Whilst usually the main action of a weekend of boxing is on a Saturday night this weekend really is 50-50 with a lot of really good fights coming on Friday as well as Saturday.

The first set of bouts come from Russia where there is a really mouth watering card featuring a number of world class fighters and a main event that could end up being the fight of the year.

On paper the weakest bout on the Russian card is a Light Heavyweight bout between Dmitry Bivol (1-0, 1) and Konstantin Piternov (18-6, 9). This 6 rounder however is an amazing test for the unbeaten 24 year old who will be fast tracked if he can look impressive here. This is the sort of match making we love and it's a shame we don't see more of it.

In a 10 round Heavyweight bout we will see former Heavyweight world title challenger Manuel Charr (27-2, 16) take on the very capable Johann Duhaupas (31-2, 20) in a really good bout to see where both men are heading. The loser here likely falls off the radar somewhat whilst the winner should be moved towards a major bout, perhaps a Europe title fight or a world title eliminator. A second 10 round is set to take place at Cruiserweight as former world title challenger Rakhim Chakhkiev (21-1, 16) takes on former WBA “interim” champion Valery Brudov (42-5, 28). This should be a straight forward win for Chakhkiev, though we suspect he needs to do more than just “win” and instead he needs to look fantastic, if he wants his team to push him towards a world title bout later in the year.

Another fringe level Cruiserweight on this card is the monstrously hard hitting Dmitry Kudryashov (16-0, 16) who will be hoping to continue his run of destruction and retain the WBA International Cruiserweight title as he battles former world title challenger Francisco Palacios (23-2, 14). Palacious has never been stopped and twice ran Krzystof Wlodarczyk close, though is now 37 years old and has certainly seen better days.

We see another unbeaten puncher in action at 140lbs where Eduard Troyanovsky (20-0, 17) will be taking on the once beaten Aik Shakhnazaryan (15-1, 6). Shakhnazaryan lost his unbeaten record last time out when he was upset by the unheralded Abner Lopez and for some reason his team are really throwing him to the wolves here with Troyanovsky being a devastating puncher. This could be over quickly.

In the main event we will see the tough, exciting and heavy handed Denis Lebedev (26-2, 20) defending his WBA Cruiserweight title against the free swinging Youri Kayembre Kalenga (21-1, 14). This has the potential to be something very special and we'd be shocked if this was anything short of breath taking. Both guys have their limitations but both have styles that should gel to give us a engrossing war of attrition.

Staying with Cruiserweights we also get a brilliant match up in Argentina where the heavy handed Victor Emilio Ramirez (21-2, 17) takes on the highly skilled, though sometimes lazy, Ola Afolabi (21-3-4, 10) for the IBF interim title. This is probably not going to quite catch fire like the other bout but it should be equally as engrossing and we'd not be shocked if this was a brilliant back-and-forth bout between two men who are eager to score a bit win.

In the US there are two cards of note. The most interesting of those is on ESPN where fans get the semi-finals in this years Boxcino tournaments.

In the Light Middleweight tournament we'll see the very promising Stanyslav Skorokhod (9-0, 7) battle against John Thompson (15-1, 5) in a bout that looks good on paper. We've got to back the unbeaten Ukrainian here, especially considering how good he looked in the quarter final, though it's still a very solid match up. The other semi-final at 154lbs will see the exciting Brandon Adams (16-1, 11) take on US based Armenian Vito Gasparyan (15-3-5, 8) in what looks like a much more competitive match up than the other one. We favour Adams for this semi but Gasparyan is better than his record indicates.

The other tournament is at Heavyweight where we again see two interesting looking bouts. One of those will see veteran Andrey Fedosov (26-3, 21) battle against Lenroy Thomas (19-3, 9). In their quarter finals Thomas just sneaked past Jason Estrada after a tie-breaker round whilst Fedosov battered Nat Heaven in 173 seconds. It's fair to say Fedosov is the big favourite but it's a good for Thomas to make a name for himself. The other bout will see Razvan Cojanu (13-1, 7) battle against the big hitting Donovan Dennis (11-1, 9). Cojanu also needed an extra round to get through his quarter-final, narrowly out pointing Ed Fountain, whilst Dennis stopped the previously unbeaten Steve Vukosa in 4 rounds. Of these two bouts it's the Cojanu Vs Dennis bout that holds a lot more intrigue than the other semi-final.

On the other card there will be prospects galore as Showtime do one of their most interesting Shobox cards in recent memory.

In the most notable bouts we get Middleweight action with one of the two most notable match ups being a bout between the the hard hitting Ievgen Khytrov (9-0, 9) and fellow unbeaten Aaron Coley (9-0-1, 6). Khytrov, who famously beat Ryota Murata in the 2011 World Amateur Champions final, will be expected to destroy Coley but that says more about Khytrov than it does about Coley. If we're being totally honest Khytrov looks like the best Middleweight prospect on the planet and is going to be a nightmare for anyone but the truly elite.

The other Middleweight bout will see Sergiy Derevyanchenko (4-0, 3) battle the once beaten Alan Campa (13-1-0-1, 9). Whilst we think Khytrov is the better prospect it does seem like Derevyanchenko is being moved a bit faster, at 29 years old however he's not got a year or two to waste and at his current pace he'll be fighting to titles by the end of 2016 at the very latest. On paper this looks like a test but we can't see Campa lasting 8 rounds with Derevyanchenko.

Another notable prospect in action here is Frank Galarza (16-0-2, 10) who will be up against Sheldon Moore (13-2-1, 9). Galarza had a sensation 2014 with 5 wins, including an excellent KO against the then 14-0 John Thompson. Moore shouldn't be too tough for Galarza but could make for an interesting match up for the with the unbeaten power-puncher.

This coming Wednesday sees boxing returning to ESPN for a special one off show which features a sensational Middleweight bout as well as one or two interesting undercard bouts.

For us the most interesting of the undercard contests will be the only involving former Ukrainian amateur star Sergiy Derevyanchenko (1-0, 1). Derevyanchenko looked sensational as an amateur, fantastic in the WSB competition and like a star in the making on his professional debut. Rather than wasting time with record padding wins we will see the Ukrainian in with the upset minded Lekan Byfield (5-5-2) who is much, much better than his record indicates. Last time out Byfield defeated the once touted Jason Escalera and if he's on that form here he could give the Ukrainian a very good test.

A second notable under-card bout here will see the unbeaten Miguel Marriaga (18-0, 16) put his impressive record on the line against the tricky, though often frustrating, Christopher Martin (28-3-3, 9). Marriaga, from Colombia, hasn't beaten many fighters of note, though he does hold a win over former Koki Kameda rival Mario Macias. As for Martin he defeated the then unbeaten Chris Avalos, though has failed to really move his career on wards following that victory way back in 2010. When on song Martin is very good though all too often he sleep walks through bouts, Marriaga will know this is his chance to make a name for himself though it is a big step up in class.

Despite the interesting under-card it is the main event that steals the show and and means a lot in the short term. That bout will see former WBO Middleweight champion Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam (30-1, 18) battle against the hard hitting an exciting Curtis Stevens (27-4, 20) in an IBF title eliminator. N'Dam N'Jikam has won 3 straight fights since losing WBO title to Peter Quillin around 2 years ago and he'll be hoping to move one step closer to re-capturing a world title. As for Stevens he'll be looking to get himself a chance at a world title having previously fallen short in a shot against Gennady Golovkin.

The winner of the N'Dam N'Jikam/Stevens bout will face the winner of the upcoming contest between Sam Soliman, the current IBF Middleweight champion, and Jermaine Taylor. Those two are set to meet on October 8th.

(Image courtesy of http://roundbyroundboxing.com)