DAZN and Golden Boy are in Frisco, Texas with one of the top welterweights in the world as undefeated Vergil Ortiz meets his toughest foe ever in Egidijus Kavaliauskas.
Ortiz knocked out former WBO junior welterweight champion Maurice Hooker in what was his previous toughest opponent in seven rounds, but Kavaliauskas is a legitimate welterweight that unofficially knocked down Terence Crawford before succumbing in nine rounds.
Kavaliauskas is tough and durable, so he should be a stern test for the big banging Texan but should Ortiz take him out there should be little doubt that he would be ready for a championship attempt against Errol Spence, Terence Crawford, or the Yordanis Ugas-Manny Pacquiao victor.
Also on that card is the third match between Roger Gutierrez and Rene Alvarado for the one WBA trinket title that has some legitimacy.
Allow me to explain why.
The WBA's real champion traces back to 2017 and Alberto Machado's upset of then-champion Jezreel Corrales.
Shortly thereafter, the WBA decided to make the winner of Gervonta Davis-Jesus Cuellar (Davis in three) their "super" champion and dropped the actual champion (Machado ) to their regular title.
So, this title from Machado to Andrew Cancio to Rene Alvarado to Roger Gutierrez traces to the true title and gives this minor title the only one with a stated claim.
Gutierrez avenged a seventh-round knockout loss to Alvarado in 2017 with a unanimous decision win in January to win the championship and set their third fight in place.
DAZN also has an afternoon fight from England with former Olympian Joshua Buatasi in a light heavyweight battle against veteran Ricards Bolotniks.
Buatasi has stopped thirteen of his fourteen foes, but Bolotniks is a veteran that is coming off three wins in the Golden Contract tournament in Europe.
Showtime is in Carson California with three interesting bantamweight fights with the main event pitting WBO champion John Riel Casimero defending against former WBA and WBO junior featherweight champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux.
Casimero was scheduled to fight Rigondeaux but then Showtime managed to insert WBC champion Nonito Donaire in place of Rigodeaux for a title unification match,
Donaire then pulled out over VADA testing that Casimero didn't want to do, so Rigondeaux is back in for what is still a solid matchup.
Rigondeaux at 40 years of age doesn't have the magnificent legs of his youth which allowed him to cruise past fighters such as Nonito Donaire easily if not in an exciting manner and he barely squeaked by Liborio Solis by split decision in his last tedious fight.
Casimero is a big puncher and has won his last six fights by knockout so the key may come down to can Rigondeaux move for twelve rounds as he did at his best?
The middle bout may be for a worthless WBA trinket but the fight is legitimately interesting with undefeated Gary Antonio Russell facing former IBF champion Emmanuel Rodriguez.
Rodriguez has lost his last two fights (only two of his career) but his December loss by split decision to Reymart Gaballo was a terrible decision that brought out the Hamburglar as I had Rodiguez winning by eight points!
Russell is coming off a four-round technical decision win over former WBA champion Juan Carlos Payano and will be matched tough against Rodriguez in a very tough fight to call.
The Showtime opener will pair former WBA champion Rau'Shee Warren against Damian Vasquez.
Warren has won his last two since losing to Nordine Oubaali by decision and should be heavily favored against Vazquez.
ESPN and Top Rank have a card with three intriguing fights from Tulsa Oklahoma from Top Rank.
The main event is the third fight between bantamweight Joshua Franco and Andrew Moloney.
Franco upset Moloney via unanimous decision in their first fight, but Moloney seemed to be controlling Franco in the rematch before the fight ended in a no-contest after a supposed headbutt caused the fight to be stopped due to swelling to the eye of Franco.
Replays didn't show a headbutt and despite several replays under Nevada rules, the initial call of a headbutt stood, so the third fight should conclude this matter for good.
Top ten junior welterweight Arnold Barboza stays busy against veteran Antonio Moran.
Barboza enters after his biggest career victory over Alex Saucedo in an exciting fight that ended the career of Saucedo shortly after the battle.
Moran is a solid veteran but has failed in his attempts against world-class fighters losing to Devin Haney and Jose Pedraza, so if Barboza can win impressively he will notch another victory on his resume' as a top ten fighter.
The other fight in the challenge is the other Moloney brother, Jason against Joshua Greer in a crossroads fight that could lead to bigger things for the winner.
Moloney was knocked out in a title attempt against WBA and IBF champion Naoya Inoue in seven rounds last October while Greer seemed to be on his way to a title shot until an upset loss to Mikey Plania and then an eight-round draw against 11-5-1 Edwin Rodriguez.
The loser of this one may be headed to gatekeeper status.
In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 108-94
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