Tyson Fury’s and Oleksandr Usyk’s entourages clash at media event before Saturday’s boxing bout in Saudi Arabia.
Tyson Fury’s father appears to have head-butted a member of Oleksandr Usyk’s entourage in a bloody clash at a media day for Saturday’s undisputed world heavyweight title fight in Saudi Arabia.
John Fury, with a cut on his forehead and bloody streaks on his face, confirmed to Sky Sports television his involvement in an incident at the event on Monday in Riyadh attended by both fighters.
“[He] disrespected my son, the best heavyweight to ever wear a pair of boxing gloves,” he said.
“He was in my face, trying to be clever – coming into my space [with] ‘Usyk! Usyk!’” he added. “… I was only chanting my own son’s name. So then he went a step closer and a step closer. So at the end of it, I’m a warrior. That’s what we do. We’re fighting people.
“You come in the space, you’re going to get what’s coming.”
Sky reported Saudi authorities had decided to draw a line under the incident.
Ring of Fire set alight already
Billed as the “Ring of Fire”, the fight will unify Briton Fury’s WBC heavyweight championship with the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts held by Ukrainian Usyk. Both are undefeated professionally.
“I didn’t see anything,” Sky quoted Tyson Fury as saying. “I was in the room doing interviews. But I’m not here for all that. I’m here to get the job done and go home and rest.”
The fight originally was to have been held on December 23. It was then set for February 17 before being rescheduled when Fury suffered a cut in sparring.
Usyk’s manager, Alexander Krassyuk, hoped the elder Fury would apologise.
“It would be nice if we hear some apologies from John because this was his behaviour,” he told Sky.
“We are the example for the whole world. … A new generation of kids are taking us as an example. What will they see from this?”
Mexico’s Alvarez successfully defended his WBC, WBO, IBF and WBA super middleweight titles against compatriot Munguia.
Mexico’s undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has retained his titles with a unanimous victory over compatriot Jaime Munguia in Las Vegas.
Alvarez, who received scores of 117-110, 116-111 and 115-112 from the three judges to seal the win, sent his opponent to the canvas in the fourth round, the first knockdown of Munguia’s career.
“Jaime Munguia is a great fighter. He’s strong, he’s smart. But I take my time. I have 12 rounds to win the fight and I did. I did really good and I feel proud about it,” Alvarez said after handing Munguia the first defeat of his professional career.
“He’s strong but I think he’s a little slow. I could see every punch… That’s why I’m the best. I’m the best fighter right now, for sure.”
Saturday’s fight, which bettered Alvarez’s record to 61-2-2, was the 33-year-old’s first since beating American Jermell Charlo last year.
It was Alvarez’s fourth time defending his WBC, WBO, IBF and WBA super middleweight titles.
Munguia, whose 34 knockouts included victories inside the distance in four of his previous five fights, came out on the attack against the vastly experienced Alvarez, pushing him back with his jab and rattling the champion in the third round with a right to the jaw.
But Alvarez responded in the fourth. After Munguia connected with a pair of solid rights Alvarez followed a left hook with a massive uppercut that sent Munguia to the canvas.
The fifth round opened to chants of “Canelo!” ringing in the T-Mobile Arena, where support was evenly divided between the Mexican combatants in a fight coinciding with Mexico’s Cinco de Mayo festivities.
An Alvarez jab popped Munguia’s head back and, in the sixth, an Alvarez left hook had Munguia’s knees buckling briefly.
In a fight billed as a possible changing of the guard, Munguia – who has honed his aggressive style under the tutelage of longtime Manny Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach – continued to press.
But his vaunted power rarely bothered Alvarez, who repeatedly found a way past Munguia’s guard to land the more damaging blows.
‘I don’t even know where to get steroids,’ Garcia said, after reports claimed he had tested positive for a banned drug.
Ryan Garcia has denied using performance-enhancing drugs in a video posted on social media after ESPN reported that he had tested positive for a banned substance.
Garcia defeated Devin Haney, a former amateur rival, by majority decision on April 20 in New York. Garcia knocked Haney down three times and handed the WBC super lightweight champion his first loss but did not win the title because he was over the weight limit.
“Everybody knows that I don’t cheat,” Garcia said in a video posted on X on Wednesday night.
“Never taken a steroid … I don’t even know where to get steroids. … I barely take supplements. Big lies.”
Ryan Garcia, right, celebrates after winning a super lightweight boxing match against Devin Haney on April 21, 2024, in New York [Frank Franklin II/AP]
ESPN reported that the 25-year-old Garcia tested positive for the performance-enhancing substance Ostarine the day before and the day of the fight, citing a Voluntary Anti-Doping Association letter. Ostarine is a selective androgen receptor modulator, and its use can stimulate muscle growth. The drug is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The samples were taken before the fight, but the results weren’t known until later, ESPN reported.
“We learned about this situation not too long ago and it’s unfortunate Ryan cheated and disrespected both the fans and the sport of boxing by fighting dirty and breaking positive not once, but twice,” Haney said in a statement to ESPN, adding: “This puts the fight in a completely different light.”
Garcia’s victory could be overturned if the positive drug test is confirmed.
‘Too soon to leave but yet he’s gone,’ Ngannou wrote in a social media post annoucing his son’s death.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou’s 15-month-old son Kobe has died, the boxer said in a social media post.
Ngannou, 37, posted a black and white photo with his son late on Monday and wrote, “Too soon to leave but yet he’s gone. My little boy, my mate, my partner Kobe was full of life and joy.”
“Now, he’s laying without life. I shouted his name over and over but he’s not responding.
“I was my best self next to him and now I have no clue of who I am. Life is so unfair to hit us where it hurts the most,” Ngannou added.
After leaving the UFC, the French Cameroonian fighter switched to professional boxing.
Ngannou was knocked out by Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia last month, his second heavyweight defeat since switching from MMA.
Ngannou had pushed world champion Tyson Fury during a controversial points defeat in his first professional boxing match in Saudi Arabia last October.
A few hours before revealing Kobe’s death, Ngannou had posted on X, without reference to his son: “What’s the purpose of life if what we’re fighting tooth and nail to get away from is what finally hit us the hardest?
“Why is life so unfair and merciless?”
The fight world reacted with messages of condolence.
“I am so sorry to hear of your loss Francis, my prayers are with you and your family at this time,” wrote fellow UFC fighter Conor McGregor on X.
The fighter’s manager, Marquel Martin, posted: “Please respect @francis_ngannou and his family during this traumatic time. I along with millions (of) others will be praying for their strength.”
Veteran ring announcer Michael Buffer said on social media: “The entire world of sports and beyond stand crushed and painfully supportive with Francis at this time.
“Please know that millions of us embrace little Kobe with our prayers.”
The current IBA women’s world boxing champion will go for gold at the Paris Olympics.
Two-time world boxing champion Nikhat Zareen is ready to step out of fellow Indian MC Mary Kom’s shadow with a medal at the Paris Olympics, coach Blas Iglesias Fernandez has said.
Six-time world champion MC Mary Kom has been the face of women’s boxing in India and her illustrious career inspired a Bollywood biopic in 2014.
She won the flyweight bronze at the 2012 London Olympics to cement her legacy and announced her retirement earlier this year.
Zareen will make her Olympic debut in the 50kg event in Paris and Fernandez expects the 27-year-old to return with a medal around her neck.
“This is Nikhat’s time to prove herself,” the Cuban said in a Sports Authority of India (SAI) media release on Tuesday.
“It’s true that she had lived in the shadows of Mary Kom but now it’s her chance to prove herself and make India proud.”
Since 1990, Fernandez has worked with India’s top boxers, including Mary Kom, and is the only foreigner to have won India’s highest award for a coach.
Currently India’s high-performance coach, the 68-year-old was particularly pleased by Zareen’s ring awareness.
“I love the boxing (style) of Nikhat. She is very intelligent. She has good ring tactics,” he said.
India could expect a second boxing medal in the women’s event if Lovlina Borgohain, who won the welterweight bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, could find her “killer instinct”, Fernandez said.
“Lovlina has to show more killer instinct,” he said of the boxer, who had to move from 69kg to 75kg after the Olympic categories were revised.
“I have seen some of her bouts and I think she lost them because Lovlina was not aggressive and proactive enough.
“If she can box to her potential, she can finish among the medals in Paris.”
India has bagged four women’s quota places for Paris.
Fernandez was hopeful the male boxers would give a good account of themselves at the world qualifiers in Bangkok where India can potentially clinch nine Paris spots.
“I reckon Nishant Dev and Amit Panghal can bag Paris quotas. They both have the potential to do this,” he said.
“Men’s boxing is very tough and should not be compared with women’s where the competition is relatively easier.”
Who: Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou What: Heavyweight boxing fight (10 rounds) When: Friday, March 8, 2024 at 23:00 GMT Where: Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Francis Ngannou believes his strong showing in his pro boxing debut against Tyson Fury has given him confidence ahead of his bout against British heavyweight Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia.
The former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou will fight Joshua at Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena on Friday.
Ngannou made his debut in October, losing via split decision to WBC world champion Fury in a non-title bout.
The Cameroonian-French fighter almost delivered an upset when he dropped Fury to the canvas with a left hook in that fight.
“I feel confident enough, based on my training, the hard work that I put in,” Ngannou said in his pre-fight press conference on Wednesday.
“It (fight against Fury) was a good experience and it definitely guided me better to have proper training.
“Every space I have open, I am going to hit … I am not going to leave any stone unturned and any opportunity unexplored.”
Much of the pre-fight narrative is presuming a win for Joshua that would put him in line to fight Fury, provided Fury – the WBC champion – beats Oleksandr Usyk – the WBA, IBF and WBO champion – in their rearranged May 18 bout that will crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 2000.
Ngannou is ready to make more headlines in his fast-track bid to become a boxing champion so soon after dominating the UFC scene.
“I’ve exposed myself – the guy who is coming next time [Joshua] knows what to deal with,” Ngannou said after arriving in Riyadh.
“I’ve lost that element of surprise. So how can I surprise him again? What can I pull from my sleeve once again?”
Ngannou, who has a 17-3 mixed martial arts record with 12 victories by knockout, will once again be the underdog when he faces two-time world heavyweight champion Joshua, but the Briton said he would not make the mistake of underestimating his less-experienced opponent.
“He’s been boxing. His first dream was to be a boxer, which people forget. He was part of the Cameroonian team,” Joshua told reporters.
“I know what I am up against, I look at all of these small details. I spar, I do my film study, all that type of stuff.”
يومان فقط تفصلنا عن النزالات التاريخية العالمية في #KnockoutChaos 🥊🔥
Only two days separate us from the global historic fights in #KnockoutChaos 🥊🔥
— موسم الرياض | Riyadh Season (@RiyadhSeason) March 6, 2024
A rags to riches story
Ngannou once toiled in a sand mine, scavenged for food to avoid starvation and slept rough in a car park, so facing former two-time world heavyweight champion Joshua is just another stop on his rags to riches journey.
“I’ve had a lot of experience in life,” the softly-spoken Cameroon-born fighter said with characteristic understatement.
“I’ve built my fighting spirit as high as anyone else.”
Ngannou has crammed a lot into his 37 years.
The child of a single mother, he had to walk six miles to school and from the age of 10 he shovelled sand from open quarries, his meagre income helping to buy food and books.
“It was work meant for adults, but we didn’t have any options,” said Ngannou of his back-breaking labours which paid less than $2 a day.
“I didn’t like my life, I felt like I missed my childhood.”
In 2012, at the age of 26 and fired by dreams of becoming a professional boxer, Ngannou, now boasting a towering physique carved from his brutal work in the sand pits, made a break for Europe and a better life.
Crammed with others into the back of a pick-up truck, he crossed the unforgiving Sahara, travelled through Nigeria, Niger and Algeria before reaching Morocco.
Then, after half a dozen failed attempts, he finally made it over the Mediterranean to Spain where he was promptly jailed for two months for making an illegal crossing.
He took a train to Paris and lived in a car park before local boxing coach Didier Carmont found him a place to live and a gym in which to train.
Despite an early fascination with Mike Tyson, Ngannou graduated towards Mixed Martial Arts and in 2021 became the UFC world heavyweight champion.
Many scoffed when he opted to make his boxing debut against world champion Tyson Fury in the so-called “Battle of the Baddest” in October last year.
The doubters were silenced, however, when Ngannou sent Fury to the canvas in the third round before losing only on a controversial split decision.
However, Ngannou’s reputation and bank balance soared. He was paid $10m for his night’s work, a windfall which has helped the once shoeless Cameroonian buy a luxurious home in Las Vegas.
‘I can knock Joshua out’
On Friday, Ngannou will return to Riyadh to face 34-year-old Joshua whose career could take a big blow if he loses.
“Of course I can knock Joshua out,” said Ngannou. “I believe if I land on anyone, I will knock them out. The question is how to land. That’s the hardest thing.”
Joshua, a former unified WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight champion, comes into the fight on the back of three successive wins.
Before that, however, he lost back-to-back fights with Oleksandr Usyk who will fight Fury for the undisputed heavyweight title in Saudi in May.
“This Friday it’s going to go down, so I can’t wait for the opportunity to show my skills and combat this person who thinks he can knock me out,” Joshua said of Ngannou.
“I believe I can knock him out. Definitely. I would love to knock him out and make a statement.
“He has to be ready for the shots which are coming his way because I’m a man who will be standing in front of him, bringing him a lot of hell.”
In late January, Hattan Alsaif became the first female fighter from Saudi Arabia to sign up with a major global mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, the Professional Fighters League (PFL).
Alsaif, 22, won gold at the 2023 International Federation of Muaythai Associations World Championships, where she was awarded Breakthrough Female Athlete. Last year she also took first place at the World Combat Games and the Saudi Games.
However, her journey outside the ring has also grabbed headlines.
Alsaif’s parents divorced right after she was born and she grew up at her grandmother’s house. When she was aged just 10, both of Alsaif’s parents died in the space of 10 months. She spent years living with depression and attempted suicide on several occasions.
In a conversation with Al Jazeera – has been edited for clarity and length – Alsaif shares her struggles, her hurt and pain while growing up, the loss of her parents, and how she found her calling in MMA.
Al Jazeera: You’re the first Saudi female fighter to sign with a major MMA promotion. Tell us just how big this is.
Hattan Alsaif: This is one of the greatest things to have happened in my life. It’s also a very big responsibility and I have to take it seriously and carefully. I’ll be representing my country, my family, my team and also every other Saudi female. It’s huge and I’m sure I’m the right person to do it.
Al Jazeera: What makes you say you’re the right person?
Alsaif: It’s because of the skills. I always tell myself I was born to fight, it’s my path, my career, my destiny, my hobby, my life, my everything. I’m always trying my best and killing myself to do the best.
🚀 History in the making! 🌟 Hattan Alsaif becomes the first-ever Saudi Arabian-born women’s fighter to sign with a major MMA promotion. 🥊 A true honor for her and a step forward for aspiring female fighters. Let’s pave the way for more opportunities! 👊 #PFL#MMApic.twitter.com/QuzLxXqj3T
Al Jazeera: You’ve said you were born to do this. How much does it mean to you?
Alsaif: It really means everything to me. Unlike other fighters, I found martial arts quite late. While others have been fighting for five to seven years, it has not even been three years for me. I’m so proud of all that I have achieved in that time.
Since the first day of my training, I felt at home in the gym. I felt so connected with the training, the gloves, the coach. I knew this was my calling and the right place for me.
Al Jazeera: You’ve had losses in the ring but bigger losses outside of it. How have those shaped the person you are today?
Alsaif: After I lost my parents, I told myself I have nothing more to lose. Parents guide you to heaven, help you in your life to become a good person and losing them is like losing your entire life. There’s nobody to guide you or pray for you. So I decided to take my chances in life. I was trying to be responsible for myself.
My parents divorced after I was born. They then had their own families. I was on my own. When I got sick, I had to take care of myself. When I was going to school, I was doing my own hair. It’s things like that. I think it’s that life that [helped me] to take this responsibility for myself.
Al Jazeera: You endured so much at such an early age: Loss of parents and depression among other things. How have sport and martial arts helped you?
Alsaif: After losing my parents, I was taking revenge on life. I was always angry, picking fights with everyone and taking my anger out everywhere because of what happened.
I tried a lot of other avenues: writing, drawing, skating, running, dancing, cooking and other things. But I never found myself. I just didn’t feel I was in the right place or could show how good I am.
But since I stepped into the world of martial arts, I realised that’s the place I can put my depression, anger, revenge, everything. And end up breathing normally.
Al Jazeera: You spoke a lot about hurt and pain. How much hurt and pain do you need to become a fighter and did you consider giving up at any point?
Alsaif: We don’t have a lot of girls taking up martial arts just yet in Saudi Arabia, so I have been training with guys in the gym. They not only have more experience than me but are also more powerful.
My coach would always tell them not to go easy on me and to punch me and hurt me. If they punch me hard, I’ll try my best to punch them harder. I’ve been crying twice a week from the pain. It’s immense.
There’s mental as well as physical damage. I cry but then I wipe my tears with the gloves and I complete my training. There is no stopping. I will cry and I’ll keep training. I’ll get hurt, my eyes will go blue, my body will have a lot of scars but I’ll keep going. This makes me feel who I am.
Al Jazeera: What then would you say to people who’ve been through a lot and are close to giving up?
Alsaif: I’ve been through depression for nearly three years. I was drowning in it. On my body, there are a lot of scars from self-hurt. I tried suicide. Just anything that would take me away from depression. It was controlling me way too much. I was giving up. I wanted to stop and for it to end. I thought there was no point being alive when you have no parents and nothing is going your way.
That moment, when I was so scared, I took a leap of faith and jumped to the other side. The moment you feel like you’re at your lowest, when you’re giving up, this is the moment you have to jump. That’s when I took up martial arts despite the fear.
The thought of going to the gym for training helped. I knew it would help me sleep well. I go to training, I put everything else in my mind and life aside. I knew that if I didn’t do that and jump, I’d be stuck in the dark with my depression and demons until I died.
Al Jazeera: So what then is the dream now? Where do you see yourself going from here?
Alsaif: I want to be the best. Anyone can say that but, for me, it’s a deep, deep word. I am obsessive. I admire perfection. I want to reach the top in everything. I don’t want to have 15 percent of anything. I want 100 percent.
I know the journey won’t be easy from here and I’ll cry and get hurt along the way but that’s the path I want to take.
Devin Haney beat Regis Prograis by unanimous decision in his division debut to win the WBC super-welterweight title.
Devin Haney has wrested the WBC super-lightweight world title from Regis Prograis, knocking his opponent down once on the way to a unanimous decision victory in San Francisco.
Haney, the former undisputed lightweight world champion stepping up to the 140-pound division for the first time, won by scores of 120-107 from all three judges on Saturday.
Haney sent Prograis to the canvas in the third round with one of many devastating combinations and wobbled Prograis again in the sixth on the way to the dominant victory.
Haney (31-0) remained unbeaten with a slow but dominant victory over Prograis in front of a sellout crowd at Chase Center in San Francisco, home of the Golden State Warriors.
He was cheered wildly while repeatedly landing a stiff left hand and several hard right hooks that kept Prograis from finding a rhythm.
He dropped Prograis in the third round with a stinging straight right hand.
Prograis couldn’t avoid Haney’s crisp right hand to the head that repeatedly landed and opened a small cut on his nose in the sixth round.
“It’s a dream come true,” Haney said. “I knew I had him hurt a few times. I went in there and was real disciplined. I made it as easy as possible.”
‘The biggest fights are the most money’
It was Haney’s first fight as a super welterweight after dominating as the undisputed lightweight crown. Haney made the decision to move up after having trouble making weight at lightweight.
Now as a two-division champion, Haney is eyeing a third title.
“I want to talk to my dad and see what’s next,” Haney said. “I want to do a fight at 147 but there’s a lot of fights at 140.”
The hometown favourite later said the move up in weight had made a new fighter of him.
“A tremendous difference,” a victorious Haney told DAZN in the ring at the Chase Center, home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
“You see it in my performance. I felt so much stronger… 140 got a new king.”
Hard-hitting southpaw Prograis was making the second defence of the WBC title he won with an 11th-round knockout of Jose Zepeda for the vacant title in November last year. Prograis lost for the first time since October 2019.
He notched a split decision win over Danielito Zorrilla in June but fell to 29-2 with 24 knockouts with the defeat.
The win opens the door for Haney to take part in big money fights now. Among those being rumoured for his next fight are Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia.
“I want to make the biggest, best fights happen,” Haney said.
Ireland’s Katie Taylor added Britain’s Chantelle Cameron’s world super-lightweight titles to her lightweight belts six months after losing to her at the same venue.
Katie Taylor has avenged her only professional loss by beating Chantelle Cameron in a majority decision to become a two-weight undisputed boxing champion.
The Irishwoman improved to 23-1 after the judges scored the bout 98-92, 96-94 and 95-95 at Dublin’s 3Arena on Saturday night, six months after a majority decision went Cameron’s way in the same venue.
The 37-year-old Taylor, whose lightweight belts were not on the line, now adds Cameron’s world super-lightweight titles at 140 pounds.
“That was the longest six months of my life waiting for this rematch,” Taylor said in the ring.
“Tonight, you’ve seen the real me, and when I box like that, nobody can beat me.”
Taylor said she’s open to a third fight with Cameron and named Ireland’s largest stadium as a location.
“Let’s get the trilogy at Croke Park,” she said of the 82,000-capacity venue.
It was Cameron’s first professional loss. The 32-year-old Englishwoman’s record is 18-1.
Katie Taylor’s belt collection. Two-weight undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO world champion… pic.twitter.com/5RTABseG5K
Amanda Serrano finally has all four belts in her weight class.
Next, she can have revenge on Katie Taylor.
Serrano wore down a bloody Erika Cruz and won a unanimous decision Saturday night at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden to become the undisputed featherweight champion and set up a rematch with fellow champ Taylor.
They fought a thriller last year at Madison Square Garden and are expecting nothing less in Ireland on May 20.
“The last fight was an epic fight and I think the next one’s going to be exactly the same,” Taylor said.
Before that, Serrano got the better of a bout in which the fighters stood close and kept swinging throughout, emerging with the victory by scores of 98-92 on two cards and 97-93 on the other.
Cruz spent much of the fight wiping away blood from near her eyes after a clash of heads in the third round. With the Mexican’s light blue outfit turning progressively redder during the bout, perhaps Serrano was helped find the range with her combinations.
Afterward, promoter Eddie Hearn said Serrano (44-2-1, 30 KOs) and Taylor, who joined him in the ring, would meet again. Taylor, the undisputed champion at lightweight, edged Serrano by split decision last April 30 before a sold-out crowd in the first women’s match to headline at Madison Square Garden.
Amanda Serrano (left) delivers a hard body blow to Erika Cruz during her unanimous decision victory.AP
Back in the Garden, this time in the smaller Hulu Theater, Serrano found herself with another tough test, but this one went her way.
And she thinks her next match will, too.
“I’ve done enough and I will do more,” Serrano said of the rematch.
The match with Taylor was one of the most significant in women’s boxing history and lived up to the hype, earning numerous fight of the year awards. Taylor won most of the late rounds to pull it out, perhaps a little stronger with Serrano moving up two weight classes to fight her.
Back at her preferred weight of 126, Serrano appeared to be the fresher fighter Saturday. She won the final eight rounds on one card and the last seven on another.
Cruz (15-2) held the fourth and final belt that Serrano needed to complete her goal of becoming the first undisputed champion from Puerto Rico, and made her work for it.
The fighters stood close — close enough to bang heads and open a cut on Cruz’s forehead — and traded combinations for what largely an even first few rounds. But the pace appeared to catch up with Cruz in the fifth, and fatigue might have been a factor when Serrano caught her with a good shot in the final seconds of the round.
Serrano than accelerated the pressure in the sixth, the most decisive round of the fight. A quick, short right froze Cruz and Serrano followed up with a flurry that drove the Mexican from one side of the ring to the other.
Amanda Serrano poses with all the belts after defeating Erika Cruz during their fight for Serrano’s WBC, WBO and IBF featherweight titles and Cruz’s WBA featherweight title at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. Getty Images
The 34-year-old Serrano, a champion in seven weight classes who decided late in her career to focus on featherweight, smiled throughout the ring introductions. She pumped her arms to encourage louder cheers from her Puerto Rican fans — who moments later began booing when Taylor was shown on a large video screen in the arena.
Both they were all smiles in the ring together afterward talking about what will be the unbeaten Taylor’s first pro fight in Ireland.
“Now she deserves to fight in Ireland and it’s going to be a bigger and better fight over there,” Serrano said.
Alycia Baumgardner gave the 130-pound division an undisputed champion with a unanimous decision victory over Elhem Mekhaled. Baumgardner (14-1, 7 KOs) added the vacant WBA belt to the three she had held since last year, using a pair of knockdowns to cruise to scores of 99-89 on two cards and 98-90 on the other.
After a couple competitive rounds to start, Baumgardner landed a right in the third round that momentarily buckled Mekhaled’s legs. She quickly pounced and dropped her, and after Mekhaled (15-2) got up, Baumgardner swarmed her with a sustained attack that sent her to the canvas again.
Baumgardner had Mekhaled hurt again in the seventh, driving her back into the ropes and appearing close to stopping her before Mekhaled was able to escape the round and they had a good exchange in the eighth.
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