Lubin-Holmes
Saturday, 3:30 PM PST on ProBox TV (ProBox TV’s YouTube channel)
Junior middleweight Erickson Lubin will face Ardreal Holmes in an IBF title eliminator. What is at stake? Simple – a fight against the current titleholder, Bakhram Murtazaliev.
Stylistically, it is an interesting fight. Lubin is a puncher with a good amateur pedigree, but both of his losses have come by way of knockout. Holmes is a pure boxer who has never lost. An interesting bout that is flying under the radar.
Undercard:
Welterweight Nicklaus Flaz has rebuilt himself on ProBox TV and fights a veteran from my area, Alan Sanchez. Flaz is inching toward a title opportunity, and facing a quality veteran like Sanchez will help.
Darrelle Valsaint, better known as ‘Blast’, takes on Rodolfo Orozco in a junior middleweight bout. Valsaint is a solid fighter, and I am eager to see how he looks as he moves up in competition.
Light heavyweight Najee Lopez will face Juan Gerardo Osuna. I see a ton of potential in Lopez, albeit he has had a rough ride so far. He has been dropped in a fight and had a fight that was a little too close for comfort. He beat Lenin Castillo to start the year, and should follow that up with another good performance.
Junior lightweight Dominic Valle is another promising ProBox TV contender, he faces Brandon Valdes as he looks to get closer to 10-round fights.
Top Rank card, Saturday
Saturday, prelims 2:30 PM PST (on ESPN+), main card 7:00 PM PST (ESPN)
Saturday on ESPN, Emanuel Navarrete will look to defend his WBO junior lightweight title against Charly Suarez.
This fight is a good one, but also a confusing one. Suarez is 36 and has fought no one at Navarrete’s level. Navarrete got schooled when he moved up to lightweight, but stopped Oscar Valdez in their rematch to regain a title.
Navarrete is one of the most inconsistent fighters in the sport, and because of that, it is hard to look at his fights and understand what you will see. More than likely, it will be a good action fight as both seem content to throw a lot of punches.
What happens, who knows?
Undercard:
Raymond Muratalla will face Zaur Abdullaev for the vacant IBF interim lightweight title. Muratalla is someone I have been high on and has some of the traits that made Mikey Garcia a great fighter. Abdullaev was stopped by Devin Haney during his run to the top of the sport, but he has a nice win streak. The winner will be in line to fight Vasyl Lomachenko if he returns to the sport, or a good fight at lightweight against a lot of emerging titleholders and contenders.
Junior lightweight Andres Cortes is a trash-talker who is capable of delivering knockouts. He is also coming off a career-worst performance against Abraham Nova and a long lay-off. Against Salvador Jimenez, we should see Cortes return to form, but we will watch to make sure a pattern isn’t emerging.
Welterweight Giovani Santillan will face Angel Beltran. Santillan has been solid since his knockout loss to Brian Norman Jr., and Beltran is a limited slugger but provides some danger. Santilan needs to stand out to make progress up in the division, as he runs the risk at this point of being a test for an up-and-coming fighter like Delante “Tiger” Johnson.
Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez returns a month after his last fight against Jose Guardado. Gonzalez’s last performance was not what he hoped for, a close fight against spoiler Dana Coolwell. Gonzalez looked to get a big push in 2025 and needs a star-like performance on this card.
Lightweight Alan Garcia will face Cristian Medina Garcia, it is his second fight since his knockout loss. Garcia is a solid fighter. I know nothing about Sebastian Hernandez, but he fights Azat Hovhannisyan in a junior featherweight bout, and Hovhannisyan often finds himself in Fight-of-the-Year-type fights.
Junior welterweight Sammy Contreras will return after his pro debut in March, and recent Top Rank signee women’s junior bantamweight Perla Bazaldua will have her first fight with Top Rank.
Other notable bouts:
Friday on DAZN, Heavyweight Dainier Pero will face Cesar Navarro. Bob Santos, Pero’s trainer, believes that Pero is right there in terms of the top up-and-comers at heavyweight. Pero will be the main event.
Lightweight Corey Marksman will face Tayden Beltran, a local California fighter getting a shot at a 50-50 fight. Marksman is someone MVP has developed well so far.
Junior lightweight Kaipo Gallegos faces Pedro Castaneda, a fighter with the same record as himself. Other fighters you might want to be aware of are women’s bantamweight Nat Dove will be in action, bantamweight Alexander Gueche, and the return of Jeremy Adorno are all in developmental-type bouts.
Friday also on DAZN, Fresh off his OTX junior middleweight tournament win, Andreas Katzourakis will face unbeaten Roberto Cruz. Katzourkis has had a lot of tough fights, but also faced plenty of stiff opposition for a fighter at 15-0 mark in his career. The co-feature will see Texan Breyon Gorham against Luis Feliciano. Gorham has a bit of hype behind him, and Feliciano is still a fighter that I believe could contend, one day. This is a crossroads bout for both.
Junior welterweight Giovanni Marquez, who is also the son of Raul Marquez, will be in action, as will the Lugo brothers, both Nathan and Elijah, who are known for their power-punching style.
Not sure if Andy Dominguez vs. Nelvis Rodriguez will be televised, but the flyweight Dominguez is a very good fighter, who is continuing to take good fights.
A notable undercard fight features Yoel Angeloni vs. William Davis in the welterweight division. Angeloni has struggled to gain momentum so far, and Davis is a decent club-level fighter.
On Saturday, DAZN will telecast Anthony Cacace vs. Leigh Wood in a junior lightweight bout. Cacace defeated Joe Cordina, won the IBF title, and disappeared. Now that title is vacant, and he is fighting Wood, who has had his fair share of entertaining bouts over the past few years, but also has disappeared.
On the undercard, a featherweight bout between Liam Davies and Kurt Walker stands out as a fight of consequence. With a win, one of the fighters vaults up to contender status, in my eyes.
Junior welterweight Sam Noakes will fight on the card. He is a prospect with the potential of contending for a title.
ESPN+ will telecast on Saturday a WBC welterweight eliminator between Souleymane Cissokho and Egidijus Kavaliauskas. The winner will be next in line to face current titleholder Mario Barrios. Nico Ali Walsh also fights on this card.
For the super hardcore fight fans, Fernando Martinez will rematch Kazuto Ioka as Martinez put his WBA junior bantamweight title on the line. The winner could fight Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez later this year.
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