Baldomir, Liakhovich Face Tough Title Defenses

Boxing fans, get your video recorders ready as this weekend offers a pair of televised cards on the same night at the same time.

On Saturday in Las Vegas, Carlos Baldomir defends his WBC welterweight title against the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world today, Floyd Mayweather Jr.. Baldomir seemed to come out of nowhere to score decisive wins over Zab Judah and Arturo Gatti ... but Mayweather is at an entirely different level. Mayweather - to his credit - is always in great shape and never looks past an opponent. Prediction: Baldomir is aggressive early and tries - at times successfully - to turn this into a physical brawl. Mayweather, however, is just too fast for Baldomir and wins on either a late stoppage (if Baldomir's face gets too beat up) or via unanimous decision.

Also on Saturday, Sergei Liakhovich makes the first defense of his WBO heavyweight title against Shannon Briggs in Phoenix, AZ. Liakhovich was impressive in his title-winning bout against Lamon Brewster earlier this year but he's still relatively inexperienced at the world class level. Briggs looks as much like a bodybuilder as a boxer these days but will be dangerous for as long as the fight lasts. Prediction: Liakhovich weathers some early bombs from Briggs but his superior skills and conditioning eventually wear out the massive Briggs for a late-round TKO.

The Mayweather-Baldomir bout is on pay-per-view and will set you back $49.95 -- a hefty price tag considering the underwhelming undercard. Alternatively, if want to save your money - and are willing to miss what could be the most competitive fight of Mayweather's career - you can wait until next weekend and see the rebroadcast of the fight on HBO (along with the Wladimir Klitschko - Calvin Brock title fight). The Liakhovich-Briggs fight is on Showtime.