Bruce Carrington and Enrique Vivas were supposed to fight last June, but it’s better late than never – especially in boxing, when “late” might mean nine years beyond the originally intended date rather than just nine months.

A week before their originally scheduled date of June 8, Carrington confidently said that he would be the first to stop the durable Vivas. Instead, Vivas couldn’t get his visa in time to travel to Las Vegas and had to pull out of the fight. Carrington stepped into the ring with late replacement Brayan De Gracia and stopped him in Round 8 of a scheduled 10.

Since that date, Carrington has had his closest fight yet, against Sulaiman Segawa, and enjoyed a more comfortable decision win against Dana Coolwell on the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul undercard. Vivas has been inactive since, most recently stopping Jonathan Chanona Aguilar in February 2024.

Now Carrington-Vivas has come back around, with the fighters set to square off Saturday on the undercard of the Mikaela Mayer-Sandy Ryan rematch at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.

As part of his preparation for fights, Carrington reviews film of his opponents.

“I have recently started to take a more intense approach to film study,” Carrington told BoxingScene in an interview last week. “I’ve been commentating for Top Rank a couple times now, and in order to commentate, you have to do a film study on the fighters, as well, and take a lot of notes. Before, I would just watch. I’m like, ‘OK, I know what to do.’

“Now, I’ve been taking notes and being real intricate to what my approach is gonna be. ... That has made me so secure and confident on my fights now.”

Carrington reviews tape once every two weeks, then two more times the week of the fight. And Vivas is a fighter who bears studying. Vivas is capable of throwing more than 100 punches in a single round. That will give Carrington less space to breathe – but also more opportunities to counter.

“Jose Enrique Vivas is a great dance partner,” Carrington told BoxingScene last June. “He’s never been stopped. He’s a really tough guy, but I like fighting tough guys. I get to show how not tough they are when it comes to facing me.”

For Carrington, who desperately wants a title shot, beating Vivas will keep his hopes of fighting Nick Ball or Stephen Fulton alive. For Vivas, a win over Carrington would allow him to move into position for everything Carrington wants for himself.

Owen Lewis is a former intern at Defector media and writes and edits for BoxingScene. His beats are tennis, boxing, books, travel and anything else that satisfies his meager attention span. He is on Bluesky.