Canelo gets a surprise opponent, HBO might book one last show, Joseph Parker, Zurdo Ramirez, and more.
- Olympians – Popular Irish prospect Michael Conlan (8-0, 5 KOs) will return on October 20th to headline the ESPN+ prelims of the Vegas show headlined by a middleweight fight between Ryota Murata and Rob Brant. He’ll be in against Nicola Cipolletta (14-6-2, 4 KOs) of Italy. In fact, the card itself will be absolutely filled to the gills with Olympians. Murata in the main event has his gold medal. The main he controversially beat to get it in Esquiva Falcao will compete on the undercard. Also in action will be Vladimir Nikitin (1-0), the man who got the controversial decision over Conlan that made the Irishman famous thanks to his reaction to it. 2016 gold medalist Fazliddin Gaibnazarov also takes his 6th pro fight on the show.
- Barrera-Monaghan – Sullivan Barrera (21-2, 14 KOs) and Seanie Monaghan (29-1, 17 KOs) were supposed to meet on August 18th to kick off live boxing on Facebook Watch presented by Golden Boy and Main Events. An eye injury to the Cuban ended those plans for the time being. The fight is now back on for November 3rd and set for the same streaming service. It probably won’t be all that competitive given Barrera’s world level abilities and Monaghan’s limitations, but it is definitely now or never for the Long Island area local draw. He’s 37 now after all. Plus, he can’t do any worse than he did against Marcus Browne anyway.
- One More for HBO? – Ringtv has reported that it is believed that HBO may still contractually owe junior middleweight titleholder Jaime Munguia (31-0, 26 KO) a fight. The exciting young Mexican has already fought three times on the premium network this year, but apparently they owe him a fourth. If this does prove to be the case, HBO is reportedly looking at one last card on December 8th to satisfy it before bowing out of the game it dominated for so long for good. Takeshi Inoue (13-0-1, 7 KOs) is the rumored opponent. It would be pretty fitting for HBO to go out on a whimper like that. If this card happens and HBO elects to bother with an undercard, the thought is that Dmitry Bivol (14-0, 11 KOs) would get that spot, potentially against Joe Smith Jr (24-2, 20 KOs).
- Ramirez-Hart II – It isn’t booked just yet, but it looks like we are heading towards a rematch between super middleweight titleholder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (38-0, 25 KOs) and his nearly successful former challenger Jesse Hart (25-1, 21 KOs). While everyone would love to see Ramirez go unify, it is hard to complain about this idea. The Philadelphia title challenger suffered a disastrous start against Zurdo a bit over a year ago now, but he recovered and went on to be the much stronger man by the end of the fight. It was an intense, exciting back and forth contest the first time. I have no issues with seeing it again.
- Canelo at 168 – While it had been well known that Mexican superstar and new unified middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) was looking at potentially fighting in December, no one expected him to go in this direction. The common thought was that he’d end up in against Golden Boy in house contender David Lemieux, but instead Golden Boy and Canelo reached across an entire ocean to call upon Rocky Fielding (27-1, 15 KOs) for a bout at super middleweight. Ostensibly Fielding looks like as easy of a grab at a super middleweight belt as there ever will be, but I can’t stress the following enough: Rocking Fielding is not a world champion; Canelo Alvarez cannot become a three division titleholder by winning this fight. Callum Smith holds the highest WBA belt and they only get one titleholder no matter what they call the farcical belt that Fielding is holding. Still, it’ll be interesting to see what Canelo looks like at 168. It will also be interesting to see who ends up broadcasting this with HBO out of the game.
- Parker Returns – December 15th will also mark the return of former heavyweight titleholder Joseph Parker (24-2, 18 KOs) back home in New Zealand. No opponent has been announced yet for the talented Kiwi, but one would have to assume that it will be a pretty low level foe given that he already has two straight losses. Anthony Joshua comfortably outpointed him to add his belt to the British star’s collection while Parker had a fun and competitive loss to Dillian Whyte in July. A lot of people are writing Joseph off, but we’d all do well to remember that he’s still somehow only 26. A typical heavyweight’s prime comes most often in their early 30s. He wouldn’t be in any other division, but Joseph Parker is a baby at heavyweight.
