Boxing

8:00 AM ET HE IS A quiet man, content to observe, and his manner gives him the air of the mystic. As everything around Manny Pacquiao moves — quickly, and solely for his benefit — he remains fixed, a stone in the center of a stream. In the backyard of his luxurious and incredibly occupied

3:37 PM ET Former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. underwent successful surgery on his right knee on Tuesday in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and he’s scheduled to return to the ring in December, his team told ESPN Knockout. Ruiz (34-2, 22 KOs), 31, was hoping to face Charles Martin in October, but he finally made the

Aug 15, 2021 The older man kept moving. To his left, back along the ropes, circling to his right. Guillermo Rigondeaux, even at the age of 40, shuffled around the ring an infuriating amount of time as John Riel Casimero looked for any punch that might touch the former champion. It was vintage Rigondeaux. On

8:30 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN YORDENIS UGAS WAS silent. He was happy, soaking in the moment. The 35-year-old had just received an unexpected call, offering him an opportunity he’d long dreamed of. The answer about whether or not he’d take a fight against boxing’s only eight-division champion, Manny Pacquiao, was never in doubt. Of course

8:03 AM ET It seemed that the welterweight division was finally going to succeed in delivering a fight between two of the top boxers that’s been starved for big bouts. Everything was looking good in the lead-up until an eye injury for Errol Spence Jr. scuttled his fight against Manny Pacquiao. Because another big welterweight

Aug 15, 2021 Mike CoppingerESPN TULSA, Okla. — Joshua Franco settled the score with Andrew Moloney on Saturday, capping a rivalry that climaxed with a controversial finish in November and ended at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino with a decisive victory in the ESPN main event. Franco, nicknamed “The Professor,” retained his secondary WBA

7:24 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Charles Conwell, who represented USA Boxing at the 2016 Olympics, told ESPN he faked a hand injury on the advice of his manager, David McWater, in order to withdraw from an April 8 fight that was slated to headline an NBCSN show. The junior middleweight contender was set to fight

Aug 14, 2021 Mike CoppingerESPN TULSA, Okla. — Wearing a pair of white-and-black trunks his grandfather gifted to him, Muhammad Ali’s grandson Nico Ali Walsh made his pro boxing debut Saturday night with a first-round TKO of Jordan Weeks. Ali Walsh, 21, displayed the kind of flair for the dramatic Ali would surely be proud

Aug 15, 2021 Saturday was a boxing fan’s dream, as long as they had enough screens to watch it all. Vergil Ortiz Jr. survived an early scare from Egidijus Kavaliauskas and pushed his record to 18-0 with 18 knockouts, putting himself directly into the welterweight world title conversation. And after a second fight between Joshua

Aug 14, 2021 TULSA, Oklahoma — Joshua Franco settled the score on Saturday, capping a rivalry that climaxed with a controversial finish in November and ended at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino with a decisive victory over Andrew Moloney in the ESPN main event. “The Professor” retained his secondary WBA title at 115 pounds

6:21 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant are nearing a deal for a November fight that would crown an undisputed super middleweight champion, multiple sources told ESPN on Friday. Alvarez-Plant was agreed to last month for Sept. 18, sources said, and officials were simply awaiting signatures when the deal fell apart at

6:51 AM ET Mark KriegelESPN On Dec. 11, 1981, when Rasheda was 11, she went with her brothers and sisters to watch their daddy fight a man named Trevor Berbick. As no state athletic commission would sanction the bout, the fight was held in the Bahamas and promoted by a convicted felon. None of that

4:54 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson will clash Oct. 23 at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena after both boxers signed contracts for the 130-pound title fight, sources told ESPN on Thursday. Herring and Stevenson both will earn at least $1.5 million — career-high paydays — for a bout that will headline Top

5:41 AM ET Former world heavyweight champion boxer David Haye will return to the ring after a three-year absence to fight Joe Fournier next month, the 40-year-old Briton said on Thursday. Haye, who won the world heavyweight title in 2009 when he beat Nikolai Valuev, retired in 2018 with a 28-4 record following a re-match

12:42 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN WBA president Gilberto Mendoza told ESPN on Wednesday that he is suspending judge Gloria Martinez Rizzo for six months following her highly controversial scorecard in the Mykal Fox-Gabriel Maestre interim welterweight title fight and the uncovering of racist tweets on an account belonging to her. Mendoza said he will meet

3:27 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN David Benavidez tested positive for COVID-19, sources told ESPN on Wednesday, postponing his Aug. 28 fight with Jose Uzcategui in Phoenix that was set to headline Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Showtime, The 24-year-old volume puncher, one of boxing’s rising stars, has been pushing toward an eventual shot at the

7:32 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Guillermo Rigondeaux has heard it all before. He’s boring. Unwatchable. The opposite of entertaining. The two-time Olympic gold medalist absorbed all the criticism even as he was boxing circles around his opponents. Nonito Donaire, then the reigning ESPN fighter of the year, was thoroughly outboxed by Rigondeaux in 2013. Despite

3:15 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Manny Pacquiao will still challenge for a welterweight title on Aug. 21 in Las Vegas — it just won’t be against Errol Spence Jr. The Filipino Senator will now face Cuba’s Yordenis Ugas after a retinal tear in Spence’s left eye was discovered during a pre-fight medical exam, PBC announced