The upcoming week is a pretty big one in the sport of boxing. It begins with a pair of weekday cards in Japan featuring world title fights, moves to the UK for separate returns of Kell Brook and Josh Taylor midday Saturday, and then culminates with the huge heavyweight title fight on Showtime going against an HBO card featuring Sergey Kovalev. There is a lot to get to this week.
Wednesday, February 28th
Daniel Roman (23-2-1, 9 KOs) v Ryo Matsumoto (21-1, 19 KOs), WBA super bantamweight title – Japan
Daniel Roman is a world titlist thanks to the WBA farcically stripped Guillermo Rigondeaux of his “super” title at the weight for losing two divisions north of super bantamweight, instantly legitimizing Daniel Roman’s previously lesser belt as a real world title. Here is defending it in Japan as the strong Japanese contingency in the sport continues their quest to rule the lower weight class. Matsumoto has a power puncher’s record and did stop the main who beat him in the rematch, but he is taking a big step up here against a red hot fighter in Daniel Roman.
Thursday, March 1st
Luis Nery (25-0, 19 KOs) v Shinsuke Yamanaka (27-1-2, 19 KOs), WBC bantamweight title & Ryosuke Iwasa (24-2, 16 KOs) v Ernesto Saulong (21-2-1, 8 KOs), IBF super bantamweight title – Japan
When rising Mexican Luis Nery blew out longtime divisional king Shinsuke Yamanaka last summer, it looked like a star was born and an era ended. A failed post-fight drug test postponed that reality, however. Now they are doing it again on Thursday in Japan. The co-main event is also a world title fight, though not a particularly compelling one. Iwasa isn’t a strong fighter at world level and Saulong isn’t there at all.
Saturday, March 3rd
Kell Brook (36-2, 25 KOs) v Sergey Rabchenko (29-2, 22 KOs), junior middleweights & Gamal Yafai (14-0, 7 KOs) v Gavin McDonnell (18-1-2, 5 KOs), super bantamweights – England – Sky Sports, 2:30 PM Eastern
Kell Brook’s comeback fight from his stoppage loss to Errol Spence Jr is on this weekend. Rabchenko is a competent pro fighter, but not likely talented enough to trouble Brook. That is assuming the Sheffield man has recovered physically and mentally from having his face broken a second time. Plus, Brook is moving up here. Gamal Yafai versus Gavin McDonnell is what could be called the “competitive main event” on the show. It is a nice matchup between a good young prospect and a guy with some recent experience on the world level. Other prominent British scene fights such as Kid Galahad, Sam Eggington, and Rocky Fielding will be on the bill as well.
Josh Taylor (11-0, 10 KOs) v Winston Campos (30-3-5, 18 KOs), junior welterweights – Scotland – Channel 5, 5 PM Eastern
Josh Taylor is one of the best prospects in boxing. At this point, he is more of an emerging contender even. He was supposed to meet Humberto Soto here. That was probably a mismatch with Soto aging, inactive, and significantly outsized, but at least we know Humberto can fight. He is out with an injury, however, and unknown Nicaraguan Winston Campos steps in. Campos is 13-0-1 since 2013 and he avenged the draw with a first round knockout, but these random unknowns can rarely fight at this level when asked to so I am not expecting much. Unfortunately, this fight will likely conflict with Kell Brook’s fight on Sky.
Deontay Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs) v Luis Ortiz (28-0, 24 KOs), WBC heavyweight title & Andre Dirrell (26-2, 16 KOs) v Jose Uzcategui (26-2, 22 KOs), super middleweights – New York – 9 PM Eastern
We still have a few days for this one to fall apart like last time, but it looks like all systems are a go for this massive heavyweight title fight between two of the division’s elites. This is a really intriguing matchup, though I do worry it might not be as exciting as is being expected as Deontay Wilder was really measured the one time he felt potentially threatened and Luis Ortiz doesn’t move his hands a lot. Andre Dirrell and Jose Uzcategui are rematching their controversial fight from last year in the co-main event. Dirrell won their first fight by disqualification due to being knocked out after the bell, prompting an in ring riot. This one could get intense. There is absolutely nothing to complain about with this doubleheader on Showtime.
Sergey Kovalev (31-2-1, 27 KOs) v Igor Mikhalkin (21-1, 9 KOs), WBO light heavyweight title & Dmitry Bivol (12-0, 10 KOs) v Sullivan Barrera (21-1, 14 KOs), WBA light heavyweight title – New York – HBO, 10 PM Eastern
This card is flying under the radar due to the much bigger main event across town on Showtime. That makes sense when looking at the main event here which is likely another mismatch on the way to rebuilding Sergey Kovalev. Igor Mikhalkin is a top 25 guy at the weight, at least, but he isn’t physically near The Krusher. What is unquestionably great here, however, is the co-feature. Dmitry Bivol is a young titleholder and one of the best prospects in all the sport. Sullivan Barrera is absolutely red hot in the division and marks a massive step up for Bivol. This is a tremendous matchup. Hopefully the winners of these two fights meet down the line later this year too.
