Japanese prospect Kanamu Sakama passed away at just 20 years of age after being forced to withdraw from his scheduled March 18 contest at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall against Hiroki Oki. On March 16, Sakama pulled out of the competition due to ill health, according to World Sports Gym Chairman Tatsuya Saita. Neither the Japanese Boxing Commission nor local health authorities ...
We see a car roll to a stop in the desert. Rolly Romero pops the trunk — in a camera shot presumably intended to call to mind any number of Quentin Tarantino films populated with bad guys, or perhaps the final season of Breaking Bad — and pulls out a pinata with a picture of Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz attached to ...
Regional promoters are the lifeblood of boxing. The likes of Top Rank, Golden Boy, PBC, Matchroom and Queensberry, among others, will continue to bring big-time boxing shows to bright-light stages, but before the stars that those organizations showcase arrive there, they first must climb through the ranks on smaller shows. Los Angeles-based Toro Promotions is boxing’s latest upstart company aiming ...
Rolando Romero is one of boxing’s most divisive figures, but he thinks people might have got it wrong about him. The WBA super lightweight champion, 15-1 (13 KOs), defends his title against Isaac Cruz at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on March 30, on the first boxing pay-per-view carried by Amazon Prime. “I’m kicking off Amazon Prime, people don’t ...
Brad Pauls (18-0-1, 10 KOs) produced a career-best showing against Nathan Heaney (18-0-1, 6 KOs) last weekend in Birmingham, challenging for the British middleweight title. However, his best efforts were not enough to return to his native Cornwall as a holder of the Lonsdale Belt. The duo fought to a split draw with one scorecard of 114-114 alongside totals of ...
Keith Thurman’s injury withdrawal was just as painful to junior middleweight title contender Serhii Bohachuk. Following Thurman’s withdrawal from the WBO title fight due to a Sunday training-camp injury, Sebastian Fundora was declared the replacement fighter to face Tim Tszyu in the revised WBC junior middleweight title bout March 30 main event in Las Vegas. Bohachuk had been set to ...
Boxing is a mess. Whether it’s warring promoters, Mad Max levels of oversight or Ponzi-by-numbers business models, the sport too often can’t stay out of its own stupid way. Yet every now and then, a thing of beauty is fished out of the bog – a selfless act, a genius tactic or just a moment worth sharing. I hope to ...
Bob Santos has become a household name among fight fans, with the icing on the cake coming in 2022, when he received trainer of the year awards from numerous reputable publications. Santos has been a jack of all trades in boxing, operating as a manager, cut man, assistant, strength and conditioning coach, and head trainer. “When the opportunity comes, you’ve ...
Sebastian “The Towering Inferno” Fundora has emerged as the replacement for injured Keith Thurman to meet WBO 154-pound champion Tim Tszyu March 30 in the debut Amazon Prime Video pay-per-view card in Las Vegas, BoxingScene has learned. Two officials with knowledge of the negotiations said Premier Boxing Champions product Fundora (20-1-1, 13 KOs) will move up from his spot opening ...
Jimmy Joe Flint believes that fans could be in for a “barnstormer” when he defends his central area super lightweight title against Campbell Hatton on March 23. They will meet in Sheffield on the undercard of Dalton Smith’s intriguing 140lbs fight with Californian puncher Jose Zepeda, but Flint (13-1-2, 3 KOs) believes that his fight with Hatton (14-0, 5 KOs) ...