Boxing

6:09 PM ET Steve KimESPN Floyd Mayweather will be paying for the funeral services for George Floyd, who was killed in an incident with Minneapolis police on May 25 that has sparked outrage and protests across the country, according to a Mayweather representative. “He’ll probably get mad at me for saying that, but yes, (Mayweather)

1:06 PM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Bouts between British boxers have garnered international attention in recent years, and Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua is now the sport’s most sought after

9:59 AM ET Steve KimESPN Despite being one of the most desired matchups among boxing fans around the world, a title unification showdown between WBC/IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. and WBO titlist Terence Crawford has not yet become a reality. When it does, a welterweight legend of the past, Sugar Ray Leonard, promises, “I’ll

8:21 PM ET Associated Press DALLAS — Curtis Cokes, the Hall of Fame welterweight who became Dallas’ first world champion in 1966, has died. He was 82. Erwin “Sparky” Sparks, Cokes’ partner at Dallas’ Home of Champions gym, told The Dallas Morning News that Cokes died Friday after a week in hospice. Cokes took the

May 29, 2020 Associated Press PARIS — Hassan N’Dam, former middleweight boxing champion of the world, wanted to repay the French hospital that cared for his father-in-law through his bout with the coronavirus. Perhaps with Champagne? Or chocolate? No, N’Dam thought: “These are things that won’t last. I wanted to leave something quite memorable.” It

4:18 PM ET Steve KimESPN With boxing set to resume in the United States in the month of June, Top Rank has put forth an early summer schedule of bouts, the majority of which will take place at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, and will be televised on ESPN platforms. “The goal

May 28, 2020 Steve KimESPN The Dominican Republic government called off a boxing card scheduled for Saturday night at the Coliseo Carlos “Teo” Cruz in Santo Domingo. The six-fight event was to have taken place without fans in attendance. Efforts to reach promoters Shuan Boxing were unsuccessful. Sports Minister Danilo Diaz said Thursday that the

5:58 PM ET Steve KimESPN The California State Athletic Commission passed emergency regulations Friday with an eye to resuming combat events in the summer months. The commission met via video conference Friday morning and its guidelines were sent to the Calilfornia Office of Administrative Law. “When that process is finished, we’ll start,” said Andy Foster,

9:28 PM ET Steve KimESPN A 10-round junior welterweight matchup between Ivan Baranchyk and Jose Zepeda has been finalized for July 7 in Las Vegas, sources told ESPN on Thursday. Baranchyk, 27, (20-1, 13 KOs), the former IBF junior welterweight titleholder, is coming off a fourth-round stoppage of Gabriel Bracero in October. His lone loss

8:35 AM ET Steve KimESPN A full slate of fight cards are being lined up as boxing is poised to resume June 9. One key issue fighters are facing amid the coronavirus pandemic is a new reality for the money they’ll earn each time they step foot in the ring. For the time being, fighters

May 29, 2020 Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Elite boxers will be hit harder than lower level fighters due to the limitations on sports events caused by the coronavirus pandemic, MTK Global

9:28 PM ET Steve KimESPN A 10-round junior welterweight matchup between Ivan Baranchyk and Jose Zepeda has been finalized for July 9 in Las Vegas, sources told ESPN on Thursday. Baranchyk, 27, (20-1, 13 KOs), the former IBF junior welterweight titleholder, is coming off a fourth-round stoppage of Gabriel Bracero in October. His lone loss

6:16 PM ET The possibility of a Mike Tyson comeback at age 53 has the entire sports world curious, and at least one fan and friend of Tyson’s believes it’s legit: UFC president Dana White. Speaking to ESPN on Thursday, White said he’s convinced Tyson will return to the ring in the near future, although

10:58 PM ET While most of the world expected Mike Tyson’s comeback in combat sports to happen in boxing or even bare-knuckle fighting, it appears that his first stop is in a different kind of ring — and he apparently has some backup. Tyson was involved in a storyline segment at the end of All

1:21 PM ET The UFC’s next two events have officially been approved. The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) voted unanimously in a phone meeting Wednesday morning to allow a pair of UFC cards to run in Las Vegas over the next two weeks — this Saturday and on June 6. Both events will take place

9:21 AM ET Promoter Eddie Hearn has said he is planning to reach out to UFC boss Dana White about a potential cross-discipline clash between boxer Dillian Whyte and UFC star Francis Ngannou later this year. Responding to questions on an Instagram live chat, Hearn said Ngannou was interested in taking on Whyte in a

8:13 AM ET Steve KimESPN Over the course of boxing history, only a handful of special fighters are involved in an event that transcends the sport. Sugar Ray Leonard fought 40 professional bouts, with memorable encounters against Robert Duran, Marvin Hagler, Wilfred Benitez and Hector “Macho” Camacho, among many others. But there was perhaps no

10:00 PM ET Steve KimESPN WBO junior lightweight champion Jamel Herring is set to make his second title defense against Jonathan Oquendo on July 2 in Las Vegas, multiple sources told ESPN. This will be the first title defended on a Top Rank card since the sport paused amid the coronavirus pandemic. Herring (21-2, 10