Braehmer, McDonnell In World Title Action This Weekend

The new season gets off to a less than thunderous bang this weekend but there are a few good fight cards happening today and tomorrow in a few select areas.

Our first stop is the Energie-Verbund Arena in Dresden, Germany where WBA “regular” light heavyweight champ Juergen Braehmer, 46-2 (34), meets the challenge posed by Konni Konrad, 22-1-1 (11).

Braehmer looks to make the fifth defense of his reign after turning back the aspirations of Enzo Maccarinelli, Roberto Bolonti, Pawel Glazewski and Robin Krasniqi since winning the WBA belt in 2014.

That list of names on Braehmer’s title defense resume doesn’t feature anyone in the first tier of the light heavyweight division and the inclusion of Konrad simply continues that trend.

But, as former longtime WBO cruiserweight champ Marco Huck found out a few weeks ago, a challenger can’t be written off just because he’s largely an unknwn commodity.

Konrad previously held the WBA International strap and his only loss came at the hands of Denis Inkin at super middle by UD in 2006. After that contest Konrad was out of the ring for four years followed by a two year hiatus.

Since then he won the WBA International trophy and defended it via a draw last year against Mehdi Amar, before winning two bouts over veteran but undistinguished competition.

Braehmer is an awkward lefty with good fundamental skills, is fairly hard to hit and will do whatever it takes to produce a win. Consequently, this is a tough ask of Konrad, who hasn’t been in the ring with anyone quite like the Schwerin southpaw.

But, Braehmer will turn 37 years of age next month and could be overlooking Konrad in favor of mandatory defenses down the road against the likes of higher profile opponents Andrzej Fonfara and Artur Beterbiev, the WBA’s top ranked challengers.

An even bigger prize for Braehmer would be a chance to take on the WBA’s “Undisputed” champ, Sergey Kovalev.

First, however, Braehmer must bear down and get the job done tonight in Dresden, which he likely to do.

The undercard on the show sees veteran cruiserweight Mateusz Masternak, 35-3 (25), facing Carlos Ailton Nascimento, 12-1 (9), for the WBA Intercontinental belt.

This will be Nascimento’s first trip outside his native Brasil and is facing a far more experienced opponent.

There are two Women’s world title contests in Boxing-mad Mexico, with WBC light fly queen Ibeth Zamora Silva, 23-5 (9), and WBA minimumweight ruler Anabel Ortiz, 17-3 (3), in action.

Silva will be engaging Esmeralda Moreno, 31-7-1 (10), for a third time. The two met previously in 2007 and 2008, with Silva taking the first contest in only her second pro bout while the more experienced Moreno won the rematch.

Moreno will be trying to regain the WBC crown, which she held in 2012, while Silva will be looking to make a fourth defense. This one should be a genuine barnburner!

Ortiz, who lost a Mexican light fly title scrap to Silva in 2008, lost two world title contests before she hit paydirt in 2013, winning the WBA prize and has since defended it four times.

The champ will be giving away eight years in age to the 21 year old Robles, 11-1 (5), a Tijuana southpaw who has won nine straight contests.

Sunday sees the biggest fight of the weekend with a rematch for the WBA bantamweight crown between champion Jamie McDonnell, 26-2-1 (12), and Tomoki Kameda, 31-1- (19), at American Bank Center in the American city of Corpus Christi.

These two went at it tooth and nail in May with WBA king McDonnell coming off the floor in the third round to outwork former WBO titlist Kameda with a razor thin UD.

Will Kameda find a way to leverage his sharper skills and faster hands into a clear-cut victory against the durability and high work-rate of McDonnell?

This one could be explosive as Kameda feels he was on the wrong end of the judges’ scorecards last time out and the Tokyo stylist will likely try to KO the lanky Englishman McDonnell in the early going.

Chief support on the bill is provided by a clash at super middle with former WBC titlist Anthony Dirrell, 27-1-1 (22), in a ten rounder against Mexican middleweight campaigner Marco Antonio Rubio, 59-7-1 (51).

Both of these fighters are coming off losses with Dirrell losing his belt in an upset at the hands of Badou Jack in April while Rubio was gunned down in two rounds a year ago by the greatly feared WBA middleweight supremo Gennady Golovkin.

Rubio can really punch at middleweight and it will be interesting to see if “El Veneno”, who turned pro as a welterweight, can carry that pop up in weight against the younger, bigger, stronger and possibly faster Dirrell.

Rubio has only lost to quality opponents but has been stopped on four occasions and defense remains his weak point. For the 35 year old to leave Texas with a victory, he’ll have to take away the American’s confidence by landing bombs early but must avoid getting caught flush himself.

Dirrell will need to establish his advantages from the first round and must punch first in exchanges, backing Rubio up and looking to crack his opponent’s less than granite jaw.

This one should be a good fight, for as long as it lasts, as it will likely be bombs away from the first bell. Dirrell should be able to produce a win here but Rubio will always have a puncher’s chance.