Maidana-Broner, Joshua-Klitschko, Tyson fights among Showtime June schedule

With no live boxing planned until later this year, Showtime will once again dig into its vault of classics to fill out its June programming schedule. On tap are a bevy of Mike Tyson fights, Marcos Maidana’s immensely satisfying victory over Adrien Broner, and some Super Six semifinals.

The full lineup:

Friday, June 5 at 10 p.m. ET/PT

Joshua vs. Klitschko

Broner vs. Maidana

Friday, June 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT

Tyson vs. Frans Botha

Tyson vs. Julian Francis

Tyson vs. Lou Savarese

Tyson vs. Brian Nielsen

Tyson vs. Clifford Etienne

Friday, June 19 at 10 p.m. ET/PT

Andre Ward vs. Arthur Abraham

Carl Froch vs. Glen Johnson

Friday, June 26 at 10 p.m. ET/PT

Ward vs. Froch

Definitely a few gems here; Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko was one of the better title fights in recent memory, Maidana-Broner was poetry in motion, and watching “Iron Mike” lamp fools never gets old. I must say, though, that their choice of finales is interesting. While Froch-Johnson and Ward-Froch were solid fights, the same can’t be said of “SOG’s” bout with the thoroughly figured-out Abraham. Yes, I get that they’re the two semifinals, but Ward’s breakout win over Mikkel Kessler was better viewing.