In 1976, the WBC brought back a division that only briefly and without much fanfare flared on the boxing scene in the early 1920s. In the space between bantamweight and featherweight, a class few likely were asking for became one of the most indispensable of the last half century. Junior featherweight has been a winner. Classics like Wilfredo Gomez-Carlos Zarate, ...
Subriel Matias apparently hasn’t thought very highly of Regis Prograis as some of his other peers. (photo by Ryan Hafey) Matias, the IBF junior welterweight titlist from Puerto Rico, said in a recent interview that he formed a somewhat low opinion of New Orleans’ Prograis, a two-time 140-pound titlist, after they fought on the same card in 2018 at Lakefront ...
Naoya Inoue has become familiar with making history for his native Japan. A supreme skillset—arguably the most talented fighter in the sport—has greatly enabled his pound-for-pound rise. Inoue freely admits, however, the recent run he’s enjoyed to repeatedly etch his name into the record books has come with its fair share of luck. Case in point, the opportunity to face ...
Former junior featherweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev desperately wants to rectify the lone loss of his career by taking on the winner of the upcoming undisputed 122-pound championship between Naoya Inoue and Marlon Tapales. Uzbekistan’s Akhmadaliev had to give up his IBF and WBA titles when he lost a surprising split decision to Philippines’ Tapales in April at Tech Port Arena ...
Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez and Eddie Hearn had a quick laugh over the feedback offered by the sport’s reigning junior bantamweight king. Many in the sport were naturally taken aback by Rodriguez’s performance in a stoppage win over Sunny Edwards after nine rounds to unify the IBF and WBO flyweight titles earlier this month. Lineal and WBC 115-pound king Juan Francisco ...
Zhilei Zhang has targeted his next big bang. The reigning interim WBO titlist was among the few top heavyweights to have not appeared on Saturday’s ‘Day of Reckoning’ Pay-Per-View event from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The card featured the only pro to defeat him, Filip Hrgovic, who won a disputed decision in their IBF eliminator last August. The headliner was former ...
Marlon Tapales has insisted to anyone who will listen that he is not done with his upset tour. The reigning WBA/IBF junior featherweight titlist has arrived in Tokyo for the biggest challenge of his fifteen-year pro career. Looming ahead for the 31-year-old Filipino southpaw is an undisputed championship clash versus four-division and current WBC/WBO 122-pound champ Naoya Inoue, widely regarded ...
Malik Scott, head trainer for former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, gave high praise to Joseph Parker for his big win on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 38-year-old Wilder, who snapped a 14 month layoff, was never able to let his hands go and seemed to be tentative to pull the trigger. Parker, also a former world champion, was ...
This is the time of year when everyone is making New Year’s resolutions, deciding upon what they’ll accomplish in 2024 without having begun the work to accomplish it. Goal setting is important, as any self-help book will tell you, but equally as important is not working in absolutes, or setting goals so lofty that you’ll let yourself down. The latter ...
Marlon Tapales enjoyed a far different weight-in experience than his previous trip to Japan. The visiting Filipino was 121.2 pounds—nearly a full pound under the junior featherweight divisional limit—for his bid to become undisputed champion. He puts his WBA/IBF titles on the line versus unified WBC/WBO titlist Naoya Inoue, who was 121.6 pounds ahead of their scheduled twelve-round main event ...