Love it not or not this weekend is a big one for boxing fans and of course it kicks off on Friday with with numerous fights, sadly though few really excite us.

The most notable action comes from Canada where we have a male world title bout, a former Heavyweight contender and a man that many in the US are viewing as the most promising prospect in the west.

The world title bout, the most notable bout of the night, is a bit of a farce if we're being honest as WBC Light Heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (26-1, 21) defends his belt against the undeserving Tommy Karpency (25-4-1, 14). Stevenson, who is widely viewed as one of the top Light Heavyweights, should be facing much better competition than Karpency who has scored only one win of note, an upset over Chad Dawson. Coming in to the bout Karpency is 4-2, though one of those losses was a shut out to Nathan Cleverly and it's be a huge surprise if this bout was even close to being semi-competitive. It really is a farcical defense by Stevenson.

A much better bout will see Errol Spence (17-0, 14) take on Chris Van Heerden (23-1-1, 12). On paper this is a great match up with Spence finally taking on a guy who will be well prepared and confident. Sadly paper can be wrong and we're expecting Spence to make it look relatively easy against a some-what padded Van Heerden who is likely to be broken down in the middle rounds.

A third bout, albeit another relative farce, will see 51 year old former contender Donovan Ruddock (40-5-1, 30) take on Dillon Carmon (8-2, 7) in a bout for the Canadian Heavyweight title. Ruddock, once one of the most exciting Heavyweights on the planet, is fighting for the third time since making his comeback to the ring earlier this year however he is a shadow of the man who fought Mike Tyson twice back in the early 1990's. Aged 29 Carmon is significantly younger than Ruddock but is relatively limited and hasn't really scored a win of note. Although a farce, given Ruddock's age, this could be an entertaining one.

In the US we have 3 bouts of note, including possibly the bout of the night.

One of the bouts will see Olympic champion Egor Mekhontsev (9-0, 7) take on the heavy handed Jackson Junior (18-3, 16) in what should be an explosive affair. It's hard to see Mekhontsev losing here though we would like to see him step up sooner, rather than later. Interestingly Junior's last fight came against Korean veteran Seung Kue Park, who was stopped inside a round by the Beazilian puncher, Park was 51 years old though and had been blown out in his previous 4.

Another will see the promising, and very exciting, Jesse Hart (17-0, 14) battle against Aaron Pryor Jr (19-8-1, 12) in a bout for a couple of titles. Hart really does look to be one of the most fun to watch American fighters and he should see off Pryor here, despite the fact Pryor has only been stopped twice in 28 bouts.

The bout of the show, and possibly the bout of the night, will see touted Mexican puncher Oscar Valdez (16-0, 14) take on former world title challenger Chris Avalos (26-3, 19). On paper this is a huge step up for Valdez but it's one that his team will feel confident about. Avalos, who has fought once since being demolished by Carl Frampton, is the under-dog but is certainly “live” coming in to this one.

In Argentina fans will see a female world title bout as WBO Light Welterweight champion Fernanda Soledad Alegre (21-2-1, 11) defends her belt against Lely Luz Florez (15-6-1, 9). The long reigning champion has held her title for close to 5 years and this will be her 12h defense of the belt. As for Florez she will be hoping to score her biggest win since a 2009 shock win over Chris Namus in Uruguay. It's hard to see Alegre losing here though hopefully Florez will give the champion a good test.

The second part of an amazing weekend of fights comes on Saturday with wonderful action taking place in the US and Puerto Rico whilst a notable supporting bout is set to take place in Slovenia of all places.

On paper the most exciting match up comes in San Juan, Puerto Rico where WBO Super Featherweight champion Orlando Salido (42-12-2-1, 29) defends his title against former champion Roman Martinez (28-2-2, 17). Salido won the title last year in an up-and-down affair with Terdsak Kokietgym and will be hoping to have an easier time with Salido however the odds are that this will ignite in to complete slugfest with both men taking a lot of damage before one eventually stops the other.

A really good supporting bout on this card will see Jose A Gonzalez (23-1, 18) returning to the ring for his second bout since his loss against Ricky Burns in May 2013. Gonzalez, who looked really talented against Burns, will be fighting interesting Ugandan Sharif Bogere (26-1, 18), who suffered his only loss to Richar Abril. This essentially two class guys fighting for their chance to get another world title bout and it's hard to have any complaints about the match up.

Although we think the Salido/Martinez bout is going to be the bout of the day it's certainly not the highest profile contest of the day. That belongs to the controversial catchweight bout bout between Danny Garcia (29-0, 17) and Lamont Peterson (33-2-1, 17). Between them the men hold the WBC, WBA “super” and IBF Light Welterweight titles yet rather than unifying the crown they are fighting the contest at 143lbs. Notably Peterson will be stripped of his IBF title if he loses, giving a huge opportunity to Chinese slugger Ik Yang if that happens. What should have been a great bout for the Light Welterweight division remains a very interesting bout but one that should really have been for the gold.

One bout on this card that was supposed to be for the gold was a WBO Middleweight title bout between hard hitting Irishman Andy Lee (34-2, 24), the defending champion, and unbeaten American Peter Quillin (31-0, 22). Quillin enters this bout as a former champion who vacated his belt last year, rather than face Russian Matt Korobov. Lee took the Korobov bout and stopped the Russian to claim the title and now we've essentially gone full circle with Quillin get the first shot at Lee. Again there is a bad taste about this bout politically, but in the ring it should be enjoyable and explosive. Unfortunately however this bout has now been made a non-title bout following Quillin missing the weight

In supporting bouts we'll get the chance to see a several promising and unbeaten fighters including Light Welterweight contender Viktor Postol (26-0, 11), who fights Jake Giuericeo (17-2-1, 4) in a stay busy contest, the touted Felix Diaz (16-0, 8), who takes on the once beaten Gabriel Bracero (23-1, 4) in an interesting looking match up, and the very highly regarded Errol Spence Jr (15-0, 12), who takes on Samuel Vargas (20-1-1, 10) in a bout that looks good on paper but in reality should be a mismatch.

A second US card is again piled with prospects. The most interesting bout, other than the main event which actually features a Filipino, will feature Mexican Olympian Oscar Valdez (14-0, 13). Valdez will be fighting against Jose Ramirez (25-5, 15) in what looks a good bout until you realise Ramirez was stopped by the then debuting Vasyl Lomachenko and has since been stopped by Abner Mares, and will stepping up to Super Featherweight for this bout.

Another bout that looks good on paper will see Russian destroyer Oleksandr Gvozdyk (5-0, 4) battle against Rowland Bryant (18-5, 12). On paper this looks like a really good test for the Russian but Bryant has lost 4 of his last 6 and shouldn't really push Gvozdyk. Whilst it is a mismatch we would say a stoppage by the Russian should be considered impressive considering his lack of professional experience.

Yet another prospect we're excited about on this card is Lithuanian powerhouse Egidijus Kavaliauskas (9-0, 8), who will be up against Arman Ovsepyan (14-4, 11) in what looks likely to be another very impressive performance form the Oxnard based European fighter.

Sadly we've struggled to get excited about Brazilian Esquiva Falcao (7-0, 5) who is really talented but has been matched horribly here as he takes on Omar Rojas (3-2, 1) in what appears to be an horrific mismatch. Falcao, a nemesis of Ryota Murata's, is so much better than Rojas that this bout should be disappointing to the the fighter as well as fans.

As for the bout in Slovenia, that will see former IBF Welterweight champion Jan Zaveck (34-3, 19) battling against Belgian based Armenian Sasha Yengoyan (31-1-1, 21). This bout, for the WBF Light Middleweight title, as good a WBF title bout as you're likely to see and really could have been for the European title considering the ability of the two men in it. Whilst neither man is a “star” we do like both and it's hard to dislike either. This may not get the attention of some of the other bouts but it could be a very interesting contest all the same.


(Image courtesy of notifight.com)