Senior writer/columnist for The Ring. Grateful for The Record/Herald News, Reeno Inc., CBS/Paramount & Yahoo! Sports/Uncrowned. Started from the bottom.
Straight outta Jersey
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Turns out traveling to London & beating Anthony Joshua for heavyweight titles won't even come close to being the most admirable, courageous thing Oleksandr Usyk has done in just the last 6 months. We feel for you & your people, champ, really feel.
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Ryan Garcia just came in at 144.9 pounds for their 2nd-day weigh-in. Gervonta Davis weighed 144.1. They can now add as much weight as they want before they enter the ring tonight for their 12-round fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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It is fascinating to hear people who don't regularly follow boxing explain how a 54-year-old Mike Tyson could become champion again.
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Mikey Garcia is about 50 feet away from where I'm eating breakfast right now at the fight hotel's restaurant. Signing autographs, shaking hands, treating everyone with respect. Just like always. A complete class act & credit to this sport. #SpenceGarcia
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Ryan Garcia just said that he wants Teofimo Lopez at 140 next if the Tank Davis fight can’t be made. #GarciaFortuna
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Frank Martin (16-0, 12 KOs) and Michel Rivera (24-0, 14 KOs) have agreed to meet in a fight between unbeaten lightweights December 17th. It’ll be the main event of a “Showtime Boxing: Special Edition” telecast. Props to both for taking it. Story coming soon to @boxingscene.com.
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Shakur Stevenson-Artem Harutyunyan was the most-watched boxing main event ESPN aired in 2024. Average audience on the network was 1,180,000. Peaked at 1,254,000. Those Nielsen numbers don't include ESPN+ viewership, only linear TV viewers. ESPN+ figures aren't released by ESPN.
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Been told that the Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia fight generated just over 1.2 million PPV buys across all platforms, much more than most insiders projected. Ticket revenue was approximately $22.8 million, making it the fifth-largest gate for boxing in Nevada history. #DavisGarcia
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Lamont Roach is contractually committed to an immediate rematch with Gervonta Davis through TGB Promotions. A summer stadium fight in Baltimore, D.C. or anywhere in the DMV should be next. Right after the NYSAC addresses WTF happened early in the 9th round. #TankRoach
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P.S. Edwin De Los Santos will be paid his entire purse.
The scheduled bout between Keyshawn Davis and Edwin De Los Santos is officially OFF after Davis was stripped of his WBO lightweight world title Friday due to missing weight by over four pounds.
Ring ambassador Abdullah Mason will be featured as the main event against Jeremia Nakathila on Saturday night.
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Tyson Fury just told us this is the 1st time undefeated heavyweight champs have fought since Ali & Frazier in 1971. Weren't he & Wilder undefeated when they fought the 1st time? 🤔 #WilderFury2
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After warranted concern about the judging of Usyk-Fury 2 the past few days, judges Gerardo Martinez, Patrick Morley & Ignacio Robles got it exactly right. Keep them in mind for future assignments to high-profile fights. #UsykFury2
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Arum just said Don King called him last night & told him they've "screwed the world" by both making it to 90 years old. 😂
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Terence Crawford just said on IG Live someone from a hedge fund offered him & Spence $25M apiece guaranteed to fund their fight. Crawford said Al Haymon told him he wouldn't allow anyone else to "touch this fight." #CrawfordSpence
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I just saw some guy at MGM Grand ask Tommy Hearns if he could take a picture with the greatest welterweight to ever live. The woman with Hearns goes, 'Ray's here?' 😂😂😂
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Not directed at Mike, but at whoever runs this account. You know we broke the story. This has gone on entirely too long, so we’re calling it out moving forward. We always credit ESPN when Mike breaks a story. Operate with integrity. Don’t make me turn this into a part-time job.
Vasiliy Lomachenko has chosen to continue to defend his country over leaving to fight for the undisputed lightweight title.
(via @MikeCoppinger)
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There have been 4 joint PPVs over the past 20 years: Lewis-Tyson, Mayweather-Pacquiao, 2 Fury-Wilder fights. And now Munguia's side wants a joint PPV for Charlo (Showtime & DAZN). Fight has no business on PPV, let alone joining the aforementioned 4 huge events.
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Dmitry Bivol just said at the press conference that he doesn't consider himself the best light heavyweight in boxing because he doesn't have all the titles. #canelobivol
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Josh Taylor will pay 11% of his purse in sanctioning fees for his fight with Jack Catterall, his WBO mandatory. That 6-figure total accounts for 2% to the WBO & 3% apiece to the IBF, WBA & WBC. All in the name of a problematic 4-championship system that never should’ve existed.
Josh Taylor: Staying Undisputed Champ Not Easy; It’s A Big Percentage Of Your Paycheck dlvr.it/SKXd0N
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And props to Andre Ward for calling out Eddy Reynoso for not making himself available to answer any questions about his fighter, Oscar Valdez, testing positive for one of VADA's banned substances.
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Jose Santa Cruz is as tough as they come. The cancer survivor almost died from COVID-19 over the summer. 3 months later, he is back in the gym, helping his son prepare for the biggest fight of his career. My story:
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Been informed that the Canelo-Plant PPV show is on track to reach 800,000 buys. That includes only domestic buys in the U.S., but from all platforms (cable, satellite & digital). #CaneloPlant
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Deontay Wilder just said we're here because he wanted to "bless" Luis Ortiz with another payday to help care for his daughter. Obviously a nice sentiment. We're also here because Al Haymon convinced Ortiz's team to turn down $7M to fight Joshua on June 1st. #WilderOrtiz2
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Win, lose or draw Saturday night, Yordenis Ugas has come a loooooooong way from when he shared a tiny apartment in North Bergen with 3 other fighters, was flat broke & trained at a gym on Getty Ave. in Paterson. A living, breathing "American Dream." #SpenceUgas
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Been informed that Top Rank & TGB Promotions have come to an agreement for Shakur Stevenson & Frank Martin to fight on ESPN on a date TBD. The WBC purse bid for their interim lightweight title fight, scheduled for today at 1 p.m. EDT, has been canceled. Story soon @boxingscene.
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Tyson Fury just told Deontay Wilder he'll be back working at a fast food chain after he's finished with him Saturday night. #FuryWilder3
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For those critical of the instructions Teofimo Sr. gave his son in the corner last night, don't forget that they had a good veteran trainer, Joey Gamache, assisting in his corner for the Lomachenko fight. Gamache did not work with them for the Kambosos fight. #LopezKambososJr
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Dillian Whyte has signed his contract. His mandated WBC heavyweight title fight against Tyson Fury is on for April 23 at Wembley Stadium in London. #FuryWhite
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Teams for Shakur Stevenson & Robson Conceicao still haven't come to a financial agreement to move forward with their fight Friday night. Stevenson is literally making more than 10 times as much as Conceicao & Conceicao wants more $$$ from Shakur's purse for him missing weight.
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Deontay Wilder just told me he expects his third fight with Tyson Fury to happen sometime in the summer. His contract states that it must take place by the end of July. Date & site TBD. #WilderFury3
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Manny Pacquiao is 46, hasn’t won a fight in nearly 6 years & lost his last fight decisively to Yordenis Ugas in August 2021. He is ranked No. 5 at welterweight by the WBC.
Conor Benn lost his last fight & hasn’t fought at the welterweight limit in 3 years. He is rated No. 3 by the WBC.
Devin Haney has NEVER fought at the welterweight limit. He is ranked No. 1 by the WBC.
ringmagazine.com/en/news/man…
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If everything falls into place, Showtime would air Jermell Charlo-Brian Castano on May 14th and Jermall Charlo-Jaime Munguia on June 18th. That's both Charlos in very interesting fights, neither on PPV, within a 5-week span.
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Therapy helped Rolly Romero out of a devastating depression last year. He literally has felt Ryan Garcia’s pain. It is why Rolly has no hate in his heart for his opponent tonight & why he called when he sensed Garcia was at his lowest point. My @ringmagazine story.👇
ringmagazine.com/en/news/rol…
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Manny Pacquiao's camp is taking COVID-19 very seriously while he is training for the Spence fight, especially after what happened with the Fury-WIlder fight. Any visitor to Freddie Roach's Wild Card gym must pass a rapid test downstairs before he or she is allowed to enter.
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The Los Angeles Times printed a special @Canelo-@DanielJacobsTKO section in today's paper. It's 12 pages, half in English & half in Spanish. Really impressive. At least there's one newspaper left in this country that's truly committed to covering boxing. #JournalismLives
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For anyone in need of clarification, Canelo-Bivol & Canelo-Golovkin III would be PPV fights. You're not getting it for your subscription price. So, yes, the company/promoter that touted "death to PPV" will do back-to-back PPVs to get a return on the investment. It's the only way.
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Gennadiy Golovkin, who signed what was announced as a 6-fight contact with DAZN, just told a group of us at MGM Grand that this third Canelo fight will be his last with DAZN. #CaneloGGG3
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The WBC has given Dillian Whyte until the end of business February 21st to provide a signed contract for his shot at Tyson Fury’s WBC title. Whyte wants more than 20 percent of the winning bid of $41,025,000. The WBC ruled last month that an 80-20 split would favor Fury.
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This is NOT the November fight between Terence Crawford & Errol Spence Jr. we all had in mind.
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After fighting 4 times in less than 11 months, Canelo just said he won't return to the ring until May because his body needs rest. #CaneloPlant
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As part of Haney’s multi-fight deal with DiBella & Top Rank, immediate rematch in Australia if he beats Kambosos. If he wins twice, Haney’s 3rd fight of deal could be ESPN PPV fight with Loma. Details in my story. 👇 @mikecoppinger 1st reported Haney agreed to 2 Kambosos fights.
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The official attendance was just announced as 73,126 at AT&T Stadium, an indoor record for boxing in the United States. #CanelovsSaunders
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Gervonta Davis shoved Rolly Romero off the stage after they made weight in Brooklyn. Romero wasn't injured & walked away from the skirmish once they were separated. Completely idiotic, considering Romero could've been injured when he was knocked off the stage.
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Whether it’s Charlo on Showtime or someone else on DAZN, does Munguia have championship aspirations or not? Has turned down Andrade & Derevyanchenko. Appears to have zero interest in fighting Adames. He is 39-0 and, at 25, in the heart of his physical prime. Why not now?
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Been told Dillian Whyte will fight Otto Wallin on October 30 at O2 Arena in London. A deal for a Whyte-Chris Arreola fight could not be made, so Whyte's handlers turned to Wallin. DAZN will stream their 12-round heavyweight fight as a main event. My story is up on @boxingscene
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Gervonta Davis officially weighed 134.8 pounds on his second trip to the scale. Leonard Ellerbe made sure I saw the scale when Tank was standing on it. He'll pay a fine to the Georgia commission, part of which goes to Gamboa, but the WBA world lightweight title is at stake 4 both
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Eddie Hearn just told us he got the sense from Anthony Joshua that he's relieved to have suffered his first loss because there was so much pressure on him. #JoshuaRuiz
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As we welcome his more-than-capable replacement, Brian Campbell, to the "ShoBox" series, I hope boxing fans never lose sight of what Steve Farhood has meant to boxing journalism, both in print and on TV, for decades. A complete professional & a genuinely good human being.
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Vasiliy Lomachenko, Teofimo Lopez & the other 12 fighters scheduled to box Saturday night passed their final COVID-19 tests. Loma-Lopez is on!!! #LomaLopez
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Tony Harrison told me Wednesday that Julian Williams would beat Jarrett Hurd. He also told me 2 days before he beat Jermell Charlo that I should just write the story that day as if he won. Might have to hit him up during fight week in Vegas for some picks. 😂 #HurdWilliams
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Jermell Charlo & Canelo Alvarez both just weighed in at the same amount, 167.4 pounds, for their 12-round, 168-pound title fight Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. They'll step on the scale again this afternoon 4 the ceremonial weigh-in outside of T-Mobile Arena. #CaneloCharlo
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Good for George Kambosos Jr. and his family. He proved a whole lot of us wrong tonight. But when Teofimo Lopez goes back and watches this fight, he'll regret letting Kambosos off the hook when he had him hurt, with plenty of time to go, in the 10th round. #LopezKambososJr
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The ONLY way they can sell a rematch is if they do it at 154 pounds. Honestly, that won't be easy, either, based on Crawford's domination. Even if Spence wants a rematch, Crawford dictates the weight. Sure, there's plenty of money at stake, but why would Crawford do it at 154?
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Gustavo Lemos knew damn well Keyshawn Davis would move forward with this hometown fight if he blew weight, even this badly. He came to Norfolk to upset Davis & change his career. Didn’t care about fines or other purse deductions. Took a calculated risk & got away with it.
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Members of Devin Haney's team passed out this flier at the start of the press conference that's ongoing at Chase Center. #HaneyPrograis
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Gennadiy Golovkin filed a lawsuit against Golden Boy Promotions on Friday for at least $3M in damages owed from his rematch with Canelo in September 2018. Golden Boy paid GGG last of initial $9M+ it owed him 8 months ago. Suit seeks more $ mostly from gate receipts, sponsorships.
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Errol Spence Jr. just said that he expects Terence Crawford's people & his people to come to an agreement on numbers that'll "make sense" for them to fight next. He wouldn't get into splits or any other details. #SpenceUgas
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Whatever you think of the war in Ukraine, this will be the seminal moment in determining whether @joerogan is truly interested in the types of “conversation” he said he wanted with @KamalaHarris. Wladimir @klitschko is willing to travel to Austin for a 3-hour interview. Book it.
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Guys like Andrew Cancio sometimes make dealing with the nonsense involved in covering this sport worthwhile. Dude told me today he plans to "celebrate" his huge upset of Alberto Machado by buying breakfast sandwiches for his work buddies when he goes back 2 his day job tomorrow.
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The announced attendance is 4,695 for the Fulton-Roman card tonight at The Armory in Minneapolis. It's the largest crowd for a boxing event at this venue. #FultonRoman
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Benavidez & Plant will fight in a 22x22 ring (inside the ropes) on Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena. That's larger than the standard 20x20 rings used in Nevada since the mid-90s. Plant's team requested an exemption, which was approved by the NSAC. #BenavidezPlant
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One of the most interesting components to DAZN's $120-million offer to Wilder was that he still would've been guaranteed the Joshua fight if he had lost to Breazeale in the 1st fight of the deal. That's how bad Skipper & Co. wanted Wilder to sign with DAZN.
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Tony Harrison just jumped off the stage & went after Luis Arias, who taunted him from the audience during Showtime's press conference here at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Harrison threw several punches at Arias. Then he turned around, got back on stage & started talking again. 👀
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For those counting at home, Teofimo Lopez must pay 20% of his $3,911,700 purse for the George Kambosos fight to Top Rank ($782,340) & probably a combined 12% of it to the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO ($469,404). Still a career-high purse and a huge win for Lopez, of course.
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Ryan Garcia just said during his press conference that he drank "every day" in camp. He noted that he's not proud of that, but he did what he needed to do to get through it. #HaneyGarcia
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Jermall Charlo came in at 166.6 pounds on his 2nd attempt at making weight, heavier than his first try (166.4). #BenavidezAndrade
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Bob Arum just told me that Jarrell Miller tested positive for 1 of the same 3 banned substances for which he tested positive prior to the Anthony Joshua fight. Unreal.
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Robson Conceicao could've walked, in accordance with N.J. commission rules, and still received his entire purse ($250K) because he met his contractual obligation by making weight. His purse now exceeds $300K. Stevenson paid a $20K fine to the commission as well.
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Vasiliy Lomachenko, Teofimo Lopez & their teams have passed their 1st rounds of COVID-19 testing here in Vegas. Were tested last night. Will be tested again Friday. They pass those tests, too, and we'll be good to go for their much-anticipated showdown Saturday night. #LomaLopez
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Been told the Jermell Charlo-Brian Castano rematch will take place either March 12th or March 19th at Toyota Center in Houston. It was penciled in for February 26th at Toyota Center. Showtime will televise it.
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Was told the Ring will NOT be smaller than usual for “Ring III” on Saturday night in Queens. It’ll measure 20 feet inside the ropes. It was supposed to be 18 feet inside the ropes, but more than 1 of the fighters on the card didn’t want to box in a ring that small. Shakur Stevenson was not 1 of those fighters. His team signed off on 18 feet inside the ropes. My story:
ringmagazine.com/en/news/rin…
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119-108 is grounds for a suspension from judging. An absurd scorecard in a fight Korobov probably deserved to win.
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Golden Boy Promotions filed a lawsuit against Ryan Garcia & Lupe Valencia, Garcia's attorney & adviser, today in Nevada to enforce Garcia's contract with Golden Boy. More details to come soon in story @boxingscene.
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Two complete class acts. Not a single excuse from Jarrett Hurd. "J-Rock was the better man tonight." He knows he lost & he dealt with it like an adult. Imagine that. #HurdWilliams
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Teofimo Lopez turned down Top Rank’s final offer, “way above his contract minimum” according to what I was told, before a deadline late last night for a WBO 140-pound title fight vs. Subriel Matias. Lopez & Matias would’ve fought in an ESPN PPV main event March 15th in Las Vegas.
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Breaking: I've been informed DAZN has landed the rights to stream the Canelo Alvarez-Rocky Fielding fight on December 15 from Madison Square Garden. An announcement will be made at a press conference tomorrow at MSG. My story will be up soon on @boxingscene. #CaneloFielding
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Have been told Golovkin's offer from @DAZN_USA includes 1 lesser fight for big $$$, then Canelo, if he beats Daniel Jacobs. The PBC offer 2 Golovkin supposedly is one lesser fight for even bigger $$$ than DAZN is offering, then Jermall Charlo. More $$$ overall in @DAZN_USA deal.
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Here's hoping the most-watched boxing match on American TV in 3-plus years encourages execs to air more elite-level fights on free, basic or premium channels. Won't be easy economically, but proof people will watch the right fights:
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Obviously a very rough day for many good, hardworking people who've been at @ShowtimeSports for a long time. My thoughts are with the approximately 40 employees and their families who will be affected by the elimination of the department December 29th.
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Shawn Porter used the word "different" last night to best describe Terence Crawford. Shawn is "different" in various ways as well. I hope people appreciate him not just for the fighter, but the human being he has been.
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Been told DAZN's offer 2 Canelo could become worth as much as $100M. Hard to turn down, particularly since PBC/Showtime would want him to fight Benavidez next if he were to beat Charlo. Fans want Canelo-Benavidez, too, but it's not quite Canelo-GGG III in terms of $$$. 🍿🍿🍿
The two-fight offer from Hearn is worth upward of $85 million guaranteed, per sources. Alvarez also mulled one-fight, $45 million offer from PBC for Jermall Charlo bout. Could revisit Charlo if this deal falls apart at 11th hour
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At 35, this second straight TKO loss could mark the end of the road for Lamont Peterson. If it does, he should be remembered as a hardworking, tough SOB who always came to fight & overcame obstacles in his life that would've broken weaker men.
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Terence Crawford just said he was willing to take $0 guaranteed to fight Errol Spence Jr., even though he "knew I was getting f***ed" because he believes in himself. #CrawfordSpence
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The way Carl Frampton suffered the fractures to his left hand today is 1 for the books. Frampton was sitting in the lobby of his Philadelphia hotel. Someone accidentally bumped into some sort of concrete structure & knocked it over. Somehow, it fell on Frampton's hand.
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I asked Keith Thurman last night about fighting Terence Crawford next. He gave a lengthy, thoughtful answer, but here's what you need to know: He ain't fighting Bud next. Seemed much more interested in Spence-Ugas winner. Understandable & obviously makeable. #ThurmanBarrios
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Floyd Mayweather has mouthed "What the f*ck?" more times than I can count after hearing the Pascal-Jack decision. He was sitting almost directly in front of me & was convinced Jack had come back to win. #DavisGamboa
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Multiple sources have confirmed to me that Top Rank has offered Amir Khan a $5 million guarantee to fight Terence Crawford on March 23 at Madison Square Garden. Daily Mail first reported today that they were in talks. Luis Collazo already has agreed to fight Crawford that night.
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Was told Abdullah Mason will fight Jeremia Nakathila in ESPN’s 10-round co-feature June 7th in Norfolk. Mason will fight for the 3rd time in less than 4 months on the Keyshawn Davis-Edwin De Los Santos undercard. My @ringmagazine story:
ringmagazine.com/en/news/abd…
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Reason it's important to DAZN for the Canelo-Kovalev fight to take place 11/2 is because it would occur within a separate 30-day billing cycle than the Ruiz-Joshua rematch 12/7. This schedule affords DAZN 2 high-profile fights 2 try 2 draw new subscribers in consecutive months.
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The WBC has ordered the start of the free negotiating period pursuant to the rules & regulations for the mandatory bout between heavyweight champ Tyson Fury & interim champ Dillian Whyte.
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Promoter Tom Brown told me that a $55 million offer to fight Errol Spence Jr. at a catch weight of 164 pounds was part of the PBC proposal Canelo Alvarez turned down to accept DAZN's deal, which begins with a fight against Dmitry Bivol on Saturday night. My story 👇
Tom Brown: We Offered Canelo $45M For Charlo; $55M For Spence At 164 Or Benavidez At 168 dlvr.it/SPj2VF
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For @VictorConte & anyone else interested in proof of full VADA testing for Spence-Ugas, I've attached a copy of the VADA letter dated 2/17. Have also attached a copy of the VADA letter dated 6/10 as proof of full VADA testing for Pacquiao-Spence. #SpenceUgas
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If you don't know much about Brian Castano, he beat @ErrolSpenceJr convincingly in an international tournament in 2011, went 181-10 as an amateur & his biggest pro win was a 12-round split decision over Michel Soro in Soro's native France. He'll press Lara. Should be interesting.
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When Jake Paul was asked during his press conference if he would fight David Benavidez because no one wants to fight Benavidez, Paul quipped, “He’s gonna have to keep looking.” Paul admitted he’s nowhere near ready for that type of opponent.
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Now that Canelo-Derevyanchenko talks have broken down & Canelo will be stripped of the IBF middleweight title, a deal has been reached for Gennadiy Golovkin to fight Derevyanchenko for the IBF title. Fight could happen as soon as October 5th, but maybe moved to November.
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Been told just over 10,000 tickets are already sold for @ErrolSpenceJr's hometown title defense against Carlos Ocampo. The Dallas Cowboys' Ford Center at The Star is configured to hold 15,000 on June 16th. Announced crowd for Spence-Peterson was 12,107 on 1/20 at @barclayscenter
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Did MVP Promotions exhibit integrity when I was on the Paramount payroll & you whined whenever anything remotely negative appeared on @boxingscene about MVP events?
How about when an admittedly injured 58-year-old dude “fought” a 27-year-old who literally said he carried him?
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Raise your hand if you thought this time last week we'd see Fury-Wilder 3 & Pacquiao-Spence 4 weeks apart this summer in Vegas? #Boxing
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Canelo just said in the press conference that he feels Bivol only won 4 or 5 rounds & that he definitely won the fight. #CaneloBivol
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