Boxing

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 6, 2024, 11:26 AM ET Open Extended Reactions For a brief moment — if only a sliver of time — Naoya Inoue appeared human. As the Japanese star fired a left hook in the opening round of Monday’s undisputed junior featherweight championship fight at the Tokyo Dome, Inoue dropped his right hand.

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 6, 2024, 08:59 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Naoya Inoue suffered the first knockdown of his illustrious career in the opening round but rebounded to floor Luis Nery three times en route to a Round 6 KO victory to retain his undisputed junior featherweight championship on Monday in Tokyo. There were 44,000-plus

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 5, 2024, 12:50 AM ET Open Extended Reactions LAS VEGAS — The boisterous, surprising support for Jaime Munguia was swiftly extinguished with a patented Canelo Alvarez combination, a left hook followed by a right uppercut that planted the challenger on the canvas for the first knockdown of his 44-fight career. Alvarez, boxing’s

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 5, 2024, 03:07 AM ET Open Extended Reactions LAS VEGAS — For the fifth time in five fights for the undisputed super middleweight crown, Canelo Alvarez remained king and more importantly, maintained his status as the face of boxing. As the fight game’s most bankable fighter, Alvarez calls the shots and once

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 4, 2024, 11:10 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Dmitry Bivol will defend his WBA light heavyweight title vs. Libya’s Malik Zinad on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, following Artur Beterbiev’s withdrawal, Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, told ESPN on Saturday. Former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder vs.

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 4, 2024, 05:47 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez returns to the ring for his annual Cinco De Mayo weekend fight and will face former junior middleweight champ Jaime Munguia on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs), 33, is 9-1 fighting on

James Regan May 3, 2024, 09:35 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions confirmed the signing of former undisputed junior welterweight champion Chantelle Cameron on Friday. Cameron (18-1, 8 KOs) was released from her contract with Matchroom on Wednesday and immediately took up an offer with rival promoter Queensberry in a bid to

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 3, 2024, 08:50 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Artur Beterbiev suffered a ruptured meniscus and his undisputed light heavyweight championship fight vs. Dmitry Bivol on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has been postponed, it was announced Friday. Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, told ESPN a replacement

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 3, 2024, 08:54 AM ET Open Extended Reactions LAS VEGAS — Canelo Alvarez removed his designer sunglasses to reveal the sort of deadly serious expression that’s all too familiar to his 39 knockout opponents. Only this time, the target of his white-hot rage wasn’t another fighter — at least not an active

Mike Coppinger, ESPNMay 2, 2024, 10:13 PM ET Open Extended Reactions LAS VEGAS — Oscar De La Hoya issued a cease-and-desist letter Thursday to Canelo Alvarez over what he says are “defamatory allegations” that the Golden Boy Promotions founder stole money from former champion Gennadiy Golovkin, among other fighters. The legal letter, a copy of