Notebook: New Hall of Famer Mayweather headed back to Japan for exhibition

Vitali Klitschko to receive Arthur Ashe Award; Dubois looks to future; Puerto Rican great Carlos Ortiz dies; Gonzalez-Dogboe headlines Top Rank card; Quick hits; Show and tell

Jun 15, 2022

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Fresh of his International Boxing Hall of Fame induction on Sunday, five-division champion Floyd Mayweather announced his next foray into the ring on Monday night at a news conference in Las Vegas.

Mayweather, 45, of Las Vegas, will participate in his fourth exhibition bout since retiring 50-0 with 27 knockouts following a knockout of UFC star Conor McGregor in 2017. Mayweather will face Japanese two-division MMA champion Mikuru Asakura, 29, on a September date to be announced on a card put on by the Rizin Fighting Federation, a Japanese MMA promoter Mayweather worked with for his first exhibition bout.

The venue, how many rounds and other basic rules were not announced.

“I had so many great days competing at the highest level, but this is a great feeling now to be able to travel the world and do these exhibition bouts and have fun,” Mayweather said. “My legacy is already engraved in stone. It’s great to be able to entertain people around the world and from all walks of life.

“This guy is going to come out and give his best, like every and any guy. But I’ve seen every style, so my job is just to go out there be me, have fun and do what I do best. Come September in Japan, we’re going to give the people what they want to see. They want to see me still competing and be entertained by Floyd Mayweather.”

Asakura, 29, whose titles came at 143 and 154 pounds, was also on hand and said through an interpreter, “I’m an MMA fighter, but I’m going to use this opportunity and use Mayweather to raise my name and value internationally. I will win this fight.”

Mayweather’s previous exhibitions:

He scored three knockdowns in a first-round knockout of the much smaller Japanese kickboxing star Tenshin Nasukawa on Dec. 31, 2018 at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan on a Rizin card.
On June 6, 2021, Mayweather and YouTube personality Logan Paul went the eight-round distance with no winner announced in a Showtime PPV event at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
On May 21, Mayweather dominated former sparring partner Don Moore and knocked him down in the eighth and final round of an exhibition that was scheduled for May 14 outdoors atop the helipad of the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. However, when the president of the UAE died the card was postponed for a week and moved to an arena on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

V. Klitschko to be honored

Former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine since 2014, will receive the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage during the 2022 ESPYS on July 20 (ABC, 8 p.m. ET) in Los Angeles, ESPN announced on Tuesday.

The award is given to a member of the sporting world who makes a difference beyond the field of play.

Klitschko has been a key figure during Ukraine’s fight against the unprovoked invasion by neighboring Russia that began in February.

“It is a great honor for me to receive this award,” Klitschko said in a statement. “I am convinced that this is a recognition of the courage and inviolability of the Ukrainian people, who have been bravely resisting the Russian aggressor for more than three months. This is an award for everyone who defends the independence and freedom of Ukraine.”

Klitschko is the longest-serving mayor in Kyiv history.

“Vitali’s poise and strength as his city and country faces unfathomable tests have far surpassed the incredible resolve he demonstrated as one of boxing’s top heavyweight champions,” said Rob King, executive editor-at-large for ESPN content. “His commitment to the people of Ukraine has been a global inspiration, and his bravery is a prime example of the resilience of the human spirit. It is our privilege to bestow him with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.”

Dubois future?

England’s Daniel Dubois, who blew out Trevor Bryan via one-sided fourth-round knockout to take his WBA “regular” heavyweight title on Saturday in Miami, is looking forward to bigger fights.

By virtue of holding the secondary title, Dubois (18-1, 17 KOs), 24, is one of the mandatory challengers for the winner of the August rematch between unified titlist Oleksandr Usyk and former titlist and British countryman Anthony Joshua.

“Oh yeah, I am ready for the winner, line them up,” Dubois said during an in-studio interview along with promoter Frank Warren with the United Kingdom’s Talksport radio station. “I am waiting for this moment. I would prefer it to be Joshua, but whoever it is, it is the big league.

“I want to get a few more fights under my belt, with that belt, and defend it to really make my mark and leave a legacy as a champion.”

Warren said he would like to match with Dubois with Dillian Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs), 35, in an all-British bout. Whyte has been a longtime contender and got a long-awaited mandatory shot at world champion Tyson Fury on April 23 and was knocked out in the sixth round before a crowd of 94,000 at Wembley Stadium in London. It’s a fight that appeals to Dubois.

“That's the fight,” Dubois said. “This is all business. There is no disrespect to anyone but I am coming to clean up and take out whoever is in my way.”

Hall of Famer Ortiz dies

Former lightweight and junior welterweight champion Carlos Ortiz, a 1991 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee and one of Puerto Rico’s most legendary boxers, died on Monday in New York. No cause was given for his death at age 85.

“The WBO family is mourning the passing of legendary lightweight and junior welterweight champion Carlos Ortiz,” the Puerto Rico-based WBO announced. “Born in Ponce and raised in New York, Ortiz was one of the best and most popular fighters of the 1960s. Rest in peace.”

Ortiz (61-7-1, 30 KOs), who boxed from 1955 to 1972, was the first Puerto Rican to win titles in two divisions. He won the vacant junior welterweight title by second-round knockout of Kenny Lane in 1959 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, avenging a 10-round decision loss to him two fights earlier.

He made two defenses, including a split decision over fellow Hall of Famer Duilo Loi in 1969 before losing a majority decision and the title in an immediate rematch later that year. Ortiz would later challenge Duilo for the title in a rubber match but lost another decision.

Ortiz would later drop down to lightweight and in 1962 outpointed Joe Brown to win the WBA title. In his second defense, Ortiz stopped Douglas Vaillant in the 13th round in 1963 to retain the WBA belt and also win the newly created WBC lightweight title.

Ortiz would have two lightweight title reigns. He successfully defended the title four times in his first reign before losing a majority decision to Hall of Famer Ismael Laguna in 1965. Ortiz regained the title later that year by outpointing Laguna in an immediate rematch. Five successful defenses would follow against Johnny Bizzarro, Flash Elorde, Sugar Ramos (twice) and a rubber match with Laguna before he lost the title by split decision to Carlos Teo Cruz on Cruz's turf in the Dominican Republic in 1968.

Ortiz would win his next 10 in a row before being stopped in the sixth round by Hall of Famer Ken Buchanan in 1972 and retiring.

Gonzalez-Dogboe official

Featherweights Joet Gonzalez and Isaac Dogboe will meet in the 10-round main event of a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ card on July 23 at the Grand Casino in Hinckley, Minnesota, the company announced on Tuesday.

The Freddie Roach-trained Giovanni Cabrera (20-0, 7 KOs), 27, of Chicago, who signed with Top Rank this year, will face Gabriel Flores Jr. (21-1, 7 KOs), 22, of Stockton, California, in the 10-round lightweight co-feature.

Gonzalez (25-2, 15 KOs), 28, of Los Angeles, suffered both of his losses by decision in featherweight world title bouts to Shakur Stevenson (2019) and Emanuel Navarrete (2021). He has won his only fight since the loss to Navarrete, stopping Jeo Santisima in the ninth round in March.

“Isaac Dogboe always comes to fight. The respect is there, but on July 23, I am preparing to go to battle,” Gonzalez said. “I expect the best version of Dogboe, and I will be at the top of my game.”

Former junior featherweight titlist Dogboe (23-2, 15 KOs), 27, of Ghana, outpointed Christopher Diaz in November for his third win in a row at featherweight since back-to-back losses to Navarrete in junior featherweight title bouts.

“I have been tested against the very best, and on July 23, we go to war against another top contender in Joet Gonzalez,” Dogboe said. “I am excited to be back in a main event as I continue my quest to become a two-weight world champion.”

The undercard will include the return of heavyweight Guido Vianello (8-0-1, 8 KOs), 28, a 2016 Italian Olympian, in an eight-rounder against an opponent to be named. Vianello has not fought since last June because of a hand injury. Also slated for the undercard are several Top Rank prospects, including featherweight Haven Brady Jr. (6-0, 4 KOs), middleweight Javier Martinez (6-0, 2 KOs), heavyweight Antonio Mireles (3-0, 3 KOs) and lightweight Abdullah Mason (2-0, 2 KOs).

Quick hits

Heavyweight Jarrell Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs), 33, of Brooklyn, New York, who has not boxed since November 2018 because of several positive tests for performance enhancing drugs that caused multiple bouts to be canceled (including a shot at then-unified heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua in December 2019), is scheduled to return to the ring now his suspension is over. He is due to face Ariel Esteban Bracamonte (11-7, 6 KOs), 29, of Argentina, in a 10-rounder on June 23 on the WBA KO Drugs Festival card in Buenos Aires, Argentina, co-promoter Greg Cohen told Fight Freaks Unite. In recent months, Miller served as a sparring partner for champion Tyson Fury in his preparation for an eventual knockout win over Dillian Whyte on April 23.

The IBF on Tuesday notified all of its registered promoters that it has scheduled a purse bid for a cruiserweight title eliminator for the No. 1 position between Mateusz Masternak (46-5, 31 KOs), 35, of Poland, and Jason Whateley (10-0, 9 KOs), 31, of Australia, after their camps could not reach an agreement. The auction is scheduled for June 28 at 12 p.m. ET at the IBF offices in Springfield, New Jersey. The sides can still make a deal until 15 minutes before the bids are unsealed. In order to participate in the bidding, promoters must pay a nonrefundable $5,000 fee. The winner of the bout would become the mandatory challenger for Mairis Briedis (28-1, 20 KOs).

Longtime fan-favorite brawler Alfredo “Perro” Angulo (26-8, 21 KOs), 39, of Mexico, who was scheduled to fight an eight-round light heavyweight bout against Fidel Monterrosa (40-29-1, 32 KOs), 33, of Colombia, in Atlanta this past Saturday night, had his fight canceled on fight night. The lengthy card ran so long that the commission canceled the fight because it would have started after midnight. Angulo, who was at his best as a junior middleweight, has fought only four times since 2016 and not since a lopsided 10-round decision loss to Vladimir Hernandez in August 2020.

Show and tell

As I wrote about above, Hall of Fame lightweight and junior welterweight champion Carlos Ortiz died on Monday at age 85. He is one of many great champions from Puerto Rico, a group that includes luminaries such as Wilfredo Gomez, Wilfred Benitez, Felix Trinidad, Miguel Cotto, Hector Camacho, Edwin Rosario and Ivan Calderon, among others. Ortiz boxed from 1955 to 1972 and appears on a few cards. Here is one in my collection, a beautiful and scarce mint 1967 Panini sticker from Italy. PSA has graded only 14 of these Ortiz stickers. Mine is one of six graded at the 9 level; there are no 10s.

Mayweather-Asakura photo: Rizin; Dubois photo: Queensberry Promotions; Ortiz photo: WBC

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