By Jake Donovan

With so much death surrounding the month of July, it’s nice to celebrate life for a change.

No current boxing series has been more alive than Showtime’s “Shobox: The New Generation,” which recently celebrated its 8th anniversary earlier this month. Ever since its inaugural episode on July 21, 2001, the series has watched more than 30 of its contestants move on to win an alphabet title of sorts.

All four players in Saturday night’s edition of “Showtime Championship Boxing” have fought on the Shobox circuit. None have benefited more than Tim Bradley, who makes his third straight SCB headline appearance when he faces Nate Campbell.

Not only did Bradley become the 28th Shobox fighter to win a major title, but did so on the actual series, traveling to England to wrest an alphabet junior welterweight strap from Junior Witter in his final Shobox appearance last May.

Bradley wasn’t the first return customer on SHOBOX, but is close as there is to a poster child for the series. But as the Californian has since become a fixture on the Championship Boxing series, the hunt remains to develop new talent, if only to eventually watch them outgrow the series and graduate to the next level.

Friday night’s belated anniversary installment of Shobox features as prime a candidate as any in once-beaten Marvin Quintero (16-1, 12KO).

The Mexican southpaw makes his third straight appearance on the series – all coming in 2009 – in the main event against Tyrone Harris, live from the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California (Friday, 11PM ET/PT).

Quintero’s mettle was proven well before he graced U.S. TV screens or even crossed the border, with his second pro fight resulting in an upset decision win against Alejandro Valdez, who would go on to challenge for the bantamweight title.

Once it was discovered that he could actually fight, his handlers reconsidered throwing him to the wolves, instead deciding there was an investment to be protected.

His next 12 fights would come against terrible opposition, which makes it all the more shocking that included in the bunch is the lone loss of his career, a first round knockout against debuting Balam Castellanos.

Twelve straight wins have followed as did a move from Culiacan to Tijuana, where he has managed to find much better sparring, including several gym sessions with current top lightweight contender Antonio DeMarco.

Included in his current win streak are three straight on this side of the border. He first caught the eye of promoter Gary Shaw when he impressively dispatched Alberto Amaro in two rounds on the non-televised undercard of a December ’08 Shobox telecast.

He apparently made an impression on the Shobox brass as well, who thought enough of the 22-year old to bring him back just one month later.

The lesson he learned was that you can expect to be matched tough when fighting for Gary Shaw Productions. His U.S. television debut came against once-promising prospect Nick Casal.

The lesson Showtime and Shaw learned that evening was the greater the challenge, the better Quintero performs.

Going into the bout a 2 ½-1 underdog, Quintero withstood Casal’s early assault to literally beat the fight out of his more seasoned foe, forcing him to quit on his stool after three rounds.

It was as great a breakthrough performance as he could’ve enjoyed, one-upping his gym mate and current top lightweight contender Antonio DeMarco, who decisioned Casal two years ago. Quintero became the first to stop the hard-hitting fringe lightweight contender, making a big enough statement to convince Showtime to bring him back  less than four months later.

Fighting on the eve of Manny Pacquiao’s history-making knockout win of Ricky Hatton, Quintero took the next step on his own hopeful journey towards superstardom. Offered a different look, his boxing skills and patience were tested in his May bout against Wes Ferguson. Quintero struggled early, but eventually settled into a groove and put enough rounds in the bank to take a well-earned unanimous decision.

It was risky matchmaking, as with fighting an opponent like Ferguson comes the risk of not always looking TV-friendly. But as series executive producer Gordon Hall loves to say when quoted on the subject, who cares who wins and who looks good so long as fans are presented competitive bouts.

Obviously Quintero doesn’t mind the upgrade, as he continues his climb up the junior lightweight rankings. His tour against familiar faces continues on Friday, when he faces battle-tested Tyrone Harris (23-5, 15KO).

It hasn’t been the best of times for Harris, whose first loss came in a Shobox-televised bout against Israel Hernandez. He is 8-4 since then, with losses to Koba Gogaladze, Josesito Lopez and most recently Urbano Antillion a clear indication that the threat of facing tough competition is hardly a threat at all.

His attitude is befitting of Shobox’ standards in competitively matching today’s prospects in hopes of creating tomorrow’s stars. It’s what continues to make the series the most intriguing in the sport, eight years after unbeaten lightweights Leo Dorin and Martin O’Malley helped introduce the series to our living rooms.

Dorin was the series’ first main event winner and also its first to go on to win a major title. Tim Bradley, Nate Campbell and Junior Witter all followed suit, with Devon Alexander hoping to become the next alum to strap alphabet hardware around his waist as all four participate in the graduate course this Saturday.
 
Perhaps Marvin Quintero one day follows in their footsteps. Whether or not he goes the distance is anyone’s guess. What can be guaranteed so long as he continues to participate on the Shobox circuit is the one thing that has remained the constant through the series eight-year history (and still going strong) - that the ride will never be easy.

WHAT ELSE TO WATCH FOR

As is almost always the case for Showtime, where Shobox appears, an installment of “Showtime Championship Boxing” is sure to follow. The blueprint is followed this weekend with perhaps the best televised doubleheader of the year to date.

At the very least, boxing fans are treated to one hell of a junior welterweight Final Four (Saturday, 9PM ET/PT).

The main go at Agua Caliente in Rancho Mirage, California has undefeated local favorite Tim Bradley defending his 140 lb. alphabet title against former multi-belted lightweight champion Nate Campbell.

Having spent his entire career at 130 and 135, Campbell (33-5-1, 25KO) was forced to move up in weight after failing to make the lightweight limit for his last fight, a hard-fought 12-round decision over Ali Funeka.

Despite the win, Campbell was forced to give up his lightweight belts on the scales after coming in heavy. As a result, he never had a chance to defend the titles he violently snatched from Juan Diaz almost a year prior.

Bradley (24-0, 11KO) spent his first 21 fights in state, but this will be his first trip back home since winning an alphabet title from Junior Witter last May in England, with two title fight wins sandwiched in between.

In an odd twist of fate, Witter (37-2-2, 22KO) manages to contend for the very same title he conceded last year on the same show as his conqueror. The twist comes in that it won’t be against Bradley, who vacated one belt in order to keep and defend another.

As a result, Witter will now go up against the original mandatory contender, Devon Alexander (18-0, 11KO) in the evening’s co-feature.

While the weekend is dominated by Showtime, they don’t have it all to themselves.

ESPN2’s Friday Night Fight series is approaching the end of its 2009 season, but it doesn’t mean they have to slow down. Quite the contrary, as all four remaining telecasts range from solid to must see.

This weekend’s edition falls somewhere in between the two, as it airs live from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida (Friday, 8PM ET/5PM PT).

The main event pits former lightweight titlist Julio Diaz (36-5. 26KO) against unbeaten though largely untested Dominican prospect Victor Manuel Cayo (22-0, 15KO).

Diaz has yet to hit 30, but is seemingly on his last legs in terms of being a major player. It’s been a rough couple of years for “The Kidd,” who has yet to prove that he ever fully recovered from the one-sided beating absorbed against Juan Diaz in their October 2007 lightweight unification match.

Two wins followed, but that streak came to a violently crashing halt when he was starched in five rounds by late sub Rolando Reyes this past April.

Less than four months later, he is thrown to the wolves against the highly touted Cayo, who fights in the states for just the second time in his young career.

Because of his mediocre opposition, it’s tough to determine whether the Dominican is more prospect than suspect. He owns several wins over junior welterweight retreads, but none with the pedigree of Diaz.

Regardless of what happens, boxing fans at least have the option to see it. The same cannot be said for the fantastic welterweight rematch between Delvin Rodriguez and Isaac Hlatshwayo, which takes place Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Rodriguez (24-2-2, 14KO) is as close as they come to being a Friday Night Fights regular, in fact coming off of a razor-thin points win over Shamone Alvarez in their ESPN2-televised bout this past March.

The bout was his first since the draw to Hlatshwayo (28-1, 10KO) in the latter’s South Africa home land last November. This will be the first fight back for Hlatshwayo, who was a victim of boxing politics in sitting out for the past eight months, though he finally gets his title shot.

What neither he nor Rodriguez get is network coverage. The bout would’ve been a perfect fit for ESPN2’s ramped up schedule this season, but promoter Star Boxing received a generous enough offer from the Mohegan Sun to where they went with the August 1 date knowing the revolution would not be televised.

All is not lost, as gofightlive.tv has stepped in to air the fight on location via live webcast (Saturday, 8PM ET. $9.95).

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .