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Tonight, starting at 7:00 pm EDT on Showtime Extreme and continuing at 9:00 pm EDT on Showtime (with BoxNation in the UK also broadcasting), Paulie Malignaggi headlines against Adrien Broner with the WBA welterweight title at stake, on a night where we'll see at least five live fights.
Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO) is the heavy underdog in the fight, despite his status as the titleholder, as well as the fact that he'll be fighting in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York. Young, two-division titlist Broner (26-0, 22 KO) has been pushed to the moon by HBO in his young career, but now with Showtime along with the rest of the Golden Boy and/or Al Haymon stable, he starts fresh with new TV backing. It's expected that he'll shine despite a two-division jump, but there are some who suspect he's going to have more trouble than anticipated.
In the co-feature, Johnathon Banks (29-1-1, 19 KO) will face Seth "Mayhem" Mitchell (25-1-1, 19 KO) for a second time, after stopping the Haymon and HBO-hyped former football player in November of last year, on the Broner-DeMarco undercard. This is as close to a must-win fight as Mitchell can have at this stage of his career. Another loss to Banks, and he's really suffered a major setback.
In the Showtime opener, Sakio Bika (31-5-2, 21 KO) looks to win his first world title, as he faces Marco Antonio Periban (20-0, 13 KO) for the vacant WBC super middleweight title. This will be the fourth world title shot for Bika, who went to a technical draw with Markus Beyer, and lost to longtime division ruler Joe Calzaghe, and later Andre Ward, who has sort of taken Calzaghe's throne in recent years.
On Showtime Extreme, 154-pound prospect Julian Williams (12-0-1, 7 KO) will face a test against former world titlist Joachim Alcine (33-4-1, 19 KO). Alcine is definitely in the home stretch of his career, but the veteran is most likely the best fighter that Williams has faced to date. Marcus Browne (4-0, 4 KO) will also be in action, facing Ricardo Campillo (7-6-1, 5 KO), and if time permits, Rau'Shee Warren (4-0, 2 KO) will be seen in action against Jiovanne Fuentes (5-1, 4 KO).