Announcement: For Canelo fight I am going to introduce a $4.00 paywall a-month or $48.00 for a whole year, that will offer the following access detailed amateur scouting notes moving forward not seen to the extent anywhere else, quick reaction podcasts to the fights on the weekend, and potentially a yet to be determined weekly podcast just for the SubStack. The main point is to try to monetize the content, a bit, so if you enjoy what I produce and would like to support this newsletter it would be great if you could subscribe for however long you could.
Valdez vs. Shakur
Saturday, April 30th, 7 PM PST (main), 3:30 PM PST (undercard) | ESPN
Let’s be honest the two strongest champions at 130 lbs are Oscar Valdez and Shakur Stevenson, and with them facing each other for each other’s respective belts the WBC and WBO belts on the line, this should solidify a guy in the division.
Both fighters are undefeated and Olympians, Valdez, a two-time Olympian, the modern great Mexican fighter, besides his stablemate Canelo Alvarez, and Stevenson viewed as the star of the 2016 Olympic class.
On paper, this fight seems to look the part of Shakur Stevenson entering the top-10 pound-for-pound list, as his ability to manage distance, and utter domiance in prior fights, make it hard to believe he would lose to Valdez.
That being said, Valdez is crafty, tricky, and well-coached with Eddy Reynoso. The fight will put the winner at the forefront of the 2022 Fighter of the Year honors, and should birth them into the pound-for-pound list more than likely taking either Josh Taylor or Juan Francisco Estrada’s spot on the list.
The winner of this bout makes a statement in the division.
TV undercard
Keyshawn Davis faces Esteban Sanchez, as Davis looks to be marketed and put in position to be the heir apparent to Shakur Stevenson, as the 2020 Olympic star, looks to introduce himself once again to Stevenson’s fanbase. Davis is an offensively gifted fighter, who reminds me of Lamont Peterson, and is very hard to stop once he starts getting his offense moving downhill. This should be a showcase for Davis.
Middleweight Nico Ali Walsh is green in the sport, but that being said he is staying in the gym, and growing with each fight as he will faceAlejandro Ibarra in a four-rounder. To me, on paper, this looks to be four of the main fighters Top Rank Inc. wants to build around in the next two-to-three years, with Stevenson, Davis, Ali Walsh, and Valdez - add in Xander Zayas and Mikaela Mayer, and you might be able to create fantasy main event fights for the year 2024.
ESPN+
Raymond Muratalla is in tough fighting Jeremy Hill in an eight-round bout. Muratalla emerged out of the Robert Garcia camp during the bubble, and Hill is a tough dude who is rugged and committed to coming forward, who has lost to a few talented fighters. This will show if Muratalla can ascend to marquee bouts in the future.
Andres Cortes will face Alexis del Bosque in Cortes’ debut with Top Rank. Cortes has had a slew of highlight-reel KOs on Top Rank undercards, Bosque is known for giving people a lot of issues and taking people to split decisions and majority decision, so this will show a bit about Cortes at Top Rank.
Abdullah Mason will face Luciano Ramos, who in his last two pro fights, Ramos has been stopped by Charlie Sheehy, and got a split-decision over prospect Mark Salgado. Mason will be directly compared to Sheehy based on Sheehy’s performance against Ramos.
Troy Isley, one of my favorite emerging middleweights, will fight on the card.
Charlie Sheehy, a lightweight out of a town outside of San Francisco, Ca, will be in-action on this card. Sheehy is really good.
Antoine Cobb, who spent time in Shakur Stevenson’s camp, will face Jaylan Phillips, who I saw earlier this year training out of City Boxing in Las Vegas, not sure if he is still there.
Taylor vs. Serrano
Saturday, April 30th, 7 PM PST | DAZN
In what should be the biggest fight in women’s boxing ever, Katie Taylor will face Amanda Serrano, as the undisputed lightweight world champion Taylor, will put up all the major titles WBC, IBF, WBO, WBA in the main event of a historic bout at Madison Square Garden.
Historical Significance – In the modern era, we have a few all-time great women’s boxers, those off the top of my head are Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields, Seneisa Estrada, Mikaela Mayer, Savannah Marshall, and Amanda Serrano. Taylor and Serrano fighting each other give a bit of context to where both stand up in the sport, in terms of history, as well allows both to get high-paying fight checks that rival those of their male counterparts.
In short, it is a fight that will define who will be remembered as one of the all-time great women’s fighters ever, and a fight that could usher in a new early of women’s boxing fans.
Taylor is one of the most influential and important fighters in women’s boxing history, as she rose through the amateur rankings, winning seemingly every lightweight bout she entered from 2005 until 2016 she lost at the AIBA world’s to Estelle Mossley, in a year that Irish boxing saw a lot of disputes as Michael Conlan, would infamously flip off the judges at Rio 2016 for bad judging as well. Taylor would receive a first-round bye at the 2016 Rio Olympics only to lose to Mira Potkonen in her first bout, something many felt wronged by.
Taylor, who looked to be a historic two-time women’s gold medalist, was unable to do that and merged over to the pros which I feel she brought on the women’s boxing revolution along with Claressa Shields that now has seen DAZN make a major investment in women’s boxing, which I feel is based around the financial success she showed to have.
Taylor won her first world title a year after going pro against Anahi Ester Sanchez, for the vacant WBA lightweight title. Her first defense would be against a fighter with only seven fights at the time, Jessica McCaskill, who now has gone on to become one of the best of the era, who soundly outpointed. Taylor would beat Victoria Bustos to claim the IBF lightweight title the following year and also outpoint Cindy Serrano, Amanda Serrano’s older sister as well.
Taylor would claim three of the four major lightweight world titles defeating Rose Volante for the WBO world title with just the elusive WBC world title remaining to claim undisputed.
This is when she met her first career rival in the pros – Delfine Persoon.
Persoon had no respect for Taylor’s craftsmanship, and some of Taylor’s flaws were on display. Taylor is a great athlete, able to go in and out of range, but when fighters get to the inside, sometimes Taylor looks like a professional amateur boxer, and not a refined pro, as she gets hit with punches, based on volume, that most professional often do not get hit with. A lot of ringside writers favored Persoon in this bout, but judges gave Taylor a majority decision win, I think the fact that most didn’t give Persoon a chance, and the fight was seemingly dead-even felt as though the victor should’ve been Persoon as she overcame more than Taylor.
Another thing to note is when fighters are hyped as much as Taylor was – when they have a tough fight, people love to say it was all marketing and a gimmick downplaying her success in the amateur to get such a healthy investment as a pro.
Serrano’s achievements in the pros are similar to Taylor’s in the amateurs. Serrano has done everything you could expect a pro to accomplish, yet based on her gender she didn’t find herself on television, and her historic accomplishments were largely unnoticed.
For those unaware, Amanda Serrano is a seven-weight world champion, winning belts from super flyweight to lightweight from 2011 to the present.
Serrano, nicknamed “The Real Deal”, was emerging in a vibrant time in New York boxing as fighters like Paulie Malignaggi, Zab Judah, Daniel Jacobs, and even Miguel Cotto, not from New York, but who made Madison Square Garden his home, were all becoming major players in the sport of boxing. Serrano, along with her sister, was building her record up in the mostly New York area, in a world with few vlogs, and even few YouTubers.
Serrano’s lone loss was a fight in which she travel over to Sweden to face Frida Wallberg for a chance at the WBC super featherweight world title.
Serrano would rebuild her career in the Dominican Republic, with a few bouts in Queens, New York sprinkled in for good fun. Serrano would win her first world title against Maria Elena Maderna in Argentina, to capture the WBO lightweight world title via a sixth-round KO.
During this time, Serrano would go on a nine-fight knockout streak, which would be impressive, and somewhat historic for women’s boxing. An interesting name she beat during this run, was Carla Torres, the fighter who just beat “Pink Tyson”, on a Top Rank card.
Women’s boxing in 2015 was the wild west and even though Christy Martin, Mia St John, Ava Knight, Kaliesha West, Seniesa Estrada, Marlen Esparza, and Nicola Adams all had success, television distribution was hard for women’s boxing to come by.
Serrano would win the WBO featherweight world title on a Broadway Boxing card promoted by Lou DiBella via a first-round KO against Olivia Gerula, as well as defeat undefeated Ednia Kiss in Puerto Rico in a homecoming bout.
Serrano would defend her title WBO featherweight title at the Barclays Center on a PBC card against Calista Silgado, stopping her in the first round. Both Heather Hardy and Amanda Serrano looked to be fighters who would be televised one day on Premier Boxing Champions telecast as they outsold the men at times, but somehow that never happened, and history will probably shame them for that.
In October of 2018, Serrano defeated Alexandra Lazar to win the WBO super bantamweight title in Puerto Rico, also by first-round KO.
Serrano was proving to be a world-class puncher, who looked to be TV-friendly and was chasing legacy.
Serrano would fight once again on a Barclays undercard defeating Yazmin Rivas as she defended her WBO super bantamweight title and won the WBC super bantamweight diamond belt as well.
By 2017 though, Serrano’s career was not one of joy, but one of stagnation. She was facing opponents she had faced earlier in her career such as Edina Kiss, who she stopped in three rounds, or Dahianna Santana who came in four pounds overweight. Despite having a historic amount of first-round KOs in women’s boxing, it was hard for Serrano to get fights, and even harder to get her fights in front of more than just the paying attending public.
Serrano seemingly from the outside in felt this boredom as she defeated Yamila Esther Reynoso to win the WBO super lightweight world title, and then four months later fought at 25 lbs lighter, defeating Eva Voraberger for the WBO super flyweight world title.
Eight months later, and with the success of fighters like Katie Taylor as well Ronda Rousey in MMA, upstart DAZN, partnering with Eddie Hearn brought Serrano on to face New York rival, Heather Hardy as a fight featured on their televised portion of the card between Devin Haney vs. Zaur Abdullaev, which was part of a WBC lightweight tournament to decide a champion.
Serrano won, as Hardy proved to be a game, but an outgunned opponent.
Serrano would fight on DAZN one time prior to this upcoming event, a third-round KO of Simone Aparecida da Silva on the Tevin Farmer vs. Jospeh Diaz Jr. undercard in Miami.
After the bout, Serrano was once again, lost without distribution. She faced an opponent she had stopped years prior, Dahianna Santana, in the Dominican Republic, and then got another world title shot on the upstart “Ring City USA”, which I am not sure what happened to.
A brief tangent, “Ring City USA”, was a boxing syndicated show that wanted to have no loyalties to one promoter, and create a ShoBox-like fight platform on Thursday nights on NBC’s sports channel NBCSN, not unlike Tuesday Night Fights on the USA network prior. The problem was it felt like it was a coronation of the B-side fighters for the top-tier network, even if untrue, and seemingly the bouts had an assortment of voices, an assortment of fighters, and while well-intentioned, felt like too much all at once.
Serrano headlined a card against fellow pound-for-pound fighter, Daniela Bermudez, in the process of becoming the best featherweight in the world currently in women’s boxing. The dramatic body shot knockout was highlight-reel fodder, yet some fight fans, who were not as tapped into boxing Twitter missed out on the Ring City USA moment in the sport, and Serrano, though now getting respect was still void of a large platform, and large voice in the sport.
Enter Jake Paul.
Paul put Serrano on the undercard of his Showtime PPV bout against Tyron Woodley, and then signed Serrano prior to the Woodley rematch, as Serrano was promoted and broadcast more than ever, as some might say in 2022, Serrano might have more brand awareness than Katie Taylor in the United States.
Not mentioned was Serrano’s endeavors to try other things, a somewhat lukewarm rendition into MMA, that saw her start her career with a draw, she has since won two fights, her last MMA fight in 2021. Serrano also lost a reality show opportunity over the politics between her and Eddie Hearn as well somewhere in this timeline as well.
Serrano has always been a well-respected world champion with a historic world championship run, who just never was put in front of enough viewers, for one reason or another. Paul is able to help with that, and now at the end of her career, she is able to set her legacy.
undercard
Two older main eventers of the past era will see two former world champions face each other as Jessie Vargas takes on Liam Smith at 154. Vargas once fought Pacquiao, Smith once fought Canelo, neither won. The bout is a good way for both to get paid well in the twilight of their career. Vargas has been 154 for the majority of his career, Vargas spent his time at lower weights.
Franchon Crews-Dezurn will face Elin Cederroos to become the undisputed super middleweight champion. Crews-Dezurn made her pro debut against Claressa Shields, and has since turned her career around. Cederroos upset Alicia Napoleon on ShoBox, as Cederroos is tall, athletic, and has good straight punches. A sneaky good fight.
2020 Olympic gold medalist Galal Yafai, who is an action-orientated fighter, will face Miguel Cartagena. Yafai should fight for a belt in the next year.
Austin “Ammo” Williams will have the toughest bout of his career facing fellow undefeated middleweight Chordale Booker. This is a trajectory fight for both, as Williams took time away from the sport due to mental health concerns, and Booker had a split decision win over Sanny Duversonne that was highly debated, and turned Duversonne into a fringe contender after that performance which saw him get a main event on Ring City USA.
Big punching 140 lbs Reshat Mati will fight Joe Eli Hernandez on the undercard. Mati needs to make an impression soon, as he has been signed for quite some time to Matchroom, and is still fairly low on the card.
Khalil Coe, who holds a win over Cuban gold medal Olympian Julio De La Cruz, will face William Langston. Coe recently had a split decision win, so we are hoping to see more of a sustained and consistent effort from Coe, as that is hopefully an outlier, but only a slew of good performances can make us forget that fight
Skye Nicolson is slowly becoming one of my favorite fighters. Why? Currently 2-0, Nicolson, is fighting for the third time in one calender month, as she faces Shanecqua Paisley Davis in a six-round bout. Nicolson is awkward like Demetrius Andrade in the men’s division.
Club Shows
A show featuring the sons of legends will be headlined by Hasim Rahman Jr. taking on James McKenzie Morrison in a heavyweight bout.
Also featured on the card is, Keith Hunter vs. Demarus Driver Steve Cunningham’s son, Steve Cunningham III fighting on this card in Vegas.
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Philly bantamweight Christian Carto will face Ernesto Sebastian Franzolini in a eight-rounder. Carto is trying to get himself into position for a TV-type fight. Carto took a bad KO loss a few years back, and took time off from the sport before his return.
After his draw on ShoBox, Paul Kroll will face Marklin Bailey.
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Quinton Randall returns to the ring this weekend, and fights for what I believe is a smaller form of a title.
MMA In 500 Words Or Less
Once again, we have a main event on a UFC card in which I have to scratch my head and wonder if I know the fighters. The main event will see Rob Font and Marlon Vera face each other, as the TV rights deal for the UFC seems to be hitting a point in which, a lot of these cards are skippable unless you truly love MMA.
Like my good friend Jason of MMAPayout.com pointed out, the UFC is now becoming college basketball, in which some watch the season, but most watch the final four, with a select few watching other rounds in the tournament. This card gives off that vibe.
Andrei Arlovski has been fighting for a long time and will be on this card.
Andre Fili, of Sacramento, Ca, will be featured on the card.
Darren Elkins, who at one-time trained out of Sacramento, and a known tough guy of the sport, will be featured on the card.
PFL 2
PFL season model of MMA returns this week with a slew of matches for a weekday MMA card. They always put forth good bouts, be aware that it is happening, on April 28th, on ESPN.