Boxing

12:42 PM ET Junior welterweight Josh Taylor has opted to give up one of his titles. The unified 140-pound champion relinquished his WBC belt ahead of a scheduled purse bid on Friday afternoon for a matchup against Jose Zepeda, the WBC announced. The sanctioning body had ordered the purse bid for the fight between two

4:00 PM ET Connor O’Halloran Oleksandr Usyk has said he will return to Ukraine following the first defence of his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight title belts against Anthony Joshua in August. Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs), 35, will rematch Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs), 32, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Aug. 20, having become heavyweight champion

1:57 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Social media influencer Logan Paul has signed a deal with WWE, the organization announced on Thursday. The pact is a multi-event deal, sources told ESPN, that will push into 2023. Paul will compete in the ring at multiple WWE premium live events (formerly called pay-per-views by the company) and will

7:45 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 Joe Joyce still hopes he can land his dream fight against one of his English rivals: Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua. Fury, the WBC

5:30 PM ET Connor O’Halloran LONDON, England — Anthony Joshua has said he wants to use his power and size advantage over Oleksandr Usyk when the pair meet in a rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in August. Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs), 32, will be bidding to reclaim his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight title belts

6:29 PM ET Kali Reis, the WBA and WBO junior welterweight champion, is once again heading to Hollywood, cast as one of the leads in Season 4 of “True Detective” on HBO opposite two-time Best Actress Oscar-winner Jodie Foster. The cable network announced the fourth season of the show, which will be officially called “True

12:16 PM ET Tommy Fury has said he has been barred from traveling to the United States, days after announcing an Aug. 6 fight with Jake Paul in New York City. In a deal announced last Thursday, Paul is due to face Fury in a co-main event at Madison Square Garden alongside Amanda Serrano, who

3:37 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Mikey Garcia, a former four-division champion, confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday that he has retired from boxing. In a sport filled with self-promoting fighters, Garcia was understated. And in typical fashion for Garcia, he simply changed his Instagram profile to indicate he’s a “retired world champ” in lieu of a

7:50 AM ET On June 28, 1997 one of the more bizarre moments in boxing history took place when Mike Tyson bit off a portion of Evander Holyfield’s ear in the third round of their their much anticipated rematch. Tyson was disqualified from the bout and lost his boxing license. He was later reinstated. Tyson

6:52 PM ET The stakes have been raised for this summer’s Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury boxing match. Paul and Tyson Fury, Tommy’s older half-brother and boxing heavyweight champ, have agreed to a $1 million bet on the Aug. 6 bout, which will take place at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The wager was brokered

7:56 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Junior bantamweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez defends his WBC title against former champ Srisaket Sor Rungvisai on Saturday in the main event of a DAZN show at the Tech Port Arena in San Antonio (8 p.m. ET). The card includes two other title fights. Rodriguez (15-0, 10 KOs), of San

7:00 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Canelo Alvarez said his upcoming matchup with rival Gennadiy Golovkin is “personal” and it would be “sweet” if he got to send Golovkin into retirement. Alvarez said Friday during a news conference in Hollywood that he does not like Golovkin and believes “GGG,” who is beloved by fans, is

11:40 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Shakur Stevenson is set to defend his unified 130-pound championship on Sept. 23 in his native Newark, New Jersey, sources tell ESPN. There’s no agreement yet, sources said, but Stevenson and Robson Conceicao are closing in on a deal for a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN main event that would

10:01 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN The 115-pound division — one of boxing’s best — will be in the spotlight again on Saturday when WBC junior bantamweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez meets former champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (DAZN, 8 p.m. ET) in San Antonio. The title fight (Juan Francisco Estrada is the WBC franchise champion) marks

5:21 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Anthony Joshua acknowledged “change needs to happen” ahead of his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk for the unified heavyweight championship on Aug. 20 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The two-time champ was routed by Usyk via unanimous decision when they met in September in London. In the wake of the lopsided defeat,

10:37 AM ET Jake Paul and WBC and WBO featherweight champion Amanda Serrano have their opponents set for their Aug. 6 dual main event card at Madison Square Garden. Paul will fight Tommy Fury and Serrano will have a mandatory title defense against Brenda Carabajal. Paul (5-0, 4 KO) was supposed to fight Fury for

7:47 AM ET In boxing, we are always looking forward to the next fight. Even before an upcoming fight is over, the focus is often on what lies ahead, especially when it comes to the sport’s biggest stars. While pressures come from many avenues — fans, social media posts or even beat writers — it’s

7:55 AM ET Artur Beterbiev’s demolition of Joe Smith Jr. on June 18 impressed most of our panelists on Saturday night. Now the unified light heavyweight champion sits comfortably at No. 7 in ESPN’s pound-for-pound rankings. Beterbiev (18-0, 18 KOs) is the only current champion with a perfect KO percentage. “He’s ‘The Terminator’. He showed