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Anthony Joshua could hand Tyson Fury world title lifeline if he loses to Oleksandr Usyk again, says Roy Jones Jr

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Anthony Joshua

Roy Jones Jr has told talkSPORT that Anthony Joshua may end up holding the key to Tyson Fury’s heavyweight return.

The Gypsy King was dethroned of his WBC crown by Oleksandr Usyk in May, and the Ukrainian emerged from their battle as undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO heavyweight world champion.

Usyk has since vacated his IBF belt, but will defend the WBA, WBC and WBO in his rematch with Fury, which is planned for December 21.

Meanwhile, that vacated IBF strap now belongs to Daniel Dubois.

When he beat Usyk’s mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic in June, Dubois claimed the IBF ‘interim’ belt, and so was upgraded to become the full champion after the Ukrainian gave it up.

Dubois will now be defending his IBF heavyweight world title against Joshua on September 21.

“I think Joshua is gonna be the favourite because of his past,” Jones Jr told talkSPORT Drive when asked about that fight.

“He just had a great fight with Francis Ngannou, but Ngannou is not Daniel Dubois.

“So it’s gonna be interesting for a few rounds, but if Joshua goes out and it’s the Joshua we wanna see, I think he’ll be dominant and be victorious.

“If he takes Dubois lightly though, it could be an upset.”

As Jones Jr rightly pointed out, AJ is indeed the favourite in that fight.

Likewise, Usyk is the favourite to defeat Fury again on December 21.

Asked if he believes Fury will become champion again, Jones Jr replied: “I don’t know because here’s the thing.

“I feel like if Joshua wins the title and if Usyk is able to beat Fury again, then the next fight I think people in the UK will wanna see will be Fury vs Joshua for Joshua’s title.

“And that’s a 50/50 fight to me. A real pick ’em.”

In this scenario, AJ would be the defending IBF world champion and offering Fury a lifeline to resurrect his career.

Time will tell how things play out in the fascinating heavyweight landscape.

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Zhilei Zhang Gives Honest Verdict On Anthony Joshua-Daniel Dubois: “He Has Something To Prove”

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Anthony Joshua

Britain’s latest heavyweight world champion, Daniel Dubois, will be looking to maintain that status in the first defence of his title.

Dubois may hold the IBF belt but he didn’t technically win it in the ring, elevated to full champion after his victory over Fillip Hrgovic but only in the wake of Oleksandr Usyk vacating because he couldn’t fulfil his mandatory obligations. Instead, he will be going into a rematch with Tyson Fury later in the year having beaten him first-time runs for the undisputed title in May.

Zhang’s last outing was a standout stoppage win over Deontay Wilder following a points loss to Joseph Parker in 2023. He has often spoken of his desire to face Parker again and has the contractual right to do so. He also wants Joshua having lost to him in the Olympics back in 2012, although he says the Brit will never face him.

Dubois-Joshua tops a Riyadh Season card at Wembley Stadium on September 21.

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BOXING

Roy Jones Jr Names The Man Who Could Take Over Terence Crawford As Pound-For-Pound Number One

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Roy Jones Jr was named the Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year in 1994 and few fans would disagree.

The only man to kick off his pro campaign at super-welterweight and go on to win a heavyweight title, Jones is in the history books as a dominating force in the ring. So, who does he think the best of the current crop is?

Speaking in an interview with All The Smoke Fight, Jones paid Naoya Inoue his dues but said his ranking in the pound-for-pound list suffered because of a lack of opposition.

Inoue is 27-0 with 24 knockouts – an incredible achievement for the lower weight classes – and regularly captivates Japanese audiences with his thrilling style. He has held titles in four divisions.

Jones believes Terence Crawford remains as number one simply due to his dominant victory over Errol Spence Jr, but believes skill-for-skill ‘The Japanese Monster’ should probably take it.

Crawford became four-belt champion at 147 with that win over Spence, the first male fighter to achieve all the belts in two different weight classes. Inoue followed shortly after before Oleksandr Usyk joined the club.

Inoue is next out against TJ Doheny on September 3 in Japan to defend his undisputed super-bantamweight title.‘Bud’ is up first, making his super-welterweight debut against WBA Champion Israil Madrimov on August 3 in an attempt to become a four-division world champion.

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BOXING

Terence Crawford ‘Knocks Out’ WWE Superstar on SmackDown

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WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes got a surprise helping hand on Friday Night SmackDown from none other than boxing superstar Terence Crawford.

This past week, SmackDown emanated from Omaha, Nebraska, and cameras spotted Crawford in the front row. Rhodes fist-bumped the 36-year-old before he himself decided to enter the ring to address the actions of Solo Sikoa and The Bloodline.

However, just as Rhodes was about to speak, the tension in the arena escalated as Austin Theory and Grayson Waller dramatically interrupted. The trash-talking duo didn’t hold back, provoking and challenging The American Nightmare. However, Rhodes was not one to back down, and he promptly challenged Theory and Waller. But the odds were against him, and he sprawled outside the ring. Luckily, Crawford came prepared and promptly handed Rhodes a steel chair, allowing the WWE Champion to even the odds a little.

The fans in the arena cheered their fellow Nebraskan when he helped Rhodes, and his help sent Theory and Waller back to the locker room, but that was not the end of Crawford’s night, in fact, it was only the beginning.

The 36-year-old would then find himself in the crosshairs of Theory and Waller later on in the night. The trio stood in the ring, and Waller barked at Crawford: “Look at me when I’m talking to you. If you take one more step, my boy Austin Theory will knock you out.”

Backed by Waller, Theory closed in on the professional boxer, only to be met by a huge right hand. Theory hit the canvas while Waller jumped out of the ring. Crawford then took the acclaim of his hometown crowd.

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BOXING

Andy Ruiz Jr Changes His Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford Verdict: “It’s His Time”

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Terence Crawford versus Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is a fight that very much excites fight fans despite the great difference in weight between the two elite-level world champions.

Once upon a time, the fight would have been easier to make: ‘Canelo’ picked up his first world title down at light middleweight, but has since moved up through the weights and won belts all the way up to light heavyweight. Right now he holds all four titles in the super middleweight division having recently defended them once more against fellow Mexican Jaime Munguia.

Omaha’s Crawford is the naturally smaller man who has been undisputed at both lightweight and welterweight. He has beaten the likes of Shawn Porter, Kell Brook and Amir Khan though his most impressive win came last time out against Errol Spence Jr.

That was in July last year and after that protracted period away from the ring he debuts up at 154 lbs in a world title fight with Israil Madrimov on August 3, perhaps in preparation for the further two weight class jump for the Canelo fight he’s been targeting for a year.

Former heavyweight champion and one time ‘Canelo’ gym mate Andy Ruiz Jr, previously advised ‘Bud’ to stay away from Canelo.

But Ruiz has now changed his opinion and in an interview with FightHubTV praised Crawford’s skillset and believes it’s ‘his time’.

Ruiz has a huge fight himself on Crawford’s undercard in August when he takes on Jarrell Miller.

Meanwhile, ‘Canelo’ is working on his next fight date in September and has been linked with Chris Eubank Jr as well as Edgar Berlanga.

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BOXING

Gervonta Davis Agrees With Roy Jones On Shakur Stevenson’s Major Defensive Flaw: “Easy Work”

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Gervonta Davis and Shakur Steveson

Roy Jones Jr is regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time and believes his keen eye has spotted a flaw in Shakur Stevenson’s highly-praised game that Gervonta Davis can take advantage of.

Speaking on the All The Smoke Fight podcast, Jones says the WBC lightweight champion backs up too much when defending shots, putting him out of range from landing counter punches.

The WBA belt holder Davis agrees with Jones’ assessment, telling Cigar Talk that all Shakur does to avoid getting hit is ‘jump back’ and believes the fight will be ‘easy work’.

Fans might have to wait a little longer to see the two battle it out as ‘Tank’ is currently in talks for a unification fight against IBF champion Vasiliy Lomachenko.

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BOXING

Vasiliy Lomachenko “not in the mood” to fight Gervonta Davis right now, he wants to spend more time with his family

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Many have waited for Vasily Lomachenko to fight Gervonta Davis. It has been a highly anticipated boxing fight and fans promotors and many others have been ready for it. However, that might be something that will have to wait for a while, at least until 2025 in a best-case scenario.

According to reports, Lomachenko has no intention of participating in any type of boxing encounter as he wishes to concentrate on his loved ones and his personal projects for now, as his manager told Steve Kim, a sports an entertainment personality.

“Loma is not in the mood right now, he doesn’t have the motivation at the moment. He’s taking off, he wants to spend more time with the family. He doesn’t want to do anything till the end of the year,” reads in the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Kim says Egis Klimas said to him. “So he’s definitely not coming to the ring till the end of the year.”

Kim says that Klimas added that while Gervonta Davis is a highly lucrative bout, “With Loma, just money is not what motivates him. He doesn’t take anything just because of money. You can offer him millions, tens of millions of dollars — if he doesn’t have motivation, he’s not ready to prepare for the fight.” He also made clear that Lomachenko is not retired.

Many believe it is just a matter of time for them to meet

While many believe it won’t take much longer for Vasily Lomachenko to fight Gervonta Davis, Bob Arum is trying to pressure the situation, as he is very interested in matching them up.

With that said, he must also wait until Lomachenko fulfills whatever duty he believes he needs to accomplish personally before getting back to training and eventually inside a ring. How much time will it take him to find that motivation to get back to the sport is yet to be seen.

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BOXING

Davis vs Lomachenko: why isn’t there an agreement yet?

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Gervonta Davis

After ‘Tank’ defeated Martin, both fighters seemed to be willing to fight, but negotiations are now on hold. Here’s the reason why.

Gervonta Davis wants to keep making history in boxing and face the best boxers before he decides to hang up the gloves.

After beating Frank Martin convincingly, he stated he wanted to take on bigger challenges and names. He believes he has the qualities to keep his undefeated record going and beat the top fighters. Asked about potential opponents in the post-fight press conferences, he mentioned a few boxers, including Decin Haney, Shakur Stevenson, and Vasiliy Lomachenko.

Although it has been reported that Stevenson could be Davis’ next rival, the truth is that the Baltimore native has only been in negotiations to face the two-time Olympic gold medalist Lomachenko. Even the prestigious promoter Bob Arum admitted that it was the fight to make and it would be a reality after some negotiations.

The Davis vs Lomacheno fight in jeopardy, but why?

However, it seems things aren’t as smooth as Arum predicted. As of now, the negotiations are on hold and it’s unclear if both men will get to an agreement.

But what’s the reason for that? The Ukrainian’s manager, Egis Klimas, revealed that the IBF champion isn’t motivated to fight WBA champion Tank Davis right now.

Loma last recorded an 11-round knockout win over former unified lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr. on May 12 in Australia, but he seems to have lost the motivation to keep fighting, even if it’s a super fight against one of the best boxers.

Klimas said on X that his fighter is “not in the mood right now. He doesn’t have the motivation at that moment.”

“With Loma, just money is not what motivates him. He doesn’t take anything just because of money. You can offer him millions, tens of millions of dollars. If he doesn’t have motivation, he’s not ready to prepare for the fight”, he added.

With the current situation, Lomachenko may decide to take a break from boxing due to the ongoing war in his homeland, Ukraine, before returning to the ring. However, rumors regarding the fight between both men and their negotiations may arise and many could think Vasiliy is ducking Davis.

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BOXING

Top Heavyweight Rival Says Anthony Joshua Will Never Fight Him: “He Doesn’t Have What It Takes”

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Anthony Joshua remains a popular target for anyone in the heavyweight division.

Joshua was a star of the sport almost as soon as he turned pro given that he won an Olympic Gold Medal at his home games in 2012. His career began with a string of early knockouts that led to him quickly becoming the IBF world champion.

Wins over Joseph Parker and Wladimir Klitschko saw him unify the WBO and WBA belts and, even after losses to Andy Ruiz – which he reversed in the rematch – and Oleksandr Usyk, he remains the most rewarding fight for many of his peers.

For that reason, many rivals continue to chase ‘AJ’, who faces fellow Brit Daniel Dubois next time out at Wembley Stadium as he attempts to regain his old IBF belt and become a three-time world champion.

Speaking to The MMA Hour, heavyweight contender Zhilei Zhang has expressed his view that he will never get Joshua in the ring with him again having lost to him during the Olympics.

Although he took a points loss to Joseph Parker last year, Zhang is coming off his best win having stopped Deontay Wilder in five rounds. He has sights set on the Parker rematch whilst the belts are tied up.

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BOXING

Teddy Atlas Knows ‘The Only Way’ Terence Crawford Will Fight Jaron Boots Ennis

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Terence Crawford

Jaron Ennis continues to make a case for a fight against Terence Crawford.

The undefeated Philly star was upgraded to IBF World Champion when Crawford made the decision to move up in weight and recently defended his belt with a fifth round stoppage of David Avanesyan – a man Crawford stopped in six.

Boot’s Ennis said Crawford’s name again post-fight despite the two-weight undisputed champion having a super-welterweight world title challenge next month against Israil Madrimov.

Speaking on his podcast, The Fight, world championship trainer turned analyst Teddy Atlas believes ‘Boots’ is more likely to move up a division for the ‘Bud’ bout rather than stick around at 147 to collect more belts.

Atlas then said that it would take Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh to get Ennis – undefeated in 32 – and Crawford – undefeated in 40 – to step through the ropes together. He believes, as with most in the sport, that there’s no chance Crawford moves back down to welterweight.

No fan could call the match-up a bad one, but ‘Bud’ has kept his sights set on a bigger, at the very least in weight, challenge in the form of undisputed super-middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, another bout Alalshikh wants to see.

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