Forget Al Haymon, South Coast Mitsubishi is taking over boxing South Coast Mitsubishi. That’s what we call the sport nowadays, guys. Anyway, I hope you’re ready for the week’s South Coast Mitsubishi schedule. There’s a lot on, which is good after a few quiet weeks. It would have been even busier, but the the British heavyweight fight between Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora had to be rescheduled after Chisora injured his hand. That sucks for the fans, and will prompt a whole new round of trash talking between the two, but it did prompt this from Liam Gallagher, so it’s not a total bust. Anyway, let’s get to it.
- Gennady Golovkin Vs. Daniel Geale, Saturday, HBO, N.Y. Tim will have the full preview of the main event of this week’s biggest card, but I feel obliged to say a few words since Geale is a compatriot. Everyone is excited for this fight because it’s Golovkin’s first big test, and I think that’s exactly what Geale is going to do — I don’t think we’re going to see a knockout. Whether the Aussie can win… well, that remains to be seen. There’s a solid heavyweight fight on the undercard between Bryant Jennings (18-0, 10 KO) and Mike Perez (20-0-1, 12 KO). I think Perez has got this — neither man punches particularly hard, but Perez is much more astute on defence. If he can keep his volume up a little, he should be able to decision his less technically adept American opponent.
- Roberto Garcia Vs. Breidis Prescott, Friday, ESPN2, Chicago. Welterweight Breidis Prescott (27-5, 20 KO) in the all time pound-for-pound conversation when it comes to fighters who have dined out on a single win. Prescott’s moneymaker was his shocking knockout of Amir Khan, but he’s never flashed the same power again. He’s up against new Al Haymon signing Roberto Garcia (35-3, 23 KO), who I personally don’t think is that great. He stands up too straight, swings wildly and doesn’t move his head, and it’ll catch up with him at some point. Prescott probably won’t be that point, though. On the undercard, fellow Haymon signing Caleb Truax (23-1-2, 14 KO) takes on Derek “Pooh” Ennis (24-4-1, 13 KO). Ennis has a cute style to match his nickname, but is more than a bit undersized at middleweight. Truax is very likable and is definitely one to watch on the fringes of the division.
- Frankie Gomez Vs. Vernon Paris, Friday, FS1/Fox Deportes, Indio Calif. An interesting one here, with welterweight prospect Gomez (17-0, 13 KO) taking a step up against Detroit’s Paris (28-1, 16 KO). Gomez looks the goods, hits hard, punches in combinations and pour on the pressure. His fast hands could be a nightmare for Paris, who isn’t that fast and, by the looks of the Judah fight, can’t take much of a punch. He hasn’t really fought anyone of not since that fight either, and Gomez is going to be a harsh reintroduction to the world of televised boxing, methinks. Erik Morales’ little bro Ivan is on the undercard.
- The Rest. There’s a ShoBox on Showtime Friday night headlined by middleweight Antoine Douglas (23-1, 13 KO), who’s facing France’s Michael Soro (23-1, 13 KO)… Junior bantamweights David Carmona and Martin Casillas are doing their thing on Friday on Telemundo… Junior featherweight (very) fringe contenders Efrain Esquivias and Chris Martin (not of Coldplay/Gwyneth fame — though that would be a good reason to root against him) fight off TV on Saturday in Canada… Super middleweight Robert Stieglitz looks to bounce back from his loss in his rematch with Arthur Abraham with a fight in Germany against no name Belarusian Sergey Khomitsky… James Toney and Roy Jones, Jr. are fighting on the same card in Latvia on Saturday. Ick.
