ESPN+ will be the host for Daniel Dubois as Dubois faces Ebenezer Tetteh from London.
Other heavyweight prospects such as Efe Ajagba, Joe Joyce, and Filip Hrgovic may be more visible in the United States, but from what I've seen thus far, Daniel Dubois would be my pick for the best bet of the heavyweight prospect pool as most likely to break away from the pack.
Ebenezer Tetteh is undefeated, but has never fought outside of his native Ghana, started his career as a light heavyweight and has fought what would charitably be described as awful competition, so we are unlikely to receive any answers on Dubois from this fight, but it's still worth the time to check his fight out on Friday afternoon.
The welterweight unification between Errol Spence (IBF) and Shawn Porter (WBC) is a rare fight that matches two champions that are well-known and talented, yet the almost-unanimous consensus is
that Spence will win and Porter has very little chance of pulling an upset.
In such unification fights, it's not often that there is such a lopsided favorite, but Spence has looked so impressive in his victories and Porter, who was very fortunate to escape with his title in his last defense (I scored it a draw) against Yordenis Ugas after inexplicably deciding to abandon his usual rough style to box a taller and longer opponent, seems to have one chance against Spence and that chance means walking into the harder puncher's space.
Still, Porter's not going to outbox Spence, so he's going to have to make the fight a physically taxing fight for Spence, rough him up, outwork Spence and hope that frustrates him.
I'm dubious that can succeed for Porter, but it's his only avenue for victory against the younger, better boxer and the harder punching Spence.
Second from the top will see Anthony Dirrell defending his WBC super middleweight belt against former champion David Benavidez, who held the same title, yet was never lost in the ring.
Benavidez was stripped of the championship last fall for failing a test of cocaine and Dirrell won a split decision in controversial manner over ten rounds over Avni Yildirim, when Dirrell used the WBC open scoring system that announces the scores after the fourth and eighth round to lift him to victory in a close victory when he was asked if he could see from a cut that didn't appear to be that bad with less than three full rounds.
The winner of this bout is mandated to defend against Yildirim due to that controversy.
An aside, I've never been a fan of either Dirrell brother (Anthony and former contender Andre), mainly because there always seems to be a way out other than finishing a fight.
I'm not saying that some of those times haven't been legitimate or even that they were planned ways out, but low blows, headbutts, disqualifications, late punches and in one case with Andre- a family member charging the ring to punch a Dirrell opponent!
It's often been "something" with the Dirrell's and no matter the winner, I'd like to see an absence of anything but a clean victor.
Two undefeated and talented junior welterweights face off for a minor title with Mario Barrios going against Batyr Akhmedov.
Barrios has looked very impressive in his first two fights of 2019, mowing through two opponents with a combined three losses in six rounds and has been highly thought of by observers.
Akhmedov is only 6-0 but has been compared to Vasyl Lomachenko in style and the ninth-round stoppage of his best foe, Israel Barroso was an excellent win.
The winner of this fight could be a real force in the 140-pound division.
The card opener is in the welterweight division with what should be an action battle between veterans John Molina and Josesito Lopez.
Lopez fought far better than expected in January in a challenge of then-WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman, badly hurting Thurman in the seventh round to the point of all three judges scoring the round 10-8 without a knockdown.
Molina has lost five of his last eight fights and is 36 years of age, but even now, if matched with an opponent that is on his level and willing to swap punches, Molina can deliver an exciting fight as he did two fights ago against Ivan Redkach in a fight that saw both fighters hit the mat before Molina won the bout with a fourth-round stoppage.
In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 225-195
Unification WBC-IBF Welterweight Titles. 12 Rds
Shawn Porter vs Errol Spence
R.L: Spence KO 9
TRS: Spence Unanimous Decision
WBC Super Middleweight Title. 12 Rds
Anthony Dirrell vs David Benavidez
R.L: Benavidez KO 8
TRS: Benavidez KO 10
Junior Welterweights. 12 Rds
Mario Barrios vs Batyr Akhmedov
R.L: Barrios Unanimous Decision
TRS: Akhmedov Unanimous Decision
Welterweights. 10 Rds
John Molina vs Josesito Lopez
R.L: Molina KO 7
TRS: Lopez Unanimous Decision
Heavyweights 12 Rds
Daniel Dubois vs Ebenezer Tetteh
R.L: DuBois KO 6
TRS: DuBois KO 2
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