12:21 AM ET Steve KimESPN CARSON, Calif. — In an often awkward and ugly affair at the Dignity Health Sports Park, Rey Vargas retained his WBC junior featherweight title by outpointing Japanese challenger Tomoki Kameda on Saturday night. All three judges scored the fight 117-110 for Vargas. Loud boos poured in at the end of
Boxing
6:52 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 Joe Joyce maintained his unbeaten record but was taken 12 rounds for the first time as a professional in a unanimous decision win over
5:17 PM ET Unless there is a last-ditch effort to salvage negotiations for a fight between light heavyweight world titlist Sergey Kovalev and middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez, Kovalev will move on to an Aug. 24 mandatory defense against Anthony Yarde, Main Events promoter Kathy Duva, who represents Kovalev, told ESPN on Friday. With Alvarez
4:07 PM ET Dan Rafael Close ESPN Senior Writer 2013 BWAA Nat Fleischer Award winner for excellence in boxing journalism ESPN.com boxing writer since 2005 Five years at USA Today Steve Kim Ryota Murata regained the WBA “regular” middleweight title with a dominant performance against Rob Brant at Edion Arena in Osaka, Japan, on Friday.
9:17 AM ET Japanese national hero Ryota Murata avenged a one-sided loss and regained his secondary middleweight world title with an explosive second-round knockout of Rob Brant on Friday at Edion Arena in Osaka, Japan, in a fight streamed on ESPN+ in the United States. Murata dropped Brant midway through the second round and continued
9:14 AM ET Mark KriegelESPN NEWARK, N.J. — The first memory that comes to mind is his grandfather calling him outside. Shakur Stevenson is 10. His grandfather, Wali Moses, is ready and waiting with the gloves and the pads. The kids from the block are waiting, too. This isn’t something Shakur wants to do, but
10:37 PM ET Featherweight Shakur Stevenson, one of boxing’s top prospects, is all set for his first professional fight in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, and when he and opponent Alberto Guevara came face to face Thursday at the final prefight news conference, they were joined by a special guest, who made no secret
5:12 PM ET Manny Pacquiao and Keith Thurman, who are in the home stretch of their training camps for their upcoming welterweight world title showdown, both exuded confidence and good spirits during their media workouts thousands of miles apart. Pacquiao spent the first half of his training camp at home in the Philippines, where he
9:31 AM ET Associated Press MOSCOW — Former world cruiserweight boxing champion Denis Lebedev retired on Thursday at 39 after a lengthy and colorful career. Lebedev won the interim WBA cruiserweight title in 2011 against James Toney and successfully defended it eight times to 2017. “The time has come to leave elite sport,” he said
7:52 PM ET Light heavyweight world titleholder Dmitry Bivol has had a nice break since his one-sided unanimous decision over Joe Smith Jr. on March 9 in Verona, New York, and returned to training this week in Los Angeles. Bivol, who has made five title defenses, has no particular fight lined up said but his