The second biggest heavyweight fight that can be made is happening Saturday afternoon in Wales. At the end of the event, either Anthony Joshua or Joseph Parker will have unified three of the four heavyweight titles. The week also includes Kosei Tanaka moving up and a Golden Boy on ESPN show as well.
Saturday, March 31st
Kosei Tanaka (10-0, 6 KOs) v Ronnie Baldonado (10-0-1, 7 KOs), flyweights – Japan
22 year old two division world titleholder Kosei Tanaka has been my number one light flyweight for some time now, but that ends this weekend when he officially moves to flyweight for a non-title test the waters type fight against fellow 22 year old Ronnie Baldonado of the Philippines. Between Artem Dalakian, Daigo Higa, Donnie Nietes, and Sho Kimura, there isn’t an easy title for him to focus on at flyweight after this fight either. I am interested to see what direction Tanaka goes towards in quest of his third world title. That journey begins this weekend.
Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) v Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs), WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight titles & Alexander Povetkin (33-1, 23 KOs) v David Price (22-4, 18 KOs), heavyweights & Ryan Burnett (18-0, 9 KOs) v Yonfrez Parejo (21-2-1, 10 KOs), WBA bantamweight title & Josh Kelly (5-0, 4 KOs) v Carlos Molina (28-8-2, 8 KOs), welterweights – Wales – Sky Box Office (UK), 1 PM Eastern & Showtime, 6 PM Eastern
This is the big one. Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker will nearly unify the heavyweight division against one another, leaving only a single fight with WBC titleholder Deontay Wilder stopping us from having our first undisputed heavyweight champion in some time. I’ll have a full preview of the fight up later in the week. Showtime will only have the main event, but the Sky Sports PPV in the UK will feature a lengthy undercard. Alexander Povetkin is in a showcase bout against David Price because he is an Anthony Joshua mandatory challenger and Hearn is trying to hype that fight next. Ryan Burnett has an okay defense of his title set up too while blue chip prospect Josh Kelly takes a big step up against Carlos Molina, a man who was a true top contender one division up just a couple years ago. Contender Anthony Crolla as well as prospects Joshua Buatsi and Joe Cordina also have fights, but against pretty low level opposition. They hype meter is high for this one.
Mark DeLuca (20-0, 12 KOs) v Michael Moore (15-1, 7 KOs), junior middleweights & Jason Quigley (13-0, 10 KOs) v Daniel Rosario Cruz (11-3, 10 KOs), middleweights – Massachusetts – Golden Boy on ESPN – ESPN2, 10 PM Eastern
The third Golden Boy on ESPN branded card in two weeks airs Saturday night. The point of the show for Golden Boy seems to be to promote Irish prospect Jason Quigley. Given his injury caused year layoff, however, they do not seem to want him in the main event. Without much else worth a draw in the Northeast, they’ve loaned out the main event to Murphys boxing who are putting on DeLuca versus Moore. This is a thoroughly mediocre card. The WatchESPN stream begins an hour and a half earlier. Golden Boy prospects Damon Allen and Yamaguchi Falcao are also in action and will be on that stream if they don’t make the main card.
