Golden Boy on ESPN returns Thursday night in on ESPN2 with a card headlined by lightweights Michael Perez (24-2-2, 11 KOs) and Marcelino Lopez (32-1-1, 17 KOs). The co-featured bout pits exciting welterweight prospect Rashidi Ellis (17-0, 12 KOs) against John Karl Sosa (13-2, 6 KOs). This isn’t as good of a card as the first two ESPN shows that Golden Boy put on, but it is more in line with what we expected when the series was first announced.
Single promoter TV deals are never glamour shows. They have always been shows much like this one where they they have two guys here that should be picking up reasonably easy wins. When Golden Boy’s first two cards first gave us prospect Jason Quigley in a real test against Glenn Tapia and then two unbeaten Golden Boy contenders in Antonio Orozco and Keandre Gibson, I was pleasantly surprised. These were compelling matchups that were at worst 70/30 fights.
Thursday night we have two 90/10 fights. Michael Perez has retired in his corner after six in his two biggest fights against Omar Figueroa in 2012 and Petr Petrov in most recently last September, but he has not lost to anyone else while facing reasonably respectable competition. Fidel Maldonado Jr, Miguel Acosta, and Martin Honorio, for example, were not world class competition when he fought them if any of them ever truly were, but they are known, recognizable fighters that would expose Perez as an illegitimate fringe contender if he were such a thing. They did not.
Marcelino Lopez of Argentina, in contrast, has no recognizable resume. His most recent fight was in California, a third round stoppage of 17-11-3 David Rodela. Prior to that his only fight outside Argentina was a 2009 six rounder in Paraguay. His loss came in 2014 to the hands of a 21-4 Pablo Martin Barboza who has gone 2-7 since. He consistently beats his fellow Argentinians who have records like 18-7, 12-5, etc. Either Golden Boy sees something that I cannot see on paper here or Lopez is just here to get Perez well after the Petrov stoppage loss. I am going with door number two.
The co-main event brings more of the same with a extra pinch of excitement sprinkled on top in the form of unbeaten welterweight prospect “Speedy” Rashidi Ellis. 23 year old Speedy Ellis is already a well traveled fighter in his young career. He began fighting in his home state of Massachusetts, but more than half of his fights have come in the Caribbean split between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Ellis burst onto the scene as a prospect with a 3-0 2016 back in the United States, but now on the west coast with Golden Boy. His most recent fight in December was the co-feature to the Barrera/Shabranskyy fight on HBO Latino. On paper it was a nice step up facing 19-1 Eddie Gomez. In practice it was a first round, star making demolition. Ellis blew Gomez away behind lightning fast right hands befitting of the “Speedy” nickname.
Thursday he faces John Karl Sosa, a fighter coming off two straight losses. Most recently he lost to the same Eddie Gomez that Rashidi Ellis sent away in under ninety seconds. This is a very transparent attempt to give Ellis a coming out party on a wider platform. Much like the main event is designed to get Michael Perez back on his winning ways, this one is designed to keep Rashidi Ellis on his.
I don’t hate it. It is easy to forgive a mediocre card on the backs of two good ones. Golden Boy is also following this with a Yuriorkis Gamboa fight the next time they are on ESPN in May. Even without all that, this is basically what you sign up for if you decide to watch a dedicated single promoter show. I am not exactly looking forward to it, but it isn’t so bad that I am dreading watching it either. It is decent boxing and I will always be happy for that.
The card begins at 10 PM Eastern on ESPN2, but if you want more WatchESPN.com will have more undercard bouts streaming beginning at 8 PM. One of these will likely be Eddie Gomez (19-2, 11 KOs) returning from his aforementioned KO1 loss against Swiss born Dennis Dauti (14-1, 7 KOs) making his US debut. Light heavyweight contender Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (17-1, 14 KOs) is listed for the card as well, but days out his opponent is still TBA. If he gets one it will be a soft touch and likely make the WatchESPN prelims broadcast.
