On the global stage the most interesting man in action is the very highly regarded Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev (18-0, 9). The IBF mandatory challenger was supposed to be fighting Sherman Williams though unfortunately Williams pulled out and left Pulev's team scrambling for another stay busy opponent for their man. Obviously we don't expect anyone great for Pulev on late notice but in Joey Abell (29-6, 28) they've managed to get someone who isn't totally useless. Yeah Abell is no world beater but Pulev will need to be wary of the power Abell and will also be need to make sure he's not looking too far ahead, or we may see him falling to a major upset shock just as we saw of Denis Boytsov recently.
Pulev bout is one of two in Germany with the other being the 4th pro contest for the unbeaten Ilja Mezencev (3-0, 3). No opponent has been named here so we're not sure what to expect unfortunately.
Staying in mainland Europe for a moment, there is also a bout in France as Julien Guibaud Ribaud (8-6-2, 2) faces Marouan Larouiche (6-5, 3) in what looks like an interesting national fight. Neither guy will be going far but national pride should see both of them giving their all.
Whilst the Pulev bout is, for us, the one with the most interesting fighter in it, it's far from the best fight of the night. That goes across the Atlantic to one of several US bouts thanks to a card in New Jersey. This show sees David Rodriguez (36-0, 34), returning to action after more than 2 years out, taking on the "Ding A Ling man" Darnell Wilson (24-17-3, 20) in one of the bouts. In another we see former Cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham (25-6, 12) taking on the limited Manuel Quezada (29-7, 18) in what we have as a somewhat close contest. And finally, in the main event, Amir Mansour (19-0, 14) fights Kelvin Price (14-1, 6).
It's certainly the New Jersey card that'd reccomend tuning in to if the Heavyweight scene is your thing.
A second American triple header take splace in New York. On this card the main event will see the hard hitting Natu Visinia (9-0, 8), who has scored 7 opening round KO's, taking on the stubborn Jonte Willis (9-7-1, 3) who gave Andy Ruiz, Joshua Tufte and Denis Bahktov a tough nights work. Although unbeaten in 9 this is the toughest test of Visinia's career by a long, long way.
In support of Visinia/Willis this card will have Ecudorian Olympian Ytalo Perea (5-1, 3) fighting Tyrone Gibson (1-4, 1) and Derric Rossy (28-7, 14) taking on a yet to be named opponent.
The one remaining bout in the US will see the unbeaten Joshua Tufte (14-0, 6) taking on the big hitting Richard Carmack (12-2, 10) in what will be Tufte's second defense of the United States Boxing Organisation Heavyweight title. This bout could see the unbeaten man giving a chin-checking but in all honesty Carmack may struggle to land cleanly on him.
Staying on the American continent we expect to see Mexican Hugo Trujillo (1-0, 1) fight a fellow Mexican in a fight for the vacant Mexican Heavyweight title. No opponent has yet to be named but this is certainly a bout that has us interested, mainly because we don't tend to get a lot of Mexican Heavyweight bouts.
It's not often that we can mention Azerbaijan but this Saturday gives us one of those rare opportunities as the country gives us yet another Heavyweight treble. Whilst none of the fighters involved in them are world class the fights themselves are all interesting.
For us the pick of the bunch is the rematch between veteran Timo Hoffmann (40-9-2-1, 23) and the hard hitting Steffen Kretschmann (16-2-0-1, 15). This bout, coming more than a year after their first bout was rained off, we kid you not, won't be great or even notable on the world stage but it one that sees the men finishing what they started. Unfortunately it does seem like they are friendly so we won't expect anything too violent but it should still be interesting all the same.
In the "secondary" bout if you will we expect to see Yakup Saglam (31-3, 28) putting his paper record on the line against Roman Golovashchenko (12-1, 10). Unfortunately Golovashchenko will be fighting for the first time in more than a year and is a natural Cruiserweight so this may not tell us much about Saglam if he can win.
The third Heavyweight bout, which we actually expect to be the first on the card, see local boy Elchin Ahmadov (0-0) making his professional debut as he takes on Latvian journeyman Janis Ginters (4-5, 4). Ginters, who is 4-0 (4) in Latvia is 0-5 outside of his homeland, we expect that losing run away from home to continue here.
Not too far from Azerbaijan, in Ukraine, we expect to see the tall Vladimir Tereshkin (17-0-1, 8) in action. Tereshkin is scheduled to fight his toughest test to date as he takes on Oleksiy Mazikin (14-9-2, 4). Although Mazikin is limited it's a more damning bout for Tereshkin who should have progressed beyond fights liek this at this point in his career.
Staying in Europe for just another moment, we expect to see Welshman Andy Jones (0-0) make his debut in Liverpool, England.
The one remaining bout, rather ironically will be the first one fought as Shane Cameron (29-3, 22) and Brian Minto (38-7, 24) "throw down" in New Zealand. This bout, in Aukland, will see the men trading leather for the WBO Oriental Heavyweight. Don't ask. If you take out the ludicrous title up for grabs here this could prove to be one of those genuinely enthralling bouts that Minto tends to get involved in. We think Cameron's strength and power will be too much in the end but this should be fun if you're able to find a stream for it.