The challenge will only use the main events for each card as the undercards for each are well, underwhelming.
Matchroom's side of the twinbill will have a competitive and intriguing main event as Leigh Wood will defend his WBA featherweight title against former IBF champion Josh Warrington in Sheffield, England.
Sheffield is a neutral site for the two combatants with Wood from Nottingham and Warrington from Leeds.
Wood regained his WBA title via unanimous decision from Mauricio Lara in May after Lara had taken away the title from Wood with a seventh-round knockout in February, while Warrington last fought last December when he lost his title to Luis Alberto Lopez by a majority verdict.
This seems like a pretty good meshing of styles with Wood a standup boxer-puncher against Warrington's aggressive style that will see him throwing a lot of punches but isn't known for his punching power.
If there is a knockout scored, it is likely to be Wood winning by stoppage, Wood is the bigger puncher and Warrington will have to come to Wood and outwork him if he is to win.
I think this is a close fight and either man can win but I think Wood is closer to his best form and I think that will help him eek out a narrow victory.
In the evening from Las Vegas, two former champions move up to the cruiserweight division as former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez will face former WBO light heavyweight boss Joe Smith in a match that could see the winner fighting for a title in 2024, and the loser with doubts about their future in boxing.
Ramirez was dominated by Dmitry Bivol by unanimous decision last November in suffering his first career setback in a bid for Bivol's WBA light heavyweight belt while Smith hasn't fought since last June when he dropped his WBO title in a unification fight to Artur Beterbiev when Beterbiev knocked Smith down three times in a two-round demolition.
Ramirez has the physical advantages but Smith is the much harder banger and neither has been particularly active of late.
Everything points to Ramirez here except punching power and maybe heart and this might be the last chance for Smith to re-establish himself.
I have a feeling that if (and this is a big if) Smith hasn't lost too much after the Beterviev blowout he is going to empty his tank against Ramirez- the question are these in this one- How much does Smith have remaining and how willing is Ramirez to go all out?
Boxing Challenge
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