Sherdog Boxing: The Weekly Wrap

.@PaulMalignaggi wants ALL the smoke pic.twitter.com/ZmYmE5Oek2

— Brooklyn To The World (@brooklyntoworld) March 7, 2019

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Deontay Wilder Fighting Dominic Breazale on Showtime PPV May 18

There weren’t many fights that weren’t going to disappoint fans after Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury opted not to face each other next. But, this week it was reported that Deontay Wilder would be fighting Dominic Breazale, a 21-1 former Olympian who has lost only to Anthony Joshua as a professional, on Showtime PPV May 18. While that looks great on paper, the truth is that very few people expect anything but a Wilder KO victory, and with Breazale not being especially well known, this fight is nothing but a disappointment. Hopefully, it will be better in reality.

While fans aren’t happy with the fight, British heavyweight Dillian Whyteis really unhappy with the fight. He is threatening to sue the WBC if Breazale gets to fight Wilder before he does. Wilder-Whyte would be a better fight for fans, but litigation could slow any momentum the heavyweight division has to a crawl, so a lawsuit would likely do more harm than good for the sport.

Danny Garcia Fighting Adrien Granados April 20 on Fox

Danny “Swift” Garcia will be looking to bounce back from his loss to Shawn Porter over a year ago by fighting Adrien Granados April 20 on Fox. That is a decent fight, but one which Garcia will be expected to win. Also, on the card, portly Mexican heavyweight Andy Ruiz will be facing Alexander Dimitrenko and Brandon Figueroa will fight Yonfrez Parejo.

Gamboa-Cuellar, Rigondeaux-Ceja Likely for the Summer

It appears that PBC is giving two of its fighters that were once considered elite a couple of tough matchups this summer. Rumors are that former Olympic Gold Medalist Yuriorkis Gamboa will be fighting Jesus Cuellar, the Argentinian veteran currently on a two-fight losing streak to Abner Mares and Gervonta Davis, with the hope of looking impressive enough to get a bout against Gervonta Davis himself immediately after. That would be a great test for Davis, and a fascinating fight.

Guillermo Rigondeaux, another Cuban gold medalist, whose only loss as a professional was to Vasyl Lomachenko will likely fight Mexican Julio Ceja, the former WBC super-bantamweight champion.

Gervonta Davis Warrant Issued in Virginia

Before Yuriorkis Gmboa starts planning for a potential fight against Gervonta Davis, he should know “Tank” is once again, in legal jeopardy. Davis had a warrant issued for his arrest this week in Virginia, after allegedly assaulting a man at an ATM in a DC area mall, then shoving a cop who investigated the altercation.

However, the alleged incident took place on Feb. 17, but Davis wasn’t arrested until this week. That bothered Leonard Ellerbe, who said "Obviously, this is just an allegation," he added. "Again, it just seems odd to me that a black man, allegedly, pushes or shoves -- and I'm just reading what the TMZ article says -- a police officer and he doesn't get arrested on the spot, then a couple of weeks later, then they issue an arrest warrant based on their internal investigation. That just seems a little odd to me."

That is odd, unfortunately Davis getting in legal trouble isn’t. Rumors re that Davis will fight in Baltimore this summer, as long as this legal issue doesn’t trip up his plans.

Paulie Malignaggi (Likely) Fighting MMA Fighter Artem Lobov in Bareknuckle Boxing

Paulie “The Magic Man” Malignaggi will be competing in bareknuckle boxing, most likely against MMA fighter Artem Lobov and most likely in June. Malignaggi is the most accomplished former boxer to compete in the “Bareknuckle Fighting Championships” which has tended to be dominated by former MMA fighters, with very few former boxers making the move.

This could be fascinating. Malignaggi’s biggest weakness as a boxer was always his lack of power. With no gloves on, it would only make sense that without gloves his knockout ability would increase dramatically. For years, debates have raged about what boxing techniques would work or wouldn’t work without boxing’s relatively large gloves. Would the shoulder roll work, would hands break from throwing too many head shots? We never really found out because MMA involves too many other disciplines and the level of boxing in bareknuckle stuff hasn’t been high enough to make a determination. Although he has been retired from prizefighting since March 2017, the idea of an (almost) elite former boxer taking off the gloves and showing the world what high level boxing looks like without the gloves is fascinating enough to become must-see TV.

One fight that is not fascinating in any way is Vitor Belfort’s proposed boxing match with Roy Jones Jr. While this week, Roy said he was game as long as he had six weeks to prepare, there is nothing good that could come out of making this match. Vitor Belfort is 41, and Roy Jones Jr. is 50. Both men need to give up on the idea of competing and stop taking punches to the head, before “y’all musta forgot” refers to their pugilistic dementia.

One crossover fight that will also thankfully (likely) not be happening is Conor-Floyd 2. While this week, McGregor said “A rematch will be interesting no doubt" while analyzing the 2017 matchup, Floyd quickly shot down that idea, telling TMZ “Everybody wants a rematch with me” while noting how Oscar De La Hoya has essentially been begging for Canelo-Floyd 2 as well.