Notebook: Mendoza-Fundora II ticketed for Benavidez-Morrell card

Jack removes himself from Canelo sweepstakes; Showtime's July 15 card details; documentary on De La Hoya; Quick hits; Show and tell

Dan Rafael

Jun 20, 2023

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Jack out of Canelo running

WBC cruiserweight titleholder Badou Jack has removed himself from consideration as the September opponent for undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, whose manager/trainer, Eddy Reynoso, had named Jack as a possible opponent.

Jack (28-3-3, 17 KOs), 39, a former super middleweight and light heavyweight titlist based in Dubai, knocked out Ilunga Makabu in the 12th round on Feb. 26 on the Jake Paul-Tommy Fury card to win the title.

Alvarez had previously named Makabu as a possible opponent but the fight never materialized. Now that he is still on the hunt for a fall foe, his team reached out to Jack’s but he was not interested in meeting Alvarez’s demands, which included boxing at 180 pounds (20 under the cruiserweight limit) and agreeing to a rehydration clause that would force him to weigh in again on the morning of the fight, although Jack did not specifically say how much weight he would be allowed to gain after the official weigh-in.

Jack said he was willing to fight Alvarez at 190 pounds, but not 180.

“I won’t be fighting Canelo next,” Jack posted on Twitter. “They said the weight difference is too much, they wanted to drain the old man and fight me 20 lbs UNDER the cruiserweight limit for the title. Plus a rehydration clause.”

Like many boxing fans, Jack said he would like to see Alvarez face WBC interim super middleweight titlist David Benavidez next, adding to his tweet, “Canelo let’s give the fans what they want to see and fight David Benavidez.”

But that fight is not happening either as Alvarez has not shown interest in pursuing it, leaving Benavidez to make a deal to face WBA “regular” titlist David Morrell this fall after Alvarez’s team did not respond to an offer of at least $50 million to fight Benavidez next.

Had Alvarez (59-2-2, 39 KOs), 32, of Mexico, faced Jack he would be striving to win a world title in a fifth weight class, having already done so at junior middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight.

July 15 PBC/Showtime card

Showtime and PBC formally announced a tripleheader at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on July 15 (10 p.m. ET) that will be headlined by a WBC lightweight title eliminator between Frank Martin and Artem Harutyunyan.

“Anyone who doesn’t know about me, I want to wake them up to who I am with a great performance on July 15,” Martin said. “I’m locked in and I have a lot of momentum on my side. There’s a great energy in our gym and I’m ready to show everybody what I’ve been working on. I know he’s undefeated too and coming in there to try and upset me, but we’ll be prepared for whatever he brings. I’m ready to make a statement. I’m definitely not looking past Harutyunyan, but I’m ready for the best fighters and this performance will show everyone how ready I am.”

Martin (17-0, 12 KOs), 28, of Indianapolis, an Errol Spence protégé, who shares trainer Derrick James with him, is coming off his biggest win, a lopsided decision over then-unbeaten Michel Rivera in December.

Harutyunyan (12-0, 7 KOs), 32, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist for Germany, will fight for the first time in the United States after having all of his previous bouts in Germany,

“I respect all of my opponents, but Frank Martin is just my next step toward reaching my dream of becoming world champion,” Harutyunyan said. “I’m very happy to be making my U.S. debut in Las Vegas and I know that the crowd is going to love me.”

Four-division champion and surefire Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire will face Alexandro Santiago for the vacant WBC bantamweight title in the co-feature.

“I’m coming to the ring on July 15 to take that belt home and there’s no second option for me,” Donaire said. “I’ve brought in some really fast fighters who have helped me prepare, and my team has really focused on giving me some defensive pointers. I’m ahead of schedule right now and I can’t wait to get in there.”

In his last fight in June 2022, Donaire (42-7, 28 KOs), 40, got stopped in the second round by Naoya Inoue in a three-belt unification fight that was also a rematch of Inoue’s hard-fought decision over Donaire in the 2019 fight of the year.

Santiago (27-3-5, 14 KOs), 27, of Mexico, has won three fights in a row since a 10-round majority decision loss to Gary Antonio Russell in November 2021. In Santiago’s lone world title opportunity, he fought to a split draw with then-junior bantamweight titlist Jerwin Ancajas in 2018.

“I have been waiting for another world title opportunity since my draw with Ancajas,” Santiago said. “It is also a great honor to be able to share the ring with one of the greatest of my generation, Nonito Donaire. However, this is my time to shine.”

In the opener, junior welterweight Elvis Rodriguez (14-1-1, 12 KOs), 27, a southpaw from the Dominican Republic, will face former titlist Viktor Postol (31-4, 12 KOs), 39, of Ukraine, with whom he has sparred when they shared trainer Freddie Roach. Postol has lost two fights in a row — a majority decision challenging then-unified titlist Jose Ramirez in August 2020 followed by a 10th-round knockout to Gary Antuanne Russell in February 2022.

De La Hoya documentary

HBO is getting back into boxing — sort of.

The longtime “Network of Champions” bowed out of boxing coverage at the end of 2018 after 45 years but it is back with a two-part documentary on the life of one of its longtime franchise fighters, Hall of Famer Oscar De La Hoya.

Billed as “a candid, myth-busting portrait” of the six-division champion, “The Golden Boy” will debut on July 24 (9 p.m. ET) with the second part on July 25 at the same time. Both episodes will also be available on its streaming service Max on July 24.

The documentary, which had its world premier at the recent Tribeca Festival, is a product of Mark Wahlberg’s Unrealistic Ideas and directed by Fernando Villena. It is executive produced by Wahlberg and Mario Lopez, diehard boxing fans and longtime friends with De La Hoya.

According to the announcement, De La Hoya’s life story is told in his own words “through a series of candid interviews with him and those closest to him.”

It features rare archival footage and “peels back the layers of this celebrated yet complicated figure, exploring his triumphs and turmoil to reveal a man struggling to come to terms with lifelong demons and the impossible burden of a nickname he couldn’t live up to.”

As De La Hoya says in the film, “The last 45 years have been… have been pretty dark.”

Quick hits

San Antonio’s Joshua Franco (18-1-3, 8 KOs) has arrived in Tokyo to defend the WBA junior bantamweight title against four-division titlist Kazuto Ioka on Saturday in a rematch of their disputed majority draw on Dec. 31, also in Tokyo. They met in a WBO/WBA unification bout many thought Franco, 27, who is the older brother of two-division titlist Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, deserved to win. Ioka (29-2-1, 15 KOs), 34, of Japan, who has also won belts at strawweight, junior flyweight and flyweight, vacated the WBO 115-pound title to take the rematch instead of making a less lucrative mandatory defense against countryman Junto Nakatani. “This time I’ll win clearly and if possible score a knockout victory,” Ioka said at a media workout, accompanied by trainer Ismael Salas. There is no American broadcaster for the fight.

Former junior lightweight titlist Tevin Farmer (30-5-1, 6 KOs), 32, will return to the ring for the first time in 3½ years when he faces Avery Sparrow (11-4, 4 KOs), 29, in a 10-round lightweight bout on Saturday night in the main event of the Hard Hitting Promotions card at 2300 Arena in their hometown of Philadelphia. Farmer has not boxed since losing the IBF 130-pound belt to Joseph Diaz by decision in January 2020. He had a fight scheduled against former lightweight titlist Mickey Bey at various times over the past year but it was continually postponed and then scrapped.

Unified women’s junior middleweight champion Natasha Jonas (13-2-1, 8 KOs), 39, of England, is dropping down to welterweight and will face former title challenger Kandi Wyatt (11-4, 3 KOs), 32, of Canada, for the vacant IBF belt on July 1 (ESPN+ in U.S., Sky Sports in U.K.) at AO Arena in Manchester, England, Boxxer announced. The fight will take place on the undercard of the Franchon Crews-Dezurn’s defense of the undisputed women’s super middleweight title versus Savannah Marshall.

Super middleweight contender Christian Mbilli (24-0, 20 KOs), 28, of France, now has an opponent for his appearance on the undercard of unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev’s defense against Callum Smith on Aug. 19 at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City. He will face Demond Nicholson (26-5-1, 22 KOs), 30, of Laurel, Maryland, in a 10-rounder that will be part of the ESPN+ stream of preliminary bouts.

Show and tell

Heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis was coming off his booming knockout of Mike Tyson in their long-awaited mega fight a year earlier but he had another piece of business to attend to in the twilight of his career, namely a showdown with No. 1 contender Vitali Klitschko. The plan was for Lewis and Klitschko to box on the same HBO PPV card at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Assuming they each won, they would then meet later in the year. Lewis was due to face Kirk Johnson in the main event and Klitschko was slated to face Cedric Boswell. However, two weeks before the doubleheader, Johnson withdrew because of a torn pectoral muscle.

In a surprising turn of events, HBO and the two camps agreed to scrap the pay-per-view doubleheader and go right to the big one on short notice. In addition, HBO put up something like $10 million to take it off pay-per-view and present it live on the network, drawing 4.6 million viewers for one of the most watched HBO bouts in years.

Lewis, who was a career heavy 256.5 pounds and did not appear to be in great shape, and Klitschko engaged in a rock ‘em, sock ‘em slugfest that was one of the most exciting heavyweight title fights you’ll ever see and, for me, ranks among the top three heavyweight title fights I have ever been ringside to cover along with Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III and Anthony Joshua-Wladimir Klitschko. They rocked each other repeatedly but Klitschko was hampered by a horrible cut that Lewis opened over his left eye with a right hand in the third round. Finally, after the sixth round — and much to Klitschko’s vocal protests — the fight was stopped due to the immense damage to his eye, which required 60 stitches. It turned out Klitschko was ahead 58-56 on all three scorecards when it was stopped. A rematch was heavily in demand and discussed but Lewis ultimately decided to retire several months later and vacated the title that Klitschko would eventually go on to win. The extremely memorable battle took place on June 21, 2003 — 20 years ago on Wednesday. Here is a program, site poster and my ringside credential in my boxing collection.

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Photos: Fundora-Mendoza: Esther Lin/Showtime; Jack: Skill Challenge Entertainment; Franco: Naoki Fukuda

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