Boxing

Mike Coppinger, ESPNJun 16, 2023, 04:54 PM ET Subriel Matias will defend his IBF junior welterweight title against Sergey Lipinets on Aug. 26, sources told ESPN on Friday. The site of the PBC on Showtime fight, which shapes up as a slugfest, was not disclosed. Matias (19-1, 19 KOs) is one of boxing’s top action

Andrew Lopez, ESPNJun 16, 2023, 07:50 AM ET NEW ORLEANS — Tuesday was a typical summer day in Regis Prograis’ hometown. A bright, blue sky gave way to afternoon showers that drenched the New Orleans area, forcing Prograis and his team to head inside the empty Smoothie King Center early before beginning the open workout

Jake Michaels, ESPN Senior WriterJun 15, 2023, 05:30 PM ET Close Jake Michaels is a Melbourne-based sports writer who covers everything from Aussie Rules to Formula One, basketball to boxing. He has been with ESPN for 10 years and works as a Senior Writer, covering sport in Australia and around the world. AS FIGHT FANS

Mike Coppinger, ESPNJun 14, 2023, 09:17 PM ET Sergiy Derevyanchenko once again came up just short in a big fight, and this time, he’s hoping to secure a rematch. The Ukrainian dropped a unanimous decision to Jaime Munguia on Saturday in Ontario, California, in a brutal back-and-forth super middleweight battle that is among the front-runners

Mike Coppinger, ESPNJun 14, 2023, 03:49 PM ET Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford both vowed to cement their legacies when they meet July 29 in Las Vegas in what they both called an “old-school fight,” arguably the biggest boxing match since Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao in 2015. The undisputed welterweight championship will be on the

Mike Coppinger, ESPNJun 12, 2023, 08:05 PM ET Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s top star, is planning his second fight of 2023 and two leading candidates have emerged, sources told ESPN: Jermall Charlo and Badou Jack. Alvarez, the undisputed super middleweight champion, and his trainer/manager, Eddy Reynoso, met with PBC founder Al Haymon last week in the

Mike Coppinger, ESPNJun 12, 2023, 05:23 PM ET NEW YORK – Teofimo Lopez claimed retirement following a victory over Josh Taylor on Saturday to capture the WBO and lineal junior welterweight championship and reiterated that statement during an interview with ESPN’s Max Kellerman on Monday, but those close to Lopez told ESPN there’s no validity

Jun 12, 2023, 12:54 PM ET The International Boxing Association (IBA) will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to strip it of recognition, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. The IOC’s executive board last week recommended withdrawing recognition of the IBA over its

Mike Coppinger, ESPNJun 12, 2023, 09:33 AM ET NEW YORK — Teofimo Lopez climbed over a chair to hold court with reporters ringside after the fight, two Ring Magazine belts strapped around his waist, proof that he once was the man at 135 pounds and now, in a sudden turn of events, the lineal champ

Associated Press Jun 11, 2023, 07:11 PM ET VERONA, N.Y. — Timothy Bradley Jr. remembers being in England on the night before his first title fight, when his wife started speaking to him in a tone more concerning than usual. “I knew something was up and she said: ‘We only have 11 dollars in our

Michael Rothstein, ESPN Staff WriterJun 11, 2023, 01:37 AM ET Close Previously covered University of Michigan for ESPN.com and AnnArbor.com Also covered Notre Dame for Fort Wayne Journal Gazette NEW YORK — Teofimo Lopez stood in the ring, hat on his head, a red WBO belt around each of his arms and two The Ring

Mike Coppinger, ESPNJun 11, 2023, 12:32 AM ET NEW YORK — Teofimo Lopez reminded the world he’s still an elite fighter with a vintage performance on Saturday night, a dominant unanimous-decision victory over Josh Taylor to capture the WBO and lineal junior welterweight championship at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. The scores were 115-113,

Nick ParkinsonJun 10, 2023, 07:00 PM ET 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 Sunny Edwards set up the prospect of a flyweight world title unification fight for later this year with a unanimous points win

Mike Coppinger, ESPNJun 10, 2023, 06:14 PM ET WBO junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor faces Teofimo Lopez Jr. in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing card Saturday at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York (ESPN/ESPN+ at 10 p.m. ET, undercard on ESPN+ at 6:15 p.m.). This is a battle between

Mike Coppinger, ESPNJun 9, 2023, 09:17 PM ET Zhilei Zhang and Joe Joyce will meet in a heavyweight rematch Sept. 2 in London, sources told ESPN on Friday. Last month, Joyce (15-1, 14 KOs) exercised his contractual right to a return bout after Zhang scored a major upset in April. Zhang (25-1-1, 20 KOs) punished

Mark Kriegel, ESPNJun 9, 2023, 11:21 AM ET NEW YORK — On the night of Feb. 3, 2018, in the lobby of a Corpus Christi Holiday Inn, I ran into Teofimo Lopez, then celebrating his eighth professional victory, his delighted and doting parents in tow. He was 20, still slight of build and quite pleased

Mike Coppinger, ESPNJun 8, 2023, 08:33 PM ET NEW YORK — Teofimo Lopez has vowed to end the life of junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor, who in turn told ESPN on Thursday that he plans to punish Lopez for his “completely distasteful” comments when they meet on Saturday at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Timothy Bradley Jr. Jun 8, 2023, 07:34 AM ET Josh Taylor, the former undisputed junior welterweight champion who relinquished three of his four belts and now only holds the WBO strap, is back in the ring to face the young and bold Teofimo Lopez Jr., himself a former lightweight unified three-belt titlist. The fight Saturday