By Mikko Salo: In last year´s Top Ten Year in Review column I wrote the following: “The heavyweight division is entering 2016 with the most positive buzz in a long, long time.” Well, the buzz did not last. Looking at the quality of the heavyweight fights in 2016 and comparing them with what we all expected, the past year has to go down in recent heavyweight history as one of the most disappointing
IBF Super Middleweight Champion James DeGale has already made his name as a road warrior and will look to put on another great performance away from his London home when he takes on fellow super middleweight world champion Badou Jack in their unification showdown on Saturday, January 14 from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
On December 16, 2016, VADA notified the WBC that Alexander Povetkin’s anti-doping test taken from his December 6, 2016 “A” Sample pursuant to the WBC Clean Boxing Program (“CBP”) yielded an adverse analytical finding for the banned substance Ostarine.
British boxer Gavin McDonnell will will face Mexican Rey Vargas for the the vacant WBC super bantamweight title in Hull,England on February 25.
Anthony Crolla will meet Jorge Linares in a rematch for the WBA, WBC Diamond and Ring magazine Lightweight titles at the Manchester Arena in England on March 25.
Current WBC Mediterranean heavyweight champion Frenchman Raphael Tronche is set to face his toughest test to date as he prepares to face rugged Romanian Bogdan Dinu for the vacant IBF Intercontinental title.
By Jeff Jowett: The sign over the gym reads “Laundromat”. But if you can’t fight, all you’re likely to get here is cleaned up. This is the home of the Dream Team Boxing Academy in Runnemede, NJ, still under construction. About two dozen boxers, amateur and professional, train there. The walls are covered with old fight posters bearing familiar names of the products of the sprawling Philadelphia-area amateur system.
By Andrew Rivera: The Boxing highlight in New Mexico in 2016, was the election of former multi weight world Champion Johnny Tapia,59-5-2. The late Tapia will be inducted with Heavyweight Legend Evander Holyfield and Tapia conqueror Marco Antonio Barrera.
German talents Stefan Haertel and Leon Bunn have been added to the undercard of the Nordic Fight Night on January 21 in Struer Energi Park in Denmark.
By Derek Bonnett: Many SecondsOut readers were first exposed to Jason Sosa back at the start of 2013. On the same night Sergey Kovalev crashed the world boxing upper echelon, Sosa, a boxer with Jersey-boy good looks, won a fourth round TKO over Joseph "Chip" Perez in a battle between East Coast super featherweights.
By Derek Bonnett: Each year, SecondsOut writers consider the body of work for numerous fighters to determine the SecondsOut Fighter of the Year. For boxing fans, 2016 was a disappointment as some of the best fighters in the world failed to meet one another, such as Gennady Golovkin and Saul Alvarez, to determine divisional superiority.
By Derek Bonnett: Most of us can say that a lot has happened in the last five years. A new job, perhaps. A new house. A child born. All these things and more would gladly be embraced by most and shared with all to rejoice in one’s good fortune. For Matt Remillard, Connecticut’s one-time featherweight contender, the last five years were not so memorable even though their impact will also be felt for a lifetime.
By D.Mossienko: If nominating father and son from Eastern Ukraine, Anatoly and Vasily Lomachenko as the best coach and the best boxer of the year 2016 was surprise for some boxing fans and even boxing pundits around the world, - it was not the case for the millions of Ukraine’s boxing fans and especially Ukraine’s boxing specialists.
Rivera Promotions Entertainment (RPE) held a press conference Thursday to formally announce its inaugural show, "New England’s Future," Thursday night, January 19, at the Worcester Palladium. It will mark the first professional boxing event in Worcester, located in Central Mass., in five years.
All four fighters involved in the two WBA world title fights at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, made weight Friday.
Erik Skoglund has been left bitterly disappointed following the European Boxing Union’s (EBU) decision to reverse their ruling and allow current light heavyweight champion Robert Stieglitz a voluntary defence of his title
Promoter Mick Hennessy has confirmed that the rescheduled date for Lenny Daws’ challenge for the European Super-Lightweight title will be Saturday 11th February 2017 at the Westcroft Leisure Centre, Carshalton
By Ron Valderrama: It’s been an interesting year in boxing, a few fighters on the backside of their career proved they still have what it takes to fight by displaying a tremendous comeback. One of those fighters would have to be Hozumi Hasegawa of Japan.
By Jason Pribila: As we look back at a mostly forgettable 2016 for the sport of boxing, we have come to “Worst Decision of the Year”. While it is common in the immediate aftermath of a prize fight, the team who comes up short on the scorecards instinctively yells robbery. After the dust settles, we often go back and watch the fight again, and while we may not agree with the decision, we concede that it was a close fight.
WBC heavyweight champion Deontay "The Bronze Bomber" Wilder will defend his title in his home state for the fourth time, as he faces once-beaten challenger Andrzej Wawrzyk in the main event of Premier Boxing Champions on FOX and FOX Deportes Saturday, February 25, from Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham, Alabama.