Boxing

8:14 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Andy Cruz Gomez glided around the ring in jubilation, then proceeded to perform the “floss,” motioning his hands to the front and back of his body rapidly in expression as Keyshawn Davis solemnly exited the ring through the ropes. The brilliant boxer from Cuba had just defeated Davis via unanimous

Jul 30, 2019 Mark KriegelESPN Editor’s note: This story was originally published in March 2019 ahead of Conlan’s fight against Ruben Garcia. BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Everybody wants to be Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. Unless you’re a fighter. Then you always want to be Irish. It’s good business, after all. Freddie Roach — who’s,

3:23 AM ET Associated Press TOKYO — Heavyweight Julio Cesar La Cruz won Cuba’s third gold medal in boxing at the Tokyo Olympics, putting on a defensive masterclass in his final 5:0 victory over Russian athlete Muslim Gadzhimagomedov on Friday. Gadzhimagomedov pressed forward throughout the bout, but La Cruz showed off his spectacular footwork and

6:57 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Audie Attar’s attempt to stop Manny Pacquiao from fighting Errol Spence Jr. has been tentatively denied. Judge Walter Schwarm, in a tentative ruling on Thursday obtained by ESPN through a court records search, denied Paradigm Sports Management’s effort to obtain a preliminary injunction against Pacquiao that would have halted the

1:08 PM ET Claressa Shields At the age of 17, a young woman from Flint, Michigan overcame inner city struggles to win gold at the 2012 London Olympics, which were the first Games to award medals for women’s boxing. Not only did she win once, Claressa Shields went back-to-back, winning another Olympic gold medal in

3:21 AM ET Associated Press Albert Batyrgaziev of the Russian team has won the gold medal in men’s featherweight boxing, beating American Duke Ragan in a meeting of two professional fighters chasing Olympic glory. Batyrgaziev won the bout 3 to 2, cruising to victory after winning the first two rounds on three of the five

3:29 AM ET Associated Press Arlen Lopez won his second Olympic boxing gold medal for Cuba, beating Britain’s Benjamin Whittaker in the light heavyweight final at the Kokugikan Arena. Lopez outclassed the defense-minded Whittaker to win the fight on four of the five judges’ scorecards. Cuba had never won gold at light heavyweight in its

7:30 AM ET Mike Coppinger Marc Raimondi If Derrick Lewis beats Ciryl Gane in the UFC 265 main event Saturday night in Houston to capture the interim heavyweight title, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him scan the crowd for a familiar face. And he wouldn’t necessarily be searching for heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou, who

1:13 AM ET Associated Press Sena Irie of Japan has claimed the first-ever women’s featherweight boxing gold medal with a unanimous decision over the Philippines’ Nesthy Petecio. Irie became the first female boxer to win a medal for Japan when she secured the first gold of the Tokyo boxing tournament by sweeping the third round

7:18 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN For decades, Team USA was the standard-bearer of Olympic boxing, a factory of future heavyweight champions no matter the weight class. Floyd Paterson won middleweight gold at the 1952 Helsinki Games before capturing the heavyweight championship. Eight years later, Cassius Clay claimed light heavyweight gold in Rome and went on

7:58 AM ET The calendar has turned over to August, a busy month in the boxing world and the gateway to what’s shaping up to be a big fall as well. Canelo Alvarez was poised to be part of the busy schedule with a fight against Caleb Plant to unify boxing’s super middleweight division in

9:20 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Jamel Herring and Shakur Stevenson are finally going to get their hands on each other after months and months of verbal sparring. “We are in agreement with everything,” Stevenson’s manager, James Prince, told ESPN on Monday. “It’s a done deal. We’re just waiting on the date.” The 130-pound title fight,

1:09 PM ET Tyson Fury’s brother is being added to the Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley undercard — with an eye toward him fighting Paul in the future. Tommy Fury, the half brother of Tyson, will fight MMA fighter Anthony Taylor on the Aug. 29 card from Cleveland in a six-round cruiserweight fight, sources told

4:57 PM ET Crystina Poncher and Mikaela Mayer will make history in August — while standing outside the ring instead of inside it. When Mayer and Poncher call the international broadcast of the Joshua Franco-Andrew Moloney card Aug. 14 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, they’ll become the first all-female broadcast team to call a boxing match. “We’ve

7:36 PM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Leigh Wood capitalized on a sluggish performance from Xu Can to pull off the upset and win the WBA “regular” featherweight title by TKO

8:39 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN China isn’t known as a boxing hotbed, but there is one fighter from the world’s most-populated nation who is making noise: Xu Can. The 126-pound volume-puncher — ESPN’s No. 2-rated featherweight — was lined up for a title tilt with Josh Warrington in the spring before the Brit was shocked

2:05 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Manny Pacquiao’s battle with Errol Spence Jr. won’t be the only welterweight title fight on Aug. 21 in Las Vegas. Yordenis Ugas will defend his 147-pound title against Fabian Maidana in the chief-support bout on Fox pay-per-view, multiple sources tell ESPN. The other two matchups on the card: a fight

5:00 AM ET Former Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell announced his retirement from boxing on Friday, saying that he “achieved more than I expected.” Campbell won bantamweight gold at London 2012 and turned professional after the Games, going onto fight for multiple lightweight world titles. “After a lot of thought and reflection, I have decided