Boxing

5:58 PM ET It took Natasha Jonas three tries to become a world champion. Now, she’s one step closer to unifying the entire junior middleweight division. Jonas beat Patricia Berghult 100-90, 100-90, 99-91 to become the WBC and WBO champion of the world Saturday on the undercard of the Liam Smith-Hassan Mwakinyo card in Liverpool,

2:41 PM ET Oleksandr Usyk has defended Anthony Joshua over his controversial reaction following his defeat to the Ukrainian fighter in their world heavyweight title bout. Joshua said he let himself down after grabbing the microphone from Usyk and embarking on a rant in the aftermath of his split decision loss in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia,

7:40 PM ET Associated Press Earnie Shavers, whose thunderous punches stopped 68 fighters and earned him heavyweight title fights with Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes, has died. He was 78. Former British boxer and close friend Kenny Rainford told The Associated Press in a telephone call from Liverpool, England, that his close friend died on

1:15 PM ET WBC junior flyweight champion Kim Clavel will make the first defense of her title on Dec. 1 when she fights in a unification bout against WBA champion Jessica Nery Plata in Laval, Quebec. The 31-year-old Clavel (16-0, 3 KO) won her title in July, beating Yesenia Gomez by unanimous decision. It will

10:43 AM ET Jessica McCaskill, the undisputed welterweight champion, is dropping down in weight for at least one fight to try to win titles in another weight class when she faces WBC and IBF junior welterweight champion Chantelle Cameron on Nov. 5 in Abu Dhabi. Matchroom Boxing announced the fight Wednesday. The fight, which will

3:02 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Demetrius Andrade vacated his WBO middleweight title and in his place, interim titleholder Janibek Alimkhanuly was elevated to champion, Top Rank announced Tuesday. Alimkhanuly’s first title defense is slated for a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN show in November against an opponent to be determined, a source told ESPN. Andrade

2:34 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN The vacant WBC junior welterweight title fight between Regis Prograis and Jose Zepeda was won by upstart promotional company MarvNation on Tuesday with a commitment of $2.4 million. TGB Promotions on behalf of PBC was the other bidder at $1.2 million. The fighters will split the $2.4 million evenly. “We

9:33 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Just last year, the 135-pound division was the weight class to watch, as Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis all called it home. Now Lopez and Garcia campaign at 140 pounds, and suddenly, the junior welterweight division is one of the sport’s most competitive weight classes. The

4:52 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Josh Taylor vacated his IBF junior welterweight title, the third 140-pound belt he has relinquished since his controversial decision victory over Jack Catterall in February. Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs) still holds the WBO title after also giving up his WBA and WBC belts. The 31-year-old from Scotland is in talks

10:50 PM ET Two women who said former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman sexually abused them in the 1970s have filed lawsuits in a Los Angeles court. Foreman, 73, has denied the allegations since they first became public last month, and spokespeople referred questions about the lawsuits to an earlier statement by him. The women

8:25 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Naoya Inoue and Paul Butler have agreed to terms on an undisputed bantamweight championship fight Dec. 13 in Japan, sources told ESPN. Inoue, a star boxer in Japan who is ESPN’s No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer, will attempt to unify all four belts for the first time in his career (he

Aug 23, 2022 Oleksandr Usyk delivered another impressive performance in a split decision victory over Anthony Joshua on Saturday to retain the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight world titles. He also added the vacant Ring belt, making him the lineal champion in the division. This was a rematch of Usyk’s unanimous decision win over Joshua

10:34 PM ET MELBOURNE, Australia — George Kambosos Jr is laying his boxing career on the line, saying his rematch with American Devin Haney in October could be his last fight if it ends in defeat. Kambosos surrendered his three lightweight world title belts in their unification bout in front of more than 40,000 spectators

7:17 AM ET Tyson Fury is interested in a heavyweight unification bout against Oleksandr Usyk, his promoter Frank Warren said on Monday, despite the British fighter repeatedly saying he is retired from professional boxing. Usyk retained his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles with a split-decision win over Anthony Joshua on Saturday, before calling out

2:25 PM ET Anthony Joshua has said he has the “hunger” to fight again and plans to return to the ring in December following a second straight loss to Oleksandr Usyk on Sunday. Usyk retained his WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles with a split-decision win over Joshua, who fared better in the rematch

1:07 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Dmitry Bivol and Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez have agreed to a deal for a WBA light heavyweight title fight that will take place Nov. 5 in the United Arab Emirates, the organization announced. The rights to the fight were scheduled to be auctioned off at a purse bid on Sunday afternoon

4:29 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 Anthony Joshua’s career has recovered before from a world title defeat and it may do so again, but the former heavyweight champion will likely

Aug 21, 2022 Emanuel Navarrete looked like he was about to be in a fight. One shot to the body of Eduardo Baez ended any thought of that. It was a technically beautiful setup by Navarrete, who knocked out Baez in the sixth round to retain his WBO featherweight title and defend his belt for