Even in the slowness of summer, fights still get booked. We have disappointing news regarding Superfly 3, a welterweight matchup from what feels like a decade ago, a nice ShoBox, and more to report.
- Golden Boy on ESPN – Joet Gonzalez (19-0, 13 KOs) will headline another Golden Boy on ESPN card on July 13th. This one will air on the main ESPN network. His opponent will be a minor step up against recent JoJo Diaz opponent Rafael Rivera (25-1-2, 16 KOs). Rivera sports a few decent, regional level wins, but Gonzalez will still be heavily favored. Christian Gonzalez (18-2, 15 KOs) will be the co-main event, but he doesn’t have an opponent yet. “Chimpa” has been pretty well exposed as something less than a real prospect at this point so his co-main slot here does more to speak to Golden Boy’s weak stable than anything else really.
- ShoBox! – I really like the ShoBox now scheduled for July 20th. In the main event, former amateur standout Jaron Ennis (20-0, 18 KOs) will finally get some exposure in against a fellow unbeaten fighter by the way of Armando Alvarez (18-0, 12 KOs). Ennis very narrowly missed qualifying for Rio with a trilogy capping loss to Gary Antuanne Russell in the final qualifiers. He’s a very real prospect and it is about time he gets a showcase. Also in action will be series returnees Thomas Mattice (12-0, 10 KOs) and Montana Love (11-0, 5 KOs) against Zhora Hamazaryan (9-0, 6 KOs) at lightweight and Kenneth Sims Jr (12-1, 4 KOs) at junior welterweight respectively.
- Superfly no more – Chocolatito conqueror and top super flyweight Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (44-4-1, 39 KOs) will disappointingly be skipping September’s Superfly 3 card on HBO. This is a major, major let down as he was penciled in for the main event in a rematch with Juan Francisco Estrada of their exciting main event of Superfly 2. This has been rumored to be the case for some time as he is reportedly dealing with relationship issues back home in Thailand, but I figured money would talk in the end. I guess not. Instead of participating on HBO in September, Sor Rungvisai is talking a non-title bantamweight fight July 21st in Thailand against South Korean former minimumweight title challenger Young Gil Bae (28-6-2, 22 KOs) in what looks to be a pretty intentional mismatch. I’m still praying for a quick finish without a mark that allows for the quick turnaround in the end after all, but I am also not holding my breath either.
- Is it 2013 again? – Devon Alexander (27-4-1, 14 KOs) and Andre Berto (31-5, 24 KOs) is a thing likely to happen this summer, likely on July 28th’s Mikey Garcia and Robert Easter Jr lightweight unification undercard on Showtime. Both men are clearly past their sell by dates here, but at least Alexander is what should have been a clear win over Victor Ortiz earlier this year. He was robbed and held to a draw though. Berto, on the other hand, is coming off knockout loss to a real top welterweight Shawn Porter last spring. He too has only looked good against Victor Ortiz in recent years. This one is what it is. At least Bero fights are usually entertaining, though historically Alexander fights have not always been.
- To meet Hurd – A deal for an IBF title eliminator between Julian “J Rock” Williams (25-1, 15 KOs) and Takeshi Inoue (13-0-1, 7 KOs) has been reached. The winner will earn the right to face surging new divisional star Jarrett Hurd for his title. ESPN’s Dan Rafael is pointing towards August 4th as the most likely date for the fight, implying it will end up on Keith Thurman’s comeback Showtime show should that actually happen this time. It should also be noted that Takeshi Inoue bears no relation to the famous Inoue Japanese boxing family, though he is from Japan.
