Saturday is Fight Night in Cardiff, Wales
Plus: Marlen Esparza fight postponed; Even more influencer boxing
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This weekend we’re going to Cardiff, Wales for a night of fights that is definitely being overshadowed by the big Ryan Garcia vs. Tank Davis Vegas showdown - but that card doesn’t have any women on it, so we’ll be ignoring it for now. It seems like every single weekend this year there’s been good fights, which is amazing but also hard to keep up with!
Sandy Ryan vs. Marie Pier Houle
On the main card for the Shavkhat Rakhimov vs. Joe Cordina fight, we have a WBO World Welterweight Title fight between England’s Sandy Ryan (5-1, 2 KOs) and Canada’s undefeated Marie Pier Houle (8-0-1, 2 KOs).
This is a big fight for Ryan, who is stepping up in weight to go after the vacant title - a win here would mean a potential shot at challenging Jessica McCaskill (depending on the outcome of her next fight), who is currently the undisputed champion at Welterweight. An opportunity like this, so early in her career, could only have come from her Matchroom Boxing connections, so we’ll see if she’s able to capitalize on it.
But Houle isn’t here to lose - she declared that she will be leaving England as World champion during the pre-fight press conference. Houle’s last fight against Marisol Moreno ended in a bit of scandal, with terrible judging and a questionable decision against Moreno leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouths. Houle put on a great effort and the outcome wasn’t her fault, but it did put a question mark on her unbeaten record.
Skye Nicolson vs Linda Lecca
On the undercard, Australian Skye Nicolson (6-0) returns to the ring to fight Peru’s “La Princesa Inca Tripe L” Linda Laura Lecca (15-6-2, 3 KOs) in an 8 round bout.
Nicolson knew she had a lot to improve on after her last fight against Tania “La Violencia” Alvarez - her points fighting style was put to the test by Alvarez’s nonstop aggression. Speaking at the pre-fight press conference, Nicolson said:
“I feel like my last fight out was a really big opportunity for me - we’ve learnt a lot in the gym, I feel like a much more completed fighter now and I really want to show a lot more aggression and spite in this fight - something we haven’t really seen in my early fights.”
Nicolson has a clean, technical style which I am eager to see more of in women’s boxing matches, so I’m looking forward to seeing how her skills have improved.
Lecca is just coming off a loss to English fighter Raven Chapman in March so this is her second fight in two months in the UK. As the shorter fighter, she’ll have to get inside Nicolson’s range and be the aggressor which she might have trouble with. Lecca spent most of the fight with Chapman fighting off the back foot and trying to counterpunch, letting Chapman fight the kind of fight she wanted. Nicolson’s team is definitely hoping she’ll do this again, so hopefully she’ll be able to make some adjustments in training.
These fights will air on DAZN on Saturday, April 22 at 7 p.m. BST / 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PST.
Marlen Esparza/Gabriela Celeste Alaniz postponed
Boxing Scene reported that the upcoming Flyweight unification fight between WBC champion Marlen Esparza and WBO champion Gabriela Celeste Alaniz on April 29 has been postponed due to a visa issue. Alaniz, who is Argentinean, doesn’t have the right paperwork in place to travel to the US for the fight. They’re hoping to reschedule for sometime this summer.
Two Influencer Boxing Bouts this weekend
Influencer boxing is really taking off, with two big events happening this weekend: Misfits Boxing: MFxDAZN: X Series 006 (name is too long) on Friday in New Orleans and the start of the KingPynBoxing High Stakes Tournament on Saturday in London.
The KingPyn Tournament is interesting to me as it’s a proper elimination style tournament, and has the most women’s bouts of an influencer card so far. It also features the return of Elle Brook, who is so far the only female influencer boxer who I think is actually talented. But I’m excited to be proved wrong - hopefully!
MFxDAZN 006 will be live on DAZN on Friday April 21, and KingPyn will be available on PPV on Saturday April 22 through their website.
What are you watching this weekend?