PBC on FS1 returns for the first time in 2018 tomorrow night with a five fight, three hour broadcast headlined by the suddenly hot welterweight contender Jamal James versus Abel Ramos. Edner Cherry also returns in the co-main event against Dennis Galarza while three prospect fights will open the card.
Minnesota product Jamal James (22-1, 10 KOs) didn’t come up the ranks as some blue chip prospect with big time amateur credentials. In fact, he was basically an unknown when he turned professional in 2010. Without a real promoter or a particularly active home scene in Minnesota, James even had to go as far as to rematch two of his first four opponents in his first six fights just to get real work in the ring.
Yet, Jamal James had one thing that caused him to stand out to anyone watching. Height. At 6’2″, James is an extraordinarily tall welterweight. The only man I can remember being taller at 147 lbs would be Paul Williams. That kind of advantage gets a fighter noticed. James got his first big oppotunity in late 2015 on a BounceTV card against once beaten Juan Carlos Abreu. He won a wide decision and parlayed it into two more PBC televised wins against Javier Molina and Wale Omotoso. Those aren’t world level title contenders, but the three men had a combined record of 61-4 when he met them. These were good wins.
Much of the same was expected when Jamal met then struggling former Cuban Olympic bronze medalist Yordenis Ugas, but that isn’t what happened. Instead Ugas surprisingly dominated and the reputation of Jamal James as a prospect to watch took a serious hit. Yet, when you factor in the fact that Ugas has kept winning his way into title contention since with the reality that James took that fight less than a month after the Omotoso fight, the loss is looking more and more forgivable everyday.
Helping the argument is the fact that Jamal James has since recovered with two more quality wins against JoJo Dan and Diego Chaves. The Dan win was basically in line with his wins before the Ugas loss, but the Chaves fight was a nice step up on paper. The Minnesotan put his Argentian step up foe away emphatically in December with an emphatic body shot stoppage win. With that positive mark on his ledger, Jamal James is now ahead of where he was in his career even before the Ugas loss in terms of respect and prestige.
His opponent Abel Ramos (18-2-2, 13 KOs) is a minor step back down from Diego Chaves, but he can still fight. Though the Arizona native is lacking a marquee win, he did fight really well against then prospect and now contender Ivan Baranchyk on ShoBox last February. Ramos ultimately lost a fair decision, but he helped to make that fight really exciting and showed some heart in the process. I don’t think he can be all that competitive over ten full rounds against Jamal James though.
Veteran junior lightweight Edner Cherry (36-7-2, 19 KOs) returns in the co-main event for a tune up against Dennis Galarza (16-2, 9 KOs). Cherry has had a weird career to say the least. From 2005 to 2008 he was a lightweight to junior welterweight fringe contender who had some success and fought a few major names like Paulie Malignaggi and Tim Bradley. After losing to Bradley in 2008, however, he went and languished on the regional scene for seven full years before finally returning to the world stage for a title shot against Jose Pedraza in 2015. Largely forgotten by basically everyone, The Cherry Bomb reminded us he could fight that night and probably should have gotten the decision and belt in the end.
Cherry has basically let all the momentum go since that fight though, unfortunately. He only fought once in 2016 against Haskell Rhodes in what was a dismal fight to watch. Then he again only fought once in 2017 against Omar Douglas. That was a better fight, but in the inverse of the Pedraza fight, few thought Cherry deserved to get his hand raised when he did at the end. That is all he has done in three years. PBC fighters are unfortunately inactive all too often, but this is taking that to the extreme. Dennis Galarza shouldn’t be much of a threat in the ring, but will Edner Cherry do anything to capitalize on the win afterward?
A couple days ago the show was surprisingly switched to its current three hour format. The broadcast now also features super featherweights Austin Dulay (11-0, 8 KOs) and Chris Colbert (7-0, 2 KOs) over eight rounds, welterweights Sebastian Fundora (8-0, 4 KOs) and Veshawn Owens (9-0, 9 KOs) also over eight, and 18 year old junior middleweight prospect Joey Spencer (1-0, 1 KO) against Ousmane Sylla (1-2, 1 KOs) in a four rounder. There is nothing ground breaking there, but fights nonetheless.
The show begins at 9 PM Eastern tomorrow night on FS1. With five fights to go through, it presumably won’t end until after midnight. At least you can sleep in on Saturday morning.
