Gervonta Davis told BoxingScene.com that he’s in talks to face Leo Santa Cruz in June in Los Angeles.
Leo Santa Cruz vs. Gervonta Davis is June? Could happen.
Davis, a junior lightweight titleholder who fought as a lightweight in his last bout, told BoxingScene.com that he’s in talks to face Santa Cruz around that time in Los Angeles. It would likely be televised on pay-per-view. And it could take place at Staples Center, although that remains in up in the air.
One question: At what weight would they fight?
Davis (23-0, 22 KOs) still holds a 130-pound title but weighed over the 135-pound limit (136¼) when he stopped Yuriorkis Gamboa in the 12th round in December.
Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 KOs) made his 130-pound debut in November, outpointing Miguel Flores to win a vacant title. He also still holds a 126-pound title.
Santa Cruz told BoxingScene.com that he would fight Davis at either 135 or 130 but would prefer the latter.
“If Gervonta and I fight, I will work really hard, a lot better than the Flores fight,” Santa Cruz said. “He will not like my pressure. If it gets passed four rounds with Davis, he’ll get tired and overwhelmed. That will be my plan to beat him.”
Joet Gonzalez is determined to demonstrate that his loss to Shakur Stevenson was just an off night.
Boxing, says featherweight contender Joet Gonzalez, is a learning process. That applies whether you win or lose.
Gonzalez is coming off the biggest fight of his career and his first loss, a unanimous decision against Shakur Stevenson for a vacant 126-pound title last October in Reno, Nevada. All three scorecards were the same: 119-109, or 11 rounds to one. It wasn’t close.
Gonzalez hasn’t made excuses, even when he has had the opportunity. Five months later, nothing has changed. It just wasn’t his night.
“I just found myself stuck in this [rut],” said Gonzalez, who faces Chris Avalos on March 19 at Avalon Hollywood in Hollywood, California. “I was doing the same thing over and over again, every round. I knew what I needed to do I just couldn’t do it. It was weird.
“… That’s boxing. You learn something in every fight.”
Joet Gonzalez (right, against Rafael Rivera) remains focused on winning a world championship. Tom Hogan-Hoganphotos / Golden Boy
Gonzalez (23-1, 14 KOs) has had a lot of learning opportunities.
For example, he has had the opportunity to spar with highly respected world champions Vasiliy Lomachenko and Oscar Valdez, which he described as “good sparring, really good work.”
He said he held his own against Lomachenko, who many regard as the No. 1 fighter pound for pound in the world, but he added that the gifted Ukrainian was no ordinary sparring partner.
“You could say Lomachenko is in his own category. The guy’s very competitive, very, very skilled and smart in the ring,” he told Boxing Junkie.
Of course, the fight against Stevenson – his first professional setback – also provided valuable lessons.
The main one: That no matter how prepared you are for fight you never know how things will unfold in the ring. All a fighter can do is train properly, do his best, accept the result and come back to do it again.
“I had a great camp [for Stevenson],” he said. “I had great sparring, everything. It just wasn’t my day. What I learned is that you can have one of your best camps, best sparring, and, come fight time, you don’t perform the way you’re supposed to.
“And then you have camps where you look like s—, you get your ass beat in sparring, maybe you’re not in great shape, and come fight time you knock the dude out cold. It is what it is.”
Gonzalez certainly isn’t dwelling on the past. He said taking his first loss wasn’t as devastating as one might think. He leaned on his family to help him in the immediate aftermath, took about a week off to rest and then went right back to the gym.
His record looks different now but he’s the same determined boxer with sights locked onto another title shot.
“My goal is still there, my hunger is still there,” he said.
Of course, he’ll have to get past Avalos (27-7, 20 KOs) to get back into the championship hunt.
Avalos has been a major player at both junior featherweight and featherweight but has come up short in his biggest fights, knockout losses to Carl Frampton for a 122-pound title in 2015, Oscar Valdez at 126 pounds later that year and Leo Santa Cruz for a 126-pound belt in 2017.
After the loss to Santa Cruz, he stepped away from boxing for two years only to lose a decision to Abimael Ortiz in his comeback fight this past November.
Still, Gonzalez isn’t taking anything for granted. They know one another because they both grew up in the Los Angeles area and they even sparred once, when Gonzalez was still an amateur and Avalos a young pro. Gonzalez doesn’t remember much about the session other than it was “normal sparring.”
“He’s a tough guy,” Gonzalez said. “He comes to fight. He doesn’t come as an opponent, he comes to win. I’m ready. I want to make a statement. I want to show boxing fans, boxing people that [the loss to Stevenson] was just a bad night and that I can do well against tough guys.
“I’m still going forward toward my goal of being a world champion.”
Follow Michael Rosenthal on Twitter @mrosenthal_box
Junior lightweight champ Leo Santa Cruz expects to fight again in May and his first choice of opponents is Gervonta Davis.
Leo Santa Cruz said he was told by his handlers that they’re targeting May for his next fight. And although nothing has been settled, it’s clear who he wants to take on: Gervonta Davis.
“That’s what I asked for,” Santa Cruz said on a FightHubTV video. “I said I want to fight Gervonta Davis. They said, yeah. Now it’s just a matter of talking to their team to see if they want it, to see if they could make it.
“… I think, more than likely, they’ll take it. Gervonta has said he wants to fight me. Leonard Ellerbe (of Mayweather Promotions, which handles Davis) wants that fight too. It’s just a matter of when and at what weight.”
One reason Santa Cruz wants the fight, he said, is to prove wrong fans who doubt his courage.
“People are saying I’m scared to fight champions, I’m scared to fight big names. I want to prove that I’m not scared,” he said. “… Gervonta Davis. He’s the most dangerous fighter. They say I’m scared of Gary Russell. I’m not scared of Gary Russell. The fight just hasn’t been able to be made.
“I’ve been asking for him. I’ve been asking for the big names. Oscar Valdez, Gary Russell, the third fight against [Carl] Frampton. Josh Warrington. All the big names.”
Santa Cruz believes a fight with Davis would take place at 130 pounds, at which Santa Cruz outpointed Miguel Flores to win a vacant title in November. He’d also be willing to face Davis at 135.
Whatever the weight, Santa Cruz expects a tough fight against Davis.
“He’s really skillful,” he said. “He looks for one-punch knockouts. We have to be smart. We’ll try to find sparring partners who have his style, really skillful, fast, with power. We’ll work on those things to avoid those big punches.
“He’s never had a fighter being on top of him, pressuring him, throwing a lot of punches. I think that might throw him off and be a big influence in the fight.”
Santa Cruz also could use his length against Davis.
“My dad says to use our distance,” he said. “We’re taller than him, we have a longer reach than Gervonta Davis. So I think that’s what we’re going to do, try to use our distance, keep on the outside, not get caught with big punches.
“We’ll try a little of both, try to pressure him, try to stay on top of him, throw punches punches. But if that’s not working, we’ll use our distance. Whatever works, whatever makes the fight easier, that’s what we’re going to do.”
One possible snag: Davis was recently arrested for allegedly assaulting the mother of his child. Is Santa Cruz worried that Davis’ legal problems will ruin his plans?
“Yeah, I am,” he said. “He has to go to court. They might not let him fight. He has to go through all this stuff first. … If the fight falls through, there are other big names. Gary Russell is one. That’d be a great fight. Jo Jo Diaz has been calling me out. There’s other big fights that can be made.
Gary Russell Jr. used his hand speed and ring generalship to defeat Tugstsogt Nyambayar by a unanimous decision Saturday.
Gary Russell Jr. was quicker than Tugstsogt Nyambayar, as expected. He was also better.
Russell used his hand speed and overall ring generalship to dominate his Mongolian foe early in the fight and then hold him off as the fight became more competitive to win a unanimous decision Saturday in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Russell (31-1, 18 KOs) was making the fifth defense of the featherweight title he won by stopping Jhonny Gonzalez in March 2015, meaning he has held a major title for almost five years.
The scores were 116-112, 117-111 and 118-110, which accurately reflected Russell’s ability to control the fight.
In the early rounds, Russell used his probing right jab – which creates distance more than it lands – to set up scoring power shots Nyambayar didn’t see coming. Russell used his feet and acute sense of danger to spin away whenever the aggressive Nyambayar got close enough to land punches.
That changed to a good degree in the middle rounds, when Nyambayar’s persistence began to pay off. Hard shots to the body and some to the head slowed Russell down just enough to give Nyambayar openings he didn’t have earlier.
The result was a competitive fight from about Round 5 on, a period in which the fighters traded moments of effectiveness. The problem for Nyambayar was that he had fallen too far behind in the early rounds to win the fight, a fact the visitor from Asia lamented.
Russell had predicted that Nyambayar, a 2012 Olympmic silver medalist, was no pushover.
“I knew I had a very, very tough opponent,” Russell said in the ring afterward. “I knew he would bring his physical game. He had everything to gain and nothing to lose. We were focused.
“I’m one of the longest reigning champions for a reason.”
Russell was asked what made the difference in the fight.
“My ring generalship, my hand speed, my ring IQ,” he said. “He had only 11 fights. Of course, he was a silver medalist, but he had only 11 fights. I had over 30-some professional fights. My experience [was the difference in] this fight.”
Of course, Nyambayar (11-1, 9 KOs) was disappointed after losing in his first fight for a major title. However, he undoubtedly scored points in the eyes of fans who will have appreciated his technical abilities combined with his controlled aggression.
Nyambayar also presumably learned a great deal in defeat. Among his lessons, according to him: Don’t give away rounds.
“I made a mistake,” he said through a translator. “I was waiting for him during the fight. I want a rematch.”
That isn’t likely, at least not any time soon. Russell passionately wants a s second fight with lightweight titleholder Vassiliy Lomachenko, the only fighter to beat him. Another potential opponent at 135 pounds is Gervonta Davis. Russell is willing to move up two weight classes to meet either of them.
A more realistic possibility is a showdown with junior lightweight beltholder Leo Santa Cruz, who, like Russell, fights under the Premier Boxing Champions banner.
“I’ll probably get Leo Santa Cruz next,” Russell said. “If not, I’ll jump two weight classes, skip over 130 and go straight to 135 … to get the guys I want.”
Gary Russell Jr. has been impressive but his level of opposition and relative inactivity has made it difficult to gauge his true ability.
It’s hard to grade Gary Russell Jr.’s career. It’s incomplete, which is another way of saying inactive. The big fights just haven’t been there often enough to get a fair read on how good he is. Or could be. But time creates its own urgency. Russell is 31.
If there was ever a chance for Russell to fulfill potential so evident a decade ago, it’s now. He can talk about who he would like to fight. But the clock on his career moves forward anyway. All he can do is fight, which is what he’ll do against Mongolian Tugstsogt Nyambayar in a mandatory defense of his featherweight title Saturday night on Showtime.
“If it were up to me, I’d be facing Leo Santa Cruz or Gervonta Davis, but this is what I have to face,” Russell said Thursday at the final news conference before the bout in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “I’m here to defend my title in style once again.’’
It’s easy to forget Russell’s style, his fast hands. One fight a year just isn’t enough to create and sustain a fan base. In perhaps an acknowledgment of that and a realization that nobody’s prime lasts forever, Russell (30-1, 18 KOs) is breaking away from his once-a-year schedule.
His date with Nyambayar (11-0, 9 KOs) is his second bout in nine months. He scored a fifth-round stoppage of Kiko Martinez on May 18 in Brooklyn. That’s not exactly busy. But it is another opportunity for Russell to make his case. He argues that he should be included among the best.
“You should expect to see what you always see with me,” Russell said. “Boxing at its best. A great deal of ring generalship. Good boxing IQ. Hand speed. Punching power. The total package as a fighter.
“As a matter of fact, I’m trying to figure out why I’m not on the pound-for-pound list, given all of that. That’s an issue.”
Inactivity is an issue, too. A pound-for-pound claim can’t be made without evidence, which is something Russell just hasn’t delivered often enough. Maybe that’s changing.
Nyambayar is interesting, perhaps because he’s unknown. He has also been inactive. He hasn’t fought in 13 months since a unanimous decision over Dominican Claudio Marrero Jan. 26, 2018 in Brooklyn. Nine stoppages in 11 fights suggest he has power. He also has an Olympic silver medal, won at the 2012 London Games.
Gary Russell Jr. wants to fight Leo Santa Cruz in a 126-pound title-unification bout. If it doesn’t happen, he’ll move up in weight.
Gary Russell Jr. is clear on who he wants to fight next, Leo Santa Cruz in a 126-poud title-unification fight.
If it doesn’t happen? Bye bye 126 pounds. Russell said he’ll vacate his featherweight title and move up in weight to pursue two other fighters on his radar — lightweights Gervonta Davis and Vasiliy Lomachenko, the latter of whom outpointed him in 2014.
Yes, that means he’d skip over 130 pounds.
Russell (30-1, 18 KOs) faces Tugstsogt Nyambayar (11-0, 9 KOs) on Feb. 8 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Showtime.
“I definitely want Leo Santa Cruz,” Russell told The PBC Podcast. “The only reason why I’ve been still competing at 126 is because I want a title unification with Santa Cruz. If we can’t get Leo Santa Cruz within the time frame which we want, I plan on moving up in weight. I don’t really have any thought of stopping at 130; I want to go straight to 135.
“There are a couple of guys that I want. I want Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, I definitely want a rematch with Vasyl Lomachenko. And I feel like the only way for me to make those fights happen is to put myself in the same weight division as these guys.”
There’s no chance he’d make a pit stop at 130?
“If Tevin farmer beats Jo Jo Diaz … I’m one of those guys, I answer any challenge,” Russell said. “I’m a real fighter, I’m a real warrior. You know, if someone says they want to fight me and they’re acting like they want that, I’m going to give it them.
“They have to be careful what they ask for. So if Tevin Farmer were to beat Jo Jo Diaz and we don’t get the Leo Santa Cruz fight, I wouldn’t mind stopping at 130 just to shut him up for mentioning my name.”
Leo Santa Cruz survived a cut to outpoint Miguel Flores and join an exclusive club of Mexicans to win titles in four divisions.
LAS VEGAS – Leo Santa Cruz has joined an exclusive fraternity.
Santa Cruz defeated Miguel Flores by a unanimous decision to win a vacant junior lightweight title on the Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz card Saturday at the MGM Grand.
That gives him major titles in four divisions, joining Erik Morales, Jorge Arce and Juan Manuel Marquez as the only Mexicans to do so.
Santa Cruz (37-1-1, 19 knockouts) didn’t have an easy time with his capable countryman, who was a 40-1 underdog at the MGM going into the fight. However, he pressed the action, outworked Flores (24-3, 12 KOs) and landed many more eye-catching punches than his opponent.
The pattern of the fight didn’t change much, as there were few ebbs and flows. And neither fighter was ever seriously hurt.
The scores were 117-110, 117-110 and 115-112. Flores was docked a point in the eighth round but it had no impact on the decision.
Santa Cruz suffered a cut above his left eye in the 10th round, the result of an accidental head butt. The cut bled into his eye, which clearly bothered him, but he was able to maintain his focus and work rate.
Santa Cruz had won titles at 118 pounds, 122 and 126. He said before he fought Flores that he might some day pursue a title in a fifth division – 135 – if things went well at 130.
Canelo Alvarez, another Mexican, claims to have won titles in four divisions but one of those titles is what the WBA calls its “regular” belt, which Boxing Junkie doesn’t recognize.
Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz on Friday weighed 219½ and 236½, respectively, for Saturday’s fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS – Deontay Wilder was expected to be a little heavier in the rematch than he was in his first fight with Luis Ortiz, Ortiz a little lighter. And that’s how it played out.
Wilder on Friday weighed 219½ pounds, almost five pounds more than he weighed when they fought in Mach of last year. Ortiz, who reportedly trained like a mad man, weighed 236½. That’s almost five less than he weighed in the first fight.
They meet again Saturday at the MGM Grand on Fox Pay-Per-View.
Wilder, who stopped Ortiz in 10 rounds the first time around, doesn’t think the weight will make much of a difference.
“He knows what happened the first time. He knows what will happen the second time,” Wilder said on the stage moments after weighing in.
Wilder weighed 223 for his last fight, a first-round knockout of Dominic Breazeale in May. Ortiz weighed 238¾ against Christian Hammer in March, when Ortiz won by a wide decision.
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In other fights, Leo Santa Cruz and Miguel Flores weighed 129½ and the limit of 130, respectively, for their junior lightweight title fight. Santa Cruz is attempting to win a title in a fourth division.
In a scheduled junior featherweight bout, Julio Ceja weighed 126½, way over the 122-pound limit. His opponent, Brandon Figueroa, weighed 122. It wasn’t clear how officials intended to proceed.
And, in a bantamweight title eliminator, Luis Nery weighed 119, a pound over the limit. He had a few hours to lose the extra weight. His opponent, Emmanuel Rodriguez, weighed 118.
Deontay Wilder will put his heavyweight title on the line in a rematch with Luis Ortiz on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Here’s how to watch.
Undefeated heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder will put his title on the line in a highly anticipated rematch with Luis Ortiz Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Wilder defeated Ortiz by a 10th-round TKO in their first fight 19 months ago, but Ortiz has won his last three fights and has the power to end the bout in a single punch.
The Wilder vs. Ortiz II pay-per-view will begin at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on Saturday, Nov. 23. You can order the PPV online here for $74.99.
Wilder vs. Ortiz II can be streamed via the Fox Sports app on the App Store or Google Play, on your TV via Roku, Xbox One, Fire TV, Android TV and Apple TV, or on your computer or smart devices via FoxSports.com.
There are three other fights on the undercard:
Leo Santa Cruz (36-1-1) vs. Miguel Flores (24-2) for a junior lightweight title; Luis Nery (30-0) vs. Emmanuel Rodriguez (19-1) in a bantamweight fight; and Brandon Figueroa (20-0) vs. Julio Ceja (32-4) in a junior bantamweight bout.
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Leo Santa Cruz believes it might be possible for him to win a title in a fifth weight division.
LAS VEGAS – Leo Santa Cruz has stated his goal of joining fellow Mexican-born stars who have won major titles in four divisions, Erik Morales, Jorge Arce and Juan Manuel Marquez.
Santa Cruz might not stop there, though. How about five divisions?
“It’s possible,” said Santa Cruz, who makes his debut at 130 pounds against Miguel Flores on the Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz card Saturday at the MGM Grand.
Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 knockouts) has won belts at 118, 122 and 126. Next on the list is 130, assuming he can beat Flores (24-2, 12 KOs) and lure one of the junior lightweight titleholders into the ring.
So the resident of Los Angeles already knows what it’s like to move up in weight and face bigger men. He’s done it gradually – fighting at each weight multiple times – and successfully. His move to 130 is no different.
As in the past, he works on increasing his punching power through strength training and sparring with bigger men without forsaking his specialty – volume punching, which is a product of intense conditioning.
He said his sparring partners have told him that his punches are heavier than in the past.
“I know they’re bigger guys,” Santa Cruz told Boxing Junkie at the final news conference before his fight Saturday. “I’m a big guy, too. I go up to around 140, 140-something pounds. I’m getting used to this weight.
“I’m sparring bigger guys who fight at 135, 140, so I won’t see that much of a difference. I’m going try this weight now and see how it goes.”
And that title in a fifth division? Is that realistic?
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “Like I said, I go up to 140-something. I work really hard on my body. I think I can go up to 135.”
