Carlos Cuadras’ epic bacne, coming at ya.
- Gennady Golovkin vs Kell Brook, Saturday, HBO, London. Still not a fan. Brook is a terrific welterweight, and his bravery for taking this bout is commendable. Golovkin is the best middleweight alive, and fighting someone so much smaller is a bad look, even if it brings some filthy U.K. lucre. Brook got wobbled by hard-punching but not mega-punching 147-pounder Carson Jones. Golovkin KOs guys at 160 who never have been in any trouble. Even if Brook was struggling to make 147, 160 is a massive leap. Even though Brook’s speed and skill are what theoretically will trouble Golovkin one day, he’s still a fucking welterweight until he proves otherwise. Hopefully for all our sakes, I’m wrong about this being a woeful mismatch that undermines some of Golovkin’s (overrated) purity when it comes to jonesing for a bout with champ Canelo Alvarez as Canelo flits about at 154-155. On the undercard, Brits get to see bantamweights Stuart Hall and Lee Haskins go at it in the boxing ring, which is mainly interesting because of the pre-fight trash talk: Haskins called Hall a “grumpy old man,” Hall called Haskins a “frail little girl.”
- Roman Gonzalez vs Carlos Cuadras, Saturday, HBO, Inglewood Calif. The flyweight champion of the world has moved up to junior bantam and isn’t taking a soft, ease-in kinda bout with this one. Cuadras is one of the biggest punchers in the world (a little suspiciously given the bacne and how it’s sometimes a symptom of PEDs), and already the #2 man at 115. Gonzalez, the pound-for-pound king, has carried his own considerable power up as he leaps weight classes, and his chin. But as incredible as it seems, three pounds can make all the difference in boxing. This should be the best fight of the week.
- Yoshihiro Kamegai vs Jesus Soto Karass, Saturday, HBO, Inglewood Calif. Spoke too soon on “fight of the week” candidates. Take two junior middleweights who can absorb wince-inducing amounts of punishment and throw punches in heavy volume, put them in the ring together and watch. Even for a sport as brutal as boxing can be, this one feels almost cruel. If it was happening earlier in their careers, maybe it wouldn’t be so dirty. It could be a fun war. It could make you wonder whether you should like boxing.
- Daniel Jacobs vs Sergio Mora II, Friday, Spike, Reading Pa. Glad this one is happening. The first bout was an unexpected thriller before Mora broke his ankle and couldn’t continue. Jacobs, one of the top middleweights, acted afterward like he wasn’t interested in a rematch, leaving us with a feeling that the business between these two would be forever unfinished. But now we’re getting it, so sometimes there’s justice in the world. Jacobs sounds more irritated than eager, but if he’s focused at all, he should have less trouble this time around. Talented lightweight prospect fights on the undercard.
- The Rest. There’s a CBS Sports Net show Friday… A top-10 junior welterweight, Eduard Troyanovsky, fights Friday, too.
