A flurry of fights have been announced over the last week. We have the complete and solid undercard to GGG-Canelo II, a potential date and locale for Usyk-Bellew, a ShoBox, a card that keeps growing, and more to go over.
- Growth – First, PBC’s incredible growing card on August 24th on FS1 has extended some more. Not too long ago it expanded to a three hour, five fight broadcast. Now it has gained another ninety minutes and three fights. Yes, PBC and FS1 are airing a four and a half hour, eight fight card beginning at 6:30 PM Eastern. Ain’t that something. Technically they are calling the first hour and a half a preliminary broadcast, but that is for ratings measurement purposes only. As for the fights, here is what we’ve picked up: 6’6″ welterweight Sebastian Fundora (9-0, 5 KOs) v Antonio Urista (10-2, 2 KOs); Gary Russell Jr’s younger brother Antonio Russell (11-0, 9 KOs) v Nick Otieno (31-14, 13 KOs) at bantamweight; and “amateur standout” lightweight Omar Juarez making his pro debut.
- Big Step Up – Highly touted Croatian heavyweight prospect Filip Hrgovic (5-0, 4 KOs) was set to face British domestic level foe Gary Cornish on September 8th, but that fight fell through. Instead of fighting Cornish, the 2016 bronze medalist will instead take a pretty huge step up to face fringe contender Amir Mansour (23-2-1, 16 KOs). Mansour may be 46, but that didn’t stop him from beating Travis Kaufman earlier this year. He’s also fought well against a number of second tier heavyweights over the past couple years. There is every reason to be excited about the 26 year old Croatian, but damn is this ever a giant leap all at once.
- GGG-Canelo 2 – The highly anticipated mega rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez now has its PPV undercard. For once, it is a good one too. All three fights are relevant in their own way. In the co-main event, WBO junior middleweight titleholder Jaime Munguia (30-0, 25 KOs) will make his second title defense against super game Canadian challenger Brandon Cook (20-1, 13 KOs). That is probably a mismatch, but the middleweight showdown between contenders David Lemieux (39-4, 33 KOs) and Spike O’Sullivan (28-2, 20 KOs) is anything but. That is also a guaranteed action fight. Finally, opening the telecast will be former pound for pound king Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (46-2, 38 KOs) looking to mount a career comeback after his crushing knockout loss following a year out of the ring. For a comeback opponent, Moises Fuentes (25-5-1, 14 KOs) is a pretty solid one too. This is good stuff all around. Bravo, Golden Boy and K2.
- Blue Chip – 19 year old blue chip prospect Devin Haney (19-0, 13 KOs) returns to ShoBox for the second time on September 28th. Two time former title challenger Juan Carlos Burgos (33-2-2, 21 KOs) will be there to meet him. Burgos is a step up too. The Mexican contender has been largely inactive over the past few years, but make no mistake about it. He represents a real step up for the ultra talented Vegas based prospect. The fight will be paired with two undercard bouts with the co-main event being a rematch between lightweights Zhora Hamazaryan (9-1, 6 KOs) and Thomas Mattice (13-0, 10 KOs). Their first fight was one of the most derided decisions of 2018 and rightfully so. Hamazaryan will be looking to set the record straight in the second go around. Undefeated middleweights Cem Kilic (11-0, 7 KOs) and Donnie Marshall (9-0, 6 KOs) will compete in the opener.
- Quigg – Former titleholder Scott Quigg (34-2-2, 25 KOs) has found himself a slot on Eddie Hearn’s October 20th American show headlined by Billy Joe Saunders’s title defense against Demetrius Andrade. There is no opponent even as much as rumored at this point, so that is really all there is to this. The fight will be Quigg’s second straight stateside following his exciting but failed title bid against Oscar Valdez in March.
- Usyk-Bellew – Finally, I was admittedly skeptical of Tony Bellew’s desire to fight Oleksandr Usyk, or at the very least skeptical of Eddie Hearn’s willingness to put him in there against the feared Ukrainian. All signs point to me happily noting that it sounds like I was wrong. The undisputed-for-now cruiserweight champion is yet again going to get on the road if the most recent rumors can be believed. I’ve read it repeatedly reported that Usyk-Bellew is being targeted for November 10th in London. I love this fight and it will do very well in the UK. Usyk will be a big favorite, but Bellew has been an unexpectedly solid bigger fighter and you can’t count him out.
