The biggest fights of the weekend is the three bout HBO card in the junior bantamweight division featuring two title fights, a eliminator for the winner of the main event and five of the top six/seven fighters at the weight class.
The main event features a rematch for the WBC title between champion Srisiket Sor Rungvisai against Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez after the pair staged a stirring battle in March that saw Rungvisai win a majority decision that gave Gonzalez his first loss.
Most (including me) had Gonzalez a narrow winner,but in a boxing rarity,the politically unaffiliated fighter won the close call on the cards.
The WBC mandated an immediate rematch and it should be a good one...
The fighter that many rank at the top of the division with Gonzalez's loss is Japanese phenom Naoya Inoue,who will make his American debut with a defense of his WBO title against Antonio Nieves.
Nieves lost his first fight last time out to Vitali Potapov and seems to be being brought in to make sure that Inoue's debut is a dazzling one...
The other bout is a WBC eliminator between former champion Carlos Cuadras,who lost a close decision (and his title) to Gonzalez in 2016 against former WBA/WBO flyweight champ Juan Francisco Estrada,who hasn't lost since giving Gonzalez his most difficult fight before Cuadras and Rungvisai in a light flyweight title fight in 2012.
The winner of this becomes the next fight for the Rungvisai-Gonzalez winner and this too should be a action fight!
The World Boxing Super Series kicks off their Cruiserweight tournament with top seed and WBO champion Oleksander Usyk defending against former champion Marco Huck.
Huck was the long time bully of the division with 13 title defenses,but is just 2-2 in his last four fights and looked deflated in his last fight vs Marius Breidis,
Usyk should be the favorite in this one and Huck might make this a decent fight to watch-If you can see it as there is currently no American television deal for the series,so it'll likely be a YouTube bout for me...
Another title is on the line Friday night on Showtime as the vacant WBC super middleweight title is filled as David Benavidez battles Ronald Gavril.
This is the title vacated by Badou Jack and was supposed to be won by the winner of Callum Smith vs Anthony Dirrell.
However,PBC made a deal with Smith's promoter's to have the fight on a PBC California card and after the fight was agreed to,attempted to switch it to Dirrell's native Flint,Michigan.
A furious Smith decided to go after the bigger money in the World Boxing Super Series and Dirrell decided not to fight Benavidez,so Gavril was brought in to face the very talented Benavidez.
I look for Benavidez to look spectacular in this one as Gavril's only loss was to the only recognizable fighter on his record.
Benavidez is expected to have to face Smith sometime next year after the WBSS ends.
The final challenge fight is in the untelevised fight from Puerto Rico between former flyweight champions McWilliams Arroyo and Hernan "Tyson" Marquez.
Might be a good fight that would move one up to title fight status,but with the expected landfall of Hurricane Irma,I would not be remotely surprised to see this fight canceled.
I lead the challenge over Ramon Malpica 116-102
Vacant WBC Super Middleweight title.12 rds
David Benavidez vs Ronald Gavril
R.L:Benavidez KO 9
TRS:Benavidez KO 5
WBC Junior Bantamweight title.12 rds
Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs Roman Gonzalez
R.L:Rungvisai Split Decision
TRS:Gonzalez Unanimous Decision
WBO Junior Bantamweight title.12 rds
Naoya Inoue vs Antonio Nieves
R.L: Inoue KO 6
TRS; Inoue KO 4
Junior Bantamweights.12 rds
Carlos Cuadras vs Juan Francisco Estrada
R.L: Cuadras Unanimous Decision
TRS:Estrada Unanimous Decision
WBO Cruiserweight title/World Boxing Super Series Quarter Final.12 rds
Oleksander Usyk vs Marco Huck
Both:Usyk Unanimous Decision
Flyweights. 10 rds
McWilliams Arroyo vs Hernan "Tyson" Marquez
Both:Arroyo Unanimous Decision
No comments:
Post a Comment