Notebook: Lackluster undercard announced for Tyson Fury-Dillian Whyte PPV

Selby calls it a career; 'Storm' Alvarez set for comeback; Quick hits; Show and tell

Apr 05, 2022

Co-promoters Top Rank and Frank Warren on Tuesday announced an extremely poor pay-per-view undercard for the fight between heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte as well as an increased capacity for the event on April 23 (ESPN PPV in U.S., BT Sport Box Office in U.K., 2 p.m. ET) at Wembley Stadium in London.

In the co-feature, British junior lightweight Anthony Cacace (19-1, 7 KOs) will face former junior featherweight world titlist Jonathan Romero (34-1, 19 KOs) in a 10-round regional title bout.

Also, featherweight Isaac Lowe (23-1-3, 6 KOs), a close friend of Fury’s, will face British countryman Nick Ball (14-0, 7 KOs) in a 10-rounder. Lowe is coming off a seventh-round knockout loss to Luis Alberto Lopez in a title eliminator in December.

In an all-British heavyweight fight, David Adeleye (8-0, 7 KOs) will meet Chris Healey (9-8, 2 KOs) in an eight-rounder.

British light heavyweight Tommy Fury (7-0, 4 KOs), Tyson’s half brother, will face Poland’s Daniel Bocianski (10-1, 2 KOs) in a six-rounder.

Warren also announced that he has gained government approval to add an additional 4,000 seats, which will bring the capacity for the event to what would be a British record 94,000. The Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko heavyweight championship fight drew a record 90,000 to Wembley Stadium in 2017.

According to Warren, 85,000 tickets were sold in the first three hours after going on sale last month.

“I am delighted we are now able to provide 4,000 extra tickets for fans to watch the biggest boxing event staged in this country,” Warren said. “I know this in no way gets near to meeting the huge demand, but we were determined to have as many fans as possible attend Tyson Fury's big homecoming fight.”

Selby announces retirement

Former IBF featherweight titleholder Lee Selby announced his retirement on Tuesday.

Selby (28-4, 9 KOs), 35, of Wales, who turned pro in 2008, defeated Evgeny Gradovich by eighth-round technical decision to claim the title in 2015 and made four successful defenses before losing the 126-pound belt by split decision to Josh Warrington in 2018.

Selby then moved up to lightweight, where he won his first two fights before losing his final two bouts, a split decision to George Kambosos Jr. in a title eliminator and by one-sided fifth-round knockout to Gustavo Lemos in another title eliminator last Saturday in Argentina.

“After 27 years as an amateur and professional boxer, I know the time is right for me to hang up the gloves,” Selby wrote to open an extensive statement. “Being raised on the council estate in Barry, South Wales you learn early on about adversity. For many young people the burden of growing up in poverty takes its toll, but boxing saved me more than I ever thought possible.”

Selby thanked his family and those who helped him navigate his career.

“I am proud to be the 12th Welshman to win a world title and my name will now forever sit in the record books alongside those great fighters. When I look back on my career, I have realized everything I set out to achieve,” Selby continued. “I tried to be a good champion and treat people with respect. I have always demonstrated the importance of hard work and sacrifice in achieving my goals. I’ve experienced some amazing victories but also learned valuable lessons in defeat that made me the man I am today. I hope my career can be an inspiration to those boxers starting out on small shows that your dreams can become a reality. As the money started to roll in, I’m thankful my manager taught me the importance of investing and we always stuck to the motto of ‘buy houses, not Bentley’s.’ To any young boxer out there, trust me, there’s no harder earned money than a boxer’s purse and it goes as quickly as it comes, so spend it wisely!”

Selby concluded his comments with, “My biggest thank you goes to all my fans, your support over the years has been incredible. I exit the ring with no regrets, happy, healthy and with my family financially secure. Boxing has been my life and I am sure my involvement in the sport will continue in the years to come as I look to set new goals. Thank you, boxing.”

‘Storm’ warning

Former light heavyweight titlist Eleider “Storm” Alvarez is coming back to the ring as a cruiserweight.

Promoter Yvon Michel announced on Tuesday that Alvarez will headline at the Montreal Casino on May 5. He will box in an eight-rounder against an opponent to be determined.

“I'm coming back to boxing to prove to myself that I still have great years to come and titles to conquer at cruiserweights,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez (25-2, 13 KOs), a Colombia native based in Montreal, who turns 38 on Friday, has been idle since a ninth-round knockout loss to Joe Smith in August 2020 in Las Vegas.

Alvarez was a hefty underdog when he knocked out Sergey Kovalev in the seventh round to take his WBO light heavyweight title in August 2018. Alvarez is 1-2 since. He lost the title to Kovalev by unanimous decision in an immediate rematch, rebounded with a seventh-round knockout of Michael Seals in January 2020 and then lost to Smith.

“Eleider has only two career losses, against ex-champion Sergey Kovalev, who he knocked out beforehand, and against the current WBO light heavyweight champion Joe Smith Jr.,” Michel said. “His talent is undeniable and with his new team he is more motivated than ever to get back to the top."

Quick hits

The WBA has scheduled a purse bid for the mandatory fight between junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada (42-3, 28 KOs), 31, of Mexico, and regular titleholder Joshua Franco (18-1-2, 8 KOs), 26, of San Antonio, whom it ordered to fight two months ago. The WBA sent a letter to all of its registered promoters advising them the purse bid is schedule for April 18 via video conference with the minimum acceptable bid being $120,000. Promoters must also pay a $5,000 participation fee. The split will be 75 percent of the winning bid to Estrada and 25 percent to Franco.

Welterweights Shakhram Giyasov and Christian Gomez will vie for a regional title in a fight added on Tuesday to the undercard of Canelo Alvarez's challenge to light heavyweight titlist Dmitry Bivol on May 7 (DAZN PPV) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Giyasov (12-0, 9 KOs), 28, of Uzbekistan, is moving up to full-fledged welterweight for the bout following boxing at 142 pounds in his last fight. He trains alongside Bivol. Gomez (22-2-1 20 KOs), 28, of Mexico, has won six fights in a row, all by knockout, and is part of Alvarez’s camp.

Ahead of his fight with Ryan Garcia on Saturday night (DAZN, 9 p.m. ET) at the Alamodome in San Antonio, lightweight Emmanuel Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs), 33, of Ghana, has signed a co-promotional deal with Probellum to go along with promoter Lou DiBella, Probellum announced Tuesday. DiBella and Probellum recently announced an alliance under which some of DiBella’s fighters would be co-promoted by Probellum. “Saturday night will mark the second stage of my career and with the backing of Probellum and DiBella Entertainment, I am determined to show the world what Ghanaian fighters are all about,” Tagoe said.

Secondary lightweight titlist Gervonta Davis and Rolando Romero will meet face to face at a news conference on Thursday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, to discuss their Showtime PPV fight scheduled at the arena on May 28.

Show and tell

Timothy Bradley Jr. and Kendall Holt each won junior welterweight world titles in mid-2007 and did not waste much time going after a meaningful fight. They defended their new title by decision against a solid contender, Bradley beating Edner Cherry to retain the WBC 140-pound belt and Holt doing the same against Demetrius Hopkins to retain the WBO title. Then they sought each other out for a unification fight in a Showtime main event that weirdly wound up at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Holt had some big moments. He dropped Bradley in the first round and again in the 12th round, but Bradley otherwise controlled the fight en route to winning a unanimous decision (115-111, 115-111 and 114-112) to remain undefeated and unify two titles. The fight was on April 4, 2009 — 13 years ago on Monday. Here is a scarce site poster signed by Bradley and Holt in my collection.

Selby photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing; Alvarez photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank

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