Tag: Matchroom

Joshua Buatsi: It’s time to fight after a year away

Joshua Buatsi wants to show against Marko Calic on Oct. 4 that he has added to his game after a year out of the ring.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DAZN.com.

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Joshua Buatsi wants to show against Marko Calic on Oct. 4 that he has added to his game after a year out of the ring.

The 2016 Olympic bronze medalist said that he put Britain’s coronavirus lockdown to good use.

“Just training alone. I was out there cycling for hours. Running. The weather was really good. It was quite straightforward. Not everyone found it easy, but for myself it was straightforward,” he told Matchroom.

Buatsi ran through the string of cancellations and disappointments that have kept him out of competition for so long.

“I boxed 31 August 2019. Then I was meant to box 2 November 2019,” he said “Three weeks before that I was very, very ill. The doctor advised me not to fight. I said I was going to go ahead with it. Then the doctor advised my coach that I really shouldn’t go ahead with it, so I stepped aside to get better.”

He went on: “March 28 2020 that was the next day. I did nine weeks in camp, and two weeks [before the fight] it was canceled because of the coronavirus. That took some time, then we were on lockdown for six months.”

Nevertheless, the 27-year-old native of Ghana did not get down over the lack of action. He looked at the positives.

“There is always something positive to take out of these situations,” he said. “My body has rested when it needed to. There’s less battering, the grind against your body.

“I’ve stayed in the gym for as long as I can. I’m healthy, I’m fit, I’m strong, I’m good to go.”

He believes he’ll feel comfortable once he gets rolling in the fight.

“It will be a bit awkward getting back into it, but once I’m in there with someone looking to take my head off, it’s time to fight,” he said. “I still have to protect myself, and defend myself. I have to get to them before they get to you. That’s my mentality.”

[lawrence-related id=14258]

Joshua Buatsi: It’s time to fight after a year away

Joshua Buatsi wants to show against Marko Calic on Oct. 4 that he has added to his game after a year out of the ring.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DAZN.com.

***

Joshua Buatsi wants to show against Marko Calic on Oct. 4 that he has added to his game after a year out of the ring.

The 2016 Olympic bronze medalist said that he put Britain’s coronavirus lockdown to good use.

“Just training alone. I was out there cycling for hours. Running. The weather was really good. It was quite straightforward. Not everyone found it easy, but for myself it was straightforward,” he told Matchroom.

Buatsi ran through the string of cancellations and disappointments that have kept him out of competition for so long.

“I boxed 31 August 2019. Then I was meant to box 2 November 2019,” he said “Three weeks before that I was very, very ill. The doctor advised me not to fight. I said I was going to go ahead with it. Then the doctor advised my coach that I really shouldn’t go ahead with it, so I stepped aside to get better.”

He went on: “March 28 2020 that was the next day. I did nine weeks in camp, and two weeks [before the fight] it was canceled because of the coronavirus. That took some time, then we were on lockdown for six months.”

Nevertheless, the 27-year-old native of Ghana did not get down over the lack of action. He looked at the positives.

“There is always something positive to take out of these situations,” he said. “My body has rested when it needed to. There’s less battering, the grind against your body.

“I’ve stayed in the gym for as long as I can. I’m healthy, I’m fit, I’m strong, I’m good to go.”

He believes he’ll feel comfortable once he gets rolling in the fight.

“It will be a bit awkward getting back into it, but once I’m in there with someone looking to take my head off, it’s time to fight,” he said. “I still have to protect myself, and defend myself. I have to get to them before they get to you. That’s my mentality.”

[lawrence-related id=14258]

Dana White expresses doubts about boxing venture

Dana White expressed some reservations and doubts about the boxing business in a recent interview…

Dana White has long teased that he was going to dive headlong into the deep waters of the boxing business. The UFC head promised a press conference last October to unveil his boxing operation. Yet October came and went. Then November, December, January … still nothing.

Now it appears he has cold feet.

In a video interview with Yahoo! Sports posted Tuesday, White was asked to comment on how he viewed the economic structure of boxing. He wasn’t so enthused.

“I hate speaking negatively about the sport of boxing,” White said, “other than the fact that it’s a mess – we all knows it’s a mess – and that it needs to be fixed, if it can be fixed.”

White continued: “I told you guys that I would have a press conference last October and announce all these things, but as I dove into this thing and started to look into the sport of boxing, the economics of boxing, that sport’s a mess. It’s a mess and it’s in big trouble. I don’t know. I don’t know if it can be fixed.”

What does White mean by “mess”? He didn’t say during the Yahoo! interview, but it doesn’t take a genius to grasp at least one of his objections.

As the largest mixed martial arts promotional group in the world, with nearly 600 fighters under exclusive contract, the UFC has considerable leverage when it comes to fighter compensation. The outfit signed a $1.5 billion broadcasting deal with ESPN in 2018. A few MMA experts, using publicly available financial documents, have estimated that UFC fighters take home anywhere from 13.6-16.3% of UFC’s total revenue in a given year.

The general consensus is that boxers do much better than that, which might be the reason for White’s reticence to wade in boxing waters. Promoter Bob Arum has been quoted in a recent UFC anti-trust suit as saying that his company Top Rank “pay[s] out 80%” of the revenue to fighters. According to Golden Boy’s financial documents that were brought to light during their anti-trust litigation against Premier Boxing Champions  (which was eventually rejected by the court), their fighter payout was 64% and 62% of total revenue in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

And it’s not a pattern that is likely to change anytime soon. In recent years, new players like the streaming platform DAZN have been doling out mind-numbing purses to fighters from all levels of the talent spectrum in an effort to bolster their presence in the market.

For White, who is accustomed to claiming the biggest piece of the pie, that’s a mess.

Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Dillian Whyte? Momentum is building

Promoter Eddie Hearn reportedly offered Andy Ruiz Jr. a seven-figure purse to face Dillian Whyte in March.

Andy Ruiz Jr., suddenly out of sight and out of mind in any heavyweight discussion, surfaced on social media recently, asking fans who he should fight next.

Answers to Ruiz’s Instagram post were all over the place. To wit: Fight the temptation to party instead of train. But a real one came from Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn, who mentioned Dillian Whyte.

Now it looks as if there is momentum building for Hearn’s suggestion. Ruiz’s comeback from his embarrassing loss to Anthony Joshua on Dec. 7 in Saudi Arabia might be against Whyte.

According to The Athletic, Hearn is offering a seven-figure purse to Ruiz (33-2, 20 KOs) to fight Whyte on March 28 in the U.K. on DAZN. There’s another report from ESPN Deportes that Ruiz plans to fight in May or June. Seven figures, however, could convince him to come back at an earlier date.

Whyte confirmed in a tweet that he met with Hearn on Tuesday.

“Fight news dropping very very soon,’’ Whyte said.

Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) is coming off a mixed performance in a decision over Mariusz Wach on the undercard of Ruiz’s loss to Joshua in a rematch of his stunning upset of Joshua on June 1 in New York.

Whyte is the mandatory challenger to the belt Deontay Wilder will defend against Tyson Fury in their rematch Feb. 22 on Fox/ESPN+ pay-per-view. Whyte was reinstated as the No. 1 challenger when a doping charge against him was dropped on Dec. 11.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Daniel Jacobs is on but controversy lingers

Arizona proceeded with plans for the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Daniel Jacobs card without any unforeseen issues at a meeting Wednesday.

PHOENIX – The Arizona State Boxing & MMA Commission proceeded with plans for the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Daniel Jacobs card without any unforeseen issues related to the licensing of Chavez at a meeting Wednesday.

Chavez, who faces Jacobs in a super middleweight bout Friday at Talking Stick Arena on DAZN, was cleared to fight Tuesday after a Nevada district judge granted him an injunction, lifting his suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Chavez already had been granted a pending license by the Arizona Commission, a three-member regulatory board which approved the Matchroom-promoted card at its Nov. 18 meeting.

If the Nevada judge had ruled against Chavez and upheld the suspension, it’s likely that the license would have been withdrawn. Under the Muhammad Ali Act, federal law mandates that one state’s suspension be honored nationwide. An item on the Arizona Commission’s agenda Wednesday indicated it was prepared for that possibility. Possible action was mentioned regarding the main event, including an option to move into a private Executive Session if necessary.

It wasn’t necessary.

Yet controversy lingers.

Chavez Jr. was suspended after he allegedly refused to submit to a drug test while training at the Wild Club Boxing Club in Los Angeles in late October. First, Chavez said he was asked for a test sample by someone who failed to show him credentials proving he was a Voluntary Anti-Doping Association representative. Then he said he did not believe he had to undergo the test because he had yet to sign for the fight, although the bout had already been scheduled for Las Vegas.

That’s when Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn moved the card to Arizona. Then the Nevada Commission upheld its suspension of Chavez Jr. at a meeting in mid-November. Chavez Jr. then filed his lawsuit.

The Nevada Commission, angry at Hearn’s decision to move the card, has threatened his promotional license. Hearn is using the Arizona license held by Phoenix-based Iron Boy Promotions to promote Friday’s card. According to the Arizona Commission, Matchroom has applied for a license. The U.K.-based promoter plans to stage more cards in the state in 2020.

“We have no quarrel with Nevada,’’ Scott Fletcher, Chairman of the Arizona Commission, said Wednesday. “We share a border.’’

But there is a quarrel between Top Rank’s Bob Arum and Hearn. Arum ripped into Hearn during a session with reporters last weekend while promoting Terence Crawford’s fight against Egidijus Kavaliauskas.

Hearn, Arum said, is “in a strong position in the U.K. where the fans really buy tickets, but he’s falling on his ass in the United States, because he doesn’t understand the market and says stupid things. And what he’s doing now with Chavez, putting himself at risk with the Nevada Commission, is senseless.”

Hearn, of course, read the comments. And, of course, he fired back at a news conference Tuesday after the court ruling in favor of Chavez Jr.

Hearn took the podium at Talking Stick and thanked Chavez for enduring what he called “an ordeal.’’ He thanked Chavez’s attorney.

“I also want to thank the haters,’’ Hearn said. “Thank you, Bob Arum. I saw his comments.’’

Hearn accused Arum of also “shopping” a controversial card from one state to another. Hearn cited Antonio Margarito. Margarito couldn’t fight in California after he was found to have used altered hand wraps before losing to Shane Mosley on Jan. 24, 2009 at Los Angeles’ Staples Center. While under suspension in California, Margarito fought his next bout in Mexico. Then he was licensed in Texas for his loss to Manny Pacquiao on July 23, 2010 on the Dallas Cowboys home field in Arlington.

Arum also argued that the Nevada Commission should begin drug testing once a fight is announced.

“Once a fight is announced, the Nevada Commission has jurisdiction to test a fighter,’’ Arum said. “A lot of fighters take performance enhancing drugs and then clear their system by the press conference, so if you wait until the press conference, you will miss that they took performance enhancing drugs.’’

Hearn said that Chavez is being tested, but not by VADA. Instead, Hearn said, the tests have been conducted by Drug Free Sports, which conducts testing for the NFL.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. granted license in Arizona, will fight Daniel Jacobs

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has been granted a license to fight in Arizona, which means he’ll face Daniel Jacobs on Friday in Phoenix.

PHOENIX – The Arizona State Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Commission has granted Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. a license, allowing him to fight Danny Jacobs on Friday night at Talking Stick Arena on DAZN.

Francisco Meneses Jr., the Commission’s executive director, told Boxing Junkie Tuesday that the three-member regulatory board voted to license Chavez.

“He has a license,’’ Meneses said.

According to an unsourced report from The Athletic on Twitter, Chavez was granted an injunction by a Nevada court, lifting his suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Chavez sued Nevada after it upheld his suspension for refusing to submit to a drug test at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif. in late October. Chavez said then that a VADA testing representative did not show his credentials. He also said he didn’t think he had to submit to the test because he had yet to sign for the super middleweight fight.

The Arizona Commission is scheduled to meet Wednesday. Meneses said Chavez is not required to appear. Chavez and Jacobs appeared together at the Portland Trail Blazers-Phoenix Suns game Monday night at Talking Stick. The weigh-in is scheduled for Thursday.

The Matchroom-promoted card has generated a lot of controversy. The Nevada Commission threatened to suspend Eddie Hearn’s license after he moved the card to Phoenix in the wake of the Chavez suspension. The bout had been scheduled for Las Vegas.

Usyk vs. Chisora discussions underway for February

Promoter Eddie Hearn said on Friday that he is trying to finalize an Oleksandr Usyk vs. Dereck Chisora matchup for February.

Oleksandr Usyk’s next test at heavyweight could be Dereck Chisora.

Promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed that negotiations were underway for that matchup today after the weigh-in for the Radzhab Butaev vs. Alexander Besputin card that will take place this Saturday in Monte Carlo.

Hearn said he is trying to pin Usyk-Chisora for February.

“I was just backstage talking to Usyk trying to get the Chisora fight over the line for February,” Hearn said. “That’s a big fight. That’s a big heavyweight fight. Usyk’s now established as a big star in the weight division.”

After some delay due to a biceps injury, Usyk, the former unified cruiserweight world champion, made his heavyweight debut in October with a seventh round stoppage of Chazz Witherspoon at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Hearn said Usyk appears to have bulked up since the fight.

“Will that slow that down, will that increase his power? What we saw against Witherspoon was that the size was an issue,” Hearn said. “He got a couple (punches) on the arm, a mouse under the eye, where all of a sudden he’s thinking, this is a different game. When you get hit by (Deontay) Wilder or (Anthony Joshua) AJ or any of those guys… but does he have the skill or speed to counter that?

Chisora (32-9, 23 KOs) is coming off a stoppage win over David Price in October. He is riding a three-fight win streak since getting knocked out by Dillian Whyte in 2018.

“Against Chisora I think it’s such as an interesting fight,” Hearn said. “We know that Usyk is going to pick off Chisora but he’s a right handful. He’s a big lump and he can punch. And you’re gonna get a lot of answers in that fight, in my opinion.”

Radzhab Butaev vs. Alexander Besputin: Who will take next step?

Russians Radzhab Butaev and Alexander Besputin will face each other this Saturday at the Casino de Monte-Carlo in Monte Carlo.

Two highly regarded welterweight prospects will try to take the next toward title contention this Saturday.

Russians Radzhab Butaev and Alexander Besputin will face each other at the Casino de Monte-Carlo in Monte Carlo. The match will stream live on DAZN and is promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Promotions, even though Hearn does not have promotional rights to either main event fighter. Butaev is promoted by Lou DiBella and Besputin by Top Rank. Matchroom put in the winning purse bid for the fight in September with an offer of $505,555. That beat out bids submitted by Top Rank ($315,000) and Patriot Promotions ($415,000).

The fighters gathered for the final press conference on Wednesday.

“It’s a privilege to be on this show in the casino, especially as the main event,” said Butaev (12-0, 9 knockouts). “I’ll do my best to make a beautiful show, and come Saturday night you won’t regret watching. I hope it is going to be a war. I hope he is going to stay and not quit.”

Both Butaev and Besputin were standout amateurs, with 700 fights between them in the unpaid ranks.

“It’s a really good fight between to great fighters with brilliant amateur careers,” said Besputin (13-0, 9 KOs). “We both have a little bit of history. We were both in the Russian team, but we never met in the ring. I think it’s going to be a very interesting fight for the Russian fans, and many people in Russia will be watching this fight. On November 30th it’s going to be a great night.”

The undercard will feature unified welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus (35-0, 9 KOs) against Victoria Bustos (19-5, 0 KOs). This is Braekhus’ first fight under the Matchroom banner.

Undefeated Chinese heavyweight Zhilei Zhang (20-0, 16 KOs) will take on late replacement Andriy Rudenko (32-6, 20 KOs) in a 10-rounder. Rudenko is subbing in for Sergey Kuzmin, who bowed out with an injury sustained during training. Zhang is coming off a knockout win over Don Haynesworth last year.

Heavyweight Hughie Fury (23-3, 13 KOs), hoping to rebound from his loss to Alexander Povetkin, faces Pavel Sour (11-2, 6 KOs) in a 10-rounder.

Rounding out the card, junior lightweights Joe Cordina (10-0, 7 KOs) and Enrique Tinoco (18-5-4, 13 KOs) will face each other in a 12-rounder.

Dillian Whyte to fight on Ruiz-Joshua II card in wake of PED scandal

Dillian Whyte will take on Mariusz Wach on the undercard of the Andy Ruiz vs. Anthony Joshua rematch, despite his ongoing drug scandal.

Dillian Whyte has been quieter than a church mouse for the past several months but we’ll hear from him soon.

The British heavyweight contender will take on Mariusz Wach on the undercard of the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Anthony Joshua rematch Dec. 7 in Saudi Arabia, it was confirmed in a release today. The news comes as Whyte has been embroiled in a PED scandal that has seen him disappear recently from the public eye.

Whyte tested positive for a banned substance before his July 20 fight against Oscar Rivas, in which Whyte survived a ninth round knockdown to win a unanimous decision. The test was administered by UK Anti-Doping.

Whyte’s “A” sample reportedly showed small amounts of epimethandienone and hydroxymethandienone, which are metabolites found in the banned substance Dianabol.

It was revealed afterward that the British Board of Boxing Control, as well as Whyte and his promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, had been notified of the results before the fight while Rivas and his team were kept in the dark. Hearn said he couldn’t share his knowledge of the test results because of confidentiality requirements.

The BBBofC reportedly conducted a hearing before the fight, which included UKAD, and Whyte was cleared to participate in the fight against Rivas without Rivas’ knowledge.

Whyte isn’t the only fighter on the card to have failed a drug test. Wach, Alexander Povetkin (who takes on Michael Hunter) and Eric Molina (who faces Filip Hrgovic) also have tested positive for banned substances.

Ruiz-Joshua II will stream on DAZN.

Callum Smith defeats John Ryder by an iffy unanimous decision

Callum Smith outpointed John Ryder over 12 rounds in their super middleweight fight, but questions about boxing’s integrity have flared up.

Boxing’s gutter of bad decisions just got a bit more crowded.

It didn’t matter that super middleweight titleholder Callum Smith was bleeding from cuts, breathing heavily and getting battered on the ropes late in a 12-round fight. In the end, he still won a unanimous decision over mandatory challenger John Ryder at Echo Park Arena in Liverpool.

The scores were 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112, which added up to yet another controversial result. Boxing Junkie scored it 116-112 in favor of Ryder.

It was supposed to be a showcase of sorts for the Liverpudlian Smith (27-0, 19 knockouts), who had not fought at home in nearly two years. It was anything but. The much shorter Ryder, a big underdog, consistently beat the 6-foot-3 Smith to the punch, outworking him on the inside, where he wailed away with convincing body shots. Later on, Ryder began mixing in hooks to the head. It was a breakout performance from Ryder (28-5, 16 KOs), who had previously lost to Billy Joe Saunders and Rocky Fielding and had mulled retirement at various times in his career.

Callum Smith (left) did enough to impress the judges but many viewers weren’t as convinced about his performance against John Ryder. Alex Livesey / Getty Images

“You know what, I got in there with the world No. 1 and I thought i just edged it,” a disappointed Ryder said afterward. “I didn’t do it tonight, but I thought I proved myself on the world stag. … I thought I forced the fight a lot. I thought he was just nicking rounds. I feel I did enough to win that.”

Smith looked sluggish. Though he was able to keep Ryder at bay with his jab early on, by the second half of the fight, Smith was drowning on the ropes as Ryder pressed harder and landed the cleaner shots. In Round 4, an inadvertent headbutt opened a cut above Smith’s right eye, but it hardly instilled a sense of urgency in Smith, who seemed to fight in one gear throughout the fight. Smith admitted as much in the post-fight interview.

“Early on I found it a little bit too easy,” Smith said. “I was in first gear for a little bit too long. Everything thing I was throwing was landing. When he was closing the distant I probably have dealt with it better. He’s very, very short and he got very close to me. He smothered me, and I allowed him to.”

Smith, the titleholder, emerged with a unanimous decision victory over a game John Ryder on Saturday in Liverpool.  Alex Livesey  /Getty Images

By Round 5, a noticeable mark appeared below Smith’s right eye. Though Smith had a very good Round 6, in which he landed several straight rights, Ryder began to pull away in the second half. The left hook that Smith is known for sailed over Ryder’s head all fight long. Round 8 saw Ryder tag Smith with a blistering combination to end the round.

“I knew (Ryder) was a tough fighter,” Smith said. “I knew it was going to be that kind of fight. He’s good at getting really close. He stopped me from doing what I’m good at. It wasn’t the best performance. But I thought I won most of the early rounds. I thought I only lost one or only two out of the first eight. He worked hard — I give him his due — at the end. … I think I was due for a bad one. It was the first time I got cut in a fight. … I’ll be better fighter because of it.”

Smith seemed to hint that his poor performance was a result of not facing one of the elite fighters in the division.

“There was no fear tonight,” he said. “I didn’t believe John Ryder was good enough to beat me. The fights that bring the best out of me are the top four (in the division). That’s what I want now. I want the big names. … I just want a big name where that fear brings out the better in me.”