Renan Ferreira to Fight Maurice Greene as Part of Professional Fighters League’s Big Apple Semifinal Fights

Posted on July 13, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Renan Ferreira is preparing for a battle in the Big Apple…

The 33-year-old Brazilian mixed martial arts fighter will compete as part of the Professional Fighters League’s final two semifinal dates in its return to New York.

Ferreira, a knockout artist, will take on Maurice Greene in the August 18 main event, a heavyweight semifinal.

A lightweight semifinal between Shane Burgos and Clay Collard will headline an August 23 card.

Both cards will take place at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. The men’s heavyweight and women’s featherweight division semifinals will be August 18, with the men’s lightweight and welterweight semis set for August 23. The August 23 main card will kick off with an amateur bout involving Muhammad Ali‘s grandson, Biaggio Ali Walsh.

The PFL previously announced the men’s featherweight and light heavyweight playoffs, scheduled for August 4 in San Antonio. The winners of the semifinal matchups will fight later this year for the PFL’s $1 million divisional championships.

Ferreira (10-3) is coming off a 50-second knockout of Matheus Scheffel on June 16 in regular-season competition. He has just one loss in eight PFL fights.

Greene (11-8), a training partner of Jon Jones, went 1-1 in the regular season. The 37-year-old New York native is a UFC veteran.

Burgos (16-4) got into the playoffs when the PFL suspended Natan Schulte and Raush Manfio for not fulfilling contractual obligations in a lackluster regular-season bout. Burgos, who is 32 and from New York, is coming off a unanimous decision win over Yamato Nishikawa on June 23.

Collard (23-10, 1 NC), who also has boxing experience, went 2-0 in the regular season, including a second-round TKO of Stevie Ray on June 23. Collard, 30, is 5-2 in the PFL.

Here’s a look at the upcoming PFL cards:

Aug. 18
ESPN card
Heavyweight semifinal: Renan Ferreira vs. Maurice Greene
Women’s featherweight semifinal: Larissa Pacheco vs. Olena Kolesnyk
Heavyweight semifinal: Denis Goltsov vs. Jordan Heiderman
Women’s featherweight semifinal: Marina Mokhnatkina vs. Amber Leibrock
Nathan Kelly vs. Damion Nelson

ESPN+ Card
Chris Mixan vs. Eddie George
Abraham Bably vs. Anthony Wint
Danilo Marques vs. Satoshi Ishii
Laureano Staropoli vs. Ben Egli
Kaytlin Neil vs. Maira Mazar
Louis Sutherland vs. Daiqwon Buckley

Aug. 23
ESPN card
Lightweight semifinal: Clay Collard vs. Shane Burgos
Lightweight semifinal: Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Bruno Miranda
Welterweight semifinal: Sadibou Sy vs. Carlos Leal
Welterweight semifinal: Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Magomed Umalatov
Amateur bout: Biaggio Ali-Walsh vs. TBA

ESPN+ card
Alexei Pergande vs. Shawn Stefanelli
Mostafa Rashed Neda vs. Korey Kuppe
Abigail Montes vs. Michelle Montague
Abdullah Al-Qahtani vs. David Zelner
John Caldone vs. Nathaniel Grimard

Albert Pujols Named 2022 Recipient of Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award at ESPYS

Posted on July 20, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Albert Pujols is celebrating a special honor…

The 42-year-old Dominican-American professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals has been named the 2022 recipient of the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award.

Pujols received the award as part of the ESPYS on Wednesday night in Los Angeles, another accolade for the retiring slugger.

The award is given to an athlete whose “continuous, demonstrated leadership has created a measured positive impact on their community through sports. The candidate must embrace the core principles that Muhammad Ali embodied so well, including confidence, conviction, dedication, giving and respect.”

Pujols certainly embodies all of those characteristics.

He’s president of the Pujols Family Foundation, which has had a twofold cause since its inception in 2005: helping the impoverished in his native Dominican Republic and aiding those living with Down syndrome in the United States. The slugger’s daughter, Isabella, has Down syndrome, a genetic disorder.

“As great as my career has been, my passion is what I do when the season is over and that is to serve and to give back. That is how I want to be remembered,” Pujols said.

Pujols called Ali an “incredible man” whose legacy “will never be forgotten.” He called it an honor to win an award in his name.

The award was formerly called the Sports Humanitarian of the Year Award, but was renamed in 2017, a year after Ali’s death, to honor the legacy of the boxing great’s impact on society.

Other finalists this year included Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns, NFL veteran Anthony Barr and Austin FC goalie Brad Stuver.

Gael Garcia Bernal to Portray Salvador Dali in New Podcast “Playboy Interview”

Posted on June 25, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Gael Garcia Bernal’s art is about to imitate art life…

The 42-year-old Mexican actor and producer is joining a slew of stars who’ll portray famous figures across history in a new podcast series from Playboy and Audio Up.

The two companies are launching Playboy Interview, an audio series that features teleplay-style re-enactments of the most iconic Playboy interview conversations.

In addition to Garcia Bernal, other stars set to take part in the program are Rosanna Arquette, Taye Diggs, Maya Hawke, Shea Whigham, Michael Shannon, Kevin Corrigan and Gina Gershon.

The series, which is set to debut in September, will see Arquette voice feminist pioneer Betty Friedan, Diggs will portray Muhammad Ali, Garcia Bernal plays Salvador Dali, Shannon is Tennessee Williams, Shea Whigham is John Wayne, Maya Hawke is Helen Gurley Brown, Kevin Corrigan is Frank Sinatra and Gina Gershon is Oriana Fallaci.

The first two episodes will feature “conversations” with Friedan and Ali.

The series is based on the classic Playboy Interview, which started in 1962 with Alex Haley’s conversation with Miles Davis and has run for more than 500 interviews including the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Fidel Castro, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Steve Jobs, Whoopi Goldberg and Maya Angelou.

“Working on the Playboy Interview was an incredible experience,” said Maya Hawke, who also portrays Ayn Rand in the second season, which is likely to launch in early 2022. “I got the rare opportunity to portray two of history’s most influential, controversial, and complicated women. I was allowed to inhabit the characters rather than being asked to impersonate them, which left me thinking about their respective perspectives for weeks after. And I felt inspired. Even if I don’t agree with them about everything, or anything – their strength, persistence, and insistence on being exactly who they are has reminded me to be exactly who I am.”

“Playboy is culturally iconic for many reasons, but their in-depth interviews and journalistic integrity is a large part of what has made the publication so cool,” said Gina Gershon. “I was so happy to work on a project that celebrates Playboy’s historic interviews with so many incredible individuals. I’ve always been fascinated by Oriana Fallaci, and was so excited to be able to take part in bringing her interviews to life. It was so much fun to explore this remarkable woman and share her point of view with the world.”

“We couldn’t be more excited to unveil the first season of the Playboy Interview podcast,” added Rachel Webber, Chief Brand Officer at PLBY Group and producer of the series. “Audio is the perfect format for these intimate and revealing conversations. Each brilliant performance by this incredible cast gives you chills, making you feel like you’re right there in the room as history unfolds.”

“This podcast is the culmination of a personal journey for me having spent seven years as Playboy’s editorial director,” added Audio Up’s Chief Creative Officer Jimmy Jellinek, who adapted, produced and directed all 10 episodes of season one. “Thanks to the explosion of audio as a medium, today we’re able to reintroduce these incredible conversations to a new generation. I have long thought the Playboy Interview would lend itself perfectly to formats off the page. In my wildest dreams I didn’t anticipate that something this magical would be the result.”

“We’ve paired the greatest conversations of the 20th century with the greatest actors of the 21st. Audio Up is in the business of pushing the boundaries of audio entertainment and this project exemplifies that mission in every way,” said Audio Up founder and Chief Executive Officer Jared Gutstadt.

Canelo Alvarez Defeats Billy Joe Saunders to Claim WBO Super-Middleweight Belt

Posted on May 9, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Canelo Alvarez has expanded his belt collection….

The 30-year-old Mexican boxer added the WBO super-middleweight belt to his growing collection, defeating Billy Joe Saunders on Saturday night in front of a record-breaking 73,126 crowd inside Texas’ AT&T Stadium.

The attendance figure set an all-time record for an indoor US boxing event — breaking the previous record set in 1978 when Muhammad Ali beat Leon Spinks in front of 63,352 at the Louisiana Superdome — and marked the largest crowd at a sporting event since the pandemic began.

Alvarez dominated the opening seven rounds, leading on all three judges’ scorecards, before a brutal uppercut in the eighth caused a deep cut under Saunders’ right eye and left the Briton unable to come out for the ninth round.

Saunders was reportedly taken from the venue by ambulance straight after the fight to have the extent of his injuries assessed.

“As I said beforehand, the fight was going to develop by the seventh or eighth round,” Alvarez told broadcaster DAZN. “That’s what happened, but it wasn’t as difficult as I expected. That’s where I take note that my preparation is good and I improve day by day.

“The fight I was winning round by round. I told you, my fight would develop after six or seven rounds, but I started getting adjusted quickly. I knew that this round (the eighth) was going to be the final round. I knew it. I think I broke his cheek and I knew he wasn’t going to come out. That was it.”

Alvarez, widely considered one of the best boxers in the world, said “the plan” now was to unify the super-middleweight division by claiming the IBF belt held by American Caleb Plant.

“I’m coming. I’m coming, my friend,” he said.

The hugely popular fighter delighted what appeared to be a largely Mexican crowd, raising his arms at one point during the fight to encourage the already raucous arena to make more noise.

“It’s difficult to explain,” Alvarez said of their support. “I don’t have the words. All the emotions I feel, they give me the motivation to continue on.”

Roberto Durán to Be Featured in Showtime’s Docuseries “The Kings”

Posted on April 12, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Roberto Durán is returning to the limelight…

The 69-year-old Panamanian former professional boxer, known as “Manos de Piedra,” will be among four high-impact boxers featured in the Showtime docuseries The Kings.

In addition to Durán, who held world championships in four weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight, the docuseries will also feature Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns.

The first of the show’s four episodes will premiere on Sunday, June 6, at 8:00 pm ET/PT on linear and streaming, the ViacomCBS premium network announced.

Nicknamed the Four Kings during their remarkable, overlapping careers, the quartet contested nine championship fights among them from 1980 to 1989. Their distinct styles and vivid personalities helped spark a renaissance in the sport of boxing, which had endured a downturn after Muhammad Ali’s storybook run concluded.

The backdrop of the series is the 1980s, a go-go decade marked by pronounced socioeconomic and political upheaval in the U.S. as President Ronald Reagan left his mark.

Hagler died last month at age 66.

“These four men defined an era in boxing,” said Stephen Espinoza, president of Showtime Sports, in a press release. “Their individual stories, forever linked by the spectacular battles they waged, reflect a tumultuous period in American culture and history. The Kings takes the viewer beyond the glorious action of some of history’s most memorable prizefights to illuminate each man’s dramatic journey and the societal context that made them stars of sports and popular culture.”

Leonard’s first fight with Durán came in 1980 and kicked off years of tightly contested battles in the ring and surging global popularity outside of it. The four boxers, joined in the latter years of the 1980s by the up-and-coming Mike Tyson, became some of the biggest names in sports and popular culture.

The Boxing Writers Association of America voted each of the four Fighter of the Year every year but one from 1979 to 1985. The Ring magazine named three of their title bouts Fight of the Year and picked Round 1 of Hagler-Hearns as Round of the Year.

The show is premiering during a year that marks the 45th anniversary of Leonard’s Olympic gold medal win and the 40th anniversary of a high point for the Four Kings: Leonard vs. Hearns.

The Kings is produced by Box To Box Film in association with Ingenious Media.

Carmelo Anthony Executive-Producing “Blood Brothers” Limited Series About Muhammad Ali & Malcom X’s Friendship

Posted on November 22, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Carmelo Anthony continues to expand his empire beyond basketball…

A+E Studios has put in development Blood Brothers (working title), an eight-episode limited series based on the 2016 non-fiction book Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X by historians Johnny Smith and Randy Roberts.

The project hails from the 36-year-old Puerto Rican NBA star, writer-producer Charles Murray and Narrative Film Group.

Written by Murray, Blood Brothers is described as a unique examination of the friendship between two of our generation’s most prominent Black figures: Muhammad Ali, the future heavyweight champion of the world, and Malcolm X, the controversial public voice of the Nation of Islam. Beginning with Ali’s (then known as Cassius Clay) initial meeting and eventual bond with Malcolm X, the series will explore their personal lives and instantaneous friendship, as well as the relationship’s eventual demise due to America’s socio-political tensions and divisiveness within the Nation of Islam.

“A+E Studios is honored to tell this provocative, untold story of the bond between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X,” said Barry Jossen, President and Head of A+E Studios, and Tana Jamieson, EVP, Creative Affairs, A+E Studios in a joint statement. “Under the thoughtful guidance of our dear friend Charles Murray and an extraordinary group of executive producers, the series will add to the legacies of these two icons who left an indelible imprint on America.”

Blood Brothers is an A+E Studios production. Murray serves as executive producer and showrunner through Raising Kane Films, along with Anthony and Asani Swann’s Creative 7.

“At Creative 7, we are passionate about sharing stories of remarkable individuals whose resilience and determination changed the course of history,” said Anthony and Swann, co-founders of Creative 7. “It’s an honor to be working with A+E Studios to tell the story of the complex bond between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, two civil rights leaders who had a lasting impact both in and beyond Black America. We believe this story has the power to resonate with audiences on a global scale and are excited to bring this unique and inspiring tale to life.”

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