This weekend on showtime boxing boxing fans get to enjoy a great line up of fights beginning with undefeated middleweight up and comer Dominic Wade fighting against the very durable and tough Keandre Leatherwood. This is a fight I expect to see Wade shine in. Especially given his last few performances. In fact, his very last fight against Nick Wilson was actually the first time he was taken past six rounds in his career. Though Keandre Leatherwood is certainly a tough guy with good skills and is looking for the upset. I expect Wade to be too much for him.
On his road back to the pinnacle of the sport, former lineal light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson takes on Tommy Karpency. Though Dawson did not appear to be in the best of shape for his last fight, a KO victory over George Blades. Dawson told the New Haven Registers Chip Malafronte after working exclusively with strength and conditioning coach Axle Murillo, where the focus was nutrition and exercise that: “I worked on getting my body back” and “The weight is off. I was already at 176 last week. Today, I’m back at 175. My body’s looking good and I’m ready to go.” Which is great news considering his condition for the Blades fight, and should make for a great fight Saturday.
Following that is the night’s main event co-feature with certain future title implications. With former Olympian Vanes Martorosyan fighting 6 foot 3 Willie Nelson at junior middleweight. This fight is 50/50 in my opinion and is also one of the highlights of the card. Both fighters have tremendous potential and have shown a lot in their recent victories as both are coming off great wins. But within that potential in both lies flaws that when properly exploited can cause a loss for either guy. On paper both seem to have what it takes to defeat the other and that’s why it’s such an intriguing fight.
The night’s main event features undefeated IBF Super Featherweight Champion Rances Barthelemy defending his crown against Fernando Saucedo. Saucedo, though coming into the fight with a 14 fight winning streak is expected to be overmatched against an extremely confident Barthelemy. Coming off a great championship earning performance against Argenis Mendes, Barthelemy is expected to dominate. But of course, this is boxing and anything can always happen.
