1:43 AM ET ATLANTA — Earlier this week, in a back room of the Omni hotel in downtown Atlanta, Gervonta Davis said it could take a little while for him to get used to fighting up two weight classes. The first time he went up to 135 pounds was an adjustment, Davis said. “Saturday will
Boxing
12:50 AM ET In the immediate aftermath of Vasiliy Lomachenko’s sensational knockout of Masayoshi Nakatani on Saturday in Las Vegas, Teofimo Lopez’s father made a beeline for the ring. It wasn’t clear exactly why the elder Lopez wanted to reach Lomachenko, and security stopped him well before he made it. But if you think about
12:00 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Vasiliy Lomachenko didn’t officially return to any lightweight throne on Saturday, but he sure looked like a lightweight king. Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) delivered a masterful performance in a ninth-round TKO of Masayoshi Nakatani (19-2, 13 KOs) on Saturday, inside The Theater at Virgin Hotel. In his first appearance
12:59 AM ET ATLANTA — Gervonta Davis climbed to the top rope, jumped back and backflipped toward the center of the ring. The sellout crowd inside the State Farm Arena, cellphones up to record the occasion, roared. It had been more intermittent cheers throughout the 10 rounds prior, when Davis was in a much more
11:01 PM ET The management firm that represents Conor McGregor is suing boxing legend Manny Pacquiao. Paradigm Sports Management filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit Friday against Pacquiao in Orange County civil court, claiming breach of contract, among other assertions, per the complaint obtained Saturday by ESPN. Paradigm attorney Judd Burstein told ESPN that his client is
6:56 PM ET Brett Okamoto Close ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Michael Rothstein Close ESPN Staff Writer Previously covered University of Michigan for ESPN.com and AnnArbor.com Also covered Notre Dame for Fort Wayne Journal Gazette Former lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko returns to the
7:27 PM ET Associated Press LONDON — Anthony Joshua will defend his heavyweight titles against Oleksandr Usyk on Sept. 25 in London. Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, made the announcement Friday. Joshua, holder of the WBA, IBF, and WBO titles, was to have an all-British showdown with Tyson Fury this summer, but a legal ruling in
7:59 AM ET Brett Okamoto Close ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Eric Woodyard LAS VEGAS — One fight can change a lot in boxing, a sport in which it’s not uncommon to fight only twice a year. In the case of Vasiliy Lomachenko,
7:49 AM ET Gervonta Davis was going through the motions during an interview in May when a phrase caught his attention. Davis is one of boxing’s young and rising stars around the lightweight division. When it was suggested that he didn’t have the top accomplishment among the group of impressive young 135-pounders that includes Teofimo
Nov 1, 2017 Editor’s note: Thsi story was originally published on Dec. 7, 2017. Lightweight world titleholder Vasiliy Lomachenko is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. He’s also very good at pretty much everything else he does. Lomachenko is very active on social media and we
7:00 AM ET Samuel Braslow THE VOICE of the announcer yo-yoed across the boxing arena at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California. “Your winner, by unanimous decision … and now undefeated in his professional career: Patricio ‘Cacahuate’ Manuel!” The applause and cheers came first, concentrated in Section VV, packed with Manuel’s family, biological
7:52 AM ET The world titlists held serve Saturday night in Las Vegas, as Naoya Inoue, Mikaela Mayer and Jermall Charlo successfully retained their belts. But while this upcoming weekend does offer up another world title fight in the form of Gervonta Davis facing Mario Barrios at 140 pounds — perhaps Davis’ best fighting weight
8:32 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Mikaela Mayer’s next fight, as long as she wins Saturday night against Erica Farias, will start to unify the junior lightweight division. Mayer, the WBO junior lightweight titlist, will next fight IBF junior lightweight titleholder Maiva Hamadouche, a source told ESPN on Saturday. The date and venue have yet
10:44 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Bob Arum promoted Muhammad Ali. Now he’s putting on the professional debut of Ali’s grandson. Arum told ESPN on Saturday that Top Rank will be putting on the first fight of Nico Ali Walsh’s career on Aug. 14 as part of the undercard of the Andrew Moloney-Joshua Franco fight.
Jun 19, 2021 Carlo Pamintuan Hours before unified World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue was scheduled to defend against the Philippines’ Michael Dasmariñas, a big fight was signed in this division, and it involved two of Dasmariñas’ countrymen. In a move that is another step closer to crowning
1:38 AM ET Multiple Contributors It was a wildly busy night in the world of boxing, even with the postponement of the pay-per-view card centered around unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez and George Kambosos. IBF and WBA bantamweight world champion Naoya Inoue reminded the world of the otherworldy power he possesses at 118 pounds with
1:24 AM ET Anderson Silva made a career in MMA out of making the impossible look possible. Now, he’s done the same thing in boxing. Silva, a UFC legend, defeated Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. via split decision (75-77, 77-75, 77-75) in a shockingly impressive boxing performance Saturday night at Jalisco Stadium in Guadalajara, Mexico. A
1:02 AM ET Jermall Charlo accomplished something on Saturday night that isn’t easy to do. The WBC middleweight champion had an unknown but very game challenger in Juan Montiel, whose awkwardness and stubbornness decreased the likelihood of a Charlo showcase in front of a hometown crowd in Houston. It wasn’t as easy as it looked