This week the schedule features Adonis Stevenson finally fighting a credible challenger in Badou Jack on Showtime while Gary Russell Jr finally fights at all against rising Golden Boy contender JoJo Diaz on the same televised show from a different location. We also have title fights in the UK and Japan as well as a Golden Boy on ESPN midweek.
Thursday, May 17th
Romero Duno (16-1, 14 KOs) v Gilberto Gonzalez (26-4, 22 KOs), lightweights & Oscar Duarte (13-0-1, 9 KOs) v Rey Perez (22-9, 6 KOs), lightweights – Indio, California – Golden Boy on ESPN – ESPN2, 10 PM Eastern
Golden Boy on ESPN returns with a pretty low level card here. Duno is sort of a prospect from the Philippines with good power and a very forgivable loss in Russia, but he is hardly a can’t miss guy. Gilberto Gonzalez is a good test for where Duno is at, but this just isn’t worth a televised main event. The co-feature adds little here too. This is a Thursday night fight fix for the biggest freaks here and nothing else.
Saturday, May 19th
Lee Selby (26-1, 9 KOs) v Josh Warrington (26-0, 6 KOs), IBF featherweight title & Nicola Adams (3-0, 2 KOs) v Soledad del Valle Frias (13-11, 4 KOs), female super flyweights – Leeds, England – BT Sport (UK), 2:30 PM Eastern & Showtime Streaming
Showtime has picked up the US rights to stream this title fight on both their Facebook and Youtube pages. I have no idea what time yet, but I’d guess around 6 PM Eastern based on what is scheduled for the undercard. Again, that is a guess. Lee Selby is one of the weaker titleholders in the sport in my view and Warrington isn’t a super inspiring contender either, but this fight will have a great crowd and is well matched. I am looking forward to it. Other names like Ohara Davies, Jack Catterall, and Willy Hutchinson compete on the BT Sport broadcast as well but I imagine Showtime will only show the main event stateside.
Adonis Stevenson (29-1, 24 KOs) v Badou Jack (22-1-2, 13 KOs), WBC light heavyweight title – Toronto, Canada & Gary Russell Jr (28-1, 17 KOs) v Joseph Diaz (26-0, 14 KOs), WBC featherweight title – Oxon Hill, Maryland – Showtime – 10 PM Eastern
Showtime brings us a split site doubleheader with both title fights main eventing their own separate cards. This is pretty great stuff too. After all these years Adonis Stevenson is finally taking on a top contender in Badou Jack while Gary Russell Jr is in with one of the top prospects in the division in mandatory challenger JoJo Diaz. Both fights have the champion favored, but both underdogs are definitely live here. These are close to pick’em fights at the world level and we can’t ever complain about that. I look forward to this one for sure.
Sunday, May 20th
Ryoichi Taguchi (27-2-2, 17 KOs) v Hekkie Budler (31-3, 10 KOs), WBA & IBF light flyweight titles & Hiroto Kyoguchi (9-0, 7 KOs) v Vince Paras (13-0, 11 KOs), IBF minimumweight title – Tokyo, Japan
Japan features a pair of world title fights on Sunday. Unified light flyweight titleholder Ryiochi Taguchi defends his belts against a very credible challenger in Hekkie Budler. Budler is coming off a narrow loss to another top fighter in the division in Milan Melindo and is a former minimumweight titleholder. He is a very good challenger for the top fighter in the division. The fight is supported by a minimumweight title fight between two young novices because minimumweight is always empty.
