Notebook: Crawford 154 title shot vs. Madrimov 'a done deal'
Morrell going up to 175; Kholmatov has serious knee surgery; Barboza headed to arbitration in management beef; upset on OTX card; junior bantamweight unification fight set; Quick hits; Show and tell
A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.
Pound-for-pound king and unified welterweight champion Terence Crawford will move up in weight and challenge newly crowned WBA junior middleweight titleholder Israil Madrimov on Aug. 3 at a venue to be determined in Los Angeles, a source directly involved in the deal told Fight Freaks Unite on Friday.
It’s “a done deal,” the source said, with a news conference scheduled to take place on Wednesday in New York to announce the fight, which will be the first in the United States to be financially backed by Turki Alalshikh, a diehard boxing fan who essentially picks the fights he wants to see and pays big money for them in his role as the head of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
Teasing the new alliance, Alalshikh, who is already in New York, posted a photo to social media on Wednesday of Crawford in the ring following his resounding ninth-round knockout of Errol Spence Jr. to become the first four-belt undisputed welterweight champion and the first two-division four-belt undisputed champion.
Help me celebrate the start of my 25th year of full-time boxing coverage by upgrading to a paid subscription for full access to all posts and comments — and also support independent journalism.
Earlier in the week, there were questions if the fight would indeed take place for Madrimov’s title because lineal junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo asserted his rights as the WBA “champion in recess,” which allow him to have the next shot at the title when he returns to the ring.
On Wednesday, Tom Brown of TGB Promotions, which promotes all of the Premier Boxing Champions cards and has worked with Charlo for years, sent a letter to the WBA Championships Committee on Charlo’s behalf to let it know that he planned to return to the ring at 154 pounds and invoked his right to get the next shot against Madrimov.
However, on Thursday, Charlo and Brown backtracked with Brown sending another letter to the WBA Championships Committee clarifying their position.
“On behalf of former undisputed Super Welterweight Champion Jermell Charlo, we are pleased to inform you that he hereby requests to be reinstated as the WBA Super Champion at 154 pounds,” Brown wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Fight Freaks Unite. “We also want to let you know that Jermell has no problem with WBA champion Israil Madrimov defending his regular title against Terence Crawford this summer. We are currently working on scheduling his next fight. Thank you for your attention and consideration.”
In September, Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KOs), 33, of Houston, who became the first-ever four-belt undisputed junior middleweight champion in 2022, moved up two divisions to challenge Canelo Alvarez for his undisputed super middleweight title and lost by near-shutout in a dreadful performance. Afterward, Charlo was non-committal about when he would return and whether he would drop back to 154 pounds to defend his title.
Charlo’s ring future was also cloudy because of he was arrested in December in the Houston area and charged with misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury to a family member. The public records did not name the alleged victim but Chyane Westbrook, Charlo’s wife, filed for divorce and also for a temporary restraining order against him, according to court records.
Since the loss to Alvarez, Charlo was stripped by the WBO, vacated the IBF title and re-classified as a “champion in recess” by the WBA and WBC.
After the WBA, as expected, stripped Charlo and reclassified him as “champion in recess” it paved the way for a fight between Madrimov and Magomed Kurbanov that was already scheduled for the Anthony Joshua-Francis Ngannou undercard on March 8 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to be for the vacant WBA title with one of the conditions being that the winner would be obligated to defend against Charlo if when he returned and if he wanted the title opportunity.
Madrimov (10-0-1, 7 KOs), 29, an Uzbekistan native, who fights out of Indio, California, stopped Kurbanov in the fifth round.
Charlo’s change of heart in insisting to next fight Madrimov will allow Crawford (40-0, 31 KOs), 36, of Omaha, Nebraska, to try to win a world title in a fourth division.
He won a lightweight title, became the undisputed junior welterweight champion and still holds three of the four welterweight titles, having been stripped of the IBF belt for not facing interim titleholder and mandatory challenger Jaron “Boots” Ennis.
Morrell moving up
David Morrell, the WBA “regular” super middleweight titleholder, is moving up to light heavyweight and will face “Hot Rod” Radivoje Kalajdzic on one of PBC’s June cards on Prime Video or Prime Video PPV.
The WBA announced that it has agreed to sanction the bout for the organization’s “regular” 175-title, a direct violation of its policy of promising not to create new secondary world titles after spending the past few years trying to get rid of the extraneous titles it has sanctioned in most divisions.
According to the WBA, it approved the request from TGB Promotions, which is Morrell’s co-promoter.
“The approval was made with specific conditions, among which is that Morrell must vacate his super middleweight title if he wins his 175-pound bout,” the WBA said.
Three-belt champion Artur Beterbiev and WBA titlist Dmitry Bivol square off for the undisputed title on June 1.
Kalajdzic (29-2, 21 KOs), 32, a Serbia native fighting out of Saint Petersburg, Florida, has won five fights in a row since Beterbiev knocked him out in the fifth round of an IBF title challenge in 2019.
In conjunction with approving Morrell (10-0, 9 KOs), 26, a Cuban southpaw fighting out of Minneapolis, to fight for the secondary belt, it also formally recognized Edgar Berlanga as its super middleweight mandatory challenger. He takes the place Morrell occupied by virtue of holding the “regular” belt.
Berlanga (22-0, 17 KOs), 26, a Puerto Rican from Brooklyn, New York, is coming off a sixth-round knockout of Padraig McCrory in a final eliminator on Feb. 24.
Kholmatov has surgery
Featherweight contender Otabek Kholmatov underwent surgery Friday on his left knee in Indio, California, to repair multiple tears.
Kholmatov suffered the injury in a dramatic 12th-round knockout loss to Raymond Ford for the vacant WBA title on March 2 at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
“Friends, I am happy to let you know that I successfully underwent surgery on my knee,” Kholmatov posted to Instagram along with a photo of him in his hospital bed. “Early in the fight, I suffered a knee injury and as the fight progressed the injury worsened with every movement on my feet. I felt how I was losing strength and support in my leg with each round, until the knee completely snapped in the 12th round, when my leg simply won’t listen to me. The diagnosis is a complete tear of the ACL and tears in both lateral and medial meniscus.”
Despite the injury, Kholmatov (12-1, 11 KOs), 25, of Uzbekistan, was leading 106-103 on two scorecards and Ford led 105-104 on one going into the final round of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN main event. Ford rallied for the stunning stoppage with seven seconds left in the fight to become just the 15th fighter in the history of world title bouts to trail going into the last round and score a knockout.
“I will always be upset by the outcome, but in victory and defeat, I am grateful to God for this experience and for this test,” Kholmatov wrote. “I had to wait, but I was operated on by athlete professionals. I thank everyone who supported me and continues to support me. All I think about now is a complete recovery and a speedy return to the ring! I promise that regardless of who will hold the title at the time of my return I will do everything to take this title and become the world champion!”
Barboza management arbitration
Junior welterweight contender Arnold Barboza Jr. heads into his upcoming fight with a looming arbitration case brought by manager Rick Mirigian. The California State Athletic Commission is scheduled to hear the case next month.
Barboza (29-0, 11 KOs), 32, of El Monte, California, will face Sean McComb (18-1, 5 KOs), 31, a southpaw from Northern Ireland, in a 10-rounder in the co-feature of WBC junior welterweight titlist Devin Haney’s fight with Ryan Garcia on Saturday (PPV.com, $79.99, DAZN PPV, 8 p.m. ET) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
However, Mirigian will not be on hand with the fighter seeking to end a deal that is supposed to run concurrent to the seven-figure, three-fight contract Mirigian negotiated for him with Golden Boy, which was the only company interested in signing Barboza after Top Rank had no serious interest in re-signing him when their deal was up last year.
Barboza made his Golden Boy debut in January and knocked out Xolisani Ndongeni in the eighth round before landing the coveted Haney-Garcia co-feature. But soon after the January fight, Barboza sought to break his contract with Mirigian, who filed for the arbitration later in January.
We broke out my recent interview with WBC junior welterweight titlist Devin Haney as a stand-alone episode of our podcast as he heads into Saturday’s fight with Ryan Garcia. Give it a listen, a review, and also subscribe to get an alert when the next episode is available. New shows every Thursday and Sunday night.
Linger upsets Scoby
Junior welterweight Dakota Linger scored a tremendous upset sixth-round knockout of Kurt Scoby on Friday night on DAZN in the main event of the OTX card at OTX Arena in Atlanta.
Linger (14-6-3, 10 KOs), 29, of Buckhannon, West Virginia, picked up steam as the fight went along and he began to slow Scoby (13-1, 11 KOs), 28, of New York, down, especially in a punishing fourth round.
In the sixth round, Liner continued to land power shots against a fading Scoby until referee Malik Waleed had seen enough and stopped it at 2 minutes, 21 seconds.
In the co-feature, junior middleweight Brandon Adams (24-3, 16 KOs), 34, of Whittier, California, a former middleweight world title challenger, ended a three-year layoff with a third-round knockout of Ismael Villarreal (13-3, 9 KOs), 26, of Bronx, New York, who lost his second fight in a row, in the quarterfinals of the OTX 154-pound tournament. Adams put Villarreal away with left to the body at 2 minutes, 59 seconds of the third.
In the other quarterfinal of the card, Francisco Veron (14-0-1, 10 KOs), 25, of Argentina outpointed Mexican southpaw Angel Ruiz (18-3-1, 13 KOs), 26, via scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 96-94.
Adams and Veron will meet in the May 31 semifinals.
iFL TV appearance
I joined my friends at iFL TV on Friday afternoon to discuss the fallout of Ryan Garcia badly missing weight for his fight with WBC junior welterweight titlist Devin Haney. Check out the video here:
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked two fights on Saturday’s big card: WBC junior welterweight titlist Devin Haney against Ryan Garcia in the main event and the co-feature between junior welterweight contender Arnold Barboza Jr. and Sean McComb. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:
Quick hits
Weights from New York for Golden Boy’s card Saturday on PPV.com and DAZN PPV (8 p.m. ET): Devin Haney 140 pounds, Ryan Garcia 143.2 (for Haney’s WBC junior welterweight title but Garcia 3.2 pounds over and not eligible to win it); Arnold Barboza Jr. 139.4, Sean McComb 139.4; Bektemir Melikuziev 167.8, Pierre Dibombe 166.6; John “Scrappy” Ramirez 114.2, David Jimenez 114.8 (for vacant WBA interim junior bantamweight title); Charles Conwell 153, Nathaniel Gallimore 153; Sergiy Derevyanchenko 167.4, Vaughn Alexander 167.4; Darius Fulghum 167.4, Cristian Olivas 167.4; Jonathan Canas 137.6, Markus Bowes 140.; Amari Jones 159.2, Armel Mbumba-Yassa 160.4; Kevin Newman II 173.4, Eric Robles 177.8; Shamir Canal 135, Pedro Borgaro 135.8.
WBA junior bantamweight titlist Kazuto Ioka and IBF titlist Fernando Martinez will meet to unify belts July 7 in Tokyo, Martinez co-promoter Viva Promotions announced. Ioka (31-2-1, 16 KOs), 36, of Japan, a four-division titlist, will make his second defense of his 115-pound belt. He won the vacant title by decision in a rematch of a draw against Joshua Franco, who had been stripped for being overweight, last June. Ioka made his first defense by seventh-round knockout of Josber Perez on Dec. 31. Martinez (16-0, 9 KOs), 32, of Argentina, will make his third defense. He won the belt by decision over Jerwin Ancajas in February 2022, outpointed him again in an immediate rematch, and then stopped Jade Bornea in the 11th round last June.
IBF bantamweight titlist Emmanuel Rodriguez will hit the road to make his mandatory defense against southpaw Ryosuke Nishida (8-0, 1 KO), 27, on May 4 at EDION Arena in Nishida’s hometown of Osaka, Japan. Rodriguez (22-2, 13 KOs), 31, of Puerto Rico, will make the first defense of his second reign as he ends a brief retirement. He won the vacant belt in August via shutout of Melvin Lopez, who he dropped three times in the 12th round of a Showtime headliner. Rodriguez is headed to Japan because Kameda Promotions, which represents Nishida, won a January purse bid for $300,010 to gain promotional rights. Rodriguez is due $195,006.50 (65 percent) and Nishida $105,003.50 (25 percent).
Heavyweight contender Jared Anderson had a court hearing scheduled for this past Monday postponed. Anderson, who routed unwilling Ryad Merhy in their 10-rounder on April 13 in Corpus Christi, Texas, was due in a Huron Township, Michigan, courtroom for a hearing related to an incident in late February when he was accused of fleeing from police and leading them on a six-mile high-speed chase with speeds reaching more than 130 mph before he crashed his Dodge Challenger into a median and was arrested. Anderson was charged with third-degree felony fleeing police and faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
Welterweight Harry Scarff (13-2, 3 KOs), 30, of England, and Karen Chukhadzhian (23-2, 13 KOs), 27, of Ukraine, will meet on May 17 at the Grand Elysee Hotel in Hamburg, Germany, in an IBF final eliminator. The winner will become the next mandatory challenger for titleholder Jaron “Boots” Ennis (31-0, 28 KOs), whose next bout this summer is slated to be against current mandatory challenger Cody Crowley, although they do not have a deal yet. Ennis, who signed with Matchroom Boxing earlier this month, shut out Chukhadzhian to win the vacant IBF interim belt in January 2023.
Promoter Don King announced Friday that the card he had set for April 27 (TrillerTV PPV) at Casino Miami Jai-Alai in Miami has been canceled due to several injuries to fighters on the show. “Injuries are part of this game,” King said. “It’s unfortunate, but we’ll aim to get these (regional) championship fights together again to bring boxing fans another exciting night of boxing.” The top bouts on the card were due to be middleweight Ian Green (18-2, 12 KOs), of Paterson, New Jersey, against Toledo, Ohio’s Roy Barringer (10-4, 6 KOs) and Miami light heavyweight Ahmed Elbiali (23-1, 18 KOs) against Sergio Jimenez (13-0-1, 11 KOs) of San Pedro, California.
Show and tell
After eight dominant WBC junior lightweight title defenses, Floyd Mayweather moved up to lightweight and in his first fight in the division took on WBC titleholder Jose Luis Castillo, the No. 1 fighter in the world at 135 pounds. It turned out to be one of Mayweather’s toughest fights. He took the first few rounds with ease, but an injured shoulder and Castillo’s dogged determination and constant pressure got him back into the fight, although he was penalized one point by referee Vic Drakulich for hitting on the break in the eighth round. Mayweather was penalized one point for elbowing in the 10th round.
In the end, Mayweather claimed a title in a second weight class with an extremely unpopular decision — 116-111, 115-111 and 115-111 — that was booed loudly by the crowd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Harold Lederman, the late, great HBO unofficial scorer, had Castillo winning 115-111, as did many. I was writing for USA Today at the time and scored it 114-114 watching on TV. They would have an immediate rematch eight months later that Mayweather also won by close decision. The first fight was on April 20, 2002 — 22 years ago on Saturday. Here is an extraordinarily rare (and giant) site poster in my collection that originally hung in an MGM Grand light box during fight week.
A note to subscribers
I sincerely appreciate your readership. If you’re reading, it means you love boxing just like I do. If you’ve been reading you also know the quality and quantity of what I produce. It’s one-stop shopping. Read the newsletters and there is no need to search multiple websites or click a multitude of links to get the latest news, opinion and detailed fight schedule. Everything you need is in one spot and delivered directly to your inbox (or via phone alert if you download for free the superb Substack app). You don’t have to hunt for the news; it comes to you.
I believe that is worth something, so while I will continue providing stories, notes and the schedule for free, I encourage you to upgrade to a paid subscription for the most content. A paid subscription is your way of keeping this reader-supported newsletter going and supporting independent journalism. I am beholden to no network, promoter, manager, sanctioning body or fighter. If you have read my work at all during the past 24 years I’ve covered professional boxing you know that I keep it real and that will not change.
To upgrade your subscription please go here:
Thank you so much for your support of Fight Freaks Unite!
Photos: Crawford: Ryan Hafey/PBC; Morrell: Amanda Westcott/Showtime; Kholmatov: Kholmatov Instagram; Barboza: Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy; Linger-Scoby: OTX
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danrafael1/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanRafael1
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanRafaelBoxing
Crawford - Madrimov is an excellent fight. Great to have Crawford back and really pleased to see Madrimov get this opportunity.
The WBA situation with Morrell is a scandal. Like the WBC, its primary motivation appears to be to accommodate Canelo's so-called "undisputed" status. It's also a slap in the face to Beterbiev and Bivol. These guys have worked hard, paid their fees and fulfilled their mandatories and deserve to hold all four belts cleanly without 'interim' and 'regular' belts beneath them.
It's way, way overdue some kind of commission held these corrupt sanctioning bodies to account. It's also incumbent on fans - and boxing journalists - to stop promoting their authority and instead look to a credible rankings system like the TBRB.
Charlo’s reps just earning their keep by picking up some free “step aside” cash for their client (and themselves) by invoking the silly “champion in recess” nonsense only to turn around a couple days later and say “no problem” at all with the exact same fight.