Notebook: Jacobs set to end 15-month layoff, headed to England to face Ryder

Canelo surprised by Reynoso cruiserweight request; Thurman-Barrios to headline PPV; Stanionis clears path for Spence-Ugas unification; Quick hits; Show and tell

Dec 21, 2021

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Former middleweight world titlist Daniel Jacobs will end a 15-month layoff by traveling to England to face John Ryder in a 12-round super middleweight bout that will headline a Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN on Feb. 12, a source with knowledge of the particulars told Fight Freaks Unite on Monday.

The exact site of the bout has not been determined but it is targeted for London, Ryder’s hometown, the source said. Sports Illustrated initially reported the fight.

Jacobs (37-3, 30 KOs), of Brooklyn, New York, who turns 35 in February, has won both of his super middleweight bouts since moving up to the division following a decision loss in a middleweight unification fight with Canelo Alvarez in May 2019. Jacobs made an overweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. quit in the fifth round of their December 2019 bout and is coming off a very lackluster split decision win over Gabriel Rosado in November 2020, a fight many thought Rosado won.

Ryder (30-5, 17 KOs), a 33-year-old southpaw, has won two fights in a row against low-level opponents since losing a controversial decision to then-super middleweight world titlist Callum Smith in November 2019.

If Jacobs wins and Joe Smith Jr., from New York’s Long Island, retains his WBO light heavyweight title against Callum Johnson on Jan. 15, Jacobs likely will challenge him for his title in a summer showdown in New York.

Canelo surprised by cruiserweight request

When Eddy Reynoso, the trainer and manager of pound-for-pound king and undisputed super middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez, addressed the WBC convention last month in Mexico City and asked for the organization to grant Alvarez permission to fight for its cruiserweight world title there were audible gasps in the room because it came as such a shocker.

You know who just as stunned as everyone else by the request? Alvarez.

“I didn’t even know about that,” Alvarez told me in a recent interview. “I heard about it on social media what Eddy did.”

Come again? Alvarez didn’t know that Reynoso was making such an audacious move?

“No, I didn’t even know about it,” Alvarez said with a laugh. “Like I always say, if Eddy says something or he tries to do something crazy I’m always in. I’m his warrior.”

I wrote about that and much more from my exclusive interview with Canelo for World Boxing News. Please read the story here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2021/12/17/cruiserweight-canelo-exclusive/

Thurman returning vs. Barrios

Former unified welterweight world titlist Keith Thurman will end a 2½-year layoff against Mario Barrios in the 12-round main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card on Fox Sports pay-per-view on Feb. 5 at a site to be announced. PBC announced the fight during its card on Fox this past Saturday night.

Thurman (29-1, 22 KOs) has not fought since getting knocked down in the first round and losing a decision and a welterweight world title to Manny Pacquiao on July 20, 2019 in Las Vegas. Thurman has been idle mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic and injuries.

Barrios (26-1, 17 KOs), who is moving up in weight from junior welterweight, is also coming off a loss. On June 26, Gervonta Davis knocked him out in the 11th round to take his secondary 140-pound title.

PBC also announced the other three bouts that will be on the pay-per-view telecast.

Featherweight titlist Leo Santa Cruz (37-2-1, 19 KOs) will meet Keenan Carbajal (23-2-1, 15 KOs) in the co-feature. It was not announced whether Santa Cruz will be defending his title for the first time in three years. His last two bouts were at junior lightweight, where he also held a title, but he has notified the WBA that he will be returning to featherweight.

Former welterweight world title challengers Abel Ramos (27-4-2, 21 KOs) and Josesito Lopez (38-8, 21 KOs) will meet in a 10-rounder.

Former bantamweight and junior featherweight world titlist Luis Nery, a southpaw, who lost his junior featherweight belt by seventh-round knockout to Brandon Figueroa in his first defense in his last fight on May 15, will face Carlos Castro (27-0, 12 KOs) in a 10-rounder.

PBC initially was seeking to hold the card on Jan. 29 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and requested the date from the Nevada State Athletic Commission earlier this month.

Spence-Ugas path is clear

A personal appeal from welterweight contender Eimantas Stanionis to the WBA convinced the sanctioning body to re-think its mandatory order, which has paved the way for a three-belt unification fight between IBF/WBC titleholder Errol Spence Jr. and WBA titlist Yordenis Ugas.

The result will be a pay-per-view card, probably in March or April, on which Spence and Ugas will meet to unify titles in the main event with WBA “regular” titlist Radzhab Butaev facing Stanionis in the co-feature. The WBA will order the two winners to meet, which would result in the victor being the singular WBA 147-pound titlist.

I wrote about what happened in a story for World Boxing News. Please read it here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2021/12/20/errol-spence-appeal-ugas-unification/amp

Andrade-Alimkhanuly purse bid

With the camps of WBO middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade and mandatory challenger Janibek Alimkhanuly failing to make a deal within the 20 days they were given to do so on Nov. 30, the WBO on Monday sent Andrade promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and Top Rank’s Bob Arum, Alimkhanuly’s promoter, a letter notifying them that a purse bid has been scheduled on Jan. 15 at WBO headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Minimum bid is $200,000. They could make a deal before then, but that is highly unlikely.

The purse split will be either 75-25 or 80-20 in Andrade’s favor depending on whose home country the fight takes place in or a neutral site.

Both fighters are coming off recent wins. Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs), 33, a southpaw from Providence, Rhode Island, knocked out Jason Quigley in the second round on Nov. 19 and Alimkhanuly (11-0, 7 KOs), 28, a southpaw from Kazakhstan, battered faded former titlist Hassan N’Dam in an eighth-round knockout on Nov. 20 on the Terence Crawford-Shawn Porter undercard.

Quick hits

Cincinnati featherweight Duke Ragan (4-0, 1 KO), who claimed a silver medal at this past summer’s Tokyo Olympics, has had his return to the pro ring delayed for a second time. First, he was due to fight in September before a left elbow injury sidelined him. Then he was scheduled to box on Jan. 15 on the undercard of Joe Smith Jr.’s light heavyweight title defense against Callum Johnson, but now he is off that card also, having withdrawn following a recent death in the family.

When WBO bantamweight titlist John Riel Casimero withdrew from his mandatory defense versus Paul Butler the day before the Dec. 11 fight in Dubai on Probellum’s first world title card, the WBO ordered Casimero to “show cause” by sending it his medical records from the hospital visit he said he made for gastritis to prove his reason for pulling out. The paperwork is due Wednesday. “Team Casimero must comply accordingly,” WBO attorney Gustavo Olivieri told Fight Freaks Unite on Monday. “Upon submitting their paperwork, the issue will be before the (championship) committee’s consideration, and upon rendering an official ruling, we will advise accordingly.” If Casimero (31-4, 21 KOs), 32, of the Philippines, who was scheduled to make his third title defense, does not provide the information the WBO said it will strip him.

The Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame on Monday announced its class of 2022, which is led by heavyweight great Lennox Lewis, Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez and three-division champion James Toney, each of whom had notable fights at the New Jersey boxing destination. They highlight a 17-member class that will be inducted during the 6th annual ceremonies on Oct. 9, 2022 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. Also being inducted: Frank Fletcher, Dave Tiberi, Chuck Mussachio, Kathy Collins-Globuschutz, Kathy Duva, Pat Lynch, Kevin Rooney Sr., Lynne Carter, Randy Neumann, Dr. Domenic Coletta and Tom Casino. Posthumous inductees are Harold Lederman, James Broad and Eddie Aliano.

MTK Global announced it will kick off 2022 with its first “MTK Fight Night” on Feb. 11 (ESPN+) with a card at York Hall in London. Middleweight Danny Dignum (13-0-1, 7 KOs), coming off a draw with Andrey Sirotkin in April, defends his regional title against British countryman Grant Dennis (17-3, 3 KOs) in the main event and Ireland’s Gary Cully (13-0, 7 KOs) defends his regional lightweight belt against Artjoms Ramlavs (14-1, 8 KOs), of Latvia, in the co-feature.

Former middleweight and super middleweight titlist Felix Sturm (42-5-3, 18 KOs), 42, of Germany, will face Istvan Szili (25-2-2, 14, KOs), 38, of Hungary, on March 26 in Dortmund, Germany, LIB Box Promotion announced. The light heavyweight fight will be Sturm’s third since launching a comeback in December 2020. Sturm, who is 2-0 in his return, had not fought since February 2016, a layoff due in part because he was in prison. Szili hasn’t fought since December 2020.

Show and tell

Since 2021 is almost in the books doesn’t that mean this is the time of year when you need a new calendar? Back in its heyday, HBO Sports would produce a boxing calendar and send it out to media members around this time every year. I have a bunch of them in my collection. The covers were usually generic, but not this awesome one. It’s from 2005 and featured a slew of stars that were with HBO at the time. Of the 10 fighters pictured, each was in multiple major fights and nine have been elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Those pictured, in case you’re new around these here parts, are (from top left) Antonio Tarver (the only one not in the HOF), Floyd Mayweather, Erik Morales, Arturo Gatti, Vitali Klitschko, Winky Wright, Bernard Hopkins, Felix Trinidad, Oscar De La Hoya and Marco Antonio Barrera. I was very fortunate to cover many fights involving all of these greats.

Jacobs and Canelo photos: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Thurman photo: Damon Gonzalez/PBC

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