The Boxing News Now – June 3, 2020

Daily boxing news summary - June 3

On the same day in history, four years ago, that three-time world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali passed away, BNN sum up the top trending news articles of the day, all in one place.

Find out what's happening right now on the worldwide boxing scene:

Floyd Mayweather covers funeral costs for George Floyd

Former five-division world champion Floyd Mayweather has covered the funeral costs for murdered American George Floyd, who died while being restrained by Minneapolis police.

Protests have been held in the US and worldwide after Floyd, an unarmed black man, died while being brutally pinned down by aggressive police officer Derek Chauvin.

Chauvin, who kneeled on Floyd's neck, has been charged with his murder.

A "distraught" Mayweather, 43, will pay for funeral services in Houston - George's hometown - Minnesota and Charlotte.

His family are also looking to hold a fourth funeral, which Mayweather has also offered to cover, with costs in excess of $80k, reportedly.

"He'll probably get mad at me for saying that, but yes, he is definitely paying for the funeral," Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, told ESPN.

"Floyd has done these kind of things over the last 20 years."

Joshua vs Fury deal could be agreed within a day

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has come out to say that fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury could be agreed within just one day if all parties met, “We could negotiate the deal, if we met in person, over the course of one day,” he said.

Queensberry Promotions’ Frank Warren added that, “Our door is open. It’s not a difficult fight to make. Whatever is on the table is 50-50. Fury is the No.1 heavyweight but we don’t say 60-40. 50-50 down the middle.

“Once we get the offer we’re supposed to be getting, we’ll be in a position to sit around the table and knock it into shape. It’s not about me or Matchroom. It’s about getting this fight made.”

Fury wants it too, “All going well, god willing, we get on the big fight with me and Joshua, the all-British showdown and I give the fans what they want to see.”

Joshua is just as keen to fight, but both fighters have mandatory obligations to fulfil first – AJ has his IBF mandatory defence to Kubrat Pulev, and Tyson Fury has his trilogy with Deontay Wilder to complete, expected to take place in October.

Pac-Man vs Bud

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has been in contact with Terence Crawford about arranging a fight with Manny Pacquiao.

WBO World welterweight champion Crawford said that he has, “been in contact with Bob and Manny’s men. They want the fight, we want the fight.”

The eight-weight world champion’s promoter, Arum, added “We hope we get Crawford and Pacquiao in action this year and through our friends at MTK [Global] we are in serious talks with Bahrain for doing major fights there.”

The Land of the Rising Sun

Canelo is in talks to face Japan’s Ryota Murata.

Golden Boy Promotions President Eric Gomez said, “He wants to fight abroad and we have discussed him fighting in Japan, a homecoming in Mexico, and the UK. He has fans all over the world and he wants to build on that.”

Murata, 34, is an Olympic gold medallist. He won gold at middleweight in the London 2012 Olympic Games, which ended a 48-year gold medal drought for Japanese boxers and became the nation’s 100th gold medalist as well as their heaviest ever Olympic boxing champion.

Now he’s the WBA World middleweight champion with 16 wins from 18 bouts and 13 knockouts.

HÖRFA are proud sponsors Boxing News Now