BoxRec

Wow. Tricky, tricky, tricky. I'm going with Trinidad on a come-from-behind TKO in ten rounds. Wright was up on all three cards, but was floored & then pressed helplessly against the ropes in the tenth. Trinidad moves hurriedly onto his next opponent, in no hurry to entertain a rematch. Credit to Trinidad for never ceasing to search for the KO, never proving disheartened by Wright's craftiness.

12 Rounds To Bring The House Down --- Arturo Gatti & Michael Katsidis at Lightweight. Gatti has fought the better opposition, but Katsidis has the great equaliser which is monster power. One to have fight fans & plastic surgeons alike licking their chops

This would be one that lived up to the hype as well. I can see Katsidis sliding into the Mickey Ward role, had there been no Ward/Gatti trilogy. I see Gatti controlling the early rounds with his boxing, but as he so famously does, tires towards the 5th or 6th round, and lets Katsidis in. It becomes a brawl, and Michael batters Gatti with superior in fighting. Arturo finally succombs in the 11th round. TKO11 Katsidis.

Another fight revisited..

Mosley, fresh off the Margarito win, takes on his tormentor from 2002, Vernon Forrest

Present Mosley against Forrest then, or Forrest now?

Sorry, present Mosley vs Forrest then, at 147

Can't see Mosley doing anything better today than he did six or seven years ago. In fact, if anything, he seems to throw fewer & fewer combinations, though he re-captured some form against Margarito. That, for mine, doesn't eclipse his more lasting inability to sustainably let his hands go in fights with Cotto & Mayorga, & if you watch the second fight, it was Mosley's lack of throwing as much as anything else which cost him against a prime Forrest, who decisions the current Mosley convincingly.

Staying with the Sugarman, here's a triple-header for him, & he has his work cut out in all three bouts...

vs:

Meldrick Taylor (140lbs, 12 rounds)
Antonio Cervantes (140lbs, 12 rounds)
Aaron Pryor (140lbs, 12 rounds)

mosley never fought at lightwelter and struggles in two of these three bouts.

he kicks off with a narrow win over taylor - UD 12

the superb cervantes rocks mosely's butt in round 9 of their encounter, though up to the point where he is rescued by the referee mosley is in contention. cervantes TKO 9

hawk nails him earlier and more emphatically than cervantes did. shane taking only the first of the 8 rounds that it lasted. pryor KO 8

ALAN RUDKIN V STEVE MOLITOR - SUPERBANTAM

Rudkin by a wide berth against the overrated Molitor

L.M. Rodriguez vs Wilfred Benitez @ 154

Two under-rated fighters --- Benitez produces something a little extra, which he certainly was capable of when at the peak of his powers. He snatches a decision in a competitive affair.

Julio Cesar Chavez (55-0-0, 45 KO's) vs. Manny Pacquiao (45-3-2, 34 KO's). 12 Rounds as Jr. Lightweights...

Pacquiao has the game to beat JCC. Not surprisingly, this one is a bloody mess of a fight. Manny survives 2 knockdowns to take the SD.

An Aussie special next..

Danny Green vs Tony Mundine (the original) at 168

What a number Mundine Sr. would've done on someone as beneath him as Green. This was one of his boys' career-defining bouts, but for pops, it'd just've been warm-up material. Mundine Sr. outclasses Green through four before stopping him cold in the fifth. Easy money.

A Heavyweight double-header without the fanfare to match...

Chuck Wepner-George Chuvalo, 15 Rounds
Buster Mathis Sr-Buster Mathis Jr, 12 Rounds

George Chuvalo thumps Wepner for 10 rounds until the bleeding gets too bad and the fight is called off
Buster Mathis Sr easily decisions Buster Mathis Jr., but he's to nice to KO him.


Next up:
Victor Galindez vs Bob Foster, late 1974.

Galindez puts up a spirited fight, but ultimately succumbs to Foster's power.

"Neon" Leon Spinks (Ali I, 1978) vs. Hasim "The Rock" Rahman (Lewis I, 2001) over twelve rounds...

rachman KO's leon in 4 rounds. spinks not really strong enough to stop the bombs that even stevie wonder in row 6 could see coming.
after the fight spinks wonders where his future in the hypothetical match up game lies.

i rarely post heavyweight match ups but heres one;

larry middleton was, i recall, an excellent american 2nd string heavy (good enough to outpoint bugner and break his jaw in the process) but seems to have lost interest in our sport after a series of losses to rather good guys and before his 30th pro fight. here he still has the taste for it and takes on former champ buster douglas, both men in peak condition.

A prime Douglas dispatches Middleton within 6 rounds.

Yuriorkis Gamboa (current) vs In Jin Chi (2001, right after the Morales loss) @ 126

Gamboa is floored in 1st but scores a couple of KDs in 4th and 7th and eventually wins by narrow UD.

present Chad Dawson vs prime Roy Jones Jr, 12 rounds

dawson is lucky to survive for the full 12 rounds. he is close to being stopped by jones who attempted to convert a huge points lead into a crowd pleasing KO.
roy hits him at will for the last two rounds but cant quite finish him.
jones UD 12

welterweight title;

curtis cokes v mark breland - both in tip top shape

I tend to think of Breland as being a little forgotten, a little under-rated, but you could say the same of Cokes, who was on an entirely different level, & wins convincingly.

Present Antonio Margarito vs. 1993 Julio Cesar Chavez at Welterweight over twelve rounds...

Chavez takes a hard fought decision against the bigger Margarito. No shortage of leather traded in this one.

Fresh off his upset win over Wladimir Klitschko..

Corrie Sanders takes aim at a prime Frank Bruno

Bruno wins a decision, almost taking Sanders out in round four. He fails to finish, & both fade late, with Bruno taking a close UD.

Welterweight Contest: Ghana against Puerto Rico --- 1995 Ike "Bazooka" Quartey vs. 2007 Miguel "Junito" Cotto, twelve rounds...

Good match

Quartey's good jab, size and fundamentals are enough to take him home by 2 points in a vigorous and skilled affair

next:

Oscar De La Hoya - Vernon Forrest (2002) at welterweight

I like De La Hoya on a narrow decision. The De La Hoya of 1998-1999 would've done better in this pairing, but Forrest isn't going to dominate him on the strength of his jab, ala Mosley. I think De La Hoya's superior defense (& defense-minded tactics) keep him out of range of Forrest's deadly uppercuts, which retarded Mosley's chances in their first fight. De La Hoya on a competitive UD.

Mike McCallum & Felix Trinidad. 154lbs, 12 rounds...

Ohhh, painful night for Tito, Mike stays pretty much in the pocket early and slips/counters the clubbing shots of trinidad with a series of whipping bodyshots and counter left hooks. early on it looks like the later rounds of Hopkins - Tito, with Trinidad trying to push the pace but getting hit 3 shots to every one he lands. mid-rounds, as Mike realises he can't stop him just yet, the pace drops slightly as Mike looks to box and move and control Tito with the jab and feints. Tito makes the final bell but is roundly beaten 117-111

next up:

Alan Minter - Kelly Pavlik at middleweight prime for prime

minter at his best was a great slow retreat jabber (all my favourites box like that) and pavlik is made for him. coming forward in straight lines kelly gets a boxing lesson almost in the B-hop mould. this test is a little closer but alan chalks up a win by UD

i like this bout...

jonathon thaxton (2008) v marco antonio barrera (2009)

Barrera shows just how far removed from his turn-of-the-century hey-day he is, dropping a decision. The man should have stayed retired following the worst performance of his career against Pacquiao, two years ago. Thaxton licks him, IMO.

Diobelys Hurtado-Mickey Ward. 12 Rounds At Jr. Welterweight, circa 1998...

theres a lot of pain felt in that ring between these two - most of it by mickey ward. tough as old boots is ward and he needs to be against the cuban clubber.
its a treat for the fan who likes to see brains in the ring - literally!!
hurtado lives up to his name and hurts ward from the off, but mickey didnt expect anything else and soaks it up whilst working to the body and winning things in close. after 4 rounds of attrition hurtados corner tell him to keep the fight at a safer distance as wards body shots are beginning to tell. success!!
hurtado decks mickey in the fifth with a right to the temple. of course ward rises and tries to take the fight to dio its 30 secs of mayhem before another right from hurtado - this time to the jaw - and mickey is down again. he gets up groggy but the cuban knows how to finish this kind of situation and a brutal combo ending with a short right as ward is leaning forward concludes this one.

middleweight title fight

mustapha hamsho v edson miranda