We don’t get the huge HBO PPV rematch we were promised this Cinco de Mayo weekend, but we still have three prominent fight cards worth watching. Golden Boy brings their biggest prospect back to ESPN on Friday while Gennady Golovkin fights on without Canelo Alvarez on Saturday. Plus, Tony Bellew and David Haye rematch their wild first fight in the UK.
Friday, May 4th
Ryan Garcia (14-0, 13 KOs) v Jayson Velez (26-4-1, 18 KOs), junior lightweights & Gary O’Sullivan (27-2, 19 KOs) v Berlin Abreu (14-1, 11 KOs), middleweights – California – Golden Boy on ESPN – ESPN2, 10:30 PM Eastern
A better than normal Golden Boy on ESPN show is becoming a minor Cinco de Mayo Eve tradition. The show’s B-side Jayson Velez once flirted with becoming a real contender in the sport. He didn’t, but what he definitely represents here is a huge step up in competition for 19 year old Ryan Garcia. Garcia might be Golden Boy’s most prominent prospect, but make no mistake that they are putting him in notably deep here. Spike O’Sullivan could be fighting on HBO against Golovkin tomorrow night, but he turned that down and is taking a small fight here instead. This is a pretty good appetizer for Saturday.
Saturday, May 5th
Tony Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs) v David Haye (28-3, 26 KOs), heavyweights & Paul Butler (26-1, 14 KOs) v Emmanuel Rodriguez (17-0, 12 KOs), IBF bantamweight title – England – Sky Box Office (UK)/AWE (US), 1 PM Eastern
This rematch is sure to do good numbers in the UK. Their first fight was a strange, wild affair in which Haye injured his achilles and fought compromised for the second half of the fight. This aided Tony Bellew in pulling off the massive upset. Will we get the Haye domination this time that was expected in the first fight or will something weird happen again? It somehow feels like the latter is more likely. The vacant IBF bantamweight belt is also up for grabs in the co-feature. For us Americans, AWE will have the call. That is a pretty small time channel no one actually gets so you’ll probably have to get creative.
Gennady Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) v Vanes Martirosyan (36-3-1, 21 KOs), WBA, WBC, and IBF middleweight titles & Cecilia Braekhus (32-0, 9 KOs) v Kali Reis (13-6-1, 4 KOs), undisputed female welterweight championship – California – HBO, 11 PM Eastern
This is the mismatch everyone has been complaining about since it was announced recently. There is no need to sugar coat that. Vanes Martirosyan is a pretty good fighter, but Gennady Golovkin is a great fighter. Plus, Vanes has been inactive for two years, took this on short notice, and he’s coming up in weight. At least they took it off PPV. HBO will be broadcasting their first female fight ever in the co-main event by featuring undisputed female welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus. That’s great for the sport for sure, but it won’t get much play here at S8C. I am already borderline overwhelmed trying to cover the men in the depth I want to and couldn’t possibly begin spending more time covering an entire other half of the sport.
