This coming autumn will bring to boxing fans a buffet of intriguing?even great matchups. Throw a dart and you likely will hit a tasty morsel. Let?s look at the fare.
September
?Let?s not get things confused here. You?re the dog and I?m chucking you a bone?I?m the young up and comer, the one on everyone?s tongue. You?re the one that stinks the place out and blames it on your toes.??Tyson Fury
?I?m happy to give him that opportunity, and also to give him a nice payday. I believe this will be his last shot at the big time.??David Haye
September 7: The bout between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Brian Vera at the Staples Center in Los Angeles is to be held at 168, but given recent photos of a bloated Junior, this one might be fought at heavyweight. HBO will televise the fight, whenever it happens, but frankly I?ll be amazed if it comes off?I mean the fight not the weight.
September 7: Ricky Burns (36-2) squares off against Sugar Ray Beltran in Glasgow, Scotland. Burns has not lost since 2007 while Sugar Ray is streaking. At stake will be the WBO lightweight title.
September 7: The top rated female boxer in the world, Cecilia Braekhus (22-0), takes on undefeated Dominican bomber Oxandia ?La Loba? Castillo in Frederikshavn, Denmark.
September 14: Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez and Floyd ?Money? Mayweather engage in a mega fight?one in which the feigned hype might well exceed the fight action itself. This one will be an event around which you can plan your parties. An equally intriguing fight between Argentine bomber (are there any other kind?) Lucas Matthysse and WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia is being talked about as a possible co-main event, but I?ll believe it when I see it.
Marco Huck (36-2-1) and Firat Arslan (33-6-2) will rematch at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany. This could be Huck?s pathway to mega bucks, but he was lucky to get by fellow-German Arslan in the first affair.
September 28: Heavyweight rivals David Haye and Tyson Fury go at it in one that Fury promoter Mick Hennessy is calling a ?super-fight.? It?s all set for Manchester.
October
?In the past we twice agreed to fight and he withdrew. With Povetkin, you never know what happens.??Wladimir Klitschko
?I?m going to leave every last drop of my sweat and blood if I have to, to win this war. It will be a tough fight.??Juan Manuel Marquez
?I?m the world champion and he wants something that I have and I want something that he has. He has star quality, tons and tons of fans and he?s been in great fights. He?s a living legend. I want that on my r?sum?.??Timothy Bradley
October 5: Alexander Povetkin will face off with long reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko at the SC Olimpiyskiy Arena in Moscow. Povetkin has had managerial issues and this won?t help in what shapes up to be a short and brutal night of work (for him). However, both fighters will walk away with a small fortune from the fight, with Klitschko standing to make a career high 13.13 million Euros ($17.1 million, ?11.3 million) from the fight and Povetkin 4.4 million
October 5: Miguel Cotto, now trained by Freddie Roach, will reportedly be coming back possibly against Delvin Rodriquez or Cornelius Bundrage (though the dreaded TBA also might have a play in this one)?and possibly in Orlando, Florida no less. Stay tuned on this one. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is also hoping to match Yuriorkis Gamboa and sizzling Terence Crawford as the co-feature.
October 12: Timothy Bradley squares off with Juan Manuel Marquez for the WBO welterweight title, but nobody cares about the title. Fans want to know what ?Desert Storm? has left after surviving the brutal onslaught from Ruslan Provodnikov in March. Styles makes fights and Timothy?s just might give him the edge.
October 19: Welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov has agreed to fight WBO interim light welterweight champion Mike Alvarado, possibly in Denver, but put ?tentative? around this one as Alvarado?s end of the deal is still in discussion. However, given the inexplicable limited option these two warriors have (incredibly, these two seem to be the odd men out), this one should materialize and if it does, it will give new meaning to the phrase ?blood sport.?
November
?November 23 can?t get here fast enough.??Alex Groberman
??the way that I see it, my mentality and my focus, he?s going to leave himself open and I?m going to catch his ass, and when I catch his ass, he?s going to go down, because everybody don?t appreciate my power. They will appreciate it, though, in this fight.??Brandon Rios
November 23: In a much-anticipated fight, comebacking Manny Pacquiao collides with comebacking Mexican-American brawler Brandon ?Bam Bam? Rios at the Venetian Casino & Resort in Macau in a surefire brawl that has blood and guts written all over it. To add to the intrigue, the risk here is that for the loser, it might spell the end. Bob Arum will be putting unbeaten Chinese flyweight Zou Shiming (1-0) on the undercard to add local flavor to the event.
A busy Arum is reportedly looking to book Nonito Donaire against veteran Vic Darchinyan in November, but unlike their first fight, Vic will be a distinct underdog in this one. Meanwhile, one has to wonder where Guillermo Rigondeaux fits in all this.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Event dates are accurate to the best of my knowledge. Please verify dates with the event organizer. Fighters can also be changed, and you will need to verify information by calling the venue or associated organization to verify matches. Follow us on Twitter@boxing_com to continue the discussion
