8:00 AM ET JOEL DIAZ STANDS on the ring apron while there’s chaos all around him. In two rings beside each other, there are two fights going on at the same time. Instructions are yelled in four languages; English, Spanish, Uzbek and Russian. And if all that weren’t enough, there’s always someone calling his phone.

6:37 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 Zhilei Zhang, who turns 40 next month, is closing in on a shot at Oleksandr Usyk’s WBO world heavyweight titles, after pulling off an

7:28 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 Joe Joyce was the closest he’s ever been to fight for a heavyweight world title. He was the WBO mandatory challenger to champion Oleksandr

1:54 PM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Mikaela Mayer will fight Lucy Wildheart on Saturday in London after her original opponent, Christina Linardatou, was denied a license by the British Boxing Board of Control because of her prefight eye exam, a source confirmed to ESPN on Friday. Mayer, an Olympian who fights out of Colorado Springs, Colorado,

7:35 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 is on the brink of landing a world heavyweight title shot, and his story is one you will hear more about over

9:03 AM ET LONDON — A group of national federations including the United States and Britain announced a new boxing world body Thursday in a breakaway move aimed at securing the sport’s Olympic future. Leaders of the new group World Boxing said at a news conference that they would seek recognition from the International Olympic

8:16 AM ET CHRISTINA LINARDATOU WILL return to the ring Saturday against Mikaela Mayer. While no title will be on the line, it’s a fight of significance, as Mayer is the type of opponent Linardatou worked toward facing again. However, it’s just not the fight — or fighter — she initially wanted or expected to

7:52 AM ET Nate Diaz and Jake Paul have been exchanging trash talk on social media and in the press for over a year. Their two teams got into a physical altercation backstage during one of Paul’s fights. Paul called Diaz out on several exchanges, including in his postfight interview after beating Anderson Silva last

6:50 PM ET Franchon Crews-Dezurn will be making the first defense of her undisputed super middleweight title, but her opponent will be different from the one initially ordered. A source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday that Crews-Dezurn will fight Savannah Marshall in June in the United Kingdom on a Ben Shalom BOXXER card instead of

7:46 AM ET Mikaela Mayer boarded the plane back to the United States in October with a feeling she’d never experienced as a pro. It’s something she didn’t prepare for. Mayer never thought it would happen. She went to London as the WBO and IBF junior lightweight champion to fight WBC titleist Alycia Baumgardner for