This Saturday night March 28th, the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada will host a boxing card that is set to air on Showtime with a WBC World Featherweight title fight between champion Jhonny Gonzalez and challenger Gary Russell Jr. Right now the sport books are listing Russell Jr as the (-185) favorite, with Gonzalez coming back at (+160) . There is no over/under for the scheduled twelve round bout. Kudos to Showtime for scheduling to very competitive bouts. Gonzalez is the veteran (57-8) champion who has been in there with the best of them over the years. He regained the belt he had dropped to Daniel Ponce De Leon in September of 2012 with a first round KO of Abner Mares, and he earned two more stoppages in subsequent title defenses, including an eleventh round TKO of tough Jorge Arce where he had Arce down 4 times throughout the fight. For Russell, he is still trying to regain his stride. Touted as one of the top American amateurs of this era, he managed to get to (24-0) as a professional before losing in his first world title bid to Vasyl Lomachnko. He bounced back with a win last December and is now ready for a second attempt at a world title. A Super Welterweight 1o-rounder between Vanes Martirosyan (35-1-1) and Jermell Charlo (25-0) will also air on the Showtime broadcast, and that match sees Charlo favored at (-240), with the comeback on Martirosyan at (+180). Charlo is undefeated and considered a potential big talent, but Martirosyan has been in with a lot higher level of competition and held his own. In November of 2013 he lost his only bout via ta Split Decision as he fought Demetrius Andrade for the vacant WBO World title. He earned a draw with Erislandy Lara, so he has faced top notch talent for a long time, s Martirosyan is the hardest competition Charlo has faced to date. Also on Saturday on the other side of the world in the Philippines, former multiple-time world champion Nonito Donaire returns to the ring a major favorite (-10000) over opponent William Prado, who is returning (+3500). Prado is (22-4-1) , but most of his career was spent fighting in his native Brazil, not exactly a boxing powerhouse. In June of 2013 he was KO’d by then interim WBA Super Bantamweight champion Scott Quigg in the third round. In April of last year he won his last fight against a fighter making his pro debut. Nothing, not even Quigg, prepares Prado for Donaire if Donaire is sharp. The “Filippino Flash” was once a player in the pound for pound lists, but he has gone (2-2) in his last four outings. Losses to Nicholas Walters and Guillermo Rigondeaux established that Donaire was beatable, but few can still match technique with him when he is at the top of his game. Coming off the loss to Walters, he wants to avoid dropping a second fight in a row. The co-main event in support of Donaire-Prado features Light Flyweights Donnie Nietes taking on Gilberto Parra in a twelve round bout. Nietes is the (-5000) favorite, with Parra coming back at (+2000). Parra is (19-2) , and he faces a tall order trying to take the WBO World Light Flyweight belt from NIetes, who is making his sixth defense of the belt he won back on October of 2011. We last saw Parra in mid-February, where a clash of heads resulted in him being cut and the fight was stopped in the second round so this is a short turn-around time to face a world champion on his home turf.
