For anyone not familiar highly reccomend 4 Kings by George Kimball, guy was there for the fights in question back when fights were true events with coverage leading up for a few weeks. Perspective is even good for fights like Hagler-Alan Minter in London (Hagler's first belt back when those meant something). SRL's victory over Tommy Hearns at 147 remains an insane win over a matchup nightmare. In those days 15 rounds fights and morning of the fight weighins, impossible to compare but just imagine that monster Hearns with 26+ hour prefight weighins and only 12 rounds.
https://methstreams.cx/live-event/richardson-hitchins-vs-george-kambosos-live-stream https://voodc.com/embed/85818a9aa58ba088847a8595a18b9887847d.html
Early Thursday title fight in Japan. Thursday, June 19 Ota-City General Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan (ESPN+) Time: 4am ET / 1am PT / 9am BST Brian Norman Jr vs Jin Sasaki main event ringwalks (approx): 7am ET / 4am PT / 12pm BST Brian Norman Jr -650 Jin Sasaki +410 Cristian Araneta -140 Thanongsak Simsri +106 Brian Norman Jr vs Jin Sasaki, welterweights, 12 rounds, for Norman’s WBO title Cristian Araneta vs Thanongsak Simsri, junior flyweights, 12 rounds, for vacant IBF title Yuya Oku vs Reiya Abe, featherweights, 10 rounds For Norman’s WBO welterweight title. Good fight! Eddie Hearn got pretty upset that Norman wouldn’t do exactly what Hearn wanted and fight Boots Ennis for whatever Hearn was willing to pay him… But, this fight with Sasaki in Japan is likely plenty lucrative, and very promising. Chief support here is also a nice matchup between BLH Top 10 guys at 108 lbs., with Cristian Araneta facing Thanongsak Simsri (you may know him as Petchkoson Greentsuda; he’s one of the Thai guys who fights under the equivalent of a brand name rather than his given one) for a vacant IBF belt.
Friday, June 20 DAZN, 10:00 pm ET, David Stevens vs Petr Khamukov. A Paco Presents show out of Long Beach, California. Stevens fights for the first time since his November loss to Bek Melikuziev. Khamukov is 33, and you may remember him either as a former Russian Olympian or from deep prelims on a few PBC on FOX shows. Saturday, June 21 Resorts World Arena, Birmingham, England (DAZN) Time: 7pm BST / 2pm ET / 11am PT Yafai vs Rodriguez main event ringwalks (approx): TBC Galal Yafai vs Francisco Rodriguez Jr, flyweights, 12 rounds, for Yafai’s interim WBC title Peter McGrail vs Ionut Baluta, super bantamweights, 10 rounds Conah Walker vs Liam Taylor, welterweights, 12 rounds, for Walker’s British title The main event here was originally Peter McGrail vs Shabaz Masoud, until Masoud withdrew due to a training injury about two weeks ago. McGrail will now fight Ionut Baluta, and the new main event features Yafai defending the interim WBC flyweight belt he won against Sunny Edwards. He’ll face Rodriguez, still just 32 years old despite turning pro in 2010. Rodriguez has six losses, but they’ve come against the likes of Junto Nakatani, Kazuto Ioka, Chocolatito, Donnie Nietes, and former world champ Moises Fuentes. Rodriguez was also a unified champ at 105 lbs. back in 2014 at the tender age of 21. So, y’know… Look past the tally in the loss column. Conah Walker vs Liam Taylor also makes a strong argument for your attention here. *************************************************************************************************************** Prudential Center, Newark, NJ (ESPN+) Jahi Tucker vs Lorenzo Simpson, middleweights, 10 rounds Vito Mielnicki Jr vs Kamil Gardzielik, middleweights, 10 rounds Damian Knyba vs Marcin Siwy, heavyweights, 10 rounds Mielnicki is the main event because he’s a New Jersey guy, and this show is in Newark. Gardzielik is a Polish fighter appearing outside of Poland for the first time as a pro. The most intriguing matchup is probably Jahi Tucker vs Lorenzo “Truck” Simpson. Deeper on the card is Brandun Lee, who was a super tantalizing prospect 3-4 years ago, but hit some in-ring adversity and stalled out around the time PBC did. Still just 26 years old, so plenty of time for him to make moves in his career if he can find the next level.
It appears like “walking around” size/weight they are closer than I originally thought. IDK how that will translate to fighting weights. I don’t think Bud has the power at that size to hurt Canelo. Canelo took Bivol and GGG’s power and has never been down. It will be interesting to see the speed difference because imo that’s gonna be the deciding factor.
Such a hard flight to judge. I think both might be past their prime. Want to think Bud could give him trouble but then I remember Canelo has gone 36 rounds with Golovkin, who I hold in extremely high regard
I’ll be quietly rooting for Bud but I think Canelo wins. Will the speed follow him at this weight? His last fight (Bud) he didn’t look as powerful.