We fight fans have a solid schedule to look forward to from this coming weekend until the end of the year. Some excellent year-end match ups that could really give us some superb action to see the year out with a bang, get going this Saturday, when we will have the Chantelle Cameron-Katie Taylor rematch live on DAZN, and the supremely intriguing David Benavidez-Demeterius Andrade fight, live on Showtime PPV.
The latter will mark Showtime’s very last pay-per-view offering, the network to walk away from boxing very soon. This is sad news, but Saturday’s clash of unbeaten 168 pounders, each having a wholly different style and approach, should prove exciting, and a fitting way for Showtime to exit big-time boxing.
The remainder of the solid year-end schedule features the following good fights:
December 2: Ryan Garcia’s return against Oscar Duarte
December 9: Regis Prograis Vs. Devin Haney
December 16: Bam Rodriguez Vs. Sunny Edwards
December 23: The big one! Eight fights, topped by Deontay Wilder-Joseph Parker and Anthony Joshua-Otto Wallin, to go down in Saudi Arabia
December 26: Naoya Inoue Vs. Marlon Tapales in a potential thriller of a super-bantamweight unification battle.
Yeah, there’s a whole lot to look forward to over the final few weeks of 2023.
Getting back to Saturday and Benavidez-Andrade. This one, a genuine boxer Vs. puncher affair (although Benavidez, the puncher, can box, and Andrade, the boxer, can punch with sharpness and spite). Benavidez, 27-0(23) is one of the most consistently exciting fighters around today. Andrade, perfect at 32-0(19) is one of the slickest fighters operating today, while it could be said that “Boo Boo” is one of the more avoided fighters on the scene today.
Credit to both guys for taking this fight. There will be a lot on the line. Benavidez, as we all know, wants that big fight with Canelo (and Eddie Hearn says he may get it in 2024, if he gets past Andrade and looks good in doing so). Andrade is happy to have got himself a big fight, and the older man, at 35 to Benavidez’ 26 years, is determined to win it.
Benavidez is the favourite going in, but Andrade and his southpaw bag of tricks cannot be written off at all. We could be treated to something special with this one. As the saying goes, someone’s O has to go! Can Andrade outbox Benavidez, avoiding “The Mexican Monster’s” big shots as he does so? Will Benavidez get frustrated if he is unable to land his big shots? Or will Benavidez’ sheer strength and power have Andrade on the run, looking to survive? Might Benavidez’ lethal combination of raw aggression, speed, power and the ability to cut off the ring prove too much for Andrade?
Add it all up, and Benavidez-Andrade really is a quite fascinating fight. As are a number of the other rumbles we can look ahead to as the end of the years closes in.