There’s boxing to watch all damn day on Saturday, but unless you have a particularly powerful Ouija board or a spiritual proclivity toward clairvoyance, you might not know exactly how to find pound-for-pound superstar Vasyl Lomachenko’s fight, Kell Brook’s second comeback bout or any other of the big fights this weekend.
Here’s where to watch this biggest and best fights, including Lomachenko-Pedraza, Brook-Zerafa, Showtime’s Wilder-Fury replay, HBO Boxing’s final telecast and even that Golden Boy Promotions card on Facebook Watch. Oh, and don't forget the free Facebook stream, Facebook Fightnight Live!
Friday, Dec. 7, 2018
What: Ronica Jeffrey (16-1, 1 KO) vs Edina Kiss (15-8, 9 KOs)
Channel: Facebook, Facebook Fightnight Live
Time: 7:30 PM ET
Synopsis: In their second year, the Facebook Fightnight LIve crew has built up some amazing momentum. About 4 million views have accumulated in 25 shows; show No. 26 unfolds from Queens, NY, and is topped by 35 year old Ronica Jeffrey, fighting out of Gleason’s Gym. Her foe Kiss, besides having one of the best names in the game, is well-known to hardcore NY-area fight fans. She has fought Heather Hardy twice, and both Amanda and Cindy Serrano. If she beats Jeffrey, Kiss will be 1-5 inside the NYC realm. Another one to watch on the card is comebacking Peter Dobson. The 9-0 welterweight has promised to break a rib and a nose of his foe, Frenchman Salim Larbi. NYF publisher Michael Woods does blow by blow on the show, and Xavier Porter does color, on a program produced by Linacre Media.
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Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018
What: Kell Brook (37-2, 26 KOs) vs Michael Zerafa (25-2, 14 KOs)
Channel: DAZN
Time: 2 pm ET
Synopsis: Former welterweight title holder Brook, 32, got back to his winning ways in 2018 by stopping Siarhei Rabchanka in March. The previous two years saw Brook lose consecutively by knockout to middleweight Gennady Golovkin and welterweight Errol Spence. Brook is back in winnable fights now against lesser opponents. Perhaps the fighter is hoping to rekindle some interest around an all Brit battle against contemporary rival Amir Khan. Zerafa, 26, is a domestic level fighter from Australia who was knocked out by his most notable opponent, Peter Quillin, in 2015 at middleweight. Brook-Zerafa is a junior middleweight contest, and there will be plenty of undercard action live from Sheffield Arena streaming on DAZN beforehand.
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What: Vasyl Lomachenko (11-1, 9 KOs) vs Jose Pedraza (25-1, 12 KOs)
Channel: ESPN
Time: 9 pm ET
Synopsis: Pound-for-pound superstar Lomachenko, 30, aims to unify two of the lightweight alphabet titles when he takes on WBO lightweight title holder Pedraza, 29, at Madison Square Garden in New York. Lomachenko lifted the WBA lightweight title when he knocked out Jorge Linares in May. While the most obvious lightweight superfight is Lomachenko vs. Mikey Garcia, promotional allegiances will keep that fight on the shelf for the foreseeable future. Lomachenko seems content to do the next best thing by attempting to get another belt. This Top Rank card on ESPN also includes Isaac Dogboe and Teofimo Lopez in action in separate fights. Both seem on the way to becoming future stars.
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What: Rene Alvarado (29-8, 20 KOs) vs. Carlos Morales (17-3-3, 6 KOs)
Channel: Facebook Watch
Time: 9 pm ET
Synopsis: Watching a bout such as the Golden Boy Promotions card on Facebook Watch featuring Alvarado vs. Morales moves a normal fight fan into what most would consider junkie status. But Alvarado, 29, and Morales, 28, are scrappy fighters who make for good fights, so if you end up streaming the bout on your laptop while you watch more relevant fights on your TV this Saturday night, you’ll find no judgement about the matter coming from me. Besides, the hosting team of Jonathan Coachman, Sadam Ali and Rocsi Diaz is rock solid.
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What: Deontay Wilder (40-0-1, 39 KOs) vs. Tyson Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs) REPLAY
Channel: Showtime
Time: 9 pm ET
Synopsis: WBC heavyweight champion Wilder, 33, and unified heavyweight champion Fury, 30, fought last weekend and delivered one of the best heavyweight title fights in recent memory. If you missed seeing the fight on Showtime PPV or just want to watch it again to try and understand how judge Alejandro Rochin could score the fight 115-111 for Wilder, the bout will be replayed by the good people at Showtime for you viewing pleasure. Whatever you think about the split draw verdict handed in by the judges on fight night, it was one hell of a world championship fight and deserves at least one view if not many rewatches.
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What: Cecilia Braekhus (34-0, 9 KOs) vs Aleksandra Magdziak-Lopes (18-4-3, 1 KO)
Channel: HBO
Time: 10 pm ET
Synopsis: Women’s boxing gets a long-warranted spotlight by HBO in the final scheduled boxing telecast by the longtime cable giant on Saturday night. Both Braekhus, 37, and two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields, 23, will be in action in separate bouts, so it’s absolutely worth watching if women’s boxing at all piques your interest. If that kind of thing doesn’t appeal to you, perhaps the lure of seeing HBO’s Jim Lampley and crew doing their final show together might. Retired HBO legend Larry Merchant is also scheduled to make an appearance, and the tripleheader is rounded out by a cofeatured junior bantamweight showdown between Juan Francisco Estrada and Victor Mendez.
