I don't know which boffin at HBO/K2 Promotions had the bright idea of taking middleweight wrecking machine Gennady Golovkin to the Golden Globes, but whoever it was is a genius. Not only was GGG snapped with Lloyd from Entourage (why not?), he also got cheeky pics with Matt Damon, Michael Douglas and Tom Hanks. The whole thing has made my week/life.
And it's not a bad week of boxing, either. There's the first premium cable show of the year, a Montreal superfight between light heavyweights Jean Pascal and Lucian Bute, as well as a couple of other, smaller shows. Let's get to it.
- Jean Pascal vs. Lucian Bute, Saturday, HBO, Montreal. The crowd at the Bell Centre blow the roof off when there's one local fighter against an out-of towner. They may actually destroy most of Quebec when these two local fighters meet. There'll be a full preview later in the week, but I'll quickly throw in my $0.02: Bute (31-1, 24 KO) is going to look like his old, impressive self against Pascal (28-2-1, 17 KO). Even the slightly depleted version of the Romanian import we saw against Dennis Grachev should be way too technical for the herky-jerky Haitian. On the undercard, heavyweight Mike Perez (20-0, 12 KO) fights for the first time since the November 2 fight that left Magomed Abdusalamov in coma. Opposite him will be France's Carlos Takam (29-1, 23 KO). Takam is rangy, but I don't really see what else he offers. Perez has proven that he can take a punch and he does virtually everything better than Takam. Despite Perez's lack of real pop, I think he might end this on a counter shot because Takam is so sloppy and open.
- Ivan Redkach vs. Tony Luis, Friday, Showtime, Memphis. Friday brings a solid ShoBox show from Memphis, headlined by Ukrainian lightweight Redkach (15-0, 13 KO) and Canadian Luis (17-1-7 KO). Redkach is one of those eastern Europeans who have semi-adopted Mexico, though he retains a lot of his Ukrainian technicality. Luis is more of a bread and butter type, and I think he'll be outgunned at long range in a fun fight. The supporting bout, between junior middleweights Frank Galarza (11-0-2, 7 KO) and John Thompson (14-0, 5 KO) also promises action between two guys who aren't afraid to get up close and personal. Galarza is probably the rougher of the two, the question is whether he'll be able to slow Thompson down.
- The Rest. The only remaining televised show this week is on UniMas on Friday, pitting junior bantamweights David Sanchez (23-2-2, 18 KO) and Marco Demecillo (19-1-1, 14 KO) against one another in Hermosillo… Mike "Yes Indeed" Reed (6-0, 4 KO), a junior welterweight prospect, faces Jorge Marquez (4-1, 2 KO) at Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington, Md. , and our Tim Starks will be there to cover the card.
