Boxing TV schedule for Dec. 12-14
Terence Crawford is back in the week’s headline bout, but that show’s co-feature is looking like the best fight on this week’s schedule.
Thursday, Dec. 12
DAZN, 2:00 pm ET, Sandor Martin vs Joe Hughes, David Avanesyan vs Jose Del Rio. Matchroom comes to Spain for a pair of European title fights, Martin defending the 154-pound title against Hughes, and Avanesyan the 147-pound belt against Del Rio. We’ll see if the Spanish are more excitable than the Italians as a boxing crowd. BLH will have live coverage.
Friday, Dec. 13
DAZN, 7:30 pm ET, Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Brad Solomon. The main event here is set, but as of last check there’s a lot of “TBA” opposition for guys like Alberto Machado, Erik Bazinyan, Alexis Rocha, Serhii Bohachuk, and Ferdinand Kerobyan. But there’s plenty of talent on the show, and Ortiz is a can’t-miss guy right now. Solomon is a solid vet who never panned out as a prospect, really, but Ortiz has been just thrashing everyone. BLH will have live coverage.
Saturday, Dec. 14
ESPN+, 3:00 pm ET, Golden Contract Tournament. The light heavyweights take to the ring this time around, with Liam Conroy, Steven Ward, Hosea Burton, Serge Michel, Bob Ajisafe, Andre Sterling, Ricards Bolotniks, and Tommy Philbin in the tournament. BLH will have live coverage.
ESPN+, 5:30 pm ET, Crawford vs Kavaliauskas prelims. Edgar Berlanga, Josue Vargas, and others feature on the prelim portion of the show. BLH will have live coverage.
ESPN, 9:00 pm ET, Terence Crawford vs Egidijus Kavaliauskas, Richard Commey vs Teofimo Lopez, Michael Conlan vs Vladimir Nikitin. Two world title fights, one expected to be a rout (Crawford-Kavaliauskas) and the other a big matchup between a good titleholder and a potential rising star (Commey-Lopez), plus the Conlan-Nikitin grudge match. ESPN is putting a fair amount of promotion into this, with a countdown show airing on ESPN2 and ESPNews, and Crawford’s wins over Julius Indongo and Jose Benavidez Jr airing in the early afternoon on ESPNews. This is also Top Rank’s last big card of 2019. BLH will have live coverage.
Facebook, 10:00 pm ET, Diego De La Hoya vs Renson Robles. Guesswork on the start time right now, but it doesn’t really matter since nobody’s going to be watching this with the ESPN show on at the same time. De La Hoya is looking to end a rough 2019 on a better note.