Notebook: Spence, Ugas confirm their welterweight unification showdown

Ortiz-Hrgovic ordered; Ryan Garcia weighs in on lightweights; TR signs Joet Gonzalez, sets next fight; British boxing on hold for January due to Covid-19; Quick hits; Show and tell; more

Jan 04, 2022

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Welterweight world titleholders Errol Spence Jr. and Yordenis Ugas have confirmed that they will meet to unify their belts this spring, although the exact date and location of the bout has not been formally announced.

“We are targeting March or April for the fight,” Ugas during an interview on the Luis Ortiz-Charles Martin Premier Boxing Champions Fox Sports pay-per-view telecast on Saturday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. “It’s a fight for three titles. It’s a fight that we want and are targeting the (for) springtime.”

Spence also said on New Year’s Day during a brief Instagram video with actor/comedian Desi Banks that the fight is on.

“The fight’s in April,” Spence said. “Man down, strap season. He already know what time it is.”

The bout, likely to be on Fox Sports PPV, has been in the works since soon after Ugas upset Manny Pacquiao by decision on Aug. 21.

But first Spence, the WBC/IBF titlist, had to be medically cleared to resume training following surgery to repair a torn retina that was discovered during a pre-fight medical exam and forced him out of facing Pacquiao as planned. Ugas took his place on short notice.

Also, the WBA had to change its ruling on a four-man box-off in which it ordered Ugas, it’s “super” titleholder, to meet mandatory challenger Eimantas Stanionis with the winner to face “regular” titlist Radzhab Butaev, who defeated Jamal James to take the belt in the first fight of the box-off on Oct. 30.

Ugas was upset with the WBA for ordering his mandatory rather than allowing him to unify with Spence, but when Stanionis made a personal appeal to WBA president Gilberto Mendoza asking him to allow the unification fight, the organization changed course. It approved Spence-Ugas with Stanionis to challenge Butaev in the co-feature. The WBA will order the Spence-Ugas and Butaev-Stanionis winners to meet to fulfill its promise to get down one world titleholder in the division.

Spence (27-0, 21 KOs), 31, a southpaw from Desoto, Texas, will be making his sixth overall defense and fighting for the first time since he outpointed former titleholder Danny Garcia in December 2020. Ugas (27-4, 12 KOs), 35, a Cuba native fighting out of Miami, will be making his second defense.

The Spence-Ugas will winner will own three of the four major 147-pound titles with Terence Crawford holding the WBO belt.

IBF orders Ortiz-Hrgovic eliminator

When heavyweight contender Luis “King Kong” Ortiz knocked out former titlist Charles Martin in the sixth round on Saturday night it was in an IBF semifinal title eliminator with the winner to be ordered to face Filip Hrgovic for the right to become the mandatory challenger for the organization’s world title, which is currently held by three-belt unified titleholder Oleksandr Usyk.

On Monday, the IBF officially ordered Ortiz-Hrgovic, sending both camps a letter telling them that they had three days — until 5 p.m. ET on Thursday — to notify the IBF in writing of their availability for the bout. If they do not notify the IBF, it will go down its rankings and the eliminator will be offered to the next available contender.

Hrgovic co-promoter Nisse Sauerland on Monday told Fight Freaks Unite that Hrgovic has accepted a spot in the eliminator.

“Hopefully, that will be the fight, Ortiz against Hrgovic,” Sauerland said. “Whoever wants to fight for the (IBF) world title has to go through (Hrgovic). We’re accepting the challenge and I’m hoping (Ortiz) is accepting the challenge as well. I think it will be a great fight.”

Hrgovic very much wants the fight as well.

“Luis Ortiz will freeze from my punches. My power will give him a cold shower,” Hrgovic said.

Hrgovic (14-0, 12 KOs), 29, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist from Croatia, is coming off a third-round knockout of then-undefeated Emir Ahmatovic on Dec. 4 on the Devin Haney-Joseph Diaz Jr. undercard at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Ortiz (33-2, 28 KOs), 42, a Miami-based Cuban southpaw and two-time world title challenger, who was stopped in both fights by then-titlist Deontay Wilder, was coming off a 14-month layoff when he survived two knockdowns to stop Martin.

Garcia critiques lightweight rivals

While lightweight star Ryan Garcia will be sidelined while rehabilitating his injured right hand and wrist that required surgery in October until his planned return on April 2, he paid close attention to all four of the major fights in his division that took place between Nov. 27 and Dec. 11.

He watched George Kambosos Jr. author a major upset by outpointing Teofimo Lopez in a grueling slugfest to win the unified 135-pound world title on Nov. 27; Devin Haney retain the WBC title by unanimous decision over former junior lightweight titlist Joseph Diaz Jr. on Dec. 4; Gervonta “Tank” Davis retain his secondary WBA belt in a hard-fought and disputed unanimous decision over contender Isaac Cruz on Dec. 5; and former pound-for-pound king and unified lightweight world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko dominate former titlist Richard Commey en route to a one-sided decision on Dec. 11.

Garcia had designs on facing Cruz in his return, and he hopes it will lead to an eventual fight with Davis. He’d also like to tangle with the other winners, Kambosos, Haney and Lomachenko.

“We just need to do a round robin,” told me in a recent interview.

Garcia gave his unvarnished views of his lightweight rivals and their recent fights and I wrote about it for World Boxing News. Please read that story here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2022/01/02/ryan-garcia-lightweight-rivals/amp

Gonzalez-Santisima set

Two-time featherweight title challenger Joet Gonzalez will face former world title challenger Jeo Santisima in the co-feature of the Jose Ramirez-Jose Pedraza junior welterweight fight on Feb. 5 (ESPN+) at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California, Top Rank announced on Monday.

In announcing the bout, Top Rank also formally announced that it has signed Gonzalez (24-2, 14 KOs), 28, of Los Angeles, to a multi-year promotional deal.

“Joet Gonzalez is a fighter of tremendous character and one of the best featherweights in the world. When he became available, it was a no-brainer,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said about signing him.

Gonzalez, who recently split from longtime promoter Golden Boy, lost a one-sided decision to Shakur Stevenson for the vacant WBO featherweight title in October 2019 and a decision challenging Emanuel Navarrete for the same belt this past October in a dramatic and exciting fight. Between the losses, Gonzalez looked good in a 10-round decision over former title challenger Miguel Marriaga in September 2020.

“My last three fights have been on Top Rank cards, and they’ve always treated me with respect,” Gonzalez said. “I can't wait for my official debut under the Top Rank banner. Jeo is a tough Filipino warrior, and this is a great opportunity to prove I belong in the featherweight title conversation. I want another title shot, and it all starts with an impressive showing in Fresno.”

Santisima (21-3, 18 KOs), 25, of the Philippines, has won two fights in a row by knockout since getting stopped in the 11th round challenging then-WBO junior featherweight titlist Navarrete in February 2020.

No British boxing in January

Due to a surge in Covid-19 cases from the rapidly spreading omicron variant, the British Boxing Board of Control on New Year’s Day announced that it has suspended all events in January.

“Following advice from the British Boxing Board of Control medical panel, boxing tournaments under the jurisdiction of the BBBofC will be suspended for the month of January,” Robert Smith, the board’s general secretary, said in a statement. “A further review by the medical panel and stewards will take place prior to the planned recommencement of boxing in February.”

January is usually a slow month for boxing in the United Kingdom but there are still events that have been postponed. The highest profile one was the Boxxer-promoted card scheduled for Jan. 29 at Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

Middleweight contenders Chris Eubank Jr. and Liam Williams were due to meet in the main event with unified women’s middleweight champion Claressa Shields defending against Ema Kozin in the co-feature. This is the second time Eubank-Williams has been postponed, having originally been scheduled for Dec. 11 until Williams had to postpone due to aggravating the shoulder injury he initially suffered during a unanimous decision loss challenging WBO titlist Demetrius Andrade in April.

The card will be rescheduled on Feb. 5, which Shields wrote Monday on Twitter.

“My world title fight has been pushed back to Feb. 5th! 2nd time being rescheduled,” she wrote.

Top Rank signs Benjamin

Top Rank announced it has signed Cleveland light heavyweight amateur standout Dante Benjamin Jr., 19. He will turn pro in a four-round bout on the undercard of the Robson Conceicao-Xavier Martinez junior lightweight fight on Jan. 29 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Benjamin, who is managed by David McWater’s Split-T Management, is the latest newcomer from Cleveland to sign with Top Rank, joining 17-year-old lightweight Abdullah Mason (1-0, 1 KO) and 2020 U.S. Olympic welterweight Tiger Johnson (1-0, 1 KO).

“Dante Benjamin Jr. has the makeup and the amateur pedigree to be a tremendous professional,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “Cleveland has produced some of our nation’s top emerging fighters, and I look forward to Dante, Tiger and Abdullah bringing big-time boxing to their city for years come.”

Benjamin won more than 100 amateur bouts and seven national titles, including gold medals at the 2016 and 2017 Junior Open Championships, 2018 Youth National Championships, and the 2019 Emil Jechev Memorial Tournament in Botevgrad, Bulgaria. He has been boxing since he was 7 and has been trained the entire time by Renard Safo.

“I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity,” Benjamin said. “Being a professional boxer at the highest level is something I've wanted to do since I was a kid. I’m living out one of my dreams, and I am driven to win a world title. I’m proud to represent my city. I’m hungry to be great, and that’s why I bust my butt in the gym every day.”

Quick hits

The WBA has stripped heavyweight Mahmoud Charr (32-4, 18 KOs) of his “in recess” titlist status and dropped him from its rankings, and his long overdue mandated fight with “regular” titlist Trevor Bryan is off, a source familiar with the situation told Fight Freaks Unite. Bryan and Charr were due to meet on a Don King-promoted card Jan. 29 in Warren, Ohio. Charr, 37, a Syria native based in Germany, has previously been unable to face Bryan because he couldn’t get a work visa. After King won the most recent purse bid, a stipulation was that Charr had to secure a P1 visa at least 30 days beforehand. The deadline passed Dec. 29 without Charr producing a visa, so the WBA followed through and stripped him. Bryan (21-0, 15 KOs), 32, of Schenectady, New York, will instead defend against Louisiana’s Jonathan Guidry (17-0-2, 10 KOs), 32, who was already due to face Alonzo Butler on the undercard, the source said. The WBA will order the winner to next face mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois.

Middleweight Nico Ali Walsh (3-0, 2 KOs), 21, of Las Vegas, who is the grandson of Muhammad Ali, has been added to the Jan. 29 Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card headlined by the Robson Conceicao-Xavier Martinez junior lightweight bout at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite. Ali Walsh turned pro at the same venue on Aug. 14. He struggled to a debatable four-round majority decision in his last bout on Dec. 11 at New York’s Madison Square Garden on the main ESPN broadcast. His upcoming bout, against an opponent to be determined, will be a bit lower profile as it will be on the ESPN+-only portion of the card.

Show and tell

I spent some time over the New Year’s weekend enjoying my boxing cards. One of my favorites is this Mike Tyson issue. I prefer graded cards to be from PSA but I made an exception for Beckett — this is the only one I own — in order to add this extremely rare and high-grade Tyson card to my collection a few years ago. It comes from the 2013 Upper Deck Employee Precious Metal Gems six-card set that also features cards of Oscar De La Hoya (I have an ungraded one), Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Hulk Hogan and Michael Phelps. Each card was limited to only 125 copies and they were not available to the general public as they were given to Upper Deck employees as a perk. Some, of course, made it into the hands of collectors, but they are extremely hard to find, especially in the kind of superb condition this Tyson is in. Mine is No. 109 of 125 (they’re numbered on the card back).

Spence photo: Ryan Hafey/PBC; Hrgovic photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Garcia photo: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy

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