Top super middleweight Gilberto Ramirez now has his next title defense set for February on ESPN. Unfortunately, he will be facing little known Habib Ahmed from Ghana in a fight that is unlikely to be competitive. We also have a Golden Boy on ESPN, Golden Boy’s 2018 plans for ESPN, Denis Shafikov, and a little more to add to the proverbial schedule.
- According to K2’s Tom Loeffler, HBO’s December 9th show has reportedly expanded and leaked over to HBO Latino. Recent lightweight title challenger Denis Shafikov (38-3-1, 20 KOs) and 21 year old unbeaten Mexican junior middleweight prospect Jaime Munguia (25-0, 21 KOs) will be featured in separate bouts. HBO has not confirmed this as far as I can tell, but Loeffler has explained that the fights will be recorded before the main card and then aired on HBO Latino after.
- Gilberto Ramirez (36-0, 24 KOs) most recently is coming off a win over Jesse Hart in which he dominated early but had to hold on through a minor late surge. Habib Ahmed (26-0-1, 18 KOs) is a complete unknown who has never fought outside of Ghana. Given that I do not know who he is, I cannot tell you that he stands no chance for sure. They rarely do when they come in as complete unknowns but once and a while we get a surprise. Corpus Christi, Texas will have the fight on February 3rd. ESPN will televise.
- Golden Boy has booked another Golden Boy on ESPN card for November 30th on WatchESPN.com and ESPN Deportes. Rising junior lightweight prospect Lamont Roach Jr (15-0, 6 KOs) will take his first main event against Filipino Rey Perez (21-8, 6 KOs) at the top of the bill. Puerto Rican Jose Lopez (18-1-1, 13 KOs) will meet Mexican Miguel Gonzalez (21-3, 18 KOs) in the co-main event also at junior lightweight. The card will begin at 8 PM Eastern.
- Finally, Golden Boy has begun detailing their 2018 plans for their ESPN series. Golden Boy on ESPN is set to deliver a minimum of 24 cards next year spread out over ESPN platforms. Given that most of these cards at the end of the year have been relegated to ESPN Deportes and ESPN’s online streaming service rather than making television, I wonder if the deal will be extend beyond that once the initial contract runs out. It is hard to say from the outside.
