Dan Rafael
1,538 articles · USA Today
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Kambosos on Lopez Fight: My Priority is Taking Those Belts, F— The Money
By Dan Rafael
When lightweight contender George Kambosos got the phone call he was waiting for from manager Peter Kahn to tell him the results of the purse bid for his mandatory title shot against…
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De La Hoya Assesses Canelo’s Win, Unification Plans at 168
By Dan Rafael
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya may no longer promote pound-for-pound king Canelo Alvarez following their acrimonious breakup last fall, but he still pays attention to his fights. Alvarez, boxing’s…
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Mike Acri, Promoter Who Worked With Camacho, Duran, Spadafora, Dies at 63
By Dan Rafael
Longtime boxing promoter Michael Acri, who helped guide the late-career comebacks of Hall of Famers Hector Camacho Sr. and Roberto Duran, and guided Paul Spadafora to a lightweight world title, died on…
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De La Hoya Interested in Making Vergil Ortiz vs. Terence Crawford Title Fight
By Dan Rafael
Welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr., the explosive 2019 prospect of the year, has been moving up the ladder at quick pace and his promoter, Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya, believes…
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Arum Stands By Crawford Comments, Disinterested in Promoting His Fights
By Dan Rafael
Top Rank chairman Bob Arum has taken heat for the comments he recently made about losing money on welterweight world titlist Terence Crawford fights and how Crawford, in his view, needs to…
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Arum Expects Berchelt vs. Valdez To Be Fight of The Year Candidate
By Dan Rafael
Top Rank chairman Bob Arum was just a couple of days removed from having promoted the highly significant fight between Teofimo Lopez and Vasiliy Lomachenko, which Lopez won by unanimous decision to…
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Arum on Lopez’s Future: Garcia and Davis Are Big Fights – Haney is Not!
By Dan Rafael
Teofimo Lopez figures to have several high profile and lucrative options moving forward following his huge win to unify lightweight world titles. He won a unanimous decision over the favored Vasiliy Lomachenko,…
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Donaire, After Oubaali Fight, Wants 115 Title Shot & Would Love Chocolatito Fight
By Dan Rafael
While Nonito Donaire will turn 38 on Nov. 16, “The Filipino Flash” still harbors boxing goals even though he is already a tremendously accomplished fighter with a Hall of Fame resume in…
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Moloney Confident: Inoue Can Be Hit, Can Be Hurt, Can Be Beaten!
By Dan Rafael
When bantamweight contender Jason Moloney takes on unified titleholder Naoya Inoue, the Japanese star universally regarded as one of the pound-for-pound best fighters in the world, he will surely be a heavy…
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Kell Brook: Once I Beat Crawford, He Can Have a Rematch!
By Dan Rafael
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum hopes to have welterweight world titlist Terence Crawford back in the ring in September or October and recently named four potential opponents in fellow titleholder Manny Pacquiao,…
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Question still unanswered: Can Mikey Garcia handle the welterweight elites?
By Dan Rafael
FRISCO, Texas -- The biggest question going into the Mikey Garcia-Jessie Vargas fight on Saturday night was: How viable is Garcia as a welterweight contender? Garcia has been one of boxing's elite…
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NSAC bans Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury faceoff after weigh-in
By Dan Rafael
LAS VEGAS -- The Nevada State Athletic Commission has barred heavyweight world titleholder Deontay Wilder and lineal champion Tyson Fury from participating in the traditional faceoff at the weigh-in on Friday ahead…
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Caleb Plant dominates Vincent Feigenbutz, victorious in his hometown
By Dan Rafael
Super middleweight world titlist Caleb Plant's dream since he was a child was to have a world title fight in his hometown of Nashville. He not only realized it on Saturday night,…
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Jose Ramirez, Viktor Postol bout may be rescheduled due to Wuhan coronavirus
By Dan Rafael
Unified junior welterweight world titlist Jose Ramirez's mandatory defense against Viktor Postol, scheduled for Feb. 1 as the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card at Mission Hills Resort…
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Jean Pascal outpoints Badou Jack to retain light heavyweight title
By Dan Rafael
Light heavyweight world titlist Jean Pascal and former titleholder Badou Jack sparred together in 2014 and have been friends for years, so much so that before Pascal's last fight in August, Jack…
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A different option for Terence Crawford’s next fight
By Dan Rafael
NEW YORK -- In the lead-up to welterweight world titlist Terence Crawford's defense against "Mean Machine" Egidijus Kavaliauskas, the pound-for-pound star was asked about getting a big fight against one of the…
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Jovial Deontay Wilder vows no mercy for Luis Ortiz
By Dan Rafael
LAS VEGAS -- A few minutes after heavyweight world titlist Deontay Wilder weighed in Friday for his rematch with Luis "King Kong" Ortiz and finished an interview with the United Kingdom's Sky…
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Ringside Seat: Can Luis Ortiz unseat Deontay Wilder? He almost did once
By Dan Rafael
LAS VEGAS -- On March 3, 2018, Deontay Wilder retained his heavyweight world title against Luis "King Kong" Ortiz to conclude an unforgettable fight between two of boxing's most powerful punchers. Wilder…
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Naoya Inoue tops Nonito Donaire, signs with Top Rank
By Dan Rafael
Naoya "The Monster" Inoue has rarely faced adversity during his reign of terror through boxing's smaller weight classes, but when he finally did against Nonito Donaire, Inoue came through like a champion…
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Canelo Alvarez vows to use body shots to beat Sergey Kovalev
By Dan Rafael
Normally, a boxer has no interest in discussing details of how he plans to go after his opponent before a fight, but middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez no problem doing so when…