Friday, October 16

Sky Sports, noon Eastern, Michael Hunter vs. Jason Booth; Paul Holborn vs. Ben Murphy.  Hunter and Booth will be squaring off for the BBBoC super bantamweight title.

Gofightlive.tv, 7:30 p.m. Eastern ($5.99), Derek Ennis vs. Eromosele Albert.and about 7 smaller fights. 

Telemundo, 11:30 p.m. Eastern,  Antonio Pitalua vs. Wilfredo Negron; Joel Julio vs. Clarence Taylor.  Negron should strictly be another bounceback opponent for Pitalua, who after an 8-year win streak, was demolished by Edwin Valero, and was losing bacly to journeyman Jose Reyes before coming from behind with a knockout of the year candidate.  Julio, Dan Rafael's former prospect of the year, lost his last two to James Kirkland and Sergiy Dzinziruk, and while that's top competition, it just doesn't look like Julio has the fire in his belly necessary to be a top level fighter.

Saturday, October 17

Showtime, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, Arthur Abraham vs. Jermain Taylor (tape delay), Carl Froch vs. Andre Dirrell.  Bad Left Hook will be providing round by round coverage of this one.  Anyone who posts spoilers on the Abraham-Taylor fight will be banned from posting, at least for the day.  Note the early start time.

Azteca America, 11:30 p.m. Eastern, Brandon Rios vs. Manny Perez, Joksan Hernandez vs. TBA.  Rios has been pushed pretty hard on us as he goes around and fights his personal bum of the month club.  Hernandez is up on the Azteca site but not on Boxrec, so who knows if he's actually fighting.  If not, then Raul Martinez is also on the undercard,  trying to bounce back from getting his butt kicked by Nonito Donaire.

Elsewhere in the world of boxing...

• A major card will be going on in the Philippines.  Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista will be back in action, coming back off his second loss (to Heriberto Ruiz), against 19-5-1 Marangin Marbun.  Czar Amonsot keeps on trucking on the undercard, taking on Jesus Muzaka.  Amonsot is 3-0 this year after suffering a brain bleed against Michael Katsidis in 2007.
• The unfortunate part about a Showtime fight being on tape delay is that I can't go online to check the results of the good undercard fights.  Enad Licina will take on Yoan Pablo Hernandez, while Lamon Brewster conqueror Gbenga Oloukun will step up against German fringe contender Rene Dettweiler. Pretty much every junior prospect promoted by Sauerland is on the untelevised undercarad.
  
• On the same night that Abraham will try to make a name for himself in the Super Six, two of his leftovers will try to use the other as a stepping stone, as LaJuan Simon faces Elvin Ayala.  Both of these guys gave Abraham a tougher fight than expected, but neither one is particularly good.  Abraham's Ayala and Simon fights provide the key as to how Abraham could go 0-3 in the tournament.  
  
• Vassiliy Jirov's opponent has finally been named.  He'll be taking on 13-6-1 Cory Phelps.  Also on the card, Shannon "the Cannon" Briggs will be making his comeback fight against 9-7 Arron Lyons, and former Contender Erick Vega will match up with former titlist Kelvin Davis who, at only 31, hasn't won a fight in nearly three years.  Breaking his back in a training accident can't have helped. 
• Former two-time titlist Luis Perez is coming back after over a year off, taking on Sergio Gomez in his native Nicaragua.  Perez, one of the dirtiest fighters on the planet, has fought only about once a year for the last 6 or 7 years.  In 2007, he lost his title to Joseph Agbeko, and a year later lost an eliminator to Ricardo Cordoba. 
  
• Nice to see Billy Lyell has been able to parlay his upset victory over John Duddy into another big fight.  He's taking on another tomato can near Youngstown.