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This week's schedule has a couple of notable fights in the middleweight division, a European title fight at 175 pounds, the return of Juan Manuel Lopez, a veteran-heavy edition of Friday Night Fights, and more. Here's the rundown.
Wednesday, January 30
Main Event PPV (Australia) / BoxNation (UK, delayed feed), 4:00 am EST, Daniel Geale vs Anthony Mundine II, Daniel Ammann vs David Aloua, Joel Brunker vs Ivan Hernandez, Jamie Pittman vs Zac Awad. Geale-Mundine is a grudge match more than it much matters as a world title fight, but if Mundine pulls what would be the upset in 2013, that's a huge shift in the 160 pound division. Geale was at least on even ground with Mundine the first time they fought in 2009, a debated split decision win for Mundine, and since then, Geale has gone on two ascend to the upper ranks of the middleweight class, while Mundine has bounced around and sold 200 tickets for his big trip to Vegas, and has lost a fight to Garth Wood.
Friday, February 1
SAT1 (Germany), 5:00 pm EST, Felix Sturm vs Sam Soliman, Susi Kentikian vs Anastasia Toktaulova II.
ESPN2, 9:00 pm EST, Carlos Molina vs Cory Spinks, Jose Luis Castillo vs Antwone Smith. Though the main event has snoozer written all over it, Spinks doesn't have the legs he used to, and has been standing and fighting more in recent bouts, because he sort of has to. Molina is surely the favorite here, with home field advantage to boot. Castillo and Smith could have a good fight, or they could stink it out. It depends a lot on what type of plan Castillo has, I suspect. Bad Left Hook will have live coverage.
ESPN3, 11:00 pm EST, Mike Mollo vs Artur Szpilka. This is the main event in Chicago, and though it won't air on Friday Night Fights, it has been picked up online by ESPN3 as bonus coverage. Bad Left Hook will have live coverage.
Saturday, February 2
BoxNation (UK), 2:00 pm EST, Eduard Gutknect vs Juergen Braehmer, Robert Woge vs Hakim Zoulikha, Dustin Dirks vs Christian Cruz, Dominik Britsch vs Luis Crespo. Gutknecht-Braehmer is for the European light heavyweight title, and is also a WBO final eliminator, which would put the winner in line for face Nathan Cleverly later this year. Bad Left Hook will have live coverage.
DirecTV PPV (US/Puerto Rico) / TV Azteca (Mexico), 9:00 pm EST / 10:30 pm EST, Juan Manuel Lopez vs Aldimar Silva Santos, McWilliams Arroyo vs Sonny Boy Jaro, Jose 'Chepo' Gonzalez vs TBA, McJoe Arroyo vs TBA, Felix Verdejo vs Jose Santiago. If Lopez can't wipe out Santos with no problems, he should consider a new career immediately. Arroyo-Jaro is interesting.
Televisa (Mexico), 10:00 pm EST, Andres Gutierrez vs Jose Carmona.
FSN / Fox Deportes, 11:00 pm EST, Frankie Gomez vs Lanard Lane, Mickey Bey Jr vs Robert Rodriguez.