Boxing

4:44 PM ET The flyweight unification fight between WBC champion Marlen Esparza and WBO champ Gabriela Celeste Alaniz has been postponed, a source confirmed to ESPN. The fight, which had been scheduled for April 29, is being held up because of a visa issue for Alaniz, who is Argentinian. The targeted date for the rescheduled

7:44 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN GERVONTA “TANK” DAVIS and Ryan Garcia stood face to face last month in New York’s Times Square, a rare — and unexpected — sight for myriad reasons. Years and years of fighting words on social media had actually led to signed contracts for a real fight inside the ring, an

8:00 AM ET JOEL DIAZ STANDS on the ring apron while there’s chaos all around him. In two rings beside each other, there are two fights going on at the same time. Instructions are yelled in four languages; English, Spanish, Uzbek and Russian. And if all that weren’t enough, there’s always someone calling his phone.

7:28 PM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Joe Joyce was the closest he’s ever been to fight for a heavyweight world title. He was the WBO mandatory challenger to champion Oleksandr

6:37 PM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Zhilei Zhang, who turns 40 next month, is closing in on a shot at Oleksandr Usyk’s WBO world heavyweight titles, after pulling off a

1:54 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Mikaela Mayer will fight Lucy Wildheart on Saturday in London after her original opponent, Christina Linardatou, was denied a license by the British Boxing Board of Control due to her prefight eye exam, a source confirmed to ESPN on Friday. Mayer, an Olympian who fights out of Colorado Springs, Colorado,

7:35 AM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Joe Joyce is on the brink of landing a world heavyweight title shot, and his story is one you will hear more about over

9:03 AM ET LONDON — A group of national federations including the United States and Britain announced a new boxing world body Thursday in a breakaway move aimed at securing the sport’s Olympic future. Leaders of the new group World Boxing said at a news conference that they would seek recognition from the International Olympic

8:16 AM ET CHRISTINA LINARDATOU WILL return to the ring Saturday against Mikaela Mayer. While no title will be on the line, it’s a fight of significance, as Mayer is the type of opponent Linardatou worked toward facing again. However, it’s just not the fight — or fighter — she initially wanted or expected to

7:52 AM ET Nate Diaz and Jake Paul have been exchanging trash talk on social media and in the press for over a year. Their two teams got into a physical altercation backstage during one of Paul’s fights. Paul called Diaz out on several exchanges, including in his postfight interview after beating Anderson Silva last

6:50 PM ET Franchon Crews-Dezurn will be making the first defense of her undisputed super middleweight title, but her opponent will be different from the one initially ordered. A source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday that Crews-Dezurn will fight Savannah Marshall in June in the United Kingdom on a Ben Shalom BOXXER card instead of

Jun 16, 2021 MIKAELA MAYER WAS backstage at a concert in Colorado waiting for her friend. It was 2018, before Mayer had become a world champion, before she started to become more of a face of women’s boxing. A man approached her and her best friend, Ginny Fuchs, also a fighter, and started offering boxing

7:46 AM ET Mikaela Mayer boarded the plane back to the United States in October with a feeling she’d never experienced as a pro. It’s something she didn’t prepare for. Mayer never thought it would happen. She went to London as the WBO and IBF junior lightweight champion to fight WBC titleist Alycia Baumgardner for

2:30 PM ET The WBC has ordered a fight between undisputed super middleweight champion Franchon Crews-Dezurn and mandatory challenger Shadasia Green. The two sides have until April 28 to come to an agreement or the fight will be placed in a purse bid. Crews-Dezurn (8-1, 2 KO) became the undisputed super middleweight champion last April

7:15 AM ET Mychal Denzel Smith THE EXACT NUMBER of punches that Emile Griffith landed on March 24, 1962, at Madison Square Garden, in the flurry that killed Benny “Kid” Paret, is in dispute. According to which expert you ask, it was anywhere between 17 and 29 clean shots, mostly uppercuts with a few hooks

1:48 AM ET Michael Rothstein Close Michael Rothstein ESPN Staff Writer Previously covered University of Michigan for ESPN.com and AnnArbor.com Also covered Notre Dame for Fort Wayne Journal Gazette Ben Baby Close Ben Baby ESPN Staff Writer ESPN Staff Writer Previously a college football writer for The Dallas Morning News University of North Texas graduate

2:10 AM ET Brian Mendoza did little to nothing of consequence in the first six rounds of his bout against Sebastian Fundora on Saturday night. A couple of devastating punches reversed all of that and sent his career to new heights. A thunderous left hook followed by an overhand right sent Fundora to the canvas

1:47 AM ET For the first time since 2018, Claressa Shields is heading back to Detroit to fight. Shields will have the first defense of her undisputed middleweight title on June 3 at Little Caesars Arena against Hanna Gabriels, the same fighter she beat by unanimous decision in that fight in the Motor City. The