FIGHTS COMING UP

Hey Doug!
Just a few points I want to share:

I haven’t seen Paul Malignaggi’s last fight and that’s not even the point. What I know for sure is that he’s got his future career lined up for him – as a commentator he is just spot on. Props to him!

Where the hell is Pier Olivier Cote??!! He should be fighting 3 times a year in order to gain more experience.

Kelly Pavlik vs Andre Ward is a wrong fight for Pavlik IMO. With that being said Ward is wrong for almost everyone right now. Pavlik should fight Abraham instead. That would be a hell of a fight between two fighters past their prime but still able to deliver and take punishment.

There are a few good fights coming up but I am really looking forward to Tyson Marquez vs Brian Viloria, Abner Mares vs Anselmo Moreno, Adrien Broner vs Antonio DeMarco & Keith Thurman vs Carlos Quintana (to see how Thurman performs). GGG vs Oosthuizen will be interesting as well: Golovkin meant it when he said anyone from 154 to 168! It is risky because Oosthuizen is a huge guy with a massive reach advantage and Golovkin is not a big MW to start with. Plus Oosthuizen is no joke.

I’m going to watch Chris John and Daud Yordan fight on Friday. Not sure about their respective opponents (the Thai fighting John is 44-0???) but at least I’ll get to see some action.

BTW very entertaining fight between Jamie Kavanagh and Ramon Valadez! Peace. – Vince

Boxing writers and hardcore fans in the Southern California area knew that fight would kick-ass and it did not disappoint. Kudos to Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker Robert Diaz for making the fight and all the props in the world to the two Fight Night Club grads who gave everything they had for eight rounds. Despite what that silly 80-72 scorecard for Kavanagh would have people believe, that fight is the definition of a back-and-forth slugfest. With as many times both guys were rocked, it was amazing there were no knockdowns.

Fans who haven’t seen Kavanagh-Valadez can watch it in its entirety on YouTube. Check it out and let me know how you scored it. I had it for Kavanagh, five rounds to three.

I think you’ll get a decent scrap with Yordan’s fight against Choi Tseveenpurev, despite the fact that the Manchester, England-based veteran is 41 years old. Tseveenpurev is a battle-tested S.O.B., and I’ve never seen a Mongolian fighter who wasn’t “hardnosed.”

John should extend his WBA featherweight title reign to 16 defenses against Chonlatam Piriyapinyo, who is indeed unbeaten in 44 bouts (44-0, 27 knockouts) but has never fought outside of Thailand and is largely untested. The 27-year-old Thai hasn’t fought anyone of note since beating former WBA 122-pound beltholder Yoddamrong Sithyodthong in 2006 and 2007.

Then again, John is no spring chicken at age 33. There’s A LOT of mileage on those legs. The Indonesian star hasn’t scored a stoppage since January of 2008. Perhaps youth will prevail. Whatever happens, I hope you get a compelling bout. (And I hope someone posts both fights on YouTube.com if they’re any good, so I can watch them.)

I’m looking forward to all of the fights you mentioned and I’m fortunate enough to get to cover the Mares-Moreno, Viloria-Marquez and Thurman-Quintana bouts from ringside.

I like Mares by close decision, Viloria by late stoppage and Thurman by mid-rounds KO.

I think Broner will beat DeMarco (unless he struggles too much to make 135 pounds) – perhaps by mid-to-late rounds stoppage.

And like you, I think Golovkin-Oosthuizen is a fascinating matchup, if it happens. Oosthuizen has to win his fight with Fulgencio Zuniga without hurting his hands or sustaining any nasty cuts. If the fight does happen, I like GGG by mid-to-late TKO. Oosthuizen will be difficult because of his height (6-foot-4), reach, hand speed and busy style, but once Golovkin gets the South African on the ropes he’ll break him in half with body shots. Mark my words! Oosthuizen is no joke, but Golovkin is the real deal.

I would also rather see Pavlik challenge Abraham than Ward. Pavlik-Abraham would not only be competitive, it would feature a lot of hard-hitting action. My guess is that Pavlik can make more money fighting Ward in the good ole U.S. of A than he could by taking on King Arthur in Germany. Plus, I’m sure the former undisputed middleweight champ wants to fight the guy who most fans recognize as the “real” champ at 168 pounds, not a mere beltholder, which is what Abraham is.

I have no idea what’s up with Cote. I need to ask RingTV.com’s Canadian correspondent Corey Erdman about the welterweight standout. Cote fought four times last year against solid opposition and looked spectacular icing Jorge Teron. The 28-year-old boxer-puncher has only fought once this year. I hope he gets it together because he can make some noise with a little more experience under his belt.

Malignaggi is scary good in the color commentator/boxing analyst role on boxing broadcasts. He’s even kicks ass during in-the-ring post-fight interviews with the fighters, which ain’t as easy as it looks.

GARCIA VS. JUDAH, MATTHYSSE

Hi Dougie! First time writing you. I’m from Argentina and I’ve been following your work for a while. Yes, you, the Ring magazine and of course BOXING have fans all over the world. Let’s get to the point:

A lot of people are criticizing Danny Garcia for fighting Zab Judah next Jan 19. I don’t agree with them at all. I think it’s a good transition fight and that they will give us a nice show. Of course I want to see Danny against Brandon Rios or Lucas Matthysse, but I think it’s a little bit soon to say he’s ducking them.

Let’s be honest, we all know Garcia-Rios (GB-TR) won’t happen anytime soon despite Danny’s intentions.

On the other hand a fight against Lucas (both promoted by GB) shouldn’t be difficult to get done. I’m expecting that fight on a GBP super card in 2013. So, lets wait a little bit more. Just time will tell us if Danny is a real Champion or like some people said just a ”’ducker”.

I would also like to watch Matthysse on the undercard of that fight, maybe against Pablo Cesar Cano. It would be a good fight.

By the way, I predict Danny TKO 7 Judah in an interesting fight. And I favor both Rios and Matthysse over Danny. What do you think?

Sorry for my English. Saludos! – Federico

Don’t apologize for your English. It’s better than mine!

I think Garcia-Judah is a toss-up matchup. Judah has a world of experience over Garcia and he’s well preserved, athletically speaking. The champ, of course, has youth and momentum on his side. The Philly native seems to improve with every fight. Both guys possess killer lefts, so the fight could take many turns. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get a world-class version of Kavanagh-Valadez.

I also favor Rios and Matthysse over Garcia in tough, hard-fought battles that could both go the distance.  

Regarding hardcore fans giving Garcia s__t for not fighting Matthysse next, that’s just Twitter Nation nonsense for ya. Any major champ/titleholder who doesn’t immediately call out the name of their favorite fighter during a post-fight interview on HBO or Showtime is shameless “ducker” in their warped minds.

I agree with you. I think Garcia-Matthysse will happen next year. If it doesn’t, then we can start to talk about the young champ avoiding the Argentine badass. In the meantime, where can I buy tickets for Matthysse-Cano?

JUNIOR MIDDLEWEIGHT RATINGS

Hi Doug,
I have a question. I never checked at the time but in The Ring’s junior middleweight ratings you currently have Floyd Mayweather at no. 2 and Miguel Cotto at no. 3 which could of potentially meant that the linear RING magazine belt could of been contested between these two at the time they fought. Were the ratings different at the time that these two fought? And if not, how come this wasn’t contested for THE RING belt as opposed to just the WBA title? Was it because Floyd had just gone up to that weight?

I really feel that the linear title is the most coveted and most recognised amongst the true fight fans and these alphabet titles and “super” champions and “interim” champions belts that are being handed out for fun are jokes. I mean you could have a champion “emeritus,” a “champion in recess,” a “super champion,” “a regular champion” and “interim champion” in the same weight class and same organization, not to mention “silver” and “diamond” belts. It just gets frustrating, what are your views on this?

Thanks. – Daniel C, Rhondda, South Wales

The numerous variations of so-called “world” titles put out by the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF are indeed frustrating/annoying to hardcore fans and confusing to casual observers of the sport.

However, I don’t think all of those silly titles are boxing’s biggest problem and don’t think the sanctioning bodies are all bad. I believe their belts do help fighters gain recognition, status and better incomes; and each organization also does their part to give back to boxing with various programs and charities.

Having said that, I don’t recognize any of their titleholders as real “champions” unless there’s no doubt that they are the best fighters in their division or they’ve unified major belts or they hold THE RING’s title (I know I’m a tad biased with that last criteria).   

Regarding Mayweather and Cotto, they are actually Nos. 1 and 2 in THE RING’s current junior middleweight rankings, not Nos. 2 and 3.

However, prior to their fight this past May, Mayweather was unranked at 154 pounds. The undefeated American veteran had not fought at junior middleweight since outpointing Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.

Cotto was THE RING’s No. 1-rated junior middleweight at the time, followed by Saul Alvarez, and Vanes Martirosyan and Erislandy Lara (who fight for the right to face “Canelo” tomorrow night – if the WBC is telling the truth).

Props to Cotto, by the way, for not resting on the laurels of his spirited loss to Mayweather and taking on THE RING’s No. 9-rated 154-pound contender Austin Trout on Dec. 1 instead of waiting around for lucrative rematches with Floyd or the PacMan.

DEVON ALEXANDER

Doug,

I was born and raised in St. Louis and so naturally I felt an affinity for Alexander when he first came on to the scene. I even drove the hour and a half back to STL to see him fight Marcos Maidana (although I really went to see Maidana, who is my favorite guy going right now).

However, as much as I want to pull for the guy, he is just not an interesting fighter. I know that you have praised him for taking on big challenges and I can see why, but can you honestly say that even one of his fights made for good T.V? He doesn’t have enough power to do damage to ANYONE at 147 and his unwillingness to compensate for that by throwing lots of punches just makes every fight I’ve seen him in a snooze fest. I was practically screaming during the Randall Bailey fight.

Do you think that Alexander is going to be my generations Paulie Malinaggi? Not that that is really a terrible fate, but when you turn in on one of Paulie’s fights, you know what you are setting yourself up for. All I know is that if Alexander’s next fight is as boring as his last, I won’t watch another. Thank you. – Byron, Columbia, MO

Thanks for keeping it real with your opinions, Byron. It’s always good to hear from fans who hail from Missouri, the state where I grew up (especially those from Columbia, where I lost my virginity back in ’86 – whoo-hoo!).

And I should be as honest as you were by stating up front that I’m a bit biased when it comes to fighters from the Show-Me State. I’m always going to pull for them, regardless of their styles. I can’t help it. The fact that the few standouts from Missouri – Alexander, B.J. Flores and Ryan Coyne – are really nice guys doesn’t make it any easier for me to be objective.

Having said that, I thought Alexander’s fights with Andreas Kotelnik and Matthysse were compelling (and I thought he lost both bouts, too). His fight with Juan Urango certainly ended with a bang.

What that tells me – and should tell the powers-that-be with Showtime and HBO – is that Alexander can make for entertaining fights if he’s matched with world-class boxers whose style is to apply steady pressure with a high punch output.  If he faces a fellow stick-and-move boxer, such as Tim Bradley or Junior Witter, or an older fighter who can’t pull the trigger like Randall, the chances are good that he’ll be in another stinker.

But he faces an aggressive fighter with solid skills and technique – such as Jan Zaveck, Josesito Lopez or Carson Jones – I think he can be in good fights.

Email Dougie at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @dougiefischer