The schedule is late , but let me make it up to you with this picture Sylvester Stallone painted of what he thought Rocky would look like “in an emotional sense.” Speaking of feelings, this week’s boxing schedule has got me all emotional. Not only do we have Lucas “The Machine” Matthysse on HBO, Adrien Broner is in a somewhat competitive fight on Showtime. Let’s get down to it.
- Lucas Matthysse vs Viktor Postol, Saturday, HBO, Carson Calif. A really interesting one, with junior welterweight#1 Matthysse (37-3, 34 KO) taking on #8 Postol (27-0, 11 KO). It’s not quite a classic boxer vs puncher match-up, since Matthysse, a monstrously heavy hitter, also has some skills. Still, Postol has significant height and reach advantages and might be able to rack up points from the outside. I don’t think it’ll happen that way, though. Matthysse will find his target eventually and when he does it’ll be just a matter of time. There’s an interesting undercard fight too, with junior welterweight prospect Antonio Orozco (22-0, 15 KO) taking a big step up against perennial contender Humberto Soto (65-8-2, 35 KO), who has been sidelined by a number of fight postponements. It has the feel of an action-packed, pick ’em fight.
- Adrien Broner vs Khabib Allakhverdiev, Saturday, Showtime, Cincinnati Ohio. Meanwhile over on the other premium cable network, preening showman Broner (30-2, 22 KO) looks to bounce back from his loss to Shawn Porter against Russia’s Allakhverdiev (19-1, 9 KO), who himself is coming off a loss. Despite the nearly 3-1 odds in Broner’s favour, I don’t think this is necessarily an easy fight; Allakhverdiev, a southpaw, is slippery and throws a wide variety of punches. If Broner hasn’t been concentrating in training (never a given), he could be in for a long night.
- Jason Sosa vs Jorge Pazos, Friday, gofightlive.tv, Philadelphia. Junior lightweight Sosa (17-1-3, 13 KO) takes on Pazos (14-8-1, 8 KO), who’s lost five of his last six.
- Patrick Teixeira vs Don Mouton, Friday, Estrella TV/RingTV.com, Los Angeles. Brazilian middleweight prospect Teixeira (25-0, 21 KO) fights Texan journeyman Mouton (14-9-1, 12 KO) in a Golden Boy club show.
