Friday, May 13
FOX Sports 1 (Australia), 6:00 a.m. EDT, Serge Yannick vs Shannan Taylor. Taylor is now 38 years old and competing as a super middleweight, while ten years ago he was a TKO-6 victim of Shane Mosley. Yannick (12-1, 6 KO) beat Joseph Kwadjo last October.
Sky Sports 1 (UK), 5:00 p.m. EDT, Sam Webb vs Prince Arron. This one is for Webb's British junior middleweight championship. Webb (17-1, 5 KO) was the victor in one of my favorite fights of 2010 -- I don't mean one of the fights I thought was the best, or one of my favorite to watch, but he beat the deplorable Anthony Small in March 2010 and rid us of that goon, so I have a soft spot for him. Arron (20-2-1, 3 KO) has stopped his last two opponents, and at 6'3" he's super tall for a 154 pounder. He won a Prizefighter tournament in February 2010. Back when he was 19 years old (2007), he was lined up against John Duddy and lost a TKO-2. Bad Left Hook will have live results and coverage.
VTV (Uruguay), 8:00 p.m. EDT, Noe Gonzalez vs Ruben Padilla. Gonzalez is probably best known as one of Felix Sturm's crappy challengers back in 2007. Since then he's won 12 in a row.
ESPN2, 9:00 p.m. EDT, Kendall Holt vs Julio Diaz, Jonathan Gonzalez vs Rudy Cisneros. Holt vs Diaz is a nice fight between a couple of guys who need the win and can't afford the loss. Both fought in January on the Silverdome debacle, winning off TV. It was Holt's first fight back from a terrible loss last year to Kaizer Mabuza, and Diaz should be good enough for us to find out if Holt is really back to form again. The co-feature has a guy who hasn't fought in a while (Cisneros) against a kid with a perfect record (Gonzalez is 12-0, all by stoppage). Bad Left Hook will have live results and coverage.
Direct TV (Argentina), 10:00 p.m. EDT, Sebastian Lujan vs Jorge Daniel Miranda.
Showtime, 11:05 p.m. EDT, Sharif Bogere vs Raymundo Beltran, Seth Mitchell vs Evans Quinn, Gary Russell Jr vs Dat Nguyen. Bogere (19-0, 12 KO) is an exciting Ugandan-born prospect in the lightweight division. At 22, he gets a decent next step test from Beltran (24-4, 16 KO), who just got done helping prepare Manny Pacquiao for Shane Mosley. Mitchell (21-0-1, 15 KO) is a college football player-turned-boxer worth at least a look; he gets better just about every time out. Russell (15-0, 9 KO) faces Nguyen (17-1, 6 KO) in a prospect-versus-prospect type fight, though Russell is by far the higher-regarded of the two. Nguyen is a native of Vietnam nicknamed "Dat Be Dat." Bad Left Hook will have live results and coverage.
Telefutura, 11:30 p.m. EDT, Michael Perez vs Ira Terry, Jhonatan Vidal vs TBA. This week's Solo Boxeo Tecate takes a step back from recent shows, and I wouldn't go recommending it to anyone over ShoBox, but either way Golden Boy wins since they're promoting both shows.
Saturday, May 14
TyC Sports (Argentina), 8:00 p.m. EDT, Billi Godoy vs Claudio Ariel Abalos.
Televisa, 9:00 p.m. EDT, Cristian Mijares vs Carlos Rueda. Mijares was supposed to face Raul Martinez in what would have been a battle of top ten guys at 115 pounds, but Martinez pulled out. Rueda (16-4-1, 13 KO) is a Nicaraguan fighter with little notable history.
Showtime, 10:00 p.m. EDT, Super Six Semifinal: Andre Ward vs Arthur Abraham, Replay: Manny Pacquiao vs Shane Mosley. Ward is the huge favorite here, having so far been the standout star of the Super Six. But if he loses here, that run is over. Abraham looked terrible in his last fight, a bad loss to Carl Froch. This is his last chance to establish himself as a long-term player in the States. A loss and he'll probably retreat to Germany for easier fights in front of forgiving crowds. If you already saw Pacquiao vs Mosley, or even if you didn't, I suggest turning the TV on and then muting it and finding something better to do for a little while before the live fight. The worst is when they take up time with a PPV replay of a lousy fight, and this is one of those times. Bad Left Hook will have live results and coverage.
Azteca America, 10:00 p.m. EDT, Francisco Arce vs Hugo Ruiz. Last Saturday, big brother Jorge shocked the world. Now "Panchito" (31-6-3, 22 KO) goes for an interim belt at 118. Ruiz (27-1, 25 KO) is a dangerous puncher, plus he's younger. It could be an uphill battle for Arce.