It’s a boxer. Geddit? I dunno, just trying to lighten the mood in a week without many competitive fights. Oh, there are fights — there are lots of fights. Just none of them are very hard to pick at all. Read on and we’ll give you the lowdown.
- Carl Frampton vs Alejandro Gonzalez, Jr., Saturday, CBS, El Paso Tx. OK, bear with me here because this is pretty complicated. On Saturday there are going to be two separate broadcasts on two networks of different fights from the same El Paso card. Got it? The first card, in the afternoon, will be on CBS and will be headlined by Belfast boy Frampton (20-0, 14 KO), making his US debut against Gonzalez (25-1-2, 15 KO). Frampton is a beautiful boxer-puncher who looks like a threat in very active part of the weight-class ladder. Gonzalez is a club fighter. This is a showcase. On the televised undercard there’s the potential for an entertaining, if sloppy, heavyweight brawl between perennial underachiever Chris Arreola (36-4, 31 KO) and Fred Kasi (18-3, 10 KO).
- Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. vs Marcos Reyes, Saturday, Showtime, El Paso Tx. Good on Chavez (48-2-1, 32 KO) for getting back in the ring so soon after his stoppage loss to Andrzej Fonfara. Reyes (33-2, 24 KO) in undistinguished, but staying busy is just what Junior needs if he wants to be serious and maybe make it down to the middleweight limit one day. Puerto Rican junior bantamweight and bad name owner McJoe Arroyo (16-0, 8 KO) takes on Arthur Villanueva (27-0, 14 KO) on the undercard.
- Ik Yang vs Cesar Cuenca, Saturday, UniMas, Macau. In a heartwarming display of the universal appeal of people punching each other in the head, China’s Ik Yang (19-0, 14 KO) fights Argentina’s Cesar Rene Cuenca (47-0, 2 KO) in Macau, with Filipino-American junior featherweight Nonito Donaire (34-3, 22 KO) having a comeback fight on the undercard against France’s Anthony Settoul (20-3, 8 KO).
- Arthur Abraham vs Robert Stieglitz, Saturday, beIN Sports Español, Halle Germany. Germans like lots of weird things, like currywurst — sliced sausage with ketchup and curry powder. But I reckon their obsession with Arthur Abraham/Robert Stieglitz rematches is even weirder. This is the fourth one.
- Scott Quigg vs Kiko Martinez, Saturday, Manchester. Spain’s Martinez (32-5, 24 KO) is a tough little nugget who should provide a useful measuring stick for comparing junior featherweight Quigg (30-0-2, 22 KO) with the aforementioned Frampton, who has beaten him twice over the last two years.
- Antoine Douglas vs Istvan Szili, Friday, Showtime, Bethlehem Pa. Douglas (17-0-1, 11 KO), an athletic sort of middleweight prospect, fights Hungary’s Szili (18-0-2, 8 KO), who’s rather robotic.
- Daniel Rosario vs Aaron Garcia, Friday, Telemundo Kissimmee Fla. Puerto Rican welterweight Rosario fights unknown Mexican Garcia, whose record is unimpressive to say the least.
