Boxing News • 11th April 2024

Abdullah Mason and the next generation of lightweight stars

On Saturday night rising prospect Abdullah Mason steps out for his 13th professional bout against Ronal Ron on the undercard of Top Rank’s heavyweight doubleheader in Corpus Christi, Texas. The unbeaten lightweight has thus far looked scintillating in the pro ranks, with 12 wins and 10 stoppages on his record and a chilling ‘KO of the Year’ contender in his previous fight against Benjamin Gurment. Hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, 20-year-old Mason is one of a quintet of boxing brothers, all of wh

Boxing News • 23rd February 2024

Watch Me: Junto Nakatani wants more experience, more glory, and more recognition

FAMILIAR nations still dominate territories on the boxing landscape but few can stake a claim on the lighter weight classes quite like the Japanese. Stylistically thrilling but removed from the glare of sport’s spotlight, the likes of Naoya Inoue, Kazuto Ioka, Kenshiro Teraji, the Shigeoka brothers and Kosei Tanaka have, in recent years, provided us with some of boxing’s most enthralling fights. Yet keeping abreast of their exploits in the Far East isn’t always easy, with fights often taking pla

Boxing News • 7th April 2023

It Ain't Over Till It's Over: Now 48, DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley continues to fight

WHEN the bullet hit DeMarcus Corley’s spine he lay helpless on the Washington tarmac and remembered the warning he’d received the previous night. The gun fire, the panic, the attempt on his life; all of it had come to him in the most incredible premonition. “This career, this life that I’m living, should have been gone in 1997,” he recalls. “I had a dream I was in a shootout. And then I go to the gym and tell my friends about the dream. That evening, I go pick my son up from day care, and I ta

Boxing News • 17th March 2023

To Hell and Back: 10 years later, Timothy Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov recall the night they went to war

TEN years ago, almost to the day, Tim Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov stepped into a boxing ring in Carson, California, to face one another. What took place over those 12 incredible rounds became more than just the Fight Of The Year, it crystalized for many of us why we fell in love with this great sport in the first place. For Bradley it was a chance to break free of the anguish he’d suffered at the hands of an incredulous sport following his hugely controversial win over Manny Pacquiao. For P

Boxing News • 14th March 2023

California Dreamin': Ireland's Callum Walsh on staying focused in La La Land

LIFTING his head from the pillow, Callum Walsh drinks in the Californian sunshine and ponders his journey from Cork, Ireland, to Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in glamorous Los Angeles. “It’s a crazy feeling,” he tells Boxing News. “It’s, like, I’m here! Right now! In LA! Waking up and I’m just about to go to the gym. It is a crazy feeling. But I can’t let any of that go to my head. The plan is working, I just have to keep doing what I’ve always done and just work hard until I’m a world

Boxing News • 27th January 2023

Terminator-like Artur Beterbiev says: "I am very human"

DON’T LET the bloodcurdling look in his eyes fool you. Artur Beterbiev may stare down his opponents like a butcher surveys a carcass but the emotions flickering away at the back of his mind are familiar to us all. Few of us, however, are able to weaponise these feelings the way the Russian can. “You have to feel fear but you have to control your fear. It’s normal. I’m a very simple guy. I’m just a boxer. I’m just very human. I’m not a robot,” he tells Boxing News, his untamed beard exposing a w

Boxing News • 23rd September 2022

Shakur Stevenson: "I'm cut from a different cloth"

Shakur Stevenson is brash and cocky but thus far has delivered on his promises. Ahead of his next bout he talks to Phil Rogers about that self-belief, his next opponent and his struggle to make 130lbs CONFIDENCE is a precious commodity. Most of us improvise and blag our way through life, shaking off the familiar foe of self-doubt but always aware of its corrosive powers. How, then, do some people seem equipped with a roadmap for life? “I just feel like I’m the best in boxing,” declares the und

Boxing News • 15th September 2022

Arslanbek Makhmudov is sharpening his teeth

As he prepares to feast on Carlos Takam, Arslanbek Makhmudov tells Phil Rogers about his life, career and relationship with Artur Beterbiev ONE of the great ironies in boxing is how fighters can so often look entirely unassuming when they’re away from their brutal trade. Knockout artists transform to resemble benevolent geography teachers, bloodied warriors morph into angelic choirboys. There are exceptions, of course, and one such example is Russian heavyweight, Arslanbek Makhmudov, a man so t

Boxing News • 23rd July 2022

"Bam" Plan: It's to infinity and beyond for Jesse Rodriguez

Super-flyweight sensation Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez tells Phil Rogers that what we’ve seen so far barely scratches the surface as he plots his flight to greatness THEY say it takes a lifetime to become an overnight success. For many fights fans 2022 has been the year they discovered a super-flyweight gem in Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez. Yet for the 22-year-old himself it’s been the culmination of a lifetime of toil and struggle, both for him and his entire family. “I’ve been boxing for almost 13 years no

Boxing News • 14th July 2022

Enter The Ghost

Frank Martin tells Phil Rogers about his beginnings in boxing and his relationship with coach Derrick James…

Boxing News • 22nd June 2022

Murodjon Akhmadaliev and the quest to be the best

Murodjon Akhmadaliev thought life was tricky to negotiate when he broke both of his legs but it’s nothing compared to the minefield of keeping multiple sanctioning bodies happy, writes Phil Rogers ALL Murodjon Akhmadaliev wants to do is prove he’s the very best fighter in the super-bantamweight division. But for the number two-ranked star, his quest to take on the number one, Stephen Fulton Jnr, is proving difficult. Bogged down with mandatories and sanctioning body fees, the WBA and IBF belt-h

Boxing News • 17th June 2022

Forever Ike: Bruce Carrington Jnr attributes his strength to all he has had to carry

Ahead of his appearance on the Beterbiev-Smith undercard, Bruce Carrington tells Phil Rogers about losing his brother, missing out on an Olympics place and growing up in Brownsville PAIN is a sensation familiar to every fighter. It’s accepted, overcome, and dispensed with relish. Yet the agony of grief is something all of us struggle to manage. Bereavements can corrode and paralyse even the most ambitious and resilient. One young fighter who’s worked his way through this type of loss is Top Ran

Boxing Social • 9th June 2022

Bakhodir Jalolov: Chasing More Gold

Hoodwinked into fighting. It’s not a claim you hear every day, especially not from an elite boxer such as Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov. Yet that’s exactly how the undefeated heavyweight prospect and Olympic gold medallist describes his introduction to the noble art, his father duping him into killing time in the gym while he awaited a call from his school football team. “My dad was a very tough rough guy,” Jalolov tells Boxing Social. “He was a wrestler himself, a freestyle wrestler. As a kid

Boxing News • 4th June 2022

Stephen Fulton Jr - I can get down and dirty, I can be versatile

Stephen Fulton tells Phil Rogers about his new attitude and enduring determination to rule IN a life fraught with challenges this past year has presented Stephen Fulton Jnr with something new and unexpected. It should have brought nothing but positivity, with those excellent performances in 2021 against Angelo Leo and Brandon Figueroa catapulting him to number one in the junior featherweight division. But boxing fans can be a fickle bunch. While some were talking the American up as a pound-for-

Boxing News • 2nd June 2022

George Kambosos: 'I still have that contender mentality'

George Kambosos Jnr is now the world lightweight champion but he’s not changed a bit, which might be bad news for Devin Haney, writes Phil Rogers AN INTENSITY radiates from George Kambosos Jnr. It never seems to wane. Day or night, he can be found toiling away in his own purpose-built gym in Sydney, Australia, the light ricocheting off freshly painted jet black brickwork. These walls act as a constant reminder to Kambosos of the journey he’s taken to becoming the world’s number one lightweight,

Boxing Social • 23rd May 2022

Jose Valenzuela: Seizing The Moment

Seize your moment. That’s what the greats of this sport do. So when a hot prospect obliterated a former world champion on the Errol Spence Jnr vs Yordenis Ugás undercard the boxing world couldn’t help but take notice. This is exactly what José “El Rayo” Valenzuela did to Francisco Vargas, launching a huge left hand to leave his opponent crumpled on the canvas after just 90 seconds. If fight fans weren’t already keeping an eye on this young Mexican lightweight, trained and lauded by José Benavid

Boxing News • 10th May 2022

Dmitry Bivol: How I beat Canelo

Dmitry Bivol tells Phil Rogers about the complexities of fighting Alvarez and what happens next DMITRY BIVOL won two fights on Saturday night. The first was broadcast to millions around the world, the neon glare of the Vegas strip examining his every move against a modern great in Canelo Alvarez. The second, however, had an audience of just one. It took place deep in the recesses of his psyche, with a voice he refers to as the ‘little man.’ “It was one of the biggest challenges for me,” he tol

Issuu • 8th April 2022

Bivol Believes

Boxing Social Magazine No.6 brings you the stories that matter from the world of boxing. Cover star Dmitry Bivol feels that he should not be underesti...

Boxing News • 15th March 2022

Khaosai Galaxy - The Thai Tyson

Khaosai Galaxy was a wrecking ball at his peak, every bit as dangerous as ‘Iron’ Mike albeit substantially smaller. He tells Phil Rogers about his life and career WREATHED in a fog of cigarette smoke and boisterous agitation stood a 25-year-old Thai fighter on the brink, left fist cocked as he stalked his prey. The previous round had seen him drop his Dominican opponent, Eusebio Espinal, with a trademark uppercut to the body, and now the assembled throng in deepest Bangkok were becoming apoplec

Boxing Social • 9th February 2022

Bilal Fawaz: Pushing Past The Pain

Channelling pain into resilience has built many a champion. It’s a process unique to each fighter, their own personal set of challenges acting as a catalyst for their sporting dreams. For Bilal Fawaz, making his professional debut on February 11th at York Hall represents a critical moment in his life, for few people in the sport have endured as much as him. “It’s only the kids that the world almost breaks that become the strongest men,” he tells Boxing Social. “I was broken. I was an alco