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Errol Spence Jr. Undecided: Fight Stanionis or Move up to Super Welterweight

For weeks and months, everything had seemed to go smoothly in the negotiations for the long-awaited fight between Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford. And then, as time got close for both to sign the contract, everything went down the drain.
Of course, each fighter has accused the other of being the villain, the irresponsible one who deprived the public of this mega unification match between the two best boxers of the 147-pound division.
The surprising blow was given by WBO Champion âBudâ Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs) when he announced that his immediate rival would not be Spence Jr., but instead he would face Russian David Avanesyan (29-3-1, 17 KOs). The fight is scheduled for December 10 in Crawfordâs hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.
As expected, Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) flew into a rage at the rudeness and unprofessional way that Crawford handled things, blaming him for sabotaging the fight to face an unknown fighter who has yet to truly prove himself.
Although Spence said that he doesnât even know who Avanesyan is, the European boxer does currently hold the “regular” championship title of the WBA and is on a streak of six consecutive wins, all within the limit.
â(Crawford) has been stalling for months, I couldâve fought in November,â Spence tweeted. âBeen fighting at this weight for over a decade, this s@#! ainât easy or fun.â
The reaction of the thirty-two-year-old lefty Spence Jr. was to look for an opponent to fill the gap left by Crawford. And he needs to do this as soon as possible in order to have an opportunity to climb into the ring before the end of the year.
According to ESPN journalist Mike Coppinger, Spence Jr. will clash with unbeaten Lithuanian Eimantas Stanionis (14-0, 9 KOs), “regular” champion of the WBA.
At the beginning of the year, Stanionis was in first place in the WBA ranking and had been declared the mandatory challenger against Cuban Yordenis Ugås, then super-champion of that organization. However, Stanionis stepped aside in order to allow Yordenis to face Spence Jr. in a unification match.
To compensate Stanionis, the WBA decided that he would fight against the Russian Radzhab Butaev for the “regular” belt, which the Lithuanian won by split decision on April 16th in Texas, where on the same evening Spence beat UgĂĄs by technical knockout in the tenth round.
The WBA then mandated that the winners of Spence-UgĂĄs and Stanionis-Radzhab would face each other next, but then the Lithuanian gave up his right so that Spence and Crawford would have the opportunity to match up against each other and determine who would be the first welterweight to hold boxingâs four biggest titles.
However, since Crawford then established an agreement with Avanesyan, now Stanionis has claimed his right to face Spence Jr., just as the WBA had decreed months before.
âI have the first right to fight with Spence,â Stanionis said on social media. âIf he does not fight or forfeit the WBA Super Champion title, there will be no WBA Super Duper Champion and only the one I have will remain.â
It’s unclear if Spence will agree to face Stanionis, because he recently expressed that for some time now, he’s been having a difficult time making the scale at 147.
Errol Spence commented on Terence Crawford fighting David Avanesyan next: “I don’t know who that is⊠Everybody sees now who is holding the fight up⊠I’ve got to talk to my manager, but I already told them I’m at this weight too long. I don’t know. I might be moving up.”
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Alexis Rocha KOs Brave but Overmatched George Ashie on DAZN.

Golden Boy Promotionsâ potted their first offering of 2023 at the recently opened YouTube Theater, a 6,000-seat venue situated inside the stadium built to house LAâs two NFL franchises. The main event was a scheduled 12-round welterweight match between Alexis Rocha, a southpaw from nearby Santa Ana and George Ashie, a 38-year-old Ghanaian making his U.S. debut. Ashie was a late substitute for Anthony Young who reportedly suffered a nose injury in training. The match and supporting bouts were live-streamed on DAZN.
Ashie, who was fighting above his normal weight class and carried a career-high 146 pounds, was brave but out-gunned. Rocha knocked him down in the third frame with a right hook and hurt him several more times as the fight progressed although Ashie never stopped trying. In round six, an accidental clash of heads left Rocha with a nasty cut on his left eyebrow. He fought with more urgency after this incident and knocked Ashie out cold in the next round. The official time was 2:08 of round seven.
It was the fifth straight win for Rocha who improved his ledger to 22-1 (14 KOs). After the bout, he expressed an interest in fighting Terence Crawford. Ashie fell to 33-6-1 (25).
Other Bouts of Note
Floyd âAustin Kidâ Schofield, a precocious 20-year-old lightweight, had Albert Mercado on the canvas in the second round but was unable to put him away despite hurting him multiple times and went 10 rounds for the first time in his young career.
Schofield, the 2022 TSS Prospect of the Year, improved to 13-0 (11), winning 100-89 on all three cards. Mercado, a 35-year-old Connecticut-born Puerto Rican, declined to 17-5-1 but retained his distinction of having never stopped.
Super middleweight Bektemir Melikuziev, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist for Uzbekistan who lives and trains in Indio, California, overpowered San Diegoâs Ulises Sierra who was on the deck twice from body punches before the fight was waived off at the 2:59 mark of round three. It was the fourth straight victory for Melikuziev (11-1, 9 KOs) after suffering a stunning one-punch knockout at the hands of seemingly shopworn Gabriel Rosado with whom he is pursuing a rematch. Sierra was 17-2-2 heading in with eight of his wins coming in Mexico.
In a match framed as a WBO minimumweight title eliminator, Oscar Collazo (6-0, 4 KOs) scored an impressive fifth-round stoppage of Yudel Reyes. Collazo knocked Reyes down twice in the fifth round, the second with a vicious right hand that put Reyes down so hard that the referee didnât bother to count. The official time was 2:59 of round five.
In theory, Collazoâs next fight will come against the Filipino Melvin Jerusalem who won the title earlier this month with a second-round stoppage of Masataka Taniguchi in Osaka. Reyes, a 26-year-old Mexican making his U.S. debut, declined to 15-2.
Photo credit: Al Applerose
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Artur Beterbiev TKOs Anthony Yarde in a London Firefight

The presumption, echoed by ESPN boxing commentator Bernardo Osuna, was that tonightâs bout at Wembley Arena in London between Artur Beterbiev and Anthony Yarde would be explosive and entertaining for as long as it lasted. That proved to be true and when the smoke cleared, Beterbiev, the rugged Montreal-based Russian had retained his three light heavyweight title belts and had added another knockout to his ledger, his nineteenth as a pro in as many opportunities.
Both men landed hard shots during the fight and both were marked up at the finish. Yarde had a cut under his right eye and Beterbiev had a cut on his left eyelid.
A chopping right hand from Beterbiev late in the first minute of the eighth round marked the beginning of the end for Yarde, the muscular 31-year-old Londoner who entered the contest sporting a record of 23-2 with 22 knockouts. The punch sent him reeling backward toward his corner where he landed on his knees. He beat the count, but turned toward his corner rather than referee Steve Gray.
Gray let the bout continue, but Beterbiev pressed his advantage and after a few more unanswered punches Yardeâs trainer Tunde Ajayi stepped up on the ring apron and summoned Gray to stop it. The official time was 2:01 of round eight.
Beterbiev hasnât lost since losing a decision to amateur nemesis Oleksandr Usyk in the quarter finals of the 2012 London Olympics. At age 38, he shows no signs of slowing down.
In his post-fight interview, the self-effacing Russian said, âI hope some day I will be a good boxer,â and acknowledged that he would welcome a unification fight with fellow Russian Dmitry Bivol, the WBA title-holder.
WBA Title Fight
In a bout that was in theory the co-feature but went off during the earlier portion of the ESPN+ livestream, Artem Dalakian (21-0, 15 KOs) retained his WBA world flyweight title with a unanimous and somewhat controversial 12-round unanimous decision over Costa Ricaâs David Jimenez (12-1). The judges had it 116-112 and 115-113 twice.
An Azerbaijan-born Ukrainian, Dalakian was making the sixth defense of the title he won in 2018 with a 12-round decision over Brian Viloria in Los Angeles in his lone previous appearance at a venue in the English-speaking world. His five title defenses were in Kiev. Jimenez was coming off a 12-round majority decision over Ricardo Sandoval in what ranked as one of the bigger upsets of 2021.
A Split for the Itauma Brothers
Promoter Frank Warrenâs newest signee, 18-year-old heavyweight Moses Itauma, made a big splash in his pro debut, blasting out Czechoslovakiaâs Marcel Bode (2-2) in 23 seconds. Moses and his older brother Karol Itauma are sons of a British citizen of Nigerian ancestry and a Slovakian mother.
In a shocking upset, Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna, a 36-year-old Argentine who had lost six of his previous eight fights, forged a fifth-round stoppage of well-touted Karol Itauma who was 9-0 (7 KOs) as a pro coming in. Itauma ate numerous straight right hands before a straight right hand knocked him down for the count. The official time was 1:04 of round five. Maderna improved to 29-10 (11).
Also
The Frankham cousins, super welterweight Joshua and super featherweight Charles, improved their ledgers to 7-0 with 6-round shutouts over their respective opponents. The cousins are grandsons of John âGypsy Johnnyâ Frankham, a former British light heavyweight champion.
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Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury on Feb. 26 in a Potential Pay-Per-View Blockbuster

Itâs now official. The twice-postponed âgrudge matchâ between Jake Paul and Tommy Fury will come to fruition on Sunday, Feb. 26, at Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. An 8-rounder contested at a catch-weight of 185 pounds, the match and several supporting bouts will air in the U.S. on ESPN+ PPV at a cost of $49.99.
The hook for this promotion â a come-hither that will be hammered home incessantly in the coming weeks – is that Jake Paul will finally touch gloves with a legitimate professional boxer. Paulâs previous opponents were a fellow YouTube influencer (AnEsonGib), a retired NBA player (Nate Robinson), and three former MMA champions: Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, and Anderson Silva. He fought Woodley twice.
Tommy Fury, the half-brother of reigning WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, made his pro debut in December of 2018 in a four-round bout in his hometown of Manchester. He was two fights into his pro career when he became a contestant on the TV reality show âLove Island.â An enormously popular show in Great Britain, especially among the coveted 18-34 demographic, âLove Islandâ was in its fifth season.
Fury was paired with supermodel Molly-Mae Hague with whom he finished second. They developed a great chemistry, on and off the set, became engaged, and purportedly welcomed a baby girl this week.
What about Tommy Fury the boxer? How legitimate is he?
Furyâs record currently stands at 8-0 (4 KOs). His first opponent was a professional loser from Latvia whose current ledger reads 10-113-3. His next six opponents were a combined 4-73-2. Finally, in his last fight, which occurred in April of last year, he met an opponent with a good record, Polandâs Daniel Bocianski, who was 10-1. But look closer and one discovers that all but one of Bocianskiâs 10 triumphs came against opponents with losing records. The exception was a 6-round decision over a fellow Pole whose record currently stands at 18-16-1 and who has been stopped 13 times.
Fury bloodied Bocianski and won a wide 6-round decision, but his performance was underwhelming. âFury had the Hollywood teeth, tan, and diamante-colored shorts,â wrote Chasinga Malata of the London Sun, âleaving only his performance without sheen and sparkle.â
There is nothing in Tommy Furyâs background, aside from his biological pedigree, to suggest that he has the tools to become a world-class boxer. If he were a member of the Three Stooges, he would be Shemp.
Jake Paul, by contrast, may actually be legit. Those in the know that have watched him train have come away impressed. It says here that Paul isnât moving up in class on Feb. 26; itâs the other way around.
In the co-feature, Ilunga Makabu (29-2, 25 KOs) will make the third defense of his WBC world cruiserweight title against Badou Jack (27-3-3, 16 KOs). A Congolese-South African, Makabu is the older brother of heavyweight contender Martin Bakole. Jack, four years older than Makabu at age 39, formerly held world titles at 168 and 175 pounds.
Although Badou Jack was born in Sweden and keeps a home in Las Vegas where he has long been affiliated with the Mayweather Boxing Club, he will have the home field advantage in Saudi Arabia where he has cultivated a loyal following. A devout Muslim, Jack will be making his fourth straight start in the Persian Gulf Region. In his last outing, he outpointed Richard âPopeyeâ Rivera at Jeddah, winning a 10-round split decision.

Badou Jack
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