12:00 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Vasiliy Lomachenko didn’t officially return to any lightweight throne on Saturday, but he sure looked like a lightweight king. Lomachenko (15-2, 11 KOs) delivered a masterful performance in a ninth-round TKO of Masayoshi Nakatani (19-2, 13 KOs) on Saturday inside The Theater at Virgin Hotel. In his first appearance

11:01 PM ET The management firm that represents Conor McGregor is suing boxing legend Manny Pacquiao. Paradigm Sports Management filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit Friday against Pacquiao in Orange County civil court, claiming breach of contract, among other assertions, per the complaint obtained Saturday by ESPN. Paradigm attorney Judd Burstein told ESPN that his client is

Jun 27, 2021 ATLANTA — Gervonta Davis climbed to the top rope, jumped back and backflipped toward the center of the ring. The sellout crowd inside the State Farm Arena, cellphones up to record the occasion, roared. It had been more intermittent cheers throughout the 10 rounds prior, when Davis was in a much more

Jun 27, 2021 In the immediate aftermath of Vasiliy Lomachenko’s sensational knockout of Masayoshi Nakatani on Saturday in Las Vegas, Teofimo Lopez’s father made a beeline for the ring. It wasn’t clear exactly why the elder Lopez wanted to reach Lomachenko, and security stopped him well before he made it. But if you think about

6:56 PM ET Brett Okamoto Close ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Michael Rothstein Close ESPN Staff Writer Previously covered University of Michigan for ESPN.com and AnnArbor.com Also covered Notre Dame for Fort Wayne Journal Gazette Former lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko returns to the

7:27 PM ET Associated Press LONDON — Anthony Joshua will defend his heavyweight titles against Oleksandr Usyk on Sept. 25 in London. Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, made the announcement Friday. Joshua, holder of the WBA, IBF, and WBO titles, was to have an all-British showdown with Tyson Fury this summer, but a legal ruling in

7:59 AM ET Brett Okamoto Close ESPN Staff Writer MMA columnist for ESPN.com Analyst for “MMA Live” Covered MMA for Las Vegas Sun Eric Woodyard LAS VEGAS — One fight can change a lot in boxing, a sport in which it’s not uncommon to fight only twice a year. In the case of Vasiliy Lomachenko,

7:49 AM ET Gervonta Davis was going through the motions during an interview in May when a phrase caught his attention. Davis is one of boxing’s young and rising stars around the lightweight division. When it was suggested that he didn’t have the top accomplishment among the group of impressive young 135-pounders that includes Teofimo

Dec 5, 2017 Mark KriegelESPN Editor’s note: This was originally published in December, 2017. OXNARD, Calif. — The training of Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko — conceived, orchestrated and monitored by his father, with an assist from a psychologist trained in cognitive behaviorism — is famously idiosyncratic. It includes street skating and juggling, handstands and tennis, which

Nov 1, 2017 Editor’s note: Thsi story was originally published on Dec. 7, 2017. Lightweight world titleholder Vasiliy Lomachenko is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. He’s also very good at pretty much everything else he does. Lomachenko is very active on social media and we