WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (29-0, 12 KOs) will fight domestic rival Derry Mathews (38-9-2, 20 KOs) on February 13 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
Flanagan, 26, won the title in July when he defeated Jose Zepeda, who could not continue after the second round due to a a dislocated left shoulder, and will make his second defence in the challenger’s backyard.
The Manchester man destroyed Diego Magdaleno in two rounds last month in his last outing.
“It’s something I’ve wanted so…
David Haye to return to the ring against Mark De Mori on January 16
British heavyweight David Haye (26-2, 24 KOs) will return to the ring against Australia’s Mark De Mori (30-1-2, 26 KOs) on January 16 at The O2 in London.
The 35-year-old has not fought since he stopped Dereck Chisora in the 5th round in July 2012.
Haye, a former world champion at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, will be without long-time trainer Adam Booth, and is now trained by Shane McGuigan, the son of former world featherweight champion Barry.
“I’m so happy to be able to step…
Canelo captures WBC middleweight title with points win over Cotto
Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) defeated Miguel Cotto (40-5, 33 KOs) by unanimous decision to win the vacant WBC middleweight title on Saturday night at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Canelo outgunned Cotto over the 12 rounds and the judges awarded him wide scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111.
The Puerto Rican moved well and outboxed Canelo in the early rounds, but by the 4th the Mexican was landing hard, accurate shots.
Canelo was overpowering his smaller opponent as the fight…
Crolla crushes Perez to claim WBA lightweight title
Anthony Crolla (30-4-3, 12 KOs) dethroned Darleys Perez (32-2-1, 20 KOs) by fifth round knockout to win the WBA lightweight title on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester.
The hometown favourite battled to a draw with Perez at the same venue in July but the rematch ended in explosive fashion.
A crunching left to the body sent the Colombian visitor to the canvas and unable to beat the ten count.
Crolla was the busier from the start, although Perez picked him off with some…
Abraham edges out Murray to retain WBO title
WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (44-4, 29 KOs) defeated British challenger Martin Murray (32-3-1, 15 KOs) by a split decision on Saturday night at the TUI Arena in Hannover, Germany.
Abraham landed the harder shots throughout and two of the judges scores were 115-112 and 116-111 for the defending champion, while the third had it 115-112 for Murray.
The St Helens fighter outworked Abraham in the early rounds, throwing a lot of punches but the German veteran did a good job of…
Randy Caballero fails to make weight and loses IBF bantamweight title
Randy Caballero (22-0, 13 KOs) failed to make the weight for his IBF bantamweight title defence against Britain’s Lee Haskins (32-3, 14 KOs) and lost his belt.
The American came in 5.5 pounds over the 118-pound limit, and the bout, which was set to take place on the Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez card in Las Vegas, was canceled.
Haskins, who weighed 117.5, was offered a catch-weight contest against Caballero but due to the weight disadvantage, opted not to fight.
Caballero has not fought since…
Miguel Cotto stripped of WBC middleweight title
Four-division world champion Miguel Cotto (40-4, 33 KOs) has been stripped of his WBC middleweight title.
The WBC has elected to strip Miguel Cotto of the belt, only four days before his mega-fight against Canelo Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs), claiming the Puerto Rican did not abide by its rules and regulations.
So Cotto will no longer defend it against the Mexican on Saturday night in Las Vegas, although if Canelo wins, he will be the new champion.
The WBC demanded a $300,000 sanctioning fee from…
Guillermo Rigondeaux added to Cotto-Canelo undercard
Guillermo Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KOs) has been added to the undercard of the Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez fight on Saturday night at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Rigondeaux will face Drian Francisco (28-3-1, 22 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round super bantamweight bout. The two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist is replacing Andre Ward, who was scheduled to fight Alexander Brand but withdrew last week because of inflammation in his right knee.
The 35-year-old Rigondeaux has not fought since last…
Andre Ward vacates WBA super middleweight title
Unbeaten American Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) has vacated his WBA super middleweight title.
Ward’s decision to vacate the WBA title has been expected, as he will now move up in weight to the light heavyweight division and pursue a showdown with WBO, IBF and WBA champion Sergey Kovalev in 2016.
Ward had not defended the title since a dominant decision win against Edwin Rodriguez in November 2013.
He won the belt in November 2009, when he defeated Mikkel Kessler by a one-sided 11th round technical…
Liam Smith to defend WBO belt against Jimmy Kelly
WBO light middleweight champion Liam Smith (21-0-1, 11 KOs) will defend his title against unbeaten British rival Jimmy Kelly (16-0, 7 KOs) on December 19 at the Manchester Arena.
The undefeated Smith, 27, will be making the first defence of the vacant belt he won when knocking out American John Thompson in the seventh round, at the same venue in October.
“I can’t wait to make the opening defence of my world title,” said Smith.
“Kelly is a tough and unbeaten young challenger which is fantastic…