The biggest stories to watch before Teofimo López against George Cambosos and Stephen Fulton before Brandon Figueroa

Boxing fans should be ready for a full Saturday night with a couple of big events. In DAZN (20:00 ET), Teofimo Lopez has finally entered the ring with George Cambosos Jr. while he has a Showtime card (22:00 ET) Stephen Fulton Jr. returns to Las Vegas and Brandon Figueroa for a super gallant weight unification fight.

Lopez will defend his WBA, IBF and WBO lightweight titles against Kanbosos in a fight that has been repeatedly scheduled since the initial bag offering in February. Meanwhile, Figueroa will put on his WBC world weightlifting belt against Fulton, who is jeopardizing his WBO world title in a unification fight that anchors the action on Showtime.

As we end the night of fighting, let’s look at some of the biggest stories leading up to a huge Saturday night.

1. The time has finally come for Lopez to move forward

Triller’s attempt was made to splash the world of boxing with Lopez vs. In the bag to earn the promotion rights of Cambos. one of the most frustrating sports trips In 2021. Unfortunately, it also resulted in a wasted nearly a year of Lopez’s career, and in just one year Lopez shared many of the Fighter of the Year awards with Tyson Fury. Instead of quickly taking care of the IBF’s mandatory duties against the Cambodians and ending 2021 with a second fight, probably against one of the big names in the lightweight division, Lopez was left in neutral as the date was repeatedly advanced. All things came with the most hilarious delay, as Triller canceled his Oct. 4 date when CEO Ryan Kavanaugh “realized” it was Monday’s date. NFL the season would be in conflict with Monday Night Football, a major American sport since the 1970s. Although Lopez eventually agreed to a date change – less than one of four changes to the “official” date, with many other dates released – he was rejected by Kanbosos and Triller. they decided to miss their bag offer, and gave the duties to Matchroom Boxing, who was in charge of booking a new date with little drama.

Dangerous of Kanbososi, who is a credible and skilled fighter, is the biggest story to come on Saturday, hopefully Lopez will finally move on to more fights that fans really want to see. It may start with a rematch from Vasiliy Lomachenko, who in October 2020 became a joint lightweight champion with the long-standing pound elite. But the chances for big fights are plentiful in light weight. Devin Haney, Gervonta “Tank” Davis and even Ryan Garcia are big money fights in the division. Cambodians will get their shot because boxing is structured in a way where mandatory opponents are often mandatory for punitive bodies and not anyone else. Now is the time for Lopez to take care of business as expected before moving on to bigger and better things.

2. Fulton vs Figueroa is a good fight

Unification fights are almost never bad for boxing. Not only is Fulton and Figueroa battling to reconcile the 122-pound WBC and WBO titles, the winner has a legitimate chance of establishing himself as the best junior featherweight in the world, with Murodjon Akhmadaliev otherwise claimed to be the only two-belt champion. . Already marked by the squares of having a unification struggle and between two of the three elite fighters in the division, Fulton vs Figueroa is also just one. good fight. No man is a superstar in terms of public perception, but it is these types of fights that balance high risk with great reward that can take both to the next level.

Figueroa is an action fighter, happy to hit the pace and release his hands. This can be a great stylistic challenge for Fulton, more than a straightforward and technical boxer, building an entire game through a fantastic jab. This stylistic conflict is interesting and could make the fight worth the importance of the division of the fight. On a night with two strong cards of boxing action, Figueroa and Fulton may be the ones who give a fight that lets them all talk.

3. Both cards have amazing depth

With boxing it’s easy to expect boxing tickets to be a major battle, even if they manage so much. Instead, DAZN and Showtime cards have multiple compelling battles. Aside from the main events, here are some fights to look at:

• Azinga Fuzile vs Kenichi Ogawa: DAZN clashes with Fuzile and Ogawa over an empty IBF junior lightweight title. Like Fulton vs Figueiroa, a slicker boxer (Fuzile) is a fight starring a more direct attacker (Ogawa). This should be a good fight for a world championship.
• Ra’eese Aleem vs Eduardo Baez: The Showtime superbantam collaboration may not have a world title, but it’s an interesting clash of a hot prospect from Aleem and a tough opponent from Baez, who is struggling to give the fighters their first career failures. Baez will look to postpone another career when he faces Aleem, who had to face former joint champion Danny Roman when Roman came out of the fight, apparently to protect his No. 1 IBF standings.
• Gary Antonio Russell vs Alexandro Santiago: Russell is an undefeated prospect, and suffered a disastrous, unbeaten result in his final outing, starting with a 16-second head-to-head battle with Emmanuel Rodriguez. Santiago is just a light touch, entering an eight-game winning streak and arguably deserved a win with Jerwin Ancajas in the 2018 IBF heavyweight title.