Tuesday, September 1st
CountryBox247, 7:00 pm ET CountryBox: Where Music Meets Boxing
From the Plaza Mariachi in Nashville, Tennessee. There was a little one month hiccup in August, but CountryBox is CountryBACK! And, I won’t lie… I was a little concerned about the possibility we’d seen the last of this event until this fight week rolled around and I saw it was still a going concern. I don’t know about you, but after three and a half years of steady congress? Could we even live in a world where Music wasn’t Meeting Boxing
anymore? Would we even want to?? Thank goodness we don’t have to face the question, as dates are booked and tickets are on sale for events all the way through November. Clayton Q is the music this time around. And, Scott Christ breathes a sigh of relief as he no longer has to submit to an interview with me for what would have been a lengthy post-mortem oral history article on the CountryBox: Where Music Meets Boxing phenomenon, and our place in it.
Thursday, September 3rd
DAZN, 6:30 pm ET Eye of the Tiger Promotions
From Montreal, Canada. Main event is a cruiserweight gate check for rising contender Lenar Perez, last seen victorious over the 2026 version of Isaac Chilemba. Perez gets a similar matchup here against Thabiso Mchunu, a name cruiserweight followers likely recognize, but largely based on his fights 10+ years ago against Oleksandr Usyk and Junior Makabu. Mchunu’s last credible win probably came five and a half years ago over Evgeny Tishchenko, and I’d usually make a sneering remark about the matchmaking, especially on the heels of the Chilemba fight. But, there are only four or five real notable names in the weight class, and all of them would be a huge risk that Perez likely isn’t ready for. I don’t know how you develop a cruiserweight in Canada, but hopefully Eye of the Tiger figure something out between this and Jai Opetaia or Zurdo. Jhon Orobio and Wyatt Sanford appear in supporting fights. BLH may have live coverage
Friday, September 4th
Andy Ruiz vs Damian Knyba (DAZN and TNT, 8:00 pm ET)
BLH will have live results and updates
From Newark, New Jersey. It’s Ruiz’s 2nd biennial “comeback” extravaganza! Last seen in August of 2024 fighting to a majority draw with Jarrell Miller, which came after a September 2022 decision win over Luis Ortiz in Ortiz’s last notable pro fight. Ruiz was a six-month sensation after his thrilling knockout of previously undefeated Anthony Joshua back in 2018, until Joshua won back the heavyweight belts in the rematch later the same year.
Knyba is 30, Polish, and enters off of a 3rd round TKO defeat to Agit Kabayel back in January. No shame in a loss to Kabayel, but Knyba’s biggest wins are against Joey Dawejko, Curtis Harper, and Michael Coffie, so we still don’t really know what his level is, other than somewhere above gatekeeper/prospect-builder and somewhere below Top 3 current heavyweight.
Ruiz has a multi-fight deal with Matchroom, and he’s in his late 30s now, so he really can’t go wandering off for years at a time again unless it’s effectively a forever goodbye. I’d love to think he’s going to finally make good on what made him so exciting eight years ago, as the chunky but quick, lovable oddball first-ever Mexican heavyweight champ. But, if he had the dedication to do it, we probably would have seen him actually take more than a single step in that direction at some point in the last half decade. Realistically, looking at the Matchroom roster, this is the fight that leads to the Big Baby Miller rematch, and then maybe a 37-39 year old Ruiz is the name Eddie Hearn uses to put Teremoana over somewhere down the line.
ON THE UNDERCARD: Whoa, it’s a PBC on Fox retro revival! On top of Andy Ruiz, we’ve got a chief support fight between Vito Mielnicki and Austin “Ammo” Williams, with Mielnicki’s lesser WBO middleweight title on the line. Further down the lineup is Alan Chaves, an Argentinian lightweight with a very high KO percentage and an unblemished record. It’s a fan-favorite stereotype for a reason, and Chaves fights the scrappy, durable, and ever-dangerous Eridson Garcia in a matchup that definitely deserves your attention if you’re already tuning in for the main event. Honestly, not a bad little show for basic cable or non-Ultimate DAZN!
Saturday, September 5th
DAZN, 12:00 pm ET Dream Boxing
From Ludwigshafen, Germany. Main event is Slawa Spomer vs Faisal Abubakari, which is a respectable super welterweight sorting fight. Not a lot on the undercard that catches the eye of anyone who isn’t a devoted German boxing fan, but you may have a passing awareness of Fedor Michel or Ibo Diallo.
Katie Taylor vs Flora Pili (DAZN, 2:00 pm ET)
BLH will have live results and updates
From Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland, for Taylor’s WBA, WBO, and IBF super lightweight titles, the currently vacant WBC super lightweight title previously held by Taylor, and Pili’s IBO super lightweight title. This is the culmination of a lifelong goal for Taylor to headline a show at Croke Park, and the event has been promoted from the start as Taylor’s farewell fight. Pili, a 29 year old Frenchwoman, is about as credible as anyone could be in the role. She not only holds the IBO belt (which was vacated by Taylor previously), but also stands as the #1 contender for one of Taylor’s current belts, too. Frankly, anyone would just be set dressing for Taylor’s magical goodbye show, and anything but a tearful farewell victory in front of 80,000 Irish supporters would be arguably a bigger Croke Park shocker than Mayo’s championship there in July.
ON THE UNDERCARD: It’s an all-Irish chief support between Paddy Donovan and Tyrone McKenna at welterweight. David Allen and Joe McGrail also appear. Prelims start at 11 am ET on DAZN
