Boxing
SAUDI ARABIA SPLASH MEGABUCKS ON TYSON FURY NEXT FIGHT
The Saudi Arabians are tabling a gigantic bid for Tyson Fury’s next fight, be it a second rematch with Deontay Wilder or a British bonanza against Anthony Joshua.
Four members of the Saudi royal family sat incognito at ringside here on Saturday night as Fury transformed not only himself with a phenomenal crushing of the biggest puncher in ring history but also the entire landscape of heavyweight boxing.
The Saudi party dressed in Western fashion was led by Prince Khaled, which will alarm Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn. It was with this high-ranking dignitary that he collaborated on AJ’s vastly enriching December rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr in Riyadh.
Khaled, who is delegated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to bring to Saudi Arabia the major sports events, which can polish the nation’s troubled human rights image.
They consider nothing and no-one bigger now than the Gypsy King, who not only established himself as the pre-eminent heavyweight in the world today with the outstanding performance overseas by any British fighter in history but also reaffirmed his reputation as the ring’s great entertainer.
The Saudis were given a preview of Fury the showman when he made a pilot appearance in WWE wrestling in Riyadh before Christmas and it seems not to matter to them whoever Fury fights, nor in what order. He is seen as the key to unlocking a floodgate of international tourism.
Joshua banked $85 million for regaining his collection of belts from Ruiz in a temporary arena there. Now they envisage a series of fights for Fury in the national stadium, the first in October, which could make him rich beyond the dreams of Croesus.
Who against? Well, Wilder expects it to be him. The Bronze Bomber said on Monday night he will trigger a rematch clause for the final part of a trilogy against Fury this summer.
‘The rematch is definitely going to happen,’ Wilder told The Athletic. ‘We’re going to get it on. I want to get right back to it.’
The man from Tuscaloosa is a proud warrior and regards himself as fighting for the honour of black America. Also, if he doesn’t meet Fury again he will be left bereft of a major fight.
Fury expects the Bronze Bomber to gird himself for another battle. He is talking of their second rematch taking place at the newly constructed football stadium here, which is soon to be home to the relocated Angeles Raiders.
That is improbable since the overwhelming manner of Fury’s victory will inevitably reduce the US public’s box office appetite for a third fight. We all know the result already.
Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren says: ‘We are receiving loads of offers for Fury. It could be back here but whether it’s Wilder or Joshua it would be huge back in London. Whoever, Tyson is now very much the A-side, the world’s No 1 attraction. We are way past all that nonsense about Joshua wanting 65 or 70 per cent of the purse. If anything, it’s the other way around now.
‘Whether AJ will even want to take the fight, we don’t know. What he does know is that he would get knocked out even harder than Wilder now that Tyson has changed his style.’
That switch from dancing defence to deadly attack was as astonishing as the execution of the strategy, devised as it was in only eight weeks by his new Kronk trainer Javan SugarHill Steward.
Be warned, all out there in the heavyweight gyms, when Fury says: ‘This is the way I’m going to be boxing from now on. I should have done this before.’
Perhaps even more extraordinary is his journey from public pariah – as a consequence of this devout Catholic’s Bible-based remarks – to being quoted now at sharply shortened bookmaker’s odds not only to win the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year Award but to be knighted.
That would have been inconceivable before this ring redemption as a second-time world champion, accomplished by seizing the WBC and Ring magazine belts while climbing out of a mental health pit of deep, chronic depression.
Warren says: ‘It has been an honour to help this man achieve one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history, if not the greatest.’
It is a privilege to have watched it and it will be thrilling to see it continue, wherever that takes him in a world which is now at his feet.
U.S. immigration authorities have arrested Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Los Angeles and plan to deport him, they said on Thursday, just days after he lost a high-profile bout to American rival Jake Paul.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Chavez was determined to be in the country illegally last week after he made fraudulent statements on a 2024 application for permanent residence. He is married to a U.S. citizen, it said.
Michael Goldstein, a lawyer for Chavez, said more than two dozen immigration agents arrested the boxer at his home in the Studio City area of Los Angeles on Wednesday.
“The current allegations are outrageous and appear to be designed as a headline to terrorize the community,” Goldstein said.
Homeland Security said that the 39-year-old boxer, son of Mexican world champion fighter Julio Cesar Chavez, is suspected of ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, which Washington has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. speaks at press conference in anticipation of his fight against Jake Paul at Avalon Hollywood Theater. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images/File Photo
His wife, Frida Munoz Chavez, was previously married to the son of former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison. The son, Edgar, was assassinated in 2008.
Chavez is the target of a Mexican arrest warrant on allegations of involvement in organized crime and firearms trafficking, DHS said.
In Mexico, Chavez’ family said in a statement they “fully trust in his innocence.”
Chavez lost to influencer-turned-boxer Paul, 28, last weekend before a sold-out crowd in Anaheim, California, in a unanimous decision after 10 rounds.
He was allowed to enter the United States temporarily in early January under former President Joe Biden, DHS said. He had previously overstayed a tourist visa, it said.
The agency said Chavez was convicted in Los Angeles in 2024 on weapons charges. Goldstein denied he was convicted, saying he pleaded not guilty and was granted mental health diversion which will result in dismissal of the charges.
Chavez won the WBC middleweight championship in 2011, but lost the title the next year.
His career has been overshadowed by controversies including a suspension after testing positive for a banned substance in 2009 and a fine and suspension after testing positive for marijuana in 2013.
His record stands at 54 wins, six losses and one draw, with 34 knockouts.
Reporting by Brendan O’Brien and Bhargav Acharya, Lizbeth Diaz, Angelica Medina, Diego Ore and Kylie Madry in Mexico City, Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot
-Reuters
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Manny Pacquiao will come out of retirement to face Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight championship on July 19 in Las Vegas, the 46-year-old Filipino boxer said on Wednesday.
Pacquiao is the only boxer to win world championships in a record eight weight divisions while he was also the oldest welterweight world champion in history at the age of 40 in 2019.
A Filipino senator from 2016 to 2022, Pacquiao had retired from boxing in 2021 while he also ran for president in 2022.
“I’m back. On July 19, I return to the ring to face WBC Welterweight Champion Mario Barrios at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Let’s make history,” Pacquiao wrote on Instagram.
The southpaw, who has 62 wins, eight losses and two draws in a 72-fight career, was also elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2025.
Barrios, a Mexican-American boxer, has 29 wins in 32 bouts, winning 18 by knockout and losing twice.
-Reuters
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The body of Segun Olanrewaju, the Nigerian boxer who slumped and died in the ring in Ghana on Saturday is still in a mortuary in Ghana. The President of the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBB of C), Dr Rafiu Oladipo, informed Sports Village Square that an autopsy will be conducted on Wednesday.
He said that the NBB of C is closely monitoring the events in Ghana, even as the Director General of the National Sports Commission, Bukola Olopade has asked for updates on the sad incident.
On Monday, a delegation of the NBB of C visited the family of the late boxer in Sango Otta in Ogun State. Oladipo said he was still in shock at the death of the boxer who he considered fit having fought last December 29.
He revealed that one of the members of the Nigerian delegation to Ghana stayed behind to follow up on the autopsy.
He narrated that the late boxer took part on Thursday in the mandatory weigh-in which is normally conducted 24 hours before a fight. Additionally, a medical check-up is also to be conducted.
“But in this instance, there was no medical check. On this ground, Oladipo blamed the Ghana Boxing Authority.
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