Boxing Challenge

   As the boxing year closes, there are three world title defenses this weekend but the undercards are all lacking a bit, so the boxing challenge will only showcase those title battles.

The biggest of the weekend is from Matchroom/DAZN PPV from San Francisco as Regis Prograis defends his WBC junior welterweight title against lightweight champion Devin Haney, who kept three of his titles for the time being but vacated his WBC version to take this fight against Prograis.

Prograis has lost only to Josh Taylor and looked great two fights ago in winning his title by buzzing through Jose Zepeda to win the WBC belt vacated by Taylor.

However, Prograis looked disinterested in winning a decision over Danielito Zorrila earlier this year and that dull outing may have helped Prograis in landing a fight against Devin Haney, who may have seen some vulnerabilities in the bigger fighter.

My question about Prograis is this, is he as good as he looked against Zepeda? 

Or did he look better than he is because Zepeda was starting a downhill slide and Prograis was the beneficiary of his decline? 

As for Haney, he's always going to be a fighter who is more effective than exciting and any fighter that consistently leaves things up to the judges will get screwed over sooner or later, although he did receive the benefit of the doubt in his last fight against Vasyl Lomachenko in a fight that I scored even.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the bigger Prograis win by bullying Hnaey but I suspect Haney is the better fighter and finds a way to win in a fight that may not be all that entertaining.

On ESPN from Top Rank, Robeisy Ramirez defends his WBO featherweight title against Rafael Espinoza in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

Ramirez was strong in winning his first title defense in Japan via fifth-round knockout over Satoshi Shimizu in July and is showing the form that won him two Olympic gold medals as an amateur.

The unbeaten Espinoza has knocked out eighteen of his twenty-one victims but hasn't faced anyone who is a contender let alone a boxer of Ramirez's quality, so he is an unknown quantity.

On Sunday, Peacock presents a Boxxer card from Bournemouth, England with a main event that will see WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith defend against his mandatory challenger Mateusz Masternak.

Billam-Smith upset Lawrence Okolie in May by majority decision in what was a surprise to almost everyone to win the title and was expected to defend against Okolie in a rematch but the WBO stepped in to require a match against Masternak first.

Billam-Smith is an action fighter and his fights before upsetting Okolie were generally fun ones to watch, especially his two battles with Tommy McCarthy, so if Masternak engages this could be a interesting match.

Masternak has been stopped only once in his five defeats and he does own a win over former cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck.

The problem is it was the last fight of a faded Mormeck's career and it was nine years ago.

Otherwise, when Masternak has stepped up in class, he's been defeated by Yuniel Dorticos, Grigory Drozd, and Tony Bellew.

Boxing Challenge

WBC Junior Welterweight Title. 12 Rds 

Regis Prograis vs Devin Haney

Ramon Malpica: Progais KO 10
TRS: Haney Unanimous Decision
Vince Samano: Prograis KO 11

WBO Featherweight Title. 12 Rds

Robeisy Ramirez vs Rafael Espinoza

R.L: Ramirez Unanimous Decision
TRS: Ramirez KO 8
V.S: Ramirez KO 10

WBO Cruiserweight Title 12 Rds

Chris Billam-Smith vs Mateusz Masternak.

R.L: Billam-Smith KO 8

TRS: Billiam-Smith Unanimous Decision
V.S: Masternak Unanimous Decision