PBC on ESPN Preview: Perrella vs. Grayton, Beterbiev vs. Maderna
By: William Holmes
On Saturday night the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada will be the host site of another Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) card on ESPN.
Al Haymon’s company will televise at least two bouts on Saturday night. HBO will be televising a competing card around the same time as the PBC card.
The following is a preview of both the televised bouts.
Bryant Perrella (13-0) vs. David Grayton (14-0); Welterweights
The first bout of the evening will be between two rising prospects that have yet to face any significant competition at this point in their careers.
Grayton has significant power, as he has stopped ten of his opponents. Perrella however, has stopped twelve of his opponents and his last ten victories were by KO or TKO.
They are both of a similar age, Grayton is twenty eight years old and Perrella is twenty seven. They both had successful amateur careers. Grayton is a former national golden gloves champion, and he even defeated Errol Spence as an amateur in 2010. Perrella was a bronze medalist in the National Police Athletic League Tournament in 2010.
Neither boxer has faced anyone of note in the amateurs. Grayton has only defeated two people with winning records, Martin Wright and Daniel Souza Santos. Every other opponent he has faced has losing records. Perrella has defeated the likes of Ramon Ayala and Patrick Boozer, but his professional resume is only slightly better.
On paper, this is a tough fight to pick. Not much is known about either boxer as a professional. However, a slight edge will have to go towards Grayton since he was able to defeat Errol Spence Jr. as an amateur and was a former National Golden Gloves Champion.
Artur Beterbiev (9-0) vs. Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna (23-2); Light Heavyweights
Artur Beterbiev is a young gun in the light heavyweight division that is on the fast track to a world championship.
Beterbiev is from Dagestan and is of Chechen Descent, but he currently resides in and fights out of Montreal, Canada. Most of the fans in attendance will likely be supporting him.
Beterbiev was very successful as an amateur in Russia and won a silver medal at the 2007 World Championships and a gold medal at the 2009 World Championships. He even beat Sergey Kovalev as an amateur.
Maderna also had a successful amateur career, but not on the same level as Beterbiev. Maderna competed for Argentina in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Beterbiev has won every fight by stoppage as a professional. He has defeated the likes of Alexander Johnson, Gabriel Campillo, and former world champion Tavoris Cloud.
Maderna has fifteen stoppage victories to his resume. He has not been very active and only fought once in 2015 and zero times in 2016. He has lost to the likes of Thomas Oosthuizen and Edwin Rodriguez. His resume lacks any big victories, but his best ones to date have come against Ronaldo Mansilla and Jose Alberto Clavero.
Beterbiev will be giving up about three inches in height and five inches in reach to Maderna. He is also two years older than his opponent.
But this will be an easy fight for Beterbiev and it should end in another knockout victory for him.
