Notebook: Jake Paul's MVP makes deal for four cards on DAZN
Paro-Ramirez junior welterweight eliminator ordered; 'ShoBox' card on Hall of Fame weekend; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions has struck a deal with DAZN for four Friday night events in 2023 that will feature up-and-coming fighters, Paul and the streaming serviced announced.
The series, called “Most Valuable Prospects,” will kick off May 26 with each event hosted by the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.
The other three dates were not announced.
The first card will be headlined by the MVP-signed lightweight Ashton Sylve taking on Angel Rebollar in an eight-rounder.
MVP referred the series in the announcement as having been “created to highlight the next generation of the sport’s best male and female athletes, who all have world title aspirations.”
MVP will partner with BoxLab Promotions to put on the cards.
“Having joined the boxing community in my 20s, I came to realize most professional athletes start training in the ring from the time they can walk,” Paul said. “It’s incredibly important to me and my team that we offer a platform and the tools necessary to help these young boxers achieve the success they’ve been working towards since they were kids.
“I was lucky enough to have a solid foundation when I entered boxing because of the people supporting me and our goal with Most Valuable Prospects is to give others the same chance, on a global stage. (Undisputed women’s featherweight champion and MVP promoted) Amanda (Serrano) and I can’t wait to be ringside on May 26 to cheer on Ashton and the rest of the Most Valuable Prospects.”
Sylve (8-0, 8 KOs), 19, of Long Beach, California, has been out of action since October, when he knocked out Braulio Rodriguez in 61 seconds on the undercard of Paul’s win over Anderson Silva. Rebollar (6-2, 3 KOs), 19, of South Gate, California, has lost two of his last three by decision.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be kicking off the Most Valuable Prospects series on DAZN as the headline main event,” Sylve said. “I’ve been training hard and I’m looking forward to putting on an entertaining performance.”
This is the latest deal between Paul and DAZN. When he makes his ring return for an eight-round fight contracted at 185 pounds against Nate Diaz, 37, the longtime UFC star making his boxing debut, on Aug. 5 at American Airlines Center in Dallas the event will be carried by DAZN PPV.
Paul (6-1, 4 KOs), 26, will be boxing for the first time since suffering his first defeat, an eight-round split decision to Tommy Fury in February in Saudi Arabia in what was Paul’s first fight against a full-time boxer.
Paro-Ramirez eliminator?
Matchroom Boxing on Thursday won the purse bid for the WBO junior welterweight title eliminator between Arnold Barboza Jr. (28-0, 10 KOs), 31, of Los Angeles, and Liam Paro (23-0, 14 KOs), 26, a southpaw from Australia, with a bid of $303,000. Matchroom Boxing, which promotes Paro, beat the only other offer, which was $271,000 by Barboza promoter Top Rank. Minimum bid was $150,000.
However, Barboza, through Top Rank, subsequently notified the organization on Friday that he would not participate in the fight because he was unhappy with his 40 percent of the money.
Matchroom Boxing, Paro’s promoter, had given the WBO two dates within the mandated 90-day time frame that it planned to put on the fight — June 17 in Las Vegas or July 15 in Detroit.
But with Barboza out, the WBO notified Top Rank chairman Bob Arum later on Friday that fellow Top Rank fighter and former unified titleholder Jose Ramirez is the WBO’s next available contender and that he has 48 hours “to confirm in writing to the WBO whether he is interested, available, ready, willing, and able to fight Liam Paro” in the eliminator. If he does, there would be another negotiation period followed by a purse bid if there was no deal.
Coincidentally, Barboza and Ramirez are both managed by Rick Mirigian.
Whomever Paro winds up facing in the eliminator, the winner would become the mandatory challenger for the winner of the June 11 bout between champion Josh Taylor and current mandatory Teofimo Lopez.
‘ShoBox’ Hall of Fame card
Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation” will once again have a card on International Boxing Hall of Fame induction weekend at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York, which is just a few minutes from the Hall of Fame in nearby Canastota.
Headlining the Salita Promotions tripleheader on June 9 (9 p.m. ET/PT) — the inductions are on June 11 — will be a 10-round light heavyweight bout between Ali Izmailov (10-0, 7 KOs), 30, a Russia native based in Detroit, and Charles Foster (22-0, 12 KOs), 32, of New Haven, Connecticut.
In the other 10-rounders, southpaw Richard Vansiclen (13-0-1, 6 KOs), 29, of Seattle, takes on Juan Carrillo (10-0, 8 KOs), 30, a 2016 Colombian Olympian, in the co-feature and junior welterweight Mykquan Williams (19-0-1, 8 KOs), 25, of East Hartford, Connecticut, meets Ryan Martin (25-2, 15 KOs), 30, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the opener.
“Our three-fight card features 50-50 matchups with the winner of the main event clearly establishing themselves as a top contender in the light heavyweight division,” said Gordon Hall, the “ShoBox” executive producer. “Each of these fighters aspires to be inducted into the Hall of Fame one day, much as former ‘ShoBox’ fighters and Class of 2023 Hall of Famers Tim Bradley and Carl Froch once did.”
Quick hits
Weights from Arlington, Texas, for Saturday’s Golden Boy show on DAZN: William Zepeda 134.2 pounds, Jaime Arboleda 134.6; Diego De La Hoya 126, Victor Morales 125.4; Frederick Lawson 149, Estevan Villalobos 152; David Stevens 168, Marco Periban 167.2; Tristan Kalkreuth 201.6, Jonathon Rice 224.6; Caleb Suniga 129.4, Carlos Arroyo 130.2; Darius Fulghum 174.2, Jay Williams 175.6; Robert Cruz 157.8, Tyrone Selders 157.2.
Boxxer announced two additions to its card on June 17 (Sky Sports Box Office in the U.K.) headlined by the Liam Smith-Chris Eubank Jr. rematch. Three-belt women’s junior middleweight champion Natasha Jonas (13-2-1, 8 KOs), 38, of England, will defend against an opponent to be named and Mark Heffron (29-2-1, 23 KOs), 31, will defend the British super middleweight title against Zak Chelli (13-1-1, 6 KOs), 25.
Show and tell
It always takes me a few days to unpack after a boxing trip and this week following my return from Las Vegas from covering Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia was no exception. Here are a few things I unpacked from the big fight: my fight night credential (with a photo from probably 15 years ago when my hair was still brown); site posters (which absurdly brings the number of cataloged posters in my collection to 5,009 not including probably another 250 or so that are not officially in my data base yet); and two cool fight-branded items Showtime gave to media members covering the fight, a very nice thermos/water bottle and a notebook.
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Photos: Paul: Skill Challenge Entertainment; Paro: Alex Coppel/Matchroom Boxing; Zepeda-Arboleda: Golden Boy
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