Boxing
True or not boxing: the unquestioned fund? Ryan defeated Mayer?
After an unsuccessful attempt to face Errola Spence Jr. In 2024, Sebastian Funda returns to the ring to defend its WBC and WBO titles of medium weight against Chordale Booker in Las Vegas, in what is seen as a fight for the master. But will the fund be able to win other masters and fully unite the 154-pound division until the end of 2026?
Over two years from the announcement of the fight Chris Eubank Jr. And Connor Benn will finally meet in London in April. The average fight in Nontitle was postponed in October 2022, when Benn obtained a positive result into two forbidden substances. The Eubank-Lin competition dates back to the 90s, when their fathers fought twice in the same medium weight ward. Can Benn win the right to brag and even stop Eubank?
On March 29, in Las Vegas, Mikaela Mayer defends the WBO welterweight belt against Sandy Ryan in the rematch of their fight from 2023, in which Mayer received the title most of the decisions. Can Ryan take revenge?
After four -time competition in 2024, Richard Torrez in massive weight, a silver medalist for the USA in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020, returns to the ring on April 5 on his first fight this year to face the most notable opponent. Torrez, who has so far detained 11 of his 12 opponents (in December he also has a victory at DQ nad Joey Dawiejko), will face Guido Vianelllo in Las Vegas in his first fight, which played a boxing card. Can Torrez show that he is the best current American great man?
A week later, on April 12, Jaron Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis are fighting to unite two welterweight titles in the battle between unbeatable warriors. Ennis is a favorite by ESPN -700 and should win that he is fighting for his potential.
At the beginning of this month, the former welterweight champion Keith Thurman returned to the ring for the first time since 2022 to defeat Brock Jarvis in Australia by TKO the third round. While the performance was impressive, Jarvis is far from an elite warrior in the 154 pounds division. But did he win Catapult Thurman to the top and get him the opportunity to win another world title?
Mike Coppinger, Timothy Bardley Jr., Nick Parkinson and Andreas Hale answer these questions and more, trying to separate what is true and what is not.
Real or not: Sebastian Fundor will become the undisputed junior lithe champion in 2026
It is not real. On Saturday, the fund should next to Chordale Booker in its first defense of his WBC and WBO titles, including what is the fight. The fund was waiting for Errol Spence Jr., a clamorous fight, which was first planned for October 2024, but then postponed many times, until it was scraped.
The fund gained sedate nervousness when he developed Tim Tiszu in the brutal and bloody fight of Tsyzyu adopted in 11 -day overtaking in March last year. Unfortunately, the fund had not fought since this fight and was unable to rely on the impetus.
Activity will be a real challenge for the fund, which is a high 6 feet-5 1/2 in 154 pounds. The other two owners of titles in Munior Middle Weigh are Bakhram Murtazaliev (IBF) and Terenka Crawford (WBA).
Crawford goes to 168 pounds and the September fight against Canelo Alvarez and will eventually abandon his title in 154 pounds. WBA can always restore Jermella Charlo, his master during the break as a full master. Yoenis Tellez, like Charlo and the Fund, is with PBC and is a momentary champion of WBA.
So if the fund is to be the undisputed champion next year, he could allegedly fight Murtazliev this summer, and then showdown before the end of 2026 against Tellez or Charlo to fully unite. But it is extremely hard to imagine two more unification fights that merge for the funds in 2026.
Real or not: Sandy Ryan promised his close defeat with Mikaela Mayer in the rematch
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Mikaela Mayer receives a majority victory to become the recent WBO champion
Mikaela Mayer wins the main event thanks to the majority decision to nervous Sandy Ryan and become a recent WBO -secondary champion.
True. Ryan lost to Mayer in September last year, but the victory was overshadowed when someone threw a red paint in Ryan a few hours earlier, when she left the hotel in Novel York to go to Madison Square Garden for a fight. Ryan accused someone of the Mayer team of conducting an attack, but Mayer denied the accusation. The incident undoubtedly restless Ryan in the last hours before the fight for the title of welterweight and you are wondering if it influenced her performance. Mayer won a majority decision with 97-93, 96-94 and 95-95 results cards.
If Ryan can make his plan in a rematch and apply his intensity, he can recover the WBO belt and take revenge sweetly.
“This time I will be fully prepared for everything that comes,” said Ryan in ESPN in January. “What happened before the fight last time meant that I was fighting with anger and it clearly influenced my performance. The world would see a concentrated, determined and talented warrior in the shape of her life.”
Real or not: Conor Benn Will Ko Chris Eubank Jr.
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Chris Eubank Jr. lists Conor Benn with an egg at the forefront
Chris Eubank Jr. He hits Conor Benn during their fight before fighting in April.
It is not real. Eubank may not be in a completely convincing form, but it has the size and experience on its side, which should mean that he provides KO, not Benn.
Benn jumps up two weight classes so that this fight is over two years after it was canceled in October 2022 due to the positive Benn test in terms of the prohibited substance. Since then, Benn was confined to two performances in three years, both decisions win against opponents from outside the first 15.
While Eubank suffered a sedate failure when the former world champion Liam Smith stopped him in four rounds in January 2023, he looked malicious in a rematch when he stopped Smith in round 10 in September this year. Smith, a former world champion in medium weight, entered the revenge at the back of four consecutive wins in space and was completely dominated by Eubank, who threw 448 strokes more than Smith, according to Compubox. In October, Eubank recorded victory in the seventh round over Kamil Szereme.
Benn will hope to repeat Smith’s feat in the first fight, but he did not beat anyone from the Eubank caliber. Benn is expected to start a furious start, and Eubank knows it, so Eubank would have to be very negligent to lose this claims of the fight by knockout. It is more likely that Eubank withstands an early storm and uses his better strength to stop Benn in the second half of the fight.
Real or not: Keith Thurman will win the title at Junior Middle Wweight
It is not real. Yes, Thurman looked like the “one -time” aged against Brock Jarvis, who ended a three -year break. But … it is Brock Jarvis is far from the elite younger medium weight. At the age of 36, Thurman is an elite boxer when his CV is littered with more fighters who retired (Manny Pacquiao, Shawn Porter, Robert Guerrero, Josessito Lopez) than actively competing. He can only have one loss in his career, but he is in a division full of teenage, hungry fighters drooling to add your name to their CV.
It is hard to see Thurman beating Vergil Ortiz Jr., Israil Madrimov or Bakhram Murtazaliev, taking into account his recent inaction. Even with his disadvantages, a united champion Sebastian Fund, who is five inches higher and has an 11-inch advantage, would be a physical nightmare for Thurman. I would like to see how he is dealing with someone like the former master Tim Tziu or teenage pretender Xander Zayas before skating him in the field of justified candidates for the title. Thurman still has a lot to prove that he will regain the glory of his escape in 2015-2017, when he reigned as the owner of welterweight titles, and time is simply not on his side.
Real or not: Richard Torrez Jr. is the best current American massive weight
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Richard Torrez Jr. he wins DQ after Joey’s mouthpiece fell out
Richard Torrez Jr. He claims that the victory after Joeya’s mouthpiece is excessive, forcing disqualification.
True. I can’t assist myself from a sense of pride when I see an American heavyweight warrior with the potential that appears in the ranks. That’s why I am excited about Torrez. For good reasons he is an Olympic silver medalist. There is Southpaw, such as the United Master Oleksandr Utyk, relatively tiny for the division at 6 feet-2 with excellent speed and foot speed. He does not have the same technical skills as Utyt, but Torrez is dishonest clever with his configurations and attacks, grabbing his opposition. It pushes the crazy pace of battle, swarms from the competition, remaining close enough to fire, does not burn.
Torreza strength seems to be an elite at this level of competition, but we will receive the final answer after improving its competition. However, his combined blow, general strength, dedication and willingness to win are at the highest level, because he has 11 wins in his 12 professional fights. Sure, he fights with several journeymen, but who is not at this stage of his career? It has been planned that so far he had faced the most hard test, his own Italian at 6 feet-6 Guido Vianello on April 5, in a fight, which should provide a barometer in which Torrez is popular. I think that at the moment he is the best massive weight in America. Another claimant for the best American heavyweight, Jared Anderson, who, I think, is the most qualified, seems to have a problem with the motivation to achieve the highest class heavyweight division.
Real or not: Jaron Ennis defeat Eimantas Stanionis to unite two welterweight titles
True. Ennis has this strange outflow and flow, in which one day looks like the future Hall of Famer, and then turns into a performance that makes us wonder if we were surprised in his potential. Ennis’s last trip against Karen Chukhadzhian in November certainly belongs to the second category when he expanded in the third defense of his IBF welterweight title. But I think that this inconsistency is more about the fight of Ennis to the level of his competition than to exaggerate, and Stanionis will find out why Ennis is the next five pounds per pound.
Hitter from Filadelphia Switch is too talented and still has a lot to prove. He knows that everyone is watching, and “shoes” tend to do when the spotlight lithe shines. There is a bit too much for Stanionis to deal with it for 12 rounds, and Ennis seems to encourage the dominant performance.
Inactivity can be a burden in this fight for stanionis. From 2020, Stanionis fought six times while Ennis competed in 10 fights. This is a great opportunity for Ennis, because it is more than able to ask the brilliant performance to unite the titles.
Dana White quickly shut down rumors about Shakur Stevenson meeting Devin Haney on November 28 in Atlanta. Anyone expecting an immediate fight reveal took a hit after White addressed the situation following the Contender Series. When reporters pressed him on the proposed Thanksgiving weekend date, he gave them very little to work with.
“If it was, I would have announced it,” White stated.
He declined to offer negotiation details, nor did he float an alternate calendar slot. That curt statement keeps November 28 unverified. It does not kill the pairing entirely, but it proves the business side remains unresolved.
Social media bargaining created the illusion that promotional machinery was already rolling. Both boxers publicly settled on 145 pounds on X, leading casual observers to believe the hard part had passed. Settling on an informal weight limit in a comment section does not trigger an official press tour. Online back-and-forth gives followers plenty to debate, yet neither fighter has booked travel, hired sparring partners, or officially launched camp.
The real snag centers directly on purse demands. Ring insider Mike Coppinger pointed to the financial friction on social media, posting, “Money mostly but I believe it will get done.”
Optimism does not print tickets or satisfy broadcast partners. Bill Haney openly vented his irritation over the sudden silence from the Stevenson camp, posting, “Bro nem quiet as church mouse’s again…”
That frustration is easy to understand. Transparent negotiations inflate public expectations in a hurry. When one camp goes completely silent immediately after a public concession, momentum disappears. Talks look completely stalled from the outside, even if promoters continue working behind closed doors.
Nobody following the modern boxing business should feel surprised by this drag. Arguing online generates massive engagement metrics, yet back-and-forth posts cannot finalize multi-million-dollar agreements. Network commitments, venue guarantees, and revenue splits require formal paperwork that takes weeks to navigate.
White essentially yanked the conversation back to reality. Observers have a target weight, an opponent, a venue city. What everyone still lacks is a legally binding contract. Until both camps resolve guaranteed purses, this matchup exists strictly as an internet discussion rather than a genuine event.
Spencer Brown sees a noticeable shift coming to Saudi boxing. Tyson Fury’s manager expects the massive purses to shrink, with fewer mega cards happening each year even though the Kingdom plans to stick around. From his perspective, the current spending pace simply cannot hold, creating a whole new reality for fighters across the sport.
“I think that the money has to go down because nobody can keep paying that sort of money,” Brown told The Ariel Helwani Show.
He made sure to dismiss rumors that Saudi investment is drying up completely. Instead, he sees Riyadh scaling back the volume of blockbuster events.
He pointed to Fury’s December 11 meeting with Anthony Joshua in Cardiff, a deal he helped put together, calling it one of the final spectacles of its kind. Moving forward, he predicts fans will see just one or two events of that size annually. While speaking as a dealmaker rather than an official spokesperson for Riyadh Season, his perspective carries genuine weight.
“I think this is one of the last of the big fights we’re going to see. I think you might get one or two big fights a year in future,” Brown said about the Fury vs. Anthony Joshua clash.
The real trouble will be convincing boxers to accept smaller checks again. Once a fighter pockets Saudi riches, traditional offers funded by gate receipts or pay-per-view sales feel like an insult. A matchup can make all the sense in the world on paper, yet stall out completely if someone insists on another monster payday.
That dynamic could trigger prolonged layoffs. Fighters risk sitting around, holding out hope for an invitation to the rare marquee card. Veterans near the end of their careers do not have time to waste on the sidelines, but the temptation of holding out for life-changing money remains strong.
A market cool-down could ultimately force promoters to build fights around realistic budgets again. For that model to succeed, fighters who want to stay active will have to adjust their financial expectations accordingly.
Fighters who grew accustomed to eight-figure guarantees for low-demand, mismatched events are going to hit a wall of stubborn inactivity before reality sets in.
Human nature and boxing economics suggest the immediate reaction won’t be humility. It will be entitlement.
When a boxer makes $10 million to $20 million fighting an unheralded opponent in an atmosphere with minimal gate pressure, that number ceases to be a windfall in their mind. It becomes their baseline. Returning to a traditional promotional model where their guarantee is tied directly to pay-per-view buys and ticket sales in London, New York, or Las Vegas feels like a drastic demotion.
The fallout is likely to split fighters into distinct groups:
First come the holdouts. The biggest names with heavy bank accounts will sit on the sidelines, convinced that their manager or promoter simply isn’t trying hard enough, or that Riyadh will eventually circle back when a headline slot opens.
They will post training clips on social media, call out other stars, demand absurd splits, and reject viable market-rate offers. Some will sit out twelve to eighteen months before grasping that the sovereign wealth subsidy has actually contracted. For aging stars, this wait will quietly run out their athletic primes.
Second comes the rude awakening for mid-tier names. Fighters who received inflated purses simply to fill out stacked undercards will discover that traditional promoters have zero appetite to subsidize them. If a fighter does not shift tickets in their home market or drive subscriptions, domestic promoters cannot afford them at Saudi rates.
These fighters will face a blunt ultimatum: accept pay cuts of 60 to 75 percent, or retire. Those who need money to maintain luxury spending habits will swallow their pride, sign realistic contracts, and return to competitive, grinding fights where they actually have to take risks.
Ultimately, the market correction will be painful. Boxing spent years living in an artificial economy where risk and commercial return were completely divorced. Once the spigot tightens, the fighters who want to stay relevant will have no choice but to get back in the gym and fight each other on realistic budgets, while the ones chasing long-gone purses will simply wait themselves into irrelevance.
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