SCORE UPDATE, WAIVER OPTIONS and COMMENTS

Standings
OPTION A:
1. Simply Juanderful......5
2. Hitmen.........................1

OPTION B:
1. Simply Juanderful.......6.5
2. Hitmen...........................1

OPTION C:
1. Simply Juanderful........51
2. Hitmen...........................16


WAIVER OPTIONS (I propose that if desired, people can drop and pick up fighters)
Available fighters:
Samuel Peter, Vitali Klitschko, Steve Cunningham, Antonio Tarver, Roy Jones, Glen Johnson, Zsolt Erdei, Bernard Hopkins, Anthony Mundine, Lucian Bute, Felix Sturm, Vernon Forrest, Oscar DeLa Hoya, Shane Mosley, Andre Berto, Joshua Clottey, Paulie Malignaggi, Timothy Bradley, Nate Campbell, Edwin Valero, Robert Guerrero, Rafael Marquez, Jorge Arce, Fernando Montiel, Cristian Mijares, Nonito Donaire, Vic Darchinyan, Daisuke Naito, Ivan Calderon.

COMMENTS: The league is a bit tough to follow, without events happening frequently. However, by December, every team will have had at least 2 fights. Simply Juanderful will not have this much of a lead for long.

Paul Williams take Bri to a Commanding Lead

With his devestating 1st round KO of Andy Kolle, Paul Williams racks up some more points for the 1st place team, Simply Juanderful. Williams looked dominant last night as he landed crushing shots and knocked out his overmatched opponent with a booming right hook. Williams gains: OPTION A = 2 pts OPTION B= 1.5 pts and OPTION C = 17 pts with the victory. BWhit's team moves to 3-0, rivaled only by Jay's Hitmen who stand undefeated at 1-0.

Upcoming Fights

For anyone who is checking the blog, there are fights coming up:

BRI'S TEAM: Simply Juanderful
-Paul Williams fights on SEPTEMBER 25th against Andy Kolle
-Juan Manuel Lopez fights OCTOBER 4th against Cesar Figueroa

JEFF'S TEAM: The Impregnable Impetuous Children Eaters
-Arthur Abraham fights OCTOBER 4th against Raul Marquez
-Chad Dawson fights OCTOBER 11th against Antonio Tarver
-Mikkel Kessler fights OCTOBER 25th against Danilo Haussler

MARK'S TEAM: Knuckle Sandwich
-Chris John fights OCTOBER 24th against Hirayuko Enoki
-Manny Pacquiao fights DECEMBER 6th against Oscar DeLaHoya

JAY'S TEAM: The Hitmen
-Kelly Pavlik fights OCTOBER 18th against Bernard Hopkins
-Ricky Hatton fights NOVEMBER 22nd against Paulie Malignaggi

JOEL'S TEAM: Larry Merchant's Vodka Breath
-Joe Calzaghe fights NOVEMBER 8th against Roy Jones Jr.
-Jermain Taylor fights NOVEMBER 15th against Jeff Lacy
-Wladimir Klitschko fights DECEMBER 13th against Alexander Povetkin

Results from Last Night: Marquez a big winner

Juan Manuel Marquez made a very successful debut in the Lightweight Division last night by knocking out Linear (Ring Magazine) Champion Joel Casamayor in the 11th round. The fight was a two-sided, tactical battle early on but Marquez began to assert his superiority in the 2nd half of the 12-round contest. Marquez' performance earns him the highest point totals seen in our league so far.

OPTION A = 2 pts. OPTION B = 3 pts. OPTION C= 20 pts.

CURRENT STANDINGS:

OPTION A:

1. Simply Juanderful.........3 pts
2. The Hitmen....................1 pt
3. Vodka Breath.................0
4. Children Eaters..............0
5. Knuckle Sandwich.........0

OPTION B:

1. Simply Juanderful.............5 pts
2. The Hitmen........................1 pt
3. Children Eaters...................0
4. Vodka Breath.......................0
5. Knuckle Sandwich................0

OPTION C:

1. Simply Juanderful..............34 pts
2. The Hitmen.........................16 pts
3. Children Eaters....................0
4. Vodka Breath........................0
5. Knuckle Sandwich................0

MAJOR LETDOWN

This just in: The Hitmen's Joan Guzman has pulled out of his fight with Nate Campbell tonight. Guzman claims he is too dehydrated from his failed effort to make weight for the fight. Campbell keeps the title but can't be happy. The Hitmen gain no points and Guzman loses a lot of credit among fight fans for this one.

Updates for Sept 13 fights (LEAGUE IMPLICATIONS)

From Simply Juanderful, Juan Manuel Marquez made weight for his clash with Lightweight Champion Joel Casamayor. The fight promises to be a good one, with both veterans standing a very good chance of hearing the final bell on their feet. I expect Marquez to use his superior skill to win a tactical fight.

For The Hitmen, the news was not so good from yesterday's weigh-in. Joan Guzman, the undefeated Dominican star, was 3 1/2 lbs heavy for his Lightweight Title fight with Nate Campbell. Given that Guzman has just moved up from the 130 lb. division, weighing 138.5 for this fight is not a good sign. Because of his excessive weight, Guzman will not be able to capture the titles tonight although the fight will go on. Although I have been picking Guzman to win in my head up til now, I am changing my pick. Nate Campbell is in better shape, is more comfortable with the weight and has the pride of a reigning champion. Campbell by decision.

As promised....

Here are some grotesque pics of Saturday night's action. Excuse the lack of quality, as I just took pics of the images on my TV (although it is in HD).


Jorge Barrios' lip hanging off



close-up of the lip. Vile. Looks like someone took a box cutter to it.



Katsidis' face. Gatti-esque.

Ironically, the two winners of those fights, Rocky Juarez and Juan Diaz, suffered similarly terrible cuts over their eyes in their previous bouts (which were both losses), very early in those fights, which severely hampered their chances of winning.


In other news.....

In the 115-lb division, one of the best fights to be made, was made. Go figure. Pound-for-pound superstar Cristian Mijares will do battle with newly crowned champ Vic Darchinyan, who spent most of his career at 112 lbs. That fight will go off on November 1, on Showtime. For the record, my favorite Darchinyan moment was his only defeat, at the hands of Nonito Donaire. Watch this (action happens at 1:00).

*

Last night's action and Score Update

Juan Diaz beat Michael Katsidis in a rugged 12-round affair, edging him on two of the three judges scorecards. With the win, BWhit and Simply Juanderful join Jay and The Hitmen at 1-0.

CURRENT STANDINGS:

OPTION A:
1. The Hitmen...............1 point
1. Simply Juanderful....1 point
2. Children Eaters.........0
2. Vodka Breath............0
2. Knuckle Sandwich.....0

OPTION B:
1. Simply Juanderful.....2 points
2. The Hitmen................1 point
3. Children Eaters..........0
3. Vodka Breath..............0
3. Knuckle Sandwich.......0

OPTION C:
1. The Hitmen...............16 pts
2. Simply Juanderful....14 pts
3. Children Eaters...........0
3. Vodka Breath..............0
3. Knuckle Sandwich.......0

Diaz SD12 Katsidis

Juan Diaz outpointed Michael Katsidis via split decision in an oddly scored bout.....odd in that Juan dominated the fight and left Katdisis' face mangled beyond repair. Hard to believe one of the judges saw Kats winning the fight....ah boxing. you gotta love it. Anyway, the SD screws me out of 2 points in the fantasy league (using the modified B Whit System)! However, this cements Diaz's return to the lightweight elite. He will likely get another big name fight next.

More on that later. here is the ESPN story (of course not on the front page...but the UFC card is).

In the HBO lidlifter, Rocky Juarez stopped Jorge Barrios in the 11th round thanks to another gruesome cut, which appeared to be a big tear in Barrios' upper lip. Eww. I'll take a pic of my TV with his face on there, thats the best I can do.

In other lightweight news, one of the top prospects in all of boxing, British lightweight Amir Khan was knocked out in under a minute, suffering his first pro career defeat. Huge upset in the boxing world. This would be like the Rams beating the Eagles on Sunday. here is the Khan fight in its entirety.

Juan Diaz vs. Michael Katsidis - This Saturday!

Yes that's right, after a month-long Cotto-Margarito hangover, we're finally back with some real boxing action. Let us harken back to March 2008, one of the great boxing months in recent memory. The month was highlighted by 2 mega-fights, which saw both Marquez brothers lose by a single point in split decisions. On March 1, Israel Vazquez beat Rafael Marquez in Part III of their trilogy, thanks to a furious Vazquez rally in the 12th, where he knocked Marquez down with about 10 seconds to go in the fight. That is widely considered to be Fight of the Year so far. A close runner-up in my book took place on March 15, where Manny Pacquiao outpointed Juan Manuel Marquez by the slimmest of margins, in another all action brawl that saw both guys get busted up pretty badly.

But there were 2 other outstanding fights that month, both in the lightweight division. On March 8, Juan Diaz lost his 3 lightweight belts in a split decision upset to Nate Campbell, in which Diaz suffered a gruesome cut over his left eye. Then on March 22, Joel Casamayor got up from being knocked out of the ring by Michael Katsidis to score a 10th round TKO in a great back-and-forth fight (Casa knocked Katsidis down twice in the 1st round, then Katsidis knocked Casa through the ropes in the 8th).

And now, this coming Saturday, we have Diaz vs. Katsidis - the two men coming off their first career losses in those two lightweight fights will square off in what promises to be another Fight of the Year candidate. Not to mention, Diaz represents our own Simply Juanderful, as they try to score their first points of the league.

That's this Saturday, Sept 6, at 10:15pm on HBO, preceded by a junior lightweight clash between rugged veterans Rocky Juarez and Jorge Barrios.