Notebook: Tyson-Paul undercard: Sylve vs. Schofield, Chavez Jr. vs. Till
IBF orders Canelo's mandatory; Benn suspended in U.K.; Aussie ring announcer retires; Matias-Paro undercard; William Zepeda, Nakatani updates; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Undefeated lightweight prospects Ashton “H20” Sylve and Floyd Schofield will mix it up in a 10-rounder that will stream on Netflix as part of the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul undercard on July 20 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Most Valuable Promotions announced on Wednesday.
In another undercard bout, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., a former WBC middleweight titleholder, who has battled various outside the ring issues, will return fight for the first time in nearly three years against former UFC fighter Darren Till, who box as a pro for the first time. They will clash in a six-round cruiserweight fight at a contract weight of 190 pounds.
Sylve-Schofield comes as a surprise given how unusual it is for unbeaten prospects to fight each other.
“These two young stars are disrupting the sport of boxing by putting their undefeated records on the line against each other so early in their careers, to evolve the sport and set an example for other prospects,” said MVP co-founders Paul and Nakisa Bidarian in a statement.
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Sylve (11-0, 9 KOs), 20, of Long Beach, California, who MVP has given considerable hype to, is coming off a one-sided 10-round decision win over Estivan Falcao in February but badly missed weight. He was 140 pounds for the 135-pound bout.
“I can’t wait to step into the ring with ‘Kid Austin,’” Sylve said. “He’s just another stepping stone on my path to greatness and when I’m done with him, he’ll wish he never signed the contract.”
Schofield (17-0, 12 KOs), 21, of Austin, Texas, who is a Golden Boy fighter, is one of the top prospects in boxing. He last fought in March and dominated Esteuri Suero, who was disqualified in the fifth round for excessive low blows.
“Being on a card of this magnitude is very important to me,” Schofield said. “I’ve worked super hard to get to fights like these, and now it’s time to show what I got. I step into that ring undefeated, and I will leave undefeated. ‘H2O’ may doubt me, but he’ll soon realize he is facing an unstoppable force. This is my moment, and I look forward to showing the world what ‘Kid Austin’ is capable of.”
Chavez (53-6-1, 34 KOs), 38, of Mexico, the son of the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., has struggled with substance abuse and legal problems that sent his career into a tailspin in recent years. He’s 3-3 in his last six fights dating to a shutout decision loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2017. Chavez’s last fight, in December 2021, was a 10-round decision over journeyman David Zegarra at 186 pounds.
In 2021, Chavez faced another former UFC star in Anderson Silva and lost an eight-round decision.
“I’m excited to return to the ring after some time off, and I’m motivated and eager to re-establish myself,” Chavez said. “I was the first Mexican middleweight champion and want to prove that I can again become a champion. My return to the ring at this historic event is an honor. I’m going to win by KO and continue my journey.”
Till, 31, of England, is known for his exploits during a 2015 to 2022 run with UFC, where he challenged for the welterweight title in 2018. In February 2023, Till (18-5-1 in MMA) secured his release from UFC because he said he wanted to pursue boxing. He is trained by former junior middleweight titlist Liam Smith.
“I’m very happy to be a part of this event. Paul versus Tyson is going to be one of the biggest events of our generation, and to make my professional boxing debut on it is brilliant,” Till said. “I’m very happy with my opponent. I’ve been a fan of his father for many years and I’ve been a fan of Chavez Jr. too. But make no mistake about it — I am coming to knock him out in the first round.”
IBF orders Canelo’s mandatory
Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, fresh off an action-packed but one-sided decision win over Jaime Munguia on May 4, was ordered Monday to begin negotiations for his IBF mandatory defense against the unknown, untested and unaccomplished William Scull.
The IBF confirmed the order to Fight Freaks Unite after Scull promoter AGON Sports & Events announced it on social media.
Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs), 33, of Mexico, and Scull (22-0, 9 KOs), 31, a Cuba native fighting out of Germany, have 30 days to make a deal or the IBF will schedule a purse bid.
Scull has been the IBF mandatory challenger since a wide decision win over Evgeny Shvedenko in a final eliminator in July 2022, but the title fight was only ordered now because the IBF is next up in the rotation system used to determine the order of mandatory challengers for unified champions.
It remains to be seen whether Alvarez has any interest in facing such a little known opponent but his team did authorize Scull to box on the undercard of his fight with Munguia. In a non-streamed fight during the preliminaries, Scull won an eight-round decision over Sean Hemphill, 79-72, 78-73 and 76-75.
Alvarez could opt to fight him or perhaps do what often happens, which is to make a deal for Scull to step aside as was the case, for example, when Jermell Charlo made multiple step-aside deals with little known Bakhram Murtazaliev when he was the IBF junior middleweight mandatory challenger. Charlo ended up eventually vacating and Murtazaliev went on to win the vacant belt.
Alvarez-Scull as a pay-per-view fight would a very hard sell and likely do very little business. Alvarez has other bigger potential fights, be it against WBO mandatory challenger Edgar Berlanga or against WBC interim titlist/mandatory challenger David Benavidez, although Alvarez has so far balked at facing Benavidez, who looms as the biggest fight for him in the division.
Benn suspended in U.K.
UK Anti-Doping and the British Boxing Board of Control won their appeal in the Conor Benn doping case, clearing the way for the unbeaten welterweight to be provisionally suspended in his home country and leaving his career in limbo again.
“As UKAD have stated, the BBBoC can confirm that Conor Benn is subject to a provisional suspension prohibiting him from participating in any capacity (or assisting another athlete in any capacity) in a competition, event or activity that is organized, convened, authorized or recognized by the BBBoC or any other World Anti-Doping Code-compliant sport,” the BBBofC said in a statement. “UKAD and the BBBoC were successful in their respective appeals of a decision handed down by a tribunal of the independent National Anti-Doping Panel in July 2023, and Mr. Benn’s provisional suspension was re-imposed by the appeal tribunal following those successful appeals.
“As Mr. Benn’s case remains before the independent National Anti-Doping Panel and the case will now progress in accordance with the UK Anti-Doping rules, the BBBoC is not able to make any further public comment at this time.”
The National Anti-Doping Panel cleared Benn to fight again but when UKAD and the BBBofC appealed the decision, he remained on ice in the U.K. while the appeals process played out.
Benn (23-0, 14 KOs), 27, who is the son of British boxing icon Nigel Benn, has won two fights since being idle for 17 months due to a pair of failed drug tests for the banned PED Clomiphene that caused a major pay-per-view middleweight bout against Chris Eubank Jr. that was set for Oct. 8, 2022 to be canceled a few days beforehand when one of the test results came to light.
While Benn remained unlicensed as the appeals process played out in the U.K., he was licensed in the United States on a technicality and ended the long layoff with a 10-round decision Rodolfo Orozco in Orlando, Florida, in September.
Still barred from boxing at home while awaiting a ruling on the UKAD and BBBofC appeals, he made his Las Vegas debut on Feb. 3 and won a lopsided decision over Peter Dobson, which led to discussions of a possible fight with Manny Pacquiao.
But now it is unclear when Benn will be licensed again. Behind the scenes, his team and British regulators are discussing it with Benn hoping his suspension will be lifted this fall while the regulators are seeking a longer term punishment into next year.
Ring announcer sorry, retires
Australian ring announcer Lt. Dan Hennessey, who botched the announcement of two results on the Vasiliy Lomachenko-George Kambosos Jr. undercard on Saturday night in Perth, Australia, apologized for the egregious error of announcing the wrong winner of one of them and later announced his retirement.
After WBA women’s bantamweight titlist Nina Hughes and Cherneka Johnson battled the 10-round distance, the over-the-top Hennessy accurately read the scores of the majority decision — 95-95, 96-94 and 98-92 — but announced Hughes as the winner.
As Hughes celebrated, and without any explanation, Hennessy then re-announced the scores a few moments later, this time correctly declaring Johnson as the winner and leaving them both in shock.
The horrendous error caused an uproar on social media and universal derision.
“I own it. It’s all on me,” Hennessy posted to social media. “I take full responsibility for the Cherneka Johnson v Nina Hughes controversy. “Not the Judges, not the sanctioned body. Me. I have apologized to all involved, and now I apologize to you (fans).
“I am sorry for what happened. Again, I own it and can only try to do better next time. Not my best day in the office. I guess all the shitty comments on socials I have coming. Again I am crushed and sorry for my shitstorm of a performance. You all deserved better. Sorry again.”
Later, Hennessey posted to social media again and said he was done ring announcing.
“I love all the support from everyone. Thank you all for the kind words. Unfortunately the worldwide backlash is absolutely incredible and it’s (affecting) my mental health to a degree where I will have 1 more show ever,” Hennessey wrote. “I am doing this show because I am still a man of my word and promised Sam Rapira that I would do it because he is a great mate and I refuse to leave him hanging. I love and will keep in touch with all my friends from around the world. Thank you. No longer the world’s punching bag. I’m out.”
Matias-Paro card shapes up
Matchroom Boxing on Wednesday added four fights to the undercard of IBF junior welterweight titlist Subriel Matias’ homecoming defense against Liam Paro on June 15 (DAZN) at Coliseo Juan Aubin Cruz Abreu in Matias’ hometown of Manati, Puerto Rico.
Three of them are 10-round regional title bouts matching Puerto Rico against Mexico.
In the co-feature, Mexican lightweight contender Angel Fierro (22-1-2, 17 KOs), 25, will move up to junior welterweight and face Alfredo Santiago (14-2, 6 KOs), 29. Fierro has boxed once before in Puerto Rico and notched his biggest win, a sixth-round KO of Puerto Rican Alberto Machado, a former junior lightweight titlist, in 2021.
“I feel very excited to return to the ring and even more so in Puerto Rico,” Fierro said. “It will be a great fight, Mexico versus Puerto Rico, where I come to repeat the same story from three years ago but this time much better.”
Said Santiago: “Angel is an excellent Mexican opponent. I was born in Moca, a small town in the Dominican Republic, but I’ve lived in Puerto Rico for many years. I have made all my professional boxing career here in Puerto Rico. I am not letting Mr. Fierro come to my second home and beat me. That simply will not happen. Not in front of my people.”
Also added was flyweight Yankiel Rivera (5-0, 2 KOs), 26, a 2020 Puerto Rican Olympian, against Victor Sandoval (37-4, 23 KOs), 26,
Two other bouts will feature Puerto Rican southpaws Matchroom Boxing announced this week that it has signed to co-promotional deals with Universal Promotions:
Female welterweight Stephanie Pineiro (6-0, 2 KOs), 33, who has also played professional basketball in Puerto Rico since 2009 and aims to compete in this summer’s Paris Olympics, will face Mexico’s Diana Tapia (7-1, 2 KOs) 30, in a regional title bout.
Junior welterweight William Ortiz (5-0, 4 KOs), 20, will face fellow Puerto Rican Luis Gonzalez (5-2, 4 KOs), 24, in a six-rounder. Ortiz, a pro since October 2022, was a four-time Puerto Rican national champion and 2021 Pan American Games bronze medalist.
Quick hits
Golden Boy is planning the next fight for big-punching lightweight contender William Zepeda (30-0, 26 KOs), 27, a southpaw from Mexico, on July 6 at a Southern California venue to be determined, a source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite. There is no opponent set yet but it will headline a card on DAZN. Zepeda has been impressive fight in and fight out and is coming off a one-sided fourth-round knockout of British contender Maxi Hughes on March 16 in Las Vegas.
Junto Nakatani will make his first defense of the WBC bantamweight title against mandatory challenger Vincent Astrolabio on July 20 in the main event of a Teiken Boxing card at Ariake Arena in Tokyo. The event likely will stream on ESPN+ in the United States. Nakatani (27-0, 20 KOs), 26, a Japanese southpaw, who has won titles in three divisions, moved up to bantamweight in February and knocked out Nonito Donaire-conqueror Alexandro Santiago to win the WBC belt in one-sided fashion. The Manny Pacquiao-promoted Astrolabio (19-4, 14 KOs), 27, of the Philippines, lost a majority decision challenging Jason Moloney for the vacant WBO title last May but rebounded with an 11th-round KO of Navapon Khaikanha in August on the road in Thailand in a WBC final eliminator to earn the title shot.
Australian heavyweight Lucas Browne (31-6, 27 KOs), 45, announced his retirement after getting knocked out in the first round by Hemi Ahio on the Vasiliy Lomachenko-George Kambosos Jr. undercard in Perth, Australia, on Saturday night. It was the former contender’s third consecutive KO loss. Browne is best known for his multiple drug test failures, including a VADA test following a 10th-round knockout of Ruslan Chagaev in a 2016 WBA “regular” title fight in which he won the belt but was stripped for the failed test.
Dominican lightweight Edwin De Los Santos (16-2, 14 KOs), 24, who was ticketed to next fight on the undercard of the Gervonta Davis-Frank Martin PBC on Prime PPV card on June 15 against an opponent to be determined, is off the show due to an injury, a source with knowledge of the issue told Fight Freaks Unite. De Los Santos was on the card as a replacement opponent for fellow southpaw Martin if one was needed. De Los Santos’ last fight was a hugely disappointing performance in a decision loss challenging Shakur Stevenson for the vacant WBC title in November in which De Los Santos landed only 40 punches, the all-time record for fewest punches landed in a 12-round fight in CompuBox history.
Junior lightweight contender Eduardo “Rocky” Hernandez (35-2, 32 KOs), 26, of Mexico, who led on two scorecards before suffering a dramatic 12th-round knockout challenging WBC titlist O’Shaquie Foster in October, made his return on Saturday night. He knocked out countryman Daniel Lugo (27-3-1, 18 KOs), 29, in the seventh round of Matchroom Boxing’s DAZN card in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The fight was a WBC elimination bout, which positions Hernandez for a possible rematch with Foster.
Also Saturday, Lauren Price (7-0, 1 KO), 29, who was a 2020 Olympic gold medalist for Great Britain, won a shutout ninth-round technical decision at Utilita Arena in Cardiff, Wales, Price’s home country, against Jessica McCaskill (12-4-1, 5 KOs), 39, of Chicago, to take her WBA/Ring magazine welterweight titles in the main event of a Boxxer card. Price won 90-82 on all three scorecards. An accidental head butt raised terrible swelling over McCaskill’s left eye and the fight was stopped two seconds into the ninth round and sent to the cards.
Former unified junior featherweight titlist Marlon Tapales scored three knockdowns in a first-round knockout of Nattapong Jankaew (12-4, 8 KOs), 27, of Thailand, on Friday at the Midas Hotel and Casino in Pasay City, Philippines. Time of the KO was 2 minutes, 15 seconds. Tapales (38-4, 20 KOs), 32, a Filipino southpaw, was fighting for the first time since suffering a one-sided 10th-round knockout loss to Naoya Inoue when they met in a four-belt unification fight for the undisputed 122-pound crown in December.
Wasserman Boxing announced that Germany’s Abass Baraou (15-1, 9 KOs), 29, will defend the European junior middleweight title for the first time versus Macaulay McGowan (20-4-2, 5 KOs), 29, of England, at Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, England, on June 14 (DAZN in U.S., Channel 5 in U.K.). Baraou won the vacant title via majority decision over England’s Sam Eggington on March 1.
Show and tell
After the great Roy Jones Jr., the longtime pound-for-pound king, went up to heavyweight and routed John Ruiz to win the WBA title for a belt in his fourth division, he considered remaining at heavyweight. But when a fight with Evander Holyfield that was close to being made fell apart, he made the disastrous decision to lose nearly 20 pounds of muscle and return to light heavyweight and he was never the same. He barely outpointed amateur rival Antonio Tarver to regain a pair of titles by disputed majority decision in easily the hardest fight of his career to that point and pointed to the weight loss as the reason for his less-than-stellar performance. The always prideful Jones gave Tarver and immediate rematch and they met six months later in another HBO PPV fight.
The ever-confident Tarver famously took referee Jay Nady up on the formality of his asking if anyone had any questions when they met at center ring for final instructions before the opening bell. “I got a question,” Tarver said. “You got any excuse tonight, Roy?” Jones won the first round on all three scorecards but his career was altered forever in the second round when Tarver landed a massive overhand left square on Jones’ chin and dropped him very hard. Jones miraculously beat the count but he was out of it and staggering, and Nady waved it off as Tarver won the unified title in a massive upset. The fight took place on May 15, 2004 — 20 years ago on Wednesday. Here is an extraordinarily rare site poster that hung in a light box at Mandalay Bay during fight week in my collection.
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Photos: Alvarez: Esther Lin/PBC; Benn: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing; Hennessey: Dan Hennessey Facebook
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Met and was around AT in his ammy days in Orlando, saw him in Miami at Peter-Pudar he stuck out his right hand to shake…I stuck out my left and said I wanna shake the hand that KO’d the ATG RJJ. He was all smiles as he offered up his left. 🥊🥊🥊
So Scull will be the one who ends Canelo's Undisputed Reign at 168? LOL, never would've guessed that one.