BoxingScene's Television Picks of The Week - 4/10
By Cliff Rold
The latest chapter in “Network Revival 2015” is upon us. On paper, it’s the best network television card since Steve Cunningham-Tomasz Adamek II, the best PBC card to date, and a show worthy of HBO or Showtime in recent years.
The rest of the weekend has some good stuff too.
Boxcino is a 50/50 shot (the Jr. Middleweights stuff is good and the Heavyweight stuff is not so good). Those with access on their cable systems to Argentine TV get a solid Cruiserweight fight and pay-per-view has a possible war in Puerto Rico.
These are the picks of the week.
Pick It: World Champion Danny Garcia vs. #4 Lamont Peterson (NBC, Saturday, 8:30 PM EST/5:30 PM PST)
This non-title affair pits the lineal champion at 140 lbs. against a reigning titlist in the division. Garcia (29-0, 17 KO) hasn’t fought at 140 since March 2014 and it’s pretty clear he’s leaned into the Welterweight division. Why that isn’t just full fledged by now is silly. Peterson (33-2-1, 17 KO) usually makes good fights, but he’s a slow starter. Can Garcia land before Peterson gets his legs under him in this 143 lb. catchweight affair? Also on the card, Andy Lee (34-2, 24 KO) attempts his first defense of the WBO Middleweight belt he picked up when Peter Quillin vacated last year. His challenger? Quillin (31-0, 22 KO). Quillin will try to make it seem he never left.
Pick Foreign Wars: Salido-Martinez (Saturday, PPV) & Ramirez-Afolabi (Friday, TyC)
On Friday, the Cruiserweights could provide the best action of the night for those with access. TyC (9:30 PM EST) is the Argentine cable option bringing this clash of former title challengers Ola Afolabi (21-3-4, 10 KO) and Victor Ramirez (21-2, 17 KO). They’ll fight for an interim IBF belt, but don’t hold that against them. Each man’s last loss was to the division’s best fighter, Marco Huck. Saturday night on pay-per-view (9 PM EST/6 PM PST), WBO 130 lb. titlist Orlando Salido will make his first start, and defense, since winning one of the best fights of 2014 versus Terdsak Kokietgym. Roman Martinez (28-2-2, 17 KO), a former titlist, is never in a bad fight and will have home turf against one of the game’s most rugged Mexicans.
Pick Boxcino: Semi-Finals (ESPN2, Friday, 9 PM EST/6 PM PST)
The opening round at 154 lbs. was interesting. Heavyweight has a chance to get interesting as the herd thins to four. The Jr. Middleweight semi’s pit Stanyslav Skorokhod (9-0, 7 KO) against John Thompson (15-1, 5 KO) and Brandon Adams (16-1, 11 KO) against Vito Gasparyan (15-3-5, 8 KO). At Heavyweight, we’ll see Andrey Fedosov (26-3, 21 KO) versus Lenroy Thomas (19-3, 9 KO) and Razvan Cojanu (13-1, 7 KO) versus Donvan Denis (11-1, 9 KO). ShoBox will also have a show starting at 10 if anything isn’t working out here.
For BoxingScene’s latest full divisional ratings, log on to: https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/view.php?pg=boxing-ratings
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
