In this segment, we take a look at the upcoming weekend’s biggest sporting contests.
This weekend sees titles on the line, the battle of the blues and summer’s most-loved pastime.
Lomachenko vs Pedraza
Last week saw two of the best heavyweight fighters come together, this weekend sees the best fighter at the other end of the weight-spectrum in action, as Vasyl Lomachenko takes on Jose Pedraza.
The winner of the 135lbs bout at the Hulu Theater in Madison Square Garden will take home the WBO and WBA Lightweight belts.
Watching the Ukrainian Lomachenko (11-1) fight is truly a thing of beauty.
Having won titles at featherweight and junior lightweight, ‘Loma’ stepped up to lightweight in his last outing, to become a three-division champion faster than any other fighter in history.
While he still got the stoppage win, he didn’t look as untouchable as usual, even being sent to the canvas for the first time in his professional career.
He’s since had to undergo shoulder surgery as well, adding to the question of how he’ll stack up against Jose Pedraza who boasts a record of 25-1.
UFC 231
Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway vs Brian ‘T-City’ Ortega for the UFC featherweight title; there doesn’t even need to be anyone else fighting on the card and it’d be worth watching.
At the press conference earlier in the week, between the typical boasting, there was a high level of respect from both fighters, but that’ll be put aside when the two enter the octagon in Toronto this weekend.
Current champ Holloway (19-3) is on a 12 fight win streak, ever since a loss to a certain Irishman back in 2013.
Meanwhile, Ortega is undefeated with a 14 and 0 record, with 1 no contest.
This fight was scheduled to happen at UFC 226, but Holloway had to pull out after suffering concussion-like symptoms in the days leading up to the event.
The co-headliner sees Joanna Jedrzejczyk (15-2) step up a weight class to take on former kickboxing opponent, Valentina Shevchenko (15-3), in the women’s flyweight division.
Man City vs Chelsea
Manchester City travel to Stamford Bridge this weekend, hoping to keep their unbeaten record for the season intact.
Chelsea, on the other hand, will be hoping to bounce back after a surprising loss to Wolverhampton earlier.
If City were to overcome Chelsea, it would be the first time they’ve won 15 straight matches on the road in the Club’s history.
If Chelsea have any hope of chasing down City and Liverpool they’ll need to make up for this week’s poor performance with a win over the ladder-leaders.
Leroy Sane has been incredible for the Sky Blue, with an assist, goal or both in each of his last 8 games.
Cricket
Test match cricket is finally back for Australia, with the game against India continuing over the weekend.
Cricket-lovers who’ve had to work for the first two days will be able to finally properly watch the action, instead of taking long ‘bathroom-breaks’.
The Aussies would’ve been extremely confident, which is rare for our cricketers these days if it weren’t for Cheteshwar Pujara scoring 123 in the first innings.
Things haven’t started well for Australia’s batting, with a duck to opener Aaron Finch.
It may be a long summer indeed.
By Brandon Clark
