We have new summer fights to look forward to! There isn’t a ton to get super excited about here, but in the summer you take what you can get in the ring. We have a good matchup for JoJo Diaz, Andre Berto for some reason, Isaac Dogboe, and much more to go over.
- Hello, 2013 – Devon Alexander (27-4-1, 14 KOs) and Andre Berto (31-5, 24 KOs) have been heavily rumored to give fans of past their sell by date fights a treat on the July 28th Showtime bill, but now it looks like they are going to be moved to a PBC on FOX main event on August 4th. Because of course they are. PBC on FOX is a sad series at this point for a major network show. ESPN’s Dan Rafael is reporting that this will be a tripleheader featuring light heavyweight contender Marcus Browne (21-0, 16 KOs) in soft against Dominican non-factor Lenin Castillo (18-1, 13 KOs) and a better matched opener between two men in need of a notable win against one another. Both Peter Quillin (33-1, 23 KOs) and J’Leon Love (24-1-1, 13 KOs) have come in under expectations over the last couple years and really could use the other’s name on their ledger.
- Facebook? – Recent failed Gary Russell Jr title challenger and US Olympian JoJo Diaz (26-1, 14 KOs) will return on August 11th to take on secondary titleholder and all around underrated Puerto Rican contender Jesus Rojas (26-1, 19 KOs) in what I see as a really good fight. JoJo will be favored here as he has the pedigree, but Rojas has looked pretty great against a then unbeaten prospect in Abraham Lopez and a real top contender in Claudio Marrero his last two times in the ring. He is perfectly capable of handing Diaz a second consecutive defeat here. Interestingly, this card will be broadcast on Facebook as part of a five event deal Golden Boy has signed with the social media giant in conjunction with Main Events Promotions.
- Facebook, pt 2 – Main Events will bring their first card in the series the very next week on August 18th. It will be headlined by Cuban light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera (21-2, 14 KOs) in his first fight back from losing his world title opportunity to rising Russian sensation Dmitry Bivol. He doesn’t have an opponent yet though. With HBO very nearly completely out of the boxing business, these promoters without a major Showtime or ESPN deal are needing to get creative. Given the short duration of the deal, this seems experimental at best in that nature. Hopefully it works out though as Facebook is free and conveniently accessible by basically everyone at this point. I must admit that I am pretty skeptical about this doing any real numbers, but I’d love to be wrong.
- Title Doubleheader – Again just one week later, Top Rank on ESPN returns with a world title doubleheader. WBO lightweight titleholder Ray Beltran (35-7-1, 21 KOs) lost his big money dance partner Vasyl Lomachenko due to injury for later this year, so he will take his mandatory defense instead against 32 year old Russian Roman Andreev (21-0, 15 KOs). Andreev doesn’t figure to give Beltran a lot in the ring in terms of problems. New WBO super bantamweight titlist Isaac Dogboe (19-0, 13 KOs) will make his first defense in the co-feature against solid Japanese domestic level fighter Hidenori Otake (31-2-3, 14 KOs). Otake probably doesn’t have the athletic ability to compete with Dogboe, but he is a fun veteran and will have a huge size advantage in there. All in all, this is a pretty middle of the line doubleheader. It isn’t great, nor is it terrible
- A Fail Safe – Recent Latvian former cruiserweight belt holder Mairis Briedis (23-1, 18 KOs) will return for what looks like a get well fight on the undercard of the major World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight finals match between Oleksandr Usyk and Murat Gassiev for all the marbles at the weight. His opponent will be no hope Frenchman Brandon Deslaurier (11-1-1, 1 KOs). I freely admit that I am just speculating here on my own, but his presence on the card in such a nothing fight suggests to me that he is the backup plan to finish the tournament should Usyk or Gassiev pull out late in the game due to an unexpected injury. It is smart booking if that is the case, but let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that and all of us get the fight we want to see.
