Notebook: Shakur on Matchroom deal: 'Ready to start next chapter'
1st Cordina in Riyadh, then Zepeda; clock running on Ennis unification chance; Keyshawn Davis homecoming; Title Sports Network shows; 2 big cards set for Tokyo; Wardley deal; Quick hits; Show and tell
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WBC lightweight titlist Shakur Stevenson has signed a multi-fight deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, the company announced on Thursday.
Hearn has long spoken highly of three-division titlist Stevenson and has been talking to him about a deal since soon after his contract with career-long promoter Top Rank expired following a one-sided decision over Artem Harutyunyan on July 6 to retain his title for the second time.
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The signing was announced days after Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh announced that Stevenson would make his next defense against former two-time IBF junior lightweight titleholder Joe Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs), 32, of Wales, who is moving up to lightweight coming off a knockout loss that cost him title against Anthony Cacace on May 18 in Riyadh.
Stevenson and Cordina will meet in the co-feature of the Riyadh Season card headlined by the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undisputed light heavyweight title fight on Oct. 12 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
“I am ready to start this next chapter of my career and it begins on Oct. 12 with Joe Cordina on the stacked Riyadh Season card in Saudi Arabia,” Stevenson said. “I've made it clear that I want the biggest names and the biggest fights in the sport. Bring on William Zepeda at the top of 2025 and I’m ready for anyone who is brave enough to step in the ring with me. There have been few willing to take on that challenge in recent years.
“With Matchroom and Riyadh Season, I am teaming up with a promotional force that matches my world class talent. We will be unstoppable in and out of the ring, and I will continue to show my dominance for many years to come in the sport of boxing.”
Mexican southpaw slugger Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) is Stevenson’s mandatory challenger — and the fight had been ordered — but both sides agreed, and the WBC signed off, that each would take an interim bout with the plan for them to meet in early 2025.
Hearn was the one who arranged for Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs), 27, a southpaw from Newark, New Jersey, to meet Alalshikh earlier this month in Los Angeles at the Terence Crawford-Israil Madrimov fight while he was also talking to Stevenson about signing him.
“I am delighted to welcome what I believe is a pound-for-pound great to the Matchroom team,” Hearn said. “Shakur Stevenson is 27 and already a three-division world champion and might be unbeatable in the sport of boxing. This young man should be a global superstar, and I believe with our machine behind him, he will land all the big fights and receive all the credit that he deserves. The journey begins on Oct. 12 in Riyadh on a huge card, and we cannot wait for the future together.”
Stevenson and Hearn will address the media at a press conference in Los Angeles next week.
‘Boots’ Ennis plans
Matchroom Boxing is making plans for IBF welterweight titlist Jaron “Boots” Ennis to make his second defense on Nov. 9 (DAZN) with another Philadelphia hometown fight possible, sources with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite.
In his first defense — and first fight with Matchroom Boxing — Ennis looked sharp knocking out David Avanesyan in the fifth round at the Wells Fargo Center on July 13, drawing a boisterous crowd of 14,119. It was the largest attendance for a boxing event in Philadelphia in 46 years, since Marvin Hagler, two years before he won the undisputed middleweight championship, outpointed Bennie Briscoe before 14,930 at the famed Spectrum in 1978.
Who Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs), 27, will fight remains to be seen. The IBF has ordered him to meet mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian (24-2, 13 KOs), 28, of Ukraine, who Ennis shut out (120-108 on all three scorecards) in a forgettable fight for the vacant IBF interim belt in January 2023. A rematch would be a very hard sell for all involved and nobody other than probably Chukhadzhian is much interested in it.
The sides have until Aug. 30 to make a deal or a purse bid will be scheduled. Until the purse bid is set, Ennis could bypass the mandatory bout if he can land a unification fight, which is allowable under IBF rules. That would mean facing Mario Barrios (WBC), Eimantas Stanionis (WBA) or Brian Norman (WBO).
That means Hearn is under the gun to finalize a unification fight in order to get away from an unappealing Chukhadzhian rematch. The window for the IBF to OK a unification fight ahead of the mandatory expires once the free negotiation period closes on Aug. 30 and the IBF orders the Ennis-Chukhadzhian purse bid (assuming the sides have not made a deal).
To that end, Hearn said he has made “substantial” offers to PBC/TGB Promotions for Barrios and Stanionis. However, they were rejected as not being remotely close to the financial expectations. A source with knowledge of the offers said Hearn’s definition of “substantial” was nowhere close to anything acceptable.
Hearn is in a similar situation with an offer made this week to Top Rank for Norman — not remotely enough money to actually make the fight, a source with knowledge of that offer told FFU. Top Rank and Norman are still willing to make the fight if the offer is more in the realm of their expectations, the source said.
If Norman does not face Ennis, Top Rank will schedule him for his first defense this fall, possibly on Nov. 8 (see section below) and Ennis likely would be stuck facing Chukhadzhian again.
Keyshawn Davis homecoming
Lightweight up-and-comer Keyshawn Davis has yet to headline as a pro or fight in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, but he will check both of those boxes on Nov. 8.
Davis, a 2020 U.S. Olympic silver medalist and the 2022 Fight Freaks Unite prospect of the year, will face Gustavo Lemos in the main event of a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card at the Scope, a source with knowledge of the plans told FFU on Friday.
He will headline at the same venue where the late Hall of Fame three-division champion Pernell Whitaker, who was also from Norfolk, boxed 10 times during his legendary career.
The fight will be the third for Davis (11-0, 7 KOs), 25, this year. He looked sensational knocking out former two-division titlist Jose Pedraza in the sixth round in February followed by a near-shutout decision of Miguel Madueno on July 6.
Lemos (29-1, 19 KOs), 28, of Argentina, is coming off his only loss, a competitive decision against Richardson Hitchins in an IBF junior welterweight title eliminator in April in Las Vegas.
Although the fight has not been announced, Davis acknowledged it on social media on Friday, posting, “Homecoming or not, I give the fans great fights. I stand on that! #davisVlemos.”
Middleweight prospect Troy Isley (13-0, 5 KOs), 25, of Alexandria, Virginia, who was Davis’ Olympic teammate and is also with Top Rank, will also be on the card, the source said.
It is also possible that WBO welterweight titlist Brian Norman Jr. (26-0, 20 KOs), 23, a Decatur, Georgia, native, could make his first defense in the co-feature, though it remains possible he could wind up in a Nov. 9 unification fight with IBF titlist Jaron “Boots” Ennis (see section above).
Title Sports Network show
In our latest on Title Sports Network, I joined Seb Parkinson for two shows this week. In the first one we discussed Christian Mbilli’s lopsided decision over former title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko and heavyweight Guido Vianello’s impressive eighth-round upset stoppage of Arslanbek Makhmudov; the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul press conference in New York; and then we opened it up to our livestream viewers and I answered their questions. In the second show, we reacted to the announcement Turki Alalshikh made as he unveiled a loaded undercard for the Oct. 12 Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undisputed light heavyweight title fight that includes Shakur Stevenson and Jai Opetaia title defenses and the Fabio Wardley-Frazer Clarke heavyweight rematch. We got such a good response to our first livestream Q&A, I answered a bunch more questions from our viewers. Please subscribe to the YouTube channel and also check out the videos here:
7 world title fights in Japan
A pair of bantamweight world title fights will headline cards featuring seven world title fights overall on shows Oct. 13 and Oct. 14, both at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Teiken Promotions announced. The cards will stream in the United States in the early morning each day on ESPN+.
In the Oct.13 main event, Takuma Inoue (20-1, 5 KOs), 28, of Japan, the brother of undisputed junior featherweight champion and pound-for-pound star Naoya Inoue, will make his third defense against countryman Seiya Tsutsumi (11-0-2, 8 KOs), 28.
In the Oct.14 headliner, WBC bantamweight titlist Junto Nakatani (28-0, 21 KOs), 26, a Japanese southpaw and three-division titlist, will make his second defense against Petch Sor Chitpattana (76-1, 53 KOs), 30, a Thai southpaw, who will box in Japan for the first time since a 2018 interim title bout loss to Takuma Inoue. Since then he has won 28 fights in a row.
Wins by Inoue and Nakatani could lead to a much-discussed all-Japanese title unification bout.
In the Oct.13 co-feature, Kenshiro Teraji (23-1, 14 KOs), 32, of Japan, who recently vacated the unified WBC/WBA junior flyweight titles, will move up and fight former WBC titlist Cristofer Rosales (37-6, 22 KOs), 29, of Nicaragua, for the 112-pound belt relinquished by Julio Cesar Martinez.
Also on the Oct. 13 card:
WBA flyweight titlist Seigo Yuri Akui (20-2-1, 11 KOs), 28, of Japan, will make his second defense against Thananchai Charunphak (25-1, 15 KOs), 24, of Thailand.
Shokichi Iwata (13-1, 10 KOs), 28, of Japan, and Jairo Noriega (14-0, 3 KOs), 31, of Spain, will vie for the WBO junior flyweight title vacated by Jonathan Gonzalez to move up in weight.
In the Oct. 14 co-feature, Japanese bantamweight Tenshin Nasukawa (4-0, 2 KOs), 26, the popular former kickboxing world champion, will face Gerwin Asilo (9-0, 4 KOs), of the Philippines, for a regional belt in a 10-rounder.
Also on the Oct. 14 card:
WBO junior bantamweight titlist Kosei Tanaka (20-1, 11 KOs), 29, of Japan, who has won titles in four divisions, will make his first defense against Phumelele Cafu (10-0-3, 8 KOs), 29, a southpaw, who will fight outside of his native South Africa for the first time.
WBO flyweight titlist Anthony Olascuaga (7-1, 5 KOs), 25, of Los Angeles, will make his first defense against former junior flyweight titlist Gonzalez (28-3-1, 14 KOs), 33, of Puerto Rico.
Queensberry signs Wardley
Queensberry Promotions’ Frank Warren announced he has signed heavyweight contender Fabio Wardley, the British and Commonwealth champion, to a multi-fight promotional agreement.
The signing coincided with the announcement this week by Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh that Wardley (17-0-1, 16 KO), 29, would face British countryman Frazer Clarke (8-0-1, 6 KOs), 33, a 2020 British Olympic bronze medalist, in a much-anticipated rematch on Oct. 12 on the Riyadh Season card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol undercard.
Wardley retained his titles via split draw in a hellacious battle on March 31 at The O2 in London and a rematch was immediately discussed.
“At this stage in my career, aligning myself with the best promoter is crucial and I couldn’t be in better hands than with Frank and (his son) George,” Wardley said. “Seeing the massive fights and shows that Queensberry have put together over the past few years has me really excited about the future and what we can achieve together.”
The fight will be Wardley’s second on a Riyadh Season card. He knocked out Queensberry’s David Adeleye, then undefeated, in the seventh round on the Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou undercard last October. Now Wardley is with Queensberry.
“The heavyweight division could not be more exciting at the moment and Fabio has already shown himself to be a serious part of that with some real standout performances,” Frank Warren said. “Fabio understandably had a lot of offers on the table and I could not be more pleased that he has chosen Queensberry to promote his career at such a pivotal time. He has a huge rematch in October and once he comes through that I truly believe he’s ready to challenge anyone in the top 10.”
Mosley free agent
Middleweight Shane Mosley Jr. (22-4, 12 KOs), 33, of Las Vegas, the son of Hall of Famer three-division champion Shane Mosley, is a free agent with the expiration of his contract with Golden Boy Promotions, although the Golden Boy has a matching right to any deal he is offered, a source told Fight Freaks Unite.
Mosley has won five fights in a row and is coming off his biggest win, near-shutout 10-round decision over former middleweight titlist Daniel Jacobs — who was making a comeback after a 2½-year layoff — in a super middleweight bout on the Nate Diaz-Jorge Masvidal undercard on July 6 in Anaheim, California.
Regardless of where Mosley signs, he hopes to land a title shot.
“I’ll be watching the Erislandy Lara versus Danny Garcia,” Mosley said. “I want the winner, but I’m ready for any of the champions at 160 pounds. I’ve worked hard to get here, and now it’s time to take advantage of all that hard work.”
WBA middleweight titlist Lara defends against Garcia on Sept. 14 on the Canelo Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga undercard at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Quick hits
Former unified junior middleweight titleholders and PBC fighters Jarrett Hurd and Jeison Rosario, both past their best but seeking another title opportunity, fought to a split draw in the super middleweight main event of the ProBox TV card Wednesday night at the ProBox TV Events Center in Plant City, Florida. The scores were 96-94 Hurd, 96-94 Rosario and 95-95, leaving neither happy. Hurd (25-3-1, 17 KOs), 33, of Accokeek, Maryland, who is 2-3-1 in his last six bouts, seemed to let the fight get away from him by not giving away the final round to Rosario (24-4-2, 18 KOs), 29, of the Dominican Republic, who is 1-1-1 in his last three.
Super middleweight Sergiy Derevyanchenko, the three-time middleweight title challenger, will undergo surgery Monday or Tuesday to repair a torn tendon in his left arm, which was injured during a decision loss to Montreal contender Christian Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) in the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN main event Saturday night at Videotron Centre in Quebec City. Derevyanchenko, who saw a doctor in New York on Thursday, tore the tendon that connects the biceps muscle to the elbow — and the tendon rolled all the way to the top of his arm — manager Keith Connolly told Fight Freaks Unite. Derevyanchenko (15-6, 10 KOs), a 2008 Ukrainian Olympian fighting out of Brooklyn, New York, suffered the injury in the fourth round. Although he took a lot of punishment, he made it to the final bell and lost 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92.
Germany-based Cuban William Scull (22-0, 9 KOs), 32, and Vladimir Shishkin (16-0, 10 KOs), 33, a Russia native fighting out of Detroit, will meet for the vacant IBF super middleweight title after their representatives, Agon Sports for Scull and Salita Promotions for Shishkin, made a deal just before a purse bid was scheduled on Tuesday. The date and site are not set but the fight probably will take place in October with Germany, where Agon Sports is based, and Miami possible locations. They will fight will be for the belt stripped from Canelo Alvarez, who declined to fight the unknown, unaccomplished Scull, costing him undisputed status.
Golden Boy announced is has signed junior middleweight Jordan Panthen (9-0, 8 KOs), of Honolulu, Hawaii, who won U.S. Nationals and National Golden Gloves titles in 2021 before turning pro in 2022. “They have big plans to provide me with the best opportunities towards becoming the next American champion,” Panthen said. Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya has high hopes for Panthen, who trains in Los Angeles under Julian Chua. “The (154-pound) division is the hottest in all of boxing right now, and with the signing of Jordan Panthen, Golden Boy has added yet another blue-chip prospect to the mix,” De La Hoya said.
Junior middleweight Ardreal Holmes Jr. (15-0, 6 KOs), 30, will face Hugo Noriega (10-2, 5 KOs), 34, a Miami-based Cuban, in the 10-round main event of the next “Big Time Boxing USA” card on Sept.12 (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET) at Dort Financial Center in Holmes’ hometown of Flint, Michigan, Salita Promotions announced. “There’s nothing like fighting at home and I know on Sept. 12, there will be a raucous crowd rooting me on,” Holmes said. “When I get my ‘W’ over Hugo Noriega, it will put me just that much closer to my dream of winning a world title.” In the co-feature, middleweight Joseph Hicks (10-0, 7 KOs), 30, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, will face Detroit native Ronnie Austion (10-2, 7 KOs) in an eight-rounder.
Show and tell
Hall of Fame great Felix Trinidad, then 24 years old, was 31-0 with 27 KOs and in the midst of his long IBF welterweight title reign when he decided to test out the junior middleweight division he would eventually unify titles in a few years later. For his first foray at 154 pounds, Trinidad squared off with Australian contender Troy Waters in a WBC junior middleweight title eliminator in the main event of a Don King-promoted SET PPV (the old name for Showtime PPV) at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where Trinidad’s Puerto Rican fans cheered him on. It was all Trinidad, who after a couple of minutes of seeing what the WBC’s No. 1 contender had blasted him out. Trinidad landed his vaunted left hook near Waters’ temple and dropped him with a little less than a minute to go. He climbed the ring post to celebrate as referee Arthur Mercante Sr. counted, but Waters got to his knees and barely beat the count. Trinidad followed with a massive barrage of punches that forced Waters to the ropes and eventually another left hook caught him clean and he went down again, and Mercante counted him out with 10 seconds left.
Among the fights on the undercard, Hall of Famer Ricardo Lopez, one of the best ever from Mexico, dominated Puerto Rico’s Alex “Nene” Sanchez, knocking him down in the second and fifth rounds en route to a fifth-round knockout to move to 47-0 as he unified the WBC and WBO titles in one of his most significant wins. The card was on Aug. 23, 1997 — 27 years ago Friday. Here is a poster from the fight in my collection.
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Photos: Stevenson/Hearn: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing; Ennis: Amanda Westcott/Matchroom Boxing; Davis: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Wardley: Lawrence Listig/Boxxer; Mosley: Ester Lin/Fanmio; Hurd-Rosario: ProBox TV
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Lopez was a great fighter I have got him 4 th best Mexican fighter of all time behind Chavez,canleo and sanchez
So stoked for big time boxing to come back to VA!