June 21st-Russell Jr Vs Lomachenko, the return for Bad Chad and a Cruiserweight thriller!

This coming Saturday is a big one for a number of Asian fighters such as Yoshihiro Kamegai, who battles Robert Guerrero in a huge bout Stateside, and Pigmy Kokietgym, who will be hoping to win the WBA Minimumweight title, but it's not just Asian's in big fights.

The Kamegai/Guerrero bout is part of a high profile triple header in Carson, California. Whilst it's technically the main event more fans are interested in the shows sole title bout which will see former amateur sensation Vasyl Lomachenko (1-1, 1) battle against the unbeaten Gary Russell Jr (24-0, 14) for the vacant WBO Featherweight title. Lomachenko lost in his first attempt at the title, losing to an over-weight Orlando Salido, though will feel confident that the experiences from that fight will help him here as he attempts to tie the long standing record of Saensak Muangsurin. For Russell Jr this is finally a chance to prove that he's as good as he, and the American media, proclaim him to be. We tend to feel Lomachenko is the more skilled, stronger, more physically imposing and, despite the records suggesting otherwise, the more experienced. Russell Jr is the faster of the two and is "the home fighter" but that is pretty much all of his advantages.

The other part of the triple header will see former multi-weight title holder Devon Alexander (25-2, 14) battle against the brave but limited Jesus Soto Karass (28-9-3, 18). Karass is a genuine warrior but has a lot of limitations and we feel Alexander will make him pay for those limitations, however Alexander himself looked like a broken man last time out when he was bullied, battered and beaten by the rough house tactics of Shawn Porter and if Soto Karass saw that fight he will fancy his chances against the more skilled fighter.

Although not part of the main broadcast this same American show will also include the return to the ring of former Light Heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-3-0-2, 17) who will be fighting against the limited George Blades (23-5, 16). The 39 year old Blades has been hand selected as the fall guy for Dawson who comes into this bout on the back of back-to-back stoppage defeats, including an opening round blow out loss to Adonis Stevenson. Although Dawson is expected to win this bout, it's more about the performance than the result and anything but a shining performance will see Dawson cast aside as a "shot" fighter.

Whilst not a major bout this show is also expected to feature the debut of Fabian Maidana (0-0), the younger brother of Macos Maidana. Maidana will be fighting against Alejandro Artiaga (3-8, 1) in a bout that is expected to make Fabian look like a star despite it only being his debut. We know it's early but we're going to be following this young man carefully over the coming years.

Over on a card in Monaco, which includes the Pigmy Kokietgym fight, we again get several other notable bouts. Arguably the pick of those is a WBA interim Cruiserweight title fight between the once beaten Polish fighter Mateusz Masternak (32-1, 23) and the heavy handed French based Congolese fighter Youri Kayembre Kalenga (19-1, 13). Kalenga may have a loss on his record, a huge shock loss at that, but we've been very reliably informed that it was a home town robbery that could well have done more harm for Latvian boxing than good. Both guys here can punch, both can fight and both have plenty of question marks leading us to feeling that this could be the fight of the night. We know many fans are favouring Masternak but for us this is a 50-50 bout and we'd actually sway in favour of Kalenga.

The other major bout on this Monaco show will see Britain's Martin Murray (27-1-1, 12) battling against Ukrainian Max Bursak (29-2-1, 12) in a very interesting bout for the WBC Silver Middleweight title. Some fans feel that Murray was hard done by when he fought Felix Sturm and Sergio Martinez whilst other feel he was very fortunate to remain a contender after his contentious victory, late last year, over Sergey Khomitsky. Likewise many felt Bursak was unfortunate against Jarrod Fletcher, earlier this year, whilst people also though he was fortunate against Nick Blackwell. We don't mean to sound nasty but we'd suggest both of these fighters stay away from Gennady Golovkin if they wish to remain top contenders as their inconsistencies could really bite them. As for the fight with each other it should be an entertaining back and forth affair though we'd not be shocked by any result at all.

A final bout of note, which will be in the US, will see Anatoliy Dudchenko (19-2, 13) battle against Nadjib Mohammedi (34-3, 20). We believe the winner of this contest will be a mandatory for American legend Bernard Hopkins though neither man would be likely to give "B Hop" a tough night at the office.

(Image courtesy of WBANews)

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