Buddy McGirt on Callum Smith: I Have a Future World Champion

Emanuel “El Vaquero” Navarrete visited the canvas, but he got back up to become a three-division world champion. Navarrete (37-1, 31 KOs) captured the vacant WBO junior lightweight world title with a hard-earned ninth-round technical knockout victory against Liam Wilson (11-2, 7 KOs) Friday night at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

Admittedly, Regis Prograis is a gigantic fan of the sport of boxing. Having spent most of his life perfecting his craft, the current WBC 140-pound champion spends a ton of his time also watching others. Recently, his work ethic allowed him to find his second championship groove as he snagged...

Caleb Plant seemed to arrive at the official announcement press conference with the best of intentions. That didn’t prevent the former IBF super middleweight titlist from taking a parting shot at David Benavidez while the two were on stage Thursday afternoon at L.A. Live to promote their upcoming grudge match.

There are other meaningful fights that interest Alycia Baumgardner, namely a shot at the winner of the lightweight championship rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. Baumgardner is sure, though, that she will battle bitter rival Mikaela Mayer again. Baumgardner won their 10-round, 130-pound championship unification bout by split decision...

Alycia Baumgardner is in the form of her life and knows one more win will cement her spot as one of the best fighters on the planet as she meets Elhem Mekhaled for the undisputed Super-Featherweight crown on Saturday night at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York, live worldwide on DAZN.

Amanda Serrano has won world titles in seven divisions on her way to becoming one of the biggest stars in women’s boxing. She is expected to fight undisputed champion Katie Taylor at the lightweight limit of 135 pounds for the second time May 20 in Dublin, but Serrano admits that she is most comfortable boxing as a featherweight. The 34-year-old Serrano showed yet again Friday that she can continue to make the 126-pound maximum for her division.

Teofimo Lopez Sr. prides himself on knowing the ins and outs of the boxing world. Prior to his son, Teofimo Lopez, going on to become a unified champion at 135 pounds, the bombastic father and trainer brazenly shouted that his son would knock the Ukrainian off his high horse. His...

Liam Wilson plans to have answers for everything Emanuel Navarrete brings into the ring. For now, his team demands answers for everything that happened at the scales. The visiting Australian contender was stunned at his announced weight of 126.3 pounds during Thursday’s official pre-fight weigh-in. Navarrete stepped on the same scale at 129.2 pounds under the supervision of the Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission ahead of their vacant WBO junior lightweight title fight at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona (Friday, ESPN, 10:00 p.m. ET).

As BoxingScene.com previously reported, undefeated former two-weight world champion Shakur Stevenson will take on Japanese puncher Shuichiro Yoshino in a 12-round WBC lightweight title eliminator Saturday, April 8, at Prudential Center in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey. Stevenson (19-0, 9 KOs), a former featherweight and junior lightweight world champion,...

Three months after narrowly winning the biggest fight of her career, Alycia Baumgardner wants to emphatically end her bout with Elhem Mekhaled on Saturday night. Mekhaled has never been knocked out, but Baumgardner is confident she can stop the challenger for her four championships inside the distance. The 10-round, 130-pound title bout between Baumgardner (13-1, 7 KOs), of Bingham Hills, Michigan, and Mekhaled (15-1, 3 KOs), of Paris, France, will be part of the Amanda Serrano-Erika Cruz undercard at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York (DAZN; 8 p.m. ET).

NEW YORK – Amanda Serrano is certain fans will want to see more of Shadasia Green once they become familiar with one of the few women in boxing who knocks out her opponents. Serrano’s promoter, Jake Paul, signed Green recently. Green (11-0, 10 KOs), of Paterson, New Jersey, will make her debut under Paul’s promotional umbrella Saturday night, when she will battle Sweden’s Elin Cederroos in a 10-round, 168-pound WBC championship elimination match on the Serrano-Erika Cruz undercard at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater.

LOS ANGELES — A pair of up-and-coming prospects coming off their first career defeats will meet in what suddenly amounts to a crossroads matchup. Jose Valenzuela, 23, and Chris Colbert, 26, will fight as a featured undercard attraction on the pay-per-view portion of the event headlined by David Benavidez and Caleb Plant on March 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Showtime.

Daniel Blancas could not ask for greater preparation ahead of his biggest opportunity thus far as a pro. The former amateur standout and current unbeaten prospect is the latest boxer to join the training stable of Jose Benavidez Sr. The move comes as Milwaukee’s Blancas (4-0, 2KOs) is due to make his debut with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), as he will appear on the preliminary undercard preceding the March 4 Showtime tripleheader from Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.

Richard Torrez Jr. remained a knockout every time out following his latest victory. The 2020 Olympic Silver medalist made quick work of James Bryant. Torrez scored a knockdown at the end of round, which left Bryant unsteady upon rising to his feet with his corner opting to stop the contest prior to the start of round two in their ESPN-televised opener Friday evening from Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

David Benavidez is admittedly undecided on the outcome when he and Caleb Plant finally meet in the ring. Make no mistake; the unbeaten former two-time WBC super middleweight titlist is fully confident of coming out on top in their March 25 Showtime Pay-Per-View headliner from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. There are days when he believes it will end in a violent knockout. Other times, he envisions a long-drawn out beating.

If Alycia Baumgardner beats Elhem Mekhaled on Saturday night, she’ll become women’s boxing’s fully unified 130-pound champion. Baumgardner makes the weight limit for her division comfortably, thus she can continue defending her titles later this year if she emerges victorious versus Mekhaled at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York. The 28-year-old Baumgardner is intrigued, however, by the possibility of becoming an undisputed champion in a second division.

Nearly three years ago, 18-year-old Aaron Aponte had already reached a crossroads in a pro career that hadn’t even started yet. “It was a crazy moment,” recalled Aponte, who was waiting to make his debut in the punch for pay ranks in early 2020 when COVID-19 took over and shut down the boxing world. “I was just thinking about my family's well-being at the time because it was so scary. We didn't know what it was and how dangerous it was, but I was staying prepared, and I never left the gym. My dad has his own gym, so it was closed down to the public, but me and him would go in there and work on things.”

NEW YORK – Amanda Serrano survived one of the toughest tests of her career Saturday night to make history and secure a huge payday for her next fight. One of best female fighters in boxing history got off to a very slow start against a relentless Erika Cruz, who demonstrated remarkable toughness as she fought through a grotesque gash on her forehead for six-plus rounds. Cruz’s constant aggression made matters difficult for Brooklyn’s Serrano, but Serrano still won their 10-round, 126-pound title unification bout by unanimous decision at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater.

Richardson Hitchins feels like he has already beaten comparable or better opponents than John Bauza. Hitchins thinks three of his past four victories confirmed that he is more than ready to battle the unbeaten Bauza on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York. Brooklyn’s Hitchins (15-0, 7 KOs) believes Bauza (17-0, 7 KOs) has much more to prove than him entering a 10-round junior welterweight fight that DAZN will stream as part of the Amanda Serrano-Erika Cruz undercard (8 p.m. ET).

It was a bittersweet moment for Eddie Hearn as he watched Devin Haney go on to become an undisputed champion at 135 pounds. After years of promoting the talented 24-year-old, Hearn was somewhat frustrated as he was forced out of the picture. In a bid to aggregate every lightweight world...