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Cris Esqueda / Matchroom Boxing└Bruce Carrington celebrates his victory over Carlos Castro to win the vacant WBC featherweight title on January 31, 2026.

A new format, fresh faces, a bright start.

Boxing can use all three, and as TNT Sports enters the game one month from today with its new showcase series, “The Fight,” new featherweight champion Bruce Carrington and 22-year-old Abdullah Mason are charged with ushering in the sport’s next generation.

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“I feel like a lot of new faces are coming in and getting our shine,” Carrington, nicknamed “Shu-Shu,” told BoxingScene of the July 4 Cleveland show. “It’s about time to introduce this new era of boxing.

“This is the perfect time with Canelo [Alvarez] being on the tail end of his career, with ‘Bud’ [Terence Crawford] retired. The other guys in that class are almost retired as well. There’s a lot of exciting, new faces in the sport – Abdullah Mason, myself and a few other guys I could name. It’s dope.”

The Top Rank fighters can be seen simultaneously on the promoter’s streaming partner DAZN, but the more mainstream attention on the holiday of the nation’s 250th birthday has the potential to be a key play in the sport’s reach to rebuild its once formidable audience.

“These are the things I fight for – the big, major moments to show you guys there’s a superstar in the works. If I continue putting my face out there, I can become a household name in the country,” Carrington said. “People are watching me. I’ve got to deliver. And I’m going to do just that.”

After capturing the WBC featherweight belt January 31 at Madison Square Garden by knocking out Phoenix’s Carlos Castro in the ninth round, Carrington, 17-0 (10 KOs). returns to defend his belt in the July 4 co-main event versus Mexico’s Rene Palacios, 19-0-1 (10 KOs).

Promoted by ProBoxTV, Palacios, 25, is ranked No. 10 by the WBC.

Carrington, who served as an expert analyst on the undercards of Top Rank’s final ESPN broadcasts before that alliance ended last year, was asked to break down his own bout.

“I can’t say too much. It will be a dominant victory, though,” he said. “I’m just going to go in there and show there’s levels to this. [Palacios] is a great fighter in his own rank, but I just know I have the tools to make it an easy night.”

In the main event, Cleveland’s Mason, 20-0 (17 KOs), makes his first WBO title defense against Wales’ Joe Cordina, 19-1 (9KOs).

Add Mason’s undeniable talent with Carrington’s skillset and gift for gab, and the next generation is ready for its close-up.

“I feel most fighters are so focused on the fighting end of the sport, but I’m one of those guys who’s not afraid to show my personality,” Carrington, 29, said. “I like to differentiate myself from those other guys in the ring, wanting people to think, ‘He’s a good fighter, but he’s also cool, funny, humble.’ Those are the ingredients to become a superstar.”

Doing the live commentary helped the cause.

“At my third fight, I was just star-struck, stuttering over my words, but that work and those experiences help me to be even better,” Carrington said. “I realized I didn’t properly do film study of fighters until I started doing the [ESPN] commentary. To know a bit about the fighters, you have to do the due diligence to look at the fights, to see their strengths and weaknesses.

“I realized I’m nowhere near where I need to be [in doing that for his own fights]. It helped raise my game up a lot.”

Carrington stands as a champion among three other gifted featherweights wearing belts, including Top Rank’s unbeaten 6-feet-1 WBO champion Rafael Espinoza, ProBoxTV’s gutty Angelo Leo and the veteran Brandon  Figueroa of Premier Boxing Champions, who recently ventured to the U.K. and came home with former IBF champion Nick Ball’s belt.

“Well, I would say I see myself as No. 1,” Carrington said. “I see myself as having the talent to beat all these guys, and that’s why I’m shooting for undisputed.

“I know people will say Figueroa has a deeper resume, more accomplishments, that Espinoza is this tall guy. But I feel if you really have an eye for this sport, you’ll understand I’m undeniably the best in the group, and you’ll know why my ambitions are what they are.”

Carrington was not bashful in saying he’s also willing to meet undisputed junior-featherweight champion Naoya Inoue of Japan should he ultimately decide to further his No. 1 pound-for-pound exploits by chasing a fifth division title.

“If he moves up to 126, I can definitely see it happening,” Carrington said. “He’s had a great career, has broken records, he’s an exceptional fighter. But my job and path is to be No. 1 in the featherweight division, whether Naoya Inoue is there or not.”

Wearing his own new belt breeds a type of newfound confidence.

“The best thing about my growth is leaning on God, challenging myself to do a lot of things I’m not comfortable with,” he said. “When I can find myself being more comfortable in things I’m not comfortable doing, that’s where you find growth.

“Re-introducing the ‘Shu-Shu show’ to the world is must-see TV. I can’t wait for them all to see my skills on July 4.”

The holiday that reminds of the opportunity available in the country reminded Carrington why his home New York bureau of Brooklyn was so meaningful to his development, considering it also raised Mike Tyson and recent 140lbs world champions Teofimo Lopez and Richardson Hitchins.

“Coming from Brooklyn is different from every other area of New York. It’s known as the grimy, gritty area that can become a kill-or-be-killed, eat-or-be-eaten type environment,” Carrington said.

“It helps you build up thick skin. On top of that, there’s that whole New York, Empire State of mind. Getting up and going. That whole hustle and bustle thing. It helps a lot with survival – if you can survive New York, you can survive anywhere. Add that all with growing up in Brooklyn, and we carry a lot of confidence into any room.”

It’s an example to all on July 4: If Carrington can achieve his dreams, anyone in the country can.

The Brooklyn part of Carrington – knowing the toil involved, and seeing so many others fall by the wayside – couldn’t fully endorse that statement

“I’m not saying that,” he said.