Mike Coppinger, confirming earlier reporting from Dan Rafael, brings word of two solid Ring City USA main events set for this coming month. Unbeaten Olympian Charles Conwell takes on Ivan Golub on April 8th, while April 22nd sees Jermaine Franklin face Stephan Shaw in a clash of unbeaten American heavyweights.
The 23-year-old Conwell (14-0, 11 KO), who fell to Vikas Krishin in Rio, has emerged as an intriguing super welterweight contender with a series of strong showings. He’s 3-0 since his tragic victory over Patrick Day, stopping Ramses Agaton, Wendy Toussaint, and Madiyar Ashkeyev in successive efforts.
Ukraine’s Golub (19-1, 15 KO) has been treading water since a questionable 2017 loss to Jamontay Clark, winning six straight over marginal opposition. He generally competes around welterweight, where he sits at #7 in the IBF rankings, but looks like he’ll be moving up to meet IBF #7 super welterweight Conwell.
Franklin (20-0, 13 KO) has been touted as a prospect, but that doesn’t seem to be panning out, as seen in his highly questionable 2019 decision win over Jerry Forrest. He sat out for all of 2020, though he did pop up to promise great things, and now takes on the 28-year-old Shaw (14-0, 10 KO). “Big Shot” was last seen taking a decision over Lyubomyr Pinchuk in December, having stopped Gregory Corbin in three 12 months prior.