Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) and Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) will meet in twelve days, but Saudi Prince Turki Al Al-Sheikh has already stated that their rematch will take place on October 12 or 13. Al Al-Sheikh has been a supporter of the Fury vs Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) fight from the beginning and has also already scheduled their fight for March 2025.
Prince also wants to invite two big P4P stars, Saul Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) and Terence Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs) to his tournament. Their clash is scheduled for later in the year, in December or January.
"We have a strategic vision. When I started, promoters were competing with each other, but now we've managed to get them all to work together. The market has changed. Why has that happened? Because we have a purpose. We are committed to the long-term success of this industry. We will work with all stakeholders to develop boxing," said Turki Al Al-Sheikh.
Famous Ukrainian boxing veteran Taras Shelestyuk, following Oleksandr Hvozdyk, condemned former world champion in three weight categories compatriot Vasyl Lomachenko, who never made a single coherent statement regarding the criminal invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.
"I am doing my best, although I have much less influence than Lomachenko. I don't know why Vasyl doesn't want to support Ukraine more actively. It's hard to understand him.
I think he's been brainwashed. Lomachenko should study the history of Ukraine. It seems to me that since he has been boxing since he was a kid, he hasn't studied. It's easy to manipulate people who have no knowledge of history. The Russian church seems to be doing that to him. I think he needs to study the history of Ukraine, and then he will understand what is happening and why Ukraine is an independent and separate country from Russia," The Sunday Long Read quotes Shelestyuk as saying.
Recall that on May 12 in Perth, Australia, Lomachenko will fight for the vacant IBF lightweight title with George Kambososos.
UFC French lightweight Benoit Saint-Denis has admitted that he would like to share the octagon with Armenian Arman Tsarukyan.
"A dream fight? I would really like to face Tsarukyan. It would be a classy fight. It's clear that right now he's the main challenger, but Makhachev is not the most active champion. I don't know if he'll still be champion after the fight with Puryear, but either way he'll probably want to rest.
A lot of things can happen at lightweight. If they gave me a fight with Tsarukyan that would be ideal. But I don't do matchmaking and negotiations," MMA Junkie quotes Saint-Denis as saying.
Recall that in his last fight, which took place on March 9 at UFC 299, Saint-Denis lost by knockout to Dustin Puryear.
Shakur Stevenson, the undefeated WBC lightweight champion, will have his last bout under his current promotional contract with Top Rank on July 6. The fight will take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, Stevenson's hometown. He faces Artem Harutyunyan, a Germany-based Armenian fighter and WBC No. 6 ranked boxer.
At the Tokyo Dome Arena in Japan, undefeated "The Monster" Naoya Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs) scored an impressive sixth-round early victory over "The Panther" Luis Nery (35-2, 27 KOs) in a spectacular fight, thus defending his title as the overall champion in the second flyweight division. Inoue was knocked down in the first round, but was able to return that favor in the second and fifth rounds.
Malik Zinad will replace Artur Beterbiev in a fight against WBA champion Dmitrii Bivol on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Beterbiev, holder of the WBC, IBF, and WBO belts, pulled out due to a knee injury sustained during training.
Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren expressed stern objections over the upcoming professional boxing match between Jake Paul and 58-year-old Mike Tyson. Set to take place on July 20th, the fight will be aired live on Netflix and could impact Tyson's professional record of 50-6. Despite initial doubts if it would be an official bout or an exhibition, it has been confirmed as a professional contest.
Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo believes he may get the opportunity to fight for the lightweight division belt held by Sean O'Malley after a solid win over Jonathan Martinez.
"My manager says I can beat the line, I can go out for a title fight because when we left the UFC, we had very good rankings.
I'm hoping that can help me. If we can beat the queue, it will be great. My opinion is this. I will rest, I will return to hard training, and there will be new challenges," - said Aldo.
Recall, Aldo defeated Martinez by unanimous decision of judges last weekend at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro.
Former world light heavyweight champion Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdyk spoke out about the lack of civic position of prominent compatriot Vasyl Lomachenko.
"If someone is trying to make Lomachenko look like a Ukrainian hero, tell them, let them talk to Ukrainian coaches and fighters. They will give you a completely opposite opinion. Top Rank is probably trying to make it look like Lomachenko is supporting his country.
Today we have this bastard [Putin] who is killing and trying to destroy my country. After this war started, there is more bombing going on. People are under the rubble. People are bleeding, with limbs torn off. I don't support that. Because of this, many people do not like him anymore," - quotes Gvozdik The Sunday Long Read.
Recall that on May 12 in Perth, Australia, Lomachenko will fight for the vacant IBF lightweight title with George Kambososos.
Former world bantamweight champion Rolando Romero believes Mexican star Saul Alvarez has a duty to share the ring with David Benavides after defeating his compatriot Jaime Munguia.
"It was a great fight. Mexico won. Despite everything, it was a great fight. The knockdown played an important role. Overall it was a great card.
There's only one fight next for Canelo Alvarez and that's the fight against David Benavides. Everyone wants to see it, so we need to organize it," Romero said in an interview with YouTube channel Fight Hub TV.
Recall that on the night of May 5, Alvarez defeated Munguia by unanimous decision of the judges in the main event of the evening of boxing in Las Vegas.
