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Usyk vs Bellew: The Richest Cruiserweight Fight In History

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Tony Bellew was enjoying his honeymoon in Mykonos after marrying the mother of his three children, Rachael Roberts, when he watched on a phone in a bar, Oleksandr Usyk claim the undisputed cruiserweight title with a unanimous decision over Murat Gassiev in Moscow. In his broken English, the new champion from Ukraine called out the only challenger left to him before his inevitable move up into the heavyweight division; Tony Bellew.  The thirty-four-year-old Bellew, who had won the British, Commonwealth and WBC silver light-heavyweight titles and the cruiserweight WBO International and European belts after his failed WBC light-heavyweight title challenge to the hard-punching Adonis Stevenson, also captured the WBC cruiserweight title in front of his home city fans at Goodison Park stadium, the home of his beloved Everton FC. His back-to-back victories over David Haye at heavyweight cemented his legacy in the sport and secured him and his family financially. The WBC granted Bellew Cha...
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Salvador Sanchez Part Two: Only The Great Die Young

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Salvador Sanchez  Next up to challenge Salvador Sanchez was Spain’s twenty-eight-year-old reigning European featherweight champion Roberto Castanon. The challenger boasted a 42-1 (24 KOs) record, and his only loss was a second-round knockout in his challenge to Danny Lopez for the WBC title in March 1979.   Sanchez-Castanon took place on 22nd March 1981 at Caesar Palace’s Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas, with the twenty-two-year-old hardly losing a round on his way to a tenth-round technical knockout.   The champion did not fight again until 11th July in a ten-round non-title contest against America’s Nicky Perez at the Olympic Auditorium in front of a Los Angeles crowd. Sanchez was declared a unanimous winner with scores of 100-91, 100-90 and 98-92, improving his record to 40-1-1 (30 KOs), before a sterner challenge from Wilfredo Gomez scheduled for 21st August in Las Vegas.   Gomez, born in Puerto Rico on 29th October 1959, had a 96-3 amateur career, repre...
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Location: United Kingdom
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Salvador Sanchez Part One: The Great Unknown

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 Salvador Sanchez Salvador Sanchez was born in Santiago Tianguistenco, México, to father Felipe Sanchez and mother María Luisa Narváez on 26th January 1959. At sixteen, after a brief spell as an amateur, he turned professional with a third-round knockout against countryman Al Gardeno on 4th May 1975.   Sanchez faced Mexican opposition and remained unbeaten during his first eighteen contests, before dropping a twelve-round split decision against Antonio Becerra for the vacant Mexican bantamweight title in September 1977. He ended the year with two ten-round points wins to improve his record to 20-1 (17 KOs).   In April 1978, Sanchez made his American debut against eighteen-year-old Juan Escobar, a southpaw from Tijuana, who had an 8-2 (6 KOs) record. Sanchez, 19, found himself on the floor in round five and nearly revisited the canvas in the final minute of the contest when he was stopped in his tracks by a wild left to the head. Sanchez desperately hung on as his...
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Jose Napoles Part Six: Hall of Famer

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Jose Napoles Jose Napoles dared to be great in his seventh-round defeat to undisputed middleweight champion Carlos Monzon. Wisely, the Cuban returned to the welterweight division and defended his world titles in a rematch with Hedgemon Lewis on 3rd August 1974 at the Palacio de los Deportes, Mexico City. After their first meeting in December 1971, Lewis defeated Mexico’s Ruben Vazquez Zamora with a ten-round points decision in May 1972, before a month later facing Billy Backus for the vacant New York State Athletic Commission world welterweight championship. The NYSAC title was stripped from Napoles in November 1971 when he failed to meet Backus in a rematch ordered by the Canastota Boxing Club.   Lewis knocked Backus down in the second round en route to a fifteen-round unanimous decision to become a rival world champion to Napoles. Lewis had two more victories before facing Backus again in the maiden defence of his NYSAC title in December, again defeating the challenger via a unan...
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