Lots of action this week and some good boxers, maybe not A level but good. I’m more excited for Saturdays HBO card, but there are some other interesting matchups both Friday and Saturday.
Maidana-Alexander
I see Maidana sticking it to Bradley Alexander and quite frankly I’m looking forward to it. I hate seeing fighters get robbed by the judges and that’s exactly what happened in Alexanders last fight. He was gift wrapped a decision over Lucas Matthyse, who has had a real tough time with the judges in his two US fights. Alexander didn’t show much in the Bradley fight either, at the time I thought he might have been using the headbutt as an excuse to get out of a fight in which he was getting dominated. Maidana is a tough, hard hitting fighter. I see him exposing Alexander and getting the KO. Alexanders only advantage is his speed and he wasn't able to use that to his advantage in his last two fights. Maidana isn’t going to want to leave it up to the judges in Alexanders hometown and he has said as much. I think he gets the KO in the mid to late rounds. I was really looking forward to the Maidana-Guerrero fight. I have a lot of respect for Guerreros ability, I think he needs to spend less time calling people out and more time locking in a return fight from his shoulder injury, but he is a fundamentally sound fighter who can go toe to toe. Maidana is more of a brawler and I think their styles clash in a good way. It would be an exciting fight.
Broner-Perez
Broner is another boxer whose personality just rubs me the wrong way. That being said, he is a solid fighter and, being in one of the weakest divisions in boxing, he is right up there with the top super featherweights. He has a belt, but it was a vacant belt he won with a victory over a fading Daniel Ponce De Leon. He has dominated his recent competition but the talent of said competition has been questionable. That’s not his fault, as I do believe he wants to get to the next level, rather it's a reflection of a weak division. A lot of people write off Perez and one reason is the scarcity of KOs on his resume. But he is coming off some impressive victories, albeit against even spottier talent than Broner. He has shown he does have the power to floor someone but I don’t think he gets Broner down. I have Broner in this one and I’m going to say by stoppage, as he has shown in the Litzau fight that he is capable of closing when the opportunity presents itself. Oh and I give it 10-1 odds that he brushes his hair during the post fight interview.
Cruz-Burgos
This is the headliner for ESPN’s FNF. It may end up being one of the more competitive matchups of the weekend. Burgos is the favorite as Cruz has accumulated a number of losses on his record but Cruz can fight. FNF has provided down and out fighters the opportunity for a comeback in the past and they have rose to the occasion. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Cruz gets another FNF upset.
Vargas-Tyner
This fight is on ShoBox Friday night. Vargas has been locked into the date for sometime now but it took a while for them to find an opponent but settled on Tyner who has only won 1 of his last 6 fights (3 losses, 2 draws). I think Vargas rolls through him, possibly setting him up for a spot on the Mayweather undercard. Vargas is a Mayweather protégé and two months should be enough time for him to be ready by 5/5, he has prepared with even less time than that (4 fights in '11 and 6 in '10). If they do want him on that card I think this could be another option for Guerrero's return. A Vargas-Guerrero matchup would add a lot to that card IMO, but so would Maidana-Guerrero. Basically I’m just anxious to see Guerrero get back in the ring against a decent opponent and see if the shoulder injury has taken anything out of him. But Vargas will need to step up the competition after Tyner.
Povetkin-Huck
This heavyweight fight is on Epix on Saturday along with the light heavyweight bout below. Epix keeps bringing us the upper weight mathcups from Europe we normally wouldn’t get to see and I give them props. With HBO, Showtime, FNF on ESPN and now Epix and Kathy Duva's NBCSports cards, boxing is making strong strides to increase their exposure. This is a must for the future of the sport. As far as this matchup goes, Povetkin is coming off the biggest victory of his career where he was spurred on by trainer Teddy Atlas’ inspiring words in between rounds invoking the memory of Povetkin's recently deceased father. I would chalk this up to a Povetkin victory, Huck does hold a belt but at Cruiserweight. But that is with Atlas in his corner. Teddy cited his commitment to ESPN as an analyst as the reason for not training him for this fight. The last fight, Atlas’ duties at ESPN kept him from being in Russia for the start of training camp but when he found out Povetkin was basically not preparing for the fight, waiting on Atlas to get to Russia, he rushed over and went through a condensed camp. We will have to see if Povetkin's people can get him prepared for a fight without Atlas in what some are calling his highest profile fight to date. Even with rising in weight Huck will not be a pushover and with these questions looming I say this one is a toss up.
Cleverly-Karpency
Cleverly should have no trouble with Karpency, they are not on the same level. Karpency was supposedly picked for this fight simply because he is an American and they needed that to garner interest for the Epix broadcast in the US. Karpency is known as a game fighter and can go the distance but Cleverly should not have any trouble with him. A potential unification bout between Cleverly and Hopkins could be on the horizon, which would be an entertaining matchup. But that's putting the cart ahead of the horse as Hopkins still has to get through Dawson and Cleverly has talked about a rematch with Tony Bellew, who he beat by majority decision in October.
Lots of fights this weekend, HBO has the most exciting fights IMO with Maidana and Broner, but it will be interesting to see what happens in the Epix bouts. I'm kind of surprised Vargas-Tyner warrants a ShoBox spot but I guess that's the advantage of having the Ellerbes on your side. There's been a lot of talk about Vargas' potential and I'm sure he knows he needs to put together an impressive win over an opponent of the caliber of Tyner in order to keep the momentum going. What are your thoughts?
Maidana-Alexander
I see Maidana sticking it to Bradley Alexander and quite frankly I’m looking forward to it. I hate seeing fighters get robbed by the judges and that’s exactly what happened in Alexanders last fight. He was gift wrapped a decision over Lucas Matthyse, who has had a real tough time with the judges in his two US fights. Alexander didn’t show much in the Bradley fight either, at the time I thought he might have been using the headbutt as an excuse to get out of a fight in which he was getting dominated. Maidana is a tough, hard hitting fighter. I see him exposing Alexander and getting the KO. Alexanders only advantage is his speed and he wasn't able to use that to his advantage in his last two fights. Maidana isn’t going to want to leave it up to the judges in Alexanders hometown and he has said as much. I think he gets the KO in the mid to late rounds. I was really looking forward to the Maidana-Guerrero fight. I have a lot of respect for Guerreros ability, I think he needs to spend less time calling people out and more time locking in a return fight from his shoulder injury, but he is a fundamentally sound fighter who can go toe to toe. Maidana is more of a brawler and I think their styles clash in a good way. It would be an exciting fight.
Broner-Perez
Broner is another boxer whose personality just rubs me the wrong way. That being said, he is a solid fighter and, being in one of the weakest divisions in boxing, he is right up there with the top super featherweights. He has a belt, but it was a vacant belt he won with a victory over a fading Daniel Ponce De Leon. He has dominated his recent competition but the talent of said competition has been questionable. That’s not his fault, as I do believe he wants to get to the next level, rather it's a reflection of a weak division. A lot of people write off Perez and one reason is the scarcity of KOs on his resume. But he is coming off some impressive victories, albeit against even spottier talent than Broner. He has shown he does have the power to floor someone but I don’t think he gets Broner down. I have Broner in this one and I’m going to say by stoppage, as he has shown in the Litzau fight that he is capable of closing when the opportunity presents itself. Oh and I give it 10-1 odds that he brushes his hair during the post fight interview.
Cruz-Burgos
This is the headliner for ESPN’s FNF. It may end up being one of the more competitive matchups of the weekend. Burgos is the favorite as Cruz has accumulated a number of losses on his record but Cruz can fight. FNF has provided down and out fighters the opportunity for a comeback in the past and they have rose to the occasion. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Cruz gets another FNF upset.
Vargas-Tyner
This fight is on ShoBox Friday night. Vargas has been locked into the date for sometime now but it took a while for them to find an opponent but settled on Tyner who has only won 1 of his last 6 fights (3 losses, 2 draws). I think Vargas rolls through him, possibly setting him up for a spot on the Mayweather undercard. Vargas is a Mayweather protégé and two months should be enough time for him to be ready by 5/5, he has prepared with even less time than that (4 fights in '11 and 6 in '10). If they do want him on that card I think this could be another option for Guerrero's return. A Vargas-Guerrero matchup would add a lot to that card IMO, but so would Maidana-Guerrero. Basically I’m just anxious to see Guerrero get back in the ring against a decent opponent and see if the shoulder injury has taken anything out of him. But Vargas will need to step up the competition after Tyner.
Povetkin-Huck
This heavyweight fight is on Epix on Saturday along with the light heavyweight bout below. Epix keeps bringing us the upper weight mathcups from Europe we normally wouldn’t get to see and I give them props. With HBO, Showtime, FNF on ESPN and now Epix and Kathy Duva's NBCSports cards, boxing is making strong strides to increase their exposure. This is a must for the future of the sport. As far as this matchup goes, Povetkin is coming off the biggest victory of his career where he was spurred on by trainer Teddy Atlas’ inspiring words in between rounds invoking the memory of Povetkin's recently deceased father. I would chalk this up to a Povetkin victory, Huck does hold a belt but at Cruiserweight. But that is with Atlas in his corner. Teddy cited his commitment to ESPN as an analyst as the reason for not training him for this fight. The last fight, Atlas’ duties at ESPN kept him from being in Russia for the start of training camp but when he found out Povetkin was basically not preparing for the fight, waiting on Atlas to get to Russia, he rushed over and went through a condensed camp. We will have to see if Povetkin's people can get him prepared for a fight without Atlas in what some are calling his highest profile fight to date. Even with rising in weight Huck will not be a pushover and with these questions looming I say this one is a toss up.
Cleverly-Karpency
Cleverly should have no trouble with Karpency, they are not on the same level. Karpency was supposedly picked for this fight simply because he is an American and they needed that to garner interest for the Epix broadcast in the US. Karpency is known as a game fighter and can go the distance but Cleverly should not have any trouble with him. A potential unification bout between Cleverly and Hopkins could be on the horizon, which would be an entertaining matchup. But that's putting the cart ahead of the horse as Hopkins still has to get through Dawson and Cleverly has talked about a rematch with Tony Bellew, who he beat by majority decision in October.
Lots of fights this weekend, HBO has the most exciting fights IMO with Maidana and Broner, but it will be interesting to see what happens in the Epix bouts. I'm kind of surprised Vargas-Tyner warrants a ShoBox spot but I guess that's the advantage of having the Ellerbes on your side. There's been a lot of talk about Vargas' potential and I'm sure he knows he needs to put together an impressive win over an opponent of the caliber of Tyner in order to keep the momentum going. What are your thoughts?
