Boxing
Maturing Joshua Buatsi monitoring Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol
Published
5 months agoon
When Joshua Buatsi sat down to watch the lithe heavyweight fight in February after his points victory over Dan Azeez, the picture couldn’t have been better.
WBO, WBC and IBF 175-pound world champion Artur Beterbiev unified the division against his WBA counterpart Dmitry Bivol, and with a WBO interim title fight with Yarde seemingly secured, the 31-year-old’s frustratingly up-and-down career finally seemed to be taking off.
You know what they say about the best laid plans?
First Yarde was embroiled in an ongoing contract dispute with Queensberry Promotions. Then Beterbiev suffered a knee injury that delayed his fight with Bivol for four months.
Inactivity has been Buatsi’s toughest and most persistent opponent of his career. All four of his lithe heavyweight world titles are secured by the end of 2024, and his most high-profile and lucrative opponent is clearly planning to spend some time away from the ring. For weeks, Buatsi worried that he would once again be forced to sit on his hands and watch the action unfold at 175 pounds.
Fortunately, other elements came together in his favour. First, Willy Hutchinson put in a great performance to beat Craig Richards in Saudi Arabia. Then, the WBO quickly granted Queensberry’s request that the 26-year-old Hutchinson be considered for the Buatsi fight instead of Yarde.
The decision to book the Daniel Dubois vs. Anthony Joshua fight at London’s Wembley Stadium gave a natural home for Buatsi’s fight with Hutchinson, and Buatsi quickly turned around and returned to training. Buatsi (18-0, 13 KOs) and Hutchinson (18-1, 13 KOs) will fight in London on September 21.
“After the Azeez fight, I think I had a month off,” Buatsi told BoxingScene. “I was still training, but it was a month in England and Europe. It was a month away from camp, basically. Then I went back to the States until the beginning of June. I figured out the fight [with Yarde] wasn’t supposed to happen. I wanted to fight in mid-June.
“I went back and watched the Richard Riakporhe-Chris Billam-Smith fight, I was hanging around, and then this fight came along, I got on a plane and came back here. I was training; I was in camp. I think people wonder what I do in the long periods between fights. I tell them, ‘You get up and go to work. I get up and go to the gym.’ It’s the same thing. It’s my routine. Training is the first thing I do.
“When you’re done, you can do whatever you want. But when I wake up, first I go to the gym and spend hours there, and then the day is my own. When I come to the States, it’s literally just boxing. That’s all I do here.”
While rumours of a fight with Yarde are sure to resurface should he beat Hutchinson, Buatsi now plans to beat the Scot and then be ringside in Saudi Arabia to watch the Beterbiev-Bivol fight on October 12.
“That’s the next move after this fight, God willing,” he said. “Go out there and watch two champions fight and see who unifies the division.”
Buatsi has been traveling to California to work with the respected Virgil Hunter for over three years. Transatlantic relationships don’t last long unless both parties enjoy and see the benefits of working together and see room for further success and growth.
Buatsi has received plenty of praise for the way he tamed the determined and aggressive Azeez, but Hunter is known as a perfectionist and Buatsi adopted the same approach.
When he sat down to watch the fight, Buatsi immediately saw areas where he could improve and situations where he could have handled things differently. When he and Hunter compared notes, their criticisms added up.
“There are a few things I noticed and he said, ‘Yeah, that’s not good,’” Buatsi explained. “There are things you need to work on, things you need to improve, and things you can’t do all the time.
“Although it was a dominant victory, from my perspective, there’s still a lot of work to be done. There are a lot of things I wasn’t ecstatic with. I did the job comfortably, but there are still a lot of things to do and things that, looking forward, I can’t avoid.”
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Boxing
Ryan Rozicki is waiting for Badou Jack’s consent to mandatory cooperation with the WBC
Published
1 day agoon
January 13, 2025The World Boxing Council (WBC) ordered world cruiserweight champion Badou “The Ripper” Jack (20-1-1, 19 KO) to make a mandatory title defense against Ryan “The Bruiser” Rozicki (20-1), number 1 in the WBC ranking – 1, 19 KOs).
If both camps fail to successfully negotiate an agreement, the WBC will organize a tender on February 4, followed by the Jack vs. Rozicki. Rozicki’s promoter, Three Lions Promotions, immediately sent Team Jacek an offer to promote the fight in Canada last week.
“We are waiting for their counteroffer,” explained promoter Dan Otter of Three Lions Promotions. “Boxing has had a huge resurgence in Canada and Ryan is leading the way. He is one of the most electrifying and hardest-hitting fighters in boxing, definitely in the cruiserweight division. He wants the WBC green belt and ultimately the unification of the division. Ryan will fight Jack anywhere for the belt.”
29-year-old Rozicki, born in Sydney (Nova Scotia) and living in Hamilton (Ontario), fought 22 professional fights against 21 different opponents (twice against Yamil Alberto Peralta), stopping 19 of the 20 opponents he defeated. an eye-opening 95-KO percentage.
Jack, 41, was a 2008 Olympian representing his native Sweden. He is a three-division world champion, as well as the WBC super middleweight and World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight heavyweight title holder. Jack has a record of 5-0-2 (2 KO) in world championship fights.
“We respect Jack and I don’t want to sound disrespectful,” Otter added, “but he’s over 40 years vintage and has been relatively inactive for two years (only one fight). He brings a lot of experience and respect to the ring, but he will fight a newborn defender with a lot of power. Jack is going to struggle and honestly, I don’t think he’ll make it past the first few rounds.”
Ryan Rozicki is on a mission to become the first Canadian cruiserweight world champion.
The next move is Badou Jack’s.
Boxing
Floyd Mayweather’s record is not normal, it can’t happen in 70 years
Published
3 days agoon
January 12, 2025Floyd Mayweather’s incredible 50-0 record is not normal and cannot be repeated in sports for another seventy years.
This is the view of Saudi Arabian president Turki Alalshikh, who wants to adopt the UFC model in which fighters lose many fights during their career.
In a speech as he hosted the Ring Magazine Awards after acquiring the long-running boxing publication from Oscar De La Hoya, Alalshikh was unequivocal in his opinion.
“Now losing some fights in boxing must be normal,” he explained. “All fighters want a career similar to Floyd Mayweather – no losses. This may happen once every 50, 60 or 70 years.
“We need it [to be] like currently in the UFC model, where champions lose and win,” added the matchmaker during the Riyad season.
Mayweather rose through the sport in the tardy 1990s to become one of its youngest superstars. Mayweather’s professional success came after winning a bronze medal at the Olympics after losing to Serafim Todorov.
Winning world titles in five weight classes, Mayweather was untouchable. The Grand Rapids native only came close to defeat a few times. He dominated Manny Pacquiao and overtook Canelo Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya after heated debates, with decisions that should have been made unanimously.
Towards the end of his career, Mayweather chose to face Andre Berto and Conor McGregor, easily winning and ending his boxing career at the age of 50 without ever going out. Calling himself “the greatest of all time,” Mayweather earned first-ballot Hall of Fame honors and is widely considered one of, if not the greatest defensive fighter of all time.
However, Alalshikh says this type of career needs to end so that fans can get the most out of boxing, as is the case with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Boxing needs to become more attractive, and Alalshikh sees the failures of top stars as a way to keep interest at an all-time high.
In this sport, many boxers enjoy undefeated streaks, the most notable of which is Oleksandr Usyk. The Ukrainian Pound for Pound King is 23-0 and has beaten the best he has to offer in his division and cruiserweight classification.
It remains a mystery how Alalshikh plans to make Usyk suffer while he dominates everyone else. By the time his grand plan goes into action, Usyk will be long gone, and Gervonta Davis, Shakur Stevenson and Devin Haney may be more realistic targets.
Boxing
Manny Pacquiao remains the favorite to win the title against Mario Barrios
Published
1 week agoon
January 6, 2025WBN understands that despite alternative options emerging, it is more likely that Manny Pacquiao will face Mario Barrios next.
Bob Santos, coach of WBC welterweight champion Barrios, told World Boxing News that he is currently in contact with Pacquiao’s team. Asked by WBN if he had spoken to Pacquiao or representatives of any other challenger, Santos replied: “Yes, Pacquiao’s promoter, Sean Gibbons.” Pressed on whether Barrios vs Pacquiao might happen next, he added: “It’s challenging to say. We’ll have to see how this plays out.”
WBN contacted Santos after Conor Benn emerged as a potential alternative to Barrios. The British fighter, who recently returned from a suspension following two positive drug tests, is keen to return to competition.
Benn showed favor with the World Boxing Council at the recent WBC Convention, the WBC Evaluation Committee and during an interview with the sanctioning body over the weekend. “The Destroyer” is ranked second in the rankings at 147 pounds, despite less than solid opponents during his time in exile, during which Benn competed twice in the United States while his career in the United Kingdom was in doubt.
As he battled to clear his name and with the British Anti-Doping Authority finding no evidence that Benn had intentionally taken ostarine, the 28-year-old’s career took a pointed nosedive. Despite this, he remains highly rated and at least one step away from fighting for an eliminator or one of the remaining championship titles.
However, Pacquiao remains Barrios’ favorite. Now it’s up to the boxing legend and Hall of Famer who got the first votes to secure his shot. WBN believes a July date – most likely at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas – is the most realistic date for a Nevada swan song.
Pacquiao could extend his record as the oldest welterweight champion by six years if he can secure a huge victory over the 29-year-old world champion. At 46 years antique, such a scenario remains unlikely, but he can never be compared to one of the greatest players of this generation.
Unlike heavier boxers and his training regiment, Pacquiao looks in great shape despite his advanced age. Everything is set for a massive return to the boxing capital of the world, provided Pacquiao and his team can manage his political ambitions, which are expected to run from this month until May. After that time, Pacquiao could find himself in the summer finals and become the all-time champion, regardless of the result.
Barrios is based in the city, where he trained with Santos, and would be the perfect opponent to see out the career of one of the greatest fighters in history.
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