DAZN subscribers won’t be starved for content these next two months. The network has officially revealed the octet of events set to grace every weekend in February and March, including some previously revealed main events, some that didn’t previously have dates, and a couple of new reveals.
Chronologically:
February 5th: Liam Smith vs. Jessie Vargas and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai vs. Carlos Cuadras 2 in Glendale, Arizona. The former is a long-brewing super welterweight grudge match, the latter a super flyweight final eliminator that will earn the winner a shot at WBC gold.
February 12th: Daniel Jacobs vs. John Ryder in London. Bit of a swerve for both men; Jacobs had been linked to a light heavyweight title shot against Joe Smith Jr,, while Ryder’s ordered fight with David Morrell and potential crack at Dmitry Bivol failed to pan out.
February 19th: Jaime Munguia vs. D’mitrius Ballard. The pair were supposed to square off last year before “Big Meech” suffered an injury, but last I checked, Munguia had to fight Carlos Adames in a WBC eliminator. Well, wouldn’t be the first time Sulaiman and co. ignored their own orders.
February 27th: Lawrence Okolie vs. Michal Cieslak in London. This will be Okolie’s second defense of the WBO cruiserweight title and it’s far from a gimme, as Cieslak’s only loss came to WBC champ Ilunga Makabu, BoxRec has the Pole ranked sixth in the world at 200 pounds.
March 5th: Juan Francisco Estrada vs. Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez 3 in San Diego. Terrific rubber match, even if the circumstances that led to it were less than ideal.
March 12th: Leigh Wood vs. Michael Conlan in Nottingham. Both Wood’s WBA “world” featherweight title and a shot at “super” champ Leo Santa Cruz will be on the line.
March 19th: Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Michael McKinson somewhere in the States. This will be a clash of undefeated welterweights, an interesting style matchup, and probably a WBO eliminator of some sort.
March 26th: Kiko Martinez vs. Josh Warrington 2. Both men took a rather interesting road towards this rematch; Warrington vacated the IBF featherweight belt to chase Xu Can, then wound up getting smashed by Mauricio Lara before a disappointing No Contest in their rematch. Martinez, meanwhile, authored one of 2021’s upsets of the year by starching Kid Galahad, who was originally Warrington’s mandatory.