This week was originally supposed to bring us Naoya Inoue vs. Sam Goodman, but Goodman’s training injury caused that match to be postponed until January 24. That leaves little of note for boxing fans this week, which is no surprise given that it is the holiday season. But the cupboard isn’t completely bare.
Pour yourself a glass of eggnog, spiked or otherwise, and take your pick of these fights:
Pick It: Carlos Canizales vs. Panya “Petchmanee CP Freshmart” Pradabsri
When to Watch: Thursday, December 26 at 6 a.m. Eastern Time (11 a.m. GMT)
Why to Watch: This fight is for the vacant WBC junior flyweight world title that used to belong to Kenshiro Teraji. Canizales is a former secondary titleholder who’s never won the big one, while Freshmart is a former 105-pound titleholder looking to win a belt in a second weight class.
Canizales (27-2-1, 19 KOs) is a 31-year-old from Caracas, Venezuela. He turned pro in 2014, fought to a draw with Ryoichi Taguchi in 2016 and won the WBA’s “regular” title belt at 108 in 2018. Canizales’ reign coincided with three other fighters being the primary titleholder: Taguchi, Hekkie Budler and Hiroto Kyoguchi.
Canizales suffered his first pro loss in 2021, stopped in six rounds while ahead on the scorecards against the 13-3-2 Esteban Bermudez. But he bounced back with four victories and landed a fight with Teraji this January. Teraji vs. Canizales was a very fun fight to watch, and Teraji retained with a very close majority decision. Canizales then returned in July on the better end of a majority decision, defeating the 12-2-1 Ivan Garcia Balderas.
Freshmart (43-2, 27 KOs) is a 33-year-old fighting out of Bangkok, Thailand, which means he’ll be fighting in front of his home crowd at Rajadamnern Stadium. He won the WBC strawweight world title in 2020 with a huge unanimous decision win over a longtime titleholder, the 54-0 Chayaphon Moonsri (also known as Wanheng Menayothin).
Freshmart made four successful defenses, including a wider rematch win over Menayothin in 2022, but he was dethroned in October 2023 in a decision loss to Yudai Shigeoka. Freshmart has won three straight since against subpar opposition.
The other titleholders at junior flyweight are Masamichi Yabuki (IBF), Erick Rosa (WBA) and Shochiki Iwata (WBO).
Thursday, December 26: Angelo Pena vs. Gisu Lee (TrillerTV.com)
The broadcast begins at 9 a.m. Eastern Time (2 p.m. GMT).
Pena (10-0, 6 KOs) is a junior lightweight from the Dominican Republic and now living in Berne, Switzerland, and this card is being held at that city’s Kursaal Arena. The 30-year-old won a wide decision in September over the 13-2-5 Hiroki Hanabusa.
Lee (12-4, 5 KOs) is a 29-year-old from South Korea and now living in Toronto, Canada. He’s been in and out of the sport, debuting and fighting several times in 2015, not at all in 2016, then back again from 2017-2019, then off for four years until a return in July 2023. Lee has won four in a row since, including an October first-round TKO of the 6-2-1 Alfredo Jimenez Espino.
Lee has fought in heavier weight divisions than Pena, so it will be interesting to see whether size is a factor.
The broadcast begins at 6 p.m. Eastern Time (11 p.m. GMT).
This flyweight title elimination bout is the main event at the Polideportivo Alexis Arguello in Managua, Nicaragua. The winner will be in line to challenge IBF titleholder Angel Ayala (18-0, 8 KOs), who won the vacant belt in August by knocking out Dave Apolinario.
That would be a rematch for Alvarado (41-4, 35 KOs), a 35-year-old from Managua. We’ll get to that in a moment.
Alvarado turned pro in 2010, suffered a pair of defeats in secondary title fights against Kazuto Ioka in 2013 and Juan Carlos Reveco in 2014, but he finally found glory in 2018. That’s when he stopped Randy Petalcorin in seven rounds to win the vacant IBF title at 108. Alvarado made a pair of successful defenses before moving up to 112.
Since arriving at flyweight, Alvarado lost against then-titleholder Sunny Edwards in November 2022 and dropped a razor-thin decision to Ayala in October 2023. Alvarado has notched a pair of victories since against gimme opposition.
Reyes (16-0-1, 15 KOs) is a 26-year-old from Galvez, Argentina. The only blemish on his record came the only other time he fought out of his home country, held to a draw in Mexico against the 15-2 Cristian Gonzalez Hernandez in October 2023.
This year, Reyes has won three fights in early nights, defeating the 13-1 Eduardo Ajito in six rounds, the 5-1-2 Sixto Dionel Perez in four rounds, and the 9-0-2 Jackson Zapata in four rounds.
Sunday, December 29: Ridwan Oyekola vs Tosin Osaigbovo (TrillerTV.com)
The broadcast begins at noon Eastern Time (5 p.m. GMT).
This show takes place at the Campos Memorial Mini Stadium in Lagos, Nigeria.
Oyekola (12-2-2, 7 KOs) is a 27-year-old from Ibadan who lost a wide decision to unbeaten featherweight Keisuke Matsumoto in August 2023 and then returned in October 2023 with a first-round TKO of the 24-9-1 Emmanuel Quartey.
For this fight, which is listed at lightweight, Oyekola will face Osaigbovo (10-0, 8 KOs). Osaigbovo is a 22-year-old who has been feeding off limited opposition, including a second-round TKO in August of the debuting Afeez Eniola.
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