10 Fights into the League: COMPLETE STANDINGS

With each team having sent a fighter into the ring, we now have some good information to put together. Each team has a victory, and the combined record of drafted fighters is 9-1 with 5 KOs.

OPTION A: 1. Simply Juanderful 7, Children Eaters 3, Vodka Breath 2, Knuckle Sandwich 1, Hitmen 0.
OPTION B: 1. Simply Juanderful 8, Children Eaters 3.5, Vodka Breath 3, Knuckle Sandwich 2, Hitmen -1.
OPTION C: 1. Simply Juanderful 69, Children Eaters 35, Hitmen 19, Vodka Breath 18, Knuckle Sandwich 15.

PER FIGHT AVGs:
Simply Juanderful......OPTION A = 1.75, OPTION B = 2.0, OPTION C = 17.25
Children Eaters..........OPTION A = 1.5, OPTION B = 1.75, OPTION C = 17.5
Vodka Breath..............OPTION A = 2.0, OPTION B = 3.0, OPTION C = 18.0
Knuckle Sandwich.......OPTION A = 1.0, OPTION B = 2.0, OPTION C = 15.0
The Hitmen..................OPTION A = 0.0, OPTION B = -0.5, OPTION C = 9.5

I would propose that Options A and C do not properly reflect the value of accomplishment in a fight all the time. For example, Paul William's nearly meaningless KO of Andy Kolle was 2 pts in Option A, while Chad Dawson's hard-earned win over Antonio Tarver was only 1 pt. Also, Option C favored Williams over Dawson, 18 pts to 17 pts. Juan Diaz' hard-earned win over Michael Katsidis was only 14 pts in Option C, while Mikkel Kessler's win over Danilo "I don't really deserve a title shot" Haussler was worth 18 pts. Just putting in a plug for using Option B as the scoring system, although I do like looking at the higher numbers of Option C.

The top 3 performances by any fighter in our league so far:
1. Juan Manuel Marquez KO11 Joel Casamayor
2. Vitali Klitschko KO 8 Samuel Peter
3. Chad Dawson W 12 Antonio Tarver

The Viking Warrior: Mikkel Kessler wins by KO in the 3rd

Mikkel Kessler made short work of outmatched opponent Danilo Haussler, stopping him in the 3rd round after a knockdown. The Impregnable Impetuous Children Eaters earn OPTION A= 2pts, OPTION B= 1.5 pts, OPTION C= 18 pts

Super Middleweights - big weekend

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In addition to Knuckle Sandwich's big victory (see below), I should mention that it's also a big weekend in the super middleweight division.

For those of you with Showtime, there is a great title fight on TONIGHT. IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (22-0, 18KO) defends against Librado Andrade (27-1, 21KO). The fight will take place in Bute's hometown of Montreal, where he is huge. The broadcast begins at 11pm, and I'll have the DVR rolling.

This should be a highly entertaining bout. Bute is a powerful puncher who has steamrolled his competition, but he faces the most stern test of his career tonight vs Andrade. Don't expect a KO because Andrade has a chin of steel. His only loss was vs Mikkel Kessler last March....

and speaking of Kessler (40-1, 30KO), he will represent Jeff's Impetuous Impregnable Children Eaters tomorrow night in a WBA super middleweight title defense against the likely overmatched Danilo Haussler in a fight which will take place off American TV in Germany. Kessler has been mostly dormant since his first career loss vs. Joe Calzaghe almost a year ago...he picked up the vacant WBA title in his only fight since then vs. the obscure Dimitri Sartison.

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Knuckle Sandwich Scores

Well, all teams in the fantasy league are now on the board. Mark's first fighter to step into the ring, Chris John, won a Unanimous Decision, defending his WBA Featherweight Title against a qualified challenger with the last name Enoki. Mark scores: OPTION A= 1 pt. OPTION B= 2 pts. OPTION C = 15pts. with the win.

The Ghost of Middleweight Past: Bernard Hopkins UD12 Kelly Pavlik

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Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KO) took Pavlik (34-1, 30 KO) behind the woodshed on Saturday night in Atlantic City, and handed the middleweight champ the first defeat of his pro career, with a lopsided unanimous decision victory in this 170-lb fight. The judges' scorecards read 119-106, 118-108, and 117-109. Since both men were deducted 1 point for various fouls during the fight, this means that the judges combined to only give Pavlik 3 out of a possible 36 rounds. And I think they were being generous. You could have easily made a case for BHop winning all 12 rounds. I do not think Pavlik hit Hopkins with a meaningful power shot the entire night, while Hopkins potshotted "The Ghost" all night, throwing and hitting Pavlik flush with relative ease. Pavlik had never seen hand speed, nor defense, like he saw from the Executioner on Saturday.

It was a virtuoso performance from the old man, remeniscant of his coming-of-age victory over Felix Trinidad 7 years ago, or his thrashing of Antonio Tarver 2 years ago. But this was even more special. Hopkins was about a 4-to-1 betting underdog. Even this boxing writer predicted a Pavlik victory (a KO no less!). As it turned out, Pavlik was lucky to avoid getting knocked out, as he was wobbled several times during the fight, including the 12th round, which was maybe BHop's most dominant.

Many chided the middleweight champ for taking this fight. The Pavlik camp pretty much said that there was no one else to fight, unless you wanted them to take a "meaningless" mandatory fight, which they already did in June vs. Gary Lockett (who was destroyed by Pavlik). Other fights were discussed, but nothing materialized until the opportunity to fight Hopkins came along, and they took it. A $4 million pay day, and a chance to fight perhaps the greatest middleweight champ of all time.

It turned out to be a stylistic nightmare for Pavlik. They might have thought that Hopkins (who averaged about 20 punches throw per round in his loss to Joe Calzaghe in April) couldn't hurt Pavlik, that Kelly would win based on sheer number of punches thrown. But if you would have told me before the fight that Hopkins was going to outthrow AND outland Pavlik... I would have thrown you out of the league. If you care, the final punchstats were as follows:

Hopkins: 530 thrown, 172 landed (32%)
Pavlik: 462 thrown, 108 landed (23%)

Most of Pavlik's punches landed were jabs that Hopkins seem to easily slip. While Hopkins left Pavlik's face bloodied and swollen. It was one of the most improbable results in recent boxing memory, and perhaps the defining moment of a surefire Hall of Fame career.

Where do they go from here? Hopkins called out Roy Jones after the fight...Jones fights Calzaghe on a couple weeks, and if RJ hands the Welshman his first loss, then we very much could be looking at a mega-fight rematch between two past-their-prime Hall of Famers. Even if Jones loses, the Hopkins fight could still come off, as BHop definitely wants some revenge from their first fight, a Jones unanimous decision victory way back in 1993 before both were even in their prime. And Calzaghe has basically said he won't give Hopkins a rematch, so forget about that.

As for Pavlik, he has to look at this as a lesson learned. He was definitely exposed as a fighter who will have trouble vs someone who moves as well laterally as Hopkins. The good news is, he's probably not going to see anyone with Hopkins' skill set anytime soon, AND he is still the middleweight champ. He has a mandatory title defense coming up vs. Marco Antonio Rubio, who won an exciting fight on the undercard. Rubio is a straight-ahead fighter who definitely is there to be hit. In other words, the perfect opponent for Pavlik to get back on track. But looming ahead at some point down the road, is the other consensus Top 2 middleweight in the world, Arthur Abraham. AA has a defensive style which is very tough to crack. At this point, it would not be a stretch to say Pavlik will be an underdog in that fight. But it will be a HUGE middleweight unification fight if/when it happens.

In terms of league implications, this is the first loss for a fighter in our league, as Pavlik's team, The Hitmen fall to 1-1, with 0 KOs and 1 DNMW (did not make weight).


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FIRST INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

1. Juan Manuel Marquez (1-0) 1 KO Simply Juanderful
2. Vitali Klitschko (1-0) 1KO LM's Vodka Breath
3. Juan Manuel Lopez (1-0) 1KO Simply Juanderful
4. Paul Williams (1-0) 1KO Simply Juanderful
5. Chad Dawson (1-0) 0KO Children Eater's
6. Nikolay Valuev (1-0) 0KO The Hitmen
7. Juan Diaz (1-0) 0KO Simply Juanderful

Impressive Wins for Chad Dawson (Eaters) and Vitali Klitschko (Vodka)

With the confusion regarding the actual fighting weights of Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe, in my mind Saturday's Light Heavyweight Championship fight between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver was the biggest showdown in the division since Tarver and Roy Jones fought their rematch in 2004 (Tarver winning by shocking KO in round 2). Last night, "Bad" Chad Dawson proved he has the speed, the skill and the heart to be considered one of boxing's best. Dawson put on a far more dominant performance than he did against Glen Johnson in April. Although Tarver landed a few sporadic lefts, this was Dawson's night and he prevailed by unanimous decision. Dawson even knocked Tarver down in the 12th. OPTION A= 1 pt. OPTION B= 2 pts. OPTION C = 17 pts. Jeff's team is off to a good start.

In the evening's other major bout, Vitali Klitschko returned from a 4-year-layoff to completely dominate Samuel Peter for the WBC Heavyweight Title. Klitschko stood at a distance, moving in a subtle fashion, and slammed jabs and hooks into Peter's face. After 8 rounds of one-sided battering, Peter quit on his stool and Klitschko is champion again. And, if I must say so myself, this ended up being an excellent acquisition by Larry Merchant's Vodka Breath. OPTION A= 2 pts. OPTION B = 3 pts. OPTION C = 18 pts.

STANDINGS:

OPTION A: Simply Juanderful 7, Vodka Breath 2, Hitmen 1, Children Eaters 1

OPTION B: Simply Juanderful 8, Vodka Breath 3, Children Eaters 2, Hitmen 1

OPTION C: Simply Juanderful 69, Vodka Breath 18, Children Eaters 17, Hitmen 16

WAIVER LIMIT?

Mark raised a good point. If we're going to be able to grab guys off waivers, could it be unlimited? I think maybe 5 add/drops for the year would be a good limit. I also like Mark's idea about points per fight. In that case, Bri still leads all 3 scoring options.

OPTION A: Bri 1.75, Jay 1.0, rest of us nothing
OPTION B: Bri 2.0, Jay 1.0, rest of us nothing
OPTION C: Bri 17.25, Jay 16.0, rest of us nothing

A Roster Move....I'm Shaking Things Up

I am hereby claiming Vitali Klitschko off of Waivers and dropping Joe Calzaghe. I am doing this for three reasons: 1. I want to have a fighter step into the ring already! 2. I believe Vitali Klitschko is going to score a nice win over Samuel Peter. 3. I'm not all that certain that Calzaghe will handle Roy Jones.

JUAN More and Jeff's Disappointment

Juan Manuel Lopez scored another win for the dominant Simply Juanderful squad, annihilating overmatched Cesar Figueroa in the 1st round. Although impressive in victory, "Juanma" clearly did something retarded afterwards as evidenced by this picture (above).

In other news, Jeff's Arthur Abraham proclaimed himself to be sick just hours before his fight with Raul Marquez. Then his management team released a picture of him in bed so it seems legit. Maybe it is. Either way, here's a weak looking "King Arthur" looking grumpy.