Notebook: Joshua nixes plan for summer fight, back in December
Top Rank adds to Haney-Loma undercard; iFL TV and iD Boxing appearances; Quick hits; Show and tell
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.
Before — and immediately after — former two-time unified heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua outpointed Jermaine Franklin on April 1 in London he steadfastly said his plan was to fight three times this year.
He and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said they hoped to make the long-anticipated showdown with British countryman and lineal/WBC champion Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) for this summer and, regardless of who he faced, Joshua said during his post-fight interview, “You will see me in the summer for sure. You’ll definitely see me in the summer.”
Less than two weeks later that is no longer the plan as Joshua cryptically posted a message to Instagram on Sunday that read, “My next fight is scheduled for December. Not ideal but everything is part of a bigger picture.”
Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs) did not state a reason for the change of plans. Speculation has abounded that December is when the group in Saudi Arabia interested in Fury-Joshua would be willing to put up big money but not to host the fight in the summer.
Joshua has not had at least three fights in one year since 2016, when he won his first world title and made two defenses.
Moloney-Nakatani title bout
As expected, Top Rank announced that Andrew Moloney and Junto Nakatani will square off for the vacant WBO junior bantamweight title vacated by Kazuto Ioka on the undercard of Devin Haney’s undisputed lightweight title defense against Vasiliy Lomachenko on May 20 (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET, $59.99) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Moloney-Nakatani will take place before the start of the pay-per-view as part of a two-fight block of preliminary bouts beginning at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+.
The preliminary broadcast will open with middleweight Nico Ali Walsh (8-0, 5 KOs), 22, of Las Vegas, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, taking on an opponent to be named in an eight-rounder.
Moloney (25-2, 16 KOs), 32, of Australia, a former WBA “regular” junior bantamweight titlist, has won four fights in a row since going 0-2 with a no decision in a trilogy against Franco in 2020 and 2021.
Nakatani (24-0, 18 KOs), 25, a Japanese southpaw, made two defenses of the WBO flyweight belt before vacating to move up in weight. He won a junior bantamweight bout in November and now will challenge for the title. He was Ioka’s mandatory before Ioka vacated.
iFL TV appearance
I joined my pals at iFL TV for an interview on various boxing stuff. We talked about Amir Khan’s failed drugs test; Anthony Joshua; the impressive wins by Shakur Stevenson and Jared Anderson on Saturday; and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez’s flyweight title victory on Saturday despite suffering a broken jaw and the prospects for him to unify titles when he returns. Check out the video here:
iD Boxing appearance
I recently joined my friends at iD Social to discuss several boxing topics. Some of what we covered: Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez’s flyweight title win; Brian Mendoza’s big upset over Sebastian Fundora; Shakur Stevenson title eliminator win and discussion of a mandatory fight with the Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko winner; Josh Taylor-Teofimo Lopez; latest on Errol Spence-Terence Crawford; Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia buildup; Amir Khan’s failed drug test; Deontay Wilder-Francis Ngannou conversations. Check out the video here:
Quick hits
Undisputed women’s middleweight champion Claressa Shields (13-0, 2 KOs), 28, of Flint, Michigan, will defend the title in a rematch with four-division titleholder Hanna Gabriels (21-2-1, 12 KOs), 40, of Costa Rica, on June 3 (DAZN) at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Shields won a lopsided decision versus Gabriels in Detroit in 2018 to win the vacant IBF and WBA middleweight titles but she suffered the only knockdown of her career in the first round. Shields became the undisputed middleweight champion for the second time in October by outpointing Savannah Marshall on her turf in London to take back the WBO title Marshallwon after Shields vacated and to avenge her only amateur defeat.
The WBC has ordered undisputed women’s super middleweight champion Franchon Crews-Dezurn (8-1, 2 KOs), 35, of Baltimore, to make the organization’s mandatory defense against Shadasia Green (12-0, 11 KOs), 33, of Paterson, New Jersey. They have until April 28 to conclude negotiations or a purse bid will be ordered. Crews-Dezurn’s lone loss came via four-round decision to Claressa Shields in their pro debuts.
Show and tell
Wladimir Klitschko had won two fights on the comeback trail after a shocking second-round knockout loss to Corrie Sanders that cost him the WBO heavyweight title and now was positioned to fight it again against Lamon Brewster after Sanders vacated. They met in an HBO main event I covered at ringside at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on a card that also included undisputed welterweight champion Cory Spinks’ decision win over Zab Judah in their first fight in the co-feature. Klitschko spent the first four rounds beating the absolute crap out of Brewster, whom he dropped in the fourth with a right hand. But in the fifth round, Klitschko appeared absolutely exhausted and when he got caught with two lefts he fell into the ropes for an official knockdown. He made it through the rest of the round but went down again as it ended, more from exhaustion than a punch. He could barely make it to his feet and referee Robert Byrd called it off, giving Brewster an enormous upset.
Most left Klitschko’s career for dead and he used that as motivation to prove his critics wrong. He said it was the most important fight of his career, would watch it regularly and without that loss never would have gone on to the greatness he achieved. After the loss, he forged the bulk of his Hall of Fame resume and position as one of the great heavyweights of all time. He won his next 22 consecutive fights (including knocking out Brewster in a rematch) over 11 years, unified three titles and ruled the division. The first fight with Brewster took place on April 10, 2004 — 19 years ago on Monday. Here is a limited HBO poster from the fight in my collection.
A note to subscribers
I sincerely appreciate your readership. If you’re reading, it means you love boxing just like I do. If you’ve been reading you also know the quality and quantity of what I produce. It’s one-stop shopping. Read the newsletters and there is no need to search multiple websites or click a multitude of links to get the latest news, opinion and detailed fight schedule. Everything you need is in one spot and delivered directly to your inbox (or via phone alert if you download for free the superb Substack app). You don’t have to hunt for the news; it comes to you.
I believe that is worth something, so while I will continue providing stories, notes and the schedule for free, I encourage you to upgrade to a paid subscription for the most content. A paid subscription is your way of keeping this reader-supported newsletter going and supporting independent journalism. I am beholden to no network, promoter, manager, sanctioning body or fighter. If you have read my work at all during the past 23 years I’ve covered professional boxing you know that I keep it real and that will not change.
To upgrade your subscription please go here:
Thank you so much for your support of Fight Freaks Unite!
Photos: Joshua: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danrafael1/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanRafael1
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanRafaelBoxing
