Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) says he’s going to make light heavyweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) pay for all his trash talking when he gets him inside he ring on Saturday night in their rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. During the Tuesday’s grand arrivals at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Kovalev let it be known that he’s going to take it out on Ward inside the ring for all the talking he’s been doing. Kovalev wants to make Ward and Team Ward pay on Saturday night on June 17.

Making a comeback after close to 2 years out of the ring, Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (34-3-1, 25 KOs) stopped journeyman Aaron Herrera (32-7-1, 21 KOs) in the 7th round on Sunday night in a successful comeback at the Pioneer Event Center in Lancaster, California. The 31-year-old Rios wore down the younger, faster and more powerful 28-year-old Herrera until stopping him with a right hand to the body in the 7th.

Herrera went down to one knee and was counted out by referee Jack Reiss. It didn’t look like that big of a punch by Rios, but it was placed well and Herrera was already tired from the shots that he’d been absorbing.

Sparking rumors that an official announcement regarding a fight between Conor McGregor, the biggest name in MMA, and Boxing legend Floyd Mayweather is finally imminent, Mayweather’s promotional company has booked the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on both the 25th and 26th of August. This booking has been confirmed on the Hotel and Casino’s website. Mayweather made the MGM his home away from home in fighting no less than the final twelve fights of his career at the venue (beginning with Oscar De La Hoya and ending with Andre Berto), and should a deal between the two be agreed it is difficult to envisage the duel being held anywhere else.

Just over a year ago (April 25th, to be exact) I wrote an article exalting the contribution of Great Britain to the crop of recognised World Champions at the time. Britain boasted thirteen belt holders, the most of any country in the world. Anthony Joshua had just beaten Charles Martin to claim the IBF title.

It is said that the challenger must take the title off the Champion, but in their first meeting, the then defending light heavyweight WBA-IBF-WBO Champion Sergey Kovalev did more than enough to beat the challenger Andre Ward but still end up losing all of his belts. Maybe the reader can recall Ward face before the official scorecards were announced, Ward face expression told the story of a beaten boxer, but then when he heard himself as the winner his face changed to a surprised smiley face.

This weekend in boxing was low on marquee names but still held plenty of action.  Ryan Burnett (17-0, 9 KOs) of Northern Ireland continued his ascent through the paid ranks, capturing the IBF Bantamweight title from England’s Lee Haskins. It was a dominating performance, with Burnett dropping Haskins in the 6th round and again in the 11th round.   Unfortunately there has been more talk about the absurdity of judge Clark Sammartino’s scorecard than about the fight itself.

Andre Berto sees Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs) potentially knocking out former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (30-1-1, 26 KOs) in their rematch this Saturday night. Berto says Ward has seen something from the first fight with Kovalev that he thinks he can expose to get a knockout. Ward isn’t known for being a knockout puncher, however.

Fighting for the first time at cruiserweight, former heavyweight contender Mike Perez (22-2-1, 14 KOs) obliterated a badly over-matched Viktor Biscak (10-1, 7 KOs) in the 1st round of a shceduled 6 round fight on Saturday night at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.