Why are all the fights on Friday and Sunday this week? I don’t know!
Friday, September 28th
George Groves (28-3, 20 KOs) v Callum Smith (24-0, 17 KOs), WBA super middleweight title & Chris Eubank Jr (26-2, 20 KOs) v JJ McDonagh (16-4, 8 KOs), super middleweights – Jeddah, Saudia Arabia – DAZN, 4 PM Eastern-ish
The biggest fight of the weekend is also the opener. WBA super middleweight titleholder George Groves defends his belt against unbeaten fellow British countryman Callum Smith, but not in the UK like you’d expect. Instead the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia put forth a big money bid to secure the finals of the first season of the World Boxing Super Series tournament for themselves. The fight will be on British time, however, so look for an early afternoon start time here on the American east coast. Tournament semifinalist and well known contender Chris Eubank Jr gets a tuneup in the co-main event as well. Newly launched streaming service DAZN was widely reported to have secured the rights for this fight so I am going to assume that is the case, but for now it is not listed on the DAZN website five days before the fight. I don’t have an exact time.
Devin Haney (19-0, 13 KOs) v Juan Carlos Burgos (33-2-2, 21 KOs), lightweights & Thomas Mattice (13-0, 10 KOs) v Zhora Hamazaryan (9-1, 6 KOs), lightweights & Cem Kilic (11-0, 7 KOs) v DeAndre Ware (12-0-2, 8 KOs), super middleweights – Temecula, California – Showtime, 10 PM Eastern
19 year old blue chip prospect Devin Haney takes another step up on his second ShoBox appearance. Multiple time title challenger Juan Carlos Burgos has been in with the likes of Hozumi Hasegawa, Rocky Martinez, and Mikey Garcia. Will the teenager be able to show him anything new? Probably given his extremely high ceiling, but it is a good test. Burgos is being pulled up in weight here though. In the co-main event, the series looks to right a wrong. In July Zhora Hamazaryan was flat out robbed against Thomas Mattice. Longtime readers know I do not use that word lightly or casually, but it is what happened there. We’ll see how round two goes. Both men in the opener are making their ShoBox debuts.
Jose Uzcategui (27-2, 23 KOs) v Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna (26-4, 16 KOs), super middleweights & Jerwin Ancajas (30-1-1, 20 KOs) v Alejandro Santiago Barrios (16-2-4, 7 KOs), IBF super flyweight title – Oakland, California – ESPN+, 10:30 PM Eastern
Top Rank and ESPN+ get back together late Friday night for… this. This show is not good. Titleholders Jose Uzcategui, here in a non-title fight, and Jerwin Ancajas are really great fighters, but they are in extremely soft on Friday. On and off and on again opponent Ezequiel Maderna has lost a couple times on world level, most recently quite emphatically to Artur Beterbiev in 2016 in four rounds. Worse, just last year he lost a decision at home to an Argentinian journeyman. Title challenger Alejandro Barrios has drawn against the likes of Jose Martinez and Antonio Nieves, but he doesn’t have a world level win to carry him in against a great talent like Ancajas. The prelim broadcast begins at 7:30 on the same service and includes names such as Rico Ramos, Joshua Greer Jr, and Genesis Servania.
Saturday, September 29th
Jorge Linares (44-4, 27 KOs) v Abner Cotto (23-3, 12 KOs), junior welterweights & Romero Duno (17-1, 14 KOs) v Ezequiel Aviles (16-2-3, 6 KOs), lightweights & Oscar Duarte (14-0-1, 9 KOs) v Roger Gutierrez (19-2-1, 16 KOs), lightweights – Indio, California – Facebook Watch, 9 PM Eastern
Our sole Saturday night show comes as part of Golden Boy’s arrangement with Facebook. In the main event, Jorge Linares is set to make his junior welterweight debut while getting a soft touch on paper to get well from his body shot stoppage lost to pound for pound king Vasyl Lomachenko. Abner Cotto, distant relative of Puerto Rican legend Miguel Cotto, was once considered a real prospect in his own right, but those days are long gone. He’s largely been dominated by top fighters. Jorge Linares figures to continue the trend. Prospects Romero Duno and Oscar Duarte also look to further their careers on the undercard.
Sunday, September 30th
Victor Ortiz (32-6-3, 25 KOs) v John Molina Jr (30-7-4, 24 KOs), welterweights & Brandon Figueroa (16-0, 11 KOs) v Oscar Escandon (25-4, 17 KOs), featherweights & Joe Joyce (5-0, 5 KOs) v Iago Kiladze (26-3, 18 KOs), heavyweights & Carlos Balderas (6-0, 5 KOs) v Jose Salinas (10-3-1, 5 KOs), lightweights – Ontario, California – Fox Sports 1, 9 PM Eastern
PBC on FS1 returns with what I consider the absolute ideal usage of the series. The main event pits two known names in huge need of a win against one another. Fighters often get way more lives than would be expected so I am not going to say Victor Ortiz or John Molina Jr is absolutely done with a loss here, but their careers will not be in good shape to say the least. The undercard is loaded with prospects with Brandon Figueroa, brother to Omar, taking a big step up against former top contender Oscar Escandon in the co-main event while major Olympic prospects in Joy Joyce and Carlos Balderas will also make the main card. Prelims begin an hour and a half earlier at 7:30 on Fox Sports Go. Lots of prospects are candidates for making that airing. I would consider Efe Ajagba and Joey Spencer chief among them assuming they don’t end up on the main card anyway. James DeGale is also active on this card, but I get the impression without knowing for sure that the plan is to keep him off television.
