The boxing weekend is set around another PPV as the world super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez defends his four titles against world junior middleweight king Jermell Charlo in the main event.
Alvarez will be making his second appearance of the year after an easy unanimous decision win over John Ryder.
Charlo has been inactive since winning the final piece of his four titles at 154 pounds (WBO) last May with a tenth-round knockout of Brian Castano and Charlo will be stripped of that title as soon as the bell rings to begin his fight with Alvarez, due to his decision to fight Canelo rather than mandatory challenger Tun Tszyu in a bout that Charlo agreed to and then postponed to a hand injury.
One cannot blame Charlo for accepting the much larger purse for this fight than a smaller one against the dangerous Tszyu but it comes at a price- a higher price should Charlo lose as he is expected to do in making a two-division jump.
Charlo has beaten (other than Tszyu) the best of a division that hasn't been packed with elite fighters and he's never faced a fighter of the ability of Alvarez.
Alvarez is in the first of a three-fight deal with PBC and due to a recent WBC ruling, assuming that he wins, his next fight is expected to be against David Benavidez, should Benavidez win his next fight against Demetrius Andrade.
The undercard has two interesting fights, one for a minor title that could eventually become a full version and another that could be very explosive.
Junior middleweights Jesus Ramos and Erickson Lubin hook up in what seems to be an almost guaranteed barnburner.
The undefeated Ramos has beaten some quality fighters on his way to contention including Brian Mendoza, the recent conqueror of Sebastian Fundora, Luke Santamaria (who had beaten Ramos's relative Abel before losing to Jesus) and impressively dismantling Joey Spencer in his last fight and even though Spencer had been overhyped by PBC, Ramos ran through Spencer like a knife through butter.
Lubin has fought many of the best in the division and is a strong puncher who always comes to fight but was knocked out in both of his career losses to Jermall Charlo and Sebastian Fundora.
I'd be surprised if this wasn't an action fight and this one is very possible to end in a knockout.
The other fight is in the welterweight division for a WBC minor title that would see the winner elevated to full champion status when Terence Crawford leaves the division.
Former WBA champion Yordenis Ugas faces one of the most fortunate men in boxing, Mario Barrios for the interim title.
Ugas is most remembered for his win over Manny Pacquiao in 2021 in what proved to be the last fight in the Hall of Famer's career but hasn't fought since his fight in April 2022 when he was stopped in ten rounds by Errol Spence and suffered a broken orbital fracture in the defeat.
Barrios really doesn't deserve the chance to fight for what could be the eventual world title with losses to Gervonta Davis and Keith Thurman before he stopped journeyman Jovanie Santiago in eight rounds in February.
Still, Barrios put up good efforts in both of his losses and should Ugas not be recovered from injury or not back into form, Barrios could pull the upset.
The other fights are outside of the United States with DAZN broadcasting from London, Jai Opetaia's first defense of his IBF cruiserweight title since dethroning Mairis Bredis in a great fight in July 2022.
Opetaia suffered a broken jaw in that fight and has been idle since the title win and his opponent will be unbeaten Briton Jordan Thompson, who is unbeaten but has only one win over European quality opposition, so Thompson is untested against world title competition.
An untelevised fight from Turkey pits heavyweights Otto Wallin and Murat Gassiev in a twelve-round fight that could be very entertaining.
Wallin is remembered for his 2019 fight with Tyson Fury when Wallin badly cut Fury's right eye and lost a fairly close decision in what is Wallin's only loss.
Wallin hasn't been able to capitalize on that performance with only five fights since and only one against a good opponent in defeating Dominic Breazeale.
Gassiev was a destroyer as IBF and WBA cruiserweight champion and made it to the finals of the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament where he lost a decision to Oleksandr Usyk with all four titles in the division at stake.
Gassiev lost the decision to Usyk in July 2018 and announced his intention to move to heavyweight but has fought only four times since, none of those times against good opposition.
The winner of this could be in line for bigger fights such as an eliminator from a sanctioning body, and the loser might be headed for oblivion.
TRS: Ramos KO 10
V.S: Ramos KO 6
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