Boxing Challenge

  The boxing weekend will feature two cards with four fights including one world title bout from a site that isn't accustomed to hosting championship events.

Warren Ohio is the place (I almost decided to attend this card but the cheapest seats at 100 dollars made me think twice as winter weather could cancel a trip on the day of travel) as the WBC cruiserweight title is on the line between champion Ilunga Makabu and mandatory challenger Thabiso Mchunu.

Now even though this is a world title fight, Makubu is from the Congo, Mchunu is a native of South Africa, and neither is known by many of even the hardest core fans, so it's not unreasonable to wonder why this fight is in Warren, Ohio.

Well, the answer is Don King, the one-time titan of promoters, who at ninety is more sideshow than promoter currently and Makabu is promoted by King so that's what you get.

The fight is of interest to even casual fans though as Canelo Alvarez has asked the WBC to fight the winner and with the huge paycheck that whichever of these two could receive for a fight against Alvarez on the line, so people that may not have heard of either boxer may be interested.

The two fought in 2015 in South Africa with Makubu scoring an eleventh-round knockout.

The other fight on the card pits minor champion Trevor Bryan in an "ahem" title defense against unknown Jonathan Guidry.

Bryan, who has fought once in the last three and a half years, will eventually stumble his way into a bigger fight by holding his "title" has two names on his record, knockouts over faded former cruiserweight contender and in his last fight, one year ago today, Bryan stopped washed-up former WBC heavyweight Bermane Stiverne in eleven entertaining but sloppy rounds.

Bryan has been forced to a certain degree to be inactive as the WBA consistently ordered a fight against Mahmoud Charr that never seemed to happen and once again, Charr fell out of this one against Bryan.

Enter late replacement, Louisiana's Jonathan Guidry, who has no relation to former Yankees pitcher Ron "Louisiana Lightning" Guidry, who has never fought past eight rounds and if you think Bryan's resume is underwhelming, you may want to look at Guidry's.

Just an affront to title fights everywhere...

On ESPN, two interesting fights at junior lightweight top at the card from Tulsa Oklahoma.

Robson Conceicao returns from his narrow points loss to WBC champion Oscar Valdez and faces undefeated Xavier Martinez in a WBC eliminator.

Conceicao lost by one point on my card to Valdez and the former Olympic gold medalist proved that he is a solid contender in defeat and is in line for a future title shot.

Martinez previously fought for Floyd Mayweather's Money Team but defected to Top Rank with Mayweather's blessing after two entertaining decision wins over former contenders Claudio Marrero and Juan Carlos Burgos.

Marrero dropped Martinez twice in the eighth round of their fight to cause concerns about the quality of the chin on Martinez.

I'm looking forward to this one and think it could be an exciting pairing.

The co-feature will pit Rene Tellez Giron against Giovanni Cabrera.

Giron was originally scheduled to face Luis Melendez but when Giron weighed in a shocking five pounds over the weight, Melendez was pulled from the bout (Kudos to Top Rank for paying Melendez his purse anyway) and replaced by the undefeated Cabrera.

Giron shocked the boxing world on a PBC card when he knocked out undefeated Olympian Karlos Balderas (Balderas is now with Top Rank)  and has notched two knockout wins since.

Cabrera has not fought since October 2019 and was scheduled originally in a four-rounder on the card.

Giron is a tough opponent to face off a layoff of that length.

Boxing Challenge

WBC Cruiserweight Title. 12 Rds

Ilunga Makabu vs Thabiso Mchunu.

R.L: Makabu KO 8

TRS; Makabu KO 6
V.S: Makabu KO 9

Heavyweights 12 Rds

Trevor Bryan vs Jonathan Guidry

R.L: Bryan KO 5
TRS: Bryan KO 3

V.S: Bryan KO 6

Junior Lightweights. 10 Rds

Robson Conceicao vs Xavier Martinez

R.L: Martinez Unanimous Decision

TRS: Conceicao Unanimous Decision

V.S:  Conceicao Unanimous Decision

Junior Lightweights. 8 Rds

Rene Tellez Giron vs Giovanni Cabrera

R.L: Tellez Unanimous Decision

TRS: Tellez KO 7

V.S: Tellez Unanimous Decision