Complete Viewer's Guide to Boxing's Biggest Fights in July
After a lightning-fast start to the year, complete with the biggest box-office fight of all time, the sport's return to network television and HBO's return to glory, things are cooling off a bit for the summer.
There are just seven cards this month and a grand total of zero fights appropriately described as "must see." Of course, that doesn't mean there's nothing worth watching this July. It just means we'll have to dig a little deeper to find it.
What follows is a rundown of every boxing card televised on English on American television. From the top stars on HBO to the rising prospects on ShoBox, we'll tell you who you can you skip and who demands your attention. As an added bonus we break down every main event and decide who is likely to win—and why.
Have some thoughts of your own about fights this July? Hit us up in the comments.
Mauricio Herrera vs. Hank Lundy (HBO Latino)
1 of 7Key Info
Date: July 11
Network: HBO Latino
Promoter: Golden Boy Promotions
Undercard bouts: Michael Perez vs. Sharif Bogere, Joe Diaz vs. Rene Alvarado
Interest Level
Medium/High
Analysis
Hola! ¿Cómo estás? We're breaking all of our own rules by including this here as it's being broadcast in Spanish. But, hey, July is a light month, and this is worth including.
I’ll be honest at the jump—Herrera and Bogere have reputations for being less than enthralling fighters. But you know, I think they both get kind of a bad rap.
Mauricio Herrera’s never going to be a knockout artist—even on the Juan Manuel Marquez workout plan. But he’s an incredibly skilled boxer who throws punches like a fully automatic, if small-caliber, weapon. Most everyone thinks he beat Danny Garcia, and that Garcia guy is pretty good.
Bogere is a skilled guy who took time after his butt-ugly title-shot loss against Richar Abril to get properly healthy. Since putting his body back together, he’s reeled off four straight knockouts. That hardly screams "boring." He should give Perez a stiff test at lightweight—I even see him pulling off a win.
Main Event Prediction
Bold prediction time—Herrera/Lundy might be the best fight of the month. Hank Lundy is physically gifted and doesn’t know how not to bring it. He'll create enough trouble for Herrera, to the point the decision will be a nail-biter. Sleeper card of the summer.
Mauricio Herrera by Split Decision.
Keith Thurman vs. Luis Collazo (ESPN2)
2 of 7
Key Info
Date: July 11
Network: ESPN2
Promoter: Warriors Boxing (Haymon Boxing/PBC)
Undercard bouts: Tony Harrison vs. Willie Nelson
Interest Level
High
Analysis
Friday Night Fights is dead—but with shows like this in its place, we aren't likely to miss it much. Keith Thurman is the kind of quality fighter ESPN2 hasn’t aired with any frequency in years. He's a future star with outstanding skill and stopping power. That's the golden ticket to becoming a fan favorite, not just today, but in any era.
Let's not pretend this is a great test for him. Luis Collazo’s peak was roughly a decade ago, and he gets most of his work off a well-deserved reputation as a guy who can go rounds. This won't be pretty—but it's a big star on free cable. Count me in.
The undercard fight features another potential phenom with the same combination of power and finesse Thurman possesses. Unlike Thurman, however, Tony Harrison is taking a huge step up in competition against the rangy Willie Nelson. It's the kind of fight that will help determine the course of his boxing future. No pressure, Tony!
Main Event Prediction
I'm still not sure why Thurman is being put in the ring with a guy most charitably described as a "survivor." But that's the fight that’s happening and that’s the result we'll get. Thurman is faster and stronger than Collazo—but some fighters have a knack for seeing a bout to the bitter end. Collazo is one of them.
Keith Thurman by Unanimous Decision.
Antoine Douglas vs. Istvan Szili (Showtime)
3 of 7Key Info
Date: July 17
Network: Showtime
Promoter: GH3 Promotions
Undercard bouts: Derrick Webster vs. Arif Magomedov, Adam "Mantequilla" Lopez vs. Eliecer Aquino
Interest Level
Medium
Analysis
Antoine Douglas has been on TV before and looked like a decent fighter. If that sounds like faint praise, well, it is. Szili is a 32 year old "prospect" from Hungary who I know little about. The history of Hungarian boxers in recent memory is not good though—and a glance at him in the ring doesn't provide much hope he's the exception to the rule.
Main Event Prediction
I’m gonna take the safe bet and guess the guy imported from Hungary is there to take a loss and probably take a beating doing it. The purpose here is not just to get a win—this one is to get Douglas a nice clip for his highlight reel.
Antoine Douglas by eighth-round knockout.
Carl Frampton vs. Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. (CBS)
4 of 7
Key Info
Date: July 18
Network: CBS
Promoter: Warriors Boxing (Haymon Boxing)
Undercard Bouts: Cristobal Arreola vs. someone who isn’t very good
Interest Level
Medium/High
Analysis
Barry McGuigan has lent out his super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton to Al Haymon for a CBS date, headlining the first of two cards at the same venue, on the same day, run by the same promoter. Frampton is a fun fighter to watch and has beaten several former world champions in his 20 fight career.
Alejandro Gonzalez has an impressive-looking stat line—until you realize the only remotely recognizable name on it is Juan Alberto “El Topo” Rosas, a former flyweight journeyman. And Gonzalez lost that fight.
Heavyweight Chris Arreola rounds out the card. No one will mistake him for a great fighter, but that’s what makes him an entertaining show. No opponent has been named, but you can bet it will be someone who falls down and goes boom. If he plays his cards right, this could be a fight that earns Arreola a shot at Deontay Wilder's heavyweight strap.
Main Event Prediction
Frampton survives an early brawl with his sturdy Mexican opponent and pulls away with superior everything. The fight airs on national television in the United Kingdom as well. We could very well be watching the birth of the next big thing.
Frampton by eighth-round KO.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr vs. Marco Reyes (Showtime)
5 of 7
Key Info
Date: July 18
Network: Showtime
Promoter: Warrior’s Boxing (Haymon Boxing/PBC)
Undercard bouts: McJoe Arroyo vs. Arthur Villanueva
Interest Level
Medium
Analysis
Last time we saw Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., he quit in the ring, denied it, then suggested he was actually winning his fight against Andrzej Fonfara prior to the stoppage. Even the most diehard Chavez fans could do little more than throw their hands up in exasperation.
Things should be less dire against Marco Reyes, the classic Chavez Jr. opponent— undersized, unknown and Hispanic. Even still, he may pose serious difficulty for the terminally unmotivated Chavez Jr., whose career as a drawing card is balanced very precariously on the result of his next few fights.
Forget the main event for a minute, though. This card is all about the little guys on the undercard going to war. Super flyweight McJoe Arroyo has a great bloodline and skills to pay the bills. Even better, he has a real opponent in Arthur Villanueva. This one, for whatever it's worth, will surely steal the show right out from under Chavez.
Main Event Prediction
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. by unanimous decision. And booing. Lots of booing.
BJ Flores vs. Beibut Shumenov (NBCSN)
6 of 7
Key Info
Date: July 25
Network: NBC Sports
Promoter: Mayweather Promotions/PBC
Undercard bouts: Jordan Shimmell vs. Isiah Thomas
Interest Level
Low
Analysis
BJ Flores is 36 years old and best known as the color commentor who isn't "Sugar" Ray Leonard on NBC's boxing broadcasts.
His opponent, Beibut Shumenov, was one of boxing’s worst paper titlists before running into old man Bernard Hopkins last year. He deserves credit for some tough challenges early in his career—but that drive dried up in a hurry and he instead relied on so-bad-they-might-be-corrupt judges on his way to the world title.
If any of this excites you, you're a party of one.
Main Event Prediction
BJ Flores’ last two performances were dreadful. First he went the distance with the abysmal Anthony Caputo Smith. Then he showed up extra heavy against Kevin Engel and got knocked down in the first round by the spent journeyman. Shumenov is a lot of things—but “as bad as Kevin Engel” isn’t one of them. He is awkward, throws a reasonably high volume of punches and shouldn’t have any real issues with Flores.
Beibut Shumenov by Unanimous Decision.
Sergey Kovalev vs. Nadjib Mohammedi (HBO)
7 of 7
Key Info
Date: July 25
Network: HBO
Promoter: Main Events
Undercard bouts: Jean Pascal vs. Yunieski Gonzalez
Interest Level
High
Analysis
The fight we all want to see, of course, is Sergey Kovalev against Adonis Stevenson. That one has it all—the two best fighters in the division, title implications and a heated back-and-forth that includes a racist tweet to go along with copious trash talk.
Alas.
This may not be the fight we want, but it's the fight we have. Nadjib Mohammedi is here because he’s risen to mandatory contender status according to whatever statistical model drives the IBF rankings. Just kidding—it's probably really because he signed with Main Events, the same people who promote Kovalev. Unless you believe in coincidences.
It almost seems like Kovalev is fighting a stablemate and signed a new HBO contract to ensure the promoter’s survival more than his own financial success. Just a thought.
Jean Pascal has been on and off the undercard more times than I can count, but right now, as I type this, he’s scheduled to fight. He's always fun to watch.
Main Event Prediction
HBO has built both Kovalev and Gennady Golovkin admirably, but both men have an identical problem— HBO either can't or won't create appropriate opponents for them. As a result, they fight people like Mohammedi in insignificant massacres every few months. That can be fun for a time and has certainly done wonders for building their reputations.
But eventually the time will come when people demand substance. For HBO's new stars that time is quickly approaching. Budgets are tight, I’m sure, but there has to be a better way than this.
Sergei Kovalev by fourth-round KO.
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