Friday Night Fights Report - May 8, 2009

I have some things to do tonight, but I will keep my eye on FNF in case anything interesting goes down.

Tonight's FNF brings us Brian Vera against Craig McEwen in the main event from Fort Worth, Texas.

Teddy Atlas made some opening remarks about the similarities between McEwen and Andy Lee.

Vera beat the at-the-time undefeated prospect Andy Lee on FNF, and Lee has not been very visible since. Lee actually knocked Vera down in Round 1 of that fight. Lee is 2-0 since that fight, but both fights have been back in Ireland, and as far as I know, not televised here. Lee is more than just your usual prospect, and is a very talented fighter. Vera will try to defeat McEwen as he did Lee.

Back in the studio, Brian Kenny reports that the Kelly Pavlik-Sergio Mora fight has been postponed due to staph infections.

Bernard Hopkins is in the studio. B-Hop was in the Ricky Hatton locker room following his fight with Manny Pacquiao. Ricky did not know a half-hour after the fight what he had been hit with and was asking Bernard about it.

On a side note, ESPN2 showed a Tecate commerical that was completely in Spanish. I thought that was interesting.

Adrian Broner vs. Fernando Quintero

An interesting fight between the 8-0 Broner and the 7-0 Quintero. The fight went the full eight rounds.

Teddy has it a draw.

Judges:
76-76
77-75
78-74

Adrian "The Problem" Broner wins by majority decision.

Back to the studio...

Bernard said Hatton never had a chance to change tactics. Manny was coming from all over the place. Hatton didn't know what to do.

Bernard said that hatton was overwhelmed after Round 1 and he never recovered. Bernard said he should have ducked, or put his hands up, or bought himself some time like a veteran.

Teddy said that Hatton shouldn't have gone straight into the propeller, he should have made Manny come to him.

They showed a number of photos of Ricky at the pool posing for pictures and hanging out with party-goers in Vegas, but interestingly the ESPN crew made zero reference to them. I thought maybe they were going to say that Hatton was unfocused or something, but they literally showed the pictures and never mentioned them.

Bernard said that JMM is no tune-up for Money Mayweather. Floyd has been off for a long time, and Bernard says the gym is not the same as fighting for real. He does think that Floyd will win at the end of the day.

Neither Teddy nor Bernard believes that the weight will be too much of an issue. But Teddy does think it is important that JMM's managers do not give up too much in negotiations as far as weight, ring size, gloves, etc.

Atlas believes it will be a tough fight but Mayweather will win. Teddy wonders if Money May is taking the fight for the wrong reason due to the IRS lien. Hopkins thinks that the money could actually be a motivation because of how much is on the line financially. Floyd may have the extra motivation that he needs.

Manny-Floyd? Bernard goes with Floyd. He has a lot to bring that Manny has never seen before.

Atlas is going with the Pac-Man.

Vera vs. McEwen - 10 Rounds

Round 1
Uatu: Vera 10-9
Vera landed some hard shots, McEwen stayed moving and worked in and out. A good first round and both men had their moments.

Round 2
Uatu: McEwen 10-9
Another good round. McEwen fights lefty, and he's looking like a slower poor man's version of Bute, who was a close version of Calzaghe. I liked the work that McEwen did, but he did catch a big right in the early goings.

Round 3
Uatu: McEwen 10-9
Both fighters have had moments that made me a little nervous. At times I thought either man could fall or get roughed up, but maybe they are just off-balance.

Round 4
Uatu: McEwen 10-9
In my opinion McEwen controlled the majority of this round.

Round 5
Uatu: McEwen 10-9
Teddy has it 4-0 McEwen. McEwen hasn't been hit with that Vera right in a few rounds.

Round 6
Uatu: McEwen 10-9
Marco Antonio Barrera is in some of those Tecate ads. Bernard has sparred with McEwen to prepare for Winky and JoeCal. A lot of grabbing, a lot of McEwen landing.

Round 7
Uatu: McEwen 10-9
Round 7 was a slugfest. Both men threw some serious haymakers. Vera managed to land the right again.

Round 8
Uatu: McEwen 10-9

Round 9
Uatu: McEwen 10-9

Round 10
Uatu: McEwen 10-9

I enjoyed this fight. Good spirited effort by both men.

Teddy:
99-91 McEwen

Judges:
97-93
97-93
97-93

Craig McEwen wins by unanimous decision.

Freddie Roach manages and trains McEwen so I imagine we will see him again. Tarver-Dawson II up next.

Signing off...

Posted by uatu