Did you guys know Claire Forlani is pretty? In other news, here are some fights this week in the boxing.
- Mike Jones-Jesus Soto Karass II, Saturday, HBO, Las Vegas. This is on the undercard of the bantam battle between Nonito Donaire and Fernando Montiel, giving the network a very pleasing doubleheader. The first fight got a lot of attention for Jones going for the finish fruitlessly in the 2nd then running out of gas and getting a controversial decision win, which overshadowed the fact that it was a pretty nice dust-up. That makes the rematch a good idea, but especially it’s a good thing that Jones wanted to right a wrong here, as the welter prospect’s reputation took a hit for struggling with a gritty but limited opponent. I bet this fight will be a bit more boring as Jones tries to control action with his jab and overall better skill set, but don’t be surprised if Soto Karass finds a way to drag him into another war.
- Felix Sturm-Ron Hearns, Saturday, Stuttgart Germany. Even though I’ve said this middleweight bout intrigues me, it’s also true that Sturm hasn’t faced a top-10 guy in a while, partly due to some promotional feuds, and after this it’ll be time for him to take on a true top middleweight or stop pretending he will. Anyway, the question here is, will Hearns be able to dial a power shot down the middle of Sturm’s high guard that rattles him? Or will he get jabbed into submission?
- Fernando Guerrero-Derrick Findley/Shawn Porter-Anges Adjaho, Friday, ESPN2, Salisbury Md. Three dimensions, dude! It’s now something that happens to boxing on ‘merican television, as of Friday Night Fights. I’m guessing there still aren’t many more 3-D TVs in homes since I wrote abut this subject last year for The Ring, but I’m all in favor of innovation and wish I knew someone who had a 3-D TV in the D.C. area who would let me watch this with them. Anyway, Guerrero is the super fun middleweight prospect who was going to face a better opponent originally in Saul Roman. Findley has gone rounds with prospects like Matt Korobov and Andre Dirrell and beaten journeymen like Michael Walker, so it’s not a bad save. Adjaho, Porter’s opponent, had done all right against Antonio DeMarco at lightweight before faking his way into a knockout loss, but he’s lost definitively against his two welterweight opponents and Porter is arguably better than both of them — Mark Melligen and Brad Solomon. That makes him a decent Porter foe for the night.
- The Rest. More often than not, I don’t miss not having TeleFutura, given the kind of cards Solo Boxeo puts on; the lineup still isn’t even set for Friday… Also Friday, Jan Zaveck defends his welterweight trinket… The aforementioned Melligen fights on the undercard of Donaire-Montiel, off-TV, as does junior welterweight junior welterweight Mike Alvarado, although maybe Top Rank’s website will webcast them… There are two cards in London Saturday, one headlined by heavyweight Tyson Fury and the other by junior welterweight Frankie Gavin… and so on.
[UPDATE: You can catch our Corey Erdman calling the Junior Witter bout in Canada Saturday on Rogers Cable, and everywhere streaming live on BoxingChannel.com.]
