Notebook: Valdez's defense next week in limbo after testing positive for stimulant

Lara vacates 154 belt; Haye fight will be exhibition; more

Sep 01, 2021

Junior lightweight world titleholder Oscar Valdez has tested positive for the stimulant Phentermine, putting his first defense in limbo.

He was recently randomly tested by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency and the results were returned on Monday, according to Team Valdez and promoter Top Rank.

Valdez is due to make his first WBC 130-pound defense against amateur nemesis Robson Conceicao on Sept. 10 at the AVA Amphitheater at Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Arizona, where Mexico’s Valdez grew up.

Members of Team Valdez, Top Rank officials and WBC officials are scheduled to discuss the matter on Wednesday during a Zoom video conference. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe Athletic Commission, which regulates professional and amateur combat sports on the tribal land, has also been notified of the situation.

Please read the detailed story I wrote for The Ring magazine website here: https://www.ringtv.com/626318-oscar-valdez-tests-positive-for-phentermine-arizona-boxing-commission-will-determine-if-he-still-fights-on-sept-10/

Lara vacates 154 title

As the WBA continues to reduce the number of world titles in sanctions — it has already eliminated all of the interim titles, stripping 11 titleholders — it is also forcing boxers who hold titles in multiple weight classes to pick which one they want to retain.

On Monday, the WBA notified Erislandy Lara in a follow-up letter from one sent July 28 that he had until 5 p.m. ET Tuesday to notify the organization if he wanted to hold on to the "regular" junior middleweight title or the “regular” middleweight title.

On Tuesday, Lara promoter Tom Brown of TGB Promotions, on behalf of Lara, notified the WBA that he was vacating the junior middleweight belt and would keep the middleweight title.

In doing so, they asked that the WBA order a fight between Lara and middleweight “super” titleholder Ryota Murata.

Murata, however, is planning to face IBF titlist Gennadiy Golovkin in a December unification fight in Japan. A source with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite that the WBA would allow the unification bout before ordering a title defense in the division.

Lara (28-3-3, 16 KOs), 38, a Cuban defector fighting out of Houston, claimed the vacant secondary middleweight belt in his last fight, knocking out Thomas LaManna in 80 seconds on May 1.

Fight Freaks Unite obtained a copy of the letter Brown sent to the WBA notifying it of Lara’s decision. Here it is:

Haye-Fournier will be exhibition

The California State Athletic Commission has declined to sanction the bout between former heavyweight and cruiserweight world titlist David Haye and longtime friend and fitness mogul Joe Fournier as an official fight, commission executive officer Andy Foster told Fight Freaks Unite.

Instead, the fight will be an eight-round heavyweight exhibition, which, according to California rules, means neither man can give his best efforts to win. The fight won’t be scored if it goes the distance and it won’t count on either man’s record. Haye-Fournier will also have rounds that last two minutes in duration instead of the standard three and the boxers will wear 12-ounce gloves instead of the standard 10 for a heavyweight fight.

The bout is scheduled to take place on the pay-per-view undercard of Oscar De La Hoya’s retirement exit to face UFC legend Vitor Belfort in a boxing match on Sept. 18 (Triller Fight Club PPV) at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Haye (28-4, 26 KOs), 40, of England, has been retired since a fifth-round knockout loss to Tony Bellew in May 2018.

Fournier (9-0, 9 KOs), 38, a billionaire entrepreneur from England, has an unbeaten record but has faced dreadful opposition with a combined record of 29-116-1.

The commission did not state its reason for the ruling but it is likely that it was viewed as too much of a mismatch given Fournier is such a novice and has faced such low level opposition.

Herring-Stevenson official

Top Rank on Tuesday formally announced a fight that has been set since early August: WBO junior lightweight world titlist Jamel Herring and interim titleholder Shakur Stevenson will meet in a mandatory fight on Oct. 23 (ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+, 10:30 p.m. ET) at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

Herring (23-2, 11 KOs), 35, a Coram, New York, native, will be making his third defense, having most recently scored his biggest win, a sixth-round knockout of former two-division titlist Carl Frampton on April 3 in Dubai.

“2021 has been good to me so far. I started the year with a big fight and a major win over Frampton,” Herring said. “I look forward to finishing out the year the same way I started it, not only with another huge victory, but as a world champion. I have nothing else to say. I’m focused on Oct. 23 and the fourth title defense of my WBO belt.”

Former featherweight titlist Stevenson (16-0, 8 KOs), 24, of Newark, New Jersey, agreed to step aside to allow that fight to happen as long as he got the next shot at the belt, but fought on June 12 and routed South Africa’s Jeremiah Nakathila for the vacant interim belt.

“Jamel had to fight me, or he would’ve been stripped of his world title,” Stevenson said. “I boxed him into a corner, and I am going to take his world title in devastating fashion on Oct. 23. I can’t wait to fight in front of the amazing fans in Atlanta. Trust me, you are going to see a show, and I will become a two-weight world champion.”

Top Rank also made official what Fight Freaks Unite has previously reported, that middleweight Nico Ali Walsh and featherweight Duke Ragan would also appear on the card.

Ali Walsh (1-0, 1 KO), 21, of Las Vegas, who is the grandson of Muhammad Ali, will face an opponent to be named in a four-rounder. Ali Walsh’s bout will be part of the main card with a co-feature to be announced.

“Atlanta welcomed my grandfather with open arms, and I am honored to fight there on a major world championship card,” Ali Walsh said. “When Top Rank said I’d be fighting in Atlanta, I thought of my grandfather lighting the Olympic torch and his bout against Jerry Quarry. This will be a special evening for my entire family. The legend lives on.”

After Ali was suspended for nearly four years for refusing to induction into the army during the Vietnam War on religious grounds, his first fight back was his third-round knockout of Quarry at the Atlanta City Auditorium in October 1970. And, of course, Ali famously lit the Olympic torch to open the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

Ragan (4-0, 1 KO), 23, of Cincinnati, who won one of Team USA’s three boxing silver medals in the recently completed Tokyo Olympics, will return to the pro ranks on the card. Ragan will face an opponent to be determined in a six-rounder on the ESPN+-only portion of the undercard (start time TBA).

Also on the ESPN+-only portion of the undercard will be 2020 U.S. Olympian Troy Isley (2-0, 1 KO), 22, of Alexandria, Virginia, in a six-rounder middleweight; featherweight Haven Brady Jr. (3-0, 3 KOs), 19, of Albany, Georgia, in a four-rounder; and junior middleweight Evan Holyfield (7-0, 5 KOs), the son of heavyweight legend Evander Holyfield and an Atlanta native, in his first hometown fight. He’ll face an opponent to be determined in a six-rounder.

Thurman speaks out

Former unified welterweight titlist Keith Thurman was on hand in Las Vegas for the recent Manny Pacquiao-Yordenis Ugas working as an analyst for broadcaster Fox and had a lot to say about his own career when he spoke to some media members during fight week.

Thurman, who has not boxed since losing a decision and his title to Pacquiao in July 2019 because of injuries and the coronavirus pandemic, said he is ready to return. He said he would like to fight unified titlist Errol Spence Jr. if and when he returns from the torn retina that forced him to bow out of the fight with Pacquiao on Aug. 21. Thurman also talked about his thoughts on facing Ugas and the social media hubbub over the prospect of a fight with Gervonta “Tank” Davis in which he really went in on Davis promoter Leonard Ellerbe of Mayweather Promotions.

I wrote about it all for World Boxing News. Please read that story here: https://www.worldboxingnews.net/2021/08/29/keith-thurman-ellerbe-gervonta-davis/

Quick hits

The proposed exhibition bout between retired four-division champions Miguel Cotto and Juan Manuel Marquez is off, Bryan Perez of Cotto Promotions told Fight Freaks Unite. Initially, it was being planned for this past June 12 in Miami and a promo video was produced for it. When that date did not come off, Perez said they were still hoping to make it happen later in the year. Now, Perez said it is off for good. “Unfortunately, the event couldn't be made due to several details,” Perez said. “We knew that this exhibition was better than all others.” Hall of Famer Marquez (56-7-1, 40 KOs), 48, of Mexico, last fought in May 2014. Puerto Rico’s Cotto (41-6, 33 KOs), 40, a probable Hall of Famer, retired after an upset decision loss to Sadam Ali cost him a junior middleweight title in 2017.

A Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN that was in the works for Sept. 18 and supposed to include a mandatory fight between junior flyweight titlist Elwin Soto (19-1, 13 KOs), 24, of Mexico, and mandatory challenger Jonathan Gonzalez (24-3-1, 14 KOs), 30, a southpaw from Puerto Rico, on the undercard, is not happening. Gonzalez promoter Tutico Zabala told Fight Freaks Unite he was advised the event will move to a date to be determined in October. Another bout that had been eyed for the Sept. 18 card was unified junior featherweight titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev (9-0, 7 KOs), 26, of Uzbekistan, versus mandatory challenger Ronny Rios (33-3, 16 KOs), 31, of Santa Ana, California. Matchroom Boxing won the rights to the fight at a May purse bid. DAZN has not had a United States-based card since May 29.

Weights from Tokyo: Kazuto Ioka 115 pounds, Francisco Rodriguez Jr. 114 (for Ioka’s WBO junior bantamweight title). Ioka (26-2, 15 KOs), 32, of Japan, who has won titles in four divisions from strawweight to junior bantamweight, will defend junior bantamweight belt for the third time when he faces mandatory challenger and former unified strawweight titlist Rodriguez Jr. (34-4-1, 24 KOs), 29, of Mexico, on Wednesday at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, where no spectators will be allowed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Super middleweight Serhii Bohachuk (19-1, 19 KOs), 26, a Los Angeles-based Ukrainian, will face Houston southpaw Raphael Igbokwe, (16-2, 7 KOs), 28, in 10-rounder that will headline the return of the “Hollywood Fight Nights” series put on by Tom Loeffler of 360 Promotions on Sept. 16 (UFC Fight Pass, 10 p.m. ET). Loeffler is putting on the 10-fight card, the first of the series since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, in conjunction with Roy Jones Jr. Boxing and World Cup Boxing Series at the Quiet Cannon Montebello Country Club in Montebello, California, outside of Los Angeles. In the eight-round co-feature, the Gennadiy Golovkin-promoted light heavyweight Ali Akhmedov (16-1, 12 KOs), 26, of Kazakhstan, will face David Zegarra (34-5, 21 KOs), 36, of Peru.

Manager Mark Taffet, who represents undisputed women’s junior middleweight champion Claressa Shields, among others, announced he has signed world amateur kickboxing champion Sarah Liegmann, 19, of Germany, and that she make her pro boxing debut on Saturday on the Carden Combat Sports card at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Liegmann, who is trained by John David Jackson, will take on North Carolina’s Kedra Bradley in a four-round junior featherweight bout.

Show and tell

There have been few heavyweight champions as popular as the legendary Rocky Marciano, who held the title from 1952 to 1955 and defeated fellow Hall of Famers Jersey Joe Walcott (twice), Ezzard Charles (twice) and Archie Moore before retiring a perfect 49-0 (with 43 knockouts). He was one day shy of his 46th birthday when he was killed in a private plane crash on Aug. 31, 1969 — 52 years ago on Tuesday. Here is a mint sticker of Marciano from the 1967 Panini set from Italy in my collection.