By Cliff Rold

Urbano Antillon entered last weekend with serious buzz about his future in the Lightweight division.  He’ll be setting about to rebuild that after a surprising KO loss last Saturday.  Will the two young Jr. Welterweights highlighted this Saturday suffer similar fates?  Both face quality veterans in what could be their toughest outings to date.

It’s the sort of question best answered by ‘that’s why we tune in.’ 

This critic still provided boxing picks of the week.

Pick It: Bradley-Campbell & Witter-Alexander (Saturday, Showtime, 9 PM EST/PST)

Youth almost always prevails.  It’s just a matter of time.  However, the right combinations of youth and age have to come together for ‘older’ to become ‘too old.’  We’ll know a lot about the real ages of 37-year old Nate Campbell (33-5-1, 25 KO) and 35-year old Junior Witter (37-2-2, 22 KO) on Saturday night.  The former challenges 25-year old WBO titlist Timothy Bradley (24-0, 11 KO) in his first fight since unifying and then being forced to give up a belt against Kendall Holt earlier this year.  Campbell was, until a rough ride to the scale, a tri-belted titlist at Lightweight and still rides the high of grinding wins over Juan Diaz and Ali Funeka.  A win here truly elevates the growing esteem of Bradley.

In the televised undercard, Witter attempts to regain the WBC belt he a) lost to Bradley and b) was stripped from Bradley after Holt.  Whatever.  This is a good fight, straps or no.  22-year old Devon Alexander (18-0, 11 KO) is one of the most promising physical talents at 140 lbs. and this could be his coming out party.  While Super Middleweight is all abuzz because of Showtime’s tournament efforts there, these fights along with Bradley-Holt and, previously, Bradley-Witter are shaping up to be a solid a round robin on their own.

Pick Deuce: Julio Diaz-Victor Cayo (Friday, ESPN2, 8 PM EST/5 PM PST)

How does a fighter know when it’s over?  How long can they keep the moment at bay?  Former Lightweight titlist Julio Diaz (36-5, 26 KO) may face both questions this Friday night.  Only 29, he’s coming back from his fourth knockout loss against a 24-year old Victor Cayo (22-0, 15 KO) new to this level of competition.  However, with power and less wear and tear, he stands to make this an even affair and, more important, make his name.  Diaz was once weighed on his potential; he met it to some degree, not so much in others.  Now he fights to keep his viability alive.  This should be quality theatre as ESPN2 works towards the final weeks of their 2009 boxing coverage.

Pick Late Night: Marvin Quintero-Tyrone Harris (Friday, Showtime, 11 PM EST/PST)

It’s not all about crossroads fights this week.  ShoBox offers intriguing fare unlikely to produce a major force but highly likely to produce a good fight.  Like last weekend’s excellent battle between Antonio Escalante and Cornelius Lock on ESPN2, this one should produce fireworks from men trying to make their living the hard way.  The 22-year old Quintero (16-1, 12 KO) has won 12-straight since an early career first round defeat while the 28-year old Harris (23-5, 15 KO) attempts to rebound from a stoppage loss to Antillon.  It would be surprising if this heard the final bell, just as it was surprising when Escalante-Lock did.  Fortunately for fans, it was a pleasant surprise and we can hope for another.

Back in seven.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com