Boxing

Boxer and social media star Jake Paul is in contract to purchase a 5,700-acre estate in Decatur County, Georgia, per TMZ Sports.

It's unclear what Paul offered for the estate, per TMZ Sports, but it reportedly had a $42 million price tag.

TMZ Sports called the impending purchase a "business venture" and that Paul is unlikely to move there. Amenities include a lake, a duck pond, a horse barn and a lodge. There's also a 200-foot bluff overlooking Lake Seminole.

So Paul is staying busy out of the ring, but he has some business to attend to inside of it as well with a match slated for June against former WBC middleweight title holder Julio César Chávez Jr.

Shakur Stevenson will put the WBC lightweight title on the line against William Zepeda on July 12, according to The Ring's Mike Coppinger and ESPN's Andreas Hale.

New York City is the site of the event, though a venue hasn't been decided.

Stevenson improved his professional record to 23-0 with a ninth-round TKO of Josh Padley in February. He's the No. 10 fighter in ESPN.com's pound-for-pound rankings.

In general, fans didn't come away too impressed with Stevenson's performance despite the decisive outcome. Padley replaced Floyd Schofield, who was originally scheduled to step inside the ring, only a few days out from the show, and he looked thoroughly overmatched.

Zepeda likewise didn't look dominant in his back-to-back wins over Tevin Farmer. He took a split decision last November in a fight that saw him knocked down in the fourth round, and the pair went the distance again in their March rematch.

Stevenson vs. Zepeda has been in the works for a while, and the passage of time may not have helped build up the anticipation for their eventual battle. Pitting a highly skilled counterpuncher against a fighter with 27 knockouts in 33 fights should at least make for a fun clash of styles.

Coppinger reported that the July 12 card will include Edgar Berlanga vs. Hamzah Sheeraz, which will be a WBC super middleweight title eliminator.

Berlanga lost a unanimous decision to Canelo Álvarez last September but rebounded with a first-round knockout of Jonathan González Ortiz in March. Sheeraz won his first 21 professional bouts before a split decision with Carlos Adames ended the streak in February.

After competing on the same card in separate bouts last July, Jake Paul and Julio César Chávez Jr. are set to square off against each other.

Paul confirmed the fight is set for June 28 for the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. The Ring's Mike Coppinger first reported Paul would face Chávez this summer.

Paul had been in negotiations with Canelo Álvarez for a potential bout in the spring. Coppinger reported in February the two sides were in the process of finalizing a deal for May 3 in Las Vegas.

The negotiations fell apart soon after that report when Álvarez agreed to a four-fight deal with Riyadh Season. His first bout under the agreement will be on May 3 against William Scull in Saudi Arabia.

In response to the move, Paul said in a video posted on social media (h/t ESPN.com) that Álvarez was only chasing money:

"The truth is, you could be bought. You're a money-hungry squirrel chasing your next nut. The truth is, these sports-washing, shady characters are paying you hundreds of millions of dollars to stop our fight from happening because they couldn't fathom the fact that they can't create a bigger fight than me and you."

Chávez most recently defeated former UFC fighter Uriah Hall via unanimous decision in a six-round bout on July 20. It was on the same card headlined by Paul and Mike Perry.

The July 20 event was put together after the originally-scheduled Paul-Tyson show had to be postponed when Mike Tyson suffered an ulcer on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles.

Prior to his bout with Hall, Chávez had not competed since December 2021 when he defeated David Zegarra by unanimous decision. The 39-year-old Chávez is 54-6-1 with one no contest in 62 career bouts.

Paul has an 11-1 record in 12 professional bouts with seven wins by knockout or TKO.

Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk is reportedly close to solidifying his return to the ring against a familiar opponent.

Mike Coppinger of Ring Magazine reported on Tuesday that Usyk is in the process of finalizing a rematch against Daniel Dubois for his next title defense on July 12 at Wembley Stadium in London.

Usyk and Dubois first met in August 2023, with Usyk remaining undefeated with a ninth-round knockout victory. The 38-year-old has since earned back-to-back victories over the legendary Tyson Fury, the first of which made him the undisputed champion.

Dubois bounced back from his loss to Usyk by rattling off three straight wins. He won the interim IBF heavyweight title and was promoted to full champion in August 2024 when Usyk was forced to vacate the belt. The 27-year-old most recently scored an impressive fifth-round knockout over Anthony Joshua in September.

Dubois was previously expected to defend his IBF title against Joseph Parker in February, but he was forced to withdraw from the bout during fight week due to an illness. Parker went on to defeat Martin Bakole via second-round knockout and proceeded to call out both Dubois and Usyk.

Instead, it appears that Parker will be the odd man out while Usyk and Dubois meet for the second time this summer. Dubois is looking to become the first British undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999, as well as the first in the four-belt era. Per Coral Barry of BBC, Usyk has "suggested he will retire after two more fights."

Jaron "Boots" Ennis added another championship to his collection with a sixth-round TKO win over Eimantas Stanionis at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday night to become the unified WBA and IBF welterweight champion.

Ennis and Stanionis wasted little time in getting into the action. There was no feeling-out period as both fighters looked to establish their gameplan early on:

Boots was able to get into a groove early. He fought behind an active jab and landed some key body shots early on. 

Stanionis simply didn’t have the skills to hang with Boots, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. He landed a few clean shots that led to some entertaining exchanges. 

That being said, Boots started to pull away in the middle rounds. His early work to the body paid off as he continued to let his hands go while Stanionis got more conservative. 

Ultimately, Ennis kicked his performance into high gear in the sixth round, flooring Stanionis and setting the table for his opponent’s corner to throw in the towel after the round.

Boots remains undefeated with a perfect 34-0 mark with the win, but there are much bigger hills to climb if he wants to live up to his massive potential.

The 27-year-old has built up his reputation on the way to capturing the IBF and WBA titles in the welterweight divisions, but he has also built up enough hype that there are bigger aspirations at play.

"I want to be the standard of the welterweight division and be with those top guys like Floyd Mayweather and Sugar Ray Leonard," Ennis remarked ahead of this championship fight.

With Terrance Crawford officially out of the 147-pound weight class, the stage is set for Ennis to take over.

A move up to 154 pounds could ultimately be the move for Ennis. However, his desire to unify all four welterweight belts could mean a longer stay in his current division.

That makes a huge fight with Brian Norman Jr. a little more likely than a move up. The two champions reportedly negotiated before a potential bout fell apart.

Now that Boots has two titles to bring to the table it might easier to get things done and set up the next big fight in the division.