TV and Internet Fight Schedule - Weekend of February 26

Wednesday, February 24

TyC Sports (Argentina), 9:30 p.m. Eastern, Omar Narvaez vs. Santiago Acosta.  Narvaez has made 16 defenses of WBO title belt, mostly against joke opposition, but this one is such a mismatch that even the WBO wouldn't sanction the fight.

Thursday, February 25

FSN, 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Victor Ortiz vs. Hector Alatorre, Charles Huerta vs. Guadalupe de Leon.  Ortiz gets a warm-up here in FSN's first airing of Fight Night Club.  Huerta-De Leon is probably the more interesting fight.  Huerta has been somewhat inexplicably pushed on these Club Nokia cards, but was knocked out by Derrick Wilson in the first round.  De Leon is an 8-9 journeyman, but he fights tough, and in his last fight he scored a well earned split decision over Wilson.  De Leon has had some bad luck to have a losing record, so we'll see if he can turn things around for a second consecutive win over a Golden Boy prospect.  Check your schedules on this one - I wouldn't be surprised if in most places it's preempted by college basketball.

Friday, February 26

Sky Sports (UK), 3:00 p.m. Eastern, Prizefighter light middleweights, featuring Bradley Pryce, Neil Sinclair, Prince Arron, Martin Concepcion and others.  For those not familiar with the format, this is a short tournament of three round fights, where the winners face each other one right after the other.

ESPN2, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Antonio Escalante vs. Miguel Roman, Danny Garcia vs. Ashley Theophane.  Escalante didn't start out as a hot prospect, but in his last seven fights, he's beaten Mike Oliver, Gary Stark, Cornelius Lock and Feider Viloria, among others.  Roman is sort of a high level gatekeeper who's a typical tough Mexican fighter, which could make this an exciting fight.  Garcia is the 15-0 light welterweight prospect Golden Boy has been featuring a lot lately.  If the main fights are short, prospects Sharif Bogere, Jermell Charlo, Luis Grajeda and Omar Figueroa are all slated to fight as well.  

Super Channel 2 (Canada), 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Rayonta Whitfield vs. Sergio Espinoza, Mickey Bey Jr. vs. Guillermo Sanchez.  How this is a Hennessy boxing event, I have no idea.  Whitfield and Bey both have a lot of amateur credibility, but neither has made many waves thus far.  Whitfield challenged Omar Narvaez for his title previously and lost a one-sided contest.

Saturday, February 27

TyC Sports (Argentina), 8:00 p.m. Eastern, Jesus Marcelo Andres Cuellar vs. Lucas Baez.

Integrated PPV ($34.95), 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Rodel Mayol vs. Omar Nino, Marvin Sonsona vs. Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Daniel Estrada vs. Angel Rivero, Carlos Negron v. Rudy Ashworth, McWilliams Arroyo v. Eliecer Sanchez, McJoe Arroyo v. Giovanni Rivera.  Mayol will defend his questionably obtained title against Omar Nino, one of the unsung fighters of the light flyweight division.  The main event has the potential to be ugly, as Mayol loves to lead with his head, but both guys like to throw power punches without paying too much attention to defense.  Sonsona-Vazquez is one of those great prospect fights you wish they had picked up on Shobox or something.  Vazquez had no amateur career, so while he's older than Sonsona, he has less experience overall.  Sonsona won a title at 115, but looked pretty bad his last fight and is jumping two weight classes to challenge for a vacant belt.  We'll see which Marvin Sonsona shows up for this one - the dynamo who was exciting and looked like a future star against Carita Lopez, or the lethargic fighter who nearly lost to a journeyman his last time out.  In addition, this card is available internationally (other than the U.S., Puerto Rico, Philippines and Mexico) on gofightlive.tv.

FSN / Fox Sports Espanol, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Kendall Holt vs. Kaizer Mabuza, Mike Jones vs. Henry Bruseles.  Holt is returning from his loss to Timothy Bradley, as well as changing managers after his was arrested in an extortion scam, against Mabuza in a fight with IBF and WBA rankings implications.  We're almost at fight night, and Bruseles hasn't flaked out on this fight yet, which is what he's done every time he was supposed to fight on TV since losing to Floyd Mayweather many years ago.  Jones is a solid prospect, and it's good to see he's finally getting some TV time.  If the main events run short, a third good fight between Saul Roman and Gabriel Rosado is also on the card.

Elsewhere in the world of boxing....

• Zolani Tete will take on Richard Garcia in an IBF flyweight title eliminator.  Tete is only 12-0, but already has some solid wins on his record, such as Rexon Flores.  Garcia has an ugly looking 20-9-1 record, but is 4-0-1 in his last 5 fights against decent competition, including a win over former titlist Ratanapol Sor Vorapin.
• Courtney Burton is back in action for the first time since losing to Emmanuel Augustus in their 2006 rematch.  He'll face Angel Hernandez.  On the same card, which is on Friday in Hammond, Indiana, Michael Walker and Derrick Findley will square off in a battle of guys better known for being the opponents for recent hotshot prospects.  
• 16-0 Isaac Rodrigues takes on former Contender participant Brian Vera in a fight that has WBO super middleweight implications.  
• I can't confirm this one independently, but on Boxrec's schedule, 55 year old former three-time cruiserweight title challenger Bash Ali is scheduled to fight (completely unworthy) two time cruiserweight title challenger Bobby Gunn in Nigeria for some minor trinket.
• Hekkie Budler (who Sickle has noted is a good looking prospect out of South Africa) will be fighting for an IBO light flyweight title against Juanito Rubillar. 
• Also fighting this weekend against lesser opponents - Oyewale Omotoso (coming off a knockout win of Emmanuel Augustus), Bronco McKart, Galen Brown, Brian Rose, Stalin Lopez, Travis Kaufman, Muhammad Abdullaev (four fights into a comeback after retiring in 2005) and Lorenzo Parra.