Professional boxer Adrien "The Problem" Broner is set to return to the ring on June 7 at the Seminole Hard Rock, facing Blair "The Flair" Cobbs. Notably, Broner will enter this fight without his long-time coach Kevin Cunningham, who is no longer working with him. The reasons for their split remain undisclosed.
Lewis Crocker will face Conah Walker in a boxing match at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham on June 22nd. This fight attracts attention due to both fighters being at their peak, with engaging combat styles and impressive records: Crocker at 19-0 with 11 KOs and Walker at 13-2-1 with 5 KOs.
At a recent boxing event held in Tokyo, reigning champion Yuri Akui successfully retained his WBA flyweight title against challenger Taku Kuwahara. The match, which did not have a specified date, ended with Akui winning by unanimous decision after 12 rounds.
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.
