Here are the most eye-catching stories from this weekend’s boxing news and ring action:
– According to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia have signed their contracts for the highly-anticipated April 15 clash and are now just awaiting the final network green light. Reportedly, the official fight announcement could happen very soon.
Davis recently pleaded guilty to four charges related to a hit-and-run incident in 2020 and will be sentenced on May 5. This legal move removed one more possible hurdle from the effort to make Davis-Garcia.
With everything seemingly out of the way, including a disagreement over specifics regarding the rematch clause, it looks like the path is clear for the lucrative bout. But, of course, this is boxing and the two fighters in question are highly-volatile human beings, so nothing is 100% until we see both fighters actually in the ring on April 15.
– In a wild, Fight of the Year candidate Saturday night at Fox Theater in Pomona, California, former bantamweight and super bantamweight world champ Luis Nery stopped Azat Hovhannisyan in the 11th round of a WBC 122-pound world title eliminator.
After the high-octane, back-and-forth battle, the 28-year-old Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico native called out the winner of the upcoming Naoya Inoue-Stephen Fulton two-belt super bantamweight world title bout.
– Earlier on Saturday, from Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, UK, Mexico’s Mauricio Lara stopped the UK’s Leigh Wood in the seventh round to claim Wood’s WBA featherweight title.
Although evenly fought, with ebbs and flows in both fighters’ favor throughout, Lara was behind on all three judges’ scorecards when he scored the knockdown in the seventh that provoked Wood’s trainer Ben Davison to throw in the towel.
– Shane Mosley Jr. returned to the ring after a 10-month layoff to score a unanimous decision over veteran Mario Alberto Lozano on the Luis Nery-Azat Hovhannisyan undercard (with scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 99-91) in Mosley’s home town of Pmona, California.
The 32-year-old Mosley’s performance was characteristically uneven, with moments where he looked sharp, but more moments were his technique seemed a bit off and his focus wavered.
– Adrien Broner’s February 25 comeback bout and BLK Prime debut has been canceled due to opponent Michael Williams Jr. pulling out of the contest with a broken jaw suffered in training. Williams was the third opponent slated for the Broner fight B-side, with Ivan Redkach and Hank Lundy having fallen through as well. Broner’s return will reportedly be pushed back to April with a new opponent to be named at a later date.
– Former junior middleweight champ Austin Trout battered, bloodied and stopped UFC Hall of Famer Diego Sanchez to win his first bout in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) organization.
Fighting in the co-main event of KnuckleMania3 in Albuquerque, NM, the 37-year-old Las Cruces, NM native used a sharp jab and high-end boxing footwork to neutralize a Sanchez who fully intended to pressure and wear down the boxer. The former UFC star was picked apart and beaten to a bloody pulp, provoking the ringside physician to call a halt to the contest in the fourth round, shortly after Sanchez was dropped to the canvas.
– Buzz is circulating that WBC world junior welterweight champ Regis Prograis and former world title challenger Jack Catterall may be headed to a title clash after being unable to procure bouts with Teofimo Lopez and WBO 140 lb. titlist Josh Taylor, respectively. Taylor and Lopez are reportedly set to do battle later in the spring.
