Ingemar Johansson passes away

Former World Heavyweight Champion Ingemar Johansson passed away yesterday from pneumonia. Johansson was considered the greatest boxer to come out of Scandinavia and was involved in one of the most memorable trilogies in Heavyweight history with Floyd Patterson. He represented Sweden in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and made it to the Final, but was disqualified for ‘running’ from Ed Sanders and was stripped of his medal. Johansson claimed that he was trying to tire out his opponent before mounting a third round assault. The medal was given back to him 30 years later.
Johansson turned pro shortly after and won the European Heavyweight title in 1956. He defended it over former Commonwealth Champion (and future World Championship Challenger) Henry Cooper with a 5th round knockout and over current Commonwealth Champion Joe Erksine with a 13th round stoppage win. After a first round knockout win over Ed Machen brought his professional record to 21-0 with 13 KOs, he was given a shot at Floyd Patterson’s Heavyweight Championship.
The first fight between Patterson and Johansson took place in 1959 at Yankee Stadium. After a slow first two rounds in which Patterson was the aggressor (although he later said he wary of Johansson’s power), Johansson unloaded his famous right hand in the 3rd and dropped Patterson heavily. Patterson was up at 7 but started walking to his own corner and Johansson dropped him again. Patterson tried to fight back but was dropped each time he tasted Johansson’s power. After the 7th knockdown in the 3rd round, referee Ruby Goldstein stopped the fight.
A rematch took place almost a year later at the Polo Grounds in New York. The fight went much different with Patterson successfully getting inside against Johansson and in the 5th round he caught Ingemar with a left hook that knocked him out cold, making Patterson the first two-time Heavyweight Champion in boxing history. A rubber match between the two was a natural. It took place in March of 1961 in Miami. Johansson came in at a career high 206lbs (10lb heavier then his first fight with Patterson) and looked sluggish. Still, Johansson caught Patterson in the first round and dropped him twice although Patterson rallied and put Johansson down in the same round. As the fight got older it was clear that Johansson wasn’t going to last and Patterson ended matters in the 6th round.
Johansson fought on and recaptured his European title. In 1963 a fight between Johansson and new Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston was being set up. Johansson fought Brian London in 1963 and was winning handily until the end of the 12th round when London dropped Johansson heavily. Ingemar rose and won the fight on points, but took the knockdown as a sign that his body couldn’t cope with being a professional boxer anymore and retired from the sport with a 26-2 (17 KOs) record. Johansson was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2002. He was 76.
RIP Ingemar Johansson.

UFC 94: Breaking Down BJ Penn vs Georges St Pierre

This fight is quite probably the biggest in UFC history. It’s quite possibly the biggest and most significant in MMA history. It’s not like the PRIDE vs UFC days where you only had the best fighters in the organisation fighting each other, now you have the best at 155lbs vs the best at 170lbs. It’s a first in the sport that the absolute best in the world in one weight class has moved up to fight the absolute best in the world at another weight class. While Dana White compares this fight to Hagler-Hearns I really think he needs a boxing history lesson. While that fight proved to be extremely exciting, this is more like the first fight between Roberto Duran, arguably the greatest lightweight of all-time, and Sugar Ray Leonard, the young champion who was looking for the fights that would have him ranked alongside the other Sugar Ray.

In that fight the unchallenged lightweight champion moved up and fought the new but extremely hyped Welterweight champion in what was a stacked division. Duran and Penn both have their similarities as they are extremely talented fighters but often have trouble getting into the shape they needed to be in to make the most of it. Duran suffered a loss early in his career against Esteban De Jesus, a loss he later avenged twice in extremely dominant fashion. Duran’s De Jesus is like BJ Penn’s Jens Pulver. Both fighters also proved that their skill set was so great that they could dominate much larger fighters. With Duran’s frame being suited to 135lbs, he won World titles in four weight classes all the way up to 160lbs. Penn has already won the UFC Welterweight title and has given highly ranked Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida his toughest fight to date. Leonard and St Pierre don’t have as many similarities but there are some. Leonard at that stage of his career was looking to fight the real big names in boxing with the likes of Tonny Hearns, Marvin Hagler and Duran around him. St Pierre is in the same boat looking to sit on the peak with the likes of Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko. Around him he has his own Hearns in Thiago Alves, a young dangerous contender, his own Marvin Hagler in Anderson Silva, the dominant, unmatched Middleweight champion and of course his Duran in Penn.

Even though the Hagler vs Hearns fight has a lot of hype behind it as far as being a great fight, the Duran vs Leonard fight in Montreal in 1979 is a much better fit for this fight. Hagler vs Hearns was two and a half rounds of mayhem inside the ring with both guys trying to take each others heads off. Duran and Leonard fought a 15 round tactical war with Duran forcing Leonard to fight him on the inside where he was at his best and Leonard trading punches with ‘Hands of Stone.’ This fight has all the makings of a five round tactical war. Both fighters are extremely well rounded and could win the fight from a number of situations. Both guys have excellent stand-up and have won fights via strikes before. St Pierre arguably has the best takedowns in MMA and BJ Penn has arguably the best takedown defence in MMA. Penn’s flexibility is almost unmatched and on his back he’ll likely prove too difficult for St Pierre to gain a dominanty position against or even half guard where he delivered so much damage to Matt Serra in their rematch last year. St Pierre’s wrestling will likely prove too much for Penn to be able to get mount or back control where his finishing ability in MMA is almost second to none. This really is a very evenly matched fight between two MMA masters.

There are two big factors in this fight; St Pierre’s chin and BJ Penns cardio. While St Pierre’s chin has only failed him once, Penn’s cardio is maybe the biggest factor in every one of his losses. In a five round fight with someone who can force the action as much as St Pierre I think this will be the deciding factor. Despite Penn cutting St Pierre’s face up in the first round of their first fight, St Pierre gave as good as he got in the first round of that fight. It really is my opinion that the fight should have been scored 30-27 for St Pierre before it was scored for Penn. Georges dominated the 2nd and 3rd round of that fight scoring heavy takedowns and working his top control. While I think Penn is a different animal now that he is training properly, I think if this fight reaches rounds three and four that St Pierre is going to take over. BJ Penn is yet to prove himself in a war or in a fight that isn’t going his way. Every one of his big wins have been in one sided fashion; Matt Hughes (first round submission), Jens Pulver (2nd round submission), Sean Sherk (one sided third round knockout); all of them Penn was in total control from start to finish. If St Pierre is getting his shots in and getting takedowns early in the fight, I think he’ll break Penn not so much mentally but definately physically. The fact that St Pierre probably fights at 180-185lbs and Penn fights at 170lbs also is a big factor as Penn has never faced someone big and athletic as St Pierre. As far as the improvement of both guys go since their first fight, I think St Pierre has improved more then Penn especially after his loss to Matt Serra.

Prediction
I’m picking St Pierre to TKO Penn in the 5th round. I think the first three rounds will be the three best rounds of MMA skill ever displayed. It will be back and forth with both guys showing high level kickboxing and excellent clinch fighting with the fight hitting the mat on occasion in St Pierre’s favour. However, sometime in the 3rd round I think St Pierre will get Penn in a bad spot and it’ll be all down hill from there. He’ll land some heavy punches or a head kick or some unanswered punches on the ground and then Penn’s cardio will fail him and St Pierre will turn up his game. St Pierre will dominate Penn with heavy punches from on top in the 4th round before finishing him in the 5th round with ground and pound. I think this will truly be an epic battle between two of the best pound for pound fighters in the world and while it may not be as electric as Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar or Thomas Hearns vs Marvin Hagler, that doesn’t mean it won’t be as good to watch. This fight on paper doesn’t look to be a bar room brawl style fight like those two matches, but it’ll go down in MMA history as an epic battle between two of the best fighters of all-time. Georges St Pierre by 5th round TKO.

UFC 94 Undercard Picks

This event, like UFC 91, is really like a boxing card. Sure there’s some fucking good scraps on the undercard, but this card is all about the main event. That’s why I’m going to give a seperate post breaking down the main event. Still, the undercard is bloody good and puts most cards to shame. Even though I think the co-feature will go in typical Machida fashion, the other fights on the card are very interesting. I could very well go 0/10 on this card, thats how well the matchups have been made.

Televised Card
Lyoto Machida vs Thiago Silva
Prediction- Machida by Decision
I think Silva is way too wild to deal with Machida’s smooth counter attacking style. Machida will frustrate him as he does by moving away a lot and hitting Silva when Silva thinks he’s out of range and eventually wear him out en route to taking a shutout unanimous decision. Silva has some serious power though and even though his stand-up is very ordinary, his punching power from on top is up there with the very best in MMA. If he can get Machida on his back I think he stands a good chance in this fight but I think Machida will control the striking and dictate the pace and win another Machida-esque decision.

Dong Hyun Kim vs Karo Parisyan
Prediction- Parisyan by Decision
A battle between two Judokas. Parisyan I feel has the edge standing up between the two fighters and I think that’s where the fight will be decided. Still, with Parisyan’s recent mental problems (okay that sounds a lot worse then it is but it’s the right description) it’s hard to know where he’ll be at for this fight. Hopefully he doesn’t pull out just before the fight again with anxiety, but then again if he does we’ll get to see Fitch-Gono which should be on the main card as it’s better then two of the other fights (this one and the Bonnar fight), but more on that later.

Nate Diaz vs Clay Guida
Prediction- Guida by Decision
Basically in this fight you have an extremely dangerous fighter with average wrestling in Diaz and an extremely good wrestler with average skills in Guida. In fights like these it’s always a case of the extremely dangerous fighter being controlled but having the game where he can end the fight at any point and them needing to finish the fight if they want to win as they’ll likely lose on the cards due to being on their back too much. Well if you put it like that it doesn’t sound like your average cliche’ but thats how it is in this fight. Guida will get numerous takedowns and if he can finish the fight he will win on points because of this. Diaz needs to work big strikes on the feet and go for submissions when he’s on the mat. This is a 50-50 fight but I’m giving Guida the edge because of his experience.

Stephan Bonnar vs Jon Jones
Prediction- Bonnar by 2nd round submission
Why why why why why is this fight on the main card instead of Fitch vs Gono? As much as I like Bonnar, the Fitch fight deserves to be on the card so much more. This fight would likely end in style as well and could be shown on the card as well as Fitch-Gono whereas Fitch-Gono has the potential to be longer and not as dramatic. Bonnar should win this fight though as long as his layoff doesn’t affect him too much. He’ll get Jones on his back and work his dangerous top game and finish the fight with probably an arm lock (I’ll take a stab at the Kimura).

Preliminaries
Jon Fitch vs Akihiro Gono
Prediction- Fitch by Decision
Fitch should win due to this physical strength. Gono has fought at the higher weight division, but Fitch is a strong guy who’ll get Gono on his back and pound away to a decision win. Gono will be dangerous with his strikes and his submissions but not enough to threaten the extremely durable Fitch. This should be an interesting fight and if you haven’t got my point from the other two fights I bitched about this in, I think this fight deserves a place on the main card.

Manny Gamburyan vs Thiago Tavares
Prediction- Gamburyan by Decision
Like Fitch and Guida, I like Gamburyan in this fight for his physical strength. Even though he’s a midget and probably could drop a weight class, he has freakish strength and as long as he doesn’t get chinned like he did against Emerson (and there’s a good chance it’ll happen with Manny’s technically retarded striking game even though Tavares isn’t a known banger, fighting anyone with your chin higher then your forehead is dangerous) I think he’ll ragdoll Tavares and win a shutout unanimous decision win.

John Howard vs Chris Wilson
Prediction- Wilson by Decision
Howard is someone I’m not very familiar with. I’ve never seen him fight and apart from the glance I took at his record before, I’ve really got nothing else to go by in this fight. Wilson is a decent fighter and I always pick the guy I know in a fight like this where one guy is unknown and doesn’t appear to have a whole heap going for him. Wilson on points.

Jake O’Brien vs Christian Wellisch
Prediction- O’Brien by Decision
Yawn. It’s strange that when Machida fights on a card he’s not the most boring fighter on it. O’Brien makes me sick (except when he’s fighting Cain Velasquez, they could match those two up every UFC card and I’d still be happy) and this fight is horrible as both guys have nothing but wrestling. O’Brien’s wrestling should prove to be better and he’ll lay and prey his way to another decision win.

Matt Arroyo vs Dan Kramer
Prediction- Arroyo by 1st round submission
Either the UFC will learn that if they want to market Kramer he should be fighting guys with no ground game, or they’ll learn that Kramer doesn’t belong in the UFC with a ground game as bad as his from this fight. Kramer will come out throwing hard punches, but will be brought to the ground and submitted even if Arroyo pulls Kramer onto his back.

Hélio Gracie passes away

The co-founder of Gracie Jiu Jitsu, Hélio Gracie, passed away in his sleep yesterday at age 95. Hélio Gracie was one of the most important figures in Martial Arts history. Hélio adapted Judo techniques to suit his smaller frame (he weights roughly 150lbs) as he found a lot of the moves in Judo required strength to execute. He replaced the strength required by leverage allowing for smaller men to be able to survive in a fight against a larger, more powerful man. Gracie Jiu Jitsu, or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as it’s now commonly referred to, is an essential part of MMA and in this day and age of cross trained fighters not having BJJ is almost suicide.
Hélio had numerous fights during his career, testing his style against a number of different fighting styles from Bxers to Judokas. His most famous fight came against Japanese Judoka Masahiko Kimura, who defeated Hélio by Kimura lock (the Gracies refer to this submission as the Kimura out of respect for Kimura) in 13 minutes. The fight was stopped by Hélio;s brother Carlos after Hélio’s arm was broken by the submission. Hélio wanted a fight with then Heavyweight Boxing Champion Joe Louis to prove his style against the most mainstream of all at the time, but could never get ‘the Brown Bomber’ in the ring with him.
Hélio’s sons have made Brazilian Jiu Jitsu famous with Rorion’s creation of the UFC and Royce’s victories at UFC 1, 2 and 4. His other sons Rickson (undefeated MMA star of the 90s) and Royler (three time Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Champion) have both accomplished a lot as well. While it is a sad day for the Martial Arts World, 95 is a long life for someone who fought as long as he did and Hélio said in a recent interview with GRACIEMAG “I’ve already told my sons that when I die I want there to be a party. No drinking, no debauchery.”
RIP Hélio Gracie!

Mosley turns back clock; stops Margarito

‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley turned back the clock yesterday and put on the best performance of his 16 year career scoring a one sided 9th round TKO win over WBA champion Antonio Margarito. Mosley dominated the fight with his blistering hand speed, landing solid right hands frequently throughout the fight. Margarito showed his trademark toughness as he took many bombs every round yet walked through them. However, Mosley proved that no matter how tough the boxer, everyone has their limits and Margarito finally went down after eight rounds of brutal punishment. Margarito bravely answered the bell for the 9th round, but Mosley pounced and cornered Margarito delivering unanswered shots that forced Magarito’s corner to throw in the towel after he went down a second time.

The performance quite simply was unbelievable. Mosley’s firepower looked the best it had since before he lost his ‘0′ to Vernon Forrest back in 2002. His handspeed made Miguel Cotto look sluggish in his fight with Margarito last year. The big factor in the fight in my opinion was the ease with which Mosley both stayed off the ropes and tied Margarito up after he’d land his combinations. Margarito looked like an amatuer as he followed Mosley around and took heavy shots. Credit must go to Margarito for lasting until the 9th round because there wouldn’t be another fighter in history who could take that sort of punishment for nine rounds. Still, Mosley looked the best he’s ever looked. His gameplan was perfect as he attacked Margarito instead of trying to outbox him and once he got him backing up the fight was his. He countered Margarito’s attacks with heavy right hands throughout the contest which managed to slow down Margarito’s output and didn’t let up at all in any round.

This leaves the Welterweight division in an interesting state. No doubt after this performance that Mosley is the top dog, but not too long ago the division was all about Miguel Cotto and Paul Williams after Mayweather retired. Williams had just beaten Margarito and Cotto had beaten Shane Mosley. Williams has now moved up after splitting fights with Carlos Quintana (the 2nd of those he won with a brutal first round KO) and is out of the picture as I can’t imagine him making 147lbs again. Cotto then lost to Margarito who just lost to Mosley. So you have the top three guys all having split fights with one another. I think the best way to sort this out is to go ahead with Cotto-Margarito II and give the winner a rematch with Mosley. The winner of that fight would leave no doubt as to who the real champion is. Maybe Mosley-Berto or Mosley-Clottey could be made in the mean time to keep Sugar Shane busy?

As far as this fight goes for Mosley’s legacy, it’s freakin’ huge! I’ve always thought Mosley was a great fighter and an underrated fighter in the modern era. Sure he dropped two decisions to both Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright, but those are two guys that no one else in their division would fight. Wright was naturally bigger then Mosley being a fully fledged Junior Middleweight and Forrest just had the style to beat Mosley. The facts are, Mosley was the best Lightweight in the World for a few years, he was the best Welterweight in the World for two years and is the best again now and he held titles at Junior Middleweight as well as the linear title (I’ll refrain from calling him the best fighter at that weight because the decision over De La Hoya was controversial and he lost his titles to the other titlist Wright in his first defence). Then you’ve got the guys he beat; Oscar De La Hoya twice, Antonio Margarito, Fernando Vargas twice, Ricardo Mayorga, Luis Collazo and Jesse James Leija. Considering most of those fights came at Welterweight and above that’s a serious resume’ for a guy who started as a Lightweight.

The fight was not without controversy as Mosley’s trainer called a member of the California State Athletic Commission over to examine a ‘plaster like substance’ on Margarito’s handwraps. Margarito’s hands were re-wrapped and the CSAC took the ‘plastered’ handwraps as evidence and will conduct a full investigation into the incident. This is a very serious allegation as it’s cheating but to the point where it endangers another fighter in the ring. Boxers have been given life bans in the past for this offence and I hope Margarito hasn’t tainted what should be a memorable fight with a controversy like this.

Note- normally I’d make up my scorecard and post it on here, since this takes less effort (it’s Australia day after all), I scored every round for Mosley.

Fedor KOs Arlovski at Day of Reckoning

Fedor Emelianenko KO1 (punch) Andre Arlovski
Fedor Emelianenko won again over another top ranked opponent, knocking Andrei Arlovski out in the first round of their fight for Fedor’s WAMMA Heavyweight title. Arlovski was getting the better of the fight, using a solid one-two combination as well as hard leg kicks and front kicks which kept the former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion off balance throughout the contest. Fedor looked to be strung on a couple of occasions by Arlovski’s power but recovered quickly and fought back. Arlovski was also showing good takedown defence, avoiding going to the mat when the Sambo expert got a hold of him.
However as many other fighters have found, Fedor’s well rounded skills and patience proved Arlovski’s undoing and the one time Arlovski made a mistake Fedor ended the fight suddenly. Arlovski backed Fedor into a corner with a front kick and a right hand and then jumped in with a flying knee only to be caught in mid-air by a short overhand right and knocked unconscious. In a fight that lasted 3 minutes 14 seconds, Arlovski controlled probably 3:10 of that time and yet those few seconds is all that Fedor needed to end matters.
While Fedor did look human in this fight, Arlovski is one of the top fighters in the World and would likely destroy every Heavyweight in the UFC. The way to beating Fedor seems to be standing up but the thing is, no one has the sharp skills Arlovski has on his feet plus the wrestling skills and ground skills to keep Fedor from taking him down. It’s pick your poison with Fedor as he has more then enough stand-up skills to hang with 99% of the World’s Heavyweights and the ground skills to handle probably any of them, plus the takedowns and takedown defence to control where the fight goes. Lesnar is way too green and makes too many mistakes that a true Heavyweight with Fedor’s skills will capitilise on. Mir could catch Fedor on the ground but would likely be knocked out before he got the fight there. Fedor’s next opponent looks to be Josh Barnett and I don’t give Barnett much of a chance at all. His ground game is good, but it’s not at the level where he can catch someone like Fedor. Anyone not giving this guy his props right now is a fucking moron!

Josh Barnett Sub3 (strikes) Gilbert Yvel
Sure he got the job done, but this was a seriously bad performance from Barnett. His ground game just looked sloppy, period. His punches didn’t look to be as devastating as some of the other fighters we see who get to the same positions and his submissions were slow enough for ever Gilbert Yvel to get out of. Barnett has to get back on form or improve if that’s all he’s capable of if he’s going to be fighting Fedor next.

Vitor Belfort KO1 (punches) Matt Lindland
Wow! Vitor of old comes back (for now anyway). He blitzed Lindland in the same fashion he blitzed Wanderlei Silva and Martin Eastman and Tank Abbott and the likes those years ago. Lindland was out for a while and it was good to see him leave on his feet under his own control. A knockout like that is a potential career ender especially for a fighter in his late 30’s like Lindland. Vitor though, what a way to crack into the Middleweight elite. Lindland had a lot of hype at Middleweight as one of the top dogs even though he’s been relatively inactive so this is a huge win for Vitor. Rumour has it his Affliction contract has expired and the UFC is in need of top Middleweights. I’d definately be hyped for Belfort-Anderson Silva. Vitor’s never been knocked out before, so it’ll be interesting to see how that fight would go. Unlike Patrick Cote’ who just had a punchers chance, Vitor has that plus a BJJ black belt. Even though his heart can be questioned at times, Vitor’s as dangerous a challenger as anyone out there for Anderson Silva at 185lbs.

Renato Babalu Sub2 (Anaconda Choke) Sokoudjou
Sokoudjou looked good early, but gassed out bad and Babalu is not someone you want on top of you know matter who you are. I would really like to see Babalu vs Little Nogueira now as they seem to be the top two 205lbers outside of the UFC. Babalu took some good shots but didn’t get discouraged and finished the fight with a slick choke as we’ve seen him do before. It was also good to see him let the choke go after Sokoudjou tapped.

Antonio Rogerio ‘Little’ Nogueira KO2 (knee) Vladimir Matyushenko
Matyushenko surprised everyone including Nogueira by trying to box and he didn’t look too bad. Nogueira seemed tentative when it came to answering back thinking Matyushenko was just trying to get him to open up so he could take him down. The worst thing Matyushenko did was hurt and cut Nogueira because once he did that, Nogueira opened up and things got bad for Matyushenko. He got hurt with a solid knee to the midsection and then one to the head finished him off. The fight was strange as it was a mixture of really bad and really good.

Other Results
Dan Lauzon Sub1 (Rear Naked Choke) Bobby Green
Jay Hieron TKO1 (strikes) Jason High
Paul Buentello TKO3 Kirill Sidelnikov
LC Davis UD3 Bao Quach
Alberto Rios UD3 Antonio Duarte
Brett Cooper KO2 (punch) Patrick Speight

Thoughts
I’d love for Affliction to be able to stay around because, even though its not the UFC, it’s good to get something different with quality fights on it from time to time. Even if they just put a show on 2-3 times a year when Fedor fights I don’t care. Affliction is about the only way we’ll see Fedor in legitimate fights and they’ve delivered Sylvia and Arlovski, the two best UFC Heavyweights for a period of time already. Those two fights are among the biggest Heavyweight fights in MMA history. I hope there’s a third show, but if they do close down I hope Fedor and the UFC can come to terms so he can prove to everyone (well not everyone because there’s some morons out there) that he is the best MMA Heavyweight of all-time.

UFC 98 looking massive

All rumours so far, but UFC 98 is scheduled for May 23rd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and so far the main bouts are good ones. The UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar will meet the interim Champion (and only man to defeat him) Frank Mir in a ‘unification’ fight. This is one of the most anticipated fights of the year and while I think Fedor, Arlovski and Barnett would rape both of these guys, I’ll definately be looking forward to this bout. It’ll be very interesting to see how they both match given how much better they both looked since their first fight at UFC 81 last year.
The co-main event will be between former Welterweight Champions and TUF6 Coaches Matt Hughes and Matt Serra in an injury delayed grudge match. People have been saying that no one will care when this fight eventually comes around, but these two definately care. Matt Serra hates Matt Hughes because ‘Matt Hughes is a dick’ and Hughes hates Serra because ‘Hughes is a dick’. It won’t take too long for these two to rebuild their rivalry. After UFC 94 next weekend, this is the next big MMA card I’m looking forward to.
By the way, I’ve included an MMA schedule on this page now, check out the link on the menu across the top. It’s still a work in progress and I hope to add more to it soon.

Boxing Breakdown: Antonio Margarito vs Shane Mosley

The first big fight of the year takes place this weekend with consensus #1 World Welterweight Champion defending his WBA (and rightful IBF) World title against Ring Magazine #3 Welterweight and former three weight World Champion ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley. Despite Mosley being a heavy underdog in a lot of peoples eyes, I find it hard to make someone as great as Mosley who hasn’t shown completely obvious signs of slowing down a 4-1 underdog against anyone. While I think Margarito is definately the favourite in this fight, Mosley should never be counted out against anyone. The guys who have beaten him in the past have outboxed him. No one has ever had success trying to trade punches with Mosley as he is tough as nails and has carried his power to every weight division he’s ever fought in. That is what makes this fight interesting.
There are a few normally big factors that in this fight I find completely irrelevant. For one I don’t think it matters who hits harder in this fight. Both guys can take a punch and I think both guys will take a lot of punches in this fight. I think Mosley has a slight edge in one punch power but I doubt very much that this fight will be decided on a flash knockout. I also don’t think Margarito’s inability to block any punches with anything but his face will play a big part in this fight because that’s the way he fights. However, there’s a few factors that will play a big part in who wins this fight.

Speed
Obviously the speed advantage in this fight has to go to Mosley. Mosley has moved up all the way from lightweight and he was quicker then probably everyone at that weight class as well. Margarito puts his punches together well on the inside, but he lacks the blistering speed of a Mosley or a Mayweather. Mosley can put together large numbers of hard punches with great speed and it’s something he’ll need to be able to do in this fight to keep Margarito at bay.
Advantage- Mosley

The Jab
This is a very interesting factor in this fight. Both guys have never had great jabs. Mosley flicks his jab out more as a distraction to set up his power shots and Margarito uses his jab more as a measuring stick to get himself on the inside. Both guys are very inaccurate with their jabs and often get into a habbit of not throwing enough of them. In Mosley’s last fight against Mayorga he threw very few jabs (183 in 12 rounds according to Compubox) which is something he can’t afford to do against Margarito. Margarito also has the same problem as often he gets lazy and doesn’t throw his jab. In his losing effort against Paul Williams, Margarito threw just 61 jabs in 12 rounds! In his recent fights where Margarito has arguably looked the best of his career, he threw 340 jabs against Miguel Cotto (even though he only landed 30 thats how Margarito uses his jab), and against Kermit Cintro in the rematch he threw 160 jabs (landing 50) in just over five rounds. It’s obvious that both guys have a lot more success when they throw punches, but I give the edge in jabbing in this fight to Margarito. Mosley has the quicker, harder jab and it’s better technically, but Margarito’s jab does it’s job and if he throws it in large numbers it’ll make it that much harder for Mosley to keep him off.
Slight Edge- Margarito (big edge if he uses it)

Workrate/Stamina
Margarito is the workrate king. He holds the compubox record for most punches thrown in a fight (1,675 in 12 rounds). Margarito usually throws over 100 punches per round and when he doesn’t, he gets himself in trouble. Again, against Paul Williams in the last fight he lost, Margarito threw just 650 punches in 12 rounds. Still, since then Margarito seems to have found his form again and his workrate could prove too much for the passive by comparison Mosley. Mosley throws between 30-70 punches a round and will need to be at the high end of that to stand a chance in this fight. In his fight with Mayorga he threw just 400 punches in the entire fight. That sort of work rate will not be enough against Margarito. Mosley also had some noticable conditioning problems against Cotto and seemed to have trouble keeping the pace up. He finished the fight strong, but he was tired in the middle rounds and against Margarito he won’t be able to show any sort of conditioning weakness.
Big Edge- Margarito

Boxing Ability
Mosley has a big edge in this department. Margarito is crude compared to your classic boxer but what he does is extremely effective. Mosley on the other hand is an accomplished amatuer boxer who uses good defensive moves and counter punchers very effectively. I really don’t think there’s a fighter out there who could hang with Margarito in a war, but plenty of guys have shown they can outbox him. Williams did it and Cotto was doing it for the first six rounds of their fight. Mosley’s boxing skills give him a good shot at outboxing Margarito over 12 rounds or even to set up what would be an unlikely stoppage win.
Big Edge- Mosley

Durability
To my knowledge (I can’t be fucked checking boxrec to see if Margarito has been KO’d before), neither guy has ever been KO’d. I’d be surprised if Margarito has ever been knocked down. Mosley has been down twice in the one fight against Vernon Forrest in their first encounter although he had come off on the wrong end of a nasty headclash moments before the knockdowns. Both guys are as tough as they come, but I have to give the edge here to Margarito. He’ll take Mosley’s punches better then Mosley takes his. If both guys land equally Margarito will be the one who comes out on top.
Edge- Margarito

Ring Rust
Mosley hasn’t been fighting that much lately, although all of his last three fights have gone at least to 2:59 of the 12th round. Still, those three fights have taken place over the last 24 months. Margarito fought twice last year as well as late 2007 and in July 2007 against Paul Williams. Margarito has a big edge here especially with the style of fight he brings. If Mosley has trouble going the 12 rounds at a solid pace because of a lack of ring time, Margarito is going to punish him as soon as he slows down.
Big Edge- Mosley

Physical Strength
Mosley is definately a strong guy for his weight. I’ve heard stories that he can bench press over 400lbs! However I feel Margarito is the stronger man out of the two. Mosley has had troubles with stronger guys in the past like his recent fight with Ricardo Mayorga where he had trouble keeping the Nicaraguan away from him due to his physical strength. Also in his first fight with Fernando Vargas, Mosley had a lot of problems keeping Vargas on the end of his punches in the middle rounds. I think a big part of Mosley’s game is his ability to outmuscle guys who try and get inside to nullify his speed advantage and when he doesn’t have that strength advantage he doesn’t look like the same fighter he is otherwise. He may be able to handle Margarito on the inside, but I find it unlikely and if he can I doubt he’ll handle him a the fight gets older.
Big Edge- Margarito

Prediction
As much as I like Mosley, I have to go with the ‘Tijuana Tornado’ in this fight. He’s too young, too strong, too aggressive and too active for the ageing Mosley. I think Mosley will get the better of the fight early, but will be broken down by Margarito’s body work and will tire in the middle rounds. Once he tires, Margarito won’t let him back in the fight and will batter him until the final bell or until he falls down. I don’t think I could pick anyone over Mosley by stoppage until it’s already been done because he’s such a tough bastard, but I think if anyone can finish him, Margarito is the man to do it. I think Shane will gut it out but lose big on the cards. Antonio Margarito by unanimous decision.

Jose Torres Passes Away

Former World Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jose Torres passed away on Monday at the age of 72. ‘Chegui’ made his debut in 1958, winning 33 of his first 35 professional fights (the draw came to future Welterweight Champion Benny Paret). In November of 1964, Torres scored a first round knockout of former Middleweight World Champion Carl ‘Bobo’ Olsen, earning him a shot at the Light Heavyweight title. In March of 1965, Torres battered Light Heavyweight Champion Willie Pastrano, knocking him down in the 6th round en route to a 9th round TKO win, making him the third Puerto Rican (behind Sixto Escobar and Carlos Ortiz) to win a World Boxing Championship.

Torres successfully defended his title three times in 1966, with decision wins over Wayne Thornton and Eddie Cotton and a 2nd round knockout against Chic Calderwood. In December of 1966, Torres lost his title via close 15 round decision to former Middleweight Champion Dick Tiger. Tiger and Torres squared off again in 1967 with Torres losing a 15 round split decision. Many fans thought Torres won the fight and a riot broke out at Madison Square Garden. ‘Chegui’ would fight two more times, winning both by knockout before he retired in 1969. Torres stayed active in boxing during his retirement, writing books on Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali, working as the NYSAC Commissioner for five years and as WBO chairman for six years. In 1997 Torres was elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He passed away after a heart attack on January 19th, 2009. One of Puerto Rico’s great champions, Torres will be missed in the boxing community. RIP!

Jose Torres (1936-2009)

Shamrock vs Tank is Finally on!

I don’t often report MMA news as I don’t have the time to cover MMA like other sites do, but some news is just that big that you can’t leave it uncovered. It’s very rare that you get news like this so I thought I’d better put something up here in case I lose readers to other more dedicated blogs that want to talk about the important issues. Sometime in April, UFC Hall of Famer meets David ‘Tank’ Abbott in a highly anticipated bout. Okay by now you’ve guessed that I’m being sarcastic and I won’t do a 100% sarcasm post so I’ll be serious now. There remains only one obstacle and it is quite a hurdle considering both guys recent form; their next opponents.

I’m not sure what organisation the fights are under (other then Ken Shamrock is meant to be the promoter), but Ken Shamrock will be featured in the Main Event of the upcoming February 13 ‘Valentine’s Eve Massacre’ show. His opponent will be 6′8, 350lb journeyman Ross Clifton. Clifton’s record stands at 6 wins and 8 losses, with all but 1 of his fights ending inside the distance. Normally I’d dismiss this as a bad bit of matchmaking, but given Shamrocks recent form and his inability to do anything with Robert ‘Buzz’ Berry, I can’t write Clifton off in this bout. Shamrock is honestly that bad these days that someone like Clifton could beat him. Shamrock will have to get Clifton on his back and if he does he’ll win in whatever manner he wants.

Tank Abbott will feature in the co-main event against Mike Bourke, an equally short and equally round opponent who should make the fight interesting as long as he doesn’t take Tank down. Rourke is a PRIDE veteran, losing by double arm bar in one of the early PRIDE bouts to ‘The Diet Butcher’ Alexander Otsuka. His record stands at 8-11-1 with all but three of his 20 fights ending inside the distance. It’s really not much of an issue whether or not Tank loses this fight because he loses most of his fights, but I think Rourke will beat him. Tank rarely trains anymore and I think Rourke will survive the initial 30 second onslaught, put him on his back and submit him.

This truly is a horrible piece of promoting. This fight (Tank vs Shamrock) has nearly come to fruition a few times. They were scheduled on the same side of the bracket at Ultimate Ultimate 96, but Shamrock pulled out with a broken hand. Also at UFC 48 this fight was looking at being a main event, but Kimo and Shamrock after Tank got choked out by Kimo at UFC 43. Still, if these old guys wanna keep fighting and embarrassing themselves, it’s probably better they do it against each other rather then against younger guys who could seriously injure them. This is a fight that I would have liked to see in the early UFC days and to be honest as disgusting as the thought of these two fighting now is, I’ll probably watch it. Afterall, I watched YAMMA Pit Fighting! I don’t want to be one of those poor souls who sees something second hand like YAMMA ring announcer Scott Ferrall.