Solis vs Thompson prediction and analysis

It’s fair to say that many boxing fans aren’t exactly enthralled by the heavyweight division right now.

Wladimir Klitschko, the ruler of the division, holder of three of the recognised world titles, RING and TBRB champion, may well be an excellent boxer and he may be able to pack stadiums and bring in huge TV ratings but outside of his powerbase in Continental Europe there is a certain wave of antipathy that greets that the announcement of an upcoming bout. As things stand he is head and shoulders… literally and figuratively… above most of those who wish to challenge him and it would take a very brave or very foolish man to believe that his latest challenger, Australian, Alex Leapai, will be anything but overmatched. Now, there can be a certain joy… albeit a perverse and sadistic one… in watching an overmatched opponent be defeated in boxing but Wladimir’s current style, a triumph of effectiveness over emotion, robs most bouts of even that. His last victory, a one-sided decision over Alexander Povetkin, may have featured four knockdowns and some of the most one-sided scorecards I can recall seeing but it also featured 160 clinches, almost all initiated by the Ukrainian champion and the reaction from most fans in the English-speaking world fell somewhere between ambivalence and outright hostility. Put simply, people want there to be a boxer… any boxer… who can challenge Wladimir and actually stand a chance.

Some thought Haye could… he couldn’t.

Some thought Povetkin could… he couldn’t.

No-one thinks Leapai can… and I doubt he will.

But Odlanier Solis just might… and this weekend he has a chance to prove it.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs Alfredo Angulo: Prediction and Analysis

Not everyone can be an international superstar.

But Saul “Canelo” Alvarez might just be.

Already a superstar in Mexico and a star in the US, Canelo looks to test both his skills and his selling power in his return to action following his high profile loss to Mayweather Jr against Alfredo Angulo this Saturday night.

Chavez Jr vs Vera: Results and Analysis

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr said that in the buildup to his rematch with Brian Vera that he was reinventing himself both proffesionally and personally. Gone were the old bad habits, the lax training, the poor diet, the smoking of questionable substances. In were discipline and control.

And from the way hes started boxing this bout, he wasn’t just reinventing his life, he was reinventing his style.

Burns vs Crawford: Results and Analysis

No-one can question Ricky Burns heart, desire or effort.

But the simple truth in boxing is that sometimes, regardless of how often you watch Rocky, heart, desire and effort alone aren’t enough.

American challenger Terence Crawford came to Scotland and ripped Burns’ WBO 135lbs title from his grasp with a performance that combined speed, slickness, skill and a surprising amount of aggression. It was a total performance from Crawford, the sort those who have been watching him for a while have been calling for and despite Burns’ best efforts he simply couldn’t match his opponent.

DeGale vs Khatchikian: Results and Analysis

James DeGale told us he was finally healthy, injury free and able to perform on the level we’d hoped to see from him since he first turned pro six years ago.

On the evidence of this bout perhaps injuries aren’t the only thing holding DeGale back.

On paper (and Youtube footage) Gevorg Khatchikian appeared to be an accomadating opponent to showcase DeGale. Despite a 20-0 record there was very little depth there with his best victory being over an equally untested prospect who went on to lose five of the seven bouts he’s had since. Limited, slow and somewhat crude he never appeared to offer much of a threat to DeGale.

But he certainly had his moments. DeGale started the bout confidently, walking forward behind his jab, trying to counter the Armenian’s own punches and then hit the body when the pair came close. But in the second round he appeared to get overconfident, walking forward and throwing single shots as if he was looking for a spectacular one punch knockout. Khatchikian may not have been fluid or technical but he was willing, game and more than once he caught DeGale flush with right hands as DeGale’s defences failed him. The seventh round saw him land land a hard uppercut that went straight through DeGale’s defences and immediately followed up with an overhand right that staggered DeGale. Khatchikian wasn’t able to really follow up but DeGale as clearly hurt.

A guide to discussing Mayweather; some helpful pointers…

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for a Floyd Mayweather Jr boxing match. And love it or hate it that means that boxing discussion over the next few months is going to be dominated by talk of him, his career, his opponents, his personal life, his place in history, his matchmaking and pretty much anything else both his “haters” and “fanboys” can think of to say about him. Opinion is certainly polarized; to some he’s the greatest of all time, a masterful boxer better than any to come before him who has never ducked or avoided anyone. To others he is a sham, a fraud, a boxer who cherry picks overmatched opponents, ducks anyone who may be a danger to him and who wins matches by running from his opposition. It’s easy to get lost in the chaos of a discussion about Mayweather Jr so below are a series of pointers on how to navigate a discussion about Mayweather without looking like a fanboy, hater or fool.

Why didn’t Amir Khan get to face Mayweather?

More than one person has been made a fool of trying to predict Floyd Mayweather Jr’s next move. Not so very long ago after all, it was seemingly guaranteed that Mayweather’s next opponent would be Amir Khan. The announcement never happened… and next came a fan poll on who it would be. The results of this were somewhat confusing; on most boxing sites the answer was Marcos Maidana but on the official poll Khan (helped by a lot of twitter advertsing) had a late surge to take the lead. And of course, there had been rumours and “exclusive reports” long before that.

 

But now it looks somewhat definitive. Khan himself says that he’s out of the running and that Maidana is the one about to earn millions of dollars and the chance, however remote, to enter his name in boxing’s history as the man who defeated Mayweather.

I’ve been pretty dismissive of the Khan bout previously but despite that I can see why it was an attractive option. Khan has many flaws but what he undoubtedly has is speed. Khan would be the fastest opponent Mayweather has faced since at least Judah and arguably the fastest he’s ever faced. Much of Mayweather’s success has been built on being the faster man, pot-shotting and picking off opponents from the outside; could he do the same against someone quicker than him? Maidana in contrast, despite technical improvements shown in his recent run that culminated in his defeat of the heavily hyped “new Floyd Mayweather” Adrien Broner, is still very much a brawler, an aggressive and powerful puncher who likes to draw boxers into a fight. We’ve seen Floyd against those repeatedly… and he tends to win and win well.

Outside the ring Khan also seemingly offers a lot. Floyd likes to tap into other fanbases… it’s one of the reasons he boxes many fighters with Latino heritage, especially around Mexican Independence Day as it opens up that lucrative market. Khan may not bring them, but he does bring the UK fans and the UK has frequently proven itself as a solid money maker for boxers. Maidana in contrast may be a popular TV fighter but he has no real constituency to fall back on; fans of Maidana tend to be boxing fans as opposed to fans of individual boxers and thus would have probably watched anyway.

So how is it that Khan didn’t get the bout when he had so much in his favour?

Injecting Drama: Floyd Mayweather Jr, Lidocaine, Xylocaine, his hands and supposed doping

It’s no secret that Floyd Mayweather Jr and talk of P.E.D use in boxing often go hand in hand.

Mayweather and those around him pretty much introduced the term “Olympic style testing” into the boxing jargon during the messy negotiations between him and Manny Pacquiao for their much delayed and still uncertain superfight. Some associated with Mayweather accused Pacquiao of abusing P.E.D’s, Mayweather demanded more stringent testing than the athletic commissions require and for whatever reason (and it wasn’t entirely clear what it was) Pacquiao turned it down. The entire thing was somewhat of a farce and none of the parties come out of it smelling of roses.

But as well as accusing others of P.E.D abuse, there have been a number of rumours about Mayweather and his own conduct. Thomas Hauser, one of the few journalists to really put any effort into looking at P.E.D abuse in boxing, has written about the whispers that Mayweather Jr himself failed three tests that were hushed up. But that’s not the rumour I want to focus on.

The one I wish to focus on has been around for a while, at least since Mayweather faced Castillo for the first time. In the build up to that bout the commentators mention how Mayweather had suffered from hand issues and had injected himself to deal with them. From there the rumour has grown, passed on through message boards and badly sourced articles to reach a current form that essentially goes like this:

Floyd Mayweather injects his hands with a dubious substance during training and for bouts. This substance is banned in most states and the reason Mayweather only boxes in Nevada is that it is the only state to allow it/he has a special deal with them which means he ignores it. Mayweather is thus is essence a drug cheat.

Let’s see if there’s any truth to this rumour…

Pacquiao vs Bradley 2 signed.

So, it’s on again.

Having signed a contract extension that keeps him with Top Rank (and thus likely ruled himself out of having a bout with Mayweather for the forseeable future) Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao will meet up once more.

To say the result of the first bout was controversial would be an understatement. I’m one of the few who considered the eventual result (a narrow split decision for Bradley) to be correct although I’d have been happy with any score between the eventual 115-113 Bradley to 116-112 Pacquiao. The bout was close with a number of close rounds and I think in the hyperbole about the decision it was often forgotten that neither Bradley nor Pacquiao was spectacular.

Both men come into this contest with something to prove. Bradley wants to prove the first contest was neither a fluke nor a robbery and that he is Pacquiao’s better. Pacquiao wants to prove he’s back to his best after some underwhelming performances and his chilling knockout loss to Marquez. In the pair’s last bouts they each took a step towards that, Bradley asserting himself as one of the best welterweights in the world with a crafty but comfortable decision win over Marquez while Pacquiao showed he wasn’t shot by utterly outclassing the hapless Brandon Rios.

So what points should we consider going into this rematch?

Slip the Jab Boxing Awards 2013: Fight of the Year – The Contenders

Who doesn’t love a good fight? A great bout can announce the arrival of a new star, turn a star into a legend or simply entertain a thrilled audience. And let’s be clear here… 2013 was a great year for fights. The hardest part of compiling this list was thinking about what to leave out rather than looking for bouts to put in and there are number of contests that likely deserve at least an honorable mention only to find themselves excluded because I didn’t want to list dozens of contests.