{"id":836051,"date":"2018-08-08T21:04:47","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T01:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=836051"},"modified":"2018-08-08T21:04:47","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T01:04:47","slug":"the-ecstasy-of-gold-5-best-title-fights-of-the-weekend-60","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/the-ecstasy-of-gold-5-best-title-fights-of-the-weekend-60\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ecstasy of Gold: 5 Best Title Fights of the Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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.<\/p>\n
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:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So here are your five best gold options for the weekend.<\/p>\n
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1. Glory Light Heavyweight Championship: Artem Vakhitov (c) (19-5) vs. Danyo Ilunga (58-13)<\/strong><\/p>\n When\/Where: Saturday, 12:00am, ESPN2<\/strong><\/p>\n Competitiveness: 4:\u00a0<\/strong>Vakhitov has already defeated Ilunga once, granted by decision, but that was at the height of Ilunga’s powers. Total: 21<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. WBA World Featherweight Championship: Jesus M Rojas (c) (26-1-2) vs. Joseph Diaz (26-1)<\/strong><\/p>\n When\/Where: Saturday, 10:00pm, Facebook<\/strong><\/p>\n Competitiveness: 5<\/strong> Total: 19<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. Glory Women’s Bantamweight Championship: Anissa Meksen (c) (96-3) vs. Jady Menezes (12-2)<\/strong><\/p>\n When\/Where: Saturday, 12:00am, ESPN2<\/strong><\/p>\n Competitiveness: 2:<\/strong> Kudos to Glory for at least getting some new blood in the mix, but yeah, no, Meksen should roll. Total: 15<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4. Vacant IBF World Women’s Junior Featherweight Championship: Laura Soledad Griffa (16-1) vs. Marcela Eliana Acuna (46-7-1)<\/strong><\/p>\n When\/Where: Friday, Argentine TV<\/strong><\/p>\n Competitiveness: 5:<\/strong> This is probably the closest boxing title fight of the weekend, both are top-5 fighters at super bantamweight. Total: 12<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 5. WBC World Female Bantamweight Championship: Mariana Juarez (c) (49-9-4) vs. Terumi Nuki (10-3)<\/strong><\/p>\n When\/Where: Saturday, 11:00pm. beIN Sports<\/strong><\/p>\n Competitiveness: 2:<\/strong> Nobody’s in Barbie’s atmosphere at bantamweight right now. Nuki is a decent fighter, but no. Total: 11<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The championship fight. The pinnacle of achievement across combat sports for centuries. A premiere attraction that draws millions every…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":560333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[605048455,12504,187419370],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nExcitement: 5:<\/strong> I think Ilunga goes into the wayback machine and tries to outstrike Vakhitov’s lethal hands.
\nJuice: 3:<\/strong> The story here is Illunga, who, unrelated, is one of my favorite fighters in the world. He’s been fighting for Glory since Glory 2, when he was a relatively unknown dangerous 25-year old violence wholesaler. He fell short of a title shot first to Tyrone Sprong, then rebounded and lost another title shot to Saulo Cavalari. After that, he suffered a whopping seven-fight losing streak, starting with champion Artem Vakhitov, four in Glory, before finally climbing out of it, winning a rubber match with Michael Duut, defeating Fraser Weightman, and now here he is, on the wrong side of 30, with another big losing streak pushing him into irrelevancy, with maybe his last chance to be a world champion. This is the good stuff that’s what makes fighting great, right here.
\nPrestige: 5<\/strong>
\nViewing Ease: 4<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nExcitement: 3<\/strong>
\nJuice: 2<\/strong>
\nPrestige: 4:<\/strong> I despise you, WBA and your “regular” world titles. Fight me.
\nViewing Ease: 5:<\/strong> From drunkenly hitting up your high-school girlfriend to carrying world title fights. What a time to be alive.<\/p>\n
\nExcitement: 2<\/strong>
\nJuice: 3<\/strong>
\nPrestige: 4:<\/strong> Maybe once Bellator Kickboxing really gets going it’ll change, but until then, this belt still holds the most cache in women’s kickboxing.
\nViewing Ease: 4<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nExcitement: 1:<\/strong> Griffa is a fine technical boxer, but yeesh, one solitary KO, and couldn’t even muster any against debuting fighters.
\nJuice: 2:<\/strong> Acuna was the former champ who lost her crown in her last bout, now that the title is up again, the 41-year old veteran goes up against the younger challenger gunning for her first-ever world title.
\nPrestige: 3<\/strong>
\nViewing Ease: 1<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nExcitement: 3<\/strong>
\nJuice: 1<\/strong>
\nPrestige: 3<\/strong>
\nViewing Ease: 2:<\/strong> beIN is sloooowly, yet surely making inroads in the live fight sports game.<\/p>\n