Naoya Inoue's crushing victory over Nonito Donaire was one of those moments and The Monster has moved to the top of many pound for pound lists released in the last few days.
It is a win that will hopefully give UK fans the chance to see Inoue in the flesh again with the final Belt between him and Undisputed in the Bantamweight Division being held by Paul Butler from Liverpool. Naoya Inoue would be a monster favourite to win that fight, pardon the pun, and it should be a fight that can be put together pretty easily with promoters in Great Britain likely to be falling over one another to get this one over the line.
However, Japanese and Middle East venues may also step forward to host the Undisputed fight and I do think there is every chance we could see that in September or October before Naoya Inoue looks to move up a Division and challenge himself further.
The Tuesday showing was a weird one, but it did give Naoya Inoue the sole platform to earn the boxing headlines.
On Saturday multiple fighters will be looking to do the same with a number of cards in the United Kingdom and the United States that will be of interest. Some big names are in action, while we could see the continued development of a couple of solid prospects that will be pushing to get into World Title bids within the next twelve to eighteen months.
It will be a busy day of Boxing over several hours and you can read my thoughts below.
Richard Riakporhe vs Fabio Turchi
You have to credit the kind of development the Richard Riakporhe backers have put together for their man and he continues to step up and impress.
He may only have fourteen professional fights under his belt, but Richard Riakporhe has some solid wins in that time and I expect he will have too much for Italian Fabio Turchi who looked to have been exposed in an upset loss to Tommy McCarthy.
The sole defeat suffered by Turchi may have come on a Split Decision, but anyone who watched the fight will have felt that Tommy McCarthy should have been a clear winner. Fabio Turchi looked a little one-paced and he has had three relatively low level wins since that defeat to McCarthy as he looks to rebuild.
Now he has to take on the power of Richard Riakporhe who is just putting some momentum behind a career that had been stalled by injury. At 32 years old, Riakporhe may feel his time is now to make a statement in the Cruiserweight Division and a win in a bout like this one should only improve his Ranking as he gets closer to the top names.
He may have to show some patience in this one against a hardened opponent, but I do think Richard Riakporhe has shown his power can carry in a fight.
I can see him just breaking down Fabio Turchi and wearing him down and Richard Riakporhe may have the power to get him out of there. On the comeback trail, Riakporhe has gone at least Eight Rounds in two of the three fights he has had and I think the British fighter will need to use his boxing to set up the power shots.
This may mean looking for openings as the Rounds tick on and Fabio Turchi tires and I do think Richard Riakporhe is going to be able to land something very big after halfway and that will be the beginning of the end of the Italian fighter. A Stoppage in and around the Championship Rounds would make the statement Richard Riakporhe will be looking for before taking on another step up in class in a few months time.
There are plenty of fights on the undercard of this televised card, but the focus is on Zak Chelli who takes on unbeaten Germaine Brown for the English Super Middleweight Title.
The Londoner has been a touch unfortunate to not have an even stronger record than his 11-1-1 resume and Zak Chelli impressed in his win over Jack Kilgannon in early April. He wants to be more active and I do think Chelli has the toughness and the experience to beat an opponent who is stepping up a level.
Germaine Brown will be confident as an unbeaten fighter would be, while he does have a couple of solid wins behind him. I am just not sure he has the pop to keep Chelli from pressing forward and this is a big opportunity for Zak Chelli to try and get his career moving in a direction he believes he deserves.
We also have another card in the United Kingdom on the same night and that one in Telford is headed by the main event of Marc Leach versus Liam Davies.
That should be a good one, but the sole selection I have from that card is backing a returning Willy Hutchinson to record an early win.
An upset loss to Lennox Clarke in March 2021 was a major setback for the Scot and he has not fought since then, but returns on the undercard in Telford and I expect him to make short work of Karel Horejsek.
This is a fighter that hits hard very early on and Karek Horejsek may not have the durability at 40 years old as he once did. He has only been stopped twice in thirteen losses, but Willy Hutchinson will want to remove any negative memories of his last appearance in the ring as soon as possible and could close the show before we reach halfway in a scheduled Eight Rounder.
Trevor Bryan vs Daniel Dubois
Forget the WBA 'World Title' that these two are fighting for and instead focus on the fact that the winner could be in line to be the first contender to face either Anthony Joshua or Oleksandr Usyk depending on the outcome of the rematch that is rumoured to be taking place in August.
I have been pretty high on Daniel Dubois and I am not going to be too harsh on him for the loss to Joe Joyce. He looked like he could have won that fight on the cards if not for a devastating orbital bone injury, but Dubois has bounced back pretty effectively since then.
Daniel Dubois has needed a total of Three Rounds to win his last two fights since the defeat to Joe Joyce and he is a huge favourite to beat Trevor Bryan on his home soil.
Trevor Bryan picked up this WBA 'Title' by beating Bermane Stiverne after Manuel Charr had been stripped of the Belt. He needed Eleven Rounds to beat Stiverne and then won a Split Decision over Jonathan Guidry, but this feels another step up and I do think Trevor Bryan has the same kind of feeling as Charles Martin did before his fight with Anthony Joshua.
The American is saying all the right things, but he has largely been inactive in recent years and Trevor Bryan will have to deal with a power he has simply not had to face before.
I don't think Bryan will have the movement to get away from Daniel Dubois and one of the more vicious punchers coming up has regularly blown through opponents very early. This feels like it could go the same way and I will back Daniel Dubois to bring this Belt back to Britain before chasing bigger fights.
He could potentially get this done very early too and I will back Dubois to make this a good nights work.
We have a couple of other cards in the United States that will be starting a little while after the Daniel Dubois bid to win a Title has concluded.
It isn't that long ago that Jaime Munguia would have been the star name of any night, but recent bouts have been underwhelming. The continued decisions to avoid taking an Eliminator for a World Title fight is confusing to say the least, while he has now decided to take this fight at Super Middleweight.
His power continues to be a factor even when moving up in weight, but it is hard to really judge Munguia when he continues to face overmatched opponents.
Next up is Jimmy Kelly who has lost his biggest fights against Liam Smith and Dennis Hogan, two opponents that Jaime Munguia did beat.
Jimmy Kelly showed enough resistance to believe he can give Jaime Munguia some Rounds, but the power of the latter should break that resistance at some point in the middle of this bout.
Getting through the early Rounds will be challenging, but I think Kelly can just about hang on before it all gets a bit too much and Jaime Munguia is able to stop another overmatched opponent.
On the undercard, Oscar Jurado can continue his streak of stoppages since his sole defeat.
He is facing an opponent who was stopped in Three Rounds and who has lost three of his five defeats inside the distance. Another early night could be on the cards for Jurado.
Finally we have Edgar Berlanga back in the ring as he main events again.
There have been some serious criticisms of Berlanga since his Knock Out streak ended and his last three fights have all gone the distance. The power is real, but Edgar Berlanga has struggled when opponents have offered up some resistance and I expect that from Alexis Angulo.
The Colombian completed Ten Rounds against David Benavidez before being pulled out, and Angulo also went the full Twelve Rounds with Gilberto Ramirez.
He should be able to show enough veteran experience to get to the cards in this one, which is scheduled for Ten Rounds, and I do think Angulo will stand in front of Edgar Berlanga to at least give the younger fighter a chance to at least flash some talent in a clear win.
Edgar Berlanga has been more active than Alexis Angulo and that can also help, but he may have to wait a little longer before he can get back to winning fights the early way.
MY PICKS: Richard Riakporhe to Win Between 7-12 @ 3.25 Sky Bet (2 Units)
Zak Chelli to Win @ 1.91 William Hill (2 Units)
Willy Hutchinson to Win Between 1-4 @ 2.50 Sky Bet (2 Units)
Daniel Dubois to Win Between 1-3 @ 2.40 Bet365 (2 Units)
Jaime Munguia to Win Between 4-6 @ 2.62 Sky Bet (2 Units)
Oscar Jurado to Win Between 1-5 @ 2.10 Sky Bet (2 Units)
Edgar Berlanga to Win by Decision/Technical Decision @ 2.50 Bet365 (2 Units)
Boxing 2022 Update: 20-33, + 15.80 Units (95 Units Staked, + 16.63% Yield)
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