For a while, we’ve which of the bigger, more notable fights that have been put on the docket for the first quarter of 2017. For instance, there is the Feb. 25 pay-per-view event that features Miguel Cotto versus James Kirkland, the March 4 welterweight title unification showdown between Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia on CBS (from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn) and the middleweight championship tussle that takes place at New York City’s famed Madison Square Garden, where Gennady Golovkin defends his IBF, WBA and WBC titles against Daniel Jacobs.
Now, over the past week or so, a lot of the other fights have been announced to round out the rest of the schedule (with more to come, I’m sure). Here’s a look ahead…
– Feb. 18 (SHO): We’ve known for awhile that Adrien Broner would face the tough Adrian Granados from the Cintas Center at Xavier University (word to David West) as the main event on Showtime. It was revealed on Tuesday that Lamont Peterson (remember him?) will face David Avanesyan in what looks to be a decent pairing. Peterson last fought on Oct. 17, 2015, so ring rust – or is it corrosion?- could be a factor. Avanesyan is coming off a victory over Shane Mosley last May. Rounding out this broadcast is a battle of flawed light heavyweights Thomas Williams Jr. and Marcus Browne.
– Feb. 24 (SHO): Word is this edition of “ShoBox” will be promoted by Mayweather Promotions and will most likely feature the TMT debut of Saul “Neno” Rodriguez in addition to match-ups like Chris Pearson-Justin Deloach.
– Feb. 25 (FOX): As I was filling out my “Peanuts” and Miami Hurricanes calendars with the boxing schedule, it dawned on me that, on the same night that Roc Nation Sports stages its next pay-per-view card, FOX will be broadcasting a card from Birmingham, Alabama, that will feature the return of WBC heavyweight beltholder Deontay Wilder, who was supposed to fight some Polish no-hoper, who just tested positive for banned substances.
So the question is: Is Andrew Golota available?
However, filling out the televised spots will be a junior middleweight bout between the talented Jarrett Hurd and Tony Harrison and heavyweight Dominic Breazeale – coming off his TKO loss to Anthony Joshua – taking on Izuagbe Ugonoh.
– March 4 (CBS): Thurman-Garcia is one of the highlights of early itinerary, regardless of the antics of Angel-dust Garcia and the word is prospect Erickson Lubin, who is getting a strong push from the decision makers of Premier Boxing Champions, will also be on the CBS broadcast.
– March 10 (SHO): This is another edition of ShoBox and the Timex Social Club tells me it will feature Clarissa Shields.
– March 11 (HBO): Yeah, HBO is still in the boxing business (we think) and it has what looks to be a fan-friendly 160-pound battle between David Lemieux and Curtis Stevens from the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York. This is exactly the type of match-up that is the very essence of “Boxing After Dark.” On Monday morning, Golden Boy Promotions announced it had had inked the mercurial Yuriorkis Gamboa to a contract (and this is a guy who signs a lot of contracts) and will have him face Rene Alvarado in the opening bout of this telecast. Gamboa fights so infrequently that each fight eventually becomes a tune-up bout.
– March 17: This weekend in New York will be “Boxingpalooza” as Top Rank Promotions is staging the professional debut of highly-touted Irishman Michael Conlan from the Theater of Madison Square Garden. Word is Julian “Hammer Hands” Rodriguez and Alex Saucedo will be on this show.
– March 18 (HBO PPV): OK, we all know about the main event, on this evening, but super flyweights will make up the bulk of this pay-per-view show. Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez will be facing a tough Thai (and basically they’re all pretty tough) and the man who battled him tooth-and-nail back in September at the Forum, Carlos Cuadras, was formally added to the bill on Tuesday. He’ll face David Carmona. Look for Chocolatito-Cuadras II later in 2017.
– March 25 (SHO): It was announced earlier this week that this rematch between Jorge Linares (who won the first match-up in the fall) and Anthony Crolla for the WBA lightweight title would be carried by Showtime, which continues to bolster its already strong spring slate. For those who wonder why Golden Boy is going back to the U.K. for the very same fight, well, Matchroom Boxing held a rematch clause.
– April 8: WBO lightweight titlist Terry Flanagan should get all he can handle from the hard-charging Petr Petrov and the best news for fans in the States is, according to Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions (who represents Petrov), there will be U.S. television.
TNR
Here’s this week’s edition of “The Next Round” with Gabe Montoya and Yours Truly.
3KD
Fresh out the oven, “The 3 Knockdown Rule” with Mario Lopez and me, in which we talk boxing, New Edition and the remake of “Chips.”
10 COUNT
The latest installment of “10 Count” is out and Doug Fischer, Mike Baca and I preview this week’s Showtime card from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas:
SCHEDULED FLURRIES
My understanding is it’s really a network issue (HBO still has some rights to Luis Ortiz that it can enforce) that needs to be figured out before a fight between heavyweights Luis Ortiz and Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller can be consummated…Hearing rumblings of a bout between Billy Joe Saunders (who’s still holding the WBO middleweight belt hostage) against Ryoto Murata of Japan…Yes, I am absolutely watching the New Edition mini-series on BET; you better believe that…”The Young Pope” on HBO isn’t for everybody but I’m all-in on it…Speaking of schedules, the Miami Hurricanes released theirs for 2017 and it was a bit odd. You have a game at Arkansas State (how did UM give them a home game?), a September match-up versus Florida State and a Friday night game at Duke – all in September…I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet (a lot) at twitter.com/steveucnlive. I also share photos of stuff at instagram.com/steveucnlive and can also be found at tsu.co/steveucnlive.
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