The Boxing Truth®

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...

It has been announced that longtime Heavyweight contender and former European Heavyweight champion Robert Helenius will step in on a little more than four days notice to face former two-time Heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua on Saturday, August 12th at the O2 Arena in London, England. Helenius steps in after the originally scheduled rematch between Joshua and former world title challenger Dillian Whyte was cancelled by promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing following Whyte testing positive for a yet to be named banned substance, which was described by Matchroom as quote "An adverse finding" in a test conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency ( VADA ) in which both Joshua and Whyte are enrolled. Although Helenius is stepping in on less than a week's notice, he is coming off of a third round knockout win on August 5th against a previously unbeaten fighter named Mika Mielonen in his native Finland. It was Helenius' first fight since suffering a one punch f...

  Saturday, October 15, 2022 turned out to be one of the most anticipated days on the Boxing calendar in the latter months of the year. What was largely to be highlighted by the return of former longtime WBC Heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder, the day turned out to offer a little of everything for any Boxing fan. This was due to the postponement of the highly anticipated Women’s world championship unification doubleheader which featured undefeated world champions Claressa Shields and Savanah Marshall meeting for the Undisputed Middleweight championship of the world and an intriguing Jr. Lightweight unification bout between Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner putting their respective world championships on the line in the 130lb. Jr. Lightweight division as the co-main event being moved to October 15 th due to the original date of the card September 10 th being moved one month following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8 th .   While some Boxing fans part...

  In addition to the Heavyweight bout between former WBC Heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder and former European Heavyweight champion Robert Helenius, a bout that was previously covered here in preview on The Boxing Truth®, Saturday, October 15, 2022 will feature much more for Boxing fans. Firstly, on the undercard of the Wilder-Helenius bout at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY that can be seen here in the United States on Fox Sports Pay-Per-View as well as on digital combat sports streaming network and pay-per-view platform FITE , will be a bout in the 168lb. Super-Middleweight division between former world champions Caleb Plant and Anthony Dirrell.   Some may call this a “Crossroads Fight” for both men. As some may recall, Plant was last in the ring in  November of last year when he lost his unbeaten record and IBF Super-Middleweight world championship in a unification bout with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for the Undisputed world championship in the division. Altho...

For many fighters that go on to become world champions throughout their careers, there comes a point where they enter a stage known simply as “The Comeback.” While it is a period that a fighter can find his or herself in for several reasons/circumstances, more often than not, “The Comeback” represents the start of a rebuilding process following a setback. In the case of former longtime WBC Heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder, the recent past has seen him suffer two notable setbacks. This observer is referring to his two losses in his second and third fights against Tyson Fury in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Although the third encounter between the two was regarded as one of the best and dramatic Heavyweight championship fights in several years, Wilder did suffer two beatings in those fights and it was fair to question whether the former champion, who reigned as WBC king from 2015 until his first loss to Fury in 2020, would fight again. It was after all a fair question to ask after...

We would like to let our readers know following a pause in the normal schedule due to having to evacuate due to Hurricane Ian, our regular schedule will resume on Wednesday, October 12th. While material will cover the upcoming Heavyweight bout between former WBC Heavyweight world champion Deontay Wilder and longtime Heavyweight contender Robert Helenius, we would also like to inform readers that content originally planned for the final week of September and the first two weeks of October will be covered as part of a special feature that will close out the month of October. In the interim, any content that is sent in for release between now and October 12th from promoters, networks, and others involved in the sport of Boxing will be made available as normal. We want to thank readers for both their patience and understanding during what was frankly a scary time and subsequently led to an unplanned and unwanted pause in our normal schedule and we do apologize for any inconvenience this ma...

In the weeks following undefeated unified IBF/WBA/WBO/IBO Heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk’s second victory over former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua, the man he took the title from last year, the dominant question has been what is next? Almost immediately after Usyk scored his second unanimous decision over Joshua, talk began of a potential fight with the on again, off again, retired, and un-retired undefeated WBC world champion Tyson Fury for a potential showdown between the two champions that would finally lead to one Undisputed World Heavyweight champion.  While it remains uncertain whether that will indeed become a reality, the first significant Heavyweight bout to take place in the aftermath of Usyk’s rematch with Joshua occurred on September 4th at the legendary venue formerly known as the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, now known as Crypto.com Arena. Even though names of arenas and stadiums in modern times seem to change as quickly as those venues are b...