Category: Boxing

• Former white-collar boxer wins heavyweight clash in 11th

• Briton will now face world champion Oleksandr Usyk

The British heavyweight Fabio Wardley pulled off the biggest win of his career with an enormous upset over Joseph Parker to set up a world title shot against Oleksandr Usyk. In a pulsating contest at the O₂ Arena, Wardley showed he has one of the toughest chins in the sport as he swallowed several huge punches from Parker before forcing the referee, Howard Foster, to stop the bout in an explosive 11th round.

The WBO had ordered the experienced Parker to face Usyk, the undisputed world heavyweight champion, in July, but the New Zealander put his mandatory challenger status on the line against Wardley, who was still involved in white-collar boxing when his opponent was world champion in 2016.

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Heavyweight clash promises great intrigue as the experienced Parker aims to keep up a hot streak of six wins against the British former white-collar boxer

Boxing is in a real slump this year, with few major fights and far less compelling bouts than usual, and so the prospect of a serious and intriguing heavyweight contest between Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley at the O₂ Arena brings a measure of relief to the beleaguered business. The winner will almost certainly face Oleksandr Usyk, the world champion, next year. In contrast, the loser is likely to lament the inevitable erosion of the hard-won plaudits he had gained.

Danger and risk surround this clash. Parker is on a hot streak since his last defeat, to Joe Joyce, three years ago. The New Zealand veteran, who won the WBO world title in 2016, has been rejuvenated by his switch of trainers to the inspirational Andy Lee. He has won six fights in a row, earning particular acclaim for the poised way in which he crushed Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole.

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Former Ipswich academy footballer fights Joseph Parker hoping victory will earn him a world title shot at Oleksandr Usyk, who he once went to Ukraine to spar with

“Joseph Parker was a world heavyweight champion in 2016 when I was still having white collar fights,” Fabio Wardley says of the contrasting career paths he and his opponent have taken before their crucial bout at the O2 in London on Saturday. “So it’s been a wild, wild journey for us to reach this point. And if I get through this fight I’ll get a chance to meet Oleksandr Usyk. Fighting Usyk for the world title would be a funny story, remembering how I went to Ukraine to spar him seven years ago. It would feel like I’ve come full circle.”

We’re sitting in the back room of a gym in Wardley’s home town of Ipswich and the amiable and intelligent 30-year-old, who is unbeaten after 20 professional contests, allows himself to get a little excited before confronting the serious threat of Parker. He nods when I suggest that it sounds like an outlandish boxing movie or overheated drama series.

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• Boxer was ticketed for reckless driving

• Crawford is a hero in his hometown of Omaha

• Police chief says incident will be investigation

Omaha police ordered boxing world champion Terence Crawford out of his vehicle at gunpoint during a traffic stop for reckless driving early on Sunday, hours after his hometown held a parade to celebrate his recent victory over Canelo Álvarez.

A video circulating on social media showed a portion of the traffic stop. Police chief Todd Schmaderer ordered an internal affairs investigation, a move Omaha’s mayor, John Ewing, said he supported.

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• Eubank Jr makes allegations against Matchroom at press conference

• Hearn rejects claims and threatens legal action unless boxer apologises

Eddie Hearn has threatened to sue Chris Eubank Jr, after the boxer fired the first shots during a press conference ahead of his rematch with Conor Benn by accusing his opponent’s team of dirty tricks and “sabotage”.

Eubank Jr, who won their first bout by unanimous decision in April, claimed an ambulance taking him to hospital afterwards was stopped – and appeared to point the finger at Benn’s promoters, Matchroom Boxing.

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• ‘Can’t explain how much I’m going to miss the laughs’

• Campbell Hatton also pursued a boxing career

Ricky Hatton’s son Campbell has paid an emotional tribute in his first public comments since his father’s death.

Tributes have poured in across the world of sport and beyond following the death of former world welterweight champion Hatton, who was found dead in his home on Sunday morning at the age of 46.

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The boxer Ricky Hatton, who was one of the best-known British fighters of his generation and won several world titles, has died at the age of 46. We look back at his life and career

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• Former champion’s kindness and loyalty hailed

• Andy Burnham: ‘We will find a way to honour him’

Ricky Hatton’s family have opened up publicly for the first time since the news of the boxing legend’s death, saying they feel an “immeasurable” sense of loss.

The 46-year-old was found dead in what police said were no suspicious circumstances at his home in Hyde, Greater Manchester on Sunday, resulting in tributes being paid across sport and wider society towards the fighter, a former world welterweight champion.

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• Manchester united in mourning former champion at derby

• Boxer was an avid City fan and Etihad regular

Manchester City paid tribute to “one of their most loved supporters” when they held a minute’s appreciation on Sunday before the derby against Manchester United to honour Ricky Hatton after his death – with the City manager, Pep Guardiola, saying the news was “tough to wake up to”.

The 46-year-old Hatton, a lifelong City fan, was found dead in his Manchester home on Sunday morning, with police confirming his death was not being treated as suspicious. Guardiola led the tributes to the former world champion boxer.

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The ‘Hitman’ was extraordinary in his fleeting prime with his career bringing adoration and the demons of fame

Ricky Hatton used to look like a ghost-faced urchin as he slipped into an old hat factory on the edge of Stockport. It was easy then to imagine him in a past life, stealing through Victorian Manchester as a gaunt fingersmith, his nimble hands relieving rich men of their excessive wealth. But the gory marks on his face always brought us back to the jolting present and his bruising reality as a young and aspiring boxer.

In 2003, when I interviewed him for the first of many times in the atmospheric setting of that converted factory turned into a boxing gym, Hatton was 24 years old. The troubles of the future lay deep in the unknown because everything Hatton did then burned with an immediacy and urgency. He didn’t care that his gaunt and sickly face was mottled with dark blue bruises and crimson nicks which had yet to scab over and start to heal. “Basic wear and tear,” he said with a little grin, “and my skin’s abnormal”. “When I go out into the sun, no matter how long I spend outside, I stay deathly pale. I change colour in the ring. I mark up and I cut.”

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British world boxing champion nicknamed ‘the Hitman’ loved by his vast army of fans

Ricky Hatton, who has died aged 46, was one of the most popular of British boxers, with a cheeky-chappy, hard-drinking persona that helped him build a vast army of fans. He would refer to himself as a “Manc scally”, and thousands of his supporters believed he was not just a fighter but also their pal.

Perhaps his finest hour as a fighter came in 2005 when, as World Boxing Union (WBU) light welterweight champion, he was matched with the International Boxing Federation title holder, the Russian Kostya Tszyu, an outstanding and skilful boxer. The fight was staged in the early hours of the morning to suit the demands of American television.

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Boxing’s biggest fight in years takes place on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Here’s everything you need to know about Canelo v Crawford, including how, when and why to watch

Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez and Terence Crawford, two of the most accomplished boxers of the past 20 years, will climb through the ropes on Saturday night in Las Vegas for one of the sport’s biggest events in years.

Álvarez, 35, will be defending his undisputed super middleweight title at his natural 168lb. Crawford, 37, is attempting the jump of a lifetime: moving up two full divisions to that weight for the first time after winning his fourth world title last year in his 154lb debut. That size gap is at the heart of Saturday’s intrigue. And because the fight will be carried globally on Netflix at no extra cost to subscribers, it could draw the largest audience ever for a major championship bout.

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