Sherdog Boxing: The Weekly Wrap

Oh my God, this is amazing pic.twitter.com/HMWbaGcTA2

— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) December 10, 2018

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Lomachenko to Fight Unnamed Opponent April 12

Fresh off his decision win over Jose Pedraza, Vasyl Lomachenko will be returning to the ring on Apr. 12th against an opponent yet to be named. The fight will be shown on either ESPN or ESPN Plus and will take place at The Staples Center in Los Angeles. The rumored opponent is the winner of Richard Commey and Isa Chaniev, who will fight for a vacant lightweight title on the undercard of February’s Alvarez-Kovalev rematch.

Billy Joe Saunders to Fight Zoltan Sera on Dec. 22, Rigondeaux to Return in January

After a positive PED test saw his fight against Demetrius Andrade cancelled, Billy Joe Saunders will be facing Hungary’s Zoltan Sera, !ZOLTAN! on the undercard of the December 22nd fight between Carl Frampton and Josh Warrington which will air on ESPN Plus.

Another slick boxer who will be returning to the ring is Guillermo Rigondeaux. After quitting against Vasyl Lomachenko last December, Rigondeaux began working with Ronnie Shields, and will now be fighting on one of the PBC cards in January.

”Canelo,” Deontay Wilder, Amir Khan and the Internet All Pile Criticism on Floyd Mayweather

While the week was void of Mayweather-50 Cent beef escalation, Floyd Mayweather still managed to find himself feuding with all sorts of different people. First, after he expressed displeasure with the decision in the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury fight, Wilder said that Floyd is a terrible promoter who won’t let any of his fighters become big stars because that would diminish Mayweather’s own star power, saying in part:

“When guys gets to a certain stage [in Mayweather Promotions], that's it... they only get to a certain stage, because he don't let them progress and grow like they should, because he wants the center of attention. And it shouldn't be like that. Boxing should be so much better with the power that he draw and that he has. It's not all about yourself all the time. You have a lot of fighters who are great themselves.... they should be promoted, they should be advertised. It's not just about you, you, you.”

“Canelo” Alvarez also criticized Floyd this week, saying that his recent fight choices have harmed boxing in a major way, declaring “Lately the only thing he has done in boxing is lower the credibility of the sport with the fights he has fought.”

While “Crypto” has yet to respond to Alvarez, when Amir Khan echoed a similar sentiment about Floyd’s exhibition bout against Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa, Floyd mocked Amir Khan for becoming “comatosed” after fighting “Canelo,” while Floyd easily outboxed him at an advanced age.

But above all else, Floyd was widely mocked by the internet this week after a baffling promotional video for his exhibition fight hit twitter. In the video, Floyd watches Tenshin, clouded by smoke take off his jacket and run towards him, culminating in a Tenshin-Superman punch that I’m pretty sure would be illegal under Floyd’s exhibition rules. The Pride Fighting Championships promotional videos were the best promotional videos in the history of combat sports. This wasn’t that.

Don King to Give Away $100,000 Worth of Turkeys for 60th Year

Although his reputation and boxing status have both tanked in recent years, Don King announced that he will still be giving out $100,000 worth of turkey this year, which will mark the 60th year he has done so. He recently announced he would be in Cleveland, where he will give out the turkeys himself, and declared to the press, “As we celebrate the King of Kings we are thankful God created another King, a champion of the people, a man whose motto is: ‘My strength lies in my people ties,’ the ‘Only in America’ man himself Mr. Don King. See you at the world-renowned Turkey Tour, Cleveland, OH on Monday, December 17, 2018!”

Don King killed a guy once and stole millions of dollars from fighters over the years, but this is a nice thing to do.

Oleksandr Usyk Named SI’s Fighter of the Year for 2018

A year that saw him go from cruiserweight prospect, to undisputed cruiserweight champion, to possible heavyweight contender, was enough to garner Ukranian Oleksandr Usyk Sports Illustrated’s fighter of the year award for 2018. This was well deserved, and should further boost his ever-growing star power. Fresh off his huge one-punch knockout victory over Mason Menard, the magazine also named Teofimo Lopez Jr. as their prospect of the year, going so far as to compare his style and power to Mike Tyson.

Wilder Wants to Play Clubber Lang’s Son in “Creed” Sequel While De La Hoya Wants to Box Dana White

Deontay Wilder recently said that he would love to play Clubber Lang’s son in a “Creed” sequel, an idea which Sly Stallone was (tongue in cheek) open to when speaking to TMZ. Clubber Lang never had kids, he lived alone, he trained alone, and he was gonna win that title alone. Please don’t do this.

In other things that absolutely should not happen, as part of their ongoing feud Oscar De La Hoya said that he wants to fight Dana White in a boxing match, while also taking a shot at White’s steroid use proclaiming “Three rounds. Let’s do this. Let’s do this on the Canelo (Alvarez undercard), Cinco de Mayo. I’ll even give you five months so you can get off the juice and then we can get in great shape, and then we go three rounds. Look, I’m going to give you, what, a 50-pound advantage? It’s OK. I can take you on. Let’s do it” No Oscar, let’s not.