The championship fight. The pinnacle of achievement across combat sports for centuries. A premiere attraction that draws millions every year. But not all title bouts are created equally.
So which title bouts every week are the ones to watch? We’ll look over every title fight from across the combat sports landscape and give you the five best based on five criteria:
- Competitiveness: Is this an even matchup? Or just a warm body to throw at a champion? It’s a title fight, so we want the best possible at that division in that promotion.
- Excitement: How exciting will this fight be? A clash of two elite talents throwing everything they have at each other in an attempt to win the gold? Or a half-dead plod-fest devoid of action or risk?
- Juice: A sort of catch-all term for all the factors behind the matchup. Is there a story leading up to the match? A true rivalry? Anticipated rematch? Do the fighters dislike each other? Were the circumstances leading to the fight extraordinary, or was it just a promoter putting two names against each other? Is there a lot of excitement or hype going into it?
- Prestige: Applies to the belt itself, but also to the fighter wearing it. Is this a long-tenured champion defending? Is this an interim title or one that was vacated? Has the champion increased the prestige of the title or is this a fight that will increase the prestige of it?
- Viewing Ease: We all don’t mind suffering for our art (or hobbies), but sometimes paying twenty dollars for a choppy stream, or searching your cable plan for a channel you’re pretty sure was just invented three days ago in the 6000s isn’t the best of times. How easy, affordable, and stress-free is this bout to watch?
So here are your five best gold options for the weekend.
5. Vacant NABA/USBO/WBC Continental Super Middleweight Championships: DeAndre Ware (12-1-2) vs. Ronald Ellis (15-0-2)
When/Where: Friday, 10:00pm, Showtime
Competitiveness: 4
Excitement: 2: Both promising fighters, not a lot in the way of fireworks.
Juice: 1
Prestige: 2: Look at that pile of secondary hardware! Needless to say, with that kind of silver medal haul, and a headline spot, the winner is graduating to a world title fight in another fight or two.
Viewing Ease: 3
Total: 12
4. WBO World Featherweight Championship: Oscar Valdez (c) (24-0) vs. Carmine Tommasone (19-0)
When/Where: Saturday, 10:00pm, ESPN
Competitiveness: 1: Absolutely horrible. Tommasone has been fighting six-rounders since 2017 and two fights ago his mighty opponent was 4-25-2. Absolutely absurd.
Excitement: 2
Juice: 1
Prestige: 5: This will be Valdez’s fifth title defense of his WBO title. It seems to be his as long as he wants it.
Viewing Ease: 4
Total: 13
3. Glory Featherweight Championship: Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (c) (160-36-2) vs. Serhiy Adamchuk (38-9)
When/Where: Friday, N/A
Competitiveness: 5
Excitement: 2
Juice: 3: A rematch from their March 2017 Contender tournament bout that Kiatmu9 won by split-decision en route to challenging Robin van Roosmalen for the Glory featherweight championship.
Prestige: 5
Viewing Ease: N/A: Well as of right now, there’s no viewing information available. So that’s a problem. Prelims are on YouTube, Superfight Series is on Fight Pass, nothing on the main card yet.
Total: 15
2. Vacant IBF World Lightweight Championship: Isa Chaniev (13-1) vs. Richard Commey (27-2)
When/Where: Saturday, 10:00pm, ESPN
Competitiveness: 4
Excitement: 3
Juice: 3: The winner will take home their first world championship.
Prestige: 5: Normally, I don’t give vacant titles a fiver, but this is clear and the IBF is playing it well and not doddling around. Mikey Garcia left it to go up to fight Errol Spence. Not a holdout, not ducking mandatory challengers, not a money issue, just a competitor stepping up for tougher competition. Gotta admire that.
Viewing Ease: 4
Total: 19
1. WBO World Light Heavyweight Championship: Eleider Alvarez (c) (24-0) vs. Sergey Kovalev (32-3-1)
When/Where: Saturday, 10:00pm, ESPN
Competitiveness: 5
Excitement: 5
Juice: 4: Alvarez stunned the boxing world with a seventh-round TKO over Kovy, and with Kovalev winning on every card, no less. Kovalev excercised his rematch clause, so we’ll see if the sun has set on Krusher, or if he still has some magic in his fists.
Prestige: 5
Viewing Ease: 4: ESPN is absolutely loading up this card. It goes a solid four-deep on basic cable. Their cards have been loaded lately with both volume and big stars.
Total: 23
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