Well I haven't done one of these in a while, but I'm up early (well, late) and the Lebedev vs Toney show starts at 11 a.m. EDT this morning, so let's talk some boxing.
Oliver McCall Out of Saturday Fight With Mariusz Wach
In news that probably won't surprise many, CES announced that Oliver McCall, the 46-year-old "Atomic Bull," is out of a scheduled Saturday night fight with Mariusz Wach. The Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation didn't license McCall for the fight, so Jason Gavern (21-8-4, 10 KO) will fill in for him. Wach (25-0, 13 KO) is building a mild reputation, but he's done so off of knockouts of a badly out of shape Kevin McBride and guys like Julius Long and Galen Brown.
Also featured on the card will be a fight between Elvin Ayala (24-5-1, 11 KO) and Juan Astorga (15-7-1, 10 KO). Astorga is best known for folding to body shots.
Koki Kameda, Juan Carlos Salgado, and Others Lined Up for Fights
If you missed the announcements, the big Japanese New Year's Eve show this year will feature a pair of title fights. Takashi Uchiyama (17-0, 14 KO) will be defending the WBA super featherweight title against Jorge Solis (40-3-2, 29 KO). Also on the card, Celestino Caballero (35-4, 23 KO) makes a surprisingly quick return to defend his newly-won WBA featherweight belt against Satoshi Hosono (21-1, 15 KO).
Our own Sidney Boquiren noted on Twitter that WBA bantamweight titleholder Koki Kameda (26-1, 16 KO) will return to the ring on December 7, facing Mario Macias (23-7, 11 KO). Macias is ranked 12th by the WBA, and should be an easy defense for Kameda, as the Mexican has an extremely light record.
Dimitri Sartison (27-1, 17 KO) will be back in action on November 12 in Belgium, facing Affif Belghecham (19-7-1, 4 KO) in an eight-rounder. Sartison hasn't fought since July 2010.
Juan Carlos Salgado (24-1-1, 16 KO) will make the first defense of his IBF super featherweight title on December 10 in Mexico. Salgado has been matched against Argentina's Fernando David Saucedo (44-5-3, 4 KO). Saucedo's most notable fight to date was a 12-round virtual shutout loss to Chris John in 2010.
Bantamweight Eric Morel (45-2, 23 KO) will be in action on December 3. He's been biding his time and trusting that Golden Boy intends to actually get him a title shot for a while now, since getting a disputed win over Gerry Penalosa in February 2010. No opponent has been named, but Morel's team says they've been promised a shot at the winner of Mares vs Agbeko II, or the winner of Moreno vs Darchinyan. Those fights will air live on Showtime that night.
Seth Mitchell (23-0-1, 17 KO) is currently slated to face Timur Ibragimov (30-3-1, 16 KO) on the Khan vs Peterson card on December 10. That could change.
Song of the Day
Howard Tate's "Ain't Nobody Home." Right in the middle of the goddamn Summer of Love, Tate dropped a great album that got largely lost in the shuffle. His album has aged a lot better than Country Joe & The Fish, I can tell you that much.