SOME OF THE SPORTS BEST SET TO SHINE ON A BOXING BONANZA OF A WEEKEND

They say good things come in threes, and this weekend that saying couldn’t be more accurate, with three shows across three cities in three nights, including three of Ring Magazine’s P4P top 10.

The weekend kicks off in Times Square of all places on Friday night, as Teofimo Lopez and Arnold Barboza Jr headline a thrilling four-fight card that includes Ryan Garcia vs Rolly Romero, Devin Haney vs Jose Ramirez, and the professional debut of highly rated Japanese star Reito Tsutsumi.

We then head east to Saudi, where Canelo Alvarez will be looking to become the undisputed super-middleweight champion again, against Cuban William Scull. Before that, though, Jaime Munguia looks to avenge his shock defeat to Bruno Surace, Badou Jack defends his WBC World Cruiserweight Title against Noel Mikaelian, Martin Bakole takes on Efe Ajagba in a cracking all-African heavyweight dust-up, and Olympic silver medallist Marco Verde makes his professional debut.

Then, if that wasn’t enough, we head back to America, where ‘The Monster’ himself, Naoya Inoue, will be defending his undisputed super-bantamweight championship against Ramon Cardenas.

What a weekend of boxing—and first off, we’ll take a look at the highly anticipated card in New York.

In what will be one of the biggest boxing spectacles we’ve seen in recent times, world championship boxing is set to bring Times Square to a standstill on Friday night, as some of the sport’s biggest stars showcase their talents in one of the most iconic locations on the planet.

Reigning WBO & Ring Magazine champ Teofimo Lopez faces arguably his toughest test since Vasyl Lomachenko when he clashes with Arnold Barboza Jr.

Now 32-0, Barboza caused a big upset on away soil last time out when he outpointed Jack Catterall.

Lopez, meanwhile, has failed to hit the heights he once promised, with controversial victories over both Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz. However, he did put on a boxing clinic to defeat Josh Taylor at the end of 2023.

It may not look it on paper, but this is by a distance the most intriguing fight on the card—and undoubtedly the most even.

Barboza showed what he’s capable of last time out against Catterall, and with Lopez known to be complacent against lesser-known fighters like Ortiz and Martin, he needs to be switched on against Barboza if he’s going to retain his titles.

The slickness and speed of Barboza Jr are similar to that of George Kambosos—the only man to defeat Lopez to date—so the reigning champ is going to have to stamp his authority on the fight early and look to hurt Barboza and, most importantly, upset his rhythm.

Lopez is the favourite, and rightly so, but whatever you do—do not sleep on Barboza Jr, because he’s more than capable of pulling off another upset here.

In what will likely be the main event, Ryan Garcia fights for the first time since a drugs ban when he clashes with the outspoken Rolly Romero.

The fight is very much seen as a warm-up for a potential rematch with Devin Haney. Stylistically, Romero shouldn’t cause Garcia too many problems.

Garcia is the much bigger man, with quicker hands and, most importantly, much more power in both hands. Romero’s two defeats so far in his career have come by stoppage to Gervonta Davis and Pitbull Cruz—so don’t be surprised if Garcia becomes the third man to beat and stop the former WBA World Champion.

As previously mentioned, former WBC World Super-Lightweight champ Devin Haney returns to action against former unified World Super-Lightweight champ Jose Ramirez in an intriguing contest.

Haney was beaten by Ryan Garcia in his last fight, before Garcia tested positive for a banned substance—resulting in the fight being declared a no contest.

Prior to that, though, he had been faultless, with 31 wins from 31 fights, so it’ll be interesting to see how much of a stain the Garcia fight has left on him.

In Jose Ramirez, Haney comes up against a tough and exciting former world champion. His last fight ended in defeat to Barboza, but Ramirez has shown on countless occasions that he has more than enough in his locker to mix it at the top level.

It should be fairly straightforward for Haney, but as we see in boxing all the time—there’s always a script to be ripped up, with Haney having it all to lose and Ramirez everything to gain.

Now to Saudi on Saturday night, where the legendary Canelo Alvarez aims to become the undisputed super-middleweight champion for a second time, against Cuba’s William Scull.

A fighter who has gone massively under the radar, Scull fought out of Argentina at the start of his career before moving to Germany, where he has been based for his last 12 fights.

He picked up the IBF world title in his last outing when defeating Vladimir Shishkin, but in Canelo, he takes a massive step up in class.

Even though Scull has never fought at this level, it’s a fight that Canelo cannot overlook. The classic Cuban style has caused him problems in the past, with the last Cuban he faced, Erislandy Lara, giving him all sorts of trouble in a bout many believe the Mexican was lucky to win on the cards.

That fight was over 10 years ago, though—and now, Canelo is a completely different, much more rounded fighter.

Expect Alvarez to take a couple of rounds to suss Scull out before taking control in the middle rounds and potentially securing a late stoppage.

Prior to the main event, though, there is a stacked undercard. Jaime Munguia looks to right the wrongs against Bruno Surace, who shocked the world by becoming the first man to stop Munguia at the end of last year.

Badou Jack defends his WBC World Cruiserweight Title against late replacement Noel Mikaelian, whilst the hard-hitting heavyweights Martin Bakole and Efe Ajagba put it all on the line in an all-African affair—which will no doubt end with someone getting knocked out cold.

If that wasn’t enough, Olympic silver medallist Marco Verde makes his professional debut against Michel Polina, and dynamite-fisted Cuban light-heavyweight Brayan Leon looks to make it seven stoppage wins from seven fights against Aaron Guerrero.

Now, for the final card of the week—where one of the pound-for-pound greats will be looking to further solidify his claim as one of the best to ever do it.

The career of Naoya Inoue has been quite breathtaking. A four-weight world champ who has become undisputed in two of those divisions, he’s widely regarded as the best fighter on the planet right now—and rightly so.

On Sunday night, he faces the 26-1 American Ramon Cardenas.

In terms of quality of opposition, it’s a bit of a step back for Inoue after facing the likes of TJ Doheny and Luis Nery in his last three fights.

The sole loss of Cardenas’s career came back in 2017 against Danny Flores—who is now on a 17-fight losing streak since that bout.

Cardenas has put together some decent wins since that defeat, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to predict this should be a fairly straightforward—and quick—night at the office for Inoue.

Three huge cards over three nights—brace yourselves, boxing fans, because this is going to be a weekend to remember.