As has been expected for a week or so now, Joshua and Wilder will not be signing on to meet one another for heavyweight unification before the end of the year unless something dramatic changes again. We also have a prominent titleholder giving up his belt, a top prospect in legal trouble, and much more.
- A Dream Deferred – First, it was too good to be true. The dream of Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder unifying the heavyweight division later this year appears to in the water floating face down. Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) is instead going to take take his WBA mandatory against Russian drug cheat Alexander Povetkin (34-1, 24 KOs) as the WBA has mandated the fight. The whole back and forth contract dialogue and the timing of this ruling by the WBA seems all sorts of fishy to me, but I won’t get into wild speculation other than to say why I get why Joshua and Hearn would want to put off the Wilder fight. It is no fun as a fan, but they can make tons of money against anyone. Why take the risk? Povetkin is a good defense too. He’s only disappointing as a challenger after the Wilder carrot was dangled in front of us. Both big men have signed up for VADA drug testing ahead of their likely September date so hopefully Povetkin, who has had multiple fights canceled because of drug test failures, will be forced to be clean in the build up to the fight.
- Vacated – Now once again former IBF super middleweight titleholder James DeGale (24-2-1, 14 KO) has chosen to vacate his title rather than meet his mandatory obligation against Jose Uzcategui. While it might seem a bit cowardly, the decision is pretty reasonable. DeGale has clearly been going downhill rapidly in the ring and would likely get blown out by a strong fighter like the Venezuelan at this point in his career. Instead he is going to chase money domestic fights against the likes of Billy Joe Saunders or against the winner of the World Boxing Super Series super middleweight tournament finals between George Groves and Callum Smith. He isn’t likely to win those fights either in my view, but they’ll pay well at least.
- The Law – 2016 Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson (7-0, 4 KO) has the first blemish on his record and it didn’t come in a boxing match, though it did come in a fight. The 21 year old has been arrested for battery following an altercation in a parking lot. Apparently he, along with regional talent David Grayton, were making some lewd comments about some women present which kicked the whole thing off. Stevenson was found with a cut lip about an hour later back at his hotel and arrested. The young prospect has been a golden boy of sorts in American boxing and this definitely puts a damper on that image, unfortunately.
- Shenanigans – Here’s some fun drama. Recently the purse bid for Adonis Stevenson’s mandatory defense against Oleksandr Gvozdyk brought in three bids. TGB Promotions bid $3.1 million and won while Yvon Michel bid $2.1 million and Top Rank put up roughly $1.7 million. That sounds fine until TGB immediately withdrew upon winning, meaning Michel won. Why is this drama? This is because both TGB and Michel’s Montreal based GYM Promotion are going to run this fight under PBC banners. It certainly looks like PBC used two shadow promoters to make sure they got the fight with a high bid as a fail safe, immediately withdrawing it when they didn’t need to pay that much. That’s pretty shady and Top Rank is understandably upset. The WBC is going to rule on if this is allowed or not soon, so there may be a re-bid. Top Rank says they have no problem with PBC and Showtime putting on the fight though if that is what the WBC rules.
- Boo Boo – Demtrius “Boo Boo” Andrade has separated from his promotional team. He was rumored to be facing Golden Boy’s prospect Yamaguchi Falcao on an upcoming HBO card, but now that is off. The talented 30 year old has had an extremely inactive career that has been frustrating for it so it is not ideal to watch him lose yet another fight, but I am hoping this means he is on the verge with signing with a big promoter that will keep him active. Since the decision reportedly removes him from a Golden Boy show he obviously isn’t going with Oscar and company, but Top Rank or Matchroom USA would seem to be on the table. He was previously with Star Boxing.
- Timmy – Finally, if you are a fan of Tim Bradley the commentator on Top Rank’s ESPN shows, be happy. Timmy has extended his contract to continue providing analysis on the major sport’s network. I generally enjoy listening to him, so I am pleased. I don’t really have much else to say on the subject. Just keep Teddy Atlas away, please.
