Las Vegas-based super middleweight Shea Arender, who turns professional in 2024 at the age of 45, told World Boxing News that his decision to enter boxing later than most was not impulsive – it was calculated.
Arender made his debut in May 2024, losing in the first round in Tijuana. For many, this would be the natural end of the experiment. For Arender, this was the starting point.
“I turned professional later in life and instead of waiting for the perfect moment, I took up the challenge,” Arender told WBN. “My approach has always been carefully assessed and strategically planned.”
Since that loss, Arender has recorded four straight victories – all within the distance – while competing in the super middleweight division.
Mayweather Boxing Club
Arender trains in Mayweather Boxing Club in Las Vegas under the supervision of experienced coach Luis Tapia. The gym is known for producing champions rather than budding professionals over 40, which makes his presence there noteworthy.
Arender has fought in five professional bouts at 148-168 pounds and has secured four stoppage victories in nine rounds since turning pro. His record is 4-1, with each victory coming by knockout or technical knockout.
He doesn’t see the movement as something recent or nostalgic.
“This is what I call the Total Life Champion philosophy,” he explained. “It’s about discipline, focus and applying the same standards to every area of your life.”
For Arender, boxing is not separate from business and music. It works within the same structure.
Tommy Morrison documentary
Outside the ring, Arender works at the highest levels of the entertainment industry. He serves as general manager of the Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra and is involved in an official documentary project scheduled to premiere in slow 2026 or early 2027.
His relationship with Morrison predates the film. Before the former heavyweight’s death, Arender was considering collaborating on a boxing-based television concept titled .
The project never moved forward, but the relationship endured. This continuity ultimately led to his role in scoring the documentary.
“Being involved in the Tommy Morrison documentary allows me to combine music and boxing in a way that captures the emotion and intensity of the sport,” Arender said.
Few busy fighters occupy both spaces simultaneously – competing professionally while helping to preserve boxing history through film.
Boxing as a defined chapter
Arender signed a contract with American Boxing Promotions and competes in Las Vegas.
She doesn’t present her career as symbolic, it’s more intentional.
“I took calculated risks and applied relentless determination,” Arender told WBN. “Age does not eliminate opportunity if there is preparation.”
With five professional competitions completed between May 2024 and July 2025, Arender’s boxing career remains in its early stages. At the same time, his involvement in a documentary focusing on one of boxing’s most recognizable figures puts him in an unusual place – busy in the present while contributing to the sport’s historic record.
For Arender, both actions are guided by the same principle: preparation, structure and long-term planning, not impulse.
About the author
Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.
“Well, he has his team there and I’m not criticizing anyone, but in both fights his tactics weren’t good,” Peter said in an interview with Sport Boxing.
“It worked out badly because look, if we have a little guy here who can throw, let’s say, a welterweight who can throw a thousand punches, and we have a heavyweight, will a heavyweight fighter throw a thousand punches with him? No.”
“Or maybe he’ll step in and take one good shot? Absolutely.”
“So basically yes, the strategy was just wrong. It doesn’t mean Usyk was better than him. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t say anything. You misunderstand the tactics and they are wrong.
“And you know, when you look at Usyk’s structure and what he does, when he distances himself and tries to box an elite boxer who is lighter than you and who is giving away pounds, he will ping you all over the shop. That should be noticed,” Peter Fury said.
Tyson Fury announced his return earlier this year and is expected to have a preparatory fight before the start of his scheduled series with Anthony Joshua. Queensbury promoter Frank Warren recently confirmed that Fury’s next opponent could be announced in the coming days, with the long-awaited fight against Joshua expected to take place later this year.
Usyk remains at the top of the heavyweight division and has been ordered to fight WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel. Warren also confirmed that negotiations for the fight are ongoing.
Fury’s third meeting with Usyk has not been announced. Peter Fury, however, remains convinced that the strategy used in the first two fights determined the result.
Jorge Kahwagi achieved something almost impossible in professional boxing. The Mexican politician retired with a perfect record of 12-0, knocked out every opponent he faced, and finished his entire career in just 15 rounds.
On paper, this looks like one of the most devastating runs the sport has ever seen. In fact, many boxing fans wondered if they even believed it.
Perfect record
Kahwagi turned professional in 2001, despite having no boxing experience. Over the next fourteen years, he set an undefeated record, won regional titles, and never once heard the final bell.
Twelve fights brought twelve victories. All twelve victories were by knockout in just fifteen rounds.
The numbers are tough to understand even now.
Several of Kahwagi’s opponents entered the ring in defeat. Others seemed hopelessly outmatched.
But the record continued to grow as the politician and businessman rose through the cruiserweight ranks without ever being seriously tested.
By the time he retired in 2015 after returning from a ten-year hiatus for one final fight, Kahwagi owned one of boxing’s most remarkable undefeated records.
Why fans never bought it
The controversy surrounding Kahwaga was not in itself. This is how some of these victories turned out.
His last fight against Ramon Olivas remains the fight most frequently mentioned in discussions about Kahwagi’s career. The break came after seemingly minimal contact, prompting criticism from fans and observers.
Doubts have already surrounded previous victories, including the victory over veteran Roberto Coelho.
Whether these doubts were justified or not, the damage was done and many fans never accepted Kahwagi’s record at face value.
WBC
Boxing has seen this before
Kahwagi’s record may be extraordinary, but in boxing there is always controversy when it comes to results.
As WBN reports, while John Riel Casimero faces a fight-fixing investigation in 2025, debates continue to arise in the contemporary era about what happens inside the ropes.
Long before that, Roy Jones Jr. denied winning Olympic gold in Seoul despite dominating Park Si-hun in what many still consider the greatest heist in boxing history.
More than thirty years later, Park returned the medal to Jones.
The Kahwagi case falls into a different category, but the result is often the same. Once fans stop believing what they’re watching, the debate never really stops.
Still one of the strangest
Few fighters retire with a perfect record, and even fewer retire after every knockout victory.
Kahwagi handled both, finishing his entire professional career in just 15 innings, and those numbers remain remarkable.
More than a decade after his retirement, the debate surrounding his record has never really died down.
That’s why Jorge Kahwagi’s perfect 12-0 record remains one of the strangest in boxing history.
About the author
Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.
One of the most coveted fights in boxing right now is the lithe heavyweight clash between unified champion Dmitry Bivol and WBC ruler David Benavidez for the undisputed 175-pound crown.
However, two-division world champion Teofimo Lopez believes that the fight could end in a “massacre”.
“The Mexican Monster” has since won the unified cruiserweight crown, but maintains he would be willing to cut weight to face Bivol and claim the undisputed honors.
Speaking on Inside The Ring programLopez renamed Benavidez the “Massacre Monster” when discussing the potential fight, believing the age difference between the two lithe heavyweight champions could be crucial to the outcome of the fight.
“I’m going to call Benavidez a ‘massacre monster’ because, man, [that performance against Ramirez] it was nasty. It’s really nasty, really.
“He [Benavidez] enters its flowering period, while the other [Bivol] is on the way out. You have to think about these things too.”
Bivol fulfilled his IBF obligation by defending his belts against Michael Eifert last weekend, but the WBO ordered him to face mandatory challenger Callum Smith in order to retain the WBO belt.
As a result, it appears that a potential Bivol-Benavidez clash will have to wait until 2027, with Beterbiev also being considered for the trilogy.
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