Notebook: Floyd heaviest of career but Paul outweighs him by 34.5 pounds
Dubois back with KO; another dirty Pascal test; Quick hits
Retired all-time great Floyd Mayweather, who won world titles in five divisions from junior lightweight to junior middleweight, had never weighed in at more than 151 pounds for a fight, which was his weight when he took a junior middleweight world title from Miguel Cotto in 2012.
Until Saturday.
That is when Mayweather weighed in at 155 pounds for his eight-round exhibition against YouTube personality and novice pro cruiserweight Logan Paul that will take place on Sunday (Showtime PPV, 8 p.m. ET, $49.99) at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Paul (0-1), 26, of Los Angeles, weighed 189.5 pounds at the ceremony at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The 6-foot-2 Paul, who contractually could not weigh more than 190 pounds, will hold a 34.5-pound weight advantage over the 5-8 Mayweather for the bout, which will not have scores rendered in the event it goes the distance and won’t count on either man’s official record. They will wear 10-ounce gloves, which is standard for bouts over the welterweight limit of 147 pounds.
Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs), 44, of Las Vegas, the former pound-for-pound king and International Boxing Hall of Famer, has said repeatedly that he is not concerned about the size difference given his considerable skills and experience.
“I never worry about the height or size. It’s all about the skills,” Mayweather said earlier in the week. “That’s one thing about Floyd Mayweather, I’ve got skills.”
Other weights for the pay-per-view bouts: two-division world titlist Badou Jack (23-3-3, 13 KOs) was 177 pounds and late replacement Dervin Colina (15-0, 13 KOs) was 176.4 for a 10-rounder bout contracted at 177; former unified junior middleweight titlist Jarrett Hurd (24-1, 16 KOs) was 158 and Luis Arias (18-2-1, 9 KOs) was 158.6 for their 10-rounder; and former NFL star wide receiver Chad Johnson (0-0) was 179.5 pounds and Brian Maxwell (0-1) was 183.5 for their four-round cruiserweight exhibition.
Dubois drills Dinu in return
Heavyweight Daniel Dubois rebounded from his first defeat to score a one-punch knockout of Bogdan Dinu in the second round on Saturday before an allowed crowd of about 1,000 at Telford International Centre in Telford, England.
With the victory England’s Dubois (16-1, 15 KOs), 23, one of the more heralded up-and-coming heavyweights of recent years, claimed the WBA’s vacant interim title. More importantly, Dubois bounced back impressively from his first loss, a 10th-round knockout to countryman Joe Joyce on Nov. 28 in a fight for the European, British and Commonwealth titles. Dubois was ahead on two scorecards but suffered a broken left orbit bone. When he got dropped in the 10th round he remained on a knee due to the terrible eye injury.
He had no such issues with Dinu. He controlled the first round with his stiff jab before scoring the knockout in the second. He backed Dino into the ropes and nailed him with a clean right hand on the chin. Dinu went down and referee Marcus McDonnell counted him out at 31 seconds.
After the loss to Joyce, Dubois replaced trainer Matt Bowers with Mark Tibbs and then surprisingly replaced him a few weeks ago with Shane McGuigan.
Dubois and McGuigan were both very happy with the performance.
“It’s been a rough ride and I’m glad to be back,” Dubois said. “I listened to what Shane told me and stuck to instructions and I’m so happy, man. It’s great.”
Said McGuigan: “He’s only 23-years of age. He’s young. He had obviously suffered a little loss and needs to go back, rebuild and I think we did that. I think that was a fantastic performance. We didn’t have long (together). Give us six months, a year, and you’ll see the best of him. Give us six months, a year and he’ll be knocking on the door to the big boy, trust me.”
Eventually, Dunois said he would like a rematch with Joyce.
“I want to clear that up,” Dubois said. “I want to have the re-run and I need to set it right. I just need to keep listening to what Shane tells me and just keep being the best I can be.”
Dinu (20-3, 16 KOs), 34, of Romania, had a two-fight winning streak end after having suffered back-to-back knockout losses to Jarrell Miller (in the fourth round in 2018) and Kubrat Pulev (in the seventh round in 2019).
Jake Paul-Tyron Woodley face off
Jake Paul, the social media influencer and YouTube personality turned popular novice cruiserweight, and former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley came face to face at the historic 5th Street Gym in Miami to begin the hype for their eight-round boxing match at 190 pounds.
Paul (3-0, 3 KOs), 24, of Los Angeles, and Woodley, 39, a Ferguson, Missouri, native, will meet on a date to be announced on August on Showtime PPV in the first fight of Paul’s multi-fight deal with Showtime.
“I told (Woodley) I’ll pay you double your purse if you beat me, but if you lose, you have to pay your purse to my charity,” said Paul, who is in Miami for older brother Logan Paul’s exhibition with Floyd Mayweather on Showtime PPV on Sunday night. “He lacks confidence. Why wouldn’t you take that bet as a fighter if you knew you were going to win? To make double the money? This is the biggest pay day of your life and you can make double? Put your money where your mouth is.”
Woodley will be making his professional boxing debut and will be Paul’s second fight in a row against a former UFC champion. He knocked out Ben Askren in the first round on April 17. Woodley, who is a close friend of Askren’s, and Paul got into an argument before the fight, which set the stage for the August bout.
“He’s a good striker. He’s known for knocking people out, but I think when I beat Tyron, people have to put respect on my name,” Paul said. “But that’s not what I’m here for to be honest. I already know how good I am. I know that this is going to be another easy fight. That’s why Showtime is in business with me. You’re looking at the future of boxing.
“The Disney kid is going to beat up the five-time UFC champion of the world. It’s going to be hilarious. I’ve predicted every single one of my fights. I said Ben Askren, first round. I said (former NBA player) Nate Robinson, first round. He got to the second. I said in my first pro fight, first round. I don’t think Tyron will make it out of two rounds. You might not even get to see my boxing abilities in this fight to be honest.”
Woodley brushed off Paul’s hype and said he was anxious to try boxing.
“I’ve always wanted to box my whole life but never did it. This is my opportunity,” Woodley said. “This is a kid that’s a power-puncher. He’s got a lot of strength behind him. This is going to be a big platform to showcase what I can do in a boxing ring.”
Morrell to face Cazares
David Morrell will defend his secondary super middleweight belt against Mario Cazares in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card on June 27 (Fox and Fox Deportes, 8 p.m. ET) at the Armory in Minneapolis, PBC announced, confirming a previous Fight Freaks Unite report.
Morrell (4-0, 3 KOs), 23, a Cuba native fighting out of Minneapolis, will be making his first defense.
“As always, I am grateful to my whole team for the opportunity to step into the ring once again at The Armory in Minneapolis,” Morrell said. “This one is even more special to me, because it’s my first title defense in front of my new home crowd in Minneapolis. I’m excited to feel the energy of the fans again, and against a very good opponent. We’ve worked hard, now it’s time to have fun.”
Cazares (12-0, 5 KOs), 30, of Mexico, is coming off a sixth-round technical decision win over former middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in September. He will be fighting in the United States for the first time.
“I definitely respect Cuban boxing and the style of Morrell. He’s someone with a lot of experience in the amateur field who is now showing it in professional boxing,” Cazares said. “But I love being the underdog and coming into my opponent’s hometown.”
Two scheduled 10-round bout were also announced for the telecast: cruiserweight contender Efetobor Apochi (11-0, 11 KOs), 33, a Houston-based Nigerian, versus Brandon Glanton (13-0, 11 KOs), 29, of Riverside, California, and junior welterweight prospect Omar Juarez (11-0, 5 KOs), 21, of Brownsville, Texas, against the Philippines’ All Rivera (21-5, 18 KOs), 28, in a 10-round attraction to kick off the telecast.
Pascal positive for 4th PED
Jean Pascal, who already had tested positive for three banned substances in random Voluntary Anti-Doping Association-administered tests last week, has tested positive for a fourth one in a test result that was returned on Wednesday night with the camps being notified of the results on Thursday.
Because of the initial positive tests, Pascal was booted from a secondary light heavyweight title defense in a rematch with Badou Jack that was supposed to be on Sunday’s Floyd Mayweather-Logan Paul pay-per-view card. Then came another positive test result for yet another substance, EPO this time. I broke the story on The Ring magazine website. Please read that article with more details here: https://www.ringtv.com/622540-jean-pascal-tests-positive-for-a-fourth-banned-substance-epo/
Quick hits
Super middleweight David Lemieux (43-4, 36 KOs), 32, of Montreal, knocked out David Zegarra (34-5, 21 KOs), 36, of Peru, in the second round of their super middleweight bout on Saturday in the main event of promoter Eye of the Tiger’s card at Hotel Holiday Inn in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Lemieux, a former middleweight world titlist in his first fight since parting ways with longtime co-promoter Golden Boy, won his third fight at 168 pounds after moving up due to major issues making 160 pounds. Lemieux dropped Zegarra late in the first round and dropped him again in the second round before backing him into the ropes and teeing off until the referee stopped it at 1 minute, 3 seconds.
German heavyweight contender Agit Kabayel (21-0, 13 KOs), 28, cruised to a unanimous decision over former world title challenger Kevin Johnson (35-18-1, 19 KOs), 41, of Atlanta. Kabayel, who vacated the European title, won 119-110, 118-111 and 118-111. He had been the proposed opponent for heavyweight champion Tyson Fury when he was planning to fight in January before those plans fell through.
Show and tell
Since Floyd Mayweather is getting back into the ring to face Logan Paul in an exhibition bout on Sunday night how about one of the most iconic boxing cards ever produced? Here is Mayweather’s rookie card in my collection. The card is part of the 1997 Brown’s Boxing set and had a fairly limited run. I got the full set around the time it was released and many years later had a number of my cards graded by PSA on site when the National Sports Collectors Convention was in Baltimore, including this Floyd rookie.
Mayweather-L. Paul and J. Paul-Woodley photos: Amanda Westcott/Showtime; Dubois photo: Queensberry Promotions
Joke dance
This fight is a huge money maker and I could see the NSAC sanctioning it similarly to the way they did Mayweather vs McGregor who hadn't even made his professional Boxing debut.