Two former junior welterweight titleholders have new pads from which to launch their careers in Britain’s Amir Khan and Julius Indongo of Namibia. They have both signed with new promoters. Plus, a recent former cruiserweight titleholder reties, Tyson Fury drama, and more.
- Amir Khan (31-4, 19 KOs) has somewhat surprisingly signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing. In the past those two sides have been quite antagonistic to one another, but they put that behind them to put together a deal that definitely makes sense for both sides. This could mean we finally see Khan in against Kell Brook, but Brook is moving up and Khan may want to be a welterweight again. The last time we saw Amir he was unconscious on his back in Vegas nearly two years ago, but he had also cleanly outboxed Canelo for five rounds prior to the finish. Khan’s mix of very real talent, decent skill, and some serious fragility make him a must watch every time out. I am glad he is back in the game.
- Recent unified junior welterweight titleholder Julius Indongo (22-1, 11 KOs) has signed with Lou Dibella. This means the 34 year old Namibian will be looking to continue his career here stateside and also show up on PBC cards. Indongo won a pair of belts from Eduard Troyanovsky and Ricky Burns last year before losing them dramatically to pound for pound elite Terence Crawford in August in his American debut. Hopefully Dibella and/or PBC keeps him active, but that hasn’t exactly been their track record.
- As is typical of his world, some Tyson Fury drama has popped up in the news. Fury has been going on about getting his license back and fighting in April, but the British Boxing Board is saying they cannot license him because they need his updated medical records. Tyson has also parted ways with his longtime trainer and uncle Peter Fury. There is always something going on in his world and it is never actually fighting. The last time we actually saw him Fury was outpointing Wladimir Klitschko at the end of 2015 in a horrible, horrible fight to win the heavyweight championship. He has been inactive since.
- Grigory Drozd (40-1, 28 KOs), a rising cruiserweight star just a couple years ago, has been forced to retire from the sport due to injuries to his left hand. He last fought in May of 2015 and had good, dominant wins over then unbeaten Mateusz Masternak and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, winning his world title in the latter. This is a real shame. The return of the Russian would have made a deep cruiserweight division even more exciting.
- Finally, the WBC final light heavyweight title eliminator between Eleider Alvarez (23-0, 11 KOs) and Oleksandr Gvozdyk (14-0, 12 KOs) is going to a purse bid. This was expected. Alvarez is with Al Haymon and Gvozdyk is with Bob Arum. It is generally assumed at this point that those two don’t have each others’ numbers. There does seem to be some level of belief in the business that Top Rank will buy the fight and put it on ESPN, but that remains to be seen. Eleider is entitled to 60% of the purse while Oleksandr will get the remaining 40%. Hopefully this fight does happen as it is a good one.
