Former super bantamweight world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux’s fight against Britain’s James “Jazza” Dickens, on Saturday at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, is off due to the Cuban having issues obtaining a UK visa.
The fight was scheduled to take place on the undercard of WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan’s defence against Derry Mathews, promoted by Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions.
Rigondeaux, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was training in Grozny, Russia with coach Pedro…
Billy Joe Saunders to defend WBO title against Max Bursak on April 30
WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (23-0, 12 KOs) will make the first defence of his title against Max Bursak (32-4-1, 15 KOs) on April 30 at the Copper Box Arena in London.
The unbeaten Briton claimed the belt when he floored Ireland’s Andy Lee twice in the third round on the way to winning a majority decision in December, and now he defends it against Ukraine’s Bursak.
Saunders said: “Nothing comes easy in boxing and I’m definitely not taking Bursak for granted. He’s a good, good,…
Ortiz topples Thompson, Vargas halts Ali
Unbeaten heavyweight Luis Ortiz (25-0, 22 KOs) stopped two-time world title challenger Tony Thompson (40-7, 27 KOs) in the 6th round on Saturday night at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C.
The 36-year-old Ortiz, nicknamed “The Real King Kong,” knocked down his opponent three times en route to a dominant knockout win.
Cuban-born Ortiz, now based in Miami, dropped Thompson with an overhand left in the first round and the American barely beat the count.
Ortiz connected with more hard, accurate…
Browne stops Chagaev to win WBA heavyweight title
Lucas Browne (24-0, 21 KOs) scored a 10th round stoppage aganist Ruslan Chagaev (34-3-1, 21 KOs) to win the WBA heavyweight title on Saturday night at the Colosseum Sport Hall in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia.
Browne got off the canvas in the sixth round to dethrone the defending champion from Uzbekistan, who was making the second defence in his second world title reign.
The taller Browne worked the jab from the outside in the early rounds but southpaw Chagaev soon started to land hard shots and…
Stephen Smith to challenge IBF champion Jose Pedraza on April 16
British contender Stephen Smith (23-1, 13 KOs) will challenge IBF super featherweight champion Jose Pedraza (21-0, 12 KOs) on April 16 at Foxwoods Resort, Connecticut, USA.
The fight was originally set for March 26 in New York but the American promoters was unable to fulfil that date, so it was rescheduled.
The 30-year-old Smith earned the shot when stopping Devis Boschiero in the sixth round in a elimination fight in September.
The Liverpudlian has won his last 11 fights since the only defeat…
Crawford finishes off Lundy in five
WBO light welterweight champion Terence Crawford (28-0, 20 KOs) halted challenger Hank Lundy (26-6-1, 13 KOs) in the fifth round on Saturday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Crawford, who retained his WBO title for the second time, dropped fellow American Lundy with a right hand in round 5 before a series of hard shots forced referee Steve Willis to step in and stop the fight.
Lundy made a good start and landed a solid right hand to the head in the opening round, but…
Santa Cruz crushes Martinez to retain WBA featherweight title
WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs) stopped former IBF super bantamweight champion Kiko Martinez (35-7, 26 KOs) in the fifth round on Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Mexican-born Santa Cruz dropped Martinez twice in first round, each time from right hands, but the Spaniard survived and came back with some punches of his own.
The two traded hard shots at close range throughout until the end came in the fifth when Santa Cruz backed Martinez to…
Frampton outpoints Quigg to win unification clash
Carl Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten Scott Quigg (32-1-2, 23 KOs) by split decision to win their unification clash on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena.
Northern Irishman Frampton made the third defence of his IBF super bantamweight title and captured Quigg’s WBA belt after earning two scores of 116-112 from the judges, with the third scoring it 115-113 for Quigg.
The battle of unbeaten champions got off to a cautious start with neither fighter wanting to commit much…
Keith Thurman pulls out of Shawn Porter fight due to car accident
WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (26-0, 22 KOs) has been forced to postpone his fight with Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) on March 12 at the Mohegan Sun Casino Resort in Uncasville, Connecticut, after being injured in a car accident.
American Thurman was set to make his third title defence against countryman Porter, but suffered a neck injury as a result of a car accident last week and the bout has now been called off. Although it will be rescheduled for a later date.
According to…
Sturm edges out Chudinov in rematch to win world title
Former four-time world middleweight champion Felix Sturm (40-5-3, 18 KOs) defeated previously unbeaten Fedor Chudinov (14-1, 10 KOs) by majority decision in their rematch to win the WBA super middleweight title on Saturday night at the Koenig Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
Two judges scored the bout 115-113 in favour of Sturm, while the third scored it a 114-114 draw.
Each man exchanged punches throughout in 12 evenly matched rounds.
The defending champion Chudinov…