Weekend Preview: Show Me Greatness
Sorry for the lack of weekday updates fight fans, but the day job beckons. Still, we’re thrilled to announce our esteemed editor will be ringside at the Family Arena in St. Louis tomorrow night for a loaded card promoted by the irrepressible Don King, featuring Devon Alexander, Tavoris Cloud, and Stiff Jab favorite Cornelius Bundrage.
HBO will televise three fights but we have to credit King for stacking the undercard with several contests that justify arriving early. He deserves props for having the guts to stage fights outside of LA, Vegas or AC and maintaining Alexander’s hometown box office appeal by doing so. The 11,399-seat arena may be a long ways from the MGM Grand but it can also hold roughly three times as many fans as the average casino theater.
Fantastic fight weekend overall, good fights on ESPN, HBO, the Spanish channels as well as a number of outlets like EpixHD that are relatively new to U.S. fight fans. Full preview of the fights we’ll be watching after the jump:
Friday: ESPN’s Friday Night Fights will feature a lightweight contest between John Molina (21-1, 17 KOs) and Robert Frankel (28-10-1, 5 KOs) from Pechanga Casino in Temecula, Calif. The opening bout is the real attraction, matching feisty Mauricio Herrera (17-1, 7 KOs) and Mike Dallas Jr. (17-1-1, 7 KOs) in a pairing of rising junior welterweights. Herrera shocked unbeaten Russian Ruslan Provodnikov on FNF in January; we had him winning a close if controversial decision. Dallas was stopped on the show in January for his first professional loss.
Telefutura has veteran middleweight brawler Brian Vera, who we last saw in February ending a bad patch with a split decision upset of Sergio Mora. He has what looks to be an easy outing against Eloy Suarez (11-11-1, 5 KOs) in Frisco, Texas. Chief support features James Kirkland (27-1, 24 KOs) reunited with his former trainer Ann Wolfe and looking to recover from his first-round TKO loss in April to Japan’s Nobuhiro Ishida.
Saturday: Show Me Something Great in the Show Me State
Yes, the names promoters think up for their events are asinine, but having worked in advertising we can’t help but appreciate the joie de vivre Don King puts into even this aspect of the promotion. At least the card lives up to the billing. The headliner is former junior welterweight titlist’s Devon Alexander’s return from his technical decision loss to Tim Bradley in Michigan; neither man has fought since the January superfight fizzled.
Alexander (21-1, 13 KOs) has chosen a tough opponent for his return bout: Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse (28-1, 26 KOs), who lost a split decision to Zab Judah in November and stopped DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley in January. Matthysse is no soft touch and Devon “The Great” will have to be in top form to keep the knockout artist at bay.
IBF light heavyweight beltholder Tavoris Cloud (21-0, 18 KOs) will defend his strap against Philadelphia’s Yusuf Mack (29-3-2, 26 KOs) in his first fight of 2011. Cloud is a fan-friendly, all-action fighter and the combination should produce fireworks. We’re betting it doesn’t go the distance.
HBO will show the previous two bouts along with a WBC heavyweight eliminator between Haiti’s Bermane Stiverne (20-1-1, 19 KOs) and Ray Austin (28-5-4, 18 KOs) of Cleveland. We understand folks love the big men but it seems obvious the following fight matching two Ring-rated junior middleweight contenders is more deserving of air time.
The bout is a rematch between Detroit’s Cornelius “K9” Bundrage (30-4, 18 KOs) and Sechew Powell (26-2, 15 KOs) for the former’s IBF belt. Bundrage hasn’t fought since stopping Cory Spinks in the 5th round last August to win the title. A win here could set him up for a big money fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez or even Miguel Cotto if the Margarito fight falls through. Powell won their first meeting by first-round stoppage in 2005; doubtless Bundrage will be looking for revenge.
Spinks (37-6, 11 KOs) will also be in action for 10 round at 154 lbs. against Shakir Asanti (16-10, 4 KOs). WBA cruiserweight champion Guillermo Jones (37-3-2, 29 KOs) was supposed to defend his title against local prospect Ryan Coyne (16-0, 6 KOs) but pulled out with back injury. West Virginian David McNemar (13-0, 10 KOs) is a late substitute.