The Hottest Boxing Storylines for the Week of December 4
Boxing fans have plenty to look forward to this weekend.
After fans have spent much of the second half of the year watching replays and debating endlessly fights that can't, won't or haven't happened, both HBO and Showtime will broadcast huge shows with multiple significant fights Saturday.
On Showtime, Anthony Joshua defends his IBF Heavyweight Championship against Eric Molina. We'll take a look at what Joshua needs to do in order to take out the veteran challenger in more impressive fashion than fellow titlist and future foe Deontay Wilder did.
We'll also take a look at Jesus Cuellar's featherweight defense against former champ Abner Mares and whether Jermall Charlo vs. Julian Williams could steal the show and the weekend.
On HBO, rising pound-for-pound sensation Terence Crawford defends his unified 140-pound titles against John Molina, and Joseph Parker and Andy Ruiz Jr. slug it out for a vacant heavyweight belt.
There's plenty to talk about, so let's get right to it.
These are the hottest boxing storylines for the week!
Can AJ Best Deontay Wilder?
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Joshua defends his IBF Heavyweight Championship Saturday night at the Manchester Arena against Molina.
The towering Brit will look to make a statement to the rest of the wide-open heavyweight division by blasting the rugged veteran earlier than one of his fellow belt-holders did.
Wilder, who is widely considered the best of the American big men and holder of the WBC Heavyweight Championship, had some early struggles and ate some punches from the heavy underdog Molina before a colossal right hand ended affairs in the ninth round of a June 2015 fight.
Molina has since won a pair of fights—one over a complete nobody and one over the faded Tomasz Adamek—to earn a second bite at the heavyweight-title apple. He's not a world-beater, but the guy is tough.
Joshua is a huge favorite in this fight.
OddsShark opened Molina as a 33-1 underdog.
The question doesn't seem to be whether Joshua can win but how impressively he can pull it off.
Gavin Glicksman of the Sun reported Saturday that a Wembley Stadium title defense against longtime division kingpin Wladimir Klitschko could be in the offing for April, so Joshua would do well to take care of Molina in dominant fashion.
Does John Molina Have Any Shot Against Terence Crawford?
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One of the benefits of Gennady Golovkin moving off his Dec. 10 date on HBO was that it freed up money to allow Crawford, one of boxing's rising pound-for-pound stars, to make a second appearance on the network in 2016.
Crawford easily dispensed with Hank Lundy on HBO in February before unifying the junior welterweight division with a thrashing of Viktor Postol on HBO pay-per-view in July. That fight was one of the more significant ones this year in boxing, but it didn't belong on a pay platform.
That, unfortunately, limited exposure for a fighter on the rise who turned in possibly his best performance to date.
But that's water under the bridge.
Crawford defends his WBC and WBO Junior Welterweight Championships Saturday night in his native Omaha, Nebraska, against John Molina Jr.
Molina has had an up-and-down career. He holds losses to Antonio DeMarco, Lucas Matthysse (in a bloody war) and Adrien Broner but revitalized his career with an upset of Ruslan Provodnikov this past June on Showtime.
One thing you can always say about Molina is that he always gives his all.
It would just seem he's totally outclassed against a rising fighter like Crawford, who does literally everything well in the ring. But that's why they fight the fights, right?
Should Abner Mares Be Fighting?
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Mares, a former three-weight world champion, is set to battle Cuellar for the WBA Featherweight Championship Saturday night in Los Angeles as the headline bout of a Showtime boxing card.
The matchup was originally supposed to take place on June 25 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, but it was canceled due to an undisclosed medical condition that prevented Mares from being licensed by New York State to fight.
Dan Rafael of ESPN.com reported in June that multiple sources had confirmed that the issue was that Mares had twice failed New York State-administered eye exams. His uncorrected vision in at least one eye was worse than the state-mandated 20/200 threshold.
It wasn't the first time in his career that Mares has had career-threatening trouble with his eyes. He suffered a detached retina in 2008 and was forced to sit out for nearly a year before resuming his career.
Mares has fought 15 times since the detached retina stalled his career, and he has passed all required licensing exams in California, according to Bob Velin of USA Today.
He blames New York State's cancellation on his past history and insists that everything is fine now.
We're not going to question the fighter's information in the absence of evidence to the contrary, and he has every right to pursue his career if he's met all licensing requirements. It's just something to keep (no pun intended) an eye on.
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Will Parker or Ruiz Take the Next Step in the Heavyweight Division?
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Parker, along with Joshua, is widely considered to be one of the best up-and-comers in the heavyweight division.
The Kiwi has been active since turning pro. He fought five times in 2015 and will make his fifth start Saturday when he faces Ruiz for the vacant WBO Heavyweight Championship.
The fight will take place at the Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand.
Parker has big punching power with 18 stoppage victories in 21 contests. All that, combined with fighting with home-field advantage, makes him the man likely to walk out of Auckland with a new piece of heavyweight hardware.
OddsShark lists him as the favorite at minus-357.
Ruiz is a solid fighter who struggled a bit with weight and conditioning issues earlier in his career.
Like Parker, he's undefeated and would make history as the first Mexican-American fighter to win a heavyweight championship. The task before him is a tall one, but he's a solid boxer who has recommitted himself for this fight.
Parker still remains the likely winner in most eyes, but this fight, which HBO will televise on tape delay prior to Crawford-Molina, is can't-miss.
Is Charlo-JRock the Hidden Gem of the Weekend?
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Jermall Charlo defends his IBF Junior Middleweight Championship Saturday night against Philadelphia-based top prospect Julian "J Rock" Williams on the undercard of Cuellar-Mares. This could be the most competitive and exciting bout of the weekend.
Charlo won his 154-pound title with a blowout of veteran Cornelius "K9" Bundrage last year and has made two successful defenses.
The first was against an underwhelming and overmatched foe in Wilky Campfort, but in his most recent fight he held off Austin Trout. Although it ended his two-fight knockout streak, it produced some memorable rounds.
Williams, 26, is considered to be one of the best young fighters in the sport. He's waited patiently through several delays in order to make this fight and stands out as one of the most honest and candid people in boxing.
He's a tremendous boxer with good pop on his punches and the self-confidence to go far.
This looks to have all the makings of a true 50-50 fight.
Charlo's big asset is his punching power, but Williams could have the tools to neutralize or avoid those big shots and wear his man down over the distance. Allowing myself to go into fan mode, this is the fight I'm most looking forward to on a loaded boxing weekend.
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