If a fight is never actually made, can it be canceled? Either way, Keith Thurman will not be competing on his scheduled May 19th date on Showtime thanks to a hand injury suffered in training. We also have a WBA eliminator, a Golden Boy on ESPN, network interest in Carl Frampton versus Nonito Donaire, and early World Boxing Super Series season two rumors.
- Golden Boy prospect Lamont Roach Jr (16-0, 6 KOs) will main event a Golden Boy on ESPN card against Orlando Cruz (25-6-1, 13 KOs) on April 19th. Roach is a nice young Golden Boy prospect, but I don’t view him as a blue chip kind of guy necessarily due to his lack of power. He will be taking a mild step up here on the road in Puerto Rico. You might remember Cruz for bravely becoming the first openly gay boxer in 2012, but he has also been a decent fringe contender for years on his own merit. He isn’t world class, but he is a step up for Roach Jr.
- Carl Frampton’s (24-1, 14 KOs) April 21st fight against Nonito Donaire (38-4, 24 KOs) in Belfast is reportedly being considered for an American television pick up by Showtime. This feels like a bit of a foregone conclusion given the network’s involvement both historically with Frampton and in the featherweight division. I expect it to happen.
- HBO’s and Matchroom USA’s April 28th main event between Danny Jacobs (33-2, 29 KOs) and Polish contender Maciej Sulecki (26-0, 10 KOs) has been promoted to final eliminator status by the WBA. Since the WBA has about thirty or so men they call world titleholders in each division at this point, it has been clarified that this eliminator is to meet “super champion” Gennady Golovkin. Triple G now will shortly have a mandatory for all three of his belts now, not to mention an unclear opponent on May 5th. Sergiy Derevyanchenko has been named the IBF contender while Jermall Charlo and Hugo Centeno meet for the right to be named the WBC’s mandatory in a few weeks.
- ESPN’s Dan Rafael is reporting that unified welterweight titleholder Keith Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) has injured his hand and will not be competing on May 19th. This is hardly a loss as Thurman still never actually signed up an opponent, but it does continue to hold two of the four belts hostage at the traditional glamour weight. At this point Thurman has already been off for a year thanks to an elbow surgery and it feels like it is time to begin wondering whether or not the WBA or WBC will consider stripping him. He openly didn’t plan on taking on a top contender in May and this will not change that fact as he will need a tune up more than ever.
- Finally, rumors for the next World Boxing Super Series are indicating that the tournament organization will be looking at a smaller weight class for inclusion in season two. Japanese star Naoya Inoue’s (15-0, 13 KOs) team have been said that they have been approached for a potential slot in a bantamweight tournament. I can definitely get behind this idea. It is likely that the WBSS people are just putting out feelers at this point to see what division they can potentially pull the most high level fighters from, but Inoue’s inclusion at bantamweight would definitely legitimize that tournament immediately.
