Fighting

LONDON — If you glanced at BoxRec the past couple days or simply Googled Joe Joyce, then you’d assume he made light work of veteran Christian Hammer inside the OVO Arena, Wembley, on Saturday. And I guess he did — to some degree. It only took the aptly-monikered “Juggernaut” four rounds to dispatch of the

Rankings go up on Mondays. Ranked fights this week: Junior Middleweight: (7) Israil Madrimov vs (8) Michel Soro, July 9 Junior Middleweight: (9) Magomed Kurbanov vs Patrick Teixeira, July 9 Featherweight: (2) Mark Magsayo vs (7) Rey Vargas, July 9 Flyweight: (9) Giemel Magramo vs Jerry Tomogdan, July 8 Minimumweight: (5) Ginjiro Shigeoka vs Naoya

Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner have a date for their three-belt unification at 130 lbs, with Michael Rothstein reporting at ESPN.com that the bout will be part of the Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall event on Sept. 10 in London. “The ESPN family of networks” will also have the U.S. rights to the show —

Mark Magsayo is in jovial spirit. It’s easier reminiscing on his childhood now that his shoulder is draped in the green and gold of a WBC featherweight world title. “I wasn’t born to be a boxer, but I was certainly born to be a fighter,” the 26-year-old tells Bad Left Hook from his camp in

Jai Opetaia proved more than enough for his big moment, taking the IBF cruiserweight title from Mairis Briedis in a violent, bloody, courageous battle. Opetaia (22-0, 17 KO) led the action in the early rounds, landing at will with a straight left hand that Briedis (28-2, 20 KO) took far too long to solve. Opetaia

Joe Joyce returned to action in his standard “Juggernaut” form, eating some early shots from a hopeful Christian Hammer before pounding his way to a relentless victory inside of four rounds. Joyce (14-0, 13 KO) was meant to be fighting Joseph Parker, either on this date or in September, but had to settle for the

Jai Opetaia proved more than enough for his big moment in Queensland, taking the IBF cruiserweight title from Mairis Briedis in a violent, bloody, courageous battle. Opetaia (22-0, 17 KO) led the action in the early rounds, landing at will with a straight left hand that Briedis (28-2, 20 KO) took far too long to

Heavyweight contender Joe Joyce will return to action today, facing veteran gatekeeper Christian Hammer, topping a Queensberry Promotions card from London. Along with Joyce vs Hammer, which admittedly is not the most fascinating main event, we’ll see Jason Cunningham defend the Commonwealth 122 lb title against former bantamweight world titlist Zolani Tete, plus more. The

The WBC scheduled two purse bids today: one between super lightweight champion Josh Taylor and mandatory challenger Jose Zepeda, which was rendered moot after Taylor elected to ditch his belt at the last minute, and another for a final eliminator between top-ranked light heavyweights Callum Smith and Mathieu Bauderlique. There were no surprises in that

Adam Kownacki was a rising star for the PBC brand just two years ago, coming off of an exciting win over Chris Arreola in a heavyweight slugfest, and rumored to be right on track for a shot at the WBC heavyweight title. But two straight stoppage losses to Robert Helenius have derailed the Kownacki (20-2,

Well, friends, next Monday is Independence Day here in the United States, which means it’s pretty much a dead weekend for boxing in the States. But have no fear! There are international fights. Well, maybe have a bit, because mostly they’re not so great. But there is a world title fight in Australia, and we’ve

Ahead of his July 16 fight scheduled with Javier Fortuna, lightweight Ryan Garcia fields some media questions and expresses his continued desire to make a big fight against Gervonta Davis, while also reflecting how he missed out on that opportunity last year when he was mislead to believe he had a fight lined up with

Canelo Alvarez has made clear his feelings about Gennadiy Golovkin ahead of their Sept. 17 trilogy clash, displaying a level of disdain for his opponent we rarely see from him ahead of fights. The Mexican superstar, who will defend his undisputed super middleweight crown against GGG in that fight, also had a bit to say

Gennadiy Golovkin will finally get a long-awaited third fight with Canelo Alvarez on Sept. 17, a fight Canelo has said repeatedly is a personal issue for him now. But GGG says that if it’s really personal for Canelo and has been for the last four years, the Mexican superstar simply should have fought him sooner

Jose Benavidez was in attendance for yesterday’s virtual press conference, formally announcing his July 30 fight against Danny Garcia. And speaking to the media about the impending fight, Benavidez makes it clear how big of an opportunity this is for him as a one time hot prospect who’s career hasn’t panned out as it was

The ESPYS, which are kind of like the MTV Movie & TV Awards for sports, have dropped their nominations for the various awards this year, and Tyson Fury, Shakur Stevenson, Katie Taylor, and Mikaela Mayer are up for Best Boxer. Fury, Stevenson, and Mayer are all ESPN and Top Rank house fighters. Taylor is the

A very fun domestic clash is on the horizon, as Chris Billam-Smith and Isaac Chamberlain are set to square off on a July 30th BOXXER show in Bournemouth. Billam-Smith (15-1, 11 KO) and Chamberlain (14-1, 8 KO) sit right behind Lawrence Okolie and Richard Riakporhe, who handed them the only losses of their careers, on

It’s Tuesday, so it’s podcast day! This is the day to cast pod here at Bad Left Hook, and John and Scott are back with — No, actually, it’s just me, Scott, except for a bit in the middle where John is there. Bam Rodriguez! Murodjon Akhmadaliev! Jessica McCaskill! ProBox TV! Then a Q&A session