Friday, April 8
Nippon TV (Japan), 6 am EDT, Hozumi Hasegawa v. Jhonny Gonzalez, Takahiro Ao v. Humberto Gutierrez, Toshiaki Nishioka v. Mauricio Javier Munoz. Overall this is probably the most significant card of the weekend, with a main event that pits two top ten featherweights, and undercard bouts featuring two top ten super featherweights (Ao-Gutierrez) and the world's best super bantamweight. I'm not certain the Nishioka fight will be shown live, but if not you still have a great doubleheader. Bad Left Hook will have live coverage of this event.
ESPN2, 11 pm EDT, David Lemieux v. Marco Antonio Rubio, Adonis Stevenson v. Derek Edwards. A late start at 11pm this week for Friday Night Fights, delayed due to ESPN2's coverage of the Nationwide Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. I'm literally staring at my cable guide right now. True story. The main event here is one to watch, as Lemieux has established himself as one of the most eye-popping young fighters in the sport, and Mexico's Rubio is a veteran who may in some ways be looking to redeem himself after a crap-the-bed performance against Kelly Pavlik in 2009, which was his last shot on American TV. Rubio can punch, too. Note: This show is not being televised on ESPN3.com, as FNF usually is. Bad Left Hook will have live coverage of this event.
Showtime, 11 pm EDT, Marcus Johnson v. Dyah Davis, Willie Nelson v. Vincent Arroyo, Danny O'Connor v. Gabriel Bracero. "Too Much" Johnson (20-0, 15 KO) is a personal favorite prospect, as I think he definitely has the physical tools but the rest remains to be seen. Davis (18-2-1, 9 KO) is 0-1-1 in his last two, losing in November to Aaron Pryor Jr. (a bowling shoe ugly fight) and then drawing Francisco Sierra (the guy who demolished Don George) in February. O'Connor is a mediocre prospect who can't punch, and so is Bracero. It's a decent alternative to Friday Night Fights, and would have been a great follow-up show to tune in to, but alas they're going head-to-head.
Telefutura, 11:30 pm EDT, Jessie Vargas v. Vivian Harris, Eddie Gomez v. Roberto Lopez. If you have access to Telefutura but not Showtime or even ESPN2, you can tune in and watch Golden Boy continue to sacrifice Vivian Harris, who looked mentally and physically broken in his last fight, a painful-to-watch performance against Victor Ortiz on the Mosley-Mora card. Vargas (14-0, 7 KO) is a 21-year-old prospect at 140 with some solid wins on his record, at least for his level of progression.
Saturday, April 9
Sky Sports (UK), 4 pm EDT, Stuart Hall v. John Donnelly, Karl Place v. George Watson. I'm sure Dave Oakes will have more on this one soon. Hall (10-0-1, 6 KO) is the British bantamweight champ, and an interesting fighter to me. He has some pop, and frankly even a decent British bantamweight isn't easy to find.
SAT1 (Germany), 5 pm EDT, Robert Stieglitz v. Khoren Gevor. This was supposed to be Stieglitz taking on Dimitri Sartison, but Sartison bailed. And Gevor was supposed to fight Matthew Macklin on April 16, but Macklin bailed. So they decided to get together. Gevor is a much easier proposition than Sartison, but there is nothing special about Stieglitz at all, and even though he's fighting at his peak level, a Gevor upset would not shock me.
HBO PPV ($49.99) / Sky Sports (UK), 9 pm EDT, Marcos Maidana v. Erik Morales, Robert Guerrero v. Michael Katsidis, Paulie Malignaggi v. Jose Miguel Cotto, James Kirkland v. Nobuhiro Ishida, Danny Garcia v. Nate Campbell. I'm not 100% certain that Garcia-Campbell will be on the PPV, but it would make sense for this to be a five-fight bill. They always wind up having the extra time, and you have at least two fights (Maidana-Morales and Kirkland-Ishida) that are good bets to end pretty early. It's an oddly-constructed pay-per-view, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to it. Usually HBO isn't the company producing and putting on these shows, but these are the type of PPV shows I generally wind up happy to have ordered, not the big mega-events where Lampley and Merchant complain about the undercard for two and a half hours. We'll be here on Saturday for this one. Bad Left Hook will have live coverage of this event.
Integrated Sports PPV ($29.99) / Polsat Sport (Poland), 9 pm EDT, Tomasz Adamek v. Kevin McBride, Sadam Ali v. Javier Perez, Vinny O'Brien v. Shakir Aquel Dunn. If you order this and don't see yourself as a heavyweight fetishist, well, I have news for you. You absolutely, positively, without a doubt are a heavyweight fetishist. The main event is nothing more but a tune-up in the worst sense of the term, Ali isn't facing any sort of test, and the rest of the card is just a bunch of stuff.
TyC Sports (Argentina), 10 pm EDT, Gumersindo Lucas Carrasco v. Jose Maria Pombo.