7:18 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN For decades, Team USA was the standard-bearer of Olympic boxing, a factory of future heavyweight champions no matter the weight class. Floyd Paterson won middleweight gold at the 1952 Helsinki Games before capturing the heavyweight championship. Eight years later, Cassius Clay claimed light heavyweight gold in Rome and went on
Boxing
1:13 AM ET Associated Press Sena Irie of Japan has claimed the first-ever women’s featherweight boxing gold medal with a unanimous decision over the Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio. Irie became the first female boxer to win a medal for Japan when she secured the first gold of the Tokyo boxing tournament by sweeping the third round
7:58 AM ET The calendar has turned over to August, a busy month in the boxing world and the gateway to what’s shaping up to be a big fall as well. Canelo Alvarez was poised to be part of the busy schedule with a fight against Caleb Plant to unify boxing’s super middleweight division in
9:20 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson are finally going to get their hands on each other after months and months of verbal sparring. “We are in agreement with everything,” Stevenson’s manager, James Prince, told ESPN on Monday. “It’s a done deal. We’re just waiting on the date.” The 130-pound title fight,
1:09 PM ET Tyson Fury’s brother is being added to the Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley undercard — with an eye toward him fighting Paul in the future. Tommy Fury, the half brother of Tyson, will fight MMA fighter Anthony Taylor on the Aug. 29 card from Cleveland in a six-round cruiserweight fight, sources told
7:36 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 Leigh Wood capitalized on a sluggish performance from Xu Can to pull off the upset and win the WBA “regular” featherweight title by TKO
4:57 PM ET Crystina Poncher and Mikaela Mayer will make history in August — while standing outside the ring instead of inside it. When Mayer and Poncher call the international broadcast of the Joshua Franco-Andrew Moloney card Aug. 14 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, they’ll become the first all-female broadcast team to call a boxing match. “We’ve
5:00 AM ET Former Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell announced his retirement from boxing on Friday, saying that he “achieved more than I expected.” Campbell won bantamweight gold at London 2012 and turned professional after the Games, going onto fight for multiple lightweight world titles. “After a lot of thought and reflection, I have decided
2:05 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Manny Pacquiao’s battle with Errol Spence Jr. won’t be the only welterweight title fight on Aug. 21 in Las Vegas. Yordenis Ugas will defend his 147-pound title against Fabian Maidana in the chief-support bout on Fox pay-per-view, multiple sources tell ESPN. The other two matchups on the card: a fight
8:07 AM ET Timothy Bradley Jr. There are a lot of good fights on the schedule for the rest of 2021, but there are a lot of good matchups still waiting to be made — some fights that have been talked about, and some that haven’t. Former two-division world champion and current ESPN boxing analyst
6:27 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Canelo Alvarez is still in search of a foe after a long-negotiated deal with Caleb Plant fell through at the 11th hour. Boxing’s top star traditionally fights on two weekends: Cinco de Mayo and again on Mexican Independence Day weekend in September. Those are the dates Floyd Mayweather and Alvarez’s
3:02 PM ET Former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe is getting back in the ring. Bowe, 53, will face former NBA player Lamar Odom in a celebrity boxing event on Oct. 2 at the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami, event promoter Damon Feldman told ESPN. Bowe, a member of the International Boxing Hall of
8:39 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN China isn’t known as a boxing hotbed, but there is one fighter from the world’s most-populated nation who is making noise: Xu Can. The 126-pound volume-puncher — ESPN’s No. 2-rated featherweight — was lined up for a title tilt with Josh Warrington in the spring before the Brit was shocked
7:51 AM ET The welterweight clash between Conor Benn and Adrian Granados has been postponed as Benn tested positive for COVID-19, DAZN announced on Thursday. Benn (18-0-0) and Granados (21-8-3) were originally scheduled to meet in the WBA continental title fight at Matchroom Boxing’s Essex headquarters on Saturday. DAZN said a new date for the
9:15 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 As a welterweight, Conor Benn is sailing in dangerous waters but the English boxer is showing the form and speaks with the confidence of
2:40 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Canelo Alvarez’s longtime goal of becoming undisputed boxing champion is further from reality than ever since he won his third 168-pound title in May. Boxing’s top star was on the verge of a deal to meet Caleb Plant on Sept. 18 in Las Vegas — a PBC on Fox pay-per-view
2:31 AM ET New Zealand boxer David Nyika did not face much trouble on his way to a 5-0 victory against Youness Baalla in his Olympics heavyweight debut on Tuesday other than having to contend with an attempted bite from his Moroccan opponent. Nyika, a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, had won the first two
8:11 AM ET Welterweight champion Terence Crawford was hoping for a unification bout against Errol Spence Jr., or a superfight against the legendary Manny Pacquiao. But with Spence and Pacquiao already set to face off on Aug. 21, it seems Crawford could be facing Shawn Porter next, after the WBO ordered that title defense. Is