Good intentions axe murderer has a little to do with this week’s boxing schedule as business cat did with last week’s. I could spin you a line and say that Giovanni Segura is an absolute murderer in the ring, but seems like a nice enough bloke outside of it — but that would be a lie. Anyway, on to the this week’s fights.
The big one is the do over of 2010 Fight of the Year candidate Ivan Calderon-Giovanni Segura. Except that this time it’s the other way round, since Segura has the silverware. Hank Lundy is fighting again on ESPN, worst person in the world Eric Morel has a fight, other little people include top flyweight Luis Concepcion and the previously mentioned big Europeans are Cruiserweights Marco Huck and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk.
- Giovanni Segura-Ivan Calderon II, Saturday, Integrated Sports PPV, Mexicali Mexico. Last time this thing happened, Segura (26-1-1) basically tracked Calderon down and beat him to a pulp. That said, Calderon (34-1-1) fought a pretty dumb fight considering he couldn’t punch his way out of a wet paper bag and Segura could punch his way out of a diving bell if he wanted to. So if Calderon doesn’t stand and trade so much this time, he could still be in with a chance. That said, I’m not sure if he can outbox Segura for 12 rounds, despite his sublime skills. Calderon is almost certainly in the twighlight of his career. His 36 years make him less “The Iron Boy” and more “The Iron Nearly Middle Aged Man,” and 36 years is a lot of years for a junior flyweight. He still tends to get cut, and has got caught in all his most recent fights. Asking him to stay on his toes and away from Segura for twelve whole round, while doing enough to win those round, is a big ask. Segura, on the other hand, is 28, on the up and has been laying waste to the rest of the division. He’s basically a caveman, albeit a very, very well conditioned one. There’s not even that much behind his stalking or pressure, he just clubs you down like a bizarro Mexican Fred Flintstone with his prehistoric fists. That’s what I suspect will happen here again.
- Hank Lundy-Patrick Lopez, Friday, ESPN2, Mashantucket Connecticut. Lightweight prospect Lundy (19-1-1) is still on the comeback trail after being shocked by John Molina on ESPN2 last year. He’s just one fight removed from that technical stoppage, with the intervening bout being a domination of Omri Lowther on ESPN2. Despite his habit of talking about himself in the third person (“Hammerin’ Hank is sorry he let his fans down”), Lundy can be fun, especially if he’s as stupid as he was in the Molina fight, which he was easily winning when he got knocked down. I suspect his ceiling might be ESPN2 and ShoBox, but I’d be happy to be proved wrong. His opponent on Friday, Patrick Lopez (20-3), is more of a step sideways than a step up, but could make it interesting. The Venezualan is a two-time Olympian, but is coming off a 3rd round stoppage against Tim Coleman. I think this could be fun.
- Fight Camp 360 Pacquiao vs Mosley debut, Saturday, CBS. Boxing is back on network TV, yaaaaaay. Well, kind of anyway. The first episode of Showtime’s Fight Camp 360 documentary series about the upcoming Pacquiao/Mosley bout will air on CBS at midday, immediately before their coverage of the NCAA Final Four begins. Of all the planned dates for the series on CBS, this may be the most important, because of the potential millions of sporting fan eyeballs who will tune in to catch the basketball. The first episode is set to feature Manny’s trip to Washington to meet President Barack Obama, along with your usual speed-ball-hitting-in-slow-motion. The fact that this is even on network TV is a landmark, and you can’t help but hope that it’ll be good. It should be interesting to see how Fight Camp 360, whose venture in the Super Six has been much more documentary style, does a pre-fight build up compared to HBO’s 24/7, which has recently seemed a little formulaic. (T.S.: Episode except, sent out after A.M. wrote this, is below.)
- Luis Concepcion-Hernan Marquez, Saturday, Panama City Panama. Panama’s Concepcion (22-1), Ring Magazine’s number two flyweight, gets to fight for a vacant alphabet strap against Hernan “Tyson” Marquez (29-2). The original plan was for Concepcion to take on on of them Kamedas (Daiki), which fell through when he moved up in weight. In the meantime Concepcion has had some gun and bull trouble. Yeah, bull trouble. Marquez got stopped by Nonito Donaire last year, but has been comebacking ever since and, unlike most idiots who choose a “Tyson” variant for a nickname, has some power, with 22 KOs from his 29 wins. Still, expect Concepcion, who has scored six straight stoppages against decent opposition, to get the job done in front of his home town crowd.
- Eric Morel-Luis Maldonado, Friday, TeleFutura, Indio California. Worst person in the world and boredom inducer Eric Morel (43-2-0) was meant to be doing a rematch with Martin Castillo, who beat him by decision in 2005. According to reports, Castillo suffered an ankle injury in training, and had to withdraw. That was a semi-meaningful fight, even though Castillo was coming off a loss to a badly faded Jorge Arce. Luis Maldonado (35-5-1) is the late replacement. Don’t expect much; he’s coming off three losses in a row, including demolitions by Fernando Montiel and Nonito Donaire. Oh, and he hasn’t fought in nearly two years. I wish people would stop using Morel’s name in the same sentence as Nonito Donaire’s. On the undercard, much ballyhooed Randy Caballero (8-0) is taking on Felix Perez (7-2) in a showcase.
- Marco Huck-Ran Nakash, Saturday, Halle Germany. In the first of two “top cruiserweight vs undefeated by completely untested guy” fights this weekend, Ring Magazine number two Marco Huck (31-1) takes on Israel’s Ran Nakash (25-0). In defence of Nakash, he’s done most of his fighting in the good ‘ol USA. On the other hand, it hasn’t been against anyone good. Not really sure what to say here, except to expect Huck, who hasn’t lost since 2007, to take care of business. On the undercard, there’s a heavyweight clash of nightmares! Sam “The Nigerian Nightmare” Peter (34-4) takes on Robert “The Nordic Nightmare” Helenius (14-0). Helenius is still untested and Peter is still a crazy puncher, so it might be good. On the other hand, it could be… a nightmare.
- Krzysztof Wlodarczyk-Francisco Palacios, Saturday, Bydgoszcz Poland. The second of the “top cruiserweight vs. undefeated noobie” matches of the weekend has Wlodarczyk (44-2-1) looking to beat up on Puerto Rico’s Francisco Palacios (20-0). Again, Palacios is badly untested and probably not ready for this calibre of fight. He seems to have a habit of lying on the ring ropes, a habit that won’t serve him well against a bulldozer like Wlod.
- The Rest. English lightweight contender John Murray takes on Arab-sounding Spaniard Karim El Ouazghari in “Beffnal Green,” London. He’s still looking for a fight with Amir Khan or fellow contender Kevin Mitchell…The undefeated man with the most rhythmic name in boxing, Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, takes on veteran middleweight contender Giovanni Lorenzo in France. Lorenzo really doesn’t work enough, so Hassan should be moving on to bigger and better things soon.
