Over the past week the list of recent fights booked has grown rapidly. We have a world title doubleheader in Japan, Margarito dipping his toes a little deeper into the water, a really great super flyweight fight, and some undercard fights for upcoming Golden Boy ESPN shows as well as a ShoBox.
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A brilliant super flyweight title eliminator between Cincinnati’s dropping down former bantamweight titleholder Rau’shee Warrern (14-2, 4 KOs) and former Puerto Rican super flyweight belt holder McJoe Arroyo (17-1, 8 KOs) has been added to next week’s Broner/Garcia card. Unfortunately, it won’t make television even though this fight coupled with the Jarrell Miller/Gerald Washington fight is begging for Showtime Extreme preliminary coverage. The winner will be in line to fight Filipino IBF titlist Jerwin Ancajas, the man who took the title off Arroyo last September in a bit of an upset.
Also next Saturday is the return of Sadam Ali on ESPN2 against Johan Perez as was announced a while back, but now we have a co-feature pitting welterweight Eddie Gomez (20-2, 11 KOs) against Alejandro Barrera (26-3, 17 KOs). This card is not scheduled to air until midnight, but its WatchESPN.com exclusive undercard fights begin at seven so there may be a Broner/Garcia conflict avoiding tape delay at play here.
Friday August fourth’s ShoBox card featuring Clarrissa Shields now has a co-feature as well. Kazakh junior welterweight power puncher Bakhtiyar Eyubov (13-0, 11 KOs) will meet Toledo’s Sonny Fredrickson (17-0, 11 KOs). Eyubov was a prospect with some hype until he met Karim Mayfield last August. Officially he won that fight, but Mayfield largely outboxed him and the judges’ decision is widely considered a poor one. Eyubov is 2-0 since then against fighters with a losing record. 23 year old Sonny Frederickson is an unknown stepping into the spotlight for the first time here.
Also on the very same Friday, Golden Boy’s Mauricio Herrera/Jesus Soto Karass ESPN2 card has its co-main event too. Former prominent Ukrainian light heavyweight prospect Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (18-1, 15 KOs) will take on unbeaten Philly fighter Todd Unthank May (10-0-1, 4 KOs). Shabranskyy’s prospect bubble was thought burst when he was stopped in seven by Sullivan Barrera in December. Now that we have a clearer picture of just how good Barrera is, however, that loss seems much more forgivable. May and his odd name are in way over their head here in all likelihood. I don’t see this ending well for him.
On September 2nd, Antonio Margarito (40-8, 27 KOs) steps his comeback up a tiny bit against high level career journeyman (40-11, 30 KOs) Carson Jones. Jones is most famous for maybe deserving a win he didn’t get over Kell Brook in 2012, but he has been trouble for anyone he has been in with in his career. Margarito, on his third fight back following over four years away, has not looked good since being caught trying to load his gloves before his 2009 fight with Shane Mosley. He took a real beating in that fight and again versus both Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto in their rematch before stepping away. The current, highly diminished version of Margarito is definitely down enough to lose to someone like Carson Jones in my estimation. His badly damaged eye is a notable weakness that could do him in on its own, but overall his game is just far from strong these days.
Finally, a pair of Japanese world titleholders in junior flyweight titlist Kosei Tanaka (9-0, 5 KOs) and super bantamweight belt holder Yukinori Oguni (19-1-1, 7 KOs) will defend on the same September 13th card in Osaka. Both are in weak. Tanaka will face the completely untested Rangsan Chayanram (14-1, 8 KOs) of Thailand, or Palangpol CP Freshmart if we use his sponsored name. Tanaka is only 22, already a two division titlist, and one of the most exciting fighters in the sport in my estimation. This is a dramatic mismatch. Chayanram/Freshmart’s last eight opponents have a losing combined record, for example.
Oguni, who upset thought to be solid titleholder Jonathan Guzman on Christmas Eve, is in better than Tanaka, but still not with a strong opponent. He will be facing his fellow countryman Ryosuke Iwasa (23-2, 15 KOs). Iwasa may have won four straight, but before that he was stopped in six my Lee Haskins. This is a somewhat disappointing card, but Tanaka is an absolute joy to watch so I will still find a way to tune in.
