Boxing

8:48 AM ET After spending most of 2020 waiting for their WBO junior featherweight world title fight, titleholder Angelo Leo and Stephen Fulton were weeks away from finally squaring off against each other before the year landed one final sucker punch. Granted, in a year dragged down by a pandemic, it came as little surprise.

8:11 PM ET Boxing’s most polarizing act will return to the ring this spring. Jake Paul will fight April 17 against an opponent to be determined, it was announced Wednesday. Paul, the YouTube star and social media supernova, has signed with Fight Club, the new boxing promotion launched by the team behind the social networking

4:59 PM ET Unified super middleweight world titlist Canelo Alvarez will put his belts on the line against Avni Yildirim on Feb. 27, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. While it is refreshing to see Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) back in the ring so soon after his recent demolition of Callum Smith in December,

3:14 PM ET Boxing’s biggest star, Canelo Alvarez, will return to the ring Feb. 27 versus mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, per sources. The fight will be broadcast on DAZN and other PPV cable platforms everywhere except Mexico. It will be a stay-busy title defense for Alvarez (54-1-2,

8:57 AM ET A potential Anthony Joshua heavyweight unification bout against Tyson Fury could be the biggest fight of the year, but will it happen? When? And what should be next for lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez? A rematch against Vasiliy Lomachenko? A unification fight against Devin Haney? While these fights have all the ingredients to

11:56 AM ET Three-division titlist Claressa Shields will be returning to the ring for the first time in over a year to fight IBF Super Welterweight champion Marie-Eve Dicaire in a bout to unify the super welterweight division March 5. The fight will be the headliner of an all-women Pay Per View card on FITE

7:08 AM ET Devin Haney recites his lightweight hierarchy without hesitation. Himself, Teofimo Lopez, Gervonta Davis then Ryan Garcia. The rankings of these top four young fighters will be debated by the boxing community often throughout 2021 — until they can settle the score. There have even been comparisons to the Four Kings (Sugar Ray

11:46 AM ET Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn said a deal for the world heavyweight champion to meet Tyson Fury in an undisputed world heavyweight title bout this year is all but done, with a venue in the Middle East a front-runner to host it. Joshua beat Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev last month to retain his

2:28 PM ET One of boxing’s top events in early 2021 is officially canceled. The Jan. 30 bout between former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev and Bek Melikuziev has been nixed after Kovalev failed a drug test because of banned substances, Golden Boy Promotions announced on Friday. 2 Related Kovalev was informed earlier this week

3:16 PM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Alexander Povetkin and Dillian Whyte will face each other in a heavyweight rematch on March 6, promoter Matchroom announced Friday. Despite the United Kingdom

8:58 AM ET The level of inactivity in boxing was a little higher than usual in 2020. Due to COVID-19, several of the sport’s top fighters are in the midst of unusually long layoffs. Manny Pacquiao hasn’t fought since July 2019, and Deontay Wilder took his first loss in February just before the pandemic took

3:36 PM ET Former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev has tested positive for banned substances ahead of his next fight. The 37-year-old’s test by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association showed external testosterone and metabolites, according to results obtained by ESPN on Thursday. The sample was taken on Dec. 30 and now places his fight on Jan.

5:25 PM ET Unified light heavyweight world titlist Artur Beterbiev’s title defense against Adam Deines has been rescheduled for March 20, most likely in Russia, according to the WBC. Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs), of Russia, who also owns the IBF title, was scheduled to face Meng Fanlong in March 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic forced

8:58 AM ET In the words of Canelo Alvarez, it’s time to “be bold.” There’s no offseason when it comes to boxing, but as the calendar turns to 2021, and without any big fights scheduled just yet, it is time to indeed follow that catchphrase, be bold and offer up our biggest prognostications for the

2:11 PM ET WBO junior lightweight champion Jamel Herring will defend his title against former two-division champion Carl Frampton on Feb. 27 in London, promoter Frank Warren announced Tuesday. It’s a long-awaited battle between Herring (22-2, 10 KOs) and Frampton (28-2, 16 KOs) that had been delayed by COVID-19 issues, but it should be a

8:49 AM ET Mikaela Mayer Amid the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, boxer Mikaela Mayer had a breakout 2020. Despite fight cancellations and postponements, including a false positive prefight test for the virus that led to her removal from Top Rank’s first card back from hiatus in June, Mayer captured the attention of the boxing

6:32 AM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr. has signed with European promoter Team Sauerland as he targets a world title shot in 2021. Eubank Jr. (29-2,

6:22 PM ET Former four-division title-holder Adrien Broner will make his return to the ring on Feb. 13, a source confirmed to ESPN on Friday, marking the first time in over two years he will fight. Broner hasn’t appeared in the ring since Jan. 19, 2019, when he lost a unanimous decision to Manny Pacquiao