Weights from Minneapolis for Saturday night’s PBC on FS1 card: Anthony Dirrell 167.5 pounds, Avni Yildirim 168 (for a vacant super middleweight world title); Jamal James 145.75, Janer Gonzalez 146.5; Marcos Hernandez 158.5, Jeison Rosario 157.5; Bryant Perrella 135.75, Breidis Prescott 145.5; Money Powell IV 163, Javier Frazier 161.5; Justin Pauldo 135.5, Federico Malespina 136.25.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer9h ago

Former heavyweight world titlist Charles Martin will face Gregory Corbin in a 10-round bout on the Premier Boxing Champions preliminary coverage of the Errol Spence-Mikey Garcia Fox PPV card on March 16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, PBC announced Friday. Preliminaries will air on Fox Sports 1 (8 p.m. ET) just prior to the start of the main card on pay-per-view. Martin (25-2-1, 23 KOs), 32, of Carson, California, is coming off a unanimous decision loss to unbeaten contender Adam Kownacki in September. Corbin (15-0, 9 KOs), 38, of Dallas, will be in front of a home crowd against the first name opponent of his career.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer17h ago

Weights from London for Saturday’s Showtime card (3:45 p.m. ET): James DeGale 166 pounds, Chris Eubank Jr. 167; Joe Joyce 265, Bermane Stiverne 273; Lee Selby 134.5, Omar Douglas 132.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer21h ago

Former super middleweight and light heavyweight world titlist Badou Jack (22-2-3, 13 KOs), 35, of Las Vegas, has announced that his Badou Jack Promotions and Events will put on its first card – fights to be announced – on May 3 at the Five Palms Jumeriah in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. “This is a great opportunity to take the next step in my career with this promotional company,” said Jack, who suffered a bloody decision loss to Marcus Browne for a vacant interim light heavyweight belt Jan. 19 on the Manny Pacquiao-Adrien Broner card. “We're looking to build something with the fighters and the fans that will become part of the fabric of the entertainment culture in this region.”

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer21h ago

Premier Boxing Champions and Fathom Events announced on Thursday that the fight between welterweight world titlist Errol Spence Jr. and lightweight titlist Mikey Garcia, who is moving up two divisions to challenge Spence for a world title in a fifth eight class on March 16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will be shown in more than 300 movie theaters across the country. The movie theater presentation (9 p.m. ET) will be the same one offered by Fox on the pay-per-view telecast. A list of theater locations is available on the Fathom Events website.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer2d ago

Canelo Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) and Daniel Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs), who will meet to unify their three middleweight world titles in one of the year’s biggest fights on May 4 (DAZN) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, will hit the road for a three-city tour to promote the bout and meet media and fans at events that are all open and free to the public. The tour kicks off Feb. 27 in New York, followed by a stop in Mexico City on March 1 and it will conclude on March 4 in Los Angeles. Specific locations and start times are still to be announced.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer2d ago

The Premier Boxing Champions tripleheader on Fox on Saturday night at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, topped by featherweight titlist Leo Santa Cruz’s one-sided decision over Rafael Rivera, averaged 1.376 million viewers (1.75 million peak), according to Nielsen Media Research. The broadcast, which also included the Omar Figueroa-John Molina junior welterweight battle and junior middleweight prospect Sebastian Fundora against Donnie Marshall, was the night’s least-viewed prime time network show by more than 500,000 viewers. The main event averaged 1.671 million viewers. Of the three PBC on Fox cards since the deal began in December this was by far the least watched.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer2d ago

Light heavyweight world titlist Artur Beterbiev (13-0, 13 KOs) will have his second defense, and his first since signing with Top Rank (which has not yet formally announced the signing), against Sven Fornling (15-1, 7 KOs) on May 4 in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, California, a source with knowledge of the card, which hasn’t been finalized, told ESPN. The source also said junior bantamweight world titlist Jerwin Ancajas (30-1-2, 20 KOs) will defend his belt for the seventh time against mandatory challenger Ryuichi Funai (31-7, 22 KOs) in the co-feature with lightweight prospect Gabriel Flores Jr. (12-0, 5 KOs), who is from Stockton, also appearing on the show in his first hometown bout.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer3d ago

Junior welterweight Vergil Ortiz Jr. (12-0, 12 KOs), 20, of Dallas, one of boxing’s elite prospects, will fight an opponent to be determined on the Canelo Alvarez-Daniel Jacobs undercard on May 4 (DAZN) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Golden Boy president Eric Gomez told ESPN on Wednesday. The rest of the undercard slots have not been determined, Gomez said. Ortiz is a dynamic puncher and coming off an impressive fifth-round knockout of Jesus Valdez on Jan. 26 on the Jaime Munguia-Takeshi Inoue undercard. It was the first time Ortiz had been past three rounds in his career, which began in July 2016.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer3d ago

Premier Boxing Champions on Tuesday announced bouts for the FS1 coverage of preliminaries for the main card on Fox headlined by welterweight world titlist Shawn Porter’s defense against mandatory challenger Yordenis Ugas on March 9 at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. The preliminaries (6:30 p.m. ET) will include former bantamweight world titlist Juan Carlos Payano (20-2, 9 KOs), 34, coming off a brutal first-round knockout loss to Naoya Inoue in an October world title fight, against prospect Damien Vazquez (14-0, 7 KOs), 21, the younger brother of former junior featherweight champion Israel Vazquez, in a 10-rounder and 2016 Lithuanian Olympian Eimantas Stanionis (7-0, 5 KOs), 24, taking on Sammy Figueroa (11-1, 4 KOs), 28, in an eight-round welterweight fight.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer3d ago

Golden Boy Promotions president, Eric Gomez, has confirmed to ESPN.com that lightweight prospect, Ryan Garcia (17-0, 14 KOs) will be making his 2019 debut on March 30 versus against Jose Lopez (20-3-1, 14 KOs) at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California. Garcia, considered among the most marketable young boxers in the sport last fought on December 15th at Madison Square Garden in New York, stopping Braulio Rodriguez in five.

Steve Kim, ESPN3d ago

The deal is done for Vasiliy Lomachenko to defend his lightweight world titles vs. former titlist Anthony Crolla on April 12 on ESPN+ at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN. He said Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez will make his light heavyweight debut in the co-feature. No opponent yet.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer3d ago

The Top Rank Boxing on ESPN tripleheader on Friday night at the Grand Casino in Hinckley, Minnesota, headlined by secondary middleweight titlist Rob Brant’s 11th-round knockout of Khasan Baysangurov in a homecoming fight, averaged 704,00 viewers on ESPN and another 67,000 on ESPN Deportes, according to Nielsen Media Research. The telecast peaked at 769,000 viewers during the main event.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer4d ago

Two-time flyweight world titlist Moruti Mthlane (37-2, 25 KOs), 36, of South Africa, will make his third defense against mandatory challenger Masayuki Kuroda (30-7-3, 16 KOs), 32, of Japan, on May 13 in Tokyo, Mike Altamura, Mthlane’s adviser, told ESPN. “Third consecutive fight on the road. He's a throwback gladiator,” Altamura said. Mthlane won a vacant belt in South Africa in October 2017 and had his first defense in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July on the Manny Pacquiao-Lucas Matthysse card and in his second in December in Macau, China on the Donnie Nietes-Kazuto Ioka card.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer4d ago

Former junior lightweight titlist Steve Forbes (35-14, 11 KOs), who turns 42 on Feb. 26, who has not boxed since October 2014, is returning to the ring to headline a card his 2Pound Sports and Entertainment is promoting on April 6 at the Clackamas Armory in Clackamas, Oregon, just outside of Forbes’ hometown of Portland, Oregon. Forbes will face an opponent to be determined in a seven-round bout at 150 pounds. Forbes held his world title from 2000 to 2002 and has faced several top opponents, including Oscar De La Hoya in a decision loss in De La Hoya’s final victory in 2008. “Being part of the promotion – it’s fun,” Forbes said. “I consider myself a fight fan who happened to end up a beltholder, and now I’m a promoter.”

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer4d ago

Promoter Frank Warren announced Monday that due to multiple injuries resulting fight cancellations his Feb. 23 card in Leicester, England, which was to stream on ESPN+ in the United States, has been rescheduled for March 23 with British junior lightweight champion Sam Bowen still headlining. Light heavyweight up-and-comer Anthony Yarde’s fight against Travis Reeves, initially slated for Feb. 23, will shift to Warren’s card March 8 (ESPN+) at Royal Albert Hall in London and will replace the fight between women’s flyweight titlist Arely Mucino and two-time British Olympic gold medalist Nicola Adams, who suffered an injury. The March 8 card is headlined by the heavyweight bout between Daniel Dubois and Razvan Cojanu.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer5d ago