Boxing

Feb 4, 2023 NEW YORK — Alycia Baumgardner was throwing slower punches toward the end, looking like she’d thrown every punch she had. And in some ways, perhaps she had. The three-belt junior lightweight titlist already had knocked down Elhem Mekhaled two times and come close to a third, and now, all Baumgardner needed to

2:25 AM ET Michael Rothstein Close Michael Rothstein ESPN Staff Writer Previously covered University of Michigan for ESPN.com and AnnArbor.com Also covered Notre Dame for Fort Wayne Journal Gazette Mike Coppinger NEW YORK — Amanda Serrano could only enjoy her decision victory over Erika Cruz for the undisputed featherweight title for about 30 seconds on

12:51 AM ET NEW YORK — The rematch is set, and Katie Taylor will finally get her first professional fight in her country. Taylor will fight undisputed featherweight champion Amanda Serrano on May 20 in a rematch of their epic fight last April at Madison Square Garden. Taylor won that bout by split decision to

12:07 AM ET NEW YORK — The blood seemed to be everywhere, consistently coming out of the top of Erika Cruz’s forehead, on her arm and getting on Amanda Serrano, too. Defense was almost non-existent Saturday night in this undisputed featherweight title fight at Hulu Theater, punches thrown for 10 rounds at a near constant

Feb 3, 2023 Amanda Serrano puts her three featherweight world titles on the line against fellow champion Erika Cruz in a fight for the undisputed championship at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. Serrano (43-2-1, 30 KOs) has won world titles in seven different weight classes, but has never been undisputed.

9:34 PM ET NEW YORK — Promoter Eddie Hearn’s attempt to get Ireland’s Katie Taylor her homecoming fight to take place at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland, might be getting some extra help from another Irish fighting legend. From Conor McGregor. McGregor, the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion, who along with Taylor are the

12:49 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Emanuel Navarrete outlasted Liam Wilson in a back-and-forth slugfest on Friday night in Glendale, Arizona, to claim the vacant WBO junior lightweight title with a ninth-round TKO. Navarrete, who is from Mexico, was floored by the 8-1 underdog in Round 4 — the first knockdown of his career — but

11:22 AM ET Katie Taylor’s homecoming fight slated for May. 20 will not be staged at Croke Park because of an on-going dispute over costs between promoters Matchroom and the 82,000 venue. Taylor previously said she wants to have her first fight in her home country, Ireland at a sold-out Croke Park. But the bout

7:28 AM ET THERE WERE EIGHT people crammed into a small house on South Street in Fremont, Ohio in 1998. The four sisters lived in one room, the parents and one brother in another and the maternal grandma in a third room that doubled as a living room. The space where Mario and Sherry Guzman

5:02 PM ET NEW YORK — Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn didn’t rule out the possibility of a future fight between former boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, he told ESPN on Thursday. Joshua has a fight against Jermaine Franklin on April 1, sources told ESPN’s Mike Coppinger, and

7:46 AM ET Light heavyweight unified champion Artur Beterbiev defended his three world titles with an eighth-round TKO victory over Anthony Yarde on Jan. 28 in London. It was Beterbiev’s 19th stoppage victory in 19 professional fights. He’s the only current champion with 100% KO accuracy. However, for many of our panelists, the victory wasn’t

1:21 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Keyshawn Davis and Emmanuel Tagoe have struck a deal for a lightweight fight on April 8 in Newark, New Jersey, sources told ESPN on Wednesday. Davis, ESPN’s reigning Prospect of the Year, will step up in class for his first scheduled 10-rounder. The Olympic silver medalist fought three times in

8:41 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN When Emanuel Navarrete meets Liam Wilson on Friday in Glendale, Arizona, for the WBO’s vacant 130-pound championship (10 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+), he’ll have the opportunity to join the storied lineage of Mexican boxers with titles in three divisions. Navarrete (36-1, 30 KOs) captured a title at 122 pounds when

11:34 AM ET Associated Press GENEVA — Olympic gold medalist Wladimir Klitschko has joined Ukraine’s fight against IOC plans to let some Russians compete at the 2024 Paris Summer Games. The former heavyweight champion boxer suggested in a video message published Monday that sports leaders will be accomplices to the war if athletes from Russia

9:03 AM ET This was not always the plan. This was nowhere near Amanda Serrano’s goal. Throughout her division-winding, title-winning career through seven boxing weight classes, the thought never came to them. Being undisputed in a division? Nah, it wasn’t for Serrano and her team. They were content chasing a different type of history, winning

6:47 PM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show LONDON, England — Artur Beterbiev maintained his 100% knockout record as a professional by stopping Anthony Yarde in eight thrilling rounds to defend his

7:26 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Artur Beterbiev once again delivered a violent display of boxing with his 19th-career stoppage in his 19th fight, an eight-round TKO of Anthony Yarde on Saturday in London to retain his three light heavyweight titles. Beterbiev (19-0, 19 KOs) entered the ring ranked No. 8 in ESPN’s pound-for-pound list and

8:10 AM ET Mark KriegelESPN In the 29 years that Artur Beterbiev has been boxing, he has suffered just a single cut of any significance: a serpent-shaped gash, about 3 inches long, that squiggled upward from his brow toward his hairline. As there’s little fatty tissue on the forehead — actually, I’m not sure Beterbiev