Category: Boxing

These complex, contradictory heavyweights are ready to recommence hostilities – let’s hope someone tells the locals

Fight week in Riyadh, at least to an outsider, is an often ghostly experience. Unless you’re up close and talking to the actual fighters, to Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, or seeing them step off a parked jumbo jet to make their outrageously grand arrivals in front of a small group of local dignitaries, chattering YouTube outlets and jaded reporters, boxing feels like a mysterious rumour from the other side of the world.

It’s hard to gauge how many of the 7 million people who live in this vast and teeming city are even aware that Usyk will defend his world heavyweight titles against Fury on Saturday night, in a rematch of their classic first fight in Riyadh just seven months ago. I have spent hours this week in the company of various Uber drivers, as we crisscross the city, and the chattier men tend to ask two questions: where are you from? Why are you here?

• Ex-MMA champion says he will fight influencer in India
• Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani part of negotiations
• Jury found McGregor assaulted woman at Dublin hotel

Conor McGregor says he’s in negotiations to fight Logan Paul in a boxing exhibition in India.

McGregor said early Tuesday morning on social media he’s in “preliminary agreements” with the family of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani to fight Paul.

• Vázquez passes away aged 46 after cancer diagnosis
• Mexican great known for four fights with Rafael Márquez

Israel Vázquez, one of Mexico’s most celebrated boxers and a three-time super bantamweight world champion, has died aged 46.

The Mexico City native passed away after being diagnosed with cancer, the World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed on Tuesday.

• Former world champ no match for YouTuber-turned-boxer
• Paul praises 58-year-old as ‘the greatest to ever do it’

After Mike Tyson’s first professional boxing match in nearly 20 years proved little more than a high-profile mismatch on Friday night, the former undisputed heavyweight champion expressed satisfaction with his performance and hinted that he may stay unretired.

Tyson dropped an eight-round unanimous decision at AT&T Stadium to the YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a fight streamed globally to Netflix’s 280m subscribers at no additional cost. The 58-year-old managed to win just two rounds on all three judges’ scorecards, losing by scores of 80-72 and 79-73 (twice) but finishing the proceedings on his feet and remaining unbowed.

• Paul outpoints Tyson in manufactured mismatch
• Taylor outpoints Serrano on Paul v Tyson undercard

Moving right along. Next up is the first of two world title fights on the televised undercard: Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos in a scheduled 12-round fight for Barrios’ World Boxing Council welterweight championship.

It’s worth mentioning the 29-year-old from San Antonio never earned his title in the ring, instead being declared champion by the WBC after previous holder Terence Crawford (who’d unified all four belts at 147lbs) moved up a weight class to fight Israil Madrimov.

What time does it start? Why Netflix? And what about that 31-year age difference? We (mostly) have the answers

Mike Tyson is returning to professional boxing for the first time in nearly two decades on Friday night in Texas. The 58-year-old former undisputed heavyweight champion is fighting YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a made-for-Netflix showdown expected to draw a global audience of around 300m viewers.

But is that all you really need to know? What about the rules, how much they’re getting paid and the *checks notes* 31-year age difference. Read on for all the answers ...

World super lightweight champion reflects on her rematch with Amanda Serrano being the main support to the controversial bout

When Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano were locked in battle during the last round of their first fight at Madison Square Garden, on a fevered night in April 2022, I could not help myself. Alongside an entire row of ringside reporters, I stood up to watch the final minute of a riveting contest. Suddenly oblivious to the march of our urgent deadlines and the etiquette of remaining above such raw human emotion, we were swept away by the courage and determination of both women in one of the greatest fights ever staged at the Garden.

“It was only afterwards, when you’re looking back and hearing people’s reactions that you think: ‘Gosh, that was a huge moment for women in boxing’,” Taylor says now. “You’re hearing stories of young girls being inspired by that night and how people are calling it historic. It’s then that you just say: ‘Wow, that was an amazing night.’

Like most boxing fans I hate the idea of this deluded nonsense but there certainly seems to be a market for it

Mark Borkowski is the public relations maestro who has worked with everyone from Mikhail Gorbachev to Diego Maradona to Jim Rose, an American exhibitionist who used to hang weights from his penis. Borkowski also helped Ian Botham recreate Hannibal’s walk across the Alps with elephants, and, for his sins, was the mastermind behind Cliff Richard’s Saviour’s Day reaching Christmas No 1, despite minimal radio play. So who better to talk about the biggest sporting stunt of the year, Mike Tyson’s fight against Jake Paul, which will be streamed into 300m homes via Netflix this weekend?

Instinctively, as I told Borkowksi, I hate the idea. Most boxing fans do. It sells a myth that wasn’t even close to being a reality in 2004, let alone 2024: namely that Tyson is one of the most ferocious warriors alive, not a 58-year-old who lost 26lb in May after an ulcer flare-up that left him throwing up blood and defecating tar. It risks Tyson’s boxing reputation and his health. And, Netflix’s lavish promotion aside, it feels more like a sham or a circus than a genuine sporting event.

YouTuber Jake Paul versus the 58-year-old boxing legend – a grizzly pantomime? Or a grim harbinger of the future?

The trailer for Netflix’s latest multimillion-dollar venture starts with a dramatic drumbeat, the slap of glove on pad, and a familiar Brooklyn drawl. “He’s a manufactured killer,” says Mike Tyson, with almost cartoon relish. “I am a natural-born killer.”

The camera then cuts to the man he will face in the early hours of Saturday UK time, the influencer Jake Paul. “We’re going to war,” predicts Paul, who made his fortune filming pranks such as I Sunk My Friend’s Car And Surprised Him With A New One before an even more lucrative pivot into boxing. “And he’s getting knocked out.”

• Ennis defends IBF belt with unanimous decision
• Rodriguez retains super flyweight strap in co-main

Jaron Ennis defended his share of the 147lbs championship with a flat performance in front of his hometown crowd, taking a unanimous decision victory over Ukrainian fighter Karen Chukhadzhian on Saturday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

Known as ‘Boots’, Ennis won 119-107, 117-109, 116-110 on the scorecards to retain the IBF welterweight championship.

• NADP absolve boxer regarding two failed tests in 2022
• ‘I’m relieved to close this chapter and get back in the ring’

Conor Benn is free to resume his boxing career in the UK after the National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) cleared him of any wrongdoing with regard to two failed drugs tests in 2022.

Benn tested positive for the fertility drug clomifene in two tests in the buildup to his scheduled fight with Chris Eubank Jr in October 2022, causing the contest to be scrapped at short notice. Benn had his licence removed by the British Boxing Board of Control, and although his provisional suspension was lifted by the NADP in July 2023, it was subsequently reinstated following a successful appeal by the Board and the UK Anti-Doping Agency (Ukad).

• Algerian took gold in Paris amid huge controversy
• Complaint filed over online abuse and latest reporting

Imane Khelif, the boxer who won Olympic gold amid a gender eligibility row, is taking legal action over media reports allegedly detailing her leaked medical records, the International Olympic Committee has said. Reports published in France this week claimed the 25-year-old has XY (male) chromosomes.

The boxer took gold in the women’s welterweight competition at this summer’s Games in Paris amid huge controversy after the International Boxing Association said the Algerian had been disqualified from last year’s World Championships for failing gender eligibility criteria.