The Boxing Truth®

The story going into the Featherweight bout between former two-time Olympian and world title challenger Michael Conlan and rising contender Jake Bateson was whether he could continue building momentum in his second fight since returning from a lengthy hiatus following three knockout losses in a relatively short timeframe. In previewing this bout , this observer stated that this fight was part of a rebuilding process for Conlan and that a win here would not necessarily indicate whether he would be back to a point where he was three years ago when he was ahead on the scorecards in his world title challenge of then WBA World Featherweight champion Leigh Wood going into the final round of a grueling and competitive fight and being literally minutes away from becoming world champion, before suffering a brutal knockout loss, which seemed to start a slide for him in the wrong direction as a fighter.  Despite yours truly saying prior to his encounter with Bateson that there would likely n...

It can be a cliche, but those who are familiar with the sport of Boxing and really combat sports as a whole, know that there are several stages throughout a fighter's career. Such stages have been chronicled numerous times by this observer in covering countless fighters over the last three decades that I have covered combat sports, and have been discussed as a focal point when a fighter either prepares to enter a new phase or as that fighter is on the rise up the ranks. One such fighter that saw such a rise is Featherweight contender Michael Conlan. Conlan, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland is a two-time Olympian and former Olympic Bronze Medalist. Upon turning professional in 2017, Conlan went on to win sixteen straight bouts leading to a world championship bout when he challenged then WBA World Featherweight champion Leigh Wood in March 2022. In a grueling back and forth fight where he was ahead on all three judges scorecards, Conlan would find himself on the receiving end of...

Press Release October 7, 2023 By DAZN -  Two-time Featherweight World Title challenger Michael Conlan returns to the SSE Arena Belfast to take on former European and Commonwealth Champion Jordan Gill on a huge night of Irish boxing on Saturday December 2, live worldwide on DAZN. Credit: DAZN  Conlan (27-2-1, 8 KOs) was last seen in action in May when he was stopped in five rounds by Mexico’s IBF Featherweight World Champion Luis Alberto Lopez, his second successive World Title loss following his epic Fight of the Year clash with Leigh Wood in 2022. The Belfast star has linked up with Cuban-American trainer Pedro Diaz for his eagerly anticipated comeback fight and will return at Super-Featherweight has he looks to rebuild towards further World Title shots. Gill (27-2-1, 8 KOs) fights for the first time since his fourth-round stoppage loss to Spain’s two-weight World Champion Kiko Martinez at Wembley Arena back in October 2022, and the Chatteris man is hoping to t...

  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...

A consistent theme of this observer’s work particularly here on The Boxing Truth® over the last several years has been the gradual shift of the sport of Boxing away from traditional television platforms and pay-per-view and towards digital subscription-based streaming networks and platforms. While the pay-per-view model unfortunately still exists in 2023 and has even creeped into the subscription-based streaming model, one of the benefits to subscription-based streaming as it relates to Boxing is generally offering more value to consumers as compared to traditional television platforms, including, but not limited to, offering a subscriber the opportunity to see every bout on a card as well as offering multiple events on one platform in a single day. On February 18th, digital subscription sports streaming network DAZN will offer a full day of Boxing from three different countries that will feature a former world champion continuing his comeback, a fight for a version of the World Feath...

 Originally, this column was intended to focus strictly on the landscape of the 126lb. Featherweight division that took a significant spotlight during the month of March in the sport of Boxing. Due to circumstances beyond this observer's control however, this column will be expanded to include some of the other events that took place during the last full week of March. This is due in part to technical issues that yours truly experienced during what was expected to be coverage of the RJJ Boxing card, which took place on Thursday, March 24 th in Nayarit, Mexico. Unfortunately, due to those technical problems, coverage of that card will be limited to the following results.   In the opening bout of the card, which took place at the Palenque de la Expo, Lightweight Marco Moreno scored a four round unanimous decision over Jonathan Zuniga. Featherweight Hector Cruz scored a six round unanimous decision over Miguel Hernandez. Jr Lightweight Armando Almanza scored an eight round d...

  Over the last few weeks, the sport of Boxing at least in regard to the professional side of the sport has seen a focus of sorts on the 126lb. Featherweight division. Of course, readers here on The Boxing Truth®️ have seen the coverage that this observer has provided over the last two weeks of Matchroom Boxing’s second season of its Fight Camp series at the estate of promoter Eddie Hearn and the Hearn family known in Boxing circles as Matchroom Headquarters. Coincidentally, the first two weeks of the season have been headlined by two Featherweight bouts that may have an impact on the upper echelon of the division going forward.    First, it was Leigh Wood, who scored a dominant twelfth round stoppage of top contender Xu Can on July 31 st  that earned him an interim/regular championship designation in the World Boxing Association’s (WBA) Featherweight ratings. This was followed by longtime contender Kid Galahad, who scored an eleventh round stoppage this past weekend...

  Undefeated Sunny Edwards scored a dominant twelve round unanimous decision over longtime world champion  Moruti Mthalane to win the  IBF Flyweight world championship on Friday night at York Hall in London, England. Edwards implemented a strategy from the outset that emphasized lateral movement to keep the champion at distance where he could not get his punches off consistently. Although this fight did not have much in the form of drama, it was the definition of Boxing in that Edwards stayed disciplined all the way through the fight, got his punches off first and evading  Mthalane’s offense. Simply put, Edwards hit and was not hit often in return in what was an outstanding performance to win a world championship in the 112lb. Flyweight division. Official scores were: 118-111, 120-108, and 115-113 in favor of Edwards. Sunny Edwards advances to 16-0, with 4 Knockouts. Moruti Mthalane falls to 39-3, with 26 Knockouts.   Also on this card:   Undefeated WBO num...