British light heavyweight contender Anthony Yarde lost his grandmother to coronavirus just day after his father died from the same disease.
British light heavyweight contender Anthony Yarde lost his grandmother to coronavirus just day after his father died from the same disease.
Yarde made the announcement on Twitter Friday night. He wrote:
“We have now lost my nanna to this virus. My dad and his mother have passed days apart. It’s serious! People are still going out when they don’t need to. I know theres (sic) a lot of opinions about COVID19 and I have mine but I just know opinions ain’t worth risking your life and others. Just stay home.
“RIP Dad 27.3.20. RIP Nana 2.4.20. My heart really goes out to all the people suffering in different ways.”
Yarde, a 28-year-old who lives in east London, announced his father’s death last Saturday on Instagram. He wrote that his dad had no health issues before contracting the virus.
“My dad passed away from this virus yesterday,” he wrote. “He was fit with no health issues.”
As of Saturday, roughly 1.2 million people had contracted coronavirus worldwide. Almost 63,000 people have lost their lives.
British light heavyweight Anthony Yarde has announced on Instagram that he has lost his father to coronavirus.
British light heavyweight Anthony Yarde has lost his father to coronavirus.
Yarde, a 28-year-old who lives in east London, made the announcement Saturday on Instagram. He wrote that his father had no health issues before contracting the virus.
“My dad passed away from this virus yesterday,” he wrote. “He was fit with no health issues.”
He went on: “The more people go out and mingle the longer this isolation will last and the more it will spread.
“I’m not a doctor but I do know if you stay home you are less likely to catch it and pass it on. It’s seriously not worth the risk.”
As of Sunday evening, roughly 720,000 people had contracted coronavirus worldwide. Almost 34,000 people have lost their lives.
Artur Beterbiev is feeling the adverse effects of the coronavirus after his March 28 fight against Fanlong Meng was canceled.
Artur Beterbiev took it in stride when he received word that his March 28 light heavyweight defense against Fanlong Meng in Quebec City had been canceled because of the coronavirus. He simply continued his workouts, says head trainer Marc Ramsay.
Make no mistake, though: Beterbiev’s wallet took a hit.
Fighters everywhere today are feeling the financial sting these days, especially those who had fights lined up this spring, as Beterbiev did, only to see them postponed or cancelled outright as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ramsay estimates that Beterbiev is out anywhere from $35,000- $52,000 ($50,000 to $75,000 in Canadian dollars) in training camp expenses. It’s money he won’t recover for the time being. Maybe not for a long time.
“It’s a true catastrophe,” Ramsay told the The Journal of Montreal. “In addition to not receiving his purse, Artur is going to absorb all the costs for his training camp.
“It’s a camp that had big expenses in terms of the salary for the six-man team, their allowances, flight tickets and housing.”
A possible silver lining is that promoter Top Rank is seriously looking at the option to stage Beterbiev-Meng in a closed studio shut off from the public. That would mean the card would take place in the U.S., which could be especially problematic for Ramsay, Beterbeiv, but also Ramsay’s other client Oscar Rivas, the Colombian heavyweight contender who was scheduled to appear on the undercard.
The U.S. and Canada recently agreed to close their borders to non-essential traffic.
“Oscar is in Canada on a renewable work permit. If he has to go to the U.S. for a fight, he wouldn’t be able to return to [Canada] but would have to go back to [his home in] Colombia,” Ramsay told The Journal. “For me and Artur, we would have to be quarantined upon our return. In short, we’d be taking a step backwards.”
Ramsay himself is feeling the adverse effects of the coronavirus on his own business. With the exception of Beterbiev and Rivas, Ramsay has closed off his Montreal gym to his regular clientele and has asked his amateur and professional boxers to stay home. Ramsay is trying to think of creative ways to maintain his stable, but with a public health crisis restricting so many aspects of daily life, good ideas are hard to come by.
“We could maybe do our training camp outside, but even that isn’t optimal,” Ramsay said. “In my opinion, we’re far from doing that. We’ll make plans as soon as we get some precise dates.”
Promoter Kathy Duva believes Sergey Kovalev has one more shot at making a run in the sport before he calls it quits.
Promoters are experts at spotting silver linings. There’s usually a silver dollar behind each one.
Kathy Duva, president of Main Events, sees both gleaming in the future for Sergey Kovalev, the former light heavyweight titleholder. Future? Apparently Duva believes her veteran client can make one final run even though he’s coming off a particularly brutal loss at the hands of Canelo Alvarez in November.
Kovalev acquitted himself well for the majority of the fight before Alvarez cut him down in the 11th round, leaving the Russian slumped on the ropes with his head bowed. That was an unsettling image, yes, but Duva, the eternal optimist, sees a clear path forward.
“A lot of people had him beating Canelo going into the 11th round [and] I’m not sure that being competitive with probably the best fighter in the world means your career is over,” Duva said on the recent Everlast TalkBox Podcast. “People have a tendency to write people off very quickly.”
Kovalev has had to deal with such concerns in the past. He was knocked out in brutal fashion by Eleider Alvarez in 2018. Before that he was stopped, albeit controversially, by Andre Ward in 2017. The difference now, according to Duva, is that Kovalev firmly understands that he is in the twilight of his career.
“He knows his career is close to closing,” Duva said. “It’s close to an end, he acknowledges that. But he intends to maybe make another splash before he’s finished, and we’re going to help him do that.”
Part of that help consists of determining the weight at which Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) wants to fight. His next bout, against Sullivan Barrera (22-3, 14 KOs) on April 25 in Indio, California, will take place at a catch weight of 180 pounds, five over the light heavyweight limit.
Kovalev and Co. are undecided as to whether he’ll campaign at cruiserweight (200-pound limit) or move back down to 175, where he has spent his entire career.
“We’re going to do this at 180 because we want to find out if [making weight] is a problem and if we have to contemplate moving up,” Duva said. “He’s going in a little heavier, not so heavy that he can’t ever go back to 175, but he wants to just see what the difference is, because those last five pounds are the ones that kill ya.”
Kovalev concurs. He recently put up an Instagram post showing him pinching the fat on his body.
Weight gain isn’t the only thing on Kovalev’s plate these days. He’s battling disturbing allegations of sexual assault and recently made headlines after reportedly getting arrested for a DUI in Los Angeles.
“He’s a lot happier with the lawyers that he has now,” Duva said. “They’ve made him feel comfortable that this is all going to be OK.”
Duva hopes with a fight on the horizon that Kovalev won’t stray into more trouble.
“When you got something to focus on, you’re mind doesn’t stray into other things,” she said. “He’s not the first fighter who’s fought these problems, and he won’t be the last.”
Jean Pascal and Badou Jack have agreed to terms to face each other in a rematch later this spring. Pascal won the first bout in December.
Jean Pascal and Badou Jack are running it back up.
The light heavyweight contenders went tit for tat for 12 rounds on the Dec. 28 Gervonta Davis-Yuriorkis Gamboa card before Pascal prevailed narrowly – and a tad controversially – on the scorecards. Now, they are headed toward a rematch after both parties agreed to terms, according to BoxingScene.
The fight could take place on three possible dates, May 9 or 23 on FOX, or May 16 on Showtime, the website reported. Al Haymon has output deals with both Showtime and Fox to showcase his Premier Boxing Champions cards.
The card could also feature a light heavyweight bout between Sullivan Barrera and Marcus Browne, who fought Jack and Pascal last year. Browne beat Jack but suffered three knockdowns en route to a technical-decision loss to Pascal.
Pascal-Jack stands to reprise what was one of the more entertaining fights in the latter half of 2019. Pascal controlled the early rounds, scoring a knockdown in Round 4, before Jack (22-3-3, 13 KOs) began to take control in the second half of the fight. He put Pascal on the canvas in the final round. Two of the judges scored it 114-112 for Pascal, while the third had it 114-112 for Jack.
Pascal has resurrected his career after flirting with retirement. Aside from a one-sided loss by decision to titleholder Dmitry Bivol, Pascal has looked sharp. He is 4-1 in his last five fights.
Artur Beterbiev doesn’t have to worry about the coronavirus when he takes on Chinese contender Fanlong Meng on March 28 in Montreal.
The fists of light heavyweight titleholder Artur Beterbiev knock out opponents inside the ring but are useless against the deadly coronavirus that has killed more than 400 people and infected 20,000 others worldwide.
There were concerns in some corners that the novel virus, which originated in the city of Wuhan, China, would lead to the cancellation of Beterbiev’s projected defense of his two titles against Chinese challenger Fanlong Meng on March 28 in Quebec City. A formal announcement of the bout is pending.
Yvon Michel, who is working with Beterbiev promoter Top Rank to stage the fight, told The Montreal Journal that Meng’s promoter Dino Duva assured him that his charge has had virtually no chance of contracting the virus.
“I contacted Meng’s promoter (Dino Duva) when the very first cases of death from the coronavirus had been announced,” Michel told the newspaper. “He quickly assured me that his boxer had been living in New Jersey for the past few years and that he had not returned to China for some time.”
Most of the coronavirus cases have occurred in China. The infectious disease has spread to at least 23 countries, according to multiple reports.
“Our lawyers are already working to obtain a visa for Meng,” Michel added. “We would love to have him be present for our press conference launching the fight.”
Top Rank canceled its Feb. 1 card in Haikou, China featuring a junior welterweight title fight between Jose Ramirez and Viktor Postol out of concern for the virus outbreak.
Beterbiev-Meng was supposed to take place in China after Chinese promoter LoveJoy Sports turned in the winning bid to the IBF. But after failing to make timely payments to the sanctioning body, the rights to the bout reverted to the second highest bidder, Top Rank. There were also concerns that Beterbiev, who is Muslim, would boycott the fight if it took place in China because of that country’s appalling treatment of Uighur, an ethnically Turkic Muslim minority group living in the westernmost province of Xinjiang.
Eleider Alvarez started slow, but he picked up steam in the seventh round, downing Michael Seals with a heat-seeking right hand.
It was on pace to become one of the early year’s most tedious fights, replete with boos and hisses from a sleepy crowd. But Eleider Alvarez made sure that this light heavyweight bout would only be remembered for one thing: A howling right hand that gave Michael Seals a bad case of rigor mortis and the fans a reason, finally, to cheer.
With a few seconds left in Round 7, Alvarez and Seals traded right hands, but Alvarez ducked as he threw his and landed first. Instantly, Seals froze up and toppled backward, his head hitting the bottom rope. As Seals lay on the canvas motionless for a few beats, the referee waved off the bout. It was a dramatic ending to what began as a slow-grinding, nearly apathetic affair at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York. And just like that, the Colombian veteran is once more in the title hunt.
This was Alvarez’s first fight since he lost his belt to Sergey Kovalev on points in their rematch in February 2018. Since then, Alvarez, who lives and trains in Montreal, has been out of the ring for nearly a year, due primarily to an Achilles tear that he suffered in that fight.
“I was out of the ring for 11 months,” Alvarez said after the fight Saturday. “I wanted to come back as the fighter that beat Kovalev, and this is what we prepared for.”
Neither Michael Seals (left) nor Eleider Alvarez did much until the deciding seventh round. Mikey Williams / Top Rank
Neither fighter threw or landed many punches through six-plus rounds — the winner landed fewer than 50 punches, according to CompuBox — but Alvarez (25-1, 13 KOs) showed his superior class by outworking Seals (24-3, 18 KOs) with his jab. The 37-year-old Seals seemed intent on ending the fight with one big shot, but Alvarez rarely allowed him to set his feet. The result was a stalemate that didn’t go over well with the crowd.
Alvarez, 35, admitted that he was rusty in the beginning, noting that his “trainer was not happy because I wasn’t doing what he was asking.” But perhaps that also had to do with being wary of Seals’ ruinous right hand.
Alvarez’s knockout of Seals was reminiscent of his August 2018 stoppage of Kovalev to win the WBO light heavyweight title.
Alvarez was overjoyed to emerge victorious after a long layoff. Mikey Williams / Top Rank
Once widely tapped as Puerto Rico’s next Felix Trinidad, lightweight Felix Verdejo, now 26, has been something of a reclamation project for the past few years. After tonight’s showing, it looks as if he will stay that way.
Verdejo decisioned Manuel Rey Rojas over 10 rounds in a ho-hum bout that made one wonder what the fuss was about all those years ago when Verdejo came out of the 2012 Olympics.
Verdejo (26-1 16 KOs), 26, won comfortably on scorecards that read 99-91, 97-93, and 98-92.
And yet it doesn’t appear the he helped himself inch closer to realizing his potential. The relatively innocuous Rojas (18-4, 5 KOs) was never truly imperiled by Verdejo at any time during the fight. What’s more, the Dallas native had success early on tagging Verdejo with stiff jabs and right hands. By Round 2, Verdejo, who has a history of swelling, already had a mouse form underneath his left eye.
Verdejo was able to put some distance between himself and Rojas in the latter half of the bout, but the Puerto Rican never truly looked comfortable in the ring. You might say he seldom has since his motorcycle accident in 2016.
It seems even Verdejo himself knew he turned in a subpar performance. Afterward, he graded himself a C.
Christopher Diaz (25-2, 16 KOs) widely outpointed Adeilson dos Santos (19-8, 15 KOs) in an eight-round featherweight bout. All three judges scored it 80-72.
Also, new Top Rank lightweight signee Abraham Nova (18-0, 14 KOs) scored an impressive fourth-round knockout of Pedro Navarrete (30-25.
The winner of the Eleider Alvarez and Michael Seals winner could face Joe Smith Jr. for vacant title.
The winner of the Eleider Alvarez-Michael Seals light heavyweight bout on Saturday could fight for title as early as his next fight.
Alvarez’s co-promoter, Yvon Michel of GYM, said in a recent interview that his charge could face Long Islander Joe Smith Jr., who is coming off a split decision win over Jesse Hart, for the vacant WBO 175-pound title. Of course, Alvarez must first beat hard hitting Michael Seals at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York. Alvarez is also promoted by Top Rank.
“With a convincing win over Seals, Eleider can reclaim his world title in his next bout,” Michel told Radio-Canada. “It’s understood that we can challenge the American Joe Smith for the vacant WBO light heavyweight title.”
Alvarez, a Columbian who lives and trains in Montreal, has a bit of history with the WBO strap.
The WBO belt was vacated by Canelo Alvarez after he wrested it from Sergey Kovalev in November by 11th-round knockout. It was the same belt that Alvarez (24-1, 12 KOs) had won in 2018, when he knocked out Kovalev in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Alvarez lost the belt several months later in the rematch, which Kovalev won by a relatively comfortable decision.
Michel has no illusions about Saturday’s bout. A loss to Seals (24-2, 18 KOs) would be a major step back for Alvarez.
“I’m very confident in Eleider’s skills and his team,” Michel said. “That doesn’t worry me at all. This fight is a turning point in his career. If he loses to Seals, he’ll join the rest of the contenders. Climbing back up to world-class status will be relatively difficult.”
Top Rank/ESPN will have showcased consequential light heavyweight bouts on back-to-back weekends. On Jan. 11, Smith defeated Jesse Hart by a split decision that all but one judge saw as a clear victory. Top Rank has a deep talent pool at 175. The company also handles light heavyweight titleholder Artur Beterbiev and former titleholder Oleksandr Gvozdyk, as well as former super middleweight titleholder Gilberto Ramirez.
Artur Beterbiev won’t have to worry about compromising his religious beliefs, after it was announced that his next bout won’t be in China.
Artur Beterbiev won’t have to compromise his personal convictions for his next fight, it turns out.
Originally, it appeared the two-belt light heavyweight titleholder and devout Muslim would have to travel to China to face his IBF mandatory Meng Fanlong after Fanlong’s Chinese promoter Lovejoy Sports won the Dec. 30 purse bid for the bout. But Lovejoy Sports, which co-promotes Fanlong with the American outfit Roc Nation, failed to meet the deadline for a scheduled payment. Per IBF rules, that meant rights to the fight would default to the next highest bidder, Beterbiev’s promoter, Top Rank.
Top Rank is planning to stage the bout in Quebec City on March 28, according to ESPN.com. It is a homecoming of sorts for Beterbiev, a Chechen Russian who has been living and training in the Montreal area for most of his professional career. Beterbiev unified the WBC and IBF belts on Oct. 18, when he stopped then-undefeated Oleksandr Gvozdyk by a 10th-round stoppage.
In light of the news, Beterbiev (15-0, 15 knockouts) can let out a sigh of relief.
The 34-year-old bruiser was reportedly dead set against fighting Fanlong (16-0, 10 KOs) in China, presumably because Beterbiev takes issue with China’s treatment of its Uighur, an ethnically Turkic Muslim minority group living in the westernmost province of Xinjiang. In an effort to crack down on any hint of dissent, the Chinese government has been forcing the Uighur to turn their backs on their religion and traditions, including banning the naming of any of their sons “Muhammad.” It is thought that at least a million Uighurs are being detained in re-education centers.
Rumors suggested Beterbiev was willing to vacate his IBF title rather than fight in China.
Fanlong’s promoter, Dino Duva of Roc Nation, expressed his dismay with his Chinese partners.
“(I’m) very disappointed that Longjoy Sports defaulted,” Duva told Boxing Junkie. “It would have been great for Fanlong, and an historic event for boxing and China. However, I’m confident it will be a great fight in Canada and that Fanlong can beat him anywhere.”
Duva said he doesn’t know why Longjoy Sports failed to make the payment but noted that it was not out of negligence, adding that “they didn’t forget, they knew the rules and obligations.”
Longjoy Sports initially won the rights to the Beterbiev-Menlong bout on Dec. 30 with a bid of $1.9 million, which beat out the $1.35 million offer from Top Rank.
For Hopkins, it was an ignominious ending to an otherwise illustrious career. That it happened all the way out in Inglewood, California seemed to underscore the cruelty of the event. At the time, Hart was in the gym training so he didn’t get to watch the fight unfold live, but he recalls getting a phone call.
“It hurt the little boy in me because Bernard meant a lot to me,” Hard said. “Not only was I so hurt, my city was hurt as well. We all felt like Hopkins should have gone out better than that.
“And that’s the reason this fight is occurring. It’s not secret that I’m the best light heavyweight out of all these jokers.”
Hart (26-2, 21 KOs) gets his chance to exact revenge for his mentor and idol when he faces Smith (24-3, 20 KOs) in a light heavyweight tilt Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey on ESPN. It’s business as usual, yes, but also a bit personal. Well, a lot personal.
“As a little boy we all got our inspirations,” Hart said. “I don’t know who that was for you, but I’m saying, as a little boy, you’re inspired by wrestlers, Hulk Hogan, you know what I’m saying. Kids say I want to be like Deion Sanders. The kids say they want to be like Andre the Giant. They say they want to be like Bruce Lee.
“The little boy, what’s the inspiration that inspired you to become whatever you became and to be the best at it? That’s what people don’t understand. Bernard Hopkins inspired me to be what I am today and to be the best at it.”
Last month, Hopkins was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, along with Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley. To Hart, though, Hopkins long surpassed Hall of Fame status.
“He’s an icon,” Hart said. “Not just for this sport of boxing but for life, period. Showing people that you can be knocked down and can get back up and coming from where he came from, the penitentiary and doing those negative things and changing his life around. Being a Hall of Famer is cool, but being an icon surpasses all of that.”
Hart is chasing similarly lofty goals himself. After two close losses at super middleweight against then 168-pound titleholder Gilberto Ramirez, Hart moved up to light heavyweight this year, winning a decision against veteran Sullivan Barrera in June. A win over Smith would get him one step closer to another title shot.
He promises not to suffer the same fate as Hopkins.
“I will not go out the ring,” he said. “I will fight at the highest level that I can perform at ever.”
