After a weekend to remember in Riyadh last Saturday night, boxing very much goes global this weekend with three action-packed shows from Bournemouth to Belfast to Brooklyn. 

First off in Bournemouth, the undefeated Ryan Garner will be looking to ad the European Super-Featherweight Title to his WBC International Super-Featherweight Title when he takes on the Spaniard Salvador Jimenez. 

After being fairly inactive during COVID times, fighting just twice in the space of two and half years between February 2020 and July 2022, Garner has been an absolute revelation for British boxing since. Four fights, four wins, two stoppages including victories over the likes of Archie Sharp and Liam Dillon, he’s looked a million dollars at times and rightfully so earned his shot at the European Title.

His opponent on Saturday night, Salvador Jimenez, is yet to fight outside of Spain and hasn’t really any notable names on his 14-0-1 record so far. 

Garner has filled into 130lbs really nicely and now at 27 with his man strength fully there, he will likely have too much for Jimenez and don’t be surprised to see him get an emphatic stoppage win either.

On the undercard, Joe Joyce returns for the first time since his defeat to Derrick Chisora in July as he looks to get the rust off before an enticing clash with Dillian Whyte in April. 

A fight that really catches our eye though is Mace Ruegg vs Liam Dillon. 

At 12-0, Bournemouth’s Ruegg is yet to have been given a solid 50/50 on a decent card but that’s exactly what he gets here against former British champ Dillon. 

A slick boxer who is prone to a bit of showboating here and there, Ruegg is really easy on the eye and with Dillon’s constant pressure, it’ll be an interesting clash of styles which could well turn out to be fight of the night. 

Now over to Belfast and what a fight this is as the undefeated Lewis Crocker takes on the fellow undefeated Paddy Donovan in a proper 50/50 scrap with the winner in pole position for a crack at Jaron Ennis’s IBF world title. 

The more experienced of the two, Crocker has had to earn his stripes on the small hall scene but in his last three fights, he’s picked up wins over Tyrone McKenna, Joe Felix and the newly crowned British champ Conah Walker. 

Three solid names to have on any welterweights resume. 

Southpaw Donovan has been on a similar journey to Crocker’s having had to make a name for himself on the smaller hall shows before lighting up the 3Arena when stopping Sam O’Maison on the Chantelle Cameron vs Katie Taylor undercard. 

Since that win, he’s continued to impress with stoppage victories over Danny Ball, Williams Herrera and most recently Lewis Ritson. 

Obviously what makes this fight interesting is where they’re both from but more than anything, it’s the clash of styles. 

Crocker the tough, come forward, pressure fighter that looks to take your head off with every punch he throws against the methodic boxing brain of Donovan who carries dynamite in both hands but prefers to be much more calculated with his shot selection and punish his opponents as soon as they lose focus for a split second. 

Donovan, under the tutlege of the great Andy Lee, is a fighter that relies on getting into his rhythm early. A fighter like Crocker has all the traits to be completely wrong for him but if you’re coming forwards to Donovan, you’re also making it easier for him to time you onto something big. 

It really is an intriguing match up that could quite literally go either way so do not be surprised if we see these two in the ring with each other once again after this. 

On an action-packed undercard, light-heavyweight contenders Craig Richards and Padraig McCrory will be looking to get themselves back into contention towards the top of the 175lbs division. 

Richards is coming off the back of a disappointing defeat to Willy Hutchinson last year whilst McCrory will be aiming to put his disappointing defeat to Edgar Berlanga in the rear view mirror with a big win here. 

Both lads are well into their 30s now and defeat here could see the loser staring down the barrell of retirement so expect them both to put it all on the line to get the win.

Similarly to this fight, another last chance saloon contest also features on the undercard with the former European champion Tommy McCarthy clashing with fellow Belfast man Steven Ward. 

Two of boxing’s good guys, both are in a bit of a losing rut having both lost two of their last three but nevertheless, it’s a really good match up between two lads who’ll be wanting to prove that they’ve still got a bit left in the tank. 

With Bournemouth and Belfast done, we head across the Atlantic as one of the P4P biggest punchers on the planet in Gervonta Davis defends his WBA World Lightweight Title against the current WBA World Super-Featherweight champion Lamont Roach Jr. 

To say that Tank is a little bit of an enigma would be an understatement. 

One of the best P4P fighters on the planet. One of the hardest punching P4P fighters on the planet. One of the biggest P4P fighters on the planet. Yet he has fought just three times in nearly three years.

When Tank fights, the boxing world stops, that’s testament to how good this youngman is and we speak for probably a majority of boxing fans when we say, we wouldn’t mind if it stopped a few more times. 

Here the defending champ takes on a star of the division below in Lamont Roach Jr. 

He claimed the world title when beating Hector Luis Garcia, a man that Tank stopped at the start of 2023, at the end of 2023 and then stopped Feargal McCrory in June to defend his title.

The step up in weight shouldn’t be too much of a problem for Roach considering he is the bigger man but where he will undoubtedly struggle is with the power differential. 

He’s never stepped foot in the ring with anyone who carries the sort of power that Tank does and when Tank hits you, you feel it, for a long and painful time. 

Roach will be tricky. He’ll offer something a bit different for Davis but it’ll likely be just a matter of time until Tank sussess him out and eventually gets to him. 

Prior to Davis vs Roach, there’s a belter of a super-lightweight world title double header as Jose Valenzuela defends his WBA title against Gary Antuanne Russell with Alberto Puello defending his WBC title against Spain’s Sandor Martin.

Another fight to watch out for on the undercard is Cuban Yoenis Tellez taking on former world champion Julian Williams. 

Tellez is currently 9-0 with seven stoppages and is widely regarded as one of the biggest prospects in the 154lbs division at the age of 24. 

A fight that will be well worth a watch.