Get a quick round-up of all the big fights in a busy weekend for boxing.
This weekend is an odd one for boxing fans as there is certainly a lot of action worth a glance, but none of it super compelling. Here then is a quick look at the various shows taking place, and what of it is worth your time.
Richard Commey (28-2; 25 KO) vs. Ray Beltran (36-8-1; 22 KO)
Friday, 10:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
Lightweight title defense here from IBF champion Commey. He won that vacant title in February, injuring his hand in the process, and makes his return here. And he’s not matched easy by any means. Beltran is a super tough, heavily experienced veteran whose only losses since 2012 come against elite fighters – Terence Crawford and Jose Pedraza. That Crawford fight was to determine the consensus #1 Lightweight in the world, and probably represents Beltran’s pinnacle. But he’s now 37 and slowing down, with just one fight in the past year. Commey seems well suited to win this – potentially setting up a fight with Vasyl Lomachenko – but Beltran should make it a good one. I’d say this is your best fight to watch for the weekend.
Demetrius Andrade (27-0; 17 KO) vs. Maciej Sulecki (28-1; 11 KO)
Saturday, 7:00 p.m. ET, DAZN
Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade has found himself in a very interesting position. He holds the WBO Middleweight (160 lbs.) world title – that’s one of only two major Middleweight belts not held by Canelo Alvarez. He also fights for DAZN, home to Canelo and Golovkin. So while all the talk is about Canelo vs. GGG 3, Andrade is a name not to be ignored in the division. He’s a tricky fighter, who doesn’t have an amazing resume, but is the kind of fighter that can spoil plans. Which means he’s not getting near Canelo or GGG until their trilogy is done. But once that happens, he’ll be an obvious opponent for the winner, provided he hold that belt just a bit longer. Sulecki is the perfect opponent for that – a decent challenger whose lone loss is against Daniel Jacobs, but not really a serious threat.
Also on the card is a Super Flyweight title fight from Khalid Yafai (25-0; 15 KO) and the latest from Heavyweight Joseph Parker (25-2; 19 KO), whose name was once spoken alongside Joshua and Wilder, but has gone 1-2 in the last two years, so that ship appears to have sailed. He faces the 39 year old Alex Leapai (39-7-4; 26 KO) who is there to be KO’d. Tune in if you want to see what Andrade is all about and for the potential for Heavyweight clubberin’.
Jermall Charlo (28-0; 21 KO) vs. Brandon Adams (21-2; 13 KO)
Saturday, 9:00 p.m. ET, Showtime
For quite some time, there really wasn’t much to distinguish the brothers Charlo from each other. Now we have that – Jermall (fighting here) is NOT the brother who was completely hosed on a decision loss to Tony Harrison last year. This undefeated Charlo holds that last slice of the Middleweight pie, the WBC belt, which he defends here. He holds good wins over the likes of Austin Trout and Julian Williams among others, and sits just barely outside the division’s top 5. Adams comes in off a win over Shane Mosley, Jr. where he won the 5th season of The Contender, so hey, there’s that. Highlight of the undercard is former Jermell opponent Erickson Lubin (20-1; 15 KO) vs. Zakaria Attou (29-6-2; 7 KO). Overall, this is about what you expect from many Charlo main events, with nothing too much padding it out on the undercard.