This weekend Showtime Championship Boxing will be delivering yet another intriguing card. All three matchups can go either way, and will give clarity to where each fighter stands in their respective decisions. The sport in 2023 is off to a great start, and this card should continue the positive momentum.

The main event is a 12-rounder with the interim WBC featherweight title at stake. This fight finds two former champions matched against each other, both trying to regain their past glory. Brandon Figueroa (23-1-1, 18 KOs) is a former WBC 122lb champion who is looking to become a two-division world champion now at 126lbs. Mark Magsayo (24-1, 16 KOs) was the WBC featherweight champion just last year and is eager to become a two-time champion at this weight.

Figueroa moved up in weight after coming up short in a super bantamweight unification against Stephen Fulton (21-0, 8 KOs), which was a great clash of styles and is a fight that we could see a rematch for in the near future. Figueroa could no longer make the 122lb limit, so he set his sights on the featherweight division. His debut in the weight class was against Carlos Castro (27-2, 12 KOs), where he showed that his physical strength carried up with him as he scored an impressive sixth round TKO victory.

Mark Magsayo burst on the scene early last year when he upset long-reigning WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr (31-2, 18 KOs) by majority decision. Russell came into the fight with a shoulder injury, and Magsayo made the most of his opportunity once Russell aggravated the injury even more in the opening rounds. His reign did not last very long though since he was defeated by Rey Vargas (36-1, 22 KOs) in his first title defense.

Former unified junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd (24-2, 16 KOs) returns in the co-main event slot in a ten round middleweight bout against Jose Armando Resendiz (13-1, 9 KOs). He lost his middleweight debut to Luis Arias (20-3-1, 9 KOs) by split decision on the Mayweather vs Logan Paul undercard in 2021 and has been inactive since. Hurd fought that fight just three months after his father passed which clearly affected his preparation and performance in the ring. I expect to see a much sharper Hurd, and I still believe he can make a run in a wide open middleweight division. He has expressed interest in a matchup with WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs), which would give him the chance to become a two-division world champion.

Resendiz has a great opportunity ahead of him. He has the ability to add a former unified champion on his resume which would be by far the best win of his career to date. He has only fought three times in the US, one being a decision loss on a PBC card to Marcos Hernandez (15-6-2, 3 KOs). He comes into this fight the underdog, but hopes to spring an upset that would put him in a great position moving forward.

The Showtime opener is a ten round battle between two undefeated rising contenders. Amilcar Vidal (16-0, 12 KOs) of Uruguay and Elijah Garcia (13-0, 11 KOs) meet in a fight where the winner can assert himself as a viable name in a middleweight division that lacks them at the moment. Garcia is only 19 years old, and a win like this would change the trajectory of his career and speed up his development. This is a fight that can truly go either way. The odds are virtually 50/50 and both men have a real path to victory.

There are a couple of matchups on the off-TV undercard that will be of interest to hardcore boxing fans. 2012 US Olympian Terrell Gausha (22-3-1) will compete in a ten-rounder against Brandyn Lynch (12-1-1, 9 KOs). Trayvon Marshall (7-0, 6 KOs), one of PBC’s best young talents, is in a stiff test against Justin DeLoach (19-5, 10 KOs). DeLoach hasn’t fought since November of 2020, but he was competitive with WBA “regular” welterweight titlist Eimantas Stanionis his last time out. These fights should be featured on the prelims that will stream live on Showtime’s YouTube Channel preceding the TV broadcast.