Notebook: Hearn says Conlan's career is on the line against Gill
Haney vacating lightweight belts; plans for Foster's Top Rank debut; surgery for Navarrete; Davies-Barroso postponed; WBA adds super cruiserweights; BetUS show; Quick hits; Show and tell double
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Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn stated it as plain as could be about the future of Michael Conlan, who fights Jordan Gill as they both move up to junior lightweight on Saturday in a main event on DAZN (2 p.m. ET) at the SSE Arena in Conlan’s hometown of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
“If Michael Conlan loses, his career is over,” Hearn said at this week’s news conference. “But if he wins and wins well? It’s a funny old game, isn't it? You lose: Bye-bye. You win: Wow! What’s ahead — (IBF titlist) Joe Cordina? Josh Warrington? There are massive fights ahead.”
Indeed, Conlan’s career, at least as an A-side main event fighter, hangs in the balance when he, like Gill, looks to bounce back from a knockout loss. But Conlan (18-2, 9 KOs), 32, is the star fighter with the much bigger name and following. He’s a former Irish Olympian and two-time featherweight world title challenger but was badly KO’d in both title fights.
In a fight Conlan was head in going into the 12th round, then-WBA featherweight titlist Leigh Wood scored the knockout of the year when he rallied by spectacularly knocking Conlan out of the ring in March 2022.
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Conlan rebounded with two wins in a row but then was outclassed and badly knocked out in the fifth round by IBF titlist Luis Alberto Lopez in May, also in Belfast.
“If he was to make a statement he will walk straight into a massive fight,” Hearn said of Conlan. “If Conlan went to the City Ground in Nottingham (for a Leigh Wood rematch) he might bring 8-9,000 (fans). If he went to Cardiff (to fight Wales’ Cordina) he’d take 5-6,000 or Joe might come here for a big outdoor show for the world title (possibly Croke Park).
“Michael has the benefit of being able to draw crowds wherever he goes and that will walk him into a big fight, but if he loses it’s over. He’s got to look good. He can’t struggle and look like a faded fighter. It’s got to be a performance where everybody goes: ‘Wow!’ Then those other fights become very easy to make.”
In his effort to land another major fight, Conlan left home to prepare for Gill in Miami with new trainer Pedro Diaz, knowing how much is on the line for him.
“I feel like I have new lease on life and hit the reset button,” Conlan said. “(Diaz is) not going to teach me anything new in eight weeks. He just dusted me off and brought me back to doing what I do best.”
Conlan, who is in his first with Matchroom Boxing after parting ways with career-long promoter Top Rank, didn’t want to hear about Hearn’s grand plans if he wins.
“I gotta go in and take care of Saturday night first,” Conlan said. “I have a live opponent who’s fighting for his career in front of me, so there’s nothing underestimated. He’s a good fighter. But I’ve got to go in and do good on Saturday and then we look forward.”
Gill (27-2-1, 8 KOs), 29, of England, has been idle since former featherweight and junior featherweight titlist Kiko Martinez knocked him out in the fourth round of a European featherweight championship fight in October 2022.
Haney vacates remaining belts
Devin Haney, once the undisputed lightweight champion, will vacate his remaining titles as he moves up in weight to challenge WBC junior welterweight titlist Regis Prograis on Dec. 9 (DAZN PPV) at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
“I did everything at 135 (pounds) that I could,” Haney told ESPN. “The biggest fight for me was making that Gervonta Davis fight, and his side showed no interest in making the fight. I’ve outgrown the division, so now I make my quest to 140 to become a two-division champion.
“And after this fight, I look to become a three-division champion and move up to 147, God willing that I’m successful in this fight.”
Haney has yet to officially inform the IBF, WBO or WBA that he has vacated but that is a formality.
After the WBC elevated Haney (30-0, 15 KOs), 25, a San Francisco native fighting out of Las Vegas, from its interim titleholder to full titlist in 2019 when then-champion Vasiliy Lomachenko opted not to fight him and vacated, Haney went on to make seven overall title defenses.
He won clear decisions over Alfredo Santiago, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Jorge Linares and Joseph Diaz Jr. in defense of the WBC belt.
In June 2022, Haney traveled to Australia and routed three-belt champion George Kambosos Jr. to become the first undisputed lightweight champion of the four-belt era. He defended the undisputed crown against Kambosos in a contractually obligated rematch in October 2022 in another one-sided decision in Australia, and then narrowly outpointed Lomachenko in May.
Haney previously vacated the WBC title, which was filled when Shakur Stevenson outpointed Edwin De Los Santos on Nov. 16.
A fight between Kambosos and Lomachenko for the vacant IBF title is in the works to headline a Top Rank card on ESPN in April.
Haney had been the WBA “super champion” but by relinquishing the belt, “regular” titlist Davis will become the organization’s lone lightweight titleholder now that it no longer is recognizing multiple titleholders in the same weight class.
It is unclear how the WBO belt will be filled but it will go down its rankings and order a fight between its two available leading contenders. The top few ranked fighters are Ukraine’s Lomachenko No. 1, but he is going the IBF route; Ukraine’s Denis Berinchyk at No. 2; Mexico’s Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz is No. 3; Mexico’s Angel Fierro is No. 4; Mexico’s William Zepeda is No. 5; and American Frank Martin is No. 6.
Foster’s Top Rank debut
WBC junior lightweight titlist O’Shaquie Foster, who signed a promotional deal with Top Rank last month, is penciled in to defend his title in the main event on ESPN on Feb. 16 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite.
Foster’s opponent for his second 130-pound defense is unclear.
The card is also expected to include Puerto Rican junior middleweight up-and-comer Xander Zayas as long as all goes well for him in a 10-rounder against Jorge Fortea, who he faces in the co-feature of WBO featherweight titlist Robeisy Ramirez’s defense against Rafael Espinoza on Dec. 9 in Pembroke Pines, Florida, which is about 15 minutes from Zayas’ hometown of Sunrise, Florida.
Foster was a promotional free agent when he faced mandatory challenger Rocky Hernandez on Oct. 28 in Cancun, Mexico, in a fight that Matchroom Boxing won a purse bid for.
Foster (21-2, 12 KOs), 30, of Orange, Texas, went to Hernandez’s home country and, trailing on two scorecards going into the 12th round, scored two knockdowns and rallied for a dramatic knockout in an outstanding fight to retain the title for the first time.
Soon after, Foster signed with Top Rank, which is deep in the weight class as it also promotes WBO titlist Emanuel Navarrete and former titleholder Oscar Valdez.
Navarrete has surgery
Emanuel Navarrete underwent left hand surgery on Friday, the WBO junior lightweight titleholder announced on Instagram accompanied by a photo of him in a hospital bed post surgery.
“Hello friends!! I want to share with you that Friday I underwent a minor surgery on my left hand, the product of an old injury that worsened in my last fight,” Navarrete wrote in comments translated from Spanish. “In the end I could no longer perform 100 percent. It was a lot of pain. I checked with my team, and with my doctor, and we made the decision to attend to this immediately.
“I’ll keep you posted on how the recovery is going, but I’m sure in the early months of 2024 we’ll be ready for the new challenges that arise.”
Navarrete’s last fight was an action-packed battle that that ended in a majority draw against underdog Robson Conceicao in the co-feature of the Shakur Stevenson-Edwin De Los Santos vacant WBC lightweight title bout on Nov. 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Navarrete said he did not want to postpone the fight, writing, “I am a Mexican warrior that will never withdraw (from) any challenge or commitment, but out of respect to you and my career I will never again give any advantage. Blessings my people. The ‘Cowboy’ will be back 100 percent.”
Navarrete (38-1-1, 31 KOs), 28, of Mexico, who has also won world titles at junior featherweight and featherweight, was making his second 130-pound title defense, having also defended against former titlist Oscar Valdez in an Aug. 12 slugfest.
Davies-Barroso postponed
The fight for the vacant interim WBA junior welterweight title between Ohara Davies and Ismael Barroso, scheduled to take place as the co-feature to the return of junior welterweight star Ryan Garcia’s fight with Oscar Duarte on Saturday (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET) at the Toyota Center in Houston, was postponed on Wednesday.
The reason, according to Golden Boy, was a delay in Davies (25-2, 18 KOs), 31, of England, securing his visa.
“Due to visa delays, the fight between Ohara Davies and Ismael Barroso scheduled for this Saturday, December 2 will be postponed to a later date. More information will be made available in the coming weeks,” Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya posted on social media.
The fight likely will be rescheduled on the undercard of the junior middleweight debut of Vergil Ortiz Jr. against Fredrick Lawson on Jan. 6 (DAZN) in Las Vegas, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite.
“Slight delay,” Davies wrote on social media. “Thanks to the USA embassy for working quickly and efficiently to issue me a visa to travel to box. I'll be collecting the passport this week and the rescheduled fight with Barroso will be announced within the next few days.”
For Saturday’s co-feature, a 10-round lightweight bout between up-and-comer Floyd Schofield (15-0, 11 KOs), 21, of Austin, Texas, and Ricardo Torres (17-7-3, 12 KOs), 26, of Mexico, has been moved up the card.
The WBA agreed to sanction Davies against Barroso (24-4-2, 22 KOs), 40, a southpaw from Venezuela, for the interim belt because titleholder Rolando Romero will be sidelined for several months due to a back injury.
WBA adds super cruiserweights
The WBA has added an 18th weight class between cruiserweight and heavyweight, joining the WBC.
The WBA announced this week the creation of the super cruiserweight division, which will be for boxers no heavier than 224 pounds. The cruiserweight division is for fighters up to 200 pounds.
In 2020, the WBC added the bridgerweight division, which also has a 224-pound limit and its creation was heavily criticized. It has also not yet gained much traction and had very little activity.
The WBA said in its announcement that it has “made several analyses during the last months before thinking about the request (for its creation) and in the end it was submitted to a vote, in which it was approved by the unanimous vote of the executive committee.
“The creation of this new weight (class) will mainly help to avoid bouts in which the fighters enter the ring with excessive weight differences, as tends to happen at heavyweight occasionally, where there can be differences of 20 pounds or more. Fighters considered ‘small heavyweights’ will have the option to move down to super cruiserweight and seek opportunities against more balanced weight opponents in the quest to make the sport increasingly fairer.”
The WBA said its rankings committee has begun working on the creation of the rankings for the division.
The IBF and WBO recognize any fighter over 200 pounds as a heavyweight and have not shown interest in adding another division.
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 the two major main events on Saturday, both of which are on DAZN: junior welterweight Ryan Garcia against Oscar Duarte on the Golden Boy card in Houston and junior lightweight Michael Conlan against Jordan Gill on the Matchroom Boxing card in Belfast, Northern Ireland. We also took viewer questions and comments and discussed the latest boxing news! Please check out the show here:
Quick hits
Weights from Houston for Saturday’s Golden Boy card (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET): Ryan Garcia 142.8 pounds, Oscar Duarte 143; Floyd Schofield 135, Ricardo Torres 134.2; Shane Mosley Jr. 159.4, Joshua Conley 163.6; Darius Fulghum 167.6, Pachino Hill 170; Asa Stevens 122, Dominque Griffin 121.6; Gael Cabrera 118, Alejandro Dominguez 117.4; Sean Garcia 136.8, Joseph Johnson 134.4; Danilo Diez 140.8, Jose Valenzuela 141.
Weights from Belfast, Northern Ireland, for Saturday’s Matchroom Boxing card (DAZN, 2 p.m. ET): Michael Conlan 129.5 pounds, Jordan Gill 129.5; Tyrone McKenna 146.9, Lewis Crocker 147; Caoimhin Agyarko 153.8, Troy Williamson 153.95; Sean McComb 139.1, Sam Maxwell 139.6; Cameron Vuong 136.8, Michal Dufek 136.7; Leli Buttigieg 159.4, Mario Oliveira 158.2; Gerard Hughes 124.1, Ruadhan Farrell 123.3; Fearghus Quinn 161.6, Angel Emilov 162.9.
Three-time middleweight title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko (14-5, 10 KOs), 38, a Ukrainian fighting out of Brooklyn, New York, will face D'Mitrius Ballard (21-2-1, 13 KOs), 30, of Temple Hills, Maryland, in a 10-round super middleweight bout on the Vergil Ortiz Jr.-Fredrick Lawson undercard on Jan. 6 (DAZN) at the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, Derevyanchenko manager Keith Connolly told Fight Freaks Unite on Friday. Derevyanchenko moved up to super middleweight in June and lost a wildly violent fight of the year contender by close decision to Jaime Munguia on June 10. Golden Boy owed Derevyanchenko another fight. Ballard, who is moving up to super middleweight, has lost two in a row, a third-round KO to Munguia in February 2022 and by seventh-round KO to Shane Mosley Jr. on the Munguia-Derevyanchenko card.
Middleweight Nico Ali Walsh (8-1, 5 KOs), 23, of Las Vegas, who is the grandson of Muhammad Ali, will face Noel Lafargue (9-2-1, 3 KOs), 34, of France, in a six-rounder on a WBA “KO Drugs” card on Dec. 16 in Conakry, Guinea, his first bout outside the United States. The Top Rank-promoted Ali Walsh, who is now being trained by renowned Cuban trainer Ismael Salas, is 0-1 with a no contest in his past two bouts, a six-round majority decision loss to Sona Akale in August, which was preceded by an eight-rounder against Danny Rosenberger in May that was initially ruled a split draw before being changed to a no contest when Rosenberger tested positive for a banned substance.
Canadian super middleweight Erik Bazinyan (31-0, 22 KOs), 28, will take on Billi Facundo Godoy (41-7, 20 KOs), 37, of Argentina, in a 10-rounder on Jan. 25 (ESPN+) at the Cabaret du Casino de Montreal in Montreal, Eye of the Tiger announced. In the co-feature, light heavyweight Albert Ramirez (17-0, 15 KOs), 31, of Venezuela, who is a new EOTT signing, will fight fellow southpaw Charles Foster (22-1, 12 KOs), 33, of New Haven, Connecticut, in a WBA title eliminator for the No. 2 spot. “Despite Erik being ranked in the top 5 by all associations, it’s important to keep him active while selecting opponents that will allow him to continue his progression, and that’s precisely what Godoy represents,” Bazinyan trainer Marc Ramsay said. “The Argentine notably withstood John Ryder’s charges for 10 rounds, which is no small feat. So, it’ll be an interesting challenge for us.”
The inaugural card of the multi-event “Brick City Friday Night Fights” series that was recently announced by GH3 Promotions and host venue Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, now has a main event for its Dec. 29 kickoff event. Junior middleweight Vito Mielnicki Jr. (16-1, 11 KOs), 21, of Roseland, New Jersey, who is fresh off a first-round KO of Alexis Salazar on the David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade undercard on Nov. 25, will face Salim Larbi (22-12-3, 8 KOs), 36, a France native fighting out of Rahway, New Jersey, in a 10-rounder. Mielnicki is with PBC but will stay busy on this non-PBC card.
R and B Promotions announced that Friday night’s card at 2300 Arena in Philadelphia was postponed “due to last minute unforeseen circumstances.” Former junior lightweight titlist Tevin Farmer (32-5-1, 7 KOs), 33, of Philadelphia, was due to face Patrick Okine (21-6-2, 18 KOs), 32, of Ghana, in the main event looking for a third straight win this year after returning from a 3½-year layoff after a controversial decision loss to Joseph Diaz Jr. that cost him the IBF belt in January 2020. However, Okine was around 10 pounds overweight earlier this week with no chance to make weight. That, combined with other bouts falling out, caused the promoter call off the show, a source told Fight Freaks Unite.
Show and tell
Hall of Famer Felix Trinidad was 38-0, had demolished David Reid in his junior middleweight debut earlier in the year to win the WBA title before smashing up mandatory challenger Mamadou Thiam’s eye in a third-round knockout that summer. Fernando Vargas, the IBF titleholder, was 20-0 and had scored a decision over highly-respected former welterweight titlist Ike Quartey earlier in the year and then blew out mandatory challenger Ross Thompson in four rounds that summer. It all set the stage for a massively anticipated title unification fight between Trinidad and Vargas at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Promoters Don King and Main Events dubbed the fight on TVKO (the old name for HBO PPV) as “Forces of Destruction” and it was perfect. The exciting stars delivered everything fans could have hoped for — an all-out slugfest with wild momentum swings and six total knockdowns. Vargas was down twice (and nearly stopped) in the first round, Trinidad was down in the fourth round, both fighters lost points for bad low blows, and Trinidad closed the show by dropping Vargas three times in the 12th round for the knockout. I was ringside to cover the fight for USA Today in my second-ever boxing trip to Las Vegas and to this day it remains one of the best fights I have ever covered. I view it as the greatest 154-pound title fight ever. The classic battle was on Dec. 2, 2000 — 23 years ago on Saturday. Here is a poster from the fight in my collection.
Show and tell 2
After Thomas Hearns lost to fellow legend Sugar Ray Leonard by 14th-round knockout in their epic first fight for the undisputed welterweight title, he moved up to junior middleweight, won three bouts in a row and landed a shot at fellow Hall of Famer and WBC 154-pound titlist Wilfred Benitez, who was coming off a unanimous decision win over Roberto Duran and making his third defense. Benitez and Hearns met in the main event of a Don King-promoted card that aired on closed circuit (and then via delay on HBO) from the Superdome in New Orleans. They engaged in one of the most epic pre-fight staredowns of all time and then put on an excellent fight. Hearns was docked one point for a pulling Benitez’s head down in the fourth round and he dropped Benitez with his vaunted right hand in the fifth round. Referee Octavio Meyran ruled a knockdown against Hearns in the ninth round even though replays showed it was really caused by Benitez stepping on his foot. In the end, Hearns won a majority 15-round decision (146-137, 144-39 and 142-142) to claim the WBC 154-pound championship.
The co-feature also featured two Hall of Famers doing battle in a big-time world title fight as long-reigning WBC junior featherweight champion Wilfredo Gomez, one of Puerto Rico’s all-time best, made his 17th and final defense before vacating against Mexico’s Lupe Pintor, the bantamweight champion moving up in weight. They waged what many view as the greatest fight in the history of that famed national rivalry. The third round was picked as the 1982 round of the year by The Ring magazine. Gomez, who was trailing on one scorecard going into the 14th round, finally dropped Pintor twice for the knockout victory in an unforgettable fight. The superb card took place on Dec. 3, 1982 — 41 years ago on Sunday. Here is a very scarce program (and even scarcer in such good condition) in my collection. I searched for this for probably 20 or so years and was thrilled to add it in the past year or so.
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Photos: Conlan-Gill: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing; Haney: Melina Pizano/Matchroom Boxing; Foster: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Navarrete: Emanuel Navarrete Instagram; Garcia-Duarte/Golden Boy
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Here’s hoping Davies can secure that visa before Barrosso starts taking Social Security. Clock’s ticking.