Boxing Preview: May 11th-12th, Lomachenko, Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez
Linares vs Lomachenko [NYC, Saturday, ESPN]
In the major bout of the weekend, WBC lightweight champion Jorge Linares will face off against two division world-champion Vasyl Lomachenko, who will be looking to claim his third world title in his historic career at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
Jorge Linares, the champion is a healthy underdog coming into this bout as his career has been confusing. Linares is one of the best fighters in the world, but through multiple times in his career has failed to separate from his competition most notably against Luke Campbell and Mercito Gesta in his last two outing, bouts that Linares won, but were much closer than most thought. For Linares, who experienced a career resurgence after losing to Antonio DeMarco in 2011, found himself going overseas to rebuild himself as he defeated Kevin Mitchell, Anthony Crolla twice as well as Luke Campbell.
Lomachenko himself is no stranger to failure as he lost to Orlando Salido in his second professional bout that also happened to be for WBO featherweight title. What Lomachenko is doing is boxing is a once in a lifetime feat skipping over the complete developmental part of his career as he jumped right into the deep end to start his career.
Lomachenko seemingly has every advantage going into the bout as his promoter, Top Rank Inc., is promoting the bout as well as he appears to be going in an upward trajectory as opposed to Linares who seems to approach the twilight of his career. That being said, Linares is the biggest fighter Lomachenko has faced and size is what beat Lomachenko in his second professional bout that he lost to Orlando Salido.
My fear is Jorge Linares is not working with his legendary trainer, Ismael Salas, who elected to train David Haye for his fight against Tony Bellew on May 5th, instead Linares is being trained by his brother Carlos Linares. This is not exactly what I hope for when looking at a fighter going into the biggest fight of their career.
I see this bout as another step forward for a hall of fame career of Lomachenko as he continues his impressive run in the professional ranks
undercard ramblings
Carlos Adames?
Largely unknown welterweight Carlos Adames of the Dominican Republic will be featured in the ESPN co-main event as he will look to make a case to fight Jose Benavidez or Terence Crawford, one would assume.
Teofimo Lopez, future star
Lightweight Teofimo Lopez is one of the rising stars in the sport of boxing, a fully-faceted boxer with power that doesn’t usually accompany the word boxer. Lopez looks to be a star in the making as he is fighting stiff competition early and often in his career. If you get a chance, go out of your way to watch Teofimo Lopez’s bout.
Mikaela Mayer
Lightweight Mikaela Mayer is not just beautiful to watch, because of her aesthetic outside of the ring, she is a talented boxer who is looking to use her ability to control range to make a statement for women’s boxing as a whole. Mayer, who stopped her last opponent in the first minute of the first round will return against a tough durable opponent who has fought for a world title. If Mayer continues her trend of impressive performances, this bout could put her into title contention after only five professional fights.
Jamel Herring
Super featherweight Jamel Herring will make his Top Rank debut on this card as well. Herring is the first fighter, who was involved in the Premier Boxing Champions programming that crossed the pond to a rival organization.
Devin Haney fights on ShoBox [Philly, Friday – Showtime]
The ultra-talented Devin “The Dream” Haney will be in action on ShoBox: The Next Generation as he headlines his first premium network boxing card taking on Mason Menard, a game veteran with a good record. Menard in many ways fights like Haney, but just without the speed, power, and technic of Haney, meaning barring a well-timed punch, this should be a spectacular debut for Haney.
Greer vs Dezurn – great fight
In what I am touting as the most competitive fight of the weekend, bantamweight Joshua Greer Jr., a fast-handed knockout artist, taking on a durable pressure fighter from the Headbangers Boxing Gym, Glenn Dezurn. It is a stylistic treat for the fans looking for a great televised bout as both fighters need a victory to get into a bout of any merit as well as they both have taken losses meaning they will not be promoted like A-side fighters.
This could be a good one to watch
The card is rounded out by a battle of undefeated cruiserweights, when Alvin Varmall Jr of Catskill, New York, faces Charles Foster of New Haven, Connecticut. Super bantamweight Arnold Khegai will face former prospect Adam Lopez in the television opener of this quadruple header.
Sadam Ali vs Jaime Munguia [NY, HBO, SAT]
WBO super welterweight world champion Sadam Ali will take on Jaime Munguia in the main event of an HBO telecast from Verona, New York. Munguia, who not unlike Vanes Martirosyan, who fought last week, is taking the bout on two weeks’ notice as this is a chance of a lifetime opportunity.
Sadam Ali, who became the super welterweight when he defeated Miguel Cotto in Cotto’s retirement bout, is a talented fighter, but undersized at the weight class as he is a career welterweight now fighting one weight class above his optimal weight since he won a world title.
Munguia is essentially a career super welterweight with a period of his career seeing him fight at welterweight and at times near the middleweight limit. Munguia has faced extremely limited opposition as Munguia has exclusively fought in Mexico against opponents who seemingly had no chance with Munguia’s weight varying.
The co-main event will see WBC super bantamweight champion Rey Vargas making his second appearance on HBO will face Azat Hovhannisyan, who is coming off the biggest win of his career by stopping Ronny Rios. The bout should serve as a fun undercard attraction between a skilled boxer with power in Vargas, who is of the Nacho Bernstein lineage, taking on a pressure fighter training out of the Wild Card Boxing Gym.
Tony Harrison vs Ishe Smith [Friday, Las Vegas, Bounce TV]
Tony Harrison is a frustrating fighter. He may have only lost only two rounds in his professional career and those two rounds have equaled his losses as he was brutally knocked out by Willie Nelson and Jarrett Hurd.
Ishe Smith is a fighter, who is a little past his prime, but still an incredibly dangerous veteran who knows with enough good wins, he can be back in a position to get a big fight for big money.
Andrew Tabiti vs Lateef Kayode
Cruiserweight Andrew Tabiti will face former heavyweight title challenger Lateef Kayode in the co-main event. Tabiti is a constantly improving fighter facing a good fighter in Kayode, who also happens to be coming off of two losses.
Erick Bone vs Cameron Kreal
Welterweight Erick Bone will face one of the toughest deceiving records in the sport of boxing in Cameron Kreal, who despite having nearly as many wins as he does losses is capable of beating anyone in the sport of boxing.
Rolando Romero in action
Rolando Romero best known for his viral YouTube video sparring Ryan Garcia as well as his tremendous power will return to action the undercard of this bout as well.
Thompson Boxing [Friday, Ontario, Facebook]
Southern California based Thompson Boxing will return their home base of the DoubleTree Hotel in Ontario, Ca with two title fights as WBO Intercontinental welterweight champion Roberto Arriaza fresh off a first-round KO of Sammy Valentin will look defend his formidable club fighter John Ruiz in a solid regional attraction main event that should provide a lot of inside fighting.
The co-main event will see the WBC-NABF featherweight Erick Ituarte taking on game opponent Carlos Carlson in an evenly matched bout that could turn out to be a very competitive affair. Carlson is coming off his best performance of recent memory when he gave Isaac Zarate all he could handle despite losing the bout. Ituarte is an unglamorous featherweight signed to Thompson Boxing, who has beaten pretty much everyone signed to the promotion and is looking for a chance at the world-class level of boxing competition, a win on Friday night seemingly assures he will get that chance.
Highly touted super featherweight Michael Dutchover is also in action on this card as well.
Mykal Fox vs Anthony Mercado [Friday, Facebook]
The nearly 6’4” super lightweight Mykal Fox will take on Anthony Mercado who is coming off the biggest win of his career when he got a technical knockout over Tyrone Crawley, despite the fact Crawley won every round, but couldn’t proceed in the bout because of a broken hand.
Colby Madison vs Michael Coffie
Heavyweight Michael Coffie will take on undefeated Colby Madison in a step-up bout for Coffie who seems to be on a fast track.
This card is taking place at the SugarHouse in Philadelphia, PA.
Natasha Spence vs Alelsandra Magdzial Lopes
Natasha Spence and Alelsandra Magdzial Lopes will rematch after their bout in December 2017 which was ruled a draw. This bout will take place in Rhode Island, a short distance from where Lopes now resides in Massachuttes.
