HBO Boxing

Zou Shiming vs. Eleazar Valenzuela, 4 rounds, fyweight
Roman Martinez vs. Diego Magdaleno, 12 rounds, junior lightweight
Brian Viloria vs. Juan Francisco Estrada, 12 rounds, flyweight
Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. vs. Yasutaka Ishimoto, 10 rounds, junior featherweight
Milan Melindo vs. Tommy Seran, 10 rounds, flyweight
Paul Fleming vs. Ryusei Yoshida, 8 rounds, junior lightweight
Dodie Boy Penalosa vs. Nimithra Sithsaithong, 8 rounds, featherweight
David Penalosa vs. Cheroenchai Sithsaithong, 6 rounds, junior featherweight


In the main event, China's Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming (0-0) makes his professional debut against Eleazar Valenzuela (2-1-2; 1 KO). The show takes place in front of a hometown crowd for Shiming in Macau, China. HBO Boxing Shiming vs. Valenzuela airs this Saturday, April 6 on HBO2 at a special afternoon start time of 2:00 p.m. ET. Bloody Elbow will have live fight coverage, including results and discussion.

This fight is obviously a bit outside the norm for an HBO main event, as it's very rare to see a debuting fighter receive such a high profile first fight out. But that's what happens when you have a two time Olympic gold medalist who represents a valuable potential market. As this is Shiming's debut (and only Valenzuela's 6th pro fight), the main event is only 4 rounds, and will be contested at 108 pounds. This likely won't be a terribly stiff test for Shiming, nor should it be - that's what debut fights are for. Expect him to show off his technical skill and take a comfortable decision victory.

Also featured on the HBO broadcast will be a pair of quality 12 round title fights.

In the broadcast opener, Juan Estrada faces Brian Viloria. The 32 year old Viloria has had a 12 year career filled with highs and lows. He had a nice start to his career, but a bad run in 2006 really halted his momentum. Recently, he's been hot again, winning his last 6 fights, 4 via KO. He'll try to keep his momentum going against the 22 year old Estrada. A Mexican fighter, Estrada made his US debut last November, losing a hard fought decision to Roman Gonzalez. Expect a tough fight between these two, though I like the experience and power of Viloria over the less tested Estrada.

After that, Rocky Martinez takes on Diego Magdaleno. Martinez is coming off a controversial draw against Juan Carlos Burgos from January - a draw that most felt Martinez should have lost. Still, he kept his belt via bad judging, and now has something to prove. Magdaleno is an undefeated 5 year pro, with good skills though not a lot of KO power. This is a good opportunity for Magdaleno, but I think he'll struggle against Martinez. Look for Martinez to claim another hard fought decision win in what should be a very good fight.