by Peter Lim

What the smaller, shallower-pocketed networks lack in the elite fighters who are regularly showcased on HBO and Showtime, they sure seem to be making up for with good, intriguing matchups. Robinson Castellanos vs. Rocky Juarez on Fox Sports and Sergio Mora vs. Abie Han on ESPN are recent examples.

Tonight, CBS Sports airs a youth-versus-experience bout riddled with intangibles between heavyweight Akhror Muralimov (16-0, 13 KOs) and Derrick Rossy (29-9, 14 KOs) from the Resorts World Casino in Queens, New York.

Standing half an inch below six feet, Muraliomov, 27, is a chubbier, paler, slower-footed version of Mike Tyson in his heyday. As his record suggests, Muralimov, who relocated to Houston from Uzbekistan in 2011, packs a mighty wallop especially with the left hook. It was the hook that brought him his two most significant victories to date, a 2012 fifth-round TKO of Olan Durodola (9-0, 8 KOs, at that time) and a second-round TKO of Jason Bergman (24-11-2, 16 KOs) last year.

Rossy, 34, can best be described as a lower-level gatekeeper of the heavyweight division. He has faced a respectable bunch of heavyweights and won some but mostly lost some. But win or lose, Rossy always comes to fight. Despite losing three of his last four fights, he was good enough to defeat a 21-1 fighter by the name of Joe Hanks last year. His preference is to fight from a distance and at six-foot-three, he has a considerable height and reach advantage over Muralimov.

Check out this writer's prediction at peterliminator.blogspot.com.