Fight Week Preview 10/16-10/22
Boxing bounces back this week with a quality week of fights. Nothing, spectacular but three solid cards to entertain the boxing head. A midweek card from a familiar series and two Saturday cards. One on each side of the pond.
The action kicks off in Plant City, Florida, as the PROBOX TV Series gives the fight fans their Wednesday night fix! In the main event, "Bulletproof" Brandon Glanton looks to get back in the Cruiserweight world title picture. Glanton, 17-2 (14), of Atlanta, Georgia, took close and very controversial losses in his last two fights to David Light and Soslan Asbarov. He will battle little-known Cuban puncher Carlos Formenta 12-1 (7), who has won 12 in a row since dropping his professional debut.
A very intriguing undercard features promising blue chippers Najee Lopez, and Darrelle Valsaint. In another intriguing scrap, Cesar Mateo Tapia, an undefeated Mexican who fights out of Australia, puts his 15-0 (9), record on the line against Eric Robles, 9-2 (8), in a super middleweight fight.
The action then moves to the UK as Jack Catterall, 27-1 (14), battles former multi-divisional world champion Jorge Linares. Linares, 47-8 (29), originally from Venezuela, now fights out of Japan and lost three fights in a row, all to world-class competition, Devin Haney in 2021 and Zaur Abdullaev and Zhora Hamazaryan in 2022. He has not won a fight since 2020 when he blasted out Carlos Morales before the pandemic. Catterall will look to continue to bounce back after losing to Josh Taylor, in a very controversial decision back in February of 2022. After a 15-month layoff, he outclassed Darragh Foley in May and took a lopsided decision.
The undercard features a big step-up bout, for undefeated prospects Aqib Fiaz and Reece Bilotti. Fiaz, 12-0 (1), needs to prove his power or lack thereof will continue to translate at the highest level. His best win to date is Costin Ion, In May, where he found himself on the canvas and had to rally to get the points victory. Reece Bellotti, 6-5 (3), is a domestic-level fighter, a good one that falls just short at the highest levels. He fell short to Freanceso Grandelli, Raymond Ford, and Jordan Gill but picked up wins in his last two fights against Dean Dodge and Youssef Khoumari. Also on the card is a high-level showdown between undefeated little men as 7-0 (5), Peter McGrail puts his undefeated record on the line against Colombian Fran Mendoza, 17-0 (7), who fights out of Spain.
The weekend concludes back in the US in a must-win Welterweight fight for both men. The WBO's top-ranked welterweight Alexis Rocha, 23-1 (15) battles Giovanni Santillian, 31-0(16) in a California affair that no doubt has world title iplications. Rocha, who hails from Irvine, has won seven in a row since his lone defeat to Rashidi Ellis, including his most recent win against Anthony Young in May. He battles the undefeated Santillian of San Diego, who last fought in July and soundly defeated veteran Erick Bone.
The undercard features a couple of intriguing bouts as Scrappy Ramirez battles Ronal Batista in a 12-round super flyweight affair. Also, fan favorite JoJo Diaz, 33-4-1 (15), looks to get back into the world title picture as he takes on San Antonio-based prospect "El Castigo" Ricky Medina, 15-1 (8). Medina is considered by his Alamo City peers as the next San Antonian to win a world title, he can take a major step in that direction with a win over Diaz.
