The Boxing Truth®

  With the departure of former Undisputed Lightweight world champion Devin Haney, the period of transition in the 135lb. Lightweight division continues with several world champions in the division looking to make their claim as being the best Lightweight in the world. In recent times both Vasyl Lomachenko and Gervonta Davis have made their respective arguments. Lomachenko emerged as a unified world champion in the division on May 12th with an eleventh round stoppage of IBO world champion George Kambosos in Kambosos’ home country of Australia. Along with the IBO world championship, Lomachenko also gained the vacant IBF crown, emerging as a unified world champion, and in many ways, by default, because he became a unified world champion, became the fighter that all top contenders, other world champions, and would be prospects look to target for a potential fight. The vacant WBO world championship would be decided on May 18th when undefeated top contender Denys Berinchyk scored what ma...

  Mexican Independence Day weekend has traditionally been one of the marquee dates on the Boxing calendar ever year routinely featuring some of the biggest fights in the history of the sport. The 2023 Mexican Independence Day weekend featured a bout for the IBF Featherweight championship of the world between defending champion Luis Lopez and two-time world title challenger Joet Gonzalez, who was getting his third opportunity to win a world championship. A fight that took place at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX on September 15th. While many of the previous battles that have taken place during Mexican Independence Day weekend have featured fighters regarded as the marquee attractions in the sport facing off against each other, this fight may not have been regarded as being in that category by some, but it was a solid encounter between two world-class fighters and featured a world champion in Lopez, who’s star has been on the rise. It was also a fight that featured a s...

Following a week where his bout required a substitution, former two-time Heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua returned to the ring to face longtime Heavyweight contender Robert Helenius at the O2 Arena in London, England. The main story of this fight was that because Helenius took the bout on a little more than four days notice, what type of fight would occur inside the ring when he faced Joshua on August 12th. This was a question that proved to be warranted because Joshua after all did lose his first world championship in June 2019 to Andy Ruiz, a fighter who took that fight on limited notice. The commonality between the two bouts unfortunately was that each came as a result of Joshua’s original opponent testing positive for banned substances.  Although it is hard to ignore that coincidence, that would prove to be the only similarity between the two bouts. While in his first encounter with Ruiz, Joshua was reckless when he was able to score a knockdown of Ruiz in a memorable ...

  The day of August 12, 2023 will be an interesting one highlighted by two fights in Boxing’s Heavyweight and Jr. Lightweight divisions. While this observer was intending to provide readers of a thorough preview of the Heavyweight bout in the days leading up to August 12th, as most know those plans changed one week prior to the scheduled bout, which also necessitated a change in the plans of yours truly. The bout that yours truly is referring to is the scheduled rematch between former two-time World Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and former world title challenger Dillian Whyte. A fight that seemingly had a lot on the table for both fighters, but more specifically for Joshua, who has a potential lucrative fight against former WBC Heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder later this year or perhaps in January 2024. The rematch however, will not take places it was revealed that Whyte Had tested positive for what was described as a quote “Adverse Finding” in tests conducted by the...

  Former two-division world champion Emanuel Navarrete can call himself a three-division world champion after scoring a thrilling come from behind ninth round knockout of Liam Wilson on Friday night at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, AZ to win the vacant WBO Jr. Lightweight world championship. A very competitive fight from the outset, Navarrete as is his custom tried to overwhelm Wilson with high volume punching. What appeared to be setting up to be a close tactical fight suddenly changed in the fourth round when Wilson connected with a flush left hook to the jaw that sent Navarrete down hard in a corner of the ring for the first time in his career. The fighter, who had held world titles in the Jr. Featherweight and Featherweight divisions prior to this fight, appeared to drop his mouthpiece following the knockdown, which bought him crucial extra seconds to try and compose himself. Despite this, Navarrete was clearly hurt and appeared to be out on his feet at this stage of th...

  In all of combat sports and in particular in the sport of Boxing, there is somewhat of an accepted practice that unless one competes in the Heavyweight division, fighters generally will move up through multiple weight classes during the course of their careers. While of course there are those who manage to stay in one weight division for the majority of their careers, there are usually two reasons why a fighter would move up in weight. One is for financial reasons in that there are likely more lucrative opportunities for a fighter at a heavier weight than where they are currently. Perhaps the most obvious reason however, is when a fighter physically outgrows their current weight class.   For two-division world champion Emanuel Navarrete, he has reached the top in both the 122lb. Jr. Featherweight and 126lb. Featherweight divisions. Standing at 5’7, Navarrete is blessed to be in a position where he has natural height and reach advantages over many of his opponents. Navarrete’...