Forrmer USC football player Gerald Washington has emerged as the replacement opponent for World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder on Feb. 25 in Birmingham, Ala.
IBF heavyweight contender Carlos Takam (now 34-3-1, 26 KOs) won the vacant IBF Inter-Continental heavyweight title moments ago with a fourth round KO over Poland’s Marcin Rekowski (17-5, 14 KOs). The bout took place Sunday night at the Cotai Arena in Macao, China. Takam, currently rated #5 by the IBF, was returning from a close loss to Joesph Parker last May in New Zealand.
IBF world super flyweight champion Jerwin “Pretty Boy” Ancajas (26-1-1, 17 KOs) of the Philippines scored a seventh round TKO over former WBA interim light flyweight king Jose Alfredo “Torito” Rodriguez (35-5, 19 KOs) from Mexico on Sunday night at the Cotai Arena in Macao, China. Ancajas, making his first defense of the belt, was in command from the get-go. The end came when Rodriguez didn’t come out for round eight citing a shoulder injury.
WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (22-0, 18 KOs) will be prepared to defend the world title in England against mandatory contender WBO #2 Hughie Fury (20-0, 10 KOs) ahead of the purse bid to be held at the WBO Head Office in San Juan Puerto Rico on February 1st. Parker says if the fight is in England, it would be perfect preparation for a unification bout against IBF champion Anthony Joshua. He also pointed out that Fury has never headlined a promotion or been in a pay-per-view fight and if the fight is in England, he’ll be motivated to KO Hughie.«This could be the perfect lead-up to those bigger fights. Getting used to it, testing it out. Looking for a place over there, where we could stay and get comfortable with.» Parker told Sky Sports.
Leo Santa Cruz (33-1-1, 18 KOs) avenged his loss to previously unbeaten Carl Frampton (23-1, 14 KOs) with a twelve round majority decision to reclaim the WBA featherweight title on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. After a hard twelve rounds, scores were 115-113, 115-113 for Santa Cruz and 114-114.
WBO interim super featherweight champion Miguel “El Alacran” Berchelt (31-1, 28 KOs) dethroned WBC super featherweight champion Francisco “El Bandido” Vargas (23-1-2, 17 KOs) by brutal eleventh round TKO on Saturday night at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. Berchelt punished Vargas the whole way until the bout was mercifully stopped in round eleven.
Former world champion Floyd Mayweather said tonight that it’s “likely” he will return to the ring against MMA star Conor McGregor. Floyd will be looking to move his unbeaten record to 50-0, while McGregor would be making his professional boxing debut.
In his second fight since losing 2015’s Fight of the Year to tonight’s main event fighter Francisco Vargas, super featherweight contender Takashi Miura, (31-3-2, 24 KOs), rode an amazing second wind to score three late knockdowns en route to a twelfth round knockout of Mickey Roman, (56-12, 43 KOs) in a WBC eliminator at Fantasy Springs Resort in Indio, California.
In the co-feature bout of the evening at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, “Mikey” Garcia (36-0, 30 KOs) of Oxnard, California added another world title to his collection as he knocked out Dejan Zlaticanin (22-1, 15 KOs) of Montenegro to win the WBC lightweight title. Establishing the jab from the start Garcia countered Zlaticanin as he charged. Garcia continued to box behind the jab in the second as Zlaticanin stalked. A huge uppercut by Garcia followed by a right hand knocked Zlaticanin out cold. Referee Tony Weeks waved off the fight at 2:21 of the third round.
Ukrainian lightweight Ivan Redkach (20-2-1, 16 KOs) stopped Demond Brock (13-4-1, 4 KOs) of Kenner, Louisiana. Redkach kept his distance fighting from the southpaw stance as Brock stalked. Brock was cut from a punch in round three and referee Jay Nady warned Brock in round four for leading with his head as Redkach jabbed away and countered. The Ukrainian stopped Brock at 2:30 of the eighth and final round.
