This Saturday much of the action us in the US where there are 4 bouts of note, there will also be interesting action in Europe with a couple of contests.

Of those US bouts two will be taking place in California with the biggest of those being a compelling Light Heavyweight contest between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (48-1-1-1, 32) and former US based Pole Andrzej Fonfara (26-3-0-1, 15). This bout has been over-looked by many fans who have looked towards other contests for this weekend but this one looks like it could, potentially, be the most interesting bout of the weekend.

On the came card in California we'll also see WBA interim Super Bantamweight champion Oscar Escandon (24-1, 16) battle against Moises Flores (22-0-0-1, 16). Escandon is the luckiest “champion” in the sport and his win over Tyson Cave last year was probably the US robbery of the year. With that said however Flores is the man stepping up and could well find himself falling short.

In New York we get one of the most mouth watering bouts of the year so far as the hard hitting Lucas Martin Matthysse (36-3, 34) meets fellow puncher Ruslan Provodnikov (24-3, 17) in a contest that appears to be a nailed on war. We really can't see anything but an all out slugfest here in a bout that really has all the ingredients of a FOTY contender. Notably there isn't a world title on the line going into this bout but the winner will certainly be in the mix for a title bout in their next contest, lets just hope that there is enough left of the winner to really compete in a title bout.

Staying in the US fans in Texas will get the chance to see the very talented Terence Crawford (25-0, 17) take on the once beaten Thomas Dulorme (22-1, 14) in a bout for the WBO Light Welterweight title. Crawford was the standout American fighter in 2014 and will be hoping to have a similarly impressive 2015 with this bout being his first of the year. As for Dulorme this is a great opportunity to claim a world title, though the once hotly tipped fighter will need a career best performance to over-come Crawford.

British fans get an interesting Lightweight match up as the popular and exciting Derry Matthews (37-9-2, 20) takes on hard working Canadian Tony Luis (19-2 7) in what looks to be a solid bout for the WBA interim title. The bout has been put together on about a weeks notice after Frank Warren, the promoter of Matthews, saw two other foes fall out. Originally Matthews was supposed to fight WBA champion Richar Abril though Abril pulled out at late note and was replaced by Israel Barroso, he himself failed to get a visa allowing Luis to get the bout. Although it was put together in a haste it should be a very good fight and Luis was in preparations for a different bout, suggesting he will be in good shape when the men get in the ring together.

In Ukraine we'll see the sensational Oleksandr Usyk (6-0, 6) attempt to continue his rise through the ranks as he takes on the once beaten Andrey Knyazev (11-1, 6). On paper this is a step backwards for the unbeaten fighter however Usyk is one of the fights on an incredibly steep trajectory and it seems clear that he's only a fight or two away from a major title fight, possible by the end of this year.

This past Saturday didn't feature much in terms of interesting international action but did feature two bouts of note, both on the same show.

The first of those was a Super Featherweight contest between explosive Dominican Javier Fortuna (26-0-1-1, 19) and frustrating Puerto Rican Abner Cotto (18-3, 8). On paper it looked interesting though in the ring it became a calamity as the referee simply lost the plot. He ruled Fortuna down from a clear rabbit punch and deducted Fortuna a point for missing a punch after the bell-that forced Cotto to dive to the canvas with a major delayed reaction. It farcical and a comedy of errors that eventually came to an end in round 5 when Fortuna took out Cotto in eye catching style to maintain his unbeaten record. There is hope that Fortuna will meet one of the top Asian guys at 130lbs next year though the odds are that he'll continue to frustrate us all with fights like this as opposed to "real" fights.

The more interesting bout on the show was a Light Heavyweight bout between former world title challenger Andrzej Fonfara (26-3-0-1, 15) and the tough Doudou Ngumbu (33-6, 12). The bout may not have been a classic but it was really solid with Fonfara trying to break his tough opponent through the 10 rounds which were well fought though relatively 1-sided with Fonfara just having too much of everything for Ngumbu.

All the big fights this weekend seem to be coming from the same show as the boxing world turns it's attention to Chicago for a Warriors Boxing card that could very easily be mistake for a UN meeting of various nations. The card, which features two Japanese fighters, has a genuine host of international talent.

Of course our primary interest in the show is the WBO Bantamweight title bout between Tomoki Kameda and Alejandro Hernandez whilst Koki Kameda's US debut is also a major talking point. Aside from those two we do still feel excited about the show.

The main bout of note is a Light Heavyweight clash between Chicago based Polish fighter Andrzej Fonfara (25-3-0-1, 15) and unknown Frenchman Doudou Ngumbu (33-5, 12), who is originally from the Congo. Fonfara should be a recognisable fighter courtesy of his world title bout earlier this year against Adonis Stevenson, a bout that saw Fonfara giving Stevenson a real test but coming up short. Whether he can perform equally as well here against a lesser known opponent is a big question though the show does seem angled towards giving him a hero's return to his adopted home town. Ngumbu will be attempting to play the role of the party pooper, just as he did last year when he upset Vyacheslav Uzelkov in Ukraine. This is a tough ask for Ngumbu but it's likely an opportunity that he knows could open major doors for him in 2015. 

Another really interesting bout on this card will see the unbeaten Javier Fortuna (25-0-1-1, 18) of the Dominican Republic battle against Puerto Rican hopeful Abner Cotto  (18-2, 8) in a promising Super Featherweight bout that could decide which of the men becomes a world title challenger in 2015. Fortuna, a former WBA interim champion at Featherweight, has gone from looking sensational to awful. In bouts against Yuandale Evans and Cristobal Cruz he looked sensation whilst against Patrick Hyland he Luis Franco he looked frustrating. We're unsure how he would fit into the title picture though we suspect that he's the type of guy who will likely be splattered when he fighters a genuine strong Super Featherweight. As for Cotto his career has been a bit of a roller coaster recently with losses to Omar Figueroa and Francisco Vargas both being serious set backs that have been wiped over by a recent win over Jerry Belmontes. It's real cross roads fight and the loser may be need to give a serious consideration to where they stand in the sport.

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

It's not often that we get Saturday's that are busy but low profile. Days that look like total mismatch but yet deliver some good back and forth action and days that end with us all viewing fighters different to how we began the day, whether that's for better or for worse.

The fighter who took the biggest "hit" in terms of what we think of them was Adonis Stevenson (24-1, 20) who retained his WBC Light Heavyweight though looked like a totally different man who had impressed so many fight fans last year. In 2013 Stevenson blasted opponents away for fun mowing through 4 fighters in a combined 20 rounds. Those victories had seen him becoming "Fighter of the Year" and being viewed as potentially the best Light Heavyweight on the planet and one of the sports biggest punchers. 

The reputation of Stevenson didn't scare Poland's Andrzej Fonfara (25-3-0-1, 15) who twice pulled himself off the canvas to give Stevenson his toughest bout in years and in fact dropped Stevenson in round 9. Although Fonfara did lose he seemed to come out of the night as a man heading upwards whilst many will be questioning what Stevenson really has in the tank. From this performance it was little wonder Stevenson wanted nothing to do with Sergey Kovalev who would have to be favoured if the two men did in the next year or two.

Fonfara wasn't the only man to impress on the show in Canada as the much touted, and very exciting, Middleweight contender David Lemieux (32-2, 30) put on a stunning performance. Lemieux was fighting recent world title challenger Fernando Guerrero (26-3, 19) and made Guerrero look like a 4th round fighter. Lemieux battered, bruised, cut and broke up Guerrero in 3 vicious rounds that left Guerrero being bounced off the canvas and badly cut before finally being stopped. It was genuinely sensation from Lemieux who appears to want a WBO world title fight later this year.

Stevenson wasn't the only world champion in action as Mexico's Jhonny Gonzalez (56-8, 47) successfully defended his WBC Featherweight title with a technical decision over the previously unbeaten Clive Atwell (12-1-1, 7). Atwell was taking a huge step up in class and did, at times, manage to make life difficult for the big punching Gonzalez though the Mexican's experience helped him through any issues thrown his way as he built up a big lead on the score cards. Unfortunately the bout failed to reach a natural conclusion after Gonzalez was cut from a clash of heads sending us to the scorecards which all had Gonzalez comfortably in the lead.

On a second Mexican we saw a new "world champion" crowned in the Super Flyweight division as Mexico's talented David Sanchez (25-2-2, 19) claimed the WBA "interim" title. Sanchez was given a tougher than expected contest with Venezuela's Breilor Teran (13-10-1, 6) who proved to be much better than his record indicated despite losing a unanimous decision to Sanchez. As with the Stevenson/Fonfara bout the loser here probably came out with enough confidence and credit to feel like they could well give anyone in the world a hard night's work.

With the victory for Sanchez he becomes the top contender to the WBA Super Flyweight and could well emerge as the next man on the radar of current world champion Kohei Kono of Japan. Despite a Kono/Sanchez bout being one we'd love to see there are some murmurs out there that a Sanchez/Koki Kameda fight is more likely, at least for now. Given the promotional issues with the Kameda clan a bout against Sanchez in Mexico could well take place later this year as Koki Kameda looks to re-establish himself as a force on the world stage.

On the same card as Sanchez's win fans also got to see the triumphant return to action for the very popular Jackie Nava (29-4-3, 13) who stopped Alys Sanchez (12-2-1, 4) and claimed the WBA female interim Super Bantamweight title. This was Nava's first fight since 2012, after having had a child, though her class was on show as she faced a woman who simply wasn't in her league. We'll say that Alys Sanchez was lucky in the fact Nava was coming back from a break or this could have become rather nasty. Nava was down herself in the opening round and we'd hasten to suggest that wouldn't have happened had it not been for the long break.

Also on this show former world champion Edgar Sosa (50-8, 30) made his return to the ring following his loss to Akira Yaegashi last year. Sosa was triumphant here as he defeated Omar Salado (24-8-2, 15), who retired at the end of round 4. Sosa now looks likely to campaign at Super Flyweight and whilst he's certainly got the skills to hold his own we do wonder if he has the size needed to really compete at the top level at 115lbs.

(Image courtesy of groupe Gvon Michel)