This weekend’s TV Boxing Schedule is worth getting excited about, with Brook vs Bizier and Eubank Jr vs Blackwell headlining in the UK, plus Ward vs Barrera and a bunch of noteworthy prospects leading the action stateside.
March 25th
Pitto vs Pucheta
TyC Sports (ARG) – 10:00pm EDT
Guido Nicolas Pitto and Dario Fabian Pucheta will be trading blows in a Junior Middleweight 10-rounder.
Prograis vs Herrera, Golub vs Aguas, Baranchyk vs Givhan
Showtime – 10:30pm EDT
Rising star Regis Prograis has been shaping up nicely at Junior Welterweight and will be looking to shine against minor speed bump Aaron Herrera. Ivan Golub and Ivan Baranchyk also look to be decent prospects, with Golub set to face Marlon Aguas in a Welterweight contest, and Baranchyk set to tackle Nicholas Givhan at Junior Welterweight. No one’s expecting any upsets here, but this card should whet your appetite for the weekend ahead, and the more so since Golub is a 6ft tall Welterweight who can really fight.
Orozco vs Acosta, Cancio vs Cazares
Estrella TV – 11pm EDT
It’s doubtful there’s anything to get too excited about here, with two Golden Boy prospects set to dance with some deflated ex-champs. You know the kind of card I’m talking about. Junior Welterweight upstart Antonio Orozco will be taking on former Lightweight champ Miguel Acosta, with Andrew Cancio facing former Junior Flyweight and Junior Bantamweight champ Hugo Cazares in the chief support.
March 26th
Brook vs Bizier, Campbell vs Sykes
Sky Sports 1 – 3:30pm EDT, 7:30pm GMT
Kell Brook will be back in action in a fight that’s probably not been on any serious fight fan’s radars lately. Not that it’s Brook’s fault exactly. If anything, it’s been politics and a plague of injuries which have halted his ascent since defeating Shawn Porter back in 2014. Anyway, Brook will be making the third defense of his IBF Welterweight strap against Kevin Bizier, a beatable yet capable operator Brook probably shouldn’t overlook. But a Keith Thurman he ain’t.
Brook vs Bizier isn’t a dreadful matchup, but, you know, isn’t the kind Boxing Base wants to see their No.1 Welterweight involved in. There’s been worse fights, I guess. And at least I’ll get to rock out to ‘All of the Lights’ during Brook’s ring walk. Everyone else does that…right?
Lightweight standout Luke Campbell, who suffered his first pro defeat at the hands of Yvan Mendy last December, will be hoping to return to winning ways when he faces Gary Sykes in the chief support. Campbell may have come unstuck against Mendy in his previous outing, but there’s no need to write the kid off yet. He’s the real deal, if you ask me, and has oodles of talent and time remaining to iron out any creases and work back toward the world scene. Oh, and Sykes shouldn’t be too hard to breeze by.
Boxing Base will have Live Coverage of the Brook vs Bizier card right here at Boxing Base and also the Round by Round variety on Twitter.
Eubank Jr vs Blackwell, Fury vs TBA
Channel 5 – 5:40pm EDT, 9:40pm GMT
Chris Eubank Jr is one of the UK’s brightest prospects right now – his 2014 defeat to Billy Joe Saunders now long forgotten – and will be taking on British Middleweight champ Nick Blackwell. It seems like a lot of boxing heads have been writing off Blackwell ever since this fight was announced, but I foresee a much harder than expected night’s work for Eubank.
While I agree Eubank, son of national treasure Chris Eubank Sr, will get the nod (or more likely eventual KO), nobody should be overlooking Blackwell right now. He’s young, hungry, and has arguably accomplished greater feats in his blemished yet impressively unpadded career than Eubank. This should be an intriguing encounter.
Hughie Fury will be looking to extend his unbeaten record on the undercard, not facing the world-ranked contender Frank Warren promised, but instead the much-dreaded TBA. Boxing Base will have Live Coverage of Eubank Jr vs Blackwell right here plus Live Round by Round Updates over on Twitter via @BoxingBase.
Ward vs Barrera, Diaz vs Velez
HBO, Boxnation – 9:45pm EDT, 2:00am GMT
Andre Ward, who is reportedly signed up with HBO to face 175-pound monster Sergey Kovalev in late 2016, will be back in action. If you’re a Ward fan, your patience is probably wearing thin by now in terms of the guy, you know, actually fighting. Especially when fringe contenders like Paul Smith are fed to a man regarded as one of the greatest fighters on the planet. But there’s consolation to be had. Sullivan Barrera, the man across the ring on Saturday night, is actually a good fighter. Well, he’s a level above Smith at least.
The unbeaten Cuban probably required some more time to mature before taking on Ward, but it’s a not a bad fight at all, even with Barrera having just turned 34. Barrera’s 17-fight record may be a bit fluffy, which is understandable given he’s only been a pro since 2009, but he’s clocked up some decent stoppages over Jeff Lacy, Hakim Zoulikha and Karo Murat. If you’re still struggling to muster any enthusiasm, just hold onto the fact that you could be tuning into Ward vs Kovalev by the end of the year.
Featherweight prospects Joseph Diaz and Jayson Velez will also be locking horns beforehand in what looks to be a flavoursome appetiser. We’ll have Live Coverage of the Ward vs Barrera card right here plus Round by Round Updates on Twitter (@BoxingBase).
Reynoso vs de Almeida
TyC Sports (ARG) – 10:00pm EDT
Cesar Hernan Reynoso will be clashing with Luis Carlos de Almeida in a Middleweight 10-rounder.
How are you calling these fights? Are the A-sides in Brook vs Bizier, Eubank Jr vs Blackwell and Ward vs Barrera in for a tougher night than expected? Or are comfortable wins merely a formality here? However the pre-fight scripts read, this isn’t a weekend of action to scoff at.
