<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
<!--
  Hey!
  This web page is actually a data file that is meant to be
  read by RSS reader programs.
  To learn more, visit http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2003/04/30/qa.html
  Or to download a feed reader of your own, 
  check out the terrific SharpReader: http://www.sharpreader.net/index.html
-->
<channel>
	<title>BoxingForecast.com Blog</title>
	<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/</link>
	<description>BoxingForecast.com Blog</description>
	<language>en-us</language>
	<managingEditor>info@BoxingForecast.com</managingEditor>
	<webMaster>info@BoxingForecast.com</webMaster>
	<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:33:57 EST</pubDate>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:33:57 EST</lastBuildDate>
	<ttl>15</ttl>
	<copyright>copyright (c) 2009 BoxingForecast.com Blog</copyright>
	<generator>BlogFusion 4.0 - www.blogfusion.com</generator>
	
	<image>
		<title>BoxingForecast.com Blog</title>
		<url>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/files/BFlogo.gif</url>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/</link>
		<width>88</width>
		<height>31</height>
		<description>BoxingForecast.com Blog</description>
	</image>
 
	<item>
		<title>Pascal impressive in win against Diaconu, takes title</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=319</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Jean Pascal was able to successfully &amp;nbsp;mix smart boxing and roughhouse fighting to annex the WBC light heavyweight crown from Adrian Diaconu at the Bell Centre, Montreal,  Canada on Friday night.
&amp;nbsp;
The two Montreal residents waged an exciting and fierce battle that so far, deserves mention as a fight of the year candidate. Diaconu was a slight favorite entering the bout probably because Pascal was moving up a weight division and Pascal had lost in a recent title shot at 168 to Carl Froch. 
&amp;nbsp;
But Pascal was valiant in defeat in that bout and probably gained the requisite experience that prepared Pascal, mentally and physically, for the task at hand. 
&amp;nbsp;
Pascal looked to exploit his speed advantage early in the fight by creating distance between himself and Diaconu while using a jab. And the plan, for the most part, was working. But Diaconu is a strong and rugged man that was going to be in hot pursuit all night long. 
&amp;nbsp;
As I watched, I wondered how long Pascal would be able to play keep away from the pursuing Diaconu. But Pascal had a surprise for Diaconu &amp;ndash; he was willing to stand and trade at many different junctures of nearly every round. 
&amp;nbsp;
And Pascal not only was able to out maneuver Diaconu, he was able to outfight him on many occasions, too. Pascal, who many saw as a Roy Jones light type fighter, proved that while he may not be quite the supernatural talent Jones once was, he is clearly a tougher, stronger and more durable boxer than Jones could have ever have hoped to be.
&amp;nbsp;
And Pascal&amp;rsquo;s considerable talent coupled with his underrated toughness and tenacity make for a very formidable and exciting fighter. It was great to see Pascal push the bull (Diaconu) back while punching hard and landing well with his free hand. 
&amp;nbsp;
Pascal built up and early lead in the fight and was really pouring it on when he dropped Diaconu in the 5th pound. Pascal went after his prey with a vengeance but got clipped high on the head that put him in instant trouble. But the round was nearly over and Pascal was able to clinch and punch for the remainder of the round. 
&amp;nbsp;
Pascal seemed to suffer from a little fatigue in the 7th and 8th rounds and probably lost those rounds. This is where Diaconu was going to have to make his move. But Pascal got a second wind and was able to keep pace with the ever charging Diaconu in the last 3rd of their fight. And while Diaconu did provide some effective pressure, Pascal landed the better overall punches and was really punishing Diaconu in the last 2 rounds. 
&amp;nbsp;
Pascal appeared like he might be able to score another knockdown in the last round as he battered Diaconu around the ring but Diaconu wouldn&amp;rsquo;t fold and made one last charge. But it was too late, he lost the round and it was obvious that reasonable judges would cause the title to change hands. They did via unanimous decision.
&amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
This really was a marvelous fight with a forward moving guy Diaconu against the boxer Pascal. But there was much hard fighting &amp;nbsp;going on.&amp;nbsp; And a man with less fortitude than Pascal would have surely crumbled under Diaconu&amp;rsquo;s exhausting pressure. 
&amp;nbsp;
After this win, I see Pascal as a big player in this division with a mix of old lions like Bernard Hopkins and Glen Johnson coupled with some talented young fighters like IBF champ Chad Dawson, &amp;nbsp;top contender Tavoris Cloud and resurgent Shaun George et al. 
&amp;nbsp;
And I think Pascal can give a good account of himself against any of the aforementioned fighters. I sense many thought Pascal was more sizzle than steak prior to this fight but I think he&amp;rsquo;s proved in his loss against Froch and this coming out win over Diaconu that he indeed, has plenty of substance to go along with hip rapier reflexes. 
&amp;nbsp;
Diaconu can still make for some excellent fights in the division and can&amp;rsquo;t be counted out. Even a rematch would be worthy down the road. Of course, Diaconu will need a rest and time to heal as his face took a substantial battering in this rough fight. Pascal was surprisingly, unmarked.
&amp;nbsp;
I picked Pascal to win because I felt he had the tools to handle Diaconu. I knew Diaconu is tough and provides steady pressure but he sometimes seems to fight in one gear when he should ratchet things up a notch. And I believed that Pascal showed enough grit with a tough guy like Froch that he should be able to expound on that performance in this fight. Further, &amp;nbsp;I felt that the weight gain would benefit Pascal who wouldn&amp;rsquo;t have to shave himself down to 168. And the weight gain did seem to help as Pascal was still lean and ripped, carrying the weight very well. 
&amp;nbsp;
At only 26 years old Pascal&amp;rsquo;s future is indeed very bright. He can fight and he&amp;rsquo;s exciting. The more exposure he gets, the better. 
&amp;nbsp;]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=319&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Klitschko sees off Chagaev, defends titles</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=320</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Wladimir Klitschko successfully defended his WBO and IBF heavyweight titles with a slow paced but dominant 9th round stoppage win over WBA champion in recess Ruslan Chagaev in Germany on Saturday night.
&amp;nbsp;
This fight was put together less than a month ago when David Haye fell out as Klitschko opponent claiming injury and Chagaev had his rematch with Nicolay Valuev scratched when he tested positive for remnants of hepatitis B in a blood test. 
&amp;nbsp;
Chagaev claimed to be in shape and ready to fight and Klitschko desired to keep his June 20 fight date. So those fallouts allowed this potentially intriguing bout to happen. 
&amp;nbsp;
But it didn&amp;rsquo;t turn out to be much of a fight as Klitschko was able keep Chagaev completely at bay with a rapier left jab and an occasional hammer of a right cross. 
&amp;nbsp;
Over the past few years Klitschko has managed to learn to fine art of dominating his opposition while keeping his risk to a minimum. I&amp;rsquo;d have to attest this to trainer Emanuel Steward as well as some earlier career losses where he learned who he was.
&amp;nbsp;
Now, Klitschko is able to use his vast physical advantages, he&amp;rsquo;s 6&amp;rsquo;6, athletic with great punching technique and power, and keep opponents away from his weaknesses &amp;ndash; questionable stamina, chin and psychological trauma in the ring. 
&amp;nbsp;
In the past he&amp;rsquo;s always been a physical marvel but he fought like he wanted to be out of the ring practically before the fight started. He would use his vast offensive tools to run opponents right out of the ring.&amp;nbsp; This approach first worked against him when he was dominating absorbent journeyman Ross Purity for 10 rounds &amp;ndash; problem was it was a 12 round fight. And Klitschko fatigued so badly trying to rid himself of Purity that his corner pulled him out of the fight in round 11. 
&amp;nbsp;
Then he was dropped to canvas like a sack of potatoes several times en route to a 2nd round demolition by left handed puncher Corrie Sanders. And his last taste of defeat was in 2004 when he beat tough as nails Lamon Brewster from pillar to post for 4 rounds. But the problem was Brewster didn&amp;rsquo;t go anywhere and Brewster nailed a fatigued Klischko in the 5th round to gain the stoppage win. 
&amp;nbsp;
It wasn&amp;rsquo;t that Klitschko was in poor condition. It was just that he fought ins such a &amp;ldquo;tight&amp;rsquo; manner that he would fatigue. He just couldn&amp;rsquo;t seem to relax in the ring.
&amp;nbsp;
But since that loss to Brewster, Klitschko has become much more stress-free and patient in the ring. He knows now he can keep a stiff jab in an opponents face and there is not much they can do about it. He has learned pacing and picks his spots when he&amp;rsquo;s comfortable. Steward has done a masterful job with Klitschko &amp;ndash; perhaps his best success in my view. 
&amp;nbsp;
And it&amp;rsquo;s very hard for opponents to get to him because there is always the danger of walking into a fight ending blow. So now that Klitschko isn&amp;rsquo;t fighting to get out of the ring as fast as he can, he is calm, collected and more effective than he has ever been in his career. 
&amp;nbsp;
There have been loud complaints regarding Klitschko&amp;rsquo;s safety first but effective style of fighting. But Klitschko is too smart to give the naysayers any credence. He knows what works and I don&amp;rsquo;t ever expect him to deviate from that again. 
&amp;nbsp;
It will take&amp;nbsp; a very tough pressure fighter with some skill to beat Klitschko at this point. Chagaev is known as a solid technician and boxer but that was part of the problem for him in this fight. He held no physical advantages over Klitschko and while a good boxer, he&amp;rsquo;s somewhat slow, predictable and methodical. He&amp;rsquo;s not one to bring unbridled pressure and recklessness that can sometimes make Klitschko uncomfortable. He comes forward, hands high, looking to slip his way in. But Klitschko was simply too sharp, too fast and too precise for Chagaev to get anything going. 
&amp;nbsp;
Chagaev ate many heavy jabs and when Klitschko felt like it, he would slam a clean right hand home for good measure. Klitschko scored a knockdown in round two and simply won every round with the jab. Chagaev tried to make a run in the 6th and 7th rounds and Klitschko appeared to be slowing down ever so slightly. At the end of the 7th, off of a clinch, Chagaev slammed home his best punch, and practically only shot of the night &amp;ndash; a crackling left cross. It certainly rattled Klitschko but the round ended and Klitschko caused a cut that seemed to derail Chagaev&amp;rsquo;s modest progress. 
&amp;nbsp;
Klitschko was taking target practice late in the 9th round and Chagaev was not coming forward anymore. He took some tough shots right at bell and while on his stool, his corner smartly pulled the plug on his night. 
&amp;nbsp;
Chagaev is a tough guy and may have even made it the route but it was fruitless and he most likely would have taken more punishment than was necessary. I was upset with Chagaev&amp;rsquo;s exit because I thought the fight would go over 9.5 rounds. And while it probably could have, I understand why Chagaev&amp;rsquo;s team opted out.
&amp;nbsp;
So where does Klitschko go from here. He can still take on formerly scheduled David Haye. Haye is moving up from cruiserweight but that fight does have some appeal because Haye is a legitimate KO puncher with lightning fast hands. And he seems like he&amp;rsquo;d be willing to take chances against the robotic, yet athletic, Klitschko. 
&amp;nbsp;
While Haye has only beaten one heavyweight, Monte Barrett, I&amp;rsquo;d have to say he&amp;rsquo;d probably be Klitschko&amp;rsquo;s fastest opponent to date and perhaps the most explosive with the possible exception of Sanders. 
&amp;nbsp;
It&amp;rsquo;s so hard to land on Klitschko these days for the rudimentary heavyweight but I have no doubt that if a puncher could land a clean blow, they could do major damage.&amp;nbsp; That&amp;rsquo;s the intrigue with this fight. It seems with Haye&amp;rsquo;s style one of them will leave the ring on their shield. 
&amp;nbsp;
Another potential opponent is Alexander Povetkin. Povetkin is young, tough and busy. He was an Olympic gold medalist in 2004 (Klitschko won Gold at the 1996 Games) and is undefeated. He eats a lot of punches but he has a rock head and may be able to bring the type of pressure that could get Klitschko off his game and perhaps find his weaknesses which are very hard to bring out. 
&amp;nbsp;
The best American hope in my view is Mexican-American Chris Arreola from Southern California. Arreola is a heavyweight that fights like a featherweight. And that&amp;rsquo;s a&amp;nbsp; good thing. He brings punches in bunches and has deceiving reflexes and skills. He&amp;rsquo;s more than a crude brawler. Arreola seems to have a solid chin and excellent stamina in spite of a non-bodybuilder physique. He has good vision in the ring and if he comes in great shape, he&amp;rsquo;s had struggles with the scales, he may just be the guy to break Klitschko&amp;rsquo;s heart. 
&amp;nbsp;
I look forward to Klitschko&amp;rsquo;s future challenges. I don&amp;rsquo;t begrudge him for finding a style and attitude that works for him. He has to do what keeps him winning and a champion. I still find it dramatic when he fights and to beat him an opponent is simply going to have to force Klitschko&amp;rsquo;s weaknesses out of him because he just doesn&amp;rsquo;t give them away anymore. 
&amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=320&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Short notice specialist Molina upsets Perez on ESPN2</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=318</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}








Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Carlos Molina scored a comprehensive unanimous decision over Danny Perez at the Mahi Shrine Temple, Miami, Florida on ESPN2 last Friday night. Molina came in as a late replacement for the slick former champion Carlos Quintana, who had to pull out with an injury. &amp;nbsp;It seemed like Perez was going to be playing the B side against Quintana but once Quintana was scratched, Perez quickly became the A side of this fight. Once Molina was named as the opponent stories surfaced on Perez and that he was now in prime form and is ready to realize the potential that was anointed on him early in this decade.
&amp;nbsp;
But Molina, who was nearly non-existent prior to fight, in his mind wasn&amp;rsquo;t coming to Miami to take a loss. Perez, who is a tough fighter, simply was not nearly as good a boxer as Molina, but not many knew that, including Perez&amp;rsquo;s people, prior to the opening bell.
&amp;nbsp;
But it was apparent right from the beginning that Molina knew how to handle Perez. Molina isn&amp;rsquo;t a guy you would look at and see a dangerous fighter. He only has 5 stoppages in his 17 wins and isn&amp;rsquo;t what you would call a natural talent. 
&amp;nbsp;
But Molina, plain and simple, knows how to fight.&amp;nbsp; First of all, he is an extremely relaxed fighter and he can capitalize on mistakes in an instant. He doesn&amp;rsquo;t seem to have natural speed but he has good fighting reflexes. He couples that with good vision and is not easy to hit with more than a punch at a time. Molina is an excellent inside fighter and can also fight from a distance. He can cover up and then transition into offense on his whim. And while he&amp;rsquo;s not a KO artist, his shots do gain respect from opponents as he will land head snapping shots that have foes looking like their faces were rubbed with sand paper for about an hour.
&amp;nbsp;
Poor Perez just couldn&amp;rsquo;t do anything with Molina. But Perez is a game guy and when Molina took a breather in the 9th and 10th, Perez had his best moments. But I&amp;rsquo;m not sure he even won those rounds. And in the final 2 rounds, Molina was up to his old tricks, hitting and not getting hit and stealing another win that he wasn&amp;rsquo;t supposed to get. 
&amp;nbsp;
I&amp;rsquo;ve been watching Molina since he fought a draw with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in early 2006. He lost a close call to top contender Mike Alvarado by a narrow decision shortly after that and has now pocketed 9 wins in a row against a good combination of prospects and veterans. 
&amp;nbsp;
As a fighter, there is a lot to like. He&amp;rsquo;s only 26 years old and he keeps a very busy schedule. He&amp;rsquo;s always in the gym and treats the sweet science like the craft that it is. And Molina can obviously fight at 147 and 154. 
&amp;nbsp;
With a few more wins, I think he&amp;rsquo;s knocking on the door of a title shot. 
&amp;nbsp;
Molina is not flamboyant and at first glance doesn&amp;rsquo;t do anything that one would naturally take notice of &amp;ndash; except win. But he is fun to watch because he&amp;rsquo;s fights fast paced, offensive fights. He&amp;rsquo;s always looking to make something happen and really tries to dominate complete rounds. And he&amp;rsquo;s quite a crafty guy in his own way. I happen to think he can compete and beat top 20 welterweights right now. 
&amp;nbsp;
A few match-ups come to mind that I would like to see this young man in &amp;ndash; make it happen ESPN. How about guys like Jesus Soto Karass, Alfonso Gomez, Delvin Rodriguez or even a faded Zab Judah. They would all make great TV fights and would advance Molina, with a win, to the next level. 
&amp;nbsp;
Molina has already fought 4 times this year and I wouldn&amp;rsquo;t mind seeing him another 4 times before 2010. Oh, I did happen to pick Molina in this one, I&amp;rsquo;ve been a fan for a while and knew what he could do. With the win over Perez on national TV, many more now know the same. ]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=318&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>My top 12  Super Middleweight Boxers</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=317</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


The super middleweight division, once a place for chunky middleweights to hide from the dangerous middleweights and huge light heavyweights, is now loaded with excellent talent and many outstanding potential match-ups for years to come.&amp;nbsp; Even with the retirement of all time great Joe Calzaghe there are no shortage of boxers&amp;nbsp; looking to carry the torch. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Here is a brief analysis of my top 12 super middleweights in the world:  
&amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
Mikkel Kessler 
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; Kessler is a tall, strong boxer with solid power. He can punch, box and is in great condition. While Bute was nearly forced out by Andrade, Kessler was able to administer a paint job for the full 12 rounds and wasn&amp;rsquo;t hurt in that fight.
&amp;nbsp;
Weaknesses- he doesn&amp;rsquo;t have many but if anything can be stated it&amp;rsquo;s a lack of originality in his attack. When he fought the great Calzaghe, he was somewhat predictable and Calzaghe was able to change things up in the bout and score a hard fought and deserved decision win. Has had some inactivity issues. It&amp;rsquo;s hard to understand why he doesn&amp;rsquo;t have a match scheduled.
&amp;nbsp;
Lucien Bute 
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; tall southpaw with excellent speed, skills and movement. He is very hard to pin down and usually has a speed and skill advantage over opposition.&amp;nbsp; He&amp;rsquo;s a good counter puncher and can make an opponent look amateurish.&amp;nbsp; He has excellent pro experience and knows his way around the ring. 
&amp;nbsp;
Weaknesses &amp;ndash; perhaps stamina and chin can be called into question based in his fight with ultra rugged Librado Andrade.&amp;nbsp; Bute tired badly late in that fight and was practically KO&amp;rsquo;d late in the 12th round and was fortunate not to been a ruled a KO victim in that bout. 
&amp;nbsp;
Carl Froch
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; stamina, physical strength and good power. Also, he&amp;rsquo;s a tall, awkward fighter that can punch from all angles. Has great determination and self belief. He chased Jermain Taylor down until he caught his prey with 14 seconds left in the fight. 
&amp;nbsp;
Weaknesses &amp;ndash; He can be wide with his punches and he tends to get hit a lot. He keeps his left hand very low and doesn&amp;rsquo;t move his head enough.&amp;nbsp; In his bout with Taylor he was often beaten to the punch and out speeded but his fortitude, strength and conditioning earned himself a KO win late in the 12th round.
&amp;nbsp;
Karoly Balzsay 
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; another excellent southpaw with world calls skills. He had a strong amateur base and is solid in every department. He stepped up in class and beat Denis Inkin in an excellent, hard fought contest.
&amp;nbsp;
Weaknesses &amp;ndash; perhaps it&amp;rsquo;s his professional experience. He hasn&amp;rsquo;t fought many top fighter but he showed his class when he stepped up against Inkin. He defends against former champ Robert Stieglitz in August 
&amp;nbsp;
Librado Andrade
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; iron chin, physically strong, camel like stamina, seemingly impervious to pain and punishment. He has an excellent work rate and heavy hands.
&amp;nbsp;
Weaknesses &amp;ndash; he is methodical and somewhat slow compared to some of the thoroughbreds in the division. It will take him a while to catch up to the speedy boxers with movement. I&amp;rsquo;m not sure anyone could beat Andrade if championship fights were still 15 rounds and if you go back 100 + years when fights could go100 rounds, I&amp;rsquo;d never pick against him against any of the men on this list. 
&amp;nbsp;
Andre Dirrell 
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; he&amp;rsquo;s an Olympian Bronze medalist with excellent natural talent. I do tend to confuse Ward and Dirrell in my head but he is different. He has faced better overall fighters than Ward and I think he&amp;rsquo;s a better puncher. He holds impressive wins over fringe contenders Anthony Hanshaw and Victor Oganov
&amp;nbsp;
Weaknesses &amp;ndash; basically experience and a tendency to lose focus against inferior opposition. 
&amp;nbsp;
Andre Ward
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; he has superior talent and speed. He was a Gold Medalist in the 2004 Olympic games and is definitely a young wunderkind.&amp;nbsp; He stepped up against grizzled vet Edison Miranda in his last fight and passed that test with flying colors. 
&amp;nbsp;
Weaknesses &amp;ndash; he has been a safety first fighter on some occasions and in spite of fast hands, he&amp;rsquo;s not a natural puncher. As a gifted youngest, he can get sloppy and tends to keep his hands too low.
&amp;nbsp;
Denis Inkin 
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; he&amp;rsquo;s a solid, well rounded practitioner that does everything well but nothing extraordinary. That&amp;rsquo;s actually a compliment because he is proficient all the way around.
&amp;nbsp;
Weaknesses &amp;ndash; he sometimes seems like he fights in one gear. He can be methodical and in his bout against Balszay he was outworked in the later stages of the fight and was hurt in late in the bout. Balzsay just seemed more inspired and was the slightly better man.
&amp;nbsp;
Allen Green 
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; he&amp;rsquo;s a tall, talented fighter coupled with excellent power. He&amp;rsquo;s had some medical issues and setbacks but he may have the best one punch KO power in the division. When he gets leverage on his power shots he is extremely dangerous &amp;ndash; and they come fast. 
&amp;nbsp;
Weakness &amp;ndash; he seemed psyched out against Edison Miranda 2 years ago and put forth a pedestrian performance against used up Rubin Williams. He was dropped by journeyman Donny McCrory several years ago (Green won by 6th round KO) and that&amp;rsquo;s not supposed to happen to prospects.&amp;nbsp; He needs more seasoning and needs to keep his hands up. But Green seems to be on track mentally and physically and he&amp;rsquo;s found a home at 168. He could be a dark horse in the division.
&amp;nbsp;
Jermain Taylor 
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; World class amateur and professional experience. He dethroned the great Bernard Hopkins for the middleweight title. He has fast hands, athleticism and solid power. 
&amp;nbsp;
Weakness &amp;ndash; His stamina has been a&amp;nbsp; thorn in his side most notably against Froch and Kelly Pavlik. He simply doesn&amp;rsquo;t fight as smart as he should with his experience. He boxes when he should fight and fights when he should box. He seems like he thinks way too much and never appears relaxed in the ring like an old pro should. 
&amp;nbsp;
Sakio Bika 
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; physical strength and stamina. He has a great chin and will keep coming all night long. He lost a fairly wide decision to Joe Calzaghe but Calzaghe had to work very hard for it and was clearly troubled by Bika&amp;rsquo;s awkwardness and strength.
&amp;nbsp;
Weakness &amp;ndash; he has a lack of boxing technique and he&amp;rsquo;s not he fastest guy in the world. And despite his body strength he&amp;rsquo;s not a great puncher. He also has a loss to Lucien Bute on his ledger.
&amp;nbsp;
Jean Pascal 
&amp;nbsp;
Strengths &amp;ndash; he has fast hands and good skills. He kind of reminds me of Roy Jones light with the way he uses speed against inferior opponents and lands pot shots. He fought well in a decision loss to Carl Froch where they both traded shots late in the fight. 
&amp;nbsp;
Weaknesses &amp;ndash; he had put forth some uninspiring efforts against some lesser opposition and he may have less power than some thought early on. To his credit, he seemed committed to the Froch fight and can build on that loss. He&amp;rsquo;s moving up a division to take on Adrian Diaconu in a title fight.
&amp;nbsp;]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Boxing Commentary]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=317&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Smith sees off Gutierrez on ESPN2</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=316</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Antwone Smith added another scalp to his rising ledger last Friday night as he impressively handled perennial contender Richard Gutierrez by 10 round decision at the recently renovated Fontainbleau Hotel, Miami Beach,  Florida. 
&amp;nbsp;
Smith is a kid out of the Miami area that has suffered a few early blemishes as a&amp;nbsp; pro but has kept up very busy schedule that is now beginning to pay dividends. Smith, now 22, turned pro at the tender age of 19 and is quickly turning into a guy that fights like a grizzled veteran yet with the benefits of youth, speed and enthusiasm. He was pretty much under most people&amp;rsquo;s radar but since a draw with Nassar Athumani in 2008, Smith has reeled off 7 straight wins against some serviceable opposition. 
&amp;nbsp;
This fight against Gutierrez, who has mixed some excellent competition, represented a big step up in class for Smith. And I&amp;rsquo;d have to agree with that. After all, Gutierrez gave current title holder Joshua Clottey a very close and tough fight.&amp;nbsp; And he gave rising junior middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo a scare before succumbing under pressure the 5th round. Gutierrez has always been a guy that could easily handle second tier opposition and was just on a the precipice of making it into the upper echelon of contenders. But after a disappointing draw with veteran spoiler Jerome Ellis, Gutierrez chose Smith to begin to get his career back on track. 
&amp;nbsp;
But Smith had other ideas and was ready for Gutierrez. Smith was a slight underdog in his fight but many figured Gutierrez to be a bit too strong and battle tested for the youngster. Many viewed Smith as a guy with some talent and ability but someone that really hasn&amp;rsquo;t developed his man strength yet and would likely be roughed up by the rugged Gutierrez. 
&amp;nbsp;
But after a close two rounds, Smith began to separate himself from Gutierrez.&amp;nbsp; And he seemed to dominate in every way. He was the busier and sharper guy and he was often able to push Gutierrez back and unload with fast combinations. Smith also displayed a better defense and despite suffering a nasty cut about his left eye, he merely swiped away the blood and kept working.&amp;nbsp; 
&amp;nbsp;
There was one point late in the fight when the ref called a &amp;nbsp;time out for the doctor to look at the cut. Smith knew that he was ahead and that the cut was ruled to be caused by a head butt. Smith could have gone for the easy way out and said &amp;lsquo;I can&amp;rsquo;t see&amp;rsquo; and walked out with an 8th round technical decision. But he calmly said he was fine and that he wanted to continue. And he thanked the doctor for letting him carry on by giving a him a playful tap on the head with his glove. Well, Smith proceeded to dominate the final two rounds of the fight and seemed to take nearly all the fight out Gutierrez. 
&amp;nbsp;
Smith, in my view displayed a professionalism and steadiness that belied his age. &amp;nbsp;Not only during the fight but before and after the contest. I was struck how Smith looked very business like during his ring introductions. He didn&amp;rsquo;t mug for the camera. Instead he remained focused, understanding the task that lay ahead of him. &amp;nbsp;And after he won, while very pleased, he remained collected and professional, understanding that this win is just another rung up the ladder with much more to accomplish down the road. 
&amp;nbsp;
Smith seems to have good natural abilities that he is expounding on by staying very busy and keeping himself in the gym. &amp;nbsp;He seems very solid in all aspects of boxing; he&amp;rsquo;s got skills, speed and some respectable power. He doesn&amp;rsquo;t really have one trait that stands out as they seem to flow well together. 
&amp;nbsp;
But if there was one thing special about him, it was his poise. He was fighting in his biggest fight, with quite a handicap with his continually bleeding cut. But Smith remained unflappable and every round was the same as the previous round. And that was good, because Smith mostly outfought and out worked Gutierrez throughout. Lastly, I was impressed with Smith&amp;rsquo;s conditioning. He never seemed to labor or get tired. He was breathing in a relaxed manner though his noise which indicates excellent fitness. 
&amp;nbsp;
I backed Smith in this fight based on the abilities and coupled with the fact that I viewed Gutierrez as a declining fighter while I knew Smith&amp;rsquo;s stock was, and still is, on the rise. I&amp;rsquo;m looking for forward to Smith&amp;rsquo;s next outing. And I say he&amp;rsquo;s worth a look to those that haven&amp;rsquo;t seen him yet.]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=316&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Pacquiao slams Hatton, who will be next?</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=315</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Manny Pacquiao didn&amp;rsquo;t waste any time scoring a clean 2nd round knockout over long time 140 pound king Ricky Hatton at the MGM Grand Casino, Las Vegas last Saturday night. 
&amp;nbsp;
Hatton opened up in his usual aggressive style looking to make the ring very small&amp;nbsp; for Pacquiao. And while Hatton succeeded in getting close, he couldn&amp;rsquo;t land anything of consequence and found himself getting clipped in the opening seconds of the fight. Pacquiao&amp;rsquo;s shots already began marking up Hatton only a minute into the first round.
&amp;nbsp;
About halfway through the opening round Pacquiao landed a right hook just as he slipped under a Hatton left hand, dropping the Hitman on his hands and knees in the center of the ring. Hatton took an eight count and rose. He had some fight left in him - but not much. 
&amp;nbsp;
The Pacman express was in full force as he began banging Hatton around the ring at will. Hatton had no answers to deal with the fierce Filipino and was pounded to the floor for a another knockdown seconds before the end of the round. 
&amp;nbsp;
Hatton made it out for &amp;nbsp;the next round but his body language said it all in the corner as his previous confidence was now gone and he seemed visibly&amp;nbsp; distracted in the corner, barely taking in any words of wisdom from his trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. 
&amp;nbsp;
Hatton resumed the 2nd round coming forward &amp;ndash; what else was he going to do? Pacquiao didn&amp;rsquo;t appear too urgent considering that Hatton was ready to go at the end of round one.&amp;nbsp; But it didn&amp;rsquo;t matter. Pacquiao owned every part of what was happening in the ring and was beginning to ratchet things up by the second half of the round. 
&amp;nbsp;
Pacquiao was like the tide, coming and going as he pleased while spearing Hatton with stinging combinations. With about 30 seconds left in round two Pacquiao slammed home a brutal right hook to Hatton&amp;rsquo;s body. Ricky felt that one and Pacquiao kept up the pressure. Then with about 5 seconds left in the round Pacquiao released a savage left cross that caught Hatton on the sweet spot of his chin. Lights out, game over. Hatton was out cold before he crashed to the floor. And crash he did as his head body and head bounced off the hard canvas with a thud.
&amp;nbsp;
This was as impressive a performance that Pacquiao has ever put together. Gone are the days of the whirlwind Filipino who was spectacularly talented but often off balance and wide open for counter punches. 
&amp;nbsp;
Now he seems to instinctually know exactly what he should be doing in the ring. He knows when to slide in, when to turn and when to punch. And his balance is now excellent and as soon as his opponents leave any tiny opening, Pacquiao will reign in nasty combinations that leave his opponents grasping for answers.
&amp;nbsp;
It&amp;rsquo;s obvious to me that Pacquiao has done himself a great service by moving up in weight. Everything about him has improved with the weight gain. He&amp;rsquo;s not only fast but he&amp;rsquo;s extremely strong.&amp;nbsp; But he&amp;rsquo;s so quick and talented that he doesn&amp;rsquo;t have to grind much and makes things look so effortless and natural. 
&amp;nbsp;
It&amp;rsquo;s incredible when you think back to when before Pacquiao fought de la Hoya and how most dismissed that as a ridiculous mismatch. But that turned out to be the best career move Pacquiao could make. Not only did that win set him up as being boxing&amp;rsquo;s cash cow but it&amp;rsquo;s allowed him to prove that he is indeed boxing&amp;rsquo;s best pound for pound fighter. 
&amp;nbsp;
Many thought the de la Hoya win was a fluke and wanted to see how he&amp;rsquo;d fare against a very hard man like Hatton that had never come close to losing as a light welterweight. But I think this fight makes the de la Hoya win look more legitimate as Pacquiao handled a highly regarded Hatton even easier than Oscar.
&amp;nbsp;
De la Hoya said he was in good shape and felt good for the fight but Pacquiao has a way making his opponents feel as if they did everything wrong once they have spent a few minutes alone with him. 
&amp;nbsp;
And fighting him now will be a tall order for anyone. &amp;nbsp;He&amp;rsquo;s hard to hit, he has blazing hand speed, he can move, he takes a good shot, he&amp;rsquo;s very strong and he always seems to have a great game plan. 
&amp;nbsp;
He and trainer Freddy Roach go together like bread and butter. There is a mutual respect there and Roach has to be considered the top trainer in the game &amp;ndash; he certainly is with Pacquiao. 
&amp;nbsp;
So what does Pacquiao do next? Whatever he wants. He is the money man now so it shouldn&amp;rsquo;t be too hard getting opponents in the ring with him. And it&amp;rsquo;s an exciting time because there is some excellent young blood ( see Tim Bradley and Victor Ortiz) in the 140 pound division. 
&amp;nbsp;
But while Pacquiao seems to be just peaking now, he has been a pro for 15 years. &amp;nbsp;I imagine his team will &amp;nbsp;probably be looking for mega fights although I&amp;rsquo;m certain Pacquiao would be willing to face anyone in the ring. We&amp;rsquo;ll see what happens. There is already talks of Pacquiao getting together with Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto and of course returning Floyd Mayweather Jr. 
&amp;nbsp;
I say bring them on.&amp;nbsp; They are all compelling fights and I&amp;rsquo;m not sure he&amp;rsquo;d be favored against any of these fighters. But I can tell you this, I have NEVER picked against Manny Pacquiao and I don&amp;rsquo;t see that changing in the foreseeable future. 
&amp;nbsp;
As for Hatton, he&amp;rsquo;s been a terrific warrior and has had a hugely successful career. I wish him the best and think it&amp;rsquo;s time for him to move on from the ring. He was a great character&amp;nbsp; in the game and brought much to the sport and always gave it everything he had. He got everything, and then some, he could hope to get from his body over the years. Just a suggestion for Hatton in retirement &amp;ndash; eat well and continue to work out or he&amp;rsquo;ll soon resemble a Ricky Hatton parade float.]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=315&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Taylor suffers agony of defeat against Froch in a thriller</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=314</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


If you were looking for a high magnitude fight that illustrates the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat then this fight was for you as Carl Froch snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a scintillating KO in the final seconds of their pitched battle for Froch&amp;rsquo;s WBC super middleweight crown at the Foxwoods Casino, Ledyard, Connecticut on Saturday night.
&amp;nbsp;
Former undisputed middleweight champion Jermain Taylor was looking to make a brutal KO loss to Kelly Pavlik two years ago a distant memory but this fight ended up like d&amp;eacute;j&amp;agrave; vous all over again. 
&amp;nbsp;
Taylor started off the match in fine fashion as he was able to beat Froch to the punch. Taylor looked speedy and strong. His recent reluctance to let his hands go was gone. He dropped Froch with a solid overhand right high on the head in the 3rd round and was enjoying a big early lead on the cards. 
&amp;nbsp;
Taylor continued to mostly get the better of things in the early and middle rounds but Froch wasn&amp;rsquo;t about to abandon the fight. Froch did seem confounded by Taylor&amp;rsquo;s natural speed but he kept up a slow, steady pressure that subtly began to sap Taylor&amp;rsquo;s energy and perhaps his will. 
&amp;nbsp;
Taylor would often answer effectively to anything Froch did but he simply wasn&amp;rsquo;t able to discourage Froch too much. While Taylor landed a clean uppercut to end the eight round, Froch still seemed the fresher man as the boxers returned to their corners.
&amp;nbsp;
In the last third of the fight Froch began to take command but Taylor being the warrior that he is would always answer with something hard. Taylor had a somewhat ragged 11th round but still landed some heavy leather late in the round. 
&amp;nbsp;
It was apparent to me that Taylor was tired but I certain didn&amp;rsquo;t see it as a sure thing that the wheels were going to completely fall off the bus in the next round.&amp;nbsp; Even as much as halfway through the final round, Taylor appeared like he was going to see the final bell.&amp;nbsp; But Taylor&amp;rsquo;s fatigue met a perfectly timed right hand by Froch that was the beginning of the end. 
&amp;nbsp;
Once Taylor&amp;rsquo;s legs badly buckled that was all Frock had to see. He went after Taylor like he has committed a crime against a loved one. He kept pounding the brave but dimming Taylor until a right hand left Taylor supine in a corner, with an arm draped over a rope. It was eerily similar to Taylors&amp;rsquo; collapse against Pavlik. 
&amp;nbsp;
Taylor had a glazed, stunned look but rose to his feet to receive his final dose of punishment. And Froch doled that out with abandon until Taylor was out on his feet and helpless forcing the ref to intercede with just 14 seconds left. 
&amp;nbsp;
The stoppage was correct because he was completely defenseless and would have taken savage, possibly life changing &amp;nbsp;punches.I picked Froch to win and was pleased in that regard but I couldn&amp;rsquo;t help but feel horribly for Taylor. His disappointment was apparent and watching someone put it all that out there to come up short in that way tugged at my heartstrings. Even though I handicap fights devoid of emotion, Taylor&amp;rsquo;s visage at the and was hard to watch. &amp;nbsp;What can I say, I&amp;rsquo;m a softie. 
&amp;nbsp;
Taylor wanted to get back to top so badly and to have it snatched away so late in the fight was painful to watch. It probably would have been much easier for him to accept if he was blown away early in the fight. But momentum shifts and instant changes of fortune are what make boxing the great sport it is. All sports have that ingredient but with boxing it is much more personal and heartfelt as only the boxer himself is actually involved in the experience. And they are all alone and on display for the world to see. 
&amp;nbsp;
Still, Taylor made great money and was a world champion so that, hopefully, will sooth the pain of this very tough loss. Taylor does seem like one of the good guys in the sport and in my view it&amp;rsquo;s time for him to let it go. I thought he was slightly slurred in his interview after that fight and I don&amp;rsquo;t think that will get better if he soldiers on. I hope he retires.
&amp;nbsp;
Froch put on an excellent display of his grit and character as he just wasn&amp;rsquo;t going to be denied. He is a very strong super middleweight and will be a tough night for anybody. He&amp;rsquo;s unorthodox but he has a unique skill set, is super tough and well conditioned to go along with his strength. 
&amp;nbsp;
Froch called out Calzaghe after the fight but I have a feeling Joe won&amp;rsquo;t bite on that. But that&amp;rsquo;s ok.&amp;nbsp; This division is replete with compelling opponents for Mr. Froch. And good fights could be made with Allen Green, who scored a brutal KO on this card, Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward et al. But the fight I would love to see is Froch against the La Habra tough guy Librado Andrade. &amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
I think they would make for compelling fight between two very tough, offensive minded fighters. My pick in that one; Andrade &amp;ndash; I think he&amp;rsquo;s simply too rugged even for the steely Froch.]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:53:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=314&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Hatton and Pacquiao closing in on battle for boxing preeminence</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=313</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Filipino dynamo Manny Pacquiao faces another big name opponent in Mancunian fireplug Ricky Hatton on May 2 at the MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas, televised on HBO-PPV. Hatton will have thousands of his countrymen in for the fight and they will probably be drunk from the moment they arrive right up to until their flights cross the pond again.. Pacquiao is also known for having legions of rabid fans affectionately known as Pacmaniacs.&amp;nbsp; So an electric atmosphere is guaranteed for Vegas that week. And, of course, this is a must see fight for any boxing fan and because of it&amp;rsquo;s magnitude may even draw in some of the more casual type of fan or even the non fan. 
&amp;nbsp;

Pacquiao, after all, is coming off a one sided thrashing of the once vaunted Golden Boy, Oscar de la Hoya and has become quite well known because of that win. Both fighters are immensely popular and the winner of this contest will have a chance at an eight figure payday in a subsequent bout. 
&amp;nbsp;
After the one sided 8 round beating Pacquiao dished out to the Golden Boy &amp;nbsp;he apologized to Oscar and said he (Oscar) was still his idol. I&amp;rsquo;d hate to imagine if he had little regard for him? But that&amp;rsquo;s Pacquiao, he is a little buzzsaw of a warrior in the ring but he is a humble and gracious sort when the fight is over.
&amp;nbsp;
And Hatton is also an ebullient, likeable chap. He&amp;rsquo;s a regular bloke that pounds the suds and loves the practical joke. But in the ring, he is also as serious as a heart attack. And his opponent&amp;rsquo;s better be as well or they will surely suffer through a brutal and painful night. 
&amp;nbsp;
But there is a lot on the line in this bout as Pacquiao brings his status as the world&amp;rsquo;s pound for pound best fighter into the ring against Hatton, who has never lost at 140 pounds and is still the king of the hill in that division. 
&amp;nbsp;
And keep in mind that this will only be Pacquiao&amp;rsquo;s 2nd fought at 140 or above, he turned pro at 106 pounds, and that Hatton has been at 140 for nearly a dozen years. 
&amp;nbsp;
Based on the boxing forums and articles I&amp;rsquo;ve read on many boxing sites it seems both fighters have many supporters. Many people see Hatton as the naturally bigger and stronger man and believe that he will be able to impose his will on Pacquiao. It goes to reason that many of those folks are looking at Pacquiao&amp;rsquo;s win over de la Hoya as somewhat of a mirage as the Golden Boy sizzled himself by cutting weight improperly, thus entering that fight as a shell. And aficionados know that with the exception of Pacquiao&amp;rsquo;s last fight and a fight at 135 with David Diaz, Manny has been doing most of his recent work in the 130 pound range. 
&amp;nbsp;
Hatton has had 2 forays at 147 where he eked out a debatable decision over capable lefty Luis Collazo and was game but outgunned in a bout with former number one, Floyd Mayweather Jr. In a strange twist Hatton joined forces with trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. for his last bout against Paulie Malignaggi and performed very well. His speed surprised the slick Malignaggi and coupled with Hatton&amp;rsquo;s strength and intensity it was simply too much for the Brooklyn native and he was stopped in the 11th round. Hatton has retained Mayweather as his trainer.
&amp;nbsp;
And, naturally, &amp;nbsp;some people are on Pacquiao&amp;rsquo;s bandwagon, believing he is too fast and good for Hatton. But the things is, both are quality fighters. Hatton fights like a brawler but he&amp;rsquo;s very fleet of foot, has a good jab &amp;nbsp;and can cut off a ring on a boxer type and while Pacquiao is super quick, he&amp;rsquo;s also physically strong and will stand and brawl when the mood suits him. 
&amp;nbsp;
My point is that these are quality fighters that share some qualities or at least can perform proficiently what the other is known for. Still, they do have their own styles unique to themselves. And&amp;nbsp; we all want to know who&amp;rsquo;s brand of mayhem will carry the day. 
&amp;nbsp;
There are many questions surrounding this fight. Will Hatton&amp;rsquo;s natural size and aggression be poison to Pacquiao&amp;rsquo;s lefty style?&amp;nbsp; Is Pacquiao&amp;rsquo;s destruction of De la hoya given too much weight? Consider that Hatton will be the physically strongest opponent Pacquiao has ever seen and should put up much more resistance than the feeble de la Hoya did. Will Hatton simply be much stronger than Pacquiao and run him over? How will Pacquiao deal with the clinching, mauling and grappling that Hatton will bring into this bout? Will it wear him down? Will idiot savant trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. devise a plan for Hatton to cut down Pacquiao?
&amp;nbsp;
Will Hatton be troubled by Pacquiao&amp;rsquo;s recently found boxing ability and southpaw stance? Has Hatton been going to well for too long?&amp;nbsp; He has had a long and grinding career and the possibility exists that the poundings and making 140 have taken a toll. Is diminutive Manny Pacquiao actually the physically stronger man? Will trainer Freddie Roach have a plan to play matador to Hatton&amp;rsquo;s bull like rushes?&amp;nbsp; Which guy will have a better plan B if it becomes necessary in a crisis situation? What will this fight come down to? Strategy, will, skill or a combination of all. 
&amp;nbsp;
I expect both men to be at their absolute best and as for height and weight they are almost like bookends, each about 5&amp;rsquo;6, 140 chiseled pounds with a similar reach. All these questions will be answered on May 2 and I can&amp;rsquo;t wait to find out. This is a compelling fight because of the magnitude of the bout and it should be a blazing fight fought with great pride, intensity and skill. 
&amp;nbsp;
I will have a pick and a wager recommendation on this compelling fight within a week or two of the opening bell. 
&amp;nbsp;]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Upcoming Boxing Fights]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:59:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=313&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Arreola pounds McCline into submission, who will be next?</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=312</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Riverside, California resident Chris Arreola dismantled Jameel McCline in 4 rounds at the Mandalay Bay Casino, Las Vegas on Saturday night in a HBO televised bout. Many people were looking forward to this fight as young hopeful Arreola was taking his toughest fight to date, at least on paper. But despite Arreola coming in overweight at 255 pounds and taking a few flush shots from the beefy 271 McCline. Arreola had things mostly his own way until he lowered the boom in the 4th round. 
&amp;nbsp;
While Arreola was overweight, I felt McCline was out of shape. And there is a difference. Areola should weigh less for his fights and I think he would benefit with increased sharpness if he did but he had plenty of sparring and was fitter than his physique would indicate. McCline, on the other hand, weighed in at a familiar poundage but his usually lean physique was flabby and soft. In fact, I&amp;rsquo;ve never seen McCline&amp;rsquo;s appearance look that shabby.
&amp;nbsp;
McCline said he had a short camp, about 6 weeks, and it showed. I don&amp;rsquo;t think he pulled out all the stops for this fight like he has for matches in the past. And while I believe McCline knew where he stood, he was going to take a shot at a win. McCline was mostly beaten to the punch and looked uncomfortable against Arreola but the veteran has experience and in the 3rd round, he unloaded and landed a few bombs on Arreola. McCline knew that his window to win was shrinking but gave himself that chance when he unloaded.
&amp;nbsp;
The problem for &amp;nbsp;McCline was he was already badly gassed and the clean punches he landed didn&amp;rsquo;t have much of an effect on Arreola. Arreola shrugged them off and continued to land. Arreola landed some sizzling body shots through out the fight but he began to find some success with the uppercut and a follow-up right hand in the 3rd round.
&amp;nbsp;
And after tenderizing McCline early in the 4th round, Arreola landed a lovely uppercut that began a 4 punch salvo that culminated with an overhand right that dropped the big man in a heap on his side. McCline wasn&amp;rsquo;t mentally gone or near a loss of consciousness but he was gasping for breath and knew it would not &amp;nbsp;be worth it to beat the 10 count. 
&amp;nbsp;
So McCline did the smart thing and ceded to Arreola by missing the 10 count by a second or so. The beating just would have become more savage and one sided and at nearly 39 years old and with a lot of ring mileage, McCline didn&amp;rsquo;t need that in his life at that time. 
&amp;nbsp;
Do I think Arreola would have beaten a better prepared McCline? Yes. And it believe it would have been inside the distance but probably several rounds longer. Do I think it was a meaningful win? Yes, because even though McCline was out shape he&amp;rsquo;s never really been that easy an out. Arreola mopped the floor with a perennial contender that had been reasonably active.
&amp;nbsp;
I understand Arreola has flaws which I think are mainly his unwillingness to condition himself 100%. But he get&amp;rsquo;s away with it, so far, because while he may be a lazy athlete, he&amp;rsquo;s a real fighter with talent and ability. He&amp;rsquo;s got heart, desire and the will to win even though it doesn&amp;rsquo;t manifest itself when he&amp;rsquo;s jogging in the desert. 
&amp;nbsp;
In spite of being dropped in his previous fight and slightly buzzed in this one, I think Arreola can take a good shot. McCline had major leverage and had all of his 271 pounds on a few of the bombs he planted on Arreola but they didn&amp;rsquo;t have a big effect. And McCline has hurt and dropped many quality guys in his career with his thudding shots.
&amp;nbsp;
And Arreola brings a unique type of pressure that makes dealing with him a very difficult proposition. If he&amp;rsquo;s overweight, he may look somewhat sluggish and awkward but he still manages to get to point where he&amp;rsquo;s lining up an opponent for damaging power shots and all they are able to do is try to cover up. Once he&amp;rsquo;s inside, his eyes are wide open and he sees what to do. And before you know it he&amp;rsquo;s slinging punches from all angles that have just been taking guys apart.
&amp;nbsp;
The big question remains is can he be an elite heavyweight and further, can he compete win the Klitschko brothers. I think he can. But I do think if he fights the Klitschko&amp;rsquo;s or Alexander Povetkin, Eddie Chambers and even the lighting quick and explosive David Haye, he will have to cross the t&amp;rsquo;s and dot the i&amp;rsquo;s on his preparation. 
&amp;nbsp;
Arreola is an extremely colorful and likeable fighter. He&amp;rsquo;s all tatted up and scary as hell to look at but he is a family man that comes across as a humble and approachable gentleman when not doing battle in the ring. In other words, he doesn&amp;rsquo;t have a chip on his shoulder &amp;ndash; except perhaps inside the ring, and even then he&amp;rsquo;s respectful to the sport and his opponent. Although, that doesn&amp;rsquo;t mean he isn&amp;rsquo;t trying to take his opponent&amp;rsquo;s head off. 
&amp;nbsp;
He just comes off as honest, real and refreshing. What you see is what you get. There is nothing phony or pretentious about him and the fact that he&amp;rsquo;s even honest about his shortcomings when it comes to training and getting prepared make him seem all the more human. And if he can simply get it all together in the gym, we just may have the first Mexican/American heavyweight champion the sport has ever had. And I&amp;rsquo;d be okay with that. ]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=312&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Jeff Lacy vs. Otis Griffin overview</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=311</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Former champion Jeff Lacy takes on Otis Griffin in a 10 round bout contracted for 173 pounds. Can Lacy make his way back to the top or does Griffin have something for him?
&amp;nbsp;
Lacy was once a highly regarded young champion but that now seems like a distant memory since he was white washed by Joe Calzaghe in 2006. Lacy has struggled since then in and out of the ring. He labored through wins over Vitali Tsypko, Peter Manfredo and Epifanio Mendoza. And in his last fight he was out boxed by former middleweight champ Jermain Taylor.
&amp;nbsp;
Griffin came to be known for winning a lower tiered version of the Contender series several years back. But in spite of that nice purse that came with winning that series, he is simply not a quality fighter. He has had struggles with a very ordinary lot of fighters and any time he stepped up in class, he has lost. But that&amp;rsquo;s not surprising because of the&amp;nbsp; way he&amp;rsquo;s been matched. It could be akin at to a baseball player having modest success in high school or on a lower level college team and then suddenly being brought up to the major leagues to face real pro&amp;rsquo;s. When he stepped up against Danny Green and Enad Licina, he was easily dismissed in 3 rounds. And the one time he took an moderate step up, he was turned back by Jesse Brinkley in 11 rounds.
&amp;nbsp;
I do think Lacy suffered a major blow to his confidence with the Calzaghe loss but I also think he was a bit over rated before that fight. I think he always would have struggled&amp;nbsp; very slick boxers like Calzaghe and Taylor but he was so dominating in some previous &amp;nbsp;bouts that many believed he could steamroll nearly anyone. But while Lacy may never sniff a title again, I think he is probably physically recovered from the Calzaghe fight and could&amp;nbsp; still probably be considered a top 15 type of guy. Lacy is physically strong, game, hits hard and takes a decent shot. He has been wobbled by some clean shots but he does know how to survive sketchy moments and he never stops trying.
&amp;nbsp;
Griffin is a guy that doesn&amp;rsquo;t bring much punching power to this fight and he&amp;rsquo;s not slick nor very quick. I see this fight as a Lacy showcase (Lacy is actually the promoter of the show) and he probably hasn&amp;rsquo;t had this soft an opponent in over 5 years. Of course the Lacy of 2004 dismisses Griffin within a few rounds. But the questions is can the 2009 Lacy do the same.
&amp;nbsp;
I think he can. This is an easier opponent than he&amp;rsquo;s seen in a while. And I think Lacy is still the same strong, physical fighter that he always was. And even though he lost widely to Taylor, he scored a knockdown (not called) in that fight and had some good moments in the match. He always came forward and Taylor seemed to fight a &amp;ldquo;scared&amp;rdquo; fight, meaning he held a lot and wasn&amp;rsquo;t too willing to mix it up with Lacy. Lacy came out it unscathed, unlike the Calzaghe debacle, and he still believes he has some business to do in boxing.
&amp;nbsp;
Lacy claims he injuries and losses are behind him and if so, should be able to roll through a guy like Griffin. Griffin seems to crumble when caught by a &amp;ldquo;real&amp;rdquo; guy and I believe when Lacy starts banging Griffins chrome dome, he&amp;rsquo;ll hit the floor. I&amp;rsquo;m looking for a Lacy win inside the distance, probably somewhere around the 5th round. ]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Upcoming Boxing Fights]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:16:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=311&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Bute vs. Zuniga  Overview </title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=310</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Lucian Bute defends his IBF super middleweight title against tough Fulgencia Zuniga in Montreal, Canada on Friday night, televised on Showtime.&amp;nbsp; 
&amp;nbsp;
Bute finds himself in with another hard headed forward moving slugger with Zuniga. You see, Bute is coming off a controversial win over Librado Andrade where Bute was outpointing Andrade for most of the fight but the determined Andrade kept fighting and nearly scored a last second KO over the exhausted Bute. Bute was dropped and nearly out but with a little help from his friends, ref Marlon B. (Wrong) Wright, was saved by the bell and retained the title. 
&amp;nbsp;
And for Zuniga to win he will have to apply pressure all night and hope he can wear down Bute late in the fight. But Bute, a tall southpaw, is a difficult opponent because he of his excellent skills, movement and speed. Bute has the advantage of better hand speed than most opponents he fights and he is difficult to target because he does have good movement. And he will make lunging opponents pay with fast accurate combinations. 
&amp;nbsp;
Zuniga is cast out of the same mold of Andrade. He&amp;rsquo;s not a naturally talented fighter but he has an anvil for a chin and applies constant pressure. But I do think Andrade is a better all around fighter than Zuniga and has a more diversified attack.&amp;nbsp; Zuniga was once a Jr. middleweight but seems to be in the proper weight class as a super middleweight. He&amp;rsquo;s been fighting well in this division and gave former champion Denis Inkin a very good test for the vacant WBO crown. But Zuniga came up short fighting on the road and lost the decision. Zuniga is strong, has a great chin, keeps a good pace but is a bit slower than the best guys in the division.
&amp;nbsp;
Zuniga wasn&amp;rsquo;t&amp;nbsp; mandatory defense so he was chosen for a reason by Bute. He&amp;rsquo;s solid enough to be considered credible but he probably isn&amp;rsquo;t talented enough to get the job done against&amp;nbsp; Bute. I expect Zuniga to give it all he has but I just don&amp;rsquo;t think it will be enough. I think he will be out boxed and will have trouble landing flush on the moving Bute. Bute does seem to tire late in some of his fights and that will be Zuniga&amp;rsquo;s best chance to make something happen. But I think Bute will stink things out when he has to by holding and sliding away. 
&amp;nbsp;
Bute has a lot of stoppages because early on he fought inferior opposition. But when he stepped up in class his fights began to go many rounds. And Bute is content to box intelligently use the whole ring. And against Zuniga, that would be the right way to do it. He has gone to at least the 10th round in 7 of his last 8 fights, including five12 round decisions. He even let badly faded former champ William Joppy hang around until the 10th round. Conventional wisdom says teak tough Zuniga goes rounds. As such, I&amp;rsquo;m looking for a Bute win, probably by decision. 
&amp;nbsp;
Note: Win or lose, I won&amp;rsquo;t apply this to the Track Record as I &amp;lsquo;m not going to recommend laying better than 2-1 on this over/under.]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Upcoming Boxing Fights]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:53:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=310&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Ortiz shines against Arnaoutis in surprisingly easy blow out</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=309</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Bright prospect Victor Ortiz passed an important test by stopping seasoned contender Mike Arnaoutis in the 2nd round at The Tank, San Jose, California, televised on HBO.&amp;nbsp; Besides a disqualification and a no contest on his record Victor Ortiz has been perfect.&amp;nbsp; And those blemishes would have been sure KO&amp;rsquo;s for Ortiz so in essence, he&amp;rsquo;s undefeated. Some people weren&amp;rsquo;t on the Ortiz bandwagon before this fight and thought Arnaoutis would provide a stern test or perhaps even beat the young Oxnard via Kansas prospect.(I picked Ortiz to win by KO but didn&amp;rsquo;t think it would be this easy)
&amp;nbsp;
But the wagon is quickly filling up as Ortiz had no trouble with the former title challenger Arnaoutis. And that is impressive considering Arnaoutis was still (supposedly) in his physical prime and came within an eye lash of winning the vacant WBO title against puncher Ricardo Torrez in late 2006. Arnaoutis held current IBF title holder Juan Urango to a draw a few years ago and went the distance with dangerous and ultra quick Kendall Holt. 
&amp;nbsp;
The first round was sort of a feeling out process but Ortiz was able find the target while Arnaoutis barely threw a punch. In the 2nd round, Ortiz was suddenly walking Arnaoutis down and Mighty Mike looked somewhat lost. Then in the blink of an eye, Ortiz slipped an Arnaoutis jab and countered with a sharp left cross high on the head. Arnaoutis was hurt and pitched sideways towards the ropes doing the best he could to survive. 
&amp;nbsp;
But Ortiz pounced instantly with a fusillade of punches. One particular uppercut in that flurry caught Arnaoutis cleanly and he began to sag and drop his hands. The ref saw the body language of Arnaoutis and wisely halted the action.&amp;nbsp; I don&amp;rsquo;t think Arnaoutis would have lasted much longer if the fight were to continue. 
&amp;nbsp;
This was an excellent win for the youngster Ortiz. He has settled in nicely with Golden Boy Promotions and is now on a clear path to a title and perhaps superstardom. Not only does Ortiz have great talent and power but he has a compelling background and comes off as a bright, engaging personality. Ortiz was abandoned by his parents (I bet they wish they hung in there now) and had to take care of his siblings while forging his boxing career. 
&amp;nbsp;
But he seems unaffected by his past and does his best to be humble and self deprecating, which isn&amp;rsquo;t easy due to his age and amazing ability- &amp;nbsp;but he pulls it off. &amp;nbsp;The 140 pound division is another very deep division in the sport and Ortiz will have plenty to keep him busy for many years to come. In this division Ricky Hatton takes on Manny Pacquiao in May but those guys are getting close to retirement and Ortiz may not be in a position to fight them in time. We&amp;rsquo;ll see. But there are other guys like Tim Bradley, Kendall Holt, Juan Urango, hard nosed fellow prospect Mike Alvarado and many other possibilities. The sky is the limit for Ortiz. 
&amp;nbsp;
All he has to do is stay in the gym and continue to make the right choices in his life.&amp;nbsp; Any boxing fan will want to see more of this guy.&amp;nbsp; He&amp;rsquo;s got the good looks and has a media friendly style that you&amp;rsquo;d expect from lesser guy but he is a very real fighter that seems to have it all &amp;ndash; ability, talent, speed and power to go along with his potential star power. He hasn&amp;rsquo;t had a brutal test yet to determine his mettle but that&amp;rsquo;s not his fault as he has simply been too good for everyone on his path thus far . We&amp;rsquo;ll learn&amp;nbsp; a lot more about Ortiz in the next 2 years but I believe he will pass many subsequent tests and have great success. ]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:48:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=309&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Kirkland savages Julio in brutal contest</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=308</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


In a battle of young contenders, James Kirkland scored an impressive 6th round stoppage win over Joel Julio at The Tank, San Jose, California on Saturday night, televised on HBO. Many people were looking forward to this fight because of the potential fireworks this match-up provided. Julio and Kirkland have scored nearly all of their wins via the KO route so this fight was sure to be a thrilling battle between dangerous gun slingers. &amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
And although it was one sided in Kirkland&amp;rsquo;s favor, it was exciting because Julio landed heavy bombs in between Kirkland&amp;rsquo;s brutal pressure.&amp;nbsp; Kirkland promised he was going to come out and bang right from the get go and he certainly delivered. Kirkland opened the first round as if Julio wasn&amp;rsquo;t even there and just stepped to him with his hands in motion. The difference in strength was evident in the bouts opening moments and it appeared that Julio&amp;rsquo;s only shot was to catch Kirkland perfectly with one of his right hand missiles. 
&amp;nbsp;
But Kirkland&amp;rsquo;s brutal pressure and solid beard basically defused Julio of any chance to win. Julio landed plenty of heavy shots that would have rendered lesser men horizontal but Kirkland merely shrugged everything off that Julio threw and kept applying that energy sapping pressure. Julio figured out early that he couldn&amp;rsquo;t stand and fight with Kirkland so in between his own punches, he was in retreat. Julio basically back pedaled and tried to walk Kirkland into a bomb. 
&amp;nbsp;
And he was able to do that more than several times in the fight but it didn&amp;rsquo;t matter. Julio&amp;rsquo;s legs were fading fast as Kirkland sunk heavy leather into Julio&amp;rsquo;s body. Julio tried to hold every time they got close but Kirkland would punish him with short hooks and then walk him to the ropes they were separated. It was shocking to see stalking bomber Julio being manhandled with such aplomb by Kirkland. &amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
It was as if Julio couldn&amp;rsquo;t believe it himself. I think he thought that all he had to do was land a bomb on the hittable Kirkland and then he could get him out of there. But he was in for rude awakening as he was thoroughly tenderized in the fight.&amp;nbsp; Every round was nearly the same with Kirkland landing a heavy jab and relentlessly pounding Julio any where he could. 
&amp;nbsp;
Julio had flashes of success in several of the rounds but he couldn&amp;rsquo;t land anything that changed the tide of the fight. It seemed like every time Julio landed some good right hands, he appeared more fatigued. And Kirkland would take his turn and continue to brutally break Julio down. 
&amp;nbsp;
Finally at the end of the 6th round Kirkland landed a combination that culminated with a left cross that had Julio wavering in the wind. The bell rang and Julio walked back to his corner seemingly on a potholed road &amp;ndash; translation, he was all done, put a fork in him. Julio ceded in his corner giving Kirkland the biggest win of his career. It was the right move because I believe he would have ended up on his back in the next round. 
&amp;nbsp;
For Kirkland, this was a huge win. Even though he was a 3-1 favorite, many insiders believed Julio to be the more seasoned guy and that his power would seal Kirkland&amp;rsquo;s fate because he does get caught while coming in. ( I had Kirkland by KO winner) But Kirkland is far from the limited brawler that many had tagged on him. 
&amp;nbsp;
In fact, he&amp;rsquo;s got a solid skill set and his punches are technically sound. And I think his defense looked good at times in the fight. Many times Kirkland saw what Julio was going to do and ducked or slipped many power punches from the Colombian. Yes, he got caught with some but he has good reflexes and used them a lot in the fight. 
&amp;nbsp;
But what makes Kirkland such a beast is his physical strength, conditioning and amazing sense of purpose he has in his fights. He is prepared to go to hell in every fight but usually just makes his opponents feel like they are in hell. And Kirkland seems to be gelling very well with his chief second Anne Wolfe. 
&amp;nbsp;
Wolfe is a former female world champion and she is as hard core as they come. She puts Kirkland through brutal training regimens for his fights with the attitude that &amp;lsquo;if it doesn&amp;rsquo;t kill you it will make you stronger.&amp;rsquo;&amp;nbsp; And it seems to be working. I have no doubt that compared to what Kirkland does in training, his fights are a breeze. I guarantee Julio, although probably well trained, didn&amp;rsquo;t go through as nearly a grueling training camp as Kirkland did. 
&amp;nbsp;
And Kirkland&amp;rsquo;s training shows in his physical appearance and his attitude in the ring. Kirkland&amp;rsquo;s head looks like a pit bull&amp;rsquo;s, too big for his body, nestled on neck of thick muscle that meets a set a traps carved out of marble. In Kirkland&amp;rsquo;s post fight interview I noticed that his chest was vascular almost like a thoroughbred race horse and when he raised his arms overhead, the inside of his arms were loaded with tributaries of squiggly veins. In other words, he looked like he was in ultimate physical condition. But his skin looked healthy and he clearly wasn&amp;rsquo;t drawn. 
&amp;nbsp;
With this win, Kirkland is right in the mix with the top Jr. Middleweights in the world. And the division is stacked with very good talent. You have much avoided 6&amp;rsquo;3 ostrich Paul Williams, classy southpaws Daniel Santos,Sergio Martinez and Sergiy Dzinziruk, aged but still useful title holder Vernon Forrest and fellow bruiser and heart taker Alfredo Angulo. All these matches would be excellent for Kirkland but the one everyone would love to see is against Angulo. 
&amp;nbsp;
But I think it would better if they can each gain a title before they mix it up and should also make it as good a payday as they can be because it is the type of match-up that one or both men may never be the same after it&amp;rsquo;s over. I&amp;rsquo;ve gone back and forth on who I think will win that potentially amazing fight and it&amp;rsquo;s still a tough call for me. 
&amp;nbsp;
Anyway, Kirkland is a guy that can be a major boost to boxing because of his pure gladiator style. Kirkland is reminiscent to the 19 and 20 year old Mike Tyson in his method of mayhem and the effectiveness he has shown. But I do think Kirkland is mentally stronger than Tyson and I don&amp;rsquo;t anticipate him looking for shortcuts in his training or running out of gas late in a fight. &amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
The difference between&amp;nbsp; Tyson and Kirkland is that Kirkland relishes the war while Tyson wanted to score the quick KO to get out of the ring as fast as he could.&amp;nbsp; In other words, Kirkland fights with a fury while Tyson fought in fear. And Kirkland doesn&amp;rsquo;t have the one punch power Tyson had so he is usually forced to fight hard for as may rounds as it takes to get it done &amp;nbsp;&amp;ndash; and he&amp;rsquo;s more than OK with that. ]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:05:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=308&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Marquez overcomes Diaz in a thriller</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=307</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Juan Manuel Marquez overcame the hellish fury of Juan Diaz to score a 9th round stoppage win at the Toyota Center, Houston, Texas on Saturday night. &amp;nbsp;Diaz came out and was intent on neutralizing the expert precision of Marquez with unbridled pressure and offensive output.&amp;nbsp; And the plan seemed to be working. 
&amp;nbsp;
Marquez was forced to work at a pace he clearly was not comfortable with and while he landing plenty on Diaz, Diaz was pushing him back and seemingly winning most of the battles. Marquez would go back to his corner and just seem baffled as to what to do to turn the tide. The fight seemed to heading in a similar direction of many Diaz fights where his opponents simply lose the will to go on. It happened notably with Acelino Freitas and Julio Diaz, where they just couldn&amp;rsquo;t take it anymore and were forced out after 8 rounds. 
&amp;nbsp;
And Marquez seemed stressed as he asked his corner what round it was after the 7th round, appearing to be weary of the battle ahead. But Marquez kept looking for something and in the 8th round he hurt Diaz for the first time with a left hook and then opened up a cut on Diaz&amp;rsquo;s right eye which seemed to deflate Diaz and buoy Marquez. In the 9th round Diaz tried his best to ignore his wound and charge ahead but this time Marquez was ready for him.&amp;nbsp; Marquez unloaded a fusillade of shots that hurt Diaz badly. Marquez wouldn&amp;rsquo;t let up and landed a high right hand that dropped Diaz hard. Diaz got up but it was obvious that his night was nearly over. Marquez dropped him with a whistling uppercut and ref immediately stopped the bout. 
&amp;nbsp;
The fight was a draw on the judges scorecard after 8 rounds but in boxing, things can change in a heartbeat and to Marquez&amp;rsquo;s credit he hung in there looking for the changing moment &amp;ndash; and he found it and pounced on it, which is what great champions do. &amp;nbsp;Marquez has proven over and over against what a great champion he is by overcoming adversity. And he is a very hot fighter right now because most people understand that but for several knockdowns against Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao, Marquez has out boxed the living legend in more than 12 rounds out of the 24 they have shared the ring together. 
&amp;nbsp;
A third fight with many Pacquiao would be an amazing event because both fighters are riding so high right now. Of course, Pacquiao will have to take care of business against Ricky Hatton in May to keep that fight must see TV.&amp;nbsp; Marquez actually called out retired Floyd Mayweather in his post fight interview.&amp;nbsp; Marquez is clearly looking for big money, and he should get it. 
&amp;nbsp;
I must point out how good physically Marquez looks at 135. It seems to moving up in weight was the right move. He looks strong, healthy and I believe he could push the envelope and fight at 140 as well.&amp;nbsp; A this point and argument can be made that Pacquiao and Marquez are #1 and 1A in the pound for pound best fighters in the world and a growing group are tabbing Marquez and numero uno.
&amp;nbsp;
As for Diaz, he fought a great fight and can still come back. Under different circumstances in this fight, he may have gotten his hand raised. He was giving one of boxing&amp;rsquo;s best pure hell but he got caught and stopped. But that&amp;rsquo;s boxing. He&amp;rsquo;s still a young man with lots more to offer the sport if he desires. But I get a sense Diaz may want to move on from the sport sooner rather than later. &amp;nbsp;He has law school ahead of him and didn&amp;rsquo;t seem that disappointed in getting stopped. He almost seemed relieved.&amp;nbsp; He&amp;rsquo;s made excellent money in the sport and has had great success. But despite Diaz&amp;rsquo;s bruising style and obvious dedication to the sport, he seems like the type of guy that thinks of boxing as a means to an end to boost his interests outside of the sport. But he&amp;rsquo;s still a big player and lore of the dollar may keep him around.&amp;nbsp; We&amp;rsquo;ll see what happens. ]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:01:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=307&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Juarez and John are fit to be tied</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=306</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Chris John and Rocky Juarez battled to a 12 round draw on Saturday night at the Toyota Center, Houston,  Texas.&amp;nbsp; The fight presented an interesting contrast in styles. John is a speedy boxer with considerable skills while Juarez is a forward moving puncher with heavy hands. I thought both guys fought well and had their moments in the fight. John was the busier fighter and landed more punches but Juarez clearly landed the harder punches and pressed forward, making the fight. It seems like many are griping about the decision believing John had done enough to get his hand raised. 
&amp;nbsp;
I disagree with that premise.&amp;nbsp; It seems viewers of HBO tend to lean the way of buffoonish judge Harold Lederman and the general feeling of the commentators. But I thought Juarez was nearly chasing John out of the ring for the last 3 rounds of the fight and John did so much gratuitous holding as he had no answer for Juarez&amp;rsquo;s inside game. John may have landed more punches according to the punch count but they were kind of like &amp;ldquo;stay away from me&amp;rsquo; punches and for the most part were not purposeful. That all said, I could see how either guy could have been awarded 6 rounds apiece. But I thought Juarez was more dominant in the rounds he won and landed the harder punches throughout. And I don&amp;rsquo;t think it would have been a bad call if Juarez was awarded the decision. 
&amp;nbsp;
That was Juarez&amp;rsquo;s 5th crack at a major title and was the closest he&amp;rsquo;s come to winning the brass ring. But hard luck Juarez was denied again. I can&amp;rsquo;t help but feel badly for the guy. I though Juarez gave a solid effort against a slippery and highly competent opponent. He increased the intensity of his attack in this fight against a very difficult opponent and repeatedly landed thudding jabs and brutal body punches through out the fight. But in spite of the disappointing ending for Juarez, he proved he&amp;rsquo;s still a world class fighter and will more than likely get a rematch with John or a title shot at someone else. And I do think he will eventually become a champion.
&amp;nbsp;
Juarez is a guy I really like and deserves respect. For one thing, he&amp;rsquo;s fought all the top iron in the world and I&amp;rsquo;ve never seen him hurt in a fight. He is as tough as they come. Juarez has mixed with killers like Humberto Soto, Juan Manual Marquez and Barrera twice and has never been close to going down or being hurt. And with the exception of Marquez, Juarez has always fought well in the late rounds and seems to be the stronger man at the end of the fight. 
&amp;nbsp;
I expect Juarez to dust himself off and continue to fight. In spite of the draw, I think he&amp;rsquo;s fighting better than he ever has and seems to be still improving. He&amp;rsquo;s never going to change completely what he is and become a 100 punch a round fighter, but with his chin, power and underrated skills, I think if he hangs in there he will realize his dream and become a champion.]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:48:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=306&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Mosley proves he still sweet by pounding of Margarito </title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=305</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}








Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


The boxing world was thrown for a loop yet again when 37 year old Shane Mosley dominated World welterweight champion Antonio Margarito, scoring a stunning 9th round KO over the iron chinned Mexican Saturday night at the staples Center, Los   Angeles, CA. &amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
Mosley proved to be the faster guy, although every one already knew that, but not many expected Mosley to be able to escape the punishing Margarito.&amp;nbsp; But Mosley had a brilliant strategy and had the physical strength to pull it off. Mosley simply beat Margarito to the punch, went to his body and clinched hard and walked Margarito to ropes. And this plan worked like a charm because Mosley has become amazingly strong in the upper body over the past few years.&amp;nbsp; 
&amp;nbsp;
Margarito even stated afterwards that he simply couldn&amp;rsquo;t squirm out of Mosley&amp;rsquo;s clutches and once the ref separated them Mosley would land clean, meaningful punches and then hold again. This was basically the blueprint of the fight and it happened every round. Through the first 5 or 6 rounds, Margarito had lost every round but still seemed in the fight. He was moving forward, trying to walk Mosley down. And there were some brief glimpses in the 7th and early in the 8th round where is seemed possible that Margarito just might turn the fight in his favor. Margarito landed a few shots and Mosley backed up and seemed slightly weary. 
&amp;nbsp;
But Mosley had speed to burn on this night and would always answer back. And in the 8th round the near impossible happened. Mosley dropped Margarito late in the round with a sequence of brutal power shots. Even the great chin and resolve of Margarito can only take getting hit with clean bricks for so long. Mosley had chipped away on the granite known as the Tijuana Tornado until he was ready to crumble. And crumble he did in that 8th round.&amp;nbsp; Margarito opted to come out for the 9th round but he was badly wounded prey and Mosley wasn&amp;rsquo;t going to let him escape. The pounding continued and Margarito slumped to the floor just as his corner threw in the towel. 
&amp;nbsp;
This was a shocking event for many, me included, as I just didn&amp;rsquo;t see Mosley executing such a precision performance this late in his career. Mosley was sloppy and off balance with Ricardo Mayorga in his previous fight and had lost a hard fought but clear decision to Miguel Cotto before that. He decisioned an injured Luis Collazo in a dreary fight and beat a faded Fernando Vargas twice. And before that he looked quite ordinary in 10 round decision wins over Jose Luis Cruz and David Estrada. 
&amp;nbsp;
Prior to moving back to welterweight against Estrada, Mosley was dominated and ineffectual in 2 losses to Winky Wright.&amp;nbsp; To me, Mosley seemed like a guy that can still give a good effort but that his past glories were ancient history.&amp;nbsp; But Mosley gave a vintage performance that I would have to say tops anything he has done in his career including his first win over Oscar de la Hoya in 2000. With this win Mosley has put himself in a position in this twilight of his career to fight biggest fights in the sport.&amp;nbsp; Two possibilities that come to mind are a fight with retired Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Filipino pheom Manny Pacquiao. And there a slew of very solid welterweight contenders he could fight or he could move back up to Jr. Middleweight and fight some of the excellent talent there. 
&amp;nbsp;
STORYLINES AND SUBPLOTS
&amp;nbsp;
Promotional war&amp;rsquo;s 
&amp;nbsp;
This fight was loaded story lines and subplots that is worth some discussion. &amp;nbsp;First of all this was a great battle between promotional giants Golden Boy Promotions and Bob Arum&amp;rsquo;s Top Rank. Top Rank had taken the sting out the Kelly Pavlik&amp;rsquo;s loss to now 44 year old Bernard Hopkins when &amp;ldquo;diminutive&amp;rdquo; Manny Pacquiao mercilessly pounded Oscar de la Hoya for scintillating 8th round stoppage last month. &amp;nbsp;But now Golden Boy Promotions is in celebration over Mosley&amp;rsquo;s unlikely win over Margarito.
&amp;nbsp;
Top Rank will look for payback when Pacquiao defends against Golden Boy client Ricky Hatton in May. And of course, Arum can bring other guys at Mosley and they can go back and forth.&amp;nbsp; But I think it&amp;rsquo;s great that they do business even if they don&amp;rsquo;t like each other. There are plenty of compelling fights that can be put together that wouldn&amp;rsquo;t happen if they refused to do business and both operations are benefitting and making big money for their outfits.
&amp;nbsp;
Mosley&amp;rsquo;s drug issues
&amp;nbsp;
Mosley has been under pressure and stress over ever increasing and louder steroid allegations. There are various lawsuits surrounding the steroid topic and many wonder, me included, when and how long Mosley has used the juice. I&amp;rsquo;m of the opinion that Mosley has used them for his major fights and I believe the possibility exits (I&amp;rsquo;m not asserting this as a truth or fact but only an opinion) that he used them for this fight and his Cotto fight. He&amp;rsquo;s never been physically stronger than he is now and his muscle definition and density just seem to be super natural at age 37 years old.&amp;nbsp; 
&amp;nbsp;
Compare how flat he looked a few years ago when he fought Winky Wright and then moved back to welterweight against Estrada and Cruz. He looked quite ordinary. Steroids can really give an edge in this sport and many are figuring that out. One glaring example in boxing came when contender Orlando Salido banged his way to a convincing win over talented Robert Guerrero a few years ago.&amp;nbsp; Well, Salido was caught doping for that fight and was suspended. And He looked like a different fighter when he returned and was outworked and outfought by Cristobol Cruz in 2008.&amp;nbsp; Cruz is no where near Guerrero&amp;rsquo;s level but he looked like the stronger man when he met Salido and the missing element appears to be steroids.
&amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
Mosley&amp;rsquo;s divorce
&amp;nbsp;
There were rumblings before the fight that Mosley&amp;rsquo;s marriage was on the rocks and that may have a deleterious effect on Mosley&amp;rsquo;s effort. And HBO confirmed that Mosley&amp;rsquo;s marriage is indeed over. Well, that certainly wasn&amp;rsquo;t a negative for Mosley and perhaps may have been a positive. I don&amp;rsquo;t know Jin Mosley but there have been rumblings that she has, at times,&amp;nbsp; been a major distraction and annoyance to many in and out of her family circle. If that was the case Shane may have had a sense of relief. 
&amp;nbsp;
Margarito not above inquiry
&amp;nbsp;







Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4








/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

 
A bizarre side story surfaced that was presented by the HBO crew in the opening round.&amp;nbsp; Apparently, Margarito had to have his hands rewrapped because the first wrap may have had a substance that when it becomes wet essentially makes the gloves as hard as plaster of paris which would be like having cement in his gloves. And what will go along with this allegation will be the question &amp;ldquo;has he ever done this before?&amp;rdquo; And of course that is a reasonable question that I&amp;rsquo;m sure will be speculated upon. I&amp;rsquo;m not stating as fact that Mosley juiced for this fight or Margarito has fought with loaded gloves over the years but the bottom line is that in any big money sport be it baseball, football, Olympic track and&amp;nbsp; Field &amp;nbsp;or even boxing, the stakes are high and it has become highly common for top athletes in those sports to do anything that will given them an edge that is not limited by whatever rules may be in place. 
&amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
How did this result happen
&amp;nbsp;






Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4








/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


There are many things to look at after the fact. Here are some things to think about: Margarito had a very long party after his Cotto win and may have had somewhat of a post fight hangover. Also, one can question whether Margarito&amp;rsquo;s brutal style has simply caught up with him. This fight seems like it was slapped together quickly in the month of December and perhaps that had a poor effect on Margarito. Margarito only weighed 160 when entering the ring on the night of the fight.&amp;nbsp; Why was he so light?&amp;nbsp; I know he weighed over 170 when he entered the ring against Cotto just 6 months ago. All this bouncing up and down in weight can have a very negative effect on a fighter over time. 
&amp;nbsp;
Perhaps Mosley simply had the right style and attributes to win. Consider Mosley had more upper body strength that Margarito.&amp;nbsp; He was able to clamp down on him and tie him up. And he didn&amp;rsquo;t just hold, he put a vice grip on Margarito and walked him backwards.&amp;nbsp; That surely could have taken something out of Margarito since he was resisting but couldn&amp;rsquo;t do anything about it. Mosley was on his game and was extremely sharp and quick on this night. It appears the trainer Nazim Richardson is a gem and understands how to map a strategy based on all the particulars of a certain fight. He will be highly sought out after this fight. And then of course the possibilities exist that Mosley was &amp;ldquo;enhanced&amp;rdquo; and Margarito was naked without loaded gloves - again, I&amp;rsquo;m not asserting this as a truth or fact but only an opinion or possibility. All these possibilities are things to look at and the answer probably lies somewhere in this section and we can all&amp;nbsp; reasonably speculate on all of it. ]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:07:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=305&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Evan Youngâ¬"s favorite fighters -a bakerâ¬"s dozen plus one. </title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=304</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Some of these guys are the best in their respective divisions while others are exciting young contenders on the precipice of great things.&amp;nbsp; Be that as it may, these are my favorite guys based on fighting style, unique abilities and personality. I expect all of these fighters to engage in important and exciting fights in 2009. These guys are all good for the sport and have what it takes to make 2009 an excellent year in boxing. And if each guy can have 2 or 3 outings in the new year it will be a good year indeed. Anyway, here is the list in no particular order. 
&amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
Glen Johnson &amp;ndash; This guy is 3 days shy of his 40th birthday and is fighting better than he ever has. Johnson is a gentleman outside of the ring and a tough, brutal and skilled pressure fighter inside the ropes. He has a legitimate gripe that he manhandled ultra talented Chad Dawson earlier this year only to be given the shaft. Johnson is deserving of fights with the very best but he is avoided like a bad disease. Will Hopkins, Calzaghe and Dawson step up and give this guy a fight? I have a feeling they won&amp;rsquo;t.&amp;nbsp; Instead Johnson has to keep plying his craft against anyone he can find because that&amp;rsquo;s what he does &amp;ndash; he fights. Up next is Daniel Judah in February.&amp;nbsp; And I don&amp;rsquo;t think Johnson will let this guy survive in this unnecessary rematch.&amp;nbsp; 
&amp;nbsp;
Antonio Margarito &amp;ndash; He has a chin of concrete and brings unrelenting pressure that breaks the wills of great fighters. Margarito&amp;rsquo;s coming out party came last summer in his thrilling win over excellent Miguel Cotto. Margarito toiled for years as a pro in  and Southern California and has paid his dues. He engages in thrilling contests and is now in a position to get the best fights.&amp;nbsp; He is the best welterweight in the world and I think he&amp;rsquo;ll remain that way throughout 2009. However, I do expect Margarito to jump a weight class or 2 in the near future. Up next is Shane Mosley on January 24. 
&amp;nbsp;
Librado Andrade &amp;ndash; He&amp;rsquo;s not the most naturally talented fighter but he may be baddest man on two legs. Andrade seems impervious to punishment, has great stamina and can out-will anyone he fights. I felt he was robbed of a KO win over talented boxer Lucien Bute several moths ago when Andrade, who was behind on points, nailed Bute with seconds remaining in the 12th round. But bad officiating allowed Bute to gain a decision win and retain his IBF super middleweight crown when he should have been deemed unfit to continue. This guy may have been born 30 years too late when 15 rounds was the championship distance.&amp;nbsp; Better yet, 100 years when men fought 100 round fights. No one could beat this guy at that distance. Also, Andrade has a terrific attitude and philosophy on life. And that counts for something in my book. 
&amp;nbsp;
Manny Pacquiao &amp;ndash; The humble Filipino warrior has beaten some of the best Mexican fighters of this generation and he capped things off in 2008 by embarrassing the much larger Golden Boy, Oscar de la Hoya, as a handpicked opponent in a brutal eight round drubbing. The talented southpaw buzzsaw has flourished under trainer Freddie Roach&amp;rsquo;s tutelage and he now sits alone atop the boxing world as boxing&amp;rsquo;s mythical pound for pound best fighter. Massive fights with Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather Jr. await. 
&amp;nbsp;
Urbano Antillon &amp;ndash; This unassuming almost shy lightweight is simply tearing up whoever is in front of him. He has looked excellent in the past year and I believe 2009 will be a breakout year for Antillon. He is an extremely brutal fighter that imposes his will on his opponents and breaks guys down with a &amp;nbsp;fury. He does catch a little a but he has a chin and deceptive reflexes &amp;ndash; oh, and he&amp;rsquo;s deadly to the body. He&amp;rsquo;s ready for the best right now.
&amp;nbsp;
Chris Arreola &amp;ndash; He&amp;rsquo;s a truly exciting Mexican American heavyweight that breathes several breaths of fresh air into the division. He brings an aggression and intensity that you just don&amp;rsquo;t see in with the heavyweights. Every fight Arreola has is a shootout and someone will be going down &amp;ndash; and so far it&amp;rsquo;s been his opponents. Conditioning and work ethic remain a question but there is no question - he is a real fighter. I can&amp;rsquo;t see this guy enough. Is Wlad Klitschko next?
&amp;nbsp;
Alfredo Angulo &amp;ndash; Cut from the mold of Margarito and Antillon, he has&amp;nbsp; excellent potential showdowns in the very near future as a Jr. Middleweight. &amp;nbsp;He takes on former champ Ricardo Mayorga in February. He&amp;rsquo;ll fight for a title before the end of 2009. Fellow contender James Kirkland will be in his future. That fight has to marinate just a little longer.
&amp;nbsp;
James Kirkland &amp;ndash; He&amp;rsquo;s an undefeated Jr. Middleweight KO artist with fast hands a big punch and an unquenchable thirst for combat. He&amp;rsquo;s talented and has a fighters spirit. A match with fellow badass Alfredo Angulo in inevitable. 
&amp;nbsp;
Chad Dawson - He&amp;rsquo;s a terrific talent with blazing hand speed. He&amp;rsquo;s young at 25 and has a bright future. I think he&amp;rsquo;ll fight anyone and wants to test himself. That said, I&amp;rsquo;m disappointed he&amp;rsquo;s taking on Tarver&amp;nbsp; again in a rematch of a fight that he won widely. But a contract is a contract &amp;ndash; I believe there was a rematch clause. He does have unfinished business with Glen Johnson and Tavoris Cloud is a worthy challenger. I wouldn&amp;rsquo;t mind seeing him in with Hopkins or Calzaghe but that seems highly unlikely.
&amp;nbsp;
Mike Alvarado &amp;ndash; This late bloomer with the wrestling background has proved to be a quick study. He&amp;rsquo;s been banging out some very tough vets and former champs in his last several fights and is already a force to be reckoned with at 140. He&amp;rsquo;s a dangerous cat that can make some noise in 2009. He brings, power, pressure and underrated skills. He&amp;rsquo;s ready.
&amp;nbsp;
Ricky Hatton &amp;ndash; He&amp;rsquo;s getting towards the end of his career but anyone that wants to gain 140 pound preeminence all roads still go through Hatton, at least for now &amp;ndash; although when he leaves there are many worthy fighters to fill the void.. He&amp;rsquo;s a superstar in the sport because of his complexion and affable attitude. But he can fight, too, make no mistake about that. He can call his own shots and fight the biggest fights. He will probably take on Pacquiao in the spring.&amp;nbsp; After that, who knows?
&amp;nbsp;
Sergio Martinez &amp;ndash; He&amp;rsquo;s a very classy southpaw boxer with excellent speed.&amp;nbsp; He looks like a guy that&amp;rsquo;s a super athlete and is able to apply that athleticism in his fights. But he&amp;rsquo;s busy and aggressive and will make for some excellent match-ups at Jr. middleweight with his more brawling rivals Angulo and Kirkland. He has a tough task ahead when he takes on talented youngster Joe Greene in his first title defense.
&amp;nbsp;
Tim Bradley &amp;ndash; He has speed, talent and a great work ethic. He&amp;rsquo;s articulate and a student of the game &amp;ndash; what&amp;rsquo;s not to like. &amp;nbsp;He upset Junior Witter in  to win a portion of the 140 pound title. He&amp;rsquo;s s a top player in the division. And he&amp;rsquo;s very young. 
&amp;nbsp;
Nate Campbell &amp;nbsp;- He&amp;rsquo;s the people&amp;rsquo;s lightweight champ with his stirring winning over Juan Diaz earlier this year.&amp;nbsp; Campbell talks smack but he walks the walk and is extremely dangerous to anyone &amp;ndash; ask Joan Guzman who got out of fighting him because of weight shenanigans. He&amp;rsquo;s older at 36 but he is on top of his game and has to be considered the top 135 pounder right now. He can do it all, box, punch and brawl. He&amp;rsquo;s fast, tough and grizzled. I hope he stays at a high level and fights guys like Antillon, Juan Manuel Marquez and Edwin Valero. 
&amp;nbsp;
Honorable Mention
&amp;nbsp;
Juan Manuel Marquez &amp;ndash; May be the best boxer/puncher in the world.
&amp;nbsp;
Edwin Valero &amp;ndash; 24 KO&amp;rsquo;s in 24 wins. May be the most dangerous fighter in the world.
&amp;nbsp;
Bernard Hopkins &amp;ndash; Not always thrilling but at nearly 44, he&amp;rsquo;s a special fighter.
&amp;nbsp;
Joe Calzaghe &amp;ndash; Underappreciated for years, he&amp;rsquo;s finally found respect as a supreme fighter and very tough guy.
&amp;nbsp;
Kelly Pavlik &amp;ndash; Hopkins loss stings but he&amp;rsquo;s still young, exciting and dangerous.
&amp;nbsp;
Vic Darchinyan &amp;ndash; He can punch, box and he&amp;rsquo;s nasty.]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Boxing Commentary]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:58:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=304&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Klitschko pounds Rahman into submission, retains title</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=303</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


Dr. Wladimir Klitschko operated on Hasim Rahman with a plethora of jackhammer jabs that eventually forced Rahman out of the fight early in the 7th round at the SAP-Arena, Mannheim, Baden-W&amp;uuml;rttemberg, Germany.&amp;nbsp; It wasn&amp;rsquo;t Klitschko&amp;rsquo;s most scintillating performance but he did it his way and was in complete command the whole way.&amp;nbsp; I guess one shouldn&amp;rsquo;t complain about a winner that didn&amp;rsquo;t lose one second of the fight but that&amp;rsquo;s what I&amp;rsquo;m going to do. 



You see, I had picked that Klitschko would end this in under 6.5 rounds. That means after 1:30 elapse in the 7th round the wager would be lost. It did end up barely going &amp;ldquo;under&amp;rdquo; but only by 45 seconds. The thing is Klitschko had a sitting duck in front of him but fought him as if was much more of a threat than he actually was. Rahman was visibly fatigued after 3 rounds and was backed against the ropes with his hands high but not in a position to punch. 
&amp;nbsp;
Klitschko would stab his jab at Rahman but was reticent about doing anything else. He didn&amp;rsquo;t go to the body at all, which would have done wonders and when he threw power punches he was grossly inaccurate as they mostly sailed of Rahman&amp;rsquo;s head. Klitschko&amp;rsquo;s accuracy just seemed uncharacteristically off especially when you consider that he wasn&amp;rsquo;t under much resistance. But in the center of the ring, that jab was doing big business. It was heavy and it hurt. And it seems to carry the impact of a good right cross.&amp;nbsp; 
&amp;nbsp;
Finally in the 6th round when all of the fight was all but gone out of Rahman, Klitschko dropped him with some hooks high on the head. The end seemed near. Yet, Klitschko didn&amp;rsquo;t press that advantage too much and Rahman made it through the round. But early in the 7th, the ref wasn&amp;rsquo;t going to allow a defenseless fighter to continue and he promptly pulled the plug at 44 seconds into the 7th round. 
&amp;nbsp;
I suppose Klitschko fought smartly when all is considered. He&amp;rsquo;s an excellent talent but he does know his limitations and it&amp;rsquo;s obvious in his approach that he doesn&amp;rsquo;t want to expose them again. He understands that if he tires, he&amp;rsquo;s more vulnerable to incoming fire. And he understands if an opponent gets him to that point then the fight becomes more of a coin flip than a sure result.&amp;nbsp; 
&amp;nbsp;
And in spite of his size, talent, skill and speed he is simply not the most durable heavyweight we have ever seen. And while he&amp;rsquo;s in good condition, he has been known to fatigue from being &amp;ldquo;tight&amp;rdquo; in the ring and expending too much energy early against inferior opposition. Trainer Emanuel Steward seems to have Klitschko fighting very smart although even he seems to get irritated when his charge doesn&amp;rsquo;t get rid of an opponent when he thinks he should. Steward is always a guy that likes to work quickly if he can so it&amp;rsquo;s interesting that he&amp;rsquo;s worked so well with Klitschko who needs to be handled in a different way. 
&amp;nbsp;
I guess for me, as a bettor and a fan, it&amp;rsquo;s frustrating to see the heavyweight champ &amp;ldquo;almost&amp;rdquo; fight scared against a dead man. But he is who he is.&amp;nbsp; He&amp;rsquo;s a physical talent and he&amp;rsquo;s very cerebral who knows he can &amp;ldquo;crack&amp;rdquo; mentally when fatigued and hurt.&amp;nbsp; As such, he does what he has to do to win and he has been doing that very well for the past 4 years.&amp;nbsp; That old Clint Eastwood line applies perfectly for Klitschko. &amp;ldquo;Man&amp;rsquo;s got to know his limitations.&amp;rdquo; Well Klitschko does know his limitations and that fact makes him a winning, albeit sometimes dreary fighter. ]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:49:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=303&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Toney steals one over Oquendo</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=302</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4






st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }





/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


In an abysmal heavyweight fight James Toney was awarded a highly dubious split decision over Fres Oquendo at the Morongo Casino Resort &amp;amp; Spa, Cabazon,  California on Saturday night. The contest was televised on the Versus network. 
&amp;nbsp;
Toney, who believes, he can knock out the Klitschko brothers consecutively, found himself laboring badly by the 8th round against Oquendo and was fortunate to make to the final bell. Don&amp;rsquo;t get me wrong, Oquendo did nothing to improve his prospects of becoming or challenging for a title and the fight was close after 7 or 8 rounds. But Oquendo swept the last third of the fight while Toney just tried to get through until the end where the myopic, or worse, California judges could gift him an early Christmas present.&amp;nbsp; 
&amp;nbsp;
Oquendo had more gas at the end and was able to strafe Toney with wide and heavy right hands to the head and body late in the fight. Ridiculous ref Lou Moret even docked Oquendo a point for hitting Toney in the back of the head. But the way Toney ducks his head; those kinds of shots are inevitable. And Toney jumped on board after the point deduction as the &amp;nbsp;threat of disqualification was issued to Oquendo, and began to rub the back of his head with his glove upon any subsequent (or near) contact to that area. 
&amp;nbsp;
It certainly would have saved Toney a lot of labored breathing and punishment if Moret was to render a DQ. Anyway, neither guy came close to proving that they deserve a title shot and Toney showed it is really time to hang them up. He&amp;rsquo;s 40 years old, sloppy and out of shape. He throws 30 punches around and is so off balance it looks likes he&amp;rsquo;s fighting with ice skates on. In essence, Oquendo looked mediocre and Toney looked horrible. &amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
If Tony Thompson, Toney&amp;rsquo;s originally scheduled opponent, appeared I believe he would have been the first to stop Toney. That&amp;rsquo;s because Thompson is still a credible fighter that can compete on a top level while Toney is merely grasping at straws. If Toney does get rewarded for this &amp;ldquo;win&amp;rdquo; with a shot at either Klitschko he will easily suffer his worst night as a fighter and will be brutally shot down. And it&amp;rsquo;s a fight that wouldn&amp;rsquo;t be good for boxing or Toney&amp;rsquo;s health. That could be the fight that puts Toney over the edge and turns him punchy.&amp;nbsp; And no one with a brain wants to see that happen. 
&amp;nbsp;
I did back 3-1 underdog Oquendo in this fight and was obviously displeased with the home cooking Toney received. It really is a shame that the home town fighter or promoter advantage frequently comes into play in boxing. It&amp;rsquo;s criminal. And what&amp;rsquo;s worse is that it is mostly shrugged off as just part of the game and something you just have to accept. That&amp;rsquo;s absurd. I don&amp;rsquo;t know what can be done (but I&amp;rsquo;m thinking about it) to reduce bogus decisions the country and world over but at the very least a solution has to be given high priority. ]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:45:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=302&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>
 
	<item>
		<title>Pacquiao gobbles up de la Hoya with ease, will Mayweather be next?</title>
		<link>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=301</link>
		<description><![CDATA[





Normal
0


false
false
false







MicrosoftInternetExplorer4








/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}


On Saturday night at the MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas Filipino Icon Manny Pacquiao rendered Oscar de la Hoya&amp;rsquo;s long boxing career irrelevant with a scorching 8th round stoppage win. &amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
The first round opened slowly but after the first minute Pacquiao began to find the target. A jab here, a left cross there. It was a Pacquiao round but there still seemed that perhaps de la Hoya could get untracked and gain some momentum.&amp;nbsp; Wrong!&amp;nbsp; 
&amp;nbsp;
Every round got progressively worse for de la Hoya. Pacquiao was constantly in motion and turning and de la Hoya just couldn&amp;rsquo;t find him. Pacquiao began to slowly turn up the pressure round after round as the fight became more one-sided and the blows landed more frequently for Pacquiao.&amp;nbsp; 
&amp;nbsp;
By the end of the 6th round de la Hoya was looking ragged and getting busted up. In the 7th, it was a complete mismatch and the PacMan was doling out heaping portions of punishment &amp;ndash; body, head, body head. He was folding de la Hoya up like a tent.&amp;nbsp; For all intents and purposes this fight was over.&amp;nbsp; The question was how much longer would it go? Only one more round.&amp;nbsp; After a punishing 8th round, de la Hoya and his corner agreed to call it night.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; It was the right move. 
&amp;nbsp;
De la Hoya is not a quitter as some are saying in the forums. He was simply in with a much better guy and after a storied amateur career and a 16 year pro log, it was time to call it a night and hopefully a career. De la Hoya will be fine.&amp;nbsp; He has a powerful promotional company, Golden Boy Promotions, with excellent talent and high exposure. But now Oscar will have to rely on other fighters to bring home the bacon. 
&amp;nbsp;
That all said, the loss will sting for a while and must be somewhat of an embarrassment for de la Hoya and his team as the former 106 pound fighter Pacquiao was handpicked for the purpose of giving de la Hoya the biggest return for the least amount of risk. Well, de la Hoya&amp;rsquo;s choice didn&amp;rsquo;t just backfire but blew up completely in his face.&amp;nbsp; The massive majority consensus was that the bigger and stronger de Hoya, who has mixed with the likes of Felix Trinidad, Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley, would easily be able to turn back Pacquiao who fought Juan Manuel Marquez at a bodyweight of 129 only 10 months ago. &amp;nbsp;And based on that alone it was perfectly reasonable to assume that de la Hoya would run over little Manny. 
&amp;nbsp;
I thought this was a mismatch in Oscar&amp;rsquo;s favor when this match was in the whisper stages. (But, fortunately, I looked very closely at this match as it drew near and backed Pacquiao in this fight.)
&amp;nbsp;
It turned out that Pacquiao was better in every conceivable way. He was stronger, faster, hit harder and was the better boxer. And to top it off, he entered the ring one and a half pounds heavier than de la hoya. 
&amp;nbsp;
Unfortunately, many bettors were overcome by emotion when this fight was made as it seemed their ship had come in because de la Hoya was seen by most as a sure thing and to top it off he was only a 2-1 favorite at the betting parlors.&amp;nbsp; That made many people salivate at the prospect of stealing money form the sports books. And many people abandoned rationality and laid it on thick with de la Hoya because this fight was viewed as a mismatch of epic proportions and that everyone, including Pacquiao, knew their role in this &amp;ldquo;Dream Match.&amp;rdquo; 
&amp;nbsp;
But how did Pacquiao bamboozle everyone?&amp;nbsp; Well, a lot of things came into play.&amp;nbsp; Oscar wasn&amp;rsquo;t strong coming down in weight and is clearly a faded fighter. Manny benefited from the jump in weight because he was cutting weight for too long and he was able to bring his incredible speed and gifts with him to this new weight division. &amp;nbsp;And Pacquiao has really become a complete fighter under the tutelage of Freddie Roach.&amp;nbsp; He moves his head, he can hit and move, he can go side to side and he added a brutal body attack along with a savage right hook. &amp;nbsp;And Pacquiao held the new weight perfectly. He has amazingly strong and thick legs and a compact and chiseled torso. 
&amp;nbsp;
De la Hoya brought in the dream team for trainers.&amp;nbsp; He hired Nacho Beristain, who is a great strategist, and his charge Juan Manuel Marquez gave Pacquiao hell in 24 rounds of fighting. So de la Hoya reasoned that Beristain had the key to beating Pacquiao. And he also added revered Angelo Dundee as a consultant. He went on a new diet where he ate Kangaroo meat and was on weight for quite sometime. But no matter what he did it wasn&amp;rsquo;t going to be enough. He could have brought in the ghosts of the all time great trainers like Ray Arcel, Jack Blackburn, Mannie Seamon, Whitey Bimstein, Charley Goldman and Eddie Futch but it would have been to no avail. Oscar&amp;rsquo;s skills and physical ability had eroded too much to be fixed. 
&amp;nbsp;
However, &amp;nbsp;it still was jaw dropping to see de la Hoya owned by a former flyweight champion when just a little more than a year ago, he was reasonably competitive with the then pound for pound best Floyd Mayweather Jr. But no matter how bad this might appear, there is no shame in losing to Pacquiao at this point in his career. Pacquiao is truly a special talent in the mold of Henry Armstrong that can be successful in any weight division he fights in. And in spite of the perception of Pacquiao being small, he actually carries an amazing amount of muscle mass and with his thick trunk, 140 -147 look like the perfect place for Pacquiao to settle into for the remainder of his career. 
&amp;nbsp;
So where do they go from here? I hope Oscar retires because he really could get himself hurt if he continues on.&amp;nbsp; He&amp;rsquo;s been a bright light in the sport and has had a superb career. He won numerous titles and fought most of the best. He lost to the very best but he beat some very good champions, too. He had crossover appeal because of his looks and demeanor. But now it&amp;rsquo;s time to devote his energies to promoting fulltime.
&amp;nbsp;
As for Pacquiao, he has some great fights ahead of him. There are potential money fights with British draw Ricky Hatton. Or perhaps retired former pound for pound best Floyd Mayweather will come back looking for a piece of the PacMan. This will probably not happen, in my view, unless Floyd&amp;rsquo;s money has been badly depleted in our floundering economy. He&amp;rsquo;s not the type of guy that will fight someone that could beat him unless the money was really right. I&amp;rsquo;ll say this now; if Pacquiao takes on Mayweather I am backing Pacquiao.&amp;nbsp; I think he runs him out of the ring.
&amp;nbsp;
There are other good fighters at 140 that Pacquiao could tackle or he could throw caution to the wind and take on welterweight monsters like Miguel Cotto or, god forbid, Antonio Margarito. But whatever he does from here on out, the world will be watching. Pacquiao has inherited the mantle of the new face in the sport of boxing and I don&amp;rsquo;t think we will be disappointed.
&amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;
&amp;nbsp;]]></description>
		
		
		<category><![CDATA[Latest Boxing Results]]></category>
		
			
		<author> (Evan Young)</author>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:35:00 EST</pubDate>
		<comments>http://www.boxingforecast.com/blog/index.cfm?CommentID=301&#35;comments</comments>
		
		
		
	</item>

</channel>
</rss>

