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One-punch boxing wonders: George Kambosos Jr. he needs a win to avoid making the list

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Much like the music industry, boxing has had its fair share of one-punch miracles. George Kambosos Jr. seeks to avoid having his name added to the list of world title winners, only to quickly lose it and fall out of favor when he faces Vasiliy Lomachenko for the vacant IBF lightweight title on Sunday morning in Perth, Australia (Saturday, 10 p.m. ET in the USA, ESPN /ESPN+).

For some, becoming champion is the beginning of the end, as they lose the belt in their first defense and their career rapidly declines. However, it is still too early to put 30-year-old Kambosos from Sydney in that shameful category.

Kambosos (21-2, 10 KO) silenced Teofimo Lopez’s fans in Up-to-date York when he won a split decision in November 2021 to capture three lightweight world titles. Just over a year earlier, Lopez delivered the performance of a lifetime that nullified the fight due to Lomachenko’s dazzling skills. However, as a 7-1 betting favorite against Kambosos, Lopez was caught and sent to the court in the first round, and Kambosos left the game himself in the 10th round and took a split decision.

Kambosos didn’t have to enjoy life as a champion for long. Seven months later in Melbourne, the Australian lost his belts in his first defense against Devin Haney by unanimous decision. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, Haney did even better, winning another decision slow in 2022 in Melbourne.

A controversial majority decision victory over Maxim Hughes last year gave Kambosos his fourth world title shot in his last five fights.

Let’s take a look at some of the players who didn’t do much after winning the world title.

Harder falls

Andy Ruiz Jr. pulled off a major shock by stopping Anthony Joshua in round 7 to win three world title belts in 2019 as a slow substitute. Six months later, Ruiz showed up in the rematch weighing 15 pounds more than in the first fight and lost convincingly by unanimous decision to Joshua’s game.

Since then, Ruiz has recorded two unanimous decision victories, but both Luiz Ortiz and Chris Arreola are over 40 years antique. Ruiz (32-2, 22 KO) weighed 268¾ pounds when he scored three knockouts against Ortiz in September 2022. The Californian is expected to be born on August 3 in Los Angeles and will face Jarrell “Massive Baby” Miller. This will be his first fight since defeating Ortiz and he is one step away from a world title shot.

Joshua also ended the brief reign of Charles Martin, who hilariously entered the ring to face the Englishman for a massive crown in London in 2016. However, he was not majestic in the ring that night, as Joshua dispatched him in just two rounds to win the IBF world heavyweight title. Martin fell apart as soon as Joshua started to land.

When Vyacheslav Glazkov suffered a knee injury in the third round against Martin in January 2016, the American became champion. Martin, now 38, has so far failed to regain that lofty status and has suffered three consecutive defeats.

Deontay Wilder became champion for the first time, overtaking Bermane Stiverne in January 2015. Stiverne managed to become the first professional opponent to resist Wilder’s strength and defeat him at a distance, but he lost a unanimous decision in the first defense of the WBC belt, which he won by stopping Chris Arreola in the sixth round in May 2014. Stiverne’s career was in ruins, and in 2017, he was knocked out in the rematch by Wilder in a round. It was the first of four consecutive defeats, including three by stoppage, and he has not fought since January 2023.

Other notable heavyweight champions who lost the title in their first defense and whose career never recovered include Hasim Rahman (2001). The world was stunned when Lennox Lewis – boxing’s last undisputed world heavyweight champion in the three-belt era – was underestimated and unprepared for the heights in Johannesburg and was subsequently knocked out by Rahman in five rounds. Lewis quickly made amends in a rematch seven months later, and Rahman never became world champion again, despite fights against the likes of Evander Holyfield, James Toney, Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin.


Lighter falls

Manny Pacquiao will go down in history as one of the greatest boxing champions of all time, but slow in his career he lost to fighters who were unable to maintain success at an elite level.

Kambosos’ Australian, Jeff Horn (20-3-1, 13 KO), also held the world title for a brief time. Horn benefited from a night off against Pacquiao, one of the best boxers of recent years when he won a unanimous decision to win the WBO welterweight title in Australia in 2017. Pacquiao complained about the controversial result, but a rematch never took place. Horn won his first defense against the little-known Gary Corcoran, but was then stopped by Terence Crawford, ending his reign less than a year after it began. Horn never fought for a world title again.

In his last fight, Pacquiao suffered a unanimous decision loss to replacement opponent Yordenis Ugas in Las Vegas in August 2021. At 35, Ugas was considered a secure opponent for the eighth-weight world champion as he approaches his last huge fight. But Ugas spoiled the party. Inspired by the opportunity given on 11 days’ notice and perhaps taking advantage of the 42-year-old Pacquiao’s waning powers, Ugas won as a +350 underdog. Pacquiao was preparing to face Errol Spence Jr. and perhaps the change of opponent, i.e. meeting another southpaw, contributed to the defeat. Ugas’ double jab proved decisive in winning the WBA title. However, Spence stopped Ugas in the unification title fight two years ago, and in September 2023, the Miami Cuban was passed by Mario Barrios.

Pacquiao was at the top of his game when the Filipino ended Chris Algieri’s brief reign. The Up-to-date Yorker survived two knockdowns in the first round to bravely defend himself and in June 2014 won a split decision over Ruslan Provodnikov in the fight for the WBO junior welterweight title. Five months later, he moved up the division and lost six times by wide decision. lost to Pacquiao. Algieri suffered further losses to Amir Khan, Spence and finally, at the age of 37, to Conor Benn in 2021.

Miguel Cotto was one of the greatest stars of his era, but like Pacquiao, his career ended in a shocking defeat. His bout was against Sadam Ali in December 2017. Ali, who had been stopped by Jessie Vargas for the WBO welterweight title the year before, was reluctant to beat the Puerto Rican Hall of Famer, but he put on an inspiring display in a unanimous decision. Ali never reached the same level again as he lost his title in a four-round defeat to Jaime Munguia and was stopped in his last fight by Anthony Newborn five years ago.

Cotto ended Yuri Foreman’s brief stint as the WBA junior middleweight champion with a ninth-round stoppage in June 2010 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, seven months after Foreman won the belt against Daniel Santos. Foreman failed to win another world championship belt despite 10 years of trying.

Sergio Mora, who gained fame thanks to the reality show “The Contender” on NBC, in June 2006 won the WBC junior middleweight title from Vernon Forrest by majority vote. However, three months later, in Mora’s first defense, he lost the belt to much improved Forrest by wide unanimous decision. Mora missed subsequent opportunities as Daniel Jacobs stopped him in two rounds and then in a seven-round rematch for the middleweight title in 2015 and 2016.


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James “Buster” Douglas, who overcame huge odds of 42-1 and ended Mike Tyson’s heavyweight rampage with a seismic 10th-round knockout in 1990, is perhaps the most obvious one-hit wonder in recent boxing history. Douglas, whose mother died 23 days before the fight, was inspired while Tyson was distracted. Douglas was overweight in his first defense against Evander Holyfield, who punished him in three rounds before winning all the belts eight months later. Douglas was never the same as that night against Tyson on February 11, 1990 in Tokyo.

Another one-hit wonder was Montell Griffin, who reigned as the WBC featherlight heavyweight champion for five months in 1997. Roy Jones Jr. he was in great shape and his skills made him seem untouchable at the time. Jones came close to another victory when Griffin went down to a knee in round 9, but Jones was disqualified for punching another American as he went down. Jones made Griffin pay in the rematch, resulting in a brutal first-round KO. Griffin lost his next two world title fights.

Leon Spinks may have been the 1976 Olympic gold medalist, but in 1978 the reasonable opinion was that Muhammad Ali would be unchallenged by a challenger who would be fighting for the world heavyweight title in only his eighth professional fight. Spinks, shockingly, won by split decision. but Ali returned to holding the belts five months later after winning the rematch on points. Spinks lost his next two world title fights and finished with a record of 26 wins, 17 losses and three draws.

Coming back further, the perfect performance of Randy Turpin, who in 1951 in London overtook the great Sugar Ray Robinson for the world middleweight title, was another huge shock. However, the Englishman lost a rematch with the imperious Robinson on the other side of the Atlantic just 64 days later and never regained the title.

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Boxing

Frank Warren sees Fury’s bloody nose as the turning point in his defeat to Usyk

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PROMOTER Frank Warren says Tyson Fury gave Oleksandr Usyk a “boxing lesson” before his fighter suffered a nosebleed during Saturday’s heavyweight clash.

When the “Gypsy King” got up from his stool before the ninth round – one of the most dramatic rounds in recent heavyweight history – blood came from his nose, which affected him from then on.

The ninth will be remembered because Fury was at sea during Usyk’s sustained attack, which threatened to end the fight until referee Mark Nelson saved Fury by awarding him a standing eight.

After eight rounds, referee Manuel Oliver Palimo scored four goals for Fury, while referees Craig Metcalfe and Mike Fitzgerlad gave the Briton five.

“It was a fantastic fight, it was a spectacle. Two undefeated fighters who gave it their all,” said Warren, who promotes Fury with Bob Arum.

“Tyson obviously had a problem with his nose and I think he just lost concentration for a moment. Up to this point it looked like he was giving it to him [Usyk] boxing lesson.

“At first I thought he had broken his nose. Because he kept touching it, right? And he had difficulty breathing.

“But Oleksandr, the fighter that he is, came back at it and had a great round. And that’s it. But I was thinking about Tyson [won]I generally agreed with the judge [Craig Metcalfe] give it to Tyson.”

With the score at 10-8, Usyk took his advantage and continued to put enormous pressure on Fury, but the former WBC champion performed impressively in the final round, which was awarded to him by all three judges. However, despite his efforts, Usyk was crowned the undisputed heavyweight champion.

“I know everyone would say, well, you would say that, but I felt him [Fury] won,” Warren said. “But we don’t complain about it because many people have seen it in different ways. But what a fantastic fight. It was a great night in the Kingdom. And that’s something people will remember.”


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Russian cruiserweight Soslan Asbarov handed a six-year ban for violating anti-doping rules

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Soslan Asbarov has suffered a huge blow to his once promising career.

The undefeated cruiserweight was handed a six-year suspension for violating the policy of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). Test samples taken from October 28vol The fight with Alexei Papin ended with a positive result for the presence of an unspecified banned substance.

Asbarov was previously credited with a ten-round unanimous decision victory over his compatriot in Moscow. Russian Boxing Federation manager Dmitry Antonov confirmed to The Ring that the verdict was changed to no-contest on April 15 after verification of the test result.

Antonov was not allowed to confirm the substance in question due to confidentiality clauses in RUSADA’s testing policy. RUSADA officials only confirmed to The Ring that the result was first discovered on December 22 last year and later verified.

“RUSADA has overturned the decision by which the athlete Soslan Asbarov was excluded from competition for six years,” a RUSADA spokesman confirmed to The Ring. “Decision [was made] on April 15, 2024, with credit for the period of fleeting suspension completed [backdated to] December 22, 2023.”

Asbarov is currently ranked No. 8 in the cruiserweight division by The Ring Magazine, although that will change soon.

The 32-year-old boxer was found to have violated RUSADA anti-doping rules 4.1 (presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in a sample collected from the athlete) and 4.2 (Utilize or attempted employ by an athlete of a prohibited substance or a Prohibited Method). Both clauses impose full responsibility on athletes for any substance detected in their body.

This development crushes the initial momentum of the two-year pro, who quickly managed to break into competition.

Asbarov’s second professional victory was an eight-round knockout of veteran fighter Dmitry Kudryashov in September 2022.

Just six months later came a victory over another cruiserweight brute. Asbarov defeated Brandon Glanton by ten-round majority decision on March 18 in Dubai. For now, this is his last victory in history.

Asbarov defeated Papin in the second round of their October 28 fight, en route to a ten-round unanimous decision. This feat caused him to shoot up The Ring’s rankings, and Papin dropped out of the top ten. The matter is currently up for a vote on the ring’s ratings panel, and Papin is expected to return after this week’s update.

Follow @JakeNDaBox

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Frampton: ‘Fury ruined victory, can beat Usyk in rematch’

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Carl Frampton has urged Tyson Fury to rematch Oleksandr Usyk after seeing him “throw away victory”.

Usyk won his undisputed heavyweight title fight in Riyad, Saudi Arabia – where Frampton was ringside – but to do so he had to come from behind after a challenging first six rounds.

He threatened to stop previously undefeated Furia in a dramatic ninth round, but both fighters entered Saturday’s fight with contract clauses that would force a rematch at the end of 2024, increasing the likelihood that they will fight again.

When Fury spoke in the ring after the fight, he spoke about his belief that he, not 37-year-old Usyk, deserved to win, and also stated that he wanted a rematch. When he then spoke at the post-fight press conference, he was reluctant to reveal his plans and, after long preparations for the biggest fight of his career, instead talked about resting before deciding on his next move.

Ahead of his first fight against Deontay Wilder in 2018 – previously the biggest he had been involved in – Fury appeared on the undercard of Frampton’s victory over Luke Jackson at Windsor Park in Belfast when he passed Francesco Pianeta, with Frampton saying: “I think that he can win the rematch. I think he turned the fight down.

“I don’t want to hurt Usyk – he won. Halfway through the distance, they approached me as an expert and I had my fourth fight [rounds to] two to Fury. Usyk was injured on the body; he went into some uppercuts. I indicated that it would be challenging for Usyk to come back and I didn’t really see a way to do it, but he dug deep and did exactly that, and I gave Usyk the fight for a round – six rounds each and a ‘knockdown’ was the difference for me.

If he does win, I still think he’s a must-have as one of the top heavyweights [ever]. Either way, he would definitely be among the top ten greatest heavyweights. If she beats him in the rematch, it will be a massive fight and it will be another fight if she beats him in the rematch because both of them are not like Leo Santa Cruz – they want to settle scores, not just [having won] one by one.

“I love Usyk. I love everything about him – he’s a phenomenal fighter.

“AND [also] I think it was good for [Fury] be delicate. Performance was high. That suited him.

It was in the days before the retired Frampton’s victory over Jackson of Australia that it became clear that Fury – at this stage just one fight away from returning after almost three years of inactivity, during which he became suicidal, abused drugs and alcohol and rose to approximately 30 – He was next scheduled to fight the fearsome Wilder.

If fighting one of the most unsafe boxers in history represented a significant and premature risk that could end his comeback, then his participation at the age of 35 in the first undisputed heavyweight title fight since Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield in 1999 was again more than justified a risk that ultimately became one of the most vital chapters of one of the most fascinating stories.

“I was surprised,” Frampton reflected on his reaction to the news in August 2018. “He didn’t look impressive in any of the fights he had before Wilder after a long layoff. I knew he was a brave man, but I was surprised.

“The first fight, of course, ended in a draw, but the whole world knew that Fury won the fight. But [I was] surprised that he was fighting a guy like Wilder at this stage – for both careers – and in my opinion beat him.

“There was a lot of hype about Wilder’s presence [in Belfast]and about Fury. I really thought it was probably too early for him, but he proved me wrong and as he said before this fight, he’s up to the challenge and he did it against [in 2015, Wladimir] Klitschko; he did it in three fights with Wilder.

“Other fights, e.g [Derek] Chisora; [Dillian] Whyte, he does all the work. When the pressure is on on massive, vital nights, he rises to the occasion. If he gets a chinlock then [against Wilder in December 2018]I think the comeback has already come.

“It’s an incredible journey that Fury has been on. Wilder’s fights, and even if Chisora ​​and Whyte weren’t the ideal opponent, they were massive fights in vast stadiums. The Usyk fight is probably the biggest fight of my life; the biggest one I have ever participated in as a broadcaster [for TNT Sports]. I was buzzing about it – absolutely buzzing.

“It’s been an amazing journey – it really has been. Look at his state at one point after Klitschko’s massive victory when he really went crazy. He grew taller, out of shape and as if he would never fight again, and looking at how bad he looked back then, the change was phenomenal. I believe he is one of the greatest heavyweights who ever lived – truly. He could compete – you could argue he could beat anyone who ever lived in the heavyweight division.

“It’s weird [that so significant a fighter fought on my undercard]. It’s one you can tell your grandchildren about, you know what I mean? “Fury fought on my card.” He will be remembered. To say he fought for me with the main support at Windsor Park – huge.

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