After the fights on April 4th, the Lightweight division looks to be filling up with talent. Some of the top fighters from the division have left it. Manny Pacquiao, Nate Campbell, and maybe Juan Manuel Marquez have all jumped up to the Junior Welterweight division. With those top fighters gone this Lightweight division still is pretty good.
Juan Diaz had a tough loss to a pro in Juan Manuel Marquez on February 28th. It was a very good and very competitive fight. Juan Manuel Marquez showed his experience and got a great looking KO. Even after this loss, Juan Diaz is the top fighter in the division.
Edwin Valero got a powerful knockout of Antonio Pitalua in the 2nd round of their fight on April 4th. Valero jumped out at the beginning and was throwing cement blocks at Pitalua's head. Pitalua was knocked down three times before the referee stopped the fight. Valero said, after the fight, he wants to fight anybody: Marquez, Diaz, Hatton, or Pacquiao. He feels that he can dominate in the Junior Welterweight division. If he fights like he did against Pitalua he could handle all of his competition. With this said, Antonio Pitalua is a strong fighter but he is not very crafty. If Valero fights any of the above mentioned fighters, he might have a struggle. Marquez, Diaz, and Pacquiao are all have very good body and head movement. It would be very entertaining to see Valero fight any of those fighters or any other fighter because he has extremely powerful hands.
Michael Katsidis also fought on April 4th and had come off of two losses. He lost to Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz. These are two very strong fighters so his losses don't mean Katsidis is a bad fighter. Katsidis took a page out of Juan Manuel Marquez's book and had a slow start. In the 4th round he turned it on and a headbutt opened up Jesus Chavez. Once the blood started to flow, Katsidis' bloodlust turned on and he took over the fight. Jesus Chavez was trading shots throughout the fight but after the 7th round he didn't come out of his corner. Katsidis looked very good coming off those two losses he had and he re-established himself as a contender in the division.
Another fighter in the division who was on the comeback track was Julio Diaz. Julio Diaz took on Rolando Reyes on April 4th and got knocked out in the 5th round. Once one of the top Lightweight fighters, Julio Diaz now has a long path to return to greatness. The audience in Austin, Texas booed Diaz and Reyes because Diaz was just throwing jabs ans short shots. Reyes decided in the 5th round to start fighting and he did. He landed a very solid right hook and left uppercut to stun Diaz and followed with a flurry to drop him. Diaz got up only to receive another barrage of punches. After this the referee stopped the fight leaving, little known, Rolando Reyes as a contender in the Lightweight division.
There is one simple fact about this outstanding division, nobody knows exactly what will happen until the Ricky Hatton - Manny Pacquiao fight on May 2nd. Once there is a clear winner the division can start scheduling fights. Anyone and everyone wants to fight the winner of that fight. Both the winner and loser of that fight will be looked at as competition. Lightweights to Welterweights want Hatton and Pacquiao and the future is unknown. However one thing is known, the Lightweight division is a tough, hard, packed division.
April 4, 2009
March 22, 2009
The Heavyweight Division: Is It Improving?
-In recent history the Heavyweight division has been a joke, overweight fighters who stumble around the ring. The last Heavyweight Champion of the world was Lennox Lewis but that was and he retired in 2003. The home of some of the greatest fighters in history have been in the Heavyweight division. Ali, Frazier, Liston, Spinks, Holmes, Marciano, even the young Mike Tyson, this was the toughest division in boxing. With the emergence of the Klitschko brothers there might finally be some good caliber fighters in this once renowned division. The question is, can the Klitschko's save this division?
-Vitali Klitschko beat Juan Carlos Gomez in a sound fashion this past Saturday, March 21. Klitschko retained his WBC title by scoring a TKO in the 9th. After a four year layoff he is looking very solid. First he handled Samuel Peter and after handling Gomez, he is back among the top of the division.
-Ruslan Chagaev is another top fighter in the Heavyweight division. With this said his last three fights were over a span of three years. HE stopped the 7-foot tall, Nikolay Valuev and most recently Carl Davis Drumond. He looks solid but needs to fight better competition. Alexander Povetkin would be a very good opponent for Chagaev. Whoever would win, would cement themselves as a top contender in the Heavyweight division.
-David Haye was the number fighter in the Cruiserweight division before he made the jump into the Heavyweight division. His first fight in the division was with Monte Barrett which he won with a good TKO in the 5th round. The "Hayemaker" has a monster right hand that might as well be an anvil. He drops his opponents with authority. Monte Barrett is 6'3'' which is the same height as David Haye. If Haye fights one of the bigger and taller Heavyweights then it might not be so easy.
-Wladimir Klitschko, the younger of the two brothers, is top fighter in this division. He hasn't lost a fight since early 2004 and this is why he has the IBO, IBF, and WBO title's.
-Can the Klitschko's save this division? I'm not sure. They are doing their job and fighting the best competition but the competition just isn't that good. Should the brothers fight each other? Everyone wants them to but they both said it would never happen. Nikolay Valuev has the WBA title, most recently beating Evander Holyfield last December. On March 27th Samuel Peter is fighting Eddie Chambers, which he should win. On April 4th Alexander Povetkin fights Jason Estrada, who doesn't have much experience. If these two fights go well then there could be some good fight opportunities coming up. Only time will tell if this once great division will be the powerhouse of the sport it once was.
-Vitali Klitschko beat Juan Carlos Gomez in a sound fashion this past Saturday, March 21. Klitschko retained his WBC title by scoring a TKO in the 9th. After a four year layoff he is looking very solid. First he handled Samuel Peter and after handling Gomez, he is back among the top of the division.
-Ruslan Chagaev is another top fighter in the Heavyweight division. With this said his last three fights were over a span of three years. HE stopped the 7-foot tall, Nikolay Valuev and most recently Carl Davis Drumond. He looks solid but needs to fight better competition. Alexander Povetkin would be a very good opponent for Chagaev. Whoever would win, would cement themselves as a top contender in the Heavyweight division.
-David Haye was the number fighter in the Cruiserweight division before he made the jump into the Heavyweight division. His first fight in the division was with Monte Barrett which he won with a good TKO in the 5th round. The "Hayemaker" has a monster right hand that might as well be an anvil. He drops his opponents with authority. Monte Barrett is 6'3'' which is the same height as David Haye. If Haye fights one of the bigger and taller Heavyweights then it might not be so easy.
-Wladimir Klitschko, the younger of the two brothers, is top fighter in this division. He hasn't lost a fight since early 2004 and this is why he has the IBO, IBF, and WBO title's.
-Can the Klitschko's save this division? I'm not sure. They are doing their job and fighting the best competition but the competition just isn't that good. Should the brothers fight each other? Everyone wants them to but they both said it would never happen. Nikolay Valuev has the WBA title, most recently beating Evander Holyfield last December. On March 27th Samuel Peter is fighting Eddie Chambers, which he should win. On April 4th Alexander Povetkin fights Jason Estrada, who doesn't have much experience. If these two fights go well then there could be some good fight opportunities coming up. Only time will tell if this once great division will be the powerhouse of the sport it once was.
March 1, 2009
J.M. Marquez: Baddest Man on Earth
-On February 28th Juan Manuel Marquez proved he was the baddest man on Earth. He got a TKO in the 9th round, after he knocked down Juan Diaz two times. After the fight many expected him to call out Many Pacquiao instead he called out, the retired, Floyd Mayweather Jr. He claimed that Pacquiao was ducking him, which is possible, and that he wanted Floyd. He said he was willing to go up in weight to fight him.
-The fight started slow for Marquez as always. I scored the first three rounds going to Diaz. Marquez would back up against the ropes and Diaz would throw good-looking flurries. Marquez would juts dig in and pick his spots. Marquez was taking a lot of punishment in the early rounds. Marquez was shaken up after a strong left hook from Diaz in the 2nd round. Marquez punched his way out of it and regained his composure. Through the 4th round Diaz was very offensive. Once it was the 5th round Diaz slowed down and Marquez went to work. Marquez got cut during the 5th. During the 6th round, the quick flurries from Diaz missed their spots and both fighters started trading shots. Marquez consistently landed his power shots. In the 8th round Diaz slowed down a lot and Marquez really started to take over. Diaz got cut right over his eye by a strong left hook. This had been the best round of the night so far for Marquez. The 9th round was similar to the 8th. At the 2:20 mark Diaz went down after a strong left hook stunned him, followed by a flurry. Diaz got up slowly. Marquez attacks again and landed a powerful uppercut that sent Diaz backwards on the canvas. After the second knock down, the referee stopped the fight. Before the 9th round the judges had scored an even draw. The overall punch-count was 288/732 Marquez and 252/751 Diaz.
-This was the best fight of the year, only because in the Mosely-Margarito fight, Mosely dominated from the first bell. This fight went back and forth. Marquez looked really bad in the first rounds but that is his style. He always sizes up his opponents and takes over. With this said, there was also a very good under-card fight with Rocky Juarez taking on Chris John.
-This was Chris John's first fight in the US. He was definitely the more conditioned fighter. During the whole fight he used a lot of movement. Juarez always came in very square and tried attacking the body. He attacked the body consistently but it didn't seemed to effect John. John was fairly dominant but the 11th and 12th were definitely Juarez's best rounds. Juarez was very aggressive and cut the ring off from John. This was good but too little too late. Overall it was a very even fight. So even that the judges scored it a unanimous 114-114, a draw. John kept his titles and stayed undefeated. I had the fight scored 116-112 for Chris John. It was a very good fight and the boxing community would love to see a rematch.
-Juan Manuel Marquez is the best fighter in the sport today. He figures out his opponents strategy and changes his style for it. If only he could do it earlier in the fight. He did not win his two fights with Manny Pacquiao because he lost the early rounds. Some fighters might try to take easy competition but not Marquez. He consistently fights the best fighter in his divisions. Nate Campbell fought Ali Funeka. Marquez is willing to jump up in weight class and if he thinks he can, why not. All the top fighters right now want the winner of Hatton-Pacquiao in May, which will be Pacquiao. Marquez is looking beyond this and wants Mayweather. I don't think Mayweather-Marquez would be a very entertaining fight. Two good counter-punchers don't match up well. It wouldn't happen anyway because Marquez, unfortunately, in not a big draw. Only boxing connoisseurs know about him, not the average fans who buy up the pay-per-views. With all this said, Marquez is badder than Shane Mosley, badder than Nate Campbell, and badder than Manny Pacquiao. That's why he's he baddest man on earth.
-The fight started slow for Marquez as always. I scored the first three rounds going to Diaz. Marquez would back up against the ropes and Diaz would throw good-looking flurries. Marquez would juts dig in and pick his spots. Marquez was taking a lot of punishment in the early rounds. Marquez was shaken up after a strong left hook from Diaz in the 2nd round. Marquez punched his way out of it and regained his composure. Through the 4th round Diaz was very offensive. Once it was the 5th round Diaz slowed down and Marquez went to work. Marquez got cut during the 5th. During the 6th round, the quick flurries from Diaz missed their spots and both fighters started trading shots. Marquez consistently landed his power shots. In the 8th round Diaz slowed down a lot and Marquez really started to take over. Diaz got cut right over his eye by a strong left hook. This had been the best round of the night so far for Marquez. The 9th round was similar to the 8th. At the 2:20 mark Diaz went down after a strong left hook stunned him, followed by a flurry. Diaz got up slowly. Marquez attacks again and landed a powerful uppercut that sent Diaz backwards on the canvas. After the second knock down, the referee stopped the fight. Before the 9th round the judges had scored an even draw. The overall punch-count was 288/732 Marquez and 252/751 Diaz.
-This was the best fight of the year, only because in the Mosely-Margarito fight, Mosely dominated from the first bell. This fight went back and forth. Marquez looked really bad in the first rounds but that is his style. He always sizes up his opponents and takes over. With this said, there was also a very good under-card fight with Rocky Juarez taking on Chris John.
-This was Chris John's first fight in the US. He was definitely the more conditioned fighter. During the whole fight he used a lot of movement. Juarez always came in very square and tried attacking the body. He attacked the body consistently but it didn't seemed to effect John. John was fairly dominant but the 11th and 12th were definitely Juarez's best rounds. Juarez was very aggressive and cut the ring off from John. This was good but too little too late. Overall it was a very even fight. So even that the judges scored it a unanimous 114-114, a draw. John kept his titles and stayed undefeated. I had the fight scored 116-112 for Chris John. It was a very good fight and the boxing community would love to see a rematch.
-Juan Manuel Marquez is the best fighter in the sport today. He figures out his opponents strategy and changes his style for it. If only he could do it earlier in the fight. He did not win his two fights with Manny Pacquiao because he lost the early rounds. Some fighters might try to take easy competition but not Marquez. He consistently fights the best fighter in his divisions. Nate Campbell fought Ali Funeka. Marquez is willing to jump up in weight class and if he thinks he can, why not. All the top fighters right now want the winner of Hatton-Pacquiao in May, which will be Pacquiao. Marquez is looking beyond this and wants Mayweather. I don't think Mayweather-Marquez would be a very entertaining fight. Two good counter-punchers don't match up well. It wouldn't happen anyway because Marquez, unfortunately, in not a big draw. Only boxing connoisseurs know about him, not the average fans who buy up the pay-per-views. With all this said, Marquez is badder than Shane Mosley, badder than Nate Campbell, and badder than Manny Pacquiao. That's why he's he baddest man on earth.
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