Boxing Breakdown: Julio v Kirkland Triple Header

Later today, three very interesting fights with two of boxings top prospects as well as a former world titlist takes place. In the main event, two knockout artists in undefeated James Kirkland (24-0, 21 KOs) and Joel Julio (34-2, 31 KOs) will face off in what looks to be an explosive battle. Also on the card is 21 year old Victor Ortiz who has made a name for himself destroying good fighters on the Oscar De La Hoya undercards. He takes on tough Mike Arnatouis, who’s only lost twice against Kendall Holt and Ricardo Torres. The third fight sees former IBF Featherweight champion Robert Guerrero fighting for the 2nd time since relinquishing his belt and moving up in weight. His opponent is 21 year old Indonesian Daud Yordan, who there is little known about.

Julio v Kirkland
I’m giving the edge to Julio for a few reasons but they’re all small. First of all, Julio’s height and southpaw stance will be awkward for the reckless style of Kirkland. Then there’s the experience and level of competition that Julio has been fighting at as well as Julio probably has the better defence and arguably the better chin out of these two. There should be a lot of action early in this fight but I think Julio will be getting his shots in more frequently while taking the odd bomb from Kirkland in return. Kirklands still young and has a lot to learn, sort of where Julio was a few years ago and I think this will be a good learning curve for him. I don’t think he has the composure to last in a fight like this though and I think after 3-4 rounds of two way action, Julio will take over and stop Kirkland in the mid-late rounds. Joel Julio by 7th round knockout.

Arnaoutis vs Ortiz
I think Ortiz is almost as good as the hype around him suggests he is. I think he is better then a few of the guys I rate ahead of him in the top ten, but that Ortiz doesn’t have the names to put him there yet. Arnaoutis will provide a stiff test for the 21 year old, but I think Ortiz will be firmly in control of the fight. Mike will probably last the distance, but I think he’ll go down once or twice in doing it. Victor Ortiz by unanimous decision.

Guerrero vs Yordan
It’s hard to know much about guys like Yordan who have mostly fought in their native country without being overly tested. Yordan was on the undercard of the Marquez-Casamayor card last year although I’m pretty sure they didn’t show his fight. With fights like these I always go with the experienced fighter because most of the time the young undefeated fighter doesn’t live up to the hype and I think it’ll be the same thing here. Robert Guerrero by 6th round knockout.

Ortiz/Kirkland step up in class

According to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, Ring Magazine’s prospect of the year Victor Ortiz has finally stepped up his competition:

Junior welterweight Victor Ortiz, the 2008 ESPN.com prospect of the year, will take on former titleholder Vivian Harris in a crossroads bout.

 ”We have agreed to the terms, but I am waiting for the paperwork. But the fight is on,” Harris promoter Gary Shaw said. “For Vivian, if he wants to continue the quest, he has to beat Victor Ortiz or there may not be a tomorrow. For Ortiz, it will be a major notch on his belt to beat somebody like Vivian Harris.”

Ortiz (23-1-1, 18 KOs), 21, is one of the fastest rising talents in boxing. Given the prime co-featured slot on the Dec. 6 Manny Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya undercard, Ortiz overwhelmed Jeff Resto for a second-round knockout in his closing argument for prospect of the year honors.

After his last ‘fight’ everyone was calling for Ortiz to fight someone who could test him. I have to say that Vivian Harris has to be just about the perfect opponent to gauge where Ortiz is at as a fighter. The 21 year old is really stepping up his opposition with this fight and a win over Harris makes him a clear-cut top ten fighter in the Junior Welterweight division. It’s good to see not only young fighters who are willing to put themselves to the test but fighters management not being afraid to see their guy in a hard fight. Ortiz has a loss and a draw on his record, but really, so what? He’s obviously learnt from those ‘blemishes’ and has improved past the fighters he didn’t beat.

The Ortiz-Harris fight is the co-feature to what promises to be a slugfest between undefeated puncher James Kirkland (24-0, 21 KOs) and Joel Julio (34-2, 31 KOs). Kirkland is coming off a war with Brian Vera on the Hatton-Malignaggi undercard, which he won by 8th round stoppage. Julio recently dropped a 12 round decision to WBO 154lb Champion Sergei Dzinziruk, a fight he took on shortish notice. With both of these guys styles, this fight looms as a potential fight of the year candidate.

Boxing Breakdown: Darchinyan vs Mijares

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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