Sherdog’s Weekend Boxing Preview

What: Richard Commey vs. Ray Beltran, Lightweights

When: June 28
How to Watch: ESPN 10 p.m. ET
Why You Should Care: To see if Ray Beltran can make his last stand or if Commey will forever regret his missed opportunity to face Lomachenko.

Going into this fight, the narrative that this is “Ray Beltran’s last stand” has been making the rounds, promoted heavily by ESPN. That may well be true, although it downplays the fact that he’s already held a lightweight title and that just taking that belt was remarkable considering his past as a sparring partner sleeping on people’s couches. Still, with Freddie Roach now in his corner Beltran has a chance to beat another champion -- he can’t take his belt after coming in overweight -- and try to get a shot at a huge name like Lomachenko.

But Commey is 32, and while Beltran’s big missed opportunity was when he lost to Jose Pedraza which took him out of the running to face Lomachenko, Commey’s was when he hurt his hand winning his title. That injury kept him from facing Lomachenko, and hurting your hand is significantly more heartbreaking than losing a fight to a guy that proved better. ESPN can claim this is Beltran’s last stand, but does anybody think Commey is going to make some great career rally if he loses to a 37-year-old Beltran, even if he can’t lose his belt?

Commey is a big strong knockout artist, while Beltran hasn’t been stopped since 2008. Terence Crawford couldn’t do it, so if Commey can, it would be a huge statement. We’ve seen Commey outboxed before, against guys like Robert Easter Jr., and Freddie Roach has claimed he thinks Beltran should be able to outbox him easily.

Commey wants Lomachenko. He has even gone so far as to say he’ll happily knock off the charismatic young American Teofimo Lopez if he needs to first. So yes, this is Ray Beltran’s last stand, but he had a shot at Lomachenko taken away due to a hand injury, Beltran lost his shot, because he lost. As for lightweight contendership, whoever wins this fight is in a great place in their career, whoever loses is pretty much done.

What: Jermall Charlo vs. Brandon Adams, Middleweights

When: June 29
How to Watch: Showtime 9 p.m. ET
Why You Should Care: To see if Brandon Adams can be boxing’s Matt Serra or if he will reiterate the idea that winning a reality TV show does not a “contender” make.

Matt Serra got his title shot after winning “The Ultimate Fighter” and went onto pull off one of the biggest upsets in MMA history by knocking out GSP for the 170 pound title. So, the idea that a reality TV show can find a fighter, who we’ve already seen lose fights as a professional, ready to take out a legitimate champion isn’t all that far-fetched.

Charlo isn’t as good as GSP. The undefeated WBC middleweight champion, who was elevated to the position this week when Canelo Alvarez became the “franchise” champion, is undefeated at 28-0 with 21 knockouts. With Adams having lost to guys like Willie Monroe Jr. and John Thompson, this should be an easy win for Jermall Charlo just a week after his twin brother’s big KO victory.

But GSP was supposed to beat Serra. And if we’ve seen a journeyman use reality TV to springboard his way to an unlikely championship in MMA, why not in boxing?

What: Demetrius Andrade vs. Maciej Sulecki, Middleweights

When: June 29
How to Watch: Dazn 7 p.m. ET
Why You Should Care: Demetrius Andrade has a fight in his hometown to try and generate enough hype to get a fight against GGG or Canelo.

Demetrius Andrade is the WBO middleweight champion of the world, and nobody seems to care about him. In large part, that’s not his fault, as his big fight in Boston against Billy Joe Saunders was cancelled when Saunders tested positive for PEDs. Andrade has fought solid competition, but the belt is his only marketing tool.

Not that he’s not trying. This week, he has begun calling out both GGG and Canelo about their level of opposition which will help, but it would be whole lot better if, in his hometown of Providence Rhode Island, he could get a flashy win that would generate some buzz about him.

His opponent is Maciej Sulecki, a Polish fighter whose one loss came to Daniel Jacobs and is fresh off a win over Gabriel Rosado. When he talks about how much better his opponent is than guys like Steve Rolls, he’s one hundred percent correct. But having a belt isn’t good enough to get him big fights if nobody in Providence, never mind worldwide, knows who you are.

What: Joseph Parker vs. Alex Leapai, Heavyweights

When: June 29
How to Watch: Dazn 7 p.m. ET
Why You Should Care: To see if Joseph Parker can capitalize on his suddenly elevated status against a guy it should be easy to look good against.

Not long ago, Joseph Parker was in trouble. Coming off back to back losses to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte, Parker came back to beat young American Alex Flores, but nobody was taking him seriously as a heavyweight contender. Sure, he had managed to make it to the final bell against Wilder, but his best win was a decision to Andy Ruiz, some chubby Mexican kid nobody thought was anything special.

Now, without fighting since the win against Flores, Parker has become a big name again. So, before Ruiz fights Joshua again and potentially shows the first fight was a fluke win or gets boxed up by former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, Parker has a gap in time where he can build himself into a huge name because of Ruiz’s win. And, he’s got an opponent he should look great against.

Alex Leapai hasn’t been a serious heavyweight since 2015, when he lost three fights in a row to Wladimir Klitschko, Manuel Charr and Malik Scott. Since then, he’s gone 2-0-1 against opponents under 500 or who’ve lost a third of their fights. Going into the fight, he’s admitted he likely can’t go the distance and will need to win via an early knockout.

Andy Ruiz has given Joseph Parker a second chance to become relevant in the public’s eye. Matchmakers have given him a faded opponent he should look great against. Saturday night, we’ll see if Parker can take advantage.

What: Khalid Yafai vs. Norbelto Jimenez, Junior Bantamweights

When: June 29
How to Watch: Dazn 7 p.m. ET
Why You Should Care: Because Norbelto Jimenez wants to show you there are many paths to boxing glory, but Khalid Yafai wants to show you the road less travelled is less travelled for a reason.

On Saturday, two fighters will come together to fight for the WBA super-flyweight title who have travelled significantly different paths in the world of boxing.

Yafia took the traditional path to holding his title. Undefeated at 25-0 with 15 knockouts, the British-Yemeni fighter represented England in the 2008 Olympics after an extensive amateur career, then built his professional record by fighting in the UK and will now come to the USA for the second time.

Jimenez took a far more roundabout path to his title shot. The man from the Dominican Republic was 2-8-1 in his first ten fights, including having been stopped four times. It’s hard to keep playing a video game after going 2-8-1 in your first ten games, never mind a sport that takes as much of a toll on you as boxing. Since that final loss to a then 3-3 fighter in 2011, he hasn’t lost. Now, his record stands at 29-8-4 with sixteen knockouts.

There are all sorts of motivational posters and memes on Facebook that will tell you the path to success doesn’t look like you think it does and that not all the most successful people in the world were the high school valedictorian or class president. That’s great, but every adult knows most business boardrooms are full of elite private high school and Ivy League grads and that it’s not a shock so many famous actors and actresses are the kids of other famous thespians.

On Saturday, we’ll see if Norbelto Jimenez can win a title and teach people there are plenty of different paths to success, or if Khalid Yafai will just show us once again that when it comes to success, the path less taken is less taken for a reason.