Boxing!!! December 11, 2010

[H2O Man]

December 11

At Mannheim, Germany (ESPN3.com live, ESPN next-day tape): Wladimir Klitschko vs. Dereck Chisora, 12 rounds, for Klitschko's Ring/IBF/WBO heavyweight title.

At Las Vegas (HBO): Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana, 12 rounds, for Khan's WBA junior welterweight title; Victor Ortiz vs. Lamont Peterson, 10 rounds, junior welterweights.

At Tacoma, Wash. (Showtime): Tournament semifinals: Vic Darchinyan vs. Abner Mares, 12 rounds, bantamweights; Yonnhy Perez vs. Joseph Agbeko, rematch, 12 rounds, for Perez's IBF bantamweight title.


There are four very good fights, and one mismatch, on this coming Saturday. Let's take a look at each of them.

{1} Wladimir Klitschko will defend his Ring/IBF/WBO Heavyweight title in Germany, when he easily defeats unranked contender Dereck Chisora. All good heavyweight champions take a soft fight now and then, and there is nothing wrong with the 34 year old Klitschko keeping busy as he waits for a fight with David Haye. Haye holds the only “title” besides those that Vitali and Wladimir have, and while Wladimir is the real champion, he wants Hate's belt.

Klitschko has already scored two impressive knockouts in defenses this year: in March, he took Eddie Chambers out in the 12th, and flattened Samuel Peter in 10 in September. He has won his last five bouts by knockout.

Klitschko turned professional in 1996. Earlier in his career, while impressive against inferior opposition, he had a tendency to panic when pressed; he was stopped by Ross Purity ('98), Lamon Brewster ('02), and Corrie Sanders ('03).However, since Manny Steward became his trainer, he is undefeated. In an era with a profoundly weak heavyweight division, he has still managed to beat the best, including a re-match with Brewster; a win over Lamon's cousin Chris Byrd; Ray Mercer; Jameel McCline; and previously undefeated Calvin Brock.

At 6' 6”, he is 5 inches taller than Chisora. He also has a 7 inch reach advantage. Perhaps most importantly, at 55 – 3, (49 K.O.s), he has far more experience. Chisora is 14 – 0, with 9 knockouts. However, he has fought weak competition. The only “name” on his record is Danny Williams, the 37-year old journeyman who knocked Mike Tyson out in 2004.

While anything can happen in the ring, it is most likely that Klitschko will defeat Chisora.


{2} WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan defends his title against Marcos Maidana, in what could be one of the best fights of the year. Khan, 23, is 5' 10” tall, with an impressive 71” reach. His record is 23 – 1, with 17 knockout wins.

His single loss came six fights ago, in September of 2008, when he was knocked unconscious by tough Breidis Prescott in the first round. Khan did not opt to take any easy fights after that: his next five opponents combine for 175 wins and 16 loses, as well as some titles. Included in those fights are a 5-round technical decision over Marco Antonio Barrera, and an 11-round TKO over Paul Malignaggi.

Khan is facing another very tough opponent, in Maidana. The 27 year old Argentinian is 29 – 1, with 27 impressive knockout victories. His lone defeat came by split-decision, against Andriy Kotelnik in Germany. Maidana's most impressive win came four months later, in June of '09, when he scored a TKO in 6 rounds over Victor Ortiz. In that fight, both men hit the deck in the first round; Maidana went down twice in the second; and Ortiz was floored again in the sixth.

Khan has superior boxing skills, and will try to outbox Maidana early, and pick him apart from the outside. But when two extremely hard punchers, both of whom can be hit and hurt, face each other, neither can take anything for granted. This fight could end at any second, between 1 and 12.


{3} On the undercard, Victor Ortiz faces Lamont Peterson in an interesting match-up. Both men stand 5' 9' tall; Peterson's 74” reach gives him an important 4” advantage. Ortiz, 23, has a 28-2-1 record, with 22 knockout wins. Peterson, 26, is 28-1, with 14 knockouts.

Since being stopped by Maidana, Ortiz has won 4 in a row, including 3 inside the distance. This will be his 4th fight this year. In May, he decisioned veteran Nate Cambell in 10, and in September, knocked an aging Vivian Harris out in three.

Peterson's only loss came a year ago, to Timothy Bradley, one of the best champions in the sport, in a tough 12-round war. Like Ortiz, he has faced a lot of journeymen. However, he also has defeated Lanardo Tyner (19-1), Antonio Mesqurta (34-0), and Willy Blain (20-0).

This is a pretty even bout on paper, and either man could win.


{4} The next two bouts are the semi-finals of Showtime's bantamweight tournament. Both are going to be outstanding fights. First, Vic Darchinyan defends his IBO and WBC “Silver” Bantamweight titles against Abner Mares. Darchinyan, 34, from Armenia, is one of the sport's most intense warriors. With a record of 35-2-1, with 27 KO victories, he was a dominant flyweight champion who intimidated most challengers with his roughhouse style and intense punching power. As he aged, he moved up in weight, winning a super flyweight title, before entering the bantamweight division.

His two loses removed his reputation as the scariest small man in boxing. On July 7, 2007, he was knocked out by Nonito Donaire, in the most stunning upset of the year. Darchinyan had previously brutalized Donaire's older brother, but was being frustrated by Nonito before a perfect left hook knocked him unconscious in the fifth round.

Twenty-four months later, he moved up to bantamweight to meet Joseph Agbeko, who easily outpointed him in 12 rounds. Since then, Vic has adjusted well to the bigger division; in May, he decisioned Eric Barcelona for the IBO title.

Mexico's Abner Mares is nine years younger. While he is a half-inch shorter than Darchinyan, he has a four-inch reach advantage. In his fives years in the professional ranks, he has a 20-0-1 record, with 13 knockouts. While he is not as well-known as his opponent, his lone non-victory helps define him.

On May 22, 2010, he challenged for the IBF bantamweight crown, against the undefeated champion Yonnhy Perez. The two fought to a 12 round draw. The beauty of Showtime's bantamweight tournament is that it includes four fairly even-matched fighters, each one believing that they have some unfinished business with at least one other participant. Attempting to predict who will be the eventual winner is difficult, if not impossible, because in the truest sense, styles make fights.

Who will win this one? I could make a good case for either man. I might make Mares a slight favorite if the fight goes long, but recognize that Darchinyan has the power to take him out with a single punch. On the other hand, Darchinyan could frustrate his less-experienced foe and win a decision, or Mares could catch him coming in, like Donaire did.


{5} In the second bout, we'll be treated to a rematch between IBF bantamweight champion Yonnhy Perez and former champion Joseph Agbeko. In October of 2009, Perez won an exciting decision to take the crown, decking Agbeko in the tenth round.

Perez's record is 20-0-1, with 14 knockouts. Born in Columbia, all of his professional fights have been in the United States. Though his early undefeated record was solid, it wasn't until his May 29, 2009 fight against Silence Mabuza (22-2), who he stopped in 12 rounds, that he defined himself as among the best in a talent-filled division.

Joseph Agbeko is the latest in a line of great fighters from Ghana. His record is 27-2, with 22 knockouts. His other lose came by a “hometown decision” to Volodymr Sydorenko in Germany. (Sydorenko was taken out in four rounds by Nonito Donaire last week.)

In last year's defense against Perez, Joseph appeared overconfident and under-prepared. On Saturday, he will need to be focused and at his very best. Their first fight was among the very best of 2009, and it is likely their rematch will be one of the best in 2010.

Enjoy the fights!

[JonLP24]

1. I'm very interested

in a Klitschko/Haye fight. I've been somewhat familiar with Haye ever since he won that fight with someone significantly bigger than he is. It was advertised as a "David/Goliath" match-up but I recall you correctly predicted that one. I've been looking forward to him facing Klitschko.

I kept asking myself, why is Amir Khan, the name, familiar? I was asking myself was he on FNF? I continued reading your OP and saw that Prescott defeated him. That was it. I remember watching Prescott on FNF and they kept replaying his knockout on Khan over and over. Most of the time when you post these I don't recognize the names but Khan stuck out. That is the reason why.

Thanks for the previews! :)

[H2O Man]

2. Amir Khan

got "caught cold" against the hard-punching Prescott. Every fighter is vulnerable in the first round. That's who people like Teddy Atlas and Manny Steward always make note, while announcing fights on television, if someone enters that ring without being properly warmed up. But even if you have warmed up correctly, there is always the chance of being hurt, knocked down, or even out cold, in those first three minutes.

Even great fighters like Smokin' Joe Frazier -- who always entered the ring fully prepared -- could get hurt early in fights. His vulnerabilities were in those first two rounds. Oscar Bonavena decked him twice early, and the tough Mexican heavyweight Manuel Ramos hurt him really bad in the second round. In both the first and third Ali fights, Muhammad looked to take him out in the early rounds. And obviously, in the first Foreman fight, he was decked six times in two rounds.

Khan has made vast improvements since that lose. He's probably one year away from fighting either of the two top men in the division -- but they are facing each other on January 29, so either Bradley or Alexander may look to fight Khan in the fall.

Most boxing writers have mistakenly concluded that David Haye is afraid of the Klitschko brothers, because their proposed fights fell apart last year. They forget two things: first, that the delays were not entirely due to Haye; and second, that Haye's status as a belt-holder and ticket attraction give him the right to a 50-50 cut in the purse, and PPV sales. No other heavyweight fight sells these days. Certainly, both Klitschko brothers are extremely talented and efficient boxers. But they are both boring, inside and out of the ring.

Haye is exciting. He knows that a heck of a lot of people are going to pay to see him fight a Klitschko, hoping to see his big mouth shut. That means a lot of ticket and PPV sales.

Common sense and logic make either Klitschko the betting favorite, going into the ring. Each brother is huge. That is an advantage that overcomes most smaller opponent's better boxing skills. Yet, both brothers do have solid ring skills. In a literal sense, it would take a great fighter at 215 to 220 pounds to defeat them now, in their primes. Obviously, guys like Ali, Frazier, and Foreman -- in their primes -- would have devastated the Klitschko brothers. Larry Holmes or a peak Evender Holyfield would have beat them in tougher fights. And, at this point, Haye hasn't reached that elite level. But he certainly has the potential to. His speed and power give him a chance of beating either Wladimir or Vitali. The question that needs answering is if he has the mind of a great heavyweight. I suspect that he does.

[H2O Man]

3. Klitschko out .....

He reportedly suffered an abdominal injury during his last training session.

[H2O Man]

4. Very entertaining fights!

The Ortiz vs Peterson fight looked great on paper, but was somewhat disappointing. Both fighters attempted ro adopt their style in a manner that did not work well for either man. Ortiz hurt Peterson early, and put him down twice. However, Peterson won enough late rounds to win on one judge's card, while the two others scored it even. A draw seemed fair.

Amir Khan won by decision in a fight that was far closer than the score cards suggested. Considering that he was the promoter's favorite, Maidana probably needed to score a knockout to win. And he almost did -- although a funny thing happened along the way.

Khan landed a vicious body combination early -- an intense right to the side, followed quickly by a perfect left hook to the liver. Maidana reacted as all people do when hit in the liver: a second after it hit, he twisted down to the canvas in agony. The guy had no right to get up! In all my years in boxing, I've never seen anyone beat the 10 count under those circumstances. He did, and was lucky that the round was seconds away from ending.

Khan looked good early, but was clearly fighting at too brisk a pace. He did get a "second wind" around the 8th round, but Maidana hurt him, over and over again, throughout the final few rounds.

Mares was cut by a clash of heads in the first round against Darchinyan; got decked in a following round; and lost a point for low-blows shortly thereafter. He also had to deal with an incompetent referee, who should never be the third man in any important bout. But he came on and won bt decision. Darchinyan, in character, complained that the ref would not let him bend and break the rules after the decision was announced.

Agbeko was in good shape for his rematch with the previously undefeated Perez, and put on an awesome display of boxing skills. I thought that Perez appeared stale, not uncommon for an older fighter who was in his 4th tough fight in a row. A good trainer has his fighter peak when he enters the ring; I am sure that Perez was three or four days post-peak.

Perez's timing was off. He couldn't hit Agbeko with his left hook, and he couldn't get out of the way of Agbeko's frequent right crosses. Even when Perez got off some combinations, his accuracy was poor. Even if he was at his best, Agbeko would have been very hard to beat last night.

Next, Agbeko meets Mares in the finals, and Perez fights Darchinyan. Both will be outstanding fights.

[JonLP24]

5. Thank you for this

I'm always interested in the results even though I can never watch any of these.

Last Friday night I was able to see a boxing match on TV. I don't have cable but I do get Telemundo. I don't remember the names but it was a great fight. It was back-and-forth early on, then the guy in white shorts started to take over. Hitting the guy with black shorts a lot more than he was getting hit. I think it was the 11th round where black shorts knocked down white shorts, but he got up but black shorts closed out that one and the 12th in dominating fashion. Black shorts won but it was very close. IIRC, it was scored 114 to 113.

The only problem was I couldn't understand a word the announcers were saying. :)

[AndrewP]

6. I think Khan deserved the win. The 1st round knockdown helped

But Maidana sure came on strong late! He had him pretty hurt in the 10th.

I'd like to see Khan fight Bradley next.

[H2O Man]

7. Yes.

I think he won, but by a smaller margin than the judges had it. The guy is an outstanding fighter.

I still have trouble believing Maidana got up from the left to the body.

Khan would be interesting against either Bradley or Alexander. Who do you think will win, when those two fight in January? I favor Bradley, though he leaves himself open sometimes, and Alexander has serious power along with a long reach. (Khan might match up better against Alexander than bradley.)

[Lions_fan]

8. I tried to send you a private message

but it says i don't have enough posts to do that. Did you do a topic about the Pascal/Hopkins fight? I don't see one. I didn't see the fight but i heard Hopkins got robbed. Let me know what happened