The Boxing Diary

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Saturday, September 7, 2024

Beterbiev-Bivol Available on ESPN+

(Sept. 6, 2024) — The undisputed light heavyweight showdown between WBC/IBF/WBO unified champion Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) and WBA king Dmitry Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs)— Saturday, Oct. 12 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — will stream live and exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S.

This can’t-miss matchup features two of the world’s best pound-for-pound practitioners, a long-awaited duel between a master boxer and a battering ram with a 100 percent knockout ratio.

Beterbiev-Bivol will be promoted by Top Rank, Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, Matchroom Boxing and Sela.

“The epic matchup has been a long time coming, and I can’t wait until these two legends of the ring meet,” said Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum. “I am thrilled that American fans can view the fight on ESPN+, a tremendous platform that consistently shows the biggest and best bouts."

Beterbiev and Bivol were initially scheduled to fight on June 1, but Beterbiev suffered a ruptured meniscus in training. Bivol fought Malik Zinad on that date instead, scoring a devastating sixth-round TKO. Beterbiev last fought in January, knocking out British former super middleweight world champion Callum Smith.

Monday, September 2, 2024

Undisputed Super Bantamweight Championship: Naoya Inoue vs. TJ Doheny

(Aug. 30, 2024) — Top Rank Boxing on ESPN, Inoue vs. Doheny, will be presented live this Tuesday, September 3, at a special early start time of 5:45 a.m. ET/ 2:45 a.m. PT, exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S. The event takes place at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

Naoya “The Monster” Inoue will make defense number two of his undisputed super bantamweight crown against former world champion TJ Doheny.

Inoue (27-0, 24 KOs), a four-division world champion and pound-for-pound standout, has made Ariake Arena his boxing home in recent years. It’s where he knocked out Paul Butler to win the undisputed bantamweight title in December 2022, defeated Stephen Fulton for two super bantamweight titles in July 2023, and dominated Marlon Tapales for the undisputed crown last December. Doheny (26-4, 20 KOs) is 4-0 when fighting on Japanese soil, including a knockout win over Bryl Bayogos on the Inoue-Luis Nery undercard at Tokyo Dome in May.

In the co-feature, WBO bantamweight world champion Yoshiki Takei (9-0, 8 KOs) will make his first title defense against former WBC flyweight champion Daigo Higa (21-2-1, 19 KOs).

Timothy Bradley, Jr. and Bernardo Osuna will call the action.