There isn't too much action this coming Saturday though there is one bout of real note.

The really notable bout will see 2008 Olympic gold medal winner James DeGale (20-1, 14) take on talented American Andre Dirrell (24-1, 16), himself a 2004 Olympic bronze medal winner, in a bout for the IBF Super Middleweight title.

The match up is one of the most interesting we've seen made this year and pits two highly capable boxer-punchers against each other in a bout that really will decide who is the "best of the rest" in regards to the Super Middleweight division. Unfortunately however the division is a rather weak looking one due to the imminent retirement of Carl Froch and the inactivity of Andre Ward.

This should be a very high skilled contest and is widely viewed as a 50-50 with the bookies, we just hope it lives up to the expectations. Sadly however both men have stinkers in their careers and put together they may again fail to light the touch paper.

This past Friday was a somewhat interesting day of fights in the "sub" world level with several very intriguing contests.

The first of the bouts of note took place in the UK as unbeaten Heavyweight collided. The bout on paper looked great as the heavy handed and very affable Lucas Browne (21-0, 18) battled against the very capable Romanian Andriy Rudenko (24-1, 16). Sadly the bout ended up looking more like a mauling contest than a boxing contest and although both men took some heavy leather, and marked up notably, it never really caught fire for any sustained time. As well as the messy mauling action the fight also saw some very poor scorecards which may well have left a poor taste in the mouth of Rudenko.

On the same British card there was another all-unbeaten bout as Leonard Bundu (31-0-2, 11) successfully defended his European Welterweight title with a very good win over Britain's Frankie Gavin (19-1, 12). Gavin had gone in to the bout as a big favourite and was being tipped for stardom from when he turned professional more than 5 years ago sadly however he failed to live up to his potential and although this was only a split decision win for Bundu he was a well deserving winner. We dare suggest that Gavin has been let down by his team who haven't helped develop his skills or turn him into a "proper professional" and have instead made excuse for poor performances rather than made him feel responsible for them.

In the USA we saw the return to the ring of the talented but frustrating Andre Dirrell (22-1, 15) who easily over-came Vladine Biosse (15-5-2, 7). Dirrell, fighting for the first time in 18 months, looked sharp from the off and on this performance he's a handful for anyone at 168lbs though of course the question is always "how will Dirrell do when the going gets tough?" Interestingly the American called out Carl Froch, the only man to beat him as a professional and that's a bout that could be interesting if Dirrell can get some big money on the table.

In the main event in the US former world champion Gabriel Campillo (24-6-1, 11) stopped the highly touted Thomas Williams Jr (17-1, 12). Early on it looked like Williams was in control but Campillo made the most of his experience and eventually cut Williams who seemed to mentally crack after being cut. Soon after the injury Williams was stopped on the advice of the doctor, though it appeared his team wanted the doctor to stop the bout and made no protest to the stoppage like a fighters team usually would, especially considering the fact the cut wasn't a serious one. Many are describing this as a major upset, though in all honesty it was just proof that Campillo isn't a done fighter as many are suggesting and whilst he's not likely to beat any of the top champions he is very capable at the level below world class. 

(Image courtesy of http://www.boxeomundial.com)

This coming Friday isn't a major one in international boxing but it will feature 3 fights that interest us.

The first of those 3 fights will be a Heavyweight bout in Britain between the hard hitting and highly exciting Lucas Browne (20-0, 18) and fellow unbeaten Andriy Rudenko (24-0, 16). Rudenko was, earlier this year, set to fight Dereck Chisora though pulled out of that bout at late notice. This time we expect him to go through with the bout but take a beating from the big hitting Browne. Dubbed "Big Daddy", Browne is one of our favourite Heavyweights despite numerous technical limitations and we'd suspect he could be in line to fight someone like Tyson Fury, the aforementioned Chisora or even Anthony Joshua in the next 12 months or so.

On the same card in the UK we will get another meeting of unbeaten fighters as Italy's Leonard Bundu (30-0-2, 11) attempts to defend his European Welterweight title against Britain's Frankie Gavin (19-0, 12). This is a huge fight for both and the winner will likely shoot to within a fight or two of an alphabet belt. The key thing here is that both men will be fighting their biggest test so far and the loser may well feel the effects of having had some relatively easy fights so far in to their career.

In the US we get another bout featuring an unbeaten fighter taking a step up as Thomas Williams Jr (17-0, 12) battles against former world champion Gabriel Campillo (23-6-1, 10). The winner could emerge as a potential Sergey Kovalev opponent and that makes this bout very interesting to us, though we do need to favour Williams as Campillo has began to show real signs of losing his punch resistance despite still being very highly skilled. We don't feel that Williams should be in a title fight yet, due to him lacking the development, but his record is starting to become pretty notable and if he beats Campillo he will have gotten more solid wins than many of the contenders.

Another bout on the US card will see the return to the ring of the promising, though very frustrating, Andre Dirrell (21-1, 14) who looks to prove his ability against the tough but limited Vladine Biosse (15-4-2, 7). Biosse did, recently, take Callum Smith 10 rounds though we'd not expect him to survive the schedule here if Dirrell is half the fighter he was before his career seemed to be derailed. Dirrell has talent to be one of the truly world class Super Middleweights but questions do surround his mentality to the fight game and if he can't answer those we may well see one of the great wastes of talent.

(Image courtesy of boxnation.com)