Holy boxing, Batman! A real flurry of fights have been announced for the summer and fall over the past few days after an extended period of summer quiet. We have Tyson Fury’s and Luis Ortiz’s next opponents, an excellent fight for the vacant IBF middleweight belt, new opponents for both Ray Beltran and Jose Ramirez, and much more.
- Garcia-Easter – The rapidly approaching July 28th Showtime card headlined by lightweight unification between Mikey Garcia (38-0, 30 KOs) and Robert Easter Jr (21-0, 14 KOs) has its two undercard fights. As would be expected from announcing them less than three weeks out from fight night, they aren’t great. In the co-main event, top heavyweight Luis Ortiz (28-1, 24 KOs) will look to rebuild after losing his title shot to Deontay Wilder by fighting a mismatch against recent former last second replacement title challenger Razvan Cojanu (16-3, 9 KOs). That’s a non-competitive fight that also runs the risk of being terrible to watch. 23 year old junior welterweight prospect Mario Barrios (21-0, 13 KOs) opens the show against Jose Roman (24-2-1, 16 KOs), a Californian coming off a pretty underwhelming loss. Barrios has been notably well protected and that doesn’t change here. This is a terrible undercard by Showtime and PBC standards.
- Bounce – PBC on Bounce returns on August 3rd, but not with a particularly inspiring card. Lightweights Dennis Galarza (16-3, 9 KOs) and Ladarius Miller (16-1, 5 KOs) will meet in the main event. Galarza is coming off a competitive, title eliminator loss to Edner Cherry while Miller is on a seven fight winning streak including a victory over Jamel Herring. This would be a slightly below average PBC on FS1 main event, but it is a well matched fight at least. The show will be a tripleheader also featuring Cesar Miguel Barrionuevo (34-3-2, 24 KOs) versus Abel Ramos (20-3-2, 15 KOs) at welterweight and unbeaten Juan Heraldez (13-0, 8 KOs) being tested by Kevin Watts (12-2, 5 KOs).
- Facebook – Sullivan Barrera (21-2, 14 KOs) returns to the ring on August 18th for what will likely be an easy tuneup against regional attraction Seanie Monaghan (29-1, 17 KOs). Barrera is a top contender, but he was pretty well handled in a title fight by surging young phenom Dmitry Bivol last time out. Monaghan has long been a draw in Long Island, but when he stepped up finally against Marcus Browne it was a disaster in the form of a quick knockout loss. Barrera should get the win here. What is most interesting about the fight is that it will be broadcast on Facebook as a part of Golden Boy’s and Main Event’s experimental six card broadcast deal with the social media giant. We’ll see how that pans out.
- Fury – What will certainly drum up even more interest on August 18th will be the second fight in Tyson Fury’s (26-0, 19 KOs) comeback tour. Predictably and understandably Tyson won’t be threatened by Italian journeyman Francesco Pianeta (35-4-1, 21 KOs) by much more than he was in the last farce, but at least Pianeta is a real heavyweight who has been in with top fighters before. He didn’t fare well at world class to say the least and has been losing emphatically on an even lower level in recent years, but I take an it is what it is approach to evaluating Tyson Fury matchmaking in 2018. With the mental demons he was clearly fighting, slowly rebuilding his confidence and fitness level makes sense to me.
- Upgrade – Ray Beltran’s (35-7-1, 21 KOs) first lightweight title defense scheduled for August 25th has seen a change in opponent. Russian fringe contender Roman Andreev was supposed to get the opportunity, but a case of appendicitis has ruled him out for the date. Instead former junior lightweight titleholder Jose Pedraza (24-1, 12 KOs) has stepped up to the plate. It is hard to fairly evaluate what Andreev was bringing to the fight as he is essentially unknown here, but in my view this is a nice upgrade. Pedraza is a solid contender and this will almost certainly be a fan friendly attraction given their styles. The stakes here are large for both men too as the winner’s in house Top Rank status and world title will make him an enticing opponent for pound for pound king Vasyl Lomachenko when he returns from shoulder surgery at the end of the year.
- WBC Tourney – The WBC’s second tier welterweight tournament semifinals are also set for August 25th. Chris Van Heerden (26-2-1, 12 KOs) will face Fredrick Lawson (27-1, 21 KOs) in one fight while Brad Solomon (28-2, 9 KOs) will meet Francisco Santana (27-6-1, 12 KOs) on the other side of the bracket. While it remains true that none of these guys are true world class fighters, tournaments are always a good way to sort out fighters by quality if they go off as planned. So far this one is. It reminds me of the Boxcino tournaments ESPN has done in the past in that it will at least advance the winner’s career to the point where the opportunity to fight a big name will likely be there, maybe even a WBC titleholder in this case.
- Ramirez, pt 2- WBC junior welterweight titleholder Jose Ramirez (22-0, 16 KOs) was supposed to make his first title defense this past weekend against a very likely overmatched Danny O’Connor, but a botched weight cut left his opponent unable to compete and in the hospital. His defense has now been rescheduled for September 14th. Thankfully, it is against a much better opponent this time in Antonio Orozco (27-0, 17 KOs). This is a bit of a risky proposition, however, as the Golden Boy fighter has blown a couple opportunities by missing weight himself. Hopefully Orozco doesn’t have this issue and we get a compelling Top Rank on ESPN main event in two months time.
- IBF Middleweight – October 27th is reportedly the targeted date for a now agreed upon excellent vacant middleweight title bout between top contenders Danny Jacobs (34-2, 29 KOs) and Sergiy Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs). The two sides have come together to avoid a purse bid and make sure the fight happens. HBO has an exclusive contract with Jacobs and will televise. Divisional king Gennady Golovkin gave up this belt rather than face Derevyanchenko and risk the big money rematch with Canelo and the winner here is definitely in the sweepstakes to get September’s big PPV rematch winner next, especially if it is Golovkin. He loves his belts and there is unfinished business to sell between he and Jacobs potentially should the Brooklyn fighter win. There is nothing to complain about here with this title fight.
