The following appeared in this week's edition of the Fightful Boxing Newsletter, which publishes each Thursday at 6 AM EST.
News And Notes From The World Of Boxing:
USA:
1. 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Nico Hernandez suffered an injury during training camp, forcing the December 2 "KO Night Boxing: Gold & Glory" card, presented by KO Night Boxing LLC, has been postponed until February 10, at the same venue, Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas. Hernandez was scheduled to face Jozsef Ajtai in the eight-round main event for the vacant International Boxing Association (IBA) Americas flyweight championship.
2. The Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame (ACBHOF) has announced its 25 member 2018 Induction Class. The event will take place at The Claridge, a Radisson Hotel located at Park Place & Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey on June 1-3, 2018. The headliners for the Hall of Fame class are former world champion Evander Holyfield, promoter Bob Arum, trainer Dan Duva and current United States President Donald Trump.
3. The December 9 IBF lightweight world title eliminator between Richard Commey and Roman Andreev to produce the mandatory challenger for champion Robert Easter Jr. has been canceled. The fight was made official after Commey's promoter Lou DiBella and Andreev's promoter Vlad Hrunov made a deal and avoided a purse bid. However, Hrunov failed to put into escrow the $55,000 he had contractually agreed to pay DiBella as a provision of services for Commey’s participation in the bout by the November 10 deadline they agreed to, so DiBella terminated the agreement. Andreev will be dropped from his position and the IBF will soon order Commey to fight somebody else in the eliminator.
4. It will only take five weeks before rising prospect Cletus Seldin makes his return to the ring. Seldin will fight Yves Ulesse Jr. on the December 16 HBO Championship Boxing telecast. Seldin vs. Ulysse will open the telecast, headlined by the WBO middleweight world title fight between Billy Joe Saunders and David Lemieux. Seldin last fought on November 11, scoring a third-round TKO victory over Roberto Ortiz and it will be the third fight Seldin has in four months.
5. 2016 Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson has been added to the Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux ESPN television card on December 9. Stevenson will fight 4-2 boxer Oscar Mendoza and that fight will be the opening fight on the television card. Lomachenko vs. Rigondeaux for Lomachenko’s 130-pound world title will take place at Madison Square Garden.
Latin America:
1. The World Boxing Association (WBA) Championships Committee in Panama City, Panama ordered a junior middleweight elimination bout between Kanat Islam and John Vera. Both men are currently sitting as the top two boxers in the WBA rankings at 154 pounds. The resolution was sent to the parties on November 21, 2017, and they have 30 days to agree on the date of the fight. If there is no agreement, the fight will be called to a purse bid. Erislandy Lara is currently the WBA champion.
2. Mexican stars Julio Ceja and WBC Female minimumweight champion Anabel Ortiz picked up wins on separate cards in Mexico, with Ceja retaining his WBC Silver super flyweight title. Both boxers won via unanimous decision, but Ortiz's title was not on the line in her fight.
3. Super featherweight contender Jose "Wonder Boy" Lopez of Puerto Rico will now take on Avery Sparrow in the new co-main event of the November 30 edition of Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland. Lopez was originally scheduled to fight against Miguel Gonzalez, but Gonzalez was forced to pull out due to an injury suffered in his left arm when sparring. The main event of the ESPN card has Lamont Roach, Jr. defending his WBC Youth super featherweight title against Rey Perez in the 10-round main event.
4. In the wake of Cesar Diaz’s tragic death during Thanksgiving weekend, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman announced the WBC will honor Diaz’s memory and name him an Honorary WBC Champion. Diaz was an unbeaten prospect signed to Golden Boy Promotions and died in a single-car crash.
Europe:
1. In what is certainly a unique interview, global soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo talked with former British soccer star Rio Ferdinand, who announced earlier this year he would be transitioning to being a pro boxer. Ferdinand said he would make his pro boxing debut in February and that he would be fighting a second time next summer, likely in June or July. No formal announcement has been made regarding Ferdinand's debut or who his opponent could be.
2. Barry Hearn, father of Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, recently said two possible dates for the heavyweight superfight between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder could take place either next summer or in November/December 2018. Obviously, these dates should not be taken as pure facts, but it does give fans an indication of when to possible expect the fight, if it happens, which would be the second half of 2018.
3. Stevenson won’t be the only prospect from the 2016 Olympics to fight on the Lomachenko vs. Rigondeaux ESPN card on December 9. Michael Conlan will face 7-3-1 boxer Luis Fernando Molina on the televised portion of the card live from Madison Square Garden.
Japan:
1. Newly-crowned WBA "regular" middleweight champion Ryota Murata is back in the gym in Japan, preparing for his first title defense. The current plan is for Murata to defend his title in April 2018, but no opponent has been named. One possible name is unbeaten Esquiva Falcao, who is currently unranked, but is a former amateur rival of Murata.
2. Japanese Bantamweight champion Ryo Akaho will be returning to action on January 20 to make his second defense, on a "Dynamic Glove" show at Korakuen Hall. Akaho will be taking on mandatory challenger Yusuke Suzuki, who secured his shot earlier this year with a win over Eita Kikuchi in an eliminator.
World Boxing Super Series:
1. In a sign of how much hype is surrounding the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight semifinal fight between George Groves and Chris Eubank Jr., the February 17 fight set to take place at the Manchester Arena has been sold out. The Manchester Arena has a max capacity of 21,000, but what's even more impressive is that the fight was sold out in just seven minutes, per tournament organizers. The fight will be broadcasted in the U.K. on ITV Box Office pay-per-view and is expected to have a high buyrate. The fight is a WBA "super" and IBO super middleweight title unification bout.
2. Richard Schaeffer, who is helping organize the grand tournament, recently said he is shocked that there is still no television deal for the United States. Schaeffer said he still hopes to get a deal going, but from the looks of it, it doesn’t look like HBO and Showtime are going to be a part of it, with both networks starting to release their 2018 fight schedule with no hints that the World Boxing Super Series will be a part of either network’s broadcasting future.
