Get as much boxing in as you can this week, fight fans. After this, we have next to nothing to watch until a couple weeks into the new year as boxing takes its annual hiatus for the holidays. Thankfully, we have a busy slate of fights to close us off with something to watch everyday from Wednesday to Saturday.
Wednesday, December 13th
Jeff Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs) v Gary Corcoran (17-1, 7 KOs), WBO welterweight title & Rohan Murdock (20-1, 15 KOs) v Apti Ustarkhanov (15-2-3, 5 KOs) – Australia – 6:30 AM Eastern, ESPN
Note the time here. This is being aired live from Australia, making it an early hours broadcast in the states. The full undercard is being shown starting at 3:30 AM on WatchESPN.com if you’re up at that time for some reason. Jeff Horn should win comfortably in the main event here as this is entirely a victory lap defense. Gary Corcoran isn’t even a fringe contender, really. Super middleweight Rohan Murdock has been a name Bob Arum is throwing around as a potential Gilberto Ramirez opponent. The televised broadcast will probably not include him, but he’ll be on the online stream.
Katie Taylor (7-0, 4 KOs) v Jessica McCaskill (5-1, 3 KOs), WBA female lightweight title & Martin Joseph Ward (18-0-2, 8 KOs) v Juli Giner (21-2-1, 8 KOs), junior lightweights – England – Sky Sports, 4:45 PM Eastern
If a Katie Taylor walkover is your thing, then Matchroom has you covered in their last card of the year. Ward v Giner is for the European title and is an appropriate fight for that level. Hearn also has a full slate of his rising young prospects as the undercard of this show. I will just list them quickly right here: Josh Kelly, Joe Cordina, Conor Benn, Lawrence Okolie, Gamal Yafai, Felix Cash, and Ted Cheeseman
Thursday, December 14th
Diego De La Hoya (20-0, 9 KOs) v Jose Salgado (35-4-2, 28 KOs), super bantamweights & Carlos Morales (16-2-3, 6 KOs) v Dardan Zenunaj (14-3, 11 KOs), junior lightweights – California – ESPN2, 10:30 PM Eastern
23 year old Diego De La Hoya will return from his career best performance, a dominant September showing over undefeated former titleholder Randy Caballero, with a stay busy fight to end the year on Golden Boy on ESPN. Jose Salgado is no threat as he is too small and been losing at a level below this anyway. Morales and Zenujai is a weird choice for the co-main event with real good prospects like Joet Gonzalez and Joshua Franco on the card that Golden Boy could be showcasing. Normally you can catch these fights on WatchESPN.com before the televised show at least, but right now the website is listing “additional undercard fights” as airing at 12:30 AM Eastern. This is after the main show. This is probably a mistake, but might not be as well. We’ll see.
Friday, December 15th
Alexander Povetkin (32-1, 23 KOs) v Christian Hammer (22-4, 12 KOs), Russia
This is boxing, so of course all the sanctioning bodies have forgiven Alexander Povektin for his repeated drug test failures. The WBO has sanctioned this as a final eliminator for Joseph Parker’s belt. Hammer is a good fighter, but Povektin is world class and should win comfortably here.
Jessie Vargas (27-2, 10 KOs) v Aaron Herrera (33-7-1, 22 KOs), welterweights & Diego Chaves (26-2-1, 22 KOs) v Jamal James (21-1, 9 KOs), welterweights & John Molina Jr (29-7, 23 KOs) v Ivan Redkach (20-3-1, 16 KOs), lightweights – California – Fox Sports 1, 10 PM Eastern
Recent former welterweight title holder Jessie Vargas finally returns after more than a year following his first career loss to Manny Pacquiao. Now fighting for PBC, Vargas is being spoonfed a get well win here against clearly overmatched Aaron Herrera. Thankfully, Diego Chaves versus Jamal James and John Molina versus Ivan Redkach are better fights. Both fights feature a clear A-side in Chaves and Molina looking to get back into the title picture, but both James and Redkach are live underdogs should they not be at their best come fight time.
Saturday, December 16th
Billy Joe Saunders (25-0, 12 KOs) v David Lemieux (38-3, 33 KOs), WBO middleweight title & Antoine Douglas (22-1-1, 16 KOs) v Spike O’Sullivan (26-2, 18 KOs), middleweights & Cletus Seldin (21-0, 17 KOs) v Yves Ulysse Jr (14-1, 9 KOs), junior welterweights – Quebec – HBO, 9:40 PM Eastern
Billy Joe Saunders going on the road to Montreal is a bold move here. The winner here potentially puts themselves in position for a big fight in 2018. It could be against the Golovkin/Canelo II winner in the fall, or it could be against one of them in May if that rematch doesn’t materialize first thing. Douglas against O’Sullivan and Seldin versus Ulysse are weird fights. Both are reasonably well matched, but they are also so far below the old HBO standard that it is jarring to see them here. The main event here is a really good one regardless. Tune in for that.
