Probellum promote from the Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai this Saturday, and Sunny Edwards headlines in a second defence of his IBF flyweight title against Pakistan’s Muhammad Waseem.
Eurosport and Discovery+ is the place to see Edwards vs Waseem in the UK, whilst fubo TV holds the rights in North America and ESPN KO will broadcast the card in Latin America.
Edwards (17-0, 4 KOs) has built a solid record based on skilful boxing and punch picking, and the 26-year-old picked up several ranking-building belts before expertly wrenching the IBF world title from Moruti Mthalane in a masterful display last April.
The Londoner, who is based in Sheffield dominated from start to finish, and made victory against the South African look easy in what was a closely matched fight on paper.
‘Showtime’ defended for the first time in Dubai in December, turning in another impressive display in a wide points win against Jayson Mama, dropping the Filipino in the tenth.
Edwards has designs on a unification against WBC champion Julio Cesar Martinez, but also may move to super flyweight to test himself against the likes of Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez, but he has to deal with his voluntary defence first.
Waseem (12-1, 8 KOs) has failed in an attempt for the same belt in 2018, dropping the aforementioned Mthalane in the opening round, before being squeezed out on the scorecards.
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The 34-year-old has won four straight since, and picked up the vacant WBC Silver belt last time out, with a points win over Rober Barrera in November 2021.
Prediction: Edwards is an impressive operator, and he should frustrate Waseem enough for the Pakistani to lose ambition from early on. The champion should retain via a wide margin on the cards.
Prograis meets McKenna
An intriguing clash at super lightweight sees Regis Prograis (26-1, 22 KOs) take on Tyrone McKenna (22-2-1, 6 KOs).
Prograis is on the rebuild after losing his world title in a thriller to Josh Taylor in 2019, and ‘Rougarou’ has won two fights since, the last a sixth round stoppage of Ivan Redkach in April last year.
McKenna has actively called for this fight on social media, and now gets his wish.
The Belfast man has only lost to Jack Catterall and Ohara Davies in his 25-fight career.
‘The Mighty Celt’ was last out in August 2021, taking the WBO Intercontinental belt, but had to get off the floor to do so in a points win against Jose Felix.
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Prediction: Prograis is a level above McKenna, and this should show in a win around the halfway mark.
Doheny battles Juarez
Former IBF super bantamweight champion, TJ Doheny (22-3, 16 KOs) is on the bill, and the Irishman will hope to get back to winning ways in a featherweight ten rounder against Cesar Juarez (27-10, 20 KOs).
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Prediction: Doheny has lost three of his last four, the last a points loss to Michael Conlan, but he should be able to take a points win in this one.
Remaining Undercard
Talented Olympian, Peter McGrail (2-0, 1 KO) sees action, and the Liverpudlian super bantamweight can score an early win in his scheduled six rounder with Uriel Lopez (13-18-1, 6 KOs), who has lost his last eight.
Olympic Bronze medallist, Hovhannes Bachkov (2-0, 1 KO) takes a ten round assignment for his third fight, and the Armenian can take out Cristian Rafael Coria (29-9-2, 13 KOs) inside schedule.
Indian welterweight, Faizan Anwar (11-0, 5 KOs) can remain undefeated, and he can take a points win over eight against Khojiakbar Qodirokhunov (4-1, 3 KOs), and at super featherweight, Fahid Al Bloushi (8-1, 2 KOs) can do the same against Mohamed Kashinde (11-8-7, 2 KOs) over six.
The last six rounder comes at lightweight, and Bader Samreen (4-0, 3 KOs) can score an early victory against Denis Bartos (6-2, 5 KOs).
In four round action, British cruiserweight Jamie King (2-0, 2 KOs) should win early in his encounter with Naveen Verma (4-1, 4 KOs).
Yorkshire’s Khalid Ayub (2-0) can win on points against Annem Sivareddy (1-2).
