The Super Bowl is played in the City on Sunday so a Saturday evening fight night slot may not have captured the headlines as much as this Thursday night offering may do.
It helps that the card is being headlined by a bonafide potential star, if he is not one already.
On Saturday we do have a couple of cards being run in the United Kingdom from Matchroom and Queensberry, both taking place a short distance from one another in London, but it is the card headlined by Hamzah Sheeraz and Liam Williams that will be one of most importance.
Unfortunately we do not have fight week to look forward to which would have culminated in Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury fighting it out for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship. An injury has delayed that event until May and so it is Teofimo Lopez who is the biggest name heading out to defend his titles this month.
Teofimo Lopez vs Jamaine Ortiz
There have been plenty of issues for Teofimo Lopez to deal with outside of the ring and some felt that the fighter who toppled Vasyl Lomachenko might already have peaked.
A loss to George Kambosos Jr saw Lopez hand over the World Titles he had earned, and the decision to move up to Light Welterweight came with a couple of poor performances where it sounded like Teofimo Lopez himself was questioning his own ability.
He always denied that was the case and came through a fight against the linear Champion in the weight class as Lopez deservedly got the better of Josh Taylor.
One retirement and reversal later, Teofimo Lopez is back in the ring this week not only looking to build on the Taylor win, but perhaps impress enough to suggest he should be going with another elite, pound for pound fighter.
Teofimo Lopez has called out Terence Crawford for a fight at Welterweight, although Bud looks to have his eyes firmly fixed on a potential Super-Fight with Canelo.
The Champion has to focus on Jamaine Ortiz this week and they have amateur history against one another, while the only loss suffered by Ortiz came against Lomachenko in a closer than expected fight.
He is moving up for this opportunity, and the question is whether Jamaine Ortiz was really good or Vasyl Lomachenko was not quite to his top level in that fight. Regardless, the Lopez performance against the same fighter was stronger and he is a very big favourite, unsurprisingly, to defend his Title.
One feeling that is hard to shake about Teofimo Lopez is that he has tended to fight up or down to the level of opponent- not many fighters of his age can say they hold solid wins over Lomachenko and Taylor, but there have been some sub-par performances which have been down to outside of the ring issues.
He is clearly talking up the chances of making a statement on Thursday, and Teofimo Lopez does look happier all around.
If he is fully focused, Lopez certainly has the pop to really begin to break down Jamaine Ortiz.
The performance against Lomachenko was a good one and Jamaine Ortiz also beat Jemel Herring, although the latter retired for a short time in the aftermath of that defeat. Inactivity is an issue that could work against Ortiz against a quality fighter like Teofimo Lopez and the Champion may just have enough about him to work a way to a finish without the Judges.
Most are expecting a Decision win for the favourite, but Teofimo Lopez had Josh Taylor troubled at times and the former Champion is a big Light-Welterweight. With Ortiz coming up in weight, Lopez may have the power to have more of an impact and he can find the Stoppage.
The main undercard bout on this Las Vegas fight night features Keyshawn Davis who looks to continue his step up in the Lightweight Division.
A couple of years ago this was a loaded Division, but the likes of Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis and Teofimo Lopez have moved upwards, as has Ryan Garcia. After collecting all of the Belts, Haney has been letting them go following a successful foray into the Light Welterweight Division.
Keyshawn Davis is one of the up and coming fighters within the Division and there are a couple of vacant World Titles that will soon have a Champion's hand attached to them.
There is still a little bit of a gap to bridge to the very top names in the Division, but this is a chance for Davis to show he is ready against veteran Jose Pedraza.
It has been twelve months since Pedraza was last in the ring losing a close Decision to Arnold Barboza Jr and the veteran has become used to giving some of the quality names in and around the Division a tough test.
Gervonta Davis did finish Jose Pedraza in the Seventh Round, but the latter has since forced the likes of Vasyl Lomachenko, Jose Zepeda, Jose Carlos Ramirez and Barboza Jr to need the Judges' scorecards in wins over him.
The expectation is that Keyshawn Davis will be a little too young and fresh for Jose Pedraza, but he has been forced to go the distance in three of his last four fights and this is a Ten Rounder. It likely means Davis becomes the latest to get the better of the veteran over the full distance and the youngster can bank more valuable Rounds before thinking to increase the level of opponent being faced.
MY PICKS: Teofimo Lopez to Win by KO/TKO/Disqualification @ 2.87 Sky Bet (2 Units)
Keyshawn Davis to Win by Decision/Technical Decision @ 1.72 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Boxing 2024: 5-7, + 4.81 Units (17 Units Staked, + 28.29% Yield)
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