Boxing watchlist: August’s 5 can’t-miss fights, from Teofimo Lopez vs. Rolly Romero to Moses Itauma’s return

If you’re packing up for a sunny summer holiday, don’t forget to include your boxing schedule for August.

Despite being a traditionally quiet month, there is more than enough at the top end of the sport to get excited about, including an undisputed title fight and the hottest young heavyweight in the world.

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Let’s run down the top five fights coming up this month.

5. Troy Williamson vs. Callum Simpson 2, 12 rounds, super middleweight, Aug. 8

Some rematches you can see coming a mile off. This is one of them.

Back in December, Troy Williamson (22-4-1, 16 KOs) turned Leeds upside down, flooring Callum Simpson (18-1, 13 KOs) four times in the 10th round to snatch a fight he was supposedly losing on the cards. He walked out of the First Direct Arena with the British, Commonwealth and European straps in the process. 

Simpson had a rematch clause in his back pocket the whole time, and now he’s cashed it in.

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The pair are back inside the same Leeds Arena for a tasty rematch, and this one also carries some significance beyond Yorkshire bragging rights — it’s the first show of BOXXER’s new deal with DAZN, after years of Sky Sports exclusivity.

Simpson insists he’s “fitter, sharper and more determined.” Williamson isn’t exactly hiding either, warning his old rival that “there’s better to come.” 

Someone’s about to be proven very wrong — and given how their first meeting ended, I wouldn’t bet against more late-fight fireworks.

4. Chantelle Cameron vs. Mikaela Mayer, 10 rounds for WBA/WBC/WBO super welterweight title, Aug. 29

Every so often women’s boxing throws up a genuine pound-for-pound collision, and this is one of those.

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Chantelle Cameron (22-1, 8 KOs) picked up the WBO’s 154-pound strap in April with a decision over Michaela Kotaskova, after her hopes of a Katie Taylor trilogy quietly ran out of road.

Across the ring is Mikaela Mayer (22-2, 5 KOs), who already holds the WBC and WBA versions and turned down the chance to chase undisputed status at welterweight against Lauren Price to instead go back up and get this one instead.

Both women are ranked inside Uncrowned’s pound-for-pound top 10, and both have built careers on refusing to duck anybody. 

Mayer has promised she “won’t let it get close” after a couple of contentious decisions on UK soil in the past. Cameron, fighting in front of her own fans in Birmingham, will have her own say on that.

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3. Cherneka Johnson vs. Dina Thorslund, 10 rounds for women’s undisputed bantamweight championship, Aug. 8

This one has layers to it.

Dina Thorslund (24-0, 9 KOs) was supposed to be unifying the bantamweight division last year, before she withdrew from a fight with Shurretta Metcalf and relinquished her belts after announcing she was pregnant. 

Cherneka Johnson (19-2, 8 KOs) stepped into that vacancy instead, stopped Metcalf, and ended up walking away as the first undisputed champion in Australian boxing history, male or female. She’s made one defense since, outpointing Amanda Galle.

Thorslund, sadly after suffering a miscarriage, returned in January with a shutout win over Almudena Alvarez at featherweight, and now drops back down to reclaim what she believes was taken from her by circumstance rather than a beating.

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“That experience has given me an even stronger hunger to come back and reclaim everything that was once mine,” Thorslund said, and there’s real weight behind those words. 

Johnson, for her part, wants Thorslund’s pound-for-pound ranking to go with the titles she’s already carrying.

Orlando should be a fitting stage for this genuine 50/50.

2. Moses Itauma vs. Filip Hrgovic, 12 rounds, heavyweight, Aug. 29

Still just 21 years old, Itauma (14-0, 12 KOs) has spent the past couple of years blowing through whatever’s been put in front of him, most recently stopping Jermaine Franklin Jr. in five rounds back in March to make it 10 knockouts in a row for the heavyweight phenom.

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Now, it’s time for another rung up the ladder.

The queue of heavyweights willing to actually get in there with Itauma has been embarrassingly short, so credit to promoter Frank Warren for finally landing Filip Hrgovic (20-1, 15 KOs). The Croatian is no gimme. His only loss came in a bloody battle with Daniel Dubois in 2024, and he’s rebuilt nicely since with wins over Joe Joyce, David Adeleye and Dave Allen. At age 34, Hrgovic knows this is the fight that either fast-tracks him back into world title contention or confirms Itauma as the real deal.

Warren has called it “a guaranteed thriller,” and we agree.  

Either we get a genuinely tight heavyweight scrap, or Itauma passes another test with flying colors.

1. Rolando “Rolly” Romero vs. Teofimo Lopez Jr., 12 rounds for WBA welterweight title, Aug. 22

Say what you like about how we got here — and plenty of people have — but this is a genuinely fascinating collision of styles and personalities.

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“Rolly” Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) hasn’t been seen since he shocked Ryan Garcia in Times Square last May, a career-best win that turned him into the WBA’s full welterweight champion once Jaron “Boots” Ennis moved on. 

Names like Devin Haney, Manny Pacquiao and Conor Benn were all floated for his first defense, but none of them stuck, and he’s instead landed on Teofimo Lopez (22-2, 13 KOs), who’s fresh off a one-sided beating at the hands of Shakur Stevenson in January.

Maybe Lopez shouldn’t be walking straight into a title shot in a third division off the back of that kind of loss. But Romero doesn’t seem to care.

“I don’t box for money,” he insisted this month, which is either admirable or completely delusional depending on your mood.

Whatever you make of the matchmaking, Romero’s chaos and Lopez’s chip on his shoulder should make for a box-office scrap.