Plenty of good fights this week with big names like Regis Prograis, Vergil Ortiz Jr., and Edgar Berlanga seeing action.
THURSDAY
UFC Fightpass returns with super middleweight Cam Kilic (15-1, 10 KOs) against Antonio Louis Hernandez (6-12-2, 4 KOs) on a Hollywood Fight Fight show at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello, California.
FRIDAY
Probellum presents cards on consecutive nights from the Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Night One includes heavyweight Bakhodir Jalolov (9-0, 9 KOs), super featherweight Jono Carroll (21-2-1, 6 KOs), and female lightweight Estelle Yoka Mossely (9-0, 1 KO) in separate bouts. U.S. streaming is TBA.
Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing returns to the Paramount Theatre in Huntington, New York, with super bantamweights Oleh Dovhun (13-0, 5 KOs) and Geram Eloyan (7-2, 6 KOs) meeting in the main event. FITE+ will stream the card.
SATURDAY
DAZN deliver #1 welterweight prospect Vergil Ortiz Jr (18-0, 18 KOs) against Michael McKinson (21-0, 2 KOs), plus welterweight Blair Cobbs (15-0-1, KOs) in tough against Alexis Rocha (18-1, KOs). The event take place at the USC Galen Center in downtown Los Angeles.
ESPN+ counters with super middleweight KO artist Edgar Berlanga (18-0, 16 KOs) against former GGG foe Steve Rolls (21-1, 12 KOs) plus hot super welterweight prospect Xander Zayas (12-0, 9 KOs) against Quincy LaVallais (12-2-1, 7 KOs) from the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City.
Fightzone.uk returns with a free stream from Newcastle, England, featuring heavyweight David Allen (19-5-2, 16 KOs) against 38-year-old Milen Paunov (5-8, 4 KOs).
Day Two of Probellum’s boxing weekend at the Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Former super lightweight champion Regis Prograis (26-1, 22 KOs) takes on Tyrone McKenna (22-2-1, 6 KOs) is on the card, plus IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards (17-0, 4 KOs) against Muhammad Waseem (12-1, 8 KOs) and former champ TJ Doheny (22-3, 16 KOs) against Cesar “Corazon” Juarez (27-10, 20 KOs). U.S. TV is TBA.
– Go Boxing, go !!!!!!
– Another weekend of fights.
– Who said that “Boxing is Dead”?
Berlanga has lost a lot of hype in the past year and probably not necessarily deservedly. No one could live up to the pressure he had on his shoulders after the 16 straight first round knockouts.
I think both Demond Nicholson and Coceres are tougher fighters than Berlanga was given credit for although you can argue that Berlanga should’ve been able to knockout both of them.
So in short, Berlanga isn’t as great as the hype would’ve had you believe but he’s still really good and has been judged a bit too harshly for his last 2 fights.
Jalolov is a very interesting heavyweight. He’s huge at 6’7″ but can really move around the ring. A massive rangey hvwt with fluid hand and foot work.
In terms of progression, Berlanga’s last two fights probably did more for him than the previous 16 combined. Got that streak out of the way and now they can concentrate on getting him good experience. I’m thinking Rolls may give him a decent fight as well.
What about Prograis? Is it me or is he wasting time? Since his close loss to Taylor he’s fought nobodies. I can’t imagine it’s helping him as a fighter or financially.
He’s had fights in the works against both Mikey Garcia and Maurice Hooker, but neither one have panned out. He’s probably looking at picking up one of those belts when Josh Taylor vacates.