This edition of the week’s boxing schedule comes to you from south of the border. I’m in Mexico City, where sadly there aren’t any fights on. Above is a vintage lucha libre poster (it was the best I could do, and it is pretty cool). Enough of me being obnoxious, though, there are plenty of fights going on elsewhere in the world, including a clash of middleweights in my home country and premium cable card that’s of middling relevance but has high action potential. Let’s get to it:
- Daniel Geale Vs. Jarrod Fletcher, Wednesday, Sydney. As soon as I get out of the country, there’s a decent fight in Australia. Life ain’t fair. This clash of top Aussie middleweights coming off losses should be a good one. Geale (30-3, 16 KO) and Fletcher (18-2, 10 KO) were knocked out in their last outings, against Gennady Golovkin and Danny Jacobs, respectively. Depending on any lasting damage, I’d say the Geale will be too much for Fletcher, who doesn’t have the pop to keep a volume-puncher like Geale away.
- Alan Sanchez Vs. Ed Paredes, Thursday, FS1/Fox Deportes, Del Mar Calif. A solid low-level fight on FS1 between veteran Paredes (35-4-1, 23 KO) and prospect-ish type Sanchez (14-3-1, 8 KO). Neither of these guys is going to set the world on fire, but that’s OK.
- David Lemieux Vs. Gabe Rosado, Saturday, HBO, Brooklyn. The biggest fight of the week pits power punching Canadian middleweight Lemieux (32-2, 30 KO) against Philly tough guy Rosado (21-8, 13 KO). Here’s the thing about Lemieux: he’s got tiny arms and he’s still in love with his power, despite a couple of losses three years ago. I think Rosado can use his length to outbox him. Rosado, however, doesn’t have the world’s best defence, so he’ll need to keep his wits about him. Sparks could fly in the junior middleweight clash between Hank Lundy (25-3-1, 12 KO) and Thomas Dulorme (21-1, 14 KO) on the undercard. Lundy is prone to mental lapses and tasting the canvas, which gives Dulorme a bit of an advantage.
- Jose Felix, Jr. Vs. Luis Solis, Saturday, UniMas, Glendale Calif. Much-fancied Mexican lightweight Prospect Felix, Jr. (27-1-1, 22 KO) continues on the comeback trail after a surprise loss to Bryan Vazquez on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley undercard in April. Solis (15-5-4, 12 KO) is coming off three straight losses and doesn’t figure to give him much trouble.
- Juan Francisco Estrada Vs. Joebert Alvarez, Saturday, beIN Sports Espanol, Hermosillo Mexico. Estrada (30-2, 22 KO) is one of the two best flyweights in the world — no mean feat — and an absolute pleasure to watch. It seemed like he was set for a much-awaited rematch with Roman Gonzalez after the two fought on the same weekend in September, but Gonzalez opted for a quick turnaround bout in Japan. So Estrada has a stay-busy type of fight with the Philippines’ Alvarez (14-0-1, 6 KO), whose undefeated record belies a lack of meaningful experience. He’s going to get blown out of there. Fellow flyweight Hernan Marquez is on the undercard, as is leading female junior featherweight Jackie Nava.
- Jean Pascal Vs. Roberto Bolonti, Saturday, Intergrated Sports PPV, Montreal. So hopefully Canadian light heavyweights Pascal (29-2-1, 17 KO) and Adonis Stevenson (24-1-20, KO) actually fight next year, otherwise this fight, against Bolonti (35-3, 24 KO), and Stevenson’s upcoming bout against Dmitry Sukhotsky will have been utterly pointless wastes of time.
- Juergen Braehmer Vs. Pawel Glazewski, Saturday, Oldenburg Germany. Light heavyweight titlist Braehmer (44-2, 32 KO) continues on his middling way againgst Glazewski (23-2, 5 KO), who’s best know for losing to Roy Jones, Jr. a couple of years ago (but not so many years ago that he should have lost to Roy Jones, Jr.)
