Boxing

Tyron Woodley says his true love is boxing, and his dream match-up is Canelo Alvarez. Oh, and T-Wood says if he landed a power shot, it'd be lights out for the Mexican star.

The UFC superstar joined Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs weeknights on FS1) ... when Tyron revealed that boxing -- and not mixed martial arts -- was his first love.

"All I wanted to do is box when I came up. I just started MMA at 23, so I felt I was a little old to start boxing at that age. But, since I was a kid, that's the only sport I've ever wanted to do. So, most of my training is boxing training."

And, just 'cause he hasn't officially stepped into the ring, doesn't mean Woodley couldn't knock high-level boxers on their asses.

"I still can box right now."

We asked Tyron for his dream match-up ... and it ain't Logan Paul.

"I want Canelo. I wanted Canelo. I want the number 1 guy."

Every UFC superstar has an origin story -- a fight experience that convinced them they could brawl for a living ... and 5 of the toughest guys in the sport told their stories to TMZ Sports.

Justin Gaethje, Kamaru Usman, Henry Cejudo, Kelvin Gastelum and Ottman Azaitar joined the TMZ Sports crew for a 30-minute, no-holds-barred convo about everything from upcoming fights to real-life fight stories and how UFC fighters REALLY feel about Conor McGregor.

Gaethje walked us through how he's been trying to draw out Conor into a fight -- but the Irishman seems to be ducking him. He also wants a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Kamaru explained why his beef with Colby Covington is 100% real ... and why he wants to "separate him from consciousness" when they fight at UFC 245 on December 14.

Henry told us why he believes he's the greatest combat sports athlete of all time ... better than Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee and more!!!

Kelvin called out Israel Adesanya for a rematch ... and revealed for the first time that he was sick and way less than 100% when they fought the first time at UFC 236 in April.

Another boxing superfight is on the horizon ... because Terence Crawford is calling out Errol Spence, telling TMZ Sports the two sides need to cut the crap and make a deal already!!!

After Spence beat Shawn Porter on Sept. 28, boxing fans have been hoping and praying Spence and Crawford can get in the ring for a showdown at 147 pounds.

Well, we spoke with Bud who tells us he's ALL THE WAY DOWN -- sending this message to the undefeated Spence:

"Take off them panties and pull your pants up, and let's sign the contract!!!"

Crawford says he's been trying to get the Spence fight for a while but feels like Errol's camp is always full of excuses. Terence says the real reason is Errol knows he'll lose.

"I honestly believe when it comes to him ... deep down in his heart, he knows what he's up against when he goes up against me."

And, get this, Crawford -- the reigning WBO welterweight champ -- says he's not convinced Spence deserved to get the split decision victory over Porter either.

In fact, Crawford thinks Porter should have WON that fight!!!

"It was a close fight. Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't say it was a big-time robbery. But, it was a close fight and if I had to give anybody the victory, I think Shawn deserved it."

Justin Gaethje is sick and tired of Conor McGregor ... telling TMZ Sports he's been trying to lock down a fight for months, but the Irishman just won't come to the negotiating table.

Gaethje says he's tried every trick in the book to draw him out for the past 7 months ... but it seems Conor has more interest in tweeting than fighting these days.

"He keeps tweeting he’s gonna fight. On planet earth, there's 2 people that will possibly fight him -- me or Dustin Poirier ... He either needs to go away or fight, and it’s me or Dustin."

In fact, Justin says there was a point where he honestly thought Conor had retired from MMA because the guy refuses to have serious negotiations about taking meaningful fights.

Gaethje says he's ready to fight RIGHT NOW -- but Conor won't respond to his texts, tweets and phone calls.

"I wrote him a message like f**king 7 months ago just trying to be his friend. I’ve tried every route. I’m trying reverse psychology. I’m trying to be his friend. I’m trying every f**king route that there is to draw this man out. And I can't draw him out. And he’s calling out Frankie Edgar. So, it’s a slap in the face to me, to all the lightweights, and to really the standard that we f**king do here."

YouTube superstars KSI and Logan Paul showed off their maturity and high respect for each other at their boxing rematch news conference in the UK on Monday.

Juuuust kidding ... there were tiny penis jokes and jabs about dead pet dogs.

The rivals met up in London on Monday to promote their upcoming rematch at Staples Center in L.A. in November ... and shocker, it basically turned into a roast.

KSI was quick to bring out the props -- with a 4-legged friend that looked just like Logan's late dog, Kong, who was tragically eaten by coyotes earlier this year.

Logan was anticipating the move though ... bringing out doggie treats to counter-burn KSI's burn.

"I'mma yoss you, guy," Logan said. "I'mma light your feet on fire, guy. I'mma kiss your mom on the cheek, my guy."

"I'm gonna win and I'm gonna make you a meme and you gon' be my bitch, bro," Logan added.

KSI didn't take it ... firing back at Paul with his own verbal punches. "I'm doing this for the UK, yo. I'mma go into your hometown and f**kin' punish you in front of everyone."

The angry bagel guy is now facing a big lawsuit after bailing on his "celebrity" boxing match with Dustin Diamond at the last minute.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Chris Morgan is being sued by fight promoter Damon Feldman for $10,000. Damon claims Chris' change of heart cost him thousands of dollars in losses.

In the civil suit, the fight promoter claims Morgan signed a contract for a celebrity boxing match and pocketed appearance fees before pulling out of the fight.

You'll recall ... Chris surprised everyone hours before his Sept. 28 tangle with Screech, when he went on social media and said, "I fooled you all! I ain't coming to the fight."

Oscar De La Hoya is calling BS on an L.A. radio star who claims the boxing legend treated him like crap during his run with Golden Boy Promotions ... telling TMZ Sports his lawsuit is full of lies.

Oscar just broke his silence on the lawsuit filed by David Gonzalez -- famously known as "Tattoo" -- who accused De La Hoya of doing some seriously messed up stuff in his role as head of the company.

In his suit, Gonzalez -- who was hired to do announcing and PR stuff for Golden Boy -- claims Oscar would force him to run personal, non-work related errands ... sometimes while Oscar was "highly intoxicated and under the influence of various substances."

So, when we saw Oscar at LAX over the weekend, we asked him for his response to the accusations ... and that's when the boxer swung back.

Logan ain't the only Paul Brother KSI is looking to destroy in the ring ... the YouTube superstar-turned-boxer tells TMZ Sports he wants a boxing match with Jake Paul!!

We spoke with KSI about his plans following his rematch with Logan on Nov. 9 at Staples Center ... and he revealed he wants his next victim to be the guy who beat his little brother, Deji, last year.

"I want to fight Jake Paul, man. I really want to break his face," KSI tells us.

Of course, KSI and Logan's first matchup ended in a draw. If there would've been a clear winner, Jake says he would've been next in line to take on KSI.

The crowded heavyweight boxing landscape might have to make some room for an old tenant ... because Wladimir Klitschko might be making a return, according to his trainer.

We talked to Jonathan Banks, the man who trained Klitschko, and is training GGG for his huge fight this weekend against Sergiy Derevyanchenko Saturday night, and Banks hinted to us that Klitschko is contemplating a return. 

"After a conversation with him like a week ago maybe, now I can say anything's possible."

Wlad's last two losses are to Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, and he wasn't dominated in either fight, as a matter of fact, he dropped AJ in their fight, which was an all-time classic.

"I told him these exact words, 'If this is what you make up your mind to do, you have my 100% support.'"

WK is 43, making him much older than the dominant heavyweights today, but still, if you watch Banks talk, it seems he believes Klitschko can do it.

Madness at the weigh-in for the highly anticipated Claressa Shields vs. Ivana Habazin fight -- when Habazin's trainer was hospitalized after being sucker punched at the event.

James Ali Bashir was laying in a pool of his own blood after someone snuck up and socked him in the face HARD at the event in Flint, Michigan.

Emergency personnel raced to the Dort Federal Event Center to treat Bashir -- who was wheeled out of the facility on a stretcher while wearing a neck brace. Video was captured by FOX 66's Jonathan Deutsch.

Habazin was seen crying while standing over Bashir -- clearly very emotional.

Bashir is well known in the boxing world -- he worked under legendary trainer Emanuel Steward for 17 years and worked with guys like Wladimir Klitschko.

Cops have taken the suspect into custody but so far, that person's identity has not been revealed. There are rumblings the attacker was someone connected with Shields but so far, that has NOT been confirmed.

Shields was set to fight Habazin on Saturday night in the main event fight on Showtime. No word on the current status of that fight.

Shields issued a statement on social media ... saying, "I wanna thank everyone who came to weigh-in to support me. Because of the incident that took place, they had to clear the Dort federal for safety issues."

Conor McGregor has been charged with assault stemming from an April attack in an Irish pub ... and he's now fcaing up to 6 months in jail.

TMZ Sports broke the story ... Conor walked into the Marble Arch Pub in Dublin on April 6 and punched a patron in the face after he refused a shot of Conor's Irish whiskey.

Cops investigated the incident and now a spokesperson for the Irish police tells us a court date has been set in the case, October 11th.

Conor is facing one count of assault, according to the Irish news outlet The Independent, which carries a maximum 6-month jail sentence if convicted.

Conor has spoken about the incident publicly ... telling ESPN in August, "I was in the wrong."

McGregor added, "That man deserved to enjoy his time in the pub without having to end the way it did."

During the ESPN interview, Conor said he tried to make amends with the victim but didn't specify how or if he was able to do that.

"But still, that doesn’t even matter. I was in the wrong," McGregor said.

In the meantime, Conor has said he wants to return to the UFC and fight again ... but no match has been set.

We reached out to McGregor's camp for comment. So far, no word back.

Gennady Golovkin says Canelo Alvarez should change his name to Amarillo Alvarez ... because the dude is straight-up SCARED to fight him a 3rd time.

(Note for all of our non-Spanish speaking friends, "amarillo" means yellow.)

GGG is set to fight Sergiy Derevyanchenko on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden ... but a lot of people are wondering why he's not gearing up to complete the trilogy with Canelo instead.

So, we asked Gennady ... and he essentially told us his team tried like hell to come to terms for a 3rd fight, but Canelo was ducking the smoke like he was Floyd Mayweather.

"Last time he said 'No,'" Golovkin tells TMZ Sports ... "Everybody push him, he said 'No.' I can't bring him!"

Oscar De La Hoya is being sued by a famous ex-Golden Boy Promotions employee -- who claims the boxing star would call him at all hours of the night to save him from situations when he was "highly intoxicated."

The man behind the suit is David Gonzalez -- a famous L.A. radio star known as Tattoo.

FYI -- Tattoo first appeared on Power 106 back in 2001 and agreed to have the words, "I slept with Shaq" tattooed on his forehead in exchange for Lakers' playoff tickets. He later got the tattoo removed.

But, Gonzalez says he was contacted by Golden Boy Promotions in 2010 to work for Oscar's company, mainly doing promotional work and announcing at events.

In his lawsuit, Gonzalez says things got weird quick ... and was ordered to "perform a wide range of highly personal, improper, and elicit non-work-related duties."

Justin Trudeau is trying to fight his way out of his blackface scandal ... by stepping into the ring with a black boxing champion.

The embattled Canadian Prime Minister put on a pair of gloves, slipped into some boxing trunks and threw on a sleeveless shirt to spar with boxing champ Ali Nestor Wednesday, ahead of the leader's huge debate in his quest for re-election.

Justin looked like he got in a great workout with Ali, a retired boxer who now runs a non-profit geared toward helping disadvantaged youth. Trudeau got some boxing tips from Ali, but more than anything ... this seems all about optics.

As you know ... Trudeau is embroiled in controversy after photos surfaced showing him in blackface when he was 29 years old.

Trudeau's apologized for what he says was a racist lapse of judgment when he dressed up as Aladdin back in the day, but some Canadians have been calling for him to step down and bow out of the race ... and Al Sharpton told us Justin's mea culpa rings hollow.

Evander Holyfield is just a few weeks shy of his 57th birthday ... but he's still ready to throw down -- and will fly to Japan for a charity exhibition in 2020.

Holyfield hasn't fought professionally since May 2011 (he beat Brian Nielsen) -- but "The Real Deal" says he's kept himself in prime shape ever since and he's ready to get back in the ring.

The details about the exhibition fight are unclear but Holyfield says he still thinks he's got the at signature knockout power.

Don't get it twisted, Holyfield says the goal is to raise money for people in need -- and not to annihilate his opponent -- so the bout will be more of a performance than a no-holds-barred fight.

"The big thing is to give people in Japan the opportunity to see the only 4-time heavyweight champion of the world."

In related Holyfield news, Evander's 21-year-old son Evan "Yung Holy" Holyfield is about to make his pro boxing debut on the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Sergey Kovalev fight.

Evan is taking on Nick Winstead in a 4-round junior middleweight matchup.

"Yung Holy" previously told TMZ Sports he thinks he can be better than his Hall of Fame father.

"My dad always tells me every generation gets better. It's pretty much easy to believe, number one it's in the bible, and the bible don't tell no lies."

Justin Bieber is siding with Logan Paul in his boxing rematch with KSI next month ... and guess who ain't happy about that???

Yup ... KSI tells TMZ Sports he has one message for Bieber -- "F*** you, Justin!!!"

The Biebs made his Team Paul allegiances known in the IG comments when the Nov. 9 fight at Staples Center was announced last month ... telling Logan to "rip his head off."

KSI admits it's pretty cool to know that Bieber knows who he is, but makes it VERY clear he's gonna prove JB backed the wrong boxer.