In that vein,why is Nathan Cleverly,of all people,pictured as the face of the boxing challenge?
Well,it's because of all of these fights,Cleverly's bout vs Badou Jack and tonight's IBF middleweight eliminator between Sergey Derevyanchenko and Tureano Johnson are about the only ones that I don't rate as squash matches,so why not Cleverly,who is facing Jack on the road,on a Floyd Mayweather promoted card and in the town that his opponent operates in?
Good enough for me to pick Cleverly...
I lead the challenge 102-94.
Let's start with tonight's eliminator on FS1 with Sergey Derevyanchenko against Tureano Johnson.
This fight not only will be fun to watch with two straight forward action fighters and could very likely end in a thrilling knockout,but it's important too as the winner will eventually get a shot at the Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez as the IBF number one contender.
This looms as my pick for most exciting fight of the weekend before we even get to the weekend.
And then we move to the exhibition between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.
I wasn't even going to put this in the challenge at all,but I wanted to put the undercard in,so I felt it was fair to add that one as well.
But first,Saturday night on Fox,there is a pre-fight special from the scene of the fight with welterweight Yordanis Ugas,who is on a recent roll towards contention, replacing top five contender Shawn Porter against Thomas Dulorme.
Porter dropped out due to an undisclosed family issue,but I think Ugas-Dulorme is a more competitive fight.
This will be interesting because both fighters have failed in fights that attempted to raise them a level,so someone will be exposed as a gatekeeper in the division..
Now,onto the card itself- You all know about the main event,which I perceive as a joke and I'd almost think was a pro wrestling style work ( If McGregor wins,I'd feel pretty strong in thinking that),if I didn't think Mayweather would lose his mind over losing his legacy and beloved undefeated (in his mind) record.
Other than being possibly being pre-determined and the almost impossible long shot of McGregor landing a miracle shot,I see this ending one of two ways-Mayweather takes no chances,wins every round and a lopsided decision or Mayweather evades McGregor for the first three or four rounds,gasses him out and stops him more from exhaustion than from power.
Either way,save your money folks for September 16th.
The undercard isn't all that wonderful either.
Mayweather protege' Gervonta Davis defends his IBF 130 pound title against undefeated Francisco Fonseca of Costa Rica.
This looks like a good bout based on record,but Fonseca has not beaten one recognizable opponent and this is more along the lines of a squash match.
In the best fight on the card,Nathan Cleverly defends his minor light heavyweight title against former WBC super middleweight champ Badou Jack in what should be interesting.
Both Cleverly (vs Andrezj Fonfara) and Jack (vs James DeGale) have had fight of the year level fights,so I think this one steals the evening for action.
Cleverly generally beats good fighters,but loses to the elite of the division,so this will be a nice gauge of Badou Jack at 175 pounds.
The curtain jerker sees former cruiserweight champ Steve Cunningham against undefeated Andrew Tabiti.
Both have questions with the talented Tabiti stopping his first 12 opponents before facing a little higher competition and being forced to go the distance.
Cunningham looked a little faded in his loss to Krzzyztof Glowacki and has only had a six round decision bout in the 16 months since,so this could be interesting to see if Cunningham has enough to hold off a talented Tabiti....
HBO counter programs the PPV card with a two fight card from Carson,California.
The feature bout has Miguel Cotto returning to the ring in an attempt to win the WBO junior middleweight title vacated by Canelo Alvarez against Japan's Yoshihiro Kamegai.
This too has its dark side as Kamegai has never defeated a top 20 contender at 154 and is thoroughly undeserving of a title fight at this weight.
However,Kamegai always fights hard,likes to come forward and will give Cotto plenty of chances to look good in a fight meant to showcase Cotto for one more big money fight-likely against Alvarez in a rematch next year...
The co-feature shows WBC junior featherweight champ Rey Vargas making his first defense against Ronny Rios.
Vargas went on the road to England to win a decision over Gavin McDonnell in his last fight and Rios has been a fighter that Golden Boy has been building for years,so this should be very competitive and will be a test for both fighters.
Middleweights. 12 rds
Sergey Derevyanchenko vs Tureano Johnson
R.L: Derevyanchenko unanimous decision
TRS: Derevyanchenko KO 6
Junior Middleweights.12 rds
Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor
R.L:Mayweather KO 5
TRS:Mayweather KO 8
IBF Junior Lightweight Title,12 rds
Gervonta Davis vs Francisco Fonseca
R.L:Davis KO 7
TRS:Davis KO 5
Light heavyweights.12 rds
Nathan Cleverly vs Badou Jack
R.L:Jack unanimous decision
TRS;Jack split decision
Cruiserweights.10 rds
Steve Cunningham vs Andrew Tabiti
R.L:Cunningham unanimous decision
TRS;Tabiti unanimous decision
Welterweights.10 rds
Yordanis Ugas vs Thomas Dulorme
R.L:Dulorme unanimous decision
TRS:Ugas unanimous decision
Vacant WBO Junior Middleweight Title.12 rds
Miguel Cotto vs Yoshihiro Kamegai
R.L: Cotto KO 9
TRS:Cotto KO 8
WBC Junior Featherweight Title.12 rds
Rey Vargas vs Ronny Rios
R.L:Vargas KO 10
TRS: Vargas unanimous decision
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