Boxing

2:27 PM ET Unified light heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev, boxing’s only current titleholder with a perfect knockout percentage, will make a mandatory defense against Meng Fanlong on March 28, Top Rank announced on Friday. The fight will headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card (ESPN and ESPN Deportes, 10 p.m. ET with preliminary

2:38 PM ET The New York State Athletic Commission, which initially issued a surprisingly heavy punishment to welterweight Ivan Redkach for biting Danny Garcia during their title elimination bout Jan. 25, has dramatically reduced his punishment. Initially, the New York commission announced that it had issued Redkach the maximum fine of $10,000 “for engaging in

11:05 PM ET Popular 1990s Samoan heavyweight contender Jimmy Thunder died on Wednesday in his hometown of Auckland, New Zealand, due to complications from a brain tumor. He was 54. Thunder, who was born Ti’a James Senio Peau and went by Jimmy Peau before adopting his boxing stage name, had recently undergone surgery in Auckland

7:09 PM ET Steve KimESPN The California State Athletic Commission says it has determined the contents of a squeezable bottle in Jermell Charlo’s corner during his 11th-round knockout of Tony Harrison in December to be water and that no rules were broken. The CSAC, in a statement released to ESPN on Thursday, said it came

4:45 PM ET Super middleweight titleholder Callum Smith, the No. 1-rated 168-pounder in the world, has turned down an offer to defend his belt against Canelo Alvarez on May 2. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, who promotes Alvarez, and Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, who promotes Smith, both told ESPN on Thursday

4:54 PM ET Middleweight world titlist Gennadiy Golovkin’s mandatory defense against Kamil Szeremeta remains unsettled and likely will move into at least April, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn told ESPN on Wednesday. Initially, the plan was for Golovkin to defend against Szeremeta on Feb. 29, probably at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, but that was backed

9:04 AM ET For as long as six-year pro and super middleweight world titleholder Caleb Plant can remember, he dreamed of having a world title fight in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. “It’s something I have wanted, really, since I was a little kid,” said Plant, who grew up outside of Nashville in Ashland City,

10:54 AM ET Featherweight world titleholder Josh Warrington has signed with Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing after parting ways with Hearn rival Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions. Warren said in a statement issued on Wednesday that they had ended their relationship at the conclusion of his Warrington’s promotional agreement. “I am happy to say that

8:00 AM 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 Tyson Fury’s journey to his Feb. 22 heavyweight rematch with Deontay Wilder has been a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs. Fury (29-0-1, 20

7:34 PM ET Manny Pacquiao has signed with Paradigm Sports Management, the company announced on Tuesday. In its announcement, the agency said he signed because he is looking to “solidify the final years of his boxing legacy.” According to the announcement, Pacquiao, a reigning welterweight world titleholder, the only fighter to win world titles in

8:11 AM ET Ryan Garcia, the 2017 prospect of the year, appears to be on the verge of big things in boxing. Since being recognized as boxing’s top prospect, Garcia has moved up in weight from junior lightweight to lightweight and won six more fights in a row — four by knockout — while increasing

6:08 PM ET Former unified cruiserweight world titlist Murat Gassiev, who has been out of the ring because of a shoulder injury for the past 19 months, is finally set to make his return. Gassiev, who is moving up to the heavyweight division, will take on Jerry Forrest in a 10-round bout on Feb. 29

3:53 PM ET Artis Mack, the older brother of undisputed women’s middleweight and unified junior middleweight world champion Claressa Shields, reached a plea deal on Monday in the shocking weigh-in attack on James Ali Bashir, the trainer of a Shields opponent. Mack, 28, pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor aggravated assault in the 67th

11:53 AM ET Will Gary Russell Jr. ever get a major fight? He did face Vasiliy Lomachenko in 2014 for a vacant featherweight world title, but that wasn’t a big fight then. In fact, it was on a Showtime undercard, where Russell took his only professional loss by clear decision. In 2015, Russell won a

6:11 AM ET Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua swapped the boxing ring for a nightclub stage on Feb. 8 as he performed a rap in front of hundreds of fans in London. Joshua, who won his rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr. in Saudi Arabia in December to reclaim the WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO titles, joined

7:22 PM ET Steve KimESPN Junior middleweight hopeful Charles Conwell scored a fifth round stoppage of Ramses Agaton at the Civic Center in Hammond, Indiana on Saturday night. For Conwell, this was his first bout since the tragic aftermath of his last fight on October 12, where Patrick Day fell into a coma after getting

1:08 AM ET Featherweight world titlist Gary Russell Jr. came off yet another long layoff and yet again dominated. Russell retained his 126-pound belt for the fifth time — each in dominating fashion — as he won a spirited, unanimous decision over mandatory challenger “King Tug” Tugstsogt Nyambayar in the main event of a Showtime

6:30 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 Kell Brook returned to form and kept his career alive with a seventh-round knockout win over Mark DeLuca on Saturday. The former IBF world