Usually Brickhaus does this feature, but he's been feeling under the weather recently, so I'm taking a crack at it this week. I've never conferred with him on this, and after doing it once, I now appreciate what a pain in the ass this feature is, and I'm sure I missed something or other.
Wednesday, September 1
The Jewish Channel, (check local listings for time), Dmitriy Salita v. Franklin Gonzalez. Salita is promoting this card with O'Shea Brothers Boxing, and has gotten it exclusively televised on The Jewish Channel, which is available on certain cable carriers. You can visit their site, where they have their carriers listed up top. Gonzalez is a 34-year-old club fighter from the Dominican Republic with a record of 13-5 with nine wins by stoppage. Salita (30-1-1, 16 KO) never deserved the shot at Amir Khan last December, and was out of the fight with the first clean punch that landed. Gonzalez is 0-2 since coming to the U.S. to fight this year, losing a to Danny O'Connor in March and Antwone Smith a month later.
Friday, September 3
Prodesa UStream, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Roman Gonzalez v. Jesus Limones, Moises Solis v. Rafael Urias, Jose Alfaro v. Joel Juarez. Gonzalez, a.k.a. "El Chocolatito," may be the best 105-pound fighter in the world today, but this is a nothing fight for him. Limones (9-1-1, 4 KO) lost his last fight and has never beaten anyone. Alfaro lost in March to Erik Morales, after losing in October to Antonio DeMarco. Juarez is the level of fighter he usually beats, and is also a wax-or-be-waxed type (25-10-1, 23 KO, stopped nine times). All I know about Moises Solis is his record (18-1, 13 KO), the fact that his opponent has been stopped 15 times, and he's also Nicaraguan, like Gonzalez and Alfaro.
Saturday, September 4
ESPN3.com (US), Sat.1 (Germany), 3:30 p.m. Eastern, Felix Sturm v. Giovanni Lorenzo. Sturm (33-2, 14 KO) is not just defending his WBA middleweight belt against a good puncher, but he's also promoting the card after having reportedly bought out his contract from Universum. Sturm's last fight was just under 14 months ago, a highly-disputed win over Khoren Gevor. Lorenzo (29-2, 21 KO) has losses to Raul Marquez and Sebastian Sylvester, but his power is no joke. Two years ago, I'd have picked Sturm to outbox a guy like today's Lorenzo without a lot of trouble, but Sturm is 31 and could be rusty to boot. There's some danger here, and promoting himself, Sturm is taking a big -- and admirable -- risk overall. The undercard has nothing of real interest. Middleweight Benjamin Simon (18-1, 17 KO) is in action. Bad Left Hook will attempt to cover the main event of this show, but times may not line up.
Sky Sports, 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Roman "Rocky" Martinez v. Ricky Burns, John Simpson v. Stephen Smith. Martinez is probably the best in the world at 130 pounds right now, and he's not unfamiliar with the U.K. rings. He won the WBO title from Nicky Cook with a fourth round TKO in March 2009 in Manchester, on the Khan-Barrera undercard. The Puerto Rican (24-0-1, 15 KO) is a heavy favorite against Burns (28-2, 7 KO). Burns hasn't lost a fight in over three years, but most of his wins are over bums. He is tall for the division at 5'10", but he's likely in over his head. The co-feature pits Commonwealth featherweight champ John Simpson (21-6, 9 KO) against Stephen Smith (10-0, 6 KO). The winner gets a crack at British champ Martin Lindsay. Simpson is the first decent boxer Smith, 25, has faced in his pro career, as his opponents thus far have combined for a glorious record of 84-265-20. Bad Left Hook will have round-by-round coverage of this card.
Sport 1 (Germany), Polsat (Poland), 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Jan Zaveck v. Rafal Jackiewicz II, Denis Simcic v. Istvan Varga, Anika Short v. Tjasa Kolar, Christina Hammer v. Mihaela Dragan. Zaveck and Jackiewicz had an entertaining, competitive fight back in November 2008 for the European welterweight title, with Jackiewicz pulling out a split decision in Poland. Now they'll be on Zaveck's turf in Slovenia. Since the loss to Jackiewicz, Zaveck has moved up the ladder thanks to a TKO-3 of Isaac Hlatshwayo last December. He's defended the IBF belt he won that night once, beating unqualified challenger Rodolfo Ezequiel Martinez in April. This won't be one that the world's paying attention to, but it is (unfortunately) for a recognized paper belt at 147, and both are solid fun to watch fight.
TyC Sports (Argentina), 8:00 p.m. Eastern, Luis Lazarte v. Nerys Espinoza, Rodolfo Ezequiel Martinez v. Uilian Santana Barauna. Lazarte lifted the IBF junior flyweight belt from Carlos Tamara in May, after Tamara's team admitted they took that fight because Lazarte, 39, was the easiest challenger they could find. That also came four months after Tamara shocked Brian Viloria in one of the best fights of 2010, and Tamara traveled to Argentina to face Lazarte on his turf, too. Now Lazarte is taking what looks like an easy defense on paper, but that belt has changed hands twice this year with supposed easy defenses. Espinoza is a 29-year-old Nicaraguan who challenged for the belt in 2008, losing a wide decision in a dirty fight. Two fights later, Espinoza and Miguel Tellez went to a double disqualification.
Fox Sports en Espanol, TV Azteca (Mexico), 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Jorge Solis v. Francisco Cordero, Omar Nino v. Ronald Barrera. This was originally going to be the newest Humberto Soto walkover, but Top Rank chose to stick that on the untelevised portion of their Sept. 11 HBO card in Vegas. Solis (39-2-2, 28 KO) has beaten Likar Ramos and Mario Santiago since moving up to 130 officially this year, and Cordero (23-0, 15 KO) is a Colombian with the typical Colombian fluff record, with all of two opponents coming into fights with him holding winning records. Nino picked up the WBC 108-pound belt against Rodel Mayol in June, and is one of the division's best fighters. Barrera (27-7-2, 17 KO) is an also-ran who has lost to all of the notable fighters he's faced, essentially.
Televisa, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Julio Cesar Miranda v. Ronald Ramos, Hugo Ruiz v. Jesus Vazquez. Miranda (32-5-1, 25 KO) has been in with some of the best, losing in 2009 to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam and Moruti Mthalane, and between the losses knocking out Eric Ortiz in 2:59. He's won a couple fights this year, including beating down Richie Mepranum in June to win the vacant WBO flyweight belt. Ramos (29-8-3, 15 KO) is Colombian No. 3948 with a soft record, though he's done a little more than some. He quit after four rounds in March against new junior flyweight world champion Giovani Segura, then came back in July to beat a scrub with an 0-3 record. The other fight has some KO rates. Ruiz is 25-1 with 25 knockouts, and Vazquez is 19-4-2 with 17 stoppage wins. Vazquez has lost three of his last five, but he is probably the best fighter Ruiz, 21, has faced to date.
- Cassius Baloyi and Mzonke Fana rematch on Wednesday in South Africa for the vacant IBF super featherweight belt. They fought for the first time in 2008, with Baloyi winning a majority decision.
- WBC strawweight titlist Oleydong Sithsamerchai defends against Pornsawan Popramook on Friday in Thailand.
- Thunderous puncher Antonio Pitalua moved up to welterweight last October with a win, and defends the minor trinket he won in that fight on Saturday against Puerto Rico's Joe Rivera.
- Also in action this weekend: Adrien Broner, Alex Arthur, Paul Appleby, Kali Meehan and Billy Dib.