First of all thanks to JB for this wonderful idea. Now I will proceed to rip his team to pieces. j/k it's not that bad.
With his first pick, the #5 overall, he selected consensus p4p #2 in the world, the undefeated super middleweight and light heavyweight champion Joe Calzaghe of Wales. Calzaghe has long dominated the super middleweight (168 lb) division, mostly cleaning out all of Europe. He is widely considered to be one of the best fighters in the world because he won most of his toughest fights in such dominant fashion, in particular vs. Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler. Also, he never fought in the U.S. until his split decision win over Bernard Hopkins back in April. That was a rather boring bout in which he was actually knocked down by the old man in the 1st round. With the win, Calz added the universally recognized 175 lb championship to his 168 lb title. Joe next faces off against Roy Jones Jr, a man several years past his prime, on November 8. (I should note that Jones's last fight was a easy decision win over a faded Tito Trinidad in January). Also, Calzaghe spurned an opportunity to fight middleweight king Kelly Pavlik, so it appears he is now officially on boxing's seniors tour. However, a win over Jones, and a Pavlik win over Hopkins in October, and we could see the two pasty white unbeaten stars face off in a mega-fight sometime in 2009.
In terms of fantasy value, Calzaghe is expected to beat Jones, although some say RJJ poses more of a threat to him than Hopkins did. However, it is unlikely that he would KO Jones. Also a fight vs. Pavlik would probably be a toss-up, so I'm not sure if Calz is a worthy 1st round fantasy pick.
JB came right back with pick #6 and selected Antonio Margarito, who is one of the hottest names in boxing right now after becoming the undisputed welterweight king after KOing Miguel Cotto a couple weeks ago. Marg is not known as a great tactician of the game, and he is prone to take some flush shots to the face, but his M.O. is his chin, his balls, and his unrelenting offensive attack, often throwing upwards of 100 punches per round, an output that few opponents can withstand. In recent days, Marg has been trying to win the de la Hoya sweepstakes by calling out the fishnet-wearing tranny every chance he can get. However, it's unlikely that Oscar will choose to face someone as dangerous as the Tijuana Tornado for his farewell bout (instead he will likely opt for Manny Pacquiao, who is dangerous, but he's toiled as low as 105 lbs early in his career). So now promoter Bob Arum is trying to get Marg a fight for November 1, and the name Joshua Clottey has been mentioned, and that fight could take place in Dodger Stadium, headlining a huge PPV show. Marg won a UD over Clottey back in December of 06 in a bout which was tougher than expected.
Fantasy value: The fact that Margarito is coming right back and will likely fight again this year is a good thing. However, his style is definitely high risk/high reward. Margarito is not going to be outworked, but he could be outboxed and if he faces someone who holds up to his vicious onslaught better than Cotto, it's not out of the question that he could be defeated. All in all, a good choice though, as Arum will likely not put Marg in too much danger, as they will probably try to build up to a rematch with Cotto next summer.
Next up was 3rd-rounder Wladimir Klitschko, the man universally recognized as the best heavyweight in the world. "Dr. Steelhammer" has not endeared himself to hardcore fans though, as he has been unimpressive in recent bouts. A unification victory over Sultan Ibragimov back on Feb 23 was one of the most boring piece of crap fights in history. In fact, to call this a fight would be an insult to the sissy slap fights that Jeff and Joel used to have back in the Decatur schoolyard. However, much of the apathy about Wlad's heavyweight reign can be attributed to the lack of quality opposition out there for him. On the horizon lies some intriguing opponents. He has a mandatory fight vs. unbeaten Russian gold medalist Alexander Povetkin due. Whether he'll take that fight next remains to be seen, as he could opt for another tomato can that will make him huge money on German TV. And at some point down the line, if the heavyweight division is ever to be unified, he'll likely find himself in the opposite corner of Samuel Peter, who is considered the world's #2 heavyweight. Wlad already handed Peter his only defeat a few years ago, in a bout in which Peter knocked him down 3x. Other than that, Wlad dominated him en route to a UD. The other name that comes to mind is undisputed cruiserweight champion David Haye, who is moving up to heavyweight. "The Hayemaker" has been calling out Wlad, saying he's going to clean up the division. However Haye has a lot to prove before he gets a shot at the big dog.
Fantasy value: Wlad will likely fight at least twice in the next calendar year, and there is really no one on the horizon who poses much of a threat to him. As the comp gets a little more difficult, he may not score KOs, but he should be able to do what he's been doing for the past few years, out-jabbing his opponents and using his size advantage to score rather easy wins. The only name on the horizon who I think could beat Wlad now is Sam Peter.... and I don't see that fight happening any time soon.
With the first pick of the last round, JB went with Jermain "Bad Intentions" Taylor. Taylor is at a crossroad, coming off the first two losses of his career, both to the man who took his middleweight crown, Kelly Pavlik. He's now facing his 2000 Olympic teammate Jeff Lacy on Nov 15, which should be a good comeback fight for Taylor, as Lacy is likely on the down side of his career. It remains to be seen if the Pavlik fights ruined Taylor, although it was a good sign that Taylor came back in the February 08 rematch and fought well, but losing a UD, after being brutally KOd by "The Ghost" in Sept 07. After Lacy, Taylor will probably get a title bout in the super middleweight division, but he might not want to jump in with another dangerous fighter for a while... one name thrown out there as a potential 2009 opponent is unbeaten British rising star Carl Froch.
In terms of JT's fantasy value, he hasn't been known as a KO puncher for a while, and in fact has no KO wins in his last 7 fights (the last one was Feb 05 vs. Daniel Edouard). However, he did knock Pavlik down in their first fight, and if a less tolerant ref than the great Steve Smoger was the 3rd man in the ring that night, Taylor could have scored a 2nd round TKO and the landscape of boxing as we know it would be completely different. However, I expect Taylor to beat Lacy rather easily, and if so he should be on the path toward a title at super middleweight.
