This is the main event of Showtime Championship Boxing tomorrow. It's for the WBA 135lb title that Abril rightfully earned in his official loss to Brandon Rios nearly a year ago. Abril hasn't fought since. Bogere is only slightly less rusty, last competing in June with a quick knockout of Manuel Leyva after hurting and dropping him several times. Some of my thoughts on the match-up, culled from other recent threads: Sharif "The Lion" Bogere is somewhat one dimensional, but has the heart and strength of his namesake: the king of the jungle. He became the #1 amateur boxer in Uganda to pave his way toward stardom in the US, and it's been a slow climb over the last five years despite his very popular ring entrances (coming out in a cage, wearing a disembodied lion's head for a hat) and fan-friendly style in the ring. He will be looking to make his name on Abril. Abril is no doubt craftier, and probably also holds the edge in speed and nimbleness. He'll be looking to make Bogere blow his offensive wad early and drag him into deep waters, knowing he tends to fade a bit and that Raymundo Beltran managed to hurt him late to both head and body after weathering the early storm. Then again, Abril doesn't have Beltran's heavy hands. The main card starts at 9pm EST, and the 10-round co-feature showcases velocious featherweight phenon Gary Russell Jr. against Russian fringe contender Vyacheslav Gusev. Some additional undercard bouts will air on Showtime Extreme beginning at 8pm EST.
The weigh-ins are actually happening now. They began at 5pm EST/2pm Pacific at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. I sent numerous queries to Golden Boy Promotions today asking if they were going to stream the weigh-in live, and got no response. Their UStream channel is currently idle. So I guess the answer is no.
Per Twitter: Gary Russell Jr. weighs in at 127lbs, over the FW limit. :shock: Vyacheslav Gusev also missed it by slightly less, at 126.5lbs. Both overweight, non-title, so - no biggie? :conf
Haven't seen much of Bogere or Abril outside of the Rios fight, highlights and maybe one Bogere fight.. And I don't think I'd give a fair judgement based off them fighting one time against one style.. Gary Russell Jr. weighing in over the limit is what caught my eye in the thread... He getting too big for FW?
Bogere by MD that should be a UD but the judges take pity on Abril because he was ripped off against Bam Bam
Damn, that Corona girl is sexy as hell. And is that my dude Cotto checking her in the back? I think so. Cotto knows.
