Boxing Fulcrum

Gary Russel Jr vs Tugstsogt Nyambayar and the weeks boxing

Theres a lot of boxing on this week so be prepared for a long read, I also might miss out a few boxing matches due to the sheer volume of cards this week.

The first card is happening Thursday night in California where Oscar Negrete fights Alberto Ezequiel Melian over 10 rounds for the vacant WBA International Bantam weight title. This is a good fight and credit needs to be given to both guys for taking it off the back of hard fights. Negrete recently had a hard fought trilogy with Joshua Franco where he went 0-1-2 though all three fights could have gone either way. Melian meanwhile has had one comeback fight after losing in an upset to Leonardo Baez. While Melian is a 2016 Olympian I actually think Negrete will take this due to his pro experience combined with Melian not adapting that well to the pros so far.

On the under card Ricardo Sandoval fights Raymond Tabugon in a test to see whether he can mix it at a higher level. Tabugon has fought lots of top names but lost to all of them so at this point he’s used as a measuring stick to compare prospects with the guys at the top. I think Sandoval wins by TKO here.

The fight i’m most excited about on the under card is Leonardo Baez vs Moises Flores. Baez is being backed by Golden Boy promotions after he beat Melian and they are getting him some good names and tests now. Flores is a former interim champ and has only lost to very good names so if Baez can beat him it will be a good statement. I’m also rooting for him because he really has come out of no where to potentially getting a title shot if he puts a few more wins together. The rest of the under card is mostly prospects against people they should beat and looking through theres none i’m keeping my eye on.

The next interesting card comes out of Germany headlined by Firat Arslan vs Kevin Lerena for Lerena’s IBO world title. This isn’t actually a world title fight as very few people recognise the IBO as a world title but it is still a good fight. Lerena is on a good run of form and if he wins this fight I’d hope he tries to fight for one of the other belts as he’s running out of decent opponents that will fight for the IBO belt. Lerena is one of the better champions the IBO has and I think he could win an actual world title if he went for it. Arslan is 49 years old and has been competing for over two decades. He’s a former WBA champ but that was in 2007 and hes very obviously washed up at this point. I think Lerena wins by TKO here but i’m impressed by Arslan’s will to compete at such an old age for boxing. The other notable fight on this card is the debut of Viktor Vykhryst who is a decorated amateur, he will be competing at heavyweight.

Moving over to Costa Rica Yokasta Valle will defend her IBF minimum world title vs Carleans Rivas. This is Valle’s first defense and one I think she’ll win in style in front of her home fans. She won her IBF title on the road in Spain and now herself gets to defend in home territory. If Valle can win this fight then I think over the next few years she’ll likely end up becoming the number one in the division and hopefully unifying all the titles.

A quick mention goes to Saul Farah a heavyweight whos competing in his 100th contest on Saturday. I think its likely hes fought more than 100 times but they haven’t been recorded on boxrec however it’s nice to see the veteran officially get to 100 bouts.

In Panama Luis Concepcion fights for an interim WBA title vs Rober Barrera. I don’t have much to say about this fight apart from the WBA are a massive joke at this point. They have so many champions in each division it weakens the meaning of the belt. I’m not sure who wins this and beyond the stupid belt its for its actually a good match up.

Daniel Matellon also fights for a interim WBA title but this time its in the Light Fly division. He fights Erik Omar Lopez Garcia a good fighter from Mexico who’s 14-4-1 record hides how good he is. I think Garcia will win this title on the road because hes a bit more tested against better competition.

Laura Ledezma fights Mayerlin Rivas for the vacant WBA Super Bantamweight title. Rivas is looking to become a two weight champion here but may find her inactivity leads to her losing out. I think Rivas will deserve to win even with the lay off but may struggle to get the decision in Panama when her opponent is a local.

On another card from Panama Wilfredo Mendez defends his WBO World minimum weight title vs Gabriel Mendoza. This is Mendez’s second defense after he barely scraped by in his first defense by split decision after a cut opened up. Mendoza has challenged for a title before but sholudn’t cause too many problems as he’s now 40 and has also been quite inactive recently. Whoever wins this fight should go to unify the division as it seems like we almost never see it unified.

A card out of Ukraine which we don’t usually see is next. Artem Dalakian defends his WBA World fly weight title vs Josber Perez. Dalakian has been a champion for almost two years now but hasn’t defended his belt vs any good opposition or unified. Perez should not be fighting for a world title considering he just lost and his comeback fight was vs a 0-1 fighter. What makes it even more insane is that the person who beat him (Rober Barrera) is fighting for an interim title on the same day as he gets too fight for the real thing. I’m really hoping after this Dalakian starts taking on better opposition as his title reign so far hasn’t been great to say the least.

One of the biggest cards of the weekend sees the return of Kell Brook after more than a year out of the ring. He returns to face Mark DeLuca in what should be a relatively straight forward tune up fight for him before he takes on the big players at 154. This fight could get interesting however as Kell Brook hasn’t fought for a year and is clearly on the slide it just depends on how much he has left on whether he wins or not. I think even if hes firing at 70 to 80 percent he should beat Deluca whos struggled domestically in the US before. My prediction is a Brook stoppage in the 9th round.

This card also sees the return of Kid Galahad after his somewhat controversial loss to Josh Warrington last year. He faces Claudio Marrero in an IBF eliminator to face Warrington again. Both of these fighters like to spoil in fights so this could be a horrible fight to watch, I also thought the Galahad vs Warrington fight was a terrible fight due to Galahads holding and I really don’t want too see it again. I hope Marrero wins so we at least get a new fight instead of having to watch that horrible fight again. Terri Harper also gets her chance to become a world champion when she faces Eva Wahlstrom in a WBC and IBO unification. I rate Harper quite highly and I think she’ll win this fight as Wahlstrom is 39 and I also thought she was lucky to get a draw in her last title fight.

My upset pick of the week is Jesus Amparan to beat Martin Joseph Ward by TKO. Amparan can really punch and Ward has been ko’d before so its certainly possible. Ward also hasn’t fought anyone coming to win in over a year and may not be entirely switched on to fight someone coming to win in what is a bit of a random 10 rounder. It doesn’t seem like Ward can land himself a big fight which is a shame as hes a decent fighter. After he lost to Tennyson in 2018 it really has derailed his career after such a promising start and unfortunately I think due to poor management hes going to lose again here which may be the final nail in the coffin.

The last and biggest card of the week comes from the USA headlined by Gary Russell Jr defending his WBC Feather weight title vs Tugstsogt Nyambayar. Russell is a real talent in the sport but has been very inactive fighting just once a year since 2015 when he won his title. It’s sad to see a talent waste so many years of his career but hopefully hes motivated to fight more now that hes financially secure after his other defenses. Nyambayar is a technically sound boxer from Mongolia who can really punch. The disadvantages he has is that Russell is much faster than him but apart from that he is on a near level playing field. I think Russell may be a bit rusty due to his inactivity between fights and it’ll catch up to him in this one vs a good opponent. Nyambayar has been inactive himself but is younger and has been less active in his career overall. I predict Nyambayar to KO Russell in round 9-12 to usher in a new WBC feather weight champ after 5 years of stagnation.

The final bout thats interesting this week is Guillermo Rigondeaux vs Liborio Solis for one of the WBA’s many bantamweight titles. Rigondeaux is a great fighter but is coming towards the end of his career now and at 39 he doesn’t have the legs to outbox people from the outside anymore. I think he’ll lose within the next year but it won’t be to Solis who isn’t exactly a spring chicken himself at 37. My prediction is that Rigondeaux gets a late stoppage after having a phone booth type of war for 8 or 9 rounds.

I hope you enjoy the boxing this weekend and that all the boxers get home safely from their bouts. I think my most anticipated fight of the weekend is Russell vs Nyambayar otherwise known as king Tug. As always I’ll be back next Thursday for another preview of the weeks boxing and whats worth watching.

Who should Canelo fight next and who deserves it?

Every time Canelo finishes fighting one guy the biggest topic in boxing is who does he fight next? As it gets closer to his usual fight dates the media start to produce stories about whos the front runner for his next opponent whether it’s true or not. Over the last month we’ve gone from the Canelo vs Billy Joe Saunders fight is signed to him fighting Ryota Murata in Japan. Neither of these were true and we now know that the Murata fight isn’t happening as his promoter Bob Arum said that negotiations have broke down. Now the hunt for his next opponent starts again and so I thought I’d go through some options he has and whether any fighter deserves the Canelo pay day at this point.

Canelo Alvarez beats Sergey kovalev by 11th round KO

For me this is the biggest problem instead of fighters in the middleweight and Super Middleweight division fighting each other they are content to play it safe and try and win the Canelo lottery when most don’t deserve it at this point. There are in my opinion three names that Canelo could pick next and all of those come in the super middleweight division. He’s not going to go all the way down to middleweight and hes vacated his title at Light heavy so its likely hes done with that division too. Out of the Super middleweights he’ll only fight the champions which leaves four names Caleb Plant, David Benavidez, Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith. It won’t be Benavidez because hes got a mandatory coming up and isn’t with Dazn so it would be surprising if they paid step aside money to make that fight especially considering Benavidez isn’t a big name.

The first of the three names I can see Canelo fighting next is Caleb Plant. Plant holds the IBF title and is making his second defense on the 15th February. If he comes through that fight he would have enough time to prepare for a Canelo fight and PBC would 100% be willing to send him to Dazn to get the biggest fight of his career. This wouldn’t be a bad fight to watch but also likely won’t happen because theres easier fights to be made with in house fighters on Dazn and Plant isn’t well known. He also doesn’t deserve the fight considering he’s had two title fights and his first defence was vs an embarassing opponent. Mike Lee wasn’t a top contender and had done nothing to deserve a chance at a title the only thing he brought to the table was an undefeated record of 21-0. Another thing going against Plant is that Uzcategui the man he beat to become champion lost in his second comeback fight vs an opponent he was expected to beat. This makes Caleb Plant’s win over him not seem as significant because people can say well Uzcategui wasn’t that good anyway and its justified. As of right now he doesn’t really deserve a massive Canelo pay day but if he got it I wouldn’t complain as to be fair to him he hasn’t been begging for it like others.

Caleb Plant beats Mike Lee by 3rd round TKO

The second of the three is Billy Joe Saunders who currently holds the WBO title after he won it vs Shefat Isufi. I don’t think this fight would be especially great to watch but it’s likely you’ll see a Canelo KO at least. Billy Joe Saunders isn’t that well known and Canelo would be banking on UK fans watching to make it a big event. This fight would be easy to make as Saunders has been begging for a big fight for years and has recently signed with Eddie Hearn who works for Dazn. Saunders is 29-0 with six title fights under his belt but has never unified or fought the number one guy in his division. Out of his six title fights only two of them are significant while the rest were tune ups until the big fights. The first was when he won the WBO middleweight title vs Andy Lee in a close fight and the second was when he schooled David Lemieux in Canada. His other title fights including when he won the vacant WBO title at super middleweight don’t mean all that much especially what he’s achieved at super middleweight. Not only was the title vacant but he then defended it against a middleweight no one had heard of on the KSI vs Logan Paul card to add to the embarrassment. On the positive side I think hes fairly beaten every opponent hes faced and 6 world title fights is more than most champions achieve, hes got good but overrated boxing skills that could cause Canelo problems and it would also sell very well PPV wise in the UK.

I think Saunders has paid his dues in boxing to get a big name now and while I wish he had unified a division or had a few better names on his resume before he fought Canelo I’m not mad if he gets the opportunity. In Comparison to the other two names he has achieved more as he’s a two weight world champ and hasn’t had any truly controversial decisions.

Billy Joe Saunders beats Marcelo Coceres by 11th round TKO

The final potential opponent for Canelo is Callum Smith the WBA world champion. This fight might be the most entertaining of the whole lot and is certainly easy to make as like Saunders Callum Smith is with Eddie Hearn. Smith is a big 168 pounder and is likely only staying at the weight in the hopes of a Canelo fight. Even Saunders is more well known than Smith as Smith doesn’t have the body of work Saunders has and also doesn’t have the out going personality that Saunders has. The one thing Smith does say is that he wants the Canelo fight again and again which is understandable as its the biggest fight available to him. The problem I have with this fight is that Callum Smith has had 3 title fights and most people believe that he lost his 3rd one. As well as robbing John Ryder of his chance of being champion he also fought a washed up middleweight in Hassan N’dam in his first defence. That leaves him with one good win at Super middleweight and that was vs George Groves who then retired after the fight. Entertainment wise I wouldn’t mind this fight but it would make me annoyed if Smith got this fight before he gave Ryder his deserved rematch.

Callum Smith beats John Ryder by Unanimous decision

I personally think it’s going to be Billy Joe Saunders for Canelo next because hes looked slow at super middleweight and isn’t coming off a controversial decision like Smith is plus hes a two weight champion which Plant isn’t. I don’t mind too much who Canelo fights as its always a big event because of him anyway but it would entertain me to see him pick John Ryder just to spite the people that mention his name so much

Shakur Stevenson and Michael Conlan fights announced

Both Stevenson and Conlan had headline fights annouced today to take place at the Madison Garden Theater. Stevenson is making the first defense of his title vs Miguel Marriaga who is most well known for losing to Lomachenko and Oscar Valdez. He’s not a bad name on Stevenson’s resume though Marriaga really has made a career out of being an opponent for whoever Top Rank is pushing next. There’s no problem with Marriaga doing that it just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth when this fight was announced after a unification with Josh Warrington was all but confirmed late last year.

Michael Conlan’s opponent is actually worse than Stevenson’s and to be honest is a bit embarrassing for Top Rank. Belmar Preciado is a career super bantamweight that achieved nothing significant at that weight and also hasn’t done much in his two fights at featherweight with saying all that he’s now headlining vs Michael Conlan because boxing makes no sense. Conlan isn’t a bad fighter so I don’t know why he isn’t being given opponents that can test him even a little bit though I suspect its because Bob Arum has a plan in place. Long term I think his plan is to get him to win Shakur’s WBO belt after he vacates and moves up to super featherweight because Conlan is ranked very high in the WBO. I think he’s going to get him the vacant belt because otherwise he would have put them in a fight already as both are signed to him so it wouldn’t be hard to make. Short term? wheel him out on every significant day for Irish people vs sub par opponents and rely on the Irish being loyal enough to buy tickets to support their own. Both the Irish fans that are being exploited and also Michael Conlan deserve better than what they are being served up right now and if Conlan doesn’t get a title shot by the end of 2020 he should perhaps start asking some questions.

If the promotional companies were honest and told us we were going get a showcase fight early in the year for their guys I wouldn’t mind it so much but its because they promise these big fights and rarely deliver. I hope that Conlan’s next opponent is better and that Shakur gets that unification with Warrington.

Examples of why boxers should take opportunities as a B side

This won’t be an extremely long piece as its just something I wanted to get down in writing after I saw a fighter in the schedule on boxrec. The fighter I saw was Leonardo Baez a relatively unknown Mexican fighter that you’d expect to be a B side for a rising prospect. That’s actually what he was in his first big opportunity, he was brought in to fight Alberto Melian a 2016 Olympian from Argentina where no one expected him to win however he shocked the odds and now Golden Boy are backing him and giving him opportunities. If he’d played it safe and not accepted being the B side he would still be fighting unknown people off television in Mexico but because he took his opportunity and won hes now got the backing of one of the biggest promotional companies in the world. On Thursday he fights Moises Flores a former title challenger and interim world champ as the A side. This will be the biggest name on his resume yet and hes only got this opportunity because he grasped his last one with both hands. A shout out has to be given to Golden Boy who took him on after beating their prospect instead of ignoring him or trying to feed him to another prospect. If Baez keeps winning he can fight for a world title and at only 24 hes got a bright future ahead of him.

Leonardo Baez lands a right hand on Alberto Melian

Another easier example of taking an opportunity as a B side is Andy Ruiz Jr when he fought Anthony Joshua. Ruiz wasn’t going anywhere in his career and wasn’t likely to get a title shot for years but he took his opportunity on four weeks notice and achieved his dream of becoming world champ. It also earned him another massive fight with Joshua and set him up for life, not just the money but his name now has value and buzz around it when before there was none. Many other fighters didn’t take the opportunity that Ruiz took and I imagine that they now regret it.

Ruiz knocks Joshua down en route to a 7th round TKO

The third and final example of a fighter taking a B side opportunity in recent memory is Scott Fitzgerald who took on domestic rival Anthony Fowler as the B side. Fowler was being pushed very hard as he was an Olympian while Fitzgerald didn’t get any press or even much backing. When the opportunity came up to fight Fowler in Fowlers home city he took it with both hands and pulled off the shock upset with a split decision victory. He became a big name in the UK among boxing fans and got an opportunity to fight for the British title which he went and won as well. There’s now talk of him rematching Fowler in a big event in his home town where he’ll be the A side. From taking that B side opportunity hes got lots of new opportunity’s and built himself a fan base and will have a much better career for it.

Fitzgerald knocks Fowler down in the 10th round

These are just a few recent examples of why taking a B side opportunity can be a good thing and can change a fighters life as it has for these three. Before they won as the B side all of their careers looked stale and that they’d have to put together a lot of wins to get good opportunity’s. After those B side wins however they have seen their careers grow with good fights put in front of them and for a lot of fighters this is the only way they can make it to the top.

Leandro Jose Blanc : Prospect profile

Leandro Jose Blanc is a 2016 Olympian and 2-0 pro from Argentina. He competes in the Light Fly division though has made minimum weight before. He turned pro in september of 2019 and looks like he’ll be an active pro as he fights for the second time in three months this weekend. This is a new format I want to do where I find a prospect thats relatively unknown and give people some information on them and what they can expect in the future. He’s 26 so his promoters don’t need to move him quickly but it looks like they will anyway because in his third fight he will fight for the south american Light Fly title.

Blanc has good movement but doesn’t waste energy jumping about like you see a lot of the Kazak and Uzbekistan prospects do. He uses that good movement to stay in range and cut off the ring as his opponents are often taller than him. One of his strengths is counter punching which he used effectively in his pro debut and also his amateur bouts. Hes decent at cutting off the ring but has struggled to do so in the past vs for example Temirtas Zhussupov in the amateurs. He has a jab but he doesn’t use it that often instead mostly lunging in with well timed hooks that to be fair to him normally connect.

In his professional debut he fought Miguel Maciel another fighter making his debut. Maciel came to win and was pushing Blanc back in the first round while landing some decent shots. After the first Blanc started to get into the fight by countering Maciel as he came forward and this was where the amateur pedigree started to show. In the third Blanc continued improving and it looked like Maciel was starting to fade after his non stop punching in the first two rounds. In the fourth and final round they exchanged hooks and Blanc’s hook got there first and down went Maciel, he got up but the fight was waved off after Blanc put some pressure on which lead to Maciel holding and the ref deciding he’d seen enough. You could say it was an early stoppage but it was clear that Maciel was done and the ref really saved him from another 40 to 50 seconds of punishment. This was one of the hardest pro debuts for an Olympian that I’ve seen so far as it was an all out war between two people that came to win. We see too many good prospects bundled in cotton wool for their first few fights and they don’t learn anything unlike what Blanc would have learnt on his pro debut. Blanc showed a lot of heart and grit in that fight as it didn’t start the way he would have wanted too but he dug deep and got the job done which I was impressed with considering it was his debut. He needs to work on his defense which i’m sure he will in time and whether his defense improves or not I think he’ll be in a lot of exciting fights for the fans in the future.

Blanc connect with the hook that put Maciel down

Yordenis Ugas and why he deserves another title shot

Ugas is a 33 year old Cuban welterweight who after some early set backs had a great run to get a title shot vs then champion Shawn Porter. When that moment came he took it and gave it his all and after 12 rounds it looked like his hard work would pay off and he’d become a champion. He’d done his job so surely the judges would do theirs? It wasn’t to be the case as two judges gave the fight to Shawn Porter who looked like he knew he was lucky to win that fight. Porter would go on to fight Errol Spence in a big unification which headlined a ppv all the while Ugas had to watch knowing it should have been him in that ring. Not only were the judges against him but the ref was as well, in the 12th round Ugas knocked Porter down and cemented that he won the fight but unfortunately for him the ref ruled it a slip and robbed him of having the winning punch.

Ugas is a great guy and is willing to take on all challengers as shown by when he took on the undefeated Omar Figueroa Jr in his next fight after losing to Porter. He didn’t ask for a tune up or take 6 months off he went right backing to grinding because he has a champions mentality. If you look through the division there isn’t anyone else who deserves another shot as much as him, Danny Garcia will get a title shot because hes a big name and does big numbers but his two wins since losing to Shawn Porter aren’t as good as what Ugas has done. Not only does Ugas have the better comeback win but he also did it much quicker while Danny Garcia has sat on the sidelines waiting for a title shot to be given to him instead of earning it.

I think Ugas will likely be avoided because hes to risky to fight for how little reward he brings compared to other easier fights. I’m going to be trying to get as much buzz around Ugas’s name as possible so that the TV networks and champions decide hes worth fighting , I hope you all will too as the guy deserves all the support he can get. If you want to watch him tonight you can catch him on Fox sports 1 in the US while in the UK you’ll have to hope someone streams it from ringside.

Jade Bornea, One to watch out for in 2020

Jade Bornea is a 24 year old super flyweight from the Philipines who later tonight will be making his US debut on UFC fight pass. He currently holds a record of 14-0 with 10 knockouts with a lot of those KO’s coming from body shots.

He has a good boxing brain and throws in beautiful combinations to the body and head with a focus on viscous body shots. What I like about his combinations is that he uses so many different ones and is a fluid puncher unlike many boxers who look like they’ve taken up some sort of extreme dance class and its their first session when asked to throw more than two punches at a time. He’s a good fighter to watch because he doesn’t try very hard to avoid shots he blocks them with his gloves or takes the sting off them by moving slightly but hes not going to throw a jab out for 12 rounds on his bike. This means we are going to see him in some exciting wars in the future as long as he gets a promoter behind him because he hasn’t been that active in the last year which is a real shame as he seems like a talent.

As for how far he can go? i’m not sure yet though I would bet good money that he at least challenges for a title within the next two to three years if not wins one. Apart from the eye test you can also look at his amateur record and see that he beat Murodjon Akhmadaliev who is fighting for two world titles later tonight. This doesn’t necessarily means he’ll have success at the top level but its certainly a good sign. Whether he makes it all the way to the top or not i’ll be watching his fights from now on because he seems like he has a really entertaining fan friendly style

Demetrius Andrade vs Luke Keeler and the weeks boxing

Boxing starts early this week as the biggest card is on a Thursday instead of the usual Friday or Saturday. This Thursday card is headlined by Demetrius Andrade vs Luke Keeler for Andrade’s WBO middleweight title. This should be one of the least competitive match ups on the card with Andrade being a deserved heavy favorite. Luke Keeler isn’t world level but because hes with MTK and Andrade needs someone to fight hes been given this opportunity. I was looking through the Middleweight rankings and Luke Keeler was actually one of the only ones you could say deserves a title shot. It seems a lot of the other good contenders have had their shots and haven’t come back with a win yet which means guys like Luke keeler can fight for titles. Andrade should be able to box to an comfortable decision victory or late stoppage if he wants to take some risks.

On the under card IBF Super Featherweight champion Tevin Farmer takes on Joseph Diaz in a fight thats been talked about for a long time. The two have been going back and forth over social media for the best part of a year now and its good that they’ve finally agreed to fight each other because as much as its a good fight its not a unification or anything that special. Diaz will be Farmer’s biggest test as a champion and is a live underdog in this fight. Before Diaz’s last fight I thought this was a 50/50 but he didn’t look great vs an average opponent which has made me lean towards Farmer in this fight. Diaz could very easily win this if he fights as well as he did vs Gary Russell Jr and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he stopped Farmer who is known to tire late in fights.

The fight that i’m most excited about on this card is Daniel Roman vs Murodjon Akhmadaliev which is for Roman’s unified super bantamweight titles. Roman is always in exciting fights as well as being one of the most improved fighters in the sport after taking a few early losses to bounce back and become a unified champ. Akhmadaliev is one of the new wave of talented Uzbekistan amateurs to turn pro and has looked very good so far. Not only does he create good angles but he seems to hit very hard which is often something top amateurs struggle with when they go pro because of how different the two codes are. I think this fight will be extremely competitive but Roman should be able to use his experience at the top level to outpoint Akhmadaliev over 12 rounds.

Anthony Sims Jr a rising super middleweight prospect faces the toughest test of his career when he fights Roamer Alexis Angulo a former world title challenger. I think if Sims can stick to his boxing here he can win this though it will be a lot closer than people think because Sims Jr isn’t as good as his 20-0 record suggests and still needs to develop some more as a fighter before getting a title shot. Elsewhere on the under card Otha Jones III, Movladdin Biyarslanov, Alexis Espino, Austin Williams and Avril Mathie are all in prospect building fights while Amanda Serrano takes a tune up fight before she potentially fights Katie Taylor later in the year. There is also a fight between two youtubers on the card which could be entertaining because of the spectacle it brings.

On Friday the 31st Ilunga Makabu and Michal Cieslak will fight for the vacant WBC Cruiserweight title though where exactly the fight will take place in the Congo is still to be confirmed. I’ve explained my thoughts on the match up in a separate piece however to sum it up I think Makabu stops Cieslak and that the set up around the fight has been awful with the public workouts taking place in a random street with no ring.

Also on Friday Ruben Villa headlines a show in the USA vs Alexei Collado for the WBO International Featherweight title. Villa was an excellent amateur and is one of the best prospects the USA has but isn’t talked about nearly as much as other fighters like Shakur Stevenson. I think Villa should be able to beat Collado by decision and advance towards a world title bout by the end of 2020. I think Shakur Stevenson will defend his belt once then unify with Josh Warrington and win or lose move up a division which could leave the WBO featherweight belt vacant which I would expect Villa to fight for. For Collado to win this fight he has to catch Villa with something heavy which I don’t think he’ll be able to do as long as Villa stays switched on.

Also on the card Taras Shelestyuk fights Luis Alberto Veron over 10 rounds in what will hopefully be an active year for the 34 year old former amateur stand out. After competing in the 2012 Olympics you would have expected him to be picked up by a big promotional company and fast tracked towards a world title but its been the opposite for him so far. He’s been very inactive in recent years and unless he fights three or four times this year I can’t see him getting close to winning a title due to his advancing age and that Welterweight is one of the deepest divisions in boxing currently.

On Saturday Pedro Taduran defends his IBF world minimum weight title for the first time against Daniel Valladares. I watched Taduran win the title and he looked impressive there however he has had to travel to Mexico for his first defense so unless he gets a knockout its likely that Valladares will win the decision. I think Taduran can win by KO here however this title has switched hands so many times recently I wouldn’t be surprised if it did again.

The last card of the weekend features Yordenis Ugas in a tune up fight vs Mike Dallas Jr before hopefully getting another big fight vs one of the other top welterweights. Dallas has lost almost every time he’s stepped up a level and I can’t see it being too different here as Ugas is one of the best welterweights on the planet right now and Dallas just isn’t on that level. On the under card Michel Rivera a prospect from the Dominican Republic takes on his hardest test to date vs Fidel Maldonado Jr over 10 rounds. Obviously Rivera hasn’t been tested as much as Maldonado but I do think he should come out with the win here as Maldonado hasn’t fought anybody competitive since 2017 and in that fight he was knocked out.

As always I hope you enjoy the fights this week and that all the fighters get through their fights safely with no injuries. I’ll be back previewing next weeks boxing next Thursday which will be the day my preview comes out each week from now on.

Michal Cieslak vs Ilunga Makabu

This is a fight that is really going under the radar this weekend even though its one of four world title fights happening this week. Makabu and Cieslak will be competing for the vacant WBC World Cruiser weight title in Makabu’s native Democratic Republic Of The Congo. This will be Makabu’s second attempt to win the WBC strap after he was beaten by Tony Bellew in his first try at world honors. Cieslak is a 19-0 pro who has had all his fights in Poland so far with none of them giving him a stern test.

Makabu is one of the biggest punchers in the sport with 24 of his 26 victories coming by way of stoppage and most of those within the first 8 rounds. He’s not just a big puncher as he has decent boxing skills though he can be quite vulnerable as because he goes for the KO he gives other fighters opportunities to hit him when he opens up. He’s extremely tough and is willing to fight on the road as proven by his last two fights being in Russia where he was brought in to lose but sprung the upset twice much to the dismay of the Russian fans. This time however he has the home advantage and its certainly going to help him as reports have come out that Cieslak’s manager was robbed in his hotel room and there still isn’t an official venue for the fight which is mind boggling considering its only two days away.

Cieslak has good fundamentals and can punch a little but also has some weaknesses which I think will let him down in this fight. One of the biggest ones is that he throws a lazy jab and leaves it in the air after throwing it instead of pulling it back quickly so that he can’t be countered. He is also very open for the overhand right as he consistently leaves his left hand low for seemingly no reason other than a bad habit which he hasn’t rid himself of yet. If he sticks behind a good jab and keeps his concentration up for 12 rounds he could beat Makabu by decision though i’d be surprised if they gave him the decision in the Congo. I think its more likely that Makabu wears Cieslak down and stops him in the 8th or 9th after the Pole gets caught with a big shot due to his hands dipping of exhaustion. If he could pull the upset off he would become Polands biggest boxing star thats active today and also one of the best away wins for a boxer in years considering how hostile the environment seems to be for him and his team.

Custio Clayton, Canada’s new welterweight hope

Custio Clayton a resident of Montreal is currently 17-0 with 11 knockouts and is looking to have a career defining 2020. Clayton was a 2012 Olympian and an accomplished amateur before turning over to the pros in 2014. Since then hes fought solely in Canada under the radar of most fans. That could change tonight as he fights live on UFC fight pass in what will be one of his biggest tests to date vs Diego Ramirez. Clayton has stepped up his competition in recent years and with that his rankings with the alphabet organisations has risen. If he can beat Ramirez and then win one or two more fights this year its very likely that he’ll either be ordered into a final eliminator or called as a mandatory for a world title. It’s actually a very good time to be a undefeated welterweight right now because you always have the chance that Crawford will pick you as a voluntary defense because he’s running out of opponents to fight.

One of the criticisms I have of Clayton is that hes not that active and has turned into a two fight a year fighter while not being at world level which isn’t great. I don’t know whether this is due to promotional issues or whether he has a set plan for his career and isn’t in a rush but either way I’d like him to be more active and get his name out there. If possible getting a few recognizable names on his resume would help fans get to know him and call for those big fights vs Spence and Crawford.

His fighting style is calculated where he doesn’t waste much energy and makes every punch he throws count. His best asset in my opinion is his jab which he throws consistently to the body and the head. Showing his amateur pedigree he also brings that jab right back to himself not leaving him open for a counter. He has reasonable power but it hasn’t been as noticeable as hes stepped up in competition. Hes defensively sound but I don’t see anything special about him that could lead to him beating the top guys at 147. He would still be a worthy challenger and could prove me wrong like many other fighters have however he needs to do so soon as he’s now on the wrong side of 30 and is still a year away from a title shot. He’s ranked within the top 6 with the IBF and the WBO and so all he needs to do now is keep winning and he will be called up as either a mandatory or as part of a final eliminator.

If you want to watch Clayton before he fights for a title then you can catch him on UFC fight pass later tonight. I wish him all the best and hope that he gets too world level because he would be an interesting new figure amongst the elite welterweights.