Mikaela Mayer, scheduled to face Helen Joseph on Tuesday, announced on Instagram that she pulled out after testing positive for COVID-19.
Mikaela Mayer won’t be part of the first post-lock down card Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Mayer, scheduled to face Helen Joseph, announced on Instagram that she pulled out after testing positive for COVID-19.
She had been scheduled to return to the ring in March but then the coronavirus pandemic took hold and all fights were canceled.
“I am heartbroken to report that I will no longer be fighting on Tuesday’s Top Rank card due to a positive result in my COVID-19 test yesterday,” Mayer wrote. “It came as a complete surprise. I am currently asymptomatic and am quarantining at an off-site location per recommended guidelines.
“The rest of my team tested negative and they are all in good health. I was really looking forward to bringing back boxing for all of you and I’m disappointed for myself, my team, my supporters and for my opponent, Helen Joseph, who worked just as hard to be here this week and put on a show for everyone.
“After two hard back-to-back camps, not being able to step in to the ring both times, you can imagine how disappointed I am. However, these protocols were put into place for a reason and it’s more important to care about the health and well being of my team and the people at this event.
“So I am complying with the rules set forth by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Top Rank to keep everyone safe.”
Featherweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson will face Felix Caraballo in a junior lightweight fight on Tuesday at the MGM Grand. The card will be televised on ESPN and ESPN Deportes.
Promoter Bob Arum said boxing, which returns Tuesday, will ‘come back … bigger and more important than ever.’
Boxing is just a few days from its return. And promoter Bob Arum is excited.
Top Rank, his company, will be the first to stage fights — without live audiences — after the lock down period that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic. Featherweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson headlines the first card on Tuesday (June 9) in Las Vegas.
The show will be televised on ESPN and ESPN Deportes.
“Well, it looks like we’re back,” Arum said on a conference call. “This is a momentous occasion. Boxing is back after a three-month lapse. I’m really proud that Top Rank is the first promoter out of the box.
“We have a great show on the 9th of June. Then we continue [with] virtually two and three boxing events a week.”
Arum believes the sport will boom quickly.
“Boxing is going to come back, believe me, bigger and more important than ever,” he said. “In this two-month period, June and July, it looks like there won’t be any NBA or Major League Baseball. The spotlight will be on the sport of boxing.
“And with the bouts we’ve lined up, I believe the public will once again be enthused about the competitive level of the sport.”
Stevenson (13-0, 7 KOs) will face Felix Caraballo (13-1-2, 9 KOs) in a non-title junior lightweight bout, as the 126-pound champ is testing the waters at 130. Also on that card, Mikaela Mayer (12-0, 5 KOs) will face Helen Joseph (17-4-2, 10 KOs).
Top Rank also has shows scheduled for June 11, June 16, June 18, June 20 and June 23.
Here is the complete June lineup of featured fights:
June 9 – Shakur Stevenson (13-0, 7 KOs) vs Felix Caraballo (13-1-2, 9 KOs); Mikaela Mayer (12-0, 5 KOs) vs Helen Joseph (17-4-2, 10 KOs).
June 11 – Jessie Magdaleno (27-1, 18 KOs) vs Yenifel Vicente (36-4-2, 28 KOs); Adam Lopez (13-2, 6 KOs) vs Luis Coria (12-2, 7 KOs).
June 16 – Joshua Greer Jr. (22-1-1, 12 KOs) vs Mike Plania (23-1, 12 KOs); Giovanni Santillan (25-0, 15 KOs) vs Antonio Demarco (33-8-1, 24 KOs).
June 18 – Jose Pedraza (26-3, 13 KOs) vs Mikkel LesPierre (22-1-1, 10 KOs); Gabe Flores Jr. (17-0, 6 KOs) vs Josec Ruiz (21-2-3, 14 KOs).
June 20 – Emanuel Navarete (31-1, 27 KOs) vs Uriel Lopez (13-13-1, 6 KOs).
June 23 – Andrew Moloney (21-0, 14 KOs) vs Joshua Franco (16-1-2, 8 KOs); Christopher Diaz (25-2, 16 KOs) and Jason Sanchez (15-1, 8 KOs).
Shakur Stevenson is thrilled to get back into the ring against Felix Caraballo but has his eye on big-name opponents.
Shakur Stevenson used to like the comparisons to Floyd Mayweather, especially in terms of defense. Mayweather seemed to be untouchable most of the time, a once-in-a-generation quality Stevenson tries to emulate.
The 22-year-old featherweight champ is growing tired of the comments, however. He wants to be Shakur Stevenson, not the new Floyd Mayweather.
Stevenson will be the first star to fight in the U.S. amid the coronavirus pandemic when he faces Felix Caraballo in a junior lightweight bout Tuesday in Las Vegas. The card, which will have no live audience, will be televised on ESPN.
“I see [the comparisons] everywhere,” Stevenson told Boxing Junkie. “I’m me. I didn’t steal stuff just from Floyd. I stole stuff from Andre Ward, from Pernell Whitaker, from Terence Crawford.
“I understand the comparisons, definitely with defense. Floyd is one of the best defensive fighters of all time and I show flashes of some of that too. But I’m me.”
Shakur Stevenson showed his class against Joet Gonzalez, almost pitching a shutout to win his first major belt. Mikey Williams / Top Rank
Of course, there is one aspect of Mayweather’s remarkable career that Stevenson wouldn’t mind copying outright: His ability to earn a lot of money. Mayweather made around a billion dollars in purses.
One key move Mayweather made to boost his earning power? He became the fighter fans loved to hate.
“Floyd became a villain,” Stevenson said. “I would have to find a way to pick up on that, to become that type of star. I’d have to find a way to become a villain. You know I could do that, to be honest.
“I don’t think Floyd really hated anyone. I think I’d have to really dislike you for me to be that way. I might take some acting classes or something.”
Stevenson (13-0, 7 KOs) has earned high grades in his boxing classes. He won a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics, losing 2-1 to Cuban Robeisy Ramirez in the gold medal match, turned pro eight months later and hasn’t looked back.
He easily outpointed Joet Gonzalez to win a vacant 126-pound world title in October at only 22.
Stevenson celebrates winning his first title Mexican style. Mikey Williams / Top Rank
From there, he was supposed to defend against Miguel Marriaga on March 14 after a two-month training camp only to learn two days before the fight that it would have to canceled because of the pandemic.
Stevenson was devastated.
“The Marriaga cancellation was horrible because I trained for eight weeks,” he said. “I did a whole training camp only to find out I wasn’t going to get paid, wasn’t going to be able to perform. I was excited about that fight because Marriaga was a solid name. And I was planning to beat him up.”
Instead, Stevenson got the longest rest of his career. The self-described gym rat took some time off but then got right back at it, figuring whenever boxing resumed he would be near the front of the line.
Now he has the distinction of being the first major player to get back to action. And that’s exciting.
No, Caraballo (13-1-2, 9 KOs) isn’t the type of big-name opponent he wanted to face but that doesn’t matter much, he said. One, the fight will give him an opportunity to see how he feels at 130 pounds, which could be his home soon. And, two, he knows how excited fans will be that the sport is up and running again.
“I’m definitely more excited than I would normally be because I’m the first fighter back,” he said. “I think I deserve that after my fight was canceled during the week of the fight. I think that’s why I’m back so early.
“And, yes, all eyes will be on me. I’m happy about that.”
Shakur Stevenson put Alberto Guevara down three times in less than three rounds and won by stoppage in July. Mikey Williams / Top Rank
What about fighting in an empty arena? Not an issue.
“To be honest, I’m not like some other guys,” he said. “I probably feed off the crowd a little bit but I really try to block out the crowd, to tune everybody out. All I see is my opponent.”
Stevenson sees a number of big-name opponents in his immediate future, which is what he craves. He’s only had 13 pro fights yet he’s ready to take on the world, including the best in and around his weight class.
He covets a showdown with Vasiliy Lomachenko — No. 1 on Boxing Junkie’s pound-for-pound list — at 130 or one with Leo Santa Cruz, fighters against whom he believes he will demonstrate what he already knows about himself – that he’s a special fighter. And fights like those certainly are on the horizon.
Stevenson is co-managed by Ward, who is more conservative, more methodical when it comes to his prize client’s career. Stevenson is young. Ward wants to take a step-by-step approach to build Stevenson into a pound-for-pound star.
Stevenson gets it but he’s champing at the bit.
“If it were up to me, I would go into the biggest fight right now,” he said. “I have a good team, though. And they do things the right way. I feel I’m ready. I’ve been like that since I turned pro. I was begging for a world title [shot] at 4-0, 5-0. Lomachenko? I would fight him tomorrow. The same with Santa Cruz. And I feel I would beat both of them. That’s just how I feel.
“… I want to become one of the best boxers ever, to go down as a great in the sport. That’s what Floyd was. And I want to be like that.”
Top Rank has released its schedule for June, when boxing will resume after months of inactivity because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The lineup is set for June.
Top Rank has released its schedule for the coming month, when boxing will resume after months of inactivity because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Six events – without spectators — are planned for June, beginning on the 9th.
The cards, most of which set for Las Vegas, will be televised on ESPN.
All but one card will take place on Tuesdays and Thursday. The exceptional card, featuring Emanuel Navarrete, is set for Saturday, June 20, in Mexico City.
“This is a sensible way to push ahead,” Arum told ESPN. “Hopefully the fights will be good — I know they will be — but you’ve got to make sure all the procedures are safe and so forth. Hopefully what we’re doing will serve as a template for other promoters to put on shows.”
He went on: “Hopefully, we will have demonstrated to the authorities, based on these Nevada protocols, that they work.”
Featherweight titleholder Shakur Steveson will headline the first card in a non-title fight against Felix Caraballo.
Here is the complete June lineup of featured fights:
June 9 – Shakur Stevenson (13-0, 7 KOs) vs Felix Caraballo (13-1-2, 9 KOs); Mikaela Mayer (12-0, 5 KOs) vs Helen Joseph (17-4-2, 10 KOs).
June 11 – Jessie Magdaleno (27-1, 18 KOs) vs Yenifel Vicente (36-4-2, 28 KOs); Adam Lopez (13-2, 6 KOs) vs Luis Coria (12-2, 7 KOs).
June 16 – Joshua Greer Jr. (22-1-1, 12 KOs) vs Mike Plania (23-1, 12 KOs); Giovanni Santillan (25-0, 15 KOs) vs Antonio Demarco (33-8-1, 24 KOs).
June 18 – Jose Pedraza (26-3, 13 KOs) vs Mikkel LesPierre (22-1-1, 10 KOs); Gabe Flores Jr. (17-0, 6 KOs) vs Josec Ruiz (21-2-3, 14 KOs).
June 20 – Emanuel Navarete (31-1, 27 KOs) vs Uriel Lopez (13-13-1, 6 KOs).
June 23 – Andrew Moloney (21-0, 14 KOs) vs Joshua Franco (16-1-2, 8 KOs); Christopher Diaz (25-2, 16 KOs) and Jason Sanchez (15-1, 8 KOs).
Shakur Stevenson is tentatively scheduled to face Puerto Rican Felix Caraballo when boxing resumes in the U.S. on June 9.
Featherweight titleholder Shakur Stevenson reportedly has an opponent for the tentative June 9 restart of boxing.
Stevenson is scheduled to face Felix Caraballo on the Top Rank card in Las Vegas, co-manager Andre Ward revealed on ESPN Saturday. The show must still be approved by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
ESPN will televise the event. No site has been announced.
“Obviously, he’s excited,” said Ward, speaking between classic fights airing on the network. “He wants to get back in the ring, a throwback mentality type of fighter even though he’s a young fighter. He’s working out in the gym now. He’s excited to get back in the ring by early June.
“He recently just had an opponent change because his opponent is in Mexico and having issues getting over. He’s now facing, I believe it’s Felix Caraballo.”
Stevenson, a silver medalist in the 2016 Olympics, won a vacant 126-pound belt when he easily outpointed Joet Gonzalez in October. That was Stevenson’s most recent fight.
Caraballo (13-1-2, 9 KOs) has won five fights since his only loss but the Puerto Rican has never fought outside his country, has been in only one scheduled 10-round fight and has never faced anyone near Stevenson’s ability.
Ward is confident about his client’s chances.
“I don’t know much about him,” he said. “Shakur texted me and said, ‘Hey I haven’t watched the tape yet. What do you think about him?’ I told him Felix has big trouble come June 9.”
Stevenson was scheduled to face Miguel Marriaga on March 14 in New York City but the fight was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
