Boxing Challenge

The boxing year of 2018 nears its end, but there are two cards this weekend, one on Friday and the other on Saturday with arguably the biggest name ( not best, I said biggest) in the sport.

First, on Friday night, ESPN+ puts forth a very interesting rematch from 2017 as Gilberto Ramirez defends his WBO super middleweight title against Jesse Hart from Corpus Christi, Texas.
Ramirez dropped Hart early in the fight and built a huge lead on the scorecards, but Hart won several of the late rounds and appeared to have hurt Ramirez in the eleventh round.
Ramirez is rated by many (TRS ratings included) as the best 168 pounder in the world, but other than Hart, the remaining top fighters in the division fight for other promoters/networks and Ramirez (Or Hart if he wins) may be a champion without a worthy contender in his future.

Saturday will see the debut of Canelo Alvarez on DAZN as he attempts to win a minor super middleweight title in what he says will be a lone fight at the weight before he drops back to middleweight to defend his WBA and WBC titles next year.
The hand-picked opponent is England's Rocky Fielding, who upset Tyron Zeuge of Germany to win his minor title in his last fight in his only victory against good opposition.
Fielding is a good puncher, but his chin has questions as in his only loss to current WBA champion Callum Smith, he was knocked out in one round.
Canelo isn't a huge hitter at middleweight and will be a very small super middleweight against Fielding, but the class should tell.

The undercard will have some interesting fights with the most exciting being a middleweight match between huge punching David Lemieux against aggressive Tureano Johnson.
This one might feature a possible huge knockout as Johnson took a lot of punishment in a loss to Sergey Dereyvanchenko and if his punch resistance has reduced, this could get ugly.
If Johnson still takes a shot well, this might be a really fun fight to watch.

One of boxing's most active fighters defends his IBF junior lightweight title as Tevin Farmer against journeyman Francisco Fonseca.
Farmer won his title in August and in four months as a champion will be making his second title defense.
The slick boxing Farmer knocked out James Tennyson in his first defense and appears to want to be a more fan-friendly action fighter, while Fonseca was crushed in his only fight against anyone that you've heard- an eighth-round stoppage loss to Gervonta Davis, who now owns the WBA title, but before that encounter Davis held the IBF title now held by Farmer, but was stripped for failing to make weight.
Farmer and Davis constantly snipe at each other at social media over a potential unification fight and Farmer's promoter Eddie Hearn made a big offer for Davis to fight full-time at Matchroom or come for a one fight deal vs Farmer, but Davis declined the offer.

Former WBO junior middleweight champion Sadam Ali drops down to his natural weight of welterweight against former junior welterweight contender Mauricio Herrera and prospect Vergil Ortiz battles Omar Tienda in a junior welterweight bout to round out the challenge fights.

I lead Ramon Malpica in the boxing challenge 206-185

WBO Super Middleweight Title.12 Rds
Gilberto Ramirez vs Jesse Hart
R.L; Ramirez Unanimous Decision
TRS: Hart Split Decision

Super Middleweights. 12 Rds
Canelo Alvarez vs Rocky Fielding
R.L: Alvarez Unanimous Decision
TRS: Alvarez KO 7

Middleweights 12 Rds
David Lemieux vs Tureano Johnson
R.L: Lemieux KO 4
TRS: Lemieux KO 6

IBF Junior Lightweight Title. 12 Rds
Tevin Farmer vs Francisco Fonseca
R.L: Farmer Unanimous Decision
TRS: Farmer KO 10

Welterweights. 10 Rds
Sadam Ali vs Mauricio Herrera
Both: Ali Unanimous Decision

Junior Welterweights. 10 Rds
Vergil Ortiz vs Omar Tienda
R.L: Ortiz KO 9
TRS: Ortiz Unanimous Decision