December 6-8 Preview and Review

Some exciting fights last week, if not close ones:
Brian's-Campas, Me-Campas, Winner-Campas
Brian's-Hernandez, Me-Hernandez, Winner-No Contest (but Hernandez looked terrible)
Brian's-Angulo, Me-Angulo, Winner-Angulo
Brian's-Kirkland, Me-Kirkland, Winner-Kirkland
Brian's-Maldonado, Me-Donaire, Winner-Donaire
Brian's-Tarver, Me-Tarver, Winner-Tarver
Brian's-Forrest, Me-Forrest, Winner-Forrest

The Campas fight ended in a knockout, Vela looked terrible. Campas also looked slow, but he did enough body punching to get rid of Vela. Angulo made short work of Ter-Meliksetian, becoming only the second guy to knock him down and out. The Kirkland Conyers fight was great, if short. Conyers went down, got up and put Kirkland down, then got knocked out. What a fight. Donaire looked get getting rid of a game Maldonado, Tarver and Forrest also both won easily. The Brian's went 5-1 and I went 6-0.
Lots of fights this weekend, building to a real landmark bout on Saturday. I am stoked! We start on Thursday night with a Versus card. The co-feature is a 10 round Light Middleweight bout with Sergio Gabriel Martinez and Russell Jordan. Martinez was born in Quilmes, Argentina and fights out of Madrid. He is 40-1-1 and 32 years old. He is pretty much unknown here in the US. His last fight, in October, he beat an awful Pavel Florin Madalin by retirement in the 4th out of 6. I have never seen him fight and he has only fought two fighters of note, losing seven years ago to a young Antonio Margarito and beating a good if not great Saul Roman in April in a title eliminator. He is ranked 6th in the Active Light Middleweight rankings and 16th in the All-Time ratings. Jordan fights out of Rochester, NY. He is 14-4-0 and is 25. His last fight he won a unanimous decision over noname Alphonso Williams at the beginning of November. I have seen him fight a couple of times, but not memorably. He lost to James Kirkland, Oscar Diaz, and Allen Conyers and he has never beaten anybody of note. He is ranked 69th in the Active Light Middleweight rankings and 128th in the All-Time ratings. This is a guy trying to get some notice in the US and attempting it by beating up on a decent-but-not-good guy. The Brian's take Martinez 968.3 over Jordan 705.2. I'll take Martinez as well.
The main event on Versus features Andrey Tsurkan vs. Yuri Foreman in a 10 round Light Middleweight bout. Tsurkan was born in Lugansk, Ukraine and fights out of the Bronx. He is 25-2-0 and 30 years old. He has won his last four fights by knockout, including his last against a journeyman Sammy Sparkman in April. I have seen him fight twice during that span, but nothing stands out a bout him. He beat Hector Camacho, Jr., but he lost to Kuvanych Toygonbayev. Those are the best two names on his record. He is ranked 65th in the All-Time Light Middleweight rankings and 29th in the active ratings. Foreman was born in Gomel, Belarus and fights out of Brooklyn. He is 23-0-0 and 27 years old. He won a split decision over a good Anthony Thompson in June. I saw that fight, but nothing stands out about it. Other than Thompson the only name on his record is Donnie McCrary, whom he also beat. He is ranked 136th in the All-Time Middleweight rankings and 16 in the Active ratings. Essentially we have two Eastern European guys, trying to increase their profiles. Both on the way up, but with fairly low ceilings, I don't see either one of these guys winning a title. The Brian's pick Foreman 888.1 over Tsurkan 825.0. I will also take Foreman.
Now we move to Friday and the Telefutura card. We start that with John Murray vs. Miguel Angel Munguia in a 10 round Lightweight bout. Murray was born and fights out of Manchester, England. He is 22-0-0 and 22 years old. He has won his last three by knockout, including one against an unknown Dean Hickman in early November. I have never seen him fight and he hasn't fought anybody of note. He is ranked 100th in the All-Time Lightweight rankings and 29 in the Active ratings. Munguia was born and fights out of Mexico City. He is 16-9-1 and 25 years old. In his last fight, he upset Jose Diaz with a unanimous decision in early November. He has fought and lost to Jorge Lacierva, Jason Litzau, and Vicente Escobedo before beating Diaz. I saw the Diaz fight but it was more about Diaz looking bad than Munguia looking good. He is ranked 83rd in the All-Time Featherweight rankings and 72nd in the active ratings. This looks like a guy coming over to capitalize on the Ricky Hatton fan base fighting a guy he can look good against and go back home with his record intact and a little more coin in his pocket. The Brian's put this at Murray 816.9 over Munguia 554.3. I see no reason to disagree, Murray big.
In the main event we have Bronco McKart vs. Enrique Ornelas in a 12 round Middleweight rematch. McKart was born and fights out of Monroe, MI. He is 51-7-0 and 36 years old. In his last fight he won a split decision over Ornelas in August. He has been around for a long time and held the Light Middleweight belt for a time before he lost it to Winky Wright. I have seen him fight 3 times, losing to Travis Simms and Kelly Pavlik in addition to the first Ornelas fight. He is more of a strong tough plugger than an accomplished boxer. He keeps coming, takes out opposition he is better than, but doesn't have the extra gear to get out the better fighters. In addition to those mentioned, he lost to Verno Phillips, Kenny Ellis, and Winky Wright two more times. He is ranked 80th on the All-Time Middleweight rankings and 10th in the Active rankings. Ornelas was born in Jesus Del Monte, Mexico and fights out of La Habra, CA. He is 25-4-0 and 27 years old. He also has not fought since losing the split decision to McKart in August. I have seen him fight three times and he is also unspectacular, though, being younger, has a bit more potential for improvement than McKart. The only other name in the ballpark with McKart that he has fought was Sam Soliman, also a loss. He is ranked 175 in the All-Time ratings and 31st in the Active ratings. This is clearly one guy looking for revenge from a fight he thought he should have won over a guy he thought was washed up and the other guy still clinging to being decent. The Brian's have McKart 922.9 over Ornelas 800.0. I think they're right, McKart in another close one.
Now on to Saturday, a three fight undercard starting with Edner Cherry vs. Wes Ferguson in a 10 round Lightweight rematch. Cherry was born in Nassau, The Bahamas and fights out of Wauchula, FL. he is 22-5-2 and 25 years old. In his last fight, he won a unanimous decision over Ferguson, in June. I have seen him fight five times. He still seems a bit raw, but he is a good puncher and keeps coming forward. In addition to Ferguson, he beat Monty Meza Clay, Daniel Alicea, and Jaime Rangel and lost to Ricky Quiles, Jose Armando Santa Cruz, and Paul Malignaggi. He is ranked 31st in the Active Lightweight ratings and 102nd in the All-Time ratings. Ferguson was born in Flint, MI and fights out of Las Vegas. He is 17-2-1 and 22 years old. His last fight was a quick TKO of journeyman Sammy Ventura in September. I have only seen him fight once and he was not spectacular. Cherry is the best guy he has fought, though he also fought and beat Josesito Lopez and Silverio Ortiz. He is ranked 51st in the Active Lightweight rankings and 130th in the All-Time ratings. Again, this is a guy trying to get revenge against somebody he thought he should have beaten. In this case, however, I think Cherry totally outclassed him and I expect the same thing again. The Brian's take Cherry 813.8 over Ferguson 753.7 and I will also take Cherry.
Fight number two features Jeff Lacy vs. Peter Manfredo in a 10 round Super Middleweight bout. Lacy was born and fights out of St. Petersburg, FL. He is 22-1-0 and 30 years old. His last fight was over a year ago, winning a majority decision over a suspect Vitali Tsypko. His fight before that was his only loss, a total destruction by Joe Calzaghe in March of 06, 21 months ago. He fought in the 1996 Olympic Trials and the 2000 Olympics. I have seen him fight 7 times. Prior to the Calzaghe fight, he looked like a world beater. Very strong, heavy hands, an action fighter, good speed. But Calzaghe totally dominated him and I think his confidence took a hit. He did not look anywhere near as good against Tsypko. He has also been hurt, so maybe now, healthy that confidence will be back. He has held a Super Middleweight bout in has career and he has fought some good opponenets, Scott Pemberton, Robin Reid, Rubin WIlliams, Omar Sheika, Syd Vanderpool, and James Crawford to name a few. He is ranked 12 in the All-Time Super Middleweight ratings and 5th in the Active ratings. Manfredo was born in Providence, RI and fights out of Pawtucket, RI. He is 28-4-0 and 27 years old. He is probably best known as runner-up in the first season of The Contender. His last fight was a unanimous decision over David Banks in June. I have seen him fight 11 times. He is a good puncher, a decent boxer, a pretty good fighter, but he is still not a great. He has fought lots of Contender types, Sergio Mora beat him twice, he split with Alfonso Gomez, he beat Anthony Bonsante. He has also beaten some decent guys, Scott Pemberton, Joe Spina, Sherwin Davis. He also got into the ring with Joe Calzaghe way before he was ready and got torn up in a fight he had no shot in (but was still stopped early). He is ranked 37 in the All-Time Super Middleweight ratings and 22nd in the Active ratings. Once again, Peter Manfredo looks to have bitten off a bit more than he can chew, fighting a top notch competitor before he is ready. But, Lacy may still be off his game, in which case, Manfredo might pull off the upset. The Brian's put it at Lacy 950.1 over Manfredo 884.5. I don't think Lacy is all the way back, but I think he is back enough. I take Lacy.
The last prelim will be Daniel Ponce De Leon vs. Eduardo Escobedo in a 12 round fight for Ponce De Leon's Super Bantamweight title. Ponce de Leon was born in Cuauhtemoc, Mexico and fights out of Huntington Park, CA. His last fight was a 5-round KO of a good Reynaldo Lopez in a non title fight in September. He has won 7 of his last 9 by knockout. He fought for Mexico in the 2000 Olympics. I have seen him fight 8 times and he is a big puncher and a decent boxer. His real strength is his power. He has fought some good folks, Lopez, Rey Bautista, Gerry Penalosa, Sod Looknongyangtoy twice, Gerson Guerrero, Emmanuel Lucero, to name a few of his recent conquests. He is rated 3rd All-Time in the Featherweight ratings and number 1 in the Active ratings. He is also 23rd in the Active Lb. 4 Lb. ratings. Escobedo was born in Mexico City and fights out of Jarrell, TX. He is 20-2-0 and 23 years old. His last fight was a 6 round TKO over a good Jose Francisco Mendoza. I have seen him fight twice and he is also a big puncher, though he has not fought the quality of opposition that Ponce de Leon has fought. In fact, Mendoza is the only decent guy on his record. He is currently ranked 58th in the All-Time Featherweight ratings and 22nd in the Active ratings. This is two power punchers coming after each other. It should be an exciting fight and a short one. The Brian's take Ponce De Leon 1031.7 over Escobedo 802.0. I agree, Ponce de Leon ends it early.
Now the Main Event: Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton in a 12 round Welterweight title bout. Mayweather was born in Grand Rapids, MI and fights out of Las Vegas. He is 38-0-0 and 30 years old. In his last fight he won a split decision over Oscar De La Hoya in May. He won a bronze medal in the 1996 Olympics. He has held a title at Light Middleweight, Welterweight, Light Welterweight, Lightweight, and Super Featherweight. I have seen him fight 10 times, including his last eight. He is an all-time great. He has great defense, often electing to sit in close without tying up, dodging and counterpunching. He has very good control of the ring and he showed good power at the lower weight classes but hasn't shown a ton at Welter or above. He still packs a wallop, though. He has fought the cream of the crop, De La Hoya, Carlos Baldomir, Zab Judah, Sharmba Mitchell, Jose Luis Castillo, Diego Corrales, Genaro Hernandez, and many more. He is currently ranked number 1 in the All-Time and Active Light Middleweight rankings and he is currently Pound for Pound Number 1 and 24th All-Time Pound for Pound. Ricky Hatton was born in Stockport, England and fights out of Machester. He is 43-0-0 and 29 years old. His last fight was a brutal knockout of Jose Luis Castillo in June. I have seen him fight 5 times. He is an all pressure fighter, always coming forward and throwing tremendous body shots. He usually comes in gets off a couple of punches and then ties up. He seems to have boundless energy and a very strong punch, especially to the body. He is also a top shelf talent. He has held the Welter and Light Welterweight titles. He has fought plenty of quality opposition, but not quite the star studded roster of Mayweather. Castillo, Luis Collazo, Carlos Maussa, Kostya Tszyu, Dennis Pedersen, to name a few, have all fallen to his mighty blows. He is currently ranked 4th All-Time in the Light Welterweight ratings and number 1 in the Active ratings. He is also 4th in the Active Pound for Pound ratings. This should be a great fight. Hatton will come forward and look to batter Mayweather's body to prevent him from going anywhere. Mayweather will look to counter and avoid Hatton's biggest shots. I think Mayweather will get pushed to the limit but Hatton hasn't been as good at Welterweight as he was at the lighter weights. The Brian's say Mayweather 1184.4 over Hatton 1132.2. I am gonna go out on a limb and take Hatton in the upset.
So, in review, the Brian's pick
Martinez---------------I pick Martinez
Foreman---------------I pick Foreman
Murray----------------I pick Murray
McKart----------------I pick McKart
Cherry-----------------I pick Cherry
Lacy-------------------I pick Lacy
Ponce de Leon----------I pick Ponce de Leon
Mayweather, Jr.--------I pick Hatton
Should be a great Saturday card, check it out.