After two years away from the ring, Manny Pacquiao will make his long-awaited return to Boxing later this summer against Errol Spence Jr. on August 21st, as announced on his Twitter on Friday. Pacquiao had been considering a return to the fight game over the past few weeks after a long layoff. Spence is one […]
After two years away from the ring, Manny Pacquiao will make his long-awaited return to Boxing later this summer against Errol Spence Jr. on August 21st, as announced on his Twitter on Friday.
Pacquiao had been considering a return to the fight game over the past few weeks after a long layoff. Spence is one of the top welterweights in the world and is coming off a dominant performance against Danny Garcia to retain the WBC and IBF welterweight titles last December.
Pacquiao was originally expected to fight Terence Crawford next month in Abu Dhabi but the management on both sides wasn’t able to meet the financial deadlines. He last competed against Keith Thurman in mid-2019, earning a split-decision win and earning the WBA welterweight title.
During his time away from the sport, it was also rumored that Pacquiao was close to a fight agreement to take on UFC star Conor McGregor in a boxing match, but negotiations never materialized. McGregor will face Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in a trilogy lightweight bout.
Pacquiao has won three straight fights since his controversial loss to Jeff Horn, in which many around the boxing community felt that he deserved the victory.
The bout adds to an eventful month in boxing, and the announcement comes just hours after the trilogy between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder was verbally agreed and near-booked for July 24th.
On June 6th, one of Pacquiao’s greatest rivals, Floyd Mayweather will box YouTuber Logan Paul in an exhibition match in Miami.
The 42-year-old Pacquiao has the opportunity to make a big return to boxing against one of the sport’s very best. Spence will enter the bout with a record of 27-0, including 21 wins by knockout.
What do you think about Manny Pacquiao making his return to boxing against Errol Spence in August?What are your early predictions for the fight?
Manny Pacquiao will fight Errol Spence on August 21st. | Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Bet you didn’t see this fight coming. More than two years removed from his last fight, legendary eight-division world boxing champi…
Manny Pacquiao will fight Errol Spence on August 21st. | Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Bet you didn’t see this fight coming.
More than two years removed from his last fight, legendary eight-division world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao is coming back into the ring for yet another daunting challenge.
In a surprise announcement on Friday, Pacquiao confirmed that he will be taking on unified WBC and IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr on August 21st in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao (62-7-2, 39 KOs) is one of the greatest boxers of all-time and his accomplishments span over 20 years and across eight weight classes. His last fight saw him win a thrilling split decision over Keith Thurman to become the WBA welterweight champ, having put Thurman down for the first time in his career. The pandemic obviously shut off any fights for him in 2020, but he was linked to possible matchups against Ryan Garcia, Mikey Garcia, and Terence Crawford before this swerve to Spence surfaced. At 42 years old he may not be in his prime anymore, but if he were to pull off the upset against Spence it would be one of the greatest achievements of his already heavily decorated career.
Spence (27-0, 21 KOs) became the IBF champion back in 2017 when he stopped Kell Brook in Brook’s hometown of Sheffield, England. Successful defenses against Carlos Ocampo, Lamont Peterson, and Mikey Garcia soon followed before he unified titles in an entertaining split decision over then WBC champion Shawn Porter back in 2019. Two weeks after beating Porter, Errol was fortunate to be alive after getting into a single-car accident while intoxicated. He finally returned to the ring last December and defended his belts by unanimous decision against Danny Garcia.
This is no doubt the highest profile matchup of Errol’s career and we’ll see just how much Pacquiao has left in the tank. It should be a fascinating fight.
Jose Ramirez(L) and Josh Taylor(R) face-off during the weigh-in for the Undisputed junior welterweight championship at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas on May 21, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. | Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Gett…
Jose Ramirez(L) and Josh Taylor(R) face-off during the weigh-in for the Undisputed junior welterweight championship at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas on May 21, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. | Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images
Saturday’s undisputed junior welterweight title clash is now official.
The weigh-ins are official and we do have all the belts on the line Saturday in Las Vegas.
Top Rank Boxing on ESPN has an absolutely mouthwatering junior welterweight unification fight as the headliner, as undefeated WBC/WBO champion Jose Ramirez (26-0, 17 KOs) and fellow unbeaten IBF/WBA champion Josh Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs) square off for the right to call themselves the undisputed champion of the 140 lbs division.
Both men made weight, coming in under the limit at 139.6 lbs. They had an intense staredown and I can absolutely assure you that this is an insanely difficult fight to predict. It’s boxing at its finest with the best fighting the best, and you should tune in and watch.
You can watch the main event weigh-in and staredown at the top of the page.
The full weigh-in results and fight card for tomorrow night is as follows:
Main Card (ESPN/ESPN+, 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT)
Jose Ramirez 139.6 vs. Josh Taylor 139.6
Jose Zepeda 140 vs. Hank Lundy 139
Elvis Rodriguez 139.8 lbs vs. Kenneth Sims Jr. 139.8
Preliminary Card (ESPN+, 4:45 PM ET/1:45 PM PT)
Jose Enrique Vivas 127.4 vs. Louie Coria 127.5 lbs
Andres Cortes 132.2 vs. Eduardo Garza 132.5
Robeisy Ramirez 126.6 vs. Ryan Allen 125.4
Raymond Muratalla 137 vs. Jose Gallegos 139.6
Javier Martinez 162.5 lbs vs. Calvin Metcalf 160.4
Photo by Williams Paul/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Bellator MMA returns to action after a two-week break with Bellator 259, which goes down later tonight (Fri., May 21, 2021) inside Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, …
Photo by Williams Paul/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Bellator MMA returns to action after a two-week break with Bellator 259, which goes down later tonight (Fri., May 21, 2021) inside Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., airing exclusively on SHOWTIME. A rematch headlines the Bellator MMA card on Showtime with current women’s 145-pound champion, Cris Cyborg, taking on Leslie Smith.
While you will have to have a subscription to SHOWTIME to catch Bellator 259 tonight, the promotion is once again offering up the undercard for free and we will have a video stream for your right here. Just click on the embedded video player above to enjoy all of the action.
Here is a quick rundown of all of the “Prelims” action, which begins at 5:30 p.m. ET:
155 lbs.: Alexander Shabliy (19-3) vs. Alfie Davis (14-3) 155 lbs.: Saad Awad (23-13) vs. Nate Andrews (16-3) 145 lbs.: Leah McCourt (4-1) vs. Janay Harding (6-5) 265 lbs.: Davion Franklin (2-0) vs. Tyler King (12-9 ) 155 lbs.: Aviv Gozali (5-0)vs. Sean Felton (5-2) 205 lbs.: Grant Neal (5-0) vs. Tyree Fortune (5-0) 125 lbs.: Sumiko Inaba (1-0) vs. Kristina Katsikis (1-1)
MMAmania.com will deliver coverage of Bellator 259 tonight on Showtime right here. To check out the latest Bellator MMA-related news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive news archive right here.
Skilled Super Heavyweight fighters are a rare breed in mixed martial arts (MMA), but they definitely exist, and one of them’s headed to the Octagon this Saturday (May 22, 2021) at UFC Vegas 27. O…
Skilled Super Heavyweight fighters are a rare breed in mixed martial arts (MMA), but they definitely exist, and one of them’s headed to the Octagon this Saturday (May 22, 2021) at UFC Vegas 27. On this edition of “New Blood,” the series where Chinese MMA’s lack of any accessible video archives irks me endlessly, we look at a long-time Heavyweight veteran and a powerhouse Featherweight wrestler from Heilongjiang.
Chris “Beast Boy” Barnett
Weight Class: Heavyweight Age: 34 Record: 21-6 (16 KO) Notable Victories: Alexandru Lungu, Walt Harris, Kenny Garner
Known alternately as “Beast Boy” or “Huggy Bear,” Barnett has spent his 12-year career fighting all over the world, both at Heavyweight and Openweight. His current six-fight win streak includes four finishes, the most recent of which came in Sept. 2020.
He steps in for Askar Mozharov — who himself replaced Philipe Lins — on less than two weeks’ notice.
Despite standing a mere 5’9” and carrying, shall we say, some excess mass on his frame, Barnett is remarkably fast and nimble for a Heavyweight. His Tae Kwon Do background shows itself in his swift footwork and penchant for spinning kicks, which support the hard low kicks, darting straights, and swarming punches that make up the bulk of his offense. That fluffy physique also belies impressive cardio — he can definitely slow down late, but he’s still dangerous well into the third round.
His greatest enemy on the feet seems to be his own over-eagerness. While he’s got a really sharp one-two combination when he bothers to throw it, he’ll often rely on a lunging straight or Superman punch to close the distance before hurling hooks and overhands. Those spinning kicks he’s fond of also leave him vulnerable to takedowns and seem to take him off-balance more than they should. In addition, he’s prone to knuckling down and trading heat inside rather than returning to range, which got him knocked cold by 4-3 Hyun Man Myung in 2017.
He needs to focus more on fighting to his strengths, which are the kicks and footwork.
Barnett also did some wrestling in college, giving him a back door if things go south on the feet. Offensively, he primarily employs body lock takedowns, which tend to make themselves available when opponents bring up their guard to deal with his hook flurries. Like with the striking, however, he can get ahead of himself. I’ve seen him end up on his back multiple times when trying to force a takedown, and Alex Nicholson starched him with a level elbow while defending one.
Luckily, he’s surprisingly good at getting to his knees and returning to his feet, and should he end up on top, he can do real damage with his ground-and-pound.
Though he’s not a champion-level talent, Barnett is a very fun and unique Heavyweight who could give most unranked UFC fighters plenty of issues. I’m glad to see him finally reach the big show.
Opponent: He meets Ben Rothwell, whose incredible career resurgence appears to have finally petered out. It’s a coin flip, but I favor Rothwell’s height, length and indestructible chin to narrowly carry the day.
Sha has been extraordinarily busy throughout his five years as a professional, fighting 10 times in 2017 and six times in 2020. He enters the cage this Saturday having won seven of eight and avenged an early-career loss along the way.
As with the other Chinese debutants of recent weeks, recent footage of Sha was hard to come by. In fact, the only footage more recent than 2017 I could find was his 2020 technical knockout loss to Rongzhu, which took little more than two minutes and came via early stoppage. This analysis is most likely dated, but it’s the best I could do with what I could find.
“Wolverine’s” game revolves around his high-level wrestling, as his striking largely involves either bursting forward with alternating hands or trying to flurry on the counter while bouncing around the cage. His takedowns are legitimately quite impressive, especially his trips from the body lock. Once on top, he takes one of two approaches: he’ll either use heavy, patient pressure to steadily advance through his opponent’s guard or unleash an ultra-aggressive ground-and-pound onslaught.
He’s a sight to behold when he decides to pour on the hurt, using relentless aggression and scrambling to shut down any attempts to stand and pour on the hurt while his opponents are otherwise occupied. I’m not sure how effective it’ll be against top-tier competition, but it’s damn fun to watch him wreck shop.
That’s the rub, really. That’s because outside of Rongzhu, who finished him, we’ve yet to see Sha face quality opposition. His chances of success in the Octagon revolve entirely around his ability to hit consistent takedowns, so his debut figures to be illuminating.
Opponent: I was extremely high on Josh Culibao when he entered the Octagon and was willing to overlook his debut loss to Jalen Turner, as Culibao had to deal with an enormous size disadvantage. That said, he was a bit underwhelming against Charles Jourdain, so while I still favor his solid striking and takedown defense to spoil Sha’s UFC debut, an upset wouldn’t surprise me.
Tape:
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 27 fight card this weekend, starting with the ESPN+“Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance on ESPN+at 7 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 27: “Garbrandt vs. Font” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.
