Boxing
ANTHONY JOSHUA – TYSON FURY FIGHT IS STALLED
Tyson Fury has to fight Dillian Whyte before taking on Anthony Joshua, says WBC chief after ‘The Body Snatcher’ takes legal action over mandatory title defence
Legal obstacle may have stalled the anticipated world boxing heavyweight unification bout of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
The WBC, whose title Tyson Fury is holding has ruled that the Briton must fight mandatory challenger, Dillian Whyte before facing Anthony Joshua, the holder of four titles comprising of WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO.
Before now, Fury and Joshua have announced that they have a two-fight deal in place for next year to determine who will be the undisputed heavyweight champion.
The fight may no longer be a title unification should Fury loses to Whyte. Fury will needs to give Deontay Wilder his rematch first while Joshua has a mandatory defence in the form of Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev.
And there is another hurdle for Fury to get over with Whyte having taken legal advice over the WBC’s treatment of him after nearly 1000 days as the sanctioning body’s recognised No 1 contender.
But WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman claims Whyte will get his title shot while adding Fury’s fight with AJ is ‘just speculation.’
He told Boxing Insider Radio: ‘For the WBC there is a mandatory title defence that the champion has to make.
‘The mandatory challenger is the interim champion, Dillian Whyte.
‘He [Whyte] has the right to enforce his title shot after the Wilder vs Fury third fight. Fury vs Joshua is just speculation.
‘They have both come out and said that they have a deal which is very good. But there are many things that must take place before it actually happens.
‘Right now we don’t know when boxing is going to resume for some specific fights, such as the rematch between Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury.
‘We don’t know if that fight will happen October, November, December, next year.
‘We cannot control that. But for the WBC there is a legal contract that they signed for a third fight (between Fury and Wilder).’
Oleksandr Usyk will put his WBC heavyweight title belt on the line against Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven on May 23 at Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza, Ring Magazine announced on Friday.
The Ukrainian three-times undisputed champion holds the IBF, WBA and WBC titles after vacating the WBO belt.
The 39-year-old has not boxed since beating Britain’s Daniel Dubois at London’s Wembley Stadium last July.
“I respect his (Verhoeven’s) journey – he’s truly the ‘King of Kickboxing’. But this is boxing – a different game, with its own rules and its own kings,” said Usyk, who has a 24-0 record.
“I’m ready and looking forward to meeting him in the ring. It’s going to be a unique experience for both of us, and I know the fans are excited too. A big night is coming.”
The ‘Glory in Giza’ fight will be streamed live on DAZN.
“I spent 12 years as the undisputed heavyweight kickboxing champion and accomplished everything I set out to accomplish,” Verhoeven, 36, told The Ring.
“But staying at the top for that long didn’t take away from the hunger; it strengthened it. Usyk is the undisputed champion in boxing. That’s the kind of challenge that motivated me. Undisputed versus undisputed.”
Verhoeven has sparred in the past with former champion Tyson Fury and had one professional bout in 2014, which he won by a knockout.
-Reuters
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Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will face off in a professional rematch at the Sphere in Las Vegas in September, with the bout streaming globally on Netflix, the fighters and promoters announced on Monday.
The fight marks Mayweather’s return from retirement and will be the first professional boxing match held at the Sphere.
Mayweather, who holds a perfect 50-0 record with 27 knockouts, defeated Pacquiao in their 2015 encounter dubbed the “Fight of the Century.”
That bout generated a record 4.6 million pay-per-view buys and a $72 million live gate at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“I already fought and beat Manny once. This time will be the same result,” Mayweather said in a statement.
Pacquiao, whose record stands at 62-8-3 with 39 knockouts, expressed confidence he would hand Mayweather his first professional loss.
“I want Floyd to live with the one loss on his professional record and always remember who gave it to him,” the Filipino fighter said.
The rematch will stream to Netflix’s more than 325 million subscribers worldwide, continuing the platform’s push into live boxing.
The streaming platform has recently broadcast several high-profile fights, including Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson, which the company said drew 108 million live global viewers
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Former multi-weight world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather will come out of retirement this year for his first official fight in nearly a decade, his new promotion CSI Sports/Fight Sports said on Friday, though his opponent has yet to be decided.
Before his official return, Mayweather is set for an exhibition bout with fellow boxing great Mike Tyson, with the date and venue still to be announced.
“I still have what it takes to set more records in the sport of boxing – from my upcoming Mike Tyson event to my next professional fight afterwards – no one will generate a bigger gate, have a larger global broadcast audience and generate more money with each event – than my events,” Mayweather, 48, said in a statement on his new promotion’s website.
It will mark the American’s fourth comeback from retirement, following previous exits in 2007, 2015 and 2017 — the last after beating Conor McGregor to extend his record to 50-0. He has, however, fought several exhibitions since.
Across a three-decade career, Mayweather defeated many of his era’s top fighters and headlined the three highest‑grossing bouts in history, against Manny Pacquiao, McGregor and Canelo Alvarez.
-Reuters
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