The sport of boxing has been made to look like a bit of an idiot this week.
Daniel Kinahan’s fan club has gone quiet after the US Treasury stuck a worldwide bounty on his head for the sum of $5 million dollars. And while some back track without trying to stumble and others try to avoid getting sore digits from deleting social media posts the sport tried as it could to carry on as normal.
Dillian Whyte said hello this week and reminded us that April 23 is not The Tyson Fury show. BT Sport’s fight advertisements say otherwise.
The news stories below may seem trivial but that being said you still may have missed them and want to catch up. Welcome to this week’s Hooks and Jabs.
Marc Leach will make the first defence of his British super-bantamweight title on May 21 against Liam Davies. The fight takes its spot on the Zach Parker-Demetrius Andrade undercard outdoors at Pride Park, home of Derby City Football Club.
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Recent Ryan Garcia opponent Emmanuel Tagoe says he fought the lightweight superstar with a shoulder injury. The Ghanaian put in a performance to forget but said, “Those who really know me could see that I didn’t throw my right-hand despite being the hand which I usually throw in bouts”.
Tagoe reportedly walked away with $200,000 for his efforts.
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Former super-featherweight world champion Jamel Herring looks set to return to the ring on May 21 at lightweight. ‘Semper-Fi’ hasn’t fought since being on the wrong end of a grandiose performance by Shakur Stevenson six months ago.
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‘The Newquay Bomb’ Brad Pauls says ‘It’s time to put up or shut up’ when he fights Ryan Kelly in a British middleweight title eliminator on May 13. “I’ve worked my way up the hard way, on the small hall shows, and finally I get my chance on the big stage. The British title is my dream belt. It’s the sexiest belt in boxing.”
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The BOXXER series goes to Manchester on May 14 with the cruiserweight division taking centre stage at the Victoria Warehouse. Ricky Reeves, Jay Farrell, Ellis Zorro, Jamie Smith, Anees Taj, Ryan Cotterell, Sheldon McDonald and Jack Fay will battle it out for the prize money and a potential career changing opportunity.