By Jake Donovan
Picture this: SHOWTIME and HBO are both featuring cards on their more modest-budgeted series, Shobox and Boxing After Dark, respectively.
One card features an active titlist who, going in, is regarded as the top threat to a linear champion whose last four fights were featured on HBO or its PPV arm. The co-feature battle is an elimination bout between perennial top-contenders, with the winner to face yet another world champion under contract with HBO.
The other card is a tripleheader loaded with prospects, two of whom have become established players on the ShoBox circuit. All three rising fighters are placed in competitive matches, with Gary Shaw serving as the lead promoter.
Think you have 'em pegged right?
Not quite.
Shobox threw us a curveball with its presentation last weekend, thinking and traveling outside the box in offering the title fight card from Nottingham, England.
HBO follows their lead (unintentionally or otherwise) this weekend, offering a card that goes against the grain of what Boxing After Dark has become, or even represented to begin with.
If nothing else, boxing deserves credit for not settling for predictability.
After having found success in past "Night of the Young Heavyweights" cards, this weekend's telecast, titled "Night of the Rising Stars" focuses on three red-hot prospects, though none are afforded the normal showcase route. Yuriorkis Gamboa, James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo all find themselves in the toughest matches of their young careers as each make their HBO debut this weekend in Primm, Nevada (Saturday, 9:45PM ET/PT).
Fans of the ShoBox series are by now well-versed in the careers of James Kirkland and Alfredo Angulo, two all action prospects who've literally been a knockout at every turn as of late.
Kirkland (21-0, 18KO) is coming off of a Round of the Year contender, with his three-minute classic against Allen Conyers last November. Both fighters hit the deck, Kirkland going down in the opening seconds before roaring back with a vengeance to drop and eventually stop Conyers just before the bell.
The bout was one of four fights in 2007 for Kirkland, all of which aired on ShoBox, with three of the four ending inside the distance. The Austin (TX)-based southpaw has scored knockouts in 12 of his last 13 encounters, having fought only 64 total rounds.
Though just 24, Kirkland is already approaching his seventh year as a pro. Of the six fighters card, Kirkland is probably the closest to top ten contender status, perhaps having outgrown the Shobox circuit which has all but raised him in recent years.
It's only fitting that he draws the toughest assignment of the night, with Eromosele Albert (21-0, 11KO) standing in his way. The 6'0" transplanted Nigerian is perhaps the division's best secret, though yet to receive a breakthrough opportunity.
This could prove to be the one.
For the moment, his best wins are against faded former titlist Yori Boy Campas, and former notable prospects David Banks (undefeated heading into the bout) and Daniel Edouard in his most recent bout, though ten months ago.
The biggest selling point on this bout is, the victor scores the biggest win of his career – no matter who comes out ahead.
The same can be said of the second junior middleweight attraction of the evening, between contender Richard Gutierrez and flame-throwing knockout artist Alfredo Angulo.
Though both promoted by Gary Shaw Productions, there's a budding rivalry between Kirkland and Angulo (12-0, 9KO), as the two are often found on the same cards. Their most recent twin billing came last November. On the same night where Kirkland was forced to peel himself off of the canvas early to come back and win within the same round, Angulo's bout lasted only half as long and with far less drama as he blitzed Archak TerMeliksetian in just over a minute.
The bout was par for the course for "El Perro", who often fights as if he's double-parked. After going the distance in three of his first four bouts, Angulo has now knocked out eight straight. His past three bouts have aired on ShoBox, though viewers still have yet to receive more than a glimpse – his three appearances have lasted a grand total of four rounds, including back to back first round knockouts in his most recent fights.
Saturday's bout could be a case of opposites attract – or a recipe for disaster. If nothing else, Gutierrez (24-1-0-1 NC, 14KO) goes rounds, which is a welcome change of pace for those longing to see Angulo met with even the slightest bit of resistance.
Gutierrez received his first taste of televised exposure in 2006, though both appearances on the tube ultimately became letdowns. The Colombian was holding court in his ESPN2-aired bout with Sherwin Davis in May 2006 before a clash of heads produced a cut severe enough to abruptly end their evening.
Two months later, he would suffer the first loss of his career at the hands of Joshua Clottey on HBO. It was a closely contested battle, though not particularly watchable for much of the night, with Gutierrez falling just short at the end of the night.
He's since split his time between welterweight and junior middleweight, with his most impressive performance coming last January on ESPN2 against Teddy Reid. Gutierrez was winning rounds, but it was a give-and-take war for as long as it lasted before he managed to take Reid out in the the fourth round.
It goes without saying that he'll need to show some of that same flair, and not settle on his ability to go rounds, in order to prevail against, or at the very least, slow down Angulo.
While Kirkland and Angulo are must-see TV whenever they fight, the fighter receiving the most buzz is 2004 Olympic Gold medalist Yuriorkis Gamboa.
The Cuban's tale is an all-too familiar one; forced to remain in the Cuban amateur ranks longer than desired, eventually defecting from the squad for a better way of life elsewhere.
Gamboa (9-0. 8KO) would reach his desired destination of Germany, but not before being forced to alter his planned pro debut, which was to take place in Miami. Customs disallowed the journey, forcing Gamboa and teammates Odlanier Solis and Yan Barthelemey to head straight to Deutschland.
It wouldn't be until October '07 that he would make his stateside debut, but not before already developing a reputation as boxing's hottest prospect. Whereas most fighters in the infant stage of their career pad records against pro debuters and no-hopers, every one of Gamboa's nine victims have boasted more pro experience than him, as well as winning records – his nine opponents to date owning a combined record 146-29-6 prior to facing – and eventually succumbing to – the Cuban.
The most recent victim was normally durable journeyman Johnnie Edwards, who couldn't even make it out of the first round in what served as Gamboa's ESPN2 debut.
Three months later and just nine fights in, El Ciclon de Guantanemo blows into HBO's neck of the woods, once again matched tough in taking on Darling Jimenez (23-2-2, 14KO).
There was a time when Jimenez served as a highly touted prospect before suffering a couple of early letdowns. Redemption came for the transplanted Dominican in his most recent bout, when he tore through former alphabet titlist Mike Anchondo before stopping him in three rounds on ESPN2.
The win was Jimenez' sixth straight, all by knockout. Still, he is regarded as the least likely of the three "B-side" fighters to pull off the upset. That's not to impune Jimenez' skills – some go so far as to regard him as the best opponent of the evening. It's just he's matched against perhaps not just the best prospect of the night, but in all of boxing.
By the time the night is over, the winners in all three bouts will walk away with their heads held high, with the assurance that their respective matchups went well beyond the normal cookie-cutter approach Boxing After Dark has adopted in recent years.
It's a refreshing change that the series' producers decided to think outside the box, even if it meant peeking directly in another (Sho)box.
Jake Donovan is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the Tennessee Boxing Advisory Board. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.
