Following a bumper weekend of boxing that saw Gervonta Davis, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Julio Cesar Martinez register impressive wins, there has been an awful lot to catch up on from the squared circle.
DAZN announced a stellar presenting team, the undercard for the trilogy fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder was announced, and Josh Taylor admits he nearly gave up on the sport.
Let’s take a look at five boxing stories you may have missed.
DAZN Announce Star-Studded Line-Up
Eddie Hearn and Matchroom shook up the boxing scene when they announced that they would be ending their 25-year partnership with Sky Sports last month, and have wasted no time in announcing a DAZN presenting line-up full of respected names.
Mike ‘the voice of boxing’ Costello was perhaps the most impressive coup, but the additions of the popular Maya Jama, Laura Woods, Tony Bellew and Andy Lee should provide a fresh impetus on how the sport is presented.
The new team will make their debut in the first of three Fight Camp dates, and Hearn could barely contain his excitement.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this team of talent that we have assembled for our ground-breaking new project,” the son of Barry Hearn claimed.
“It’s a real mixture of industry legends and fresh new talent that will give us the credibility and the energy to drive this new era forward.”
As it stands, both Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte aren’t part of the new DAZN deal, although that is expected to change in the future.
Heavyweight Undercard Announced For Fury v Wilder III
The trilogy fight between Fury and Wilder is now just over four weeks away, and an undercard has this week been announced containing a further three heavyweight bouts.
The rematch between Robert Helenius and Adam Kownacki is sure to have fight fans talking ahead of the July 24th bill, with the Polish man wanting to avenge his surprise knockout defeat in their last meeting.
21-year-old Jared Anderson has won all of his nine professional outings inside the distance and makes a step up in class when he takes on southpaw Vladimir Tereshkin.
Finally, two men with aspirations to make some serious noise in the heavyweight division put their unbeaten records on the line in Frank Sanchez and Efe Ajabga.
Josh Taylor Claims To Have Been Close To Quitting Boxing After London 2012
Newly undisputed super-lightweight world champion Josh Taylor admits that he almost walked away from the sport after defeat in the London 2012 Olympics.
The Scottish hero beat Jose Carlos Ramirez back in May to claim all of the belts in his division, although he nearly quit his career in the ring after that disappointment nine years ago.
“I'd been four and a half years away from home not enjoying it, really. I wanted to be home,” Taylor admitted. “I was sick, I was really, really sick, I said, 'I'm not doing this anymore, I've had enough. I'm miserable'”.
The 18-0 southpaw has since admitted that he is tempted to step up to welterweight with some huge fights to be made against the likes of Terence Crawford, Errol Spence, and Manny Pacquiao.
Oleksandr Usyk’s Promoter Warns AJ Of “Real Heavyweight”
Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk has warned that his fighter is much improved at heavyweight and that Joshua should be wary of the Ukrainian.
The bout is set to take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 25th September, and although ‘AJ’ is the Betfred favourite to defend his belts, the K2 Promotions man says his fighter has other ideas.
“He worked hard over the last two months making himself a real heavyweight, which he is now.
Usyk has his advantage in his skills, determination and experience. He’s a much more experienced fighter than AJ.
“The only thing I can say is that when Usyk enters the ring, it will be the toughest Usyk we could ever see.”
Both Joshua and Fury need to avoid defeat in their upcoming fights in order to resume talks for their undisputed clash.
Joshua’s 2012 Olympics Opponent Questions Decision
Sticking with Joshua, his opponent in the heavyweight final at the 2012 London Games, Roberto Cammarelle, has questioned the decision that saw ‘AJ’ awarded the victory.
The 2008 Olympic champion claimed that the home crowd “influenced the judges” and that he did “enough to win the fight”.
Their bout from nine years ago was initially called as an 18-18 draw, only for a countback to hand the victory to Joshua.
Joshua’s career has rocketed since then, while the Italian failed to turn over into the professional ranks.
