Tonight starting at 9pm EDT we will have full, round-by-round coverage, scoring and analysis of the HBO-produced "Action Heroes" pay-per-view from Golden Boy. Here's the full pay-per-view lineup, with some notes from our full preview.
Main Event - Junior Welterweights - 12 Rounds
Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27 KO) v. Erik Morales (51-6, 35 KO)
Maidana is one of the nastiest punchers in the sport, and he says he's coming to throw bombs on Saturday night. Morales was once a great fighter. He's arguably the best super bantamweight ever, in my opinion, and was tremendous at featherweight and very good at super featherweight, too. But we're talking two divisions over the last weight at which he was a serious threat.
Lightweights - 12 Rounds
Robert Guerrero (28-1-1, 18 KO) v. Michael Katsidis (27-3, 22 KO)
The biggest question of this fight to me is not which Guerrero shows up, however. I expect he'll be on his game for someone like Katsidis. Rather the question is how much Katsidis has left in the tank. At 30, Katsidis has put a lot of wear and tear on his body, and fighters with his style often peak early and hit the wall hard before you might expect a fighter to start declining.
Welterweights - 10 Rounds
Paulie Malignaggi (28-4, 6 KO) v. Jose Miguel Cotto (32-2, 24 KO)
Malignaggi's skills have deteriorated a bit, and he isn't as slick as he used to be. Despite a lack of power, he's forced now to do more standing and trading, which isn't his best bet on paper against anyone. Cotto has talent, but at 33 he's also past the days when he might have been a top fighter, and really he seemed to lack the mental fortitude to ever be one anyway -- not that he's mentally weak, he just doesn't come off as particularly driven.
Middleweights - 8 Rounds
James Kirkland (27-0, 24 KO) v. Nobuhiro Ishida (22-6-2, 7 KO)
Kirkland should be favored to do the usual Kirkland job. It likely won't be as quick and painless as his last two, and Kirkland's defensive indifference always makes him vulnerable, but Ishida is no banger. I expect Kirkland's pressure to be too much, but I will say I worry about his stamina if this goes even past four rounds or so.