Welsh legend Joe Calzaghe has given his doubts about his former rival Bernard Hopkins ever agreeing to face fellow Welshman and current World Boxing Organization (WBO) light-heavyweight champ Nathan Cleverly. Speaking with BBC Radio Wales yesterday, the unbeaten former 168 and 175-pound king said he doesn’t think Hopkins “has any intention of fighting Nathan.”

WBA #10 unbeaten Ryo Akaho (17-0-2, 11 KOs), 114.75, kept his OPBF super-fly belt as he showed a lackluster performance in earlier rounds but picked up his pace thereafter to batter busy-punching but less powerful compatriot Toyoto Shiraishi (21-6-1, 10 KOs), 115, to halt him at 1:24 of the ninth round on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier has died after a brief battle with liver cancer, his family said.

Frazier - also known as Smokin' Joe - had been receiving hospice care in Philadelphia after being diagnosed with cancer several weeks ago.

Patrick Bogere's next fight is now scheduled for the 21st of October at the home of British Boxing The York Hall in London. This will be an 8 round contest promoted by Frank Warrens son Francis. This will be screened on the new boxing channel BOXNATION. Bogere 7-1-0 will be boxing Ireland’s Dean Byrne, who is 14-0. This will be Byrnes first contest in the UK having boxed his career in Australia, United States and Ireland, so there is not really a home corner and is a 50/50 fight. Here at Longshots we are under no illusions that this is Patrick’s most important and toughest fight to date but after the destruction of his last opponent who was a very experienced and capable operator team RED ALERT fears no body and an impressive win here will propel Patrick to another level and could lead to more fights under the Frank Warren promotional banner. Since his last win he has been working with Sweden’s best professional coach Wally Munteanu and had some great results in sparring so this is a fight that Bogere is looking forward to and feels in great shape to put on a good performance and get another win on his record.

Uganda's hotshot Sharif 'The Lion' Bogere resumes his mission of winning a world title in Las Vegas tomorrow morning.

The 22-year-old boxer faces Francisco Contreras at the Dallas Events Centre. Although he will be defending his NABO lightweight title in a 10-round affair, Bogere is approaching it as a tune-up to a world crown. "My ultimate goal is to become a world champion," Bogere told the media early this week.

Luckily for the Ugandan, he will have a huge crowd backing in the town he now calls home. "This is my hometown fight," Bogere said. "I don't have to travel. I'll get to sleep in my own bed. My friends and family will be there watching.

Uganda finally struck gold at the Maputo All Africa Games on Monday night.

Annet Negesa was Uganda’s heroine with a superbly executed run in the women’s 800 meters in Mozambique’s Zimpeto National stadium.

Jacob Araptany and Benjamin Kiplagat got some renewed confidence when they qualified for Thursday’s World Athletics championships 3000m steeplechase finals, by winning their respective hits. Action is taking place in Daegu, Korea.

In April of 2009, the career of Kassim ‘The Dream’ Ouma was an afterthought to many.

Once the proud holder of the IBF junior middleweight championship, the Ugandan had suffered a split-decision loss to Philadelphia's Gabriel Rosado, his fourth defeat in his last five fights at the time. Against Rosado and in his losses prior, Ouma didn’t appear to have the same vigor that once defined his career and few expected him to make his way back to the top.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has declined to rule out the possibility of professional boxers competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

The International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) is introducing a pro tournament in 2013 and claims fighters who appear will be eligible for Rio.

And an IOC spokesman told BBC Sport: "We are currently discussing the project with them [AIBA].

"The IOC encourages the participation of the best athletes at the Olympics."

Patrons who attended Golola Moses’ World Kick-boxing Africa Title fight at Hotel Africana could not hide their excitement after Golola Moses (31) of Uganda knocked out Abdul Qadir Rahim (26) of Southern Sudan in the second round.

The verbally strong, comical, attention seeker and crowd puller Golola walked the talk as he won a world title fight.

Hard Knocks Boxing Promotions are proud to announce that the eagerly-awaited showdown between Choi Tseveenpurev and Jackson Asiku will be broadcast live for fans around the world from London's York Hall on June 18.

Dereck Chisora will defend his British heavyweight crown against Tyson Fury at Wembley Arena on 23 July.

Chisora, twice denied the chance to meet world champion Wladimir Klitschko, has not fought since August, when he beat Sam Sexton to retain his title.

Unbeaten Fury, 23, said: "Chisora's talked the talk and now he needs to walk the walk. I'm good to go.

"Let's see if he is man enough to get in the ring with a dangerous, young, live opponent for the first time."

Chisora, 27, who has won all 14 of his fights, was lined up to face Klitschko on 11 December last year but the Ukrainian pulled out with a torn abdominal muscle.

The fight was rescheduled for 30 April but was again cancelled so Klitschko could face David Haye on 2 July.

Chisora was crowned British heavyweight champion in May last year when he twice floored Danny Williams in the second round at Upton Park.

That's Johnny Nelson's take on James DeGale's feud with George Groves.

The pair have been arch rivals since starting out together as kids at Dale Youth ABC.

They trained and sparred together, although as DeGale says "we were never friends".

First blood went to Groves when he beat DeGale as an amateur on his way to winning the ABAs in 2005.

It's clearly still a sore point with DeGale who has a very different take on that fight and says: "He beat me as an amateur, but he robbed me."

Uganda's Moses Kipsiro spoiled Kenya's party by adding the Commonwealth Games 10,000m gold medal to the 5,000m one he already has.

The Kenyans were widely tipped to win the race but Kipsiro had other ideas, sticking to their heels before an audacious last lap sprint to claim the title in a time of 27:57.39.

AMIR KHAN has been issued with a DEATH threat by big-fight rival Joel Casamayor.

Khan is set to defend his WBA light-welterweight title against the Cuban veteran at London's O2 Arena on July 31.

Casamayor, 38, is a former champ

JOE CALZAGHE insists he has no intention of returning to the ring to face old foe Bernard Hopkins.

Calzaghe called time on his glittering career in February 2009 after victories over Hopkins and Roy Jones Jr stretched his unbeaten record to 46 fights.