Boxing!!! (ShowTime Free Preview and HBO Cards)

[H2O Man]

This is an interesting weekend for boxing fans. There are three good fight cards on TV, including two on ShowTime's "Free Preview Weekend." Let's take a look:

{1} On Friday night, ShowTime has the semi-final round of their high-quality Super Middleweight tournament. There are four very talented boxers, and each stands a good chance of winning. Jean Paul Mendy fights Henry Buchanan, and Anthony Hanshaw fights Lafarrell Bunting.

Mendy, from France, is 32 years old. His record is 22-0, with 12 KOs. In the first round, he scored a TKO in 1:45 of round one against tough Dallas Vargas. He is 3 inches taller than Buchanan.

Buchanan, 28 years old, is 14-0, with 11 KOs. In the first round, he fought with a broken hand, and won a lopsided decision over Lucas Green-Arias.

Anthony "The Tiger" Hanshaw, age 28, is 20-0, with 13 KOs. He won a decision over Estaban Camon in the first round. He has had two extended periods of inactivity in his professional career; one for 23 months, another for 21 months. The Ohio fighter is 6' tall.

Lafarrell "Memphis Fairway" Bunting, age 26, is 16-1-1, with 16 KOs. He was a substitute for Sakio Bika, and had only 4 days' notice (and dropped 14 lbs!) before scoring a 5 round TKO over Jose Luis Herrera. He is also 6' tall. The only match he has had that didn't end by knockout was the draw.

{2} On Saturday at 9pm est, ShowTime has a fantastic card. In the first fight, IBF/IBO Flyweight Champion Vic Darchinyan (26-0, with 21 KOs) defends against Glenn Donaire (16-2-1, with 9 KOs).
The champion is one of the toughest, most exciting small fighters in the game today. I think he would be the "main event" on almost any fight card. I think he has a good challanger in front of him, and boxing fans are in for a real treat!

The main event is outstanding. It pits Diego "Chico" Corrales defending his WBC Lightweight title against former WBA Super Featherweight champion, Joel Casamayor. This is their "rubber match."

On 10-4-03, Casamayor won a 6 round TKO. He decked Corrales twice; was decked once; stunned several times; lost a point on a foul (and got away with a half-dozen others); and had a controversial decision made by the ringside doctor go his way. On 3-6-04, Corrales won a tough 12-round split decision. ShowTime has been playing both fights for the past 10 days. They are very exciting, and I think it makes for a more interesting rubber match than Corrales vs Castillo would have.

Corrales is 40-3, with 33 KOs. He is widely recognized as one of the most explosive, exciting fighters of this era. Win or lose, he never is in boring fights.

Casamayor was 380-30 in the amateurs. He won a Gold Medal in the '92 Olympics, and was expected to repeat in '96, when he walked away from the Cuban team. He is 33-3-1 with 20 KOs, and is very talented.

Both of these guys are getting older, and are a step slower than they were in their first two fights. But it is a "grudge match." Neither man likes the other. I think that we are going to see a brawl.

{3} HBO has a card starting Saturday at 10pm est that will be interesting. On the undercard, there is a re-match of the lightheavyweights Tomasz Adomek versus Paul Briggs. Adomek won a close 12 round decision 17 months ago. He is 30-0, with 21 KOs. He defends his WBA title against Briggs, who is 25-2, with 18 KOs.

The main event will be Nikolay Valeuv defending his "title" against Monte Barrett. The Russian fighter is 7' tall, and weighs 325 lbs. His record is 44-0, with 32 KOs. He has most recently beat John Ruiz and Owen Beck. I've only seen a few film clips of this guy, and he is something of a mystery. But Don King is convinced he can market him in the USA.

Monte Barrett seems a safe choice on paper, but he may surprise King. We remember that he was a top amateur in New York State, winning both the Golden Gloves and Empire Games. And he won the national PAL title.

Barrett started off strong as a pro, and has wins over guys like Owen Beck, Domminick Guinn, and old-times Greg Page and Tim Witherspoon. But he has lost to guys like Joe Mesi (controversial decision), and to large guys like Lance Whitaker. Bert Sugar says he has a good chin, because he got up after being decked by Mesi, and 5 times by Vladimir Klitschko. He is 6' 3", with a record of 31-4, with 17 KOs.

Enjoy the Fights!!! Any predictions?

[rinsd]

1. Can't wait to see Drago...err...I mean Valeuv

Whatever the man's skills he must be praised for pushing John RUiz off the stage!

[H2O Man]

2. Don King is invested

in promoting Valeuv. He must believe that Valeuv is good for an American tour. Matching him against an inactive heavyweight, who has done poorly against big heavyweights, seems like a good first step. But I think Monte Barrett has more ability than he has shown in recent fights.

Ruiz seems like a nice guy outside the ring. But I've never enjoyed watching him fight.

[MessiahRp]

3. Nah he looks more like Soda Popinski!

Drago didn't look as facially deformed as Valuev does.

Rp

[rinsd]

4. He also wasn't wearing a "sweater"

Soda Popinski...now that takes me back!

For your viewing enjoyment, a play based on Mike Tyson's Punch Out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krctdpioFu0

[H2O Man]

5. Mike Tyson!

I have read a few things about his exhibition tour.

The clips I saw of the Valuev were hard to make any real judgement from. Most were of him smacking John Ruiz. I've heard he is slow and clumsy, but against Ruiz, he was throwing pretty decent combinations. I do not think Don King would be this invested in him if he were just a freak show. I think King is confident that he will be be at least one of the two top Russian heavyweights. While I think King is one of the most evil people on earth, I am curious what he sees in this fighter.

[rinsd]

6. I think he sees draw potential with the heavyweight div still unappealing

As long as this guy has a jaw and isn't a complete stiff, he could enliven an dreary division.

I think that's what King sees in him but I defer to your superior boxing knowledge.

[H2O Man]

7. I agree that

King sees a potential draw. Kind of a Primo Carnera - Cardiff Giant money-maker for Don. And in today's heavyweights, the advantages of size with even limited skills might go pretty far.

I saw King with Valeuv on the Fox morning news show, of all things. And a few clips on other tv stations. The guy is very focused on becoming a better fighter. And he is huge. It'll be interesting to see what he does Saturday. Barrett was picked largely because he has failed against big men in the past. But I think he will be a serious test for Valeuv.

[rinsd]

8. Cool, I am very much looking forward to it.

It would be nice to have a heavyweight that was at least interesting.

Even with the overloaded middle weight divisions.

BTW, did you watch the recent Contender and what did you thinK?

[H2O Man]

9. The Contender ....

I haven't watched it. My son had it on, and there were what appeared to be "enhanced" fight scenes. My son said the finals were a better quality. What do you think of the series?

The heavyweight division is going to be very interesting in November. On 11-4, Sergei Liakhovich fights Shannon Briggs on ShowTime. (Same night as Baldomir vs Mayweather on PPV!) Liakhovich may be the best fighter in the division right now. I think Briggs can beat any other heavyweight now, but in this fight, I may favor Liakhovich. (My understanding is King thinks that Briggs has a good chance of winning, and that then, in his next fight, Shannon would tire and lose against Valeuv.)

A week later, Wladmir Klitschko fights Calvin Brock at MSG. My son is trying to get me to buy a half-dozen ringside seats for that. I think Klitschko believes that he can keep Brock contained in a slow-paced, clinch-filled boring match. It's not a bad idea to fight guys like Sam Peter and Brock before they fully mature. But Brock is a smart fighter, and knows how to deliver his powerful punches.

[dr.zoidberg]

10. To hell with the main events!

The undercards are where it's at. Vic Darchinyan fights Glen Donaire. Granted, it's not the most even match-up, but Darchiyans' KO power is worth watching. The fight of the night will undoubtedly be the Tomasz Adameck/Paul Briggs fight. This is a rematch of a legitimate fight of the year candidate from last year. These two fights are worth watching. I suggest taping one, and watching the other.

[H2O Man]

11. Luckily

with the HBO and ShowTime packages, we'll be able to watch one right after the other. And I agree that the undercards are outstanding.

Last night, MSG showed the John Duddy vs Campas 12 rounder. What an outstanding slugfest! Neither fighter showed any defensive skills at all, and both absorbed an unreal amount of punishment. It was a fight that could be considered for "Fight of the Year."

[MessiahRp]

12. Briggs-Adamek was awesome!

Darchiniyan-Donare not so much. I even thought Soda Popinski (Valuev)- Barrett got better as the fight went on and became more active. They started the Casamayor-Corrales fight so late I had to record it. I'll watch it today but the first two rounds were snoozers.

Rp

[H2O Man]

13. I thought the ref

blew the Darchiniyan fight. If a fighter quits, he quits. The ref had no business taking him over to the doctor to ask his opinion. Add to that the nonsense about attributing the injury to an un-called butt from a previous round was a mistake built on the first one.

I was not comfortable with hearing that the ShowTime announcers had suggested to Darchiniyan that he allow the fight to go 5 or 6 rounds, to meet their needs.

[MessiahRp]

16. Yeah I didn't like that either

Darchiniyan should have knocked Donare out early and showed them up for that. That's sort of like shaving points... it doesn't change the outcome but it's rigging a part of the sport for the benefit of a select few.

I notice after he said that they had that Karen chick retaliate by making him seem like an egomanical freak when they asked Liakhovich about fighters having to be cocky they laid it on for Vic thinking "he was the greatest fighter in the world".

Rp

[H2O Man]

17. I do not believe

that she adds anything of value to the boxing analysis. I had forgotten that she said that stupid thing to Liakhovich. He seems like an intelligent and insightful man, and understands that he has a potentially very difficult fight next month. Her nonsense was uncalled for.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

14. I was disappointed in the Corrales-Casamayor fight

I was really looking forward to it, as I love Corrales for his heart and I think Casamayor has been brilliant at times in his career. In the first fight, Casamayor looked blazingly fast. And Corrales visibly hurt Casamayor in both previous fights, something few fighters have succeeded in accomplishing.

I thought Casamayor won a very close fight. I don't think his speed or power are what they used to be. Casamayor himself did very little, landing just a few crunching and effective punches during the entire fight. Corrales himself wasn't as active as I've seen him and didn't seem to have the effective jab he had in the second fight, although he was the aggressor during the entire fight. I think you are right in that both men are probably on the downward crest in their careers, although Corrales still seems to have a good chin, which surprised me after those tough fights against Castillo.

The knockdown was kind of Mickey Mouse, but it was a genuine knockdown in my opinion. It wasn't a push or a slap, but an attempted punch that landed on the side of Casmayor's head from which he went down. If he was off balance at the time, then it's his problem.

Again, there was a completely insane example of judging. One of the judges had it 116 to 111 for Casamayor, meaning that if you factor in the knockdown, Corrales won only three rounds out of twelve on that judge's card, which is ridiculous in my opinion. Casamayor won, but he didn't dominate at all. I admit Corrales didn't look very impressive, but then neither did Casamayor, who was going backward through most of the fight and didn't mix it up as much as he did in the two previous fights. I agree with the result, but one of those judges should be banned from the sport. The fight was disappointing and it involved more of the crazy judging that I think is ruining the sport of boxing.

[H2O Man]

15. It wasn't the fight

that I had anticipated. I agree with your analysis. Casamayor does not have much power at this stage in his career. The higher weight, along with being a half-step slower has changed him. I do not have a problem with a decision either way, within a point or two. But it was in no sense a one-sided fight. I also would favor Casamayor being penalized for his frequent and intentional fouling.