Another solid week, although it could have been so much better. Fights that didn't happen include Rocky Juarez vs. Chris John, Mike Alvarado vs. Paulie Malignaggi and Fernando Montiel vs. Eric Morel.
Friday, June 26
ESPN2, 10:00 p.m. Eastern - Daniel Jacobs vs. George Walton, Erislandy Lara vs. Willie Lee, Deontay Wilder vs. Kelsey Arnold
Telemundo, 11:35 p.m. Eastern - Jesus Jimenez vs. Santiago Ivan Acosta
Saturday, June 27
ARD.de, 4:25 Eastern - Sebastian Sylvester vs. LaJuan Simon, Frank Shabani vs. Leonard Bundu, Arthur Abraham vs. Mahir Oral
Televisa, 8 pm Eastern - Jorge Linares vs. Josefat Perez
Showtime, 9 pm. Eastern (tape delay) - Arthur Abraham vs. Mahir Oral; please don't post spoilers about this one.
Top Rank PPV, 9 p.m. Eastern ($39.99) - Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Olivier Lontchi, Jorge Arce vs. Fernando Lumacad, Vanes Matirosyan vs. Andrey Tsurkan, Yuri Foreman vs. Cornelius Bundrage
HBO, 10:00 p.m. Eastern - Victor Ortiz vs. Marcos Rene Maidana
Elsewhere in the boxing world...
- Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam will square off against Gennady Matirosyan in battle of 2004 Olympians. N'Jikam is steadily working his way up the rankings, and probably will be fighting for a title in the next year or two.
- Another guy whose name I can't pronounce is Nkosinathi Joyi (pictured above). He's run up a very solid undefeated record in the minimumweight division, and will be facing iron-chinned former titlist Florante Condes in an IBF eliminator.
- Juan Jose Landaeta will be getting another shot at an interim title against Francisco Rosas. Landaeta had his title robbed away from him by Koki Kameda a few years ago, although Kameda pretty soundly beat him in their rematch. He then lost to a 7-9 fighter and came back to beat minimumweight journeyman Ronald Barrera in a flyweight bout. How this gets him a title shot, I have no idea. My only explanation is that he's Venezuelan and this is the WBA.
- Daud Yordan comes back against Robert Allanic in Indonesia. It's a shame they couldn't get him to fill in as Rocky Juarez's opponent. I imagine that GBP offered him the spot, and he turned it down due to the flight time and lack of preparation for a top-level fighter.
- Mario Santiago, Demetrius Hopkins and Matt Korobov all have showcare fights on the untelevised undercard of the Top Rank PPV. As Scott noted, Santiago was willing to step in as Rocky Juarez's opponent, but Juarez didn't want to face a southpaw when he had trained for an orthodox fighter.
- Omar Narvaez goes for hiw 16th defense of his flyweight title against Omar Soto. Narvaez certainly has been taking the easy route, as maybe three of his defenses have come against top 10 fighters.
- German heavyweight prospect Steffen Kretschmann takes a step up against Denis Bakhtov. How he handles Bakhtov should help indicate whether he's legitimate or not. He'a another tall stand-up southpaw in the mold of Francisco Pianeta.