GUNS AND GOLD
Paul Wheeler previews a Mexican shootout and a vacant world title clash
THIS Saturday (February 23), inside Tijuana’s Auditorio Municipal Fausto Gutiérrez Moreno, Matchroom Boxing stage their first-ever show in Mexico, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Action/main Event (UK) and DAZN (US). Headlining in a welterweight 12-rounder are a pair of seasoned sluggers in Brandon Rios, 35-4-1 (26), and local veteran Humberto Soto, 68-9-2 (37) 1NC. Oxnard, California’s Rios is a former WBA lightweight champ, while Soto has held a WBC title in that division, as well as at super-feather. Both men are way past their best, but are guaranteed to leave it all in the ring. At 32, Rios [below] likely has a bit more left in the tank than his 38-year-old Mexican rival, so he can take this one on points.
On the same night at the Minneapolis Armory (Warriors Boxing), ITV Box Office (UK) and FOX Sports 1 (US) televise as Michigan’s
Anthony Dirrell, 32-1-1 (24), and Turkey’s
Avni Yildirim, 21-1 (12), collide for the vacant WBC super-middleweight strap. Flint’s Dirrell, 34, previously ruled as WBC boss from August 2014 to April 2015. He has been considerably less active than the busy Yildirim in recent years, but has advantages in height and reach over his 27-year-old foe from Istanbul. Yildirim is rough and relentless, but the likelihood is that he will walk on to one too many of Dirrell’s accurate heavy-handed attacks, leading to an inside-schedule success for the American.