This weekend is certainly not a busy one, but there some real highlights taking place through out Saturday.

For many hardcore fans the stand out fight comes from Sonora where WBA “interim” Super Flyweight champion David Sanchez (28-2-2, 22) defends his title against the always fun to watch Luis Concepcion (32-4, 23). Both men have the ability to put on thrillers so we're hoping that this one lives up to the expectation and delivers and all out war. The winner will be the top contender for the upcoming “regular” title fight between Kohei Kono and Koki Kameda, who fight next month in the US.

Staying in Mexico there is brilliant female world title bout between the fantastic Arely Mucino (21-2-2, 10) and the equally brilliant Jessica Chavez (23-4-3, 4). On paper this is brilliantly matched, especially give their 2013 split decision draw, and we're expecting a lot of high paced action between these two. Coming in Mucino is the WBC female Flyweight champion and will be defending her title for the first time since claiming it from Shindo Go earlier this year.

South African boxing certainly isn't thriving but with Rodney Berman they do have a promoter willing to really invest in their fighters and the national scene. Today Berman puts his Minimumweight world champion Hekkie Budler (28-1, 9) up against fellow South African Simphiwe Khonco (15-4, 7) in a WBA title defense for the “Hexecutioner”. On paper it looks like a mismatch but Khonco is better than his record suggests, and has won his last 9, whilst Budler may not quite be as good as the numbers suggest. Hopefully the winner of this will agree to a unification bout with one of the other champions, such as Kosei Tanaka or Wanheng Menayothin, or face WBA #1 ranked contender Knockout CP Freshmart.

In England we get an excellent Super Featherweight bout as local favourite Stephen Smith (22-1, 12) faces Italian visitor Devis Boschiero (37-3-1, 19). Smith, the younger brother of 2-time world title challenger Paul Smith, is hoping to get a world title fight if he wins here and although he's a big betting favourite there are a number of fans picking the visitor. As for Boschiero the under-rated visitor has challenged for a world title, losing a very close one to Takahiro Ao, and lost twice in very close bouts to European champion Romain Jacob. Potentially this is the fight of the night and the winner is expected to face IBF king pin Jose Pedraza in 2016

The final Saturday of March gives us a number of really good bouts, both in Asia with an ALA show and around the globe with interesting bouts in Mexico, the US and the UK.

In the UK, where we get the first of the big international bouts, fans will get the chance to see the unbeaten Kell Brook (32-0, 22) defend his IBF Welterweight title for the first time and make his first return to the ring following his stabbing last year. The talented Brit, dubbed “The Special One”, will taking on mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan (34-2, 18). The match up is a mandatory but still a good test for Brook, especially given the stabbing incident. If Brook is the same fighter he was when he won the title then he wins this easily, if he's not the same movement then he may well be dragged into a very tough contest.

Another bout on this card worth noting is a Middleweight bout between the promising Adam Etches (18-0, 15) and the always testing Sergey Khomitsky (29-11-3, 12). Etches is a fantastic prospect but this is his first real gut check and it's a fantastic time to find out if he's as good as hopes.

An interesting Flyweight bout will see the touted Khalid “Kal” Yafai (13-0, 9) put his unbeaten record on the line against Cristofer Rosales (10-1, 7). Yafai is dropping to Flyweight for the first time and although talented he looks like he'll need a lot more seasoning before being ready for a title fight in boxing's toughest division.

A bout with relevance to Asian fight fans comes at Super Featherweight where the world ranked Stephen Smith (20-1, 12) battles Jacek Wylezol (11-8, 6) in a stay busy fight. We want to see Smith testing himself against the best in the world, such as Takashi Miura or Takashi Uchiyama, but bouts like this really do leave us wondering what Smith and his team are playing at.

In the US fans will see a number of notable bouts, the most notable of which is a WBC Featherweight title bout which sees monster puncher Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48) defending his title against once touted American Gary Russell Jr (25-1, 14). Russell Jr is getting his second shot at a world title, after being beaten by Vasyl Lomachenko last year, whilst Gonzalez looks to record the 3rd defence of the title he won back in 2013 with an upset win against the then unbeaten Abner Mares. Really interesting fight and one we've seen opinions being split on.

In an excellent co-feature bout fans will see the talented Jermell Charlo (25-0, 11) battle against Vanes Martirosyan (35-1-1, 21). The fighters involved in this bout should have styles that make for an interesting fight, though we're unsure how exciting it will end up being. Both are talented fighters and both are in the hunt for a Light Middleweight title fight later in the year so both will fight for the win.

Jermell's twin brother Jermall Charlo (26-0, 16) will also be inaction on this card as he takes on Michael Finney (12-2-1, 10), who has gone 0-2-1 in his last 3 bouts. Although Finney is a good test for prospects we do think Charlo, both of them in fact, have progressed to contender status and this should be a mismatch in the ring.

In Mexico the bout of interesting will see the heavy handed Miguel Berchelt (24-1, 21) fighting against Rene Gonzalez (31-7-1, 23) in a potentially explosive clash between two men who can be hurt and can do the hurting. Neither man afford a loss here and both know that they will have to perform at their best is they are to remain relevant in the under-rated Super Featherweight division. The division looks set to change a lot in the coming 12 months and the loser here will unfortunately miss out on any coming opportunities. The winner however will find themselves put forward as a serious contender later in the year.

(Image courtey of www.notifght.com)

This past Saturday was an amazing day for boxing fans with a fantastic show in the US. The show, one of the best of the year, at least on paper, was thoroughly interesting but sadly not always the most entertaining.

The show, at least the televised portion of it, kicked off with an enthralling WBO Bantamweight title fight that saw Tomoki Kameda successfully defending his title and leaving an excellent impression on US fans. The fight, which ended when Tomoki landed a brutal body shot to Pungluang Sor Singyu, should have been impressive enough to impress US audiences in to wanting to see more of Tomoki.

Following the all-Asian show starter we then had the fight of the night as Mauricio Herrera (21-4, 7) took a majority decision over Johan Perez (19-2-1, 13) and claimed the WBA interim Light Welterweight title. The fight, which was action packed through out, swung several times as the two men unloaded shots on each other in a high paced and highly skilled contest that was genuinely enjoyable. 

The action from the Herrera/Perez was great to watch but neither guy had the power to really hurt the other and as a result it never looked like we were going to get a stoppage, though Perez was rocked very late in the fight. In the contest that followed however there was no chance the contest was going to go the distance as all action Francisco Vargas (20-0-1, 14) stopped the hard hitting but very shop worn Juan Manuel Lopez (34-4, 31). Lopez was rocked hard in the second round before being dismantled in round 3 by a very sharp Vargas who seemed to announce himself on the world stage. Sadly for Lopez this was another painful loss and it seems time that he called quits on his career before he ends up with serious long term health issues.

Sadly the excitement all vanished in the very next fight as Abner Mares (27-1-1, 14) put on a controlled but dull performance to over-come Jonathan Oquendo (24-4, 16). This was Mares first bout since being blasted out in a round by Jhonny Gonzalez and although that set back was a bad one the tactics Mares used in this fight really were disappointing for the most part.

In the main event of the show fans saw the hugely popular though very divisive Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (44-1-1, 31) take a highly disputed split decision over Cuba's Erislandy Lara (19-2-2, 12). The bout saw Lara boxing and moving for vast parts of the fight whilst Alvarez stalked with mixed results. The men both felt their tactics had seen them controlling the bout though in all honesty no one truly "controlled" it with plenty of rounds that could be debated. Sadly one judge managed to see the fight 117-111 to Alvarez, a result that simply didn't make sense, despite the numerous close rounds. Each man seemed to clearly win 4 rounds with their tactics whilst the remaining 4 were up for debate. The only thing that the fight really told us is that whilst both men were evenly matched Canelo struggles with movers and Lara struggles with body shots.

Sadly the 117-111 card in the Alvarez/Lara fight as well as the draw card in the Herrera/Perez fight and a card of 58-56 to Pungluang, prior to the stoppage, all leave major question marks about judges and we wonder if they were watching the same fights as our selves

Prior to the American card fans also had the chance to watch some fights from the UK. These including a bout with Super Featherweight contender Stephen Smith (20-1, 12) who looked terrible against journeyman Pedro Navarrete (28-19-3, 17). Navarrete is better than his record indicated but Smith really was awful and if he's thinking about fighting Takashi Miura he probably needs to think again or he'll end up badly beaten.

On the same British card we had a trio of Olympic medal winners including Super Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (7-0, 7), who stopped veteran Matt Skelton (28-9, 23) in a bout that saw Skelton looking his 47 years of age, and Luke Campbell (6-0, 4) who sadly looked lacking in his decision victory over the brave Craig Woodruff (5-4, 2).

The main action on the British show was in the Cruiserweight as we had two bouts of note. The first saw former WBO Light Heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly (28-1, 14) make light work of the limited but fun Alejandro Emilio Valori (15-5, 11) whilst the second saw the big mouthed Tony Bellew (22-2-1, 14) stopping Brazil's Julio Cesar Dos Santos (26-3, 23). Both the visitors came with the intention of scoring a KO but neither had the ability against the more well known British fighters who are now set to face each other, in fact they almost had an impromptu fight last night, suggesting that neither man had had to work hard enough to score their wins.

(Image courtesy of Golden Boy Promotions)

Wednesday isn't usually a day for boxing in Britain but this week gives us a very important bout in the Super Featherweight division as the WBC #10 ranked Stephen Smith (18-1, 11) fights against former 2-time world title challenger Mauricio Javier Munoz (28-4, 13). Munoz, best known for losing to Toshiaki Nishioka back in 2011, will be one of the toughest foes Smith has faced but the Brit will be favoured here. 

With the vacant WBC Silver Super Featherweight title up for grabs, a victory for Smith would move him towards a fight with Japan's vicious Takashi Miura. For Miura that would be a big profile bout that could see fans in the UK finally becoming aware of just how exciting the Japanese fighter is, though unfortunately we expect Smith will take a different option rather than fighting Miura for the WBC world title.

(Image courtesy of Matchroom Boxing)