Juan Francisco Estrada faces Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez on Saturday, plus Teofimo is back and more!
DAZN, 9:00 pm ET, Darius Fulghum vs Ronald Ellis. Fulghum is something of a Golden Boy pet project, a 27-year-old who took up boxing late but does have some ability, and they’[re starting to push him along and see what he handles per level. Ellis is a sturdy pro but coming off of three straight losses, Golden Boy probably see him as someone who may have lost the fires of desire, and thus ripe for the picking while there’s still some cred to take from him for a guy like Fulghum. Eric Priest, Grant Flores, Tristan Kalkreuth, and more in action on the undercard.
DAZN, 8:00 pm ET, Elijah Pierce vs Jose Sanmartin. Overtime Boxing from Atlanta, as they continue their push to get the 27-year-old, twice-beaten Pierce into world title conversations. He’s a talented fighter whose losses came in 2018 and 2019 and he reset himself and has come out of them a better fighter, but it’s an uphill climb with two losses and lacking a power promoter. It can be done, as O’Shaquie Foster has recently proven, and Overtime deserve some credit for getting behind someone they believe in and doing their best. They aren’t content to simply exist, but also haven’t pushed too hard trying to be something they just aren’t and can’t afford to be. It’s a balancing act that nobody ever gets right for too long, but good luck!
DAZN, 8:00 pm ET, Fernando Vargas Jr vs Juan Carlos Cordones. Feroz Jr is not the highly-touted Vargas son, that one (Emiliano) is with Top Rank. This is a MarvNation show in El Paso. Feroz Jr is 14-0 (13 KO) but he’s 27 and just isn’t seen as someone with top-level potential. Everyone can’t be world class, but you can build a career off of “pretty good” and “not poison to the viewing audience.”
DAZN, 2:00 pm ET, Jack Rafferty vs Sabari Jaishankar. A Conlan Boxing show from Liverpool. Rafferty won the Commonwealth 140 lb title in his last fight but that won’t be up for grabs here. The rest is prospects, “prospects,” and apparently a Jazza Dickens fight.
DAZN, 3:00 pm ET, Marco Huck vs Evgenios Lazaridis.A Dream Boxing show from Berlin. Huck is 39 years old, which might actually be younger than you thought, and hasn’t had a fight since 2020, and hasn’t really had a fight since his 2017 loss to Oleksandr Usyk. On paper that doesn’t change here against Lazaridis, BoxRec’s No. 228 (at this moment) ranked heavyweight, originally from Greece and 36 years old.
ESPN+, 5:45 pm ET, Teofimo vs Claggett prelims. Elvis Rodriguez, Emiliano Varags (hey!), Rohan Polanco, Nico Ali Walsh — familiar faces. Rodriguez is back with Top Rank!
DAZN and Social Media, 7:15 pm ET, Estrada vs Rodriguez prelims.
DAZN, 9:30 pm ET, Juan Francisco Estrada vs Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez. It all kind of depends on what the 34-year-old Estrada still has in the tank. He hasn’t fought since the end of 2022, he’s not getting any younger, and he’s facing a 24-year-old southpaw with P4P ambitions. But he’s a tremendous fighter, and Rodriguez will be facing the most experienced, and at high-level, opponent of his career to date. This is Bam’s move back to 115 after cleaning out 112 for all that was worth cleaning out. Sunny Edwards vs Adrian Curiel and Yamileth Mercado vs Ramla Ali for Mercado’s WBC title highlight the undercard. BLH will have live coverage.
ESPN+ and ESPN, 10:00 pm ET, Teofimo Lopez vs Steve Claggett. Teofimo didn’t enjoy the experience of fighting Jamaine Ortiz, who used a basic boxing approach to frustrate and hang in the fight in February, similar to Sandor Martin and George Kambosos Jr, so Teofimo may be done fighting “boxers” if he can help it. Claggett is a tough veteran and I don’t at all begrudge him getting a shot and a payday,l and he does come to fight. He’s levels below what we generally think of Teofimo, but Teofimo is inconsistent, too. Robeisy Ramirez faces Brandon Benitez in the “co-feature.” BLH will have live coverage.
