Category: Boxing

• Winner extends perfect record and closer to world title shot

• Veteran sent crashing to canvas within two minutes

Moses Itauma blew away Dillian Whyte with a devastating first-round knockout in their all-British heavyweight clash in Riyadh. The 20-year-old extended his perfect record through 13 professional fights as he sent veteran Whyte sprawling to the canvas inside two minutes.

The 37-year-old Whyte, a former WBC interim heavyweight champion, was not given any time to settle as Itauma – who had been made to wait in the ring by a delayed walk-in from his British rival – immediately went on the front foot.

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The Japan Boxing Commission will crack down on rapid dehydration to ‘make weight’, which experts say makes the brain susceptible to bleeding

Boxing authorities in Japan will introduce stricter safety measures after the sport was left in shock by the deaths this month of two boxers competing in the same event.

Officials from the Japan Boxing Commission (JBC) told reporters this week the changes would include pre-bout urine tests, tougher rules on rapid weight loss and improvements in ringside medical services.

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• Hiromasa Urakawa passes days after Shigetoshi Kotari died

• Pair had been injured in fights at same event in Tokyo on 2 August

Two Japanese boxers have died days after suffering brain injuries in separate fights on the same card, boxing associations and media reports said.

Shigetoshi Kotari died on Friday and Hiromasa Urakawa on Saturday after being injured in their fights at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on 2 August, Japanese media said.

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• Shields wins on points before 15,366 in Detroit

• Defends undisputed women’s heavyweight title

• Daniels offers some resistance but is outclassed

Claressa Shields retained her undisputed women’s heavyweight championship with a commanding unanimous decision over Lani Daniels on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

The judges scored the bout 100-90, 99-91 and 99-91 in favor of Shields, who improved to 17-0 (3 KOs). It marked the third straight main event appearance in Detroit for the 30-year-old Flint native and two-time Olympic gold medalist, who remains the only boxer in the four-belt era to become an undisputed champion in three different weight classes.

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The champion explains how he learned from his previous win against the Briton and introduces ‘Ivan’, the left hook that closed the show

Just before midnight on Saturday, in the depths of Wembley Stadium, Oleksandr Usyk stroked his moustache as he listened to another question which followed his magisterial destruction of Daniel Dubois. The 38-year-old Ukrainian had once again become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world after a performance filled with light, panache and a kind of battering precision that had normally sober ringside observers reaching for words such as “genius” and “magician”.

After such savage alchemy, someone asked Usyk another question which made his face light up again. After all he had done, and with almost desperate speculation as to who might be able to challenge him now, how did Usyk find the motivation to keep fighting? “Oh, listen, bro,” he said, as he made a distinction crucial to any clear understanding of his extraordinary achievements in and out of the ring, “I don’t have motivation. I have discipline. Motivation? It’s temporary. Today, for example, you have motivation. But tomorrow you wake up early and you don’t have motivation.”

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• Pacquiao, 46, fights to majority draw in comeback bout

• Barrios keeps WBC title after strong final three rounds

• As it happened: Manny Pacquiao MD 12 Mario Barrios

By the time the final bell rang, Manny Pacquiao had done everything but win the fight. He out-threw, out-landed and out-hustled a champion 16 years his junior on Saturday night in Las Vegas, but the scorecards told a different story.

Pacquiao’s spirited return to the ring after a four-year layoff ended in a majority draw against WBC welterweight titleholder Mario Barrios. One judge scored it 115–113 for Barrios, while the other two had it 114–114, allowing the 30-year-old Texan to retain his belt by the narrowest of margins. (The Guardian scored it 115-113 for Pacquiao.)

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• Pacquiao, 46, fights Barrios to 12-round majority draw

• Sydney’s Tim Tszyu stopped by Fundora in rematch

Ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr has made the fighter introductions. The final instructions have been given by referee Thomas Taylor, the seconds are out and we’ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here!

And here comes Pacquiao. The happy warrior emerges from the tunnel to Hall of Fame by The Script and will.i.am. Rowdy cheers of “Man-ny! Man-ny!” for the Filipino legend, who is wearing a black robe with thin gold trim. He’s into the ring and on both knees praying in his corner as Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger blasts over the MGM Grand Garden Arena sound system.

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• American wins by TKO after Australian agrees to seventh-round stoppage

• Third loss in past four bouts leaves 30-year-old’s boxing future up in air

Tim Tszyu has suffered another devastating setback, losing once again to American Sebastian Fundora in the pair’s much-hyped world title rematch in Las Vegas.

Tszyu had been hunting redemption after losing a split-decision bloodbath to Fundora 16 months ago.

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• Usyk stops Dubois by fifth-round knockout at Wembley

• Ukrainian again unifies all four heavyweight title belts

And now here’s Usyk. The unbeaten heavyweight champion walks slowly to the ring to a haunting version of Ave Maria by Tommee Profitt and Stanaj. He’s wearing a silver hooded robe and looks all business. Nothing new there. He makes the final approach to Браття by Василь Жадан, one of his more familiar ringwalk songs.

The lights have gone down and Daniel Dubois is making his ring entrance. A half-dozen stage pyrotechnicians are doing their thing on stage to a Chase & Status banger. And now here’s Dubois, making the long way to the ring wearing a sleeveless black shirt with black shorts. He looks calm and composed, making his final approach as Dennis Brown’s Want To Be No General blasts from the stadium sound system.

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One is a former child soldier, the other lost 30% of his brain to a boxing injury, and together they’ve built the Briton into fighter who can challenge Usyk

‘We understand human psychology because of what we went through rather than going to university to study it,” Don Charles says as he sits alongside his assistant Kieran Farrell on an old church pew in his gym in Hertfordshire. The contrasting trainers explain how their extraordinary back stories have helped them unlock the reclusive and complex character of Daniel Dubois as he aims to beat Oleksandr Usyk and become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.

“It’s true because I’ve found a second life after I had a bleed on the brain,” Farrell says as the 35-year-old from Manchester remembers the terrible injury he suffered in 2012 when he fought Anthony Crolla. “I lost 30% of my brain but it’s incredible to now be working with Don who knew me when I was boxer.”

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Ukrainian seeks to unify the heavyweight division again at Wembley on Saturday before putting family time first

Boxing, as Oleksandr Usyk knows, gets everyone in the end. It is a harsh and pitiless business and earlier this week, at the end of a long afternoon answering the same old questions in front of a line of television cameras, Usyk sat down with a small group of familiar faces who have written about him for years. During his last assignment for the day he opened up a little more as he spoke about the sacrifices boxing demands.

He told us how much he wanted to see his wife, Yekaterina, as she had just flown into London and they would be reunited that evening. Three months had passed, in a gruelling training camp, since they had been together and Usyk spoke about missing her and their four children.

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