Why does it feel like it’s been forever since I’ve done one of these? Not that this is a particularly great fight week for either boxing or the UFC, but there are some cards worth mentioning nonetheless. Reminder (mostly for myself), I’m 187-70 on the year so far.
Friday’s BT Sport card in London
Decent card for a Friday. Nothing crazy but 3 solid 10-rounders up top and some at least interesting prospects for future BBBofC level competition.
Mark Chamberlain vs Marvin Demollari (10 @ Light): Chamberlain via Decision
Henry Turner vs Tom Farrell (10 @ Super Light): Turner via Decision
David Adeleye vs Emir Ahmatovic (10 @ Heavy): Adeleye via KO/TKO round 6
Friday’s Showtime US card in New York
Like the BT Sport card, decent fights at the top and some national-level prospects underneath. Nothing overly fun about this event but worth watching if nothing else to do.
Ali Izmailov vs Charles Foster (10 @ Light Heavy): Izmailov via KO/TKO round 8
Richard VanSiclen vs Juan Carrillo (10 @ Light Heavy): VanSiclen via Decision
THE REST OF THE CARDS ARE ON SATURDAY
TyC Sports card in Argentina
Only 1 interesting fight on this card and you’ll have to stream it unless you’re from Argentina. Probably not worth the trouble but I like Dychko and Bracamonte so I’ll post about it anyways.
Ivan Dychko vs Ariel Esteban Bracamonte (10 @ Heavy): Dychko via Decision
DAZN card in London
Again, as the theme of this week has been, not a great event. Solid main event and exactly 2 interesting fights after that, and 1 of them is only interesting because it’s a good prospect. There is a title fight, but not one worth fully breaking down.
Sunny Edwards vs Andres Campos (12 @ Fly for IBF title): Edwards via Decision
Cheavon Clarke vs David Jamieson (10 @ Cruiser): Clarke via KO/TKO round 6
Johnny Fisher vs Emilio Salas (8 @ Heavy): Fisher via KO/TKO round 3
DAZN card in California
It’s really hard to get excited about this event for me. Munguia has been babied all the way through 41 fights to the point where a well-past his prime Derevyanchenko is considered his best matchup of his career. Sad, honestly. Only 1 halfway decent undercard fight, too.
Jaime Munguia vs Sergiy Derevyanchenko (12 @ Super Middle): Munguia via KO/TKO round 8
Shane Mosley Jr vs D’Mitrius Ballard (10 @ Super Middle): Ballard via Decision
ESPN+ card in New York
You know what I hate about boxing right now, and is perfectly personified by this card? There are so many boxers right now who are highly talented and who could be challenging themselves with steps up in competition but WON’T for fear of losing their undefeated records. Zayas, Lebron, and hell even Jamaine Ortiz (who doesn’t have a perfect record but still fits the bill imo) are all fighting 10 rounders on this undercard against people you’ve never heard of before. Why? Let them fight, not show off. Main event of this card is fine, I guess. Very little respect for either of the fighters (sorry @TartanTornado) but an interesting style matchup. Some good prospects on the undercard as well. Overall a good event but god why does boxing have to put so much stress on keeping perfect records? So many good fights could happen if we stopped caring about chasing the Floyd 50-0.
Josh Taylor vs Teofimo Lopez (12 @ Super Light for the WBO title): I don’t even know that this fight deserves a breakdown, but I’ll give one anyway. Both men are coming into this fight on very poor performances by their standards, each with split decision victories over guys they were meant to beat handily. For Taylor, that was a technically successful title defense over Jack Catterall where Taylor was dropped but rallied to win over 2 judges by highly controversial decision. For Lopez, he looks to bounce back after 3 awful performances, a clear loss to George Kambosos Jr at Lightweight which he somehow was gifted a split-decision loss, a clear but unimpressive TKO win over national-level Pedro Campa, and a way-too-close split-decision win over old man super lightweight Sandor Martin. As for this fight, I think Taylor has a lot of the advantage. Lopez has really looked lost in his last couple of outings, having seemingly lost that hunger that made him so fun to watch on his rise to champion ands victory over Lomachenko. More recently, he’s seemed gun-shy, perhaps a result of the Kambosos fight where he was tagged and dropped by what should have been a pretty easy opponent. He was also dropped by Sandor Martin. Taylor is far from the most powerful fighter in the world, but his relentless pressure and sneaky set-ups of his left hand (being a southpaw) could definitely put Lopez down given his last few performances. What will be worth monitoring is what version of both men we see in the ring. Taylor has been off for over a year, and Lopez hasn’t looked like his prime self in a long time, and he’s only 25. Overall, I’m not too impressed with his fight as a whole, as I just don’t see Lopez as much of a threat anymore unless he finds his old game, which he seems to have left at lightweight.
Official Prediction: Josh Taylor via Decision
Xander Zayas vs Ronald Cruz (10 @ Super Welter): Zayas via KO/TKO round 5
Henry Lebron vs Carlos Ramos (10 @ Super Feather): Lebron via Decision
Jamaine Ortiz vs Humberto Galindo (10 @ Light): Ortiz via Decision
Robson Conceicao vs Nicolas Polanco (10 @ Super Feather): Conceicao via KO/TKO round 7
UFC 289
Honestly, even the UFC is disappointing this week. Far-and-away the worst PPV they’ve put on this year. While there are some really interesting female fighters on the UFC roster (Zhang Weili, Valentina Shevchenko, and Erin Blanchfield to name a few), Amanda Nunes, in my opinion, has never been one of them. Decent undercard, as the UFC often does have, but not worth buying a PPV for. But this card does have the best fight of the week on it in Beneil Dariush vs Charles Oliveira, so they’ve got that going for them.
Amanda Nunes vs Irene Aldana (W Bantamweight Title): Nunes via KO/TKO round 2
Charles Oliveira vs Beneil Dariush (5 @ Lightweight): This fight is getting a breakdown, as its the only fight I actually care about all week. 5 rounds is significant, as the UFC normally saves 5 rounders for title fights or main events only. That makes me think that the winner of this fight has next on Islam Makhachev, probably at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi. This is going to be a great fight, as both men are very similar in style and are coming in very hungry for a title shot. For Oliveira, a rematch against Makhachev would be in order. For Dariush, a final cap on his huge win streak and a lock for a first crack at the title. Striking numbers and grappling stats don’t show a huge difference between these men. On the feet, I’d give a slight edge to Beneil. He lands slightly more and takes slightly fewer hits, but it’s close and Charles has been in the octagon with some of the best strikers in the division, like Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier and come out on top. They are both pressure fighters on the feet, which probably makes this fight a war when standing, which will be awesome. In terms of grappling, Charles Oliveira is an elite level BJJ fighter with more submission wins than any other UFC fighter. But Dariush is a very tough man to take down, stifling a very strong Mateusz Gamrot in his last outing. I would give the edge to Oliveira, or course, but it’s not a big edge. Beneil is dangerous on the ground, as well, more so with the ground and pound and wearing out his opponent than Oliveira’s submissions, and Beneil has proved to be tough to get strong positions on. I think Beneil probably has the better gas tank, as he’s more apt to go the distance whereas Charles’ average fight time is just under a round and a half. That stamina could be a huge factor in this fight, as I don’t think there will be a ton of ground game (Beneil will want to stay standing and I think he’ll be good enough with the takedown defense to keep the fight on the feet), and both men are high-pressure strikers. This fight could truly go either way, and I’m a big fan of both men, so it’s very hard for me to pick a winner here. But I’m going to go with the hot hand, and that’s got to be Beneil.
Official Prediction: Beneil Dariush via Decision
Mike Malott vs Adam Fugitt (Welterweight): Malott via KO/TKO round 2
Dan Ige vs Nate Landwehr (Featherweight): Landwehr via KO/TKO round 3
Marc-Andre Barriault vs Eryk Anders (Middleweight): Barriault via KO/TKO round 1
Nassourdine Imavov vs Chris Curtis (Middleweight): Imavov via Decision
Khalil Rountree Jr vs Chris Daukas (Light Heavyweight): Daukas via Decision
Kyle Nelson vs Blake Bilder (Featherweight): Bilder via KO/TKO round 2
David Dvorak vs Stephen Erceg (Flyweight): Dvorak via Decision
Wasn’t too impressed with him Saturday though.