Josh Taylor will make his first defense of all four championships against countryman Jack Catterall in Glasgow, Scotland on ESPN+.
Catterall has been the top contender in the WBO for over a year but has taken step-aside money twice to allow title unification fights to happen.
Catterall is a solid boxer and unbeaten but he'll be facing a different warrior in Taylor, who has defeated Regis Prograis and Jose Ramirez in two of his last three fights and can arguably say he has cleaned out the division of top challengers.
Taylor should win but Catterall is not a mandatory contender that is likely to crumble at first touch.
Showtime controls the evening with a three-bout card and the main event that lost luster when WBA junior lightweight champion Roger Gutierrez pulled out after a positive test for Covid-19.
Gutierrez was scheduled to face talented Chris Colbert before his illness in what would have been an excellent fight.
Colbert will be facing unbeaten late replacement Hector Luis Garcia, who did look very good in December against the solid Issac Avelar but Colbert will be a huge leap in competition for Garcia and the speedy Colbert is a heavy favorite to deal Garcia his first loss.
The co-feature is the fight that I am most excited about in a ten-round junior welterweight fight with former WBC champion Viktor Postol battling top prospect Gary Antuanne Russell.
The classy boxing Postol has only lost to the very best of the division (Terence Crawford, Josh Taylor, and Jose Ramirez) and if you aren't an elite performer, you don't defeat Postol to date.
Postol lost a very close majority decision to then-WBC champion Jose Ramirez in his last fight and should be a severe test for Russell, who has knocked out all fourteen of his opponents but in what seems to be a Russell family tradition, has fought just once in two years.
The X factor here could be Postol, who lives in Ukraine and his family remains in the Russian-attacked country.
Will the veteran be understandably distracted by the events in his homeland and concerned for the safety of his family or could it motivate him into an effort of a lifetime?
The opener has been the forgotten man of the junior bantamweight division as IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas defends his title against Fernando Martinez.
Ancajas was scheduled for a unification match against WBO champion Kazuto Ioka in December before the Covid-related shutdown in Japan forced the fight to be delayed.
Martinez is an undefeated former Olympian from Argentina but is making his first attempt against world-class opposition.
On a Sunday card from London, one of the two best cruiserweights in the world will make his second title defense as WBO champion Lawrence Okolie faces veteran Michal Cieslak on DAZN.
Okolie is likely only to be challenged by IBF champion Mairis Breidis as the best in a division that has been sapped of talent of late but Cieslak's only loss was a decision loss for the then-vacant WBC title against Ilunga Makubu in 2020, so he is far from a soft touch.
Boxing Challenge
V.S: Taylor KO 9
V.S.: Russell Unanimous Decision
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