Junior lightweight contender Christopher “Pitufo” Diaz (23-1, 15 KOs), 23, of Puerto Rico, will return to the ring to face David Berna (17-5, 16 KOs), 28, of Hungary, on Nov. 24 the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino in San Juan, PR Best Boxing Promotions announced on Monday. Diaz, who is promoted by Top Rank but on the card, will be boxing for the first time since getting knocked down and suffering his first defeat, a unanimous decision to Japan’s Masayuki Ito for a vacant world title on July 28 in Kissimmee, Florida. “I am anxious to return to the ring, to the combat zone,” Diaz said. “In July, more than a defeat, it was a learning experience. (Now) we come stronger, with a new approach and a vision of being a world champion. I will be a champion, I promise you.”

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer4h ago

The Nov. 10 card featuring Yuriorkis Gamboa-Miguel Beltran Jr. and Juan Manuel Lopez-Cristian Mino in co-main events of an Integrated Sports PPV on Nov. 10 – designed to set up a Gamboa-Lopez lightweight fight, once one of the hottest matches in boxing but now way past its sell-by date – has moved venues from Marlins Park in Miami, Florida, to the Miami-Dade County Fair Expo Center. The Marlins were never that hot for the card to begin with and New Champion Promotions ultimately moved it to the other venue that had been in the running all along, which made Cuban defector Gamboa happy. “The Miami-Dade Fair Expo Center is smack in the middle of the neighborhood of my fans,” he said. “Thousands will be able to walk to the fight.”

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer5h ago

Heavyweight Sergey Kuzmin (13-0, 10 KOs), 31, of Russia, a former amateur standout, likely will appear in the opener of the HBO-televised card headlined by light heavyweight world titlist Dmitry Bivol's defense against former champion Jean Pascal on Nov. 24 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Vadim Kornilov, who manages Kuzmin and Bivol, told ESPN Kuzmin will go in the opener as long as they can find an opponent HBO will accept. Kuzmin is coming off a fourth-round knockout of David Price on Sept. 22 on the Anthony Joshua-Alexander Povetkin undercard.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer4d ago

A Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN is in the works for Nov. 17 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. According to a source with knowledge of the plans, heavyweight contender Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller is slated to headline (though as of Thursday there was no opponent). Other fights on the card, according to the source, will include Brandon Rios against Ramon Alvarez (Canelo's older brother) in a junior middleweight fight, unified women's middleweight titlist Claressa Shields taking on Hannah Rankin, a middleweight fight between Gabriel Rosado and Luis Arias, former three-division world titlist Ricky Burns against an opponent to be determined at lightweight and a possible a fight involving heavyweight contender Luis "King Kong" Ortiz. The plan for the date was initially to have it headlined by a rematch between former middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, who would have come out of retirement, and former titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., but the talks did not come to fruition.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer4d ago

It appears as though the final HBO boxing broadcast will be on Dec. 8. Promoter Tom Loeffler told ESPN on Wednesday that he has an HBO doubleheader in the works for that date on which junior bantamweight contender Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (47-2, 39 KOs), the former pound-for-pound king and four-division world champion, and undisputed women’s welterweight world champion Cecilia Braekhus (34-0, 9 KOs), the world’s No. 1 female fighter pound-for-pound, would face opponents to be determined. He said there is no venue yet for the card but that it would likely take place in Las Vegas or Los Angeles.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer5d ago

Welterweight world titleholder Terence Crawford is a bona fide attraction. Not only did his welterweight world title-retaining 12th-round knockout of Jose Benavidez Jr. on Saturday night take place in front of his largest crowd to date, 13,323 at the CHI Health Center in Crawford’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, the card drew the largest for any boxing or MMA event on broadcast or cable television so far in 2018. The full telecast, which also included featherweight prospect Shakur Stevenson’s impressive three-knockdown first-round KO of Viorel Simion, averaged 2.245 million viewers and peaked at 2.708 million in the later stages of the main event, according to Nielsen Media Research. The telecast was also drew ESPN’s largest boxing audience since the Manny Pacquiao-Jeff Horn card averaged 2.8 million viewers in July 2017 as the network kicked off its long-term deal with Top Rank.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer6d ago

Light heavyweight titlist Artur Beterbiev will defend against Joe Smith Jr. on a date to be determined in December in the Northeast, Beterbiev co-promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing and Joe DeGuardia, Smith’s promoter, told ESPN on Monday. Smith was near a deal to challenger titlist Dmitry Bivol on Nov. 24 on HBO but then Smith got bigger, better offer to fight Beterbiev on streaming service DAZN.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer7d ago

Former top prospect Felix Verdejo, who suffered a major upset loss when Antonio Lozada stunningly knocked him out in the 10th-round of their lightweight fight March 17, is on the comeback trail. Verdejo (23-1, 15 KOs), 25, of Puerto Rico, will fight Yardley Armenta Cruz (24-11, 14 KOs), 24, of Mexico, in a 10-round junior welterweight bout Nov. 10 at the Mario Morales Coliseum in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Top Rank, Verdejo’s promoter, gave him permission to fight on a card being organized his manager, Ricky Marquez. Cruz is coming off a second-round KO loss to lightweight contender Richard Commey on Aug. 4. “Obviously, this is a comeback fight. Hopefully – and we expect – that he'll show improvement and then we'll assess where to go with Verdejo next year,” Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer7d ago

Attendance here at the CHI Health Center is 13,323, the largest crowd Crawford has drawn yet.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer9d ago

The rematch between super middleweight world titleholder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez and Jesse Hart, which has not yet been formally announced but is slated to headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ card on Dec. 14, will take place at the Bank of America Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN. That is the same arena where Ramirez knocked out Habib Ahmed in the sixth round of a February title defense. In the fight before stopping Ahmed, Ramirez (38-0, 25 KOs) 27, of Mexico, dropped Hart in the second round of a hard-fought unanimous decision to retain his belt in September 2017. Hart (25-1, 21 KOs), 29, of Philadelphia, has won three fights in a row by knockout since to earn the rematch.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer9d ago

All Star Boxing promoter Tutico Zabala announced on Thursday that he will kick his fall season of shows on Spanish-language network Telemundo on Nov. 16 (11:35 p.m. ET) with a regional flyweight title bout between Puerto Rico’s Jonathan "Bomba" Gonzalez (21-2-1 12 KOs) and Mexico’s Juan "Pinky" Alejo (24-5-1 14 KOs), a former junior flyweight world title challenger, at the Osceola Heritage Park Events Center in Kissimmee, Florida. In the co-feature, Christian Camacho (7-1, 1 KO), a son of the late Hall of Famer Hector Camacho Sr., will face Isaac Cerda (6-2, 1 KO) in a six-round featherweight fight.

Dan Rafael, ESPN Senior Writer11d ago