Boxing

7:07 AM ET Nikita Tszyu has lived up to the hype in his professional boxing debut, dominant in a second-round stoppage of a bloodied Aaron Stahl in Brisbane. With world title hope and older brother Tim in his corner, the 24-year-old who gave away a career in architecture to pursue a dream in the ring,

12:29 AM ET Australian Tim Tszyu has locked in his much-anticipated US boxing debut, taking on American Terrell Gausha in Minnesota in late March. The unbeaten junior middleweight contender was initially scheduled to fight on the same card as Brian Castano-Jermell Charlo on Mar. 19 in Los Angeles. However, the winner-takes-all unified showdown was cancelled

10:19 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Dmitry Bivol, who was born in Kyrgyzstan but has long resided in St. Petersburg, Russia, is preparing for a fight with boxing’s top star, Canelo Alvarez, but is painfully aware of the situation at home. Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs) recently arrived in the U.S. from Russia, which invaded Ukraine on

7:57 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Oleksandr Usyk was preparing for a rematch vs. Anthony Joshua, but with his country at war with Russia, the heavyweight champion from Ukraine is focused on far more important matters. So, for now, the much anticipated bout is delayed. “We don’t want the obligation of a rematch to go away,”

7:52 AM ET Josh Taylor made a big statement in May, when he defeated Jose Ramirez to win all four major junior welterweight belts. Taylor had another opportunity to show the world that his victory wasn’t just a one-off this past weekend, when he faced mandatory challenger Jack Catterall. But while Taylor won a split

9:41 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Ryota Murata is all that stands in the way of a third fight between Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin. And now, there’s finally a date for the middleweight title unification between Golovkin and Murata. They’ll meet April 9 at Saitama Arena in Saitama, Japan, sources told ESPN on Tuesday. GGG-Murata

3:40 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Tyson Fury found himself in a familiar role on Tuesday in London. The heavyweight champion carried the promotion ahead of his trilogy fight against Deontay Wilder last year, as the challenger refused to answer questions from the media at the kick-off news conference. And now, for the second consecutive bout,

12:53 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has joined a territorial defense battalion in Ukraine as the nation seeks to defend itself against an invasion from Russia that began Thursday. The Olympic gold medalist is the latest boxer to take up arms in Ukraine. Usyk’s longtime friend, Vasiliy Lomachenko, also joined a territorial

10:41 AM ET The British Boxing Board of Control has confirmed it will investigate the scoring of Josh Taylor’s split-point victory over Jack Catterall on Saturday. Taylor controversially retained his WBC, IBF, WBA and WBO junior welterweight titles at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, despite challenger Catterall flooring the 31-year-old in the eighth round and

8:00 AM ET Timothy Bradley Jr. The result of Saturday’s undisputed junior welterweight championship fight between champion Josh Taylor and challenger Jack Catterall hasn’t sat well with me. The challenger did everything he was supposed to do to win, but the judges handed Taylor a split-decision victory. I watched the fight a second time on

6:53 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Vasiliy Lomachenko, ESPN’s No. 8 pound-for-pound boxer, has joined a territorial defense battalion in Ukraine as the country attempts to fend off an invasion from Russia. The two-time Olympic gold medalist is shown armed in military fatigues in an image posted to his Facebook page on Sunday. The 34-year-old traveled

6:01 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 Lawrence Okolie successfully defended his WBO world cruiserweight title for a second time by a unanimous points decision, but was made to work for

2:34 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Chris Colbert, ESPN’s No. 2-ranked 130-pounder, was slated to challenge for his first world title on Saturday. But after the champion, Roger Gutierrez, tested positive for COVID-19, Colbert (16-1, 6 KOs) was set to stay busy against unheralded late replacement Hector Garcia. In the PBC on Showtime’s main event, Colbert,

10:39 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN The four governing organizations responsible for overseeing boxing title matchups around the world — the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO — announced in a joint statement that they won’t sanction any such bouts in Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine. Currently, two Russians hold major titles. Dmitry Bivol, ESPN’s

8:38 PM ET Mike Coppinger 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 Coming off a clear decision win over Jose Ramirez in May in which he captured the undisputed junior welterweight championship, Josh Taylor

6:29 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 Josh Taylor escaped defeat and kept hold of his four world super lightweight titles thanks to a controversial split points decision victory over Jack

8:43 PM ET Mikaela Mayer will defend her IBF and WBO junior lightweight titles on April 9 against Jennifer Han, a source told ESPN on Friday. The fight will be Mayer’s first since she defeated Maiva Hamadouche by unanimous decision on Nov. 5 to unify the IBF and WBO crowns. It will be Mayer’s second

1:38 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Canelo Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol have finalized a deal for a May 7 fight for Bivol’s light heavyweight title on DAZN pay-per-view, Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn announced Friday. Alvarez is the undisputed super middleweight champion but will return to 175 pounds for the fight. In his lone light heavyweight bout,