Here are a number of fights that have been booked in the last couple days. They include a title eliminator for Luke Campbell, a return for Orlando Salido, a PBC on FS1 card, and an Alvarez versus a Chavez before the big fight.
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Luke Campbell (16-1, 13 KOs) gets a WBA title eliminator for the belt belonging to Jorge Linares against Darleys Perez (33-2-2, 21 KO) on the April 29th Joshua/Klitskcho undercard. Darleys Perez, a former WBA titlist himself, is coming off a rough three fight streak. He first should have lost his title to Anthony Crolla, but he walked away with a draw. Then he did lose his title on a body shot stoppage in a rematch with Crolla. Finally, he was robbed of a win against Maurice Hooker on the Ward/Kovalev PPV when that fight was scored a draw. Campbell has looked pretty good in four straight wins since his sole loss, a 2015 upset split decision to Frenchman Yvan Mendy, and figures to be a slight favorite here.
Veteran junior lightweight Orlando Salido (43-14-4, 30 KOs) returns with an easy tune up in Mexico against unknown Thai fighter Amphon Suriyo (18-2, 14 KO). Salido is coming off an epic three fight stretch where he went to war with Rocky Martinez twice and then Francisco Vargas in three really great fights. Officially his record is 0-1-2 in those three fights, but the Martinez rematch is widely considered a poor set of cards and the Vargas fight was a toss up that could have went either way. At worst he should be 1-1-1, and an argument definitely could be made for 2-1. Suriyo is 0-2 outside Thailand where it is very easy to build records. It is clear he is being brought in to give Salido an easy night.
The April 25th PBC on FS1 card is coming into focus. Unbeaten junior lightweight Mario Barrios (18-0, 10 KOs) returns against Nicaraguan trial horse Nelson Lara (17-7-4, 9 KOs). To be blunt, this is a pretty appalling main event. Barrios, who I don’t even see as a great prospect, should demolish the extremely overmatched Lara. I’ll rant more on this one when it becomes time to write a preview. A better matchup is delivered as the co-feature as 2012 Mexican Olympian Oscar Molina (13-1-1, 10 KOs) and the always game Levan Ghvamichava (17-3-1, 13 KOs) meet at welterweight. Both guys need a win, have been in good fights, and are in somewhat similar places in their career. Omar’s younger brother Brandon Figueroa (11-0, 8 KOs) will also be on the card.
Finally on April 29th, a week before the Canelo/Chavez Jr PPV, their brothers Omar Chavez (35-3-1, 23 KOs) and Ramon Alvarez (24-5-2, 16 KOs) rematch their tight 2014 bout on Azteca in Mexico and BeIN Sports en Español in the US. These guys are club level fighters getting a bit of exposure because of family names, but to me at least it is a fun idea for the brothers to fight on the eve of the big fight.
