Boxing
New York: PBC on ESPN
Danny Garcia vs. Paulie Malignaggi, 12 rounds, welterweights.
Danny Jacobs vs. Sergio Mora, 12 rounds, middleweights.
Saturday night’s card features two top fighters, in bouts that should showcase their considerable skills. While anything can happen in the ring, both Danny Jacobs and Danny Garcia are heavily favored to win their bouts. Let’s take a look at each fight!
Danny Jacobs (29-1) is one of the sport’s rising stars. His career was almost ended by cancer in 2011-12, but he has been able to come back in impressive fashion. Jacobs is a boxer-puncher, who tends to score early knockouts.
Mora (28-3-2) made his name in the boxing series “The Contender.” He won the junior middleweight title from Vernon Forrest in 2008, but lost it in a return bout three months later. His record also includes a draw with Shane Mosley, in a bout that Mora clearly won.
Jacobs, at 28, has been more active than his 33 year old opponent in recent years. He holds one of the division’s paper titles, and is looking to challenge either Cotto or Golovkin in the near future. However, Mora is a solid journeyman fighter, who could present a serious test if Jacobs is looking past him.
Danny Garcia (30-0) is moving up from the junior welterweight division, after holding the title there since his July, 2012 knockout of Amir Khan. In perhaps his most impressive win, Garcia beat tough Lucas Matthysse by decision in September of 2013. In his next fight, however, he was out-boxed by Mauricio Herrera, although he was given the decision. He has not been impressive since that bout.
Paulie (33-6) was most recently stopped by Shawn Porter in a mismatch. Malignaggi was simply too old, and Porter too strong. There is a good chance that this will again be the case on Saturday. Paulie’s last meaningful win came in 2012, and on paper, there is little reason to think he will be able to hold off Garcia.
Still, if Malignaggi is able to put together one last solid fight, and Garcia fights like he did against Herrera, anything is possible.
Enjoy the fights!
= new reply since forum marked as read
booth. But in his case I don't think that's a bad thing. I think his career in a pretty crowded welterweight/jr. welterweight field surpassed what one might expect from his power/speed/etc., so I guess it isn't surprising to see age take its toll pretty quickly. (It's one thing for someone who can afford to rely on speed or raw power to learn to draw on intelligence/insight/guile to compensate for the toll age takes on such gifts, but something else entirely for someone whose intangibles were always their source of strength to deal with age, I think. You see it across various sports.)
I wish I could see the fights tonight, but I have a hard time seeing him beating Garcia. But I hope to catch him calling another fight in the near future 
