Yamileth Mercado will attempt a defense of her WBC junior featherweight belt against Ramla Ali at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday June 29, live worldwide on DAZN on the card topped by the blockbuster clash between Juan Francisco Estrada and Jesse Rodriguez for the Ring junior bantamweight championship and the WBC belt. Mercado (23-3 5 KOs) defends her title for the seventh time after winning the strap in November 2019, and will fight in the States for the just the second time in Phoenix, having taken on Amanda Serrano in Cleveland in August 2021. The long-reigning Mexican pitc ..read more

It’s been a memorable 30th birthday celebration for Carlos Adames. A long overdue upgrade to full WBC middleweight titlist will now come with a scheduled fight. Adames is set to make a voluntary defense versus Terrell Gausha. WBC officials confirmed that the bout will take place on June 15 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The bout will serve in supporting capacity to the Gervonta Davis-Frank Martin WBA lightweight title fight. It is not yet confirmed whether it will be part of the Pay-Per-View portion of the PBC on Prime show. Adames (23-1, 18 knockouts), The Ring’s No. 2-rated middlewe ..read more

Two undisputed champions in the top five of Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound rankings were in action during a 48-hour span ending last week and starting this week.   Canelo Alvarez scored a knockdown en route to defending the super middleweight championship via unanimous decision over Jaime Munguia in Las Vegas on May 4. Naoya Inoue got up from an opening-round knockdown to twice drop Luis Nery before scoring a brutal sixth-round KO in defense of the junior featherweight championship.  Both future hall of famers defeated formidable challengers ranked No. 5 by The Ring in their re ..read more

Samuel Takyi will fully focus on his pro career, now represented by one of his nation’s most prominent managers. The 2020 Olympic Bronze medalist for Ghana has inked a long-term pact with Streetwise Management, founded and headed by Michael Amoo-Bediako. The signing motivated Takyi (4-0, 4 knockouts) to officially leave Ghana’s amateur boxing team for a more active pro career. “We have been following Samuel for a very long time even before he was in the Ghanaian national team,” Amoo-Bediako told The Ring. “To finally land him is great news. We want to thank Samuel’s advisors Dave Itskowitch an ..read more

Junior featherweight Elijah Pierce will square off against Lorenzo Parra on June 28, manager Trifon Petrov confirmed to The Ring Wednesday. The 10-round bout will take place at the Overtime Elite (OTE) Arena in Atlanta, Georgia and will stream live on DAZN (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT). “We are excited at the opportunity to have Elijah Pierce fight another world-rated contender,” Petrov told The Ring. “I am confident Elijah will dominate Lorenzo Parra. We are chasing (Ring Magazine and undisputed junior featherweight champion) Naoya Inoue. On June 28, we will be another step closer to making this fig ..read more

Joshua Buatsi and Anthony Yarde are back at the negotiating table. The Ring has confirmed that the WBO has ordered an interim title fight between the pair of top light heavyweights. It came as previous talks fell apart over a discrepancy on the Yarde side. However, the stakes are now raised with the winner guaranteed to land a shot at what could be the undisputed championship by that point. The winner will be guaranteed a shot at the full title, currently held by unified champ Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 knockouts). The call for an interim title came when Beterbiev suffered a knee injury which p ..read more

The Ring has obtained paperwork confirming that manager Peter Kahn has won his lawsuit filed on Thursday, October 13, 2022, against former lightweight world champion George Kambosos Jr. in the circuit court of the 17th Judicial Circuit in Broward County, Florida. Kahn was awarded $350,000 in judgement of a lawsuit for breach of contract claiming lost wages. The paperwork reveals the final judgement came down on April 4. On May 6, the 17th Judicial Circuit in Broward County, Florida, served DiBella Entertainment and Top Rank with writs of garnishment ordering them to withhold any monies that th ..read more

Arturo Cardenas is willing to accept any and all challenges in his ascent towards the top of the 122-pound division. Cardenas will face Danny Barrios in a compelling clash of unbeaten prospects on June 29. The 10-round bout will take place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona and was formally announced during the Juan Francisco Estrada-Jesse Rodriguez press conference on Wednesday. The Cardenas-Barrios fight will precede the Estrada-Rodriguez clash and both fights will stream live on DAZN (8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT). Robert Garcia trains both Rodriguez and Cardenas at the Robert Garcia Boxin ..read more

Two heavyweights who lost on the same card in Riyadh had been expected to face each other on May 25. However, while Arslanbek Makhmudov will be ready, his opponent Junior Fa surprisingly elected to retire late last month. That left Makhmudov’s promoter Eye of The Tiger searching for a new opponent. The Montreal-based outfit settled on Miljan Rovcanin to challenge their fighter at at the Gervais Auto Centre in Shawinigan, Canada. This marks the return of Makhmudov, who broke his right hand in his loss to Agit Kabayel in their December tussle. “Rovcanin is a good veteran who combines size and pu ..read more

Sergey Lipinets overcame rough stretches in his clash against Robbie Davies, Jr. to come out with a much-needed victory. Lipinets won a hard-fought unanimous decision over Davies Wednesday night at the Whitesands (also known as the ProBox TV) Events Center in Plant City, Florida. Scores were 96-91, 95-92, and 98-89 for Lipinets, who improved to 18-3-1, 13 knockouts.  The Lipinets-Davies fight was a crossroads clash where the winner would be put in a position to face other contenders of the talented 140-pound division. What transpired Wednesday was one of the best fights of 2024.  Lip ..read more