Adorno On Rivera Fight: Whoever Lands First Good Punch, [Opponent] Is Going To Sleep

Anthony Young has a better record than George Ashie, including a technical-knockout win that sent Sadam Ali into retirement in 2019. Oscar De La Hoya is nevertheless wary of Ashie, who replaced an injured Young this week as Alexis Rocha’s opponent Saturday night in Inglewood, California. Ghana’s Ashie is 38, but he has won five straight fights, all by knockout or technical knockout, since his close 10-round decision defeat to Stephen Ormond in August 2018.

Artur Beterbiev admitted he was not at his best during his eight-round shootout with Anthony Yarde. The WBO, WBC and IBF light heavyweight champion maintained his 100 per cent KO record by forcing Yarde’s trainer, Tunde Ajayi, to request the end of the fight with 59 seconds left of the 8th.

Frank Warren is certain Artur Beterbiev and Anthony Yarde won’t go 12 rounds Saturday night in London. Yarde’s promoter is less convinced that most oddsmakers got it right when they established Beterbiev as a 9-1 favorite to beat his contender in their fight for Beterbiev’s IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight titles. Warren naturally considers Yarde a live underdog against the Russian knockout artist.

Bob Arum acknowledged Thursday that Anthony Yarde is a big puncher. The 91-year-old promoter still cannot envision Yarde avoiding a knockout defeat Saturday night against the man Arum considers the most dangerous puncher in boxing. However Yarde approaches Artur Beterbiev in their 12-round light heavyweight title fight, Arum believes Beterbiev, who is co-promoted by Arum’s Top Rank Inc., will keep his perfect knockout record intact in their main event at OVO Arena Wembley in London.

It wasn’t a complete shock to Eimantas Stanionis when the news officially broke. After hoping and praying that a showdown between Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford would finally come to fruition, Stanionis incredulously rolled his eyes as reports surfaced of Spence moving up to 154 pounds to take on Keith Thurman.

Oscar Collazo has been eager to race to the top ever since turning pro nearly three years ago. Entering just his sixth career fight, the unbeaten Puerto Rican southpaw—aptly nicknamed ‘El Pupilo’ (‘The Pupil’) is determined to make sure it leads to one for a major title. Collazo will face Mexico’s Yudel Reyes in a WBO strawweight title eliminator in the opening bout of a four-fight DAZN telecast this Saturday at YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California.

Callum Johnson’s advice for Anthony Yarde is to be aggressive against Artur Beterbiev early in their fight. Otherwise, the retired light heavyweight contender believes Beterbiev will treat Yarde like most of the opponents who’ve shown a reluctance to engage with the Russian knockout artist. Nevertheless, even if Yarde has some success early versus Beterbiev, Johnson doesn’t think his countryman is capable of pulling off what would be a huge upset Saturday night at OVO Arena Wembley in London.

When Artem Dalakian took to the stage for the press conference for his WBA flyweight title defence against David Jimenez, he made sure he went to sit in the seat normally reserved for the challenger. It wasn’t a case of being the away fighter, or having a challenger’s mentality. He did not want to sit in front of a picture of a Russian.

Artur Beterbiev has not bothered trying to get in the face of Anthony Yarde in the build-up to their world light-heavyweight title fight this week, which is a good thing, because Yarde is a hard man to intimidate. A week after the controversy involving Liam Smith and Chris Eubank Jr's...

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya is embracing the possibility of a heavyweight fight between WBC champion Tyson Fury and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Ngannou, the last man to hold the UFC title at heavyweight, recently parted ways with the organization. The big puncher is motivated...

Alexis Rocha can easily envision a day where a fight with Vergil Ortiz Jr. would become a necessity to determine welterweight supremacy. For now, the two are among a healthy mix of young, hungry fighters in a division ripe for a changing of the guard and with plans of continuing to climb the ranks in 2023.

In a matchup of all-action, high-powered former world champions, hard-hitting star Brandon “The Heartbreaker” Figueroa will meet Filipino sensation Mark “Magnifico” Magsayo for the vacant Interim WBC Featherweight Title on Saturday, March 4 live on SHOWTIME from Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif. topping a Premier Boxing Champions event.

Amanda Serrano didn’t hesitate to travel abroad to add another title to her collection. The record-setting seven-division champion now gets to enjoy a well-deserved homecoming for the final phase of her quest to become the first-ever Puerto Rican undisputed champion. Brooklyn’s Serrano is in the heart of training camp...

Jake Paul and Tommy Fury went face-to-face in the ring Saturday night, just four weeks before they’re yet again scheduled to fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Fury talked trash as if he is completely confident that he’ll beat Paul in their eight-round, 185-pound cruiserweight fight. Paul still isn’t quite convinced that he’ll finally fight Fury on February 26.

Panama City, Panama - - Luis Rodriguez, now a perfect 11 wins in 11 fights with 11 stoppages, won the World Boxing Association Continental Americas super middleweight title with a second-round knockout against Encarnacion “Demoledor” Diaz on Saturday, January 28 at Los Andes Mall, Panama City, Panama. Rodriguez...

Karen Chukhadzhian audaciously packed his bags and made the long trek to the United States. After spending the entirety of his career competing overseas, Chukhadzhian (21-2, 11 KOs) knew good and well that if he wanted to truly accomplish his championship dreams, he would need to make gigantic waves stateside.

Bektemir Melikuziev has rediscovered his knockout ways. The 2016 Olympic Silver medalist made quick work of San Diego’s Ulises Sierra, scoring two knockdowns en route to a third-round knockout. Sierra was decked twice as he was stopped at 2:59 of round three in their DAZN-aired bout Saturday evening at YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California.

Top Rank Boxing on ESPN presented by AutoZone: Beterbiev vs.Yarde will stream live this Saturday, Jan. 28, at 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S. The event takes place at OVO Arena Wembley in London, England. WBC, WBO and IBF world champion Artur Beterbiev...

Artur Beterbiev is an unbeaten brute who owns three light heavyweight titles and the highest knockout percentage among active world champions in boxing. Sergey Kovalev was younger than Beterbiev is today (38) when Anthony Yarde challenged him in August 2019. Kovalev already had three losses on his record, however, including technical-knockout defeats to Andre Ward and Eleider Alvarez.

Oscar De La Hoya continues to find creative ways to draw attention to himself and his promotional empire. The latest trick by the Hall of Fame former six-division champ and chairman of Golden Boy Promotions was the suggestion of bringing WBO welterweight champion Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford to the Los Angeles-headquartered company. The pre-fight buildup to Golden Boy’s first DAZN show of 2023 included a now viral social media-posted image of De La Hoya, Crawford and Hall of Fame former two-division champ Bernard Hopkins captioned, ‘Big things brewing… #StayTuned.’