Quick Hitters
A lot of news broke on Friday, from Floyd Mayweather's coming out of retirement, to Conor Benn going to Zuffa Boxing and some other stuff....
Before we head into the weekend, some news hit on this Friday. Here’s the latest…
- Floyd Mayweather has announced that he is coming out of retirement after his spring fling in the Congo against Mike Tyson. The past several years he has engaged in various exhibitions matches but according to a press release that was sent out this afternoon, he is signing an exclusive agreement with an outfit called CSI Sports/FIGHT SPORTS.
“I still have what it takes to set more records in the sport of boxing - from my upcoming Mike Tyson event to my next professional fight afterwards - no one will generate a bigger gate, have a larger global broadcast audience and generate more money with each event – then my events. And I plan to keep doing it with my global media partner, CSI Sports™/FIGHT SPORTS®,” said Mayweather in this release.
He’s also started up his own credit card. (I wonder what the interest rates are on that?)
Yeah, it’s clear, he might need the money.
Conor Benn in a surprising move has inked a deal with Zuffa Boxing. According to Chris Mannix and Dan Rafael, it’s a one-fight, eight-figure deal. Benn, who’s coming off his revenge victory over arch-rival, Chris Eubank Jr., in November tweeted out this statement:
Throughout his career, he has been promoted by Matchroom Boxing and Eddie Hearn. I’m sure this will only increase the animus between Hearn and the head of Zuffa Boxing, Dana White.
By Saturday Hearn might state that Benn is a drug cheat who should be banned from the sport.
The official announcement for the May 2nd clash between unified cruiserweight champion, Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, and two-division champion, David Benavidez, will be made tomorrow at a press conference at the Park MGM in Las Vegas. This bout will take place at the T-Mobile Arena, which is hosting Saturday’s nights card.
This match-up was revealed immediately after Benavidez’s seventh round stoppage of Anthony Yarde on November 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ramirez, who holds the WBA and WBO cruiserweight belts, has not fought since defeating Yuniel Dorticos back in late June. He is rated second in the division by Ring Magazine behind Jai Opetaia (who has the IBF title). Opetaia, who is facing Brandon Glanton in his Zuffa Boxing debut in March, is the Ring Magazine champion, and the consensus is that he is the best fighter in this division.
Ramirez-Benavidez is a very good fight, but the elephant in the room is Opetaia. Will the winner of this bout eventually face him? Or will promotional and network rivalries make this a non-starter?
The WBO announced that Janibek Alimkhanuly has been suspended for one year (retroactive to December 2) for failing a VADA drug test prior to his scheduled bout versus Carlos Adames on December 6.
The bout versus Adames (the current WBC belt-holder) was supposed to be a three-belt unification, and there was talk that if Alimkhanuly (who was the WBO and IBF champion) came out the winner, he would be in line to perhaps face Terence Crawford in what would’ve been a big-money fight for him.
It was tough for him to get fights before all this, now you wonder what options he’ll have in by 2027.
So here I am on Substack. For a few years I was encouraged by some of my followers on Twitter and some long-time friends in the boxing industry to start an account. So after some consideration I have made the plunge. My plan is to write a few columns a week, and just generally give you my opinions and insights of the boxing world.
signing benn for that much money is a huge mistake unless he fights a big name like garcia. otherwise its kinda like when neymar got signed to psg, it just skyrockets the market value of what boxers thing they are worth/set standards around last week a guy outside the top 10 in 160 wanted 500k to fight a decent opponent. we need to get to a place where fights ‘naturally’ occur without turki overpaying. kinda like how bam ran through the his recent division. the 126 division is a prime example of how poor the sport runs and how nothing happens if turki doesent step in and burns 10s of millions of dollars for the love of the game with 0 profit. its been 2 yrs almost with leo, espinoza and now previously ball as champs but nobody unified. I do like how they are becoming a place where the missing middle fights of boxing can actually happen though.
Looks like Floyd will be entering his fat Elvis years. Couldn’t have happened to a better guy.