Category: Boxing / UFC / MMA

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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• Korean rival returns Jones’ 1988 medal in surprise

• Park Si-hun: ‘It belongs to you’ at Florida reunion

• Bout’s judging remains infamous Olympic scandal

Roy Jones Jr has been handed the Olympic gold medal he was controversially denied in 1988 in an extraordinary act of sportsmanship by the South Korean fighter who beat him.

Hall of Fame boxer Jones shared a video on Wednesday from two years ago that showed Park Si-hun visiting the American’s ranch in Pensacola, Florida to present him with the light middleweight gold medal.

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• French federation calls exclusion ‘a profound injustice’

• World Boxing insists it warned all competitors of policy

French female boxers have been barred from competing at the inaugural World Boxing Championships in Liverpool after failing to meet a deadline for a genetic sex test that the French boxing federation (FFBoxe) said was incompatible with French law.

World Boxing, which issued a list of competitors for Thursday’s opening rounds with no French entrants included, said it would not comment on individual cases but added it had warned all federations of the policy.

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• Olympic boxing body stands firm over new testing rules

• Gold medalist has appealed to Cas over eligibility bar

Imane Khelif has the right to appeal against World Boxing’s decision barring her from events unless she undergoes genetic sex testing but the Algerian has not entered the world championships in Liverpool, the World Boxing president, Boris van der Vorst, has said.

World Boxing, which will oversee the tournaments at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, introduced mandatory sex testing for all boxers in its competitions in May, less than a year after Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting won gold in Paris amid a gender-eligibility row.

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• Algerian won Olympic welterweight gold in Paris

• Taiwan’s Lin to miss upcoming world championships

Imane Khelif has appealed to the court of arbitration for sport over World Boxing’s decision to bar the 26-year-old from its events without a preliminary genetic sex test.

A court statement said an appeal was filed by Khelif on 5 August seeking to overturn a decision by World Boxing blocking the Algerian’s participation in the Box Cup in Eindhoven or any World Boxing event until a genetic sex test had taken place.

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British heavyweight boxer who twice took on Muhammad Ali and beat Henry Cooper in 1971

Joe Bugner, who has died aged 75, twice went the distance with the great Muhammad Ali – the second time in a failed 1975 world title challenge – and also lost to the fearsome Joe Frazier in an epic contest. But the British sporting public never loved him in the way of heavyweight boxers such as Frank Bruno, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.

Perhaps he was never forgiven for defeating Henry Cooper at Wembley, three days after his 21st birthday in March 1971, by the narrowest of margins in a points decision that remained a subject of controversy for decades to come.

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• Bugner was a British, Commonwealth and European champion

• BBBoC announces Bugner’s death at care home in Brisbane

Joe Bugner, the British heavyweight who went the distance with boxing legends Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in the 1970s, has died aged 75, it has been announced.

Bugner twice held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles and was a three-time European heavyweight champion, holding all three for the first time when defeating Henry Cooper in 1971.

More details to follow

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• British heavyweight destroyed Dillian Whyte

• Khan thinks Joseph Parker a good option for youngster

Moses Itauma should continue to steadily build his journey through the heavyweight ranks rather than risk getting hurt by taking a showdown with Oleksandr Usyk “too early”, according to the former unified light-welterweight world champion Amir Khan.

The Chatham southpaw Itauma extended his perfect record through 13 professional fights with an impressive first-round knockout of his British rival Dillian Whyte in Riyadh on Saturday. The 20-year-old’s devastating performance against the former WBC interim heavyweight champion Whyte, 37, led to Tyson Fury claiming that Itauma would beat the undisputed world heavyweight champion, Usyk.

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• 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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