With Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor finally in the books, it is time to look ahead to next weekend’s lineup in the sport. Unfortunately, it is a rather low key list of fights with nothing significant happening in the US or the UK. Maybe we all need a break after last weekend anyway though. Still, there are a couple good fights in the always active scenes of Mexico and Japan worth looking into if you need your fix.
Saturday, September 2nd
Carlos Ocampo (21-0, 12 KOs) v Konstantin Ponomarev (32-0, 13 KOs), IBF welterweight eliminator & Antonio Margarito (40-8, 27 KOs) v Carson Jones (40-11-3, 30 KOs), junior middleweights – Mexico – BeIn Sports En Espanol, Azteca (Mexico) – 9 PM Eastern
In the best card of a mostly empty week, a pair of unbeaten prospects/fringe contenders meet in Mexico for a shot to be mandated as an Errol Spence Jr title challenger. I have Ponomarev just inside the top 25 and Ocampo just outside. 147 is deep at that level of fighter though, very deep, and they’d both be ranked in many other divisions. The winner will find themselves comfortably within the rankings following the fight and probably a lot less comfortably in the ring with Errol Spence Jr at a later date.. Margarito/Jones is a toss up matchup between a shot former top fighter in Antonio Margarito versus a high functioning gate keeper. This will tell us a lot about just how far Antonio Margarito has fallen.
Eduardo Hernandez (23-0-3, 19 KOs) v Raul Horacio Centeno (20-3-1, 8 KOs), super featherweights – Mexico – Televisa
Eduardo Hernandez is an interesting prospect. He is still only nineteen and turned pro at fourteen years old in Mexico. His three draws came in his first nine fights, all before he was seventeen. Since then he has been knocking out adults with positive records. That is a hell of a resume all before turning twenty. Centeno is a 29 year old Argentinian with yet another good record for Hernandez to presumably knock over. I am looking forward to getting a real look at this kid here.
Sunday, September 3rd
Shun Kubo (12-0, 9 KOs) v Daniel Roman (22-2-1, 8 KOs), secondary super bantamweight title & Masayoshi Nakatani (14-0, 8 KOs) v Ryan Sermona (20-8-1, 13 KOs), lightweights – Japan
Guillermo Rigondeaux is the real WBA super bantamweight titleholder. The version that Kubo carries is a secondary belt no matter what they call it. With that said, Rigondeaux is likely moving up in weight next. Were he to vacate his “super” WBA belt, Kubo’s “regular” title would be legitimatized instantly. Such is life with the ridiculous WBA. As a fight, this is good test for Kubo following his win over Nehomar Cermeno. As always with significant fights in Japan, however, you will be on your own when it comes time to find it to watch.