Starting in the afternoon from Nottingham, England will be the Matchroom/DAZN card with the rematch for the WBA featherweight title between Mauricio Lara and Leigh Wood as the main event.
Lara took away Wood's title in February via seventh-round knockout in a thrilling affair that the official judges had Wood leading when he was knocked down and his trainer, Ben Davison waved a towel of surrender.
Wood activated his rematch clause and the two are back at it three months later.
Wood had success against Lara when he boxed a little ( and I mean a little) and he landed plenty of punches on Lara, who will remind no one of a slick boxer, but Lara is the bigger puncher, and his punches are shorter than the longer and often wider shots of Wood, so unless Wood can tighten some things up, I see another exciting fight with another explosive conclusion.
Late Update: Mauricio Lara missed weight and has been forced to vacate the WBA featherweight title.
The fight will continue, if Wood wins he will be the WBA champion.
If Lara wins, the title will be declared vacant.
Junior welterweight contender Jack Catterall returns to the ring for the first time since his February 2022 controversial defeat to Josh Taylor for what-then were all four titles in the division.
Taylor slowly vacated three of his four titles, keeping the WBO version, with a stated plan to face Catterall in a rematch since so many thought Taylor had lost.
The rematch was postponed several times and finally, the WBO demanded Taylor defend against Teofimo Lopez next month rather than Catterall.
Catterall has now been screwed in losing the decision, by Taylor's injuries that kept him out of the ring waiting for various occasions for Taylor to heal, and now the WBO, who for some reason, didn't think Catterall's effort against Taylor deserved to keep him in the top contender spot.
Catterall battles Darragh Foley, a rugged journeyman, who knocked out Robbie Davies in three rounds for his biggest career victory in his last fight.
I'd think Catterall will be able to outbox Foley pretty easily but if Catterall is a little rusty, Foley could have some success.
Meanwhile, also in the afternoon, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, another featherweight title is up for grabs as Luis Alberto Lopez defends his IBF title against hometown warrior Michael Conlan.
The ESPN+/Top Rank card gives Conlan a second chance at a title, this time one that isn't a minor title, after Conlan's spectacular loss to Leigh Wood when he was knocked cold and outside the ring in what I thought was the fight of the year for 2022 for Wood's minor WBA title.
Had Conlan held on through the final round, he would have gotten the decision and it would have been Conlan that was given the full WBA title as Wood was given the title when Leo Santa Cruz finally relinquished that title after several promises to fight Wood never were fulfilled.
Conlan has won both of his fights since the loss to Wood, decisioning Miguel Marriaga, and knocking out Karim Guelfi in the first round.
Lopez won the IBF title last December in winning a razor-close majority decision over Josh Warrington in Warrington's hometown of Leeds, England, and is on a ten-fight winning streak since his last loss, a decision loss to contender Ruben Villa in 2019.
This one is a tough one to call as Conlan is the better boxer and he's fighting at home with Lopez the better puncher and won't be intimidated by the Belfast crowd after beating Josh Warrington on the road.
It should come down to how well Conlan absorbs Lopez's punches as he was wobbled in the final round against the aging Miguel Marriaga.
From Bournemouth, England on FiteTv, two long-time pals battle for a world title as Lawrence Okolie defends his WBO cruiserweight belt against countryman Chris Billam-Smith.
Okolie returns for his fourth title defense just two months after a boring unanimous decision win over David Light, while Billam-Smith has won eight straight since his only loss, a split decision loss to another British top contender in Richard Riakporhe.
Billiam-Smith always fights hard and gives his all and if he can make Okolie fight him this could be a very interesting fight.
However, Okolie is a much more skilled fighter and the most likely outcome is another less than-exciting Okolie decision win.
The evening slate comes from Golden Boy/DAZN as welterweight contender Alexis Rocha stays bust for an eventual WBO title shot (or more likely the vacant title) against veteran Anthony Young.
Rocha continues to stay reasonably busy against B-level opponents and racking up wins against such foes has been enough to move him into the back end of the top ten or so in the division.
The 25-2 Young has fought only three times against lesser opposition since his standout win, a third-round KO of former WBO junior middleweight champion Sadam Ali in 2019.
At 35, this might be Young's last chance at moving forward in his career.
TRS: Lara KO 8
Vince Samano: Lara KO 9
TRS: Lopez KO 11
V.S.: Lopez KO 8
TRS: Okolie Unanimous Decision
V.S: Billam-Smith Unanimous Decision
V.S: Young Unanimous Decision
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