The fight that came too late is getting a rematch no one is asking for, probably.
- DeGale Stays Busy – First, struggling former super middleweight titleholder James DeGale will take a stay busy fight at the end of the month on Victor Ortiz’s PBC on FS1 card. It is clear both that DeGale is a badly faded fighter as was made evident in his two struggles with longtime gate keeper Caleb Truax and that “Chunky” knows it himself. He gave up his belt rather than get smashed against mandatory challenger Jose Uzcategui after all. What is less clear is what this card will look like on TV. Beyond the Ortiz-Molina Jr main event, the show features solid names like DeGale, Brandon Figueroa, Joe Joyce, Efe Ajagba, Carlos Balderas, and more, but I have seen no indication in terms of a bout order for television. Chunky is the only one without an opponent twelve days out, so will he be kept off TV? Will PBC and FS1 put on another long, epic five hour broadcast to get everyone in? One thing that is for sure is that DeGale will end up in extremely soft, so I wouldn’t be shocked if his obvious mismatch doesn’t end up being televised.
- WBSS – Everyone seems to be happy that the World Boxing Super Series is running its three sets of quarterfinals off as doubleheaders in season two. I know I am. We already know all the fights happening between the three tournaments in terms of participants, but we still need dates and locations. Now we can scratch two more matchups off the list. This time the two fights in the doubleheader take place in the same tournament. In the October 27th main event in New Orleans, local attraction Regis Prograis will take on former lightweight titleholder Terry Flanagan. Ivan Baranchyk and Anthony Yigit will meet to open the show in their quarterfinal in what will also be a battle for the vacant IBF belt at the weight. DAZN will broadcast, as it will with all WBSS Season 2 cards. Prograis will be favored in the main event in a big way, but the co-feature is more of a tossup fight.
- WBSS 2 – The very next week will feature another quarterfinal doubleheader. In fact, the quarterfinals will take place over six consecutive Saturdays. The November 3rd show will be headlined by rapidly rising Scottish star Josh Taylor at home in Glasgow against American entrant Ryan Martin in the junior welterweight tournament as well as titleholder Ryan Burnett defending against former four weight world titleholder Nonito Donaire in the opening round of the bantamweight tournament. The regional A-sides here will be the favorites and I expect them both to win handily, but my real interest is in Donaire’s weight cut. The Filipino Flash has not made 118 since 2011. He has spent most of his recent time campaigning as an undersized featherweight at 126 lbs. Can he really make that weight cut at 35 years old? If he can, will he be a zombie? It is worth noting that Donaire was absolutely untouchable still at 118 while he was there. From 112-118, he was a true pound for pound elite with few peers. If he actually can make the weight with ease, will we see a return to a better form than he’s been able to display at 122 and 126? I am intrigued.
- Loma Eliminator – It looks like the right to become Vasyl Lomachenko’s WBO mandatory will be on the line on the undercard to November 10th’s major cruiserweight showdown between undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk and popular British contender Tony Bellew. The sanctioning body is order former lightweight titleholder Anthony Crolla and Indonesian longtime fringe contender Daud Yordan to meet in a final eliminator. Crolla is 2-0 since losing his belt in a pair of title fights with Jorge Linares including a win over aging former three division titleholder Ricky Burns. Yordan hasn’t really taken on another top fighter since he challenged longtime titleholder and fellow Indonesian Chris John in 2011, losing a decision in the end. He is 11-1 since then and unbeaten since 2013. Crolla will be heavily favored, but in truth neither man is likely to pose much of a threat to Loma when the winner eventually meets him in the ring.
- May-Pac 2 – Never one to like other fighters to have the spotlight, Floyd Mayweather Jr took to social media alongside Manny Pacquiao to announce that the two men will be rematching before the end of the year on the morning of GGG-Canelo 2. I initially rolled my eyes at this announcement and moved on with my day, but ESPN’s Dan Rafael has since reported that the fight could be finalized in less than a week. December 1st or December 8th are the targeted dates. Vasyl Lomachenko is looking to return on December 8th while Adonis Stevenson-Oleksandr Gvozdyk is on the 1st, so something is going to end up conflicting. While the first fight between the two men came years too late and was critically panned afterward, it still pulled in a record of 4.6 million buys to become the most lucrative fight of all time. There is little chance the rematch comes close to that, but it doesn’t have to. Even at 40% of the money it would still be one of the biggest fights of all time. I’m pretty indifferent here if this actually happens. I’m not asking for the fight, but I’m also not going to get up in arms about it. With as inactive as Floyd has been and him now 41, maybe Pacquiao will make it more competitive this time. It’ll always be surreal to see them in the ring together at least.
- Loma Unification – As mentioned above, pound for pound king Vasyl Lomachenko will be returning on December 8th to unify lightweight belts with new titleholder Jose Pedraza at the Madison Square Garden Theater. Pedraza lifted the belt from Ray Beltran just last month while Loma is coming off his epic win over Jorge Linares earlier this summer. ESPN will broadcast, of course. The Puerto Rican will have a size advantage here and is a decent fighter, but this doesn’t figure to be all that stiff of a test of the ultra-elite Ukrainian looking to pick up his second 135 lb title. That is assuming his his shoulder is properly healed from surgery. Also returning on the show will be blue chip prospect Teofimo Lopez. He too will be returning from an injury, in this case his hand.
- Warrington-Frampton – December 22nd will bring an early Christmas present this year in the form of Josh Warrington’s IBF featherweight title defense against former two division titleholder Carl Frampton. I suspect Frampton will be a big favorite here, but stylistically it should be an entertaining affair even if one man does end up winning most of the rounds. This will also be a domestically huge fight as both fighter’s possess large fanbases on the UK. Both men like to fight at home with Warrington in Leeds and Frampton in Belfast, so Manchester will play a more neutral territory for the fight. There is no undercard or TV announced yet, but due to promoter Frank Warren’s deals it is probably a safe bet the Box Nation will get the show in the UK and ESPN+ will broadcast stateside.
- Superbowl Eve – Finally, the much anticipated by everyone but HBO rematch of Eleider Alvarez’s stunning knockout of Sergey Kovalev will land on ESPN come February 2nd, the night before Superbowl LIII. HBO passed on buying the fight originally, but they retained the right to match any other offer coming in. When ESPN’s arrived, they declined to match in one of many signs that the longtime premium boxing broadcaster is not long for the business. As for the fight itself, it carries plenty of intrigue. Kovalev was comfortably in control of the fight when he was first hurt so it stands to reason that he can bank rounds in the rematch too and potentially reverse the outcome. Yet, he’s now been stopped twice by guys who generally don’t score knockouts. What state is his psyche in now at 35? I supposed we will find out at the beginning of February.
