Boxing Thread 2K12

[JKidd]

Yeah, Todd isn't a bad guy at all, and neither is Carl Moretti over at Top Rank. I know he's the head matchmaker, but believe he's some sort of executive as well COO or VP or something like that.

Moretti and DuBoef are both very liked, especially Moretti, in the boxing community and when Bob does step down, it will likely be the best thing. Not just for TR, but for the boxing community as a whole. I just hope none of the current promoters hold a grudge against them simply because of Arum. I don't think they will, but you never know in the end.

[JKidd]

Weekend predictions times! Boxing calendar has been updated with the fights for December.

-David Price vs. Matt Skelton takes place this afternoon over in England. It should be another steam roller performance for Price. Skelton is 45 or 46, hasn't been notable for a decade and has lost every single fight he's had to step in competition against. It's more of a stay busy fight I guess, seeing how Price knocked out the other 40+ year old opponent he faced just a few weeks ago in Audley Harrison.

Tomorrow afternoon in England, Tyson Fury vs. Kevin Johnson. Both British HWs, Price and Fury are being moved very slowly, and while Johnson is a step up from Fury's last opponents, it's still not much. Give me Fury by KO.

Tomorrow night on Showtime at MSG:
-Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KOs) vs. Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KOs) - for Trout's WBA "regular" junior middleweight title

*This is a very tough fight for me to pick. Trout has been waiting for this kind of elevating fight to take. And getting Cotto in NY is one hell of a big stage to fight on. Last time out, he looked AWFUL in waiting on Delvin Rodriguez all fight long. He's a very slick southpaw, has a solid jab, and great defensive skills. However, he's got Cotto... a blood and guts warrior who has faced these skills before (just not at 154). He showed he's still got a lot left against Mayweather, and he'll need all of that this go around. Trout has all the physical skills to make this a relatively easy fight. All he has to do is keep Cotto on the end of his jab and paste him coming in (he's got 5 inches in reach). When Cotto gets to him, tie him up or turn him and get out. However, Cotto knows how to impose his will against the best in the game. I'll take Cotto in the end. The only question will be how Trout handles his best shots to the chin, or that left hook to the body.

For those wondering, this is the only fight being shown live. To get Miguel Cotto to fight on live TV for free, it takes a lot of money, which means the undercard suffers severely.

[royjonesjr]

Well it appears that super-channel no longer plays Showtime boxing, does anyone know which channel on Rogers on Demand will be airing the fights.

[Blues 34]

No one else has posted yet about the Cotto-Trout fight. Austin Trout boxed beautifully to beat Miguel Cotto who all of a sudden looked very old and very slow in this fight.

It is hard to tell how much of this was Trout being great or very good and how much of this was a great warrior in Cotto hitting the wall that all great fighters hit. Just a guess would be about 50/50. As good as Cotto looked in his loss to Mayweather he looked ordinary at times tonight.

Trout who looked average in his fight with Delvin Rodriguez looked like a guy who could give anyone save Mayweather in the weight class hell

[royjonesjr]

Trout vs Cotto was a good hard fought fight. It went as I expected for the first six rounds. It didn't surprise me to see Trout have two good rounds to start the fight off and it didn't surprise me to see Cotto begin to overwhelm him slightly for the next four rounds. What did surprise me is how Trout turned in it on and began being busy and fighting Cotto hard for the rest of the fight. After the six round it went back and forth with Trout winning most of each round but Cotto landing some good flurries and working the body well stealing some of the rounds. Cotto also at times began to dance around and box well avoiding some flurries from Trout. After the tenth I had the fight dead even.. But Trout came out and took the last two rounds easy boxing beautifully and Cotto just couldn't seem to get anything going on him in the last two rounds. To be honest I had only seen Trout in the fight with Rodgriuez and he didn't show a lot at all in that fight but he looked very good against Cotto last night. It was an excellent performance and proves Trout is one of the top 154LB fighters. I would like to see him fight Canelo next I think he could give Canelo some problems and would be a very tough test.

First time watching Tyson Fury last night. Didn't see anything to impressive from him at all. Certain rounds he looked real good but also looked very lackluster. Every time he took a decent shot from Johnson it looked like it stung him a little bit. I do think he'd pose an interesting match up against a Klitschko because from what I saw he is a similar style of fighter to the Klitschko's in some ways.

[JKidd]

Good night of action from MSG last night.

It was good to see Danny Jacobs get back in the ring and get some work in, and stop the tough Irishman after a few rounds. Solid performance, although I'd prefer to see Danny a little more busy in there when the competition level increases.

Very good to see Jayson Velez last night as well. Man does that kid have some power, and he's smart on when and where to throw his shots. He boxes very well from the outside and his technique overall is great for a youngster. The rumblings of him getting Daniel Ponce de Leon are out there and Showtime made big mention of it. That'd be a hell of a fight if/when it goes down. Velez is VERY young still though, at only 24 and fighting Ponce is a hell of a step up in a very deep division. Not sure it's the right move for a kid so early.

Trout-Cotto... it was a lot closer than what the cards said. I still gave it to Trout, but the lop sided scores were atrocious. Especially from that blind retard Adalide Byrd. What fight he was watching I'll never know. I gave Trout 1-2 and then had Cotto sweeping the next 4. Then, Trout made some tactical adjustments and started to really take over. In the end, I had Trout winning 7-5. I watched the fight with 5 people last night, and we had scores from Trout winning by 4 rounds, to a draw, to Cotto by two rounds.. just all over the place.

I'll dig into Trout a bit more tomorrow... and Fury.

[JKidd]

So those unaware of the major fights over the weekend...

David Price destroys Matt Skelton in two easy rounds.
*Like I said in the preview, it was a gross mismatch on paper, and yet again, Price shows how easy it is to beat these cans. Up next for the Liverpool bomber is going to be Tony Thompson, according to most reports. Good to see Price sticking to beating down senior citizens. If he takes on Thompson, the combined age of his last 3 opponents would be over 130 years. Lets you know he's padding that record a bit, eh?

Tyson Fury cruises past Kevin Johnson for a UD
*It was ugly. Johnson clearly didn't show up to fight, again. It was eerily similar to his 2009 "fight" with Vitali where he threw less than 300 punches in the entire fight. In this one, he showed "slickness" in avoiding a lot of the shots from Fury, but also took some damage. It was, by no means, a fight Fury should be proud of. The opportunities to connect more were there, but he didn't stomp on the gas or possess the vision to see them. Up next? No idea, really don't care too much either.

Both of the British heavyweights are kind of an annoyance at this point. I get you don't want to "rush" these guys along, but if you're trying to tell me that fighting these cans will get you to the level of being ready to fight either Klit, you're lying through your teeth. Start fighting competition that has a legit chance to win. And then the amount of talking these two do afterwards... my god. Especially Fury. The greatest thing Fury has done is survive a horrible decision win against Dereck Chisora. Yet, he's the greatest thing on the planet apparently. Oh well, onward.

Trout earns a tough decision win against Miguel Cotto
*Trout looked good, Cotto had his moments, and overall it was the coming out party Trout needed. Trout reminds me of Chad Dawson, before Dawson became a gun shy comedic act. Saturday night, he was in good form against a very tough, rugged, and good opponent. Cotto caught him with the left hook all night long, and made Trout miss a lot as well. But, Trout being able to adjust from moving back, forward, and laterally were a huge deterrence to a lot of what Cotto tried. He also showed he could take some punishment as Cotto did get to him a couple times.

I was expecting Trout to crumble a bit more on the grand stage, but he showed a hell of a character in staying composed and adjusting things on the fly in what became a good little fight. I thought he dug that straight left to the body all night, really well. And the tactical adjustment to the right hook paid huge dividends to him, as he repeatedly busted Cotto upside the head with it. Last point is that Trout didn't risk anything in the final 3 rounds. He stepped on the gas even more, and at some points, had Cotto really hurt in there. The piston like jab he hammered Cotto with really set the stage for some good looking work.

Fallout: Canelo has a huge choice to make, and IMO, it's an easy one. Fight Cotto, and then fight Trout. His mandatory situation is undecided as both Vanes and Lara solved nothing against each other. Canelo vs. Cotto would do very good PPV numbers, even with Cotto coming off of two decision losses. And then, Trout is right there to take on afterwards in a unification bout. Why take on Cotto first? Easy, money and name value. Trout will be there for almost all of Canelo's career. Cotto won't be. Get the name on there now, like he did with Mosley, and then move onto someone else.

[Flyers2001]

I though Cotto - Trout was a nice fight. It was quite tactical and enetertaining at the same time. Cotto doesn't have it for 154. I don't know if he ever did. Trout looked huge next to him and had every physical advantage and in the end those advantages turned out to be to much for Cotto.

Trout showed he is a bit more entertaining than his past bouts. It may just take his opponent to push him there. Whatever the case may be he showed really well and though I don't think he will get rewarded immediatley but he showed he is a legit 154 lb champion and will be around for a while.

Cotto's next move. If GBP still wants the fight against Canelo and Cotto wants one final payday then by all means go for it. If Cotto wants to go out a winner, he should stay far away from Canelo and do something smaller against a smaller 154 lber or if at all possible go back to 147. Canelo will do damage to Cotto and will bust him up at this point IMO. Canelo's competition may not be the greatest thing in the world but don't let that fool you Canelo is legit and his power/combination punching would be to much at this stage for Canelo.

Trout should try going the K9 Bunderage rout. Each of them has a belt so either network should pick it up. At this point it might be the most beneficial opponent for each of them. 2 belts is negotiating power and attraction.

[JKidd]

Pretty slow news days.

Here are some headlines thus far:
Gabriel Rosado vs. Gennady Golovkin is confirmed and signed off on by HBO. Rosado was convincing enough for HBO in that he's struggling to make 154, has put in some hard dues there and has earned a title shot. Given few 160 pounders are willing to take on Golovkin, Rosado naturally jumped at the chance.

Leo Santa Cruz vs. Alberto Guevara will lead the Showtime Khan/Molina card by premiering on CBS on 12/15. It's a solid little fight, although I expect LSC to take him out in the later rounds. Will be interesting to see if that all offense approach works with the real bangers at 118 and 122 when Santa Cruz moves up.

Rumors are out there that Floyd Mayweather is looking to hop in the ring in February. I doubt that quite a bit, considering Floyd himself has said it takes a solid 5 months to create a PPV event and I doubt we see Floyd on anything but PPV.

Playing off that rumor, Canelo is pretty much holding out hope that he gets Mayweather. He's not looking to anyone else really, and is only looking at a fight in May against Mayweather - despite the previous rumor of Mayweather wanting to comeback in February.

Sergio Martinez has tagged undefeated, former MW championship challenger Marty Murray as his next opponent in Argentina. Murray is ranked #11 by Boxrec, #8 by the Ring and #9 by ESPN. He's a decent opponent to come back again, considering everyone else will be busy at that time or unwilling to travel to Argentina.

Still no opponent or rumored opponent for Peter Quillin for his fight in Brooklyn at Barclays in February. Love to see Matthew Macklin get the call. Talk about a hell of a fight there.

Kell Brook vs. Devon Alexander appears to be off the Barclays card, and maybe moved to it's own card in Vegas. GBP is waiting to see what else shakes out, but they weren't enthused with what they seen from Devon last time out at Barclays. Fight will be on Showtime either way. Edit, they have moved the card to LA at the Nokia center on 1/19. What a terrible decision to match this against HBO's card of Salido/Garcia and Rosado/Golovkin at MSG on the same day.

[JKidd]

For those that are into pretend betting, we have the Manny/Marquez fight in Vbookie.

Boxing: Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez IV 12/8/2012

[JKidd]

Of course, as we close in on another Manny fight, it's time for Floyd Mayweather to make some sort of announcement.

This go around, it's that he's going to fight twice in 2013. Both dates will be on Mexican holiday weekends (May 4th and around 9/16 - Mexican Independence day).

He hasn't fought twice in a year since 2007 when he fought Oscar and Ricky Hatton.

No opponents are named, yet. But rest assured Canelo is on a VERY short list of opponents. Having the Mexican star fight on Cinco de Mayo weekend would be epic for sales/buys. Robert Guerrero's stock is insanely high right now given his war with Berto, so he's on the list.

I'll believe it when I see it though.

[Wadubbin]

I can see Floyd taking on Guererro,beating him,and then taking on Canelo.

[JKidd]

Originally Posted by Wadubbin

I can see Floyd taking on Guererro,beating him,and then taking on Canelo.

I can see him doing this... it's a logical move.

Take on Ghost with Canelo on the undercard on May 4th, and then schedule up Canelo for September.

I like the Guerrero/Mayweather fight. I see Mayweather winning it, and I see him probably winning 9-3, but Guerrero shows up for a fight every single time he steps in the ring. He's shown the ability to adapt in the ring, and he doesn't mind making things dirty and ugly in the ring. I think it'll be a win for Mayweather, but the rounds will be a bit more hotly contested than we've seen in other fights of Floyd's.

[JKidd]

Andre Ward has injured his shoulder... the fight with Kelly Pavlik is postponed.

[JKidd]

Great Thursday Night card last night by ESPN with Ray Beltran topping Ji-Hoon Kim in the main event, in a great fight.

Both guys hit the deck in the first, with Kim being VERY hurt. Some how, he survived, came out and was hurt again in the last 10 seconds of the 2nd. Same situation in the 3rd and then it was all Beltran from there. He walked into some big shots from Kim, who always comes ready to throw 1000+ punches a fight. Great way to kick off the weekend.

Some other ESPN level news, Sergiy Dzinziruk vs. Bryan Vera has been confirmed as the new main event for 1/25. Ruslan Prvodnikov was headlining the card.

Lucas Matthysse is being positioned to fight Hank Lundy on the Brook/Alexander card. I am not liking the fight for Hank. Moving up in weight and he draws the Argentine bomber who has the skills and smarts to catch Lundy during one of his oft-defensive lapses. Ouchy.

Lots of **** talking between Brandon Rios and Angel Garcia. Not shocking given the two. Just a shame it'll never happen thanks to TR and GBP. It'd be a hell of a fight if it did though.

That's been about it thus far. Slow news week as the world prepares for Manny to fight.