With boxing taking a holiday break, the Floyd Mayweather, Jr.-Manny Pacquiao fiasco has dominated the headlines and depressed the naïve and clearly delusional boxing fans (including myself, admittedly) who thought the sport could maintain positive momentum without pulling an Andrew Golota somewhere along the line. Now that the New Year is upon us, the action is about to resume and I’ve resolved to look forward to the fights we have rather than dread the one that may or may not happen (don’t hold me to that when the gag order lifts, however).
In that vein, I took a gander at Dan Rafael’s essential boxing schedule and culled the potential highlights of January and the first week of February, since action is slow to get going this month. In chronological order:
1. Juan Carlos Salgado vs Takashi Uchiyama, junior lightweights (January 11, Tokyo, Japan) – The last time we saw Salgado, he burst from nowhere to reduce Jorge Linares to linguini in the first round in the upset of the year last year. I’ve never seen Uchiyama before, his resume is sparse but he’s been moved quickly (probably because he’s a 30-year-old super featherweight with 13 career fights) and done well against guys with decent records, though nobody who could even be described as a contender. However, Salgado was relatively unknown until he knocked out Linares, so I won’t be so quick to dismiss Uchiyama. Is Salgado the next to carry the Mexican torch, or is he just the next Breidis Prescott? This could be an interesting way to find out (here’s hoping it shows up on YouTube).
2. Vanes Martirosyan vs Kassim Ouma, junior middleweights (January 16, Las Vegas; FSN) – Martirosyan steps up against Ouma, the former titleholder who comes in having lost five of his last six. The fight itself is not necessarily as noteworthy (though I really like Martirosyan and it is a step up for him, though one he should dominate) as is the debut of Top Rank’s boxing show on Fox Sports Net. More boxing on TV should only mean good things, at least until Bob Arum mucks it up. Adding intrigue is the debut of reported phenom Jose Benavidez.
3. Juan Manuel Lopez vs Steven Luevano, featherweights/Yuriorkis Gamboa vs Rogers Mtagwa, featherweights (January 23, New York; HBO) – A doubleheader at the Garden I plan on attending, this is designed to set up Lopez-Gamboa later this year but on its own, this is an outstanding twin bill. After struggling but showing great guts in beating Mtagwa, Lopez steps up to challenge for Luevano’s strap. Meanwhile, Gamboa defends his trinket against Mtagwa, who certainly earned another opportunity for a big fight after his performance against Lopez. At least one of these fights should be good, and there’s a chance that both will be barnburners.
4. Luis Carlos Abregu vs Richard Gutierrez, welterweights (January 29, Albuquerque, NM; Showtime) – Abregu was in one of my favorite fights last year against Irving Garcia. Gutierrez is somewhat limited but his tough, come-forward style could produce fireworks against an explosive but vulnerable opponent. Should be a good test for Abregu and a potential slugfest to boot.
5. Jesse Brinkley vs Curtis Stevens, super middleweights (January 29, Reno, NV; ESPN2) – It feels like Stevens has been around forever, but he’s only 24 and he hasn’t lost since the worst fight of all time against Andre Dirrell in 2007. So why is he on this list? Because Brinkley is the anti-Dirrell, a guy with limited skills who lays everything on the line and never stops coming. He’s also on a nice little run lately. This is apparently an IBF eliminator and is likely Brinkley’s only chance to angle for a title shot. Meanwhile, Stevens should respond well to Brinkley’s style and could help erase some of the memory of his last debacle. Either that or I’m going to have to look up recipes for crow.
6. Sugar Shane Mosley vs Andre Berto, welterweights (January 30, Las Vegas; HBO) – Last year, Mosley and Berto both began the year with career-best performances, with Mosley adding a crushing exclamation point to his outstanding career by raining karma on Antonio Margarito and Berto surviving his toughest test in an excellent fight against Luis Collazo. This year, they battle to become the best welterweight not embroiled in a drug test debacle (well, this year). This fight is pretty much guaranteed to be good.
7. Edwin Valero vs Antonio DeMarco, lightweights (February 6, Monterrey, Mexico; Showtime) – Valero is something of an underground legend due to his prodigious punching power, string of first-round knockouts, and history of misfortunes and blunders that prevent him from fighting in the United States. That alone makes Valero’s debut on U.S. TV noteworthy, although DeMarco could give him a bit of a test. DeMarco has fought pretty well in his ShoBox appearances, but he’s never fought anyone like Valero.
8. Brandon Rios vs Jorge Teron, lightweights (February 6, McAllen, TX; FSN) – Rios is a prospect that some people are excited about. Teron is a big lightweight who avenged his only loss with a ten-round decision in his last fight. Both guys are pretty aggressive, offensive fighters, so it could be fun. This is a ShoBox-style matchup on FSN, not bad for the fledgling show.
