The Biggest Fight of the Year

Let's face it.  Superfights these days are rare.  Most popular fighters are content to "star" in boxing "shows", where they're pitted against a beatable opponent.  Wladimir Klitschko is notorious for such a thing.  So was Floyd Mayweather.  So are many other champions.

But on Saturday night we have a good match-up between two fighters who are both at or near their peak.  Both fighters are champions and the weight (140 lbs) seems to suit both of them.  

Hatton seems determined to shine in his second mega-fight.  The Mayweather fight was a bit of a physical stretch (up at 147 lbs) and may have been against the quickest, craftiest fighter in the world.  Hatton tried but didn't have enough variety in his attack to truly challenge Floyd.

I believe this will be a more competitive fight.  Pacquiao, for all his speed, is not the craftiest fighter in the world.  He's been hit solidly by skilled fighters (Marquez1&2, Morales1&2) and has only really dominated against slightly faded opponents (Morales 3, Barrera1, DeLaHoya). Especially in the Marquez fights, Pacquiao seemed really easy to hit.  His dominant offense against David Diaz and Oscar DeLaHoya was largely based on their lack of effective offense.

I expect an improved offense from Hatton.  In fact, I expect Hatton to be ahead after 4 or 5 rounds based on strong punching and body/head combinations.  Pacquaio is tough though and has great heart; he won't be bombed out of there early.   He'll be hitting Hatton as well.

For the record, I am going with Pacquaio by late round stoppage (maybe the 10th).  I think that his superior determination and conditioning will make the difference.  Hatton will give a good account of himself, but he'll be getting hit a lot as the fight moves on.  Tired and swollen, I expect to see a battered Hatton saved by the referee.  The Pacquiao machine will march on.

Expect a win for Mark's Knuckle Sandwich and a loss for Jay's Hitmen.

Taylor KO'd by Froch, JuanMa pummels Penalosa

Carl Froch TKO12 Jermain Taylor

Carl Froch put the boxing world on notice by delivering a stunning KO of Jermain Taylor on Saturday night, the stoppage coming with only 14 seconds remaining in the fight. Froch was behind on the cards and would have lost his belt if not for the late rally which saw him drop Taylor with under 30 seconds remaining in the 12th round. Taylor emerged at the count of 9 but Froch jumped right on him, and the ref waved it off as Jermain appeared to drop his guard while taking some serious punishment. Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) was expected to be cast aside by his more experienced opponent, and that looked to be the case as he was knocked down by Taylor in the 3rd round. Taylor appeared to be well on his way to victory, sweeping the first 5 rounds, but one of the knocks on him was his stamina and that was indeed the case in this fight, as his activity decreased as the fight went on. There were some nice flurries from both guys in the late rounds, but as the fight wound down, it was clear that Taylor had nothing left. Froch retains his WBC super-middleweight belt and after the fight called out the unbeaten, but retired, Joe Calzaghe.

This moves Taylor's record against white guys to 0-3 (don't forget the 2 losses to Kelly Pavlik), and drops his career record to 28-3-1, 17 KO. More importantly, this drops the great Larry Merchant's Vodka Breath to a paltry 5-2. Froch remains a free agent.


Juan Manuel Lopez TKO9 Gerry Penalosa

This was supposed to be the toughest test of Lopez's young career, and he passed with flying colors, dominating the rugged Filipino legend. Penalosa's trainer Freddie Roach stepped in at the end of Round #9 and wisely put a halt to the fight, as Penalosa's face was being used as target practice for JuanMa's fists.

JuanMa set all kinds of PunchStat records, if you believe in that sort of thing, landing over 400 power punches in 9 rounds, while Penalosa threw only 390 total punches or so. Despite this barrage, Penalosa (54-7-2, 36 KOs) never hit the deck, and actually he has never been knocked down in his career. This was, however, the first stoppage loss of his career, and had the fight gone on any longer, serious damage could have been sustained.

After the fight, Lopez (25-0, 23 KOs) essentially said he's not long for the 122-lb weight class, as he looks to move up to featherweight (126-lb) by the end of this year or beginning of 2010. And of course he helps Simply Juanderful improve to an astounding 9-0 with 7 KOs.

"The Punisher" pads the record of Simply Juanderful again

Paul Williams, of the increasingly respected Simply Juanderful stable, cruised to a unanimous decision victory last night over former World Champion Winky Wright. While Wright appeared to have his full arsenal of punches and his trademark defensive skills, Williams was simply ridiculous with his work rate. According to HBO's Compubox, Williams fired nearly 1,100 punches in the bout. Although he failed to floor Wright or to have him seriously hurt, Williams certainly showed that he can handle himself at middleweight. Wright, now 51-5-1, vowed to fight on at age 37.

The win moves Simply Juanderful to 9-0 with 7 KOs and further ahead of the rest of the fantasy boxing pack. Other fights on the horizon involving league fighters:

April 25th......Jermain Taylor (Larry Merchant's Vodka Breath) vs Carl Froch

April 25th.....Juan Manuel Lopez (Simply Juanderful) vs Gerry Penalosa

May 2nd......Manny Pacquiao (Knuckle Sandwich) vs Ricky Hatton (Hitmen)

May 9th......Chad Dawson (Children Eaters) vs Antonio Tarver

June 20th....Wladimir Klitschko (Vodka Breath) vs David Haye (Children Eaters)

League Standings Update

Two fights have taken place since the last post. Arthur Abraham's unanimous decision over LaJuan Simon, a fight in which he struggled a bit more than expected against a non-top-10 opponent and Vitali Klitschko's dominant 9th round TKO of Juan Carlos Gomez. Jeff's Children Eaters rack up another win to move to 5-0 with 3 KOs. Joel's squad, Vodka Breath, moves to 5 wins with 1 loss. (Klitschko-Gomez pictured below)

Upcoming fights include:
Paul Williams (Juanderful) vs Winky Wright
Jermain Taylor (Vodka Breath) vs Carl Froch
Ricky Hatton (Hitmen) vs Manny Pacquiao (Knuckle Sandwich)

STANDINGS:
1. Simply Juanderful (8-0)------OPTION B: 18.5, OPTION C: 145
2. Children Eaters (5-0)---------OPTION B: 8.5, OPTION C: 89
3. Vodka Breath (5-1)-----------OPTION B: 11, OPTION C: 89
4. Knuckle Sandwich (3-0-1)----OPTION B: 6.5, OPTION C: 55
5. Hitmen (5-1)---------------OPTION B: 7, OPTION C: 82

Cotto, Pavlik, Adamek, Marquez, John

5 League fighters have been in action the past two Saturdays, beginning with Mark's Miguel Cotto, who scored his first win of the league with a 5th round KO of Michael Jennings. Cotto demonstrated that he is still a top-level fighter as he floored the overmatched Jennings three times. On the same night, Middleweight Champion Kelly Pavlik successfully defended his title with a 9th round TKO of Marco Antonio Rubio. Pavlik rebounded well from his October loss to Bernard Hopkins, pushing his record to 35-1 and gaining a much needed 17 pts in Option C for Jay's Hitmen.

On Friday night, IBF Cruiserweight Champion Tomasz Adamek defended his title against undefeated challenger Johnathan Banks. This fight was more tactical than expected in the early going, as both fighters seemed to respect one another too much. Once the punches started to fly, it was Banks who looked stronger with his big right hand. As the fight went past the halfway point, Adamek began to find the mark with body shots. Banks slowed, and in the 8th, Adamek floored him twice for a nice quality win.

This past Saturday, Mark sent another fighter into the ring as Chris John (42-0-1) defended his Featherweight Title in the USA for the first time. John demonstrated considerable speed and skill, but the toughness of his opponent, Rocky Juarez, made the fight very interesting. Juarez closed strong and even though his face plainly displayed the battering he had taken from John's fast hands over the course of the fight, he closed the show as the stronger fighter. I scored it 115-114 for Chris John, but the Official Judges all had it 114-114. John retains his title with the draw, but earned Mark only 2 points in Option C.

Saturday's main event featured the highly anticipated Juan Manuel Marquez-Juan Diaz clash. To my surprise, it was Diaz who took control of the bout early, rocking Marquez with hard power shots. As late as the 5th round, it seemed as though it would be Diaz's night as he bulldozed Marquez into the ropes and landed clean shots. However, Marquez would not be denied as he systematically fired combinations at Diaz with ever-increasing ferocity. By the 9th round, Diaz was slowing and Marquez caught him with a vicious combination, flooring the game Houston fighter. After rising, Diaz ate a highlight-reel uppercut, crashing to the canvas again and ending the fight. Juan Manuel Marquez now has two consecutive high-quality knockouts of Lightweight Champions and has proven to be the true superstar of our Boxing Fantasy League.

UPDATED STANDINGS (by averages)

1. Simply Juanderful (8-0, 7KO)..........OPTION B: 2.31, OPTION C: 18.13

2. Children Eaters (4-0, 3KO)..............OPTION B: 2.0, OPTION C: 18.25

3. LM's Vodka Breath (4-1, 3KO)........OPTION B: 1.6, OPTION C: 14.0

4. Knuckle Sandwich (3-0-1, 3KO)......OPTION B: 1.63, OPTION C: 13.75

5. The Hitmen (5-1, 2KO)....................OPTION B: 1.2, OPTION C: 13.7

Juan less on the roster

The day I've always feared is coming...two of my fighters will face off against each other. It's like having my 2 sons battle to the death, that's how much this pains me. So now 1st-place Simply Juanderful faces a most difficult decision - which Juan will stay on the roster and which Juan will go?

Let's take a look at the stats:

Juan Manuel Marquez
RING Magazine Lightweight Champion of the World
ESPN.com #1 ranked Lightweight in the world
49-4-1, 36 KO
Age: 35 (just like me)
Hometown: Ciudad de Mèxico, Distrito Federal, Mèxico (you have to say it like Michael Buffer)

Last fight: TKO11 over Joel Casamayor to win Ring Mag lightweight title, in first fight at lightweight

Previous 4 fights: L-SD to Manny Pacquiao, UD over Rocky Juarez, UD over Marco Antonio Barrera, KO9 over Jimrex Jaca


Juan Diaz
former WBA, IBF, WBO Lightweight Champion
ESPN.com #3 ranked Lightweight in the world
34-1, 17 KO
Age: 25!
Hometown: Houston, Texas

Last fight: UD over Michael Katsidis

Previous 4 fights: L-SD to Nate Campbell, TKO9 over Julio Diaz, TKO8 over Acelino Freitas, UD over Fernando Angulo


This is such a tough decision. I've been pondering it for months. That just tells you how tough it is to call a winner of this one. But I am going to go with my gut feeling from the beginning, and that is that Marquez will beat Diaz. I think it will definitely be a close fight, and I do fear that Diaz could steal a decision win in his hometown of Houston. But I like Marquez and I am going to keep him on the SJ roster.

In place of Diaz, I will pickup another Ring Mag champ, cruiserweight titlist Tomasz Adamek. He will be putting his title (and the honor of Simply Juanderful) on the line this Friday on Showtime vs. unbeaten Johnathan Banks.

To summarize: goodbye Diaz, hello Adamek

Anyway, if you have a chance to see the Marquez-Diaz fight on Saturday night (it's on regular-ass HBO), please do so. You have the Richard Nougat Guarantee that this will be an exciting fight.

STANDINGS and waivers

It's about time we had a standings update. As expected, Vic Darchinyan defeated Jorge Arce last Saturday night by 11th round TKO. The fight was stopped in between the 11th and 12th rounds on the advice of the doctor. Arce is one tough guy but his sloppy style and large cranium make him a ridiculously easy target for straight shots. The standings are as follows:

1st place....SIMPLY JUANDERFUL-- (6-0, 5 KOs)
OPTION B: 12.5 pts, OPTION C: 106 pts
2nd place...CHILDREN EATERS-- (4-0, 3 KOs)
OPTION B: 8 pts, OPTION C: 73 pts
3rd place...LM'S VODKA BREATH-- (4-1, 3KOs)
OPTION B: 8 pts, OPTION C: 70 pts
4th place..............THE HITMEN-- (4-1, 1KO)
OPTION B: 4 pts, OPTION C: 65 pts
5th place....KNUCKLE SANDWICH-- (2-0, 2KOs)
OPTION B: 5 pts, OPTION C: 33 pts


TOP AVAILABLE FIGHTERS ON WAIVERS:
Shane Mosley
Tomasz Adamek
Zsolt Erdei
Bernard Hopkins
Glen Johnson
Antonio Tarver
Carl Froch
Lucian Bute
Felix Sturm
Sergei Dzinziruk
Oscar DeLaHoya
Vernon Forrest
Antonio Margarito
Timothy Bradley
Humberto Soto
Celestino Caballero
Rafael Marquez
Fernando Montiel
Nonito Donaire