Similar to January and February, the months of July and August usually tend to be slow in the sport of boxing. Fortunately for us fight fans, this July will provide a lot of good action highlighted by the premier of Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN, a card that will be headlined by Keith “One Time” Thurman, the return of “El Hijo De La Leyenda” Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., as well as Sergey Kovalev’s second fight on HBO in 2015.
The month does start slow, 4th of July weekend is notorious for being a dead stretch for boxing, but Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions will kick things off on Thursday, July 2 with a card on Fox Deportes featuring a 10-round Junior Welterweight showdown between Gilberto Gonzalez and John Karl Sosa along with Diego De La Hoya vs. Jose Estrella in a Featherweight bout as the co-main event.
Saturday, July 4 will have no boxing on the major primetime networks, but will be carried by the Spanish language channels. beIN Sports Español will show David Carmona vs. Warlito Parrenas for the vacant interim WBO Junior Bantamweight title, and UniMas will be bringing a 12-round Junior Middleweight bout between Ramon Alvarez and Richard Gutierrez.
The pace picks up the following Saturday, July 11 when WBA “regular” Welterweight champion Keith Thurman takes on tested veteran Luis Collazo in the main event of PBC’s first ever broadcast on ESPN.
Thurman had a great start to 2015 with a win over Robert Guerrero on March 7 and will be looking to bolster his case as the best opponent for Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s September 12 date.
Photo by Ismael Gallardo
Also on Saturday, July 11 HBO Latino brings you a possible “Fight of the Year” candidate with Mauricio Herrera taking on Hank Lundy in a 10-round Junior Welterweight fight. Not only are both men straight forward offensive fighters, but both are coming off losses and are desperate to get back in the win column.
I'm in the best shape I ever been in tune in July 11 on @HBOLatino @GoldenBoyBoxing it's the Hammer show pic.twitter.com/gNsqyJubWK
— Hank Lundy (@HammerinHank_L) June 27, 2015
Also on the card Michael Perez will take on Sharif Bogere in a Junior Welterweight fight, and Joseph “Jo Jo” Diaz will fight Rene Alvarado in a Featherweight bout.
beIN Sports Español will also be televising a fight on Saturday, July 11 featuring Donnie Nietes vs. Francisco Rodriguez for Nietes’ WBO Junior Flyweight title.
Showtime’s ShoBox will make an appearance this month with a solid card on Friday, July 17 featuring two good 10-round Middleweight bouts headlined by Antoine Douglas vs. Istvan Szili with Arif Magomedov vs. Derrick Webster in the co-main event.
Also on Friday, July 17 on Telemundo Junior Middleweight prospect Daniel Rosario will fight Aaron Garcia in a 10-round fight from Kissimmee, Florida.
Photo by Matt Mackey
Saturday, July 18 spells a big night for boxing, first Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton will fight for the first time since being under Al Haymon’s wing when he defends his IBF Junior Featherweight title against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr. at 4:00 pm, EST on CBS.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr In Moster Shape With Robert @Garciaboxing – EsNews Boxing https://t.co/O8m8pPfqrE #boxing
— Elie Seckbach (@Seckbach) June 29, 2015
Then Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will look to bounce back from the shellacking he took at the hands of Andrzej Fonfara this past April 18 when he takes on completely unknown Marcos Reyes in a Super Middleweight bout at 9:00 pm, EST on Showtime. Also in the co-main event McJoe Arroyo will fight Arthur Villanueva for the vacant IBF Junior Bantamweight title.
Also on Saturday, July 18 on UniMas, Cesar Cuenca and Ik Yang will battle it out for the vacant IBF Junior Welterweight title and Nonito Donaire will continue his 122 pound comeback when he takes Anthony Settoul in a 10 round bout as the co-main feature.
Denis Shafikov was set to fight Mickey Bey for Bey’s IBF Lightweight title, but Bey vacated the title this week to drop from the fight, Shafikov will stay on the card and take on an opponent to be announced.
Boxing will return to Telemundo for the second time in the month of July on Friday, July 24 featuring Bantamweights Alejandro Hernandez and Martin Casillas both taking on separate opponents to be announced.
Saturday July 25 brings the return of “The Krusher” Sergey Kovalev to HBO Championship Boxing, the king of the Light Heavyweight division will take on mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi in the main event from Las Vegas.
Also on the card, Kovalev’s most recent victim Jean Pascal will look to bounce back from his loss when he takes on undefeated up-and-comer Yunkieski Gonzalez of Cuba.
Beibut Shumenov and @bjfloresboxing set for #PBConNBCSN clash in #Vegas on 7-25 @Palms: http://t.co/PgvZ39iXWH @NBCSN pic.twitter.com/5ZJqA5cjPH
— PBC (@premierboxing) June 29, 2015
Also on Saturday, July 25 PBC will deliver some interesting Cruiserweight action, B.J. Flores will drop the mic and attempt to show the boxing world how the big boys do it when he takes on former Light Heavyweight title holder Beibut Shuminov for the vacant WBA interim title.
Saturday, July 25 will also provide Junior Featherweights Juan Carlos Sanchez vs. Cesar Juarez on beIN Sports Espanol, Flyweight Brian Viloria vs. an opponent To Be Announced on UniMas, and you can catch boxing on ironboyboxing.com featuring Victor Castro vs. Angel Martinez in an eight-round Lightweight match.
The month will conclude on Friday, July 31 with Telemundo’s third boxing card of the month featuring Ricardo Rodriguez vs. Daniel Lozano in a 10-round Junior Bantamweight match.
Some other boxing cards not currently scheduled to air on American television in the month of July are:
July 11: Ruslan Chagaev vs. Francesco Pianeta for Chagaev’s WBA “regular” Heavyweight title (Germany). July 11: Terry Flanagan vs. Jose Zepeda for the vacant WBO Lightweight title (England). July 18: Arthur Abraham vs. Robert Stieglitz for Abraham’s WBO Super Middleweight title (Germany). July 18: Scott Quigg vs. Kiko Martinez for Quigg’s WBA “regular” Junior Featherweight title along with Darleys Perez vs. Anthony Crolla for Perez’s WBA Lightweight title (England).
Be sure to keep up with RoundByRoundBoxing.com for all changes for boxing matches scheduled to air on television in the month of July.
