Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury have finally set an official date.
- Nery Returns – Controversial former WBC bantamweight titleholder Luis Nery (26-0, 20 KOs) has a return date set for October 6th. The ultra talented 23 year old ascended to the top of the division in the summer of 2017 with an absolute demolition of longtime bantamweight king Shinsuke Yamanaka, but the coronation was short lived when Nery failed a post-fight drug test. Controversy came again when they rematched in March. This time the young Mexican missed weight. For his back to back sins the WBC issued him a suspension which he initially planned to ignore, but after a bit of back and forth he relented to serve his time. Now back, Luis is returning once again at bantamweight even though he hasn’t made the weight without the potential aid of illegal substances since 2016. He’ll be in soft against Jason Canoy (27-8-2, 19 KOs) assuming he makes weight.
- Jean Pascal – Former top super middleweight and light heavyweight titleholder Jean Pascal (33-5-1, 20 KOs) was briefly retired at the tail end of last year, but he returned this summer for an attempt at a “super fight” against former UFC fighter and hockey enforcer Steve Bosse (1-1, 1 KO) at cruiserweight. The fight was a flop financially though. Whether he just wants to keep going or needs the money, Pascal is taking a second fight at cruiserweight on November 9th against local journeyman Gary Kopas (10-11-2, 5 KOs). It seems the 35 year old is going to make one more run of it up in a third weight class.
- Marinated – Integrated Sports PPV will be airing a doubleheader on November 10th featuring former top featherweights. Yuriorkis Gamboa (28-2, 17 KOs) will be in against Miguel Beltran Jr (32-6, 21 KOs) in the main event while Juan Manuel Lopez (35-6, 32 KOs) gets Cristian Ruben Mino (19-2, 17 KOs) in the co-feature. Should the two name fighters win here, they will meet next. Any big time boxing fan who has been into the sport for a decade now will note the grand irony here. In and around 2009, the two men were top stars in the sport with titles at the same eight under the Top Rank banners. It seemed like a logical and easy to make contest, but promoter Bob Arum now infamously took the position that the highly requested bout needed to “marinate” further in order for it to make financial sense. Instead of the major fight taking place, however, Lopez’s career fell apart with major losses and Gamboa just sort of faded away for a while with bad promotional and weight decisions. Apparently we will finally see it next year though if they both win here. I thought I head a timer ding. The fight is marinated. The show will cost $24.95 if you wanted to pay for it, for some reason.
- Wilder-Fury – WBC heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (27-0, 19 KOs) will be competing in the ring against one another on December 1st. Showtime PPV will broadcast. This fight was announced after Fury’s fight on August 18th, but over a month of silence on the exact details led to a great deal of speculation that the always unpredictable former heavyweight king may have changed his mind. He hadn’t. Reportedly there is a rematch clause on both sides of this fight, so hopefully it is a good one. For all his out of ring entertainment value, Tyson doesn’t exactly excite in the ring every time out. Regardless of that, however, he left the sport on top of the glamour division without losing and remains a huge name. If Deontay Wilder cannot get Anthony Joshua for whatever reason, he wasn’t doing any better than this. How well exactly this will sell on a rare Showtime PPV has me scratching my head a bit, but I’ll sure be buying.
- Valdez returns – WBO featherweight titleholder Oscar Valdez (24-0, 19 KOs) defended his title successfully in March in a brilliant fight over former titleholder Scott Quigg. It was an important win, but it came with a cost in the form of a broken jaw that has seen the Top Rank fighter sidelined ever since. At one point Valdez had his jaw wired shut and was drinking out of a straw. His hiatus ends on October 1st when the young titleholder will return to camp with trainer Eddie Reynoso. The plan is to get him back in the ring on one of Top Rank’s December shows, or maybe in January if that doesn’t work. I imagine he will take a relatively soft touch to test his newly healed jaw before stepping back up with a big defense of his belt.
