It might be GGG-Canelo 2 fight week, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything else happening. Top Rank and Golden Boy get together the night before for a really solid ESPN main event.
If Friday’s Top Rank on ESPN main event was the best fight of the weekend, I’d be perfectly fine with that. It is not with the mega PPV the following night, of course, but that shouldn’t diminish how good of a fight this could potentially be.
Why do I say potentially? Antonio Orozco (27-0, 17 KOs) is why. The 30 year old has a well established track record for self sabotaging his own career by missing weight for big fights. He has twice blown big opportunities for HBO exposure with his lack of discipline. In December of 2016 he was supposed to meet Fabio Maldonado Jr, but he passed out during his cut and was medically scratched from the card. Worse, he was supposed to meet Roberto Ortiz on main HBO itself last September. When it was time to weigh in, however, Orozco didn’t show up. After the commission found him he explained that there was no point in weighing in. Antonio was seven pounds over. How a fighter can get a title opportunity at the same weight after pulling that just one year later in another major broadcast is beyond me.
Antonio can fight though, at least. Plus, he did make 140 in March, but he also did that following his first weight goof too. Assuming he isn’t weight drained and makes it to the ring, Orozco is a pressure based boxer-puncher in the long lineage of Mexican-Americans with the same style. His best win remains against Humberto Soto on HBO. It isn’t a great one, especially since the cards coming back so wide in a close fight rubbed many the wrong way, but Soto can fight and I didn’t have a problem with the decision. Otherwise he has beat the likes of Emmanuel Taylor, Miguel Acosta, and KeAndre Gibson.
Jose Ramirez (22-0, 16 KOs) is something more than those high journeyman level opponents. The WBC junior welterweight titleholder brings an Olympic pedigree and a whole lot of career momentum with him for Friday. Ramirez earned his title shot with an emphatic two round destruction of fellow unbeaten Mike Reed last November. That was a real statement. Jose then furthered his career by following it up strong in his title shot too. His victory in March against Amir Imam was a thrilling and convincing victory over twelve rounds at the MSG Theater. That was a brilliant fight, one that both men elevated themselves impressively in.
What we have here is two unbeaten fighters with solid early resumes looking to add the biggest win of their careers against one another for a world title. I can get behind that any day. Plus, both men like to come forward and throw. There should be a lot of brutal body work in this one. This ESPN main event is an important, well matched fight for a legitimate junior welterweight title. Don’t forget about it amid all the PPV hype. It is worth your time for sure.
Russian welterweight prospect Alexander Besputin (10-0, 8 KOs) gets the chief supporting bout with a step up against fringe contender Alan Sanchez (20-3-1, 10 KOs). The former top European amateur has faced plenty of fighters with good records early in his career, but Sanchez is a little more in my view. His wins over Pablo Cesar Cano and John Karl Sosa are solid. 18 year old Gabriel Flores Jr (9-0, 5 KOs) is also reportedly getting a main card spot for the first time against local fighter Roger Gutierrez (7-1-1, 4 KOs).
The main card starts at 10 PM Eastern on ESPN. ESPN+ prelims start much earlier at 6:30 and feature the likes of Hiroki Okada, Jamel Herring, and Bryan Vasquez in stay busy fights.
