Yes, it’s feared Argentine badass Lucas Matthysse playing the ukulele (via friend of the site Rafe Bartholomew). This hipsterism in boxing is getting out of hand. You’ll also note that every single person in Matthysse’s family has a rat’s tail; I’m not sure whether I find that impressive or terrifying. Anyway, on to the boxing; it’s a week with a few things happening, with everything from independent pay-per-views featuring no-one you’ve ever heard of to HBO shows headlined by one of the top five in the world, pound-for-pound.
- Juan Manuel Marquez Vs. Mike Alvarado, Saturday, HBO, Inglewood Calif. The biggest fight of the week is a bit of a let-down for one of its protagonists, Mexican welterweight legend Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO). For Denver’s Mike Alvarado (34-2, 23 KO), it’s just a massive opportunity. Tim Starks will have a full preview later in the week, so I’ll keep my analysis short. Alvarado, who’s exclusively been in brutal fights since 2011, will be in Marquez’s grill early and will have moments of success. Marquez will soak it up and start nailing Alvarado with punch after punch after the 4th round. This fight won’t make it past half way. Tune in to see Marquez while you can. The aging master’s family are putting a lot of pressure on him to leave the sport, and if he’s not going to fight Manny Pacquiao again there aren’t a lot of obvious moves for him. Junior welterweights Selcuk Aydin (26-2-0, 19 KO) and Viktor Postol (25-0, 10 KO), from Turkey and Ukraine respectively, will square off in the internationally-flavoured support bout. I don’t think it’s going to be very tasty, though; Postol is jabber and Aydin is a grabber. If Postol can keep Aydin away from him, then he’ll take it by decision.
- Delvin Rodriguez Vs. Joachim Alcine, Friday, ESPN2, Montreal. ESPN takes Friday Night Fights to Montreal, one of the world’s great fight towns, this week. The main event is a crossroads fight, but a fairly low level one, between Delvin Rodriguez (28-7-3, 16 KO), who’s coming off a crushing loss to Miguel Cotto, and Joachim Alcine (35-7-1, 21 KO), who’s 2-5 in his last seven fights (and the two wins were not impressive). With that in mind, I reckon Rodriguez is a little fresher and has better timing, which will allow him to move better, negate Alcine’s reach advantage and win the day via decision.
- Antonio Orozco Vs. Martin Honorio, Thursday, FS1/Fox Deportes, Del Mar Calif. What do you know — a good Golden Boy show on Fox Sports (that’s perhaps a little harsh, but generally they’ve been showcases). This one pits up-and-coming featherweight Antonio Orozco (19-0, 15 KO) against Mexican hardcase/veteran Martin Honorio (32-8-1, 16 KO). It’s a big step up for the undefeated Orozco, but he’ll be aided by the fact that Honorio has been out of the ring nearly two years. Orozco should take this because of that rust and the power difference between the two, but Honorio will make it close and perhaps even controversial.
- The Rest. There’s a ShoBox triple-header on Showtime Friday, headlined by lightweights Joel Diaz, Jr. (15-0, 12 KO) and Tyler Asselstine (14-1, 7 KO), who has the kind of name you’d give to a substitute teacher… That same night there’s a gofightlive.tv card from Philadelphia, with Jerome Rodriguez (6-0, 2 KO) and Naim Nelson (11-0, 1 KO) topping the bill… On Saturday on UniMas junior welterweight Jose Carlos Ramirez (9-0, 7 KO) faces Jesus Selig (16-2-1, 10 KO), with chubby-but-fun heavyweight Andy Ruiz, Jr. (21-0, 15 KO) fighting journeyman Manuel Quezada (29-8, 18 KO). Don’t blink… Finally, over in England, but broadcast on AWE, featherweight Lee Selby (18-1, 7 KO) fights Romulo Koasicha (21-3, 12 KO) with a rematch of Gary Buckland (28-3, 9 KO) vs. Gavin Rees (37-4-1, 18 KO) on the undercard.
