Boxing News

TOKYO – Last week, Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani reminded me just how good boxing can be when it’s done properly.

From start to finish, there was no name-calling, no shoving to sell tickets. There was respect throughout, and it was refreshing to see. We have all become accustomed to watching two fighters whose mouths go at each other all week in an attempt to manufacture interest. However, when two of the very best meet at the right time, none of that is necessary. People will watch anyway.

Every interaction between the pair across the week oozed class, and when fight night came, they delivered a high-level chess match in front of 55,000 at the Tokyo Dome that was impossible to look away from. Inoue retained his undisputed junior featherweight crown after a competitive contest, and even then, the respect remained and the embrace at the final bell said it all.

In many ways, their conduct is exactly what you would expect of two Japanese fighters competing at home. Respect and how you represent your gym comes first. Which is refreshing in itself. Like in the amateurs, you don’t just fight for yourself, you fight for your club and what that represents. 

I spent close to a decade as an amateur boxer, fighting for little more than a medal, pride, and a McDonald’s on the way home. The greatest compliment I can give this week in Japan is that, in spirit, it felt the same.

Not in level, far from it, but in purpose.

Despite the sheer size of the event, it actually just felt like a sport. The biggest fight in Japanese boxing history wasn’t sold on noise or controversy. It was sold on what it was, two elite fighters stepping into the ring to decide who was better. Nothing else.

The stakes, of course, were far greater than a post-fight Big Mac, but the way Inoue and Nakatani carried themselves, you might not have known it. The tone was set as early as Thursday’s press conference. Sitting side by side, there was tension, as there should be considering what was at stake, but never the sense it would spill over. Neither ever threatened to lose control.

Even the room felt different from what I’ve become used to at boxing events in the UK and US. The entire press conference was conducted in Japanese, but rather than feeling shut out, the local media went out of their way to help me. One reporter, Masahiro Muku of "The Answer," sent over translated quotes afterwards, and continued to do so throughout the week.

It was a small gesture, but one that said plenty about boxing in Japan. Respectful, accommodating, and focused on the sport.

I took a walk through Tokyo after the press conference, trying to get a sense of just how big the fight was to the city. In Shinjuku, a district lit brightly with billboards and advertisements, I expected to see Naoya Inoue’s and Junto Nakatani’s faces everywhere. I didn’t see one.

At first, it felt strange. This was a fight I’d travelled 6,000 miles to cover, one of the biggest in the sport, so where was it? The answer came the following day.

Thousands packed into the famous Korakuen Hall for the ceremonial weigh-in to watch Inoue and Nakatani face off one final time. That was when it hit. This wasn’t a fight that needed selling on street corners or billboards. It was already imprinted into fans’ minds long ago.

I thought about how my editor, Matt Christie, told me about how he felt seeing Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Manny Pacquiao finally face off at their weigh-in in 2015. Standing there in Korakuen Hall, I understood what he meant.

This was Japan’s Mayweather-Pacquiao. It was huge.

What happened next, though, was something else entirely. Could you imagine Manny Pacquiao inviting a young foreign reporter into his hotel room 24 hours before the biggest fight of his life? 

No, and quite rightly so, but Junto Nakatani did.

He sat on the sofa alongside his friends and team, cracking a joke as I nearly walked in with my shoes on – something I never quite got used to in Japan. He was calm, relaxed, completely unfazed ahead of facing the undefeated knockout artist known as “The Monster."

It felt surreal. It also felt familiar.

It reminded me of the nights before amateur tournaments, crammed into hotel rooms with teammates, laughing, messing around, anything but thinking about the fight the next day. Back then, it was just a sport. Nothing more, nothing less.

And sat there with him in his room, it seemed that way for Nakatani, too.

He was confident. So was Inoue. And the next night, they would find out whose confidence was best placed.

Now, the weigh-in had offered a glimpse of what Inoue-Nakatani meant to the people of Japan, but it still didn’t prepare me for fight night. I arrived at the Tokyo Dome an hour before the opening bout, thinking I’d have time to grab some sushi and pick up a fight T-shirt to take home. I should have got there six hours earlier, the queue for the merchandise store alone stretched endlessly.

Outside, you could barely see the ground. Thousands filled the surrounding streets, hoping to get their hands on a ticket or simply be part of it. And yet, when I finally made my way inside, it felt as though there were even more people within the Dome than outside it.

The 55,000-seat arena was almost full for the first fight of the night. In the UK, turning up that early usually means spotting the odd reporter, not 50,000 fans already in their seats. It was incredible, and so was the fight.

It wasn’t the bloodbath or war many had hoped for. It was something better. Two of the finest fighters on the planet engaging in a duel laced with finesse, one that only a handful in the sport could truly appreciate. Momentum shifted throughout, each man adapting, adjusting, and finding moments of success.

The atmosphere was something I had not experienced before. 

There was no shouts of “Fucking hit him!” that I’d become used to hearing in UK arenas or fights in the stands. The Tokyo crowd cheered when a shot landed and merely chanted the name of their chosen fighter when things weren’t going well. They were respectful throughout, and so were both Inoue and Nakatani.

There was a brief moment in the eighth round that captured it perfectly.

Nakatani slipped a right hand from Inoue and fired back with two shots of his own, only for Inoue to duck underneath them by millimeters. Inoue popped back up and threw again, but Nakatani made him miss once more.

For a split second, both men paused, and smiled. Almost in admiration of what the other had just done before immediately returning to the task of trying to take each other’s head off.

The crowd applauded as the smile was shown on screen in the arena. They loved it.

“I was fighting while feeling Nakatani's technique and fighting spirit,” Inoue said afterwards. “I think he felt the same way. I think we were both enjoying the space where neither of us could land a hit. I think that smile came naturally from that.”

The respect between them continued after the final bell.

Despite defeat, Junto Nakatani – with a nasty gash over his eye and a broken orbital bone – still gave the media his time. Just five minutes, before heading to the hospital. He almost seemed apologetic that he couldn’t give more. He owed us nothing.

Things were kept brief for Naoya Inoue, too. He would speak again the following day at his boxing gym, as is customary in Japan – something I can’t help but feel we should adopt in the UK.

I’ve never quite understood the rush to put a microphone in front of a fighter seconds after they’ve had their head punched for 36 minutes. Twelve rounds at that level is draining, both physically and mentally. The day-after press conference allowed true reflection, and time to process the result, to occur.

It also reminded me, quite quickly, that I was no longer in the UK.

I walked into the Ohashi Boxing Gym and, without thinking, kept my shoes on – a mistake I quickly corrected when I saw the feet and smiles of everyone else.

A small thing, but in Japan, those things really matter. Respect isn’t just reserved for the ring. It’s everywhere, ingrained from a young age, and evident in how fighters carry themselves, how gyms are treated, and how the sport is spoken about.

It’s not something that’s put on for the cameras. It’s part of the culture, and it’s something I’ll take with me long after this week is over.

Weeks like this don’t come around often. Not in modern boxing. No chaos, no controversy, no stunts for social media. Just two of the very best proving that when the sport is left to speak for itself, it says far more than any promotion ever could.

It reminded me of why I fell in love with boxing in the first place, the purity of competition, the respect and pride in bettering another man in the ring.

This was boxing at its core. Boxing done properly.

Tom Ivers is a lifelong fight fan and former amateur boxer who has a master’s degree in sports journalism. Tom joined BoxingScene in 2024 and is now a key part of the UK and social media teams.

David Benavidez on Saturday became the first fighter ever to win titles at super middleweight, light heavyweight and cruiserweight, and Gilberto Ramirez’s blood on his gloves had barely had time to dry before talk turned to Benavidez moving up to heavyweight – and not just for any fight, but specifically in a matchup against unified and linear heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk.

The money and prestige for such a match would be like nothing Benavidez has yet seen, but the same holds true for the risk. Meanwhile, several fights – viable, lucrative, legacy-building fights – are likely available to Benavidez at light heavyweight and cruiserweight (and possibly even his old super middleweight stomping grounds). So we put the question to our esteemed BoxingScene staff: At what weight should David Benavidez fight next?

Declan Warrington: Cruiserweight. A fight with Jai Opetaia to determine the best cruiserweight in the world is both the most significant and most entertaining that both fighters can realistically be involved in. Dates with Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol at light heavyweight also have considerable appeal, but the best fight at 175lbs would be a third fight between those two, not one involving Benavidez. It’s also essential, given that their all-Russian rivalry is level at 1-1. There shouldn’t be any talk of Benavidez fighting at heavyweight until, at the very earliest, he proves himself the world’s best cruiserweight. It’s not that long ago he was at super middleweight – and his only win at cruiserweight came against another former super middleweight. Not that it comes as a surprise that the figure who wanted to match Naoya Inoue with Gervonta “Tank” Davis thinks putting Benavidez in the ring with Oleksandr Usyk is a good idea.

David Greisman: Cruiserweight. We just saw what might be the best version of David Benavidez yet, which is saying something given some of the names on his record at super middleweight and light heavyweight. Yes, I would still love to see a bout between Benavidez and Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed championship at 175. And, yes, I believe that Benavidez can drop back down to light heavyweight somewhat comfortably given his body composition. But barring Bivol or Artur Beterbiev agreeing to fight Benavidez before the end of 2026, let’s see whether a deal can be done with Jai Opetaia for what would be the biggest cruiserweight fight in years.

Lucas Ketelle: Whichever weight class offers him the best big fight. It’s a lame, noncommittal answer, but hear me out: Outside of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Benavidez has three potential matchups that should excite everyone: Bivol, Opetaia and Beterbiev. Bivol and Beterbiev are at light heavyweight, and Opetaia is the other great cruiserweight. His next fight should be against one of those three fighters, and at this point, that should dictate his weight class – as long as he is willing to move back down in weight.

Tris Dixon: Do you know what? I don’t really mind. All I know is that after Saturday, I want to see him again regardless of the weight, and I’d take Canelo at 175 (no chance), Bivol at 175lbs, Beterbiev or Opetaia. The talk of heavyweight seems fanciful and unnecessary. Point to Roy Jones Jnr all you want, but with all due respect, Benavidez is not Roy and Oleksandr Usyk is definitely not John Ruiz. Those talking about that kind of match can, for me, go back to talking about Tank and Inoue, et al.

Matt Christie: I don’t often disagree with Tris, but I’d be fascinated to see those fast hands of Benavidez in the heavyweight division. Failing that, a contest with Jai Opetaia would be a cracker. I have zero interest in a matchup with Canelo at this point and, given the amount of weight he’s just put on, a drop back to light heavyweight might not be the best idea.

Jason Langendorf: In the afterglow of Saturday night, Benavidez seems capable of almost anything. But he and his team should ask themselves not only “Why heavyweight?” (easy answer) but “Why now?” Benavidez was fighting at 168 as recently as two and a half years ago, and a move to heavyweight – even against a former cruiser in Usyk – would mean facing opponents 50lbs heavier, bare minimum. At 29, Benavidez has bankable fights against Bivol, Opetaia and – who knows? – perhaps Canelo that can still be made in three other divisions. Handle what’s in front of you, move up slowly (if at all) and remember the cautionary tale of Roy Jones – who was never the same after beating Ruiz and moving back down in weight.

Abdullah Mason will make the first defense of his lightweight title in front of a novel but favorable boxing audience.

Mason will get his first true hometown date when he defends against former titleholder Joe Cordina on July 4 at Cleveland State’s Wolstein Center, promoter Top Rank announced Tuesday in a press conference at Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The card will be broadcast on TNT and DAZN in the U.S. and on DAZN worldwide as part of their inaugural “The Fight” monthly live boxing series.

The 22-year-old Mason, 20-0 (17 KOs), is boxing’s youngest current male belt holder. He won a 12-round unanimous decision over then-unbeaten Sam Noakes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, this past November. Previously, Mason fought in Westlake (a Cleveland suburb), but the Cordina fight will mark his first in “The Land.”

“Top Rank’s had a long history of building guys in their hometown,” said Carl Moretti, Top Rank’s vice president of boxing operations. “There’s nothing better.”

Cleveland arguably hasn’t hosted a fight card of this magnitude since 1975, when Chuck Wepner famously knocked down Muhammad Ali, which ultimately ended in an Ali stoppage win – but also served as Sylvester Stallone’s inspiration for the “Rocky” franchise.

Also in the Mason-Cordina event will be featherweight titleholder Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington’s defense against Rene Palacios in the co-feature; Cleveland native and U.S. Olympian Tiger Johnson facing Christopher Guerrero at welterweight; Deric “Scooter” Davis taking on Carlos Ramos at lightweight; and two of Mason’s brothers – lightweight Abdurrahman Mason and junior lightweight Ibrahim Mason – in separate fights on the undercard.

“July 4 is the homecoming that my brothers and I have been anticipating since before we turned pro,” Abdullah Mason said. “I’m ready to experience all of my city’s support in one building, and I have an appetite for smoke.”

Cordina, 19-1 (9 KOs), is a 34-year-old from Cardiff, Wales, coming off wins over Gabriel Flores Jnr and Jaret Gonzalez Quiroz since falling in a stoppage loss to Anthony Cacace last May that cost him his junior lightweight strap. The win over Flores – in Flores’ hometown of Stockton, California – is particularly notable under the circumstances.

“This is a massive test for me, but it’s one that I’m more than capable of coming through with flying colors,” Cordina said. “Abdullah Mason is a very good fighter, and he’s going to do big things in boxing, but I’m going to mess up the homecoming. I’m looking to come over, rip the title away from him, and take it back to the U.K. It’s a massive fight for boxing, and I’m looking to become a three-time two-weight world champion.”

Daniel Dubois has warned Fabio Wardley of the mistake he will be making if he judges him off the back of his defeats by Oleksandr Usyk.

Dubois on Saturday, at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England, becomes the first challenger to Wardley in his reign as WBO heavyweight champion, and does so on the occasion of his first fight since Usyk inflicted his third defeat.

It was in July 2025 in his rematch with Usyk that Dubois produced the least convincing display of his three defeats – the first came against Joe Joyce in 2020 – when he was stopped in five rounds but appeared capable of fighting on.

He was also stopped by Usyk in 2023, over the course of nine more competitive rounds, and in 10 by Joyce, but when he had horrifically suffered a fractured orbital socket by his left eye.

If it is harsh to hold against him the nature of the defeat by Joyce, even at a time when Usyk is widely considered the finest fighter in the world, his defeats against the Ukrainian are cited by Dubois’ critics as evidence that he lacks heart.

It perhaps helps little in the context of Saturday’s contest that Wardley, 31, endured so bruising-and-bloody a battle against Frazer Clarke in 2024 and won from losing positions against Justis Huni and Joseph Parker in 2025, but Dubois insists that his self-belief is unaffected because of Usyk’s remarkable abilities, and that he is relishing testing himself against Wardley in the way that he previously did against Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua before the second time Usyk was put in his path.

“I fought against the best fighter of a generation, so I’m not really down or nothing, just thinking about how we move forward and about a lot of personal things,” Dubois said. 

“Lessons learned are that he’s a great southpaw fighter. He’s a great southpaw, great champion, and I’ve got to go back to the drawing board and come again. I feel like we’re going to get it right this time though, with the training and how everything is going to be perfect – I just have a feeling.

“He’s the greatest fighter of the generation. He’s like your Muhammad Alis – a generational great – but here I am now in a real-life fight now.

“It’s just a process and to be honest I was straight back on it and looking to line up who’s next, watching the heavy division and seeing who’s going to be next and I’m glad I’ve got this opportunity.

“[Wardley’s] nothing like him. Usyk is southpaw, whereas I’m going to have answers for Fabio. He might try southpaw, but I’m experienced now. I’ve faced Usyk twice; I’ve faced ‘AJ’; I’ve faced all these great fighters. I’ve got that experience on my side.”

Dubois, 28, downplayed the consequences of his attending a house party earlier in the day of his third defeat – “That wasn’t a factor; that had nothing to do with that; that was in the past now anyway, so I’m moving on from that” – and also, initially, about his separation from his then-trainer Don Charles, who he replaced with Tony Sims until replacing Sims with Charles when confirmation of his date with the heavy-handed Wardley neared.

“Don’s my trainer for my next fight, and I’m glad to be back with him – that’s all that matters,” he said. “It’s no disrespect to Tony, obviously Tony’s good, but this is the best decision I’ve made for my career.

“It’s a great gym and it feels like my energy and spirit is in [Charles’] gym. I feel like I’m home.

“We just had a bit of a break after the fight. We just had a bit of a break and thought about things. Boxing’s always changing.”

Sims had long targeted for Dubois the fight with Wardley. Charles, too, is characteristically confident that they will win. For all of Dubois’ experience, however – which includes sparring Wardley almost a decade ago; they turned professional on separate promotions on the same date of April 8, 2017 – his fellow Englishman offers a relative rawness and unpredictability that he hasn’t previously seen.

“He’s been lucky up until now – he’s been lucky,” he said. “I’m going to be the man to take his 0. I’ve done it before and I’m going to do it again.

“I mean [he’s been lucky in the way] he’s pulled it out of the bag; he’s unorthodox, so a lot of fighters out there, they’re not used to that; they do things just out of reactions; it’s different. I’m going to be ready for him on fight night.

“[To negate that I’ll] just work off the jab; pumping that jab and getting into the rhythm. I’m going to have all the answers. Everyone’s got a plan until they get punched in their mouth.

“We sparred years back. I dominated him in the spars back then. I was dominating him, but I understand things change; he’s come on since then obviously. I’m looking for the best version of him and I’ll be the best version for sure.

“We were in for good old tear-ups, but I was the one in charge and I’m going to be doing it again. It will be the same story and I’ll be a two-time champion of the world.

“Credit to him, he’s beating all the guys that he’s faced. You’ve got to take your hat off to that. He’s wanted the biggest challenges and he’s taken them on and I respect him for that.

“I love fighting punchers and guys that are like that. Bring it on.

“I feel like the luckiest guy in boxing. It’s just one after the other, and I’ve been grateful to [my promoter] Frank Warren, my dad [Dave], and the support network I have around me for manoeuvring me to keep my spirits high so that we can come again.

“I was elated. This is my chance from God; he’s given me this opportunity and I can’t let myself down or my team down and this is the time to dig deeper than ever before.”

 

When Britain’s former IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois was recently asked to name the six British world heavyweight champions of the 21st century, he managed to name only three. The three that came to Dubois’ mind were Lennox Lewis, Anthony Joshua and eventually Daniel Dubois. “There’s not that many, is there?” he said, before being reminded of the names Tyson Fury, David Haye and Fabio Wardley, his opponent this Saturday. “I know I did bad,” Dubois said. “My brain’s scrambled.”

He needn’t have felt too stupid, Dubois. Anyone put on the spot for a bit of mindless, brain-rot social media content is liable to fold under pressure – either that or lose the will to live – and he is not the first person to sink to the level of the game being played in the name of “banter” or “fun”. 

That said, it was interesting to see him struggle to name Fabio Wardley as one of the six British world heavyweight champions, particularly given it is Wardley’s WBO heavyweight title Dubois will hope to snatch this weekend. Perhaps, given the short nature of Wardley’s reign (he has yet to make a defence), and the fact he was “given” the belt after it was vacated by Oleksandr Usyk, means it is easy to forget that he even owns it. Or perhaps Dubois overlooking Wardley, and the others, is indicative of how easy it is for a heavyweight to claim a version of the heavyweight title these days and how, as a result, the significance of the achievement is in turn diminished. 

Either way, Dubois, a former belt-holder, meets a current belt-holder on Saturday in Manchester, England. It is a fight of importance not only because there is a WBO heavyweight title up for grabs, but because both Wardley, the champion, and Dubois, the challenger, hail from Great Britain. That in itself helps to elevate it; make it something other than just one more heavyweight fight for another slice of the heavyweight pie. 

As we saw last weekend with Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani and David Benavidez vs. Gilberto Ramirez, there is a special ingredient to fights between boxers who share nationality and often these fights mean more to us than others. At the time the interest in them tends to be much greater and then, with the passing of time, we find that they are a lot easier to remember, too. Even Daniel Dubois, if tested, might be able to name one or two of the few all-British heavyweight title fights of the 21st century. He did, after all, appear in one of them. In fact, the one time Dubois has faced a fellow Brit in a world heavyweight title fight, he produced his best performance to date. So, if he can’t remember that, his brain really is “scrambled”.

As for the other all-British world heavyweight title fights of the modern era, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Perhaps the best of them was a 1993 encounter between Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno in Cardiff, Wales, but that belongs to the last century, not this one. The offerings this century have been of a slightly different standard, and yet still we have seen some compelling matchups and, notably, some conclusive finishes. 

Here, for the benefit of Daniel Dubois, is a brief history of the all-British world heavyweight title fights of the 21st century so far.  

 

4) David Haye TKO 3 Audley Harrison

November 13, 2010

Manchester, England

When David Haye defended his WBA heavyweight title against fellow Londoner Audley Harrison, it was sold on the premise that they were old friends turned enemies and with it came a tagline worthy of any grift: “Yes. I. Can.” That tagline was something Harrison repeated throughout the buildup to his first and only world title shot and so often was it said some actually started to believe he might have a chance of pulling off the upset. In his last fight, he had dramatically knocked out Michael Sprott in the 12th round of a European title fight he was losing and that was enough for some to believe – or want to believe – that the stars had aligned for Harrison and that his early days of struggle had not been in vain. 

In reality, of course, he had been gifted the title shot with Haye on account of Haye’s desire to have a soft defence against an opponent with some name recognition in the UK. That way Haye could have his cake and eat it. He could, on the one hand, get what most felt would be a guaranteed knockout win, and he could also flog this guaranteed knockout win to the ignorant masses on Sky Sports Box Office. Give it enough of a push, which both he and Harrison did, and a lot of money could be made from something that was, in essence, only ever one thing: a mismatch. 

On the night, when Haye ambushed his best mate in round three, both the fight’s true nature and the extent to which the public had been duped became obvious to all. It then wasn’t long before Haye and Harrison were hugging again and recalling the good old days, all the richer for having shared a ring and a vision. 

3) Tyson Fury TKO 10 Derek Chisora

December 3, 2022

London, England

No more competitive than Haye-Harrison in 2010 was the WBC heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Derek Chisora in 2022. Much like Haye-Harrison, this one carried the stench of an arrangement, or a deal, with Fury and Chisora having endured a long courtship which dated back to 2011 when they first boxed. Since then, they had boxed again, in 2014, and this fight in 2022 was the last and weakest installment of a trilogy nobody really asked for or wanted to see. By now, Fury was levels above Chisora, while Chisora, who tested Fury somewhat in their first fight, was a man clearly on the decline. This not only ensured that the fight was a mismatch, which it was, but it also had you wondering how it had been allowed to happen in the first place. Was it purely because Fury wanted to financially reward Chisora at this late stage in his career? Was it less a fight than a bit of charity? Did Chisora, the charity case, ever really think he was going to win? 

If he did, there were no signs of this belief on the night. Instead, Chisora, brave as always, was gradually beaten up and broken down at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before being finally put out of his misery after 10 rounds.

2) Tyson Fury TKO 6 Dillian Whyte

April 23, 2022

London, England

If Fury’s second all-British world heavyweight title fight with Derek Chisora was all a bit pointless, the same cannot be said for his first one: a sixth-round stoppage of Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium in April 2022. That fight had a lot of what Fury-Chisora III would lack – chiefly, stakes, risk, and danger. Rather than gifted his title shot, Whyte had actually worked for it, and been made to wait for it, and by the time it then arrived there were even some who felt he might have the aggression and confidence to have a bit of success in the presence of Fury. 

As it turned out, of course, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. Soon into the fight Whyte’s confidence had been knocked out of him by an on-song Fury and he had come to learn that there is a difference between beating the likes of Alexander Povetkin, Oscar Rivas and Joseph Parker and then toppling Tyson Fury. There was a gap – both in the distance between them and in class – and this gap Whyte, the smaller man, was unable to close. That’s why, in the end, he got desperate, he got reckless, and he walked on to a vicious Fury uppercut in round six. With that, Whyte’s pursuit of a world heavyweight title came to an end.  

1) Daniel Dubois TKO 5 Anthony Joshua

September 21, 2024

London, England

Although Daniel Dubois’ reign as IBF heavyweight champion was brief, the thing that puts Dubois vs. Joshua above the other all-British world heavyweight title fights in the last 25 years is the fact that it was a battle between two “world champions”. Joshua, of course, had held the same belt not once but twice and, unlike Harrison, Chisora and Whyte, challenged Dubois at Wembley Stadium with the history and mentality of a world champion. This alone made the fight between Dubois and Joshua more compelling; fraught as it was with the element of the unknown. 

Even if Joshua was likely past his best, this concern was tempered somewhat by the knowledge that Dubois was new on the scene and had yet to really prove himself or find his feet as a world heavyweight champion. They met, in other words, somewhere in the middle, right in that sweet spot, and it was hard to tell, pre-fight, which of the two Londoners would prevail. 

Then the first bell rang and Dubois suddenly seemed too big, too quick and too strong for Joshua. More than that, he seemed too confident for him, too much for him, and it was no shock when Dubois began wounding his anxious opponent with jabs and right hands, dropping him as early as round one. This pattern continued for the next few rounds before, in round five, Joshua finally had a moment of success when he staggered Dubois with a right of his own during a frantic exchange. That precipitated Joshua’s fans and team rising in hope and excitement, feeling the momentum had now shifted. It also precipitated the image of Joshua spreadeagled on the canvas having stumbled blindly into a heavy Dubois right. “Are you not entertained?!” roared the victor in the aftermath, surrounded by compatriots, with another down at his feet. “Are you not entertained?!”

 

Fabio Wardley has revealed that Daniel Dubois used to “punch him up” when they sparred as younger men.

Wardley on Saturday at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England makes the first defence of his reign as WBO heavyweight champion against Dubois, and while very aware of the very different paths they have pursued.

Dubois, 28, was groomed for greatness as a heavy-handed young professional widely recognised as potentially one of the world’s most exciting heavyweights.

Wardley, in contrast, in many respects looked up to Dubois despite being three years his senior, and because as a former white-collar boxer his progress as a professional was expected to be limited and slow.

Dubois stopped Anthony Joshua in an IBF heavyweight title fight a month before Wardley fought and beat Frazer Clarke – who he had previously drawn with – for the British and Commonwealth titles, and on an evening in October 2024 on which numerous observers of their entertaining first fight had predicted that he would lose.

However Wardley, on account of the heart that means he has recovered from losing positions to record impressive stoppages of Justis Huni and Joseph Parker, has surpassed all previous expectations to emerge as one of the world’s leading heavyweights and in many respects to overtake Dubois, whose leading critics continue to question the heart that they believed was lacking in two defeats by Oleksandr Usyk and another by Joe Joyce.

It is perhaps that knowledge of his ability to survive losing positions – in addition to his quiet confidence and the humility that has contributed so much to the way Wardley consistently improves – that makes him so willing to be open about sparring sessions that might intimidate others, but Wardley in so many respects remains an individual and a fighter unto himself.

“I don’t even know if I was pro by then,” Wardley said. “It was seven or eight years [ago], something like that and either I was or had just started. Maybe I’d had my first fight or second fight.

“I have got no qualms in saying he punched me up but I would beg him not to take anything from that spar and carry that through to now because that was a guy who [just] laced up a pair of gloves whereas he had an amateur career; junior champion; GB champion, this and all the others and I put on the gloves a few weeks ago and thought ‘Yeah let’s have a move around with Daniel Dubois’.

“I wasn’t nervous. I knew it would be a tough spar but I always kind of relished it and challenged it because it was minor incremental [improvements] that I would get a bit better. I would come out of sparring and, ‘Cor I only got punched up 15 times but that was two less than last week’, and it was fine. I didn’t care and wasn’t like score-keeping and thinking I had to win.

“I went into it knowing, ‘Currently you are better than me and I’ve got no problem with that; I’m trying to get better and the only way to do that is to compete with people better than me’. There is no point me staying in my little old white-collar gym and smashing up Steve who comes in every other week and thinking I am the man. For me, at that stage of my career, my mentality was get around, spar everyone as much as possible, and gain as much experience as you can.

“He was even more introverted back then.

“He was definitely up there as one of the big punchers I was in with, but there were a lot I was sharing the ring with at that time. There was [Derek] Chisora; there was Dillian Whyte; there was him; there was Filip Hrgovic. It wasn’t like he was a stand-out, it was just known that he was pretty solid and could whack a bit. There was even cruiserweights – I remember sparring Richard Riakporhe, he could whack and I remember him crack me as well and I was thinking, ‘Jesus, some of these boys can proper hit’, but again, that was seven or eight years ago. It was probably, some of it, due to how green I was – me taking shots and not even moving, taking it straight to the dome and that would rack my brain a bit.”

For every way in which Wardley’s relative rawness makes him unpredictable in the ring, Dubois continues to prove unpredictable outside of it. Defeat in his most recent contest, the rematch with Usyk in July 2025, came after he inexplicably was present at a house party earlier that day. It was then followed by him separating from Don Charles, the trainer who had led him to the impressive victories over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Joshua that transformed his career, recruiting the experienced Tony Sims, and then months later splitting with Sims before having a single fight under him and rehiring Charles to prepare him for Saturday’s fight.

That Dubois had previously entered dates under Martin Bowers and Shane McGuigan is also in contrast to Wardley’s loyalty to Robert Hodgins, who he first worked with as a white-collar boxer and whose expertise he complemented, instead of replaced, as a professional with Ben Davison. It is, to Wardley’s mind, a character flaw that is perhaps holding Dubois back.

“It seems unsettled and doesn’t seem like the best course of action,” Wardley said. “And also seems to me that whether it is him or we know the story about his dad [Dave] and how much control he has, etcetera, etcetera, but it also seems to me like a lack of accountability. That whenever there is a fight or whenever you lose or something goes wrong, you immediately blame the trainer and leave that trainer and find another one. Maybe it is you. Maybe you didn’t listen, or you didn’t train or you didn’t do something. I think the default to look outward and blame someone is quite telling.

“Obviously it makes no odds to me. One trainer, two trainers or no trainer, I couldn’t care. For me with Daniel, and he is good don’t get me wrong – very good – but with all of these different trainers, he hasn’t really changed. Stylistically he hasn’t changed; the way he approaches things hasn’t really changed, he might have some different little things, but there’s been no overhaul or difference at all. So, it’s not like there’s a new trainer and I’m going to get there on the night and be like, ‘Fucking hell, who is this? This is a whole new Daniel Dubois’. It’s not going to be like that at all. He is who he is and he fights how he fights. They will tweak little bits along the way, but I don’t think a change of trainer has a massive effect on him like it does for some people.”

Wardley responded to narrowly being outboxed by Clarke in March 2024 to stop him inside a round in their rematch. He was convincingly outboxed by Huni when he dramatically and explosively stopped the Australian in the 10th, and also losing to Parker when he similarly dramatically stopped him in the 11th as recently as October.

There is, objectively, a considerable contrast with the defeats suffered by Dubois, who was horrifically injured against Joyce but twice against Usyk appeared capable of carrying on, and it is that streak – one absent in difficult contests against Miller and Hrgovic – that Wardley believes represents the greatest contrast between them, even while aware of how articulate he is and while describing the rival who turned professional on April 8, 2017, the same day as him, as an “introvert”. It, regardless, may yet prove relevant that their sparring sessions went as they once did; Dubois was full of confidence as the significant underdog against the decorated Joshua at a time when suggestions persisted that he had once hurt Joshua as a young man while they sparred.

“I guess that’s quite on the nose,” Wardley said. “That is the contrast. If it is not going his way, he nosedives and if it is not going my way, I stay the course, I stay focused and stay on track and I think that is evidence in the difference in our mentality.

“It’s not necessarily something new. We knew that before from the Joe Joyce fight, so say it never happened in the Usyk fight and it only happened once in the Joyce fight, I would still know it is there. I would still know it is in him to capitulate and back out. So, it is just more evidence on top of something I already saw there.

“I think there is a level of not being able to believe it that I have come from where I have come from and been able to achieve what I have been able to achieve. Every time it’s like, ‘He has to fall now; he has to go wrong now’, but I do laugh; there is always a caveat like it’s that or the Huni fight I was losing and ‘just’ pulled it out the bag or it was this. There is always a caveat of why; it is never ‘Fabio did well there and congrats’, so, yeah that will always follow me around one way or another.

“[Dubois] is someone people will look at and say ‘That is a respectable opponent’. A respectable opponent; former world champion; someone who has been in with some of the best guys.

“My plan is to be that person – I think the best way to [secure the biggest fights] is to be known for being the guy in real fights and who is entertaining and is value for money.”

David Benavidez scored a thrilling sixth-round stoppage against Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez to win unified cruiserweight titles Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The historic win left only one remaining question: Who will Benavidez fight next?

Benavidez, 32-0 (26 KOs), has now won titles in the super middleweight, light heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions – the first to achieve the feat. A 29-year-old Phoenix native who now lives in Miami, Benavidez also became the first to stop Ramirez, further solidifying his pound-for-pound status. He has teased the idea of an eventual move to heavyweight. He called out Saul “Canelo” Alvarez – yet again – in the ring after beating Zurdo. How high can Benavidez rise? Who could challenge him? Most importantly, who might be up on his dance card?

Here are the most likely opponents Benavidez could face in his next fight:

5. Albert Ramirez

Record: 22-0 (19 KO)

Chances of happening: 3 per cent

Level of excitement: 6/10

Ramirez is an up-and-comer in the light heavyweight division and a former Olympian. He isn’t a sexy name, but he is undefeated. Ramirez is scheduled to fight June 4 against Lerrone Richards.

4. Jai Opetaia

Record: 30-0 (23 KOs)

Chances of happening: 10 per cent

Level of excitement: 9/10

Opetaia is viewed as the cruiserweight division’s best fighter by most pundits. A bout between Benavidez and Opetaia would give both a chance to become the clear standout fighter of the division, but it would have to clear some significant promotional hurdles.

3. Artur Beterbiev

Record: 21-1 (20 KOs)

Chances of happening: 15 per cent

Level of excitement: 7/10

Who knows if Beterbiev, at age 41, will ever fight again? That said, the violence between even a somewhat diminished Beterbiev – a brilliant former light heavyweight titleholder – and three-division champ Benavidez could be out of this world.

2. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez

Record: 33-2 (26 KOs)

Chances of happening: 20 per cent

Level of excitement: 10/10

A fight with Alvarez would potentially be the most compelling boxing has to offer. A still-young star on the cusp of crossover status eager to take the crown against a Mexican legend and boxing’s biggest current star? Yes, please. An important question: Will the weights make sense at this point? Maybe not, but if they can find a way to make their way into the ring together, it’s a great fight. Benavidez may have called out Alvarez, but Canelo is already linked to a September bout with Christian Mbilli.

1. Dmitry Bivol

Record: 24-1 (12 KOs)

Chances of happening: 40 per cent

Level of excitement: 8/10

After Saturday’s event, Benavidez stated that it is actually Bivol, not Alvarez, who is No. 1 on his hit list. Benavidez holds belts at light heavyweight and cruiserweight. Bivol is set to return on May 30 against Michael Eifert. It’s clear that if Benavidez can’t get Alvarez – a galactically lucrative fight that has eluded him for years – Bivol would be his ideal stand-in. And at the end of the day, Bivol seems far more likely to say yes to a Benavidez fight than Canelo.

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.

LAS VEGAS – It would’ve been one thing for David Benavidez to simply defeat the bigger Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez.

To pursue and then collect a TKO over a fighter who had never been knocked down in his career as a two-division champion speaks volumes about the drive toward dominance that “The Monster” has set out on.

And it’s why people wonder who next will volunteer to meet the 29-year-old who stands actively as a two-division champion with a third 168lbs belt gained in his past.

BoxingScene has learned that preliminary conversations to arrange a next bout between Benavidez, 32-0 (26 KOs), and three-belt light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol have gone well as Bivol moves toward an IBF mandatory title defense May 30 against massive underdog Michael Eifert.

But that was before Saturday night’s main event at T-Mobile Arena, where Benavidez became the first man in the sport’s long history to collect a major belt at 168, 175 and 200lbs, while also making Ramirez quit and head to the hospital with what appeared to be an orbital bone injury.

This latest move up was the largest jump in weight, and it made Benavidez the WBO and WBA champion in the weight class, beefing up a collection that already includes his WBC light-heavyweight strap.

If unbeaten Jai Opetaia had been able to retain his IBF belt, perhaps he would be the next-best ideal foe for Benavidez, who would like to double-down in his Cinco de Mayo takeover by fighting next on Mexican Independence weekend.

But Australia’s Opetaia, 30-0 (23 KOs), moved to the new Zuffa Boxing promotion, and that could complicate the ability to bring the sides together, particularly in America, where Benavidez wants to fight.

“That’s the biggest fight in the world, especially in this division,” Benavidez said of Opetaia during his post-fight news conference. “If he wants that fight, come get that fight.

“I don’t know why he went to Zuffa. We could’ve made that fight right after this, but I’m not going over there to fight for a Zuffa title. There’s a lot of politics with that.

“It’s a great fight for the future, but now, he has to come back over here. … if we can make the fight, let’s do it.”

What about Bivol, who previously defeated Benavidez’s rival, Canelo Alvarez, along with beating former undisputed light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev.

Asked if he believes he might’ve given Bivol reason to avoid the fight given Benavidez’s performance, the newly unified cruiserweight champion said, “I can’t answer that question. He’s a great champion. At the end of the day, it’s boxing: We’re here to show the best of ourselves. I’m ready to fight the best and test myself.” 

Benavidez told reporters to stop asking him about a move to heavyweight. It’s likely about five years away, as he explained moving that far up, “forget about the other two divisions.”

His No. 1 WBC light-heavyweight contender is Beterbiev, who’s longing for a trilogy fight with Bivol after his narrow loss to him last year.

If it seems muddied now, Benavidez assured, “Everything I speak, I do.

“I’m a champion. I did it the hard way. I want to keep giving the fans the fights they want,” he said. “And I feel it can happen in the United States.”

 

LAS VEGAS – David Benavidez’s relentless quest for history and competition culminated in both Saturday when he became the first to knock out Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez and to win an unprecedented triple crown of world titles.

Benavidez, 32-0 (26 KOs), defeated Ramirez by sixth-round TKO when the swollen-headed unified champion failed to rise from the canvas and yielded his WBO and WBA cruiserweight belts to the existing WBC light heavyweight titlist from Phoenix.

“I don’t care who it is," Benavidez said in the ring afterward. "No one can fuck with me.”

Answering Ramirez’s girth with “speed, power, movement and IQ,” Benavidez became the first male fighter to capture one of the four major titles as a super middleweight, light heavyweight and cruiserweight by dismantling a proud champion from Mexico whose lone prior defeat was to three-belt light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.

The finishing sequence started with a hard left to Ramirez’s swelling right eye. It was followed by more head-jarring punishment that elicited crowd groans, and Benavidez rushed in for the end.

His head blows sent Ramirez, 48-2 (30 KOs), down for the second time of the night, and as referee Thomas Taylor rushed to count, Ramirez put a glove to his aching head. No comfort came. Only pain.

He nodded “no” to Taylor, and the fight was stopped with 1 second remaining in the frame.

Fulfilling his expectation that his hand-speed advantage would carry the night, Benavidez opened the bout by snapping a couple rights to Ramirez’s face and closing with a combination to the head.

The left-handed Ramirez countered by leaning into Benavidez and finding him with power punches. Yet it all looked like a trap after Benavidez closed the round impressively by landing hard shots on Ramirez’s head.

Rapid combinations by Benavidez scored for the judges, but Ramirez – who had never been knocked down – kept coming forward in the third.

A clean Ramirez uppercut was answered by a short left by Benavidez in the fourth.

And then Benavidez backed up Ramirez with a hammering right, freeing him to unleash all the hand speed he wanted to display – a combination that dropped Ramirez for the first time in his career on a left above the right eardrum.

A hard right uppercut by Benavidez in the fifth provoked Ramirez to throw combinations that Benavidez weathered and answered. Two rights to the head and a body shot cooled Ramirez’s desired response.

When it was over, Benavidez, 29, repeated that he’s here to bring the fans the best fights possible – which could include a showdown with Bivol later this year, or perhaps another cruiserweight title bout.

Of course, Benavidez knew that four-division champion Saul "Canelo" Alvarez was in the building, and couldn’t let the proud occasion pass without issuing one more challenge to the former light heavyweight champion who denied Benavidez a fight even when he was positioned as WBC No. 1 and mandatory contender.

“I see Canelo was in the building,” Benavidez said. “We can’t leave that fight on the table. I have the light heavyweight belt. We can fight at 175[lbs].”

After what everyone witnessed Saturday, that may stand as the one bit of unfinished business that remains for Benavidez.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.

LAS VEGAS – Erasing the stains that have marked his career since he was defeated in this same arena two years ago this weekend, Jaime Munguia found a rebirth Saturday while becoming the new WBA super middleweight titleholder.

Munguia, 46-2 (35 KOs), defeated Mexico countryman Armando Resendiz by wide unanimous decision scores of 117-111 (Eric Cheek), 119-109 (Max DeLuca) and 120-108 (Glenn Feldman) to become a two-division champion. 

From the outset, Munguia showed complete preparedness for Resendiz’s power and the willingness to unleash power shots that overwhelmed his less-experienced foe.

Flashing improved footwork under trainer Eddy Reynoso, Munguia was intent to seize control from the belt holder, making the first title defense of a title he received because five-division champion Terence Crawford retired.

Munguia wanted badly to move on from the past two years, which included a Cinco de Mayo 2024 loss to current stablemate Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, a knockout loss to France’s Bruno Surace and a PED case that he conquered connected to the Surace rematch victory.

Resendiz, 16-3 (11 KOs), threw back in the third to briefly stem the tide of momentum for Munguia, but the former 154lbs titlist kept swinging viciously with success.

Then, late in the fourth, Resendiz clocked Munguia with a right flush to the jaw – a reminder of the Surace blow.

In a symbolic response, Munguia remained upright.

Bouncing on his feet and applying an effective jab, Munguia continued with his mission to remain in charge in the fifth. He delivered an uppercut and flush body shot in the sixth, moving far more boldly than he did two years ago in the Alvarez loss, during which he was knocked down.

Resendiz, fighting for the first time since he rallied on the scorecards to defeat former super middleweight titleholder Caleb Plant, lacked the power-punching advantage this time as Munguia’s movement further complicated the younger man’s pursuit.

Munguia never hesitated to engage in a center-of-the-ring slugfest with his Mexican countryman, getting the better of the action with a short left to the jaw in the seventh.

Sitting ringside, Alvarez both barked direction and pointed to his head for his stablemate to outwork and outsmart Resendiz. Going to the body and then head brought cheers from Alvarez.

Trainer Manny Robles leaned into Resendiz with fierce directions to rally from the deficit. But it was Munguia landing the blows that backed Resendiz, and it was the 29-year-old – with nearly 30 more pro fights than his foe – who fought with more energy.

He rocked Resendiz twice with rights in the ninth, bringing a cheering Alvarez out of his seat.

Munguia’s experience in throwing combinations and then tasting Resendiz’s power gave him the confidence to extend his lead in the closing rounds and remain in toe-to-toe mode, even when Resendiz landed heavily in the bout’s closing seconds.

Munguia persevered again, accepting his new belt and holding it high for all to see while seated high on a cornerman’s shoulders.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.

TOKYO – For a fight that carried the weight and expectation of a nation, Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani delivered.

Before 55,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night, in what had been billed as the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history, the fight lived up to the hype. At the centre of it all, Inoue emerged once again as the junior featherweight division’s defining force, overcoming Nakatani in a fight that demanded everything of him to retain his undisputed crown. 

The pivotal moment came in the championship rounds, when the fight hung in the balance and Inoue pulled away. The Japanese great shifted momentum in a contest that had been fought at a level worthy of the occasion.

For long stretches, this was exactly what it promised to be – two elite fighters, in their prime, trading control in a battle where neither gave an inch easily. Nakatani proved why he had been considered Inoue’s most dangerous challenger, finding success and forcing the champion to adjust in ways few opponents have managed. But on a night that was defined by the tiniest of margins, Inoue found another gear and pipped his compatriot by scores of 115-113 and 116-112, twice. 

The referee Robert Hoyle wasn’t needed, such was the respect between the two, and that respect could be seen from the off. 

They circled each other, like two lions awaiting the other’s move, and it was Inoue who was first to pounce. Inoue, 33, darted in with his quick feet and landed his left handed jab. Nakatani, 28, pawed his southpaw right into Inoue’s face, and narrowly missed with a looping left.

Nakatani picked things up in the second, keeping Inoue at bay with his right hand. Inoue was falling short, and Nakatani’s left hand was getting closer with every attempt. Then it was Inoue’s turn to adjust, as he cut off the ring with his quick feet, but failed to land anything of note. Inoue then started to pull away and although he was shorter than his 5’ 8” foe, he was starting to win the battle of the jabs. Inoue was rapid, darting in and landing his left hand, and had built himself a healthy lead heading into the sixth session. Nakatani then started to find his feet and unloaded on Inoue as he briefly lay on the ropes. 

Nakatani was pulling it back, and in the eighth went for it.

The challenger took the center ring and pressed Inoue to the ropes where he landed a left, followed by a right, followed by another left. Inoue certainly felt it, but he smiled at his foe and waved Nakatani on. 

It was boxing at its best. They were both making each other miss by millimeters, and just when they thought they had the other pinned, they somehow found a way out.

The pair smiled at each other, almost in awe of their opponent’s skills, then quickly got down to hammering away. Nakatani had his best round yet in the ninth, catching Inoue with four left hands early and cracked Inoue with a peach of an uppercut late.

Nakatani then followed his best round yet with his most telling punch, a right hook that shook Inoue to his boots. The 10th was going to plan Nakatani, but disaster struck late in the session when the pair clashed heads. A large gash on Nakatani’s right eyebrow appeared, and in Round 11, the southpaw was clearly struggling to see.

Inoue took full advantage and wobbled Nakatani with multiple right hands, to the side of Nakatani’s vision that was blurred with blood. Inoue had a confident look on his face as he bounced on his feet for the 12th and final session. Nakatani had a look of worry, and pressed to snatch one vital round for his own. Nakatani pawed away with his right, and fired in his left, but Inoue was too quick, and he danced away in the final session.

The pair embraced at the sound of the final bell. Two masters of their craft, and two fighters that had proved yet again why they are two of the finest in the sport today. Nakatani, 32-1 (24 KOs), may have been handed his first loss as a professional, but he took it well, and even in defeat his stock rose.

Inoue, now 33-0 (27 KOs), continues his search for a challenger capable of bettering him in the ring.

Beforehand, former WBO bantamweight titleholder Yoshiki Takei picked up an underwhelming win over DeKang Wang over eight rounds. Takei, now 12-1 (9 KOs), was fighting for the first time since his stoppage loss to Christian Medina in September, and at a new weight of 122lbs. Takei fought like a fighter wary of his chin, and never looked comfortable when tagged by Wang. Wang, 9-2 (4 KOs) and who had not fought for two years, was the aggressor and had Takei trapped in the corner and hurt on multiple occasions. In the end Takei was somewhat fortunate to walk away with a majority decision win via scores of 76-76 and 77-75, twice.

 

TOKYO, Japan — The excitement around Tokyo has been building all week for what is certainly the biggest fight in Japanese boxing history.

Everyone in town knows about the upcoming clash between undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani this Saturday at the Tokyo Dome. You can hold a conversation with anyone about the bout, from the local cab drivers to the sushi chefs – everyone knows about the big fight.

However, there are no signs of Inoue or Nakatani’s faces across the city, not on billboards or posters; that’s because the contest is so huge it does not need the promotion found in Las Vegas on fight week. The tickets have already been sold and the fight imprinted into the minds of fans long ago. You don’t see posters for the World Cup Final, and that is exactly what it represents to the people of Tokyo. For the people of Japan, this is the ultimate fight, the Super Bowl of boxing.

It pits their Tom Brady, Naoya Inoue, against the No. 1 challenger and only man many think capable of bettering “The Monster” in Junto Nakatani. During a week where Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have agreed to square off – albeit about six years too late – Inoue and Nakatani will do what few modern fighters do and face each other in their primes, and when public demand is at its highest.

Inoue has cemented himself as the greatest Japanese boxer of all-time by winning world titles in four weight classes, including becoming undisputed in not one, but two divisions. His world title span stretches from claiming his first strap down at 108lbs when he was 20 years old to now holding all four belts at 122lbs aged 33. In that time he has registered 32 wins, no defeats, and has finished 27 of his opponents inside the scheduled distance.

He has become known for his knockouts, which typically come both brutal and early, something unheard of from fighters down in the lower weight classes. Despite his small stature, Inoue has cemented himself as not only one of the pound-for-pound hardest hitters in the sport, but maybe its finest fighter. His dominance has seen him pick up dozens of accolades over his 14 year career, but there are worries that he may now be on the slide.

Inoue stopped Marlon Tapales to unify all four belts at junior featherweight in 2023, but has failed to register that kind of performance ever since. He has been floored heavily by both Luis Nery and Ramon Cardenas, and failed to reach his high standards against the little known Alan David Picasso last time out in December. The fast feet that have brought Inoue so much success over the years may now be starting to slow ever so slightly, just enough to mean that the rocket of a right hand he used to land with so much spite falls just short.

However, despite question marks raised in recent bouts, he is still one of the finest fighters on the planet. His footwork means he cuts the ring off better than all his peers, he finds room for his shots where even the eyes cannot see, and takes away his foes best attributes in a matter of minutes. His ring IQ is arguably only lesser to that of his pound-for-pound rival Oleksandr Usyk, and when he is on-song, there are few fighters better to watch. Inoue almost makes a scuffle between two men look like a rendition of Swan Lake.

His opponent on Saturday, however, is almost equally as graceful in the ring. Nakatani, from Inabe-gun, Japan, and a holder of world honours in three weight classes, brings a beautiful brutality to the squared circle. For a fighter who normally towers over his opponents, standing at 5’ 8”, he fights incredibly well on the inside, but also uses his 68 ½ inch reach to his advantage. He often probes his jab into the face of his foe before delivering a looping left hand that quite often lands with bad intentions. Nakatani seemed to come into his own at bantamweight, claiming the WBC and IBF titles and knocking out all five of his opponents at 118lbs.

However, since moving up in weight last year, he has struggled to register that same dominance at 122lbs. Nakatani has fought in one sole bout, and claimed a dubious decision win over Sebastian Hernandez out in Saudi Arabia back in December. The frontfooted Mexican caused Nakatani all kinds of trouble. Nakatani found a home for his left hand early, but unlike at 118lbs, his foe did not budge. Nakatani was taken into deep waters, found himself gasping for air, but was helped ashore by the three judges seated ringside.

That performance would lead one to believe that taking on who many believe the pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport to be a step too far. However, that is not how boxing works, and as the old saying goes: Styles make fights. Inoue will not bring the same rugged approach that Hernandez brought to the table out in the Saudi heat. The chess match and straight punching that his compatriot from Zama, Japan, brings is much more suited to the 32-0 (24 KOs) Nakatani.

Not many will agree with this prediction, and quite rightly too, but this writer heard a quote recently and it has stayed with him heading into Saturday’s fight. “Inoue has been looking awfully like “Canelo” Alvarez in recent fights.” Now that does not mean in style, but in that he still has enough quality to defeat B-level or even some A-level opposition, but he is just not the fighter he once was. The Inoue who breezed through Stephen Fulton in his first bout at 122lbs would have made a mockery over Picasso in December, which is why this writer is picking Nakatani to become the first man to register a win over “The Monster”.

Nakatani’s style and in particular his left hand could turn out to be a real issue for Inoue, especially down the stretch. With Nakatani’s long reach and footwork that could even rival Inoue’s, the undisputed champion may find himself down on the cards and desperate. Inoue has found himself on the canvas or hurt, often from left hands in recent fights, and if he goes chasing the result that may happen again. Nakatani, however, is not the type of fighter to let his man off the hook, and he is most likely the hardest puncher and best finisher Inoue has fought in his 32 professional contests.

Credit where credit is due to Inoue for taking on his toughest test and he should be applauded for doing so, no matter the result. Too often champions take the easy route, or only take on the very best when everything lines up in their favour. Inoue-Nakatani is what the sport needs, and hopefully more follow suit.

 

LAS VEGAS – Oscar De La Hoya said his lobbying last week for fighters to be protected under federal regulations that exist under the Ali Act was “very unfortunate, like walking into a buzzsaw.”

Only three U.S. senators – two of whom received thousands of dollars in campaign donations from Zuffa’s Dana White – appeared at a committee session where De La Hoya, fighter Nico Ali Walsh (Muhammad Ali’s grandson) and White’s business partner Nick Khan spoke.

“I have never been part of anything so corrupt in my life,” said Golden Boy Promotions chairman and CEO De La Hoya on his “Clapback Thursday” social media episode, as the Senate is expected to forward the bill to White’s close friend President Trump to sign.

The appearance reinforced something deep in De La Hoya.

As the old Ali Act crumbles into the new version crafted by Khan’s Zuffa Boxing, it’s officially time to take the loss over that cause.

And the best response is to commit to a business strategy that will both beat back the enriched new challenger Zuffa and attract the lion’s share of boxers.

De La Hoya’s commitment is one his fellow “old guard” promoters are increasingly gravitating to in the sport’s changing business landscape.

It’s called co-promotion.

In Saturday’s unified cruiserweight title defense by De La Hoya-promoted champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez versus Premier Boxing Champions’ WBC light heavyweight titleholder David Benavidez, longtime adversaries are working together to both beat back their new competitor and take their businesses to new heights.

“The fighter will absolutely realize who’s right and who’s wrong,” De La Hoya said. “The fighter will realize this side of the street is the better side.”

Backed by Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh, Zuffa Boxing is further funded by a new five-year, $100 million annual deal in place with streaming partner Paramount+.

Zuffa has begun landing champions and elite contenders including cruiserweight Jai Opetaia, junior welterweight Richardson Hitchins, super middleweight Edgar Berlanga and welterweight Conor Benn.

Zuffa vows to make a far greater splash, with UFC CEO/President White labeling De La Hoya, PBC’s Al Haymon and Top Rank’s Bob Arum “babies” who will be washed away by the new company.

Yet as Zuffa seeks to expand beyond a string of lesser-tier cards at the UFC’s Meta Apex in Las Vegas with a June 6 card in the UK, promising bigger shows to come, the sport’s existing power brokers are banking on the notion that there is power in numbers.

PBC is looking for Benavidez, 29, to supplant Saudi-supported Saul “Canelo” Alvarez as the new face of Cinco de Mayo. Phoenix’s Benavidez, 31-0 (25 KOs), is moving up 25 pounds to take on the stout challenge of Golden Boy’s Ramirez, 48-1 (30 KOs), who has never been knocked down and will likely outweigh Benavidez by 15 pounds on fight night.

De La Hoya, after recently extending his company’s streaming deal with DAZN, is displaying a willingness to work with new DAZN promoter Top Rank and existing UK-based promoters Matchroom and Queensberry. He plans to place his most decorated fighters in co-promoted events.

“I’m grateful that with promoters like PBC, Top Rank and Matchroom, we can all make fights together, with most of us under the same umbrella at DAZN,” De La Hoya said. “It’s easier to make these kinds of fights happen.”

Easier now because it may be essential.

Zuffa’s fellow companies under TKO Group Holdings are the UFC and WWE, the dominant players in the respective worlds of mixed martial arts and pro wrestling.

“They want to monopolize boxing,” De La Hoya said on “Clapback Thursday.” “You have a choice of … rules and fair rankings or … a dictatorship.”

As impassioned as De La Hoya’s position is, the lead promoter for PBC, TGB’s Tom Brown, reminded that it was just more than a decade ago that the boxing industry saw the well-funded PBC as the business threatening a takeover.

Powerful manager Haymon oversaw an exodus of talent from the Golden Boy stable to his own, leading to years of bitterness between the companies before they began to work together, including the highly lucrative 2023 battle between PBC’s Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Golden Boy’s Ryan Garcia.

“We’ve had a great relationship with Golden Boy. We’ve come together and put on the best events – Garcia versus Tank was a wild success, off the charts,” Brown said. “Then we came together for the last Cinco de Mayo event in Las Vegas – Canelo Alvarez versus Jaime Munguia [in 2024], again a huge weekend.

“Oscar and [Golden Boy President] Eric [Gomez] are very easy to work with. They want to make the best fights. Oscar always said that in his entire career: We trust them, have respect for them and we have a lot in common in the matchmaking department.” 

They also each possess large stables of fighters who they plan to retain by offering major, lucrative, world title bouts that are easier to make by expanding ties with fellow promoters and the four sanctioning bodies.

White has said Zuffa Boxing would prefer not to work with other promoters or the sanctioning bodies, rewriting the Ali Act to allow Zuffa to rank and award its own belt to fighters, as is done in the UFC.

As the Golden Boy-PBC union hogs boxing headlines this week, Zuffa deployed one of its broadcasters, Mark Kriegel, to contrast the business models.

“At best, [the sanctioning bodies] are hacks. At worst, they’re corrupt,” Kriegel said on veteran boxing reporter Chris Mannix’s podcast.

In response to that comment, WBO President Gustavo Olivieri wrote on X: "Hey @MarkKriegel if you have any evidence (direct or circumstantial) against any WBO officials, please contact immediately the FBI. Put your actions behind your words."

Kriegel also bashed De La Hoya for arguing for Ali Act transparency while being engaged in a lawsuit with unbeaten junior middleweight Vergil Ortiz Jnr and after previous legal beefs with Garcia and Alvarez.

“I mean, the idea that Oscar has suddenly become an advocate for full disclosure, to me, is astonishing,” Kriegel said to Mannix.

De La Hoya said he “absolutely, 1,000 per cent” is committed to the co-promotion response to Zuffa Boxing’s efforts, emphasizing the benefits of his strategy to as many boxers as possible.

“Now it’s: ‘Do you want to fight for the unicorn Zuffa belt or continue making history on this side of the street?’” De La Hoya said.

Brown was less defiant toward Zuffa, taking an unintended jab at them in the process when asked if PBC would work with them.

“I haven’t really thought about it, to be honest. If they’re willing to work with the sanctioning bodies … because we’ve got so many champions,” Brown said. “You just never know what they’re going to bring to us. I’m kind of sitting back and watching.”

Brown said the established promoters have not huddled to orchestrate a co-promotion strategy to pummel Zuffa Boxing.

“There hasn’t been anything like that,” Brown said. “Any promoter will tell you, it’s always easier to do an in-house fight. It’s easier to get it done. With us having the biggest stable, it’s easier for us to do that. But we’re willing to work with anyone.”

Increasingly, PBC has shrewdly placed its fighters in high-profile cards promoted by others. Featherweight Brandon Figueroa went to England to wrest a title from Queensberry’s Nick Ball. Carlos Adames defended his middleweight belt against Matchroom’s Austin “Ammo” Williams after gaining a draw in Saudi Arabia versus Alalshikh’s favorite, Hamzah Sheeraz.

When Top Rank was operating without a television deal, Matchroom invited 130lbs titleholder Emanuel Navarrete over for a highly successful unification victory in Phoenix and PBC brought another Top Rank junior lightweight titlist, O’Shaquie Foster, to defend his belt against Stephen Fulton.

PBC also has David Morrell Jnr and Alberto Puello in line for high-profile bouts on Queensberry and Matchroom cards.

“People give us a bad rap, but we’re always doing it,” Brown said.

He said being called “babies” by White hasn’t hurt feelings.

“People always talked about us that way, and Al would say, ‘Let’s stay in our lane, do our thing,’ and you’ve never heard anyone from PBC’s side talk like that about another promoter,” Brown said. “We’re always here – to help on short notice, ready to get other guys in the ring if we’ve got a spot.”

Top Rank’s Foster is going to defend his junior lightweight belt against Matchroom’s Raymond Ford. PBC’s Lamont Roach Jnr is in talks to meet Golden Boy lightweight William Zepeda.

As De La Hoya says it’s good for business, Brown says it’s good for the sport.

Benavidez has the potential Saturday to capture a breakthrough victory that every promoter would want.

“He’s the challenger, but if you look at the poster, see what side he’s on,” Brown said, noting the left side typically reserved for champions. “He’s got that ‘it’ factor, the work ethic, the drive.”

With Alvarez attending the fight after performing in nearly every early May fight since 2015, Brown said, “From Saturday night, this will be David Benavidez’s day.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.

They’ve been at each other’s throats in recent months, and there is even talk that they should step in the ring to settle their beef.

The rivalry between Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn and new Zuffa Boxing representative Dana White took to a more civilized public debate this week with Hall of Fame broadcaster and promoter Lou DiBella arguing White is the better promoter.

Appearing on "The Ariel Helwani Show," DiBella contended White is his choice because he takes a more developed “model and business paradigm” as UFC CEO/president as he launches his boxing venture while moving to create a new Ali Act.

“You can say it’s anti-fighter and complain the old system is better, but they know what they’re doing… and there’s not a surviving member of boxing who can say they do it better,” DiBella told Helwani.

“The old promotional system is dying and headed to death.”

Former HBO executive DiBella counts himself as a casualty, having left the sport to focus on the ownership of his minor-league baseball teams.

Harvard-educated DiBella lauded the more established Hearn for being better positioned for success in his native U.K. and for being strongly capitalized.

“Eddie is not going away,” DiBella said.

“Do I think Dana has a smarter, more effective, more intelligent, better capitalized, more television connected relationship than Eddie? It’s not even a question,” DiBella said.

Backed strongly financially by Saudi Arabia holdings, Zuffa Boxing has staged a handful of small shows at the UFC’s Meta Apex in Las Vegas after promoting the massive Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford fight at Allegiant Stadium in September.

Since then, Zuffa has also rounded up former Hearn-promoted champions Jai Opetaia and Richardson Hitchins along with 2024 title challenger Edgar Berlanga and expected welterweight title contender Conor Benn.

Hearn’s Matchroom has built Anthony Joshua to a global sporting figure while readying for a busy June with unbeatens Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Jaron “Boots” Ennis headlining major cards in Phoenix and New York.

Trainer and guest analyst Stephen “Breadman” Edwards said on Wednesday’s edition of ProBox TV’s "BoxingScene Today" that he was surprised by DiBella selecting White over Hearn after criticizing White for lobbying to change the Ali Act that provided financial protections for fighters.

“Lou is an intelligent guy. … I don’t think Dana has done enough in boxing to say he’s a better promoter than Eddie Hearn. Zuffa was just born,” Edwards said. “[DiBella] said it with purpose.”

Analyst and former DiBella-promoted welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi criticized DiBella over his choice of White and over his own work as a promoter, calling DiBella “conniving.”

“He sucked at this business and it left him bitter about the old guard [of boxing promoters]. They outdid him,” Malignaggi said. “We haven’t seen enough of Dana White in boxing. So far, he’s kind of average.

“There is a big war chest, but he could still drop the whole bag and fail.”

Malignaggi said White has to prove he can handle a different combat sports model that is “more cemented in,” compared to what White built with the UFC.

“Right now, Eddie Hearn is the better promoter. He’s created more champions. He’s doing more … he’s made Matchroom a bigger company,” Malignaggi said. “To compete [for White] is one thing. To unseat is completely different.”

He said DiBella often reveals agendas with his opinions.

“Take some of those opinions with a grain of salt … there’s something to sift out,” Malignaggi said.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is expected to make his healthy return against super middleweight titleholder Christian Mbilli in September in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ring Magazine announced on Thursday.

Alvarez, 63-3-2 (39 KOs), has been out of the ring since his unanimous decision loss to Terence Crawford this past September, when Crawford won convincingly and took over Alvarez’s 168lbs undisputed championship.

After the fight, Alvarez, 35, required surgery on his left elbow to remove loose bodies. Having resumed training, he presumably will be ready to challenge Mbilli, who controls the WBC super middleweight belt, in the fall.

Mbilli, 29-0-1 (24 KOs), a Cameroon native and French national now fighting out of Montreal, most recently fought to a split draw against Lester Martinez last September on the Alvarez-Crawford undercard.

No official date was released as part of the Ring Magazine announcement, but Alvarez traditionally fights on Mexican Independence Day weekend and had previously been targeting a Sept. 12 return to coincide with that date in 2026.

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.

TOKYO, Japan – In the days leading up to one of the biggest fights of his career, Naoya Inoue is not searching for statements or superlatives. He is waiting.

“I've done everything I can. I'm calm and patiently waiting for the match in two days. That's how I feel,” said Inoue, translated from Japanese, at Thursday’s press conference. 

As excitement builds across Japan for his contest with Junto Nakatani at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday, Inoue sat relaxed beside the man attempting to take his throne. He referred to the fight simply as a “match,” as if it were a game of tennis or football, not a meeting with the most dangerous opponent of his career.

That is how boxing is viewed in Japan. It is a sport, there is no need for curse words or scuffles at weigh-ins, and Inoue set an example. Although he sat just a couple short feet away from Nakatani, there was respect – far more than generally seen on US or UK shores – but a real tension between the pair. 

"He seems clever, serious, and dedicated to boxing,” Inoue said of his opponent. “I need to approach the challenge with the same attitude."

All four of Inoue’s junior featherweight titles will be on the line this Saturday. While his dominance at the weight has been clear, questions have lingered over the level of opposition in recent fights, questions that make this meeting with Nakatani all the more significant.

There are also moments, however fleeting, that have hinted at vulnerability and decline. Inoue has made a habit of touching the canvas in recent times, dramatically in the second round against Ramon Cardenas last year, and has failed to record a stoppage since that contest. Inoue outpointed both Murodjon Akhmadaliev and Alan David Picasso in 2025, and failed to impress against the latter in December. 

There will be 55,000 in attendance at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday, and Inoue intends to remind every single one of them why they call him “The Monster”.

"I've dedicated my life to getting this far,” said Inoue, 32-0 (27 KOs). “I want to engrave my fighting spirit in your memory. I think there will be a lot of fans coming to see a fight for the first time. I want to show them the excitement and greatness of boxing, and how much energy it naturally generates when top fighters compete. 

“I want to prove that I'm still Naoya Inoue."

 

LAS VEGAS – It was 20 years ago this weekend when Oscar De La Hoya took full ownership of Cinco de Mayo weekend, igniting a tradition that continues Saturday with a new successor making his debut headlining the boxing holiday.

But as De La Hoya had an Olympic gold medal fueling his fame, as next-in-line Floyd Mayweather Jnr leaned on his victory over De La Hoya and as Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was accompanied by a fervent following in Mexico, David Benavidez arrives here thanks purely to his own tenacity.

Phoenix’s two-division champion Benavidez, 31-0 (25 KOs), started as the overweight kid brother to the gifted Jose Benavidez Jnr.

While Jose Jnr would set records by being the youngest to win a national Golden Gloves title and sign with promoter Bob Arum’s Top Rank, David found himself rejected by Top Rank and De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions.

The verbal rejections included “He doesn’t have the talent” and “He’s not the same as his brother.”

David’s first seven fights were obscure appearances in Mexico while he was still a teenager, including one at a Tijuana greyhound racetrack, before he “graduated” to club shows in Phoenix.

What never waned, however, was a father’s faith.

Jose Benavidez Snr, who still trains David, was born in Mexico City, then moved with his family to the US at 11, falling on hard times and saying he experienced homelessness and gang life before fathering Jose Jnr at age 17.

“I did whatever I could to survive. I had to live. I had to learn,” Jose Snr said. “I remember writing a song for Junior where I told him, ‘I am so proud of you, I love you.’ I was so scared, though. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I had to love him.”

Where other young fathers have fled, Jose Snr said, “I was there. I never gave up.”

In boxing, he saw an outlet for himself and the boys – and it became an obsessive pursuit.

“The only credit I’m going to take is I made them push by taking them to places they’ve never been before,” Jose Snr said. “I told them not to be afraid, that they could do anything in life. My job was to push them and make them disciplined. The rest was on them.”

As Jose Jnr was shining at age 17, his dad would tell others, “I have another son better than Junior.”

“I saw something different, a kid who wanted to be more than his brother, a kid who wanted to prove it to the world. I saw so much talent when he was sparring world champions at 13, 14 and he could hold his own. To do that at his age, it says so much about a fighter.”

Jose Jnr’s success was pivotal in the process.

“Because he’s the one who started all this, by setting all those records, looking like a future superstar … David looked up to him as a hero and wanted to be more than his brother. Otherwise, they weren’t going to look at him,” Jose Snr said.

“David didn’t possess the same super-talent as Junior, but he possesses the hard work, dedication and discipline, and he was willing to work as hard as he has to become who he is.”

That equates to the inspirational lesson in all this. 

“If you don’t have natural talent but you have the discipline and the heart and the desire, that can take you a long way,” Jose Snr said.

Building up Jose Jnr and “The Monster,” as Mike Tyson first coined David, required equipment, entry fees and travel costs, and as Jose Snr had purchased a home and car for his family, he soon found the boxing costs escalating to a worrisome level.

“Don’t even remind me about that,” Jose Snr told BoxingScene. “To think about where we were, when I was borrowing from one person and then paying off another … I spent every penny I had, not knowing where I was going. But I knew I was trying the best I could to get my kids to their goals.

“I have no idea how I made it through. I would spend my rent money to get through.”

He recalls being evicted from three homes, cars getting repossessed, watching his marriage crumble.

“My credit went from so good – I had bought three houses – to so bad. I owed so many people, credit cards and all that. I had so many creditors and banks calling me, I wouldn’t even answer the phone anymore.”

It’s a part of the Benavidez family story that Jose Snr says was so dark, “I never even told my kids. It’s not that I’m ashamed or embarrassed. I lost everything taking these guys to the next level.

“Time and again, I’d repeat to myself, ‘They’ve got to get to the next level.’”

One of those expenses was taking David to train alongside Julian Jackson in the Virgin Islands, and the investment in family began to grow when Jackson phoned veteran promoter Sampson Lewkowicz and told him to sign David.

“Hey, you’ve got to see this kid,” Jackson said. “He beat the [crap] out of your fighter. This guy is really good. We love him.” 

While Jose Jnr won an NABF 140lbs title in 2014, he later got shot in the leg in Phoenix and saw his career diminish, even though he gave Terence Crawford a quality bout in 2018 and also fought former two-division champion Danny Garcia.

But Lewkowicz was so enamored with David, he woul tell reporters and veteran fight men that his fighter would become the youngest-ever super middleweight world champion, which the power-punching David Benavidez achieved in 2017 at age 20.

“Deep in my heart, I knew something like this would happen,” Benavidez Snr said Tuesday before putting his son through a light workout session in preparation for Saturday night’s attempt to capture a third division title versus unified WBO/WBA champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, of Mexico, in a Prime Video/DAZN pay-per-view main event at T-Mobile Arena.

What fostered such a belief in the father? 

“I don’t know, just a feeling in my heart that … even though every day was a sad day with so much pressure, I knew there was going to be a happy day,” Jose Snr said.

“I was very close to giving up, would go to sleep and tell myself, ‘That’s it, no more.’ But I never gave up. I lost my marriage because I was lost in the boxing [even before the brothers became teenagers], so crazy about it.

“I’ve tried to erase those memories, and I’ve had to forget about them because they were so hurtful and dragged me down so much.”

But when Benavidez Snr watched Jose Jnr perform on film in “Creed III,” and as he takes David to this global event, he says, “It’s just a dream come true. I’m so proud and happy where we are, I could die tomorrow and I’d be so full of appreciation.

“I don’t think a lot of people would do what I did, and believe and never give up through those times. It was so hard to do.”

Saturday’s bout represents a critical moment for the family, as David seeks to elevate alongside the legends of the past while emphasizing why Alvarez avoided fighting him and how some project him as a future heavyweight champion.

In a recent conference call, David Benavidez spoke of seizing the moment. 

"Continuing to move up and challenge world champions shows everyone that I'm serious about what I do, and that I believe in my skills 100 per cent,” he said. “Making more history on May 2 would mean the world to me. At this point in my life, I just want to reach greatness. Winning these titles will definitely put me back in position to continue to push for more greatness. I'm just really happy with where I'm at in my career, and with all the risks I'm taking, because I believe it will all pay off when my career is all said and done.”

The mission, Benavidez Snr said, is to claim control of this treasured fight weekend – having done so deliberately, purposefully, with just “a feeling in my heart.”

“We can’t just win the fight. It’s such an important date in the Mexican culture. You have to look impressive. And that’s exactly what he’s going to do,” Benavidez Snr said of David.

“He’s worked on this opportunity from the time he was 2 years old. This is the perfect time for him in his career, and he’s going to take it over. We’re not going to let this go. It’s one of the biggest, most dangerous fights of his career … but we’ve worked so hard.

“So many tears, so much blood, so many things we did to get here. He is going to keep this date.”

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.

LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez is sidelined from his annual Cinco de Mayo fight weekend because he underwent elbow surgery last year, but the four-division champion will still be present at Saturday’s pay-per-view festivities at T-Mobile Arena.

With stablemate and former world champion Jaime Munguia fighting for Armando Resendiz’s WBA super-middleweight belt in the co-main event, Mexico’s Alvarez is planning on attending the show, streamed by Prime Video and DAZN.

Alvarez trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso told BoxingScene Wednesday that Alvarez 63-3-2 (39 KOs) will attend the card.

With the exception of COVID in 2020 and a suspension in 2018, Alvarez has headlined a Cinco de Mayo weekend card every year since 2015. 

It’s an intriguing appearance as Alvarez’s longtime adversary David Benavidez, 29, is headlining Saturday’s card as he moves up to cruiserweight for the first time to meet unified WBO/WBA champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez 48-1 (30 KOs).

Benavidez 31-0 (25 KOs), who was kept on pause as WBC top-ranked and mandatory contender by then-undisputed champion Alvarez, has designs on making Cinco de Mayo weekend his fighting holiday moving forward.

Alvarez, 35, is expected back in the ring in mid-September in Saudi Arabia on the other prominent boxing weekend, marking Mexican Independence Day.

Alvarez, who last fought on Mexican Independence weekend last year while losing by unanimous decision to now-retired five-division champion Terence Crawford, is said to be considering opponents including new WBC 168lbs champion Christian Mbilli, likely new IBF champion Hamzah Sheeraz or perhaps Mexico’s Resendiz if he retains his belt versus Mexico’s Munguia. 

The ringside seating arrangements will be something to watch as Alvarez’s former promoter Oscar De La Hoya will also be there in support of his fighters, including Ramirez and 140lbs contender Oscar Duarte.

De La Hoya has frequently blasted Alvarez on his “Clapback Thursday” social-media appearances and Alvarez famously torched De La Hoya at his 2024 news conference when he fought Munguia.

Wladimir Klitschko was 41 years old and had already been through the gears, so to speak, by the time he climbed into the ring – for one of the first times as an underdog – with ascendant star Anthony Joshua.

Controversial only in style, the Kazakh-born Ukrainian Klitschko had previously emerged as a dominant heavyweight champion and a stand-alone attraction almost in spite of himself. A sculpted, 6ft 6ins, with an 81ins reach and a piledriver jab, “Dr. Steelhammer” appeared on the surface to have been built in a lab – an Ivan Drago-like figure come to life.

After laying to waste his early competition with 24 wins out of the gate, however, Klitschko was proven all too human in a handful of ignominious moments and defeats, thereafter labeled with boxing’s dirtiest C-word: chinny. Even after rebuilding himself and tearing off 22 wins in a row, including 15 consecutive title defenses – the most by any heavyweight in history not named Joe Louis or Larry Holmes – he was saddled with yet another accursed reputation: boring. Still, although deemed too cautious and “robotic” by his critics, Klitschko had irrefutably cemented his status as the most successful heavyweight of his era by the time he and Joshua clashed.

Their meeting was one of the earliest masterstrokes of Matchroom’s young boss Eddie Hearn – though it also required a healthy dose of serendipity. Klitschko, whose long string of title defenses was halted by Tyson Fury in November 2015, burned to reacquire his belts. But two dates for a rematch had fallen through, and after Fury retired (for the first time) and gave up his titles, sanctioning body machinations and an injury further derailed Klitschko’s quest.

But Hearn had been on the case since Fury bailed on a Klitschko rematch the second time, and after wooing Klitschko’s side and working the WBA to sanction the bout, it was finally agreed that Klitschko would fight Joshua if AJ were to get through Eric Molina in a December 2016 fight in Manchester. When that came to pass, Klitschko was called into the ring with AJ by Hearn right then and there to begin promotion of their blockbuster, set for April 29, 2017 at London’s Wembley Stadium.

The lead-up was befitting the personalities of both men: understated and respectful. Joshua, by then a 27-year-old former Olympic gold medalist, an 18-0 heavyweight titlist and Britain’s great heavyweight hope, was deferential but confident: "He's a good man, a great man,” Joshua said of Klitschko to ESPN. “I would definitely take inspiration from him outside of boxing, but in the ring you have to be your own man.

"There's a lot of respect between us, which is different these days.”

Klitschko, meanwhile, fully understood the moment, as well as his place within it. Joshua, at 6ft 6ins and a statuesque 250lbs, was one of the few heavyweights with the frame and fitness to match his own. He would have no obvious physical edge in their matchup. Klitschko ruminated that he had been boxing for as long as Joshua had been alive, yet he was neither offended nor cowed by his status as a challenger or underdog: “I don’t think so,” he said. “I think it’s great.” He had no reserves left for pretense. Klitschko was consumed with winning back his belts.

“Obsession is love in extreme shape,” he said. “I’m in love with my goal.”

Neither fighter exuded nearly so much passion in the early rounds of the fight, though, as both men lumbered and leered warily, rarely engaging in meaningful action. A reported Wembley crowd of 90,000 – matching the English record set by Len Harvey-Jock McAvoy in 1939 – hung on every footfall and feint, and when it was the Londoner Joshua who broke the seal in the fifth, they were every one alight and the fight was on.

Joshua sent several jabs and right hands through and around Klitschko’s guard at the start of the round to send a wave of anticipation through Wembley, and when Joshua connected with a three-punch combination – highlighted by a wicked left hook – Klitschko crumbled forward to the canvas.

But the old champion wasn’t finished. Klitschko, though bleeding from a cut over his left eye, quickly bounced to his feet, fended off Joshua’s initial follow-up, then went on the attack. AJ suddenly looked like a fighter holding a pair of anvils. Klitschko landed a jab. A big right hand. An uppercut. Joshua bounced off the ropes, gulped deep breaths through an open mouth and sagged at the shoulders. The bell to end the fifth may have been his salvation.

Things went from bad to worse for AJ in the sixth, when he appeared ragged from the start, lost his gumshield and then was leveled by a Klitschko lead right hand. He rose slowly, and for a moment his day – and his undefeated record – appeared to have been ended. But Joshua channeled a second wind, clutching where he could, rolling off punches as needed and moving his feet just enough to convince Klitschko he wasn’t ready to go. It was a critical mistake.

In the moment, trainer Jonathan Banks pleaded with Klitschko to finish Joshua. But Klitschko’s brother, Vitali – himself a former formidable heavyweight titleholder – advised caution from his corner. Wladimir sized up Joshua, threw several calculated shots, but never went all in to send AJ home early and capture those belts he coveted. Later, cutman Jacob “Stitch” Duran would tell Sky Sports, "If Wladimir had five per cent more energy, he would have finished the fight. Joshua was one shot away from being knocked out." Instead, Joshua survived the round.

The next several rounds unfolded as the fight’s first few had – guardedly – until, again, it was Joshua who made something happen. He had never fought past a seventh round, but in the 10th, Joshua had not only shaken off the effects of his knockdown, he exhibited a spring in his step that Klitschko lacked. He even absorbed the worse of an exchange of right hands between the fighters. As the bell sounded for the 11th, the fighters went directly at each other from their corners, and it was a blistering right hand from Joshua to his opponent’s temple that began to turn the fight.

Klitschko was in quiet retreat – not hurt, exactly, but not fully engaged – and AJ was on the hunt. But here, Joshua took his time. He sought his opening, conserving energy, and when an embolden Klitschko stepped in, Joshua countered with a sharp left hook. They tangled briefly, and as Klitschko attempted to land something in close quarters, Joshua pivoted, reached low and brought back an uppercut from the netherworld.

It was impossible to gauge which was more impressive – the punch or the fact that Klitschko stayed on his feet. Joshua addressed the latter issue promptly, attacking with a left-right combination that, finally, bowled over Klitschko in a corner. He rose, wobbly, and when referee David Fields allowed action to resume, it all belonged to Joshua. A straight right hand upstairs sent Klitschko backward. An overhand right had him reeling against the ropes. Two more punches landed to the chin were followed by a sweeping left hook that sent him tumbling.

Fields gave Klitschko every benefit of the doubt, allowing the former champion to amble to his shaky feet and continue. But he had nothing left to offer. Joshua pressed, pinned Klitschko in a corner, then chopped wood until Fields intervened to make the ending official.

To this day, it remains Joshua’s crowning achievement – scraping himself off the canvas, venturing into deeper-than-ever waters and defeating the previous generation’s greatest heavyweight in 2017’s Fight of the Year. Even Klitschko’s side could only marvel at the enormity of the event and both fighters’ will to honor it.

As Banks later told Sky Sports: "If I were in Joe Frazier's corner for the ‘Thrilla in Manila,’ would I be upset that we lost? Or enthused to be a part of such a historic event?

"I loved how Wladimir fought. He performed better in that fight than most people thought he had in his entire career.”

There was nothing boring about Klitschko’s performance. He fought valiantly, nearly stopping Joshua, while absorbing shots over 11 rounds that would have sooner dropped water buffaloes. On his final night in the ring, Klitschko – 69 professional fights in, at age 41, battled like a young buck and showed the mental and physical resolve he had rarely been credited for as champion.

“I don't feel as someone who lost. Tonight, we all won,” Klitschko said. “Even if I didn't get the belts, I don't feel that I lost, in my name, my face, my reputation. I definitely gained, even if the result was not on my side."

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.

The rebuilding of Skye Nicolson continued inside the Melbourne Pavilion in Australia as she scored her fourth consecutive victory, beating Australian countrywoman Mariah Turner on points over 10 rounds, since her surprise defeat to Tia Brown 13 months ago.

In victory, the 30-year-old Nicolson successfully defended her WBC interim junior featherweight title though it is currently a division ruled without dispute by Ellie Scotney, who holds all four belts.

“I want superfights, I want undisputed, I was born for the big stage” Nicolson said after hearing she’d won by three scores of 100-89. There have been reports that Scotney - who is promoted by MVP - is considering moving up in weight, however. 

“Ellie Scotney, I’m next in line, let’s make it happen,” Nicolson continued. “I know you’ve been at 122 for a long time, but come one, have one more fight.”

Today, Skye Nicolson did what Skye Nicolson does as she made the most of her first fight as an event headliner in her 15-1 (3 KOs) career.

Nicolson took control with her sharp counterpunching from the start and Turner’s nose bled profusely throughout.

Nicolson started working well and she got her southpaw left hand moving briskly as the second session progressed. The beltholder was too sharp and found her rhythm early in the third, drawing blood from Turner’s nose that smeared across her face.

Turner’s face began to tell the story of a one-sided fight while Nicolson, cool and calm in the corner with trainers Eddie Lam and Bradley Skeete, was unmarked. 

Nicolson looked to land her lead hook and pivot off in the ninth. She was caught by an occasional cuffing right hand but remained a step ahead, rattling Turner with a left-right near the end of the round.

There was some rough stuff in the 10^th and final round and Turner, 12-2 (6 KOs), was docked a point for using her head but when the action resumed Nicolson speared her with a left hand and maintained her dominance the rest of the way.

Turner, fighting out of Queensland, dropped to 12-2 (6 KOs), while Nicolson is now 15-1 (3 KOs) having won at a canter.

Nicolson said: “I knew she was going to be a tough, tough girl and she showed a lot of heart. We really worked on sitting down on my shots, being more spiteful and being more aggressive.”

As for what comes next, promoter Eddie Hearn agreed with Nicolson: “She’s now mandatory for Ellie Scotney… Like Skye said, that’s one of the best fights in women’s boxing.”

 

Skye Nicolson is confident that she is about to transform her career – and do so with or without the benefit of a showdown with Ellie Scotney.

She will defend her WBC interim junior featherweight title against her fellow Australian Mariah Turner on Wednesday at the Melbourne Pavilion in Melbourne, Australia, and will be the lead attraction as Matchroom relaunches in her home country with the influential broadcaster FOX Sports.

Nicolson is already recognized as one of the world’s highest-profile fighters, but the lucrative opportunities she has sought have regardless long evaded her, and it is that that she believes is about to change.

When she sacrificed her WBC featherweight title to Tiara Brown in March 2025 after a period in which she missed out on a homecoming fight in Queensland, she was forced to rebuild. But three victories on, and under a new broadcaster, she believes she has far greater hopes of realizing her dreams.

That Matchroom is no longer promoting Jai Opetaia has also enhanced Nicolson’s significance in the context of its ambitions in Australia, and it is that growing significance that she believes can be crucial as, at the age of 30, she targets a defining fight.

“Those big dream fights that felt like a dream or a fantasy a couple of years ago feel like they could be on the horizon now,” she told BoxingScene. “Headliners against the likes of Amanda Serrano – something like that would be unbelievable. It definitely feels within reach now.

“FOX Sports in Australia – I’m going to be on free-to-air TV nationally, which opens up the sport to a new audience. That’s what I’m most excited for, as well with this new deal with Matchroom.

“They haven’t elaborated too much on how it’ll look for me personally. I think the plan with Matchroom and my brand is still very much global, but bringing big fights to Australia will be key in this new deal with Matchroom and FOX Sports. I know that I’ll definitely be a big part of that, but the plan will still be to have me fighting in the UK and US as well.

“It’s always been part of what I’ve wanted – to bring big fights to Australia and get more eyeballs on the sport in Australia. It’s very exciting for me, and headlining here is very special – I don’t necessarily see myself headlining in the UK or the US unless I’m fighting another big name from the UK or US. [But] I have the opportunity to become a household name in Australia.”

Nicolson was then asked about how confident she was in securing the showdown with the undisputed champion Scotney, from England, that has long been speculated about, and she said: “Money talks, and that fight can 100 per cent be made. I know that she’s already talking about featherweight, but she’s been talking about featherweight for the last two years, and she’s stuck around. It’s going to be up to her – if she wants to fight me, that fight is so there to be made. If she doesn’t want to fight me, she will use the excuse of moving up to 126.

“I think she’s going to move up to 126, unfortunately. But it would be much more ideal for her to stay and have one more fight at 122 first and have a big undisputed showdown. But I will not be surprised in the slightest if that doesn’t happen. It happened to me before against Amanda Serrano when I was her mandatory, and it’s more than likely going to happen again.”

Asked about the 31-year-old Turner, she then responded: “She’s good. I’m a level above her, but she’s a good opponent. She’s well schooled; she comes from a Muay Thai background, but she’s been in fighting sports for years. She’s a balanced, patient fighter – and a bit of a boxer-fighter as well, who’s ready to box on the back foot but can also be quite aggressive. She picks her shots well.

“There’s not a lot of video on her, so there’s a lot less analysis that can be done on her compared to other opponents I’ve had. But I’ve seen enough and watched enough to know what I’m dealing with. 

“I’m a very instinctive fighter. I go in there and go off reaction a lot of the time anyway, but I’ll always look at some video and study my opponent, so that when I do go in there’s nothing super-unknown. I won’t go in there and be like ‘I’m gonna feint to the head and jab to the body.’ Everything I do in the ring is very reactive to what’s happening in front of me. But I’ll go into the fight knowing, ‘She drops her lead hand when she throws her back hand,’ and little things like that.”

Declan Warrington has been writing about boxing for the British and Irish national newspapers since 2010. He is also a long-term contributor to Boxing News, Boxing News Presents and Talksport, and formerly the boxing correspondent for the Press Association, a pundit for BoxNation and a regular contributor to Boxing Monthly, Sport and The Ring, among other publications. In 2023, he conducted the interviews and wrote the script for the audio documentary “Froch-Groves: The Definitive Story”; he is also a member of the BWAA.

The NFL Draft is a sports event without any sports. No, college kids man-hugging the league’s commissioner for an uncomfortably long period of time does not qualify as a sport, even if it does require a degree of strength and endurance.

Over the course of three days at the draft, 32 teams select, depending on the year, roughly 257 players, nearly half of whom will never make an NFL roster. Sound like a pointless event to attend in person?

Well, according to the NFL, approximately 800,000 people showed up for the league’s annual draft this past weekend in Pittsburgh.

Which means it was attended by approximately 799,995 more people than the inaugural BoxingScene Professional Boxer Draft, which also took place last weekend – over WhatsApp messaging, with no witnesses aside from the five BoxingScene writers taking part.

Here was the setup, as we spun off the occasion of the NFL’s annual extravaganza to enjoy some drafting fun of our own:

The participants were, alphabetically, Matt Christie, Tris Dixon, David Greisman, Tom Ivers and me, with the draft lasting four rounds (meaning 20 fighters in total were selected).

We approached it as if we were each starting our own promotional company – meaning we were drafting for some combination of marketability, talent and general probability now and in the future of putting asses in seats. How to balance those factors was up to each man making selections.

In this hypothetical, every active boxer on the planet was available regardless of their current promotional situation, and every draft pick would be signing a three-year contract with their new fictional promoter.

Also, in this scenario, current network or promotional impediments to fights getting made do not exist. Any fight can potentially be negotiated.

The draft order was determined randomly, and it went snake-style, meaning whoever picked first in one round picked last in the next. The random order: Ivers, Christie, Raskin, Dixon, Greisman.

So, who are the most desired fighters in the sport right now and over the next three years from a promotional perspective, in the varied opinions of five experienced boxing journalists? Here’s how the draft shook out:

Pick 1, Team Ivers: David Benavidez

Tom explained that he took “The Mexican Monster” because he’s one of the few American stars on the pay-per-view level younger than 30 (Benavidez is 29) and the next three years could potentially represent his absolute prime – with plenty of attractive matchups out there at 175lbs and above.

I get the logic, but I was caught slightly off-guard by the pick, figuring Benavidez would go top 10, maybe top five, but not top one. He is not a superstar (though he’s close) nor a heavyweight (though he could eventually get there). But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Benavidez was perhaps the surest thing on the board, as a fighter currently headlining PPVs and all but guaranteed to continue doing so for the next three years.

Pick 2, Team Christie: Moses Itauma

Matt went with the riskier pick with the much higher upside – the highest upside in all of boxing, most would agree, given that Itauma is just 21 and appears more likely than anyone else to be ruling the heavyweight division when this three-year contract is up. Matt acknowledged he was gambling ever so slightly “on him becoming what everyone believes he will. But if he does become that, as a heavyweight, he will surely be the most marketable fighter on Earth.”

Impossible to argue with that logic. Had I had the top overall pick, I would have taken Itauma. And Tom’s Benavidez pick allowed me to dream that the southpaw KO artist from the U.K. would still be there for me at No. 3, until Matt rudely dashed that dream.

Pick 3, Team Raskin: Oleksandr Usyk

If I can’t have the guy expected to be king of the heavyweight division at the end of the three-year period, I may as well grab the guy I know for sure is the king at the start of it.

The gamble here is that the 39-year-old Usyk could retire in a year or two, or show signs of aging at any moment. But that risk seemed worth taking for drafting not only the current heavyweight champ but, to most, the reigning pound-for-pound champ, who can sell out arenas (and, with the right opponent, stadiums) and command eight-figure paydays for as long as he’s on top.

Pick 4, Team Dixon: Jaron “Boots” Ennis

This is a bet on talent and, Tris explained, on “the slightly old-fashioned notion that America wants a new boxing star, even if it doesn’t know it yet.”

Ennis is 28 and has had the look of a future P4P king since around age 20. That future has been slow to arrive because the opposition has often been lacking, but based on the fight he currently has lined up (Xander Zayas) and the fight he nearly had lined up (Vergil Ortiz Jnr), clearly the matchups exist at 154lbs to get Boots kicking at the next level.

Pick 5, Team Greisman: Naoya Inoue

David is not constrained by America-first thinking, as he chose to go global with his first pick. “He’s both Japan’s biggest star and a superlative talent,” David explained as he made the selection. “Even if his undefeated run were to come to an end, he would remain a top draw for his remaining years in the sport.”

This selection means Greisman needs to go into hurry-up mode getting his promotional company up and running, as Inoue fights this weekend against Junto Nakatani. It also means that in a few days from now, David may have in his stable the consensus pound-for-pound king.

Pick 6, Team Greisman: Gabriela Fundora

We have our first major curveball of the draft – the equivalent of the Rams taking Ty Simpson 13th overall. I wasn’t sure if any female fighters would get selected in our draft, but David grabbed Fundora – and in his defense, if he wanted her, it would have been risky to wait since he wasn’t getting to the podium again until Pick 15.

Anyway, David expressed a belief that the 24-year-old women’s flyweight champ has more upside than any female boxer, including Claressa Shields, in part because she has better potential opposition than Shields. (Who doesn’t?) With six knockouts in her last seven wins – double the number of KOs Shields has accumulated in her entire pro career – Fundora does indeed strike me as the correct first female fighter to select (even if I suspect she still would have been there for David in the third round).

Pick 7, Team Dixon: Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez

As with Itauma in the first round, the gentleman drafting immediately prior to me selected the precise fighter I had my eye on. So, yep, I love this pick by Tris of the 26-year-old junior bantamweight titlist from San Antonio.

Tris specified that Rodriguez is “young, gifted, ambitious and has crossover potential” and confidently declared that Bam “won’t be beaten anytime soon.” Barring a leap to junior featherweight to face Inoue, I tend to agree. (And even against Inoue, I’d give Rodriguez a decent shot.)

Pick 8, Team Raskin: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez

I didn’t necessarily want to pair Usyk with Canelo and build my stable around 30-somethings who may or may not still be in the sport at the end of their three-year contracts. But when the biggest star in North American boxing is available to you at Pick 8, a guy who’s still on some pound-for-pound lists and guarantees you one or two major PPV events a year for as long as he’s still fighting, you have to take him.

It’s diminishing returns with Alvarez from here on out, no doubt. But those returns will do their diminishing from a damned high starting point.

Pick 9, Team Christie: Jake Paul

And there it is. The most polarizing possible pick in the draft came in. The pick that made Tom immediately declare, “I no longer want to participate in this.” At least Matt properly prefaced his selection with a “Here goes nothing.”

Matt explained that while Paul’s “circus act fights” don’t hold appeal for him personally, “they reach an insane amount of people.” Paul’s fights always get attention, and there remain numerous matchups for him, serious and otherwise, that would sell. Also, Matt noted, referencing the other fighter in his promotional stable, “if he gets too big for his boots, I’ll just match him with Itauma.”

Pick 10, Team Ivers: Ryan Garcia

Moments after expressing revulsion at the Paul pick, Tom dipped a toe in slightly similar waters by choosing Garcia, a boxer whose celebrity and social media following somewhat exceed his actual in-ring credentials. And Tom acknowledged as much, saying Garcia is “probably the sport’s biggest crossover star – Paul aside.”

But as Tom pointed out, there are entirely straightforward reasons to want to promote the 27-year-old “KingRy” for the next three years, as he is “in perhaps one of the best active divisions in 147lbs, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him move up and mix it at 154lbs either.”

Pick 11, Team Ivers: Vergil Ortiz Jnr

Continuing to assemble a squad consisting only of Mexican-American fighters in their 20s, Tom used his third pick on Ortiz, who may actually soon be available to interested new promoters IRL.

In addition to Ortiz’s obvious fighting ability and his positioning in a talent-stocked weight range, Tom sees upside in adding him to this particular promotional stable, noting, “I’d also love to make an in-house fight between Ortiz and Garcia down the line.”

Pick 12, Team Christie: Shakur Stevenson

Probably the best pure boxer on the American scene right now, Stevenson is a tricky one to assess in a draft like this because his pugilistic style is not often fan-friendly.

But, acknowledging the marketing challenges with the 28-year-old southpaw, Matt figured “every promoter surely wants the next Floyd Mayweather.” Stevenson, Matt assessed, appears the closest thing out there to Floyd, even if it takes him until toward the end of the three-year window to start making it happen at the box office.

Pick 13, Team Raskin: Sebastian Fundora

I didn’t come into this experiment expecting to end up with the second Fundora off the board, but I surely wasn’t going to let “The Towering Inferno” slip any further and give David the opportunity to corner the market on Fundoras.

Sebastian is still young (28), still improving fight to fight and building his name with each win. He scores knockouts and makes entertaining scraps. And even if he suffers a second defeat soon and we look back and say he peaked against the likes of Tim Tszyu and Keith Thurman, Fundora is built to maintain some “physical freak” marketing appeal.

Pick 14, Team Dixon: Gervonta “Tank” Davis

This pick means Tris’ stable consists of Boots, Bam and Tank, as fine a collection of fighters better known by their monosyllabic nicknames as any I’ve seen. (I’m now wondering if we should do likewise with Tris and start referring to him simply as “Dix,” but … nah.)

Anyway, there’s obvious risk in drafting Davis, who may or may not ever fight again and may in fact trade in his nickname for an inmate identification number at some point soon. But Tris was focused on the potential reward that comes with that risk: Tank generates money and has spectacular punching power, and, Tris keenly observed, “what a redemption arc you could take him on if he was invested for three years.”

Pick 15, Team Greisman: Xander Zayas

Could Zayas lose his “O” in his next fight? Absolutely, as FanDuel Sportsbook pegs him as a +300 underdog against Ennis in June. But that’s a risk David is willing to take, especially in the later stages of this draft.

“No matter what,” David reasoned, “I think he’s going to remain a draw both in Puerto Rico and among the diaspora, especially in Florida and New York City.” One loss to Boots wouldn’t prevent Zayas, who is a mere 23 years of age, from enjoying a long career delivering entertainment to enthusiastic crowds.

Pick 16, Team Greisman: Keyshawn Davis

In a span of three picks, two talented but troubled Davises have come off the board. Despite a bumpy stretch – there was a no-contest due to a positive test for marijuana, a fight canceled because Keyshawn missed weight and an alleged attack on another fighter backstage – Greisman the promoter is still betting on the 27-year-old Davis’ talent with his final pick in this draft.

“He’s got a fan base in Norfolk hungry for another boxing star,” David pointed out, “and he competes in a weight class with plenty of big fights that can be made.”

Pick 17, Team Dixon: Adam Azim

The final round of this draft is shaping up as an opportunity to take risks on some unproven up-and-comers, and Tris described his selection of 24-year-old British junior welterweight Azim as “playing a wild card.”

Tris described him as “rapid, young, low mileage, yet to reach his prime,” and observed that there are “big fights out there for him and he can tap into a significant Pakistani fanbase.” Tris also sees Azim adding new layers to his game each time out. “The Assassin” would have been a reach any earlier in this draft, but as a fourth-round flyer, he makes perfect sense.

Pick 18, Team Raskin: Richard Torrez Jnr

Now it’s my turn to take a shot on a high-upside prospect (something I’m particularly willing to do since, with Usyk and Canelo, the other end of the career spectrum is already well represented on my roster).

Am I convinced the 26-year-old Torrez can succeed at the top level? Not at all. But if he should go from U.S. Olympian to heavyweight champion of the world, at a time when Americans are not exactly dominating boxing’s glamour division anymore, he’d become the biggest star in the sport. And if he loses to Frank Sanchez next month, we’ll just permanently remove every trace of this article from the internet.

Pick 19, Team Christie: Hamzah Sheeraz

In a fourth round that saw Raskin and Greisman select Americans and Dixon snap up a Brit, Matt kept the patriotic theme alive with the undefeated Essex-based super middleweight Sheeraz.

“He just might be the next Thomas Hearns,” Matt reasoned, “and his stink-the-place-out showing against Carlos Adames might have just been an aberration.” Edgar Berlanga would likely agree with that assessment.

Pick 20, Team Ivers: Ben Whittaker

And we end with more Brits picking Brits – although that’s a change of pace for Tom’s otherwise all-American roster.

The 28-year-old light heavyweight Whittaker, fresh off a first-round blast-out this month of Braian Suarez, is “one of the few prospects I rate highly in Britain,” Tom decreed, “and one of the few that has the potential to be a real star.”

***

And thus concludes our draft. Among the notable fighters not selected: Claressa Shields (and all other women not named Gabriela Fundora), Devin Haney, Agit Kabayel, Jai Opetaia, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

To them I say: There’s always next year. (When surely we’ll be able to attract 800,000 fans to this thing.)

Final draft order:

1. David Benavidez

2. Moses Itauma

3. Oleksandr Usyk

4. Jaron “Boots” Ennis

5. Naoya Inoue

6. Gabriela Fundora

7. Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez

8. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez

9. Jake Paul

10. Ryan Garcia

11. Vergil Ortiz Jnr

12. Shakur Stevenson

13. Sebastian Fundora

14. Gervonta “Tank” Davis

15. Xander Zayas

16. Keyshawn Davis

17. Adam Azim

18. Richard Torrez Jnr

19. Hamzah Sheeraz

20. Ben Whittaker

Final rosters:

Ivers: David Benavidez, Ryan Garcia, Vergil Ortiz Jnr, Ben Whittaker

Christie: Moses Itauma, Jake Paul, Shakur Stevenson, Hamzah Sheeraz

Raskin: Oleksandr Usyk, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Sebastian Fundora, Richard Torrez Jnr

Dixon: Jaron “Boots” Ennis, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, Gervonta “Tank” Davis, Adam Azim

Greisman: Naoya Inoue, Gabriela Fundora, Xander Zayas, Keyshawn Davis

Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing journalist with nearly 30 years of experience covering the sport for such outlets as BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy, and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years). He also co-hosted The HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three first-place writing awards from the BWAA, for his work with The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside boxing, he is the senior editor of CasinoReports and the author of 2014’s The Moneymaker Effect. He can be reached on X, BlueSky, or LinkedIn, or via email at RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.

Though Anthony Joshua, who returns against unknown Kristian Prenga on July 25 in Saudi Arabia, is making headlines in the heavyweight division, the next fight of Moses Itauma – set for the same date – looks certain to be a more intriguing affair.

With the O2 in London booked, BoxingScene has learned that his team are in no rush to lock down an opponent for the fast-rising 21-year-old. Two upcoming fights, and their consequences, will be closely monitored before a decision is made.

On May 9, Fabio Wardley defends his WBO title against Daniel Dubois, two more Queensberry heavyweights, and with the 14-0 (12 KOs) Itauma sitting No. 1 with the sanctioning body he could be mandated for the winner. Wardley, it should be noted, is not only a promotional stablemate of Itauma, but they also have the same trainer in Ben Davison.

More interesting to Team Itauma is likely the status of the WBC belt. Two weeks later, on May 23, Oleksandr Usyk defends the title against the wildly undeserving Rico Verhoeven. Itauma is currently No. 2 in those rankings but it’s expected that a request will be made to move to the top spot following the recent drug-test failure of Lawrence Okolie, the existing No. 1.

Another Queensberry heavyweight, Agit Kabayel, wears the WBC interim belt. BoxingScene understands that the sanctioning body will order Usyk – presuming he beats Verhoeven – to next defend against Kabayel. Should the Ukrainian, who also owns IBF and WBA belts, decide against facing Kabayel then the German could be upgraded and Itauma installed as his first challenger.

This could all be about timing, too. Should Team Itauma make their choice too early then they run the risk of losing their position in certain rankings. For example, if Itauma opens negotiations to challenge for the WBO title then he would likely be removed from rival organisations’ rankings.

Itauma, who in March stopped Jermaine Franklin in five rounds, is also No. 1 with the WBA but the chaotic belt situation – Usyk has got one, so too Murat Gassiev – does not represent an appealing route. 

A decision was also made not to chase the IBF title. The youngster, currently fifth in those rankings, was ordered to engage in an eliminator with Frank Sanchez but, with the IBF currently not in line to enforce a mandatory on multiple-belt-holder Usyk, there were concerns that Itauma would be waiting a long time for his shot.

Another potential opponent, whom Itauma himself has stated he wants, is Filip Hrgovic. The Croatian is expected to defeat Dave Allen on May 16 but it seems unlikely he’ll immediately return to camp to prepare for Itauma. Furthermore, it’s understood that Itauma’s handlers are focused on providing a title shot as soon as possible and Hrgovic, though highly ranked, does not currently own a belt.

Anthony Joshua will return to the ring against Kristian Prenga on July 25 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, ahead of a potential overdue showdown with his long-term rival Tyson Fury.

The heavyweight most recently fought and won in December when he stopped Jake Paul, but he was then involved in a car crash that killed two of his closest friends, contributing to growing uncertainty regarding his future as a professional prizefighter aged 36.

His presence at ringside for Fury’s unanimous decision victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England earlier in April led to renewed hope that after a decade of posturing the two English heavyweights will finally fight.

It continues to be suggested that Fury will also fight again before preparing for Joshua – who has signed a “multi-fight deal” – but before he commits to any future dates it is the US-based Albanian Prenga who will stand in Joshua’s way.

“It’s no secret I’ve taken some time to consolidate and rebuild to be ready for stepping back into the ring and today is the next step on that journey,” Joshua said.

“I’m delighted to have agreed a multi-fight deal starting with July 25th in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I’m looking forward to competing and picking up where I left off. As I said. The landlord will collect his rent. That is certain.”

The little-known Prenga, 35, has won 20 of his 21 fights, and on each occasion via knockout.

“Anthony Joshua is a great fighter, but he made a terrible miscalculation in picking me as his opponent,” he said. “This is the kind of fight that changes everything in my life and his.

“I know they have big plans ahead after this fight. I know they are overlooking me. I’m happy about that. I will derail their plans and shock the world this July in Saudi Arabia.”

Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, on Monday posted on social media: “To my friends in Great Britain – it’s happening. It’s signed.”

The development comes at a time of growing speculation regarding the Saudi Arabian state’s commitment to funding high-profile sport; it is being reported that LIV Golf and snooker’s Saudi Arabian Masters are under threat.

Injury has ruled Dalton Smith out of his WBC junior-welterweight title defence against Alberto Puello on June 6 at the Sheffield Utilita Arena, so the WBC and WBA flyweight title fight between Galal Yafai and Ricardo Sandoval has been promoted to the status of main event.

The 29-year-old Smith was scheduled to make the first defence of his title in his home city of Sheffield, England, having so impressively won it from Subriel Matias in January in New York. Puello, 31 and of the Dominican Republic, had lost the same title to Matias in July 2025 but was Smith’s mandatory challenger.

Smith’s compatriot Yafai, from Birmingham, fights Sandoval in the 27-year-old American’s first defence of the titles won from Kenshiro Teraji, also in July 2025. His previous contest, with Francisco Rodriguez Jnr a month earlier, became a no contest when it was revealed that Rodriguez Jnr had failed a drugs test. It until then had represented the 33-year-old Yafai’s first defeat.

“Dalton Smith has been ruled out of his WBC super-lightweight title defence against Alberto Puello following an injury sustained during camp,” read a statement from the promoters Matchroom.

“The event on Saturday, June 6 at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena will go ahead, headlined by Galal Yafai’s WBC and WBA flyweight unification championship challenge against Ricardo Sandoval.”

Smith had just signed what was described as a “long-term extension” to their promotional agreement.

“Matchroom backed me from day one,” he then said. “They allowed me to build at the right pace, to collect titles, to become a regular headliner in Sheffield and to focus on achieving my dream of becoming WBC champion.

“I’m happy, I’m continuing to improve in the ring, and I know I’ve got the best team around me. There’s a lot of talk about loyalty these days, but my head hasn’t been turned. I’m delighted to commit my future to this winning team as we chase more success together.

“With Frank [Smith, Matchroom’s chief executive], Eddie [Hearn] and the wider Matchroom team, my advisor Sean O’Toole, and my whole training team led by my dad [Grant], we’ve got something special. This is the team that will take me to that next level.

“I will show everyone that I am the best 140lbs boxer in the world by collecting every belt in the division, and of course box at Hillsborough [in Sheffield] along the way. First up is to deal with my WBC mandatory, Alberto Puello.”

Heavyweight Jarrell Miller defeated Lenier Pero via 12-round unanimous decision at Fontainebleau in Las Vegas last night.

Miller, 28-1-2 (22 KOs), is now unbeaten in his last three fights. The 37-year-old Miller’s only loss was to Daniel Dubois, and after that he boxed Andy Ruiz to a draw and defeated Kingsley Ibeh via split decision. With his victory, Miller of North Bellmore, New York, is the mandatory challenger for the WBA heavyweight title. 

Post-fight, promoter Eddie Hearn said he’d like to see Miller take on Deontay Wilder in June or July in New York, either at Madison Square Garden or the Barclays Center.

So what is next for Miller?

5. Moses Itauma

Record: 14-0 (12 KO)

Chances of happening: 5 per cent

Level of excitement: 6/10

A very good puncher, who is taking the world by storm with his brilliant knockouts over quality opponents. Itauma will need options as he moves through the ranks, and this could be a good one. He is also the WBA’s no. 1 and Pero was their No. 2.

4. Nelson Hysa

Record: 24-0 (22 KOs)

Chances of happening: 10 per cent

Level of excitement: 4/10

Hysa isn’t a big name, but he is ranked No.3 in the WBA rankings and has established a good record. Though mostly unproven at the elite level, this is the type of step-up bout he could find himself in. 

3. Oleksandr Usyk

Record: 24-0 (15 KOs)

Chances of happening: 15 per cent

Level of excitement: 4/10

Usyk, who takes on Rico Verhoeven later this month, has accomplished it all and holds three of the four heavyweight titles. At this point, one might assume he is targeting big fights only, but he could defend his title one more time if he chooses to. 

2. Murat Gassiev

Record: 33-2 (26 KOs)

Chances of happening: 30 per cent

Level of excitement: 5/10

Gassiev has a secondary WBA heavyweight title, but the sentiment seems to be that his best is behind him. A talented cruiserweight, Gassiev has moved up in weight, winning all of his fights except a loss to Otto Wallin. It would be a chance for Gassiev to solidify himself as a top heavyweight, and for the winner to prove they could replace him.  

1. Anthony Joshua

Record: 29-4 (26 KOs)

Chances of happening: 40 per cent

Level of excitement: 8/10

Joshua is rumored to fight in July in a “tune-up” type bout. At Joshua’s level, he would still be required to fight a world-ranked top contender. Miller and Joshua have history dating back to 2019 when Miller initially tested positive for their fight and Andy Ruiz stepped in to rewrite history. Joshua-Miller could make for a good fight.

Jarrell Miller was running out of time and chances to climb back into the picture of the top contenders in the heavyweight division, but he made the most of Saturday’s headline matchup with a 12-round unanimous decision over Lenier Pero at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

The scores were 117-111, 117-111 and 115-113, all for Miller.

The mauling bout saw Miller take over in the second half. The fighters pawed at one another in close quarters for most of a muted heavyweight fight.

Pero, a southpaw from Cuba who entered the fight ranked No. 2 in the division by the WBA, was intent on cementing his status. He was highly effective in the first three rounds, but he soon began to fade.

Miller, a 37-year-old from Brooklyn, New York, is a relentless pressure fighter who began to systematically wear down Pero over the course of the early rounds. In a methodical fight of attrition, Miller – who outweighed Pero by more than 50lbs but still came in 12lbs lighter than his previous bout – showed a strong motor.

Miller’s high volume of punches thrown dwarfed Pero's output, and whenever Pero seemed to have success, Miller would throw an onslaught that would override it. He picked up his pace in the second half of the fight to wear down Pero in a fight that won’t win a lot of style points but that put Miller – ranked only by the WBA, at No. 9 – back into the mix for some of the biggest fights at heavyweight.

With the win, Miller, 28-1-2 (22 KOs), became the WBA heavyweight mandatory.

Pero, meanwhile, absorbed the first loss of his professional career, slipping to 13-1 (8 KOs).

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.

With Moses Itauma ready to headline the O2 in London on July 25, BoxingScene explores the next step of the man who emphatically became the first person to stop Jermaine Franklin in his most recent bout. Itauma is now 14-0 (12 KOs) and the gifted southpaw halted Franklin in March in Manchester, taking five rounds.

Matt Christie: Itauma is sitting pretty with all four sanctioning bodies, and Queensberry, understandably, is likely going to wait to see how the upcoming key heavyweight battles play out before making their choice on which route they choose. Should Filip Hrgovic get past Dave Allen with the minimum of fuss he is Itauma’s favored foe so, guess work, I’ll go with him. Personally, I’d like to see Itauma forget about titles in 2026 and have two more fights, with each designed to further his education, so he’s ready for liftoff in 2027. With that in mind, a fit and well Andy Ruiz Jnr would be perfect for a summer showcase.

Ryan Songalia: Itauma is in a pretty interesting spot as a rising heavyweight. He’s just 21, has a strong amateur background and hits like a ton of bricks. I’d venture to say that you wouldn’t need to protect him too much despite his age. I’ll throw out a name of a guy I’d like to see him fight: Joseph Parker. If Parker can get cleared and licensed again, he would be a great test for Itauma. Or better yet, why not fight Agit Kabayel? Kabayel has been the forgotten man when it comes to getting a title shot he clearly deserves, and the winner would have the best argument for a big opportunity. Itauma is still young but if he’s going to make some noise and get on the radar for a big fight with someone like Usyk or even a Fury or Joshua, he needs to make some statements.

Eric Raskin: Assuming the goal is to get Itauma much-needed rounds and to continue to build up his credibility, without necessarily putting him in against anyone with a tricky style, I might like to see him take on Efe Ajagba. The once-beaten Nigerian would be Itauma’s best opponent to date, has the skills and athleticism to compete, could possibly last the 10-round distance, and wouldn’t be much of a threat to actually win. That said, I could easily see the opportunity going to someone slightly more high profile and a notch below Ajagba on recent form – like Jarrell Miller, provided he gets by Lenier Pero this weekend.

Tris Dixon: Makhmudov would be interesting. He can compare results with others, including Fury and Kabayel, would likely get rounds and would have the opportunity to make a statement. I feel like there is no rush for a top gun whatsoever and Makhmudov now is relatively well known in the UK.

Jason Langendorf: Itauma’s team has no reason not to slow-play his development of a 21-year-old heavyweight who still needs rounds. Who he will fight next, who I want to see him fight and who he should fight could be three different fighters, but I’ll stick to the question at hand: If I were handling Itauma’s matchmaking, my first calls would be to Otto Wallin and Kubrat Pulev – two veterans who have the durability and savvy to extend a fight and teach Itauma a thing or two but who lack the devastating one-punch power to derail his career before it really gets started.

Tom Ivers: I’d love to see Itauma in there with Hrgovic, but it’s a pretty quick turnaround for him given he will be fighting Dave Allen on May 16 in Doncaster, England, The contest should be a pretty straight forward one, but I doubt he’s be willing to get straight back in to camp for a fight with Itauma. So, my pick would be Zhilei Zhang. The Chinese heavyweight represents a tough task for the promising youngster, and is perhaps the hardest-hitting heavyweight in the division. Itauma is still yet to pass the chin check, and I’m quietly confident that Zhang could take some shifting. He may have stamina issues, but he is as tough as they come.

Errol Spence Jnr’s return from an extended near-three-year-long absence from prizefighting will come following a lengthy journey.

BoxingScene confirmed through an official connected to negotiations that former three-belt welterweight champion Spence will venture to Australia to meet that country’s native son, former 154lbs titleholder Tim Tszyu, in an expected Prime Video pay-per-view on July 26 in Australia – July 25 in the US.

Veteran boxing journalist Dan Rafael first reported the news.

Spence, 28-1 (22 KOs), hasn’t fought since his one-sided defeat at the hands of now-retired five-division champion Terence Crawford in July 2023 in Las Vegas.

In that bout, Spence, 36, was knocked down three times before getting stopped by Crawford in the ninth round.

Former WBO belt holder Tszyu, 27-3 (18 KOs), has fought seven times since Spence’s previous appearance, but he has lost three of the bouts – two by knockout.

Tszyu this week announced he was making his second corner change within a year, ditching Cuban trainer Pedro Diaz for countryman Jeff Fenech.

Spence is eyeing the bout not only for the value of the purse but also to re-emerge as a title contender in a rich division that counts fellow Premier Boxing Champions fighter Sebastian Fundora (WBC) and Xander Zayas (WBA, WBO) as titlists and former welterweight belt holder Jaron “Boots” Ennis and WBC interim titleholder Vergil Ortiz Jnr as contenders.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.

Bill Caplan, the International Boxing Hall of Fame publicist whose career spanned from George Foreman and Oscar De La Hoya to Manny Pacquiao and Canelo Alvarez, died at age 90 on Thursday.

Caplan, after entering the sport in 1962, publicized fights for promoters Bob Arum, Don King, De La Hoya and fellow Hall of Famers Dan Goossen, Aileen Eaton and Don Chargin.

The jolly, renown storyteller with a gift for being the ideal conduit for fight authorities looking to protect certain details of the news and reporters thirsting for all the salty facts, Caplan was born September 8, 1935, in Des Moines, Iowa, and resided for more than 70 years in Los Angeles County.

He’s survived by his wife of 69 years, Sandy; longtime boxing publicist daughter Debbie; daughter Liz; son Scott; nine grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Sons Harold and Charles preceded him in death.

Caplan is most associated with former two-time heavyweight champion George Foreman from his amateur career in Oakland to the famed “Rumble in the Jungle” in Africa to his stirring comeback to stand again as heavyweight champion by knocking out Michael Moorer in 1994.

Yet, it was Caplan’s chance run-in with Foreman’s 1974 foe Muhammad Ali that most seriously shaped his publicity career.

It was in 1962, when Olympic gold medalist Ali fought three times that year at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, that Caplan entered the downtown Main Street Gym with a new transistor radio glued to his ear, listening to Vin Scully call the action for Caplan’s beloved Los Angeles Dodgers.

Soon enough, Caplan was standing near the ring, piqueing Ali’s curiosity over this contraption.

“What have you got there?” Ali asked Caplan.

“A transistor radio,” Caplan responded.

“Does it play music?” Ali queried, with Caplan answering yes.

“Could I record some songs off that with a device I have back in my room?” Ali wondered.

“I imagine you can,” said Caplan.

After the workout, the pair retreated to Ali’s room and as the future three-time heavyweight champion began recording random songs from the AM radio that he planned to listen to at a later time, he asked Caplan, “What is it again that you do?” 

“I’m a boxing publicist,” Caplan answered.

“Publicity? You want to know about publicity?” Ali asked Caplan, proceeding to grab a huge binder from his closet that contained newspaper clips, magazine cover stories and books all written about the man who would ultimately be known as “The Greatest.”

Caplan learned right there the importance of getting the athlete he represented to talk, and to present the athlete and their story to the right people for maximum reach.

His other tenet was to create unique themes for the fights, and to ensure news-conference venues offered great food to ensure a large turnout of reporters.

“Our motto was: ‘Good food, good turnout.’ All of his best friends were journalists,” Debbie Caplan told BoxingScene Friday.

Bill Caplan would ultimately strike strong working relationships with the key writers at his hometown Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, mostly his longtime best friend Allan Malamud and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jim Murray.

Caplan was proud that Murray never declined a story pitch, including one the publicist made for Eric “Butterbean” Esch, the so-called “King of the four-rounders.”

Murray wondered in the first place why he should devote such prime newspaper real estate to a four-round fighter, but he soon found out by interviewing “Butterbean,” and watching his highlights.

Murray, in his unique style, wrote “Butterbean” “was so white, you could read by him,” and described his body above massive red, white and blue trunks as “a bowl of whipped cream.”

Caplan extended the selfless (and selfish) courtesy of driving the vision-impaired Murray to various news conferences and events, and he also spent hours with the well-connected Malamud.

In one conflicted event, Malamud excitedly told Caplan he was breaking the news that Manager Tommy Lasorda would be stepping down from the Dodgers.

“Oh no, that’s terrible news!” Caplan told Malamud, who bemoaned, “Can’t you be happy for me?”

Caplan’s love of the Dodgers was so profound he attended both the team’s debut games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and at Dodger Stadium, and his family took great comfort in the joy he gained by watching their past two World Series victories, with daughter Liz joining him bedside over the past month to watch each Dodgers’ game.

Caplan once proudly told me, he and Malamud were both “D” men, and, frankly, I didn’t want to hear anymore.

“The ‘D’ stands for dessert,” clarified the rotund Caplan, nicknamed “Bozo” by the outstanding Long Beach Press-Telegram sports columnist Doug Krikorian during the height of the sport.

Caplan told one story about both he and Malamud buying their own full peach pie at Marie Callender’s, driving to Caplan’s home and parking in the darkened garage, stopping from bringing the delicious delights inside the family packed home to scarf the pies by hand while seated in the vehicle.

About 10 minutes into the eating session, Sandy Caplan entered the garage, hit the lights and exclaimed to the sneaky pair, “Busted!”

Malamud, upon taking over the prized Page 2 “Notes on a Scorecard” column at The Times, was sitting in his downtown apartment one horribly rainy day and called Caplan, in his home more than 30 miles away, to proclaim, “You know what I feel like?”

Caplan asked what.

“A chocolate cream pie,” Malamud answered, admitting the rain was torturous, but telling Caplan he would pay him $50 for his troubles of driving one over.

Caplan endured the trek, sloshing through multiple L.A. freeways and hiking up the stairs to see a door opened to Malamud’s apartment with an extended hand holding a $50 bill protruding out of it.

“Can I come inside?” Caplan asked, winning Malamud’s approval, and hoping for a slice himself by generously cutting the pie into four substantial portions and serving his friend as if he were a waiter.

Malamud ate the first slice with ease, but began to slow during the second piece, groaning a bit and pausing before digging into the third.

Suddenly disgusted by the gluttony, Malamud stood from his chair, grabbed the pie box carrying the final two slices and raced down his hallway, dumping the rest of the pie down the garbage chute.

“Allan! Why?!” Caplan roared.

In later years, following Malamud’s death and working with a new generation of reporters, Caplan’s love of “boxing-family” fight-week dinners was profound.

The sessions were often hosted by a client who called him “Uncle Bill,” WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, whom Caplan took to Disneyland as a child when Sulaiman’s late father, Jose, was president of the sanctioning body.

During those dinners, Caplan informed me and fellow writers Dan Rafael, Norm Frauenheim and Arash Markazi that dessert with ice cream was an essential part of the meal because it served as a “greasecutter” to the digestive process.

That culinary wisdom was topped by Caplan’s remarkable bank of boxing tales.

He was King’s first publicist, and during one promotional campaign, Caplan found himself in King’s hotel room. The boisterous King formerly combed his hair as most men do, but on that occasion, he picked it skyward in that indomitable style that makes it look like he stuck his finger in a light socket.

“My wife hates when I do this, but what do you think?” King asked Caplan.

“Well, people will definitely remember you,” Caplan advised.

The rest is history.

Caplan’s gift for pitching stories was rooted in charm, friendship and feigned desperation with an implication that the respective promoter he was working with might not keep him around if the given writer didn’t show up.

At cross-promoted shows with other publicists involved, Hall of Fame publicist Fred Sternburg said he would routinely inspect the media section and conclude, “Every big name was there because of Bill.”

Caplan’s desire for maximum coverage by the mainstream and boxing publications was seen in the 1980s when Mexico’s bantamweight champion Lupe Pintor arrived at a news conference at a Southern California restaurant.

The opponent was late to the event, so after Pintor gave some interviews, he was ready to leave. Caplan begged him to stay for face-off photos with the foe. Pintor, who drove himself to the event in a full-size sedan, said it was rude of the opponent, and he was going to take off.

Caplan pleaded and the menace-faced Pintor walked, getting behind the wheel and starting his car as Caplan followed and positioned himself in front of it, lying down on the parking lot asphalt, his head in front of Pintor’s vehicle’s left tire.

The car moved forward. Caplan peered at the rolling tire and looked up desperately, locking eyes with Pintor, who broke down in laughter before stopping the car and exiting the vehicle.

Minutes later, the opponent showed and the full news conference had taken place.

“He was a character,” Arum recalled upon learning of Caplan’s death.

Caplan’s most treasured fighter connections were with Foreman and De La Hoya, whom he long praised for their charitable endeavors.

In his autobiography, Foreman wrote he would have quit boxing after an amateur loss if he hadn’t been comforted by a “celebrity” in the minutes after the defeat as he sat alone on a rubbing table.

“Don’t worry, George. You’re going to be a great fighter someday,” the man in a tuxedo said, patting Foreman on the back.

Foreman said he was so inspired by the words because he believed the man was the owner of the arena.

It was actually Caplan, donning the tuxedo only because he was the ring announcer that night.

The pair struck a lifelong working relationship that took Caplan to Africa for the Ali fight and countless Ping-Pong matches with Foreman there after the dominant champion suffered a fight-postponing cut in sparring.

Shattered by the loss to Ali, Foreman would leave the sport a few years later, but then in the mid-1980s, Caplan read a news brief in the L.A. Times that Foreman had resumed training and immediately boarded a flight to Houston with daughter Debbie to knock on Foreman’s front door.

Debbie Caplan said the scene was unforgettable – Foreman appearing bald and seemingly pushing 400lbs, wearing farmer overalls atop a plaid shirt.

“Bill, where have you been? I’ve been expecting you,” Foreman said upon answering.

Caplan and his good friends Don and Lorraine Chargin got Foreman licensed to fight in Sacramento, California, in 1985, and all of the major news agencies from across the U.S. overloaded press row, even though the slow Foreman was fighting “a tomato can,” as Debbie Caplan put it.

Fittingly, Bill Caplan arranged Foreman’s final extended interview with BoxingScene before the champion’s death last year, discussing his decision to sell his massive collection of vehicles.

Caplan’s hometown connection to the widely circulated L.A. Times was a mutually beneficial relationship, and Caplan had close ties with former Sports Editor Bill Dwyre, my predecessor as boxing writer, Steve Springer, and myself.

One of my first meetings with Caplan was him pitching that we cover a card topped by U.S. Olympian Vanes Martisrosyan at the Alameda Swap Meet.

He took Dwyre and I to lunch, and brought a fight poster.

Walking back to the office, the unimpressed Dwyre told me, “We don’t need to cover everything he asks for.”

Knowing that Caplan had been close to the legendary Murray and Malamud, that he was tight with De La Hoya and Arum, I knew I needed to report to that swap meet.

As we sat ringside in flimsy, white plastic chairs, rain started falling on us and Caplan excused himself for a few minutes to go chat with someone.

When he left, a tattooed fan sitting behind us grabbed away Caplan’s chair for a friend.

When Caplan returned, I turned to the imposing man and said, “Excuse me, we need that chair back. It belongs to this man, and he’s in charge of the fights.”

Back came the chair.

For years, Caplan would re-tell this story – to Dwyre, to fellow writers and others in the sport – inflating it by saying I stared down this gang member to retrieve Caplan’s seat.

If he could do that to boost a writer’s reputation, you understand fully what Bill Caplan did to lift all the boxers he worked with to heroic stature.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.