This is the premiere weekend of the month with several titles defended and a major PPV from PBC on tap for Saturday.
The biggest fights of the weekend headline the PBC/Amazon PPV with Gervonta Davis defending his WBA lightweight title and David Benavidez deciding to move to light heavyweight rather than wait for a disinterested Canelo Alvarez.
Gervonta Davis will face slick boxing Frank Martin, who is skilled but didn't look great in winning a close unanimous decision last July over Artem Harutyunyan, and that along with a decision over Michel Rivera are the best victories that Martin possesses.
Davis hasn't fought for over a year, since his knockout win over Ryan Garcia, so there could be some rustiness involved but Davis usually takes a few rounds to get revved up.
I think Martin will have his moments and build a lead in the first half of the fight but Davis's superior punching power wears Martin down to stop him late or win a clear decision.
In the co-feature, David Benavidez moves to light heavyweight rather than continue waiting for Canelo Alvarez as he faces former WBC champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk for a minor title.
Benavidez broke down former junior middleweight and middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade in his last fight while Gvozdyk has fought lesser competition since returning from a retirement after his only career defeat- a knockout loss to Artur Beterbiev in a title unification match,
This fight could be very similar to Gvozdyk's fight with Beterbiev in which Gvozdyk fights well but is unable to keep Benavidez from grinding him down in the late rounds.
A minor junior welterweight title is on the line with Gary Antuanne Russell facing former WBA champion Alberto Puello.
Puello won the vacant WBA title in 2022 but failed a test for PEDs and was stripped of the title, fighting just once since in an eight-round bout.
Russell has stopped all seventeen of his opponents including two former world champions in Vikor Postol and Rances Barthelemy but he has fallen into the trap of his older brother, Gary Russell, by not fighting very often, fighting only four times in the last four years.
Recently promoted WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames defends that title for the first time against veteran Terrell Gausha.
Adames was promoted from his minor title when the WBC finally made a stand after Jermall Charlo sat on the title for close to three years but it was his recent arrest that was the final straw for the WBC.
Adames has fought just twice in the last two years with a ninth-round knockout of Julian Williams last June in his most recent fight.
Gausha, a longtime fringe contender at 154 pounds, has fought just once at middleweight and isn't deserving of a title chance under most conditions but in a very weak division, it's tough to rail against Gausha too much.
Unbeaten middleweight Elijah Garcia opens the show against veteran Kyrone Davis in a ten-rounder that will gauge where Garcia is at this stage of his career.
Davis hasn't won against the top opponents in his career but is a solid opponent for Garcia and should test him a bit.
Matchroom/DAZN will be in Puerto Rico for punishing banger Subriel Maitias's IBF junior welterweight championship defense against Australia's Liam Paro.
Matias has broken two talented fighters that I picked to defeat him in Jeremiahs Ponce and Shohjahon Ergashev and his physical fighting style is expected to wear down Paro, who other than his December stoppage of Montana Love has fought lesser competition.
Peacock and Boxxer has Saturday afternoon to itself, as Chris Billam-Smith and Richard Riakporhe hook up in a rematch of their entertaining 2019 fight that saw the unbeaten Riakporhe hand Billiam-Smith his only loss via split decision.
Five years later, Billam-Smith holds the WBO cruiserweight title with Riakporhe as the mandatory contender.
Billam-Smitht won the title last year with a major upset of Lawrence Okolie and defended against Mateusz Masternak in December.
Riakporhe stopped former WBO champion Krzystof Glowacki in four rounds in January 2023 for his biggest win and earned the mandatory position.
Boxing Challenge
TRS: Davis Unanimous Decision
Vince Samano: Martin Split Decision
TRS: Benavidez KO 7
V.S: Gvozdyk Unanimous Decision
V.S: Gausha Split Decision
V.S: Puello Unanimous Decision
TRS: Matias KO 5
TRS: Riakporhe Unanimous Decision
V.S: Riakporhe Split Decision
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