin’s return is concerned, Loeffler stated a return before the end of 2018 is unlikely and that they will explore options for early 2019.
“It’ll take about a week just to decompress and go over everything with Abel (Sanchez) and Gennady. But my gut feeling is right now he won’t fight before the end of the year and we’ll and weigh the options for the spring time or for May of 2019,” Loeffler said.
Alvarez’s future is a little more clear, but there are multiple routes to take. On the undercard, David Lemieux knocked out Gary O’Sullivan in the first round to become the mandatory challenger to Alvarez’s new WBA title. Both Alvarez and Lemieux are promoted by Golden Boy Promotions and Eric Gomez, the president of GBP, recently said the company has reserved Madison Square Garden for a December date with Alvarez headlining.
There is also Jermall Charlo, the WBC’s interim champion and mandatory challenger to Alvarez’s WBC title. Whether or not WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman enforces a mandatory fight between Alvarez and Charlo remains to be seen.
But what about a third match against Golovkin? Although Alvarez now is in the lead in the rivalry with a 1-0-1 record, both fights were extremely close. Speaking to HBO immediately after the fight, Alvarez wouldn’t rule out the possibility of another rematch with Golovkin.
“That was a great fight, but in the end, it was victory for Mexico. And again, it was an opportunity, and I want to shout out to my opponent, the best in the sport of boxing. I am a great fighter, and I showed it tonight. If people want another round, I’ll do it again,” Alvarez said.
Canelo Alvarez vs. Gennady Golovkin 2 Full Card Results:
Brian Ceballo defeated David Thomas by TKO, round 2
Jaba Khositashvili defeated Lawrence King by unanimous decision
Alexis Rocha defeated Carlos Ortiz Cervantes by unanimous decision
Vergil Ortiz Jr. defeated Roberto Ortiz by TKO, round 2
Roman Gonzalez defeated Moises Fuentes by TKO, round 5, 1:44: Gonzalez looked solid starting off, but it became apparent from the start that he is not the legendary fighter that he was prior to his two losses to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai. In the first round, Gonzalez simply went through the motions, but starting the second round, the four-division champion started to pick up the pace. Fuentes got cut under the right eyelid in the second round and started to bleed a lot around the right eye. Gonzalez places a well-time right hook to Fuentes’ jaw and Fuentes is knocked out. Gonzalez shook off the ring rust well and Fuentes was the perfect first opponent back after not competing for a full year.
David Lemieux defeated Gary O’Sullivan by KO, round 1, 2:44: Quick knockout win for Lemieux as he landed a sensational counter left hook to O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan looked dazed and confused and the referee had to stop the fight. With the win, Lemieux now becomes the mandatory challenger to the WBA “super” middleweight title that Alvarez currently holds. A fight between the two will likely take place on December 15 at Madison Square Garden, assuming Alvarez gets cleared in time by doctors to compete before the end of the year.
Jaime Munguia defeated Brandon Cook by TKO, round 3, 1:03 to retain the WBO junior middleweight title: This was a more complete performance from Munguia compared to his win against Liam Smith back in July. Munguia tightened up his stance and was landing his right jabs fairly easily. There were a couple of moments in the fight where Munguia hit Cook below the belt, but it never amounted to anything serious. Munguia knocked down Cook early in the third round, but once Cook got back up, Munguia continued to pummel down his opponent until the referee ended the fight. This was Munguia’s third title defense and fifth overall fight in 2018 and Munguia is being targeted to return to the ring in December on HBO.
Canelo Alvarez defeated Gennady Golovkin by majority decision (114-114, 115-113, 115-113) to win the unified WBA “Super,” WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine middleweight titles: This fight was exceptional, better than the first one and could end up being a top 5 “Fight of the Year” candidate. Golovkin had a slightly better start in the first four rounds compared to the first four rounds in their September 2017 fight. Golovkin tried to utilize the right jab as his main offensive tool while Alvarez tried to work the body throughout the whole fight. A lot of rounds were close as Golovkin was more somewhat active, but Canelo hit the harder punches and was a bit more accurate than Golovkin. Both men traded shots pretty much all throughout the fight and so it is hard to determine who won a lot of rounds. In fact, the judges differed on several rounds despite turning in identical scores. Golovkin managed to catch his second wind later on in the fight and seemingly won at least three of the last four rounds. Canelo did manage to mount a late rally in the final round, throwing more than 50 punches and most of it landing on Golovkin. That won him the round on the two 115-113 scores whereas the fight would have ended in another draw.
Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao 2?
Floyd Mayweather could be coming out of retirement a second time and it might be for more than one fight.
On the morning of September 15 in the United States, Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao were present at an Ultra event in Tokyo (which was in the evening) and had a verbal exchange with dozens of people surrounding the two of them. The brief meeting was to build up to a potential rematch, putting Mayweather back out of retirement for a second time and giving Pacquiao a chance to avenge the biggest loss of his career.
The four-division champion posted a video on Instagram that he would be coming back to fight Manny Pacquiao in a rematch later this year.
“I’m coming back to fight Manny Pacquiao this year. Another 9 figure pay day on the way,” Mayweather writes in the post.
Since then, Mayweather sent a video to TMZ where he not only further talked about a potential rematch with Pacquiao, but also hinted at the possibility of fighting a tuneup fight before facing Pacquiao.
Mayweather and Pacquiao had their first fight back in May 2015 with the unified WBA “super,” WBO, WBC and The Ring welterweight titles on the line. Mayweather won the fight, which set the all-time record for a pay-per-view buyrate with close to five million buys, by unanimous decision.
Pacquiao also had a brief retirement since that fight against Mayweather. Pacquiao won the WBO welterweight title in 2016, but lost the title to Jeff Horn last year in his first title defense. The eight-division champion won the WBA “regular” welterweight title this past summer in Malaysia when he knocked out Lucas Matthysse.
When Pacquiao defeated Matthysse, he announced that he is a promotional free agent and is no longer under an exclusive contract with Top Rank Boxing. Mayweather recently said he was interested in working out a deal with Pacquiao regarding the Filipino’s next fight, but it was hinted more towards a promotional deal rather than a fight deal.
Mayweather’s current record sits at 50-0. If Mayweather comes out of retirement again and defeats Pacquiao or any other opponent, his 51-0 record would be equal to WBC minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin, who reached 51-0 back in August.
But although Floyd Mayweather appears dead set on coming out of retirement once again and have another boxing fight, whether that comeback fight is against Manny Pacquiao is a completely different story.
Mayweather spoke to TMZ and in the short clip, Mayweather stated that before he has a rematch with Pacquiao, he’ll supposedly have a tune-up beforehand and could take place in Tokyo.
“I know everybody heard about the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight. But before the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao rematch, I will be back in Tokyo for a huge boxing event. Stay tuned,” Mayweather said.
Though nothing is set in stone, but if Mayweather is fully intent on coming out of retirement and having a tuneup fight in Tokyo, TMZ reported that one date that could be in play would be around New Year’s Eve. If so, that would be around the time Japan typically has its New Year’s boxing card, usually one of the biggest shows of the year.
Anthony Joshua vs. Alexander Povetkin Preview
British superstar and unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is making his return to Wembley Stadium when he faces mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin on September 22.
The fight will be the second time Joshua headlines a boxing card at Wembley, potentially fighting in front of 90,000 people for the second time in his career.
This is one of two boxing cards reserved at Wembley for Joshua as he is scheduled to headline another boxing card at the stadium next April with a potential 100,000 attendance figure for that fight (which would shatter the British boxing record).
This fight is certainly not the one fans wanted as there was the potential superfight with WBC champion Deontay Wilder, a fight that would have created the next undisputed heavyweight champion. At one point, Joshua and Wilder “agreed” to terms on a fight for this fall, but the bout quickly fell apart and both champions went their separate ways. Wilder is headed for a fight against former unified champion Tyson Fury for later this year while Joshua is facing Povetkin.
The story of this fight is perhaps the possibility of Povetkin, arguably one of the best heavyweights in the world today not named Joshua or Wilder, defeating Joshua with the kind of power Joshua has not faced in his last two fights against Carlos Takam and Joseph Parker.
One thing that Joshua could have in his favor is the fact that Povetkin is 39 years old and is at the stage in his career where he could have been a much bigger threat had he been a couple of years younger. On the flipside, an argument can be made for Povetkin coming out of the woodworks in the fight and providing the same kind of challenge Luis Ortiz gave Wilder in their fight back in March and that possibility is stronger than ever given the nature of Povetkin’s knockout win over David Price on the undercard of Joshua’s fight against Parker earlier this year.
The hope for this fight is that Joshua easily defeats Povetkin and works his way back to a fight against the winner of Wilder vs. Fury. Of course, the global boxing crowd is rooting for Wilder to win so that the superfight has a chance of happening at the April 2019.
A total of six fights are scheduled for the card with really only four of those fights being of note. Price is fighting undefeated heavyweight Sergey Kuzmin in a fight that could potentially signal the end of Price’s career. At 35 years old, Price has a 3-3 record in his last six fights and a loss to Kuzmin, especially another knockout loss, could bring about the end of Price ever fighting any big fights for the remainder of his career, whether it be domestic or international.
Matty Askin and Lawrence Okolie will be fighting for the BBBofC British cruiserweight title and the winner could be catapulted further to the top of the rankings of some of the major governing bodies. Both men are ranked by some of the governing bodies, such as the WBC and WBA, but they are barely making the top 15 as it is, so a win will put the winner in a position to potentially challenge for a world title in late 2019, which could be when Usyk could potentially vacate the undisputed championship. With all four titles potentially vacated at that point (or at least three since the WBA could simply elevate one of its other world champions at 200 pounds to either be the sole champion or the “super” titleholder), it would bring an opportunity for the winner of this bout to fight for his first world champion.
The big undercard fight, however, is a WBA lightweight title eliminator between Luke Campbell and Yvan Mendy. The winner becomes the mandatory challenger to title being held by Vasiliy Lomachenko, but part of the charm of this fight is the fact that it is a rematch from their fight in 2015. Mendy won the fight by split decision, but what’s interesting is the fact that Campbell eventually challenged for a world title, but Mendy has yet to get any world title opportunity. With Lomachenko likely fighting WBO champion Jose Pedraza in December, the winner of Campbell vs. Mendy 2 won’t see their title opportunity until spring 2019 at the earliest, but that could come with a chance to win two world titles instead of one.
Tale of the Tape:
Anthony Joshua:
Record: 21-0 (20 KO)
Age: 28
Height: 6’6”
Reach: 82”
Notable Wins: Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker, Dillian Whyte, Charles Martin
Titles Won: WBA “Super” Heavyweight World Title, WBO Heavyweight World Title, IBF Heavyweight World Title, IBO Heavyweight World Title, WBC International Heavyweight Title, British Heavyweight Title, Commonwealth Heavyweight Title
Alexander Povetkin:
Record: 34-1 (24 KO)
Age: 39
Height: 6’2”
Reach: 75”
Notable Wins: David Price, Maruisz Wach, Manuel Charr, Marco Huck
Titles Won: WBA “Regular” Heavyweight Title, WBC International Heavyweight Title, WBC Silver Heavyweight Title, WBA Continental Heavyweight Title, WBA Intercontinental Heavyweight Title, WBO International Heavyweight Title
Sho Kimura vs. Kosei Tanaka Preview
Author’s Note: Thanks a million to Asian Boxing for helping me with this section.
While the whole world will be paying attention to Anthony Joshua’s unified heavyweight title defense against Alexander Povetkin in the coming days, Japan will host what may end up as one of the best boxing fights of 2018 (which is saying a lot at this point).
At the Takeda Teva Ocean Arena in Nagoya, Sho Kimura will defend his WBO flyweight title against Kosei Tanaka in one of the most anticipated fights in Japan all year.
The fight itself may not get as much exposure on domestic television, however. It’s on early afternoon on a Monday and being televised live in just one market, which is Chubu. As far as the two big boxing markets in Japan (Tokyo and Osaka), neither fight will be shown live, but TBS in Tokyo will air the fight on tape delay while the status of the fight being shown on Osaka television remains unclear as Japanese terrestrial TV is broken into regions which is why only Chubu gets it live for now.
It seems to have caught the attention of the locals very highly though, with hype building this week through the typical formalities. The weigh-ins are actually going to be aired live on CBC, which is actually pretty rare in Japan (unlike in the U.S. and U.K. where weigh-ins for major fights are typically broadcast). Tanaka is a bit of a regional star in Chubu with his promoter Kiyoshi Hatanaka being a former super bantamweight world champion and was a major star region. With Hatanaka being the head of the Hatanaka Boxing Gym and Tanaka being his top fighter, they have really cornered the market in Nagoya.
Kimura, on the other hand, is looking to break out as a superstar in Japan and a win over Tanaka would get him one step closer. Kimura, who only has had one live televised fight in his career, is a star in some regards, but he’s actually a bigger name in China than in Japan since two of Kimura’s three world title fights took place in China with the lone fight taking place in Tokyo. Despite Japanese boxing fans knowing who he is, and having a good career story (going on the road to defeat Zou Shiming in an upset to win the WBO title after being knocked out in 75 seconds in his pro debut), he has yet managed to break out into being a star, which is a shame.
Currently, the biggest stars in Japan are Kazuto Ioka, Naoya Inoue and Ryota Murata, but the winner of the fight would probably one step below those three and probably be around the same level in terms of national popularity as Ken Shiro (the WBC light flyweight champion) and WBO minimumweight champion Hiroto Kyoguchi (who is defending his title against Tibo Monabesa later this month). The winner, provided that he is healthy, will almost surely defend the title on the traditional New Year’s Eve boxing card, which is usually one of the biggest cards in Japan this year, if not the biggest.
A possible name for that fight would be former light flyweight champion Ryoichi Taguchi. Taguchi was rumoured to be moving to Flyweight, so would be the obvious choice for a bout for the Kimura-Tanaka winner, but there now seems to be some doubt on him fighting in a world title fight at 112 pounds in his next time out. A fight between Taguchi and the Kimura-Tanaka winner could potentially headline the card, but we’ll see how things turn out on September 24.
Tale of the Tape:
Sho Kimura:
Record: 17-1-2 (10 KO)
Age: 29
Height: 5’5”
Reach: 66.5”
Notable Wins: Froilan Saludar, Zou Shiming, Toshiyuki Igarashi
Titles Won: WBO Asia Pacific Flyweight Title, WBO Flyweight World Title
Kosei Tanaka:
Record: 11-0 (7 KO)
Age: 23
Height: 5’4.5”
Reach: 63.5”
Notable Wins: Angel Acosta, Moises Fuentes, Rangsan Chayanram, Vic Saludar, Ryuji Hara
Titles Won: OPBF Minimumweight Title, WBO Minimumweight World Title, WBO Light Flyweight World Title
Japanese/Asian Boxing News Roundup
– DAZN announced that fans in Japan are able to watch the unified heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Alexander Povetkin taking place at Wembley Stadium in London on September 22. This is another big fight on DAZN Japan as the streaming service is also airing the October 20 fight between Ryota Murata and Rob Brant for the WBA “regular” middleweight title. The Japanese broadcast of Joshua vs. Povetkin is set to set to start around 2:10 a.m. local time on September 23 with the main event scheduled for around 5:50 a.m. Commentary for the undercard will be in English, but the main event will have Japanese commentary with special guest broadcaster Shinsuke Yamanaka, who retired from the sport earlier this year
– It was revealed that middleweight Shoma Fukumoto of Kadoebi Gym is having a month-long training camp at the Mayweather Gym in Las Vegas, under the guidance of Jeff Mayweather. Fukumoto has lost two of his last three fights, both stoppage losses, after starting his career with an 11-1 record with nine knockout victories.
– There will be a boxing card in Daejeon, South Korea on October 21 where the majority of fights are Korea vs. Japan fights. The main event is one of two all-Korean fights as Doo Hyup Kim, who won the South Korea junior middleweight champion in his last fight, faces Gun Woo Gang, who has not won a fight since 2016. Below is the full card, where five of the seven fights are the aforementioned Korea vs. Japan bouts:
- Doo Hyup Kim vs. Gun Woo Gang
- Min Jang vs. Fumiya Fuse
- Dong Kwan Lee vs. Arashi Iimi
- Yeong Min Kim vs. Kimihiro Nakagawa
- Oh Gon Kwon vs. Kosuke Arioka
- Batzorig Batjargal vs. Hironori Shigeta
- Chul-Yoon Ji vs. Dong Young Kang
– First reported by Asian Boxing sometime ago, highly touted prospect Mikito Nakano would be making his pro debut on October 6 at Korakuen Hall. Nakano trained with Hiroaki Teshigawara and according to the report, training with Nakano was intense for Teshigawara, who said Nakano damaged his spirit due to the trouble he gave him, and described the experience as “frightening”. It should be noted that Teshigawara has a 17-2-2 record and is challenging for an OPBF title next month. Nakano’s debut opponent for October 6 is Thai fighter Thanawat Yancharoen.
– Back in August MP Promotions won the purse bid for an IBF Bantamweight title eliminator between former champion Lee Haskins and unheralded Filipino Kenny Demecillo. The winning bid was a tiny $26,000, will be split 60/40 in favor of Haskins, and it was through that the former champion would else where for his next bout. Instead, it seems that the Englishman is happy to accept the pay day to face Demecillo with the two teams now said to have agreed a venue and date for the fight. It appears the bout has been added the October 21 card in Manila, which is set to be headlined by a IBF light flyweight world title bout between Felix Alvarado and Randy Petalcorin.
– The IBF light flyweight title fight between Hiroto Kyoguchi and Tibo Monabesa is set for September 25, but the fight won’t actually be televised live in Japan. TBS in Tokyo won’t actually air the fight until October 5th with a 2:52 a.m. time slot.
– Petch Sor Chitpattana (also known as Petch CP Freshmart) has his next fight set, but it won’t be against Nordine Oubaali for the vacant WBC bantamweight title. Instead, he will fight Saengchai Sithparyoon at Rangsit Stadium in Thailand on September 21. Although this fight is almost infinitely less significant than a world title fight on paper, it is worth noting that Chitpattana stands at 47-0 and a win on September 21 would put him one win away from tying Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 career record, although in this case, Chitpattana is nowhere near as interesting and noteworthy as Marciano’s record or even the 51-0 record of fellow Thai fighter, current WBC minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin. On that same card, Petchmanee Kokietgym will defend his OPBF Silver minimumweight title for the first time against 19-fight veteran Stevanus Nana Bau.
United Kingdom Boxing News Roundup
– Sunny Edwards and Ryan Farrag will contest the WBO European super-flyweight title on a stacked MTK Global show at York Hall on October 26 on a card that also includes world ranking fights for their MTK Global team-mates Neslan Machado and Michael McKinson. Machado fights for the WBA International super bantamweight crown while McKinson takes on Sam McNess for the WBC Silver International welterweight belt. In addition, a host of emerging stars form a lengthy undercard with elite Kazakh amateurs Sultan Zaurbek and Azhbenov Nurtas set to star alongside fellow debutants Roseanna Cox, Donovan Mortlock, Jamal Akay, Josh Adewale. Promising duo Mitchell Frearson and Dan Azeez also look to continue their winning starts as professionals.
– Paddy Gallagher will face Jay Byrne for the BUI Celtic crown at Belfast’s Titanic Exhibition Centre on October 5. Gallgher has quickly overcome a broken jaw and goes straight in to a title fight against Dublin’s Byrne on a huge card that also includes Tyrone McCullagh bidding for the WBO European super bantamweight belt.
– Former world champion Scott Harrison, who recently completed a prison sentence for committing assault in Spain in 2012, has been denied a boxing license at the age of 41 from the British Boxing Board of Control. Harrison hoped to get back to the ring for the first time since 2013, when he lost a 10-round fight to former IBF super featherweight title challenger Liam Walsh. Harrison has held the WBO featherweight world title twice from 2002-2005.
– MTK Global has announced the signing of Natasha Jonas, Great Britain’s first ever Olympic female boxer. Jonas also won a world amateur bronze medal and is determined to emulate that success as a professional having turned over a year ago. Jonas was recently defeated by Viviane Obenauf in defense of a WBA world ranking title but insists the experience will prove valuable in the long run as she renews her hunt for top honors.
Jonas said: “Joining MTK Global is a good opportunity for me. I like the way they’re a really global company. Nobody likes to lose and I’m not going to say the Obenauf fight didn’t hurt but I believe some of your best achievements come after your biggest losses. I’ve already proven I’m capable of overcoming setbacks and returning better than ever. It happened to me throughout the amateurs. I was told I wasn’t making the Olympic squad and then I won the Test event and got in. The defeat to Obenauf was just one of those things. Anything can happen in boxing and she caught me. The way I lost has given me even more motivation to put it right because I’ve never lost like that before. Women’s boxing has grown up so much and if my career can inspire girls to take up the sport, that’s great.”
– MTK Global also confirmed the signing of former British light heavyweight champion Hosea Burton as he continues his hunt for a major title shot. Burton has recovered from his sole career defeat to Frank Buglioni with three straight and is determined to remind the boxing world of his talents on a big stage at the first opportunity.
– David Price had been set to return on October 5. Price was meant to take on Sean Turner at the Titanic Exhibition Centre in Belfast as part of MTK Global’s ‘Danger At The Docks’ card. But after Turner was ruled out of the fight through injury earlier this week, it has now been revealed that the 35-year-old won’t fight on the card headlined Tyrone McCullagh. McCullagh, trained by Derry Mathews, George Vaughan and Gary Thornhill, will take on English champion Josh Kennedy for the vacant WBO European super bantamweight title. But as for Price, he will take on Sergey Kuzmin for the WBA Intercontinental heavyweight title on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs. Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium
– There had been rumors of a rematch between Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora for December 22, but that fight has yet to be made. In an interview with IFL TV, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn stated that the rematch of their 2016 fight has not been made as both boxers are being “very difficult” and thus, negotiations have stalled. In the first fight, which took place at the Manchester Arena, Whyte defeated Chisora by split decision with the WBC International heavyweight title on the line.
