For years, the Saturday closest to Cinco De Mayo weekend has featured some of the biggest names in boxing. This year, however, there won’t just be one night of action – there will be three.

The shows are set for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, to be headlined respectively by Ryan Garcia-Rolando Romero, Canelo Alvarez-William Scull and Naoya Inoue-Ramon Cardenas. Each show also includes noteworthy undercard fights.

Keep reading below for the particulars on what fights are on, when and how to watch them. And among BoxingScene’s blanket coverage of this week’s events, Eric Raskin will be ranking this weekend’s most notable matches – and going more in-depth with previewing the storylines – in an article due to be published later this week. 

Pick it, part one: Ryan Garcia vs. Rolando Romero

When to Watch: Friday, May 2 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time (10 p.m. BST)

How to watch: DAZN pay-per-view

Why to Watch: Beyond the curiosity of this show being held in New York City’s Times Square, there are several storylines at play here.

Ryan Garcia, 24-1 (20 KOs), is back from the yearlong suspension he served after testing positive for the banned performance-enhancing drug ostarine, which turned his majority decision win over Devin Haney in April 2024 into a no-contest.

If Garcia wins Friday, and if Haney also triumphs on the undercard, they are expected to have a rematch next. Their rivalry was heated before their first bout. Both feel they have a lot to prove. 

Garcia wants to show he can win while clean – though he still denies that he was dirty, or at least intentionally dirty – and he doesn’t want to give Haney any excuses for losing. Haney wants to demonstrate that he’s improved on the flaws that Garcia took advantage of, while also proving his point that Garcia’s use of performance-enhancers, well, enhanced Garcia’s performance. 

Meanwhile, there’s also no love lost between Garcia and one of the other main participants on this show, Teofimo Lopez. Of course, Garcia, Haney and Lopez all have to come out victorious against the men who stand in their way.

Garcia will face Rolando Romero, 16-2 (13 KOs), a former junior welterweight titleholder who says he got the best of Garcia in a pair of sparring sessions years ago.

Haney, 31-0 (15 KOs), will meet Jose Ramirez, 29-2 (18 KOs), a former unified titleholder at 140lbs who lost those belts in 2021, is coming off a decision loss to Arnold Barboza Jnr last November, and says he feels rejuvenated by this fight being at a catch-weight of 144lbs.

Lopez, 21-1 (13 KOs), is the lineal champion and WBO titleholder at 140lbs and continues to call for the big fights he feels he deserves. Barboza, 32-0 (11 KOs), is at last getting his first title shot after nearly 12 years in the professional ranks. He’s coming off a pair of good victories over Ramirez and Jack Catterall.

Pick it, part two: Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. William Scull

When to Watch: Saturday, May 3 at 5:45 p.m. Eastern Time (10:45 p.m. BST)

How to watch: DAZN pay-per-view

Why to Watch: Alvarez is the overwhelming favorite in the main event and is expected to regain the undisputed super middleweight championship. The undercard includes one title fight and two other interesting bouts.

Alvarez, 62-2-2 (39 KOs), didn’t think much of Scull when he was Canelo’s mandatory challenger in 2024. Canelo ditched his IBF title rather than face Scull, and therefore – while still the lineal champ and the WBA, WBC and WBO titleholder – was no longer undisputed. 

Instead, Alvarez went with a larger payday against Edgar Berlanga. Now, in the first bout of Canelo’s deal with boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh, he’s getting paid handsomely to defend against Scull in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in what is essentially setting up even bigger fights. 

Namely: A win over Scull would send Canelo into an anticipated September match with Terence Crawford with all the marbles at 168lbs on the line.

Scull, 23-0 (9 KOs), believes he can score the upset. He’s taking a huge step up in level of competition. Scull’s biggest win so far was a controversial decision over Vladimir Shishkin in October for the vacant IBF belt. He’s presumably not just here for the payday, though. After all, a win over Canelo would likely land him a lucrative rematch.

Badou Jack, 28-3-3 (17 KOs), will defend his cruiserweight title against Noel Mikaelyan, 27-2 (12 KOs). Each man has held the WBC belt in recent years. Jack had it first but was named “champion in recess” due to an expected move to bridgerweight that never wound up happening. Mikaelyan subsequently obtained the title, but injuries and inactivity meant he traded labels with the returning Jack. It’s been 26 months since Jack last fought and 18 months for Mikaelyan.

Jaime Munguia, 44-2 (35 KOs), and Bruno Surace, 26-0-2 (5 KOs), will have their rematch of last year’s huge upset, when the undersized and underpowered Surace knocked out the more experienced super middleweight Munguia.

Martin Bakole, 21-2 (16 KOs), and Efe Ajagba, 20-1 (14 KOs), will fight with a potential future shot at a heavyweight title on the line. Bakole needs to rebound from coming in on exceptionally short notice, and rather out of shape, for a second-round stoppage loss to Joseph Parker in February. Ajagba has won five straight since dropping a decision to Frank Sanchez in 2021.

Pick it, part three: Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas

When to Watch: Sunday, May 4 at 10 p.m. Eastern Time (3 a.m. BST). 

A preliminary undercard is scheduled to start at 6:10 p.m. ET (11:10 p.m. BST).

How to watch: ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+

Why to Watch: This fight, as with the other main events this weekend, is intended to set up bigger matches in the near future. 

For Inoue, 29-0 (26 KOs), this defense of the undisputed junior featherweight championship against Cardenas is expected to be followed by fights with one of the remaining top contenders at 122lbs in Murodjon Akhmadaliev; featherweight titleholder Nick Ball; and bantamweight titleholder Junto Nakatani.

Inoue is a superlative talent. Cardenas, 26-1 (14 KOs), is ranked in the Top 10 at junior featherweight by The Ring and the Transnational Boxing Ratings Board, but he’s otherwise seen as a stepping stone. Will Inoue overlook Cardenas or take him lightly? And does Cardenas have what it takes to capitalize? Cardenas’ only loss came eight years ago against the 14-9-1 Danny Flores. His run of 14 straight victories culminated in a unanimous decision over the 20-0 Bryan Acosta in February.

The most notable fight on the Inoue-Cardenas undercard at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas will see Rafael Espinoza defending his featherweight title against Edward Vazquez. 

Espinoza, 26-0 (22 KOs), is anomalous with his stature, standing 6-foot-1 yet somehow competing at 126lbs. He won the WBO belt from Robeisy Ramirez in late 2023 and has defended it twice, including a stoppage win over Ramirez in their rematch last December. Vazquez, 17-2 (4 KOs), had a debatable loss to Raymond Ford in 2022 and dropped a majority decision to then-junior lightweight titleholder Joe Cordina in 2023.

More Fights to Watch

Thursday, May 1: Kevin Lerena vs. Serhiy Radchenko (DAZN)

The broadcast begins at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (6 a.m. BST).

Lerena’s first defense of his WBC bridgerweight title headlines at SunBet Arena in Pretoria in Lerena’s home country of South Africa.

Bridgerweight is a division first created by the WBC and then adopted by the WBA. It sits between cruiserweight and heavyweight, with a maximum weight limit of 224lbs.

Lerena, 30-3 (14 KOs), won the interim WBC title in November 2023 with a unanimous decision over Senad Gashi. He was upgraded to the full titleholder in October 2024, when Lawrence Okolie vacated the belt and moved up to heavyweight.

Lerena, 32, is a former cruiserweight contender who went up to heavyweight in 2022, knocking out Bogdan Dinu, outpointing Mariusz Wach, and losing a competitive three-rounder battle with Daniel Dubois. After spending 2023 establishing himself at bridgerweight, Lerena tried heavyweight again at the start of 2024. But a close loss to Justis Huni last March sent Lerena back to 224lbs

Radchenko, 11-7 (5 KOs), is a 38-year-old from Ukraine who is ranked fourth in the division by the WBC. He went 1-7 from 2018 through 2020, losing to a number of recognizable names (Krzysztof Glowacki, Michal Cieslak, Artur Szpilka) and a handful of prospects, with his only victory in that stretch coming against a foe with a record of 3-10.

Since 2021, Radchenko has won four straight, mostly against nondescript opposition. His last appearance was in August in Kiev, where he outpointed the 15-2-1 Andrej Pesic.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.