10:02 PM ET Former junior middleweight world titlist Erislandy Lara, coming off a close loss in the 2018 ESPN fight of the year, will return to challenge secondary titlist Brian Castano, Premier Boxing Champions announced Thursday. The fight will take place March 2 and headline a Showtime-televised tripleheader (9 p.m. ET) at Barclays Center in

5:52 PM ET When I wrote my annual boxing wishes column for the new year two weeks ago one of the top items on my list read like this: “(For) Canelo Alvarez to line up Daniel Jacobs for his May fight and then a third fight with Gennady Golovkin for his September bout.” Well, it

12:55 PM ET It took Ray Beltran four tries to win a lightweight world title and fulfill his dream last February when he outpointed Paulus Moses, but he lost the belt in his first defense to Jose Pedraza six months later. Now Beltran is beginning his quest for another opportunity. Beltran is moving up to

10:17 PM ET LAS VEGAS — The final news conference for Manny Pacquiao’s secondary welterweight world title defense against Adrien Broner on Wednesday at the MGM Grand’s David Copperfield Theater played out just as most would have expected. There was Pacquiao, the beloved eight-division world champion and regal senator from the Philippines, cracking jokes, smiling,

7:26 PM ET Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — Yo, Adrian, boxing is set to return to Philadelphia. Live Nation announced Wednesday a series of boxing matches set to run at the restored Metropolitan Opera House. The debut card is set for Feb. 23, and it’s the first time boxing will run in the venue since 1954.

11:29 AM ET Joe Brown sat on the edge of his bed at the Days Inn in Canastota, New York, the sunlight illuminating the normally unseen dust drifting through the ether like the sands of time. He was known as “Old Bones” during his fighting days, and never was the nickname more appropriate than on

5:39 PM ET Former four-division world titlist Adrien Broner has always been confident, almost to the point of cockiness, going into his fights and nothing appears to have changed as he prepares for the biggest fight of his career. Broner challenges legendary eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao for his secondary welterweight belt on Saturday (Showtime

5:00 PM ET Light heavyweight world titlist Dmitry Bivol, the most coveted boxing broadcast free agent on the market other than Gennady Golovkin in the wake of HBO’s exit from the sport at the end of 2018, signed a co-promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn on Tuesday. Bivol will appear exclusively on sports

11:46 AM ET Steve KimESPN It was formally announced Tuesday in London that on April 20, WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford will face the well-traveled Amir Khan in a pay-per-view event produced by ESPN. This matchup, which will end up at either Madison Square Garden in New York or in Las Vegas, seemed unlikely to

12:26 AM ET In what amounts to a game of light heavyweight musical chairs, world titleholder Dmitry Bivol is likely to defend his belt against Joe Smith Jr. in late February or early March instead of titlist Artur Beterbiev defending against Smith, multiple sources told ESPN on Monday. That is because Bivol is on the

1:56 PM ET Former featherweight world titlist Lee Selby will move up two weight classes for his next fight. Selby will take on Omar Douglas in a lightweight bout that will take place on Feb. 23 at the O2 Arena in London on the undercard of the all-British super middleweight grudge match between rivals James

12:42 PM ET Opening Bell: Pacquiao deserves appreciation Manny Pacquiao turned 40 a month ago and has been in the consciousness of boxing fans for almost half of his life. He was a bright-eyed 22-year-old former flyweight world champion with virtually no name recognition outside of his native Philippines when he arrived on these shores

11:32 PM ET The first thing Caleb Plant would see every morning when he woke up and the last thing he would see each night before going to sleep was a giant photo of an IBF world title belt that he had affixed to the ceiling over his bed. That is how focused he was

3:54 PM ET Former junior lightweight world titlist Francisco Vargas will have a chance to regain the belt from the man who took it from him, Miguel Berchelt. Mexican countrymen Berchelt and Vargas will meet in a rematch on March 23 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, in the main event of a Top Rank

6:30 AM ET Lightweight Devin Haney and featherweight Ruben Villa, two of ESPN.com’s top 15 boxing prospects, cruised to lopsided unanimous decisions against previously undefeated opponents expected to provide competition on Friday night at StageWorks in Shreveport, Louisiana. Headlining on Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation,” Haney (21-0, 13 KOs) dropped Xolisani Ndongeni (25-1, 13 KOs)

5:18 PM ET Welterweight world titlist and pound-for-pound star Terence Crawford and former unified junior welterweight titleholder Amir Khan are scheduled to appear at a news conference on Tuesday at a London hotel to announce they will meet this spring. Top Rank, Crawford’s promoter, sent out a media advisory on Friday afternoon saying that “WBO

2:16 PM ET The opportunity for super middleweight contender Caleb Plant to fight for a world title has been a long time coming. Plant earned the mandatory title shot with a one-sided unanimous decision victory over Rogelio “Porky” Medina in their title elimination fight last February and he was supposed to challenge 168-pound titlist Jose

8:38 AM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Tyson Fury — and not Anthony Joshua — will fight Deontay Wilder at a U.S. venue in the first half of 2019, promoter Frank