After a holiday weekend mostly away, the sport of boxing returns to us in a big way come Saturday.
Saturday, August 8th
Andrew Moloney (17-0, 10 KOs) v Luis Concepcion (37-6, 26 KOs), super flyweights & Tim Tszyu (10-0, 8 KOs) v Marcos Jesus Cornejo (19-3, 18 KOS), junior middleweights – Bendigo, Australia – ESPN+
According to Dan Rafael’s schedule, this one is on ESPN+. We’re going to roll with the assumption that that is true as the streaming service doesn’t have it on its schedule as of yet to confirm for me. Andrew Moloney is a major super flyweight prospect with quality international amateur experience. His twin brother Jason is competing in season two of the World Boxing Super Series, so Andrew needed a step up of his own. Luis Concepcion isn’t what he was as a titleholder even just a few years ago, but he does at least mark a first fight for Moloney against someone with that level experience. Also, Tim Tszyu is trending more toward being a real prospect than a famous last name in the co-feature. I’m really happy ESPN+ picked this one up, assuming they actually did. This will be a morning show Eastern time if/when the time does get announced.
Amir Khan (32-4, 20 KOs) v Samuel Vargas (29-3-2, 14 KOs), junior middleweights – Birmingham, England – Sky Sports, 2 PM Eastern
Matchroom Boxing is putting on Amir Khan’s second comeback fight on Saturday. It is another garbage matchup like the first. Vargas will likely last at least a couple rounds though. Not only is the main event quite poor here, but so is the undercard. The co-main event is a British middleweight title fight between two men with no world level potential. Lewis Ritson and Sam Eggington both fight, but also against quite low level opposition. There isn’t a compelling fight with world level implications to be found on the show. You won’t be disappointed to learn then that is has no US distribution. By the end of the month any and all Matchroom shows will be available on DAZN ($9.99/mo) for US viewers whether they take place in the UK or stateside, but this one is a few days before the launch of that service. Darn.
Danny Garcia (34-1, 20 KOs) v Shawn Porter (28-2-1, 17 KOs), WBC welterweight title & Yordenis Ugas (22-3, 11 KOs) v Cesar Miguel Barrionuevo (34-3-2, 24 KOs), welterweights & Adam Kownacki (17-0, 14 KOs) v Charles Martin (25-1-1, 23 KOs), heavyweights – Brooklyn, New York – Showtime, 9 PM Eastern
This is the weekend’s main event, as it would be on the vast majority of weekends on any given year. Danny Garcia versus Shawn Porter is a really big fight in terms of name value. It is also viewed as a toss up matchup and is for a vacant belt. There isn’t anything not to like about this main event. Surging contender Yordenis Ugas gets the co-main event slot. If there is a complaint to have about this show it is that he didn’t get a very interesting foe, but we will have to lay the blame on the WBC as they ordered the fight. This is a “semi-final eliminator.” The winner of Ugas-Barrios will get the right to fight for the fight to fight the main event’s winner, if you can follow that. I like the heavyweight opener a lot. Fan friendly, action oriented Polish heavyweight Adam Kownacki is looking to make his way into the top ten while former titleholder Charles Martin desperately needs a meaningful win to prove that he is more than evidence that the four belt era is highly problematic. I doubt he gets it, but it is definitely a put up or shut up moment for arguably the world former heavyweight titleholder of all time.
Juan Francisco Estrada (36-3, 25 KOs) v Felipe Orucuta (36-4, 30 KOs), super flyweights & Donnie Nietes (41-4, 23 KOs) v Aston Palicte (24-2, 20 KOs), super flyweights & Kazuto Ioka (22-1, 13 KOs) v McWilliams Arroyo (17-3, 14 KOs), super flyweights – Inglewood, California – HBO, 9:45 PM Eastern
Superfly 3 is upon us. While I do agree with the general consensus that this is the weakest of the three cards in the series so far, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good one. It is. Juan Francisco Estrada returns in the main event coming off his narrow decision loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in the main event of the last show. He’ll beat Orucuta in all likelihood, but in terms of style this fight should be fireworks. Filipino should be legend Donnie Nietes returns in the co-feature in quest of a title in his fourth weight class. Even still in this four belt era, less than twenty men in the long history of the sport have pulled this off. Nietes hasn’t lost a fight in fourteen years and is deservedly a huge favorite over his much lesser known opponent, but he’s also 36 at a weight class where that might as well say 46. One of these days he is going to fall off a cliff athletically and it could be quite abrupt. Finally, the opener is the real gem of the card. Kazuto Ioka was considered the king of flyweight when he retired unexpectedly about a year and a half ago now at 28. Now he’s back up in the loaded super flyweight division taking on McWilliams Arroyo, the big winner from Superfly 2 thanks to his unexpected upset of Carlos Cuadras. This is a truly compelling matchup in my view. All in all, sure this is a step down from the last two. It still should be good fun to watch though.
