Gotta love Giovani Segura – not only is he an action hero, but he’s pushing the already stretched frontiers of sponsorship in boxing by emblazoning the name of a registration services company on his Julio Cesar Chavez style headband. Who knows what this week will bring in terms of advertising, but it’ll have some good boxing. Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler fight on HBO in a card made only slightly less appetizing by the scratching of the Jean Pascal vs. Lucian Bute co-feature. There’s also a few other bits and bobs, so check it out.
- Mikkel Kessler vs. Carl Froch II, Saturday, HBO, London. Has it really been three years since these guys last fought? Geez, time flies when people are punching each other in the face. The intervening time hasn’t done much to take the lustre off this super middleweight match-up. Since Kessler’s original victory, Froch (30-2, 22 KO) has enhanced his prestige with his ridiculously competitive schedule while the Dane has mainly treaded water. A full preview will be along later in the week, but I reckon this will be similar to the original war, at least to start with. But Kessler (46-2, 35 KO) will show his age after the early rounds and the gritty Froch will take over, eventually grinding out a stoppage win. On the untelevised undercard, British super middleweight George Groves (18-0, 14 KO) takes on Noe Gonzalez Alcoba (30-2, 22 KO) in a fight that doesn’t really get my blood pumping. Another rematch features light heavyweight contenders Tony Bellew (19-1-1, 12 KO) and Isaac Chilemba (20-1-2, 9 KO), who fought to a draw in March. The original was an absorbing, if frustrating, contest in which neither man really did enough to win. Both should come in to the do-over extra motivated, and as such I favour Bellew. He was less impressive last time out and has more to gain from improving.
- Delvin Rodriguez vs. Freddy Hernandez, Friday, ESPN2, Uncasville Conn. A nice little Friday Night Fights main event pitting perennial junior middleweight contender and all round nice guy Rodriguez (27-6-3, 15 KO) against Mexico City battler Freddy Hernandez (30-4, 20 KO). Hernandez’ best victory is over a diminished Luis Collazo. Rodriguez is way more technically sound and won’t oblige the Mexican by getting involved in trading or mauling – he’ll pick him off from the outside all night long.
- The Rest. Not a whole lot. The sport’s littlest action hero, junior flyweight Roman Gonzalez (34-0, 28 KO), fights at home in Nicaragua on Saturday against the unheralded Ronald Barrera (31-11-2, 19 KO)… It’s been a big month for Argentine boxing and junior bantamweight Omar Narvaez (38-1-2, 20 KO) continues that, taking on Felipe Orucuta (27-1, 23 KO) in Buenos Aires.
