'Ring III' takes place Saturday from the Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York. Unlike the ill-fated 'Ring II' card back in early May, which took place in Times Square, there will actually be a paid audience for this well rounded card. Ticket sales are said to be lagging for this show, but hey, at least this time around there are tickets available, right?
This venue has a listed capacity of 14,000 and is best known for hosting tennis (namely the U.S. Open). In case there is any chance of rain, no worries, it has a retractable roof. Those who make the decision to attend this event will most likely see some solid fights.
I'll go on the record now and say that it will have more action than what took place on May 2. Yeah, I know, that is a 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 low bar. But in light of Turki Alalshikh's proclamations about not wanting 'Tom and Jerry fights', there is some pressure on everyone to perform --- not just to come out victorious and unscathed.
Yes, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 you win matters.
Ring
Curiously, the main event for this card is the super middleweight contest between Edgar 'the King of New York (who nobody in NYC knows)' Berlanga, and Hamzah Sheeraz. It's an interesting match-up of two boxers fighting for their place in the upper echelon at 168.
The boastful Berlanga has just gotten done with his victory lap for losing every round versus Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in 2024, and he recently bounced back by stopping the over-matched Jonathan Gonzalez in one round. He still has a set of heavy hands and is promising an explosive victory this weekend. Sheeraz is making his debut in the weight class, after getting a dubious draw against Carlos Adames for the WBC middleweight belt in February. It was a rather listless performance and it left you wondering if he had simply outgrown 160 at age 26.
It says here that if Sheeraz, who is now working with Andy Lee, ditches the conventional wisdom that he should box and circle the ring, and decides to be on his front foot and be the aggressor in a fundamentally sound fashion, he will win this fight. The bottom line is that Berlanga still packs a solid punch, but he has shown to be a bit of a front runner when forced on his heels.
Ring
Now, the match-up that most of the hard-core boxing fans are looking forward to the most is the one pitting WBC lightweight champion, Shakur Stevenson, and the hard-charging, William Zepeda. When Mr. Alalshikh made his above-mentioned statements, many figured that was directed at the slick-boxing Stevenson. After all, he hasn't exactly been in any 'fight of the year' candidates, and he has had fans walking out of his fights before the final bell more than once.
With that being said, Stevenson is a pure boxer, and a very good one at that. He has never claimed to be the modern day Mathew Saad Muhammad. But he has promised to put on a spectacular performance. All I ask is that he attacks Zepeda with the same ferocity as he has Mike Coppinger this week. (C'mon, leave Copp alone!! He's a writer, not a fighter!)
But on the flip side, it has to be said that Zepeda has to do his part on Saturday night. Too many times I've seen fighters get hit with stuff they don't see and then suddenly become very reluctant to let their hands go. Or they lose early rounds and as Teddy Atlas says, ''make a silent agreement'' and settle for just going the distance and losing a lopsided decision. And usually it's the boxer who gets all the blame for a dull affair.
Yeah, it takes two 𝘯𝘰𝘵 to tango.
Golden Boy Promotions
Zepeda has to be willing to exchange early and often -- even if he comes out second best in them. There will be a price he will pay to get to the places he wants and needs to be versus the sharp counter-punching skills of Stevenson. Lose early battles to eventually win the war. There will be a price to pay to win this fight.
Did those rounds against Tevin Farmer expose Zepeda, or did they properly prepare him for Stevenson?
Also on this pay-per-view card (hey, that's not my call, go complain to DAZN) is the WBC junior welterweight title tilt between Alberto Puello, and the always aggressive, Subriel Matias. This is the classic boxer-vs-puncher matchup. Puello is a southpaw who knows how to use the ring to create space and operate. In his last two bouts he has defeated the highly regarded, Gary Antuanne Russell, and then got past the difficult, Sandor Martin.
Ring
Matias is a guy that only knows how to come in one direction inside that ring -- forward. He has a two-fisted attack, but it was my observation that even in scoring an eighth round TKO over Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela, that he has lost an inch off his fastball. Fighters of this nature have a tendency to erode quickly over time. I like Puello here to win a decision.
Finally, there is the light heavyweight clash between two Ring rated boxers in David Morrell (number eight) and Imam Khataev. This figures to be a slugfest between two boxers have scored a combined 18 stoppages in 22 professional outings between them. But there is a bit of a dark cloud hanging over this bout as it was revealed that Khataev was found to have clomifine in his system from an out-of-competition drug test which was conducted last April.
As of Wednesday afternoon, that fight was still scheduled to take place.
3KR
This week on 'the 3 Knockdown Rule', Mario Lopez and I welcomed Todd Grisham, who will be calling these fights for DAZN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcKOxIhzjok&t=2101s
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https://linktr.ee/3knockdownrule
