It’s been commented on before, but TBA is some kind of throwback fighter. Not only is he fighting on the undercard of an HBO fight on Saturday (Ruslan Provodnikov vs. Chris Algieri), but he’ll also be in the ring in Manchester… on the same night. It’s impressive stuff that puts the active schedules of fighters from the pre-television era to shame.
It’s not much of a week for boxing, so we’ll skip the usual format and give you a quick and dirty list of what’s happening.
- Ruslan Provodnikov Vs. Chris Algieri, Saturday, HBO, New York. Junior welterweight Provodnikov (23-2, 16 KO) is the first person to be both a folk and a cult hero at the same time. He’s fight Long Island’s Chris Algieri (19-0, 8 KO), who he’s going to wreck. As I said, more on that later in the week. On the undercard, junior middleweight Demetrius Andrade (20-0, 13 KO) is going to jab England’s Brian Rose (25-1-1, 7 KO) into mush. TBA is busy on the off-TV portion of the undercard against Irish-American light heavyweight cash cow Seanie Monaghan (21-0, 14 KO). Also, last weekend’s main event on HBO Pay-Per-View, which pitted Miguel Cotto against Sergio Martinez for the middleweight championship of the world, airs on regular HBO for the first time.
- Glen Tapia Vs. Keenan Colins, Saturday, Atlantic City N.J. Glen Tapia (20-1, 12 KO) looks to bounce back from a brutal beating at the hands of James Kirkland by facing Keenan Colins (15-8-3, 10 KO) off TV. Also fighting on the undercard is D.C.-area junior welterweight prospect Mike Reed (9-0, 6 KO), who talked about the fight and a potential promotional arrangement with Top Rank here.
- Jorge Arce Vs. Jorge Lacervia, Saturday, Tuxtla Gutierrez Mexico. That guy is still fighting? Featherweight war machine Jorge Arce (63-7-2, 48 KO) fights the nondescript Jorge Lacierva (41-9-6, 27 KO) in Mexico on Saturday. Arce tends to get in to a war in virtually every fight, no matter how the opponent, so it could be worth tracking down. On the undercard, fellow Mexican action hero Hernan “Tysoncito” Marquez (37-4. 26 KO) fights one of Puerto Rico’s humorously named Arroyo brothers, McJoe (14-0, 7 KO). You’d have to think that Marquez is a class above his untested foe, but he has been in a lot of wars.
- Hughie Fury Vs. TBA, Saturday, Manchester. Tyson Fury’s less accomplished heavyweight cousin Hughie (14-0, 8 KO) fights TBA. That is all.
