Boxing

9:08 AM ET Timothy Bradley Jr. My No. 1 men’s pound-for-pound boxer, Terence Crawford, of Omaha, Nebraska, finally returns to the ring on Saturday, and while he’s not facing archrival Errol Spence Jr., Crawford will take on a top welterweight contender in David Avanesyan (BLK Prime PPV, 9 p.m. ET). But to make things interesting,

1:54 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN The Oscar Valdez-Emanuel Navarrete fight for the vacant WBO junior lightweight title is set for Feb. 3 in Glendale, Arizona, sources told ESPN. The Top Rank Boxing on ESPN main event will be supported by an intriguing co-feature between Jose Pedraza and Arnold Barboza Jr., both of whom are ranked

11:00 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Timothy Bradley Jr., the two-division champion who defeated Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, will join those fighters in the International Boxing Hall of Fame when the Class of 2023 is inducted in the summer, it was announced Wednesday. Carl Froch, who faced a who’s who of the super middleweight

4:29 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Mills Lane, the Hall of Fame referee who officiated the Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield “Bite Fight” and more than 100 other championship bouts, died Tuesday morning at his Reno, Nevada, home, his son Terry Lane confirmed to ESPN. He was 85. Lane, known for his prefight catchphrase “Let’s get it on,”

10:05 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 Josh Warrington is urging Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn to match him against a rival world featherweight champion in the United States next year, providing

5:35 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Tyson Fury retained his WBC and lineal heavyweight championship with a one-sided beating of Derek Chisora that was finally stopped by the referee at 2:51 of Round 10 on Saturday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Chisora, who has now lost to Fury three times, never landed a punch of

12:19 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN After three fights and 36 rounds between two future Hall of Famers, the rivalry between Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez still isn’t quite settled. Estrada defeated Gonzalez via majority decision on Saturday in Glendale, Arizona, to retain his lineal 115-pound championship, but the result was far from convincing.

7:01 PM ET After Tyson Fury’s one-sided TKO victory over Derek Chisora at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, Mike Coppinger shares what should be next for Fury and reacts to Fury’s comments during his postfight interview about a right hand injury and possible right elbow surgery. Is he finally heading for the most-anticipated undisputed

12:50 PM ET Tyson Fury and Derek Chisora will meet for a third time on Saturday in the main event of a Top Rank card at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London (ESPN+, 1 p.m. ET). Fury’s WBC and lineal heavyweight championships will be on the line. Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) retired after a sixth-round

7:46 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN The age-old pound-for-pound debate rages on year after year. Just who is the baddest man on the planet? Fighters jockey for position in their respective weight classes but they’re also measured against each other time and again. Those who can rack up titles in multiple weight classes sometimes are pushed

1:35 PM ET Derek Chisora said he and Tyson Fury agreed to deliver “the best first round in the heavyweight game ever” as he looks to cause an upset against the WBC heavyweight world champion on Saturday. The two Britons face off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with the “Gypsy King” expected to complete a

7:52 AM ET Timothy Bradley Jr. Two big trilogy fights are scheduled for Saturday in different parts of the world. Tyson Fury defends his WBC heavyweight world title against Derek Chisora in London (ESPN+, 1 p.m. ET), while in Glendale, Arizona, Juan Francisco Estrada takes on Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez in a rubber match for Estrada’s

6:14 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 Daniel Dubois has said he believes Saturday’s fight against Kevin Lerena can be his launchpad into the “big league” of world heavyweight title boxing.

9:58 PM ET The junior flyweight unification fight between WBC champion Kim Clavel and WBA titlist Jessica Nery Plata set for Thursday in Laval, Canada, has been postponed after Clavel came down with the flu, her promoter tweeted Tuesday evening. The fight was set to be the first title defense for both women. Clavel beat

3:44 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Tyson Fury’s retirement claim lasted just a few months, and as he prepares for a heavyweight title defense vs. Derek Chisora on Saturday in London (12 p.m. ET, ESPN+), the “Gypsy King” told ESPN he’ll fight on “as long as the body will let me.” “I’m pretty f—ed up with

10:00 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez and Juan Francisco Estrada will someday enter the Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, but before then, they have unfinished business. Their epic rivalry, one that began in 2012, is tied at 1-1 after Estrada scored a controversial split decision win over Gonzalez last

6:16 AM ET Adriana Garcia Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez has threatened Argentina captain Lionel Messi for supposedly disrespecting his country. A video showed Messi and his Argentina teammates celebrating in the changing room after Saturday’s 2-0 win over Mexico in the World Cup in Qatar. – Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.) As Messi

12:55 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Regis Prograis stopped Jose Zepeda in brutal fashion in Round 11 on Saturday in Carson, California, to capture the vacant WBC junior welterweight title. The 140-pound bout was a mostly tactical affair until Round 10, when Zepeda delivered a three-punch combination that stunned Prograis. The following round, Prograis (28-1, 24