FROM MANCHESTER TO ORLANDO: TWO CARDS, ONE EXPLOSIVE WEEKEND OF BOXING

It’s not often you can go from Manchester to Orlando, but that’s exactly what we do in this weekend’s preview as we take a look at Queensberry’s light-heavyweight card in Manchester before turning our attention to Jordan Thompson’s heavyweight debut against the dangerous, undefeated Cuban, Lenier Pero.

Firstly, we’ll start with the main event in Manchester as Joshua Buatsi aims to return to winning ways against Zach Parker.

A cracking headliner between two fighters who are more than capable of becoming world champions in the next couple of years, Olympic bronze medallist Joshua Buatsi takes on Derby’s former British super-middleweight champion, Zach Parker.

Undefeated in his first 19 fights in the paid ranks, Buatsi was on the cusp of a world title shot after beating Willy Hutchinson for the WBO ‘Interim’ title last year. However, in his next fight against Callum Smith, he suffered the first loss of his career in what was a Fight of the Year contender back in February.

After losing the first fight of his career to John Ryder in 2022, Parker has bounced back with four straight victories, including a dominant 10-round performance on his light-heavyweight debut against Frenchman Mickael Diallo.

A fighter who was highly regarded as a future world champion, his career of late has been blighted by injury and inactivity, which has seen him fight just four times in nearly three years.

To the fight itself — and we’re predicting that it will be close.

For the first time in his professional career, Buatsi goes into a fight off the back of a loss. We’re yet to see how he responds to that sort of adversity, but on Saturday night we’ll find out.

If he’s back to his destructive best, he’ll certainly be a tough man to beat. Parker’s lack of experience at 175lbs is a big concern, especially against someone as big and strong a light-heavyweight as Buatsi.

For Parker to win this fight, he needs to box clever and avoid getting dragged into a phone box fight with Buatsi — because, as we’ve seen many times before, doing that with Buatsi only ever ends badly.

The way this fight goes will also come down to how both have dealt with inactivity. Buatsi, like Parker, has had just four fights in the past three years, but his have come against much better opposition — including Dan Azeez, Willy Hutchinson and Callum Smith.

It really is a tough fight to predict, but if either man can produce a highlight-reel knockout and look good doing so, it could put them in pole position for a crack at a world title if and when the belts become vacant after the Bivol vs Beterbiev trilogy.

Now to the chief support — and what a Manchester derby this is shaping up to be between two of the most likeable and talented Mancunians in boxing right now, as Man City fan Bradley Rea defends his European title against former Commonwealth champ and Man Utd fan Lyndon Arthur.

A good old blue vs red tussle on home soil — delightful.

After campaigning at middleweight early in his career, somehow the 6ft 3in Rea flirted with super-middleweight before pretty much immediately stepping up to light-heavyweight.

Four stoppage wins on the bounce — all coming within the first three rounds — saw him earn a crack at the vacant European title against the experienced Shakan Pitters.

In what was another Fight of the Year contender, Rea came out on top, earning a tight unanimous decision victory. That win earned him a deal with Queensberry.

Ever since Rea signed with Uncle Frank and the team, the Manchester derby with Arthur has felt like an obvious one to make.

Unlike Rea, Arthur has fought all of his professional career at light-heavyweight. He’s picked up victories over the likes of Anthony Yarde and Liam Cameron, and shared the ring with the current unified light-heavyweight champion of the world, Dmitry Bivol.

Despite being 2–2 from his last four fights, he was on the wrong end of a rough decision last time out in his trilogy with Anthony Yarde — a result that split the opinion of many boxing fans.

As fights go, this is an intriguing one.

The experience at the top level lies massively with Arthur. However, with that experience has come much tougher fights.

He’s fought over 50 more rounds than Rea across five additional bouts.

There are, though, far more positives than negatives to take from that experience.

He’s faced pretty much every style possible in the paid ranks and held his own with not just the best light-heavyweight of this generation, but one of the best of all time.

That experience will undoubtedly have given Arthur endless confidence, and if he’s going to win this fight, he needs to dig into his toolbox from those outings and showcase those skills against the younger, fresher Rea.

If Brad is going to win, he needs to use that freshness to his advantage.

Arthur’s trademark jab is a nightmare for anybody, so if Rea can stop him getting into a rhythm with it — push him back and make him fight off the ropes — it’ll go a long way towards securing victory.

In his fight with Pitters, Rea showed he’s got the power and the engine up at 175lbs — something he might not have fully displayed at middleweight, probably due to the weight cut he was putting himself through.

He looks like a brand new fighter now, and that’s what makes this local derby such an intriguing contest.

We really do believe it comes down to Arthur’s jab. If he can establish it early and control the fight, it’s going to be hard for Rea to find a way in.

If he doesn’t, though, and Brad has success walking him down, it’ll put Rea in pole position to have his hand raised at the end of the contest.

These are two lads with huge respect for each other — and two who’ve shared plenty of rounds in the gym. On Saturday night, we’ll find out who the king of the light-heavyweights in Manchester really is.

Don’t blink.

Before the main event and chief support, there’s even more light-heavyweight action as the comeback king himself, Liam Cameron, takes on Troy Jones, while local lad Billy Deniz faces the toughest test of his career against Ezra Arenyeka.

Top prospects Stephen Clarke, Leighton Birchall and Khaleel Majid also feature on a stacked 12-fight card at the Co-op Live Arena.

Now to Orlando, where former cruiserweight world title challenger Jordan Thompson returns from a two-year absence, up at heavyweight, against the talented Cuban southpaw, Lenier Pero.

A monster down at cruiserweight, Thompson had stopped 12 of his 15 opponents before taking the fight with IBF champ Jai Opetaia on relatively short notice — where he suffered the first defeat of his career.

There were plenty of excuses Thompson could have made off the back of that defeat, but he didn’t. After a prolonged absence outside of the ring, he steps up to face one of the most highly rated prospects in the heavyweight division.

A 2016 Olympian in Rio, Cuban Pero has over 100 fights to his name in the unpaid ranks and holds wins over the likes of Frank Sanchez and Guido Vianello.

He’s adapted to life as a professional fairly well, with 12 wins from 12 fights — including eight by way of stoppage — albeit against fairly modest opposition.

On paper, you’d have to favour Pero in this fight, and understandably so. Thompson had only a handful of white-collar fights before turning pro, so the Cuban has experience on his side — both in the ring in general and at heavyweight.

However, this fight is closer than most people think. As we’ve seen of late, white-collar experience is bridging the gap to fighters with extensive amateur backgrounds.

We saw that last week with Fabio Wardley beating Joseph Parker, having previously beaten Justis Huni — two immensely talented amateur fighters who’ve transitioned well to the pros.

At 6ft 6in, Thompson was near enough killing himself to make cruiserweight and yet still had success there. Now, up at a weight that suits him far better, you’re likely to see a very different fighter to the one you saw at 200lbs.

Pero has seen it all. He’s boxed every style possible in his career so far, but he’s had it relatively easy in the pros. He hasn’t yet had the gut check that Thompson has faced a couple of times.

If the Mancunian can make this fight rough and dirty from the first bell and upset that classic Cuban rhythm of Pero’s, don’t be surprised to see an upset on the cards here.

Before the main event, there’s an undercard stacked with amateur prospects. 2024 Olympians Pat Brown, Omari Jones and Nishant Dev all face arguably the toughest tests of their professional careers so far, while talented Puerto Rican Carlos De Leon will be aiming to move to 6-0 against the experienced Colombian Wilner Soto.

Two cracking cards stacked with some of the sport’s future stars.