HBO makes the right call on the Kovalev vs. Pascal II co-feature

There is a pair of 10-rounders in chief support for the unified (IBF, WBA & WBO) light heavyweight championship rematch in Québec on January 30th.

Fortunately, the vastly superior of these will be aired on HBO.

Dmitry Mikhaylenko vs. Karim Mayfield is for the USBA welterweight title, making it nominally less important than Renan St-Juste vs. Francis Lafrenière for the IBF middleweight International title - but is far worthier of being televised.

First off, neither St-Juste nor Lafrenière are rated top 15 at 160lb by the IBF. Mayfield isn't ranked at 147lb, either, but Mikhaylenko is #13. (which may or may not shift down a spot with Sammy Vasquez recently beating Aron Martinez in a WBC semifinal eliminator; Martinez is unrated by the IBF despite recently upsetting former IBF welterweight champ Devon Alexander)

Mikhaylenko vs. Mayfield will produce a viable contender for a world title (likely the Mechanic) even if the hardware at stake in Québec is on paper less of a springboard itself than an International belt. St-Juste vs. Lafrenière is simply a way to pad seats at the Bell Center with some local draws vying for a prize neither deserves, and which neither has a prayer of parlaying into a big fight. St-Juste is 43 years old and was stopped in his last two steps up by Anthony Dirrell and faded Allan Green. Lafrenière has a handful of losses and draws to regional level opponents I've never even heard of, and his best result is a TKO8 over Ghanaian journeyman Mohammed Akrong (which is a result St-Juste also has on his ledger, and is his 4th or 5th best) - wiped out in a minute flat by Rocky Fielding. :!:

Mikhaylenko vs. Mayfield also, while it has a clear favorite, promises to be far more competitive. Lafrenière is sixteen years the junior of St-Juste but not in his league. I could understand this being given 2nd billing for the benefit of the Québécois faithful, but it should by no means be given TV priority over Mikhaylenko vs. Mayfield as that is proper HBO BAD or PBC main event material on its own.

 

Even making this a triple-header would be a mistake. With all due respect to St-Juste and Lafrenière, an international audience doesn't want to see them.

Hopefully it really is further down the running order (that is, over before HBO WCB goes on the air) instead of slotted in between, meaning there will be a gap in live boxing coverage after Mikhaylenko vs. Mayfield with HBO showing tons of clips and punditry gab during the wait for Kovalev and Pascal ring walks as the middleweight contest is going on.

 

Well, per Twitter some people are calling St-Juste vs. Lafrenière a "long-awaited showdown" - maybe some beef there, with Lafrenière calling him out? Not sure. Of interest to people in Montreal, probably, but not the rest of us. Even if there was an upset I'd hate to see this make it onscreen at the expense of the welterweights.

Speaking of which - yeah, Mayfield is like a poor man's, weaker Shawn Porter. Mikhaylenko should be able to carefully time and counter his rushes and rack up loads of points using his length & reach. Probably no stoppage, though.

 

We've seen odder choices, and cards in Canada in particular have been known to push the homers up the running order even when it makes little sense.

 

I actually like Renan, and if he were maybe in a Demers rematch I'd say there was some argument for weighing it against Mikhaylenko vs. Mayfield, but this is just a domestic club fighter.

...and he isn't super TV friendly with his style, despite having some one-punch KO power.

Mikhaylenko vs. Mayfield, even though Dmitry is still largely unknown and Karim having been written off after peaking as just an "ESPN2 FNF" tier fringe contender, is a classic technician vs. swarmer match-up, and honestly despite the rankings of any individual org they are probably both top fifteen welters.

 

Oh you're right, he did make his debut on HBO already - Pascal vs. Kovalev I, actually.

I'd forgotten that, and just assumed his only exposure to American TV fans was on that NBC Sports undercard when he beat Ronald Cruz. I know he got screwed on the Kovalev vs. Caparello HBO card when he fought Sechew Powell and didn't make it on TV since they did a split-site broadcast with Rios vs. Chaves in Las Vegas.

 

What's the story of St-Juste vs. Lafrenière, why is that "long-awaited"? Were they amateur rivals? Some kind of beef outside the ring? (like Malignaggi and Broner, over a girl)

Seems they've been operating at different levels their entire pro careers, so I'm not sure why there ever would have been local demand for it.