BoxingScene.com's Television Picks of The Week

by Cliff Rold

This was supposed to be the week of the latest potential war at Flyweight (Juan Carlos Reveco-Yodmongkol Vor Saengthep), but a delay pushes that to the ghoulish date of October 31. 

If only there were something else…

Oh, but wait, there is.  Saturday night will fans in the US three options for fistic delights with only a little bit of overlap.

These are the picks of the week.

Pick It: GGG-Rubio & Donaire-Walters (Saturday, HBO, 10 PM EST/7 PM PST)

We have a fight and a feature here, in that order.  On the undercard, for the WBA Featherweight belt, “Super” champ Nonito Donaire (33-2, 21 KO) takes on a young, fresh, bigger man who holds another version of the same strap.  Because, the WBA.  Whatever, the fight is the goods.  Nicholas Walters (24-0, 20 KO) enters off a knockout of Vic Darchinyan and this has the making of an arrival.  Can Donaire hold serve?  In the feature, Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KO) looks like he will be defending the WBA Middleweight belt in ritualistic fashion.  That might not be a bad thing in the continued building of the GGG-as-killing-machine hype.  Marco Antonio Rubio (59-6-1, 51 KO) has been around for years.  He might not be around many rounds for what has become a hot ticket in Southern California.  

Pick Heavy: Steve Cunningham vs. Natu Visinia (Saturday, NBC Sports, 9 PM EST/6 PM PST)

Unfortunately, this main event will overlap with HBO so some DVR action will come in handy.  It should be worth it. Cunningham (27-6, 12 KO) fights usually are. This time, he fights a Visinia (10-0, 8 KO) taking a big step up in class. Will he come down in weight? Only 6’2, Visinia regularly comes in near 270 lbs. Also on the show, a good clash of journeyman Lightweights pits Edner Cherry (32-6-2, 17 KO) against the fairly unknown Osumanu Akaba (31-6-1, 24 KO). If nothing else, it will fill in some time before the HBO fireworks.     

Pick Contract Fullfilled: Edwin Rodriguez vs. Azea Augustama (Saturday, HBO Latino, 12:30 AM EST/9:30 PM PST)

When Rodriguez (24-1, 16 KO) got a shot at Andre Ward for the Super Middleweight crown, he also got a guaranteed return date on HBO.  This should square that away as HBO uses their Latino network for some walkout bouts after the main network goes off the air.  Rodriguez faces an Augustama (17-1, 9 KO) making a step up with an eye on greater opportunity.  Also set to air is an interesting Middleweight clash between Marcos Reyes (32-1, 24 KO) and Abraham Han (22-1, 14 KO). 

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Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com