Category: Boxing

IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs) will fight Eric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs) on December 10 at the Manchester Arena.
The 27-year-old Briton won the IBF title when he knocked out Charles Martin in the second round in April and defended the belt aganist Dominic Breazeale, scoring a seventh-round TKO win in June.
Joshua was hoping to fight former world champion Wladimir Klitschko next, but the plans were pushed back to next year in order to allow more time to finalize and promote…

WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (31-0, 12 KOs) will fight Puerto Rican challenger Orlando Cruz (25-4-1, 13 KOs) on November 26 at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.
The 27-year-old Manchester fighter is coming off a unanimous points win over South African Mzonke Fana in July, also in Cardiff, and he will defend his world title for the fourth time on the undercard of Billy Joe Saunders’ WBO middleweight title defence against Artur Akavov.
Cruz, 35, who was stopped by Orlando Salido…

American television network Showtime has announced the following five top fight cards that will take place from December to March 2017.
WBA featherweight champion Carl Frampton (23-0, 14 KOs) will meet former three-weight world champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-1-1, 18 KOs) in a rematch on January 28 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Northern Ireland’s Frampton won the title with a points decision over Santa Cruz in a fight of the year candidate in July to become a two-weight world champion.
Also on the…

Former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 54 KOs) has suffered an injury that will rule him out of a world title fight against Britain’s Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs) in December.
Joshua, who is scheduled to defend his IBF title at the Manchester Arena on December 10, will face a replacement opponent after Klitschko’s injury, reported to be to his calf.
The IBF champion was ready to fight the Ukrainian after Tyson Fury pulled out off his rematch with Klitschko and vacated the WBA…

Bernard Hopkins (55-7-2, 32 KOs) will end his 28-year boxing career with a farewell fight against light heavyweight contender Joe Smith (22-1, 18 KOs) on December 17 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Hopkins, 51, turned pro in 1988 after a four and a half year prison sentence for armed robbery and went on to dominate the middleweight division for a decade, making a record 20 consecutive title defences before suffering back-to-back points defeats to Jermain Taylor in 2005.
The American…

WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew (28-2-1, 18 KOs) stopped BJ Flores (32-3-1, 20 KOs) by KO on Saturday night at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
Bellew dropped Flores three times in the second round and finished him with another knockdown in the third, the same round in which Bellew won his world title against Ilunga Makabu last May. Flores had never previously been stopped.
In the opening session, Flores was landing his jab and shots to head and body, but the champion finished the round…

WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) has suffered a muscle injury and will be unable to defend against Russia’s Artur Akavov (16-1, 7 KOs) on October 22 at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.
The Briton, who dethroned Ireland’s Andy Lee on points last December, will now make his first title defence on November 26 at the same venue.
British light middleweight champion Liam Williams, who was scheduled to fight on the undercard against Ahmet Patterson, also sustained an…

The British Board of Boxing Control (BBBofC) announced on Thursday that Tyson Fury’s boxing licence has been suspended pending further investigation into anti-doping and medical issues.
Fury, who was crowned world champion after he outpointed Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf last November, vacated his WBA and WBO heavyweight titles on Wednesday to focus on medical treatment for depression.
The Briton tested positive for cocaine before his scheduled October 29 rematch with Wladimir Klitschko,…

Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) has vacated his WBA and WBO heavyweight titles.
Fury, 28, is being treated for depression and having tested positive for cocaine in two random drug tests last month said he vacated the belts to focus on his treatment.
“I feel that it is only fair and right and for the good of boxing to keep the titles active and allow the other contenders to fight for the vacant belts that I proudly won and held as the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world when I defeated the…

Former world champion Aaron Pryor died on Sunday morning after a long battle against heart disease at the age of 60.
Pryor, who was WBA light welterweight champion from 1980-1983 and IBF light welterweight champion from 1983-1985, is best remembered for his two fights with Nicaragua’s Alexis Arguello. Pryor defeated the three-weight world champion by KO each time.
The American hung up his gloves in 1991 with a record of 39-1 (35 KOs). Pryor was also inducted into the International Boxing Hall…