Boxing

12:21 AM ET Oscar Valdez thoroughly dominated his fight against Miguel Berchelt and surprised a lot of people on his way to winning the WBC junior lightweight world title on Saturday. But the most surprising moment of all was the devastating knockout punch in Round 10 that sent Berchelt falling to the canvas just moments

12:04 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Many expected Saturday’s WBC junior lightweight title fight between Miguel Berchelt and Oscar Valdez to be a back-and-forth battle between two Mexican warriors. As it turned out, the violence was mostly one-way traffic. Valdez (29-0, 23 KOs), a former two-time Olympian, scored a significant upset against Berchelt (38-2, 34

6:45 PM ET Miguel Berchelt puts his WBC junior lightweight world title on the line against Oscar Valdez, a former featherweight titlist, in the main event of a Top Rank on ESPN boxing card Saturday night at the MGM Conference Center in Las Vegas (ESPN and ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET with undercard fights at 6:45

6:36 AM ET Jeff Wagenheim Oscar Valdez Jr. and Miguel Berchelt will have a lot to live up to when they step into the ring on Saturday at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, with Berchelt’s WBC junior lightweight title on the line (ESPN and ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET). Berchelt (37-1, 33 KOs)

7:00 AM ET Mark KriegelESPN The seduction of Frank Espinoza — of Simmons Avenue in East LA, an occasional member of the City Terrace gang, son of a welder whose hands had been mangled by arthritis — began when he was a teenager, sometime in the mid-’60s, upon his maiden voyage to the Grand Olympic

10:56 AM ET Adrien Broner stared straight ahead, hands slightly above his waist as he tried to wriggle through a shaky defense. But this wasn’t an arena Broner, a boxer with world titles in four divisions, was comfortable in. In front of him sat Cuyahoga County judge Nancy Margaret Russo. On this particular day this

8:16 PM ET Jamel Herring is going to have to wait a little longer to defend his WBO junior lightweight title. Herring’s bout against Carl Frampton, scheduled for Feb. 27 in London, has been postponed after Frampton injured his hand, a source told ESPN, confirming multiple reports. The fight, the source said, is now expected

8:12 AM 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 With the clock ticking down on the legendary career of 42-year-old Manny Pacquiao, the choice of his next opponent will be an interesting one.

1:54 AM ET Richard Commey returned to the winner’s circle with a tremendous KO victory over Jackson Marinez on Saturday, and looked as good as he did before his loss to Teofimo Lopez 14 months ago. With the victory, Commey gets back into title contention, but should he fight one of the other champions —

10:25 PM ET Unified lightweight titleholder Teofimo Lopez isn’t shying away from the business of boxing. In an interview Saturday night on ESPN, Lopez addressed a report about a contract dispute between himself and Top Rank Promotions for a future fight against mandatory challenger George Kambosos. Lopez is looking for more than the guaranteed purse

12:30 AM ET After losing his IBF junior lightweight belt on the scales when he missed the weight limit, JoJo Diaz appeared to be headed toward the second loss of his pro career Saturday night against Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov. But a late rally allowed him to salvage an otherwise disappointing couple of days. Diaz and Rakhimov

8:03 PM ET Former lightweight world titlist Richard Commey returns to face Jackson Marinez in the main event of a Top Rank card in Las Vegas (ESPN, 10 p.m. ET, undercard on ESPN+ at 7:30 p.m. ET). It is Commey’s first fight since losing the IBF world title by second-round TKO against Teofimo Lopez in

5:15 PM ET Hopefully JoJo Diaz enjoyed holding his IBF junior lightweight belt at the weigh-in for Saturday’s fight against Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov. It was the last time he’ll have it for a while. Diaz was stripped of the title after he failed to make weight on Friday. Diaz weighed 133.6 pounds, well over the division’s

8:10 AM ET A new main event was set late on Thursday as the light heavyweight title fight between Joe Smith Jr. and Maxim Vlasov was canceled due to COVID-19. There won’t be a title on the line, but heavy punchers will seize the main event spotlight as Richard Commey and Jackson Marinez (ESPN+, Sat.,

5:05 PM ET The WBO light heavyweight championship fight between Maxim Vlasov and Joe Smith Jr. on Saturday has been postponed after the Russian native tested positive for COVID-19 this week in Las Vegas, it was announced Thursday. Vlasov (45-3, 26 KOs) was scheduled to face Smith (26-3, 21 KOs) for the vacant title in

7:36 AM ET Mark KriegelESPN Joe Smith. A search on Boxrec.com reveals seven and a half pages — almost 200 professional fighters — who go, or have gone, by “Joe Smith.” The name itself is a generic suggestion: just a guy, an ordinary guy, a regular guy, blue collar, everyman. The Joe Smith in question

4:46 PM ET Canelo Alvarez’s top 2021 plan is to do what no other boxer has done in the four-belt era: unify the super middleweight division. Ahead of his Feb. 27 title defense against WBC mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim in Miami, Alvarez told ESPN his plan for the rest of the year is fighting WBO

8:58 AM ET Like so many kids in so many towns across the United States, Joseph Diaz Jr. started young in a T-ball league. He was 4 when his father, Joseph Sr., signed him up so he could pick up the basics of how to throw, hit and catch. Joseph Jr., or JoJo, as he’s