This Week in Boxing.

Hello again fight fans. It is a busy week in the boxing world and we begin our overview of the coming action by looking at Thursday’s card in New York, where a pair of Russian cousins take the next step in their undefeated careers. Heavyweight Sultan Ibragimov will take on Al “Ice” Cole for the WBO Asia Pacific heavyweight title, whatever that is. Not to ridicule the achievements of these fighters, but even Ibragimov must confer with the fact that he should move on to compete for greater distinctions, while Cole can hardly argue that he has seen better times. Timor Ibragimov fights Ronald Bellamy in another heavyweight contest on the under-card. Will the Ibragimov’s still be able to boast undefeated records at the end of the night? We will find out on Friday morning, but not before we also discover the exploits of come-backing heavyweight Shannon Briggs and featherweight Kevin Kelley, two former world champions aiming for those heady heights once again.

On Friday, Showtime delivers an exciting doubleheader in which Koba Gogoladze will fight Almazbek Raiymkulov and Kelly Pavlik takes on Dorian Beaupierre. Neither Gogoladze nor Raiymkulov have sampled the bittersweet taste of defeat in their careers, but one of them must in this fight. Who will move on, and who will begin to rebuild their damaged career? If super middleweight Kelly Pavlik has a good amount of ring generalship and defensive mastery, he has not needed it too much thus far in his boxing career. Only three of Pavlik’s twenty-three opponents have survived his power, can Dorian Beaupierre, a fighter whose finest achievements to date are a brace of draws with Daniel Edouard hope to not only survive, but win?

Rocky Juarez vs. Juan Carlos Ramirez is a fight that has explosion written all over it. Juarez sent shockwaves throughout the featherweight division when he stunned Guty Espadas Jr. with a huge left hook, and Ramirez might be partial to a few trips to the canvas, but he throws a ton of hurtful punches towards his opponent before he does so. Ramirez has failed to conquer the bigger names in the division; something Juarez does not aspire to emulate, however, the young former Olympian Juarez must dispatch Ramirez before he can attempt an assault on the world ranks.

Merry old England sees world title action once again on Friday night as Clinton Woods battles Rico Hoye for the vacant IBF light heavyweight title. The championship presence in the fight is available from the ashes of the fight between Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver for the legitimate title, but after three failed tries, Woods is not complaining. Hoye earned his place to fight for the title with a debatable decision over former champion Montell Griffin, and Hoye will want to win impressively to erase any doubts of his being able to fight for the title in the first place. David Haye does not believe in taking things easy, and not even a stoppage at the hands of IBO cruiserweight champion Carl Thompson could persuade him. Glenn Kelly, once embarrassed by the wizardry of former pound-for-pound star Roy Jones Jr., may feel that his presence is that of a sacrifice to the younger Haye. Perhaps if Kelly can conjure another loss on Haye’s record, the impetuous Briton might decide to take a more methodical route to the top.

Jose Luis Castillo and Julio Diaz are two fighters who want recognition as the best lightweight fighter in the world. While the likes of Diego Corrales still has an objection to that argument, the ultimate question of who is the best will remain unanswered. The winner of the Castillo-Diaz fight will likely retain the right to face Corrales, and while both have paid innumerable dues to this industry, they know they have more to accomplish. Diaz approaches Vegas having disposed of his IBF title in the hope of being able to restore his championship status with Castillo’s WBC belt. A gamble befitting the nature of the city that will host it, only Diaz hasmorethan a roll of the dice and pure luck to see his gamble pay off. In the chief support bout, America’s Saturday night fight action ends when Jeff Lacy defends his IBF super middleweight title against Rubin Williams. Thought to have bigger fish to fry, Lacy’s real battle may be with complacency here. However, the challenge of DeMarcus Corley should not have posed a threat to Miguel Cotto, and we all saw that Cotto got more than he bargained for from Corley. Williams may never get another title chance, and a man with nothing to lose can do extraordinary things.

Over in Germany on the same night, Felix Sturm goes against Bert Schenk in an interesting middleweight clash. In the fallout of Bernard Hopkins’ future plans in boxing, namely departing the middleweight division to annex the light heavyweight crown from Glen Johnson, Sturm should be a major player in deciding the fate of Hopkins’ fragmented titles. Schenk has not lost a fight since losing the WBO middleweight title to Armand Krajnc four years ago. A win for either should see them transported to fight for world honors across the Atlantic, but either way, the German crowd will likely see a great fight, one that holds real significance.

Stay tuned next week as we take a closer look at the world’s boxing action in “this week in boxing,” only at SaddoBoxing.com

Jim Cawkwell can be reached at jimcawkwell@yahoo.co.uk