BoxingScene.com's Television Picks of The Week

by Cliff Rold

It met the hype.  No, not the whole of the October 13 show boxing fans anticipated so heavily in recent months.  The main event fizzled for most of its nine rounds.

It didn’t matter.

Rios-Alvarado was everything it could have been asked to be and gave fans not one but two stars to follow going forward.  What now for the week ahead?  U.S. television has only two shows (three if count Saturday’s Showtime undercard extras).  The big one is sort of like an old Don King mega-show, packed with four fights that could be main events in different arenas, all coming together for one strong outing to bring boxing back to BK.

These are the picks of the week.

Pick It: Showtime Four-Way (Saturday, Showtime, 8 PM EST/PST)
               
With Showtime Extreme providing some early action, a positive new trend showing no abatement, Showtime gives us title action at Jr. Welterweight, Welterweight, and Middleweight.  The main event is an unnecessary 140 lb. rematch between unified titlist, #1 Danny Garcia (24-0, 15 KO) and #10 Erik Morales (52-8, 36 KO).  Garcia beat Morales earlier this year in a good fight and the star power of Morales in opening the Barclays Center to boxing explains a return otherwise not needed.  That doesn’t mean it won’t be another good fight.  Morales has a habit of getting into those.

At Welterweight, IBF titlist and #10 Randall Bailey (43-7, 37 KO) and WBA titlist, #9 Paulie Malignaggi (31-4, 7 KO), each try to follow up on title wins that saved their careers.  Bailey gets former unified Jr. Welterweight titlist #7 Devon Alexander (23-1, 13 KO) while Malignaggi gets a Pablo Cano (25-1-1, 19 KO) whose lone loss came to Morales last year.  Both fights pit a more action-oriented man against a pure boxer, with Alexander the strongest favorite of the four to win. 

On a card with Morales, the best action fight may end up being the least hyped fight of the night.  #7 Middleweight Peter Quillin (27-0, 20 KO) follows his win over Winky Wright with what should be a tougher night.  WBO titlist and #6 Hassan Madam N’Jikam (27-0, 17 KO) isn’t known in the U.S. but he can go and has some solid wins under his belt.  The winner should be regarded as a serious contender to World Champion Sergio Martinez.

Let the fistic marathon begin.   

Pick Telemundo: Orlando Cruz vs. Jorge Pazos (Friday, Telemundo, 11:35 PM EST)

The featherweight main event between Cruz (18-2-1, 9 KO) and Pazos (20-4, 13 KO) might or might not be good.  The reason to tune in here is a clash of old warhorses.  Former Jr. Lightweight titlist Vicente Mosquera (30-2-1, 16 KO), who had a memorable clash with the late Edwin Valero, faces former Welterweight title challenger Cosme Rivera (35-14-3, 24 KO).  They might not sing the same notes they did in their prime, but they still know the music.  This might be fun.
 
Back in seven.    

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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