Category: Boxing

• Usyk has 30 days to agree heavyweight title defence
• Britain’s Dubois had hoped for rematch with Ukrainian

Oleksandr Usyk has been ordered to start negotiations to defend his WBO heavyweight title against Joseph Parker, potentially scuppering Daniel Dubois’ hopes of a rematch with the Ukrainian.

The WBO has announced Usyk, who also holds the WBC and WBA crowns, has 30 days to “reach terms” for a mandatory title defence against New Zealand’s Parker or the sanctioning body will call for purse bids.

• Price wins on points to unify WBC, IBF and WBA titles
• Dubois retains WBC 135lb on points in co-feature bout

Caroline Dubois has made her way to the ring for tonight’s chief support bout. Our ringside correspondent checks in:

The extremely shallow pool of premium talent in women’s boxing is hard to ignore but such nights can only help attract prospective new fighters. As the Albert Hall fills to around 80% of its capacity it feels important to remember that women’s boxing was still banned in Britain in 1998.

I also think British boxing has a clear future star. Caroline Dubois is the most gifted young female fighter in this country and the atmosphere is really starting to build as she prepares to showcase her vast potential against Bo Mi Re Shen, the supposedly tough and resilient South Korean.

Lauren Price, Natasha Jonas and Cindy Ngamba believe groundbreaking all-female bill offers the sport the chance to set aside its problems and show pride in its progress

“It’s maddening and sad to think that, not so long ago, women were banned from being fighters,” says Lauren Price as she prepares to face Natasha Jonas in a fascinating world welterweight title unification bout that headlines Friday’s all-female bill at the Royal Albert Hall. But, first, the Olympic gold medallist and world champion pauses to remember those who preceded her.

In August 1998, the British Boxing Board of Control were taken to court by Jane Couch, a professional fighter who had been forced abroad because women’s boxing was banned in her country. Bernard Buckley, the board’s solicitor, told the judge that “many women suffer from premenstrual tension which makes them more emotional, labile and accident-prone. They are too fragile to box and bruise easily.”

The LGBTQ+ Olympic medallist makes her pro debut on an all-female card at the Royal Albert Hall but says she is disappointed by the Saudi stranglehold on her sport

“I’m still deciding my nickname,” Cindy Ngamba says with a languid grin as she prepares for her debut as a professional fighter at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday night. Ngamba, who won the first Olympic medal in history for the Refugee Team at the Paris Games last year, is a sparkling personality and a boxer of vast potential, so it does not take her long to reveal her current favourite.

“On my gumshield it says ‘One in 100 Million’ so that’s a nickname I like,” Ngamba says. “It’s linked to the Refugee Team because I am just one in a 100 million refugees from around the world.”

In an extract from his new book, our correspondent relives in vivid detail being inside Isaac Chamberlain’s camp for a European title fight

Donald McRae has met hundreds of fighters over 50 years watching and writing about boxing. Sometimes interviews have turned into friendships. In his new book McRae relives his time inside the camp of one of his favourite boxers, Isaac Chamberlain, as Chamberlain fought Chris Billam-Smith for European and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles.

Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth, Saturday 30 July 2022

For more than 50 years I’ve revelled in the epic courage of boxing. But deaths, gangsterism and sportswashing have made it much harder to love

When I was a boy, living in South Africa, I fell for Muhammad Ali. As graceful as he was provocative, Ali amazed me with his uncanny ability, despite apartheid, to entrance black and white South Africans. He made us laugh and dazzled us with his outrageous skill and courage. I have followed boxing ever since, often obsessively, for more than 50 years.

In 1996, after I spent five years tracking Mike Tyson, James Toney, Roy Jones Jr, Chris Eubank Sr and Naseem Hamed, my book Dark Trade allowed me to become a full-time writer. I owe this gift to boxing but our relationship is not easy. Boxing is as crooked and destructive as it is magnificent and transformative.

• Saudi-backed card in Times Square to be held on 2 May
• Garcia to return from suspension against Rolly Romero
• Devin Haney and Teofimo Lopez will also fight on card

Saudi Arabia’s extension of its soft power through boxing has reached across the ocean into the heart of New York City. On Friday, Turki al-Sheikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, which regulates the kingdom’s entertainment industry, announced a blockbuster fight card to be staged in Times Square on 2 May.

The main event will feature Ryan Garcia (24-1-1 NC, 20 KO) against Rolando Romero (16-2, 13 KO). Garcia has not fought since his controversial bout with Devin Haney last May in New York, a fight he initially won via unanimous decision but was later overturned following a failed drug test. Now back in the ring after a year-long suspension, Garcia is aiming to rebuild his reputation and set up a potential rematch with Haney later this year.

• ‘If I had an opportunity to do it again then I would’
• Egg hit during Tuesday press conference sparked brawl

Chris Eubank Jr said Conor Benn “deserved the embarrassment” of being hit with an egg during Tuesday’s Manchester press conference after his two failed drug tests in 2022.

The World Boxing Council stated a “highly elevated consumption of eggs” was behind Benn’s failed tests which led to his original fight against Eubank being cancelled at short notice – an offence the Essex fighter has since been cleared of. The rivals are now preparing to meet each other in a highly anticipated middleweight clash on 26 April and, during their on-stage face-off in Manchester this week, the IBO champion Eubank smuggled an egg inside his jacket and hit Benn on the side of the head with it, sparking a brawl.

• ‘Never lay a hand on a fighter at a press conference’
• Eubank made reference to two drugs tests Benn failed

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has warned that the sport “changed tonight” after the incident in which Chris Eubank Jr slapped rival Conor Benn with an egg as their personal enmity boiled over in a press conference ahead of their highly anticipated middleweight clash in April.

Hearn, who represents Benn, told the Radio 4 Today programme on Wednesday: “I’ll choose my words carefully [as I’m on the BBC] but I wasn’t overly happy with it if I’m honest. “I never feel like you should lay a hand on a fighter at a press conference, especially not with an object.

• Bivol wins rematch by MD 12 (114-114, 116-112, 115-113)
• Parker blasts out Bakole by KO 2 in co-feature attraction
• Stevenson stops Padley to retain WBC lightweight title

The fighters have been announced by ring announcer Michael Buffer. The final instructions have been given by the British referee Kevin Parker, the seconds are out and we’ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here!

The fighters are making their ringwalks for the main event. First it’s Dmitry Bivol, who canters down the runway wearing a silver robe with black trim to группа крови by the Russian rock band Kino. Now it’s Artur Beterbiev’s turn. The unbeaten champion is in an equal hurry to reach the squared circle, wearing a black T-shirt and matching shorts as Вперед Ахмат by Dagestani singer Rizavdi Ismailov plays.

• Bivol wins rematch by MD 12 (114-114, 116-112, 115-113)
• As it happened: Bryan Graham’s round-by-round report

Dmitry Bivol became the undisputed light heavyweight champion of the world after he outpointed Artur Beterbiev in another absorbing and magnificent contest of great technical skill and profound courage. Bivol, who narrowly lost a majority decision to the 40-year-old former champion just over four months ago, won the rematch and the sweetest redemption in the early hours of Sunday morning in Riyadh.

The scores were exactly the same as they had been in October – with one judge ruling it a 114-114 draw and the two other officials reaching verdicts of 116-112 and 115-113 – but the key difference was that the winning margins were announced in favour of the deserving Bivol.

• New Zealander seals victory with emphatic knockdown
• Callum Smith wins all-British battle with Joshua Buatsi

Joseph Parker overcame the surprise of fighting a very different opponent from the man he had been expecting to face when he knocked out Martin Bakole with devastating force in the second round of their heavyweight contest in Riyadh. The New Zealander had been scheduled to challenge Daniel Dubois for his IBF world heavyweight title but, after the champion fell ill with a virus on Thursday, Bakole flew to Saudi Arabia from the Democratic Republic of Congo as an emergency replacement.

The odds against Bakole were underlined by the fact that he had only landed in Riyadh at 3am on the morning of the fight. Less than 22 hours later, at 1.10am local time on Sunday morning, Bakole ambled calmly to the ring. He hopped over the ropes, in his tartan trunks, with admirable alacrity. Parker followed, wearing a bright red tunic and a relaxed smile despite the sudden change of adversary.