The main event will see the Golden Boy debut for former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez against former title challenger Sullivan Barrera in a light heavyweight tilt.
Ramirez, who vacated his title at 168 pounds, severely overestimated his value, left promoter Top Rank, and allowed mandatory title shots at light heavyweight against then-WBO champions Elieder Alvarez and Sergey Kovalev to slide by, is saying all the right things after his career decisions backfired, but he'll have to prove it at the higher weight.
Ramirez, at his best, wasn't a big puncher and ground his opponents down in winning usually lopsided decisions or occasionally a late-round stoppage, so it'll be interesting to see how his punches carry against bigger men.
Barrera was at one time, a top ten contender in the division but at 39 seems to be a long way from the fighter that gave Andre Ward a few problems in 2016 and holds a win over WBO champion Joe Smith.
Barrera has lost two of his last three, being stopped by Dmitry Bivol with seconds remaining in a WBA title attempt, and was outhustled in his last outing by Jesse Hart, who Ramirez defeated twice in title defenses.
A Ramirez win could earn him a shot against WBA champion Bivol with both fighters working with DAZN, although with different promoters, while Barrera needs at least a good performance to remain as a top ten-fifteen fighter in the division.
While Ramirez-Barrera is interesting for several reasons, the best fight may be for a WBC minor title as Javier Fortuna faces Joseph Diaz in a lightweight battle.
Fortuna, who has held minor WBA titles at 126 and 130 pounds, has watched title eliminators/minor title chances against Luke Campbell, Jorge Linares (Covid-19) and Ryan Garcia (claim of mental distress) go by the boards in the last year.
Diaz won the IBF title at junior lightweight in an impressive win over Tevin Farmer in 2020 but lost his title on the scales in February before struggling to a majority draw in the actual fight against Shavkat Rakhimov.
This is a fight that could be a good one as neither fighter is a hard puncher, but both have enough power to hurt the other and aren't afraid to throw punches.
The difference could come down to the quality of the chin and Diaz has never stopped or even badly hurt, while Fortuna has been stopped by Jason Sosa and that might be enough to give Diaz the edge in a tough fight to call.
Both fighters are quality top ten fighters that can be world champions against a certain level of competition but seem to be a cut below the top of the division and both have plenty to fight for in this one.
In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 96-87.
Lightweights. 12 Rds
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