Denis Lebedev also headlines in Monaco.
Friday, November 23rd
Ganigan Lopez (34-8, 19 KOs) v Ricardo Rodriguez (16-6, 5 KOs), flyweights – Mexico City, Mexico – Telemundo, 11:35 PM
Telemundo brings a decent all Mexican flyweight scrap late Friday night. Ganigan Lopez briefly held a light flyweight belt and before losing it the spring of 2017 to now divisional top fighter Ken Shiro. A May rematch did not go well for Lopez was he was stopped early the second go around. This will be his first fight back and it is a solid one. Ricardo Rodriguez has come up short on the world level and has lost three straight, but all his defeats (other than an early four rounder) have come against top fighters. He has been competitive with everyone except Monster Inoue too.
Denis Lebedev (31-2, 23 KOs) v Mike Wilson (19-0, 8 KOs), cruiserweights & Khalid Yafai (24-0, 15 KOs) v Israel Gonzalez (23-2, 10 KOs), WBA super flyweights title & Frank Buglioni (22-3-1, 16 KOs) v Fanlong Meng (13-0, 8 KOs), light heavyweights & Michael Hunter (15-1, 10 KOs) v Alexander Ustinov (34-2, 25 KOs), heavyweights – Monte Carlo, Monaco – DAZN, 2 PM Eastern
We get a broad but shallow Matchroom card on DAZN for the second week in a row. Longtime Russian top cruiserweight Denis Lebedev gets to beat up an overmatched American with an entirely empty record in the main event. Clearly Lebedev is being kept in Matchroom’s back pocket as a possibility for Oleksandr Usyk’s next fight. He isn’t a bad choice either even though most would like to see the Ukrainian move up to heavyweight. Kal Yafai gets the same Israel Gonzalez that Jerwin Ancajas dominated and stopped earlier this year. Yafai is weirdly vulnerable at times, but this fight shouldn’t be competitive either. Well marked British domestic level Frank Buglioni at least provides an interesting test for Chinese Olympian Fanlong Meng. Other than knowing he exists, I haven’t been able to get a read on Meng at all. That changes Saturday. Finally, former American Olympian and cruiserweight Michael Hunter continues his heavyweight run in a matchup with the enormous but very limited Alexander Ustinov. Hunter is the much better and younger fighter, but Ustinov at 41 will have a 70+ pound advantage in there.
Dmitry Bivol (14-0, 11 KOs) v Jean Pascal (33-5-1, 20 KOs), WBA light heavyweight title & Murodjon Akhmadaliev (4-0, 3 KOs) v Isaac Zarate (16-3-3, 2 KOs), super bantamweights – Atlantic City, New Jersey – HBO, 10 PM Eastern
HBO’s second to last card is a sad one. Dmitry Bivol is great and will be a massive signing for whoever ends up with him after this fight, but Jean Pascal has nothing left on this level. He hasn’t since the first Sergey Kovalev beating over three years ago now. I’m hoping HBO still owed Bivol a fight and that is why this show was booked after the announcement that the premium network is exiting the sport. If not, the only explanation is that someone at the network really hates Jean Pascal. The all too brave French-Canadian going to take another beating here. Also, look at this co-feature! Uzbeki Olympic bronze medalist Murodjon Akhmadaliev is a solid prospect taking a minor step up. He is also a four fight pro that absolutely no one knows about getting an HBO co-feature slot. Imagine that one just a couple years ago. Still, despite this being a less than inspiring card, tune in for Jim Lampley. Given that the legendary commentator is verging on 70 and is staying on at HBO (a network soon to be without fights), this could very well be the second to last time we here the all time great call a card.
