The Boxing Truth®

 Two Boxing cards pitting Hall of Fame Boxing promoters Don King and Bob Arum against each other on competing streaming networks will take place on Saturday night in Warren, OH and Tulsa, OK respectively. Below are official weights and legal broadcast information for both cards.   Don King Productions: Ilunga Makabu vs. Thabiso Mchunu 2: Packard Music Hall Warren, OH FITE Pay-Per-View   Main Event: WBC Cruiserweight world championship – 12Rds.   Ilunga Makabu (Champion) 197lbs. vs. Thabiso Mchunu (Challenger) 198 1/2lbs.   *Heavyweight – 12Rds.   Trevor Bryan 268lbs. vs. Jonathan Guidry 246 1/2lbs.   (*Fight is for Interim/Regular status in the WBA’s Heavyweight ratings. A designation currently held by Bryan.)   Vacant North American Boxing Association (NABA) Cruiserweight championship – 10Rds.   Johnnie Langston 199 1/2lbs. vs. Nick Kisner 198 1/2lbs.   Heavyweight – 10Rds.   Ahmed Hefny 216...

Press Release: January 27, 2022 By DAZN – Pound-for-pound stars are first ever female fighters to headline an MSG event in the iconic venue’s 140 years of boxing history  Credit: DAZN Taylor and Serrano will come face-to-face for the first time next Wednesday, February 2 live from NYC. Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano are set to make history in an epic battle for Taylor’s undisputed Lightweight title at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday April 30, live worldwide on DAZN. TO SIGN UP TO THE EXCLUSIVE PRESALE, VISIT MSG.COM/TAYLORSERRANO Presale begins at 12noon ET on Thursday February 3, with tickets on general sale at 12noon ET on Friday February 4 – tickets start at $56 (plus fees) Years in the making, the biggest fight ever in women’s boxing between the pound-for-pound #1 and #2 fighters of the world is one that will not only make boxing history, but women’s sports history. MSG has hosted thousands of fights through its illustrious years, beginning more than...

  Press Release: By DAZN January 27, 2022 – Tokyo 2020 gold medallist makes pro debut on February 27th  Credit: DAZN   Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champion  Galal Yafai MBE  has signed a long-term promotional deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and will make his highly anticipated professional debut on the Lawrence Okolie vs. Michal Cieslak WBO Cruiserweight World Title show at The O2 in London on Sunday February 27, live worldwide on  DAZN  (excluding New Zealand and Australia).   Birmingham’s Yafai fulfilled his lifelong dream and became Olympic Champion as he brilliantly won Team GB’s first boxing gold of Tokyo 2020, impressively outpointing the Philippines’ Carlo Paalam to secure gold in the Flyweight division – Britain’s 19 th  gold medal of the Games.    Yafai comes from a proud boxing family, with old brothers Kal and Gamal having successful careers in the professional ranks after beginning as amateurs. 2008 Olympian ...

 Although the Boxing schedule since the beginning of 2022 has been sporadic due in part to the ongoing global COVID-19 epidemic and several postponements of several Boxing cards outside of the United States due to several countries issuing restrictions in an effort to combat the latest surge of the virus and it’s latest Omnicon variant. The end of January 2022 however, will be highlighted by two separate cards on Saturday, January29th promoted by rival Hall of Fame promoters Don King and Bob Arum.   In some ways, this is a scenario that brings Boxing back to a previous era where Arum and King would go head to head on competing platforms as each at one time or another held claim as the top promoter in the sport. Now, in 2022, both Arum and King, each at the age of ninety are each still going strong and will be promoting two interesting cards that are each compelling for their own reasons.   First, Don King will present a seven bout card that can be seen on FITE Pa...

  Press Release: By Probellum – PROBELLUM’S UPCOMING DUBAI EVENT TO HOST HISTORY-MAKING FEMALE WORLD TITLE MATCH Dubai, UAE – January 26, 2022 – Olympic gold medalist Estelle Mossely will face Argentinian Yanina del Carmen Lescano at Probellum’s two-night boxing showcase in Dubai this March, with the fighters making history by competing in the Middle East’s first-ever female world title match. Credit: Probellum   The final headline bouts for Probellum’s first event of the year have now been confirmed, with Jono Carroll also in action. Those two fights will take place on the opening night, following the announcement that Sunny Edwards will put his IBF flyweight title on the line against Muhammad Waseem on night two, with Regis Prograis and Tyrone McKenna facing off in the co-main event. Probellum’s Dubai double-header takes place on March 18 and 19 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, lo...

  Press Release: By Probellum – Dubai, UAE - January 25, 2022 - Probellum returns to Dubai in March for an action-packed weekend of elite-level boxing staged over two consecutive nights with an incredible card featuring a combination of current and former world champions, Olympic medalists and hugely talented young fighters.   Credit: Probellum Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, located at The Irish Village, in association with Jumeirah Creekside Hotel, will host Probellum’s first shows of the year - and one of the UAE’s biggest-ever boxing showcases - on March 18 and 19. The main and co-main event for night one will be announced this week, while two fantastic bouts top the bill on the second night, with IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards (17-0, 4 knockouts), from the UK, defending his title against Muhammad Waseem (12-1, 8 knockouts), one of Pakistan’s biggest boxing stars, in the headline contest...

  Press Release: January 25, 2022 By DAZN – World Flyweight ruler moves up in weight against Super-Fly legend on March 05   Julio Cesar Martinez will face Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez at the Pechanga Arena San Diego in San Diego, California on Saturday, March 5, live worldwide on DAZN.  Credit:DAZN   Martinez (18-1 14 KOs) fights at 115lbs for the first time and does so against a legend of the weight in Chocolatito (50-3 41 KOs), with the Mexican stepping in to replace Juan Francisco Estrada, who has been forced out of his trilogy clash with Chocolatito with COVID.   Martinez’s last action was a trademark all-action shootout with McWilliams Arroyo in New Hampshire in November, with both men hitting the canvas in the opening round and Martinez flooring Arroyo in the second before the contest was stopped with Arroyo suffering a cut.   The exciting Mexican has spoken freely of his desire to move up in weight and challenge himself against the cr...

  As the month of January 2022 has been a spotty one in terms of the Boxing schedule due in part to the ongoing global COVID-19 epidemic, there obviously has not been the usual activity in terms of action inside of the ring that we saw in 2021 and before the epidemic began in late 2019. The first notable world championship fight in 2022 however, did take place on January 22nd at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. This observer is referring to the battle for the WBC Featherweight world championship between champion Gary Russell and undefeated WBC number three rated contender Mark Magsayo.   Perhaps it is simply the point of view of yours truly as a veteran Boxing historian and writer, but this encounter did not seem to have much in the way of an abundance of hype in the weeks and days prior to it taking place. This could be due to the circumstances of the ongoing epidemic and possible uncertainty as to whether or not the fight would take place as scheduled. Whil...

  Press Release: By Probellum – Los Angeles, CA - January 23, 2022 - Probellum is delighted to announce the promotional signing of IBO world lightweight champion and Olympic gold   medallist, Estelle Mossely.  Credit: Probellum  The 29-year-old French fighter (9-0, 1 knockout), who is undefeated as a professional ,  clinched the IBO world lightweight title in 2019 with a victory over Lucy Wildheart.   Prior to turning professional, Paris-born Mossely enjoyed a stellar career at amateur level winning gold medals at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and World Championships, where she famously defeated current undisputed female world lightweight champion Katie Taylor at the semi-final stage.   “I am very excited to embark on the next stage of my boxing journey with Richard Schaefer and his team at Probellum,”   said Mossely.   “I have known Richard for many years and his track record as a promot...

  The official weigh-in for Saturday’s WBC Featherweight world championship fight between champion Gary Russell and undefeated challenger Mark Magsayo took place yesterday in Atlantic City, NJ. Weights for the televised card, which is being promoted by the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) and will be televised here in the United States on premium cable network Showtime are as follows.   Main Event: WBC Featherweight world championship – 12Rds.   Gary Russell (Champion) 125 1/2lbs. vs. Mark Magsayo (Challenger) 125 1/2lbs.   *Jr. Welterweight – 12Rds.   Subriel Matias 140 1/2lbs. vs. Petros Ananyan 141lbs.   (*This will be a rematch of a bout from February 2020 in which Ananyan won a ten round unanimous decision.)   Jr. Lightweight – 10Rds.   Tugstsogt Nyambayar 128lbs. vs. Sakaria Lukas 127 1/2lbs.   *The three above bouts will be broadcast on Showtime beginning at 9PM ET/6PM PT.   Weights for the remaining unaired preliminary bouts are ...

  A new feature for 2022 here on The Boxing Truth®, which this observer hopes will become a semi-regular addition amongst the variety of content offered to readers where yours truly will attempt as best as he can to cover several topics in a condensed manner that may or may not be worthy of a standalone feature column.   As some Boxing fans know, the month of January has been a relatively slow one for the sport of Boxing. This is due in part to several scheduled international Boxing cards being cancelled and/or rescheduled due to the ongoing global COVID-19 epidemic and travel restrictions internationally as several countries look to limit exposure to the COVID-19 virus.  There was however, one notable bout that took place on January 15 th in Verona, NY. I am referring to WBO Light-Heavyweight world champion Joe Smith Jr., who defended his title against late substitute Steve Geffrard. Much like several other bouts to have taken place over the last two years throughout th...