Fury Returns on PPV
Saturday, April 23rd, 11:00 AM PST | ESPN+ PPV
The tagline for this fight should be Tyson Fury returns to action in the United Kingdom, as the world’s best heavyweight Tyson Fury will look to defend his WBC heavyweight world title against someone not named Deontay Wilder as he faces the big puncher, Dillian Whyte in a 12-round fight in the U.K., which will air in the afternoon on PPV in the United States.
Fury, who only has a couple more fights left in his career will be facing a fighter in Whyte, who is a genius with marketing but is at a massive skill disadvantage against Fury. Whyte famously was “skipped over” for his world title shot, while Fury and Wilder were fighting, and in the process was knocked out by Alexander Povetkin, in a fight that saw the ultimate boxing thing happen - an unneeded rematch to show Whyte could be a 40-plus-year-old former world champion and gold medalist in Alexander Povetkin. Whyte also seemingly never fought the other boogeyman of the heavyweight division in Luis Ortiz, who knows why though?
In short, Whyte is very good at building a brand and image, and that is what he did. Whyte also throws every punch hard, and always has a chance to land something, but in terms of dimensions, Whyte brings just one - aggression, one that fans tend to love because it is easy to understand.
Fury is a generational-type talent, who might just be the greatest heavyweight boxer ever. In my opinion, Whyte is a step-back in competition from the three Deontay Wilder fights, but in the U.K. this is a massive fight and allows Fury a proper historic U.K. bout, to break records and be received as the world-class fighter he is. This isn’t for the United States, just face it.
In terms of the U.S. market, it feels as though the promotion has basically punted on this event as I have seen little to no marketing, as this will be catered mostly to the U.K. audience and very hardcore fight fans who decide to buy this PPV.
My friend Shutterworth of Ring Gang Radio summed up this card best… “…it is like a BBQ place that has trash sides and you only go for the BBQ.”
undercard
Let’s be honest, the main event sells the card. The undercard is not one of the stronger cards we have seen, but here is a preview of it.
A battle of domestic level 130 lbers, as Anthony Cacace will face Jonathan “Momo” Romero in what I believe is the co-main event. Romero lost to Kiko Martinez and was one of the more impressive fighters I have ever seen in the gym, but that was some time ago, I suppose now. Cacace lost to Martin Ward and seems to be a hard-working, blue-collar fighter. The fight should be a sneaky-good fight that could surprise some. Glad to see Romero getting a spot on such a high-profile card.
Coming off his first career loss, featherweight Isaac Lowe will face undefeated Nick Ball. Ball has fought very limited competition, and Lowe has faced at least one future world title contender. Advantage Lowe.
The family member of Tyson Fury, Tommy Fury will face Daniel Bocianski in a light heavyweight bout. Fury was set to face Jake Paul but got hurt, and Paul now has no interest in fighting Fury. Fury is more of a U.K. celeb than a boxer, in my opinion.
2020 Irish Olympian Kurt Walker will be in action. Solid fighter, nothing has stood out about him just yet though. His accolades
Golden Boy Show, Thursday - DAZN
Thursday, April 21st, 6:00 PM PST | DAZN
Joel Diaz Jr. has had a rocky road, not unlike his counterpart Mercito Gesta as the two former prospects turned contenders look to rebound as they face each other on a ShoBox-type match-up on DAZN, promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, in a new mid-week series.
Diaz Jr. is a big puncher, who hasn't had the most success at 140 lbs, as he appeared to be his best at 130 lbs, and Gesta, who is in the Wild Card currently sparring everybody, will be fighting at 140 lbs for the first time since 2014.
Gesta has been out of the ring for two and a half years and last fought Carlos Morales to a draw and Joel Diaz Jr. was knocked out three years ago by Cristian Rafael Coria on a Top Rank card, before getting two wins to bounce back.
Both fighters have questions that they need to answer in this fight.
This is a trajectory fight for both fighters.
The brother of Joet Gonzalez, Jousce Gonzalez will face Jairo Lopez, who last fought Omar Juarez, in a lightweight bout. Gonzalez was a highly viewed prospect until inactivity and a draw with “Striker” Delgado seemed to stop some of his forward progress. Gonzalez is very talented.
Asa Stevens, a great amateur, who turned pro with Golden Boy Promotions will stay busy on this card and is worth observing.
Club Shows
Friday, April 23rd, 11 AM PST | Probellum.com
WBO bantamweight world champion John Riel Casimero has gone through a rough patch since getting rid of advisor Sean Gibbons, who is utterly brilliant at building and marketing fighters, as he faces Paul Butler in a world title fight. Casimero seems to be in a downward spiral from reports coming from his personal life to seemingly no information about where he is training. A rather odd story for a guy, roughly a year ago looked to be primed to fight Inoue.
Former world champion Rocky Fielding, who is also the first fighter Canelo fought on DAZN will fight on the card. It should be a good stay-busy-type bout for him.
Heavily hyped Peter McGrail will face Uriel Lopez in 130 lbs fight. Everyone from the U.K. loves McGrail, so far I don’t see it, and at the Olympics losing in the first round was rather bizarre for the talent, and hype he came into the event with. McGrail should look good, but I have mellow expectations on his career trajectory as McGrail was cut in his second fight already - in fights facing limited competition.
Michael Zerafa will have a grudge match Australia fight with Issac Hardman in the middleweight division. An interesting person to also watch is Sugar “Neekz” Johnson who faces Melissa Esquivel. Johnson is the type of fighter Matchroom Boxing has been promoting in women’s boxing lately.
Yesenia Gomez will look to defend her WBC junior flyweight title against Kim Clavel. This feels to be a crowning moment for Clavel, who is having the champ travel to Canada to face her.
MMA in 500 Words Or Less
Saturday, April 23rd,
Amanda Lemos vs. Jessica Andrade will be the main event in a women’s strawweight bout. Lemos is riding a five-fight win streak, though her last one against Angela Hill was a split that could’ve gone either way.
Andrade has lost three of her last five, but her losses come to the champion Valentina Shevchenko, another champion Rose Namajunas, and former champion Zhang Weili. Andrade, a former UFC champion herself holds wins over Katlyn Chookagian and Cynthia Calvillo.
This is a fight that tells us a lot about Lemos, as Andrade has somewhat established herself to us, as the fighter she is.
Notables on the undercard are lightweight UFC legend Clay Guida, entertaining Lando Vannata, and top prospect Maycee Barber facing Montana De La Rosa. I would keep an eye on the Maycee Barber fight since if she wins a few fights, she will be pushed to the top of the card.
2022 PFL 1
Wednesday, April 20th, 6:00 PM PST | ESPN
Former pro boxer Clay Collard, who was featured on Top Rank’s bubble heavily faces Jeremy Stephens, in a fight that will be violent.
These two are sluggers, and this should be interesting. Collard hasn’t won a fight since his little brother passed away as well, which is notable.
Bellator 278
Friday, April 22nd, 7:00 PM PST | Showtime
Women’s flyweight champion Juliana Velasquez faces Liz Carmouche in a women’s title bout. Velasquez won the title off Hawaii’s Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, who is also from Hawaii. Velasquez will now look to face an MMA legend in Carmouche as she looks to build some legacy in the sport with her title run.
On the opening night of a two-night event, Velasquez will do the heavy lifting for those watching the bout, as this card looks to be a place for young fighters to emerge and break out onto the world stage.
Bellator 279
Saturday, April 23rd, 7:30 PM PST | Showtime
With the replay of last week’s PPV fight between Errol Spence Jr. vs Yordenis Ugas more than likely serving as a lead-in, one of the women’s fighters ever, Cris “Cyborg” will defend her title in a rematch against Arlene Blencowe in a rematch. Cyborg, who follows me on Twitter (shoutout to her for that), is a fighter it is hard to find opponents for, but the talent is so obvious.
Former women’s flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane will be in-action as a major local attraction.
Other notables, highly touted bantamweight Kyoji Horiguchi and Yancy Medeiros.