TalkingBoxing Articles
OBoxing Heats Up: The Top Five Fights to Watch
FRI February 6, JAMES STILLERMAN - If January is any indication of what is to come in 2009 than boxing fans are in for another great year. January featured a fight of the year candidate with the Luis Collazo-Andre Berto bout in which Berto won, an upset of the year contender with Sugar Shane Mosley dominating the 4-1 favorite Antonio Margarito, and a trainer of the year nominee, Nazim Richardson guiding Mosley to the victory and discovering the harden substance on Margarito`s wrap which might have played a significant role in the outcome of the fight.
Here are five more exciting fights over the next three months that will add to the enthusiasm of 2009. These fights feature great matchups that will have significant implications on their respective divisions where the winner of these bouts will be the front runner in their weight classes while the loser will suffer a setback to their careers.
1. Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan (31-1-1, 25KOs) dukes it out with Jorge Acre (51-4-1, 39KOs) in a fight that has been talked about for sometime but on February 7th in Anaheim, California the fight will finally come to fruition. In this bout the WBC, WBA, and IBF super flyweight (115 pounds) belts will be on the line as well as the claim for the winner to be the best boxer in this weight class. Both pugilists have strong hatred for each other along with their knockout power and aggressive styles of fighting will certainly produce a thrilling bout.
Darchinyan and Acre are two of the better fighters in the lower weight classes and will leave nothing to chance when they enter the ring this Saturday night. The winner of this bout should face Fernando Montiel the WBO holder in their next outing making the victor the undisputed super flyweight champion.
Darchinyan was the reigning IBF and IBO flyweight title holder for six bouts before suffering a stunning upset to Nonito Donaire in 2007. After the loss, Darchinyan moved up to the super flyweight division where he beat Federico Catubay and then had a great 2008 year. In 2008, he drew with Z Gorres, defeated Dmitri Kirilov, then scored significant upset over Cristian Mijares with a ninth round knockout in a bout that almost no one gave him a chance to win. By beating Mijares, Darchinyan became the first fighter to hold three of the four belts at the same time in the super flyweight division.
Meanwhile, Acre (a three-time world champion) lost to Mijares on April 14, 2007 by unanimous decision for the WBA super flyweight belt, but has since won five in a row including three WBA elimination bouts in 2008 against Isidro Garcia, Rafael Concepcion and Devid Lookmahanak.
Prediction: Acre is the more experienced and younger fighter and has the height and reach advantage going into this bout; however Darchinyan is fighting at a much higher level than Acre and doing so against superior competition. Darchinyan`s better performances over the last two years culminating with him crushing Mijares, the same fighter who beat Acre gives Darchinyan the edge in this fight in which he’ll prevail by a knockout in the latter rounds.
2. On February 28th, Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz (34-1, 17KOs) collides with Juan Manuel Marquez (49-4, 30KOs) at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas for Diaz’s IBO lightweight belt, which he won from Michael Katsidis. This fight will be for the supremacy in the lightweight division as well as being a battle of the up and coming young fighter Diaz, who at 25 years old takes on the old time warrior, Marquez, who is 35 years old. Diaz was the ruler of the lightweight division and held three of the four titles and had nine title defenses until he got upset last March by Nate Campbell. Diaz rebounded from the loss with a trilling twelve round victory over Katsidis.
Marquez lost a close split decision to Manny Pacquiao last March (the loss to Pacquiao looks even better after the “Pac Man” defeated Oscar De La Hoya) and then he moved up to the lightweight division and defeated Joel Casamayor by a eleventh round technical knockout. Moreover, Marquez became the first man to prevent Casamayor from going the full twelve rounds.
While Diaz and Marquez have some knockout power they are more tactical boxers who are aggressive and constantly attack their opponents in hopes of wearing them down as the fight moves to the later rounds, which should make this fight entertaining to watch. Both of these pugilists have plenty to fight for as Diaz will look to rule the division again and facilitate a rematch with Nate Campbell while Marquez hopes to garner another win to help him secure his place in the Boxing Hall of Fame as well as fostering his chances for one more fight against Pacquiao.
Predication: Diaz is the more natural lightweight fighter since he has fought in this weight class his entire career, whereas Marquez will be fighting for only the second time at 135 after he moved up from 130. Diaz will also be fighting in front of his hometown fans. But, Marquez demonstrated to everyone last year that he’s one of the best fighters in the world with his two great fights in 2008 and his edge in experience over Diaz will allow him to defeat Diaz by split decision in an extremely close fight.
3. Chad “Bad Intentions” Dawson (27-0, 17KOs) takes on Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver (27-5, 19KOs) in a rematch for the IBF light heavyweight belt on March 14th in Las Vegas, Nevada in a bout between two of the top five boxers in the division.
Dawson dominated Tarver the last time out and won almost every single round including knocking Tarver down in the twelfth round as he cruised to a unanimous decision by scores of 118-109, 117-110, and 117-110. The victory garnered Dawson the IBF and IBO straps. With the lopsidedness of the scorecards it seems that this rematch didn’t need to be made and instead Dawson should’ve granted Glen Johnson a rematch. The Johnson-Dawson fight was an extremely close bout last April, when Dawson narrowly won, while many people including Johnson, believed he won the fight. Nevertheless, Dawson and Tarver will do battle again because of Tarver`s contract stipulation which demanded the rematch. In this fight, Tarver will certainty have to display more of a sense of urgency to win, especially since he’s is running out of time to be an elite fighter. The winner of this bout hopefully will fight either Joe Calzaghe (who could be wooed out of retirement) or Bernard Hopkins in what would be an enormous fight.
Prediction: Tarver has fought the better opposition overall and owns the better victories over opponents such as Roy Jones Jr. twice, Glen Johnson, Eric Harding, and Montell Griffin v Dawson’s wins over Johnson, Tarver, and Tomasz Adamek. On the other hand, Dawson is undefeated, younger, and faster and he dominated the last fight by throwing three to five punch combinations all night long and there is no reason why he’ll not do it again with just as much ease.
4. Vitali “Iron Fist” Klitschko (37-1, 35KOs) faces Juan Carlos “Black Panther” Gomez (44-1, 35KOs) for Klitschko`s WBC heavyweight belt on March 21st in Germany. Klitschko is making his mandatory defense of the belt he obtained after stopping Samuel Peter in the ninth round after dominating the entire fight. Klitschko took the Peter fight without a tune up bout after being out of the sport for almost four years and it looked like he never left the sport with how easily he won.
Gomez will finally get his long awaited title shot after winning two WBC title eliminators against great contenders, Oliver McCall and Vladimir Virchis. Gomez made ten successful defenses in the cruiserweight division before moving up to the heavyweight division in hopes of obtaining more money and glory. This should be an appealing fight between two top ten heavyweight fighters with very similar records.
Furthermore, both boxers are older, (Klitschko 37-years old, Gomez 35-years old) meaning that the loser of this fight will have a difficult time getting another title shot, which gives an added incentive for both men to win this fight. The winner could go after Ruslan Chagaev and his WBA belt, assuming he emerges victorious over Carl Drumond. The winner of that potential bout will own two of the four heavyweights belts, the other two straps belonging to Vitial`s younger brother, Wladimir.
Prediction: With Klitschko looking as good as he ever looked in his last performance he’ll prove too much for Gomez. Gomez has never fought an opponent as good as Klitschko and as long as Klitschko can stay healthy in training camp he’ll be too fast and powerful for Gomez who will find himself overwhelmed and on the losing end of a unanimous decision.
5. Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley Jr. (23-0, 11KOs) battles Kendall “Rated R” Holt (25-2, 13KOs) in a light welterweight showdown on April 4th in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for a title unification match up with the WBC and WBO belts up for grabs. Last year, Holt defeated Ben Tackie, Ricardo Torres by a first round knockout (2008 round of the year that featured three knockouts in sixth-one seconds) avenging an earlier loss to Torres, and then he defeated undefeated fighter, Demetrius Hopkins in the autumn.
Bradley was an unknown in the boxing community before upsetting Junior Witter in England and then defeated Edner Cherry in the fall. The winner of this bout sets up a potential bout against the winner of the Manny Pacquiao v Ricky Hatton clash or a shot at the other title holders, Andreas Kotelnik (WBA) or Juan Urango (IBF).
Prediction: Bradley is undefeated, owns a victory over the best fighter between the two in Witter in a major upset, and he’ll be the bigger fighter with a three inch advantage over Holt. Nevertheless, Holt will have the edge in this fight because he has faced the superior opposition and has victories over better fighters such as David Diaz, Isaac Hlatschwayo, and Mike Arnaoutis. Holt`s experience and superior resume will help him give Bradley his first loss of his career.
The last two years have been great in boxing in most part due to the eagerness of big time pugilists` willing to fight one another which is why boxing seems to be picking up some steam, which should only grow over the next eleven months with more great fights to come. These fights include: Ruslan Chagaev v Carl Davis Drumond (WBA heavyweight championship); Nate Campbell v Ali Funeka (WBA/IBF/IBO lightweight); Kelly Pavlik v Marco Antonio Rubio (WBC/WBO middleweight championship); Kermit Cintron v Sergio Martinez (interim WBC light middleweight title); Chris John v Rocky Juarez (WBA featherweight title); and Miguel Cotto v Michael Jennings (WBO welterweight championship).
Forum
