Sherdog Boxing: The Weekly Wrap

Degale-Eubank Jr. to Fight Feb. 23 in London

Former Olympic gold medalist and IBF 168-pound champion, James Degale, will be facing Christopher Eubank Jr., son of the legendary fighter Christopher “Simply the Best” Eubank on Feb. 23 at London’s O2 Arena. The fight will be for the vacant IBO super-middleweight title. Eubank has lost twice in his career, to Billy Joe Saunders and George Groves, while Degale has lost to both George Groves and Caleb Truax. The winner of the all-English matchup is expected to face WBA super-middleweight champion Callum Smith to unify the titles. As for the loser, James Degale has gone on record saying that they should retire, declaring “I’m calling this the retirement fight. Whoever loses this can knock it on the head, it’s game over.”

As for Eubank, the always-dapper former middleweight titlist is serving as a certified law enforcement marshal in Opelousas Louisiana. Eubank was never as good as he was famous, but if you don’t know him, check out a highlight on the internet and marvel at his unique personal style, knockout power, eloquent speech pattern, and absolute owning of Prince Naseem Hamed over who really invented the front flip into the ring.

Adrien Broner Speaks of Jailhouse Moment he Dedicated Himself to Boxing, Gets Roasted on Social Media

This week, ahead of his bout against Manny Pacquiao, Adrien Broner appeared on Showtime’s “All Access” and related the story of how he was sitting in jail when he decided to devote his life to boxing. He said he began talking to himself, asking “What the f*** am I gonna do if I get out? I’m going to sell drugs? Nah, I’ll be back in here. I was like, I’m gonna box. I made up my mind that day that if God let me out of here, I’m gonna box. And then a week later I got out and I ran to the gym. And now I’m here fighting Pacquiao. I never thought in a million years I’d be here.”

This was a touching story, except for one major problem; Adrien Broner is constantly in jail. While he did become a hugely successful boxer, Adrien Broner has faced a near constant stream of legal troubles, including when he was arrested just last week for no-showing his court dates. Not showing up to court is technically staying out of jail, but it’s hard to believe that’s what “The Problem” meant or what Showtime was trying to portray. Twitter reacted quickly to the irony, and the moment became more embarrassing than inspirational for Broner.

Rigondeaux-Delgado Official for Jan. 13

What a huge fall for Guillermo Rigondeaux. The one-time hipster boxing fans’ choice for best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, will be stuck on the preliminary portion of FS1’s Caleb Plant-Jose Uzcategui card, Jan. 13 in Los Angeles. While he is coming off an embarrassing loss and hasn’t fought since last December, Rigondeaux is still a two-time Olympic gold medalist whose only professional loss was to Vasyl Lomachenko. He will be facing Mexico’s Giovanni Delgado, who is only 3-7 in his last ten fights.

While quitting against Lomachenko, and never having possessed the most crowd-pleasing style -- ESPN’s Dan Rafael tweets some form of “ZZZZZZZZ” every time his name is mentioned on Twitter -- this is still a shameful matchup and a shameful TV placement for Rigondeaux. Let’s hope PBC does better next time.

Ryan Garcia to Appear on Logan Paul’s Podcast on Friday

Just when it seemed like Ryan Garcia was back on track to becoming boxing’s next superstar, he makes a hugely questionable decision. Garcia, who to this point has said and done everything correctly as far as promotions in his career, will be appearing on Logan Paul’s podcast “impaulsive.” While this will undoubtedly get Generation Z more interested in Garcia as a boxer -- Paul may be the more famous boxer at this point, which is terrible -- it is a huge risk for both him and Golden Boy Promotions. Logan Paul has a bad history, with him both exploiting a man who committed suicide for YouTube clicks and being accused of racism while in Japan, and even got in trouble for animal abuse after a man brought him a baby tiger to play with, a tiger which the man was not allowed to legally own.

This is a risky move for Garcia, though likely a calculated one. We’ll see if the normally squeaky clean 20-year-old receives any blowback from the decision.

Former Boxer Beats up Man Assaulting Her over Straws

And finally, in a widely circulated clip on the internet, Mcdonalds worker Yasmine James was assaulted by a customer where she works over whether or not a law existed banning straws from the McDonalds lobby (it did). When she was attacked by the customer, she proceeded to pummel the man with straight right hand after straight right hand, while he helplessly clung to her shirt. If those punches looked clean to you, it’s because it ends up Yasmine James is a former boxer.

Boxing gets a bad rap as a self-defense martial art, with MMA fans convinced an All-American wrestler lurks around every corner, and Krav Maga fans convinced punches to anywhere but the nuts are essentially useless. It’s nice to see a boxer show the world how effective the sweet science can be, in the direst of circumstances.