BoxingScene.com's Television Picks of the Week
by Cliff Rold
In any professional sport, it can take a while for a new season to pick up, to really get going. It holds true even if that professional sport has no official season marks save for the turning of the calendar.
The year-end awards are out; let the New Year begin.
And let the first significant fight of 2011 waste no time in happening. With a fantastic storyline about a young, well backed young titlist and a once bright amateur star whose professional career still await the fulfilling of its promise, boxing fans get a unification contest in the increasingly hot Light Heavyweight division.
All it will take is an internet connection. For those who rely solely on U.S. cable, there will still be fights for you as well.
These are the picks of the week.
Pick 3: #6 Juergen Braehmer vs. #9 Beibut Shumenov (Saturday, ESPN3, ?)
While the time is not yet confirmed, ESPN’s Dan Rafael noted this one would be headed to ESPN’s web outlet next weekend (and Dan’s a pretty good source for such a thing). Good news for fight fans indeed. The WBA titlist Shumenov (10-1, 6 KO) continues a career being built on an absurdly high level of competition compared to others so early in their paid tenures. The 27-year old simply wastes no time. His WBO belted opponent, the 32-year old Braehmer (36-2, 29 KO) simply has no time to waste. His only clear defeat came at the hands of the talented Hugo Garay in 2008 and Braehmer has won five straight since, four of them inside the route. A win over Shumenov could put him in prime position to challenge some of the best Light Heavyweights in the world for the sort of distinctions belts alone no longer convey. The same can be said for Shumenov and the younger man will have the home turf in Kazakhstan in his favor. As Light Heavyweight still sparks debate about Jean Pascal-Bernard Hopkins, and likely looks forward to Pascal-Chad Dawson II, Shumenov-Braehmer will ask if the focus is on the wrong side of the pond.
Pick Deuce: Ruslan Provodnikov-Mauricio Herrera (Friday, ESPN2, 10 PM EST)
With the NFL heading into its post-season, boxing fans know the return of Friday Night Fights is never far behind. Its Fall hiatus complete, now the question is whether this year’s FNF offerings can measure up to 2010. It was an uncommonly strong year for ESPN2 and it picked a can’t-miss headliner to start. The 26-year old Jr. Welterweight Provodnikov (17-0, 11 KO) is developing into one of the most consistently entertaining young pressure fighters in the game. He brings it all night and lacks just enough snap to force rounds. A rare stoppage of veteran Emmanuel Augustus last year spoke highly of his progress and, this week, Herrera (15-1, 7 KO) should provide a nice gauge of how close the young Russian will be to title contention before 2011 is closed. Also on the show, 22-year old former Olympian Demetrius Andrade (11-0, 8 KO) continues his early career march of ho-hum against Alberto Herrera (7-1-1, 5 KO). Fight fans can hope the training wheels and kid gloves come off this exciting talent this year.
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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
