The 2013 year is closing out with a Dec 7th Quadruple header on Showtime!

The 2013 year is closing out with a Dec 7th Quadruple header on Showtime!

On December 7^th, Showtime has put together a fantastic, intriguing, and competitive card with the headliner being Zab Judah vs. Paulie Malignaggi. These are two of the flashiest, entertaining fighters over the last ten years. While both fighters are coming off losses, both fought extremely well against high-level competition. Zab lost to Danny Garcia, who is one of the hottest fighters in boxing at the moment, who gave Garcia a tougher fight than Lucas “The Machine” Matthysse who is an absolute beast in the ring. Paulie lost to Adrien Broner, also one of the hottest fighters in boxing and gave Broner the toughest fight of his career, in my opinion. Both Zab and Paulie have big personalities outside the ring, which sometimes over shadows their skills in the ring, but make no mistake about it; these are two very skilled former world champions who are still fighting at a high level. To add more hype to the fight, along with their intriguing personalities and trash talk, both men are fighting in their hometown of Brooklyn, New York.

Golden Boy Promotions held nothing back by going out of the 2013 year with a terrific undercard. First up, there is the highly intriguing matchup of boxing skills between Austin Trout and Erislandy Lara for the vacant WBA Junior Middleweight championship. These are two of the best southpaws in all of boxing, let alone the junior middleweight division. Lara is coming off a tough, hard fought TKO win against Alfredo Angulo. Angulo had Lara down twice in the fight, which was a first in his career but Lara dug deep and came out with the highly entertaining victory. Trout is coming off the first and only loss of his career against Mexican Superstar, Canelo Alvarez. It was a close tough fight but Canelo scored a knockdown in round seven and went on to win the decision. For boxing purist, this is a dream matchup. There are so many variables in this fight. Who will take the lead? Who will be the counter puncher? Who has the better defense? Who has the better speed? If Lara goes on to take the victory, I’m sure he will want one of the big names of the division, to name a few, Mayweather, Canelo or even Cotto. If Trout wins, I see him aiming for a rematch against Canelo. He’s made no secret of the fact that Alvarez is the one he wants, and Trout knows that if he secures himself a belt than he can very well negotiate his way to that rematch.

Another title fight on the card is with IBF Welterweight champion Devon Alexander defending his championship against undefeated challenger Shawn Porter. Alexander is a very fast, sharp punching southpaw who has very good victories in his career over Marcos Maidana and Lucas Matthysse. His only loss came against pound for pound top ten fighter Timothy Bradley in 2011 at junior welterweight. Alexander has fought at a higher level since moving up to welterweight and is a serious threat to anyone in the welterweight division. Porter is a very fast, stick and move type boxer. He is coming off an impressive unanimous decision against former world champion Julio Diaz. This is the same Diaz coming off a close decision loss to Amir Khan. Alexander has a lot of options, win or lose, after this fight. But should he win, he could defend his belt against Danny Garcia or even British boxer, Kell Brook. Most recently, Alexander had a few choice words for Brook’s fans, which believe that Brook has a chance at defeating the world champion. If Porter should win, I’d like to see him matched up with the winner of the Keith Thurman vs. Jesus Soto Karass matchup that is happening next week on the Adrien Broner vs. Marcos Maidana undercard.

Last but definitely not least is the fight I expect to be pure fireworks with WBC Super Middleweight Champion, Sakio Bika, defending against undefeated, knockout puncher, Anthony Dirrell. Bika is a strong cagey veteran who gives everyone hell, win or lose. He is coming off a victory over Marco Antonio Periban who was undefeated at the time and in which he won the vacant WBC title. Dirrell is a smooth, hard punching fighter and is coming off a very impressive 3^rd round knockout of Anthony Hanshaw. He is a cancer survivor which is just more proof of his fighting spirit. This is a big step up in competition for Dirrell but if he wins, he will be a major player in the exciting super middleweight division. For the winner of this fight, either way, I’d like to see him go over to the U.K. and defend the title against George Groves who is coming off a controversial loss against Carl Froch. It would be a large draw for the British boxing fans.

So there you have it, Golden Boy Promotions has yet another great card on their hands, finishing off the year with what the boxing fans want. You can catch this fight Saturday night at 7pm/pst, LIVE on ShowTime.

-David Lopez/ @PRLopez333

Contributor for www.BehindTheGloves.com