There are two big absentees from the pound for pound rankings. First of all there was the suspension of Margarito. Due to his suspension, I’m removing him from my rankings until he is either cleared or his suspension is up. The other is Joe Calzaghe who announced his retirement last month and thus will no longer appear in the rankings (until he gets bored and comes back that is). This paves way for Pavlik to re-enter the top ten and I’ve filled out the list with Darchinyan who I think deserves it after effectively cleaning out one of the more competitive divisions in boxing.
The rankings are based on all fights that happened before March 1st 2009, so if there’s a result that happened on March 1st (I’m using boxrec’s calender) then it’ll be included next month. These rankings are my own work and have absolutely no reflection on any ABC rankings or anything else but my own opinion. Please feel free to flame me in the comments section.
Active- Roman Gonzalez, Donnie Nietes, Manuel Vargas
March Schedule 7th- Joel Julio vs James Kirkland (154lb)
7th- Juergen Brahmer vs Rachid Kanfouah (European 175lb)
7th- Robert Guerro vs Daud Cino Yordan (130lb)
12th- Hozumi Hasegawa vs Vusi Malinga (WBC 118lb)
12th- Oscar Laios vs Takahiro Aoh (WBC 126lb)
13th- Lucian Bute vs Fulgencio Zuniga (IBF 168lb)
13th- Juan Carlos Reveco vs Wilson Simao (WBA Fedalatin 108lb)
14th- Arthur Abraham vs Lajuan Simon (IBF 160lb)
14th- Nicky Cook vs Roman Martinez (WBO 130lb)
14th- Cristian Mijares vs Nehomar Cermeno (WBA interim 118lb)
14th- Marco Antonio Barrera vs Amir Khan (135lb)
14th- Oleg Maskaev vs Rich Boruff (Heavy)
14th- Enzo Maccaranelli vs Ola Afolabi (200lb)
20th- Celestino Caballero vs Jeffrey Mathebula (WBA/IBF 122lb)
20th- Junior Witter vs Gianluca Branco (European 140lb)
21st- Vitali Klitschko vs Juan Carlos Gomez (WBC Heavy)
21st- Ricardo Cordoba vs Bernard Dunne (WBA interim 122lb)
21st- Roy Jones Jnr vs Omar Sheika (175lb)
22nd- Ulises Solis vs Brian Viloria (IBF 108lb)
22nd- Nonito Donaire vs Raul Martinez (IBF 112lb)
24th- Roberto Vasquez vs Hugo Cazares (115lb)
27th- Kryzstof Wlodarczyk vs Giacobbe Fragomeni (WBC 200lb)
27th- Samuel Peter vs Eddie Chambers (Heavy)
27th- Yasutaka Kuroki vs Junichiro Kaneda (OPBF 105lb)
28th- Humberto Soto vs Albert Davis (WBC 130lb)
28th- Fernando Montiel vs Diego Oscar Silva (WBO interim 118lb)
I’ve managed to set this up with a system that will allow me to update these monthly without too much trouble. Some interesting action this month; Mosley cracked the pound for pound list for the first time since he lost to Winky Wright back in 2004. The Welterweight division is very interesting now with the top three guys all having split wins over another. Hopefully, if Margarito gets cleared of his hand wraps incident (any suspension and I’ll probably drop him from the rankings completely), Margarito takes on Cotto and Mosley fights Clottey like what has been proposed and the winners meet later in the year. Whatever fight comes out of that series of matches will be great. I’ve also included a schedule of what significant fights are on next month and the lightweights again are all fighting in the same month which should move the rankings around a lot.
Could someone do me a huge favour and tell me how to turn off emoticons in my posts. It looks really fucking stupid having a sunglasses smiley in my rankings because the guy was ranked 8th in last months rankings.
The rankings are based on all fights that happened before February 1st 2009, so if there’s a result that happened on February 1st (I’m using boxrec’s calender) then it’ll be included next month. These rankings are my own work and have absolutely no reflection on any ABC rankings or anything else but my own opinion. Please feel free to flame me in the comments section.
Pound for Pound (1) 1- Manny Pacquiao (48-3-2)
(2) 2- Joe Calzaghe (46-0-0)
(3) 3- Juan Manuel Marquez (49-4-1)
(4) 4- Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1)
(5) 5- Israel Vazquez (43-4-0)
(NA) 6- Shane Mosley (46-5-0)
(6) 7- Rafael Marquez (37-5-0)
(7) 8- Paul Williams (36-1-0)
(9) 9- Ricky Hatton (45-1-0)
(8) 10- Antonio Margarito (37-6-0)
Active- Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito (loss) Out- Kelly Pavlik (10)
Heavyweight (no limit) (1) 1- Wladimir Klitschko (52-3-0)
(2) 2- Vitali Klitschko (36-2-0)
(3) 3- Ruslan Chagaev (24-0-1)
(4) 4- Nicolay Valuev (50-1-0)
(5) 5- Alexander Povetkin (16-0-0)
(6) 6- David Haye (22-1-0)
(7) 7- Samuel Peter (30-2-0)
(8) 8- Alexander Dimitrenko (29-0-0)
(9) 9- Sultan Ibragimov (22-1-1)
(10) 10- Oleg Maskaev (35-6-0)
Active- None
Cruiserweight (200lbs) (1) 1- Tomasz Adamek (36-1-0)
(2) 2- Guillermo Jones (36-3-2)
(3) 3- Steve Cunningham (21-2-0)
(5) 4- Marco Huck (24-1-0)
(4) 5- Jean Marc Mormeck (33-4-0)
(6) 6- O’Neill Bell (26-3-1)
(7) 7- Enzo Maccarinelli (29-2-0)
(8) 8- Firat Arslan (29-4-1)
(9) 9- Vadim Tokarev (26-1-1)
(10) 10- Kryzstof Wlodarczyk (41-2-0)
Active- Marco Huck
Light Heavyweight (175lbs) (1) 1- Joe Calzaghe (46-0-0)
(2) 2- Bernard Hopkins (49-4-1)
(3) 3- Chad Dawson (27-0-0)
(4) 4- Glenn Johnson (48-12-2)
(5) 5- Antonio Tarver (27-5-0)
(7) 6- Zsolt Erdei (30-0-0)
(6) 7- Clinton Woods (41-4-1)
(8) 8- Hugo Garay (32-3-0)
(9) 9- Roy Jones jnr (52-5-0)
(10) 10- Adrian Diaconu (25-0-0)
Active- Zsolt Erdei
Super Middleweight (168lbs) (1) 1- Mikkel Kessler (41-1-0)
(2) 2- Lucian Bute (23-0-0)
(3) 3- Jermain Taylor (28-2-1)
(4) 4- Carl Froch (24-0-0)
(5) 5- Anthony Mundine (34-3-0)
(7) 6- Librado Andrade (27-2-0)
(8) 7- Sakio Bika (27-3-2)
(NA) 8- Karoly Balszay (20-0-0)
(6) 9- Dennis Inkin (34-1-0)
(9) 10- Jeff Lacy (24-2-0)
Active- Karoly Balszay, Dennis Inkin (loss) Out- Markus Beyer (10)
Middleweight (160lbs) (1) 1- Kelly Pavlik (34-1-0)
(2) 2- Arthur Abraham (28-0-0)
(3) 3- Felix Sturm (31-2-1)
(4) 4- Winky Wright (51-4-1)
(5) 5- Khoren Gevor (30-3-0)
(6) 6- Randy Griffin (24-2-3)
(7) 7- Sebastian Sylvester (29-3-0)
(8) 8- Javier Castillejo (62-8-0)
(9) 9- Amin Asikainen (25-2-0)
(10) 10- Daniel Geale (20-0-0)
Active- None
Junior Middleweight (154lbs) (1) 1- Paul Williams (36-1-0)
(2) 2- Vernon Forrest (41-3-0)
(3) 3- Sergei Dzinziruk (36-0-0)
(4) 4- Daniel Santos (32-3-0)
(5) 5- Sergio Manuel Martinez (44-1-1)
(6) 6- Verno Phillips (42-11-1)
(7) 7- Cory Spinks (36-5-0)
(8) 8- Sergio Mora (21-1-1)
(9) 9- Alex Bunema (30-6-2)
(10) 10- Joachim Alcine (30-1-0)
Active- None
Welterweight (147lbs) (3) 1- Shane Mosley (46-5-0)
(1) 2- Antonio Margarito (37-5-0)
(2) 3- Miguel Cotto (32-1-0)
(5) 4- Andre Berto (24-0-0)
(4) 5- Joshua Clottey (35-2-0)
(6) 6- Kermit Cintron (30-2-0)
(7) 7- Carlos Quintana (26-2-0)
(8) 8- Luis Collazo (29-4-0)
(9) 9- Zab Judah (37-6-0)
(10) 10- Mike Jones (16-0-0)
Active- Shane Mosley, Andre Berto, Antonio Margarito (loss), Luis Collazo (loss)
February Schedule 6th- Chris Henry vs Yusef Mack (NABA/NABF 175lb)
6th- Andre Ward vs Henry Buchanan (NABF 168lb) 7th- Vic Darchinyan vs Jorge Arce (IBF/WBA/WBC 115lb)
7th- Andreas Kotelnik vs Marcos Rene Maidana (WBA 140lb)
7th- Ruslan Chagaev vs Carl Drummond (WBA Heavy)
7th- Omar Narvaez vs Rayonta Whitfield (WBO 112lb) 7th- Almazbek Raiymkulov vs Antonio DeMarco (135lb)
11th- Anthony Mundine vs Shannan Taylor (160lb) 14th- Nate Campbell vs Ali Funeka (IBF/WBO 135lb)
14th- Sergio Gabriel Martinez vs Kermit Cintron (WBC interim 154lb)
14th- Cristobal Cruz vs Cyril Thomas (IBF 126lb)
14th- Manuel Vargas vs Walter Tello (WBO interim 105lb)
14th- Alfredo Angulo vs Ricardo Mayorga (160lb)
14th- Clinton Woods vs Elvir Muriqi (175lb)
20th- Breidis Prescott vs Humberto Toledo (135lb) 21st- Kelly Pavlik vs Marco Antonio Rubio (Ring/WBC/WBO 160lb) 21st- Miguel Cotto vs Michael Jennings (WBA 147lb)
21st- Matt Skelton vs Martin Rogan (Commonwealth Heavyweight)
21st- Anthony Peterson vs Edner Cherry (135lb) 27th- Tomasz Adamek vs Jonathon Banks (Ring/IBF 200lb)
27th- Glenn Johnson vs Daniel Judah (175lb)
27th- Rendall Munroe vs Kiko Martinez (European 122lb) 28th- Juan Manuel Marquez vs Juan Diaz (Ring 135lb) 28th- Chris John vs Rocky Juarez (WBA 126lb)
28th- Roman Gonzalez vs Francisco Rosas (WBA 105lb)
28th- Donnie Nietes vs Erik Ramirez (WBO 105lb)
28th- Cesar Canchila vs Giovanni Segura (WBA interim 108lb)
28th- Sebastian Sylvester vs Gaentano Nespro (160lb)
28th- Rafal Jackiewicz vs Luciano Abis (European 147lb)
These are a little late compared to a lot of other sites, but I wanted to wait until the year was officially over before I put these up. My MMA ones will be up in a week or so. These are entirely my opinion and feel free to have a go at me in the comments section and I’ll happily debate any of my picks.
Fight of the Year- Israel Vazquez SD12 Rafael Marquez (March 1st).
Round of the Year- 4th- Israel Vazquez SD12 Rafael Marquez. Seriously if you haven’t see this fight go and see it. It’s one of my personal all-time favourite fights and considering that I’m very old school in my opinions and don’t let new fads change my picks too much that’s saying something. There’s only three fights in the last ten years that I consider up there with some of my more classic choices and this is one of them (along with Barrera-Morales I and Castillo-Corrales I). A lot of people overlook this trilogy because therse guys are only 122lbs which is complete crap. A lot of ‘fans’ say they don’t like the little guys, but seriously, where do you draw the line? If you will watch Featherweights whats the big deal with the 4lbs less for the Junior Feathers? Whats the big deal with the 21lbs to Minimumweight?
You’d all think I was crazy if I said I don’t watch anything below Cruiserweight because the next division is 25lbs smaller when those fights are usually the best yet people draw the line at other places and it’s crap. These guys in the lower classes fight just as hard, if not harder then the other guys and get little credit and anyone who has seen this fight knows exactly what I mean. These guys left it all in the ring and the action see-sawed throughout every round. Marquez got the better of the first six rounds including knocking Vazquez down in the 4th round only for Vazquez to get up and rock Marquez in return. The two then exchanged hard blows until the bell with both men getting rocked again in the final 30 seconds (youtube clip provided below). Vazquez came back to steal the fight with a 12th round knockdown, winning a split decision. There was about six or seven rounds that could have gone either way (if you scored all of them for one fighter you’re a moron I might add) and everytime I’ve watched this fight I’ve scored a few rounds different. This truly was one of the greatest fights of all-time and if you haven’t watched it, go find someone who has a copy of it and check it out. Here’s a taste and my pick for round of the year:
Honourable Mentions (Fight of the Year)- Antonio Margarito TKO11 Miguel Cotto (July 26th), Manny Pacquiao SD12 Juan Manuel Marquez (March 15th), Joel Casmayor TKO10 Michael Katsidis (March 22nd). Previous Winners- Israel Vazquez TKO6 Rafael Marquez (2007), Somsak Sithchatchawal TKO10 Mayhar Monshipour (2006), Diego Corrales TKO10 Jose Luis Castillo. Honourable Mentions (Round of the Year)- 1st- Kendall Holt KO1 Ricardo Torres, 12th- Israel Vazquez SD12 Rafael Marquez, 2nd- Antonio Margarito vs Miguel Cotto. Previous Winners- 3rd- Rafael Marquez TKO7 Israel Vazquez (2007), 10th- Somsak Sithchatchawal TKO10 Mayhar Monshipour (2006), 10th- Diego Corrales TKO10 Jose Luis Castillo (2005).
Fighter of the Year- Manny Pacquiao
Performance of the Year- Manny Pacquiao TKO8 Oscar De La Hoya (December 6th). I have to admit, I was setting this article up in late November and I had Calzaghe pencilled in to the Fighter of the Year slot expecting De La Hoya to be too big for ’The Mexecutioner’ (sorry to any Mexicans reading this but I just love that name) and Pacquiao’s performance against David Diaz down for Performance of the Year (although that was a toss-up between it and Hopkins schooling of Pavlik). Even though I made a big deal that his fight with Oscar would do nothing to his legacy should be lose, a SD over Marquez that I thought he lost and a TKO over David Diaz who I don’t rate and a loss aren’t enough to outdo Calzaghe’s downing of two legends despite one of them being more shot then Oscar. Despite plenty of people calling Oscar shot after their fight, Pacquiao definately shouldn’t have won that fight in such a one sided fashion unless he was the real deal. Despite Marquez giving Pacquiao all he could handle in their March thriller, Pacquiao proved that making 130lbs probably had something to do with it after twice moving up in weight and one sidedly knocking out two very capable fighters. So for winning new World titles in two weight divisions in 12 months and for completely dominating two very good fighters (one of them a legend) and beating a fellow top five pound for pound fighter, Pacquiao wins two of my awards this year. Honourable Mentions (Fighter of the Year)- Joe Calzaghe, Antonio Margarito, Juan Manuel Marquez. Previous Winners- Floyd Mayweather Jnr (2007), Manny Pacquiao (2006), Jermain Taylor (2005). Honourable Mentions (Performance of the Year)- Manny Pacquiao KO9 David Diaz, Bernard Hopkins UD12 Kelly Pavlik, Vic Darchinyan KO9 Cristian Mijares. Previous Winners- Ricky Hatton KO4 Jose Luis Castillo (2007), Joe Calzaghe UD12 Jeff Lacy (2006), Floyd Mayweather jnr TKO6 Arturo Gatti (2005).
Knockout of the Year- Juan Urango KO4 Carlos Vilches When it comes to knockouts, I find it best to explain it by just showing it! Enjoy!
Honourable Mentions- Antonio Margarito KO6 Kermit Cintron, Shane Mosley KO12 Ricardo Mayorga, Manny Pacquiao KO9 David Diaz. Previous Winners- Nonito Donaire KO5 Vic Darchinyan (2007), Daniel Ponce de Leon KO1 Sod Looknongyangtoy (2006), Allan Green KO1 Jaidon Codrington (2005).
Upset of the Year- Nate Campbell SD12 Juan Diaz No one seemed to be able to touch Diaz in the lightweight division and not many expected him to be beaten until he moved up a weight division. This fight was somewhat overshadowed with David Haye’s unification fight with Enzo Maccarinelli as well as Oleg Maskaev’s defence of his WBC Heavyweight strap against dangerous contender Samuel Peter (the fight was on the undercard of this bout). Campbell had won three in a row in his hot and cold career that has seen him look like one of the World’s most dangerous fighters one day and look like a complete fool the next (see Campbell-Peden I). Diaz seemed to be taking over as he usually does by the midway point of the fight with his high output of punches although Campbell stayed in the pocket with him and traded hard leather. Everything changed with one punch in the 6th round. Campbell landed a left that opened a massive cut on Diaz’s left eye and although the referee incorrectly ruled it a headbutt and docked Campbell a point, Diaz wasn’t the same fighter after that. His punch output slowed down while Campbell was spurred on by the cut and the rare weakness that Diaz ever shows in the ring. Campbell dominated the later rounds as Diaz’s eye closed shut and he took a split decision as well as Diaz’s WBA, WBO and IBF Lightweight titles. Honourable Mentions- Carlos Quintana UD12 Paul Williams, Vic Darchinyan KO9 Cristian Mijares, Breidis Prescott KO1 Amir Khan. Previous Winners- Nonito Donaire KO5 Vic Darchinyan (2007), Carlos Baldomir UD12 Zab Judah (2006), Zahir Raheem UD12 Erik Morales.
Event of the Year- Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez (By this I basically mean the biggest fight of the year without taking into account what actually happened in the ring. For example there were far better fights in 2002 then Lewis-Tyson, but that one was the highlight event of the year).
I really didn’t buy into De La Hoya-Pacquiao (as many who have read this site for a while will tell you) and I really can’t think of another fight that was as good a match-up as this one. I tend to go more for a hardcore fans perspective when picking these unless there’s an obvious pick like Lewis-Tyson or De La Hoya-Hopkins. This fight pitted the two best fighters in the 130-126lb division in a fight that had a long build up after their controversial draw in 2004. It was the culmination in a series of big fights between these two plus Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera that saw this fight as the Finale after Marquez defeated Barrera (Pacquiao also defeated him after Marquez) and Pacquiao had defeated Morales. It was sort of like Hagler-Leonard of the 80′s rivalry of those two plus Duran and Hearns although over a shorter period of time. There were plenty of big fights and one’s that received a lot more attention then this fight, but this was the fight I looked forward to the most this year. It was two top five pound for pound fighters squaring off and the fight didn’t disappoint. Honourable Mentions- Antonio Margarito vs Miguel Cotto, Kelly Pavlik vs Jermain Taylor II, Vic Darchinyan vs Cristian Mijares. (I don’t rate Calzaghe-Hopkins because even though it was a big fight, I knew it’d be as boring as all fuck as it actually was). Previous Winners- Ricky Hatton vs Floyd Mayweather jnr (2007), Joe Calzaghe vs Jeff Lacy (2006), Ricky Hatton vs Kostya Tszyu (2005).
That’s the big ones out of the road, a few I think I should touch on:
Prospect of the Year- Leonard Zappavinga First of all, I think this award is stupid. It’s not like in other sports where it’s easy to determine what a prospect is because they’ve only been playing a year. Boxing is a different sport. A prospect could be a three fight rookie or a guy with 30 fights who’s taken his time on the way up and is about to crack the big time. Second of all, I’m clearly biased. I don’t take this award that seriously so I’ll probably always pick an Australian. Zappavinga ended his year with a knockout over former two time world title challenger Tommy Browne in a fight he looked excellent in. Zappa is only 22, he is undefeated and will definately be one to watch in the new year.
Australian Fighter of the Year- Vic Darchinyan Darchinyan totally dominated two world champions with absolute ease in his new weight class and became the first Australian since Kostya Tszyu to be near the top 10 pound for pound in the World. After a controversial draw in February against Z Gorres, Darchinyan got a shot at Dimitri Kirilov’s IBF strap and won by one sided 5th round knockout. After that came a unification bout with (at least by my list) Cristian Mijares, who held the WBC and WBA titles and had wins over Jorge Arce and Alexander Munoz. Not many (I wasn’t one of them) gave Darchinyan a chance, but he brutalised Mijares over nine rounds with a great mixture of boxing and punching before knocking him out with an overhand left in the 9th. I just hope Darchinyan receives more credit and attention down here instead of joke ‘fighters’ like Anthony Mundine and John Hopoate who rob the public blind with their overpriced PPV sideshows.
One to watch in 2009- Beibut Shumenov This guy is only 7-0, but he has already beaten Montell Griffin (yes, the same one with a win over Roy Jones jnr) and Epifanio Mendoza (who gave Jeff Lacy all he could handle for 12 rounds).
And some lighter ones:
Arthur Mercante Award for Best Refereeing- Pat Russell (Vazquez-Marquez III) This was by far the best fight of the year and it could have been one of the most controversial if referee Pat Russell was having a bad night. There were several tight calls in the fight that the fight road on, and he got them all right. Russell deducted a point from Marquez for a low blow which ultimately cost Marquez a draw in the fight, however he had previously warned Marquez a number of times and had to take that point off. Had he let Marquez off the hook there it would have been unfair to Vazquez as he had warned him a few times previously and most of the shots were pretty low. The other call was the 12th round knockdown. Russell very well could have made the mistake that many a referee would have made in that situation and stopped the fight. Marquez was taking punishment on the ropes and taking a lot of it yet he wasn’t going down. He staggered into the ropes and would have fallen if they weren’t there and instead of stopping the fight he gave Marquez a count. These calls are still controversial parts of the fight, but they would have been a hell of a lot worse if Russell had say jumped in and saved Marquez in the 12th with a few seconds left.
Jersey Joe Walcott Award for Worst Refereeing- Joe Cortez (Francisco Lorenzo DQ4 Humberto Soto) (If you don’t get the reference it’s not because I hate Walcott, it’s because he refereed one Heavyweight title fight and lost complete control of the Ali-Liston rematch therefore he gets my award named after him. I actually am a big fan of Walcott so this is no cheap shot at him about his fighting, just thought I’d point that out).
Humberto Soto battered Franciso Lorenzo for three and a half rounds before dropping him in the fourth round. While going down, Lorenzo grabbed Soto’s legs prompting Soto to continue to hit him, landing a grazing shot to the back of his head. Instead of counting, Cortez ruled that Lorenzo had been hit while he was down at which point Lorenzo started faking like he was in more serious trouble as a result of the blow. Actually, Lorenzo was ready to go and all the damage was done by legal blows from Soto during the action. After viewing several replays, Cortez disqualified Soto and ruled Lorenzo as the new WBC interim champion. The WBC however would right the wrong and strip Lorenzo of his belt (one of the few controversial decisions from an ABC group that I agree with).
Eugenia Williams Award for Worst Judging Card- Doug Tucker (Cristian Mijares SD12 Jose Navarro) (Reference again is to Eugenia Williams who scored the Holyfield-Lewis first fight to Holyfield after he won maybe three rounds).
Tucker scored this fight 120-108 for Navarro. The other two judges both saw it for Mijares in a close fight. Seriously Doug, what fight were you watching? Maybe Navarro won the fight (I agreed with the other two judges) but he didn’t win every round.
George Foreman Award for Comeback of the Year- Vitali Klitschko If you come back from four years of inactivity and totally dominate one of the top contenders in your division then there’s no denying you this award. Vitali Klitschko did just that. It almost made my performance of the year honourable mentions but missed out. Klitschko came back from numerous injuries and totally dominated someone who was a very, very dangerous opponent with absolute ease. As much as I don’t like the Klitschko brothers, it was hard not to be impressed by that.
Andy Raymond Award for Worst Commentator of the Year- Andy Raymond (Fox Sports Australia) I seriously hate Andy Raymond and it’ll be a task for anyone to win this award any year apart from him. He just talks and talks and talks without ever saying anything with the slightest bit of meaning. The only Raymondism I can remember this year (if I remembered anymore I’d probably get cancer) is this: ‘Boxing under the Nitro Format this evening’
WTF does that mean?!?!?!?! At the time he was referring to the promotion as being called Nitro Fight Night or some shit, but what he actually said has zero meaning to anyone with an IQ above 50! Maybe it’s just me who gets irritated by things like this, but seriously if you’re on TV and your job is to talk you really need to know how to do it. Another thing that annoys me about him is his constant comment everytime a boxer from New South Wales fights a boxer from Queensland he calls it state of origin. On some cards when this happens four or five times he says it every fucking time. Its no wonder that boxing is seen by a lot of people in Australia as a sideshow sport that Rugby League players play to keep themselves fit in the off season when you have some moronic Rugby League commentator who knows fuckall about the sport making absolutely no sense with anything he says except when he says something that he can relate back to Rugby League like the state of origin shit.
John Ruiz Award for Worst Fight of the Year- Wladimir Klitschko UD12 Sultan Ibragimov Now this isn’t exactly the worst fight of the year, but it’s the worst one I saw that I went out of my way to watch. Ibragimov ran for dear life and Wladimir was too shit scared of being knocked out to do anything about it. The result was Wladimir winning the fight on his aggressive pawing of his jab. Valuev-Holyfield sounds worse, but you’ll have to pin my eyes open A Clockwork Orange style to get me to watch that. Bringing me to my next award:
Ruiz-McCline Award for Worst Matchup of the Year- John Ruiz vs Jameel McCline This award was originally going to be called the Ruiz-Holyfield Award out of respect for the worst boxing trilogy of all-time, then I remembered he fought McCline this year and the award will be now known as Ruiz-McCline. Now I didn’t see this fight (which is why I haven’t gouged out my eyes with a toothpick) but oh my God, who ever thought these two would make for attractive viewing needs to jab themselves in the eye with a screwdriver. Has there ever been two more boring Heavyweights? At least Wladimir Klitschko has punching power that can sometimes be exciting. These two not only have extremely boring styles, but they’re very ineffective fighters who often resort to holding. If I was managing Ruiz, after I committed suicide I’d do everything I could to keep him away from the likes of McCline who is just a fat waste of space with enough gas to punch for maybe three rounds. Matching these two up only shows the full range of boredom they can produce. Luckily I didn’t have to sit through this bout as Haye-Maccarinelli was live on one channel and by the time it had finished so had this piece of shit bit of matchmaking.
Joe Jacobs ‘We was Robbed ‘ Award for Robbery of the Year- Nicolay Valuev W12 Evander Holyfield (Joe Jacobs managed Max Schemling in the 1930s and had a famous quote ‘We was robbed, we shouldda stayed in bed’ after Schmeling lost the title to Sharkey).
I haven’t seen the fight and I don’t want to, but the whole thing is just cruel. Here’s a legend of the ring who’s battled way past his prime in a quest to re-capture the Heavyweight title before he retires and after years of not getting anywhere near it he finally gets a shot and by all accounts should have won the fight and they rob him. Now it’s probably for the good of the division that Holyfield doesn’t win the fight and ends up being killed in the ring if he puts it against one of the Klitschko’s, but to rob a man of being the first five-time champion as well as the oldest champion in history is just cruel.
And on a sadder note:
Gone but not forgotten (pictured in order below, if I left anyone out leave a comment and I’ll edit it) Yo Sam Choi- Former WBC 108lb Champion (1999-2002), lost his title to Jorge Arce in 2002. Died from injuries sustained in a fight he won in December 2007 a week later. Duilio Loi- Two-time World Junior Lightweight Champion (1960-62 and 1963), bested the great Carlos Ortiz 2-1 in their series of fights. Lost the title to Eddie Perkins in 1962 then regained it in his next fight and retired with a 115-3-8 mark. Died in January of Alzheimers. Ralph Dupas- Former World Junior Middleweight Champion (1963), also challenged Emile Griffith for the Welterweight Championship and Joe Brown for the Lightweight Championship. Defeated former World Middleweight Champion Joey Giardello and lost a disputed decision to Sugar Ray Robinson. Died in January of dememtia. Mando Ramos- Former Undisputed Lightweight Champion (1969-70) who regained the WBC title in 1972 but lost it the same year. Lost his undisputed title to Panamanian great Ismael Laguna. Died in July of natural causes. Mate Parlov- 1972 Olympic Light Heavyweight Champion, 1974 World Amateur Light Heavyweight Champion, WBC Light Heavyweight Champion (1978). First Croatian to win a World title in Boxing. Died in July 30 of lung cancer. Vic Toweel- Former World Bantamweight Champion (1950-52). First South African to win a World Championship in Boxing by defeating Manuel Ortiz. Lost his title to Australian Jimmy Carruthers in 1952. Died in August at age 80. Joey Giardello- Former World Middleweight Champion (1963-65). Fought Dick Tiger four times (winning twice) and also beat Sugar Ray Robinson and Rubin Carter to name a few. Died in September of heart failure.
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.
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.
Former undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins upset current WBC/WBO and Ring Magazine Middleweight Champion Kelly Pavlik by unanimous decision. Hopkins dominated the fight without ever letting Pavlik get set during the 12 round catchweight contest (both fighters fought at 170lbs). With his use of angles, Hopkins continually frustrated Pavlik and never allowed him to let his hands go while he used his jab and straight right hand to tag Pavlik whenever he was in range. The times Pavlik did try and punch, Hopkins countered with hard right hands and three punch combinations that at times had Pavlik looking in trouble. Both fighters were deducted points; Pavlik in the 8th round for rabbit punching and Hopkins in the nith for holding. Hopkins won on the scorecards by margins of 119-106, 118-108, 117-109.
At 43 years of age this is a big win for Hopkins that will keep him in the running for another big fight. In my opinion it also puts him back in or around the top five pound for pound fighters in the World. He did lose those two fights to Jermain Taylor but both were by close decision in fights where it seems obvious now that he was boiling down to a weight that was hurting him to make. Then he beats two top fighters in Antonio Tarver and Winky Wright before losing a split decision (I thought Calzaghe was an easy winner personally) to one of the best fighters in the World in Joe Calzaghe. This man is still one of the best fighters in the World. Calzaghe has already ruled out a rematch saying his fight with Jones will be his last, but a fight between Hopkins and Jones jnr (win lose or draw vs Calzaghe) will be a big fight. Hopkins-Dawson as well could be a good fight. How about Hopkins-Kessler if Kessler moves up in weight? There’s some good fights out there for ‘The Executioner’ and even though he’s old and he’s boring four out of every five fights there fights you want to see him in.
As for Pavlik, he needs to move back down to Middleweight. His punches have no snap at this weight and he just overall doesn’t look anywhere near the fighter he is at 160lbs. Pavlik should take the mandatory with Marco Antonio Rubio, tear him a new one then look at either Winky Wright or Arthur Abraham. Neither of those guys could stand up to what a 160lb version of Pavlik brings to the table. The matchup was all wrong for Pavlik, he faced a bigger guy that he couldn’t outmuscle who was also quicker and technically better then him who had been boxing since before Pavlik was born. There’s no shame in losing to Hopkins in my opinion and Pavlik is still one of the top fighters pound for pound in the World. One loss to a bigger man like Hopkins who is al all-time great is no big deal.
On the undercard, WBO Featherweight titlist Steve Luevano did what 9 out of every 10 Australian fans wanted to see happen and whipped Billy Dib. Dib was made to look amateurish at times, often getting caught with his hands down and chin in the air by the better techincal boxer Luevano. It wasn’t completely one sided as Dib had his moments, using his hand and foot speed to score and successfully evade Luevano’s counters, but the cleaner, harder shots were landed by Luevano throughout the fight.
Undisputed World Middleweight Champion Kelly Pavlik moves up to fight Former Undisputed World Middleweight Champion Bernard Hopkins at a catchweight of 170lbs today. With just a few hours to go before this fight I can’t think of any better way to spend the hours waiting by thinking about what will happen. This is one of the bigger boxing matches this year with two of the top 10 pound for pound fighters in the World fighting each other. This is also a very interesting stylistic matchup with the defensive/counter puncher/spoiler in Hopkins facing the aggressive/relentless Pavlik. Then throw in the fact that the younger fighter (Pavlik) is coming up in weight to face the older fighter and its really a strange matchup.
Kelly Pavlik Pavlik had a sudden rise to the top of boxing last year with knockout wins over Edison Miranda and Jermain Taylor in wars. Since then he beat Taylor in a rematch on points at a catchweight of 166lbs and then knocked out some overmatched English fighter who’s name isn’t that important (ie I can’t remember who he was). Pavlik likes to throw lots of punches and has deceptive speed, power and strength. He’s built like a praying mantis yet throws with the power of an elephant. His defence is a little suspect especially early but he usually fights at such an incredible pace while still throwing straight punches that he breaks his opponent down.
For Pavlik to win this fight he’s going to have to simply outwork Hopkins. He definately has the firepower to put Hopkins away if he can wear him down, but the early rounds are Hopkins chance in this fight. If Pavlik can avoid Hopkins counter punches early or just do enough work that they are insignificant he’ll win this fight. For probably the first time Pavlik will be facing a bigger/stronger man then him and this could be a big factor in the fight. Pavlik can’t get lazy with his jab, he has to double it up and not allow Hopkins to counter it. If Pavlik gets through the first four rounds without taking any real damage and is still throwing 80% the amount of punches he normally does he should win this fight.
Bernard Hopkins Hopkins held the IBF middleweight title for about 12 years and was Undisputed Middleweight Champion for four years. After losing his title to Jermain Taylor and the subsequent rematch, he moved up to light heavyweight and took the consensus #1 fighter Antonio Tarver to school. Since then he beat fellow top pound for pound fighter Winky Wright in one of the worst fights I’ve ever seen before losing to Joe Calzaghe earlier this year. Hopkins is a defensive genius and knows every trick in the book. He is basically impossible to hit cleanly and makes everyone he fights look bad. Hopkins biggest problem is he doesn’t throw anywhere near enough punches, probably due to his advanced age.
For Hopkins to win this fight he has to make Pavlik respect his power and limit his outage with his holding and counterpunching. If Hopkins lets Pavlik dictate the pace at all in this fight he’ll get outworked. Its very hard to beat a guy who throws over 100 punches a round when you throw 25-30. I really think Hopkins has to hurt Pavlik early if he wants to win this fight and I think he has more then enough power to do it. He has to make Kelly throw less then 70 punches a round and he has to make him miss most of them and he has to make his punches count. Size, strength and experience will be Hopkins biggest weapons in this fight.
Prediction I’m going with Hopkins to win a close decision. I think the extra weight will be a big factor. Hopkins has fought near this weight a lot more then Pavlik has and because he is the bigger guy combined with his defensive know-how he’ll prove too much for Pavlik to be able to break down. I think he’ll make Pavlik pay everytime he’s lazy with his jab and he’ll make Pavlik respect him more then he needs to and will potshot his way to a decision victory. I really do hope I’m wrong but the more I’ve thought about this fight the more I see Hopkins beating another guy smaller then him who a lot of people don’t think he should beat. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Hopkins knocks Pavlik out. However, if ‘The Executioner’ isn’t at the best he can possibly be for his age I think Pavlik will outwork him and win a comfortable decision. Still, I can see Pavlik getting all tied up in Hopkins spider web of a defence and Hopkins landing the cleaner shots during the fight. Pavlik isn’t like Calzaghe with his ability to throw large amounts of punches and not be hit, he’s there to be hit and for someone as cagey as Hopkins I think that’ll be his downfall. Hopkins by unanimous decision.
These are late, I’ve been busy with real life commitments. I should be posting a whole bunch of stuff in the coming days on this weekends fights. Also, some of my stuff will now be appearing on a new site; www.fight-scene.com
Vitali Klitschko TKO8 Samuel Peter
Wow! Klitschko made his comeback after four years on the sidelines and numerous serious injuries and battered the guy who in my opinion was the 2nd best heavyweight on the planet in a one sided affair. Klitschko never let Peter in the fight and repeatedly tagged him with his monsterous right hand until Peter quit after the 8th round. Peter didn’t look like he belonged in the ring with Vitali.
Despite all the Vitali praise, Peter’s style was always the right one for Vitali. He has slow movement and little head movement and the fight was always going to be decided on what Vitali showed up. Its hard to find any fault in that performance at all. The one thing that I did notice about Klitschko was that he was gasping for air a lot during the fight, but that is to be expected when you come off the sidelines after four years and fight one of the best heavyweight boxers in the World. I doubt this will be a serious problem in future fights because he has those eight rounds under his belt now and the next time he fights he’ll find it easier because of this.
This fight makes me hope that Alexander Povetkin defeats Wladimir Klitschko all the more. If Povetkin wins that fight, Vitali is very likely to want to avenge that loss for his brother. Add to that the fact that Wlad won’t hold a belt as well and that thought makes me very happy as his last two fights have been disgustingly boring. Vitali-Povetkin for three of the four titles is the sort of thing the heavyweight division needs to bring the division back from the slump its in. With Wlad holding the other belts, we’re not going to get unification for a while. First of all though Vitali has to defend against former WBC Cruiserweight Champion (who is now a part time Heavyweight contender) Juan Carlos Gomez. Gomez has a style that could cause the unorthodox Klitschko problem, but he has far from the substance required to make the most of any stylistic advantages he has. Hopefully Vitali stays healthy and keeps busy and gets Gomez out of the way ASAP so we can see him fight one of the other titlists.
Chad Dawson UD12 Antonio Tarver Chad Dawson dethroned IBF Light Heavyweight Champion Antonio Tarver via one sided unanimous decision last weekend as well. Dawson used superior handspeed and aggression to outwork the 37 year old Tarver over the 12 rounds. The dominant display was punctuated by a 12th round knockdown. Dawson added the IBF title to the WBC title he rightfully owns (he lost this title because he chose to fight Tarver over the Interim ‘champion’ Adrian Diaconu and the WBC don’t actually care about the state of boxing, just lining their pockets) with scores of 117-110 twice and 118-109.
If there were any doubts that Dawson belongs with the elite in this division they were put to rest in this fight. Still, I don’t think he’s ready for Joe Calzaghe. What Dawson should do is, like I said last weekend, give Glenn Johnson a rematch. That fight was very close (I thought Johnson won by 2 points from memory) and its a fight that Dawson will gain more experience from. If he doesn’t fight Johnson, I think he should either face Adrian Dianconu and sort that mess out or do me a favour and take the Linear title from WBO champ Zsolt Erdei so I can stop going to bat for him everytime that subject comes up. With the top guys in this division nearing retirement, Dawson is what the division needs as he is young, good and willing to fight the best guys available.
I decided to start a new feature on this site. Each Saturday I’ll post a wrap-up of what happened during that week in boxing (outside of the really mega stories which I’ll post as they happen/when they happen) and give my take on it. I read quite a few different sites as well so I’ll comment on the odd article that I find to be stupid and put crap on the author. I’m hoping this segment will actually get someone to comment on the site because I’m feeling a little lonely. I might also do an MMA version of this segment, although right now I’ll keep it to boxing because there aren’t a lot of good boxing matches happening over the next few weeks.
Olympic Boxing Results Not really results, I just wanted to vent my frustration about the scoring. I really don’t think there will be boxing at London 2012. The scoring system has somehow managed to break the rock bottom it hit at Athens 2004 and get worse. The way they do it just isn’t logical. These fighters sacrifice so much to get there, only for their dreams to rest on whether or not three judges react to a punch within a second of each other in order to score a point. Not only do they have to worry about scoring with their shots and making the other boxer miss, they have to hope that their point is scored by this completely random scoring system. Go back to round-by-round scoring if you have to and make it three-three minute rounds instead or let the judges keep their own cumulative score over the four rounds based on punches landed on the target area and then score it for the fighter who the majority of the judges think won. Anything will work better then the current method!
Jorge Arce returns in September
Again this isn’t really about Arce, it’s about what the WBA are doing with this fight. Okay try and follow this; Cristian Mijares unified the WBC and WBA titles with a points win over Alexander Munoz. The WBA do what they always do and make Mijares ‘super champion’ because he holds the WBA belt plus another title which is their fucked up policy. Now get this, without even filling the ‘regular’ WBA title, the WBA have announced Alexander Munoz will fight for the regular title, and Arce will fight for the interim title. How fucked up is that? To make matters worse, both guys are fighting average fighters. Why don’t the WBA just make these two fight because the winner will definately be the next top fighter behind Mijares and Montiel. That would be an excellent fight and something that boxing needs to happen more often; two top fighters fighting each other for the right to face the champion. Sanctioning bodies suck and as long as organisations like the WBA are allowed to do shit like this boxing will always be a second rate sport!
Joe Calzaghe to retire should he defeat Roy Jones jnr
I’m a bit pissed off by this. There are plenty of good fights for Calzaghe to take part in (well there’s at least one and possibly two). The winner of Dawson vs Tarver would make an excellent opponent for Calzaghe as would Kelly Pavlik should he defeat Bernard Hopkins (I really couldn’t sit through a rematch between Calzaghe and Hopkins). Jones jnr won’t test Calzaghe, he’s old and washed up. Calzaghe’s got plenty of fight left in him if he wants to keep going, and a win over who I think will be a top pound for pound fighter in boxing for the next five or so years will add enormous amounts to his legacy. Pavlik has to get by Hopkins first and I’m really not sure he can at the higher weight. Hopkins spoiling style and physical strength will make things ugly for Pavlik who will be forced to fight at a lower pace then he likes to. I’d love nothing more to see Pavlik mop the floor with both Hopkins and Calzaghe in his next two fights though.
Vic Toweel passes away
Arguably South Africa’s greatest boxer (I don’t know a lot about their boxing history but no other names came to mind) and former Undisputed World Bantamweight champion Vic Toweel passed away yesterday at age 80. Toweel went 298-2 as an amatuer (one of those losses came in the form of a disputed decision at the 1948 Olympics) before turning pro. He won the World Bantamweight Championship in 1950 with a 15 round points win over Bantamweight great Manuel Ortiz. ‘The Benoni Atom’ made three defences of his title before losing it to Jimmy Caruthers in 1952. During his reign he had troubles making the weight and had many fights above the Bantamweight limit. Toweel retired with a 28-3-1 record (14 knockouts) and lived the last 20 years of his life in Australia. RIP.
De La Hoya vs Pacquaio likely off
The ‘mega’ fight between top ranked junior middleweight Oscar De La Hoya and top ranked lightweight Manny Pacquiao is likely off after both parties couldn’t come to an agreement. Good Riddance! I really don’t know why people were so keen to see De La Hoya beat up a man who is 20lbs naturally smaller then him no matter how good he is in his weight division. The last thing I needed to hear on the occasions I visit message boards is how much greater De La Hoya is after a knockout win over Pacquiao. It’s bad enough as it is that people think he’s up ther with guys like Ray Robinson and Henry Armstrong (I personally don’t think he’s the greatest welterweight or lightweight of the last 15 years) without this overhyped mismatch taking place. Pacquiao will instead fight Humberto Soto, who is a good fighter but will likely test the pound for pound king Pacquiao. De La Hoya will probably make Felix Trinidad saw his leg off to make welterweight and avenge that loss in his farewell fight which might infact be worse.
I’m going to go over every fight of the weekend in this post, not just the middleweight fight.
Gary Lockett vs Kelly Pavlik
This was the only boxing match of the weekend that went the way I thought it would. Kelly Pavlik is an animal in the ring. The amount of pressure he puts on his opponents is great, and there’s not a man at middleweight who I think could handle it for the full 12 rounds. Enzo Calzaghe made the right call in stopping that one after the 3rd knockdown, there was no need for Lockett to take any more punishment. The only middleweight I give a chance against Pavlik is Winky Wright but I don’t think even Wrights defence would hold up over the 12 rounds.
While I’d have no problems with Pavlik staying at middleweight and ruling with an iron fist, I think the best fight would be to take on Joe Calzaghe. Calzaghe would have to drop back down to 168lbs in order for the fight to be fair, but I don’t think he’d have any more trouble making the super middleweight limit then he did a year ago. A loss for Calzaghe would be a blow to his legacy, but not a monsterous one. A loss for Pavlik in my opinion wouldn’t mean too much because Joe’s a more experienced fighter and a bigger fighter. This is a fight that should be made now before Calzaghe gets too comfortable at 175lbs, if he fights there again then the chances of him making 168lbs and being as effective as he was drop.
Juan Manuel Lopez vs Daniel Ponce de Leon I didn’t think it would go more then a few rounds and I was right, except that I thought it’d be de Leon who would emerge victorious. Lopez fought smart, he let de Leon come to him and he countered effectively. de Leon was way too eager to get out there and brawl in my opinion, he should have fought a bit mroe reserved instead of chasing Lopez around throwing punches. There’s some good fighters at this weight division, and I’d like to see either of these guys fight the real champion Israel Vazquez. Even though I think he’d outlast both of them, both fights would be a war.
Sergio Mora vs Vernon Forrest I haven’t seen this fight yet, but I’m very surprised that Mora was able to hang with Forrest, let alone beat him. Forrest always has a habbit of fighting down to his opponents level (like he did the first time he fought Ricardo Mayorga), but even in saying that I really thought Mora wouldn’t have enough substance to his game to deal with Forrest. This division is pretty boring, none of the champions will fight each other and not many of them are worth watching to begin with. Infact, Mora’s victory makes this worse because he dethrones the one champion who was worth watching and replaces him with himself. Hopefully someone comes along and cleans up this mess quickly, this division used to be fun.
Carlos Quintana vs Paul Williams
There’s no better way to set the record then with a first round knockout. Williams seemed more prepared to deal with Quintana’s movement and he used a stiff jab well to set up the short left hand that rocked him, then he opened up to take Quintana out. Now that Mayweather has ‘retired’, Williams should fight the winner of Cotto-Margarito for the right to call themselves the real champion at welterweight. Despite Williams’ impressive performance, I’d pick both Cotto and Margarito to beat him.
Celestino Caballero vs Lorenzo Parra
I haven’t seen this fight either (and I’m unlikely to) but I took a risk and it didn’t pay off.
Prediction Results
I had another shocker. I don’t like it when I get more wrong then I do right and I thought I’d get at least four of these fights right. Still the only fight that really went the way it should have on paper was the Kelly Pavlik fight, and I at least got that one right. It was a pretty unpredictable week for predictions in both MMA and boxing.
