That cat is disappointed, and why wouldn’t he be? This could have been such a good weekend of boxing, but instead of the first two men in the headline fighting each other, they’re fighting two completely unqualified no-hopers on Showtime. There’s a little bit of boxing around apart from that, including junior middleweight Willie Nelson on Friday Night Fights and a couple of others. Let’s get to it.
- Danny Garcia Vs. Rod Salka, Saturday, Showtime, Brooklyn. What can I possibly say about the two junior welterweight fights on this card that hasn’t been said already? Rod Salka (19-3, 3 KO) and Edgar Santa (29-4, 20 KO) have no business being in the ring with top guys like Danny Garcia (28-0, 16 KO) and Lamont Peterson (32-2-1, 16 KO), respectively. The middleweight fight that rounds out the tripleheader, between Brooklyn’s Daniel Jacobs (27-1, 24 KO) and Australia’s Jarrod Fletcher (18-1, 10 KO) might be a little more competitive, but it’s unlikely. Fletcher at least is active and well schooled, but sadly I doubt he’ll improve Australian boxing’s month of horror results.
- Willie Nelson Vs. Luis Grajeda, Friday, ESPN2, Fallon Nev. Junior middleweight beanpole Willie Nelson (22-1-1, 13 KO) is awkwardly stuck on Friday Night Fights long after he should have graduated to bigger and better things. His opponent this week is Mexico’s Luis Grajeda (17-2-2, 13 KO) who can obviously punch but is absolutely wild when it comes to footwork and technique. Nelson will counterpunch him for days.
- Vyacheslav Glazkov Vs. Derric Rossy, Saturday, NBC Sports Net, Bethlehem Pa. Glazkov (17-0-1, 11 KO) is a bona fide top heavyweight contender after defeating Tomasz Adamek so Rossy (29-8, 14 KO) is a bit of a letdown in terms of opposition. We’re talking about a guy who lost to Audley Harrison, after all.
- The Rest. Fox Sports and Fox Deportes have a Thursday card headlined by crafty junior lightweight Jerry Belmontes (19-4, 5 KO), who’s fighting “the other, other” Cotto, Abner (17-2, 8 KO). TQBR favourite Jose “El Loco” Hernandez (14-7-1, 6 KO) is on the undercard against Keandre Gibson (10-0-1, 5 KO) at junior welterweight… Friday has a couple of televised fights (aside from Friday Night Fights). Welterweights Edgar Ortega (14-1, 10 KO) and Daniel Cruz (8-0, 7 KO) are on Telemundo, while Sammy Vasquez (15-0, 11 KO) and James Stevenson (21-0, 14 KO) are on FS1 and Fox Deportes at the same weight… On Saturday Jose Felix, Jr. (26-1-1, 21 KO), a much-fancied scion of the Montiel boxing clan, has a comeback fight against Alejandro Rodriguez (21-14-1, 12 KO) after a shock loss in his last outing… And finally on Fox Deportes junior featherweight Andres Gutierrez (29-0-1, 22 KO) faces the dreaded TBA.
