9:14 AM ET Steve KimESPN The last two or three excruciating pounds felt like losing 20 for Oscar Valdez. Making the 126-pound weight limit was becoming a more arduous grind than the fights themselves. But Valdez, despite the physical and mental battle that had left him dried out and fatigued, had done it. Valdez headlined
Boxing
12:08 PM ET Former featherweight world titleholders Oscar Valdez and Carl Frampton each make their debut in the junior lightweight division in separate fights on Saturday night and Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told ESPN that each has a world title fight at stake. Arum, who promotes both fighters, said he has a plan in
2:23 PM ET Unified junior middleweight world titlist Julian “J Rock” Williams is going home to Philadelphia to make his first title defense. Williams will defend his two 154-pound belts against Jeison Rosario in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card on Jan. 18 (Fox, 8 p.m. ET) at Temple University’s Liacouras Center,
11:39 AM ET Despite ongoing issues over a failed drug test in July, heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte will face former world title challenger Mariusz Wach on Dec. 7, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn announced on Wednesday. The scheduled 12-round bout has been added to the card headlined by the rematch between unified heavyweight titlist Andy
11:14 PM ET The WBO has stripped Mairis Briedis of its cruiserweight world title. In late October, the organization ordered Briedis to defend the 200-pound title in a rematch against former titlist Krzysztof Glowacki, whom Briedis had controversially knocked out in the third round June 15 in Riga, Latvia — Briedis’ hometown — to claim
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8:20 PM ET Junior middleweight contenders Carlos Adames and Patrick Teixeira had the stakes raised for their upcoming fight on Tuesday. Adames and Teixeira are scheduled to fight on the Oscar Valdez-Andres Gutierrez undercard at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Saturday (ESPN+, 6:30 p.m. ET), but instead of the bout being a world title
7:29 PM ET Heavyweight world titleholder Deontay Wilder’s one-punch seventh-round knockout of Luis “King Kong” Ortiz in their rematch on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas officially set up perhaps the biggest fight in boxing. The rematch between Wilder and lineal champion Tyson Fury was signed months ago but with two interim
5:42 PM ET Three days after Andrew Cancio lost his junior lightweight world title, Golden Boy Promotions, whom he had publicly voiced displeasure with going into the fight, released him from his contract on Tuesday. “I’m not happy with what has transpired but my goal is to become a world champion again and work with
11:51 AM ET Former featherweight world titleholders Oscar Valdez and Carl Frampton move up in weight to the 130-pound division to face Andres Gutierrez and Tyler McCreary, respectively, in a Top Rank boxing card at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Saturday (ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET). Earlier in the day, Zolani Tete defends his WBO