Avila Perspective, Chap.186: Southern California Stacked with Boxing

In a three-day span a locust swarm of prizefighting descends on Southern California with boxing shows big and small battling for public interest. It’s boxing stacked like a triple-decker sandwich.

Beginning on Thursday two rival promoters fire up the sunny landscape with 360 Promotions in Montebello, California led by Chelsey Anderson meeting Jessica Juarez. And 100 miles away, Golden Boy Promotions staging their card led by Angel Acosta and Janiel Rivera in a flyweight battle in Indio.

Then, after a day of multiple Friday weigh-ins in the Los Angeles area, things really get heated.

Carson

On Saturday, at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, formerly known as the StubHub Center, a battle for the undisputed super welterweight world championship between Jermell Charlo (34-1-1, 18 KOs) and Brian Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs) reboots after their first encounter that ended in a split draw. Showtime will televise.

“Being on the undisputed list means more to me than being on pound-for-pound lists. I want to be on the top tier and for people to see that I’m undisputed and say that he’s an animal. This is my moment,” said Charlo.

Castano feels that he was the actual winner in their first fight.

“I do believe that I won the first fight. It might have been by a small margin, but I won it. This time, we’re going to try everything to make sure we don’t leave the fight in the hands of the judges,” Castano said.

Inglewood

Also on Saturday, at the nearby Inglewood Forum, Sergey Kovalev (34-4-1, 29 KOs) meets Tervel Pulev (16-0, 13 KOs) in a cruiserweight fight set for 10 rounds. The Triller fight card with Fernando Vargas’s three sons also performing will be shown on FITE pay-per-view.

Kovalev feels his lengthy layoff has allowed his body to heal and he is ready for Pulev.

“I don’t really study my opponents.  I will watch one or two rounds from his last couple of fights so I can see what style he likes – does he like to fight inside or from a distance, then I can prepare,” said Kovalev, the former light heavyweight titlist now moving up to cruiserweight. “I just can’t wait to get inside the ring and show the world who is the best cruiserweight on the planet.”

Ontario

About 40 miles east, Golden Boy Promotions has their light heavyweight star Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (43-0, 29 KOs) looking to maintain his place as a contender when he meets Dominic Boesel (32-2, 12 KOs) in the main event at Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif. DAZN will stream the fight card.

Dimitrii Bivol is the current WBA light heavyweight titlist and remains so after defeating Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last weekend.

“I’m first on the ladder and Zurdo is right under me, so it was a fight that had to happen. We’ll see what happens,” said Boesel about the winner facing champion Bivol.

Ramirez would like to be the one.

“In a way I do have to get revenge since I represent Mexico as well,” said Ramirez about avenging Canelo’s loss to Bivol.

Three major cards battling it out on the same day in the same region. Three different networks are also slugging it out for attention too.

By the way, a fourth boxing card also takes place in Simi Valley with a super lightweight main event pitting Robert “Scrappy” Ortiz (7-4-3) against Ryan Venable (2-11) at the Kid Gloves Gym on Saturday.

Take your pick boxing fans. Southern California continues to be the boxing universe for the entire world.

Need proof.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez trains in San Diego, Calif. and Dimitrii Bivol trains in Indio, Calif. They are about 50 miles apart from each other. Sergey Kovalev trains in Los Angeles and Brian Castano also trained in Los Angeles.

And why not? There are more than 100 boxing gyms in the Southern California area.

Mayweather exhibition

In the United Arab Emirates, Floyd Mayweather participates in another exhibition. This time against Don Moore. Another fighting an exhibition is Anderson Silva facing Bruno Machado. I’m guessing the winners will face each other. It can be seen on FITE.tv on pay-per-view. Cost is $29.99.

The actual fight card pits female fighters Delfine Persoon against Elhem Mekhaled in a super featherweight showdown. Persoon faced Katie Taylor twice and nearly defeated the Irish fighter. Mekhaled is undefeated and ranked high in the extremely talented super featherweight division.

Fights to Watch

Thurs. DAZN  6 p.m. Angel Acosta (22-3) vs Janiel Rivera (18-8-3).

Thurs. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Chelsey Anderson (4-0) vs Jessica Juarez (3-1).

Sat. FITE ppv 11 a.m. Floyd Mayweather vs Don Moore (exhibition); Delfine Persoon (46-3) vs Elhem Mekhaled (15-0).

Sat. FITE.TV 4 p.m. Sergey Kovalev (34-4-1) vs Tervel Pulev (16-0).

Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Gilberto Ramirez (43-0) vs Dominic Boesel (32-2).

Sat. Showtime 6 p.m. Jermell Charlo (34-1-1) vs Brian Castano (17-0-2); Jaron Ennis (28-0) vs Custio Clayton (19-0-1).

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