This Week in Boxing.

Hello fight fans and welcome to a new week in the boxing world. This week, we begin our coverage of the world’s major boxing action once again on Thursday as Daniel Ponce De Leon aims to extend his unbeaten streak of twenty-four straight wins against Celestino Caballero. The hard-punching De Leon acquired quite a reputation for himself last year and he could begin 2005 in even better style by getting rid of Caballero and earning himself a chance to fight for the IBF super bantamweight title. Caballero, sporting a record of twenty wins against two losses could easily achieve the same chance in this HBO Latino main event. On the under-card, Jhonny Gonzalez will face Adonis Rivas in an elimination bout for the WBC bantamweight title. Gonzalez is on a hot-streak these days, having stopped every one of his twelve opponents since losing two consecutive fights to Ricardo Vargas in 2002. Rivas is not in a similar vein of form, having suffered all five of his career losses in his last twelve fights.

On Friday, we turn our eye to Atlantic City and the WBO welterweight title fight between champion Antonio Margarito and challenger Sebastian Lujan. Margarito had not lost a fight in seven years before he ran into WBO light middleweight champion Daniel Santos. Now, Margarito looks to rebuild his former dominance in the welterweight division. Lujan was set to face WBO interim champion Kermit Cintron, but an injury to Cintron shelved those plans. However, Lujan’s misfortune soon turned to opportunity in the form of a title shot; how fortunate he will feel at the end of Margarito’s fists remains to be seen. A win for Margarito will secure an April showdown with Cintron at Caesars Palace. On the under-card, Ghanaian Joshua Clottey will try to grab his twenty-seventh win against Steve Martinez. Clottey holds the NABF welterweight title while Martinez is the interim NABC welterweight titlist. What do you call a Ghanaian fighter nicknamed “Satan” who has knocked out eighteen of his opponents? Anything he tells you to I’d say.

NABO light welterweight champion “Mighty” Mike Arnaoutis returns to action against Roberto Santa Cruz. They must like Mike at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez because this will be his third fight there in a row, whether it will be his third knockout there in a row depends on the toughness of Santa Cruz, who usually wins his fights by going the distance. That will be a tough assignment against Arnaoutis, a fighter expected to be a future star and one being pushed by Showtime who will televise this fight. Lastly on Friday, former lightweight champion Cesar Bazan returns to the ring, this time as a light welterweight. Bazan will fight Ernesto Zepeda at the Ft. McDowell Casino in Fountain Hills, Arizona.

A busy week ending in boxing erupts into a volcanic explosion on Saturday, as the entire boxing world will be watching the Staples Center in Los Angeles, USA to see if Bernard Hopkins can achieve his twentieth middleweight title defense. Challenger Howard Eastman however intends to crash the party and to ensure that he will emerge from his second world title fight with another title to add to his collection. With both fighters making open threats to take each other down, don’t blink as these two great middleweights collide. Jermain Taylor heads a fantastic under-card with his bout against Daniel Edouard. It seems as if Taylor is on a fast track to a title shot. Edouard may be the “Haitian Sensation,” but Taylor has proved to be adept at administering sensations of his own, namely the numb and sleepy varieties that follow the landing of his fists.

The middleweight madness will continue, as Kingsley Ikeke will try to make good on his promise to be the next middleweight champion by doing away with Marcos Primera. Meanwhile, the rest of this stellar card of boxing action resembles a British invasion as two of the United Kingdom’s finest in Junior Witter and Carl Froch will finally see major stateside action. No opponent is confirmed for Froch, not surprising seeing as most confirmed opponents usually try to get out of the job. Witter however does have his card marked for the night. Australian hard-case Lovemore N’dou is never shy of answering a challenge and this significant light welterweight fight alone would be a headliner anywhere else.

At the National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, featherweight prospect Bernard Dunne has an appointment with Englishman Jim Betts. It should be a glorious homecoming for Dunne if he remains unbeaten as the fight represents the first time he will be able to perform in front of the fans in his birth land of Ireland.

Finally for this week, we see the last of the action coming from Quebec in Canada as light heavyweight prospect Lucien Bute will meet Carl Handy in a fight for the NABF light heavyweight title. The southpaw Bute with a sledgehammer for a straight left hand has not allowed any of his opponents to last the distance against him yet, will Handy have what it takes, if so, at what price will that distinction come?

That’s it for this week. I hope you enjoy this week’s boxing action and don’t forget to check out “this week in boxing,” every week only at SaddoBoxing.com

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