TV and Internet Fight Schedule - Weekend of May 28

Note: This was written about a week ago, so please feel free to note any updates in the comments.

Thursday, May 27

Fox Sports Net, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Fight Night Club.  At the time of this writing, opponents haven't been named, but the card should include blue-chip prospect Frankie Gomez, David Rodela and former title challenger Jose Navarro. Update: Navarro will be facing Benjamin Garcia (14-14-3, 1 KO). Gomez and Rodela still don't have opponents, but Rodela is the scheduled main eventer.

Friday, May 28

Sky Sports, 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Gary Sykes vs. Kevin O'Hara.  This one's for the British super featherweight title, and not quite as compelling as most of the recent Friday Fight Night cards. 

HBO Plus (Argentina), Sebastian Lujan vs. Emilio Julio, Randy Griffin vs. Franco Raul Sanchez.  Since getting his ear nearly lopped off against Antonio Margarito, Lujan has kept himself at the world contender level.  He lost a title fight to Sergei Dzinziruk and a nontitle bout to Jamie Moore, and he defeated Jose Luis Castillo, which has pushed him into the welterweight rankings of several governing bodies.  This one, however, isn't much more than a stay busy fight. 

ESPN2, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Librado Andrade vs. Eric Lucas.  This one was a lot more enticing when the main event was a title eliminator between Sakio Bika and Jesse Brinkley.  Brinkley pulled out with an injury, and the IBF rewarded him by making him the mandatory without a fight.  Andrade is tough as nails and is still a legitimate top 10 super middleweight.  He may not have the best skills in the world, and while he lost badly to Lucian Bute and Mikkel Kessler, people forget that he walked through a bunch of B-fighters like Robert Stieglitz, Yusaf Mack and Vitali Tsypko.  Lucas is a former titlist, but at his best, he was similar to Andrade, only now he's coming back from retirement and is part-owner of the promoter of the card.  Not sure which undercard fight will be televised, but it will include former title challenger Benoit Gaudet against Pipino Cuevas Jr., ranked contender Renan St. Juste vs. Marcus Upshaw and prospect Pier Olivier Cote against Hugo Armenta, any of which would be better than a lot of FNF undercard fights. Bad Left Hook will have live round-by-round coverage of this card.

Saturday, May 29

Integrated PPV (US - $24.95), RTL (Germany), Gofightlive.tv (elsewhere), 3:00 p.m. Eastern, Vitali Klitschko vs. Albert Sosnowski, Jonathon Banks vs. Jason Gavern.  Talks fell through between Klitschko and David Haye, so he's taking on Sosnowski.  Making no bones about it, this was the lowest-risk, highest-reward fight available.  Sosnowski is the European titlist, but he beat pretty much nobody to get it.  He was also shellacked, and almost knocked out, by Zuri Lawrence, a journeyman who is most famous for having zero career knockouts.  He probably would have had one against Sosnowski, only he took his foot off the gas in an effort to preserve his only stake at notoriety.  Banks seems to be becoming a regular on Klitschko undercards, and I'm not sure whether that's a completely welcome development.

Sky Sports (UK), 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Prizefighter super bantamweights.  I'm sure most are familiar with the Prizefighter format by now, but it's a single-elimination tournament where everyone fights three round fights, and then moves right on to the next fight.  This one will feature Esham Pickering, Gavin Reid, Mark Moran, Josh Wale, Chris Riley, Craig Lyon, Willie Casey and Ricky Owen.  Basically, lots of untested young guns, plus an experienced but well past his best fighter.  It's a better overall lineup than the one we last saw for the cruiserweights.  Wayne McCullough was originally slated to fight, but he pulled out with an injury, praise Allah.

TyC Sports (Argentina), Carlos Tamara vs. Luis Lazarte, Jonathan Victor Barros vs. Adrian Marcelo Flamenco.  Tamara will make the first defense of his light flyweight title against former four-time title challenger Lazarte.  Somehow I doubt the fifth time will be a charm for the 39 year old "El Mosquito."  Barros is coming off a better than expected showing in a title shot against Yuriorkis Gamboa.

Integrated PPV ($24.95), 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. vs. Zsolt Bedak, Roman Martinez vs. Gonzalo Munguia.  This isn't a typo - two different PPVs by the same company at different times on the same day.  Vazquez looked pretty good winning a vacant title against Marvin Sonsona.  Bedak is an Olympic medalist and a solid boxer who's making his first real step up as a pro, so that fight might be interesting.  Martinez, on the other hand, is defending against about the easiest opponent possible.  The undercard will also feature the McTwins, McJoe Arroyo and McWilliams Arroyo. 

Fox Sports Espanol, Fox Sports Net, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Gabriel Martinez vs. Jesus Soto Karass.  Martinez is a quasi-prospect who has been on a decent run since suffering a TKO loss to Saul Alvarez a couple years ago.  His last time out, Karass lost to Alfonso Gomez on the Pacquiao-Cotto undercard.  The undercard will likely also feature prospects Jose Benavidez Jr., Omar Henry and Mike Lee, the Notre Dame boxer making his professional debut.

Elsewhere in the world of boxing...

• Antonin Decarie will take on Souleymane M'Baye for an interim welterweight title.  Decarie is 23-0 fighting exclusively in Montreal, but has never faced a serious contender.  M'Baye was a titlist at light welterweight for a while and owns a draw with Andriy Kotelnik, as well as a questionable loss to Gavin Rees and a less questionable one to Herman Ngoudjo. 
• Mexican prospect Juan Carlos Burgos will take on former title challenger (and Jose Luis's younger brother) Ricardo Castillo for a minor featherweight trinket. 
• Shannon Briggs fought last week, but he'll be fighting a marginally tougher opponent this week in Rob Calloway.  Back in his prime, Calloway was a pretty decent domestic-level cruiserweight, but he's never been a heavyweight, and he's been knocked down a lot lately.  Still, he'll probably last longer than the 20 seconds that Dominique Alexander lasted. 
• Montell Griffin will be going for win #50 in what he says is his last fight.  He's taking on Ross Thompson at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana.