Boxing

8:16 AM ET CHRISTINA LINARDATOU WILL return to the ring Saturday against Mikaela Mayer. While no title will be on the line, it’s a fight of significance, as Mayer is the type of opponent Linardatou worked toward facing again. However, it’s just not the fight — or fighter — she initially wanted or expected to

7:52 AM ET Nate Diaz and Jake Paul have been exchanging trash talk on social media and in the press for over a year. Their two teams got into a physical altercation backstage during one of Paul’s fights. Paul called Diaz out on several exchanges, including in his postfight interview after beating Anderson Silva last

6:50 PM ET Franchon Crews-Dezurn will be making the first defense of her undisputed super middleweight title, but her opponent will be different from the one initially ordered. A source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday that Crews-Dezurn will fight Savannah Marshall in June in the United Kingdom on a Ben Shalom BOXXER card instead of

12:45 PM ET Two of the biggest personalities in combat sports will clash this summer. YouTuber-turned-prizefighter Jake Paul and ex-UFC bad boy Nate Diaz will compete in a boxing match Aug. 5 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, officials told ESPN on Wednesday. The bout will be contested at 185 pounds and is contracted for

7:46 AM ET Mikaela Mayer boarded the plane back to the United States in October with a feeling she’d never experienced as a pro. It’s something she didn’t prepare for. Mayer never thought it would happen. She went to London as the WBO and IBF junior lightweight champion to fight WBC titleist Alycia Baumgardner for

2:30 PM ET The WBC has ordered a fight between undisputed super middleweight champion Franchon Crews-Dezurn and mandatory challenger Shadasia Green. The two sides have until April 28 to come to an agreement or the fight will be placed in a purse bid. Crews-Dezurn (8-1, 2 KO) became the undisputed super middleweight champion last April

7:15 AM ET Mychal Denzel Smith THE EXACT NUMBER of punches that Emile Griffith landed on March 24, 1962, at Madison Square Garden, in the flurry that killed Benny “Kid” Paret, is in dispute. According to which expert you ask, it was anywhere between 17 and 29 clean shots, mostly uppercuts with a few hooks

2:10 AM ET Brian Mendoza did little to nothing of consequence in the first six rounds of his bout against Sebastian Fundora on Saturday night. A couple of devastating punches reversed all of that and sent his career to new heights. A thunderous left hook followed by an overhand right sent Fundora to the canvas

1:47 AM ET For the first time since 2018, Claressa Shields is heading back to Detroit to fight. Shields will have the first defense of her undisputed middleweight title on June 3 at Little Caesars Arena against Hanna Gabriels, the same fighter she beat by unanimous decision in that fight in the Motor City. The

1:29 AM ET Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez left the ring on Saturday night feeling only partly accomplished. In moving down to flyweight, he secured the WBO’s vacant 112-pound championship with a unanimous-decision win over Cristian Gonzalez (118-110, 117-111, 116-112) at the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio. But when Rodriguez spoke in his postfight