The main thing you’ll want to be watching this week is the latest installment in Showtime’s Super Six tournament Saturday night between American super middleweights Andre Ward and Allan Green. Unless, that is, you enjoy sending the message to boxing’s powers-that-be that you hate it when six of the best fighters in a division fight each other to sort out who’s best. Watch for a preview of that fight here soon. But there are a few other boxing options besides:
- Rodel Mayol-Omar Nino Romero II, Saturday, Top Rank Live, Fox Sports Net/Fox Sports en Espanol, Mexico. The first two rounds of the original junior flyweight title match-up were very good, if not great, and there was a controversial, unsatisfactory ending in the 3rd, so this one has promise — one of the better Top Rank Live bouts yet. Romero edged the 1st, then Mayol wobbled Romero in the 2nd. The 3rd is where Romero went low and Mayol turned away; the ref moved in to separate the fighters; and Romero tagged Mayol with a shot that left him down for the count, leading to the fight being ruled a draw. In today’s “everyone’s faking” age, an era in which every person who ever is on the receiving end of physical suffering that causes the end of a bout is accused by fans of acting, Mayol naturally got accused of trying to find a way out by laying there. For the rematch, the additional dramatic elements include whether Romero’s advancing age and Mayol’s real/fake knockout will affect them in the rematch, whether a Mayol fight will end in controversy for a FIFTH time (two head butt-shortened fights with Ivan Calderon, a head butt playing a role in his win over Edgar Sosa and the Romero fight) and whether the fight being in Romero’s native Mexico again could affect the scorecards. It’s a significant bout in the division, with Mayol ranked #2 by Ring and Romero #10, and he’d be ranked higher if he hadn’t had one of his best wins, over Brian Viloria, overturned because he failed a drug test. Check back later this week for news about whether the fight will be broadcast on the WBC’s website. [UPDATE: Yup.]
- Friday Night Fights, Friday, ESPN2/ESPN3, Washington. It’s a crazy country. There’s a big ol’ Russian population in Spokane, Wash., which is why two Soviet Union-ish fighters are headlining on the Deuce in the Northwest. Uzbekistan junior middleweight Sherzod Husanov makes his U.S. debut in the headliner. He was scheduled less than a month ago to be the guy against whom Sergiy Dzinziruk made HIS U.S. debut before plans changed, so I’m not sure what kind of prospect Husanov is, especially at age 30, but he does have some amateur cred. His opponent is Jhon Berrio, a high-KO Colombian, which is a redundant phrase; he also has two knockout losses in six. The supporting bout features super middleweight Maxim Vlasov, a more traditional prospect in that he’s 23 and he’s fought a couple opponents you might have heard of (like Julius Fogle, who recently gave Enrique Ornelas a tough time). He’s also taking on the more credible opponent, Kingsley Ikeke, whose three losses came to top-notch guys Jean Pascal and Arthur Abraham and then-ballyhooed prospect Anthony Hanshaw. That’s some bold matchmaking, and I like it. Also, junior middleweight prospect Demetrius Andrade fights someone named Candy. There’s a joke in there about Andrade being matched soft so far in his career, although Candy’s birth name appears to be the also-neat Quandray. The fight will be webcast simultaneously on ESPN3. [UPDATE: Ikeke pulled out of the fight, so Jerson Ravelo will replace him. Maybe a more prudent choice, given where Vlasov is in his career.]
- The Rest. Lightweight Luis Ramos graduates from Fight Night Club to Solo Boxeo on TeleFutura Friday against TBA, in Texas [UPDATE: He’ll take on Joshua Allottey, a trial horse who’s lost to a variety of prospects and will be Ramos’ most experienced opponent]… Junior flyweights Hekkie Budler and Juanito Rubillar rematch Saturday in Budler’s South Africa, where Budler won a controversial majority decision in February… Former junior welterweight contender Kendall Holt looks to prove he still cares about boxing against Jesse Feliciano on the Ward-Green undercard [UPDATE: Not a good sign of Holt caring — he was having trouble getting down to the weight, and postponed]… Light heavyweight Omar Sheika heads up a GoFightLive show in New Jersey Friday… Comebacking heavyweight Hasim Rahman and junior featherweight Martin Castillo fight Saturday… There’s a Box Azteca card listed on my DirecTV guide for Saturday, but I don’t have any more info yet.
