Tuesday March 14, 2017

a c

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sundaypuncher

5 min readMar 14, 2017

From Ftizgerald’s Casino & Hotel, Tunica, Mississippi
Time: 6:00 PM PDT, 9:00 PM EDT, 1:00 AM GMT
TV: FS1 (US)

Sergiy Derevyanchenko 9(7)-0 vs Kemahl Russell 10(8)-0

10 rounds
middleweight division

Dereveyanchenko is already 31 and time is ticking for this guy. At 5'9" he’s not imposing and as his body starts struggling to keep weight off, you get teh sense he might not have a very long window to achieve some form of greatness.

This fight looks predictable on paper. Derevyanchenko is a legitmate former amateur standout and has been quite good thus far in his brief career. The question is whether undefeated Russell poses any threat. A quick look says no. Most of his fights have occurred in Jamaica and he’s fought just once in America against a 2–11 opponent. These fights are paper fights that are meant to make a fighter look better than they actually are.

Ahmed Elbiali 14(11)-0 vs Jackson Junior 20(18)-8

10 rounds
light heavyweight division

Big punching Elbiali continues to impress each time he fights. Elbiali has some flaws, specificaly with his reckless defense, but should he pull it goether he has the charisma to build a large following. This is another development fight as he faces someone with a bith of veteran tact.

Friday March 17, 2017

From Madison Square Garden Theater, New York, New York
Time: 8:00 PM PDT, 4:00 AM EDT, 3:00 AM
TV: UniMas (US)

Alex Saucedo 23(14)-0 vs Johnny Garcia 19(11)-4–1

10 rounds
super lightweight division

Saucedo has a lot of raw potential that could be harnessed at some point into the future as an action star. With 23 wins already it’s fair to say that we can expect to see him take that next step within the next 12 months.

Robson Conceicao 2(1)-0 vs Rafael Busuioe 4(1)-1

6 rounds
super featherweight division

I think it’s a red flag that Conceicao isn’t getting the rush job treatment. He’s already 28 and with his success as an amateur I expect a bit more.

Michael Conlan (debut) vs Tim Ibarra 4(1)-4

6 rounds
super bantamweight

Controversial Olympian Michael Conlan will get his professional debut televised as he fights a very beatable opponent in Tim Ibarra.

From Santander Arena, Reading, Pennsylvania
Time: 6:00 PM PDT, 9:00 PM EDT, 1:00 AM GMT
TV: Bounce TV (US)

Travis Kauffman 31(23)-1 vs Amir Mansour 22(16)-2–1

10 rounds
heavyweight division

It’s very unlikely that either of these guys wind up challenging for a world title, but that doesn’t need to be every fight does it? What we have with these two guys is a fun fight. Big heavyweights who can take a solid puncha nd are always willing to dish. There will come a point where one or both will gas and that’s just fine. This one should be entertaining.

Omar Douglas 17(12)-1 vs Edner Cherry 34(19)-7–2

10 rounds
lightweight division

Douglas is coming off the first loss of his career and it was a tough one that slipped away from him late as Javier Fortuna mounted an impressive comeback. Douglas needs to get back to winning in order to make another run at lightweight. Edner Cherry is the perfect opponent. He’s got tons of experience and some solid recent wins that make him the perfect opponent for Douglas to bounce back against.

Saturday March 18, 2017

From Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Time: 6:00 PM PDT, 9:00 PM EDT, 1:00 AM GMT
TV: HBO PPV (US) BoxNation (UK) Main Event (Australia)

Gennady Golovkin 36(33)-0 vs Danny Jacobs 32(29)-1

12 rounds
WBA super world middleweight title
WBC world middleweight title
IBF world middleweight title

Gennady Golovkin gets a mulligan after his failed first pay-per-view against David Lemieux. We will have full coverage posted throughout the week.

Roman Gonzalez 46(38)-0 vs Wisaksil Wangek 41(38)-4–1

12 rounds
WBC world super flyweight title

There was a point in time when Roman Gonzalez was unanimously referred to as the baddest little man on the planet. He was a 112 pound monster with no peer in sight. (Unless you’re a salty Mexican who thought winning 5 rounds is enough to win a decision.)

Then we saw the emergence of a Monster. A young kid barely old enough to drink jumped 2 weight classes and took on the undisputed king of that division. He destroyed him and sat on a throne waiting for the inevitable arrival of the aforementioned bad little man.

A dream fight was born. Roman Gonzalez, the Nicaraguan destroyer with hundred of YouTube videos dedicated to his ring craft, vs Naoya Inoue.

In the event of a potential dream fight there is a clear bargain. You win and I win. We keep winning and then we fight. Thus far, Inoue has won. Gonzalez has won… except for the fact that now there remains unfinished business after Cuadras nearly upset Gonzalez last year. Cuadras, the secondary champion at 115 who wasn’t seen as in the class of Inoue, went to war with Gonzalez and took everything and gave almost as good as he got.

It’s clear that the super fight is on the back burner. We’ll have to wait until Gonzalez can close the Cuadras chapter of his career before moving on to the big fight with the Japanese champion.

Standing in his path is Wisaksil Wangek. Although he’s got an impressive knockout ratio, we have to qualify that. He fights mostly in domestic Thailand where he fights frequently against whatever competition is willing to step in the ring. Sometimes it’s a 20–1 veteran and other times it’s a guy with 3 fights. If you’re capable of competing for a world title, you’d better have a lot of knockouts getting that type of competition.

Gonzalez should easily walk through a very tough Wangek en route to a rematch with Carlos Cuadras… hopefully not on pay-per-view.

Carlos Cuadras 35(27)-1–1 vs David Carmona 20(8)-3–5

10 rounds
super flyweight division

David Carmona was able to go 12 rounds with Naoya Inoue… but even with a broken hand Inoue nearly got him out of there. As evident by his record, Carmona is okay. He’s a worthy gatekeeper at the super flyweight division, but Cuadras has cemented himself as a legitimate top guy in his weight class. Cuadras should have no trouble getting the win here.

Ryan Martin 17(10)-0 vs Bryant Cruz 17(8)-1