Notebook: Days removed from one exhibition bout, Mayweather books another

Andrade backs out on Parker again; Matchroom signs Hitchins, Boxing Social appearance; Quick hits; Show and tell

Sep 29, 2022

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.

Less than two days after Floyd Mayweather knocked out MMA fighter Mikuru Asakura in the second round of a scheduled three-round exhibition on Sunday in Saitama, Japan, his next foray into the ring was announced on Tuesday.

Global Titans announced that Mayweather will face YouTube personality turned boxer Deji Olantunji on Nov. 13 in the main event of a pay-per-view at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The number of rounds the bout is scheduled for and the weight were not announced.

“I am delighted to bring this incredible boxing experience to Dubai,” Mayweather said in a statement. “Global Titans will give fans an unrivalled boxing match with a huge undercard. It is an honor to be a part of such an iconic event in an iconic city, and I would like to thank the Global Titans team for reaching out to me and giving back so much to the sport I love.”

Deji (1-0, 1 KO), 25, of England, has boxed between super middleweight and heavyweight between his pro and few amateur bouts. He is the younger brother of fellow social media influencer KSI, who also is pursuing a boxing career.

“Huge thanks to Global Titans and my team for creating this incredible opportunity,” Deji said in a statement. “It’s a privilege to be headlining this phenomenal spectacle in Dubai, against the all-time great Floyd Mayweather. This is going to be fun.”

Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs), 45, of Las Vegas, a five-division champion and Hall of Famer, will be boxing in his fifth exhibition since retiring after a knockout of UFC star Conor McGregor in 2017.

He scored three knockdowns in a brutal first-round destruction of smaller Japanese kickboxing star Tenshin Nasukawa on Dec. 31, 2018, also in Saitama.

His next two were eight-round distance bouts (with no scores rendered) against YouTube personality Logan Paul in June 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida, and former sparring partner Don Moore, whom he knocked down in the final round, on May 21 on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

Boxing Social appearance

I joined my friends at Boxing Social to discuss the latest in boxing. We talked about the Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua saga and the possible Fury-Manuel Charr fight, the great Joe Joyce-Joseph Parker fight, today’s excellent heavyweight era, a little bit of a look back at Canelo Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin III and a look at next week’s highly anticipated fight between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn. Please check out the video here:

Andrade pulls out again

For the second time this year former middleweight and junior middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade has pulled out of a fight with Zach Parker for the vacant WBO interim super middleweight title.

“He will not be fighting Parker,” Ed Farris, Andrade’s manager, told Fight Freaks Unite. Farris said there were other plans in the works for Andrade but declined to elaborate.

Andrade was originally scheduled to face Parker on May 21 in Parker’s home country of England after Parker promoter Frank Warren won a purse bid with an offer of $1,834,050 to beat the only other offer of $1,750,000 made by Matchroom Boxing, then Andrade’s promoter.

However, Andrade pulled out due to a shoulder injury and the fight was canceled and the WBO’s sanction of the bout rescinded.

Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs), 34, of Providence, Rhode Island, planned to return to middleweight to defend his title but ultimately opted not to face mandatory challenger Janibek Alimkhanuly and asked for the WBO to re-approve the Parker fight at super middleweight. The WBO did and Andrade vacated the middleweight belt.

Warren, this time the only bidder, won a Sept. 22 purse bid for the rights to Andrade-Parker with an offer of $305,000. With Warren planning to hold the fight in England, Andrade, who is now a promotional free agent, would have been entitled to the lion’s share of a 60-40 split — $183,000, which is fraction of what he has been making. Under the first purse that Warren won, Andrade would have been entitled to $1,192,132.50.

Andrade had no intention of fighting for only $183,000 and is now moving on to whatever plan Farris said he has. Parker (22-0, 16 KOs), 28, perhaps would be approved to face another opponent for the interim belt; Canelo Alvarez is the undisputed champion with all four major belts.

Hitchins signs with Matchroom

Junior welterweight prospect Richardson Hitchins (14-0, 6 KOs), 25, a New York native, who represented Haiti in the 2016 Olympics, has signed with Matchroom Boxing, promoter Eddie Hearn announced on Wednesday.

The signing comes a couple of months after Hitchins parted ways with career-long promoter Mayweather Promotions and then signed with manager Keith Connolly, who has worked closely with Hearn in recent years.

Hitchins will make his Matchroom Boxing debut on the Montana Love-Stevie Spark undercard on Nov. 12 (DAZN) in Love’s hometown of Cleveland.

“I couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity to join the Matchroom stable,” Hitchins said. “I believe that I am the best 140-pounder in the world, and Eddie is going to give me the opportunity to prove that. There are big fights and big nights ahead for me in my career, and this is my time to shine. I want all the smoke. I’m coming for the belts.”

Hitchins is coming off a fourth-round knockout of Angel Rodriguez on May 21 on the undercard of the David Benavidez-David Lemieux Premier Boxing Champions card in Glendale, Arizona. He owns wins against former world titlist Argenis Mendez and prospect Malik Hawkins.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Richardson can become a world champion at 140 pounds and beyond that,” Hearn said. “I want to keep Richardson busy, get him climbing the rankings and he’ll soon be knocking on the door for those belts, and he can crash through the door and become a star.”

Jonas-Dicaire unification set

Natasha Jonas, the WBC/WBO women’s junior middleweight titleholder, will face IBF counterpart Marie-Eve Dicaire in a unification fight that will headline Nov. 12 at AO Arena in Manchester, England, Boxxer announced on Wednesday.

The card will also include Dalton Smith (12-0, 10 KOs), 25, defending the British junior welterweight title against Kaisee Benjamin (16-1-1, 6 KOs), 27, in the co-feature and heavyweight Frazer Clarke (3-0, 3 KOs), 31, a 2020 British Olympic bronze medalist, taking on Kamil Sokolowski (11-26-3, 4 KOs), 36, of Poland, who has only been stopped four times as Boxxer seeks an opponent to give Clarke rounds.

Jonas (12-2-1, 8 KOs), 38, of England, knocked out Chris Namus in the second round to win the vacant WBO belt in February. She routed Patricia Berghult to take her WBC belt on Sept. 3 and now goes for a third belt against fellow southpaw Dicaire (18-1, 1 KO), 36, of Canada, who will be making her first defense.

The arena will host two events in the same day as Europa Combat is putting on its bouts after the Boxxer event.

The Europa Combat card is headlined by the rescheduled exhibition bout between British legend Ricky Hatton (45-3, 32 KOs), who is from Manchester, and Hall of Famer Marco Antonio Barrera (67-7, 44 KOs). It was originally scheduled for July 2 but postponed when the main event that night between heavyweights Hughie Fury and Michael Hunter was postponed due Fury being ill.

Both events will air on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and ticket holders for each event can also attend the other one.

Quick hits

Middleweight Nico Ali Walsh (6-0, 5 KOs), 22, of Las Vegas, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, will fight Billy Wagner (5-2, 1 KO), 29, of Browning, Montana, in his first scheduled six-rounder on the Vasiliy Lomachenko-Jamaine Ortiz undercard on Oct. 29 (ESPN+) at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, Top Rank announced. “I am thrilled to be back in action on another significant card. Lomachenko is one of the greats of his era,” Ali Walsh said. “My first year as a professional has been a tremendous learning experience, and I have a great team to help me get to the next level. I respect Billy Wagner and am preparing to showcase everything I’ve learned in the gym from my incredible trainer, Kay Koroma.”

Nothing is done yet but MarvNation Promotions is planning to place the vacant WBC junior welterweight title bout between Jose Zepeda (35-2, 27 KOs) and former titlist Regis Prograis (27-1, 23 KOs) on pay-per-view on Nov. 26 (Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend), sources told Fight Freaks Unite. When MarvNation won the purse for a surprisingly high $2.4 million it said the fight would take place in either Las Vegas or Atlantic City, New Jersey, but one of the sources said the fight likely will be instead take place in Southern California, possibly Pico Rivera.

The IBF has notified IBF/WBA junior featherweight titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev (11-0, 8 KOs), 27, of Uzbekistan, and mandatory challenger Marlon Tapales (36-3, 19 KOs), 30, a former bantamweight titleholder from the Philippines, that they should begin negotiating their mandatory bout. The IBF gave them until Oct. 25 to make a deal or a purse bid will be scheduled. If there is a purse bid the split would be 65-35 in Akhmadaliev’s favor.

Former featherweight titlist Xu Can (18-3, 3 KOs), 28, of China, will face Mexico’s Brandon Benitez (18-2, 7 KOs), 24, in a 10-rounder in the main event of a ProBox TV card on Oct. 7 in Plant City, Florida. The fight was initially scheduled to take place in the company’s May 20 co-feature but the bout was postponed because Xu suffered an undisclosed injury. Xu has not boxed since losing the WBA “regular” belt by 12th-round knockout to Leigh Wood in July 2021. Benitez has won four fights in a row.

Duco Events announced that Cherneka Johnson (14-1, 6 KOs), 27, will make the first defense of the IBF women’s junior featherweight title against fellow Australian Susie Ramadan (29-3, 12 KOs), 43, a two-time bantamweight titlist, on the undercard of the rematch between undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney and George Kambosos Jr. on Oct. 15 (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+) at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia (where it will be the afternoon of Oct. 16).

Show and tell

Bernard Hopkins routed Keith Holmes to unify the IBF and WBC middleweight titles in the semifinals of the four-man Middleweight World Championship Series and a month later Felix Trinidad debuted in the 160-pound division and destroyed William Joppy to win the WBA title and a belt in a third weight class. That set up the final that was expected when promoter Don King and HBO put the tournament together. It was created to crown an undisputed middleweight champion — when a fighter needed only those three belts to be undisputed — but in reality was meant as a vehicle to advance Trinidad’s stardom. He was the favorite against Hopkins in the final that would also give the winner the Sugar Ray Robinson trophy created for the event.

The final was scheduled for Sept. 15, 2001. Of course, four days earlier the United States, and New York in particular, was attacked on 9/11. The fight, like everything else, was postponed. Hopkins left New York and returned to his hometown of Philadelphia while Trinidad remained in New York and, along with King, did what they could to lift the spirits of the first responders. Nobody knew when the fight would be rescheduled but eventually it was and, in by far the most emotional night I’ve ever had at ringside, the fight took place at a mostly full Garden. Nobody really knew how to act. People were happy to be back at a big sports event but the sadness of what New York and the country were going through was palpable. We were all basically in tears when Hopkins came to the ring to Ray Charles’ brilliant rendition of “American the Beautiful” and when Trinidad came to the ring wearing an NYPD hat. The tears continued to flow during the national anthem.

The fight then took place but without the usual electricity associated with a big fight, in part, I am sure, because Trinidad, the heavy crowd favorite, was being taken apart by Hopkins. He dominated before finally knocking Trinidad out in the 12th round for his most iconic victory. The fight had been postponed for two weeks and took place on Sept. 29, 2001 — 21 years ago on Thursday. Here is an HBO PPV poster in my collection that has the original date of the fight on it as no new ones were made. Even my ringside credential is still dated Sept. 15.