Boxing

3:04 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Gennadiy Golovkin and Ryota Murata have agreed to a deal for a Dec. 29 middleweight title unification bout at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, multiple sources told ESPN. A formal announcement is expected next week. The fight will take place just outside Murata’s hometown, Tokyo. The Olympic gold medalist

7:18 AM ET Associated Press LONDON — British heavyweight Dillian Whyte wants his next fight to be against Tyson Fury for the world title instead of rescheduling his canceled bout with Otto Wallin. Whyte last week pulled out of his scheduled fight with Wallin for this Saturday, citing a shoulder injury. Whyte holds the WBC

8:35 PM ET Associated Press PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s boxing federation on Sunday said Serbia had stopped its team entering the country to take part in the amateur world championships. Kosovo had planned to send three competitors to the Oct. 24-Nov. 6 AIBA championships. The boxers tried to cross the border with Serbia on Saturday

1:02 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN ATLANTA — Shakur Stevenson has heard the criticism loud and clear: not entertaining enough, not aggressive enough, not mean enough. So Stevenson peeked his head through the ropes at perhaps his loudest skeptic, former champion Timothy Bradley, with the knowledge the narrative can now be laid to rest for good.

7:00 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson will meet in the main event of a Top Rank card on Saturday at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta (ESPN, ESPN+, 10:30 p.m. ET, with undercard fights at 7:25 p.m. ET on ESPN+). Herring (23-2, 11 KOs), 35, will defend his WBO junior lightweight

1:41 AM ET Shakur Stevenson talked up his intentions for weeks ahead of his title opportunity against Jamel Herring. He spoke about his goals to showcase his ability to be aggressive and do more than offer a second consecutive lackluster performance. On Saturday night, Stevenson backed up all of his talk and won the WBO

11:31 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Oscar Rivas defeated Ryan Rozicki on Friday in Montreal to become the inaugural WBC bridgerweight champion. Rivas, 222 1/4 pounds, dished out punishment on the undersized Rozicki over 12 rounds en route to the unanimous decision victory via scores of 116-111, 115-112 and 115-112. Rozicki, 203 pounds, applied pressure and

7:39 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Edgar Berlanga underwent surgery Wednesday in Stamford, Connecticut, to repair a torn left biceps and will be sidelined for approximately three months, manager Keith Connolly told ESPN. The 24-year-old, who scored 16 first-round KOs in his first 16 fights, suffered the injury in the third round of his decision victory

3:49 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN The star-studded lightweight division hasn’t delivered the marquee fights just yet, but the weight class is heating up. Devin Haney and Joseph Diaz Jr. have agreed to terms for a WBC lightweight title fight on Dec. 3 or Dec. 4 in Las Vegas on DAZN, multiple sources told ESPN on

7:51 AM ET Eric WoodyardESPN EMOTIONALLY HIGH OFF a huge payday, Shakur Stevenson felt like it was time to get iced out. He had just claimed the WBO interim junior lightweight title after cruising past Jeremiah Nakathila. His 24th birthday was right around the corner. So, Stevenson decided to spoil himself with a gift: a

11:47 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN The WBA on Wednesday, in a ruling obtained by ESPN, upheld its decision mandating Yordenis Ugas to immediately defend his welterweight title against Eimantas Stanionis. Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs) petitioned the WBA for a special permit to unify his title against two-belt champion Errol Spence Jr., but president Gilberto Mendoza

2:35 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Josh Taylor’s undisputed 140-pound championship fight vs. Jack Catterall has been postponed from Dec. 18 to Feb. 26 after the champion suffered a knee injury, Top Rank announced on Thursday. The title defense, Taylor’s first since capturing all four belts with a decision victory over Jose Ramirez in May, will

7:41 AM ET The current generation of young boxers has made a tremendous impact on the sport over the past few years. Look no further than the now two-time No. 1 fighter in ESPN’s top 25 boxers under 25, Teofimo Lopez. His victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko in October 2020 turned the lightweight division upside down.

4:57 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN The snakebitten lightweight championship fight between Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos is now set for Nov. 27 at New York’s Hulu Theater at MSG, multiple sources told ESPN on Wednesday, a bout that will be streamed on DAZN. This is the ninth new date for the fight, which was originally

2:58 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Dillian Whyte, ESPN’s No. 6 heavyweight, has withdrawn from an Oct. 30 fight with Otto Wallin in London after suffering a shoulder injury, multiple sources told ESPN on Wednesday. Whyte, the WBC’s interim champion and longtime No. 1 contender, is expected to push for an immediate title shot against Tyson

7:48 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Boxing has 17 weight classes, more than double the number the UFC, the top organization in MMA, carries. But that didn’t stop the WBC from creating an 18th division. When Oscar Rivas and Ryan Rozicki meet on Friday in Montreal (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET), that new division, bridgerweight (named after

8:38 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Former champion Moises Fuentes underwent emergency surgery Sunday morning to reduce swelling in the brain after a blood clot was discovered, the result of a knockout loss to David Cuellar on Saturday in Cancun, Mexico, promoter Oswaldo Kuchle told ESPN. The 36-year-old remains in a medically induced coma at Hospital

Nov 7, 2019 Mark KriegelESPN Editor’s note: This feature was originally published ahead of Jamel Herring’s fight against Masayuki Ito in May 2019. Herring beat Ito by unanimous decision. He will defend his title against Shakur Stevenson on Oct. 23, 2021. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Some fighters you love for what they can do in