The nearly empty stretch that is the first three weeks of 2018 continues. Major boxing returns on the 20th with Errol Spence Jr defending his title against Lamont Peterson, but this week we only have a Claressa Shields headlined ShoBox show to look forward to watching. It’s something, anyway.
Friday, January 12th
Claressa Shields (4-0, 2 KOs) v Tori Nelson (17-0-3, 2 KOs), WBC & IBF female super middleweight titles & Shohjahon Ergashev (10-0, 10 KOs) v Sonny Fredrickson (18-0, 10 KOs), junior welterweights & Jesse Angel Hernandez (10-1, 7 KOs) v Ernesto Garza III (9-2, 5 KOs), super bantamweights – New York – ShoBox, 10 PM Eastern
I don’t normally cover women’s boxing. It is part a time issue as this is a one man show. It is also partly an interest issue, however, as I have little. I am glad it is taking off for the female fighter’s sake, however, and this is a showcase for the biggest emerging American star. I am not going to claim to have a breakdown here, but Nelson is 41 so this will probably go as expected.
The co-main event is a really good ShoBox fight too. Ergashev brings his impressive but empty record and Frederickson largely does the same. They are 26 and 23 years old respectively and both had some good success domestically in quality amateur scenes. This sort of fight where both fighters are potentially having their first test against one another is the show’s mission statement being executed perfectly. Jesse Hernandez is also a fun, strong pressure fighter coming off consecutive upset ShoBox wins, but unfortunately he is taking a small step down here against Garza.
Otherwise, there is nothing happening this week. The next biggest show is on Saturday in Japan headlined by Rikki Naito and featuring a pair of OPBF title fights, but it isn’t really something anyone but the craziest of crazies needs to pay attention to. Don’t fret though. We gear back up next week.
