An excellent back and forth battle for the WBA and Ring Lightweight titles took place Saturday night at the Forum in Inglewood California between defending champion Jorge Linares and gutsy challenger Luke Campbell.
Most predicted Campbell, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist for Britain, to be blown out early by the hard hitting and well experienced champion, and by the first two rounds it appeared to be going just that way.
Former 4 division world champion Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire (38-4, 24 KOs) got back to his winning ways on Saturday night with a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision win over Ruben Garcia Hernandez (22-3-1, 9 KOs) to win the vacant WBC Silver featherweight title at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The judges’ scores were 100-90, 99-91 and 99-91. Those were fair scores. Hernandez was durable if nothing else. He stayed in the fight long enough to bounce some big shots off Donaire’s chin, and make him look his age.
WBA World lightweight champion Jorge Linares (43-3, 27 KOs) defeated #1 WBA Luke Campbell (17-2, 14 KOs) by a 12-round split decision on Saturday night on HBO World Championship Boxing from The Forum in Inglewood, California.
In a real surprising move, former WBA World middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) has signed with British promoter Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Sport promotions. Jacobs is known in the U.S. following his close 12 round unanimous decision loss to middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin last March on HBO PPV.
WB World lightweight champion Jorge Linares (42-3, 27 KOs) weighed in at 134.2 pounds on Friday for his title defense on Saturday night against his #1 WBA mandatory Luke Campbell (17-1, 14 KOs) at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Campbell weighed in at 134.8 lbs.
This Saturday at the Manchester Arena, Lancashire, UK, the defending WBO belt holder Joseph Parker will try to make the second defense of his belt against Hughie Fury. As for Hughie Fury (cousin of the former heavyweight champion of the world Tyson Fury), this is his first shot at a major title. These fine sons of boxing were supposed to fight back in May 6 at New Zealand but Hughie Fury pulled out due a lower back injury.
week, it potentially impacts next months’ November 11th fight between #2 IBF Artur Beterbiev (11-0, 11 KOs) and Enrico Koelling (23-1, 6 KOs), who were supposed to be fighting in an IBF 175 lb. title eliminator bout.
The winner of the Beterbiev-Koelling fight would have been the IBF mandatory challenger to Ward. But now that Ward has retired, it’s likely that the International Boxing Federation will make the Beterbiv vs. Koelling fight for the vacant IBF title. That’s what Dan Rafael thinks will happen.
In a surprising move, Andre “SOG” Ward has retired from boxing just 3 months after stopping former light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev in an 8th round knockout on June 17.
It’s unclear what the reasons were for the 33-year-old Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) to hang up his gloves at this time, but it’s likely that lack big paying fights available to him may have something to do with his decision. Ward’s last 2 fights were against Kovalev on HBO PPV. If Ward were to continue his career, it’s possible that he would be back on non-PPV.
WBO World featherweight champion Oscar Valdez (22-0, 19 KOs) weighed in at 125.8 pounds for his fight on ESPN this Friday night against unbeaten #4 WBO contender Genesis Servania (29-0, 12 KOs) at the Convention Center in Tucson, Arizona. The 26-year-old Servania weighed in at 125.4 lbs.
British promoter Eddie Hearn has added former heavyweight world title challenger Dereck Chisora (26-7, 18 KOs) to his Matchroom Sport stable. This is a predictable move on Hearn’s part, as it gives him another recognizable heavyweight to eventually match against his fighter IBF/WBA champion Anthony Joshua in the near future in a year or two.
Hearn also has in mind putting Chisora back in with Dillian Whyte, who he also promotes. With adding Chisora to his stable, Hearn will have his hands on the gear shift for the Chisora-Whyte rematch without him needing to work with another outside promoter.
DASMARINAS SET FOR HIS BIG FIGHT IN SINGAPORE ON OCTOBER 20 FOR ‘THE ROAR OF SINGAPORE III - THE CHOSEN WAN’
MANILA, PHILIPPINES, 19 September 2017 – RingStar Boxing, a Singapore-based sports management and boxing promotions outfit, has just signed Filipino boxer Michael “Hot & Spicy” Dasmarinas.
The 25-year old Dasmarinas is a native of Camarinas Sur, and has a current record of 25-2, with 16 of the 27 wins won via KO.
Despite David Haye saying earlier on Tuesday that the deal was done for him to face former cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew in a rematch, promoter Eddie Hearn says the deal for the fight still isn’t done yet. Hearn hopes to have the fighters sign a contract by next week so he can make an announcement.
Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) beat Haye by an 11th round knockout on March 4 in London, England. Haye suffered a bad Achilles tendon tear in round 6, and he was too injured to put up much of a fight. The match should have been stopped due to the injury. It’s hard not to imagine a ringside doctor not stopping the contest if it had taken place in the U.S.
WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) will be looking to make a statement against Cuban Luis “King Kong” Ortiz (27-0, 23 KOs) on November 4 to send a message to IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs0 that he’s for real, and that he’s coming for him in the near future.
Wilder and Ortiz will be battling on Showtime Championship Boxing on November 4 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. This is a make or break fight for Wilder. He’s seen as a paper champion by a large segment of the boxing community. This is Wilder’s chance to show that he’s a real champion.
