Boxing
DEONTAY WILDER WANTS $20M TO LET TYSON FURY FIGHT ANTHONY JOSHUA
Tyson Fury does not expect to face Anthony Joshua in his next fight after Deontay Wilder requested $20m to step aside and allow their bout to go ahead.
Fury, 32, agreed to face Joshua, 31, in a highly-anticipated fight in August.
But Wilder’s team forced an arbitration hearing which concluded he had a contractual right to face Fury for a third time and by 15 September.
Fury said Wilder “asked for $20m (£14m) to move over”, and added: “Looks like I will have to crack his skull again.”
Fury posted his message on Instagram over a video of Wilder working out with trainer Malik Scott.
Scott has also posted, stating Wilder “declined and had no interest in step-aside money”.
“He wants blood and not step-aside money,” Scott posted. “Retribution is upon us.”
Fury stopped Wilder in seven rounds in February 2020 to become WBC world heavyweight champion, 14 months on from when the pair shared a thrilling draw in a first meeting.
A third fight was slated for 2020 but delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and an injury to Wilder prompted Fury to focus on facing Joshua.
The teams behind the two British heavyweights have engaged in lengthy negotiations. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn was adamant their fight was agreed and on Sunday Fury told his Instagram followers he too has signed off on a 14 August bout in Saudi Arabia.
Just 24 hours later, Wilder’s team – who had always said he had a contract in place for a third Fury fight – found out their arbitration hearing was successful.
Hearn has since stated the situation is now out of his control and has set Fury’s team a deadline of the end of the week to resolve their situation with Wilder.
For the first time, Hearn has admitted he is considering alternative plans, notably a contest between Joshua and Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk, who is mandatory challenger for the WBO title.
Joshua holds the WBO, WBA and IBF belts, meaning a bout with Fury would have been the first at heavyweight for all four world titles.
–BBC
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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