Boxing | International : Mayweather, McGregor agree to Aug fight

 

Undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather and mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor, two of the most popular athletes in their respective sport, have agreed to a crossover fight in the ring on August 26 in Las Vegas, Mayweather said in a tweet on Wednesday.

The fight is expected to gross millions of dollars with Mayweather a solid favourite.
Mayweather, 40, retired in 2015 with an unblemished 49-0 professional boxing record while boastful Irishman McGregor, 28, is the UFC's lightweight champion.
"IT'S OFFICIAL!!!" Mayweather wrote on his Twitter account alongside a short video that included still photos of both fighters.
"THE FIGHT IS ON," McGregor tweeted minutes before Mayweather's post.
The two fighters have gone back and forth for nearly a year regarding a potential showdown with both men previously stating they each wanted $100 million for the fight.
Mayweather is widely regarded as one of the best defensive fighters of all time, and prides himself on his ability to evade punishment with his skillful movement about the ring while making adjustments against opponents on the fly.
McGregor, the UFC's reigning lightweight champion and former featherweight champion, is known as much for his bravado as for his explosive knockout power inside an MMA octagon.
The Irishman became the first UFC fighter to hold two belts simultaneously when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez in New York last November for the lightweight championship.
The UFC stripped McGregor of his featherweight belt shortly after that fight when he announced he would be taking some time off after he and long-time partner Dee Devlin had their first baby in May.
Known for his devastating striking and highlight-reel knockouts, McGregor is also quick and irrational on his feet, but few would back him to beat one of the most complete boxers of all time.
A win for Mayweather would move him ahead of former heavyweight great Rocky Marciano, who also retired with a perfect 49-0 career record.

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Boxing: Yafai retains belt on a unanimous decision

Khalid Yafai from Birmingham, England, retained his WBA junior-bantamweight belt with a unanimous 12-round points decision over Japan’s Suguru Muranaka at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham, England, on Saturday night.

The scores were 119-107 twice and 118-108.
Yafai, who was making his first defence, scored a knockdown in the second round and dominated throughout in a one-sided contest.
He improved his record to 22-0; 14 and Muranaka’s record dropped to 25-3-1; 8.
On the same card, in a contest for the European Boxing Union welterweight title, England’s Sam Eggington (21-3; 13) won on a tenth-round knockout over Spain’s Ceferino Rodriguez (24-2; 12).
A right uppercut, followed up by big left hook, sent Rodriguez down for the full count.
In a junior-featherweight bout, Gamal Yafai (12-0; 5) scored six knockdowns on his way to a seventh-round stoppage over Sean Davis (12-1; 0) to win the WBC International title.
Welterweight Frankie Gavin (24-3; 14) outpointed Renald Garrido (18-15-1; 3) over eight rounds.
WARRINGTON RETAINS WBC INTERNATIONAL TITLE
Josh Warrington (25-0; 5) retained his WBC International featherweight title with a 12-round majority points decision over former world champion Kiko Martinez (36-8-1; 26) at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England, on Saturday night.
The scores were 116-112 twice and 114-114.
Thomas Patrick Ward (21-0; 2) won the British junior-featherweight title on a ninth-round technical decision over James Dickens (22-3; 7), when, after a head clash, Ward was unable to continue.
The scores were 87-85 twice and 88-84.

Boxing: Lord of Boxing Remembered Today

More than 51 years before Vic Toweel challenged for the world bantamweight title against Manuel Ortiz on 31 May, 1950, it is possible that a South African, who was living in Australia, was the first man from South Africa to fight for a world title.

The name of this long forgotten hero was Young Pluto, born Joseph William Dudley Brown on 10 July, 1872, in Port Elizabeth, according to Chris Greyvenstein’s book The Fighters.

However, reports that appeared in the Melbourne Sportsman in August 1888 said that he was born in St John, New Brunswick, Canada on 13 September, 1871.

When seven years old he went to South Africa, where he served his time in Mr Jackson’s racing stables in Port Elizabeth. At the age of 16, and, after winning two four-rounder’s in Port Elizabeth against Young Sultan and Young Berry, he left for Australia, landing in Melbourne, and developed into a good little featherweight.
Pluto was 5ft 3ins (1.6m) and weighed in the region of 112lbs (50.80kg). In June 1886 he defeated Young Brown in three rounds in Newcastle. In Sydney he boxed a four-round draw with Young Scott and in a rematch, in a fight to the finish, he stopped Scott in two.

Records at the time were rather sketchy, but the Police Gazette shows that he fought four draws with the legendary Young Griffo in 1888 and once again fought to a draw with him in 1889. Griffo was born Albert Griffiths, and Nat Fleischer described him as a picture of grace, of conservation of effort, of no motion lost, and what an elusive will-o’-the –wisp this man was in competition.
Had Griffo been better developed mentally, and had he kept in shape and trained hard, it is inconceivable that he ever would have been beaten. When Griffo was fit and in form, it was nearly impossible to lay a glove on him.

There are stories that his most famous trick was to stand on a handkerchief and take a bet that nobody could strike him in the face. No one ever did. There was also another story that he was so quick with his hands that he could pick a fly of the wall.
This Griffo was the same man Pluto fought on five occasions, with all the fights ending in draws. In his book on the history of prize-fighting in Australia, Peter Corris states that Young Joe Pluto fought Griffo six times, and one of the fights went for 70 rounds.
However, Nat Fleischer contradicts this statement in his book Black Dynamite, in which he says that Griffo and Pluto contested five consecutive draws.