An average of 1,282,000 people watched the opener of the three-bout broadcast, in which Nigerian heavyweight prospect Efe Ajagba (9-0, 8 KOs) stopped 46-year-old American veteran Amir Mansour (23-4-1, 16 KOs, 1 NC) following two one-sided rounds.
“Tyson Fury’s going to fight in either May or June in the United States against a top contender,” Arum said to Fighthub. “We have offers out, and we’re waiting for a signed contract. Wilder apparently is going to do an interim fight as well on the 18th, I think, and then hopefully we can match them up because we tried to sign Wilder, and give him a tune-up fight, then have him fight Tyson Fury, but they decided to do the tune-up fight themselves, which is their prerogative. But we’re still obviously open and we’ll sit down with him to do a match between Fury and Wilder sometime the end of this year,” Arum said.
Cool sounding name ... but his opposition so far has been as about as weak possible ... http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/825852
James Wilson is set to face undefeated Nick Jones on March 21st. Daniel Dubois will face Richard Lartey on April 13th.
Fa is being promoted by Di Bella - so his slow rate of progression and "conservative" choice of opponents is probably to be expected. That's just the way Lou Di Bella works. I don't think there's any real money behind Arias. He's probably a bit awkward to find useful opponents for.
This is my opinion (so far), too. His last opponent was not a good fighter to look good against, either, as his game is built around smothering his opponent's work. I think a George Arias/Cassius Chaney matchup would be a reasonable next step for both fighters - at least in terms of getting them some attention - though the winner would not, in my own opinion, do anything to change my opinion of his ceiling in the division.
Reasonable step-up opponent for Teslenko. Ian has had been overweight in his past two fights and his age is getting to be a factor - but I could see him applying enough pressure on Teslenko to require him to use his jab effectively to keep Lewison off of him for 2-3 rounds. But Teslenko should be able to take over after that and I see a likely mid-round stoppage win for Oleksandr.
The Ruiz Jr - Dimitrenko fight is interesting. We know Dimitrenko lies down when he is hurt early - and we know Ruiz Jr is at his best in the first 4 rounds or so. So there is a very good chance that Andy stops him early - but if he doesn't - Dimitrenko will have a chance to go to work when Andy is forced to take some rounds off. Aside from Parker - it's been a few years since Ruiz Jr. has fought somebody with a credible offense.
Looks like Marcellos Wilder is a late addition to the Spence Jr/Garcia card. I don't recall his opponent's name but his record suggests he has the perfect blend of inexperience and lack of talent
Now New York-based Swedish heavyweight Otto Wallin (20-0) has relinquished his position as mandatory challenger for the EBU title currently held by the SES promoted Agit Kabayel. Wallin will instead concentrate on the US market and makes his debut for Salita Promotions on April 13 in Atlantic City with a fight against Nick Kisner. Otto Wallin won the EU title in his last fight which was April 21 of last year and hasen´t fought since - but others have and the result of that is a steady climb in the world ratings. The Swede is now #5 with both the IBF and WBA, #11 with the WBO and #36 with the WBC. As for Kabayel, he will now be allowed to make another voluntary defence of the EBU title and he is also close to the big fights: he is #8 with the WBC, #3 IBF and #9 WBO but not ranked by the WBA.
Still no opponent named for Kennedy for his March 6th bout - so I suspect he won't be fighting on that date at all. According to this - https://www.*****.net/2019/03/06/niall-kennedy-fight-march-16-bostons-house-blues/ - his Murphy Boxing promoters are trying to aggressively step up Kennedy in 2019. The article includes a quote by Kennedy calling out Darmani Rock. At this point I think you'd have to say that Kennedy has fought a couple guys in Santos and Caudle that are tougher than anybody Rock has faced yt - even if Caudle did get a Draw against him.
