There is no one big fight this week, but the wheel’s of the sport keep churning regardless. By far the biggest name of the weekend is former two division titleholder Carl Frampton. He will be taking a home coming tune up in Northern Ireland. There are also a pair of PBC cards and a Golden Boy on ESPN this week as well.
Thursday, November 16th
Jose Martinez (19-0-1, 12 KOs) v Jesus Martinez (23-2, 11 KOs), super flyweights & Alexis Rocha (9-0, 6 KOs) v Pascual Salgado (12-7, 8 KOs), welterweights & Vergil Ortiz (7-0, 7 KOs) v Reno Reyes (7-2-1, 5 KOs), junior welterweights – Mexico – Golden Boy on ESPN – ESPN Deportes, 9 PM Eastern
Puerto Rican super flyweight Jose Martinez is getting highlighted here by Golden Boy on this ESPN Deportes card. I honestly don’t know much about him, but I do know that young early stage prospects Alexis Rocha and Vergil Ortiz will be shown. They are very early in their careers but still worth a watch for sure.
Friday, November 17th
Max Ornelas (9-0-1, 4 KOs) v Nick Otieno (31-11, 13 KOs), bantamweights & Randy Moreno (10-1, 9 KOs) v Fatiou Fassinou (28-7-3, 15 KOs), junior lightweights – Iowa – BeIN Sports, 9 PM Eastern
Roy Jones Jr’s young promotional company’s TV deal with BeIN Sports gets its second show here. He is promoting his prospects, of course, with the air time. Nathaniel Gallimore and Abel Ramos are listed as fighting on the show, but the poster Jones and his team are using on social media does not indicated they will be broadcast.
Anthony Dirrell (30-1-1, 24 KOs) v Denis Douglin (20-5, 13 KOs), super middleweights & Jamontay Clark (12-0, 7 KOs) v Domonique Dolton (19-1-1, 12 KOs), welterweights – Michigan – PBC on FS1, 10:30 PM Eastern
This is a special Friday edition of PBC on FS1 and that is all it is really worth. Anthony Dirrell continues to fight only mismatches since his first career loss to Badou Jack two and a half years ago now. He will have an easy time with Douglin here. The co-main event is between two minor prospects in the PBC stable in Clark and Dolton. It is listed as a welterweight fight, but Domonique Dolton has never made that limit so we will see.
Saturday, November 18th
Tomasz Adamek (51-5, 30 KOs) v Fred Kassi (18-6-1, 10 KOs), heavyweights – Poland – Polsat
40 year old Polish star heavyweight Tomasz Adamek fights this weekend. It seemed worth noting, but the former cruiserweight titleholder isn’t significant anymore. This is a winnable fight at least.
Carl Frampton (23-1, 14 KOs) v Horacio Garcia (33-3-1, 24 KOs), featherweights & Zolani Tete (25-3, 20 KOs) v Siboniso Gonya (11-1, 5 KOs), WBO bantamweight title & Jerwin Ancajas (27-1-1, 18 KOs) v Jamie Conlan (19-0, 11 KOs), IBF super flyweight title – Northern Ireland – Box Nation (UK), 3:30 PM Eastern
Carl Frampton makes his second attempt at an easy home return here following his first career loss to Leo Santa Cruz at the start of the year. Hopefully no freak last minute injuries cancel this one. This will also be his first fight under Frank Warren’s banner. The main event and Zolani Tete’s title defense are blatant mismatches, unfortunately, but Ancajas/Conlan could be interesting. I still think it is rout for the Filipino titlist, but it isn’t guaranteed to be like the other two.
Julian Williams (23-1-1, 15 KOs) v Ishe Smith (29-8, 12 KOs), junior middleweights & Lionell Thompson (18-4, 11 KOs) v Earl Newman (10-0-1, 7 KOs), light heavyweights – PBC on Bounce TV, 9 PM Eastern
This is the only card on American television Saturday night. Julian “J-Rock” Williams will try to pick up a minor name on his resume as he continues to recover from being wrecked by Jermall Charlo. Ishe can still fight though so this result is not a given. Newman and Thompson are middling PBC light heavyweights in a well matched but pretty insignificant co-main event. This is a better use of Bounce and its extremely low production values than wasting someone like Robert Easter Jr on it at least.
