Juan Urango vs. Randall Bailey, Tavoris Cloud vs. Clinton Woods: Predictions

The Franchise says...

The quality of the main events on Friday Night Fights has had its ups and downs, but it's hard not to like two title fights on one show for the season finale. Juan Urango and Randall Bailey will clash for the IBF's belt at 140 pounds, while Tavoris Cloud and Clinton Woods do the same thing at light heavyweight.

Urango is one of those guys who seems like he's good enough to fight his way into title contention but not quite good enough to beat any legitimately top-ranked boxers. The Colombian southpaw has just two career losses, to Ricky Hatton and Andre Berto, but he was clearly outclassed in both cases, winning only about three or four total rounds.

Fortunately for him, Bailey is much the same. I had to look up when his loss to Miguel Cotto was, and it was longer ago than I thought (2004). He's actually 11-1 since then, but none of his fights have come against elite competition, and his last loss came against a guy (Herman Ngoudjo) that Urango beat easily.

We all know the transitive property doesn't apply to boxing, but I like Urango anyway. I think it's going to be catch or be caught for Bailey, and even though he certainly has the power to end things, I think he'll also prove the easier to hit.

It should be a competitive fight, but I see Bailey down on points and pressing, allowing Urango to strike for a late KO win.

The co-feature could be a showcase for the 19-0 Cloud, a personal favorite of mine thanks to his swing-for-the-fences style. If you like seeing punches that look like they are intended to knock someone's head off, he's your man.

He's also been inactive for slightly more than a year and is going up against his toughest foe to date in Woods. That's normally a recipe for disaster, and we've seen our fair share of young undefeated fighters stumble in the last year or two.

Still, Woods isn't getting any younger at 37 and will be giving away something noticeable in speed and athleticism. He's taller and has a longer reach and his best bet would seem to be out-boxing Cloud from the outside.

My guess is Tavoris isn't going to allow him to do that. I'm going with youth and energy in this one, and saying that unless the lay-off has dulled his edge too much, Cloud will emerge with a late-round KO.

Posted by The Franchise