Normally, the weekend before a megafight there isn't much else going on.  This weekend is an exception, as there are two solid cards happening, and a few smaller fights that could be worth watching. 

Wednesday, November 4

ESPN2, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, Jason Litzau vs. Johnnie Edwards, Frankie Figueroa vs. Rashad Holloway.  Tonight, ESPN2 will be airing a live fight card that's taking place on a military base for our troops.  You can't get a ticket to go live, but you can catch the action on TV.  Litzau vs. Edwards may be an exciting one.  Litzau is a flashy fighter who has good quickness and power, but likes to showboat a little too much and has a chin that's just one step above grade A china.  Edwards is also most famous for being a first round knockout victim of Yuriorkis Gamboa, but he owns a couple of decent wins over Freddie Norwood.  Since his last Norwood victory, he's lost two decisions to up and coming prospects.  Still, both guys like to bang a bit and neither guy has a good chin, so this one should at least have an exciting ending.  Figueroa makes his first appearance since being kicked out of the Cotto training camp, and will try to show off his "Gato moves" against Holloway, a Cincinnati prospect who's taking a big step up in class.

Friday, November 6

Sky Sports, 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Paul McClosky vs. Daniel Rasilla.  McCloskey's opponent was originally to be Soulemane M'Baye, but 15-2 Rasilla is stepping in as a late replacement.  However, this will still be for the vacant European junior welterweight title.  It wouldn't be the biggest fight in the world, but if McClosky wins, he has to be on the short list for a Ricky Hatton comeback fight.   

Integrated PPV, 9:00 p.m. Eastern ($24.99), Zab Judah vs. Ubaldo Hernandez, Joey Casamayor vs. Jason Davis.  Scott's write-up on this card is here.

Saturday, November 7

Integrated PPV, 3:00 p.m. Eastern ($24.99), Nicolai Valuev vs. David Haye, John Ruiz vs. Adnan Serin.  Bad Left Hook will be providing round by round coverage, at least of the Haye fight.  Don't blame Scott if he doesn't cover the John Ruiz fight - staring directly at a John Ruiz fight can cause permanent blindness.  Lucky for all of us, Ruiz is the mandatory for the winner of the main event.  Those of you in Germany can also catch the fight for free on ARD.

Gofightlive.tv, 8:00 p.m. Eastern ($5.99), Mike Jones vs. Raul Pinzon, Gabriel Rosado vs. Latif Mundy.  Frankly, for $20 less, this one's worth about as much as the Zab Judah card.  Someone needs to get Mike Jones on TV already.  He's one of the better prospects out there who has yet to be televised.  He was scheduled to clash with Richard Gutierrez, but Gutierrez had to pull out.  Pinzon isn't a bad replacement, but not a great one either.  He's a standard Columbian slugger with a questionable chin who lost his last two fights to Saul Alvarez and David Torres.  Rosado tries to bounce back from his loss to Alfredo Angulo, which he can probably blame on his lack of concentration during the fight as much as anything. 

HBO, 9:30 p.m. Eastern, Chad Dawson vs. Glen Johnson II, Alfredo Angulo vs. Harry Joe Yorgey.  Bad Left Hook will be providing round by round coverage of this card as well.

Elsewhere in the world of boxing....

• Sam Sexton will rematch Martin Rogan on Friday.  Sexton vs. Rogan I was a fun heavyweight bout earlier in the year that ended quite controversially.  Sexton was beating up on Rogan pretty good early in the fight, but Rogan, with both of his eyes closing shut, came back to seriously hurt Sexton.  Sexton stayed up on his feet, but was clearly in la-la land, and one more solid punch would have taken him down for the count (and possibly seriously injured him).  Rogan took his foot off the gas, thinking the referee would step in and stop the fight when his opponent was clearly defenseless.  Instead, this gave Sexton enough time to recover and last the round, and the referee stopped the fight between rounds due to Rogan's eyes swelling shut, resulting in a TKO win for Sexton.  Rogan is a throwback mauler, so the rematch should be fun as well.  Sadly, best I can tell, it's not being televised live because it conflicts with the McClosky fight.  It will be shown on tape delay on BBC1 on Wednesday.  In addition, it will be aired live on Hungarian TV, of all places, so maybe you can catch a stream.

• The Haye-Valuev undercard is absolutely loaded with every Sauerland prospect out there, although I don't know which fights, if any, will be televised.  Robert Helenius takes on Taras Bidenko in a matchup between two fringe contenders.  Gbenga Oloukun tries to bounce back from a loss only a few weeks ago against 2-0 Kurbat Pulev.  Sergei Lyakhovich is scheduled to fight West Virginia insurance salesman (and recent victim of every senior citizen comebacking heavyweight out there) Jeremy Bates.  Alexander Frenkel will take on a completely shot to bits Kelvin Davis.  6'7" cruiserweight prospect Francisco Palacios will take on DeLeon Tinsley in a step up fight.  Tinsley has good wins over Alfredo Escalera Jr. and Lou Del Valle, but has generally lost to class opposition, such as Ola Afolabi, Enad Licina and Aaron Williams.  David Haye's prospect George Groves takes a minor step up against seasoned veteran Konstantin Makhankov. 
• In an all-Canadian card, Sebastian Demers takes on Nicholson Poulard, David Lemieux goes after Alfredo Contreras.  Demers got smashed the two times he stepped up at 160, so despite not having much power, he's moved up to 168.  His debut in the weight class went well, as he won by first round knockout.  If he gained power in gaining weight, he might actually be better off at his new weight. The fight is for the NABO title vacated by Andre Ward when he joined the Super Six tournament. 
• Heriberto Ruiz and Jackson Asiku will face off for an IBO title.  Ruiz seems to be leveling out as a high level gatekeeper, with wins over Rey Bautista and Mauricio Martinez, but losing every time he's jumped up one level in class, losing to Steve Molitor, Eric Morel, Alejandro Valdez and Irene Pacheco.  Asiku has gone undefeated in the last 5 years, clearing out the Aussie circuit in the process. 
• Taking tune-up or stay-busy fights this weekend: Peter Manfredo, Austin Trout, Jean Paul Mendy, Martin Lindsay, Grzegorz Proska, Keith Thurman, Brandon Rios, Tyrone Brunson

Not a ton going on this week, but the Showtime card could be a good one, despite not featuring any marquee names. 

Friday, October 30

Sky Sports, 1 p.m. Eastern, Paul Smith vs. Tony Quigley.  While this isn't as exciting as the originally scheduled main event of Kell Brook vs. Michael Jennings, this still isn't a half bad fight.  Quigley, the BBBoC super middleweight champ, makes exciting fights, and people who watched season 3 of The Contender will remember that Smith fights at a high level.  Jennings is still on the card, but now that the main event is off, I suspect they'll show Frankie Gavin and James DeGale's 6-round fights rather than showing Jennings' fight against late replacement Laszlo Komjathi.

Integrated PPV, 8:30 p.m. Eastern ($24.99), Hector Camacho Jr. vs. Yory Boy Campas; Antonio Escalante vs. Carlos Fulgencio.  This must be a bad joke.  In someone's idea of a "revenge match", Camacho faces 38-year old Campas, who drew 47 year-old Camacho senior in his last fight.  Camacho Jr. survives off his father's name even more than Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and while Campas is a tough old coot, he hasn't really been competitive with top guys since the 90's.  He may not be as old as Hopkins, but he has a lot more mileage on his body.

Saturday, October 31

Showtime, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Joseph Agbeko vs. Yohnny Perez, Antonio DeMarco vs. Jose Alfaro.  Bad Left Hook will be providing round by round coverage.  On paper, Agbeko versus Perez looks like a potential barnburner.  While Perez was an Olympian from Colombia, he's not the most naturally talented fighter in the world, getting by on guts and decent technique.  He earned the title shot by scoring a come from behind 12th round knockout of Silence Mabuza.  Agbeko's last three fights have all been exciting, so we know what he brings to the table.   Alfaro isn't much of a step up for DeMarco, if it is one at all, but it's possible that this fight will be somewhat entertaining as well.  DeMarco isn't really my bag of chips, but at least I get why Gary Shaw is pushing him, unlike some of his other prospects.

Elsewhere in the world of boxing...

• Be glad Showtime stuck to their guns and are airing the DeMarco fight on the Agbeko undercard.  Typical of a recent Don King card, he's getting all of his least exciting fighters involved on one undercard.  Cory Spinks will defend his title against Carlos Molina, who's been on a run lately, upsetting several prospects on FNF and Shobox over the last year or so.  Spinks has a bad rap, but his last couple fights were actually decent scraps, and Molina has earned his shot the old fashioned way.  In a title eliminator, Ray Austin takes on DaVarryl Williamson, which on paper sounds like the most boring fight imaginable.  Also on the card, prospects James de la Rosa, Bermane Stiverne, Marvin Quintero and Angelo Santana will be fighting. 
• The IBF couldn't go for long without a South African title fight.  Former titlist Cassius Baloyi will take on Roberto Arrieta in a title eliminator for their 130 pound belt.
• If Joey GIlbert vs. Dhafir Smith doesn't make your mouth water, I don't know what will.  Grass jelly, perhaps. 
  
• I had no idea that Lou Del Valle was still lacing them up, and thought he was just a trainer at this point, but he's facing Joey Spina at the Mohegan Sun this weekend.  
• In a fight between two guys nobody's ever heard of that may have very real ramifications in the lightweight division, 20-0 Mlungisi Dlamini takes on Zolani Marali.  Marali is only 1-2 in his last three, but the win was over Gamaliel Diaz and one of the losses was a close decision to Billy Dib in Australia.  Dlamini's last two wins were over Gairy St. Clair and Francisco Lorenzo.  
• 25-0 flyweight prospect Hernan "Tyson" Marquez will face Darwin Zamora.  Marquez is raw as hell, but he's a southpaw with big power who could make some noise in the future.  Undefeated prospects Miguel Beltran Jr. and Ramon Maas also appear on the same card. 

Nothing big going on this week, but there are a few smaller fights that could be good.

Friday, October 23

Sky Sports, 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Jamie Moore vs. Ryan Rhodes, Gary Davies vs. Ian Napa.  Click here for Scott's preview of the Moore fight, for which Bad Left Hook will attempt to provide round by round coverage.  This one has all the makings of being a solid war. 

Showtime, 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Victor Fonseca vs. Al Seeger, Freddy Hernandez vs. Damian Frias.  Welcome to Shawtime.  Gary Shaw attempts to push some more middling prospects on us with this edition of Showbox.  Fonseca is an undefeated Puerto Rican super bantamweight with a few decent wins on his record, but his previous televised clashes haven't been all that memorable.  Seeger is a fun fighter to watch when he hangs in there, but he's probably best remembered for getting obliterated by Yuriorkis Gamboa in one.  We'll see if he can bounce back, as his last fight resulted in the death of his opponent.  Hernandez and Frias are each one-loss welterweights, although Hernandez does hold a win over Jesus Soto-Karass. 

Saturday, October 24

Polsat, 2:30 p.m. Eastern, Tomasz Adamek vs. Andrew Golota.  I find it hard to believe, but evidently the promoters didn't even feel it was important to have this one on an internet PPV.  I would imagine that Polish fans worldwide would be interested.  I'll list it here anyway, just in case you can find a stream.  This one's interesting not only because it might be the biggest all-Pole fight in history, but also because Adamek, the lineal cruiserweight champ, is a smallish cruiserweight facing an old, shot full-sized heavyweight.

Eurosport, 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Alex Mazikin vs. Ondrej Pala, Konstantin Airich vs. Cisse Salif.  Hooray for crappy heavyweights in boring fights!

Integrated PPV, 9:00 p.m. Eastern ($24.95), Kermit Cintron vs. Juliano Ramos, Jonathan Oquendo vs. Juan Jose Beltran.  I almost can't believe this pay per view didn't get canceled when Carlos Quintana got pulled off the card to face Joshua Clottey.  I have to imagine this one will lose Lou DiBella some money.  This is basically just a stay busy fight for a good but not great fighter without a major fanbase.

Televisa, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Cristobal Cruz vs. Ricardo Castillo.  This one also has all the makings of a fun fight, although Castillo is more than a few steps down the ladder from older brother Jose Luis Castillo.  Cruz has transformed himself from a journeyman brawler into a more-forward, all endurance, constantly punching unstoppable force, sort of a wilder version of Librado Andrade.  He's coming off a win over Jorge Solis. 

Elsewhere in the world of boxing:

• Edison Miranda will try to get back on track, facing 20-2 Francisco Sierra.  Sierra has wins over former title challenger Henry Porras and Esteban Camou, so he's not a total can.  Both of his losses came to Rigoberto Alvarez, one of Saul's older brothers.  Also on the undercard, Manuel Quezada and Malik Scott will continue their reigns of havok (or reigns of smashing tomato cans, at least), with Quezada facing Nicolai Firtha (knocked out by Tye Fields in his last fight) and Scott facing the almighty TBA.  
• Considering this is the year 2000, this should be a solid scrap.  Oliver McCall faces Lance Whitaker in a fight between washed up vets.  I guess it's a way to earn a living. 
  
• Tomas Rojas potentially risks his upcoming payday against Vic Darchinyan by facing undefeated African prospect Evans Mbamba.  Rojas isn't really much more than a trial horse, so he's probably expected to lose, but a cut or an injury means Darchinyan would need to find a late replacement.  On the other hand, this is for an interim title, so if he wins, it will mean he's earned a belt at some point in his career. 
  
• Hassan N'Dam N'jikam takes on Oney Valdez.  N'jikam is a really solid middleweight prospect coming off a win over Gennady Martirosyan who I'll do a profile on at some point.
  
• Henry "Sugar Poo" Buchanan faces Bobby Jordan in DC on Saturday.  I only mention this because I like to say "Sugar Poo."  
• Dmitry Ganiev squares off against Fahsan 3K Battery.  Honestly, this is the first I've heard of Ganiev, but he's a 10-0 Russian lightweight who already has a couple of wins that look good on paper.  Fahsan is a multiple time title challenger best known for losing to Manny Pacquiao, but would easily be Ganiev's best opponent to date.  Ruslan Provodnikov is also on this card, which is being billed as the biggest fight card ever held in Siberia, as a tune-up for his fight against Bredis Prescott.

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. 

Last time out, Menzer and Schouten faced off for a highly contested fight that Menzer won by close decision. This time, it's for all the marbles.

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Friday, October 9

Sky Sports, 3:30 p.m. Eastern, Nathan Cleverly vs. Courtney Fry, Derek Chisora vs. Zurab Noniashvili.  Cleverly is a hard-hitting light heavyweight prospect to get excited about.  He'll be defending his BBBoC title against Courtney Fry.  While he's getting his bouts televised on Sky because he's cleaning out the UK circuit, it would be nice to see him step up soon, as I think he could easily demolish most of the guys in the bottom half of the top 10.  Chisora is a rumored future opponent for Tyson Fury.

GoFightLive.tv, 7:30 p.m. Eastern ($4.99), Alfredo Escalera Jr. vs. Mike Alderete.  Escalera was on the most recent season of the Contender, but unfortunately, there weren't too many actual contenders on that season.  Escalera isn't one of them.

Saturday, October 10

ZDF, 6:00 p.m. Eastern, Ina Menzer vs. Esther Schouten, Susi Kentikian vs. Julia Sahin, Denis Boytsov vs. Jason Gavern.  This is one of the more significant cards to happen in women's boxing in a while.  Menzer is becoming somewhat of a star, and Kentikian has been pushed on the German public as well.  Both bouts are title unification fights.  Boytsov is a heavyweight contender in a stay-busy fight that will also be aired.

Top Rank PPV, 9:00 p.m. Eastern ($39.99), Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Rogers Mtagwa, Yuriorkis Gamboa vs. Whyber Garcia, Odlanier Solis vs. Monte Barrett, Pawel Wolak vs. Carlos Nascimiento.  It's not that this was ever the most interesting card in the world, but it at least had the prospects of having a good, evenly matched heavyweight bout when Solis was going to face Kevin Johnson.  And it at least had an intriguing (but probably boring) bout when Solis was scheduled to face Fres Oquendo.  But now that he's probably facing Fatty Tomato Can Replacement, there really isn't a good fight on the televised card.  As usual, expect this one to be rebroadcast shortly thereafter on Azteca, and it's probably worth waiting. Bad Left Hook will have live coverage, though, because Scott's a weirdo.

Fox Sports Espanol - 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Israel Vasquez vs. Ariel Prieto.  This is Vasquez's first fight after his classic trilogy with Rafael Marquez.  He's been off for quite a while as he suffered eye damage in the fight.  If he looks decent, a fourth fight with Marquez might be back on the table.  Jose Armando Santa Cruz and Carlos Molina will also be on the undercard, but I don't know if their fights will be televised. 

Televisa, 11:30 p.m. (?) Eastern, Marco Antonio Rubio vs. Eric Mitchell, Jose Luis Zertuche vs. Jose Ramirez.  These are strictly bounce back fights.  Maybe this will set up a Rubio-Zertuche rematch, as Rubio won the first via entertaining knockout.  Note that the time is just a guess on my part, and if anyone who has Televisa can confirm, I'd appreciate it.

Elsewhere in the world of boxing...

• On Friday, there's another big card going on in Panama, but all the major fighters are facing light touches.  Daniel Edouard, Ricardo Cordoba and Anselmo Moreno will all be in action.
• On Saturday morning, there's a big card going on in Japan.  Jorge Linares will be defending his title against undefeated (but green) Mexican prospect Juan Carlos Salgado, while Toshiaki Nishioka will be defending his strap against Ivan "Choko" Hernandez.  Now that Linares is co-promoted by Golden Boy, hopefully we get to see a little more of him stateside.  
• In a surprising move, Fernando Guerrero's next fight, and by far his toughest matchup so far, won't be on an internet pay per view.  Guerrero will face rugged vet Ossie Duran, who gave James Kirkland his toughest fight and who gave David Lopez a run for his money his last time out.  Also on the undercard, prospect Ty Barnett will be facing Juan Santiago.  
• On the Latin Fury undercard, John Duddy will try to bounce back from his loss to Billy Lyell against Michi Munoz.
• On Saturday night in Houston, there should be a fun night of boxing.  Entertaining slugger Dat "be Dat" Nguyen faces Andres Ledesma, while former title challenger Rayonta Whitfield and prospects Eugene "Mean Gene" Hill and Mickey Bey Jr. will also be on the card.  All of these guys tend to make good fights, even if they're somewhat of showcase bouts. 

Jean Pascal will try to take out Silvio Branco in what should be yet another war. via www.rds.ca

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The weekend after a huge megafight that disappointed many in the action department, but was strangely enjoyable as a masterclass, we have a number of fights this weekend that have guaranteed action, but where the skill level might not be, ahem, quite so high.

Thursday, September 24

Versus, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Luis Ramos Jr. vs. Christian Favela; Charles Huerta vs. Rodrigo Aranda; Karl Dargan vs. Rydell Griffin.  I believe this is the end of the Versus Fight Night series, bit I wouldn't swear to it.  This iteration put together by GBP has been somewhat of a flop.  And if you want to watch Adamek-Cunningham for the 17,000th time, you can tune in at 8 pm.

Friday, September 25

Sky Sports, 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Matthew Macklin vs. Amin Asikainen, Cello Renda vs. Sam Horton.  Macklin is getting pretty high in the middleweight rankings after beating on the best that the UK and Ireland have to offer in the weight class.  Asikainen has been a top 10 contender and has beaten current beltholder Sebastian Sylvester, and is in Fight Night Round 4, probably to please the all-important Finnish demographic.  Either way, this should be a good fight, and should put the winner in a position to fight for a belt at 160 in the not too distant future.

Gofightlive.tv, 8:00 p.m. Eastern ($9.99), Jean Pascal vs, Silvio Branco, Sebastian Demers vs. Jose Spearman, Adonis Stevenson vs. Jermain Mackey.  The first of two potentially action-packed major fights to air on GFL this weekend.  I'm thrilled to see that this is the kind of fight they're able to get over there now.  Branco is the mandatory for the belt that Pascal won from Diaconu.  Branco has skills, but he's old and never had a fantastic chin.  Pascal, on the other hand, is mostly an athletic freak who doesn't have too much by way of skills, yet makes it look good and exciting while being extremely vulnerable.  Pascal hasn't made a bad fight in years, so I don't expect this one to be a borefest.  Pretty much all the pre-fight hype you could want for this one is over here, if you can understand French and/or Italian.  Winner gets a match with Diaconu.

Saturday, September 26

RTE.ie, 4:30 p.m. Eastern, Bernard Dunne vs. Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym. This is the first defense by all-action Irish fighter of his belt.  Dunne-Cordoba from earlier in the year was my fight of the year of this year so far, and there's the opportunity to catch this one by a stream as well.  Poonsawat has won his last 14 fights, with 12 of those victories coming by knockout.  While it seems like he's been around forever, he's only 28 years old, and has beaten some pretty darn good fighters in the past (Cordoba, Gamez, Somsak).  If you're home on a Saturday afternoon, this is must-see TV.  Stream it in the background while you're watching college football.  THIS FIGHT IS AVAILABLE VIA FREE LEGAL LIVE STREAM AT THE HYPERLINK FOR THIS TEXT.  Oh, and if you haven't seen Dunne-Cordoba, the full fight is available to stream on their website here.  If the undercard is shown at all, Patrick Hyland will face David Kiilu.

Gofightlive.tv, 9:00 p.m. Eastern ($9.99), David Diaz vs. Jesus Chavez, Jose Hernandez vs. Juan Carlos Martinez.  Diaz was last seen a year ago, getting the snot knocked out of him by Manny Pacquiao.  Jesus Chavez put up a decent, but not all that competitive, fight against Michael Katsidis.  Winner of this fight probably gets one last shot at lightweight glory.  If Chavez loses, don't be surprised to see him retire.  If Diaz loses, he'll probably toil around as a gatekeeper for a while.

HBO, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Vitali Klitschko vs. Cristobal Arreola.  Bad Left Hook will be providing round by round coverage.

Elsewhere in the world of boxing...

• There are two other mildly interesting heavyweight bouts on the Klitschko-Arreola undercard.  Alexander Ustinov is a former kickboxer promoted by the Klitschkos and really fits their mold - he's huge (6'7", 300), he's Ukranian, he has great power and he's robotic as hell.  That said, he's also much slower than either of the Klitschkos.  He's taking a massive step up, facing Cedric Boswell, who has a shiny record mostly beating cans.  The one time he got a chance against a big name fighter, he was beating Jameel McCline until getting knocked out in the final round.  Boswell may be 40, but moves about as well as any heavyweight out there, so it could be an interesting fight, if for no other reason than that Ustinov is laterally challenged.  Also, Johnothan Banks faces Javier Mora in what looks like a stay busy fight. 
• Takalani Ndlovu takes on Kiko Martinez in a featherweight eliminator in a battle of Steve Molitor victims.
• Martin Castillo continues his comeback against German Meraz.  Between his chin (which was exposed to have degraded against Montiel) and his face (he's always been extremely prone to cuts, and he has scar tissue on both upper eyelids), he's probably done as a top fighter, but on a technical level he's up there with just about anyone ar 115 - 118.
• Chop Chop Corley will try to continue his march back to respectibility, facing Harrison Cuello.  While Corley had a string where he legitimately lost 5 out of 6, he should be undefeated in his last 5. 

Giovanni Lorenzo will try to win a vacant title against Sebastian Sylvester. via www.sportschau.de

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We have a megafight this weekend, but there's still a lot going on, even if you don't want to use one of the million ways to watch the fight.  Even if Mayweather-Marquez doesn't pique your fancy, there are potential fireworks on all three undercard fights. Don't get Pay Per View?  Go watch it at a movie theater.

Friday, September 18

Sky Sports, Noon Eastern: Lenny Daws vs. Barry Morrison; Matthew Marsh vs. Josh Wale.  Daws and Morrison will face off for the BBoC light welterweight title that Ajose Olusegan just vacated.  Olusegan was supposed to defend until a few days ago, when he jumped ship when he was offered a title eliminator bout against Jo Jo Dan.

GoFightLive.tv, 7:30 p.m. Eastern ($4.95): Carlos Zambrano vs. Jason Rori, and a whole bunch of others.

ESPN2., 9:00 p.m. Eastern: Guillermo Rigondeaux vs. GIovanni Andrade; Yordanis Despaigne vs. Micky Scaraborough; Yudel Johnson vs. Frankie Santos.  All three fighters are Cuban Olympic medalists who are recent defectors.  Rigondeaux is the most promising of the three, and is taking a massive step up in facing Andrade, who is 60-11 with 49 knockouts.  To this point, Rigondeaux has only taken on no-hopers in four round bouts, and now he gets a former fringe titlist in a 10 round bout.  However, the last time we saw Andrade on US TV, he got shellacked by Juan Manuel Lopez in a round.

Showtime, 11:00 p.m. Eastern: Travis Kaufman vs. Tony Grano; Chris Avalos vs. Giovanni Caro.  Kaufman is a heavyweight prospect who goes by "GW Hope" (yes, great white hope).  He has some skills, but isn't necessarily the most exciting fighter in the world.  In this era of weak heavyweights, he could be a contender.

Saturday, September 19

ARD, 3:00 p.m. Eastern: Sebastian Sylvester vs. Giovanni Lorenzo; Francisco Pianeta vs. Matt Skelton; Alexander Frenkel vs. Joszef Nady.  Sylvester vs. Lorenzo is for the middleweight title that Arthur Abraham vacated.  Both are decent fighters in or near the bottom half of the middleweight top 10, but that's not saying much in a division as weak as it is.  Pianeta's coming off a disappointing draw to Albert Sosnowski, who was subsequently almost knocked out by Zuri Lawrence.  He's still tall and he's still an awkward southpaw, so he could still become a contender, but he'll need to improve his workrate and fundamentals to get there.    How's this for aggressive scheduling - last weekend, Frenkel beat 22-4 Lazslo Hubert on the Kessler-Perdomo undercard.  Exactly a week later, he faces 21-4 Nady to try to get his 20th win.  At least you need to give credit to Sauerland for trying to turn him into a draw, as cruiserweight is a big money division in Germany.

HBO PPV, 9:00 p.m. Eastern ($45.95): Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez; Chris John vs. Rocky Juarez; Vicente Escobedo vs. Michael Katsidis; Cornelius Lock vs. Orlando Cruz.  Somehow, GBP convinced the WBO to give up an interim title for Escobedo-Katsidis, which seems kind of whack to me.  Also on the undercard is Erislandy Lara vs. Jose Varela.  Also on the undercard - Said Ouali, Jesse Vargas and Dion Savage.  Check on Yahoo, as they often broadcast the untelevised undercards of the major Golden Boy pay per views - you might be able to catch it there. 

TyC Sports, 10:00 Eastern: Gaston Alejandro Vega vs. Jorge Sebastian Heiland.  I had no idea this channel even existed until 10 minutes ago, but evidently it's an Argentinian sports channel that you can get on the DirectTV international package.  This is a bout between two undefeated middleweight prospects that will push the winner pretty high up the WBO's rankings.

Elsewhere in the world of boxing:

• Puerto Rican flyweight prospect Cesar Seda Jr. takes on Omar Soto in a step up fight.  Soto recently fought for Omar Narvaez's title, and should present Seda with a decent test.  Seda may be someone to watch out for in the future.  
• Mahir Oral is back in action after his knockout loss to Arthur Abraham.  He'll face European journeyman Alexander Sipos.  On the same card, Steffan Kretschmann tries to come back from his own shocking loss to Denis Bakhtov against, well, a 3-13 bum. 
• Matt Remillard takes on Rafael Lora in another battle of undefeated prospects.  Remillard is the known qualtity here, and they're bringing him along at a decent pace. 
  
• On Monday, Takefumi Sakata takes a bounceback fight against the hilariously named Decky Putra.  You know superfly is weak when you still need to consider Sakata's name when putting together a top 10 list.  
• On Wednesday, Omar Sheika takes on Antwun Echols in a fight nobody wants to see.  This would have been a great one in, say, 2000.  Hopefully loser has to retire.

Saul Alvarez (yes, he's Mexican, not Irish) is too young to know any better than to pose with the WBC Diamond Belt (which actually has pictures of Pacquiao and Cotto on it). via www.boxeoeditores.com

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This is that time of year when we seem to go from weak week to strong weak on an almost weekly basis.  This week, there are actually two low-level pay per views scheduled, which just can't be good for anyone, considering a lot of providers only have the slot for one sports pay per view in a given timeslot.  In even more scheduling madness, there are two Mexican cards involving multiple championship fights going on Tuesday night.  Why can't the promoters just play nice and spread out the cards?  If half of these fights had been last weekend and half of them this weekend, we would have had two decent weekends of fights, instead of complete dreck followed by an overload.

Thursday, September 10

Canal+, 3:30 p.m. Eastern, Nadjib "Iron Djib" Mohammedi vs. Thierry Karl; Karim Bennama vs. David Greter; Jean Paul Mendy vs. Nathan King.  The first two fights are part of Le Grand Tournoi, a boxing tournament they have had in France the last few years.

Friday, September 11

Sky Sports, Noon Eastern, Tyson Fury vs. John McDermott. This one's for the English heavyweight crown.  McDermott's certainly an English-level fighter, but he's a pretty decent one.  His last two fights were both close losses to Danny Williams, and he's beaten some decent British heavies like Scott Gammer and Pete Reid.  Fury, only 7-0, is taking a decent step up, but I like the aggressiveness in his scheduling for such a young fighter.  The way he's staying in the media, he should be able to make a decent living boxing, even if he does flame out a la Audley Harrison.

Gofightlive.tv, 7:30 p.m. Eastern ($4.99), Steve Upshur vs. James Helms; Jules Blackwell vs. Joselito Collado; Darren Fallen vs. Joshua Onyango and others.

Gofightlive.tv, 8:00 p.m. Eastern ($7.99), Rodney King vs. Simon Aouad.  Yes, THAT Rodney King.  This is touted as celebrity boxing, meaning it's probably not pro rules, but King is the only guy on the card I've ever heard of.

Telemundo, 11:35 p.m. Eastern, Alejandro Hernandez vs. Wilbert Uicab.  It's very clearly Telemundo when the headline fight involved guys who are 22-6 and 25-5, respectively.  Should be a good flyweight scrap though.

Saturday, September 12

Integrated PPV, 9:00 p.m. Eastern ($29.95), Ivan Calderon vs. Rodel Mayol; Roman Martinez vs. Vicente Rodriguez; Juan Mercedes vs. Jesus Martinez; Carlos Negron vs. Larry Carter.  Calderon seems to be fading, and Mayol's trainer Freddie Roach seems confident he can squeeze out a victory.  Calderon tried to brawl too much in his last couple fights, but if he goes back to boxing defensively, he shouldn't have too many problems with Mayol, who Calderon drew in his last fight.  Martinez makes the first defense of the title he won from Nicky Cook.  For those of you who don't get this pay per view over the cable box, the card is also available at Gofightlive.tv for $9.95.

Top Rank PPV, 9:00 p.m. Eastern ($39.95), Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Jason LeHoullier; Fernando Montiel vs. Alex Valdez; Donnie Nietes vs. Manuel Vargas; Z Gorres vs. Cruz Carvajal.  Gorres vs. Carvajal might actually be the most exciting and competitive fight on the card.  Chavez-LeHoullier might also be closer than some people might think, but LeHoullier doesn't have the power to end Chavez.  Another pretty lackluster card for a big price tag from Top Rank.  The Televisa card on Tuesday is a significantly better card from top to bottom.  On the bright side, if you get Azteca, you can probably watch this one for free on delay.

Showtime, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Mikkel Kessler vs. Gusmyl Perdomo; Andre Ward vs. Shelby Pudwill.  Bad Left Hook will be providing coverage of these fights, which will help set up Kessler vs. Ward in the opening round of the Super Six tournament.  Perdomo is actually a crafty southpaw who is Kessler's mandatory.  He's probably not much of a threat to win, but he could put up a decent fight.  Pudwill, on the other hand, is best known for being Tocker's less talented brother, and is just bait to get knocked out early.

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