Here are the most eye-catching stories from this week’s/weekend’s boxing news and ring action:
– In case anyone needs to be reminded, this coming Saturday, July 29, Errol Spence Jr. puts his IBF/WBA/WBC welterweight world titles on the line against WBO welterweight champ Terence Crawford at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, atop a Showtime PPV/Premier Boxing Champions card. The winner will become the first fully unified 147 lb. champ in the four-belt era.
On the under card, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz battles unbeaten Giovanni Cabrera in a 12-round WBC and WBA lightweight title eliminator, future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire faces Alexandro Santiago for the vacant WBC bantamweight title, and top prospect Yoenis Tellez takes on Spanish contender Sergio Garcia in a super welterweight contest.
– Ahead of Tuesday’s title clash in Japan between Naoya Inoue and Stephen Fulton, the trainer of WBC/WBO super bantamweight champ Stephen Fulton, Wahid Rahim, has expressed his concerns over the way Inoue wraps his hands.
At a press conference on Saturday, and apparently to the surprise of his fighter, Rahim issued an ultimatum of sorts, saying that he intended to pull his fighter from the bout if the issue was not addressed.
“In previous fights, Inoue and his team have wrapped his hands with an excessive amount of tape, and then applied more tape to the gauze which creates a cast,” Rahim told the assembled media in Tokyo. “This is not an assumption. I have proof. We can wrap our hands in the same fashion but then where is the level of safety for our fighters?
“If this issue is not resolved, I am not letting my fighter into the ring. We are already behind enemy lines. We have made no requests. We did not even ask for a rematch clause. This is the only request I’ve demanded.”
– In weekend ring action:
Saturday night at Firelake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma, atop an ESPN card, former unified lightweight champ George Kambosos Jr. was extremely fortunate to win a majority decision over the UK’s Maxi Hughes in an IBF lightweight eliminator. While most observers felt that Hughes should’ve been given the nod, the judges saw differently and gave the Australian battler the decision by scores of 114-114, 115-113, and the utterly absurd 117-111.
On the Kambosos-Hughes undercard, top prospect Keyshawn Davis took a one-sided ten-round unanimous decision over an overmatched Francesco Patera. Davis would drop Patera once en route to the 100-89 (twice), 99-90 decision.
– The WBC has extended its deadline to unified lightweight champ Devin Haney, which called on Haney to either announce his intention to continue competing at 135 or move up to challenge WBC junior welterweight champ Regis Prograis. The four-belt champ from Las Vegas now has until Thursday, July 27 to declare his future plans.
– The rematch between British middleweight rivals Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith and Chris Eubank Jr has been set for September 2 at the AO Arena in Manchester, UK.
In January, Smith beat the second generation star via fourth round TKO. Replays later showed, however, that the “kill” shot that led to end of the bout was actually an illegal elbow landed by Smith.
– Former world champion Emmanuel Rodriguez will be taking on contender Melvin Lopez for the vacant IBF bantamweight world title atop a Showtime/Premier Boxing Champions card on Saturday, August 12 from The Theater at MGM National Harbor in Maryland.
Also on the card, undefeated rising star and Maryland-native Gary Antuanne Russell faces Kent Cruz in a 10-round super lightweight contest and local area favorite and top prospect Travon Marshall meets unbeaten two-time Olympian Gabriel Maestre in a 10-round welterweight bout.
– Undefeated heavyweight prospect Bakhodir Jalolov has signed a multi-year promotional contract with Top Rank.
The 29-year-old Olympic gold medalist will make his Top Rank debut in an eight-round contest Saturday, Aug. 26, on the undercard of the Jared Anderson-Andriy Rudenko ESPN heavyweight card at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
