We are in the dog days of summer, and the boxing calendar is warmed up. Although a lot happened in the first seven months of the year, it is worth taking a step back and taking into account what is in the store for the next thirty days.
The weekend contains an interesting map of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The main event will have a heavyweight collision, with Moses Itauma (12-0, 10 KO) adopting veteran Dillian Whyte (31-3, 21 KO). According to Ring Magazine, it is a nice stepfight for Ituama, the 2024 outlook of the year. Itauma, a twenty -year -old Southpaw, will tackle Whyte. At the age of 37, Whyte was in the professional boxing layers since Itauma was six years old and there was previously a world champion kick box. There was a few noise over Itauma that eventually faced Oleksandr Ulsyk. It looks premature, but if ituama delivers a spectacular performance against Whyte, who knows it.
On the same map, Nick Ball (22-0-1, 13 KO) will defend his WBA featherweight championship against Sam Goodman (20-0, 8 KO). Plus, Raymond Ford (17-1-1, 8 KO) and Abraham Nova (24-3-1, 17 KO) will face the Super Featherweight Division. Nova is a substitute opponent for IBO Super Featherweight Champion Anthony Cacace (24-1, 9 KO), who withdrew due to a back injury during practice.
The second weekend of September forms a huge boxing weekend.
The leading battle of the fall takes place on a Saturday night in Las Vegas, September 13. Allegiant Stadium, the home of the Las Vegas Raiders, will present Canelo Alvarez (63-2-2, 39 KO) who defends its undisputed Super Middleweight Championships against Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KO) in a battle between two of the best boxers of this era, worldwide.
It is a tremendous struggle, but one that can prove the saying that there are weight classes for a reason. Since July 2023, when Terence Crawford became the undisputed champion at 147 pounds by casting Errol Spence, Crawford fought once. The battle was 154 pounds against Israel Madrimov in August in August; Crawford won, but did not look like his usual world -beating self. At the weigh -in, Crawford typified the scales at 153.4 pounds for the fight.
Crawford will now move two weight classes to adopt Canelo Alvarez, which fought for the first time in December 2018 in this weight class against Rocky Fielding. The attack against Crawford will be Canelo’s twelfth battle for Canelo on Super Middleweight, while also falling back to the middleweight once (against Daniel Jacobs) and twice against Light Heavyweight (against Sergey Kovalev and Dmitri Bivolol, the last time that Canelo lost) at that time. Crawford is talented enough to compete with Canelo, but talent is far from the only variable here.
Jermell Charlo (35-2-1, 19 KO) tried the same achievement two years ago, in September 2023. Charlo was the undisputed junior middleweight champion and dared to be big by moving two weight classes to take Canelo, the undisputed champion, in a weight class fourteen pounds as his own. Canelo has dissected Charlo, which lost a unanimous decision of 119–108 and 118–109 twice. Jermell Charlo has not fought since.
The only man who fought Canelo and Crawford, Amir Khan, said it about the monumental match: ‘There are weights for a reason in boxing. I have great respect for Crawford showing the balls and fighting an animal like Canelo. Perhaps Crawford is seeing something in Canelo that others do not see, and that he is past his sale. Think it’s a brilliant struggle. “
As speculated, the undercard fights support the Canelo vs. Crawford Collision is not brilliant. Callum Walsh (12-0, 4 food) against Fernando Vargas jr. (17-0, 15 food), Christian Mbilli (29-0, 24 cost) against Lester Martinez (19-0, 16 cost) and Mohammed Alelel (4-0, 0 food) and John Ornelas (5-2-1, 2 food) are the trio of the competition. Mbilli against Martinez has the potential to be a slugfest, with two unbeaten super -middleweights that have a knockout percentage of more than 80%. Unfortunately, given the other two attacks, this event does not match the depth of quality fights that box fans have seen on some other major fighting cards over the past year. If Canelo is a classic battle against Crawford, none of that will matter.
The action that weekend is not limited to the Western Hemisphere. Earlier in the day, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Lewis Crocker (21-0, 11 KO) and Paddy Donovan (14-1, 11 KO) will face Windsor Park in a rematch that will also be the first all-world title fight in history, which is disputed for the vacant IBF Welterweight Championship. Their first battle in March ended when Donovan was disqualified after the eighth round to hit Crocker after the clock. Although Donovan led to all three scorecards at the time of disqualification, he lost a point in the sixth round and another in the eighth round for low strokes before the DQ. Crocker hopes to prove he had an off evening in March, while Donovan wants to earn the victory right and the welterweight championship.
Sunday, September 14, the top-pound-for-pound boxer contains in the eyes of many, Naoya Inoue (30-0, 27 KO), who defends his undisputed junior lightweight championship, against Murodjon Akhmadali (14-1, 11 KO), a former United Champion in the 122 points division.
While Inoue (32) won eleven consecutive battles by Knockout, ‘The Monster’ was beaten in two of his last four fights against Luis Nery and Ramon Cardenas. If Inoue defeated AkhmadaliV, Inoue, for the time being, set up another fight for the time of December with WBC-sheltered challenger Alan Picasso (32-0-1, 17 KO), which would be his fourth battle in the calendar year.
But the Uzbekistani native, also known as MJ, should not be overlooked by inoue or fans. He has won his last three fights since Marion Tapales a loss of a decision. AkhmadaliV is exceptionally talented and was in enough big battles not to crow in front of the monster- at least in theory. Many challengers thought they would be the one to take in holding, but that still has to happen.
On the bottom map, Yoshiki Takei (11-0, 9 KO) will defend his WBO Bantamweight Championships against Christian Medina (25-4, 18 KO). Former World Champion Kickboxer Takei will try to defend his championship for the third consecutive time. Medina, born in the same city as Canelo Alvarez, Guadalajara, is the no. 1 -contender and lost only once in the last six years.
The weather is off, the regular season of the NFL is close, and the transfer window has another three weeks left. So put in, enjoy some wonderful boxing action, and it will be autumn before we know it.
