Editor’s note: Vasiliy Lomachenko is three-fourths of the way to his goal of unifying boxing’s lightweight division after defeating Luke Campbell Saturday in London. Only one major belt remains, and that title will belong to either current titleholder Richard Commey or mandatory challenger Teofimo Lopez once that fight is officially made for late in 2019.
Boxing
Aug 31, 2019 Pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko moved a step closer to becoming the undisputed lightweight world champion with an action-packed unanimous decision victory against Luke Campbell on Saturday at the O2 Arena in London. Lomachenko defended his two 135-pound belts and added a vacant one to his collection as he won a lopsided, but
1:47 PM ET In progress: Joe Cordina vs. Gavin Gwynne, 12 rounds, for Cordina’s British and Commonwealth lightweight titles Last fight: Super middleweight Savannah Marshall, Great Britain’s first female amateur world champion and a 2012 and 2016 Olympian, knocked out Daniele Basteri (2-1, 2 KOs), 29, of Brazil, at the bell ending the fifth round
10:44 AM ET Associated Press LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The IOC has detailed a “fair and transparent pathway to the Olympic Games” for male and female boxers trying to qualify for Tokyo. Four continental qualification tournaments have been confirmed as expected in China, Senegal, Argentina and Britain in a two-month spell from February to April. A
7:59 AM ET In April, pound-for-pound king and unified lightweight world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko beat and battered England’s Anthony Crolla, a former world titleholder, in a fourth-round knockout victory to retain his belts at Staples Center in Los Angeles. On Saturday (4 p.m. ET on ESPN+, undercard 1 p.m ET), Lomachenko is poised to defend
4:43 PM ET Coming off a draw and loss in his previous two fights, former longtime junior middleweight world titlist Erislandy Lara made a trainer change he hopes will lead him back to another belt when he meets Ramon Alvarez for a vacant secondary 154-pound world title on Saturday night. Lara will go into the
8:42 PM ET Mark KriegelESPN LONDON — Per his own account, Luke Campbell was an angry, chunky, dyslexic boy of 13 when he walked into St. Paul’s Boxing Academy in the bleak, northern city of Hull. Two weeks later, he had his first fight. “I got my ass kicked,” he recalls. In fact, Campbell kept
8:42 PM ET Mark KriegelESPN LONDON — Per his own account, Luke Campbell was an angry, chunky, dyslexic boy of 13 when he walked into St. Paul’s Boxing Academy in the bleak, northern city of Hull. Two weeks later, he had his first fight. “I got my ass kicked,” he recalls. In fact, Campbell kept
12:57 PM ET Former junior welterweight world titleholder Maurice Hooker has announced he will move up in weight to compete in the welterweight division. “I want to give my fans the best possible performances and, therefore, after careful deliberations with my manager (Arnie Verbeek) and promoter (Dino Duva of Roc Nation Sports), I have decided
12:32 PM ET Vasiliy Lomachenko, the WBO and WBA world lightweight champion and ESPN’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, faces England’s Luke Campbell in the main event of a Top Rank on ESPN+ card at the The O2 Arena in London, England, on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. Lomachenko, of Ukraine but living in Oxnard, California,