ESPN+ and social media, 8:00 am ET, Shields vs. Marshall press conference. Given the tension between Shields and Marshall, and between Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner, this could be a useful communicator!
DAZN and YouTube, 9:00 pm ET, Yokasta Valle vs. Thi Thu Nhi Nguyen. A 105-pound unification from Costa Rica, where the IBF champion Valle has a home field against Nguyen from Vietnam, who arrives with the WBO belt. It’s abnormally significant for a Golden Boy Thursday show, though it’s actually not abnormally large. There is also a fight for the interim WBC title at 115 between Adelaida Ruiz and Sonia Osorio, as well as veteran Anabel Ortiz against María Micheo Santizo. It is a show based on women’s boxing, not the last of the weekend or the biggest, and here we will be. Bad Left Hook will have live coverage.
ESPN+ and social media, 8:00 am ET, Shields vs. Marshall weigh-in.
ESPN+, 7:00 p.m. ET, Christian Mbilli vs. DeAndre Ware. It’s a Canadian boxing bonanza this weekend, and boy, is it Canadian boxing. Here we have Mbilli, 27, taking a fifth straight sidestep of his career against Ware, 34, who is 3-3 in his last six. It’s better than the DAZN/UBP shows, but that’s not saying much.
DAZN, 8:00 p.m. ET, Josh Wagner vs. Jorge Sanchez. This is United Boxing Promotions of Ontario’s first show on DAZN, with the second taking place on Saturday night. Being really, completely honest, these are club-level shows; Wagner is undefeated, but he too is 29 years old and has had 12 fights in nine years as a professional.
ESPN+, 2:30 p.m. ET, Claressa Shields vs. Savannah Marshall, Mikaela Mayer vs. Alycia Baumgardner. I’m excited for this one. It’s undisputed at 160 between Shields and Marshall, two true rivals, and a three-belt unification at 130 between Mayer and Baumgardner, two other true rivals. There is no love lost around here. Marshall beat Shields in amateurs a long time ago, but she never followed through on that. She’s been talking about it forever anyway, and it clearly really pisses Shields off. They are both very confident. Mayer and Baumgardner are also very confident and have talked a lot. This will also be shown on Sky Sports in the UK. Bad Left Hook will have live coverage.
DAZN, 8:00 p.m. ET, Sukhdeep Singh vs. Xhuljo Vrenozi. Another UBP program from Brampton, Ontario. This one has Singh, another undefeated 29-year-old, born in India and based in Ontario, ranked No. 119 in the world by BoxRec at middleweight, against Albanian Vrenozi, now living in Italy, ranked No. 355 in the world. by BoxRec at junior middleweight. I really don’t understand this association, honestly. Surely Canadians aren’t hungry for this kind of great content behind a paywall.
FITE PPV, 11:00 pm ET, Social Gloves: Austin McBroom vs. AnEson Gib. This is more celebrity boxing. You might remember AnEsonGib for looking like he had no business in a boxing ring against Jake Paul in early 2020. He’ll be fighting someone named “Austin McBroom” whose name I think I recognize from another one of these events gone wrong and people didn’t pay me or something. The event also features former NBA player Nick “Swaggy P” Young vs. a guy named “Blue Face” and a battle between former NFL running backs Adrian Peterson, a legitimate legend, and Le’veon Bell, a former All-Pro. They’re third from the top below “Austin McBroom” and “Blue Face,” if you’re wondering what a celebrity really is in 2022. Anyway, I’m going to do this show as an experiment; it’s an overnight start on a night when there’s nothing else likely to drive site traffic, and I want to see how far interest in these things has spread. Jake Paul is one thing, he is a big name among American youth and his fights are on the main pay-per-views. KSI is something else, even, he is a big name among the British youth, he has some connection with the Paul brothers and his fights were on DAZN. This is… less than, to put it nicely, but I want to see what this does. Feel free to ignore it! Bad Left Hook will have live coverage.
