This Saturday night in Warren, Ohio, we may or may not get a good night of cruiserweight and heavyweight boxing. Legendary, love him or loathe him promoter Don King, in his “homecoming” show (maybe King’s very last show, who knows?) will return to work for the first time in a long time.
King is promising fight fans a great night of entertainment and maybe the show will deliver. The two co-main event fights are a far cry from some of the mega-fights King once promoted yet we could get some good action all the same.
The WBC cruiserweight title fight between Ilunga Makabu, 28-2(25), and Mchunu, 23-5(13), in a rematch of a good fight, should be the fight of the night. Mchunu, who was stopped late on when he met Makabu back in 2015 in a non-title fight, has had 12 fights since – including losses to Oleksandr Usyk, Constantin Bejenaru, Thomas Oosthuzien, and wins over Oosthuzien and Denis Lebedev – and “The Rock” says he has learnt from the mistakes he made in the first fight.
Makabu, who will be making the second defence of the belt he won by defeating Michal Cieslak, and as we know, Makabu has (or had) talk of a big, big fight with Canelo Alvarez ringing in his ears. Will it be a case of repeat or revenge on Saturday? Both men can bang and both guys like to stand and trade. We could get a sizzling action affair here.
As for the heavyweight “world title” fight, absolutely no-one knows what to expect here. Bryan is unbeaten at 21-0(15) but he has beaten only two guys with any pedigree at all: BJ Flores a cruiserweight and Bermane Stiverne who was past his best. Bryan says he wants the big fights with “the best” yet his career has moved at a veritable snail’s pace (just two fights fought since 2017). But if we don’t know how good Bryan is, we know next to nothing about Guidry, 17-0-2(10). Guidry’s unbeaten record is even less impressive than Bryan’s, with no standout name there at all.
Guidry is talking a great fight, insisting he will get the win and that he will show the world that he can really fight, but we’ve only his word on that. Can Guidry punch hard? Can Guidry take a shot? Will we find out on Saturday? King might be giving us his swansong with this card, maybe not, but if this is to be Don’s final offering it will be a shame.
King was the premiere boxing promoter on the planet for decades, but today, the 90 year old legend is bereft of star fighters. Let’s hope Makabu and Mchunu and Bryan and Guidry can make King look good one last time.
Photo by D. M. Warr / DKP