This week brought us a few more significant fights to add to our schedule going forward. Pound for pound elite former two division titleholder Naoya Inoue has his bantamweight debut set, we likely have a really good next opponent for Sergey Kovalev, Josh Kelly takes a big step up, and more. Read on.
- March 31st’s Golden Boy on ESPN card has its fights now, though the series’ namesake will not be promoting the main event. Instead, Murphy’s Boxing will put on former US serviceman Mark DeLuca (20-0, 12 KOs) against Michael Moore (15-1, 7 KOs) in a really weak main event. Unlike last time Golden Boy gave up a card to Murphy’s, however, they will still be providing some undercard fights including the co-main event. In that, previously injured Irish middleweight prospect Jason Quigley (13-0, 10 KOs) will return against Daniel Rosario (11-3, 10 KOs).
- Blue chip British welterweight prospect Josh Kelly (5-0, 4 KOs) will be taking an unexpectedly large step up in class on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s March 31st megashow headlined by his unification fight with Joseph Parker. His opponent will be former world titleholder Carlos Molina (28-8-2, 8 KOs) of Mexico. Molina has lost two straight and does appear to not be the fighter he once was, but it is still a bold opponent selection for a prospect’s sixth professional fight. Eddie Hearn clearly believes in Josh Kelly.
- May 25th will mark the bantamweight debut of “Monster” Naoya Inoue (15-0, 13 KOs) when he meets secondary WBA titleholder Jamie McDonnell (29-2-1, 13 KOs) at home in Japan. This fight can’t net Inoue a third world title because Ryan Burnett has the real version, but wouldn’t it be nice if this fight set up Burnett v Inoue? I’d sure love to see that one. Naoya Inoue is absolutely one of the most talented fighters in all the sport and everyone should be paying attention to him.
- This summer, like late June or early July, PBC emerging light heavyweight contender Marcus Browne (21-0, 16 KOs) is all but certainly going to get his world title shot, but not with his normal brand. Instead, he will very likely be heading to HBO or ESPN. For one, Browne is the mandatory challenger to IBF titleholder Artur Beterbiev and the fight has been ordered. Beterbiev isn’t officially promoted by Top Rank yet, apparently, but he will be whenever he settles with Yvon Mitchell and they would buy this fight for their ESPN series for sure. Apparently Browne has his pick, however, as HBO and Sergey Kovalev are interested in broadcasting and making a defense of Kovalev’s WBO belt as well. Either way, it is a damn good fight.
- Last but not least, also expected for this summer is a secondary title shot for Brazilian Olympic medalist Esquiva Falcao (20-0, 14 KOs) against Japan’s Ryota Murata (13-1, 10 KOs). Falcao has been fighting on Top Rank undercards and this would be a pretty big step up, but I think it is an interesting matchup between two emerging contenders with superb Olympic pedigrees. Given Top Rank’s involvement with Murata as a co-promoter as well, this would likely get some ESPN airtime too.
