Except for the April 4 "Lightweight Lightning" card continuing to fall apart, it's been a pretty quiet week in boxing as we head toward the weekend. I've decided to kill some of the time by looking ahead a little bit on the schedule for some gut reactions.
April 4 - Timothy Bradley vs. Kendall Holt (Showtime) - I find it strange that this fight ended up in Montreal since neither man has ties to the area. That might kill what is usually a live crowd, but at least there won't be any insinuations of home cooking from the judges or referees.
This also seems like the rare fight that seems like a true toss-up. If forced to make a pick right this second, I'd lean toward Bradley, but I'll be giving it more thought in the next few weeks.
April 11 - Paul Williams vs. Winky Wright (HBO) - Williams is a guy I'll watch any time he steps in the ring. And Winky? Well, he's a nice guy in person, and I admire his skill, but some of his fights are pretty boring.
Since you know what you're getting from The Punisher, all the intrigue here comes from waiting to see how much the long layoff - just one fight in the last 28 months - affects Wright. He'll need to be pretty close to peak form to deal with Williams.
April 25 - Carl Froch vs. Jermain Taylor (Showtime) - I've always been strangely fascinated by Taylor. His drive and capacity to keep improving don't seem to be at the same level as his natural ability, which is kind of a shame. I can't help but think that if he had been able to put Kelly Pavlik away in their first fight, he'd be one of the sport's biggest stars right now.
Froch seems to be doing a lot of talking, and it's not really clear if The Cobra is doing it to psyche himself up or to try getting under Jermain's skin. Good luck if it's the latter: If Bernard Hopkins' mind games didn't get to the perpetually laid-back Taylor, nothing will.
May 2 - Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton (PPV) - It's way too early to do an official pick, but I like Manny in this one. I expect a great fight and an unbelievable atmosphere even if the global economy is still down in the dumps.
It should be noted that the powers that be are trying to put together an undercard that's actually worth watching, which is much appreciated. Steven Luevano is set to take on Bernabe Concepcion, and James Kirkland is supposed to fight as well.
May 9 - Chad Dawson vs. Antonio Tarver (HBO) - I'd love to see one more outstanding performance from Tarver, who's been a favorite of mine for a while. But what I expect is a replay of the first fight, which doesn't seem too appetizing.
Posted by The Franchise
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
You forgot Jones Jr. vs Omar Sheika for this Saturday, not that anyone cares.
and Vitali fights on ESPN against Gomez as well
Sorry fellas, I should have made it more clear that I was talking about fights after this weekend. There are other fights during this stretch too, but these were the ones I actually had an opinion about.
well then, I too would like to see one more great performance out of Tarver.
Post a Comment