THE BEST OF THE WEEKEND

This Saturday, November 1, Showtime is featuring an exciting, potential Fight of the Year candidate on their World Championship Boxing program. You have to give the Viacom guys their due. With a smaller budget than HBO they continually match good fights, the kind that real fans enjoy.

The main event this week features Cristian Mijares, the WBA/WBC junior bantamweight titlist and one of the premier pound for pound fighters today facing IBF belt holder Vic Darchinyan, one of the hardest punching sluggers in the lower divisions of recent times.

This highly anticipated title unification bout will be held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, with ticket prices a mere $25 to $250.

On the same night a five bout Top Rank PPV card to be held at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT features IBF flyweight belt holder Nonito Donaire in his Top Rank debut, junior bantamweight star Jorge Arce, Lamont Peterson, Vanes Martirosyan, and the super welterweight rematch between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Matt Vanda. Ticket prices for the live event range from $50 to $300.

The major difference is that Mijares-Darchinyan is the best fight of the weekend and is free to Showtime subscribers while the Top Rank card will set you back $39.95. Don’t get me wrong; Top Rank always puts on a good show and they’re certainly rolling out some of their top stars and brightest prospects for the show, with far better undercard fights than you normally get on PPV. In fact this card could be considered a prototype of why they are so successful. They keep their fighters active and therefore happy.

I saw the first Chavez Jr.-Vanda fight on a previous Top Rank PPV in July. I thought Vanda won but it didn’t exactly shock me that he didn’t get the decision in Mexico.

The scoring was another matter. It was 97-93 Chavez, 96-95 Vanda, and (OMIGOODLORD!) 100-90 for Chavez from Judge Francisco Moret, a man whom I dare say either had visual problems or was in the tank for Chavez all along.

Vanda, from St. Paul, Minnesota, is a 12 year veteran with a record of 36-7 (21) and is 4-6 in his last 10 bouts, so we’re not talking Ali-Frazier III here. The fight has more importance to Junior, 37-0-1 (29), who many feel was born on third base and thought he hit a triple.

Donaire, 19-1 (12), the man who knocked out Darchinyan in the 2007 Upset of the Year, faces IBF mandatory challenger Moruti Mthalene, 22-1 (15), from South Africa. Due to promotional problems, this will be Nonito’s first fight of the year, so there might be some rust. Further, Donaire, who fought at 115 before coming down to 112 to beat Darchinyan, has been known in the past to gain too much weight between fights. And, with more money to be made in the future at 115 against a list of opponents as long as your arm, he absolutely must stay focused.

However, you can get away with a lot when you’re 25 and talented. While Nonito may not be at the level of Manny Pacquiao, he is a big star in the Philippines, a good looking guy with a good looking spouse. So fear not, Mthalene, fighting for the first time outside of his native country, really has no shot.

The colorful Jorge Arce, 50-4-1 (38), who was dominated and embarrassed by Mijares last year is on the card fighting for the WBA interim belt against Isidro Garcia, 25-5-2 (8).

That one cracks me up. The WBA has Mijares defending the title on the same night as they sanctioned an interim title bout. What interim? Can anyone explain?

Well, it might not be illegal but it certainly doesn’t appear to be entirely ethical either. Anyway, I have to think it was set up for Arce to help promote his next fight, so he’s my pick.

So you have all the ingredients there for an enjoyable if not high profile pay per view card.

But, I’m on the austerity program right now and it’s going to take a lot for me to recommend a $39.95 PPV investment right now. How can I recommend “buy” when I know you can’t “sell,” even at a lesser price later?

Let’s put it this way– if you bought Hopkins-Pavlik two weeks ago and plan to buy Calzaghe-Jones next week and it won’t kill you financially, then what the hell. Because top to bottom, this week’s card is better. Beware, however, if you’ve been spoiled by high def, because it won’t be available.

Back to this week’s feature bout on Showtime, Cristian Mijares, 36-3-2 (15), the classical practitioner of the sweet science, and Vic Darchinyan, 30-1-1 (24), the big one punch knockout artist so rare in the lower weights, provide a can’t miss matchup. Mijares is in his prime at 27 and has won 26 straight over six years.

Darchinyan is now 32 and one wonders if his knockout loss to Donaire and his draw with Z Gorres were signs of his having passed his peak or merely an aberration.

On the other hand Darchinyan always has the puncher’s chance. With the ability to end it with one punch, Vic could indeed hurt Mijares early and take him out. The operative words here are “end it” and “take him out” because if Mijares can stand up to Darchinyan’s power, he could well win every round.

I’m picking Mijares to win by unanimous decision in a hard fought fight filled with action.

In the co-feature, super middleweight Andre Dirrell, 16-0 (11), meets Victor Oganov, 28-1 (28). Oganov’s lone loss was by TKO to Fulgencio Zuniga for the vacant IBO title 14 months ago.

If Dirrell was advised by anyone other than Al Haymon he might have disappeared from the scene altogether after he stunk out the joint by running all night from Curtis Stevens. But he seems to have settled down in recent outings. He’s a 26 year old slick boxing southpaw who can switch to orthodox and back again before you know it.

It seems to be a good matchup on paper, possibly interesting if Oganov gets close enough to check Dirrell’s chin.

But if not, the main event will certainly make up for it.