By Cliff Rold, photo by Hoganphotos

The names on the marquee feel more like an ESPN2 Friday Night Fights main event.  That’s not an insult.  Lots of good fights and fighters have made hay on Friday Night Fights.  It just doesn’t feel like an HBO headliner.

It will be on Saturday (10 PM EST/PST).  If Middleweights David Lemieux (32-2, 20 KO) and Gabriel Rosado (21-8, 13 KO) were dancing in Lemieux’s usual stomping ground in Montreal, the rabid crowd might make it feel different.  The Brooklyn crowd at Barclay’s might turn the noise up and provide a reasonable facsimile.

There are no titles on the line.

Neither headliner has ever really picked up a win to separate from the pack.

It’s just a fight.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

2014 has been an up and down year in terms of its elite performers.  Wladimir Klitschko and Manny Pacquiao both turned in significant career wins over Kubrat Pulev and Timothy Bradley respectively.  The other half of their years was forgettable.  Adonis Stevenson followed a career making 2013 with business decisions that left him basically boxed out of significant fights in his division by the end of 2014.  Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather didn’t happen.

Again.

The two best fights of the year to date (Francisco Rodriguez-Katsunari Takayama and Orlando Salido-Terdsak Kokietgym) happened on a Spanish language channel (BeIn Espanol) many don’t, or don’t know that they, have.  It’s symbolic of the sort of year it’s been. 

While there have been some shining stars (Sergey Kovalev, Amnat Ruenroeng, and Terrence Crawford all had strong campaigns for example), this has been a year where hardcore fight fans have often had to look below the superstars to get the best boxing had to offer.

They’ve found it.  In the absence of some of the big fights that didn’t happen, fight fans have still had plenty of good fights a few great ones. 

This could be at least be another good fight.

It’s easy to fixate on what Lemieux and Rosado are not. 

Lemieux was on an early roll before consecutive losses to Marco Antonio Rubio and Joachim Alcine exposed his limitations.  Rosado has lost three of his last four.  It would be four straight if not for a failed PED test by J’Leon Love. 

What about what they are?

Lemieux fights like he has somewhere else to be sooner than later and he’s pissed about it.  He is always pressing, always looking to hurt his man.  The Canadian might be limited, but he can punch and tries to make that the point. 

Rosado is a guy who has stayed relevant by giving the fans their money’s worth most of the time, ending many a night swollen and cut and having left a piece of himself behind.  No, his last effort against Jermell Charlo wasn’t anything thrilling.  Before that though, he battled Middleweight titlist Peter Quillin tough, was there all the way with Love, and stayed on his feet in being stopped by Gennady Golovkin.  Prior to Golovkin, he’d won seven straight to turn his career around.

Ironically, Lemieux enters on a seven-fight win streak here.  Rosado could turn his career around again by keeping Lemieux from making it eight.  Matched with someone who just comes to throw, as was the case against Jesus Soto Karass in 2012, Rosado has chances.  He’s not shy and he’ll be within range for Lemieux to have chances too.

It’s a hard fight to pick.  It’s a hard fight imagine as boring.

It’s likely to be a hard fight.  Period.

That will have to be enough for this week.

Cliff’s Notes…

Of course it’s not the only fight on Saturday…Former Light Heavyweight Champion Jean Pascal couldn’t iron out a deal with Stevenson so he turns to newly tri-unified titlist Kovalev if he beats Roberto Bolonti this weekend (PPV, 8 PM EST/5PM PST).  Both men deserve credit for the match.  Kovalev is seeking out the best guys he can find.  Pascal never shies away from fights.  Carl Froch, Bernard Hopkins, Lucian Bute, Adrian Diaconu, and Chad Dawson is, in this era, are the sort of fights you’d want from a top guy in the class.  Kovalev is more of the same.  He might not win, but he’ll show up…Former unified Flyweight titlist Brian Viloria will be on the UniMas undercard (11 PM EST) on Saturday.  The man who took his WBA and WBO belts, Juan Francisco Estrada, will be in non-title action on BeIn Espanol (11 PM EST).  It doesn’t look like Estrada-Roman Gonzalez II will happen right away in 2015.  Could Estrada-Viloria II be what we see first?  With Milan Melindo now competing at 108 lbs., Viloria could soon be the leading WBO contender for Estrada.  Their first fight was good.  Nothing wrong with seeing it again…CM Punk and Vince McMahon have been more entertaining on Podcasts than anything in WWE has been in months.  Daniel Bryan’s special appearances last week, and the crowd reactions, showed how much he’s missed…Didn’t Beth’s death on the Walking Dead feel tacked on?...Is Bryan Jennings really ready for Wladimir Klitschko?  Will he ever be?  We will probably find out soon…Tyson Fury was more fun when he couldn’t box…Why did the Mickey Rourke story get more than a passing glance this week?  A 62-year old actor was boxing.  That should have been a clue to ignore it.            

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com