Merry Christmas, boxing fans. Unfortunately I do not have a glittering weekly schedule to put under your tree. Instead, I have a bunch of once respected icons brawling in the gutter (metaphorically, of course). It’s not a packed week and there’s not much analysis to be done, so consider this whole column like you would the “The Rest” section that usually runs at the bottom of the schedule. Also, have you checked out our yearly awards which are currently running? Knockout of the Year has been decided, but you can make your voice heard about Round of the Year, Fight of the Year and Fighter of the Year as the week rolls on.
There’s some confusion about what’s going on at the “World Boxing Union,” whatever that is. Glen Johnson (52-18-2, 36 KO), who had been retired, is fighting former bareknuckle boxer Bobby Gunn (21-5-1, 18 KO) in Bethlehem, Pa. for their heavyweight title. But wait, fellow old dude who should not be fighting Roy Jones (56-8, 40 KO) is supposedly fighting for the same title against Zine Eddine Benmakhlouf (17-3-1, 8 KO) in Moscow on Friday. It’s all very strange and the less said about it the better.
The rest of the week’s noteworthy fights are on Friday, with junior featherweight Kiko Martinez (29-4, 21 KO) looking to back up his upset win over Jhonathan Romero against South Africa’s Jeffrey Mathebula (27-4-2, 14 KO). It’s no easy fight and Mathebula is nearly half a foot taller than his Spanish opponent. Also that night, long time junior bantamweight titleholder Omar Narvaez (40-1-2, 21 KO) defends his strap against David Carmona (16-1-4, 8 KO) at home in Argentina.
That’s all she wrote for this week, guys. We hope you enjoy your holidays while we slave away, handing out end-of-year awards and generally keeping you updated about the boxing world.
