8:15pm BST/4:15pm ET: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ live ringside coverage of the heavyweight collision between Joe Joyce and Zhilei Zhang. The undercard who is the 10 division world boxing champion underway and we’ll recap the best of the action shortly. Expect the two big men to be in the ring around two hours from now.
The interview with Inked Mag also reveals Asher plays an important role in Tyson’s life. His third and current wife, Lakiha “Kiki” Spicer was given a tennis racket by Asher as a child while the duo’s daughter is an outstanding tennis player herself. “How is that possible?” Tyson says in the interview. “I have the tattoo on my arm, my wife has a racket from him, and our daughter plays tennis. It’s crazy.”
Surrounding the Eye of Ra are various tribal patterns that symbolize strength, courage, and a connection to Tyson’s African roots. These patterns reflect his warrior spirit and pay homage to his heritage.
Round two kicked off with Tyson Pedro breathing heavy and looking tired. Still he came out and landed a leg kick, a tool that had won him his last two fights at least in part. The pace was similar to the first round, careful and considered, but Pedro was landing more strikes now that he was going to the leg kicks. Both fighters only landed upstairs periodically until halfway through the round Pedro threw a teep kick to the belly while Bukauskas was coming forward. The result was a brutal groin strike which crippled the ‘Baltic Gladiator’ momentarily.
Parker (34-3, 23 KO), the younger man by eight years, has won four straight since his own unfortunate run-in with “The Juggernaut.” A four-fight 2023 saw him take a decision over an unexpectedly game Jack Massey, demolish a pair of overmatched foes in Faiga Opelu and Simon Kean, then cap off the year by cruising past Deontay Wilder last month.
Matthew Porter has been PDC Chief Executive since January 2008 and has overseen the growth of the sport from £3million ($5million) prize money annually to double that figure through the continued expansion of the PDC.
Asked how he feels the 205-pound landscape has changed since 2018, Pedro says, “There are really only a few names that I recognize. One thing I have noticed, though, is that the level of BJJ has improved. Fighters are also starting to market themselves better.”
Zhang could not access high-profile matches to make himself known under Roc Nation until they parted ways in 2019. Zhang won 19 back-to-back low-profile fights under the Roc Nation banner. Zhang wanted better-known, tougher opponents with bigger payouts, but Dino Duva didn’t do it. Zhang was particularly upset once when his promoter organized a match at a high school basketball court with a portable dressing room which spectators could see into. Zhang felt he was not taken seriously by his promoter. He was paid around $7,000 for his pro debut, and some of his earlier pro fights were paid $2000 and $5000. When Shawn George became Zhang’s head coach in 2017, George was upset by how the promoters saw Zhang as a novelty act along the lines of Nikolai Valuev. Dynasty Boxing’s minority owners, brothers Tommy and Terry Lane, believed Zhang would become “the Yao Ming of boxing” and clashed with Duva over his lackluster promotion of Zhang.
When you get it done, you do it with a partner — you split the pain between you when you do it together. It’s hard to explain, but when I was getting it done – they were doing my knees, which is one of the hardest parts — and I just remember when my dad touched my leg, I just bawled my eyes out.
Under Eddie’s leadership Matchroom Boxing has returned to the forefront of the sport around the world. In 2014 Matchroom Boxing promoted the record-breaking Froch vs. Groves II bill at Wembley Stadium. Watched by 80,000 at the sold-out venue and broadcast around the world, the fight went down as one of the biggest in boxing history.
Matchroom currently promote 20 fight nights per year, all broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK and worldwide on DAZN. The Froch vs. Groves II show at Wembley Stadium in May 2014 broke numerous records and went down as one of, if not the, biggest UK boxing show in history. In 2018, Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley stadium broke more records with the biggest heavyweight fight crowd in over 90 years and a new box office record.
Dustin Poirier got his first tattoo at 14 years old. Since then, he has gotten over 25 different tattoos. On his chest, the lightweight fighter has his daughter’s name tattooed, as well as stripes to represent his fighting ability. On his arm, his ink shows stars coming out of fire. This tattoo is supposed to represent Poirier’s relationship with God. On his other arm, he has a very cool Japanese samurai mask.
“A ella (Wildheart) le avisaron de último minuto y lo hizo muy bien. Mi reconocimiento para ella”, dijo Mayer que mejoró su récord a 18-1-0, 5 KO’s. “Traté de ir hacia el frente, e ir hacia atrás. Quería mostrar mi boxeo”.