Wednesday, December 11: Conor Wallace vs. Asemahle Wellem (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 3 a.m. Eastern Time (8 a.m. GMT).
Wallace (14-1, 10 KOs) is a 28-year-old light heavyweight from Northern Ireland now living in Fortitude Valley, a suburb of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. He’ll be headlining in his adopted hometown at the Fortitude Music Hall.
Wallace lost to Leti Leti via majority decision in April 2021 but won their rematch via sixth-round knockout in November 2022, part of a seven-fight winning streak. This year, Wallace stopped the 7-0 Jack Gipp in six rounds in March and took a split decision over the 18-1 Jerome Pampellone in August.
Wellem (7-0-1, 3 KOs) is a 23-year-old from South Africa. His only other fight in 2024 came in March, when he fought to a split draw with the 9-0-1 Selemani Kidunda. Wellem has fought his entire pro career at super middleweight and may be undersized against Wallace.
The undercard features a number of prospects, the most notable being heavyweight Justis Huni (10-0, 5 KOs), who outpointed Kevin Lerena in March and stopped the 9-0-1 Troy Pilcher in two rounds in July. Huni’s opponent on Wednesday is the 11-6 Leandro Daniel Robutti.
Wednesday, December 11: Jonhatan Cardoso vs. Eduardo Ramirez (ProBoxTV.com)
The broadcast begins at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time (12:30 p.m. GMT).
Cardoso (17-1,15 KOs) is a 25-year-old lightweight from Guarulhos, Sao Paolo, Brazil. His lone loss came in 125 seconds against the 15-3-1 Juan Huertas in June 2022. Since then, Cardoso has won three in a row, including a split decision over the 17-5 Adam Lopez in May.
Ramirez (28-4-3, 13 KOs) is a 31-year-old from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. His defeats have all come against familiar names, including a decision loss to Lee Selby in a December 2017 featherweight title fight, a decision loss to Claudio Marrero in June 2019, a second-round knockout against Isaac Cruz in September 2022 and, in Ramirez’s last outing, a decision loss to Mark Magsayo in June.
(Note: BoxingScene.com is owned by ProBox.)
Thursday, December 12: Mourad Aliev vs Davide Brito (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (6 p.m. GMT).
These two unbeaten heavyweights will main event at the Grand Elysee in Hamburg, Germany.
Aliev (12-0, 9 KOs) is a 29-year-old from Moscow, Russia, and now living in Lille, France. He’s fought three times already in 2024, winning all within three rounds or less. Most recently, Aliev put away the 15-7 Luis Jose Marin Garcia in six minutes in September.
Brito (6-0, 3 KOs) is a 27-year-old from Arezzo, Italy, and now living in Miami, Florida. He’s also making his fourth appearance of the year. He won a split decision over the 4-0 James Willis in May, finished the 6-1 Maurice Horne in four rounds in June, and unanimously outpointed the 16-4 Ali Kiydin in September.
Aliev stands 6-foot-7 and has weighed around 260 pounds in recent outings, while the 6-foot-5 Brito has never been heavier than 227 pounds and came in at 217 against Kiydin. Will Brito be able to handle Aliev’s size?
Thursday, December 12: Ardreal Holmes Jnr vs Edwine Humaine Jnr (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 6 p.m. Eastern Time (11 p.m. GMT).
Holmes (16-0, 6 KOs), a junior middleweight prospect from Flint, Michigan, will be performing for the second straight time in front of his hometown crowd at the Dort Financial Center.
The 30-year-old outpointed the 10-2 Hugo Noriega in September. Other recent victories since 2023 include a split decision over 12-0 Ismael Villarreal, a cut-shortened split technical decision over 14-1 Wendy Toussaint, and a second-round TKO of 10-1 Marlon Harrington.
Humaine (9-0, 7 KOs) is a 24-year-old originally from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and now fighting out of Springfield, Massachusetts. Six of his nine pro fights have taken place in 2024, with his most recent outing taking place on November 1, when he dispatched the 18-15-2 Jimmy Williams in three minutes.
Friday, December 13: Antonio Vargas vs Winston Guerrero (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (midnight GMT).
Vargas is a bantamweight contender working his way toward a title shot, while Guerrero is a prospect who is ready to take a step up. Vargas is already the WBA’s No. 1 contender at 118. This fight is for the WBA’s interim bantamweight title, affirming that the winner is in position to challenge full titleholder Seiya Tsutsumi.
Vargas (18-1, 10 KOs) is a 28-year-old living in Kissimmee, Florida, about half an hour from where this fight is taking place at the Caribe Royale Orlando. He is coming off a unanimous decision over Hernan Marquez in October 2023 and a seventh-round TKO of Jonathan Rodriguez in February. Marquez is a faded former titleholder while Rodriguez had just sent Khalif Yafai into retirement.
Guerrero (22-0, 13 KOs) is a 24-year-old from Managua, Nicaragua, whose past five fights have all been in the United States. He outpointed the 8-0 Wilver Hernandez in June and the 13-10-3 Daniel Olea in September.
Friday, December 13: Sadriddin Akhmedov vs. Raphael Igbokwe (UFC Fight Pass)
The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 a.m. GMT).
Akhmedov (14-0, 12 KOs) is a 26-year-old middleweight prospect originally from Astana, Kazakhstan and now living in Santa Monica, California. In August, he returned after a 20- month layoff and made quick work of the 17-10 Antonio Todd.
Igbokwe (17-5, 7 KOs) is a 32-year-old from Houston, Texas. He’s lost three of his last four, all to familiar names: stopped by Serhii Bohachuk in six rounds in September 2021, outpointed by Israil Madrimov in April 2023, and stopped in eight rounds by Andreas Katzourakis in August 2023. Igbokwe ended that losing streak by outpointing the 6-0 Imaud Louis in October 2023, but he’s been out of the ring for 14 months.
This fight will main event at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California.
Friday, December 13: Cristobal Lorente vs. Francesco Grandelli (ESPN+)
The broadcast begins at 3 p.m. Eastern Time (8 p.m. GMT).
Lorente (19-0-1, 8 KOs) is a 28-year-old featherweight from Barcelona. In July, he came off the canvas to take a narrow majority decision over the 20-0-2 Mauro Forte.
That Forte fight, in Albania, was Lorente’s first pro bout outside of Spain. He’ll be traveling again to face Grandelli at the Palazzetto dello Sport in Carbonia, Sardinia, Italy.
His foe is Grandelli, who hails from another region of Italy, fighting out of Cambiano, Piemonte. Grandelli (18-3-2, 4 KOs) is a 30-year-old coming off a defeat and has lost two of his last four, including a one-round loss to the aforementioned Forte in May 2023 and a unanimous decision loss to the 14-0 Nathaniel Collins in May 2024.
Saturday, December 14: Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs. Ricardo Espinoza Franco (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. GMT).
Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9 KOs) is a former unified junior featherweight titleholder who is currently the WBA’s mandatory challenger to Naoya Inoue. But Inoue being the undisputed champion at 122 means he’s balancing his various obligations, including a December 24 defense against IBF mandatory Sam Goodman.
So as Akhmadaliev’s team had been threatening legal action for the WBA not enforcing his position, the sanctioning body has made this bout with Franco for an interim world title in an attempt to placate Akhmadaliev.
This way, if Inoue for some reason doesn’t fight Akhmadaliev soon, then Akhmadaliev could automatically be upgraded instead of needing to jump over another hurdle.
The 30-year-old Akhmadaliev is from Chust, Uzbekistan, and now lives in Indio, California. He won a bronze medal at bantamweight in the 2016 Olympics, turned pro in 2018 and moved quickly. Akhmadaliev picked up the IBF and WBA titles in his eighth pro fight, taking a split decision over Daniel Roman in January 2020. He made three successful defenses before losing the belts via split decision to Marlon Tapales in April 2023. Akhmadaliev’s last outing came almost exactly a year ago, when he notched an eighth-round TKO of the 26-0-1 Kevin Gonzalez.
As for Franco (30-4, 25 KOs), the 27-year-old from Tijuana, Mexico, lost to John Riel Casimero by 12th-round TKO in April 2019 and lost a decision to Roman in May 2021. He’s since gone 5-0 with one no contest. Franco’s most recent appearance was a second-round TKO of the 42-28-1 Jovanny Soto Ramirez in August.
This fight will headline at the Salle Des Etoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The undercard features three notable fights:
Cruiserweight prospect Cheavon Clarke (10-0, 7 KOs) will face fellow undefeated fighter Leonardo Mosquea (15-0, 9 KOs).
Beatriz Ferreira (5-0, 2 KOs) — who won a silver medal in the 2020/2021 Olympics and bronze in 2024 — will defend her IBF lightweight title against Licia Boudersa (23-2-2, 4 KOs).
And lightweights Gary Cully (18-1, 10 KOs) and Maxi Hughes (27-7-2, 6 KOs) will collide.
Saturday, December 14: Natasha Jonas vs. Ivana Habazin, Lauren Price vs. Bexcy Mateus (Peacock and Sky Sports)
The broadcast begins at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time (8:30 p.m. GMT).
Two women’s world title fights will be hosted at Exhibition Centre Liverpool in England. The main event is a welterweight unification bout between Jonas (IBF) and Habazin (WBC).
Jonas, a 2012 Olympian, is 15-2-1 (9 KOs). The 40-year-old from Liverpool fell short in a pair of title shots earlier in her career. She fought to a draw in an entertaining match with Terri Harper at junior lightweight in August 2020, then lost a close decision to Katie Taylor — who had also defeated Jonas in the Olympics — in a lightweight title bout in May 2021.
But Jonas moved up and found more success, taking out Chris Namus in February 2022 for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title. She added two more wins and two more world titles at 154 before moving down to 147, stopping Kandi Wyatt in July 2023 for the vacant IBF welterweight belt. In January, Jonas defended with a split decision over Mikaela Mayer.
Habazin (23-5, 7 KOs) is a 35-year-old from Zlatar, Croatia. She’s had two reigns with welterweight titles. The first reign was brief, with Habazin winning the vacant IBF belt in March 2014 but losing it in a unification bout with Cecilia Braekhus six months later. Habazin also lost via third-round TKO against Mikaela Lauren in a junior middleweight title fight in April 2016, and lost a wide decision to Claressa Shields in early 2020 in a fight for two vacant belts at 154. But this past April, Habazin outpointed Kinga Magyar to win the vacant WBC title at 147.
Price (7-0, 1 KO) won middleweight gold in the 2020/2021 Olympics. The 30-year-old from Wales then won the WBA and lineal welterweight titles this past May with a nine-round technical decision over Jessica McCaskill.
Matues (7-0, 6 KOs) is a 29-year-old from Bogota, Colombia. In September, she stopped the 26-32-7 Paulina Cardona in five rounds.
Saturday, December 14: Jaime Munguia vs. Bruno Surace (ESPN+)
The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 a.m. GMT).
Munguia (44-1, 35 KOs) continues to remain busy following his May loss to Canelo Alvarez, a wise choice to build him as a potential attraction for Mexican and Mexican-American fans in advance of the day that Canelo retires. This fight will headline in Munguia’s hometown of Tijuana, Mexico.
The 28-year-old super middleweight was in Arizona for his last performance, knocking out previously unbeaten contender Erik Bazinyan in 10 rounds in September.
Munguia has been a pro for more than 11 years. He defeated Sadam Ali for the WBO junior middleweight title in 2018 and then made five successful defenses. His time at 168 has also included a win a close decision over Sergiy Derevyanchenko in a war that BoxingScene declared the Fight of the Year for 2023, and a TKO of John Ryder in nine rounds this past January.
As for Surace? We don’t talk about Bruno.
But seriously, Surace (25-0-2, 4 KOs) is a 26-year-old from Marseille, France, who will be leaving the comforts of home for the first time and traveling to hostile territory at the Estadio Caliente. This will mark Surace’s first fight in a year, dating back to his 12th-round TKO of the 11-0 Jhon Jader Obregon in December 2023.
Saturday, December 14: Alexis Rocha vs. Raul Curiel (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 a.m. GMT).
This crossroads fight, the main event at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California, pairs unbeaten prospect Curiel against the twice-beaten Rocha. And given how little depth there is at welterweight, the winner could be in line for a title shot in 2025.
Curiel (15-0, 13 KOs) is a 29-year-old fighting out of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. This year, Curiel has scored an eighth-round TKO of the 12-1 Elias Diaz in January and a first-round stoppage of the 20-4-2 Jorge Marron Jnr in April.
Curiel is ranked 11th by the IBF, fifth by the WBC and 14th by the WBO.
Rocha (25-2, 16 KOs), meanwhile, is ranked seventh by the IBF, ninth by the WBC and second by the WBO. The 27-year-old from Irvine, California, has won two in a row since suffering a sixth-round TKO loss to Giovanni Santillan in October 2023. Rocha returned this past March, scored a seventh-round TKO over Fredrick Lawson, and then outpointed the previously unbeaten Santiago Dominguez in July.
Rocha’s first defeat came back in 2020 when he lost a unanimous decision to Rashidi Ellis. He bounced back from that with seven straight victories, including a technical knockout of Blair Cobbs.
The undercard includes junior middleweight contender Charles Conwell (20-0, 15 KOs) against Gerardo Luis Vergara (20-0, 13 KOs), and former flyweight champion Marlen Esparza (14-2, 1 KO) officially arrives at junior bantamweight after coming in overweight in a rematch loss in April to Gabriela Celeste Alaniz. Esparza will face Arely Mucino (32-4-2, 11 KOs), who is fighting for the first time since getting knocked out by Gabriela Fundora in October 2023.
Saturday, December 14: Daniel Dietz vs. Granit Shala (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at noon Eastern Time (5 p.m. GMT).
This show at the Karlsruher Weihnachts Circus in Karlsruhe, Germany, features two heavyweights in the main event and, on the other end of the scales, a women’s strawweight world title fight in the co-feature.
Dietz (13-0, 12 KOs) is a 29-year-old from Neuwied, Germany, who stands 6-foot-8. In May, he stopped the 5-0 Halim Haxhijaj in three rounds.
Shala (16-1, 6 KOs) is a 28-year-old from Munich, Germany, listed at 6-foot-3. In April, he was taken out in two rounds by the 18-0 Oleksandr Zakhozhyi. Shala returned in September with a third-round TKO of the 21-22-3 Emilio Ezequiel Zarate.
As for the strawweight title fight, that pits Sarah Bormann vs. Jennifer Sabrina Meza for the WBO belt left vacant when undisputed champion Seniesa Estrada retired.
Bormann (18-1, 7 KOs) is a 34-year-old who lives in Nidderau, Germany. She fell short in her previous title shot, losing a split decision to junior flyweight titleholder Yesica Nery Plata in December 2023. Bormann returned to 105 for her May decision over the 11-6 Tamara Elisabet Demarco.
Meza (9-3, 3 KOs) is a 33-year-old from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She turned pro in 2019 and lost three of her first seven fights — against foes with records of 1-3-1, 2-3-2 and 2-6. — but has won five in a row since. It helps that Meza has moved down two weight classes from flyweight to strawweight. Still, there is a marked difference between the quality of fighters Meza has faced and the experience Bormann will bring to the ring.
Sunday, December 15: Dillian Whyte vs. Ebenezer Tetteh (DAZN)
The broadcast begins at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (6 p.m. GMT).
Whyte (30-3, 20 KOs) is a former heavyweight title challenger who last fought in March, when he stopped Christian Hammer after three rounds. The 36-year-old Londoner to 30-3 (20 KOs) first lost in 2015, suffering a seventh-round technical knockout against Anthony Joshua. He then scored 11 straight victories, including good wins over the likes of Robert Helenius in 2017, Joseph Parker in 2018 and Oscar Rivas in 2019. That winning streak came to an end in August 2020 after a highlight-reel knockout at the hands of Alexander Povetkin.
Whyte defeated Povetkin in their immediate rematch, however, putting him away in four rounds in March 2021. The victory landed Whyte a shot at Tyson Fury in April 2022 for the WBC heavyweight title. Fury finished Whyte in six rounds. Whyte returned in November 2022 with a majority decision over Jermaine Franklin Jnr and then spent nearly 16 months away before taking on Hammer.
He was supposed to have a rematch with Anthony Joshua in 2023 but tested positive for a banned substance; according to Sky Sports, a forensic expert later concluded that Whyte had used a contaminated supplement. Whyte was also suspended earlier in his career for using a banned stimulant, which the fighter also said came from a supplement.
Tetteh (23-1, 20 KOs) is a 36-year-old from Accra, Ghana, who started his career as a light heavyweight and then moved up on the scales, competing briefly at cruiserweight before moving up to heavyweight.
Tetteh lost in his sole step up, when he faced Daniel Dubois in September 2019 and was dispatched in 130 seconds. Tetteh has won four in a row since then, most recently taking a fifth-round TKO in April over the 5-1 Ayaovi Agbonson.
Their fight will headline at the Europa Sports Park in Gibraltar, a British territory located on the southern tip of Spain.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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