Karim Mayfield vs Thomas Dulorme & Sergey Kovalev vs Cedric Agnew Previews

By Peter Wells:

Karim Mayfield putting in the work before his crucial contest

While it may not be the main event and neither fighter yet holds the public recognition like one of the fighters in the main attraction, but Karim Mayfield and Thomas Dulorme matched against one another makes for a tasty match-up.

The winner will add his name to a long list of world title hopefuls at Light Welterweight, with the obvious ambition to move up to 147lbs in the future. Dulorme and Mayfield will already be envisioning themselves feasting on the fruits of their labour, but the term 'so close but so far' will be well implemented for the loser of this contest.

One has to believe that Dulorme 20-1(14) has slightly less to lose, at just 24 a 2nd defeat of his career would not be devastating - depending on the manner of the loss - while Mayfield at 33 knows how tough returning from his first defeat could be, having turned pro at 25. Only 1 contest since October 2012 has not helped the Californian's progress and a slip up here could be very damaging.

Mayfield 18-0-1(11) has built himself up against respectable opposition, showing his boxing skills as well as the power that brought about his nickname 'Hard Hitta'. Steve Forbes (TKO 10) and Raymond Serrano (TKO 5) are both notable victories, while his points win over Mauricio Herrera (UD 10) now looks even more noteworthy following the controversial loss Herrera suffered in Puerto Rico against Danny Garcia 2 weeks ago.



Thomas Dulorme (left) comes unstuck against Abregu

Dulorme's activity has been on the rise since an October 2012 loss to Luis Carlos Abregu (TKO 7). In the contest Dulorme was dropped twice, clearly not ready for the sudden rise in competition. In 2013 Dulorme fought and won 4 times, giving him plenty of confidence coming into a crucial fight in Atlantic City.

Dulorme is a smooth upright boxer, while Mayfield comes forward with a high guard, slinging hard punches around the gloves of his opponents, whipping hurtful uppercuts and body shots to crack open their guards. On the outside Mayfield is a smart boxer, but he does the majority of his work up close, which is where he'll need to work on Saturday against the slicker Dulorme.

Dulorme can snatch the early rounds without doing much work, keeping at range while Mayfield looks to see a way inside. Mayfield will keep the double jab going throughout the early proceedings before working hard on the inside, making Dulorme's job harder as the rounds tick by. While Mayfield gains momentum, it will be Dulorme who slips off the boil as his work rate drops and an inside fight begins to take place. This is where Mayfield must take advantage and he can, as he forces Dulorme down before the referee intervenes with Mayfield behind on the scorecards around the 7th.

In the main event Sergey Kovalev 23-0-1(21) will be looking to end the unbeaten run of Cedric Agnew 26-0(13), but it may not be such an easy task.



America's Cedric Agnew (left) & Russian Sergey Kovalev (right)

Agnew is a capable boxer, who while not carrying a worrying dig, he does work in spurts and can often catch the judges' eyes. But Agnew's weaknesses come on the outside, where he often relies on his high guard to take the sting out of his opponents punches.

Agnew has decent wins over Daniel Judah (KO 6), Otis Griffin (UD 12) and Yusuf Mack (UD 12), but none can prepare him for the power that the WBO Light Heavyweight champion brings.

Kovalev may not have it all his own way as he did last time out against Ismayl Sillah (KO 2), and Agnew's style may bring him a lot of plaudits and maybe even a few rounds. But at some point Agnew will leave himself exposed and Kovalev can take advantage, flooring Agnew a few times before the contest is halted around the 9th session.

Danny Garcia-Mauricio Herrera Preview + Wilder-Scott & Lopez-De Leon

By Peter Wells:

Danny Garcia (left) & Mauricio Herrera (right)

For any big star in whatever profession they delve themselves in, their roots run deep. For boxer Danny Garcia, thanks to a breakout year in 2012 he is no longer just known as a prospect from the tough streets of Philly. Now he is relishing in his heritage of the Puerto Rican blood running through his veins. And he steps foot into a Puerto Rican ring for the first time as a professional this Saturday at the Coliseu Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon.

It was then no coincidence that his opponent is a Mexican-American, igniting Garcia as a huge home favourite as he fights not only for his own WBA and WBC Light Welterweight titles but for the pride of Puerto Rico.

Mauricio Herrera, born in California, can boast a victory against the feared Ruslan Provodnikov, but one must not get carried away with such a feat. Provodnikov was rather blue at just 17-0(11) at the time, and has evolved into a different animal - the one we have witnessed in his last 2 encounters. That leaves only wins over Mike Dallas Jr (MD 10) and a faded Ji-Hoon Kim (UD 10) that hold much significance on his 20-3(7) record.

With all due respect, Herrera is a rather light touch for Garcia, his first defeat came against Mike Anchondo (SD 8) - who lost his next fight to Freddy Hernandez in 4 - before successive defeats in 2012 at the hands of Mike Alvarado (UD 10) and Karim Mayfield (UD 10). While there was no shame in those 2 defeats, it does make one wonder how he'll cope with the number 1 Light Welterweight in the world, a man arguably in the midst of his prime.

Garcia 27-0(16) can bang and box efficiently, but he has let his guard down when there are expectations of a great performance as well as the win. His points victory over Zab Judah last April was blemished by his late flump, as Judah drove himself back into a contest that Garcia was dominating, turning a one-sided contest into a rather close one. Then if you look back further, Britain's Ashley Theophane pushed him to a split decision.

Despite those slight dips in performance, one cannot imagine the same happening in front of a pumped Puerto Rican crowd. Garcia can box his way into a rhythm early, as Herrera looks to counter where he can. Seeing the fight slipping away, Herrera will have to take more risks which should open doors for Garcia's left hook. At some point around the 7th, Herrera will be found wanting and Garcia's sharp counter-punching will send him to the deck. Garcia can then finish the job, halting the brave but thoroughly outgunned Herrera inside 8.

In the most anticipated fight of the night, two American Heavyweight hopefuls square off in a clash of styles over 12 rounds. Patient one-punch KO artist Deontay Wilder 30-0(30) takes on by a long shot his toughest opponent to date in polished-boxer Malik Scott 36-1-1(13).



Deontay Wilder (far left) & Malik Scott (far right)

Wilder has no doubt made waves across the boxing world, some positive and some negative, but finally he has boxing fans talking about an American Heavyweight.

The victor will likely be in line to face the winner of the Chris Arreola-Bermane Stiverne rematch for the vacant WBC Heavyweight title.

Wilder may be an explosive puncher, but he is also an extremely patient boxer. He often wastes little energy, waiting for the right time to submit his opponents with his crippling right cross. At 6ft 7inches, Wilder snaps out a volley of jabs before unleashing hell, which often results in early finishes - Wilder is yet to go beyond round 4.

On the other hand Scott has seen plenty of rounds, but showed a meaner side when stopping well-overmatched Grover Young in 2 in January. That was following 2 controversial fights, the first being when he was unlucky to only draw against Vyacheslav Glazkov - who faces Tomasz Adamek on the same night - before being controversially counted out by referee Phil Edwards against Dereck Chisora. Chisora floored Scott in the 6th round and as Scott rose at 9, Edwards waved off the fight, much to the disbelief of Scott and his team.

Still the punch itself may have shown a slight blip in Scott's armour, one that Wilder will no doubt look to exploit at some point.

Wilder will be wiser than to waste energy early, and he will likely be ready to go into the second half of the contest to get the job done. Scott will be happy with that, but if Wilder doesn't burn too much energy early then it could spell trouble for Scott down the stretch.

To win, Scott will need to work himself in the early rounds, not allowing the taller Wilder to dominate behind his jab. Fast feet and head movement will be key behind a double jab and good body work. As the contest progresses then Scott will need to lead Wilder onto counter-punches which could see him come out victorious.

But the pick is for Wilder to do enough in the early stanza's behind his jab, not allowing Scott to offer an early chin check. While the action may not be to everyone's taste, it will be an intriguing contest right until the end of the fight. That end can come in the final 5 rounds of the fight as Wilder ups his work rate, tagging Scott hard before finishing the job soon after. A good 8 or so rounds under his belt will no doubt give American fight fans more of an idea as to how far this bright prospect can go.


Juan Manuel Lopez (left) & Daniel Ponce De Leon (right)

To conclude the triple-header is a rematch no one would have anticipated happening nearly 6 years ago when Juan Manuel Lopez annihilated Daniel Ponce De Leon in just 1 round. Through strange and unlikely circumstances they meet again in a 10 round bout that has guaranteed excitement written all over it.

'JuanMa' 33-3(30) found his path to greatness halted when Orlando Salido came along, two stoppages in 8 and 10 rounds respectively have not yet left the memory of the Puerto Rican star. A 4th round loss last time out to Mikey Garcia seemed to signal an end to Lopez's world title aspirations.

But as fate goes he has another chance to redeem his career against old Mexican foe, De Leon 45-5(35). De Leon himself is recovering from the 2nd stoppage defeat of his career, when he was halted in 9 by Abner Mares.

One can envision the winner facing WBC Featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez, whom De Leon beat (TD 8) prior to his failed bid for the same title vs Mares.



Daniel Jacobs (centre) with prospects Marcus Browne (left)
& Eddie Gomez (right)

One feels that Lopez's best chance is to stun De Leon early again, but the expectation is for De Leon to grind Lopez down after a cagey start between the pair of fighters. De Leon, the slightly more confident and fresher of the two, will start to find his range first as Lopez forces his punches too much. If the fight was scheduled for 12 then I could have seen De Leon forcing a late stoppage but with it set for 10 I see De Leon ending the contest with a flourish to claim a clear unanimous decision win.

Also on the undercard, the 'Miracle Man' Daniel Jacobs 26-1(23) continues his inspiring comeback since defeating cancer. Milton Nunez 26-9-1(24) has a punchers chance but Jacobs can record a 5th stoppage win in a row since his return, inside 5.

Showtime Undercard Preview: Santa Cruz-Mijares, Molina-Charlo, Linares-Arakawa & more

By Peter Wells:

Leo Santa Cruz (left) & Cristian Mijares (right)

A Pay-Per-View event is never as worthy without a packed undercard, and to compliment the main event between Saul Alvarez and Alfredo Angulo are multiple enticing match-ups that will cater for all the boxing fans needs.

In the co-feature Leo Santa Cruz 26-0-1(15) defends his WBC Super Bantamweight title for the 2nd time against the experienced former world champion Cristian Mijares 49-7-2(24).

For Santa Cruz he will be fighting a man that he has almost certainly looked up to over the years. After a tricky start to his career which saw him at 11-3-1(3), he went on to rule the Super Flyweight division. Katsushige Kawashima (SD 12 & TKO 10), Jorge Arce (UD 12), Jose Navarro (SD 12), Alexander Munoz (SD 12) and Chatchai Sasakul (TKO 3) where just a handful of names that were beaten by a prime Mijares.

That was all before he ran into Vic Darchinyan, who dominated and stopped Mijares in 9 rounds which was followed by back-to-back loses against unbeaten Nehomar Cermeno (SD 12 & UD 12). Since then Mijares regained world honours at Super Flyweight before jumping up to Super Bantamweight where last year he was unsuccessful in his bid for the WBC title against Victor Terrazas (L SD 12). Two stoppage wins later and Mijares gets a second shot at that title.

Santa Cruz's high energy style has earned him quite the reputation in the boxing world and he'll be looking to further enhance that as he chases future super fights with Guillermo Rigondeaux and Abner Mares, as well as others.

Prior to his world championship bow, Cruz had impressed with a crunching win over Stephane Jamoye (KO 6). Cruz went on to dominate Vusi Malinga (UD 12) for the vacant IBF Bantamweight title before defending 3 times against Eric Morel (TKO 5), Victor Zaleta (TKO 9) and Alberto Guevara (UD 12). Then with a step up in weight Cruz destroyed Victor Terrazas (KO 3) for the WBC belt followed by a tougher than expected win against Cesar Seda (UD 12).

Both are exciting fighters and both have shown lapses in defence. Cruz is far the fresher man and he does have the edge in power. But it is Mijares who carries with him over a decade of experience, and the solid boxer can cause Cruz a lot of problems over the 12 rounds.



Carlos Molina (left) dethroning Ishe Smith (right)

In his last contest against Seda, Cruz never seemed to have his opponent in any trouble and with only 1 stoppage defeat to his name it seems unlikely that Cruz can end this inside the distance. But it is hard to go against Cruz wining, as he struggles at times with Mijares but his greater energy will help him towards a clear if not comfortable points win.

In an IBF Light Middleweight title fight, Carlos Molina 22-5(6) defends against Jermall Charlo 17-0(13) in a fight that has come into jeopardy this week. Molina was arrested earlier this week for obstruction and failing to register as a sex offender for a crime that happened in 2001, but as of the time of writing the fight was still set to go ahead.

Charlo, the twin brother of Jermell Charlo (also a Light Middleweight), has been showcasing his punching power in recent performances against mediocre opposition. This fight with Molina highlights a large step up in class for the 23 year old. But many will consider Charlo's chances due to Molina's unattractive and often negative style.



Jermall Charlo (left) with trainer Ronnie Shields (right)

Molina is a decent boxer, but it is his spoiling tactics that make him such an awkward customer, one that many world class fighters have failed to solve. After four early defeats in his career and a draw including against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (D 6 & L MD 6) and Mike Alvarado (L MD 8), Molina has come on to beat Kermit Cintron (UD 10), Cory Spinks (UD 12) and Ishe Smith (SD 12) - for the IBF title - while considering himself unfortunate against both Erislandy Lara (D 10) and James Kirkland (L DQ 10).

Charlo will be the aggressor in this fight which should suit him best, as he can feed off the success he has had already in his career on the front foot. The harder hitting of the Charlo twins will need to find something special to halt Molina, but his activity and positivity can sway the judges in a tough to score fight.

In what could be the fight of the night, Jorge Linares 35-3(23) takes on Nihito Arakawa 24-3-1(16) over 10 rounds.

Linares has been in rebuilding mode since successive defeats to Antonio DeMarco (TKO 11) and Sergio Thompson (TKO 2). His only other reverse came by way of stoppage as well when he was stunned by Juan Carlos Salgado (TKO 1).

The 28 year old has been through a lot over his career thus far, but none of his punishing loses can compare to the one in which Arakawa suffered in his last outing. Omar Figueroa (L UD 12) dominated Arakawa in one of the fights of the year as Arakawa took severe punishment throughout. Arakawa fought on, earning tons of new fans but possibly at the expense of a lengthy career. Another beating tomorrow night will be hard to come back from for the 32 year old who was beaten by Daniel Estrada (TD 10) back in 2012.


Jorge Linares (left) & Nihito Arakawa (right)

Linares boasts a solid list of victims; Oscar Larios (TKO 10), Gamaliel Diaz (KO 8), Whyber Garcia (TKO 5) and Rocky Juarez (UD 10), but those aforementioned loses highlight a problem in Linares' game.

Arakawa, while being as tough as they come is unlikely to exploit those problems, with Linares exposing the floors in Arakawa instead. Linares can take a clear points win, in another extremely entertaining and action-packed affair.

Currently not featured on the PPV show - which could change if Molina-Charlo is cancelled - is a potentially explosive fight between banger Sergio Thompson 28-3(26) and aggressive boxer Ricardo Alvarez 23-2-3(14).

Alvarez was left disappointed when Omar Figueroa pulled out of their fight for the vacant WBC Lightweight title, which means that Alvarez and Thompson fight over 10 rounds with no title on the line.

These two Mexican fighters will go to war at some point in this fight, but Alvarez would be wise to steer clear of Thompson's bombs early on. If Alvarez can find a comfort zone, then the shorter Thompson will become frustrated. But the tentative pick is for Thompson to find his range and break Alvarez down for a stoppage around the 8th.



Sergio Thompson (left) destroys Jorge Linares (right)

Elsewhere on the untelevised undercard, Will Tomlinson 21-0-1(12) takes on Jerry Belmontes 18-3(5) while Francisco Vargas 18-0-1(13) faces Abner Cotto 17-1(8).

Australian Tomlinson can back up his convincing win over faded Malcolm Klassen (UD 12) with another points win.

Vargas who shut-out Belmontes (UD 10) last time out may not join Omar Figueroa in stopping Cotto but he can take a clear victory on the cards, further pushing forward a potential clash between Vargas and Tomlinson in the near future as they each edge towards their world title aspirations.



Saul Alvarez vs Alfredo Angulo Preview

By Peter Wells:


Alvarez (left) & Angulo (right)

On Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez 42-1-1(30) returns from the humbling he received at the hands of Floyd Mayweather as he faces a far different proposition in Alfredo 'El Perro' Angulo 22-3(18).

Both fighters are heading in off the back of tough losses, Alvarez was severely dominated by the aforementioned 'Money' Mayweather over 12 one-sided rounds, while Angulo lost a dog-fight (often his speciality) with the slick Erislandy Lara, Angulo had scored two knockdowns but in the 10th round, Angulo's orbital bone ballooned up. Angulo in large discomfort turned his back on the action forcing the referee to wave the contest off.

The Lara loss wasn't the first time that Angulo had come out second best in an all-out war, as 2 years earlier he was on the wrong end of a violent beating, as the 'Mandingo Warrior' James Kirkland stopped him in 6. This leaves one to wonder just how much more this pit-bull fighter can take.

A native son of Mexico himself, Alvarez will likely be looking to test the resilience of Angulo's in a 12 rounder that many expect to be a showcase for an Alvarez looking ahead to more super fights in the near future.



Frustrated: Alvarez never figured out Mayweather in his 1st loss

At just 23, Alvarez is the much fresher fighter, despite having fought 19 more times, but the manner of those fights have taken little toll of the young golden boy. Outside of his stoppage defeats to Lara and Kirkland, Angulo has been tested thoroughly against opponents including; Joel Julio (W KO 11) and Kermit Cintron (L UD 12) while also showing his ability to dish out punishment in quick and brutal fashion against Joachim Alcine (TKO 1), Harry Joe Yorgey (KO 3) and Gabriel Rosado (TKO 2).

Alvarez's first major test at world level came last April when he took on WBA Light Middleweight champion Austin Trout. Alvarez won the fight, but the result was disputed by a number of boxing fans, Alvarez was on the front foot throughout, while often doing the bare minimum to snatch rounds, relying on the straight right hand and some kind judging to win him the fight, it was an extremely close fight that wasn't represented by 2 of the scorecards.

Prior to that Alvarez had recorded fairly comfortable wins against respectable opposition; Carlos Baldomir (KO 6), Alfonso Gomez (TKO 6), Kermit Cintron (TKO 5), Shane Mosley (UD 12) and Josesito Lopez (TKO 5).



Tough loss: Angulo put a lot into his defeat to Lara

Angulo is a hard working fighter, and he'll look to punish Alvarez if he doesn't up his work rate from his last two contests. But one feels that Angulo's here-to-be-hit type style will allow Alvarez to fire punches in bunches without the worry of being made to miss.

Alvarez can bang and his accuracy will prove a big problem for Angulo to deal with, but it's hard to see Angulo being taken out by one Alvarez punch, leaving this to look very much like a distance fight. Angulo can take a few early rounds as Alvarez attempts to find a good rhythm, but once he does it will be hard for Angulo to sustain effective attacks enough to take many rounds after the 5th. Alvarez can pull away to earn a wide decision win, with a potential blockbuster fight with the winner of Sergio Martinez-Miguel Cotto looming at the end of the year.