A trio of women’s world title fights are the main attractions this week, including two on Friday — Alycia Baumgardner vs. Delfine Persoon for the WBC junior lightweight title, Sandy Ryan vs. Mikaela Mayer for the WBO welterweight title — and Rhiannon Dixon vs. Terri Harper on Saturday for the WBO lightweight title.

Let’s take a look at these fights and many more on this week’s TV offerings.

Friday, September 27: Sandy Ryan vs. Mikaela Mayer (ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+)

Sandy Ryan holds one welterweight title, but he could just as easily be the lineal champion.

The 31-year-old from Derby, England, took the vacant WBO belt in April 2023 after it was stripped from Jessica McCaskill. Five months later, Ryan challenged lineal champion McCaskill for a draw, although some thought Ryan deserved to win. McCaskill lost her throne to Lauren Price. And now several 147-pounders are vying for the title of queen.

Ryan is among them. In March of this year, she stopped Terri Harper to move to 7-1-1 (3 KOs), with her only loss coming in 2022, in Ryan’s fourth pro fight, a split decision to Erica Anabella Farias. Ryan won an immediate rematch with Farias via unanimous decision.

Mayer, a 34-year-old from the United States, is 19-2 (5 KOs). She turned pro after competing in the 2016 Olympics and became the unified junior lightweight champion. After losing to Alycia Baumgardner in a three-fight fight at 130 pounds in 2022, Mayer moved up a weight class. She has made one appearance each at lightweight (decision win over Lucy Wildheart) and junior welterweight (points win over Silvia Bortot).

In January, Mayer moved up to welterweight and lost a split decision to IBF titleholder Natasha Jonas. This will be Mayer’s second shot at the 147 belt.

The main event at Madison Square Garden Theater will feature separate fights between Xander Zayas and Bruce Carrington.

Zayas is a junior middleweight prospect from San Juan, Puerto Rico, currently residing in Sunrise, Florida. He signed with Top Rank at age 16, turned pro shortly after his 17th birthday, and is now 19-0 (12 KOs) at age 22. He won a unanimous decision over Patrick Teixeira in June.

Zayas will face Damian Sosa, a 27-year-old from Tijuana, Mexico, who is 25-2 (12 KOs). Sosa lost a unanimous decision to Ivan Alvarez (31-14-4) in April 2023, but has won three straight fights since then, including a split decision in April over previously unbeaten Marques Valle.

Carrington is a 12-0 (8 KO) featherweight. This will be his third fight of 2024. The 27-year-old Brooklyn native knocked out Bernardo Angelo Torres in four rounds in February and Brayan De Gracia in eight rounds in June. This will be Carrington’s third straight fight in this arena — will his streak continue?

Standing in his way is Sulaiman Segawa, 33, a native of Kampala, Uganda, who currently lives just outside Washington, D.C. Segawa has a 17-4-1 (6 KO) record and has been vigorous this year, losing on points to Mirco Cuello in March and then scoring a decisive victory over Ruben Villa in July.

Friday, September 27: Alycia Baumgardner vs. Delfine Persoon (Brinx.TV and Fubo Sports)

While Baumgardner is surprisingly the undisputed junior lightweight champion — more on that in a moment — this fight is only for her WBC and lineal world titles and will take place at the Trilith Studios Town Stage in Fayetteville, Georgia.

Baumgardner, a 30-year-old from Detroit, won the WBC belt in 2021 by defeating Terri Harper in four rounds. After a tidy sweep of Edith Soledad Matthysse, Baumgardner won two more titles by defeating Mikaela Mayer by split decision in October 2022. Less than four months later, Baumgardner was the undisputed champion, defeating Elhem Mekhaled on points to add the vacant WBA belt to her collection.

Then controversy arose.

In July 2023, Baumgardner won a unanimous decision rematch with Christina Linardatou, avenging her 2018 split decision loss to Linardatou. But Baumgardner he was later found to have a prohibited substance.

She has not fought since. The WBC has said Baumgardner did not intentionally exploit the substance. The other sanctioning bodies (IBF, WBA and WBO) still have Baumgardner as the titleholder. The result was not changed by the Michigan Boxing Commission, so Baumgardner is still 15-1 (7 KOs).

Persoon, a 39-year-old from Belgium, is 49-3 (19 KOs). She was a longtime lightweight, holding major titles at 135 in 2012 and then from 2014 to 2019. Persoon made nine successful defenses before losing a majority decision to Katie Taylor for the undisputed championship. Their rematch took place 14 months later in August 2020, and this time Taylor won by unanimous decision.

Since then, Persoon has reeled off five straight wins, all at junior lightweight, with one draw that could have easily been ruled a disqualification loss, as Persoon hit the lying Ikram Kerwat.

According to BoxRec, the show will feature only female boxers, with eight fights scheduled.

Friday 27 September: Charlie Edwards vs Thomas Essomba (Channel 5)

The fight at the York Hall in London will take place between former flyweight titleholder Charlie Edwards and Essomba, who managed by former flyweight champion Clear Edwards — Charlie’s younger brother.

Charlie defeated Cristofer Rosales for the WBC title in 2018. Two fights later, he was knocked down in the third round by Julio Cesar Martinez, then knocked down again while he was on the board. Martinez was originally considered the winner, but that result was eventually overturned. Charlie soon relinquished the title, saying he could no longer make the 112-pound limit.

Indeed, he has fought mostly in the bantamweight division since then, with four wins giving the 31-year-old from Surrey, England, a record of 19-1 (7 KOs).

Essomba, 36, hails from Cameroon and currently fights out of Sheffield, England. He has a record of 13-8-1 (4 KOs), with one of those losses coming in 2020 to Clear Edwards. Since then, Essomba has a record of 3-2-1, including a split decision in February over 14-1 Elie Konki.

Friday, September 27: Shakiel Thompson vs. River Wilson-Bent (DAZN)

Thompson (12-0, 8 KOs) is a middleweight prospect from Sheffield, England, who will be making his hometown debut at the Park Community Arena. This is the 27-year-old’s third fight of 2024. In February, he stopped 11-5-3 Gino Kanters in three rounds, then came back in April with an eighth-round knockout of 12-3 Vladimir Georgiev.

Wilson-Bent, a 30-year-old from Coventry, England, is 17-4-2 (7 KOs), which could be quite the test for Thompson. Wilson-Bent has been there with a number of recognizable names, fighting to a technical draw with Tyler Denny in 2021, losing a split decision rematch with Denny in 2022, being stopped in two rounds by Hamzah Sheeraz in 2022, stopped in eight by Austin “Ammo” Williams in 2023 and defeated on points by Ryan Kelly last October. Since then, Wilson-Bent is 2-0-1 against nondescript opponents.

Saturday, September 28: Rhiannon Dixon vs. Terri Harper (DAZN)

Dixon vs. Harper became the main event after two separate fights fell through due to injuries.

Newborn welterweight Dalton Smith was forced to withdraw from his fight with Jon Fernandez at the Utilita Arena Sheffield, then modern headliner, heavyweight Johnny Fisher, was injured and unable to continue his fight with Andriy Rudenko at the Copper Box Arena in London.

So we return to Sheffield, to the Park Community Arena, for the Dixon v Harper fight.

Dixon (10-0, 1 KO), 29, won the vacant WBO lightweight title in April with a unanimous decision victory over Karen Elizabeth Carbajal.

Harper (14-2-2, 6 KOs), 27, is a former junior lightweight titleholder who drew with Natasha Jonas in 2020 and was stopped by Alycia Baumgardner in 2021. She then moved up to junior middleweight and won the WBA belt in 2022 by defeating Hannah Rankin, drew with Cecilia Braekhus in 2023 with the vacant WBO title on the line, and was stopped in four rounds by WBO welterweight titleholder Sandy Ryan in March of this year.

Saturday, September 28: Ardian Krasniqi vs. Saul Ivan Male (DAZN)

Krasniqi is a delicate heavyweight prospect from Rottweil, Germany, who will headline the evening at the Ludwigsburg MHP Arena. The 28-year-old is 9-0 (9 KOs) and has only faced one opponent with more wins than he has lost, a 15-10 first-round knockout of Denis Altz in September 2023.

Male will be the second such opponent. The 30-year-old is 10-1-1 (1 KO). This will be Male’s first fight outside of Uganda. He last defeated Stephen Nyamhanga (3-0-1) on points in April.

Promoter Frank Warren has said he will not push for a fight between Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois given that both heavyweights are in his stable and any fight between them would put him in an “awkward position”.

Dubois defended his IBF belt with a devastating fifth-round knockout victory over Anthony Joshua in London on Saturday, silencing any doubters and cementing his place as one of the best fighters in his weight class.

The 27-year-old surprised Joshua with a first-round knockdown in front of 96,000 fans, then boxed his opponent to finish the fight in round 5.

Asked if he thought Dubois could fight Fury, who will have a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh on December 21, Warren replied: “I’ll tell you honestly, I would be in a very, very awkward position, but if that’s what they want and the business requires, that’s their business.

“It’s not something I would push for. If an offer comes along that makes sense, that’s their call.”

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has called for a rematch, which Warren said he’s open to. However, he was adamant that there’s no strenuous and swift clause for an immediate rematch, and Dubois will call the shots.

“They can have it if they want it,” Warren said. “I think it’s something to consider. Absolutely, everything is on the table. We’ll work it out and see what’s best for Daniel. We’re in the Daniel Dubois business, the IBF business, and we’ll see what’s best.”

Dubois was celebrating his victory until slow last night and while he admitted he is open to a rematch, he also has his eye on Fury and another fight with Usyk, who he lost to last year.

“Everybody said I was going to get knocked out, we all saw who got knocked out. I’m glad I proved everybody wrong, but this is the beginning of my journey,” Dubois said. “They [Fury and Usyk] are my goals now; I want to get revenge [against Usyk] and right what is wrong.

“I feel like a champ, I’m going to hold this lane and keep this train moving.”

Commentator Steve Bunce believes Anthony Joshua will not have as much confidence in his ability to beat Daniel Dubois in a rematch as he did after his loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. in June 2019.

(Source: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

Joshua (28-4, 23 KOs) is now five years older at 34, while Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) is significantly younger at 27. He is a much stronger boxer than Andy Ruiz and is not going to party and easily make 280+ pounds.

It is unknown whether Joshua will decide to fight Dubois again because it is risky and he can make more money by fighting Tyson Fury. If his promoter, Eddie Hearn, comes up with a good excuse to tell the public why AJ will not fight Dubois again, they will believe him.

Joshua and Hearn thought it was a lot easier to trigger the rematch clause and fight Ruiz Jr. again because he had put on weight. He was never a gigantic talent. He was just a fringe prospect that Joshua used as a replacement opponent when Jarrell Miller tested positive for drugs in 2019.

“He’s a little older and probably wondering how much longer he has left. He was so convinced after [Andy] “I believed Ruiz would win the rematch,” Steve Bunce said iFL TV on whether Anthony Joshua will want a rematch with Daniel Dubois, as he did after losing to Andy Ruiz Jr. in June 2019.

If Joshua is worried about how fans will perceive him by avoiding the rematch, he will overcome his fear and fight Dubois again. But Hearn or someone on his team could talk him out of fighting Dubois.

“I’m not sure he would have the same confidence. He had complete faith that if he got Ruiz again, he would beat him. It was complete faith. He’s not stupid. I don’t think he had complete faith that he would beat Dubois in a rematch. He can say it, but he feels it,” Bunce said.

Joshua won’t have the confidence to beat Dubois like he did Ruiz, but that’s obvious. In the Ruiz fight, Joshua wasn’t getting beat up in the first round and was fighting well until he was knocked down in the third round on June 1, 2019.

“He should have been stopped a few rounds earlier. He seemed to be thinking too much,” Diallian Whyte told iFL TV about Joshua thinking too much and not letting go of his hands. “Sometimes AJ can be too much of a thinker. AJ was thinking instead of waving his hands. Dubois was waving his hands. Dubois was intelligent. Credit to him, his dad and Don Charles.

AJ’s trainer, Ben Davison, didn’t want to pull him out of the Dubois fight and risk angering him. We’ve seen Joshua change trainers a few times, and it would have been too risky for Ben to pull him out of the Dubois fight in the second or third round to save him.

For coaches who are confident they won’t be fired for pulling their fighters when they’re losing, this won’t be a problem; given how often Joshua has changed coaches, Ben would have put himself at risk of being fired had he given up in the first two or three rounds last Saturday.

“Joshua has made a lot of money and done great things. He can come back and still fight good fights. He has made a lot of money and got a lot of fame. Maybe the spark is not there,” Whyte said.

Dubois hurt Joshua not because of the wealth AJ has acquired in recent years. Joshua was hurt because he couldn’t handle Dubois’ power or any fighter who punched demanding. Joshua’s chin has been vulnerable since his 2017 fight with Wladimir Klitschko, and he’s been stunned many times since then.

Fighters who hurt Joshua:

-Daniel Dubois
– Carlos the Greedy
-Alexander Povetkin
–Andy Ruiz Jr.
– Oleksandr Usyk
– Kubrat Pulev
– Wladimir Klitschko
-Dillian Whyte

“It’s not an simple fight for Tyson Fury,” Whyte said, reacting to reports that Fury wants to beat Oleksandr Usyk on December 21 and then beat Dubois to become undisputed champion. “Fury has to be careful because Dubois has the power of Ngannou. Dubois can box a lot better than Ngannou. So he has to be careful.

“Fury can tie Dubois up to stop him from fighting because Dubois let AJ tie him up so easily. It was crazy,” Whyte said.

Dubois would still be a problem for Fury, as he can’t stay up and lean into the win like he did against Deontay Wilder. Fury’s chin isn’t as good as it once was, and Dubois will land harder punches than those that hurt him against Oleksandr Usyk.

Dubois’ body shots will cause Fury problems as he tends to lean into the ropes to avoid headshots, and his body is always exposed when he does this.