*Roy Jones Jr. vs Dawid Kostecki
Roy Jones Jr. (55-8, 40 KO’s) will be fighting light heavyweight Dawid Kostecki (39-1, 25 KO’s) on June 30th in Lodz, Poland. Kostecki is riding an 18 fight winning streak. The Polish native is ranked across the board by all three major organizations (# 4 WBC, # 2 WBA, and # 4 IBF). Jones last fought in December of last year against Max Alexander, winning a ten round unanimous decision. This will be Jones’ first fight in the light heavyweight division since losing to Bernard Hopkins.
*Amir Khan vs Danny Garcia
Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) and Danny Garcia (23-0, 14 KO’s) are in agreement for a clash on July 14 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. What is not sure is which titles will be on the line. Khan is waiting on a hearing to see if his old belts (WBA &IBF) will be returned to him on a no contest ruling. Peterson admitted of using PED’s a month before he fought Khan in December. Another hurdle is to see if the WBC will even sanction the fight. The WBC #1 jr. welterweight contender Ajose Olusegun has been waiting patiently for his title shot for over a year.
*Dereck Chisora vs David Haye
The Dereck Chisora (15-3, 9 KO’s), David Haye (25-2, 23 KO’s) fight will happen after all. Chisora picked up his boxing license from the Luxembourg Boxing Federation. The date is set for July 14 at the West Ham United FC in Luxembourg. Next up for license renewal is David Haye. The fight has come under scrutiny by The British Boxing Commission due to the fact that both men, at first were not licensed. Haye’s license expired last year. The heated rivalry between the two fighters picked up steam when Haye bad mouthed Chisora at his post-fight press conference. After losing a spirited, but one sided decision to Vitali Klitschko back in February, Haye and Chisora took swings at each other, resulting in a melee, and glass bottles being broken over heads. It should be interesting to see how things pan out.
*Chad Dawson vs Andre Ward
Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s) and Chad Dawson (31-1, 17 KO’s) will do battle, with Ward’s WBC,WBA and the RING’s Super Middleweight Championships up for grabs. Dawson, the WBC Light Heavyweight Champion, will have to drop from the 175 division, and make the 168 pound weight limit for the first time since February of 2006 against Jason Naugler. The fight will take place on September 8th at the Oracle Arena in Ward’s hometown of Oakland, California. A fight between Ward and Dawson will match two of boxing’s upper echelon competitors. Both men are putting a lot on the line. On the other hand, win or lose, Dawson will remain The Ring and The WBC light heavyweight champion.
*Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs Victor Ortiz
Alvarez (40-0-1 29 KO’s) and Ortiz (29-3-2 22 KO’s)…At first, it was supposed to be Paul Williams in there with “Canelo”, but fate dealt Williams a bigger blow than any fight could. James Kirkland seemed all but set to fill in for Williams, but he priced himself out. Now, the Mexican who is known for his trade mark red hair (natural by the way), quickly becoming a super star attraction, finally has an opponent for September 15. If all goes well for Ortiz against Josesito Lopez, who happens to be a replacement fighter himself, he (Ortiz) will find himself in the opposite corner of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on that September night. It will be the unbeaten champions first pay per view in the main event. First things first though, Ortiz has to take care of business on June 23 against Lopez to secure his title shot against Alvarez. The fights venue is at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
