Boxing
A UFC champion’s title is not enough; Nigeria’s Usman wants to fight a boxer next

Kamaru Usman scrunched his face in a playful manner and tilted his head. He had just defended his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight title in a five-round brawl with Colby Covington at Madison Square Garden at UFC 268.
The belt for the 170-pound class rested next to him on a table, the leather-encased gold plate shining as brightly as Usman’s metallic suit lapels and his diamond necklace.
Earlier in the week, Usman solicited to fight Saul Alvarez, the best pound-for-pound boxer who – also Saturday night – delivered a masterful 11th-round knockout of Caleb Plant in Las Vegas.
Usman’s boss, UFC President Dana White, downplayed the feasibility of a crossover megafight to reporters minutes before Usman’s news conference. Usman disagreed.
“Dana doesn’t know that,” Usman said. “I want something that scares me.”
The prospect of matching Usman with the best boxer on the planet may not frighten Usman, but White and UFC officials are right to be hesitant about the hypothetical bonanza.
In this era of blurred lines within combat sports, organisers have forfeited competitive logic to appease a new crop of paying fans. With Usman and Alvarez, the reward may not generate the success of similar recent experiments.
Alvarez commands an audience, and he produced an unquestioned result, knocking out Plant precisely to unify the 168-pound belts. Most of the audience at the MGM Grand Garden Arena supported Alvarez, a Mexican who goes by the nickname Canelo, and Showtime built the event solely around him. People from across the country bought the pay-per-view broadcast, too, including White. A picture circulated on Twitter of him watching it on a monitor octagon-side as Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili fought for the 115-pound title in the UFC’s co-main event. White later said he had bet US $100,000 (S$134,900) on Alvarez to win by knockout.
“I watched the Canelo fight tonight,” White said when asked if Usman should box Alvarez. “He don’t want to fight Canelo. Come on, man, let’s stop this.”
This is not the first time White has dealt with crossover fights. He allowed brash Irish UFC fighter Conor McGregor to box Floyd Mayweather in 2017, a spectacle that profited McGregor at least US$30 million. That sum is rare for mixed martial arts competitions, and while Usman most likely would receive far less for a bout with Alvarez, the amount would still be a pay raise from what he gets facing opponents in mixed martial arts.
Two brothers with popular YouTube channels, Jake Paul and Logan Paul, have led a shift in combat sports in the past year. Logan Paul fought Mayweather this summer in an exhibition while Jake Paul has beaten relatively safe opponents: a retired basketball player and two MMA fighters past their primes. The specifics seemed outrageous to pure boxing fans, but the brothers’ large social media following allowed the fights to be a success.
Usman does not have stardom like the Pauls or McGregor, and he has said he does not want to pursue it. But more eyes on his fights would lead to more dollars. When asked if he would box Alvarez for charity, he laughed.
“Of course we want the money,” Usman said.
The challenge of facing Alvarez also intrigues Usman because he has beaten most of the top contenders in his division.
“Don’t get me wrong, he is a master at what he does,” Usman said. “I love it and I respect it, which is why I want to challenge myself.”
Usman is highly respected in mixed martial arts circles. After he beat Covington, White and others spoke about how he might end up comparing to the greatest welterweights of all time, like Georges St-Pierre.
Still, it is clear that he does not have the same fan following as Alvarez. Usman’s support at Madison Square Garden was mixed, and the crowd at times chanted for Covington, a fervent supporter of the former president, Donald Trump, who has made conservative politics a central part of his persona.
The cheers for Covington grew in the later stages of the bout, as he came back from two knockdowns in Round 2 and challenged Usman down the stretch.
Had Usman not gotten the knockdowns, the judges easily could have scored the decision differently, leaving room for debate and an easy avenue for a third fight between Usman and Covington.
And beyond Usman-Covington, other fighters also commanded attention on the UFC 268 card. Lightweights Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler offered the best clash of the night, a high-paced showdown that Gaethje won, though both men left bloody and needed hospital examinations. Namajunas also defended her strawweight championship against Zhang in a split decision.
If Usman were to box Alvarez, the differences between mixed martial arts and boxing, including the sports themselves and the pay gap between the UFC and the top tier of boxing, would complicate promoting the event.
Alvarez has said he is not interested in fighting Usman, and fan desire has not reached the point yet to say otherwise. If it happens, though, Usman said he would be ready to compete in Alvarez’s preferred discipline. Usman would fight him in mixed martial arts, too, he said, though he doubts Álvarez would attempt that.
“We’re the ones that are willing to go over there and take that risk,” Usman said. “They wouldn’t dare come over here and take that risk.”
-New York Times
Boxing
Trump’s US arrests Mexican boxer, Julio Cesar Chavez, seeks to deport him

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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Boxing
Pacquiao coming out of retirement to face Barrios in title fight

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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Boxing
Autopsy on dead Nigerian boxer to be conducted on Wednesday

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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