The upcoming week in the sport is a quieter week than the last few, but it still features a major HBO card Saturday night. There is also a PBC Toe-to-Toe Tuesday card tomorrow featuring the return of a former two division titleholder as well as Julio Ceja taking a tune up on Televisa late Saturday night. Unfortunately, the UK scene goes dark for the week at all but the regional level.
Tuesday, November 21st
Devon Alexander (26-4, 14 KOs) v Walter Castillo (26-4-1, 19 KOs), welterweights & Miguel Cruz (16-0, 11 KOs) v David Grayton (15-1-1, 11 KOs), welterweights – Florida – PBC on FS1, 8 PM Eastern
This isn’t a bad PBC on FS1. Check the site for the full preview later today, but basically Devon Alexander has apparently been a painkiller addict during his downfall and is now clean. This is his first step back. Cruz and Grayton is a well matched test for the rising PBC prospect in Miguel Cruz. Plus, this starts early at eight. There are worse ways to spend a Tuesday night for sure.
Saturday, November 25th
Sergey Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 KOs) v Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (19-1, 16 KOs), WBO light heavyweight title & Sullivan Barrera (20-1, 14 KOs) v Felix Valera (15-1, 13 KOs), light heavyweights & Jason Sosa (20-2-4, 15 KOs) v Yuriorkis Gamboa (27-2, 17 KOs), featherweights – New York – HBO, 10 PM Eastern
The return of Krusher Kovalev main events both this HBO tripleheader and the weekend at large. Here he tries to reclaim his old WBO belt that Andre Ward vacated upon his retirement. Shabranskyy is a good fighter with his only loss being to Sullivan Barrera, but he is a big underdog. The same Sullivan Barrera fights on the undercard in what looks like a mismatch on paper against Felix Valera, as does recent Vasyl Lomachenko opponent Jason Sosa against a seemingly shot former Cuban star Yuriorkis Gamboa. This could be three wipe outs, but these are good fighters at least and I suspect Shabranskyy will get at least some offense going in the main event. Expect the full preview later in the week.
Julio Ceja (31-2, 28 KOs) v Breilor Teran (20-14-1, 13 KOs), super bantamweights – Mexico – Televisa, 11 PM Eastern
Exciting top Mexican bantamweight and recent former titleholder Julio Ceja returns here on Televisa for a tune up before looking for something bigger early next year. This is for a secondary version of the WBC belt he used to hold and that is currently being defended by Rey Vargas. That is a fight I am hoping for in 2018 for sure.
