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Ian John-Lewis Criticizes British Boxing Board of Control for Scoring Controversy Ian John-Lewis, a veteran referee and judge, has expressed his disagreement with the British Boxing Board of Control's decision to single him out for his controversial scoring of the Josh Taylor vs. Jack Catterall undisputed 140-pound bout last year. John-Lewis was one of the three judges involved in the infamous Taylor-Catterall title bout, which sparked controversy as many fans and observers felt it was one of the worst decisions in recent memory in British boxing. John-Lewis's scorecard, which had Taylor winning by the widest margin (114-111), received the most criticism, and he was subsequently demoted from his position in the A Star class of referees to A class after a hearing with the Board. Earlier this year, John-Lewis sued the Board for treating him like a "scapegoat." In a recent interview with Boxing News, John-Lewis suggested that the Board had bowed under social media pressure rather than acting out of due diligence. He claimed that he was scapegoated and that the Board had picked on the wrong guy. He stated that he was not worried because the truth would come out during the hearing. John-Lewis explained that he felt his hands were tied after the Taylor-Catterall fight because referees are not allowed to freely justify what went into their scorecards. He said that officials often feel aggrieved when they cannot explain their decisions, and not talking to the press looks like there is something to hide. The Taylor-Catterall fight led both fighters to pursue a rematch, but after almost a year of multiple postponements, Taylor finally went his separate way. Taylor is projected to defend his lone WBO 140-pound title against former lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez in New York City in June. On the other hand, Catterall recently signed a promotional deal with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing after being previously linked with Boxxer.

Twenty years ago, while watching UFC 42 from the stands, Jorge Masvidal was motivated to pursue a career in mixed martial arts. After a career filled with high points and memorable moments, he lost to Gilbert Burns on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 287 at the Kaseya Center in his native Miami, Florida, and left the sport, in his words, "as a multi-millionaire." Burns won with scores of 30-27 and 29-28 from the judges, but it is obvious that his victory was not as impressive as he had claimed it would be in order to shock UFC president Dana White. Masvidal had suffered four straight losses, and he lacked the passion he had displayed for the majority of his career. “Sometimes, your favorite basketball player can’t hit the 3-pointer any more,” Masvidal said. “Sometimes your favorite quarterback loses that rifle. I don’t feel the same when I get in here no more. It’s been 20 years. I love all of you. The UFC came here 20 years ago and it inspired me to chase this dream.” Burns' victory was significant because he wanted to outperform White so that he would give him the next opportunity to face UFC welterweight champion, Leon Edwards. Burns won the battle hands down, but he didn't completely blow everyone away as White predicted before the bout. “I am the only guy in the division, maybe the only guy in the whole UFC, willing to fight anyone at any time,” Burns said. Burns then called out both Edwards and Covington and said he’d fight them no matter the terms. It was one of the biggest wins of his career and ran his winning streak to three in a row. He’s also won four of his last five.

At UFC 287 in Miami, Florida, Israel Adesanya stunned longtime foe Alex Pereira to win back the middleweight championship. In the second round, with his back to the cage, Adesanya, 33, unleashed two crushing right punches that knocked Pereira, 35, to the ground. With this win, Adesanya atones for three prior losses to Pereira. In kickboxing matches in 2016 and 2017, as well as at UFC 281, he suffered three defeats. "I hope every one of you can feel this level of happiness for one time in your life," said Nigeria-born New Zealander Adesanya. "But guess what - you'll never feel this level of happiness if you don't go for something in your life. When they knock you down, if you stay down you will never get that resolve. "Fortify your mind and feel this level of happiness. I'm blessed to feel this again and again and again." According to Adesanya, his rivalry with Pereira has given rise to the "greatest storyline in MMA history."

Vasiliy Lomachenko Considers Himself Undefeated Ahead of Devin Haney Bout Vasiliy Lomachenko may officially have two losses on his professional record, but in his mind, he’s still undefeated. The Ukrainian boxer, who is set to face off against undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney on May 20, said in a recent interview that he doesn’t think he’s ever lost a fight in his career. “In my mind, I didn’t lose a fight in professional boxing. That’s why I sleep very well. In my mind, I’m undefeated. If you understand boxing,” Lomachenko said. The 35-year-old fighter’s confidence may stem from his impressive amateur career, where he tallied 396 wins and just one loss, which he later avenged twice. However, since moving up to 135 pounds, Lomachenko has struggled to maintain his dominance. Lomachenko’s last fight, against Jamaine Ortiz, was a close call, with the Ukrainian narrowly taking a unanimous decision victory. And while he may be viewed as the underdog going into his bout against Haney, Lomachenko is determined to prove himself once again. “This is my second chance, and I will try my best. Thank you to Team Haney for the opportunity. We are all prepared for this,” Lomachenko said. The Lomachenko-Haney fight will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and will be available on ESPN+ pay-per-view.

Diego Pacheco, the 22-year-old super middleweight prospect from Los Angeles, is looking forward to a potential fight with fellow 168-pounder Edgar Berlanga, who is also signed with Matchroom Boxing. Pacheco recently boosted his appeal with a dominant stoppage over veteran Jack Cullen at Echo Arena in Liverpool. Speaking to SecondsOut.com after the fight, Pacheco offered an enthusiastic endorsement of the potential matchup with Berlanga. "He's a great fighter, I'm a great fighter. As long as everyone wants to see that fight and everyone asks for that fight, I don't see why that shouldn't happen," Pacheco said. Berlanga, 25, recently signed with Matchroom after parting ways with his longtime promoter Top Rank. One of the reasons why Berlanga signed with Hearn appears to be because of a potential fight with Canelo Alvarez, the current undisputed champion at 168. However, in order to earn that opportunity, Berlanga would need to rack up a few wins over top opposition. Pacheco, who signed with Matchroom straight out of the amateurs when he was only 17, believes that the win over Cullen has taken him out of the "prospect" category. "I needed a performance like this to convince people that I wasn't a prospect anymore and that I can compete with the best," Pacheco said. "With this performance, like Eddie said, I feel like I'm a contender now. I could compete with anyone. I'm ready and excited for the future." A potential fight between Pacheco and Berlanga would be a highly anticipated matchup between two of boxing's best young fighters. While it remains to be seen whether the fight will come to fruition, both fighters have expressed a willingness to take on the challenge. "I think in a few fights, the Berlanga fight will happen," Pacheco said. "We're both some of the best young fighters. Let's give the fight fans an amazing fight."

In an action-packed fight at PFL 2, Larissa Pacheco showed why she's a force to be reckoned with in the women's lightweight division. Pacheco outpointed former Bellator champion Julia Budd in a closely contested bout that had fans on the edge of their seats. In the second and third rounds of the fight, Budd improved her performance by landing a right hand on Pacheco early in the second round and exchanging punches with her toward the end of the fight. Although she hoped to score points with takedowns, Pacheco managed to reverse positions several times, particularly in the final moments of the fight, where she impressed the judges with a series of ground and pound strikes. Despite being smaller in size, Pacheco had better grappling skills and came close to securing submissions, including an armbar in the first and third rounds after escaping Budd's back control. This win marked Pacheco's first victory since causing a major upset by defeating two-time PFL champion Kayla Harrison, making her a woman to watch in 2023. Budd's record in PFL is now 1-3, and she joined the organization after losing her title to featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, which marked the end of her reign at the top of that division. Larissa Pacheco may have an easier time this season as she won the PFL women's lightweight 2022 championship last November, overcoming Kayla Harrison's undefeated record in a stunning upset and earning a $1 million bonus. However, despite moving down a weight division and without Harrison's participation, Pacheco's recent performance on Friday night might suggest that it is not as effortless as it sounds. Pacheco secured three points in the season standings with her decision, but Amber Leibrock has taken the top spot in the women's 145-pound division after earning six points with a first-round knockout of Martina Jindrova. In another noteworthy outcome, Olena Kolesnyk won a majority decision over former UFC fighter Aspen Ladd.

Jamahal Hill is open to facing Alex Pereira if the Brazilian decides to move up to light heavyweight. After Hill became the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, Pereira hinted at moving up to face the newly crowned champion. He thought he would have success at 205lbs but of course, he is tabbed to headline UFC 287 in his first title defense as he rematches Israel Adesanya. Yet, with the status of Jiri Prochazka still uncertain, Hill says he welcomes Pereira trying to move up to fight him. “Come on in, come on in, come on in, bro. I’m here for everybody. Just put a dish on the plate so I could eat,” Hill said to Inside Fighting. Hill was quick to respond when asked how he thinks the conflict between him and Pereira will play out. “A dominant victory for me, dominant. I don’t care what nobody says, dominant, you know what I said, dominant. I will dominate him,” Hill added. Alex Pereira will surely need to defeat Adesanya on Saturday night in order to advance to face Jamahal Hill. But if he does, it will be a tremendous and exciting fight. Hill, on the other hand, believes he'd like to meet Jiri Prochazka next. He claims he has heard Prochazka will be returning sooner than planned and would love to fight him before facing Pereira.

Eddie Hearn Confident Anthony Joshua Will Challenge Tyson Fury for WBC Heavyweight Title Eddie Hearn, Anthony Joshua’s promoter, has expressed his confidence that the British boxer will want to challenge Tyson Fury for the WBC heavyweight title if the opportunity presents itself. However, Hearn also acknowledged that facing Fury in his next bout may not be the best move for Joshua's development with his new trainer, Derrick James. After defeating Jermaine Franklin on all three scorecards on Saturday night, Joshua’s first fight with James in his corner, Hearn admitted that there is still plenty of room for improvement. While Joshua is keen to take on Fury, Hearn said it was important to get the right balance between the opponent and how much the fight will generate in terms of viewership and revenue. Hearn believes that if Joshua does not fight a more challenging opponent than Franklin in his next fight, the paying public’s patience may be tested. Dillian Whyte, Joshua’s British rival, is eager for a rematch, but it remains unclear who Joshua will face in the second of what he hopes will be three fights in 2023. Hearn said, “I don’t think the public are necessarily gonna want him to have another two fights at the Jermaine Franklin level. They’re gonna wanna see him step up. If that’s Dillian Whyte, if that’s Tyson Fury, if that’s [Deontay] Wilder. And, you know, those guys will fancy their chances against AJ because they’ll think, ‘Oh, you know, there’s a chance that he’s not the fighter that he was,’ etcetera, etcetera. But I think AJ will box better against a high level of opposition, particularly people that are coming to win.” Although Hearn feels Joshua needs more time with James before facing Fury, he is confident that Joshua will ultimately take the challenge. The heavyweight division has been eagerly awaiting this match-up, and fans are hoping that it will happen soon. In the meantime, Joshua will continue to work on his skills, and we can expect to see him face tougher opponents in the coming months.

This Saturday, Adesanya will face Alex Pereira in an MMA rematch; that will be their fourth bout overall, counting kickboxing, so it's make-or-break time for him. Only six months had passed since the two had last fought, and Pereira came back in the last round while behind on the scoreboards by landing his trademark left hook. The referee ended up being forced to stop the match and award a new champion when the Brazilian followed it up with hooks. Before their fight this weekend, Israel Adesanya seems to be thinking about the issue surrounding Islam Makhachev's suspected use of an IV at UFC 284. The lightweight champion received an accusation of rehydrating with an IV after a challenging loss of pounds. After the dispute, Ali Abdelaziz, Makhachev's co-manager, claimed on Twitter that there is a "legal limit" to how much IV fluid a fighter may get. Abdelaziz also unintentionally suggested that an individual in the Dagestani camp had utilized more IV than as permitted by law. Both fighters have the exceptional striking ability, but Pereira has a size edge against the former champion. 'Poatan' apparently weighed more than 25 pounds over the 185-pound limit during their November fight. A person's well-being and athletic ability are likely to be seriously impacted by such a drastic weight loss, but there are plenty of techniques to get back to normal more quickly and effectively. One of these possibilities is to rehydrate using an IV, which is prohibited if it contains more than 100 ml in 12 hours. The Last Stylebender a few days prior tweeted that he wanted USADA to monitor Pereira around the clock after the official weigh-ins to guarantee that he wasn't rehydrating unlawfully: Adesanya resumed the IV usage topic yesterday along with tweeting the following message, seemingly mocking Makhachev and Abdelaziz:

For his opinions on Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis, Floyd Mayweather has been called a "f***ing dumbass" by Oscar De La Hoya. On April 22, two young, unbeaten boxers will square off in Sin City at a catchweight of 136 pounds in what could end up being the biggest boxing match of 2023. In their respective teams, Davis and Garcia each have very illustrious members, and now that the promotion is well underway, the trash talking has started. Recently, a video of Mayweather disputing the boxers' stardom was making the rounds. The 50-0 retired professional insisted there was no meaningful comparison. “Tank got his followers from kicking ass. Ryan Garcia got his from YouTubers. There’s a difference. So you wanna be a YouTuber, or you wanna be a fighter? Tank is a fighter.” Similar to Mayweather, De La Hoya is a multiple weight world champion. He responded to the video by underlining his opponent's exhibition career. “So Ryan Garcia’s not a fighter? He’s been fighting since he was six years old. He has 200+ amateur fights. “I don’t care where his followers come from, if they come from f***ing Mars, the fact is his followers are selling this fight. And plus, don’t you remember you fought YouTubers? Are you putting YouTubers down? You profited from them. I can’t with you dude, you’re a f***ing dumbass. I can’t wait. April 22, Ryan Garcia’s f***ing knocking out Tank Davis.” It doesn't matter that Mayweather and "Tank" are currently having a difficult and tumultuous relationship because we were once his protégé. Given that he and De La Hoya fought in 2007, far before exchanging these jabs outside of the ring, it adds still another level of drama to the contest. That evening in Las Vegas, Mayweather won the super welterweight world championship in what turned out to be the most lucrative boxing match of its time. All those involved in the commercial side of things will be pleased if the Davis-Garcia card even approaches that level of success. But for the fighters, the victory is everything.

Oleksandr Usyk has commented on the breakdown of talks for an undisputed fight with Tyson Fury and claims he is "happy" that the historic confrontation will not take place. To the dismay of boxing fans worldwide, it was revealed near the end of March that a four-belt unification between Fury and Usyk would not be the next fight after months of negotiations between the opposing camps. Usyk admitted in an interview with Volodymyr Kobelkov on his YouTube channel that he was glad to have some downtime, despite appearing to bend over backwards to try to get the fight going. “I am very happy, by the way. Even though it sounds weird, I am very happy that this fight is not happening and I am going home.” “You’ve got to understand me, I trained for three months straight. Then I get to come back home and spend time with my children and I just enjoy myself.” “It was supposed to happen, God tells me this was supposed to happen.” Unbelievably, Usyk agreed to a split of 70/30 in Fury's advantage. However, disagreements over the money share in a hypothetical rematch proved to be a brick wall, and his managers called off the fight. The WBA has mandated that the two sides begin contract discussions this month, thus the undisputed world champion now appears destined to face Daniel Dubois, the obligatory challenger. Uncertainty surrounds WBC Champion Fury's next move, but Queensberry stablemate Joe Joyce seems to be the front-runner to engage in a summer brawl with "The Gypsy King." The fight has also been mentioned in connection with people like Andy Ruiz Jr. and, of course, Anthony Joshua.

Canelo Alvarez claims he's "not thinking" about retiring as he prepares to defend his undisputed super middleweight belt against challenger John Ryder on May 6th in Guadalajara, Mexico. Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) is shown in a video training this week for Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) doing a lot of head and upper body movement to improve on his defence. In an interview, Canelo said: “I’m not thinking about retirement yet.” That's significant for Canelo since WBO mandatory Ryder works hard and will camp in front of the Mexican star, unleashing relentless shots. Ryder flourishes in the trenches, where he can fire shots at will and wear down his opponents. If Canelo cannot match Ryder's prolific punch volume, he can at least adjust his upper body to avoid the punches. That is the logical explanation for Canelo's focus on defence rather than trying to rectify these obvious flaws. Ryder is important for Canelo because he can utilize him as prep for his rematch with Dmitry Bivol in September. Eddy Reynoso, Canelo's trainer/manager, indicated that they will employ counter-punching to defeat Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs), and he is convinced it will succeed. However, Canelo must overcome Ryder's fearsome challenge because this may be a nightmare for him.