Fight Week: 3-20/3-26
It's another loaded week for fight fans with a midweek card and two superb Saturday night cards. Plus, a Saturday Matinee (If you're in the US).
The Fight Week kicks off with another episode of Hardcore's favorite new gift! The PROBOX series as six touted up-and-comers are matched tough. In hopes of elevating their career and status to the next level! In the evening main event, Mohamed Soumaoro, 12-1 (5), fighting out of Quebec, Canada, by way of Conakry, Guinea, takes a massive risk against undefeated Mexican boxer-puncher Angel Vazquez, 12-0 (6) in a 10-round affair. Vazquez is coming off a career-changing win over Nick Sullivan on a Golden Boy card back in December. Also on the card is a battle between unbeaten welterweights, Louisville, Kentucky native Demontaze Duncan puts his perfect 8-0 (8) record on the line against undefeated Puerto Rican masterclass boxer Axl Melendez in a six-round affair. The winner will shoot up the charts in the 147-pound division. Also on the card are the highly regarded undefeated prospects Omar Rosario, Dominck Valle, and Andrey Mangushev.
The action moves to Saturday afternoon in the UK with a world title fight at the Manchester Arena as WBO cruiserweight champ Lawrence Okolie returns to the ring after a nearly 13 month lay off to battle with the surging David Light, 20-0 (12) of New Zealand. Light scored a career-best victory over Brandon Glanton on a PROBOX card, back in December to earn this title shot. The card will also feature a shootout between two highly touted super featherweights. Michael Gomez jr, 18-1 (5), stands in against Levi Giles, 13-0 (3), a scrap between two extremely high-level, highly skilled boxers. The card also features heavyweight Frazer Clarke, who steps up against Rydell Booker 27-7-1 (14). Undefeated Callum Simpson and Aaron McKenna will both also be in action.
Moving back to the US, the Saturday evening cards kick off with the Top Rank card as former unified 140-pound world champ Jose Carlos Ramirez returns to the ring for the first time since last year's unforgettable scrap with Jose Pedraza. He will battle Richard Commey, who is coming off a competitive loss to Vasyl Lomachenko, and draw with Jose Pedraza. The winner will put himself in a great position for a world title fight, and the loser will sort of fall off and out of the landscape at 140 pounds. In the co-main pound-for-pound women's champ, Sinesa Estrada, 23-0, puts her WBA and WBC minimum weight titles on the line against the undefeated Tina Rupprecht.
In the biggest card of the week, two premier 168-pounders square off in one of the most anticipated fights of the year. As Caleb Plant, 22-1 (13, steps into the ring with David Benavidez, 26-0 (23), in a long-awaited showdown. The winner may be in line for a Canelo mega fight! An absolutely loaded undercard, including an intriguing make-or-break welterweight showdown between 21-0 (9), Cody Crowley against rugged contender Abel Ramos 27-5-2 (21). Jesus Ramos, 19-0 (15), is also on the card and steps in with fellow undefeated 154-pounder Joey Spence 16-0 (10), in a shocking battle of two unbeaten blue chip prospects both expected to win multiple world titles. In another must-win fight, two one-loss 130-pounders look to get right as Chris Colbert Squares off with Jose Valenzuela.
