Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey: Not the Only Fight This Weekend

To the casual observer, the Pacquiao-Clottey fight is the only one this weekend. But if you look at this weekend, there are some other interesting fights.

Marco Huck is arguably the best cruiserweight in the world, and he defends his title against American Adam “Swamp Donkey” Richards. Tyson Marquez also looks to put his perfect record on the line on national TV.

So those are just some of the fights on tap. Let's get to the rest.

March 12 (FSN)

Hernan Marquez (27-0-0 20 KO) vs. Richie Mepranum (16-2-1 3 KO)

Samuel Peter (33-3 26 KO) vs. Nagy Aguilera (15-2 10 KO)

The weekend gets off to a good start with FSN on Friday. Marquez will be seen by most American fans for the first time, and Peter looks to gear up for another title run.

Marquez has yet to face a top guy, but he is an exciting young prospect who punches hard. He is only 21 years old and being moved along slowly, but it appears he has the talent to be a title contender in the future.

Mepranum isn’t a world beater, but he has beaten Cesar Lopez, who has a solid record. He has also fought and lost to former WBA flyweight champion, Denkaosan Kaovichit.

A solid, but not spectacular, step up for Tyson. It is for the WBC USNBC youth super flyweight title.

Peter looks to take the first step back up the heavyweight ladder in fighting Aguilera. Again, not a spectacular step up, but a solid one at that.

Peter is looking to win his fourth straight since losing back-to-back fights to Vitali Klitschko and Eddie Chambers.

Peter has beaten three journeymen, and Aguilera isn’t much higher than them. In his last fight, he beat former champion Oleg Maskaev. Check your listings as this will probably be pre-empted by college basketball.

March 13 (HBO PPV)

Manny Pacquiao (50-3-2 38 KO) vs. Joshua Clottey (35-3 20 KO)

Humberto Soto (49-7-2 32 KO) vs. David Diaz (34-2-1 17 KO)

Alfonso Gomez (21-4-2 10 KO) vs. Jose Luis Castillo (60-9-52 KO)

The big card of the weekend is on Saturday and it has the No. 1 pound-for-pound guy in action. I won’t spend a lot of time going into detail about the main event, as thousands of words have already been written about this.

Instead, I’ll focus on the undercard. The main supporting bout should, at the very least, be entertaining.

Will it be competitive? I’m not so sure about that. Soto is considered a fringe pound-for-pound guy, and Diaz is a solid, durable fighter, but nothing special.

Diaz is a former lightweight title holder, but he was destroyed by Pacquiao and lost it. Soto will have the hand speed and punching power advantage, which spells doom for Diaz.

Soto was once thought to be an opponent who could challenge Pacquiao, but that talk has died down in the last year or two. He hasn’t faced a top guy since 2007, when he lost to Joan Guzman.

He vacated his WBC super flyweight title to move up and fight for the vacant WBC lightweight title.

The most exciting fight on this card may end up being the Jose Luis Castillo fight against Alfonso Gomez. Both fighters are Mexican and coming to fight.

Castillo is gearing up for one more title run and this is a modest start. Gomez rose to fame on The Contender series and has had some solid wins since.

He beat Jesse Brinkley on The Contender, retired Arturo Gatti with a seventh-round TKO, and then was mauled by Miguel Cotto. In his last fight, he beat fringe contender Jesus Soto Karass.

Even at this point, a faded Castillo should be able to beat a near-prime Gomez, but this will be his first opponent with a pulse since he lost to Sebastian Andres Lujan. He has knocked out four journeymen since then.

This card starts at 9PM and is retailing for $49.95.

(Germany ADR)

Marco Huck (27-1-0 20 KO) vs. Adam Richards (23-2-0 15 KO)

Yoan Pablo Hernandez (20-1 11 KO) vs. Cesar David Crenz (18-3 11 KO)

Alexander Frenkel (21-0 17 KO) vs. Michael Simms (21-12-1 13 KO)

Alexander Povetkin (18-0 13 KO) vs. Javier Mora 22-5-1 18 KO)

Danny Batchelder (25-7-1 12 KO) vs. Kubrat Pulev (4-0 2 KO)

I have actually listed every TV fight on this card. That’s how interested I am in it. The No. 1 cruiserweight, Huck, defends against a solid American in Adam Richards.

Huck is defending his title for the second time after winning it last year. He has beaten two solid cruisers in his last two fights, and looks to continue that run.

His only loss was a 12th-round TKO loss to Steve Cunningham in an IBF title fight back in 2007. He has some good pop in his punches, but at times, only fights in spurts.

On the other hand, Richards is a solid fighter with no really good wins, and only has two fights at the 200-pound limit. How he got a title fight by beating two guys with a 15-8 and 9-10-1 record, respectively, is beyond me.

At any rate, “The Swamp Donkey” has good power and is going to try to swamp stomp Huck. He has said that someone is getting knocked out.

That means either he is going, or Huck is, and that should make for a fun fight.

The undercard is very interesting as there are two cruiserweight prospects and a heavyweight prospect on it.

Yoan Pablo Hernandez is going for his seventh straight win since his only career loss. He should be able to pick it up as Crenz isn’t a solid opponent.

This is another step toward a title for Hernandez. If he gets past this, he should be looking at better things.

Frenkel is another cruiserweight looking to step up the ladder with a win over gatekeeper Michael Simms.

Povetkin looks to stay busy against gatekeeper Javier Mora. Mora, if nothing else, seems to have some pop, but he loses to top-level guys and it seems that will happen again.

Povetkin is looking to work out some kinks and get in some fights with Teddy Atlas before he challenges for a title.

The fight I’ll have my eye on is Pulev-Batchelder. Pulev is in his fifth pro fight, but has already beaten gatekeeper Zack Page and former European Heavyweight title holder Matt Skeleton.

He is progressing at a rapid rate and may be someone to watch for. This card will not be shown in the U.S., so keep an eye on the internet for results.

Also in Action

Kell Brook (20-0 13 KO) vs. Krzysztof Bienias (39-3 16 KO)

Tony Dodson (24-5 12 KO) vs. Paul Smith (28-1 15 KO)

Brooks looks to continue his climb up the welterweight ranks. This fight is for the WBO Inter-Continental title.

Paul Smith looks to defend his BBB of C super middleweight title against Dodson.