K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 Final Preview: The Finalists

 

Next weekendwe have one of the bigger weekends for fight fans. With the De la Hoya vs Pacquiaofight that everyone (bar me) is really looking forward to taking place on the Sunday, the real focus of the weekendshould be on the night before when the K-1 crowns it’s annual Grand Prix champion. So instead of doing what everyone else is andfocusing on what is apparently the best boxing match of the year, I’m going to focus on the K-1 World Grand Prix (which will now be abbreviated to K-1 WGP). I won’t completely ignore the De la Hoya-Pacquiao fight, I’ll definately put my predictions for the fight up the day before it takes place anddo a re-cap the day after, but as far as I’m concerned the biggest event of the weekend takes place the day before anddeserves the credit. This will be the first of three preview articles on the K-1 World Grand Prix Final.

For those of you who don’t know how K-1 works, here’s it in a nutshell. K-1 holds four Qualifying events throughout the year where eight fighters compete in a one night tournament. The four winners of these tournaments join the eight men who made the Quarter Finals the year before in the Final 16. The final four spots are decided by the fans witha vote on the K-1 website. After the Final 16 is announced, they are paired up to fight on the same night withthe eight winners advancing to the Final Event. The eight fighters then each put their names up onto an empty slot in the bracket to decide the make-up of the Final Event (there are eight slots, with fighter 1 fighting fighter 2, fighter 3 fighting fighter 4, 5 v 6 and7 v 8 withthe winners of 1 v 2 to face 3 v 4 in the semis etc), with the easiest winners (ie the ones who won by the quickest knockout) getting to go first down to the guy who just squeaked by in his fight.

After the Final 16 Event in September, we were left with the following eight fighters:

Ruslan Karaev
K-1 Record:11-6-0 (6 KOs)
K-1 History:2006 K-1 WGP Quarter Finalist
2008 K-1 Taipei GP Champion, 2005 K-1 Las Vegas Champion
Record against other Finalists:Badr Hari (1-1)
Final 16 Result: KO2 vs Chalid Die Faust
The first of the four Qualifiers who won his way into the Final event this year, Karaev looks to make his 2nd appearance in the final event a better one then his last effort. After knocking out Badr Hari in the 2006 Qualifying event in under a minute, Karaev lasted only 71 seconds against Glaube Feitosa; being caught by his famous ‘Brazilian Kick.’ Karaev then dropped a rematch via 2nd round KO to Badr Hari in March of last year before being destroyed in 31 seconds by Melvin Manhoef later in the year.
However, Karaevbounced back with a win early this year before knocking out three opponents in one night to take win the Taipei Qualifying event and earn his spot in the Final 16. Facing dangerous puncher Chalid Die Faust, Karaev was caught early and dropped, but bounced back to floor the German three times in the 2nd round and book a place in the Final event. Because he scored the only knockout of the night, Karaev got to be the first man to put his name on the bracket and he chose the 6th fighter slot, or to be in the third fight of the night.

Remy Bonjasky
K-1 Record:33-8 (15 KOs)
K-1 History:2003, 2004 K-1 WGP Champion
2005, 2006, 2007 K-1 WGP Semi Finalist
Record against other Finalists: Badr Hari (1-0), Peter Aerts (0-1), Jerome Le Banner (0-1)
Final 16 Result:MD3 vs Paul Slowinski
The ‘Flying Gentleman’ appears in his sixth consecutive K-1 WGP Final Event, after winning his first two and making the semi finals of the last three. Bonjasky was one of four newcomers to qualify for the 2003 Final 16 event and once there he made it to the Final 8 after his opponent Bob Sapp was disqualified for hitting him while he was down. Bonjaskythen knocked out both Peter Graham and Cyril Abidiin the first round before winning a unanimous decision over Musashi to win his first crown. Bonkasky continued his winning ways in K-1 the following year defeating four time champion Ernesto Hoostafter one extra round in the Quatrter Finals, former World Heavyweight Boxing champion Francois Botha by unanimous decision in the semi finals and then again defeating Musashi in the final, this time by decision after two extra rounds making Bonjasky the only man to go 12 rounds in one night to win a K-1 WGP event.
In 2005 Bonjasky looked to become the first fighter to win three K-1 WGP’s in a row, but after defeating Hong Man Choi in the Quarter Finals he was knocked out by eventual winner Semmy Schilt in the first round of their semi final meeting. After some poor form early in 2006, Bonjasky defeated Mighty Mo and Gary Goodridgeto qualify for the Final 8 again. In his quarter final match with Stefan Leko, Bonjasky was twice kicked in the groin and was unable to continue. However, K-1 officials postponed the match until later in the evening to allow Bonjasky to recover. Bonjasky defeated Leko by unanimous decision but was unable to continue in the tournament. Bonkasky and Leko again met in 2007, this time in the Final 16 andafter a wild first round, Bonjasky knocked Lekoout with a flying knee with 10 seconds remaining in the opening stanza. Up and comer Badr Hari was his quarter finals opponent andafter a three round war with both guys delivering punishment to each others legs, Bonjasky took a close decision. The fight with Hari took a lot out of Bonjasky, and despite going the distance with Peter Aerts in the semi final, he didn’t have much to offer the three time former champion, losing a unanimous decision.
With his spot in the Final 16 already secure after a rule change allowed last years Final 8 a guaranteed spot in the Final 16, Bonjasky needed not defeat anyone to qualify this year. Still, Bonjaskystayed busy competing in super fights with Melvin Manhoef and Volk Atajev at the Amsterdam andTaipei Qualifying events, winning both fights by 3rd round knockout. In the Final 16, Bonjasky faced Paul Slowinski anddespite looking a little sluggish, he won the fight with a majority decision after three rounds. Bonjasky was the second fighter to put his name on the board and chose the 7th fighter slot meaning he would compete in the fourth fight against an opponent to be named.

Errol Zimmerman
K-1 Record: 5-0 (3 KOs)
K-1 History: 2008 K-1 Amsterdam GP Champion
Record against other Finalists: None
Final 16 Result: UD3 vs Glaube Feitosa
One of three fighters who have just emerged on the K-1 scene this year in the Final 8, should the 22 year old Zimmerman win he’ll break Peter Aerts’ record and become the youngest man to win the K-1 WGP. ‘The Bonecrusher’ was an underdog going into the Amsterdam qualifying event this year, but scored stoppage wins over Attila Karacs and 6′7 Swiss monster Bjorn Bregy before scoring a close majority decision over Zambit Samedov to earn his spot in the Final 16. Facing feared Brazilian Glaube Feitosa, a man who had come second in the 2005 K-1 WGP, Zimmerman came out firing, dropping Feitosa in both the first and second rounds andearning a wide unanimous decision. With the options of facing either Bonjasky or Karaev or taking his chances with one of the other fighters, Zimmerman chose to fill in fighter slot 3 and wait for an opponent.

Gokhan Saki
K-1 Record:7-1 (4 KOs)
K-1 History: 2008 K-1 Hawaii GP Champion
Record against other Finalists: Badr Hari (0-1)
Final 16 Result: UD4 vs Ray Sefo
Another youngster in the K-1 WGP Final this year, Gokhan Saki went to the Hawaii Qualifying event as an alternate. However the day before the event, Saki was promoted to the main card when Chalid Die Faust couldn’t get a Visa. With other well known fighters like Mighty Mo Salinga and sideshows like the fight between Butterbean and former UFC fighter Cabbage Correira in the event, Saki was very low profile going into the event. Three fights and under 10 minutes later Saki was one of the dark horses in the K-1 WGP Final 16. After destroying his first opponent with brutal leg kicks in the first fight of the night, Saki knocked out Rich Cheek and Randy Kim to earn his spot in the Final 16. There, Saki faced veteran fan favourite Ray Sefo andafter a close three rounds the fight was declared a draw. In the extra round Saki proved the fresher fighter andoutworked his opponent to take the judges decision. With fourth choice in the Final 8 fight selections, Saki with the choice of one of three opponents or the option of letting one of the other four choose him, he chose to face Ruslan Karaev in the Quarter Finals.

Ewerton Teixera
K-1 Record: 5-0 (2 KOs)
K-1 History: 2008 K-1 Japan GP Champion
Record against other Finalists: None
Final 16 Result: UD3 vs Musashi
The third of the young guns making their first appearance in the Final event this year. Little was known of the Brazilian karateka before this year and still not much is known of him now. The Fukuoka qualifying event was basically set up for Musashito earn his spot into the Final 16 but with the focus on the Schilt-Le Banner and Hari-Feitosa fights no one really cared. However, Musashi was defeated by 22 year old novice Keijiro Maeda in the quarter finals. Teixera in the other bracket won his first two fights with ease and then also defeated Maeda comfortably to qualify for the Final 16. In the Final 16, Teixera faced Musashi who had been voted into the Final 16 by the fans. In what was an extremely lacklustre affair, Musashi didn’t appear willing to fight and was uneventfully outpointed by the young Brazilian. Teixera had the next choice on the Finals board, and with the options of Bonjasky, Zimmerman or one of Le Banner, Aerts or Hari, he chose Zimmerman, effectively leaving the four big names in the tournament to battle each other for a semi finals spot.

Peter Aerts
K-1 Record: 62-21 (28 KOs)
K-1 History: 1994, 1995, 1998 K-1 WGP Champion
2006, 2007 K-1 WGP Runner-up
1997, 2000, 2003, 2005 Semi Finalist
1993, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004 Quarter Finalist
Record against other Finalists:Remy Bonjasky (1-0), Jerome Le Banner (3-1)
Final 16 Result:MD3 vs Semmy Schilt
If I was to go through the former three time champions past history in K-1 this article would double in size. Aerts has been there from the beginning and won titles in 1994, 1995 and 1998. In 2006 he took Remy Bonjasky’s spot in the semi finals after competing as an alternate and stopped Glaube Feitosa in the 2nd round to earn a spot in the final with reigning champion Semmy Schilt. Aerts had defeated Schilt earlier in the year by majority decision in a superfight at an Auckland qualifying event. In what was a classic battle, a 2nd round knockdown against Aerts was the difference in a hard fought fight and Schilt won his 2nd consecutive K-1 WGP.
After destroying Bob Sapp and Nicholas Pettas in super fights early in 2007, Aerts chopped down Ray Sefoin the Final 16 with vicious leg kicks, stopping him when Sefo’s corner threw in the towel between the first and second rounds. Aerts then destroyed Japanese up and comer Junichi Sawayashiki at 1:29 of the first round in the quarter finals and outworked a battle-worn Remy Bonjasky in the semi finals to set up a second consecutive final with Semmy Schilt. History was to be made whoever the winner would be with Aerts looking to tie Ernesto Hoost’s record of four K-1 WGP titles and Schilt looking to become the first man to win three K-1 WGP’s in a row. In a disappointing final, halfway through the first round Aerts was caught by a jab from Schilt while in an awkward position injuring his knee and leaving him unable to beat the count. This made Schilt the first man to win three K-1 WGP Finals in a row.
At the Amsterdam qualifying event this year, Aerts called out Semmy Schilt to a fight in the Final 16 qualifying event. Aerts was willing to put his record of appearing in every K-1 WGP Finals event on the line in order to eliminate Schilt from winning four consecutive titles. Aerts claimed that Schilt was bad for the sport because he lacked personality and won due to his size (roughly 7′0, 300lbs) rather then his skills. Schilt accepted and the last two year’s finalists were to fight for a spot in the Final 8. Aerts bulled Schilt around the ring, landing numerous right hands and constantly keeping Schilt on the backpedal, earning him a three round majority decision and eliminating the three time defending champion Schiltfrom the Final. With the option of facing Remy Bonjasky or competing in the first fight of the night against either Jerome Le Banner or Badr Hari, Aerts decided to choose to fight first to allow himself as much recovery time as possible should he win.

Jerome Le Banner
K-1 Record: 43-16-2 (28 KOs)
K-1 History: 1995, 2002 K-1 WGP Runner-up
1999, 2007 K-1 WGP Semi Finalist
1997, 2005, 2006 K-1 WGP Quarter Finalist
2000 K-1 Nagoya GP Champion
Record against other Finalists: Peter Aerts (1-3), Remy Bonjasky (1-0)
Final 16 Result: UD3 vs Junichi Sawayashiki
Considered the greatest K-1 fighter to never win the WGP, Le Banner is one of the most inconsistent professional fighters around. Despite winning only five of his last 10 fights in K-1, Le Banner is still considered one of the most dangerous fighters on the circuit. After losing in two consecutive quarter finals at the K-1 WGP Finals in 2005 and 2006 to Aerts and Schilt respectively, Le Banner retired from tournament fighting. He then lost in a major upset to unheralded Junichi Sawayashiki early in 2007 in a fight where he badly injured his knee. Despite retiring from tournaments, Le Banner recovered in time for the 2007 Final 16 event and won his way into the Final event with a 54 second knockout over Yoon Soo Park. Le Banner was forced to face the World’s largest professional fighter in Hong Man Choi in the quarter finals andwon a unanimous decision. In the semi’s after Le Banner had a solid first round against reigning two time champion Semmy Schilt, Schilt injured Le Banners bad right knee with a low kick which forced his corner to stop the fight.
Le Banner and Schilt squared off again early in 2008 for the K-1 Super Heavyweight title at the Fukuoka qualifying event. Despite giving Schilt one of his toughest fights in years, Le Banner fell short on the judges cards anddropped a unanimous decision. With an offer to fight Tim Sylvia in MMA, Le Banner turned down the fight and elected to fight in this years Grand Prix. His Final 16 opponent was Junichi Sawayashiki, the man who had defeated him 18 months prior. Le Banner bulled the young Japanese fighter around the ring for the full three rounds, never allowing him in the fight and scoring a wide unanimous decision. With the choice of Aerts or Bonjasky in the quarter finals, Le Banner chose Bonjasky, a man he had defeated in a controversial 2006 fight over his long time nemesis Aerts who he was 1-3 against over a period of 12 years.

Badr Hari
K-1 Record:11-3 (10 KOs)
K-1 History: 2007, 2008 K-1 Heavyweight Champion
2007 K-1 WGP Quarter Finalist
Record against other Finalists: Remy Bonjasky (0-1), Gokhan Saki (1-0), Ruslan Karaev (1-1)
Final 16 Result: TKO4 vs Hong Man Choi
The reigning K-1 100kg champion this year makes his 2nd run for a K-1 WGP title. After losing two of his first three appearances in K-1 to Peter Graham and Ruslan Karaev, Hari fought as an alternate in the 2006 K-1 WGP, defeating Paul Slowinski. He avenged the loss to Karaev in 2007 via knockout before later that year he became the first fighter to win the newly created K-1 100kg title by knocking out Yusuke Fujimoto in less then a minute. Hari then avenged his loss to Peter Graham by unanimous decision before knocking out another Australian Doug Viney to qualify for the K-1 WGP 2007 Final. His opponent in the quarter finals was former two time champion Remy Bonjasky. Both men exchanged vicious low kicks throughout their fight and the fight was very close going to the scorecards. One judge scored the bout a draw and the other two scored it for Bonjasky and Hari was eliminated.
Hari made short work of Ray Sefo in his first appearance this year and then defended his 100kg title against Glaube Feitosa at Fukuoka. Hari battered Feitosa, knocking him out at 2:26 of the first round to retain his title and establish himself as one of the favourites for the 2008 K-1 WGP. ‘The Golden Boy’ was matched with man mountain Hong Man Choi in the Final 16, giving away over 100lbs in weight to the Korean. Hari was in complete control of the fight apart from a dubious knockdown in the 2nd round against him which cost him the decision victory with the judges scoring the bout a draw. However, due to the punishment Hong Man had taken throughout the fight, he couldn’t continue in the fight and Hari earned a TKO victory and a spot in the Final 8. With the other three matchups already decided, Hari will face former three time champion Peter Aerts in the first quarter final.

This leaves the Final 8 Bracket looking like this:

Predictions and other stuff to come later in the week.

Site Update

Just to let anyone who’s interested know, I’m taking a short break from writing anything basically because 1) I don’t have a whole heap of time right now and 2)there isn’t much on until the K-1 Final 8 in December. I’m working on a few things that will keep this site busier in the new year (like the long promised monthly rankings), more will be talked about when they are further developed. I’m also pleased to mention that the site has endured its most consistant month with nearly 100 views a day thanks largely to UFC 91. I’d also like to point out that my UFC 91 Undercard Predictions got seven times the views that the article on the prediction of the main event did (so much for my theory that people only cared about the main event on this card). Anyway for those of you who like to use my predictions and call them their own (anyone who has been using my UFC picks like that needs mental help), I’m picking Hatton to beat Malignaggi on points in a one sided affair and thats all there is on for the next few weeks that I can think of.

UFC 91: Lesnar defeats Couture, Florian whips Stevenson

I’ve put this off a bit, First of all I was busy and it was hard to get on here and write this up (mainly because Main Event are cocksuckers and put the fight on a working day so I only saw it yesterday and since then I’ve worked 16 of the last 36 hours and out of the other 20 I’ve slept eight, driven to and from work for about two, trained four which leaves six hours that doesn’t include eating, showering and jacking off (about a 1-1-4 ratio there)) and secondly I wasn’t exactly eager to get on here and write about how one of my most unfavourite fighters of all-time knocked out my favourite fighter who is still alive.

Brock Lesnar 2nd round knockout Randy Couture
Basically Lesnar proved what Tim Sylvia and Gabriel Gonzaga should have but couldn’t do after Josh Barnett and Ricco Rodriguez did a few years back, and that is that Randy Couture doesn’t belong at heavyweight. Couture’s a freak and a legendary fighter and like all legendary fighters weight doesn’t play as much of an impact as it should with guys like this, but there’s only so much you can give away before it becomes a factor. When you’ve got a 60lb weight disadvantage against a guy who comes from the same background as you, all of a sudden those mistakess you make with your stand-up and submission games need to not be there and that’s where Couture lost this fight. If Couture was better at jiu jitsu he would have taken Lesnar’s back in the scramble in the first round and likely choked him out and if his stand-up was better he would have taken a few more of the many many many openings Lesnar leaves in his stand-up and likely knocked him out. I thought Couture had those parts of his game up to the level where he could take advantage of those, but with 60lbs of weight against him it made those advantages he had over Brock that bit more even.
Despite the win, I’m not sold on Lesnar that much. He has a good one two and throws good knees (it was a knee that hurt Couture about 5 seconds before the right hand that dropped him) and is a big strong guy who will take people down who don’t have good wrestling, but he reminds me of Tito Ortiz at Light Heavyweight when he was dominating. As soon as someone has a good enough skill set with the style matchup to take some of Brocks physical advantages away they’ll beat him. If Nogueira isn’t too shopworn to beat Mir then I can’t see what Brock can do with him. I’d pick Gonzaga to tear Lesnar apart within five minutes if he shows the form he did in that fight. Don’t even get me started on what the Affliction trio (Fedor, Barnett and Arlovski) would do to that guy. Lesnar has way too many weaknesses to deal with a big man with good skills. That was the first time we’d seen him try and outwrestle someone who can wrestle and even with the extra weight, his takedowns were easily stuffed (except for one) by Couture and if Couture had the extra lbs on his frame, the fight wouldn’t have been a contest. Brock to be beaten within a year; within one defence if Nogueira isn’t upset by Mir.

Now onto the rest of the card, which quite frankly was top notch.

Kenny Florian 1st round submission (Rear Naked Choke) Joe Stevenson
And what a rear naked choke it was! Florian totally dominated the fight and proved beyond all doubts that first of all he is a better fighter then he was when Sean Sherk manhandled him two years ago, and secondly that he is the top contender to BJ Penns crown should Penn stay at 155lbs. I don’t think Florian will hang with Penn, but he could make a competitive fight out of it. Who knows as well, we haven’t seen Penn in a hard fight at 155lbs since the rematch with Caol Uno at UFC 39 so we’re still not sure how good Penn’s cardio is; if Florian doesnt get blown away early he could make it interesting.

Dustin Hazelett 1st round submission (Crazy Armbar/Omoplata thing) Tamdan McCrory
That was just sick in both the figurative and literal translations. If anyone just watched the main event or for what ever reason hasn’t seen this, go and see it. The only other thing that needs to be said about this fight is that Hazelett has the best bumfluff beard I’ve ever seen.

Gabriel Gonzaga 1st round knockout Josh Hendricks
Time for Gonzaga to have his competition stepped up I think. Cheick Kongo would be the perfect opponent for Gonzaga to put himself right back into the mix against, either him or Junior dos Santos. Hendricks should be fighting the likes of Eddie Sanchez and they should be fighting in a small venue in Redneckville for a $50 winner takes all purse.

Demian Maia 1st round submission (Rear Naked Choke) Nate Quarry
Glad I was wrong here. Maia is a beast on the ground, that half guard sweep was beautiful and Quarry didn’t have an answer for him once he got on top. Actually, I don’t think there’s a middleweight out there who would have an answer for this guy on top of him. He’s one of those rare talents in MMA who can make anyone’s guard seem non existant. Put this guy in with Okami or Bisping or anyone else near the top of the middleweight picture because he’s ready.

Other Results
Jeremy Stephens 3rd round knockout Rafael dos Anjos
Aaron Riley UD3 Jorge Gurgel
Mark Bocek 3rd round submission Alvin Robinson
Matt Brown 2nd round submission Ryan Thomas

Why Couture will beat Lesnar

With what is being billed as the biggest fight in UFC heading this way on the weekend, I thought that rather then put it in with the rest of the predictions I’d give it it’s own post. Afterall, this fight is bigger then the rest of the card. UFC 91 almost resembles a boxing card in that there’s one massive fight, one good fight that could likely top the main bill and a bunch of lesser fights. However, I can’t remember any boxing match that I’ve looked forward to as much as this fight in a long time. As the title suggests, I’m picking Couture to overcome size and youth and beat Brock Lesnar this weekend.
Here’s why:

Wrestling
Now Lesnar probably has the advantage here, but Couture is no Heath Herring who has zero takedown defence. Couture is also no Frank Mir who goes as far as throwing wild kicks to get his opponents to take him down so he can work off his back. Lesnar is going to find Couture a lot harder to take down then anyone he’s ever faced. Randy knows he has to avoid going to his back in this fight and he’s going to make life very difficult for Lesnar when it comes to him getting that takedown. Lesnar needs to be able to take Couture down at will to win this fight. If he struggles to get Couture down, he’s going to be in for a long night.

Striking
While Lesnar has shown he has a big punch (see the Lesnar vs Heath Herring fight at UFC 87) I’m not at all convinced that he can land it on Randy Couture. Couture has excellent head movement and very underrated punching power. He punches from unorthodox angles that catch a lot of the less techical strikers off guard (see the first Couture vs Liddell fight at UFC 43 as well as the Couture vs Tim Sylvia fight at UFC 68) and he sets them up very well. He also has very good leg kicks that he uses very effectively to set up his punches. If Couture can stop Lesnar’s takedown attempts, he’ll box his ears off and maybe even knock Lesnar out with standing strikes.

Greco-Roman Clinch
While Lesnar has a decorated wrestling background, he has it in freestyle wrestling. Couture is an Olympic Alternate Greco Roman Wrestler who has developed his style to make it very effective in MMA. Couture controls the clinch and uses knees, punches and elbows to set up his takedowns. This is something that Lesnar hasn’t had done to him and won’t be able to properly prepare for until Couture’s done it to him in the Octagon. It’ll be a lot harder for Lesnar to explode and get his takedown when he’s stuffed up against the fence defending against Couture’s dirty boxing.

Jiu Jitsu
Couture is a lot more experienced off his back then Lesnar is. If Lesnar takes Couture down, Couture has the know-how to defend from his back, scramble and get back to his feet. If Couture takes Lesnar down, what exactly has Lesnar done to prepare him for the live situation of a top of the ladder ground and pounder like Randy Couture dropping elbows on his head? I don’t think Couture has the ability to tap Lesnar from his back, but he has the ability to hold his guard, minimise damage and work his way back up.

Submissions
Even though he hasn’t won many fights by submission, anyone who can pull off an anaconda choke in an MMA match (see Couture vs Mike Van Arsdale on UFC 54) knows how to win a fight by submission. If Randy gets on top there’s a good chance he’ll do what he normally does and not risk a submission with the chance of ending up on the bottom. However, if Lesnar turns his back when he’s getting punched then we could see Couture win by choke. The thing with Lesnar is we don’t know how he will react when he’s in these positions if he gets put there. He could very well be a rookie when it comes to the bottom game and will make beginners mistakes and Couture will be quick to capitilise if that’s the case. If you can get good odds on a Couture win by submission it’s probably the best bet you’ll get.

Cage Tactics
Randy Couture is the Godfather of cage tactics. We’ve seen countless times when Couture has worked his opponent out and exploited their weaknesses so effectively that seemingly evenly match fights turn into mismatches. Lesnar on the other hand relies on his size and strength to win fights. This could be almost Holyfield vs Tyson-esque in the matchup where the older more experienced man picks apart his opponent who can only fight one way. Couture has many tools he can rely on in the cage and knows what he can and can’t do in there as well as what to do when he gets in trouble. If there’s any certainty in this fight it’s that Couture has a gameplan and that if he gets a chance to implement it he will.

Stamina
Despite being the older man, I think Couture definately has the edge in cardio if it turns into a fast paced fight. We’ve yet to see Lesnar in a fight where he’s had the pace pushed on him so it’s hard to know how good his cardio is. He may have looked to be in great condition against Herring but he was in total control in that fight. If Couture starts outboxing him or takes him down, how quickly will Lesnar gas trying to get himself out of trouble? It could turn out that Lesnar is in as good a shape as he looks, but the overly muscular physique as well as his lack of experience in a long, hard fight makes he put a big question mark on his stamina.

Experience
Do I really need to explain this? Couture has had 24 professional MMA fights and has been fighting the very best since his third fight. Lesnar is having his fourth fight and while he’s fought two good fighters, one of them has beaten him and the other one was tailor made for him. When the going gets tough for Lesnar how’s he going to react? What will he do if he gets put on his back? What will he do if he can’t get Couture on his back and he’s losing the striking battle? Couture’s been in every position possible and knows what he needs to do to win a big fight like this. Out of all the elements of a mixed martial arts fight, this is Couture’s biggest advantage.

Prediction
Lesnar is going to come out fast, but I think Couture will weather an early storm and take Lesnar out late in the fight. Lesnar will probably get an early takedown but when Couture gets back to his feet and starts outboxing him I think Lesnar will start making mistakes and then Couture will eventually start taking him down. Once on top he’ll probably not risk an early submission, but instead pound Lesnar with shots. I think the fight will end in either the third or fourth round with Couture winning by either rear naked choke or strikes from the mount. Randy Couture by 3rd round stoppage.

UFC 91 Undercard Predictions

This weekend sees probably the biggest UFC card of the year (so far anyway, UFC 92 has it well covered as long as the fights stay the same). Despite Foxtel showing a few live boxing matches on this Sunday and the UFC on the next morning (no, it wasn’t because of the boxing, it was because they had to replay Andre fucking Rieu’s fucking pansy arse concert, honestly the only PPV that would be worth buying with him in it is if they chose him to be Fedor’s freak matchup on New Years Eve!), this card is that big that I will be isolating myself from everything including the Jeff Lacy-Jermain Taylor clash on Sunday in order to be able to watch this fight without having anything spoilt. With the main event being of the magnitude that it is, I’ll do a seperate post later in the week for that fight. As for now, here’s the undercard. I’m hoping my recent form with boxing predictions is going to translate into this UFC card.

Main Card
Kenny Florian vs Joe Stevenson
Prediction- Florian on points
This is a good fight. Both guys have excellent ground games but the big difference between the two of them is that Florian is also a very dangerous striker. Stevenson has decent technique with his hands as far as Jiu Jitsu guys go, but he doesn’t have the sharp punching or the well rounded striking game that Florian has and I think this will be the deciding factor in what should be a close fight. However, I do give Stevenson the edge on the ground and I think he could submit Florian if the fight hits the ground. The fight is bound to be close and while it won’t have the anticipation of the main event, it could very well be fight of the night. Florian to take a close, but unanimous decision after he wins the stand-up battle after a stalemate on the ground.

Nick Cantone vs Amir Sadollah
Prediction- Sadollah by 2nd round knockout
I can’t see the UFC putting their TUF 7 champion who has only had a couple of professional fights (is it 1 or 2?) in against anyone too dangerous first up. This will probably be a fight to showcase Sadollah to the Pay Per View audience and I expect Sadollah to use his body kicks and knees to the head to systematically break Cantone down before knocking him out. However, I know fuck all about Cantone and I’m basing this off absolutely nothing other then me thinking the UFC won’t risk Sadollah against anyone too good.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs Josh Hendricks
Prediction- Gonzaga by 1st round knockout
The second mismatch on the main card. Gonzaga is on his way back after those back to back losses and looked the business against an overmatched opponent last time out. Expect the same here. Gonzaga will take him down, pass his guard and elbow his face into mince meat before the referee stops the fight.

Demian Maia vs Nate Quarry
Prediction- Quarry on points
There is a very good chance that I score one out of five on the main card and this is very much a gamble. The safe money is with Maia who is on a tear right now while Quarry is never overly impressive. However, I think with Quarry’s previous experience training at team Quest with the likes of Randy Couture, Dan Henderson and Matt Lindland, his takedown defence is likely to be very good. I think he’ll force Maia to fight him standing up and pepper him with shots en route to a unanimous decision. It’d be much better for the division though if Maia submits him quickly as we’ll then have someone for Anderson Silva to fight.

Preliminaries
Dustin Hazelett vs Tamdan McCrory
Prediction- Hazelett on points
This is an interesting fight, but one I think Hazelett should win easily if he fights the right fight. I think McCrory will be tentative about taking Hazelett down early, but when he starts havig trouble with Hazeletts lanky frame and decent boxing skills he’ll try his luck in “McLovin’s” guard. Hazelett has excellent sweeps and submissions from his back and I think he’ll end up on top in each round and bust up McCrory en route to a shutout decision.

Jorge Gurgel vs Aaron Riley
Prediction- Gurgel on points
This could be a war as well. Both of these guys are as tough as they come (Gurgel especially who is rarely in a dull fight) and I think they’ll put on a show. Hopefully Gurgel fights like he should and take Riley down and actually uses strikes when he gets a dominant position. However, I think he’ll duke it out and it’ll be a harder fight then it needs to be, but Gurgel will prove that bit better in all aspects. Gurgel should definately avoid going to his back against Riley, anywhere else and he should be in control of whats going on.

Rafael dos Anjos vs Jeremy Stephens
Prediction- Stephens on points
Anjos is a Gracie Jiu Jitsu student who boasts a 11-2 record making his UFC debut. I think Stephens is probably a bit too much for him first up and he’ll expose Anjos’ lack of stand-up and win a boring unanimous decision.

Mark Bocek vs Alvin Robinson
Prediction- Robinson by 1st round submission
This will be my pick for submission of the night. Both guys are good Jiu Jitsu practioners, but Robinson being a Royce Gracie black belt has the edge. Boceks best chance is to keep this up, but I think even doing that he won’t be able to avoid going to the ground. Robinson to finish Bocek quickly with a rear naked choke.

Matt Brown vs Ryan Thomas
Prediction- Brown by 2nd round knockout
Brown steps in to replace fellow TUF7 veteran Matthew Riddle on short notice. That shouldn’t make a difference however as I think Brown will just overwhelm Thomas and pound him out in the 2nd round after a near 10-8 first round. Brown is simply just too powerful.

Roy Jones jnr no match for Joe Calzaghe

Welshman Joe Calzaghe successfully protected his undefeated record with a one sided unanimous decision over former four weight World title holder Roy Jones jnr in New York. Jones had Calzaghe on the canvas in the first round via a short right hand and was in the fight for the first three rounds but Calzaghe’s workrate proved too much as he ran away with the fight during the middle and late rounds. Jones was unable to pull the trigger on his right hand or establish his jab throughout the fight and could do little more then cover up as Calzaghe unloaded combinations for the full 12 rounds. With the win Calzaghe retains the Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight title that he won from Bernard Hopkins earlier in the year and will likely retire undefeated.

Calzaghe started quickly in the first round, establishing his jab and forcing Jones to give up ground. Despite his combinations not carrying a lot of power, Calzaghe repeatedly tagged Jones with hooks to the head and body when Jones was cornered. After dominating the first two rounds of the fight, Jones uncorked a solid right hand that caught Calzaghe in a semi-crouch and dropped him to all fours. Calzaghe beat the count and survived the round, a round which saw a three point turnaround on the cards after Jones took what was clearly a round for the Welshmen and won it 10-8 with the knockdown.

The second round was hard fought with Calzaghe landing by far the more punches but Jones landing by far the cleaner shots. However, like when Calzaghe fought Hopkins earlier in the year, he showed no ill effects from the knockdown and started to take Jones out of the fight with his workrate. Both fighters traded shots in the third round with Calzaghe getting the better of the exchanges. By the third round Calzaghe started repeatedly dropping his hands in front of Jones, a tactic that he used for the remainder of the bout. Jones looked in survival mode in the fourth, but did land a solid right-left combination that only drew a smile from the former Undisputed Super Middleweight Champion.

Through rounds five and six Calzaghe tattooed the former pound for pound king with his combinations with Jones throwing next to nothing in return. Every time Jones tried to fight back, Calzaghe simply used his jab to keep him off balance and waited for Jones to gas before going back to work. In round seven, a left cross from Calzaghe opened a nasty cut over Jones’ left eye that continued to bleed throughout the fight. By rounds eight and nine Jones was offering next to nothing in return other than a flurry at the start of the round while Calzaghe was working for the full three minutes. However Jones showed heart and battled through until the final bell (which was preceeded by the referee slipping in comical fashion on the water that Jones’ corner had spilt in his corner; water that the referee repeatedly asked his corner to mop up between rounds) but failed to mount any serious offence in the remaining rounds.

All three judges scored the bout 118-109 (as did I) as Calzaghe scored one of the biggest wins of his career. After the fight both boxers commented that they would talk with their team about whether to continue in the sport. From what I could see, there was only one fighter who should retire after that fight and that is Roy Jones jnr. Jones can’t work for more then thirty seconds when faced with a live contender and will only get hurt if he continues to fight. Calzaghe seems to be better then ever and still has the skills to be in the sport for a while yet. However, the only real challenge out there for him now would be Chad Dawson. While the Hopkins fight was close on the scorecards, Calzaghe should have been a clear winner in that fight and the fight was ugly and I don’t think anyone would be interested in seeing it again. With the next weight division being 25lbs above Light Heavyweight, there’s really not much more for Calzaghe to do. Despite not getting the big fights until the end of his career, Calzaghe has made up for a lot of lost time in the last 2-3 years and will go down as one of the greats of the modern era.

Boxing Breakdown: Calzaghe vs Jones jnr

This is a great time to be a fight fan (by fight fan I mean a fan of all fighting, not a boxing fan who hates MMA or vice versa). When the UFC isn’t highlighting my weekend, we are getting quality boxing matches in its place. This weekend is no different as number two Pound for Pound fighter Joe Calzaghe puts his uncrowned title as the best Light Heavyweight in Boxing on the line against the former best Pound for Pound fighter in the World Roy Jones jnr.

While Jones hasn’t performed at his best in recent years, one only has to remember ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ where the out of form Muhammad Ali took on the seemingly invincible George Foreman and shocked the World to know this could be a great fight. There are comparisons with this fight and that great matchup, although it’s not on the same level as Jones seems to be more past his best then Ali was and Calzaghe isn’t quite the destructive force that Foreman was. Still, I don’t think this fight should be 100% written off as a mismatch and although I would rather have seen Kelly Pavlik in Jones’ place a few months ago, the ease in which Hopkins handled Pavlik leads me to believe that Pavlik wouldn’t have lasted the distance with the bigger, busier Welshman.

Joe Calzaghe
After being ridiculed for not fighting anyone for years, Calzaghe has emerged as one of the best pound for pound boxers in the World in recent years with a string of impressive victories over top opponents. His one sided beating of Jeff Lacy catapulted him into boxing super stardom and his follow up boxing lesson to Mikkel Kessler last year as well as the close decision victory over Bernard Hopkins makes Calzaghe one of the biggest names in the sport right now. Calzaghe has with him one of the quickets pair of hands in boxing today as well as almost unmatched cardio and excellent defence. However, the thing that Calzaghe does better then anyone in boxing today is adapts to his opponents style. In both the Hopkins and Kessler fights, Calzaghe was in trouble and changed his approach and left both fighters unable to do anything to him for the rest of the fight.
For Calzaghe to win this fight he has to take Jones into deep water and drown him. Calzaghe needs to be cautious early on when Jones is fresh and then push the pace in the middle rounds when he tires and not let him off the hook when he’s gassed. Jones is the older fighter and has shown in all of his fights since he beat John Ruiz (apart from the rematch with tarver in which he was knocked out in the 2nd round) that he can’t keep up a solid pace for more then a few rounds. Calzaghe needs to throw lots of punches like he is famous for and make Jones work at a pace that his body won’t be able to tolerate for the 12 rounds. If Calzaghe allows Jones to fight in spurts then he allows Jones to fight his fight and gives him his best chance of winning the bout.

Roy Jones jnr
Future hall of famer and arguably the greatest boxer since at least Pernell Whitaker, Roy Jones jnr has made a resurgence since losing three in a row a few years back. After being by far the number one pound for pound fighter in the World, Roy Jones ran into Antonio Tarver and after barely surviving with a close decision win in their first fight, he was knocked out with a single left hand in the rematch. An even more shocking knockout to Glenn Johnson later in the year was followed with another loss to Tarver a year later and Roy Jones went from the top of the mountain to six feet under very quickly. Jones bounced back with two decision wins over less the World Class opposition before winning (what was perceived by some as a big fight which really wasn’t) a unanimous decision over former Welterweight and Junior Middleweight king Felix Trinidad. Most of what made Jones successful years ago is now only visible in spurts mainly due to his loss of conditioning, however he still possesses quick hands, good one punch power and most of the reflexes that left many of the World’s best boxers like James Toney and Virgil Hill unable to land a glove on him for years.
For Jones to win this fight he basically has to catch Calzaghe early and knock him out. If Calzaghe can establish his workrate and make Jones work he’ll break him down the stretch. Calzaghe has shown in many of his fights including his last two bouts against Bernard Hopkins and Mikkel Kessler that he is suspect early to getting hurt. Jones is probably the first boxer Calzaghe has ever faced with quicker hands then him and this could be a big factor in the fight. Jones has to let his hands go early and land some hard punches because if Calzaghe gets through the first few rounds without feeling Jones’ power he’ll have an easy night.

Prediction
I have to go with Calzaghe in this fight because in the words of Matt Hughes ‘he has more outs to win.’ The only way I see Jones winning this fight is if he blitzes Calzaghe early and knocks him out, but the fact that Jones has struggled to put away some of the lesser opponents he’s fought recently (I honestly can’t remember their names) as well as Felix Trinidad who was knocked out by Bernard Hopkins at Middleweight leads me to believe that this won’t happen. Jones will probably have a good start to the fight because of his speed and may even be ahead halfway through the fight but Calzaghe’s workrate and ring generalship will be the deciding factors in this fight and I think he’ll come over the top of Jones in the second half of the fight to take a comfortable points win or score a late stoppage. I’ll go with the former. Joe Calzaghe on points.

Other fights this weekend
Not much on the undercard at Madison Square Garden. The only other notable fight this weekend is between IBF Middleweight king Arthur Abraham and mandatory challenger Raul Marquez. I can’t see Marquez upsetting Abraham let alone lasting the distance. Abraham should win by stoppage and hopefully set up a clash with Kelly Pavlik sometime next year.

An open letter to the Australian Sports Media

Dear Biased Morons

In the wake of such a roller coaster ride for Australian Boxing during the first week of this month, I just wanted to say how great it is that the mainstream sports media in Australia has finally decided to cover local boxing again. The main problem I have with your coverage is what it was that you actually covered. In the past seven days we had one of our own fighters unify the titles in a weight division in which the titles had never been unified in, yet what you covered in detail to those people who aren’t as interested in boxing was a bunch of young, stupid and missguided (and probably drunk) thugs who don’t represent this great sport in any way, shape or form behaving in an appalling manner.

(For those of you who read this and don’t know what I’m referring to, check out the youtube clip below)

My main problem with the way you cover boxing is the bad message you always seem to try and send. It’s very rare that you’ll cover boxing on the news and when you do it’s because of something like this. How is boxing in this country meant to get anywhere when the only time it gets mainstream coverage is because of a rare occurance like what happened on the Central Coast last night? What sort of message does this send about boxing when you show the one card that ends in a brawl out of the countless cards that have gone smoothly that you haven’t shown? It wouldn’t annoy me as much if boxing was shown on mainstream news shows more and shown for the boxing, but your frequent attempts to label boxing as some sort of freakshow I frankly find quite insulting.

Last Sunday we saw Vic Darchinyan accomplish something that only a handful of other Australian boxers have accomplished in winning a legitimate World title, yet this achievement earned zero coverage the following morning on all of the mainstream morning shows. However, every station was quick to show an Englishmen winning his first World title in Formula One. Why would you give so much coverage to a foreigner accomplishing something like that, yet ignore one of our own when he does exactly the same thing. You give Rugby League players who come over to the sport of boxing and fight stiffs more coverage then you gave Darchinyan which I also find extremely insulting.

Imagine if you covered Rugby League’s State of Origin every year in extremely small detail yet showed every local match that had a massive punch-up involved in it? Imagine if the A-League Grand Final got a 20 second wrap-up like Darchinyan’s fight did last Sunday and then you showed a reserve match in Sydney Club Football where the local supporters who didn’t like each other decided to duke it out? This is exactly what you do when it comes to boxing. These other sports have the exact same problems when it comes to local competition, yet it’s only ever boxing that you show when things turn ugly.

Boxing is a very controversial sport and I’m not going to try and claim it isn’t no matter how big a fan of the sport I am, but the way in which you cover it makes it seem like its a place where the lowest of the low gather and carry out some sick sadistic ritual. When you cover the sport with such bias it labels people like me who appreciate the sport like the martial art that it is as freaks who get off on watching violence.

Basically all I’m trying to say is that if it’s alright for you to show local boxing on free to air news where the masses can watch it, then at least have the common courtesy to us boxing fans to show the good part of it at some stage. We have some good quality boxers in this country (who aren’t Anthony Mundine or Danny Green) like Michael Katsidis, Jamie Pittman, Daniel Geale as well as Elomar and Kickett, yet they get less coverage then you’re average Rugby League player who isn’t half the athlete that any of those guys are. Be reasonable and show the sport for what it is, not what you think it is.

Yours sincerely
‘Angry Fight Fan’

PS- if any of you have any rebuttal, my email is angryfightfan@hotmail.com

Darchinyan destroys Mijares in Unification Clash

IBF 115lb championVic Darchinyan scored a one sided 9th round knockout over WBC/WBA 115lb champion Cristian Mijares to unify most of the divisions titles. The fight marked the first time that those three belts had been unified in the 28 year history of the Junior Bantamweight Division. Mijares stood as a 3-1 favourite according to TAB sportsbet in Australia and was ranked in the top ten inRing Magazine’s Pound for Pound rankings. However he was left to look like just another opponent for Darchinyan, who didn’t look like losing the fight at any stage.

After a cautious start by both boxers, Darchinyan dropped Mijares in the closing moments of the first round with a brutal left uppercut that had the Mexican struggling to beat the count. From there it was all one way traffic as Darchinyan repeatedly beat Mijares to the punch throughout the fight. Mijares couldn’t read Darchinyan’s awkward style and was unable to get going throughout the bout and very rarely landed with any significant punches. Darchinyan, who represented Armenia at the 2000 Olympics before relocating to Australia, couldn’t miss with his left hand and landed with frequent combinations throughout the contest. With Mijares looking weary in the second half of the bout, Darchinyan closed the show in style; dropping Mijares with a crushing overhand left at the end of the ninth round. Referee Lou Moret waved the fight off as Mijares was in no shape to continue.

With the victory Darchinyan sits on top of a very talented Junior Bantamweight division and makes a very strong arguement for a spot in the pound for pound top 10. There are a few good matchups that could be made that would be very entertaining. Number one is a match to bring together all four belts with WBO champion Fernando Montiel. Mijares-Montiel is the fight I wanted to see before Vic did a number on him and now this fight makes sense. Hell, Vic has even called him out already. The second matchup that could be made is a rematch with Nonito Donaire. Donaire fought on the weekend and won by knockout and if he were to come up in weight I’m sure its a fight Vic would be more then happy to take. I also think Vic would knock Donaire out in a rematch as I don’t think the version of Darchinyan that Donaire fought is anything like the last two versions of Vic that we’ve seen. The third and maybe most entertaining matchup is Jorge Arce. Darchinyan wanted Arce for a long time until Mijares clowned him. This fight could still be made and it would be a blockbuster as both guys like to throw hard punches. It would be a war while it lasted.

One more thing I’d like to mention about this fight is that I’m absolutely disgusted by the lack of mainstream media attention this fight was given. I watched the sports section on three of Australia’s early morning news shows the day after and not one of them mentioned that an Australian had just won such a big boxing match. Yet everytime something like the Mayweather-Judah in ring brawl happens or a fighter dies in boxing its headline news. Not only did they not mention this fight, they talked about foreign athletes winning World championships in different sports yet completely ignore one of our own. How the hell is boxing ever going to get anywhere in this country when mainstream media covers it in such a biased way?

Boxing Breakdown: Darchinyan vs Mijares

After two big weeks of UFC action as well as one of the biggest boxing matches of the year to end the month of October, fight fans are treated to some more top quality action to start November. In a history making fight for the junior bantamweight division (115lbs) WBC/WBA champion Cristian Mijares unifies the titles against the IBF boss Vic Darchinyan. Also this weekend there are a number of quality boxing matchups for the hardcore fans with a few alphabet belts on the line. WBA Middleweight king Felix Sturm defends his title against European Champion Sebastian Sylvester. On the undercard of that fight is a battle for the WBO Junior Middleweight title between champion Sergei Dzinziruk and hard punching Colombian Joel Julio. Vic Darchinyan conqueror Nonito Donaire makes the second defence of the IBF Flyweight belt he took from the ‘Raging Bull’ against Moruti Mthalane. Also in action this weekend is former pound for pound contender Jorge Arce and Julio Cesar Chavez jnr in seperate bouts.

Vic Darchinyan vs Cristian Mijares
(WBC/WBA/IBF Junior Bantamweight titles)
For the first time in the 28 year history of the Junior Bantamweight division, the WBC, WBA and IBF titles will be unified. Pound for pound contender and WBC/WBA Champion Cristian Mijares will take on former IBF Flyweight and current IBF Junior bantamweight Champion Vic Darchinyan. If there were more fighters like these two in boxing the sport would be much better off. Both guys are willing to put their titles on the line to prove their the best and aren’t content like other ‘champions’ to rack up defences of their belt against fringe contenders who somehow make the top 15 in their respected sanctioning bodies. Mijares has already unified the two titles so far and has fought dangerous contenders like (then) current Junior Flyweight Champion Jorge Arce and Jose Navarro and Darchinyan repeatedly tried to get other champions in the ring during his reign as IBF Flyweight champion.

Vic Darchinyan
Armenian born Australian Vic Darchinyan will make the first defence of his IBF title that he won from Dimitri Kirilov in this fight. Darchinyan previously made six defences of his Flyweight title before surrendering it ia 5th round knockout to Nonito Donaire last July. Since that shock loss, he has fought three times including the knockout win over Kirlov and a contentious draw with Z Gorres in an eliminator. Darchinyans strength is his strength. He has incredible upper body strength for a man of his size and with that strength comes incredible power. Although his handspeed isn’t as good as most of the other top fighters in the lower weight divisions, Darchinyan has excellent timing and an awkward style and recently has shown a good variety of punches which he used to great effect in his knockout win over Kirilov. There isn’t a fighter in the lower weight classes that I think could match Darchinyan in a punch to punch exchange and not be knocked out.
For Darchinyan to win this fight he simply has to turn it into a brawl. If he can make Mijares trade punch for punch with him I really don’t see any other outcome then a Darchinyan knockout win. However, this will be a lot easier said then done. Darchinyan needs to use his jab and he needs to be patient in the early rounds because Mijares is very elusive early on. Vic should use his jab and set up a body attack with it early on and then come on strong during the middle rounds so that he’s in the fight on the scorecards should Mijares prove to be too tough an opponent to knock out.

Cristian Mijares
Mijares will look to make the 7th defence of his WBC Junior Bantamweight title that he won via 10th round stoppage against Katsuhige Kawashima in January of last year. Previous to that, Mijares had been the WBC’s interim champion after former champion Masamori Tokuyama retired. Mijares’ biggest win came over the then star of the lighter weight classes Jorge Arce who had been dominating every fighter he had faced from 108-115lbs. Arce was taken to school by the fast hands of the Mexican as Mijares won a lopsided 12 round decision. Mijares boxes from a southpaw stance and uses very fast hands and feet even for a fighter of his weight. Despite a low knockout rate (15 from 36 wins), Mijares has deceptive power and stops his opponents with his quantity of punches.
For Mijares to win this fight he has to keep Darchinyan at bay and counter his wild rushes. The early rounds will be key for Mijares as he needs to stay on the balls of his feet and avoid taking anything heavy early in the fight. Darchinyan is often wide open and Mijares won’t have to look too hard for his openings, but he has to be careful with getting carried away against the ‘Raging Bull.’ I don’t think anyone doubts that Darchinyan has the power to take Mijares out if he stands with him long enough. If Mijares can avoid the exchanges with Darchinyan he should be able to rack up enough points for a comfortable decision win, or even land with his left hand enough that he stops Darchinyan but he can’t afford to take any chances in this fight.

Prediction
While I can clearly see that Mijares is the favourite in this fight, I think Darchinyan will cause the upset and bring the belts back down under. I wouldn’t be in the slightest bit surprised if Mijares takes Darchinyan to school because Mijares is such an excellent boxer but I think he’ll be surprised by the physical strength of Darchinyan as well as his awkward style. The two biggest factors that I think will lead to a Darchinyan win is that Darchinyan is a southpaw and Mijares’ fighting spirit. Darchinyan attacking from the southpaw stance I believe will cause Mijares a lot of problems as Jose Navarro did when he took Mijares to a split decision earlier this year. Mijares seems to be the type of southpaw who’s game relies a lot on his opponent being right handed and he isn’t the same fighter against other left handers. Darchinyan isn’t the typical straight ahead slugger that Mijares has looked so good against and I think this will cause him a lot of problems. Also I think Mijares will struggle to resist trading with Darchinyan when he gets hit. While it is completely possible for Mijares to totally shut down Darchinyans offence, I don’t think he will and I think he’ll try and get even with Vic every time he gets hit which will allow Vic to create the dog fight he needs to win this fight. Darchinyan by 11th round knockout.

Other Predictions for this weekend
Felix Sturm vs Sebastian Sylvester
(WBA Middleweight title)
Prediction- Sylvester on points

Sergei Dzinziruk vs Joel Julio
(WBO Junior Middleweight title)
Prediction- Dzinziruk on points

Nonito Donaire vs Moruti Mthalane
(IBF Flyweight title)
Prediction- Donaire by 6th round knockout

I’d also like to mention that anyone who watches the Julio Cesar Chavez jnr fight instead of Darchinyan vs Mijares is a moron and/or not a true boxing fan. Who cares if they’re the little guys, it’s still boxing and it’s a lot better to watch then a lot of the higher weights around lately.