We have a small smattering of booked fights that have been made over the last week to report on. Billy Joe Saunders and David Lemieux now have an HBO co-feature, we have an upcoming PBC on FS1 undercard of quiet quality, and we also have Sergey Kovalev’s likely next fight date. The wheels of the sport always keep turning.
- As discussed previously, former welterweight titleholder Jessie Vargas’s return to the sport and PBC debut will be on Friday, December 15th on FS1. Haymon and company have since quietly added a really solid two fight undercard for an FS1 show. Former secondary welterweight titleholder Diego Chaves (26-2-1, 22 KOs) will fight once beaten PBC fringe contender Jamal James (21-1, 9 KOs) in the co-main event. Multiple time title challenger John Molina Jr (29-7, 23 KOs) will meet Ivan Redkach (20-3-1, 16 KOs) in the opener. Given the usual FS1 standards, this is good stuff.
- The next night, December 16th, is Billy Joe Saunders’s HBO televised middleweight title defense on the road against David Lemieux in Montreal. That show now too has a co-main event in former top middleweight prospect Antoine Douglas (22-1-1, 16 KOs) in against Irish gatekeeper Spike O’Sullivan (26-2, 18 KOs). I’ll get more into it when it is time to write the preview, but this is not an inspiring HBO fight despite Douglas still being talented.
- Finally, according to his promoter Kathy Duva, March 3rd is almost certainly going to be the next date for last night’s big winner Sergey Kovalev (31-2-1, 27 KOs). The most likely opponent remains Sullivan Barrera (21-1, 14 KOs) who also won last night, so hopefully they can get the money right this time. Currently targeted for the co-main event is Kovalev’s fellow Russian light heavyweight titleholder Dmitry Bivol (12-0, 10 KOs). No rumored opponents for Bivol as of yet, but this could turn out to be an excellent card if it pans out as planned.
