Ricky Burns (37-4-1, 11 KOs) will fight former WBC lightweight champion Omar Figueroa (24-0-1, 18 KOs) on May 9 at the State Farm Arena in Hidalgo, Texas.
Former two-division world champion Burns will be fighting at 140 pounds for the second time in a row after an eight-round points win over Alexandre Lepelley in October in his last outing.
Burns said: “I can’t wait for this fight. Ever since it was confirmed, I’ve been absolutely buzzing in the gym.
“I’ve had some great nights in…
Brook destroys Dan to retain IBF title
IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (34-0, 23 KOs) easily defeated Jo Jo Dan (34-3, 18 KOs) on Saturday night at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield.
In his first world title defence, the 28-year-old Brook dropped Romania-born, Canada-based Dan four times before the challenger’s corner recused him from more punishment at the end of the fourth round.
Brook looked fully recovered from the leg injury he suffered when stabbed during a machete attack in Tenerife last September, during a…
Russell crushes Gonzalez to claim WBC title
Gary Russell Jr. (26-1, 15 KOs) dethroned WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (57-9, 48 KOs) by scoring a 4th round stoppage on Saturday night at the Palms Casino Resort, in Las Vegas.
Southpaw Russell completely dominated the fight, flooring the Mexican three times en route to claiming the 126 pound title.
The American challenger landed mostly jabs in the first round, but he was doing a great job of getting in and out to avoid getting hit by Gonzalez’s much slower shots. By the third,…
Audley Harrison announces retirement
Former Olympic champion Audley Harrison has retired from boxing for a second time due to suffering the effects of head injuries.
Harrison, 43, who won the super-heavyweight gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, says medical tests showed he was suffering the effects of traumatic brain injuries.
“After years of denial and sticking to my guns, I’m finally getting out of my own way,” said Harrison. “As tough as it is to say this…it’s time to stop.”
The British heavyweight announced his…
James DeGale-Andre Dirrell world title fight set for May 23 in Boston
James DeGale (20-1, 14 KOs) will fight Andre Dirrell (24-1, 16 KOs) for the vacant IBF super middleweight title on May 23 in Boston.
Carl Froch vacated the IBF title rather than face mandatory challenger DeGale, but the possibility of a huge all-British showdown will remain if he beats American Dirrell, whose only loss was a split decision defeat to Froch in 2009.
“Dirrell’s a very, very good opponent,” said DeGale. “He’s only lost the one fight to Froch where a lot of people thought he’d…
Braehmer overpowers Krasniqi to retain WBA title
Juergen Braehmer (46-2, 34 KOs) stopped fellow German Robin Krasniqi (43-4, 16 KOs) after the 9th round to retain his WBA “regular” light heavyweight title on Saturday night at the StadtHalle in Rostock, Germany.
Souhpaw Braehmer, who was making the fourth defence of his title, landed a barrage of hard blows in the 9th and the fight was waved off at the start of the 10th.
After a cagey opening round, Krasniqi managed to catch Braehmer with a crisp left hook in the second but the harder shots…
Kevin Mitchell and Lee Selby to challenge for world titles on May 30 in London
British lightweight contender Kevin Mitchell (39-2, 29 KOs) will challenge Jorge Linares (38-3, 25 KOs) for the WBC lightweight title, while Lee Selby (20-1, 8 KOs) takes on undefeated Russian Evgveny Gradovich (19-0-1, 9 KOs) for the IBF featherweight belt on May 30 at the O2 Arena in London.
“This is a huge night for British boxing and today’s announcement is just the beginning,” said promoter Eddie Hearn.
I’m delighted to deliver shots for Kevin and Lee in the UK and they have every chance…
Roman Gonzalez to fight Edgar Sosa on Golovkin card
WBC flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez (42-0, 36 KOs) defends his title against Mexican veteran Edgar Sosa (51-8, 30 KOs) on the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin-Willie Monroe Jr. middleweight world title bout on May 16 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Nicaraguan Gonzalez, a former strawweight and light flyweight world champion, will make the second defence of his title against Sosa, who held the WBC light flyweight title from 2007 to 2009 and made 10 defences.
Sosa, 35, has won two…
Australian boxer Brayd Smith dies two days after bout
Australian boxer Brayd Smith has died in hospital two days after a points defeat to John Vincent Moralde of the Philippines, at Rumours International, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
The 23-year-old congratulated Moralde in the ring, and was able to talk to friends at ringside after the 10-round featherweight bout before returning to his dressing room. But he later collapsed and was taken to hospital in Brisbane, where he spent two days in a medically induced coma on life support, and family…
Kovalev halts Pascal in hard-fought win
IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs) stopped former WBC titlist Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) in the 8th round on Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
Kovalev was given the toughest fight of his professional career while he dropped Pascal, who had never previously been knocked down in his career, in the third and then stopped him in the eighth as he retained his three 175-pound world title belts.
Both came out firing hard shots a couple of…